CORY
It was quiet. TOO quiet. And there had never been a night that was more darker and stormier than this…
As I drove after Stine's Wagoneer and Jack's pickup truck in my SUV, I noticed the dull and gray surroundings of this dead town. I expected monsters to jumpscare us. But there was nothing.
No people. No animals. No living plants. Nothing. Not even any wind.
"Are…are you SURE this is the place?" My sister Lisa asks.
"It's the only refuge we'll have." Stine says over the walkie. "I already made a call to the former mayor. She just needs to hold out until we can return to take back Hollowville."
All the buildings here are old and decayed. I pass by an old worn-out sign that says the town's name: Dark Falls. If Lucy Dark had died, this would be a grim reminder. Or an eerie foreshadowing…
That's when I remember. This was where Stine and Jack worked on all those books back in the 90s. This was the place where it all started. With that house. And that family, with Amanda and Josh.
I guess that 44 years ago, the incident still happened. There was an accident in the plastics factory and chemical plant. A complete total meltdown. All those contaminated died, and it spread throughout the whole town. Stine and Jack were some of the many few that managed to escape.
Still…this seems…familiar…
Finally, we park at an all-too familiar place. I'd know that ominous place anywhere…
"Hello, old friend." I only say. "It's been a while."
Dead House looms over us, standing as still as a corpse of a building. We only get out of the car with Larry as the others follow.
"You SURE your grandson can handle himself back home?" I ask Stine.
"He's not a kid anymore. Appearances can be deceiving." Stine replied. "Besides, I call him Twist for a reason. He's the only one who can help put an end to this story."
Suddenly, I wince and feel my own heartbeat cause pain! Dammit! My transformation into the Ultimate must be continuing!
"So…" Lisa asks. "Did you call everyone?"
"Why don't you ask them?" Jack answers, opening the door.
Inside, I'm taken a bit aback. It's just as large as Shadow House! And everyone is back. All of the Midnight Society, the Many Mysteries Club, H.E.R.O., the Seven Deadly Sins, and even Van Helsing and his Hunting Party! Some more look all grown up…
"Got your call when I got back to the mansion." Abe says. "Sorry, but the Darks couldn't make it. Max still has school and all that."
"Of course. But at least it's canceled for me." Lisa adds.
"Well, at least it's not all bad." Hannah says. "Grady came to me in the Shadow Realm. He plans on becoming a Realmwalker like myself. While the rest of his family stays in Fever Swamp, he'll still be with us."
"How long is this gonna take?" I ask.
"About a few days, maybe a week."
"And the Mystic Realm?" I turn to Frankenstein.
"Bigfoot and Sasquatch have been feeling some kind of dread." He answers. "Sas said he had a vision of chaos. Nothing else. Maybe Fier's finally acting. Luckily, we've been working on a little something."
"We already have the Monster Armor amulets all set, Moonstone and no Moonstone." The Invisible Man adds. "However, forging one that needs all seven to operate is taking much longer than expected. I.G.O.R.'s currently working in the basement."
"We'll use THAT against Fier." Van Helsing states. "Meanwhile, I've gotten wind that a powerful incantation can send Slappy to sleep for good. But it can only work when the sun goes down after a day where he didn't do any evil. I've been trying to find it for a while. So far, I've got nothing. Nothing but one lead: Jimmy O'James. No doubt Slappy's holding him prisoner…"
That's when a low hum and flashing lights appear in the backyard. Sue and Tara turn at this, and Billy Harlan recognizes what's landing.
"Is that Mirpo's U.F.O.?" He asks. "I thought he was taking Sammy and Brent back to their own time before going home!"
We head into the backyard to meet the visitor. The Martian is beamed down with the Coronian and Invisible Boy, and he seems shocked.
"What?! KLEF, I must've been ten years off!" He curses.
"Ten years off?" I ask. "You came back? Why?"
"Uh…well…the future is…SUPER messed up." He answers. "I went to drop Sammy and Brent off on Earth in the 41st century, but the moment we entered that future, everything was…chaotic and deformed. There were strange cosmic eldritch chantings that echoed, massive inky black tentacles that seemed to stretch for miles, giant eyes replacing stars that always watched us, gaping maws rather than black holes, and nothing but a dark green chaotic unstable void…"
"It was the exact same thing when we made planetfall." Sammy added. "Massive tentacles sprouting from the ground, all living beings being undead-like zombie things with many eyes, mouths, and tentacles, like mutants, that seemed to be mind controlled, and finally, the ruins of Middletown, Hollowville in your time, that seemed to have briefly been overrun by monsters. But there weren't any left. Even the space stations and colonies the remaining humans had taken refuge on from the Coronians were destroyed and wrecked, with even THEM being corrupted. Even MARS and the Moon had been corrupted and mutated as well! Some planets even came ALIVE as insane monsters, roaring and snarling like crazy…"
"It wasn't just the Milky Way Galaxy either." Brent added. "It was the entire UNIVERSE. And possibly all of its dimensions and EVERYTHING beyond it too."
"Oh my god…" Tara said. "Tempus foresaw something just like that happening. EVERYTHING would succumb to chaos, fear, madness, and insanity. The Comic Book Dimension, Atlantis, the Mystic Realm, Nether, the ancient past, Cyberspace…EVERYTHING."
"Well…that's a bit…dark." Arach-Kid only gulped.
"Do you think…Slappy won?" I ask. "After taking control of Hollowville, he began spreading his rule across the entire world? And after THAT, Fier managed to arrive in this dimension and…well…did all THAT?!"
"We came back to warn you." Mirpo said. "But all that madness and chaos magic must've messed up my ship's Chrono-Engine. We ended up ten years after the date we were supposed to return, which was right when we left."
"Maybe it was the Ultimate and the Dark Chaos that helped bring that future to pass." Van Helsing stated. "Which means in that future, we lost. We need to figure out how to CHANGE the future, and stop that terrible nightmare from happening. NOW. Before it's too late. Which means we have to take back Hollowville and cure the Waldhorns. The problem is…we don't know how much time we have. My best guess is that we have a year, let alone a few months. Possibly even shorter, like a few weeks. As for the transformation, it could be around 20 days before you fully turn."
"So the sooner we cure ourselves, the better." I sum it all up. "Given how the aliens' futures are a few thousand years away, it's likely that this future could come to pass sooner than that."
"I guess this is day one, then…" Lisa sighs, setting a timer on her phone. "We'll most likely turn by midnight on the final day. So we need to stop Slappy before that happens and take back our home. AND cure ourselves."
"Yeah. Let's hope that Dylan can stay safe." I add. "And whatever plan he's got…I hope it works…"
…
MITRA
This isn't my hometown anymore. This place is now the stuff of nightmares.
I thought that after we crushed that talking dummy creep behind the gym bleachers, that was it. So…how did he survive?! There's no way he could've!
I never thought this would happen. All kinds of freaks and monsters are roaming the streets. So far my family's safe…but I don't know what happened to everyone else. Kyra…Amanda…even Weather…
The police aren't of any help. They fell in a matter of seconds. Neither is the national guard. We can't call for help. Even the internet is down! Dear god, this IS my worst nightmare!
But what if…what if we're not the only ones? The whole WORLD could be going cuckoo-bananas, chock full of zombies and giganto-monsters. And there's some kind of barrier of sorts. No one's ever been able to escape the town ever since it came up.
All we can do is run. And hide. And pray we're not found…
I duck behind cover when I hear a noise. A large robot seems to scan the area. Its lights don't find me, so it moves along. And so do I, before the slow-moving zombies can get any closer.
Supplies are running low. Food too. If the Walking Dead's taught me anything, we're gonna start tearing each other apart very soon all for the sake of survival. Yeah, we have a common enemy, but how can we fight against a force that overwhelms us in both numbers AND power?!
I duck into an abandoned house before I'm spotted by more monsters. That was too close. But then the loud PA speakers on the damaged cell tower boom, and I hear the dummy's voice…
"ATTENTION MONSTER CIVILIANS AND HUMAN SLAVES! BE SURE TO WISH YOUR SUPREME AND GLORIOUS RULER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HE'S TURNING TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO THIS YEAR! AND STILL GOING STRONG! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
That's right…Slappy. That's his name…
The monsters had turned their attention to the speakers. Had I still been in that direction, I would've been spotted…
CRASH!
I freeze. Oh no…
I accidentally bumped into a table holding a porcelain doll. And it shattered to pieces upon impact!
That alerts something. The doll floats back up and begins reforming! I make a mad dash to the door, but it locks once I get there! Crap!
I turn around and…there are MORE dolls! They all begin standing up on the floor, with one more walking forward. She's a tall, old-fashioned looking doll with red hair and a pretty, pink face. She also wears a long blue ball gown under a flowing red cape.
"Looks like we got another one!" The doll laughs. "Time to throw you into the dungeon with the others!"
The dolls laugh and begin to charge at me! I manage to kick one away as hard as I can, but they begin to overwhelm me in minutes!
And that's when something else arrives. A winged masked figure in white crashes through a window and draws forth a green sword!
"WHAT?!"
A foot slams into the doll's face, making her tumble away. She recovers with an angry growl.
"That jerk's one of the rebels!" She screams. "GET HIM!"
The dolls charge with a yell, and the figure springs into action! He easily fends off and breaks the dolls, and when the talking doll uses magic, it just uses magic of its very own! Woah!
The white figure makes short work of the dolls, and after figuring out that the talking doll could just repair any damage to her and the other dolls, he just kicks her into the basement and locks the door, casting a small fire spell to burn the remains of the other dolls!
I'm only awed at this. Still, he seems…familiar.
"We have to move." He says. "That door won't hold Abigail for long."
He somehow opens up some kind of portal and leaps through! I quickly follow once I hear banging on that door. By the time some kind of dark magic blasts it down, the portal closes behind us.
"That was close. TOO close."
Hold on…he kinda sounds like a…
"You're…just a kid?!" I ask. He DOES look a bit small, now that I think about it.
"You must be one of Lisa's students. The others are gonna be pleased that I managed to get you."
He then makes the helmet vanish and…
I gasp. That face! H-He…!
"You…!" I stammer. "You're that kid I saw! Back when I was a kid!"
"During the Eternal Night?" He asks. "Usually the others didn't stand around and spectate."
The memories come rushing back. No way…this WASN'T the first time?!
"But…I'm…older now! So…why…are you…?"
"A curse. I'm stuck looking like a kid for the rest of my life."
"A…curse? H-How old are you NOW?"
"Twenty two. My name is Dylan Stine."
"Wait, Stine? As in-?"
"He's my grandfather. And he's got some friends of his that can help take this town back. But they're dealing with problems of their own. We just need to hold out and lay low until they get here."
"Problems? What kind of problems?"
"Two of those friends are gonna be turning into monsters in about a month. They need to figure out how to cure themselves. And Slappy will likely try to send some of his agents after them. Trying to find out where they are. So yeah. THOSE kind of problems."
"Hold on…where ARE we?" I look around as we begin walking off. We seem to be underground. Thankfully not in the sewers…
"A few of his monsters had some underground bases, like this one immortal Egyptian sorceress." Dylan says. "Now the tables have turned. I've managed to find as many people as I could and brought them here. And I plan to rescue more from Slappy's Dungeon of Doom. Which is right underneath his seat of power. I'm sure you've seen it."
"Yeah…" He set up HQ right at the City Hall.
"So far I've managed to get a handful of civilians. The Ferreiros, the Barkers, even my sister Tina. I've even rescued friends and family that BOTH of us know. When the time comes, we'll strike when reinforcements arrive."
"You're…forming a Resistance?"
"Your teacher's brother's been training me as a Monster Hunter for the past ten years." Dylan replies. "But even I can't fight an entire horde alone. And given how busy my usual squad is at the moment, you guys will have to suffice."
"But…who would want to take orders from a KID?"
"I'm just the main fighter. Tina's the main leader. We've had more supernatural experiences than anyone else here."
He then turns to me.
"Besides, you already defeated Slappy and foiled his plans once before. Care to do so again?"
I have NO idea how he knows that. Maybe his mentor told him after my teacher informed HIM. Still…this could be just like Travelers Of The Frost. Except I'm playing on the highest difficulty, with only one life. So yeah…no pressure.
I only smirk and punch an open palm.
"Hell yeah." I replied. Time to begin a counter strike…
