England scowled at America as France tended to America's wounded hand. "How can you accidentally shoot your own hand?" England scoffed.
America flinched as France fastened the cloth from America's shirt together to act as a bandage. "Dude, if a lot of yous were shooting lights at me, I wouldn't be able to see."
"They aren't lights." England retorted. "They are very powerful bolts of magic."
"Yeah. That." America picked at the makeshift bandage and France slapped his hand away, chiding him to not mess with it.
England sighed but didn't say anything. He wearily swept their surroundings, troubled. Very troubled. Thanks to America, they had hit every single Dark Englands (at last). When the last Dark England fell, they all disappeared and faded into the air. Not a single drop of their blood was left.
It aggravated England that the real Dark England wasn't there, and it even made him more aggravated when America and France said they had a feeling he wasn't.
"Then tell me sooner." England sighed. "I wasted so much of my energy." He sat down on the ground, panting slowly.
"We weren't sure." France said, holding America's unwounded hand up high and away from the wounded one. "I told you, stop touching it!"
"Ve...now what do we do?" Italy asked worriedly. "Dark England is going to be very mad when he hears about this."
"That's when we run away." France said.
"Advance in the opposite direction." America corrected.
England sighed and glanced to the side. "We need to get going then. There are a lot of places to search for and then we need to destroy these weapons before the invasion."
America perked. "Oh! Before we go, can I say something?"
"You already did." France said pointedly. "Now-I said stop trying to mess with it!"
"Sorry dude." America laughed nervously. "But uh..well..." He frowned and glanced at France and then England. He was going to suggest that they join the Best Buds Group but he wondered if he could really forgive them and actually make amends. It was one thing to say it, but it was another to actually feel it.
It was worth a try, right?
"I'm..." America stopped and thought back in his memories. He remembered the anger and frustration he held for the two countries and even now they'd get on each other's nerves every once in a while. He sighed and muttered, "Never mind."
He'd have to let time go by and try again later.
England gave America a weird look. "Er, alright then? Well, we should probably go ea-"
"England! Big Brother France!" Italy exclaimed all of a sudden. "I forgot but now I remembered! America, Japan, Russia, and I are in the Best Buds Group, ve! Do you two want to join?"
France stared at Italy. "Best...Buds...Group?"
"Ve, in order to defeat the doppelgangers, we need friendship." Italy said pointedly.
England and France exchanged looks. They both had an uneasy expression. "I'm not sure if you realize this Italy..." England said slowly. "But, well, do you know how hard it is to get along with everyone? Our history leads up to who we are today...who our people are."
"Oui," France agreed. "Even if things happened forever ago, everyone holds a grudge."
"But dudes!" America interrupted. "If we all become best buds, then the doppelgangers will be weaker and after we totally defeat them we'll all get along!"
"World peace!" Italy added enthusiastically.
France stared at Italy and he glanced at America. America had his gaze fixed with determination on him, as if anticipating for France to join in.
There were a lot of things that happened in his history, that France. It was exhausting to fight all the time and things were always so tense at times. Maybe joining would relieve tension with the other countries.
Why not?
"I'll join." France said as Italy and America whooped with laughter.
"What about you England?" asked Italy.
"Er..." England thought back in his history as well, and his stomach dropped after remembering everything he had done. He also remembered the British Empire he had and then he lost it all. He regretted being so furious and angry after losing so much land to other countries.
England wondered if he could get over that.
"I'll...wait for another day." he muttered.
America nodded, understanding. "Okay bro, but if you wanna join, just ask any of us, got it?"
England, surprised that America wasn't going to pester him about joining, nodded. "Alright..."
Mr. Puffin had to admit he was alarmed at the number of doppelgangers present in Chicago. He saw Dark Italy talking to Dark Canada, he spotted Dark Japan and Dark South Korea walking along the hall, and he caught a glimpse of Dark Belarus, Dark Vietnam, and Dark China talking with each other.
It was a wonder how he wasn't caught yet. But maybe it was because the ceiling was very high up in the hall and he was flying a good seven feet above their heads. He always stuck to the shadows; maybe that helped contribute to his sneakiness.
After he watched Dark France and Dark Denmark enter a room where Dark Iceland, Dark Turkey, and Dark Austria were already in for what seems to be a meeting, Mr. Puffin flew off, still trying to find a key.
"How can I find a key in a place like this?" he muttered to himself, flying up a flight of stairs. He hoped he wouldn't get lost though; he already had that nervous feeling of getting lost. Did he remember which corridor he took to get there?
Oh well; what was done was done. There was no turning back now. Mr. Puffin flew on, resting only when he felt tired. "I should have followed the diet plan." he murmured to himself. "Phew..."
Somehow, when he was flying into another hall, the walls became an eerie blue with a gray tint. The colors danced along the walls in a watery effect. Why a wattery effect?
And then Mr. Puffin realized there were windows in the hall and he rested on the ground, glancing up at the windows. He nearly let a stray squawk out when he realized that they were indeed underwater.
"How are we going to escape now?" Mr. Puffin hissed. "Okay, okay, it's okay. We can still do this." He continued to stare at the windows, somewhat mesmerized. Calming...Mr. Puffin thought. Very calming. I can probably stay here for a while. It doens't matter, right?
Then he shook his head. "No, gotta keep going." And with one final puff of his chest, he flew on as quickly as he could.
Iceland leaned against the wall, sighing. The other countries had bombarded him with questions, wondering if Mr. Puffin was able to complate the task. There was a lot of pressure on the bird's shoulders and part of the fate of the world rested on him.
Iceland did his best to reassure the others but he too had some doubt. For all he knew, they'd be there for a while.
"Um, so, do we, like, get to totally eat sometime?" Poland asked three cells to the left of Iceland.
"When I was in Guangzhou, they fed the prisoners, da-ze." Korea piped up. "It was good food; Dark Aniki cooked it, da-ze."
"Was my doppelganger a good cook, aru?" asked China.
"I don't know, I didn't eat, da-ze." Korea admitted. "But it smelled good, da-ze."
"Better than mine, aru?"
"Uhhh...no comment da-ze."
"Even countries have to eat." Seychelles said, glancing at Poland who shared her cell. Along with Greenland, the three were sitting against the back of the cell. "And they'd have to keep us alive, right? If we're gone then our counterparts are too."
"When's lunch time then?" Mexico asked. "Or dinner, or breakfast. Whatever time it is..."
"I think it's close to lunch, ana." Thailand said.
"Doesn't anyone have a watch?" Ukraine asked, glancing to the neighboring cells. Belgium in the cell to her right shook her head and Greenland to the left shook his head too.
"I do." Finland said. "But it's not adjusted to this time zone."
"Doesn't matter." the Netherlands said, his arms crossed. "What time does your watch say?"
Finalnd rolled up his sleeve and adjusted his watch to see the time. "Oh...it's broken."
A couple of stomachs rumbled and a few laughs echoed in the hall. "Did anyone eat before they got captured?" Taiwan asked.
"Last time I ate was like, hours and hours ago, da-ze." Korea said in a whine. "Aniki, do you have food up your sleeve?"
"No, aru." China sighed wearily. "If only America was here, aru. He can make sweets come out of his sleeve, aru. It's crazy, aru."
Several more laughs erupted from the cells. The atmosphere suddenly became warmer. "You know, it's not like we all gather up and talk like this." Belgium smiled. "World meetings are always so serious. It's fun to get together with people you'd never really see outside of meetings and talk and joke."
"We're always so busy with our own things that we really don't, do we?" Romania chuckled.
Murmurs of agreement aroused and they settled down when Thailand said, "When we get of here, we should get to know everyone better, ana. Not only will it be fun, but our countries can get closer and we can get along, ana."
"That sounds great." Ukraine said, clapping her hands together.
"You know what would be totally awesome after this doppelganger business is over?" Poland asked.
"What?" several voices said simultaneously.
Poland stopped, stunned at the numerous responses he had gotten and he glanced at Seychelles and Greenland, lost for words. "Uhh...well, um..."
"Go on," Seychelles said kindly, crawling up to Poland. "What's on your mind?"
Poland looked away from her, avoiding he eyes. He glanced up at Greenland who was giving him an encouraging smile. Poland adverted his eyes to the wall and glued them there. "Well, a...party after this will be totally cool."
"A party!" Seychelles grinned. "That sounds amazing!"
Poland reluctantly took his eyes off of the wall. "Really?"
"That's a great idea, aru!" China exclaimed. "Ah, and everyone can bring their own food, aru! So many cultures put into one big party, aru...Aiya, I'm excited already!"
"Yes, da-ze!" Korea said, grinning. "It'll be at my house, da-ze! But wait...then I'll be stuck with the cleaning after it's over, da-ze...Let's have America host it, da-ze!"
More laughs. Even Sweden and the Netherlands cracked a small smile.
"How about this." Lithuania said, smiling. "We have it at America's house and we all stick around to help clean. Is that okay?"
"Liet, I didn't know you were here!" Poland exclaimed.
"Shhh, we're making a lot of noise." Ukraine said quickly. "Someone is coming." She shushed everyone as they listened. Footsteps were rushing towards them and within seconds, Dark Japan and Dark South Korea were walking by their cells, giving all of them a cool, indifferent look with a small hint of hostility.
"What is this?" Dark Japan asked quietly. "Why do you look like you're smiling?"
"Because we are, da-ze." Korea said smugly. Then he reached out towards Thailand and the Netherlands and pulled them into a group hug, despite the Netherlands' half hearted resistance. "We're having a blast, da-ze!"
Dark South Korea contorted his face. "I get why you're huggin Thailand but why the Netherlands? You two don't have any close ties."
Korea pointed at his doppelganger and laughed. "Silly, we do, da-ze! Right Netherlands, da-ze? We're good friends now, right, da-ze?"
The Netherlands gave Korea a small look before he scoffed, "Fine."
"Ha! In your faces, da-ze!" Korea grinned.
Dark Japan and Dark South Korea exchanged looks. "Should we...you know, da-ze?" Dark South Korea asked.
"Give it a little while." Dark Japan murmured. Dark Japan glared at Korea, Thailand, and the Netherlands. "Come. Forget about them now." Then Dark Japan gave them a small, sly, smile. "Right now, we need to... pick our targets."
Mr. Puffin didn't find a key or an off switch but he did fly into a room where a whole bunch of doppelgangers were in accidentally. He didn't think that he'd fly into a room; the room was at the end of the hallway and he didn't realize that there were doors (the doors were propped open to the side and he missed to see it).
And so he flew into a wide open room with a dome like ceiling that was made of glass. Surrounding the bottom of the dome structure were decorative balconies that were far too small for an actual human being to stand, or even sit, in. It was perfect for perching and so Mr. Puffin perched up there, looking down on the scene below them.
All the doppelgangers he saw earlier were there and a handful more he hadn't were present. Dark Germany was in the front, standing stiffly like a military general. Many of the doppelgangers were sitting down at the rows and rows of tables facing Dark Germany.
Mr. Puffin never went to school, but he knew how to count. If his face could pale, it would after he counted forty-three doppelgangers.
He'd fly out of there immediately but the doors slammed closed and there was no other exit available to him. He couldn't do anything but sit there, watching and listening.
"This begins the meeting." Dark Germany said loudly, his voice echoing in the large room. "Objectives: pick targets to attack. We-yes?" he growled as a hand raised.
Dark Italy stood up and asked, "Sorry, but I wasn't here for the last meeting. What's going on?"
"Remember the change of plans?" Dark Germany asked Dark Italy.
Dark Italy shook his head.
"At first we wanted war, correct?" Dark Germany asked, raising his voice so that he was sure that everyone in the room could hear. Mr. Puffin nearly fell from his perching spot because Dark Germany's booming voice shocked him. "We wanted to bring out our original's hatred out so that they'd fight each other and eliminate each other."
"But if they're gone, then we are too." Dark America said, standing up. "Sorry dude, but I got this, 'kay?" Dark America got a curt nod from Dark Germany and he turned to Dark Italy. "Okay, so technically, if we have our originals kill each other, we'd die too. That's a big no-no. Soo..." Dark America gave a long, dramatic pause. "We'll capture all the countries, all of their politicians and government people, and a few hundred of each country's citizens."
"Why?" Dark Italy asked.
"So when we keep them safe, our original and ourselves will still be alive after." Dark America smirked.
"And that's why we're here." Dark Germany cut in, motioning for Dark America to sit down. As Dark America sat down shrugging, Dark Germany added, "We'll wipe the rest of the world out and start over. The way our originals are running the world, they're doing a poor job. We can do much better."
Dark Italy allowed a smirk to take over his face. "I couldn't agree more then, ve." He finally sat down and Dark Germany continued.
"We'll be using our weapons to wipe out the majority of the humans on earth, keeping only a few safe so that the country itself won't die. When that happens, we'll start anew but this time, we'll be taking over and we'll rule from then on." Dark Germany said. "We can do a much more better job. Can't we?" he added darkly.
Mr. Puffin suppressed a few shudders as the doppelgangers grinned a malevolent grin.