It's time to end this ones and for all!

Review replies;

OddAuthor: Founded, yes, but it wasn't independent until 1901. Thanks for reading!

TweenisodeOrange: Aye, 'tis an awesome movie. :D Thanks for reviewing!

Zim'sMostLoyalServant: You know, I probably will. :) Glad you liked it! Thanks for the review.

Cartoonatic55: ...d'oh! :| Honestly, these are more fun, anyway. Thanks very much!

Autobot-Outcast: I WOULD I WOULD! Thanks!

31/10/13: The Secret of El Dorado

"Okay, I can get that they don't want us to run away," said Timmy, "But why chains?"

He and the Governor's other captives (Dani excluded) were lined up in a literal chain gang. They were being led through the tunnel – Vlad and Mr. Cromwell were guarding them. In front, the Governor was leading the way, Morgan dragging Dani along behind him.

"Well, he said he was the Governor," shrugged Sandy, "Maybe he's a prison governor?"

"He can't be a prison governor," whimpered Spongebob, "I wouldn't survive in jail!"

"Don't worry," reassured Sandy, "We ain't going to prison."

"It's far more likely he'll kill us all!" exclaimed Sheen.

Sandy glared at him.

"Well," said Mr. Cromwell, "Here we are."

The group emerged from the tunnel. The sight that met them was breathtaking.

A great city, constructed entirely of gold and silver (save for the long grass surrounding it), spread out across a great valley surrounded by cliffs. At the end of the city was a great pyramid, extending high above the other buildings and temples, with a great altar at the top. The whole city shimmered in the sun – but it was steadily darkening as storm clouds gathered above.

There was a long silence as the group took in the sight.

"Wait a minute," said Jimmy at last, "This is...this is all Mayan. But they lived in central America, didn't they?"

"Perhaps this city was founded by Mayan migrants," mused Vlad.

"It is irrelevant," snapped the Governor, "Come – we must make for the altar."

He began to walk ahead.

All of a sudden, the ground started to shake.

"Earthquake?" gulped Mr. Cromwell.

"Actually," noted Morgan, "I fear it's something else."

At precisely that moment, a ferry burst out of the tunnel.

Dr. Insano gripped the railing on the bow, cackling maniacally as the large boat crashed into a building, knocking down the wall. At the same time, Jazz and Madame Athena literally back flipped out of the back, the former's hand glowing as she thrust it towards the chains. They promptly melted.

"...cah-can I be a witch?" whispered Carl.

"No, you can't," replied Sheen.

Not a moment later, the Spectre Speeder roared over the cliffs and came to a landing in front of the tunnel. Danny and Sam leapt out, the former in ghost mode.

"Let her go!" shouted Danny, charging an ectobeam and aiming it at Morgan.

"Oh," sniffed the Governor, "It's you. I see you forgot to bring an army this time..."

"...so it's pretty lucky that we did."

Valerie, Guinevere and the Coldstream Guards emerged from the tunnel, Jones soaring through after them.

"Jones!" exclaimed Danny, beaming.

"Alright, lad?" grinned Jones, "Just thought I'd bring the cavalry in."

"You're surrounded," snapped Guinevere, "Surrender immediately!"

The Governor blinked.

Then he laughed.

"You think I've struggled so long just to surrender to a woman, her pets and her tin soldiers?" he sniffed, "After two hundred years? I should think not."

He turned to Morgan.

"Hand me the girl," he snapped, "And hold off these idiots."

"Oh no you don't," scowled Dani, "I'm going ghost!"

The cry echoed throughout the valley, but nothing happened.

"Wait, why aren't I going ghost?" quizzed Dani.

"You think I'm stupid, girl?" demanded the Governor, "Your powers have been blocked – we used some infernal contraption, what was it called..."

"The Plasmius Maximus," interrupted Vlad.

"Don't ever interrupt me again," snapped the Governor, "In any case, you're at my mercy."

His eyes suddenly turned black.

"Oh, and only three of us?"

Dozens of skeletons in black uniforms began to emerge from the ground.

"I think not."

He walked off, dragging along a struggling Dani. The skeletons formed up, blocking the party from following him.

"So," nodded Ember, cracking her knuckles, "Who's first?"

And then it began to rain.

It was Mr. Cromwell that fired the first shot of the Battle of El Dorado.

He would later claim self-defence – that Timmy had charged at him, his fairies in Starflinger mode, and that he pulled a shotgun on a small child in self-defence. This was not, you understand, a very sympathetic alibi.

As he pulled the trigger, he was suddenly shoved to the side as Spongebob – yes, Spongebob – hurled himself at the Witchfinder, throwing off his aim and sending his shot into the sky.

"Stay away from my friend!" Spongebob bellowed as they crashed to the ground.

"Get off me you stupid little..."

"I wouldn't finish that sentence, if I were you."

Mr. Cromwell looked up. Sandy was standing over him, arms crossed. He sneered.

"Oh, come on," he demanded, "What're you going to do? Brush me with your ta-"

He was cut off as Sandy roundhouse kicked him in the face.

Disoriented and spitting out teeth, Mr. Cromwell aimed his shotgun, only to have it torn from his hands and thrown away. Before he could recover, a chop collided with his temple, knocking him back to the ground.

"You're not Stuart," snapped Sandy, "You're not a leader. Stop trying."

She turned to Timmy and Spongebob. The former was staring, jaw agape.

"Come on," she exclaimed, "Let's get after that varmint before this idiot gets up."

"...yes ma'am," muttered Timmy.

The three slipped out of the fighting, running for the pyramid.

Jazz ducked under a skeleton's arm, grabbing it and yanking it off before tripping the skeleton into grass. Athena had insisted on self-defence training, and it was clearly paying off.

"Apprentice!" she heard Morgan shout, "Face me!"

Jazz turned – just in time to catch a blast of magic right in the face.

Morgan smirked as the magic dissipating, revealing a rather surprised and solid marble statue where Jazz had been.

"Well, that's just rude."

Insano stepped towards Morgan, punching out a skeleton that got too close.

"Given what I hear of you," snapped Morgan, "That's quite hypocritical."

"...true," admitted Insano, "Point still stands. Have at you!"

He aimed the Fiddley Thing and pressed a button – only for Morgan to casually raise a hand, as if to block him.

Insano promptly combusted.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, "Ow, ow, that was supposed to happen to you! You cheated! Oh my god the pain!"

He ran back into the melee, trampling several skeletons and setting them on fire.

"Hey, witch," snapped Ember, stepping over the burning bones, "News flash – I'm the only one allowed to go after the dipstick and his family."

"Masters would disagree with you," sniffed Morgan.

"Yeah, well he's nuts," reminded Ember.

"Perhaps," nodded Morgan, "In any case, what makes you think that you'll do better than this girl and that madman?"

"She brought backup."

Guinevere, Athena and Jimmy stepped up, taking up fighting stances.

"Hmm," nodded Morgan, "Cute."

She thrust forward her hands, sending a blast right into Jimmy and knocking him to the floor. Without skipping a beat, she created a wave of gas, washing it over Ember and turning the ghost into glass. Athena sent a red beam towards Morgan, who just managed to block it and send it back – Athena fell to her knees and drifted to sleep.

Morgan smirked and turned to Guinevere.

"So, Guinevere," she nodded, "Just us."

"It always is," replied Morgan.

Both charged beams of magic and fired, the beams colliding between them.

"Why must you always turn up when I'm on the precipice of victory?" sighed Vlad.

He and Danny were high above the battle, exchanging blasts.

"Precipice of victory?" retorted Danny, "Please. You never win! I mean, my dad beat you up."

Vlad literally snarled and hurled a blast right into Danny's stomach, slamming him right into a building.

"Insolent boy!" he thundered, "I am in an entirely different league to Jack Fenton!"

"Yeah, you're right," nodded Danny, "My dad is much better then you are."

Vlad roared and dived at Danny. The younger ghost grinned and rolled out of the way, sending his foe crashing headfirst into the roof.

"It's like bullfighting," he grinned, "Get 'em mad, and they'll charge anything."

He flew off towards the pyramid before Vlad could recover.

"Tucker!" Sam hissed.

Tucker raced towards Sam, creep stick in hand. The skeleton he'd attracted followed – Sam zapped it with one of the Fenton family's many ectoguns.

"Yeah?" asked Tucker.

"Look," Sam whispered, "Guinevere and the witch are going at it."

"That's Guinevere?" quizzed Tucker.

"Tucker," reminded Sam, "You were there – in Avalon. Remember?"

"Oh yeah..."

Sam shook her head.

"We have to help her," she said, "Give me the bat."

"Creep stick."

"Just do it," grumbled Sam.

Tucker handed the stick over. Sam rubbed it – her hands glowed purple as she whispered an incantation.

"There," she nodded, "Distract her, I've gotta get around."

"I'm bait?" exclaimed Tucker.

"Yeah," nodded Sam, "Have fun!"

The Governor was struggling up the stairs, dragging Dani up behind him. The girl was doing everything she could to hold him up – up to and including gripping every step of the steep staircase.

"Will you stop that?" demanded the Governor, "You're worse than my convicts!"

"Thanks!" grinned Dani, gripping the next stair.

The Governor scowled.

"Nearly there, nearly there..."

Morgan sneered as the beams pushed slowly towards her opponent.

"What's the matter?" she sneered, "Gone soft on the throne?"

"No," replied Guinevere, "I'm saving my energy."

"For what?" demanded Morgan, "You have no..."

"Hey, witchy!"

Tucker leapt into the open ground behind them.

"Look at me!" he yelled, "I'm a target!"

Morgan rolled her eyes, diverting a strand of her massive bolt of magic towards Tucker. He hadn't even time to scream before he shrank down and turned into a pewter figure.

"What an idiot," she sniffed.

"Perhaps not," replied Guinevere, eyebrow raised.

"Batter up!"

Sam leapt up behind Morgan and swung the creep stick at the back of her head. There was a loud clang as the magically enhanced object whacked her, and she was knocked out.

Sam grinned – then her face fell.

"Batter up," she repeated, "Really."

Guinevere grinned, allowing her magic to withdraw back into her hands.

"Excellent work," she complimented, "Although the battle cry was a bit..."

"Please don't remind me," sighed Sam.

The tide had turned.

With Morgan incapacitated, Vlad missing and Mr. Cromwell hardly a martial artist, the Coldstreams and the party were making quick work of the remaining skeletons. Some were enjoying the fight more than others – Jones, in particular, was having a great deal of fun seeing how high he could hurl skeletons with his mouth.

The Governor looked back on the debacle as he reached the top of the pyramid.

"It doesn't matter," he said to himself, "We're finally here."

He walked towards the altar.

The altar was nothing much. There was a small table, two gold carvings of what might have been gods, and a small silver box, not unlike an undersized tomb. There was an indent shaped like a hand on the side of the box.

"And here we go," he sneered.

He pulled on Dani's arm, ignoring the cry of pain as he pressed her hand on the indent. There was a hissing noise – Dani winced in pain.

"I bring you the skin of the family of my foe!" snarled the Governor, "Now, return my offering with your wisdom!"

"This is your last warning!"

The Governor turned around.

Danny had arrived, Timmy, Sandy and Spongebob behind him. There was a poof of smoke, and the boy's fairies popped into view.

"Let her go," snarled Danny.

The Governor sneered.

"Very well," he nodded, throwing Dani to the ground, "She has served her purpose. The box is open."

"Open?"

Vlad landed on the altar, eyebrow raised. A moment later, a ragged Mr. Cromwell climbed the last stair.

"Yes," chuckled Mr. Cromwell, "Mr. Stuart, the Lord Protector, the King, they will finally be avenged! Open it! Open it!"

"I think he's falling apart," whispered Cosmo.

"You think?" grunted Wanda.

The Governor grinned.

"I admire you for trying," he admitted, "But your story is at an end."

He pushed off the lid.

There was a long silence as the Governor gazed into the box, but nothing dramatic happened. Vlad and Mr. Cromwell approached, looking over the Governor's shoulders.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," growled Vlad.

The box was empty.

"Empty," whispered Mr. Cromwell, "It's empty. This whole expedition...this whole battle...it was a complete waste of TIME!"

He clutched his hair.

"I knew it!" he bellowed, "I knew I should never have trusted your kind! Do you know what this means, you bastard?! This was my last chance! My last chance to reform the Witchfinders, to bring back the King, to get rid of magic! You've ruined me! YOU HEAR ME?!"

"It always rains."

The Governor's response was almost a whisper, and yet it bore enough weight to shut up the hysterical Witchfinder.

"I'm sorry?" replied Vlad.

"It always rains."

The Governor turned around. His eyes had turned pure white.

"Everything is always the same," he repeated, calmly, "There's always a monster. There's always you. And it always rains."

"What're you talking about?" demanded Dani.

"We're trapped in a never ending circle," replied the Governor, "I've seen it – the patterns, always unique, always the same. That is the power – the curse of El Dorado."

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a flintlock pistol.

"There's only one way out."

He raised the gun to his head.

"Wait, don't do it!" shouted Danny, "Tell us what the circle is! We can help-"

There was a loud bang. Then it was all over.

"He...shot himself?"

The group had regrouped outside, back on Insano's salvaged ferry (how he'd got the thing back into the Orinoco was anyone's guess.) The rain had stopped, replaced by a pleasant late-afternoon sun. All of Morgan's curses had been reversed, Vlad had slipped away, and Mr. Cromwell and Morgan were now in Coldstream custody in the hold.

"That's what I said," replied Danny, "He looked into the box, babbled about some kind of circle and then shot himself."

"What a lunatic," said Insano, shaking his head.

Sandy glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

"It was weird," agreed Timmy, "Like that one movie with the guy with the fedora and the Nazis..."

"The way I see it," shrugged Jones, "He wanted the power of El Dorado and...well...he got it."

"Just not in the way he was expecting," finished Jazz.

"Still, this all seems a bit...suspicious to me," mused Jimmy, "Something tells me this won't be the last time we hear of this circle..."

"Ah, come on," shrugged Danny, "Even if we do, remember what he said – we always win! What do we have to worry about?"

He grinned and leant over the railing.

"Look, we made it through this one," he grinned, "Let's focus on today."

"Can't argue with that," agreed Jimmy.

"Your majesty," suggested Athena, "Care for a lift back to your ship?"

"I would like that, Madame Athena," nodded Guinevere.

"Alright!" exclaimed Insano, "Everybody hold on to your lunches, we have a ship to find!"

"Wait, Insano, no!" exclaimed Jazz.

Insano raised his thumb. Up in the wheelhouse, Cosmo activated the engines.

And it was thus that the ferry roared off down the Orinoco into the sunset, leaving El Dorado in peace once more.

"Wake up."

The Governor stirred.

He was laying in a black void that seemed endless, a man in armour standing over him. The Governor glanced at his hand – his flesh was no longer rotten.

"I suppose this is hell?" he muttered.

"Not yet, Governor."

The armoured man offered his hand.

"King James I of England and Scotland," he introduced.

The Governor's eyes widened as he was helped to his feet.

"Impossible," he replied, "You're...you're dead."

"And so are you," reminded James, "And yet here we are."

A massive oak tree appeared behind the king.

"Tell me," he asked, "What is that?"

"A tree?"

"It is but a strand of the multiverse," corrected James, "A web of possibilities, all stemming from a single line of events."

The tree lit up, it's leaves turning into pictures of people, places and events.

"This is our oyster, Governor," said James, "This is how we break the circle."

"Just us against the multiverse?" quizzed the Governor.

James smirked.

"Hardly."

Quite suddenly, a muscular ghost in a very familiar jumpsuit stepped out of a portal, which vanished behind him.

"Grim's on board," he nodded, "Is this the new guy?"

"Governor," introduced James, "This is Dan."

The Governor offered his hand. Dan didn't take it.

"So, um, who's in charge here?" quizzed the Governor.

"Oh, you wouldn't know him," shrugged James, "According to your universe, he never even existed."

The Governor heard voices wafting in the wind.

"What have I done?"

"You kinda destroyed the world..."

"Do what humans do best..."

"What is his name?" whispered the Governor.

Dan sneered.

"ReGenesis."

To Be Continued...

I clicked save and turned to the camera.

"Yes," I nodded, "I did just end it on a cliff-hanger. I love it when I'm nasty."

I sighed.

"And now I'm going to make you all even more upset with me," I continued, "There's no way to sugar-coat it, so I'll just say it. While there will be a Halloween Unspectacular next year..."

I breathed in deeply.

"...it'll be the last."

I waited for the boos to subside.

"I'm gonna be honest," I continued, "I'm starting to run dry on both ideas and enthusiasm for this series. I had a long think, and I think five years is good enough and it would be better to stop then write something that just isn't up to scratch. There will also be know We Didn't Start the Fire parodies, because I think that joke has run its course."

I paused.

"Wow, I'm being really disappointing today!" I realised, "Oh well."

I got up.

"So, thank you all very much for your support," I finished, "I couldn't do this without you. So long, happy Halloween and...oh eff it, we'll at least to the chorus. Good night!"

ALL: We didn't start October,
It's some science glee,
And we don't have degrees,
We didn't start October,
But one thing can be told,
Because it's all E3's fault.

We didn't start October,
It's some science glee,
And we don't have degrees,
We didn't start October,
But one thing can be told,
Because it's all E3's fault!

FINAL STATISTICS:

31 Chapters.

130 Pages.

1,433 Hits.

8 Faves.

6 Alerts.

36,319 Words.

177,071 Characters (without spaces).

Approx. 100 Hours of Work.

One Exhausted Author.

I gave Morgan the biggest fight scene because she wasn't at the altar.

As a final note, remember to have any contest entries in by Nov. 15. Please PM me when you post them. :)