Chapter 26: The Secrets of Dreamy Land
"Whoa… Now this looks interesting."
The four happened to stumble upon a pathway leading over to a pond to the left, and to the right was a river flowing outward. There were even some very pretty trees with leaves in purple and pink colors. Even the grass was very nice to look at too.
"I didn't expect to see a place like this here," Nebule gawked. "But what are the Shadoos doing here, though?"
"Beats me," Mars answered, readying her Arm Cannon. "But we're going to go wipe 'em out, right?"
"That's obvious," Zanex deadpanned.
Wasting no time, the group followed the pathway, but a few of them couldn't help but stare at the gorgeous water. In fact, there was a small little island in the middle of the pond. Chalk had jumped into the water and swam over to find a chest containing Magic Powder. Once he returned, they walked up a hill the path led to and spotted a group of Shadoos speaking at a small camp.
However, what they were saying was not anything too interesting, so Mars decided to fire at them. Nebule managed to at least shoot a light arrow at one of them, but Mars's ranged attacks were much faster and capable of wiping out the Shadoos in no time.
Then they noticed a little tunnel past the camp. Taking that led them to an upper part of what was deemed Drowsy Valley. Why that name? Well, there were many bubbles that appeared all over this place's environment.
Outside the tunnel was also a large, lavender Goomba with a snot bubble over its mouth. It was revealed to be a Slumboomba, and when they had gotten close to it, the snot bubble popped, and it got up, looking at them with its angry, yellow eyes. Mars aimed her Arm Cannon at it, but it didn't appear to scared. It lunged and ended up sitting on her. She tried to shoot at it, but her shots missed.
Thankfully, Nebule had managed to give the Slumboomba quite a shock when he kicked it, his Platinum Boots letting out a spark as he did so. This knocked the enemy off, and the Slumboomba finally fled when Chalk painted it red.
"That was close…" Mars sighed. "Good thing this Power Suit can protect me from those kinds of enemies…"
"Good thing," Nebule agreed. "I guess this means that the Shadoos aren't the only ones around here…"
While Chalk leaned against one of the trees, he was unaware of a single green eye appearing on it, along with three protruding spikes on its head. Four disembodied hands appeared as well, but it was covered in black flames, along with the tree itself.
As it got ready to grab the puffball, Nebule noticed it and fired a fire arrow at the tree. Being weak to fire, its hands began to flail around, while it uprooted itself and scurried around. Zanex quickly took action and unsheathed his blade and swung, and then he fully sheathed it to make the enemy called a Trentom explode into black smoke.
"What the heck was that?" Chalk gawked. "I wanted to fight it…"
"Great. It's like we can't trust anything around here." Zanex grumbled. "Not that it matters…"
"More for us to take out," Mars smirked.
"Fair enough," Nebule shrugged, drawing his sword. They continued on until they found a bridge up ahead. Below was the same river they had seen upon entering Drowsy Valley. It was nice getting a much better view of the water below. It looked pretty gorgeous.
Crossing the bridge, there were two paths to go. To the left, there was a high ledge and a wall over by the corner. Mars took a look at it and smirked, running over there without anyone questioning. She jumped off both walls and reached the ledge. To her surprise, she found thrusters floating in midair, and it instantly responded to her Power Suit. It went on her back, and soon she noticed small, blue flames bursting out from her back.
Equipment: Thrusters
With it embedded into Mars's Power Suit, she can slow down her falling speed by hovering down. Very useful when trying to cross some gaps as well.
"Weird… This thing quickly went onto my back within seconds…" Mars mumbled. "Perhaps it was made by the same people as my Power Suit?"
As she pondered over this, Nebule was trying to get her attention. Mars thought this was the perfect time to test out this new ability, so she jumped down and found herself slowly descending to the floor.
"Whoa…What was that?" Chalk asked.
"An upgrade," Mars answered. "Coincidentally, it attached to the back of my suit… Well, it'll help, that's for sure!"
"Yeah, we know," Zanex replied in an annoyed tone. "I wish to continue going now."
They took the right pathway this time, and they had ended up seeing a large statue in this large section of the valley. Getting a closer look, the person's head resembled a pillow, and he had a zipper attached to his cape. What was also strange was that while he had legs, he seemed to lack feet.
"Who's this weirdo?" Chalk inquired, looking up at the large statue.
"It says his name is Prince Dreambert," Nebule noticed, taking a look at the stone below the statue. "It says here that he's the prince of the Pi'illo people… But a terrible disaster had occurred, and he and the rest of the Pi'illos are no longer around. …Hey, that reminds me of that one thing mentioned about that statue back underground in Slumber Castle!"
"Hey, Neboup! Check this out!" Chalk exclaimed, spotting a pillow nearby. "Oh, man! I can't believe those are here! I guess while you guys check this area out, I'm going to go be lazy and take a nap!"
"Wait, Chalk!"
Chalk ignored him and rested his head on the pillow. However, something seemed odd about it, causing him to quickly stand up.
"Hey… This pillow ain't soft! It's like a rock! …And it's uncomfortable, too."
"The pillow's rock solid?" Nebule gawked. "Weird… You don't see pillows like that everyday… But I swear that there's something underneath it."
Picking the rock up, he noticed a Star Piece and took it.
"Oh... Well, that works too!"
"Not to interrupt the conversation or anything, but I think I found something," Mars intervened, pointing to some rubble blocking the pathway ahead. "Nothing like my missiles can handle, though!"
She unloaded a missile upon the rubble and annihilated it. Unfortunately, up ahead, they were met with a large gap and no platforms for them to cross.
"Oh… This looks like this could be a problem…" Nebule trailed.
"I know how to get over this," Mars smirked, jumping and slowly hovering across. Zanex, on the other hand, began to run on the wall to reach the other side. Chalk had painted a bridge that helped him and Nebule get across. This path eventually led them to another large area with a small path up ahead. There were at least two Trentoms here, and they had hurled two, ghastly flaming balls of energy from their hands. Mars had jumped over one of them and fired a charged shot, causing one Trentom to flinch. Nebule tossed a bomb that exploded and finished it off.
The other Trentom was easy to take care of. Chalk aimed his Spectrum Paintbrush at it, and once red paint shot out, it was finally finished. They eventually took the path ahead, but they were led to a dead end.
"Wait… There's nothing else around?" Nebule gawked. "Then… Why were the Shadoos here then?"
"Look above you," Zanex suggested, pointing up. Nebule and the rest looked up and spotted another dream portal. "They're most likely hiding in there."
"Then I think we know what needs to me done," Mars made a leap into the dream portal, and eventually the rest followed behind.
The dream world, to their surprise, was a much bigger contrast to the real world. The first thing they had noticed was a fountain over by the large area ahead. When they walked over there, some Shadoos were having the time of their lives on the spout. Well, until they spotted their targets.
"Hey, there are those heroes!" one Shadoo exclaimed, getting off the spout.
"Let's take 'em down!" the other suggested, charging directly at Zanex. It only took one swing from his blade to do away with it, along with another one for the other.
"So why are these monsters hiding out in this Dream World?" Nebule wondered. "I mean, these guys want the Land Tablet, but we already saw it back at Slumber Castle!"
"But that Yakken guy was at the castle," Chalk mentioned. "And those other weirdos…"
"…Oh, yeah. But it still doesn't explain why there are Shadoos here…"
"Maybe we'll find out soon!" Mars grinned, readying her Arm Cannon. Since there was nothing else around here, they took the path just up ahead, and instead of a large gap, there were now some floating platforms. With Nebule's Platinum Boots, this was not too difficult to get past. This led them to another big area that resembled the one where they found the statue. Except this time, there was no statue. In fact, they saw a familiar face here as well.
"Wait, that guy again?" Mars gawked, seeing Yakken create another chest. He was accompanied by two Gargolmon this time. Spotting the group, Yakken gestured them to charge, while he had disappeared into darkness.
"Great. These guys again." Zanex grumbled. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."
While they fought them, Chalk had run up to the chest and kicked it open. Inside was a Thunder Rage, which he happily took.
"We're going to bring the thunder with this thing!" Chalk proclaimed. "…Too bad I don't have any sunglasses with me."
"What do you need sunglasses for?" Nebule asked.
Chalk remained silent for a moment, only for one of the Gargolmons to knock him back. Annoyed by this, he decided to throw the Thunder Rage in the air and let lightning strike the two enemies. Before they knew it, they were gone.
With them out of the way, they proceeded through the tunnels until they could finally see the dreamy sky. Looking down at the bridge, the four spotted a couple of people ranging from Toads, Bandits, Lakitus, Koopas, and even Hooskis. They seemed to be having the time of their lives in the water. They shrugged and continued on until they reached the campsite where they saw the Shadoos in the real world. Bumpties, Doogans, and Buzzy Beetles were sitting around a fire.
"Whoa... Now there are people around here as well?" Nebule gawked. He noticed some Magic Powder near the fire, so he quickly scooped it up before anything bad could happen. "I wonder if they know we're here?"
"Hey, guys," Mars said, approaching the people. However, she received no response from them, so she stood in front of one of them and waved her hand. "Ummmm… Hello? There's a bounty hunter here, you know! Are you guys blind or something?"
"Forget it. They're not going to listen." Zanex stated. "In fact, I don't think they can even see us."
"Kind of like back in that carnival…" Nebule pondered. "They didn't seem to pay any attention to us. Then again, they were probably too busy having fun…"
"Well, I'm bored here," Chalk stated. "Can we leave this place?"
"Well… I don't see much else around." the blonde remarked, looking around at his surroundings. "Yeah, I guess it's fair that we go. I wanna get back to the castle before we run into a big problem here."
Coincidentally, there happened to be a dream portal near the entrance to Drowsy Valley. Many were relieved, and they had easily made their exit from the dream world.
The four were actually surprised to see that the Dream Games were still going when they came back. Curious, they decided to go and watch a match that was going on. It happened to be the last match of the day, and it was between the Soot Squad and a group of Bumpties that were blue, purple, red, and green that were in sunglasses. They were known as the Surfer Dudes. Despite their silly name, they had some serious skills.
Right now, Beanbag had just selected the type of game from his lucky bag, and he was grinning upon looking at the paper. "Well, it looks like this will be a Pillow Fight! That means both teams will put their skills to the test and battle the opposing team! First group to knock the others out will be victorious!"
"Those weirdos are going to fight?" Chalk asked, letting out a small chuckle. "With how dumb they look, they ain't going to be winning this!"
"All right, dudes! Let's take these dude wannabes down!" the blue Bumpty, supposedly the leader, declared. "They don't look like they're too tough!"
Immediately the Surfer Dudes got on their bellies and began to slide in the way of the Soot Squat. Pikay looked at Carrex and gave a nod. Smiling, Carrex leaped in the air and struck the ground, creating an earthquake that sent the Surfer Dudes flying in the air. Pikay then gave a gesture to Trifles, and he began to hurl countless fireballs at the Surfer Dudes.
"Heh heh! I can't wait to have some fried bird!" Trifles cackled.
"No, mate! We do that, and we're out of the games!" Pikay informed.
"Oh... Sorry."
When the Surfer Dudes landed on the ground, they were covered in soot and staring at the Soot Squad in shock.
"Dude... What was that?" the red Bumpty asked.
"We're not going to let this stop us!" the blue Bumpty declared. "Let's get 'em again, dudes!"
Noticing Pikay's order, Seurs had made a dash toward them, and materializing in her hand appeared to be a blade made of water. Just with one swing, it was able to knock the Surfer Dudes on their backs. With no way of defending themselves, Pikay approached them, both hands filled with a large amount of energy.
"Ready to give up, mates?" Pikay asked.
"No way, dude!" the blue Bumpty retorted. "We're going to win this! I mean, we dudes are going to take you do-"
Pikay thrust his hands forward and sent a huge wave of wind that managed to blow them off the arena and crashing through at least two walls. Everyone looked at the broken walls and then at the Soot Squad in surprise. The competitors, on the other hand, were looking just as scared, especially a group of Doogans in punkish clothing.
"Well… It looks like the Soot Squad managed to flawlessly pulverize the Surfer Dudes!" Beanbag gaped. "That means they get to go to Round Two!"
Many clapped, though many did not look cheerful. Even Nebule was shocked by how they took out the Surfer Dudes.
"Maybe we were wrong about them…" Nebule trailed.
The Soot Squad got off the battle ring and approached the exit where the four were. When they passed them, the four noticed some evil grins on their faces. All Nebule could do was shoot a glare back.
"Wow. They're tough." Chalk remarked. "I wouldn't want to fight them…"
"Well, that concludes Round One of the Dream Games," Beanbag announced. "Tomorrow shall begin Round Two! Be prepared for tomorrow, competitors! You too, audience! You will not want to miss this!"
For the first time in a while, Nebule was starting to feel worried.
Unfortunately, there was not much else to do for the rest of the day. On the other hand, the last match happened to end when it was nighttime as well. Nebule and the others decided to train a little and found themselves attacking dummies. Of course, they weren't alone. The four heroes had shown up to train there too. It was safe to assume that they had also won the first round too, since they also had purple bracelets. Neither had bothered talking and went on with their training. Eventually they stopped their training and went to their rooms to get some sleep.
As for the losers, particularly the Flare Bros., they were in the first floor hallway near the door into the large arena. The leader leaned against the wall, appearing impatient.
"Come on… Where is he?" the Flare Bro. leader groaned. "Bummer shouldn't be taking this long to pack his things!"
"Why didn't he do it after we had lost?" one of the Flare Bros. asked.
"Well, 'cause he's a lazy bum. It would've been a lot better if we didn't have to go. I mean, that prize was probably worth millions! We would've been rich with that thing! Dang Chosen Ones… They showed us who's boss…"
They heard the sound of footsteps, and Bummer had finally arrived with his luggage, feeling very exhausted from the run he just made.
"Sorry about that, guys…" Bummer panted. "But I'm finally done…"
"Good. Now we can get out of here." the Flare Bro. leader said, turning to the exit. They were ready to leave, but they suddenly heard the sound of screechy laughter nearby.
"Scree hee hee…"
"Uhh… Bros?" the Flare Bro. leader started, turning to his comrades nervously. "Did you hear that?"
"Uhhhh… I think I did…" Bummer squeaked. "I really wanna go now…"
"Go? Vhy not stay for the show?"
Turning around, the last thing they saw was a large amount of purple smoke with yellow eyes coming their way.
The four, save for Chalk, didn't waste time lying in bed. They were up, and they got their gear ready before going into the hallway. Nebule was unfortunate to be dragging a drowsy Chalk, along with his paintbrush down to the first floor and to the arena. However, this time, there were a lot less people around.
"Huh… I guess the losers all left during the night…" Nebule trailed. "Well, I guess that makes less room for us."
They noticed that only Yakken was only at the table where the judges usually sat. Since Beanbag wasn't here, they thought maybe it was a good idea to go speak to him. But, Yakken caught their stares and went up to them instead.
"Ah, there you are," Yakken said. "So, how does it feel now to be competing in the second round of the Dream Games?"
"Yakken, what were you doing in that dream world with those chests?" Nebule asked.
"I was just following orders," the Shadow King's assistant defended. "The Shadow King wanted me to place something that you couldn't stand in this place."
"They didn't seem like they were threatening," Mars shrugged.
"Let's just say that…he asked Lilia those questions."
"Lilia did that?" Nebule gawked. "Wow… I guess she's actually pretty smart."
Chalk's drowsiness had gone away when he noticed the dreamy look on Nebule's face. He quickly waved his hand in front of him to get his attention.
"You dreaming about that Lilert girl again?" Chalk asked. He also noticed the Spectrum Paintbrush he held. "Hey, that's my paintbrush!"
Chalk swiped it from Nebule and began to hug it like it was the most important thing to him. Everyone looked at him with a confused look, but they were eventually interrupted by the sound of Beanbag's voice.
"Welcome back, everyone!" Beanbag shouted through his microphone. "Today, we will be starting Round Two of the Dream Games! Hopefully the contestants are ready to come up…"
Nebule looked at Yakken, who gave him a nod, and then he and the other three had stepped into the ring. They were expecting to see their opponents step in, but no one had shown up.
"Hmmmm? Is the other team late to the party?" Beanbag wondered, appearing impatient.
"Who are we competing against anyway?" Chalk asked.
His question was immediately answered when the door swung open. Four Fuzzies came bouncing into the battle ring. There was a Green Fuzzy, a pink one called a Flower Fuzzy, a normal Fuzzy, and a red one that looked all too familiar to Nebule.
"Oh, no… Not that Fuzzy again…" Nebule groaned.
"Whaaaaaaat?! How the meork did you meorking get here?!" the Angry Fuzzy growled.
"I suppose you know this…thing," Mars deduced, who received a nod from the blonde boy.
"Well, looks like the Fuzzy Brigade has arrived! Now that both teams are here, let me go into my lucky bag here…" Beanbag began to search through his lucky bag, and he grinned at the paper he received. "Well, this is an interesting way to start Round Two! We'll be having another Pillow Fight!"
"Meork?" the Green Fuzzy gawked. "Against them?"
"Don't be a meorking coward!" the Angry Fuzzy yelled. "These meorks have been a meorking pain in the meork, and now I'm going to meorking take these meorks down! And you meorks are going to meorking help me!"
"If you two teams are ready, then let the fight begin!" Beanbag declared.
Mars smirked under her helmet as she aimed her Arm Cannon at the Fuzzy Brigade and fired a missile. They were all sent flying in the air, but the only one who seemed to get up quickly was the Angry Fuzzy. It tried tackling Mars, but her Power Suit left it to deal no damage.
Zanex didn't even bother drawing Yami. Swinging his scabbard was all he needed to send it flying toward the other Fuzzies.
"Errr…" Beanbag trailed, looking at the dazed Angry Fuzzy. "I guess…the Chosen Ones…have-"
"MEORK NO!" the Angry Fuzzy yelled as it got up. "I ain't going to meorking give up yet! Not to these meorks!"
Chalk approached the Angry Fuzzy while it was throwing its tantrum, and one bonk from his paintbrush managed to leave it stunned. He stepped aside when Nebule threw a bomb at the Angry Fuzzy. The explosion was enough to defeat it.
"Meooorrgh…you…" the Angry Fuzzy moaned.
"Well… I guess that was anticlimactic…" Beanbag trailed. "Well, The Chosen Ones have won this round! They will proceed to Round Three tomorrow!"
The audience applauded the four for their victory, who decided to accept it. The Soot Squad also applauded them too.
"They are strong…" Pikay trailed. "But these mates aren't as tough as us."
"Carrex don't get why the Shadow King finds them a threat," Carrex inquired.
Before Nebule and Co. could celebrate, the Angry Fuzzy finally got up and glared at the group.
"You meorks… This won't be the last meorking time you meorking see me! I'm going to meorking get you next time!"
The Angry Fuzzy immediately bounced out of the room, leaving the other Fuzzies to slowly get up and leave as well.
But despite how easy this victory was, they accepted it. After all, they were only one step closer to that Land Tablet!
"Once again, congratulations to you four," Beanbag said with a smile as he sat in his office. "You managed to beat the Fuzzy Brigade rather easily, and now you'll be moving to the semifinals!"
"Semifinals?" Zanex gawked.
"Yup. This game's actually coming to an end quicker than you thought! For you guys, the semifinals will actually be a big one, because we're giving out a prize!"
"Wait, a prize?" Nebule gawked. "You're giving that Land Tablet?"
"Heck no!" Beanbag retorted, taking out the sparkling red Crystal Star. "I'm talking about this one! You see, when signing up for the Dream Games, you have the decision to compete for this prize as well. Those that do are on the first half of the match up, while the others that aren't interested in it don't get it during the semifinals. Of course, the rock you want is worth so much more than what this star is."
"Guess we got this one in the bag, Neboup!" Chalk smiled.
"Well, it all depends on our opponents in Round Three," Mars mentioned, inspecting her Arm Cannon. "I'd be interested in another Pillow Fight, though."
"That depends on what I pick out from the lucky bag…" Beanbag trailed, taking out some red bracelets. "Here, replace your purple ones with these. This'll know that you won Round Two!"
"OK… Thanks…" Nebule replied, putting on his new bracelet with uncertainty. "So… What now?"
"Right now, you should be going. I gotta prepare myself for the next match up!"
The four found themselves being literally booted out of Beanbag's office, leaving themselves to walk through the castle's hallways. When they reached one corner, they spotted Brittney, who immediately came running over to them.
"Hey, guys," Brittney started. "I saw that Pillow Fight between you and the Fuzzy Brigade. You guys sure did pulverize them."
"Yeah, I know," Chalk smirked, feeling his ego get bigger. "But that was all me, just so you know!"
"Well, I was taking some pictures in the lobby as usual, and I even took a few pictures at night too. The Flare Bros. were there too, but I didn't bother talking to them. My guess was that they were waiting for one of their friends to come down so they could leave after their loss."
"Just get on with it," Zanex sighed.
"OK, OK… Well, when I came back during the morning, I actually came across something." Brittney took out a red boot that resembled a Koopa's. The four looked at it carefully. "It's likely one of the Flare Bros.'s. The flame symbol on it is so obvious. I was immediately reminded of the losers in the competition not ever appearing again, but this is just suspicious!"
"Maybe they just forgot their boot?" Chalk shrugged.
"If they forgot it, then they'd probably realize it during the night. I'm going to go show this to Beanbag when he's free. Maybe now he'll believe me."
"Well, he's probably going to be hosting another match at the moment… I mean, he did boot us out…" Nebule mentioned.
"All right. Then I'll go talk to him after the next match." Brittney nodded. She decided to walk in the direction where the lobby was, leaving the four to discuss on where to go.
"So… Where to now?" Mars asked.
"I don't care what we do," Zanex said. "I just want to get that Land Tablet and get out of this place."
"Maybe we can check this place out?" Nebule suggested. "Y'know, find some clues on what we can do to kill time?"
"Hold on…" Mars paused, placing a finger on her visor. "I think I'm picking up some evil readings behind this castle. Yuuuuuuup. It's definitely those dark monsters."
"Then let's see if we can find a back exit."
Coincidentally, they were not too far from the back exit. They were brought back outside, but they ended up finding a large chasm in front of them, with land far across. On the other hand, there did appear to be a large trail of darkness leading to the other side.
Plus, there were even some Shadoos on the other side that spotted them and were now sticking their tongues at them.
"Crud… Well, we're not getting across this." Nebule frowned. "Now what?"
"Hold on again," Mars mentioned, looking over at a large rock to their left. "I'm picking something up behind there."
They checked behind the rock, but the only thing they found was a pair of black shoes with a black, glowing attachment on the heel. Mars smirked, knowing this to be another upgrade. But when she grabbed them, it didn't respond to her Power Suit.
"What the heck? How come this won't respond to my suit?"
"Probably because it's not for you," Zanex said, taking the shoes. He looked at it for a moment, but he noticed the shoes instantly come out of his hands and absorb into his own shoes. Now his shoes resembled the ones previously in his hand.
Equipment: Dark Shoes
With the power to absorb trails of darkness, Zanex can now perform the Dark Speed Dash, allowing him to reach far distances. Just approach a trail of darkness and then dash across it!
"What the... What just happened?!"
"Looks like that was an upgrade for you," Nebule said, going back by the chasm. "Maybe this'll give us a hand!"
"And how will it help us?" the hedgehog wondered as he follow him. When he got near the long trail of darkness, he noticed the black glow get even brighter, as if it was giving some sort of response. "Hmmmmm? They seem to be reacting to this…"
"In what way?"
"I get the feeling these shoes will help me through this," Zanex pondered, getting near the trail, and soon enough, he had performed the Dark Speed Dash, which quickly led him to the other side. The Shadoos taunting them stopped when they saw him curl up in a ball and charge into them, destroying them.
"Now just find a way to help us across!" Nebule shouted.
Zanex frowned and look at his surroundings. Near the bridge was a lever, so he pulled that down, which caused a bridge to materialize onto the large gap. This allowed the other three to reach him.
"Thanks, Zano!" Chalk smiled.
"Whatever," Zanex replied, looking down at his shoes. "Perhaps these are Dark Shoes? After all, they do seem to react to dark trails…"
Mars checked her scanner again and spotted a dream portal nearby. Along with that, there were a couple of Shadoos standing by it. Smirking, she aimed her Arm Cannon and prepared to fire a charged shot. However, Nebule noticed that they were speaking, and he suggested her not to shoot. Though reluctant, she eventually held her fire. Of course, they didn't want to be caught, so they found a bush to hide in.
"This actually reminds me of when I hid from that queen and her minions," Mars whispered.
"Shhhh! I wanna listen!" Chalk silenced.
"Wait, so you're saying that the Land Tablet is in the Dream World?" one Shadoo asked.
"Well, that's what we've been picking up," the other replied. "But the Soot Squad said that they've seen the Land Tablet…"
"Then obviously whoever made that assumption really needs to do their research. The Dreamy Tablet's located in the real world, not the dream one!"
"But we can tell what the Land Tablet's power is like. I mean, we've got pretty much all the others those guys didn't claim!"
"Really? Hmmmmm… Well, that's interesting…" the other Shadoo trailed. "Let's go into this portal and see if I can feel its presence."
The Shadoo nodded in agreement, and the two quickly jumped into the portal.
"You guys hear all that?" Nebule whispered. "They said they're picking up a Land Tablet in the Dream World!"
"But didn't we see the Land Tablet before?" Mars asked. "Unless… The one Beanbag must've found was fake?"
"Could be…"
"If it's fake, then why are we still competition in that competition?" Zanex questioned.
"Well, we still need that Crystal Star… Plus, we're not exactly sure if these guys are right. Maybe Beanbag DOES have the real one."
"I'm gonna get more answers from them," Mars decided, readying her Arm Cannon as she ran toward the portal. However, it ended up closing before she could jump in, causing her to fall over. "Ugh… I guess I was a bit late…"
"Maybe we should just go back to the castle," Nebule suggested. "Perhaps we can get some questions from Beanbag about the Land Tablet."
Agreeing, the rest headed back to the castle.
When they got to Beanbag's office, they stopped when they heard some voices inside. Curious, they decided to listen in.
"Look, Brittney, I told you that the losers have left. They packed their things and left the castle!"
"But Mr. Beanbag, why would the Flare Bros. just leave their boot lying in the lobby?"
"They did? Well… This is interesting…"
"See? Something bad really IS happening here! Maybe you should try investigating! Innocent people have been missing ever since these Dream Games have started!"
"Hmmmmm… Well, maybe if you find something that's even more suspicious, then maybe I might consider investigating this issue."
"Thank you, Mr. Beanbag… I'll make sure I find something that'll totally get you into investigating!"
"Uhhh, not to interrupt this moment, but what about us?"
The sound of the new voice in the room seemed all too familiar to Nebule. It was at this point they stopped listening in to what was going on. However, the door had opened, and they finally realized who the other voice belonged to.
"What're you guys doing here?" Toadburt asked. "Were you spying on us?"
"That wasn't our intention…" Nebule trailed. He noticed the bracelet Toadburt and his comrades had were purple. "Wait… So you guys won the second round as well?"
"Yeah," Bonnie nodded. "It's nice to get that round out of the way."
"Wait… This means… Oh, crud."
"What're ya talking about?" Toadburt asked. But then he started to realize what this meant and grinned. "HA! We're going to be going up against you guys in the semifinals! You're bound to lose then! Especially if it's a Pillow Fight!"
"What makes you think you'll beat us?" Mars asked, narrowing her eyes at the Toad.
"We managed to beat them back at Desert Land!" the Toad said confidently. "I'm sure you guys won't beat us tomorrow!"
"Well, perhaps they might have a chance," Goombi brought up. "They do have two new fellows on their side, and the tall one looks like he packs a punch."
"I'm glad someone acknowledges-" Mars paused, hearing that one word. "Uhhhh, lady… I don't know if it's your old eyes or not, but I'm a she."
"Oh… My apologies!" the Goomba apologized, though she was unsure if she was insulting her or not.
"Anyway, we gotta go get ready for tomorrow," Toadburt said as he cracked his knuckles. "We're going to take that Crystal Star, and then I'm going to brag about it!"
"Honestly, that doesn't sound like a smart idea," Koopo mentioned.
Toadburt ignored the Koopa and walked away from the office with the others. Nebule, meanwhile, was left with less confidence than before. If they DID have another Pillow Fight coming up…
"Psssssssst!"
The four turned around and noticed a Mouser hanging from the ceiling. It looked like he was gesturing them to follow him. Nebule couldn't get a clear look at him, as the Mouser was hiding in the ceiling's shadows. Nevertheless, they followed him.
To their surprise, they found themselves going up to the fourth floor, and at the end of the hallway was an old, rusty door. The door was also labeled "TOP SECRET".
The Mouser eventually landed in front of the door, and three of the four instantly recognized him as Cheezit.
"Long time no see," Cheezit smirked. "Surprised to see me again?"
"Beats me," Chalk replied. "Your name sounds pretty cheesy, though!"
"How come you brought us here?" Nebule asked, looking at the door. "What's so special about this door?"
"I'm glad that you asked," Cheezit began. "I was thinking that there'd be something special hidden inside of here. 'Cause, y'know, top secret and all that? However, there was something I ended up hearing through that door that surprised me."
"What'd you hear?" Zanex asked.
"It sounded like there was a painful moan hidden behind here. Normally, I would just shrug this off, but I can't help but feel curious about what's through here. Now, I'd just try to pick this lock, but none of that is working. This door knows how to be a pain… However, I actually decided to go into that bean's office while he wasn't there, and I spotted a little map to a key he's got."
"So… What does this have to do with us?" Mars asked.
"Well, when I looked at the map, I noticed the key's location is…actually north from here. It's in a dangerous area called Nightmare Pass, and there's no way I can get to that key myself… So I was wondering if you could help me get to it…"
"Uhhhh… We have more important business to attend to." Nebule said.
"So you don't want to know what's behind this door? Even after the many rumors about this place being haunted?" Cheezit asked as he looked away from them. "I don't think anyone's ever been through this door… In fact, maybe it could lead you to this place's secrets…"
"OK, OK! We'll help you…"
"Excellent!" the Mouser grinned, facing the group again. "When you're finished with the semifinals, meet me behind the castle! We shall make our way there and find that key!"
With that, Cheezit leaped over them and began to scurry away.
"I sincerely hope that getting that key will not be a waste of our time…" Nebule trailed.
Unfortunately, there was not much else to do here in Dreamy Land, so the four had plenty of free time. But even then, they hardly did much, which made the day drag on a lot longer. It was worse for Nebule especially. The fact that they were going up against a team that had managed to beat them before was bad news, and it haunted him the entire day. It was for this reason that he didn't go to the training room.
Along with that, Nebule was also struggling to sleep during the night. Not only the thoughts of the semifinals were bugging him, but also what he had heard from Brittney. Was this place truly haunted? Was the Land Tablet Beanbag had the real deal? And what about that door Cheezit showed them? Even that was starting to get on his nerves.
He was not the only one worried about the semifinals, though. Chalk himself was feeling worried too, and considering how he usually acted, this was saying a lot. He constantly rolled around in his bed and struggled to sleep. These four heroes he had met back in Desert Land were not to be underestimated… Then he remembered what Sandstorm had told him about taking life a bit more seriously…
At this point, he wasn't sure how to feel, and this was what caused him to quickly fall into slumber. Nebule too had quickly fallen asleep after a moment as well.
Tomorrow was certainly going to be a big day.
Brittney was walking through the hallways of the Slumber Castle during the night, her camera ready to take photos of anything suspicious. Obviously something was going on last night, and she was going to get to the bottom of this.
"Mr. Beanbag said he wanted proof that was worth investigating…" Brittney thought. "Well, I'm going to find out what's going on here and take a picture of it! That way, I can save all of these people from danger! Maybe I might be a hero! Awesome!"
As she continued walking, the sound of a scream had caused her to stop in her tracks. Along with that, there was a cackle that was heard somewhere in this floor. To her, it sounded pretty freaky, causing her to lose a lot of confidence.
"What was that?!" Brittney gawked in a soft voice. When the cackle was finally gone, she tried to put on a brave face and go where the voice was coming from. "All right, n-now's my chance to find the c-culprit…"
Each step she took, Brittney thought she heard something echo through the castle, and it was getting much louder as she headed to the main lobby.
And then she finally saw it. Her eyes widened at the unconscious competitors on the ground slowly getting sucked into purple smoke.
This was her chance. Despite shaking nervously, this was something Brittney needed to take a picture of. Raising her arms nervously, she aimed her camera at the smoke, and with a click, she took the picture. Unfortunately, she forgot to turn off the flash, causing the smoke to turn around. Brittney quickly hid behind the wall, her heart pounding rapidly.
Eventually the smoke shrugged it off and decided to make its exit. When Brittney no longer heard the sound of the smoke, she let out a sigh of relief and walked into the lobby. There were no signs of the competitors that lost during the day. Nothing was left behind.
Brittney looked at the photo she had taken and smiled when she saw the picture.
"I think I've finally found my proof!"
Lots of stuff being revealed here, along with some upgrades for Zanex and Mars. Those who played Sonic might know what kind of ability Zanex has gained (though, its naming sounds different), but the one Mars got was something I made up myself.
Things will really start to heat up in the next chapter.