Chapter Ten: Scramble is a great game to play in the middle of a froyo shop!

Finn scribbled out the letters as Philby read the list off to him. "...N." Philby looked up from his notes, one eyebrow raised. "Okay then Finn...what's the answer?"

"Why are you asking me?" Finn questioned back as he tapped his pen on the table, his froyo nearly forgotten.

Willa titled her head towards the sisters as she gestured wildly in their direction. "Because we've been going on what a single dream of yours had in it this entire time. Amanda and Jess both make appearances in it as Keepers, so we go and make them one of us. We know that despite the fact Wayne is less sure about us that we can solve this riddle because according to your dream we did solve it. So what's the answer?"

Finn paused, glancing around the crowded table at his fellow Kingdom Keepers. "I don't know...maybe it's like Scramble and we're supposed to piece the answers together out of the letters..?"

"If that's the case then…" Willa tore the piece of paper in pieces so that each letter was on its own piece. "Let's get scrambling!"

Charlene reached over, quickly rearranging the letters. "Men."

Philby quickly pulled out those letters, spelling the word out off to the side. Finn rubbed his chin, staring at the letters that were left. "Spit."

Again, Philby moved the letters necessary to spell out that word. Philby paused, eyeing the last three letters. "That just leaves fry."

"Men spit fry?" Maybeck guessed, one eyebrow raised.

Amanda shook her head, before tossing in her own two cents. "Men fry spit."

"Neither of those combinations make sense. Let's try again." Finn grimaced as he quickly rescrambled the letters.

Charlene cleared her throat, a small smile on her features. "I'm pretty good with scramble if I say so myself. May I have a go?"

"Go for it." Finn gestured her to take over.

Charlene's hand flew as she created a variety of combinations. MY PIT FERNS. MY TIP FERNS. FIRM SPY NET. MEN FIST PRY. MET FRY SPIN. MY PINS FRET.

"You might be good at this but I really doubt any of this is the answer we've been looking for." Jess commented as she stared at the list that Finn was keeping.

Finn sighed, and was about to suggest that they take a break when the door to the froyo shop swung open, allowing a strong burst of wind into the store. The papers flew into the air at that, causing Finn and Philby to lunge forward and snag a few, the rest falling like large snowflakes down to the table. As they settled, Finn glanced down at the way they had settled themselves onto the table. A gasp escaped him as he reached over to straighten out the letters and turn the M right side up. "MY FIRST PEN! Why didn't we think of that?"

"But whose pen is it that we need to find?" Willa asked as she stared at the slips of paper.

Finn thought for a minute, before turning to the sisters. "What was the name of the guy that founded the kingdom in the first place? Any idea?"

"Walt Disney. Why?" Amanda answered quickly, confusion evident in her eyes.

"Because…" Finn turned to face the rest, determination flashing in his eyes. "I suspect that it's talking about his pen. I mean think about it, he's the one that made up the riddle. Quill is another word for pen. The Riddle not once mentions a quill, but when we unscramble the letters they spell out pen. Obviously that means he placed the answer in the title of his riddle to throw people off." Finn paused, realizing that he was now rambling. Clearing his throat, he backtracked quickly. "What I mean is that since he wrote the riddle and hide the clues, it must be talking about his first pen."

"Wait…you mean the title of the riddle was the answer the entire time!?" Charlene looked annoyed that none of them have ever noticed this before.

Amanda and Jess bit back laughter at that thought, Jess clearing her throat briefly so as to talk. "Well, that actually is a good place to hide the answer to the riddle without anyone knowing…since no one will look at the title to find the answer. It's too obvious."

"Makes me feel like an idiot for not noticing earlier." Maybeck grumbled under his breath.

Shaking his head, Finn glanced down at his watch. "How about we separate for now and meet up normal place and time to head over to Wayne's?"

"Sure thing." "Been ages since we've seen him."

Finn thought this was going to be easy-peasy. He should have known better. Fossils don't come to live by themselves and something had captured Maybeck. The green skin thing in front of Finn smiled, amusement flashing in her eyes. Finn swallowed hard as he glanced back to see that Philby was already doing something to revive the sisters, while Maybeck and the girls were providing him with cover from the lasers the pirates were shooting and of course the wraths and broomsticks.

"Why are you even doing this?" Finn turned his attention back to the thing in front of her.

"Because…for too long have we stayed in the shadows…allowing the heroes to hog the spotlight… no more… It's time for evil to shine!" She crackled evilly at that, a purple ball of fire appearing in her hands.

"Finn! That's Maleficent! She's a Dark Fairy!" Amanda cried out suddenly, alerting him that she was awake once more.

Finn took a step back, worry creasing his brow. "Wait…you guys have actual fairies here as well!?"

"You mortals believe in us…do you not? Did you not know that this entire place runs on imagination? That we run on imagination? The more people believe that we exist, the stronger we get!" Maleficent flung the fireball towards Finn.

Finn stumbled backwards, a single thought of shield flashing across his mind, though the word didn't leave his mouth. His eyes widened in surprise as his force field activated, blocking the fireball from incinerating him…

A/N: Done! Hmm… let's see here… I had a random epiphany while writing this chapter which leaked into the conversation that Finn and the others were having. And I finally got them to meet Maleficent! That's…been a long time in coming. Oops. Oh well, at least I can finally get them to the point where they learn that despite what Wayne programmed the ITEMS to do, and how to operate them… there's something still different about them. Wayne programmed them so that basically everything is voice activated. Finn just discovered it's more thought activated…

Oh! Before I forget, I am terrible at Scramble! So I opened the book and copied down what they guessed it was in the first book... also is wouldn't let me let Philby list all the letters. I've tried everything but it keeps deleting everything but the N whenever I go in to get the chapter up on fanfiction.

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SkyTalon