"Lini? What's going on...?" Bro asked in a whisper.
Lini sighed. "I'm sorry, Bro. I went to Zetal for help."
"You did what?!"
"You heard her," Zetal said. "She told me everything, how her inferior machine stranded you in another dimension and how she would give anything to get you guys back. Typical sob story."
Bro looked at Lini in disappointment, causing her to look away in shame. "I did say I got the Dimensional Gateway working again..." she muttered. "But in truth, I helped him build a similar machine to get you back home. I didn't want to tell you I was in Kleptopolis over the phone since I knew you'd ask what I was doing there."
Bro was about to say something else, but Zetal interrupted him. "You know what the sad thing is? All she had to do was add a limiter to her machine to stop it from overloading and exploding in the first place."
"Wait, you didn't tell me that!" Lini protested. "You said you could build a replacement, but you'd need the Warperidot I gave you to power it!"
"Warperidot?" the siblings, after grouping up with Bro, asked in unison.
"Warperidot– The crystal with the energy to cross dimensions. I named it during your absence," Zetal explained. "I actually knew what was wrong with her machine from her descriptions alone, but if I just told her how to fix it, I'd be passing up an opportunity to get back what was rightfully mine."
By now, Ixin and Umbrish grouped up with Zetal, who gave them a weird look. "And what took you two so long? I told you to go find out what was using that energy and you come back looking like animals!"
The two tried to speak over each other, babbling about everything that transpired.
"You know what? Whatever," he sighed. "I got what I wanted, even if it was in a roundabout way."
"So, what's your plan now, sir?" Ixin asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I've got a machine that can give me access to every dimension in existence! And with it, I can invade any dimension I please!" he cackled, looking at the portal, which was still open. "And what better dimension to start with than this one?"
"Sheesh, is everyone in your world this hostile?" Gusty asked, walking up to the six.
"Not everyone– This area's an exception," Amelia replied.
"Invade?" Lini asked. "So that's what all this was about? That's why he wanted the Warperidot? This was his plan the whole time?"
"Yeah, that plan is gonna go well as any other plan he has," Bro said, preparing to run toward the machine. "And by that, I mean it ain't even getting off the ground."
As he got near the machine, he was intercepted by a familiar enemy. Brobot, ever so attentive, rushed at Bro as a ball of light, launching him away from the machine.
"You again?!" Bro growled, looking at his robotic copycat. "Looking for another beating, I assume?"
In response, Brobot rolled his eyes before creating a giant mallet out of light and taking a stance.
"I'll take that as a yes," Bro said, creating two gauntlets out of light. "Zetal may have fixed your capacitor, but no amount of repairing is gonna save you from me!"
With that, the two ran at each other, their weapons clashing. As for everyone else, they were watching the fight until Gusty noticed nobody was guarding the machine.
"You know, it's not too late for us to head back home," he said. "You guys look like you've got stuff to take care of, so we'll be on our way."
"But Gusty... the humans!" Luna whined. "I wanna see the humans!"
"But we–"
"I wanna see the humans!" she screamed, being on the verge of throwing a tantrum.
Gusty looked over at the portal, then at Luna, before letting out a frustrated huff. He knew whether he went through the portal himself and left Pepper and Katssandra to care for Luna until they got back, or dragged his sister with him and disappointed her, either way, he'd lose.
"Fine. We'll see the humans soon," he relented before turning to the others. "What's stopping us from getting out of here?"
"We can't leave until we shut down the machine and get the Warperidot back," Lini explained. "It's in the machine itself."
"I think that's the only good thing we've heard since we've gotten back," Zaire said. "Well, let's smash this thing and grab it!"
He and Gusty ran towards the machine. However, they were blocked by Umbrish, who stood in front of them.
"Come on, dude!" Zaire protested. "Even in the short amount of time we spent with each other, you're still gonna take his side?"
"In our short time together, I was turned into a dog, suffered hardships, and had to be subjected to your stupid wisecracks. You are in no position to tell me who I should be allied with," Umbrish growled.
"Does that explain why you're so bitter?" Gusty asked, part genuine question, part sarcasm.
Without warning, Umbrish pulled out his revolvers and fired energy bolts at the two, causing Zaire to tackle Gusty to the ground.
"I have a feeling you'd be the only thing he'd actually be able to hit," he said.
The energy bolts narrowly missed the others standing by, causing everyone to take cover behind the Sand Blazer.
"In case we haven't said it, welcome to Seallium Realm," Amelia chirped.
"One heck of a welcome, I'll say," Katssandra replied.
"Don't worry, when this is over, we'll show you the friendly parts of our world," Porter said.
They heard a loud thump and saw Bro on the hood of the car before turning into a ball of light and zooming back into the action.
As they snuck over to the back of the car, they saw that Zetal and Ixin were guarding the machine.
"Alright, the portal is ready for the first wave of Clones," Zetal announced as he typed several lines of code in the machine. "Prepare the Alpha Squadron!"
"You really shouldn't do that," a voice warned him. When he turned to the source, he saw Amelia, Lily, Pepper and Katssandra.
"And why not? Am I going to regret it if I do?" he asked.
"You probably won't, but the Clones that pass through definitely will," Lily responded.
"It's true, sir," Ixin admitted. "Will you really have them all go through the same transformation process as me and Umbrish just for the sake of invading another world?"
Zetal thought about the logic before saying, "I'll make an antidote, and you two can test it out. Now stop them!"
Without another word, Ixin rushed towards the four at blinding speed, sending them all flying after a series of blows. While Amelia, Katssandra, and Pepper recovered from their attacks, Lily hung off the edge of the tower. Porter, who was close by, ran over to catch her before she could fall. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the strength to pull her back up, and so he fell alongside her.
Their fall came to a halt when Porter felt something grab his ankle. When he looked back, he saw Katssandra standing over the ledge with what looked like a grapple gun in her hands. She had managed to catch them with it.
"I have yet to lose someone on my watch!" she exclaimed, reeling them back up to safety.
Meanwhile, Bro and Brobot were above the tower, on opposite ends, and in a standoff. Brobot made the first move, creating a wall of light arrows behind him and targeting Bro through his reticle before firing. Bro quickly flew around the projectiles, gracefully dodging them when he noticed how they would chase after him like a swarm of bees. That's when he got an idea.
He flew away from the tower for a brief moment before making a beeline for Zetal's machine, stopping in front of it.
"Don't bother trying to turn off the machine!" Zetal warned. "My machine's controls are designed in a way that neither you nor your pathetic siblings would be able to understand!"
"Oh, don't worry– I'm not interested in using it," Bro replied, pointing at the arrows flying towards him before flying away at the last second.
Zetal's confusion turned to horror as he watched the arrows collide with his machine, battering it and subsequently closing the portal. By the time the arrows vanished, the machine looked like a wreck.
"Okay, okay, calm down, Zetal," he whispered to himself. "You can still fix your machine. You can salvage the parts, build a new one, and–"
Suddenly, the machine exploded, grabbing everyone's attention, including Brobot, who took his eyes off Bro for a second and lost track of him.
He looked around and felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, his face met Bro's fist and was sent careening towards the tower. At the same time, Zaire, Gusty, and Umbrish were still in the middle of their squabble.
"Gusty, no offense, but you're making it hard to get out of the way," Zaire admitted, trying to get out of the way of Umbrish's shots, only to bump into Gusty and send him and himself to the ground.
"And this is why you settle your conflicts one-on-one," Umbrish sighed, pointing his revolvers at the two. At the same time, Zaire noticed something approaching the three.
"It would probably help if you also kept a head on a swivel too," Gusty said.
"Head on a swivel?" Umbrish asked. "What are you talking abou–"
Upon turning around, he was struck by Brobot and sent flying near an edge of the tower. Lini and Luna peeked from over the hood before retreating back into their hiding spot.
"Things are still tense out there," Lini said, "but hopefully they'll be done soon and we can go home, okay, Luna?"
She looked over to where Luna was and realized she was gone. Panicking, she hurried to the back of the car to see Luna waddling over to the machine's remains, something green and glowing from them.
"Luna! Get back here!" Lini hissed, getting no response from the moth girl. Ixin, who was fending off both Pepper and Amelia and caught sight of Luna, made a beeline towards her.
Unable to just stand there and watch, Lini's adrenaline kicked in, and she rushed at Ixin, sending her to the floor with a single strike to the back of the head. Breathing heavily, she looked over at Luna, who was standing in front of the object.
"Shiny!" Luna chirped, picking up the gem and showing it off.
"Guys! We got the Warperidot! Let's get out of here!" Lini announced, alerting everyone before grabbing Luna and running back to the car.
Everyone else followed suit, running back to the Sand Blazer and hopping inside, narrowly missing a barrage of Umbrish's shots.
"FLOOR IT!" Bro ordered.
Immediately, the car sped off towards what little ground they had left.
"Bro, are you crazy?!" Lily screamed. "We're gonna drive off the edge!"
"Just trust me!" he shouted back.
It all happened in an instant– the Sand Blazer drove straight off the tower and began heading towards the ground at an alarming speed. Bro raised the Warperidot and created a vortex for the car to travel through just before they could plummet.
Ixin, Umbrish, Brobot and Zetal hurried after them and looked over the edge, with Zetal letting out a shout of frustration when he realized they had gotten away.
"I had it! I had it all! A machine to other dimensions! An opportunity to lay waste to another world– ruined by them again!" he screamed.
Ixin and Umbrish watched his fit go on for a while until Ixin spoke up.
"So, about that antidote..." she said.
Zetal, in response, let out another scream before storming off to the nearest elevator.
"He didn't say no," Umbrish said with a shrug, following him.
Meanwhile, a portal opened in a neighborhood, spitting everyone else out on the other side. Everyone (except Bro and Luna) was breathing hard, shaken from the events that happened.
"Cutting it a bit close, aren't you, Bro?" Lily commented.
Everyone got out of the car to gather their bearings. The neighborhood they were in looked just like theirs, and the moon was just peeking over the horizon.
"Home?" Luna asked.
"Impossible," Lini said. "The Dimensional Gateway can't create portals to get to somewhere faster. I'd think the Warperidot itself would follow that same logic."
"Maybe it can, given what I used it for that one time," Zaire replied.
"Still, where are we?" Amelia questioned.
At that moment, someone from one of the houses stepped outside to investigate the noise and the chatter.
"What's going on out here? What's with all this noise? Don't you know what time it is?" they asked in complaint. However, they stopped when they realized it was Bro and Zaire. And it seemed like they realized who was talking to them.
"Linley, it's been a while!" Zaire exclaimed. "No wonder something seemed off– We're not in our neighborhood; we're in Glitzview City!"
"I'd like to know how you get your neighborhoods mixed up..." Linley muttered. "But anyway, what brings you back to Marrinus? And why does Bro look like a cat?"
"Long story," Bro answered, "but to sum it up: Went to another dimension. Turned into animals. Returned home on the villain's island. Took a detour. Boom. Here."
Despite the very small amount of information, Linley managed to figure out what Bro was trying to say. Before he could form a reply, something hugged his leg.
"Human!" Luna babbled.
By now, everyone else approached the three boys, listening in on their conversation.
"Now that I think about it, I don't think we've ever met your counterpart, Lini," Amelia admitted.
"Right, before we decide on what to do next," Bro stated, "Linley, these are our siblings, Amelia, Lily, and Porter. They weren't always animals."
"And these are our friends, Gusty, Luna, Katssandra, and Pepper. They also weren't always animals," Zaire added.
"That's rough," Linley stated. "There's probably some way to reverse that."
"There better be," Bro said. "But that's what we're going home for. That, and to show our friends around Seallium."
"Oh, is that so?" another voice called, making Bro flinch. He looked over and saw Ambrose and Zaria on their porch, snacking on some cookies.
"Aren't you gonna introduce us, other brother?" Ambrose asked.
"Oh... right," Bro grumbled, his cat ears folding back. "Guys, that's Ambrose and Zaria. They live in this dimension. You can go talk to them while I hide behind the car."
While he did just so, the two girls got off their porch to meet the other siblings and the Noctumites.
"What happened to you guys?" Zaria asked the siblings. "You all look just as weird as I do!"
"In our defense, you wouldn't say that if you've been through what we have," Lily answered. "It's been ruff," she added before covering her mouth in shock.
"We just got back from a place called Noctum, where the humans are animals," Porter explained. "Zaria would like it there."
"But I've always been a mouse," Zaria replied.
"Trust us, no one would notice," Gusty responded, looking around for his sister, who had disappeared again, just to see her on Ambrose's porch, sneaking some cookies. "Save some for us!"
After an exchange of pleasantries and cookies, everyone was ready to go. Everyone got back in the Sand Blazer, Bro made a portal with the Warperidot, and they drove off into it as the other three waved goodbye to them.
"What's on your mind, Ambrose?" Zaria asked.
"I was thinking... Why don't we use the Dimensional Hopper to visit Noctum for ourselves?" Ambrose suggested.
"I'd rather not, especially if I'm at risk of being turned into an animal myself," Linley declined.
Seallium Realm
The Sand Blazer drove out of the portal, into the right neighborhood, and onto the street their houses were on. By now, the moon was in full view as everyone got out of the car.
"Ah, home sweet home!" Lily sighed.
"What's next on the agenda?" Pepper asked. "Shopping?"
"Nope. We're going to sleep," Bro said. "Everything's closed at this hour anyway."
"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Lini asked.
"Oh, right, I don't think anyone explained it to her," Zaire stated. "In Noctum, people usually go to bed when the sun's out and live their lives when the moon's out."
"Unless you're in the desert, then anything goes," Gusty added.
Suddenly, a look of absolute mortification appeared on Porter's face. "Oh, shoot! I just realized we have school tomorrow! We can't show up like this!"
"School?" Luna cooed. "What's that?"
"A place you regret being once you're there. Let's put it that way," Lily answered.
"Lini, you can fix this, right? You can turn us all back into humans before anyone notices, right? Right?!" Porter questioned.
"That's a bit of a hard ask," Lini stated, "but I'll try if it makes you sleep better."
"This might help you out," Katssandra said, pulling out a small container of chemicals from her pocket and handing it to her. "It wasn't easy, but I finally managed to get the same chemicals Hazel used to create her aerosol."
"...Who's Hazel?" Lini asked.
"The one technically responsible for our problem right now," Bro answered, giving her the Warperidot. "Maybe you could reverse-engineer a cure with it."
"I mean, it'll be even easier now. I'll start right away!" she said, hurrying to her house. As for the others, they began the walk to their home.
"What are the chances she actually manages to get it finished by morning?" Zaire wondered. "Either she does, or she'll fall asleep partway through."
"If she does, maybe the answer will come to her in a dream!" Pepper commented. "Just like how my Sand Blazer came to be!"
"Speaking of dreaming..." Amelia yawned. "I'll be having some weird ones after everything that's happened these past few days."
They unlocked the door, walked inside, and realized the house was full of seals. It looked like some sort of party was happening. Upon seeing the siblings, one of the seals let out a noise, and the horde scrambled for the back door.
"Seals!" Luna squealed.
Before anyone could catch them, they unraveled themselves into squares of cloth before flying off into the night.
"Seals?" Luna whimpered, walking back to everyone else.
"What just happened?" Gusty asked.
"Looks like we had some visitors during our absence," Bro said. "Seal! Get over here!"
Reluctantly, Seal obeyed, slowly sliding out from under the couch with a tiny lampshade on his head, though his eyes widened when he saw the state of the siblings. He quickly flopped towards them, barking until he saw Luna.
"Seal!" she exclaimed, picking him up and giving him a hug.
"Luna can have my bed and Gusty can have Porter's, but where are Katssandra and Pepper going to sleep?" Lily asked.
"I'll go get the air mattress," Bro said. "Sorry we don't have anything more comfortable, ladies."
"I think the mattress will be more comfortable than the stares we'll get tomorrow morning," Katssandra said.
"Welcome to my world," Zaire replied with a sigh.
Some time later, everyone was fast asleep, though the siblings were tossing and turning through the night, anxious about what would happen later. Would they be able to get back to normal?
The next morning, after breakfast, the group immediately went to Lini's house, hoping for a cure.
"Anything? Please tell us you have something!" Porter begged.
Without a word, Lini gestured them inside and showed them a tray holding four cups of green liquid.
"No thanks, we just ate," Lily declined.
Lini frowned. "These are the cures I'm sure you've been anxious about. I actually finished them five minutes before you got here," she said.
Bro looked at the glasses, concerned. "Why are there only four of them?"
"That was all I could make, given the materials I had," she answered.
"What are we, chopped spinach?" Gusty complained. "Couldn't you have rationed some for us?"
Katssandra sighed. "Gusty, as much as I don't want to admit it, I think the forms we have can't be reversed, just because of how long we've been in Noctum."
"And here I was hoping I wouldn't be a moth for the rest of my life..." he grumbled.
"That's life," Pepper replied. "Gotta accept and adapt sometimes!"
Bro was looking at the tray of cups, thinking while Lily took one. "Aren't you gonna drink one?" she asked.
Before he answered Lily's question, he turned to Lini and asked, "What's in this?"
"Just the chemicals Katssandra gave me, and a bit more," Lini said. "I tried to create something to reverse the effects of your transformation, but it's hard to do that when you don't know what exactly is in this stuff. Why?"
"That's why I'm concerned," Bro responded. "Hazel made this stuff to make animals stronger, and what is the opposite of strength?"
To confirm his suspicions, he took the cup Lily was holding and dumped it on a potted plant. Instantly, the plant wilted, and the pot shattered.
"Yikes! I was about to drink that?!" Lily squeaked.
"Didn't you test it yourself?" Porter asked.
"How would I be able to do that? I haven't transformed," she reasoned.
"...On second thought, spending the rest of my life as a seal doesn't sound so bad," he said.
"So that's it?" Lily asked. "We're just gonna be animals for the rest of our lives?"
"Maybe not," Amelia exclaimed. "I just remembered Zetal said he was making an antidote for Ixin and Umbrish. Maybe we can take it when he finishes perfecting it."
"Zetal? The guy who tried to invade Noctum?" Gusty asked. "I don't want to deal with that guy again."
"And you won't have to," Bro replied. "Me and Lini will head back to Kleptopolis and take it by force."
"Us?" Lini stammered. "B‐But we don't even know when he'll be finished with it!"
"Which is why we're gonna stay there until he's finished. Shouldn't be long, knowing him."
Lily's eyes grew bigger as she looked over at the clock. "We're gonna be late for school," she reminded everyone.
"Alright, let's make this fast," Zaire said, cracking his knuckles and pointing in several directions as he spoke. "Bro and Lini, you two head to Kleptopolis and find an antidote. Amelia, you get the kids to school. I'll show the others around the city. We'll group up at Cuddle Kitty Café."
Nobody objected to the plan, and before anyone knew it, everyone was out of the house. Bro carried Lini to Kleptopolis in a ball of light while Amelia, Lily, and Porter hopped in their car and sped off, and everyone else started their drive toward Softener City while Zaire gave them directions.
"Where are we going first?" Gusty asked.
"We'll just visit a few landmarks, then we'll head to the café on the opposite side of the city. It's a nice place to hang out, we're friends with the manager, and it's one of the few places in the city where you don't pay a fee for cash back," Zaire said. However, it took him everything he had not to answer with the pet store.
Luna was enthralled with all the seals, humans, and cars they passed, trying to reach out the door to touch one. Gusty, on the other hand, was trying to hide his sister and himself from onlookers. Of course, it's hard to do that in a car with no doors.
"I didn't think there'd be so many of these car things out here!" Pepper commented.
"That's how it works here," Zaire replied. "Everyone's out during the day, on the road, heading out to where they need to, faster than walking..."
Suddenly, Katssandra slowed the vehicle to a crawl, causing the three in the back to slam into the seats in front.
"Sorry, guys! I had to slow down because the car in front of me did!" she explained.
For a few minutes, the line of cars kept their slow pace. Soon, they found the cause– another car had crashed into a hydrant, spraying water everywhere. After passing them, the cars resumed their normal speed.
"And then there are the people who can't drive," he added as they passed by the accident.
Meanwhile, Bro and Lini finally landed in Kleptopolis, near the base of Zetal's tower.
"One of the rooms in his tower must have a lab," Bro said. "All we have to do is sneak inside the tower, find the lab, grab the antidote, and get back out without drawing too much suspicion."
"That's cool and all, but how are we even supposed to even get inside?" Lini asked.
The two moved closer to the tower and saw two Clones guarding a large metal door.
"I'll let you borrow my jacket and a scrunchie I have," Bro said.
Lini looked over at him. "Why would I need those?"
As for the two watchful Clones, they would only look forward, nowhere else. That is until they saw a woman with her hair in a bun and a black jacket enter the corner of their vision.
"Ixin...?" one of the Clones asked, refusing to look directly at the woman.
Lini quickly realized why Bro had given her those items. It was to look like Ixin, though it wasn't a perfect comparison, and it'd be hard to sell the look without a fox tail.
"Yeah, it's me," she snapped back, trying to mimic Ixin as well as she could. "Listen up, I locked myself out, so I need a way back in."
Bro, who watched from a hill of scrap, covered himself in secondhand embarrassment. He knew the Clones were stupid, but there was no way even they would fall for an excuse like that.
That was until he heard the sound of the door sliding open and saw Lini walk inside as the door began to close.
"Just when I thought they couldn't have less than zero braincells..." he muttered to himself before turning into a ball of light and sliding under the door at the last second.
"Hey Ron," one of the watching Clones called out, "did you see that?"
"Clear as day," the other replied, not breaking their stare or moving from their position.
"Think we should report it?"
"Nah– it's irrelevant now. Gotta keep looking forward."
Bro caught up with Lini in the tower's lobby, which looked like the interior of a modern hotel, complete with portraits of Zetal and a statue of his likeness. While no one else was in the room, it didn't mean they could let their guard down, since a Clone could walk into the room at any moment.
And besides, they had a job to do.
"The sooner we get you and the others back to normal, the better," Lini stated.
The two walked into the nearest elevator, where buttons lined the inside.
"Which one of these floors will get us to the lab?" Bro asked.
After a glance from Lini, the two began pressing all of the buttons, until they came to a realization.
"If we take the elevator, we might get caught," he warned.
Immediately, they leapt out before the doors closed.
"I don't feel bad for the next person who walks in there," he stated.
"Guess we're doing this the hard way," Lini sighed. "Then again, either way would be difficult– climb up the stairs or face Clones on every floor if we took the elevator.
"Who says we won't see Clones while we climb?" Bro questioned. "But you can leave them to me."
With a nod, the two started their trek up the tower. While they were climbing, Lini felt a tug on her sleeve.
"Can I have my spare jacket back?" Bro asked.
Meanwhile, after visiting all the landmarks in the city and enduring all of the weird stares, Zaire and the gang reached their last stop: Cuddle Kitty Café.
"The sign kinda reminds me of Katssandra," Gusty said, looking at the sign. "So why is this place so special?"
"You'll have to see for yourself," Zaire replied flatly.
"Well, I for one, am excited to see what's in here," Pepper responded as they got out of the car, only to be standing in front of a small creature unfamiliar to everyone but Zaire.
"Hellooo, and what might you be?" she asked, reaching out to the creature. In response, the creature let out a meow and ran into the building.
Zaire chuckled. "That's a cat. At least, that's what they look like normally, last time I checked."
"Cat?" Luna asked, following the cat inside.
"How many times do I have to tell her not to wander off..." Gusty sighed, following Luna.
"It's been a long time since I've seen an actual animal," Katssandra admitted as the other three walked inside. "It kinda gives me nostalgia."
The inside of the café was bustling. However, the controlled chaos came to a halt when everyone saw the moth girl carrying one of the cats before bumping into a woman with silver hair and cat ears.
"Are you lost, little one?" the woman asked.
"Not at all, Tsuki!" Zaire replied, standing next to Luna. "Just thought I'd introduce you to some new friends."
As Zaire was introducing the others to Tsuki, Luna passed the cat over to her brother, where it immediately began squirming, hissing, and clawing his face before leaping back into her arms.
"Of course," he groaned.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Tsuki said, "though I have to ask, Zaire– Where's the rest of your family?"
Porter and Lily were in science class, learning about the uses for cobalt and trying to look as normal as they could. Nobody could focus on anything but the two, mostly because they were tired of Mr. Cobalt babbling about his favorite material. When he realized no one was paying attention to anything but the two, he turned to them, as if they had said something funny behind his back.
"What are you hiding from me?" he growled, completely disregarding their appearances.
"Honestly, you're the first teacher who brought it up," Lily said. "We took a little trip somewhere earlier this week."
"Did wherever you went have cobalt?" he asked.
"No?" The two answered in unison.
"I'm not interested, then. Next!"
As Mr. Cobalt turned back to the whiteboard, they let out a sigh of relief.
"We need to get back to normal," Lily whispered.
"You think Bro and Lini have found an antidote yet?" Porter whispered back.
By now, Bro and Lini have lost track of where they were in the tower. The floors had no numbers, so that didn't help the situation.
"Sheesh, how does anyone keep track of where they are in this place?" Bro complained. "No windows, every door looks the same, it's so disorienting!"
"At least we haven't run into any Clones yet," Lini replied. "Still, it'd be nice to know exactly where we are."
As if on cue, they could hear the sound of Clones talking from above, as it was getting closer.
"So much for not running into any Clones," Bro said, looking around when he saw a door. "In here, quick!"
The two huddled into the room behind the door, which turned out to be a cramped storage closet. There was barely any space for one person, let alone two people. To their surprise, there was a small window in the room.
"A bit too close for comfort," Bro mumbled. "And a bit more in my personal space than I'd like..."
After Lini shushed him, they heard the Clones walk past the door.
"Did you hear about how Zetal disbanded the Alpha Squadron before their very first mission?" a voice asked.
"That's a waste," another said, as their voices started to fade. "What do you think their first mission would've been?"
When it sounded like the coast was clear, Lini tried to open the door, only for her to realize it was jammed.
"Oh, of course!" Lini exclaimed, fighting against the door. "Easy to get in, hard to get out..."
"Relax, it's not a big deal," Bro said, creating a gauntlet out of light and sending the door off its hinges.
Lini chuckled. "Right. Maybe I'll leave things to you before I start panicking. Anyway, we should be getting closer to where we need to be."
The two resumed their climb up the tower. As they ran higher up the stairs, Bro asked, "You think anyone heard that?"
Meanwhile, the school day was finally over, and Porter and Lily were the first to burst out of the doors.
"I'm surprised none of the teachers asked what happened to us," Porter said.
"Meanwhile, the other students wouldn't stop asking us questions," Lily replied. "We couldn't just tell them straight up, they'd never believe us!"
"I'm sure given our looks, they'd have a reason to."
"Oh, yeah? You're willing to believe Porter and Lily– two ordinary students, visited another dimension and got turned into a dog girl and a seal boy?"
"...When you word it like that, it still sounds pretty far-fetched."
The two walked into the parking lot, where they found Amelia napping in the car, reclined in the driver's seat, a ray of sunlight on her. The two could've sworn they heard her purring.
The moment they opened the door, she jolted awake and let out a hiss before realizing who they were.
"Whoops! Sorry, guys!" she giggled. "The sun felt so good, I couldn't resist a nap."
"Have you been in the parking lot the whole time?" Lily asked after they drove off.
"Yep– Made way more sense to wait here than to come back after a few hours," Amelia said.
A minute passed before she asked how their day went. When they responded how things would be less awkward if they were human, she let out a sigh.
"I get it. Really, I do," she stated. "But who knows? Maybe Bro and Lini are on their way to the café right now, antidote in hand."
They weren't. They were exhausted from climbing up all of those stairs.
"On second thought, maybe we should've taken the elevator," Bro panted.
"I think I got my steps in for the week," Lini added as they both collapsed. They didn't have a lot of time to lay there though, as they heard voices coming from above and below them.
Getting up quickly and looking around, they saw another door nearby and scrambled for it.
"Please don't let this room be another storage closet!" Lini begged as they opened the door and hurried inside the room.
They ended up inside what looked like a laboratory, with weird contraptions and strange liquids in giant test tubes. They could also hear Zetal's voice somewhere in the room.
"I think I just got my second wind," Bro said. "Let's hurry up and find this thing."
The two snuck around the room, until they heard Ixin and Umbrish arguing. Curious, they hid behind a desk to get a closer look.
"We've been waiting for hours! How much longer before it's finished?" Umbrish complained.
Zetal had slammed two empty glasses in front of them and poured green liquid from a bigger glass, much to Ixin and Umbrish's irritation.
"What is this?!" he shouted.
"You wanted an antidote, didn't you?" Zetal asked. "There it is. It should get you back to normal after you drink it."
"Should? Didn't you test it yourself?" Ixin asked.
"How would I be able to do that? I haven't transformed," he reasoned.
"Boy, that line sounds familiar..." Bro whispered, nudging Lini's arm.
The two animals looked at each other, then the glasses before looking at Zetal.
"How do we know this won't cause any side effects?" Ixin asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" he fired back, setting the glass behind him, just in reach of Bro and Lini. "Now do you want to be stuck the way you are now, or what?"
With a bit of hesitation, the two took the glasses and downed the liquid in one gulp. A minute passed before they doubled over in pain and fell behind the table, screaming in agony.
"Maybe I could've put some ice in there..." Zetal admitted to himself.
Soon, the screaming stopped, and they popped back into sight looking like their old self. Even Ixin's tail, which was still there, was no longer attached to her body.
"Finally!" Umbrish exclaimed. "Any longer and I would've used a Clone as a chew toy!"
"Are you also going to give those siblings the antidote as well, sir?" Ixin questioned.
In response, Zetal let out a wheezing laugh before composing himself. "No. They destroyed my machine. They ruined my invasion plans. They stole my Warperidot. Why would I help them at this point?"
"They brought us back?" Ixin reasoned. "That has to be grounds for something, right?"
Zetal shook his head. "I won't give it to them. If they wanted it, they'd have to sneak in here and take it from behind my back."
"Then you might want to stop them," Umbrish advised, pointing over Zetal's shoulder.
He looked at where the glass once was, then the door, and saw a glimpse of them before it closed. Instantly, he grew enraged to the point that his monocle looked like it would crack.
"GET THEM!" he ordered.
As for Bro and Lini, they hurried up the last flight of stairs and through a door before finally making it to the top of the tower, antidote in hand. By now, a beautiful sunset had stretched over the horizon, a small lapse from the chaos.
"How long were we in there?" Bro asked, exasperated.
They could hear the sound of footsteps getting closer to them. "Doesn't matter, we got what we needed! Let's get out of here!" Lini said.
Bro picked her up, turned into a ball of light and zoomed away before the three could reach the top, much to Zetal's fury, as he let out a yell that could be heard all throughout Kleptopolis.
By now, Amelia, Lily, and Porter had arrived at Cuddle Kitty Café as patrons were starting to leave. As they went in, they saw Katssandra eating a hamburger.
"Delicious!" she sighed. "After years of eating plants, it's refreshing to have some actual meat, even if I had to travel to another world to get it!"
She looked over at Pepper and asked, "You won't tell anyone about this, will you?"
Pepper chuckled and made a gesture as if zipping her lips shut.
"Friends!" Luna called, watching the three siblings walk in. "How was school?"
"Totally awkward," Lily replied. "I can't wait until we're back to normal."
"You won't have to wait much longer," Bro said as he and Lini also appeared through the doors.
"My, my, you all look like animals!" Tsuki said, surprised. "Zaire, what exactly happened to them?"
"Remember how I introduced you to my friends? They're not exactly from this world," he admitted.
"They visited our world, and it changed how they looked," Gusty added.
"You... visited another world?"
"So now you know our little secret," Bro said. "Our friend Lini has a machine we can use to travel to other worlds. We just ask that you don't tell anyone."
"I have no intention of doing so," she replied.
"Thank you," he sighed, handing Tsuki the antidote. "Is there any way you could make eight smoothies out of this? Oh, with extra ice."
Tsuki looked at the glass before giving him a nod and disappearing into the kitchen. After a while, she came back with eight smoothies, which looked rather appetizing, despite what was in it.
The Noctumites and the four transformed siblings each took a cup. "I doubt it'll change us, but I don't mind sharing one last drink with you guys," Katssandra said, downing her drink, everyone but Luna following suit.
A minute passed before everyone felt a stinging sensation crawl up their bodies and fell out of their seats, clutching themselves in pain.
"Are you guys okay?" Zaire asked, rushing over to check on them.
"I thought adding ice would ease the pain!" Bro screamed.
"Look! Human!" Luna cooed.
In the minute they were on the floor, Bro, Amelia, Lily, and Porter had changed back to normal, to their surprise and joy.
"Wait, they're back to normal?" Gusty said in disbelief. "Does that mean...?"
His shock went to unsurprised disappointment when he looked at his unchanged hands.
"I did say it probably won't change us," Katssandra reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah, but it would've been nice to have that hope, right?" he reasoned, looking over at Luna's drink. Without thinking, he took the cup, drank it, and was subjected to the same pain again with no changes.
"'Cause it'll definitely work the second time," Lily snickered.
"That was my drink!" Luna exclaimed.
"Trust me, I did you a favor," Gusty groaned.
After a while, the moon crept back into the sky, and everyone left the café, heading out to the parking lot.
"We should get home," Pepper said, heading to the Sand Blazer. "The moon's out, so it'll be easier to sync back into our routines."
"We're going home...?" Luna whined, climbing into the car with Gusty.
"Don't be sad, Luna," he said. "Think of it this way– you'll be able to tell all our friends in Noctum everything you saw!"
This immediately perked Luna up, as she looked back at the six and waved. "Yeah! We'll never forget you, friends!"
After their final goodbyes, Lini raised the Warperidot and created a portal for them.
"Everyone ready? Next stop: Noctum!" Katssandra cheered, flooring the gas.
The four waved goodbye as the Sand Blazer disappeared through the portal.
"There they go..." Amelia sighed as the portal closed. "I wonder if their lives are just as weird as ours."
As they looked over at where their friends used to be, Bro looked over at Lini. "You know what you have to do with the machine now, right?" he asked.
"Right, I'll add a limiter before I use it again," she replied. "Didn't think Zetal's knowledge would actually help me, but there's a first time for everything."
As the six got into their own car, Lini asked what they did in Noctum.
"How about we talk about it over a bit of 'Bubblegum Sky'?" Porter suggested.
"Bubblegum... what?"
"A popstar gave us her newest album during our stay," Zaire answered. "Hit it!"
And with that, they began their drive home, the sounds of Poppy the Chinchilla blasting through their speakers and the chatter about their adventure all the way there.