Aaand we're back.

"Good Morning South Park!" The television said. "An attack on the SPPD police station a few nights ago left everyone in shock and disbelief. With prisoners now on the loose and policemen in the hospital, one member of the Chamber of Commerce has had enough, and is announcing his bid for mayor."

The news broadcast changed to show what appeared to be a hand puppet speaking at a podium in front of the mayor's office. "The citizens of South Park deserve to feel safe! Safe from vigilantes who go around farting on people's heads. Together, we can free ourselves from the anal terrorism that has been forced upon us! My name…is Mitch Conner. And I endorse this message."

"…What the FUCK was that?" Trent stared at the television.

…

"I'm here! I'm here!" Darren hurried down the steps into the Freedom Pals base, almost tripping over the last two. "Sorry I'm late, my oldest sister was being a bitch again. Uh, what's the emergency?"

All of the Freedom Pals were staring at something. "Ah! It's all gone, man!" Tweek said.

"What is?"

Stan pointed at the damaged poster on the wall. It looked as though something tore and shredded it with sharp claws. "Timmy's franchise plan… All that work! It's barely even readable!"

"Who the hell would do this?!" Kyle shouted.

"I'll bet it was the sixth graders," Craig said. "Only they would stoop to this level."

"No," Stan said. "This is someone who wanted to hurt us personally."

"A Nightmare?" Mysterion looked to Brooke.

"It wouldn't have bothered. Especially if no one was here," she replied. "Besides, it would have destroyed a lot more than that specific thing."

The computer monitor off in the corner let out a little beep. "Yes, Siri?" Mysterion asked.

"Incoming message."

"Play the message. Full-screen."

The message expanded and began to play.

"Is that…Lucy?" Kyle asked.

Lucy was several feet off the ground, hung up by shackles and chains on her wrists and ankles. Her head was hanging down with her long hair draped over her face; she appeared to be unconscious. The background was too dark to make out a location. A hand puppet with lipstick and drawn-on eyes moved into the camera's focus.

"This is a message for Coon and Friends." He laughed. "Specifically, I'd like to address Angel. As you can see," the camera moved closer to the unconscious Lucy, "I have something you might want. And YOU have something that I want. You want her back?" He moved closer to the camera. "Then you'll find me and do exactly as I say. I'll be waiting." The message ended.

Everyone stared in shock before Kyle roughly grabbed Cartman by his shirt. "Where is she, fat-ass?!"

"What makes you think I know?!"

"Because that is YOU! If you don't tell us where she is, I swear to GOD, Cartman!"

"I-I don't know anything, I swear!"

"We'll have to torture it out of him," Stan said.

"I'll do it," Darren cracked his knuckles. "Tie him up and get me a few things…"

Stan and Kyle wrestled Cartman down and dragged him over to a chair for Craig to tie him up while Tweek and Token left to go get Darren's requested items. Meanwhile, Mysterion was consoling a furious Brooke.

"Just try to stay calm," he told her. "We'll make this bastard talk. And once we get Lucy back, we'll beat the shit out of Cartman."

Stan placed a stool beside Cartman that Darren climbed and stood up on. "W-W-What are you gonna do with that?" Cartman asked as Tweek placed a stand of random foods in front of them. "W-What? I just have to watch you eat, is that it? I-I-I'm not afraid…"

Darren took the chilidog and ate it. "All right, give me a moment…"

"H-Hey, I've got an idea," Cartman said nervously. "Why don't we start looking for Lucy? T-This kind of seems like a waste of time, don't you think?"

Darren farted in Cartman's face.

"Agh! See…it…doesn't even phase me."

Darren ate the burrito next and farted again.

"Oh fuck! Not – No, not even a little bit. I can gobble those farts up, see? Yum-yum-yum."

Darren ate something else.

"Is that a cuttlefish?" Cartman looked weary. "I-I-I prefer salmon, myself. Agh!" He threw up this time. "Aw, no. You're not going to eat that vomit covered broccoli? It's not organic. Oh, that's pretty gross."

Darren farted one last time.

He threw up again. "Agh, oh… Wait, wait, wait you guys! Oh my god, oh, uh, the cats!"

"What cats?" Stan asked.

"I just remembered… Conner. I think the farts jogged my memory! He – He said something about making cats more powerful. And – Yes, that's it! He must want to genetically alter the cats!"

"The genetics lab," Kyle said.

"Dr. Mephesto," Stan said.

"Y-Yes – Yes, that must be it!" Cartman said.

They left Cartman tied up and made their way across town to the big genetics lab located on a hill in the northwest corner of town. Kyle quickly pressed the buzzer to the gate and a voice spoke on the intercom. "Yes, hello?"

"Uh, hi, we're here for the tour?"

"Ah, yes. Come on up." The gate opened and they all made their way up the hill to the spooky-looking lab. An old man in a flowery yellow shirt opened the door. "Oh, some young people interested in genetic engineering, huh? Please, come in. Oh, hello. Oh, there's more. There sure are a lot of you." He followed the last of them inside and made his way to the front of the crowd. "I'm so pleased that you children are interested in genetic engineering. Genetic science began as a simple question. Can a monkey be made to have four asses instead of one? The answer is yes. And now we've been able to give more asses to pigs, horses, everything you can imagine. Yes, little boy?"

Craig had raised his hand. "How does that help?"

"Oh, you're one of the cynics. Well, come with me over here for the tour and I'll show you how." He led them over to a tram where they sat down for the ride. "Here you can see our greenhouse. Genetic engineering is helpful to grow larger tomatoes, onions, cucumbers. Fruits and vegetables with more asses means more nutrition for people all around the planet."

"What good does that do?" Craig asked.

"Hah, don't play God, that's what they all say. Let's continue up to the second level, shall we?" The tram made its way over to and up a wall then dropped off to another floor. There were large glass cages with horrible amalgamate animals within. "Another benefit is combining animals. Like these DonkeyApes, BunnyFish, SquirrelDonkeys, and more. Once we put more asses on these, we will truly be benefiting science."

"Will you please explain how that benefits science, AT ALL." Craig was getting annoyed.

"What's your name, little boy?"

"Super Craig."

"You see, Super Craig, once we know how to do things to animals, we can hopefully apply them to mankind. You think having more asses is impossible. I tell you it's not." The tram moved up another level. "You see, genetic engineering is not just for animals and veggies. We are working towards helping people as well. Here you can see genetic mutations of my dead son. Most people don't remember that I once had a young child named Terrance."

"Oh yeah," Stan said. "I remember that kid."

"I was wondering whatever happened to him," Kyle said.

Mephesto explained. "Terrance was killed tragically in town when some kids were playing around with a relic belonging to Barbara Streisand."

"Ooh, jeez," Mysterion whispered. "I think that was us…"

Brooke gave him an odd look.

"Ah, here we are. The top floor of the building and the end of our tour." The tram stopped to release them and they followed Mephesto out. There were many giant test tubes of strange liquid with terrible mutated sixth graders in each.

"What are these?"

"These? Horrible, monstrous mistakes of science. Our new benefactor has requested that we genetically alter some of the local sixth graders to make them stronger and crazier."

Craig had had enough. "Okay, OKAY! Why the FUCK would you do that?! Why the fuck WOULD YOU MAKE GENETICALLY ENHANCED SIXTH GRADERS!?"

"Calm down, Super Craig," Tweek went over to him.

"How do you think we pay for all this?" Mephesto said. "We have financial donors. Our latest benefactor has asked for this army of mutated sixth graders to protect his altered cats."

"What altered cats?"

"Ah, right over this way." He led them over to a nearby room where there were cats locked in plexiglass cages labeled 'DANGER'. "A wealthy benefactor named Mr. Conner has donated money to have stray cats enhanced with more asses. Our company can add asses to things at a very competitive rate. The problem is the cats seem to become more aggressive when given more asses. They've proven to be quite deadly."

"THEN WHY WOULD YOU BRING A BUNCH OF KIDS UP HERE!?" Craig shouted.

"There's nothing to worry about. This entire facility has a very complex security grid." The building suddenly shook and the lights went out. "…Huh, that's never happened before." Mephesto went over to a monitor as the emergency red lights came on. "Oh shit, someone has shut down the security grid."

They heard someone laughing over an intercom across the building. "Hello, Freedom Pals."

"What are you doing, fatass?" Stan shouted.

"So, you've figured out my little plan. Think you can stop me? I have someone here who'd like to say hello. Go on, talk."

"Guys?! Guys, it's me, The Coon!"

"Will you knock it off," Kyle snapped.

"Listen to me. Don't make any deals with this piece of garbage. He's an animal! Agh!"

"That's enough out of you, Coon. You kids have been a real pain in my ass. You should've known not to mess with Mitch Conner."

"Where the fuck are you!?"

"Mr. Conner," Mephesto said. "If you shut down the security grid, then everyone in this building is going to die."

"WHAT?" Craig jumped.

"Sorry, Doc. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. So long, Freedom Pals."

"This is it," Brooke said. "I'm gonna kill him."

The cats began violently ramming the cage doors as they unlocked, forcing them open. One of them launched itself at Craig, claws extended and mouth open. He shouted and tried to protect his face when a banshee suddenly appeared over him and blocked the attack. The cat's claws raked across the monster's bones to no avail before the banshee slashed back with much larger claws, sending the cat sprawling.

"Huh?" Craig opened his eyes. "What happened?" He looked up at the banshee hovering over him.

"Heyyyy!"

Another one appeared and whipped its long tail, knocking a lunging cat away from Clyde and Mysterion. "Heeyyyyyyy!"

"Charles! Lamar!" Mysterion said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"There's rumors of Nightmares around here," Charles told him.

Lamar nodded. "We came to get the Princess, but then some crazy stuff started happening! What's with all the butts on these cats?"

"Fucking genetic engineering," Craig told him.

"Oh, so that's why they're so angry." He smacked a cat away with one of his broad hands.

"All right, everyone," Charles announced. "All mortals, please plug your ears as best you can to avoid death! I'm gonna let out a banshee screech!"

Everyone plugged their ears, aside from Lamar, Brooke, and Mysterion who looked unsure if he actually should or not. Charles pulled his entire body free of the floor and stood up on his hindlegs. He took a step forward, mouth gaping, as a strange gurgling sound began to resonate from him before he threw his head back and let out a loud, horrid screech like nothing any of them had ever heard before. The sound reverberated through their bodies, causing a slight twinge of pain and nausea, but the cats seemed to be suffering the most. The animals roared and howled as they flailed around until they completely collapsed, lifeless, and Charles silenced himself.

Mysterion blinked. He was a little surprised that he was still alive.

"My poor creatures," Mephesto said. "Come on kids, we have to get out of here. We'll have to pass through some of the larger exhibits." They followed him back to the other room and found the test tubes broken and empty. "Mutant sixth graders are on the loose! This was definitely not supposed to happen."

"Are you SERIOUS?!" Craig shouted.

Clyde started crying. "I wanna go hooome!"

Darren tried to soothe him by patting him on the back. "Don't worry, Clyde. We'll be safe with Brooke and her monsters."

"Bzzz!" Clyde ran over to Brooke and latched himself to her.

She folded her left wing and used it to scoop him up and carry him while keeping her hands free. "Where would he have been using the intercoms from?" she asked Mephesto.

"The CPU," he replied. "It's down on the third floor, but the tram is offline."

"Then we'll walk," she stated firmly and began to march away.

Charles and Lamar followed without hesitation, as did Mysterion; the others exchanged frightened looks before hurrying to keep up with them. Tweek pushed through the group to get to Charles. The banshee looked over at the frightened child then stood up to walk on his hindlegs so that Tweek could walk beneath him for protection.

The group made their way down a flight of stairs to the lower level. In the short time that everything had started, the escaped monstrosities had managed to destroy most of the lab's equipment and electronics. There were three large creatures that appeared to be a cross between sixth grader boys and gorillas on steroids that were blocking the way.

"RAAWRRR! School is dumb!" One of them raised its fists in the air.

The others hesitated, but Brooke kept walking. As she got closer, one of the mutants ran at her to try an swing a fist at her, but she summoned her scythe and slashed the beast aside in one quick motion. The other two looked horrified and ran off to avoid her.

Lamar made a face. "Ooh…the Princess is angry."

Everyone scrambled over to catch up with her in the next room where they found Cartman tied up on the chair in front of the CPU. "Guys! Thank god! You've got to stop him!" He glanced at his hand puppet. "He's out of his mind!"

"Cartman, you fucking asshole," Kyle said. "What are you doing? Where's Lucy!?"

"Conner brought me here, Human Kite. The sick son of a bitch –" He punched himself in the face with the puppet.

"You shut up, Coon. Soon this town will be rid of you and ALL the Coon Friends!"

"Freedom Pals, fatass!" Stan said.

"We know what you're doing, Eric," Timmy said. "Putting cat urine into people's drugs and alcohol to make them crazy. We want to know WHY."

"Do I really have to spell it out? This city is sick. There's only one day of the year where everyone acts as they should. On Christmas! That's why I joined the Chamber of Commerce." He pressed a button and a list labeled 'Mitch Conner's Plans for Succe$$' appeared on the monitor. "Escalate crime in the city, blame crime on mayor, run for mayor, get tons of followers, clone Angel into genetic mutant, win election, make every day Christmas."

"Uh," Darren raised his hand a little. "What's that about Angel and a genetic mutant?"

Clyde watched curiously as Brooke pulled out her phone and took a picture of the monitor.

"It's almost a shame that no one will ever know how perfectly my plan worked," Conner said.

"Eric," Timmy said. "I know that Christmas everyday sounds like fun, but it really wouldn't be."

"Fuck you Doctor Timothy! If you guys don't mind, I've got an election to win." He pressed another button and the floor beneath the CPU descended.

"Oh, there goes the CPU," Mephesto said. "Darn it. Why did I put that thing on a mobilize trap door?"

"Uh," Charles looked at Lamar. "So, you saw it, too, right?"

"You mean the fat kid's hand puppet?"

"Yeah."

"Yup. Saw it. Hated it. Am very confused by it."

"Charles, Lamar," Brooke said and they stood to attention. "Can you catch Lucy's scent through all these chemicals and blood?"

The banshees sniffed around the room for a bit before Lamar perked up. "Hm? I think – wait… Yeah! I think I've got it!"

Charles bounded over to smell. "Yeah. That smells like Lucy. This way!"

The two banshees led them through another door and down a dark hall with no windows or doors until the very end where they encountered a single iron door. They sniffed at the base of the door for a moment before sitting up.

"The scent is coming from the other side," Lamar said. "But we can't burrow through the door."

"Why not?" Kyle pushed forward. "You guys can magically burrow through concrete buildings but not an iron door?!"

"It's not just iron."

"It's covered with silver," Charles added and shook his head. "Silver burns banshees, just like it does werewolves."

Brooke placed Clyde down and stepped towards the door. Charles and Lamar quickly scrambled out of the way as she took her hands, folding her fingers like claws, then grabbed the door as blue fire burned from her fingertips. She gritted her teeth and clenched at the door, bending it so that she could grip it, then ripped it from the doorframe and threw it aside with a loud clang. She stood there for a moment, breathing heavily.

"I used too much magic for that…"

"Lucy!" Kyle ran into the room and looked over her. "I think the shackles have silver, too! She's got burns on her wrists."

She was collapsed on the ground, no longer held up by the chains, likely due to the security system failure. However, the shackles were still clamped around her ankles and wrists. She groaned as Kyle carefully scooped her into his arms.

"Lucy. What happened? How did you get here?"

She seemed a bit out of it for a moment then gasped and jumped up, startling him. "Where -? Kyle? What are all of you doing here? Where are we?"

"This is a genetics lab," he told her. "Fatass Cartman kidnapped you or something! Do you remember what happened?"

"I…only remember being attacked by a Nightmare. I'm not sure what Eric has to do with it, though."

"If it was a Nightmare," Mysterion said, "then why would it have brought you here instead of killing you?"

"Well," she held her head. "There are some Nightmares known as Alphas that are direct offshoots of their King. So, they're smarter and can command the other Nightmares to act a certain way or do certain things. Perhaps an Alpha Nightmare told it to do so…"

"Can we get these shackles off of her already!?" Kyle snapped at Mephesto.

"Certainly."

"There's a…strange presence somewhere," Lucy said. "It's almost…familiar."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"I feel it, too," Brooke was looking back at the doorway. "It's below us."

The banshee brothers shivered, their bones rattling a little.

Brooke turned back to Kyle. "Get Lucy and let's go. We need to get out of here and stop Cartman."

Kyle helped her to stand, Darren going over to assist as well, and they all went back down the hall to the CPU room. Mephesto showed them to the stairwell that led down to the next floor and they descended into the huge greenhouse. The lights were out, and an iron cover of some kind had covered the exterior of the greenhouse to block out the sunlight and protect the glass.

"Not so fast." Conner said. "You came all this way just to die, Coon and Friends."

"Freedom Pals," Token said.

"Coon and Friends."

"Freedom Pals!"

"Coon and Friends, Coon and Friends, Coon and Friends!"

"Careful guys," Cartman said. "He's got some kind of superweapon!"

"It's over fatass," Stan said. "We're gonna tell everyone about you!"

"Heh," Conner said. "There's only one small thing you fools managed to mess up in my plans… I wasn't able to make a genetic clone of Angel. Something always went wrong with the DNA samples once they were used. I guess you can't just MAKE a Wechuge. After all, they ARE gods. But then I found something even better. I met a Nightmare."

"What?" Mysterion said.

"Yes, that's right. A Nightmare. Called itself an Alpha. I'll admit, I was surprised when it spoke to me, and even more surprised when it offered a deal."

"You made a deal with them?" Lucy looked horrified.

"What kind of deal, fatass?" Stan asked.

"In exchange for my cooperation, it offered me the use of what it calls its most powerful weapon yet. I couldn't make a Wechuge, no. But! I still got one."

"What are you talking about?" Darren raised an eyebrow. "Brooke's the only one left."

"That's just what they wanted you to think." He laughed. "Now, meet my partner in crime!"

A huge dark mass leapt from the plants and landed with a loud crash behind Cartman. It lifted itself on thick legs like those of an elephant's but with big claws for nails. It was about twice the size of the Nightmare that had attacked Karen, and equally as horrific and ugly. Several big red eyes opened around its body to look at them and, upon seeing Brooke, it smiled a broad, toothy, ugly smile.

"We meet again…" Its grating voice was as painful to listen to as metal grinding against concrete. "Princess!" It spat the word with furious disgust.

"You see," Conner continued. "I needed more crime in the streets, but I knew I also needed to get you thorns out of my side. And the biggest thorn was our lovely Angel. Wouldn't you know it, this guy here just happened to be looking for her."

"Cartman," Mysterion snapped. "Do you have ANY idea what you're doing!? Are you fucking INSANE?!"

The Nightmare laughed loudly. "The human world is just full of delicious fools! Princess!"

Brooke winced a little but held her ground.

The Nightmare shifted it feet and grinned more. "I have a special surprise for you… Come here, my little puppet!"

Something flew out above them and landed between the kids and Cartman and the Nightmare. It slowly stood up, broad black wings lifting from the ground to fold behind its back. It appeared to be a boy, slightly taller than the kids present, with a dark shirt and jeans, black hair, and unfocused glowing blue eyes on his expressionless face.

"Wait," Kyle said. "Is that –?"

"Desmond…" Brooke breathed and collapsed to her knees, shaking.

"It – It can't be," Lucy covered her mouth.

The Alpha Nightmare laughed again. "Do you like your surprise?! Yes, that's right! It really is him! Hahaha! Unlike your mother, I decided to keep this one's soul and use him. A most powerful weapon, don't you think?" He laughed more.

Brooke was too horrified and stricken to respond. She only sat there, staring at the boy with tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. He only stared down at her with no hint of emotion or recognition and no change of his expression.

The Nightmare suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her with a tentacle it had produced in the moment, gripping her tightly. The sound of her wings being crushed and broken echoed around them all and she let out a shout of pain.

"Now, I shall have TWO Wechuge puppets! I'll use the two of you to wreak havoc on your own people before I slay you both for good!"

"LET HER GO!" Kenny shouted, not bothering with his character's voice anymore.

The Nightmare lashed out with another produced limb and threw all of the kids and Mephesto aside, except for Cartman. It smiled upon seeing Kenny getting back to his feet. "You are willful, for a human. They usually run away or cower and beg when faced with something they cannot overcome. Heheh… Very well. Then you shall be the first victim of my precious puppet."

As the Nightmare crawled away, Desmond suddenly flew at Kenny at great speed. He snatched him up by the bit of cloak around his neck then took to the air and flew into the next greenhouse and roughly threw him to the ground. Desmond landed and turned to throw something at the big door that caused it to spark and slam down, locking them in and the others out.

Kenny struggled back to his feet, his hood falling as he stumbled. He glanced back at Desmond in time to see him already upon him with a spectral red scythe. Without thinking, he spun around with his hands up in a ridiculous attempt to block it and was surprised to hear a loud clang instead of feeling the blade tear through his flesh. He felt something in his hands and the force of Desmond trying to push his scythe against him. Kenny tightened his grip and held his ground, opening his eyes to see that he was blocking it with a matching blue scythe.

Desmond leapt back with a flap of his wings and stared at him, giving Kenny time to process what had just happened. Had he just summoned Brooke's scythe? He felt something on his back and glanced over his shoulder, jumping with shock at the sight of the pair of large white wings on his back. "How…" He looked back at Desmond, who was staring at him curiously before his expression darkened.

The older boy threw his wings out and a wave of red flames flew at Kenny. Not knowing how to use his newfound wings, Kenny couldn't fly or even jump out of the way as the wave of fire knocked him over harshly. He groaned and pushed himself up. Desmond had lifted himself up from the ground.

"You're still in there, aren't you?" Kenny asked.

Desmond raised his scythe.

"You have to snap out of it!"

He flew at Kenny, scythe ready.

"DESMOND!"

Desmond halted, the force from his speed catching up and blowing at Kenny's cape and hair. His red scythe's blade was merely inches from Kenny's neck. Kenny was surprised. Desmond was staring at him, a look of mixed confusion and worry on his face.

"D-Desmond…" Kenny breathed. "Can you – Can you hear me?"

He tilted his head very slightly, then blinked away the emotions and jumped away from him with a blast of fire that threw Kenny backwards again. Before Kenny could fully get back to his feet, Desmond had slashed his blade at him, mostly missing, but managing to catch Kenny's cheek with the tip of the scythe. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was enough to cause him to shout and grab at his now bleeding face. Taking the opportunity, Desmond struck again, snagging the blade in Kenny's left wing and forcing it through with a horrible ripping sound as blood and feathers splattered the ground. Before he could strike a third time, Kenny forced himself to summon the blue scythe again and slashed first, slashing through Desmond's side and knocking him away.

Kenny gasped, horrified with himself, and watched as Desmond got to his feet and clutched his bleeding side. He stumbled a little then collapsed again. Kenny suddenly had an idea. He felt sick to his stomach about it, but maybe if he killed him… The Nightmare wasn't here right now. It wouldn't be able to take and possess his soul again. As long as his soul was intact…

Kenny tightened his grip on the scythe and ran at Desmond, raising the blade and swinging it down on him. But Desmond seemed to have heard him coming and turned over to block it with his wing. The blade cut his wing, similarly to how it had cut Kenny's, and Desmond clenched his teeth. Kenny hesitated; Desmond could still feel pain… Desmond lunged at him and punched him hard in the chest, winding him, then summoned his own scythe back into his hands.

"Desmond…" Kenny gasped for air. "I'm sorry, but…you have to…to snap out…"

He threw himself out of the way as Desmond brought the scythe down with so much force that the blade got stuck in the floor. While he was trying to pull the scythe free, Kenny slashed at him with all the force he could muster, slicing through the older boy's torso. With a shocked expression, Desmond fell to the floor, lifeless.

Kenny was breathing heavily. He looked terrified as he watched the bleeding body steadily being engulfed in red flames until it had all burned away. He was shocked that he could see the indigo colored soul left behind and instinctually reached out to touch it. It was warm and steadily growing larger until it could no longer fit in his hand and suddenly disappeared. Kenny gasped at its disappearance, but a ball of golden light appeared several feet away that caught his attention. He was going to investigate, but it suddenly burst out in all directions and knocked him over onto his back. He moaned with pain then felt something very gently touch his forehead.

"Mm… What?" He blinked open his eyes and looked over to see Desmond kneeling beside him. His eyes weren't glowing anymore and he looked concerned.

"Oh! You're awake!"

"Desmond…"

Desmond looked a tad surprised. "Yes?"

Kenny sat up and held his head. "Ugh… Desmond. You're okay."

"I believe so…" He tilted his head at him. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" He looked around. "And where are we?"

"You don't remember?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, no. But…your voice is familiar. Yes. I remember your voice."

"My voice?"

He thought for a moment. "I…remember fighting the Nightmare King. Then it was dark. All I remember is darkness until I heard your voice calling for me. Now, I'm here."

"You – You were possessed by the Nightmares," Kenny told him.

"I see…" He looked over Kenny's bleeding wounds. "Was I the one who harmed you?"

"Er, well…"

"Oh my… I'm terribly sorry."

"N-No! It's not your fault!" Desmond was incredibly different from when he was attacking him earlier. He was very proper and sweet with a kind and gentle voice. "Oh, uhm, my name's Kenny, by the way. I, uh… I guess I'm your sister's boyfriend?" He blushed a little.

"Oh," Desmond tilted his head. "My…what a terrible first impression I've made… Is Angel here?"

Kenny jumped up suddenly then winced with pain. "She's in trouble! That Nightmare took her! We have to – Erk!" He collapsed and Desmond caught him.

"You're very hurt…"

"Maybe if I died…I could just come back and –"

Desmond shook his head. "I'm not sure why, but you have a piece of Angel's soul, yes? If there are Nightmares around, you'd be putting that at great risk. I'm assuming you do not know how to reform yourself on the spot?"

"Reform?"

"As I thought. Maybe I can still…" He placed his hand at the beginning of the gash in Kenny's wing. His hand became warm and he slowly slid it down along the wound, healing it. "There. That's better. Now, where has this Nightmare gone with my sister?"

…

"We can't get the door open," Stan said.

"It's too big and too heavy," Scott added.

Lucy shook her head; Kyle was still supporting most of her weight. "I can't believe it," she breathed. "Desmond is – And now the Princess! We can NOT allow them to get away. It would be disastrous!"

"We've got to find a way out of this stupid greenhouse," Kyle said. He looked at the banshees huddled together in the corner; they looked depressed or worried. "Can't you guys magically burrow through something around here?"

"But," Lamar said, "what if another Nightmare comes when we leave? We can barely fight them off. If it was just you guys…"

"Damn…"

They all jumped and huddled around the two banshees as something slammed into the other side of the huge door. It was coming from the room Kenny and Desmond had flew into, and sounded very large. It hit again, this time leaving big dents in the metal door. Then again, and large sharp prongs burst through the dents to hook the door as it was forced off the wall and tossed aside. They covered their ears at the loud clanging of the door bouncing away into the other room, then gasped as something massive pushed its head in through the doorway.

It was a Wechuge. Its long glossy feathers were a deep blue, almost black color and it had brilliantly blue eyes and matching blue feathers at the end of its tail. It was so big that it had to lower itself to get through the doorway. The Wechuge pressed its wings tightly to its back and crawled through, stopping to look down at them and tilt its head.

The kids were frightened until Kenny pushed his way around the giant monster's leg and came into view.

"Kenny!" Stan shouted.

"You're alive!?" Darren jumped. "And you have WINGS?! Wait…are you alive or did you die and become an angel?"

"I'm not dead!" he snapped. "I think it's got something to do with the Council fusing part of Brooke's soul to mine."

"Remarkable…" Lucy gaped. She snapped herself out of it and looked up at the Wechuge. "Desmond…?"

The giant monster shrunk and changed before their eyes, returning to the form of a twelve-year-old boy. "Lucy," he smiled and walked over to her. "Did I hurt you, too?"

"N…No!" She pushed herself forward and hugged him. "I can't believe it! Desmond. You're alive!" Charles and Lamar ran over as well. She stepped back a bit and wiped her eyes. "We were absolutely certain that the Nightmare King had destroyed your soul."

"So was I," he said. "Now… What direction did that brute take my sister?"

"Through this emergency exit," Tweek pointed at the door. "Ah! But we can't get this door open, either!"

Desmond tested the door then stepped back to examine the walls. With a vortex of red flames, he shifted and grew back into his monster form.

"Incredible," Mephesto remarked.

Desmond backed up and turned to a spot away from the others. He lowered his head, prongs forward, and charged, shattering the glass and ramming his antlers into the iron dome with so much force that the greenhouse trembled. He stopped, fire forming along his prongs, then began to push hard against the dome. The intense heat turned the iron orange and he began to shake his head, tearing away at the dome like fabric until he had made a significantly large enough hole for himself and the others to pass through.

He stepped back a bit and shook his head to remove any clinging pieces of melting metal from his antlers while everyone else climbed out into the daylight. He squinted his eyes in the daylight and stepped out to look around and sniff the air. "I've caught her scent," he said.

"We'll go stop Cartman," Kyle said. "You monsters go get Brooke back. You'll have a better chance than us. Lucy," he looked at her. "Maybe you should come with us?"

"No," she was walking on her own now. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. Oh, and when you stop him…would you please escort Eric to my shed." She turned away and muttered darkly, "I have some business with him for this."

"Totally," Darren said.

"The Nightmares are fast," Desmond said as he lowered himself to the ground. "Climb on and hold on tight. We can catch up if I fly."

"Desmond's back!" Lamar leapt up onto the Wechuge's arm and climbed up to his shoulders.

"Hooray!" Charles followed suit. "Now let's go save our Princess!"

Kenny waited to assist Lucy before climbing up himself and situating himself between the banshees. He braced himself and clung tightly to the glossy feathers as Desmond lifted himself to stand up and flapped his ginormous wings. He lifted about a hundred feet off the ground before taking off in the scent's direction. Kenny would have been excited at the fact that he was riding a giant flying monster if he weren't so terribly worried about Brooke. The sickening sound of her wings being crushed echoed through his head and felt a brief spell of dizziness before he shook himself out of it.

"There! See?" Lamar pointed his muzzle. "On the mountain!"

There was definitely a dark mass moving speedily along the mountain ahead of them. It seemed to start moving faster as it noticed them. Desmond let out a roar that they felt reverberating through his body and flapped his wings to pick up speed. As they neared the side of the mountain, he threw his hands and feet out in front of him like Kenny had seen dragons do in movies, and landed hard against the mountain. The impact caused it to shake and snow fell all around, blocking the Nightmare's path. The Wechuge turned its head and opened its mouth, blasting out a beam of reddish-white light at the Nightmare that caused it to hiss and begin running backwards from them.

"Don't let it get away!" Kenny shouted.

Charles and Lamar roared and shot off from Desmond's back like bullets to block the other way. The Nightmare stopped and growled, shifting its body to grow large bat-like wings. Just as it had gotten its feet off the ground, Desmond's broad tail had slammed down upon it, smacking it back down and pinning it. Kenny took the chance and summoned the blue scythe. He jumped from Desmond's back and slashed the blade through the outstretched limb the Nightmare was using to hold onto Brooke. It screeched with fury and pain as the limb was severed and writhed wildly under the Wechuge's tail, changing shapes and flailing limbs around until Desmond released it only to blast it with another beam of light until it had disintegrated into nothingness.

Not finding any trace left of the Nightmare, Desmond carefully placed Lucy down then reverted back into his human form. They joined Kenny at Brooke's side. Her wings were broken and crumpled, and she grimaced and grunted as Kenny lifted her up. "Brooke," he said. "Is it just your wings? Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Mm. No. I'm fine." She blinked a few times at the sight of the white wings he had. "Are…you okay?"

"Eh," he shrugged and smiled. "I've been worse."

"Angel." Desmond kneeled on her other side. "Oh my, your wings… Well, that should heal in no time. Of course, you'll be forced to keep them out until then."

She stared at him, stunned and mouth gaping. "Desmond…"

He smiled sweetly. "Yes, love. It's me."

She took in a shaky breath, overwhelmed with emotion, then threw herself at her brother and hugged him tightly as she began to cry in his chest. He chuckled a little and hugged her back, barely holding back tears himself.

"It's okay, love. I'm here."

Charles wiped away a tear and sniffed.

"Yeah…" Lamar sighed contentedly. "Now…" He straightened up, looking serious. "Let's go break all of Cartman's bones!"

"Yeah!" Charles growled his agreement.

To be continued…

Surprise! Were you surprised? I hope so. Lol. Anyways, that pretty much concludes this story's version of the Fractured but Whole. I'll let you have fun imagining what the others did to Cartman after catching up to him. Hehe. Moving on...

Ah, Desmond and Angel are physically opposites. Desmond is male while Angel is female, Desmond is a little older, and he has blue eyes, bluish-black Wechuge feathers that are smooth and neat while Angel's eyes and feathers are red and her feathers are wild and messy. But she has blue fire while he has red fire. He's also calmer and more relaxed than she is, like their dad. Meanwhile, Angel is hot-headed and wild like their mom.