Author's Notes: Alright, as promised, the finale for Foster's fate has arrived at last! Wow, I think this is one of my longest chapters yet. In fact, after checking all of my data, this is the very longest chapter I have written in the Edventure series thusfar. Maybe this is what you all have expected? Maybe not? And of course, I have added my own twists in this one too. Not as big as some other twists, but pretty decent, I believe. Enjoy, all.

Chapter 18: Final Masquerade

"Oops…" Eddy said, realizing he had just revealed Masque.

"…ok, you has best explain yourself." Double D said

"Haven't I explained enough?" Masque asked in his newly sinister voice.

Double D regained his focus and poised in a fighting position. "You're not in the position to-"

"Save it." Masque said. "Alright, if you must know. No, I'm not Mac's father. I am, however, related to his family."

Double D needed more answers. "But-"

"Enough of this useless drivel! I have to keep my promise and destroy this place! I don't care what it takes."

Frankie rose a fist. "Look, pal, I know I said I was going to be friends with you before, but you're clearly not the same guy I met years before. I'm not your friend."

Masque gave back an evil face. "I've had it with you!"

He rose a fist toward her. From his dark sleeve came a long, scaled hand. Double D watched as it stretched outward, growing loner and longer. It reached Frankie, and with it's claws, grabbed her hair. She gave a shout of pain.

"Hey, let go!" She called out.

"That's our cue!" Wilt shouted.

Inside of the room, the door burst open. Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco all rushed in. All three of them grabbed Frankie, trying to pry her free.

However, Masque had them all stuck, and with barely any effort.

"This charade is over." Masque said. "You want to see my true form? Are you really ready for it? Can you handle it?"

"You don't know what I can handle." Double D said.

"Heh… you asked for it." Masque said. He reached downward with his free hand. At his feet was the suitcase he had made Terrance bring before.

"So that's the suitcase that Bloo mentioned earlier?" Double D thought.

Masque took the case, and clicked open it's locks, one by one. Then, with a prompt kick, the case burst open violently, skidding a few feet from it's spot. The menacing mysterious man walked toward the case, his arm that help Frankie outstretched further to make sure Frankie wasn't going anywhere. With his free claw, he pointed at the open case.

"Pathi-Flare." he muttered.

What appeared to be parchment flew out of the case. As soon as it did, the case shot backwards like a rocket, breaking apart as it flew. The debris of the case itself fell a few yards away, shattering like glass on the pavement.

The parchment that flew out landed right in his arm. Double D was astonished by what he saw written on it. A series of musical notes where printed on the sheet, but nothing else.

"What is that?" Double D asked. "Sheet music?"

Masque placed his free hand over the sheet. The small musical notes began to glow a brighter green.

The next thing anyone knew, everything about Masque's appearance was changing. His height was becoming larger and larger. As he grew, he dragged Frankie out of the window, who had taken Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco with her. All four of them were all screaming loudly, but Double D wasn't even able to open his mouth, too much in shock.

"This is my true form." Masque said as he grew taller, his voice had become louder. As he grew in height, the skies above seemed to be reacting. Clouds nearby had started to turn from their dawn-styled pink to a darkened , near flaming red. The light blue sky had begun to darken further, as if it were becoming night again, but only over the house. The wind picked up a big, invisibly making laps around the tall house.

All of the while, the monstrous entity grew taller and taller. His eyes became more piercing, fangs growing longer, claws sharper. "This is the… way I… was originally created." Masque spoke, with a suddenly strange pause between his words. He began to groan as he grew taller, his once quiet voice now booming.

"Created?" Double D thought. "Wait! That's it! He wasn't born, he was created! Of course, he was an imaginary being, brought to life by someone in Mac's family!"

"I'll… finish you… if… if…" his style of speech was altering yet again. It was oddly becoming less strong, pauses growing longer, the pitch of his voice becoming lower and lower…"

"What's happening to him?" Double D thought. He quickly glanced around, until he spotted the parchment from before, now laying on the ground. "That sheet!"

"This just in, folks! Odd clouds and weather patters spotted in a very compact area!" a TV broadcaster announced. "Researchers are on their way to the site as we speak. People are… there's a big… towering…" the announcer's voice began to be drown out by TV static.

The now awake residents of the house all went about their normal routines, completely unaware of the disaster unfolding just beyond their walls.

"That's strange, huh?" Doopliss asked.

"Yeah, lousy cable." Marie said.

"What is, deary?" Madame Foster asked, walking into the TV room. All of the heroic team who were not outside were stationed in that room, eating breakfast and watching TV.

"That is." Koops pointed toward the TV, his voice a little muffled from the cereal he was eating.

"Please chew." Koopie reminded him.

"Yes, mom." Koops sighed.

Eddy's brother was sitting in the corner of the room, reading yet another magazine. "Odd weather, so what? It's not like anything else around here is too normal."

"You have a point." Goombella said.

It was about then that the door shot open again. A rather ugly looking friend was carrying a smaller familiar figure.

"Let me go, you Picasso reject!" Ms. Mowz scowled.

"Sure, I'll let you go out the window." The ugly one replied.

"What is it now, Duchess?" Foster sighed.

"I caught this rat, trying to take away all of my gems." Duchess growled.

"I wasn't interested in your gemstones, I was just peeking around for badges. Is that so wrong?" Ms. Mowz asked.

"Badges? You thieve badges? Why couldn't I have been robbed by someone with a little more vision?" Duchess whined.

Foster was trying her best to change the subject. "Why did you have all the windows shut anyway?"

Jimmy shrugged.

"Well, for goodness sake, let's get some nice sunlight in here." she said. Madame Foster approached the window, and with a quick tug, pulled the curtains away.

Light did greet her, but not what she had expected. A sinister red glow filed the room through the window. Wind began to rush in, brushing everyone inside.

To their amazement, a huge towering entity continued to tower, passing past the window as it did. Frankie, Eduardo, Wilt, and Coco all passed by as if they were in an elevator, all screaming as they did.

"Frankie!" Madame Foster shouted in distress.

"And those three other guys." Goombirro added.

"What the heck is going on!" Jimmy asked.

Rolf growled. "Witch-woman Beldam must have found us."

"We can't assume anything yet." Eddy's brother said. "Calm down!"

"Brother, what is this?" Petuni asked her equally confused brother.

Another figure rose past the window, a glaring yellow eye. It gave a piercing glance as it passed them by.

"I'll let you all handle this." Duchess said, before making her quick and panicked exit out of the room.

"My granddaughter is out there!" Foster shouted, as she began to realize the situation.

"Attention." TEC stated in his monotone voice. The odd red light was reflecting off his glasses. "Double D, Eddy, Vivian, Eduardo jr, Mac, and Bloo are all absent. Perhaps they are all outside as well?"

Eddy's brother got up. "If that's the case, we better get out there ASAP!"

Eddy fell to the floor as the beast rose taller then the roof itself. He began to crawl backwards as he watched in fear. At this point, his glaring yellow eyes were enormous, perhaps as round as satellite dishes. It's mouth was huge as well, perhaps large enough to fit a fair chunk of the house in, the fangs tall as a single story house.

"Geez Louise!" he shouted.

"DUDE!" Bloo shouted. "What's with this weather!"

"What?" Mac shouted over the wind.

"LOOK!" Bloo shouted, pointing into the sky.

Mac slowly looked up, peering into the now night-starry sky with red clouds.

"But… but, what…" Mac asked, flabbergasted.

"What?" Bloo asked.

To their astonishment, something began to tower over the house from the other side. They were greeted by a dark, ominous serpent face, which rose higher and higher into the sky.

"…oh my…" Mac gasped.

It seemed even the cannonball monster was afraid, because it stopped fighting.

Double D stood at the center, but bottom of the action, peering back up the ominous, demonic figure.

"…I'll… destroy… …. Ttthhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssss….. This…… …hissssssssss…." at this point, the tall figure was only babbling.

"He's become so powerful!" Double D shouted. "…this being… he's become so powerful…"

"…destroy…." it babbled again.

"All of it's power seems to have a horrible side effect on his brain. I can't even tell if he's conscious anymore." Double D said.

It was about then that the sock-hat finally came to the realization of the seriousness of the situation. "He's going to tear down the house! No, he's going to destroy everything in the area!"

Double D placed both of his hands together, forming energy at his fingertips. Then, positioning them strait down, he cast his next spell:

"Levi-flare!"

Instantly, his entire body began to glow, and he lifted off the ground. Raising higher and higher into the air, he took off.

The unconscious demon began to stomp around aimlessly. "…destroy…" he called out.

"Don't even thing about it!" Frankie called out, as she and the other three captives remained helplessly trapped in it's claw.

Masque began to walk back and forth, stumbling around the house that is was currently twice as tall as.

As it stumbled, it waked over the site where his cannonball monster minion was stationed.

Mac and Bloo watched in shock as the beast stepped right on the cannonball monster. The monster let out a screech, as it flew away, dropping Goo in the process. Mac gave a worried shout and rushed away from Bloo, headed right toward her landing site. He held out both of his arm, poised to stop her fall.

Goo, who was still out cold, finally came to a stop when she landed in Mac's arms.

"Whew…" Mac sighed. "That was close."

"Ok, ok, so there's another enemy down." Bloo said. "But what about that guy?" he asked, gesturing to the towering figure over the house.

Mac looked back up again, shaking a bit in fear. "…what is that?"

"I'm thinking another baddie Masque brought." Bloo said.

"Actually, I'm thinking that is Masque." Mac commented, setting Goo down on the ground gently.

"Man, what has he been eating?" Bloo asked.

"Bloo, this isn't the time for jokes!" Mac shouted.

There was a sudden sound of grass being brushed aside by something. Mac and Bloo looked behind them and spotted a raggedy, battle-scarred Herriman crawling forth from some nearby brush.

"Mr. Herriman!" Mac shouted.

"Mac, dear gracious… I was taken into the woods last night… oh, the horror." he exclaimed.

"Lemme guess." Bloo said. "Masque and Terrance?"

"Yes, master Blooregard." Herriman said. "…and… he is here."

"Yeah, he is." Mac said

Herriman gasped, slowly raising his quivering right arm up into the sky, pointing at Masque's huge form. "There he is."

"So that thing is Masque." Mac said. "How did he do that to himself?"

"…the object… in the suitcase did it." Herriman said.

"Object?" Mac asked.

To their surprise, Double D flew into the area. Mac, Bloo, and Herriman all gasped.

"Double D!" Mac shouted. "What happened?"

"I can't defeat him alone." Double D said. "I need some help."

Mac and Bloo glanced at each other.

"What are we supposed to do?" Bloo asked.

"Come with me." Double D stated. "Please."

"How?" Mac asked. "We can't use powers like yours."

"I can lift you both into the air with them." Double D said. "We have to stop him before he does any more damage!"

"He's right." Mac said. "C'mon, Bloo!"

"Are you nuts?" Bloo asked. "The three of us are supposed to stop that big guy?"

"We gotta do it, Bloo!" Mac shouted.

"Alright, alright." Bloo said in defeat.

Herriman looked a bit opposed to the idea. "But sirs-"

"Please look over Goo until we stop this guy!" Mac shouted.

With that, Double D pointed both his arms at Mac and Bloo.

"Levi-Flare!"

Both of them began to glow, responding with a few gasps as they watched.

Double D lifted into the air. Both Bloo and Mac lifted off in the air after him automatically, which made them both shout. Before Herriman could utter a word, all three of them shot up into the air, headed strait upwards.

Eddy could only stare while he watched on the rooftop. Masque's enormous figure was poised right over the house itself. It's large head peered back down at Eddy. It's captive's screams were barely audible over the winds, who's speeds were close to 30 miles per hour. He could, however, hear Masque's booming voice growling as he peered at Eddy.

"Uh… no, I'm not edible." Eddy said. 'Trust me, you'll find much tastier guys out there then me."

Masque only starred back for a few moments. Then, it's eyes narrowed, and it's huge mouth began to open. As it did, it let out a loud screech.

Eddy groaned and covered his ears. That didn't help muffle out the scream too well. Eddy was sent backward by the deafening sound wave.

To surprise him yet again, he felt something break his fall. It felt as though someone has poised underneath him, catching him in it's arms.

The screeching, by then, had faded away. Eddy looked around, expecting to see the person who had saved him. However, there was nothing to be seen. Eddy groaned and looked at the floor underneath him. He saw his own shadow, and below it, could see the shadow of another person, holding on to him.

"Uh… Jib?" he asked.

Before he could look at the shadow some more, a much larger one cast over him, blocking out any light.

Eddy looked back up again and spotted a claw flying toward him. Eddy's eyes widened, as he let out a scream of shock.

"Levi-Flare!"

Again, to Eddy's surprise, he was suddenly thrust into the air, flying away from the roof, just in time to miss the claw strike.

"Gotcha just in time!" Bloo said.

Eddy watched as he flew in the sky, accompanied by Double D, Mac, and Bloo, all of whom were glowing.

"Guys, what the heck is going on?" Eddy asked.

"Ok, in a summary." Double D stated: "Masque is actually an imaginary friend, created by someone in Mac's Family (Mac and Bloo's eyes widened at that point), and he used a parchment with some musical symbols on it, and then he grew into this giant leviathan. It seems his power is enormous, so much so that it's effecting the climate."

"Created by someone in my family?" Mac asked. "I didn't create him."

"And Terrance is too stupid to have made him, and your mom doesn't like imaginary friends." Bloo said.

"But that would mean… my dad made him." Mac said, coming to the realization.

"I see, now everything fits into place." Double D said.

As they flew closer to Masque's face, they could hear him moaning. "…destroy…"

"Why's he talkin' like that?" Eddy asked.

"I think he's grown so powerful, that it's starting to take over his mind." Double D said. "I'm almost positive that he's not even conscious about what he's doing any more."

"So he's a great big idiot?" Bloo asked.

"Um… more or less?" Double D shrugged.

They reached closer and closer to the giant entity.

"Ok, let's split up here!" Double D shouted.

"Gotcha!" Eddy shouted back.

All 4 of them split directions, each headed toward a different point of Masque's tall figure.

Bloo flew right toward the monster's arm, where it held Frankie and the others.

"Bloo?" Frankie asked.

"Azul! Ayudame!" Eduardo shouted, flailing about.

Bloo looked back and forth, with his teeth chattering. "Uh, I'll get you guys out of there!"

Bloo hovered overhead, taking a good look at the monster's claw.

"Ok, piece of cake." he said.

He hovered a few feet away from the claw, to the dismay of it's captives.

"Bloo, please come back!" Wilt shouted.

"Cococo!"

Bloo held his fists at his sides.

"Sorry, big guy, but this is what happens when you mess with the blue guy!" Bloo shouted.

He shot forth, flinging himself at the monster's wrists. He collided with the top of the wrists, hitting it's bone.

Masque let out a small groan. As he did, the claw shook, sending all of it's occupants flying out from it's clutches.

"Uh oh!" Bloo shouted. He heard them all screaming as they began their long decent to the ground below.

Bloo rushed after them, dive-bombing toward the ground as he did. He passed by the others as he descended, and came to a stop beneath them.

Frankie fell on Bloo first, which Bloo was able to support.

"Ow…?" Frankie asked.

"Could you try thanking me?" Bloo replied.

Suddenly, he felt another jolt. Coco landed on him too.

"Oof!" Frankie reacted.

"Coco…" Coco replied, as if to say sorry.

And then again, another jolt. This time, Bloo replied in pain, as he descended a few feet. Wilt has landed on them, causing Frankie and Coco to make a few shouts of surprise.

"Ow…" Wilt sighed. "Sorry guys."

"….aaaaaAAAA!"

They all looked up to spot Eduardo's huge figure falling toward them.

"Oh NO!" Bloo shouted.

Eduardo crashed on him, and with that, Bloo was no longer able to fly. All 5 of them fell, screaming for only a few seconds, before landing in some trees.

Double D suddenly shouted and doubled over in pain, still flying nearby Eddy and Mac.

"What's wrong?" Eddy asked.

"Oh…" Double D groaned. "…when I was levitating him… I felt the same as he did. We had become connected for a few instances… I think I have lost my connection with him now… her must have fallen."

"No!" Mac shouted. He hovered toward Double D. "Is he alright?"

"Yes… and the others are too… I know it… I knew he was still alive when I lost my connection."

"Oh…." Bloo moaned, joined by the moaning of the others. "…ow."

As he slowly got back upright, he spotted Herriman approaching them, with a staggering Goo aside him. By the looks of her walking, she only seemed half-awake.

"…what happened?" Bloo asked.

"Your selfless act saved Frankie, Wilt, Coco, and Eduardo…" Herriman said. "That's a first…"

"Meh…" Bloo sighed. "Did you see that? I got to fly! How awesome was that?"

"It was pretty cool." Wilt said.

"Si!" Eduardo chimed in.

"You did great." Frankie said. "Now that Masque doesn't have me in his clutches, his plan has got to be foiled."

"…wha?" Goo asked, still out of it.

"It's no over yet." Bloo said. "Mac, and those other two kids are still up there."

Double D watched, with the others, awaiting the monster's next move. It opened it's huge mouth, and gave a loud roar. All three of them had to cover their ears from the deafening scream.

In that time, they were defenseless. It rose and flailed both of it's hands about. The three of them took the swipes head on. They didn't do enough damage to seriously hurt them, but they did the wind knocked out of them.

"Argh…" Eddy groaned. "Alright, he's asked for it!"

Eddy hovered in front of them, and held out his hands. "If we're connected, then I can borrow Double D's powers."

He poised in front of the monster's face, hands outward. "Ok, take this!"

"Fire!"

A flash of fire shot from Eddy's palms, headed right for his face. The blast struck right on target, hitting his skin, making a small explosion. To everyone's shock, that's all that happened. Masque didn't even seem phased.

"Whoa!" Eddy shouted.

"Alright, this guy's tough…" Mac said.

Eddy growled. "Alright, tough guy! You really asked for it!"

He pointed again at the monster's face.

"Eddy, it won't work!" Double D shouted.

"I just hit his skin. Everyone knows that you have to hit a weak spot, so I'm gonna aim for the eyes!" Eddy shouted.

"Fireball!"

A larger fireball shot from his index finger, flying toward Masque's right eye.

The fireball struck Masque's eye, right in his pupil.

"Alright, I got him!" Eddy exclaimed.

"EDDY!" Double D shouted.

The shortest of the Eds looked forward and spotted the very same fireball, which had bounced right off Masque's eye and was coming back to him.

"Oh great!" Eddy shouted.

Eddy was quickly struck by the ball of fire, sending him flying backward.

Double D cried out in pain as Eddy got struck. At the same time, the glow around Eddy vanished. With no more powers, Eddy began his free-fall toward the earth. Double D flew under Eddy to catch him. Upon doing so, Double D had to hold onto Eddy with most of his remaining strength, just to keep him from falling.

"Uh… I'm pretty exhausted." Double D stated. 'I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this."

"Double D, I have a plan!" Mac shouted.

"Yeah?" Double D replied.

"Yeah." Mac said back. "I need to use a spell though, can you handle that?"

"Yes, I can… but do hurry, I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this."

Mac nodded and flew toward Masque's face, coming to a stop right before him.

Masque seemed to react differently upon seeing Mac approaching him. The sinister expression on his face was becoming weaker.

"Mac…" he said weakly.

Mac didn't respond. He knew that the Masque they had come to know wasn't conscious at this point. He lifted both of his hands upward, toward Masque's face.

"Mac… family…" Masque went on.

The 8 year old was unshaken. His hands began to glow. He could feel as though Double D was getting weaker by the second. He knew this last attack had to be worth the shot. He began to glow brighter and brighter, even his eyes turned red.

"…father…" Masque went on. "Mac… and family… the pain…"

Mac closed his eyes a little. For some reason, he began to feel strange about Masque. It was true, he was his father Imaginary friend. Did that make him family? Mac contemplated upon it as his hands began to form sparks.

"Pain…" the mindless demon went on. "…why?"

The imaginary friend was abandoned by Mac's father, and lost his search to find friends… so he lost hope in friendship or goodness, and switched to crime. With Mac's mind linked to Double D's, the facts of Masque's identity began to pour into Mac's brain.

"Mac…" Masque said, his voice weaker then ever.

He got mad because the last one who would possibly be his friend declined his offer. So he tried to destroy the house… no doubt, currently under Beldam's influence. What was Masque's real motive?

Mac growled as his hands both lit on magical fire.

"…why?" Masque asked weakly.

Mac did remember that the Masque that he met before was already gone, replaced by this mindless demon. He had a job to finish.

"Incinerate!" Mac called out.

A huge last of fire shot from both of his hands. Mac and Double D both were losing energy fast as the attack raced toward Masque's face.

In a last moment of silence, Masque and Mac both uttered: "…why?"

The silence was broken by a sudden burst of light and explosion noise. This attack had definitely done the trick. The explosion engulfed Masque's head, as the rest of his body went stiff. After a while, the demon's entire body turned to a white glow as the explosion faded. It had a very bright glow, illuminating the area for miles on end.

"Whoa…" Bloo gasped, as he, Wilt, Eduardo, Coco, Herriman, and Goo all watched in awe. Frankie merely whimpered and turned the other way.

All of the other heroes (joined by Vivian and Eduardo jr) had made it outside of the house, along with Madame Foster, to watch the glowing demon from the front yard. They all watched in surprise. None of them were able to say anything, though Madame Foster had buried her head in her hands.

The figure of Masque slowly began to fade. As the glowing slowly ended, Masque began to vanish into the air. He stood completely still as he did, until his entire figure disintegrated into the air.

Double D was no longer able to keep his powers stable by that point. With a final grunt, he and Mac stopped glowing. With no more power to support them, Double D, Eddy, and Mac began their free fall toward the earth…

Only to fall into friends' arms.

Double D landed in Wilt's hand. He was safely caught, and still conscious. "…thanks…"

Eddy, on another note, was out cold, caught by Eduardo.

Mac also was caught, this time by Goo. She looked back down at him and saw he was also knocked out by the blast. He noticed a small tear on his eye.

"Is he crying?" Goo asked.

They were greeted with sunlight about then. The red clouds faded back to their late-date colors, as the skies lightened up to their bright, crystal blue color. The winds died down as well, harsh gales becoming a cooling spring breeze in only a few seconds.

Double D was breathing heavily. He was shaken up, but clearly alive. "…is it finally over?"

Frankie, who was still facing the other way, nodded. He opened her eyes and looked down. At her feet, lay the remains of a burnt old mask, all that was left of the once powerful power-replicator. It lay peacefully in the grass as grass, along with a small red flower brushed gently against it.

Double D walked on the ground now, slowly and weakly, though. He proceeded to walk away from the others, and back toward the house. He peered back up to where the towering fiend once stood, replaced by a shining clear sky, with birds safely flying through it.

As he got closer to the doors, he spotted the small parchment that was left to lay on the ground from before. It was the same one that had given Masque his demon form. He was afraid to touch it, but he only looked at it. There was no words on it, but instead, musical notes, written simplistically.

"…what is this thing?" he asked. "Did Beldam give this to him?"

Double D growled and closed his eyes. "That witch… if she never met Masque this entire thing may not have had to happen. Just another wicked thing to add to her evil deeds."

He peered back up into the sky again. "This piece of the adventure may have come to a close, but this is only the first of 7 stars… who knows what else Beldam may have planned…"

Double D knew then and there that she had to be stopped. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to have something like this ever happen again.

Author's Notes: Thus ends the first arc of the story. Took a bit longer then I thought it was going to take, but I think it worked out fine. Yes, I did go for a semi-dramatic thing. Sorry if that didn't answer every question about the very cryptic Masque character, but not too much more is going to be revealed about him beyond this point.

So then, the next chapter will be a bit different, I'll have yet another surprise in store. Not as big as this one, but hopefully big enough to satisfy you all. I hope this chapter was good enough. I'll try to write the next one as soon as possible. Just to let you all know again, the next story arc will include another crossover. I'm not saying which one it is, I'll surprise you then too. In the meantime, please review.