Inner-Selves, No. 21, Part B (end of "Sub. Youth Sprite Arc")

Late one night, Fidget was sitting on his bed, his parents and Twitch had gone away for the weekend, they expected Fidget would be gone with Stryper by the time they returned. Superfoot was in the clothes hamper, and Fidget had placed several heavy books on top of it to make sure he didn't escape, he didn't want his parents to discover him while he was away. He wasn't quite sure why Speckle had wanted him to stay up this late, all he remembered was him saying, "one week from now at midnight, be ready with your bedroom window open." "I'm not so sure about this..." Fidget said to himself. He was a bit relieved that there was a nice cool breeze blowing into his room however, it was very refreshing. As he looked out his window, he noticed a tiny object that was moving in closer, and fast. "Huh?!" Fidget said. The object quickly moved past Fidget, he barely had enough time to duck his head to avoid it. The object collided with the door to Fidget's closet, it burst and covered the door, wall, and carpet with what looked like green slime. "What the heck?!" Fidget stammered. The slime began to form a message on the door, it read:

THE TIME HAS COME, MEET US OUTSIDE SPECKLE'S SHOP IMMEDIATELY

"Gahhhh!! Who contacts furs with this method?! It looks like someone threw up in my room, and it better not leave any stains!!" Fidget shouted. Then some of the slime on the floor began to form another message. "What? There's more?" Fidget asked. The new message read:

ONE MORE THING, NICE TOUCH WITH THE SLIME HUH? I THINK THIS IS ONE OF MY BEST GAGS YET!

"Oh shut up!" Fidget said angrily as he threw a pillow at the closet door.
Fidget forgot about the mess Speckle made of his room and headed out towards the shop. He locked his house and placed his key under the welcome mat, he wouldn't be needing it where he was going. When he got to the shop, Sophie and Macho were already there, Speckle and his team were waiting outside for them. Fidget had been informed within the past few days that Sophie, Macho and Seth were all going to accompany him. "Hey guys, is Seth here yet?" Fidget asked. "Mr. Speckle sent him a message, but he hasn't arrived yet" Sophie replied. "I have now" said a voice behind them.
As they turned around, Seth was there waiting for them. "Good, now that everyone's here, let's go inside" Speckle said. They all went inside the shop, after Graham opened up the floor to the training room, they all went down in there as well. Daisy was down there, and in the middle of the room was what looked like a frame to a giant gate. Speckle stood in front of the four friends and began to speak. "Before you is what's simply called a 'spirit gate', once it's opened, you'll be able to pass through to the Eternity Care Center. Only Macho is able to use his powers in his adult form, so he can pass through normally, the rest of you should transform now" the dalmatian said. Sophie and Seth turned into their battle forms, while Speckle touched Fidget's chest with his stick, turning him into a youth sprite, Fidget's sword was rested in a sheath that hung across his back. "You'd better take good care of my body while we're gone!" Fidget said in his baby voice. "Relax, it's in good hands" Speckle reassured.
"Your mission is very clear, but very dangerous and difficult. Once you reach the Eternity Care Center, you'll be standing right outside another gate, the part of the ECC you'll be in is called 'the playground', it makes up the majority of the ECC, normal spirits reside there in the form of inner-children. To carry out your mission however, you'll need to get inside that other gate into the community called 'the playhouse', that's where the youth sprites live, and that's where Kat is being held prisoner." Speckled informed. "But why don't you just place us inside the playhouse?" Fidget asked. "Good question, I would, but in order to increase your chances of success, you'll need to stay undetected by the youth sprites as much as possible, and because of security and magic used to protect the playhouse, it's impossible to transport you inside" Speckle replied. "At Speckle's request, I'm coming with you on your mission, I know a lot about the ECC, so I'll guide you, and I'll explain the details of your mission along the way" Daisy said. "I knew I could count on you Daisy" Speckle said to the teddy bear.
The teddy bear walked over to join the party, and Graham got in position to open the gate with some of his magic. "One last thing, we only have enough power to keep the gate open for 5 minutes, if you can't get through the other side by the end of those 5 minutes, it'll close, and you'll be trapped between the world of the living and the ECC forever" Speckle added. This made everyone tense up, they'd have to move quickly. "With that said, I bid you all farewell, and good luck!" Speckle concluded. Graham wove together some handsigns and the empty space between the gate frame yielded a bright light, which turned into a dark hallway. "Alright everyone, let's go!" Daisy shouted. Everyone nodded, then they all ran through the open gate. "Wish I could go with you all, but I don't think the youth sprites would be happy to see me..." Speckle said to himself. Speckle and his team watched the four furs and the one teddy bear continue to run down the hallway, until they were so far off that they disappeared into the darkness.