A/N: For those who don't know, it is with great regret that I am discontinuing this story. Here is what I managed to get done of chapter 26 before making this decision, raw and not having gone through the proofreading process.

"What. Is. Going. On." Heather shook the unlucky man before her, seething with rage. "Answer me!"

"The…entire garrison…entrance…killed by one girl…" Feeling nauseous from her shaking, the guard dared to look at the heated coals of her eyes. "…Don't kill..."

"One girl?" Ceasing her shaking of the soldier, her glare intensified. "What did she look like?"

"…Blue-green hair…black skirt-"

"Grah!" Heather tossed the man across the room, where he lay motionless. "Owen! Get in here!"

It took a full minute, but the portly teen burst through the door, panting. "Y…yes? You need me?"

"Yes, I do." Her nose wrinkled at the stench that accompanied Owen. "You are my last line of defense before the Chosen Idiot gets here. You cannot fail. Do I make myself clear?"

"Eh…" Finally standing straight, Owen rubbed his chin. "I dunno…I'm awfully hungry, and I don't work well on an empty stomach. Besides, that Ezekiel is, like, really scary with his magic…"

Heather hissed and prepared to smite the oaf where he stood… Instead, she gave him a smile, venomous in its false sweetness. "Of course, I can't have my minions be unhappy. What kind of queen would be that cruel?"

"Um…most evil queens?"

"…That wasn't a serious question."

"Oh…sorry."

"Anyways…" She heaved a deep sigh. This was getting way out of hand. Damn it, Justin and Izzy still aren't recovered from their failure at the moon… "Of course I'll give you a reason to do this. If you manage to kill Geoff and his party…no, no, no, capture Geoff and his party, I'll let you have anything you want to eat afterward. Do we have a deal?"

The watering of Owen's eyes answered for him.

"WHAT? How dare you say that about Cody?" Sierra rose onto her tiptoes to glare at the image of Chris carved into the wooden hut. While the rest of the hut vanished into oblivion every minute or so, the face never disappeared. "You take that back right now!"

The face didn't move, but Chris's voice sounded in robotic monotone. "Cody is a cowardly loser. Trololol. He is stupid and insecure about everything. Trololol."

"Why you…and Cody is never insecure about anything! Well, as long as he has stuffed emu…and me. You wanna fight?"

"Cody loves Gwen more than you. Trololol. You are a fat cow who will never win his affections. Trololol."

"Sierra." Noah stopped bashing his head against a wall to glare at her. "You've been arguing with a wall for five minutes. All questions about your sanity have been answered."

"But…" Sierra couldn't decide between glaring at the wall and looking at Noah. "It's saying mean things about Cody! Mean, untruthful things! I should know, I-"

"Am a professional stalker, I know. And the fact that the wall is designed to troll everyone that talks to it doesn't change the fact it's a bloody WALL!" Noah took a few moments to cool down. "As should have been obvious from it punctuating every sentence with…"

He broke off, refusing to utter the wall's favorite word. With a roll of her eyes, Sierra crossed her arms. "Oh really? I think it just wants to fight."

"…It's been repeating the same five preprogrammed phrases ad nauseum since you starting arguing with it."

"It has?"

As Sierra scratched her head, the wall said, "Cody is a cowardly loser. Trolo-"

Sierra's eyes glowed and purple flames ate away the wall in an instant. As the ashes blew away in the wind, she blinked. "Oh hey, the evil wall's gone!"

Shaking his head, Noah walked away. "Okay, that's enough hanging around the crazy. Now, let's gah!"

He tripped over thin air; a moment later, a gnarled root appeared, although there were no trees anywhere nearby to account for it. A moment later, Courtney and Trent came around a half-formed house. The CIT glared at the egghead, face down in grass that may or may not have been real. "What happened to you?"

"Haven't figured it out yet, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with something appearing out of nowhere. You know, story of this stupid city."

"Should've guessed. Have you two achieved anything? Me and Trent have found nothing, and I haven't seen DJ, Harold and Cody since we split."

After standing up and brushing off his clothes, Noah jerked a thumb in Sierra's direction. "Well, she got trolled by a wall. Pretty sure that's an achievement of some sort. Worth 30 points, probably."

As Trent and Courtney blinked at her, Sierra shrugged. "What? It was insulting Cody. But it's gone now. Just kinda disappeared. I wonder what happened…"

"Well, I'm starting to wonder if these gems really are here." Trent wandered away from the rest of the group. "I mean, I'm pretty sure we've looked all over the waaaahhh…!"

He vanished in an instant, falling through the ground and landing on concrete below; he was pretty sure the impact broke his arm. A moment later, the veil of grass he had stepped through disappeared to reveal an uncovered manhole. Clutching his arm, Trent looked up to see his comrades staring down at him. "Well, I think I found something."

Up and up the black staircase wound, a spiral design lined by gargoyles every so often on the stone rail. Catwalks extended towards doors, but none of Geoff's party would enter. Their goal was at the top of these stairs, according to Beth. To sway from the straight path was to risk falling prey to a trap, courtesy of one of the most fearsome manipulators they knew. Mr. Scales flew straight up in the center of the stairwell, wings coming inches from scraping against the stairs. As they approached the top, a voice stopped them. "Hey…can you guys…wait up?"

Geoff glanced back at Gwen, who stumbled along the stairs on all fours, drained by her magic. He turned around and descended the stairs toward her. "Hey, need a hand?"

Gwen nodded, panting. "That…would be great. Can I just…ride the dragon?"

Beth and Mr. Scales exchanged looks and the wyvern shrugged its wings. The farm girl said, "Okay. That's fine with Mr. Scales."

The dragon hovered closer, destroying the catwalk's railing with the beating of his massive massive wings. Geoff and Ezekiel helped her onto its serrated back. Once she was settled atop the beast, they resumed their pace up the stairs. At the very top, a pitch black door awaited them, giant spikes serving as door handles. Geoff paled at the door. "Think she's behind this, guys?"

Bridgette nodded, clutching her staff. "Probably. This door is really giving me the creeps."

"I know, sister." A she hefted her scepter, Leshawna flashed a broad grin. "Like the room right before a hard boss in a video game. Well, she can bring it on! Shawnie ain't 'fraid of nobody!"

"Alright! Let's do this!" Ignoring the fact that his back was not up for such exertion, Tyler bounded forward and kicked the doors down. A sickening crack resounded as he did so and when he came up, his body tilted to the right. The utter tilting of his spine was not enough to break his enthusiasm. "HA! Urk...you're going down...ow..."

"Oh, hey guys!" Seated on a plush armchair, Owen waved a half-eaten turkey leg at them. A wide saucepan covered the top of his head; frying pans protected his chest and gut. Exerting considerable effort, he stood up with a wide grin. "Been a while! That last encounter was awesome!"

"Never mind. Just Owen." Using her scythe as a walking stick, Gwen stumbled toward him. "Look, Owen, it's nice to see you and all, but...we need to get past you."

"Oh. Um..." Owen rubbed his chin and ripped a huge swath of flesh off the drumstick. "You guys are my friends...but...Heather told me to stop you, so..."

"Um..." Ezekiel tilted his head in confusion. "Why would you listen to her, eh?"

"She offered me food."

After a moment, Bridgette's eyes went deadpan. "Owen. You have food. In your hand."

"...She offered me even more food."

With a sigh, Gwen shook her head. "Why am I not surprised? Well, whatever. Sorry, Owen, but...we need to get through."

"Oh. Um...okay, what would Izzy say...? Um...something about a mini-boss or something?" After a moment, a manic grin blossomed on Owen's face. "Oh, who cares? Bring it on!"

With that, Owen stomped on the floor, a large plastic spatula appearing in his hand. His footfall shook the tan tiles of the kitchen, sending the others stumbling around. Ezekiel in particular barreled straight toward him. Owen bounced back and prepared himself. "Okay...let's see how my cloning power works on..."

His jaw unhinged, dropping down to waist level, and a vacuum force blossomed, gripping Ezekiel and pulling him in as though Owen's mouth were a black hole. With a cry, the prairie boy was sucked inside the maw. The jaw closed shut for a moment before Owen spat him back out with enough force to slam him against the wall and crack it. A moment later, noxious yellow gas spouted from Owen's backside. The fumes twisted and turned, shaping into a human form. What resulted resembled Ezekiel, albeit almost bald and with green-gray skin. Meanwhile, the real Ezekiel slid down from the wall, wiping himself off once he was back on his feet. "Oh, man…feels like I'll never be clean again, eh…"

The feral, fabricated Ezekiel raised a hand and loosed a wordless howl. Lightning crept up his hand, coalescing into a blue-tinged ball. The real Ezekiel's eyes widened. "Oh crap, eh…stoppenfenster!"

A large blue wall sprouted before Ezekiel and the rest of the party just before dozens of lightning lances launched. They shattered the barrier, but it succeeded in preventing much harm to the party. A moment later, Mr. Scales burst through the doorway, blasting the wall into rubble. After spouting off a fireball at the doppelganger, it descended upon Owen. The portly teen stared up at the dragon. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh CRAAA-"

Nobody knew exactly what had happened, but a moment later, the dragon was gone and Owen looked sick, mouth clamped shut. Then his mouth opened and launched Mr. Scales back out, sending him through several walls until he was all the way outside. He smirked as gas billowed behind him again and turn his head to gaze upon the resulting dragon. "Hey, big guy…wanna help me…?"

He broke off at the sight. A salamander about three inches long rested at his feet. "Um…okay, so maybe dragons are too complex to clone…um…bye!"

With that, Owen screamed and raced through a door behind him. Gwen blinked, took a moment to work out what had just happened and hobbled after her foe. "After him!"

A fireball stalled her dash and she turned to glare at the false Ezekiel. "Oh, right. You."

"I'll handle him, eh." Ezekiel stared at his doppelganger, mind racing. That…that couldn't be him. How could such a thing ever pass as him… "Go after Owen."

Geoff blinked. "You sure, man? This guy looks…kinda scary…"

"Yeah, I got it." Ezekiel turned to the rest of the party, eyes ablaze like never before. "Go, eh!"

As the others scrambled away, the false Zeke howled and fired another blast of lightning after them. Transparent blue walls again stopped the electric attack and Ezekiel stepped forward. "Let's do this, eh…"

A/N: And so this comes to an incredibly abbreviated end. Still, I am quite glad to have gone through with this, due to the experience garnered, the friends met and just how fun it was to create this story. There will be another update, but not on here, as it won't be a proper chapter. Rather, it will be a detailing my plans for the rest of the story, so as to provide proper closure.

That post will be on my DeviantArt page (a link to it should be on my profile). Thank you all for reading, and farewell.