Chapter 23: DreamWorld RPG

Another weekend rolls around and for Xander's end, he gets to visit his uncle and aunt's place once again!

He's currently in his aunt's car sitting in the passenger seat while his cousins Sol and Ana sat in the back, playing competitive puzzle games on their phones.

Unfortunately, neither of them were making any ground because their moves were evenly matched.

"Give up already, Ana." Said Sol, persistently.

"No, you give up already, Sol." Said Ana, mocking him.

Even the rough wilderness roads didn't shift the tide in either's favor.

Xander kept peeking back to check their progress, and pumped his fist gently, "You can do it!"

Though a blanket cheer, it ended up making Ana flinch, and Sol took a point lead with a smug smirk, "Thank you for that, Xander."

Ana frantically moved her fingers across her screen, "You're a dirty cheater, Sol."

Sol closed her eyes, gestured her shoulders, and the smirk grew wider.

Samantha chimed in with her gruff tone, "Xander, don't lean."

"Sorry, Aunt Samantha." Xander returned to his seat and she smiled his way.

"Shoot! I didn't ask. What's in the bag?"

Xander pulled his bag up from under the seat and plucked out a few comic books, "I wanted to bring Raphael some stuff to read as thanks for all his recommendations!"

Samantha chuckled like a tickled grizzly bear, "Good boy! That'll buy the house some precious minutes of silence."

Sol and Ana teamed up to say, "You know what would also buy silence?"

"A ball gag."

Samantha raised her brow and patiently inquired, "And just where'd you hear about THAT?"

She then nodded along and murmured to herself, "Though that ain't such a bad idea…"

She wagged her finger up and remarked, "I'll run that by your dad later."

Xander innocently wondered, "What's a ball gag?"

Sol and Ana paused their competition and were the mirror image of smug as they inquired, "And why-"

"-do YOU know about it, mom?"

Samantha pressured them with her voice in a gravelly tone, "Hey, drop it. All of you. We're here."

Xander got out of the car before it fully stopped and carried his bag up to the front steps, "Uncle Solaris! Heeeellooooo!"

"Nice try, chipper chirper, he's off working at the lumberyard today," Samantha said, playfully rubbing his head as she turned and barred the way to the porch with her arms crossed and a military-esque grin on her face, "So from here until sundown, I'll be making sure you stay out of trouble."

Though she threw a glance at her whistling twins when she said that.

She then smiled at Xander and asked, "So champ, whaddya wanna do today? Cook a cake, go in the woods, what?"

"I dunno…" Xander said, fiddling his fingers on his chin, "Lemme say hi to Vivi first!"

"Heh, alright, I'll get outta your way for the moment. Just holler if you need me." Samantha then stepped aside and the kids headed into the house.

Vivi was right there on the stairs to greet them, her expression going from solemn to excited, "Xander! Welcome back!"

She jumped straight off like a missile and tackled him into a twirling hug that he reciprocated after he stopped being dizzy.

"Vivi! What are you up to?" He said excitedly.

"Nothing!" She said with a bright smile, and upon finally landing she bounced in place and pulled his arms along with her, "Lets fixer-dixer that right up!"

"Sounds like fun-dun!" Xander proclaimed.

Sol and Ana commentated, "This is fumb-"

"-dumb."

"Oooh, you silly twins!" Vivi pulled out her magic staff and hit them with a grazing blow on the heads as light as snow, then put it away.

She then faced Xander, who clenched his fists and asked, "What do you want to do?!"

Vivi mimicked him, tone and all, "I dunno, what do you want to do?!"

"Ummm…" Xander was left with his mouth agape and his brain on pause.

The twins commented, "Hold on, he's-"

"-downloading an answer."

Xander blinked and grinned, "Gosh, that's a lotta pressure…There's sooooo much I wanna do!"

The twins pulled out their phones, "We could always-"

"-spin a wheel."

Vivi shook her head, her pigtails swinging cutely against her face, "No no, that's dull as dirt! …Unlesssss we liven it up with Maaagic!"

After declaring that in a sing-song tone, she pulled out her wand again and danced her away into the living room, taking a few old magazines and "Zappy zappy"'ing them into a peppermint wheel with pretzel pegs and a slew of options on all the red and white segments.

Xander commented, "I bet Cu'u would've loved to see your magic, Vivi!"

Vivi paused and looked sincerely worried, "Cu'u? Xander…who is this…Cu'u?"

Sol said, "A dopey homunculus."

Ana added, "A ditzy magician."

Xander definitively stated on the matter, "She's a magical friend we made at school!"

Vivi impatiently tapped her wand on her palm and looked like she was struggling to maintain a smile, "I-I see! I'm glad you're making more friends, Xander!"

"Cu'u…Cu'u…why doth that name sound…familiar?"

She then stood aside and tapped the wheel with the tip of her staff, "N-Never mind that! Who wants to have fun spinning the wheel?"

Sol gestured at the wheel, "Ana?"

Ana mirrored him, "Sol?"

"Together?" They both bent and waved their hands out, then walked past Xander to put their hand on the wheel together and took a spin, causing it to whirl so fast it knocked the stray magazines into the air.

After it showed no signs of slowing down, Vivi merrily tapped the wheel with her staff and ground it to a halt, causing it to land on the "DreamWorld RPG" segment.

Xander jumped in the air and cheered, "Oh boy!"

Sol and Ana went "Hmmm…" with some mild interest.

Vivi then reverted all the items back to their natural state and cheered, "Very well! Let's get the pillow fort set up lickity split!"

Sol and Ana shoved the table over to the back door and Xander and Vivi scurried around the house, snatching up whatever pillows and cushions they could to assemble their sloppily built fort.

Samantha helped them out by pulling a pillow up from under Raphael's seat, causing him to get annoyed.

By the time the kids were done building, Samantha followed them into the living room and chuckled, "Alright, but you better make sure to clean up when you're done!"

She again looked to her kids, who innocently whistled. Samantha then got firm with her voice, "That means YOU do it, not Michael."

"Ok." The twins said sarcastically.

Samantha put her kids head in a light vice grip and viciously ruffled their hair, "RIGHT?"

"Ah-!"

"No!" The twins said, flustered that their hair would have to be combed over again.

She then grinned and pulled away to let them be.

The kids then crawled into the pillow fort, with Xander taking the lead. It was pretty spacious, enough for all four of them to sprawl out on the carpet and relax.

They formed a cross pattern with all their heads touching each other, and the twins remarked, "Remind us-"

"-where did we last leave off?"

Xander laid his hands on his chest and closed his eyes, "Hmmm, I think…we were sleeping in an Inn in Whistletown!"

When he opened his eyes, he was hit by light bouncing off a smooth wood roof and the smell of forest pine.

He pulled the sheets off his bed and jumped off, taking a couple more bounces to get in shape for a fun day of adventuring.

He was now wearing a hooded cape made out of a silver and gold knitted quilt, along with a few armor pads on his elbows and knees. The rest of his clothing was more fantasy inspired, but bore the same pattern and colors as his regular clothing.

Also, he had a small bronze sword on a belt.

After checking his gigantic inventory bag and placing it behind his cloak, where all manner of space warped to make it fit, he scurried out the door and knocked on the one opposite of his.

Vivi popped it open. She was now wearing a fluffy wizard's hat that was so long and droopy it also doubled as a cozy scarf. She had a lot of different blue toned cloth layered over her arms, which acted as emergency napkins. She wore black shorts and frilled cloths were pinned to the sides with ice cream jeweled pins. And she had an icy blue shirt with two pockets, one with her regular ice cream staff, and another with a staff with hot chocolate at the top. Both shrunken.

She pulled the door open more and Sol and Ana were sharing the room with her, slowly pulling themselves awake and hanging their feet over the edge of their beds.

You wouldn't believe it, but they were wearing the same outfit with minor changes between them.

They were both Rangers, wearing a black-green shirt with leather underneath for protection. Sol had fangs in a ring around his right shoulder, while Ana had different nuts around her left. They had brown woodland pants on, but only Sol had the courtesy of keeping an item pouch on his hip. But Ana was cuter with her fiery red scarf.

The one common thing tying all of them together? …None of them had any shoes on, but there was a good reason for that!

After the twins were pulled out of bed by Xander's eagerness and checked their outfits, they looked at him and asked, "So what-"

"-next?"

Now that they were settled in this adventurous atmosphere, Xander narrated, "In the world of Moonleilei, a Demon Lord has troubled the land for decades, sending his Octahellgion into the villages on the four continents every night to cause different problems!"

"Xander, the cheerful hero of Laidown. Vivi, the gentle, kind-hearted baker mage of Oventop. And Sol and Ana, the nature-loving prankster archers of Arbojaria! These are the four heroes who will stop the Demon Lord, and bring smiles back to the world!"

Sol and Ana slanted their brows and mumbled, "We are not-"

"-THAT forgetful."

"We meant-"

"-what are we doing now?"

Xander giggled and said, "Sorry. We were trying to help the people of Whistletown get their shoes back after they were stolen by the Demon Lord!"

Sol and Ana tilted their heads in opposite directions, "A shoe thief?"

"I suppose that's…inspired as a story beat."

Vivi played along with alot more pep in her step, "Golly, Xander! I wonder why the Demon Lord would steal everyone's shoes."

"I dunno, Vivi! We'll find out when we see them!" Xander remarked.

Ana pulled out an arrow from her infinitely supplied quiver and lit the tip with her scarf, "We should just burn his tower down."

Sol turned to her and scoffed, "Then we'll burn all the shoes. Do you WANT to deal with that smell, sister?"

Ana put her arrow away with a pout, "You never let me have fun."

Sol nodded, "This is why I lead our sentences, sister."

Vivi remarked, "'Tis not a bad idea though. Maybe we could light a small fire, and smoke him out of the tower?"

Xander groaned, "Awww, but then we won't get any EXP from climbing it!"

Vivi smiled and raised her ice cream staff, "Well! You heard our leader! We're going to climb the tower!"

"Awww…" The twins groaned.

Vivi wagged her finger at them, "Don't be grumpy guses, you chose to wait until the fourth town to join!"

Xander clenched his fists and grinned, "But I'm happy you did! Your trap arrows have saved us a bunch of times!"

The twins smiled proudly and bumped each other's fists.

"Where IS the tower, anyways?" Vivi remarked.

The twins pointed out, "We were going-"

"-to ask an NPC for answers."

Xander told them, "His name is Jerriben, guys!"

"Jerriben-"

"-fiiiiine."

"You two talk with him-"

"-we're going to buy new equipment."

The twins then set off on their own path. Xander and Vivi went downstairs and paid the innkeeper for their time, and then exited into the town.

Whistletown got its name because all the buildings have flute-like reeds sticking out that play a whistling tune on the wind coming through the valley.

There was also a tower on the south side of town that anyone can visit and adjust the stone reeds at the top to play different music.

The sides of the valley were gardens of pink flowers that filled the sky with petals when the winds got extra rowdy.

If they left to the south they'd run into a forest of silver leaf trees that jingle like church bells, called Leodale.

Their destination for now was a green house snuggled under a tree.

Vivi held close to Xander and pointed at the wildlife fluttering in the air.

The whistling attracted bugs, and the birds plucked them out of the reeds with their extendable beaks.

"What a wonderful, whimsical world!" Vivi said in a singing-like tone.

"Yeah! I can't wait to see what we'll find on the other side of the world!" Xander said with bouncy anticipation.

The two knocked on the door and then invited themselves in. Jerriben was a rare half-human, half-fauna person, with a doe-like nose and furry ears.

He had a somewhat dopey but lovable tone of voice, "T-Thank you for coming heroes. You said you want to find the Demon Lord?"

"You bet!" Xander replied simply.

"What incredible enthusiasm!" Jerriben recoiled, "You might just be the one to do it, yes yes!"

"Last night, I caught a whiff of foulness in the air while I was putting away my books. I checked outside and saw the Lord and his impish cohorts gallivanting out into Leodale."

Xander gasped, "And did you follow them?"

The half lingerie nodded, "I did, oh yes yes…halfway."

He bit his lower lip and murmured, "But then they spotted me, so I scurried like the dickens, yes yes!"

Vivi patted her hand against her mouth, "Oh no no!"

Jerriben remarked, "BUT…I saw where they went. If you dare to stop them, follow where the ringing is loudest."

Xander bowed, "Thank you, sir. Are you doing ok without your shoes?"

Jerriben said, "Oh. Because of my…heritage, I never needed them."

An exclamation mark appeared over Xander's head and he logged that away.

"We'll get the shoes back for the sake of everyone's smiles! You can count on us!" He declared.

"AND everyone's soles, ho ho ho!" Vivi added.

Jerriben remarked, "I know the four of you can do it, yes yes!"

After that, the two then left the house and Vivi commented, "A march through the loudest route in the forest. Can you remember that, Xander?

"You bet! Let's get Sol and Ana and stop the Demon Lord!"

They went to the equipment store right as the two of them left. Sol had a sturdier red shirt, while Ana's scarf was a little brighter.

"'Tickle' is also a haggling skill-"

"-Good to know." They said with sly smirks.

Xander asked, "Got everything you need?"

Sol shrugged, "I suppose."

Ana brushed her scarf up with a cheery smile, "Like my scarf, Xander?"

Xander nodded, "Yeah! It's perfect for you, Ana."

While blushing she shoved her elbow into her sister, "Did you hear that?"

"It's-"

"Perfect."

Sol glared at her and remarked, "Don't insert words into my sentences. It's too bright!"

Before they started some sibling spat, Vivi summoned a pair of ice cream scoops on their heads, "Cool off and focus! Hee hee!"

Xander then explained the situation regarding the forest and Demon Lord.

The twins replied, "So the tower-"

"-is in there…"

Vivi wagged her hand, "So DEFINITELY no burning."

Ana sighed, "Then I'll have to save my new skill for the Demon Lord."

The group of heroes entered the forest and Vivi's sharp hearing let them stick to the correct path. The silver leaves gave the atmosphere a tinny tint and smell.

Xander hummed along to the forest's tune while the twins yawned.

Sol then reached into his pouch and pulled out a little horn that when pinched, makes a chicken noise to lure out enemies

With a snicker he pinched the horn and surprised Xander and Vivi.

"WHY?!" Vivi shouted, breaking her happy go lucky expression.

Sol shrugged, "We haven't-"

"-Fought anything yet."

A lot of cackling souls rapidly approached them from deep within the forest, and their surroundings spread out to give them more space to fight in.

They were soon facing goblins with stick-like bodies and four feet, their bodies causing them to bounce around like broken accordions.

"New foes, Xander! Let's show them a sweet time!" Vivi said while drawing out her staff.

Xander pulled out his sword and it grew to his size, which he wielded with ease. It flashed with a magnificent bronze sheen.

He then ran at the enemies while Sol and Ana provided cover fire from behind with blue and red fire arrows. One provided dps, the other lowered attack.

Vivi danced around the enemies springing after her and trying to swipe their claws at her.

Xander's attacks were like flashes of gold in the sky, quickly racking up heavy damage on the enemies.

And it's size meant he never had to worry about being surrounded.

"Dreamy Slash!" Was one of his primary skills, which if connected, made the enemy dream that they were taking more hits than they did.

After taking down a few enemies, more replaced them, wielding swords.

Sol scoffed, "Back up? How rude."

Ana remarked dryly, "Sister, you clicked the horn."

The two put their backs to each other and pointed their bows together at the same enemy, firing off a combined purple fire spiral shot that took out a couple.

But the rest ganged up on Xander and started wailing on him with their swords, "Ow ow ow!"

Vivi gasped and then smacked a goblin on the head and flew over to him, "Xander! Jump my way!"

"Ok!" Xander bounced off a goblin's head like it was a springboard and Vivi caught him in one hand, then twirled him around and threw him back.

With a little kick in his back, Xander dove into the goblin horde with his mighty sword and created a meteor-like explosion on impact.

Vivi then twirls her wand around in the air and flicks spells at the unconscious goblins, turning them into healing sweets to throw Xander's way.

His mouth opens inhumanly wide and devours all the sweets in one gulp, sealing his scars and making his eyes bulge wide open.

Now he starts tearing through the remaining goblins by attacking at twice his normal speed.

And good thing too cause the sugar rush is short lived and leaves him dizzy.

The two goblins remaining were sniped through the head by the twins.

Vivi scurried on over to Xander to help him up as victory music started to play around them.

"Are you ok?" She asked. Xander smiled and jumped at the chance to be helped up.

"Nobody makes better sweets than you, Vivi!"

"Ha ha ha!" Vivi blushed and rubbed the back of her head with her staff.

Sol and Ana silently stared at them from a distance.

Once the music passed, Sol suddenly had a new armor plate in his hand, "Ooooh, a rare drop! That was worth it!"

Ana snatched that out of his hand and with a quick thought, now had it placed over her body.

"Honestly sister…" Sol mumbled.

With that detour out of the way, they picked up the sound and followed it through the remainder of the forest. At the end, the noise just dropped right into silence, and a glistening, ticklish fog settled on the ground.

A massive tower, at LEAST twenty floors high, stood in their way.

It was mostly made of stone, except for the very bottom, where the support was provided by a ring of gangly feet and bent toenails.

Vivi took the lead temporarily and cast a wave of healing magic over their group, "Here! I bet our feet were all feeling very sore."

"Not as much-"

"-as they will climbing this tower."

Sol gestured and Xander and he trotted over, "Xander-"

"-carry me."

Sol looked at Ana and told her, "US. Carry US."

Ana pouted, "Oh poo, sister. Xander's only strong enough to carry one of us."

Xander pointed at his magical size changing sword and began to say, "Actually I can-"

The twins held their hands out and stared at each other.

"And why should it be you, Ana?" Sol asked.

"I didn't blow the horn." Ana remarked.

"But I got the final kill." Sol retaliated.

"Nuh uh."

"Oh yeah I did!"

Vivi got the drop on them and bonked them both on the head, "We're ALL walking. No arguments."

"But-" The two said.

Vivi's voice got shrill, "NO ARGUMENTS!"

Xander, more tactfully, led a rousing speech with a cheerful tone, "This is an important fight guys! But we will always make it through when we work together! Just like the Decade Avengers!"

Sol gestured out with a sigh, "I think bringing them-"

"-breaks the lore of this world."

The twins then nodded, "But fine-"

"-I'll beat Sol's butt at Decahedron again later."

Sol glared at her, "You didn't beat-"

"AHEM!" Vivi coughed loudly, tensing them up with an eerily big smile.

Xander then turned around, drew his sword, and raised it at the tower with his cape swaying in the wind, "Here we come, Demon Lord! Hope you're ready!"

What ensued was twenty floors full of plenty of deadly traps and battles. The group gained a few levels, and Sol learned a new skill.

And at the end of the climb was a giant pair of steel doors that seemed to be made out of feet bones. Sol and Ana collectively went "Blech."

While Vivi gasped in awe, "Ooooooo, creepy!"

"Very creepy!" Xander said, shaking with anticipation.

The two gave a passing glance to each other and then eagerly pushed the door. The door reacted to their touch and slid back into the walls to reveal…another door!

"Huh?" The four commented.

Xander and Vivi tried again, and the door slid open to reveal…another door!

"..." Xander and Vivi tried again, and the door slid open to reveal…another-

"Ok this is silly!" Vivi pulled out her magic wand, "DEEP FREEZE!"

She froze it and any other doors behind it solid, and Xander smashed through with one charge of his sword.

"Hi Demon Lord! Hope you're doing well!" Xander announced with his very polite greeting.

Sol and Ana, however, drew out their quivers and said, "We're going to kill you now-"

"-so don't take offense to that."

"Ooooooooh, how could this be?!" A gravelly, squeaky voice came from the other side of this mostly empty room.

A larger version of the enemies they fought along the way came scurrying out of the darkness with their eight misshapen feet. They had short protruding rib bones and piano key like teeth, with small, yellow eyes with normal pupils.

As they spat, their teeth rattled around, and they squeezed their eyes shut intensely, "Your soles should be boiled and bruised! You should have moss, aaaaaaall over your little toesies!"

Xander smiled and nodded, "Yeah, but with some magic-"

"-And a few panaceas from the item store-" Sol interjected.

"-we're as right as rain!" Xander finished.

The Demon Lord swung his mangled claw before his chest and shouted, "Curses! I knew I should've robbed the item shop!"

Xander then put down his sword for a moment and spoke to the Demon Lord in a friendly manner, "So why are you stealing shoes, Demon Lord?"

The Demon Lord leaned in with his elongated body and murmured politely, "First off, hero, it's rude to call someone by their title unless prompted. My name is Disaccordia, please respect that."

"Ok!" Xander said.

"SECOND off…!" Disaccordia sprang back upright, rubbing his hands together with a slimy expression, "Without shoes, it'll be harder for people to live their daily lives! Every day, they will be forced to sit inside their houses, or risk making their feet smelly and diseased!"

Vivi gasped, "That's positively dastardly!"

"IT IS!" Disaccordia shouted proudly, "Why kill the villagers…when I can make them suffer what it's like to have bare feet all the time!"

An exclamation mark flashed over Xander's head and made him pause to think.

The twins then took center stage, "Yeah well…you made us climb twenty stories of your cruddy tower barefoot-"

"-So now you're going to pay."

Disaccordia scurried backwards and threw his hands up, igniting the torches on the walls to reveal he had filled the whole room with shelves of stolen shoes, "Which ones are yours? Who can say! Guess you'll have to…de-feet me first! Ha ha ha!"

The room expanded to accompany the ensuing fight.

"I am the Fifth Pillar of Malgorfor, Disaccordia the Bleeding Tempo! Run! Run! As fast as you can! My beats will run you dry!"

His ribs extended out like an extra pair of arms and unfurled a thin membrane that he strummed on with his fingers.

This summoned some deep crimson musical notes that flew after the hero's group. Xander grabbed his sword and attacked Disaccordia directly for major damage due to a lucky counter hit.

"Not holding back huh…?" Disaccordia strum to a different tune while using his fleet of feet to get away from Xander's range.

The Demon Lord was able to heal himself quickly, causing Sol and Ana to pull away from firing at the blood notes to critique this.

"Boss healing?!"

"Seriously Xander?!"

Vivi, however, focused on the fight and used her magic to slick the floor with ice and trip Disaccordia up.

"Whoa…!" As he tumbled, Xander jumped and spun around like a buzz saw until he collided with the Demon Lord, then launched out a buzz saw projectile for an extra hit, "Razor Dream!"

But this knocked the Lord off the ice and let him run afoul of the arena again, healing back up with his enriched music.

This time he jumped over Vivi's next attempt and started climbing along the walls.

Xander JUST barely was unable to reach him.

"Oh no!"

As Disaccordia swapped back to blood notes, Sol and Ana drew their quivers and started firing at the demon.

"Hold the line-"

"-for us!"

Xander smiled with courage and jumped in front of them to cut down the projectiles. After building up enough of a melody, Disaccordia swiped his hands across the membrane to unleash a blood wave at the twins.

Xander jumped in the way and blocked the wave with his sword, but the splash damage got him down on his knees, "W-Wow, he's tough!"

"Hmmm…!" Vivi twirled around and pulled out her other wand, "Let's see if he can handle the heat!"

A wave of flames shifted her appearance to have dark-orange hair, a dark tan, and little lanterns on the ends of her braids, with all her clothing turned red.

"Hot Chocolate Surprise!" She grabbed her staff in both hands and fired a pressurized beam of hot chocolate, leading her shot on the demon's path.

The demon flinched and guzzled down on some good hot chocolate as he took a lot of damage across his skin.

This broke his momentum and sent him crashing to the ground, where Sol and Ana pulled down harder on their quiver to add more arrows to their next shot, hitting him with twenty arrows total.

Disaccordia stood up, shook the hot drink off his face, "Unusual tactics, but I'm not a Demon Lord for nothing! Take this…!"

He then stopped in place and started doing a jig with all his feet, and played a song that forced the heroes' group to dance along with him.

"Oh no!" Xander shouted, faking surprise.

Sol and Ana looked grumpy, "Oh no-"

"-we're being forced to be cringe!"

Disaccordia's music also compelled the shoes to fly off the shelves and bonk the heroes on the head, "Ha ha ha! Dance for me until your feet bleed out!"

Vivi got really into this jig, "Hey Xander, look at me go!"

While getting plenty of cartoonishly large bruises over his face from all the shoes, Xander gave a thumbs-up and said, "You've got the groove, Vivi!"

Sol and Ana then remarked, a little dull with their realization, "Wait, we can-"

"-still move our hands?"

They grinned at each other, took aim at Disaccordia, and then relentlessly assaulted him with arrows.

"OW! OW!" He quickly stopped his evil tune to sway them away, but they kept going, with Sol firing a bomb arrow thanks to the skill he just learned climbing the tower.

Disaccordia, with great bluster, swatted away the smoke and scowled, "Ugh…! Ok, so my other plan was probably better…Heal and run!"

He then scurried along the floor only to quickly slip on Vivi's ice, trip and land on his side, and break one of his membranes, "Ow! Ow! Darn it, shoot!"

He got back on his feet and steamed so hard it threatened to rattle his teeth right off, "That's it, you deviants!"

He grunted extremely hard and looked like his face was going to pop with blood. Out popped four more rib bones on his body, which he pulled out in sequence and used to form two bendable swords.

Then he used his slippery speed to run across the battleground and swing at the twins.

Xander got in their path and took the hits in hopes of a counterattack, but he was just too slippery. And every hit that the demon connected with healed him.

"Xander!" Vivi looked around and then aimed her wand at a random pair of shoes to change into healing candy for Xander to gobble down.

This gave him a sugar rush necessary to attack Disaccordia quick enough for a few seconds, and stagger him out of his rampage.

The twins then pelted him with arrows arched over Xander's head until he got up and slashed them to ribbons.

"How much health does he have?" Sol wondered.

"I don't know, sister, he keeps healing it!" Ana cried out.

"This is dumb…"

"Agreed. Xander?"

Xander looked back over his shoulder, not worried in the slightest, "Yeah?"

"I can end this in one move. But I need you to get the ceiling open."

Xander looked up and gave a thumbs up, "You got it, Ana!"

He then dashed towards Vivi while shouting, "Vivi! I need some elevation!"

"Okie dokie!" Vivi then took out both her wands and crossed them together towards the ground, "Gimme a cake! A very BIG cake!"

A sprinkle filled circle of magic appeared in Xander's path, and the moment he stepped out it a towering wedding cake sprung up and launched him straight into the air.

Xander then thought deeply and his sword was surrounded by a swirling vortex of fluffy looking energy, causing it to transform into…a squeaky toy hammer?!

He spun around violently and slammed his hammer into the ceiling…and it immediately was launched all the way to the moon?!

Disaccordia stopped his assault on the twins and looked up with a high-pitched whine, "Whaaaaaaaa…?"

As Xander floated down like a butterfly, he looked at his friends and shouted, "It's all up to you!"

Ana sighed and then pulled a slightly larger arrow from her quiver, gliding it along her scarf to ignite the whole thing in a blazing white fire.

She then pulled back, and her scarf arched over her head to act as a quiver, "Guess I got to do all the work…again."

Her eyes then flared with passion as she pulled back the arrow and launched it straight into the sky past Xander, it roaring like a dragon.

Once it flew so far it was like a star in the sky, a rain of giant flaming arrows came down upon the battlefield, "Burning Scale Storm!"

Disaccordia was not only rapidly bombarded with no way to fight back, but the battlefield crumbled around them.

Vivi ran over to the twins and scooped them up in one hand each before taking flight to catch Xander on her back, none of them affected by the assault.

After a while, the floor shattered completely and sent the Demon Lord tumbling down through every floor of his tower, his screams lasting until he hit the very bottom.

Fortunately, this didn't damage any of the shoes.

After letting the damage settle, the heroes descended to the bottom of the tower to find the Demon was under a few bricks and his swords were broken.

"Khh…khh…! Uuuuugh…My tower…Uuuugh, and my poor…aching feet…" Disaccordia slowly raised his hand to Xander, who jumped down first to be next to him, "It's not fair, hero…All I ever wanted was to…find a pair of shoes that could fit my own…To walk…without feeling sore…"

"But every pair I stole led to the same result…So I figured…if I had to suffer bare feet…then why be alone…?"

Another exclamation mark appeared over Xander's head and he grabbed the Demon Lord's hand, giving him a comforting smile, "All you wanted was shoes? Don't worry! I can give you that!"

"Y-You can?" Disaccordia remarked.

Sol and Ana dropped then and started pulling on their quivers, but Xander stood up and blocked their path, "Wait Sol! Gimme the beast leathers you have in your pouch!"

Sol raised a brow, "But I need those for an armor upgr-"

"Pleeeeeeeeease?" With Xander puckering his lips and fluttering his eyelashes, Sol sighed and then reached into his pouch to pull out eight leathers.

Xander smiled and then dropped his inventory pouch to reach in and grab a pair of hedge clippers they had left from an earlier quest, along with some very good adhesive.

He then hastily worked to clip the Demon Lord's overgrown toenails and apply the beast leather to the bottom of his feet.

"There you go, Disaccordia! Try standing up." Xander stepped back and let the Demon Lord have his space. He lurched back up slowly and upon putting all feet on the ground he let out a gasp.

"I-I feel no pain…! This is incredible!" Even in his weakened state he did a merry jig on the rubble, and no longer appeared as a fearsome Demon Lord but simply a Lord of the Dance.

A golden light shone before Xander, and out popped a golden coin with Disaccordia's face on it. Xander pinched it around the edges and spun around to flash it at his group, "Yeah!"

Vivi cheered and clapped along, "Yeah! We got another one!"

The twins stared at it, and then Sol took it for himself, "This looks like-"

"-it holds a lot of value."

Xander shook his head, "We're not gonna sell it! It's important for later!"

"Oh yeah?"

"How?"

Xander gave a cheeky grin, "I ain't spoiling!"

"Haaa…" The twins relented, "Fine-"

"-keep your secrets."

"We're in-"

"-for the long haul."

Xander nodded, "That's great, cause next up is-"

"Hey! I got some hamburgers cooking on the BBQ if anyone wants one!"

The four opened their eyes inside the pillow fort to find Samantha hovering over them, satisfied smiles on each of their faces.

"Oh boy, burgers!" Xander crawled out of the pillow fort first, and Vivi followed suit.

When the twins came out, Samantha put a hand in their path and grinned, "Soooo, did you have fun playing make-believe?"

The twins shrugged with a smile on their faces, "It was-"

"-average."

Samantha patted the pillow fort, "Remember, you're helping clean up afterwards."

The twins then smirked at each other and left the living room. Samantha was about to say something when she noticed a glint of gold on the ground.

She bent down and picked up a coin with a weird ugly mug on it, "Huh…what a funny looking toy."

She then placed it on top of the pillow fort and went to join the kids outside…

Next Time: Zelene's Secret Life