Chapter 9
The Second Task: Killer Clowns
The downtown area sandwiched between the church and town hall was packed with young families and fun stalls, boasting all kinds of games, snacks, and little scares. A fun house had been set aside for visitors, filled with trick mirrors and jump scares. Noelle really wanted to check it out and terrify herself a little. Prove that she was more than capable of standing up to her old fears.
But first, she had to help man her mother's stall right at the steps of town hall. She passed sugar free snacks out to the young children and buttons to the parents to remind them to vote for Mayor Holiday in the upcoming elections. Of course, Mother was always busy with her career and affairs of the town. She was once again not even present for the festivities that she had slaved away to complete.
Noelle had hoped that by solving what had really happened to Dess and doing everything she could to save her father would finally get her mom to come back home on time. That they could start being a family once again. And although saving the world had given Noelle many of the answers she'd been searching for, the toll of those years of worrying, anger, and keeping everyone at a distance was something Mayor Holiday couldn't just roll off her shoulders.
However, Noelle found that she could be happy with the people who were actively there for her. Kris, Susie, Catti, and everyone else in her class. There was a world she could escape to whenever it became too much. Noelle was loved and surrounded by tons of good people. It made it easier to wait and help her mother slowly but surely come back to the spotlight of family and home.
No matter how long it took, Noelle was ready to be that patient hero. Once upon a time, she would have served at this Halloween stall simply because she was scared of disappointing her mother. At another time, she would have done it out of the naïve hope that it would make her mother spend more time with her, love her more. But today, Noelle did it in part because she loved her mother. Nothing more or less. Just any small thing to show to her mother that Noelle, her daughter, refused to abandon her.
There was also of course the need to protect everyone in Hometown from some super serious curse, but that was another matter entirely!
"So how are we going to know when these bad guys from other worlds are coming through?" Jockington asked. "I mean, no offense to anyone here, but we're all monsters!"
"If it's big… Then we'll know…" Catti mumbled, playing with her phone while handing candy out to some of the passing children.
"Can I have one of those pins?" a kindergartner asked.
"Sure thing!" Noelle said sweetly. "Here, I'll even pin it on your vest."
"Hurray!"
"Oh! I want one, too!"
"Please! Please! Gimme, gimme!"
Jockington handed out the pins while Catti and Noelle did their parts to decorate the children as little walking propaganda billboards.
"Your mother… needs to relearn… how to enjoy… holidays like… Halloween," Catti griped.
"She does," Noelle said through a grin and cringe. "But I think she'll get there eventually! She's coming home sooner and sooner these days."
"Not on time… yet…"
"No, not just ye-"
"Hey! Look over there!" Jockington gasped, pointing with his whole body.
Just up the road, a veritable parade of Darkners came marching in, carrying everything necessary to set up their own stalls. They were all really excited and interacting with the Lightners as if there was nothing wrong with the scenario at all. The three friends felt their jaws drop. Even more ridiculous was how no one else in Hometown even questioned that a bunch of strangers were just rolling in and taking up space to hand out candy. Welll, no kind in their right mind would complain about more sweets and goodies, but it was obvious that these newcomers were not normal.
"H-Halloween, am I right?" Noelle finally said.
Jockington quickly slithered off to bring some of the Darkners closer and ask what on earth they were doing in Hometown. How was this even possible!? A couple of the puzzle guys waddled over and hurriedly explained how the boundaries between the different worlds connected to Hometown had become so thin and soft that anyone could now pass through. Ralsei had already brought over the whole kingdom, though that had not been his first intention, and now the Darkners were going to do their part and help their Lightner friends by keeping the enemies from different worlds at bay.
"Well, thank you for the help!" Noelle said with a winning smile. One that made the Darkners blush a little. "So far, we haven't seen anything too suspicious. Other than this crazy weather, it's all been fine!"
Queen suddenly appeared behind Noelle, giving the reindeer girl a shoulder massage. She asked brightly, "What can we do to help make your task as heroes easier? What do you need help with?"
"W-W-Well, you s-see…" Noelle stammered, caught completely unawares by the domineering Darkner who had once pretended to be her surrogate mother.
Catti jumped in to save her, saying, "We need… to gather all… the candy from… the stalls… and the town hall… and the church, too. We need the candy… to help break… the curse."
"Wow, imagine what you could all say if you spoke more quickly," Queen laughed. "Alright, leave it to me!"
In a blur of blue and with a zip, Queen rocketed away to go and help. She broke right into town hall and began ransacking it for its candy and all the election material Mayor Holiday was passing out. As much as Noelle wanted to see the hilarity that would ensue when those two powerful women clashed, the Darkner monarch was about to cause a real mess.
"Wait! You can't just go in there! And we only need one piece from each place," she wailed after Queen.
"Are giant clowns a regular part of the Light World?" Horsey asked, jumping up to join the conversation.
"Nope!" Jockington said with a scoff. Then he pulled up short and sputtered, "What? Why would you say that?"
The Darkners pointed towards them. Out of the fun house came towering clowns with fangs, weirdly shaped bodies, and silly space guns. The citizens barely took any notice; it was just another silly Halloween fright. Plus, the families had more to be concerned about as the dim light of the stormy date almost plunged into night. The temperature dropped and great, freezing drops of rain began pummeling the Trick-or-Treaters.
"Well… this is… ominous," Catti muttered.
"Please dear! You really need to speak louder and faster!" Queen sang from a window.
As the clowns began leveling their guns at the citizens, Noelle felt a great power welling up inside her. The same power that propelled her incredible spells while in the Dark World. Made sense, if the Darkners could crossover-
No time for that! Noelle thought, raising her hands. She sent a beam of ice right over to the lead clowns, freezing them in massive, solid blocks.
That got the clowns' attention. The others turned their guns on Noelle and fired sparkling, weird beams of light. Jockington and Catti yanked her down. They narrowly avoided the laser blasts. Everything that the guns managed to hit suddenly turned into globs of spun sugar.
"Thanks," the reindeer said breathlessly.
"Looks tasty!" Jockington commented, gesturing to the cotton candy with his tail.
"Also looks deadly! Watch out," Noelle panted, rolling away as a new wave of laser beams fell among them.
"Horsey away!"
"Quick! Get the Lightners to safety!"
But the people of Hometown seemed to think it was all some kind of grand spectacle. They cheered and clapped, quickly making way for the three heroes to deal with the killer clowns.
"The Mayor really did go all out for Halloween this year!"
"Yeah, she's been doing a great job!"
"I'm going to vote for her again!"
"Mommy, this pin isn't tasty."
"Timmy, take that pin out of your mouth before you poke-!"
"WAAAAAH!"
"Too late…"
"These visual effects are state of the art," one adult gasped as Noelle blasted another clown, freezing it. Unfortunately, her ice magic was not holding. Even when encased in solid blocks of ice, the clowns were able to easily flex their way out and continue their attack on the town square.
Two clowns pulled unicycles out of their pockets. The wheels were just massive circular saw blades. They leaped onto their seats and charged Noelle. Catti ordered Jockington to go rigid. He did so and she threw him like a beam at the attackers. Jockington clubbed the clowns in the throats, knocking them off their uniblades.
However, the blades kept coming at them. The puzzle guys rushed forwards and leaped onto the bikes to take control of them.
"Woah! How does Lancer make this look so easy?" they shouted as they veered the blades away and back towards the clowns.
One clown snarled and took out a massive cannon. When the monster fired it, it blasted out a stream of sparks that began catching anything and everything on fire. Once more, the crowd cheered and clapped.
"Noelle is going to save the day! Of course the Mayor would send in her own daughter as the heroine. It's amazing!"
"It r-r-really isn't!" Noelle shouted to them. "Quick, you need to get out of here!" But it was hopeless. Everyone was in for the fun, though the weather did drive everyone towards the walls of the church and the town hall. Taking notice, the clowns moved to divide and conquer.
Jockington quickly wrapped up the two clowns he had helped dismount and constricted them to the point that they ballooned cartoonishly. But they still weren't dying.
"I could use a little help here!" he wheezed.
Catti leaped over and swiped with her claws, trying to deflate the monsters, but she bounced back as if she had just run into a wall of jello. The clown laughed wickedly and heaved Jockington off of them. The other clowns readied their guns to turn the townsfolk into globs of cotton candy.
"Quick! Get their guns!" Noelle ordered.
The puzzle guys used the uniblades to strafe the clowns and cut their weapons in two. The monsters were thoroughly perplexed, but recovered. They whipped out balloons and made balloon animals that came to life and chased off the uniblades.
Catti cast a slowing spell on the monsters to give the Darkners a chance to escape. Jockington, as ready for action and reckless as ever, hurled himself like a javelin at the nearest clown. The clown opened a parasol to block the snake teen. However, Jockington's armored body pierce right through. From behind the parasol there was a flash of greenish light, the sound of popcorn popping, and then an explosion of confetti.
The clowns all wailed in fright and disgust. The parasol landed and bounced pathetical across the damp road. Jockington lay in a dazed and jumbled heap.
"Jockington!" Noelle squealed. "You did it!"
"But… how?" Catti asked, hurrying over to her friend.
"Don't know… I kind of missed it when I went through the umbrella."
Enraged, the clowns began lobbing acid-filled pies at the heroes. Noelle followed Catti and threw up a wall of ice to protect them, however, the acid quickly ate away at it. Another blast of fiery sparks came after them. Catti cast another slowing spell and then wove a fog of darkness to give them some cover to escape and reposition themselves.
Furious, most of the clowns charged, while a few hung back to rummage in their pockets for more cotton candy guns.
"There's a… dangerous aura… to them… These clowns… will kill us… if they can," Catti said grimly.
"It's kill or be killed," Jockington agreed.
"We need you to remember how you defeated that last one," Noelle pressured as they exited the darkness and came right back into view. She conjured up another spell, turning the raindrops into ice drops that blossomed beautiful crystals all over the clowns when they hit. "Because my magic isn't going to last forever, and these guys have a bad habit of not staying defeated!"
It was at that moment that Jockington and Catti took note of the change in their field of vision. Since the battle began, they could see a light screen of options, as if they were playing a VR game. However, there was no choice to ACT. That kind of made sense since Kris wasn't there, but the TP meter was something else!
While Noelle cast her spells, the amount of energy they were building up didn't go down in the slightest. A bizarre chill ran down the friends' spines. Or in Jockington's case, his whole body. What kind of freakish power was Noelle tapping into?
"Throw me again!" the snake shouted. "Maye it'll come back to me!"
Without hesitation, Catti took hold of her friend and lobbed him once again at the oncoming clowns. They laughed and heaved themselves out of Noelle's spell once again. With a simple move, they all sidestepped Jockington's lame attack. Ready to pounce, they raised their ridiculous pocket weapons, axes, rubber chickens, massive batons, and pales of acid, to club him to death. However, the teen tapped the group's TP and began flailing around like a berserker, using his body as the greatest weapon known to man or monster, beside Susie.
A couple of the clowns suddenly lit up and burst into colorful confetti. The other clowns hurriedly retreated, but Noelle and Catti still missed what had happened.
The puzzle guys had turned around and sliced their way through the balloon animals and now fell on the clowns. However, slicing them in half didn't seem to do the trick on any of them, but one. And that one creature, Noelle noticed, was perfectly bisected down the middle.
Maybe the clowns are asymmetrical, and if you manage to do something so perfect to them they die? No, that can't be right, she told herself stubbornly. There has to be a trick we've missed!
Other Darkners were now pressing the clowns that tried to attack the citizens. The kept them back from the families, who laughed and complemented the show on how lifelike it was. Though a few of the older adults were beginning to mutter about how big this whole show was and that it had to be eating up taxpayer dollars. An even smaller percentage, pretty much Father Alvin, seemed to realize just what was going on.
This was all too real! And someone was about to get hurt unless they did something drastic, and soon!
Finally, one clown got too close to a young family, reaching into the stroller to pull out the poor monster kid. It poked its large, ugly face really close, as if it was just going to take a bite right out of the brat. Noelle screamed and reached into her soul for more magic. Even if her ice wasn't beating these brutes, she could slow them down and give the family a chance to escape!
But then something miraculous happened.
Poke!
"OUCH!" the clown roared, rearing back and clutching its nose as it burst. The little kid had punctured it with the open pin on Mayor Holiday's reelection badge.
The clown turned on the spot, lighting up, and blew up in the same show of colorful confetti. The crowd cheered once again, though the family in question looked mortified. They had been up close and saw firsthand that this was no extravagant Halloween show. Clutching their kid close, they began to flee.
"The noses! Their noses!" Noelle gasped. "Everyone! Aim for their noses! That's how we defeat them!"
No questioned or contradicted her. Her friends and Darkner allies had enough trust in Noelle. It made her heart swell with joy and gratitude that they shared this bond. Cattie yowled and charged two clowns. She might have been a big cat, but a cat she still was. With her incredible monster reflexes, she tackled the two clowns and with a swipe apiece, cause their noses to explode. She rode their full explosions away in a graceful leap.
Jockington took a hold of discarded weapons and once more became a berskerer, just without the TP to enhance his movements. The clows were beaten back, three more erupting as their ridiculous noses went pop. And Noelle channeled her magic once more, this time aiming directly at the noses. She formed ich shuriken and threw them with pinpoint accuracy. Clowns left and right exploded.
The survivors roared and surged for the fun house, looking to escape. The Darkners formed a barrier, blocking the way. The desperate clowns bore down on the little guys, ready to tear them limb from limb.
"You still haven't finished these guys off?" Queen exclaimed, cartwheeling onto the scene. She splashed the remaining clowns with high quality battery acid. Their noises burned away and the last of them erupted in a final crescendo of disturbingly comical death. "If you need an adult's help, Noelle, remember to ask for it!"
"You mean… to tell us… you could have… done that… sooner?" Catti asked, irritated.
"Sure thing! Nothing's easier! Well, actually, approximately a million, three-hundred thousand, four-hundred-"
"No, no!" Noelle interjected. "She was just wondering why you didn't help us out sooner?"
"But I was helping," Queen said proudly, handing over a large, overstuffed bag of candy. "I hit each and every single stall, person, and nook here in the square to make sure you had a single piece of candy, treat, and reward from everyone! All to help you on this Trick-or-Treating business so you can break the curse faster!"
The weather began lighting up a little. People were dazed and confused by the sudden conclusion to the event. And who was this tall newcomer? Word was also passing among some people that maybe there was a little more to what they had just witnessed. Father Alvin was hurriedly inviting people inside the church to enjoy some shelter, and hot cider. Noelle was grateful that he was taking things in hand quickly.
She retrieved the big bag from Queen and was nearly flattened by its weight. "What do you all have in here?" Noelle opened it up and grimaced. "So, we have candy, but there's also a few staplers, discarded masks, a few hundred of my mother's reelection campaign pins, discarded wads of gum…"
"Hey, don't bad mouth the discarded gum! It can be very useful!" Queen chided.
"How?" Jockington asked.
"Thinking about chewing it will make you sick, and when you're sick, you won't want to eat any of this tooth-decaying candy! Someone else's chewed gum is perfect for your health!" Queen laughed, pleased with her impressive knowledge and logic.
"Duly… noted," Catti said. "Need any help?"
"Yes, please!" Noelle wheezed. "If monsters like these are coming out, then we should hurry and meet up with Kris and Susie!"
She noticed that to the northeast, there was another darkening. A bad cloudburst. That was where Berdly was supposed to be. Noelle pointed and said, "Let's go and help them! Kris and Susie can handle themselves!"
Catti nodded and said, "So long… as they don't… have Drake… with them."