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Candaru shivered at the thought of being in Horrorland again. As far as she was concerned, it wasn’t fear- no, for her, revisiting her homeland had more of a specter-like vibe to it. Whatever the cause, Candaru didn’t find Horrorland pleasant. She wanted to grab the other five and leave that very instant, but that was impossible for two reasons. One, they had to reach Cyberland to recover X’s memory, which may help them defeat the evil Dark Lord. Two, a girl in a top hat and her band of shadowy figures were about to attack Candaru and her teammates.
“Alright, what do you punks-“
The mixed species girl was cut off by one of the figures, who immediately begun an attack directed at her. Angrily, Candaru extended her claws and struck back at the figure.
“CANDARU!!” X exclaimed.
After the preliminary moves were executed, all six Creations began attacking the shadowy shapes, even X (who discovered that his energy-arm could do damage just by being swung.) Eventually, the opposing team and their apparent leader started to retreat, realizing that they were overpowered by the “Lavaring Team.”
“You think you have won, but you know I will be back! And next time I will be STRONGER when I attack!” The girl in the top hat cried out, the faint figures of her goons following her as she ran.
“What in ImagiNation was THAT all about?” inquired MCgamer as he shot off aggressive blasts at the withdrawing group.
“I don’t know, but I have a lousy feeling about this…” Candaru replied, her voice miserable.
As usual, X was the one to try and lighten the mood. “Ha! Well, it can’t be THAT bad. We scared those guys away!” he said jovially, with a smile on his face. “Right?”
Nobody agreed with him.
“I think we should head deeper into Horrorland,” Foxichick said, being the most levelheaded member of the group. “We might be able to find a clue here as to what’s going on.”
Candaru groaned slightly, but didn’t say anything out loud. As much as she disliked Horrorland, she knew Foxichick was right, and exploring the surrounding area was their best chance of uncovering the mystery behind the girl in the top hat. The sooner they figured that out, the sooner they could get on with their journey to recover X’s memory and leave Horrorland.
Noticing tension brewing amongst the group, Fanwizard decided to weigh in. “I could not help but notice that the girl in the top hat spoke in rhyme. Perhaps that could become a useful detail to us at a later date.”
“Yea.” Candaru replied with a deadpan tone. “Sure.”
…
As the gang continued to walk deeper into Horrorland, X took a moment to gauge his surroundings. He couldn’t remember whether or not he had been to Horrorland before, but his gut reaction told him that he hadn’t.
Horrorland was mostly grey and gloomy, even though it was daytime. Although somewhat scary, X took a strange liking to it- most of the Creations who lurked about weren’t really as terrifying as the rumors said. The majority of them were just people hanging out.
Suddenly, a voice disrupted the monotony. The gang was walking through a small, dark and brooding town, when a mysterious girl appeared in the path of the group. She wore a creepy, ever-smiling mask, and held several equally creepy smiling balloons in her hand. Attached to her waist was what appeared to be a blood splattered knife, although the redness could easily have been paint. It was difficult to tell…
“Welcome to Horrorland, friends! My name is Carenity. I hope you enjoy your stay here. We are known as Horrorland, but we represent more of the supernatural side of fiction, as opposed to fear.” Carenity laughed. “Of course, we have plenty of fear here as well…”
Candaru instantly did not like this girl. She represented many of the things that she didn’t like about Horrorland, in her mannerisms and her attitude. As the Reverse-Half Werewolf girl looked around at her teammates, she could tell that they were similarly uncomfortable… except for X, who had apparantly taken a liking to the girl and had begun flirting with her.
“Speaking of Supernatural, are you an angel? Cuz I think there’s one missing in heaven…” X asked.
“X…” Candaru groaned. “Don’t flirt with girls with knives!”
Carenity didn’t pay much attention to X and instead began to lead the group through the part of Horrorland that they were in.
“I have a feeling that you’re going to love Horrorland…” said Carenity.
X had begun moving quickly, jovially floating around the area and had begun doing something akin to skipping. The others continued to follow Carenity, although they began to question if she was to be trusted.
“I don’t like this girl.” said Candaru. “There’s a lot of things off with her.”
“She’s fine!” replied MCgamer. “She’s probably just a little unstable. I’m sure she’s still a good guy. What do you think, Skippy?”
X turned to face his robotic ally. “Skippy? Really?” he responded.
“It’s your new nickname!” MCgamer said in a friendly but still teasing tone. X laughed in response, but then turned his attention back to Carenity.
As the six walked through the grisly grotto, X noticed a large mansion that Carenity was apparently leading them into.
Abruptly, as if she only just realized she should explain what the mansion was, Carenity spoke up. “As a demonstration of Horrorland’s culture, we’re having a celebration here in the Grave Manor. We have these often, and taking you to one seemed a good way to introduce you.”
“I have a bad feeling about this…” Candaru groaned.
“Oh, come on. It’s not going to be that bad,” X retorted. “We’re finding out about the culture!”
Once inside the Grave Manor, Carenity seated the six allies in a large, open area near the entrance. Candaru looked around the strange place- although the Manor had a large, multi-story interior, the amphitheatre was in a large hallway isolated from the mansion itself. Everything that was in any way a part of the mansion was in a state of disrepair, almost giving off a haunted-house vibe. None of the residents walking around seemed to mind any of this, so the group came to an unspoken conclusion that the “haunted” look was most likely a stylistic choice.
Carenity took a seat next to the group and began to hum a pleasant and yet somewhat eerie tune. It matched the atmosphere of Horrorland as a whole very well.
“So! When does this little demonstration of Horrorland’s culture start?” X asked curiously.
“At nightfall. It is almost time,” replied Carenity. “Ever so often, she presents another show, and enjoying it is mandatory!” Although it was difficult to tell beneath her mask, Candaru couldn’t help but wonder if Carenity was afraid. Even though she held a jovial attitude, it was still pretty clear that Carenity most likely didn’t really want to be here...
Candaru couldn’t help but note that this was the first night the group was going to experience as a team. Although the Festival of Creativity had been held very close to Horrorland and the group really hadn’t travelled all that far, it felt like a lot of time had passed between them. The 14-year-old thought about what X had said earlier about the group becoming best friends. Was that really a possibility? She’d only met these strange Creations that morning, and yet she felt a strong bond with them. Candaru hadn’t had many friends since she was a pup; she’d almost forgotten the feeling of having them around. She thought back to her closest childhood friends. The only two she could recall were Feline and a Cyborg named J8. Was it possible that these new friends could understand her like they had? She’d always assumed she’d grow up alone… but the future wasn’t set in stone. The Creators wrote the story the way they saw fit, and they were benevolent. The more she thought about it, the more Candaru trusted that the ending they wrote would be a happy one.
“It’s starting!” X exclaimed in a fangirl-like tone. In the time Candaru had spent contemplating her past, the sun had begun to set, the moon rising in its wake to signal the end of the day and beginning of the show.
The lanterns on all sides of the amphitheatre dimmed, creating a warm and atmosphere in the night. Candaru would never admit it out loud, but the lights did make Horrorland seem almost… beautiful. If they were on the way out, Candaru realized she should probably tell her parents about the journey she was going on. They probably assumed she was still at one of the lodgings for people that went to the Festival of Creativity multiple days at a row.
The lights dimmed further and the curtain rose, the show starting almost immediately. The first act started off with various Creations- mostly clowns- doing an odd ritual dance during the overture. There were other Creations that performed even more bizarre acts as the show went along, most of which were unrecognizable species. The showrunner addressed them as “Monsters” throughout, so Candaru figured it would be alright to refer to them as that. “Monster” was not a derogatory term unless the Creation being referred to as such took it as an offense- in other words, the Creations who self-identified as Monsters could be called as such without any dangerous implications taking place.
Candaru personally wouldn’t enjoy being categorized as a Monster; she was a reverse-half-werewolf and very proud of her unique label. The girl owned werewolf characteristics on every day of the month except the full moon, on which she lost all of her powers and had to essentially hide out until they returned. Candaru was glad that had already happened before the Festival- she wanted to postpone the group seeing her in her human form for as long as possible.
The girl’s train of thought was once again interrupted by Carenity.
“Do you like the show so far?” the masked girl asked, her balloons bobbing in the wind. “With the Festival of Creativity going on in Fantasyland, we thought it would be a good time to have another ritual going on- as a smaller-scale celebration of our own. I do so hope you enjoy it.”
The Showrunner stepped back up to the stage, his generic villainous cape blowing in the breeze. He looked like the kind of bad guy from an old cartoon, one who would tie beautiful woman to train tracks. He had a moustache that was wider than his head, which he stroked with great pride.
“And now,” he announced, “we present to you the main act of the evening… the one and only… MAGICIAAAAAAN!”
Candaru’s skin went an icy-pale shade of white, and her teammates were having similar reactions- the “one and only” Magician was wearing a top hat and speaking in rhyme.
“Thank you, Showrunner, and speaking of shows,
I’m an impatient act, and not anything goes.
See, six strange intruders came into this place,
And forced me to disappear without a trace,
So to finish the show, I announce this conclusion:
You six warriors- face my power of ILLUSION!”
The Lavaring Team tried to jump from their seats and run, but it was too late. Suddenly, everything made sense- Carenity’s behavior, the girl with the shadow minions- but there was no time to piece together what they should have already. Foxichick (the only one keeping her cool) began to delegate tasks to the others, as the Magician sent her shadow minions out into the crowd. Some of the audience members were fleeing, some were fighting, but most were just sitting still- solemnly and hopelessly watching the “show.”
“I think we have wandered into a trap!!” Fanwizard exclaimed, protruding his fan-pole from behind him.
“REALLY? I DIDN’T NOTICE!!” MCgamer yelled back, raising his voice above the screams and battle cries of the audience. X, although making an effort to help his team members, was the only one who didn’t quite understand the severity of the situation, and was more focused on figuring out the Magician than actually battling her or her subordinates.
“So, uh, ‘Magician…’ are you one of those Destroyers?” He called to her, ripping apart a shadow with his energy claw.
“That I am, young program, and you can bet I know your plan!
You wish to go to Cyberland, to get your memory again!
But it’s beyond my power to stop you as things currently stand,
So I think it’s time the battlefield becomes my upper hand!”
Before X could ask how the Magician knew about the Lavaring Team’s goals, he was suddenly transported onstage and in a tight box; the Magician above him with a chainsaw in hand.
“You’re nothing but a program, X, and you cannot retreat,
For soon you’ll get a chance to taste the flavor of defeat!
Soon you’ll be gone without a trace; Things will be nice and neat.
‘Cuz all I need to kill you is to go and press DELETE!”
Candaru noticed what was going on and instinctively began to rush towards to ampitheatre’s stage as her friends fought below.
“I knew something was suspicious the moment we set foot in the accursed place!” Fanwizard growled to Foxichick. She immediately nodded and added her two cents to the situation, while fighting off another shadow beast.
“The Magician was most likely harassing these Horrorlanders before we even got here, and probably arranged this whole show as an excuse to draw attention to herself when she beat us. It’s sickening.”
“How do you presume she knew of our arrival?” Fanwizard asked, his back now to Foxichick so they could keep a shadow-free circle around them.
“Probably Savedge or another Destroyer,” she muttered, slashing apart her seventeenth enemy and counting.
The Magician prepared to deal the finishing blow to X, savoring the captive audience’s horrified faces.
“It’s too bad you fools never learned about which fights to pick,
For now you’ve fallen victim to my favorite Magic Trick!
And if you’d dared to think of telling others what you saw,
Well it’s too late, for now you’ll face the blade of my chain-AHHHHHHHHHH!”
Candaru sliced the Magician’s face with her razor-sharp claws and stood in front of X’s box protectively.
“Well, well, what do we have here? A native of this land.
You ain’t seen anything yet, dear- this isn’t my full hand!”
Candaru quickly dodged an oncoming assault of energized playing cards, all of which threatened to leave a good scar if they touched her skin.
“Very clever,” she growled. “Did you think of all this by yourself?” As she spoke, she risked a glance back at the program boy to make sure he was alright. X seemed deep in thought, as if something had just occurred to him; but as the box was soundproof, Candaru couldn’t ask him why he was thinking instead of trying to escape.
As the other members of the team were cleaning up the last of the shady minions and getting ready to go assist Candaru with an onslaught of aggressive white doves, X suddenly spoke up.
“Wait!” he cried. “Guys, power of illusion, magic trick… NONE OF THIS IS REAL!!!” As he spoke, he studied the Magician hard. She wore a large green top hat with a purple spiral on it, which, had she not have been evil, X would have probably found attractive. As the situation stood, however, he guessed that it was controlling all of the illusions.
Focusing his attention back on the box that was imprisoning him, he realized that he was correct; the Magician’s power was merely tricking him into believing that it existed and he was reacting accordingly. As soon as X was ‘free’ from its constraints, he repeated his earlier plea to his teammates (that were no longer under the impression that they could not hear him.)
“Guys, you need to stop! You’re fighting shadows!” He yelled, throwing himself in front of the Magician’s doves.
“What in Imagination?” Fanwizard asked, as the doves attempted to scratch and peck at X- but not a single mark appeared. As the group began to realize that the doves didn’t exist in the first place, the attackers disappeared one by one.
Realizing what was going on, The Magician began to panic. The only way she had been able to keep the people in this part of Horrorland afraid of her was through her frequent shows, and now that her tricks had been revealed, she no longer knew what to do.
Almost from out of nowhere, (and in quite possibly the creepiest manner possible), Carenity appeared in front of The Magician, holding her balloons in one hand and her signature knife in the other. Carenity spoke in an eeriely cutesy voice, clearly meant to mask her true intentions.
“Hiiii, mean old Magician girl! You’ve been verrrry bad. SOOOoooo... I’m going to share two words that hold very special meaning to me… GO AWAY.”
On the “Go Away”, Carenity’s voice changed to a deep and gritty tone, and her face, although concealed by her mask, had clearly contorted into a face of sheer terror. Although her entire expression was not visible to The Magician, it was apparent that enough of her nightmare visage had shown itself through her eyes, as the Destroyer was shivering in fear nevertheless. Without skipping a beat, The Magician vanished into a flash of smoke.
“See, I told you Carenity was a good guy!” MCgamer stated. “She’s just a little… uh… unstable. For future reference, let’s try not to get her mad…”
“You may have defeated me this time, my foes… but I will be back, so stay on your toes!” echoed The Magician’s voice after her disappearance.
The Horrorlanders who had fled now began to return, happy that The Magician was gone at last.
“Well Done!” said Carenity, her tone of voice having returned to normal. “You’ve defeated the Destroyer who was haunting Horrorland and freed us. What’s your goal, anyhow? Why are the six of you travelling together, and where are you going?”
“Wait wait wait wait wait. What was going on?” asked MCgamer.
“The Magician was using her illusions to force us to attend her frequent shows. Apparantly she desperately craved attention, and didn’t care who suffered… but now we are free from her reign of fear, and it is thanks to you!” Carenity replied. “I apologize for tricking you into coming here, but we needed a way to get help without invoking The Magician’s wrath.”
“We understand.” responded X. “We’re trying to get to Cyberland, but none of us really have any idea of where a specific Spawn Shrine there might be, so we can’t just teleport there… see, I’ve lost my memory, and I need to return home to get it back… at least, I think. These guys are helping me.” X said, pointing to his teammates.
“We’re also on a quest to try and stop the Dark Lord.” said Candaru. Even though she didn’t say it out loud, Candaru really did also want to help X get his memory back. However, defeating the Dark Lord was also important. “We’re hoping that X may recieve some information on the Dark Lord when he gets his memory back!”
Suddenly, X’s GPS system began to light up and flash. A brief flash of Cyberland’s appearance flashed in his mind, and a nearby Spawn Shrine began to flash. X attempted to touch it, hoping that it might be possible to use the image to return to his homeland. However, upon even laying a finger on the Spawn Shrine, X was pushed back and knocked off his feet. Everyone present was extremely startled by this, and didn’t know what to do.
“X! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” cried MCgamer. It had happened so suddenly that no one knew what to do.”
“I don’t know. But… oh no…” X thought, coming up with a fearful possibility.
“What is it?” asked Foxichick.
“I… I think it means I can’t return home!” responded X.
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...Next Chapter?
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