Emily and her friends approached the gates of Babel with Krockman's cousins and Poe. As they were walking, Emily looked towards Willam and asked, "So this is the Tower of Babel, like the one from the Bible?" "Hm, some of the details in the Bible aren't that accurate about it, but yes, that is indeed the one from the Bible," Willam answered. "It was actually brought here after the whole 'King Nimrod' incident, then Cooper and the others got their hands on it and converted it into the epicenter of their base of operations." Looking back at the gates, Emily asked, "And by base of operations, you mean..." "A resort town, yes," Willam answered. "Well, I have to say, this is all news to me," Emily replied as they reached the entrance. 

Next to the gate was a tall booth with a figure hidden inside, the only parts exposed were his long, slender arms. Trying to get a view of the booth operator, Emily shouted, "Excuse me? Are you the one in charge of the gate?" "That I am little missy," a voice from the booth replied. "I am the official gatekeeper of the town of Babel. Now who might you be?" "I'm Emily and these are my friends Chelsea and Lana," Emily introduced herself and her friends. "And we're here to see Krockman." Placing his hands on the counter, the gatekeeper asked, "Emily? You mean Krockman's Emily?" "That's right," Emily replied, a little happy that she apparently had connections in Limbo. "Well dog my cats! Never thought I'd see a real live mortal in Limbo, let alone three of them," the gatekeeper said in amazement. "And I see you brought Krockman's cousins along too." Looking towards Willam and the others, Emily replied, "Oh, yeah they found us out in the wilderness and brought us here. So, can you let us in?" 

Hearing this, the gatekeeper simply clasped his hands before saying, "Let me see if I get this right. You want me to open this gate... the one job that I excel at and that no one else can perform better than me?" Looking a little nervous, Emily replied, "Yyyeah, well can you?" "Of course I can!" The gatekeeper answered excitedly. "But first, I want you to do something for me." "What's that?" Emily asked. "I want you to ask me again with the appropriate tone," the gatekeeper explained. "One that captures the tone of the occasion." Not sure what he meant by that, Emily simply asked again more politely, saying, "Gatekeeper, will you let us in please?" The gatekeeper only drummed his fingers on the counter of his booth, replying, "I don't think you understand what I meant. Let me explain: you and your friends are mortals, right?" "Yeah, I think we already established that," Emily retorted. "Well, you have to understand, we've never had mortals here before (well, we do but they aren't mortal by the time they get here)," the gatekeeper explained. "My point is that you and your friends are about to see something no living soul gets to see until they keel over. When you ask me to open the gate, you should it with flair, gravitas, and most importantly... dramaaaaaa. So go on, give it another try and do it real loud so you can capture friends' excitement too." 

Looking at the gatekeeper with an incredulous look, Emily only replied, "Yeah, I'm not doing that. I'd rather you just let us in." "Oy Miss, just give it a go," Willam said. "We won't get in otherwise." "Yeah, come on Miss, do it," Sophie added excitedly. "Yeah! Come on lady! Give us a show!" Poe interjected. Casting a side glance towards Krockman's cousins, Emily replied, "I am not going to jump through hoops just to see your cousin. Normally I wouldn't be trying to meet up with Krockman. He just kind of shows up." "Well, Emily, unless Krockman decides to show up right here, right now, do you really have a choice in the matter?" Lana retorted. Seeing that Lana was right, Emily only sighed a bit before turning to the gatekeeper, inhaling a bit and shouting with full dramatic flair, "Gatekeeper... open the gate!!!" Cracking his fingers, the gatekeeper proclaimed, "Alright! That's what I'm talking about! Alright folks, watch these magic fingers do their work!" Having said that, the gatekeeper began pulling on unseen levers frantically. As levers were pulled and buttons were pressed, the gates began to spew steam, causing rumbling trumpets to sound from the exhaust pipes. As the doors slowly groaned opened, a recording of Krockman issued from hidden speakers, saying, "Welcome, guests, to the best of all possible worlds!" When the doors had opened, the gatekeeper said, "There you go ladies. Hope you enjoy your stay." With that, the little group made their way inside the strange city. 

Inside the city walls of Babel, Emily and the others were confronted with a consumeristic wonderland, with shops and businesses on every corner. "So, I assume Krockman and the others own all these stores?" Emily asked Willam as she walked past the busy hustle and bustle on the street. "A large majority of them, yes, but the rest are privately owned by permanent guests," Willam answered. Glancing towards his sister and Poe, Willam added, "Well, Miss Emily, it was nice meeting you and your friends, but now it's time for us to go back to Cooper. He's probably worried sick about us." "Already?" Emily asked, a little disappointed. "Well, I suppose you're right. If you find Krockman, let us know, alright." Willam only nodded as he and the others made their way to find Krockman. Before they left, Emily asked, "Hey guys, can we ask you something? What exactly were you doing out in the woods in the first place?" "We were on holiday, Miss," Sophie answered cheerfully. "The woods are just lovely this time of year. Ta ta for now then." With that, the little group left, leaving the girls in the strange, new city. "I'll say this much," Chelsea said. "They're weird, but I really like them." 

"Right then," Emily said, refocusing on her goal. "The first thing we need to do is find out where Krockman is. All we have to do is ask around, see if anyone's seen him." The girls agreed that this was the best course of action, and being looking around. As the group was looking, Emily noticed something familiar. In the distance, she saw a strange little creature (a scrap most likely) wandering the town square. He resembled a small, elvish boy with a shock of red hair on the top of his head, dressed in a blue tunic emblazoned with a medallion  and a pair of torn brown pants held up by a white sash. A wooden sword was tucked into his sash as he took pictures of the square with a camera. Following after him was Emily's teddy bear scrap, Teddi. Staring on as a smile spread across her face, Emily called out to the little scrap, "Teddi?" Looking towards the drok, Teddi grew excited, smiling and running towards Emily as she shouted, "Mama!" Jumping into her 'mama's' arms, Teddi embraced Emily, happily snuggling against her face. "I missed you mama" Teddi said. "You've been gone for so long." "I know, and I'm sorry," Emily apologized. "But look at you, speaking in full sentences. You're growing up so fast." Teddi giggled at this.

As she hugged the scrap, Emily heard Chelsea call out, "Uh, Em, what are you doing?" Turning around, she saw that her friends were staring at her in confusion and concern. "Oh heeeeyyy, I didn't see you there," Emily said nervously. "I was, uh, just catching up with Teddi here." Teddi waved on cheerfully at the two girls as her "mama" explained things. Looking at the scrap, Chelsea only replied, "I take it this is the Teddi you were referring to back at the apartment." "Yeah, this is her," Emily answered. "Isn't she adorable?" Looking warily at the drok and the scrap, Lana replied, "Well, she is cute, but... it's a little weird, don't you think? I mean, you're treating her like your daughter, and you've only known for less than two days." Hearing this, Emily had a confused look on her face, replying, "She practically is my daughter. I took care of her when she was inanimate, and I'll take of her now that she's alive." This only made her friends even more concerned. 

As the girls were talking, a bright flash of a camera went off, catching the group's attention. Looking down, they saw that the elvish boy was standing there, camera in hand. "Oh that's good," the scrap said to himself. "He/she is going to love these." "I'm sorry, who are you?" Emily asked, a little taken back by this weird scrap. Looking up, the scrap replied, "Oh, sorry m'lady. Didn't mean to to disturb you. My name is Calibur, and I am taking pictures for my master while she is waiting to turn back into a he." "Are you talking about Krockman, because he's a real pain whenever he's Lady K," Emily asked in reply. "Oh no no, it isn't King Krockman I was talking about," Calibur answered. "While my loyalty is to his majesty, I am referring to my current master, Master Chad." Hearing this, Emily asked, "Wait, do you mean Chad Jefferson?" "Not sure of his last name, but he is a mortal that came by this morning," Calibur explained. "I was hoping he would teach me what he knows, but he's been turned into a woman and he's been a bit flustered about it ever since." "Well, I doubt you're going to learn anything by hanging out with Chad," Emily replied snarkily. "I should know. We use to date." Hearing this, Calibur's eyes lit up, asking, "You mean you're Lady Emily... and these must be your roommates." "Oh yeah, these are my friends, Chelsea and Lana," Emily said. When he heard this, Calibur kneeled before the drok and her friends, saying, "M'lady, as the apprentice of your lover, I would be honored to assist you in anyway possible." "Well, we do need some help finding Krockman," Emily explained, feeling a little flattered. "We need to ask him for a favor." "Of course m'lady. I will make certain you arrive posthaste," Calibur replied cheerfully as he pulled out his sword. "Follow me if you please." with that, the girls followed after the scrap, heading towards a large tower. 

As they were walking, Emily looked towards Calibur, asking, "So you really picked Chad as your master?" "Of course, but I've had many masters before him," Calibur replied cheerfully. "There was Misfit, Tanooka Joe, Foxy K, Tom, Terry, all the seven new gods, including Krockman (he was the creepiest), and let's not forget my first master, Willam." "Really? Willam was your first?" Emily asked in reply, growing more interested. "Oh yes, I use to be his toy sword back when he was alive. King Krockman gave me to him as a gift when they were younger and turned me into a scrap when he came back," Calibur explained. "I was his faithful servant back when he was a mortal. Then one day, he appeared at Fort Hancock as a lost soul along with his sister and Poe. To this day, I have no idea how any mortal can turn into a lost soul." "Ooh, ooh, I know how it happens!" Teddi piped in cheerfully. "Uncle Krockman told me! He said that sometimes, when mortals go to sleep, they wake up in the afterlife as angels, demons, or lost souls." Glancing towards the scrap nervously, Emily added, "Uh... sure, that's one way of looking at it." With a smile still on her face, Teddi turned towards her "momma" and with the innocence of any child, said, "I hope some day you fall asleep and wake up here in Limbo momma. That way, you, me, and daddy can all be together." Hearing this, Emily was completely mortified, knowing full well what this "sleep" truly was. 

Too distracted by what Teddi had said, Emily accidentally bumped into someone and knocking them down. Looking down, she saw an older woman in formal dress, grey haired and emaciated with a fair amount of makeup and cheap jewelry. "Watch where you're going you stupid bitch!" The woman snarled as she picked herself up. "Oh, I'm sorry ma'am. I wasn't paying attention," Emily replied apologetically. When the woman heard this, a look of absolute fury crossed her face as she asked, "What did you just call me?" "Uh, ma'am, but I don't..." Emily answered nervously. "Miss!" The woman shouted furiously. "I am too young to be a ma'am! I am a Miss! Miss Bathory to be precise, and I expect you to remember that!" Completely stunned, Emily could only meekly reply, "Oh... um, that's nice and all Miss Bathory. My name's Emily and these are my friends, Chelsea, Lana, Calibur, and Teddi." Glowering down at the drok, Bathory said, "So, you're the little tart that Krockman hired. I must say, you're a lot thinner than I expected considering his usual taste in women; although you are as incompetent as I imagined." "I said I was sorry, bitch," Emily said under her breath.

Looking down at her dress, Bathory grimaced as she said, "Look at me. I'm covered in filth. Plumella!" At that moment, a strange little scrap appeared in a puff of dust and feathers. Her overall appearance was that of a feather duster, with a black top, a ponytail of feathers, a wooden body, and a white mask that gave her a vaguely bird-like appearance. Below her waist, in place of a pair of legs, was a bundle of ostrich feathers bound by a white apron.  "Good evening, Miss Bathory," the scrap replied. "How may I help you today?" Without saying a word, Bathory grabbed the scrap, Plumella, by her waist and started dusting herself off with her feathers. "Lord almighty. The things a girl has to do to look presentable," Bathory said absent mindedly dusted herself off. Noticing the girls staring at her, Bathory asked judgingly, "And just what are you all staring at. Didn't anyone teach you that it's improper to stare at people?" "We're sorry, it's just that you're using a living creature as a feather duster," Chelsea replied nervously. "I mean, yeah, she technically is a feather duster, but I don't think she's really enjoying it." Bathory only shook her head and scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous. My husband, Misfit, and I found the little bugger ages ago when Krockman first came to power and ever since then, she's been in our service and the service of Babel. How I treat her is none of your concern. Now if you don't mind, I must make myself presentable." 

As Bathory continued her self dusting, Calibur piped up, saying, "Good madam, if you'd only listen to reason, you must understand that while she is a scrap, she is still a living creature. You can't just use her like that without consent." Bathory only glowered down at the wooden sword scrap and retorted, "And I already explained to the girl that Plumella is mine to use as I please. Now be off or I'll..." "You'll what?" Teddi interrupted, surprising the whole group. "You're not going to hurt any of us. You're too afraid of what might happen to you if Uncle Krockman finds out that you did, you big, dumb, old lady." When Bathory heard this, a look of sheer shock crossed her face before morphing into a look of unbridled fury. "Old lady? Did you just call me an old lady!?!!" Bathory shouted as she grabbed Teddi by the collar of her dress, bringing the young scrap to eye level. "That's it! I've had it with you! I've only known you for a minute and you've already insulted me more than I've ever been all day! I don't care if you belong to Krockman's new girl! I won't this kind of treatment from anyone, especially from a scrap! I'm going to give you a damn good thrashing!" As Bathory raised her free hand to hit Teddi, she felt something large grab onto it. Looking up, she saw that it was a large hand with a fair amount wrappings on the wrist. The hand's owner was a stoic looking, barrel chested man dressed in the armor of a knight (at least the torso and the shoulders were armored), a pair of boots, blue pants, and a buckler on his wrist. His square jaw was adorned with a soul patch as red as his wild mane of hair. The man glared at Bathory with his glowing green eyes as he ordered, "Put Teddi down now and leave Plumella alone, or else." Having all her superiority scared out of her, Bathory could only meekly reply, "Or else what?" "Or else I show you what happens to those who try to harm the innocent and the loved ones of my master, archfiend," the man replied as he pulled out a longsword, preparing to strike. Too frightened to fight back, Bathory simply put Teddi back down and ran off as soon as the man released his grip. Once the lost soul was gone, the man reverted to being simply Calibur, leaving the whole group speechless. 

Noticing everyone staring at him, Calibur asked, "What just happened? Why are you all staring at me like that?" "You don't remember?" Emily asked in reply. "You just turned into some sort of knight and scared Bathory off." Blinking a few times, Calibur replied, "Really? I must've turned into my rage burst form. I tend to forget what I've done when I change back." "So you really don't remember anything that just happened a few seconds ago?" Emily asked, feeling sorry for the scrap. "Nope. I can't even remember what my rage burst form looks like," Calibur answered mournfully. "It's part of the reason why I'm always training. I figure if I become more capable as a hero, then maybe I could remember what happens when I rage burst." "Well, for what it's worth, what you did was pretty heroic," Emily said, reassuring the scrap. Before Calibur could say anything, he found himself caught in the embrace of both Teddi and Plumella. As she embraced her hero, Plumella whispered into his ear, "Thank you hero," sending shivers down Calibur's spine and a rush of new emotions he never experienced before. Casting a side glance towards the rest of the group, Calibur simply said, "Shall we be moving on." With that, the group went on its way, with Plumella watching on as her savior departed.

As they neared the tower, Emily and the others noticed the crowds were growing thicker, funneling into the entrance. "Well, there it is. The Tower of Babel itself," Calibur said to the group. "This is where we part ways." "You mean you're not coming with us?" Emily asked, feeling a little disappointed. "I'm sorry m'lady, but I have my orders," Calibur explained. "I need to take pictures of the whole town for Master Chad as part of my training. You can understand that, right?" Emily only nodded, replying, "Well, alright then. Good luck with your 'quest'. As the group entered the tower, Teddi shouted, "Don't worry Calibur, I'll tell Uncle Krockman you said hi." With that, the girls entered the tower, leaving Calibur behind. "Alright then, where was I?" Calibur said to himself as he pulled out his camera. As he focused the camera, Calibur noticed something watching him. It was a scrap unlike any he had seen before, standing as tall as a thirteen year old (an impressive height for a scrap), with a weasel-like appearance, orange shorts, red sash around his waist, grey and white fur, and glowing white sparks floating in hollow eye sockets. His most striking feature, however, were a single sickle claw sprouting from the middle toe of each of his paws. The sickle clawed scrap stared down at Calibur, twitching his whiskers as he asked, "Are you having fun with your little game?" "I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean," Calibur said in nervous reply. "I'm simply performing a quest for my master." "You know why all your masters give you these quests, right? It's all just busy work. They don't know what to do with you, so they all give you little jobs to do so they won't have to deal with you. Either way you look at it, you're never going to achieve your goal that way," the scrap mocked. "Now, if you're really interested in gaining clarity, come see me down near the Torii Gateways. If not, then keep going on your little 'quests'. We'll be waiting." With that, the sickde-clawed scrap left, leaving Calibur to question what he was doing. 

Meanwhile, in the tower, Emily and the others were walking down a dark hall that lead to a large, lit only by a single spotlight. "Momma, I'm scared," Teddi said nervously as she hugged Emily's leg. Emily only patted the scrap on her head and said in a comforting tone, "Don't worry, baby. Everything's going to be alright." "I don't know Emily, this place is kinda creepy," Lana interjected nervously. Looking around cautiously, Chelsea added, "I know, this place is the worst. What happened to all the other people that came in. Just then, the group heard a single pair of women giggling. From the shadows stepped out a strange pair of women sharing a pair of legs between them; everything above the waist splitting into two fully formed upper torsos. Following after them by a leash was a scrawny looking man dressed in only his briefs and a dog collar. As Emily and the others watched the bizarre sight, they heard another loud noise from behind. Turning around, they saw a quartet of lanterns descending from the center of the spotlight, only to be carried away by a quartet of little men who looked like living, cycloptic batteries. As the lanterns were carried off, their lights further illuminated the room, exposing even more of the strange guests. Among them were a group of scraps (one of whom was dressed like a fat, little politician with large elephant ears and a donkey tail, his head flying off a bit on occasion), a giant of a lost soul that towered over the rest of the group with long, lanky arms, and most bizarre of all, a walrus man dressed in a nice suit. 

"What is all this?" Emily asked, growing more worried by the minute. Suddenly, the lights turned towards a large stage, upon which were several creatures resembling musical instruments, the most striking of them all was the frontman, tall, long nosed, candy apple red with a white stripe down the middle, grey from the waist down, metal studs in place of eyebrows and tuning pegs in place of ears. His mohawk swayed as he strummed the strings running down his chest. The band was playing a alternative rock version of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite". Staring at the band, Lana said, "I don't know why, but those guys sound really familiar." As the song went on, the crowd became more hectic and wild, the patrons more bizarre and outlandish. As the music climaxed, a kite-like scrap flew by, grabbing Teddi with its tails. "Momma!" Teddi screamed as the kite scrap flew off with her, somersaulting in the air. "Teddi!" Emily shouted, reaching for the young scrap, just barely out of reach. This act of motherly protection was further hampered by the crowd of lost souls, drawn in by the distant yet familiar smell of mortality. "No, no, get away!" Emily shouted nervously as the crowd swarmed in with their groping fingers. Before the patrons could swarm the girls completely, a familiar voice shouted out, "Stop!" The crowd stopped their advance as the voice's owner stepped out from the shadows towards Emily and the others. Stepping into the light, the figure was revealed to be Krockman. Smiling a large, fang filled grin, Krockman simply said, "Well, well, Emily. Seems like you and your friends have been pretty busy. Perhaps you can tell me how your visits been so far, and don't skimp on the details." 
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It was amazing what can happen in the span of a few minutes, and Chad learned that the hard way. It all started when he was walking down the halls of Fort Hancock. On his trek, he saw several more strange patrons (though only slightly more or less grotesque than Dead Bro), including a man with bandages all over his body and an axe in his head complaining about migraines, a fat taiper man being followed by a pillow scrap, and several cycloptic battery-like creatures. "Man, this place is so weird," Chad said to himself. "I wonder what these guys did to end up looking like this. I mean, this is the afterlife. Maybe most of it's symbolic." As he pondered this, he couldn't help but wonder whether all these "guests" were like him (having been mortals who happened to be invited to the fort, only to die here), or if they already died and came here for vacation. 

As he walked on, he noticed all the guests were heading back into their rooms and locking the door behind them. Before Chad had time to wonder what was going on, he heard a darkly familiar song coming down from the hall.