Kids Next Door Gameverse: The Nextgen Kids

[Gamen Watch]

Since I played the Batman: Arkham games before writing this arc, this is the first time we're seeing that form of gameplay for Sandman!

Chapter 2: Welcome to Punk Hazard
​

Downtown Quahog

Night had fallen over Quahog. Snow was falling fast from the cloudy sky. Nolan York and Crystal Wickens stood perched (sat in Nolan's case) atop the town buildings. Yuki Crystal arrived shortly after, and all dressed in their superhero outfits. "Ahhh, another day, another bank-rob." Wiccan joked.

"At least it's snowy out." Yuki noted. "Wouldn't mind any cold."

"Well, things seem pretty normal so far." Nolan observed. "Maybe I can actually get home regular dinner ti- wait a second." Something down the street caught Nolan's eye. He pulled out binoculars and looked closer. "Vanellope?"

The Program child was currently walking down the street, yelling, "DILLOOON? DIIILLOOOON?" The girl turned in to an alleyway, examining the dark shadows. "You in there? Dillon? Don't try and scare me now! You- WHOOOAAA!" She was immediately yanked up by a metallic hook.

Sandman hauled Vanellope onto the roof with them, and she screamed, "AAAAAHH ALIEN INVADERS PLEASE DON'T ABDUCT ME-"

Nolan slapped his gloved hand over her mouth. "Vanellope, it's us." He pulled his mask off, and Yuki and Crystal did the same.

"Mr. York?! YOU guys are the aliens?!"

"What the- Nooooo! Vanel, I asked you to get Dillon an HOUR ago, what're you still doing out?"

"I can't find Dillon anywhere! And Kaleo's gone, too!"

"You can't?"

"Maybe he's at the Murphys' house." Crystal figured. "Wouldn't hurt to swing by, right?"

"Alright, let's drop by real quick, just in case." Nolan decided. He held Vanellope as he swung away with his grapple hook.

Nolan's neighborhood

The four hurriedly returned to the neighborhood, but right away, they found Doug and Gwen Murphy talking to Danika in her doorway. "Huh? What're they doing?" Nolan questioned.

The group hurried over as Danika noticed and waved at them. "Hey, guys! Zach and Maddy aren't at their house." She called. "Are they with Dillon and Kaleo?"

"Vanellope said she couldn't find them." Yuki responded.

"I keep telling you guys, the ALIENS are abducting them!" Vanellope yelled.

"ALIENS?!" Leopold stuck his head out the door in a frantic fashion. "THE ALIENS ARE COMING! AAAAH!-"

"SHUT UP, Leo!" Danika smacked him. "It's not like aliens are new to us. Siiigh… alright, where were they last hanging out?"

"Hey, guys?" Katie then walked out, holding a phone. "Not to interrupt, but Yin called and said Haruka came over here. She wants to know if she's staying the night?"

"Uhhhh…" Danika was contemplating what answer to give Yin. She knew how Yin got. "Tell her 'Yeah', she's staying over to, um, practice bending with Kaleo."

"Okay, but um… she kinda heard you before."

"WHERE'S MY BABY GIRL?!" the group winced at Yin's shout. "IS SHE OKAY?! If my daughter is in the hospital, I am docking SERIOUS pay out of you, Nolan York! DOOOCKIIIIIII-"

Katie pressed the 'hang-up.' "We'll call her back."

"Siiigh, hokay, we better find those kids fast." Danika suggested.

"You know, I think something like this happened before." Gwen said, her head down in thought.

"Ohhhh that's right!" Danika beamed with remembrance. "It was at least 15 years ago… Wally lost his brother."

"Joey Beatles mysteriously went missing." Nolan remembered as well. "The police gave up searching… they even got GUN to help, but they presumed him dead."

"I don't believe that." Danika replied.

"Regardless, this is the same matter all over again." Nolan deduced. "I didn't want to make it my problem… but since they've come to our town, it's personal. Danika, take Vanellope to bed. We'll be right back."

"Hey, why can't I come?" Vanellope yelled as the three heroes headed for the garage.

"Sorry, Vanel, but this might not be your usual Kids Next Door business."

"Uh, helLOOOO? There are KIDS going missing!"

"Just… stay safe. Okay?"

"Mmm-mmmmm." Vanellope frowned grumpily as Dani led her inside.

"So, what's your plan, anyway?" Crystal asked as they entered the garage.

"You'll see." Nolan assured.

Sand Cave

Nolan led them into a secret, underground cave beneath his house, where the lights flashed on and shone on a rotating, shiny, sand-colored vehicle. "Me and Wesley had this cave installed before he passed." Nolan explained. "This was his old car. The-"

"PLEASE don't say Sandmobile." Yuki eye-rolled.

"N…No!" Nolan denied.

"Then what's it called?" Crystal smirked.

"…It's the… uhhhh-" Her witty eyes bore into his skull, her arms folded, "FINE, it's the Sandmobile! Sigh, just get in."

DANANANA! A 'Sandman' icon popped up from a spiraling background.

Dana-nana-nana-nana, dana-nana-nana-nana SANDMAAAN!

As a simple car was driving down the neighborhood road, part of the road suddenly popped up and knocked it back, and the Sandmobile sped out and shot down the road. "SORRYYYYY!" Nolan called to the driver.

Over the sea

The Sandmobile was conveniently equipped with wings, and was currently flying over the sea at high speed. "You STILL haven't told us where we're GOING." Crystal shouted.

"We're going to Water 7." Nolan responded. "Danika said that was where they last struck. Maybe we can find some clues."

"Yet, we COULDN'T search around your own town first." Yuki said, annoyed.

"The report says that more children were taken, and it's a relatively small town, so it should be easier to search for clues."

"Oooh, Water Seven!" Crystal perked up. "I've always wanted to see the giant fountain they have there! It's so…"

"Fascinating?" Yuki cocked a brow.

"Exactly!"

"Well, we don't have time to admire architecture." Nolan reminded. "We need to find some lead on who took the children. Let's go."

Unknown Laboratory

When the kids finally stepped off the ship, they found their selves in a long, damp, vacant hallway. "Move along, now." The suited men instructed. The five complied and walked the very long journey across the hall.

"Whaddyou think this is?" Haruka asked.

"This reminds me of Brain Zombies 2," Zach began, "when the aliens took the kids to the laboratory to have their brains extracted for coal-mining knowledge, and they were given to the zombies to help mine Xenon for its sugarcane, and-"

"Have you been talking to Mr. Ed again?" Maddy asked.

"What? He's cool!"

"Yeah, if you like green cheese." Dillon snickered.

"I LIKE GREEN CHEESE!" Kaleo screamed.

Dillon winced. "Um…that's nice."

The five were eventually led to a laboratory, where a green-haired woman, with bird wings and bird legs, turned and smiled at them, pulling off yellow goggles. "Awww, look, they're here! Come on down, Master!"

They looked to a door on the left side, hearing footsteps as someone walked down the dark stairway. To their surprise, it was a black-haired man with white skin and goat horns, a huge, wavy pink coat over his form as he bore a wide, trusting grin. "Kiiiids! Helloooo!" He threw his arms out.

"Who're you?" Maddy asked, creeped out.

"Why, this is Master Caesar!" the bird woman introduced. "You stand before the greatest scientific genius in the world."

"I thought EGGMAN was the greatest scientific genius?" Dillon questioned.

"Nnn! THAT guy was an amateur!" Caesar argued. "I am the greatest genius in the world! For YEARS I've studied the causes and functions of human and alien genetics! Using my supreme poisonbending, I've delved DEEP into the research of mortal sicknesses, and seen UP CLOSE how it WORKS!"

"You're a… poisonbender?" Haruka asked.

"Nnnn that's right!" Caesar demonstrated, forming a gas cloud in his hand. "I have spent YEARS developing the art in unforeseen ways! …And that is why… it is my displeasure to tell you…" Caesar walked forward and knelt down, his mouth forming a frown. "Children… you have caught a TERRIBLE disease. A disease that is slowly sweeping many children across the cosmos. I was able to develop my poisonbending enough to be able to SENSE which children had it. And so, I sent my men to go about and bring them to me. But to keep from alarming any of the nearby townspeople, I had you all taken away in private. Your parents shan't be alarmed! No matter how long it takes, I will keep treating you until I can HEAL this disease!" He grinned with assurance.

"Now, if you all would be so kind, we need a blood sample from each of you!" Monet smiled trustingly, holding up a syringe. She went to Maddy first, bending over and taking her hand in her bird wing. "And what's your name, sweetheart?"

"Hey, feathers off!" Maddy yelled, whipping her hand back. "If anything, I've caught the metacooties."

"Hm hm hm!" Monet laughed warmingly. "You needn't fear from that!" She stuck the syringe in and extracted blood from Maddy's hand.

Caesar knelt by Dillon with his own syringe. "And who are YOU, young man?" he grinned.

"Dillon York! This is my shadow, Mario!" Dillon's shadow waved.

"Oooh, a shadowbender!" Caesar perked, extracting Dillon's blood. "And what a FASCINATING name! You come from New York?"

"Heh heh, no!" Dillon smiled. "Quahog!"

"OOOOH, Quahoooog! Cleveland break any good bathtubs lately?" he winked.

"Ha ha!"

Monet then went to collected blood from Kaleo. "And who are YOU, little cutie?"

"Are you going to digest my brain for coal?" Kaleo panicked.

"Trust me, YOU wouldn't WANNA eat his brain." Maddy remarked.

Finally, Caesar went to get blood from Haruka. "And who are YOU… Dearie?" he grinned.

"My name's Haruka Dimalanta! I'm a poisonbender, too!"

Caesar's smile vanished, hearing that name. "Ehhh… Dimalanta?"

"Y-Yeah!... Is there a problem?"

"Just making sure I heard it right!" he grinned, patting her head.

"Great. So what'd you need the blood samples for?" Maddy asked.

"Each person receives the disease in different ways." Caesar explained. "This usually results in a variety of genetic codes, which all need to be treated in a particular way! It usually requires more than one sample over time, but a cure should come underway before long! In the meantime… here's some candy for being SOOO cooperative!" he grinned wider as he held up five pieces of butterscotch.

"Oooh, candy!" Haruka exclaimed as she took a piece. Kaleo swiped his and immediately began chewing on it, as did Zach. Maddy, having no trust for this man, merely stashed her candy up her sleeve for now. Haruka didn't eat hers either, wanting to save it for Lee.

"Now, come along and we'll show you to the playroom!" Caesar beamed.
"Follow me, kids!" The gassy man led them down the hall.

Soon, they arrived at the huge, colorful playroom, and were surprised at how many kids were there as well. The walls around the playroom were painted like a bright-blue sky with many white clouds. "HELLO, everyone! We got five more playmates just READY to have fun!" Caesar exclaimed.

"HI, NEW KIDS!" the children exclaimed.

"Well, isn't this the carnival of freaks…" Maddy remarked quietly, taken aback by the variety of kids. There were giant kids, Merpeople, Nimbi, Minish, Kateenians… And a majority of them were wearing white shirts, white shorts, and plain white shoes.

"Hey, wanna have a ROOTBEER contest?" a Kateenian asked.

"Okay!" Kaleo exclaimed, hurrying over.

"Hey, who wants to play Sooper Dodgeball?" a giant boy asked, holding up a giant red rubber ball.

"Oooh, this I gotta see!" Zach perked, hurrying over as the giants ran to the other end, creating quakes with each stomp.

"Well, may as well get settled in." Dillon said to Maddy as they walked forward.

"Hey, look, a bunny!" one of the giant boys exclaimed as some kids gathered around a blue and yellow rabbit.

"Gyom, gyooom?..." the rabbit looked confused.

"Nnn? When did we get a bunny?" Caesar asked.

"I think he showed up when we brought the haul of Water 7 kids." Monet answered. "I asked them, but they said it wasn't theirs."

"Hmmmm… how interesting." Caesar rubbed his chin in thought, then sported his grin. "Send another shipment out to look for more kids! Perhaps I can find a-" They turned around to leave, but stopped when Haruka appeared in their way, a bright smile on her face.

"Hey, Mr. Caesar! I don't mean to trouble you, but, you see, I'm kind of in the medical field myself, and, well, I was wondering if I could help you with your research, and exchange ideas! I'd love to develop my poisonbending skills further, too!"

"Shurororo!" Caesar laughed jauntily, patting Haruka's head. "I'd love to, my darling! But I'm afraid finding a cure is MUCH too complicated! I need to devote all the time that I can! You understand, right?"

"Um… I guess." Haruka looked disappointed.

"Great! Well, I'll see you later!" he waved as they walked out. "And don't forget to Smile!" he grinned widely as they shut the door.

"Hm…" Haruka looked toward the playroom, smiling humorously. "Who is he, Sheila?..."

While Dillon was off playing with some of the gargoyles, Maddy was simply walking toward the left wall of the room. "Hey!" she looked up when a giant girl smiled down at her, standing behind a slide on Maddy's right. The girl had messy, bushy black hair, and grayish-purple eyes. "My name's Mocha! What's your name?"

"Maddy… you want something?" she asked rudely.

"Me and the girls were gonna braid hair! Wanna join us?"

"No thanks…" Mocha frowned as Maddy went to sit with her back against the sky-blue wall. "I'd rather just wait until Caesar says I can leave. Since I try not to ASSOCIATE with those people, I shouldn't be long."

"…" Mocha looked confused. "Okay… but feel free to come if you change your mind." The giant walked away.

Maddy proceeded to lie down in attempt to fall asleep. From behind the slide, the blue rabbit stared at her confused. "Gyom-gyooom…"

Water 7 (Play "Refusal Will Not Be Tolerated" from Batman: Arkham City.)

The night sky was cloudy and snowy over Water 7 as Sandman, Coldman, and Wiccan finally arrived. They dropped from their Sandmobile and took land on one of the many rooftops. "Hmmm… town's a little bigger than I thought." Nolan observed.

"My, but just look at that fountain." Crystal said, her purple eyes fixated on the tremendous mountain that sat in the city's center. "…And look!" she noticed the humongous treehouse towering over the fountain. "A Kids Next Door is here, too!"

"Alright, guys, split up and look for clues." Nolan ordered. "And Yuki… try not to fall in any rivers."

"Siiigh." The icebender sighed.

Crystal flew off using her staff and Yuki flew using an ice path. Nolan activated a glider in his wheelchair and began to fly across the rooftops (he would like anyone to keep any comments about ripping off Batman to themselves ).

As Nolan soared across this region of the city, he had to admit it had a nice atmosphere. The roaring waterfalls from the giant fountain echoed across the town, easing their minds. Nolan had activated special goggles built into his mask, and was using Detective Vision to skim the town. The people and Yagaras were represented as blue skeletons; it got rather confusing since there were so many. Other objects of significance were represented as orange.

Nolan's search found nothing so far, until his Detective Vision detected rapid soundwaves coming from a few streets away, and a child's skeleton was frantically moving about the street. Nolan turned up his eavesdropper to pick up this girl's soundwaves. "Gonbe? Gonbe? Gonbe? Gonbe?"

Nolan glided over and switched off his Vision, finding a yellow-haired, pigtailed girl rapidly searching under every little box or snow pile. "Gonbe? Gonbe? Gonbe? Gonbe? UU-" Sandman suddenly dropped down and grabbed her in his arm, holding her mouth shut as he zipped back to the rooftop via grapple hook. "EEAAAAHHH!" Chimney frantically tried to shake away. "HELP ME! HELP ME! I've been kidnapped! AAAAAHH!"

"CALM down!" Nolan demanded, forcefully setting her on her feet. "Now what were you doing out here?"

"OOUUUUH MR. SAND-SAAAN!" Chimney began crying, still grinning widely. "IT'S TERRIBLE! I LOST MY LITTLE NEKO-CHAAAN! GOONBEEEEEE!"

"QUIET!" Nolan screamed, and Chimney snapped her mouth shut in a second. "Look… when was the last time you've SEEN your friend?"

"I just told him to watch the on'nanokos and he was GOOOOOOOONE." She wept more, putting an arm over her eyes.

"Maybe he was upset?"

"UPSET?!" Chimney leapt onto Nolan's lap and clutched his hood tight, glaring at his masked eyes with rage. "GONBE NEVER GETS UPSET WITH ME! NEEEVEEEERRR!" she shook him forcefully.

"OKAY, OKAY!" Nolan pulled her off. "Ugh… alright, I'll help you look for it. I mean, who knows, it might actually help… what kind of animal is it again?"

"He's a neko-chan, duuuuh! A cat-san!"

"Oh, a cat! Okay… that shouldn't be too hard. I'll look for any clues I find, but why don't you get home? It's getting late."

"Not until you find my neko first!"

"Siiiigh." Sandman switched on his Detective Mode and started gliding across the city some more. The majority of it was pretty boring. Nothing looked too out-of-the-ordinary. Until he arrived at a vacant canal road and noticed a single object glowing blue in an alley. Sandman glided down and discovered it was a dead, rotting fish. "Whoa. This must've been here for weeks." The Sandman zoomed in and scanned the rotting animal. "Let's rewind this back to when it was, well, better."

Nolan continued to scan, and slowly, a holographic vision started to play, in reverse, in which a little rabbit was walking backward with the fish in his mouth. When the projection started playing normally, Nolan observed, "Hmmm… well, it wasn't a cat… but a rabbit caught this fish from somewhere." The holographic rabbit set the fish down and started to gnaw on it. "The fish has rabbit-like bite marks, so it would make sense. …But he stopped eating after a few seconds." The rabbit perked up and walked to his left. "Something caught his attention." He shut his Vision off. "I have to find out what."

Sandman decided to scan around the area. It wasn't long before he discovered a pair of fallen teeth in the clear spots on the ground. Nolan scanned the teeth, and another projection began to rewind. "There were a pair of kids playing a game," holographic kids were excitedly kicking a ball around, and the ball suddenly came flying at the rabbit, "but they hit the rabbit by accident." The holographic kids stood over the fallen rabbit for a while before deciding to carry it off. "They took the rabbit away… but I can't pick up where they went after that." He switched the projection off. "I wonder if those kids were the ones missing? Maybe I can find more."

Nolan decided to scan the area further. Along the sidewalk, there were tiny spots of dried blood. "Ahhha. The rabbit bled a little after it was struck. I'll follow the trail and see where they brought him." And so, Sandman began to roll along the sidewalk, following the dried blood trail. His path led him into a market street, in which he had to jump a river to follow the trail across, then through another alleyway. His trail eventually led him into a darker, more broken area of the town. He was led all the way to the end of a long alley, where the door to a building sat beside a window with a light on inside.

Nolan gently knocked on the door. A chubby woman with orange hair and a yellow tank-top; with many pink flowers, answered the door with a creepy grin. "Well, hello, theeeere! Another child ready to join my family!"

"Wh-What?! No, I-"

"Come on in, Dearie!" the woman grabbed Nolan by the shoulder and forcefully dragged him in. "Here's your brother!"

Nolan raised a brow behind his mask. "…Yuki?"

"Yeah…" the Eskimo-themed hero sat at a table. "Kinda got pulled in when I tried to interview her."

"Boyyys, you're just in time for dinner!" the woman grinned as she stirred something in her boiling pot.

"Ugh, we don't have time for dinner!" Nolan refuted. "Look, do you have any other kids? Do you have a rabbit, maybe?"

"Oooh, I had kids, but they went missing after I sent them to get groceries a few weeks ago. I sent the little rabbit to go find them, but he never came back, either."

"Didn't you try to LOOK for them?" Yuki questioned.

"Oh, noooo! But they ALWAYS come baaack! Oooh, I hope they didn't drown…" she still kept her grin.

"…" Nolan looked disbelieved. "Well, do you have anything that belonged to your kids? I can probably find them."

"Ohhh, this was Junior's favorite bottle!" the woman grinned brightly, holding up a baby bottle. "I put soda in it once, and he just couldn't let go!"

Nolan took the bottle and started to scan it for DNA. "Still fresh, thankfully. I should be able to find where this drool came from."

Nolan's communicator rang, and he answered as Wiccan spoke. "Nolan? Yuki? You better hurry to the eastern docks. A bunch of men in… protection uniforms just arrived."

"Let's go, Yuk." Nolan said as he rolled himself out.

"I'll just stick your dinner in the fridge, deeeeariiiies!" the woman sang.

"Don't wait up for us, Lady!" Yuki called.

The two hurried and hopped across the many rooftops to Crystal's location. They found their friend stood atop a roof, and joined her quietly. "Look." she whispered, pointing over the edge. They peeked over and saw four men in yellow protection suits standing before a boat, guns ready.

"Alright, the Master says there might be more kids here." One of them explained. "You two spread out and find them, we'll stand guard." Two of the men walked opposite directions down the street.

"I bet these guys have something to do with it." Nolan knew. "Yuki, Crystal, take those guys out." He pointed at the ones down the street.

Crystal hurried across the roofs to the farthest one and dropped lightly on her feet. She walked over quietly before jumping and kicking him to the ground, afterward bashing his protected head with her staff and knocking him out. Yuki quietly approached the closer one, merely touching his shoulder to freeze him completely solid. As for the ones by the boat, Nolan landed behind both of them. He weakly stood up from his wheelchair and held both fists by the sides of their heads. He SLAMMED his fists to both heads, smashing them into each other before they lost consciousness.

Nolan sat back down as Coldman and Wiccan soon joined him. "Heeeeeey!" they looked down the road, seeing Chimney dashing over to them. "Oi, haven't you otona-sans found my neko-chan yeeeeet?"

"Look, I don't know where your cat is, but we've picked up the trail on this rabbit. We think he's with a bunch of other missing kids." Nolan explained.

"And you really should put on some better protection, little girl." Crystal told her, noticing Chimney's exposed arms and legs, and wearing only sandals on her feet. "You'll catch frostbite."

"DON'T CRITICIZE MY FASHION-SENSE, JOSEI-SAAAAN! And where is my cat?!"

"FORGET about your cat!" Nolan demanded. "And just get home! If your cat is with the other kids, I promise I'll bring him back, but everyone else comes first."

"Huff." Chimney proceeded to stomp off angrily. "I'll show YOU what comes first, super-saaan!"

"What a nutcase." Nolan remarked as the three boarded the boat.

"Soooo where are we going again?" Crystal asked.

"I used my Detective Vision to track the whereabouts of a rabbit." Nolan explained.

"You just looooove ripping off Batman, huh?" Crystal remarked.

"Uuugh. Anyway, then I found the whereabouts of a mom's missing kids; or at least her baby. We're going to follow their signal and find where they landed. But for the sake of stealth, we're riding this boat there, so they don't suspect. Alright, let's go."

And so, the ship began to sail away from the island, across the distant nighttime sea. "Why were those men wearing those things, anyway?" Crystal asked.

"Germ freaks?" Yuki inquired, raising a brow.

"It had to be from something." Nolan figured. "I wonder where this signal is, anyway." Nolan looked at his wristwatch terminal, bringing up a map of the region. The location the signal was coming from was marked, so Nolan closed in. "Oh? Hmm…"

"What is it?" Crystal asked.

"Hmmm… I'm not entirely sure on the story. But… we're going to Punk Hazard."

…

They'd been sailing for an hour, but their destination was in sight. "Is…Is that right?" Crystal asked, seeing the island ahead.

"A…ccording to my tracker, yah." Nolan replied, feeling just as confused.

Directly ahead was an island burning with enormous flames. The buildings around the shore were torn and melted, and the fires burned as if they've been lit for generations. They couldn't even get close to the shore as massive flames blocked their path. "Well, well… didn't expect our destination to be the Underworld." Crystal remarked.

"There's probably some explanation behind this." Nolan figured.

"Well, whatever it is, it better help my case as an icebender." Yuki noted.

"Come on, Yuki, you're not gonna melt." Nolan assured. "But try and freeze a path for us."

Yuki sighed as he stepped toward the tanker's ledge and aimed his hands at the sea. He launched a ray of ice and froze a path across the water, and through the flames.

"That probably won't hold, let's go!" Nolan rushed as they hopped off the boat and quickly crossed the ice. They managed to reach the shore just before the ice quickly melted. "Hoo…" Nolan sighed, already sweating from the heat under his coat. "Not the best time to be wearing this… Okay, you know the mission: locate the missing kids, and hopefully, Dillon and the others will be with them. Watch where you step, and be careful not to…" At that moment, Nolan suddenly felt something drop down the back of his coat. He reached underneath, and felt something tiny and squirming. He finally grabbed the squirming thing and held it in front of him, seeing it was a tiny, doll-sized, green-haired girl.

"Aaaaahhh!" the girl screamed, desperately shaking as Nolan clutched her in his gloved hand. "Heeelp! Heeeelp! Let me go, let me go!"

"QUIET!" Nolan demanded, shaking her slightly. "Who are you?!"

"Ahhhh monster!" she screamed again. "Aaaaaaahh!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Nolan, you're frightening her." Crystal scolded, taking the tiny girl in her smaller, skinnier hand. "There there, it's all right." Crystal smiled, lightly rubbing her hair. "We're not going to hurt you."

The girl stopped shaking and smiled happily. "You're nice, Josei-san!"

"Hm hm hm!" Crystal chuckled.

"Uuuugh." Nolan sighed. "Look, what were you doing in my coat?"

"I'm Aeincha, from Sector W7! My leader, Chimney thought you looked weird, so she wanted me to sneak off with you! But she didn't say you had such a sweaty coat! She wants you to find her cat, Gonbe!"

"Uuugh. Look, I'll find the cat after I've found the other children. But it's too dangerous for you to be here, we need to find you someplace safe."

"Aw, Nolan, let's just take her with us." Crystal smiled, letting Aeincha sit in her open palm. "Statistics say that smaller people have more spirit than normal people, so we could use someone like her."

"I'm also super-duper sneaky!" Aeincha grinned. "I can hide from big people like you!"

"Siiigh. Alright, but don't make too much noise. We don't know who could be lurking." Nolan told her.

"Okay! Oh, I hope you don't mind, but Chimney's sort of tracking my coordinates via communicator." She showed them her teeny-tiny wristwatch communicator.

At that instant, a huge, gray train came flying over the heavens, swirling out of control. "GOOONBEEEEEEE!" The island shook when the train crashed in the distance.

"Aww GREAT! So much for stealth!" Nolan yelled. "Now everyone'll know we're here!"

"Actually, everyone will know THEY'RE here." Crystal corrected. "Attention will be directed at them, but we're free to explore the island."

"You can ALWAYS count on Chimney to make an entrance!" Aeincha grinned.

"Siiigh. Look, let's just find the kids before anyone notices." Nolan said once more. "Let's go." (Play "Freezeflame Galaxy (Fire)" from Super Mario Galaxy.)

Stage 3: Punk Hazard

Mission: Find Dillon and the kids and get them off this island.

Act 1

Addendum: We're at the action stage already?

The three heroes started their venture across the flaming wasteland, with Aeincha seated on Crystal's shoulder. A few steel beams fell down from the sides, startling the group and making them stop in place. "Odd that they chose NOW of all times to collapse." Crystal commented as Yuki blew ice and put the flames out. They crouched under the beams before jumping up some short platforms to atop a small, burned building (yes, Nolan's chair can still jump). They now overlooked a slight chasm of burning rubble, with the following path on the other side. Yuki tried to freeze an ice path, but the ice melted almost instantly.

"Boy, this place IS hot." he observed.

Nolan noticed a slight, broken wall sticking up from their side, and was parallel to another on the other side. "I have somethin'." He got between the two walls and sent a zipline to stick horizontally to both walls, forming a tightrope across the chasm. Nolan's chair was able to zip over on its own, while Yuki and Crystal had to balance across. They hopped down some more stairs and approached a huge gate with a big lock. A big sign on the gate read 'DANGER. KEEP OUT.'

"Well-p, guess we're leaving." Yuki stated as he turned and walked away, but Crystal grabbed his cape and pulled him back.

"I can open it!" Aeincha beamed as she hopped up into the lock, which was big enough for her to fit. After tinkering with the mechanism, the lock fell to the ground and the gate slid open. Crystal picked Aeincha up and carried her as they kept going. They trekked through another field of burning rubble as Red Chuchu emerged and wobbled over to jump at them. They took out the simple monsters before reaching another chasm, where lava burned below and blew up gushes. Yuki shot ice at the geysers' tips to freeze rock platforms, which they used to hop across.

They reached a wider road with several lava cracks in the ground. Nolan rolled forward first when a flame geyser suddenly sprouted up, almost burning Nolan before Yuki froze it. They passed through carefully until they reached a ledge overlooking a huge lava chasm. Nolan glided to the first, lowest platform, then saw a set of three platforms hovering overhead, each higher than the next as they led to a higher platform. Nolan used his grappling hook to swing across the platform's hooks. The platforms sunk as a result so the first one was at level with the previous platform.

Nolan pressed a switch on this new platform that caused lava geysers to sprout up between the others and the first platform. Yuki froze the geysers' tops as they used them to hop across. Afterward, they used the sunken hook platforms to jump up to Nolan, quickly before the platforms fell completely. Next, they looked toward a further, lower platform with a tightrope connecting the two. Nolan had no need for it and simply glided down. Aeincha jumped off Crystal's shoulder and easily walked across the thin rope, down to Nolan. Afterward, Crystal and Yuki balanced across one at a time, carefully.

Their next route was a thin, lava river, which they crossed by hopping onto a small stone platform, which began floating down. The lava bubbled ahead of them, and to their surprise, a huge Blargg emerged from the flames, ready to chomp with its wide-open mouth. Yuki fired an ice beam and froze it, then Nolan destroyed it with a missile. Another Blargg popped up from behind them, but the two did the same routine and destroyed it. This time, TWO Blarggs emerged from both sides. Yuki shot the one behind them, while Crystal aimed her staff and fired her own ice rays at the front. Both were frozen, and Nolan quickly destroyed them.

"Hm. And you said my Freeze function was useless." Crystal smirked. The stone reached the end of the river, so the group hopped off. They then trekked up a thin flight of stairs and reached an old, abandoned metal building. The enormous steel doors were sealed tight, and a sign was stuck on them. DANGER! Do not, for WHATEVER reason, OPEN THIS DOOR!

"Who else is tempted to open it?" Crystal asked.

"I think we've got enough problems." Nolan said. "Let's just keep going."

The group followed a path along the left, along a fairly straightforward path. It went on a while, but nothing seemed to interfere with their journey. Crystal stopped after a while and noticed something in the sky. "That's odd…"

The others stopped and turned at her. "What?" Nolan asked.

"Those clouds." Crystal pointed to the clouds in the far distance. "They're different from the clouds in this area. Like… blizzard clouds."

"Since when are you a weatherwoman?" Yuki remarked.

"Woman of science, I know these things."

The four passed around a few more burning buildings and reached the edge of a wide lake. Their eyes widened with wonder and amazement when they saw the other side. "Ummm… can your science explain that?" Yuki asked. (Play "Freezeflame Galaxy (Ice)" from Mario Galaxy.)

Across the lake lay a vast, mountainous realm of snow and ice. Crystal's observations were true; the previous side of this island had clouds of black smoke, while a whole other region had dark-blue snow clouds. Regardless, this defied all possible reasoning. "An island of fire and… ice."

"Still got your logic, Crystal?" Yuki asked.

"Reminds me of the Groudon Volcano that Nigel told me about." Nolan remembered. "Its core had ice inside of it. Hmmm…" he wondered if there was some relation. "Well, at least the air will be cooler. Yuki, freeze us a path." Yuki did so and made a frozen path along the lake, using it to cross to the frozen wilderness.

A few sharks tried to gnash at them, but Nolan blasted missiles to keep them away. "Careful, Nol!" Yuki yelled, trying to keep the ice path stable. The group managed to reach the frosty shore, and the cold air immediately fell to their skin.

"BRRRR-r-r-r-r-r-r!" Aeincha shuddered. "It's so co-o-o-o-old!" The tiny girl immediately leapt to Nolan's shoulder and crawled under his coat. "Mmmm. You're so WARM, Mr. York."

"Siiiigh." The group kept going along the icy landscape as White Wolfos jumped out to snack. Crystal used her staff to keep the monsters back while Yuki launched ice rays. A bunch more were charging from across a hill, but Nolan fired a missile and blasted them away.

"Hey, what was that?" a voice called in the distance. The group flinched and quickly hid behind a mound of snow. They watched as a band of those same, yellow-suited men stepped up over the hill, guns ready.

"It's those guys again." Crystal whispered.

"We must be close to their base." Nolan figured. He tried to launch a missile at the group, but- "Uh-oh. That was my last missile. I forgot to restock."

"I thought you had, like, an infinite supply of them?" Yuki questioned.

"It's only as infinite as I can make it."

"Coincidentally, I think my Hover function ran out of juice as well." Crystal noted.

"WELP, can never make games too easy!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Who's there?!" The men heard Yuki's shout and ran toward them.

"I'll distract them!" Aeincha yelled, leaping out of Nolan's coat and hurrying toward the men. It was a little hard to run in such deep snow, but the Lilliputian managed. "Heeeey big people-saaaans!" The men looked, seeing the tiny, cheerful girl. "Come catch me if you caaaan!"

"H-Hey! Why aren't you with the other kids, grab 'er!" But when they tried, and failed, to catch the quick girl, Team Hero ran out and began attacking the men. A few of them turned and tried to shoot them with guns, but Yuki dodged and threw ice blasts at them. "That guy's an icebender! Get 'em in handcuffs!" Yuki threw more ice, but the men swiftly dodged as one held up a pair of cuffs. Yuki raised in arm in defense, but the man successfully cuffed his right wrist.

"Aw, dang it!" Yuki moaned. He tried to throw more ice, but was unable to. "A chi-blocking cuff!"

Crystal knocked out another soldier and said, "Welcome to the party."

Once they were all knocked out, Yuki checked their pockets for keys, but found none. "Well, this is PLEASANT."

"Hey, at least you got your pack." Nolan reminded. "Now come on, we'll find keys in the base."

They crossed the small hill and shortly reached the huge, steel building. They stopped by an air vent as Nolan used Detective Vision, seeing a bunch of the soldiers guarding the front door. "Hmmm… well, they aren't armed."

"We could draw less attention if we snuck in through here." Crystal mentioned, nudging toward the vent. Yuki pulled it open and got in first, but Nolan remembered his wheelchair.

"Augh… I can't really go without my wheelchair. Just go in without me, we can split up and find the kids."

"You say so." Crystal shrugged, crawling in after Yuki.

Aeincha peeped out of Nolan's coat as he asked, "You wanna go with 'em?"

"Nah. It wouldn't be fun to be all alone!" she beamed.

"Siiigh… well, you're right on that money." Aeincha returned beneath the coat as Nolan rolled toward the front. He approached the men calmly and yelled, "Yo, you looking for me?"

"Who's that?!" they yelled as they ran to battle the cripple. One tried to punch, but Nolan grabbed his fist and threw him against another one. His chair's punching glove punched another, and when one of them tried to punch from behind, Aeincha jumped out, grabbed his suit's glass-window to block his vision, and allow Nolan to punch him before it was too late.

The squad of soldiers were knocked out shortly as Aeincha jumped back to Nolan's shoulder. "Well, it'll draw some attention to us, but they might not notice Crystal and Yuki yet."

"I think they're still focusing on Chimney and the others!" Aeincha grinned.

"Yeah, good point… we better get in." Nolan hurried into the front door. (End song.)

Base's playroom

Things were still peaceful in the playroom, as the many kids were still engaging in carefree activities. Maddy, on the other hand, had fallen asleep along the side of the room, drowning out the noises, as well as the stomping of giant kids. A pair of giant feet stepped over as a giant hand shook Maddy. "Maddyyy? You awake?"

"Mmmm…" Maddy woke up groggily, seeing the giant hand touching her cheek. "AHHH!" she shot to her feet frantically.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Mocha laughed. "Do you always wake up like that?"

"Hoo… don't do that." Maddy huffed, sitting back down. For a second, she was afraid she shrunk again.

"We're all gonna play Airplane, do you wanna? My head's really soft!" She patted her messy black hair.

"I don't really feel comfortable playing with a bunch of disease-ridden kids…"

"Well, I don't really think we're THAT sick. I mean, I've been feeling pretty fine. Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Look, I don't hang out with mutants, okay? And you giant kids fall into that category."

Mocha frowned. "Well… what's wrong with me being giant?"

"What's wrong is that I'm afraid of getting smooshed. And considering all the tiny people, I'll be surprised if that's not a common thing."

"Well… that's sorta why we don't wear shoes when we play. …What's wrong, Maddy? Why don't you play with anyone?"

"I don't like mutants, okay? I think they just like to abuse people. And to be fair, the only giants I know are from Jack and the Beanstalk, and all that one cared about was eating Jack."

"But the female giant wanted to protect Jack."

"He put Jack in the oven. HOW was that safe?"

"Hm hm hm! Actually, we're not really giants."

"Huh?"

"We used to be normal-sized, but we think it's part of the disease. Each of us slowly grows over the years, that's why Master Caesar's trying to fix us."

"Sooo… we're all going to become giants?" Well, better than being small. She thought.

"As far as I know. But we're still the same as normal kids! And all the other kids like us, too! You'd have fun if you played with us!"

"I don't know…"

"Sure you will! Like this!"

"HEY!" Maddy was suddenly grabbed in Mocha's hands and-

"WHEEEE!" –was sent flying into the air.

"Whoooaa!" Maddy landed safely on Mocha's hands, but the black-haired giant kept throwing her up and down.

"Ha ha ha ha! See, normal humans can't do this!"

"This! Doesn't! Prove! Your point!" she yelled with each land.

"Well, maybe this will!" Mocha smiled as she set Maddy on her soft, messy hair. "All aboard the Mocha Plane! Hang on tight!"

"Whooooooaa!" Maddy clutched tight to Mocha's hair as the giant girl began running around with her arms stretched out like a plane. She was frightened at first… but as her form bounced and the wind brushed lightly through her hair (Mocha's not as fast as a Nimbi, by the way)… she felt a small rush of excitement. Beside her, other kids were riding the heads of other giants, whom were each trying to outrace the other. Also, a few of the normal kids had oversized Minish and Kateenians on their heads, and those Minish and Kateenians had smaller, normal ones on their heads. Maddy had to admit, they looked cute.

Maddy looked and saw the competitive looks on the other kids' faces, as well as on the faces of the giants. Riding Mocha's head, she felt like she was riding a horse around a track, desperately trying to beat the other riders to the prize. Maddy smirked and "HEE-YA!" yanked Mocha's hair, tempting the giant girl to go faster. Angered, the other kids yanked their giant's hair to catch up with them. Dillon watched this race from atop one of the slides as he yelled like an announcer.

"Aaaaand Maddy and Mocha are in the lead, followed by Ayako and Tanuki, followed by Yoko and Doran, followed by Sho and Joe, and with only one lap to go, WHO will win, iiiiit's…" Maddy and Mocha were neck-in-neck with Ayako and Tanuki, the two pairs smirking competitively. In the end, the victor was- "MMMMOCHAAAAAAA!"

"YEEEEEAAAAHH!" Mocha grabbed and threw Maddy in the air as they cheered.

With Sector W7; somewhere else in the base

"Owww…" Chimney moaned as the four girls recovered from the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N.'s wreckage. "What happened?..."

"Hey!" They flinched and looked ahead, seeing a bunch of men in yellow protection suits. They immediately charged.

"Yuh-oh. YAAAH!" Chimney cried as the girls ran forth and started to battle them. April zipped left-and-right to paint symbols and disable them, while Aisa swung her Conache Pumpkin and knocked them out. They kept running as the men recovered and gave chase.

"Where did we land, anyway?" Apis yelled.

"Somewhere where they're apparently afraid of germs." Aisa panted.

"Oi, where is Aeinchan at?!" Chimney yelled.

"I hope she isn't dead." April said simply.

"DON'T SAY THAT!" they screamed.

They kept running down the dank, empty halls, but Chimney's eyes widened when more men were charging from ahead. "Yuh-oh. This way, THIS WAY!" They dodged down a right hall.

This hall was much shorter and narrow as they were coming to a wooden double-door. "You think we can hide in there?" Apis asked.

"No choice!" Chimney decided. "Let's go in!"

Back in the playroom

The kids resumed their previous games as Mocha lied back on the floor with Maddy rested on her belly. "I have to admit, Mocha, that was kinda fun!" she smiled.

"See, I told you giants aren't mean! Well, maybe adult giants, but we're still kids!"

"Yeah… I guess you are." Maddy sat up and looked around the room. It was so weird to see… a couple of human kids were playing a friendly game of Truth or Dare with tiny Kateenians and Minish. Some female Nimbis and Gargoyles were complimenting each others' wings. Some Lilliputians were riding mermaids inside the large aquarium while Minish and Kateenians rode other Nimbis and Gargoyles like airplanes (speakin' of which). Everyone in here was so different… but they played with each other as if they were the same. This playroom's diversity could rival that of GKND's.

Suddenly, the playroom's doors came flying open when Sector W7 charged in. "AAAHN?!" they froze in shock, seeing the playroom full of diverse kids, large and small.

"Hey, look! Four more kids!" a giant girl exclaimed as all the kids looked toward the operatives. Sector W7's mouths dropped wide open. They weren't expecting to see kids of so many different cultures.

"Whoa… where the heck are we?" Apis asked.

"It looks like some kind of multicultural daycare." Aisa deduced.

"Nnnn?" Chimney looked all around, intent on finding only one thing. "If all these people are here… then where is-?" However, her eyes widened, spotting the very person she was looking for.

Gonbe stepped through the crowd and immediately noticed her. His blond, pigtailed master.

Chimney grew a wide, joyous smile as her eyes watered. Gonbe's smile grew as well. He couldn't have been more happy.

"GONBEEEEE!" Chimney ran for her rabbit companion.

"GYOOOOOM!" Gonbe excitedly hopped toward his master.

The two embraced in the tightest hug they've ever given. "OHHH GONBE-CHAN I WAS SO WORRIED! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Gyo-o-o-o-o-o-oooom!" Gonbe wept.

"I thought… sniff." Chimney wept, too. "I thought you ran away 'cause you were maaad! I'm sorry for making you mad, Gonbeeeee!"

"Gyoooooo." He patted her back.

"He said, 'I wasn't mad, Chimney. I was just playing with some kids and I got sidetracked!'" Apis grinned.

"Now we can be one happy sector again!" Chimney exclaimed tearily. "Come on, Gonbe. Let's go find Aeinchan and get off this rock." They were about to walk away when-

"Waaait!" The five turned around at the call of a brown-haired girl – Abi – who stood by five other kids; one of them holding a baby. "Aren't you guys from Water 7?"

"Yeeeeah? So?" Chimney asked.

"That's where we're from, too!" one of the boys; Ayako said.

"But how did you get here?" Yoko asked.

"We flew in on R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N.!" Chimney exclaimed. "And we're gonna find our other friend and bring 'em back!"

"Take us with you!" a giant girl yelled.

"Hnnn? Why?"

"We've been wanting to go home for years." A giant boy said.

"They took us here because they said we had a disease, but we feel just fine." A normal boy mentioned.

"I want my mom and DAAAAAAD!" a 4-year-old Lilliputian cried.

"Hold it, hold it!" Dillon spoke up, walking to the front of the group. "I thought you kids LIKED it here!"

"Well, we like playing with everyone…" the giant boy mentioned, "but we miss our homes. Master doesn't let us go, but if these kids got here, maybe this is our chance!"

"Well, maybe he has a reason." Haruka replied, slightly concerned. "Won't you guys just keep growing if you leave?"

"Hold on!" Dillon spoke up. "We could bring these kids to the Undersea Lab and have the scientists shrink them with their, well, shrink ray. Then if they keep growing, we'll try and work up a cure."

"Well, you have a point… but I think Caesar-"

"Oi, we don't have time for this!" Chimney exclaimed. "Everyone, come on, let's get on the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N. and GO!" Chimney ran out first, and the halls were soon quaking as the giants charged after them.

Mocha held Maddy in her hands as they exchanged confused glances. "Let's go!" the giant decided, carrying Maddy as she ran after them.

From down the hall, the men were still searching for W7. "I think they went- WHOA!" The halls suddenly quaked as a swarm of kids were running toward them, mostly giants. The men tried to run, but were immediately trampled by the swarm of multiracial kids, their bones crushed like sticks by the giants. When the dust had cleared, a few Kateenians and Minish were left behind, and they bounced across the squished bodies, making the men wince.

With Crystal and Yuki

The two heroes quietly crawled through the vent before dropping out into an empty, abandoned laboratory. "Phew. Crouching through vents always hurts my back." The witch said.

"This is the first time we've done it." Yuki noted.

"And first time is enough."

"Attention all staff!" a voice suddenly yelled throughout the intercom. "The children from the Biscuit Room have all escaped with a group of intruders! Secure the whole building and FIND them!"

"Yes, Master!" The two gasped and crouched when a squad of yellow-suited soldiers charged in the room and began searching. (Play "One by One" from Batman: Arkham City.)

"Crap!" Crystal yelled under her breath as she and Yuki crouched under a desk. The men split into different directions, but some were fairly close together, and they all had guns raised. Yuki and Crystal quietly crept up the stairs, splitting in separate ways on one of the floor layers. Crystal crawled to one of the men as he and a man on a higher layer searched around. When both walked separate directions, Crystal crept up to the man on her floor and started to choke his neck with her staff. She forced him to the floor and BASHED his head to knock him out.

She kept crawling, hoping no one just heard that. She sat before a corner and peeked out to see someone ahead. "Someone's not RESPONDING down there! You better go see!"

"You heard Master Caesar!" Crystal looked frantic when the man ahead of her was about to run to her corner. Yuki peeked out from his side and saw this, quickly shooting an ice blast from his backpack and freezing that man. "What was that?" The men looked toward their frozen comrade, and briefly saw a figure sink beneath the wall on the second floor-layer. They all hurried over as Yuki tried to crawl away, but a man on the highest layer was coming from the opposite way.

Crystal quickly crawled out, approached the frozen man, and KICKED him out of the ice before knocking him out with her staff. "Oh?!" She quickly ran down the path as the others spotted her. They gave chase and tried to shoot the witch, but Crystal ducked beneath the wall to catch her breath. The men were about to surround her, but she noticed the grating on the floor, opened a hatch, and crouched inside before they could notice.

The men arrived at where she was, but found no trace of her. "Where did she go?!" Her heart still racing, Crystal crawled away as quietly as she could. While the guards were distracted, Yuki snuck up from behind the other corner, approached two of the guards from behind, grabbed their heads, and SLAMMED them into each other. "Hey!" The others took notice and tried to shoot the icebender, but he flipped over the railing and into the lab area as he slid beneath the desk. The guards hurried down to catch him, but one of them ran over Crystal's grate, so the witch jumped out and SMASHED him to the ground.

"Oh!" The last two remaining spotted Crystal and tried to shoot her.

"Ah!" One of the bullets scraped Crystal's side, making her wince and fall over. The men chased her, but Yuki ran out, grabbed the closest one's neck, and choked him before punching and knocking him out.

The remaining soldier ran onto the highest layer in search of Crystal, but looked back and saw his partner was down. "Ooooh so you're the last one! This should be fun, shurororo!"

"Nnnnn where are you?!" The man shook with utmost fear, the gun trembling in his quivering hands. Crystal smirked as she jumped out from her hiding spot, startling the man greatly. "NNNNN!" he struggled to hold his gun as Crystal ran right for him. "Master! SAVE MEEE!"

Crystal kicked the man's stomach, knocked the gun away, bashed his head with her staff, and finally PUNCHED him upside the head, sending him over the railing and his protective helmet flying off. (End song.)

The two approached the fallen, unmasked man and studied him. "He's a… goat man?" Crystal questioned. Indeed, the fallen man had a human's head, but with goat horns.

They proceeded to unmask all the others, seeing different horns on all of them. "They all have horns."

"What kind of people are they?"

"Wonder if this lab has anything?" The two approached the center desk, finding a notebook. Crystal picked it up and studied the name on the cover, written in marker.

"Hmmm… let's phone Nolan."

With Nolan and Aeincha

Nolan quietly rolled down the hall, having his Detective Vision on as he skimmed the building for enemies, while Aeincha sat on his shoulder. His communicator rang, so he answered. "Nolan, it's Crystal. I'm not sure, but we think we found who this building belongs to."

"You mean the guy on the intercom?"

"Yes. Some fellow called 'Caesar Clown'. These soldiers were calling him 'Caesar' just then."

The name caught Nolan's interest. "Caesar… Clown?"

"Yes, and get this: we unmasked these soldiers, they all have horns on their head. I wonder if they're mutants or something. …Nolan?"

The Sandman was already lost in thought.

One year after the Firstborn Adventure. The day was bright and sunny. Nolan York struggled to stand. He could barely keep his injured legs straight as he faced a simple tree. He raised his right leg and tried to throw a kick, but, "Ow!" the pain came back, and he fell back onto his chair.

"Wellll, it's a new record." Wesley Dodds chuckled. "You're still pretty lucky. Not many have their legs crushed and get them mobile again."

"Yeah…" Nolan panted and smiled humorously, "Maybe I should've betrayed Revan AFTER he gave me those cyborg legs."

"Heh heh heh! But you know how it goes… upgrade ONE limb, your whole BODY turns metal. It's not the only time it's happened."

"Ha ha, yeah, with Cyborg."

"Not quite. Have I ever told you about Caesar Clown?"

"Caesar who?"

"Now THAT guy was inhuman as humans got. He was a major producer of Bang Gas and metahuman material. He was able to do so using his amazing poisonbending. You see, before, he was a scientist for G.U.N., but when the military found out what he was doing, he was arrested. But about 3 years ago, he escaped. No one knows where he is…"

"Was he really that bad?"

"Oh, he WAS bad. When he produces his Bang Gas, he distributes it to all sorts of nasty criminals. Of course, he can't do so legally, so he distributes in the Underground. Only big-time criminals like Brain are able to get connections with him."

"You mean… The Brain purchased Bang Gas from him?"

"Of course. How do you think Madame Rouge got her power? Caesar channels the Bang Gas into little plants called Devil Fruits, and whoever ate those fruits would gain a certain power. Madame Rouge ate the Goop-Goop Fruit, a rare Logia type. Those are the hardest fruits for him to make. They turn your entire body structure into whatever kind of substance he makes it. And that's why Logia humans are the hardest to beat."

"You're telling me."

"But that isn't the worst thing about Caesar. He tested his experiments on KIDS!"

"What?"

"He liked to grab whatever kids he could find and inject them with all sorts of toxins. He likes to give 'em the same ones over and over and see how they 'develop'. Most of those kids just… died."

"Then shouldn't we try to LOOK for this guy?"

"No… he hasn't been heard from in years. Except the Underground, maybe. You shouldn't worry about him. Besides… he's bound to show himself sooner or later."

Nolan stared at nothing as he recalled this, and Aeincha looked at him confused. "So… that's who we're dealing with."

"Nolan? What's going on?"

"Um, I'll tell you later. But this mission just got an update. We're going to capture Caesar and bring him to justice."

"Really? Well, I suppose he IS responsible for this."

"Yes. But right now, just focus on finding Dillon and the others. According to that announcement, they're already causing a ruckus. Just try to find them and be careful."

"Roger, roger." Yuki nodded, and the transmission ended.

"Why did you space out, Mr. York?" Aeincha asked. "Do you know this guy?"

"Well… yeah… i-it's like this:" and he began to explain.

Caesar's Lab

The scientist watched humorously as Crystal and Yuki made fools of the patrolling guards in the lower lab. "Shurororororo! Well, well! Whoever these fools are, they're quite a wily bunch!"

"They are!" Monet spoke up, reading her newspaper. "I thought those two were familiar. They're Coldman and Wiccan, two infamous vigilantes from Quahog. There's also a third one: Sandman. Hmm, but I wonder where he is?"

"He is in the building." The two turned toward the door, and Caesar made a wide grin.

"VVVERRRRGOOOO!" The clown was joyous. The man in the big white coat and sunglasses stood coolly in the doorway.

"…I have determined Sandman's identity. His father… was in my battalion."

 

[Gamen Watch]

Now, everyone, let's board the Rocket-san and get off this island! …If only it were that easy.

Chapter 3: Caesar's Intention
​

Punk Hazard; down a building hall

The swarm of kids kept rushing down the hall nonstop, trampling any more of Caesar's minions. "There's the train!" Chimney yelled, seeing the front portion of her train crashed through the wall.

"I hope it has enough room to support everyone." Aisa panted.

"Of course it does, just get everyone on!"

The giants struggled to squeeze in the doorway, but they still managed as everyone piled in. Sector W7 and Dillon's group were trying to keep back Caesar's minions while Apis got in to start the train. "Um, Chimney, we've got a little problem here."

"What is it, Apis-chan?!" the leader yelled.

"The train. The front part's fine, but... The rest of it's dangling over the edge!" It was true. From outside the building, one could see the huge train dangling from up high over the snowy landscape, with only its front car stuck inside the building. "Everybody's falling toward the back!" Still true, all of the giants and other kids were falling and stacking from the bottom (back) of the train. "If we add more, the whole thing will collapse!"

"Nnnn! Then I'll start it up right now and fly around!" Chimney decided as she hurried onto the train to start it up. The engines roared as she backed the train up, and it fell from its perch.

"AAAAHH!" the pile of kids screamed and clung to each other for dear life.

"HOLD OOOON!" Chimney forcefully pulled a lever, and the train was suddenly flying around the air, becoming horizontal again.

"WHOOA!" The kids tumbled off of each other and rolled along the floor. Some of the smaller kids were crushed under the rears of bigger kids as a result.

Chimney flew the train around the building before coming down to hover beside the hole in the wall, a door open. "Okay! Everyone get on!"

"But we still didn't find Aeincha!" Aisa yelled.

"Isn't she with the kids?" Dillon asked.

"No, she wasn't a hostage! She came here with Mr. Sand-san!" Chimney replied.

"Mr. Sand-san?" Haruka questioned.

That name sounded familiar to Dillon... his eyes widened. "Dad!"

"Oi, you comin' or what?" Chimney yelled as most of the last kids had squeezed onto the train.

"No. I'm going to stay." Dillon decided. "If my dad's here, we should help him."

"I'm staying, too." Haruka followed.

"Oh, gee." Zach sighed, wanting to get off this island already.

"Then I guess we're staying, too." Maddy figured.

"Will you guys be okay?" Mocha asked worriedly as she set Maddy on the floor.

"Yeah, don't worry. We're pretty experienced."

"Well, okay. I'll see you later, Maddy!" Mocha smiled and waved as she hurried onto the train.

"OOLAAAAH! KEEP ARMS AND LEGS INSIDE THE FREEDOM TRAAAIN! HERE WE GOOOOO!" The four kids stood in the open hole as the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N. soared away beyond the snowy skies.

"Heh… if there was a yelling contest, Chimney would sure win." Haruka laughed.

"Heh, Panini's got competition." Dillon snickered. "Oh no! !" he flinched suddenly and looked around. "Where's Kaleo?!"

"He probably got on with the other kids." Zach figured.

"Well, I guess that's good, but he could've helped. Oh well. Let's go look for my dad."

Caesar's Lab

The three villains watched on their monitor as the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N. was speeding away from the island. "They are getting away." Vergo said.

"Shurororo! They won't stay away for long!" Caesar laughed confidently. "Any second now…" his maniacal grin showed as he pulled out a tiny butterscotch from his coat, "they'll be DYING to come back…"

Onboard the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N.

"Oiii! Apis-chan! Why we no goin' FAST enough?" Chimney shouted, her furrowed eyes focused on the cloudy sky.

"We have too many on here." the Arceist replied. "All these giant kids are weighing us down."

"Maybe we should organize a weight-loss program." April remarked.

"You know, I'm not even sure if the Undersea Lab will fit everyone." Aisa said.

"We're just going to drop everyone off at their homes for now." Chimney stated. "Their parents probably miss them. We'll just pick the giants up a few at a time and bring 'em to the lab."

"Well, either way, those kids must be pretty hungry." Apis figured. "I'm not sure what those guys have been feeding them, but, I better bring 'em somethin'." Apis grabbed a little trolley of food as she pushed it down the train aisles.

"Hellooooo!" the Arceist girl sang as she moved down the aisles. "Aaaaanything from the trolley! We've got cooked cinnamon rolls and donuts, not much to go along, but, plenty to last!"

A few of the giants grabbed the cooked goods and looked a little concerned. The food looked much too small to satisfy their stomachs, but that wasn't the problem: they were black with soot, like they were cooked in the center of a fireplace. "Ummm… is this edible?" a giant boy; Doran asked.

"Well, I'm not really the best cook, but, they should be safe." Apis said with a frown.

The kids started to eat the baked goods (the giants needed only one bite), and upon consumption, their faces winced. "Ulp! Ooooh…" a few of them held their stomachs.

"They're bad… right?" Apis asked sadly.

"Well…" Mocha began. "They-… OHHH!" Suddenly, she and all the other kids gripped their heads tight.

"Wh-What's wrong?!" Apis asked with concern. "They weren't THAT bad, were they?!"

"N-No!" Mocha yelled, feeling unbearable pain. "I-I…It's… Every day at around this time… Master gives us…"

"What?! Gives you what?"

At that instant, the children's trembling stopped. Their eyes lost all color and became purely white and lifeless. The only image in their heads was that of the butterscotch. "Caaaandyyyy."

"Um… huh?" Apis was horrified by their sudden aura.

"CAAAAANDYYYYY!" Their faces became greedy and monstrous. The carefree auras they once had were long gone.

Apis shuddered with total fear as all eyes were directed at her. The looks on these giant kids, they would tear Apis limb from limb to get what they want. "AAAAHH!" The girl scampered as fast as she could to the front of the train. "Chimneeeey!" She slammed the door behind her.

"WHAT?!" the leader shouted.

"The children are going crazy! They're saying they want candy!"

"Well, don't we have some in reserve?!"

"Gyom-gyoooom!"

"CAAAANDYYYY!" The sector gasped when the door was forced open, and there stood the swarms of multiracial, venomous children.

"Fine, have some!" Aisa yelled, whipping out a G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. Dial and blasting endless gumballs at the kids.

"EEEAAAAAHHH!" The kids shielded from the gumball bullets and stomped forward.

"AAAAH!" Aisa dodged away before the giants could crush her.

"CAAANDYYYYY!" They all began to pile around the controls, pushing Chimney away as they took hold of the steering wheel.

"OOOLAAAAAH!" Chimney cried when the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N. began spiraling out of control, flying back the way they came. "HEEEY! LET GOOO!" she screamed as she and her friends were flying around and around. Already, the flying train was on a direct course to Punk Hazard.

"We're about to craaaash!" Apis cried.

"Gyaaaah get to the escape pods!" Chimney ordered.

The four girls and rabbit clutched the walls and struggled to crawl to the pods. They were able to, and were sent flying out over the island's Burning Lands.

"GAAAAAAAHH!" The four pods crashed onto safe areas of the flaming grounds while Chimney's pierced straight through a big, steel door. "Uuuuuhh." She fell unconscious as a result.

The sign that read, 'DANGER! Do not, for WHATEVER reason, OPEN THIS DOOR!', spiraled around on the ground before falling flat.

Inside the building

Nolan York kept rolling along with his tiny companion on his shoulder. The halls were quiet, and nothing was happening, when the entire building suddenly shook tremendously. "What in the world?!" Nolan exclaimed lightly.

"That sounds like it came from outside." Aeincha said.

Doo… do-do, doo. The intercom speakers made a little jingle before Caesar's voice was heard. (It's the same jingle that's heard in Batman: Arkham Asylum; when Joker speaks.)

"Attention all staff and employees! Well, what's the difference? Just a few moments ago, most of our children residents have boarded a flying train and escaped. However, it seems that due to bad piloting, the train made a direct turn-around back and has crashed into our Frozen Lands. All available troops are ordered to get outside and round up the subje—I-I mean, kids! After all, wouldn't want them to catch frostbite before I can 'test' them, shurororo!"

"Ugh… that guy is all kinds of messed up." Nolan said.

"So, is all that true, Mr. York?" Aeincha asked. "Does he really test experiments on kids?"

"As far as I know. I'm worried about what he might be doing to Dillon and the others. Hmmmm…" He decided to phone in Crystal and Yuki, and asked, "Yo, Crystal, did you read anything in that notebook you found?"

"Yah, we did. All it is is basically a bunch of different date recordings for the blood samples of all the kids. Apparently, he's giving them a kind of medicine called 'NHC10'."

"NHC10? What is that?"

"It doesn't say. But by the looks of things, he gives one to each kid every day, and then he takes blood samples from them after a week."

"Hmmm… I'm gonna look it up." Nolan began to type on his tiny wristwatch computer ('cause he's gotta be high-tech like that X) ). He found a small article on the drug and skimmed it quickly, with Aeincha looking over it as well. Nolan gasped.

"What?"

"Sigh, it's not good, Crystal. Is Dillon mentioned in the book?"

There was a pause as Crystal was flipping through pages. "Yes, he and his friends. Apparently, they were each given the drug a few hours ago."

"Phew, then they shouldn't be too bad… for now. Keep trying to find them. The baby I was tracking previously suddenly changed location; he's outside, probably where the train crashed. I wonder if Dillon's group was with them. The two of you head outside and look for 'em. I'm gonna try and track down Caesar." Transmission ended.

Dillon's group; down another hall

A swarm of soldiers scurried down the hall, armed with guns as always. They failed to notice the shadow in the wall as Dillon, Haruka, Zach, and Maddy slipped out. "Hooo. It's hard to hold that many in a Shadow Veil." The shadowbender sighed.

"Ohhhh…" Zach fell to his knees, holding his head in pain.

"What's wrong, Bro?" Maddy asked.

"Ohh… I have a headache. And a… weird craving for candy."

"Well, we still have ours." Haruka mentioned, pulling out her butterscotch.

"I'm not letting him eat that." Maddy stated, still feeling distrustful toward Caesar. "Now come on, don't we need to get outside?"

"She's right, we have to see if Sector W7's okay." Dillon said rushedly. "Come on, let's follow them!" They hurried after the direction the soldiers went. (Play "Subway Thugs" from Batman: Arkham City.)

Stage 3: Punk Hazard, Act 2

The four made it to the second floor of a small room, atop a stairway. There was an emergency exit on the other side, but the room was filled with guards. "Alright, secure the room in case any more of the kids come through here." One ordered. "Master Caesar says one of the kids was a shadowbender, so use the Nightvision Specs."

"Yessir!"

The group crouched and watched through the railing as some of the men skimmed the ground using Dark Lights from their suit's eye-windows. Two of the men stood guard at the door, one facing down, one facing the top of the door. "I'm guessing we're not Shadow Veiling out of here." Haruka whispered.

"That's okay, I'll take care of 'em." Dillon whispered. "I'm not a spy for nothin'." Dillon sank into a Shadow Veil and slithered downstairs. Dillon carefully squeezed under the small table to hide from a passing man using a Dark Light. When he passes by, Dillon slithers under quietly, pulls him underneath the Shadow Veil, and knocks him out before tossing him back up, unconscious.

Dillon slithered back to his friends and re-emerges, watching the men to plan his next move. "Someone's missing down there!"

"You heard Master Caesar!" The kids crawled back when the men all hurried to their fallen comrade (except the two guarding the door). Dillon moved along the right wall using Shadow Veil and got behind two of them. Before they could sense him, Dillon popped up and swiftly kicked the two's heads to knock them down. "There he is!" The others were about to shoot, but Haruka blasted a cloud of purple gas from above, forcing Dillon to hold his breath. The gas didn't affect the men, but it blocked their vision.

They started to use Dark Lights again as Dillon crouched and moved around them. He got behind another soldier, pulled him in his shadow, and knocked him out before throwing him up. Dillon slithered up the ceiling as the men tried to track his movements. The three other kids began to feel frantic when two of the soldiers started to head up the stairs.

"Well-p… now or never now." Haruka figured. The group dropped down the railing and fought the three that were below, doing their best to avoid their gunshots.

"WA-WA-WA!" Zach yelped and began to dance silly when one of the men shot at his feet. Maddy simply knocked him out quickly, but the two men upstairs were starting to shoot them from the railing. Dillon got behind the two as he and Mario shoved them over the railing, and they knocked out upon hitting the floor. The two men guarding the door decided to hurry over and managed to grab Haruka and Maddy.

"Alright, surrender now or these two get it!" one threatened.

"What kind of girls do you think we are?" Maddy remarked as she and Haruka flipped overhead and kicked the men's heads from behind. Once on the ground, the four operatives piled on top of them until they were down. (End song.)

The kids stopped to catch their breath as they brushed their hands off. "Shurorororororo! Really, is that the BEST my security can PROVIDE? Hoo-o-o-o, I knew those protection suits were a waste of money."

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind one of these suits." Maddy remarked.

"Well, your birthday's comin' up, I'll think about it." Dillon replied. "Now come on, let's help W7!"

The group stepped out the thick, steel security door, and appeared atop a tall outer stairway on the side of the building. From there, they could see smoke rising in the distance, from the wreckage of Chimney's train. Dillon, Haruka, and Maddy decided to hop over the railing and land perfectly in the soft snow. Zach, however, fell face-flat as Maddy pulled him to his feet. "Brr-r-r. I wish those guys told us to bring coats before we got here." Maddy shuddered.

"No big deal." Dillon said. "Sector W7 should've crashed a few miles that way. Let's go." (Play "Freezeflame Galaxy (Ice)" from Mario Galaxy.)

The kids began their trek across the shivering landscape as White Wolfos were already popping out. Haruka quickly surrounded the group in gas, making the wolves step back. Dillon slithered over with Shadow Veil and pulled one of the wolves down before coming up, and throwing it into another wolf. Haruka stepped out of the gas and used Poison Whip to whip another wolf, and when one came for Maddy, the Murphy girl flipped over to kick its head.

"Ow-ow-ow, hey-hey!" Zach yelped when a Wolfos was tugging on his pants. Haruka hurried over to shoot Sleeping Gas at it and knock it out. Afterward, the kids hurried forward and arrived at a chasm of icy stalagmites. There was a small ledge along the left side, but there wasn't much use for it as Dillon could just Shadow Glide over. He took his friends one at a time, starting with Haruka, then Maddy, then Zach. They walked down a snowy hill and approached a tall cliff that curved at the top. Again, Dillon carried his friends up using Shadow Veil until they were all at the top. Boy, having a shadowbender is convenient.

The snowy fields stretched for miles before them as they hurried forward. They expected more White Wolfos, but instead, Ice Chuchu were popping up from the snows. Zach ran to punch one of the ice blobs, but was immediately frozen, so Haruka had to knock them out using Poison Whips. Too many were appearing, so the kids decided to bypass them, even though giant ones were appearing in their way. Maddy pulled Zach's frozen body as they moved along, trying to punch his ice open.

They arrived at another frosty chasm with a set of icy, swervy grind-rails leading across. Dillon and Haruka hopped on to skid across, and Maddy set Zach's frozen body on a rail to let it grind on its own, while she followed it. They landed safely on a narrow path between close walls. There were openings in the walls where Armos Freezards were hiding, blasting ice breaths at the kids when they came by. The group stopped just before the breaths hit, and when they stopped, they decided to punch and break the Freezards.

They shortly arrived at a small chasm with a tightrope leading across. Again, Dillon simply flew his friends across, while Maddy spun Zach around and tossed his frozen form to the other side. They then trekked up a thin, straight slope, but it was too slippery for them to make it up. So once more, Dillon carried his friends up using Shadow Veil. They were back in the snowy landscapes as the R.O.C.K.E.T.-T.R.A.I.N.'s wreckage was in sight, set aflame. The four hurried over, worried for the children. (End song.)

"Oh no!" Haruka exclaimed as they arrived at the train. "I hope they aren't hurt!"

"Sector W7! Are you on there?" Dillon called.

A moaning sound was heard from the wreckage, and to their relief, the giants were the first to step off, followed by the other passengers. "Few… at least THEY'RE okay." Haruka sighed.

"Yeah, but where's W7?"

"Caaaandyyyy…" The children moaned.

"Huh?"

"CANDYYYYY!" The craving, lifeless eyes of the children returned.

"Whoa! You mean THIS candy?" Haruka asked, holding up the wrapped butterscotch.

"CAAAAANNNDYYYYYYYY." Their zombified eyes were all fixed on the tasty treat.

"Aaaaah!" Maddy held Zach's body in front of her and yelled, "Save us, Zach!" She kicked the frozen boy forward as a giant boy; Doran, grabbed him and raised him in anger. He smashed Zach's form against the wrecked train as the ice shattered, and Doran threw Zach to the ground.

"Owww…" The Murphy felt a shadow over him, and looked up with horror. "AAAAAH!" He dashed like a cheetah just before the giant stomped him.

"CANDYYYYYY!" The four operatives were hightailing down the fields when the kids began chasing.

"Should I give it to 'em?!" Haruka shouted.

"It would save us!" Maddy yelled.

"What if Sector W7 got eaten!" Zach cried.

"Do you think THIS is the disease Caesar talked about?!" Haruka asked.

"Who knows!" Dillon yelled. "Ask Caesar if we get back!"

The four slipped down the thin slope into the gorge area and hurried to the tightrope chasm. "Quick, fly us across!" Mad yelled at Dillon.

"No time for all of you!" Dillon yelled as the giants were still on them. "Just balance!"

The four balanced across the rope quickly, but carefully, feeling very nervous. "AAAAHH!" The ground shook when the giants leapt over the pit, and the four immediately dashed forward. They hurried around the close walls, afraid to look back knowing the vicious, craving kids were on their tail, their tremors growing heavier. They made it to the grind-rails and slid straight up, but the giants leapt to their ledge while the normal kids grinded the rails.

They started to cross the field of Ice Chuchu, but bypassed the simple monsters as the giants simply came and trampled them. The four looked up as a Nimbi girl shot down, but they dodged her and kept moving. Maddy looked right as a frantic mermaid girl crawled along the ground like a two-legged tiger, her teeth drooling. She kicked the mermaid forcefully in the nose and kept running.

The kids stopped just before running off the tall, steep cliff. "Uh-oh. What'll we do now?" Haruka yelled.

Dillon looked frantic, knowing he couldn't fly everyone down in time, but looked back at the stampeding, hungry giants. "Jump!" They jumped off immediately and thudded in the soft snow. They climbed out, looking up frightfully as the kids did the same, recovering and running up the thick snowy hill. They reached the first chasm of spikes, and since Dillon couldn't fly them, they had to sidle along the ledge on the side.

"Whoa! !" Zach slipped and nearly fell, but Haruka grabbed and pulled him up. They kept running as fast as they could as they were almost at the building.

"We can't climb up that fire escape in time!" Haruka yelled.

"Then let's find another entrance!" Dillon yelled as they ran rightward.

They were coming to what seemed like an open hangar area, with a slope leading up to it. They ran up the slope and saw a steel door closed ahead, looking back as the monstrous kids charged after them. "Here it comes!" Zach yelled, shutting his eyes.

Haruka ran to the front and yelled, "Sleeping Gas!", holding both hands out and blasting a huge cloud of purple gas.

The kids started to cough as the gas filled their lungs. It soon took effect, and shortly, the large and small kids fell to the ground, asleep. Haruka released a sigh, feeling extremely relieved. "Wish I woulda done that sooner."

"I don't understand." Maddy spoke up. "What's so special about butterscotch, anyway? I mean, if they're as dumb as Numbuh 4, but Halloween isn't for months."

"Hmmmm…" Just as curious, Haruka unwrapped her butterscotch. To their surprise, it was a blood-red color, and hardly looked like sweet candy.

"Red butterscotch?" Maddy observed with disgust.

"Probably some kinda healthy candy doctors give us… uck." Zach moaned.

Haruka held the tiny candy close as her midnight-blue eye squinted. She gasped and held it away. "This isn't butterscotch! It's… NHC10!"

"NHC10?" Maddy questioned.

"I read about it in a medical book once. NHC10 is a highly stimulate drug made of all kinds of dangerous chemicals. One of its core ingredients is Bang Gas."

"BANG GAS?!" they all screamed.

"You mean… Caesar tried to feed us MUTANT gas?!" Maddy yelled.

"Exactly." Haruka spoke seriously. "The drug has such drastic results on the human body, it was marked forbidden, and only the top-greatest scientists in only a few selected countries were allowed to use it. It was originally created as a last-ditch medicine to save people from fatal diseases. But its effects on the body structure were too dangerous to be taken more than once. If it's taken constantly, the consumers will desperately crave daily doses, and they won't be able to control their selves!"

"So wait, if it has Bang Gas, does that mean all these kids are mutants?" Maddy asked.

"Would explain why some're giants." Zach noted.

"Kind of." Haruka replied. "But only a little bit of Bang Gas is induced, to help enhance the strength of the other materials. But it becomes so mixed up and tainted by other materials, there's not enough in it to make the users mutated. But having a daily dose of the drugs could really mess up the genes. I guess in this case, the drug has increased the size of the body cells, and that's why these kids are so big."

"So we really DON'T have a disease?" Maddy asked.

"I'm not really sure. But giving us daily doses of this candy is way too unsafe. You guys know what happens when you inhale too much Bang Gas?"

"What?" Dillon asked.

"Well, just one whiff of Bang Gas is enough to alter someone's genes and give them unnatural mutated powers." Everyone pictured Violet McCleary inside the Meta Machine, becoming swallowed in Bang Gas as her nails grew, and cat ears and a tail appeared on her body. "But if somebody sucks in way too much Bang Gas, their internal structure will spin entirely out of control. The gas becomes too much for them, and eventually… they pass out. …" Haruka looked at the candy drug with hate. "This disease BETTER be as bad as Caesar makes it out to be, because a drug this dangerous risks our lives either way."

"SHUUUUrorororororo!" The kids gasped and looked up when Caesar suddenly came floating down. "Whyyy, kiiiids, haven't you taken your candy yet? A disease won't cure itself!"

"Mister Caesar!" Haruka looked fierce. "How could you give kids NHC10?! You know it's dangerous!"

"Shurororo! Anything is worth risking for the sake of SCIENCE, my deeeear! Once you have a taste, you'll see how JUICY it is!" he exclaimed gleefully.

"You're sick! I'm starting to think the only one with a disease is YOU!"

"OF COURSE I'm sick! I'm sick with a lust for ever-expanding knowledge! For years, I've held a curiosity for human and body genes! Why do you think I have all these different RACES here?! Drugs can have all sorts of effects on different bodies! That's why I NEED them! But we ALL know adults aren't dumb enough for this sort of thing, so I have to work with whiny little brats!

"Well, your science experiments end here. For endangering the rights and bodies of innocent children, the Kids Next Door are placing you under arrest."

"Technically, me and Zach are the ones who have authority to say that." Maddy reminded.

"Oh, just do it." Dillon huffed.

"Shurororo! YOU'RE all going to arrest ME?!" Caesar's cocky grin grew wider. "If you wanna play Cop, GO to the playroom with the OTHER kids."

"No big deal!" Dillon smirked. "For kids, nothin' fixes a problem better than beating the crud out of someone! Haaaaah!-" Dillon ran for the white-skinned clown, who only smirked witfully. The boy jumped and threw a kick at Caesar's face, but- "OOF!" he flew right through the face and hit the ground on the other side. Dillon looked up in surprise and tried to jump at Caesar's back, but he flew through his body as a result, coughing the gas up.

"Shurorororo! You'll have to do better than THAT! I'm a LOGIA-type poisonbender!"

Dillon got up and backed up to his friends. "A Logia-type?!"

"What's that?" Maddy asked.

"My dad told me about it. A Logia-type is an element bender who's so in tune with their element, they actually become that element."

"Whoa… is your mom a Logia?" Zach asked.

"Not really, but Ms. Granite is, and a few others. To become a Logia, it usually takes hours of meditation around your element, so that your own spiritual energies merge with those of your element's… or something. And on top of that, you also have to master a lot of abilities with your element."

"But if they transformed into their element, that's the same as mutating, isn't it?" Maddy asked.

"Well… sort of. It's supposed to be the 'natural' form of mutating. But the thing is, there are Logia metahumans, too, like Madame Rouge. She was made of goop."

"You know, Viridi was Logia, too, wasn't she?" Haruka remembered.

"Ha ha, exactly!" As they spoke, Caesar started to become angered. "In fact, I think some of the gods like Hexxus are Logia-types. But most of them actually-"

"OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Caesar exclaimed. "Is this whole chapter nothing but explanations?! You know, some readers want more in a story than just DIALOGUE. All in all, though… he's right: I've been around dangerous chemicals and poisons for years, but NONE more than Bang Gas. I'm the only known poisonbender that uses his powers to develop unique ways to CONTROL Bang Gas. And you guys are crucial subjects in my experiments…" his evil grin returned.

"Oh yeah?" Zach exclaimed confidently. "Well, I may not be good in science-"

"-or anything else-" Maddy said.

"-but if there's one thing I learned from failed pranks, it's that GAS IS FLAMMABLE!" Zach whipped out his S.P.I.C.E.R. and fired a ray of fire straight at the gas-made scientist. "(I wish I remembered I brought this earlier.)"

The flames brimmed in Caesar's yellow eyes as they drew closer, but he still smiled evilly. He waved his arms around, and once the flames came, he held an arm out, hand open, and the flames suddenly disappeared a few inches from his palm.

"Aaah!" The kids' mouths fell open.

"Shurororororo!"

"But… that's impossible! Poisonbenders can't control fire!" Haruka exclaimed. "And they shouldn't be able to airbend either! They're only supposed to have power over the impure chemicals or materials."

"And fire doesn't fall in that category?" Maddy asked.

"Well…"

"Shuuuurororo! THAT'S the result of YEARS of training and spiritual bonding!" Caesar grinned. "Fire doesn't work, and your NORMAL attacks can't penetrate me! Now I BELIEVE it's high-time for you kids' check-up!"

"Caaaaandyyyyyy…"

"Hnn?" Caesar turned when the swarms of kids began to recover, their faces venomous as before. "Ooooh! Speak of the devils!"

"CAAAAANDYYYYY!" They cried desperately craving the sweet drug.

"Awwww don't worry, kids!" Caesar grinned lovingly. "I'll give you ALL the candy you can ask for! Mmmm-but…" he frowned sadly and pointed at the operatives, "those kids want it all for themseeelves… you'll have to TAKE it from them!" he grinned again.

"CAAAANDYYYYY!" Having no mental consciousness about them, the children charged for the operatives.

"Ahhh!" Haruka yelped, the group terrified by mainly the giants. Haruka hurriedly blasted a cloud of Sleeping Gas, forcing the swarm to stop and cough. "Oh no! They're not falling asleep this time!" Haruka observed.

A couple of Kateenians and Minish were still running for them. Even though she wasn't intimidated by the tiny creatures, Haruka released some gas and was able to put them to sleep. "Aaaaahhh!" The giant kids recovered, however, and kept charging for the operatives in their mission.

Haruka looked down and saw the unconscious Kateenians and Minish, and filled with terror as the gigantic, stampeding feet of the mob drew closer. "GUYS, WATCH OUT!"

Before their eyes, the tiny creatures were squished like tiny bugs. The four's eyes shrunk, and for a split second, the breath had faded from their bodies.

"CAAANDYYYYY!"

"AAAH!" They were too horrified to move before the giants swarmed them.

"Aaaah! Get off! Get off!" Haruka cried as some giants were forcefully tugging her pigtails.

"Aaahh! Mocha! Stooop!"

Maddy's cries fell to deaf ears as her giant friend clutched her tight.

With Nolan

Things were quiet on the Sandman's end as he continued rolling down the hall. He finally reached a central room that was swarming with Caesar's soldiers. "Intruder!" they all yelled, running for him. These men were unarmed, so Sandman was able to punch and beat them all, while Aeincha helped by blocking their eye-holes and making them punch each other. Two men jumped at Nolan's sides, but he clutched their faces and threw them against two more. Another came, but he used his chair's punching glove to punch his crotch, then dealt the last punch himself. He stood up and dealt a forceful upper-cut against the last one, knocking his mask off.

"Oww." Nolan sat back down as Aeincha ran to him, climbed up his legs, then up to his shoulder. "Boy, if only my legs were normal, I'd be kicking a lot more butt."

"It's okay!" Aeincha beamed. "You kick more butt than me! I'm too tiny!"

"Ha ha!" Nolan chuckled lightly. This girl was kind of growing on him. His serious look returned as he looked to the last man he punched, who was still conscious. He rolled over, grabbed his neck, and held the deer-horn man up. "Now… if you don't wanna find out how a deer feels when his horns are ripped, you should point me to the nearest laboratory."

"I-It's up there!" he pointed up some left stairs. "Please don't hurt me!"

"I didn't say that." So, Nolan punched his eye and knocked him out. He then used his grappling hook to latch the second-floor railing and pull them up, proceeding to enter the hall. As he moved along, they studied his wristwatch terminal, which showed a map of the building. "By the looks of things, this whole base is made of five connected buildings: A, B, C, D, and R Building." The map showed 5 circles, each representing a building. The biggest was Building B, the smallest was R, which was between D and C. "But it has all sorts of laboratories, and probably each are for different types of research."

"Why do you wanna find a lab?" Aeincha asked.

"Well, it's not the lab in particular, but I'm hoping to grab a sample of that NHC10. Then maybe I could use the materials in the lab to whip up a counter-poison."

They arrived at a door labeled 'COMPUTER LAB' in all caps and decided to enter. "Hmmm… maybe I shoulda been more specific. Well, let's see what we can find." Sandman said as he approached a computer that was already on. "Hey… it's an article on this island's history." The two began to skim it as Nolan read aloud. "This laboratory was established by G.U.N.'s greatest scientist, Professor Gerald Robotnik, in year 2003, shortly after GUN's establishment. His reasons for choosing this location were because of its historical value: he determined that, millions of years ago, it was the battle site for the Gods of Sun and Snow, Solaris and Polaris, to determine the ultimate climate for the planet. Oh!..."

"Oooooh!" Aeincha's eyes lit with amazement.

"Here in this laboratory, research was conducted by top scientists, to study the works of metahuman and alien genetics among other things. The lab was shut down shortly after a terrible explosion of Bang Gas engulfed the whole island. Professor Gerald Robotnik, having been deemed the one responsible, was arrested. However, he escaped before he was given a sentence, using his own Dimensional Traveler to flee to his own dimension. His assistant, Caesar Clown, was mutated in the explosion, but was allowed to stay in GUN for the reason that the fault wasn't his. …Hmmm."

"So?" Aeincha spoke.

"This is an article from GUN's official records. If Caesar worked for GUN… but why-"

"It was not all Robotnik's doing."

Nolan flinched and turned around, while Aeincha hid up his hat. "However, I manage to cover Caesar's tracks."

"Who?..."

"It's been 23 years at least, Sandman." A silhouetted figure stuck out from behind the doorway. "You've grown fast… Nolan-san." he stepped all the way in the room, and the light shone on Vergo's form.

"Y…You…" Nolan was speechless. "General… Vergo?..."

Nolan was 8 years old. He sat quietly on his bed in his room, gazing out the window eagerly. A car pulled up his driveway, and out stepped General Vergo: the man in the white coat he knew as his father's commander. He rang the doorbell as Nolan's mother answered. He told her something that made Kyla York horrified. The general offered his condolences, and left.

Kyla shut the door as Nolan walked downstairs, looking at her with concern. "Mom?..."

"Son… your father isn't coming back."

Nolan still couldn't believe his eyes. General Vergo… after all these years. "Wh…What're you doing here?"

"The answer is simple… I've been working for Caesar… for years."

With Sector W7

"Ohhhh…" The three other girls; besides their leader, finally recovered, carefully navigating the fires to reach the thin stairway.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Aisa hopped around, the ground very hot on her bare feet.

"You really oughta consider wearing shoes." Apis suggested.

"I'm not a shoe person…" she said simply.

"Where's Chimney?" April asked, looking to the huge steel door. The girls stepped up the stairs and found a hole penetrated in the door. They peeked in curiously, seeing Chimney and Gonbe slumped out of their escape pod.

"Oooaaaahh…" Chimney moaned, still grinning. "I knew I shouldn't-a drank so much soda 'fore driving."

"Gyom-gyooooooo…"

"You okay, Chimney?" Apis asked as they stepped in and approached.

"Yah… I think so." She spoke, standing up. She looked around and asked, "Oi, where are we?"

"Somewhere cool, I know that." Aisa said, rubbing her scorched feet.

The girls decided to step forward, the huge, garage-like chamber becoming pitch-black as it drew on. "Oi, ain't there a light switch in here?" Chimney asked.

Apis looked to a red button on the wall, which was connected to the huge steel door. "Let's try this." She went to press the switch, and the huge door came slightly open. It didn't open all the way because of the lock still attached to it.

"Oooooo…"

Gonbe's ears perked. "Gyo!" He looked frightened.

"Oh?" All the girls faced ahead, wondering where the eerie moan came from.

The way ahead was still pitch-black… but in the darkness, a pair of big, glowing yellow eyes met their gaze. "Wwwwwaaaaaaaabbbbb."