"Did you find her?!"

Here it was.

The moment Pascal had been dreading.

The moment he'd meet up with Ms. Gothel again and she'd ask him that very question.

The moment he'd have to give her an answer.

An answer he hadn't fully worked out yet but had been hoping he'd come up with the perfect one when the time came.

He hesitated, averting his gaze as he smoothed an anxious hand over his shaved head before rubbing at the nape of his neck. Then he shrugged as he took in a breath to speak.

Welp, here goes nothing.

"Does it look like I found her?"

He winced.

Had that come out harsh? Pretty sure it had come out harsh.

Shoot, the whole point of dancing around the truth had been to not get fired, you big doofus.

Luckily Ms. Gothel hadn't seemed to notice as she groaned, turning away with her shoulders slumped, "Neither did we. Ugh, it's impossible, simply impossible searching this whole blasted fair for that foolish girl!"

Pascal glanced from her to Jakob who was just kind of awkwardly standing nearby, looking uncertain what to do with himself at the moment. Then the bodyguard glanced around them at the rest of the crowded festival before his gaze drifted skyward. Nightfall had just now descended. A few blocks away, a small golden light began to float up. He squinted at it. "...that lantern show is beginning now, isn't it? The one she was so excited to go see?"

She turned her head, squinting slightly at him out of the corner of her eye. "How do you know what she's excited about?"

He stiffened. Right. His boss didn't know about his and Rapunzel's little intercom chats. As more and more lanterns began to ascend all around them, he gave a tiny nervous chuckle, clearing his throat, "Heh, er… sorry, Ms. Gothel, but your conversations with your daughter inside your condo aren't exactly… quiet. Hard not to overhear a thing or two sometimes." Eh, true enough. "Anyway, I bet you have nothing to worry about. Once the lanterns are done, won't she just come home on her own anyway?"

She gave a small huff of annoyance, "But so much could happen to her before then, Pascal, so many terrible, awful things! That is of course if something hasn't already happened to her. And even if she does come back safe and sound, then I'll never hear the end of it! She'll want to go out all the time and I can't have that! The world is a dangerous place, especially for her."

"But-"

His words were abruptly cut off by an unholy, earth shattering noise that almost seemed to make the very ground beneath their feet quake. The people around them began to scream and run, forcefully shoving to get past the three of them as Jakob yelped and dove to hide behind Pascal. He then peeked out, looking in the direction everyone was rushing away from. He gulped and pointed, "W-what the h-heck is that?!"

Off in the distance, hovering over the buildings somewhere else in the festival was some sort of glowing white horrifying colossal… thing.

No seriously… what on earth was that?!

"That," Ms. Gothel declared triumphantly and with zero trace of doubt, "is exactly where we'll find my daughter! Let's go!"

"You don't mean we're actually running towards that thing?! Are you completely off your rocker, lady?!" Jakob whined.

Ignoring him, she started running against the flow of the frantic mob, calling back over her shoulder, "Come, Pascal! And bring the scaredy-cat!"

Okay, this was crazy. Scratch that, they'd gone way past crazy at this point and were full on in straight jacket territory by now. But after half the stuff Pascal had seen and heard over the past couple days? He hardly felt fazed anymore.

He turned to Jakob, who was slowly taking a step back and shaking his head as he waved his hands back and forth in front of him.

The kid may have been big and so probably not used to being forced to do things he didn't want to do.

Unluckily for him?

Pascal was bigger.

In the blink of the eye and with another yelp from Jakob, Pascal had slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Then he was charging off after Ms. Gothel and straight towards that monstrous leviathan.

"Okay, anyone care to explain to me what those little flying bastards are? Cuz they sure as hell aren't lanterns," Maximus growled out, eyes narrowed as he stared up at the swarm coming together to form some sort of gargantuan horror above.

"Nobodies," Sora said, scowling up at them as well.

"They're like the Pyjama Monsters?" Rapunzel gasped.

Sora nodded. "They've probably been Nobodies this whole time, just lying in wait all day around the festival, pretending to be lanterns until they were all ready to ambush. I should've noticed sooner!"

"Ah." A pause, then Maximus quirked his eyebrow. "...run that by me again, they're what?"

"New guy not caught up on all the lingo yet, huh?" Axel snerked, his own gaze also locked on the looming threat. "Lemme spell it out for you real simple-like: them bad. We good. We make them go splat," he slammed a fist into his open palm for emphasis.

"Erm… you sure we're not the ones about to go splat?" Flynn asked as once again hundreds of eerie voices came together to unleash another ear splitting roar before the flying titan swooped down into a dive-bomb straight for them.

"Duck!" Sora shouted, jumping down off the stage into a roll across the pavement and staying crouched low. Everyone else dropped to the ground as the thing closed in, its shadow sweeping over them all like a blanket of darkness. At the last second it veered up, passing by so close that it set all their hair whipping wildly in the rush of wind left in its wake. It crashed into a building as it rose into the sky once more, making the bricks all but explode on impact and sending debris flying everywhere.

"Hey, where's it going?" Axel hopped up to his full height once more, cocking his head slightly as he watched it soar ever higher. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he yelled after it, "Get your big stupid glowy butt back here, ya overstuffed chicken!"

"I'm sure it'll be back," Elsa said as she picked herself up as well. "In the meantime, there's still plenty of those little monsters who didn't join the rest of the pack that are terrorizing the people here. We should help them!"

Sure enough, the public square around them was still a scrambled mess of fleeing innocent bystanders. Too many people were trying to squeeze out of exits that were too narrow and making it hard for everyone to clear out. Some were just rushing around in a blind panic, too scared to even find an exit. The lantern creatures that had broken off from the massive horde were now scattered about, singling out and attacking prey attempting to run for their lives.

One father could be seen half running, half stumbling across the plaza as he carried a small child in one arm while dragging a second kid behind him by the hand. He was looking around desperately trying to find cover, but he wasn't finding it fast enough. Several of the lantern beasts had spotted the small family and were now racing towards them, claws outstretched as they opened their jagged, misshapen mouths wide and breathed gouts of fire. The father made the mistake of glancing back towards their pursuers, only to trip over his own two feet and fall roughly to the ground. With those things barreling straight towards them, he only had time to hug his kids close and try to shield them with his body.

Just as the Nobodies were about to strike however, a wintry blast laced with deadly ice shards slammed against them. A few of them were shredded and ripped apart into nothing more than wisps of light that flickered out. The remaining ones that survived were knocked back, but quickly recovered. Unleashing hellish wails, they charged once more only to have Elsa step in, placing herself between them and the family. Glaring at the possessed lanterns, she thrust her hands forward, raising a massive frozen wall just in time for them all to crash hard against it.

"That won't stop them for long," Elsa called back over her shoulder towards the family. "Go on, run!"

The three of them didn't budge, just gawked at her from where they all still sat on the ground.

Axel ran up beside her then, snickering, "What, never seen a girl tossing ice powers around before? You heard her, scram!" With that, he flung his arms out to either side of him, fire suddenly erupting from his fingertips. That seemed to jolt the father to his senses, who all but jumped to his feet now and snatched up his kids (one's jaw still hanging slack in awe, the other excitedly cheering) before yanking them away.

Shaking his head with a tiny smirk, Axel's eyes zeroed in on the next small pack swooping after another frightened victim trying to escape. He dashed off towards them, the flames in his hand burning brighter as they swirled faster and faster, taking on the shapes of his chakrams. As he closed in, his arms whipped forward, launching his weapons. Blazing metal tore into several of the Nobodies and obliterated them as they gave out their last angry shrieks.

The chakrams looped back around aiming for the few that'd escaped unscathed, but a gold and silver spinning blur vanquished the little monsters first before streaking through the air in an arc and zooming straight for Sora. He held up his hand just in time to catch his Keyblade out of the air and immediately assumed a defensive stance against the next attack, wherever it may come from.

"Hey, those were mine!" Axel pouted as his chakrams returned to his own grip as well.

Sora slashed his Keyblade, taking out another enemy before shrugging his shoulders and smiling big. "You shoulda been faster."

Axel narrowed his eyes at him, tossing one scorching chakram over his shoulder without looking and eliminating a lantern Nobody. Then he grinned, "Bet I can slaughter more of these lil punks than you."

"You're on!" In a burst of neon green, his shield popped out of his bracer to protect him from a fire blast coming from another one of those creatures as it descended upon him. When it got close enough, he slammed his shield against it and pinned it to the ground before stabbing it with his blade. "Pretty sure that's five for me and only four for you, big guy. You're already losing."

"Not for long."

"Please tell me you two aren't seriously making a game out of this!" Elsa snapped as she ran past them and shot off a frost beam, freezing another one solid and making it plummet to the pavement where it shattered into pieces.

Sora stiffened, "Hey, he started it! I was just destroying Fireflies!"

Pausing at that, Axel blinked before furrowing his brow. "Um… Fireflies?"

"Heh," Sora gave a sheepish laugh, ruffling his fingers through his spiky hair. "Just a name I came up with on the spot for these lantern thingies. Get it? Cuz, ya know… they breathe fire and can fly, so… Fireflies."

"Pft, laaaaaaaaaaame," Axel scoffed, flinging his weapons off once more. They twirled around each other, creating a flaming whirlwind that started incinerating any Nobodies not quick enough to move out of its way. "What next, you gonna start calling your Keyblade a Pokey-McStabby because you poke and stab things with it?"

"Ha. Ha," Sora said flatly as he lunged, making yet another baddy explode into nothing but a shower of glimmering little lights. He then frowned over at Axel and challenged, "Like you could come up with a better name for these monsters."

He batted a dismissive hand. "Please, I've already come up with twenty."

"Fine then, wise guy, name one."

"Jackass-o-Lanterns."

"We are not calling them that," Elsa rolled her eyes as with a flick of her wrist, several more lanterns were skewered on giant ice spikes that emerged up from the ground.

"Aw, c'mon-"

"Just zip it and take out more Fireflies!" she told him before catching sight of someone else in danger and running off to help them.

Sora smugly stuck his tongue out at Axel, who simply shook his head, "Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, o master of the most ridiculous weapon of all time. But by my count, I've now stamped out twice as many as you have. Gonna have to pick up the pace if you wanna beat me, champ."

His head rocked back at that. "Wha- Nu uh, liar! You haven't even been doing anything, you've just been standing there!"

One corner of his lips twitched up and he said nothing, merely jerked a thumb over his shoulder as his chakrams rushed past behind him in a fiery vortex seeking out more Nobodies to feed its hungry flames.

Stomping a petulant foot down, Sora huffed, "That's cheating, no fair!"

"Hey, all's fair in love and making lil twerps like you eat my monster clobbering dust," he snerked, flicking him in the forehead.

Glowering, Sora swatted his hand away before spinning on his heel and bolting off.

Oh-ho, he was gonna make that jerk eat his words!

Spotting another pack of Fireflies chasing down a little girl, Sora shouted, "Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" The Nobodies all slowed to a stop, swiveling around to face him. Then with sinister howls, they streaked through the air straight towards him.

Sora skidded to a halt, narrowing his eyes at the lanterns as they drew nearer. Axel wanted to go all overkill with his powers on these things? Fine, two could play at that game. Sora jabbed his Keyblade up high over his head, one of the glyphs on his bracer flaring up in a bright blue and-

Kzzzzzt-BOOM!

He yelped as a tiny explosion went off inside his armguard, making it billow with smoke and sizzle. "What the…?" he hissed, waving his arm about to clear the black cloud.

Well, that's not what it was supposed to do!

He'd been trying to call down lightning bolts to zap those creatures. And that? Sure as heck hadn't been lightning!

Frowning, he raised his Keyblade to try again. Once more the sigil on his bracer glowed blue but it was much weaker now, flickering in and out as tiny sparks shot off it. Nostrils flared, he focused on it harder, willing it to work and-

Nothing.

The duck glyph fizzled out and went dark. "What the?!" he shook his head as he lowered his weapon, narrowing his eyes at his bracer. What was going on? Thinking back, it'd seemed to have a similar hiccup the night before when they were fighting at the nightclub. It'd sparked then too and his magic hadn't worked right away, but it had worked eventually. Now it wasn't working at all. Was something wrong? How-

Several unearthly shrieks yanked him out of his thoughts. Right, no time to puzzle this out just yet, not with those evil lanterns about to pounce! He'd have to figure out what the problem with his magic was later. With the Fireflies stretching their jaws open wide and only seconds away from being close enough to burn him to a crisp, Sora raised his arm to block as the dog emblem on his brace gleamed emerald, summoning his-

…absolute zilch.

With a tiny mechanical whine, the green light dimmed and died out.

Great, now his shield wasn't working either?!

"Sora!"

"Huh?" He turned his head to see Rapunzel as she came swooping in to snatch him up and out of harm's way just as the Fireflies unleashed jets of flame exactly where he'd been standing a split second ago. Apparently having already freed her hair from its braid, Rapunzel swung from it now, carrying them both as she flashed him a huge grin.

"Thanks Punzie!" he beamed back.

As they continued sailing through the air, she shook her head, "Don't mention it. But hey, something wrong with your little bracelet thingamajig?"

"Dunno. Don't got the time right now to stop and figure out what's up with it. Guess I'll just have to make do with my Keyblade, at least that's still working." He then turned his gaze for a quick scan about the area, then pointed. "There! That lady needs help, let's go!"

"Right!" She steered her swing towards where some woman could be seen sprawled face down on the ground - oh no, hopefully they weren't already too late! A group of Fireflies were closing in on her but Sora and Rapunzel got there first, landing in front of her and blocking their foes' path.

Immediately Sora leapt into action, a golden aura enveloping his whole body as he jabbed his Keyblade forward into a dash. He pierced several of the lantern beasts before turning and sliding into another dash, then another, and another, taking out several more of the things. Sharp snaps filled the air as Rapunzel whipped her hair about, dealing with any stragglers he missed. Then she twirled her golden locks about a couple times to gain momentum before launching it all upward where it latched onto the top of a lamppost. Backing up a few steps, she picked her feet up off the ground and swung into a kick, bowling through the Nobodies before landing next to the woman's prone form. Too many of those creatures were closing in now so she whirled her hair in giant vicious circles around her, knocking them all away.

"Nice one, Punzie!" Sora called out as he dodged a fire burst aimed at him before continuing to hack and slash his way through Fireflies.

"Thanks, I call that lil move the Hairricane!" she laughed, lashing out her tresses at another Firefly that had brandished its claws and attempted to strike at her. Not gonna lie - this whole being a superhero thing was kind of fun!

"Alright, that's the last of this pack," Sora declared as he stabbed the only remaining one. Then he was running over to join Rapunzel next to the lady. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

She shook her head as she kneeled down. "I got it from here. Go, there are more people that still need saving, I'll jump in too once I'm done here."

She watched as Sora nodded and ran off then turned her gaze on the woman once more who was still face planted into the ground, seemingly unconscious. All Rapunzel could make out was the thick curly black hair tumbling down the lady's back. Clearing her throat softly, she began, "Um… Not sure if you're awake and can hear me or not, but just in case, er… hi there!" She gave a tiny awkward wave. Brilliant, considering the person couldn't see her at the moment. "I'm here to help!" she hastily tacked on before slowly reaching a hand out for her. "Now I'm going to come off as a bit of a weirdo here because I'm about to wrap my hair around you and start humming, but don't freak out, I'm not! Er, a weirdo, that is, heh… just, uh, just trust me, it'll all make sense in just a-"

Wait.

…thick curly black hair?

No… it couldn't be… no way, it wasn't-

"Got you!" the lady cried out triumphantly as her hand suddenly shot up to snatch Rapunzel's wrist and she sat up, revealing the face of none other than-

"Mother?!" Rapunzel gasped, falling flat on her rear. "Wha- Where did you- What are you even doing here?!"

Ms. Gothel gave a small harrumph as she stood up and dusted herself off. "I could ask you the same thing, missy! You've had me worried sick! Do you have any idea what you've put me through? I swear, you've given me wrinkles and gray hairs that weren't there yesterday from all the stress! What is our one rule?"

All shock vanished, replaced with a little growl emitting from her throat as she jumped up to her feet as well, "Ugh, Mother, this isn't-"

"Rapunzel! Tell me, what is our one rule?" she demanded, crossing her arms as Pascal emerged from hiding somewhere to stand guard next to his employer. Most likely he'd been protecting her from afar to make sure she didn't get attacked before Rapunzel showed up to "rescue" her.

Rapunzel didn't reply at first, just shifted her gaze to shoot an accusing look at Pascal. He was, after all, at the very least an accomplice to this little trap Mother had laid for her by playing the defenseless victim. The bodyguard had the decency to look guilty, averting his gaze. With a low hmph, she focused on her mom once more, grumbling, "To never ever leave the condo."

Ms. Gothel lifted her chin. "And what did you do?"

"...I left the condo. But Mother, you know why I left, I wanted- no, needed to see the lanterns up close! You have to know by now just how much this meant to me!"

"Oh-ho, she wanted to see the lanterns," she chuckled coldly. As if on cue, a random fairgoer ran by behind her, screaming his head off as a group of said lanterns hunted him down. Ms. Gothel deadpanned, "Tell me, darling, how exactly is that working out for you, hm?"

Rapunzel winced, muttering under her breath, "Granted, it's not perfect… it's all a bit more, well, ya know… murdery than I pictured, but-"

"Sweetie, please," she interrupted her with a sigh, massaging her fingertips into her temples, "stop with the mumbling. You know how I feel about the mumbling."

Expression hardening, she squared her shoulders. "But it didn't start out this way! In fact, it started out beautiful! Beautiful and magical and, and… wonderful! And I have to tell you, Mother, the world isn't as terrible of a place as you make it out to be, it's not out to get me or, or… use me or kill me or-"

A spine-chilling shriek pierced the air just then and they all looked up as a Firefly descended upon them, spindly claws raking the air and mouth parted, the beginnings of a flame sparking within the abyss inside. Pascal whipped out his handgun and blasted the thing into oblivion. Planting her hands on her hips, Ms. Gothel gave a smug little sniff, "Sorry, dear, you were saying…?"

Rolling her eyes, Rapunzel puffed out an annoyed sigh, "Alright, fine, correction: Some - I repeat, some but not all of it may or may not be out to kill me, better? The point is, shouldn't I be the one who gets to make the decision over whether I want to risk it or not? I'm eighteen now, I'm old enough to decide for myself, I don't need you protecting me all the time anymore and-" A hint of movement caught her attention, her gaze shifted and she cut herself off with an abrupt intake of breath, "You!"

She had just spotted Jakob peeking out from behind Pascal. He glanced around for a second, trying to figure out who she was yelling at before it dawned on him. Then he pointed an uncertain finger at himself, "Me?"

"You tried to kidnap me!" Rapunzel glared at him, stomping one step towards him.

His eyes widened. "I did?" Then he frowned, eyebrows knitting together as he scratched the back of his head. "...no… no, I don't think so…"

With a tiny scoff, she said, "Pretty sure I'd remember the face of someone who tried to kidnap me not fifteen minutes ago."

"Couldn't have been him, kid's been under our watchful eyes all day," Pascal chimed in with a shake of his head.

Jakob inhaled sharply, "That musta been Jo! He's my brother." He squinted at her then, tipping his head to one side. "...why would Jo try to kidnap you?"

"How should I know?! You tell me!"

"As simply fascinating as this all is, truly," Ms. Gothel drawled in a tone that suggested it was anything but, "we're going to have to put a pin in this conversation. Come Rapunzel," she took her hand and started leading her away, "we're going home this instant."

Digging her heels in, she snapped, "No!"

She stiffened, slowly turning her cool gaze on her daughter, one eye twitching slightly as she asked in a dangerously quiet voice, "Excuse me, young lady?"

Rapunzel jerked her hand free. "You heard me, Mother! There are people here in trouble. I can't simply turn my back on them and walk away, not when I can help!"

"But why does it have to be you that helps them?" She gestured her hands out wide towards everyone else battling the lantern beasts. "Aren't there plenty of others around already playing hero? This isn't a game, you'll only get in the way or hurt yourself or make things worse!"

"You're wrong, I- ugh!" She let out a huff of frustration. "Listen, Mother, I don't have time to argue with you right now! I promise I'll go home with you, but first I am helping and I am not leaving until everyone here is safe!" With that she turned away, a fistful of her hair in hand that she began to whirl about at her side faster and faster.

"Oh no you don't, missy, don't you dare even think about swinging off on your hair and-" Ms. Gothel lunged for her, but too late. Rapunzel had already lassoed a nearby tree branch and took off. The older woman watched her go with a dark look, stewing quietly, "Oh-ho, when I get my hands on that girl, armageddon will seem like a fun little picnic compared to what I have in store for her disobedient hiney."

Oblivious to the murderous thoughts her mother was currently harboring, Rapunzel swung onward, surveying the battlefield and trying to figure out where she could be the most useful. It wasn't long before she spotted a couple familiar faces - Eugene and that college buddy of his, Maxie. Not surprising that they'd teamed up, considering they were still handcuffed together. Maxie had pulled out a pistol (huh… bit of an odd thing to bring to a festival, but then Maxie seemed like an oddball in general) and was shooting Fireflies left and right, while Eugene was just covering his ears against the loud gunfire.

Since they seemed to have things under control in this area, she swung by and kept going, just waving and calling out as she passed them, "Hey Eu- I mean, Flynn! C'mon, join in on the fun!"

He glanced up just in time to see her blur by and he hastily if a bit awkwardly returned the wave before wincing as another blast went off from the detective's revolver. Glaring at him out of the corner of his eye, he said, "Alright, Mr. Trigger-Happy, whaddya say to letting me off the leash?" He gave his wrist a little shake, jiggling the cuffs.

"I say not a goddamn snowball's chance in hell," Maximus snarled back, one eye squeezed shut as he took aim at a cackling Nobody rushing them and blasted it to kingdom come.

Flynn facepalmed, dragging his hand down, narrowed eyes peeking out between his fingers. "Oh would you unclench already and work with me here! If you'd just think for one second, you'd realize I could help with the fighting if you let me go!"

He gave a derisive snort at that. "Yeah right. The second I let you go is the same second you bolt to save your own sorry hide."

"Oh for the love of- look around you! There are bigger things at stake here than you making sure you're able to toss one measly master thief behind bars! And dammit, I'm not planning on running anyhow! Oh sure, maybe if this had all been happening the day before yesterday, the old me would've gladly left you high and dry without so much as a backward glance-"

Maximus fixed him with a look, eyelids drooped.

Right, not exactly making your case here, bud.

Clearing his throat, Flynn pressed on in a rush, "But keyword there, that was the old me. I'm a changed man now and if you let me go, trust me, I'll kick some serious lantern freak butt! Besides, won't you have an easier time fending off these little creeps without having one arm chained down by dead weight?"

Maximus made no response, just kept shooting Fireflies out of the air. Flynn feared the case he'd made had fallen on deaf ears. But then finally the detective's lip curled in disdain as he hung his head and muttered, "Oh, I am so going to regret this…"

Flynn's face lit up. "You won't! And in just a second, I'll be able to prove to you that you won't! Just give me the keys to the cuffs and we can get this party started!"

He fired his gun off once more, exploding the nearest Firefly and giving them a momentary breather. His hand went to one pocket of his trench coat where it fished around briefly. Then it went to the other pocket. Pursing his lips to one side, he then started patting himself from his chest downward. "Er… 'bout that…"

"You lost the keys?!" Flynn snapped incredulously. "How could you lose the freaking keys, man, that's like Detective 101, it's what they teach you badge-wielding bozos on the first day of detective school: how not to lose the goddamn keys! What kind of useless, bungling, two-bit-"

The barrel of the pistol was suddenly pointed directly at his face and he immediately shut up. Maximus scowled at him for one tense second - one seriously long tense second. But then his aim shifted to the links binding their wrists together and he pulled the trigger.

Flynn yelped as the blast went off, pinching his eyes shut and turning away. Once his ears had stopped ringing, he cautiously peeked one eye open and lifted his arm for a look. Dangling from his wrist now was one half of the handcuff, the chain broken, mangled and smoking at the end. He was free. Breathing a sigh of relief, he then glared daggers at Maximus. "Hey, you coulda warned me first!"

The detective merely shrugged as he went back to using the Fireflies for target practice.

Giving a tiny harrumph, Flynn then broke out into a smirk as he rolled his shoulders. "Alright, now just hand me a gun so I can work my monster slaying magic!"

"Ha!" Maximus barked with a shake of his head. "No way am I giving Flynn Rider a weapon! Sorry, pal, but if you actually plan on sticking around so you can play pretend at being a hero, you're going to have to find some other way to work your monster slaying magic."

Rude. Flynn didn't care for this guy's tone!

Fine then, if the detective wasn't going to be so kind as to lend him a firearm, Flynn would just have to figure something else out to defend himself with. Should be simple enough, just had to take a quick glance around and pick up the first thing he saw. Surely there was something closeby, didn't have to get fancy with it, could be anything! A large metal pipe or a bit of wood, like the broken off leg of a picnic table… heck, he'd even take a big rock right about now, or-

He froze as his eyes landed on a nearby abandoned vendor booth.

More specifically, a cookware booth.

Even more specifically, the discount rack stationed just outside of the cookware booth.

Most specifically, a particular object hanging from said discount rack outside the cookware booth.

That object being?

A frying pan.

Bingo.

It was almost as if clouds had parted to shine a heavenly light down upon it while the disembodied angelic voices of an ethereal choir sang somewhere nearby.

In the space of a heartbeat, he'd closed the distance and snatched it up in hand. He felt its weight in his grip momentarily, considering it. Would it be enough?

A sudden screech had him jerking his gaze up just in time to see a Firefly barreling straight for him, claws outstretched and ready to rend flesh, a fiery trail left through the air in its wake. Without thought, Flynn swung the frying pan wildly, hitting the thing into a post supporting the booth and crushing it between the wood and the metal of his makeshift weapon.

As it poofed into an eruption of lights that scattered all around him, Flynn blinked. Then he smirked. "Oh yeah, just call me the Extinguisher cuz I'm about to be a lantern snuffing machine!"

With that, he charged into the fray, covering Maximus's back from any Nobodies that tried to ambush him from behind. As he parried a slash from one Firefly and thwacked another one away, he called out over his shoulder, "You should know that this is the strangest thing I've ever done!"

Maximus blew out an amused little huff through his nose as he shot another one out of the air. "Fighting off cursed lantern demons with nothing but an iron skillet? Yeah, I'd certainly hope so!"

Thankfully, there weren't that many left at this point. By now, their tiny band had managed to eliminate most of the lanterns on the ground. As Sora destroyed the last one he was facing off against, he took a quick glance around the plaza to discover that the area was now more or less safe - at least for the moment. Grinning, he cupped a hand to his mouth, took a deep breath and called out, "Alright, form up, team!"

Everyone else finished wiping out their own foes before rushing to all meet in the middle of the public square. Axel cocked an eyebrow at Sora. "Form up, team?" he echoed dryly before snickering. "Just when I thought you couldn't get any lamer than coming up with the name Fireflies, you go and say something like that."

"And yet you came running when I said it," he smiled back, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Heh, who's the lame one now, huh?"

"Still you." The redhead gave him another flick to the forehead for good measure.

"These little freakshows weren't so tough," Maximus spoke up then. "Single the bastards out on their own and they're just a buncha small fries that are easy pickings really."

Elsa frowned, crossing her arms, "I don't think it's the lone ones we should be worried about."

"Yeah," Rapunzel nodded, "I'm more scared when they group up. Speaking of, where-"

A nearby booth suddenly exploded into flames, making several of them yelp and duck as fiery wreckage flew every which way. Then it happened to another one, only this time they all saw the cause - a gigantic fireball hurling down from the sky to crush the structure beneath its weight and burn it to the ground. As a massive shadow stretched across the plaza and engulfed them, they all looked up.

The serpentine flying behemoth formed by hundreds of possessed lanterns coming together had returned.

And it was quite literally raining hellfire down upon them all.

Author's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Just your standard chapter where the heroes run around killing the first wave of cannon fodder while everyone gets their time to shine! Punzie and her mother are temporarily reunited and (surprise surprise) it didn't go well xD And Flynn has been reunited with his one true love - the frying pan! xP Next chapter tho, the gang faces off against the big fiery swarmy kahuna itself!

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