Legend of the Seven Lights, Chapter 8, Part 2

Whatever happened to good old Whatshisface Somepants.

Chapter 8-2: Dying Spirits

Sabaody Park, Canada

With what remained of Jessie’s bubbles, he and Sandy floated all the way to Canada on a bubble boat, the morning sun just coming over the horizon. “Yaaaaaaawn.” yawned the First Grade President. “Fin’ly, sigh… we m’de it.”

“Poor Jessie.” Sandy patted his back. “You should rest. Let me gather the bubbles.”

“Nnn, I m’h not be able to beat some *** 4th-grader, but I can sure as *** git me some f’kin’ bubbles. Now c’mon Sandy, le’s get enough I can sh’vve down Shelly’s… rrrrREAR side!” He wobbled forward.

Sandy shook her head with worry and sadness. “Oh, Jessie.” But decided to follow. (Play “Downtown Bikini Bottom” from Spongebob: BFBB.)


Stage 14: Sabaody Park

Mission: Get more suds for Jessie’s bubbles.

Act 1: Bubble Park

Sabaody Park was a lush green forest of vertical striped trees, with green and cyan stripes. It reeked of what smelled like bath soap, as thousands of bubbles puffed from the soapy trees and were hovering across the air. There were Fodderbots roaming this small enclosing, in which Jessie went around and knocked them all out with a swing of his Bubble Wand. There was no way out of the enclosing except for a few platforms of varying height that emerged tiny bubble jetstreams, too light to lift the twins up. However, both hopped onto a floating Bubble Bike, rode over the lowest stream, and let it gently lift them higher so they could glide to another platform, then another, before they could float to the new ledge.

But an inconvenient tall step prevented their bike from going further, so they climbed off and up the step. They overlooked a village area of colorful tents in a gorge, in which Sandy whirled a lasso like a helicopter and held onto Jessie as they floated down gently. An Arfbot was roaming the village and releasing mini Arf-Dawgs, Sandy roping each one and tossing them aside. Jessie, still unbearably tired, hurried forward to deal a quick whack against the robot, making it jump a few feet back. Jessie waved his wand around to send a Bubble Torpedo his way, but recalled that his supply was a little decreased at the moment, so he just had to chase the Arfbot and whack him again. But then the Arfbot leaped onto a higher ledge, where he could throw Dawgs at the kids safely, but Sandy simply roped a Dawg in her lasso and tossed it up at him.

The robot exploded, a trampoline seemed to slide out of one of the tents. The siblings bounced up to the roof and landed in a cannon, in which the only place to fire was a spring pad on another roof. They shot there and were bounced to a snaky metal pathway, where they had to jump thick bubble boulders as they progressed up. The path sloped upward while still snaking until they were finally brought above the high cliff, where the Fodderbot working the bubble cannon waited beside a Soap Tree. Jessie rushed up, knocked out the robot, and disabled the cannon. Having arrived at the first tree, he scraped some of its suds off into his bottle.

With that, they returned to the village as Jessie was now able to make Bubble Bowls. The only way out of here was a narrow, snaky road between close walls, but no actual path, just bubbly rails. Beside it was a small cannon which Jessie swung a Bubble Bowl into. The sturdy, round ball was inflated to three times its size, allowing Jessie and Sandy inside. With this, they could roll down the rail trail, going whipping fast before they launched off a ramp onto a carved trail in the ground. They carefully navigated around robots and large holes, in which one of the holes had a small bridge over it which they could cross slowly, and retrieve a sock. The trail eventually ended over a deep canyon, where the kids had to roll the ball over floating slow-spinning platforms.

Naturally, some platforms moved up or down, forward and back, and much trickier to get onto on this ball. The platforms eventually brought them to a U-shaped slide and could barely alter their speed as they were going down. It was a matter of dodging spikes and pitfalls before they went up more rails and through a hoop of fire. “WHOA!” cried Sandy when the bubble instantly popped, grabbing Jessie and swinging the convenient bubble hooks above, to land them on a new ledge. Tar-Tar robots were shooting their infamous sauce around another tent village, and threatened to swamp the whole area. Jessie whirled his wand and sent Bubble Bowls to take out each one; but upon finishing, the siblings looked to the cliffs above the village as robots appeared to be sawing Soap Trees down, throwing them in wagons. “Hu! Why are they cutting down the forest?” gasped Sandy with horror.

“Because they’re bitches…” Jessie wobbled. The twins progressed to a lower, playground area with bubble-used rides, which were hovering several feet. They got on the mini merry-go-round and spun it around and around, a bubble stream coming out its bottom as it hovered. From there, they hopped across the midair rocky-horsies to a floating swingset, both taking a swing and building momentum. They then flew up to a bubble-lifted slide, which was thin, long, and curvy, kept aloft by several bubbles. It was just their size, making it easy to slide down and fly off onto a new ledge. They were on a cliff overlooking another deep chasm, but to the left, Jessie first scraped more suds off a Soap Tree. Then the siblings crossed a plant that ended under a floating stack of bubble blocks. Using a Bubble Bash, Jessie leapt and hit the stack, causing them all to fall and stay in place over separate parts above the chasm. The kids could jump across them, followed by Sandy swinging a bubble hook to land them on a soapy slide.

They couldn’t stand on this solid slide soaking with suds, so they had to dodge bubble boulders being fired from cannons, spike traps, and the average enemies. The slide ended at one part and forced the kids to jump far-apart floating bubble fountains, still sliding as they made the careful jumps. On the following slide which curved left, they had to bounce bubble springs that propelled them to higher parts, lest they fall to their death, but this final slide would soon bring them to a grassy spot at the forest’s edge, overlooking the distant sea. (End song.)

But a shining light many miles in the heavens caught their eye, so they jumped the steps to the coast for a closer look. Whatever this bright thing was, the moment it crashed into the sea, it created a tremendous explosion, Jessie creating a bubble shield to block the resulting strong wave. Jessie lowered his bubble when the area was swallowed in steam. A huge, dark force began to rise within the gray, growing closer, before it came to a halt with a loud release of steam. A door opened as a bridge stretched over for them to cross, and they saw lines of lights in whatever just opened. “…J-Jessie!” whispered Sandy as her brother was lazily walking forward. Mind racing with thoughts, Sandy reached the conclusion to follow him. (Play “Mansion of the Deep” from Rayman Legends.)

Act 2: Undersea Mansion

The siblings rode a large elevator down a diagonal shaft lit with lights. It came to a stop before a huge, wide corridor where robots were on patrol, in this case Sleepytimes, snoozing robots encased in a searchlight. Jessie and Sandy quietly tiptoed through their lights and across the floor, reaching a center wall where they grabbed and climbed across three different ledges before getting on top. The next part of the room was a floor of red tiles, with a single yellow one beneath them. They dropped down to it, causing a trail of yellows to flash to existence before they became red. Seeing this before, the siblings carefully memorized the yellow trail and followed where it was, lest they be shocked by the reds. Jessie’s Bubble Bowls actually got shocked by the reds, so they used them to see the path better. Once safely on the other side, they noticed another sock on a far left tile, so another hidden trail would lead them to it. After testing several tiles with the Bowl again, Jessie soon found his way to it.

With that, they continued to a round-ceiling corridor that went up and curved right, leading to a hall with aquariums within the walls, containing unique and exotic fish, and a dark chasm for a floor. A platform was beside the foothold across the chasm, and Sandy could rope its hook and pull it over, letting them ride it across afterward. For the next chasm, some pegs were stationed all around the left wall for Sandy to swing across, but the following tunnel was barred shut. Sandy roped her way up the pegs to the ceiling, then swung some hooks on the ceiling to a platform with a switch. But when she pressed the switch, she was barred inside, while the tunnel opened. She was free when she stepped off, but the tunnel sealed again. “Um… Jessie?”

“Mmmm…” Still half-awake, Jessie inflated a bubble to float him across the chasm, passing the tunnel to an enormous room of fishtanks and pipes flowing with suds, as the substance behind the glass bared that smeary, colorful presence. “With Chum Industries’ special Squeaky-Clean Suds, we can safely assure the future well-being of your ocean and wildlife. We’ve taken the liberty of giving the fish new homes until we can work out the pollution issue, we promise to return them all to their rightful places as soon as I am made supreme ruler! Eh he he he he!”

Jessie didn’t understand nor care what that message was. He began roaming around the room as Monsoon robots and Chucks sent storm clouds and missiles at him. Jessie spotted a vertical pipe in a far right corner, and a platform around it several stories above. Jessie climbed a ladder onto a nearby fishtank, having to balance a thin board over a tank of Bonefish. Once across, he climbed a ladder onto a tank filled with jellyfish, where several large ones rested at the surface and sank up and down. They also electrified for a few seconds, so Jessie was careful in hopping across. He made it to a series of metal poles, having to climb them and kick to the next, while avoiding the Sparkies; little electric balls that moved around the poles. He finally made it atop the platform around the pipe, where a faucet conveniently was. Jessie turned it, let the suds flow into his bottle, and had more to go on.

Jessie was able to send Bubble Buddies around the room and distract the projectile robots trying to kill him. He then dropped down and returned to the previous room, telling Sandy to get off the switch. He then blew a Bubble Buddy up to where she was, and she pulled and positioned it above the switch before jumping down, letting the bubble press it down instead (wow, he was bulkier than he looked). They returned to the huge room where Sandy roped a high peg between two fishtanks, pulling Jessie up with her as they landed on the higher tank. They had to swing a row of hooks across the tank of electric eels, but with two Chucks threatening to blow them off, Jessie blew a Bubble Buddy to distract them.

Once across the tank, they jumped a few platforms to a tunnel that curved downward, made of glass as they had a terrific view of the sea, er, aquarium outside. The tunnel eventually led into the water itself, so Jessie threw a Bubble Bowl against a pump cannon to increase its size, the twins getting in and rolling around inside the aquarium. They had to zoom past 3 propeller switches while avoiding Torpedo Teds, opening the gateway to a new tunnel. They rolled up a slope and across a flat floor, carefully avoiding red security lasers that scrolled up and down, left to right, and/or both. They reached a chasm with two small platforms that floated up and down, having to wait for them to get low so they could carefully roll off, their bubble floating softly across the pit due to the water.

They rolled off on the new path, up a slope that curved right, and resurfaced in a small room alit by torches, touching their bubble to a fireplace to pop it. A pair of huge wooden double-doors sat before them, Sandy roping their handles to pull them open. They progressed down a torch-lit hall to a small, pumping room where another faucet lay on a pipe. Jessie held his bottle underneath and turned the handle to collect more suds. (End song.)

“HNN hnn hnhnhnhnhn!” But instead, a huge, brown bubble with a devilish grin grew to existence and out of the faucet. “Hnn, he was RIGHT!”

“J-JESSIE! That’s the..”

“Dirty Bubble.” The boy glared.

“Hrnhnnhnn, what’re a couple of KIDS doing in our mansion?” the bubble grinned wickedly. “Well, I know just what to do with you. IN TO THE BUBBLE DOME, huhohoho!” He floated overhead and smashed the kids into his dirty bubbly body.

“Nnnnn! Jessie, do something!” cried the sister, but Jessie appeared more tuckered out than ever.

“Awwww little guy’s tired. That’s whatsa get fer stayin’ up so late, kiddies. But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get plenty o’ rest, hohohohohohnhooohhn.”

Glacia; with Suki and Jack

“Jack FROST Jack FROST Jack FROST! YYYAAAAAAY!” Suki alternated between feet as she hopped in place. “I KNEW you wanted me to come here, you NEVER lie to meeee!”

“Heheh. I just thought the summer heat was making you melt, you wanted to get your toes cold again.”

“You BET I do!” Remembering the extreme cold around her, Suki joyously kicked off her shoes and socks and wiggled her toes in the snow. “I feel JUST like an ice cube agaaaaain! Thank you for bringing me here, Jack Frost! I- …” Her face sunk a little. “But what about my sister? And my fwieeends?”

“They’re all fine, Suki. We wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them.”

“Then we GOTTA go FIND theeeeem!”

“Later, Suki. But first let’s talk about the reason I led you here: to hone your icebending.”

“But I’m a GREAT icebender! Seeeeee?” She swirled the snow before her and created a mini snowcastle with tiny citizens.

“Heh heh heh! You’re very talented, but you don’t even know the basics of bending! And even the greatest benders need to know how their power works to be perfected at it.” Jack spun and swirled a snowy throne that raised him to the air, taking a seat. “Then you’ll realize you never felt closer to the cold.”

“But I ALREADY feel so cooooold!” she whined with her joyous smile. “Do I really need to feel so shivering, my blood stooooops?”

“Maybe you do, Suki.” Jack still smiled. “I just want you to know, there’s a thing as being too cold. And depending on how in tune you are with your chi, that extreme cold could be your greatest ally, or the tool of your destruction.”

“Why would the cold destroy me? I though the cold LOOOOOVED me.” She frowned in mock sadness.

“That’s why it’s important for you to learn about chi.” He hopped down from his throne. “So you’ll learn how to bond with it.”

“What’s chiiiii? Is that short for chiiiiiilly?”

“Haha. Yeah, that’s a good one.” He laughed. “Just come over here.”

Suki quizzically approached Jack as he held his cane staff ready. “You see, people are able to bend elements by their chi, and each element’s chi has a particular flow throughout your body, and is concentrated at a certain point. But while people have Personal Chi, the outside world, like the ocean, sky, or space, contains Natural Chi. Benders release their chi to the Natural Chi, and in the process, allows them to bend those elements. Benders can strengthen the bond between their Personal Chi and the Natural Chi through experience or meditation. And when the bond between chis is strong enough, they’ll ultimately fuse together. Thus, the bender’s body will become one with their element. When this Logia level is reached, the chi takes on a different flow depending on the element. For us icebenders or earthbenders, the chi will appear relatively frozen or stiff. Firebenders’ chi would become more active, airbenders’ more scattered, and Space Chi would appear almost hollow or nonexistent. But while the chi flows take on this drastic change, the bender is more powerful than ever.”

“But if I became a Logia… I couldn’t hug my sister without freezing her, could I?” Suki asked with big sad eyes.

“Well, with Logia, it’s a complex thing. Your body only possesses the illusion of having become your element.” Jack Frost used his staff to draw Suki’s shape in the snow. “After you become Logia, an invisible shield encases your whole body.” He drew another line just outside of Suki’s shape, in the same shape. “You still have a normal body, and can eat or touch things, so if you shook hands with somebody, the shield allows harmless outside forces to pass. But when you want it to, or danger comes your way, the shield will kick in.” He drew a line coming directly at Suki and passing the shield. “When that danger is detected, that part of your body will transform into ice and the danger will be avoided. But your body is still there. It just becomes invisible and intangible while the ice takes its place. But the shield only protects the outside; the inside is still vulnerable. Something hazardous could enter through your ears, nose, or mouth. If the danger becomes active in say the entrance of those areas, the shield will still detect, but if it gets too far in you can’t see it, it won’t pick up. And of course, the shield can’t protect against Haki, chi-blocks, or the element’s natural enemy. So even as a Logia, you still need to be aware.”

“So I can become a Logia, and STILL hug Miyuki-chan, right?”

“Yeah, you could. But that’s where the hard part comes in…”

“Ohh?”

“When benders are on the very verge of Logia transformation, sometimes it requires the ultimate step. To finally test if that bond is real, and you’re so in tune with your element, you have to put yourself in a situation that could mean your death.”

“Hu!” she gasped.

“To name a few examples… a waterbender might submerge their self and completely drown, an airbender could drop from an airplane without a parachute, or an icebender may lock their self in the coldest darkness until their blood turns to ice…”

Mikaela Chariton took the most powerful blast from Mewtwo’s psychic beam, but in just a blink, her body had become psychic itself.

Caesar Clown hacked and coughed within the fog of toxic Bang Gas. He had inhaled so much, and it was overtaking his lungs. But a grin appeared on his face, when it became so breathable. “Oh. I’m a Logia. Not what I was trying to do, but, I’ll take!”

Dozens of boulders were rolling to the unsuspecting village at the mountain’s base, and Angie McKenzie was doing all she could to send them away. There came to be too many, and the woman felt the storm of boulders bouncing and crushing her body. Her bones would give way any second, but to her utter amazement, her body shattered like stone. A great stone entity that shaped her form emerged from the earth and crushed the remaining boulders.

At 13 years old, Mandy McKenzie had acquired numerous syringes of Nightmare Toxin. She injected them all in her body and let the magic happen.

Suki gulped, eyes wide with terror.

“That’s why becoming a Logia can mean the ultimate sacrifice. Sure, if it works, your life’s the same as normal, but you’re just more powerful. But if it doesn’t work… if you’re not as sure as you thought you were… it’s the end.”

The sadness was clear as day in Suki’s adorable eyes. “Is that what… happened to you? Sniff.”

“Well… yeah… a long time ago, when…”

“…” Suki listened patiently.

Jack shook, “Let’s not worry about it now. Your training should come first.”

“What kinda training are we doing?”

“I’m going to teach you about the Ice Element. I know you have a good grasp of it, but it’s important you hear it out, too. Ice, in a way, is close to Psychic, as it needs an imaginative mind to work.” He took some snow and mended it into all sorts of shapes, a hammer, a DNA, lipstick… “Psychicbenders need to endure loads of training before they can create stuff out of their chi, but any active icebender can make things ages early. True, it’s made of ice and won’t make any long-lasting contributions, but when there’s something we need on the spot, we got the advantage.” He made it into earmuffs, which he placed over Suki’s ears. “We call this Ice-Maker Style. And the same way psychicbenders can create Imaginary Friends, icebenders can give life to snow entities if their imagination’s strong enough. Just look.” Jack created a snowman half Suki’s height, who bowed.

Suki beamed and created a team of tiny snowpeople as high as her feet, skiing and dancing around the larger snowperson. “Which you already understand! And the stronger our chi is, the more realistic we can make a person or thing. The reason icebenders are rarer than waterbenders is because ours possesses magical properties, just like Psychic. Icebending just sounds like ‘controlling ice’, like any other element, but even other elements have hidden powers inside them. And icebending has another property, too: the power to freeze time.”

“Huuh?”

“You know that when something is completely encased in ice, its very motion or aging stops until the ice is totally melted. It was this power that kept Avatar Aang in a time stasis for a hundred years, which thereby stopped his Negative’s aging, but allowed him to roam free. So it would be in regular timebending.”

“So I have powers like MIYUKI-CHAAAAAN!”

“Heheh ha. To an extent, really. You more-or-less keep Time in balance, by freezing it, the same way you already do with your sister. If something is out of control, a river, a volcano, even time itself, you need to freeze it.”

“Huuuuuu!” Suki’s eyes and mouth grew wide in remembrance again. “Miyuki-chaaaaan! I gotta go SAAAAVE her, can’t wait AROOOOUUUND.” She jumped impatiently.

“Suki, calm down, your sister will be fine.” Jack smiled assuringly. “I want you to help me with something first. Can you trust me?”

Suki calmed down and stared at him. She really wanted to save her sister… but if Jack Frost says so, she could believe in him. She nodded.

Jack narrowed his eyes and bent down discreetly, gesturing to the blizzarding mountain above. “There’s this girl up there that I really like, and I want you to help me talk to her.” He spoke in a hushed tone, as if they were in high school and he were whispering to his friend about the pretty girl at the other table. “I’ve been trying to get up the courage to, but I always get so nervous. So will you help me?”

“Awwwwwww!” Suki pressed her cheeks and sang like a nosy little sister. “Jack—ie-chan’s, in LOOOO-ooooove!”

Jack’s heart sank in a beat, his smile faltering. “What’s wrong, Jackie?”

“Uh-h… nothing.”

“Well let’s GOOOOO! Don’t be shy, I’ll tell you JUST what to SAAAAY!”

“That means a lot, Suki.” He smiled. “Now let’s go. I’ll teach you about icebending on the way.”

Spirit World; KND treehouse

Miyuki followed Norman down to a basement of the treehouse, which grew darker as torches only lit the halls. “So when did you become a Halfa?”

“Three weeks ago, actually.” Norman said with a cool, casual smile. “I helped transfer this ghost to the Spirit World last year, and her spirit came back to give me this power. I think she can help you out, too.”

“Is that where we’re going?”

“Yep. A little tidbit though, Coraline’s actually older than she looks. Her ghost body has a manifested child form made of strings and stitches and junk. Some Nightmare King gave it to her for helping catch some rogue Nightmare, I think 22 years ago? Jack’s mostly hanging with us as a pastime, and Rukia, not sure where she’s from. Probly Japan.”

They made it to a large, dark room with a single curtained table lit by a small candle. On one side, a pale 11-year-old girl with a black dress and sleek black hair. Across from her, creatures Miyuki was familiar to: white, round-topped beings with little eyes in red circles, and floating hands. Okay, she wasn’t exactly familiar what they were, so she called them the Thing Chorus. Why, you ask?

The dark girl picked up a cup of tea on the table and shook it lightly. “How should I live my life? That, appears to be the question, of the evening.” She sounded half-interested.

The more you think about life

The sooner you might diiiiie.

“But why shouldn’t I think about death. When that’s the way I’m gonna be spending most of my life.”

It maaay be the way you are fated to live

But why shouldn’t you liiive in the mooomeeeent?

“Because I got nothin’ interesting going on. Let’s get it over with now. Where’s the nearest cliff. Deep river. A knife might work.”

But the faster you rush into sooomething

The harder it will be for yooou tooo aaaadjuuuust.

The girl sipped her tea. “If I were good at it, I would adjust. If I’m not, why can’t I start now?”

Death comes to taaake when it’s ready toooo

For deaaath iiiis the lot of uuuus!

The lot of everyone that we hold deeear.

So WHY pass the time thinking of the value of your liiiife?

“Hey, Numbuh 1712!” Norman greeted as he led Miyuki in. “This is Miyuki. Miyuki, this is Aggie. Our, uh, witchcraft specialist.”

“Yes.” Aggie stood up, stretched her arms, and rubbed her eyes. “Just got up from a really long nap. And I guess you have, too.”

“Actually, Norman’s friends brought me here. But I think I’m still… alive.”

“I’ll let you two get to know each other.” Norman walked away. “Rukia wants me for mission reports.”

With that, Aggie and Miyuki began a long, unenthusiastic walk down the opposite hall. “So if you aren’t really dead, what are you here for.”

“I don’t know. Me and my friends were flying to an ice planet during a mission. We crashed and I died, but not really. I was a timebender back in living.”

“A timebender. I’m kinda feeling that from you. Your spirit has small fractions of the chi. A little grayer than I remember.”

“You’ve met other timebenders?”

“This girl named Olive used to live with me at Blithe Hollow. She was my only friend. After the townspeople executed me for witchcraft, a girl named Muffy Jenkins killed her for being a timebender.”

Miyuki’s eyes grew wide, “Olive? THAT’S my mom! And that Muffy Jenkins girl, that was Dimentia.”

“I know. I heard she came back to life. ‘Course, she was already in the Spirit World centuries before I was. I didn’t want to go. And I wouldn’t let anyone else. Now that I’m here, I don’t even remember being alive. You learn to forget these things… when they no longer concern you.”

A bright light shone at the end of this hall, and Miyuki gaped at what it was. She thought they were miles underground, but it was a peaceful forest of lush green trees and grass under a golden sky. Aggie walked up to a lone tree in the middle of a barren region, and sat with her back against it. “This is the tree my mom used to read me stories under. It’s dead in the Mortal World, so it came here. I take long naps under here. But time never passes.”

Miyuki sat beside her, “Is your mom here, too?”

“I haven’t seen her since I got here. I’ve been sensing it. Something is happening to the spirits. Bad people in the Mortal World are interfering with the Spirit World.”

“That’s…That’s awful! How can any mortal mess up the Spirit World?”

“The Spirit World is closely connected with the Dream World. People can shape it to their deepest desires. To make a happy afterlife. Normally people can’t do that while they’re still alive… but some mortals found a way. And I’m not sure how.”

“Does it have to do with… the Apocalypse?”

“I’m feeling a lot of fear… in the Mortal World. In a month, the Spirit World will be destroyed. If the mortal dimensions are gone, the Spirit Worlds can’t exist. There will be nothing to give it energy. All of it is going to die.”

“Then…Then I can’t waste time here. I need to stop the Apocalypse. We all promised Cheren we would help.” And… I told Zanifr I’d…

Agatha looked up. “You don’t look like anyone who would be concerned about anything.”

“I…I used to be. But I…I found a new importance in life. It’s to live for my friends, and be happy for the spirits. Then when I pass on here, my spirit can help the world flourish. I want to save the Spirit World… so everyone can have someplace happy to go when they die. So the Cycle of Life.. can continue.”

Aggie closed her eyes. “I’ve always been afraid of something happening to this forest. I can never go to sleep with the promise that… it’ll still be here when I wake up. I want to sleep here forever… in peace…”

Miyuki looked at her when Aggie became silent. Her eyes closed, she lay back against the tree, as if in deep sleep. If Miyuki lived here, she might want to sleep forever, too. It was so peaceful… the afterlife… just the thought of it made her eyelids grow heavy…

Aggie woke up, “Let’s go.” and began the walk out. “Energybending won’t teach itself.”

Miyuki startled back to attention, “E-Energybending?” She got up and followed.

“A lot of Spirit KNDs master energybending as their means of combat. Rukia even knows a bit.”

“Isn’t that… light or darknessbending?”

“They’re closely related. But Energy is the essence where all chi comes from. It’s the only part of our bending we keep after we convert into spirits. It’s what our souls, and everything in the Spirit World, is composed of. When spirits search deep inside their selves and that which makes this world, they can control that energy. It can become the most powerful of elements…”

“And could I use that power… while I’m alive?”

“It’s a little more difficult, because your normal chi is concealing the Energy Chi. The only mortal I’ve heard that was able to bend the direct energy is the Avatar, who is half-spirit to begin with. But mastering energybending should have an effect on your Time Chi, too, make it stronger. And that grayness I feel in your chi… I wanted to take a look at it.”

“Well… okay. As long as I can get back to my friends soon.”

“Relax. You will. As long as your body isn’t eaten by wolves.”

“But… Agatha.” The two stopped. “Who is it exactly… that’s messing up the Spirit World. Do you know who’s behind it?”

“…” Aggie turned, still with her gloomy face, “He calls himself King.”

Sand Castle

The sky was bluer and filled with even more stars above this vast desert. A Kargarok messenger cawed across the air as it flapped to the castle with a conchshell within its talons. It flapped into a window and dropped the shell in the hands of the castle’s owner. King Sandy Johnson sat back on his couch and opened the shell’s hatch, displaying a holographic image of a shadowed, knight-like being with dashing armor, a cape, and a pointy crown. “Hello, Sandy.”

“Ahhh if it isn’t my good friend,” said Sandy with a snobbish smile, “His Royal Highness King—”

“You would know better than to speak my full name. There is power in a name, you know. Or shall I spill YOUR filthy, disgusting secret?”

“Sigh, you will never let that go, will you?”

“Are you absolutely sure what you told me about the Minish Princess is true?”

“No, I was just making crud up. If you don’t wanna see, I can just squish her, one less nuisance.”

“Don’t joke around with me. You know that the princess’s powers are vital in what we have planned. If you are mistaken, you WILL pay the price.”

“Relax, I’m absotively posilutely certain. Are you coming to take the brat away or what?”

“Tomorrow night. After the presidents’ meeting. My special squad will be over to bring her to me. Do not disappoint me… and destroy this Dial.” Switched off.

Unbeknownst to Sandy, a single tiny Blue Pikmin watched him from the doorway.

Cleveland neighborhoods; daytime

The sun was finally rising over Cleveland as Team Rupert lay fast asleep, their fire having gone out and their Pikmin inside the Onions. Rupert was the first to regain consciousness, half-awake at the sound of a distant, nearly deafening screech, and some doors squeaking open. Rupert got to his feet, seeing what was clearly the top of a yellow school bus. Timmy and Hikari slowly recovered too, at the echoing creak of a giant door. “Bye, Mom, I’m going to school!” The slamming of the door pulled them awake completely. Through the giant grass was a blonde, freckle-faced girl in a dark-pink shirt, and the sound of wheels crossing the sidewalk let them know her bookbag was on wheels. “Whoops, forgot to tie my shoe.” She stopped midway and bent down.

“!!! GUYS!! NOW’S OUR CHANCE, COME ON!” At Rupert’s cry, the three kids dashed to the girl as fast as they could, the Pikmin Onions fluttering after them. Once they were through the grass, they found her backpack lain on its back while she tied her shoes. “And oooover, and loop-di-loop, and oooover..”

“HURRY!” Sprinting with all the strength in their legs, they rushed for the small net on the side of the pack, leaped, and grabbed hold of its very thick lining at their size. The Onions latched their selves onto the side of the pack as well. The girl stood, picked up her pack, and casually rolled and lifted it into the bus, the swift turns and movement forcing the tinies to hold on tight. She slammed it haphazardly against the wall beside a seat and sat down, the tinies dropping as the girl began talking to a friend.

“Sigh. That was close.” Timmy panted.

“Is Jessie and Sandy on this bus?” Rupert asked. “We can look around for ‘em and get their-” But a sudden shake knocked them off their feet. The bus was in motion.

“Mmmmmmaybe that’s not a good idea now.” Timmy said as they grabbed the floor tight.

“We’ll have to look for Jessie in school.” Hikari knew.

Rupert seemed to shrink more at this idea. The last thing he wanted at a quarter inch tall was going to school this way.

Planet Poké

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH…” It’s true that flying as a beam of light across the very light-years would induce screaming. Such was the case of Darcy Chariton, and Lucario didn’t enjoy it so much either. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHH…” Even after they finally landed, she still went on. “-UUH!”

“STOP IT!” yelled Lucario, smacking her. “Honestly, I expected that from Sunni, not you…”

Darcy shook back to senses, helping herself to stand. “Wh…Where did you take me?”

“Planet Poké.” Fluffy white clouds filled the sunny sky, grasslands and mountains lay every direction. And hundreds, thousands of the creatures we all know and love roamed everywhere.


That’s right: dragons. HA, just kidding, can you imagine? So it seems Darcy is on a life-changing journey that’s sure to last dozens of game generations. …Nah, we’ll dumb it down by, like, a lot. Also Spirit KND, Rukia’s from Bleach, Norman from ParaNorman, Coraline from, yeah, and everyone knows where Skellington’s from. And Elsa. And the “Let It Go”. So next time, uhh a Rupert level, maybe a Sheila, then a flashback. So stay doomed.