Hola sinors and sinoritas!

Not sure if I spelled that right...I've been speaking a lot of Spanish lately. And the funny thing is I'm going to take a French class soon. lol.

ANYWAY! Don't expect another update for another while after this one. :( My musical got pushed back a week, and so did all of my other concerts...MER! :( But hopefully after that I'll be able to update once a week. And in the summer...expect LOTS of updates. :)

For this chapter, you may want to look back at the first chapter of the adventure. There's some stuff I mentioned back there that will be useful up here. ;)

So. I left you on a mean cliffie last time, and I guess I should let you read...ENJOY! :D

Chapter 34: Hope

Dusk's POV-

The light left as quickly as it came. Dawn practically leaped out of the bed she had been laying in a few seconds ago.

The Doctor and I stared, wide-eyed, at her.

"What?" She asks, brushing her fiery red bangs out of her eyes with her left hand that was no long pale. "Did I forget, like, pants, or something?"

Dawn pauses, and then her face lit up in realization. "Right! I just basically came back to life, didn't I?" She asks, and then continues to explain, "Well, see, not exactly. I came back from near death. And then I remembered..." She trailed off.

I narrowed my eyes, still confused, but extremely happy. "So how-,"

"That doesn't matter right now," She cuts me off, and pushes a finger to my lips. I pull away, just as she says, "What does matter, is this: I need a megaphone."

"A megaphone?" The Doctor asks.

"Yes. Meh-gah-phone. You know, like a microphone, only cooler looking."

"But why-?"

"Just get me the megaphone! And a sandwich, too, I'm really hungry," She giggles, and with a slightly puzzled look, the Doctor somewhat stumbles out of the room, murmuring something like, "beneath the console..." under his breath.

Dawn begins to rush around the room, finding the most random items possible under the bed: Sneakers, a toothbrush, more peanut butter...and the list continued.

Finally, I asked, "Can I have an...Explanation?"

"I didn't regenerate, if that's what you're asking," Dawn replies, and starts to take the shoelaces from the sneakers.

"Then what happened? How did you...live?" I paused, and then realized that might sound like an insult, so I added, "I mean, I'm really, really glad that you're alive and all, but...?"

She points at another sneaker, and I start untying that shoelace for her. I sat down on the bed, still trying to figure it all out.

After a moment, Dawn replied, "I was losing my memories and feelings while you were...killing...me. And after a while, I started trying to remember what love felt like. I finally remembered it about a minute ago. And then came these other emotions: Hope, joy, happiness...and I knew I was going to live. I just knew it. And so here I am."

"Well, that's great, but how did that save you?" I ask, and Dawn hands me a peanut butter jar. I unscrew the cap, and hand it back to her.

"How did you do that?" She asks, mystified.

"Do what?"

"Unscrew that thing. I swear, it was sealed with a prokaryotic ray!"

I smiled down at her, and shook my head.

"Anyway. I have a theory about how exactly it happened. Shadies feed off of fear, right?"

I nod in reply, and she continues while fiddling with some of the things we had found.

"But they're called Ancient Organisms of Darkness, which implies that they are not just feared, but simply downright dark. You know, evil, bad, scary, yada yada yada. So, what defeats things like fears? Love, hope, happiness, all the good stuff. Therefore, if one thinks of things like love, hope, and happiness around a Shady, the Shady is destroyed. Concentrate, Dusk. How long has it been since your head was throbbing?"

It was then that I noticed she was right: My head felt very clear, and light. I smiled.

"And how about down here?" She playfully pokes my stomach. I couldn't feel the Shady, or her, for that matter, in the pit of my stomach anymore either.

"Anyway, the whole problem is that I don't think anyone has ever figured out about the cure. Because when one thing goes wrong, or a fear comes true, then it's hard to make yourself happy, right? And then everything else starts to wrong, until, well..."

She shrugs, and concludes with, "That's still a theory, though. What happens next will be the real test."

"What are you going to do?" I ask.

"We are all going to create our own human-powered Sonic disintegrator. But first..." She squeezed her eyes shut, and a look of concentration crossed over her face. Then, the lights, which had been out for since Dawn had feared them, came back on. And a few seconds later, sunlight streamed through the window.

"How did you do that?" I ask.

"Not so much of a theory anymore, eh?" She replies to my question with another question. "Now, come on. Let's go see if the Doctor has my megaphone yet...and a tuna sandwich. Have I ever told you about my obsession over tuna? It's lovely, really, truly lovely."

• • •

Dawn's POV-

"Doctor!" I cried as we entered the main room. "Where's my meh-gah-phone? And my sammich?"

Dad tossed me the megaphone. I quickly caught it, and started hooking up the device Dusk and I had put together to it.

"Did you notice the lights came back on?" Lexie asks from across the room.

"Yes, I did. In fact, I was the one who turned them back on," I reply. Before she can ask why, I whine loudly, "DOCTOR! Where is my sammich?"

He throws a paper baggy at me. I open it, and inside there is a sandwich. I ravenously take a large bite, and then immediately spit it out in disgust.

"Ugh. Ham."

"What did you expect?" He asks.

"Tuna."

"Tuna? You like tuna? Of all the ridiculous..." He trails off, and I shake my head at him.

"Alright! Everybody, gather 'round. Here's how it's going to work: It's really a very simple solution. All you have to do is think of something that makes you happy! Like, extremely, immensely happy! Legitly happy!"

River interrupts, and asks, "How did you wake up?"

"That is not important. What is important is that we are all legitly happy, because the solution to this whole mess is really very simple!" I explain to her quickly.

I realized that Dusk was giving me this weird look, and so I ask, "What?"

"Nothing," He replies, shaking his head. "You just haven't been this hyper in a while."

"It's been practically- three, right? —months since you last saw me. Elizabeth probably wasn't as cool or awesome as I am...in a hyper-active crazy way."

Dusk smiled his signature lop-sided grin. I felt my cheeks grow a little warm.

WHOA! BLUSHING IS DEFINITELY NOT COOL!

...since when did I start blushing? Meh...must be a side effect of hunger.

At this point, the Doctor spoke up. "Wait, what do you mean by it's been three months since-,"

"Doctor. Please. Can you. Shut. Up," I growled briefly.

"Anyway! So, think of something happy. And pass it on. Go through the whole town, and just tell everyone to think of something happy. When you think of something happy, the Shadies go away. Because what's the opposite of fear and hate and all that stuff? Well, you probably get it by now."

I paused, looking at everyone's reactions. River was smiling, Dad still had that cross between anger and amazement painted across his face, and Lexie was looking terribly excited.

"So it's kind of like Pandora's box?" The Doctor asks.

I almost choked on air. "Y-You know, it's really ironic you say that...see-," I cut off when River coughed. We exchanged a knowing look, and I took a sharp breath in. "Right then. Sorry. I didn't just say that."

It looked like Dad was going to say something again, but Lexie interrupted, and asked, "So...what's that for?" She points at the contraption I had put together with the megaphone and various other items.

"Oh, this?" I ask, and hold it up for everyone to look at. "Just in case people don't believe us. And then, well...you'll see."

Everyone was silent for a second. I looked around at each person's face, and saw mixtures of several thousand emotions on them. I lingered two seconds longer on Dusk's face, and then went straight back to talking.

"So, are we all good?" I ask. "Ready to get out there?"

"Wait," Mum says. "We might want these." She hands each of us a communicator.

"Great. I'll take the middle of town, Dusk, you take the east, Lexie take west, River take south, and Doctor...take north."

Everyone nodded.

"You know...that was a lot easier than I expected. Probably because you're all in a sort of shock right now. Tell you what: go out there, beat down some Shadies with our epic legit happiness, and then I'll tell you what happened."

Dusk, River, Dad, and Lexie all visibly relaxed a little. I shook my head, smiling at their silliness.

I practically skipped out of HQ, holding the large megaphone in my hands. When no one else started moving, I held it up to my mouth, and pressed the button. It made a squeaky noise, and then I shouted into it, "Move, people, move! Remember, happy thoughts! Nothing can defeat us now!"

And as I continued to skip out of the building, I could've sworn I heard the Doctor say, "She's definitely one of a kind."

• • •

So, maybe I kind of lied to them.

I was definitely using the megaphone. No longer was it an "only if" situation. Now, it was legitly legit.

You know, I kind of like that word. It's legit.

I was out in the middle of the city. It was mass chaos everywhere! Alien space ships were in the sky, people were running down the streets, trying to dodge various gun beams, and just crazy things happened.

I almost laughed when I saw a piano fall from a really tall building. Whoever thought that up is legit.

One loud scream in particular caught my attention. I looked to my right, which was where the scream came from, and saw a woman surrounded by a ring of fire. It was quickly closing in on her.

Yay! My first victim!

I ran over to her, all the while shouting, "Think of something happy!"

The woman was dressed in the normal clothing for people on Skagan: Shorts, a t-shirt...but both articles were very tattered. She had long black hair, and pale skin.

"What?" She asked as I came closer.

"Think of something happy!" I replied loud and clear.

"Why?" She asked desperately as the fire continued to close in. It was about five feet away from her now.

"Just do it! Do you have a kid? Do you like it when they laugh? How about a husband? A great job? Do you love ice cream? Tuna? The word legit?"

The woman squeezed her eyes shut, and, surprisingly, listened to me. Soon enough, the fire started to sparkle, and then practically disappeared, except for little black mud traces it left behind.

"See, that wasn't that hard, was it?" I ask breathlessly.

The woman hesitantly opens here eyes, and then takes in a gasp of air. "How did you...?" She asks.

"I didn't do that," I reply, smiling. "It was all you. Now, what's your name?"

"Lethina," She replies, sticking out a hand for me to shake.

"Pretty name, Lethina. Now, go help everyone else who is in trouble, also. Tell them exactly what I told you. Trust me, the stranger. Everything is going to be okay," I smiled when she nodded, and ran off.

Great! I forgot how trusting and calm Skagan people are...that's helpful.

I held up the communicator to my mouth, and pressed the button that called everyone. "Hi, how you guys doing?" I ask into it.

After a few seconds, Lexie replied, "I'm good. I just saved a little boy from a giant dinosaur."

"Hey, that's great!" I giggle. "Someone around here pictured a piano falling off a roof."

"Ha!" Lexie laughs into the receiver. "That's a classic!"

"Girls!" Dad's voice crackled into the speaker. I jumped a little. "Stop playing around, and go help people!"

"How are you doing, Doctor?" I ask, the hint of a smile in my voice.

"Fine. You?"

"Great. Has anyone heard from Dusk or River yet?"

"I'm here," River's voice suddenly comes through, and I smile. "But I haven't heard anything from Dusk."

"Hm, he'll be fine," I reply. "Okay, I'd better get back to it. There's a person over there trying to deal with some...well...you don't really want to know."

• • •

It went on like that for the next half hour. Everyone was working together, figuring out happy memories. It really was the pure sign of hope and happiness, to see people join together and fight their fears.

Whoa! I didn't even know I was that deep!

My meh-gah-phone did come in handy eventually. I had to scream at some people to move out of the way of a giant boulder rolling down the street. Somehow, it was also singing Christmas carols.

...how do people come up with these things?

Just after I was done screaming at them, there was a sudden crackle and a squeaky noise coming from my communicator. "Hullo?" I asked into it.

No reply. Just some more crackles and squeaks.

"Hm...Must be something-," I cut off when I actually did hear a voice from the receiver.

"...help...prison...Shadies...trouble!..."

In between each words were crackles of the receiver, until finally, at the end, there was a long squeak, and then silence.

I took in a shaky breath when I realized that it sounded like Dusk.

Quickly, I held down the button that only contacted Dusk's receiver. There was complete silence on the other side of the line.

"Hello?" I ask into it. "Dusk, can you hear me? It's Dawn!"

No reply. I lifted my finger off of that button, and then held down three others, which contacted River, Dad, and Lexie.

"Hey, guys. Were you getting the weird crackling noises, too?" I ask. There were a few seconds before anyone replied.

"What noises?" Lexie asks.

"I didn't hear any," River replies.

"Nope," Dad said.

So Dusk must have only pressed the Communicator Two button...which is my button.

"Just curious. How are you guys doing?"

"Great," Lexie replied. "Actually, I think everyone here is okay for now."

"Lexie, think you can cover the middle of town for a few minutes?" I ask. "There's something I want to check out."

"Sure, I'm on my way," Lexie replies.

Without replying, I shove the communicator back into my pocket. That was when I realized the signs.

Each and every sign, whether it was supposed to a speed limit or an advertisement, said either "Red Snake," or the number 53.

"Whoa," I whispered. "Bad Wolf De Jå vu..."

I remembered the Mazai prophecy just as my vision blurred a little, and they all turned back into their normal image.

"Well that was weird," I whispered.

My vision blurred again, and I saw the image of a large field with a big, shady looking building in the middle of it. People were running all over it, and many of the people were also dark and shady looking.

Once again, the blurriness subsided, and I could see where I was again.

"Where did that come from?" I ask myself. "Strange..."

And then, yet again, another image occupied my sights. A glowing figure. A very familiar glowing figure...could it be?

"Oh!" I gasp, as my vision comes back. "No...it can't be...can it? Is it possible to try to communicate? He's to far away...right?"

I paused for a moment, and then told myself, "Are you kidding me? He could probably build a legit tower out of jello and glue...if he wanted to."

Without another thought, I sprinted toward the first vehicle I saw: A flying motorcycle.

"OMIGOSH!" I cried. "I'm...HAGRID! Except a lot smaller...but STILL! HAGRID!"

I boarded the motorcycle, and kicked it into first gear. Pulling up on the atomalical bar, I flew a little higher, and then shifted into the accelerated style.

I had forgotten that the biggest international prison in the world was here...and that it was on the east side of the town, in the middle of a field. It was also the place I had sent Dusk to help with. He probably felt like helping the people there...too bad they're all prisoners. And one of the guards just had to fear all of the prisoners getting out, didn't they?

Stupid guards.

• • •

Sorry. Another sort-of-kind-of cliffhanger there. :P But hey, what can I say? I want to keep you interested. ;P

I referenced Harry Potter...that's what the whole Hagrid with the motorcycle thing was about. :) kudos to anyone who understands it. :D

Anyway...Dawn was super duper hyper and silly in this chapter. And yes, legit is one of our favorite words. It's very legit. :D

And yay, this is a pretty long chapter! :D I know I said this would be the last chapter of this adventure but...I had a sudden burst of inspiration and had to put this next part in here. :D

So, I liked reading your reviews and thoughts about Rose last chapter. Here's our next companion:

Donna. Nobel. :D

Personally, I love her. But what do you think?

REVIEW! :)