The Cursed Red Eyed Witches

Anti-Fairy Island

"So, how do I look?!" Wendy beamed, sporting her new outfit. She wore a black top with a skull design, a purple skirt with tiny hanging dolls, white running shoes with black soles and skull laces, along with horn-like shoulder pads.

"You look like a biker gang leader!" Akko exclaimed.

"Yeah, why the wicked get-up?" Phil asked.

"These clothes were woven with Dark Chi materials, so I thought they would look the part when I use Mr. Facilier's wand. Besides, it seems that they go well with the scenery."

"Anyway, I've got the catapult ready to launch." Oliver announced. "I'd wish you girls luck, but I guess that would be counterintuitive."

"We never needed luck, anyway." Akko proclaimed proudly. "Let's show the Anti-Fairies what we're made of!" She jumped, became a mouse, and landed on Wendy's shoulder. The wind mage hopped in the catapult as Oliver launched her toward the Sky Island. (Play "Fly me to the Moon" from Bayonetta!)

Stage 30: Anti-Fairy Island

Mission: Defeat Princess Sivam!

Wendy landed on a dark rainbow bridge that was littered with spikes, the bridge ramping and swerving around the air as she maneuvered around the safe areas. A wall of black barbed wire blocked the way, so Wendy slid under it, then she had to small-jump along a series of safe patches within a spike garden. The bridge afterwards let her off on the dark cloud shore, passing through a Gothic castle gateway before she was ambushed by five Anti-Fairies. She dodged their spells, but their magic would grow Ztar Trees upon hitting the ground, which would burst and stick Wendy. The mage endured the spikes and spun a tornado to suck the fairies into one place, leaving them vulnerable to blast spells.

Wendy raced into a town street, which was littered with cracks. "Heh, that silly 'step on a crack' trick won't work on me!" Wendy stated confidently as she ran-

As soon as she stepped on the first crack, Omsoc appeared. "She stepped on one! Be right back." He then poofed, and in a few seconds, he returned. "Now then, Wendy Marvell, I believe this is your mother?" He showed her a picture of Carla, the cat's back broken.

"MOM!" cried the horrified mage. "What have you done?!"

"We Anti-Fairies know the identities of the mother of any child who steps on a crack, and are thus compelled to break their backs. Do so any further and the pain will grow steeper." He poofed a jackhammer in his hands before vanishing. Now that it was more than a myth, Wendy kept her eyes downward and proceeded ever steadily along the road. Unfortunately, a fairy named Yknib appeared and drilled into the road with his own jackhammer, completely covering it with cracks. "AAAAAHH!" Wendy cried, standing on one foot in prayer that the cracks wouldn't spread under it.

"Hop aboard, Wendy!" Akko poofed back to normal, threw Wendy upward, and morphed into a flying elephant, carrying her blue-haired friend across the cracks. Yknib growled and tried to shoot them down, but Wendy countered and disarmed the fairy, who picked his wand off the ground and retreated. Wendy jumped and Air Boosted to the safe ground, and Akko became a mouse to hop her way over the cracks until Wendy could pick her up. They reached a chasm with the hovering ruins of a Gothic building, in which Wendy could Home Attack up a stairway of gargoyle statues.

She could rest on a safe platform, viewing the next round of gargoyles. They noticed Anti-Fairies placing salt jars on some of the statues, which would likely trigger a trap if they were knocked off. Wendy made sure to only bounce the ones without salt, but a crafty fairy moved one of the salts to a different statue and tricked Wendy into breaking it, causing the next gargoyles to crumble and fall, but Akko turned into a winged cat and mustered her strength to keep Wendy airborne and carry her to a safe one. They arrived at a safe foothold, gazing up in worry at a ceiling of bats.

"Howdy, pardners!" A goofy-toothed fairy showed up. "Ah'm Adnaw, and me and mah bat friends are here to eatchu." She made a whistle, and the entire ceiling awoke and swarmed the girls.

"Lumos Solem!" Wendy's wand flashed with the sun spell, the bats blinded and flying aimlessly.

"Darnit, pardners, use yer dang sonar!" Adnaw yelled. "Dang, they done got away!"

"Adnaw, I saw them jump off the path!" a red-eyed bat pointed downward.

"Then we're goin' skydivin', fellers! Com' awn!" The bats dove into the abyss. Bat Akko smiled at Wendy, who had minimized to hide against the floor. She resized and continued running, returning to a town street. There were black cats everywhere, all walking in straight left-and-right paths. Wendy progressed while going around their fixed paths, lest a magic trap be triggered. "Mrrrroooowwww…" The ground began to quake as an enormous black cat appeared behind them. Wendy dashed faster, fearing what sort of curse this beast would place upon them. There were still normal cats in the road, Wendy avoiding them, and the giant cat ceased its pursuit once she made it inside a "Mirror Hall."

Wendy quickly halted to avoid breaking any of the dozens of mirrors. "Hello, children!" A thin fairy man in a tutu was reflected in all the mirrors. "My name is Negroj, the prettiest fairy in the universe! And you sillies can only leave this room after you find the real me. But while you are doing that, I would like to show you my macaroni art. See? Lookie!" He held up a macaroni wind chime. "I have carefully tied these macaroni to these bars using pieces of string, using different lengths so as to situate them at various…"

"Ugh, we don't have time to search every one of these mirrors." Akko said. "Know a way we can lure him out?"

"Hmm… I know the Positive Jorgen likes cats, so try turning into a dog."

"Okay." Akko turned into a gruff bulldog and started barking.

"Ooooo! I have always wanted a bulldog!" Negroj walked out of a fake mirror and petted Akko. "I shall call you Eduardo, and we will go on an adventure to find the legendary treasure of-" Wendy knocked him out in one punch. A door magically opened, leading to a long, but very tall room where ladders were stacked in complex fashions. It was a maze that the witches had to maneuver through without going under any ladders. Akko kept her eyes up in caution of high-up ladders while Wendy looked down to watch for cracks. They worked in unison to solve the maze and escape.

They raced down stairs leading outside, overlooking a beach, its white-brown in great contrast to the dark island. The beach was full of open umbrellas, yet there were no beachgoers or obstructions, so Wendy could pleasantly run through. That's when some fairies carried a hollow building with a roof over the witches and trapped them inside along with some umbrellas. The umbrellas began to shake and flash red. "AAAAAH!" The girls screamed as they exploded, covering them with soot, and the fairies lifted the building off. "Wendy, it's bad luck to have an open umbrella indoors!"

"I never heard of THAT one!" With this in mind, as they proceeded along the beach, Wendy cast magic to close any umbrellas that would be trapped with them under the fairies' building. The fairies attempted this trap three more times, and on that 3rd time, an extra umbrella emerged from the sand and threatened to open. "Oh no you don't!" Akko became a snake and wrapped around, keeping the umbrella shut until they were free to continue. Once past the beach, Wendy had to jump her way up a series of floating tables—"AAAH!" The first table immediately flipped her back to the starting ledge.

"Ah, this one must be 'don't put shoes on a table.'" Akko figured. Wendy sighed and removed her shoes temporarily, and made sure to jump on tables without shoes on them. One of the tables had a plate with a cover—it flipped Wendy off because there was a shoe under that cover. She restarted the segment, and any tables that had covered plates, she could cast magic to knock off said covers and check which ones were safe (one of them had a tiny treasure chest). Once she made it to the top, Wendy placed her shoes back on.

The witches viewed a black clock tower, which had the numbers 4 and 9 in Japanese, 13, a 17 in Italian, plus other unlucky numbers in their respective languages. Feeling that Sivam was up there, Wendy ran forward stalwartly. They were stopped by a magic barrier, and there was a table with two bowls of rice: one bowl looked rotten and had slanted chopsticks, but the other bowl had clean rice and had straight-standing sticks. The instructions were to, 'Eat all the rice in a bowl to pass.' Wendy's first instinct was to take from the nicer bowl, until Akko told her that straight-up chopsticks were meant for the dead.

"Here, I'll eat the bad ones." Akko returned to normal and ate from the rotten bowl, her face growing green from the sickening sensation. Thanks to her bravery, the barrier disappeared and they could proceed. They raced up to an outdoor theater and were thwarted again by Omsoc.

"Now, ladies, those who wish to meet Princess Sivam must first answer a simple question." With a wry smile, he asked, "What is the name of the Shakespeare play that features the character Macbeth as the protagonist?"

"I don't really know his plays," Wendy replied, "but I'm pretty sure it's just-"

"SCOTTISH PLAY!" Akko snapped Wendy's mouth shut. "That's the name of it!"

"Nice try, sweetheart, but what is the OFFICIAL name? Or, a better question is, which of you is willing to sacrifice~?"

"Wendy, saying the play's name at a theater is dangerous." Akko said. "What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know, but we shouldn't risk it. We need to face Sivam together."

"Omsoc, Ah need some hailp!" Adnaw flew up. "Ah lost sight o' those two witches!"

"They're right here, you nincompoop. I was just about to finish one of them."

"Oh, ya mean that silly McBLT password? Ah can sure go for one right now."

"You're thinking of McDLT, darling."

"I thought it had a 'B' in it?"

"Yes, Macbeth has a 'B' in it, you're simply confusing it with-" A knife shot through the curtains and stabbed Omsoc in the back of the head. "Auck… that… shouldn't have… counted…" He dissolved into fairy dust.

"Ooo goody! New underwear powder!" Adnaw said, but she was destroyed by Wendy.

"GOOOO!" The sky mage dashed past the theater and zoomed straight up the clock tower—Akko became a wing-cat and pulled Wendy back with all her strength, forcing her to stop. She pointed up, and Wendy was horrified to see an extremely tall, open ladder looming in front of the tower like a rainbow. Were they to get under it, the ladder would've snapped shut and crushed them before they could blink. Akko mousified and rode Wendy as she Home Attacked a series of gargoyles to the right, getting to one end of the ladder. Anti-Fairies appeared on multiple steps, charging magic, but Wendy quickly Home Attacked her way up the fairies to quickly ascend the ladder.

Finally, they were at the very top and had a clear jump to the tower… except for the five Goal Flags. Instead of the usual Jolly Roger, each flag had spinning horseshoes, and were they to grab a flag with an upside-down horseshoe, they would have to do the stage all over again. Wendy timed it carefully, watching their patterns, choosing the center flag to focus on: she jumped and grabbed the top when the horseshoe was up, swapping it with the golden Sky Dragon flag. "NICE!" Wendy and Akko high-fived. With nothing left in their way, the witches faced up at Princess Sivam, sitting boredly on a tall, black throne. (End song.)

"Well, looks like the Powerpuff Girls decided to pay me a visit." Sivam smirked, using her new ring to scrape under her nails. "Ain't you one short? Where's Blossom?"

"Do you know who I am, Sivam?" Wendy asked firmly.

"Yeh… I know who both o' you are, actually. Hehe, that shit witch there is the worst in her academy!" Sivam snorted and pointed at Akko. "A frickin' Muggle with Magic Deficiency, how pathetic can ya GET?!"

"I'll have you know I did some really incredible things!" Akko shouted. "I even threw a magic show that was better than the Fairy Sisters!"

"That garbage musical? Pueh." She spat on her ring. "…And I know you too, Blue Hair. You were the holder of the Fairy's Tail, weren't ya? Princess Mavis's little protégé?"

"Yes. And that's why I feel it's my duty to defeat you."

"Without the Fairy's Tail? FEEEH! You little witches are so addicted to bad luck, it's STUPID!"

"You know, there's a legend about people like Akko and I. The story of the Red-Eye Tribe. They're a people who were cursed with misfortune because they worshipped the Anti-Fairies. And you, Sivam… you were part of that people, weren't you? But you were different. You took their power as their own, just so you could make other people suffer. Someone as powerful as you could've been a great person, one who could grant fortune by taking away misfortune, but all you cared about was-"

"Blah blah BLAH!" Sivam rashly slammed her ring against the armrest. "You magical girls are ALL the same, idealistic morals and friendship and lesbian romance, blah blah blah blah BLAAAAAHH! Everything you spout is meaningless bullshit, thinkin' you're always right because you got the power of 'magic' and 'light.' At least Lord Mandy knows how to be scary even when she's bein' good, but I see where she's comin' from with all this goody two-shoes garbage. Man, I feel so bad for trying to destroy her, 'cause she was totally super right! I'm sorry, Lord Mandy, please forgive me!" Sivam began to cry, blowing her nose against her ring.

"At least I don't act like the world is a perfect place where everyone will be kind to everyone." Akko argued. "People are always going to hurt others… even me. Even if all I want is to put on a show and make people smile, some people will hate the show and I'll end up hurting them. I mean… it happened every other time." Akko bowed her head in shame. "I can't make anyone happy without making someone else upset. That's just my natural curse. So, I wonder…" She faced up at Sivam with fierceness, "if I make someone like you unhappy, I wonder how many others would be thankful- eh?"

Sivam had fallen asleep, snoring rather loudly. "Huh? You done talking?" She awoke. "I mean, serious question, what was that monologue supposed to teach me? I don't care about what lessons you learned."

"THAT'S IT, I'm kicking your ass TWICE as hard!"

"You don't stand a chance against us, Sivam!" Wendy declared. "Because Akko and I are Red-Eyes, because we lived our entire lives with misfortune, we stopped believing in luck. Your misfortune won't hurt us!"

"Who cares? I'm still more powerful than both of you." (Play "One of a Kind" from Bayonetta!)

"We'll see about that." Wendy sheathed the Lamia Scale. "I'm not just any witch, you know." She drew a new wand, a black and red Devil's Wand, and by calling forth its power, Wendy's brown eyes turned red, and the skull on her dress moved up to her face like a mask. "I'm the student of Dr. Facilier! And I will show you his MAGIC!"

Boss fight: Princess of the Anti-Fairies, SIVAM NOILLIMREV

Akko held onto Wendy's shoulder as the wind mage raced for the towering throne and ran straight up. The tower suddenly stretched to the sky, widening with enough room for Wendy to side-step left or right, dodging the Shooting Ztars. They came in small numbers at first, but then a torrential downpour of Ztars crashed against the tower, Wendy zooming even faster to avoid them. Upon reaching the top of the tower, a tremendous illusion of Sivam's face HISSED venomously, her red eyes flashing, but the illusion instantly vanished when Sivam shot through to ram her off. Wendy indeed fell, but Akko got underneath and became a flying hippo to catch her. Wendy leapt back up to return Sivam's greeting with an Air Kick, the fairy conjuring a barrier in defense, but it was just as swiftly shattered by Wendy's magic before the mage blew her away with a Dragon Roar.

Sivam extended her bat wings and turned them spiked with Zhards, lashing them with lightning speed as Zhards stuck around the field. Wendy created a cyclone to sweep all the Zhards into a singularity, and by using the Devil Wand's dark magic, she mixed the wind and Ztar Power to create a black skeletal dragon. The Ztar Dragon unleashed a Cyclone Roar of its own, its bladed breath carving a path through the field toward Sivam. The fairy dodged, but was shocked to see the cyclone grow a demonic mouth and pursue her. She took to the sky, but still the wind followed, and she wondered if Wendy was even controlling it herself, or had the chi taken on a demonic consciousness?

Regardless, it was made of her own magic, so Sivam cast a beam to intercept the wind and try to control it herself. "Huh?!" It was then Sivam realized a smooth, black path appeared along the top of the cyclone, and Akko was racing up it as a cheetah. Sivam noticed too late as the predator pounced and trapped her face in its fangs; were Akko as strong or vicious as a regular cheetah, the face would've ripped right off, but she was trapped just long enough for the wind demon to eat off Sivam's legs, then Akko jumped off to let the rest of her be devoured. After a few seconds, Wendy was forced to stop the attack, watching as Sivam's body reformed.

The princess struck black lightning at the ground, causing the field to extend to an extremely long strip. Wendy carried a mousified Akko as she raced along it, while the track would quickly disappear behind them. Sivam erected needles around the track in sporadic fashion, Wendy swinging a magic slash to cut them down, side-stepping to evade gaps in the road. She was gaining on Sivam, but the fairy suddenly made a tight 90-degree left turn, the path following—Wendy would have run off the edge, had Akko not jumped to firmly grab her hair and pull forcefully enough for Wendy to stop, twist around, and run the appropriate direction.

Sivam begun to hurl Ztars at them, Wendy deflecting them with quick thinking—Sivam did a 45-degree turn, but Akko was able to help Wendy redirect just the same, but then Sivam curved up and then backward, the path following as such as Wendy was forced to run upside-down. Though blood was rushing to her head, she kept her steady speed going, worried of falling, but as Sivam kept making more gaps in the road, forcing Wendy to side-step, her speed was dropping and she was ready to plunge. But Akko fell first, then Wendy fell faster, and with a swift swing of the foot, Wendy sent the mouse flying right at Sivam. Akko immediately became a snake, wrapped the fairy's neck, and then became an elephant with a tiny snake tail still attached.

Akko's weight forced the fairy down, and while falling, Wendy Air Boosted to catch up and land on Sivam, forcing air into the fairy's choking head and causing it to swell. Sivam's head POPPED like a balloon, and before they could crash back in the throne room, Wendy blew air down and Akko became a bird to break their fall. Sivam's head respawned, the princess spinning rapidly with Zhard wings extended, Wendy running far back in evasion and Akko mousifying. Sivam didn't appear to move otherwise, until Wendy realized in horror that a storm of Ztars were being drawn in from all directions. Wendy ducked against the floor, watching as the Ztar Storm would circle Sivam as if she were the Eye of the Storm.

The Ztars struck black lightning on Wendy, so she rolled on her back to catch lightning on her Devil Wand. Akko remained safe from the lightning right next to Sivam, but once she felt that Wendy had amassed enough energy, the Avalaran returned to normal, remaining crouched as she summoned her Shiny Arc. She pulled the string back and loosed a powerful arrow of light, blasting Sivam miles away and stopping her storm. Sivam escaped before the arrow could explode, surfing on a Warp Ztar to return to the platform and hoping to stab Akko with its sharpened tip.

Black lightning struck Sivam and knocked her off, and the fairy realized it had come from a purple cloud, which was being conjured and stirred by Wendy's magic. The lightning would exclusively target Sivam, striking her no matter how well she tried to dodge, so the fairy caught one of the bolts on her Ztar Rod and was able to wave it around like a string. Sivam flew around Wendy in attempt to wrap her with the lightning—"Switcheroo!" Akko cast a spell at Wendy and swapped positions with her, suffering electrocution instead, while Wendy called more black lightning down to zap Sivam.

When the storm cloud finally disappeared, Sivam remained stunned, so Wendy cast a dark flame spell to incinerate the fairy, covering her in ash. Sivam poofed away and cast a beam of pure Misfortune, to which Wendy countered with one of dark magic, both complimenting forces pressing against the other. "Shiny AX!" Akko summoned her melee weapon to slice Sivam down the middle, weakening her chi, then Akko dodged as Wendy's magic prevailed and blew Sivam backward. The wind mage conjured dark swords in the air and had them all impale Sivam, but the princess appeared to dissolve into the ash that covered her.

The cloud of ash flew to Wendy and entered her nose and mouth; the ash was actually tiny Ztars, which flew around to cut up Wendy's internal organs. Wendy stabbed herself with the Devil's Wand and sent magic antibodies inside to devour the Ztars. "Lyonne!" Akko wrapped Wendy in magic tentacles as the Shiny Rod healed her internal injuries. They gasped, seeing there were dozens of ash-covered Sivams, all waving and surging a powerful spell on their wands. Wendy tried to shoot them, but the ash bodies puffed and flew toward her, Wendy spinning the air to keep them at bay. "Shiny Sprinkler!" Akko transformed her rod into a water fountain, then she became an elephant to suck the water in and spray it at the clones like a hose.

The Ztar Ash became too wet to fly, and Akko was able to hit and soak the real Sivam. Wendy dashed at the fairy and froze her in dark ice. Afterwards, she formed a giant magic hammer from her wand and shattered the fairy into a million pieces. The pieces naturally melted as the fairy reformed, poofing away from her enemies. "You won't be able to pierce through this!" The black diamonds on her dress coated her body, giving her a spiked skirt, feet, hands, and head-dresses. "This Ztar Armor can cut through anything!"

"So can I!" Wendy raised her wand skyward as it fueled her with magic, causing scales to appear on her body, along with horns and a devil tail. Red wind blew around her like a barrier: it was Sky Devil Fury. She blew wind at the fairy, cutting the floor in the process, but Sivam braved through the gust with the aim to cut Wendy, who ran in evasion. Sivam realized the wind had been able to cut through her Ztar Armor, studying the rips, but was unfocused as Wendy ran up to punch with a Sky Devil Claw. The blow sliced and distorted Sivam's face, though Wendy's knuckles were bleeding from the impact to her foe's bladed armor.

"So, we're both the sharpest tools in the shed, huh? Then let's see who's the sharpest!" Sivam transformed the field into a 26-mile, perfectly straight track, the opponents on either end, with spinning Ztars at their backs. Wendy and Sivam flashed with energy and dashed at the same time, covering their respective 13 miles with deadly speed. With nothing to stop them, their momentum grew to maximum speed, and their ultimate impact would decide which one would pierce the other. "Psyche, I ain't that stupid." Sivam poofed.

Wendy's shoes were reduced to nothing, and she felt her own soles bleeding as they scraped painfully against the floor; the momentum was still carrying her even after she tried to stop and root herself. Even worse was that Sivam reappeared behind her, still carrying her momentum as she was ready to stab Wendy with a Ztar Rod to the back. But what Sivam didn't know was, after she was shattered in ice, Wendy had shrunken Akko to hide her under the back of her dress, during which time she was surging energy in her Shiny Arc. This seemed to be the perfect time to use it, so Wendy quickly zapped Akko to resize her, and the second she did, the full-sized magical arrow struck a direct blow to the outstretched Ztar Rod.

With the speed Sivam was going, it was as if she shoved the Ztar Rod into a car of the opposite element going the opposite direction. She failed to slow down, causing herself to crash into the wall of Ztars at the end of the path. Wendy, her feet in pain, was able to stop in time, watching as the Anti-Fairy respawned. "Grrrr…?!" Sivam gasped, seeing her wand riddled with cracks. "The Ztar Rod… is breaking?! Impossible!"

"Well, you fairies can fix it, right? Not that you'll have the chance to!" Wendy cast another dark beam, which Sivam countered, but the opposing forces caused Sivam's wand to crack further. "The Devil's Wand only serves its wielder so long as it can feed off Dark Chi. If I had no Dark Chi to offer, it would drain my own energy, but you're a Dark Chi buffet! Every time I made contact with you, it sapped just a little of your energy, and Akko's own attacks from her Ancient Wand certainly whittled you down. So, Sivam… ARE YOU READY?!"

The eyes of Wendy's skull mask formed colorful swirls as a purple mist leaked from her outpour of magic, covering Sivam's feet as voodoo dolls began to climb her legs. "NO! I'm not ready at all! I can't fail Queen Mandy now! She'll be furious with me if I screw up! P-Please, just give me a little more time! I already messed up once, she'll totally destroy me if I mess up again! You can punish me however you like, just wait until Queen Mandy wins the war!"

"Unfortunately for you… her punishment would've been merciful compared to mine."

A demon rose from the mist behind Sivam, and the fairy would have no way to avoid it without dropping her smell and suffering Wendy's attack. "WAIT! You can be the new master of the Ztar Rod! Let me repair it and it's all yours! It's way better than Mavis's silly wand, it'll be perfect, it'll be—AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The demon SNAPPED Sivam in its teeth, and the Ztar Rod shattered into tiny Zhards. (End song.)

Wendy, Madame Rouge, and Carla stood before a tall gravestone with Harvey Facilier's name engraved, along with a grinning image of the witch-doctor. "Say hello to your father, Raymond." Wendy said to the dark-skinned baby in her arms. "This man helped me grow into a big, strong wizard. So, I'm gonna help you grow up big and strong, too!"

"Great, then you can raise him for me." Rouge remarked. "I swear, what kind of man impregnates his wife if he knew he was going to die?"

"It's amazing he was even able to have a child with these circumstances." Carla said. "In any case, it's hard enough work raising Wendy, I'm not up for another one."

"Come on, Mom, I'm old enough to take care of a baby!"

"You can teach him all you like when he's older, but leave the maternal parts to his real mother."

"Sigh…I guess you're right." Wendy smiled down at the baby. "Besides, I haven't even finished school, yet. I promise to get even better so I can become a greater teacher for you!"

After the witches returned to the throne area, Akko looked curiously at a sparkling thing on the floor: the ring that Sivam was just wearing. She casually went over to pick it up, saying, "I wonder how much a fairy ring would sell for?"

"Hey, let me out of here!"

Akko saw something squirming inside the gem. She looked closer and gasped, "DILLON?! We heard you were captured by Mandy, but I didn't think you ended up here!"

"Not so loud! She dropped me when you cut her up the first time, get me outta here!"

"I can't hear you! Hold on, I'll get you out of there!" Akko tried to rip the gem out with her fingers, but it was wedged tight, then she used her teeth, but to no avail.

"Just have Wendy use a spell. She should know something that can-"

"KAGARI KICK!!" Akko dropped the ring, leapt high in the air, and dropped with her shoes locked together.

"AAAAAAAHH!"

With a blinding flash, the ring shattered, and Dillon exploded to normal size as Akko's shoes pressed his face. "Yaaaay! It worked!"

"No wonder Sheila likes you…" Dillon muffled. Akko helped him to stand, the boy shaking the dirt off. "So… where's Sivam?"

"Heeheehee! We have a new souvenir!"

After returning to the ship, Wendy showed her friends a lantern inside a butterfly net. A butterfly-sized Sivam was pressed against the glass, crying pleadingly. "Even the most powerful fairy is helpless in a butterfly net. And no Ztar Rod to help her escape from it." Wendy smiled proudly.

"Let me out of heeeeere!" Sivam pounded the glass hopelessly. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you!"

"Aww, but you look so cute in there!" Kiki smiled bubbly. …The delivery witch formed a devious thought and smirked cruelly, "In fact, I wonder if Lord Mandy would think you're cute?"

"NO! P-Please don't take me to Mandy, I'll do anything!"

"Aww, but why? Are you afraid she's gonna grind you into butter?" Kiki's expression turned darker. "Is she gonna cut off your limbs and put them in a glass case? Ooooo, you'll look splendid on her wall, kikikikiki."

"NOOOO! PLEASE, LORD MANDY, DON'T HURT ME!"

"Kiki, don't scare her like that." Oliver said.

"WHY NOT, you guys have been doing it to me this whole time!"

"Yeah, but at least you ain't trapped in a cage." Phil replied. "Seriously, I'm a rodent, so I feel for her."

"I'll put you in a cage myself, Philip!"

"Let's just keep her secured." Wendy suggested. "Now that the Ztar Rod is destroyed, the Anti-Fairies will be crippled. It won't be long until it's time to take down Mandy."

"Oh, and Dillon." Oliver turned to the shadowbender. "Cheren passed on your message to us. We were able to rescue Mrs. Jackson."

"You did?!" Dillon gasped with shock and relief. "But I wasn't even able to tell him in time."

"We figured it out. And is it true that Monaca is secretly working for Mandy?"

"Yeah… I found a letter from Mandy in her room. …But that isn't all, there was also this creepy portrait in her room."

Light of Hope

As the Sky God armada were in battle with the Boogey fleet, a sense of dread had swept over the crew. With their captain captured, relying on them for a rescue, the foundation of the Free Kingdom was at stake. "Hmm hm-hm, hm hm, hmmmm…" Monaca hummed merrily as she considered these facts. They brought herself joy during her innocent trip to the bathroom, washing her hands and drying them off. She had informed Mandy what ship she was on, so the Divine Beasts would be instructed to shoot down all others except for this ship. After the Sky Gods were on the brink of defeat, Monaca would simply "retreat" and return to her true captain.

The situation played out perfectly in her head as she rolled back to the deck. "…" In her peripheral vision, in a dark passage on the left, she noticed a figure blended into the darkness.

"hey. you've been busy… huh?" Sans said, the skeleton's grin unchanged.

"…Sans, I know you're not the most active crewmember, but in this desperate situation, you have a duty to help your friends." Monaca replied, smiling innocently.

"true. and i suppose you're off to do the same."

"Ufufu… is there something you are implying to Monaca?"

"no… not implying. but i will infer something."

Suddenly, Sans was next to Monaca, a flashing eye in his left socket. "if you keep going the way you are now… you're gonna have a bad time."

From that brief instant, Monaca was drowning in an extremely heavy atmosphere. For just a second, an enormous wave of chi smothered her, more than she could even comprehend, but it was gone as soon as Sans vanished. No way all that chi could've come from Sans. For as long as they've been on the crew, Monaca never sensed a thing from him. He was just a lazy, useless… nothing. She felt absolutely… nothing.

"…Such… despair…" How Monaca longed to breathe that air again.

Dark Continent

The Dark Continent was a crescent-shaped landmass whose colors mainly consisted of black, red, or purple. The continent was forever shrouded in dark clouds, which would curse any airship that tried to land, so the only entrance was by sea. The waters around the island were infested with sea demons, but with Mandy's natural and powerful abilities, the demons bent to her whim, and by her orders, they would only allow official Boogey ships to enter the island.

Mandy had gone to an altar high up within the mountains, where she had view of the Divine Beasts in the distance. "The Sky Gods will have a hard time attacking us on this island." Creeper said confidently, viewing through a telescope. "Meanwhile, our Beasties will snipe them out of the sky. …Ah, look, Your Highness, it looks like Rā's and Cortez's ships are coming." He could see the Black Skull and Wonder sailing across the dark waves, a small fleet behind them. "That must mean Cortez rescued your daughter. Things are really taking a turn for us!"

"Then let's eliminate the Sky Gods as swiftly as possible. They should be the only ones who know that we have Skaios. As long as the other Emperors remain unaware, we'll have the advantage in a sneak attack. The only other problem is enabling the Divine Beasts to fly."

"Moooom! Moooom!" A male voice called out.

"Ugh…" Mandy groaned as a giant purple spider with friendly green eyes skittered up to Her Majesty.

Mandy's adoptive son, a demon spider

JEFF

"Hey, Mom, I was thinking, when we're finished destroying the Four Emperors, we should really do a surprise party for Dad!"

"Well, there's a thought that never even crossed my mind."

"Yeah, so I was wondering, should the color scheme be black and blue, black and white, or yellow and orange like your hair colors? Also, for cake, I know Dad likes chocolate, but do you think we should consider something more healthy for-"

Mandy put a finger to his mouth and said, "Jeff, why don't you leave the party preparations to me? Oh, and I'll be the one to surprise Billy. For now, just return to your post."

"Heheh, okay, Mom. I can tell you're as excited as I am!" The spider skittered off.

"Sigh… he's a good kid. Oof!"

An Anti-Fairy landed on her head like a dead bird. "Ouch… sorry, Queen Mandy."

"Are you drunk or something?" she asked, grabbing him off.

"N-No. My wings just stopped working, and I can't use magic!" The fairy waved his wand.

"Mandy, it's not just him!" Creeper yelled. "All the Anti-Fairies around the island are dropping!"

Angered and concerned, Mandy grabbed her phone and called, "Sivam, are you there?! Something's happening to your fairies! …Sivam?" There was static on the other end. "Grrr, her magic phone should have flawless reception. What in the world is happening?!"

"MANDY, THE SHIPS!"

There was a thundering of 'boom-boom-boom-boom-booms' in the distance, the flagships unloading cannons as figures flew out, roaring bravely as they charged onto the shore. "YAAAAAAHH!" Out of the Wonder flew Cheren, Panini, and the Story Pirates, from the Skull flew the Sports Star Pirates, and from the smaller ships came many more junior pirates, such as the New World Pirates (Troll KND), the Hope Pirates, and the GKND.

"The Nextgen Pirates! They took over the Commanders' ships?! Impossible!"

Mandy grabbed a microphone, her voice ringing out across the continent. "ALL PIRATES, subdue the Nextgen Pirates at all costs! Divine Beast pilots, if any of them come near you, eliminate them! We've come too far to lose now, for the glory and future of Hyrule, fight to your last breath!"