Chapter 2
Ralsei's Research
The nine original classmates all sat around Ralsei's miraculous baking cauldron and enjoyed a never-ending parade of cakes. Well, if they could swipe the delicious confections before Susie swallowed them whole. With forks and knives clacking against plates and faces dirty with crumbs and sticky icing, the teens listened to the Dark Prince give his report.
Ralsei explained, "We've been noticing even stranger things happening in our Dark World since the storm with its strange lightning. The Dark Fountain remains pure and is flowing just fine. But on our borders, the horizon is twisting and taking on odd shapes. A few have ventured out as far as they could and saw shadows resembling the Titans.
"And there's this weird feeling in the air, too. It's like that bad feeling right before you get into a fight. You feel tense in your stomach. You're worried… A lot of residents are telling me that they wake up that way. I've felt it, too sometimes. And even when we disperse one of those quasi-Dark Worlds-"
"I thought we were calling them pseudo-Dark Worlds," Snowy muttered.
"-There's still no change," Ralsei continued as if not interrupted. "I fear that if this continues, we might see this kingdom affected in ways that we cannot expect. And in ways we might not want to face. If those twisted, sad monsters are anything to go by… I don't want to think what could happen to all of our friends."
"We can work hard over the weekend and beat these pseudo-quasi-whatsits-Dark Worlds," Susie said, scarfing down another whole cake.
"That's the right kind of thinking," Ralsei agreed, surprising everyone. Normally the good goat boy did everything he could to eschew violence and find a peaceful solution. "But I don't think it's wise for us to tire ourselves out by fighting in one long weekend. You guys will have school again on Monday and I don't want you tired out so bad that you won't be able to participate!"
Kris smiled. He always got this feisty when it came to making sure that the teens did well in school. Susie just rolled her eyes. It provided enough distraction for Jockington to nab another cake to share with everyone.
"There are eight more sigils for us to uncover. Eight more false Dark Worlds to close," Ralsei counted. "Since we know that we need Kris to close the pseudo-Fountains and these places are quite dangerous, we'll want to have teams working together. We rotate who goes into which Dark Worlds and help to start clearing the area so Kris and Susie can storm in and quickly close the Fountain."
"We'll need a map and planned routes," Noelle remarked. "Jockington and I can jog to the different sites and see how long it takes. Kris has access to their dad's truck. If they and Susie can drive around to meet up with each time at the right interval, and the rest of us jog to where we need to go, we could have everything timed perfectly to hopefully clear all the pseudo-Dark Worlds in a day!"
"That's the smartest girl in our class, for ya!" Berdly said before taking another bite of strawberry cake.
"But, whooz gunna go with whom?" Temmie asked. "Wut are our teems? And do we breeng Drake with us?"
"No!" the others all said together.
It was quickly determined that Noelle would accompany Catti and Berdly and start off the day by going for the first of the eight remaining pseudo-Dark Worlds. Jockington and Temmie would be the powerhouse duo to take on the second, while Monster Kid and Snowy once more teamed up to deal with the third pocket dimension. Maps were quickly produced for everyone to use. Noelle would have to make them all over again when they exited Ralsei's kingdom, owing to the fact that only cellphones and eggs seemed to defy all reason and remain the same as they went from world-to-world.
"It's going to be tight, but I think we can manage Ralsei's plan," Noelle said nervously.
"It's going to be total overkill with six of us attacking the first false Dark World," Berdly said, feeling a mix of confidence and savagery.
"Remember, we're going to be moving pretty fast in Asgore's truck, so don't worry," Susie assured the others. "Teams of five and six should smash these places up nice and good."
"We still… don't have… a plan for… the sigils," Catti reminded everyone.
"That's more than I can handle! Especially when one of us doesn't have hands!" Snowy joked, slapping Monster Kid across the back.
The other teen rolled his eyes. "We get it already! You're not hearing any complaints from me. I know that Susie has a lead foot. She'll slam it down on the gas if Kris doesn't pick up the speed."
Susie grinned widely at him and laughed, "You better believe it!"
Ralsei watched them all, his chest swelling with pride. These nine kids had once been unable to get along at all. It had made Kris and Susie's lives miserable. But the truth was that all of them had suffered in some way. Life was better with good friends. They might not see it in the moment, but their ability to communicate, joke, and plan despite their differences in opinions and personalities proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had overcome all their personal and group obstacles to really become friends.
And yet… In the back of his mind, Ralsei felt that something was encircling the small group. An unseen enemy that was hellbent on finding a way to break them apart. Whatever was happening across his horizon was unlike Angels Heaven. Whatever this was, it had a different quality to it than the other strange adventures he had found himself on with first just Kris and Susie, and then with the whole classroom.
That first odd adventure had been a climb up and through a gigantic Christmas tree and the civilization of enchanted ornaments that populated it. That adventure ended with the Fun Gang discovery a special book that old Gerson had gifted to Kris' parents before they separated. On top of that, there was another false angel that they had to defeat. It had required a lot more violence and allies than Ralsei was used to.
Half a year later, all of Kris and Susie's friends found themselves pulled into another odd Dark World that had been created by a human calling himself The Dude. This peculiar human had split the whole group, while murderous monsters and strange kingdoms tried to annihilate the Lightners. Thankfully, Kris and Susie led the way to rescue everyone and lead an assault on The Dude. The human escaped at the beginning of the battle, leaving everyone a little confused about what the whole confrontation and adventure had really been about.
Ralsei had no answers to what was going on. All he could do was press forward with these amazing heroes and hope that everything made sense by the end.
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The fifth pseudo-Dark World was located out by a small creek that had been nearly impossible to drive out to. Asgore was going to need to sell a lot of flowers for a new paintjob! When Kris pulled up to park, the other teens all spilled out of the truck bed and approached the smoking sigil in a small clearing by the bubbling brook. But as with the previous four, as soon as they got within close proximity to it, black smoke and mists swooshed in from every direction and engulfed the heroes.
Kris and Susie held hands as everything went pitch black. Their other senses were muffled until Ralsei's voice cut through the gloom.
"Excellent! You all made it! Let's get started with clearing this pseudo-Dark World!"
The Dark Prince cleaved the darkness with a crack from his scarf. The teens found themselves looking at a geyser of Darkness that was spewing out of a small, craggy hill. Twisted crab and lobster monsters scuttled out of the cracks and swarmed towards them like angry ants.
"Crabs… I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with crabs again," Susie complained, hefting her axe to the ready. Kris agreed; the crabs in the summer Beach World had been very unnerving.
"The sooner… We win… The sooner you can stop… Complaining," Catti groused.
"Yeah, yeah, I know! Alright, let's do this!"
Six heroes against a mindless horde was absolute overkill. Susie became a hurricane of muscle and steel as she crashed into the monsters. Berdly used his halberd to support her left flank, while Kris struck and stabbed wildly to her right to keep up. Noelle, Catti, and Ralsei hung back to provide magical support. With Catti's cultish powers, Noelle's ice, and Ralsei's freezing, they provided all the necessary buffs and debuffs. Though it did consume a lot of the team's accumulated TP.
Kris, Susie, and Berdly took the punishment, accruing TP while their friends in the back put it to good use. Noelle feared that they might get flanked or attacked from the rear, but the onslaught of magic and ferocious melee attacks allowed Kris to quickly reach the false Fountain of Darkness.
They threw themselves into it, merging their soul with the magic of this false pocket dimension. And in a matter of minutes, the intense battle was brought to a vicious end.
"Wow! We should have done this way sooner," Susie replied, having barely worked up a sweat as they returned to the real world clearing. "Though, it seems a shame. I barely got warmed up!"
"That's why you're the one who is fighting against all eight Dark Worlds!" Berdly said appreciatively.
"Just don't take it for granted," Noelle cautioned. We are going to start growing tired before the end of the day. "I hope the others are doing alright. You good, Kris?"
Kris flashed her the thumbs up and swept out their father's car keys. Susie was already at their side as they leaped into the truck. Catti was already checking out the sigil seared into the forest floor when they peeled out and headed towards the first site where Jockington and Temmie should have already begun their assault on their first pseudo-Dark World.
"I still don't get how Ralsei is able to jump around from world to world, but I sure am glad that he can!" Susie said, slumping into her seat. "It won't be quite so easy at the next place. We won't have as many spellcasters for the next two worlds. Think we can hold this kind of pace?"
Kris gave her a fierce, affirmative nod. With a roar of the engine and the infusion of gas, the two took off through the woods and raced towards the next site.
Since the twelve lightning bolts had struck in a perfect circle around Hometown, it made it easy for the teens to know where to go. Unfortunately, that didn't equate to easy access. Where Jockington and Temmie were battling their own pseudo-Dark World was in a small ravine that was deep within a thicket. There was no easy way to approach by truck.
Susie and Kris had to find the nearest place in the woods to park, disembark and race through the growth and dodge between trees to find the game trail that their friends used to descend to the sigil. Once they found the ravine and began their descent, they were swallowed up in the false Dark World and found themselves at the top of a high cliff.
Paragliders rested off to the side along with Ralsei. He waved to them, saying, "Looks like we have to fight some monsters down there in the canyon. Jockington and Temmie must have already gone down. I hope they're okay!"
"If they aren't, there will be hell to pay!" Susie snarled, jumping into a paraglider painted purple. There's a green one and a blue one for Ralsei and Kris. They quickly take off and soar into the chasm.
The dark fissure was full of sightless, ugly birds large enough to swallow the heroes whole. But Susie was still rearing for a good fight. She hacked and slashed at any of them as they drew too close. Kris thought they looked a lot like bald buzzards. The Fun gang was forced to spin their paragliders out of the way repeatedly to avoid getting snatched and gobbled up.
"Dammit! Let's do this the awesome way!" Susie bellowed to Kris and unbuckled herself from the paraglider. She leaped onto a bird's head and stuck her axe in its ugly face. Embedded firmly in the monster's nervous system, Susie used her axe as a joystick to fly her newest steed towards the ground far below.
Kris and Ralsei unbuckled themselves and followed suit, falling onto the coarse, greasy back of the great, now-dead bird. The other vultures immediately pounced, ready to tear into heroes as they were now all clustered together. Without any good means to ACT, Kris and Ralsei ran all along the bird's back, using sword and scarf to beat back the other monsters. But the other buzzards still managed to tear apart the wings of Susie's steed.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Susie groused. She steered the dead bird right into the back of another one coming head-on. "Be ready to jump again!"
She wrenched her axe from the collapsing buzzard skull and ran back to the tail feathers with Kris and Ralsei. The two massive birds met with a horrifying crunch. Susie scooped up the other two and launched them all into the air. They easily landed on another bird. Once more, she swept out her axe and buried it in the next buzzard's brains.
"Hold on!" she hollered, sending the monster tumbling towards the dark Earth below. Kris and Ralsei clutched onto nasty feathers for dear life, the wind ripped through their teeth. At the last second, she pulled up and put them into a controlled crash. "Ha! I knew playing all those video games would pay off one day!"
"Quick! Dive for cover!" Ralsei shouted, scrambling for an outcropping of rock that provided an umbrella of defense.
Three more gigantic birds swooped down to scoop up the heroes. With a cool dude's "Boo-YEAH!" tearing through the air, Jockington came zipping out of the gloom to clobber the lead bird across the beak. An explosion rocked the second bird, fired from Temmie. Susie had built up plenty of TP dealing with the bird while descending. She unleashed a Rude Buster that cleaved the earth and shook the canyon walls. The last bird was cloven in two. Jockington used his whole body to choke the life out of the first vulture.
"You know, these guys are big and scary at first, but when you start fighting them, they're all a bunch of pushovers! They go down so easy!" Jockington shouted.
"They'z unly stronk when they've gut numbers," Temmie said, slinking out of a shadow. "Come Krisp! We's found the Dark Fountain! But eetz got sum pretection."
The Fun Gang hurriedly regrouped and followed their friends down the canyon trail. Monstrous, disgusting birds kept flying out of the dark clouds above, screaming their death cries. The heroes did their best tow ard off the big groups and surround the vultures that came by themselves. They'd quickly slay it and gain as much TP as possible to unleash big blasts later on.
When they finally reached the Dark Fountain, Kris saw what Temmie had meant by it being protected. There was a massive nest of thorns in front of the Dark Fountain. A large, cracked, grey egg sat in the nest. Wicked, red eyes poked gleamed through the larger crack. A hideous squawk shook the canyon as the egg stood up on large, bladed legs and feet.
"Seriously! None of the creatures make any sense!" Susie groaned. "Alright, who wants a scrambled egg? And who wants fried chicken?"
"Why not both?" Jockington asked with a wide grin.
The large chick kicked out a storm of blades at the heroes. Kris pulled out their shield and got in front of the others, blocking the worst of the barrage. Jockington then lashed out and tried to tie up the hatchling's legs. Ralsei assisted him with his scarf. Together, Temmie and Susie delivered a blast and a wave of arc lavender arc energy to smash into the egg. Like a tree, it went down. Kris sprinted right behind the magic and leaped onto the cracked egg, plunging their sword deep into the darkness.
The egg shuttered, and a mournful squawk filled the air. But the fight was not done. The egg began glowing deep red from underneath the cracks. Kris was suddenly filled with tremendous apprehension. The eggs was about to do something bad. Shouting for the others to follow. Kris sprinted to the Dark Fountain and threw themselves in to begin the process of sealing it.
At the last second, Kris managed to banish the false Dark World just as the egg went off in a catastrophic KABOOM!
All four teens were thrown back into the Light World with their heads ringing. Susie was clutching onto Kris, holding them close to her chest. Kris would have loved to relish their position, but they felt sick.
"I hope Ralsei is fine," Susie muttered.
"Hope so, too," Kris replied softly. They figured he would be fine, since Ralsei always seemed to have an escape plan or a nice way of getting around. However, that ridiculous fight had cut it way too close.
Temmie groaned, "Temz wantz a big boof dragon man to hold her…"
"That was not radical there at the end," Jockington complained. "And we have two more of those worlds to shut down!"
"Lucky you. Kris and I still six more to go!" Susie harrumphed, easily picking up Kris. She tucked them underneath her arm and walked back to the truck. "If you both need a pick-me-up, head over to QC's. And if you do, can you get me a soda?"
"Will you pay me back?" Jockington asked.
"I'll make sure you don't have to eat a knuckle sandwich," Susie replied with a dark smirk.
The snake laughed and said, "We'll see!"
"Drove safe!" Temmie called out to them. Kris replied with both thumbs up.
Despite their bravado, Kris and Susie took a moment in Asgore's truck to recollect themselves and catch a breath. Slumping in their seats, the dragon girl said softly, "I didn't think it would be so rough to close down two pseudo-Dark Worlds in one day. The first Dark World was easy because we could burn our way through it with everyone. But this last one was a little too wild on one go. And that near-death experience?! That was a little much.
"What do you think we're dealing with, Kris?"
Noticing how her voice trembled a little bit there at the end, Kris took her hand and encouraged her. Susie was the strongest, bravest, and best person they knew. She had already faced down incredible odds before and easily smashed many of them. They had already defeated half of the pseudo-Dark Worlds created by that strange storm. With everyone working together, there was no way they could lose!
Susie brightened up a little. Kris turned the truck's engine and began driving them to the next spot on their map. As they went, Kris added, "These worlds were very likely created by The Dude or anyone else who might be working with him. I think we'll need to read what Gerson wrote and gifted to my parents. Because this all goes against what we learned about how the Dark Worlds are supposed to work and their purposes. But someone is breaking the rules…"
That was what worried Susie so much. Kris was right; they could easily defeat these false Dark Worlds together. And with all their friends at their backs, there was no doubt about the outcome! However, who had the power to keep creating these twisted Dark Worlds? And what was their goal in doing so?
Kris yelped and suddenly swerved. A great shadow emerged from behind one of the trees. Three clawed arms shot out and tried to swipe them. The truck narrowly dodged and kept going. Susie whipped around in her seat and looked out the back cab window. The creature was already gone.
"Dammit! I nearly forgot those guys. And I can barely tell if they are even there!"
"That was close," Kris said numbly. "To my knowledge, no one has yet gotten hurt by those things, but it felt like it was really trying to kill us back there."
"It's the fault of those damn drawings! Runes? Sigils!? Whatever! I bet you an all-you-can-eat meal that the storm is responsible for summoning them here to Hometown!"
"I know better than you take you up on that bet," Kris said with a weak smile.
To tease him back and release some pent-up tension, Susie punched them in the arm. "Don't be a wimp, Kris! Okay, you know what? Screw feeling worried or tired! We need to purge our town of these creatures and this curse-spell thing! Hit that gas, Kris!"
Kris did as she directed and sped up as fast as they dared through the woods and streaking through Hometown to the next site on the opposite side of the surrounding forest. They needed to meet up with Monster Kid and Snowy as fast as possible. The comedic duo was the last to enter their pseudo-Dark World, if everything was going according to plan. With any luck, they should have already established a good beachhead for the Fun Gang to take advantage of.
As they raced through town, Susie saw Drake wandering around the sidewalk, texting on his phone. His head snapped up and his eyes locked with hers as they whooshed by. Susie growled in her throat. There was something off about that guy which was getting under her scales. It was hard to put her claw on it, but Drake wasn't entirely on the level. Unlike the dishes of milk that magically refilled themselves, it felt to her like there was a sinister intent behind his charm, winning grin, and smiling eyes.
Deep in the woods, in another random clearing, resided the next sigil for them to tackle. Almost immediately after getting out of the truck, now completely caked in autumn mud, Kris and Susie were consumed by the false Dark World.
"Is everything alright? Kris? Susie?" Ralsei asked as they stumbled out of the black mists. He was right by their side, same as always. And just as usual, he was keenly tuned in to how they were feeling.
Susie rolled her shoulders, readying her axe and growled, "This damn curse is just becoming too much. A shadow creature tried attacking us on our way here. And the last world was a little chaotic and surprisingly exhausting. How are you holding up? That explosion nearly got us!"
"It wasn't fun," Ralsei admitted with a shudder. "I got thrown around through the connections between the Dark Worlds and had to orient myself. Good thing Noelle said we should have maps! I was able to use that information to help me make it to you guys just in time!"
Is that how it works? Kris wondered.
There was little time to contemplate the mechanics of the Dark Worlds because they could now see the new challenge before them. Monster Kid and Snowy had definitely been there earlier. A totem of junk and fallen foes had been set up to point the way into the mouth of a yawning cave. Purple and grey goop dripped from the stalactites hanging from the ceiling like deadly spears. A clear path curved down into the earth.
"Ah hell… I hate the mechanic where you have to dodge random items from the surrounding environment."
"Don't worry, Susie! Kris will be able to lead us through this like they always do!"
Kris gave them the thumbs up and charged into the cave.
Sure enough, the sharp stalactites plummeted at random towards the heroes. With Kris' help, they were able to easily navigate through all the traps. Plenty of broken stones and stalactite sticking into the soft road indicated that Snowy and Monster Kid had already come through here as well.
But as they ran, strange arms of purple and grey muck erupted from the walls and ceiling to try and snatch them up. Susie roared and spun, slicing her way through the assaulting limbs. Kris and Ralsei fell in behind her, guarding her rear and head from the remaining grasping claws.
"These pseudo-worlds at least have wonderful variety!" Ralsei said, trying to be positive.
"I'd like them better if they were bland and weren't all trying to kill us!" Susie snarled, splattering the walls with destroyed goo and slime.
Once more leading the charge, Susie bashed and crashed her way deep within the false earth's crust. The slope became very steep and with the mashed-up goo and slime, the Fun Gang quickly found themselves slipping and sliding down to the bottom. There they spilled out onto a balcony of stone overlooking a underground colosseum filled with giants. At the other side, in a special box and protected by ogres, minotaurs, and cyclopes, the pseudo-Dark Fountain burst high and strong.
Down in the black sands of the colosseum battled Snowy and Monster Kid against a gigantic champion dressed in golden armor. Large hands and fat fingers pointed at the Fung Gang as voices cried out, "Fresh meat for the sands! Fresh meat for the sands!"
Kris nodded to Susie to use up their accumulated TP in a vicious attack. Not needing to be told twice, Susie concentrated on summoning her amazing Rude Buster attack. With a tremendous downswing that generated its own gale force winds, she unleashed a beam of energy that cleaved its way through four of the beast attacking their friends.
The Dark Prince and human leaped into the pit right after the blistering assault. As the corpses of four giants smashed against the black sands, sending up glittering plumes, the two heroes landed in their epic poses.
"Now is not the time to show off!" Monster Kid howled. "These guys mean business! And the moment you defeat one group, more of the audience get dressed in armor and join the fight!"
"It's an avalanche of smelly, sweaty brutes!" Snowy added loudly.
As if just to emphasize their words, half a dozen monsters stood up and hurriedly began putting on their armor.
Susie leaped into the fray. "If that's the case, then don't bother fighting them one at a time; cut your way to the Fountain and let Kris do their thing!"
She once again led the way, sprinting across the black sands to reach the fake Dark Fountain. Kris and Ralsei leaped into pursuit. Kris felt particularly vulnerable against the hulking behemoths. Without the option to ACT, they had to rely on their strength of arms to bring down these fumbling foes.
Clubs, axes, and gargantuan swords smashed down all around them. The Fun Gang had to dance their way between the blow, trying to not get blinded by the clouds of dust thrown up by the violent attacks. Snowy threw up ice and wind attacks to batter back the worst of the sandy haze while Monster Kid darted ahead to attack the ankles of the oncoming beasts. Susie did her best to be the wrecking ball, knocking the giants down, while Kris and Ralsei brought up the rear, putting the creatures out of the misery.
As the gang drew nearer to the pseudo-Fountain, the entire colosseum erupted into chaos. All the monsters fought and pushed their way forward, trying to cut off and crush the little heroes. Ralsei began focusing his efforts more on healing his comrades than attacking the giants. All of the smashing, stomping, and kicking was draining them of HP. The teamwork that had given them the advantage and gained a significant distance across the black sands was now interrupted by the sheer mass of bodies they had to deal with.
Susie huffed to herself. If they kept up this fight, they might get squashed flatter than pancakes. And if they did win, they would be more exhausted than they intended to deal with the other false Dark Worlds before the end of the day. And if they didn't do something, those shadows would keep growing more and more powerful and could overrun Hometown!
It's now or never, she told herself. "Hey, Kris! You ready to do something super stupid?"
Kris indicated that they were always ready to do something incredibly stupid.
Without further explanation, Susie picked up Kris and hurled her partner as if they were a lance, aiming for them to soar across the stadium and right to the Dark Fountain. "It's all you, Kris!" Susie screeched.
Kris sped through the air like a bullet. Susie's aim proved remarkable once again and they threaded the incredible needle of passing through all the massive, sweaty limbs that were trying to pulverize them. Their trajectory took them in a grand arc away and above all the clobbering and smashing. The giants realized only too late what was happening and at first threw their weapons after Kris. It was like trying to kill a fly with a sledgehammer.
Their mighty hammers and axes swept past Kris and slammed into the stone cage surrounding the fake Dark Fountain. The unintended attacks busted it open and created a path and rampart of rubble and weapons that Kris could easily climb. They curled into a ball, hit the sands rolling and burst at the right second to land on their feet. Momentum carried Kris forward and up. The giants reacted too slowly and began giving chase, creating an all-new avalanche of smelly bodies towards the Fountain.
The cyclopes guards pounced, but Kris threw some black sand their way, blinding their eyes. Howling in pain and frustration, they swung their monstrous blades too wide and struck each other. Taken out of the battle, there was nothing to stop Kris sprinting into the Fountain and shutting it down.
For the third time that day, a pseudo-Dark World vanished. Kris, Susie, Snowy, and Monster Kid spilled back into the Light World, lying down in the leaves and browning grass. The smoking sigil from the lightning struck remained, but everything else was thankfully gone.
"Whew! I thought we were goners!" Monster Kid gasped.
"We would have been without Susie's impeccable timing and beefy arms!"
"Muscular! They're muscular! I'm not a beef cake for you to eat!" Susie snapped.
"No, but you certainly let Kris eat you," Snowy said before he could stop himself. Susie punted him out of the clearing.
Blushing a furious magenta, she shouted, "Come on Kris! We still have more work to do!"
Back in the truck on the move once again, the couple sped off to the fourth site on their list. No matter how hard the other pseudo-Dark Worlds became, Kris and Susie kept pressing forward. Reuniting with Noelle, Catti, and Berdly, they crashed into a burning chasm that had its Dark Fountain at the center of a volcano. Noelle handily created a bridge of ice for everyone to charge across and bypass many of the lava golems.
When Kris and Susie tagged back in to help Jockington and Temmie, they found themselves in a jungle Dark World filled with horrible creatures and monstrosities they couldn't even see. The woods were filled with horrible cries of things eating and hunting. Frightened, Susie cleaved her way through the jungle by mowing it down and leading the way to the Dark Fountain while everyone else threw up mud and debris to splatter and mark the invisible beasts as they came to devour them.
Then it was right back to Snowy and Monster Kid who were having a hard time once again. They had to solve a puzzle involving floating islands and portals that were meant to confuse them. It took the team a little while to navigate the maze and deal with the Bat Riders that came to harass them. But eventually, the four friends made their way to the castle on the highest floating island where Kris shut down the false Dark Fountain.
By this point, Kris and Susie were feeling worn out from dealing with six violently active pseudo-Dark Worlds and still no progress on the sigils, but for a curiosity. On the tenth Fountain to be shut down, the sigil was not smoking. The friends took that to be a good sign, but they could not figure out what had caused the change when all the others were still ominously sputtering up darkness and smoke. Armed with slightly good news, the couple pressed on and linked up with Noelle, Catti, and Berdly once more for the second-to-last world.
Here, the heroes had to deal with a 'Running of the Jabberwockies.' Big, hairy, probe-wielding beasts trying to fly with too-small wings. They jabbed at the heroes with their cursed batons and wands, forcing the friends into a deadly race to the Fountain. They managed to lead the Jabberwockies off a convenient cliff by using Ralsei's scarf as a matador's cape. And once Kris closed their seventh portal for the day, the Fung Gang again found a sigil blasted into the earth that wasn't smoking.
"So what did we get right about these last two false Dark Worlds and wrong with all the others?" Susie complained.
Kris worried that it might a sign of something else coming. It was too serendipitous that by conquering the last two worlds in the exact same manner as the other yielded different results.
Debating different theories, the five friends piled back into the truck and rejoined with Jockington, Temmie, Monster Kid, and Snowy for an epic showdown against a magic-wielding dragon who guarded the final Dark Fountain. It was a glorious and epic final boss fight that forced the heroes to use every trick in their book and all of their remaining resources.
It came to an end when Susie lobed off the dragon's head and Kris rushed to close the final, false Dark Fountain.
And…
Nothing changed when the last pseudo-Dark World collapsed and vanished. A third inactive sigil remained, which still refused to remain covered up if the friends tried to bury or deface it. If anything, the weather started growing worse and the sky became even darker, the wind colder.
"Well, we did all of that work," Monster Kid pouted. "Now what!?"
To that question, there was no answer.