Hey, people. HERE'S our turning point! Here we go!
Chapter 6: The Well of Darkness
Black Acropolis
After teleporting, Cosmo, Nova, Shadow, and Rouge appeared by Eggman's base. "We've made it back." The hedgehog said. "Let's find your ship and get out of here."
"There it is." Nova said, pointing to a couple polar bears fighting over an elf. Nova pressed a button, switching off the cloaking device.
"Oooh!" Rouge looked impressed.
When the cloaking switched off, Emily and Annie peeked outside, the two girls rubbing their hands for warmth. "Are we ready to GO, yet? ?" Emily complained.
"Heheh, yeah, we're ready." Cosmo chuckled as they stepped in.
"Hey there!" Annie greeted perkily to Shadow. "I'm-"
"Let's hurry up and go." Shadow stated in his dark tone.
"…Annie." Annie finished.
As the ship flew off, a strange girl in a black hoodie spied on them.
Mt. Gnaa
The Kids Next Door made it to the base of Mt. Gnaa. They all stared up at the imposing fortress, the purple column of darkness sprouting from the top. "This is scar-ryyyy!" Kuki quivered.
"Peh… Oi've seen scarier." Wally said, although he was terrified.
"Scary or not… we've got to rescue my brother." Rachel spoke confidently.
"You sure we can't just make up an excuse?" Nigel asked.
"Nigel!"
"I'm kiddiiing!"
"Don't worry, Lass. We're with ya the whole way." Fanny assured her leader.
"Yeah! Let's show this Gnaa guy who we are!" Patton declared.
"Ha ha ha!" Rachel chuckled. "Thanks, guys." She felt more confident with her friends by her side. "Okay… let's do it!" (Play "Mountain Fortress 1" from Spyro: Eternal Night.)
Stage 4: Mt. Gnaa
Mission: Climb the mountain and rescue Harvey!
Rachel, Fanny, and Patton began their trek up the terrifying mountain. It truly was the scariest place they've ever been to. It was really cold. The sky was pitch-black. There were no signs of life or light. The only light came from the evil purple from the top of the mountain. While it made light, it was really the lure of the evil Dark Master.
As they passed up a pathway between some walls, vicious, ravenous baboons jumped down, snarling at the tasty morsels. One leaped at Rachel, but she bashed it with her Yield Staff. Patton punched one in the face when it came at him, then proceeded to punch him some more. Fanny tossed emerald flames as more came, but one of the apes grabbed her arm in its teeth. She jabbed the arm forward, lighting it on fire and scaring the ape away. One more tried to gnash at Rachel, but she caught its fangs around the pole of her staff, swinging him to the ground, and dealing a round of punches using the punching-glove end of her staff.
They made it to a wall at the end of the path, but the right of the wall was rugged enough to climb. They climbed to a pathway above the right wall, overlooking a gorge with some wobbly platforms, which were very skinny at their bases. The two platforms wobbled back-and-forth, to their side, and to the opposite side. When the first foothold leaned their way, they jumped, then waited for it to lean to the next one before they jumped. It then leaned toward the opposite ledge, so they jumped again, reaching a longer gorge.
They hopped down a stairway to the bottom of the gorge. The path was set between an eerie river of some kind of green substance. It looked like the river of fluoride in Knightbrace's cave… except they could feel a far worse energy coming from this river. Compared to this energy, and this whole mountain, they would much rather be in Knightbrace's Cavity Cave, and risk falling in a river of fluoride and gaining extremely shiny teeth, than climb this evil mountain and succumb to the powers of darkness.
Patrolling the river were more of Gnaa's apes, snarling as they ran toward the trio. Rachel and Patton began bashing some apes into the poisonous river, while Fanny shot fireballs to keep some apes back. They ran forward and fought the apes back some more, knocking them out as they proceeded across. They reached the end of this part of the path, and the poison river separated them and the following path. Standing across from the large gap was a slightly bigger baboon, armed with bombs. Fanny tossed flames at him, but the ape dodged and threw bombs back, trying to blow them up. Rachel noticed the tall totem pole beside the ape, which looked weak at the bottom. Rachel grabbed one of the ape's bombs and threw it at the pole, causing it to come down and make a bridge.
The three crossed over as Fanny chucked more forceful flames at the ape, then Rachel proceeded to bonk him and knock him in the river. With that, the three continued, entering a cave in the mountain's side. They came to a straight, narrow hallway with several arches around the walls and ceiling. On the very other side was a small statue of Gnaa's head, its angry eyes glowing as a deadly green beam shone from its mouth, slowly skimming the hallway. The three hid behind one of the arches to avoid its gaze.
"Whaddyou think happens if we touch it?" Patton whispered.
Rachel picked up a tiny pebble and tossed it at the beam. It disintegrated in an instant, and the beam skimmed close to them upon feeling the rock. "Well, it probably doesn't send you to Happy Land." Rachel whispered.
When the beam was very slowly moving toward the other side, the three quickly dashed out and slid behind the next arch, avoiding the beam when it tried to get them. They repeated this for the next arch, and since the exit was on the left side, they had to swiftly avoid the beam and dodge behind an arch along the left wall. The exit was right there, but the beam's source was very close. When the beam was as far as it would go on the right side, Rachel did a '3, 2, 1' with her fingers, and they immediately ran out. In the process, Fanny tripped, but Patton was able to pull her to safety as the beam burned the tip of her left boot.
They entered a room where the path went along the left wall, around a huger, wider floor up above. They followed the path as more apes ran at them, but the kids easily knocked them into the strange, green goo. They made it to some tall steps and jumped their way up, getting onto the large, round floor. Five giant apes; half Grandfather's height, took land around the operatives, the kids glaring fiercely. Fanny jumped and threw fire at the first ape, but it defended as it grabbed Fanny's foot and tossed her over the edge, but she grabbed on and climbed back up.
An ape threw punches at Patton, who countered with his own punches, before the Polish boy was grabbed by another ape and thrown into Fanny, knocking both over the edge again, but Patton gripped the ledge and held onto Fanny. An ape grabbed Rachel from behind, binding her arms, but she kicked its chest and kicked off, flipping over its head and kicking the back of it. Patton climbed onto the field with Fanny, but the Irish redhead grabbed and pushed him back down in anger. An ape ran to crush Fanny with its fists, but she dodge-rolled behind and shot flames at his butt, making him cry and fall over the edge. He landed on the safe ground around the room, but Patton kicked him down into the goo.
Another ape drew a sword and began to clash with Rachel's staff. The blond leader nimbly swung her weapon and knocked the sword away before bouncing up and bashing the ape across the face with her Yield side. An ape snarled and crawled to Fanny, but Patton ran back onto the field, slid underneath, and kicked hard at his crotch. The ape winced in pain as Fanny shot flames at his face and pushed him over the edge. Rachel faced another ape as it readied to catch her, but she dodged its arms and swung at his legs to knock him on his back. She hopped on his chest and dealt quick, rapid blows against his face, then finished by bashing her Yield sign forcefully across his face.
The last ape raised to maces as it faced the three kids. Team Leader (as they were now called) exchanged smirks, and together, they flipped to the ape and sent him to the edge with their combined force, knocking him down.
Upon his defeat, they looked up as a door on a higher ledge was blown open, seeing Angie and their friends standing over them. "HEY, guuuuuys!" Angie cheered.
"Guys? How'd you get up there?" Rachel asked.
"Turns out, earthbending works in here, too." Sonya replied.
"Come on! Let's go save Harvey!" Angie exclaimed.
The three nodded and hopped up to join them, going onto an outside balcony. Angie stomped the ground and made a rock platform from the ledge. The group stood on as Angie shifted the foothold up along the wall, easily reaching the mountain's peak. The evil purple glow was brighter than ever. (End song.)
Harvey McKenzie had finally followed the shadow up to the top of the weird mountain. He watched as the evil being smirked and lured him over with his fingers, floating down into a hole where all the dark energy, from the purple column to the dark mist, seemed to come from. Harvey slowly approached the glowing purple, staring into it as he heard some weird whisper emitting from it. His face was just inches from the column, and he slowly reached his arm to touch it…
"HARVEY!"
"AHH!" Harvey screamed, suddenly pulled back by Rachel. He turned around to see the others as well.
"Phew! Thank goodness. Are you okay?" Rachel asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm…" he looked at the dark column, "…fine."
"Harvey!" Angie yelled. "You know the story about that kid that fell in the well. Do YOU wanna have to be rescued by a cute little puppy that'll end up getting fame and glory, get dubbed a hero, and make you look weak by comparison?"
"Hehehe." Rachel chuckled. "Mandy so hated that movie."
"Ah, come on, guys." Harvey whined. "I was just looking around. I know how to look after myself."
"Excuse me for disagreeing, but as your opposite, I… disagree." Yevrah said.
"Who the heck are you? Some kind of 363 wannabe? I know I'm awesome, but you need to work on it, Faker."
"Um, no. I'm your Negative, pally!" he smiled.
"I think they were switched at birth." Kade whispered to Eva and Nigel, who snickered.
"Blech. I bet nobody likes you, Smiley-face."
"That's MISTER Smiley-face to you, buddy." Yevrah shot back, poking Harvey's nose. "And if we don't get off this mountain right now, we'll ALL be in terrible-"
"Don't TOUCH ME!" he yelled at the poke.
Everyone soon felt the mountain begin to rumble. After it stopped, they looked around.
"What was that?" Violet asked.
"Earthquake?" Kuki thought.
"Uh… guys?" Sonya began. "I think it's time we get out of here- WHOA!" A trapdoor opened beneath their feet, and they were sent to the room below.
"Oh- Ah- OW." They all grunted, landing atop one another. Eva and Abby had to shove Kade and Hoagie off from atop them.
"Well, that was a smooth landing." Hoagie remarked as Violet threw Wally into a wall, getting him off of her and standing up.
"What is this place?" Abby asked. She then noticed Kuki's terrified expression.
"G-Guys…" She quaked as she rose her right arm and pointed forward.
The gang gasped in fear, seeing more of the vicious baboons surrounding them. They were in a room where the purple column came from the center of the floor.
"W-What are they? ?" Paddy quivered.
"For baboons, they're pretty psychotic." Lee replied.
"Heh… heh heh heh."
"Huh?" Nigel cocked a brow at the big, buff ape that sat on a throne.
"Welcome, Kids Next Door… to the Mountain of his Imperial Darkness…" the ape spoke in a dark, monstrous tone.
"Wh-Who are you guys?" Hoagie asked.
"Mweh heh heh. Won't you be surprised? We are the Negatives of the little colorful monkeys that keep you Positive girls so happy: we are Rainy Monkeys."
"R…Rainy Monkeys?" Kuki asked.
"This is why some people of your world hate Rainbow Monkeys." Yevrah said. "Because of their connection to the evil monkeys we have here."
"Correct." The ape said. "Of course, we always thought that name 'Rainy Monkeys' was kinda kiddish. Thankfully, when our Master came to this mountain and recruited us, he gave us a more frightful name: we are… the Demon Apes!"
"The Demon Apes?" Abby asked.
"Yes… tremble at our terrifying name, mweh heh heh heh!"
"…Eh… Numbuh 5's heard better."
"Eh, I dunno, it's kinda cool." Hoagie replied.
The Ape King rolled his eyes. "Ugh, forget you… ahem: I am Gaul, the King of Apes. And the most loyal servant to the great Negatar."
"So… the Negatar IS here." Rachel figured.
"Where is he?" Nigel asked.
"Too scared to show his ugly face?" Fanny said cockily.
"Oh, how blind you Positive girls are." Gaul said. "The Dark Master is, in fact, right here: inside that well."
The operatives looked to the dark hole in the center. "So that's…" Sonya began.
"The Well of Shadows: where all Negative souls are cursed to drift forever and ever."
"Ah… huh…" Nigel began to feel terrified. "Ahem. Well, uh, it was nice meeting you and all, but we really must be going." He said half-panicky as they all gave nervous smiles. "Sorry to drop in on you. Take care now, hehe!" Their escape was blocked when some apes jumped in their way.
"Oh, but must you go? My precious apes haven't had ANYTHING decent since that murderous teenager that I dragged here months ago. Why in the world would I turn them down a pack of fresh meat that so helplessly wandered their way up here?"
Wally gulped. "W-Wouldn't… you guys… rather have a hamburger?"
"ATTACK!" At Gaul's command, the pack of vicious apes charged at the frightened kids. Nigel unleashed flames and made a firewall between his friends and the apes. The apes backed up a little, and some of them started jumping right over, only to be batted away by Rachel's Yield Staff.
The fire cleared and the group of operatives ran to attack the apes. Angie used her earthbending to stomp the ground and make the floor crumble below for them to fall while Eva used a Water Fist to smash them. Rachel was fighting back another ape and knocked it on its back, getting ready to stab it when-
"WAAIIT!" Rachel turned her attention to Kuki. "If these monkeys are the Rainbow Monkeys' Negatives, killing them will kill the Rainbow Monkeys, too!"
"Works for me!" Wally exclaimed, punching more apes with his S.L.U.G.G.U.H..
Nigel stylishly punched fireballs at every ape that approached him, smirking in victory. "You pack of fur balls are nothing to the human race!" Unbeknownst to him, a shadow was creeping up from behind. "AHH!" Nigel's legs were suddenly grabbed by Cheshire, and the bald Brit looked in terror as Danika emerged from the shadows, giving a creepy smile.
"Hm hm. You humans are nothing to us goths." She smirked.
"Eeee-yah!" Nigel screamed, making a fire spin as Danika jumped back.
Rachel narrowly dodged as a net fired at her, looking at Nolan York. "Hold still and let me shoot you!" Nolan exclaimed, locking onto Rachel and shooting missiles.
Hoagie and Kade were suddenly hit by some gas balls, recovering and seeing The Terrible Toxic Four, led by Matthew Dimalanta. "Hm. I was wondering when we'd see you again." Matt said.
Nigel rolled in front of Hoagie and Kade, making another firewall between them. "Ha! Take this!" Leo declared.
"NOO! !" Matt and Danika yelled. But they were too late as Leo launched a Gas Bomb, which created an explosion that blew them all back.
"Ugh…" Matt groaned as they recovered. "Ah, you idiot! Everyone knows gas is flammable!"
"No one ever told me!"
"Gee, I wonder." Danika eye-rolled.
"Shut up, Sis!"
"Okay, no firebending." Nigel decided.
"Yup." Abby agreed. "Let's just stick with—AHHH!" Her brain started frying as a maelstrom of emotions coursed within her.
"-kicking your butts." April finished, standing in the doorway.
"It's Chad's sister!" Nigel recognized.
"Alright, blondie, time for some butt-whoopin'!" Wally shouted.
April turned to him and was about to use her power, but- "YAH!" April was tackled by Sonya. "I didn't expect you to go with these guys!"
"You!" April pushed her off and recovered. The Dickson girl bellowed a laser from her lungs, summoned by her own emotions—Sonya countered with one of her very own; a pink one. The two beams pushed for a bit until Sonya's was the one that prevailed, knocking April out.
"WHOA! !" Paddy screamed.
"What was that?!" Lee asked.
After the attack, Sonya turned to them, looking nervous. "Guys… there's something I never told you before…"
"Huh? What is it, Son—YAH!" Rachel was cut off when Gaul grabbed her by the neck.
"You kids were always more trouble than you were worth. You've been a thorn in my Master's side for far too long. It's time you-"
"Eee-yah!"
"OOF!" Gaul dropped Rachel when Harvey landed on his head, blocking his eyes.
"Get your paws off my sister!"
"RRAH!" Gaul shook Harvey off and grabbed him.
"BRO!" Rachel yelled as she tried to help him. But Nolan fired a net around her that shocked her.
"First off, apes have hands, not paws." Gaul said. Harvey tried to fidget away as the large ape approached the dark well. "And second…" He lifted Harvey high above him. "By the power vested in me, by his all-powerful Negativity: I, Gaul the Ape King, hereby set my Master FREE!"
"AAHHH!"
"HARVEY!" Rachel screamed as her brother was thrown into the darkness. They all watched in terror as Harvey took an enormous shock from the dark column, screaming in horrible pain. The shocking finally stopped, shooting Harvey into the wall as he fainted.
Black, shadowy smoke started to rise from the bucktoothed McKenzie boy, and everyone gaped at the sight of Phantom Gnaa emerging from his body, taking a huge whiff through his nose. "Sniiiiiiiff. AHH HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
"Harvey!" Rachel and Angie screamed, running to his aid.
"Heh heh… EH heh…" Gaul laughed.
"Oh no! Please don't die, Harvey!" Angie pleaded.
"Yeah! 'Cause if you die, I die!" Yevrah exclaimed.
"Uh, guys? We got bigger problems, here." Hoagie said, noticing all the apes that were surrounding them, snarling hungrily. Gaul approached, about to stab Abby and Hoagie with his swords.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" A magic blast fired and knocked the weapons right out of Gaul's hands. They all turned to see the Grim Reaper and Dr. Facilier.
"UNCLE FACILIER!" Abby exclaimed.
Nolan tried to shoot the voodoo witch-doctor, but he yelled, "STUPEFY!", freezing Nolan in place. Cheshire tried to gnash at him, but Facilier's Shadow tackled her back, beating her until she retreated to Danika.
Rachel carried Harvey as they all gathered behind Grim. The apes all backed away as Grim held his scythe ready. The wall suddenly burst open as the Little Traitor Dudes drove in. "Come on, dudes! Let's get out of here and go toga!" Not sure what they meant by "toga", they decided to hop in their van/limo and drive off.
The Toxic Four and Team Brotherhood panted as they recovered. "They're gone…" Matt said tiredly.
"Hnnn… and they've taken our Master with them." Gaul smirked, along with Phantom. The two burst into evil, maniacal laughter. "AHHH ha ha ha haaa!"
Downtown Chicago
Buddy Utsukushii leaned against an alley wall downtown, catching glares from all the people that walked by. "Hey." He turned to see his best friend, Noah Heart, who wore a baby-blue sweater, similar to Numbuh 3's, a black mini-skirt, and high-heel boots. While everyone else hated The Quads for their powers, Noah was their only friend, and she especially hung out with Buddy. The two had secret crushes on the other, but neither could admit it.
"Hey, Noah." Buddy greeted as they started walking down the street.
"Still getting the usual hate?"
"Yep. I lost to Rock, Paper, Scissors and had to go return this dumb videotape." He said, holding up a tape with a "Blockblister" wrapping.
"Hey, so am I!"
"Let's just hope we don't run into any trouble. Namely Boba."
"Don't worry. Hopefully, that guys knows better than to mess with me!"
After a while of walking, the two made it to the Blockblister video store. They walked in as the foreign employees in purple shirts and grey pants stood at the counter. "Uh, can we speak to the manager?" Noah asked.
"Papa! These kids beg and plead to speak to your face!" the woman called.
The mustached manager came to the counter and said, "Vonderbwah! Welcome to our video store, I am Gnocchi Blokey, hchow am I to be hchelping yuh?"
"Well, I rented this video yesterday, this is not Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Noah explained.
"Oh no no." the daughter said. "You no ask for Eclipse. You ask for Elipse!"
"Elipse?" Noah asked.
"Yes, this movie better!" Blokey said.
"MUCH BETTER! !" they exclaimed.
"Ugh! Just play it." Noah demanded.
"Yagah." With that, the manager took the tape and played it on the TV. The screen showed the daughter dressed like Bella and the son dressed like Edward Cullen, standing in… what looked like a poorly-drawn flower field.
"Edward… I like you and I vant to be vampire…"
"Ohhh… But I dunno… if I vant to make you… vampire."
"I no know, either. I might vant to be werewolf, too…"
"OHH. But I… hate… werewolves…"
"…I dunno what to choose…"
Once the "movie" ended, the foreign family applauded loudly. "Ah, vonderbwah!"
"That wasn't the movie! That was just you two freaks!" Noah yelled.
"Yah, that was my daughter, Blini, and my son, Biscotti!" Blokey said.
"But that wasn't the real movie!"
"Yes, this movie better!"
"MUCH BETTER!"
"Ugh! !" Noah shouted.
"Er, anyway…" Buddy began, holding up his tape. "I wanted to ask about this, too. This isn't Harry Potter."
"Oh no no no. You no ask for Harry Potter. You ask for Harry Otter!"
"Harry Otter?"
"Yes, this movie better!"
"MUCH BETTER!"
"Er! Just play it."
"Yagah." The manager said, playing the tape on their TV. Biscotti and Blini were shown, dressed as Harry and Hermione.
"Hermione… my scar is burning… I feel like I am becoming the more of… the Dark Wizard, yah?"
"Oh no… Harry Otter. You are not alone, for you have… the friends here, yah?"
"Yes. But my godfather, Sirius… is dead."
"Yes… Sirius is dead."
"People will make joke of that, yah?"
"Yes… it is… very funny."
The "movie" soon ended and the foreigners clapped. "Ah, vonderbwah, vonderbwah!"
"But that wasn't Harry Potter!" Buddy exclaimed.
"Yes, this movie is better!"
"MUCH BETTER!"
"Ugh! ! You people are freaks!"
"Thank you!" Blini said. "How will you be paying me?"
"Pay you? ? PAY YOU? ! ? ! AAAHHHHHH! ! !" Noah cowered behind a stack of tapes as Buddy screamed with rage. The male Quad erupted in a huge explosion of psychic energy, destroying the entire store. Buddy panted as the smoke cleared, and Noah came out from hiding to see the ruin.
Noah perked up as sirens were heard in the distance. "Okay, time to go, sorry for the inconvenience!" Noah said hurriedly, grabbing Buddy and running off. The foreigners watched as several cop cars chased them down the street.
"Papa? This boy have destroyed our video store." Blini said.
"Ahhh. He must have been 'blown away' by your fine achting! Let us dance, kids!" The family played some strange music and started dancing, juggling eggs.
"Yagah. Yagah. Yagah, yagah, yagah." They sang.
As they did so, Boba arrived, walked around, and studied the wreckage. "Sweet diddily. The freakshow strikes again. Ooh, but ol' Boba will get him. Get 'is little girlfriend, too. Next time they see him, Boba's gonna be on 'em like peas 'n'-"
"Oh, velcome, strange man! Dance with us!" Blokey exclaimed, grabbing Boba's arm and making him dance around in a circle with them.
"Hey, hey! Get yo' little foreign hands off Boba! Boba don't want no dance! Boba wanna kill that little boy for ya! Boba don't dance, Boba's a- D'AW, naahhh!"
Oi, that was complicated. Yes, it's everyone's favorite video store from The Amanda Show. Is not Blockbuster, is better! MUCH BETTER! Heh heh! Alright, next time, Kami, Ava, and Kweeb should have a stage. G'night!