Chapter 9: Theater Chaos

Later, at the outdoor theater, the cast in the play was talking in a crowd on the stage. Peter, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Danny were talking to Ellie, who was playing a piano, while Tommy recorded her on his Camcorder.

"Now I darn told you everything I know about them pioneers." Ellie said.

"We know, but we have just one more question, Ellie." Danny said.

Ellie stopped playing the piano and turned her head to face them.

"What can you tell us about Pioneer Rock?" Danny asked.

Ellie turned her body to the side to face Peter, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Danny.

"During the zombie moon, at that man-faced rock you see under it's spell, you got to turn around, before sunup, or you ain't never coming back." Ellie replied.

"One last question, Ellie. Has anyone from Camp Everwood ever disappeared?" Tommy asked.

Ellie nodded and proceeded to explain that a couple of loud kids had ventured up onto Pioneer Rock, but when they had come back to the camp, they were all stupid, like they didn't have any brains. Once she was done talking, she went back to playing the piano, while Peter, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Danny glanced at each other before walking away.

"Whoa, pretty scary, huh?" Tommy asked.

"The rock thing? Yeah." Phil replied.

"No. The triple negative thing. Don't ever got no brain or nothing. Not easy to pull off, but fun to say." Tommy said.

Peter pondered what Ellie had said. He thought about how she had said that whoever went up to Pioneer Rock rarely returned, and if they did, they acted stupid, as if they didn't have any brains.

"Guys, I'll be right back. I need to go do something alone." Peter said.

Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Danny nodded, and Peter left the theater. He walked a few yards away from the theater before stopping in a clearing in the woods. He drew a small circle before placing Erebus in the middle of the circle. He then sat cross-legged in front of the sword and closed his eyes so he could meditate and come into contact with TheDisneyFan365. In order to do so, he had to make the circle and put Erebus in the middle, and then think upon him. As he concentrated, dark purple energy, taking the form of shadowy flames, enveloped the young king's body, fortunately not hurting him at all. All of the sudden, he felt a cool breeze brushing along his cheeks and through his hair, but he was used to it whenever he contacted TheDisneyFan365.

"Location: Unknown, June 24th 2013"

After a few more moments, he opened his eyes to find himself no longer in Camp Everwood or the area surrounding it. Instead, he was in an area with a beautiful blue sky that was filled with pillowy white clouds. What he was sitting upon was not wood or earth, but what seemed to be water. It rippled like a pool, but there was no give or moisture to it. It was like moving glass, a mirror that reflected the perfect skies above. He looked around, but he didn't spot TheDisneyFan365 anywhere. Just as he was about to call out for his creator to show up, a flash of red lightning descended from the sky, a clap of thunder cracked through the air, and a cloud of black and white sparkles swirled around and around. Peter shielded his face as the storm whirled around him, but eventually, the storm cleared and TheDisneyFan365 stood right in front of him.

"I came to the sound of your beckoning, Peter. Why do you need my assistance?" TheDisneyFan365 asked.

"Well, that took faster then I expected." Peter thought.

His jaw hung open, but he immediately closed it when he remembered what he wanted to ask his creator.

"Oh, um, ahem. Sorry, I just... DisneyFan365, as you know, people have been going missing at Pioneer Rock for quite some time, and if some people even do come back, they act weird, as if they don't have any brains. I just want to know what's going on, so we can help people if this happens again in the future." Peter replied.

TheDisneyFan365 remained silent for a long time. He had a distant look on his face, almost as if delivering the news was painful, even for him.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you." TheDisneyFan365 said.

Peter didn't know what to say. He didn't think his request was that unreasonable. What could his creator have meant by that?

"But... your a divine being... surely, you can..." Peter started to ask.

"You'll have to find out why yourself. Go to Pioneer Rock, and everything will be explained there." TheDisneyFan365 replied.

Peter nodded.

"Alright." Peter said.

TheDisneyFan365 floated over and picked up Erebus.

"What you'll find there will be quite a shock for you and your friends. To prepare you, I'm going to temporary infuse Erebus with more power, so it goes into it's Shadow Level. Be careful when your there, for not everything will be as it seems." TheDisneyFan365 said.

Peter nodded, and a dark purple and black light surrounded Erebus. After a few seconds, the light faded from Erebus. The sword was the same, but it looked different. The blade radiated a magenta aura and all four slots on the blade were illuminated crimson red, signifying it's full power. TheDisneyFan365 then gave the sword back to Peter.

"Thank you for letting me know." Peter said.

TheDisneyFan365 nodded.

"Is that all you required of me?" TheDisneyFan365 asked.

"Yes. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me." Peter replied.

The environment around Peter then slowly faded out as he disappeared from it.

"Location: California, June 24th 2013"

Back at the outdoor theater, Chance blew a whistle and held up his megaphone.

"From the top of the show!" Chance shouted.

Everyone got into position, and the practice for the first scene of the play started. Stu started pacing back and forth.

"What's eating you, smithee spencer?" Angelica asked.

"I've seen enough of this small New England town. I'm ready to go west." Stu replied.

"How far west?" Sam asked.

"As far west as I can go. Without drowning." Stu replied.

Suddenly, there was a knock on a door on the set wall.

"Who could that be a-knocking?" Angelica asked.

"I don't know. All the townsfolk are here." Susie replied.

"Maybe it's a snakeoil salesman." Didi said.

"Or a bear." Randy said.

"Or a, cough, cough." Kira added.

There was another knock on the door. Howard opened it, and a hand threw white sparkles on him. He gasped and turned around.

"It's Winter!" Howard announced.

Everyone gasped dramatically, and Ellie started playing a song on the piano for the scene, while the cast started singing a song. The song went smoothly, until the cast started doing a group dance. Stu had trouble dancing, and to make things worse, Howard accidentally backed into him. The two stumbled back into the set wall and crashed through the door, resulting in the wall crashing down onto the ground.

"No! My set!" Lucy cried.

She ran towards the set wall. As she did so, Peter returned to the theater and ran up to Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Danny, who were standing on stage left.

"Alright, I'm back." Peter announced.

Lil looked down at Erebus and noticed the changes to the sword.

"Peter, what's going on with your sword?" Lil asked.

"I went to talk to TheDisneyFan365 about Pioneer Rock, and he gave the sword a boost of his power, putting it into an "Shadow Level". For whatever we may be facing, it will be needing this power." Peter replied.

"And speaking of Pioneer Rock, what's happening on the stage was just our cue." Tommy said.

"For what?" Chuckie asked.

"To make a run for it!" Tommy replied.

Peter nodded, and he motioned to Dil, Kuzco, Patcha, Kronk, Jim, Long John Silver, Scroop, Sulley, Randall, Kenai, Denahi, Sitka, Nigel, Tucker, Zim, and Tak, who were all sitting in the seats where the audience was going to be, to follow him and the others, and they agreed and left the theater with them. Just after they left, Chance walked onto the stage and told Stu to not step foot back on the stage until he could do the dance correctly. He then fired Howard and replaced his role with Mike, while he filled in Mike's original role with a worker that was raking up leaves. Stu and Howard then left the theater.