Episode 80: The Edge of Reality!

"Are you all right, dears?" Agnes asked, looking at MJ and Felicia with concern. "I'd hate to see so many upset faces on Halloween."

"We're fine, Nurse Agnes," Felicia claimed as she walked out of the gym. "I just need somewhere to cool off."

"Same here," MJ mimicked as she walked in the opposite direction.

"Looks like your friends have abandoned you," Agnes remarked, still pinching Peter's shoulders. "But I'm still here if you want to talk things out."

"Oh, I'm okay," Peter claimed as he put his hand on Agnes'. "My friends are probably just stressed about the upcoming exams."

"True, but I think there's more going on underneath than you think. MJ clearly likes you, and maybe Felicia does too in her own way."

"No, that can't be it!" Peter objected. "I only like MJ as a friend, and Felicia just won't leave me alone no matter how much I try to get away from her."

"Yet you agreed to keep her secret from your other friends," Agnes pointed out.

Peter looked up at Agnes in surprise. "How do you — ?"

Chuckling, Agnes whispered in Peter's ear. "I know everything you're thinking, dear boy. So if you and your friends agree to play nice from now on, I won't have to tell Wanda what you're really up to."

Before Peter could respond, a creature resembling a white flying squirrel with a black star-shaped insignia swooped out of the rafters of the gym and hit Agnes from the back of the head. She cried out in pain as the white squirrel kept flying around her, which allowed Peter to run out of the gym. He tried to locate Felicia and MJ, but they were nowhere on the school grounds.

"Shoot, I shouldn't have let them go," Peter said remorsefully. "But maybe my Marémon can find them."

Quickly, Peter summoned Hornetech, Rikoshay, and Prodiwing from their PDBs while Spidermin stood at attention.

"Guys, I need you to find MJ and Felicia," Peter said. "Tell them it's an emergency, and to meet me at the shed."

Hornetech nodded and flew off into the night sky with Prodiwing gliding close behind. Rikoshay grumbled and bounced off the nearby buildings down the street. As for Spidermin, he used Web Shot to swing down the lampposts on a different street while Peter followed him. They eventually came to a circular neighborhood where objects were floating in the air and people were standing as still as statues.

Yet Peter noticed they blinked every now and then, implying they were still alive. While he pondered over the meaning of this, he spotted a familiar red-and-green metallic Marémon examining one of the houses nearby.

"Vistro?" Peter said. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

The metallic Marémon Vistro looked surprised to see Peter and floated away from the houses using his Levitation attack, which Peter recognized from his Marémon studies.

"Wait!" Peter called out while Spidermin crawled after Vistro. "I won't tell Wanda where you've gone. Do you know what's going on here?"

Peter and Spidermin pursued Vistro into an open field behind the houses and it was here Peter noticed a transparent wall that flickered red.

"It's the Hex Barrier," Peter realized, but he soon noticed Vistro was running towards it. "Don't go! You have no idea where that leads!"

Before Peter or Spidermin could stop him, Vistro ran straight into the Hex Barrier. Undeterred, he pushed against it with all his strength and managed to make an opening for himself. To Peter's horror, the moment Vistro crossed the barrier his body started to fall apart.

"NO!"

Peter looked behind and saw Wanda running into the open field with Witchlet floating beside her. From Witchlet's chest emerged a glowing red stone that shone brightly and the barrier expanded. This restored Vistro's body while several SWORD jeeps and men appeared. Peter guessed they were already standing on the other side of the barrier, with Darcy, Thor, Liz, and Betty among them. But just as quickly as they appeared, the jeeps were turned into carnival games while the men became clowns and the others were turned into performers.

"Are you okay?" Wanda said to Vistro. "Did they hurt you?"

Vistro pushed Wanda away and made a series of angry beeping sounds.

"Look, it's not what you think," Wanda said. "I did this for you and Witchlet, so you could live happily together."

Witchlet's cooing noises seemed to confirm what Wanda was saying. Yet Vistro shook his head and used Levitation to fly off. Distraught, Witchlet started crying and Wanda hugged her.

"Everything will be all right, Witchlet," Wanda assured. "He just needs to cool down and he'll be back home with us in no time."

Shocked by everything he saw, Peter tried to sneak away from Wanda while Spidermin followed his example.

"Just a moment, Peter," Wanda said, causing Peter and Spidermin to stop moving. "Did you follow Vistro here?"

"Not intentionally," Peter answered, trying to remain calm. "I was looking for my friends."

"Oh, I see," Wanda said with relief in her voice. "Then let me take you to them."


The next moment, Peter suddenly found himself sitting in a diner booth with Felicia and MJ not remembering how he got here or what he was doing before.

"Is the milkshake not good, Peter?" Felicia asked, sipping on an Oreo flavored one. "Neither of us could remember if peanut-butter chocolate was your favorite flavor or not."

"No, this is fine," Peter said, looking over at MJ who was eating spoonfuls of her strawberry-flavored milkshake. "Where did you guys go after leaving the gym?"

"Didn't we just tell you?" MJ said, giving Peter a confused look. "We participated in the scavenger hunt on separate teams to show who was better."

"But our teams ended in a tie, so we decided to put our differences aside," Felicia added. "I told her about our promise, so she knows I'm Black Cat too."

"Wait, what?" Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing. "And you're not mad at me, MJ?"

"You were just keeping a promise," MJ said casually. "I have no reason to be mad at you for doing that."

Peter tried to wrap his head around MJ's logic, but it made no sense to him. Then he remembered what Agnes said.

To be continued…