Omari woke up in white space again. She looked at her laptop and noticed that the keys of her key board were missing. Her laptop suddenly turned on to reveal a game of hangman. She looked at it and saw that it told where each key was hidden. Was she supposed to find the answer to a hidden message on the laptop? She didn't bother to think about it too much and didn't hesitate to walk over to the white door that led to her friends.

DO YOU WANT TO OPEN THE DOOR?

- Yes

No

When she opened the door, she saw that Aubrey, Kel, and Basil were already waiting for her. When Kel saw Omari come into the room, he immediately ran to her.

"Omari! Thank goodness you're here!" Kel said as everyone looked concerned.

"Have you seen Hero? We can't find him anywhere." Aubrey said.

"We should go tell Sunny you're okay. He was really scared that he lost you." Basil replied.

The little kids lined up behind Omari like little ducklings. She led them up the stair of neighbor's and out of the stump. It was there that the first key appeared within the view as she walked out of the stump. She silently grabbed it and continued to walk all the way to the playground. When they arrive they see Sunny sitting at the picnic. But he didn't look the same silently cheerful Sunny until he saw Mari and ran up to her.

He hugged her tightly as he felt like she would disappear if he let her go again. Mari hugged him back as she assured her brother that he was okay. Once Sunny let her go, he looked to the others.

"Hero?" Sunny quietly asked. Basil gave a solemn look.

"Sorry, Sunny, but we can't find Hero anywhere. The last thing I remember was that we were looking at the pastries Hero made at his house. Then I suddenly wake up in my neighbor's room with Kel and Aubrey.

"At least Omari is okay, but I hope Hero is okay too." Kel also replied.

"There's no time for us to feel so glum now!" Aubrey tried to brighten the mood. "We'll find Hero for sure!"

Sunny nodded with a smile as he appreciated the positivity Aubrey was trying to spread. Basil thought for a second and came up with an idea.

"Why don't we go back to Hero's house? Maybe we must've missed something?" Everyone nodded in agreement.

Omari and the little kids left the playground to the vast forest. When they arrived at Hero's house, they were led with nothing but his pastries on the kitchen counter.

This left them with the face of disappointment.

"It doesn't look like there's anything out of place." Basil silently whispered.

"Would Hero just leave somewhere without telling us?" Aubrey asked.

"I don't know, he would never do something like that. He'd always tell us where he was going, especially if he was by himself...I'm really worried. What if he's in danger?" Kel said as his voice wavered. Of course Kel would mostly be worried since this was his older brother. He didn't know what he would do if his older brother just suddenly disappeared.

Basil went and hugged Kel tightly and rubbed his back.

"Stay calm Kel, we're all worried but it won't help much if we do nothing. Maybe he got lost somewhere, we'll find him for sure." Aubrey rubbed Kel's back too.

"Don't look so upset Kel, I'm sure Hero's around here somewhere." Aubrey encourages.

Kel wiped his eyes as a few tears were threatening to fall down his cheeks. He sniffed and gave a huge smile.

"Yeah! That's right! I'm sure we'll find Hero somewhere! We just have to keep our hopes up! Maybe he's somewhere in the vast forest." Kel suggested. Omari petted Kel on the head and they walked out of Hero's house to check the surrounding area.

"Hero!" Aubrey yelled as she tried to call out to him.

"Hero, where are you!?" Kel yelled as well.

Everyone waited for a response and once again, there was no sign of Hero. The gang looked everywhere throughout the vast forest. Only to find nothing.

They all walked back to the picnic defeated and worried. Sunny looked up, expecting to see Hero with the others but he was not with them. His smile turned sad.

"Hey Sunny..." Basil was the first to break the silence. "No luck so far as you can tell."

"I'm sorry. If only I could help more." Sunny whispered.

"We're all trying our best Sunny." Basil said, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe we should look further out into the forest." This popped an idea in Kel's head.

"What if we go to a part of the forest with all the thorn bushes? It's just west of the tree stump?"

"That's too risky, Omari is afraid of blood, what if she got cut?" Aubrey rejected immediately.

"But what if Hero's there? We gotta take our chances." Kel retorted.

"Yeah...but..." Aubrey hesitated. Sunny walked up to Omari and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Omari..." Sunny's soft voice made Omari breathe more steadily. the thought of those thorns getting in contact with her skin, just to let the red thick substance just ooze out of her body. "We grow more and more everyday. You can handle a little blood. Can you? Even if it was a small pinch?"

Basil gave a warm smile.

"It's okay to feel scared. We'll always believe in you."

"I'm sure that not a single thorn will cut you." Kel encourages. Aubrey was still not convinced.

"I don't know about this. Omari, is that really okay with you?"

- Yes

No

Omari gave a nod. Hearing the comforting words from her friends made her feel a bit more confident to face her fears more head on. Finally seeing Omari's final choice, she gave a weary smile.

"Okay. If you're okay with this, then so am I! If you ever feel like you wanna call it quits, we won't judge."

Omari gave a firm nod. Sunny smiled as he felt happy his big sister was going to face her fears.

"Well, let's get going!" Kel yelled as he was already running. Aubrey ran after him and Basil and Omari walked as they waved goodbye to Sunny. They arrived exactly where they were going as they stood in front of a tall wall of vines covered in thorns.

Omari felt the fear coming back as she hesitated. She felt her friends hold her arm as a reassurance.

"It's okay Omari. You can do it."

She felt her vision blurry when she suddenly saw blood tainting her field of view. She felt her heartbeat begin to race, but her breathing didn't seem to quicken. It was as if in an instant, she felt her fear begin to become less and less. As if she was seeing things in a new light, she knew.

YOU ARE NO LONGER AFRAID OF BLOOD.

She lifts her knife as she lets the blade slice through the vines. It opened to the path under the forest that had vines covered in thorns everywhere, the heavy fog that covered the amount of vines that covered the trees and bushes. She could hear the faint sound of water. She walked through the opening and she felt something cut her. She did flinch but she did look at her forearm. A thorn had cut her. A bead of blood surfaced on her pale white skin. She paid no mind to this as she felt no fear. She carried on her way to find Hero.

She led her friends down a path that had a sign that pointed to a sprout mole village underground. The sign seemed to be tampered with as the word "sprout" was crossed out, replaced with "bandit". It was then Kel started rambling about bandits and how it'd be cool to be one. Aubrey however, said that bandits were a bit scary. Basil then reassured that he was sure bandits weren't that bad and maybe these ones would be nice. Kel and Aubrey said that Basil was being unrealistic. Basil laughed as he knew they were right.

They reached a rail road that led down to a cave.

"Some parts of the track are missing." Basil pointed out ahead of them.

"Maybe they're lying somewhere around here." Aubrey said as she looked around her.

"Maybe…" Basil replied as he looked around the forest. "All you can see is just vines and trees though and the fog is so thick it obscures everything at a farther distance. Maybe we should just turn back, it's way too foggy to go through here." Basil suggested.

"No way!" Kel retorted. "We've gone this far, we can't just go back when we already just got here! Hero might be here too, he could be lost! There's no going back now."

Kel walked past the others as he was going down a different path.

"Wait-! Kel! We can't just go by ourselves, we'll get lost!" Basil called after him but Kel didn't seem to listen as he disappeared into the fog.

Omari didn't waste a second as she walked after Kel. The other two followed in suit, not wanting to be left alone.

Kel was walking farther and farther away the more Omari was trying to reach him. The fog was starting to obscure Kel, Omari felt it becoming colder. Her breaths were becoming visible the more she walked. The sound of rushing water becoming louder.

She stopped. She didn't know she was taking deep breaths as she stood to feel her heartbeat through her ribcage. She saw Kel standing near a small lake with a waterfall. He looked lost as

"Kel! You idiot! What do you think you're doing going off by yourself!" Aubrey said as she ran up to him.

"Excuse me, I'm doing what we're here in the first place, finding Hero." Kel said as he looked at Aubrey with a face like it was obvious.

"Kel, I know you're worried about Hero, so are we. But we have to stick together if we want to find him." Basil calmly said to Kel, trying to ease the tension. Kel relaxed as he let his shoulder slump a bit.

"Okay." Kel whispered. Basil gave a warm smile as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Now, how about we go back to where we came from and see if we-" Basil's sentence was suddenly interrupted when Aubrey called out.

"Hey, guys! I think that's a piece of the track!"

Everyone whipped their heads towards where Aubery pointed. There, a train track piece was entangled in the sharp thorns of the vines.

"Huh, I guess that works." Basil muttered.

"How are we going to get it down?" Kel pondered. "Those thorns look sharp too.

Omari walked up to the wall of thorns.

"Omari, Don't get too close! You might get cut!" Aubrey panicked.

Omari didn't listen as she sliced the thorns with her knife. It was as if the knife was sharper than anything, it cut through the thick vines like it was nothing. The train track fell to the ground with a hard thump.

Kel went and picked it up and held it up victoriously.

"Alright! Now we have to find the other ones and we're good to go!" As soon as they were about to leave, snakes suddenly came out and were about to attack them. Basil let out a scream and said for Kel to watch out. Omari was about to attack but the snakes were too quick and immediately grabbed them and their vision went black. When they woke up, they were back where they started.

They found it both strange and scary that the snakes didn't just attack them and instead of just taking them back. But they shouldn't be so upset about it, at least they wouldn't get so lost anymore.

It was then Omari came up with an idea. As they traveled around the forest looking for the missing pieces of the train track, Omari would cut the vines so the snakes could take them back. Although Basil called it cruel, since he's afraid of snakes, it was efficient.

"Done!" Kel yelled as he placed the final missing piece down. "Now we can go down the track into the cave!"

Aubrey gave out a relieved sigh as her feet hurt from walking everywhere. Everyone each took a seat in the cart as they could finally go down the track. Kel had a huge stick that he found lying around that he used to push them down the track.

The cart squeaked as it took a turn. It was peaceful at first. Until it suddenly started getting faster. As if like a roller coaster, they held onto the cart as it made sharp twists and turns. The cave that was so far away, started getting closer by each second. It took a second for the cave to swallow them in the dark.

Aubrey started to panic a little while Kel was enjoying the ride. Basil was quiet but he did look worried earlier when it started getting faster. The dark was so obscuring that when the cart made a turn, all they could feel was it's shifting. As if it couldn't get any faster, the wheels of the cart started getting louder as it rolled along the tracks.

When it took another turn, a bright light from the other end shined brightly; they had to squint their eyes. The cart went to a sudden halt that lunged them forward out of the cart. They all got up and looked around curiously and saw that it was a sprout mole village deep in the cave. The bright crystals illuminated the village that kept it in the light.

They marveled at their civilization as the sprout moles were just minding their own business as they happily lived their lives.

Upon their arrival, as if it was out of nowhere, Sunny sat in a safe place away from the sprout mole houses. The picnic sat on a large patch of dirt away from the hard surface of the rocks. He saw them walking over to him and smiled.

"You made it." Sunny said quietly.

"Sunny!" Aubrey called as she greeted him. "It's so good to see you here. I need a break after all that time walking around the forest." Basil suddenly went up to Sunny and huddled close to him.

"Sunny, thank goodness you're here! There were so many snakes!" Basil said as he hid his face in Sunny's shoulder. Sunny was shocked a bit, but he let out a small laugh and pet Basil on the head.

"Is this Bandit Mole Village?" Aubrey asked as she looked around. Sunny gave her a nod when she turned to look at him.

"Cool!" Kel exclaimed as he looked around. "I can't wait to meet bandits! I'm sure they do a ton of cool stuff!"

"Kel, bandits are thieves, they steal stuff. That isn't fun, it's just mean!" Aubrey scolded.

Kel gave out a scoff.

"Please, I steal all the time. Like that time I ate your cookie when Omari made-"

"You ate my cookie?!" Aubrey yelled.

"Oops. You weren't supposed to know that."

Sunny laughed some more as Basil gave out a chuckle.

"Okay, let's stop this banter, we have to find Hero remember?" Basil said so the conversation couldn't escalate further. This immediately made them both stop their argument.

"Yeah, you're right Basil. We shouldn't mess around right now. We need to find Hero!" Aubrey said. Kel let out a relieved sigh as he knew he would live another day.

"C'mon. Let's check around to see if Hero's around here somewhere." Basil suggested. Aubrey and Kel agreed as they lined up behind Omari. Basil, following suit as Omari began to venture into the bandit sprout mole village.

As they ventured and talked to other sprout moles, they learned of their history. Their main source of food, tofu, was dwindling and we're going through a great famine. Most decided to leave and move to Otherworld, where food was more plentiful. This was called the great move. Afterwards the sprout moles that decided to stay, were suffering and would soon perish. That is until Bandit Sweetheart came along.

Her kind hearted spirit gave her the courage to help them. With her help, they stole tofu from all around for themselves. Feeding the ones that waited for them to bring home food for them to eat. Bandit Sweetheart was considered a hero to the sprout moles, they abandoned their species name to make the dawn of a new era, Bandit moles. But lately their food supply is dwindling because Bandit Sweetheart has been closed up since the pathetic space prince humiliated her infront of all of headspace.

At least that's what the bandit moles say.

"Poor Sweetheart. She must've been so embarrassed by that." Aubrey said. "We have to make her feel better."

"Well, at least she'll feel better once she receives her letter from her fiance." A bandit mole assures.

"Fiance?!" Aubrey and Kel exclaimes.

"Yes, Bandit Sweetheart has a fiance. She told us that her finance is a bandit too and he taught her everything she knows. He's not here, but he sends letters keeping her updated while he's away. She says once he returns after his long journey, They'll settle down together. But that good for nothing Space Prince is always pestering her. He's so foolish enough to think that she would leave her "Beloved Rococo" for such an egotistical, cowardly man." The bandit mole said.

"Well, at least she doesn't have to worry about the Space Prince forever." Basil said as he gave a small smile. "She will be very happy once her fiance returns. I'm sure his arrival will make her come back out and things will go back to the way it used to be."

"Thank you young children. Hearing that made me feel like things are looking up now-" The bandit mole was sudden;y interrupted as another bandit mole came in.

"The letter, It's gone!" This shocked all the bandit moles.

"What!?"

"What happened to the letter?!"

"It was just here. Someone must've taken it."

"Do you think they took it where all the dirty laundry is?" A bandit mole suggested.

"That could be a possibility. If that were the case, it's long gone now."

"We should help them." Kel suggested.

"Kel, as much as we would like to help, we have a more important task on our hands. Finding Hero." Aubrey said as the bandit began to panic. Basil then cuts in.

"Maybe we could help them, that way they can help us. Maybe Bandit Sweetheart has seen Hero. That's a possibility." Kel agreed with Basil.

"That's why we gotta help them. If Hero was here, he would help anyone that was in need, right Omari?" Omari thought of it for a second, but it didn't take long for her to agree as well. Kel gave a big smile while Aubrey let out a sigh of resignation.

"Okay, let's do it. I mean, it does feel rewarding helping others." Kel didn't waste another second as he rushed up to the banit mole.

"Hey, bandit mole, me and my pals were thinking and we thought that we would be able to help you." The bandit mole suddenly began to look more chipper once Kel said they'd offer their help.

"Oh thank you kind children, it really is a relief that someone is willing to find Sweetheart's letter. The laundry room is all the way down this tunnel, continue down that route and you'll reach it."

"Thanks for the directions bandit mole! We'll make sure that we'll return with that letter in no time!" Kel yelled as everyone followed behind Omari as she began walking in the direction of where the bandit mole told them to find the laundry room.

Once they reached the laundry room, they met with a lot of foes along the way. Dust bunnies, living clothes, a sprout mole eating monster. All that Omari and her gang swiftly passed through.

Of course this also gave the other the opportunity to show off their skills. Aubrey knocked down the giant objects that came in their way, Kel was able to throw objects at far distances, basil was able to grow giant beanstalks and made it easier for them to maneuver past the big heaps of clothes.

But they had no luck finding the letter.

"This place is huge, how can we be able to find a single letter in these large piles of laundry?" Aubrey said as she gave out a huff."

"Let's not give just yet Aubrey," Basil reassured. "I'm sure that it's gotta be around here somewhere-"

"So this is the letter he's been talking about, surprised that I was able to find it with no problem." This immediately made the children turn their heads towards the gruff voice that mentioned a letter. Only to see a large planet holding the letter in his hands. Kel was the first to talk to him.

"HEY SIR?! WE-?" Aubrey immediately covered his mouth as she gave out a sigh. Basil decided to talk to him instead as he walked up to the planet and tapped him slightly on the arm.

"Um, excuse me sir?" The planet turned to him as he was suddenly pulled out of his train of thought.

"The name's Pluto." The planet responded.

"Ah, yes, sorry. Mr. Pluto, I believe that letter belongs to us." Basil softly replied.

The planet didn't seem too pleased about this.

"Sorry kid, but I have orders from my boss to grab this letter and give it to him the moment I find it."

"But that letter belongs to someone else, not your boss!" Kel immediately retorted. The planet then let out a huff.

"I said I was surprised to be able to find it with no problem, I guess I spoke too soon." Pluto didn't waste a second as he ran off with the letter. Omari immediately ran after him as the others followed right behind her. Past the clutters of dirty laundry they were able to catch him as they noticed that he was left in a dead end.

"Give it up Pluto, we need to give that letter back to Sweetheart. That letter was sent from her fiance." Aubrey said as she stood her ground.

Pluto let out a laugh.

"So that's what you heard. Sorry to disappoint you, but apparently Rococo called off their engagement. He started working for The Space Prince and told me to find the letters he's sent to her and bring it back to him."

"Don't lie to us Pluto, give us back the letter." Kel said.

Pluto chuckled.

"You children are so naive." He tossed the letter into Omari's hands. "Take it, I may be punished for it, but maybe you might actually see the bigger picture." He suddenly flew off out from underground and frew away,

"Finally, we got the letter!" Kel said as he rejoiced. Aubrey didn't seem all that happy.

"But what Pluto said, do you think what he said was true." Basil gave her a small smile.

"Maybe...but he could be wrong, it is just a rumor after all." Aubrey wasn't fully convinced.

"Maybe…"

Omari and her gang left the laundry room and finally reached Bandit Sweetheart's room.

"We found the letter Mr. Bandit mole." Basil said as he gave the letter to the bandit mole.

"Thank you so much, this could cheer up Sweetheart in no time." Basil's expression turned conflicted.

"Hey Sweetheart! We found your letter!" Kel yelled but he got no response as Sweetheart was unresponsive.

"Well, there is something you should know. Apparently Rococo called off his engagement with Sweetheart."

"Hm, I guess you don't want to read it yourself." Kel let out a huff. He then smiled. "I know I'll just read it to you."

The bandit mole was suddenly shocked by this information.

"So that's what happened. Maybe it's best if we shouldn't give her the letter." The bandit mole said.

"Yeah, that could be for the best. Maybe there's another way to cheer her up." Aubrey suggested. She went to look in Omari's pocket, where she put it, only to feel nothing. "Wait, where is it?" The only response she got was paper of some sort being ripped open. She whirled around.

"Wait! Kel! No!"

"Dear my beloved Sweetheart, It is I, your beloved Rococo-"

Kel read the letter out to Sweetheart, only to get a few words as she suddenly jumped out of her bed and held a glare of hostility towards Omari and her gang.

"I don't ever want to hear that name ever again! Not in a million light years!" Sweetheart yelled as her voice was filled with rage.

"That idiot Rococo! How dare he leave me all alone only to break my heart after all this time! I'll make him pay for this!" Sweetheart clenched her fists as she tried to suppress most of her anger.

"After all these years of being a loyal fiancé, he decides to break off our engagement by letter?!" It was then she let out a frustrated yell and tugged at her hair.

"When I find him, I'm going to make him regret breaking my heart!"

"Sorry but we can't let you do that!" Kel cut in. Sweetheart stared at Omari and her gang curiously.

"Interesting…been awhile since I've been put with a challenge." Sweetheart held up her giant heart chain ball high. "Well then… let's begin!"

Omari was already holding up her knife as she was ready for whatever Sweetheart planned to throw at them. Aubrey's grip on her bat tightened as she was about to swing. Kel dribbled his ball as he was ready to get started. Basil held his watering can close ready to support his friends and attack when needed.

Sweetheart made the first move as she was quick and smashed her chain ball into the ground. Of course she was fast but not fast enough. Omari noticed that with every missed swing Sweetheart would become angrier.

This gave her an Idea of how to defeat sweetheart. Omari gave certain instructions to her team to make each other happy. As they each attacked Sweetheart, she became more enraged as she swung her chain ball everywhere, causing Omari and her friend's some damage. But it was enough for them to do an all out attack together and ultimately defeat her.

Sweetheart fell on her knees as she let out a breath of defeat. She looked up at them.

"I'm surprised. You've beaten me."

"That's not what we came here for." Basil said. "We came here looking for our friend."

"Is that why?" Sweetheart looked surprised. "I'm terribly sorry, I mistook you for being one of those pathetic space prince's lackeys."

"It's alright, it was just a misunderstanding." Basil replied. "But we are wondering if you've seen a friend of ours. His name is Hero, he's tall and wears striped pajamas and carries his cook book with him."

"I'm afraid not." Sweetheart said as she stood up properly. "But if I do see him, you'll be the first to know." She gave them a sincere smile. Kel however didn't seem all that pleased.

"Hero….where could he have gone?" Kel said as tears started to form. Sweetheart gave him a concerned look.

"Please don't cry little boy!" She tried to soothe Kel by giving him a ticket for a free donut. It didn't seem to really help as tears continued to fall down his puffed up cheeks. She panicked a bit and gave him a train ticket as well.

"Here, take this. I always loved to take the train when I was little. Maybe a simple ride can help, plus it might lead you to where your friend is." Sweetheart gave an encouraging smile to Kel. He sniffled and gave Sweetheart a nod.

"Okay…"

With final exchanges, Omari and her gang decided to leave Bandit mole village to continue on their quest to find Hero.

As Omari led her gang through the tunnel to finally find their way back to the foggy forest, Omari noticed that she couldn't hear the other's footsteps behind her.

She turned around to find herself completely alone in a secluded part of the forest.

She had to find her way back.

As she wandered around, she noticed there were someone's memories she was experiencing as she heard a familiar voice explain these once happy memories.

"I think cooking is what brings us all together."

"*'* cookies…*'* cookies have so much more love baked into them. I could eat them forever."

"A wish? But what should I wish for? I have everything I could want right here."

"I really love cooking and all, and * always says I'm really good, but my parents want me to become a doctor...Do you think I should become a chef?"

"This year, you get just one present…from all of us."

These memories all lead her to where she is now. He stood at the edge of a large lake. When she looked down, it was as if the lake was deeper than it looked. The shallow darkness the lake had did make her hesitate.

IT'S A LONG DIVE DOWN, DO YOU WISH TO FALL IN?

- Yes

Not

She sucked in a breath and took her first step.