Time Tangled Island didn't look much different from the previous time I visited. The Party Time Tower was still there, and so was the lab, except much calmer.

I headed into Party Time Tower. It was pretty exciting and bustling, but I paid it no mind.

I didn't realise people lived in here, I thought,

going to the elevator. Now, which apartment is his…

I got out his address, finding my friend's apartment. I avoided the elevator, taking the stairs. I was not taking any more chances with elevators.

I walked through a colourful hallway, reaching a bunch of doors. I stopped in front of apartment 9/34, and banged on the door.

"Just a sec!" a familiar voice called from the inside.

I heard some rustling, and someone stomping around. Then the door opened, revealing Mighty Penguin. He was back to his regular self, wearing his blue hoodie and grey shorts.

His face lit up. "Hey, Alice! 'Bout time - get it, since we're on Time Tangled - you came over to visit!"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid I'm not here for a visit. I need your help with something major."

"Er, what's that?" Mighty Penguin asked, raising his brow.

"I need you to help me save the world." I replied, chewing my lip. I explained what was going on with the prophecy and the gods.

"... oh," Mighty Penguin said after all of that.

Awkward silence.

"Well count me in!" he grinned at me.

"Wow, that was fast…" I made a face.

He shrugged. "Hey. It gets boring around here. What else am I gonna do?"

The next stop on the 'save the world' journey was to pick up Amelia. Mighty Penguin was still a little perplexed, but he got the jist. He knew what we were doing, and helped me plan a little.

Though it didn't really have to do with saving the world, I asked him if he had a voice. He told me yes, and it usually made him a 'background character' on islands for reasons he didn't know. I didn't reply.

We landed on Home Island.

I felt odd going on a quest without Fierce Fox - like a part of me was missing.

Please let her be okay…

"Hey, you alright?" Mighty Penguin asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

"Yeah… just worried, that's all." I sighed. "Come on, let's get Amelia."

Amelia, thankfully, was rather optimistic. I had to envy her optimism.

"You're up for saving the world?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course! Who's next on your list?"

I took a deep breath. "C.J from Shrink Ray Island."

C.J was still at school with her parents. She gave me a nod when she saw me, and a wave at my friends.

"Hey, Alice," she greeted. "Thanks again for your help."

"No problem," I replied. "But now I need your help."

"What with?" she raised her brow.

"Saving the world," I grunted.

C.J nodded. "Well count me in. I've got more to experiment on!"

After C.J was Nikola Tesla, on Mystery Train Island. Zeus hadn't destroyed the island, thank everything. Nikola Tesla was in Chicago, so we had to fly over there by plane. It was way quicker (and less mysterious) than taking the train.

Tesla was standing near the ferris wheel.

"Save the world?" he asked, raising his brow. "Sorry, miss Manchester, but that's not my call."

"But we could really use the help," I told him. "You're an inventor, right? You could be useful."

"You're no better than Edison, you fool," Tesla shook his head. "You only see me as a tool you can use."

I trailed back. "No, that's…"

Oh, he's right, I grumbled. I should know better… stupid idiot me…

"Hello, miss hero. You look like you could use a hand."

I turned around, glowering as Thomas Edison walked over.

"Not you," I grumbled.

"Now, now, come on, miss hero," Edison waved his hands. "You said you needed an inventor, right?"

"You just want to make money," I crossed my arms.

"Well, saving the world has its benefits," Edison shrugged. "And besides… your dear friend Fierce Fox would want me to be there. She's my friend too."

I bit my lip, Fierce Fox's face appearing in my head.

"Fine, fine, whatever," I waved my hands. "We need to go, we're running out of time."

I checked my list of all my closest friends. We had one left: Sprocket.

We picked him up from Steamworks - he seemed terrified of the idea (ditto, buddy) but he agreed to come.

I wanted to find Fierce Fox too, but I knew we didn't have enough time and would have to go on without her. So with a sigh, I landed the plane on Early Poptropica, hoping Zeus wouldn't find us.

"Alright," I began. My friends and I were sitting together in the small plane, on top of the Pop Art museum. "So, you all know what's going on. I guess… I guess now we have to figure out a plan to stop Zeus and save Poptropica."

"Pfft, like we know a lot about Mythology Island," Mighty Penguin commented. "Yet alone the gods. I've only heard of them, really."

"Well… today you get to meet and fight one of them," I replied. I shook my head. "But think seriously. We… we need to come up with a plan."

"Confrontation?" C.J suggested. "I'm not sure how stealthy we are."

"I think a sneak-attack would be better," Edison said, tapping his chin. He snapped his fingers. "We'd get them by surprise!"

"Element of surprise…" I mused. "That would be good. Though Zeus is a god, so if we enter his realm he'll probably be watching us or something."

"I'm good with machinery, not gods," Sprocket sighed, his engines whirring. "But I think we could use some weapons. Do you have any?"

"Well, I've got Hades' crown," I answered. "I think. And I had Poseidon's trident, but it's disappeared for some reason. Uh oh… I hope Poseidon doesn't find out. Anyway, has anyone got any other ideas?"

Mighty Penguin's eyes lit up. "Hey… what Sprocket said with the weapons. How about we charge in, all guns blazing? We'll all get a weapon or something, and attack!"

"But do we have enough weapons?" Amelia asked. "It seems only Alice has a weapon - and it seems to be a defence more than anything."

"Well, like I want to be on the offensive anyways," I sighed. I stared at Mighty Penguin. "That's actually a pretty good idea, MP. But Amelia's right. We need more weapons."

"I have my shrink ray!" C.J said cheerfully. She brought out her backpack, and pulled out her shrink ray. I grabbed Hades' crown, and held it in my arm. I felt fear radiating from it, and the others did too.

"Underworld, alright," Mighty Penguin muttered, his eyes widening. He shook his head. "Well, you two are sorted. I've got my pole vault."

"I'm a robot," Sprocket said quietly. "I have weaponry installed."

"An adventurer is never unprepared!" Amelia cried gleefully, pulling out a dagger.

"I've got no weapons," Thomas Edison sighed. "Nothing but my inventions." He shrugged. "Maybe one will be useful."

The leer in his eyes made my skin crawl. I looked away with a scowl.

I shrugged my shoulders. "A god's crown, a pole vault, a shrink ray, robot weapons, some inventions, and a dagger. Alright, then. Let's see how this will go." I tried to ignore the welling fear inside me.

We're gonna fail, we're gonna fail, we're gonna fail!

Calm down, I told myself. We'll be fine. We… we have to believe.

Pfft, like you can do that, the voice replied. I ignored it.

At last we were there on Mount Olympus. The end or salvation of Poptropica was right in front of us.

The group of us walked up the looming, messy mountain, the sky blood red. Lightning flew throughout the dark clouds, making my skin crawl. I took in a few deep breaths of air. The wind was cool on my skin.

Fierce Fox, please… come back...

"Alice…" Amelia held out a hand. My group stared at me, intensely.

I narrowed my eyes. I was not alone. I had my friends.

"I'm ready," I said.

We reached the summit of Mount Olympus, the spread of Zeus statues, lightning thrumming through the dark thunderclouds. And sitting in his glowing throne, waiting for us, of course, was Zeus himself. But he was not alone.

Standing near one of the statues was her… Louisa Van Tullekan.

"Stop right there!" I cried out.

"You survived," Zeus chuckled darkly. "How amusing. But I'm afraid your victory has been cut short." He formed a lightning bolt in his hand, launching it at my friends.

"MOVE!" Mighty Penguin screamed. My friends leaped out of the way, just as the lightning bolt smashed part of the marble floor.

"Foolish mortals!" Zeus boomed. He rose into the sky, power flowing around him. "You will regret interrupting my plans!"

He formed another storm in the sky, with thunder claps so loud they could be heard on Early Poptropica.

I fell to my knees. I'm… I'm gonna die…

"Alice, watch out!" CJ cried. She shoved me out of the way of another lightning bolt.

Come on, pull yourself together! I told myself sternly.

"Guys," I ordered. "Don't let Zeus get near the totems-" I pointed to such items. "-and try and fight him off best you can. I'm not really sure how to defeat him… let's just focus on not letting him get anymore powerful."

My friends nodded, and brought out their weapons. I put on Hades' crown, and felt myself grow to a god size. I adjusted for a few seconds, then approached the totems. Zeus was glaring at C.J, who had shrunken a statue of him. Thomas Edison and Mighty Penguin joined my side (they looked oddly little), as we stared at the totems.

"Let's destroy 'em," Mighty Penguin stared up at me.

"And destroy their value?" Edison grumbled.

I glowered down at him. He took a nervous step back.

"Don't try it." Louisa warned, crawling up to greet us. She stood on her feet, and clenched her fists. Her hair was a mess, her skin was clammy, and bags were under her eyes. I had a sneaking suspicion Zeus wasn't taking good care of her.

"Louisa…" I began. "Why are you doing this?"

"Shouldn't you already know?!" Louisa cackled. "You can thank your father for this!"

"You mean… about my dad being a criminal," I said.

Louisa nodded at Zeus, and he blew Edison, Mighty Penguin and I away with a gust of wind. Then he returned to Amelia, who was running around, wielding her dagger.

"Yeah," Mighty Penguin nodded. "Destroy the totems, then take down the god?"

Edison and I figured that was a good plan.

"Oh, it's not going to be easy," Louisa said, grinning maliciously at us. "You may have Hades' crown, Alice, but that doesn't guarantee your survival. In fact, none of your friends have any chance of survival. You made a mistake."

She gestured to Amelia and C.J, who were unconscious; their clothes were burnt.

"I won't waste my powers on pointless mortals," Zeus scoffed. He glared at me. "You are an exception. You are a pesky little roadblock."

"Get the totems!" Mighty Penguin shouted.

He and Thomas raced towards the totems, grabbing Zeus' attention. I tapped my crown; suddenly I turned invisible.

Huh, I thought. That's neat.

Being invisible, I raced along the ground. I summoned some clouds - I could do that if I had a godly weapon - and floated in the sky.

I charged towards Zeus, fists clenched. I managed to hit him before he could harm Edison or Mighty Penguin. He glowered and summoned his power balls, smashing me to the ground.

"No more games!" he boomed. "I don't have the time for you pesky mortals!"

The skies suddenly darkened, and lightning crackled in the distance. Lightning formed in the sky, creating a massive ball of energy. My friends and I backed away slowly, as the scent of ozone filled the air. The lightning was smashed down on top of us. Well, almost. A powerful face shoved us out of the way.

That force belonged to Fierce Fox.

"Fierce Fox!" I cried, flabbergasted.

There she was, in all her glory. Gripped tightly in her right fist was Poseidon's trident, which explained where both she and it had gone.

"Curse my brothers!" Zeus roared. Power began filling the air again, as the god stared down at Louisa. "Use the shield on the totems. On my word… you know what to do."

Louisa nodded.

"Here," Fierce Fox held out her hand to me. "I'll deal with him."

She grabbed Hades' crown off my head; I returned to my normal self. Fierce Fox put the crown on her head, looking like a goddess. Then she charged after the furious Zeus. That left the rest of us to deal with Louisa and the totems.

"Did you think this would be easy?" Louisa spat. "Before Zeus flew off to fight your friend, he gave me a special gift."

She dropped something on the floor; it appeared to be a little lightning bolt. It exploded along the floor, sending out sparkly, yellow waves of electric power. In horror, I leaped up, though my friends were electrocuted and knocked out. Louisa grinned and raised the lightning bolt.

"Why are you doing this, Louisa?" I demanded. "How did you even get here?!"

"I could be asking you the same question," Louisa answered. She clenched as fist. "As for why I'm doing it? Well…" Her expression darkened. "It's because you're human garbage. Your father ruined my mother's life. She was in jail for years because of something he did!"

I stared at her. I recalled what my mother had said about my father, how he had betrayed a woman...

"No…" I breathed. "My dad… my mom… they were friends, but my father betrayed your mother…"

"So you're finally figuring it out, huh?" Louisa hissed. "Took you long enough! Your father ruined everything. My mother told me all about him… and you. She wanted vengeance."

I felt a sickness brewing up in my stomach.

"So that's what I did," Louisa tapped her fingers together. "Although, life itself gave you some intense karma… your poor leg. But for someone as horrible as your father, that's not bad enough. You deserve worse."

"What are you saying…" my whole body was shaking.

"Well, it's your own fault," Louisa shrugged. "I've got the whole school wrapped around my finger. They adore me. You adore me. Chrissi will do anything for me. YOU HAVE NOTHING." She burst out laughing. "It wasn't hard to make your life a living hell… Mom was so proud."

I stared at my hands. My arms felt heavy, like I was being dragged down by a thousand weights. My heart was thumping.

I couldn't even focus on my friends lying on the floor, or Fierce Fox fighting Zeus in the sky. I had not believed my mother when she told me my father had once been a criminal. I didn't think he was anything bad. Quite the opposite, frankly. His death had affected me greatly- if he hadn't died, I wouldn't have let myself be bullied. It was because we had such a good relationship. It felt like a betrayal to know there was something he didn't tell me.

Betrayal...

"So… so it was you," I got out, voice straining. "You turned the school all against me, even though you knew what I'd been through…"

"Your father deserved it," Louisa spread her arms. "Mom finally got her sweet vengeance. And now…" She grinned. "And now I get the final task. I get to kill you inside the game you adore so DEARLY."

"But I never did anything!" I screamed.

"It's all your papa's fault, but it's too bad," Louisa laughed. "He's DEAD. And soon, you will be too. You'll see him in Hell."

"Your mother belongs in Hell," I spat. "My dad changed! When I was born, he wasn't a criminal anymore! Your mother doesn't know how to let go of the past!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Louisa roared. "You're pathetic! You don't know anything, you worthless scum!"

She faced the stormy skies, where the two figures were launching lightning at each other.

"M'lord!" She cackled. "Is it time?"

A crack of lighting slithered across the sky as her answer. Louisa grinned and turned to the totems.

"Louisa, don't…" I got out.

My vision was blurry. Thump, thump, thump…

She's right… I'm a failure… in the end, my suffering was my own fault, wasn't it…

"You can't convince me, Crashice," Louisa growled. "Give up and go back home. If you have one, that is."

I can't even save a single thing I love…

She reached her hands out to the totems. I stared at my friends, who were still on the floor. Chains were wrapped around their bodies, so they couldn't move. Meanwhile in the sky, Fierce Fox was getting tired, yet Zeus was still strong.

Louisa was at the totems now, ready to release the power. I wouldn't be able to stop it. I was doomed. I had failed.

I turned away, feeling tears burn the back of my eyes. Fierce Fox crashed landed onto the marble floor, and the chains grabbed her too.

"Good, Crashice!" Louisa called. "Walk away, go home! That's where you'll be safe!"

She pointed to my mirror, which appeared in my hand. It showed a picture of my living room, covered in a toasty light. Mom and Dad were there, smiling wide. I stared back at my friends: all doomed, stuck on the floor. Louisa was holding the totems: I could already feel the energy building. Even if I stayed, Poptropica was screwed. If I went home… at least I was safe.

Home vs. Poptropica. The choice seemed so easy, and so obvious, and I reached out to my living room.

"Alice, don't you dare!" Fierce Fox warned, looking old like her future self.

"I can't, Fierce Fox." I said quietly. "It's the end."

My parents were smiling at me from the living room. So inviting, so safe…

"You can take them on!" Fierce Fox encouraged. She eyed the godly weapons laying on the floor, shining brilliantly. "You can destroy them!"

"I can't," I insisted. "Godly power won't be able to stop it."

"No," Sprocket was now awake. "But what about human and godly power? I heard humans have lots of power here…"

"Alice," Fierce Fox bared her teeth. "Louisa wronged you. She made you suffer for her twisted 'revenge'." Her eyes glowed. "But it's YOUR turn now. You can't let her walk all over you anymore."

"Yeah!" CJ agreed. "You got this!"

"You're gonna kill it!" Mighty Penguin piped in.

"You're amazing, Alice!" Amelia agreed.

"Hmm, you're good enough," Edison shrugged.

My friends were smiling. My eyes blurred.

All of it was because of her…

What if, for once… it's not my fault.

I stood up, fists clenched. "You're right."

"The power will be unleashed!" Louisa bellowed.

"NO!" I roared.

She raised the totems: they glowed with white energy. Suddenly, they started taking the energy from Louisa; her skin turned deathly pale. Red vanished from her cheeks, and light fluttered out of her eyes.

Louisa was dying.

"FINALLY!" Zeus boomed, as the totems surrounded him. "I HAVE FULL POWER!"

Louisa fell to the ground, her chest heaving, before it stopped altogether. My anger faltered. I took a few steps back.

This can't be real…

My mirror dropped out of my hand. "Zeus… Louisa…"

"I knew that would happen all along, mortal," Zeus grumbled. "I did not tell her this, though. She would have never agreed. But it's too late now. Poptropica is mine!"

The totems glowed around him, forming a beam of power. It swirled around the god, and I had to shield my eyes. When the light subsided, Zeus was gone, and the whole sky was covered in black clouds. In the distance, I heard things smashing and crashing, and screams of the innocent.

I fell to my knees. My arms were shaking. Blood pounded in my head.

"Alice?" Fierce Fox asked.

Tears fell down my cheeks. I choked back sobs.

"I'm sick of it," I uttered. "I'm sick of being wronged all the time… sick of being pushed over…"

I stood up, Fierce Fox stepping back in concern.

"I'm sick of being weak," I continued. "I'm sick of people treating me second rate."

I moved past the others, who all backed away.

"I'm sick of being worthless," I spat. "I'm sick of being lied to, I'm sick of being manipulated, I'M SICK OF LOSING EVERYTHING I LOVE!"

I placed Hades' crown on my head and gripped Poseidon's trident in my fist.

"I'm not gonna let that idiot think he can take this game away from me," I growled. "No more. I'm not a piece of meat or a thing to be abused. I'm a hero… and this is my world to protect!"

"That's right!" Amelia clapped.

Fierce Fox shook her head. "You've come far, Alice."

I gave her a smile, before taking off into the stormy sky. The end was nigh.

It was no surprise to find Zeus in front of a Liberty-sized statue of himself. The skies were dark and red, and the seas were wild. The air felt thick on my skin, and debris floated around here and there. I sighed, and raised Poseidon's trident. Clouds formed under my feet, and carried me near Zeus and his stupid statue.

"So!" the god chuckled. "You dare to enter my presence, mortal?"

"You're gonna regret being born," I spat.

"Do you think you are intimidating, little child?" Zeus replied, rolling his eyes. "Oh well. It will bring me much amusement to see your demise!"

He summoned the four totems; they turned into a beam. The beam charged towards me, glowing with pure, white energy. I leaped out of the way. The beam landed in the sea, and caused a mini tidal wave, which headed towards an unfortunate island.

I raised Poseidon's trident, and threw some lightning bolts at the god. He flipped them off like they were flies, and raised his massive fists. The sky turned a darker red, and it started raining fire. I yelped and hit under some debris- the fire soon destroyed it.

I sighed and fired at Zeus again, but I couldn't land a single blow on him. I realized the whole battle was going to be like this, especially when Zeus threw red-hot, ginormous cannonballs at me.

I thought, well, Sprocket said something about human energy powering weapons. If I can use some of my energy to power the godly weapons… could that work? Even if it did, I didn't know how to.

"DIE, MORTAL!" Zeus screamed, bringing down another power beam. I scrambled out of the way, and focused on my godly weapons.

They're pretty powerful on their own, and with my 'human energy' they might be more powerful than the totems.

Not really sure what to do, I assumed I needed to transfer my energy, so I did. That didn't work, so I thought about what Louisa had said. Something about sacrifices. So I thought about sacrificing my energy, and by the gods, it worked.

I felt tired after it was done, like I went to bed late, but the energy from the weapons felt quite strong. I put the crown on my head and the trident in my fist and flew up to fight the god.

He smirked when he saw me, expecting another lousy attempt. I showed him a lousy attempt and nearly knocked him out of the sky.

"Well!" Zeus exclaimed. "Seems you've got some power to spare, mortal! But you will not prevail for long!"

He and I clashed in the sky; Zeus used his own weapon. I turned invisible and scared Zeus, then knocked him with a blow from the trident. Zeus retaliated and smashed me with a power beam, though I got up quickly. I went from being thrashed to the one thrashing.

We fought all over the sky, causing quite a lot of damage on the way. I realized eventually nothing was going to change, so I needed to change the odds a bit. And that was by destroying Zeus' totems.

I approached the villain totems, which were flowing around Zeus. I focused all my energy with the crown and the trident, and blasted it towards the totems. One cracked and rained down into dust. Zeus glared daggers at me.

"You will not stop me!" he boomed.

The totems flew around him again, forming another power beam. It was easier to avoid than the previous beams; I grinned and edged towards the god.

He shot some lightning bolts at me; I shielded them with my weapons. Then I launched a beam of my own, and destroyed another totem. It only got easier from then; soon all the totems were destroyed.

"I cannot believe this!" Zeus raged. "The totems were supposed to be impossible to destroy!"

He glared at me and clenched his fists, sky rumbling. "Bah! I don't need those silly totems to beat you! I am the God of Thunder!"

He disappeared in a crackle of electricity, and popped up inside the statue of himself, animating it. It glowed with white energy, and the eyes shot out lightning bolts three times my size- and I mean my bigger form.

I raised the trident again, and charged for the eyes. I let the energy flow again, and smashed it into the eyes. They shook and fizzed, like soda when you shake it. I hit it again, and the power rumbled inside the statue. Zeus returned to his normal self, and glared at me.

"No!" he screamed. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO A MORTAL!"

His body turned pure white, just as I chucked the trident at the god. I didn't see what happened as my vision was covered in nothing but light.

I woke in my bed, forehead covered in sweat. My chest went up and down. My head felt like it was gonna explode.

"Alice?" It was my mom. "Oh, Alice!"

Mom ran in, throwing her arms around me. "You're okay! I was worried sick!"

"Yeah… I think." I managed to get out.

"What's that necklace?" Mom asked, pointing to the island medallion around my neck.

"It's the medallion," I explained, gazing over the golden item. "The medallion for Super Villain Island… I did it, I really did it."

My vision felt foggy. I leaned back in the bed.

"Hey, Mom…" I stared up at her. "Is it okay if I take today off…? I need a break…"

"Of course, sweetie," Mom kissed my forehead. "Sleep tight."

And so I drifted off, everything going dark. A smile appeared on my face. I had done it. I saved the word.