Brian lowered the Star Destroyer to the ground of the second floor and shut off its engines, having destroyed the remaining ladders with the craft's lasers. "Well," he asked, "What do we do now?"
It was a good question, and one no one quite knew the answer to yet. The second floor was swarming with zombies, and they were all quite tired from all the fighting they had already done.
"I guess there's nothing else to do but clear the floor," said Jake as he sipped a Diet Coke, "Too bad we can't use the Star Destroyer's lasers without destroying the whole floor in the process."
Zack sighed. "You mean we actually have to go out again and fight?" he asked, "Ugh! Why did civilization have to fall? This is going to take forever!"
"There's really no other option," said Anna, "Everyone draw your weapons. Let's go."
"No, wait, I have an idea," said Kayla, "There was a book in the Arendelle library about necromancy. It was a fairly advanced textbook on the subject, but I might be able to pull off one of the more basic spells."
She opened the door and stepped out, walking a few paces outward before stretching out her hands. She closed her eyes and began to focus on her breathing, shifting her awareness deeper and deeper inward. Before long, she was in a state of trance, having no sensation of time or space. Her consciousness transcended the boundaries of the physical plane, and connected with the astral environment of the mall. Her heartbeat and breath slowed as she became more and more relaxed. She no longer heard the sounds of the zombies behind her or smelled the foul odor of their rotting bodies. Having firmly established herself between the spirit world and the physical world, she began to chant.
"Micama! goho pe iad! Zodir com-selahe azodien biabe oslondohe. Norezoda cahisa otahila gigipahe; vaunudel-cahisa tapuime qomospelehe telocahe; quinu toltoregi cahisa i cahisaji em ozodien; dasata beregida od toreodul!"
Kayla's aura cracked with a deep shade of Prussian blue, glowing with such intensity that even the untrained eyes of the others on the Star Destroyer could see the ghostly field of light around her. Although her chanting was clearly her own, her voice was deeper and stronger than usual, such that the air and the building itself seemed to vibrate along with it. From the floor began to rise all the shades of those who had ever been buried beneath the mall. All manner of animals arose, as well as hundreds of humans, mostly from various Native American tribes that had wandered through or lived in the region. After a few minutes had passed, the shades of more archaic creatures arose from the underworld. A swarm of dragonflies flew up from the floor as well as a pack of velociraptors, followed by twenty seven brontosauruses and fifteen penguins wearing boxing gloves. Also, there was a platypus.
Back on the Star Destroyer, the others watched in awe as Kayla called forth her phantom army - enough to rival the zombie army they were currently under siege from. Then, singing another incantation, she commanded them to attack.
It was a frightening sight at first, seeing an army of shades attack an army of zombies, but the screams and blood and flying guts normally associated with battle were not present. Right in front of the window, the shade of a squirrel scratched at a zombie whale, only to have its paw go right through. All around, the same thing was happening as the spears, fangs, claws, and stingers of the awakened shades passed through their targets without doing damage. At that moment, Abbey remembered what the Duke of the Satanic Monkeys had taught her.
"Kayla!" she called out, "Spirits can't hurt physical creatures without first adopting physical forms themselves."
"Huh?" said Kayla, confused. Suddenly, as she looked around, she saw what Abbey meant. "Hmmm," she thought to herself. Immediately, an idea struck her like lightning, and with a wave of her hand, she ordered all the shades to fly into a Build-A-Bear Workshop down the hall and possess a bear inside. They followed her command, rushing into the store. A few seconds later, hundreds of teddy bears poured out the doors, animated by the spirits of the dead.
"Wow!" said Brian, "That has to be the creepiest thing I've ever seen."
There were all manner of bears. There were happy bears, sad bears, enthusiastic bears, solid bears, liquid bears, green bears, gaseous bears, thirsty bears, wooden bears, cold bears, tall bears, three legged bears, funny bears, adulterous bears, intelligent bears, inspirational bears, healthy bears, and bears choking on rice among them. Some were armored with chainmail, others with plate armor, and a few with leather armor. They carried with them a great assortment of weapons - gladiuses, katanas, rapiers, spears, polearms, estocs, broadswords, cutlasses, kamas, sais, tonfas, and green beans to name a few.
Sweat ran down Kaylas face as she struggled to keep them under her control. The energy required to do this came from her Prussian blue aura, which was now considerably dimmer. Taking a deep breath, she reissued the command to attack.
As one body, the teddy bears swarmed outward and began hacking away at the zombies. Blades flashed and spears flew through the air as the zombies fell by the dozen.
"Well won't this be fun cleaning up," said Anna sarcastically, wrinkling her nose as a zombies arm rolled right under the Star Destroyer's window.
Kayla was really struggling now. Her eyes now glowed as well with the color of her aura as she made a series of gestures with her hands, creating a field of power that strengthened a slightly outnumbered regiment of teddy bears fighting in the entrance of a shoe shop. Her legs weakened under the effort, and she began to sway back and forth, doing her best to remain conscious as long as possible as the army of teddy bears fought the zombies. Just before blacking out, she planned to recite the dismissal and banish the shades back to the Underworld before they would turn on her, as shades are wont to do to those who disturb their peaceful sleep. She miscalculated her strength, however, and just as she opened her mouth, everything went black.
"Kayla!" screamed Abbey as she saw the aura of her friend flicker out. She leapt out of the Star Destroyer and caught her as she fell backwards. As she did so, Kayla's eyes open again as her aura flared up like a Prussian blue sun, nearly blinding everyone who looked upon her. Abbey felt an enormous surge of power flow from the crystal ear in her pocket through her body and into Kayla, strengthening and and energizing her. So strong was the force provided by that mysterious object that even the teddy bears under her control began to glow blue. Over the course of the next hour, the teddy bears cleared the mall of all zombies, killing them and dragging their bodies far outside the mall. When this had been done, Kayla ordered them back into the Build-A-Bear Workshop before releasing the shades that animated them.