And, once again, Morgie guessed right! Also, Nigel has boy cousins, including Yang, Paddy, and Shaunie. (Actually, not even Paddy and Shaunie.) :P Okay, play the Dream World Theme from Spyro: Eternal Night. Here we go!
Journey to the Forest of Light! Celebi: Spirit of Life and Time.
Mandy awoke from her unconscious state, finding herself on a floating asteroid in the depths of space. "Huh… where am I?"
"Mandy McKenzie…"
"Whuh? Who's there?"
"Do not fear, child. I am The Chronicler. Spirit who watches over the lives of people."
"A stalker."
"Seriously? Sigh, just listen."
"No, you listen." She demanded. "I don't know who you are, but I should let you know, the last few guys who kidnapped me didn't end up too well."
"You are not kidnapped. You are asleep. This is the Dream Realm. A part of the realm that exists deep within peoples' souls."
"Souls? You have the wrong girl…"
"Yes… I can see your mind is very troubled. Such a side-effect is to be expected from fear."
"What? Are you saying I'm afraid?"
"Yes… walk to the temple ahead, and I'll explain more." With that, a floating rock path appeared for Mandy. The cold-hearted girl decided to walk along that path to the temple ahead.
"Listen, buddy, if this is some prank to scare me, it isn't going to work." Mandy said, now arriving at the temple, where there was a dark-red glowing space. "I'm not afraid of anything. In fact, it's everyone else who fears me."
"Yes… your power to induce fear is great. But to use such a power, you would originally have to have fear yourself. Step into the light." Mandy looked at the dark-red aura and hesitantly stepped onto it. She was shown a vision of herself as a toddler, being frightened by various things, like dogs, butterflies, and smiling caterpillars.
"Mandy… so vulnerable and so young… so full of fear. You feared just about everything. Rarely even smiling…" Mandy watched her younger form hide in a dark closet, looking sadly at her younger self. She was then warped to a park, where she looked terrifyingly at a gang of large bullies. "But fear is an emotion. Like any emotion, holding it in will result in chaos and discord." Mandy gulped as the bullies came closer, taking in a deep breath. "Now… let your fear… out."
She took another breath, and finally… "AAAHHHHH!" launched a deafening Fear Scream, blowing the bullies away. She finally stopped to catch her breath as the vision went away, and she was back at the temple.
"Good. Now… proceed." A gate of dark-red fear energy vanished, allowing Mandy to step through. She walked along a path until reaching a gate that was protected by a terrifying guard which Mandy gulped at. "People try to feel strong by looking fearsome. When in reality, they their selves are full of fear. Fearbenders can sense that fear and bend them to their will. You commonly use this ability. Use it now."
Mandy did as told (well, that's weird) and approached the smirking, cocky guard. She furrowed her eyes as she glared into his. His expression became frightened as he sensed the evil in Mandy's eyes. He started shaking and screamed, "AAHHH! D-Don't hurt me! AHH!" and jumped over the edge, dropping the key which Mandy used to open the door.
She walked further until she came to a large wall of seemingly unbreakable glass. "Fear can strongly be expressed in the lungs. When you feel afraid, don't hesitate to let it out… in a massive scream." Mandy took a breath and erupted a Fear Blast, cracking and breaking the glass. "This technique is also commonly found in opera singers. Oh ho ho!" Mandy only glared. "…Just keep going."
Mandy eventually came to a large, open field where legions of stone soldiers with horns awaited her with grim faces (not Grim Reaper, they're just really scary). "The feared ones will try to mend your fear to their will. You must take your own fears… and face them."
"Pfft. Like I'm scared of these guys." With that, Mandy ran forward and started beating and punching the stone soldiers. She shattered some soldiers using Fear Scream, and used Scare Stare to look into their eyes, making them scream and run off the edge. She then coughed out Fear Spheres which homed in and knocked some out. By the time she finished off the demons, she was surrounded by hundreds more.
She looked frightened at first, but closed her eyes and took a breath. "By the time your greatest fears have taken over your mind…" The demons formed together, creating a giant image of adult Mandy and Erwin staring into each others' eyes. "Do not deny that it frightens you. Merely… let those feelings out." Mandy watched in terror as their older selves were about to kiss. She took a breath, and just before their lips touched…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ! ! !" She screamed louder than ever, her lungs exploding with Fear Energy, destroying the vision and cracking the very ground around her. She finally stopped to catch her breath.
"Good… but you have not yet mastered your fear. While the power may be with you, it still secretly controls you, and blinds you to trust those closest to you." A vision of Grim and Billy appeared, and Mandy began to feel sad. "You use fear to control people… even your closest friends. Fear has moved in to where trust should be."
"Pfft. Just get on with it. Why did you bring me here?"
"Come to the temple." She noticed a stairway appear, leading to a floating temple that had several elemental doors around it. She walked up the stairway and through a door of Fear Energy, coming to a room with a glowing light circle in the center.
"Why did you show me all this?"
"Lots of destinies are being awakened, including yours, young one. There is another power that lays dormant inside you. A power that binds you with your family roots."
"My… roots?"
"Yes. But first, you must learn more about your fear. Go to Nightmare Land, and speak to the spirit, Darkrai, the Nightmare King."
"…I can sense your thoughts, child. You feel you have no love or value to anyone. But remember… to look deep inside yourself. And remember… who you are…" (Stop the music.)
Boogey Bay
"'ello? Mandy? WAKE UP! !"
"HUH?" Mandy finally awoke on the deck of her ship, at Creeper's shout.
Fred Fredburger walked out with nachos and said, "I got nachos! Yes!"
"Er… what happened?" Mandy asked, sitting up.
"You passed out. Must be seasick." Creeper said.
"Anyway, we still couldn't figure out that map." A pirate said.
"Where do we go next, Captain?" Another pirate asked.
Mandy stood up and looked off into the oceanic horizon. "…We're paying a visit to my favorite spirit. Set sail immediately."
"Uh, yes Captain." Creeper replied.
As the ship changed its course, Mandy looked off into the sunrise in thought. "My fear is blocking my trust… is that what the spirit was saying?" She shook this thought away. "Peh. What does some weird echo know? I've never had friends because of my fear. And I don't intend to make any. If fear is what I used to get this far, I can use it to go farther. And I will…"
Sector J Treehouse
Marine the Raccoon continued to relax on Sector J's beach, wearing sunglasses and drinking her Mango Smoothie as she watched some operatives surf in the ocean. She took another sip through her straw and sighed. "Ah… this is the loife, eh? If I ever 'ave a daughter, Ah'm gonna teach her how to relax like this. Still… Ah sure wish I coulda spent more time with that Elijah fellow. Bloke ain't half bad, ever since… huh?" She tilted her glasses up when some kids were suddenly knocked off their boards.
In the distance, she could see that Johnny, the green robotic shark racer, was zooming along the ocean on his waterbike, taking out operatives. "Aw yeah! The sea-speed king is back, baby! Kept the fans waitin' long enough!"
"'ey! Didn't that bloke fall inta Davy Jones' Locker?" Marine asked. "If he's 'ere, then…"
"D'AARRRR!" A robotic ship emerged from the depths, and Captain Whisker stood on the front end, knocking water out of his ears. "D'arr har har! Cap'n Whisker be back from the dead, mateys! Time ta waste the deck with these scallywags and make me boss proud!" With that, swarms of robots on speedboats started running about, terrorizing the operatives.
"Ugh. Ol' fuzzy-face NEVER learns." Marine stood up. "Oh well. Time for a little bit o' action, eh?" she said, looking at her waterbike, the SS Super Marine, sitting along the shore. (Play "A New Venture" from Sonic Rush Adventure!) The little raccoon girl threw off her sunglasses and hopped on her waterbike, and shot off into the ocean.
Stage 7: Seaside Surf
Mission: Save the coast side from the robo pirates.
Marine rode her waterbike to the incoming pirates, using her fist to shoot Light Spheres, knocking them over. Some mechanical sharks tried jumping at her, but she switched on her speed boost and zoomed right through 'em, pushing them into other robots.
She sped her bike up a ramp and did some spin tricks before landing on some water mines, but bounced them into enemy sailboats, then sped through the resulting smoke. A massive wave was rising up, but Marine simply rode up it as well, shooting midair after reaching the top and punching energy balls at more robots from above. She landed back on her bike and started riding in a watery cyclone, eventually coming out of the other side and zooming towards the beach.
Marine skidded her bike for a halt on the beach, then hopped off and ran to help the terrorized operatives from the robots. Some larger robots threw ball-n-chains at her, but she swiftly jumped, then did the classic trick of making the robots kill each other with their huge weapons. She beat away a few spinning-arm robots before running for Sector J's treehouse.
She tried to jump onto a robot with a steam gun, but it blew its steam, blowing her up onto the treehouse's balcony. Some piranha robots were chasing kids in the swimming pool, but Marine jumped in and punched them as well, saving the kids. She reached another pool where some robot was throwing water mines in, but Marine used her energy rope to grip the diving board and swing over, kicking the robot in and blowing him up.
Marine saw two robots relaxing at lawn chairs under an umbrella, so she charged her fist and shot Light Spheres to take them out. She then jumped on the bouncy umbrella, flinging her to an upper level that had a pool with tall fountains spouting up from it, each one at different heights. Marine jumped in the pool, then jumped onto the lowest fountain, in which the water was solid enough to push her upward. She jumped to other fountain tops as she went higher, and some flying pirates were trying to shoot her down. She dodged their fire and punched back as she made it to the top of the highest, center fountain. From there, she shot a Light Sphere to a high tree branch over the edge, making a Light Chain to swing to other branches, and then reach a new pool.
More pirates were threatening to slice kids with swords, but she shot charged Light Spheres and wiped them out. She also stepped on three switches that were around the pool, causing a huge glass tube to lower down to the center of the pool, and a huge stream of water to flow up. She jumped in the pool and swam up the stream, zooming at high speeds before shooting into a distant, higher pool. A bunch of pirates flew using jetpacks, blasting their guns at the raccoon lass, but Marine quickly swam out of the pool and punched back at them. She dodged their fire as she hurried over and climbed a set of ladders, soon reaching a high part of the treehouse.
Marine made it at the top of one of the 300-mile waterslides, sliding down the long contraption as she jumped several oddly-placed mines. Some parts of the slide were broken off by robots, but she used the momentum to jump those parts, bouncing off the robots' heads to the other side. She made a couple more tricky jumps before the whole slide finally gave way, sending her screaming and falling below.
She thankfully pressed a remote and called her waterbike over, allowing her to land safely and continue speeding through more pirates on speedboats. "Haha! No one scares Captain Marine, eh?"
"WAARRRR!" screamed Captain Whisker as his ship shot over to her, revealing a large cannon on the front. (Stop the music.) "It's time to be ending yer adventures, lassie!"
"YIPE!" (Play the sped-up version of the song!) Marine hurriedly sped away as the ship chased her at a fast pace, firing its massive cannonballs. She also had to dodge left and right as sharks jumped at her. She shot up a ramp that flung her several feet above her bike, allowing a cannonball to pass between them, then landing back on her bike on the water.
She squeezed between two narrow rows of water mines, trying not to touch them as she outran the Jolly Walrus. "Hey, kid, didja miss me?" Johnny asked, suddenly speeding beside Marine. "Okay, champion milk-drinker, let's see you drink the seawater!" With that, the two water-bikers began ramming each other as they avoided Whisker's cannon fire.
A cross mark then appeared over Marine as she looked back to see the massive cannon locking on. She looked ahead and smirked, and the pirates formed faces of horror as a massive shadow loomed over them. Marine was currently speeding to a tidal wave the size of the treehouse, using the full force of her bike to make it up.
Johnny tried to mimic her, but his bike was slowly losing power, then screamed, "AHH!" as he fell to the sea.
"Come on, my li'l baby, let's do this." Marine told her waterbike. And just before it ran out of boost power, "WOOHOOOO! !" Marine waved her arms in victory when she reached the top of the tidal wave.
"D'AARRRRRRR! !" Whisker screamed as the wave engulfed his whole ship and washed it along Sector J's beach.
Marine stylishly slid off the wave, back on the beach, as the wave retreated back to the ocean. "Ha ha! That was RIPPER!" (Stop the music.)
"Arrr…" Whisker groaned, sitting up and holding his aching head. "ARR." He grunted when Marine jumped on his stomach.
"Alright, start talkin', ya drongo. How'd you come back?"
"D'arr. Me boss brought us back."
"What? You mean that mustachioed weirdo?"
"Arr, yes. They were kind enough to fish me from the ocean floor. He wanted us to terrorize the lot o' these brats so as to find some possible clue as to the whereabouts of Manaphy, eh?"
"Manaphy? You mean the Sea Prince? He's gone with the temple!"
"That's what I told him, but he said thar be a way. So he sent me here to find that wretched princess. But no luck. What could he be doing down in Chicago, anyhow?"
"Chicago?" Marine asked.
Mini and Mum appeared just then, and Mini yelled, "Boss! Boss!"
"You said too much!" Mum finished.
"D'arr! Tricked again! Ye little sea brat!"
"Hehehe!" Marine laughed. "Oi, yer still a funny drongo, ya know that?"
Johnny then sped up to them, pushed Marine off, lifted Whisker on his back, and shouted, "Let's go!" And Mini and Mum jumped on as well as Johnny carried them off on his bike.
Marine pulled her face out of the sand and spat some out. "'ey! Get back 'ere, walrus face!" She panted after her loud yell. "Ah, forget them. If wot that bloke says is true, then I hafta be headin' down ta Chicago, now, eh?" With that, she got back on her bike and sped off into the sea, watched by the Sector J team. She immediately came back and asked them, "Uh… which way ta Chicago?"
They all pointed to their left.
"Thank ya, mates!" With that, she sped off.
"…Mango Smoothie, anyone?" Numbuh 112 asked her friends.
Marine came back again, took a smoothie, and sped off.
Blue Typhoon; over Japan
The country of Japan looked beautiful from the sky as the Blue Typhoon hovered over the island country. "It's so pretty!" Amy smiled.
"I've always wanted to come to Japan!" Emily smiled.
"Hm hm, and other aliens think Planet Earth inferior." Nova chuckled.
"Where is the Forest of Light, anyway?" Cosmo asked.
"It's down there." Nova said, indicating a massive forest down below.
"Huh? You mean you've been here?"
"I don't know. I just… sensed it."
"Good enough place to start. Okay, team: we're arriving at the Forest of Light." As Tails spoke, the massive spaceship landed before a stone gate to the forest.
They all stepped out of the ship and entered the forest of tall and enormous trees, with fat trunks, and sunlight shining between the leaves. "So, this is the Light Forest." Blaze observed.
"Hm. Not bad." Knuckles said simply.
"This is the loveliest forest I've ever seen." Peach said admiringly. "We should come here for vacation sometime."
"Uh-huh." Mario nodded.
"As long as their isn't any goo." Toad said, shaking. "Huhuhu. That was creepy."
"Hey, guys!" They looked to see the mysterious girl on a large tree branch.
"You!" Shadow shouted.
"Haha! Looking for this?" she smiled, holding up the plant.
"Give Cosmo back!" Tails demanded.
"Hm?" Cosmo raised a brow.
"Uh- the PLANT Cosmo!" Tails corrected.
"You'll have to catch me first, ah ha ha!" With that, she speedily jumped the trees.
"Whoa, what is she, a squirrel?" Knuckles asked.
"I feel like there's something odd about her." Cosmo said.
"No… really, Cosmo?" Amy asked, sarcastically.
"Just a simple statement." Cosmo rolled his eyes.
"I feel your pain." Knuckles replied.
"We have to go after her." Annie said. "Come on!" (Play the "Forest Maze" Theme from Super Mario Kitiku! (I went through a lot of trouble to get it, too. -_-))
Stage 8: The Forest of Light
Mission: Follow the mysterious girl.
Act 1
The forest truly did look beautiful on the inside. The trees were gigantic, and there was little view of the sky or sun; except for the tiny beams of light that poked through the leaves. The grass and leaves were a rich, light green, colorful flowers blossomed, and butterflies and other bugs fluttered around them. There was an atmosphere about this forest that relaxed their minds. It seemed like this forest lasted for hundreds of years, with no violence or dismay. It went for ages and ages with only wind blowing through the trees, and animals living happy, peaceful lives. Emily was sort of an environmentalist; not as big as Nova, and a forest like this filled her with wonder. She feels like she would murder anybody that would try to ruin this forest. It was so amazing. They couldn't really admire it for long. They had a mission: chase this mysterious girl.
Annie led in front as she and Emily chased her, and the strange girl giggled and jumped more trees. She kept changing paths as the two followed her, walking through large grass, and soon reaching a small trench in which a log crossed over. Emily and Annie carefully balanced across the log, and once on the other side, they hurried down a wide hill. They came to a ledge with some ground below, but the path continued beyond another ledge across from them, too far to jump. They saw a vine curled up on a tree branch above, so Annie shot it with her slingshot to make it uncurl. They used it to swing across, then hurried down another hill, where they took several more paths to chase the girl.
At one point, a large tree root blocked their way, but they climbed over, only to be ambushed by a group of big, brown bears called Ursarings. The large bears stood and tried to scratch them, but Em and Annie dodged back as Annie whipped out her slingshot and shot in their eyes. Emily then ran to punch and kick the bears, then the two hurried further while they were down.
Some Caterpies tried to catch them in their webs, but they avoided and squished the bugs. "Ooooohh I'm sorry, guys." Emily apologized, feeling sort of guilty for crushing the small bugs. They saw the girl Wall Jump her way between two close trees, and hurried over to Wall Jump after them.
They reached the treetops, and had to keep their balance as they jumped the branches, but the girl was well ahead of them, jumping much more swiftly. The strange being waved to them as she jumped through a swarm of Beedrill. Emily then switched into her ghost form as she carried Annie through the swarm of Beedrill, and the two dodged as beehives fell from the trees.
Emily landed them, and they watched the girl smile and wave as she ran down another path. The two chased after, but eventually lost her trail. The area they were in now had four different paths, each with different-colored butterflies fluttering around them. "Where did she go?" Annie asked.
"We'll just look around." Emily decided as the two of them ran straight ahead. They then took a left path, then a right, another right, left again, and then straight. They kept running around more, but it still felt they were running in circles, and every area looked the same.
"Emily, we're not getting anywhere!" Annie yelled. "I think we're lost."
"Dang it. There's gotta be SOME way…" Emily looked around for any hints, then noticed some pink flowers in the trees. She looked back and forth between them and the pink butterflies that were by one path. "I know! Come on!" Emily shouted, dragging Annie along that path. The flowers in the trees were now black, so she led them down the road with black butterflies. They kept repeating this for the other roads: yellow, blue, black, pink, blue, pink, yellow, black, and pink again.
They finally made it out of the maze as they saw the girl jump her way up an even taller tree, in which they could barely see the top. They exchanged a nod before climbing up after the girl. Some Beedrills tried to sting them, but Emily hit them with ecto blasts while Annie used her slingshot, continuing to climb after the girl, using ropes, trunk ladders, Wall Jumps, or simply swinging vines to get up the tree.
They were nearly at the top when they reached a small balcony on the tree, where they found a huge mosquito with purple eyes, a yellow sucker, and floating gloves and yellow shoes, separate from his body. The mosquito, whose name was Moskito, buzzed as he flew to the two girls, ready to suck on them. Annie simply fired her slingshot at him, making it dizzy, then did it again once he recovered.
Moskito then began zooming around the area, trying to hit them, but Emily zapped him twice with her ecto blast. Moskito shot off into the distance and gained momentum as he was flying back. Emily tried to hit him, but he was a quick dodger. Just before he could stab his sucker into them, they rolled away, causing him to get stuck in the wooden tree trunk. Annie knocked him out with one final slingshot pellet. The girls high-fived as they continued on. (Stop the music.)
Emily and Annie were finally at the top of the tree, and were soon accompanied by the others (the Mario team, however, stayed back to guard the ship). They watched as the girl carefully pulled the plant from its pot, and plant it in the ground (or what the tree had of ground). A green, plantlike, fairy creature flew out of a small opening in the tree. Many animals gathered and watched as the fairy closed her eyes and touched the plant lightly, making a little, green sparkle.
The group stepped closer and stared curiously as the fairy hovered in the air. "Um… what did it do?" Emily asked.
"Your friend was brought to life by Celebi's will." The strange girl explained. "She's bringing her to life again. But not right away. It may take a few years."
"…So… Cosmo will come back?" Tails asked, feeling hopeful.
"Eventually. NOW I bet you're glad I kidnapped her! Huh?" the girl grinned.
"Grrr. Start talking: who are you? !" Shadow demanded.
"My name is Misty Greene. And that creature right there is the Firstborn Spirit, Celebi."
"Wait… THAT'S a Firstborn?" Amy asked.
"Awww! It's so cute!" Emily grinned.
"It looks like a baby." Nova said.
"Of course she is!" Misty beamed. "Firstborn Spirits age no older than one. They keep their same age, even after millions of years, and therefore have unlimited energy. Just like any child."
"So, the Firstborn are powerful… because they're children?" Tails asked.
"Yep! And Celebi here is the Guardian of the Forest."
"Hm… not bad." Knuckles said simply. "So what do we do now?"
"Wait! If what the info says is true… Celebi is in grave danger!" Tails exclaimed in realization.
"And here we come to the reason I'm here." Misty said. "You see… I'm a time spirit."
"A time spirit?" Tails asked.
"That's right, one of four. And we were sent here from the Spirit World to deliver the Spirit Balls to the Firstborn Guardians. The Guardians are mortal beings, chosen by the gods to be the Firstborns' trusted protectors, who will eventually bring them all together."
"So the reason you brought us here is because we have a Guardian with us?" Tails asked.
"Yup! In fact, she heard the call of the Firstborn. That's how you found this place!"
Suddenly, all eyes were on Nova. "M…Me?"
"Nova's the Guardian?" Emily asked.
"So THAT'S how she's able to speak with animals!" Cosmo deduced.
"Correct! Nova was blessed with Celebi's powers." Misty explained. "The animals always listened to Celebi's will, and Nova has that power, too. And as her trusted Guardian…" she gave Nova the Spirit Ball, "she'll listen to you, too."
"Guess again." They all gasped when a large spaceship came out from behind the trees. A shadow emerged from the ship and landed on the ground, revealing to be Danika, Nolan, and April.
"It's them again!" Cosmo shouted.
"Sorry to ruin your reunion, but that Firstborn is OURS." Nolan shouted.
"So if ya don't like blood, hand him over." Danika threatened, drawing her daggers.
Some forest animals charged at them, but April made their minds hurt with psionic blasts. The team tried to attack them, but the poisonbenders landed, and Leopold faced his rear at them and unleashed a fart that stunned all of them.
"Euh, gross! !" Emily shouted as they coughed and desperately tried to wave the stench away.
"You're a real joy, Leo." Danika sighed sarcastically.
While they were stunned, Nolan launched a net and caught the Firstborn inside, afterwards shocking the spirit. Several wounds appeared on her as she gasped for breath, and Elijah and Jeremiah ran to grab her. "We got the pixie!" Elijah exclaimed, running back.
Danika became a shadow and slid over to Nova, popping up and taking the Spirit Ball. "This will help us."
"NO!" Nova shouted as some rope ladders lowered from the ship, and the villains grabbed on.
Danika held onto Nolan as she handed him the ball, and a chain lowered to haul his chair up. Matthew unleashed a cloud of purple gas, clouding the heroes and forcing them to grow sleepy. "Thanks for the fairy, suckers!" Matt laughed as the ship flew away, leaving the stunned heroes to eventually fall asleep.
HOO, that was a long one. Heck, two stages. :P And we found a Firstborn! :D But didn't catch it. -_- Next time, we will see what the baddies do. Later.