Chapter Thirty

Now where was he? He was in a barren waste land. Make that a strange waste land. A crooked tree stood in the middle of the land. Lighting flashed in the background. This place was a bit creepy. Were was he? He then found he was not alone, Glenn was with him as well.
“Its time for the battle.” Fargo spoke for once. “You have to find all the vibes, and then release the most violent vibe of them all!”
With those last words, he vanished. Stu looked around. This sounded nearly impossible! He needed time to think. Glenn, however, freaked out! Indeed, he had heard the directions but he had no clue what too do! Stu chortled: maybe this would be easier after all!
He wondered what the vibes were. He hadn't seen any vibes at all. Just a few strange locals and his pupils. Wait, were his pupils the vibes? Of course! That was it! Now, how to find them?
He decided to do it one at a time, starting with Cleo. Now, how could he find her. He checked his surroundings until his eyes stopped upon a big book opened book. He raced over to it to find it was a poetry book. That was it! The poem! If he could find “Hello, I'm Nobody”, then Cleo would come too him.
He tugged at the page. Man, it was heavy! He tried to pull it. No use! He stopped for a second before trying again. He gripped the page and pulled it back with great force. It worked! With a satisfied smile, he turned to find Cleo, looking up at the page. She turned him and smiled. She gave him a red cocoon before turning into fog that was sucked into the cocoon. He stuffed it deep down into his pocket. One down, six more too go.
Now how could he find Johji? Since he was the musical one, maybe he could attract him by music. But where was he was going too find something musical? He heard a distant sound. Was there a boom box around? Yes, there was! In the middle of the waste land was a boom box! If only he could find a jazz channel. Talk shows, no! Rock and roll, no! Slow songs, no! Jazz, finally! He heard snapping: Johji had come.
“Great vibes man!” He said.
He threw a blue cocoon to Stu. So far, so good. He worried a but about the competition until he actually saw it.
Glenn was searching everywhere! He crawled on his knees, looking under rocks and such. Stu chuckled: this was going to be a cake walk.
Who was next on the list? The artist: Yoshiko. He walked around: he didn't really see anything that could help him find her.
Splash.
Stu looked down at his pant leg to see it, sopping. He had stepped in something. It wasn't water for it was purple. He examined it closer. Was this paint? Indeed it was! He saw a whole little island made of the art supplies. There was a bridge made of paint jars, (the purple one had been left opened.), paint brushes that stuck out as if they were trees, and the ground was made of modeling clay. He saw a river of beautiful colors with canvas floating around in it. He had an idea. He jumped into the pong, making a splash. He waded over to one of the canvases and picked it up. He got out of the pond, placing the canvas in the middle of isle. Sure enough, Yoshiko came with her yellow cocoon as well.
He was on a role! Now who was next? Tanner! But what did love or like? Stu thought: he hit a roadblock. Ha paced around a bit but still nothing. He placed the yellow cocoon in his pocket with the others. Wait, Cleo's cocoon! Tanner loved Cleo! That was it! He dug around until he found her cocoon.
“Tanner!” He cupped his hand around his mouth. “I got your girlfriend!”
“Yes you do!” tanner smiled.
He handed his cocoon to Stu. Well that one was extremely easy!
Okay, who was left? He counted off: Stacey Sue, the twins and Noble. This was starting to get a little harder. How could he attract Stacey Sue? What did she like besides helping others? Nothing else came to mind except smiley faces. Could that help him at all?
He drew a circle in the ground. How could smiles help him and at a time like this? He wish he had known more about Stacey Sue at the time. Sadly, all he had to go on was smiley faces. He gave the circle two eyes and smile. A foot came over and gave it a nose. He turned to see Stacey Sue. She had come! He took her cocoon and set out to find the duo: Cory and Carrie.
Stu began to search the barren wasteland for any clue or idea about how he could reach the twins. He stopped and his ears perked: he heard something. It sounded like a wild and mad ranting and raving. He decided to follow the sound and see what was the source. He walked for a while until he came to a huge rocky cliff. He saw Glenn with a red face and clenched fits, jumping up and down, yelling at the cliff. Stu looked up at the spot Glenn was yelling at. There was a huge triangular crack in it and curled up in the crack was Carrie. Glenn yelled ever more: no use. She as too high up. Plus, she was so still Stu assumed she was asleep. He looked at the cliff, then back at Carrie. He gulped: he hated heights. He swallowed his fear and walked up to the cliff.
He placed one hand on the wall, pushing himself with his leg. He repeated this action for a while. He wanted to see his progress but he changed him mind. Looking down was the worst idea for someone who was an Acrophobian. He kept climbing, breathing steadily. He felt the seat on his head that dripped down his face. He was almost there! Just a little closer. He placed his hand in the crack, pushing Carrie over a bit. The hole was deep and wide so she fit easily. He helped himself up into the crack. He went over to Carrie. She was indeed sleeping. He lifted her arm up and placed her over her shoulder. He took one quick look down the cliff and gulped again before making her way back down. 
As he carefully made his way back down he felt a tight squeeze on his ankle. He winced, holding in a cry. He looked down to see Glenn with a steady hold. 
“Give me that child!” He ordered. Stu shook his head, trying to shake Glenn off at the same time. ‘Give her to me!”
This time Stu gave Glenn was nice kick in the face. Glenn was knocked out of commission. Stu jumped down with Carrie still over his shoulders. 
“Thanks for getting my sleep sister.” Cory's voice reached his ears. Cory took his sister from Stu and threw them two cocoons.
He was almost done. Now he need to find Noble. Okay, what could attract Noble? Noble liked people being different but how could Stu be different? Man, it was hot. He took off his shirt. That felt a bit better. Then just by looking at his shirt, he got an idea. He decided to put it back on but he put in on inside out. Noble didn't appear. He need to do more. He took of his shoes, then his socks. He took his socks and placed them on his hands which was quite disgusting considering they hadn't been washed in days. Yet, Noble still didn't come. He had to do just more one thing.  He grabbed a handful of sand, dropping it into his hair.
“Way to stand out Stu!” Noble whooped.
Stu shook the sand out of his hair, took the socks off his hands (to his relief) and received Noble's cocoon.
Well that was it for the vibes! Now he had to release the most violent vibe of them all. There was only one problem: he didn't know where the most violent vibe was or who it was for that matter. Plus he was getting hot and tired from the desert land. He had to sit down and just rest for a while. To his surprise he found some steps where he sat down. The steps where attached to a huge platform with a circular piece attached to it. Forgetting the break, Stu got back up to look at circle. There were little colored hooks all around it. Stu fumbled around in his pocket to find Cleo's cocoon. He placed it on the red hook: nothing happened. He took out the other cocoons as well, placing them all on their colored hooks. He backed away with excited breathe. But even as he hoped, anything happened. With a heaving sigh, he sat back down, disappointed. He was so down he didn't notice the cocoons were all wriggling. Rays of colored light broke through. Stu heard the light humming, so he turned to focus his attention on the cocoons. The all the rays went to the center of the platform. The merged together, forming a huge, round, cocoon: the violent vibe of them all! The surface was unclear so he didn't have a view of who it was. He climbed up the stairs. The cocoon hovered above the ground and hummed like the others had. Stu put out a trembling hand, eager to touch it.
THUD!
Stu let a cry of pain as he a might blow hit his back. He dropped to the ground. He saw Glenn with a long plank of wood. (Where he the got the wood is still a mystery.) Leaving Stu, he ran to the hug cocoon and began to beat it.
“No!” Stu cried, trying to get up.
Glenn laughed madly: he had gone insane. He beat away happily as if he were a child, playing some kind of game. Stu rolled on his back, heaving for air. He squinted his eyes that were hot with tears. He saw something flutter above him. He opened his eyes a little more: it was a vivid butterfly with a broken wing. How beautiful, Stu thought, forgetting his insane step-father. The butterfly struggled, trying to fly but failed. It began to fall towards the ground, most likely turning in a tiny mess.
Plop: it landed in Stu's hand. The butterfly looked back at Stu with its strange eyes. Then, it flew but this time there was no struggle. It landed on Stu's cheek, giving him an actual butterfly kiss.
“Thank you.” It seemed to whisper before taking flight.
Stu watched as the little insect flew away. Then he remembered: the cocoon. He turned in fear of it being destroyed. Indeed it had been cracked by the plank but before Glenn could issue one more blow, the cocoon cracked on its own. Glenn held the plank in the air, baffled. More cracks began to form before two vibrant wings popped out from the back. It began to break apart, pieces of harden shell falling. Ones it was gone, the vibe was floating above the ground and he was once able to get a good look at it.
“Lady Butter?” he asked in total shock.
“Yes Stuey,” She said, using his old nickname. “I've been waiting for such a time to come. I'm released! But please remember me and always try to listen to others and learn from others.”
She flapped her mighty wings, taking off into the sky. Glenn lay on the ground, staring at the sky, unable to speak. A powerful wind picked up. Stu embraced it while Glenn just was still speechless. The wind consumed them both and then they were no more.

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