"Derby? Come on Derby, wake up!"

Derby slowly opened her eyes, the blurry sight of Lacy above her. Was this really happening? She felt like she was having an odd dream.

"I...feel kind of strange," Derby said.

"What? Strange how? Are you alright?" Lacy asked.

The ground felt cold under her.

"We're back in Skarlax, aren't we?" Derby said. "It's nice to be back here..."

"I...I guess?" Lacy said.

"We're gonna see the flamingos?" Derby asked. "Where have they all gone?"

"What are you talking about?" Lacy asked.

For some reason, Derby could think about nothing other than hundreds of thousands of flamingos all gathered in a vast plain. They were close, somehow she knew that. Wherever they were, the ground rumbled, she could sense that too.

"They're coming," Derby said.

"What? Who?" Lacy asked.

"Two of them. From..."

"Derby, you have to wake up, we got teleported to some castle, then you were out...well I think you're still knocked out..."

Derby sat up, yawning. Like waking up from a bad nap, it took a few moments to come to.

"The...sixth..." Derby said.

Lacy stayed by her side as she gradually felt more awake.

"Huh?" Derby said when she was awake. "I just had the weirdest dream..."

Lacy sighed in relief. "Oh, phew, you're back to normal. You were talking really strangely for a second there..."

"I was?" Derby asked.

"Maybe just...dimensional travel being strange, I guess?" Lacy said.

Derby tried to remember how she got here. It felt a bit different than the first time Derby fell into the portal that formed on her lawn. One moment she was at the beach with Lacy, the next she was asleep. And now the two were in a dimly lit dungeon. It was a fancier place than the cell she met Brie in, at least. It had a bench and some chairs. They didn't put her in chains this time, but the guards that held them looked a lot scarier, less humanoid and more just goopy sludge monsters with glowing eyes.

"Are we really in Skarlax?" Lacy asked.

Derby didn't really start to panic until she saw Lacy's worried look. A similar reaction to when Derby wasn't feeling well but only really understood that when someone asked if she was OK.

A pit in her stomach immediately. A chasm of anxiety that her whole body felt like it was chained to. They were captured. In some freaky dungeon again. And alone.

"I...I think...I think so, yes..." Derby felt her voice catch in her throat, her anxious stomach making even speaking difficult. "It's...Brie's...like her whole dark lord thing."

"Oh," Lacy said.

"Can you...use your modding skills, somehow? Hack into their databases or something?" Derby was babbling, barely making sense even to herself.

"Sure, let me just whip up some digital furniture and plop it into this computer, that'll save us," Lacy said. "No, wait, I'm sorry. Derby, don't cry..."

The pit in Derby's stomach didn't get any better the longer she and Lacy were stuck in the cell, but they weren't alone long. Soon after Aunt Emme was tossed in with them, as well as Derby's mom Dani and her sister Colby.

"Oh, phew, thought this was because of something I did," Aunt Emme said when she saw Derby.

"I think this is definitely a dark lord related problem, yeah," Derby said as her mom hugged her.

"It'll be alright, we'll figure it out," Dani said.

"I hope so," Derby said. Her mom didn't look at all puzzled or concerned about this. "How are you so relaxed right now?"

Dani shrugged. "My motherly instinct says everything will be alright."

"This freaking sucks," Colby said, shaking her phone. "No reception in here. What do we do now?"

"Maybe they could tell us why we're captured?" Emme asked. "Hey, guards?"

The blobby monsters keeping them in turned Emme's way.

"Why are we here?" Emme asked.

"They probably can't talk, they're just void monsters," Dani said.

"Some void monsters can talk!" Emme said.

One of the blobs split in two, revealing a woman in a robe.

"You are here at the behest of the darkliest and lordiest dark lord, Magie de Madawaska," the mage said. "My master has requested I capture you so that she may speak with her bride, the foolish and troublesome Brie de Meaux."

Brie ran away from her arranged marriage to Magie, so it made sense to Derby that there would be some pushback. It didn't make her feel any better, but having some logic in the middle of all this madness was somewhat pleasant.

"So Brie was getting married, huh?" Emme said.

"Not 'was,' she definitely still is marrying the beautiful and stunning Magie de Madawaska," the mage said. "Though my dark lord's romantic judgment leaves something to be desired."

"So why'd you bring us then, shouldn't you have gotten Brie?" Emme asked.

"No, you all are bartering chips," the mage said. "Brie has affection for you, so Magie is using that to get Brie here instead of taking her by force."

"So Brie's on the way, then? Cool." Emme sauntered over to the bench and stretched out, lying back onto it. "Oh, this is not comfortable. I really thought this was a good nap bench. Oh, boy, ouch."

"Not helping you up again," Colby said.

"I didn't even ask yet!" Emme said.

"And I'm not, either," Dani said. "Don't help your aunt get up, Derby."

"What? Why?" Lacy laughed.

"Aunt Emme's notoriously difficult to get up when she's napping on a couch or something," Derby said.

"Like, how? What?" Lacy said.

"I just get a bit churlish is all!" Emme said.

"That doesn't explain anything," Lacy said.

"Alright, this isn't the place for...whatever this is," the mage said. "You should all be cowering in fear."

"The only one that should be cowering is you,"

Derby shot up immediately at Brie's voice. She'd never heard the dark lord speak with such acid in her tone. The mage yelped as a portal opened on the wall behind her, a burning gateway matching the ferocious expression on Brie as she marched forward. The mage fled, and within a second or two the monsters keeping the others in their cell were destroyed by a swift attack from Brie.

"Brie! You came to get us!" Derby said.

Brie continued marching until she stood across from Derby again. She still looked serious, but she embraced Derby.

"I'm so sorry," Brie said.

"It's alright..." Derby said, patting Brie's back, which unfortunately still had monster ooze on it.

Derby noticed that Sage had followed Brie.

"Sage! What the freak are you doing here? Why'd you come with? Go back home!" Derby said.

"I...I'll be alright, I think," Sage said. "Thanks though, Derbs."

Sage's nonchalant reaction was curious, but then again, everyone was oddly chill about this so Derby decided that maybe everyone she was friends with or family to were just strange in their own way.

"Actually, why don't we all just go home?" Derby said. "Shouldn't we just go?"

Brie took a deep breath. "We cannot. Not yet."

"What do you mean?" Derby asked. She tried to pull on Brie's arms, forgetting how muscular she was. Then she had to stop herself from admiring Brie's biceps. "We're free, we can just escape!"

"Then Magie will simply do this again," Brie sighed. "And again, and again, and again. I'm sorry, Derby of Hope, but I must speak with her. Everyone stay behind me, I'll ensure that she doesn't hurt you. She is still mighty."

Derby didn't like this, but she still followed Brie out of the cell.