Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

To The Castle!

"Dib!" Kipo cried, before Dib could say something probably sarcastic. "I need-There's something chasing us, I need to go!"

"Chasing you?" Dib repeated. "You seemed fine a couple hours ago!"

"Yeah, well-HUH?" Kipo suddenly cut herself off when she was suddenly raised, levitating into the air. "What the-?"

"Kipo, you're a ghost!" Dib cried, and Kipo glared at him.

"I'm not dead!" she argued, and then thought about that. "Well, I hope not. Just say whatever you're going to say, Dib! Hurry up!"

"Don't just-! Fine," Dib huffed, reluctantly agreeing. Was he really in a position to argue? "Six wanted you to know that you're NOT stuck in that world forever, and you can come out at any time!"

"Really?" Kipo asked, relieved despite her panic. "How?"

"Um..." Dib thought hard to try and remember what Six said. "Er... the shadow... that Lutch, or Luz, or however you pronounce it, she can move the shadow again! It's, um, like a door you close, you just have to open it up again!"

After that explanation, Dib stepped back, shaking his head. "She, uh... said you would understand."

Kipo, thankfully, did. "Oh, yeah!" she said. "Hey, that does make sense!"

"It what?"

Kipo fixed Dib with a determined look. "Alright, tell Six I got her message! As soon as we pick up the blue haired girl, we'll be coming right back!"

"Blue haired girl?" Dib's brow furrowed; he was obviously trying to remember if he knew a person like that.

"I'll explain everything later," Kipo promised. "When we get back, specifically, because I don't think we can talk like this anymore, Dib. This world is very dangerous, and I can't afford to talk anymore."

"Huh? Oh, ok," Dib said, not sounding either concerned nor intrigued in the slightest. "Alright then."

"Alright," Kipo said, and then she gave him a smile. "Also, thanks Dib. We all really appreciate this."

"You better," Dib snorted. "I am literally lying down my life over here; I'm being hunted down by a monster for you guys. You BETTER be grateful."

But by the time Dib got all that out, Kipo was gone, replaced by the dark forest surrounding them, and the towering mountain above him.

The first thing Kipo became aware of when the white plane melted away were hands on her back. For a minute, she panicked and writhed around, and fell to the ground with an oof!

"Oh, Kipo, are you back?" Luz said, sticking her face in Kipo's. And while it was sudden and a breach of personal space, Kipo found it relieving. "Man, that was weird! You'd just stopped, in the middle of the path, and then it looked like you turned around and just started TALKING to the weird monsters chasing us! It was a little embarrassing at first, because it looked like you were pleading with them and they just... weren't listening, but eventually you mentioned that guy you were talking to last time, and we realized what you were doing, so we picked you up and dragged you along! It would have been funny if it wasn't so terrifying!"

Kipo blinked, and halfway through Luz's rant, tuned her out. Not exactly on purpose, but Kipo was feeling disoriented and her head was like cotton, and she had no clue where she was. Underneath her, there were... planks of wood, and when she looked down at it, she saw train tracks. And not only train tracks, but train tracks suspended far, FAR above the ground, hundreds of feet below them.

Kipo's eyes went wide.

"Wh-What?" Kipo scrambled to her feet, unintentionally cutting Luz off. "Where are we? What happened? Did we out run them?"