The Magic Combat of Love: Into the Unknown

Chapter 15: Overnight Meet and Greet

Barley, Ian, and Elsa arrived at the Parr household to pick up Violet. "Here we are!" Barley said. Ian wrote in his journal until Barley peeked over it with a sly face. "Oh no, what is it Barley?" Ian asked closing the journal. "Oh I don't know, maybe a certain someone better guide his lady friend to ol' Gwen here," Barley said patting the van. "Why can't you do it?" Ian asked his brother as Barley pointed to Elsa sleeping. "I can't leave my fair maiden alone. Who knows what dangers are out there?" Barley said. Ian sighed and nodded. "Alright," Ian said. "Oh and before I forget, give Violet these," Barley said handing over some flowers he found. "What?! It's not like I am asking her to a dance!" Ian groaned. "Don't worry. Chicks dig 'em!" Barley winked. Ian gulped. "Ok here goes nothing," Ian whispered to himself. He got out of the van and walked toward the Parr house. Suddenly, Barley honked his horn. "Madame Violet! Sir Iandore has come to save you!" Barley called out. "Barley!" Ian called out to his brother as Barley held a thumbs up. Ian rolled his eyes and got to the front door. He rang the doorbell. Dash opened the door and called out to Violet. "Violet! Your boyfriend is here!!!" Dash called to his sister. "Oh were not...hey!" Ian said as Dash took the flowers out of Ian's hands and ran up to Violet. "Look what your boyfriend got you!" Dash smirked as he showed Violet the flowers. Violet blushed at the gift. "What are you gonna do now? Are you guys gonna kiss?" Dash asked. "Grow up!" Violet said as she pushed her brother away. "Mom! Dad! I'm on my way out!" Violet called out. "Ok honey have fun and be careful!" Helen called out.
Ian waited for Violet to come down the stairs. Jack-Jack flew over to Ian. "Oh hey Jack, how are you?" Ian said as he patted Jack-Jack's head. Jack-Jack laughed at Ian. Violet came to the door and picked up Jack-Jack. "Who wants a nom nom cookie?" Violet said as she threw the cookie and let Jack-Jack fly to get it. Barley honked his horn. "Come on! Hurry up lovebirds!" Barley hollered from his van. Ian and Violet shook their heads and smiled as Ian led Violet to the van. When they got in, Barley started up the van and drove to the destination.

Bart and Sierra were in the car as Bart was driving to find a way to get where they were going. Sierra groaned. "Bart, do you know where were going? It's getting dark," Sierra yawned. "I have a feeling we'll be there soon, trust me," Bart said as Sierra rolled her eyes. They kept on driving. Suddenly another car hit them and they went off road. Lisa and Arnold woke up as Bart lost control of the car. "Hang on!" Bart said as they swayed from side to side and continued a fast path downhill. Then they saw what looked like another car with it's headlights on. "Bart do something!" Lisa cried out as Bart tried to control the old car. Bart saw it wasn't a car but a camp site with people there. "Hit the brakes!!!" Sierra cried out. The people that were there scattered as Bart finally hit the brakes. The car stopped at a tent. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief. "Is everyone ok?" Arnold asked helping Lisa up. "I think so," Lisa said. Bart helped Sierra up as well. Bart tried to start the car up again but the engine failed. "Damn it! The car is broken," Bart said. "Crap," Sierra muttered. "What do we do now?" Lisa asked. "Well, I guess we'll sleep here for the night," Bart said. Everyone got out of the car and looked around. "It looks like were in a forest of some kind," Sierra said. Bart grabbed a flashlight out of the trunk and shined it. It was definitely a forest they were stuck in. Coldness filled the air as Lisa shivered. "Bart, it's getting cold. We'll probably need some firewood," Sierra mentioned. Bart looked around and spotted some firewood. "No problemo! I found some right here!" Bart said. "That's our firewood!" said a voice. "Who's there?" Bart asked. "I can handle this," said another voice. Sierra ran up to Bart and hugged him. "I hear voices," Sierra said as Lisa and Arnold joined them. "Alright wise guy, show yourself!" Bart shined the flashlight and came nose to nose with a blue elf. The group screamed and backed up. "Woah woah woah, hey!" said another blue elf but this one was bigger. Two girls, one with really blonde hair and one with darker hair, came up behind them. Bart recognized the bigger elf. "You!" Bart said.

Barley drove and drove until he found a forest. He stopped his van, got out, and stretched. "Hey Barley where are we?" Elsa asked. "I decided we should stop for the night, before we head to wherever were going," Barley told his wife. "I'll set up a campfire for us," Barley continued as he grabbed some wood to start up the campfire. Ian and Violet got out of the van. They asked where the group was going since Barley had no idea. "We'll find out soon, I hope," Elsa said as she bit her lip unsure. Barley asked Ian to help start up the campfire. "Flame Infernar!" Ian said with his staff and Violet helped. Everybody sat around the fire except Elsa. Barley looked around for her. "Hey have you guys seen Elsa?" Barley asked Ian and Violet. "Last time I saw her she was walking to the river," Violet said. Barley thanked Violet as he went to the river across the way.
Elsa sat on a log thinking about how everything was and how she missed  her daughter. Barley finally found Elsa. "Elsa there you are!" Barley said as he sat next to her. Elsa sighed and looked down. Barley could tell she was upset about something. "What's wrong? Is it Madalyn?" Barley asked her. "Not only that," Elsa frowned and turned away. Barley realized she was upset with him. "Look I know where were going. It just takes time to get there," he said. Elsa threw her hands up in the air clearly annoyed. "Babe it'll be ok," Barley said. "Ok?! Ok! Barley we've been driving in circles and were stuck in the middle of nowhere! If we can't find Maddy soon, then we will let the authorities handle it," Elsa said angrily. Barley spoke up, "No babe! Those guys are phonies! They have no idea where Maddy is!" Barley huffed. "Oh and you do?!" Elsa said. Barley sighed, "I know where were going! Trust me," Barley said. "I think I have trusted you long enough," Elsa told Barley and stormed off into the dark. "Elsa wait!" Barley pleaded as he followed Elsa through the forest. "Come back!" Barley said. Just then, Violet screamed. Elsa and Barley both heard it and ran to see what was going on. They returned to the campsite and saw Violet do a forcefield around a car. She stopped the forcefield as Ian helped her up. Barley and Elsa, still not talking to each other, got to the scene, and hid behind some bushes. Barley and Elsa motioned Ian and Violet to join them and they did. "What happened?" Elsa asked Violet. Just then, they saw a group get out of the car. "No problemo! I found some firewood!" said one voice as Barley got up, put on his brave face, and walked over to the group of strangers. "Barley no! Wait!" Ian called out and followed Barley. Elsa and Violet joined them. Barley cleared his throat. "Excuse me stranger but that's ours!" Barley said. "Alright, show yourself!" said the voice as Ian lit the tip of his staff. The strangers screamed loudly and Barley calmed them down. He recognized two of the faces he had seen before. "You!" said the yellow skinned man. "You?!" Barley said.

"Uh Barley, do you know them?" Ian asked. As Ian got closer, he recognized the two faces. "Oh boy, not him," Ian said when he saw Bart. "What are you doing here?" said the yellow skinned man. "I was gonna ask you the same thing," Barley said smugly. They stared at each other for a minute. "You were flirting with my girl!" the yellow skinned man said. "You hit me in the head with a skateboard!" Barley boasted back. "Well you deserved it!" the yellow skinned man said back. "Oh boy," Sierra groaned. Lisa broke up the arguing before it gets worse. "Boys boys! Now let's all calm down and take a breath," she said as Barley and his opponent faced the backs of each other folding their arms. "Wait, you guys look familiar," Sierra mentioned. "They're from Tooniversity," Bart said under his breath. "I know that but..." Sierra came to the realization. "Wait are you missing a daughter?" Sierra asked Elsa. Elsa looked confused, "Um yes?" Sierra then got excited. "Bart! This is the family that lost their kid! Remember it said so on the news?" Sierra said joyfully. "Woohoo," Bart said sarcastically. Barley stopped Sierra for a minute. "So you saw our kid on the news?" Barley asked. Sierra nodded. Violet jumped in, "I saw two Toonlet alerts recently on the news. The suspect seemed to match the same description for both Maddy and someone named Zeke Simpson," Barley got confused then looked at Sierra who was excited that they might be on to something. "Did you lose a kid too?" Ian asked Sierra. Sierra finally got it. "Yes we did, his name is Zeke Simpson," she said. Barley thought for a minute. "So your son and our daughter are kidnapped by the same suspect?" Barley asked. "Pfft, sure looks that way," Bart grumbled. Everybody realized what was going on. "But what are you guys doing out here?" Elsa asked them. "Same thing with you," Lisa said to Elsa. Everybody was silent. "Can you help us find our son and we can help you find your daughter?" Sierra asked Barley who was still upset with Elsa and Bart. Bart rolled his eyes behind his back. Barley walked away upset and Ian followed him. "Barley, they can help us find Maddy and we can help find their son in return," Ian said. "I'm not gonna go or help that stuck up jerk," Barley said eyeing Bart. "Come on Barley, we don't have much time. Do it for Maddy. Remember how we helped each other to find dad? Maybe we can help them find their son and Maddy," Ian said. Barley sighed, "Okay fine, but this better be worth it," Barley said. Ian and Barley walked back to the group. "We'll help you find your son," Barley said. Sierra squealed and gave Barley a hug. "Thank you," she said. Bart rolled his eyes again and walked over. "Alright alright, the soon we find your daughter and my son the soon it'll be over," Bart said parting Sierra and Barley from each other. "So, where are we headed?" Lisa asked. "That's the other problem, we don't know," Elsa said. "Us too," Sierra said. "Well I may know the answer to solve our problems," Bart said holding up the evidence he found. "What did you find?" Ian asked as everyone went over to Bart while Barley stood back. "I found a strand of orange fur with a black stripe and what looks like part of a map," Bart said. Nobody realized but Barley had the other half of the map behind his back. He scrunched it up when Bart said this. Sierra took the map and examined it, "It has writing on it and part of a picture." Arnold got out a magnifying glass and turned the piece of the map around. "It looks like a mountain with a B-A in front of it," Arnold said. Just then, Violet cut in. "Is that the mountain you're talking about?" Violet said. Everybody looked up and noticed a tall mountain shadow looming over them. They looked up and noticed a mountain in view. "That solves the puzzle," Bart said. Sierra then realized where they were. "That's right. This is Bald Mountain," she said. "Ooook, that looks creepy," Lisa mentioned. "The kids must be in there," Arnold said. "It looks to be a couple miles away so we better get moving," Ian said. "We can't just walk there. Our car engine quit on us," Sierra told the group. "We'll take my van," Barley said as everyone turned to look at him. "Oh thank you! Come on guys, let's go get our kids back!" Sierra said determined. Everyone got in the van. Bart eyed Barley. "I got my eye on you, elf dude!" Bart spat and angrily walked into the van. Barley got in the driver seat, buckled up, and the group headed to Bald Mountain.