At Tickle Castle, Rachel and Sasha laughed and giggled as Oracle and Spike petted, poked, and tickled them. Manic just sat on the other side of the sitting room. He sighed. "How long are you guys going to keep that up?"

"Until the Lauhinians come back." said Spike as he tickled Rachel under the chin with his claws. He had her pinned down and there was nothing she can do. "They're renovating our home and we're bored."

"I can't wait to see my new room!" Oracle squealed in excitement. She had Sasha restrained in her long white hair. She lifted up Sasha's shirt and skittered her fingertips on the human's stomach. "Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Come on! No more tickling!" Sasha said as she laughed.

"But it's fun!" Oracle stretched out a lock of hair and tickled Sasha under the chin. The human could only giggle, unable to fight back her ticklishness.

Rachel laughed as Spike rubbed her sides. "I know you guys are-hahahahahaha! Curious about us-ahahahahahaha! But you have to stop!"

"You heard her, guys. Give them a break." said Manic.

Sighing, Spike and Oracle let the humans go. "What are we suppose to do now?!" Spike complained.

"Well, why don't you let the humans get to know you guys?" Manic suggested with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah! I am curious about you, Spike!" said Rachel. "Sasha said you have slime powers?"

Spike grinned. "Yep! Watch this!" He took a deep breath and shot out a blast of green slime on the wall! "I can spew slime!"

"Was the illustration necessary?" Manic said out loud. "Cause I'm not cleaning that up."

Spike then got really close to Rachel. Rachel feared that he was going to vomit his slime on her. But instead, he held his scaly arm out to her. "Go ahead, touch."

Rachel gently touched the scales on his arm. Moments later, Rachel yelped and pulled her hand back. "Eww! Your arm is slimy!" she wretched.

"Yep! I can make my scales slimy too!" To demonstrate, Spike touched his chest and opened his arms, causing long, gooey strings of slime to come onto his hands. Rachel cringed as Sasha gagged out loud, making a disgusted face.

Sasha had to change the subject before she lost her lunch. "W-What about you, Oracle? Do you have other powers?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Oracle clapped her hands. "Besides my hair, my eye has all kinds of abilities!"

"Really? Like what?"

Oracle beckoned Sasha to come closer. Sasha scooted closer and was face to face with the cyclops. "Now, look straight into my eye."

Sasha nodded and looked directly at Oracle's big blue eye. Her eye suddenly turned into a dizzying black and white swirl that spun in a hypnotic circle. Sasha gasped, but couldn't find herself to look away from Oracle's eye.

"You are getting sleepy...very sleepy..." Oracle chanted. Sasha's eyes mimicked Oracle's eye. She was now hypnotized! Her swirling eyes drooped as Oracle mesmerized her.

"Whoa! Oracle can use hypnosis?!" Rachel said in awe.

"Yep!" Oracle closed her eye and it returned to normal. Sasha blinked and her eyes were normal again, free from the trance.

"Huh?! What happened?!" said Sasha.

"I hypnotized you." Oracle smiled, making Sasha's jaw drop. "Not only that, my eye helps me see through solid matter and in the dark. Plus, I can also look into the future!"

"Really?! That's awesome!" Sasha was now very excited. "Can you do it now?!"

Oracle's smile fell. "I'm afraid not. I only use my future gazing for emergencies. The future is better left unknown as it is never written in stone." Oracle said wisely.

"That is true." Rachel said.

"Okay, then never mind." Sasha said politely.

Rachel turned to Manic. "How about you, Manic? What can you do?"

Manic just looked away, crossing his arms in a huff. Oracle saw Manic's stoic behavior, her big eye also caught the nervous look on Sasha's face. Guess she was still a little scared of him. But that didn't stop Oracle from getting an idea. "Manny, don't be like that." said Oracle. She ensnared Sasha and Manic's arms with her hair.

"HEY!" Manic shouted.

"Oracle! What are you doing?!" Spike exclaimed.

"Helping Manic with his trust issues!" Oracle smiled. "Let's start with a big old hug!" She made Manic and Sasha put their arms around each other. Sasha was stuck to Manic's feathery chest while Manic was forced to hold onto her.

"Oracle! This is not funny!" Manic roared.

"Hehehehehe!" Sasha giggled.

Manic frowned at Sasha. "I said it's not funny!"

"I-It's not! Hahahahahaha!" Sasha laughed. Manic squirmed around to get his arms free, but it didn't work. Instead, it made Sasha laugh harder.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Stop moving around!" Sasha laughed. "Your feathers!" As Manic moved around, his feathers tickled Sasha's face.

"ORACLE! LET US GO!" Manic roared.

"Not until you learn to trust the nice humans!" Oracle replied in a singsong voice. Manic replied with an angry growl. But he admits defeat.

"Alright." Manic looked down at Sasha. "So, uh, Sasha, was it?"

Sasha nodded.

Manic shyly avoided eye contact with the human. "So...what...what do you want to know about me?"

Tilting her head a little, Sasha said the first thing that popped into her mind. "Well, why do you wear that mask?"

Manic's eyes went wide with surprise, as did Oracle and Spike.

"I mean, you don't have to talk about it if that's a sore subject! I understand!" Sasha said hastily.

"It's okay, I can tell you." Manic said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Manic!" said Oracle.

"It's okay, Oracle. I'll show her." Manic turned to his friend. "Can you let us go?"

Despite her shock, Oracle freed Manic and Sasha. Manic sat down cross-legged on the floor while Sasha sat in his lap. "Okay, Sasha. You ready?" He reached for his mask.

Sasha was nervous, but her curiosity won the battle. She nodded, bracing herself. Manic took off his mask and revealed what was underneath. Manic had a mouth full of jagged fangs that were razor sharp and black as coal. "I wear a mask to hide my teeth. They're pretty scary, aren't they?"

Sasha swallowed. "A little..."

Manic saw the scared look in Sasha's eyes. He knew she would be scared so he could call her out for not being as accepting as she claims to be. But for some strange reason, he didn't. He felt...bad for scaring Sasha. Luckily, Manic knew the surefire way to cheering up a human. He smiled his black teeth and wiggled his fingers at Sasha. "I think someone needs a good tickle!"

Sasha yelped and tried to get away, but Manic was too fast. He grabbed her and pinned her to the floor with his bird feet. "So, your tickle spot is...here, right?" He lifted up Sasha's shirt.

"NO! No, it's not there!" Sasha insisted. She sucked in her tummy.

Manic tried not to laugh himself. Sasha was a terrible liar. "Are you sure about that?" He showed Sasha his wiggly fingers. Sasha's eyes bulged in fear of those fingers. He started to slowly tickle Sasha's stomach.

Sasha repressed her entire body intensely just to keep from laughing. But Manic was tickling her spot so badly. She started to snicker, her tummy shivered from all the tickling.

"Hm? That doesn't tickle? Not even a little?" Manic teased. He tickled her tummy faster, Sasha immediately gave up.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STOP!"

"I don't know. Should I?" Manic asked.

"YES! YES! PLEASE!" Sasha begged through her laughter. Manic stopped. Sasha sighed in relief. But she watched Manic pluck a feather from his chest. She gulped. "A-Are you gonna tickle me with that?!"

"No," Manic chuckled, shaking his head. "Watch this."

Sasha saw the feather grow longer. Then it morphed into a black rose! "I can pluck out any one of my feathers and turn it into whatever I want!"

"Whoa! Cool!" But Sasha blinked with realization. "Wait...when I first met you, you were holding the same axe! Why were you carrying an axe back then?!"

"We were training!" Spike answered for Manic. "We know the Nitians are still out there. And if they ever find us, we'll be ready for them!"

Manic released Sasha and helped her up. "Sorry if I was being harsh earlier. It's just...hard for me to open up to other people." He put his mask back on.

"Literally and figuratively." said Oracle. "Manic has never shown his face to anyone." The girls heard the surprise in her voice.

Jocu and Vivo came into the room. "Okay, gang! Your home makeover is finished!" Jocu announced. "We'll show you!"

The Nightmare Hybrids followed the Lauhinians and the humans down a secret staircase they built to the underground lair of the hybrids.

"So, anytime you want to visit us, just go up these stairs that lead to the secret passage in the library." Jocu instructed.

"Nice! Another secret passage!" said Spike.

"What do you mean?" asked Rachel.

"Since we want the Nitians to believe we're dead so they won't pursue us, we made our own secret passages beneath the ground to gather food and water." Oracle explained.

"So, that's how you guys get around!" said Vivo. "I was wondering how were able to survive all these years from the Nitians!"

"Here we are!" said Jocu. Once the hybrids saw their home, the first thing that caught their eyes were the balloons and table of party snacks!

"Now, we can start the under-housewarming party!" Jocu announced.

Manic blinked twice. "The what?!"

"SURPRISE!" Rachel and Sasha yelled out, startling the nightmare hybrids.

"We decided once we finished, we would throw a big party just for you guys!" said Sasha.

Spike cheered and jumped around the room with excitement. Oracle cried with happiness, her eye was pouring tears of joy.

But Manic, he was frozen, completely in shock. He looked at Sasha, who looked very happy. "Well? What do you think?"

Manic stared at Sasha. She was an unbelievable creature. She was shy and easily scared, yet friendly and bubbly towards him and his friends. For reasons he can't explain, Manic felt such a strong sense of kindness.

No wonder the Lauhinians hold her and her sister in such high regard.

"Hey, Manic!"

Manic broke out of his train of thought and saw Spike pigging out at the snack table. "You better eat before I finish everything!"

Oracle rolled her eye as she carried a plate of food. "Don't worry, Manny. I saved you a plate for later. I know you're not comfortable eating in public."

"Why?" asked Sasha.

"Because of his mouth-"

"It's okay." Manic said suddenly. Oracle nearly dropped her plate when Manic took off his mask, he smiled his black fangs. "I'll eat now. I'm starving anyway." He took the plate from Oracle, who was still in a state of shock.

Sasha felt so proud. "Eat as much as you like-"

As Sasha spoke, Manic opened his mouth, expanding it to an enormous size and dumped the contents of his plate right into his mouth. Sasha's jaw dropped as she watched him chew his food carefully before swallowing.

"Wow! Now that's a meal!" said Manic. "Thanks, Sasha."

Seeing the happiness on his face, Sasha's surprise became a faded memory. "You're very welcome! Want seconds?"

"Do I ever!"

Oracle watched Manic and Sasha walk to the snack table together. She smiled to herself. "This is definitely a change for the better."