The Horrorverse, Part 13: When Fear Is Irrelevant

G.U.N. H.Q. (cut to after Nolan explains to them!)

"WHAAAAAAT?!" All of them shared the same reaction, except for Sebastian.

"A Devil Fruit… that makes you act like Revan?!" Carol repeated.

"It's true. And it seems like one of Affright's plans throughout the night was to force Revan's half to take over."

"It all makes sense." Misaka realized. "What you were saying about your other personality."

"Yes. But back then, I wasn't sure what was going on. I even went to Haruka one time to have myself checked. But Revan's half kicked in and attacked her."

"Because he was afraid she could heal you." Dillon deduced.

"But even Haruka's powers can't heal metahumanism." Carol inferred.

"Why take a chance?" Nolan figured. "Speaking of healing, it seems you've made a quick recovery, Dillon. Midna, did you do something?"

"It wasn't her, Dad." Dillon said with a grin. "I had help from a friend. Wanna introduce yourself?"

A girl with brown hair and tired red eyes shyly peeked into the hall. She came in with squeaky red shoes. "…Madotsuki…" Nolan recognized her. She was a girl that had undergone terrible experiences at a young age. Her memory was recently wiped clean, and as her friends tried to help her remember who she is, she was adopted by a kind family in her hometown in Japan.

"She appeared inside my nightmare and used her Bubble Dreaming powers to help me." Dillon explained. "Then I asked Midna to take me to Japan and find her, so we could fix the others. We also picked up Carol on the way."

"Carol also informed my young master of the situation." Sebastian followed. "It was his idea to retrieve all the allies you told me about."

"Of course…" Nolan wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. "You have the Gem of Dreams."

Madotsuki reached in her backpack and retrieved the green gem. Nolan had once been the owner of that gem, but he thought it would be better off in Madotsuki's hands. "This used to belong to you… right?" she asked.

"She's slowly starting to recover her memories." Jack explained. "She must have found the door to Dillon's dreamscape inside her own. Bubble Dreamers can normally access the dreams of people they're close to, and since she was close to you, Nolan, she was able to find Dillon's dream, too."

"Hmm… I'm really glad I met you, Madotsuki." Nolan smiled. "You probably never wanted to get involved with us again… but I need you to do something."

Nolan led them to Haruka's medical room. "I need you to enter Haruka's mind and try to bring her back. We need her to heal all the other KND operatives. It'll be too difficult for you to help them all like you did Dillon, and I'm not sure if defeating Affright will do it either. But I have to warn you… Haruka's been through a traumatic experience recently. If you go inside her mind, you may find some… triggering images."

"I'll do it, York-san. …If she's your friend, I'll help her."

"Okay. Just be careful."

Madotsuki raised the Gem of Dreams and converted her body into spiritual sand, which swirled into Haruka's mind. "Now begins the hard part: actually defeating Affright." Carol said.

"Heh. You leave that to me." Dillon smirked, reaching a hand to, "Midna: hit me with some Firstborn power and I'll get started."

"Can't do it."

"Ha ha ha, sure you can. You powered me up when we fought Madara."

"That was before I helped restore the universe and sacrificed all my God Chi to do so."

"Ha ha ha… eh… YOU DIDN'T TELL US THAT BEFORE?!" Dillon grabbed and shook the princess.

"I never had a reason to bring it up! You're lucky I still have my teleporting powers."

"Midna, if you can't do anything else, then you can stay and watch Haruka, bring her to us once she's ready. I think I have another way we can stop Affright… but it's a long shot if it will work." Nolan grabbed a bottle from his trenchcoat. The group looked closer and observed the blobby gray thing inside it.

"Is that… the Nightmare King?!" Carol asked, baffled.

"My word! He's so afraid that he's gone pale!" Jack exclaimed.

"Horror's Hand contains Darkrai's older brother. He needs to face his fear and make up for what his father did to him." Nolan stated. "If he succeeds, Horror's Hand might be at ease and stop obeying Affright. But like I said, it's a long shot…"

"In other words, we may need to rely on Haruka to heal the KND and let them handle it. Maybe…" Crystal said worriedly.

"What about this Revan person?" Misaka asked. "What if he takes over Mr. York's mind again?"

"Don't worry. I think Revan's a little tuckered out." Nolan looked over at a sulking Revan a few feet away. "Still… I can't change what I did. The least I can do is help defeat Affright. Afterwards, I'm locking myself away."

"But it wasn't your fault, Dad." Dillon said.

"It was. I tried to keep my condition a secret because I didn't want anyone to worry. But maybe I should have…"

"It always was like you to hide things from us, Nolan." Crystal shook her head.

"Regardless, we know what needs to be done." Sebastian said. "My master is growing impatient, as are the others. Let us hurry to Cleveland and thwart Affright posthaste!"

Cleveland, Virginia

The large group flew to Cleveland on Ciel's S.U.P.E.R.-C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.. They landed on the street at the entrance to town, seeing operatives rampaging left and right. Aurora Uno used her icebending to freeze a restaurant, and Chris Uno was about to destroy it with a Combustion Beam, but Accelerator was teleported in his way as he used vectorbending to redirect Chris's beam straight up into the sky. "You gotta tell me the secret recipe for that Formula Q, old man."

The Uno siblings set their sights on them, but they were shot by pink bullets that stunned their senses and knocked them down. "What kind of bullets are these, is what I'm wondering?" Mey-Rin asked, pinching one in her fingers. "These couldn't kill a fly, couldn't kill a fly is what they couldn't do!"

"Those are Antikill bullets." Nagisa answered. "They're designed to knock people out without leaving a wound."

"NYAAARR!" A young nun jumped out and BIT Nagisa in the shoulder.

"AAAAH! INDEX!" Nagisa desperately shoved his friend off, her teeth soaked in his blood. "OUCH!" Something bit him in the leg. "Goombella!"

Ciel and Sebastian yanked the two off, punching them unconscious. "Do everything you can to restrain them or knock them out!" Nolan ordered. "Jack, let's find Affright!"

"Right behind you, Nolan!" The two hurried into the city.

Fybi Fulbright blasted them with arrows from above, the group dodging as Kuroko teleported above her and dropped down, smashing the angel to the ground. Fybi blasted her off with a wind pulse, then spun a wide cyclone around herself to blow the others back. Finnian jumped through the wind and punched Fybi, stopping her wind as Nagisa Shaved up to cut her with the Antikill knife and knock her out.

"See, no big deal! We'll have them all sorted out in no time!" Nagisa said confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" came the familiar snide voice of The Riddler. The puzzle-loving villain was hovering above in a green pod, a question mark antenna on the bottom. "All these kids need is a wake-up call!" He pushed a button that sent out a faint soundwave.

The fallen operatives woke back up, still under Affright's control as they attacked the heroes. Misaka shot lightning up at him, but it bounced off a green bubble shield, Misaka jumping back before it struck her. Kuroko tried to teleport her pins into his pod, but she was unable to. "He has chi-blocks in that pod!"

"What a dirty cheater!" Carol shouted.

"He ain't the only one, kids!" The group about-faced to find Caesar Clown. "I thought I'd introduce you to some old subjects of mine! Behold, Punk Hazard's Giant Squad!" Beneath him were the members of Sector GT, along with Mocha. Dillon recognized those psychotic looks in their eyes, but hadn't seen them since Punk Hazard.

"RAAAAAH!" The giants charged forth with fury. Sebastian leapt and KICKED Sind away with his mighty leg, but the butler was sent flying by Mocha's superior punch. Misaka zapped Mocha with lightning, but April Goldenweek snuck up behind her and painted a pink spot to weaken her. "Errr… what is…"

"SISSY!" Kuroko kicked April away and quickly wiped the paint off. They jumped back before Konbu could fall on them.

Carol saw Riddler making a getaway and called, "Get back here, you jerk!"

Riddler looked back. "Oh, it's Sandman's little helper. Have recent events persuaded you to seek a new employer?"

"As if! You've been wasting our time all night, so someone has to teach you a lesson!"

"If that's what you wish!" Riddler stopped fleeing and faced her. "But you're a hundred years too early to be challenging ME!" He burned a laser along the ground, easy for Carol to dodge as Vanellope jumped out of her computer and glitched up to his pod. She dealt rapid glitch-kicks to his barrier, but was unable to penetrate it. She fell down and glitched back up in attempt to hack the shield, but her body glitched and she fell again.

"Mwah ha ha ha! A broken Program is no match for my Nigma Bubble! Riddlerbots, destroy her!" A squad of robots marched up and drew guns.

"Call ME a broken Program and you'll regret it." Vanellope glared. She swiftly dodged the robots' bullets and zipped around to kick them down. "Say, I wonder if I can…" Vanellope glitched into one of the robots. Inside of its cyberspace, she was staring up at a green sky where ?'s were raining down from a giant Nigma face. Vanellope glitched her way up the ?'s, avoiding the red ones that would electrocute her. She was able to make it and glitch into Riddler's mouth, reappearing inside his pod.

"What?!" Vanellope dealt quick kicks to the Enigma. Riddler managed to grab a Taser and zap Vanel, making his craft do a barrel-roll and shake her out. "You little cheat! Switching to a different channel!" The Riddlerbots switched out their guns for shock rods. They kept sharp eyes on Vanellope and whipped the rods at her whenever she tried to attack.

"You could use a little help." Carol said, aiming her laptop at one of their heads. She was able to hack its code and command it to attack its comrades.

"Impossible! Those robots should only obey ME! They're programmed with a religion that idolizes me as their god!"

"Here's what I think of their god!" Vanellope glitched into one of the weakened robots and jumped up another storm of ?'s. The red ?'s came in greater numbers, but she still managed to avoid them and reach Nigma's head. She surprised him again in his pod and gave him a well-deserved kicking. Riddler whirled the pod around one way, then around the other way, but Vanellope was too stubborn to leave.

"That's it! You asked for it!" Riddler got his Taser and shoved it into Vanellope's face. Her body glitched worse and worse until she finally faded from existence. "There's nothing worse in a game than a glitch. Glitches that break the game, glitches that cheat the game, they're all annoying! I curse the developers that fail to catch their mistakes!"

"You know what they say about flaws!" Riddler's pod began to shake uncontrollably. Vanellope's vibrant face displayed on the small screen. "Having flaws means you're functioning perfectly!"

"That philosophy only applies to humans! And even then, it's malarkey! GET OUT OF MY RIDDLE POD!" Riddler frantically typed a code. "Activating Virus Seekers! Your days are numbered, Glitch!"

The pod was hanging lower to the ground, and Carol decided to jump up and grab its rear antenna. Realizing the barrier was no longer in effect, she mustered her strength to climb the back of the pod. She made it on top while Riddler was still fighting with his controls. Carol leapt high, raised her laptop, and BASHED it over Riddler's head. The Enigma was knocked out and the pod crashed on the ground. Carol quickly hopped out, opened the laptop, and connected it with the pod. "Vanellope, in here!"

The Program leapt in and allowed a Game-and-Watch to destroy her, so her virus could possess its body. Vanellope hopped out and enjoyed her victory with Carol. "YEAH!!" the duo high-fived.

"As you can see, Masterson Computers are highly durable!" She spoke to the readers, talking like a commercial host. "Even if you hit them over an iron-hard ego!"

Dream Realm

Madotsuki appeared in Haruka's dreamscape, which was called Office Lolita. One would expect a Gothic Lolita-themed doctor's office, but unfortunately, the office was in a sad state of affairs. Mado was staring up at a red sky, blotted by a terrifying giant with a mummified face. "Hehehehehehehe! Yes, my pretty… Papa Kelvin will make you nice and new. He will drink your soul… wash your cup… and refill you with new substance… and then drink you again…"

With his giant fingers, he was undressing Haruka, lightly squeezing her, and putting her in new dresses before nudging his hideous cheek on her fragile form. "Ehhhh?" He noticed Madotsuki "Why, it's another little dolly. Would you like Kelvin to fix you, too?" He reached his hand to the little Bubble Dreamer.

Horrible images flashed in Mado's mind of a pair of hands and a knife. She ran as fast as she could from the pursuing hand, but it was closing in, and soon it would have her. Kelvin grinned as his fingers closed over the pretty girl, but when he reopened his hand, she was gone. "EH?!"

He looked to his right as Madotsuki reappeared on a platform. The girl was confused as to how this happened, until she found a floating hat and scarf beside her. "Mafurako…"

"Madotsuki. Can you hear me?" a voice spoke in her mind. "It's me, Masada. Although you don't remember, you've already come to peace with your past. The feelings you felt that day are etched into your heart. Recall those pleasant feelings and let them fight for you."

Kelvin reached for Madotsuki once more. The girl closed her eyes and opened her shirt window. "BOOGEEEEEEYYY!" Jar Jar Blinks burst out of the window and kicked Kelvin in the face, dressed like a superhero. "Binkey's here to save de milkies!"

Madotsuki drew a knife and sliced Kelvin's hand clean off. However, the act of doing so made the same vision flash in her mind. Kelvin snatched Jar Jar in his left hand and squeezed the Dream Gungan. "You disrespectful young lady!" Kelvin raised the fist above Mado and brought it down—

Mado switched to her Stoplight form and froze Kelvin in time. She moved out of the way and donned her Yuki-onna outfit, causing a blizzard. "Eh? Snow? Boo-o-o-o-o… It's s-so cold… w-what if I get chapped lips?" He worriedly felt his lips.

Madotsuki seized the chance to get on her bike, hop down to Haruka, and grab the girl before making a getaway. "NO! COME BACK WITH MY DOLLY!" Kelvin crawled after them on one hand. Madotsuki pedaled as fast as she could, but they were snatched in Kelvin's hand. "You are a very nasty girl… and I despise those scarlet eyes of yours—wait a moment."

"October Foolsies!" said Jar Jar, wearing a Mado wig.

"Then…Then who…" Behind Kelvin, Madotsuki had blown up a massive Sleep Bubble. Mafurako, Monoko, and Monoe combined their strength to push the bubble, Mado bravely riding it as it bowled over Baron Kelvin. The baron could hardly let out a scream as the bubble engulfed him. "Yaaaawn… My dollies… come to bed with me… please…" Drifting into slumber, Kelvin ascended into the heavens, taking his place among the stars.

G.U.N. H.Q.

Midna watched as Madotsuki materialized from Haruka's mind. "You're back! Did you save her?"

"Mmm…oh…" Haruka stirred in her sleep and sat up on her bed at long last. "Ma…Madotsuki."

"Are you okay, Haruka-chan?"

"I think… What's been happening?"

Midna took a moment to get Haruka up to speed. "So, that's why… hu-!" Haruka flinched, the image of Kelvin flashing in her mind.

"Haruka?" Midna said with concern.

"I…I'm fine." She got out of bed. "I can't just lay around in bed all day. My friends need me. It's time to make up for lost time!" She grabbed an empty syringe and used it to draw out her blood.

She headed to a base laboratory and made use of her poisonbending and the available equipment. She grabbed a vial of blue liquid and asked the doctor, "How quickly can you have this reproduced?"

"We're GUN, baby! Mass-producing things is what we do!"

Cleveland, Virginia

Crystal Wickens sprayed knock-out gas on Harvey Harper and Aranea. She gasped when Jinta came charging with his giant baseball bat. Crystal selected the Ground Quake setting of her staff, but instead of hitting the ground, she timed it and struck Jinta's bat, sending a vibration through the weapon as Jinta dropped it. Crystal then whacked him in the head and knocked him down. Crystal heard firework whistles and looked up to see the colorful missiles gunning for her, coming from Kodama, but they were blasted out of the air by Baldroy.

Caesar loomed in the air, watching the Giant Squad in action. Ally tried to clap Sebastian in her hands, but the butler dodged in a blink before stomping her hands to the ground, then he dealt a spin kick to the girl's head. Mocha was furiously trying to stomp Nagisa, who was using Paper Art to dodge her attacks, fearing any one could be fatal. "GRAAAH! Stop moving around!" Mocha shouted. "I'm sick of people kicking me around! Thinking I'm small and weak! I'll crush you ALL if that's what it takes!"

"Shuroro! This sure brings back memories." Caesar wiped an imaginary tear. "When we're through with everyone here, I'm turning all these operatives into vicious giants! And they'll be the indestructible shields of the Brotherhood of Evil!"

An Armament arm burst out of a shadow and PUNCHED the clown upside the chin. Caesar angrily straightened his jaw out as Dillon emerged. "Not gonna happen, Clowny!"

"Oh, it's you again! You were actually able to fight back the Fear Toxin, eh? And I see you learned Haki…"

"Well, I'm still kinda new at it. But I asked my dad if I could borrow some of his." Nolan's shadow stretched to Dillon's side and nodded.

"Can't even be bothered to beat me with your own skills, eh? Shows how much YOU'VE accomplished in three years! Getting rid of you will be easy." Caesar took a breath and fired an Oxygen Beam, but Dillon sank into a Veil and avoided. He stretched up his arms and grabbed Caesar's head before launching himself out and above the clown.

"Shadow SLINGSHOT!" Still holding him, Dillon launched back down and body-slammed Caesar, bringing him to the ground. "You know how to extend your poisonbending to oxygen, but I can extend my shadowbending to my body!" Dillon stretched his right arm several meters back and flung it toward Caesar, but he dodged the predictable attack and tried to slice the arm with a knife. Dillon gasped and quickly withdrew the arm, then sunk into a Veil.

Caesar drew his Bang Missile launcher, keeping his eye on the ground in anticipation for him. Dillon emerged- "Ah ah ah! Your Shadow Clone won't fool me!" Caesar grinned. He sensed Dillon coming from behind and yelled, "SMILE!" blasting a missile, but it completely went through Dillon's black mist body. "Hn?!"

"The clone was behind you, doofus!" The previous Dillon stretched and wrapped his arm around Caesar, swinging and slamming him all around the ground. Caesar dropped his missile launcher before emitting poison gas and forcing Dillon to release. The boy sent Mario to grab the launcher and fly high above one of the buildings, dropping it off. Caesar tried to chase him, but Dillon used his dad's shadow to fly up and grab him.

Caesar punched Dillon and blew Poison Breath down to make him release, cackling as he resumed ascending. Sadly, as Mario was coming down, he grabbed Caesar's shadow and brought him down again. Once he hit the ground, Dillon stretched his arm skyward and brought it down on his face. Caesar broke free and blasted an Oxygen Beam, Dillon dodging as he stretched his leg back and launched it toward his face. Caesar dodged, but was surprised when the leg whipped down into a Veil. Meanwhile, Dillon had been stretching his other leg in a Veil behind Caesar, and seized the chance to kick the clown in the back of the head.

Dillon followed this with a stretched punch to the face as his legs retracted. "Man, that move hurts my legs." He quickly Veiled when Caesar spun around and fired Gas Bombs everywhere. He could tell no damage was done, but there was now too much gas for him to emerge safely.

"Now to get back my Bang Launcher." With that, Caesar spewed an Oxygen Beam directly down and rocketed himself skyward. He reached the rooftop where his launcher was dropped. "There we are! Let's see how that boy fairs with a little mutation."

"Sorry, but that look doesn't do it for me!" Caesar felt his body being wrapped by an invisible force. He looked to his shadow on the building and realized it was connected to a very long shadow stretching to the bottom. Unable to escape, the neck of the shadow was reeling up at a breakneck speed. "Shadow HEADBUTT!"

"D'OOOHH!" Dillon's head made contact with Caesar's and knocked the clown out. He dropped the launcher, and his own body began to fall. However, Dillon remained airborne, his limbs stretching down with Caesar. "Get ready! 3… 2… 1… SHADOW BLASTOFF!" He retracted the limbs with the same blinding speed, the wind brushing him as Caesar flew past and was gone into the sky.

Dillon made safe land on the ground, rubbing his sore areas. "Phew! Maybe I should lighten up with that…" he spoke dizzily. "It's not like I'm made of rubber…"

By this time, Nolan and Jack were overlooking the defeated forms of Eva, Angie, Luvbi, and Matthew. Creeper was looking over a pale and half-conscious Mandy, while Danika was the only one still standing. She was panting and holding her wounded left arm as she glared at Affright. The villain tilted his head and sported a smirk. Danika turned, and masked her shock at seeing her husband. "Nolan… I-I thought…"

"Don't worry, Dani. I just needed some time to think." Nolan and Jack walked past her. "The world needs Sandman for one more night… but after this, it's over."

"…Hm…" Danika smiled. "That's what you say, anyway."

"Sandman… heh heh heh." Affright chortled. "Somehow, I knew you would fight the effects of the Devil Fruit. But do you not see what I've done to your friends?"

"I think we need to have a talk." stated Nolan.

"A talk, is it? Well, I guess I'll be polite and listen."

"Not you, Affright. I mean the spirit of Horror's Hand."

Affright was surprised for a moment. "Let me ask you a question." spoke the mysterious voice that belonged to the hand. The palm glowed and projected an illusion of the shadowy imp. "What is my name?"

"That's a good question. Perhaps he'll know." Nolan withdrew Darkrai's bottle, plucked it open, and poured him onto the ground. Darkrai came out like a gray goop, forming a puddle before slightly reforming into his half-normal self.

"Oooooooooogggg…"

"So, my little brother… tell me… What is my name?"

"P-P-Please… don't hurt me, Brother…"

"That's exactly how he looked. My own father was scared of me. He was too scared to even give me a name. I was just a baby! I knew nothing of the world! I trusted him to guide me! BUT HE BETRAYED ME! Everyone was afraid of me! I try to reach out to them, but all they do is scream and run! …The only one who trusted me was Affright here. His faith in the Kids Next Door was shattered, just like my faith in my dad. …And you're no different from him, Brother."

"It doesn't have to be this way." Jack approached him. "Uncle… I am truly sorry for my father's rude behavior, and on behalf of my grandfather. I would love to welcome you to Nightmare Land and introduce you to tons of friends. But first, you have to stop serving Affright. You'll never make friends if you continue to hurt people like this."

"Why shouldn't I? After all, fear is what drives mortals. Hatred… Determination… Humor… It is all derived from fear. Just listen to them!"

The creature projected images of all the operatives. "DANNY! Danny, hold on! I'll save you! DANNY!" cried Melody Jackson.

"Watch out! It's One-Touch Maddy!" Kids were running in fear of Maddy Murphy. "She's so strong that just touching her will cripple us!"

"PLEASE! Not more Butt Cream!" Zach was running from a trio of sumos. "I don't wanna be a Super Sumo! Yours is of the lowest forms of comedy!"

"I will be strong again!" Cheren vowed. "Even if I have to beat up everyone around me!"

"This is wrong!" Jack yelled. "It's true that people make decisions and even follow ambitions based on fear, but they don't become stronger by living in fear. They learn to overcome their fear! But you're denying them that privilege! You're scrambling their brains so terribly that they can't even comprehend fear! All they understand is madness."

"Then tell me, Skellington… have you faced your fear?" Affright aimed the hand and flashed it at Jack.

The skeleton was shown a vision of Halloween Town burning before his eye sockets. "We're not afraid of anything! We're not afraid of anything!" Kids were singing happily, dancing circles around the dying town. All of the monsters were becoming dust, doomed to be forgotten as Halloween faded into history.

"No! My Halloween! My friends! Sally! It can't end this way! Please, stop this!" Jack grabbed and shook his head.

"As I thought! No matter how brave a being appears to be, no matter how powerful, fear will always get the best of them! As long as people are afraid, I'm invincible!"

"I know how to fix THAT!" Nolan rushed forth and threw a hardened punch at Affright's face, but he caught the fist in Horror's Hand and imbued him with fear. "AGH!" Whiteness engulfed him as an illusion of Dillon appeared.

"I can't believe I looked up to you. You tried so hard to be a hero that you forgot you had a son."

Nolan swung his left fist and dealt an uppercut on Affright, the villain flying back. He bounced upright and flashed the hand, returning the whiteness as Danika appeared in it.

"Why couldn't you just drop the act, Nolan? I had to pay the bills while you act like you're still an operative."

Nolan engaged Affright in a fist fight, but it shortly ended when the villain grabbed his face in Horror's Hand. Nolan stared directly into the eye.

"I can't believe you got me mixed up in your crap." Yuki Crystal said. "I'm dead because of you!"

"This vigilante stuff was a waste of my time! I wish I never met you!" Wiccan shouted.

"You said you would save all my sisters!" Misaka shouted.

"Old men don't belong out here!" Vanellope yelled.

"How could you strangle me like that?!" Haruka cried.

"You're so useless, you needed ME to help you!" Carol shouted.

"Stupid dad!"

"Lousy husband!"

"You killed me, just like you killed Dillon!"

"Get in a coffin and DIE, you old man!"

"Alright, THAT'S ENOUGH out of you ungrateful brats! Have you no respect for your elders?!"

"That voice…" Nolan looked up. "Dodds?…"

"It's okay, Nolan…" The original Sandman appeared from the whiteness as a shadow. "You don't have to be afraid, anymore."

"You've done more than we ever could have asked…" A woman's voice spoke. Nolan recognized her silhouette, alongside a man's. "It is time for you to be with us again. It is time to come to the light…"

"I can't! They still need me! I can't go… not, yet…"

"Stubborn as always, aren't you, Nolan?" Dillon Simmons approached him from behind. "I always liked that about you… but don't you think you're getting a bit old for this?"

"Not really." Brett Gunkan followed. "I think he still has a bit of fight in him. What do you think?"

"I think he'll do just fine…" Nolan was met with the spirit of Anakin Skywalker. "Hey, Nolan. Long time, no see."

"Anakin?"

"You know, we Jedi have a saying: 'Strike us down, and we'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.' The Jedi believe that spirits are manifestations of the Force, left behind by those we were close to. When friends and family die, their spirit is always around to protect us. Their presence makes us stronger. This is meant figuratively, of course… but it can also be translated in the literal sense. If you open your mind, the spirits of your friends can gather together and unlock the full potential of your psychicbending."

"But this surplus of power will no doubt cost you your life." Dodds said. "But it may be the only way to stop Affright. In death, we have nothing to fear, Nolan. If you are truly willing to die, then fear will mean nothing to you. Even the power of Horror's Hand will be powerless to a man committed. Knowing that… will you still do it?"

"I'll need more than just you all. I'll also need you… Revan."

"WHAT?" The boy looked up from sulking. "NO WAY! I was the Emperor of Evil, the king of supervillains everywhere! What makes you think I'm gonna help you?!"

"Because you aren't what you used to be, Revan. You're a part of me. You were the part that wanted to serve the KND and do good. This is your chance, Numbuh 23 BBY. The second chance you know you've always wanted. It's time to stop denying your feelings… and join me."

"But…But what'll my villains think?" Revan cried. "They looked up to me. If I'm suddenly the good guy, they'll be heartbroken."

"They'll never know, Revan. They'll probably think Caesar's fruit was a failure. I'm positive they'll remember you as the maniacal genius they once knew. And they'll keep committing crimes in your name."

"Yes… You're right, Nolan! Evil will stand strong, no matter what giant scarecrows dare to terrorize the land! Okay… then let's do it." Revan grabbed Nolan's hand. "TOGETHER!" Their souls joined into one and became a swirling portal. The souls of Nolan's friends flew into the vortex.

"You're one brave son of a bitch, Nolan." Dillon said.

"B-B-But, it's what we l-like best about you." Corey said.

"And hey, it's an honor to be fighting beside you again." Yuki said.

"Time to show them all what we old men can do." Nigel Uno said.

"Courage will always be stronger than fear!" declared Rachel Uno.

"This is WAY more mad than I could ever be!" grinned Mika.

"It's time, Nolan! On your feet!" Dodds exclaimed.

Nolan appeared to be unconscious in the real world, his nose bleeding. "Nolan…" Danika assumed the worst.

"Heh heh heh… A fool of a hero, right to the bitter end. Having pleasant dreams, Nolan?" Affright bent over him, slowly moving Horror's Hand to touch him. "Enjoy them. Because they will be yours… for the rest of your existence."

Nolan's body BURST and blew Affright off. A tremendous surge of power radiated from his being, the wind dramatically picking up as Danika tried to stand her ground. The city was lit with bright blue, the source of which was a giant flaming aura of psychic. Danika squinted her eyes from its brightness, and could barely make out the shadow in the center of the psychic. …But then, it was all clear.

Nolan's trenchcoat had grown longer and lighter in color, with ragged edges, blowing in the wind. His pants were dark blue, his muscular body was exposed through the open coat, and his blue and yellow eyes gave a surrealistic glimmer.

Dillon, Carol, Vanellope, and Crystal felt the energy and rushed over to see. Misaka, Nagisa, Sebastian, and their friends watched from afar, agape at what Nolan had become. "Nolan…" Danika spoke, nearly out of breath.

"Dad…?"

Nolan smiled at his family. "Don't worry, son. Your old man's got things covered." He blasted toward Affright like a cannon, his Haki-imbued punch sending him across the city.

Affright recovered and raised Horror's Hand, drawing in the energy of all Nightmares in the city. Once again, he transformed into his Frightmare form, Horror's Hand glimmering like a blood moon. "Father… what has happened to Nolan?" Jack asked.

"I don't… believe it…" The sight brought Darkrai out of his coma, his gray very slowly turning to black. "I never thought I would witness a bender… perform the Final Fury. Let alone an artificial psychicbender. His chi is being fueled by the combined spirits of those he loved. By increasing his power to the absolute max, he is truly willing to die. At this time, when fear is completely irrelevant to him… this may be the only thing that can defeat Horror's Hand."