Once the group joined up with Fei Fei at the supposed 'secret passage', the director left them with only a couple words.

"I can't stress this enough: hurry. The passage is pretty straightforward, but there are trails that go off from the main track that you can't go on at any cost. The person you are trying to kill can't hurt you there, but there are other dangers."

"Also, if you find the watchers... defend yourself if you must. Don't hesitate if they attack you because that can cost you your life. Some watchers will defend the World fiercely, no matter how they might actually feel about their situation. But also... be cautious. Some might try to trick you without outright attacking you, and others will help you while still trying to keep themselves safe. Keep your wits about you."

"And lastly, do not feel sympathy for World. He's made his choices and stuck by them for all these years. All for his own flimsy reasoning. Again, do not hesitate."

The director seemed content with that, but with Luz's persistence, it finally answered her original question: "What will happen to you?"

"Well," the director had said, sighing. "I'll probably die here. But I've been living for so long and for nothing that this is almost a mercy. Many council members had died to make this world better, and now less than half of us remain, including me. They died for next to nothing, but this time, I think that my death will mean something...

"...If you succeed, that is. Well, glad we cleared that up. Get going, will you?"

And with that, the director shoved the little group through the glowing portal, yes, portal, and then, suddenly, the group was disoriented, and somewhere else.

With no way to get back, Kipo realised as she looked back to the wall from where they came, shakily standing up. She was still shaking, stumbling around as if she was still back there, but Kipo knew she was safe now. Well, safe from the earthquake and crumbling castle that is. Not safe from whatever was in here, though.

And speaking of which... once Kipo had finally gotten a decent sense of balance back, she turned back towards the place they had found themselves in. The blue portal, now closed with only a blank brick wall behind her, gave her an awful sinking feeling of deja vu.

Could this place be anything like that horrible amusement park? Steeling herself, Kipo peered at her surroundings.

Around their little group was a garden. A nice, peaceful garden that felt peaceful, but Kipo refused to let anything else bring her a false sense of safety. She knew they had to be careful here, and the others seemed to realise that as well, unconsciously drawing towards each other for comfort.

"What... is this place?" Tulip asked, hesitantly. She hadn't seen the portal that they had found earlier, and although she had been told about it since then, it probably wasn't the same as seeing it up close.

"It's the same as the portal last time," Luz note, before peering closer at their surroundings. "Or, kind of."

Coraline frowned deeply, and looked to Kipo. "This wasn't one of your plans for getting out of here, right?"

Kipo shook her head. "No. I don't think these portals lead to other worlds. Or, well, other dimensions, at least. They still operate with the same rules as the main world..."

Kipo thought back to the flower they had seen in one of those safe rooms back in the other portal. She hadn't thought much of it then, because she hadn't known what it really meant. But now, she did. She understood too much, now.

"...But the guy in this world can't reach through them," Kipo finished. She looked around, her eyebrows creasing. "But I don't know where they are, in relation to this world."

Kipo remembered looking under this world, and remembered the distinct lack of anything. Were these things just farther out in space? So much so that she could even see a speck of them? She shuddered at the thought, wondering just how far away from the rest of the world they actually were.

Also, this place clearly had a sun, and the temperature was nice, so they weren't too far or too close to the sun. Was it a different sun, or what?

Kipo shook herself, trying to starve off her worry.

"There's the path the director told us about," Kipo pointed out, motioning before them. "If we follow that, and don't stray off the path, we should be okay. Probably."

"We should hurry," Fei Fei agreed, stepping forward. Kipo startled. It wasn't that Fei Fei talking was odd in itself, but Fei Fei making decisions for them was certainly new. Kipo studied her friend's face, and found a determination not unlike the rest of her friends. But Kipo knew it had to be different. After all, the rest of them were fighting for nameless people they probably will never see, whether they succeeded or not, but Fei Fei... Fei Fei was fighting in the name of her brother.

Kipo's heart ached for her, and her own brother.

"W-Wait!" Kai cried, stopping Fei Fei in her tracks. Fei Fei looked back, irritated, and Kai seemed to fold into himself. "Shouldn't we rest first? Get our thoughts together? Come up with an actual plan other than 'go here'?"

Fei Fei tilted her head, and, though Kipo could tell she was annoyed, Fei Fei could definitely see Kai's point. Still, she disagreed.

"No time," she told him firmly. "World is listening, right?"

"Not here," Coraline noted. "This might be the only safe place to plan."

"That isn't what she meant," Kipo spoke up, not unkindly. There was an argument building, and while Kipo knew their arguments were usually more debates than actual anger, Fei Fei was so mad right now that she might say, or do, something she might regret. Something that might hurt them in the long run. "Fei Fei meant that the world was listening back there, and he knows we're coming. He's probably preparing as we speak."

Kai frowned. "That's true, I guess... I guess you're right, BUT-."

"No," Kipo said smoothly. "You're both right. We never had a real advantage, because with all this time the world must already be prepared. Still, every second that passes tips the scale in his favour even more. He could leave, or hide, or set a trap. Or... well, you get the point. But that's why Kai's also right. We will never win if we rush in there just like this. We do need to do... something."

"We need a plan," Tulip offered. "And fast."

Kipo nodded. Fei Fei glanced around them, and while she might not have gotten Kipo's entire speech, Tulip's words seemed to placate her. The small little group settled around, and sat in a circle.

Before Kipo could ask them for ideas, Mabel spoke up.

"I have one idea," she said. "We build a giant robot! Worked last time. Ish. Okay, not really, but it might."

Surprisingly, Fei Fei nodded. "I can build it."

Kai and Luz perked up, but Coraline only gave her an odd look. "With... what?"

Fei Fei looked around as the plant life around them, the green leaves seeming like sparkles in the gentle sun. Beautiful, tranquil and peaceful... but utterly useless for building a giant robot. In the end, Fei Fei shrugged.

Coraline sighed. "What else?"

"We still need the poisonous gas," Kai said, glancing at Luz, but she only shook her head.

"Sorry, I don't have the right things for that," she said. Luz looked stricken. "I know I have to make it soon, but I haven't found anything to do it yet!"

Kipo winced, hearing her own guilt in Luz's voice.

"That's okay," Kipo said, gently. "What do you need to make it? We can keep a look out for it as well."

"I need those flowers," Luz said. "And the smoke they make when you set them on fire makes that poisonous gas."

Kipo froze. "...The wish flowers?"

"Y-Yeah..." Luz said, finally seeming to realise the ramifications of what exactly this smoke was. Kipo wondered how she didn't realise it before, but shook her head. With Six, Luz probably had a lot going on.

"Okay..." Kipo said, trying to keep her voice steady. "We'll keep a look out for that."

Luz didn't say anything, she only nodded, looking sick.

"At the moment, though," Kipo said, moving on. "We don't have any, and there's nothing we can do about it. Let's focus on something else, for now."

"I think we do have one advantage," Tulip spoke up. She looked over to Kipo. "You said it before: the ghosts. Having a bunch of people on our side that the watchers and the world can't see would definitely be helpful for a plan."

"But we can't see them, either?" Mabel said, confused. "Is your plan to get possessed by it?"

Tulip blinked. "No?"

"But can they even do anything?" Kai said. He had suddenly gone pale. "I-I mean they're g-ghosts, right? Already dead?"

"No, they can interact with the real world a little bit," Kipo noted, trying to remember Star Butterfly, and even Finn the Human. "But... hmm. I can't tell if they'd be helpful or not."

"It probably depends on the ghost," Mabel agreed, nodding wisely, like she was an expert. Though she immediately discredited her words by saying: "Maybe..."

"I think we could try using them," Kipo said. "Try asking them when we get there. And speaking of when we get there... Tulip, we suspect the watchers and the world are hiding there, but you're the one who knows those tunnels better than all of us. I probably should have asked this earlier, but what do you think?"

Tulip frowned, looking away. After a moment of thinking, she replied. "Hm... Well, it's definitely possible. There were a lot of places I hadn't been able to go, because I hadn't solved the puzzles yet. It could be through one of those..."

"Uh... and how many of those were there?" Luz asked, trying to be kind, but her face betrayed her worry.

"A decent amount," Tulip said, not seeming to notice how the rest of them were inwardly and outwardly cringing. "More then twenty, I think."

"We don't have time for that!" Kai cried.

"Any way to narrow that down?" Coraline asked, narrowing her eyes. Kipo could see what she was thinking. If not... well, they'd already have lost.

Luckily for them, Tulip nodded. "Now that I'm thinking about it, there was this one door that was really tall, with a puzzle that I couldn't make heads or tails of no matter how much I looked at it. Which... I admit wasn't much, because I took one look at it and then went to find another puzzle, but maybe with more brain power we can crack it."

Tulip looked around the group with a smile on her face, but, as if suddenly remembering who she was with, her smile faltered.

"Perfect," Mabel said, beaming. "I don't look like it, but I'm GREAT at puzzles! Once I found the Eighth and a half president of the United States."

Kai scoffed. "That doesn't exist."

"No, he does, I found him," Mabel argued, crossing her arms and sticking up her nose. "He was stuck in a casing of peanut brittle. It was delicious."

Kai recoiled. "You ate him out of it?!"

"See!" Mabel cried. "You DO believe me. And NO. I ate it AFTER he was out!"

Fei Fei suddenly straightened, seemingly done with all of this. "We're going out of time."

"We're almost done," Kipo assured her, and Kai gave her a disbelieving look.

"We are?!" he questioned. "But we barely started!"

Kipo sighed. She gave herself a second to think before finally telling them what was on her mind. What had been on her mind ever since they sat down to talk.

"Look," she said. "No matter what we come up with here, we really have no idea what we're running up against. Yes, we have the door and the ghosts and Luz's magic, but in the end, we're going up against a global power. Literally. We can't plan for something we don't know is coming."

The others didn't say anything, growing realisation on their faces. They all, including Kai and Coraline, hadn't seemed to realise what they were going up against. Kipo felt guilty. She had thought before that she had made them understand before but... apparently not.

"I'm sorry," Kipo felt inclined to say, even though it meant practically nothing. I'm really sorry, there's a chance that we... we'll all-."

Tulip reached a hand out, setting it on Kipo's shoulder. She smiled lightly, cutting Kipo off. "Hey, it's not your fault. We want to do this. It's our choice, and if we die... well, hopefully we won't but if we do, we'll know we died trying to do the right thing."

"But we won't die!" Luz spoke up, a fierce determination in her voice. "We can't! We have to finish this, just as you said, Kipo."

"We do have a wizard, a genius who somehow went to the moon, and, well, you," Coraline pointed out, surprising Kipo. "And the rest of us have survived other impossible odds before, too. This is nothing."

"We have to do this," Fei Fei said softly, repeating Luz. She hugged herself, and then said something Kipo couldn't understand, in her own language. Kipo thought it sounded like a declaration, or a promise.

"I really don't want to die, either..." Kai said, nervously. But though his voice was shaking and his clutched hands betrayed his fear, there was a glint in his eye that was strong and unyielding as steel. "But we can't let people like Adam and Mira die if we leave, right? Leaving is probably smart, but we can't just run away... no matter how much we want, too..."

Despite the storm of fear and pain raging inside of her, Kipo felt herself smiling, tears of happiness, for once, rising to her eyes. In her chest, a little bit of guilt lifted, and, for the first time in a long time, Kipo felt right.

She felt justified.

Kipo stood up, finally feeling the righteousness and determination everyone else was.

"Let's do this," she said, more to herself than anyone else, but the others nodded, and stood up anyway.

They... were not ready in the slightest. It was like a small group of ants going up against a bear, backed up by a blue whale. But Kipo didn't feel like an ant right now. She didn't feel small and helpless, she felt like a jaguar.

And she was ready to fight.