Preface: Hello, again! So, to recap: we lost a few party members last time! Something happened to the Master Emerald, so Knuckles is gone, and Pumpkin hurt her arm! And Perinton's plan seems to be going well! And this chapter introduces a few new things to worry about...

MINECRAFT MANIACS RPG

THE CORRUPTION SAGA:
GLITCH'ER THINGS

Previously...after Kevin finally stabilized the detotated wam, Buzzer gathered all sorts of heroes from across the multiverse to join Danny, Liam, and Kevin in their adventure across the Corruption. So far, with the probably unneeded assistance from Woodsword students Jodi and Morgan, they have acquired the first Glitch Key in the Breached Plains and the second one in the Cursed Caverns.

Now...Buzzer waits for the players to return, haunted by a vision he had the night before...

Roll Call

Danny - Alfred von Any: Hero with emotional issues. The leader.

Liam - Willy Blanq: Expert crafter. The maker.

Kevin - Nevile Napoleon: Part-gangerman redstonist. The brains

Pork Chop - Dee Bradley Baker: Danny's companion. The pet.

Spawny and Spawnette - Damien Laquet: The rabborg siblings. The heart.

Buzzer - Jim Cummings: Psychic fly from the future. The fairy.

Max - Max Brooks: Real-worlder trapped in Minecraft. The load.

Woodsword Gang - Various Actors: Jodi, Morgan, Ash, Harper, and Po. The other loads.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Issac Ryan Brown: Fastest thing alive. Hero of Mobius.

Treasure - Sanai Victoria: Princess Ariel's kitten. Courageous and loves water.

Ms. Featherbon - Anne Halli: Hummingbird fairy. Gatekeeper of Whisker Haven.

Kirby - Makiko Ohmoto: Super-tough pink puff. Can copy other's abilities.

Unikitty - Tara Strong: Princess of the Unikingdom. Near-eternally optomistic.

Puppycorn - Grey DeLise: Unikitty's brother. Not the brightest prince.

Bluey Heeler - Actress Name Withheld: Six-year-old blue heeler. Loves to play.

Bingo Heeler - Actress Name Withheld: Bluey's little sister. Slightly more sensitive.

Chapter 41:
Into the Corruption!, Part Three -
The Temple in the Jungle

[Main Party Selected: Danny, Liam, Kevin, Buzzer, Unikitty, Treasure, Kirby, Sonic]
[Supporting Party Selected: Pork Chop, Spawny, Spawnette, Max, Puppycorn, Ms. Featherbon, Bluey, Bingo]

[Character Selected: Buzzer]
[Current World: ?]
[Current Location: Tent of Rejuvenation]

[BGM: Queen, David Bowie - Under Pressure]

Buzzer flew back and forth, anxiously. The previous night, he had been tormented by a series of terrible visions. One that depicted Danny, Liam, and Kevin being kidnapped. One depicting Danny violently quitting the game just before a pivotal moment. One showing the state of his future coming true. It was so terrible, he could not sleep the entire night.

Kirby watched the fly hover across the tent. "Is something wrong, Buzzer?" he asked. "You haven't seemed very well all day."

"I believe he's anxious about something," stated Trixie, watching her teacher worry. "Do you want to tell us, Buzzer?"

Buzzer began to speak, but then stopped. "It's...hard to explain, really," he eventually said. "Let's just say I'm...nervous about the future."

"What's so bad about the future?" Puppycorn asked, looking up from the makeshift burger he had made himself. "I just wanna live in the present and not worry about what's coming next!"

Spawnette shook her head, looking up from the book she was reading. "(Did you forget he was from the future?)" she asked.

"(Actually, I don't think he even knew he was from the future!)" Spawny corrected. At that moment, a new player popped into the room. The player looked to be a girl wearing a uniform for some kind of Girl Scout-esque group. "(Oh, hey! Here's our new guest!)"

The girl looked around. "Wow, Morgan wasn't kidding!" she said in awe. "This place really is strange." She looked at Buzzer straight in the eye. "And there is a floating eye of ender."

"Yes, well, there is stranger stuff to some," Buzzer answered. His skin changed to a bright yellow. "There should be more of us arriving soon…"

As if summoned, Danny, Liam, and Kevin popped back into the game, alerting the sleeping Pork Chop. "Oh, great. Another one," said Danny, somewhat upset at the girl's appearance. He promptly slapped himself in the face. "Sorry! That was rude!"

The girl chuckled. "Well, first impressions are everything!" she said. She stuck out her hand to shake Danny's. "I'm Ash Kapoor."

Next thing the group knew, a fox with two tails had stepped out of the glowing white portal. "Say, this place is pretty spiffy," he said, looking around. "Oh, hey! Nice to see you again!"

"You too, Tails!" said Liam, waving. He leaned his head into Ash's. "There's gonna be a lot of video game characters in here, just a heads-up." He looked around the tent. "Although, I have no clue where Sonic-"

He was cut off by Sonic zooming into the middle of the tent, Unikitty flying behind him. "Tails! Oh, thank goodness you're here!" the hedgehog said, grabbing the fox cub.

"Wait, what's happening?" Tails asked, immediately on high-alert.

"They're armed and dangerous!" Unikitty continued. "There's this asparagus that can-" But the princess was interrupted by suddenly freezing in place.

"We caught you!" a voice came from behind Unikitty. Bluey and Bingo were approaching the two mobians, Bluey armed with a piece of asparagus and Bingo holding a xylophone and its dinger stick.

"Are these the mobians that sound like they're from Downunda?" Tails asked, leaning into Sonic's ear.

"Yeah, but…" Sonic began. Suddenly, Bluey pointed the asparagus at him and shouted "Donkey!" The hedgehog dropped to his hands and knees and ran around, shouting "Hee-haw!" every so often.

The Minecrafters all chuckled. "Okay, that was absolutely hi-" Liam began, before Bingo suddenly made a ding with the xylophone, freezing him in place like what happened with Unikitty.

Tails laughed a little himself. "Well, I guess that's a good first impression," he said. "I'm Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails."

Bluey looked at the mobian's rear end. "Oh, because you have two tails!" she said, getting the joke.

"And his name sounds like he's saying 'miles per hour'," added Ms. Featherbon. The two puppies, due to being used to "meters", didn't understand that one.

"Well, it's good to see you too, Ms. Featherbon," said Tails. Looking to his right, he saw a familiar tiger cub walk out of the portal he just entered, stretching his legs. "And you too, Sultan!"

"Tails! Wasn't expecting you here!" the tiger said, his tail wagging. He noticed everyone cracking up at Sonic acting like a donkey, needlessly sniffing Kirby's body. "What the heck is Sonic doing?"

"I turned him into a donkey with this magic asparagus!" explained Bluey. "Aunt Trixie and Buzzer made it for me! They also made Bingo a magic xylophone!"

Danny knocked on Liam's unmoving body. "So these things really work?" he asked. "He's not just pretending to be frozen?"

"For real life!" said Bingo. "Oh, I better unfreeze him!" She did another ding on the xylophone, and Liam's body unfroze, causing him to fall to the floor in shock. Needless to say, everyone started cracking up even harder.

Trixie rolled her eyes. "Okay, everyone, that's enough!" she said. "Remember, you have three more Glitch Keys to find, so you must get out there!"

"Oh, goodness! She's right!" declared Buzzer. "Everyone, get ready to go! Today's journey may be a little uncomfortable for some of you…"

[Character Selected: Danny]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Corruption, Debug Woods]

[BGM: The Tokens - The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)]

After that whole fiasco with Bluey and Bingo's new gadgets, Trixie brought up a portal to our next location: a large, bushy forest called Debug Woods. After stepping through the portal with everyone else, I noticed a message in the chat saying "Your game mode has been updated to Adventure mode." I looked up at Buzzer, who was scouting ahead. "So why do they call it debug woods?" I asked.

"You see, normally the slash commands you players are able to type in can work in more extreme cases than what is usually allowed," the fly explained. "However, as we approach the perimeter of Fuquatres' temple, what is known as Adventure mode is the only one available."

"Fuquatres," Kevin slowly repeated, sounding out the name so he could actually say it. "Is that the newest Glitch Lord?"

"Correct," answered Buzzer. "He is able to cause commands to happen at will, including the game mode command."

"I'm sorry, can I interject?" Max asked. "What are commands?"

Ash shrugged. "I'm not too sure, but I think they can do things like give someone certain items or cause a certain potion effect."

"So they are like magical spells?" asked Ms. Featherbon.

"I suppose in a way," stated Buzzer. "But regardless, the temple should be just up this way. Stay close now, everyone!"

We all walked through the forest, following Buzzer attentively. From reading the Woodsword Chronicles books, I knew that Ash was an expert in the wilderness, so if we encountered anything treacherous along the way, she would probably know what to do. But after walking for a few minutes with no interruptions, I became a little uneasy. "Does anyone hear anything suspicious?" I shouted.

"Only a few hisses here and there," said Kirby. Sure enough, I could hear a few spider noises coming from the trees. "Eek! The spiders here are humongous!"

Ash looked up at the trees. "Well, as long as the trees aren't covering the sun, they'll leave us alone."

"Unless you attack them first," I added.

"So I shouldn't sic a Super Sonic Spin Attack on them unless they're attacking me?" Sonic called back. I turned around and gave him a nod. "Understood." He looked around as well. "I'm gonna run ahead and see how much further we have to walk."

"Sure, knock yourself out!" Liam said. We felt a gust of wind pass us as the blue blur ran ahead. "Five cents says we'll be there in a minute or two," Liam remarked.

Sure enough, about a second later, the hedgehog came running back. "We'll be there in a minute or two," he said, to which I slyly darted my eyes back at Liam.

The temple wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was the same cubic cobblestone structure I've seen here or there, though I did find it odd how it was in a normal forest biome instead of a jungle. "Doesn't look like much," said Unikitty, eyeing the structure.

"It doesn't, but there's all sorts of traps waiting for us in there!" corrected Ash, holding her arm back. "At least, that's what I've been told. I'm used to Creative mode."

Tails walked forward and inspected the wall. "Doesn't look like there are any visible doorways," he said, running his hands across, "or anything that could activate a hidden one."

"That leaves mining through, then," said Max, hefting the pickaxe I lent him. He walked up to the wall, brought the pickaxe onto the cobblestone...and nothing happened. "Hubba-wha?"

"Whoops! Forgot to tell you!" said Kevin. "In Adventure mode, you can't build with or mine just anything - only specific tools and blocks to specific blocks!"

"So we can't just make a block pile?" A shake of the head. "Drat!"

Unikitty eyed the roof. "Wait, hold on!" She took a running start, leapt into the air, and flew up to the rooftop. "Bingo! There's a hole in here!"

"Okay," said Bingo, confused, "but why are you telling me?"

"She's talking to all of us, silly!" Treasure said with a chuckle. "Now how are we going to get up there?"

"Simple!" said Tails, pointing to his rear end. His twin tails twisted up into a propeller, and he began to hover in the air. "Flight 112492 is now boarding!"

"Nice job, Tails!" I said, grabbing his arms. "But aren't we a lot for you to carry?"

"Yeah! I should take some of you, too!" Kirby agreed. With a suction of air, his body puffed up and he began to hover as well. One-by-one, we lined up to grab onto the hands and legs of our air-carriers.

Buzzer followed us up into the air. "You do remember that I could've simply teleported you into the hole, right?"

Ash's eyes got wide. "It can do that?" she asked me from Kirby's end.

"Yep, but where's the fun in that?" I responded. Carefully, Tails slid into the hole. One-by-one, everyone that grabbed onto my legs jumped off, followed by myself. Kirby's group was the next, and then Unikitty jumped in before the hole slid shut, leaving us in pitch-black darkness.

[BGM: End]

"Ooo, it's really dark in here," said Bluey, quivering in fear. "What happened to the lights?"

"I guess we gotta find a lamp or something," answered Sonic. "It's gonna be pretty tricky to do that, though."

"Well, as long as we stick together, we'll-" I began. Suddenly, I heard pistons shifting, and the next thing I knew, Liam, Kevin, Pork Chop, the rabborgs, and I were all falling into a long, dark hole. "I knew it was too good to be truuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeee-"

[Character Selected: Ash]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Debug Woods, Fuqautres' Temple]

A redstone lamp activated, filling the room with light. Everyone looked around, trying to find Danny, Liam, and Kevin, as well as their allies. "Where the heck did they go?" Sonic shouted.

"They're mine now," a gravelly, booming voice echoed into the room. "If you want to see them again, you will have to face my challenges. For this first challenge, you will have to look for a key to make it to the next room. But can you make it out alive?"

[BGM: Toto - Africa]

Ash heard the closing of a door from behind her. Turning around, she saw an iron door materialize out of nowhere with no buttons, levers, or pressure plates to open it. "Oh, I get what's going on here!" she said, a light bulb going off in her head.

"What's happening?" Max asked, telling himself not to panic. "Are we being held hostage?"

"Is this some kind of prison?" asked Puppycorn. "Are we gonna have to dig out with spoons?"

Ash shook her head and chuckled. "No! This is an adventure map!" she said. "I've seen people do these kinds of things online all the time!"

"What's an adventure map?" asked Sultan, his interest piqued. "It sounds like fun!"

"I think it's a custom challenge people make in Minecraft using only these things called command blocks," Ash explained. "Like in this room, we'll have to look for clues to find the lever out of here!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Ms. Featherbon. "Everybody, search for clues!" The entire group began to search every nook and cranny for some sort of clue. Behind these leaves...no. Maybe this block of diamond...nope! Do the lamps have anything to do with...no.

The group was just about to give up when Sonic felt something odd about the bookshelf he was running his hands on. Turning around, he noticed a green book was poking out of it. "Hey, guys! This book must have our clue!"

Everyone ran over to see what he was talking about. "I've never seen that happen before," Max remarked, taking the book from the shelf. He opened it up and read the clue aloud: "I once surpassed all other materials, but without me, my new successor is nothing."

Treasure scratched her ear in confusion. "I don't get it," she said.

"I have no clue," said Tails, shrugging.

"Can't think of anything," added Unikitty. "Well, except for Duplo bricks, but I wouldn't say that they're better than normal Lego bricks…"

Ash racked her brain for recent news. "I've heard that they're completely redoing the Nether in the next update," she said, and everyone turned to listen. "And they're adding this new material called netherite. And in order to make netherite equipment, you'll have to combine it with…" She faced the shiny block roughly the same color as Bluey's fur and Sonic's quills. "Diamond!"

Max took his pickaxe back out. "You don't think this will work, do you?"

"Only one way to find out!" Sonic declared. He grabbed the pick from Max's blocky hand, ran up to the diamond block, and this time, the block was successfully mined, revealing a lone lever. "Jackpot!" The hedgehog shouted, flicking the lever and opening the door.

"Very impressive work, everyone," the gravelly voice said as everyone walked into the open door. "But can you survive something a little more...haunting?" At the last word, the door slammed shut, leaving everyone in the darkness once more.

"Oh, no! It's dark again!" shouted Bingo, hugging her sister in fear. Suddenly, she felt a strange sense that something was in the air. "A-and I-I-I think th-this place is h-h-haunted!"

Tails looked around, trying to find the ghosts Bingo was talking about. "Hard to tell," he said, "considering they're invisible and all!"

"Not for much longer!" declared Ms. Featherbon, clearing her throat. "Spooky spocky sheen, make these ghosts be seen!" As the fairy finished her spell, the room began to be illuminated by a green glow as the ghosts came into view.

"Crap! It's the Sandopolis Zone all over again!" Sonic shouted. Suddenly, he noticed a faint glow in the corner of the room. "Hey! There's some weird torch thingy over there!"

Ash turned to see what he was talking about. "That's a redstone torch!" she said, witnessing the not-so-powerful glow in front of her eyes. "We can use it to turn on the redstone lamps!"

"So that means…" said Sultan, his brain working quickly now. He thought of the time that Kirby inhaled a small bit of static electricity and gained the ability to power one of Tails' contraptions. "Kirby! Suck it up!"

"Roger!" said the puffball. He took in a breath, did an on-the-spot run, and inhaled the redstone torch into his mouth. Two balls of electricity appeared in midair and floated next to his head, forming a red-and-orange jester's hat with stars on the left side. A small scepter formed in his hand as his pink skin turned a more bright yellow. He was now Beam Kirby!

"Hey, it worked!" said Treasure. "Just like when he inhaled those static electricity sparks!"

"And the missiles those aliens shot at him!" added Unikitty, remembering Kirby's first visit to the Unikingdom.

"Oh, please. It's my specialty!' Kirby said with a chuckle. Activating his wand's beam whip, the sparks hit all four redstone lamps, filling the room with light. All of the transparent figures became tangible just as the lamps turned on.

Bingo shuddered, taking out her xylophone. Little bug on the wall just has to be brave, she thought. "Freeze!" she shouted, slamming the dinger onto the xylophone. The goasts stopped moving and froze in place.

"Nice job, Bingo!" said Sonic, giving the puppy a thumbs-up. Tails took his hands. "We've got it from here! It's time for a ghost scramble!" The two simultaneously curled into a Super Sonic Spin Attack, bouncing around the room and through the ghosts, who shattered like glass as the two bodies crashed through them.

"Mmm! Nothing like a haunted omelette!" said Tails as the two unfurled from the attack. A book that was floating in the last ghost's body fell into his hands. "And look! The next clue!"

Haunted omelette? thought Sultan. That didn't make any sense! He watched as Tails opened the book. The next clue read "I have been unobtainable since the very beginning, yet am still considered a treasure."

"Okay, I'm even more stumped than last time!" said Tails, scratching his head. "And I thought Mobius didn't make any sense sometimes!"

Ash racked her brain again, this time thinking about the information Morgan talked about with her between classes. "Wait! I got it!" she said. "It's sponge! It was one of the very first blocks added to Minecraft, and for a long time, it was only available in Creative mode!"

Looking at the place where the redstone torch was, Kirby noticed that the block was a plush, yellow cube. "This looks like sponge to me!" he said, taking the pickaxe from Sonic's hand. The bouncy substance fell away, and with another flick of a lever, the next iron door opened.

"My, you're a persistent bunch," the gravelly voice said once more. "This last challenge will be something of a test of wits." Walking into the room, there was a chest in the middle of the room, as well as a pattern of logs on the floor among the spruce planks and four, speaker-like blocks.

Ms. Featherbon flew up to one of the speaker-like blocks. "What could this strange device be?" she wondered aloud. She poked it with her wing, and it emitted a noise with a note icon popping out. She hummed in delight. "When I touch it, it gives forth a sound!"

"I've read about these," said Max. "These are called note blocks!" Opening the chest, he noticed there were a few piles of redstone dust, white objects with redstone torches on them, and yet another book. "I think we have to make these things make a small jingle to open the last door!"

Ash took out the book. Rather than a riddle inside, the clue was "1-3-10-6". "Hmm, now what is this?" she wondered aloud.

Sonic looked over Ash's shoulder. "Maybe it's the amount of times we have to touch each of them?" he suggested. He looked at the block Ms. Featherbon was standing on. "Hey, Ms. Featherbon! How many times did you press that one?"

"Only once!" responded the fairy. "Was I supposed to do it any more?"

"No, that's perfect!" responded the hedgehog. He went to the next block and pressed it three times. "Hey, these are like guitar chords!" he said. "I just tuned this to an A-chord!"

Unikitty walked to the third note block. "Should I press this ten times?" she asked. At Sonic's nod of approval, the princess pressed the block ten times, leaving it at an E-chord.

Understanding it now, Ash pressed the last note block six times, tuning it to a C-chord. "Alright, now we have to connect them all together!"

"I think we can use this redstone to connect them!" said Max. He walked in front of the nearest note block and attempted to place a lump of redstone dust down. However, the lump refused to leave his hand. "Oh, that's right! You can only put things down on certain other things."

Treasure inspected the logs on the ground. "Hey, what a minute!" she said, noticing something that somehow no one else noticed before. "These logs are pointing to the note block thingies!"

"So maybe…" Sultan added, taking the redstone from Max's hand. While he wasn't as fast as Sonic, the tiger cub was still pretty speedy, and before long, the log pattern was covered in the red dust, connecting all of the note blocks together, as well as to a lone pressure plate near the front door.

"Wow! That was pretty fast!" said Tails, impressed by the tiger's speed. When the fox cub stepped on the pressure plate, however, the first two note blocks activated simultaneously before the power fizzled out. "Hm. What are we missing?"

Ash chuckled. "We're missing the repeaters!" she said. "That will extend the distance!"

Max took out the objects with redstone torches on them. "Are they these things?" he asked.

"Those certainly are!"

"I've got this!" said Puppycorn. He grabbed all four repeaters and placed one of each on each piece of the pattern. This time, pressing the pressure plate made all four note blocks play, but the door still did not open. "What? That didn't do it?"

Treasure took a look at the torch at the back of the repeater closest to her. Grabbing it, she noticed she could pull it back, so she pulled it to the furthest setting and did the same with the other three repeaters. "Maybe this will work now?" she thought aloud.

"Well, only one way to find out!" declared Ash. Her foot went onto the pressure plate, and this time, the note blocks finally played their true melody: the first four notes of the repeating riff in "Living Mice." This is what caused the door to finally open.

"Hey! That did it!" said Sultan, pumping his fist.

"Yeah! We make great music together, matey!" Treasure agreed, giving him a hug. But then they heard Bluey giggling. "What's so funny?"

Bluey smirked. "I think you're gonna get married someday!" she said. The two Palace Pets responded by sticking out their tongues and shouting "Yuck!"

Sonic gave the blue heeler the stink eye. "Dude, what was that for?" he asked.

"What? Winton did it to me and Mackenzie!" Bluey defended herself. "Oh, and I'm a girl." Sonic's eyes got wide, obviously getting the wrong idea. "And Mackenzie's a boy, also."

Sonic slapped his head. "Oh, man! I'm so sorry!" he said. "This whole time I thought you and Bingo were guys!" He paused. "Wait, Bingo's a girl, too, right?"

Bingo nodded. "People seem to think we're boys a lot!" she said, confused.

The gravelly, booming voice returned once more. "Fantastic work, heroes," it said. "Now that you've bested my challenges, you must face me, Fuquatres, yourselves. However, I shall give you a small advantage - you can see your little friends again."

Peering through the doorway, Ash saw something odd - a black void with floating green ones and zeroes, almost like binary code. "Well, that's odd," she said.

Carefully creeping up to the doorway, Unikitty put her foot in front of the door. It froze there, as if there was a floor. "It's okay, guys! We can walk on it!"

Sonic sighed. "So, you ready, keed?" he asked Tails.

"I sure am!" the fox responded. "The rest of you ready?"

"Born ready!" said Puppycorn, flexing his muscles in an attempt to look tough.

Ash looked at the group in front of her. "You guys kinda remind me of my Minecraft friends," she said. "And we faced a lot of challenges ourselves." She stepped forward into the doorway. "And whatever we face here, I know we can handle it!"

[Character Selected: Kevin]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Corruption, Breach in the Game's Code]

You glance at the clock on your wall. It hasn't been that long since you wound up here; maybe fifteen minutes or so. But still, you wonder what is taking the others so long. You, Liam, Danny, and your allies have just been hanging in this portion of the game's code, tied to an invisible wall by chains, as Fuquatres himself taunts you. Even though Buzzer is scouting around, looking for something that can break you out, it all seems hopeless.

The bearded figure wearing a yellow toga appears once more. "Well, how are you doing, victims?" he asks.

"Gee, I dunno," you respond. "How would you feel being stuck in Minecraft's code, stuck to chains?"

"Well, don't worry any longer," responds Fuquatres, taking out his scepter. "It seems your little friends have conquered my challenges, so I'll at least unchain you." With a pat of his scepter, the chains vanish.

"Wait, what?" you shout, panicking. But the feelings quickly vanish as you realize that you're standing on solid ground. "Um...that's never happened before…"

"So, wait, you're not supposed to be able to stand in here?" Danny asks, carefully patting his feet.

"Nope," you respond. "There must be barrier blocks here…"

At that instant, the others run into the area, eager to see you. "Oh, good! You guys are fine!" Sonic says, relieved, before turning to face Fuquatres. "Unless this guy was just about to torture you."

"Oh, no, pig," responds Fuquatres, his body beginning to hover in the air. "I was waiting for everyone to arrive before the torturing began…"

Sonic rolls his eyes. "I'm not a pig; I'm a hedgehog!"

[BGM: Johan Johnson - arena1]

Ash's eyes dart to yours. "What does he mean by that?" she asks, panicking. Her question is answered by the feeling of being sucked up.

"Gangermen," says Liam, taking out his dispenser. "Of course." The arrow flies in the creature's direction...and freezes, inches away from it. "Hey!"

"Gah!" Ash screams as her footing is lost. She flies into the gangerman's open mouth, causing the creature's body to swell up.

"Everyone, scatter!" you shout. Everyone runs for cover just as the gangerman spits Ash out, sending her flying right into an invisible wall.

Fuquatres chuckles. "So, now do you know who you're dealing with?" he asks.

Danny eyes the Glitch Lord, Pork Chop backing him up. "Oh, now we do," he says. His sword charges with energy. "But we're ready."

"Very well." The scepter is lifted into the air, and the next thing you know, an entire swarm of gangermen is in front of you.

"Okay, guys!" shouts Sonic. "Moment of truth!" With a battle cry, you all run right into the fray. Balling your fists, you send a barrage of punches into the face of the nearest gangerman, distracting it long enough for Spawny to use his own scepter to finish it off.

Danny shoves his sword into a gangerman, knocking it to the ground, but is quickly met by another one spawning in its place. "Wow! He really is the Glitch Lord of Commands!" he remarks, preparing to face the creature.

"On the bright side," adds Liam, doing a somersault in mid air to attack many of the gangermen, "we've been facing these dudes for so long, they're barely even a challenge anymore!"

"Maybe for you guys…" says Sultan, scratching a gangerman in the eye. The creature retalaites by tossing him into the air, falling on top of Unikitty's horn. "YE-OW!"

"Um, can somebody help me?" Ash asks, still stuck in the wall.

"Oh, yeah! Got it!" you shout, hastily. Quickly, you run up to Ash, suck in a breath, and she is sucked out of the hole, falling flat on her back. "Sorry. I know that was a little unorthodox."

"No problem." Ash picks herself back up to her feet. "So, what is with these endermen?"

"Oh, just normal alien thingies, no big deal!" responds Unikitty from the battlefield. She jabs her horn into one of the gangermen's bodies. "Good thing I figured out I can use my horn!"

"Oh, yeah! Me too!" shouts Puppycorn. He bends down, like a bull, and charges with a battle cry. All of a sudden, he freezes, his horn stuck in an invisible object.

"Hehe," chuckles Fuquartes. "You really thought I wouldn't adapt to that?"

"Um, we were kinda hoping…" says Sonic, rubbing the back of his head. The gangermen approaching him and Tails are getting closer now, so the two spin around the creatures, disorienting them and causing them to fall to the ground. "Now's our chance!" The two curl into balls and are about to attack...when suddenly, they get caught in some kind of wall.

"Hey! What is this diabolical trap?" shouts Tails, his namesakes fluttering in the wind.

Kirby slides under the disoriented gangermen, downing them. "It's so weird!" he says. "It's almost like they're…"

"Trapped in a magic invisible wall?" Bluey suggests.

"Wait...magic invisible wall…" says Danny, getting an idea. "Guys! It's barrier blocks! Fuquatres just summoned barrier blocks!"

You snap your fingers. "I knew I was right!" you shout. In the meantime, however, the gangermen numbers are beginning to become overwhelming. "But what are we gonna do about these gangermen?" you ask.

"Chickens! Mice! Worms!" Bluey shouts, using her asparagus. "Maybe we need more of us?" she suggests as Liam fires more arrows.

Buzzer looks in the direction of the hole Ash was trapped in. Slowly, he approaches where the hole was...and slides through. "Hey! I can enter the coding!" he shouts.

"Great job, flying ender eye!" shouts Ash. "Now go see if you can find anything that can help us!"

"I certainly will!" the fly responds, before he flies away, ready to look for something that can help.

"Good, but in the meantime," you say, turning around. "We really gotta get in there. If he doesn't get back soon, we may be here for a while…"

[Character Selected: Buzzer]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Debug Woods, Breach in the Game's Code]

[BGM: Johan Johnson - arena2]

Green ones and zeroes dotted the landscape as Buzzer searched for something that could help. Anything. Anything at all. Based off of a trip through time he took to Kevin's first time obtaining detotated wam, there were lines of code he could pluck from thin air...but the fly wasn't sure which one to use.

As a last resort, Buzzer closed his eye. He focused on his brain, not letting anything distract him, almost as if he were meditating. Suddenly, it happened. He had forced a vision. Images of a two-headed cherry with a blue stem splitting into several duplicates, clones of the heroes flying around helping the real ones out, and Kirby splitting himself into his own duplicates flashed in his head.

Buzzer's eye opened, filled with inspiration. "I know what I must do," he said. With a flight into a piece of the code, he began to search for the right lines. By mashing them all together, he had gotten the supplies the team needed: a Double Cherry power-up imbued with a Creative mode command, a red "NO" sign, and a simple pink hand mirror. "Now to get back to the heroes!" he declared, beginning his long flight back.

Meanwhile, back at the battlefield, Fuquatres decided that merely watching the heroes struggle against the gangermen and his barrier block placements was getting a little boring. He decided to up the ante a little, even if the results were a little destructive. Lightening flashed in front of Max, setting him on fire. "Yeow! I've been electrocuted!" he shouted.

"Hydro time!" Liam shouted. Hastily, he grabbed the water bucket in his hotbar and dumped it onto his ally, dousing the flames. "I'm gonna have to break out the potions in a bit."

"Actually, right now would be good!" interjected Treasure. She and Sultan were backed up against the wall, cornered by a humongous zombie.

"That's good enough for me!" declared Danny. Reaching into his inventory, he took out one of the bloodred splash potions of healing Liam had made and tossed it into the giant zombie's body. The creature flashed red, taking damage, but not dying. "Rats! We need more oomph!"

"Will this suffice?" Sonic asked. Bluey and Bingo were cowering in fear at the horror they were facing, so the hedgehog grabbed the xylophone from Bingo's hands. "Freeze!" he shouted, making the instrument do a ding.

Spawny watched as the terror froze in place. "(Now's our chance, sis!)" he shouted, hopping on top of Spawnette. His sister started twirling around as magic balls flew everywhere, damaging the giant creature.

Kevin wiped his forehead, exhausted from the fighting. "Boy, this sure is a lot to handle!" he said.

"Oh, are you getting tiwed?" Fuquatres said in a mocking tone. "You could always just give up and die!"

"No way, you weirdo!" declared Ash, standing tall. "We'll fight you as long as it takes! No matter what we do, we'll never give in!"

[BGM: Peter Hont - The Four Horsemen]

"Well, that's nice to hear!" everyone heard Buzzer say. They all turned around and watched the fly return, supplies in invisible hands.

"Buzzer! You're back!" shouted Tails, eager. "What's with all of the stuff?"

"Just witness and let the future happen!" shouted the fly. "Ms. Featherbon! Lend me your magic and duplicate this cherry!"

The fairy flew out from her perching position. "Gladly!" she said. Pointing her wings forward, balls of magic flew out, empowering the power-up. It began to split itself into several duplicates, each one falling into one of the heroes' hands. The power flowed into each of their bodies, and the next thing everyone knew, they were staring at duplicates of each other.

"Ooo, this is so weird!" said Sultan, eyeing his handsome face staring back at him.

"Yeah, it's like looking in a mirror!" said Unikitty, her head darting back and forth to her duplicate's repetition.

"Hmph, so there's more of you," said Fuquatres, fate being tempted. "No matter, I'm still…" Suddenly, all of the clones leapt into the air and began to fly, almost as if they had a mind of their own. "Uh, oh."

Splash potions of harming and healing were suddenly tossed everywhere, defeating every single last gangerman and healing everyone in the process. Then, swords clashed against Fuquatres as he failed to try and defeat the duplicates. "Wow! It's almost like these guys are in Creative mode!" said Ash, watching her duplicate shoot arrows at Fuquatres.

"They actually are," said Buzzer. "I combined some code I found with one of those cherries to boost them up."

"This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!" said Sultan, eagerly watching every single moment of the zerg rush. "Nothing like this ever happens in Whisker Haven!"

The potion raining and swords clashing stopped as the duplicates vanished in a puff of smoke. "Wow! What a show!" said Kirby, happily applauding. He turned to Buzzer. "You think you could toss me that mirror?"

"Of course! How could I for-urgh!" Buzzer was suddenly cut off by him being teleported right into Fuquatres' grasp.

"Enough is enough!" the Glitch Lord shouted, grasping the fly in his hands. "You were not supposed to find a way out of my barrier! If you want to make it out of here…" Suddenly, the mirror slipped out of Buzzer's grasp, falling to the ground.

In a brave act, Pork Chop finally decided to try and get some relevance in this chapter. He climbed on top of Danny's head, bounced off, and kicked it right in Kirby's direction. Sadly, it missed, but Puppycorn saw it flying. "For relevaaaaaaaance!" the prince shouted, hopping into the air. The mirror collided with his head, making a sickening crack, and started back in Kirby's direction.

Instinctively, the puffball sucked in a breath, did a run-in-place, and inhaled the mirror into his mouth. A stand mirror suddenly appeared in front of him, and he stared attentively into it. The two began to spin around before the mirror shattered, turning Kirby's skin to a light purple color and giving him a two-pointed blue-and-purple hat with a large bowtie-like decoration at the front as the shards of the mirror transformed into a scepter. He was now Mirror Kirby!

Fuquatres stared in confusion. "What? Was that supposed to scare me or something?" he asked.

Kirby turned and faced the Glitch Lord. "No, but this might!" He put his guard up, covering himself in a reflective bubble.

"Please, don't make me laugh!" said Fuquatres. He shifted his scepter, and a bolt of lightning hit Kirby...and then hit the Glitch Lord instead. "Gahahahaha!" In his writhing state, Buzzer fell out of his grasp.

"Nice going, Kirby!" said Sonic, giving his ally a thumbs-up.

"Oh, I'm not done!" Kirby declared. He began to split into several other Kirbies, jumping down the line, one after another, before leaping above Fuquatres and merging back into one Kirby, who then created a beam from his scepter that sliced across the Glitch Lord's body. "There! Now I'm done!"

"Way to go, Kirby!" Danny hollered, clapping for the little guy. He looked down at Buzzer, who had a barrier block inches away from his body. Before he or Fuquatres could get up, Danny grabbed the barrier block, making all of the others visible as red "NO" signs, and used the remaining time of his currently-remaining potion of strength to kick the Glitch Lord right into the void of Minecraft's code. "That's for removing the focus on us in this chapter!" he shouted as Fuquatres was left to the mercy of the infinite code.

[BGM: End]

"You don't think that could backfire on us, could it?" Liam suggested. "I mean, while he's in the coding, he could potentially mess up the game all he wants."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it," said Buzzer, recovering from his damaged state. "Whatever happens in this part of the code, stays in this part of the code." A key with a yellow cast appeared at the back, and Buzzer picked it up, making a delightful static nose.

"Yes! The third Glitch Key!" Sonic whooped. "One step closer to victory!" He turned towards Kirby. "By the way, that was a nice combo there!"

Kirby reverted to his usual pink appearance. "Thanks! I call that the Right Back at Ya combo!"

Ash turned to Danny, Liam, and Kevin. "By the way, you're welcome for being saved,' she said. "It was actually pretty fun figuring out the riddles with everyone else here."

"Thanks for leading them in our absence!" stated Kevin. "You're actually a good leader!"

Ash nodded. "Well, a good leader doesn't leave anyone behind!" She turned towards Danny. "And something tells me you agree."

"Well…" Danny rubbed the back of his head. "Sort of." Suddenly, ones and zeroes began to fall into the room, collapsing against the barrier cube. "Uh-oh! That ain't good!"

"This code portal is collapsing!" declared Buzzer. He placed down the portal back to the Tent of Rejuvenation, which grew to its normal size. "Quickly! Everyone through the portal!" Everyone screamed as they rushed into the waiting blue vortex, and shortly afterward, the portal vanished right before the breach in the Minecraft code closed, leaving the remnants of the portion dormant.

[World Change: ?]
[Location Change: Tent of Rejuvenation]

Everyone tripped as they entered the Tent of Rejuvenation, startling the meditating Trixie. "Oh, goodness!" she shouted. "Did you come back from a fight or something?"

"No, Aunt Trixie," responded Bluey. "We came back from a weird place called 'the game's code' that started to fall apart!"

"But at least we got the third Glitch Key, shadow lady!" said Sonic, trying to calm her down.

Everyone got up and started to congregate around the tent. "Well, I have to say," said Ash, "that was pretty fun!"

"Well, hanging up on a wall the whole time was a waste," said Danny, "but I guess when you're us, there's never a dull Minecraft game!"

"Well, I guess I'll pass this fun on to someone else, like what Jodi and Morgan did!" Ash added. "See you guys!" With that, she left the game, just like the other two.

"Well, I guess we're officially stuck in this charade," said Liam, shrugging. "Anyway, wanna hit the server for a bit before we leave?"

"You're on!" said Danny, giving his partner the point-thumbs-up.

Bluey and Bingo looked at Danny, inquisitively. "What's a server?" Bluey asked.

Danny thought for a moment. "It's kinda like a big amusement park of sorts," he said. "Usually, there're a ton of games on it, and you basically have a bunch of time to play."

"Ooo! You know how much I love to play games!" Bluey said. "I love to play at home, at school, at my friends' house, at my martial arts class…"

"You take martial arts?"

Bluey grabbed her mouth. "Was I not supposed to reveal that?"

Trixie chuckled. "You sure find time to play even with your busy schedule, Bluey."

"And if you ask me," said Danny, "keep it that way."

"Huh?"

"Keep an open schedule. Try not to join stuff that would take up too much free time."

"But what if we want to do that stuff?" Bingo asked, confusedly.

"Then do it on your own time!" Looking up, Danny saw that Trixie was giving him a dirty look. "Um...gotta go! Bye!" And then he hastily opened the pause menu and left the game.

"Well, that was a real cop-out," said Sonic, shaking his head in disapproval.

"It sure was," said Sultan, nodding with the hedgehog. Suddenly, something clicked in his brain. "Oh! Scramble! You scramble eggs to make an omelette!"

"That didn't really make any sense," said Liam, due to him not understanding the reference, "but either way…"

"You think Danny's starting to give them bad advice?" Kevin asked, to which Liam nodded. "Yep. I think we might have to start intervening a little if this goes a bit too far…"

[Character Selected: Chilli]
[Current World: Bonegea]
[Current Location: Brisbane, Australia]

Usually, Chilli would've been glad to get a letter from Bluey and Bingo. But the one she was staring at right now did not seem soothing. "Bandit, did you see this letter?" she asked, standing in the kitchen.

Bandit walked over to the counter. "Nup! This just got here, I think," he said. Looking over his wife's shoulder, the two dogs read the letter.

"Dear Mum and Dad,

Today, we went into a haunted temple where Danny, Liam, Kevin, and Buzzer got kidnapped by this guy named Foocrattrace. We had to work with Sonic, his buddy Tails, Unikitty, this kitten named Treasure, a tiger named Sultan, Kirby, and this girl named Ash to get out. Our favourite bit was the one where we had to make music! Danny also told us something before he left: we should have an open schedule if we want time to play. Aunt Trixie didn't seem to think he was giving us good lessons, though…

We still miss you! Hope to see you soon!

XXXOOO,

Bluey and Bingo"

Bandit shook his head. "That Danny fellow sure is something, isn't he?"

Chilli gave him a dirty look. "Really? They were in a haunted temple and you're focusing on that?" She looked at the letter again. "Then again, that does seem worrying. I think we might have to start intervening a little if this goes a bit too far…"

[Character Selected: Perinton]
[Current World: ?]
[Current Location: ?]

After many failed attempts, Perinton had finally managed to summon the next evil once more. He had already tried to gather another foe, but sadly, he did not seem interested in his plan. But perhaps his likeness could be used instead…

The foe appeared in a brilliant flash and gave a mighty groan. "Wha-Where am I?" he growled. "I thought I was killed!"

"Relax, I was the one to revive you," reassured Perinton. He held up a photo of a cloaked figure with a frowny face for a head. "And I believe you'll be willing to contribute to my cause…"

To be continued...and next time: a hydrautic journey!

Next chapter: Glitch Key numero cuatro is down in "The Lagoon From the Black Lagoon!" Down there, glitches can happen anytime, anywhere, and the Conduits don't work quite the right way! The Twister may be a mighty vessel, but can it withstand the craziness down there?

Postface: Chapter complete! Was it a little weird having this chapter focus on the crossover cast? I thought it was an interesting experiment, but I don't plan on losing the focus on the Maniacs anytime soon!

Trivia time! Finally, Bluey and Bingo have their own weapons! Bluey has the asparagus wand from the episode Asparagus, so she can turn any mob into any animal, and Bingo has the Magic Xylophone, so she can freeze the mobs so the others can finish them off! Now then, today's special guest is Ash Kapoor! I originally chose her because she was specializing in nature in the Woodsword Chronicles books, but in retrospect, she also does a good job at being a leader! I originally had this chapter be set in Creative mode, because I wanted to have that gamemode included, but I changed it to Adventure mode here because I felt like it made a little more sense. I really love how I depicted the haunted temple - figuring out the riddles and traps was pretty fun! I also like how I incorporated two more of Kirby's Copy Abilities in here - Beam was the first ability Kirby ever obtained, but I barely included it until now - I was basically rectifying something I felt was wrong! As for Mirror, it first appeared in Kirby Super Star, but then it practically vanished afterward until Kirby: Planet Robobot. I decided to include those two because not only did Sonic and Tails had similar power-ups in Sonic: After the Sequel, as well as how they originally had similar appearances. The combo Kirby used to defeat Fuquatres was actually taken from the ability's two appearances in the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime. peaking of Fuquatres, I'm proud of how I named him - in case you didn't know, if you press F3 and F4 on Java Edition, you can easily change between gamemodes! I bet you can see where I went there! Also, if you've never heard of barrier blocks, they're a somewhat recent addition to the game. When you place them down, they'll be invisible unless you're holding one of them, so you can basically make invisible walls. Last but not least, the Double Cherry from Super Mario 3D World makes a cameo! Honestly, this power-up was so cool, so of course it made my list of cameos to make!

Hmm...that vision Buzzer was replaying in his head at the beginning seemed ominous...and Liam, Kevin, Bandit, and Chilli are all starting to question Danny's so-called "advice." But the two incidents aren't related...right?

That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and I'll see you all next time for a journey into the sea! Stay diamond, everyone!

-Alfred

~Minecraft and everything related to it are properties of Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios. Characters, ideas, etc. from the Mario and Kirby franchises are properties of Nintendo Co., LTD and HAL Laboratory, Inc. Sonic the Hedgehog and everything related to him are properties of Sega Corp. Unikitty and everything related to her are properties/licensees of Lego System A/S (The Lego Group) and WarnerMedia, LLC. The Palace Pets and everything related to them are properties of The Walt Disney Co. Bluey and everything related to her are properties of Ludo Studio PTY., LTD., the Australian Broadcasting Corp., and BBC Studios Dist., LTD. No copyright infringement with any of these companies nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~