AN-Sorry for taking so long. Had some real life events slowing me down. The next four chapters are something that I've been building up to since the start of season 2 so I hope y'all enjoy it.
...
"What the heck were you thinking?!" Lori angrily shouted at Rick.
Rick was currently in the garage working on some kind of device. He didn't turn to look at her. "What?"
"What do you think?" Lori snapped. "You punched my boyfriend! Did you seriously think I'd be okay with that?"
Rick sighed before turning to her. "Well Lori, it wouldn't have happened if you two had just done as I said and stayed in the car. But because you didn't listen to me, I had to deal with an entire race of snake aliens. So hopefully, he'll listen to me next time." He pointed to his black eye. "B-Besides, his sister gave one back so I'd say we're even."
Lori growled in annoyance. "There you go again, blaming everyone but yourself. What happened to trying to be a better person? Every time it seemed like you were getting better, you'd regress and start acting like a jerk again. Did you even mean it when you said you'd try to be better? Or did you only say that to try and placate me so I wouldn't tell my parents on you?"
"That's not..." Rick groaned in annoyance. "You just don't get it, Lori."
"What don't I get? That our lives are pointless because there's infinite universes so it doesn't matter how much of a jerk you are? Or is it something else that you aren't telling us?" Rick didn't answer her as he found himself unable to look her in the eyes. Lori glared at Rick in response. "You know what? Forget it. I'm literally done trying with you. Do what you want but leave me and my siblings out of it." Lori then stormed out of the garage, slamming the door behind her.
After Lori left, Rick then took out his flask and downed all of its contents. Once he was finished, he stared down at his empty flask for a moment before angrily throwing at the wall. "Motherfucker!" Rick cursed before massaging his temples. Why did he keep doing this to himself? To stay in control? To stay at the top? To keep himself from getting bored? To protect himself from getting hurt? "Fucking Lynn..." Rick muttered to himself. There he went, blaming someone else for his own issues again. He truly was the king of shit. He really should just grab his laser gun and...
Rick shook his head. He wasn't going to let the universe beat him like that. He wasn't going to lose. Tired, exhausted and drunk, Rick then stumbled into his room before slumping onto his bed, falling asleep within seconds.
...
All of the siblings were in the bathroom, wearing their pyjamas and brushing their teeth as they were getting ready to go to bed. "So, what were you taking with Grandpa Rick about?" Luna decided to ask Lori.
Lori sighed. "It doesn't matter."
"Hope you all have a fun Valentines day tomorrow!" Rita shouted to the siblings from outside of the bathroom.
This caused all of the siblings to pause, besides Lily. All of them went wide-eyed and stared forward as the events of last year flashed in their minds. Lucy looked downwards. "It's really been a year, huh?"
There was another moment of silence before Luna let out a frustrated sigh. "Dudes, c'mon. How many times are we gonna dwell on that incident? Can we not just let it go already? It's not like anything like that will happen again anyway."
Luan nodded. "Luna's right. We need to stop letting that get to us."
Lincoln noticed that Lynn was uncharacteristically silent. She had been rather withdrawn ever since the Heistotron incident. He hadn't seen her act like this since when she first started middle school. While a part of him wanted to say something to her, he doubted he'd be able to do anything besides make things worse. Just like he always does. It seemed like helping people was the only thing that gave Lincoln a sense of self worth. But even that was something he was bad at. Why would someone as self-centred as him be any help to anyone anyway?
"Lincoln?" Lincoln turned to Lucy, who had a concerned look on her face upon noticing Lincoln's troubled expression. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Lincoln quickly replied. He didn't need his sisters' pity. He knew they'd try to spare his feelings and try to convince him that he was worth more than he really is. It's best if he just kept his feelings to himself so that he wouldn't bother his sisters any further.
Once he was done in the bathroom, Lincoln quickly went into his room and went to bed, sleeping his troubles away.
...
The next morning, Lincoln was awakened by his alarm blaring much louder than normal. "AH!" This also had the strange effect of causing Lincoln to fly up into the air before landing back onto his bed. He groaned in pain for a moment before looking around his room. Something was definitely wrong. Not only were his walls pink, all of his furniture looked oddly misshapen. With how strange and colourful everything looked, it almost felt like he was in a cartoon. "What the...?" He got up out of bed and stepped out of his room to see his sisters all step out of their rooms, apart from Lily.
"Uh, dudes? Is it me, or is the house looking a little funkier than usual?" Luna asked.
"I don't think it smells bad." Leni answered. "But, like, everything looks kinda weird now."
Lori growled in anger. "What did Rick do this time?!" She then stomped down the stairs as the rest of her siblings followed her. "Rick!" Lori shouted as she entered the living room. Seeing that no one was in the living room, she entered the dining room, only to pause upon seeing her parents and Lily. "Uh..."
"Morning Lori-Lou!" Lynn Sr. greeted exuberantly. He was currently holding a plate of pancakes while Rita and Lily were sat at the table. What caught Lori's attention though were the wacky, colourful outfits that they were all wearing. "I made pancaaaakes!" Lynn Sr. sang. He then took a step forward before slipping on a banana peel. "Whoa!" He slipped up and landed on the floor before pancakes all landed on his head. "Oopsie daisy!"
Rita giggled. "Oh, you."
Lori stood there with her mouth hung open as the rest of the siblings came in. Leni immediately covered her eyes at the sight of her parents. "Ew! What are they wearing? I can't look!"
At that moment, a cranky Rick, who looked like he was still recovering from a hangover, then entered the room. "All right, who did it? Who took the infinity ball? Was it..." Rick looked around the room in confusion. "Lola?"
"What are you talking about?" Lori asked. "What did you do? What's an infinity ball?"
"I didn't do any of this." Rick responded before groaning. "Ok, long story short, me, Lincoln and Lynn found an infinity ball while we were out on an adventure so I decided to take it home to keep it safe. I assumed the reason that things look so fucked up right now is because one of you took it."
"Uh, guys?" Everyone turned to Lincoln who was currently looking out of the window. Everyone else then looked out of the window to see the world outside had also changed and now resembled a cartoonish, fairytale land. The sky was pink with a sparkling rainbow going across it, the houses were misshapen and were all different colours and the people outside were all wearing strange, outlandish clothing.
They even noticed Mr. Goldenfold wearing a pink ballerina outfit, dancing down the street. "I feel so pretty!" He exclaimed.
"Dudes, look!" Everyone looked to where Luna was pointing. There appeared to be a glowing white line across the ground, inbetween their house and Mr. Grouse's house. On the other side of the line, the rest of Royal Woods looked completely different. Instead of bright and colourful, everything was black and white like an old film and the buildings all looked old fashioned. Upon closer inspection, they noticed the sky looked different at another part of town as well, off in the distance. It was hard to tell from where they were but the sky looked much darker over there than here or in the area next to them.
Rick noticed this as well as he looked out of the window. "What the-there's multiple infinity balls now? How the fuck did this happen?"
"Could please explain what an infinity ball is already?" Lori pleaded.
"It's the most powerful item in the universe. It's also extremely dangerous. If someone touches one of them, it changes the reality around them. It creates the perfect reality for them where everything and everyone bends to their will, basically turning them into a God. The area this affects is usually about the length of a town but it looks like having, uh..." Rick stared out of the window for a moment. "Four of them in the same town is interfering with that."
Luan raised an eyebrow at Rick. "You know, these infinity balls kinda sound like-"
"Whatever similarity they have to a Marvel property is completely coincidental." Rick quickly stated. "They don't even work the same."
Lori glanced at her parents, who had started making strange animal noises. "So if these infinity balls take over people's minds, how come we weren't affected?"
"Lucky for you, I didn't bring an infinity ball back just to put it on display. I've been running some experiments on it to see if there was a way to block its affects. It's hard to explain but it brainwashes people using these...supernatural waves. I messed with the tracking devices Lisa placed in your brains to block out those waves."
"But why didn't you do that for our parents and Lily?"
"Because what the fuck kind of help could they offer in this situation?"
"So how come your clothes aren't all pink?" Lana asked.
"Follow me kids." Rick said as he made his way to the garage. Upon entering, the siblings noticed that it was unaffected by the infinity ball's influence. "It took a little research but I found out that the stuff that goes into making portal fluid can block the effects of an infinity ball. See, I had a feeling that ONE of you might have tried to take an infinity ball so I've made sure to prepare us for it." Rick then pressed a button on the wall, revealing the Full House Gang wardrobe.
...
Apart from Lincoln, all of the siblings were wearing their Full House Gang outfits as they all stood outside, waiting for Rick as he had gone back inside to do some 'last minute preparations' as he had put it. "What is taking him so long?!" Lola complained as the siblings had been waiting for Rick for a while.
Eventually, Rick left the house, now wearing a pair of rubber gloves and with the container with his own infinity ball inside it strapped to his back. "So it turns out my infinity ball wasn't actually stolen, which means some asshole took four infinity balls from other universes and decided to just give them to four randos here in Royal Woods."
"Who would do this? I thought you were the only one who could reach alternate universes?" Lori asked.
"If I were to guess, I'd say another Rick did this probably just to fuck with me." Rick deduced. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, we need to focus on getting those infinity balls off of whoever the fuck has them. Now, not only do infinity balls fuck with other people's heads, it also fucks with whoever has hold of it. As far as I know, there's never been a situation where four people hold an infinity ball each in one place. Chances are whoever has them aren't gonna be happy about the parts of Royal Woods that aren't part of their perfect reality so there's a good probability that they may try to grab each other's balls."
"Rick, can you please-"
Rick sighed. "Give me a break, Lori, I don't usually have to give exposition this long. Anyway, I don't know what would happen if someone had more than one infinity ball. Let alone four. Chances are it'd probably affect the whole planet and I don't know if the measures I've taken to block its effects would work at that point. It'd be best if we take away their balls as quickly as possible. That's why we'll be splitting up."
"How come Lincoln doesn't have his outfit?" Lola then decided to ask.
"Lincoln won't need his. He'll be going with me to deal with whatever old guy made that area." Rick gestured to the area next to them before handing Lincoln his own pair of gloves to put on.
"It's okay. It's probably for the best. I doubt I'd be much help anyway." Lincoln admitted, causing his sisters and Rick give him confused and concerned looks.
"Uh, right. Anyway, Lisa, Lana, Lola, you'll stay in this area and deal with this fairytale nonsense." Rick instructed.
Lisa sighed. "Very well."
"Luna, Luan, Lucy, you three head on over to that dark, creepy area over there." Rick pointed towards the distance where the sky had gone dark.
"Cool." Lucy responded while Luna and Luan looked somewhat concerned.
"Lori, Leni and Lynn, it's a little hard to see from here but there's another area downtown that I'll need you three to deal with."
Lori couldn't help but looked worried. "But that's where Bobby and his family lives."
Rick nodded. "Yeah, like I said, everyone's going to be brainwashed into basically worshiping whoever's holding the ball so I'd be careful with dealing with people." He then handed each of the siblings an ear piece. "We'll use these to stay in contact. Oh and uh, I'd try not to stay too close to whoever's holding those balls. I haven't exactly had any chance to test how much our chips block infinity ball waves and chances are, the closer we are to them, the stronger those waves are. Alright, let's move." Rick then grabbed Lincoln's arm as he made his way to the black and white area. The rest of the siblings all gave each other one final glance before going their separate ways.
...
Upon entering the area, Lincoln immediately noticed that while their bodies seemed to also go black and white, his and Rick's clothes stayed the same. Rick had an irritated look on his face. "Ugh, if I ever have to deliver that level of exposition ever again, it'd be too soon."
Lincoln looked around the street. Everyone here appeared to be wearing old fashioned clothing. He turned to Rick. "So how are we going to find whoever has that infinity ball?"
"Well, since this is meant to be their perfect reality, I'd assume everyone here would be obsessed with them. If we can find a large crowd or something like that, we'll probably find them there." Rick explained before pausing. "Oh shit, look, it's PB!"
Sure enough, Lincoln saw Mr. Poopybutthole across the street along with his wife who was pushing an old fashioned baby stroller with their son in it. Just like everyone else, they were wearing outdated fashioned as Mr. Poopybutthole was wearing an old suit while his wife was wearing a wrap dress. "We might get a clue on where our guy is if we talk to him. Just stay cool." Rick told Lincoln as they approached the couple. "Hey, how's it going?"
"Golly gee, I'm doing just fine, ooh wee!" Mr. Poopybutthole replied enthusiastically.
"Great, great uh...so where're you headed. Going to see anyone important or...?"
"Oh, we're just doing a little bit of shopping. Why'd you ask?"
"Oh, you know, we're just wondering where we could find someone important. You know, like the guy that runs this whole place, you know?"
At this, both Mr. and Mrs. Poopybutthole's faces went sour. "Now, why would you wanna meet someone like that?" Mr. Poopybutthole asked, sounding somewhat suspicious of Rick.
Rick tried not to lose his composure. "Oh you know, I-I just thought there was someone everyone here was obsessed with. Just wanted to meet them is all."
Mr. and Mrs. Poopybutthole glared at Rick for a moment before Mr. Poopybutthole spoke. "Ooh wee. If I were you, I'd stay away from people you shouldn't be associated with." At that, the couple walked off.
"Yeesh. Guess I was wrong about this one. Maybe this guy's perfect reality involves being left alone." Rick remarked.
"Being left alone?" Lincoln thought to himself. He then glanced back towards Mr. Grouse's house. It didn't look any different than any other house in the neighbourhood. He shook his head. What were the chances of that?"
...
After splitting from everyone else, Lisa, Lana and Lola continued searching the whimsical fairytale land for whoever had the infinity ball. Lana made a retching sound. "Ugh, this place is gonna make me barf."
"You said it." Lola added. "Even for me, this place is too girly. How are we supposed to find whoever has that infinity ball anyway?"
"Considering that this is supposed to be their perfect reality, chances are they'll probably be amongst a large crowd with everyone's attention on them." Lisa deduced.
"You mean like that crowd over there?" Lana asked as pointed towards a large crowd at the side of a street.
The three then rushed over and managed to push their way to the front of the crowd to see that everyone's attention was on a large, royal carriage being pulled by, strangely enough, two giraffes. The person riding the carriage shocked the trio, especially Lisa. "Darcy?!"
Indeed, Darcy was riding the carriage down the road as she politely waved to the adoring crowd. She was wearing a green fairy princess gown along with a tiara that was encrusted with an infinity ball. As they watched Darcy, the three suddenly heard Rick's voice coming from their ear pieces. "Hey, have you three found our guy yet?"
"I-It's Darcy." Lisa told him, still not over her shock.
"Darcy has one? How the hell did that happen?"
"Yeah, she's like a princess now!" Lana explained.
"I never knew Darcy desired anything like this." Lisa admitted.
"Well I guess it makes sense. She's a five year old girl right?" Rick asked. "Don't most little girls fantasise about being princesses? All the wealth and power of royalty but no real responsibilities that a queen would have. Of course they'd fantasise about that." Lola suddenly felt embarrassed about still wearing a tiara. "Anyway, do whatever you can to get that infinity ball but whatever you do, do not touch it with your bare skin. The infinity won't work unless it actually touches a part of your body. Since Lisa and Lola are wearing gloves, you two should be good. Just be careful with it."
"Understood." Lisa replied.
The three then followed Darcy's carriage all the way to Darcy's house which had been transformed into a large, pink castle with a moat. After the carriage went across the drawbridge, it was then pulled up by Liam and Haiku. Both of them were wearing kitten-themed armour. Upon approaching the drawbridge, Liam and Haiku immediately pulled out their candy-cane spears and pointed them at the three. "Halt! Who goes there!" Haiku snapped.
The three flinched before Lisa spoke. "I-It's me. Lisa Loud. I'm Darcy's friend."
Liam and Haiku glanced at each other before shrugging. "Well, since yer Princess Darcy's friend, I suppose y'all can come on through." Liam said. The two then went to lower the drawbridge.
...
The three entered the audience chamber of the castle to see Darcy sat on her cat shaped throne, eating a cookie. At her sides were Chaz and Dr. Lopez. Both were wearing armour as they appeared to be guarding Darcy. Upon noticing Lisa, Darcy waved at her. "Hi, Lisa!"
Lisa gave a shaky wave back. As she approached Darcy, Lisa noticed that her pupils had gone red. It also appeared that Rick may have been right before as getting closer to Darcy was starting to cause intrusive thoughts about kittens and candy to pop up in her head. "Hello, Darcy."
"It's Princess Darcy." Darcy corrected her cheerfully.
"Right. I suppose it'd be best if I got to the point. That infinity ball you are in possession of is corrupting the world and everyone around you. It is extremely dangerous, therefore, for everyone's sakes, it would be best if you surrender the infinity ball so everything may return to normalcy."
Darcy frowned at this. "But...I like being a princess."
"I know, but in holding that infinity ball, you are taking away everyone else's free will." Lisa sighed. "Please, Darcy, as your friend, I ask that you give it to me. I promise that it is for your own good."
Darcy started to pout. "Then I guess..." she frowned. "We can't be friends any more."
Lisa stared at Darcy in shock. "W-What?"
"It's okay. If you ever need a ref...refrence for another friend, I would be glad to give you a glowing reco...reccy...recomandate." There was a hint of spite in Darcy's voice.
"I-I don't understand. Why?"
"Because we always have to do what you want!" Darcy suddenly snapped. "If I can't be a princess then I don't wanna be friends anymore!"
"Alright that's it!" An annoyed Lana said before getting out her wrench.
In response, both Chaz and Dr. Lopez readied their lances. "Chaz does not like those that defy the princess!" Chaz stated.
"You three are going straight to the dungeon!" Dr. Lopez said as more guards entered the room, surrounding the three.
Lana readied her weapon, about to attack Chaz when Lola stopped her. "Wait! That's Leni's boyfriend."
"So what do we do?" Lana asked.
The twins looked towards Lisa, who was still frozen in shock as she was grabbed by the guards. Seeing that they didn't want to hurt anyone here, Lana and Lola saw no other choice but to let themselves get turned in for now.
...
After walking across the town, Luna, Luan and Lucy made it to the glowing line that separated Darcy's area with the dark, gloomy area. Upon stepping over the line, the three instantly felt a chill due to the cold and snowy weather. Luna shivered. "Brrr. This place is already giving me the creeps."
"Wicked." Lucy remarked. In contrast with Darcy's area, this area was colourless and eerily quiet as the three couldn't spot anyone nearby. It seemed more desolate and barren than this side of town usually was as some of the buildings were missing while the ones that were still there looked abandoned or decrepit.
"Where is everyone?" Luan asked.
Luna shrugged. "Guess they're all wherever the dude holding that infinity ball is."
And so, the trio trudged through the snow, trying to find any sign of activity. Eventually, after making it to the top of a large hill, the three managed to spot a large crowd at the bottom of the other side of the hill. "Sigh. Finally." Lucy said.
Amongst the crowd, the three could see some familiar faces, including Lucy's mortician's club leader, Bertrand and Lincoln's old teacher, Mrs. Johnson. All of them were wearing dark, gloomy clothing. In the middle of the crowd appeared to be a gothic styled float. The person on top of this float was very familiar to the three. Luna's eyes widened. "Dudes, is that...?"
Luan stared in shock. "Maggie?"
Maggie was wearing an elegant, gothic dress along with a pearl necklace which had an infinity ball used as one of the pearls. She appeared to be making a speech to the crowd which the three were barely able to hear. "The time has come." Maggie announced with much more emotion in her voice than usual. "No longer will we allow the world to abuse us any more. I will be the saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned. I will lead a new world free from corruption. I will paint the world black!" At this, the crowd cheered for her before they started marching along with the moving float.
Luna looked like she just realised something. "Oh, I get the reference." She then frowned. "But geez, she kinda sounds like a cult leader.
Luan shook her head. "She's not normally like this. It's gotta be that infinity ball making her do this."
"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked. At this, the trio went silent as they thought over how they should handle this situation.
...
Lori, Leni and Lynn made their way to the centre of town where all four lines crossed and the three could see all four areas. Now that they were closer, they were able to see what the last area looked like. It had a night sky like Maggie's area, however, this part of town looked almost like Hollywood. Leni stared at the area in amazement. "Ooh."
Lori shook her head. "Somehow, I doubt Rick had nothing to do with this. What do you guys think?" Leni shrugged in response while Lynn appeared to be starting in to space. "Lynn?"
Lynn snapped out of her trance. "What was that? Sorry, I wasn't listening."
Lori let out a frustrated sigh. "Ugh. Let's just get this over with." As the four stepped into the fourth area, they were unaware of a certain parrot flying above them, watching them.
...
As they looked around, the three noticed that this part of Royal Woods was much more lively and glamorous than it usually was as everyone was wearing high fashion. It almost felt like everyone here was a celebrity. After searching around for a while, the three eventually came across a large mansion where a crowd was gathered outside of. Amongst the crowd, they could see Sid's parents, the residents of the Sunset Canyon Retirement Home, which included Albert and Scoots who were wearing outfits that they were way too old for. They also spotted Dr. Bloom, who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, Roger and Alexander. For some reason, Alexander's mascot outfit now resembled Carol. Lori then realised something about where this mansion was. "Wait a minute, isn't this where Carol lives?"
Before Leni could answer that, the red carpet was rolled out as Carol stepped out of the mansion to a screaming and cheering crowd. She was now wearing an oversized, white fur coat over a sparkly purple dress along with purple high heels and a pair of star shaped sunglasses. Unsettlingly, Lori also noticed something glowing red behind each of the lenses. She also spotted the infinity ball, which was encrusted onto a ring Carol was wearing. "Hey, you kids found out who it is yet?" The three heard Rick speak through their ear pieces.
"I-It's Carol." Lori stuttered.
"Carol? Well that's a pretty big coincidence considering Darcy and Maggie have one too."
Lori scowled. "You don't say."
"Hey, come on, I told you I had nothing to do with this. I didn't even remember who Maggie even was until Luan reminded me."
"So, like, what should we do now?" Leni asked.
Before the three had time to think about it, they suddenly heard Carol speak to them. "Oh, hey Lori." Due to Rick's distraction, the three hadn't realised that Carol had walked right up to them.
Suddenly, the entire crowd's attention was on them, making Lori and Lynn nervous. Leni, however, waved at Carol cheerfully. "Hi, Carol!"
Carol grinned. "Well, what do you think? You're not jealous are you?"
"Jealous?!" Lori asked, stunned by the question. "W-Why would I be jealous?"
"I thought you would be. Considering you're always trying to upstage me." Carol's smile disappeared.
"What?! I thought we were literally past this?!"
"I thought so too. Until recently."
Lori suddenly remembered how she acted at the Royal Woods Astonishing Quest. "That...that was just a slip up. Look, Carol, this isn't you. That infinity ball's literally taking over your mind. You need to take it off and give it to us."
"You mean this?" Carol showed off her ring. "I suppose you want this power too, huh?"
"That's not what this is about! I'm trying to save you!"
"And why should I trust you? You're always hiding secrets from me. I don't have any reason to believe you now."
"When have I ever hid anything from you?"
"Alright then answer this." Carol got into Lori's face. "What did you mean back then when you said that you 'moved to another universe'?"
Lori gasped. How did she not realise until now that Carol had overheard that entire argument during the wedding incident? "I..."
Carol scoffed. "I thought so. You only want this ring because you're jealous."
Lynn was starting to get fed up. "Ugh, enough already! Either give us that infinity ball or we'll take it!"
"They're trying to attack Carol Pingrey!" Scoots shouted angrily.
"And they keep making up lies about her!" Dr. Bloom added.
"This is cancel culture!" Alexander exclaimed.
Carol grinned before she disappeared into the crowd as her angry fans surrounded the three. Lori was aghast. "I don't understand. What did that infinity ball do to her?"
Rick, who had been listening in on the entire exchange, then spoke through all of the siblings' ear pieces. "That's what power does to you, kids. It brings out the worst in you. Why care about right and wrong when you're a God and everyone worships you no matter how shitty you actually are? If it were you kids with the infinity balls, you probably wouldn't be acting much better."
As the angry mob closed in on the three, Lynn looked around for a moment for an opening before suddenly dashing off. "Lynn!" Lori shouted, about to try and follow after her.
"Ah!" Lori then heard Leni scream. She turned around, only to find that Leni had gone missing.
Lori looked back and forth at the mob for a moment before suddenly shouting. "STOP!" This caused the mob to freeze. Lori didn't see any sign of Carol any more so she took the opportunity to escape before her power wares off. She decided the best course of action right now was to try and find out where Leni may have gone.
...
Lynn ran for a while before hiding in an alleyway. Once it was clear that she had lost the angry mob, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew."
"Squack! Squack!"
"Huh?" Lynn looked around for a moment before spotting the Casagrandes' pet parrot, Sergio, flying a few feet above her. "What the?"
Lynn then suddenly felt a shocking sensation before she fell unconscious.
...
Maggie stared forward as she stood upon the moving float before she suddenly grabbed something to the left of her. It tuned out to be Lucy's arm, who had used a portal of darkness to try and snatch the infinity ball away from Maggie. Maggie then shot Lucy a glare, made more intimidating by her hellish, red pupils.
"Maggie, stop! Don't hurt her!" Maggie's head turned away from Lucy upon hearing Luan's voice as she and Luna ran up to the float. After a moment, she dropped Lucy, who created another portal to reunite with her sisters.
"You're not here to stop me, are you?" Maggie asked. "I will be taking those orbs. Once I've done that, I'll have all the power in the world to put an end to people's suffering. Why would you want to stop that?"
"Maggie, this isn't you talking. That infinity balls' taking over your mind." Luan argued as she stepped onto the float. "Please trust me, we need to take it back. It's for your own good."
Luna and Lucy then attempted to step onto the float. But while Maggie's followers allowed Luan to step on it, they immediately got in Luna and Lucy's way when they attempted the same. "S-Sam?" Luna asked as Sam and her brother, Simon, stepped in front of Luna.
As with Luna, Lucy had Rocky get in Lucy's way along with his brother, Rusty. "Rocky?"
"I do trust you, Luan." Maggie assured her before taking a step towards her. "That's why I want you to join me."
Luan gave Maggie a surprised look. "Huh?"
"I know you, Luan. The world has caused you pointless suffering too. Work with me and we can end it!"
"I..." Luan's head was starting to feel strange.
"Dude, don't listen to her!" Luna shouted.
Maggie sighed before she snapped her fingers. "Deal with them." Suddenly, a growling Abradolf Lincler jumped onto the float before diving towards Luna. Before she had the chance to strum her guitar, he tackled her to the ground.
Lucy reached an arm out. "Luna!" Before she could do anything, she also found herself tackled to the ground by a member of the mortician's club. "Boris?" Boris hissed at her in response, revealing his fangs. "Wait, you're a vampire?!"
"Take them away." Maggie ordered.
"Luna! Lucy!" Luan cried out. Suddenly, Maggie grabbed her chin, forcing her to face her. She found herself unable to pull away from her.
"I don't want to hurt you Luan. You've already been through enough. All I want is for you to be happy. Stay with me and you'll never have to worry about what people think of you. You'll never have to worry about people hurting you. We'll finally have a place for us to be ourselves."
"Maggie...please..." Luan's head was a mix of emotions. She wasn't sure if it was the infinity balls' influence or if Maggie's world was starting to sound appealing to her.
Maggie leaned her head closer to her. "I care about you, Luan. You've always been a ray of light in this dark, twisted world. Nothing would make me happier than you staying by my side."
As soon as Luan felt Maggie's lips pressed against hers, her mind went blank.
...
"And you three better not even think of escaping!" Benny barked at Lana, Lola and Lisa as he was currently guarding the candy themed dungeon the three were locked up in.
As Benny walked off to patrol the rest of the dungeon (despite it being empty), Lana let out a sigh. "So, what do we do now? How are we supposed to get that infinity ball without hurting anybody?"
Both her and Lola gave Lisa an expectant look, only to find that Lisa had curled up, looking disappointed in herself. The twins then glanced at each other. It wasn't often that the two were able to be a big sister for Lisa considering how independent she was. Both of them had a feeling Lisa needed one or two right now as they both took a seat at each side of her. "What's wrong, Lisa?" Lola asked.
Lisa sighed. "I've been a bad friend. I thought I realised what friendship was about. I told myself that it was about making your life better. And yet, in hindsight, things may have been one-sided between us. It had never even occurred to me that Darcy may have felt down or felt uncomfortable with any activity I wanted to do together. I don't believe I ever apologised for temporarily rejecting our friendship either." Lisa shook her head. "I suppose socialising had always been a weakness of mine. I hadn't even realised that Rick was a man full of many personal issues until recently. I'm no better than a five year old when it comes to picking up social cues."
Lana patted Lisa's back. "It's okay. Nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes."
"I know I've made a lot." Lola admitted. "But at least you know that you did something wrong. Just try and make things up to Darcy and fix things."
Fix things? Could she really fix this issue? Rick is aware of his numerous issues and he seems unable to fix them. On the other hand, she wasn't Rick. She wanted to make things up to Darcy. Maybe it would be difficult but wasn't Darcy's friendship worth it? A determined look appeared on Lisa's face as she stood up. "Apologies for my lapse of judgement. I may have an idea on how to take back the infinity ball without injuring anybody."
"So how do we get out of this dungeon?" Lola asked.
"That shouldn't be an issue, considering the prison bars are made of candy canes."
Lana then stood up and went over to the bars before breaking a piece off and taking a bite out of it. "Hey, she's right."
After breaking out, the three were then immediately spotted by Benny. "The prisoners are trying to escape! Argh!" He then charged towards the three with a spear in hand. At the last moment, Lola threw her tiara towards his legs, tripping him up, causing him to fall and hit his head, knocking him unconscious. "Ahh! Oof!"
Lana shot Lola an annoyed look. "Lola! We're supposed to do this without hurting anyone."
Lola looked slightly embarrassed about forgetting. "Oh. Whoops."
...
Darcy was sat on her throne, playing with her Rafo plush when Lisa and her sisters suddenly bursted into the audience chamber. "Hey, you're supposed to be in the dungeon!" Darcy shouted upon noticing them. Enraged, she pulled out a wand and started floating upwards. She then casted a spell which came towards the three.
"Jump!" Lisa shouted before the three were barely able to dodge the spell which created a small explosion of sparkles and rainbows. Before she could fire another spell, Lisa ran up close to her before shouting. "Darcy, wait! I'm sorry!" This made Darcy pause. "I must confess, I haven't been a good friend to you. I should have considered your feelings more and been there for you like you were for me. Truthfully, I've never been good at social situations. In fact, I've always been rather scared of them. But that doesn't mean I can't be better to you. I'm sorry about any time I may have hurt you."
After hearing this, Darcy's expression softened as she floated back down to the ground. "Lisa, you-"
"Now!" Lisa suddenly shouted.
Lola then flashed her cape, using the diamonds to blind Darcy for a moment. "Ah!" Lisa then took the opportunity to snatch Darcy's tiara away from her. "Ah..." As soon as Lisa took away the tiara, Darcy fell unconscious, the tiara faded away, leaving only the infinity ball and the world changed in a flash of light as Darcy's castle transformed back into her house. Albeit, a darker, drearier version of her house as Maggie's influence had now taken over the area.
"Did we do it?" Lana asked.
"It appears so." Lisa replied as she pocketed the infinity ball with the rest of her gadgets.
"Ugh..." Darcy groaned as she came to. While everything else had gone dark, Darcy's clothes had simply gone back to normal. "Huh? Lisa?" She looked around fearfully. "What's going on? Why is everything so scary?"
Lisa gave her a look of concern. "Darcy? Do you remember anything that just happened?
Darcy shook her head. "I was in my room when a glowing ball came through the window. I went to pick it up but now I'm here."
Lisa held her chin in thought. "Interesting. So not only do infinity ball users completely forget their experience with the ball, they also become immune to the infinity ball's influence."
Darcy tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"
"I'll explain the situation in a moment." Lisa assured her before pressing a button on her ear piece. "Rick, I have good news. We have managed to procure the infinity ball that Darcy had hold of."
"That's great, Lisa." Rick complimented. "Did you find out who gave her it?"
"I'm afraid not. According to Darcy, it simply came through her window."
"Seriously?" Rick groaned. "Alright, whatever, go find your sisters and try and help them out."
...
"Speaking of your sisters, I better give them a call to see how they're doing." Rick then pressed a button on his ear piece in order to talk to Luna, Luan and Lucy. "Hey, how's progress over there?" Rick waited for a moment as none of them replied to him. "Ok, no answer, that's probably not a good sign." He then heard what sounded like Luan giggling. "Luan, is that you?"
Rick and Lincoln suddenly felt something hit them on the back of their heads, knocking them unconscious.
...
As Lynn, regained consciousnesses she quickly realised that her arms and legs were strapped down on some kind of table. "Wakey, wakey."
Lynn opened her eyes to find herself face to face with Sid, who looked like she was dressed as a mad scientist. "What the heck?"
"Sorry about strapping you down but I saw how you were acting with Carol. She is, like, my hero and there's no way I'm gonna let you hurt her." Lynn looked around the Chang apartment. It was completely decorated in Carol merchandise and posters. "But don't worry..." Sid flashed a crooked smile. "You're gonna love being my test subject." Lynn growled in anger as Sid turned around and walked towards Breakfast Bot. "It's a little strange that there's actually someone that doesn't like Carol. After all, she is perfect. So we're gonna try and poke around with that brain of yours and see why that is. What do you think, B-Bot?"
Breakfast Bot looked like he was slightly malfunctioning as his eyes occasionally went red for a split second. "Carol is the-the best. Bzzzrt! I love-love Ca-Ca-Carol. Bzzzrt!"
Sid smiled. "That's what I thought." She then heard a snapping sound. She turned to see that Lynn had freed herself from the metal restraints using pure strength and was now giving her a death glare. Sid started to get nervous. "Uh oh. Breakfast Bot, attack!"
An electric current then ran through Breakfast Bot which spread to the rest of the apartment. All of the household appliances then came to life as Breakfast Bot controlled them to try and attack Lynn. Lynn found herself punching and kicking a toaster, a blender and a few small Carol toys. "Y-You c-cannot stop me-me." Breakfast Bot boasted. "I-I am the superior-" before he could finish, Lynn dashed up to him before delivering a hard kick, sending Breakfast Bot flying towards the wall, creating a loud, crashing sound. "I-I-I..." Breakfast Bot stuttered before shutting down.
"Breakfast Bot!" Sid cried out. As she ran over to check on him, Lynn suddenly shoulder tackled her, sending her to the ground. "Ahh!"
As she nursed her injured arm, Sid's eyes widened as she looked up at Lynn, who was glaring down at her. She then leaned down, getting into Sid's face. "Stay. Out. Of my way." Lynn said in a low, threatening tone. Despite her undying loyalty to Carol, Sid couldn't help but nod her head fearfully. Satisfied, Lynn then dashed out of the Chang apartment.
...
As both Rick and Lincoln regained consciousness, they found that their hands were tied to the chairs they were sitting on and they both had bags over their heads. "Take 'em off." They both heard a familiar voice say.
The bags were removed from their heads. As their eyes adjusted to the light, they both blinked in surprise at who was sat at the desk across from them. "Mr. Grouse?!" Lincoln exclaimed.
Rick raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Mr. Grouse was currently wearing a pinstripe suit with his infinity ball pinned to it. Despite everything else being black and white, Mr. Grouse's pupils were also red. Lincoln looked around the room to see a few other familiar faces dressed as mobsters, including his best friend. "Clyde?" Clyde glared at Lincoln in response. Like Mr. Grouse, he was wearing a pinstripe suit though he was also wearing a fedora and holding onto a tommy gun. The other mobsters in the room included Clyde's parents, Zach, Mr. Poopybutthole, Paula, and the other members of the mortician's club; Dante, Morpheus and Persephone.
"A little bird told me that you were looking for me." Mr. Grouse started. "Hope you weren't planning on trying to steal from me."
"Actually, we were wanting to take back that infinity ball that you have considering it's brainwashing you and everyone around you while trying to create a perfect reality for you." Rick explained. "Speaking of which, seriously? Your perfect reality involves becoming a mob boss? No offence but that seems a little left field."
Mr. Grouse scoffed. "Feh. So what? This country's run by criminals anyway."
"Don't I know that." Rick remarked.
"The people in charge don't listen to people like us, see? You gotta break a few rules to make any kind of change. And when I get my hands on those other infinity whatsits, that's when you'll start seeing some real change!"
Rick groaned. "Look, I really don't have the patience for this Persona shit."
Mr. Grouse narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll get straight to the point. I'll be honest with ya, Rick. I think this town would be better off without you. You bring too much darn trouble here. But I like your grandson so I'll let you both off with a warning. Stay outta my way. As far as I'm concerned, my town, my property!
"While I appreciate you going easy on us, I have a better idea." Unbeknownst to Mr. Grouse, Rick had untied his own hands while Mr. Grouse was talking. Rick grabbed his portal gun and fired it at the floor, allowing both him and Lincoln to escape.
...
It turned out that Mr. Grouse's hideout was in some kind of mansion as they exited the portal to one of the upper levels. "Boy, it's a good thing they didn't take any of our stuff while we were unconscious. I don't know what we would've done then." Rick remarked as he untied Lincoln from his chair.
Both of them could hear Mr. Grouse's voice coming from downstairs. "Search the place. It's me they're after. They couldn't have gone far."
"You know, this would be so much easier if I didn't know hurting anyone here would piss off you and your sisters." Rick stated. "So, uh, got any ideas?"
Lincoln looked downwards. "I don't think I'd be any help here."
"Come on, Lincoln, you know this guy better than I do. Do you have any idea what his weaknesses are or something like that?"
Lincoln frowned in thought for a moment. He did a slight idea of what they could use against Mr. Grouse. He didn't really have much faith in himself these days though trying this would probably be preferable than trying something that might hurt Mr. Grouse.
To be continued