Okay, everybody! Time to start lookin' for Dillon! Here we go!
Chapter 3: The Search For Dillon
Downtown Quahog
Night had fallen over Quahog. Snow was falling fast from the cloudy sky. Nolan York and Crystal Wickens stood perched (sat in Nolan's case) atop the town buildings. Yuki Crystal arrived shortly after, and all dressed in their superhero outfits. "Ahhh, another day, another bank-rob." Wiccan joked.
"At least it's snowy out." Yuki noted. "Wouldn't mind any cold."
"Well, things seem pretty normal so far." Nolan observed. "Maybe I can actually get home regular dinner ti- wait a second." Something down the street caught Nolan's eye. He pulled out binoculars and looked closer. "Vanellope? ?"
The Program child was currently walking down the street, yelling, "DILLOOON? DIIILLOOOON?" The girl turned in to an alleyway, examining the dark shadows. "You in there? Dillon? Don't try and scare me now! You- WHOOOAAA!" She was immediately yanked up by a metallic hook.
Sandman hauled Vanellope onto the roof with them, and she screamed, "AAAAAHH ALIEN INVADERS PLEASE DON'T ABDUCT ME-"
Nolan slapped his gloved hand over her mouth. "Vanellope, it's us." He pulled his mask off, and Yuki and Crystal did the same.
"Mr. York? ! YOU guys are the aliens? !"
"What the- Nooooo! Vanel, I asked you to get Dillon an HOUR ago, what're you still doing out? ?"
"I can't find Dillon anywhere! And Kaleo's gone, too!"
"You can't?"
"Maybe he's at the Murphys' house." Crystal figured. "Wouldn't hurt to swing by, right?"
"Alright, let's drop by real quick, just in case." Nolan decided. He held Vanellope as he swung away with his grapple hook.
Nolan's neighborhood
The four hurriedly returned to the neighborhood, but right away, they found Doug and Gwen Murphy talking to Danika in her doorway. "Huh? What're they doing?" Nolan questioned.
The group hurried over as Danika noticed and waved at them. "Hey, guys! Zach and Maddy aren't at their house." She called. "Are they with Dillon and Kaleo?"
"Vanellope said she couldn't find them." Yuki responded.
"I keep telling you guys, the ALIENS are abducting them!" Vanellope yelled.
"ALIENS?!" Leopold stuck his head out the door in a frantic fashion. "THE ALIENS ARE COMING! ! AAAAH!-"
"SHUT UP, Leo!" Danika smacked him. "It's not like aliens are new to us. Siiigh… alright, where were they last hanging out?"
"Hey, guys?" Katie then walked out, holding a phone. "Not to interrupt, but Yin called and said Haruka came over here. She wants to know if she's staying the night?"
"Uhhhh…" Danika was contemplating what answer to give Yin. She knew how Yin got. "Tell her 'Yeah', she's staying over to, um, practice bending with Kaleo."
"Okay, but um… she kinda heard you before."
"WHERE'S MY BABY GIRL?!" the group winced at Yin's shout. "IS SHE OKAY?! If my daughter is in the hospital, I am docking SERIOUS pay out of you, Nolan York! ! DOOOCKIIIIIII-"
Katie pressed the 'hang-up'. "We'll call her back."
"Siiigh, hokay, we better find those kids fast." Danika suggested.
"You know, I think something like this happened before." Gwen said, her head down in thought.
"Ohhhh that's right!" Danika beamed with remembrance. "It was at least 15 years ago… Wally lost his brother."
"Joey Beatles mysteriously went missing." Nolan remembered as well. "The police gave up searching… they even got GUN to help, but they presumed him dead."
"I don't believe that." Danika replied.
"Regardless, this is the same matter all over again." Nolan deduced. "I didn't want to make it my problem… but since they've come to our town, it's personal. Danika, take Vanellope to bed. We'll be right back."
"Hey, why can't I come? ?" Vanellope yelled as the three heroes headed for the garage.
"Sorry, Vanel, but this might not be your usual Kids Next Door business."
"Uh, helLOOOO? There are KIDS going missing!"
"Just… stay safe. Okay?"
"Mmm-mmmmm." Vanellope frowned grumpily as Dani led her inside.
"So, what's your plan, anyway?" Crystal asked as they entered the garage.
"You'll see." Nolan assured.
Sand Cave
Nolan led them into a secret, underground cave beneath his house, where the lights flashed on and shone on a rotating, shiny, sand-colored vehicle. "Me and Wesley had this cave installed before he passed." Nolan explained. "This was his old car. The-"
"PLEASE don't say Sandmobile." Yuki eye-rolled.
"N…No!" Nolan denied.
"Then what's it called?" Crystal smirked.
"…It's the… uhhhh-" Her witty eyes bore into his skull, her arms folded, "FINE, it's the Sandmobile! Sigh, just get in."
DANANANA! A 'Sandman' icon popped up from a spiraling background.
Dana-nana-nana-nana, dana-nana-nana-nana SANDMAAAN!
As a simple car was driving down the neighborhood road, part of the road suddenly popped up and knocked it back, and the Sandmobile sped out and shot down the road. "SORRYYYYY!" Nolan called to the driver.
Over the sea
The Sandmobile was conveniently equipped with wings, and was currently flying over the sea at high speed. "You STILL haven't told us where we're GOING." Crystal shouted.
"We're going to Water 7." Nolan responded. "Danika said that was where they last struck. Maybe we can find some clues."
"Yet, we COULDN'T search around your own town first." Yuki said, annoyed.
"The report says that more children were taken, and it's a relatively small town, so it should be easier to search for clues."
"Oooh, Water Seven!" Crystal perked up. "I've always wanted to see the giant fountain they have there! It's so…"
"Fascinating?" Yuki cocked a brow.
"Exactly!"
"Well, we don't have time to admire architecture." Nolan reminded. "We need to find some lead on who took the children. Let's go."
Unknown Laboratory
When the kids finally stepped off the ship, they found their selves in a long, damp, vacant hallway. "Move along, now." The suited men instructed. The five complied and walked the very long journey across the hall.
"Whaddyou think this is?" Haruka asked.
"This reminds me of Brain Zombies 2," Zach began, "when the aliens took the kids to the laboratory to have their brains extracted for coal-mining knowledge, and they were given to the zombies to help mine Xenon for its sugarcane, and-"
"Have you been talking to Mr. Ed again?" Maddy asked.
"What? He's cool!"
"Yeah, if you like green cheese." Dillon snickered.
"I LIKE GREEN CHEESE! !" Kaleo screamed.
Dillon winced. "Um… that's nice."
The five were eventually led to a laboratory, where a green-haired woman, with bird wings and bird legs, turned and smiled at them, pulling off yellow goggles. "Awww, look, they're here! Come on down, Master!"
They looked to a door on the left side, hearing footsteps as someone walked down the dark stairway. To their surprise, it was a black-haired man with white skin and goat horns, a huge, wavy pink coat over his form as he bore a wide, trusting grin. "Kiiiids! Helloooo!" He threw his arms out.
"Who're you?" Maddy asked, creeped out.
"Why, this is Master Caesar!" the bird woman introduced. "You stand before the greatest scientific genius in the world."
"I thought EGGMAN was the greatest scientific genius?" Dillon questioned.
"Nnn! THAT guy was an amateur! !" Caesar argued. "I am the greatest genius in the world! For YEARS I've studied the causes and functions of human and alien genetics! Using my supreme poisonbending, I've delved DEEP into the research of mortal sicknesses, and seen UP CLOSE how it WORKS!"
"You're a… poisonbender?" Haruka asked.
"Nnnn that's right!" Caesar demonstrated, forming a gas cloud in his hand. "I have spent YEARS developing the art in unforeseen ways! …And that is why… it is my displeasure to tell you…" Caesar walked forward and knelt down, his mouth forming a frown. "Children… you have caught a TERRIBLE disease. A disease that is slowly sweeping many children across the cosmos. I was able to develop my poisonbending enough to be able to SENSE which children had it. And so, I sent my men to go about and bring them to me. But to keep from alarming any of the nearby townspeople, I had you all taken away in private. Your parents shan't be alarmed! No matter how long it takes, I will keep treating you until I can HEAL this disease!" He grinned with assurance.
"Now, if you all would be so kind, we need a blood sample from each of you!" Monet smiled trustingly, holding up a syringe. She went to Maddy first, bending over and taking her hand in her bird wing. "And what's your name, sweetheart?"
"Hey, feathers off!" Maddy yelled, whipping her hand back. "If anything, I've caught the metacooties."
"Hm hm hm!" Monet laughed warmingly. "You needn't fear from that!" With that, she stuck the syringe in and extracted blood from Maddy's hand.
Caesar knelt by Dillon with his own syringe. "And who are YOU, young man?" he grinned.
"Dillon York! This is my shadow, Mario!" Dillon's shadow waved.
"Oooh, a shadowbender!" Caesar perked, extracting Dillon's blood. "And what a FASCINATING name! You come from New York?"
"Heh heh, no!" Dillon smiled. "Quahog!"
"OOOOH, Quahoooog! Cleveland break any good bathtubs lately?" he winked.
"Ha ha!"
Monet then went to collected blood from Kaleo. "And who are YOU, little cutie?"
"Are you going to digest my brain for coal? ?" Kaleo exclaimed.
"Trust me, YOU wouldn't WANNA eat his brain." Maddy remarked.
Finally, Caesar went to get blood from Haruka. "And who are YOU… Dearie?" he grinned.
"My name's Haruka Dimalanta! I'm a poisonbender, too!"
Caesar's smile vanished, hearing that name. "Ehhh… Dimalanta?"
"Y-Yeah!... Is there a problem?"
"Just making sure I heard it right!" he grinned, patting her head.
"Great. So what'd you need the blood samples for?" Maddy asked.
"Each person receives the disease in different ways." Caesar explained. "This usually results in a variety of genetic codes, which all need to be treated in a particular way! It usually requires more than one sample over time, but a cure should come underway before long! In the meantime… here's some candy for being SOOO cooperative!" he grinned wider as he held up five pieces of butterscotch.
"Oooh, candy!" Haruka exclaimed as she took a piece. Kaleo swiped his and immediately began chewing on it, as did Zach. Maddy, having no trust for this man, merely stashed her candy up her sleeve for now. Haruka didn't eat hers either, wanting to save it for Lee.
"Now, come along and we'll show you to the playroom!" Caesar beamed.
"Follow me, kids!" With that, the gassy man led them down the hall.
Soon, they arrived at the huge, colorful playroom, and were surprised at how many kids were there as well. The walls around the playroom were painted like a bright-blue sky with many white clouds. "HELLO, everyone! We got five more playmates just READY to have fun!" Caesar exclaimed.
"HI, NEW KIDS!" the children exclaimed.
"Well, isn't this the carnival of freaks…" Maddy remarked quietly, taken aback by the variety of kids. There were giant kids, Merpeople, Nimbi, Minish, Kateenians… And a majority of them were wearing white shirts, white shorts, and plain white shoes.
"Hey, wanna have a ROOTBEER contest? ?" a Kateenian asked.
"Okay!" Kaleo exclaimed, hurrying over.
"Hey, who wants to play Sooper Dodgeball?" a giant boy asked, holding up a giant red rubber ball.
"Oooh, this I gotta see!" Zach perked, hurrying over as the giants ran to the other end, creating quakes with each stomp.
"Well, may as well get settled in." Dillon said to Maddy as they walked forward.
"Hey, look, a bunny!" one of the giant boys exclaimed as some kids gathered around a blue and yellow rabbit.
"Gyom, gyooom?..." the rabbit looked confused.
"Nnn? When did we get a bunny?" Caesar asked.
"I think he showed up when we brought the haul of Water 7 kids." Monet answered. "I asked them, but they said it wasn't theirs."
"Hmmmm… how interesting." Caesar rubbed his chin in thought, then sported his grin. "Send another shipment out to look for more kids! Perhaps I can find a-" They turned around to leave, but stopped when Haruka appeared in their way, a bright smile on her face.
"Hey, Mr. Caesar! I don't mean to trouble you, but, you see, I'm kind of in the medical field myself, and, well, I was wondering if I could help you with your research, and exchange ideas! I'd love to develop my poisonbending skills further, too!"
"Shurororo!" Caesar laughed jauntily, patting Haruka's head. "I'd love to, my darling! But I'm afraid finding a cure is MUCH too complicated! I need to devote all the time that I can! You understand, right?"
"Um… I guess." Haruka looked disappointed.
"Great! Well, I'll see you later!" he waved as they walked out. "And don't forget to Smile!" he grinned widely as they shut the door.
"Hm…" Haruka looked toward the playroom, smiling humorously. "Who is he, Sheila?..."
While Dillon was off playing with some of the gargoyles, Maddy was simply walking toward the left wall of the room. "Hey!" she looked up when a giant girl smiled down at her, standing behind a slide on Maddy's right. The girl had messy, bushy black hair, and grayish-purple eyes. "My name's Mocha! What's your name?"
"Maddy… you want something?" she asked rudely.
"Me and the girls were gonna braid hair! Wanna join us?"
"No thanks…" Mocha frowned as Maddy went to sit with her back against the sky-blue wall. "I'd rather just wait until Caesar says I can leave. Since I try not to ASSOCIATE with those people, I shouldn't be long."
"…" Mocha looked confused. "Okay… but feel free to come if you change your mind." With that, the giant walked away.
Maddy proceeded to lie down in attempt to fall asleep. From behind the slide, the blue rabbit stared at her confused. "Gyom-gyooom…"
Water 7 (Play "Refusal Will Not Be Tolerated" from Batman: Arkham City.)
The night sky was cloudy and snowy over Water 7 as Sandman, Coldman, and Wiccan finally arrived. They dropped from their Sandmobile and took land on one of the many rooftops. "Hmmm… town's a little bigger than I thought." Nolan observed.
"My, but just look at that fountain." Crystal said, her purple eyes fixated on the tremendous mountain that sat in the city's center. "…And look!" she noticed the humongous treehouse towering over the fountain. "A Kids Next Door is here, too!"
"Alright, guys, split up and look for clues." Nolan ordered. "And Yuki… try not to fall in any rivers."
"Siiigh." The icebender sighed.
With that, Crystal flew off using her staff and Yuki flew using an ice path. Nolan activated a glider in his wheelchair and began to fly across the rooftops (he would like anyone to keep any comments about ripping off Batman to themselves ;) ).
As Nolan soared across this region of the city, he had to admit it had a nice atmosphere. The roaring waterfalls from the giant fountain echoed across the town, easing their minds. Nolan had activated special goggles built into his mask, and was using Detective Vision to skim the town. The people and Yagaras were represented as blue skeletons; it got rather confusing since there were so many. Other objects of significance were represented as orange.
Nolan's search found nothing so far, until his Detective Vision detected rapid soundwaves coming from a few streets away, and a child's skeleton was frantically moving about the street. Nolan turned up his eavesdropper to pick up this girl's soundwaves. "Gonbe? ? Gonbe? ? Gonbe? ? Gonbe? ?"
Nolan glided over and switched off his Vision, finding a yellow-haired, pigtailed girl rapidly searching under every little box or snow pile. "Gonbe? ? Gonbe? ? Gonbe? ? Gonbe? ? UU-" Sandman suddenly dropped down and grabbed her in his arm, holding her mouth shut as he zipped back to the rooftop via grapple hook. "EEAAAAHHH! !" Chimney frantically tried to shake away. "HELP ME! ! HELP ME! ! I've been kidnapped! AAAAAHH!"
"CALM down!" Nolan demanded, forcefully setting her on her feet. "Now what were you doing out here? ?"
"OOUUUUH MR. SAND-SAAAN!" Chimney began crying, still grinning widely. "IT'S TERRIBLE! I LOST MY LITTLE NEKO-CHAAAN! GOONBEEEEEE!"
"QUIET! !" Nolan screamed, and Chimney snapped her mouth shut in a second. "Look… when was the last time you've SEEN your friend?"
"I just told him to watch the on'nanokos and he was GOOOOOOOONE." She wept more, putting an arm over her eyes.
"Maybe he was upset?"
"UPSET? !" Chimney leapt onto Nolan's lap and clutched his hood tight, glaring at his masked eyes with rage. "GONBE NEVER GETS UPSET WITH ME! ! NEEEVEEEERRR!" she shook him forcefully.
"OKAY, OKAY!" Nolan pulled her off. "Ugh… alright, I'll help you look for it. I mean, who knows, it might actually help… what kind of animal is it again?"
"He's a neko-chan, duuuuh! A cat-san!"
"Oh, a cat! Okay… that shouldn't be too hard. I'll look for any clues I find, but why don't you get home? It's getting late."
"Not until you find my neko first!"
"Siiiigh." With that, Sandman switched on his Detective Mode and started gliding across the city some more. The majority of it was pretty boring. Nothing looked too out-of-the-ordinary. Until he arrived at a vacant canal road and noticed a single object glowing blue in an alley. Sandman glided down and discovered it was a dead, rotting fish. "Whoa. This must've been here for weeks." The Sandman zoomed in and scanned the rotting animal. "Let's rewind this back to when it was, well, better."
Nolan continued to scan, and slowly, a holographic vision started to play, in reverse, in which a little rabbit was walking backward with the fish in his mouth. When the projection started playing normally, Nolan observed, "Hmmm… well, it wasn't a cat… but a rabbit caught this fish from somewhere." The holographic rabbit set the fish down and started to gnaw on it. "The fish has rabbit-like bite marks, so it would make sense. …But he stopped eating after a few seconds." The rabbit perked up and walked to his left. "Something caught his attention." He shut his Vision off. "I have to find out what."
Sandman decided to scan around the area. It wasn't long before he discovered a pair of fallen teeth in the clear spots on the ground. Nolan scanned the teeth, and another projection began to rewind. "There were a pair of kids playing a game," holographic kids were excitedly kicking a ball around, and the ball suddenly came flying at the rabbit, "but they hit the rabbit by accident." The holographic kids stood over the fallen rabbit for a while before deciding to carry it off. "They took the rabbit away… but I can't pick up where they went after that." He switched the projection off. "I wonder if those kids were the ones missing? Maybe I can find more."
Nolan decided to scan the area further. Along the sidewalk, there were tiny spots of dried blood. "Ahhha. The rabbit bled a little after it was struck. I'll follow the trail and see where they brought him." And so, Sandman began to roll along the sidewalk, following the dried blood trail. His path led him into a market street, in which he had to jump a river to follow the trail across, then through another alleyway. His trail eventually led him into a darker, more broken area of the town. He was led all the way to the end of a long alley, where the door to a building sat beside a window with a light on inside.
Nolan gently knocked on the door. A chubby woman with orange hair and a yellow tank-top; with many pink flowers, answered the door with a creepy grin. "Well, hello, theeeere! Another child ready to join my family!"
"Wh-What? ! No, I-"
"Come on in, Dearie!" the woman grabbed Nolan by the shoulder and forcefully dragged him in. "Here's your brother!"
Nolan raised a brow behind his mask. "…Yuki?"
"Yeah…" the Eskimo-themed hero sat at a table. "Kinda got pulled in when I tried to interview her."
"Boyyys, you're just in time for dinner!" the woman grinned as she stirred something in her boiling pot.
"Ugh, we don't have time for dinner!" Nolan refuted. "Look, do you have any other kids? ? Do you have a rabbit, maybe?"
"Oooh, I had kids, but they went missing after I sent them to get groceries a few weeks ago. I sent the little rabbit to go find them, but he never came back, either."
"Didn't you try to LOOK for them? ?" Yuki questioned.
"Oh, noooo! But they ALWAYS come baaack! Oooh, I hope they didn't drown…" she still kept her grin.
"…" Nolan looked disbelieved. "Well, do you have anything that belonged to your kids? I can probably find them."
"Ohhh, this was Junior's favorite bottle!" the woman grinned brightly, holding up a baby bottle. "I put soda in it once, and he just couldn't let go!"
Nolan took the bottle and started to scan it for DNA. "Still fresh, thankfully. I should be able to find where this drool came from."
Nolan's communicator rang, and he answered as Wiccan spoke. "Nolan? Yuki? You better hurry to the eastern docks. A bunch of men in… protection uniforms just arrived."
"Let's go, Yuk." Nolan said as he rolled himself out.
"I'll just stick your dinner in the fridge, deeeeariiiies!" the woman sang.
"Don't wait up for us, Lady!" Yuki called.
The two hurried and hopped across the many rooftops to Crystal's location. They found their friend stood atop a roof, and joined her quietly. "Look." she whispered, pointing over the edge. They peeked over and saw four men in yellow protection suits standing before a boat, guns ready.
"Alright, the Master says there might be more kids here." One of them explained. "You two spread out and find them, we'll stand guard." With that, two of the men walked opposite directions down the street.
"I bet these guys have something to do with it." Nolan knew. "Yuki, Crystal, take those guys out." He pointed at the ones down the street.
Crystal hurried across the roofs to the farthest one and dropped lightly on her feet. She walked over quietly before jumping and kicking him to the ground, afterward bashing his protected head with her staff and knocking him out. Yuki quietly approached the closer one, merely touching his shoulder to freeze him completely solid. As for the ones by the boat, Nolan landed behind both of them. He weakly stood up from his wheelchair and held both fists by the sides of their heads. He SLAMMED his fists to both heads, smashing them into each other before they lost consciousness.
With that, Nolan sat back down as Coldman and Wiccan soon joined him. "Heeeeeey!" they looked down the road, seeing Chimney dashing over to them. "Oi, haven't you otona-sans found my neko-chan yeeeeet? ?"
"Look, I don't know where your cat is, but we've picked up the trail on this rabbit. We think he's with a bunch of other missing kids." Nolan explained.
"And you really should put on some better protection, little girl." Crystal told her, noticing Chimney's exposed arms and legs, and wearing only sandals on her feet. "You'll catch frostbite."
"DON'T CRITICIZE MY FASHION-SENSE, JOSEI-SAAAAN! And where is my cat? !"
"FORGET about your cat!" Nolan demanded. "And just get home! If your cat is with the other kids, I promise I'll bring him back, but everyone else comes first."
"Huff." Chimney proceeded to stomp off angrily. "I'll show YOU what comes first, super-saaan!"
"What a nutcase." Nolan remarked as the three boarded the boat.
"Soooo where are we going again?" Crystal asked.
"I used my Detective Vision to track the whereabouts of a rabbit." Nolan explained.
"You just looooove ripping off Batman, huh?" Crystal remarked.
"Uuugh. Anyway, then I found the whereabouts of a mom's missing kids; or at least her baby. We're going to follow their signal and find where they landed. But for the sake of stealth, we're riding this boat there, so they don't suspect. Alright, let's go."
And so, the ship began to sail away from the island, across the distant nighttime sea. "Why were those men wearing those things, anyway?" Crystal asked.
"Germ freaks?" Yuki inquired, raising a brow.
"It had to be from something." Nolan figured. "I wonder where this signal is, anyway." Nolan looked at his wristwatch terminal, bringing up a map of the region. The location the signal was coming from was marked, so Nolan closed in. "Oh? Hmm…"
"What is it?" Crystal asked.
"Hmmm… I'm not entirely sure on the story. But… we're going to Punk Hazard."
Well… at least I got something ELSE done. Next time, we'll be arriving at Caesar's island, which is Punk Hazard. So see you then. Oh… and by the way… there's a stowaway aboard their boat right now. ;)