Quintet: Part Two

by Martial Arts Master

All PBS Kids characters copyright of PBS, PBS Kids, and the shows' respective creators. This fanfiction idea came to me in a dream. In my dream, five PBS Kids characters were on a quest of some sort, though I don't know exactly what, so I made up the story from there in this fic. In my dream, they were known as the Heavenly Quintet. (This was a weird dream. So weird, in fact, that the word the dream actually used was "quantet", which isn't even a word.) However, I had to make a couple of changes. First of all, the Dragon Tales character that appeared in my dream was Ord, but I put Cassie in this fic instead because otherwise, Sagwa, the main character from Sagwa: The Chinese-Siamese Cat, would've been the only female in the entire quintet, which might cause female readers to accuse me of being a sexist pig, and they would have a right to do so. Therefore, Cassie will appear in this fic instead. Second of all, I changed the name of the quintet to the PBS Kids Quintet, because using the word "heavenly" would've been a blatant religious reference, and with the exception of The Adventures from the Book of Virtues, which had an episode centered around "Faith", and the Cyberchase episode that involved the Greek deity Zeus, PBS Kids is completely non-religious. I can't always say the same for the regular PBS, but PBS Kids is for the most part immune to religion. Therefore, to keep the spirit of PBS Kids, the name change stands. In this particular chapter, the idea of using dreams to enter the fake world was given to me by another person on the Internet (he isn't on Fanfiction.net, so don't look for him here) named PBSKidVid. So let me clarify: that particular part was his idea, and I'm very, very grateful. Now, on with the fanfic!



***



It was just another weekend in the life of Arthur.

This particular weekend was one in which he didn't have any homework. Therefore, he was in the middle of reading a book.

This time, specifically, the book was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

D.W., Arthur's little sister, came into the room.

"Hey Arthur, you promised me you'd play with my new dolly!" D.W. snapped at Arthur.

Arthur groaned. Just the day before he had promised D.W. that, in a moment of weakness. But Arthur hated to play with dolls.

D.W. started tapping her foot impatiently...and then suddenly stopped.

In fact, her foot was still hanging in mid-air.

This caused Arthur to put his book down.

"D.W., you okay?" Arthur asked.

D.W. didn't answer. She just stood there, foot still in mid-air.

Something was seriously wrong.

"Mom! Dad! I think something's wrong with D.W.!" Arthur shouted.

There was no answer from either of them.

Arthur wandered into the kitchen curiously...and saw his mom and dad in the middle of a discussion.

At least, they looked like they were...but they weren't saying anything, and their mouths were still hanging open.

"This is so weird..." Arthur said to himself.

As an experiment, he gave them both a shove. Even if he got in trouble, at least that would make things normal. However, not only did they not react, they didn't even move.

But that was physically impossible after being shoved for someone of Arthur's parents' size!

"In case you're wondering, time has stopped for everyone but you," a voice said from behind Arthur.

Arthur spun around in shock.

He got another shock when he saw a spirit staring at him.

"Aaaaaaah! A ghost!" Arthur shouted.

He started running around screaming.

"Will you shut up and listen to me?!" the spirit snapped.

Arthur stopped running and screaming.

"That's better," the spirit said, satisfied. "Now let me explain. My name is Dave. I am a spirit, and I come from the spirit world. I have stopped time for everyone but you."

"Why me?" Arthur asked, trembling.

"Because I've chosen you," Dave replied.

Arthur scratched his head.

"I'm just a normal everyday kid," Arthur said. "What could you possibly have chosen me for?" In answer, Dave raised a hand, and a portal appeared behind him.

"Step into this portal and wait for me. All will be explained," Dave said.

Arthur gulped.

"I guess I don't have any choice if I wanna find out what's going on," he muttered to himself, stepping inside the portal...



On Birdwell Island, it was a very special day.

Every dog on the island was participating in a dog race.

The winning dog would get a week's supply of dog bones. If the winning dog had an owner, he/she would get a trophy.

Every dog was giving it his/her all. Clifford, of course, due to his size, was winning the race thanks to being able to cover more ground than the others. He was bigger than a house, after all.

"Hooray! I'm gonna win!" he shouted happily to himself. "But I won't rub it in when I do. As the saying goes, be a generous winner and a gracious loser."

Then, something curious happened.

All of the other dogs stopped running.

This was certainly odd.

Clifford wondered if maybe the other dogs were playing a joke on him, or trying to trick him into stopping.

As an experiment, Clifford stopped too.

But nobody moved.

And then Clifford noticed something else.

The dogs weren't just resting. They were stopped in mid-run. They looked like statues made to look like they were in the middle of motion.

"Okay, very funny!" Clifford said genially, hoping this was a joke.

But it wasn't. Also, Clifford noticed that the crowd had stopped cheering.

The crowd wasn't just resting. They were in cheering poses, but there was no sound and no movement.

Now Clifford was beginning to feel afraid. Just what was going on?

Suddenly, a spirit floated up to Clifford.

Clifford gasped at the sight, but didn't move.

"Wow, you certainly reacted a lot better than the first one," the spirit said to Clifford, laughing.

"Are you the reason everyone's stopped moving?" Clifford asked.

"I certainly am," the spirit replied. "My name is Dave. I stopped time for everyone except you."

"And why me?" Clifford had to ask.

"You've been chosen," Dave said simply.

Before Clifford could respond, Dave created a Clifford-sized portal next to him.

"Step into this portal and wait for me, and all will be explained," Dave said.

Clifford shrugged as best as it was possible for a dog to shrug, and, wanting to find out what was going on, stepped into the portal...



Aboard the Grim Wreaker, the Hacker had Matt, Jackie, Inez, and Digit trapped in a cage.

"Now I finally have you brats where I want you!" the Hacker cackled.

What the hacker didn't realize, because he was so busy being full of himself, was that Jackie had a spare hair pin and was using it to pick the lock of the cage.

"Got it!" Jackie declared, having successfully unlocked the cage.

The kids and Digit rushed out of the cage. Then, Hacker noticed what had happened.

"Buzz! Delete! Get them!!!" he shouted.

Buzz and Delete lunged at our heroes...and then stopped in mid-air.

They were literally floating in mid-air, showing no signs of falling.

Matt was freaked out.

"Hey guys, whaddya think's going on?" he asked.

He got no answer.

He looked back and saw that Jackie and Inez had stopped too, and were stuck in a mid-run pose.

Even Digit was stuck in mid-flight.

Matt was seriously freaked out.

"What is going on?!" Matt shouted to no one in particular.

"Time has stopped for everyone but you," a voice said from above Matt.

Matt looked up and saw a spirit floating above him.

Matt wasn't too surprised. He'd been to dozens of cybersites with weirder citizens than a mere spirit.

Instead, Matt was curious.

"Why me?" Matt asked.

"First, let me introduce myself. My name is Dave," the spirit answered.

"Nice to meet you; now why me?" Matt asked.

Dave chuckled.

"You've been chosen," he replied, creating a portal in front of Matt. "Step into this portal and wait for me, and all will be explained."

Matt shrugged and entered the portal...



In Dragon Land, it was nighttime.

Max, Emmy, Ord, Cassie, Zak, and Wheezie were sitting around a campfire toasting marshmellows on sticks.

Wheezie was telling horror stories. Considering our heroes were in preschool, the horror stories were pretty tame compared to our own standards here on planet Earth. But you can't blame Wheezie for trying.

"And then, just when the dragon was least expecting it...he met the ghost of the headless dragon!" Wheezie shouted.

Everyone else screamed.

"This story's too scary!" Ord shouted, whimpering...

"Aw, c'mon, that wasn't even my best one!" Wheezie pouted.

Then, everyone except Cassie stopped what they were doing in mid-pose.

Cassie was confused. She tapped everyone on the shoulders, but they didn't budge.

"Uh...is this a joke?" Cassie asked tentatively.

There was no answer from any of them.

"No, this isn't a joke," came a voice from Cassie's left.

Cassie turned and saw a spirit floating in the air.

"My name's Dave, and I stopped time for everyone except you," the spirit said. "And before you ask 'why me' like everyone else did, I chose you."

Before Cassie could say anything, Dave created a portal beside him.

"This is getting boring rounding up all you guys, so let's get this over with already!" Dave said, making himself solid, pushing Cassie into the portal...



In another version of ancient China, Sagwa, her older brother Dongwa, and her younger sister Sheegwa were playing tag. Dongwa was currently "it".

"Can't catch us, can't catch us!" Sagwa taunted in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, what she said!" Sheegwa piped up.

Dongwa was panting for breath as he tried to tag either one of his sisters. He wasn't having much luck.

That's when Dave arrived on the scene. He hadn't been kidding when he had told Cassie he was getting impatient rounding up his chosen ones.

He wondered if he was becoming like Ashura...

Regardless, he quickly stopped time for everyone but Sagwa, explained the situation to her, and pushed her into the portal...



Later, in the spirit world, Arthur, Clifford, Matt, Cassie, and Sagwa woke up, having been put to sleep literally as soon as they passed through the portal.

The first thing that happened was that everyone else screamed upon seeing Clifford.

"Aaaaaaaah! That's the biggest dog I've ever seen!" Arthur screamed.

"I didn't know they grew that big!" Sagwa shouted.

Matt, used to seeing unusual things in cyberspase, was a little less freaked out than the others.

Clifford's feelings were hurt, and Cassie was the first to notice.

"Guys, I think we hurt his feelings..." Cassie said.

"Oh...we're sorry, sir," Sagwa said apologetically.

Clifford smiled.

"Don't worry about it, and the name's Clifford," Clifford replied.

"My name's Arthur," Arthur said.

"I'm Matt," Matt introduced himself.

"My name is Cassie," Cassie told everyone.

"And I'm Sagwa," Sagwa said, finishing off the introductions.

Then Arthur noticed something.

"How on earth can you talk?!" Arthur asked Sagwa.

That's when Sagwa noticed something too.

"How can you understand me?!" Sagwa shot back.

"Yeah, and how come we can understand Clifford?" Matt asked.

"And why are we all here anyway?" Cassie asked.

Then, they heard laughter.

Dave soon appeared.

"You all are just full of questions, aren't you?" Dave asked rhetorically. "Well, no matter. I will explain everything, just as soon as I tell you that you can all understand each other because of my magic."

Dave cleared his throat.

"You are currently in what is known as the spirit world," Dave began. "Don't misunderstand, this is not the world of dead people or any such hogwash. This is the world for those who were never born with physical bodies. We spirits have great powers with unimaginable magnitude."

"However, the spirit world is a cold void," Dave continued, "and although we cannot feel the cold, without our powers it would be a very boring place indeed. So we make objects appear or even create worlds at times in order to amuse ourselves. We can even leave the spirit world and travel to other worlds."

"And you travelled to our worlds," Matt finished. "Why?"

"You see," Dave replied, "I have a friend named Ashura. He is dumb, impatient, rude, and generally has a lot of other bad qualities. He constantly challenges me to games, but he loses every one because he is too impatient and uncreative. But recently, he challenged me to a completely new game."

"What game is that?" Clifford asked.

"Look outside," Dave replied, pointing to a window.

Everyone else rushed to the window, looking outside. They gasped.

There was an entire world outside!

"Ashura has created a whole new world for the game to take place in," Dave continued. "The game is that I have to pick characters to travel through the world, getting past the monsters and traps that Ashura put in place, and retrieve a solid gold goblet at the very end. If those characters succeed, I win. If they do not, Ashura wins. Also, the monsters and traps have anti-violence spells on them. If violence is used against them, the world will blow up, taking the characters with them. I had to therefore pick non-violent characters to play my game."

"And you picked us," Cassie finished. "That's really very kind of you, but..."

"Why should we help you?" Sagwa piped up. "Doesn't that just mean you're using us as your pawns?"

Dave gave a sigh of regret.

"It means just that," he said remorsefully, "but let me ask you something. How many of you come from Earth?"

Sagwa and Clifford raised their paws, and Arthur and Matt raised their hands.

"Max and Emmy come from Earth where I come from," Cassie spoke up.

"You actually come from different versions of Earth," Dave responded. "That's why you've never met each other before. You don't even exist on the same planet."

Then, Dave pointed somewhere else...to another Earth.

"That is the real-world version of Earth," Dave said smugly.

"What do you mean, 'real world'?" Arthur asked suspiciously.

Dave smacked his forehead. How could he have let something like that slip?

"Never you mind, it's just another version of Earth," Dave said quickly. "But Ashura gets to blow that planet up if you don't succeed and I lose."

"What?!" Sagwa screamed. "That low-life, miserable scum! Everybody, why don't we help Dave out? Otherwise Ashura will end up killing a bunch of innocent people!"

Everyone got into a group huddle.

After about five minutes' worth of conferring, the huddle disbanded.

"We've thought it over, and we agree to help you," Matt said to Dave.

Dave clapped his hands.

"Excellent, excellent!" Dave shouted in glee. "First, though...Matt, come here."

Obediently Matt walked over to Dave.

"Pull out your Skwak," Dave instructed.

Confused, Matt did as he was told, bringing out his multi-purpose mechanical device. Dave placed his hand on the Skwak, which suddenly lit up with a bunch of different information.

"You now have a map of the false world," Dave told everyone. "Rely on this map so you won't get lost. It won't tell you what monsters and traps lay ahead, though, so you'll have to be very alert. As it will tell you, the false world is split up into different sections: Forest, Volcano, Carnival, Underwater, Sky, Metropolis, Cave, Ice, and Desert. The prize, a solid gold goblet, will be at the very end of the Desert, but you will have to go through every other place first."

"And how do we get to this world without losing air? Didn't you say the spirit world was in a void?" Arthur asked.

In answer, Dave threw weird-looking devices at them. The devices clamped themselves to our heroes' heads.

Everyone gasped in surprise and tried to pry the devices off.

"Don't bother, those devices are your tickets," Dave snapped. "They'll force you into a dream state, and you will only enter the false world in a dream. However, since both you and the false world will be false, you will physically feel anything that happens to you in that world. Not to worry, however, because if you're in any danger of dying, you'll be brought back here safe and sound."

Unfortunately for our heroes, they didn't hear that last sentence, for the devices had already sent them into dreamland. They were on their way to the fake world...







To be continued...



As I said before, the manner in which our heroes enter the game world (by dream) was contributed to me by PBSKidVid. If you're reading this, PBSKidVid, I am very, very grateful. To all the rest of you, PBSKidVid isn't a Fanfiction.net writer up to 12-14-2002. E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@comcast.net