14. Master and Servant

Sand Kingdom

Things were quiet in the castle of sand. At this time of night, one would expect every living soul to be asleep. …Well, not quite.

King Sandy quietly creaked open the door to his daughter's room. "Sheeeellyyyy." The princess seemed bundled up comfily under her blanket. "Shelly?" Sandy crept a bit closer. "I need to borrow Gonshiri for a bit, so if it would please you…" He noticed the part-open drawer and gently pulled it all the way.

A swarm of tiny, frantic Pikmin hopped out and began scampering all around the floor by his feet. With a gasp, Sandy threw open his daughter's covers. All there was of her was a snoozing sand sculpture. "SHELLY!!"

The beach princess was high-tailing down the halls as alarms blared. Several Round Towel Knights appeared to block Shelly's way, "Princess, what is-" but she stomped the ground and sunk them in sinkholes before escaping. When knights were charging at her from both directions, Shelly dove out a window and thrusted her arms forward to make part of the sand wall stick out and catch her, then carefully lowered herself down. Knights on the outer wall fired beachball bombs from catapults, which Shelly dropped down and dodged, landed on the wall and hopped off, then faced the castle as she stomped the ground with all her force, sending a quake through the wall.

"UUWAAAAAAHHH!" A chunk of the castle came falling down as Sandy plummeted with it. In the confusion, Shelly spun a hole open in the ground and hopped in.

Five minutes passed before Sandy finally helped himself out of the rubble. But while trying to fix his crown on, he jumped when seven dark figures appeared behind him. "Had a little accident, did we?" asked the slim, middle man in a dark voice.

"Heheh… no accounting for sand-tidal waves."

"Where is the princess?"

"Ummmm… funny story, she was with my daughter a few hours ago, and then um, well they, sort of, elop-" In a blink, the hooded man zipped up and took him by the shirt.

"We were told the Minish would be in YOUR possession when we arrived… were we misled?"

"It-…It was just a small-HPP!" The man thrusted two fingers into Sandy's waist, piercing perfectly.

"You used up your last request." He removed his fingers and threw Sandy to the ground. "We wasted our time here. But since we're close to Azultown anyway, there's one more meat we can find." And so they vanished in a blink.

The seven figures were flying through the night sky, the shortest one spotting a cloud of dust progressing across the surface. "Hold your stars 'n' garters! Somethin's moving down there."

"It's probably just a sandworm. There're thousands of them here. CP10… let's move out!" One at a time, the assassins vanished.

That trail of smoke eventually came to a stop, 'til Shelly popped out of the ground, knocking sand from her ears. She then pulled her nose up, and let Gonshiri drop to her finger from her right nostril. "Uck! I pray for ANY sentient being my size to borrow your living quarters."

"Hey it was the best place I could think of without swinging you out, at least we're AWAY from them."

"I don't understand… why do YOU wanna protect me? Whaddyou have to…"

Shelly was silent for a minute. She didn't understand why she cared for Gonshiri's safety. …There was only one possible reason: "You're MY servant. And no one is taking you without MY say-so."

"…" Gonshiri said nothing either. That was all she was in Shelly's eyes. And how far she was willing to go. "HMPH!" She jumped to the sand, facing up at Shelly with furious eyes. "Unacceptable!! If I wanted you to protect me, I would've asked you, but I DON'T need your protection and I'm NOT gonna let you fight my battles for me!! SO GOOD-BYE!" The Minish raced across the sand away from Shelly, leaving a tiny trail of dust.

Despite her apparent speed, her road was soon blocked by a giant foot, the quake forcing Shiri onto her bottom. "BE that as it MAY, you are still my SERVANT, and I haven't DISMISSED you YET."

Shiri got back up and faced her with more rage, "I WAS CAPTURED TO BE THE SERVANT OF A PRINCESS, but now that you are clearly defecting from your home, YOU'RE JUST A HUMONGOUS SMELLY LUG WHO'S AS GOOD AS FILTHY, TRAITOROUS TRASH TO YOUR KINGDOM!"

Shelly bent down with her witty, snarky grin. "And outside your kingdom, what more are you than one of billions of grains of sand in this desert? I might be a piece of trash, but I'm still the right amount of force to flatten YOU."

"AAAAAAAUUUUUUGH!!!" Refusing to tolerate this, Gonshiri ran at Shelly's foot and unleashed her most furious and unforgiving of thrashings. "YOU ARE THE WORST PERSON I EVER MET, I NEVER WANNA SEE YOU AGAIN AS LONG AS I LIVE, YOU STUPID WORTHLESS PATHETIC DISGUSTING PIECE OF OVERGROWN HALF-DIGESTED SLOOOOOOP!"

Her fists finally grew tired after 2 minutes, the princess in desperate need of breath after showing Shelly her true wrath. There were no dents in the larger girl's thick skin, and to Shelly, it felt like a measly ant punching her foot with its stubby little legs. "…HAAAAA hahahahahahahahaha!" They always knew how to make each other laugh.

With that, Shelly held her pinky down for Shiri, the latter happily climbing onto her nail. She placed Shiri inside her right ear and said, "Let's go." before starting her arduous quest across the desert.

Farmland in Texas

Morning had come on the third day of Team Emily's travels by the time they arrived at a rural farmland. "Yaaaawn… well, we're in Texas." Emily yawned, rubbing her weary eyes before putting her glasses back on. "Where did you say Uncle Sheldon lived again?"

"On Galveston Island, we still have a few miles to go." Sarah replied.

"Where we'll probably need to sneak onto a boat to sail over." Gary followed.

"I wonder if Sector T is still active, we c'n get supplies from them. After about… 5 minutes or 20." And with that, Emily tumbled out of the G.O.R.I.L.L.A.'s cockpit headfirst and hit the ground. "Ow."

She lay unconscious for who knows how long, but it was still morning. Her glasses fell off, so as she blinked awake, a dark blurry figure was standing over her, upside-down. It stuck something white in its mouth and blew smoke out; a cigarette. Emily rolled onto her front, observing this creature to be a capuchin monkey, a Pipo Helmet on its head. It pulled out a pair of huge square glasses and put them on. "Hey… those are mine."

"AA-AAACK!" The monkey chucked the cigarette at her head before hopping away. Emily scrambled to her feet, squinting her eyes in a hopeless attempt to see the farmland around her. There were blue and red flashing lights atop dark figures that she knew were monkeys. Gary and Sarah dropped down beside her. "There're monkeys here, too. You alright, Em?" Sarah asked.

"Hey, where's your glasses?" Gary asked.

"A monkey stole 'em."

"We better get 'em back. Yer eyes are smaller than peas on a stove. Ah reckon we look like some child's smeared fingerpaint." Sarah said.

"It isn't that bad," Emily walked forward, "I can see just- OW!" She tripped on a cockroach.

"And that's why a good friend carries around a spare set." Gary smiled casually and held an identical pair of glasses to Emily.

She took them, put them on, and stood. "Thanks."

"Now where're those spare braces you promised me?"

"On my model lightspeed train set?"

"Figured."

"There's too many varmints here for there to be normal." Sarah noticed. "Ah reckon we should see what they're up to."

"Good idea. And not only that, sniff sniff." Emily closed her eyes and whiffed. "There's science in the air…" (Play the Mermalair Theme from Spongebob: BFBB.)

Stage 24: Cooper Works

Mission: Catch 15 monkeys and meet Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

The kids abandoned their G.O.G.O.-G.O.R.I.L.L.A. and hurried down the country road, abandoned barns and grassland to the side as the morning drew on. Galloping sounded across the distance and Pipo Monkeys were riding horses from the horizon, spanking the poor animals forcefully as the apes shot Western guns at one-another. Gary and Sarah whirled their Super Hoops and ran at the horses, leaping, batting the monkeys off, and netting them. "'t's alright, li'l pardner." Sarah patted a horse happily. They explored the farmlands and found a 4x4 piece inside a barn, another in a tree, and inside another barn, they climbed a stack of hay, floated up with Sky Flyers, and got onto the walkway just under a roof where a Pipo Monkey began running around. Emily and Sarah ran separate ways and cornered the monkey before Emily caught it.

Otherwise, the farmland appeared fairly empty, even though apes were running everywhere moments ago. However, they saw a capuchin monkey jump out from a bush and hop its way over a decaying wooden fence, up a hill into a large barn. The sign on the fence read, Warning: Do not enter these premises. There is a wild man-eating rooster inside who was tested for rabies. Do not enter, or risk the chickenpox.

"Already had them." Emily retorted, leaping over as her friends joined. Two capuchins were standing guard at the entrance, smoking, but when they saw the kids, they drew out lighters, held them by their rears, and farted powerful flames that forced the kids to dodge. Emily was on her front as she whipped out her slingshot and blasted homing pellets, flinging the lighters away before the apes retreated inside. Emily jumped up and ran inside, but it seems the apes were gone. "Where'd they go?"

"Ah dunno, but there's that man-eating rabies rooster." Sarah pointed at the stiff, mindless creature on a nest.

Emily approached and studied it curiously, tapping its beak. "This isn't a rooster, it's metal." That's when the eyes lit red and scanned the three of them.

"Brain scan reads I.Q. levels at: Two-hundred-and-fifty-three, one-hundred-forty-six, and two-hundred-and-one. Results: one Acceptable, two Passable, deemed as 'Guests'. Recommended entry: the Robbers' Road."

And before either of them could question, a man-size vacuum appeared from the ground and sucked them down at whipping speeds. "WHOOOOOAAAA." Emily hit the metal floor first, then Sarah, then Gary. Emily pushed them off and fixed on her glasses. The scent of filtered air reached her nose as she gazed in awe.

It was something like a Batcave, a vast underground with strong steel structures, dozens of vents, TV screens, and complex wiring that filled Emily with an extreme sense of sciency wonder. A huge light-up sign on a distant wall across the chasm read Cooper Works. "Whooooa! What kind of place is this??"

"'Cooper Works'?" Sarah read. "Did Uncle Sheldon build this place? When did 'e get around to it?"

"Who cares!! Only someone of a truly brilliant mind would have the time and patience!" Emily was red, heart racing like a girl in love. "But… the apes. How would they know about this? Somethin' funny's goin' on and we better stop it!"

The trio moved forward (a 4x4 was behind a sparking terminal) and leapt across a series of round platforms kept aloft by helicopters, seeing a monkey clinging the bottom bar of one of them. Emily and Sarah had the honor of jumping on one side of that platform to make it turn vertical, letting Gary net the ape while the girls helicoptered back to safety. The platforms shifted left into a passage within the wall, coming out in another expansive cave above a chasm where hovering devices, Heli-Gliders, floated above their ledge. "For unauthorized trespassing into my Fortress of Solitude, the culprits are hereby granted one strike. Any further vandalism to this rule shall result in your undergarments being thrown onto the highest telephone wire."

They stuck each of their Sky Flyers to the Heli-Gliders, and continued spinning their gadgets to make the devices fly over the chasm in a straight, direct line. They forcibly stopped over a platform, where some Shelbots – small robots designed like Sheldon's head, awakened, sounding alarms, and blasted mini missiles. The kids batted them away with their Stun Clubs and bashed the robots over the edge. The Heli-Glider beside them would float to a walkway along a cylindrical wall, but a walkway leading down and around this current pillar brought them to a Heli-Glider that would go to a floating 4x4, which Gary proceeded to claim himself, then return. They took turns using the Heli-Glider to the new walkway, really a stairway of long metal planks where certain ones drooped for a second at certain intervals.

They kept sharp eyes on when they would droop and jumped to avoid falling in the abyss. They made it up the stairs and to a wall where many little bars were sticking in-and-out in a similar fashion, so the crew jumped and grabbed their way across the bars, hovering with Sky Flyers before some would retract. They made it to a new set of Heli-Gliders and flew them to a series of floating propeller platforms. Said platforms shifted left and right, respective ones turning over to expose the bladed fan side, so it required more careful maneuvering with Sky Flyer as they jumped and landed on safe ones. A capuchin was using makeshift wings to float over an area, so in the midst of a jump, Sarah managed to net the monkey, then resumed coptering to a safe hold. The end of the platforms had a new Heli-Glider set that flew them to empty space.

However, this empty space had many other sets of Heli-Gliders, forcing the trio to jump to each one and propel their Flyer into them as they solved a maze of Heli-Gliders. One route brought them to a floating 4x4, and along the right route was another flying capuchin that Emily netted while going by. The gliders eventually brought them to an opening in the same wall as where they started, going through to enter a stairway just across the chasm from the first area. The stairs winded around a wall as boulders of dirty laundry were bouncing to them, easy to dodge however. They made it to a flat, straight walkway and saw the cannon blasting the laundryballs on the other side. The kids used Super Hoops to run across faster, picked up a 4x4, and netted the ape controlling the cannon.

Behind the cannon was a sealed door with a speaker. The voice on the other end said, "You can't see me, but I am everywhere. I create all, ensure life for all beings. Make me angry, and I might just split and destroy all in a fiery wrath. What am I?"

Sarah and Gary tapped their chins. But the answer was clear to Emily. "An atom!"

"Answer was: 'Atom.' Result: apparently not an Arceist. Further observation: at least a middle school graduate. Verdict: Acceptable." And so, the door opened to allow them entry. "Welcome to Area 2 of Dr. Sheldon Cooper's Fortress of Solitude. …Here's an interesting fact about automatic PA systems: Doctor Wormenheimer designed the first recorded system as a Halloween prank to scare his colleagues. …Hahahah!" Sheldon's laugh was quick, hoarse, and sounded like a puppy panting. This new room had a wide, round floor with lighting floor tiles, dancing Shelbots who were life-size figures of His Truly, and apes mimicking their movements. Before going to catch the 3 apes, they explored the room, went up a short staircase to a sealed door, and found a movie camera. They pressed the switch and recorded the apes' dance.

One of them dressed like an Ewok, another a Ferengi, and the third dressed like Bender from Futurama. They laughed at us, but we own the future. the text read. With that, Emily caught the Ewok, Sarah the robot, and Gary the Ferengi. The Shelbots appeared harmless, but with the door sealed, it was clear the kids had to mimic their dance. A bulletin board had a diagram depicting the blue squares = Star Wars, yellow squares = Star Trek, and green squares = robots. The nerds shortly realized they had to do the Ewok dance, Ferengi dance, and The Robot on those respective color tiles. They called dances, so Emily got robot, Sarah got Ewok, and Gary got Ferengi, which he unfortunately knew was a mating ritual. Hehe.

The robots bowed in approval when they finished, and the door opened. They collected two 4x4's before heading into a long hallway covered entirely by a carpet. "Please, keep your muddy shoes off my new antique rug. The welcoming mats are better suited for that footwear." The whole carpet was light-brown colored, but various, small square parts of it had a different texture, the hardness of welcome mats within the newly-vacuumed fluffy carpet. Emily carefully observed the different-texture areas and guided her friends in coptering to them, since only one could fit at a time. Partway through, they had to hover to and climb across a rugged area of the right wall. Once again, a monkey floated over the floor, so Sarah jumped off, netted him, and quickly coptered back to safety. When little gravel bits broke off the wall onto the carpet, they got to see the fate of those who dared to soil it: a giant fan from across the hall blew a powerful gust, the kids grabbing the wall tight to avoid blowing with the dust.

"Did you know that the first house fan originated as a prototype for a device designed to better expel dust particles to a single location, making it far easier to vacuum up afterwards? Quite honestly, that's why I've always been against such fans, but I am happy to revive its original use." The kids eventually made it to the end and grabbed a 4x4 as they entered the new room. Lasers skimming horizontally or vertically between the walls, it appeared as though these monkeys were swimming around the air. But the moment the kids stepped beyond the blue line's boundaries, the weight of the world left their bodies, for gravity was nonexistent here.

It wasn't much different than swimming, the Water Net worked here just as well, except they drifted a little forward whenever they wanted to stop, putting them in danger of hitting lasers. The monkeys proved agile in non-gravity, but the kids had them both netted in time. Floating against the ceiling was their 10th 4x4, which "Let me handle this one." Sarah began to construct their next invention.

Kids Next Door: M.A.G.N.E.B.O.O.T.S.

Magnetically Armored Gear Niftily Enables Bvearer Over Opposable Titanium Surfaces

"Dr. Cooper's got just enough metal for boots yer size." Sarah said, giving them to Emily.

"Holy cow!" Emily exclaimed, pulling off her own shoes to exchange for the (oddly light) metal ones. "But how will you guys follow me?"

"Oh, we already have some." Gary and Sarah presented their own boots. "Our cousins are in GKND, but they didn't have any your size."

"Oh. Hehe." She blushed. The following corridor was all an electric floor, so they used the boots to grind across the smooth surface of a nearby rail. It threatened to run off, so they jumped to a rail along the left wall, the magnets pulling them to it excellently as they grinded sideways. This came to an end, and they saw no visible rail, so they kicked off on an impulse, saved by a rail just on the corner of the wall and electric floor. The next rail was a little above them, but since they could only jump up from where the rail top faced (in this case diagonal), they had to forcibly pull their feet up off of this rail so they would fly and stick onto the new one, then repeat this maneuver for the next, on the way catching a monkey clutching the end of the previous, then jump off onto a new center rail. It reached its end and let the kids fly off onto safe ground—"OOF!" Emily just then realized how heavy the metal boots were.

"Probly ain't a good idea to wear 'em all the time." Sarah figured as they stuffed them in the Infi-Cube.

"We can't all be Links." Emily blushed. This new room had floating magnetic cubes that shifted back-and-forth in midair, certain sides lit up to signify which were magnified. There was a red switch on the wall under a sign that read 'Repel/Attract', the arrow pointed at the former as it seemed energy beams flowed away from the cubes. The kids got under the first beam as Emily hit the sign with the slingshot, then put on their boots to fly feet-first onto the cube. From here, it was another maze of walking to a certain side of the cubes, hitting the switch to attract to the next one, until they found the right route of connected cubes to get onto the high ledge. Naturally they managed to find a monkey in all this gravity-shifting dizziness before they made it. They reached another door with a computer lodged in.

"Solve this query: the Justice League is to the Avengers, as Aquaman is to . . . ?"

Emily thought for a second. "…Ant-Man."

"Answer was: 'Ant-Man'. Status update: Still acceptable. You may proceed." With that, the door opened again as the kids entered. "For making it this far, it's safe to decree you high school graduates at best. Heh, don't pat yourself on the back, from my position I can hardly distinguish a difference between any lower level."

"Hehehe, did you hear that guys, I'm already at high school level even though I never finished elementary!" Emily scratched her reacting skin cells.

"We helped, too." Her friends chorused. They were exposed to another vast room over a dark chasm, requiring the use of their M.A.G.N.E.B.O.O.T.S. as a sideways metal path rotated like a planet. When a part of the path rotated past them, they quickly stepped on and felt the dizziness kick in as the sideways world whirled over them. They stomped along to the path's top, and right above was another rotating device of four bars with magnetic platforms on the ends. They pulled their legs up to attract the boots to the panels, then waited for them to rotate beside a panel on a following device, then another, until they dropped down on a complex of rotating pathways that they inevitably had to follow. There were electric bars suspended in midair on various sides of the complex, so the kids had to avoid touching them whenever they flew by.

The many alternate paths were annoying to cross considering how slow they moved in their boots, as well as the fact they couldn't jump incoming electric bars, just wait for them to go by before moving quickly. A monkey was clutching a bar on the exposed interior of an area, but two consecutive electric bars glided over that spot. Just when the second passed, Emily quickly stomped to the edge closest the monkey and swung him in her net, then returned to her friends in the safe spot just before the first bar zapped her. Eventually they located a lever within an interior bar, flipped it with the Stun Club, and activated a Heli-Glider at the top. They were forced to make their way to the top of the structure, avoiding bars that came behind them now, and took turns flying the glider to the safe foothold against the wall.

They found a new Heli-Glider facing an over-chasm of electric walls with gaps in-between, and giant fans along the sides, overhead, and below. A lever beside them would activate the fans and turn them off, so only one could go at a time. Since Emily was the bigshot smarty, she… told Gary to go first, and Sarah shrugged in agreement XD. She stuck his Flyer in the device, twirled, and floated forward. Emily flipped the lever before Gary hit the electric wall, the fan blowing him rightward so he could enter the gap, followed by a fan on his right that blew left so he could enter this gap, then stopped twirling and yelled Emily to stop so he could recompose. The next gap was above a short distance, but considering the momentum, he told Emily to activate, inched forward, then immediately yelled her to stop the moment he breezed upward, so he could be level and enter the gap, then told her to reactivate so the next fan could blow him higher above the electric.

A new fan on his left blew Gary rightward—he yelled Emily to stop before an overhead fan, which would blow him down into an electric tunnel using momentum. He yelled Emily to activate, glided forward quickly, and breezed into the slanted tunnel, not hesitating to keep his momentum, and landed on the floor with a great need for breath. Finally, he flipped a switch to disable all the electric walls, watching the Heli-Glider return to his friends so they could take turns coming over. They entered a new, more expansive hallway where they stood atop a ledge, at level with the head of a robot the size of a house, designed like Spock's head.

Emily eagerly hopped into the cockpit and rode it down, smashing and bashing the tanks and smaller robots that tried to hold her back. She could blast mini missiles from Spock's eyes, and his long ears could thrust forward and punch like fists. At the very end of the passage stood a Specterbot, controlled by the same smoking capuchin that stole Emily's glasses. The Specterbot swung its fists and pushed Spockbot onto its back, but Emily helped it back up with a ready expression and flew forward, head-butting the Specter against the wall. She tried to force the robo Spock head to smash the monkey, but Specterbot countered its force and shoved off, leaping atop the cranium, and aggressively punching down as Emily ducked in the cockpit. Emily rapidly whooshed the steering wheel and spun Spock around and around, the Specterbot falling on its rear. Emily lay the Spockbot on top and pushed the self-destruct. She hurriedly jumped off to let both robots explode.

The monkey lay dizzily defeated as Emily swiped back her old glasses and netted the shifty monkey—whom was named Ricky. The face of Spockbot landed beside Emily, a tear leaking from its eye. Emily sniffled and began to cry, making the Vulcan Salute. "Good-bye, Leonard Nimoy! Sniff!"

They had more than the required monkeys and were able to enter the final door. "Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper welcomes you into his private domain. Again, don't feel so proud of yourselves, I once let a Master's Degree in here. I am, however, obligated to offer you a hot beverage, so please, stay out of my spot on the couch and enjoy." (End song.)

This room was smaller and much less security-heavy. There were two floors, comic books and videogames lined the shelves, a brown couch with three spots sat before a TV, and on the second floor, they saw piles of books stacked around a computer desk, as well as the tops of what seemed like whiteboards. "Hum. Guy has a nice place." Gary said.

"I wouldn't mind living here!" Emily beamed, happily going to plop onto the left cushion of the couch. "AAAHH!" A punching bag in the backrest punched her away.

"That's my spot." The siblings looked at the stairs to the second floor. The renowned scientist, owner of this laboratory, Dr. Sheldon Cooper came down. He was a man in his 30s, with dark-brown hair on an ovular head. His slim, stretchy body made him look like a praying mantis, and his eyebrows curved in a way that would make him look like Joker if he were smiling. He wore a red shirt with The Flash's symbol, dark-blue jeans, and brown shoes.

Sarah and Gary helped Emily up as she straightened her hair and fixed her glasses. "Are you Uncle Sheldon?"

"Oh Lord, my sister didn't have another child without my supervision, did she?" he asked.

"Er, no, she's our friend, Emily, we told 'er about you and she wanted to see." Sarah explained.

"See what?"

"See you."

"See me and then what?"

"She wanted to MEET you." Gary yelled.

"You couldn't've said that from the start, honestly you kids need to work on your wording if you plan to follow my footsteps."

"He's got a point, Sar." Em said, earning a glare from her friend. She then approached the tall, lanky man, her sweatglands and skin cells reacting. "M-M-Mr. Cooper, my name's Emily Garley, and-and uh, you have a really awesome lab, I can just tell you're a really smart guy, I-I-uh, hehehehe."

"Pfft, 'SMART', it's so silly, the things children say when they know so little." Sheldon stifled laughs, going into the room's kitchen. "Though I commend your prowess in making it in here, it took Wolowitz 3 hours by himself." He poured 3 cups of cocoa for his guests. "For your first time, Ms. Garley, you deserve something special." So after bringing their cocoa, he went to a desk, pulled out a sticker, and stuck it on Emily's labcoat. "For you."

She glanced down at the (upside-down) sticker of a cat saying 'Me-Wow!'. "Lovely. …Um, Dr. Cooper, why are there a bunch of monkeys in your lab?"

"Oh, one of my colleagues paid a visit and needed a place to put them. I let them out in the farmland, all of a sudden they come back wearing these flashing helmets, tearing up the place. They started building a satellite outside, now when I try to watch the new Green Lantern cartoon on my television, all I get is some crummy knockoff called Cyan Flashlight. Makes the Green Lantern film look badass."

"Well, Dr. Cooper, we might actually know the cause of these happenings." Emily scratched her head. "Actually, they originated from my grandfather's lab in Adams Tech Co.."

"Your grandfather works for Adams Tech?" he asked with fascination.

"Her grandfather IS Allister Adams!" Gary proclaimed.

"My word! If Stephen Hawking hadn't already occupied the seat (no pun intended), Professor Adams might almost be up there as my intellectual equal."

"You see what I mean with this guy?" Gary whispered to Em.

"Oh, you're a fan of my grandfather?"

"I respect him for climbing up there, but really he should be a 'fan' of me."

"I… see." Emily stared indifferently. "Dr. Cooper, we came because we were wondering if you could help in capturing all of these monkeys, because, um, they're setting up a bunch of TV stations around the world and ruining all of our favorite shows. You'll help us, won't you, 'cause you can't possibly allow such atrocities to go unpunished??"

"Hmmm… well, if it was a choice between this and, what other nonsense passes for TV nowadays, I suppose… but where exactly did it say I would allow a group of children the use of my, dare I say, HOLY technology and possessions?"

"Dare I say, this particular child has more intelligence than atoms in an eraser! I clearly reached 'Master's Degree' level when I'm still technically in elementary school."

"Kmm, I was just finishing high school at your age. I just wish puberty didn't hit during my college graduation. If you want to so much as touch my remote control, PROVE you are worthy of the patience of the mind of Sheldon Cooper."

"All right, Dr. Cooper… if that's your game, I challenge you to a battle! A battle of wits!"

"Hahahah!" The scientist laughed like a puppy.

"Something funny?"

"A battle of wits, goodness you'd think I'm in kindergarten."

"So Mr. Smartest-ass-in-kindergarten is afraid of being smarted by a brat like me?"

"I have grown eons beyond the idea of fear and intimidation, your meager 'taunts' mean nothing-"

"Chicken Maaaan, Dr. Sheldon in the Chicken Cooperrrr, bawky-snort, baaaawwwwk!"

"Oh, hardly-"

"Lay any eggs Dr. Cooper, we can make a great Sheldomelet!"

Sheldon was twitching. "Hu- all right, then. As annoying and as better off they would be as tests for new vaccinations, I suppose children are the future, and what'll our future be without the ability to learn. However very limited in knowledge. Name your game, Ms. Girley."

"Garley." She fixed her glasses. "I'll base my game from something I read in a manga: the Liars' Game. I don't suppose you have a lie detector?"

"Do I have, I am gonna make you weep." Sheldon walked away and returned with the mechanical device with twin helmets.

"Convenient. Let's put these on." Emily took one helmet while Sheldon placed on the other. "Now the game: The two of us thoroughly examine each other and, based on anything we've determined, we have to say a quality that applies to the other person in the form of a sentence, as if we outright know that quality and are speaking the truth. The first person to speak an incorrect quality about the other is deemed a liar. Of course, if we're lying about our accusation, the detector will detect it. Shall we test it?"

"Alright. …You wear rounded square glasses."

"You look like a praying mantis."

"Ah- I do not! Gzzzzzz!" The detector immediately shocked Sheldon.

"Hu hu hu- snort!" Emily laughed, already won. "But here are the rules: you can't say anything about what we look like (i.e. I have blonde hair and large feet), but you can state other things that relate to them, nor can you say anything you have in common with the other person. You may also provide reasons or evidence for your judgments should the need befit you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Clear as snow when it's scorchin'. …As my mother would say."

"You may go first, Dr. Cooper."

"You have gone first, Ms. Garley."

"Very spot-on." Emily was calm and steady, with a look behind her glasses that stated she was focused. "But in future instances, you may go first. Back to me… judging by the quality of this 'Fortress of Solitude', and your relative age, it's no doubt you attained a doctorate at an unusually young age, in your teens at the very least."

"…That is true." Sheldon nodded. "Now I surmise you have a skin condition, although minor, as your regular scratching in various areas is very eye-catching."

"…True." In fact, Emily had been scratching itchy areas nearly the whole time they were talking, and had just scratched the side of her neck. She closed her eyes and thought intently, trying to feel the very atmosphere of this interior. "By the feel of the intriguingly warm, still air via your ventilation system as well as the presence of Flagrance Delight, it's clear as carbon dating that you're a germaphobe."

Sheldon wanted to protest, but remembered his position. "…I am something of a germaphobe, yes. You clearly have a fascination with microbiology, for aside from your persona of a scientist, young girls tend to have the adoration for subjects of miniature size, and no doubt you were teased a lot for being a relative of the infamous nonexistent monster of the large soles, you imagined being of superior size and crushing them."

"…Also true." Emily was sweating slightly. "At some point in your life, you found the concept of love or emotion to be inane."

"Khm, and you have not." He scoffed.

"You're right." Emily stated proudly. "I won't deny having a schoolgirl crush and I'm proud to have feelings for the cutest boy ever. You were raised under strict authority of a devoted Arceist mother, ergo your recurring remarks of the deity that doth not exist."

"Hmph." Sheldon's way of confirming this truth without confirming. "I'm given to understand we've seen our fair amount of science fiction, judging by your so-called inventions of a makeshift lightsaber, transportation net, and radar from a certain game series, your cube containing a sub-dimension from a classic television show, as well as your magnetic boots from another game, you have little to no originality in the basis of your inventions."

"… … …Yes." She became more angry at Sheldon's smug smile, clearly enjoying displaying his knowledge in such a way. "You enjoy getting brain scans."

"Almost as much as I enjoy Boggle with Stephen Hawking." He spoke dreamily. "You have quite the oversized ego, for you most rudimentarily deemed yourself better than your peers in school that you've developed the idiotic sensation you can best a being of intelligence who far exceeds the modern-day mammal."

"I'm proud to say it: I'm the smartest girl where I live while everyone else is dumb as a sack of rocks. But THAT'S no different from where YOU'RE from, ergo you've broken the rule of saying something you've in common with the other person."

". . . . ." Sheldon began to twitch again. He moved his mouth as if implying to want to say something, but no words came out.

"YES! I WIN, I WIN!" Emily pulled the helmet off.

"Oh PLEASE, I threw you that game out of respect and—GZZZZZZT!" Shocked.

"Hu hu hu- snort! But if it matters any, I would like to play again with you. Only this time, we have to say facts that we both have in common." She put her helmet back on.

"Well, then I wish you the best of luck, because asides from my and your 'superiority' to my and your peers, we'll hardly find anything that we share."

"Oh, I disagree strongly, Dr. Cooper." Emily smirked. "And if I may begin, I will say… we both love comic books and manga."

"Correct. …We both have deep admiration for science, regardless of whose intelligence is superior."

"We both find the traditions of religions intriguing, but a waste of time."

"We both tried to develop our own artificial intelligence into a self-designed robot."

"If the aptitude of our brains corresponded with the hotness of supermodels, ours would always be on the cover!" Emily flushed and wiggled.

"Both of us dreamed of being the sole savior of the planet in a sci-fi fantasy!"

"Both of us SOOOOO wanted to hold a real lightsaber!"

"Both of us deceived our neighbor into thinking he won a sweepstakes trip to Tatooine, hah! hah! hah! How would any Earth organization get in touch with a thug-riddled desert planet?!"

Gary and Sarah lounged on the couch (not Sheldon's spot) guzzling chips, waiting for what seemed like hours for their game to be done. "We both weren't surprised when our first laser gun worked." continued Emily.

"We both love to listen to lectures of lesser scientists, just for a good laugh."

"We both have a specific barber we set our eyes on to get our hair just right, no one else."

"We both…. uhhh, we both… uhhh, what is your middle name?"

"Adams."

"HUUUU, both of our full names have 16 letters!"

"OH MY NAMELESS DEITY, both of ours so do!! Is that a model trainset, do we both find the mechanics of trains to be fascinating-?"

"YES WE DO!"

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

Sarah and Gary had plugged their ears shut. Emily and Sheldon threw their helmets off as they touched each other's shoulder, the latter bent down for Emily. They both had giddy faces. "Well, Miss Garley, I have clearly misjudged you! When I look at you, I can only make the distinction my sister had a daughter who turned up a Junior Shelly!"

"Hu hu hu hu- snort! I am getting 101% in math. Ask me any question about math and I'll answer!"

"All right. …How many screws make up this hideout?"

"Let's see. Hmmmm…" Emily closed her eyes and thought. She must estimate the size of this laboratory and its complexity to the best of her ability. "I would guess… about…. Seventy-thousand-four-hundred-and-twenty-two."

". . . . . . ." Sheldon's jaw almost dropped.

"Give or… take a few?" Emily blushed.

"Astonishing. I think I finally found my successor."

"What've we done, Gare." Sarah frowned.

"The unspeakable, Sar."

"Alright, Ms. Garley, I will consider allowing you the use of my supplies for your noble mission. Um, if I may, however, could I scan your brain?"

"Holy cow, I would LOVE a brainscan!"

"You said you two didn't have that in common." the friends chorused.

"No, I just never had a brainscan before, ergo had no established opinion of getting them, but I would've LOOOOVED to get one!" Emily flushed.

"Then please, step into my private quarters!" Sheldon directed her to a doorway in the back. "Goodness, I'm getting the jeebies just thinking about the amount of sparks that occur per second!"

"Me too, huhuhu!" Emily jumped and excitedly trotted to the back room. She had entered and shut the door while Sheldon was still following, but he first looked back to his niece and nephew on the couch.

"Eh; point of interest you should know, at first glance you might assume I got the idea of a secret underground laboratory from the Batcave, but when I was constructing it, I was thinking of Mermalair from Spongebob. Even the part about the couch that tilts you into the slide!" Less than interested, Gary and Sarah munched away their chips. Sheldon pressed a remote, a trapdoor opened behind the couch, which flew back and sent the siblings sliding down. "WHOOOOoooaaaa!"

Sheldon pushed the button and closed the trapdoor before going to the back room. "I wonder if Specter could brainwash viewers with Spongebob as it is, that show's got enough garbage."

Sand Kingdom

Half an hour passed as wind blew furiously, freezing under the dark of knight, Shelly keeping a hand raised to shield herself from the sand, while her other hand was cupped on her ear to shield Gonshiri, no matter how much she wanted to hug herself and warm her freezing skin. "If you were going to attempt some harebrained rescue mission, you could have prepared a more pleasant abode." The Minish stated, lying in a pile of earwax. "Such as cleaning your ear out for instance, it's FILTHY!"

"Yeah, I'm regretting it too, hearing your loud-mouth complaints so close. Next time, I'll stuff you where I can't hear you."

"The typical response of a devolved Neanderthal, it's uncanny how much earwax one accumulates in such a time."

"Well, I was expecting you to clean it out anyway, you ARE a servant."

"Hmph. You clearly underestimate the fortitude of my stomach."

"If I hear any puking, you're going in the back…"

They lost track of time since Shelly started walking, with still plenty of desert to go. Finally, Shelly sat against a tree and shuddered for warmth, clutching her arms tight while her bare legs remained frigid. "This is why I question your desire to wear nothing but that filthy swimwear." Gonshiri stated.

"Just sh-shut up and get in my hair." Shelly told her, pulling her crown off.

"A step up from earwax, I suppose." The tiny Minish hopped from her ear to Shelly's thick forest of black hair. Using her bending, Shelly made a small crater of sand to lie in, pulling her towel cape off and using it for a blanket. "Good news is… it's nice and hot tomorrow." Shelly lay her head on the sandy ground and shortly drifted to sleep, keeping both of them warm for the night.

As Shelly predicted, it was hot and sunny the next day, but with no wind and sandstorm to impede their progress, Shelly could walk forward effortlessly with only a scorching sun to make her sweat. Gonshiri still kept cool inside her ear. "I hope you don't expect me to bathe in that filth you excrete on an hourly basis."

"I wouldn't want some ant polluting it. You don't think I wouldn't want a bath myse-" But at that instant, her stomach growled.

"Ugh, and there's no greater annoyance than the empty stomach of a beast."

"Well, I'd ask you to fill that stomach, but your pitiful size wouldn't help much. Sigh, don't these barren deserts have at least SOME kind of oasis?"

"Only by the will of foolish Minish travelers who go into the desert."

Shelly stopped and squinted her eyes, holding a hand above her eyes as she searched. "…What's that?" A green, tropical area lay in the distance.

"Oh, it's probably just an illusion." Shiri eye-rolled.

"You aren't even looking, Bug. It LOOKS pretty real."

"Because simple, stupid brutes can't even make good use of their own eyes. I guarantee the moment you get there, it'll be all desert."

There…

"Aaaaaahhhhh…" Shelly lied back in relaxation and rested her feet in the cool, clear oasis pool, her face shaded by a palm tree's leaves.

"Okay… perhaps I misjudged your vision, Brute." Shiri admitted.

"A common mistake, Ant." Shelly smiled, picking her nose and wiping boogers in the grass. "Those who doubt the queen are sure to face humilia- Ow!" An apple fell from the tree and hit her face.

"At least I'll be able to silence that rumbling." Shiri stated, standing on the fruit after cutting it down.

Shelly grabbed the apple and sat up with a smirk. "No kidding!"

"Aaaah!" Shiri jumped off quickly before Shelly munched her giant teeth in the fruit. She lied back on the grass while Shiri lay on Shelly's belly, the latter placing the fruit beside her so the Minish could eat.

"Lemme ashk you shomething though, Bug Queen." Shelly spoke through chews, swallowing. "Why did they want to take you?"

"How in the world should I know that. What Minish understands the mind of any brute?"

"Far harder for us brutes to read such tiny, tiny brains. How do I know you aren't hiding something from me?"

"But, why ever would I hide something from my dear master?" she bowed sarcastically. "'Tis my duty to report anything, lest I meet a terrible fate."

"Well, why do you think they wanted to take you?" Another munch of the apple.

"Well, as a Minish, I can't imagine being of use to ANY human besides as a slave. …Well, I suppose my plantbending."

Swallow. "Plantbending?"

"Sigh, I was born with unusually large Plantbending Chi. They made me study all sorts of forms with it, and in doing so, I also studied earthbending. 'Tis part of a Minish's natural heritage after all."

"How good is it?"

"To an extent, I guess it's worth a few thousand blurpleberries."

"Can you show me?"

"Ohhh… if I must." Shiri hopped into the grass as Shelly got to her knees. The Minish princess closed her eyes and waved her hands smoothly as grass and flowers began to grow rapidly around the oasis. Shelly gaped as she was suddenly risen into the air by strings of vines, taking her about 40 feet as a throne formed for her to sit on. Her arms rested on two rests as all kinds of flowers bloomed around her, some taking the form of a hand as it poured water into a cup-like flower, and poured it down Shelly's throat. Some vines began to rub her shoulders and feet while the human princess lied back in both relaxation and astonishment.

A vine then stretched over for Gonshiri to stand before Shelly's face. "What- …You can really do all this?!"

"Well, I suppose any decent plantbender can, but I'm supposed to be able to do more… or something."

"Well, why didn't you do this to escape?!"

"Obviously, because I can only bend plants where plants exist. I was born with the power to grow and manipulate the life force of any plant, including extinct ones. I can bring any dead plant back to life. At least… that's what the elders told me."

"So is that why my dad had you kidnapped?"

"If I could assume, but I still don't know why. I wouldn't begin to attempt to understand your dimwitted family." And with a snap of her fingers, the plant tower and throne shrunk back to the ground.

"WAAAAAHH- UUH!" Causing Shelly to fall on her face.

Gonshiri lightly came down with a flower umbrella and landed on her shoulder. "Thus is my crazy superpower. A little something to show as we're indefinitely on the run."

"Yeah yeah, I'll think of something." She bit her apple again. "I don't suppose you have any particular retreats we can go to at the top of your head?"

"Well… there is one. My mom said that if I ever became lost, I should go to the Boggly Woods and see the Punies."

"Punies, ah? Sound like fun people to bully. Where is it?"

"Around the northern edge of Kochi, Japan."

Shelly instantly collapsed. "Well, that's an awful long way to retreat, isn't it?"

"At least I had the brains to think of something…"

"Sigh, whatever. Let's look for a town or something and maybe hitch a ride to the nearest harbor. …'t's gonna take a lot of swindling to get enough change." After grabbing some fruit from the oasis, the royals continued their walk across the desert. (Play "Gerudo Desert" from Zelda: Twilight Princess.)

Stage 25: Sand Kingdom

Mission: Attempt to find a means of getting to Japan.

Act 1: Dusty Desert

And so began Princess Shelly's grand walk across the desert. Not like it hadn't begun last night. Being a princess on the run really was a joy. And what a poor choice of clothing, not that she'd admit it to Gonshiri. Like the start of any desert level, naturally Shelly was attacked by Moldorms jumping out at her, easy to blast away with gushes of sand she blew out of the ground. She trekked over a hill and down the other side, coming to a gorge area with a few platforms she couldn't jump to from here. But it wasn't a deep pit, so she dropped onto the ground below where a shallow, thin river flowed. There was a patch of soil at the base of a platform, but they weren't sure if a seed was in there. "Then why don't you use Seismic Sense, Master Earthbender." Gonshiri remarked. "Search the ground for any possible seeds."

Rolling her eyes, Shelly closed her eyes and felt the earth closely. She wasn't that good at sensing around the sand yet, but nothing was in the soil. She walked around the gorge floor and sensed a few tiny objects beneath. She thrusted a gush of sand up at one spot, and only got a pebble. She thrusted up at another, and when the beetle tried to nip her toe, she smooshed it. Then finally, a spot of sand had a seed underneath, which Shelly placed into the soil. "Water it a little." Shiri told her. "I may be able to revive dead plants, but I haven't yet perfected the skill, help me out." Sighing again, Shelly scooped up some water and dropped it onto the soil. Shiri jumped down beside the soil and waved her arms until the seed grew into a skimpy beanstalk, which was very skinny for Shelly's huge hands, and very weakly supported her weight as she climbed up, with Shiri back on her shoulder.

Shelly jumped the few platforms, although the last one was too far from the following path, so with a quick and precise stomp, Shelly flung the foothold off its perch and against the cliff, but went stumbling forward due to her near-miss aiming. Shiri didn't much appreciate the sudden stumbling of her giant vessel, and scolded Shelly as they recovered. They followed a route carved between some sand mounds before arriving at a distant lake of quicksand. Shelly wouldn't dream of attempting to cross such unstable sand, but there were a few tall pillars with cacti atop them leading to a small isle. Shiri could use her exceedingly light weight to run across the sand and get to the first pillar, hopping her way up to stretch long vines from under the cacti.

Using this, she wrapped vines around Shelly's arms to hold her up as she stomped across the quicksand, sinking a quarter way. She was getting too far for the vines to reach, so she kept those vines holding her while she rushed to the following pillar, using that cacti's vines to keep Shelly up further. The human eventually made it to the safe isle as Gonshiri skipped over to join her. They had no way of getting across the further sea, but a soil patch was stationed at the edge. She didn't find anything under this ground, but saw a taller isle a few meters from this one. "Just make platforms appear out of the sand." Shiri told her. Shelly sensed the earth under the sand to the isle and stomped the ground to make some unstable platforms come out. "I hoped for better results than that."

Shelly rolled her eyes and proceeded to jump the platforms, nearly losing balance as they shook, but regained herself and got onto the isle before they fell. There was dead grass planted, and when Shelly felt around the isle, she forced up a few small coins and a seed. But with the platforms fallen, Shelly had to thrust a piece of this isle over to the other one, collapsing on the sudden, forceful impact. She planted the seed- "Water!" "Uuuuugh!" and after searching this isle again, there was an odd cavern of water below, so she thrusted up and yanked the stream out of the ground like oil, the fountain sprinkling onto the soil so Shiri could stretch a rail-vine across part of the sand. Its slippery surface made grinding easy, though gave Shelly a foot-cramp while trying to keep balance, but Shiri couldn't keep stretching the vine before they got too far and Shelly's weight started to sink it. She unfortunately fell in the sand and frantically tried raising it when she began to sink. An Ampilus was conveniently nearby, and when the crustacean rolled at her in its shell, a thrust of her arms to the left forced the crab on its side with a gush of sand.

Shelly dropped to and safely stood on the snail, though with the very weak flow, it would surely sink before long. However, they noticed they were close to a tiny isle with a little hook-like sprout, and when Shiri used her bending to make it grow, a Peahat emerged. Shiri called it over as Shelly grabbed tight to its roots, dirt falling onto her face as Shiri made it fly them to the shore. It was growing very weak from Shelly's forceful grip, but were close enough to shore to drop off and get on. They followed a slope downward to another wide, but not deep gorge, with only a single small platform in its center, and soil at the edge where she stood. Shelly dropped down and viewed the gorge bottom, which had another shallow river, and headed for the cliff on the other side. "Dare I ask why not prepare a ledge for yourself?"

While Shelly wished to avoid another snarky remark, she'd get one anyway. "OW!" In attempting to yank a ledge out, she was flung away by its sudden, though very unstable, appearance. "I see." said Shiri. So with an annoyed sigh, Shelly began to search the earth for seeds. She sprouted up a few Leevers and Cheep-Cheeps, but when she searched around a crack in the wall, she punched it open to reveal a secret cave. "At least a Neanderthal knows how to break things." Inside this cave was a chasm where rock piles appeared to be clogging holes in the walls, and when Shelly used bending to force them out, sandfalls poured. With very careful timing, Shelly jumped to each consecutive fall, made a brief, though weak sand-foothold, and made it to the following ledge. She sensed and forced a seed out of the ground, then had to jump across again to safety.

To get back onto the ledge, there were little sand patches with platforms of varying height underneath, which Shelly had to stomp up and use as stairs before they sank. She planted the seed, but then had to go down and scoop water in her hands. It was a little more tricky to stomp and jump the platforms while keeping her hands steady, but managed this as she splashed the water onto the soil. Shiri whirled her arms to make it grow and- "WHOA!" both leaped back when a long vine with a yellow plunger foot popped out. It further emerged, revealing a round, orange, yellow-spotted head with white pupils inside black oval-eyes, and a frowny face. The rest of it emerged, the other long plunger-leg, as the leg sticking up fell toward the gorge and latched on the middle platform.

From here, its other leg was about to lift up from the ledge and bend to the other one, so Shelly grabbed hold of it and flew over with it. The Bramball kept repeating this across the following road, but Shelly could run ahead. They arrived at another sand sea with many little isles scattered about below. Shelly could stomp the closest one to make it level with her ledge, but too far to jump. The Bramball was catching up, and they watched as one of its flexible legs flipped over to the foothold. They realized they needed to guide the Bramball around a maze of liftable platforms, so Shelly grinded to this current one and kept it standing while Shiri dropped into the quicksand and skittered around to examine the maze. It became a tiring chore for Shiri's tiny legs, since that sand sea was many miles at her perspective, so studying the order of the huge islands was hard to keep track of. Pokeys were also roaming the quicksand, but Shiri was far too tiny to be seen by them. Eventually, she returned to Shelly's platform and reported the order.

She continuously raised whichever platform they wanted the Bramball to stretch to, until they achieved the right order. But it seemed the area before the new path had no platform, but as a Pokey was in the vicinity, they waited for it to move between the platform and the cliff so the Bramball could step off it, to the path, and let them cross. But if they followed an alternate route, they could get to a strange floating sock in midair (needing a Pokey to reach it), but since it looked too small for Shelly, she had no interest. The Bramball was still going, following a downward slope as they made it to a small lake of crystal-clear water. The ledge on the other side was too high to climb to, and the Bramball wouldn't get in the water. "I suppose you don't know how to swim." Gonshiri implied.

"Pfft, better than YOU, Centiworm."

"Yes, unfortunately you may need my assistance down there, so a worthiable container is necessary." Sighing once again at her nagginess, Shelly threw off her towel-cape and bucket and dove into the cool water. She swam a little bit and was fairly decent, but never really dove this deep or held her breath this long. Even worse when she had to keep her hands planted on the ground, keep herself from pushing away, and just as well focus on holding her breath AND sense around for useful stuff. She survived by breathing air bubbles that puffed out of gaps, and after much keeping-her-hands-on-ground, she forced a small jar out from under the sand. She gasped for breath at the surface, and held her jar down for Gonshiri to get in. But as there was no lid, Shelly had to plant a hand over the top to hold the air in as she dove under again; putting full attention in keeping her hand over lest Shiri drown in a millisecond.

She swam to odd-looking seaweeds which Shiri could sprout with her bending – despite the glass barrier in her way, and make lilipads rise to the surface. The pads were large, but too light to support Shelly's weight. But once they were aligned between both ledges, the Bramball began crossing, so Shelly hurriedly got on to ride its longlegs. She let Shiri onto her shoulder and raced down the slope to the open desert. There wasn't anything to stop her from reaching the town miles ahead, so she went for it. Although, she looked left and noticed a secret area where far-apart platforms aligned like stairs in a pool onto a highest platform, where another weird sock floated. They likely had to wait for the Bramball to come all the way there so it can take them up the stairs, but Shelly still bore no interest and proceeded to town.

"It's astonishing, really, you've been using your earthbending for 5 months to humiliate a first-grader, but when it comes to using it in a natural environment, you can't even fling a decent boulder." Shiri mentioned on the way. "Have you really been neglecting earthbending training the entire time you were away?"

"Well, you aren't really the best PLANTbender either, puttin' up a decent show in that oasis, I expected you to turn a dead seed into a forest."

"Look, my guardians TOLD me I had that power, but a lot of the training was forced on me, and frankly it was annoying, and plantbenders are supposed to have good 'bonds with nature', which I've had less than an interest for. You, on the other hand, possess the recurring dimwittedness earthbenders bring, you should've been more than excellent at the skill."

"Well, it's hard to practice openly with so many LESS-graders running around. Plus, I had duties to eye over my school and my kingdom, so I didn't have time to train."

"Yes. Your tiny, tiny kingdom."

Finally, they arrived at the old rundown desert town, populated by people in Arabian robes or very raggedy clothing, small buildings with cracked walls and wooden windows, and goats and chickens roaming freely while kids chased them. "I must ask you, Sandshrew, do any of these subjects know you're their queen?"

"Well, we're… kind of a secretive monarchy. Like on Beauty and the Beast."

"Ahh, the dramatic truth, your egotism and high opinion over your twerps is making the inner turmoil, you have nothing."

"Yeah, well how many of your subjects care about YOU, Dumbbutt?" Shelly snapped as she entered the city street. "I don't even NEED followers, I kick my own butt, but none of YOUR friends've ever come to rescue you, yet."

"Perhaps, but I'm still more highly respected and regarded than you'll ever be."

"Siiigh."

They passed a small cage of chickens to a small, shaded alley, where Shelly sat against a wall while Shiri dropped to the ground to rest. "Just how in the world did you plan to get to Japan?"

"Even if I were able to continue my training with the elders, I didn't have any care for going there at first, and assumed they would provide me with transportation. How'm I to expect when Neanderthals trudge out of nowhere and snatch me for their tweezers?"

"Well, you won't find any cash stuck to my feet, unless particular grains of sand serve as some form of currency." She brushed her feet of any sand. "How are we gonna scrounge up enough dough to pay for a plane to Kochi?"

"Don't know." Shiri was scraping off what little dirt she acquired off her toes. "But I'm sure your hare brain will concoct another harebrained scheme."

"…" Shelly glanced left and continued down the alley, finding a back area with piles of old bricks and scraps. Shelly picked a single brick up and shook it. "You up for playing dumb?"

Much later

"STEP RIGHT UP, see the moderately intelligent flea!" Shelly announced as customers chucked coins into her bucket crown and entered the alley. "Never saw one like it before it found its way out of my hair, step right up and SEE the flea's mind work!"

This backyard had an obstacle fortress created out of blocks, and in one corner was an odd-looking flea sniffing about for food in her little enclosing. When Shelly gave the thumbs-up, Shiri grabbed the tiny cardboard's string in her teeth and pulled it down, skittering into a maze and navigating through it in seconds. She then had to swing a group of strings hanging from twigs attached with tape, then appeared in a passage with floors of super-sticky tape with little pebbles around it. Shiri leaped to each pebble with careful precision, before arriving at the next passage where she had to roll a pebble (boulder at her size) up a slope and across a narrow, zigzag path. She pushed it off onto a small seesaw that flung a marble against a domino blocking an archway, knocking the array of other dominos down.

After running across the dominos, the flea came to a giant apple piece blocking her path, hurriedly munching and digging a tunnel through to the other side. She ran onto an open field at the ground floor, where two chickens roamed mindlessly, but very gigantic monsters at Shiri's size. She swiftly evaded their giant beaks as they shot down to smash, but she also had to grab a twig from a pile in her teeth, run to a long, narrow gap, and with great precision, chucked it straight onto the top of a long, standing thin board, causing the weight to shift toward her and fall onto the gap to make a bridge. From here, it was a straight shot to the outside, where she leaped onto Shelly's foot, to her slanted knee, her naval, her shoulder, and safely to Shelly's forest of hair.

"She always knows how to find her way home!" Shelly announced as the crowd murmured with interest, chucking extra cash into her bucket.

The girls lied and relaxed in the alley after a few more shows. "Uuugh, you canNOT expect me to keep this up much longer." Shiri exclaimed with pure numbness in her legs. "Tiny legs are not for acrobatics."

"Yeah, but at least we made a little over a few bucks. Er… assuming this country's money complies with American money. Maybe we can also sell you for service, quick clean out my nose and ears and we'll time you."

"I am NOT selling myself to that, it's bad enough scouring ONE mountain of dung, I can't IMAGINE what these filth bring."

"You never had to scour my dung."

"I was referring to your being."

"Hello there." The girls' hearts skipped a beat at the sight of an elderly man in a yellow robe with withered dark skin, white beard, and strange narrowed black eyes.

"Uhhhh you here for the show?" Shelly asked.

"I hears you havin' some money issues." He spoke in a dark, gruff voice.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"You runnin' a flea show and gots only a swimsuit."

"…Your point?"

"I know a place you can get some money. This map shows you to a temple, jus' northeast of here." He handed Shelly some parchment, which had a wrinkled map of town and the desert around it, with a northeast area circled. "Plenty o' treasure in there."

Shiri hopped onto Shelly's shoulder as they viewed the map with interest. "Hmmm… but what's your catch? Why show it to us, intending to 'share' some of the money with us?…" When the girls looked up, the man was already gone. "Yello?"

"Well, let's just see where it leads us." Gonshiri said. "Better than what we have."

So Shelly kept her eyes on the map as they left town and trekked several miles across the desert. She followed the general direction of what it said best she could, but didn't see any sign of a temple nearby. But after walking up a hill, the sand became more straight, and Shelly soon felt flat ground under her feet. "Hm?" Glancing away from the map for a brief moment, she noticed her foot was just inches from a hole broken into some golden-brown surface. Shelly got on all fours and peeped her eye into the hole, seeing what seemed to be a floor below. "Hm. This looks kinda weird." She got back up and attempted to stomp the ground open. "I can't break it."

"It must be chi-protected. Let me look." Gonshiri leapt off Shelly's shoulder and studied the hole. "Wait… I know what this is. It's a Minish Portal!"

"A what?"

"An artificial one, at least. This looks like an ancient temple dug underground by Minish." Shiri jumped into the hole. "And there's still Minish Dust! Shelly, stand over the hole."

Shrugging, the princess planted her feet on either side of the hole. She watched as a swirl of green dust came up and circled her form. In a puff of green smoke, "WHOOOooooaa!" she went falling into the hole, hitting a floor below. She shook to her senses and got back up, Shiri walking beside her at precisely her height.

"Well, it's nice we finally get to see eye to eye." she remarked.

It was a weird sight for both of them, really, the two being exactly the same height. Looking Shelly in the eyes directly, Gonshiri couldn't believe those were the same mountain-size feet, the same thick forest of hair, and the ears and navel that had been Shiri's resting quarters, belonging to the same ape of incomprehensible size and unbelievably low intelligence. And Shelly couldn't believe how that microscopic termite drastically increased in size in the span of a second, or rather, how incredibly small Shelly had become in that time. It was so weird looking at Shiri this way, she was totally used to her being 1/4th the size of her pinky toe. Not that her new size would alter her attitude in any way. "SHUT UP, Termite, I can kick your can anyday. What is this?"

"I don't know, but it's clearly an old Minish temple. I'm not sure why it's here, but it won't hurt to find any treasures the man may've mentioned. Let's begin excavating. And please, if walking becomes too much a chore for these itty-bitty legs, don't feel ashamed about crawling." She smiled smugly before walking forward. Shelly followed the Minish with spite. (Play "Fire/Sand Temples" from Zelda: Spirit Tracks.)

Act 2: Buried Temple

The two princesses followed a corridor around some huge piles of sand; which were essentially small rocks at their size. The door out of this corridor was locked, and Shelly's earthbending wouldn't bust it. But she could search the piles of sand, feeling around for any hint of a key with Seismic Sense. Her sense felt stronger somehow, for she found the key buried near the top of a pile and fished it out. She opened the door into a wide room with a low ceiling, where they stood on a safe foothold over a pool of quicksand, waves surfing from the right wall to the left. "Astonishing, the architects of this temple have broken grains of sand into much smaller grains as equivalent to humans. Be careful not to fall in it." Shiri said.

"I figured that out from the start, Dumbo. Let's just sandbend across."

"I figured out that your bending is faulty regardless of chi-blocks, and that some mechanism is constantly stirring the sand to make waves, sure to wash away whatever platforms you make. Hmmm…" On the right wall appeared to be some yellow, decayed vines where a boat-size leaf was rusted and hanging. Gonshiri stood on the edge, stretched her hands forward, and focused her energy in hopes of bringing it. "Nnnnnnn!" The leaf weakly twitched until it snapped from its rusty stem, landing on a passing sandwave as the girls hopped on, surfed like a board, and jumped off on a safe platform while the leaf hit the wall and crumbled. They entered a short, dead-end hallway with cracked structure and a stone lever on the wall. Halfway through, a swarm of Mulldozers, blue and red spotted bugs that moved at frantic speed, dropped in and ran in circles. Shelly and Shiri were knocked down and shoved around with no chance at getting up, it reminded Shelly of the time she told her knights to kick this boy who stole her-

Before she finished that thought, Shelly punched the ground and flipped them all upside-down with a quake, then she pierced all their gooey underbellies with her wooden sword. With that, she flipped the ancient stone lever with her bending, since she couldn't reach that high, causing the sandwaves outside to shift direction. They now surfed to the right side of the room. Gonshiri plucked down another rusted leaf-boat from their wall, put it on a forming wave, and surfed over. There wasn't anywhere to go from the new platform, but Minish statues lined the wall to the foothold on the northern side. Shelly punched the wall and made the statues fall horizontal with her bending, the girls jumping across before they crumbled.

The ceiling of the new hallway stretched higher as it went, and yellow blue-striped slugs called Sluggula covered the parallel walls. The entirety of the floor was spikes with Minish skeletons, so Shelly and Gonshiri knew they had to climb the sticky slugs. They climbed along the left wall and couldn't hold the slugs for too long, lest they detach from the weight. This slug wall reached a dead end before a wilted root, so Gonshiri concentrated her bending to stretch it to the opposite slug wall. They climbed across and climbed up these slugs, making it onto the safe foothold. They stopped and flinched before this new room: an ordinary Aracha slumbered, but was the size of a two-story house and roughly 20 feet long. A key sparkled under its one snoozing eye, and they wouldn't be reaching for it easy.

They searched the room and found what Shiri recognized as the antenna leaves of 5 Pikmin, which she plucked herself. She guided the creatures to the front and ordered them to pull out the key while the princesses hid behind the doorway. Their little "Hup-to" chants echoed softly, growing fainter in the girls' ears before the sound of the lock unclicking rang. The girls ducked when the Aracha screeched, sprang to life, and shook the ground by stabbing its tail behind him, followed by the eerie moans of departed Pikmin souls. The Aracha burrowed beneath the ground and was gone, so the princesses seized the moment to run into the door.

They faced a narrow, long hallway where sandwaves surfed down from the other end. On the next-door left wall was a stone lever which Shelly flipped with her bending, making the waves move the opposite way. Gonshiri plucked a dead leaf-boat off the wall so the kids could surf. Though the boat remained steady, it was level with a bar connecting both walls and would likely crash, but seeing a lever on the right, Shelly quickly flipped it with bending, causing the wave to sink and for a new one to flow the other way. Shelly flipped it again, so the wave would lift them, head the intended direction, but allow them to slide beneath the bar while the wave was still rising.

They were about to hit a high ledge, so Gonshiri grabbed Shelly's hand and leapt to grab a root dangling from the ceiling. The leaf crumbled against the ledge, and after the wave was gone, the girls swung onto the base stair against the wall and climbed onto the foothold. The sandriver on the second half washed their direction, but no leaf-boats were around for their aid. Minish statues lined the left wall, and they saw they led to a row of dangling roots, so Shelly toppled the statues over to serve as platforms. From there, the girls swung the roots, but that's when they spotted (giant) Sand Tadpolis riding along the waves, attempting to jump and snack on the swinging morsels, so the girls made sure to keep between them while hanging from the roots. The root-vines made a zigzaggy path, but they eventually took land on a left platform.

"There's the door." Gonshiri pointed, for the end of the hall was only a short distance. "Know how we can cross the rest of this river?"

"I'm gonna chance it." Shelly said. "Time for some sandbending!" So after the next wave passed, Shelly quickly pulled a sand pillar up and pulled Shiri on with her, rapidly waving her arms to move it to the doorway, and the moment the sandwave came to wash it down, the girls jumped. "Sigh… there may be hope for you." Shiri said. The girls entered a small room where the entire floor was sand, but not quicksand at first step. When they stepped onto the center, their body weight was detected by the temple, and the floor began to sink as a whirlpool formed under their feet.

They threatened to sink, but large stones flowed down from the walls to the center, the girls hopping to and around them while the whirlpool itself shifted down like an elevator. Mulldozers fell on the sand and rushed around and around destroying boulder platforms. Shelly grabbed bundles of sand in her bending and splashed it over the bugs to push them to the center and sink them. Fewer boulders appeared to stand on, so Shelly created sand platforms between distant boulders so both girls could cross over. Scissors Beetles were the next enemies to appear, grabbing boulders in their huge pinchers and chucking at the princesses. Shelly threw the boulders back, but more beetles came, so for the rest of the sink, it was hopping to higher boulders and defending from flying boulders.

Finally, their current boulders hit safe ground, the last of the sand swirled into the tiny hole, and Shelly squished the remaining beetles with boulders. They entered a narrow, empty hallway alit with ember rocks that served as Minish torches. (End song.)

"So you bending dead plants… is that like a once-in-a-lifetime skill?" Shelly asked.

"There are plantbenders who can only bend living plants and some who can bend dead plant matter. Those are the rare ones, but no plantbender but myself can control both. Some have called it lifebending."

"That's just creepy."

"It'd be creepier if I could bend flesh beings. Honestly, I never saw this power being special. So I could revive plants, big deal, plants die every day and new ones grow, if I brought the old ones back, I'd be cluttering space. A useless power, it's all it is."

The end of the hall led to what seemed like a carved tunnel, sloping up on their left and down on their right. Shelly knelt down, closed her eyes, and put a hand on the floor. "Well, it's really complex. Can't see any good direction. I… What's that?"

The tunnel started quaking, and Shelly felt the source, rising a few meters to their left. "AAAAAEEEERRR!" The girls dodged back to let the giant, pinchered centipede they knew as a Moldorm slither down the tunnel.

"Crap, I never seen one THAT big!!" Shelly exclaimed.

"Yes… but you've never seen me so big, either." (Play the Lizalfos Theme from Zelda: Skyward Sword.)

Boss fight: Moldorm

The girls hurried into the rugged tunnels in search of a way out, finding the area ahead barren. But the caves shook and Shelly felt the Moldorm's presence looming just below them. "Run!" Shelly grabbed her friend's hand and dashed forward just when the centipede sprouted up. Its body took the width of the tunnel, the girls running desperately as its pinchers inched closer. "This way!" Shiri ducked into a hole in the wall with Shelly, barely missing the Moldorm. They peeked out and saw its glowing red behind turn a rightward corner. "Let's go." Shelly kept running with her Minish friend behind. The tunnels were mazey and they saw no sign of an exit. The earth shook as the Moldorm was stampeding down the road behind them. Seeing no holes nearby, Gonshiri pointed at the roots dangling from a ceiling enclosing, concentrating chi with all her force, and stretched the roots down for both to grab hold and pull up. The Moldorm stampeded away, seeing nothing, and the girls safely dropped down.

"We're gonna have ta deal with that thing if we wanna go on." Shelly panted. "But my feet ain't big enough ta smoosh it now."

"And this is why Minish study the natural weakness of all bugs." Gonshiri said calmly. "First, you need eyes to see its glowing red behind."

"I know how ta recognize a weak behind, but how're we supposed to damage it?"

"You're the earthbender. Get behind and send a rock-spear."

The Moldorm was coming from below, so Shelly pulled Shiri down the opposite cave. Its head popped up, but they only saw the backside as it curiously searched for its prey. It begun to crawl out straight ahead, so Shelly steadied herself, felt the earth, and waited for the opening. The moment the bulbous behind showed, Shelly stomped the rock chunk forward, striking the unfortunate critter. The caves shook harder as it skittered about angrily. Boulders fell from the ceiling and threatened to crush them, but they took cover in a hole to avoid some and evade the Moldorm when it skittered by. "Look out!" Shelly pulled Shiri out before their safe spot itself crumbled in on itself. The shaking hadn't subsided, for the Moldorm was coming right back around, so the girls bolted.

The Moldorm was quickly catching up, the girls looking desperately for a hole, but no such thing, and the Moldorm would eat them in seconds. "NOW OR NEVER!" Shelly leaped forward, put great force in her feet, and smashed a man-size hole in the ground, the Moldorm just barely scraping her crown by its belly before it passed. "Aaaaah!" She climbed up when Gonshiri screamed, and Shelly realized her friend was still on the run. "GONSHIRI, where are you!"

"On the corner of life and pincheeeerrrs!" Her friend had run back past the crossroads, the Moldorm hot on her tail. Shelly ran out and tried to fling a boulder at its behind; except a steel shell protected the weak spot. "CRUD! It's got a shield, what should I do!"

"Moldorms ordinarily lower their defense when their underbelly is flipped up!" Gonshiri echoed. Shelly took a minute to calm down, hoping Shiri's feet moved as fast as they did from bird's-eye. Shelly focused only on the earth, and when her connection was set, she nimbly spun, swung her arms, and sliced perfect parallel lines into the earth. Gonshiri was heading her way, so Shelly readied, seeing the Moldorm close behind. Quickly, she burrowed beneath a hole, yanked Gonshiri down by her ankles, punched the wall of her hole, and thrusted up the wall she divided from the ground. The cave shook massively as the Moldorm tripped, sliding along its back to a halt. The red rear was exposed, so Shelly stomped and stabbed a rock-spear into it. The Moldorm screamed and burrowed underground again.

Not long after did the ground quake beneath them, and the girls dodged forward before its massive pinchers popped up like a mousetrap. They sank back down, and four consecutive times did it snap up to try and eat them. On the fifth try, it burrowed directly up and through the ceiling. The girls ran when it came down from the ceiling above, through the ground, and kept this pattern repeating. "You know what you have to do, right?" Shiri asked. ("Uh-huh.") Shelly nodded as both girls ran separate directions, though the insect went for Shelly again. She dodged anyway, waited, and rock-speared the red rumpus when it passed by. A chunk of the ceiling that was its length collapsed as he fell through. Ravenous and angry, it chased Shelly solely through the tunnels, Gonshiri dodging an alternate way.

"Anytime you wanna help, Princess, it's fine by me!" Shelly cried.

Gonshiri looked at the broken ceiling and saw wilted roots and leaves dangling. She gripped the rugged wall, climbed, and stretched a root her way to grab onto. "Bring him back!" Shelly did so and lured the Moldorm back through the cave. "Throw me your sword!" Thinking fast, Shelly tossed the wood blade directly upward, the Minish catching it as she dropped onto the Moldorm's armored back. She kept balance and hurried to the rear, standing over its exposed weak point. This wood sword, flora that's been dead for who knows how long, what decent weapon could she make out of this. She struggled to focus the chi she apparently had, channel all of her power in this dead wood. To her astonishment, a sakura petal sprouted, she didn't know why, maybe this sword came from a cherry blossom tree. Like any Minish knew, the sakura petal was sharp and deadly, so this would be her victor.

"AAAAAAEEEERRR!" Gonshiri impaled the petal into the monster's rump, Shelly clapping her ears shut as she watched it flail about. Within seconds, the beast exploded, releasing yellow goo that Shelly shielded from with a rock wall. With that, she located and reunited with Gonshiri, wiping herself clean. Both girls filthy, sweaty from victory, they exchanged a proud smirk and bumped fists. (End song.)

A few more minutes of exploring the tunnel finally brought the girls to a large, round chamber with normal-size sand. "As fun as that was, I still ain't seein' any treasure." Shelly said.

"You might want to look in front of you." Gonshiri said, pointing at a pedestal in the center where a small, hand-size scepter rested. Shelly walked over to pick it up. Its handle was brown, with a gold bottom ring and top horns enclosing upon a central white diamond. "I've seen that before… in a book." Shiri stared with awe. "It's the Sand Wand!"

"Sand What?"

"It's a wand that's imbued with Sand Chi, to help with sandbending. 4000 years ago, the Minish mages constructed it specifically for the Quartzite Family, whom were renowned sandbenders."

"Quartzite? That's my middle name!"

"It is, is it? Then you're part of the Four Earthbender Families."

"Never heard of those."

"Well, the Four Families were friends with the Minish, I believe among the first earthbenders seen on Earth. Each studied and mastered a particular style of earthbending: the Granites studied normal earthbending on its own, the Quartzites studied sandbending, the Sovites learned lavabending, and the Hornfels knew metalbending. There were also implications of a family that could bend crystals, but no direct mention. The families have long since scattered, so not many know where the current descendants lie."

"So this thing can help with sandbending. Mmmm…" So with that, Shelly whooshed her wand, and a pillar of sand rose a few meters away. "Hwhoa!" She jiggled and wiggled the wand, making sand gushes dance in the form of a lava lamp. "Ha ha! All right!" She aimed at her feet and rose herself into the air, happily skipping and surfing across the sand platforms she controlled. "Shooting staaaaar!" She landed and flew a stream of sand overhead. "Pop pop POP!" She made a row of sand geysers like landmines going off. "Aaaaaaaaand-" Sand swirled and whirled in the air above the girl, "FREESTYLE!" creating several sandpeople that tap-danced giddily. "Now let's squash 'em." She dispersed them into tiny sandpeople, happily squishing them.

Shelly acquired the Sand Wand! With this, her sandbending will be more superb than ever! Just aim it at a spot of sand and control it with ease! Desert travel never seemed funner. ;)

"Could this be the treasure the old man spoke of?"

"Heh, if it is, I ain't sellin' it, it's wicked!"

"I suppose you do need it. Well, how do we go about getting out of here?"

"…" Shelly noticed the doorway up high on the opposite wall. "This way!" She took Shiri's hand, raised the sand, and scurried inside.

A small room just like the first one where sunlight poked through the hole in the ceiling. "At least we've a shortcut." Gonshiri gathered the purple Growth Dust with her bending. "Get under and we'll re-expand you."

"Can that work for the wand, too?"

"If it was hit with Minish Dust thousands of years ago, let's hope."

"Okay." So Shelly stood under the hole as Gonshiri encased her with purple dust, and uplifted her outside.

Quickly as she shrunk, Shelly stretched back to full, royal size, then picked up her friend when Shiri jumped out of the temple. "I see you found it."

"AAH!" They jumped, finding the old man who had sent them to the temple behind them.

"I knew you could." He pulled off his hood, exposing his white shaggy hair and long ears on his bark-colored skin.

Gonshiri gasped. "You're a Minish!"

"Indeed I am, Princess." He kept his deep, mysterious tone. "I had a feeling the owner of that castle was descended from the Quartzites. My family guarded this temple for generations. May that help you on your travels."

"Well, our travels won't be going far if we can't scrounge enough money for a ride to Kochi." Shelly replied.

The man plopped a sack of gold and jewels before her as he walked past. "That should cover." And slowly, he was going beyond the desert winds. "Protect the princess. Find the other Earthbender Families. Unite your chi under the Tree of Beginning."

Shelly and Shiri stared at him questionably. They wondered what was under the Tree of Beginning, but Shelly was more focused on the huge sack of dough he just dropped. "WE'RE RICH, baby!!"

"Remember our mission, Shelly."

"Right, right." Shelly wrapped the sack and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's go!" She aimed the wand forward, glowing gold as they soared across the sea on a sandwave.

Uno Household

Nigel couldn't stop staring at them. Photos of that mysterious boy with their family, the one they called 'Cheren.' Nobody remembered him. No one had a clue. It was almost as foggy as… decommissioning.

"Funny thing, decommissioning." The Chronicler told them, 15 years ago when they visited his isle again. "It appeared in the 2nd Age of KND. The Earthlings found a means of harnessing Time Chi from a powerful source. They used this chi to power their machines to completely drain the memories of would-be operatives."

"…" Nigel turned to Dimentia, "I thought you said you had a hand in decommissioning?"

"I gave all other KNDs the idea of decommissioning, but the only one I had trouble getting close to was Earth. 4000 years ago, when I returned to your planet to find a decent recruit, a group of people kept me back. The Illuminati, they called their selves. They…"

"-are who are currently referred as the World Government." Chronicler confirmed. "I do not know the source by which the old KND drew their Time Chi, and few of my texts point to any possible lead. Except… many other instances where people have faced severe loss in memory all point directly up Mt. Mariejoa. It is speculation, but I believe the World Government has gotten ahold of this source. For 4000 years, they possessed it. Powerful Time Chi, unlike Dialga's. In the palm of their hand."

"…" Nigel then looked at Jagar, turned away. The purple cape that belonged to Clockwork dangled by his back, and he held his former master's Chrono Staff. His head was down. "Jagar… you've been… awfully quiet since we came."

"…Just have a lot on my mind."

"Nigel, please don't go!" Rachel pleaded her husband as he was already approaching the door.

"We've been over this, Rachel. You came with us to Chronicler, too, you know what he told us. This boy… is definitely our son. And I think…I really think…he did something… to make the government upset. They used their… power… to erase him… from all of our memories. I have to take action."

"But Vaati said that-"

"Vaati is an idiot!" he shouted. "Leave our children up to this, he said, well we DID, and now we… ugh." He gripped his head. "This was too much to put on their shoulders. We need answers, and I'm going to get them. From the source."

"But Nigel… what if they're too powerful for you? Even if Chris preferred Fanny training him, our kids need us, they need our guidance to…"

"They need an easier time. If this is their duty, we need to help them. I…I'm going to Mariejoa. I'll make the World Government talk. And I'll… cripple them if I can."

"…Nothing I say will change your mind. You never listened to me… did you?"

"…No." Then he felt his wife's arms wrap around from behind.

"…I…I've been having the same feelings… I can't find Fi anywhere… I know she was here 3 days ago. I really believe… that boy is our son. …Promise you'll come back, Nigel. Promise you'll… bring our son back."

"…I will." The man smirked. He fixed on his brown jacket and was out the door. His shadow stretched miles beyond the rising sun. After all… I saved the universe… I defeated my great-grandfather… didn't I, gramps?

"Don't push your luck with me, Boy."

I'm slating this saga to end on Chapter 20, and from then on, I might just follow the 10-chapter pattern, I see that workin'. Hopefully I'll be able to focus more on this story. Next time… Nigel will meet God.