The lower regions of the Prickly Pines Forest were known to Alice only from what she learned in books or stories. She'd never been there herself, primarily because her mother liked to take them camping closer to home instead of venturing out into the depth of the forest. From what she'd read in her mother's and aunt's bookcase, she knew that the Pimpleback Mountains had the largest reservoir of crystal and had been a big deal for prospectors and geologists up to the start of the invasion. Due to the dangers from the Breaker Bears and the Dynamite Rats that circled the outside of the settlement like vultures and the caverns being turned into an infected zone, it became an inconvenience to remain in the dangerous situation. The settlers abandoned their home away from home and left the place deserted, becoming a recent ghost town.
Its neighbor's history was a little more obscure, since no one could remember what its name used to be. Any record of what the locale was known as was lost to history, and so it had been given the moniker Haunted Ridge due to the mysterious happenings surrounding Jack Pott Mine that had labeled the abandoned mining town haunted. Unlike Pimpleback Mountains that she had read about in geography books, the story of Jack Pott Mine had been told to her as bedtime stories by her uncle. When she had been little, her uncle often told her the story of Jack Pott Mine, including tales of miners dying in their pursuit of gold, crooked thieves who would just cutdown anyone in their robbery, and the various ghost stories that gave the area its reputation. These tales, unsurprisingly, wound up causing the little girl to suffer from nightmares. As soon as her mother realized the cause of her nightmares, Uncle Eustace - much to his chagrin - was forced to stick strictly to fairytales.
Despite the years since she last heard the tale of Jack Pott Mine and the poor souls that haunted it, she couldn't help but bring the memories to the forefront of her mind as she and her team descended down Pimpleback Mountain into the abandoned town below it. She stared at the fog settling over the town as if it was invading from its neighbor and attempting to make the Pimpleback Mountains range part of its haunted heritage. The setting sun certainly didn't help with the spooky atmosphere, and Alice was thankful to be wearing long sleeves so that her friends wouldn't be able to spot the goosebumps forming on her skin. It seemed silly to admit that the tales of Haunted Ridge could frighten her when she had family that lived in Nowhere and when she was in the middle of a war with aliens, but childhood fears were engrained deep in her psyche no matter how illogical it seemed. Still, she could ignore it for the good of the task.
Taking up jobs in the nighttime were very rare for the group, but when their guide informed the team that Gwen needed their assistance down in Pimpleback Mountains, it wasn't really a task they could ignore. A bonfire in the center of the town was the brightest light in the area, and Team Super Stars walked toward it like moths to the flame. As they moved closer, Alice could see several Plumbers sitting around it, warming themselves on the cooling night. One of the Plumbers looked over her shoulder as soon as she heard the team's footsteps getting nearer. She raised an eyebrow upward in befuddlement.
"Pretty late for a bunch of kids to be out in this neck of the woods, don't you think?" the Plumber questioned.
The tone wasn't expressly rude, but it also wasn't inviting. Junior scowled at the word 'kids,' but Suzy had the situation under control. She held up her NanoCom, letting the Plumber see it was green. The showing of the NanoCom was enough for the Plumber.
"We're here to speak with Gwen Tennyson," Suzy informed the Plumber, scanning to look at the faces of the campfire attendees. "Anyone know where she is?"
The Plumber opened her mouth to answer, but an arm shooting upward and the owner of that arm speaking cut her off.
"Ooh! Ooh!" the voice called out. "I know."
Junior blinked in surprise as he fixed on the owner of the voice. "Ray Ray? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Orchid Bay?"
The short boy Junior had referred to as Ray Ray bounded over to the trio with a grin stretching ear-to-ear. He wrapped an arm around Junior's shoulders, and the girls were further surprised to see that Junior didn't attempt to push him away.
"I came out here with Juniper and Lila to investigate a meteor that crashed down close to here," Ray Ray answered the bespectacled teen. "But when June learned that some group going by G3 was already looking into the thing, she decided to head to the volcano up in the foothills while Lila stayed behind to help out."
Junior's eyebrow rose up at this, a skeptical look crossing his face. Apparently the answer hadn't fully satisfied the boy, or else he knew Ray Ray was hiding something.
"And you didn't stay in Haunted Ridge with Lila because...?" Junior trailed off, waiting for Ray Ray to fill in the blank.
Ray Ray's ears turned a bright pink, but his grin remained fixed in place.
"June asked me stay and help Gwen since she's working on some sort of prophecy that's supposed to stop Fuse," Ray Ray replied easily.
"Oh good, she was able to read the book," Suzy commented, jumping into the conversation.
Ray Ray blinked in surprise, looking between all three with wide eyes.
"Wait, did you already know about it?" the boy asked. "Did she already tell you?"
"We know she's in possession of the Book of Prophecy, but the last I heard she needed something to read it," Suzy answered. She turned to look at Alice. "Wasn't that why your friend Peach spoke to Grim?"
Alice nodded, recalling the day when she had run into Peach and her friend Ezra in Orchid Bay. They had obtained some sort of item from the Reaper that was supposed to decipher the book's ancient language for Gwen. Considering how powerful it had felt when Alice had touched it, she wondered what exactly was hidden inside of it. Apparently something powerful if it was going to be capable of turning the fight against Fuse.
"Ben's the one that sent us this way," Junior followed up. "He didn't really specify what she needed help with, though, so that's why we're looking for her."
"And he also sent you to the wrong place."
Walking up behind them was the teenager they were looking for, a pug following beside her. Gwen approached the group with a small smile on her face.
"Thanks for coming all the way out here, but Ben sent you in the wrong direction," Gwen stated. "I need you three to go to the Hani-Baba Temple." She smiled apologetically at the team. "Sorry, but I was hoping he would have conveyed that to you all."
"It's fine," Suzy assured the older teenager. "It's not like the ruins are that far from here."
"He was pretty vague on what you needed us for," Junior piped in. "Mind cluing us in?"
"Of course," Gwen replied. "I overheard you mentioning the Book of Prophecy, so I don't have to mention that. What I will say is that the book mentioned obelisks scattered around the world that create a magical defense system when they're all activated."
"And if they're all activated, it'll turn the tide in our favor?" Junior asked.
"Sorta," Gwen answered. "Mostly, it'll protect our planet from any more invasions, which means Fuse won't be able to launch any other terrafusers down here." She shrugged. "It won't exactly win the war, but it'll help."
"So is there an obelisk in the temple you need activated?" Suzy guessed.
"There is a totem there, but it's already activated," Gwen corrected. "I've tasked several people with activating the totems based on what is listed down in the book. I actually need you all to check on it."
"Is something wrong with it?" Alice asked.
"Hopefully not. But I got a message today that there was signs of a Fusion hanging around the temple, and I don't need them messing with the totem and undoing our work since it's already been activated."
Suzy's grin widened at the details of the mission.
"Have no fear. You called on the right people," she said. "We'll have your Fusion problem resolved before the sun rises."
Gwen smiled, a hint of relief barely visible in it.
"Thanks," she said to the team. "I can reimburse your travel costs for the mix-up."
"No need," Suzy said. "The ruins aren't that far from here, so we'll just drive up there." She grinned at Junior. "It's been a while since we last used the vehicles."
Junior furrowed his brow in confusion at his teammate. "We used them earlier today."
"Yeah, but that was over two hours ago," Suzy pointed out.
Junior's brow furrowed even further, but he kept his mouth shut. There really wasn't any point in correcting Suzy, especially if he wanted to get the mission done and over with so he could crawl in to bed at a reasonable time. Suzy saw his silence as a victory and grinned with all of her teeth showing. Sometimes it was really just too easy.
"Awwh man, that sounds like fun," Ray Ray whined, slumping over. "I haven't beaten a Fusion yet."
"It's not a rite of passage," Gwen lightly scolded the boy. "Besides, I got a call from June. She needs you and Monroe to head out to the Canopy infected zone. Jack called her and said there's a missing magical artifact that's in the area, so she wants you two to grab it and bring it to her."
"Is it really important?" Ray Ray asked in curiosity, looking for confirmation from the pug sitting patiently beside Gwen.
The pug, a serious look settled on its face, nodded its head in confirmation. Ray Ray's curiosity morphed into determination.
"Alright then. We'll be out first thing in the morning," the boy conferred with the pug.
"We should be getting out of here, too," Suzy said to her team. "Let's make sure nothing magical will fall into Fuse's hands."
At Gallagher Elementary, every fourth grader learned about the Hani-Baba Tribe and their temple, the Temple of the Creation Gods. Because its official title was too long for some to say, it was eventually just known as the Hani-Baba Temple. The fourth-grade student body was required to submit an art project related to the temple. With her mother and aunt's help, Alice constructed a small recreation of the ancient temple out of building bricks, earning the fourth grader an "A." Looking upon the ancient temple, Alice couldn't help but think that her grade should have been much lower for her inability to replicate its majestic grandeur.
The temple was situated in the heart of an area that became known as The Ruins, given the various columns and ancient walls that existed throughout the area. Unlike ruined structures that archeologists could only guess at what it might have existed with, the Hani-Baba Temple was in one piece upon being discovered. It had some pieces here or there missing - such as the two large statues of the two deities for which the tribe and temple drew its name - but overall it was in better shape than anything else around it, save for the settlements that had been discovered down south in the neighboring Devil's Bluff.
The temple sat majestically on an island, although now Fusion Matter covered it like drapes. The staircase that led down to connect with the temple's stairs was gone, although this wasn't the fault of the Fusions. An earthquake thirty years ago rocked the area and while it did little damage to the main structure, the stairs suffered heavily, leaving archeologists with no way to get into the temple save a helicopter drop in. Now that it was under the protection of a DexLabs' force-field, the boy genius had fixed this problem. Aside from the Dexbots that could instantly teleport individuals to and fro, DexLabs had set up a zipline to cross the gap between the upper level and the bottom level. The gap was not an issue for someone like Alice, and while she offered to take her friends over the gap by platforming, the two opted to take the zipline. So, while they were getting themselves situated, Alice floated down and waited for her friends at the bottom.
The moon was high up in the air, shining down its silvery light down on the temple. In this moonlight, Alice didn't see a single Fusion Monster. She stretched out her senses and was surprised to find that there were none in the area. While there were cases of Fusions sleeping during the night, a lack of Fusions in the area didn't sit well in Alice's stomach. For one thing, the body of water enclosed around the island made it impossible for a monster to hide. So where did they go?
"You coming, Alice?"
Alice turned, looking at her friends who had already begun ascending up the stairs. She nodded and caught up to them.
Suzy glanced over her shoulder to look at her teammate. "You looked pretty deep in thought. What's on your mind?" she inquired.
"I can't sense any Fusion Monsters in the area," Alice answered.
"None?" Junior asked in surprise.
Alice shook her head in confirmation. Suzy frowned at the answer and tapped on her NanoCom's screen. Nano Raj appeared over her shoulder, giving his area a quick look around. Groaning, he pulled on his ears.
"Ooooh, why are we at a spooky temple at night?" the Nano complained.
"You'll be fine," Suzy assured her Nano, patting him on his head. "Now what can you sense?"
Nano Raj frowned for a moment in concentration. A second later, the Nano sighed in relief.
"No monsters sighted," he reported happily.
Suzy consulted her NanoCom screen and nodded. Nano Raj's Mappy! power didn't reveal any Fusion Monsters in their immediate vicinity.
"So far nothing," Suzy confirmed.
"That doesn't sound right," Junior commented. "Even if the monsters were sleeping, you'd" - he looked at Nano Raj and Alice when he said this - "have sensed it still in the area."
Nano Raj and Alice nodded in agreement.
"Which means someone or many someones are in here with us," Suzy pointed out.
"Great," Junior groaned. "Well, hopefully they're friendly."
"It goes without saying, but keep your guard up," Suzy replied, placing Nano Raj back in the NanoCom.
With the situation settled, Team Super Stars continued up the very steep, very many steps up to the main entrance of the Hani-Baba Temple, relying on the moonlight and the NanoCom's flashlight to steer clear of the infected Fusion Matter tainting the temple's stones. Despite how bright the moonlight shone, it could not penetrate into the temple, so the team relied on the flashlight. The team didn't have to fear booby traps laid by the Hani-Baba's tribe thanks to the original explorers deactivating the defenses upon discovering the ancient temple. All they had to keep an eye out for was Fusion Monsters and the mystery someones, and so far Alice was unable to sense any Fusions in their immediate area. She could sense the major power of the Fusion somewhere below them, so that was the direction she pointed them in.
The team followed the long corridor to the middle of the temple, entering into a large, pentagonal room that had moonlight streaming in from an opening in the roof to better illuminate the space. There was a large circle of dirt in the middle of the room, some specially designed stones outlining it. Above the dirt was the opening that allowed the moonlight in, the same size as the circle below. Upon looking at the dirt, Alice was surprised to see that there wasn't a hint of Fusion Matter to it, despite the strands of matter tainting the decorated stones.
At the back corners were two separate corridors that led further into the temple. Beautiful murals decorated the chambers walls. A statue of the deity Hani was on the left side of the room, tall enough to touch the ceiling. Its companion, a statue of the deity Baba, was on the right side of the room. On the back wall was a large painting depicting a beautiful woman in a flowy dress with her hands extended outward. In each palm was the drawing of a tree, both of them looking vastly different from one another.
The team wandered in the room, studying the paintings that they'd only seen as pictures in textbooks or the antiquity wing of the Townsville Museum. Junior went to inspect the dirt, having noticed that it was also spared from Fusion Matter infection. Suzy observed the paintings on the walls closest to the corridor they had exited, looking over the six figures - a human, dog, and bear to the left, a horse, cat and squirrel to the right - that the history books considered them the leaders of the tribe. Alice walked up to the back wall and studied the tree drawn in the woman's right hand. It looked strangely familiar to Alice, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
They were so engrossed in their investigations that they missed a secret passage from beside the Baba statue open, letting out a girl in pig-tails. The girl didn't look surprised by the appearance of the three; in fact, she looked on in determination as she pulled out a pistol-sized weapon.
"Haltet ihr es!" she ordered in German.
The order surprised the distracted team. The spun around to find the girl wearing the pith's helmet, along with garments that made her look like a stereotypical explorer from the early turn of the century. While one gloved hand was holding a lit wooden torch - her light source -, the other had the pistol aimed at the group. Despite having a weapon pointed their way, the team didn't show any fear or apprehension, which only seemed to annoy the girl.
"Who are you?" the girl demanded in her German accent.
Junior crossed his arms. "Who are you?"
"I asked you first," she retaliated, narrowing her eyes. "Are you friend or foe?"
"How would we know that if we don't even know you?"
"Do not play games," the girl seethed, curling her finger over the trigger. "Have you been sent by Stickybeard to hinder my expedition?"
"Actually, we were sent here by Gwen Tennyson," Suzy answered, a calm voice in comparison to Junior's rising irritation.
"Oh," the girl said in relief, her suspicious look softening. She put her weapon back in its holster. "Zen zat changes zings." She straightened up and placed a gloved hand to her chest. "My name is Henrietta Von Marzipan."
"Nice to meet ya," Suzy greeted cheerfully. "I'm Suzy Sunshine, and these are my friends Nergal Junior and Alice Spacebyte. We're Team Super Stars."
"Super Stars?" Henrietta repeated. "I believe I recognize zat name from somewhere..." She trailed off, thinking about where she might have heard their name. She shook her head after a moment, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, no matter. I am pleased you are not pirates."
"But... aren't they helping us?" Alice asked, her face scrunched up in confusion. Last Suzy had told her, Stickybeard was an ally.
"He is assisting against Fuse, ja," Henrietta conceded. "But he is also after zee Crazy Brain Candy. Double D tasked me with looking for zee candy to keep out of Fuse and Stickybeard's hands. Its ability to scramble zee brain of whomever eats it makes it too dangerous to be possessed by someone with evil intentions." The girl sighed a little, looking like the words physically pained her. "I love candy, but even I must admit when a dangerous candy must be destroyed."
"Hold on, candy is able to scramble minds?" Junior questioned skeptically.
Henrietta smiled self-deprecatingly. "Candy is capable of doing many astonishing zings, especially if it is magical."
Junior heaved out a slow sigh. "Yeah, fair," he acknowledged.
"If you don't mind, we'll join you," Suzy offered. "We've been tasked to deal with a Fusion so it doesn't tamper with a totem that's hiding here."
"Zere is a Fusion?" Henrietta asked, looking alarmed. When she received a nod in confirmation, the German girl released a frustrated cry. "Einfach toll!" She rubbed her temples, her eyes closed. She opened her eyes and nodded determinedly at the redhead. "I will accompany you on zis Fusion hunt. I cannot allow the Fusion to interfere with zee expedition."
"Alright, you heard her, Team Super Stars." Suzy was beaming brightly as she looked at her friends. "Let's go Fusion hunting!"
"If it's alright with you, I shall lead the way," Henrietta put in. "I have had been here before and know its ins-and-outs."
"By all means, take the lead," Suzy said amicably.
Henrietta took the lead, guiding the team down the left corridor. Alice was the last to leave the chamber, sparing one last glance at the painting of the tree. She still couldn't pin down where she'd seen the tree before, but she didn't want to stray too far from her friends, so she turned away from it and caught up to the group, pushing the thought to the back of her mind.
"...we going?" she heard Junior ask as she rejoined the team.
"Zis passage will bring us to zee Hall of Heroes," Henrietta answered.
"I've read about that," Suzy joined in on the conversation. "That's where the tribe dedicated statues to their greatest heroes."
"Correct," Henrietta replied.
Alice stretched out her senses, finding that the Fusion's energy was in the same direction. "The Fusion is this way," she announced.
"Well at least we're going in the right direction," Junior commented, putting his hands behind his head.
Henrietta glanced over her shoulder, looking at Alice in puzzlement.
"How do you know where it is?" the girl asked.
"I can sense where the Fusion Monsters are," Alice answered.
Henrietta stared at Alice for a moment, her face unreadable. In that moment of silence, Alice wondered if she had put two and two together to get four; certainly now she'd be able to remember why Team Super Stars was a familiar name. To Alice's surprise, Henrietta shrugged and returned her attention to the path in front of them.
"Zat is a very useful skill to have," she commented. "And will make finding zee Fusion much easier."
"Are there other monsters down here?" Suzy asked the alien.
Alice stretched her senses out again and nodded her head.
"Figures," Junior commented. "They're here looking for the totem."
"You mentioned a totem before," Henrietta said. "Is zis totem something important?"
"Yep," Suzy chirped. "It's a secret defense weapon against Fuse. When all of them are activated, it will place a shield over the Earth so no more of Fuse's armies can be sent down here."
"Ja, zat is important," Henrietta agreed. "Are you attempting to activate it?"
"It's already been activated," Alice answered her. "We just have to stop the Fusion from deactivating it."
Henrietta grinned, the gesture full of mirth. "Zen we are both in a race against time."
Suzy's grin matched the emotion. "Pretty much."
"Well, we shall handle your mission very quickly. If zis totem is what I think it is, zen we will be approaching it very soon."
"You mean in the Hall of Heroes?" Junior inquired.
"Nein," the girl answered, but she shot the boy a grin. "But on that note..."
The candy hunter guided the team into a larger room. Unlike the first chamber, this room was in pitch black darkness, save for the light source from Henrietta's torch and Suzy's NanoCom flashlight. The veteran explorer stepped into the room and touched the torch on the ground. Almost instantly, the flame shot around the room, brightening up the space enough for the four to see properly. Henrietta smirked to the team and extended her hand into the hall.
"Welcome to zee Hall of Heroes."
The team stared in awe. Even though they had learned about this from books, it was still a wildly different experience to be in the place. Seven limestone statues that were still mostly intact occupied both sides of the hall, evenly spaced out from each other. Three statues were along the left wall, and three were along the right, placed directly across from each other. These six statues depicted men, with one of them looking like the horse seen in the first chamber and another covered completely in hair. The others depicted humans with three of them shirtless and the other one - looking like he was a teenager - was wearing full clothing. Three of the statues had a club in their hands, raised high like they were going to strike. One of the men had a shield, the teenager had no weapons on hand, and the horse was carrying a guitar and wearing a mask over its eyes and a cape. The seventh statue was put at the back of the hall and was the only female statue. Like the teenager, she was not holding any weapons, though her hand was held with the palm upward, like she was supposed to be holding something. Unfortunately, if she were supposed to be holding something, that something was missing.
"Follow close," Henrietta instructed. "And do keep an eye out for anything that may be related to zee brain candy."
"Anything we should be looking for?" Suzy asked.
"Anything still even in here?" Junior piled on.
"I thought artifacts were taken to the museum," Alice added.
"Zis is true," Henrietta said. "But zis temple still has its secrets."
Henrietta led the way into the room with Team Super Stars following. While they walked, the team eyed the walls, floors, pillars and stonework for any hint of information related to the brain candy. Alice paid special attention to the statues of bygone heroes. She glanced down at the plaques beneath them, unable to make out the names since she was not a hieroglyphist. Someone had been able to crack the code, but Alice couldn't remember what each of the names were. All she could recall was that the lone female warrior's name was unknown because her plaque had been destroyed, and any information on her name had yet to be unearthed. As the team passed the female warrior's statues, Alice studied the symbol on her chest. Unlike the male statues, her statue had some color added to it. A strand of hair was colored pink and there was a stylized dragonfly symbol on her chest colored in the same shade.
"Huh," Junior commented from next to Alice. "Ray Ray's sister has that same symbol on her shirt."
"Does it mean anything?" Alice asked the boy.
Junior shrugged. "I never asked. Figured it was just a nameless logo." His eyes narrowed as he noticed something about the statue. "Wait...is that a Rainbow Monkey?"
Alice turned back to the statue, noticing that there was indeed a Rainbow Monkey sitting on the statue's head. It was a blue plushie with a moustache on its face. Seeing the stuffed toy sitting on the ancient statue was jarring since this was an ancient temple, so she waved her hand and telekinetically lifted it from the statue. As soon as it was lifted into the air, a terrified shriek erupted from the floating toy. The shriek startled Alice into dropping her hold, permitting the toy to drop back to the statue, along with something falling from the toy itself. While the object that had been with the toy - what looked to be like rolled up paper - fell to the floor while the toy fell back onto the statue. Quickly, it moved down the statue so that it could hide from the teenagers. The shriek drew Henrietta and Suzy's attention, and they rejoined the two at the statue.
"Did that Rainbow Monkey just shriek?" Suzy asked.
"Yes," Alice answered, still in bewilderment.
She walked over to the rolled-up paper and scooped it up, surprised to feel power rush through her. It reminded her of the Book of Prophecy. She turned the paper over, studying it. The paper looked old and weathered, but aside from the string tied around it, nothing stood out about it. Since there was the mystery of how the Rainbow Monkey was in the temple, Alice put the scroll away in her NanoCom and tuned back in on the conversation.
"...I don't recall any capable of shrieking," Junior pointed out.
Henrietta, not looking surprised, moved around the statue and snatched the cowering toy before it could bolt. The toy released another shriek, but Henrietta kept a firm hold over the plushie and pulled it down from its hiding place. The toy shuddered and curled on itself. Henrietta frowned, studying the toy critically. Suzy loomed over her shoulder, eyebrows going up into her hairline.
"Hold on, this is Kuki's," she commented.
"Numbuh Three has living Rainbow Monkeys?" Junior asked incredulously.
"No. Those live on Rainbow Monkey Island," Suzy answered nonchalantly.
The answer had Junior's eyebrows touching his hairline because he had been joking. Suzy didn't notice the boy's response, instead tapping on her NanoCom's screen for a few seconds. A holographic screen suddenly appeared from it, and Numbuh Three's face was on it.
"Hello~" the girl greeted.
"Hi Kuki," Suzy greeted in return. "Is this yours?"
Suzy directed the call screen down so Numbuh Three could see the still cowering toy. The KND operative gasped dramatically.
"YOU FOUND HIM!" she shrieked loudly, almost loud enough to shake the temple.
While Junior and Alice covered their ears from the loudness, the Rainbow Monkey suddenly stopped and turned to the NanoCom, looking happy at the sound of her voice.
"Well that solves that," Junior mumbled, rubbing his sensitive ears.
Suzy nodded in satisfaction. "I figured this was yours."
"Wait, all I see is Papa Monkey. Have you found itty-bitty Baby Monkey?" Numbuh Three asked worriedly.
"No, he was the first one we found," Suzy answered.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no! That mean Fusion Spawn must still have her!" Numbuh Three cried. "Please, please, please, please, please save her!"
"Of course, Kuki," Suzy assured the girl, grinning ear to ear. "We'll grab your toy and bring her back."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Numbuh Three gushed just before the call ended.
"A Fusion Spawn has a toy?" Junior questioned.
"Which means that the Fusion must be Fusion Numbuh Three," Alice said.
"Yep," Suzy agreed. "Our mystery Fusion has been identified." She looked back at the Rainbow Monkey who was now calmly sitting in Henrietta's arms. Thanks to hearing Numbuh Three's voice, the toy had been calmed and recognized the team as friends. "Let's go and beat it."
"What about the Rainbow Monkey?" Alice asked. "It may be dangerous to bring him with us."
"Good point," Suzy agreed. She leaned down so she was eye-level with the toy. "Hey Papa Monkey, can you find your way back to Kuki?"
The toy hesitated, looking reluctant to leave. Sensing the reluctance, and guessing on the reason for the toy's having remained in the temple, Henrietta jumped in to assist.
"We will save your baby and bring her back safely," Henrietta put in. "Promise."
The Rainbow Monkey brightened and nodded in agreement. He willingly hopped out of her arms and ran on all four paws back the way the group had come.
"I'm on a first name basis with the spirit of death and even I find this weird," Junior commented flatly.
"Henrietta, if you want to keep looking around the hall, the team and I are going to head down to face the Fusion," Suzy told the candy explorer.
"Unsinn, I have committed to joining you," she answered. "I have never faced a Fusion before, and would welcome zee challenge."
"Then let's bag us a Fusion Numbuh Three," Suzy said with a grin.
Despite the room looking like a dead-end, Henrietta opened up a secret passage to the right of the female warrior's statue. All she had to do was place her hand on a stone and press it in, opening the secret passage and leading the team down the spiral staircase into the depths of the temple. As they journeyed downward, Alice could sense the energy of the Fusion and the Fusion Monsters getting stronger.
"Zere's no other passage ways between us and zee next chamber," Henrietta said. "So we will have to be ready as soon as we reach zee end of zis for zee enemy."
"We're always ready for a fight," Suzy replied confidently. "How many can you sense, Alice?"
"Two are the closest to us. Three more past them, and then there's the Fusion," Alice answered.
Suzy nodded appreciatively. "Easy. We'll breeze through them and deal with the Fusion."
"Aren't Fusions supposed to be difficult?" Henrietta asked.
"Depends on how good you are at fighting," Junior answered. "We've at least soloed one individually, and there's four of us, plus our Nanos. I'd almost say we're overpowered."
Henrietta smirked. "With zose numbers, I almost feel bad for zee Fusion." She then winked cheekily. "Almost."
"First up are the appetizers, Fusion Numbuh Three's subordinates," Suzy said, bringing Nano Raj out of her NanoCom. With Mappy! activated, Suzy was getting a read on how close the Fusion Monsters were to their position. "We've got two waiting at the bottom. Mind giving us a hand, Alice?"
Alice nodded without saying a word. She moved past Suzy and Henrietta and stepped down some more steps, just enough so she could see where the two monsters were. Before they could figure out she was there, she formed four energy disk-shaped attacks, two in each hand, and threw them at the monsters. The attacks landed neatly, severely damaging the monsters. They turned to confront Alice, but she finished them off with an energy blast. Her NanoCom automatically collected the Fusion Matter, leaving no mess behind.
She turned around to look back at the group. Suzy adjusted her NanoCom to free up her hands so she could clap for Alice, Nano Raj mimicking her.
"Brava," Suzy cheered, grinning widely. "10 out of 10, naturally."
Alice smiled appreciatively, though she side-glanced at Henrietta to gauge her reaction. Surprisingly, Henrietta looked unphased by the display of power.
"Eindrucksvoll," the candy explorer said, nodding her head. Alice didn't know what it translated to, but the tone didn't sound furious or scared, so it couldn't have been bad.
"That's two down," Junior stated.
"And one on its way," Henrietta pointed out, noticing a Timber Hulk walking toward the staircase. She pulled out a pistol and smiled confidently at the team. "Allow me to handle zis one."
She walked down the steps, passing by Alice until she was at the bottom of the stairs. The Timber Hulk spotted her and released a growl. Undeterred by the creature, Henrietta raised and leveled her peppermint-colored shooter at the living tree monster. Without a hint of hesitation, she pulled the trigger, and out of the barrel shot a candy cane. The candy cane struck the creature in the eye, lodging itself in deep. The Timber Hulk roared in pain and grasped at the candy, attempting to rip it out. While distracted, Henrietta shot at the Timber Hulk five more times, each candy cane ripping through the Timber Hulk until it turned into Fusion Matter. Since Alice had the closest NanoCom, the Fusion Matter automatically flew into her device.
"I have to pick up one of those," Suzy complimented, continuing down the staircase.
Henrietta chuckled. "I never leave home without it," she agreed, pulling six candy canes out of a side pouch and reloading her weapon. "Now zen, I believe we have three left, ja?"
"And a Fusion," Alice reminded.
"A Fusion?!" Nano Raj cried in dismay. "Oh great."
Suzy poked at his body, giggling when he released a yelp. "You're not going to be here when we fight it, so don't panic."
"I feel I must very much panic, it is a Fusion!" Nano Raj protested.
Suzy waved dismissively, returning him to the NanoCom.
"Anyways, I say we surprise them," Suzy said. "Junior, Nano Megas' sleep ability is across an area, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Let's have it put the monsters to sleep and get the jump on them."
"Wouldn't zis plan be better for a Fusion?" Henrietta inquired.
"Unfortunately, no," Suzy answered. "Fusions have a special defense against abilities like sleep or stun or snare. Only damage, drain, and leech are known to affect it."
"I see," Henrietta said with an accompanying nod.
Junior called out Nano Megas from his NanoCom, the miniature mecha flexing as soon as it materialized. The mecha spun around, most likely searching for monsters. When it didn't see any monsters, Nano Megas turned its attention onto Junior and waited for an order. Since the Nano needed to use a sleep ability on a mob, Junior entered the chamber, followed behind by the females of the group.
Alice looked around, surprised to find how many columns were spread around the room. There weren't any statues in this chamber, but the walls were covered with colorful murals depicting the twin creation gods, the six leaders, the warriors, and the other members of the tribe. Unlike the previously dark rooms, the room was brightly lit by the torches lining the walls. Since it was no longer needed, Suzy turned off her flashlight app and Henrietta snuffed out her torch.
The Timber Hulks were spotted quickly, the mob of three wandering around aimlessly. Before they could sense the presence of newcomers, Nano Megas rushed into the center of the mob and slammed the ground, using its Garden State Slam to put the tree monsters to sleep. As soon as the monsters slumped over, Suzy pulled out her Crayon Cannon and shot multi-colored crayons at the three. Henrietta joined in with her shooter, firing off candy canes. Between the two weapons, the hulks were turned to Fusion Matter before they could retaliate. Suzy sat her weapon on her shoulder, grinning in satisfaction.
"And just like that, Fusion Numbuh Three is on her own," she said. "Time for the main entree."
The room was large, but not large enough that they didn't find their Fusion prey easily. The Fusion was using its sharp fingers to claw at a stone wall, attempting to break through. It was able to chip off the paint, but the stone itself remained unharmed. The Fusion was so focused in its actions that it didn't sense the group coming up upon it, giving them the element of surprise. Raising up her palm, Alice shot off a stream of energy, hitting the Fusion in the back.
Fusion Numbuh Three cried out from the hit and spun around, dodging away from the energy beam. Growling out in fury, the Fusion slammed its claw on the ground. While there was no immediate effect - like an earthquake - Henrietta glanced down at their feet and noticed it was a green patch.
"Move!" she shouted.
Team Super Stars looked down and saw what had panicked the candy explorer. Immediately, the team dispersed, getting out of the way before it could erupt. In the scramble, the Fusion took the opportunity to throw out four globs of Fusion Matter from its sweatshirt's oversized sleeves. Instead of the globs hitting the team, they landed peacefully on the ground. Instantly, they morphed from a small glob and growing into Rainbow Monkeys that were as tall as Fusion Numbuh Three. Unlike the multi-colored themes of their plush counterparts, the Rainbow Monkey monsters were all the same green gooey color, wearing scowls instead of smiles, and their rainbow antennas were now cloud antennas.
"Huh?" Alice gasped in surprise.
"Well that's new," Suzy commented, cupping her chin as she studied the new minions.
"That's cheating!" Junior complained.
"I don't zink zey care!" Henrietta shouted, firing off her candy canes at their newest opponents.
The monkey monsters howled and dodged the candy. They got on all fours - which looked strange since the arms and legs were roughly the same size as each other - and rushed at their opponents, growling indiscriminately. From their mouths they shot off gooey globs at the team. Alice raised up a shield to protect them, the globs sliding down the barrier upon impact. The monkey creatures grew furious at this and began bombarding the shield with gooey glob after gooey glob. Alice kept her barrier up and then shoved it at the monkeys, pushing them off-kilter. Instantly, Suzy and Henrietta began firing at the monkeys while the creatures were off balance.
"I guess we can't call them Rainbow Monkeys anymore," Suzy commented blithely, firing her Crayon Cannon. "How about we call them the Cloud Monkeys? Because of their antennas."
"You cannot be serious," Junior complained, calling on Nano Rex. The Nano grinned and rushed forward, using his Smackhands ability to smack each Cloud Monkey on the nose. The hit didn't do any damage, but it did stun the foes and had them spinning around like they were a toon on The Glippo Show. "We are busy."
"I like it," Henrietta voiced her opinion, reloading her weapon quickly while the monkeys were stunned. "It is clever."
"Do not encourage her!"
The redhead and the blonde giggled at the boy's exasperation, continuing their stream of firing at the Cloud Monkeys. Since Suzy and Henrietta were handling the monkeys, Alice searched for the Fusion. Fusion Numbuh Three was back to its earlier job of tunneling into the wall. The behavior was odd, especially since Fusions usually enjoyed battling their opponents. However, if it was on the mission to find a totem and it was focusing all of its attention on a spot of the wall while its minions occupied the team, then Alice suspected the Fusion had found the totem and was prioritizing its capture. They had to stop that; it was what Gwen sent them to do. Suzy and Henrietta were firing at the monsters, so that left Junior and Alice free to handle the Fusion.
"Junior!" she called, reaching out for the boy.
Without hesitation the boy took her hand; he didn't even need to ask what she needed. She flew into the air and took Junior with her, flying over the heads of the Cloud Monkeys. The creatures saw their figures on the move, but Henrietta and Suzy kept their attention drawn on them, managing to dissolve two of the Cloud Monkeys.
The Fusion remained oblivious, giving Junior the opening to pierce the monster with four tentacles, sending electric shocks into the monster. Fusion Numbuh Three shrieked from the electrocution. Junior retracted his tentacles, wincing a little from the burns suffered from contact with the Fusion. The Fusion spun around to face who attacked it, and was frozen when Junior pulled his glasses down.
"You're up, Alice," he said to his teammate.
Alice raised her palm - still keeping a firm hold on Junior so he wouldn't drop - and aimed for the suspended Fusion. Before she could fire off, however, a purple flame suddenly engulfed the Fusion, burning it until it turned into Fusion Matter. When the flames dispersed, a puddle of Fusion Matter remained, pooled around a small Rainbow Monkey doll that was wearing a diaper. Miraculously, the toy had no scorch marks, though Fusion Matter still clung to its plush body.
"What the-" Junior cut himself off when he watched the Rainbow Monkey doll levitate into the air.
The doll floated through the room until it landed in the palm of a young woman with long, silver hair.
"How droll," the voice commented dryly, making a show of studying the Baby Monkey. "I had been hoping for something more substantial than a toy."
"Hand that over," Junior ordered once Alice put him back on his feet.
"Oh, does this little toy mean something to you?" the woman mocked.
Alice focused her attention on the Rainbow Monkey doll and levitated it off the intruder's palm, pulling it rapidly through the air until it was safe in Alice's hands. Before the woman could retaliate, she placed the doll in her NanoCom, ensuring its safety.
The woman scrutinized the Arthenadite. "Well isn't that annoying."
"Who are you?" Henrietta demanded, coming to join Alice and Junior with the Cloud Monkeys defeated.
"Charmcaster," Suzy answered for Henrietta, raising her Crayon Cannon onto the intruder.
The name sounded vaguely recognizable to Alice, but only Junior reacted in recognition. His eyes widened for a moment before narrowing, and tentacles sprouted out of his back once more and waved around in a threatening manner.
"Oooh, so you've heard of me," the woman said, her tone dripping in condescension.
"Read about you, actually," Suzy countered. "Especially how many times Ben and his team beat you."
Charmcaster's face twisted in annoyance at the mention of the Tennyson team. "So you've read that infernal blog."
"I like to keep up-to-date," Suzy taunted.
Despite her light tone, Suzy's body was tense in preparation for a fight. She kept her Crayon Cannon trained on the magical woman, and had her finger on the trigger. Henrietta was mimicking the redhead, cotton on that this woman was not an ally. Charmcaster looked unafraid of the team aiming weapons at her.
"Now, now. I didn't come here to deal with maggots," Charmcaster said. "I have something more important to be collecting." Her eyes shifted to the wall that Fusion Numbuh Three had been attempting to tunnel through. "Although something even more important seems to be within reach."
The team tensed at her words, which did not go unnoticed by the woman.
"Oho~ So you know about this," she said smugly. She pressed her palm at the spot where Fusion Numbuh Three had been digging. "Shall we take a peek behind curtain number one?"
Before she could move, Junior lowered his glasses and froze the magical woman. For a moment it looked like it had stuck, but purple lightning encircled the magical woman and she was free of the frozen hold.
"My turn," she declared, raising her palms.
From her palms shot a purple mana beam. Junior, Henrietta, and Suzy jumped out of the way from the attack, but Alice stood her ground and raised her own palms, shooting forth an energy beam. The two beams met one another and began a game of tug o' war, attempting to gain ground.
"Ha!" Charmcaster laughed, her voice raised to be heard over the two beams clashing with one another. "You believe your magic can match mine, Fusion Girl?"
Alice bit her lip, keeping her concentration so that she wouldn't be overpowered. It was already a struggle to maintain the stalemate the two power beams were in. Luckily, her teammates had her back.
"How about something demonic!" Junior challenged.
Charmcaster glanced sideways, spotting too late black-and-green tentacles piercing her arm. Before she could shake them off, an electrical current travelled down the tentacles and to her body, shocking her.
"Argh!" she screamed, her concentration broken.
With her mana beam weakened, Alice's energy beam easily overpowered hers and she was hit by the blast, sending her into the wall. Henrietta popped up from behind a column and shot off peppermint candy canes at the woman, pinning the woman's clothing to the wall.
"That was a little too easy," Junior commented cautiously.
"You can't seriously believe I'd be put down like this?" Charmcaster asked rhetorically.
She snapped her fingers, and a magenta-colored vortex suddenly opened in front of her. From out of the vortex stepped out two large creatures made of stone; runic designs etched into their tough skin in magenta coloring. The two monsters easily towered over the team, casting a shadow on them.
"I had to open my mouth," Junior complained under his breath, sizing up the monsters.
"Sic 'em," Charmcaster ordered her summoned creatures.
While the stone creatures rushed for their targets, Charmcaster easily broke free of her candy cane confines and got back on her feet. Secure that her creatures would give her time, she spun around and aimed at the wall. She never had her chance to fire, because she suddenly felt herself hit from behind and pushed into the wall. She spun around and stared in surprise that one of her stone creatures was at her feet, slowly raising itself up. It was pushed back to the floor by a whack from a miniature baseball bat, and finished off with a blue ball of energy. Charmcaster had just a moment to be annoyed that her minion was down before a miniature baseball bat whacked her in the face. She stumbled, bumping into the wall behind her.
"Hahaha! Rowdyruff rules! Old hag drools!" Nano Boomer cheered as he hopped around in the air.
Charmcaster glared at the Nano, the anger of it hurting her shifting to anger at his insult. "Old hag?"
Nano Boomer paused his celebration and looked at the woman in confusion. "Uhhhhhhh duh? You got white hair."
The magical woman narrowed her eyes. "It's silver."
"Same difference."
"Insolent worm!" Charmcaster snarled, firing off a stream of mana at the Nano.
Nano Boomer panicked and raised his energy bat, hoping it would absorb the mana. Unfortunately, the bat did very little to help him, and he was sent tumbling through the air. He was saved from hitting a stone column by Junior's tentacle reaching out and pulling him downward back to the group, who had just finished beating on the second stone creature.
"I would have been fine," Nano Boomer complained to Junior as soon as he shimmed out of his hold.
Junior rolled his eyes at the Nano's bravado but didn't get into an argument. The fight with Charmcaster was still on, and so he couldn't spend that time setting the record straight - even if the Nano was completely lying. He looked over at his redheaded teammate.
"What's our plan?" Junior asked.
"You and Alice get her from the front," Suzy said, calling out her Nano Numbuh Five. "Henrietta and I will get her from the side."
The team nodded in agreement. While Nano Numbuh Five used Secret Agent to hide Suzy and Henrietta from Charmcaster's vision, Alice and Junior went on the offensive. Alice fired off another energy beam at the magically affluent woman. Charmcaster raised three shields up, one up in front of the other. The beam struck the first shield and broke it, but had trouble on the second and third. Charmcaster smirked at seeing her opponent's attack fail to reach her. She was preparing a counterattack of her own, and so she was blindsided when Nano Boomer and Nano Rex appeared from under her shields, completely bypassing them with no trouble. Nano Boomer used Batter Up! to strike the top of her head while Nano Rex used Smackhands to strike her on the nose.
"Urgh!" Charmcaster shouted, her hand reaching up to clutch her nose.
Seeing her chance, Suzy rushed at the woman with her Camp Oar raised up high over her head, preparing to swing down. Providing cover fire, Henrietta fired off candy canes at the woman. Charmcaster recovered faster than the team had been hoping and stretched out her hand in Suzy's direction. Suzy's forward momentum was immediately halted, leaving the girl hanging midair by her weapon. Charmcaster flung her hand to the side, sending Suzy and the weapon rocketing backward. Alice raised a bubble around the redhead, protecting her when it hit the wall. Their foe glared in annoyance at the development, since she was hoping to take at least one of them out of the fight.
"Let's finish this now!" Charmcaster snarled in aggravation.
She raised herself practically to the ceiling and sent out a mana wave that hit the team as well as the wall behind her. The mana wave was strong enough to break through the stones that Fusion Numbuh Three had been digging through. Seeing the dent she had made, Charmcaster smirked and began telekinetically picking up the stones, flinging them at her opponents who she was quickly growing to hate. Henrietta and Suzy dodged the stones as they ran back over to Alice, who had her shield up protecting her and Junior. Charmcaster made sure to pay extra attention to one stone so that it flew around the shield, reversed itself and nailed Alice in the back of the head, dropping her to the ground. Junior knelt down to check on her, dropping Charmcaster's pest from four to two. Unworried about the two humans rushing to their fallen comrade's side, Charmcaster slipped through the hole that had been created during the battle.
Inside the hidden chamber was the prize she had been fighting for. Ignoring the limestone depictions of the tribe's most well-known leaders, she only had eyes for the iridescently glowing obelisk sitting smackdab in the middle of the octagonal room. Charmcaster landed at the foot of the totem, her smile widening in egomaniac glee at the energy she could sense coming off it in waves.
"So much power," Charmcaster crooned as she approached. "And now it's mine."
As soon as her finger tips touched the totem, a small ball of iridescent light formed at the tip on top and fired a beam straight at Charmcaster's chest. The force of the hit sent her back through the hole, right over the heads of the team, and into a column towards the other side of the room.
"Argh!" she cried when she hit the column, sliding down until she was crumpled at its base.
She shook her head and looked back up, squinting her eyes as she tried to ride out the dizziness the travel and hit had caused her. She made to get on her feet, but was thwarted by a blue dome appearing over her head and shoving her back to the ground. She looked up and glared at the perpetrator.
Alice had her hand stretched out in Charmcaster's direction. The only indication she was still hurt from Charmcaster's attack was the way Alice's hand trembled every so often, like it was trying to stabilize but it had hiccups. Junior, Henrietta, and Suzy stood beside her, the latter two holding their weapons up at her, prepared to fire as soon as Alice dropped her dome. Frowning at the tide turning, Charmcaster sent a burning glare in their direction.
"Do not consider this a win," she warned the team as they approached. "I have grown uninterested in this wretched place any further." She looked past her opponents and glared at the totem sitting behind them, its stature almost mocking her and her failure. "I will only return once I've secured a way to steal what should belong to me."
The portal that had brought the stone creatures into the temple appeared underneath Charmcaster, and the woman slipped through it, closing up once she was gone. With her prisoner no longer around, Alice dropped the dome and slumped to her knees, releasing out a sigh. The pain from her head injury was already starting to fade, but the weariness of battle was settling in. Junior joined her on the ground, laying out on the cool stone. Suzy's only indication that she was worn from the fight was her swiping away sweat from her bangs.
"Good job, everyone," Henrietta congratulated, still on her feet. "We have Baby Monkey, ja?"
Alice raised her hand, still catching her breath. Henrietta nodded in approval and Suzy patted her teammate on the shoulder.
"I'm going to let Gwen know about Charmcaster," Suzy said, holding her NanoCom. "She's had prior dealings with the woman, so she'll know what to do about her."
"Especially with the totem still activated," Junior pointed out, forcing himself to sit up. He looked over at the iridescently glowing totem. "It's kind of a beacon for her."
"And any other Fusion," Alice contributed.
"First step will be to putting the stones back," Henrietta said, examining the hole Charmcaster made. "We will zen need a protection team."
"Ray Ray could probably help with that," Junior mentioned. "I can ask him and Lila to hang around and keep an eye on it."
"I'll stay behind as well," Henrietta volunteered. "I still need to look through zee temple for ancient artifacts."
"Oh," Alice gasped, running her hand over her NanoCom's screen. The scroll she'd found earlier appeared in her hand. "Henrietta, Papa Monkey had this earlier. It feels magical."
Henrietta accepted the scroll and unrolled it. At first her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, before smoothing out. Her eyes moved from left to right as she read the letters on the parchment. Suzy, the only one with enough energy to move around, hung over her shoulder to read along. The redhead blinked and her eyebrows went upward.
"Well, this is interesting," she commented.
"Ja," Henrietta agreed.
"Does it help?" Alice asked.
"Nein," the candy explorer answered, rolling up the scroll. "It is not about zee brain candy, but speaks of something else just as important. It is a prophecy saying zat Fusion Monsters will be turned into weapons."
Junior and Alice stared in surprise. Monsters typically turned into Fusion Matter, and Fusions would drop the items they had stolen. Never have they heard of monsters turning into weapons.
"I'd recommend taking that to Juniper," Junior advised seriously. "She's always been good with magical things, so she'll probably know what to do with it."
"We can take it up to her," Suzy offered. "Her brother was joining her tomorrow, right?" She waited long enough to see Junior nod in confirmation. "We can swing up that way and take care of both matters."
Henrietta thought about it for a moment and then nodded, handing the scroll over to the redhead. Suzy tucked it away in her NanoCom, keeping it safe.
"I'm sorry," Alice apologized to the candy explorer. "I really thought it was related to the candy."
"Zere is nothing to apologize for," Henrietta assured her. "Exploration does not always yield results. I will do another sweep through zee temple to see what I have missed, and wait for zis Ray Ray and Lila to come join me."
"You're not coming back to Mount Blackhead?" Alice asked in surprise.
Henrietta shook her head. "Nein, zere is work to be done. I do my best work at night."
"You want us to come with you?" Suzy asked.
Henrietta surveyed the team and then shook her head. "Nein, you are all in need of rest, as well as medical help. Getting zis new information to Juniper is more important. Zis is where our paths must end."
Suzy surveyed her teammates and nodded. As much as she wanted to assist, she couldn't deny that her teammates were getting tired. It was already late into the night, and they had already been going since the sun was up. The hunt for mysteries of the crazy brain candy would have to be left in the hands of Henrietta.
The candy expert journeyed with the team back to the first chamber, where she bade "Auf Wiedersehen" and ventured deeper into the temple's interior. The team exited from the temple and used the last of Alice's energy to get them back across the large crevasse, bringing an end to Team Super Stars' temple expedition.
The Jack Pott Mine is the name of the mine in The Quick Draw McGraw Show. I was trying to find a good reference for a mining company/town and decided on this one. Techncially, it's supposed to be in a desert and in a mountain side compared to what is shown in Haunted Ridge, but we don't need to sweat on those details. Plus, there's something funny about Eustace telling a little Alice the story of a mine called Jack Pott Mine - fits right up his alley.
Ray Ray and Monroe being in Pimpleback Mountain with Gwen is a reference to their planned positioning in Legacy. Ray Ray, however, is not the same age as Legacy put for him. I bumped up the Juniper Lee crew by five years, so that puts Ray Ray in the same age range as Alice and her friends. He does not have the crush on Gwen that was in Legacy because he's still got a thing for Lila. Originally Ray Ray was going to have a little scuffle with Junior, but I went back to the wiki to check if this would fly and found that Ray Ray actually got along well with monsters and the like, so I scrapped it and instead had them be good friends, which is infinitely better (and gives him a wider social network than just his cousin and the kids of Endsville). Since Monroe can only be understood by those who can see through the magic barrier, he wouldn't be understood by Alice and Suzy, so it's why he didn't have much of a speaking role. That said, I think he fits in well with the Book of Prophecy arc because of his knowledge on magic.
The Glippo Show is a cartoon from Ed, Edd n Eddy. Since it's a black-and-white cartoon emulating old cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Felix the Cat, I figured this would be a good reference for how dizzy the Cloud Monkeys were. On the matter of the Cloud Monkeys, I almost made the monsters based on the real Rainbow Monkeys, but opted to just use the plush versions. We haven't had many attacking dolls and that just sounds like so much fun to me.
Since this is fanfiction and I am not constrained to the limits of the game, the totem was moved inside, similar to what buttercrush did in A Girl Named Roxie. That story is dealing with the Book of Prophecy arc in better detail since I'm only doing flybys, so please go and check it out; you won't be disappointed (but I will be disappointed in you if you don't go and support the rest of our amazing FF writers).
Henrietta Von Marzipan is from Codename: Kids Next Door. Formerly cursed to be Heinrich, Henrietta is a candy hunter, and so I thought the best place for her is in the Hani-Baba Temple helping out Double D. Double D has an entire storyline centered on a mystical candy and she's a candy hunter who has had dealings with magical candy - yes this was absolutely happening. Her weapon, the Candy Cane Shooter, could be found in the game during Retro's Ice King Event.
There's nothing known about the Hani-Baba Temple outside of it being a reference to Hanna-Barbera, the two men and the company before it became Cartoon Network Studios. The wiki says the temple is supposed to be the temple from Ben 10's "Ultimate Weapon," but I don't really subscribe to this idea, so the temple is going to be exclusive to the FF universe, and I've thrown in my headcanons because welcome to my story; it's only been nineteen chapters. Anyways, the creation gods Hani and Baba are nods and references to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (obviously). Some of the paintings and statues were of their creations, specifiically: Huckleberry Hound (The Huckleberry Hound Show), Top Cat (Top Cat), Secret Squirrel (The Secret Squirrel Show), Fred Flintstone & Bamm Bamm Rubble (The Flintstones/Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show), Captain Caveman (Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels), Zandor (The Herculoids), Mightor (The Mighty Mightor), Ugh (Dino Boy), and Quick Draw McGraw (as himself and El Kabong) (The Quick Draw McGraw Show). The statue of the Te-Xuan-Ze is a reference to the statue of the unnamed Te-Xuan-Ze in Forgotten Falls. Yes, that's right, I placed an ancestor of June's in the Really Twisted jungle instead of Orchid Bay. I had to have SOME reason for her statue being there. She also has a name; her name is Aralia.
The painting Alice put extra focus on depicts Gaia, the Magic Tree and the Dark Tree. This connection is a reference to a theory I pitched in my video "Let's Talk: Ancient Prophecies and a Wish (Theory)." In it, I believe the Magic Tree was once planted at the Hani-Baba Temple and set in motion the Book of Prophecy arc as well as the Master Weapon arc, such as designing the obelisks and even putting its leaves in each one. His connection to the Dark Tree is referenced in another YouTube video of mine, and since the Dark Glade also showed signs of an ancient society, I wanted to point out the connection. Maybe that civilization is a sister tribe to the Hani-Baba one. Maybe I started calling it the Turnbro tribe in reference to the Turner Broadcasting System. Maybe this is irrelevant to everyone but myself. Also, the Magic Tree's connections to the obelisks is why I believe each has a self-defense mechanism to thwart off intruders. The game had Fusion Gwen try to steal the Magic Tree to force it to deactivate the totems. So, this is why Charmcaster (and Fusion Numbuh Three if it'd gotten in) was unable to consume its energy - she needs the Magic Tree to do so.
This chapter is actually one of the few chapters to not have any direct ties to a mission from the game, although the tasks are heavily inspired by them. The team is sent off to check on the totem which is part of the Book of Prophecy arc, and Henrietta is assisting with Double D's overall guide story (there was no mission of his that sent you to the Ruins, so this is where I divert from canon). Juniper collecting magic totems is from her nano mission "Alien Totem Poll" and Ray Ray going to the Canopy in the Really Twisted Forest is a reference to Dexter guide mission "Warrior's Welcome." Charmcaster's hunt for a powerful relic is actually from this same mission; she and Ray Ray are seeking out the Warrior's Crest. Lila is on the "SACT Attack" mission line (although it'd now be "G3 Attack"). Numbuh Three's "My Monkeys!" nano mission is in here too, but I took a lot of liberties on how this thing was going to play out. While Baby Monkey seems to be the item used to make Nano Numbuh Three, I'm having it be a trade - Alice returns the Baby Monkey and Numbuh Three offers up a different one to make the Nano. It'd be wrong to break apart the Rainbow Monkey family just to make a Nano. The scroll Alice finds and gives to Henrietta is the scroll mentioned in "Building a Master Arsenal" Pt. 2. Instead of June finding it, the team finds it and will bring it to Juniper for consultation.
Here's to hoping I can quit my once-a-month update schedule.