*Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter. We are about a quarter away until the end of the story. Yes, the story is going to end eventually but--I'm considering writing more for this fandom or write a season three where there will be the Cat in the Hat, Grinch, and The Lorax. I already have ideas for those. Anyways, the next part will come out today and the next episode will come out next weekend. If I can get it done during school. LOL! So, I hope you all have a blessed day and the intro song will always be One Foot by Walk the Moon. Enjoy! By the way, this is published on February 15, 2020.*

Dave knocked on the door to the huge white house in Stovepipe Junction with barred windows, looking up eagerly. Sam stood next to Dave, his gaze kept flickering back at the group behind them. Goat, Gluntz, Louis, and Michael stood next to each other in front of McWinkle, Michellee, and E.B. McWinkle carried passed out Guy over his shoulder and Jean and his family stood on Michael's shoulder, hearing light footsteps from the other side of the door. Michellee turned to check to see if Guy was okay and then shifted her gaze back at the door. When she checked in on E.B, who's holding her hand, her daughter stared at Guy, tears taking over her eyes. McWinkle noticed this too while he turned his head slightly to look at E.B.

"Is Guy going to be okay?" E.B. spoke to McWinkle, concern taking over her voice.

McWinkle gave her a reassuring smile. "He'll be okay. He'll wake back up soon."

Michellee nodded her head in agreement while holding her daughter's hand tightly. She looked around the town to find something to take her daughter's concerns away from the current situation they were in. "It's a nice looking place. Expensive to live in."

Goat overheard the conversation from behind him while nodding his head in agreement. "Yep, this is where the rich kids live."

"I don't know if I can even fit in here," Michael replied with a shrug, standing next to Goat.

"I don't think any of us would fit in here," Jean whispered to Michael.

The group suddenly heard the locks clicking and the door swung open. They noticed a short woman with dark purplish fur and ears. She smiled brightly to see Dave first.

"Dave!" The woman greeted while hugging Dave.

Dave wrapped his strong arms around his mother tightly with a light-hearted laugh. "Aw, Ma!"

Sam smiled when he watched Karen and Dave hugged each other tightly. Though he frowned when he thought back about his mother, wondering if she'll have the same reaction as Karen when she saw her son again.

"Karen!" Gluntz squeaked excitedly and strode through the group to hug Karen.

The woman, Karen, chuckled at Gluntz's excitement to see her while hugging her back. "Hey, Gluntz, right?"

Gluntz grinned widely while standing upright and her arms behind her back. "Sure am."

"Where's your big scary partner--?" Karen immediately widened her eyes as soon as she noticed McWinkle carrying passed out Guy, her other son, over his shoulder. "What happened to him?!"

"Mrs. Am I, we're sorry to barge in like this...but we need someplace to hide for a few days," McWinkle informed calmly before Karen began to be concerned about Guy's health.

"Does Guy need to go to the hospital or--?" Karen trailed off.

"He's fine...he's just been drugged and he had to stay in bed for a few days. Do you think you could help us and hide us for a few days?" McWinkle asked.

Karen looked at the group with a soft gaze. "It's from those assassins...isn't it?"

McWinkle raised his brow with pure confusion. "How did you know--?"

"I sent a secret telegram to them," Dave answered for his mother. "I told them about the situation and what they can do to prepare themselves for it."

Michellee tilted her head in confusion. "When did you send that telegram?"

"When we were at the box station in the jungle," Dave responded honestly.

Karen nodded her head in confirmation. "Yes, we got it just a couple of days ago. Come in...you all can stay and hide here as long as you want."

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding while walking into the house and thanking her. Karen took one last look around after everyone entered the house to make sure there's no one following them and shut the door.

McWinkle approached Karen with passed out Guy on his shoulder. "Where do I put him, Mrs. Am I?"

"Please, call me Karen. Put him upstairs in his room...it should be in the back room...with a window in it."

"Alright. But that window had to be shut tight."

"Don't worry...we barred all of our windows as soon as we got the telegram," Karen implied with a sweet smile.

McWinkle curved up a smirk. "Good. That's until everything lies low."

Karen nodded in agreement. "Right."

Dave picked Guy off of McWinkle's shoulder. "I know where his room is. I'll take him up there."

McWinkle noticed Dave carrying Guy upstairs. "Thanks, Dave."

"No problem."

Dave carried Guy upstairs into his room while the others waited patiently, pondering about what they are going to do. E.B. stared up the stairs while Michellee stood beside her daughter.

"E.B, why don't you find something to do? There should be toys or something you can play with while you wait," Michellee suggested softly.

E.B. nodded sadly and meandered the big living room to look for something to do. Michellee shifted her gaze back up the stairs. Karen noticed Michellee looking upstairs with an upset look on her face. She smiled softly and brought up her famous delicious dark pink cupcakes up to cheer up Michellee.

"Would you like some cupcakes?" Karen offered generously to Michellee.

Michellee noticed Karen and politely declined the offer. "No...I'm okay."

Karen lost her smile but not her composure. "Oh, alright, dear." She set the cupcakes on the dining room table for anyone who wanted to eat them right off the bat without asking. "What's your name? I don't think I have met you before."

"Michellee."

Karen's jaw dropped slightly while her mood lightened up. "Oh my gosh, you're Guy's girlfriend!"

Michellee looked baffled for a moment until Dave came back downstairs, hearing that moment in the conversation.

Dave smiled nervously with a chuckle. "I may have told them about you and Guy's relationship...along with E.B."

Michellee cornered a gentle grin at Karen. "Yes, I am."

"Oh, please sit down, I want to hear all about you," Karen said excitedly while gently taking Michellee by the wrist and led her to the table to talk to her.

Sam strode up to Dave. "Is it okay if I can see Guy?"

Dave smiled and nodded his head. He stood aside on the stairs while Sam walked up the stairs and into Guy's room. Dave went back downstairs to spend time with the group.

Sam walked slowly into Guy's room. He could see that his friend was trying to wake up. Guy's body was tensed on his own bed. Sam reached out and wrapped his small hand around Guy's clenched fist. He held his hand tightly, hoping that it would give him comfort that Sam was right there beside him.

Sam's lips quivered while caressing Guy's cheek with his other hand. "Guy...can you hear me? I don't know if you can hear me...I'm sorry."

Sam's tears began to leak from his eyes while he wiped them away. "I didn't know Jeckles was going to get you...I didn't even know you're alive from that box accident...I was so happy when I found out that you're okay. But...now that I get to see you again...you're hurt. I don't know what Jeckles did to you or told you about me...but whatever he told you about me, about my past...that's all behind me now. And know that...I don't regret double-crossing him. Because it was for you."

Sam began to sob quietly to himself. "For Michellee...for E.B...and for Mr. Jenkins. But...it's mostly for you. You were the one who showed me what true friendship was about...it's not perfect but you made up for it. You accepted me as me and no one else...you were the first person who ever cared about me for me. But what have I done for you?"

Sam laid his head on Guy's shoulder while crying. "I've done nothing but hurt you...I put you through all this...I put all of you through this. It was my fault that you're passed out instead of being awake...it was my fault that you--."

Someone put a hand on Sam's shoulder gently. He whipped his gaze up to notice Louis standing behind him. Louis's eyes were soft and warm to look into with a sympathetic frown shown on his face.

"Are you doing okay, Sam?" Louis inquired softly.

Sam wiped away his tears. "Yeah...I'm fine."

"Okay. There's dessert and green eggs and ham in the kitchen if you want to go and eat."

Sam sighed deeply and responded, "I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure?"

Sam nodded his head as an answer to Louis's question.

Louis sighed deeply. "Okay...come down whenever you're ready."

"Okay...thanks, Louis."

Louis cornered a gentle smile. "No problem."

Louis began to walk out of the bedroom until he turned around to look at Sam. "Sam."

Sam turned his head over his shoulder to glance at Louis.

"It's not your fault for what happened to Guy. This is what Jeckles wanted...he wanted you to see your friend suffer so that you will think it's your fault. But the truth is...it's not. This was all Jeckles doing...I wanted to let you know that," Louis informed with a soft smile on his face.

Sam nodded his head in understanding with a soft grin. "Thanks, Louis."

"No problem." Louis exited out of Guy's room hesitantly.

Sam lost his smile and his eyes moved back to look at Guy. He tightened his grip around his friend's clenched fist, which seemed calm. He walked closer to the bedside and laid next to Guy while still holding his fist. Sam laid there and closed his eyes, feeling a bit drowsy.

~.~

Guy's Dream:

"Guy...wake up...Guy, wake up!"

Guy snapped his eyes open with a sudden gasp of air. He realized that he's been laying on the bed of weeds. Weeds...that's all he sees now. He sat up rapidly and swept his gaze around the place he's in urgently. He couldn't recognize the place. He shivered in the cold, his heart racing and his thoughts were scattered everywhere. He stood up to his feet and walked on the weeds underneath him.

"What's happening? What's going on with me?"

Guy groaned irritably again at himself. He chose to skip the subject. However, it wasn't just his voice he heard.

"Guy...can you hear me?" The voice sounded just like Sam's.

Guy widened his eyes while exiting out of the room to discover a hallway with more weeds. "SAM!"

"I don't know if you can hear me."

"Sam, I can hear you! I can hear you! Where are you?!" Guy shouted, beginning to jog throughout the hallways of his dream.

"I'm sorry."

"Sam! Where are you?!"

"I didn't know Jeckles was going to get you...I didn't even know you're alive from that box accident."

Guy stopped completely in the middle of the hallway, figuring that the voice came from everywhere. He can hear his best friend sobbing in his dream.

"I was so happy when I found out that you're okay. But...now that I get to see you again...you're hurt."

Guy widened his eyes in realization...Sam was not in his dream...he's out there in reality. He shut his eyes tight so he can wake up back to reality to assure Sam that everything will be okay but when he reopened his eyes, he's still trapped in his dream. Guy began to breathe rapidly and whipped his gaze around the place.

"I don't know what Jeckles did to you or told you about me...but whatever he told you about me, about my past...that's all behind me now. And know that...I don't regret double-crossing him. Because it was for you."

Guy froze for a moment, recalling back to what Jeckles told him.

"Because of you...he failed his mission...if he hadn't met you...he probably wouldn't give up crime."

Guy can now hear Jeckles's voice. He groaned to himself while letting out a few tears from his eyes.

"If it weren't for you, he would've lived. He wouldn't lose his life over a change of heart for you. In fact, your brother would've been better off without you. Of course, that's what I intended but you somehow broke down my top two notorious criminals and changed their hearts and for what? You turned them against me...and I don't like that, Guy. I don't like it at all."

Guy collapsed on his knees while having a huge migraine on his head. He can hear other shouting voices. He began to cover his head and screamed.

~.~

Reality:

Goat sniffed downstairs for anything suspicious. It's not that he thought there was something suspicious about Guy's parents but he had to make sure there were no bugs from Jeckles Abbot that could have easily listen to their conversation. However, he found the downstairs bugless, which gave him a sigh in relief.

"What are you looking for?" Michael asked, noticing Goat looking around the huge house.

Goat turned his head to notice the fox staring at him with confusion. "Just looking to see if there were any bugs in this house. We don't want any 'Ghosts' or Jeckles listening to our conversation."

Michael glanced around the living room. "Yeah. Do you think that the Ghosts and Jeckles would find us here?"

"I remembered Louis throwing out the main tracker, claiming that it got hacked by Jeckles and the Ghosts. Hopefully, the back-up tracker wasn't hacked as well."

"I threw it out," Jean interrupted the conversation between Goat and Michael. "Since we're all going to stick together, I found it pointless to keep it."

Goat groaned irritably. "I want to kill Jeckles...for what he did to my family."

"What did he do to your family?" Michael asked softly.

Goat widened his eyes in realization and cursed at himself. "Ugh, that stupid truth serum!" Then, he softly gazed up at Michael with a sigh. "You better not tell anyone this, amigo. I never told anyone about this...and...because of this truth serum...I had to tell someone...promise me you won't tell anyone."

Michael smiled gently and nodded his head. "Yeah, of course."

Goat frowned and sighed. "Have you heard about the Spillsberry fire?"

Michael shook his head slightly in confusion. "Never heard of it."

"I did hear about the town called Spillsberry. It used to exist but it got wiped away by the fire," Jean added his input.

Goat sighed deeply. "I--used to live there."

"You what?!" Both Michael and Jean gasped in complete shock.

Goat nodded his head in confirmation. "It was a long time ago, back when I was just--a kid. Naive and innocent."

Flashback:

Goat, as a kid, pranced along in the tall grassy field with his Mom and Dad watching him frolic.

We live out in the country...away from the town...but not far from it sadly.

Young Goat bleated happily while cuddling his mother and father. Both of the parents cuddled him back with smiles on their faces. A purple butterfly flew by Goat as the young kid chased after it with an adventurous smile. The kid noticed the butterfly fluttering its wings away high in the sky. He sniffed in the air...as if something was burning. He turned around to notice the flames engulfing the small town.

The town was soon engulfed by the flames...one moment the town seemed fine and the next second...everything was burning. I could never forget those screams from the people.

When the fire was about to reach towards the kid, his mother quickly snatched him by the scruff of fur on the back of his neck and sprinted through the field with the flames circling them.

The exits were blocked off. The fences were too high to climb over for us. Mom had to save me.

Goat's mother rushed towards the fence that was tall enough for her to toss her son over it. But she couldn't hop over it.

"NO! MOM! DAD!" Young Goat cried out for his parents while watching his family become engulfed in the flames. The kid rushed back to the fence and reached his hoof out for his mother or his father to grab but their painful screams hurt his ears. "NO! MOM!! DAD!"

I had to watch my family be burned up alive in flames in front of me.

Goat began to sob, running away from the flames before it can reach him next. When he got far enough away from it, he let out an outcry and curled himself up in a ball. The kid craned his head with his tearful gaze sweeping around his surroundings.

There was no hope for me, it seemed like that for me at the time. But...at that moment--

Goat widened his eyes when he saw a familiar young red-fur boy from the distance, on his knees and laughing his head off like a maniac with cans of gasoline beside him.

That moment was when I saw him. And he wasn't Jeckles Abbot back then.

Goat watched the red fur boy standing up to his feet and disappeared from the smoke of the flames.

Present:

Michael raised his brow. "Wait, then...what was his real name?"

There's a brief pause while Goat leaned in close to Michael.

"Lloyd Williams," Goat whispered into Michael's pointy ears.

Michael twitched his ears a bit. "Why did he change his identity?"

"I guess it has something to do with the fact that he wanted to terminate his own name and went for a new identity. He became a criminal and rise up to become a crime boss in Floriana."

Jean pondered for a moment. "So...how did you know so much about him?"

Goat sighed deeply while thinking. "After I survived the fire, I searched through files and files of him. Luckily, those files weren't in the town...it was in the office of Floriana. I had a good look at them to determine his past. There were also rumors in the town before it caught on fire that Lloyd wasn't...exactly...William's kid."

Both Michael and Jean raised their brows.

"What are you saying?" Michael questioned.

"He was an orphan once before he got adopted into a family as a baby...but his family became abusive...I don't know how or why but that was how it happened. He was also bullied...but he was bullied for his, um, illness."

"Like...physical illness or mental illness?" Jean implied.

"Both...I don't know specifically but...he had something that was wrong with him and the townspeople didn't do anything to stop the bullying because...well, I don't know." Goat shrugged with a small smile.

Michael pondered about the information given to him. "So, is that why he went after our friends? Because he's a nutcase?"

"Well...that...and the fact that we're already playing a dangerous game of chess."

"Chess? What's dangerous about it?" Jean questioned.

Goat shrugged his shoulders. "That's his problem. The main thing is we are far from his reach...hopefully we won't have to run into him again until we are prepared to face him and The Ghosts."

"Right," Jean determined.

"Agreed." Michael nodded his head.

Meanwhile, Karen was socializing with Michellee and laughing along with her. Dave watched them from the dining room while Gluntz, Louis, and McWinkle were gathered to plan out their next moves. He took his family photo out of his pocket and gazed at them. All the memories flooded back to him, happy memories mostly. But it ended so suddenly. Dave sighed sadly while holding in his tears. What was he going to tell his family? It's not like a huge secret but...it's still something that hurt him to this day. He put his photo back in his pocket and headed upstairs to check in on Sam and Guy.

When Dave reached Guy's old bedroom, he found Sam sleeping soundly beside Guy. He smiled at them softly while walking across the room. He pulled a chair up and sat beside Guy and Sam. He gently tapped Sam on the shoulder, causing Sam to lift his eyelids up. He noticed Dave gazing at them gently.

"Hey," Sam uttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Fine...you?"

Dave frowned a bit but he picked it back up with a small smile. "So-so. Is it okay if I can get some alone time with Guy? It's been a while since I saw him."

Sam gazed at Dave sympathetically. "Yeah. That's fine. Sorry if I was in your way--."

Dave shook his head with a gentle smile. "No, you're not in the way. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Thanks, Dave."

"No problem."

Sam slowly scooched off of the bed and exited out of Guy's room hesitantly. Dave twisted his mouth into a frown while staring back at Guy. He watched his little brother, secretly praying that he was going to wake up. He sighed and noticed something sticking out from Guy's hat. He took it out to realize quickly that it's a photograph with the picture of the Am I family building a treehouse and at the back, it read: Jeckles Abbot.

To Be Continued...