Author's Note: Yes, as well as adding Tootie, I've dragged Princess Mandie into this story. Enjoy this chapter! Please keep reading and reviewing!
Chapter Seven: Mandie and the Doom-Mongers
The group enters the palace's stark white throne room. A pale blue carpet lined with gold leads to the three chairs where the King, Queen and Princess sit. Led by Jorgen Von Strangle, the heroes approach with a slow respectful gait. Stained glass windows to either side depict some of the Boudacians' past glories, each one more explicit than the last. For this reason, the youngest team members fix their gazes straight ahead.
The Princess sits in the middle throne, glaring at the newcomers with pea-green eyes. She is mostly humanoid in appearance, apart from the straight lavender hair, pointy ears, greenish-yellow skin and butterfly antennae. She wears an extremely short cyan dress, matching knee-high boots and elbow-length gloves, and sparkly triangular earrings. A crystal tiara perches on her head; the glimpses of tape between the jewels indicate that it has been frequently broken and stuck back together.
It's clear that she takes more after her mother than her father. The Queen is only differentiated from her daughter by the wrinkles around her eyes, the waviness of her hair and the glaucous blue shade of her clothes. The King must come from a different species entirely – a species where people have the heads of warthogs and round red eyes. He is naked except for his black boots, gold bangles and bright underpants.
Every member of the royal family is armed, the King holding a rusty old blade, the Queen keeping a gun in her leg holster and the Princess's hand hovering near a flaming sword. They are not to be messed with.
"Your majesties-" Jorgen begins.
"Don't talk to us," the King barks.
This takes them back. Jorgen stands firm. "But we have to-"
"We're giving our daughter some much-needed diplomatic training," the Queen explains. "Please direct all your questions and/or demands at her, and we'll intervene if she screws up."
"Mom, please!" the Princess moans. "I'm not going to screw up!"
"Says the girl who lost our Navy to the Gigglepies," the Queen mutters.
"Don't blame me! They spiked my drink!"
"Well, you should have made one of your ladies-in-waiting taste it first!"
"Forgive me for interrupting this argument," Jorgen butts in, "but we have important intelligence that needs to be delivered immediately. Princess Mandy-"
"It's ManDIE," the Princess corrects him, baring her triangular teeth.
"Princess Mandie, we have reason to believe the Darkness is coming for Boudacia."
"Let's see, the Darkness, the Darkness…" Mandie drums her fingers on the throne's armrests. "Nope, still don't know why I should care." The King grunts and nudges her. "Oh, uh, forgive my rudeness. The Darkness, you say? Please elaborate." She leans forward with a simpering smile, as if she is trying too hard to say, 'Look at me, I'm a good listener.'
"The Darkness is a sentient shadowy void," Jorgen explains. "It is a figure of fear. It has been sporadically attacking and destroying different pockets of the universe for tens of thousands of years."
"Oh, the Darkness!" Mandie smacks her thigh. "I remember now! We read a couple of books about it in school! I always thought it was just a fairy tale."
"Oh, it's real, all right," Vicky warns. "And it's coming for your planet."
Mandie squints. "Haven't we met before?"
"We fought over a boy and I kicked your butt, if I recall correctly." The babysitter is smug, until she remembers why they're here. "But forget about that. Right now we're trying to save you. If the Darkness gets here and no-one fights back, it'll chew you up like a chocolate chip cookie. But do you think it'll stop there?"
"Yes."
"WRONG!" Vicky jumps down Mandie's throat. "The Darkness will NOT stop!" She backs up and regards a depiction of Mandie's mother planting a ragged and torn flag in an enemy's chest. "Once it's finished off Boudacia, it'll invade every other planet until this world is nothing but a smoking husk of shattered dreams."
Mandie shifts in her seat, her bravery vanishing. "Strong words. But how do you know the Darkness is back?"
The group parts to reveal Mark at the back.
"Mark?" Mandie jumps to her feet.
"It took Yugopotamia." He scrapes a tentacle along the carpet. "It took my parents."
"No," Mandie chokes. She runs towards him.
"Like, help!" Mark cries.
But instead of attacking, Mandie wraps her arms around him. "Oh, Mark, I'm so sorry." Tears dribble down his helmet.
"Mandie."
At her mother's stern address, the Princess peels herself away and wipes her cheeks. She takes a deep breath and stands tall and majestic. Her head moves from team member to team member, making eye contact with all of them. "We Boudacians are the greatest warrior race in existence," she tells them. "We can't have the Darkness taking over all those realms! That's our job!" She clears her throat. "And, of course, we need to think of the potential casualties!" She returns to the thrones. "What should we do?" she asks her parents.
"What do you think we should do?" the King asks her.
"I say we gather the troops and prepare for battle."
"That's my girl."
…
The air field is full of cyan diamond-shaped pods, each perching on three legs. One or two are surrounded by mechanics taking panels off and tinkering with the controls. Between the bunkers next door, soldiers jog to grab their weapons, a mish-mash of grenades and bazooka guns and double-bladed axes, and then stand around awaiting their orders.
Outside a grey cylindrical bomb shelter, the Queen explains her plan to a Boudacian General in a midnight-coloured blazer laden with medals. "Send the fighter pods out first," she commands her, "because they can hopefully lure the Darkness away from Boudacia. Should they fail to hold it back, the tanks and ground missiles will take over the assault."
"What about an infantry charge?"
"That will be our last resort for when the Darkness is about to eat our kingdom. I want as few people dying as possible."
Inside, the shelter is big enough to hold the Princess and the entire squad of Timmy's friends and enemies. The ridged walls are lined with bunk beds, with everyone either sitting on the bottom bunk or lying on the top one. The exceptions are Mandie and Mark, who pace the length of the bunker hand-in-tentacle.
Shelves of food tins are packed together at one end. Cosmo flits over and picks up a couple of cans. "Creamed Losers?" he reads. "Pickled Prisoners of War? I don't know what these things are, but they sound delicious!"
Mark and Mandie pause by the door. "Let's make a bet," the Princess suggests.
"What kind of bet?"
"If you're right about this, if the Darkness comes for us … I'll leave you alone. I'll accept that we weren't meant to be. I'll stop bombarding you with notes and flowers."
"Sounds awesome! Flowers make me puke."
"And if you're wrong about this…" She smiles with thin black lips. "We have to remarry."
Mark edges away. "No can do, babe. You had your chance and, like, you blew it when you took over my planet and shrunk my friends. Plus, I'm totally right. I've seen it, remember?"
"Oh, I don't doubt you," Mandie purrs. "Except I do. A little. You see, normally before we Boudacians fight, there's a crackle of excitement, like the calm before the storm. I'm not getting that here. Everyone's bored."
"It's not boredom," Jorgen pipes up. "We're expecting the worst."
From this point onwards, all conversation ceases.
The human beings, fairies and aliens wait for the Darkness to come.
And wait.
And wait.
And wait.
…
"Is the Darkness here yet?" asks Cosmo.
"No," says Mandie.
"Is the Darkness here yet?" asks Cosmo.
"No," says Mandie.
"Is the Darkness here yet?" asks Cosmo.
"No," says Mandie.
There's a CRASH right above their heads!
The kids scream.
Mandie snatches her sword, ready for action.
The door squeaks open sheepishly. "Sorry!" the King calls. "I was just testing the grenades." Pause. "They work," he adds. "And so does the shelter."
There's a sigh of relief as the door slams, followed by silence.
For about a minute.
"Is the Darkness here yet?" Cosmo resumes.
"No," says Mandie.
"Is the Darkness here yet?" asks Cosmo.
"No," says Mandie.
This goes on for a while.
…
Twenty-four hours later, the pods, tanks and ground missiles are still in position outside the bunker. Inside, the remnants of a complicated card game are scattered across the floor, long abandoned by the sleeping children. Crocker has resorted to electric shocks from Dark Laser to keep himself awake for when the Darkness comes.
If the Darkness comes.
Is the Darkness coming?
"Well, it's been one whole Earth day, and we haven't been attacked or eaten," Mandie remarks, filing her claws. "Are you sure you didn't get the target wrong?"
"Absolutely sure. I don't understand," says Wanda. "Why would that mysterious unnamed woman on the Blue Moon lie to us?"
"Excuse me?"
There's a mist of tension descending on the shelter. It snakes through the door, cloaking the Princess, making it harder for Wanda to see her.
Mandie suddenly grabs the fairy godmother's t-shirt. "You guys came here to exhaust the Boudacian military and frighten our citizens on the basis of the report of a mysterious unnamed woman?" She releases her, and Wanda crashes into Cosmo. "Even I know how stupid that is!"
With all the noise, the children are waking up. "What's going on?" Chester murmurs. "Is the Darkness here yet?"
"For the last time, NO!" Mandie shouts. "It's never gonna get here, because you lied to us! You told us you had 'important intelligence', and what do we get? The ramblings of a lady on a faraway moon, which you guys took as fact!" Her hair bursts into flames. "Game over, Mark! You lose the bet!"
"Relax, babe."
"Relax? RELAX? I guess you're telling me I should stress out, huh? I guess you Yugopotamians mean the opposite of what you say, don't you?"
"We were trying to help!" Mark flings back. "What if we hadn't told you, and we were right, and you were the one watching your parents disappear right in front of you? Huh? Huh?"
Mandie opens her mouth, then closes it. Her hair is back to normal, no longer on fire.
"Yeah, that shut you up." Mark has the last word. "So excuse us for getting here as soon as we could."
Now the truth is out, now everyone understands how wrong they were, the semi-confident expectation is replaced by a fresh bout of fear, so palpable you could reach out and touch it.
Tootie rocks on a bottom bunk, hugging her legs. "I wish Timmy was here. He'd know what to do."
Cosmo raises his wand. It makes a noise not dissimilar to a fart and goes limp. "We're not her godparents," Wanda explains.
"It was worth a shot."
"What's Timmy doing?" Trixie asks from the bunk above Tootie. "What do you see?"
"I see-"
"Hang on, you can sense the location and actions of another person even when they're far away?" Mandie is intrigued. "Is that a human thing?"
"No, it's a true love thing." Tootie shuts her eyes. "I see … I see…"
All the attention is on her.
"I – s-see-" She bursts into tears.
"What is it, honey?" Mrs Turner rushes to her side. "What do you see?"
"I can't!" Tootie wails.
"What?"
"I can't see him! There's an outline, I know he's there, I know he's alive, but I can't see any more!" She struggles to regain control of her breathing. "He's somewhere – but he's getting fainter – like he's – moving out of existence – like he's being – absorbed," she bawls between sobs.
"Uh-oh."
Only Wanda catches the sound. "What is it, Jorgen?"
The attention switches from the crying girl to the leader of the fairies. He tugs at his collar. "What's what? I didn't say anything."
"Yes, you did," Mr Turner disagrees. "You said, 'Uh-oh' when Tootie said Timmy was being absorbed."
Jorgen grunts to himself. "I might as well share what I know." He absent-mindedly pats his legs. "When we've fought the Darkness in the past, we were sometimes able to pull out the fairies that had been trapped inside. But they was always something different about them. Drowsiness. Nausea. Memory loss. Cold skin. Sensitivity to light. And their eyes-" He shudders. "Luckily they all recovered. But then, fairies are strong and magic and heal super-quickly. If a human being was kept in the Darkness for too long … the outcome could be a lot worse."
"No!" Tootie cries. "I won't let that happen to Timmy! I won't let him die!"
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Trixie asks. She scrabbles down from the top bunk. "Let's go back to the Blue Moon and find that prophecy or whatever and work it out ourselves. Let's find out how to defeat that monster and save Timmy. Let's do it now." She stamps her foot. "We've wasted an entire day. We can't afford any more delays. If the Darkness won't come to us, we'll go to it. Less waiting, more doing, that's what I say!"
"Yeah!" Cheers echo across the shelter. It's become a hive of positive thinking, driven by the desire to fight. They can do this. They will do this. They must do this.
"Where's the Timmy Tracker?" Tootie asks.
The surge of excitement dissipates.
"I thought you had it," A.J. says to Tootie.
"I thought Vicky had it," Tootie says.
"I thought A.J. had it," Vicky says.
"Unbelievable!" Wanda rolls her eyes. "We must have left it on the Blue Moon in all the excitement!"
"All the more reason to go back," Trixie insists.
"I'm going with you!" Mandie declares. "You got me into this mess, so I might as well come along for the ride! Besides," she adds, eyes glittering with cheekiness, "Mark and I have a wedding to plan."
They all disappear in a puff of smoke.
