Time: ???
The building was huge, big enough to contain what they would figure to be jail cells and laboratories. Karma only saw one window on the side of the large building, Reema sneaking low to the ground, going to see what exactly was going on. Ludwig crossed his arms as Karma dragged him down, following Reema. They approached the window, seeing it had glass, but the iron bars were in front of the glass; apparently it was a mix of a lab and a jail cell. Karma thought it quite odd, though she stuck her head over, putting her back to the side of the wall and barely looking in the window. Ludwig stood behind her, Reema sneaking under the window and going to the other side to peer in.
"What do you see?" Ludwig asked as Karma held up her hand, motioning him to be quiet.
Inside the building were tests tubes. Karma glared, seeing Vara was strapped in one, her ankles and wrists held in leather bindings, her head hanging. It looked more like torture, but there were some wires attached to Vara's head, some on her wrists as well as the leather straps, and there were even more near her eyes. Other figures moved here and there, Reema staring upon them rather than upon Vara.
"So who are we looking for?" Reema whispered as Karma pointed to the figure that was in the test tube, the figure that was Vara Yosho. Reema thought for a moment, and snarled, her eyes narrowing.
"She's here?!" Ludwig said as Karma nodded, not even glancing to him. She seemed to be trying to think of what to do. "So what's the plan?" he asked as Karma backed away. Ludwig took a quick glance, and almost found himself feeling sorry for Vara.
"Wait... Lemme think..." Reema spoke as she sat against the wall, placing her palms on her head. Ludwig was humming a soft melody, thinking as Karma looked to the sky. The moon was visible, the sky had clashing colors of a reddish hue. Blazing upon the red was purple, and surrounding it all were gentle strokes of blue. It was like an artist had painted it, the greatest artist on Plit, with the way it glistened like fresh paint. There was seemingly nothing that could disturb it... but Karma disagreed with that thought... time disturbed it, always, but yet she liked that, for time brought a tomorrow, and whether or not she wanted that tomorrow, Karma decided, she wouldn't know until it came.
"There is a time. Now is the time. We should raid the place."
"What? Karma, are you serious?" Ludwig's expression changed from somewhat relaxed to an 'Are you insane?' glance. "There are only three of us!"
"Scientists? What are they going to do to us? A little yelling? It might just work," Reema claimed as she glanced back in the window, looking and counting. "There are only five of them. Weak too. A Birdo, a Shy Guy, something I don't know... looks like some sort of experiment, a Koopa, and.... Human? No... demons. Another... Grr..." Reema glared at the way the "Human's" skin sort of pulsed, to a black, then to a palish color. It was a female. Reema smiled, glancing at her axe. "I'll take the demon. I've got... a... strong grudge against them for some reason." Reema then looked to Karma and Ludwig.
"I'll take the Koopa and the Shy Guy. By now, I've gotten good against flames..." Karma said as she glanced irritably at Ludwig, knowing the Shy Guy in there probably would use that against her.
"We've got to make it quick. They may have backup forces. Don't give them time to call for their little people," Ludwig said, completely ignoring Karma's look and glancing back to the Birdo. "I guess I got our Birdo. Man... he looks fierce."
"I doubt that," Reema said as she looked to her axe again, having mixed feelings about fighting. "And I'll also have the... thing... creature," she said, not really able to see what it was completely. Shadows moved against the wall... she hated shadows. The light in there were low, something else she disliked.
"On the count of three...." Reema looked at all of them, ready for whatever was going to happen. She was going to do this for Teela; Teela... had caused her hatred for demons. Reema somewhat believed Teela, though at first, every time she had wanted to believe Teela, the hatred had took hold. She honestly wanted to believe Teela, and she knew somewhere... she did. But the hatred for demons, which Reema decided Teela wasn't now, already had bloomed long ago, and she knew she had to make sure to talk with Teela.... hopefully patch up their frienship, if Teela ever came back... Reema had to live to see this all through. Another fight... Though Reema knew not who this Vara was, she was going to protect Teela's current friends... And maybe... Teela would understand... though Reema didn't know, as she hadn't seen Teela in... since Teela had been eleven years old. It had been about three or four years... Reema didn't even know Teela anymore. She wondered what had happened to the small semi-cowardly Yoshi girl who only fought when she was halfway finished with, about to fall completely, and Reema knew she always would fall.... but now, Teela... Reema knew... had changed. This care for her freinds, this love for living... had brought Teela... into complete life, no longer fearing the world. Teela wouldn't fall, she would protect this Karma. Reema didn't understand why... she thought... and realized.
Teela had always feared the world, always had run, but her curiousity had been great, and sometimes got her into fights, as the things she overheard and such were things she was never supposed to know. Teela never had much of the world, never had anything but Reema and her parents and maybe a little more when she was young... Reema thought some more. That was why. Teela wanted to keep what she had, and would give her very life to die with it still. If there was a friend Teela had, Reema figured, as Teela had protected Reema when Reema wanted to return her stuff, Teela would fall protecting them, or do whatever it took to keep that friend happy. Reema knew... Teela losing her parents... Reema had dispised them after she'd heard of their death... It had made her stronger, the world had become one with her, shown her how to live. Reema now understood... Teela's friends were all she had, her parents were gone now... and Teela would do whatever it took to keep this all pieced together. Reema... then realized something... Teela had saved her... or maybe Teela just hates innocents to leave... Reema didn't understand, was Teela her friend, or did Teela just do it because... why else? Reema would have to talk with Teela... she had to see... but until then, whether Teela liked it or not, Reema... in her head admitted it... Teela was a friend.
_
Time: ???, Setting: In the air, above Chaos Castle
"Shot?" Wreckless asked stupidly as Shot hovered in the air, his face kind of of red from the wind whipping him. They were quite a few feet away from Lord Chaos's castle when Shot stopped, Wreck doing the same.
"What now?!" he asked irritably.
"Don't you... think the trash would still be here?"
"I'm wondering how they got here at all," Shot replied as he looked to Wreck. "Lord Chaos must have expected highly of them... The Yoshi girl... it was like he knew or something. But... you're probably right. Perhaps we should stay on patrol, if you will call it that, and watch for the trash. Wow, Wreck... for once you had a nice idea, you idiot... musclehead."
"Thanks... er... I think." Wreckless flexed his muscles stupidly, almost losing his balance. "How do these things work anyway?"
"They don't, really. Tech... gr... made the originals, and Lord Chaos... somehow made copies, or maybe even... Tech made them all? Nah... Tech is pure genius though, no matter how much I hate him... For some reason, whatever he thinks about... he can make. No one exactly knows how Tech does it. Not even Ribbon," Shot stated as Wreck nodded.
"Let's find the trash. Do they have names?"
"Who cares? Do you name the trash in your trash can?! No!!! You just throw it away! AND THAT IS WHAT WE'LL DO WITH THEM!!! Apparently Tech and Ribbon couldn't handle them! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Shot laughed maniacally as he looked down below. He noticed the castle, wondering if they were inside. He doubted it. Chaos would have caught them, most likely...
"YEAH!!!" Wreckless grew excited as they began to fly off, slowly, though farther away, was the lab where the "trash" was. Wreckless and Shot knew not a thing of what Lord Chaos was planning... It seemed they were doing what they wanted.... Typical of them.
Setting: Teela's Mind; Time: ???
Kamek stood in a dark place, his wand illuminating as he muttered a few words. After he did that, a column of light appeared, a figure raising in front of Kamek.
"I can't explain what happened, and I can't erase the things I've said and done. Why me? I don't understand! There was nowhere to run, and I'm sick of this life, I want to scream, I want it to leave." It was an older version of Teela, apparently, as her eyes were shut, only saying things.
"There are things you will regret," Kamek replied, wondering what this was.
"You are confused," the figure smiled as he shrugged.
"What do we truly know?" Kamek asked as the older Teela chuckled.
"What I meant was you should regret nothing. It happens for a purpose."
"Then you'll help me find the real Teela?" Kamek asked, knowing good and well this was not the real Teela, as she was strange.
"What do you mean real? How do you know the real? What is this, some kind of joke?" The older Teela's shut eyes moved as though she were glaring, despite the fact that they were still shut.
"... You're not real."
"And you are? There is nothing here that is real! There is no such thing as real! I've killed myself several times, and I just come back!" The older Teela laughed an insane, almost evil really, laugh as Kamek held the wand at his side.
"Are you saying that if you die you come back?"
The mind is a very tricky place. There are many traps, and Kamek knew this more than most. He understood the mind was not meant to be entered just like that, as then we could never truly be ourselves, and there are many things that just aren't supposed to be a part of the mind. Kamek knew Teela wasn't this old, as this Teela was a full grown adult, just as tall as Kamek himself. There was no way this was the real Teela, the one who was in charge of everything in her mind. Kamek figured he was on the outskirts of the halls of Teela's mind. This could, perhaps, be a test of some sort, but it sure was a puzzling one.
"Precisely," older Teela smiled innocently, Kamek rolling his eyes. And with that, he shoved the wand into the figure's eye, turning his head away.
"Right. That's not the strongest you've got, is it?"
"Haha..." And the figure shimmered, another light column bringing up a smaller version of Teela, who lacked fangs but was glowing a green color. Without turning towards Kamek, she turned and ran towards a staircase that faded and became semi-solid as she stood by them, waiting for Kamek. He walked over to her, watching the stairs as she only stared at him for a moment, staring into his eyes, her's sparkling with innocence, silent innocence as she ran up the stairs, every step she took making one of them completely solid. She stopped at the top step, placing her hand on the wall, a door appearing. Kamek watched as she opened it and went through. He looked back to the dark, nothing else happening as he sighed and started walking up the stairs carefully, his old bones aching as he approached the door.
It was a normal door, the doorknob a golden color with symbols on it, the door itself a silvery color. It had a red streak down it as he placed his claw on the knob and turned it, taking a step into a world that shimmered beneath his feet. The small Yoshi child shut her eyes and opened them hesitantly, looking into Kamek's. After she blinked, Kamek noticed the swirl of colors everywhere, a figure emerging from one. He watched as the light beams went through one another, weaving seemingly, as Kamek watched it materialize completely.
"... Kamek! I WANNA NAPPYBYE!!!!!" The voice was familiar, Kamek staring in awe.
"Familiar?" the smaller Teela asked as Kamek nodded. She didn't say another word, leaving Kamek to stare. The surroundings suddenly became so very familiar to Kamek as he stared, his mouth gaping. The crib... with iron bars, but the comfiest mattress you'd ever feel... The open window, the starry curtains...
"KAMEK!!! WHAY AWEN'T YOU WISENING?!" The orange hair in a ponytail, the green shell with spikes, the beady eyes... It was Baby Bowser... Kamek watched as the small Koopa child waited to be placed in his crib.
"So? It's not real," Kamek said knowingly.
"Of course it isn't." The small Yoshi child looked down, waving her hands, everything turning back to the swirl of colors all clashing and blending into one another continuously, as Kamek turned around to find the door he had come through was gone. "What is?" And with that, she shut her eyes, Kamek watching the swirl of colors come clashing towards him. It took on the form of water and he screamed, watching it come towards him; but as it finally hit him, it went right through him. "But your fear is. And I can make it real. Do you want to feel it?"
"What is the meaning of this? There is no way you can make it real... I can't feel it... you can't hurt me. It's impossible."
"Hehaha... You're testing me, are you not?" And with that, the small Yoshi girl smiled as the swirls of color attacked him again, Kamek staring there, the water rushing at him again. This time it hit him, a terrible wave, and it hit him powerfully... the wetness... getting him, sopping his robes, his breathing gone as he tried to cast some sort of spell, but it didn't work. He was under the water, being dragged under as the small Yoshi child laughed, waving her arms up, the water floating above Kamek's body, which lay on the swirls of color as the Yoshi child laughed even louder, Kamek hearing it ehco. He was breathing heavily as he stood up, tired.
"H-How?! You couldn't have possibly entered my mind! There is no way you could hurt me in your own mind... not without a trap or something... You can't just hit me with something solid, or even a liquid like that! You're not even the... real one... I mean! HOW?!" Kamek was bewildered as he stared, wanting to leave, but now there was no way.
"Your past is what you make of it, as is your future; reasoning is how, and memory is waiting," the Yoshi child spoke. Kamek wondered what she meant. He was always acting like that, saying odd things and such, but she meant it... Or was she doing as he did?
"The past is the past, so be it sentenced that way," Kamek replied as he reached a claw up and touched the water. It was just like the water on Plit: it was wet, had a texture, a wet texture, a feeling, a cold feeling, and Kamek felt it...
"The back of time, the back of your mind, out of the back you fall, only to find you're gone." The Yoshi child was rising up as she came back down, her eyes shutting, apparently hiding the sorrow within them again. Kamek was trying to see what she was saying, hoping it was a riddle.
"The back of time?"
"The back of your mind," the Yoshi girl repeated as Kamek thought.
"Out of the back?"
"You fall."
"Only to find?"
"You're gone." The Yoshi smiled as she took a breath, at least playing the part like she was real. "The back of time, the back of your mind, out of the back you fall, only to find you're gone."
Kamek thought for a few more moments, the Yoshi girl staring patiently at him. He knew this was a riddle. It was obvious, being as she was waiting for him to do something.
"The back of time... The back of your mind..." He figured she was talking about him. "The back of time... The back of my mind..." He thought some more, repeating the next verse. "Out of the back I fall... only to find I'm gone?"
"Out of the back you fall." The Yoshi girl smiled, looking up, pointing up at the swirl of colors, making them form a sky, the clouds appearing as Kamek looked at how the clouds seemed so peaceful as they suddenly clashed with the swirl of colors they were made from.
"The back of time.... the back of my mind. Out of the back you fall... only to find I'm gone." The Yoshi girl said nothing, just clapped her hands as Kamek suddenly felt like he was falling, looking down into a black pit of some sort. Then the Yoshi girl clapped again; this time, the sky moving further away, making him feel like he was falling even more realistically. He noticed it was like an illusion.. He thought... was this part of it? An illusion... He put it with the riddle...
"An illusion... Out of the back of time, the back of my mind, you fall, only to find I'm gone... It took time? To... the back of my mind you fell? Only to find I'm gone." He then thought about what he had just said aloud, the Yoshi girl pointing to the sky, making lightning in it as it flared, though no noise was heard. Kamek stared as he thought some more, just wondering what exactly it meant. "You fell into my mind... Apparently it took time to get there... You fell... and I was gone, because... I'm here!!! AND YOU'RE IN MY MIND... and this illusion... is... part of my mind!" Kamek wondered, thinking out the possibilities, and it wasn't possibly mind connection... Kamek then figured out what this child meant.
Apparently, his mind had been open, and he was more or less here, searching, and thus he could have been open to illusions, dragging peices of his own mind here, and perhaps his senses had been grabbed, making him feel his own mind, but being here, he was feeling it here... illusion? Teela could have gotten that far in... but even that seemed powerful... Kamek thought as he looked back to the Yoshi child, a figure of Teela. There were two different figures, not exact replicas... Kamek knew this one, the smaller one, a younger one, was a result of looking a little too much at pictures, or thinking of memories... The older one... Kamek wondered... That was... could have been results of visions and such... But why hadn't he seen a room or something, a sort of open mind door? Or some place... Kamek knew what the halls of one's mind looked like when they were psychic or things like that... He didn't think Teela could be... but being able to get far enough in... and take control of his senses.... Why hadn't he fought it, how could it had happened? Kamek wondered... but now he thought some more about the riddle... All these rules, he figured, were being broken, and now he just grew even more curious. How was any of this possible? Illusion? Was it an illusion?
"Yes?"
"Illusion?" Kamek stated as the Yoshi child rolled her eyes. Kamek was slightly confused.
"So is that your answer?" And with that, the Yoshi girl closed her eyes, two small swords, bigger than daggers but smaller than katanas, appearing in her hands. Kamek kept thinking, what was this? She appeared as though she were going to attack him... And with that thought, she lunged as Kamek knew he had to be sure... this was an illusion! Don't fight back... And as the swords collided with his stomach, they went in, as Kamek knew the blood would probably start pouring out... and all he could think was that he had failed... This young Yoshi's mind had done him in....
"Illusion. Hah." The Yoshi girl laughed as she smiled relentlessly, her eyes shutting as Kamek's vision faded, he waiting for the blood to start flowing through him... But the blood never came.
Kamek blinked, watching the colors fade. He blinked several times, his surroundings changing as he looked down; there were no cuts in his stomach. Kamek jolted up, wondering how on Plit... What exactly had just happened?!
"I was right?"
"About what?" A light blue figure stood before Kamek, a paddleball in her hands. She stood, bouncing the ball against the wooden paddle, hearing the noise echo every time she hit it. He watched it go up and down, though it was glowing.
Kamek thought... He had been right...
All he'd had to do was let her attack him... and he was warped here...
He figured if he would have been... Ah, that's why the colors were there.
They would have probably crushed me or something if I would have attacked
her... It was completely an Illusion... I made myself... feel the water...
I knew what water felt like... but somehow she had to know what I knew...
Kamek thought as the Yoshi girl continued to bounce the paddleball... Kamek
watched mysteriously, wondering if this too was a test...
"Another one?" Kamek muttered to himself as the figure looked up to him, her eyes holding a load of innocence as he stared. She was about the same age as the Teela in reality.
"Another what, Kamek?" She knew his name as well. This certainly was getting odd. He would definitely get into her mind, definitely look into the other halls. But there would probably be a lot of harder tests then... She threw the paddleball up and miraculously continued bouncing it immediately after catching is as Kamek watched it bounce up and down. The noise was quite annoying as it echoed. Every step this Teela took bled color upon the blackened ground. She walked towards him slowly as he stared. "Me? Hehe. I'm the one and only, but what makes you think there aren't... many sides of me?" She drew closer... Kamek backed away, noticing the really odd look in her eyes. They flared with light... in the back, it was really... odd... But what had been normal so far? This... hadn't been like anyone else's head he'd ever been in. Even if Kamek wasn't that far in, there had been more than one test... Her inside mind was complicated, probably far more complicated than this.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"You don't understand? Ah, what do we understand around us, for the world around us is so uncertain, and the only things we can be certain of... is change! But what is change but the very definition of time? For without change, there would be no time, for change is time! If something changes, it changes over time, for time is never the same. I wonder what it would be like to be time... to be time itself, however, is but a curse, because by being time you are thus caused to be always, constantly changing, and then you're never the same." Teela looked to the paddleball as Kamek watched it as well. He was thinking about what she'd just said. It seemed a little beyond her years... but...
"Oh so true, oh so true," Kamek replied, nodding.
"But what is truth, Kamek? How do you know what truth is, for truth is basically what you have made of it."
"And what do you mean by this?" Kamek asked as Teela smiled.
"What is truth, Kamek? Is it something you understand? Is it something that happened? Is it... something that is?"
"Would it be all three, or would it not?" Kamek replied knowingly as Teela giggled.
"I do so like the way you phrased that. You are correct, sire. You are. But I am as well. Truth is what you make of it. This paddleball is truth, is it not? For is its existence sure? Is it reality? What is reality, Kamek? Do you know what reality is?"
"What you make of it." Kamek replied, catching on. "Truth is reality, as both are what you make of it."
"And I take it you got through the illusion."
"Yes, I must say that was ingenious. I wish I could only begin to comprehend... what... and how you did that!"
"Ah, You will never understand. As do you fully understand reality? Why do you exist? Why, Kamek?"
"Many reasons."
"Really? See, this is where truth is separated from truth. Living is the reason. My reason, that is."
"Oh, and what did I mean when I said many reasons? I am including all reasons. As we all live for a purpose."
"And that is the truth? Then I guess saying there is no purpose... is a lie?"
"Well.... truth... Ah, I don't understand."
"Heh, you do. You understand it, if you want to understand it. Truth and reality... are what you make of it. It is like a story. If you understand it, you wanted and did. If you didn't, well, you didn't." Teela shrugged, turning around and eyeing her paddleball.
"I understand it now. You are saying that life is what you make of it. But really, where is the truth?"
"Truth? What do you mean?" Teela asked as Kamek rolled his eyes.
"Come on. Did you seriously want me to believe you are the real Teela?"
"There is no real Teela. What is but a dream is but a dream." She turned to him and giggled again.
"Hm? What do you... mean?" Kamek asked as Teela shrugged.
"I mean what you make of what I said."
"Where is Teela?"
"Am I not right in front of you?"
"You're not Teela."
"Oh, I am. I am indeed. But how can you be sure?"
"I want the truth, imposter, I want the truth."
"You're saying you want reality?" Teela smiled and laughed. She then melted away, leaving only her paddleball.
Kamek stood there, watching all the color on the blackened ground. It seemed like... it was being painted... with every step... that Teela had taken... there had been another color. Colors Of The Mind?
"I was taught the ways of desire." A darkened figure rose from the stirring shadows. It was a humanoid though it was kind of hard to make out any other distinct features. Another figure rose.
"I don't belong anyway." Kamek recognized this voice... It was... Karma! But he didn't recognize the first one.
"I am the Shadow." And with that, several of the exact same figure rose from the shadows, only one stepping forward. They all looked like Teela.
"This is the reality." It had been the same Teela. She picked her paddleball up off the ground as Kamek looked around. People he had never seen before, and some he had, stirred up from the shadows.
"This is not reality, for reality is what you make of it, and it appears... you have made it a reality."
"Hehehe... Truth?"
"No. Reality... is truth... This is more illusions, isn't it?" Kamek asked as Teela shook her head.
"No. What gives me so much power? Right? That is what you're wondering, aren't you? So many people... say it gives power, but it seems no one knows how to use it, being as they don't understand it, but truthfully, you needn't understand it."
"Truthfully? Reality? Understanding?" Kamek was getting a headache.
"Your head is dizzy, isn't it?" Another figure rose right beside Teela. It was Kamek... it was Kamek! The real Kamek stared in awe as Teela sighed.
"Clashes." Teela looked to the ground, her face turning red, as if she were upset. "It's all I'm left with. Clashes."
"What do you mean?" All the figures disappeared as Kamek was turning around, a complete circle, watching them all melt into the ground.
"I cannot tell you, Kamek. I am who I am, and no one can understand, because to understand, you would have to understand my reality and where the line is drawn, and maybe there isn't one."
"What?"
"You heard what I said." Teela glared, a tear falling from her face as she clenched her fists.
"The line between Reality is where it... Clashes... with... Fantasy," Kamek clarified as Teela shook her head.
"No. What is Fantasy? What do you mean?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!" And with that, Teela sunk into the ground as Kamek shrugged.
"You don't want to understand. As you said, what you want to understand, you will, and what you don't, you won't." Kamek pondered for a moment... just thinking. "Clashes? Fantasy and Reality... Clash... yes... as do good and evil... Wait... Fantasy? You're saying... You don't know... the line? Yes?"
"Exactly, Kamek. I don't know the line between reality and fantasy. What is reality, and what is truth? We may all understand what they are... definitions... but what about experience? How do we experience what reality and fantasy is?" And with that, the Yoshi girl sighed, leaving Kamek to think.
"You are fantasy," Kamek stated as Teela shook her head.
"Then how am I standing here? THERE IS NO FANTASY!!! THIS IS REALITY!!!" Teela screamed as Kamek shook his head.
"No, Teela. Imposter you may be, you aren't yet. I mean... you are Teela... but you aren't, don't you understand?!" Kamek asked as Teela's eyes filled with tears.
"No, for I will never understand. Everything here... is truth... I make it happen... but yet... it feels so... shadowy..." Teela looked around as Kamek nodded. He then turned away from Teela and started into the shadows.
"TEELA?! I KNOW I'M CLOSE TO YOUR MIND!!! THE REAL ONE!!! CAN'T YOU HEAR ME?! I'M IN YOUR IMAGINATION!!!!"
"Imagination? What are you talking about, Kamek?"
"Teela, you're not the real Teela."
"Then who am I, genius?" Teela paddled the paddleball, a block of wood materializing as the ball suddenly slowed, glowing, like time was being stopped. It hit the block of wood, speeding up, burning the wood as Kamek stared.
"That was interesting. I like the way you think. You made that up?" Kamek asked as Teela nodded.
"Yeah. I've always wanted a weapon like that in Fantasy, but I've only got it in reality."
"Wait, what?!" Kamek asked as Teela looked at him crossly.
"You heard me. You really need to stop acting like you haven't heard me."
"No... it's just... it caught me off guard, that's all." Kamek thought, placing a hand on his head.
"Want some water?" Teela asked as Kamek stared at her like she was crazy.
"Uh... sure..." And with that, Teela waved her hand, making a table come up from the shadows, as Kamek noticed a few pieces of jewelry and trinkets by the glass of water.
"Oh... forgive me..." And with that, Teela walked over to the table, snatching up the jewelry and making a box rise out of the shadows. She placed it all in the box, snapping it shut as Kamek noticed the dice within them.
"WAIT!!!" Kamek yelled as he snatched the dice. " Teela! Do you know... what these are?"
"Yeah... A pair of dice... The Dice Of Fate, actually."
"Teela.... These.... are the Dice Of Fate!!"
"Yeah, in Fantasy... I was dreaming... that I was... It's funny really, so don't call me crazy... but... You were going inside my mind and everything. I was having pain and everything! It's so funny!!! Weird dream, huh?" Teela asked as Kamek was taking a drink of water, though he spit it out the moment she had said that.
"Teela... Wait... Fantasy?"
"Yes. You know, not real?"
"Then what is reality?"
"Here, right now. You know, you, me, all of these shadows."
"And... reality is.... what you make of it!!! TEELA! THIS IS YOUR FANTASY!!!"
"Kamek... What are you talking about?" Teela asked, raising one of her eyes making the expression. "You must be nuts..."
"Teela... I really am inside your head. Why else am I here? Where else did I come from?"
"I don't know. But I do know I don't get many visitors. I'm lonely here a lot. There's not much fun, besides this paddleball and myself. Sometimes people appear, but I make them go away... because they try to hurt me... A lot of things sometimes... tell me they want me to... destroy things, and I end up destroying them by accident. And I really don't remember much... besides my Fantasy.... It's funny. Because in Fantasy, as I was saying, you're really inside my mind, and it's really odd... But I'm in a whole lot of pain there... in this dream I keep watching... and I'm asleep right now... or at least unconscious... " It clicked in Kamek's head. He understood... she had been unconscious... She could forget she was not awake... She could be lost in her own mind, trapped here in her own imagination, she, her power of illusion, and reality... her discrepancy... was amazing. Kamek then decided, this was truly, and had been all along, Teela, the original, no matter how odd it seemed really.
"Teela... This... is your power! I am... in your mind, I've been here all along... But where are your memories? Where is everything you do all the time? How are you watching this?! How do you know?"
"You want to see too? Okay. We can both laugh!" And with that, Teela jumped up slightly, stomping really hard on the ground as the shadows shimmered and came to life, almost like a movie screen. Teela then stuck her hands into the shadows, pulling up two chairs. She also had a bag of popcorn. "Want some?"
"Uh... no thanks..." Kamek sat down, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen... to happen! Teela sat there, her legs crossed as she took a bite of popcorn.
"It's starting!" Teela giggled uncontrollably as she stared at the screen.
The view was on Kamek, blurry however, then it shifted to Venoma. Kamek watched as the screen basically moved towards Kamek as he harnessed... the viewer really, judging by it was through Teela's eyes. After a few moments of moving. Kamek heard himself speak, telling Teela she could use any power she wanted and as much, explaining.
"That sounds really cool," Teela mentioned to Kamek as he nodded.
"It is."
"I bet."
"But... hm... never mind." Kamek was going to ask her how she could not know it was her. He wondered... what happened? She had just fallen unconscious... how? And why? What had caused it? Kamek was lost in a pool of questions, questions upon question, and seemingly no answers...
_
Setting: Kamek's Lab, Time: 5:56 PM
Venoma paced back and forth, looking upon Kamek's body, which wasn't moving at all, and Teela, who didn't even seem to be breathing really... or moving... or doing anything... He wondered if she was... dead... Venoma shoved the thoughts out of his head.
"Where and what are they doing? It's been... a little more than a half an hour..." he muttered as he paced, wondering... it seemed like there was nothing he could do! He was stranded here, absolutely nothing he could do. What was taking Kamek so long? It hadn't taken him that long to get into Teela's mind... Venoma understood the mind was complex, but it had been too easy getting into her mind. He wondered... Then again, he probably went through the... protosyatha thing... It was... a connection of course... as Venoma stated... Some sort of mind connection...
TEELA!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!
_
"TEELA!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Kamek paused as he heard it... It sounded like Venoma's voice...
"Didja here that?" Teela asked as Kamek nodded.
"Do you know who it is?"
"I don't know. It sounds like this guy." Teela looked to the screen, pointing to Venoma.
"Teela... these are your memories! Teela, this is you! How could you not recognize your own memories?!" Kamek asked as Teela stared at him, giving him a look that said "Are you crazy? Look again."
"No, Kamek, that is fantasy! I'm reality, remember?"
"Teela, no." And with that, Kamek had an idea. She had power here... this imagination... she was probably connected to her imagination... to the rest of her mind. "Can you... Teela... I want you to think about... a room... a maze, hallways..."
"What? Kamek, what are you talking about?"
"Teela, I need you to understand me, okay? I need you to remember, think long and hard... How did you end up in here? In this place?"
"I... uh... am just here. I live here."
"All right, Teela, yes, you live here. Take me to the place where you dwell often."
"What do you mean?" Kamek was getting frustrated. There had to be... at least... different rooms, memories, a doorway... a sealed doorway, an area to where Teela's powers were kept... something like that... There had to be... It's not like her imagination... was... yes, it was apparently a defense to her entire mind, a tough one, but it wasn't made to be, well... it was more of a weapon... to destroy other people's minds, really... and Teela dwelled here... but where was... everywhere else?! How could he describe it? Kamek just wasn't. sure... he didn't know... Apparently, Kamek was guessing, that... Teela could take you anywhere... She just had to... picture it...
"Take me... to... your bedroom. I want to see your... uh... wallpaper."
"Ok, Kamek. I'd be glad to." Teela got up as the chairs sank. Teela waved her hands, and sort of pushed into the shadows, which there only seemed to be space at first, but as Teela placed her hands into the air, the shadows started to shapeshift and change right beneath Kamek's feet. He was in a hallway... just as he had wanted to be. "Come on!"
Kamek followed Teela as he noticed a rather large door at the end, on which was... a glowing reddish energy, with a total of three locks, two of which were unlocked. Kamek gasped... He knew all too well that had been one of the gateways into one's soul. The mind and soul were so very much connected... Teela seemed to pay it no mind...
Teela led Kamek to the last door, right beside the locked one as he followed her in. Teela stood by the door as Kamek looked around. The floor was bare... there was a bed... a few pictures...
"Teela, do you think I can go exploring? Around?" Kamek asked as Teela nodded.
"Sure. It's not like I have anything you can steal." Kamek watched as she waved her wrist slightly, making her paddleball appear. She sat down on her bed, pulling the covers around herself. "But I'm going to sleep. So when you walk out of that door, it's going to disappear, just to warn you."
"Uh... alrighty..." Kamek turned and went through the door. Sure enough, it vanished...