You're the Hero Of Light, Charlie Brown

by Tiger lover 16

When the evil denisen of Darkness, the dreaded Dark Witch, escapes from her prison she sets about to build an army of villains to conquer the realm of light, and shroud all worlds in eternal darkness! Charlie Brown is made the new guardian of the light, and tasked with uniting fictions greatest heroes in an epic war to defend their worlds. Can you say "Good grief"? CBxPP and more.

6. Light vs Dark: Part 1

Tiger Lover 16: Hey folks, am I back already? Well yes, I said I would be, right. I have a few things to say, but honestly I don't want to waste your time until the end, for now please enjoy the MOST EPIC thing I've ever written, the long awaited confrontation between Charlie Brown and Joe Agate!

---

Chapter 5: Light vs. Dark: Part 1

It was a normal day at Birchwood middle school. As the morning had just started the school was practically devoid of teachers and even the janitor and lunchladies were unseen, so the students all just gathered in the playground to enjoy their moment of peace before the inevitably boring hours of learning ahead of them.

No one yet realised that this day at school would be anything but boring. Little did the students realise that today, a battle would be fought to determine the fate of their world, and all others. Little did the youngsters know that after today, life would never be the same.

While none of them had any clue as to the dark twist of fate that was rapidly approaching, most of them were aware that something strange was going on.

"I'm not kidding, the gas station was completely obliterated and a house demolished! No one was hurt thank goodness, but the police have no idea what caused it" A thirteen year old boy named Roy wearing a sailor-type hat was explaining to two of his friends, the number named boy 5 and the one girl labeled popular who was known to treat people fairly, Peggy Jean.

"That's quite worrying" Peggy Jean noted "What could have caused all that?"

"That's the weird part, no one can figure it out!" Roy said dramatically, further worrying his friends "It can't have been the result of any natural disaster, there's been no signs of earthquakes or storms in recent times. It couldn't have been vandalism, because there were no remains whatsoever of the gas station, and even a maniac riding a bulldozer or carrying a bazooka couldn't have done that much damage. There are no remains of bombs or signs of any other type of explosion. There's no reasonable explanation whatsoever for what happened"

"And yet the gas station is no more and a house has been torn down" 5 added, placing a finger to his chin thoughtfully "Plus there was that golden, falling star from last night that no ones able to find... something really strange is going on here, I just don't know what..."

The three just-turned-teenagers gave a collective, thoughtful hum at the events last night. Meanwhile, another group nearby was having a most intruging discussion of their own.

"And you know what else is strange, I haven't seen Joe Agate or Thibault around yet, and they're usually here at school first to terrorise the kids who get here after them" Said Freddie Fabulous, the star of several of the schools sports teams and a magor douchebag. Orginally from Fremont, Freddie had moved to Birchwood two years ago, mostly to get revenge on Charlie Brown, Marcie and Snoopy for ruining his chances at winning the decathlon five years back.

"Even weirder than that, Crybaby Boobie told me the Peanuts gang were heading in the direction of the park the moment the falling star supposedly fell to earth, but nobodies seen any of them since" Supplied Melody Melody. A beautiful girl, Melody squared used her stunning good looks and knack for manipulating boys to become one of the most popular girls in school. However, she was twice the snob Violet and Patty were.

"I saw them, I even gave that no-good bitch Lucy what was coming to her" Said Molly Volley, who punched her fist into her palm to emphasise her point "But after that, they just completely vanished. You know something though... when I did see them the second time last night they all looked kinda spooked, as though I had just come close to catching them in the act. Of what I don't know. I saw something hiding in the tree too... something white and purple. I wasn't really in the mood to investigate though"

"Leave it to fat-legs Volley to blow our one chance at figuring out what the hells going on around here" Bad-call Benny quipped. This turned out to be one of his worst calls ever, as Molly quickly pounced on him afterwards, pinning him to the ground and beating him silly. Freddie and Melody Melody rolled their eyes at the two tennis players, until Freddie's attention was caught by a figure standing at the gates leading into the school.

"Well, there's one less mystery to ponder" Freddie commented. Molly and Benny ceased fighting for a moment to look in the direction Freddie and Melody were both staring. And they saw...

Joe Agate standing by the gate.

Joe stood calmly at the gates, observing the people who were formerly his fellow stuents, hanging around and laughing at jokes told by their friends, chatting about the absurdities from last night or practising for a sport they played. Thibault suddenly appeared at Joe's left side, and seconds later Doctor Eggman stood at his right.

"So, you blockheads remember the plan?" Joe questioned his cohorts, who both gave a stiff nod in response. Joe grinned "Alright then, let's get this show on the road"

The three followers of darkness walked onto the school grounds. The kids quickly took notice of their presence, and soon the whole student body was staring questionably at them. Joe and Thibault were hated and feared of course, but it was the presence of Eggman that really got them wondering. The youth of Birchwood were not normally accustomed to seeing a lot of adults in their town, and none of them had ever seen Eggman, so his sudden appearance was enough to instigate a lot of whispering and finger pointing among the students.

The trio stopped when they reached the exact centre of the school's playground. Joe cleared his throat, making sure he had everyones attention before he began his little speech.

"Greeting, students of Birchwood Middle School" Joe began, earning him more than a few raised eye brows "Now I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself, you all know that Thibault and I are the supreme bullies of Birchwood. But that's all in the past I'm afraid. You see, due to recent events I will no longer be attending this school"

At these words the students all burst out in applause, believing they were free of Joe's wrath forever. Joe smirked as he mused over these sentiments, and with a falsely pleasant smile he raised his hand to silence the kids.

"Please, let me finish" Joe said, the students all stopped talking, hoping for more good news.

"Yes, I shall soon be leaving Birchwood for a while. And furthermore, I've decided to give up bullying" Joe said. The students all looked eager, preparing their next wave of cheers "Yes, from now on I'm just gonna be a simple, humble... RULER OF THE UNIVERSE"

"Yay!" The students all cheered... then they all realised what Joe had said and went "What?!"

Joe snickered deviously at the bemused looks on the students' faces.

"Yeah, you heard right. Let's put it this way, any of you heard about the gas station and house that were destroyed on the other side of town?" Joe asked, a few students nodded, looking fearful, though most were just skeptical.

"Well, that was me. I destroyed the buildings!" Joe declared. Many kids gasped, backing away fearfully from the bully, though most just looked at him funny, certain he was lying.

"How did I do it? Well, anyone want to step forward so I can demonstrate?" Joe asked maliciously. The malice and spite in his voice was terrifying enough that even the students that didn't believe his claims were shaking with fear "Hmm, so no-one wants to be a test dummy? How disappointing..."

"Just what are you playing at Agate. Do you really expect us to believe what you're saying?" Freddie Fabulous asked rudely. Joe grinned evily.

Before anyone else had a chance to react, Joe had raised his hand in Freddie's direction and, using his powers he contorted the shadows of the school building into a large shadowy hand, which picked Fabulous up by his legs and shook him around violently before smacking him into the wall. Joe dismissed the shadowy hand and gave the dazed sports star a smug grin.

"Believe THAT" Joe spat.

To say the kids were frightened by this occurance was a grose understatement. Within seconds the entire student body were in hysterics. The youngest students were all screaming at the top of their lungs, everyone was trying to run for it, but the crowds were so large they were all having trouble fighting through one another. Even the bravest of students had a look of pure shock on their face, some students were too shellshocked to move. Some were rubbing their eyes to determine if what they saw was real, deciding it was these students tried making a break for it too.

No one managed to make it off the school grounds though, because Joe had quickly set up a wall of darkness to block every possible escape route. Thibault laughed at the fear his friend was inspiring, taking great pleasure in the panic and screams of the students.

Deciding he'd had enough of their screaming, Joe hovered ten feet into the air, summoned two more shadow hands and made them clap together. Said clap produced not only a loud noise, but sent a shockwave across the playground, tripping most of the students up and knocking them back a bit. With the noise level suitably reduced Joe lowered himself to five feet off the ground and continued his prior speech.

"So, as you can see I have just acquired supernatural powers. I am now a complete master of darkness, the loyal follower of the Dark Witch, the Guardian of Darkness, and soon to be co-ruler of the universe. It's cool if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, I didn't know about any of this Dark Witch or Guardian stuff until last night" Joe said, grinning with pleasure at the shocked and confused faces of the students "If you have any further questions, they should be answered as I deliver this broadcasted message"

This last statement confused the kids further, until they all looked down and saw that Eggman had somehow pulled out a red video camera and was positioning it to face Joe.

"So, everything in order Ivo?" Joe asked importantly.

"All set. And if my calculations are correct, and they always are of course, then our little broadcast should reach every television, computer and even movie screen on this planet" Eggman replied proudly.

"Perfect" Joe said maliciously. The students of Birchwood Junior High could only watch on in fear as Eggman switched on the camera, allowing Joe to announce their intentions to the world.

---

Several blocks away, the Peanuts gang were all walking towards their school (Except for Rerun, as Lucy and Linus had already dropped him off at elementary school). Sparky floated above them, Charlie Brown had used his powers to render the spirit invisible to all onlookers, so he didn't attract any unwanted attention. The spirit was discussing a plan of action with the young ones.

"Alright, so Charlie will explain to the teachers why he will no longer be attending the school, using the excuse we came up with and leaving out all details of his guardianship. I shall personally meet with the Brown parents to explain where he shall really be going. And the rest of you will continue on with your lives. Hopefully at this point my sister has not learned a lot about Charlie and his relations, so you should be safe for the time being. And as soon as this school day is over, Charlie Brown and I shall leave to begin this journey"

"And we'll probably never see him again" Lucy added bitterly. Charlie Brown and several other peanuts lowered their heads mourfully at this.

"It won't be like that Lucy. We will be back, Charlie Brown will not be separated from you forever" Sparky said as gently as possible.

"Yeah, just until your sis is locked away again" Peppermint Patty said grumpily.

"Which could take years" Sally unenthusiastically supplied. Everyone sighed.

"I really don't want to leave like this, but it has to be done. If I don't go I'd be letting everyone in the universe down. Including you guys" Charlie Brown said, trying to sound noble despite his overwhelming sense of regret. His friends could appreciate he was leaving them for a noble cause, and it was pretty cool that someone in their gang was going out to save the universe and be a great hero. After a lifetime of failures Charlie Brown did deserve this more than anyone... but that still didn't ease the pains of separation.

As the Peanuts continued on their short trek they passed by an electronics shop, the window display full of tvs on static. Another second and they might have passed by this store completely, but Pigpen, who was at the back of the pack, stuck around just long enough to see the screens go off, then flash back on. Only now it wasn't static playing on the twenty screens...

"Hello blockheads"

"What the heck!?" Violet gaped, the gang quickly gathered around the window to see Joe Agate's face on the many tvs.

"We interrupt this scheduled programming to bring this important message to a certain Guardian" Joe's voice rang twenty times. The gang tensed up at his words, and the fact the bully had actually gotten himself on tv "For those of you wondering who the hell I am and why I'm keeping you from watching the news, sports, or whatever garbage people watch at this time in the morning, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joe Agate, formerly a student of Birchwood Junior High, son of class A drug dealer Alexander Agate, and apprentice to the Guardian of Darkness, The Dark Witch!"

The kids all gasped in horror. Had they heard that right? Joe Agate, apprentice to the Dark Witch? The mere fact he would know about the Witch was shocking enough, but her apprentice? How'd that happen?!

"I'm sure right now a lot of people are wondering what on earth I'm talking about. Well, screw you, 'cause I'm not bothered to repeat myself. This message goes out to one person, and one person only. I speak directly to you Charlie Brown!"

Charlie Brown listened intently to the maniacal bully, now really starting to worry.

"I know that you were chosen as the new Guardian of Light, for whatever rediculous reason" Joe laughed mockingly "And while you may be a worthless excuse for a human being and even undeserving to count yourself among the lower lifeforms on this planet, I couldn't be happier for you. Or, to put it accurately, I couldn't be happier that your new job gives me the glorious opportunity to KILL YOU!"

The gang's eyes all drifted anxiously to their superpowered friend, they were surprised to find him glaring at the screen rather than shaking with fear.

"I suppose now you're being stuck up and thinking "Hey, I have unimaginable powers now, I can beat you easily" Well you can't! 'cause thanks to my dear friends Eggman and The Witch, I now have half of the latter's powers. And considering how hopeless you are at accomplishing the simplest tasks, I bet you haven't even mastered a mere ten percent of your full power, have you? I wouldn't be surprised if you were weaker than that. You better be afraid, you should be very afraid Charlie Brown. Now listen closely you blockhead, I have taken over the school, and I'm holding all your fellow students hostage. I demand for you to arrive here at this school within the next fifteen minutes, otherwise I will start killing these helpless fools. I'll start with the youngest students, then make my way up. I will kill an additional student for every minute you take to get here, and if they're all dead and you still haven't shown up, I will move on to demolish Birchwood and as much of this world as possible. And with all the power I feel now, I should easily be able to smash all of this planet into oblivion!"

The sheer malice and clear honesty of Joe's threat sent shivers down the kids' spines. They knew Joe Agate was a creep and a cunning bully, but they had no idea he could be so... there was no other word for it... Evil.

"The choice is yours Charlie Brown, come and face me or allow this whole pathetic world to perish. Either way all worlds will soon fall to the darkness. I just really want to fight you quickly, so I can have the full pleasure of beating you to a bloody pulp, torture you in the most inhumane ways possible, strip you of your powers, beat you again, then make you watch as I murder every one of your so-called-friends. And then, when your spirit has been shattered completely, and you beg me to put an end to your pointless existence, only then will I finally kill you... You have fifteen minutes, starting right now. And for all you folks at home, have a nice final day"

The screen blacked out once Joe had finished his threats, leaving the Peanuts frozen in fear.

"This is bad... this is very, very bad" Linus began, quickly taking shelter under his blanket.

"I should have seen this coming. Of course my sister would choose a warrior to help carry out her plans. Now, this is quite a predicament" Sparky said, staring at the screen in fear, the first time any of the gang had seen him truly frightened.

"So what now, are we gonna try and stop him?" Peppermint Patty asked. Charlie Brown gulped, suddenly wishing this wasn't his predicament to be in.

"I guess I have to try and stop him. The rest of you go and hide, save yourselves" Charlie Brown instructed, the shakiness in his voice drowning out the sense of authority he'd desired it to have.

"Are you nuts! No way we're letting you go after that monster alone! Right guys!?" Peppermint Patty asked definantly. She got no answer "... Uh, guys?"

She turned to see that most of her friends were looking at her in shocked bemusement. Then they all shuffled their feet and looked away nervously.

"Yeah, well um... yeah... um... well, it's not really our duty" The other Patty spoke first.

"And we would probably just get in the way" Schroeder added, backing away slowly.

"Or get killed" Freida made clear everyones worst fear. Peppermint Patty frowned furiously.

"HEY, you all agreed that we'd be there for Chuck when he needed us from now on! You all agreed to start acting more like good friends! And now you're gonna back out on him when he needs you by his side more than ever!?" The other Peanuts looked down mournfully.

"Oh alright, we'll go" Violet replied "I just hope we make it out of this, that's all"

"Really guys, you should go. If Joe's telling the truth and he does have the Witch's powers, then you'd all just be putting yourselves at risk. I can't ask you to do that" Charlie Brown tried to reason.

"Charlie Brown, you're our friend. We owe it to you to be there and cheer you on in this desparate time. We're willing to put our lives at risk, because we have faith you'll pull through" Linus responded, pulling his blanket off his head and looking dead serious at his friend.

Charlie Brown stared pleadingly at his best friend, silently pleading for him to see reason and hide where it was safe. But Linus's stubbornly determined look solidified his intention to be there for his friend. Charlie Brown stared between his friends, and it was clear that nothing he said would convince them to stay out of trouble. Despareately he looked to Sparky for guidance, but the spirit shook his head. It appeared the spirit didn't think he could do any better at persuading the others. With a sigh of defeat, Charlie Brown knew he'd have no choice but to let his friends tag along.

"Ok, but everyone just stay where it's safe, alright" Said Charlie Brown, the Peanuts nodded their heads, glad he saw it their way.

"Well come on then, we've only got a few minutes to get there before someone dies!" Pigpen pointed out. Realizing this Charlie Brown nodded his head in confirmation and began leading the gang in the direction of the school. But after only five steps he stopped, going completely still.

"Charlie Brown, what's wrong?" Linus asked. He walked closer to Charlie Brown and saw that ever familiar look of insecurity and doubt he would often wear. Realising everyone was looking at him now, Charlie Brown looked down at his feet and sighed.

"I can't do it" Charlie Brown cried, his hands shaking and tears staining his cheeks "I'm not ready for this. It doesn't matter if I have powers, I'm still just Charlie Brown, a blockhead that can't do anything right. I just can't fight Joe..."

The kids watched sadly as their friend cried out his feelings of worry and doubt. They all wanted to say something to comfort him. But what could they say... ultimately it was Sparky who decided to speak up.

"I know the prospect of fighting someone with the power of my sister is terrifying Charlie Brown. And I appreciate that we haven't had enough time to train you. But you have to be strong" Sparky told his successor, solidifying his hand slightly to pat Charlie Brown's shoulder in a fatherly manner "As Guardian of Light you will constantly be called upon to face threats of this level, you understand that, correct? This turn of events is worrying and unexpected, but you have to believe in yourself. You're stronger than you think, and we all believe in you. So put your woes aside, there's a whole planet depending on you to save it, and we'll be with you all the way"

Charlie Brown stared in awe at the ghostly Guardian, his words actually bringing him some comfort. He looked between his friends, they all wore those same looks of determination on their face as they urged him to go on and succeed in running Joe out. A smile lit up Charlie Brown's face. It amazed him that despite his doubt, despite his inexperience, Sparky really did believe he could do it. They all believed.

"Maybe I can beat Joe, maybe I can't" Charlie Brown started "But either way, I'll still try"

Charlie Brown's friends cheered for his resolve, the Guardian smiled gratefully at the support they were-

"Hello! Joe threatening to kill students if we don't hurry up! Remember?!" Lucy loudly pointed out. Charlie Brown blinked, his expression turning frantic as he realised what she said.

"Oh yeah!" Charlie Brown said before speeding off in the direction of the school. His friends quickly ran after him, Sparky floating at the front of the pack. Charlie Brown ran at full speed, ready to confront Joe. One thing was for sure, he thought. However this fight turned out, it was going to be fun.

---

Back at the school Joe Agate was hovering back down onto the ground after haveing sent his threatening message throughout the world. He didn't know if Charlie Brown was currently even on this planet anymore, but if the whole world was aware of his threats that should be enough to catch the attention of the Ancients and Sparky, which would certainly lead Charlie Brown to him either way. And Charlie Brown would have to show up if he started destroying parts of the planet, so whatever happened within the next few minutes, Joe knew he would get what he wanted in the end.

And in the meantime, he could stick around and enjoy the terror that was sweeping through his captives. Agate's declaration had inspired utmost fear in the hearts of the students, all of whom were backed up against either the school or the gates. The dark barrier still blocked them from leaving.

"Well, yes, now while that was very good, I might ask... the part about killing one student per minute... that was just a bluff, right" Dr Eggman asked awkwardly to his superior. While he may have been an evil scientist, the bad doctor did have his own moral code. Despite the damage his robots and superweapons caused he never aimed to directly kill anyone. He realised that was perhaps part of the reason his plans were always foiled by Sonic, but he just couldn't bring himself to murder. Especially when the victims were a school full of kids, and then even a whole planet.

Joe smiled, catching onto these sentiments, and identifying them as a weakness in the fat villain.

"It's no bluff Eggman, if Brown doesn't show up here in the next fifteen-now fourteen minutes, we start killing" Joe said casually, as though he was merely discussing the weather. The dark one grinned at Eggman's grimace "Not having seconds thoughts, are we?"

Eggman looked surprised and shook his head fretfully.

"No-no, nothing like that. I mean-it's just-don't you think it's a bit extreme? I mean, these people are your fellow students. Your peers, cohorts, possibly friends. Don't you think it would be unfair to them to end their lives over this?" Eggman tried to reason. Several students nearby nodded their heads anxiously, pleading to God that Agate agreed with the scientist. But Joe's maniacal smile dashed any hope of this.

"These people are not my friends, I could care less about what happens to them. If you're squimish you don't have to do any of the dirty work, it'll be more fun for me to do it anyway" Joe said, surrounding his fist with dark energy to add to the malice of his statement. As the students shuddered and groaned fearfully, most even too afraid to move, Dr Eggman gave one last pleading look to his leader and nodded remorsefully. Joe grinned victoriously and began circling around the school grounds.

'I don't know if he's really just this maniacal... or if all that dark power has corrupted his soul to the point he's become as vicious and insane as The Witch herself. Either way, this kid has lost all sense of humanity' Eggman thought fearfully.

The students backed away as well as they could when all cramped together as Joe walked passed them, looking thoughtful.

"But then again, I suppose we can find use for SOME of them" Joe admitted. He returned to the centre of the playground where Thibault and Eggman were standing to make one more announcement.

"Listen up folks, I have a deal for you all!" Joe called, the students leaned forward, all listening closely "Now while most of you I'm quite happy to just kill and be done with you, I'm willing to spare your lives. On one condition. If any of you wish you may join us. Become a member of the Dark Empire, swear your allegiance to me and the Dark Witch, and not only shall I spare your miserable lives, I also promise you'll get your own special powers"

This thought intruiged some of the students, particularly those that really, really wanted to live through this. Others were apprehencive though, not sure if they could trust Agate.

"Deep consideration should be taken before joining however. You will be expected to carry out crimes against humanity and lay waste to worlds within the realm of light, at the same time surrendering your heart to darkness. You should all really-OOP!" Eggman clutched his stomach after Joe punched him to shut him up.

"Like I said, you're all free to join us. Trust me, it's either join up with us, or rely on Charlie "Failure Face" Brown to save you, and we all know how that's gonna go, I'm sure" Joe said humorously. Try as they might, the students couldn't help but agree with that last statement.

Joe and Thibault watched as the students all contenplated their options. Would they be willing to surrender themselves to darkness? Were they ok with working for Agate? Was there any hope of Charlie Brown, if he was a hero, defeating Joe Agate and saving them? Would he even show up?

For the first two minutes no-one reacted. Then just as Joe was beginning to get bored, a familiar voice called out "I'll join you!"

Gasps echoed through the crowds of students as Freddie Fabulous tore away from the pack and walked straight up to the thirteen year old terrorist.

"I don't particularly like you or Thibault, Joe, but I do admit your powers are pretty awesome. If you can get me some of those I'm definitely in. Besides, I really want to see that ol' pumpkin head get clobbered, so you already have my sympathies" The sports star explained. Joe smiled nicely and patted Freddie on the shoulder.

"Welcome to the winning side Fabulous" Joe greeted, motioning for the fellow bully to stand between Thibault and Eggman. Joe turned back to the crowd of students to see another figure had stepped forward. To the surpise of many, it was Melody Melody.

"I guess I'll join you too" Melody said plainly "I mean, it's not like I have any better options. And I've always been attracted to power. If you guys are aiming for universal domination like you say, then I'm all for it"

"Glad to have you aboard miss Melody" Joe said, surprisingly polite.

"OH NO! NO WAY" Thibault suddenly yelled, earning annoyed glares from his friend and Melody as he began ranting "I agree we need more cronies, but there's NO WAY I'm working with girls. She'd just get in the way with her sissiness. It's not like girls have any practical skills apart from cooking, cleaning and looking good naked anyway!"

POW!

A quick slug to the face from Melody Melody sent Thibault flying ten feet backwards into the dark barrier. The sexist punk landed with a thud on the ground, too dazed to form a single comeback.

"No practical skills, huh?" Melody said sarcastically. She stood at Thibault's previous position tall and proud, boldly declaring herself an equal member of this entourage. Joe sniggered.

"Please tell me someone recorded that" Joe said through a fit of laughter.

Another minute passed in silence as Eggman tried to support the dizzy Thibault back onto his feet. The kids continued to ponder over whether they should join Agate, and still waiting on Charlie Brown to show up and maybe save them already. While Peggy Jean and Roy were whispering potential escape plans to save their fellow students, Molly Volley scratched her head thoughtfully. She wasn't an evil person, oh no, and she didn't have anything against Charlie Brown. But then again, she didn't think he stood a chance against Joe, and she usually rooted for whoever was likely to win. So with that, she began to step forward to join Agate's team.

"I'm in!"

Molly blinked when she realised someone else had said that as the same time as her. She turned to see Bad-Call Benny had also stepped forward. The two tennis players exchanged uncertain looks and then frowned.

"Oh, no way!" They both shouted.

"I'm joining with Agate, but there's NO WAY IN HELL I'm working with you, twerp. Get back in line!" Molly roared, pointing to the crowd of students.

"No way fat-legs, I'm on this team, you get back in line!" Bad-Call shot back.

"Stop calling me that! And you get back there!" Molly screamed, clenching her fist.

"No, I should be on Agate's team. I'm way better than you!" Bad-Call declared.

"I'm older, so that gives me more authority than you!" Molly growled.

"You're only older by two weeks! I say I'm on this team, you get lost" Bad Call snidely shot back.

"No you!"

"No you!"

"No you!"

"No you!"

"Don't make me slug you!"

"Go f-"

"ENOUGH!"

The two tennis players were knocked off their feet by the high volume of Joe's voice. The darkness weilder glared down at the two nuisances.

"You can both be a part of our empire, and you can both just BE QUIET ABOUT IT" Joe said irritably. Both gulping, Molly and Benny quickly hopped over to where the rest of Joe's followers were standing and remained silent, though still glaring at each other at all times.

Joe waited for anyone else to step up and join him. After much consideration, Tapioca Pudding and Lydia both stepped forward.

"I don't really like this, but Charlie Brown sure ain't gonna save us. So, I'm in too" Tapioca said nervously.

"I'm in for the same reasons. And besides, it might be fun" Lydia offered as her explanation. Joe nodded curtly and had them join the rest of the group. Thibault, having regained full sense, was starting to grumble.

"What is it with all these girls joining us?" Thibault whispered. He was however overheard by Tapioca, who gave him a sharp punch on the shoulder, making the short punk gasp in agony.

Next up was Charlotte Braun. The new members of Joe's Dark Empire covered their ears when they saw her approach.

"I WANNA JOIN TOO! I HATE THAT CHARLIE BROWN, I WAS FRIENDS WITH HIM FOR A WEEK BUT THEN HE STARTED COMPLETELY IGNORING ME! I DON'T LIKE BEING IGNORED!" Charlotte screeched, her excessively loud voice shattering the school's windows. Joe nursed his bleeding ears for a moment before nervously motioning for Braun to take a place with the others. The other villains made sure to keep a safe distance from her though.

With the fifteen minutes Joe had given Charlie Brown running out the students were all starting to panic. Should they continue to wait and hope Charlie Brown would save them, or should they side up with Agate and be spared his wrath. Joe Richkid decided, he would choose Agate.

"I'm not offering myself up for any manual labour, but I can provide some healthy funds for you to perform your operations. Provided I get some of these powers you promise" Joe said, making sure he sounded sophisticated and dignified the whole time. Agate chuckled.

"Sure thing Richy, welcome aboard" Joe said. The other Joe gracefully walked over to the evil group, when Agate slyly added "'Course, now we own every last penny you have, but that's cool, right"

This caused the rich boy's graceful trot to faulter, and he looked terrified at the mere thought of losing his fortune.

Agate continued to chuckle as baseball star Jose Peterson ran forward.

"Count me in too, I wanna live" Jose said, joining Joe's group without waiting for a single word from the leader.

Joe grinned at the modest amount of followers he had so far assembled and turned back to the crowd of students that remained undecided. Spotting Crybaby Boobie, the third most prominent tennis player in the school after Molly and Benny, he asked "Don't suppose you want to join, do you Crybaby?"

Crybaby, who moments ago had just been watching fearfully, opened her mouth really, really wide and whined "NO I DON'T! I don't want to join you guys, you're all mean and evil and out to make me sad! Molly and Benny never stop arguing, Freddie's rude to me, Melody's even worse, and I don't wanna be evil! I dooooon't!" But immediately after she closed her mouth and sadly whimpered "But I guess I have no other choice. So, ok"

And with a downtrodded look on her face Crybaby took up a spot between Molly and Bad-Call Benny, who both face palmed over having their most whiney rival in this stupid team.

Joe Agate checked his watch. Only four minutes left until he started killing the hostages, and Charlie Brown still hadn't shown up. Realising the dark barrier was probably stopping them he opened up a passage by the gate and ordered Eggman, Freddie Fabulous and Jose Peterson to make sure nobody got out, but Brown could get it. He then turned back to the crowd of students to see if any more would join them. He grinned slyly when he saw Peggy Jean looking on with a stern and defiant face and slowly stalked over to her.

"So, how about you my dear?" Joe asked. Peggy Jean folded her arms and glared.

"No"

The students gasped, all looking at Peggy Jean as though she had gone mad. Joe raised an eyebrow and laughed playfully.

"Aww, why not? Think Charlie Brown is gonna save you" Joe asked mockingly.

"As a matter of fact, I do" Peggy replied confidently. The playground suddenly fell silent, and all sign of humour vanished from Joe's face.

"Excuse me?" Joe asked sternly.

"I believe in Brownie Charles. If what you say is true, and that he's some sort of Guardian of Light, then I know he'll come to save us" Peggy declared, sounding confident and determined that she was right. The students closest began whispering, while Joe sneered.

"Oh please, the guy's a complete blockhead. I'll slaughter him! You can't honestly think he's actually going to save you" Joe said distastefully.

"I'd rather put my faith in him than in you" Peggy said sternly "I know Brownie Charles isn't the type of person most would consider a hero, but he's a much better person than you. He's kind, thoughtful and would put his all into helping others! I believe he'll save us, and nothing you say will get me to think otherwise"

"Oh please" Joe groaned. But Peggy wasn't alone in her views.

"I believe in Charlie Brown too!" Declared 5, earning a glare from Joe and sneers from Thibault and the other dark followers "He beat you before at marbles, and he'll beat you here! So what if he's a blockhead, I have faith in him!"

"Here, here" Roy chanted. And more and more, the other students spoke up to show their support of the platinum-blond teen.

"Yeah, just you wait Agate. Charlie Brown's gonna come here and kick your butt!" A boy named Ethan declare a bit further along.

"I agree, Charles is a great guy, of course he can do it!" Piped in Eudora, Sally's best friend.

"Charlie Brown may have his faults, but he has a lot more heart than most people. I choose to believe in him" A blond girl named Janice spoke up, her and Eudora stepping forward to stand with Peggy Jean, whom along with 5, Roy and Ethan were essentially starting to form a mob before Joe.

"I don't know him much, but from everything my cousin Marcie has told me I'm sure Charlie Brown stands at least an even chance against you. I support him too" Said Maynard, a fairly nerdy looking boy with a funny looking face.

"Yeah, go Charlie Brown!" Called a girl scout named Loretta.

Joe watched on in shock as, one by one, more students began declaring their loyalty to Charlie Brown, and their refusal to join Joe. The super-powered bully growled as he turned once more to Peggy Jean at the centre of the crowd.

"Looks like the common consensus is that Brownie Charles is the favoured fighter" Peggy Jean said proudly. Joe just laughed cruelly.

"Believe what you want to believe my dear. I was gonna offer you a sort of third in command position, but-" Joe grinned evilly as he checked his watch, worrying Peggy's friends "It just happens the times up, and he's still not here"

Fear was quickly overcoming the students once more. Everyone looked around anxiously for any sign of the hero, but it appeared he was a no show. Joe grinned evilly.

"And since he's not here, I guess it's time to live up to my threats. And since you're the most defiantly loyal to the blockhead..." Joe lit his fist up with dark energy. Roy and 5 hopped in front of their friend, but they were pushed far out of the way by Joe and his powers. Peggy Jean looked frightened, but refused to let go of her faith.

"You can still back out, my dear" Joe said craftily "I'm still willing to let you live. All you have to do, is swear your loyalties to me"

Peggy Jean frowned defiantly at this suggestion.

"No way, Agate. Not again" Peggy said, memories from years ago reforming in her mind "I swear, the biggest mistake in my life was breaking up with Brownie Charles for you! I loved him, and still do, but then you swooped in and convinced me to leave him that time at summer camp. I've always regretted it. And now, you're asking me to abandon my faith in him again, and put it in you, the worst boyfriend in history? I'll gladly die before I let that happen again!"

Joe's face grew stone cold.

"Fine" The villain spat. He charged up some more energy in his palm and formed it into a dagger. The students backed away fearfully as Peggy Jean remained motionless. She knew it was pointless to resist, so she'd just accept her death with dignity. Joe raised the dark dagger into the air and prepared to stab it down into her pretty little face-

"Leave her alone Joe!"

Joe's eyes widened in surprise, causing him to lose focus on the dagger and making it fade away. He saw the students gasp and gape at something behind him, and turned to see Charlie Brown standing by the gates.

Sighs of relief and excited chattering filled the playground as Charlie Brown, followed closely by his fellow Peanuts, entered onto the school grounds. Thibault sneered at the Guardian, Peppermint Patty and Lucy each shook their fists in his direction, shutting him up.

Peggy Jean smiled at this new occurance, sticking her tongue out at Joe. The bully didn't see this, his eyes were locked firmly onto his enemy. A wicked grin filled out Joe's face as he took a few steps closer to Charlie Brown, hands casually behind his back.

"So, finally decided to show up, eh Brown" Joe said in a falsely pleasant tone.

"Sorry I'm late, Snoopy got into a fight with an orange cat on the way here" Charlie Brown explained.

"And for such a lazy cat, he put up a real nasty fight too" Snoopy groaned, covered from head to foot in bandages. Joe ignored the troublesome beagle and started staring down the Guardian of Light.

Charlie Brown stared back at Joe with a far less confident expression, though he fought hard not to show any obvious fear. Joe took a few casual steps forward, and Charlie Brown cautiously clenched a fist and prepared to channel some light energy in case of an attack.

"So, Charlie" Joe addressed Charlie Brown with only his first name "Word on the street is that you're some sort of super powered hero. Tell me, is that true?"

Charlie Brown remained silent, annoying Joe. The Agate boy channeled some darkness and shot a dark beam at Brown's head, the young Guardian panicked and raised his hands, creating a light sheild to block the attack at the last second. The students gasped at this display of supernatural power, Joe grinned eagerly.

"Well Thibault, I owe you one. Seems you were right after all" Joe called to his bullying companion, who raised a fist into the air and cheered victoriously. Joe rolled his eyes at this silliness and turned back to Charlie Brown with a more calculating expression. Charlie Brown returned his gaze with a serious look.

"Joe, listen to me, you don't know what you're getting yourself into" Charlie Brown began, wanting desparately to reason with the bully rather than give him the fight he wanted.

"Oh, is that true?" Joe replied, looking innocently bemused.

"I mean it Joe, The Dark Witch is an evil being. You might think she's giving you power, but she's just using you so she can turn everyone here and everywhere into a heartless shadow. You can't let her control you" Charlie Brown warned. Joe laughed derisively.

"Control me? What, you think I'm not in complete control of my actions?" Joe asked humourously, Charlie Brown tensed up "I want to kill you. I WANT to take control of this school, strike fear into peoples hearts. Since I was a little kid, all I've ever wanted was to be on top, to be in charge. And now I can be! So what if I'm the servant of some Witch. I happen to KNOW she's not lying to me, if she were I'd back out, but I'm not giving up these powers just 'cause you tell me to!" By now Joe's friendly atmosphere had vanished completely, and he was displaying only his real emotions: Anger and hatred for the bald-looking boy in front of him.

"I've had to put up with a lot of humilation 'cause of you! Do you know what it's like losing to the BIGGEST loser on earth?! It's embarrassing! I've been living in shame for five freaking years! And now I have the chance to end all that. Now I have the power to KILL YOU!" A dark aura flared around Joe's body on the word kill, startling everyone present. Charlie Brown was intimidated, but still hopeful he could get through.

"I understand it must be humiliating, but come on! Find your humanity, I'm sure deep down even you don't want to actually kill me. That's the darkness talking!" Charlie Brown yelled.

"Well maybe it is" Joe admitted, clenching his fists "But it's what I really want, but haven't had the balls to accept until now. So does it really matter?"

"It matters a lot Joe. Don't you see, you're already becoming a puppet to the darkness. You're already starting to become a heartless!"

That was the last straw for Joe. No longer was he angry. No, now he was a thousand miles beyond the point of blank rage.

"You dare compare ME, the warrior of darkness, to a mindless, stupid heartless!" Joe roared, his dark aura growing larger and larger.

"Charlie Brown, give it up already! He's not gonna be reasoned with, just beat him up!" Lucy yelled from the sidelines. Charlie Brown's other friends all began voicing support for Lucy's opinion, realising that looking for humanity in Joe Agate was a lost cause. Charlie Brown sighed, he knew he would have to agree. While Agate continued to glare him out, Charlie Brown began channeling as much of his own light energy as he could, though he did not create an aura around himself unless it only tempted Joe to strike quicker.

"You know what, I've had it! No more waiting around and making small talk. I say we just hurry up and get to the part where I beat you to a bloody pulp!" Joe shouted, assuming a fighting stance. Charlie Brown assumed his own fighting stance which he hoped wasn't too goofy.

"Sorry Joe, but that's not gonna happen" Charlie Brown said with all the bravery he could muster. Over by the gate, his friends were smiling.

Joe rose into the air and stretched out his arms. The dark barriers he had earlier erected vanished from sight, as the Dark Warrior wished to save all his power for this showdown.

"All of you hide inside the school, get everyone else in there with you. Just stay where it's safe" Charlie Brown instructed his friends. They each nodded in turn and ran across the playground to where the other students were gathered. Peppermint Patty and Violet took the task of ushering everyone but Joe's followers inside. Thibault, Eggman and the others merely chose to hide behind the side of the building where they could still watch the epic battle.

Now the only ones who remained on the battlefield were Charlie Brown, Joe Agate and the still semi-invisible Sparky, who was trying to encourage Charlie Brown.

"Don't be afraid Charlie. I won't lie, the fate of everyone depends on the outcome of this battle, but don't think about that. Instead think about what you're fighting for. Your friends, family, the people you love. Turn your positive thoughts and feelings into power. And most of all, believe in yourself. Just believe in yourself, and you can't go wrong" Sparky said wisely to Charlie Brown, who nodded his head, looking up at the darkness-enshrouded Joe Agate.

"I still don't know if I can do this" Charlie Brown said anxiously, Sparky's ears drooped "But I sure will try" The dog spirit perked up a bit.

Finally having had absolutely enough of stalling, Joe Agate dived down and lunged at Charlie Brown. The Hero of Light blocked Joe's initial strike with a light shield, but the Agate boy began striking the barrier with a barrage of darkness-enhanced punches. The shield soon started to crack and then completely shattered, and Joe landed a hard punch to Charlie Brown's face.

Taking great pleasure in what he just did, Joe aimed another punch for Brown's face. But this time Charlie Brown managed to block the attack, grabbing hold of Joe's fist. The darkness weilder growled and aimed a punch for Charlie Brown's gut with his left hand, but Brown grabbed that too. Joe struggled to free his hands from Charlie Brown's, but the hero refused to let go. So instead Joe made to headbutt him. However, Charlie Brown had the same idea, and the resulting clash left them both with splitting head pains.

Both fighters staggered backwards, clutching their heads in pain. Joe recovered first and struck Charlie Brown with a swift kick to the chest, with enough force to send him flying into the fence around the school. From the window the Peanuts gang watched the battle, and winced at the sight of their friend's pain.

"That was a cheap shot! Foul, foul!" Peppermint Patty was yelling at Joe. But with the window closed he couldn't hear her.

Joe laughed coldly at the downed Charlie Brown. Until he started to get up, at which point he ran at full speed to assault him again. But this time Charlie Brown struck first, hitting Joe dead on with a charged beam of light from his palms. Joe flew half-way towards the school building, but once the beam vanished he managed to steady himself in mid air. Joe flew at Charlie Brown and began throwing a barrage of dark spheres from his hands at the boy. Charlie Brown kneeled down and then jumped higher than he ever had, flying straight over Joe and avoiding the attack.

Joe turned to see Charlie Brown flying above him and charging light energy in his hands. With a scowl Joe began channeling his own darkness. The rivals fired their charged beams of energy at the exact same time, the two attacks collided in mid air and caused an explosion.

Charlie Brown continued to hover in the air, trying to see past the resulting dust cloud to find any trace of Joe. Little did he realise that Joe, with incredible speed, had managed to fly up behind him. Before Charlie Brown even knew what was happening Agate stuck him in the back with a hard kick, sending him tumbling down into the dust cloud and towards the ground. Not exactly graceful or experienced in safe landings, Charlie Brown landed hard on his face.

The Peanuts winced again as Joe hovered down a few feet over Charlie Brown, laughing as he seemed to struggle to get up.

"What's the matter Brown, getting tired already?" Joe taunted. He was disturbed by the smile Charlie Brown gave him. Charlie Brown suddenly shot up and landed a hard punch to Joe's cheek. Charlie threw several more punched before sending Joe flying with a beam of light. This time he did crash into the side of the building.

"No... just giving you the chance to let your guard down" Charlie Brown replied, surprised but pleased with his cleverness.

"That's actually pretty good strategy" Franklin nodded approvingly.

"Who would have thought he could actually handle himself adequately in a fight?" Freida said, getting excited.

"But how'd he and Agate get all these powers anyway? What the heck's going on here?" Roy was asking from the back of the classroom, where the other students were taking cover behind a barrier of upturned tables.

"It's a long story, we'll tell you when we're through watching the coolness" Shermy replied, watching through the window as Agate got up and shook off the shock. He didn't look happy...

"Come on Joe! Look at yourself, you're getting clobbered by CHARLIE BROWN! Let 'im have it already!" Thibault yelled from the side of the school. He shut his mouth when Joe started staring daggers at him.

"I'm working on it, alright!" Joe growled, turning back to Charlie Brown with a half-amused, half-enraged look "Well Brown, seems I underestimated you slightly. Seems you're not a complete flop of a fighter after all"

"Thanks. I had a really great trainer" Charlie Brown replied. Sparky grinned from the corner of the playground. Charlie Brown's smirk was soon whiped off his face when he saw the murderous glare Joe gave him.

"Course I'm still gonna kill you" The Agate boy said before vanishing from the spot.

Charlie Brown jumped in surprise and began looking around for his foe. Agate reappeared behind him and kicked him in the head, sending Charlie Brown sliding across the ground, scraping his right arm on the gravel all the way. Charlie Brown looked up just in time to see Agate leap into the air and prepare to stomp down on his face. Charlie Brown managed to grab the foot and hold Joe back, but Joe used his free foot to kick Charlie Brown's face anyway. Charlie Brown released his grip as Joe began pummeling him on the ground.

"Man, I can't tell you how long I've wanted to do this" Joe said as he continuously punched Charlie Brown in the face. Not knowing what else to do, Charlie Brown eventually bit down on one of Joe's fists. Joe cried out in pain as he retracted and clutched his bitten hand, Charlie Brown took this opportunity to flash a bright light from his hand into Joe's eyes, temporarily blinding him and allowing Charlie Brown to slip free.

As soon as Joe regained his vision he realised Charlie Brown had escaped him. He looked up, only to see a ball of light smack him in the face. Joe staggered from the attack as Charlie Brown swooped in and punched him in the gut with a light covered fist. Joe gasped and fell on his knees, clutching his aching stomach.

"Can we just end this Joe. I don't really like you, but I don't want to fight you either. You know you only have half the power I do, so even if you are better at fighting I'll still beat you" Charlie Brown said. He then took a moment to ponder over what he'd just said "Am I actually assuming I can win this fight? Wow, didn't know I had any confidence left in me"

"You should save it for later, when you're dead"

Charlie Brown suddenly realised two things. One, Joe was no longer on his knees before him. And two, Joe was now punching him hard in the face. Charlie Brown went flying twenty feet right over the fences, he tried to steady himself and get flying but lack of experience led to him crashing into the ground anyway.

Joe leapt high into the air, did a backflip and landed on top of the gate, glaring down at Charlie Brown like a stain on the pavement.

"I don't know where you learned to fight, or where you suddenly got this newfound confidence from, but let me just make one thing clear: You're not going to beat me! You're a failure, you always have been a failure, and you always will be a failure. It doesn't matter if you're stronger than me, you're still gonna lose because it's your natural calling! So for once in your life stop decluding yourself into thinking you do have a chance to succeed and accept that!" Joe spat. Charlie Brown wiped some blood from his lip and looked up at Joe, grinning.

"This coming from the only person who's ever lost to me?" Charlie Brown quipped in a stroke of genius. Joe roared in frustration and lept high into the air. Channeling energy into his foot Joe attempted to stomp down on Charlie Brown and crush his ribcage. But Charlie Brown rolled out of the way in the nick of time, Joe's stomp just leaving a huge crater on the ground. Acting fast Charlie Brown shot up, grabbed Joe by the arm and spun him around several times before throwing him back over the fence. Joe recovered in midair, but was struck with a double punch by a flying Charlie Brown. Joe gasped, spitting up a bit of blood, as Charlie Brown launched a dozen light spheres at his evil opponent. The combination of attacks created a dust cloud around the Agate boy, blinding him from view.

Charlie Brown squinted his eyes at the dust cloud. Just as he was thinking he might have gone a little too far with that attack a giant shadowy hand emerged from the cloud and grabbed him. Joe hovered forward from the cloud. His body at first looked bruised and battered, but as he channelled more darkness around his body, his injuries just seemed to magically heal.

"Nice try" Joe spat at his captive. Charlie Brown desparately tried to wriggle his way out, but Joe ordered the dark hand to squeeze him with all it's might. Charlie Brown screamed in agony as the hand began crushing him, his entire body soon wracked with pain. Joe continued to have the hand squeeze the life out of Charlie Brown for the next five minutes, it was looking like Charlie Brown was finished.

"Oh good grief, I think he's almost through" Pigpen gasped, watching from the window as the shadow hand slowly suffocated his friend.

"We've gotta do something, Chuck's gonna die if we don't help him!" Peppermint Patty yelled. She made to march out the door, but was held back by Marcie and Lucy.

"Ok, two things. One, Agate has powers on the scale of a demigod, nothing we could possibly do could injure or halt him. Two, how are we supposed to help when they're floating TWENTY FEET into the air?!" Lucy yelled in Peppermint's face. The tomboy furrowed her brow at the black haired girl.

"Well, we've still gotta try!" Peppermint Patty said defiantly.

"But what on this earth CAN we do?" Franklin wondered. Snoopy hummed thoughtfully.

"Let me have that for a second" Snoopy snatched Linus's blanket out of his hand and ran outside with it. Linus and Sally ran out after him.

"This is not the time for this stupid game Snoopy, give me my blanket back and get under cover" Linus demanded, but the beagle ignored him and began examining some chunks of the school wall that had come loose when Joe crashed into it. After finding a suitably sized piece of rubble the creative pooch used Linus's blanket like a sling and hurled the rock upwards, striking Joe Agate right in the back of the head.

"AUGH!" Joe Groaned in pain, looking back to see what had hit him. This momentary distraction led the shadowy hand to stop squeezing Charlie Brown. Acting quickly and trying to catch his breath at the same time, Charlie Brown finally managed to wriggle free. Joe spotted Snoopy, Linus and Sally on the ground and decided he would deal with them later, turning back to Charlie Brown. He was instantly met with a hard light punch to the face. Joe lost control of his flying and started falling back down to earth, catching himself five feet from the ground and carefully lowering himself so that he was only a few inches off the ground. Charlie Brown lowered himself down to confront Joe once more.

"Thanks Snoopy" Charlie Brown thanked his dog, who grinned appreciatively and bowed "Linus, take Sally and Snoopy back inside now before things get more dangerous"

"On it" Linus nodded, grabbing Sally by the hand and dragging Snoopy back in by the blanket he refused to let go of. Sally was going to wish her brother good luck, but was too busy mentally swooning over the fact Linus was holding her hand.

Joe glanced quickly from the departing trio to Charlie Brown, who was disturbed by the grin on his face. Joe charged dark energy in his hand and shot a beam at Linus, Sally and Snoopy. In a moment of panic and desparation, Charlie Brown dived down and took the blast. The heroic blockhead landed with a hard thud on the floor. His friends stopped to stare back in worry, but he hastily motioned for them to get back inside, which they grudgingly agreed to do. Floating right over the downed hero, Joe Agate laughed maliciously.

"So that's your other weakness then. You can't stand to let your friends get hurt" Joe said, his voice dark and calculating. Charlie Brown pushed himself back onto his feet, only to see Joe float backwards to the centre of the playground and charge another high powered dark beam. But he wasn't aiming the attack on Charlie Brown, but the school building. More specifically, the classroom where the Peanuts and all the other students were hiding and watching the battle.

"NO"

Realising what was happening, Charlie Brown flew in front of the building. Joe unleashed the full might of his beam at that exact moment, Charlie Brown summoned the biggest light shield he could at a moments notice. Through sheer force of will he managed to keep the shield from shattering right up until the beam faded. However, this left him worn out and vulnerable to a barage of speedy punches from Joe, followed by the bully sending Charlie Brown crashing into the fence by blasting him with a dark sphere.

Joe's cohorts cheered from behind the side of the school, while from the window the Peanuts watched in horror as Charlie Brown lay in agony at the other side of the school yard. Joe stopped to savour his moment of fun, giving Charlie Brown just enough time to rethink his strategy.

'So now he's going to threaten my friends to beat me. I can't risk their lives, I have to do something... hmm... I guess there's only one thing to it. I've got to get Joe away from here. Somehow, I just have to move this fight somewhere else' Charlie Brown thought. Then suddenly he had an idea.

Painfully, Charlie Brown got to his feet and, following instincts previously unknown to him, shot a beam of light at Joe. But this beam didn't just crash into Joe and harm him, but rather it trapped him in a sphere of light, with the beam still flowing from Charlie Brown's hand taking the form of a chain. His guard down due to the belief that victory was assured, Joe did not realise what was happening until the second before he became trapped.

"Hey! What's the meaning of this!" Joe screamed, pounding at the sphetrical prison with dark-covered fists. Shocked at his own handiwork, Charlie Brown seized the opportunity and swung the captured Joe Agate around, releasing his grip on the light chain when he felt he had built up enough momentum and sending the bully flying across the town. Charlie Brown sighed, after a warning look to Thibault, Eggman and the other bullies he flew off after Joe.

As Charlie Brown flew off his friends emerged from the school building to get a better view of his departure.

"What's he up to now?" Lucy wondered aloud.

"I believe he's leading Joe away from you all. A noble action, and imperative for making sure Joe does not use his bonds to you against him" Explained Sparky as he hovered back from the sidelines to rejoin the group. While the Peanuts stared off into the distance at their departing friend, Thibault and the other followers of darkness stepped out from behind the side of the school. Their eyes drifted to where Sparky was floating. Apparently the spirit dog was now visible to all, because the moment they saw him they all gawked and gasped.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?" Charlotte Braun asked loudly, bemused like the others. Sparky turned to the evil group, his expression becoming more serious as he floated closer to them. All but Thibault and Eggman backed away, those two being the more knowledgeable about the Universal Guardians and their bizarre appearances.

"So, this is the last Guardian eh?" Thibault began, staring the spirit up. He snorted "No wonder the Dark hag killed him, he looks like a wimp"

"In my living state I was capable of obliterating planets on a whim, but that is of no importance. While Charlie Brown and Joe Agate take their battle to the town, I must speak with you all" Sparky began seriously.

"Oh, let me guess. You're going to tell us all how siding up with the forces of evil is wrong, and we should all do the right thing and go back to a peaceful life, right?" Eggman asked humourously. Sparky shook his head woefully at the oval scientist.

"It would be pointless to try to speak sense to you Ivo, your heart will always belong to the side of evil. But what you say is precisely what I intend to say to the kids" Sparky replied. Thibault laughed loudly.

"And miss out on universal domination, yeah right! F### off, Pluto!" Thibault yelled rudely at the spirit. Sparky shook his head, recognising another lost cause and passed Thibault to address the other Dark Followers, who were all still a bit apprehencive of him.

"Do not fear me young ones. I am Sparky, former Guardian of Light. I will not harm you, I simply wish to persuade you not to allign yourselves with Joe and my sister. You are all naturally born into the realm of light, to follow the darkness would mean to surrender your souls. My sister is corrupt and misguided, siding with her will bring you nothing but suffering and eternity as a mindless, heartless beast. And I know you do not want that. I know you are frightened by Joe's power, but Charlie Brown will prevail. You will all be protected, everyone in this Realm is under our protection. So please, don't go down the path of darkness. Come back over to the light, where you will be safe" Sparky said gently, holding his ghostly hand out to the kids.

Some of the teens, particularly Tapioca Pudding and Crybaby Boobie, looked at the spirit's hand with an almost longing expression. Others, like Freddie Fabulous, looked to the hand, then looked Sparky right in the eye and scoffed.

"Like I told Joe earlier, I want power. And something tells me I ain't gonna get that power listening to you. So, as Thibault wisely put it, f### off Pluto!" The sports star scoffed. A look of worry flashed across Sparky's face. He tried to reason with Freddie, but...

"Yeah, we all CHOSE to be on the side of evil. Sure, maybe it's not a wise choice, but come on. If Charlie Brown's our only opposition, then the universe is practically in Joe's hands already" Melody said arrogantly.

"Yeah, it would be stupid to quit now. Charlie Brown's gonna die, and that's a fact" Molly pointed out. Tapioca and Crybaby looked at Molly, and deciding she had to be right they sunk back behind the rest of the group so as not to catch Sparky's eye.

"Please, children, I know to you it seems hopeless that-" But Sparky was caught off again by Bad-Call Benny.

"We chose to work for Joe, and that's how it's gonna be. We're gonna rule the universe, and there's nothing you or ol' blockhead extrordinnaire Charlie Brown can do about it!" Benny yelled confidently. Sparky's face faultered, panic overcoming him.

"You don't know what you're doing! You think this is a game, do you think it's all just as simple as "Joe beats Charlie Brown and we rule all". It's not going to be like that. If my sister has her way she'll plunge everything into darkness. Your families, friends, and everyone in the entire universe will be stripped of their minds and their free will, turned into shadow puppets, slaves! And you will not be spared that fate just for agreeing to go along with her plans. Please, I beg of you. End it now, return to the side of the light or face the most cruel of fates"

That... actually seemed to get through to the kids, who looked nervously between themselves.

"He's bluffing, of course" Thibault said nonchelantly, but Jose Peterson scratched his head impishly.

"I don't know... he sounds pretty serious" Jose said nervously, earning a cautioning glare from the short villain.

"I certainly don't want to spend my life as a slave, or a shadow puppet" Lydia added thoughtfully "Maybe this isn't such a good idea..."

Thibault stared between the rest of his new team, each one looking increasingly doubtful about their decision to join Joe Agate's cause. None of them much liked the thought of spending eternity in darkness, and even Freddie Fabulous was having doubts whether unimaginable power was worth the loss of his free will. Thibault growled at their weakness, and realising he had to act fast to avoid a scolding from Joe and that ugly old witch he scoffed loudly to get everyones attention.

"Oh come on, you can't believe what this chump's saying. I mean, sure, The Witch may be evil and Joe and I bullies, but we're true to our word. Joe offered you salvation, and that's what we'll give you. Everyone else here might be turned into a heartless, but we won't be. And if you don't believe me, then consider your other option: Rely on CHARLIE BROWN to pull through and save you! If you abandon our enterouge now you'll only be condemning yourselves to a gruesome death once Joe's done thrashing Brown about, sticking with us is your only hope" Thibault said craftily. There was a collective hum among the dark group.

"... hmm... that's probably true" Tapioca admitted sadly.

"When you put it like that it doesn't leave you with much option, does it?" Bad Call supplied, earning a few nods and mumbled agreements from his cohorts.

"Now hold on" Sparky interrupted "What makes you all so certain Charlie Brown will be defeated? Can any of you honestly predict the future, because otherwise none of you can honstly say Charlie Brown cannot win this battle"

"Um, dude, it's Charlie Brown, duh" Thibault put plainly, to the agreement of the others. Sparky prepared to argue, but stopped himself.

"Oh, very well" The canine spirit sighed, turning away from the group of no-goods and beginning to float back towards the Peanuts gang "I see I'm not going to get anywhere while you're all still in doubt. I'll just see how you all feel once Charlie Brown has bested Joe, I'm sure you'll listen to reason then"

Thibault groaned "For the last time, Charlie Brown is gonna lose! He's the biggest blockhead on the face of the universe, the only thing he ever succeeds at is making a fool of himself! Give me one good reason why you'd think he could beat Joe!"

Sparky smirked.

"Because it is his destiny" The spirit said vaguely, leaving Thibault and the other dark followers confused and in wonder as he rejoined the Peanuts gang and the other students.

"Don't worry Sparky, I'm sure they'll come around once this is all over" Linus said encouragingly to the spirit elder, noticing the downtrodden look on his face.

"I'm counting on it, but for now we have more pressing matters to contend with. Specifically the safety of your fellow students" Sparky said importantly "While Charlie Brown and Joe Agate are gone it would be wise to relocate the other youngsters to a more secure area outside of town. Ideally we should try a town-wide evacuation, but for the moment we should just focus on saving whoever we can. Do any of you know of a safe location we can lead the students?"

The gang thought long and hard about this. Given the scale of Charlie Brown and Joe's powers, and the carnage that would inevitably result from their fighting, it was hard to think of anywhere that was truly "Safe". And where in Birchwood or around the area could they go that Joe couldn't find them? Pigpen suggested maybe they could hide out in the woods, but Sally debunked that by reminding him that Joe could simply tear all the trees down to find them quickly. Violet offered to let them all hide out in the basement of her family's mansion, but the Peanuts all agreed that might be too predictable.

"Well, there's got to be someplace safe we can go" Schroeder said desperately. Marcie hummed thoughtfully before offering her suggestion.

"Franklin, your grandfather has a bomb shelter beneath his house, right?" Marcie asked her baseball teammate, who nodded yes, catching on.

"The entrance is reinforced steel, it requires a password to open it that only my grandfather knows... and he rarely leaves the house, so of course he'll be there to open it for us" Franklin replied.

"And is there room enough for all of us?" Marcie asked. Franklin looked between his friends and then to the massive crowd of students staring expectantly at him. The african american boy frowned awkwardly.

"Well, it would be a VERY tight squeeze... but maybe. My Grampa does know how to maximise space" Franklin said thoughtfully.

"Hate to put a dampener on things, but how is a bomb shelter going to protect us from someone as powerful as Agate?" Violet asked pointedly.

"Well it would be safer than here, and Joe may not suspect it as a hiding place. It's not like we have any better options anyway" Marcie reasoned. Everyone agreed that sounded right.

"Well, it's better than standing around here like sitting ducks" Patty nodded "Lead the way Franklin"

With the plan set Franklin and Linus began ushering the students towards the now easily accessible gateway. However, as the Peanuts were about to leave Dr Eggman suddenly appeared to block their path.

"Apoligies, my dear children, but I'm afraid I can't let you leave. Earlier on Joe asked that I ensure the student body stay put and it would be unwise for me not to follow his orders" The doctor explained, pulling out a lazer gun and aiming it for Linus's head "So everybody get back against the school building and don't move another muscle"

The terrified students all gulped and put their hands in the air, as did most of the Peanuts gang. Sally however was too busy staring at the lazer weapon in wide eyes wonder to worry.

"Is that a real lazer gun?" The second youngest of the Peanuts gang asked. Eggman, looking pleased to have someone show interest in one of his inventions, twirled the lazer around in a show-offy fashion.

"Sure is. Powered by the hyper-go-on energy I managed to save from my plan to capture the alien race known as the Wisps, it has the potential to obliderate substances harder than diamond" Eggman bragged, then remembering he was trying to appear imposing he pointed it again at Peppermint Patty's head, as she was standing at the front of the group "So if you all know what's good for you you'll all stay put"

While the students were all too afraid to argue, Sparky simply smiled and floated forward as though Eggman wasn't there. The villainous scientist aimed the gun for him, but Sparky was just calmly ushering the Peanuts to follow him.

"Come along children, he's no threat" Sparky said encouragingly. The villain took great offense to that.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NO THREAT!? I'm the greatest scientist the universe has ever known!" Eggman roared. Sparky nodded.

"Your intelligence is to be admired Ivo, but I know your threat to incinerate these students with that lazer is only a bluff. We both know that, for all your craziness and evil plots, you would never dare to directly kill anyone. And considering you're vastly outnumbered, it's unlikely you'll try to stop us physically" Sparky explained smartly. Eggman lowered his weapon and his face fell slightly, knowing that to be true. Thibault, on the other hand, did not share his views.

"Well then it's lucky I'm not that pathetic" Thibault said as he walked up to Eggman and snatched the lazer gun out of his hands, aiming it for Peppermint Patty's face "So long, Blockheads!"

The Peanuts gasped and leapt out of the way as Thibault fired an enormous lazer from the gun. Peppermint Patty's eyes widened and she managed to duck, the lazer crashing into the school doors and disintegrating them. The tomboy looked back at the destroyed doors and glared at Thibault.

"What are you crazy?! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!" Peppermint Patty screamed in fury.

"That's the idea" Thibault said plainly, firing another blast at the mousy haired girl.

Peppermint Patty dodged to the right, Thibault was about to fire another lazer at her when Linus used his blanket to knock it out of his hands, as the gun slides several feet away.

"Hey!" Thibault yelled at the blanket carrier. He ran to retrieve the futuristic gun, but was quickly tackled to the floor by Peppermint Patty as she began punching him in the face.

Nearby, Freddie Fabulous and the other Dark Followers watched, slightly embarassed, as Peppermint Patty pounded Thibault. Fabulous looked to the lazer, a grin spreading up his face he reached down to pick up the dangerous superweapon.

"Well, I was hoping Joe would give me super strength or something, but a disintigration ray sounds pretty cool too" Freddie commented as he examined the weapon in his hands, a hungry look on his face as he imagined the countless things he could do with weapon. Any villanous plans he might have had though were quickly brushed aside as Linus threw out his blanket and used it t snatch the gun out of his hands.

"This thing's far too dangerous to be allowed to remain workable" Linus commented, holding the lazer with a look of disdain "It would be best if we were to destroy it, but I don't know how we would..."

"Simple" Lucy said, snatching the gun from her brother and snapping it in half against her extended knee. A colourful energy seeped through the broken ends of the snapped lazer before vanishing "There, problem solved"

"You know, we could have used that to defend ourselves if Joe attacked us again" Violet pointed out irritably. Linus and Lucy exchanged looks and both shrugged innocently at their friends. Linus was about to provide one of his witty comebacks, but was knocked to the ground by a flying kick to the back of his head by Freddie Fabulous, who stomped down on his back and held him down.

"Hey, geek, nobody steals from me and gets away with it!" Freddie yelled, raising a fist and preparing to strike Linus, only to receive a sharp smack in the face from Linus's blanket. Linus pushed the football star off him as he began whipping him back with the blue cloth.

Lucy sighed in annoyance at the sight of her brother fighting back Fabulous, more so because he was providing a practical use for that blanket which she hated so much. Over with the other Dark Followers, Molly Volley called out to Lucy.

"Man, I guess being a freak must run in your family, huh Pelt?!" Molly yelled snidely. Lucy glared at her, clenching her fists.

"You wanna rumble, fat legs!?" Lucy called out threateningly. Molly pounded her fists together and grinned with cruel pleasure.

"Bring it on, crab-face" Molly challenged. With a terrifying war cry, Lucy charged forward and tackled Molly Volley to the floor, the crabby rivals punching and scratching at one another on the ground.

Floating above this scene, Sparky watched with disbelief as Molly and Lucy fought on the floor. He looked to Peppermint Patty pummelling Thibault aswell, and then to Linus fending off Freddie Fabulous. The canine spirit sighed.

"Yeah, I can see where this is going" Sparky commented wearily.

---

(Meanwhile, across town)

Charlie Brown flew above the town buildings, following the light sphere containing the trapped Joe Agate. He was flying slow, choosing to put as much energy into healing himself as possible. He remembered what Sparky had told him about his healing capacity last night, and how his "Inner light" Would automatically begin healing his wounds whenever he was injured, but that there were limits to how much he could heal over a given period of time. Noticing that his injuries seemed to be healing slower than earlier on in the battle, Charlie Brown could only assume that he was getting closer to his limit. Which also meant he would soon be infinitely more vulnerable to the full extent of Joe's attacks. The only thing keeping Charlie Brown from paniccing was the hope that Joe might soon be reaching his own limits aswell. Either way, Charlie Brown knew he had to end this fight as soon as possible.

Inside the sphetrical light prison, Joe was pounding furiously against the walls with his darkness covered fists. Realising the slow progress with which the prison was breaking Joe changed his tactics to blasting the inside of the sphere with dark lightning. With an ENORMOUS surge of dark electricity, Joe shattered the sphere and flew upwards. Joe observed his surroundings, noticing that Charlie Brown had managed to throw him all the way to the park. A few seconds passed and Charlie Brown flew in a few feet away from Joe.

"How did you master such a compliated technique so fast?!" Joe furiously demanded. Charlie Brown shrugged meekly.

"Honestly, I don't know. The idea just popped into my head, and when I fired the beam... it just happened" Charlie Brown responded, taking a moment to ponder his uncharacteristic skillfulness. Joe snorted, feeling both grumpy and, though he'd die before he'd admit it, a bit jealous.

"Doesn't matter, the same stupid trick won't work on me twice. Now DIE!" Joe shot several dark lightning bolts from his fingertips at Charlie Brown, who hurriedly erected a shield of light in front of himself. However, he was only able to sustain this shield for ten seconds before it shattered, allowing the lightning to strike him dead on. Charlie Brown screamed in agony as the evil electricity ravaged his body. Luckily for him Joe was only able to carry on this assault for a few seconds before the lightning faded. Charlie Brown gasped for breath and floated down onto the floor on his knees.

Joe floated down, watching with sadistic glee as Charlie Brown panted on the ground. To add to his enemy's misery Joe struck him with another blast of black lightning. Charlie Brown sensed this attack and rolled out of the way, but Joe merely moved his hands after him and redirected the lightning, which made a direct hit on the near-bald hero. Charlie Brown writhed in pain as Joe tortured him with lightning for thirty seconds. Thirty long, grueling seconds. When this second assault was over Charlie Brown's entire body was quaking, and Joe was laughing.

"Bet you wish you could shoot lightning, dont'cha Brown?" Joe asked smugly. Charlie Brown lifted his head weakly. Despite his pain he managed a grin, Joe's taunt had just given him a great idea.

"I... I may not be able to sh-shoot lightning J-oe..." Charlie Brown panted, surrounding himself with healing light, putting Joe on alert "But... there is something else I can do that you can't"

Joe wondered for a moment what Charlie Brown meant, but desided to shrug it off and prepared another barrage of lightning. Charlie Brown, healed enough so that he could move normally, stood up quickly and prepared his own attack. Joe unleashed his dark lightning upon the heroic blockhead. But what happened next came as a horrifying surprise to the bully. Right as the lightning was about to strike Charlie Brown, the hero summoned a strange, flaring light into his hands and pushed it forward. Right before Joe's eyes, the light became a turrent of blazing, golden flames! The fire of light clashed with Joe's dark lightning, engulfing it as the flames made their way towards the dark warrior.

Joe's eyes widened in genuine terror as the flames rocketed towards him, his own attack failing to hold it back. Without a second to spare Joe ceased his lightning and flew swiftly to the left. Though he managed to avoid being barbequed Joe's feet were still caught in the fire. With a wince Joe began quickly healing them (And somehow repairing his shoes in the process).

Shocked by what he had just endured, Joe turned, panting, to the nearly fully healed Charlie Brown, who was again amazed by his own ability.

"Wow, that's the first time I made more than a small flame" Charlie Brown said cheerfully. Joe frowned incredulously at him.

"What the hell was that! How'd you manage to shoot fire like that?!" Joe asked.

"Well, that was the last thing Sparky told me last night before I went to bed. He told me about how you can shoot lightning, and that it was unique to his sister, and now you too it seems. And he said that as Guardian of Light I have my own unique elemental power: Fire. And as he puts it, fire beats lightning anytime" Charlie Brown said proudly. Then he groaned and stuck his hands near his mouth, blowing on them to cool them down "Course, my powers don't also provide immunity to heat. Ow"

Joe growled furiously at Charlie Brown, who was desparately trying to cool his hands down. Charging up darkness in his palms Joe flew straight for the hero, Charlie Brown realised what was happening just in time to block Joe's punch with one of his own. Joe aimed several more dark punches at Brown's head, but Charlie Brown managed to either block or dodge them all. Charlie Brown made to kick Joe in the gut, only to have Joe grab his foot and throw him backwards. Joe aimed a dark sphere at the flying Charlie Brown, who managed to steady himself and barrel roll out of the way before launching his own light sphere at Joe. The flying bully blocked the blast with a dark shield. He then dispersed the shield and flew at Charlie Brown again, the two combatants getting into a lock up in the air.

Finally Joe managed to land a punch to Charlie Brown, and a hard one at that. As Charlie Brown recoiled in pain he was left vulnerable to a dark beam in the chest. The concentrated blast of dark energy sent Brown flying into a tree.

Charlie Brown recoiled on the ground, he saw Joe flying towards him with an enormous amount of dark energy surrounding his hand. Charlie Brown watched on in horror as Joe morphed that dark energy into the form of a long dark sword. With a terrified jolt, Charlie Brown shot up and avoided the attack, Joe's dark sword merely slicing the tree in half. Joe looked up and reconfigured the dark sword into a sphere, firing it at Charlie Brown, who dodged.

Charlie Brown realised he would have to start putting more effort into fighting back, so far he was mostly dodging and blocking Joe's attacks, and Joe was still easily landing more hits. And he still wasn't showing any obvious sign of reaching his healing limits (Though Charlie Brown had no idea what signs he would possibly show of that). With that in mind Charlie Brown flew towards Joe. The bully placed a hand behind his back, charging up dark energy and waiting for the right moment to attack. When Charlie Brown was mere seconds away from reaching him Joe threw out his arm and fired the beam. But Charlie Brown wasn't that stupid. He'd predicted that exact outcome and fired his own light beam downwards, propelling himself upwards and out of the path of Joe's attack.

Joe prepared a second beam, but Charlie Brown shot down from the air and kicked him dead straight in the jaw with a light kick, sending him crashing into a duck pond and knocking a few of his teeth loose.

After a few seconds Joe's head popped out of the water. Ignoring the frantically flapping ducks surrounding him Joe flew out of the pond, only to be met with a hard light sphere to the gut. While Joe was stunned Charlie Brown flew forward and delivered several hard punches to his face and gut, finishing his assault with a powerful kick that sent Joe flying straight into the branches of the Kite-Eating Tree.

Coughing up a few leaves, Joe looked over to Charlie Brown and shook his fist.

"Not bad Brown, but it'll take more than that to beat-"

But Joe was interrupted by an odd rustling sound. A confused look spreading over his face, Joe looked around and saw that the leaves of the tree seemed to be moving. Before he could figure out what was happening a giant mouth began to form around him. Joe panicked and attempted to flee, but was unable to avoid being swallowed up by the tree.

Hovering over, Charlie Brown watched in shock as the Kite-Eating Tree munched away at his enemy. He wasn't sure whether he should be thankful for the Tree's assistance, or disgusted by what he was seeing. Charlie Brown watched the tree munch away for the next ten seconds, but then it suddenly stopped. Charlie Brown raised an eyebrow, wondering if the tree was finished, or if it had realised Joe wasn't a kite. The leaves began to shake, and the next thing you know they were all blown off by a pulse of dark energy.

Joe Agate floated to the ground, gasping and looking traumatised by his absurd experience. Charlie Brown looked between him and the now leaveless Kite-Eating Tree, frowning slightly.

"Well that wasn't very nice, how's the tree supposed to eat now?" Charlie Brown scolded. Joe glared viciously at him.

"I'm a little more concerned about the fact that I nearly just got EATEN by a TREE!" Joe roared. He kneeled down and shot up in the air after Charlie Brown, grabbing him by the head and spinning him around. Joe released his grip and sent Charlie Brown flying out of the park and into the town.

Charlie Brown managed to steady himself, but was then struck in the face by a dark beam. Charlie Brown landed on the roof of the town library, Joe hopped onto another building near Brown.

"Give up yet, Blockhead?" Joe asked cockily. Charlie Brown gritted his teeth and shook his head at the bully.

"I can't give up, there's too much at stake!" Charlie Brown yelled back.

"Oh right, I forgot. Your precious friends" Joe laughed coldly "Why are you bothering trying to defend that stinking Peanuts gallery of yours? None of those so called friends of yours actually like you, the only reason any of them associate with you is because they feel sorry for you"

"That's not true!" Charlie Brown yelled defiantly, but Joe shook his head disaprovingly.

"Oh please" Joe snorted "You're the most depressing person to be with in this whole town, all you ever do is complain about how nothing ever goes right for you and that no-one likes you. Tell me, would you want to be friends with someone like that? Even your sister admits you're a loser!"

Charlie Brown took a deep breath and glared at Joe.

"I don't care what you say, I know you're lying" Charlie Brown said, ignoring his own building feelings of doubt "And even if what you're saying was true, I'd still defend them. And all the other students too. If I let you beat me, everyone in the universe is going to suffer for it"

Joe chuckled "Aww, how noble"

"Seriously Joe, don't you realise what you're doing. If you help the Dark Witch take over she's going to turn everyone in the universe into heartless. I know you hate me beyond all reason, but you can't say you actually want all those people to suffer!" Charlie Brown tried again to reason with the bully. But Joe just shrugged it off.

"Why should I care about anyone elses fate? As long as I get what I want, I don't give a crap about the rest of the universe" Joe said honestly. Charlie Brown glared at him in disgust.

"You can't be serious" Charlie Brown growled.

"Do I look like I'm not?" Joe asked while giving Charlie Brown a foul look. The sworn enemies stared each other down some more before Joe snapped "Enough talk, more fight"

And Joe summoned another dark sphere to his hand and threw it at Brown. Charlie Brown shot into the air, the blast just leaving a hole in the library roof. Joe flew at Charlie Brown with a dark fist, but Charlie Brown ducked down and grabbed Joe's arm. Charlie Brown kneed Joe in the stomach and threw him towards the curb. Joe landed on his feet and shot himself up at Brown again, landing a flying punch to his stomach and sending him flying back. Charlie Brown managed to steady himself, but was sent flying through two building by a dark kick from Joe.

Charlie Brown landed with a thud in front of the convenience store. He was battered, bruised and even bleeding in parts. And worst of all, he could barely feel the effects of his healing power any more. The pain was worse than ever now. Charlie Brown shuddered at the thought of it. Whatever happened, he knew this fight couldn't last much longer.

"Ready to die Brown?!"

Charlie Brown looked up to see Joe charging a shadow beam ten feet above him. Charlie Brown jumped to dodge the beam, but the shockwave caused by it's impact sent him flying twenty feet forward. Fortunately landing on his feet, Charlie Brown flipped around to see Joe rocketing towards him again.

---

In the Fifth grade classroom of Birchwood Middle school, we find Rerun and his class gathered around a television replaying the broadcast Joe and Eggman had earlier sent out. Their teacher had left to go to the bathroom a minute ago, and a few of the students decided to watch cartoons on the classes tv set (Which was supposed to be used only for the purpose of watching educational videos, of course) despite the warning of Rerun's friend Amy, better known as the Little Pigtailed girl. While some of the kids, particularly Rerun, took the threats very seriously, some were unconvinced, particularly Larry the minister's son.

"I've heard of prank calls, but never a prank broadcast" Larry commented after the first viewing of Joe's message.

"This isn't a prank Larry, it's true. Charlie Brown is a Guardian, and he's got all these really cool powers over light!" Rerun explained, unable to contain his own excitement over the mere thought of it. Larry just shook his head.

"Yeah, I don't know much about Charlie Brown, but I know he's no Great Gatsby. There's no such thing as a guy who has powers over light or darkness" Larry said plainly.

"It's true! It's true I say!" Rerun declared. Milo, the african american manager of the Goose Eggs baseball team, placed a hand on Rerun's shoulder and tried to calm him down.

"Rerun look, I respect Charles an awful lot, but I know he's not a superhero" Milo said reasonably. Rerun shook his head.

"Charlie Brown IS a Guardian, and he's gonna go fight Joe right now and save us all!" Rerun said confidently. Larry rolled his eyes.

"I'll believe it when I see it"

CRASH

The kids jumped as Charlie Brown crashed through the roof and into the wall, leaving a large crater where he landed. Joe jumped into the room and landed safely on a desk where everyone could see him.

"You're finished!" Joe yelled, leaping towards Brown with his fists charged with darkness. But Charlie Brown shot up and blasted Joe with a powerful light beam, sending him through the wall into the next class.

Charlie Brown panted as he struggled to recover from his various injuries. The students merely stared at him in silent shock. Then after a moment they all burst out in applause and fanboy/girlish glee.

"Nice shot Charlie Brown, I see you're whooping that jerk's butt good!" Rerun cheered for his heroic friend. Charlie Brown smiled appreciatively at him, not having the heart to say he was probably losing.

"Thanks Rerun" Charlie replied, enjoying the admiration he was suddenly receiving from all the youngsters in the room.

"Cheap shot, Brown" Charlie Brown saw Joe crawl back into the room through the hole in the wall. Charlie Brown assumed a fighting stance, keeping his guard up. Joe flew towards Charlie Brown, aiming a punch for his face. While the fifth graders watched in awe, Charlie Brown blocked the punch, placed his free hand over Joe's chest and unleashed a light beam from it, sending Joe flying back out through the roof.

"Rerun, go tell the principal to evacuate the school. Just get everyone to where it's safe" Charlie Brown instructed the youngest Van Pelt, who replied with a salute and an "Aye aye" as Charlie Brown took off after Joe. While the other students simply watched on in amazement Rerun turned smugly to Larry.

"Well?" Rerun said expectantly. Larry sighed.

"I'm sorry I doubted you" Larry replied. Rerun grinned victoriously.

Up in the sky Joe and Charlie Brown were once again locked in aerial combat. Realising a dead on approach wasn't doing him much good Charlie Brown was now resorting to fighting from a distance; I.E firing as many beams and spheres of light at Joe as possible. Joe countered each of the attacks with his own dark attacks, causing a number of explosions as the blasts collided.

'The people watching on the streets must be thinking the world's coming to an end' Charlie Brown though, blocking a dark beam from Joe with one of his shields and throwing a light ball at the bully. Joe swerved to avoid it and shot another hand beam at Charlie Brown, who flipped over it. After a few more clashes it was becoming clear that this fighting style wasn't getting Charlie Brown anywhere either.

"Come on Brown, this has gone on long enough! Look at you, you're exhausted. You know you can't keep this up, so why not just give up already!?" Joe asked irritably. Charlie Brown panted a bit before responding.

"I already told you, I won't give up no matter what!" Charlie Brown shot back. After a bit more panting he asked "Why? You're not getting worn out, are you?"

"Me? HA! Get real!" Joe insisted. But Charlie Brown recognised the strain in his voice. And he could see the bruises on Joe's face, the various cuts and bumps along his arms and legs. Though he was refusing to admit it, it was finally clear that Joe too was starting to feel the strain of the battle. This thought filled Charlie Brown with relief, as it ensured him that he wasn't as outmatched as he had long been fearing.

Ignoring the obvious pain he was feeling, Joe lunged once more in the direction of Charlie Brown. With renewed faith, Charlie Brown lunged forward aswell. The super powered rivals got into another lock up, aimlessly flying around as they exchanged punch after punch. Joe managed to land a double punch to Charlie Brown's gut, but Charlie Brown grabbed him by the head and struck Joe with a headbutt. The resulting clash caused both combatants to fall to the ground, landing at least fifteen feet away from each other as they both collapsed in pain.

Charlie Brown gasped for breath, forcing as much healing energy as he could around his body. He was now REALLY starting to feel the pain, and the glowing light around his body was doing very little to ease it now. God, Charlie Brown really hoped this was over soon.

After forcing his head to lift up, Charlie Brown surveyed his surroundings. He quickly realised he was back on the grounds of his school.

"Good grief, this is just the place I was trying to avoid" Charlie Brown groaned to himself. The sound of punching and rage-filled screams caught his attention, and he turned to see... something very unexpected.

By the looks of it the entire Peanuts gang (Sans Rerun for obvious reasons) were engaged in a battle with Joe's dark followers. Violet was pinning Melody Melody to the ground and pulling her hair, Linus was fending off Freddie Fabulous with his blanket fashioned into a whip, Bad-Call Bennie, Jose Peterson, Charlotte Braun, Joe Richkid and Lydia were all knocked out while Schroeder, Freida, Sally, Franklin and Pigpen sat panting near them, all bruised and battered, Peppermint Patty was beating the snot out of Thibault and Lucy and Molly Volley were engaged in a vicious cat fight.

Charlie Brown blinked at the sight of his friends fighting and weakly stumbled over to Linus.

"Um, Linus, what on earth is going on here?" Charlie Brown asked uncertainly.

"Oh, Charlie Brown, glad you're back" Linus replied, knocking Freddie Fabulous off his feet with his blanket "Well, Thibault made Peppermint Patty mad when he tried insinerating her head with a lazer beam, so she started pounding him. Then Freddie Fabulous attacked me because I took the lazer from him aswell. Lucy and Molly Volley got into a fight after Molly said something insulting to Lucy. And one thing led to another and we all got into a brawl with Joe's enterouge. One which we're actually winning, surprisingly" Linus commented as, nearby, Lucy got up and threw Molly Volley into the wall of the school and kicked her in the face.

"That's for last night, bitch!" Lucy yelled at the downed Molly.

Charlie Brown couldn't quite believe what he was seeing here. Nearby, Joe got back onto his feet and witnessed the battle for himself. With an annoyed frown Joe cleared his throat and yelled "Excuse me!"

At once the Peanuts and Dark Followers ceased fighting. Joe gave his followers the evil eye, and they all winced as they rejoined him, dragging the unconcious members along with them.

"Sorry you had to see that Joe, things got kinda out of hand here" Thibault said awkwardly, his face bruised, nose bleeding and eyes both black.

"Never mind. But next time, if you're gonna get into a fight with Charlie Brown's friends, the least you could do is win" Joe scolded. He ordered his team to hide back behind the school. Nearby, Eggman was laid down on a lawnchair, dressed in red hawaiian shorts and trying to catch a tan. He lifted his head to see Thibault and the other misfits depart back to their old hiding place.

"Ah, I see the halftime show's over. Back to the main event" Eggman commented. He got up and pulled his usual uniform on, packing up the lawnchair and running off to rejoin the other villains.

Joe glared after his followers, panting slightly, then turned furiously on Charlie Brown, who was making sure his friends were alright.

"Well I'm glad nobody got too hurt, but Sally, I don't want you fighting people again" Charlie Brown instructed his little sister, who folded her arms.

"What, Lydia deserved what she got" Sally said definatly. Charlie Brown sighed and shook his head. Realising he was being watched, Charlie Brown turned to face a volatile Joe.

"Haven't forgotten about our fight, have you?" Joe asked. With a nervous glance at his friends Charlie Brown assumed a fighting stance.

"Get out of here, now" Charlie Brown whispered to the gang. Lucy took offense to his tone.

"Don't talk to us like that, ask us nicely"

"LUCY" Charlie Brown yelled. Lucy jumped at the uncharacteristic authority her friend was showing and nodded, as she and the other Peanuts ran to where the other students were gathered near the gate. Watching them run, Joe fired a dark beam at the Peanuts, but Charlie Brown jumped in the way and blocked the attack with a light shield. Charlie Brown lowered the light shield, only to have Joe fly at him and tackle the hero through the wall of the school, into the science lab.

Charlie Brown landed on his usual desk in the science lab. Joe stood above him, ready to strike him with a dark punch. Charlie Brown grabbed Joe's hand as he was about to attack and twisted it as hard as he could, leaving Joe to gasp in pain. With Joe briefly distracted Charlie Brown took the chance to kick him in the stomach and throw him off. While Joe recovered Charlie Brown backflipped across a few desks and prepared a light beam. Joe saw this and prepared to counter with his own dark beam. The beams collided, and the result was the typical explosion. Joe was sent flying backwards through a wall and Charlie Brown into a cabinet full of unlabelled chemicals and solutions.

By Charlie Brown's luck, the spilled chemicals combined and caused another explosion that sent Charlie Brown flying into the same room as Joe, the French class. Shaking off the effects of the blast, Charlie Brown looked up to see Joe preparing to slam the teachers desk down upon him. Charlie Brown rolled out of the way at the last second, the desk shattering to pieces and sending chunks of wood flying everywhere.

Charlie Brown got into a crouching position and leapt at Joe, punching him in the face and into the chalkboard. Joe coughed up a bit of blood and commanded the rooms shadows to surround Charlie Brown, who paniced at the sight of it and leapt up onto a desk. The shadows surrounded the desk, which began to sink as though it were in quicksand. Charlie Brown flew off the desk, but was struck with a dark sphere from Joe, causing him to fall to the ground. The shadows on the ground took this chance to surround the Guardian. Charlie Brown tried getting to his feet, but a hand reached out of the shadows and grabbed his leg, pulling him over.

Charlie Brown screamed and struggled, but all his efforts appeared futuile as the shadows slowly began to engulf him. With a feeling of dread Charlie Brown closed his eyes, fearing this was the end.

But then all of a sudden... it just stopped.

Feeling a sudden warm sensation throughout his body, Charlie Brown opened his eyes to find he was surrounded by an aura of light, and the shadows seemed to be fading away.

Getting up, Charlie Brown looked over to Joe to find that the bully was just as shocked as he was. After muttering a few choice swear word, a look of understanding washed over the villains face as he realised what happened.

"I must admit, I hadn't intended to send you to the Realm of Darkness until after I'd beaten you to near-death, but your reasonable fighting skills pushed my hand there. I'm not all that adept at sending people between dimensional barriers yet, not the thing I was really focusing on in my training, I barely even got Thibault and Eggman back here by myself. And considering your heart's so full of light, the shadows don't want to accept you. At least while you're still conscious. And that can easily be remedied" Joe said, summoning more dark energy to his palm.

Knowing what was coming, Charlie Brown channelled light into his hand. Joe fired his dark beam at Charlie Brown, who barrel rolled out of the way and shot his own charged beam at the villain, who was blasted through two walls into the cafeteria.

Joe crashed into the wall in the cafeteria, ironically right next to the double doors. The bully shook off the blast and saw Charlie Brown fly in through the hole Joe had made, the bully gritted his teeth and fired a blast of dark lightning at his foe. With a gulp, Charlie Brown ducked down to avoid the lightning, moving a little too fast he crashed face-first into the floor. Charlie Brown lifted his head and saw Joe preparing another lightning strike, acting fast he leapt behind a table and upturned it, allowing it to take the attack.

Knowing Joe would probably try attacking with another round of dark lightning, Charlie Brown decided to counter attack with some of his own light fire. Joe charged black lightning in his hands and unleashed the full might of his attack on Charlie Brown, who simultaneously launched a roaring firestorm at him... or at least, that's what how he meant it to happen. The actual result was that the stream of light fire Charlie Brown shot was underwhelmingly small. It was enough to slow down the lightning bolts, but the enormous bolts easily overpowered the puny flames. Feeling his heart skip a beat, Charlie Brown abandoned the attack and urgently jumped behind another table, a mere split second before the lightning would have struck him.

"Running out of steam Brown?" Joe asked mockingly, a malicious grin on his face as more dark bolts sparked in his hand.

Charlie Brown gulped, quickly upturning another table to avoid Joe's lightning.

'What was that? Good grief, either I really am running out of energy... or more likely that huge fire earlier was a complete fluke' Charlie Brown thought dejectedly 'Rats, now what am I going to do?'

Worried that his light beams or spheres would fare no better than his shield against Joe's dark lightning, Charlie Brown had no choice but to continuously dodge Joe's attacks, upturning as many tables as possible as he tried to get close enough to Joe to land an attack. But whenever Charlie Brown managed to get within ten feet of the bully he was forced to leap back or be shocked. Quickly running out of tables, Charlie Brown was soon forced to rely on his super human acrobatics to avoid Joe's strikes. His healing power almost completely void now, Charlie Brown was now struggling to perform these menuvers.

"Would you just stand still and die already!" Joe screamed. He fired another round of lightning at Charlie Brown, who hid behind the last available table. The Agate boy snarled and attempted another blast of dark lightning, but instead he stopped to catch a breather. The non-stop lightning strikes seemed to have worn him out. Seeing this and knowing he couldn't afford not to take action, Charlie Brown charged forward with a light fist, sending Joe into the kitchens.

Joe crashed into the wall beneath a series of cupboards, the vibrations caused said cupboards to open up and a number of food items to fall out and bounce off Joe's head, including apples, eggs, a bag of french fries, tomatoes, potatoes, several heavy metal tins and finally a watermelon, which became stuck over his head.

After a bit of mumbling, Joe pulled the watermelon off his head, a look of utmost fury on his face.

"You're gonna pay for that one!" Joe snarled, picking up a fallen tomato and channeling darkness around it. The tomato turned black and aquired it's own dark aura. Joe threw the darkmato at Charlie Brown's head, Charlie Brown ducked and the tainted vegetable instead hit a collection of overhanging saucepans, exploding on contact.

Seeing this made Charlie Brown gulp, and he turned back to Joe to find the bully channelling darkness into the eggs that hadn't broken in the fall. Charlie Brown summoned a shield to block the attacks, but the explosive eggs combined had enough force to shatter it. Joe picked up the potatoes lying around and prepared another attack. Realizing he didn't have time to summon another shield but noticing an unmelted frying pan lying convieniently nearby, Charlie Brown grabbed the cooking utensile, channelled his light around it and began using it to swat away the dark potatoes before they exploded.

This worked only for about five seconds. In large part to Charlie Brown's bad baseball skills, he swung at the fourth potato too soon and it struck him dead in the chest, exploding and sending the poor boy flying back into the counter.

With a nasty, eeiry smile Joe used the shadows to lift several sharp knives out of the drawers and point them directly at Charlie Brown. With a nervous spasm, Charlie Brown got up and quickly looked around for anything at all that might save him. Noticing a bowl of gizpacho, which one of the dinner ladies must have left overnight without realizing, Charlie Brown grabbed the bowl and hurled it straight at Joe's face. Miraculously it hit it's target, and the floating knives fell to the floor as the villain staggered back and tried to pull the bowl off his face.

After removing the bowl and cleaning the soup off his face, Joe sent Charlie Brown a death glare and examined the red soup now covering his hands. His eyes widened in fright.

"This wouldn't happen to be gizpacho, would it?" Joe asked cautiously.

"Yes. Well, at least I think it is. Why do you ask?" Charlie Brown replied. His question was answered as several swollen, red boils suddenly popped up on Joe's face.

"I'm alergic" Joe gasped in a wheezy voice.

Charlie Brown watched with a slight sense of pity as Joe clutched his throat and wretched as his alergies acted up. Desparately Joe began channelling regenerative darkness around his face, the swellings soon went down and the bruises covering his face from Charlie Brown's punches started to fade. But when the bruises were half healed, the darkness suddenly vanished from around Joe's head. And Joe's expression made it quite clear he hadn't meant for it to.

"Oh boy" Joe said, a hint of worry in his voice. CHarlie Brown grinned hopefully, it seemed Joe had reached his healing limits. But not one to get too comfortable, Charlie Brown looked down at his bruised and bleeding right hand and channelled some healing light over it. The large cut on the back of Charlie Brown's hand half-healed before the light vanished on it's own accord.

Charlie Brown sighed and looked Joe in the face "Looks like we're both reaching our limits" He said. Joe frowned.

"Well then I guess I'd better finish you quickly" Joe said before flying at Brown with his fists shrouded in darkness.

Charlie Brown leapt over Joe, who seemingly skidded on the air before coming to a stop. The bully turned around, and was struck by a double punch from Charlie Brown as they both went flying through the wall into the history class.

Joe landed on his feet and fired a dark sphere at the Light Guardian, who dodged to the right, the sphere simply obliterating the teachers desk. Charlie Brown kneeled down and sprang at Joe, who ducked under him and grabbed his leg, throwing the hero into the bookcase. Charlie Brown shook off the crash and saw Joe fire a beam of darkness his way. With a quick groan of pain Charlie Brown rolled out of the way. The beam struck the stand full of history books and reduced them to a pile of ash.

"Talk about making a mess of history" Charlie Brown commented. Joe raised an eyebrow at him, looking genuinely surprised. Charlie Brown stared questionably at him as Joe said:

"Did you just make a joke?" Joe asked oddly "You, Charlie Brown...?" Charlie Brown frowned indignantly.

"What, just because I'm a sadsac I'm not allowed to make jokes?" Charlie Brown asked. Joe just stared at him with raised eyebrow for a minute before shrugging.

"Whatever. It was lame anyway" Joe said casually. A second later he had regained his glare and angry demeanor and charged at Charlie Brown. The rivals exchanged blows before Joe managed to land a hard punch to Charlie Brown's face, causing blood to squirt from his nose. Joe followed this with a kick to the back of the hero, before sending him through another wall with a dark sphere.

Charlie Brown got up off the floor of the Gymnasium, swaying a bit due to his injuries. Joe flew in through the hole in the wall and ran at Brown with his arms morphed into dark blades. With much difficulty, Charlie Brown dodged Joe's attacks. He channelled some light into his palm and, after swiftly avoiding decapitation he struck Joe in the chest with a palm-strike, sending Joe spinning backwards through the air.

Joe regained his balance in mid-air and landed on top of a treadmill in the corner of the room. Ducking under a light sphere aimed for his head, Joe leapt down near the gym's ball pit and pulled out a football. Charlie Brown stared at the ball in Joe's hand and frowned.

"I'm not going to come running up to kick it if that's what you're thinking" Charlie Brown said irritably. Joe laughed.

"I'm pretty sure you would, but that's not my intention" Joe replied. Joe gripped the football tightly, channeling darkness all around the football before punting it in Charlie Brown's direction. Charlie Brown easily ducked out of the way, but Joe rose the shadows behind to create a wall which bounced the ball back, it hit the back of Charlie Brown's head and exploded. Charlie Brown skidded over the floor, writhing in pain.

Despite his pain, despite all the energy it took to perform even the simplest of actions now, Charlie Brown managed to lift his head to see what Joe was doing. The bully had his hand placed on another ball in the cart. Joe began channelling every single shadow in the room into the many balls in the cart. When certain they were all engulfed by darkness, Joe tipped the cart over and allowed all the balls to roll out.

The hundreds of different, darkness-covered balls rolled straight for Charlie Brown. With a groan, Charlie Brown channelled whatever energy he had left and floated up out of the way. Joe, watching from the corner, grinned with satisfaction as he leaned against the wall. His body melted into shadows and he sank through the wall out of the room.

Charlie Brown meanwhile was left to watch from the air as the balls rolled all across the room. The darkness around them began to spark, which looked to Charlie Brown like a lit fuse on a stick of dynamite. And knowing the results would be exactly the same, Charlie Brown blasted a hole in the nearest wall and flew for it. He managed to make it through in time, but the massive force of the hundred combined explosions still sent him flying down the halls, and through three more classrooms before finally crashing into the teachers lounge, landing on a couch. At least that provided a soft landing for the poor hero.

Charlie Brown panted heavily, lying on his back on the comfy couch and looking up at the lightbulb, which had been turned on at the switch by a piece of flying rubble. Charlie Brown felt awful. Every square inch of his body felt like it was screaming in agony. He could hardly move, and even breathing was becoming a problem for him. But still he managed, beyond all reason, to get up and stand. Despite everything he had been through, despite being dealt a beating that would have left any other living being dead long before now, Charlie Brown still managed to get back up. How, he would never know.

Shadows crawled into the room from cracks in the wall, slowly reforming into the shape of Joe Agate. The evil boy, almost as brutilised and facing the same struggle to remain conscious as his sworn enemy, forced as much dark energy into his hands as his lifeforce allowed and glared at Charlie Brown.

"I confess, despite all the hate I feel for you Brown, your stubbornness and refusal to die despite all my best efforts amazes me. Truly, you are a worphy rival. But it ends here. We both know that only one of us is going to come out of this alive. And I swear, on the life of everyone I know, it will be ME!" And Joe charged forward with his dark fist raised. Charlie Brown, fed up with all the grief he was being forced to endure, let out a rage-filled yell and charged at Joe, tackling him through yet another wall and back out onto the school grounds.

The students, still unmoved from their previous positions from when Charlie Brown and Joe had entered the school, jumped and gasped in awe as Charlie Brown and Joe rolled across the ground, embrawled in a fist fight. Charlie Brown managed to assume a dominant position over Joe and pounded his face with all his might. Joe used both his hands to grab the one hand Charlie used to punch and managed to throw him a few meters away.

Panting, bleeding and sweating like turkeys on Thanksgiving day, The respective warriors of Light and Darkness rose to their feet. The students watched anxiously as Charlie Brown and Joe glared each other out for a full minute. Panting aside, they remained unflinching, though their eyes were alight with loathing for one another.

Finally, Joe held back his hands and squinted his eyes, channelling every square inch of darkness within a hundred meter radius of himself into his palms. At the same time Charlie Brown began drawing forth power from the sun, calling forth all available lights to empower him.

And in the blink of an eye, their attacks were launched.

Charlie Brown's massive beam of pure white light collided with Joe's humongous beam of darkness. The two fighters pushed with everything they had, determined to overpower one another. At first Charlie Brown seemed to take the advantage, his light beam began pushing back Joe's beam of darkness. Joe staggerred back, sinking his feet into the floor. He was being overpowered, but he refused to give up. And so he began to channel his rage, he thought about just how much he hated Charlie Brown. He thought about how he despised the blockhead's very being, and how much he dreamed of having him dead. Joe channelled every last bit of his hatred into his attack, and slowly but surely his dark beam began to overpower Charlie Brown's light one.

Struggling to stand still let alone keep the beam going, Charlie Brown gritted his teeth and called forth all the light inside him to overcome Joe. But it seemed pointless. Despite his best efforts, Charlie Brown's beam of light could not overpower Joe's beam of darkness. As fear overcame him, Charlie Brown worried this was the end...

"Don't give up Chuck!"

Charlie Brown's eyes widened. He turned his head steadily to see his friends watching him. But they didn't look scared, they weren't worrying that their friend was going to die. No, they were sending Charlie Brown looks of encouragement, stubbornly remaining supportive of their friend.

"Yeah, don't give up Charlie Brown, you can do it!" Schroeder yelled determindly to his friend, who couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You're way stronger than he is, just keep at it!" Yelled Marcie.

"Go on Charlie Brown, you can do it" -Shermy

"We believe in you!" -Linus.

"Let 'im have it!" -Pigpen

"You can't give up now. You've come this far, you have to win!" -Patty.

"Go on Charlie Brown, you can do it!" -Lucy.

Charlie Brown watched in amazement as his friends cheered him on. It touched his heart that, even in this most grim circumstance, despite all odds stacked against him, they still believed in him.

The light shooting out of Charlie Brown's hands suddenly grew larger. Just the very thought that his friends genuinly had faith in him awakened new power inside Charlie Brown, and the near-bald hero pushed that power to it's limits against the might of Joe's darkness.

Joe was forced to scrunch as Charlie Brown's beam of light fought back and reduced the size of his dark beam to half of it's original size. But Joe still refused to give up. He still stubborly refused to lose to his most hated enemy. And so with that he channelled even more hatred than was conceivable of one person, and the meeting point between the two beams returned to the exact centre position between the hero and villain.

Charlie Brown and Joe struggled to keep their attacks going. At the centre point between their respective beams, the dark and light energies were starting to mix into a sphere. The sphere grew until it reached a massive size, as the continous stream of dark and light energy finally caused it to explode, sending a giant shockwave throughout the area. Chunks of earth were sent flying, trees standing near the outskirts of the school were uprooted, the remaining portions of the school building still standing collapsed and the Peanuts, Dark followers and just normal students were all blown off their feat, as Charlie Brown and Joe Agate were sent flying off in opposite directions into the fence.

Both groaning in agony, Charlie Brown and Joe Agate lifted their heads and both weakly tried to get up. Charlie Brown slowly lifted his head to look at Joe, panting.

"Hey Joe!" Charlie Brown called to the villain, taking a moment to catch his breath before continuing "Do you mind if... we take... *Pant, cough, pant*... a little break?"

Joe sent Charlie Brown a dirty look, but ultimately lowered his head and agreed "Sure... a little break sounds good right about now!"

"Thank you!" Charlie Brown breathed, and the enemies collapsed to the floor in unison.

After recovering from the aftershock of Charlie Brown and Joe's attack, the Peanuts gang ran over to where Charlie Brown was to support him, while Eggman and the Dark Followers ran to Joe's side. The other students also got closer to Charlie Brown, but kept a slight distance to allow the Peanuts a moment with their founding member.

"Man, have you guys been going at it. I tell ya, I've never seen anything as cool as what you were doing!" Peppermint Patty was telling Charlie Brown enthusiastically as she and Linus helped Charlie Brown to sit up. Snoopy pulled out a wet rag and began wiping the sweat off Charlie Brown's brow while Woodstock applied bandages to all of his open cuts.

"Oh, well, it wasn't too impressive" Charlie Brown tried to be humble, but his friends disagreed.

"Are you kidding, you were awesome!" Shermy insisted "I'm serious, you were really giving Joe a run for his money there! True you're as beat up as he is, but man, you sure showed everyone here what a badass you can be with super powers"

"I agree Charles. Despite everything Joe put you through you still never gave up, and you always hit him back twice as hard. That was very brave" Marcie said with a hint of admiration. Charlie Brown blushed.

"Well, I guess" Charlie Brown said, his worries melting away as his friends continued complimenting his bravery and skill while also making sure he was alright.

"This fight's looking pretty even right now. But I must say Charlie Brown, if you keep on going like you were then I think you could very well win" Linus said encouragingly. Charlie Brown smiled hopefully.

"You think?" Charlie Brown asked.

"No doubt about it, of course you're gonna win! You're the hero, aren't you big brother, and heroes always win!" Sally cheered with all the excitement you'd expect from a sweet little girl.

"Yeah, of course you can beat him, you're the greatest Charlie Brown!" Cheered... Rerun?

The Peanuts took a moment away from showering Charlie Brown with praise to gape at the new arrival.

"What the-RERUN! What are you doing here, you're supposed to be at school!" Lucy yelled with authority. Rerun shrugged innocently.

"The principal cancelled school when Charlie Brown and Joe crashed through the roof. So I followed Charlie Brown here to watch him fight" Rerun offered his explanation. His siblings did not look pleased.

"Rerun, don't you know how dangerous this is, you could have been killed any moment by a stray beam. Why didn't you just lead the other children in your school to safety?" Linus scolded.

"They're safe enough, but there's no way I'm going to be the only one who misses out on all this coolness" Rerun put it plainly. His older siblings sighed in annoyance, realising it was pointless to argue with that they just decided to let Rerun off the hook for now as the gang quickly went back to telling Charlie Brown how he was bound to win.

Sparky floated forward from the side-lines, sending Rerun a disapproving glance before adding his views to the discussion.

"They do speak the truth Charlie, as long as you keep believing in yourself you are very likely to win" Sparky began encouragingly, but knowing the dangers of overconfidence he clarified "But don't get ahead of yourself. Though you are both exhausted, Joe is still a powerful opponent, and I sense his determination to smite you has not waned a bit since the start of this battle. You must remain focused, fight with every last ounce of strength you possess. Just stay focused, and you have an even chance at victory"

Charlie Brown nodded to the former Guardian, allowing the full meaning of his advice to sink in.

"I know it's not over yet. But no matter how long it takes or how hard it is, I won't give up. I promise" Charlie Brown replied to the spirit dog. Sparky smiled.

"That is all I ask" Sparky said kindly.

While the Peanuts continued to cheer on or otherwise fuss over the wellbeing of their heroic friend, over on the other side of the playground the group of villains were being a tad less emotional in supporting their leader. While Eggman and Melody took the task of hoisting Joe up into a sitting position, Thibault was ranting about the way things were going.

"I mean come on! You're actually letting Charlie Brown put up a fair fight agianst you! You're supposed to be the super tough, manipulative and cunning Joe Agate, Birchwood's king of bullies. How can you be getting clobbered by CHARLIE BROWN!? It doesn't make sense, it's a mockery to all that's-"

"Thibault, if you don't shut up now I swear I'll focus all the power I have left into cutting out your heart and shoving it back down your throat!" Joe roared venomously at the petite bully. Thibault looked shocked and a bit frightened by his friends outburst. He waved his hands and backed off slightly.

"Wow, hey man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you" Thibault said in a meek manner that had never been seen from him. Joe looked up at his only friend with an annoyed frown and shook his head.

"I'm sorry 'Bo, I just can't get my head around it either. Charlie Brown is a blockhead, he's the biggest loser on the face of the universe. Even with all those powers he has, killing him should have been as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. So why isn't it?" Joe asked indignantly "Why is Charlie Brown able to put up an even fight against me?"

"Perhaps it's because you've underestimated his true potential" Eggman offered. Joe and pretty much everyone else looked at him as though he were speaking crazy talk. The mustached scientist shrugged and said "I'm just saying. You know, when I first battle Sonic he was completely different from the confident and cool hero he is today. At ten years old Sonic was immature, arrogant, ego-centric, rude and even a little dim. Even though he had super speed, no-one would have thought him a hero. But after he saw me kidnapping small animals to power my machines he rushed to the rescue, and over the years he grew into a brave, kind, confident hero. If you ask me, this Charlie Brown of yours might just be following a similar path"

Joe narrowed his eyes at the mad scientist "So you're saying Charlie Brown's going to beat me?!"

"Maybe. I'm saying that despite his faults, Charlie Brown is still proving himself a capable hero. You might just be in for more than you bargained for" Eggman clarified. Still panting, Joe placed a hand to his forehead and mentally cursed over his situation.

While this was happening the dark followers were all contemplating their decision to join Joe in a new light. They had all expected Joe to have killed Charlie Brown by now, but the two appeared evenly matched. And what Eggman was discussing with Joe now made it sound like Charlie Brown might actually win after all! This got the kids worried, and they all wondered whether they should take Sparky's advice.

"You know what, I think I'm just gonna... stand over there" Tapioca Pudding said cautiously, slowly edging in the direction of the other students.

"Yeah, maybe I'll just go over there too-for a better view of the action" Bad-Call lied, also backing away.

"I'm out too. This isn't working out as well as I'd hoped" Freddie Fabulous said bluntly, turning his back on Joe and starting to walk away with the rest of the group. Joe gritted his teeth.

"EITHER OF YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP FORWARD AND I'LL BLAST YOU INTO DUST!" Joe screamed with rage. The kids immediately froze where they stood, all in a position where they had one foot in the air prepared to step forward (Making it VERY difficult for them to stay standing).

With the Dark Followers too scared too go anywhere Joe was briefly left to mope in peace.

"This just can't be happening to me" Joe told himself, disillusioned "How am I going to settle this quickly?"

"Easy. Just listen to me!"

The high pitched, eeiry voice made all the Dark Followers jump on the spot, still one legged. Eggman, Joe and Thibault however where well aquaited with it.

With a weary look downwards at his coat, Eggman reached into his pocket and pulled out the dark mirror showing the reflection of the Witch. The Dark Followers all got a look in the mirror as Eggman extracted it, and the shock of what they saw made them all finally topple over into a pile on the floor.

Knowing what she wanted to do, Eggman held the mirror down in front of Joe's face, allowing her reflected face to examine him from head to toe.

"You're looking even worse from here than from what I saw from the shadows" The Witch commented on Joe's beaten up appearance.

"You've been watching?" Joe asked.

"But of course. I am able to see through the shadows of this world, and I must admit I agree with Eggman. This Charlie Brown is more capable than I was led to believe by yours and Thibault's tales" The Witch said sternly. Joe frowned at her.

"Hey, it's not my fault Charlie Brown's just instantly a hero, alright! I don't even know how he learned to fight so fast" Joe said defensively.

"Then perhaps you weren't paying proper attention when I described his abilities to you last night" The Witch said while giving Joe the evil eye, which was so effective on her that it even frightened Joe out of his wits "We Guardians have a natural warriors instinct. It doesn't matter how low his over all skill level is to start, but the more he fights the more his Guardian instincts kick in, allowing him to accomplish attacks and powers previously unknown to him. Like when he trapped you in that sphere for example. You should have focused on finishing this fight early on, before he had a chance to develop his skills further through battle"

"Yeah, I see that now" Joe said off-handedly "But what am I supposed to do at this point? If this keeps up both Brown and I are both gonna end up dead"

"Or worse, he could defeat you" The Witch offered grimmly. Joe sneered.

"No way. I wouldn't lose, this is gonna end up a draw at worse" Agate insisted. The Witch snarled.

"You're letting your personal quarrels blind you! He beat you once before, didn't he?! There's nothing saying he can't honestly defeat you here!" The Witch's reflection bellowed.

"Then what do I do!?" Joe yelled. It wasn't an angry yell. It wasn't even one of annoyance. For the first time, Joe was speaking in desparation, pleading for answers. "What do I do..."

In the mirror, the Witch brought a long scabby finger to her chin and frowned thoughtfully, mulling over her options. Nearby the Dark Followers were done shaking off their fall and staring at the Witch talking to Joe in the mirror in open mouthed shock. Thibault drifted his eyes away from the mirror to the kids, and noticing their expression he decided to comment.

"What? After all the crazy stuff you've just seen Joe and Brown do why should this surprise you?" Thibault asked them. The kids glanced at Thibault momentarily before turning back to Joe and the mirror, their expressions remaining unchanged the whole time.

The Dark Witch thought a little more, and a disturbingly pleasant smile crept up her face as she came up with a most diabolical plan.

"It's clear to me that a physical assault against Charlie Brown would be taking a magor risk" The Witch commented, her grin growing wider as she continued "So... maybe we ought to try a mental assault..."

Joe stared questionably at the Witch's reflection. The Guardian of Darkness nodded her head.

"Lean in a bit closer Joe. I've got another move I'd like to quickly teach you"

Back with Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang, Snoopy and Woodstock had just finished bandaging up most of Charlie Brown's wounds and Peppermint Patty and Violet were just helping him stand again. Sparky looked down protectively at the hero, then snuck a glance over at the villains on the other side of the grounds. His expression grew cold as he noticed Joe talking into the dark mirror.

"What's wrong?" Franklin asked, noticing where the spirit dog was staring.

"That mirror in Eggman's hand. It is one of the mirrors of twilight" Sparky replied, catching the attention of the others "It is one of the many mirrors my sister gave to her highest ranking followers during my last war against her before I sealed her away. She used it to communicate with people in this realm"

This news certainly perked up the Peanuts, who were frightened by the thought of Joe, Thibault and Eggman communicating with the Witch just five yards away from them. With everyone now watching anxiously as Joe spoke into the mirror of twilight, Violet asked "What do you think they're talking about?"

"That, Violet, I would very much like to know..." Sparky said gravely.

The Peanuts watched apprehensively as Joe gave the Witch in the mirror a nod and then stepped past the crowd of his unwitting followers. Tensing up and feeling more than a bit nervous after what he'd just seen, Charlie Brown steadied himself and stepped forward aswell.

"Well Charlie Brown, it's been swell, but I'm afraid our quarrel ends here!" Joe declared from further away.

"So does that mean you're giving up?!" Charlie Brown called.

"No, it means that in another few minutes you'll be pushing up daisies!" Joe shot back. Thibault and Eggman laughed sinisterly, while even the other kids looked more assured for Agate's victory. This worried Sparky and the Peanuts. Just what was Joe planning.

Standing in place, Joe made several odd movements with his hands, which vaguely resembled sign language. Joe made about a dozen of these hand signs before clapping his hands together and charging darkness in his cupped hands. Sparky's eyes widened in terror as he recognised what was happening.

"Charlie, everyone, get out of the way!" Sparky suddenly yelled. The kids looked worriedly to the spirit "I mean it, everyone take cover behind the school, out of Joe's line of fire. NOW"

"What's going on, what's he doing?" Schroeder demanded.

"NOW" Sparky repeated even more urgently. Realising the issue was not up for debate the Peanuts began frantically herding the rest of the student body towards the smoldering remains of the school so they could take cover. But Charlie Brown remained completely in place, seemingly transfixed at Joe's actions. Sparky noticed his motionlessness hallway towards the school and looked back in terror at him.

"Charlie, it is imperative that you get behind cover. Move!" Sparky commanded.

But it was already too late. Joe had finished charging up energy. A sudden gust of wind picked up, blowing in the direction towards Charlie Brown. Before the bald-looking hero's very eyes Agate's body devolved into a black mist, blown by the rapid winds towards the hero.

Finally registering what was going on, Charlie Brown set up a light shield to defend himself immediately. But the shadowy mist simply moved around the barrier and surrounded Charlie Brown. As Charlie Brown dispersed his shield he found his entire body enshrouded in the thick smoke.

The Peanuts watched gasping in horror as the dark mist circled their friend. Charlie Brown tried shaking the smoke away, but it was no use. Things only got creepier as the most slowly seeped in through Charlie Brown's skin, being absorbed completely into his body.

For a moment after the mist sank in Charlie Brown just stood there, staring blankly into space. Then he clutched his head and screamed out in agony. His friends caught a brief glimpse of his eyes flashing yellow before they sealed completely, and Charlie Brown fell backwards onto the floor, unconscious.

For a moment the Peanuts simply watched on in horror at their fallen friend. Then all at once they ran to his side. Linus immediately kneeled down and checked for a pulse.

"I think he's still alive... but... oh God, what just happened there?" Linus couldn't comprehend just what was happening here. The Peanuts looked down in shock and worry as Sparky drifted forward to explain.

"This is one of my sister's most despicable techniques. What's basically happened is that Joe has entered Charlie Brown's mind, no doubt in an effort to crush his subconscious mind. The end results would be worse than murder" The kids' eyes widened in horror at these words from the spirit. They all looked down desparetely at their friend, too frightened for words.

An uncharacteristic look of rage on his face, Sparky turned his head in the direction of the Dark Followers. Thibault was laughing maniacally at these new developments, and Eggman was still holding the mirror of twilight in his hand. With a growl, Sparky sped forward towards the oval scientist.

"Sister, what have you done?" Sparky growled at the mirror, not even acknowledging the presence of anyone else.

"Nice to see you again too, brother" The Witch's reflection replied nonchelantly. Sparky's eyes narrowed.

"I am in no mood for plesentries, sister. What were you thinking, teaching Joe to use that forbidden technique?" Sparky demanded furiously.

"Um, I was thinking I wanted my dark warrior to win, duh?" The Witch replied calmly "I don't know if you've forgotten, but we're at war. I'm not concerned with playing fair, I just want your little Guardian buddy over there dead. Of course I'll need to seal away his power before killing him, but still, having his mind shattered seems like such a good way to assure my victory"

"This is wrong sister, this is sick and wrong" Sparky scolded his sister's image. The Witch frowned at him.

"Look, I know what's on your mind, and I want you to give it up already. I am no longer a submissive errand-girl for the Ancients, now I am fighting for the betterment of the universe. I believe in everything I am doing. If you think you can inspire shame in me by saying it's wrong to do what is natural and eliminate the forces trying to stop me, then I should tell you to give up, it won't work. For your sakes stop thinking you can talk me out of being "Evil" As you call it, it's not going to work" The Witch put it plainly to her deceased brother. Sparky's frown lessened from an angry frown to a sad one.

"I agree. I wish I could convince you, but I know from all my experiences with you I can't. I had just thought you would have more honour than to subject a thirteen year old boy to such gratuitous mind-rape" Sparky clarified his point. Without a single glance to Eggman, Thibault or any of the Dark Followers watching him Sparky began to float off. He stopped momentarily, without turning around, to add just one more thing "If you truly believed in freedom, then you wouldn't have ever allowed yourself to sink to this level. If you truly cared about anyone, you wouldn't torture and ruthlessly murder those who simply wanted to do the right thing"

From within the mirror The Witch glared at her brother, seemingly offended by what he was saying. Sparky floated back to where Charlie Brown had fallen, the Peanuts turning to him for guideance.

"Ok, now that I have vented my anger we must hurry to the task at hand" Spary said while lowering himself down over Charlie Brown.

"And that task is...?" Sally asked expectantly.

"Saving Charlie Brown before Joe shatters his mind" Sparky replied. The gang looked on in uncertainty as Sparky summoned his little remaining power and turned his hands solid. Gripping Charlie Brown's hand with his left, Sparky also held his right hand out towards Franklin.

"Take my hand. If my hunch is correct, I'm going to need all of your help if we're going to get Charlie Brown to pull through this"

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Tiger Lover 16: Wow. I'll admit, this chapter and the previous took forever to write, but in the end I think it was all worth it. I've got a lot of part two written, but it might still take me a while to finish it off, knowing me. I hope you all loved this as much as I loved writing it, though I worry some parts may have dragged on a bit this was still my favourite chapter so far, and it makes this my favourite story to write for so far. Like I said, I originally meant for the battle between Charlie Brown and Joe to be one chapter, but because this is all turning out so long I cut it in half for convenience, and I think this makes a good cliffhanger if I do say so myself. I'll get part two up as soon as I can. Also, I've decided I will indeed wait until next chapter to release the final list of series that will be used in future chapters of this story, mostly because one day wasn't enough to get people's final opinions. Anyway, there's a lot I would like to say, but never mind. If you have any questions please leave them in your reviews and I'll answer them as soon as I can.