If you asked Navy how he felt about Fern, he would've said that Fern was an interesting one, in his opinion.

He had overseen every last interaction with King and the others, and he still could not, for the life of him, understand the man whose little sister had a best friend who had foiled his plan under a mind control spell.

"Fern?"

The stick figure jumped, and Gold flinched.

He could remember one of King's high school buddies anywhere.

"I knew it!"

Fern stared at him, and skeptical look etched on his face. "Gold? But your...your supposed to be-"

"Dead? Yeah, I know. But shit happened and I'm alive right now. Don't remind me."

"What.."

"Yeah, it's confusing."

"No. How have you...ended up on the news numerous times?!"

"Oh, that. My dad's new kid. He's got a psychopath for a biological father who keeps bouncing back, and we've stopped him enough where it's just national news by this point."

"King has a new kid?! When did that happen?!"

"Your high school buddies! You don't talk to him anymore or something?!"

"No!"

"Of course you don't." Gold muttered to himself.

"Anyways, who the hell are these guys?!" Fern gestured to the other three sticks behind him.

"Couple of friends and my girlfriend." Gold deadpanned.

"Someone's got ambitions."

"Shut up."

"Hey, I work in a doctors office. I can put you in the hospital and thoroughly describe your pain."

"Whatever."

Something in the sky caught Fern's attention. "What's that?"

Gold looked up at the sky to see clear blackness, save for a flashing light.

"A flashing light?" Fern asked in confusion. "What the fuck-"

"That's Alan's computer!" Copper shouted.

"An SOS signal." Gold breathed.

"Shit."

"Why are we freaking out?" Fern asked.

"Just come with us."

Gold and the others started leaving the booth, and Fern reluctantly followed suit.

"WE COULD HAVE JUST CALLED THEM!" Green shouted, groaning loudly.

"Why didn't you people call?" Scarlet inquired.

"Because the only one with your contact and a reason to call you is currently having a mental breakdown and is inconsolable at the moment. AKA, your dad." Yellow noted.

"The hell happened?!"

"Purple's gut feeling happened, and he won't wake up."

"Like, as in a coma, or is just unresponsive in general?"

"We don't know."

"Welp, finding Fern was a great thing, then."

"Who the fuck is Fern?" Green asked.

"Me?" Fern spoke up.

"Oh."

"We think he can help." Gold suggested.

"Well, let's see what we can do." Red sighed.

"Thank you."

"Chosen, did you find anything?" Yellow asked, walking in with the others.

"I can't find anything! It's like there's something blocking me from accessing his code!" Chosen snapped.

"A virus?" Dark suggested.

"It's gotta be. And it's got some complex shit alongside it, and I can't access it!"

"Move. I might access it." Fern pushed Chosen aside.

"The fuck are you?"

"He's a friend of King's," Sapphire answered. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

"Having a meltdown?"

"Where?" Gold asked.

"Next room over." Green pointed outside.

Gold pushed past him and left.

"Anything?" Sapphire asked.

"It seems like he passed out, and someone got accessed his code and played around with it and...oh, fuck."

"What? What is it?!"

"They screwed with his code and erased his memories."

The others shared a glance.

"We know whats going on."

Another few hours past before Purple regained consciousness.

And those few hours were agonizing.

Gold, King, Fern, and Chosen tried blocking out the virus that was swiftly infecting the child, but without proper anti-viruses that would probably work, they had nothing.

And Fern, barely knowing Yellow, didn't trust him shooting a command at him.

"For the last time, no!" Fern snapped. "I don't need you accidentally killing this kid!"

"Relax, Tree-"

"My name is Fern."

"Whatever your name is. But I know what I'm doing!"

"Just because you saved Purple from being brainwashed from whoever the hell infected him, doesn't mean you know how to erase an anti-virus without severely Harming his code beyond repair or even killing him!"

"Hey, I got the code burned out of me, and I'm still alive!" Dark snapped.

"It's a different story! You were created, Purple was born! Your code structures are entirely different!"

"How do you know?!"

"I'm a doctor."

"Whatever."

Second sighed. "Nobody's got a hold of Alan?"

"Nope. Nothing."

"Damn it."

"Now, remind me. How did Purple get into this predicament. From the beginning."

"Psycho of a parent. He showed up one day, kidnapped me and him, Gold showed up, and then a bunch of other things followed downhill after it." Red stiffened at the memory.

"I sense some minor PTSD from that." Fern mumbled.

"Whatever. And then afterwards, he almost killed Purple via brainwashing, amnesia, straight up stabbing him, overloading him, and sucking the power and life out of him."

"This kid has powers."

"Runs in the family." Green reassured.

"That's not reassuring!"

"Don't care."

"Let's just be patient and wait for Purple to wake up. There's no use fighting right now." Blue said.

"Fine." Yellow gave Fern one last glare before trudging off to his room.

"And actually sleep this time please!"

"SLEEP IS FOR WEAKLINGS, DRUG ADDICT!"

"And then after that, Purple and two of the three hollowheads sailed across the ocean to defeat her?" Fern clarified. He and the others had spent a lot of the night and early morning clarifying the adventures King and the kids had been on.

"It's a lot to catch up on, don't worry," Copper reassured. "Gold didn't give us any details when he reunited with us, but he was also stressed out and had an injured child with a major injury, so it's not like he really could."

"Point taken."

"And you guys all got out unscathed?"

"Not mentally, we didn't. Purple's been barely holding on to sanity." Green said subtly.

"Barely?"

"He's fine." King grumbled, clearly exhausted from worrying most of the night.

"I'm sure Purple's gonna wake up soon."

"Guys! He's waking up!"

King, Fern, and Green all shot up within seconds and dashed upstairs.

After all three of them barely got into the room, Second stared at them.

"We've got a tiny problem."

"What?!" Green snapped.

"The hell are you talking about?!"

The room fell silent for a moment before Purple spoke.

The tiniest, broken voice that came out of the child sent King's entire brain into a horrific panic.

Something was very wrong.

"Who's...what's going on...?"

"Purple? Hey, it's Green. Remember me? Your best buddy?"

Fern tried objecting to Green's statement, but stopped himself.

"Purple?"

King tried not to speak, knowing it wasn't going to have a good outcome.

Purple finally sent a glance towards him, and his heart shattered.

"Who are you guys?"

The room falls into such a tense silence that Red's animals can be heard from three floors down.

All taking in Purple's quiet, but ground-breaking statement.

"...Your serious, right? Is he just...out of it entirely, or is he actually serious?" Green asked, looking at Fern in complete denial.

"I ran test after test on him, and they all came up with the same result. He has amnesia." Fern said sadly.

"No. You've got to be lying! Purple can't have amnesia!" King had just as much denial running through his blood as Green did, and nobody could believe something so blatant, but so out of reach.

Purple. Sweet, innocent, Purple, who had done nothing wrong in his entire life yet blamed himself for so many things.

This just couldn't be true.

"Fern. You can't be serious. We've been best friends since high school. You can't just put this on me."

"Well, I didn't expect you to have such a strong attachment to a child with such complicated family problems! Or have a kid in general, for that matter, after what happened to Gold."

"Fern."

"What, child?!"

"Do you understand how much this "child with such complicated family problems" MEANS to him?!" Green snapped. "How much hell King has put himself through so that Purple both stays safe, and has people that care about him!"

"So?!"

"Do you realize what his parents can do?! They could kill him! Use him as a puppet toy! And as if this isn't already world-shattering enough for him! Purple is going to die if we don't stop this, and that's going to be even worse for a guy who already had to watch Gold die in front of him, was almost completely engulfed in rage at himself if Purple had died back in the Nether, and if Navy hadn't let him go free...Purple would have died."

Fern stepped out of the room, leaving Green and King alone with the confused Purple.

"Oh, God...what are we going to do..?"

"Green, chill," Second reassured. "We'll figure something out. I promise."

"Hey, guys! There's a weird ass note out here!"

King and the others bolted out of the room, Second helping Purple follow them, and they all dashed outside.

Being met with a tab with a sinister note.

Your beloved child will soon join us in The Great Above, King.

"I'm sorry, the what?!" Second snapped.

"The hell is the great above?!" Blue added in just as much confusion.

"Guys, shut up so I can read it!" Sapphire screamed.

Once the amnesia spell has been complete, we will send for guards to retrieve the child and bring him to our base. Nobody and nothing will stop them or get in their way.

From there, the brainwashing spell will be placed into action, and the ascent to The Great Above will begin.

Though there was no signature at the bottom, they all knew exactly who it was from and what was about to happen.

Just as Sapphire finished reading the note, the widget opened, revealing four guards, decked out with weapons and capture tactics.

The others backed up.

"Shit."

Fern spends a good portion of his time trying to talk some sense into the younger sister he suddenly brought up, while the others tried thinking of a plan.

But knowing Navy was getting smarter with every plan, they had almost nothing to go off of.

"So...the base is out in the middle of the ocean?"

"Yes, but we can't go. He'll expect that."

Chosen's eyes brightened up. "What if he doesn't expect you guys to go through Purple's mind?"

Everyone, including Fern, stared at him.

"We do what?"

"Dark and Second go through Purple's mind to recover his memories, while Red does so from outside."

Dark and Second stared at him, bewildered. "Remember the last time we did something like that? We almost lost Purple's subconscious!"

"We'll think smarter this time. With how Purple feels toward his parent and what they think of him and how he counters that with the truth, it might be easier." Chosen explained.

"What the hell do you mean about how Purple feels towards his parents? He doesn't even know they exist!"

"Depends on how the amnesia spell was worked," Chosen reminded. "They might have programmed it to where he knows who they are, but not us."

"Why in hell would they do that?!" Green snapped.

"It's their plan. They'll use him as their puppet and manipulate him, which will lead straight into their master plan, involving The Great Above."

"So we've just gotta get Purple's memories back before Navy and the others manipulate him?" Yellow summarized.

"It's the best way to explain it, and it isn't gonna be easy," Fern chimed into the conversation. "But we've got inside help."

"Who and how?"

"My little sister's best friend was taken as a guard, and she's been studying the inside operation of Navy's guards ever since. She might be able to help your friends while we restore Purple's memories."

"So we get Purple's memories back, try and get the guards back to normal, and we have a friend to save?" Blue groaned.

"We've done much more with a lot more impact in way less time." Dark reminded.

"And Willow is one of the smartest people I know. She could probably take down the entire organization Navy's built up if she was going way over her head."

"So we could just sit here and do nothing and let her do the work if we wanted to?" Yellow deadpanned.

"Well...we could. But so far as I've observed, King is one of the only people who could fully get through to Purple and get him out of there with way less issues, so it's best that we help her while she takes out the guards."

The others shared glances.

"And Red isn't going to get very far with Navy and Orchid's standards. They'd probably murder him if we don't get there in time."

Voices chimed up following Fern's final statement.

"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's get going!"

Fern and King looked at each other. "How did Purple even become friends with such a supportive group of people and go through whatever brought you two together and still be a happy and excitable kid?"

King sighed. "He's seen a lot more than other kids. That makes him different. But that's why I love him."

King sighed, staring at the sunrise reflecting onto the ocean.

Dark and Second had given themselves a head start, having left the previous day to make sure the plan they had come up with worked.

King and the others left the next day, leaving a note for Alan to prevent another freak out and subsequent explanation that would take hours to sort out, and decided to head towards the base to fight Orchid and Night Shade.

And maybe Navy, depending on if Navy was going to tap into Purple's head or not.

After a few hours, they had gotten a boat made(since Second and Dark were using the boat they had built with Purple), and were halfway between land and the base.

And they were getting pretty sick of each other.

Although King had spent most of his time thinking about if Purple was still alive(or even already having been turned into a puppet, he didn't know), the remainder of Second's friends had gone from radio silent to not going a second without fighting.

Whether it was worry, or boredom, King only knew Green was the source.

Damn child was so worried about Purple and Second, the others were getting sick of him constantly being a disaster.

King was almost the splitting image, only hiding his worry by taking the leader role and coming up with all the plans and sorting everything out.

Trying not to be constantly worried and overprotective of Purple was really difficult when he was pretty much up for murder.

Chosen was standing by, waiting to jump in and break up this fight, one of the most intense fights and if they were anywhere closer to Navy's base, King would've been impressed they weren't caught.

"For the last time, we're aware Purple is up for murder, but we need you to make distractions!" Blue said.

"How can I make a distraction when my best friend could be dead?!"

"Your point makes no sense, I doubt it would even make an essay topic," Yellow grumbled, clearly sick of the fighting. "Just please go with King's plan and assigned roles for our sake!"

"Why?!"

"Because this bickering isn't getting us anywhere!" King snapped. "Hell, if we were even closer to Navy's base than we are now, I'd be impressed you've gone this far without am end to your bickering!"

Cannot booms from above caught their attention.

"Nevermind."

"Way to go, Green. Now we're going to die." Blue deadpanned.

"Hooray, I'll join Purple in the afterlife." Green said, equally deadpan.

"I swear to Alan Becker, if you say my son is dead one more goddamn time-"

"King, face it! Your kid is probably dead and this entire mission is a setup to get Navy to us!" Green snapped.

"Green, stop it."

"PURPLE IS DEAD AND WE'RE NEVER GOING TO SEE HIM AGAIN!"

Another cannon boom.

"Well, if your theory is correct, we're about to." Yellow said.

"Shit."

Yellow kicked the boat into overdrive, speeding towards the smallest amount of land close to the base. "Get inside as fast as you can!"

King and the others stared at each other, the amount of guards telling then something.

They had a major problem on their hands.

Yellow was the first person to catch on to the cannon booms that threatened to blow them out of the water.

Jumping into action, he steered the boat far enough to where they weren't hit by the spheres being tossed into the water, the arguments being long forgotten.

"Get inside as fast as you can!" He screamed, speeding towards the land underneath the base.

It had enough to where they could get inside single-file, so long as they didn't continue the freakouts.

"How do we get in now?!" King shouted over the screams of panic coming from the other teenagers.

Green looked around, forgetting Dark and Second weren't there. "The only other two people who know that base inside out aren't here, so getting in is going to be literally impossible!"

"There's gotta be another way in!" Blue shouted over the noise.

"EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!" Yellow screamed. He couldn't think of a decent plan with everyone around him screaming over each other!

"We can't calm down when we're being fired at!" Green shouted.

"Fair point. But still, we should still try and remain calm in order to think of a plan. And you guys are refusing to remain calm, and it's giving me a headache." Yellow said calmly.

"Fine. What's your plan?" Chosen asked, finally getting a chance to speak after the wrangle of kids finally began to relax.

Yellow took a glance at a broken window, and got an idea.

"I think our friends beat us to it." Yellow said.

"How?" Suddenly, Fern had noticed the broken glass. "Oh. I bet that was your other two hollowheaded friends."

"Second, you are a goddamned genius." Yellow said to himself.

Ignoring the original plan of just breaking in, Yellow got everyone inside the window(thank Alan it was on the ground floor), and they began searching for the small group that they had separated from days prior.

It was a very large building, maybe seven stories, with no elevator in sight."

"God, this place is huge." Blue sighed.

"Dark commented it had the layout of a castle." Chosen said.

"Well, he sure as hell wasn't wrong."

"Let's just get through this as quick as we can, without getting captured." Fern said.

As they walked, Yellow began thinking.

If the guards were still active, and were still following orders, but Navy and Orchid were supposed to be dead...

Wait.

"Hey! Earth to Yellow!" Green snapped his fingers in his face, getting his attention.

"What happened?! I was just...thinking of something."

"Like what?"

"How those guards are still following orders, even thought their bosses are supposed to be dead."

King glanced at him. "He does make a point. But putting it into perspective, Night Shade escaped just after Purple killed Orchid, and Navy's been dead the whole time..."

"And Navy and Orchid are the only people they'll listen to...that's it!"

"What's it?"

"Night Shade! He's got some type of...power or something!"

"Like Purple's abilities? Since we've discovered he has some type of resurrection or regeneration abilities, like Second does." King suggested.

"Exactly like that! Night Shade has some type of regeneration abilities or something, which is why Navy and Orchid just won't stay dead!"

Green began putting the pieces together. "Wait...so does that mean..."

"Night Shade is the real villain that we need to stop," King said, earning a crap ton of surprised glances. "So long as he's alive..."

"Navy and Orchid are unstoppable."

Willow punched another guard in the face, sending him flying to the ground when another one jumped on her back, pulling them both to the ground.

She kicked at their stomach, getting them off of her, and she scrambled to her feet to get inside the room she had pushed Red and Purple into.

"This way!"

A voice caught her attention. What the hell was that?!

Another guard got the jump on her, attacking her once she was distracted.

"Shit!"

"Hey! Get your hands off my sister!"

That was the voice that got her attention.

"Fern?!"

A group of brightly colored teenagers attacked the guards, giving Willow a chance to get away.

"Willow!"

"Fern, what the hell are you doing here?!" She shouted. As happy as she was to know her brother was alive, it was a war zone at the moment.

And they were in the middle of it.

"His kid got kidnapped." Fern gestured to the orange stick next to him.

"Purple?"

"Bingo."

Willow gasped. She had just seen him! "This way!"

"In here!"

"Where's my brother?!"

"Yellow, this way!"

"Perfect timing." They heard from inside.

Willow used all her strength to push the door open, and as guards began trying to grab at them, she kicked it down, and everyone fell in.

And everything went to shit.

The pink stick figure stabbed the needle into Purple's arm, and Night Shade threw a smoke bomb, pushing Red off of him to prevent unwanted company.

The guards quickly ran off, presumably to where Orchid and the others had gone.

Red stared at the group of sticks that was regaining their senses. "That was real great timing, guys."

Green glared at him. "Shut up. Purple's dead."

"Well...not dead. He's a puppet."

"A what?!"

"I'll explain on the way, but we've gotta get to the roof. That's probably where they are."

"Why?"

"I think Navy might be fighting Dark and Second inside Purple's mind, and if we're gonna stop him, we've gotta hurry."

"Why?" Red asked.

"Because that'll cause catastrophic and irreversible damage that we can't risk." Chosen explained.

"As if that isn't bad enough, we just figured out something that could completely destroy their plan." Green deadpanned.

Red's eyes lit up. "And that is?"

"Night Shade is the puppet master behind this entire thing, and as long as he is alive-" King started.

"Navy and Orchid are practically unstoppable?" Red finished.

"Exactly."

"Fuck."

"But..." Yellow started. "I might have a plan to stop him."

King glanced around another hallway. With the seven stories worth of a building to explore, and no time to do so, they had to go quickly if they were going to find the others.

All the while, he couldn't help but notice how…off Fern looked. He continued glancing around the building, like guards lurked around every corner they went around.

Eventually, Scarlet, the person who spoke up about almost anything, confronted him about it. "Okay, Mister Paranoia, the hell is going on?!"

"W-What?! I don't understand what you're on about!"

King sighed. "Don't play dumb, Fern," He said. Pausing after looking around to make sure they weren't going to catch any attention, he continued, "You keep looking around like guards are looking around every corner, you keep freaking out at the slightest noise, and every time one of us brings up Sunny, or anyone we're searching for, you freeze up!"

"And you keep looking at the sky, or at least above us, so are you hiding something from us, or what?"

Fern look at him, a mix of astonishment, and offense, mixed in his expression. "Why would you think I'd hide something from you! We've been friends for years!"

"And that means something to you?!" King snapped. "You're hiding something, I know it!"

Fern looked at the ground for a moment, allowing the others to figure out what was happening.

"Willow, I think your brother is hiding something." Red whispered.

"He's gotta be hiding something. Why else would he act like this towards us?!" King whispered angrily.

"King, calm down."

"I'm trying, okay?! This guy could be hiding something, and he could pose a danger to Purple and the others if we let him out of our sight! Second and the others could be in danger!"

"Nice to see you worrying about the others for a change." Red said.

"Purple's a smart kid. He'll get himself out of anything, and he knows what he's doing."

Red smiled. King's overprotective phase was growing out of him, for now.

It probably wouldn't take long for it to grow back into him.

A buzzing sound suddenly filled their ears.

"What the…"

"You know your fatal flaw, King Orange?" Fern said over the buzzing, and everyone glanced in his direction.

Fern was standing tall, arms outstretched, a barrage of drones behind him, and an evil smirk plastered on his face.

"Your assumptions are almost always correct."

King and the others watched in horror and betrayal.

"Fern, you…" Willow struggled to find the right words. Her own brother.

"YOU TRAITOR!" King screamed, lunging for the man.

"Oh, King," Fern sent a drone for him, which promptly tossed him into a far wall, knocking him out. "Traitor is such a strong word."

Gold and Sapphire ran for King, shaking him.

"Dad, come on! Wake up!" Gold begged, not realizing there were more drones surrounding them.

"Gold."

"What?!"

"Look."

Within seconds, they were surrounded by drones.

"Fuck."

Navy wasn't sure how to feel about Fern. King's high school buddy was an interesting person to decipher.

A really interesting one.

A rustle from behind him.

Jumping a mile, he turned to attack them, and internally groaned.

"Fuck. Not you."

"I hate this as much as you."

"Bullshit, Agent Sunny."