One good thing happened to come out of that brief chase with the gargoyle. Shortly after his fight with it, Fluey came across the mountain from Danalleah's dream projections. And it was even bigger than he had anticipated.
"Holy moly . . . ." he said, looking up at it. "Well . . . . here goes nothing."
Fluey took a deep breath, and began climbing. He usually enjoyed mountain climbing. But he preferred it with Multi and Coiley. And the three of them had never tackled anything this steep before. But if this was the mountain from Danalleah's projections, then this was the mountain he was going to climb. Luckily, there was a narrow path going up, but it was so narrow, Fluey had to press his back against the side of the mountain, and go up sideways. It was slow going, but there was no other way.
"I hope I don't have another fainting spell, especially on my way up here!" he shouted.
Fluey closed his eyes, paused for a moment, and took a deep breath. He had to keep moving.
"Just don't look down," he told himself. He kept his eyes skyward as he inched his way up the mountain. He figured going slowly was better than trying to go too fast. The ground was a bit unsteady. Fluey wished the heels on his boots were slightly lower than what they were.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Fluey made it to the top of the mountain, and slowly made his way toward the cave entrance.
"Danalleah!" he called. The only thing he could hear was water dripping, and his own echo. But he wasn't going to give up. As he was searching, he heard a small moan coming from further into the cave, Slowly, he crept inside, just in case. Finally, he was able to make out a figure laying among a group of rocks.
"Danalleah!" he shouted, running to her. He knelt beside the teen witch, took her in his arms, and raised her into an upright position.
"Dani, Dani, wake up, it's me," he said, shaking her gently. "Dani, it's me, Fluey."
"Fluey?" Danalleah repeated, weakly. Her eyes slowly opened about halfway, but her vision was a bit blurry. It cleared after a few moments, and she smiled once she saw Fluey.
"You . . . . you came," she said.
"'Course I came!" Fluey shouted. "You didn't think I'd let them get away with this, did you?"
"But you shouldn't have risked it," Danalleah said.
"Hey, I don't care what the risks are. Come on, we'd better get off this mountain!"
"I can't, Fluey. I don't have any strength left. I used it all to send you those dream projections. I'll never make it."
"I'll help you. I'm going to get you out of here."
Danalleah didn't say anything. Her eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.
"Oh, boy," Fluey said, lifting her off the ground as he stood up. "We've got to get you off this mountain and somewhere safe, and fast!"
Fluey carried Danalleah out of the cave, trying to figure out just exactly how he was going to get down without getting killed. He had his wrist communicator, but that wouldn't do him any good. There'd be no way for Multi and Coiley to get up the mountain without their powers, or the Impossi-Mobile in the hurry that he was in. He also knew Danalleah could fly a broom, but she wouldn't have been able to get even two inches off the ground in the condition she was in. The ledge Fluey had used to come up was iffy. He probably could make it back down that way, but he didn't want to risk it.
As Fluey was contemplating the dilemma, a figure came flying in. Fluey groaned. It was that darn old gargoyle again.
"Obviously, I didn't give you enough of a thrashing," he said, backing into the cave for the moment. He put Danalleah on the ground gently, and picked up a rock about the size of a baseball.
"Let me tell you something, buster," he said, slowly making his way out of the cave, so Danalleah wouldn't be caught in the line of fire. "You're messing with the wrong guy!"
Fluey hurled the rock, but the gargoyle dodged it, and flew forward. Fluey picked up more rocks and tossed them one at a time. The gargoyle growled, and lunged. He grabbed Fluey by the arms, lifted him off the ground, slammed him into the wall of the cave, and dropped him. Fluey groaned, completely dazed. But he got up immediately when he saw the ugly creature heading for Danalleah, who was still sleeping soundly.
"Get away from her, you monster!" he yelled, grabbing the gargoyle by his wings.
The gargoyle howled, reached around, and grabbed Fluey by his shirt collar. Then, the gargoyle threw the teenager to the ground. Fluey had the wind knocked out of him, and couldn't get up.
"Okay . . . ." he said, breathlessly. "You may have the upper hand now . . . . so let's make a deal. You do what you want with me, but don't you dare touch Danalleah!"
The gargoyle didn't say anything. He just began to scribble something in the dirt with his claw. When he was done, he walked over to Fluey, pulled him to his feet, and dragged him over to what he had been scribbling. In the dirt was a series of pictures. The first one showed three figures on a mountain. One figure was a boy, another was a girl, and the third had wings. The second picture showed the winged figure flying, with the boy and girl riding on his back. The third picture showed a castle and standing in front of it were three more figures. One was female, one was short and chubby, and the third was drawn with a mop-top haircut that covered his eyes. Fluey looked at the pictures for several minutes before it finally sunk in.
"Wait a minute here," he said. "Let me see if I got this straight. You want to help us?!"
The gargoyle nodded. Fluey wasn't sure he believed it, especially not after his first encounter with this monster.
"If you want to help us," he said, "then why did you attack me and my friends and then take me to that old witch earlier?"
The gargoyle did some more scribbling. Fluey looked at it. In this one, a witch was pointing a scepter at a gargoyle, and some kind of squiggles were coming out of the scepter and surrounded the gargoyle. Next to that were three letters: "R. I. P."
"She would've killed you if you didn't?" Fluey asked. The gargoyle nodded. "And down in the forest just now . . . . you weren't trying to attack me, you knew where the mountain was, and you were trying to help me find it?"
Again, the gargoyle nodded. Fluey stood there for a moment or so. He wasn't sure if he trusted the gargoyle. It could have been a trick. He took a glance over at Danalleah. The gargoyle was the fastest way to get off the mountain, and back to Felicity's castle. He didn't have any other choice. He sighed, and lifted Danalleah into his arms.
"Okay," he said, walking over to the gargoyle. "Seeing as I don't have any choice, I'm going to have to trust you. But let me tell you something, buster. If this turns out to be a trick, I'll rip those wings right off your back!"
The gargoyle respond. He just turned, and crouched down, allowing Fluey to climb on his back. Slowly, the gargoyle took off into the air, and began flying toward Felicity's castle. Fluey gripped the gargoyle's back with one hand, while his other arm was firmly wrapped around Danalleah. He didn't want her falling off, that was for sure! As they flew, Danalleah stirred, and she began to wake up.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"It's okay," Fluey said. "I'm taking you some place where you'll be safe from Captain Creep and his mother."
"What are we flying on?"
"Trust me, Dani, you'd never believe me if I told you."
Danalleah left it at that, and she wrapped her arms around Fluey in order to better brace herself. In what seemed like no time at all, the gargoyle landed right in front of Queen Felicity's pink and purple palace. But the minute Fluey climbed off his back, he flew away.
"Weirdsville, man," he said, as he watched.
"What?" Danalleah asked.
"Nothing, forget it."
Danalleah just nodded, and went back to sleep. She was exhausted. Fluey carried her into the palace, and immediately heard Skittles barking. Skittles saw them, but didn't run for them, like she normally would have. Instead, she started barking louder. Coiley, Multi, and Felicity ran in.
"Oh, thank heavens you're back!" Felicity shouted. "We were all terribly worried!"
"We knew you went out to find Danalleah," Multi said. "But we couldn't follow you because we had no idea what to look for."
"Fluey, what in the world possessed you to go find that mountain by yourself?!" Coiley shouted. "Especially with you being sick as you are . . . ."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Fluey said. "But love makes you do crazy things."
"Very poetic," Coiley said, sarcastically.
"Besides," Fluey continued, "I'm not as sick as I was. I think I'm finally started to get over that stupid fever."
"Yeah, I admit, you do look a lot better," Multi said. "But what about Danalleah?"
"Yeah, is she all right?" Coiley asked the teen witch. "She looks awfully pale."
"She'll be fine after she gets some rest," Fluey said. "She used all her magic sending me dream projections. See, her magic is linked with her strength and energy. And since she used the last of her magic, she also used up her strength and energy."
Felicity then led Fluey into an upstairs room, and he gently placed Danalleah onto the bed. Then he pulled up a chair, and sat down.
"You going to sit there all day?" Multi asked.
"For now," Fluey replied. "We can figure out how to vanquish the villains a little later, can't we? I want to make sure Dani's gonna be all right."
"Sure," Coiley said. "Multi and I can figure this one out ourselves."
"If we need your input, we'll come and get you," Multi said. "All I can say is that we're going to have to figure out something good. We can't do much without our powers."
Fluey nodded, and the others left.
Over at Crowe Castle, Madam Crowe and Damien were watching the scene at Felicity's palace, and they weren't amused.
"Now I know where they got their name," Madam Crowe growled. "They're just impossible! I can't believe he was able to overcome my fever spell! Usually, when I fever them, they stayed fevered!"
"Let's face it, Mother," Damien said. "You're losing your touch."
"Oh no, I'm not. They haven't found the secret to destroying my power! And they never will! No one will destroy me! Even if those stupid boys make it out of this alive, they'll know I'm still out there."
"Whatever, Mother. But what about Danalleah?"
"As far as I'm concerned, Fluid Man can have her! Promise or no promise, that girl is more trouble than she's worth!"
And with that, Madam Crowe left. Damien looked into the crystal ball, and glared at his rival.
"Mother might be ready to give up, but I'm not!" he shouted. "I'll have Danalleah Critch as my bride, and there's nothing you'll be able to do about it, Fluid Man!"