Featured Music:
1. "Wave Rider" from Hotel Transylvania 3
2. "Lab Rats Theme Song"
3. "Love Power" by Idina Menzel
4. "You'll Be in My Heart" by Brent Morgan
With the threat of Terror-Byte's revenge over their heads, especially any and all cyberbullies Terror-Byte caught in the act, a lot of people were afraid to sleep that night. A lot, but not all.
Brittney Parisia was one of those few who wasn't afraid to sleep that night. She was more angry and humiliated than anything else. The seltzer dried out her hair some and messed up her mascara, there was pie in places pie shouldn't be, and it took forever to get out of what she called "psychotic clown clothes". She felt so humiliated and ditched school completely, covering her face as she ran straight home to hide and try to get herself back to normal.
Brittney felt relieved she could finally get out of the clown getup and just put on her pajamas and lay down on her custom made peacock feather pillows, and she was just getting cozy in her bed, when she heard music blasting outside.
(Cue: "Wave Rider")
That music had Brittney sitting up with her eyes wide open!
"What the-?!" Brittney groaned. "Who even plays that kind of music, and at this hour?!"
The music sounded like it was coming from outside of her window, so Brittney thought it was one of her neighbors, and she opened the window so she could yell at them to quiet down. But when she did, she saw something big, metal, and with a bunch of tentacles coming out of it. And when it shined its lights at Brittney, she screamed and quickly closed the window.
Unfortunately, that wasn't going to save her, that being proven when one big tentacle burst through her window, and had Brittney running for her life and screaming for her parents and calling 9-1-1.
"HELP! SOMETHING'S TRYING TO GRAB ME!" she screamed into the phone, only for the tentacle to catch up, wrap around her stomach, and yank her away, making Brittney drop her phone.
By the time Brittney's parents got out of bed and into the hall where she dropped her phone, Brittney was gone.
Mr. and Mrs. Parisia called for their daughter, rushing to her bedroom, only to find the window shattered, the dresser knocked over, and the sheets pulled off the bed, like someone had been holding onto them for dear life.
Sure enough, when Brittney was pulled out of her room and out of her apartment, she found herself lifted in the air and placed into a basket where nine other people Brittney had never seen before were also trapped, none of them even trying to break the bars of the basket.
"Who are all of you people?" Brittney sang. "What is all this?"
"She's really angry," sang a tween girl. Her screen name: UnicornSlayer14. Real name: Cece Hutchingson. "I didn't think she could do it, but she's doing it, and we're all doomed!"
"Who?"
"Terror-Byte!" Nuro sang. "Did something humiliating happen to you that was posted on the holo-net?"
"What's it to you?"
"Did you make comments about Princess Gabriella's blog?"
"That pink freak? Why does she matter?"
"I told you!" sang Cece. "She's mad! All of us sang something mean to her online, and we thought she would just stay offline, but she's gonna do a lot worse to all of us."
"Why are none of you trying to get the hell out of here?"
"Why do you think?" sang an older guy, pointing to a red something that opened up above them, which had everyone in the basket freezing.
"Don't move." Nuro whispered through his teeth.
A tentacle lowered down and looked around the basket. When no one moved, it just went back up.
"What the hell was that?" Brittney asked.
"Haven't you seen this movie? Once that tentacle grabs you, it pulls you up, and you never come back down!"
"She's been making it come in and out every so often just to scare us," sang one boy. "But she says next time someone makes a move against it, one of us will get pulled in."
Now, for once, Brittney was terrified of someone she'd victimized. She didn't even have her phone to call her parents.
That was when the ten prisoners, were all frightened by the sound of auto-tuned laughter, and the tentacle came out again, this time with a screen attached to its end.
"Uncomfortable everyone? Good." Terror-Byte taunted. "I've got much more in store for all of you once we have everyone. You'll really rue the day you thought to mess with me. All of you thought because you were online, I wouldn't be able to do anything, but never underestimate a princess by her age or the pink she wears."
"You're pathetic, Princess!" sang Brittney, but Nuro slapped a hand over her mouth.
"She didn't mean that!" Nuro sang. "You're very pretty, Princess. Beautiful! Adorable! Very great artist!"
Brittney tried to remove the hand, but Nuro looked her in the eyes and reminded her that words like that were what got them into this mess!
"Do you wanna be tripod chow?!"
"You do good to remind the new girl to watch her mouth." Terror-Byte sang. "Clean up the rest of your act, and I might reconsider deleting you."
"DELETING?!" Everyone in the basket screamed.
"That's right. I'm gonna delete you. But first, we have a couple more guests to pick up."
Meanwhile, the royal family was once again checking for any sign of Terror-Byte, but to Mona's great surprise, she found that Terror-Byte wasn't in the computers anywhere anymore.
"Wait, how could she not be in the computers anymore?" Omega asked. "I thought her whole power ran on screens."
"But she made things happen in the real world too, remember?" Goldie sang. "To make all the humiliating stuff happen."
Anakin suddenly heard his communicator beeping, and he answered it.
"Master, I think I found Gabby." Ahsoka sang over the comm. "But you're not gonna like what she's doing now."
People were screaming as the tripod walked through town, despite the fact that it wasn't actually attacking anyone… except for when it stopped at Amanda Kanans' house, and when her uncle tried to stop it, one of the tentacles grabbed him and threw him high up in the air. Luckily for him, Fiesta swooped in and caught him before bringing him safely to the ground. But that gave the tripod enough time to grab Amanda and place her in the basket with the others.
"One more to go!" Terror-Byte sang.
The Jedi and their horses all rushed out to try and fight the tripod, but the tripod was immune to the effects of their lightsabers. Well, almost all the horses came out. Comedia was shaking as she hid behind a tall wall, hoping the tripod wouldn't see her.
"Wake up, Comedia! Wake up!" Comedia whimpered, her knees shaking terribly. But she was even more terrified knowing she was already awake.
"This thing's got some kind of shield over it!" Mace sang.
"Why hasn't it attacked anyone else?" Strawberry sang, carrying Mace on her back.
The tripod began walking again, heading for the entrance to the lower levels.
"It's headed for the lower levels!" exclaimed Master Plo, seeing the tripod beginning to climb.
Citrus ran over to where there would normally be the lifts to get in and out of the lower levels, but those were clicked on and deleted.
"Dang it!" Citrus stomped his hoof.
"I can't believe you got fired!" sang Mr. Nimbus. "And for cyberbullying! What were you thinking?!"
"I did it for us, Andrew."
But Andrew Nimbus thought his wife was nuts. He was a child psychologist, so he was used to meeting with children and teens who'd faced all kinds of abuse, including cyberbullying.
"Kirsten! Do you know how many patients I get who are victims of cyberbullying every year? More than I can count!"
"Ah, so work is good then. You're welcome."
"You don't get it! You abused a vulnerable child online, and online posts are impossible to take back. What if she'd committed suicide, then what? It's not just victims who come in, but friends of victims who've committed or attempted suicide as well."
"That sounds like a them problem. It's not my fault if these brats can't handle the fact that social media is a big waste of time."
That was when the lights began to flicker, and then a knock came at the door. Mrs. Nimbus went to answer it.
"What do you-" And then she screamed as she was groped by a big tentacle and lifted outside.
"Kirsten!" Mr. Nimbus looked outside and then screamed himself when he saw what just grabbed his wife.
Everyone quickly hid in their homes and boarded the doors and windows, trying to avoid the tripod getting them, none of them realizing the tripod wasn't after them to begin with.
"That's all of you." Terror-Byte taunted, standing on top of the tripod, playing her keytar for a bit, the music being what allowed her to control the tripod. "Now, I'll give each and every one of you a lesson you'll never forget."
Terror-Byte brought out her mouse again, then clicked on the tripod and emailed it off somewhere, to the Jedi's confusion and shock.
"Where'd they go?" sang Magenta.
Meanwhile, Boba managed to get transportation from Ord Mantell back to Naboo, only to find that his family was already heading to Coruscant.
"Boba, where have you been?" Anakin sang the moment he saw his son.
"Long story," sang Boba. "But Gabby needs help!"
On the way, Boba told the others how Gabby managed to break out of her trance for a moment, only for Terror-Byte to take over again. The others were shocked to hear that. How was that possible?
"It could be that Gabby has a stronger mind, and by now she's mustered enough power to break out but only for a moment." Garrett hypothesized.
Quickly, the royal family and the Batch met with the Jedi Council, and they were all in a panic. Terror-Byte really meant business this time.
"I was fine with letting Terror-Byte just humiliate her cyberbullies, but whatever she's gonna do now is very likely gonna be taking it too far." Carmine sang.
"Locate the girl, we must." Yoda sang. "How is the question?"
"She can literally travel anywhere with the powers of the holo-net." Peppermint sang. "Her whole power runs on computers."
"Then since her power runs on computers," sang Obi-Wan. "We need to think about how computers work."
That was when Lamenta had an idea.
"I've got it! What do all mobile devices need to work properly so we can access sites, apps, and online videos?"
"Wi-Fi!" Myra sang. "So, if Terror-Byte can't access the wi-fi connection, that might keep her in one place long enough for us to declavatize her."
Except, that would be a complicated plan. If they wanted to prevent Terror-Byte from getting access to a signal, that would mean they would have to cut off all connections.
"Why don't we just have Boba throw water on her?" Comedia sang. "Computers stop working when they get wet, don't they?"
"Only one problem with that," sang Boba. He ran around the room at super speed to demonstrate his point. "Terror-Byte took my powers and replaced them with super speed. And I don't think I'm her only victim."
Boba looked at his family and asked everyone to use their powers. So, Qui-Gon tried to lift Sapphire, but she felt a lot heavier now. And when he felt embarrassed, his legs vanished, then they reappeared, and then the top half of him vanished. Lamenta tried truth-scanning Boba, but nothing happened. Instead, she found that she grew plants like her uncle. Anakin quickly found water came from his hands instead of plants, and when he got his legs wet, they changed into a black merman tail.
"I think I found your powers, Boba."
Kara quickly found herself able to summon musical instruments.
"I got Carmine's." Kara sang.
Carmine made his hands glow bright light.
"Here are Omega's powers." Carmine sang.
Omega walked over to a Jedi Council chair and lifted it with one hand.
"Hey, look! I'm super strong like Grandpa, now!" Omega giggled, lifting the chair up and down like it was a weight. "I could get used to this."
"Why would Terror-Byte switch our powers around?" Lamenta asked.
"Why do you think?" Boba sang, losing control of how quickly he moved around again and falling down. "Oof! She knew we wouldn't be able to control each other's powers, and I guess somehow she edited us to have each other's magic."
"Can't you just undo it?" Myra asked.
"Power switching is a very complicated spell," sang Garrett.
It was true. Switch spells required a lot of concentration, and an immensely strong source of magic, one like Gabby had. So, only she could switch them back, as far as anyone else knew.
"Even if our powers were not switched, we have no way of tracking Terror-Byte if she won't stay in one place or leave us any clues."
As much as the cyberbullies deserved their comeuppance, even they didn't deserve to be destroyed at the hands of Mariverde's power. And it appeared Gabby wanted out, but even someone as strong as her couldn't break out on her own this time.
Here's what they knew so far: the mariclava had to be in Terror-Byte's mouse, Terror-Byte could appear anywhere within seconds as long as she could access any device with a screen, and Terror-Byte knew when someone posted a new comment and how to find who sent it.
"I may know one way we can all go after her," sang Mona. "But it won't be easy."
Constantine had never made this many better-flies before. Thus, he required a little help from Mariposa in order to create enough for everyone. Everyone held up a phone, tablet, or computer mouse. All the horses let one of the butterflies land on one of their horseshoes or whatever accessory each of them was wearing.
"Cyber Securi-Team. I am Constantine Morphina. I give you all the power of the holo-net both online and in the real world. With this power, you will be able to locate the virus that is Terror-Byte and fight whatever malfare she throws at you. But you must be careful. Once the enemy is defeated, you will relinquish these powers. Do you understand?"
"Understood." Everyone sang.
(Cue: Lab Rats theme)
Everyone was placed in jumpsuits like when the family first went into the web.
The mission at hand: locate Terror-Byte, rescue the abductees, and declavatize Terror-Byte.
"Remember, no harm is to come to Gabby." Anakin sang. "Ready Artoo?"
Artoo beeped as he connected to an enchanted computer Constantine and Mariposa would stand by to stay in touch with everyone.
Artoo scanned everyone, and soon everyone found themselves in the holo-net.
Tech did a little searching on his tablet, and according to it, Terror-Byte was currently at Planet Vancor…. And on Mandalore, and Naboo, Coruscant, Shili, and in Lefintiscia!
"This doesn't make sense! How can she be in so many places at once?" Tech sang.
"Wait! Didn't Terror-Byte say she could multiply?" Omega sang.
That was definitely going to make Terror-Byte harder to capture. How could they declavatize her if they didn't know which one was the real one?
"Whichever one has the cyberbullies has to be the real one." Myra sang. "Alter the scan to look for them."
"But how do we do that if we don't know who the cyberbullies are?" Diamond pointed out.
"We know at least one of them." Boba sang, getting out his phone and typing 'Kirsten Nimbus' into the search bar.
A little scanning, and it was safely confirmed that the real Terror-Byte was… still on Coruscant?
"That doesn't make any sense." Omega scratched her head. "Why would she email herself if she was staying on-world?"
The others decided they should see if they could check Terror-Byte's browser history. And they did. It turned out Terror-Byte made quite a few visits through Gabby's memories, but only downloaded the negative ones, and then they found that she'd actually meant to email herself to the Outer Rim, but somehow, it got changed to email her and the tripod to the other side of Coruscant, and not in just any random space… she was at the very part of Coruscant that held the heart of the holo-net.
"Then that's where we're going!" Padme sang.
"What about the copies Terror-Byte sent out?" Carousella asked.
"We should split up and go after them too." Obi-Wan sang.
"But who'll go after the real one?" asked Myra.
"We, her family, will," sang Qui-Gon. "Gabriella has done so much to rescue each of us when we were in distress. Now it's our turn to rescue her."
So, the Council split up and went to each of the locations where Terror-Byte was sang to have gone, while the Batch, Myra, Round n' Round, Comedia, and the royal family headed for the other side of Coruscant to fight the real Terror-Byte.
The rescue team arrived on the other side of Coruscant, where sure enough, they found the holo-net control tower, where sure enough they found the tripod with the cyberbullies still trapped, and Terror-Byte ready to give them what was coming to them. Except, at the moment, Terrorbyte looked like she was talking to herself.
"I don't know how you keep coming out, but you stay down unless you want something to happen to your family." Terror-Byte sang.
Then Terror-Byte's left hand seemed to have a mind of its own, and it lifted the VR goggles off.
"No! Leave them alone! Get out of my head!" Gabby cried, only for Terror-Byte to take over again.
"Gabby!" Gabby's family all exclaimed.
Terror-Byte caught sight of the team out to stop her, and she got out her mouse, ready to fight.
"So, you've come to fight, huh?" Terror-Byte sang. "Then let's fight!"
Quickly, everyone ran in to fight Terror-Byte. Except, with everyone's powers all mixed up, that became a bit of a challenge. Lamenta kept growing plants in all the wrong places, Qui-Gon could only turn invisible halfway, and Boba could barely control where he went with Kara's super speed.
Terror-Byte laughed at the others as they all struggled to control their various powers. But Myra and Comedia made their way to the tripod as Terror-Byte was distracted.
Comedia used her magic horn and Myra used the Force to move the basket some to try and detach it from the tripod.
"Hey! Watch how you shake this thing!" Brittney complained. "You're gonna mess up my hair more."
"Your hair's the least of your worries, Brit." Myra sang. "Now let me concentrate."
The two girls concentrated again.
"Will you two hurry up already?!" Renaldo exclaimed.
"Will you be quiet?!" Comedia sang. "If Terror-Byte catches us-"
Unfortunately, Terror-Byte heard them, and she clicked on something that pasted a couple of familiar figures into the picture. Rock Heartbreaker and Silly Filly.
"Prank it up!" sang Silly Filly.
Comedia and Myra couldn't believe their eyes. Those were the two villains they'd each been clavatized into a while back.
"What the heck?!" Myra gasped.
Rock Heartbreaker played a loud guitar solo on her guitar, which threw Comedia off course and nearly sent Myra flying off her back. Silly Filly, on the other hand, went and decided to have a little fun with the Batch by placing a bunch of banana peels all over the ground as they ran, only to slip and get pied in the face when they fell down.
"Pleh!" Crosshair spat. "Where did these pies come from?"
Silly Filly spat a raspberry at Crosshair and went on to be silly somewhere else.
"How is this happening?" Comedia sang. "I was Silly Filly, but now there's her and me? I'm so confused."
"It must be part of Terror-Byte's power." Padme sang. "She must be able to copy and paste pieces of Gabby's memories, including villains we've faced before."
"We gotta turn off the wi-fi. Now!" Anakin sang, running toward the tower. "Keep Terror-Byte distracted!"
So, the others did work to keep Terror-Byte distracted. But, she kept on copying and pasting past villains or their powers to fight back. She placed Wrecker into a tight blue gown, got Rattle Snake to turn Pinto, Crosshair, and Maybelle into babies, and sent what looked like a bunch of feathers and floating hands to tickle torture Hunter.
Hunter guffawed the moment the hands and feathers tickled him under his arms, on his stomach, and on his feet too.
"STOP- STOP IT!" Hunter guffawed.
Indira had to admit, Hunter's ticklishness was pretty adorable, but she rushed in to rescue her husband from the tickle torture by taking on pegasus form and swatting the hands and feathers away with her tail.
Meanwhile, Anakin made his way into the control tower, where there were workers doing their jobs.
"Shut off the connections!" Anakin sang, barging into the room.
"Prince Anakin!" gasped one of the workers.
"You need to shut off all the wifi connections right now!"
"We can't do that. It would stop every computer and mobile device on Coruscant from working!"
"Exactly. Turn it all off now!" Anakin brought out his lightsaber, threatening to sever the connection entirely if they didn't cooperate.
So, another one of the workers flipped a switch, turning off the Wi-Fi, which, as expected, made every device on Coruscant stop working.
Conveniently, at least a couple of the Jedi returned to Coruscant at that moment to help fight Terror-Byte. Sure enough, when Terror-Byte tried to gain access to anyone's devices, she couldn't, and the wi-fi symbol on her chest stopped glowing.
"What's happened?" Terror-Byte sang. And then she was grabbed from behind by Anakin.
"You got disconnected." Anakin sang. "Now, give me the mouse."
But Terror-Byte bit Anakin's arm, making him drop her, and the young villain took off with her kidnapped victims, and stole Anakin's lightsaber.
"My lightsaber!" Anakin exclaimed.
"No one is going to stop me from deleting those who did me wrong." Terror-Byte sang.
Terror-Byte did some clicking on some already downloaded information she held, and placed everyone in candy cane cages while she made the tripod move again, and she deleted the tripod, but kept the basket, placing it into a giant trash can and then carrying them away somewhere else.
"Don't worry, friends. It will be these jerks who are down in the dumps by the time this is over, though that may be an understatement. But first," Terror-Byte peeked into the trash can, her voice echoing as she intentionally screamed into the metal can. "HOW ABOUT A TREATMENT PLANT TRIP?!"
Everyone in the basket covered their ears as the loud sound echoed very harshly.
Terror-Byte laughed as she closed the can and made it bounce up and down and roll on the ground as she took her victims away.
And to make sure everyone was distracted while she carried out her plans, Terror-Byte dug deeper into Gabby's memories, and sent out anything that could be used as a weapon or distraction. Strong winds, out of control plants, butterflies flying all around, and copies of clavatized villains reeking havoc all over the planet.
Garrett managed to pour a potion onto Crosshair and the two country music-corns to turn them back to their normal ages, and Masters Luminara and Plo Koon used their lightsabers to break everyone out of the candy cane cages. And quickly, everyone grabbed their devices, and started deleting things Terror-Byte sent out as distractions.
"Where is Terror-Byte going with that trash can?" Omega sang, breaking another cage open with her grandpa's strength.
No one had any idea. Usually, a trash can on a computer was to delete everything, and then it was gone. But, Terror-Byte appeared to be deleting them some other way.
"said the bullies were gonna be down in the dumps." Myra sang. Then she had an idea. "And where does trash go after the trash can?"
Suddenly, everyone was sure they knew what Terror-Byte's final destination was. But they figured they could at least try to stop her at the stop she sang she would be making.
Everyone still trapped in the basket was screaming as Terror-Byte laughed while they were lowered into a vat of raw sewage at the city's treatment plant.
"Guess it definitely stinks to be you now, doesn't it?" Terror-Byte taunted, wearing a mask over her nose and mouth.
Everyone was coughing and gagging as they were lifted out of the sewage.
"My hair!" Brittney screamed.
"Please stop! I'll do anything!" Amanda begged.
"Too late for that now." Terror-Byte sang. And then she dunked the bullies again, left them in for ten seconds, and then pulled them out again.
Pretty soon, the others arrived, but Hunter and the others immediately had to hold their noses when they entered the place.
"Ugh! Why couldn't the treatment be spa treatments?" Ahsoka groaned, holding her nose.
But at that moment, Terror-Byte took the basket, placed it back in the trash can, and left with her victims to take them to their final destination.
"After them!" Qui-Gon sang.
Terror-Byte soon came to bring the trash can to its final destination: the dump.
The trash can was turned upside down, and everyone in it screamed as it fell from high above, the basket shattering as it landed on a big pile of garbage.
"Hey! We're at the dump!" Nuro sang.
That was when Terror-Byte appeared in the center.
"That's right. Down in the dump, you are." Terror-Byte taunted.
All the cyberbullies tried to grab Terror-Byte, only to literally butt heads with each other as it turned out to be just a hologram of the girl, and she laughed at them.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not finished with all of you yet." Terror-Byte laughed. "I've got something much bigger in store for all of you."
That was when the cyberbullies had a bright light shone upon them, and they were all scooped up by a giant claw, and they were all dropped into what looked like a moving pile of garbage.
"Have a nice trip!" Terror-Byte taunted, waving bye-bye as everyone was carried away.
Everyone dug themselves so they were above the trash, and then all of a sudden, there were a bunch of metal pieces of trash being lifted up to a magnet that was above.
"Yuck!" Cece groaned as she stepped in something gloppy. "Now I need new shoes."
"I think the shoe's the least of any of our worries!" Amanda sang. "Look!"
All the cyberbullies looked to see that they were headed right for a giant shredder and a bunch of other machines that crushed and stomped the garbage!
"RUN!" Nuro screamed.
And sure enough, all of the cyberbullies started running for their lives. But it was like running on a treadmill covered in trash.
Meanwhile, people all across Coruscant were scared. Parents of the younger cyberbullies were terrified for their children's lives, and everyone was also worried when all the computers, phones, and tablets stopped working.
At the Hall mansion, the entire family was worried too.
"You don't think Terror-Byte had something to do with this, do you?" Vince sang, banging his laptop.
"It's possible." Marigold sang. "And don't bang it, Vince. You'll just damage it."
Maggie whimpered as she scratched the legs of her owner's chair.
Vince scratched the puppy's ears. Then he picked up a little baseball and started to roll it across the floor for Maggie to fetch, the puppy going after it.
"I just hope Myra and the others are okay." Vince sang.
Vince tried to call Myra on his phone to see if she was okay, only for his phone to have no signal. And Vince was so worried about his friends, he decided to do a little something unorthodox. He picked up his baseball and placed it in his pocket before getting on his horse.
"Marigold, let's go for a ride." Vince sang. "Maggie, stay."
Marigold began running to take her rider to find his friends and make sure they were okay.
Terror-Byte vanished, but the Jedi and royal family spotted where Terror-Byte dumped the bullies, and they were still running, but it looked like they were getting tired.
"Looks like all of you are getting a taste of karma down there," sang Anakin.
"Are you gonna help me out of here? Or are you just gonna stare at us all night?" Brittney shouted.
"We'll get you out," sang Boba. "But once we do, all of you are gonna need to stop with the cyberbullying, and I mean everyone."
"Alright! We promise!" Renaldo shouted.
"Just hang tight, everyone, we'll get out of there." Qui-Gon sang.
"Where's Terror-Byte?" Omega wondered out loud.
"I could be wrong, but if she's left her victims here," sang Luminara. "My best guess would be she's gone to turn the wi-fi back on to have her full powers back."
"We gotta go after her!" Boba sang.
"You go!" Myra sang. "The rest of us will get these guys out of the dumps."
So, using his aunt's super speed, Boba ran back in the direction of the control tower. Omega, her parents, Lamenta, and Carmine all followed suit on the horses while the Jedi and the Batch stayed behind to rescue the cyberbullies.
The Batch went to look for the controls to stop the conveyor belts, and they found all the droids and workers had been shut down or tied up. Quickly, Indira, in pegasus form, chewed some of the ropes off while Tech and Mila got into the system and tried to shut down the conveyor, but the panel was already fried.
"Terror-Byte must've done this to keep anyone from stopping the machine." Mila sang.
"Is there another way to stop the machines?" Hunter asked a worker he freed.
"There's an emergency stop button
Myra tried to use the Force to get one of the bullies out, but she was having a bit of trouble, so the other Jedi jumped in to help. They quickly worked to get the youngest of the bunch out first. And Comedia flew in to get the older ones out by having one jump on her back, while the other grabbed and held onto her tail.
"OW! My tail!" Comedia cried. But, she continued to fly anyway and get the two victims out of the conveyor and away from the machines. But because everyone tried to get a ride, it threw Comedia off balance, and caused everyone to get knocked into the conveyor, the silly-corn scratching her wing on a piece of trash, hindering her flightless.
"My wing!" Comedia cried.
Quickly, everyone started running. The conveyor belt was moving too quickly for the Jedi to jump out or use the force, and more trash kept getting dumped in, making it difficult for the horses to have enough time to jump, fly, or apparate out.
That was when Marigold and Vince appeared.
"Looks like we missed all the action." Marigold sang, seeing all looking fine.
"Maybe not all the action," sang Vince, getting scared. "Myra! What are you doing down there?!"
"Long story!" Myra sang, still running. "We're trapped."
"Vince! Marigold!" Luminara sang. "You need to find an emergency switch!"
Quickly, Vince and Marigold split to look. Marigold stayed and used the Force to lift whoever she could from the conveyor, while Vince looked for an emergency switch.
Vince looked around, and he spotted an emergency all-systems switch on a panel in the distance. If Vince guessed correctly, it would shut down the entire dump. But it looked awfully far to run. He had to try though. And then, Vince had an idea.
Remembering his game of fetch with Maggie earlier, Vince took out the baseball from his pocket. He hadn't played baseball since the last time he'd been to a batting cage as a child, but he had thrown many winning throws as a football player, and the coach was always saying how Vince had the best throwing arm he'd ever seen.
So, aiming carefully, Vince threw the ball harder than he'd ever thrown before, and in one big swing, the ball hit the button, and shut down all the dump's systems, including the conveyor belt.
Everyone was relieved when the conveyor stopped moving.
That gave the Jedi time to jump and get everyone out. Since Comedia couldn't fly at the moment, Marigold helped her out. Before long, the victims were all safely out from the conveyor, but quickly all found themselves placed in binders.
"What's this?" asked one of the older victims.
"Yeah, we were just about to be killed," sang Cece.
"Perhaps." Obi-Wan sang. "But all of you did commit cyberbullying, and something tells me my old master and my former and current Padawans are going to want a word with all of you."
Now some of the cyberbullies were beginning to think about jumping back in.
"You really saved us," sang Myra, having learned from Marigold that Vince scored a real winning throw to save everyone.
"It was no big deal." Vince blushed.
To Myra, it was a big deal. She and so many other people could've died had he not made that throw. Granted, some of them probably deserved it, but still. If this wasn't enough to show Vince had changed for the better, Myra didn't know what was. But, she did know he deserved a great deal of thanks.
Myra grabbed Vince by the front of his jacket and pulled him close for the last thing he expected. A kiss right on the lips!
Vince was frozen for a moment and fainted to the ground.
"I'm good!" Vince managed to get out.
Meanwhile, Terror-Byte restrained all the workers at the connection tower before flipping a switch to turn the wi-fi back on, but just before she could do anything, Gabby started to break out again!
"Stop this! You got what you wanted!" Gabby screamed. "Let me go."
"No use resisting, Gabriella." Terror-Byte sang.
Gabby broke out for another moment to simply scream in terror. And that was when someone grabbed her from behind and took the mouse that was in her hand and placed in his pocket.
"Gabby!" Boba exclaimed, pulling the VR goggles from his sister's face.
Terror-Byte's eyes were red and filled with anger as Boba held her and Lamenta managed to get better control of Anakin's plant powers, using them to wrap Terror-Byte in a bunch of vines.
"Gabby." Boba felt tears sting his eyes when he saw what his sister had been turned into. "What has that witch done to you?!"
For a moment, Gabby's eyes turned green again.
"Big Brother?" Gabby sang, only for Terror-Byte to take over again.
"What do we do?" Boba asked. "Should I just break the mouse?"
"No! This clavatization looks different." Qui-Gon sang. He caressed Terror-Byte's face. "Gabby? It's Grandpa. Can you hear me?"
Terror-Byte's eyes changed to green again.
"Help me!" Gabby begged before her eyes changed red again.
Gabby was brought into the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Terror-Byte, sure enough, tried to get away when she saw water. All of Gabby's family, the Batch, and the Jedi Council all gathered there.
Garrett took a good look at Terror-Byte and noted how she kept turning back to Gabby for a moment, and he had a hypothesis.
"Just as I thought. Gabby has been trying to break out of her trance," sang Garrett.
"So, do we just declavatize her here and now?" Carousella asked.
"No! If we do that, it could damage her mind and her powers."
According to what Garrett knew of dark doresho magic, very few ever had the mental capacity and strength to still have a portion of control over their mind while under a mind-control spell. In order to free a victim, he or she had to break themselves out.
"But we can't just wait for Gabby to break out of this!" Ahsoka sang. "Isn't there something we can do to help her?"
"Well, this particular kind is tied to her emotions. Thus, in order to help her, there is one thing that could possibly be done. Boba, what happened right before the first time you saw Gabby break out of her trance?"
"I talked to her."
"What did you say to her?"
"I told her that this wasn't the real her. Before that, all I did was get her to look at me, and I guess when she saw how hurt I looked, something inside her snapped."
That was it. It was Gabby's love for her brother that helped her to break out of her trance the longest, until Terror-Byte took over, no doubt by Marivere strengthening her grip. If one loved one's love could help her break out for a minute, then the love of many might be strong enough to break the mariclava's hold, the others figured.
It was then Boba remembered a spell he and Omega used for Remix and Magenta to break the latter out of a clavatization a while back.
"If I still had my water magic, I could do the spell again here with Omega."
"Then it looks like it's up to us," sang Kara, looking at her brothers.
Anakin and Carmine stepped into the water with their sister while the younger pair of twins guided them on how to cast the spell.
"It's gonna take everyone's help though." Omega sang. "We need all the memories we can get."
"Everyone here, if you have a happy memory with Gabby, use it!" Boba sang. "Concentrate, and let your memories flow through to help Gabby out."
Gabby was placed to sit on a rock in the water, and her father, aunt, and uncle surrounded her and joined hands, and together, they concentrated.
Kara:
If we ever needed magic, we could use it now
And if spells and wands won't work, we'll find a way somehow
Can we find some new power
If we ever needed magic, this would be the day
Can we find the way?
Memories are magic, Gabby
It doesn't matter how unmemorable they seem
Ordinary moments
Like a look or laugh you shared
Can bring a gleam of light
In your bleakest, darkest hour
Sure enough, orbs of light filled the air as everyone brought out their happiest memories with Gabby, some from when she was much smaller to more recent times, whether it was getting a hug from her, playing a game, or any moment where she worked to cheer someone up or make them laugh when they were feeling down.
Anakin:
Memories can save you, Gabby
When you add them up, they paint a picture of
All the love you're given
And the love you have received
And in that love, there's a power
Love power
Feel it flowing through you
Like a rushing stream
Carmine:
And there are those who just love power
And they throw us down a well of deep despair
They don't understand
That while they live in hate and fear
Look what's right there, love power
Love, love power
We can always choose to use it if we dare
Love power
Love power
Kara:
And we find it in the memories we share
And we need it like the sun and light and air
So when you're in need of magic
This is where to go
Find the song inside you
That your memories seem to know
Let it grow
Let it glow
The lights glowed brighter, and Gabby was lifted into the air as the lights surrounded her and started to spin her. Gabby could feel herself beginning to get stronger, and though Terror-Byte tried, everyone's love was no match for Terror-Byte's anger and vengeful desires.
Whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Boba concentrated especially hard, tears falling from his eyes as he feared being unable to live with himself if he wasn't able to free his sister.
Out of rock there grows a flower
As a ray of sunshine melts a cave of ice
So we'll sing it out
Until the world will sing along
What makes us strong?
Love power
Love, love power
It's like soaring on a magic broomstick
To the sky above
We fly on love, love power
Love, love power
Just remember the memories
That show us the power of love
And the lights flashed as Terror-Byte transformed back into Gabby.
Gabby was lowered to the ground, landing in Anakin's arms. But Gabby's eyes were closed, tear stains down her cheeks, and she wasn't moving, shocking everyone.
"Gabby?" Anakin gently ran a thumb across her cheek. She didn't respond.
Anakin pressed his ear against Gabby's heart. Anakin's eyes were quickly filling up with tears when he couldn't hear anything. Boba and Omega had identical looks of horror on their faces, and every horse's ears drooped when they saw what had become of the young princess.
Anakin once had to pretend he lost his daughter, but now, it appeared he'd lost her for real. He started to cry as he hugged her close to him. Boba immediately ran over and joined his father in hugging Gabby.
"I'm sorry, Gabby! I'm sorry." Boba sang tearfully.
Boba looked at his sister's face and saw the tear stains on her face. He couldn't help wondering if underneath the mask, Gabby had been crying the whole time. Gently, he kissed his sister's forehead and sang a song to her. No matter how big their family was, she would always be the first sister he ever knew, and the best thing that ever happened to him.
Boba:
Come stop your crying, it'll be alright
Just take my hand, hold it tight
I will protect you from all around you
I will be here, don't you cry
Boba gently stroked Gabby's hair and took a turn holding her in his arms. He might not have held her as a baby when she was born like most big brothers, but he felt like he'd known her his whole life.
For one so small, you seem so strong
My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm
This bond between us only can't be broken
I will be here, don't you cry
You'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forevermore
You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
Yes, you'll be in my heart
Always
Boba recalled how many times people would call him out as the only adopted child, even when it was just him and Gabby in their parents' lives. But even still, he and Gabby shared a special bond all siblings deserved to have with each other.
Why can't they understand the way we feel?
They just don't trust what they can't explain
I know we're different, but deep inside us
We're not that different at all
As everyone else looked down in silence or hugged someone else as they shed tears of their own, more tears fell from Boba's eyes as he looked at Gabby one more time.
You'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forevermore
You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
Yes, you'll be in my heart
A tear fell from Boba's eye and onto Gabby's cheek at that moment.
Always
It was then that Gabby's eyes slowly opened up and Gabby silently gasped a breath before looking up at her brother as he was crying. And she placed a hand on his cheek.
Boba's eyes immediately shot open again, and he looked at his sister, a huge smile appearing on his face.
"Gabby!" Boba exclaimed, startling everyone. "You're alive!"
Boba immediately spun Gabby around again, but fell into the water with her, getting both of them wet from head to toe. But they were laughing.
"That was fun!" Gabby laughed.
"Gabby! Come here, Princess." Anakin sang, eagerly taking Gabby into his arms and showering her with kisses.
Gabby's entire family was so happy to see she was alive and alright, and she got showered with a lot of hugs and kisses. The musical curse was still lingering, but everyone felt like bursting into song anyway. Gabby was alive, declavatized, and with her family again.
Except, there was one more matter they had to deal with, and it wasn't the matter of Gabby switching her family's powers back.
You guys didn't really think I was gonna kill off one of my main OC's, and one that's a child, did you? Stay tuned, because the next chapter, the family is gonna need a little more help to break the musical curse.