Goldilocks brushed her hair, making it neat. She took the hair ties from around her wrists and began tying her hair in her normal luscious curls. Hildy was sitting next to Goldilocks, and without asking, she reached over and took Goldilocks' brush. Hildy's hair was growing fast, her bang would fall over her right eye.
"Alright Goldilocks," Hildy continued, "we've been here for a whole day. I admit it's... great... but we should seriously get back in the game! Where is the easy-to-conquer town?"
Goldilocks fluffed up her curls, the curls stayed up as if she sprayed tons of hairspray on them. "We'll go in a second." She lied.
"Good!" Hildy jumped. "I know I've been rusty on my spells and being evil in general, but with this new town, I won't have to worry about Queen Delightful getting in my way!" She spun in a circle.
Goldilocks giggled. "And how exactly is it difficult dethroning Queen Delightful? She's sooo naive. Don't let me get started on her dumb little circus parade. "THE 7D"." Goldilocks mocked. "All of them are a bunch of dorks. Lord Starchbottom the dorkiest. I mean- he's too busy going ga-ga over the Queen to realize she HATES him! I don't blame her though. He's such a coward and really annoying." She paused.
"Geez... why is it that every ginger coward have a crush on Queen Delightful? I'm talking about that Bashful kid too."
Hildy didn't like Goldilocks' lingering mockery. "For such a young age, you sure do act like you know a lot..." Hildy spat.
Goldilocks was unfazed by this. "Ahh Hildy, you joker. Don't worry, soon you will have your OWN castle! And I'll kill those pesky 7D!"
"Oh that's grea...- wait... what?" Hildy twisted around when hearing the last part.
"Well a-duh!" Goldilocks cackled. "You think I want to watch you destroy a town with Grim?" She forced a yawn. "BOOOORING! When we get to the new castle, I'll leave YOU and your HUBBY-WUBBY alone, and then I'll skip back to Jollywood, murdering the 7D with THIS!" Goldilocks pulled out a silver battle ax, swinging it at the sunflowers, watching them die. "See? Just imagine those flowers as the head of QUEEN DELIGHTFUL HERSELF!"
Hildy's heart clenched. "I'd rather not!" She blurted, swiping the battle ax from Goldilocks' hands. "You're only like, twelve, why do you have this thing?"
Goldilocks grunted, but quickly changed attitude, faking a innocent look. "Well I didn't know... Dr J made it and just left it around..."
"Goldilocks... I know you purposely picked this up." Hildy eyed her. Goldilocks rolled her eyes.
"Fine, so maybe I did! Who really cares?" Goldilocks muttered, staring away from Hildy.
"Seriously... let's continue our mission..." Hildy insisted.
Goldilocks sighed, but her eyes then lit up. "Oh yes! There's one little place I want to show you. It's VERY gloomy, so I'm sure you'll love it!" She caught hold of Hildy's hand, then shouted at everyone else, demanding them to follow her. "COME ON GUYS, I gotta a cool witchy place to show you."
Without question, everyone followed like mindless sheep.
Sneezy raised his hands in the air, spinning in circles. "Hey! The air is breezier around here!" He sniffled, twirling around like a helicopter.
"Yes! That means we're close!" Vincent yelled excitedly, he knew this even though he wasn't holding the map.
"How do you know this?' Grumpy questioned.
"Well I-uh, I've just memorized the map. That's all!" Vincent replied, holding his wife close to him.
Eventually, they all arrived to a grassy field, the sound of a running nearby creek whistled in the wind. It was the perfect temperature. There were a few odd things that made the 7D believe someone was already here. A brown bag covered in a mixture of blue and red berry juice lay down next to long logs. A campsite was located in the middle of the logs, the rocks looked burned. Across from the logs lay beautiful sunflowers, but half of the poor flowers were cut off! Dopey rushed up to the flowers, staring at them with sad eyes.
Sneezy glanced over at the flowers, but walked in the opposite direction. He rubbed his nose. "I don't want to start up my sneezing-fest..." He said with caution.
Doc examined the flowers closely, glancing at the stems. "The cutting is fresh... like literally, someone JUST cut this minutes ago! And they're man-made cuts. No animal chewed on them or anything."
Vincent smirked. "That means they're here..."
"They?"
"She." Vincent corrected. "She's here."
"The landscape is certainly splendid out here..." Queen Delightful giggled, circling the campfire.
"Hey maybe we should head over...-" Vincent pointed to an ominous area behind large groups of bushes.
"Let's stay here for a bit..." Doc declared, continuing to stare at the sunflowers. "Just a little longer. These flowers are fascinating."
"Yeah, besides dad, this area is great for some father-son bonding!" Happy beamed to Vincent. Vincent was hesitant, but reluctantly sat next to Happy, listening to the tune his son played on the guitar.
Hildy peered down at the deep cavern. "Didn't we see something similar to this on our way here?" She asked, tilting her head at all the similar surroundings.
"Oh NO!" Goldilocks said a bit loudly. She laughed awkwardly. "I mean- it's not like I've been leading you in circles this entire time haha..." Goldilocks quickly grabbed Hildy's hand again. "But there's this AWESOME and freaky abandoned shack right around..." She trailed her hands all around big leaves, moving objects out of the way, searching for the secret shack. "...HERE!" She smiled, ripping apart leaves and tropical vines, exposing the wooden and broken down shack.
Now THAT was unfamiliar.
"Dr J, lead us inside!"
Dr J nodded, taking out a key from his pocket, and opened the door. It was extremely dark and smelly in the shack. It smelled of old newspaper, really moldy. The shack was a decent size, but the shape it was in was terrible.
"You could get splinters from this place..." Hildy whispered to herself, squishing her nose at the gross smell and battered appearance. It was tough to see anything, Hildy had to constantly squint at everything, but even then it was blurry, and she couldn't tell what anything was unless it was inches from her face. Goldilocks, Dr J and Bingo could easily walk through the shack as if they entered and exited it their entire life.
"H-Hildy... I'm nervous..." Grim stammered, squeezing his wife's hand. Hildy smiled over at him, although he probably couldn't see.
"Don't worry Grimmy-Wimmy. I gotcha!" She reassured, soothing him by talking in her baby voice.
Suddenly, Dr J stopped walking, causing everyone to stop. In a dim light, there was a interesting looking machine. The machine had a distorted helmet, red wires strung out and around it. It looked like a mad scientist's machine. The seat looked like a barber's seat, but it was mangled, stuffing popping out of it. The machine was like one of those machines insane people and criminals used to change the personality of someone.
Hildy's heart thumped. They wouldn't dare use it on her... would they?
"W-what's the machine... for?" Hildy gulped, her hand holding Grim's hand shook abnormally fast.
"Why, it's my LATEST INVENTION!" Dr J screamed in insanity. He reminded Hildy a lot of a crazier Doc when saying that. "It works quite nicely. The basic use is to change a person's mortality. It can transform the most respectable human being into a vile criminal. It's fast, reliable and one of my most greatest pieces of work! We've already tested the thing on our first victim. Isn't that right, Vincent?"
In the corner of the room lay a shadow, Hildy couldn't make out any characteristic details to identify who he was. "Yes." This so called "Vincent" man whispered. His tone of voice was soft but eerie. It made Hildy shiver all over.
"Hello, Hildy Gloom. I've heard lots of things about you."
Vincent's knee bounced up and down slightly, a habit that came naturally to him when he was frustrated or waiting impatiently.
"C'mon guys, I swear there's something important over there!" He kept complaining.
Doc was annoyed by Vincent's constant complaints. He twisted on his heels, facing Vincent, "Alright, fine! What is it you want to show us?"
Vincent smiled viciously. "Follow the leader." He said, taking the same path Goldilocks did when presenting the secret shack to Hildy. Grumpy, however, noticed something.
"Hey, does this landscape look familiar to anyone else?" He questioned.
Happy scoffed, whereas Doc had to take a stop. "You're right, Grumpy..." Doc agreed, "we've been here before when that monster attacked. ..."
Vincent gulped, quickly pushing them to the shack. "Grumpy, stop making silly jokes." He laughed, showing off the shack.
'Oohs' and 'ahhs' flew out the 7D's mouth when they saw the shack.
This time, Happy began feeling suspicions. "Hey... this feels familiar..." He whispered, thinking back to words like Dark Meadow 135 and Secret Sheds.
Vincent didn't hear his son, so he began pushing him ahead of him. Happy pounced backwards, hoping he could leave somehow. "Um, actually dad, I don't really like broken down, creepy looking and abandoned sheds..."
"But, it's a shack! Not shed..." Vincent protested, but Happy wouldn't budge.
"If Happy doesn't want to go, then I'll stay out here with him." Grumpy crossed his arms, automatically knowing there was something strange about Vincent.
Vincent's eyes suddenly turned deep blue, his teeth gritted into a scowl, and he wasn't afraid to show it this time.
But before Vincent could do anything to hurt anyone, the shack door creaked open, and Vincent's eyes lit up. "Yes! Finally! They're here!"
Six shadowy figures walked out one by one. First Hildy, then Grim, Goldilocks, Dr. J, Bingo and lastly, a much shorter man with purple skin.
"VINCENT?" Everyone gasped as they saw two Vincent's, even Hildy was confused.
Hildy then realized her theory of Queen Delightful being tricked by Shapeshifter was true, but Shapeshifter unfortunately tricked her as well.
The "Vincent" who led the 7D on their adventure, transformed into a tall teal man, causing Queen Delightful to screech in shock.
"Hildy... why would you-?" Queen Delightful barely murmured. Hildy was just as confused and nervous as everyone else.
"I didn't... I mean, I did but I WASN'T a part of this, no one told me about this..." Hildy stammered nervously, but that scared side of her disappeared, her mad side taking over. She twisted over to Goldilocks. "YOU TRICKED ME AS WELL? I bet you lied about the new castle for me to take over as well, didn't you?" Hildy screamed, glaring holes into her skin.
Shapeshifter interrupted Hildy's shouts. His tail wrapped around the 7D, the Jolly Royals & Renata. His grip endured with each struggle. Hildy gasped at this, she glared at Shapeshifter. "Shapeshifter, let them go!" She growled, getting ready to pounce at him.
Goldilocks briskly intervened, she raised her arms up to try to calm Hildy down, but it obviously wasn't working. "Hildy- Hildy- Hildy! Relax! We had a deal. My deal was for you to find an easy kingdom to take over, and what I get in return would be whatever I pleased... isn't that right Hildy?"
Hildy hesitated. She gulped, taking a fast breath she said, "Yes but-"
"Then let me do what I want with the foolish 7D!" Goldilocks screamed back. "And your castle is right here!" She yelped, sliding large leaves out of the way, revealing Hildy's new castle. The sun burned Hildy's skin, the familiar surroundings enveloped her field of vision. Her once widened eyes shrank in confusion and curiosity.
"This... this is just Jollywood..."
Dr J and Bingo nodded in unison.
"Wait... you mean to tell me... we've been going in circles... this ENTIRE time? What about the map?!"
Goldilocks laughed. "That map was a fake. You didn't even have to read it!"
"But... but why were you leading me in circles all this time? Why didn't you tell me anything about this plan? I deserved to know!" Hildy ranted, her face turning red due to frustration.
Goldilocks groaned, knowing she'd have to explain at some time. "Shapeshifter, Dr J and I all might've made a plan without telling you about it. My deal was to manipulate you into stalling meanwhile Shapeshifter shaped into Vincent- a very easy target. He tricked Queen Delightful and all the ignorant to go on a SPLENDID adventure to find YOU! See, Shapeshifter had been thinking of this plan for a LOOONG while! Remember that old house you used to live in, Renata?"
Renata gulped, scared to answer. "Y-yes..."
"Well that is Shapeshifter's HOME!" Goldilocks laughed manically. "Yes Happy- those cutesy-wutsy letters you supposedly thought you were sending to your parents was actually none other then the evil mastermind himself! Once he figured out BASHFUL was part of the 7D, he knew he had to concoct a plan to destroy the ENTIRE 7D... but first he needed a handyman... someone who could invent wild machines to main, kill and demolish, which is where Dr J comes in!"
Dr J nodded proudly as he heard his name.
"Believe it or not, but Shapeshifter and Dr J had been friendly acquaintances for a few years, and their friendship only recently starting blossoming as they built this plan. What was even better was that Dr J had actually meet the 7D before, when he dwarf-napped Doc. With this new found information, Shapeshifter was able to analyze the 7D's weakness, even if it did take forever. Until finally, he met ME!" Goldilocks beamed. "Last Winter, when Shapeshifter was just about to put his plan in motion, we tried entering Jollywood, only to realize HILDY was the new Queen!"
Hildy turned pale just thinking back to the awful Queen she truly was. Her thoughts on ruling any kingdom slowly drained like the color in her face.
"Shapeshifter was intrigued by you, Hildy! He remembered how you were the first time you three met, you and Grim were VERY disorganized, causing him to lose his battle with Agent Bash!"
Bashful rolled his eyes. "I thought I told you I ended that dumb feud months ago!"
"Don't interrupt!" Goldilocks snapped. "With this sudden change, you being Queen and all, he was impressed with your abilities. He decided to spy on you for a few moments, just to see how your attitude and actions changed. However, when Queen Delightful regained her crown, he was slightly disappointed, but knew there was still evil in you!
So as Dr J worked on his new invention, Shapeshifter went out of his way to find out who these Renata and Vincent people were. His luck ran dry, but when playing Go Fish, he conversed with the Gingerbread Witch. She knew who Renata and Vincent were and where they lived. So Shapeshifter waited one night until Renata left to buy groceries. He disguised himself into a nice looking businessman, asking Vincent if he'd like a job offer. It was kept a secret between the two.
"Finally, the date for Happy's parents to visit Jollywood was set in motion! Shapeshifter tricked Vincent into thinking he was heading for the castle, when in reality he set off one of Dr J's traps. Dr J dwarf-napped him... from experience..."
Goldilocks sent a glare Doc's way, but Bashful returned the glare, not allowing anyone to be rude to Doc.
"Anyway... Dr J tested his machine on Vincent in jiffy. Thankfully for us, Vincent didn't escape on time and was turned into the beautiful man you see before you! For Shapeshifter-Vincent, well... he somehow slipped past you simple minded fools!" Goldilocks giggled.
Queen Delightful wiggled uncomfortably in Shapeshifter's grip. Her eyes were flooded in tears, and she rested her chin on Lord Starchbottom's shoulder. Starchy sighed sadly. "I'm so sorry my Delight..." He whispered in her ear. "I wish I could save you..."
There was a large pause, anger grew inside of Hildy. She wanted a law passed allowing her beat Goldilocks to a pulp. Goldilocks laughed with mockery.
"Who's the bigger fool Hildy? The fool," Goldilocks pointed to herself. "Or the fool who follows her?" Her finger twirled around, pointing towards Hildy. Goldilocks burst into laughter, her golden twisted curls bounced voluntarily. Hildy was stuck in shock.
"Goldilocks, why don't you take Hildy and Grim and Dr J to the castle...-"
"What about me?" Bingo exclaimed, causing everyone to groan in annoyance, even Grim.
"Yes... even you..." Shapeshifter corrected his earlier statement. He then exchanged glances with Hildy, grabbing her eye contact. "Look Hildy- I know it may seem difficult to have Goldilocks as an ally... she has a very interesting sense of humor... but you'll have so much fun as the new Queen!" Shapeshifter said with immense happiness, completely ignoring Hildy's look of grief.
Hildy, still halfway stuck in shock, was pulled forward by Goldilocks, carried over to the castle.
In Shapeshifter's grip, Renata struggled, hoping she'll escape and seek revenge on the man holding her. She grunted, until her gaze landed straight on her husband's deadpan face. "Vincent...? Vincent... this ISN'T like you! He...help...-"
Shapeshifter cackled at her attempts of freedom. "Sorry sweet-cheeks, but there's no possible way your husband will save anyone on your side. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but Dr J. may or may have not created a machine to change anyone's personality, demolishing their way of thought and changing them to be as evil as moi."
Renata stared wearily at her reversed love. "Vincent... please tell me it's not true!" She gaped, her throat closing up in misery.
"It can change anyone... even the happiest of people..." Shapeshifter sneered, directing his attention to Happy.
Grumpy couldn't stand to hear or watch his friends get attacked. He found a way to wiggle out of Shapeshifter's grip. However, Shapeshifter was way ahead of him. Shapeshifter lifted the tip of his tail, somehow still holding on to everyone else, and powerfully flicked at Grumpy, causing him to stumble back in one blow. Grumpy lost his footing like what had happened before with the monster, but this time instead of catching hold of the ground, he flung backwards, unable to grasp anything, and plummet to his death screaming all the way down.
The 7D watch with horrified expressions at their buddy's potential death. Pained cries burst through their throats, wishing they could do something. Even Dr J, Bingo and Vincent looked a little upset.
Dr J and Bingo rushed to the edge of the cliff, peering down to estimate just how far he fell. "Whoa Shapeshifter! I-i-s h-he dead?" Dr J stammered, never had he ever watched a real life death presented in front of his eyes.
Shapeshifter didn't seem to care. "Ugh who cares? We all knew one of them would die sooner or later."
"But... isn't that going a little too far?" Bingo sputtered. "I mean, I understand forcing them to do all our dirty work... you know ...hard labor? But KILLING them?!"
Dr J nodded, agreeing with his usual enemy. "Yes, for once I actually AGREE with Bingo!"
"Shouldn't you two be with Hildy and Goldilocks?" Shapeshifter snapped, causing Bingo and Dr J to bolt up in fear. They ran ahead, up to the castle.
Everyone stuck in Shapeshifter's grip gave out, their bodies were worn out and their eyes were flooded with tears. "What are you going to do to us? You wouldn't DARE use the machine on my poor son, would you?! You're not THAT evil!" Renata cried.
Shapeshifter gave a smug crooked smile, he carefully loosened his grip until he let them go completely. "If you follow my orders, some of you may live for a couple weeks. Longer than others, at least. Anyway, since you're all worn out, I've decided to give all of you a day's worth of sleep and mushy food. Now walk in an orderly line. If any of you try to escape; the same fate that happened to your grouchy friend will happen to you as well."
The 6D lined up: Doc in the lead as usually, Happy behind, then Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy and Dopey. Renata stood behind Dopey. Queen Delightful next with Starchbottom close on her tail. They all were pushed forward by Shapeshifter who told them where to go. They had no say in the matter, neither did they want to speak. Their legs shook from fear, anticipating what terrible thing they would encounter next. They finally reached their destination, a creepy and cold jail cells.
"The Cells of Crimes..." Doc breathed as he was pushed into the cells.
"Yes, yes, yes... I was placed in these cells years ago, but now I can get revenge! Isn't that right, Bashful?"
Bashful eyed Shapeshifter with scorn. "What's your problem with Bashful? Leave him alone!" Doc tried yelling but it came out more as a raspy tone then anything threatening. Shapeshifter laughed.
"You won't be laughing for long when I create a machine that'll change your evil personality into something nice for once!" Doc yelped back again. Bashful placed a hand on Doc's shoulder.
Shapeshifter locked the cells. He then placed nine bowls of mush and nine bowls of plates through the cell bars. The plates had tiny pieces of chewy watermelon, but they were very small pieces and not nearly enough food to satisfy anyone.
Poor Renata couldn't stop crying from seeing her husband changed in front of her eyes. Knowing he was a part of this plan just ate her right up.
However, Happy didn't seem depressed. If anything he was quiet. He rubbed his mother's back and stared at the empty ground. Sleepy was confused by this and decided to talk to Happy.
"H-Happy?" Sleepy wiped his weary eyes, taking a seat next to Happy and his crying mother. "Aren't you sad?"
Happy's gaze didn't leave the floor. "A little."
"A little?!" Sleepy repeated. "Aren't you sad your BEST FRIEND DIE! Grumpy was your best friend... right?"
"Not really." Happy replied.
And for the rest of the night, all you could hear were soft whimpers and the trees whistle through the breeze.