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"Max, wake up!" Lavagirl's screams rang so hard in Max's ears that it brought him out of his dream. "Do you hear me? We have to get outta here!"
Noises rang in his ears as he regained consciousness. It wasn't anything he'd heard before. Loud, multiple, and ringing. He rubbed his eyes before turning to see the directions of the noises. And then he saw it. Heartless and creatures made of wires and with plugs for heads and feet. Their bodyparts were wires connected by metal threads. Their behavior was similar to dogs. He didn't know what they were, but from the way Max G and Sarox stood in defensive positions, he could tell they weren't coming at them for treats. Lavagirl was closest to him. Her hands fisted as she stood ready to fire at the monsters.
He jumped to his feet in time to watch Sarox and Max G knock down some of the monsters.
"Get him outta here, Sharkboy," Sarox yelled over his shoulder.
Sharkboy came to his side then. Max only used a half second to realize what he was riding on - a floating bike shaped like the one he saw in his dreams. Sharkboy pulled his arm and yanked him up.
"Where'd you get it?" he asked, shocked that it looked exactly like the one in his dreams.
"You dreamt it up," Sharkboy explained, his voice was rough, but the excitement in his tone was undeniable. "Let's get away from those Plughounds."
They drove off toward the mountain trail. Max looked back over his shoulder, and felt guilty for leaving behind his friends, who were all fighting for their lives. He didn't have time to look longer, though. In the next second, they were flying across the air and hit the ground, landing next to each other.
"Ouch," Max winced at the pain from the fall.
It wasn't as painful as the solid-hard ground back in the real world, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He forced himself to look up, and saw a swarm of Plughounds standing up ahead. The Shark bike was flaming strongly in front of them. That's when he realized their escape route had been blocked off by the robots.
Sharkboy jumped to his feet and pulled Max back up.
"Let's run back to the others, Max. Go," he ordered.
They ran back to the others, with the Plughounds chasing closely behind. By the time they reached Max G, Lavagirl and Sarox, they realized Sarox had taken his blue Wisdom Form. The form that turned his outfit blue and enhanced his magic skills. The intensified impact of fireballs shot from his Keyblade was evident to that.
Lavagirl was the first to see them.
"What're you doing back here?"
"They blocked our path. There's too many for me to fight alone," Sharkboy explained in one breath.
They were surrounded, with no route to escape. Now, there was nothing to do but fight their way through. Sarox struck down one side of monsters with water magic while Max G and Max covered the other. Sharkboy covered the back with Lavagirl.
Lavagirl thrusted her arms at the Plughounds, but the mass of lava didn't come as much as usual. With the focus put into them, her hands were supposed to fire enough lava to melt a wall. She looked at her hands, and then realization struck. "My powers are weakening," she murmured in distress. Before she could refocus, something came from behind and wrapped all around her body. She could feel the force from the binding when it lifted her off the ground. Her eyes glanced at the cord, then flickered to the others. Everyone was too busy fighting on their own to pay much attention to her. Max was fending off a Plughound, with Sharkboy watching his back. Her focus scattered when she felt a shock of malevolent electricity striking at her body.
"Somebody get me down from here," she screamed while struggling.
She didn't know what happened, but in an instant, a flaming heat flared across the top of her head and the plug head that connected the cord around her torso was melted into a mass of dissolving plastic. Its grip loosened as the cord fell, taking her down with it. She didn't waste time to break free.
She wasn't the first to notice the sudden fireballs that flew from another direction. Everyone looked for the source of the flaming spheres. And there he was. Standing at the top of a mounted pile of creamy cake, with sweet cream all over his stomach and chest.
"PJ!" Max G called out in delight. Sarox's eyes widened.
"I'm coming!" he called, then jumped down the creamy mountain and landed on top of a human-sized cookie.
Max G examined the cream on his body. "You've been eating the whole time here?"
He nodded with a smile on his face. Max G shook his head violently, and Sarox sighed in disbelief. But there wasn't time for any more of that. They were in the middle of a crisis. There will be time to talk later.
"Max!" Sarox called whilst distracting a group of Heartless with thunder magic. "You dreamt up a Shark Bike. You can do it again."
"He can dream us out of here," Sharkboy comprehended and glared at him. "Do it!"
Knowing there wasn't time to hesitate, he shut his eyes and started visualizing. He pictured a boat with turbo boosters. The size of the boat was large enough to support them all. When the image of structure became unclear, he focused even harder on the visualization. Somehow, he didn't just see it, he could feel it. The solid feeling of metal, the force of the boosters. And then he thrust his arms. His tummy grumbled.
When he opened his eyes, what stood in front of him was a huge banana split.
"A banana split?" Sharkboy said in confusion and frustration. "Still hungry, Max?" He fisted his hand. "How 'bout a knuckle sandwich?"
"I'm almost out of magic!" Sarox called.
"Hey, look," Lavagirl said cheerfully. Her eyes focused on the banana split. "It's a banana split boat!"
Sharkboy and Max examined the structure for a quick second, and then they saw it. The treat had two bananas supporting a flat chocolate chunk, with round cream and sugar on top of it. On one edge, a cherry was attached on top one huge ice cream.
"Then let's split!" Max G shouted and urged everyone toward the boat.
Sarox backed away towards them, focusing on the approaching monsters. He needed to fend them off until the others pushed the boat into the river. Max G's shield flew past his shoulder and knocked away one side of the enemy front line.
"Sarox, come on!" PJ yelled.
He looked over his shoulder. They had already pushed the boat to the edge. He immediately undid the transformation and rushed to their side just as everyone jumped on board. Sharkboy gave one final effort and then hopped on. The boat floated into the milk river. The Plughounds and Heartless stopped at the edge, barking and screaming helplessly as the group travels floated away.
When they realized that the milk had slowly changed to clear water, they knew they were no longer in the Land of Milk and Cookies. PJ looked up and saw the stream up ahead, flowing gently in between two sides of mountain-sized ice. A huge carving read "Stream of Consciousness" on one side of the ice block.
While everyone else either relaxed or looked out for any potential threats, Sarox was on a train of thought of his own. He had been thinking about Marlene since they escaped the monsters. Worrying about her, actually.
When they entered Planet Drool, all of them were separated. Now, they had found PJ and Max G; but there was still no sign of Marlene. As soon as he had time to truly realize that PJ had come back, he began to think about Marlene.
Where could she be? he thought.
"This is great, Max," Lavagirl said suddenly, abruptly stopping Sarox's train of thought. "You're starting to daydream. Keep that up, and they'll never get us."
Max's eyebrows wrinkled. "Why not?" he asked.
She leaned closer. The excitement on her face was obvious. "Learn to dream with your eyes open, then you wouldn't have to be asleep to dream. You'll be able to make anything happen, at any time."
He considered the possibilities of that. The others weren't oblivious to their conversation, either.
"You'll be strong enough to face anything, Max," Sarox added.
Max grinned.
"Speaking of which, what was it you saw in your dream? I think it could be helpful," Max G asked, and changed everone's attention.
Max tried to recall the images. But whatever he saw, he found it harder to remember by every passing second. Come on, try to remember something. Anything, he told himself. The images he tried to recall were too blurry. The first thing he remembered was the figure shaped like a young boy in the last picture. And then... a clear white crystal. "I don't remember much, but I saw someone," he explained as he tried harder to remember the dream. "I saw someone about my age, but I couldn't see his face. He was wearing this black cloak. And then I remember seeing an object, shaped like..." He found it hard to describe with his mouth. Perhaps it would be better to just draw it. "Give me something to draw with," he asked.
PJ offered out his magic staff. He grabbed his wrist and pointed the staff at a clear white spot of the ice-cream. When beams of light emerged from the staff's tip, he started moving it remotely to draw the object in his dream.
"The Crystal Heart!" Sharkboy confirmed as soon as he saw the heart-shaped drawing. "That's the treasure in the Land of Ice, in the Ice Castle." There was sudden excitement in his voice. His face also brightened. "It has the power to freeze anything on a whole planet. Even time."
Really? Max asked internally. He had always wanted to freeze a moment in time; if he could do that, he wouldn't have to go to school and endure bullies. "I've always dreamt of freezing a moment in time," he said out loud.
"We can probably use it to our advantage," Sarox said. "Our time-stopping power is not strong enough to freeze an entire planet. The Crystal Heart can do that and allow us to stop Mr. Electric and whoever is causing all this trouble."
"The Ice Castle is on the other side of the Stream of Consciousness. It's ruled by the Ice Princess," Sharkboy explained, more interested in the Princess now. "I hear she's the most beautiful girl on the planet."
Lavagirl's jaw fell at his words, and then she stood on her feet and said, "She's not! She's cold, and cruel, and cares for nobody but herself." Her tone was fierce and accusing.
Sharkboy gave her an angry glare.
"Do you know her?" Max asked.
She focused on him. "No. But I know we don't get along."
"How do you know that?" PJ asked.
"I'm fire. She's ice. We must be enemies." There was no relent in her voice.
There wasn't enough time to come up with another plan, they had to use whatever they could find, Max knew that. "We don't have time to come up with something else. If that Crystal Heart can help us, then we definitely need it," he told Lavagirl. "Lava, we need your help if we're gonna get it."
With that, Lavagirl relented.
"Fine. I just hope this isn't a trap," she said.
They reached the edge of the Ice Kingdom after several minutes of rowing down the dream, and followed the pathway to a long bridge made of solid ice. They spotted the castle on the other side.
"Behold the Ice Castle, Kingdom of the Ice Princess," Sharkboy said.
"The Crystal Heart's inside the castle?" Max asked.
"So they say."
"Well, come on. Let's go," Max G urged and walked toward the bridge.
They walked down the bridge one after another, until there was only Lavagirl left. She looked down at her feet as the ice melted beneath her. Fear began to rise within her.
"It's no use," she called out; the boys were already halfway across the bridge. "I'll melt the bridge. This place enflames me."
"Can you down enough to get across?" Sarox asked.
She shook her head. "I can only do that if I'm asleep."
They were interrupted by the sound of approaching rumbling. Too intense, too strong. Too many. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, no one spoke a word. The source of the sound finally emerged - a mass of Plughounds and Heartless coming across the mountain.
"RUN!" Sharkboy screamed.
"Lavagirl, come on!" Max called.
She looked at him. There was no fear or blood lust in her face, just compassion and calm.
"You have to cross the bridge and get the Crystal Heart," she said loudly.
Before he could ask what she meant, she fired a handful of lava on the ice bridge and melted it. Then, she ran towards the army.
"Lavagirl!" he screamed in horror.
The rest of the bridge crumbled from the overheat. Sarox quickly ran to Max' side, and pulled him running towards the opposite direction. Max G, Sharkboy and PJ ran in the same direction, too. As the bridge continued to fall, they increased their speed.
They stopped abruptly as soon as they reached the palace yard. Max looked back at the other side, and watched in horror at the beasts overwhelming Lavagirl.
"LAVAGIRL!" Sharkboy screamed in horror, desperately wishing to be with her on the other side.
Sarox placed a comforting hand on Max's shoulder, unsure of what to say. Max G and PJ also looked on in sorrow.
"Let's go. She wants us to get the Crystal Heart. We have to do it for her sake," Sarox said after a moment. He felt selfish and insensitive for saying it, but he knew he was right.
Max touched his hand.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go get it." He hesitantly touched a sad Sharkboy's shoulder. "We'll save her, Shark."
Sharkboy took a deep breath, and then turned around. "Well, let's go. We have a time to stop."
They started walking. But then, the ground crumbled in front of them and opened a sinkhole. Emerging from the hole was Mr Electric with anti-gravity rockets attached to his back and feet. He flashed his sinister grin at them.
"You can almost feel the electricity in the air, can't you?" he said evilly.
They readied for battle. Mr Electric shot a powerful beam on the ground so fast there was no time for the boys to react and the impact sent them flying in different directions.
Sharkboy jumped on his feet and ran to Mr Electric's side. Heartless began to appear behind the android.
"Sarox, Max, you two go get the Crystal Heart," Max G said as he stood back up.
Sarox eyed at him in shock. "You want us to leave?"
He looked at PJ. "PJ, get them outta here!"
"No, we're not leaving you," Max interjected.
"Listen, Sarox," Max G caught his attention. "Max is the key to fixing the planet. You're the only who can protect him. You have to go."
"We're not leaving," Sarox refused.
Max came to his side.
"PJ!"
PJ pointed his magic staff upward and called, "Thunder!"
A bolt of lightning dropped on the ground underneath Sarox and Max. The explosion shattered the ice, and they fell down into a deep gorge.