45. The Swamp Prince

Louisiana Bayou

Dark green mist blocked their view entirely. Melody and Danny had docked their boat beside land minutes ago, and walked forward into the swamp with Juju as their guide. "You don't think they'll be into a human who stuffed himself with chips before coming here?" Danny asked, holding the lantern.

"If they're poisonbenders, I'd assume they'd welcome that."

"Darn."

"Don't worry, Danny, it's just a legend. The mermaids might be vicious, but 'cannibals' seems like a stretch. A little reasoning can do wonders. And if it doesn't, don't forget I'm tougher than I look."

Stage 53: Mermaid Swamp

Mission: Locate Manaphy in the swamp.

Juju slithered across the grass ahead of them, and Melody and Danny followed with haste, lest they would lose their guide. Juju made several turns around trees and bushes, and the Jacksons expected a monster to ambush them any second. Rustle-rustle.

"Whuhwazzat?" Danny whipped around, holding the lantern toward the path they just came. Nothing but flora leading to pitch-darkness.

"Come on, Danny!" Melody grabbed her brother in a water tentacle and pulled him along as they resumed chasing Juju. The snake jumped and swung a vine over a murky pond, so the siblings thought it best to follow his example.

They came to a wide area enclosed within thick vines, in which Juju slithered his way up a diagonal vine that was his width and got onto the ledge on the other side. The Jacksons couldn't follow him up the vine, but there were three thick stalks growing around this area. Melody lashed her water tentacles to grab the top of the shortest one, pulling it before loosening her grip, and flinging to the air. She grabbed the medium stalk, flung to the tall one, then onto the ledge where Juju waited. Danny hooked the lantern to his pants and repeated the actions, though his heavier body made it more difficult. In his fails, Danny saw a secret high ledge to the left of the medium stalk, and when he decided to redirect his momentum and fling over there, he collected a trophy of Ineptune! "…Yaaaay, game completion."

Danny caught up to his sister and watched Juju jump and roll down a thick vine slide, up the ramp on the bottom end to land on ground across a pond. "Danny, I'm gonna need your help here."

"I know." Danny sighed. He gave Melody his lantern before bending water from his bottles into his mouth. He turned more round, and Melody climbed onto him as he rolled down the slide. His momentum allowed him to go up the ramp and land on the next ground, and Melody jumped off to let Danny deflate. "If I ask for drinking water, say 'no.'" Melody remarked as Danny put the water back in his bottles.

Mermaid ghouls flew at them from gravestones nearby. Their bodies were gassy purple, with glowing yellow eyes and sharp fangs. Mel and Danny frightfully sliced them with water, but the smoke reformed into the ghosts behind them and tried to choke their necks. Melody got her arms free and sliced water at the graves, severing them, and the ghosts faded away, giving them the chance to breathe. In the next field, they saw a gravestone on a tall pillar, Merghosts coming at them. Mel and Danny sliced water and dispersed them, then Melody ran to get behind the pillar, climbing on a small platform to grab a beanstalk with water tentacles. She propelled herself up to the pillar and sliced the gravestone.

Melody latched her water-arms on some thick vines above her, climbing toward a cliff they were growing from, but Merghosts flew down from up there, too. As she was swatting them with water, Danny stuffed himself with his own water and lay on his back like a big round pillow. "Melody, drop that rock on me!" He pointed at the stone lodged in the vines on her right. Melody grabbed said rock in her water-arm and dropped it on Danny's belly, causing him to blast a tall gush of water, and Melody (regretfully) jumped in and was propelled to the cliff. She destroyed the gravestone and waited for Danny and Juju to catch up to her.

The duo then followed Juju through another foggy maze. The only sounds were grass and twigs crunching under their shoes, the rustling of bushes they moved aside. Rustle. Melody and Danny whipped around. They still saw nothing but darkness the way they came. "You think anything is stalking us?" Danny asked.

"Yep." They turned back around… "Where's Juju?" The siblings quickly ran forward, holding their lamp/glowing water in every direction. "Juju?" Melody called with a not-so-loud tone.

"Juuuujuuuu?" Danny howled. The snake had gone missing entirely. They looked around for a few minutes, before Danny concluded, "We're gonna die."

"No we're not. We'll just keep heading straight, eventually we're bound to end up somewhere." Melody insisted as she led them both forward.

"Yeah, in a Neptunian Humantrap." Danny scoffed.

"Please, where'd you come up with that?"

"They're mermaids!" he hissed. The two walked straight for several minutes, making sure they stayed close to each other. The swamp continued to drag on. Trees, vines, and grass were all they encountered. "Do you think Mama Odie will be mad that we left her snake for death?" Danny asked.

"She sent him in here to begin with."

"'kay."

The two made it to a muggy cliffside. Melody stretched a tentacle up to grab a part, but it broke off on her grip. She proclaimed it was too slippery, so using her bending, she grabbed much of the muddied liquid off the cliff, shaking the dirt off and holding only the clear water. "Get ready to use your circus acts again."

"I'm gonna drink mud water?!" Danny exclaimed.

"We need enough to get a good booster. It's clean now, relax." Melody bent the water into Danny's mouth, inflating him again. Danny fell onto his belly, mouth facing the ground, as Melody climbed onto his back, raised twin Water Fists in the air, and PUNCHED down on her brother to make him squirt an endless stream. He propelled into the air like a balloon, but they made it to the cliff before he deflated. The next path led over a murky river far below, between close vine walls. Thick vines were hanging outstretched, and Melody went first to grab the vines in her tentacles, whirl around them, and fling to following vines. Danny followed her example, again at a slower rate.

After getting across, they then faced a murky river with far-apart platforms that each stepped higher. Danny sighed in exhaust, again stuffing himself with cleaned water from the mud, letting Melody climb onto his bloated body before he began bouncing, going higher with momentum so he could get up the platforms. They reached a dead end, but Danny could smash through a weak patch to a lower path. The boy deflated as they proceeded to what seemed like another maze. Again, Melody intended to go straight.

"Huff…huff… I need to rest…" Danny slowed down before finally falling on his back.

Rustle. Melody briefly saw a large shadow rush behind some trees. She ran to where it went with her water raised in defense. She saw nothing at first, but saw the shadow go behind a further tree, so Melody chased. She saw nothing. "Sigh… I'm seeing things." Melody returned the other way to rejoin… "Danny?" She looked around. Her brother didn't respond. "Danny?"

She began to walk in circles around a set area. Still no sign of him. No sign of his lantern light. "Danny, you BETTER not be pranking me." She walked quickly forward, then she turned right, went left, went slightly right… Somehow, she was back at the muggy cliffside. "Oh, come on." She decided to head the way she came, retracing her steps… which she didn't really remember. "Hello?" she called to no one. There was no one. No Danny… no Juju… no Eric… just Melody. She sighed to herself and merely walked forward. "I have to get out of here. Get a search party or something. Wait! I'll just radio Moonbase." Melody tapped her wristwatch, which depicted static. …The image didn't change. "Oh. Well, I'll call Mom." She took out her phone and dialed the number. "…No signal."

Everywhere she looked was trees, shrubs, and darkness. No matter how far she walked, she found no sign of exit. "My legs are tired…" She decided to sit down and rest beside a tree. "I…I'm lost. I wanna go home. I don't…" She lied down, "I don't want to do this, anymore. I wish I just… stayed home."

Melody had never been so lost and hopeless. It made her question everything. She wanted to become a reporter… but news had just been so dramatic for her. She thought they could make it through Mermaid Swamp… the fog was too thick for her. And what of the… Apocalypse? Why were they doing anything, knowing what was to come. Why, and how could they stop it. …What did Cheren have planned. A week ago, he was despairing over his father, he believed nothing else. Two days ago, they conquered America. What a wild story that would've made. Would look great on KNN News.

"…" Melody jumped to her feet, "Cheren's not giving up, and I can't, either. I have to get us out of this place, for his sake. …And find Manaphy." She kept walking.

Meanwhile, Danny was almost completely drained. "Meeeelodyyyyy." He held the lantern still, but his chubby legs were like jelly. He prayed for a miracle… a guardian angel to guide his wayward spirit.

Upon one summer's morning, I carelessly did stray

Down by the Walls of Wapping, where I met a sailor gay

Was his prayer answered? A beautiful voice sang to him, soft and enticing.

Conversing with a bouncing lass, who seemed to be in pain,

Saying, William, when you go, I fear you will ne'er return again.

Danny saw her through the trees ahead. A lovely mermaid with a purple tail, and purple long hair covering her green body.

My sailor is as smiling as the pleasant month of May,

And oft we have wandered through Ratcliffe Highway,

Where many a pretty blooming girl, we happy did behold,

Reclining on the bosom of her jolly sailor bold.

Danny slowly walked closer. The mermaid turned and looked at him. She was about 16 years old… but Danny was attracted to her. Water dripped down her gorgeous flawless face, down her cleavage. Her yellow eyes peered into his soul. He wanted to kiss her purple lips.

Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be

Who love a jolly sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea,

While up aloft, in storm or gale, from me his absence mourn,

And firmly pray, arrive the day, he home will safe return.

A smile stretched onto Danny's face. He was going to hug this mermaid… he was going to kiss her.

My name it is Maria, a merchant's daughter fair,

And I have left my parents and three thousand pounds a year,

Others of her kind waited beneath the surface. They felt the tasty, rotund boy coming.

My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

Danny reached the edge of the river. The gorgeous mermaid leaned down to him. He felt her breath as she spoke the last words of the song.

There is nothing… can console me…

Danny inched his face closer… he joyfully awaited that kiss.

…but my jolly… sailor… bold.

"…HAAAAH!" She exposed her sharp teeth, grabbed Danny, and pulled him under the water.

Melody gasped, whipping her head left at the sound of the splash. "Danny?!" She ran that direction, and found a patch of bubbles in murky water, beside a dropped lantern. She took a breath and dove inside, lighting her hands blue in attempt to see. It was far too dark underneath, but she felt the light bubbles patting her from below, so she swam toward them. "HAAAAH!" Another ravenous mermaid came up to snack on her, Melody punched her off and whirled her arms to send streams of bubbles toward her. A mermaid was thrown at Melody from below, dizzy from punches, and the girl held her glowing hand down to see Danny. Three more mermaids were swimming at her, she slashed her arm and sent a bubble-slice at them.

Danny and Melody swam back to the surface and climbed onto land, the former grabbing his dropped lantern. Melody stepped in a puddle—"AAH!" A mermaid's purple-nailed fingers grabbed her, she slashed water to knock it off, then a group of mermaids lunged out of water nearby and tackled them both. One of them stuck her hand in her mouth, covering it with gooey saliva which she used to handcuff Mel and Danny.

"It's been a while since we had fresh human." a mermaid hissed. "And we were just now getting ready to cook the one that came earlier. This fat one smells extra special."

"Oh, God!!" Danny panicked.

"Hurry up. We must get the pot ready." One of the mermaids farted gas at them, making the Jackson kids dizzy and drowsy…

When their vision came back, the Jacksons felt their selves floating on their backs in murky water. They quickly held their heads up, seeing the mermaids pulling them were heading to a steaming yellow-green cauldron, in a circular pond where other mermaids were waiting. They were chanting with excitement, waiting to feast on fresh humans. Melody looked right, seeing Juju stuck to a stick as mermaids were frying the terrified snake over fire. The humans were tossed onto a wooden platform on the water.

"Melody! Danny! Is that you?"

The siblings looked over. A nerdy boy with drenched, ragged clothing was on another platform. "Eric?!" Melody exclaimed.

"Ho, thank goodness! I was afraid you got blown up by the atomic bomb. Hah ha, funny story, after the explosion, my boat crashed on a reef, so I had to paddle and ended up lost at sea. I made it to this swamp and, well, I heard some really beautiful singing and followed it. Wouldn't ya know it, it was a trap set by sirens."

"I thought only animals could hear them."

"My mom had a lot of animal habits, so I guess I inherited 'em. Melody, PLEASE tell these guys you're the Ocean Princess! I tried to, but they don't believe me!"

"HAAAH!" A mermaid shot up onto Melody's platform, hissing at her. "This girl is the mermaid princess?" She examined her legs. "Then what are these extra limbs?" She sniffed Melody's foot. "Spice compliments?"

Melody kicked the mermaid in the face, pushing her off. She quickly spun her cuffed hands and called some water up over them, freezing the sticky goo, then pulling her hands until the ice broke. "Listen," she jumped to her feet and spoke confidently, "my name is Melody Jackson, granddaughter of Kyogre, and niece of Manaphy Neptune. I hereby order all of you to stop this crazy ritual."

The mermaids all hissed loudly in shock. "Lies!" one declared. "Any waterbender can wander into our midst and claim they're royalty!"

"Alright, you asked for it. Water Gate, Open!" Melody thrusted her arms to either side, and her body lit with an aqua-blue aura. She jumped into the water, and the mermaids swam away when all of the water started flowing into a single, focused gush. A liquid colossus of Melody that was almost as tall as the trees towered over them, reflecting the light-blue glow of her body. She raised her fist as it grew bigger with more channeled water. "I am the Princess of the Sea, and all bodies of water it connects to. Release my friends or face the consequences."

"I would do what she says." They all looked up the river. A large, rotund mermaid with a green upper body, and purple lower body (like many others of her kind), with golden bands on her wrists, sloshed across the surface, making the gesture of marching. The lesser mermaids looked again at Melody's form, choosing to free Danny, Eric, and Juju before some of them swam away in disappointment.

Melody's liquid body dispersed as she set foot on Danny's platform. Eric paddled his over to join them, and the merwoman approached the kids. "No other human so small can use waterbending at such a large level."

"You must be a friend of our mom's!" Danny beamed.

"DON'T count your guppies!" She folded her arms and leaned over them imposingly. "My name's Ineptune. I work for the Kremling Krew."

"Ineptune?" Melody recognized that name. "You fought Vweeb's parents, didn't you?"

"Yes, girl, 'I fought VWEEB'S parents.'" She spoke in an aggravated tone. "I don't know who Vweeb is, but as long as I'm in the history books, CHALK one up! Name me 'Ursula' for all I care." She folded her arms and turned away.

"Well, why did you help us?" Danny asked. "You were a bad guy, weren't you?"

"'Bad' is a matter of perspective." She turned back around. "But yes, I did desire Oceana's destruction. I, unlike my poisonous sisters, desired to live in the big city, but my poisonbending made me a little… unbearable. Then after a long and heartaching story, I met King K. Rool and joined his Kremlings."

"What was the story?" Eric asked hopefully.

"NONE of your business! Anyway, the reason I helped you is because we know one of you will be Manaphy's Guardian. Probably Goddess here. It is our desire that you should be 'awakened.'" She sloshed away.

"Why do you care if I'm awakened?" Melody asked.

Ineptune looked at them again, "King K. Rool and his allies are trying to find the Firstborn. Again. It's all part of Project: Find Gnaa."

"They're trying to find Negatar Gnaa?"

"Yes. Finding the Firstborn and summoning Arceus is what caused Gnaa to go missing. They believe that bringing the Firstborn together again will help them bring Gnaa back."

"I assumed they would be worried about the Apocalypse." Danny said.

"The what?" Ineptune questioned.

"Yeah, I mean, if they called Arceus, they could ask him to do something about it. …It makes me wonder if he could."

"That seems like an interesting topic to bring up with the captain. But in due time. I supposed you want to see… His Majesty?"

The three operatives and Juju exchanged glances. Melody shrugged, "Sure."

The group walked on the side of the river as they followed Ineptune through the village. Many of the mermaids were snarkily talking amongst their selves, while others feasted on the remains of unknown creatures or passed dirty looks at them. "Were they really going to eat us?" Melody asked.

"Well, of course. Humans are quite delicious, especially benders. I've never tasted one, though I tried to with that human and her alien friends back then."

"That's just horrible."

"Who's going to do anything about it? Oceana's law does not reach here. They would not even welcome us if we came, we eat what we ensnare to survive. Of course, that was before the Kremlings made this land their base. They've provided loads of lush fruit and bananas. There's our base." She pointed to the oddly-shaped mountain a few miles away.

"That's K. Rool's base?"

"Yes. After the Firstborn Quest, the World Government started becoming rather 'antsy' about catching him. He needed a place to lay low, so I brought him to my homeland. It wasn't easy. Hundreds of warships went after him. Kroctus sunk every last one. The Kremling Krew is fiercer than the average animals!"

"Is Yogi Bear a division commander?" Danny asked. His friends laughed cheerily.

"Yes." Ineptune said. The group silenced. "Oh. Cool." Danny replied.

"Does this mean K. Rool has Manaphy trapped in his base?" Melody asked. "With the Fairy Princess?"

"The Fairy Princess we have, yes. But Manaphy is the Sea Prince, he deserved to be with his kind. …We might have judged wrongly on that."

"Whaddyou mean?"

They arrived at a river that turned left, and Ineptune looked down and said perkily, "Oh! There he is!" The kids caught up and curiously looked where she pointed.

A gang of mermaids were roaring and cheering for a fight taking place: a little slime-green creature with two antennas was biting and tugging a Kasplat Kremling. "Mana-Mana! Mana!" The small creature hissed, and the Kasplat cried when its sharp teeth sunk into his shoulder. The mermaids continued hollering for the creature, throwing fish, and it caught one before swallowing whole.

"Hey, leave that guy alone!" Melody yelled, throwing water at the creature to knock it off the Kremling. She stepped through the ankle-deep water and shoved the mermaids aside. "Just what are you-" The creature looked up and glared at her. "…Manaphy?"

The Firstborn of Water was venomous, with sharp fangs, triangles on his eyelashes instead of circles, sharp antennas, a jagged red gem on its heart, and heartless yellow eyes. "MAAAN." The creature leapt and chewed on Melody's leg.

"Hey- Stop it! STOP IT!" She shook her leg, then grabbed and pulled Manaphy off. "Manaphy, I'm Eva's daughter! I'm Melody!"

The Firstborn stopped shaking and stared at her eyes. A part of him almost seemed to recognize her. "…Maaaan!" He tried to bite her face, Melody punched him to the water and kicked him to the shore. Manaphy hissed and flopped to the main river, swimming up the route they came.

The group followed him partway before Manaphy began to try to catch fish, chewing them heartlessly. "What… happened to him?" Melody asked.

"Water is the Element of Change." Ineptune spoke. "Manaphy is the Firstborn of Water. One of his special powers is adapting to the environment he's in. Manaphy was lured here by the mermaids' wail, and he brought that blue girl with him. It was horrible, what they did to the Fairy Princess. 'UCK, she's blue, she must be sick!' they said. 'Don't eat her, she'll give us food poisoning.' 'Wait, maybe she's an ice person, LET'S beat her around to see if she breaks!' Cruel, cruel treatment to Miss Lapis Lazuli. Her gem was already broken, so we assumed Manaphy wanted to get it fixed. He tried to tell them to stop, but needless to say, they took delight in the little prince. Cursed as he is, he's still a baby. An impressionable baby, at that. …The mermaids made him into one of their own.

"Manaphy put aside his concern for Princess Lapis, and started trying to eat her. What a jerk, right? Lapis became consumed with despair; she would have destroyed this land in her rampage… until Dr. Robotnik caught her with a net. Now she is locked in Hideout Helm. We've been trying to keep Manaphy within the swamp's boundaries until someone came to get him. It should suffice you to know, deadly poisons are harder to get rid of than healthy poisons. That is K. Rool's theory, which is why he doesn't want Manaphy to leave. The people of Oceana would hate what the Sea Prince has become."

Melody couldn't believe this was the same Manaphy her mother described. The happy, joyful Sea Prince, whose voice was magical and won the love of all animals of the sea. She was watching this same prince wrestle with and chew the flesh off of fish. He jumped at and bit every mermaid that jeered at him, and they punched him in turn. "If only we brought our mom. Manaphy loved her… she could help him get back to normal."

"Melody, I think you need to do that." Danny reasoned. "Assuming you're gonna be his Guardian and not me."

"Yeah, you're probably right." She sighed. "Manaphy needs an older sister… or in this case, an older niece to help straighten him out. …" Melody turned to look at Hideout Helm. "But first I should make up for his mistake. I'm gonna help the Fairy Princess."

Cyberspace

The Zoni teleported Vanellope to another expansive and beautiful landscape. This entire world was made of glittering gems, with small crystals sprouting from the ground. The sparkling stars in the bright, grayish-pink sky complimented this posh world. Vanellope was gazing at a towering structure of these gems. "What is this place…"

"This Land of Crystals and Gems is a Core World." the Zoni said. "Precious energy dwells beneath the rock. XANA has brought Peridot here. She will use this planet's resources to fix our leader. You must rescue him, and fix before her."

"Don't I get a 'Pretty please with sugar and sprinkles'?"

"Later! Please go!"

"Close enough." (Play "Atop the Sea Spire" from Steven Universe.)

Stage 54: Land of Crystals and Gems

Mission: Rescue the Zoni's leader.

Vanellope marched up a clear, diamond stairway to a round area with small, crystal bugs with pink mouths, that looked like larva. "The Crystal Shrimps feast on energy. You must avoid." Or better yet, Vanellope thought, she could spin-jump and bounce around all of them. One of the columns around this garden had a sapphire gem, so Vanellope grabbed it during her jumping, then bounced over to chuck it into a slot in a pillar over the edge. The pillar sunk low enough for Vanel to glitchwarp over on top of it, then she glitched her way across a series of more distant pillars, each farther than the last. The last pillar was too far for three glitches to make it; a Chargin' Chuck fell from above, Vanellope barely seized the chance to jump and kick off of him before making it across with three glitches.

Vanellope faced a shiny gem stairway littered with Crystal Shrimps, and as she spin-jumped up, Volcano Lotuses spat fiery pollen over the stairs, forcing Vanellope to be cautious while jumping. At the top of the stairs, a King Bill blasted over from the opposite way. Vanellope hurriedly glitchwarped above the massive missile, landing on its top before jumping off the other side. She landed on a broken edge, just now realizing the next path had many broken parts. She glitchwarped to the next foothold, glitched up when a Banzai Bill came from the right, glitched once more when another came from left, and when a King Bill blasted directly from above, she let herself descend, glitched across the next gap, and dodged it. "Ya know, how come my levels are never as peaceful as they should be?"

"Peace gets old." The Zoni said. At the end of this road, Vanellope turned down a path on the left, which led between twin walls of waterfalls. Rip Van Fish were snoozing inside of them, but at the whistle of a Chuck that was hidden within the falls, they all woke up and swam at Vanellope in midair. Parts of the path began collapsing into the falls, Vanellope glitchwarped across gaps, evasively maneuvering around the flying fish. Eventually she arrived at a more open region of the water canyon, viewing a group of large, gem-made platforms.

Buzzy Beetles were crawling up the steep slope leading down to these platforms, so Vanellope "Wheeeeee!" slid down the slope and kicked the beetles off. At the bottom, Vanellope glitchwarped to the first platform near her left. A sphere of Boos was surrounding a blue P-switch, which rested on a single small block. Timing carefully, Vanellope ran and jumped between an opening, glitched just onto the block's edge to grab the switch and not press it—she slipped and fell to the floor, thankfully missing the Boos, and she threw the switch away and glitched out of there.

She threw the switch to and glitched onto a taller, right platform. She dodged the Crystal Shrimps' gnash with a start, beginning to spin-jump across the spiky creatures. Hidden amongst them was a gray P-switch, which Vanellope decided to smash. The Crystal Shrimps morphed into coins—and so did the R.S. Buzzies that were crawling around the midair blocks leading between a waterfall trench. Vanellope carried the blue switch here and pressed it, and when she followed this block path, she saw that the rest of the path, which was previously coins, turned into blocks, too. She hastily ran across these blocks, over a watery chasm and to a lovely gem temple, before glitchwarping across the gap to said temple, zipping left-and-right to avoid falling boulders.

Vanellope stepped up a short stairway before entering the temple, starting with a narrow hallway with giant, winged Piranha Plants. The large plants jumped, shot a fireball while in midair, then landed, each at different times. Vanellope expertly glitched and dodged them, getting into the next corridor to a wider room that had a waterfall chasm below. Vanellope picked up a pink key at the edge of this path, threw it over, then glitched across the chasm to the tiled floor. On this floor, the tiles were flashing many different colors, each its own color, until a respective one stopped. When red stopped, fires bounced everywhere. On blue, Buzzy shells bounced. On purple, Chargin' Chucks came at Vanellope. On white, buzzsaws. Amongst them, Vanellope noticed a single pink tile in the corner, and when she dropped the key on it when it lit, the door opened.

Vanellope went up another staircase—avoiding a buzzsaw from the ceiling, and appeared in another chasm room with ropes moving along paths in the ceiling. They moved quickly, making it hard to jump to each one, and Torpedo Teds were released from the ceiling to fly at her. There was a block switch on the right wall of the room, so she grabbed a rope that moved her close, jumped off to bump the switch, then glitched to grab the rope again. The door on the other side of the room opened—it also caused some ropes to fall off, so she glitchwarped over into the door.

Vanellope walked up stairs into a taller, wider passage with waterfalls in-between columns on either side. She spin-jumped to get across the floor full of Crystal Shrimps, but the stairway on the other side was lined with Munchers. She assumed that a Power Star was in the ? Block on the floor, but she couldn't hit it in that position. She bounced near the waterfalls and found a hidden enclosing with another key. She spin-jumped and carried the key across the shrimps, and landed on the small open space on the floor beside the block. Before the shrimps could bite her, she kicked the key at the block to open it, grabbing the star.

She used her invincibility and charged through the shrimps, up the stairway of Munchers. She ran across a small ground that had four statues, two on either side, which were white, yellow, blue, and pink. The pink statue's head was cut off, and the blue statue had a crack in its head. As her Star Power wore off, she ran up another staircase, to an open field at the top of the temple. (End song.)

Peridot was hunched over Clank's fallen body, burning the green laser from her fingers into his open chest. "For what looks like a hatchling's toy, this 'XJ-0461' has curious circuitry. Perhaps if I located a Rose Quartz, chop it and combine with a Jasper, I can remake him to XANA's-"

"Hey! Dorito!" Peridot looked up and saw Vanellope heading her way.

"Ugh! Not the 'Vanellope' again!"

Vanellope stopped and looked at the smaller robot curiously. "Hey, cool new toy! Can I play?"

"NO PLAY! He is Leader!" the Zoni moaned. "You must saaave!"

"You won't have the chance." They all looked up when XANA appeared over the temple on a floating platform.

"Guy-I-don't-remember!" Vanellope pointed.

"Oh, shut up! I've about had it with you meddling with my affairs, Vanellope. Lesser Lord Gnik expects me to have this space cleaned, and I can't have you ruining it!"

"I don't know much of what's going on, but these buggy guys here keep telling me to 'fix' stuff, so don't we have the same goal?"

"Also, I'm the one fixing what you clearly messed up." Peridot said to XANA smugly.

"So like, why are we fighting?" Vanel asked.

XANA grumbled and screeched in his high-pitched voice. "All Ragaj keeps telling me is to do something about the Zoni, so by extension, I have to kill Vanel! Peridot, if you don't want your precious hide munched, you would pick Clank up and move. Goooo GET her! My Centipeetle!" XANA flew away.

The ground started shaking, so Peridot grabbed Clank in one hand and made the other into a propeller to fly away. The Centipeetle emerged from over the edge, a centipede with an emerald-green back and darker-green bottom. It had a large, cream-colored mane, a long mouth of sharp teeth, and when it roared, Vanellope noticed the round, green gem that bore the Eye of XANA (and looked like a Pokéball) in its mouth.

"For a second, I thought that thing was Serpentine." Peridot said to herself.

"Yeuchk." Vanellope looked disgusted. "I don't wanna know how your parents met." (Play the Mini-boss theme from Zelda: Twilight Princess.)

Boss fight: Centipeetle

The Centipeetle blasted globs of acid around the field, then it attempted to crawl at Vanellope, who dodged left. The Centipeetle turned and spat more acid at her, further covering the floor as a result. The creature's mouth-eye glowed as it attempted to gnash at Vanel, who glitched backward, nearly falling in an acid. When it caught up, Vanellope glitched past and along its side, then onto the end of the Centipeetle's tail. She held on as it wagged its tail, looking back to hiss at her. Vanellope chose to let it fly her to the air, so when the Centipeetle spat acid, she glitched down to its tail, then glitched away to trick it into hitting its own tail.

The monster cried, facing up at the sky, then Vanellope climbed on its back, ran to its mouth, and performed three glitch-kicks against the eye. The tail shook, and five of its segments broke off into individual, Baby Centipeetles. When they crawled at her and opened their mouths wide to gnash, Vanellope seized the chance for a glitch-kick to each one of their eyes. The babies were destroyed, but the Mother Centipeetle became more angry. Without all those extra parts to hold it back, the Centipeetle charged faster, running circles around the field as Vanellope dodged. Finally, the monster crawled over the edge, climbing back up on one of the surrounding pillars.

The Centipeetle's eye glowed as it charged energy, then blasted a bright-green ball into the sky. It exploded and rained small globs of acid, Vanellope quickly dodging each one. "Hey, watch where you're spitting!" Peridot shouted. The Centipeetle wrapped itself around another pillar and shook it, causing four Koopas to fly out from the top and onto the field. Vanellope took one of their shells, leaped off toward a pillar, threw and bounced the shell against it, then jumped on it for a boost. She did three glitchwarps to get atop the pillar, watching the Centipeetle try to get away. Vanellope chased it across the pillars, but it kept evading as it shook each one and made enemies spawn out of it.

When one of these pillars emitted a torch at the top, Vanellope smirked, beginning to jump the opposite way so the Centipeetle would be forced to about-face. The creature's tail was burned on the torch when it landed on that pillar, then Vanellope hurried over to glitch-kick its eye. Five more chunks of its body broke off, each baring wings while the mother fell to the field. Vanellope locked sights on the closest one that approached her, but in her attempt to glitch-kick, it dodged up. Vanellope fell to the field and waited for the winged bugs to come down. Another one prepared to snap her, she glitched up to it, it dodged, she glitched again, it went higher, but she managed to kick and destroy it on the third glitch. She repeated the same moves for the other four.

With only three more parts besides its own, the Centipeetle began leaping around the field, rapidly munching its mouth and aiming down at Vanellope for each descent. She kept a sharp eye, when its mouth was open, she glitch-kicked the eye, forcing the creature back as another part flew off. Vanellope destroyed the youngling, then kicked the mother's open mouth again. A winged baby came off, she performed the three-kick combo to destroy it. With only one part behind the mane left, the Centipeetle leapt high into the air, coming directly down at Vanellope. The girl squatted, charged the pixelated force into her legs, and shot up.

Vanellope dealt a string of rapid glitch-kicks against the creature's eye, watching the XANA-infected gem blink with static. Vanellope zipped lower, charged again, and zapped up for a mighty kick that flew Centipeetle to Peridot above. "Waaah!" The Program was hit, dropping Clank as Vanellope glitched up to catch him. The Centipeetle crashed on the ground and puffed into pixels, leaving only its round gem eye. (End song.)

"HA haaa!" Vanellope cheered with victory, smirking at Peridot. "Your robot toy is MINE, you sour soda!"

"No! Give him back!" Peridot flew down. The Zoni got in her way and blasted energy spheres to send her flying. "AAAAH!"

The Zoni came back down and stared at the sleeping robot, whom Vanellope rested on the ground. "He is our leader."

"This toy robot?"

"He inherits soul of Orvus, first Zoni. You must fix him. Then, his knowledge is yours."

"You guys, I still don't know how to fix anything, I'm not a mechanic like Dewey you just blew away."

"In this land, there is a way to fix. We will bring you to Fountain of Quartz. That is where… she will heal him."