F-29. Why Didn’t His Lordship Love Me?

Play "Hideout Helm 2" from Donkey Kong 64.

Act Last: English Manor

Jessie Sidney and Harvey Harper approached the steps to the manor, but the doors were completely sealed. After searching around the courtyard for a moment, Harvey could feel frantic emotions coming from the fountain. He poked his head underneath and realized Key Fish were swimming in a vast underwater cavern. Jessie inflated a fish bubble and got inside, using it to submerge and maneuver under the water. One of the Key Fish was shaped like a triangle while the others were green skulls, so he decided to chase that one. Jessie was able to grab the key, but all the other keys began swarming and trying to pop his bubble. Harvey threw a yo-yo underneath and through Jessie's bubble, the president grabbing it as Harvey reeled him up.

With that, the two could enter the foyer of the mansion. Billiard Boys greeted them by shooting pool balls with the force of cannons, the boys dodging as Jessie formed a bubble wall in defense. Harvey used his bending to ignite his anger, body aflame as he lashed out and tore up the MS Paint creatures. The last two turned their sights on him, only for Jessie to stab them from behind and put them to sleep with his Keyblade. The top of the foyer stairs held a large door sealed by a horned lock, no doubt requiring a Boss Key.

The only other door open was at the bottom left, which led into the manor's kitchen. It seemed that baby unicorns were moving along a treadmill, with Time Chi being focused to increase their age until they were chopped up by butchers. The treadmill seemed to go over a chasm, so they would likely need to cross it. There was a clock above the cabinets reading how many years the unicorns would age, so Jessie jumped off Harvey and got up there to switch the clock to '0'. The unicorns ceased aging, but perhaps it would be best to stop them from coming out entirely. Harvey tossed his yo-yo to pull the lever above the treadmill to accomplish this.

With that, the boys could board the treadmill and ride across without aging. They were required to jump over rows of flying knives and use Harvey's yo-yo to swing a branch over an electrified portion. Harvey then had to swing them to floating treadmill platforms, which would quickly drop into the pit, requiring them to swing to the next one quickly. Once they reached the platform on the other side, they picked up a key with a clock design. Jessie hit an hourglass switch, and this caused the boys to Rewind all the way back through the course, whilst keeping the key on hand since it was immune to Time Chi.

This key could enter a room on the bottom-right of the foyer. This room led to the Princess Quarters, full of ancient and wrinkled Disney Princesses, all in fluffy coats and having had the years squeezed out of them. "P-P-Please…" croaked a wrinkly Cinderella. "Our youth… remind us of our youth…"

Scattered about the room appeared to be glowing green objects, but the princesses were too feeble to pick them up. They found a glass slipper for Cinderella, a fork for Ariel, a lamp for Jasmine, a tiara for Aurora, an apple for Snow White, a frying pan for Rapunzel, and a bow for Merida. It seemed that there was Time Chi imbued in these objects, and simply touching them caused them to age backwards.

"HOORAY!" Cinderella cheered, ripping off her coat and dancing in her silver gown. "We're beautiful again!"

"I don't know about you girls," Merida said, "but Ay want to shoot that beast in the eye!"

"I'm with ya, Sister!" Rapunzel followed, readying her frying pan.

"That's very feminist of you, girls," Jessie replied, "but we'll handle the green brute ourselves."

"Oh dear, we couldn't let you poor children do that." Snow White replied.

"Shut up and let the men handle it."

"How DARE ya!" Merida aimed her bow at them. "I have half a mind to-"

"Good night." Jessie blew Sleep Bubbles over her and Rapunzel, knocking them out. "Oh look, a key." The arrow Merida had tried to loose was another key.

"You ladies should probably head outside." Harvey instructed. "Our friends can help you from there."

The key was used for a door in the upper-left of the foyer, which led to the casino room.

The rest of the stage will be added later.

It's time, Madotsuki. Are you sure you're prepared for this?

I am, Jessie. I…I'm afraid… but I know I have to. For the sake of defeating Bill.

Yes… but don't worry. I promise we'll help you as long as you need us.

Jessie and Harvey entered an empty room with a checkered floor. There stood the person Jessie was dying to meet again. "Well, well, well… Congratulations for making it this far, Polokus. So, I assume you've come to kill me… no, not just that. You first want to get Madotsuki's reality back, don't you?"

"Glad we're on the same page." Jessie said. "We can get this over with easier."

"What good is saving that useless girl gonna do? The universe is already doomed, Jessie. And once Lord English is back to full strength, we'll start all over again. We'll find NEW Darknesses and create a NEW Multiverse Portal! With the power of time at his behest, we can do anything!"

"More like Lord English can do anything." Harvey replied. "I haven't seen you do anything since we first arrived at the First Dimension. I think you're afraid, Bill. Your chi might be slightly different, but it is fearbending. You wouldn't have it if you weren't afraid."

"And why should I be afraid of two useless brats?"

"It isn't us you're afraid of. You're afraid because everything you've spent all this time building is crumbling down. You're angry because you think you've worked harder than Lord English. …But I can tell you're afraid of something else."

"I'm afraid of nothing. As long as Lord English and I are together, we'll be invincible. I know he'll protect me… that's why I'm going to protect HIM! YOU AREN'T TAKING ANOTHER STEP!!" (Play "Your Contrast Has Expired" from A Hat in Time!)

Semifinal boss: Bill Cipher

Bill cast a storm of Fear Spheres at the duo, but Harvey grabbed and threw them back. Bill spun his bowtie and opened a door on his shirt, releasing spider-clowns and Devil cars. Harvey used Pride to harden his body and attack them with super strength, and as they were weakened, Jessie trapped them in bubbles with his Keyblade. Bill cast beams at both their hats and made them grow teeth, painfully chomping the boys' hair. They desperately tore the hats off, and before the hats could retaliate, Harvey soothed their artificial hearts.

Bill conjured giant golden pyramids above the ceiling, and looking at their eyes would stir the darkest fears in their hearts. They tried to instigate this via shining red spotlights on them, so the boys held their eyes shut. Harvey sensed their direction via the chi signals, facing Jessie in those directions so he could shoot them blind. When they felt the pyramids were gone, they reopened their eyes, and Jessie immediately clashed Keyblade against scepter when Bill rapidly attacked. Bill jumped away and cast a large golden beam, which Jessie and Harvey combined their powers to hold back.

"Are we forgetting Bill has a Power Level of a million?" Harvey asked.

"That's why I need to get close to him, smartass."

The duo eventually broke away and let the beam pass, and Bill couldn't redirect it in time before it wore off. Harvey lashed his yo-yos and wrapped around Bill, but he effortlessly cut the string and blew a storm of golden bubbles from his scepter. The bubbles were trying to home in on the kids, and while Jessie could pop some, a few latched on their heads, providing an illusion of a monster biting their head, a gun shooting them, or some other kind of horror that didn't physically hurt them, but left the mental scar.

They were able to pop all the bubbles, but Bill was quick to slash them in the chests with the tip of his scepter. "You're a trillion years too early to fight me in this form, Polokus! Do you remember when I melted your monument? I did that by stirring the fear in the Earth Chi around it! I can manipulate ANYTHING by imbuing it with fear! Including your own HAIR!"

Their hair suddenly grew and strangled the boys' necks, to which Bill seized the chance to shoot lasers. Jessie whacked the lasers away as Harvey used his bending to remove the fear in their hair. Bill stabbed his scepter in the center of the room and unleashed six beams from it. Those beams all connected into a star, widened the radius a tad, and electrified, with Jessie and Harvey forced to remain in small, safe places. The star slowly rotated, the boys carefully keeping within those safe spots. The beams eventually stopped, so Jessie leapt over to whack Bill a few times with his Keyblade.

Bill started to counter Jessie's swings, and suddenly did a Fear Screech to drop Jessie's guard and kick him away. Harvey lit his body aflame with Anger and threw furious punches at Bill, grabbing his scepter and throwing it from his grasp, but Bill extended his fingernails and scratched Harvey's boiling skin. Harvey grabbed Bill's hands in his own, enduring the pain of his piercing fingers, while Jessie got behind and struck Bill some more.

A mouth appeared on Bill's rear and gnashed at Jessie's pelvis, and the boy jumped back in a fright. Bill lifted and threw Harvey into Jessie, then he turned his arms into snakes to bite the boys' legs. Jessie cut the snakes off and blew a string of Sleep Bubbles. Bill regained his scepter and quickly popped them, but using Keyblade magic, Jessie made the liquid of the bubbles fly around and whip Bill in the eyes. Bill maintained his consciousness and grew three Hydra heads from his staff to attack them.

Jessie blew more bubbles to trap the heads and put them to sleep, then Harvey ran across their bodies to punch Bill across the room. Jessie then ran in for a forceful swing at the demon, to which Bill blocked with his staff. "I'm sure you know about being paralyzed with fear, Jessie! But I can take it a step farther… with petrification!" Bill's eyes flashed, and for a moment Jessie felt his nerves harden like stone, but a fire burned in his eyes that kept him strong and immune. In truth, this was Harvey channeling his emotionbending over the Indian to keep him fearless. "You're going to fail, Jessie! Even if you kill me, Lord English will revive me a hundred times over! He'll force the Darknesses to be loyal again! You will NEVER WIN!"

"Nnnnngh! We'll… see… about… THAAAT!" Harvey imbued Jessie with more determination, and with that, Jessie knocked the scepter away and stabbed Bill in the head. Inevitably, the sweet embrace of slumber overcame Bill, and he fell down. Jessie and Harvey exchanged glances.

Dream World

Jessie and Harvey appeared in Bill's dreamscape. "He has to be around somewhere!" Jessie said.

"Uhh… is that him?" Harvey asked worriedly.

A gigantic black pyramid with three divided sections, spinning opposite directions, loomed over them terrifyingly. "Be it the Waking World or the Dream World… my power is limitless! Now DIE!!"

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" A storm of 10,000 bubbles, each brimming with unfathomable nightmares, struck Harvey and Jessie with absolutely zero misses. It took no extra time for the two to vanish from existence. (End song.)

"HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA! What kind of performance was THAT?! You two were absolute JOKES! Useless trash that isn't even worth slaying! But I'll make your deaths quick and painless. Time to return to the Waking World and end your existences once and for all! Hehehehehahaha…" Bill pinched himself in the eyelid, and his human body was scared awake.

"Hahaha…eh?" Where he awoke was not English Manor, but… "Gallagher Elementary? What the heck am I doing here?" With curiosity, Bill approached the school.

He found two girls chatting to each other inside the entrance. "I heard the writing teacher quit her job and let him take over."

"Ugh, what'd you expect? He's…?" The other girl noticed Bill. They giggled snarkily and walked away.

Bill rolled his eyes and kept walking. "Talk about future whores."

Bill entered a room where several girls were gathered around someone writing. "Oooo, he's making another one!"

"Yeah, this story's about a cat outsmarting a smartass puppy!"

Bill knew only one person that would write a story like that. "My Lord?" Through the girls, Bill saw young Caliborn writing away. "Haha, I should've known you'd be behind this, My Lord! Come on, ditch these bitches and let's finish off the KND!"

Caliborn kept writing, ignoring everything he said. "…My Lord?"

"YES!" cried Caliborn, raising his paper. "Another story completed ALL by myself! Come on, future whores, to the coat store! !" Caliborn charged through Bill, and all the girls ran past him like a ghost.

Mouth agape, Bill watched them all run out of the classroom. He stepped out and found the halls void of any life. An eerie quiet ensued. Bill wandered lost through the halls for several minutes. There was a passage that was especially long, and a bright light shone at the end of it. Bill walked all the way down and opened the doors. Girls were joyfully raising Caliborn in the air with praise and honor. Bill walked into the crowd, but felt himself get smaller.

"M-…My Lord?" The girls towered over him, throwing English up and down. "My Lord! Can you hear me?!"

"What're YOU still doing here?" one of the girls asked Bill snarkily. "He doesn't NEED you, anymore! You're trash!" And she kicked him away.

Bill landed in a salon, where Lord English rested on a chair and was softly patted by pretty, coated women. "I don't have an inspiration! My talent just comes to me! Brooo ha ha haaaa!"

"What is he saying?! Of COURSE he has an inspiration, ME!" Bill shouted.

"Hrm?" English looked over at him. "Oh, don't mind him. He was the first idea I had. I abandoned him a long time ago."

"What?! No he didn't, I was his mentor! Without me, he wouldn't KNOW how to write!"

"Oh, Bill… did you forget?" The scene turned into that of Bill tapping a chalkboard of equations with his cane, while Caliborn gripped his head in agony. "All you were to me was entertainment. And not even GOOD entertainment. That dumb math shit, that god-awful piano, and what was with teaching that cavegirl to speak?" A vision of Caliborn teaching English to a young Nel. "I threw you aside for some NEW entertainment. And I found that in making stories!" The vision of Bill faded away, a happy smile on his young master's face as he began drawing.

"Oh, suuure. And did any of your precious stories gather the Thirteen Darknesses, trick a scientist into setting up the Multiverse Portal, and organize this entire plan, ALL WHILE YOU WERE HELPLESSLY TRAPPED?!"

"I had vessels, Bill! I had time-travel! I could've done it ALL myself! I just made YOU do it all so you'd quit giving me a headache! You were a pawn to me, Bill, just like Medusa. You're only lucky I didn't destroy you, too!"

"That's a LIE! You needed me and you know it! Why don't you just admit it?! YOU NEEDED ME!" Yet, his voice was drowned by the flock of coated women, giggling as they piled around His Lordship. "YOU NEEED MEEEEEE!!!" Bill was slurped away as if by an invisible vacuum, until there was nothing but complete darkness.

Why… Bill was falling…falling… into darkness… Why doesn't His Lordship love me? I've always been there for him. I've always… helped him…

"WAIT!" Bill snapped out of his trance. "I know what's going on here! I'm still in the Dream World! Polokus and that emotion kid are pulling some kind of trick! Well, NO MORE! ERAAAGH!" With a burst of power, the darkness blew away like a paper wall. He was at the Council of Teensies, and all the council members were staring awkwardly at him. "Heh heh, WELL, WELL, WELL! You guys thought you could get the jump on OLLLE Bill? You guys deserve a reward, and you know what it is?" He BLASTED the Teensie King's podium, blasted the exit, blasted at Globox, blasted Ly, destroyed Murfy against the ceiling, and reduced the council to utter chaos.

"AHHH HAHAHAHA! Trying to pull a prank on Bill Cipher?! WELL, IT FAILED! Lord English NEEDS me! He'll ALWAYS NEED ME! ALWAAAAYS!! AHH HAHAHAHA…eh?" Eventually, the entire council hall was left with nothing but smoke. "Huh… Man, I guess I overdid it. Well, I'm glad that nuisance is dealt with. Now to wake up for REAL." He pinched himself, and the world went black.

Bill woke up in the room where the battle took place. Jessie and Harvey were conked out on the floor. "Well, that's what ya get, Polokus." Bill casually destroyed their bodies. "Hmm… it seems a tad dark. My Lord, did you forget to pay the electric bill?" Bill entered the casino. "Have you awoken yet, My Lord? …My Lord?" Bill approached the chair, but all that existed was a small radio.

"The universe rejoices as the Kids Next Door have successfully defeated the all-powerful Lord English and his Thirteen Darknesses!"

"It was an expected victory, Linda," Morbo's malicious voice replied, "for despite Lord English's overwhelming power over those FEEBLE Earthlings, he was simply too unintelligent to achieve victory."

"Yes, Morbo. If only Lord English had someone—a reliable partner, perhaps, to serve as his brains while he did all this complex universe-conquering."

"Well, there was SOMEONE that came close: the Zathurian, Dimentio. Sadly, he was nothing more than a traitorous fool who DESPISED English's ideas!"

"Well, who wouldn't, Morbo? Lord English is such a shitty writer, even his OWN ideas would escape from his mind if they had the chance."

"A feeble effort, indeed. For even in reality, a shitty idea can NEVER escape from its source: and that source is ABSOLUTE NOTHING!"

Bill smashed the radio into a million pieces. "Piece of shit. LORD ENGLISH, where are you?!" He walked down another passage and arrived at the money chamber. All the one-dollar bills had diamond symbols rather than Eye of Providences, just like when Jessie became president. Bill set blue fire to all the dollars to find his way through, and after reaching another hall, there was a giant dollar bill slowly burning away. The last of it to remain was the Eye of Providence, but the pyramid burned, and then the eye.

"Is any of this supposed to MEAN something, Polokus?!" Bill continued forward. "Whatever it is, you're dead wrong! When this is over, I'll sign my name next to every idol of Lord English! I'll paint my picture on every street, make everyone cut it into their arm—hell, I'll even burn my image into His Lordship's brain, so that way, he'll NEVER forget what I did for him, no matter HOW MUCH HE TRIES!"

At that instant, someone punched him in the head. Bill looked up at who it was: "You're even more hopeless than I am." Madotsuki said, her expression dull. "At least I loved my Creations. They were always there for me. What were you to Lord English?"

They faced up at the sky. Galaxies glistened the heavens, but one by one, they vanished. "Don't care about that one… and don't like that one, anymore… meh, that one is boring."

"But I'm different from those other worlds! I have personality! I had a heart! I… H-He cared for me!"

Someone else punched Bill. "No, he didn't!" Mary stated. "You were just a hopeless Friend with hopeless dreams. You were as poorly developed as all his other ideas. You were bound to fade away sooner or later."

"That's right." Jack Frost hit him with his cane. A devilish smirk was plastered on all their faces. "So, why don't you accept your fate?"

Phosphora and Django were there, and they all gathered in a circle, leaving no escape for Bill as they punched and kicked him around. "ENOUGH!" Bill destroyed Django, then Mary, but another Django came, he destroyed Jack, then Mary came back, then Phosphora, Mado, Jack, Mado, Mary, Phosphora, Jack, Mary, Jack, Jack, Mary, Phosphora, Mosphora, Jacko, Djary, Jary, Phosphack, Mack! Hundreds and hundreds of them brutally pummeled Bill into a useless pulp.

"Useless! Nothing! Trash! Your life was meaningless! There's nowhere you can run from the truth! Not in Dream World… or the Human World!"

"Stop! No! This isn't real! I'm still dreaming! Why haven't I waken up?! Why am I still in the Dream World?! It must be Jessie! He must be using his Keyblade to trap me in some kind of extended sleep! And Harvey's using his powers to make this nightmare! They won't keep me here!" Bill whacked them away and aimed the pyramid of his scepter at his heart. "I'm ending this nightmare PERMANENTLY!" And with that, the golden tip pierced his heart.

He was lost in a sea of stars. Why didn't His Lordship love me? We did everything together. I was his best friend. The stars slowly disappeared. Why didn't His Lordship love me? I was his greatest idea. Wait… that's why His Lordship didn't love me. Because His Lordship refused to acknowledge my existence.

After the last star was gone, Bill had appeared in a realm of thirteen doors. While he didn't at first realize it, he was in his triangle form. Bill approached the center door and entered Madotsuki's bedroom. There she was asleep on her bed. Outside on the tall apartment balcony was the expansive view of the endless dream sky. Bill was about to exit to that balcony, when-

"You're afraid of being forgotten." He turned to face Mr. Dark. "It was never part of Lord English's plan for you to steal Madotsuki's reality. It was YOUR plan. Because you were afraid that he would cast you aside. That he would erase you."

". . . . OH, IT'S TRUUUEEE!" Bill burst into tears. "Lord English never loved ANY of his ideas! Every piss-poor piece of literature he created never lasted a minute! It didn't matter to him if I lasted longer than the others! He was going to erase me! No matter what I did, I was just another dumb idea!" He sobbed some more.

"It's hard, Bill. Being so attached to our creators. Whatever they think, we become. Whether it's darkness… or emptiness."

Bill's sobbing ceased. "Yes… but His Lordship won't forget me. I'll make sure of it." He faced the balcony exit. "I'll destroy every last hopeless dream until only I exist. I'll be there for him… until the very-" The moment he reached for the handle, the balcony door burst into pink fire. "WHAT?!?" (Play "Bill Cipher's Death Theme" from Gravity Falls!)

The other exit caught fire, and soon, the entire perimeter was nothing but flames. "W-What is…"

Hivebent

Jessie and Harvey slowly led Madotsuki to a Decommissioning Chamber, one they had stripped from the Newbase and had installed here. For this very moment. "Are you ready, Mado?" Harvey asked.

"Yes." Madotsuki took the seat. "I am."

With worried expressions, Kanaya typed the code. The plunger positioned itself in front of Madotsuki, and in seconds, her face was swallowed by it.

Dream World

The minute the sucking began was when the apartment caught fire. "Decommissioning is an ugly process, Bill." Mr. Dark said. "It makes people forget their happiness… and their sins. But… we found there are some uses for it!"

It quickly sank into Bill. "NO! PLEASE, STOP THIS! I-I'll give you anything! Money! Fame! UNLIMITED POWER!! I'LL MAKE MADOTSUKI MORE POWERFUL THAN LORD ENGLISH! You'll have the UNIVERSE at your behest! Just PLEASE STOP THIS!"

"Your master was not loyal to you, Cipher… and as such, you were not loyal to him. I think it's time we were both erased of our misery."

"NO! NOOOOO!" Bill's body began to electrify as he morphed into all sorts of hideous, distorted forms. "AXOLOTL! MY TIME HAS COME TO BURN! I INVOKE THE ANCIENT POWER THAT I MAY RETURN!" The flames were at their peak, and nothing but empty whiteness awaited Bill. "LORD ENGLISH!! DON'T FORGET MEEEEEEEEEE. . . . !"

Mr. Dark closed his eyes. "Madotsuki…" He opened and looked at his sleeping master. "Please… enjoy the New Universe. And live… happily…" And soon, he met the same fate as Bill.

The camera zoomed out from the whiteness, which shrunk into a blank space within Madotsuki's pupil. Jessie, Harvey, and the team of Jack Frost, Django, Phosphora, and Mary studied her. "Madotsuki… Do you remember anything?" Harvey asked.

". . . . Mado…tsuki?"

The friends bowed their heads. They knew, the three-year plan they had been constructing… it had succeeded. And Mr. Dark had made his sacrifice: using the Protoon to transport Bill and Mado's friends to the Dream World, so that their physical bodies could attack his own and make him think he was still dreaming. With the Teensie Council's help in creating the nightmare… it worked.

"Will you guys watch after her?" Harvey asked.

"Yes." Phosphora nodded. "We'll keep her company… until the very end."

"…Then let's go." Jessie and Harvey jumped back inside the Vanishing Box.

"Who…Who… am I?" Mado asked.

"Your name is Madotsuki." Jack Frost replied. "And you…you've had a rough life. It might take a while to explain… but what the hey, we have time to spare."

English Manor

"We've got it!" The Gilligan Triplets were warped to the courtyard, raising Don Gero. Wendy used magic to return the frog to his original form.

The rest of the gods appeared in the sky, along with the weakened form of Arceus. "Thank goodness… I was tired of fighting him." Arceus said.

"All Gods, INTO THAT FROG!" Palutena declared. So with that, she, Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, Medusa, Kyogre, Groudon, Solaris, Polaris, Viridi—ALL GODS miniaturized themselves to tiny size and entered the mouth of the Universe Frog. Then, Celebi shrunk all the Firstborn. Midna waved bye to Dillon, Diancie to Anthony, Hylia to her three Guardians, and they all entered the frog as well.

With that, the kids bolted through the mansion, past Bill's boss room, and into Lord English's casino. "There he is!" exclaimed Haylee. "Go for it, Harry!"

Harry Gilligan raced forward, Universe Frog in hand. "SUH-LAAAAAM…" With a gracious leap, Harry's eyes were locked on the lord's gaping mouth, "DUNK!" In the Universe Frog went!

"YYYEEEEAAAH!" cheered the kids.

"Gluh…gluh…GULP!" Lord English swallowed the frog with gusto.

"Harry, read me the story of the old Time Lord that swallowed the frog!" ♪ Haylee sang.

"GRAAAAAAHHH!" His Lordship's bellow rattled the whole mansion.

"He's awake now!" Harvey screamed.

"RUUUN!" cried Haylee, and the kids put all the power in their feet as Lord English pursued them through the halls.

They zipped past a closed passage, from which Cheren and Calliope peeked out. "Oh, no! My brother woke Up a little ahead of schedUle! We were barely able to get the frog in him in time!"

"Let's help them!" Cheren was about to run out.

"NO!" Calliope held him back. "It's not yet time to fight that form of his! YoUr friends will be okay!"

"You sure?!"

"Yes! He doesn't seem to be fUlly conscioUs at the moment. Please, follow me!" Calliope and Cheren ran down a flight of stairs, deep into the mansion's basement. "There are actUally two incarnations of my brother that exist in this time. The other one is the piece that was separated from me!" They kicked open a door. "THERE!"

The young version of Caliborn whipped around from his writing desk. "SISTER!"

"Brother!"

"Who's that little turd beside you?! Is that one of your new characters, Sis? You're here to rub him in my face, aren't you?! Well, I'll show YOU whose ideas are better! GET THEM, FELLAS!" (Play "Baby Bowser 1" from Yoshi's Story!)

Boss fight: Caliborn

"Cheren, woUld yoU knock some sense into him for me?"

"Gladly!" Cheren said fiercely.

Taking his sketch paper with him, Caliborn leapt onto an MS Paint flying worm (or was it a snake?), soaring around the room as MS Paint versions of his friends attacked him. Cheren slaughtered a painted Mason, Maddy, Dillon, Chris, and George before facing up at the young lord. He used Light Arrows to shoot the snakes in the face, but Caliborn merely jumped to another snake, and he would also do so if arrows were aimed at him.

Cheren spotted another sketchpad on the desk and went to draw on it. He made MS Paint spikes appear on the ceiling and drew a path for Caliborn's snake to fly up into them. Caliborn still jumped off and conjured more MS Paint clones to attack his enemy. Cheren killed them all with three spin attacks and had to redraw the spikes since Caliborn erased the first ones. He directed the snake up there again, but just as he jumped off, Cheren drew spikes under him and injured the young lord.

Caliborn drew more snakes to keep him aloft, but this time they were specifically keeping away from the spikes. Cheren drew some in his flight path, but the snake directed up, and Cheren kept making obstacles, forcing the snake to go in loops, making the space within ever tighter, and Cheren was swift to draw spikes in the opening Caliborn would leap out. After another round of ugly clones were sent at Cheren, this time Caliborn was quickly jumping around multiple snakes. He would only jump if spikes obstructed his path, after which he would erase them, and he had multiple places to jump. Cheren decided to draw spikes on the various snakes, and when Caliborn tried to erase them, his snake flew toward spikes, and eventually he was forced to jump on a spiked snake.

As Caliborn flailed his arms from the pain, Cheren drew one extra spike to STAB into his head, causing Caliborn to fall from the perch. He plopped on the floor, standing dizzily and throwing the spike off him. Caliborn calmly pulled out a paper. "Ahem: here's my poem: I'M THE KING, you useless fool!" He threw it away. "I'll squash you flat BECAUSE IT'S COOL!" (Play "Baby Bowser 2"!)

Caliborn leapt high and performed a Ground Pound, Cheren dodging as the writing desk was crushed. Caliborn spat a quick Chrono Beam that Cheren blocked, but quickly dodged again when Caliborn did another Ground Pound. Caliborn repeated the attack, and this time Cheren thrusted his sword up to stab his rump. Caliborn fell a few feet away, jumping back up and charging headfirst into Cheren. The boy was pushed off his feet and smashed against a wall, followed by rapid kicks from Caliborn's golden foot.

Caliborn leapt away and charged him again, but Cheren did a Shield Bash to stun the young lord, followed by an overhead SLASH! With that, Caliborn yanked his gold leg off and turned it into a sword, engaging Cheren in combat. The Cherub was quick in his movements, Cheren couldn't drop his guard for a moment. Eventually, the boy performed a Soul Surge, dealing a forceful swing from the top, right, bottom, top-left, bottom-left, right, and 14 other rounds to block Caliborn's sword until it flew out of his hand.

Cheren unleashed the rest of his fury on the boy, with his last swing sending Caliborn flying across the room. (Play "Man of the World" from Naruto: Shippuden.)

Caliborn flew across the room, blood flying from his nose. At that very moment… everything turned white, and time grew very slow. The ceiling scrolling past his vision, his body gliding over the floor, at a very low speed. As though his entire existence… was playing through his mind. From just that one hit.

He hit the floor much faster in Cheren's vision. His anger was nowhere near vanished, as he rushed at Caliborn and unleashed his most furious storm of punches. Snarling like a bull, eyes full of pure anger and lust, he punched, punched, punched, punched Caliborn until his knuckles were bloody as his face. "DIE!! DIE!! YOU STUPID SHIT, WHY DON'T YOU DIE! GIVE US BACK OUR WORLD! ! LEAVE US ALONE AND DROP DEAD!!"

Caliborn had no chance to say anything. He lay there and took all of the abuse. The pain became invisible after about twenty. His consciousness was barely there… only his inner thoughts. Am I really deserving to be assaulted by a lesser author's worthless creation?! What have I done wrong?! Don't they understand?! I'm… A WRITER!! It's in my blood to create things! Worlds and characters! Why don't they understand?! Why does everyone else get to have their way? Why am I not allowed to be heard? I… am a creative genius just like them."

"Brother…"

Caliborn looked above him. For the moment, he forgot Cheren's beatings. "Calliope?"

"Caliborn… I'm sorry. There was so much that I should've taught you… but neither of us could understand. We lived such simple lives in our shared body, pretending to know about the worlds outside. We were happy just creating silly characters, conflicts, and morals… but a story is so much more than that. People's lives are so complex. Their struggles never end, and their relationships never stop developing. They are constantly influenced by the very universe around them, and its laws, no matter how complex. After watching everything these children have been through, even I still cannot fully understand. These people, Caliborn… they have true hearts. They have true feelings. Some of them live happily with friends, others live miserable and alone… and this entire experience has taught me much. There is still more that I need to learn. …I wish to do it… with you, Caliborn."

Returning to reality, Calliope punched Cheren across the room. "Ow! …Eh?!"

Calliope stood over her twin brother, arm extended. "Let's start over again… Caliborn. Let's erase what remains of this Universe, and create worlds that all Universes will admire."

"What are you saying?!" Cheren shouted.

"C…Calliope…" Caliborn cried. "Do you mean it?"

Calliope smiled. "I do… Brother…"

"NO! !" Cheren ran to stop them, but a bright light erupted from where they stood. Through it, Cheren could see two amoebas with single eyes, molding together. Those two eyes began flashing wild neon colors.

The overwhelming power caused the entire castle to tremble. "Something's happening!" Maddy screamed.

"The castle's going to explode!" Aisa sensed. "We have to escape!"

"TOO LATE!" screamed Chimney.

The light engulfed the entire castle, reducing everything to ruin. The members of the IDA and the Thirteen Darknesses curiously gazed at the light. When it all cleared, the Kids Next Door were astonishingly okay, protected by green barriers that gently set them on the ruined ground.

Standing ahead of them was a body of light, the result of the two Cherubs joining together. Its eyes straightened, exposing the 8's. The form that stood before them was Lord English, the adult form they had always known. "So, Calliope and Caliborn… have ALWAYS been joined?!" Cheren realized.

Everyone… Calliope spoke from the minds of her Seven Lights. My brother and I are in the process of fusing. In this phase, we are at our weakest. I will do everything I can to restrain us as you battle. This is your final chance… to destroy Lord English, and BRING FORTH THE NEW UNIVERSE!