Chapter 4

The Way is Shut

The four heroes drifted down the canal, healing from their ordeal with the crabs. One classmate was safe, but Kris, Susie, and Ralsei all shared a meaningful, unspoken understanding between them. If that first battle had been so hard, how difficult would the rest of their quest be? As Kris rested in Susie's lap, Ralsei got Berdly caught up.

"Alright, correct me if I'm wrong in understanding what's going on. We've been pulled into a new Dark World by a villain calling himself The Dude."

"Correct."

"Who travels on an exaggerated wave and rides a surfboard?"

"Travels on a surfboard riding an exaggerated wave, yes. Just swap the verbs."

"I'm being purposefully stupid," Berdly snapped, glancing at Susie. She was hardly paying attention as she gently stroked Kris' hair. "The Dude scattered us all, and now we have to figure out where everyone else is and save them, right?"

"Yup!"

"And to that end we have a bunch of seaweed, a contact named Seaweed Head, and this raft?'

"Yes, and we have each other," Ralsei said happily.

"Good, because we did so great back there," the blue jay muttered.

"It looks really bad right now, but where the heroes gather together in friendship, there's nothing that can beat us! We defeated Crab Cakes! After that, I'm certain we can learn from what happened and figure out how we can befriend our future enemies and prevent another battle like that from happening!"

Kris mumbled something and Susie interpreted. "They say that the crab had no desire to work things out. It was hungry, wicked, and working with those damn statues. What do you think they even did to us?" She rubbed the back of her neck, noticing the smallest scale missing.

The others reflexively did the same, anxiously rubbing and scratching the backs of their necks. Each one of them felt oddly violated somehow. The spell had not done any direct damage to them, but it felt like something was wrong. Kris checked their stats and found nothing off. Was the weird spell part of a ritual to supercharge Crab Cakes?

"One thing's for certain, the next time we meet The Dude, I'm putting my axe right into his stupid, chiseled face!" Susie snarled.

Ralsei looked uncomfortable but didn't say anything. He had long accepted that there were some bad guys you needed to fight. However, he was still soar on the idea. They were all so new to this Dark World and Kris figured that their friend was having a rough time accepting any being here who wanted to die like the Living Relics or who fought to a bitter end like Crab Cakes.

Kris slowly got up and suggested they make the raft at least look like something cool they'd all use. The others agreed. Anything to get their minds off the battle. They reused the raft's materials and started crafting a serious boat out of the barge. Ralsei's art crafting skills came in handy, as did Susie's strength to hoist an entire mast, Kris painted stuff along the ship's length, and Berdly tried carving a figurehead to resemble Susie.

"I kinda wish he'd stop…" Susie muttered to Kris.

Kris joked that at least he was getting the muscles correct. Susie shoved them across the boat.

"It'll do!" Ralsei finally declared. "I think that as we find more materials, we'll be able to craft more and more of this fledgling ship to make it into something amazing! We might need it too if we have to sail out on the open seas."

"Yeah, count me out. I get seasick," Susie said. "But you're right, this looks really nice!" She followed up by thumping Ralsei hard on the back.

"Ouch!"

"Hey guys, do you have an idea of where we're at?" Berdly asked.

Susie shrugged. "No. Why?"

"Because we're coming up on a castle. One with a Dark Fountain."

The others jumped in shock. They had been so engrossed in their work they had completely missed where the canal was taking them. There they were, right before gigantic sandcastle, fortified with steel seashells, cannons, and high turrets. The canal had led them right into the deep moat. There was still a current, which meant that the red waters likely linked up with the sea, however, the trench's depth made them sitting ducks to any defender ready to drop boulders on top of them.

Kris spotted a bridge overhead. They directed Berdly to get the ship right under the bridge to block them from enemy view. Susie needed to get some rope up there quick so they could haul themselves up. They should check out the castle and see what they were dealing with. Perhaps there was a chance to end this entire quest in one fell swoop!

Susie tied some rope around Ralsei and once again threw him like a javelin. The Dark Prince soared over the bridge and dropped down the other side. Susie caught the rope and lowered him down slowly.

"You could have given me some warning!" he complained.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let you splat."

The team quicky secured the rope. Kris ordered Berdly to stay behind. In case they got caught or were stuck in a tremendous battle, at least one person needed to be free to try and find the others. Berdly reluctantly agreed, and soon the team was climbing the rope up to the bridge.

Once they were before the gate, they found themselves facing a yawning, double-door gate, made of sea-rusted iron, ugly spikes protruding from it. The walls were too high and too smooth to scale without some great climbing gear. Susie doubted she could throw Ralsei that far. And they saw defenders keeping watch. Those shadowy figures with gleaming eyes were deeply unnerving.

"Great, look like I can finally impale myself," Susie said.

"Look, it's the pathetic Lightners!" one guard called down to them.

"Pathetic and weak because they can't get in!"

"Losers because they don't know what's going on," another shouted.

"Dumb, because they came right to us!"

"Alright! I get it! We're dumb! Now shut up and fight!" Susie challenged, spinning her axe. Kris felt a little turned on watching her.

They likewise unsheathed their sword and pointed it at the guard tower right above the gate. A breeze from the sea blew across their face, revealing their angry, crimson eyes. Something about that pose made the guards shrink back. They all knew what it meant for them when a human got angry. Their weak courage fled them for a moment.

In the lull, a familiar voice called out, "Suz! Krisp! Goat Boi! It's Temmie!"

"Temmie?" Ralsei gasped.

"Temmie!" Susie shouted as loud as she could. "Where are you?"

"Up herz! Locked inna tower! Temmie is prinzess now, I guess. Da Dude stolz Eg and wants to use Eg to hatch a Jabalisk!"

"Do you have any idea what she's saying?" Susie asked Kris, absolutely bewildered. Kris didn't have the foggiest.

The guards recovered and began shouting, "Hey! Someone shut that monster up! We can't have her telling them The Dude's plans!"

"You ned the otherz to rescoo me!" Temmie shouted. "Quick! I havz mape!"

Something came soaring out of one tower, falling right for the heroes. Kris ran back and deftly caught the object. It was a map tied around a rock. They unwrapped the map and found a silly faced rock smiling back at them and blowing a raspberry.

"Don' let Rock's sacrefuice be in vain!" Temmie said. "Save everyone! Then saves us!"

"They have a map! Shoot them!" one guard called.

A hail of arrows rained down on them. Kris held up their shield and blocked the projectiles as Ralsei hid behind Susie. She spun her axe, chopping the arrows right out of the air. She growled, wanting to attack the castle right away, but cannons were already getting lowered at them. Some of the shells began moving, too. They were probably more monsters just like Crab Cakes. That had been one boss monster! If they were going to fight a whole army of them, they'd need everyone else!

"Come on! Down the rope!" Susie took hold of Ralsei and slid down the rope. Kris followed right after her.

Down on the ship, they quickly put their rug burned hands in the water to cool off. Berdly cut the ship loose and steered it for the opening to the rest of the canal. The cannons fired, but the grade was too steep for them to hit. Large, armored hermit crabs began descending the walls. Guards scrambled to aim their arrows down at the ship and hurl convenient stones.

The heroes all worked together to paddle and row the boat even faster away. Many arrows tore through their makeshift sails and were stuck in the wood. Some rocks punched sizable dents into the deck. Otherwise, they managed to escape unscathed. The hermit crabs were too slow with all their armor, but they gave Susie the shivers.

Once they were out of range from the castle's weapons, the heroes slowed down and took a breather. Kris inspected the map and discovered something surprising. The map was no generic piece of paper detailing the layout of this particular Dark World, it acted like a regular game map, indicating specific objectives and where they needed to go.

Kris noticed the faces and names of their friends, all behind bars except for Berdly, who was accompanying them. They quickly located Noelle, who was at the Upturned Icebergs. Catti was locked away in the Crimson Deep Keep, out at sea. Jockington was out in the sand dunes. Temmie was obviously back in The Dude's castle. Lastly, Monster Kid and Snowy were lost together in the Ancient Ruins.

On top of discovering the location of their friends, Kris marked that there were keys clearly labeled on the map as well. Two fragments of a great key that when reunited and repaired would form the key necessary to open The Dude's castle gate.

"Well, that means we have our work cut out for us," Susie grumbled. "Good thing Temmie got a hold of this and tossed it out to us."

"What if it's a trap?" Berdly worried.

"I dunno, those guards were kinda stupid," Susie said with a sideways glance. "I doubt they would have put up much of a fight. They've got numbers on their side and those big walls. Take that away and they're probably real pushovers. I'm wondering where The Dude is at."

"Probably hatching a villainous plot to destroy us all," Berdly complained.

"Or surfing and working on his tan," Ralsei said.

Kris agreed with Ralsei. They looked at the map and began prioritizing a route for completing everything. Going first to save Catti would make the most sense. They could sail with their boat and knock out two birds with one stone. They could then return to the Tackle Shop and go to save Noelle from there.

Berdly interjected and declared, "I'll take this fine vessel and rescue the fair cat maiden!"

The others looked at him dumbfounded and annoyed expressions.

"Dude, I don't think you can handle this boat on your own," Susie pointed out.

"Not to worry my beloved gamer girl!" Berdly said dramatically. "I have played many sailing games! I know exactly what I am doing. Besides, if we split up, we can cover more ground, rescuing everyone we need and getting the two key halves. While I am confident I can slip in and save Catti on my own, I would not say no to having a companion."

He blinked meaningfully at Susie. She groaned and stomped away, saying, "Okay Kris, we'll go and rescue Noelle. Berdly, you should be able to make it to Crimson Deep Keep without the map, so we'll take it. Better than getting lost in the sand dunes again."

The blue jay deflated a but quickly recovered. "Fear not, Kris! I'll rescue Catti and be back to the Tackle Shop in no time!"

"Do you know where it is/' Ralsei asked.

Embarrassed, Berdly asked to see the map.

It was a dumb plan, but Berdly would not be deterred; he really seemed to want to prove himself. He left the others on the shore and hurriedly sailed the jimmy rigged boat out into the crashing waters and towards the distant prison.

"You know he's going to fail," Susie deadpanned.

Kris shrugged. "Let's not waste his sacrifice. Come on. Let's save Noelle."

They once more returned to the rolling hills of beach sand.