We got a Shaunie stage and a Sonic stage in this one!
Chapter 25: The Forest of Darkness
Bowser's Airship
Aboard the airship, Junior and Kammy carried the vacuum into a room with a hamster cage, holding the container above it and dumping the shrunken teams in. They shook their heads from dizziness and stood up, brushing their selves off. "Ha ha ha! You kids shoulda known better than to sneak aboard my train!" Junior laughed.
"Why did you shrink us?" Annie asked.
"Mweh heh heh!" Kammy laughed. "Because, Dearie, we needed to test that magic dust for our plan! The Dark Master needs fear to truly be free, and shrinking you fools will help us do just that!"
Just then, the doors opened, and the two turned with happy expressions as Bowser stomped in, along with Vaati. "Dad, Dad!" Junior exclaimed. "I just caught a bunch of kids with that dust Vaati gave us! Oh, and some fat cat, too."
The tiny children quaked in fear as the Koopa King stomped over. From their small sizes, the turtle-demon looked very intimidating, and his tyrannical voice boomed greatly in their ears. "Gwah ha hah! It worked! Great work, Son! But what did you do with the bucket?"
"Aw, I wanted to catch the others, but that stupid angel girl blew it away!"
"Ah, don't worry, Son. No harm done. Now that we know it works, we can get more and capture more brats!"
"He's b-big, S-Sammy…" Jessica quivered.
"What are you going to do with us?" Sammy asked.
Bowser lowered his head to their level and responded, "Once I trap enough of you rats, I'll be able to scare you enough to use your fear to power Lord Gnaa. In the meantime, we can make this a lot smoother if you refer to me as your almighty kind and caring Koopa guardian, and show me your upmost respect."
"If you thought shrinking us was gonna scare us, you really are dumb." Cosmo told him.
"Big or small, we'll still stop you!" Nova declared.
"Zuri!" Zuri yelled.
"Gwah ha ha! You little pests think you can beat me? ! Priceless!"
"You think you're so tough? Why don'tcha let us out and see how weak we are!" Tommy yelled.
"A ba ba BOO!" Joey babbled.
"No thank you. Anyway, you kids are gonna pay for what you did to Morton. It's a good thing Vaati here told me where you guys were."
"Hm, my pleasure." Vaati smirked.
"Vaati! I can't believe you betrayed us like that! I thought you were different!" Annie yelled.
"Different? Once a bad guy, always a bad guy. I told you I like being bad, and I do. You wanna know why I'm an airbender? Airbenders are free-spirited, and that's what I am. It's nice people like you that are so easy to trick."
"Grrr!"
"Anyway, we gotta another matter at hand!" Bowser said. "Somebody OWES us something." With that, he reached into the cage, and Cosmo gasped in horror as the Koopa lightly grabbed Nova in his fingers.
"Novaaaa!"
"Gwah ha hah! We'd love to stay and chat, but we got stuff to do." Bowser said as the tiny Nova tried to shake away. "Catch ya later, shrimps! Gwah hee ha hah!" He also took Froggy as he began to leave.
"Nooovaaaa!" Cosmo called out in despair. The group watched helplessly as the four villains exited the room.
Standing outside was none other than Ganondorf, standing by Zant, Koume, and Kotake. Bowser gave Nova to Bowser Jr. to take away, as the Koopa King approached the desert man and said, "Great news, Ganny! The dust worked like a charm! You oughta give your Vaati minion here a promotion!"
"Mmmm…" Ganon held his blank expression and looked away.
"By the way, why did we need this frog again?" he asked, holding up the frog.
Ganon took the animal and squeezed it, coughing out a yellow Chaos Emerald. "Eggman said he swallowed it. Again. We'll deliver this to him later. As for the frog, he'll make a decent snack for my demons."
"Seeing as the dust works, I say we test it on the schoolchildren, oh ho ho!" Koume suggested.
"Much agreed, sister dear, eee hee hee!" Kotake agreed.
"And to think I thought you were betraying me, Vaati. You do seem to have feelings for that girl in there." Ganon smirked.
"Nah. That stuff always gets them. I'm with you all the way, Ganon."
"Burrr, Master! I'm loyal to you, too!" Zant shouted. "I haven't gotten to do anything since this mission began! Give me a chance to prove myself, too! PLEEASE!" he shook frantically.
"Calm down, you imbecile!" Ganon smacked him. "How about I let you spread the dust around Gallagher Elementary?"
"Oh ho ho, YESS! I shall not fail you, Master! Let us begin as soon as possible!"
"Not now! First, we have to pick my daughter up. If anyone can scare these tiny pests, she can."
"HEY! What about me?" Bowser shouted.
"You couldn't scare a fly, Bowser. You're better off patrolling with your Koopalings."
"Bwahh!"
"By the way… how is research coming on the Triforce of Wisdom?" Ganon asked the witches.
"We've searched the entire McKenzie family chain, oh ho ho." Koume answered.
"And have come to only one possible solution, eee hee hee!" Kotake followed.
"And soon we will see, how ironic fate can be! EEE HEE HEE!" they both laughed.
Cleveland, Virginia
At long last, the Boogey Bay arrived at Virginia's coast side, the pirates stepping off and heading for Sector V's treehouse. Mandy walked up and knocked on Nigel's front door, Monty Uno coming to answer it with an upbeat tone. "Why, good day to you-" He silenced when the pirates immediately pointed their swords.
"Alright, chubby, where's that no good son of yours?" Mandy demanded.
"Well, if it isn't Mandy McKenzie. If you're looking for my son, he and his friends are off on another adventure. Why, it may be weeks until they return."
Mandy looked behind him and saw Katie walk by. "That's okay. Your daughter will help us. AHH!" The devil child flipped over Monty, immediately chasing the Nightmare girl as she ran. The rest of the pirates tried to overpower Monty, but he shot fire blasts and kept them all away.
Katie ran through the kitchen and knocked over the furniture, trying to keep Mandy away, but she easily flipped over and continued chasing. Katie dashed up the stairs, then down the upstairs hall, Mandy still chasing and jumping any branches from the treehouse that were in the way. Katie ran into Numbuh 1's room, activating the defense that closed the room in steel, like from the Grandfather incident. But despite this protection, the steel walls were penetrated by Mandy's powerful Fear Scream.
"You're a fearbender?" Katie asked.
"Surprising, isn't it?"
Katie tried to launch her own Fear Scream, but Mandy countered with hers, and it proved to be the more powerful as Katie was blown back in the wall. "Okay… what do you want?" Katie asked in defeat.
Mandy walked up and said, "I know what you really are: you're one of the Nightmare King's creations. Nigel took you in as his sister to give you a proper home."
"Aren't you smart. But what's it to ya?"
"I need to see Darkrai, and you're my only lead of getting to Nightmare Land."
"Well, I'm sorry to say that my ship is in the docking bay. Ironically, that's what you get for challenging a bunch of Kateenians to a podrace on Secco. And we can't really take any 2x4 aircraft without being tracked by Global Command, and I doubt they would let someone on the wanted list like you go for a ride."
"Hmph. Excuses. Well, do you know any other ships we can use?"
"Hmmm…" Katie rose her brow in thought. "Well, I do know this old guy that lives down in Quahog who has an old ship. He's pretty nice, and was actually friends with the Kids Next Door down there. He'd probably be willing to take us."
"Hm. Very well. Let's go." With that, Katie followed the evil girl back downstairs. They got back down to see Monty standing victoriously over the fallen, exhausted pirates. "Let's go, you morons. Let's shove off for Quahog, Rhode Island. It's just along the coastline, so let's go!" The pirates did as told and stood up, tired as they followed Mandy out.
"Katie, wait!" Monty called.
"Relax, Dad. I can handle these guys. Chances are, I'll run into Nigel along the way, and he'll need my help."
"…Okay." He nodded. "Just be careful, now." With that, he shut the door and sighed. "Sigh, you might as well send all the kids here away to the military. I know they were trained for this, but all of this seems a little too much for the younglings. They're just kids, you know." He gave another sigh. "Oh, I can only hope old Nigel's okay…"
Unknown Forest
Chad Dickson awakened and found himself in a dark realm, standing up and rubbing his head. "Where am I?..."
"Well, well. If it isn't Chad Dickson." At this, the blonde teen turned to see Nigel Uno, smirking cockily.
"N-Numbuh 1? Where did you come from?"
"Oh, I just got home from my many exciting adventures in GKND."
"Yeah… I know that. So?"
"The very adventures you never got to take."
"Hey, hold on, now! The GKND was evil. I'm glad I didn't join them!"
"But before… you wanted it. You craved it. The Galactic Kids Next Door could only choose the greatest operative of a planet, and they picked me instead of you."
"So?"
"You're jealous, Chad. The boy you've worked hard to train that has always messed up in the past has stolen your spotlight. I've stolen the very thing you worked ages for."
"Shut up, Uno! Like I said, I'm glad it didn't happen. I wouldn't care either way."
"Oh, but it's only logical that I would be picked! After all, I'm the Demon Prince. I'm… special. Not like any of you everyday humans. That's the whole story, isn't it, Chadsworth? You were the only one of your siblings that wasn't born metahuman like Sonya or April."
"Sonya and April were freaks. The Kids Next Door doesn't have room for them, Danika too. You're lucky Numbuh 362 lets you and Eva hang around."
"Do they not have room, or are you just jealous? You hate your life as a normal teenager and want to be special, just like us."
"I do not! I'm good just the way I am!"
"I see… but can you do this?" He launched a fire blast.
"Er, no."
"Can you become a shadow, sense emotions, or morph into a ghost?"
"No…"
"Exactly. All you are is a weak, normal human. You'll never be special like we super-powered beings are! AH ha ha ha ha!"
"RRRAAAHHH!"
"CHAD!" Emily yelled, the blonde boy panting as he woke up. "Are you okay? Let me-" She was about to help him up, but-
"Get off me!" he angrily pushed her off, getting up himself. "I don't need any help from some inhuman freak!"
Emily gasped loudly, crushed by the hurtful words. "Oh, THAT'S fair! I just saved your life and you're calling me a freak! You're a REAL Prince Charming!"
"Well, I didn't ask for your help, anyway."
"That doesn't excuse your attitude, Bub!"
As the two continued to argue, Shaunie and Luvbi watched, the redhead boy hesitantly turning towards the angered angel. "Um… Luvbi? Thanks for saving me."
"Verily. Now mayhap thou couldst tell me why thou didst not SLOW DOWN YONDER TRAIN?"
"I-I didn't know how to work it, and, I was scared!"
"Pray, if thou hast not hesitated, we could hath rescued other Prospectors from their fate! Now they art all shrunken and captured, and wilt likely be made to be Koopa Kid's toys. Prithee tell, hast thou always been cowardice wuss?"
"Well, it doesn't really help to be so mean to me!"
"We hath only just met! Clearly we hath different definitions of meanness! Thou art just a baby!"
"I am not a baby! And at least I'm nicer than you are!"
"Thou jest! And thankest to thee, mine wings art slightly hurt! Flying and airbending hath become much more difficult for me."
"Look, I don't care anymore." Chad continued with his argument. "The point is, I could've easily saved myself, and not need some ghost freak's help."
"You were unconscious! And I couldn't even go ghost! And if you hate us 'freaks' so much, why did you help us all the way 'til now?"
"'Cause that was my way of being nice. Feel free to thank me for my help."
"Feel free to thank ME!"
"Pray, I would hath executed yon training program had I known Tommy and Mushi would findeth thou!" Luvbi shouted. "Of all of them, why didst I hath to be trapped with whiny loudmouth?"
"You're calling ME a whiny loudmouth? ! YOU'RE a whiny loudmouth, you; you big bully!"
"Thou barefooted beslubbering beef-witted barnacled runny-nosed earsplitting PEST!"
"WAAAHHH!" Shaunie started crying a waterfall of tears.
As both couples fought, the Eds just stood there and watched. "Whoa, these guys have problems, don't they?" Eddy asked.
"Are they going to explode into vinegar, Eddy?" Ed asked.
Double D was getting a headache from all the bickering, gripping his cranium tight. "NNN, STOP IIIIT!" They all turned to him in surprise. "Now… is senseless bickering really the way to solve your problems?"
"…Ehhh…" they just shrugged.
"Now… what say we put aside our complaints, and find out where we are."
"What I wanna know is why it's so dark all of a sudden." Eddy said. They all noticed the forest they were in suddenly became nighttime.
"It was broad daylight a minute ago." Emily said.
Luvbi gasped. "I knoweth of this place: we art in the Forest of Darkness."
"The Forest of Darkness?" Chad asked.
"Yea. 'Tis a dark forest of nothing but ghosts which always remain nighttime… even in the brightest of day."
"A forest of ghosts that stays dark forever?" Shaunie whimpered. "I'm scared…"
"A forest of ghosts? That's so cool!" Emily exclaimed.
"You got that right!" Eddy yelled, already setting up a stand that read 'Ghost Flakes', putting some type of green cereal in a bowl. "GHOOSTS! Step right up to get your very own Ghost Flakes, perfect for those sleepy ghostly mornings, only 25 cents!"
"But Eddy, if the forest never turns daylight, how will that-" Edd was about to say.
"Ooh, I want some!" Ed exclaimed, taking and chewing on the cereal. "Tastes like the old boogers I stick on my wall, Eddy!"
"Pray, enough of that!" Luvbi shouted. "We must venture and find our way through this forest."
"I wonder…" Emily spoke, holding up her Morpher device, only to realize it had been smashed from the fall. "…Oh."
"Well, so much for your ghost powers." Chad remarked.
"Gee, thanks for the support."
"Pray, mayhap yonder ghosts hither canst restore thy powers?" Luvbi asked.
"Only one way to find out. Let's go see!"
"Super-powered siblings? Turtle soldiers? Playgrounds on train-tracks? Ghosts? My word, these last few days have been crazy." Double D said, feeling another headache.
"Sounds good to me!" Eddy smiled. "Let's go, Baby!" (Play the "Forest Interlude" Theme from Donkey Kong Country 2!)
Stage 21: Forest of Darkness
Mission: Get through the scary forest!
Act 1
The team of seven started their venture through the dark forest, passing series of spooky trees and walking through large bushes. Right away, some Forest Fuzzies leapt and tried to suck on Ed, only for Eddy to beat them away. Shaunie cowardly backed up to a tree as two more approached him, but was saved by Luvbi, who blew them away, shaking her head in disbelief at his cowardice.
They came to a short cliff, too high for them to reach, but they noticed an old tree beside them. Ed used his strength to push the tree over, making a slope up the cliff, the Eds stacking atop one-another to balance up and reach the top, followed by the others. They walked down a hill where some Piranha Plants were holding some sort of rope ghosts hostage. Eddy took out a stink bomb slingshot and fired at the plants, the stench making them wither. Thankful, the rope ghosts floated vertically straight, making a way to climb a higher cliff.
The seven kids climb their way up the skinny ghosts. Shaunie was a little too scared to touch them, so Chad had to carry him up (annoyed). Once at the top, they saw a series of rope ghosts appearing and reappearing over a dark pit. Emily went first and grabbed the first ghost, waiting for the rest to appear to jump them, getting across. She was followed by Eddy, then Ed, who had to carry Double D, Shaunie, and Luvbi on one arm. Chad tried to swing his way across next, but the last ghost disappeared, making him slip and drop, but Emily grabbed his arms and pulled him up. The teen merely brushed himself off and walked ahead without a word of thanks.
They then had to pass another series of bushes. Suddenly, one of the bushes came to life and snatched Luvbi in its mouth, the angel struggling to shake away. Shaunie, who was closer to her, slowly backed away in fear of the M. Bush, so Chad jumped on and ripped the plant to shreds, saving her. Luvbi shot an angry glare to Shaunie before flying ahead, the Fulbright's head held down in shame as he followed.
They walked up a steep hill to a higher point in the woods where the full moon was in sight. The sky was black and slightly cloudy, the moon's light reflecting off the clouds. But despite being a ghost forest, it wasn't so scary so far. From this view, the vast forest looked very calm and peaceful. And even under its leaves, when the moon was blocked from their view, it didn't feel scary. It was just like the Forest of Light: calm and serene, even though it was night instead of day. They didn't feel any evil auras at all. Even with all the ghostly souls roaming about, the serenity of this forest was worth it after the action on the Koopa Train.
Emily stopped them as she noticed something floating in the sky. "Hey… what is that?" she whispered.
Eddy took out some binoculars and said, "Hey! It's a pirate ship!"
Chad took the binoculars to see for himself. "They're ghost pirates. They work for the Brotherhood. They must know we're here." He handed the eyeglasses back to Eddy. "Let's keep moving. Quick."
The area they were in suddenly started to become windy. The wind felt very nice and cool, but it was strong nonetheless. Double D had nearly blown off had Ed not grabbed his legs, the sock head holding tight to his hat. Luvbi nearly blew away next, but Shaunie grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Hmph. How surprising…" she huffed, going ahead.
"You're welcome…" Shaunie mumbled.
They reached a dark chasm that seemed too far to jump, the wind becoming even heavier. "I know!" Emily's brain sparked, the girl jumping as the wind blew the direction they wanted to go, blowing her over to the other side. The others mimicked her and blew over. Shaunie nearly missed and grabbed onto the edge, but was able to help himself up.
They were at another pit with several ghost ropes, swifting back and forth with the wind. Emily grabbed onto the first one and held on as she aimed carefully for the next one, jumping off for the wind to perfectly blow her to it. Chad mimicked and followed after her while the others did the same. Emily was then at some regular vines hanging from trees, having to swing across them. One of the vines, however, came to life, its sharp teeth biting around her neck. When Chad got there, he grabbed on the plant's neck and choked it himself, the Hurt Plant dying and releasing Emily, but Chad grabbed her with his right arm before she fell, allowing her to climb back up and swing across.
They started walking through the forest some more, walking through a few circular areas, passing by broken trees, and knocking out a few Forest Fuzzies. After a while, Double D felt that something was very wrong. "Um… didn't we pass by these same bushes and trees three times?"
"How can ya tell?" Eddy asked. The rest of them, however, started to have slight déjà vu.
"You're right. Somethin's wrong here." Chad agreed.
"W-We aren't lost, are we?" Shaunie quivered.
"Sigh, nay, I am certain we wilt find our way." Luvbi sighed.
"Are we going to get eaten by werewolves, Eddy? ?" Ed quaked.
"Ah, relax, Ed." Eddy said, walking ahead, eyes closed and hands in his pocket, wearing a cool, easy-going look. "You don't really think this forest has anything but-" Just then, a bushel of flowers came to life, shooting him an evil grin.
"AAHHH!" Eddy and Shaunie screamed, running down a path.
"Eddy, wait!" Edd yelled, the others running after them.
The two bumped into some hairy old ghost, and the others bumped into them as they fell back. "Hold on a sec!" the ghost spoke. "How did you kids get out here? You aren't by chance acquainted with the Ghost King, are you?"
"Ghost King? !" Emily jumped in excitement.
"Cool!" Ed grinned.
"Unless I see a pass or something, you kids ain't gettin' through. Humans ain't allowed past here. Er, anything, really, but ghosts."
"Actually, I'm part-ghost. But I lost my ghost powers to some… 'Fenton Crammer' thingy." Emily explained.
The ghost gasped. "You mean you're… a Halfa? !"
"A half-ghost? Yeah…"
"Well, that changes everything! Old Kobosh will be wantin' to hear this. Come on in." With that, the ghost jumped out of the way and went down the forest. "By the way, to get through this maze, you'll have to follow the path that seems the scariest. Happy trails!" With that, he left.
The group did as told and searched the four paths to see which one was the scariest. One of the trees came to life and screamed, scaring Shaunie and making him run down that path. "Or in other words, which one makes Shaunie scream and run away." Emily figured. The next area had mailboxes sitting by each path. When they walked by one that had a ghost with a knife pop out, Shaunie screamed and ran down its path.
The next part had several ghosts, one of them melting its skin into slime, leaving nothing but a skeleton, another having his head chopped off by a knife, the next one being drilled in the skull… while the last one just did that trick where you pretend to pull your thumb off. Shaunie screamed at this one and ran ahead, the others following. The next part had some mimes at each path. One mime just gave them a creepy smile, the other pretended to be a zombie coming towards them, the next pretending to get hung… while another was pretending to rob another one, who pretended to get robbed. They just shrugged and took its path, leaving the robber mime to shoot and kill the other mime for real.
They then found a group of Boos trying to beat a large, red spider, with running shoes on each of his legs, beside a series of large spider webs. Edd shined a flashlight on the ghosts, making them vanish, and the spider, Squitter, shot webs on the bottoms of their shoes, allowing them to walk up the spider webs. Shaunie felt weird as the webs stuck to his bare feet, and he had to carry Luvbi up since she had no feet. As they walked, Skulltulas walked down to gnash at them, but Eddy shot the spiders with his slingshot, making them drop to the pit below. Squitter shot out floating spider webs for the team to hop across, having to duck Zingers that buzzed by them.
They finally reached a dark cave, Edd using his flashlight to light their way through, quickly shining on any Boos that flew to them. Em and Chad beat away some Swoopers that ambushed them. After a while, the gang made it out of the short cave to a wider open area of the forest. (Stop the music.)
As the seven kept walking, they suddenly heard a cannon fire in the distance. "Look out!" Chad yelled, grabbing and pulling Emily out of the way before a cannonball exploded on her. They looked up as the ghost ship came down, captained by a little ghost child with green hair and buckteeth.
"Ahoy! Avast there, mateys! I be Cap'n Youngblood, scourge of the Ghost Zone, here to turn ye scallywags into The Brain and collect my bounty!"
"Look, brat, we don't have time for this. We're looking for the Ghost King if you don't mind." Chad stated.
"Argh, no time for that thar, Matey! For it be time to be sending ye to Ghost Zone Prison! Mateys: ATTACK!" (Play the "Grove Action" Theme from Spyro: The Eternal Night!)
Act 2
Many ghost pirates and Stormtroopers descended onto the area, blowing flamethrowers around and destroying the forest, scaring away the ghost inhabitants. Emily and Chad started to knock some Stormtroopers out while Luvbi tried to blow some ghosts away. A squad of pirates came for the Eds, but Eddy kept them back by throwing stink bombs. Shaunie grabbed a rock and tried to throw it at a Stormtrooper's head, but his weak arms prevented him from doing so, and he found himself surrounded by pirates. The boy shielded his eyes from the vicious pirate ghosts, but they were blown away by Luvbi.
The team kept dashing through the woods as the pirate ship blasted cannons around the area, explosions all around. The dark forest that was so peaceful was robbed of its calm serenity, the breezing trees blowing to pieces as the deafening explosions roared, and their flames grew brighter. After running around a series of trees, they were ambushed by a white-skinned boy with red hair and a black suit. "Mwah ha ha! End of the road, Kids Next Door! Prepare to be captured by Jack Spicer, evil boy genius, and his awesome robots. Jackbots: ATTACK!" The dark-yellow, red-eyed floating robots flew down and started shooting blasters.
Ed grabbed a Jackbot and started batting them into each other before throwing his away for it to explode. A girl in a cat suit, Katnappe, leapt out and sent her super kitties to attack them. "Aw, kitty!" Shaunie smiled, going to pet one of the cats, then- "AAAHH!" screamed when it started scratching his face, leaving various marks.
Chad grabbed all the cats he could and kicked them away. "Best not to pet them." He figured as a bunch of super kitties started to overpower him.
Emily grabbed a stick and started to beat the cats off of Chad, scaring them off. Meanwhile, a group of cats surrounded and slowly approached Double D, who tried to beat them off with a ruler. "Gracious! Keep away! Filthy cat germs!"
As a squad of cats drew in on Ed, the dimwit's expression turned fierce as he reached in his pocket and took out his dead fishbone. "Show them your wrath, Angus!" The cats were disgusted by the bone's stench, immediately turning away.
Ed smiled to his lucky fishy as Edd approached and said, "Wow, that carcass really did prove helpful."
"No! ! Stop them!" Youngblood yelled, sending more pirates after the team. The ghosts started to shoot glowing green skulls on chains that homed in and snapped their teeth. Chad easily punched the ectoplasmic shackles away, grabbing the chains and swinging the pirates into each other. "Bah. Get 'em, Ember!"
A ghost girl with blue flaming hair stood on the edge of the ship and started unleashing sonic waves from her guitar, destroying the surrounding area. "Run!" Chad yelled as they started dashing through the forest, chased by the ghost ship as Ember blew sonic waves. "Time to crank up the volume." The ghost rock star smirked, turning her guitar up and launching bigger sonic waves, making blue, flaming note minions that yelled their own sonic waves.
Ed took out some soda and tossed it to his pals, the Eds shaking the cans and spraying the liquid all over the flames before going ahead. Ember blew more sonic waves, destroying trees that released Skulltulas, the giant spiders scaring Shaunie (like usual), but their spider friend, Squitter came to their rescue, fighting the demon spiders off, blinding their vision with webs. The spider friend made a web staircase up a cliff over a pit for the gang to run up before the webs were destroyed by Ember's guitar. The group hurried through more trees before finally reaching a strange mansion. "Hey, look! This must be the place!" Emily exclaimed. Their way was suddenly blocked by large, green fire.
From the flames, a muscular ghost with a mechanical suit and green flaming hair stepped out. The kids kept their guard up at his presence. "Hello, children." He smirked.
"Who are you?" Emily asked.
"My name is Skulker. Ghost Zone's greatest bounty hunter. When word got out there was another Halfa, I had to check it out. And lo and behold, here you are now."
The ghost ship sailed by them as Ember spoke, "There's only one other Halfa alive right now, and he's an annoying pest."
"You may not fetch as much on the market as Danny Phantom, but you're still a valuable prize." Skulker smirked.
"Well, good luck, buddy. I don't have my ghost powers anymore." Emily told him smugly.
"For now. They've just been temporarily disrupted thanks to that Fenton Crammer. The annoying device. Anyway, once I capture you, we'll easily reverse the effects and give them to you again. Then I can fetch a bounty off you."
"…" Emily kept her firm expression. Right away, the girl rolled over and tried to pound the ghost in the chin, only for the hard metal to damage her fist, the girl shaking it in pain.
"Yeah… that's not gonna work. Sweet dreams." With that, the ghost hunter sprayed a green gas on the seven, immediately putting them to sleep. (Stop the music.)
"…Skulker, where did you get that thing?" Ember asked.
"What, you mean the gasser? Bought it at the Hunters' Store, 50 bucks."
"Pfft. Yeah, you spend that much on your lousy hunter equipment, yet you don't wanna take me out to a fancy restaurant every once in a while."
"Well, maybe if you would support my job more, I would make some arrangements."
"Make some arrangements, my ectoplasm."
"Uh, how did you guys start dating?" Youngblood asked.
"I got dared at a slumber party." Ember groaned.
"Pfft. Yeah, I'm the bad one…" Skulker replied quietly.
Egg Pyramid (Play the "Pyramid Cave" theme from Sonic Adventure 2!)
Stage 22: Egg Pyramid
Mission: Speed through the base and find Eggman!
Sonic zipped through the first halls of the mechanical pyramid, going over a narrow path over a dark chasm, that went right, left, another left, another right, left, then the path became straight as Egg Pawns charged at him. Sonic easily defeated the robots using Home Attacks, and also bounced off the Buzzbombers that joined them. He kept going straight as he entered a hallway where the floor intersected with the parallel walls, forming ramps, as Sonic swerved left and right along the snaky room. He ran over some Moto Bugs along the way and also jumped through the hoops Eggman had set up, to score some points.
Sonic slowed down as he came to a long pit in the floor, which had flames sprouting from the darkness. Sonic had to run along the walls to avoid the flames, jumping off safely on the other side. The hall only extended a short way left, but the door was closed on the other side, and an hourglass sat by Sonic. Between them were several Egg Pawns. Sonic flipped the hourglass and Boost through the enemies, sliding under the door before it closed. He ended up in a vast room, on a path over a dark pit, but in his dash, he touched Omochao by mistake. "Flip the hourglass to open the door! Watch the hourglass. Doors close-" Sonic grabbed the robo-Chao and kicked it like a football, sending him flying over the edge.
With that, Sonic sped along the thin path, crossing a platform before reaching a path that turned at right angles, going leftward around the platform as it went down. The path became straight as Sonic ran across the long path, coming to a point where it broke off. Bladed Spinners conveniently led the way across again as Sonic Home Attacked off them. They ended too short before the path on the other side, and he fell to the floor below. Some Egg Pawns appeared, as well as Egg Magicians, and as Sonic attacked the foot robots, the floating magicians simply healed them. Sonic had to take out the Magicians first, and once done, he attacked the Pawns.
He looked around, but didn't see a way up, but he did find an hourglass. Sonic hit the hourglass as a long, thin pole emerged from the floor. Sonic used Sonic Tornado to spin and blow up, but the pole didn't make it far as he fell to the floor. He noticed a platform on the right of the pole and decided to reactivate the hourglass and try again. He landed on the platform and flipped another hourglass, activating a pole from the left wall. He sped up the rest of the first pole before it went down, then spun around the horizontal second pole as he blew onto the next platform. There, he had to spin around a pole that was activated on the north wall, and he made it to a stairway of tall steps, jumping up and reaching the next roadway.
He Boosted through a group of E-1000s and sped through a small building before having to Home Attack across more Bladed Spinners. He landed on a path and sped up a loop-di-loop, and at the end, he bounced across more Spinners. He was about to score a Fire Soul (Red Ring) above the last one, but it electrified and caused him to drop into the pit below. He thankfully landed on a floor below, finding himself in another snaky hallway of ramp walls. The hall made several turns as it led downward, and soon the hedgehog was at another dark chasm, which stretched longer than the first one. This time, the parallel walls had flamethrowers embedded, so Sonic had to jump walls as he ran. He ran along the right wall first, then jumped to the left, then right, left, right, until he successfully made it across.
Sonic made it to a wider hallway with several huge block platforms along the sides. He was able to jump up to a left one, knocking out an E-1000, then crossed a small bridge to the right side, where he had to jump across block platforms over a dark chasm. He wiped out another E-1000 and crossed another short bridge to the left side. He then had to Home Attack across Buzzbombers to reach the next foothold, then zipped his way across a series of bridges and platforms, from left-to-right, until finally reaching the end of the hall. However, the black, metal door was sealed, and a pedestal rested in front of it. Sonic touched the Omochao as it spoke, "The door is locked. You'll need a key to-" Sonic grabbed the robot and slammed it against his knee, breaking it in two.
Sonic noticed a wide hallway along the right side and decided to follow it, grinding across a couple rails, then Home Attacking Buzzbombers to reach the other end. There were two Egg Hammers guarding a Chao-sized, metal statuette, which Sonic guessed was the key. Sonic started aimlessly Home Attacking the first Egg Hammer as it began to spin its weapon, then hopped off. The big robot became dizzy, so Sonic shot into him from his left side and pushed him into the other one. Sonic decided to grab the heavy key (having to use both hands) and run.
On his way back down the hall, a squad of Egg Pawns ambushed him. He was able to toss the key against a shielded bunch, and as they fell back, he Home Attacked them. He swiped the key again and hurled it against the next bunch, taking them out. He grabbed the key and hurried through a narrow corridor, and when he came out, he swiftly dodged and jumped up stairs as E-1000s tried to blast him. Finally, he made it to the pedestal and stuck the key in, awaiting the door to open.
But after a few seconds, it didn't open, and Sonic looked confused. He decided to grab Omochao's severed parts and force the two back together. "Huff… I was GOING to say… you'll need a key to open the FIRST lock, and a SECOND key to open the NEXT lock. Maybe next time you'll LISTEN to me."
Sonic looked smug as he pulled the parts back apart and threw them to the ground. "Haww, great… Man, where'm I gonna go now?"
"Perhaps enter the passage beside you." Omochao indicated another entrance to a hallway. Sonic chuckled awkwardly and entered. It led him down a darker hallway, lit up with torches. He quietly snuck past a sleeping Egg Pawn and grabbed a hook to lift up to the next floor. This floor was packed with Search Flappers; Egg Flappers with small searchlights, which were slowly moving left and right along the hall. Sonic sped past the Flappers when they weren't looking, then sped across a snaky, curving hall before stopping at a tall, thin pole.
The rest of the hall led to a dead end, but the path continued high above, with several horizontal branches leading to it. The hedgehog performed a Sonic Tornado and blew up the pole, then shot to the first branch. They flipped around it before flying to the next branch, and repeated this for the next ones. Now in a straighter, darker hallway, he kept speeding along until coming to an area of bigger searchlights, which skimmed forward, then backward, with several walls blocking along the way.
He had to wait for searchlights to go past the walls, and then run around them and dodge the searchlights. At one point, one of the paths around a wall was just a bottomless chasm, with a searchlight skimming over it, so Sonic had to run along that wall and jump to the safe ground, while avoiding the searchlight. They finally had to go along a central path, where the walls were very close to each other, and searchlights skimming up and down from the walls. It was a bottomless chasm, so Sonic had to Wall Jump his way across, avoiding the lights along the way.
The next hall turned leftward, but he first discovered a key-like statuette seated on the floor. There was an Omochao there to instruct him. "Use this key to open the door! Unless you plan on breaking me again…"
"Gee, I'm sorry." Sonic said. He lifted the key, but the halls immediately turned red, and a bunch of ball-shaped beings with smiling, evil faces; called Phantos, came to life and flew at him. Sonic smirked before hurrying down the hall. The Phantos targeted him, but Sonic dodged as he ran along a wall, then jumped to the parallel wall.
Sonic finally arrived at a pedestal and stabbed the key inside, and the Phantos stopped. The pedestal was beside a fence, overlooking the area with the sealed door, which finally opened. The hedgehog leapt over the fence, landing softly on the floor below. But before he could progress, one of the Egg Hammers from earlier had caught up, looking furious. Sonic readied himself as it tried to bring the hammer down.
"DuuuuuUUUUUH!" But before it had a chance, the ceiling caved, and Big the Cat fell down and crushed the Hammer. "Duhhh… I fell off the train and landed all the way over heeere… have you seen my Froggy?"
"No, Big." Sonic replied with annoyance.
"Oh well. I guess I better go look for him again." The fat cat decided as he walked away. Sonic shrugged before entering the door. (End song.)
Egg Chamber
Sonic stopped running and found himself in a room with two parallel railings on the top and bottom, going around the sides of the room. "OH ho ho ho ho! So, Sonic, how are you enjoying this world so far?"
Sonic looked around after hearing the voice. "You know, you're practically the inventor of the offscreen voice, Eggman." (Cue Eggman's Theme from Adventure 2!)
A large roulette wheel with several different spaces came down from the ceiling, sticking itself along the railings, with Eggman inside a cockpit in the center. "You don't honestly think you can stop me this time, do you?"
"Hm, let's see." Sonic began, counting his fingers. "There was the Chaos incident, that time with the ARK, the Solaris thing, that time when you brought Eggman Nega, when we went to Blaze's world-"
"Grr, that was a rhetorical question! Anyway, you won't stop me this time! With Lord Gnaa and my other allies by my side, I'm unstoppable!"
"Don't forget, I have allies, too. But just what makes you think you can trust this Gnaa guy, anyway? Don't you remember what happened with Chaos or Dark Gaia?"
"I've very much learned from my follies with those traitorous spirits. Which is why I teamed up with someone who's AGAINST the spirits! It's foolproof! And once we have the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, AND the Firstborn, we'll control the cosmoses!"
"Hm. I heard that before." Sonic smirked.
"Heh. Careful who you smirk at, Sonic. I'm afraid your little part in this journey ends here." (Play the "Egg Dealer" Theme from Shadow the Hedgehog!)
Boss fight: Egg Roulette
The roulette wheel started spinning and landed on a missile. The wheel spun and released various missiles from the side, the hedgehog running and dodging as they crashed on the ground. The Egg Roulette rolled around the room, Sonic trying to run after, but it only shot massive flames that kept him back. Sonic spun tornados to blow the fire out, allowing him to Spin Dash against the roulette, giving enough force to push it back into the wall.
"Oh…" Eggman groaned, the impact making him dizzy. To his dismay, he found that the wheel landed on a punching glove. "Oh boy." A large punching glove emerged from the side of the wheel and started punching the cockpit rapidly.
"Hehehe. So he basically made an upgraded Egg Dealer." Sonic snickered.
"Grrr!" Eggman grumbled, recovering and rolling around the room again. Immediately, he stopped, and the wheel landed on a bunch of robots. "Take them out." A bunch of Egg Pawns fell from the ceiling and started to shoot the hedgehog. Sonic easily Home Attacked some and used a tornado on another group.
The doctor started to blast cannonballs, making large explosions. Sonic tried to spin and catch them, but they were too fast, and he was blown back by the explosions. Sonic was able to recover and Home Attack off the balls, up to the cockpit, attacking it a couple times before it crashed into a wall, the wheel landing on the missiles again.
"Uh, w-wait! ABORT LAUNCH!" Eggman cried, but the missiles fired anyway and locked onto him. The scientist rolled away in his wheel, but Sonic Spin Dashed in front of it to stop it once more, the missiles crashing in the wheel. The Egg Roulette rolled the other way, still blowing flames and cannonballs. When the hedgehog chased after it, it instantly rolled the opposite direction, nearly running over Sonic.
The wheel stopped and landed on a bunch of Egg Hammers, the large hammer robots dropping from the ceiling. The helmeted one nearly smashed Sonic, but he dodged. Sonic Home Attacked one of them a few times before taking it out, afterwards spinning around another one, cutting its side like a saw, and cutting it in half.
The helmeted Egg Hammer did a spin attack, but Sonic spun and took his hammer, using it to bash the robot into Eggman's wheel and damage it. "Grrr. He's not getting away with this." Eggman smirked as he pushed a button. "See if you can avoid THIS, Sonic!" All the spots on the roulette became bright lasers. The roulette started to glow a bright blue before it fired a massive laser.
The hedgehog ran around the room as the wheel chased him with its laser. As it did so, the walls around the room were burned and destroyed. "HRNH?!" The laser stopped, along with the wheel, for the destroyed room caused the rails to loosen. "GYAHH!" The wheel instantly fell to the ground, the cockpit side facing up, and the spaces turning back to normal. Sonic hit the punching glove space, then the cannonballs, and lastly the missiles, all three functions activating and destroying the robot. "Th-This can't be! ! Eeek! DAAAHHH!" Sonic ran as the wheel exploded, sending the mad scientist flying away. "The Eggman's blasting off AGAAIIIN!"
"A nice improvement, Doctor, but you still got a few bugs to work out." Sonic remarked. Sonic looked to the robot's wreckage and noticed something glowing red. (End song.)
Outside the pyramid
Sonic exited the pyramid afterwards, greeted by his friends. "Hey, Sonic! You made it out!" Nigel exclaimed.
"Did you expect any less? Speakin' of which, Blaze, I found this." Sonic showed her the red Sol Emerald.
Blaze immediately took the gem back, staring at it closely. "Another Sol Emerald… thank you, Sonic. This trip wasn't such a waste after all."
"Yeah, but now we're stuck in the middle of the scorching hot desert." Violet said, pulling her shirt off, revealing her white, thin undershirt. "I've yet to meet the cat that can survive out here."
The boys in the group, needless to say, felt their eyes popping out. "Ugh. She's not even fully matured." Blaze stated, as Eva smacked Kade's head.
Nigel shook this off and said, "That Jeong-Jeong guy said to take another look around Planet Secco…"
"That was one of the planets you went to, wasn't it?" Eva asked.
"Yeah. I guess he means I missed something there."
"Well, since we found Blaze's emerald, shouldn't we warp back to the others?" Kade asked.
"Right. Grim, take us back to-" Before Nigel could finish-
"HEELP!" the man in the green jacket ran over, flailing his arms. "There's a bunch of crocodile pirates attacking the beach!"
"Sounds like we got a change of plans." Eva figured. "But… why are you telling us?"
"Aren't you guys the desert police?" the man asked.
"Um, no."
"How did you even get all the way out here?" Nigel asked.
"…I… don't… know… HEELLP!" He ran off.
"…Well, if it's seaside trouble, them I'm in." Eva decided.
"Heh. That's just what we need, water." Sonic said, sarcastically.
"I guess we better see what they're up to." Nigel figured.
Argh, this coulda gone better. But hey, I FINALLY added the pyramid level, which was gone before, due to laziness! Next time, we'll see how The Quads are doing. Laters.