"Follow the right wall," Luz whispered for the seventh time. Kipo stifled a sigh.

"I know, Luz, I am," Kipo whispered back. "I'm doing that."

"But we turned left?" Luz noted, her voice rising in her confusion, and the others quickly shushed her.

"That was right," Kipo replied when Luz slapped her hands over her mouth. "We're... we're still heading towards the castle, I think."

"Okay, good," Luz nodded at her. "And make sure you keep on eye out for that key!"

This time, Kipo didn't correct. "Yeah, I will." Suddenly, Kipo stiffed, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise up. Her ears just barely picked up on the sound of footsteps.

"We're all still here, right?" she whispered to her friends. Her voice was even quieter now, and she wondered if the rest of them could even hear her.

"Oh," Alice spoke up. "No, Kris is gone."

"What?!" Kipo whirled around, and found that Alice was, in fact, correct. Kris had disappeared.

"Alice!" Luz cried (quietly). "Where did they go?"

"..." Alice seemed to think about that for a second. All the Alice's, which were about a million around them. Kipo had to follow their linked hands to figure out which was the right one. "Well, it was a while ago. Kris had seen some sort of eyes on the wall, and when then they told me, and then they let go of my hand and left."

"Eyes? In the mirrors?" Luz asked. "But... all the mirrors have eyes, they're our eyes."

"You didn't say anything?!" Up until this point, Kipo's voice had been a harsh whisper, but now it was slowly rising to a high shrill. She shook herself. "We need to go back for them."

"We do?" Alice asked, tilting her head. "But they have a sword."

"They ALSO can't see," Kipo hissed, and she tugged Luz until their strange little train was moving back towards where they came. Kipo grit her teeth, trying to focus on the sounds around her, but there were too many shuffles, clanks and other sounds that Kipo didn't want to know about to distinguish them.

Eventually, they came to a crossroad, and Kipo sighed. Yeah, this was a problem they couldn't ignore anymore.

"We won't be able to find them by looking," Kipo told her companions. "We're going to have to yell for Kris."

"But they can't yell back," Luz said, but Kipo shook her head.

"There are other ways they can make sounds," Kipo told her. They'd just have to hope that the sound Kris would make would be different that all the other sounds in the maze."

"Well, alright," Luz said, and, taking a deep breath, Luz shouted into the dark void. "KRIIIIIS!!! WHERE DID YOU GO?!?!"

Kipo and Alice jumped, startled. But before Luz could continue shouting, Kipo got herself under control and covered her mouth.

"I...I think that's good," Kipo told her, wincing. Her ears were now ringing.

Thankfully, Luz shrugged and kept silent as Kipo rubbed at her eyes, and started listening to the world around them.

"Oh no."

Luz looked up at her, concerned. Her eyes were wide, and Kipo could see that she was nervous. Well, she would have good reason to be.

"We'll have to go soon," Kipo told her. "It sounds like we just alerted every monster in here to our location."

"Monsters?!"

Kipo blinked. Had she not mentioned that? Slowly, she nodded, and Luz bit her lip. Kipo peered at her.

"You can use your magic here, right," Kipo asked, more curious now. "With the shadows?"

To Kipo's surprise, Luz shook her head. "No, not without any light. Or if I can, it won't actually be able to do anything."

Kipo thought about that for a second. Actual logic here? That was nice. "Ok, that's fine." Kipo raised her hands, transforming them. "Don't worry, I'll protect us. I don't really know how well these will work against them, since my hands, er, paws? Anyway, since these are flesh and bone and the monsters aren't, probably, but I think I'll be able to slow them down, at least. In that case, you and Alice need to be prepared to-."

Suddenly, Luz gasped. "Kipo, behind you! Look out!"

Kipo's eyes widened, and she whirled around, rising her arm to strike. A snarling dog reared out at her, and Kipo swung her arm down at it, but her fist only found glass.

"Ow!" Kipo heard Alice cry, and in the newly shattered mirror, Kipo saw her clutching her face.

"Alice!" Kipo cried, turning around to help, but Luz stopped her.

"No, Kipo, it's still there!" Luz screamed, pointing down the hall. Kipo once again turned around, but it didn't matter. About twenty identical dogs were approaching on her, and even Kipo's sharp eyes couldn't pick up which one is the real one.

The dogs growled at her, and even that was no help, as the sound seemed to come from and bounce around every surface. Grimacing, Kipo stepped back slowly.

"We need to get back..." Kipo whispered to them, and Alice and Luz quickly followed her example. "We'll need to find somewhere to hide...!"

Suddenly, Kipo jumped as a strange noise started coming from the dogs. A weird hacking sound that seemed like they were forcing it through their entire body, which was shaking and convulsing as the sound travelled through them. It sounded like... Kipo frowned, was that laughing?

"You can try," the dog snarled at them, but it was hard to hear through their coughing. "But when Chief finds you once, you never get away again."

"That's not true!" Luz cried, startling Kipo. Luz looked over Kipo's shoulder, glaring at Chief. "We got away from you once, didn't we?"

Chief sneered at her, and, yeah, Kipo realized now that it was the same dog from before, as Luz said. But what was he doing here, in the dark? Could dogs even see in the dark?

"Oh, is THAT what you think?" he chortled. "Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but I've known where you where this entire time. My nose can smell your stink from a mile away."

"Well, we were further than a mile, you know," Luz huffed, but she didn't sound nearly as confident anymore.

"It won't matter anymore," Chief told them. He backed onto his haunches, preparing to strike. He bared his teeth in a weird sort of smile. "You'll be dead anyway."

Kipo's eyes widened. "RUN!!!"

The three of them turned around, moving forward just in time to avoid Chief's snapping jaws. Kipo could feel a warm and wet heat on the back of her neck and she winced.

The three of them ran as fast as they could, but none of them were nearly as fast as Chief was, and within a couple seconds, he'd caught up to them, and was leaping at them again. This time, Kipo knew they could avoid him, so she turned around, and caught the dog by his jaws. It definitely wasn't flesh under her hands, Kipo noticed, but a weird sort of metal, almost.

However, Kipo couldn't dwell on it, because within mere seconds, Chief was overpowering her, and Kipo was knocked onto her back. Chief snapped his jaws violently at her, and Kipo couldn't get a good grip. Those started opening wider and wider, moving dangerously close to her face.

However, before they could make it, something swung over Kipo's face and forcefully ripped the dog away. Kipo blinked, staring at the place it had been for a few seconds, before looking up at whatever had saved her. Almost immediately, she broke into a smile.

"Kris!" she cried. "You're alright!"

Kris nodded at her, and quickly motioned for her to stand up. When Kipo got to her feet, she saw why. Chief had been knocked off of her, but he wasn't out yet. Kipo could see him only a sort distance away as he raised his face... or what was left of it. It had been split right down the middle, and something silver glinted at her from between the two halves.

Suddenly, Kris gripped Kipo's wrist, and pulled her to the left wall, through a silver curtain that Kipo had previously thought was just part of the wall. Her eyes widened. It was a secret room, apparently, a small enclosed space with a small, dim lightbulb to light it. Kipo winced, needing to blink a couple times to let her eyes adjust. Despite how weak the light was, it was still in total contrast to the absolute darkness outside. However, though the light was awful, it couldn't hide the most obvious thing in the room: there weren't any mirrors in this room.

As Kris pulled her inside, they reached out, fixing the reflective curtain back into place so that it looked like a wall again, but Kipo still tensed. Chief had seen them go in here, right? He wasn't so stupid as to think....

Kipo tilted her head. Actually, he was, apparently. Kipo could hear his footsteps growing dimmer and dimmer outside, as if he was walking away. Her eyes narrowed. That didn't make any sense.

"He's gone," Kipo noted, and Luz turned to her, looking absolutely delighted.

"He did?!" Luz's face morphed into something smug. "I knew he would lose us."

"Hm," Kipo hummed. "But I don't understand. How did he lose us? I'm pretty sure he would have seen-."

"If you're in that room, and listening to this, then you're probably in the same situation as I am, and you don't have a lot of time." A new voice suddenly sounded throughout the room, sounding anxious and out of breath and, most importantly, loud. Kipo spun around quickly, raising her hands, but there was nobody there expect Alice and Kris, who had turned on a sort of television. "Actually, if you're listening to this, it's probably too late. All I can really say is... I'm sorry."

The moment Dib stepped into the clearing, Mabel zeroed onto him, and excitedly waved around a paintbrush, vividly motioning to something.

"Look, look, Dib, I drew more of your funny monster things!" she called, and Dib let out a huff.

"They're not funny, they're scary," he chastened her, but Mabel didn't listen, instead choosing to wave the brush even more. Dib glared at her, hurrying over to pick up his book so Mabel wouldn't get any (more) paint on it. "Mabel! Watch what you're doing!"

"Aw, don't worry, Dib, I am a MASTER with this brush!" Mabel assured him. "It's basically an extension of myself. Anyway... what do you think? Isn't he adorable?"

Dib blinked at her, and looked up at her page, unimpressed. Mabel had drawn what looked like the hug monster, but what had looked like a tall, blue monster with a terrifying red smile in the book... now looked like something... cute.

"It's not supposed to look cute, Mabel," Dib said. "You made it look stupid."

"I love him," Mabel said wistfully. "I'm going to call him Huggy Muggy."

Dib sighed. She wasn't listening.

"I'm going out again," he told her. "I'll be back later. Maybe."

Mabel looked up curiously. "You're still looking for monsters."

"Yeah. And?"

Mabel turned back to her page, and Dib was almost disappointed he didn't get a bigger reaction. "Okay. Good luck!"

"I don't need luck, Mabel, I have this," Dib said smugly, tapping his head. But just in case she didn't get it, he clarified. "My brain."

"Okay!"

Dib waited, but Mabel didn't say anything else. So, she really was used to it from Dipper, huh? Maybe Dib should ask him if they could trade sisters.

"Mr Dib, when I gave you two permission for one of you to go off and do your own thing as long as the other stayed behind, I was referring to both of you," Six called down to him. She was hanging out on the tall branch of a tree, looking down on him both literally and figuratively.

"Yeah, and that's what I'm doing," Dib told her, confused. "Mabel's staying back."

"And you're certain Miss Mabel doesn't want to leave?" Six asked him. Dib glared at her.

"Well..."

"Miss Mabel, would you perhaps like to leave?" Six called before Dib could think of a convincing lie.

"Huh? Oh, no, I couldn't," Mabel called back, not looking up from her project. "I'm one with the... the... whatever this is, now."

"Perfect!" Dib cried, and he left before anyone could say anything. Six watched him go, unimpressed.

"Hm..." Six said, and she turned back to Mabel, who's face was so close to her scrap of paper that she really DID look like she was one with the painting. Both of these two... were incredibly aggravating.

Shaking her head sadly at the state of today's teens, Six hopped off her tree, pausing in front of Mabel.

"Hm..." Six said again. It really looked like she had no choice. "Well, I'd been hoping to teach this to the both of you, but if the other one's never going to be around, I suppose it'll just be you, Miss Mabel."

Mabel stuck her tongue out in concentration, but other than that, she didn't respond. Six felt her eye twitch.

"Miss Mabel."

Nothing.

"Mabel."

It was like she was in a world of her own.

"MABEL PINES!"

Mabel blinked, but that was it. At this point, it was almost impressive.

"I can't believe this," Six complained, shaking her head. "What I have to say is important, yet kids these days only care about their own fun. Do you really not want to learn magic, Miss Mabel."

Finally, Mabel paused. "Magic."

Six blinked, and then sighed. "Ah. Perhaps... Perhaps I should have started with that. But yes. I think it would be important for you two to learn at least a little bit, because if something goes wrong on their end, then it's up to you and Mr Dib to save them."

"Oh..." Mabel put down her paintbrush, more serious then Six had ever seen her. "It's up to us?"

"That's right," Six told her, feeling relieved. "So I'll teach you both all I can in the short time we have."

"...Alright, yeah, I got it!" Mabel agreed, her voice determined. She was clutching her paintbrush again, but this time with purpose. "Alright, Six, I'll be the best student you've ever had, and I'll get Dib, too! I'll tie him up in glitter if he doesn't listen!"

"You will?!" Six cried, beaming. Maybe she was a bit too happy about that prospect, but at least he'd actually listen then. "Okay, we'll start right away!"

"Yeah!" Mabel pumped her fist in the air. "As soon as I finish this drawing!"

"Huh?" Six blinked, looking from Mabel to the painting and back. "Wha-How long is that gonna take?!"

"However long I can focus on it!" Mabel replied cheerfully, and Six frowned. Six focused her attention on the ground, and suddenly a clump of grass started glowing brightly before rapidly growing, stabbing through Mabel's page and ripping it to shreds.

"We're starting now," Six told her in a voice that left no room for argument. "Get Mr Dib."

"Kris! Turn that off, quickly!" Kipo hissed frantically, but Kris only shook their head. Kipo blinked, but though she was getting more anxious by the minute, she decided to trust them.

"I'm stuck here, too, and, well, if you haven't found me, then I'm probably already dead," the TV continued, and when Kipo looked closer, she only saw the dark silhouette of someone, lit by the same kind of light as the one that illuminated them overhead. "I'm looking for a way out, I AM, but there's no damn way out of this godforsaken place!"

As the person spoke, their voice steadily rose in voice, until they stopped, leaning forward and placing their head in their hands. "I'm... I'm sorry. I don't have a lot of time, I need to keep this short. I guess I should get this out of the way first: in these rooms you're safe. For some reason, the monsters can't come in here, they just... ignore the rooms altogether, no matter how much noise you make or whatever. So whenever you see one, get in as-"

Suddenly, he person looked up again, and his face finally came into view. He looked awful, with dark bags under his eyes and his skin hanging off of him. His lidded eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like he'd been tearing out the part of his hair that wasn't under a blue baseball cap with a stain covering it. Suddenly, he straightened, jerking his head to the side so fast it looked like he'd snapped it, and Kipo's eyes picked up a scuttling sound.

"Dammit," the man whispered, and he threw the camera a desperate. "My name is Scott Colin. I used to... no, there's not enough time for that. Just.... Listen, the monsters around you, their practically unstoppable. If you want to fight them, don't. There's a million of them, and they, like, have a hive mind or something, if you actually manage to get one down, there's about a million more that'll know exactly where you are and come running. Your best bet is to avoid them, and here's how.

"There's four types of them. Well, I hope there's only five, anyway. First, there's the shadow ones, the ones that are hard to see. They creep around the walls, as a place where the darkness is thicker than usually. If you see on, don't attack it. Just go around a corner, and you'll be fine."

Kipo frowned. A place where the darkness is thicker than usual... would she even be able to see that? Scott continued on before she could ponder that.

"Second, the dog," the man continued. "He's the loudest, so you'll be able to hear him from far away. Sometimes he's singing, sometimes he's just talking... anyway, you'll hear him. When you do, use the tablet, if you don't have one, find one, and use the loudspeaker system to play a noise in a different part of the maze. That'll lead him away. The passcode for the tablet is 270344, by the way."

Kipo blinked, repeating the numbers to herself, but Scott spoke far to quickly, and soon, she was forced to pay attention to his next piece of advice.

"Next, there's the cat," Scott said, and Kipo stiffened. Surely he couldn't mean... "When the cat comes, try and stay out of her sight, but if you can't, use the light system. But don't use it right away, because she usual watches you for a couple minutes, hunting you. But when she strikes, turn the lights on, and she'll be blinded. Then you have to run away, because they only stay on for four seconds."

They did sound suspiciously like Maggie...

"And finally, the rabbit," Scott told them, and Kipo heard Alice gasp. "Whenever you see him, stay as quiet as you can, because even if he's looking right at you, he won't attack if you don't make any noise. But if you DO, he's really fast, so you don't have a chance unless there's a safe room near you."

Suddenly, Scott sighed, leaning back. He looked relieved.

"And... I think that's it," he said. "I hope that's it. For now, I think I'm going to keep moving. Maybe... maybe there is a place out of here, but if there is, I'll be the only survivor. I wonder if it's worth it."

Scott raised something small and silver. The tablet, Kipo guessed. "I'm going to try and make some sort of map, so look for that on the tablet, too. And I'll mare of these, so look out for more of these in the same room, too. For now, I'll keep moving. Keep looking. I still have more to explain, but I'll leave you with this: I hope you get out, and I hope I will, too."

The TV fizzled out, and eventually went dark. Kipo could see everyone's reflections in the screen, and it seemed that they all had the same reaction: what the heck did that mean?

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. None of them really knew how to process what they'd seen. Though the video was supposed to explain everything, nothing had been cleared up at all. Well, almost nothing.

Kipo swallowed; her throat had gone dry. "I think... we should find a tablet."

As soon as Dib saw that the trap he'd set had been sprung, he immediately knelt down, studying his surroundings. His trap was empty, unfortunately, but that just meant that something had been here, and anything that exists in the real would will leave clues, and if Dib was lucky, he could follow them, or possibly gleam something from them.

Or he'd set the trap wrong, but he was just going to ignore that possibility.

"Oh, DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIB!"

"Gah!"

Dib, jumped, nearly falling into his own trap before he managed to right himself.

"What the-?!"

"Dib! Dib! DibDibDibDib!"

Suddenly, Mabel appeared from behind a tree, once again nearly scaring the hell out of Dib.

"Oh, there you are!" Mabel said, and she looked happy to see him. "C'mon, Six's going to-"

"Mabel, you can't just sneak up on me!" Dib cried, crossing his arms. "And you can't just come up to me without saying the password."

"Oh, right," said Mabel, and she took a deep breath. "It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

Dib frowned, staring at her. Was that different from the way she had said it before, or was it the same? Ugh, he couldn't tell with that stupidly long word!

"Fine, you... sort of pass," Dib huffed. "Now what do you want?"

"Six is going to teach us magic!"

Dib stared at her as she clapped her hands excitedly. "...Why?"

"She said we'll have to help if Luz can't open up the portal again," Mabel explained, and Dib groaned. That was... an annoyingly good point.

"I..." Dib hesitated, trying to think of a good way to refuse, but he couldn't think of one that would have an obvious and quick rebuttal. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do. "Fine. I'll be there in a moment."

Mabel suddenly frowned, and Dib was so startled that for several seconds he couldn't speak.

"Wha-What's wrong?" he asked, sounding far more concerned than he meant to.

"Well... Six seemed kind of mad," Mabel told him slowly. "She sounded... like..."

"Like she was going to kill us if we didn't get over there?" Dib guessed dryly, and Mabel nodded. "Ugh! Fine! Let's go!"

"Great!" Once again beaming, Mabel turned around, skipping through the forest. Dib followed, though reluctantly. Magic, huh? What a ridiculous concept.

"But how?" Luz asked. "Would there just be one lying around? Pretty sure we would have seen that by now..."

"What's a tablet?" Alice asked.

"Maybe the monsters have it," Kipo thought aloud. "It would be smart of them to, if this tablet could really do all that..."

"I still don't understand what that is..." Alice told them, again.

"We're going to steal it from the monsters?" Luz wondered. "Like a heist?"

"Well, we don't even know if the monsters have it," Kipo said, stopping Luz before she got too excited. Kipo sighed. "I don't know. We're running around in the dark right now, aren't we? Hey, Kris, what do you think-."

Well, Kipo turned around to look at them, she suddenly trailed off. In their hands, Kris was holding something long, flat and silver. A tablet.

"Oh," Kipo said. "Well, that makes things easier."

"Kris, you have it!" Luz cheered. "Good job!"

The barest hint of a smile flickered on Kris' face.

"Huh," Kipo said, crossing her arms. "So, I'm assuming you were looking through that while we watched the video, right?"

Kris nodded.

"...And... did you find anything?"

Kris held up the tablet, and the others leaned forward, studying it. "Oh!"

On the tablet Kris held up, there was a map, which would probably be helpful, and a star with 'you are here' written on it. But most importantly were two icons of keys, blinking on the map.

"The keys..." Kipo said. She'd completely forgotten about those things. "So they're just right there, really?"

"There's two of them," Luz noted. She frowned. "But didn't Alice say there was only one key?"

"I thought it would make sense for Princess Mia," Alice replied.

"Yeah, we don't know if it's true or not," Kipo said. She looked down at the map again. "But if it is... that means one of these keys is a fake, right? But... which would be which?"

The four of them studied the map in silence for a couple moments. The little room they were in would be right in between both keys. If they wanted to check both, they had a fifty-fifty chance of either making a quick trip, or taking twice as long, and that's not even taking the monsters into consideration.

"Hm..." Luz eventually said, looking thoughtful. "I'm assuming no one's going to suggest we split up, right?"

"No, I'm the only one who can see, after all, and we only have one map," Kipo told her, and Luz breathed a sigh of relief. Kipo's eyes squinted, and she looked even closer. "Well, between us and this key, there's another room, so maybe we should go over there? There might be another clue in that room."

"That's true!" Luz agreed enthusiastically. "To that room we go!"

Luz marched out of the room, but before she followed her, Kipo looked to the rest of the occupants of the room, waiting for their judgement. Kris only shrug, but Alice looked troubled.

"Alice?" Kipo asked, and Alice's head snapped up from where she had been looking down onto the floor.

"Huh? Oh, yes, that sounds good to me too," Alice said, smiling before immediately dropping her gaze back down to the floor. Kipo frowned, but she didn't know what else to see. Apparently, she hadn't been quite as reassuring as she thought she was earlier.

However, before Kipo could do anything, Luz stuck her head back in, glaring at all of them (though it really looked more like a pout).

"C'mon, guys, let's go!" she whined, taking Alice and Kris by their arms and pulling them back through the curtain and into the maze. Kipo huffed a laugh, watching them warmly before finally moving herself, pulling back the curtain. However, before she could step through, she paused.

Skrrrrtch. Skrrrrrrrrrrrrrtch.

Kipo quickly glanced back, but there was nothing in the room that could have made that sound. The TV was still off, and there was nothing else in the room.

Eventually, Kipo shook her head, stepping out of the room. Maybe... Maybe it was nothing.

"Alright," Six said, looking down at them. She looked far too smug for Dib's liking. "I suppose I should start with the basics, since that's what I had to do with Ms Luz. Magic in this world is, well, different from what it might be in your world."

"Magic doesn't exist in my world," Dib huffed.

"Magic is EVIL in my world!" Mabel told her. Six stared at them.

"Actually, we're starting with this: No talking without being asked," Six told them. "And before you say anything, no, that smile does not apply to me."

Dib shut his mouth and glowered at her. Six glowered right back.

"Hm," Six said. "Essentially, magic in this world is... something that allows us to interact with the outside world in ways that aren't physical."

Dib started to open his mouth, but Six shut it with a look.

"For example," Six said. She raised a paw, moving it forward and brushing her leaf with it. "That would be interacting with the world physically. And this..."

Six directed their attention down again, and moved the leaf again, with time by moving the shadow underneath it. Mabel gasped in awe, but Dib's brow only furrowed.

"How...?"

"I used magic," Six answered his question quickly. "Now, as for what magic is. Basically, it's a sort of substance in the air, one that connects you and every other single thing in the world. It's difficult to control, and takes years of practice, but for today, it'd be best if you both were a quick study. The first step is to gain control over the magic particles around you."

"And how do we do that, believe in it or something?" Dib asked, but he didn't sound as sarcastic as he did before.

"No..." Six said, staring at him. She reached behind her, into her tail. Before Dib could ask what the heck that was about, though, Six moved on. She held up a small vial. "Usually there's a whole big ritual for this that at least takes two days, but we don't have the time. For now, you'll just have to eat it."

For a second, no one spoke. Dib and Mabel stared at her incredulously.

"We have to what?!" Dib cried

"Does... Does it taste good?" Mabel asked, sounding skeptical.

"Doubtfully," Six told them. "Put out your hands."

The two refused two. Six glared at them.

"Well, come on," Six snapped. "We don't have forever here."

Still, no one moved.

"Hurry up!"

Finally, Mabel leaned forward stretched out her hand, and Six manipulated the vial with magic, pouring a like of something that looked like pink powder. Mabel lit up.

"Ooh, fun dip," she cheered, and tipped the whole thing into her mouth. Almost immediately, she was doubled over, coughing and wheezing painfully.

"How does it taste?" Dib asked her.

"HACK- it tastes-COUGH-like glitter and smiles," Mabel told him, tears in her eyes. "But mostly glitter."

"Like smiles?" Dib repeated. Now curious, he took some of Six's magic for himself and tipped it in. Soon enough, he was coughing and choking. "ACK-Mabel, this just tastes like dirt."

"Tomato, potato," Mabel told him, waving him away.

"Well, if you're all done acting like children," Six sneered. "Creatures who have more of this ash in them-."

"ASH?!?"

"-Have an easier time connecting with that magic around them," Six explained. "Of course, you could probably do without, but that's near impossible. Now, time to actually work on using this magic. Take a look around you, and see if you can... are you all done yet?"

Six stared down at her two students, who were still kicking and dying on the floor. If Six hadn't known better, she'd say they were having temper tantrums.

Six sighed. "I suppose we'll continue this later. We'll regroup in ten minutes."

With that, Six turned around, and left the two to their suffering.

The booming footsteps echoed throughout the halls, warning the four of how the enemy behind them was slowly gaining on them, getting closer and closer. As it thundered behind them, Kipo could hear each and every footstep thunder in her chest, or maybe that was her own heart. She felt her footsteps faltering as she ran, and just in case, she gripped Alice's wrist tighter. It was just a safety precaution, because, as they had found out, Alice had wanted to stop and talk to Hazel. Or some sort of clone of him, at least, as they already had seen another a couple minutes ago.

Suddenly, Kipo heard a voice.

"Ah, there you are~!"

Kipo looked around wildly. Of course, it just HAD to be her, slinking along the wall and watching them with a big friendly smile chock full of malice. Quickly, Kipo racked her brain for how to stop her.

"Kris, the lights!" Kipo cried, and Kris fumbled with the tablet. Before he got the lights on, however, Kipo remembered something. "Wait, Kris, not yet-!"

But she was too late. The lights flashed blindingly twice, and then the hallway was once again dark. Kipo blinked the dark spots out of her eyes, and heard soft laughter that only served to make her panic more.

"Haha... now that's unfortunate," Maggie said, and Kipo winced, running faster. Just how far away was this room supposed to be. Kipo turned her anxious eyes to Kris, who, to her relief, pointed to something just ahead of them.

With not a moment to spare, the four suddenly turned, running through the curtain in the wall, and Kipo made sure to pull Alice in fully behind her, and pulled the curtain close. Despite the fact that the trick worked earlier, Kipo held her breath, expecting hands and paws to reached inside for them, but the curtain remained unmoved behind them. Kipo listened closely, and heard breathing outside, but that was it. Eventually, she heard to sets of feet turn, and march away.

Kipo released a breath of relief. So, they really couldn't get in here, huh... good.

"Hey look," Luz spoke up, drawing Kipo's attention away from the curtain. "Another TV."

"So Scott did make good on what he said..." Kipo noted. "I'm glad, it seems next to impossible to get through there undetected."

Nodding to herself, Kipo leaned forward, and flicked the TV on. It flickered on slowly, but soon enough the figure of a man came through, looking behind himself at the curtain. He looked troubled.

Suddenly, Kipo leaned back, tilting her head. She... could hear something two, something that wasn't the footsteps of the monsters outside. She frowned. Was it... no, it couldn't be the same thing the man was hearing, because Kipo could barely hear this noise herself; she didn't think anyone with normal human hearing would be able to.

Eventually, Scott started speaking, and Kipo turned back to him.

"I'm sorry if the videos a little fuzzy, I got... mixed up with one of those things outside," Scott started, and he looked exhausted. "I just barely managed to get away with both the tablet and my life, but I managed to click on the lights just in time. I'm just glad I was able to record more than one of these-."

Suddenly, Scott cut himself off, a nervous expression on his face. "Anyway, I have something important to tell you right now. Just in case you don't know, on the outside, there's a message. Nobody really knows who put it there, but it says that in order to enter the castle, you need two keys. Me and the others looked all over outside, but we didn't find anything, so we moved in here. As you can probably guess, this place was where... most of us met our end. But it wasn't all in vain, because just now, I found at least one of the keys. Unfortunately, I found it be accident, and had to leave quickly, so I'm not sure if there's a clue to find another. But I will tell you this: it was in one of the rooms, so if you're ever looking for the other key, look in the rooms. I will be doing that as well, and I hope that if I do find it, I'll try and make one last video before I look for the exit. Until next-."

Scott paused again, freezing suddenly. He slowly looked up, and then the TV went dark with a click that seemed to echo. Once again, the four were left speechless.

Eventually, Luz spoke up. "Oh. Well, I hope he's okay?"

Kipo winced. She couldn't say she was very hopeful, but she decided to move on.

"Huh... Well, the key's in a room, right? That should be easy." Kipo turned to Kris. "We go to whatever one's in... a room..."

Kipo trailed off as she saw Kris' face, which was a mixture of confusion and nervousness. They held up the tablet, and Kipo's eyes widened.

"Oh." Neither of the keys were in a room. "Uh no."

Luz's brows were furrowed together. "What do we do now?"

"There's no choice," Kipo sighed. "If it's not in there, we'll have to loop back to the other place. But this key does have a room nearby, at least, so that's something."

"Yeah..." Luz agreed, peering around Kipo's shoulder. "So the keys obviously there!"

"I wouldn't say obvious..." Kipo said, but she suddenly trailed off, tilting her head and frowning.

Alice perked up. "Kipo? Is something wrong?"

"Hm..." Kipo hummed. "I don't know. I hear some sort of noise... it's kind of far away, but I can hear it coming closer..."

Alice and Luz blinked, exchanging looks.

"Really?" Luz asked. "From where?"

"Back from where we came. But it's probably fine, we'll be leaving soon anyway."

"Yeah, you're right," Luz said, but she seemed nervous now. "So, uh, we should go right?"

"Yes, we should." Kipo stepped around Kris, towards the curtain. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Luz cheered, all nervousness suddenly gone. She almost looked excited. "Onward!"

Kipo smiled, but in the back of her mind, the noises itched at her. When she stepped outside the curtain, she could still hear it. It was coming closer, and much faster than Kipo had realized earlier.

"This is... so stupid," Dib grumped under his breath. Not because Mabel had managed to move a shadow immediately, but mostly because the instructions Six was giving them was garbage. Yeah, that was it. "Can you actually explain what I'm supposed to be doing in a way that makes sense?! How are we supposed to do this when you don't tell us what to do?"

Six turned her gaze to Mabel, but Dib ignored that.

"Don't worry, Dib, all you have to do is believe," Mabel told him distractedly, playing with the shadow like a ball. "Then you can see the magic, and you just connect the dots like you're drawing!"

"That makes even less sense!"

Six sighed. "Dib, just... imagine it as a force, and use that force to manipulate the shadow as if you were grabbing it in real life."

"Don't just repeat what you said earlier."

Dib leaned back, groaning and crossing his arms in frustration. "This is so stupid."

"Then it should be easy for someone of your... intellect to do," Six said, glaring down at him. "But I suppose if Mabel's got it down, we don't really need you. You can leave if you want."

Dib paused, blinking at her for a couple seconds. "W-Well, that's good, because I want to leave."

"Goodbye then," Six dismissed, and she jumped down to Mabel's side. "At least one of you can understand me."

"Hrrph!" Dib huffed, and turned to stomp away. To 'understand' all that, Mabel and Luz are either special cases or mental cases. But it didn't matter to him. They could have their fun; he was going to catch a monster.

Slipping through the trees, Dib started moving quickly, the excitement building as he raced to the place he'd left his traps. He wanted to check them all, but there was one especially...

It was by the river, and while Dib made sure that all his traps were something to be proud of, he was especially fond of this one.

And there it was: a real beauty, it was an amazing mess of a contraption of wires and hastily slapped together boards, so that even if the mechanism falls, the entire thing would collapse in on whatever creature stumbled into it, also trapping them. And Dib didn't need to worry about any normal animals wandering it, but he didn't need to worry about that, because there basically weren't any.

The only problem was that it was near a steep cliff, so if a creature ran hard enough into it, it would go over the edge of the cliff and get swept away by the river, but what kind of animal would do that? Dib didn't worry about it too much. Also, sometimes, the wires would become slack and useless if left alone for too long. But that was fine, a little maintenance was fine for this cool trap.

Taking a small wrench out of his pocket, Dib scrambled up the tree it was attached to, and started tightening the wires. For some reason, over time, the wires usually became loose, and if he left them for long enough, they would probably all fall apart. But some minor maintenance was fine for how good this trap was. In fact, it could probably even catch Zim, with all his stupid gadgets and his stupid robot assistant, whatever his name was.

Dib suddenly faltered, as he usually did when he thought of Zim. He couldn't help but feel a pit in the bottom of his stomach, of worry for whatever plan Zim was cooking up without Dib in the picture, and of guilt. None of his other... 'adventures', for lack of a better word, usually took this long, Dib could usually get out of whatever bind he was in by now. But here it's been weeks, and he's no more closer than he had been when he first woke up here. He should probably stop playing around soon, and actually start looking for a way out of here.

However, whenever he tried, he couldn't help but feel tired. This world was dangerous, yes, Adam had apparently already died, but it was also kind of devoid of danger. Dib didn't have to save the world here, and despite most people thinking he was crazy here, he was no more crazy than Mabel, or Kipo. And he actually made some sort of... friend here. Dipper had all the right ideas, and was just as interested in the paranormal as Dib was. And Dipper actually believed him, it was a miracle!

And then other people believed him, too, like Kipo (who Dib still didn't trust), and everyone else seemed to take his stories of Zim as truth, even if they thought him a little paranoid. It was... well, nice.

Dib was grateful for it, and, when he actually let himself think about it, he didn't really want to leave. Of course, he could never say that out loud, but if he had to say the thing he wanted most in this world, it was that.

But he still had to save his world from Zim. No matter how hard or tiring or just plain annoying, it was his job to stop that stupid alien, and nothings going to stand in his way, not even this new cool world... that was probably another trap from Zim.

Dib sighed. In any case, he was finished fixing the trap, and it looked just as good as usual. Ripe for catching a monster. Dib was proud of it... but now that just meant he had nothing to do, especially since he wasn't willing to go back to the 'classroom'.

Dib stared around at the forest around him. Well... might as well take a look at the other traps.

For the most part, they had gotten through the halls without incident. Kris had quick reflexes, and every time they spotted a monster, Kris used the tablet, and they were able to get away. Kipo was a little surprised, and impressed. It was only due to their quick thinking that they were moving so quickly; even Kipo's eyesight seemed second rate to their skills. It was almost relieving.

But, of course, it wasn't to last. It wasn't long before Kris stopped in the middle of the hall staring at something before their group with their mouth opened. Kipo blinked, worried, but as she looked past them, the only thing she could do was stare in shock, too. Desperately, she wracked her brain for what Scott had said in the video, but he just... hadn't mentioned this, and they'd never say one before, so Kipo didn't think to wonder about it. But now, there he was, in their way, and a problem.

The pig, Napoleon, stared them down from a worryingly short distance away. Kipo could see slobber dribble down from his mouth as his beady eyes fixed on them, and he was breathing heavily, and almost violently shaking.

Nervously, Kipo took a step back, and accidently ran into Alice, who let out a soft "ow!".

And almost as if on cue, Napoleon charged. His feet pounded on the glass floor as he rushed forward, his mouth widening and widening, until all Kipo could see down the hall was the inside of his mouth as a horrible stench rolled across the hall.

"Run, RUN!" Kipo cried, forcing the others away. "Go! Kris, get us to a room!"

Thankfully, the other three snapped out of their surprise, and Kris quickly took the lead, using the tablet to take a million confusing twists and turns. But no matter where they went, Napoleon was always sharp and their heels, a steady force behind them. He didn't seem to be able to catch up to them, but they couldn't get rid of him. They couldn't get to one of those rooms fast enough.

But suddenly, Kris stopped, right in the middle of the hall, and Kipo had to quickly skid to a stop before she crashed into them. Beside them, Alice and Luz stopped, too, both their panicked and confused gazes fixed on him while Kipo glanced back at the rapidly approaching pig.

"Kris, what are you doing?!" Luz cried, tugging at their arm, but Kris' eyes were fixed downward, at the tablet. Wincing at the thundering footsteps, Luz looked down at the tablet, and her eyes went wide.

"The keys here?!" Luz looked around wildly, but she couldn't see her hand in front of her face, let alone something likely small and hidden. Where...?

Now desperate, Luz studied the tablet closer, and then even closer when she discovered the key was... moving? But how-?

Suddenly, Luz was dragged out of her thoughts when Alice gasped, and she followed her line of sight back to Napoleon, who Kipo was staring at as well. And just below Napoleon's bottom lip, wrapped around his thick neck, was something that swayed as he moved, and glinted in some sort of light.

The key.

Kipo, who'd spotted it at the same time, stumbled back in her surprise. "The pig has it?! How?"

"We need to get it away from him!" Luz cried, but she didn't offer up any ideas.

Kipo tried to think about that, but in her panicked state, her mind remained blank. Shaking her head, she shoved the rest of them further down the hallway. "We'll think of it later, just go! Go!"

Without further argument, Kris finally lifted their feet, and started moving forward again, though more hesitantly. But with a frantic urge from Kipo, they were finally running down the hallway, away from Napoleon.

Luckily, the room was close, because Kipo could hear her friends' breaths getting laboured, and she could see them getting more and more tired with every step. Soon, she knew, they could get tired, and Napoleon, who maintained a steady pace behind them, would catch up. He was right on their heels when Kris finally turned on their heel and lead them into the curtain. Kipo fixed it quickly and held her breath... but it seemed like Napoleon played like all the other monsters. He went right by.

Well, that made sense. Why would Napoleon be different then the other creatures? Kipo couldn't stop thinking about that key...?

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kipo turned away from the curtain, looking to the room. What she saw this time surprised her.

For the most part, it was the same room as before, except the TV wasn't off, the blank screen waiting for them. It seemed to still be recording, which Kipo didn't think TV's that looked like that could do. And on the floor, there was a single red flower, somehow growing up from the concrete. Kipo stared at it for a minute, before Alice knelt down and plucked it, studying it closely. Kipo watched her for a couple seconds before shaking her head and stepping away. It probably wasn't important anyway.

Kipo heard a click from the TV, and when she looked up, she realized that Luz had shut off the recording. After looking around at her companions, seemingly for some sort of permission, she nervously pressed 'play' for the recording.

This time around, Scott was... different. He looked far more raggedy than usual, and whenever he opened his mouth to speak, he immediately closed it again, looking around the little room tensely.

After a few frantic seconds of this, Scott leaned forward towards the camera and opened his mouth, but he never got to say what he wanted, because something suddenly exploded from the ceiling above, shattering concrete chunks that rained down on Scott, who only managed to cover himself with his arms before something like long black wires quickly reached down from the ceiling. They circled around him for a split second before tightly wrapping around him, jerking his head to the left in an audible, sickening snap! Perhaps Scott survived that, but Kipo didn't know, because immediately after the wires lifted up his body, carrying him into the ceiling, leaving the TV recording an empty room. It happened so quickly... Scott couldn't even scream.

"...Oh, no," Luz eventually said when the rest of their voices were caught in their throat. Her hands were covering her eyes, but she was shaking violently, so Kipo was sure she'd seen everything. "No, No no... we're safe here, right?!"

Eventually, Kipo found her voice. "Ye-Yeah, I think so-." Suddenly, Kipo cut herself off. "Look out!"

Kipo swiftly reached out, grabbing the rest of her friends and pulling them back, just in time to avoid the ceiling once again crumbling as something long and black bust into the room. It tried to latch onto Luz, but Kipo pulled her out of the way, making the wire wrap around air instead. But it quickly recovered, and shot out for them again. Out of options, Kipo jerked back, through the curtain and back into the hall.

Right in front of Napoleon.

Once again, Kipo jerked away from the threat, but they were way to close, and there was no where to run, because almost immediately, Napoleon spotted them, and started advancing, opening his mouth wide. Not to mention the wire, of which Kipo could still here poking around in the room. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run... what could they do?!

Kipo was at a loss, but thankfully, Alice wasn't. Alice reached into her pocket, and took out the flower from before, tossing it into the pig's giant mouth. It seemed to have worked, because Napoleon was suddenly doubled into himself, trying to hack out the flower.

"Ooh, good job, Alice!" Luz cried, sounding relieved. "You saved us!"

Alice blushed and covered her face, but underneath her hand, she was smiling. Kipo gave her one, too, before rushing forward, at Napoleon. Carefully avoiding the searching wire, Kipo reached out, and ripped the key from the panicking pig's mouth, backing up quickly to avoid his thrashing.

Grouping up with her friends again, Kipo grinned down at the key in her hand. Finally, they were closer to get out of here! It felt like they'd been in here for years...

"The key," Alice breathed, her eyes wide. Kipo glanced back at her, and then to the pig. Her mouth pressed into a concerned line.

"Yeah, but I don't think this is any time to celebrate yet," Kipo noted, stopping Luz in her tracks. "Napoleon looks like he's going to continue chasing us soon. Let's go."

The other's, following her gaze to Napoleon, didn't argue, and soon they were rushing down the hall.

Shuffling with his head hung down as if that would hide him, Dib shuffled back through the edge of the trees, back towards Six and Mabel. Although he'd be loath to admit it, maybe checking his traps one hundred times over was, well, a little boring now, and Dib would rather spend his time with two very annoying people.

To his surprise, though, upon his entrance, he didn't receive a snarky remark or a cheerful greeting. So, he slowly raised his head, and found Mabel at her easel, and Six just gone. Dib paused, dumbfounded.

"...Uh... Where's Six?" Dib asked Mabel, who didn't reply, staying focused on her painting. Dib frowned, growing nervous. Other then the fact that it was the middle of the day in the most cheerful weather Dib could imagine, he couldn't help but think that this was very horror movie-like. "Mabel? Hey, Mabel?"

Apprehension started growing like mold in his stomach, and slowly, Dib reached forward, tapping at Mabel's shoulder.

Suddenly, Mabel whirled around.

"Gah!" Dib cried. "Hey, don't do that! Warn me next time!"

Dib shouted more stuff like that at her, but Mabel completely ignored him, turning around to pick up her painting.

"What do you think?!" she asked, beaming up at him. "I think he's friend shaped."

Dib glared at her, then turned unimpressed eyes down on what basically looked like some sort of monster character from a children's TV show.

"It's very cute," Dib said, in a chastising way, but Mabel seemed to take it as a compliment. Suddenly, though, he frowned. "Is that supposed to be the Devil Snapper?"

"Yep!"

"That's even worse."

Shaking his head, Dib looked away, and was reminded of his original question. "Where's Six?"

"Oh, she went to find you," Mabel told him, once again focusing on her painting. In Dib's opinion, she was making it even more awful, somehow.

At Mabel's answer, Dib's face melted into a grimace. "What? Why?"

"She said she needed to talk to Kipo, to try and figure out what we're up against in that other world."

"Hm," Dib hummed in acknowledgement. Okay, that was probably a good idea, but Dib was going to wait until Six told him herself to care about it. And he definitely wasn't going to make it easy on her; he was going to wait right here, the place she was the least likely to look, until she found him.

Dib looked over Mabel's shoulder at her painting.

"You didn't even add the scythe pinchers."

"I will, soon."

"Why soon- I don't actually care. Don't you think it'll make the painting less cute?"

"No, those are for hugs."

"...Oh."

Kipo was starting to wonder if there even was an exit at all. The fact that there might not even be one did unfortunately track with this princess' previous track record, but Kipo wasn't going to think about that. No, she was staying hopeful.

Though staying hopeful didn't really mean much when you've exhausted all your options. Twice.

Kipo shook her head, desperately digging into the back of her mind for any new ideas, but she was coming up empty. Not to mention it was hard to think when avoiding all those monsters. They could no longer use the rooms, as Kipo could hear the wire following them closely, and the monsters seemed more and more aggressive as time went on. It seemed that they couldn't go two steps without-.

Suddenly, Kris held up their hand, and their little train came to a stop. Kipo tried to avoid wincing. It was just as she was thinking... or so she thought.

When Kipo peeked around Kris' shoulder, she inwardly shuddered. The tell-tale red fur always made her do that, because it signified Hazel, or at least one of the Hazel's. But Kipo couldn't help but think of the first one whenever she saw one of those rabbits. Of course, all the monsters where bad, but Kipo couldn't help but think that one was worse.

Suddenly, the Hazel straightened, and Kipo flinched. He couldn't know-.

"Alice...?" a whisper came from the rabbit and Alice gasped. As soon as she did, the rabbit's eyes pricked up, and he turned around.

"No!" Luz gasped, breathless, which was more than Kipo could do at the moment. Unlike what she'd thought earlier, this wasn't just another Hazel. This was The Hazel. The missing bottom jaw was proof of that, though Hazel didn't seem to need it to speak.

"Oh, Alice..." Hazel said, stepping forward. Quickly, the kids stepped back. Hazel stared at them, but he didn't come any closer.

For a minute, they were stuck in a silent staring contest, neither speaking, until Hazel finally sighed.

"Listen to me," he started, almost sounding desperate. "I... This place dangerous, but I can get you out. I don't you, any of you, any harm."

"... We need to get to the castle," Kipo told him, eventually. Hazel tilted his head.

"...That place is not as dangerous, but it's still dangerous," Hazel told them. "You should come back to my place. Please. I only want to help."

"You'll kill us!" Luz shouted at him. "Just like that other person! The only way we'll actually be safe is to get out of this world!"

Kipo didn't change her face, but she couldn't help but think of Adam.

Strangely, Hazel didn't seem to want to respond to that. "You'll be safer at my place. It's safe there."

Kipo glared at him, but next, it was Alice who asked him the important questions. "Why did you k-kill them, then?"

Hazel hesitated for a long time after that. Eventually, he kicked at his feet, almost looking embarrassed. "It's hard to explain..." he said. "If you come with me, though, I'll tell you."

"We're not trusting you!" Luz huffed.

"Why are you acting so different?" Kipo asked, squinting at the rabbit. This act didn't remind her of the creature before at all. "You hated us all before."

"...Well, that's changed now," Hazel replied. "I'll protect you, and tell you everything you want to know."

"We don't believe you!" Luz cried, waving her hands. Hazel noticeably stepped back.

"Well, you have to come with me," he snapped, sounding a little more like himself. "Or you'll be stuck wandering this place forever!"

Kipo opened her mouth in a retort, and then shut it. As much as she hated to admit it... he was right. There was nothing they themselves seemed to be able to do.

But, obviously, that didn't matter. Kipo figured that staying stuck in here was probably a better fate than whatever Hazel had planned. Unfortunately, though, not everyone else thought that.

Suddenly, Alice stepped forward. "Hazel...?"

Hazel brightened. "Yes?"

"...I'll go with you, but only if you promise to help the others to the castle," Alice told him.

"You will?" Kipo cried.

"You will?" Hazel asked, his voice full of hope.

"Alice, no!" Luz reached out, grabbing onto Alice's arm desperately, but Alice wrenched away as Hazel picked her up.

"Yes! Ok! It's a deal!" he cheered gleefully. "I'll take care of you, Alice!"

For some reason, Alice was smiling, and Kipo realized she was getting a glimpse into what their relationship was before she had arrived.

"Ok, and you promise not to turn me into a stuffie, right?" Alice asked, but her tone was light, teasing.

"I promise, I promise," Hazel said, hugging Alice tight. But soon, the tender looking scene was ruined when Luz started tugging at the bottom of Alice's dress.

"No, Alice!" she cried. There were tears in her eyes as she pulled with all her strength, and Kis moved behind her, trying to help. "Don't, he's going to hurt you!"

Hazel's smile soon shifted to a scowl as he turned down to face her. Growling, Hazel took his paw and shoved Luz off, towards the wall.

"Luz!" Kipo yelled, but the rest of her cry was stuck in her throat as Luz went through the wall, landing with an oof somewhere on the other side. "Luz?"

Rushing forward, Kipo and Kris were surprised that they, too, could move through the wall. They didn't even notice when Hazel moved behind them, blocking their exit while glaring down at them.

"Just go down this hallway, and you'll reach the castle," Hazel told them. Suddenly, his frown shifted to an evil grin. "Just try and watch out for the monster there."

"Wait, Alice!" Luz cried, rushing forward, but Alice just smiled reassuringly. "No, it's alright, Luz. I don't think I'd really like it if I never got any answers for all this... besides, I don't think Hazel's bad! He won't hurt me."

Hazel nodded, and then turned to look behind him. "We should go, Alice."

"Okay," Alice told him, before turning back to wave at Luz. "Maybe I'll see you later, but until then... it was nice meeting you all!"

"Wait, Alice!" Luz cried, reaching out, but Hazel and Alice disappeared after the wall turned solid under her palm.

Dib glanced behind him at the forest, as he'd been doing a lot lately. He frowned.

"Six is really taking along time..." he noted. "Just how far did she think I went?"

"Huh," Mabel agreed, noncommittally. Dib sighed, but before he could write her off as completely checked out of this conversation, she continued. "Maybe she got stuck in one of your traps?"

"Huh?" Dib blinked. "Oh, yeah. I... I guess you're right. Oops."

"Are you going to go help her?"

Dib frowned, and turned his gaze to the trees again. For some reason, they seemed foreboding now, but Dib couldn't put his finger on why. "She'll get out eventually."

"Okay!"

The conversation tapered off once again, and Dib found that he was alone with... unpleasant thoughts. He'd been called 'paranoid' a lot in his time, but now he felt like he really knew what they were talking about. No one was even paying attention to him, and yet he felt enemies all around.

It occurred to Dib that he hadn't even asked Mabel for their code word.

Eventually, they had to move on.

They weren't sure how long stayed there, maybe hours, maybe only minutes. In that time, they did whatever they could think of to open the wall. Kipo tried bashing it down, Kris tried to use their sword, and Luz desperately tried every spell she could imagine, but it was to no avail. The wall stayed strong, no matter what they did, and soon they had no choice but to walk through the dark hallway. But they all couldn't help by periodically glance back behind them, as if by some miracle, Alice would appear, unharmed.

However, the hallway remained empty, for now.

The mirrors had long since disappeared, and Kris' tablet no longer seemed to know where they were. Not that it mattered much, as there was only one way to go: forward.

There didn't seem to be anything around them; the hallway went on to oblivion, and the only sounds were three sets of foots, and Luz's sniffles. It was almost nice, being alone for once. Well, probably alone. Kipo didn't doubt for a moment that there was danger here; it was clear by now that no place here was safe.

Suddenly, she stopped, tilting her head. It would seem she had been right, because as she turned around, the hallway was no longer empty. An all-black person stood behind them, looking almost like a shadow, as nothing about it reflected any light. Kipo squinted at it, it probably wasn't a shadow, as it was all black, and it seemed familiar.

"H-Huh? Kipo? What's wrong...?" Luz asked her, her voice still weak, before she, too, turned around.

The sounding footsteps stopped as the little group stared at the newcomer.

"A-Alice?" Luz called out, but her voice didn't have much hope. As soon as she spoke, though, the person started walking forward. Its footsteps sounded odd... rubber-like, almost. It moved in a particular way, too, reminding Kipo of the wire from before.

"Another monster?" Luz glared at the wire. Kipo sighed.

"Let's get out of here," she said. "We should probably get away from it."

Luz and Kris quickly agreed, and all three of them turned around, running as fast as they could away from this new monster. They knew the drill by now.

Dib glanced at Mabel, and then away again, as if she would catch him if he watched her for too long. It didn't seem like she would, as she was focused on painting, but you never know.

What should he do? He couldn't really confront her, because what if she really WAS the Imposter monster? Could he defend himself against it if it when after him? Dib was pretty sure he could beat Mabel in a fight, but she was very unpredictable, so he didn't know for sure... He probably shouldn't go after her alone, but Six was showing no sign of returning.

...Maybe she never really left to begin with.

Quickly, Dib fumbled with the crystal in his pocket.

"Uh, I'm going to call Kipo," Dib told her. He squinted at her suspiciously. "Don't try anything. I'll know!"

"Okay!"

After hesitating for a couple seconds, in which Dib watched Mabel and Mabel continued painting, Dib finally got the crystal out, and reached out to Kipo.

As soon as they had started running, the wire person was immediately after them, seemingly flying over the ground as it rushed at them. It was just as fast as the wire had been, and much faster than the three of them. Again, Kipo could feel the rush of panic over taking her.

"Hurry!" she called to Luz and Kris. "It's catching up!"

"It's-," Luz glanced over her shoulder. "Why is it so fast?!"

"Just go!" Kipo told her, catching Luz's wrist to pull her along faster. Taking her eyes off the wire person for now, Kipo watched ahead of them, looking for any sign of the castle that would be their salvation. But so far, there was nothing.

Suddenly, Kipo's attention was drawn away from in front of her by a flashing light. She recognized it quickly, and she winced.

'I told him not to call!' she thought, irritated. 'I can't answer it right now, if I did, I'd be frozen, just like that last time...'

Before she finished her thought, an idea came to her. Quickly, she reached into her pocket, and pulled the crystal out, making sure to use her sleeve.

'I hope this works. And if it does, I hope Dib will understand. I wish I could warn him, but...'

Kipo shook her head. She didn't have time for that. Without any more hesitation, she twisted around, and threw the crystal at the monster.

As soon as it hit, the monster stopped right in its tracks.

Kipo didn't answer for a long time, and if Dib wasn't so worried about whoever was beside him (Mabel), he'd be annoyed and probably complaining.

But finally, after what felt like a full ten minutes, the world around him turned white, and Dib sighed in relief.

"Ah, what took you so long?" Dib asked, lifting his eyes from the crystal in his hands that he'd been fiddling with. "I was almost starting to get wor...ried..."

Dib's voice trailed off as his eyes finally found Kipo, who the thing he had thought was Kipo. But the thing standing before him didn't resemble Kipo at all, in fact, the weird slithering mass of wires in the vague shape of a person only looked like one thing Dib could think of (or thought he could think of).

"I...I...I knew it!" Dib shouted at the thing. "I knew you were real! I knew I wasn't just crazy!"

The wire thing didn't speak, but that was fine, because Dib wasn't done yet.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Dib was celebrating now, throwing his hands up in the air like a strange dance. "I am! I knew I was! You are the Imposter. I was right!"

Suddenly, the thing stepped forward, and Dib found himself quickly backing up.

"Ah," Dib said, whitening. "Right. The Imposter. Dangerous-Hey!"

The wire thing suddenly rushed at him, and in his rush to raise his arms, Dib dropped the crystal. The white disappeared, and to Dib's relief, the monster along with it.

Unfortunately, Mabel came back, right in the place where the monsters had disappeared (and in Dib's fear addled mind, that could only mean one thing).

For a second, neither of them spoke, until Dib narrowed his eyes at Mabel. Mabel seemed to take this as a good sign.

"Oh, Dib, you're back?" Mabel asked, smiling at him, but she seemed a little distracted. Planning to kill him, perhaps (or maybe she wants this conversation to be over so she can go back to painting)? "That's good! Did you see Kipo? I couldn't tell, everything you were shouting was kind of weird..."

As Mabel trailed off, Dib stared at her indecorously.

"As if you don't know!" Dib shouted at her, scrambling to his feet. "I know who you are, Imposter! All this messing with me just proves it?"

Mabel, for the first time since Dib's ever known her, looked utterly confused. "...Uh... I'm who?"

"I've told Mabel about the imposter before! She knows what it is!" (Or maybe she wasn't listening... or forgot). "And besides, you didn't even tell me the safe word!"

"The safe word?" Mabel, or whoever was playing as Mabel, repeated, frowning. "Oh, yeah, that! Wasn't it supercalifragilisticexpi-?"

"Nice try!" Dib shouted, startling Mabel. "But we didn't even call it a safe word! We called it a code word."

Mabel blinked. "Oh... right. I forgot-."

"Don't even try it!" Dib cried, only slightly celebratory. "I've found you out! Don't even try to hide anymore!"

"...Um..."

"Ha! I've got you now!" Dib shouted at her. He turned around, and started running towards the forest. "You'll never take me alive!"

"Dib, wait!"

The wire person had started moving again, Kipo could hear it. Unlike last time, it moved twice as fast, and it would catch up to them in a matter of seconds. They wouldn't get any time to defend.

But it didn't matter. The three had already reached the door, and Kris was fitting the key in the lock. They turned it quickly, and their little group stumbled inside. But the wire person wasn't going to give them any time to recover, so Kipo quickly surged up, throwing the big double doors closed in the monster's face.

It locked with a click, and Kipo breathed a sigh of relief.

Dib could hear the Imposter crashing behind him as he ran through the forest, and he smirked. Finally, finally, he was going to catch something, and everyone was finally going to see him for the renowned paranormal investigator he was, and he was finally going to get some respect in this place (not that he didn't already have that... but like the kind of respect his dad got). Finally, finally, finally...

Suddenly, Dib stopped. The trap was so close, just a couple steps away from him... but all the crashing behind him had stopped.

Hardly able to believe it, Dib focused on listening to his surroundings, but there was nothing at all except his own heavy breathing. Where had the Imposter gone? Had it left? Gotten bored? No... Dib had been so close...

Suddenly, a branch snapping drew Dib's attention, and he looked up into Six's little button eyes. She was sitting on a branch above him, and looking down at him with a cheerful smile. Dib stared at her. That face did not belong on the creature Dib had known.

"You're... You're not..." Dib stuttered; his eyes wide. They didn't even blink as Six hoped down onto the forest floor in front of him. Dib backed up quickly; all his bravo from before had disappeared.

Six laughed at him, and then, to Dib's horror, she... changed. She got bigger and bigger, and black seemed to bleed into her white fur, and her mouth largened until it barely fit onto Six's new face. No... the Imposter's new face.

Dib turned away from it quickly, and ran away.

Mabel fiddled with her paintbrush, but she couldn't even think about bringing the brush to the canvas. It just didn't cross her mind, because right now she was periodically glancing at the forest and worrying herself.

When something finally came out of the forest, Mabel jumped up, but unfortunately, it was just Six, alone.

Mabel had seen Six just moments prior when she had started chasing after Dib, and Six had told her to go back, reassuring Mabel that she would find Dib and bring him back, safely.

At the time, Mabel had been relieved, but now, with no Dib in sight, worry was starting to worm its way back into her stomach.

Mabel shook her head quickly. That still didn't mean anything! Anything could have happened, like... like...

Mabel let that thought trail off as she hurried forward.

"Six!" Mabel cried. "Where's Dib? Did you find him? Is he...?"

Six seemed to hesitate, and Mabel sucked in a breath.

"I'm sorry, Miss Mabel..." Six told her slowly. "I... I did find him, but when I called out to him, I startled him, and he fell into his own trap. And then he... well, he fell down into the river."

"What?!" Mabel cried. "Then we have to... we have to...!"

"I tried, Miss Mabel, I tried," Six's voice was halted, like every word was painful to get out. "I thought I grabbed him with the shadows just in time, but... I was too late. I'm sorry."

Mabel couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No... that can't mean..."

Six watched Mabel as she struggled with the inevitable conclusion.

"No... No!" Mabel shouted. "How could this happen?! Six..."

Gently, Six put a comforting paw on Mabel's leg. "I'm sorry, Miss Mabel, I really am... I should have been paying closer attention, but there's nothing we can do..."

"No... that can't be right..."

"I'm sorry, Miss Mabel, but... he's dead."