More important plot stuff is gonna happen.
Chapter 20: Rachel Visits
After trekking up the long tower, the team had made it to the top, which happened to be a few meters above the surface. The top appeared to be a large, circular area with a huge pool of water in the middle. They looked into the pool and noticed bubbles coming out of it. They readied their battle positions for what may pop out. A gigantic, cyan-colored squid with red eyes, a big nose, and a frowny mouth emerged from the pool and roared.
"I'm guessing that's the Squidlord!" exclaimed Nigel.
"Yup. Unless you were expecting the Squidsquire." Marine remarked.
"Then let's take it out! Galactic Kids Next Door: Battle Stations!"
Boss fight: Squidlord
The Squidlord quickly threw its tentacles at the team, attempting to crush them, but they avoided. "'ey, squid face! 'ow about a helping of this!" Marine exclaimed as she fired her Light Spheres at the Squidlord's eyes, making him groan in pain.
"Looks like that got him!" Nigel said.
The Squidlord then reached out a tentacle and grabbed Ava. Said girl held up her sword with her free hand and stabbed his tentacle, making him drop her. Luvbi then blew the Glomourian back onto the safe foothold.
"Oh, my aching tentacle."
"IT CAN TALK? !" they all shouted.
"Yes, I can talk! What, you thought I was just some ordinary giant squid?"
"Uhhh, yeah?" Dib answered.
The beast sighed. "Look, it was stressful enough having to put up with that sponge back in Bikini Bottom! But I WON'T have the same trouble with a bunch of alien freaks! So, it's time for you to hear my next piece!" With that, he pulled up a giant, black clarinet and blew into it, causing it to shoot giant notes, which homed in on the heroes.
"Whoa! Those are some heavy notes!" Kweeb exclaimed. "Good thing I have no ears."
"Ah ain't afraid o' some bad music!" Marine said as she punched a few notes with her Light Fists. It just so happened that one of the notes contained a Yellow Wisp, which flew into Nigel.
"I'd like to know how these Wisps get into these odd locations we find them in." Dib said.
"We'll scratch our heads thinking about that later. DRILL!" Nigel dove into the large pool of water and became a drill. He began to move along underwater, destroying any tentacle he encountered. He then drilled up through the Squidlord's underside and made his way inside.
The Squidlord screamed in pain as the Brit was beating away at his insides. "Ah think it's time we beat this drongo!" And with that, Marine threw a Light Sphere at the Squidlord's nose, generating an electric rope from the nose to her hand. She began to pull on the nose until it was completely ripped off his face. Nigel leaped out of the hole that was left as the Squidlord coughed up the Star Piece.
He then began to blow around like a balloon until he was only a few inches taller than the heroes. A puff of smoked engulfed him, and once it cleared, he was wearing a brown shirt and his head became round and flat. He weakly stood up, groaning in pain. "Oh, forget this. I'm going back to my crappy show." With that, Squidward dove into the water.
The team stood and stared at the Blue Star Piece floating above the ground. "Was that it?" Ava asked.
"Pretty easy for a boss fight, huh?" Kweeb replied.
"Well, we got the Star. Let's take it back to base, so we can get back to our vacation." Nigel recommended.
As they were about to walk up and grab the Star, they stopped when a load of miniature bombs fell from the sky and exploded around them. "What was that?" Ava asked.
"LOOK!" As Nigel pointed, they all looked up to see a flying metallic pirate ship coming their way. On the edge of the ship was a short pirate with red and white pants, blue- and white-striped shirt, a big red hat, yellow eyes, and silver body.
"Who's that?" asked Ava.
"YARR! I be Admiral Razorbeard! Sharpest pirate ever to sail the Stars! And I'm gonna send ye fleshy scallywags straight to Davy Jarg's Locker!"
"Don't you mean Davy Jones?" Dib asked.
"No. I mean Davy Jarg. He's the one for space, not the sea."
"Oh. Well, not if we send you there first!"
"I wouldn't count on it!" Tak appeared on the edge by Razorbeard.
"TAK!" Nigel, Ava, and Dib shouted.
"Who?" the rest of them asked together.
"She's an Irken we fought a while back." Dib answered. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Hehehe. Well, ever since you defeated me, I've been resting here on Planet Aquaria. I mean, who wouldn't want to come to the Underwater City on vacation?"
"Can't argue with that." Ava replied.
"Since I heard the pirates found a Star here recently, I decided to hang around until you showed up to try to retrieve it. Took you long enough. Which reminds me: FIR!" At Tak's cue, FIR flew down and retrieved the Star, then flew back up to the ship. "It was fun talking with you, but I have a Star to deliver. See you around!" Tak laughed as the ship took off.
"Oh no! They're getting away!" Nigel exclaimed.
"Thanketh thee for pointing out the obvious!" Luvbi shouted.
"Not on my watch, mates! Hold on tight!" Marine said as she fired a Light Sphere at the back of the ship and created another energy rope. The team formed a chain and held on tight as they were being lifted up (Luvbi flew). They started to swing back and forth until they gained enough momentum to get onto the ship.
"You won't get away that easy!" Nigel exclaimed.
"We'll soon see. FIR: destroy them!" Tak ordered. FIR saluted and ran over to Marine, scanning her, and taking her form. Razorbeard and Tak hopped into an orange, floating, circular tube and took off to the sky with the Star.
Dib beat some pirates with his mech-arms, Luvbi blew some off the ship, and Kweeb flew around in his hover car while blasting some. Nigel, Ava, and Marine were focusing on FIR, who was blasting the team with Light Spheres in Marine's body. "How 'bout some of this?" Nigel said, coming up behind FIR and kicking the backside of her head.
"'ey, that's not very nice, eh?" she said in Marine's voice. "'ow about Ah teach you a lesson!" She scanned Nigel and turned into him.
Nigel threw several punches at FIR, who just mimicked every move. At that instant, Ava came up behind and struck her with her swords. FIR scanned Ava and turned into her. As she faced her counterpart, she was hit by a punch in the head by Nigel. "Too bad you can only copy one opponent at a time!" Nigel exclaimed.
Before she knew it, FIR was surrounded by the rest of the team, who finished beating the pirates. "Uhhh, this doesn't look too good." she said in Ava's voice.
"Care to do the honors?" Nigel asked Marine.
"No problemo! Let's see what she thinks o' my charge attack!" Marine began spinning her arm rapidly. Once she finished, she released a Light Sphere the size of a beach ball and fired at FIR, who went flying into the sky from the terrific force. "Lesson learned, mate: never tango with Cap'n Marine!"
"Good job, Marine!" Nigel praised. "Now to find out where Tak and Razorbeard went!" He then looked over to see a robot pirate on the floor by the mast, barely conscious. He walked over to pick him up by the neck and hold him to the mast. "I don't suppose you know where they went?"
"Arrgh. They're heading over to the secret floating isle."
"And where's that?"
"Errgh. Just over there." He pointed to the right of the ship where they saw the shadow of a floating object in the distance.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Nigel said, dropping the robot. "Take the wheel, Dib. It's time we put Tak in her place! To that island!" Dib took the steering wheel and they were off to the floating isle.
Star Haven
Dimentia was pacing back and forth on the fountain. Where is he? she thought to herself. Just then, Jirachi appeared with Gabe and Jeremy.
"Sorry I'm late!" Jirachi said.
"Never mind. Let's just do this." Dimentia replied, sticking her hands in the water and started to sing.
O great, mighty star
Let your power shine
Make the tides turn backward
Give me what once was mine
What once was mine…
The water seeped into Dimentia's skin and her wrinkles vanished. "There we go!" Jirachi cheered.
"So, how was Sea Slide?" Dimentia asked.
"It was great! When we were there, Jeremy-"
"Dimentia!" They looked to see the Magiblots flying in. "There's an Irken ship approaching!" said Blue.
"What? Well, go stop it! Gabe, Jeremy, you go, too!" They all saluted, and Dimentia teleported them away.
GKND H.Q.
Rachel was impatiently flying in Zim's ship, still set on autopilot, waiting to get to the H.Q.. "Now approaching GKND Headquarters." Rachel looked out the window to see she was coming to a strange base shaped like a head.
"Here I come, Nigel." she said as she was about to land.
The ship landed in the base's hangar as Rachel stepped off and looked around. "Boy, this place is pretty high-tech." she said to herself. She stepped out into the main room and was greeted by a swarm of surrounding Wisps staring angrily at her.
The Magiblots were staring at her from the other side of the room with Gabe and Jeremy. "There's the intruder!" Red exclaimed. Gabe and Jeremy gasped. "Wisps: ATTACK!"
Rachel shut her eyes as the Wisps charged at her, but were then stopped by Gabe and Jeremy. "NO! STOP! She's not an enemy!" Infinity said. He turned to Rachel. "Numbuh 362, what are you doing here?"
Rachel opened her eyes and studied the Wisp, recognizing that voice. "Numbuh Infinity? Is that you?"
Gabe chuckled nervously. "You're probably wondering why we look like this."
"Numbuh 74.239?"
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Dimentia shouted, appearing before Rachel's eyes. Dimentia gasped after seeing who it was. "What are YOU doing here?"
Rachel was silent for a moment before replying. "Uh, ahem! I'm Numbuh 362, Supreme Leader of the Earth Kids Next Door. I'm here because I hear that one of my operatives was secretly taken here."
Right now, Dimentia had the strongest urge to warp her to the deepest corner of space. But for now, she thought it'd be best to pretend she didn't hate Rachel at all. She smiled and replied, "Oh, yes, I know who you are, Rachel T. McKenzie. I am Number 256, Supreme Leader of the Galactic Kids Next Door. But you can call me Dimentia."
"You… know who I am?"
"Well, yes! Number 1 told me all about you, Rachel! Smart, strong-willed, well organized, and… mature." she said the last part through gritted teeth. "In fact, I've been meaning to ask: what does the 'T' stand for?"
"Don't ask."
"Right. Anyway, Number 1 is on vacation on Planet Aquaria with his new friends. But just why do you want to find him? You weren't thinking of taking him back, were you?"
"Well… kinda."
"Well, TOO BAD! I'm afraid he won't be coming back! For one thing, you're no longer his Supreme Leader, so you have no say in the matter."
"I wasn't going to force him to come back."
"Well, that's great, because he doesn't want to! He likes it much better here than on Earth. He told me himself! He told me that the missions he received are FAR more exciting than the ones back on Earth, and that the new alien friends he made here are FAR more interesting than the boring old human ones back on Earth! And did I mention he's thankful for the one big thing we have that Earth KND doesn't: TECHNOLOGY!"
"I admit the technology here is pretty advanced and I imagine the missions would be far more exciting… but I really don't think he wouldn't miss his old friends back on Earth."
"Well, he doesn't. In fact, I recall him saying he hardly remembers having any friends down there. Only a few choice people that liked hurting him."
"Okay, now you're just making stuff up! He had plenty of friends down there! Including me!"
"Ooooh… That's not what I heard from him."
"Then… what did you hear from him?"
"This isn't really the place. How about we go up to my office?"
"Uh, okay. Just one thing, though."
Dimentia sighed. "What?"
"I didn't really eat before I came here, so I was wondering: got any cheesecake in this place?" she asked with a smile.
"Oh, so it's CHEESECAKE you want, huh? Old Rachel T. McKenzie can't get enough of her CHEESECAKE? Well, how 'bout I call the Cheesecake Planet and have them send up a whole flagship of cheesecake and hook a hose up to Rachel T. McKenzie's mouth, so Rachel T. McKenzie can suck up all the cheesecake she wants until there's no more cheesecake left FOR THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE'S POPULATION!"
Rachel backed up in fear after Dimentia's angry rant.
The two-faced leader breathed heavily before replying, "Sorry about that." She turned to her Magiblots. "You three: get her some cheesecake." The three minions exchanged confused glances and saluted before flying off. Dimentia turned back to Rachel. "Now then: shall we… head up to my office?" Rachel merely shrugged and followed Dimentia back to her office.
Aquaria's skies
Back with the main group, the team continued to ride on the floating pirate ship, getting ever-so closer to the floating isle. Once they made it, they saw that the isle was made of Irken technology and that there was a tower, which consisted of several cannons, saws, and a cockpit on top, sitting in the middle.
The team lowered the ship's anchor and hopped off onto the platform. "Where are they?" Dib asked.
"Up here!" They looked up to see Tak and Razorbeard standing in the open cockpit. "So, you fools have defeated FIR. That's a real shame. No matter. Feast your eyes upon this! The Irken Empire's NEW most powerful weapon: the B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y.!"
Irken Empire: B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y.
Beats Other Opposing Monsters Superiorly Destructive Attacking You
"With this weapon, we'll easily beat you and take back those Stars!"
"YARR! Now ye will pay for what ye did to me maties, Marine!" Razorbeard said as he hopped into the cockpit. Just then, Tak stomped on the button labeled 'Eject' and Razorbeard was sent flying off the platform via spring.
"You don't have a score to settle, Razorbum. I DO! And now it is time I settle it!" She hopped into the cockpit, which then closed. "Now, you meddlesome fools: it's time I sent you to Davy Jarg's Locker! Avast!"
Boss fight: B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y.
Saws lined up around the tower and began spinning around the sides, while the cannons fired cannonballs made of electricity at the heroes. The bottom of the tower shot blasts of fire along the ground as well. "This thing looks heavily guarded!" Nigel exclaimed.
"There has to be something that can penetrate it! Let's do it!" Dib said as he drew out his golf club and began knocking Golf Bombs at the tower.
"HA HA HA! You'll have to do better than THAT to break THIS baby!"
"If only we could reach that cockpit." Dib said.
Marine then looked to see one of the cannonballs coming their way was light-blue. "'ey Nigel: ready for a Color Power?"
"One would be nice about now!"
"Then 'ave some o' this!" Marine punched at the light-blue ball and destroyed it. As she guessed, it released a Speed Wisp, which Nigel quickly absorbed.
"SPEED!" Nigel shouted as he began to run around the tower, making Tak dizzy. He saw some cannonballs coming for him and decided to jump up them. He jumped until he was at Tak's level. Once there, he spun up into a pinball and shot at Tak's cockpit, damaging it slightly. Nigel fell back to the ground just as the Color Power wore off.
"GAH! You insolent fools! It's time I take this to the next level!" The B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. rose out of the ground and revealed digger tracks on the bottom. "Now, I can easily crush you as if you were just pieces of DIRT!" She drove around in the B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. and attempted to crush the heroes.
"And I thought it was menacing when it was still!" Nigel said.
"I wish there was a way in there, so I can disable somehow." Kweeb said.
"Wait! Maybe there's a way in where those tracks go up!" Ava figured. "You think you can get up there?"
"Sounds risky, but I think I can do it!" With that, Kweeb landed on the ground and ran toward the B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y.'s tracks. Just before it crushed him, he jumped into one of the openings and let it carry him along. As soon as the tracks carried him up into the B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y., he jumped up onto a safe platform and saw several gears and gizmos inside.
"Now to show her what this little piece of dirt can do!" he said as he drew out his gun and shot at the tower's insides.
Outside, Tak could feel the tower rumbling. "Huh? What's going on here?"
"I think that's our cue!" Nigel said. "Care to do the honors?" he asked to Marine again.
"That'd just be ripper! Gimme a boost, Luvbi!" Marine jumped up and Luvbi used all her force to blow Marine up to Tak's level. The young raccoon rapidly spun her arm around as she was falling to the cockpit. She landed and punched the cockpit with tremendous force.
"AH! NO!" Tak screamed as the B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. began to crackle and smoke. "I have to get out of here!"
"Not so fast!" As Tak was about to leave, Dib climbed up to the cockpit and dealt several blows and punches at Tak, knocking her back in.
B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. self-destruct in 3… 2… 1…
Dib jumped off just in time for the B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. to explode, sending Tak flying and screaming into the air.
"WOOHOO! That was so, totally RIPPER!" Marine exclaimed. Once the explosion cleared, they could clearly see the Blue Star floating overhead. The Star spun around before taking off for the Star Sanctuary.
"That takes care of that!" Nigel said.
"And to think we wouldn't have one if it wasn't for…" Ava gasped. "KWEEB!" She ran over to where the tower exploded and found the tiny alien passed out on the ground. "Kweeb, are you okay?" she asked, picking him up.
He groaned and opened his eyes. "I am now." Ava smiled and pressed the Kateenian to her cheek.
"Well, since everyone's okay, what do you say we get back to our vacation?" Nigel suggested. They all cheered as they boarded the ship and took off. The mariachi band was standing on the edge of the platform, playing their music.
"And so, the team recovered the sixth Star and headed back to Sunny Island to rest, for soon, they would have to return to base to continue the arduous journey. Now, what do you three say we get back to partying on Rio?" he asked his bandmates. As they all agreed, they felt the whole platform begin to shake. The floating foothold collapsed and fell into the sea, with the mariachi band screaming.
GKND H.Q.
"And here we are!" Dimentia announced as she entered her office/throne room along with the cheesecake-eating Rachel. "Number 362-"
"Numbuh 362."
"Whatever. Welcome to… my office!"
Rachel swallowed a piece of cheesecake and examined the office as Dimentia took a seat in her throne. "Wow, this is some office! All I have is a lousy desk. But where do you have room for doing paperwork?"
"Paperwork?" Dimentia merely laughed at this. "Oh, you silly girl! Why would we do PAPERWORK? That's an ADULT thing!"
"Well, yeah, but without paperwork, how do things get organized around here?"
"Things can be organized easy if you know how to run things properly! All good leaders know that."
"Riiight… So, Dimentia, what did Nigel say about me?"
Rather than answer, Dimentia examined the Gold Star necklace Rachel wore around her neck. "Where did you get that necklace?"
"Oh, this? It's a McKenzie Family heirloom. It's been passed down through generations. It's supposed to grant good luck or something."
Dimentia looked harder at the star and could feel a force radiating from it. Her eyes widened as she recognized it. The Seventh Star.
"Uhhh, Dimentia?"
"Oh, uh, sorry. That's a pretty nice necklace." she said, hopping down from her throne. "Mind if I-" As she was about to touch, an electric spark came out and zapped her hand.
Rachel chuckled. "Sorry about that! Funny thing is this necklace zaps anyone who tries to take it. The only way for it to NOT zap you would be for me to hand it to you."
"Oh, well, can I see it?"
"Not really. I'm sorry Dimentia, but I need all the luck I can get right now. Now, care to answer my question?"
"Oh, yes, ahem! I think he said something about you… being nothing but a traitorous friend whom never really cared about him?"
"He… really said that about me?" she asked in an upset tone.
"As far as I can hear. Yep."
"But… why would he say that?"
"Sure beats the heck out of me. Maybe it was something you did around the last time you saw him. Remember anything?"
"Well… I did kick him off the cake mission. And he really wanted that mission."
"Then that must be the answer!"
"I… didn't think that would have so much an impact on him."
"Well, you know what they say: sometimes it's the little things that have such big impacts on people. But I'm afraid you'll have to accept the fact that Nigel left because of you. He probably thought he could find much better friends here in the GKND that wouldn't betray his friendship. Someone like me."
Rachel looked down in sadness. "I feel so guilty…" Dimentia walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, don't be sad, Rachel. I know the pain you must be feeling right now. And I have the perfect solution for getting rid of that pain."
Rachel looked up at her. "What's that?"
Dimentia smirked. "A little thing called… decommissioning."
Well, there you have it. Just one more Star to go until the Star Rod. And we already know where it is. The B.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. comes from Mario Galaxy 2. The Squidlord was obviously Squidward Tentacles from the Spongebob series. Razorbeard was the robo pirate captain from Rayman 2: The Great Escape. See ye!