This is quite a long one compared to the others. I know I didn't write for a long time, DON"T YELL AT ME! I have a life, as much as I don't seem like it. I know the whole reference to "Freak Out!" is retarded and has no point to the story, but whatever. I worked very hard on this for all yous. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Le Incredibales. Whatever, French blows.

Chapter 3

All Wrong

Dash and Hahphyjh wandered down the hallway away from the guard's post. They both began to slow considerably as a tiny scratching noise could be heard. They soon came upon another guard.

Wh- What's that noise?" Dash asked, not sure he wanted to know.

"That noise?" the guard repeated, tilting his head to the side. He smiled. "That, little man, is the sound of our arachnid friends longing to be free again."

"Say what?" Dash and Hahphyjh said at the same time.

The guard pulled them around the corner.

Dash let out a shriek.

The sight before him was one out of a nightmare – one not all that different from one Dash had a year or so ago. There was a glass tank, like the first story, but this one didn't look empty. In fact, it was PACKED FULL – of our 'arachnid friends', a.k.a. spiders. Thousands of spiders, ranging from the tiniest imaginable to the size of a dinner plate. The tank was filled with blacks and browns and grays and tans, dancing and bobbing as the spiders clambered over and under each other, scrambling against the glass as if to knock it loose in order to escape.

Hahphyjh looked disgusted and yet fascinated at the same time, while Dash backed against the opposite wall, twitching in horror.

"Oh, little man," the guard said, noticing Dash. He gestured toward the wall. "The, uh, tank here didn't exactly fit all of 'em, so we, uh, put the rest in that wall."

Dash screamed and leapt away from it, spinning a full 180 degrees in mid-jump to land facing it.

The guard laughed. "Just kidding, buddy. Sorry, I couldn't resist."

Dash glared at him.

"So, what's this story called?" Hahphyjh asked, obviously oblivious to what had just happened from examining the spiders so closely.

"Ah, haha!" the guard said with a laugh, "Check it out!" He pointed to a space above the tank. A plaque was nailed there. Hahphyjh's eyebrow slowly shifted upwards as he read it aloud.

" 'How I Became…' "

The guard nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Arachnophobic!" he said, finishing the title of the story. "They chose me to guard this one 'cause I love spiders! I'm so much like the main character! … Except I'm older than him…" He scratched the back of his head. "… And I wasn't chased out of my village by a wicked huge swarm of spiders…"

Hahphyjh almost laughed.

"That was a neat one," Hahphyjh said with a smile, walking down the hallway. A low growl rumbled in Dash's throat. Hahphyjh's smile widened. Then they heard someone laugh loudly. It was another guard, who was laughing wildly at something that was making a sharp rapping on the glass.

Hahphyjh looked confused. "The guy back there said this one's called 'When Things Go Wrong'…" he said, baffled, "Why's he laughing?"

"Well!" Dash answered happily, "It's a funny story! As if it wasn't good enough that it just isn't scary!"

"What are you laughing at, anyway?" Hahphyjh asked the guard. "Oh, I'm sorry," the guard said, "I shouldn't be laughing, but it's just so funny how the things would KILL themselves in order to get out!"

Another round of tapping broke out, and the guard burst into hysterical fits of laughter.

Two pairs of eyebrows went up simultaneously.

Two heads poked around the corner to see.

"Fuzzballs?" Dash asked quizzically.

"Fuzzballs with faces?" Hahphyjh asked quizzically.

They both began to laugh. Then one of the little brown spheres of fur pressed its face against the glass. The two leapt into each others' arms with a shriek.

The little thing grinned evilly, its large, black eyes glinting menacingly. It stretched its mouth open to a ridiculous size, revealing three rows of tiny dagger-teeth, glimmering pearly white. The mouth slowly opened wider and wider, then slammed shut with a SNAP that could be heard on the other side of the glass. Dash and Hahphyjh jumped, still huddled together. All the little fuzzballs began bouncing around, smirking wickedly.

The guard laughed again. "I think this is the only exhibit where the captives enjoy getting visits," he said, "But the only thing that makes them happier than scaring people –" he paused, "– is EATING THEM!" His guests whimpered. "BUT!" the guard continued, "You wanna know what reeeally drives them mad?"

He leaned in close and whispered, "Laughing," then stood back and smiled. "Here, I'll tell you boys a joke. Did you hear about the atheistic, dyslexic insomniac?"

Dash and Hahphyjh exchanged confused glances. "Nope," they said at the same time.

The guard sniggered. "He stayed up all night wondering if there was a dog!" He snorted, and then he and Hahphyjh roared with laughter.

"I don't get it," Dash said, while the fuzzballs began glaring at them.

One by one they charged the glass, slamming into it with all their might. The two older guys cackled even louder.

Dash growled. "Fine! I'm going to the next one!" He left the guard and Hahphyjh to laugh their heads off.

Dash stood in front of the next exhibit. "What the –"

He glanced back. The guard was sleeping. He looked up at the sign. It said "Holiday Fear". Dash scoffed. "That explains the Christmas tree!" he said loudly.

It was completely dark behind the glass, except for the dim light from the tree in the corner. The exhibit was made to look like a living room. Dash could even just barely see a fireplace with stockings hung above –

WHAM!

Something slammed into the glass just in front of Dash. He yelped and leapt backward.

"Sometimes it seems to forget there's glass there…" a sleepy voice said behind Dash.

He wasn't listening. Two hands, looking not very different from human hands, were pressed against the glass, moving around. They curled up, then pulled away. A fist smashed into the glass, jarring it.

"Aw, poor baby," the guard said sarcastically. He scoffed, and, seeing Dash looking at him, said, "'S like the thing needs to strangle any thing it sees."

"What IS it?" Dash asked, watching the hands scratch at the glass, looking very much like they were trying to wring someone's neck.

The guard heaved himself to his feet and walked over to a padlock on the wall next to his chair. He typed in a code on it, and it slid open with a hiss, revealing a light switch.

Hahphyjh came around the corner. "Oh, Dash, here you are," he said. He looked into the exhibit. "Creepy."

The guard chuckled. "Watch this," he said. He flipped the switch.

Lights went on in the exhibit.

"It's not there!" Dash exclaimed.

"Oh, it is," the guard said.

"Is it invisible?"

The guard shook his head. "Hiding."

"From what?"

"The light."

A low, rumble came from off to the side of the exhibit.

"Here it comes!" the guard exclaimed.

The rumble slowly grew into a piercing, high-pitched shriek. Everyone covered their ears, grimacing, as they watched a strange creature looking somewhat like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings come flying into view, zooming about, knocking things over. All the while, it screamed… and screamed, and screamed, and screamed. It dived into a head plant on the floor, covering its head with its hands, scooting around on its elbows and knees. It probably sounds entertaining to watch, but Dash felt a strange sense of pity.

The guard flicked the switch off.

"Pitiful," he said, as the screams died down.

"Why does it do that?" Dash asked quietly.

The guard shrugged. "It hates bright light. It hangs around Christmas trees, though, but nobody knows why. Maybe it thinks its – I dunno – pretty or something."

"It's kinda sad."

The guard nodded solemnly. "It'll calm down. I've watched it. It'll lie there, twitching a while, then it'll stop. It sleeps, or something. A nap or something, you know? Then it'll get up, and sit in front of the tree, as usual."

Dash smiled. "OK, cool. Well, um, see ya, then."

"Oh, uh, you might want to stop right here, the next one's a little…" He cleared his throat loudly.

"Sweet," Hahphyjh said, "I gotta see this."

The friends rounded the next corner to find the exhibit guard sitting in his chair, hands clenched around the seat so tightly that his knuckles were white. He looked frail, and he whimpered to himself all the time, occasionally interrupted by a spasm of twitching.

"Um…" Dash said hesitantly, looking at Hahphyjh, "maybe that last guy was right?"

Hahphyjh grinned. "Are you kidding? This is going to be great!" He advanced toward the guard. "Hey!" he said.

The guard jumped, yelping. "S-sorry," he stammered, "W-what do y-you want?"

"Um, nothing," Dash said, stepping forward while running a finger underneath his collar, "We were just wondering where the nearest exit –"

"What's this exhibit called?" Hahphyjh interrupted.

"Exhibit?" the guard shrieked, "Ha!"

Hahphyjh blinked. "OK…" he said. He walked around to the glass wall, looking at the plaque above. "'Eternity Beckons'? Interesting." He gazed into the tank, and…

"It's… a little cloud."

Behind the glass, a small cloud of green-colored haze hovered a few feet above the ground.

"Oh, it's more than that," the guard said, giggling madly.

"How is it more? It's just floating there, it's not doing anything."

"You don't know anything! That thing is the very essence of death and suffering!"

The two began to argue, neither noticing Dash, who was standing rigidly, staring into the cloud. His eyes glazed over. The sound of angry voices faded into nothing, and the only sound was an airy, hollow voice that echoed inside Dash's head. At first it was indistinguishable, but as it grew louder, the last half of a word could be heard: "-iell… -iell…" The echoing was driving Dash crazy.

The voice was roaring in his ears now, and for the first time he realized – it was calling him. "Dashiell…" it screamed, "Dashiell…"

He took a step forward. What did it want from him? Why was it calling him?

"Dashiell…"

He wanted to get to it. He pressed his nose against the glass. If only it wasn't there…

"OK, then what does it do? Why is this stupid thing so terrifying?" The guard glared at Hahphyjh. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. His face relaxed, his eyes deepening into fathomless pits of fear. "… Eternity beckons…" he whispered.

Hahphyjh hesitated, thinking. Then it hit him, and he spun around to see his friend pushing against the glass, and the cloud…

The cloud was moving, slowly floating toward the boy. It seemed to be swirling faster, its foggy green color now a glistening shade of emerald.

"NO!" Hahphyjh shouted, diving at Dash. He wrapped his arms around his friend, falling toward the hard floor. He twisted so he wouldn't crush Dash, and smashed onto the floor, with Dash lying, unconscious, on top of him…

Dash slowly came to his senses. His vision was blurry, so he couldn't make out where he was, but he knew he was lying in a bed. "– can't stay here forever," he heard a distant voice say with a slight tinge of irritation, "He needs to get home. His parents are probably already worried."

"The boy needs to rest! After something like that, you can't expect him to just hop out of bed and go trotting about!"

Dash ducked underneath the covers as Hahphyjh stormed into the room, muttering angrily under his breath. The flustered young man cast a caring glance at Dash, who began to breathe loudly and slowly, as if he were sleeping peacefully. Hahphyjh's face split into a smile for a second, then he turned and walked through the door. Dash couldn't say for sure, but it looked like he had a serious limp.

Another man came into the room and leaned on the door frame. There was a pause. Dash groaned and rolled over. "Come on, man," his visitor said teasingly, "I know you're awake."

Dash turned to face him. He still couldn't see, but something about him was familiar.

The man's pants were blue, a denim shade – probably jeans, and very baggy, it seemed. He had a tee-shirt on, white, also baggy. He was hanging a large, red article of clothing on a hanger. Dash strained to see what it was, but in vain.

"So," the man said, interrupting Dash's thoughts, "You ready to go home?"

"Ah," Dash shrugged, "Why not? It's cool here and all, but, you know…"

There was a pause. Dash thought, He must be smiling at me.

"Well," Dash's company said, walking toward the door, "I thought you might want a little more time to rest, but if you're sure, let's get you out of here."

Dash sat up and put one foot on the floor when he heard a crash. He looked up.

The man was lying on the floor. "I'm OK!" he said, "I'm OK!"

Then Dash realized who he was dealing with.

"You – are you that super hero guy?" he asked.

The man leapt to his feet. "That's me! Captain Awesome, the coolest super hero that ever lived!"

"Wow," Dash said, "From how Hahphyjh described you, I thought you'd be more, well, stupid."

"Thanks a lot. Is that what you call the guy with the sword? I never knew he had a name."

"We made up a name for him."

"That would explain it."

Dash groaned and rubbed his head. "So what happened? Why am I here?"

"I don't know all of it, but your friend said that you were zoned out from Eternity, and he tackled you to save you. He landed on top of his sword. The hilt jammed up his hip pretty bad, so he can't move his leg too well."

Dash grimaced. "Beautiful."

"You were unconscious. You looked horrible – you were pale as a ghost, and your eyes were all bloodshot and glazed over."

Minor pause.

"So why were you guys in that building?"

"Which one?"

"The 'Freak Out!' one."

"Oh. He was showing it to me. I asked."

Another pause. Dash lifted himself gently to his feet. He staggered. Captain Awesome helped him out the door.

Hahphyjh was coming up the path toward them. "Hey," he called, "there's a portal near the arcade, downtown."

"Portal?" Dash said quizzically.

Captain Awesome grinned. "Yeah," he said, "You came here, did you not? Then you've already been through a portal."

"Oh," Dash said, "That's what that was."

"What did you think?"

"I WAS FREAKING OUT! What was I supposed to think? Sheesh."

Hahphyjh cleared his throat loudly. "They said it's going to leave soon, so we'd better get down there."

"That's a long way to go," Captain Awesome advised, "By the time you get there, it'll be gone already. We should wait for the next position."

"But we… he needs to…" Hahphyjh sighed. "OK, you're right. For once."

Dash looked up at the superhero. "He really doesn't like you," he whispered, "does he?"

Captain Awesome laughed. "We'd better get down to the station," he said, wiping his eyes, "so we can find out where the portal's going to end up next."

"The portal moved a while ago," said a short, black-haired man who was sitting in a large, cushioned chair in front of a gigantic monitor. On the screen was a detailed map of the entire area known as Tomville, which was quite a bit larger than Dash thought. "It was originally here –" he tapped the screen near the center of a large city "– but is now… ahh… about here." His finger rested in the middle of a cluster of trees that jutted out from a humongous forest, not far from the path that Dash had landed when he arrived.

Captain Awesome gaped. "But that's –"

"Shhh!" Hahphyjh hissed. Dash didn't like that.

A round of low-pitched chirping broke out in the underbrush as Dash passed it. He shuddered. "There seem to be a lot of those things around here," he said nervously.

"You have no idea," Hahphyjh said, shaking his head.

Dash fell quiet. Looking around, he noticed three things: one, that it was getting noticeably gloomier and a little bit colder as they went farther into the trees, two, that the silences were getting more uncomfortable, and three, that Hahphyjh and Captain Awesome were getting more and more vigilant, even to the point of being awkward. Trying desperately to think of something to say in order to break the silence, he said, "Why's it getting so dark?" There was a long pause.

His two companions began to stutter.

Dash bit his lip. He was about to say that he loved running in forests (which was a lie), when he suddenly got the odd feeling that someone was watching him. He stopped in his tracks, slowly turning around. Almost directly behind him, a large figure flashed by, too fast to make out. "Um, guys?" he whimpered, dancing backward toward his friends. He looked up at them. They were both staring up into the trees above.

Hahphyjh held up a hand. "We heard something," he said quietly.

Dash backed up against his leg. "There's something reeeeeally big out there," he said, pointing.

Hahphyjh turned to barely see the figure dive behind a bush. He took a single step backward. "… Run!" he hissed.

They soon came to a small clearing, where there was a single ray of sunlight streaming through the trees. "That's it?" Dash asked. "That's it," was Hahphyjh's answer. There was a loud crash behind them. "Go!" shouted Captain Awesome, and he and Hahphyjh circled around Dash, who took a deep breath and dove into the sunlight as a deafening roar broke out behind him.

"Oof!" he gasped as he landed in clean, green grass. He looked up. He was in the meadow he had run through earlier. There was his house! He got up and began to run toward it. Gripping the sock rope he had made, he climbed up and into bed, and as he pulled the covers over his head, the door opened, and he heard his mother whisper, "See, he's in bed. What a good boy."

"Hey," his father said, "I didn't say anything against the little guy, I just…" His voice faded as he walked back down the hallway.

"Good night, Dash," Helen murmured, then closed the door.

Dash smiled, then lifted his head and gazed out the window at the meadow. He'd have to try to get back into that place again.

Just as he was about to get back into bed, he got that creepy feeling that he was being watched…

That's logical thinking right there, folks, go ahead and try to figure it out! It'll all be revealed next chapter. Tell me if you got it right when it comes out! But as of right now, how about sending in one of those things you call "reviews"?