32. Mother of Shadows

Today's code uses both the Caesar and A1Z26 Cipher, with the latter being reversed. Can't make these codes too easy!

Pennsylvania; Twilight Forest

Sector V landed the C.O.O.L.-B.U.S. deep within the dark forest and stepped off. The sun was halfway over the horizon, giving the sky deep shades of orange and magenta. The trees were very shadowed under the branches, and an eerie chill fell down their spines as the wind rustled the leaves. "Why couldn't we land close to Twilight Town?" Dillon questioned.

"Because it's a secluded setting." Midna stated. "You think any aircraft can just fly there willy-nilly? Well, yes, but show a little more respect, why don't you."

"I wouldn't mind a quiet stroll." Django stretched his old bones. "Cold breeze, darkness. Think we can see some predator action?"

"I came here with my mom to train, so I kind of memorize the way." Dillon mentioned. "There's just a few creatures we have to watch out for."

"I'll provide your shadowbending on the way, but don't get steam-headed." Midna told him. "Or I may just up and leave like Mario." (Play "Forest Interlude" from Donkey Kong Country 2.)

"Wait, wasn't that the same music for Forest of Darkness? Why couldn't we just make them one in the same?" Dillon questioned.

"Looks like I need to go over the fundamentals of shadowbending again so you understand why it's HARDER to bend at nighttime." Midna stated.

"Alright, never mind."

Stage 41: Twilight Town

Mission: Make it to Twilight Town.

Not many areas of ground were touched by the orange sunlight, but as they followed Dillon through the trees, they spotted shadows in those sun patches, who perked and sunk away when the humans looked at them. The team encountered a group of jagged rocks blocking their way, however one of the stones was movable, Dillon remembered, as he extracted Midna's big ponytail hand to push it forward. The group entered a clearer part of the forest, where Hyper Clefts – green, spiked stone creatures – charged out of bushes to ram the kids. "Just so you know, I can make new inventions, too." Harry announced as he placed his boombox on the ground. He turned it on, and its loud tunes shook the ground forcefully, flipping the Clefts upside-down so that Chris and Sheila could punch them senseless with their fists.

Shadows appeared on the sides of trees and rocks, grinning Cheshire-style at the kids before swooping away. The group stepped up a few short mounds before getting to a narrow pathway within the grass. Crazee Dayzees leapt out from the sides and charged at them, Kirie thought fast and tossed flower shurikens to knock them out. The path led to a barren tree, where Murkrow swooped down at them from its branches, Mason and Haru shot gas puffs to put them asleep. The path turned rightward, ending at a vast trench chasm. They questioned what to do, until Dillon punched the tree, and a swarm of shadows flew out of its shadow and down the cliff. They gasped with horror when Dillon jumped down, but the child stopped partway down in midair.

Sheila was obviously next to jump down, then the others followed suit—they realized those shadows were forming a midair pathway. However, they were against the cliff, so the kids' shadows stood on them, making it seem like they were standing on invisible ground. Dillon assured it was fine and kept leading them forward. They had to jump square-shaped lumps in the shadows, over a slight hole, then carefully jump a series of separate platform shadows, before Wall Jumping parallel columns of shadows, landing on a dead-end shadow-platform. "Then my mom would Shadow Glide us to that path." Dillon pointed across the trench.

"Screw that." Django strummed his guitar, summoning a bridge of skeletons to cross over. "These guys start to fall after you step on them, ME FIRST!" Django ran across the skeletons, the kids quickly followed as one-at-a-time, the dead bones collapsed. They safely made it to a grassy path void of most trees, and the view of the orange-magenta sky was brilliant. Deinos were hidden within the grass, and when the kids drew close, the Pokémon coughed blue fire at them. Aurora and Chris caught the flames in their palms, though it was heavy and pushed them back, being of its origins. They chucked the flames at the Deinos as Aurora followed them with ice blasts, defeating the young dragons in seconds.

Dillon led them to another cliff overlooking a chasm, but no shadows led the way down. He mentioned his aunts having to find them hidden across the grass plain, so the group split up. Dillon uncovered the first shadow underneath a boulder, which he used Midna to push off. Kirie happily hopped up a pine tree, finding a shadow at the top and tagging him. Sheila wandered to a large boulder with a cave-like dent in its side, pitch-black inside, but when she punched a Light Sphere, the shadow panicked and flew out. Haylee found a very skinny, dead tree – looked more like a branch growing from the ground, and hit it with her wrench to scare the shadow out. Harry came to a garden of tall grass, but it was easy to scare the shadow out by blasting his boombox.

Django twirled his guitar and blasted a laser at each in a grouping of boulders. He discovered the shadow in the third one, but destroyed the rest just for fun. Mason and Haruka sent gas up twin trees, scaring the shadow out with no place else to go. Aurora froze a pond, seeing the shadow trapped inside, then pelted him free. Finally, Artie had a gut feeling a shadow was under that small rock—he flipped it over and found an Amazy Dayzee. Artie bolted away, not wishing to duel the golden, overpowered flower. It didn't matter, 'cause they found all the hiding shadows. Dillon jumped off the cliff first, a shadow grabbed him, threw him to the first one within the narrow trench, got thrown to the next, following the zigzagging path within the trench, until the shadows threw him safely on a new forest floor.

His friends were able to enjoy the wild ride as well, then they explored this open, soil ground with several trees scattered about, with varying height. Sheila spun and punched a Light Sphere; there were shadows on the trees, hidden in this area where sun didn't shine, but Sheila's light could reveal them. They could stand on a shadow around a tree that was almost touching the ground. The next tree had a shadow halfway up, but was too far to jump to, but when Dillon made the leap, he grabbed onto a force halfway. Clearly the shadows weren't positioned directly beside the trees. They saw an open shadow hand on a faraway tree, Dillon made the jump, he didn't go far before the invisible spirit grabbed, whirled him, and chucked him onto a shadow to a further tree. The friends caught up with Sheila in company, and the next alignment of trees had shadows with arms positioned like bounce pads.

Dillon led the way, landing on invisible platforms that made them go bouncy, repeating this act carefully across the trees. There was a hidden area to their right, so Kirie decided to glide over and follow it. She found a wrinkled, blue-skinned old Twili, sitting still as a ghost beside the bushes. "Iluvw H… wkhq I… qrz J. Zkdwv qhaw, K?"

Silly old man! Kirie smiled, before returning to her friends. They continued across the bounce pad shadows, lest they fall into the bushes below and have to fight Hyper Clefts, but they successfully made it to a new path. It was straightforward, though Chris was ready to set fire to bushes if anything came out—then he felt something tap his shoulder. He whipped around to Harry with a start. "What?"

Harry raised a brow. "Um… nothin'?"

"Don't do that." They kept walking. Something tapped Chris's shoulder again- "Stop that, Harry!"

"I ain't doin' nothin'!"

"AAAH!" Haruka freaked, grabbing her dress. "Something just lifted my skirt!"

"Mason, didn't we talk about brushing your teeth?" Haylee asked, waving an awful stench away from her nose.

"How d'you know that isn't Django?"

"It isn't, guys." Dillon said with disbelief. "It's the Ghost Pokémon."

A Gastly, a Haunter, and a Gengar materialized, cackling humorously at the children. "Very funny, guys." Haruka put hands on her hips. "Are you gonna help or not?"

The Pokémon exchanged glances… and nodded. They flew down the path, so the kids followed quickly. "It's a maze over here, you have to follow the path they hint out." Dillon said. They came to a circular path with four different roads, with bushes, trees, and rocks within the center. Chris set fire to the assaulting Green Fuzzies as the friends searched for the ghosts' hints. Aurora studied a jagged rock close to one path, and it formed lips, leaned in, and smooched her. Aurora frantically shook the germs off, then indicated this path. Another circular area, Django shot down some Inkay Pokémon using his guitar laser. While Artie followed behind Haylee, the brother panicked when a leafless tree revealed big eyes and sharp fangs, ready to snack on Haylee unsuspectingly. Artie yelled for her, but the tree stood back to normal when she looked. His heart racing, Artie pointed this as the correct path.

On this next circle road, some Weavile zipped out of the bushes, Sheila was swift to dodge their quick attacks and defeat them with Light Fists. The friends kept an eye out for the "subtle" clue—when a boot popped out of a bush and kicked Harry down a path. Must be the right way. Flower Fuzzies attacked in this area – pink Fuzzies which suck their chi – Haylee bashed them with her wrench while Artie gooped them with a M.U.S.K.E.T.. When Kirie innocently walked by a path, Haunter popped out, clamped a hand over her face, and forced a fart out of her (however that worked). Haunter laughed, and the kids followed that path. They were at the final circle road, nothing to attack them. It took a while to find the subtle hint, but then Dillon indicated the secret 5th path, within the hologram of some woods. The illusion dispersed—"BAAAAAAIIII!" Gengar screamed in Dillon's ear, totally surprising him, but at least the kids were through with that area.

The Pokémon laughed at Gengar's action. "Thank you for helping us." Haruka spoke with half-politeness. The ghosts nodded and faded away. Sector V began the trek up a steep, rocky mountain, having to take high steps or climb up tall mounds, really putting their legs to work. But they heard forceful flapping of wings: a Hydreigon flew down, the three-headed final form of Deino. The dragon prepared to blast them with its breath, but Django sighed impatiently and strummed his guitar, summoning three large skeletons to jump onto and pin it to the ground. The skeletons choked the dragon's heads, until Midna flew out and destroyed them with Shadow Balls. "Don't do that!" she yelled at him. "It's just protecting Twilight Town!"

"Well, I'm protecting you guys!" Django argued. "And using this guitar a lot takes my energy, so you should thank me."

"It all worked out, so don't worry." Dillon said as they bypassed the weakened Pokémon. "Let's just get there." They had to climb a rugged wall up the rest of the mountain, but once they made it, they were there. (Play "Twilight Town" from Paper Mario: TTYD.)

Twilight Town was a small and peaceful village, composed of mostly wooden houses. The trees had very few leaves, and pitch-black crows with eerie white eyes sat on the branches. The eternal sunset still peered at them from the horizon, but atop this mountain, over all the trees, it was even prettier to look at. The rest of the sky was a shade of magenta, and the yellow Full Moon was in marvelous view. Then there was the townspeople: they wore average, old-timey clothing, they had hair colors of brown, orange, yellow, black – like any normal human – but their skin was surreal green, blue, or purple respectively, and their glowing eyes peered from the shadowy dark top areas of their face. They were the Twili, and seeing them interact with the actual shadows, the whole presence of the town made their skin tingle.

"They kind of look like Midna." Haylee noted.

"That's not surprising." Midna came out of Dillon. "I was the original shadow and Twili. Remember the Twili are descended from ordinary humans who moved to the Shadow Realm, and grew closely accustomed with the shadows and shadowbending. Not that I'm saying I'm human-designed, we Firstborn are more-or-less… fairies."

"But the Twili are basically human just like us." Aurora understood. "They just prefer more shade."

"Like nerds." Haruka remarked.

Kirie gasped brightly and silently: there were certain animals roaming the streets of Twilight Town. PIGGIIIIEEEEES! She joyfully skipped to one of the chubby oinkers.

"DON'T, Kirie!" Artie jumped in the way. He wore a skeptical scowl that you'd see on a conspiracy theorist. "I saw this in a movie once: every time the steeple bell tolls, a villager gets turned to a pig!" He whipped around and clamped the pig's face. "Who did you use to be?! Wait, let me call someone on my Galactic Transmission Radio!" He pulled out a small, high-tech radio and tapped some buttons.

A girl answered, "Hey, Artie, what's up?"

"Makava, get Arianna! I need her to ask this pig something!"

"Um… okay? Ari, it's for you."

"Hello?"

"Arianna, translate this pig for me!" He held the microphone by the pig's mouth. "Now, did you use to be human…oid??"

"Oink oink oink."

"It's asking when is its turn for a mudbath." Arianna translated.

"Void of all human sense." Artie sighed with regret. "The horror…"

"How long did you have that, 'cause we coulda called for help in Solana." Haruka stared at him.

"Hello, visitors!" They looked to their right. An ordinary Twili with green skin and brown hair under a hat approached them. "Welcome to Twilight Town! I'm Freddy, the tour guide. This must be your first time, since we don't have many humans. …Are all you kids by yourself?"

"I'm 46 years old, so technically I'm the responsible adult!" Django shouted.

"I've actually been here before." Dillon informed. "With my mom and aunts. But that was only to train, I never actually explored."

"Wait, are you part of the class that warps here often?" Freddy asked.

"What class?"

"HEY, DUDES!!" a woman's voice shouted from afar. They saw her running their way, black hair in two pigtails, pale skin, a black shirt and shorts that showed her belly, and holding a cigarette between her fingers.

"Mrs. Stork!" Dillon exclaimed.

"'t's okay, Freddy, I'll take it from here." Virginia assured him, blowing a smoke.

"Cough!" the Twili choked. "Be my guest." He quickly walked away.

"Dudes, how's it hangin'?" The 34-year-old woman asked perkily. "I stepped away from my class for a quick smoke, then here you guys are!"

"Oh yeh, I forgot." Harry spoke. "Sunni told me Twilight Town was one of the places for her dad's school."

"Yeah, we warp here with a team of psychicbenders." Virginia said. "Speaking of warping, Lola and Terry are here, too. Now, what's this about you guys sending them into space?"

"Looking back, we're starting to think it was a pointless gesture." Harry said.

"They said they saved a mountain from some ghosts. I dunno if that has any relevance, but it sounded pretty cool!" Virginia blew a smoke. "So what're you dudes doing here?"

Dillon's friends looked at him, and he especially felt Midna's one-eyed glare. "I got in a fight with my shadow and we think he ran away here."

"Wow, dude, really? Well, this might be kinda awkward."

"Isn't that the same with a lot of shadows here?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah, but… lemme show you somethin'." Virginia led the team across the road, around some village houses. She indicated the tall, dark statue in a town square, depicting a long-haired woman in a dress. An old, blue-skinned Twili, with white fluffy brows and mustache, standing with a cane, was beside the statue. Virginia approached him. "Kids, this is Mayor Dour (pronounced 'dow-er'). Hello, Mr. Mayor."

"Oh, visitors." The old Twili turned to face them. "Are they on a field trip?"

"Yep. Mayor, wanna tell us who this statue is?"

"Oh, of course… This fine woman is the ruler of this land. Daphne Anderson, also known as one of the World Leaders. We at Twilight Town were always poor, little food and resources, until this woman rose to power. She was born here, you see, adorable little girl. Who would've thought someone from a country as poor as ours would rise to such greatness?"

"Daphne… Anderson?" Dillon gazed at the statue.

"Is she one of your relatives??" Haylee asked with surprise.

"She's my… great-aunt. My mom mentioned her."

"Did she mention she was one of the World Leaders?" Chris asked with spite.

"…No."

"You kids seem like you're familiar with her." Dour noted. "She is quite famous, true."

"The World Leaders are monsters!" Chris yelled. "They killed our dad!"

"I've heard…" Virginia spoke regrettably.

"Now, that's quite a stretch." Dour replied. "Mother Anderson is a kind woman. We've never felt safer under her rule. And the shadows, especially…"

BONG. . . . BONG. . . .

"AAAAAAHHH!" Artie stuck his head under Kirie's sweater. "It's happening!! Someone's gonna get piggied!!" Kirie smiled and patted his back.

However, they all looked with wonder and confusion when all of the disembodied shadows, as well as those belonging to Twili, wistfully flew away. They were going to a distant part of the forest, like a swarm of black, see-through clouds. "It's the stroke of Pure Twilight." Dour informed. "7:00p.m.. When every conscious shadow is called to Minerva's Cathedral for one hour. Naturally, we shadowless benders have to stay in the shade, which isn't hard since most of town is shaded."

"Everyone has to go shadowless for one hour, why?" Midna questioned.

"Because they are having a session with Mother Daphne herself. She resides in the cathedral, whenever she isn't on Mariejoa. There, she soothes them. Gives them bliss, and peace of mind. Then they return and spread their bliss to us. Then we Twili feel we never have to worry. This is mostly for the shadows who were deserted by their benders. Mother Daphne will send those shadows back to them, with the hopes tensions between them will be cured."

"So Mario must be at that cathedral." Dillon deduced, looking in the distance. "Come on, team, let's get him back." He started to walk forward.

"Wait, Dillon!" Haruka grabbed him. "One of the World Leaders is in that building! If Mr. Uno couldn't beat them, maybe we should stay out of it."

"Except Dad was by himself." Chris fist-palmed. "If this lady's by herself, we can easily jump her and take her out. Heck, I'll blow that building up with my Combustion Beam."

"Don't act like an idiot, Chris!" Aurora stated. "I hate them for what they did to Dad, too, but we shouldn't just go bursting in!"

"Why not, Aurora, she's outnumbered, we can totally whoop her butt!"

"I second the motion." Django raised his hand. "If she sends those shadows at us, I got an army of skeletons at my disposal."

"Plus we have Midna, a Firstborn, we can get Mario back AND take out one of our major enemies!" Dillon reasoned.

"You realize you kids are talking about destroying the savior of this village in the middle of town, and in front of the mayor." Virginia said with disbelief.

Now that they realized, a lot of townspeople were looking at them weirdly. "It's okay, guys, they're just kidding around!" Midna assured them. "You know how immature children are." She pinched Dillon's cheek playfully.

"Ms. Stork, can you take us someplace more private?" Aurora requested.

"Sure, dudes."

The smoking woman brought them to a dark alley, leaning against the side of a house and smoking while the kids talked. "Okay, so let's get some facts straightened out:" Aurora began. "One of the World Leaders, right now, is out in the forest. Assuming she's by herself, it's all of us against her. We can safely assume she is a crazy-powerful shadowbender. However, we have the Shadow Firstborn. Also, Sheila is a lightbender, me and Chris are firebenders, and if she sent all those shadows to attack us, maybe Django could fight them with his skeletons. Then again, all of the townspeople love her, and attacking her may kinda get the other World Leaders riled up. So in conclusion: We should not fight Daphne Anderson."

"Why the heck not?!" Chris shouted.

"Look, we may SEEM like we've got the advantage, but we don't know how strong this woman really is! We only came here to get Mario back, so that's what we're gonna do. We'll wait for that… 'session' to end, then Dillon will have a man-to-shadow talk with Mario when he gets back. And to be honest, Chris… we never really asked Grim which of the World Leaders killed Dad. If anything, The King did it; or maybe they all did it together, we aren't sure."

"Sigh… all right." Her brother folded his arms.

"So why don't we find the inn Dillon's aunt works in and settle in." Harry suggested.

Artie hoarsely cracked up. "That was the best sentence you ever said!!"

"Aw, please."

"I'm all for that, dudes." Virginia said. "Ah'll take ya to her place."

The Shady Inn was 5 stories tall, though it seemed kind of small in width. "Hey, I'll tell Lola and Terry you're here, so you can hang out later." Virginia told them before leaving them to enter.

The kids met a very tall woman of 38 years old with black hair at the reception desk. She smiled brightly at them. "Dillon! Hi, little guy!"

"Hi, Aunt Victoria." Dillon blushed. "These are the guys. And girls. And dead guy."

"Hm hm, it's nice to finally meet all of you! Danika told me you were coming—did you really get in a fight with your-"

"YES." Dillon was tired of repeating this.

"Heh heh…" Victoria blushed. "Well, don't worry, I'm sure you'll straighten it out. We have two rooms prepared for you—we assumed you wanted Boys' Side and Girls' Side, so-"

"We'll take it from here, Miss!" a woman said. Three Twili showed up with bright expressions. A woman with dark red hair and glowing blue eyes, a man with bright blue hair and green eyes, and a Twili that was half their size and looked like a two-legged black-and-white cat.

"Let us show you to your room, kids!" the man followed.

"We got a ton of plates of dunch set up for ya!" the cat replied with an accent. "That's dinner-plus-lunch."

The boys took a room on the second floor while the girls had the room next to it. Artie took out his Infi-Cube and popped out all the sleepover essentials, pajamas, sleeping bags, and some handheld games for all of them. "When is bedtime, exactly?" Harry questioned.

"Please, try Shady Inn's Peachy Peaches and Golden Tea!" the red-haired woman offered the foods with a bright grin.

"And for the Firstborn of Shadow herself, fresh Inky Soup!" The cat handed Midna a bowl of shadowy soup.

"Thank you." Midna smiled, holding the spoon in her ponytail hand while she slurped.

"We'll be up with your meals shortly!" the woman beamed as they backed weirdly out of the room. "If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask!"

The three Twili calmly walked away from the twin rooms. They held their heads close to each other as the man whispered, "Was that really her, Meowth?"

"Yeah, the Foistborn of Shadow, Midna!" Meowth perked up.

"Hm hm, this is too easy!" Jessie grinned. "We'll wait until their guard is down, and that Firstborn is ours for the taking! The boss will be so pleased!"

"Just play it cool until then, capiche?" Meowth said as they resumed walking.

"Blunkers, do me soles need some airin'!" Sheila sighed in relaxation, plopping front-first onto the bed.

The boys and girls stared weirdly at her. "Don't you wanna be in the girls' room, Sheila?" Mason asked.

"Who the heck says we should?" she questioned. "We all shared a room on Sunny Day. Like that night that was really cold, and we were shivering."

"Please don't mention it." Mason sunk.

"So we all cuddled up together like rodents in a cave." Sheila hugged the bed lovingly.

"And Carol held Mason like a body pillow." Haylee said.

"They're mentioning it." Mason flushed.

"Don't you wanna come and explore the town, Sheila?" Haruka asked. "'Cause that's what we're doing, maybe hang out with Terry and Lola. We can keep an eye out for Mario, too."

"I think I'll rest for now." Dillon lied on the floor with his arms wrapped behind his head. "Think about what I'm gonna say to Mario."

"Oi, somebody climb in with me and we'll think together." Sheila spoke lazily—she already looked fast asleep, and drool leaked from her mouth. Mason raised a brow, suspecting she was off on a Dream Land adventure.

"I need some alone time, too." Chris said before leaving down the hall.

The male Uno child held his head down, one hand over his forehead. One of the World Leaders was in the forest… one of the people that killed his dad. Made Cheren upset. He really wanted to go out there and attack her, but he feared Aurora was right. Her strength might be too much for them. But what if she decided to come to town herself and see them? Would they have a choice? "Your turn." A gruff old voice said from a closed door.

"Oh-ho, excellent play, Your Majesty!" exclaimed a higher old voice.

They sounded familiar to Chris. He held an ear by that door. "I wager 200 years of damnation."

"You will suffer for all your sins, Sire!"

Now they creeped him out. Chris walked away- "Where are you going, Boy?" He stopped. He looked at the door, clenching his teeth in fright. "I can feel your rage. Please, come inside."

Chris lightly creaked open the door to the small room. "Have a seat." The taller man said.

Chris gasped. "What're you two doing here?" (End song.)

Sector L Treehouse

Danny gathered the papers and stacked them neatly together, ready to do another news segment. He glanced over at his sister, who was playing dead on the couch. "Melody, are you sure you don't wanna anchor with me?"

"I told you, Danny, I'm done." She rolled over.

"Come on. Remember when Mom used to recap the events of Firstborn? I feel like this story is due for some recaps, since it's longer."

"Alright, fine." Melody groggily walked up and took the papers. Her eyes were baggy in the camera, her long hair was a mess, and she spoke quickly. "Good evening, everyone, this is Melody Jackson, here to recap the events of Seven Lights. First, Sector IC went to Glacia and murdered Elsa 'cause Frozen is getting old, Cheren got turned into a monkey by Aunt Morgan, Corporate President Doflamingo got hung by a birdcage, there's a Ninth Firstborn named Sugar, and Hatsune Miku was her Guardian, Phosphora escaped from prison, we learned she was a religious nut that got bitch-slapped by her god, now Fybi and Suki are Lights, also Chimney got shrunk and Jar Jar is traveling with Maddy, and I think Arianna hatched a giant sting ray, also Tronta's gay—THIS has been Melody Jackson, see you in 30 chapters when this plot advances." So with that concluded, she returned to the couch.

"I, uhhh. . . . think you left out a few details." Danny replied.

"Danny, I just can't take it, anymore." Melody folded her arms and rolled away. "I didn't know what I was expecting when I took over this KNN stuff, maybe report some major victories, juicy secrets, the most dramatic thing I was expecting was daily decommissions. Hearing about the 'Apocalypse' out of nowhere, then Cheren killing a corporate billionaire, it's… sigh, it's just that these're too big of things for me to think about." She spoke more sadly. "I'm training with Mom to become better at waterbending so I can help, too, but I can't just sit in front of the cameras and talk about these things comfortably. Especially Mr. Uno…"

"But Melody, they're relying on us to keep everyone up to date. And ever since this 'Apocalypse' thing started, crazy things've been happening left-and-right. One minute, we're having this emotional moment, all of a sudden four intrepid explorers fall out of the sky."

"Danny, what makes you think four people would-"

Five flashes of light appeared above the room, Sarah fell out, Gary, Sheldon Cooper, an Infi-Cube, then Emily Garley. "OOOF." All on top of each other.

"…We have our next news segment." Melody remarked.

The next 10 minutes were spent getting all of them straightened up, Emily releasing Jessie and Sandy from the Infi-Cube, and the crazy events that led to them splorping inside their treehouse. "Then these three came to rescue us and, put us in their box." Sandy concluded, with confusion at that last part.

"Excuse me, but we have been inside your home for 10 minutes and 35 seconds, and no one has offered us any hot beverages!" Sheldon argued.

"Coming right up." Danny walked away.

"To be honest, I'm surprised Specter didn't take this place over." Emily mentioned. "A KND news studio would've been perfect for his plan."

"Well, don't give them the idea now." Melody remarked.

"Um, if we're done with the explanations, can anyone please fix my brother?" Sandy asked with worry.

As Jessie lay asleep on the couch, Melody extracted the water from her two bottles using her bending, placing her watery hands over Jessie's head and chest. They glowed with a mystical light, and Sandy held her hands over her chest in prayer for Jessie's health. "His body is fine… but there's something off about his mind. It's unusually lightheaded. You said he's been sleeping for over 2 days?"

"Uh-huh." Sandy nodded. "You don't think he's… brain-damaged, do you?"

"Maybe I'll bring him to our mom, she'd know this stuff better than me."

"Whenever I have trouble waking up, my mother used to turn on the Geology Channel!" Sheldon informed, followed by giddy laughter. "They think that geology is a real science!"

"Um… okay?" Sandy responded questionably. "Um, Jessie laughs at Spongebob. Maybe we could turn Spongebob on."

"Nooo, that'll only make his brain worse." Sheldon said worriedly.

"I'm in the mood for some cartoons, so flip it on." Gary swiped the remote from the table and turned on the TV. He changed it to Nickelodeon, where conveniently Spongebob was playing.

"I barely remember this show." Melody commented. "Like, there's a starfish, a cowboy squirrel; I hardly remember the actual main character."

"I had a similar dilemma, but I'm given to understand that the main character is a talking sponge with square-shaped pants." Sheldon explained. "At first glance, you can already point out the inaccuracy that he is not designed like a real sea-sponge."

"I dunno why it's so popular, either, but it might be a good break from catching monkeys all week." Emily seated beside Gary. "No sugar in my cocoa, Danny!"

Hall of Doors

Sheila leapt out of a pool of Waking Water marked Twilight Town and met up with Murfy, Globox, and Rayman, the latter of which was tied to a leash held by Globox. "Okay, so I flew back to Toons in Trouble, but Magician wasn't there anymore." Murfy explained. "It looked like Hoodlums ransacked the place, tryin' to steal all the Lums we collected."

"I thought we were collecting Electoons?" Sheila questioned.

"We're saving both, it's just the Lums are everywhere, and Gamewizard ain't gonna write out every single one. Anyway, the Magician fled to a more private setting, some dreamscape of a 12-year-old girl from Japan. It's kinda far away, but I think we can take this shortcut through the Sponge Dream. It's real convenient, because it's where we can awaken-"

"RUFF!" Rayman got free of his leash and snapped Murfy's manual in his teeth, leaping into the Sponge Dream portal on all fours.

"HEY! Give that back!" Murfy chased him inside.

"I guess leashes work better if it has a neck to go around." Globox figured, studying the rope's empty loop. Sheila ran and dove into the portal, then the blue toad followed suit. (Play "Spongebob's Dream" from Battle for Bikini Bottom.)

Stage 42: Sponge Dream

Mission: Cross the dimension to find Magician's residence.

Sheila came out on a floating, sandy island, very high up in the sky, which seemed to have no earth below at all. The entire sky was yellowish-orange, with millions of intricate designs of tikis, palm trees, any oceanic-related stuff. The entirety of standable areas were floating islands or platforms. The first trial, for instance, required Sheila to jump some quick back-and-forth floating green blocks, which constantly flipped and had spikes on all sides except for one. However, the final block was lower than the following island, though no spikes were on it. "Let me go first!" Globox insisted, expertly hopping across the platforms and landing on the final. He lied on his back, clutching the sides with his hands and feet, and held on as the block flipped. "Jump on me!"

Sheila used the best of her precision (the music gave her an upbeat aura, too) to jump across the fast blocks, keeping an eye for the safe sides, and had to do something similar when Globox's side on the last one came. She bounced on the toad's belly and flew onto the soft, sandy island. There, she found a bed with a tan-skinned 7-year-old, brown hair, purple shirt, and black shorts. Sheila shook the familiar youngster awake. "Nnmmm… what ***king time is it?"

"'ey, help me get across this place, ya sailor-mouth dingo." Sheila ordered.

"Who the *** are you?"

"Someone who's gonna wet your pants if you don't get up."

"***… fine."

Jessie kicked the covers off and approached a large, cube-shaped yellow sponge, jumping on and performing a Ground Pound with bubble feet. Many Block Bubbles flew out of the sponge, forming a path to the next island, which had a giant squirrel in a white spacesuit and air helmet floating over it. "Maybe you should wait in here." Jessie encased Sheila inside of a bubble, the girl balling up while Jessie pulled her. The boy bounced across the back-and-forth Bubble Blocks himself, and each one popped upon impact. Jessie used his double-jumps and maneuvering wisely, and he successfully took land on the island. There was a thin tree inside a large glass air dome with a grass garden inside. Murfy was floating by it.

"Sheila, I saw Rayman go in this room! Help me follow him!" Murfy flew into the dome's door. Sheila sighed with annoyance and went in with Jessie.

Sandy Cheeks' dream took place in the skies above Texas's plains. The moment the kids dropped in, they were going down the longest slide they've ever seen, very narrow, colored red on the sides with a center white line, blue stars, and thousands of meters in the air. Sheila and Jessie drifted along a left turn, quickly drifted rightwards, then took a terrific leap off a ramp, flying the great gap, landing on the lower slide. Before continuing, Sheila saw some Hoodlums making mischief on a giant sandcastle to their right, so she took Jessie's arm and jumped over.

Sheila pelted Light Spheres at the Hoodmongers, Jessie aided, but Stumblebooms stood atop the castle's towers tossing grenades. While Sheila took out the minor troops, Jessie spotted a Chuck in the distant sky, so he sent a Bubble Torpedo to wipe the robot out. A green Power Can was dropped at their island, Sheila grabbed it to obtain the Tornado Fist. She leapt up the stairs within the short castle to get where the Stumblebooms were, spinning them off their stilts. She proceeded to kick them senseless, and in doing so, an Electoon Cage was revealed. Sheila rescued the critters, and the sliding continued. They slid down a sudden steep slope, but the road became flat again as they had to side-dodge a series of powder kegs.

Chucks tossed torpedoes at them from the sides, they paid them no mind and kept sliding. They were about to go off an edge, Sheila caught a blue Power Can, grabbed Jessie, and swung the Purple Lums that staired upwards. They made it on top of another part of the slide, letting the downward momentum carry them, they constantly drifted left, right, left, right, left, then constantly go right—Sheila barely saw that Purple Lum whip by the corner, still with her Swing Suit, she grabbed Jessie and swung on, up onto a floating water tower reading 'ARLEN', and breaking an Electoon Cage atop it. The duo floated back to the slide, which eventually dropped them on a small island with a faucet that released little bubbles.

Jessie rolled a Bubble Bowl against the faucet, letting it puff to a size so he and Sheila could get in. They rolled down another brief slide into a portal. They were suddenly warped to the ocean, using the momentum from that slide to roll up and around a great, looping wave. They rolled onto a stable water-made path (they were confused if it was solid or liquid), off a ramp, and landed on an uplifted surfboard, which bounced them to another, then another, until they landed on a path within a looped wave, rolling down. The path curved leftward until it sent them down a steep slope, up a ramp—the water below was definitely liquid, but there were solid, ramped platforms in the form of waves, they landed on carefully to swing upward again and land on the next.

They made it onto a larger shore and rolled their Bubble Ball across a bridge of surfboards that floated by, ending at a water spout that sent them onto the beach. Before rolling into the Tree Dome door, they followed a right route, where a rising bubble column lifted them up, and they could roll onto an Electoon Cage to break it open. They then left the dreamscape through the Tree Dome door, returning to the Sponge Dream hub. They could roll their bubble on another bubble jetstream, lifting up before they rolled over a series of floating bubble vents.

They landed on a new island and popped the Bubble Bowl on a spike. "Darn it. While you were takin' your time sliding, Rayman escaped into this dream!" Murfy was close to the Krusty Krab, represented by Mr. Krabs' gigantic form. "This one's a real doozy. The mind of a miser is not a safe place, let me tell you. Best of luck to ya, tykes." The duo entered the treasure chest restaurant—Sheila and Jessie landed on a patty of a giant grill, and giant spatulas were flipping certain patties every interval.

They jumped to the next patty before theirs flipped; whenever a patty was flipped, the top was scorching red, so they had to wait for it to cool before jumping. Just as well, they couldn't land on the grill, or risk being melted. Sheila punched Light Spheres to Chucks who were trying to thwart their progress, but thankfully the duo made it onto a safe treasure chest. Well, safe until it suddenly POPPED open, sending them flying to another distant stove. This entire road was covered in oil, thanks to the Planktonbot Slicks, who were surrounded in oily shields. Sheila and Jessie were forced to ski around this ground, dodging the Slicks' oil balls. A giant block of ice sat at the start of the road, but Sheila wasn't able to move it. There were many burners around the stove, lighting aflame every few seconds, so the duo took care not to slide into them—for all this oil would result in massive damage.

There were two burners that had switches within them, and both had to be pressed simultaneously. Sheila and Jessie waited beside one, waited for the flame to go off, and quickly Ground Pound the buttons before jumping off. An Electoon Cage was called up, free for Sheila to burst. At the end of the oily road, they encountered a Tubelet, which was three robots floating on top of each other. The lowest one spun around and released a stream of fire, forcing Jessie and Sheila to keep away as that area was set aflame. Sheila punched a Light Sphere, Jessie a torpedo to destroy two of the robots at once, then Sheila sent another sphere to destroy the top one before it revived its friends.

Sheila gained a Strong Suit, and saw the rest of this scape was a river of boiling grease. Sheila returned to the start of this oil road, to the giant ice block. Jessie distracted the Slicks with torpedoes, letting Sheila slide the block across the oil using her enhanced strength. Depending on the strength of her punches, the block slid further. She had to make sure it didn't slide off the edge, or onto a lit burner. Once the block was aligned with the grease river, Sheila slid it down, freezing the substance solid. She and Jessie slid down with terrific momentum, stopping at the dream's exit. The ice block also landed in the rays of two giant desk lamps, melting to give them a barrel of plum juice.

Sheila carried the juice in through the exit, and they met Globox in the dreamscape's hub-world. "Sheila, you won't believe how I got across—PLUM JUICE!" The toad grabbed and guzzled the barrel. His allergic reaction kicked in, puffing to bloated size as he burped a stairway of purple bubbles. These bubbles were steady, thankfully, allowing the pair to hop up them and reach the final island: a huge pineapple with a door and windows; which overlooked the island where Sheila started from. A familiar—yet unfamiliar yellow sponge was floating above the fruit, so Jessie was eager to go inside.

The dimension's sky was endless rows of pixelated Spongebob images, flashing yellow and blue. Bubbles floated everywhere, all the way up this winding tower. Sheila clutched Jessie's wrist and used her superior speed to rush up the path carved within the tower, making all the necessary right turns, left turns, avoiding blockades, the larger bubbles that floated in her way. At the top of the aqua-blue tower, they were nearly blinded by the presence of three giant desk lamps. All pointed at the center above the tower, where a floating cage contained a near-shriveled, yellow-brown sponge. Arfs, Tubelets, and Slicks appeared everywhere, respawning every time Sheila destroyed one. Rayman was also at the top of the tower, thankfully distracting some of the robots as he snarled like a dog.

Jessie trusted Sheila as his defense and sent a Bubble Torpedo behind the base of each giant lamp. By hitting the switches, the lamps shut off, and once all three were destroyed, the sponge could no longer shrivel. The robots stopped respawning, then Jessie used his Headbash attack (in the form of a bubble Viking helmet) to break the cage open. (End song.)

The brown-yellow sponge gasped heavily on the ground (he was on top of the Exit Portal). With a stern expression, Jessie opened his bubble bottle over him and poured the soap on. The vibrant little sponge puffed to his natural yellow color. "Bai-yai-yai-ai-ai-ai! Sudsy!"

"Psst! Here, boy!" Murfy clapped his hands, signaling Rayman to look at him. "Who wants a Rayman Snack?" He held a cookie shaped like Rayman's face.

Rayman stuck his tongue out and panted, dropping the Manual. On all fours, the Ray-dog pounced toward the fairy—Murfy swung and bashed him unconscious with a frying pan. "Hnn. Like I would give you my treat." Murfy munched the cookie in his own big teeth.

With that, Globox had Rayman locked in another cage. "Rayman, you gotta learn how to behave. I won't have to take you to the vet, will I?"

"A dog-walk a day keeps the vet away!" Spongebob spoke wisely. "Now I believe you three were looking for-" He twirled his arms, then aimed at the portal, "the exit."

Sheila and Spongebob stood beside the pedestal. They did the silly dance with hands on their hips, kicked their legs, spun in place, then the portal open. Sheila slurped inside, Murfy flew after, Globox cannonballed in with Rayman's cage. "Now… just where the ***k have you been?" Jessie asked Spongebob disapprovingly. "You don't show up in my dreams for months, then I have to work with those weirdoes to save your ass?"

"Gee, I'm sorry, Jessie." Spongebob touched his shoulder comfortingly. "I really wanted to meet you again, too. But maybe dreaming isn't the best way of doing it. I want to meet you for real. You can come and meet me-" He leaped into the air, diving backward over the tower, "under the SEEEEEEEAAAA!"

"…" Jessie watched until Spongebob was gone in the abyss. "Sigh… how the *** am I supposed to go there?"

Sector DR Treehouse

Dressrosa was still in ruin after that crazy, out-of-nowhere battle that occurred three days previously, and GUN soldiers were struggling to organize and calm down all the citizens. Sector DR's treehouse was left completely abandoned, because three of the members were arrested, while another member is on a vacation to a music planet. However, one member was left behind. A strange nutcracker toy was still in place. Finally, Sugar's curse was wearing off on him. The toy shone with white light as he transformed back to normal.

He was a yellow square-shaped sponge with big blue eyes, a long nose, buckteeth, and green holes. He had stick-like arms and legs, with little white sleeves on the base of his arms, black shoes and white socks, and wore brown square pants with a white shirt and red tie. "I think it's safe to say THIS twist was a little… nut-cracker! Bah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!" After giving his trademark laugh, the semi-sentient sponge leapt into the air, headfirst in the bathroom's toilet. As it flushed, Spongebob took the form of a small, live-action sponge, going down the drain. "Bai-yai-yai-yai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai!"

Twilight Town

And THIS one's a piggy! Kirie stared wide-eyed at a little oinker, who scurried away. And THIS one is a piggy! She approached another, it retreated. And THIS one is a piggy, TOO—. . . She frowned when she approached a fat, blue-skinned Twili in a purple hood from behind. The woman turned around.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked.

. . . . You saw nothing. Kirie signed.

"Kirie!" Aurora, Haylee, and Harry hurried over to the girl, panting. "You haven't seen Dillon, have you? He's not in his room and we can't find him in town."

They heard a gentle guitar strumming up above. They knew only one person that carried a guitar. The group hurried away from the inn and looked at its roof, seeing Django. The sunlight made him appear half dark, and half orange. His eyes were closed as he played the guitar peacefully. "We… are the Kids Next Door. We'll always kick your ass. And if you think we won't, tell that to the guy on the floor-"

"Django!" He opened his eyes when Aurora yelled up at him. "Do you know where Dillon is?!"

"YEAH, I saw him go into the forest. To that cathedral place."

"YOU SAW HIM GO WHERE?!"

"He must be going to get his shadow back!" Haylee exclaimed. "Django, why didn't you stop him?!"

"Puh." Django spat a nonexistent glob of spit, smiling coolly. "Midna's going with him, too. He makes a good argument. The fact is…" He narrowed his glowing red eyes. "It's his shadow. It's his battle. And he won't become Midna's Guardian unless he fights it."

Dillon made it to Minerva's Cathedral, and Midna came out of his shadow for a better view. There was nothing bright about this place. The sun didn't touch this area. It looked like a large, grey, cold stone, carved hollow to become a cathedral. Dillon glanced at his Firstborn companion, sucking a breath before marching into its front gates. (Play "Requiem for the Lost Ones" from Bleach.)

He felt the color fade from his body. It was grayer than a retro movie in here. Along the walls, on the floor, the ceiling, the seats, were shadows. Different hairstyles, different shapes… same color. They were partially black, but that black was in the process of becoming gray like the building. Like… her.

She was at the altar. The woman who the statue represented. Daphne Anderson. Dillon's great-aunt was more pale and looked more dead than a ghost. Her lips were blacker than Death's cloak, her eyes were darker than the Reaper's sockets. Dillon couldn't imagine her ghostly-white hair feeling any better than the coldest, rustiest wilted flower. All of the shadows were looking at her. Dillon and Midna felt a grave, depressing feeling from all of their souls. They saw a particular shadow was skinny and football-headed; Nigel Uno's shadow.

But they especially recognized the young shadow who was with Daphne at the altar. "It's a cold world… after all." She spoke with a voice that would dampen even the most brightest of spirits. It had no interest in love or life at all, and mixed with those soulless eyes, how could any person want to feel hope around her. "You look at the moon… you look at the sun… you look at the stars… and still you feel nothing. Because they are far… and you are here. They look at you… taunt you… and lay endlessly out of your reach."

She softly petted Mario's hair, gently rubbed his cheek, like a mother comforting her child. Dillon could feel the solemn tranquility from his shadow. All of the spirit and soul draining from his form. Feeling only solace before the woman who sapped this force from him. "You poor dear…" She spoke softly to the shadow. "You knew the feeling… of anger… tears… joy… confusion… your mind is in an unsteady place… all you are feeling… is false."

Daphne pulled out a black rose with a white stem. She began to pluck its petals. Dillon flinched at each pluck.

Dillon laughed as he recorded Mason and Sheila's kiss.

Dillon playfully took strings from Mason's sweater.

"These feelings of yours… joy, pain, and sadness… they are what destroys a heart." Daphne plucked three more petals.

Dillon was so happy when Vanellope joined their sector.

Dillon was so upset when Vanellope was taken away.

Dillon was so angry when Carol was going to replace her.

Dillon was glad to help Carol when she needed it most.

"This is why shadowbenders do such things… because you shadows are the reflection… of what they are."

Midna looked concerned as Dillon hunched over from unseen pain. The boy limped forward down the aisle, eyes fixed determinedly on his shadow. "To be thrown aside… To be treated as trash… because deep down, you know… you don't belong in this world. You're cold, like dead air… a ghost of something that wants to exist. In truth, you have no voice… your desire goes unheard. So just sit alone… take solace in darkness… let your heart be still."

And Mario embraced every word. This beautiful woman… opened his eyes. He drifted closer, leaning his head on Daphne's chest. The woman put an arm around him softly. Mario wanted to be close to her… he felt so warm around her… so understood. Daphne let him embrace in her. She was about to pluck the last five petals of the rose. "Aunt Daphne?"

The woman stopped. She looked at him. The boy with passionate brown eyes. The only color, the only life, the only soul in this place. Dillon reached under his sweater, took out a S.C.A.M.P.P., and aimed it at her. "Give me my shadow back."