(Disclaimer: I do not own OK KO Let's be Heroes, all credit goes to the original creators at Cartoon Network. Please support the official release).

(Side Note: This one-shot is an AU of the episode "Rad's Alien Sickness", but it has a much more serious plot).

~'Cia's Shapeshifting Sickness~

Maurecia walked out of the bathroom, wearing a set of light blue pajamas with little clouds printed on them; she had just finished taking a bath and brushing her teeth just before bed. As she walked through the halls of the factory back to her room, she heard something.

It sounded like talking, she crept over to a room with an open door and light pouring from it; Maurecia peeked in to see that the room was a laboratory and inside stood Professor Venomous working on something.

She watched as he wrote something down on a pad and then turned back to mix some chemicals together in a beaker. Venomous smirked as he looked at the purple fluid in the beaker, "Its almost finished, just needs a little time to cool down and then we'll see how KO and his friends handle it", he said to himself.

Maurecia gasped when he said that, she already had a bad feeling about Venomous but now it seemed as though her suspicions were correct; whatever that purple liquid was, he planned on using it on her friends.

When he started approaching the doorway, Maurecia hid behind the wall and morphed into a potted plant so he wouldn't spot her. As he walked down the hallway, Maurecia changed back and ran into the lab. She looked up to see the beaker sitting on the table, then she levitated up to it. "I don't know what this is, but you're not using this on my friends!", she whispered.

She then grabbed the beaker with the intention of dumping it down the drain, but suddenly the beaker burned her hands; Maurecia shrieked in pain as she juggled the beaker and then accidentally dropped it. The beaker shattered onto the floor but strangely, instead of liquid splashing everywhere, a thick purple gas spread around the room.

Maurecia accidentally breathed in the gas and suddenly started coughing violently, Venomous came running over when he heard the noise; when he saw the gas flowing around the room, he ripped one of his sleeves off and tied it around his face. Then he shut the door and opened the windows in his lab, allowing the gas to filter out.

Once the gas was completely gone, Venomous removed the cloth from his face and turned towards Maurecia who was still on the floor coughing. "What were you doing in here? Why were you messing with my experiment?", he asked. Maurecia sternly looked at him, her face having gone slightly pale, "You were gonna use that gas on KO and my friends, so I was trying to stop you!", she said before coughing again.

Venomous sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, it genuinely frustrated him that Boxman's daughter was actually aspiring to be a hero instead of a villain because it means she'll be constantly trying to hinder his evil plans.

He bent down and placed a hand on Maurecia's forehead, she felt slightly warm and looked a little flushed but other than that she seemed alright. "You're gonna get a little sick because that's what that gas was made to do, go lie down and go to sleep. Hopefully you'll feel better in the morning", he said.

Maurecia pulled away from him and walked off to her room, climbed into her bed and fell asleep. But her sleep was anything but peaceful, there weren't any nightmares, but her dreams were very strange to say the least.

In her dream, Maurecia found herself on a hill overlooking Lakewood Plaza; she looked down to see everyone just walking around and going on with their day, then all of a sudden, everything started melting into a dark blue and swirly void as if it changed into outer space.

"What's going on here?", she asked out loud.

Just then, she was surrounded by hundreds of glorbs; she watched as they sparkled and glowed in dark blur void. Suddenly, Maurecia heard evil laughter behind her; she turned to see Shadowy Figure standing behind her, a sadistic smirk on his face. Maurecia trembled in fear as she gazed upon him, "Wh...who are you?", she stammered.

Shadowy Figure simply ignored her as he started collecting a few glorbs, placing them inside a jar. As she watched him, Maurecia started coughing violently, only this time, a strange substance was coming out of her mouth; it was reddish pink in color but it had the consistency of motor oil.

"What's happening to me?", she whimpered as she coughed up more of the weird substance. Then Shadowy Figure started slowly approaching her, Maurecia tried to run away but the second she broke out into a jog, she cried out in pain and grasped her chest, feeling a painful throbbing in her ribcage.

"You're too weak, you can't escape me", said Shadowy Figure as he drew closer and closer. Just then, he was kicked in the face, causing him to go flying across the blue void. Maurecia looked up to see KO and TKO standing over her, "'Cia! Are you okay? Speak to us!", they shouted in unison.

Maurecia couldn't move, she couldn't speak, it was as if her entire being was paralyzed; then her vision started blurring and she finally shut her eyes.

That was when she finally woke up, breathing heavily as her body was drenched with sweat; Maurecia slowly stood up and walked to the bathroom, she splashed water onto her face and when she looked up at the bathroom mirror, she gasped in shock.

Looking back at her was TKO, at first she thought she was just seeing things but then she saw the ponytail and long eyelashes. That was when Maurecia realized that she had shapeshifted in her sleep, she tried changing back to her normal form, but something was wrong.

She grunted as sweat dripped down her face, usually whenever she'd change shape, her body would be surrounded by a white light but now there was no light; she looked in the mirror to see that she was still in the form of TKO. All she managed to do was give herself a painful migraine as sweat coated her now pale skin.

"What's going on? I...I gotta get some help!", she muttered as she limped out of the bathroom. Maurecia slowly dredged down the hallway, trying to find her father or Professor Venomous, but then, just as she came upon the playroom where her siblings normally hung out at, she felt faint and fell over, her cheek colliding with the cold metal floor.

All the Boxmore bots were inside the room that morning: Ernesto sat on the couch reading a newspaper, Shannon and Darrell were playing a board game, and Raymond, Mikayla and Jethro were watching cartoons. They then heard the sound of sickly groaning behind them and turned to see what they thought was KO lying on the floor.

"What's that Plaza brat doing here?!", shouted Shannon as she whipped out her saw blades. "I don't know, but he doesn't look so good. Let's take him to Daddy so he can dispose of him!", said Darrell. Before they could rush Maurecia, Jethro and Mikayla ran ahead and blocked them from her.

"Hey what are you two doing? Why are you helping that hero?", shouted Shannon. "I am Jethro", said Jethro as Mikayla stood protectively over her transformed little sister.

That was when Raymond took a closer look at the "boy" that laid on the floor and realization smacked him in the face: it may have looked like TKO and sounded like him, but the noticeable ponytail and long feminine eyelashes told him it wasn't. "Wait a minute! That's not that Plaza brat, its Maurecia!", he shouted. Everyone took a closer look at the child lying on the floor and realized he was right.

They all rushed to her side as Ernesto gently turned her over and held her in his arms, close to his metallic chest. "Hmm, that...feels...nice...", Maurecia muttered deliriously. She had a high fever but the feeling of Ernesto's almost ice cold metal body helped to cool her off.

Darrell ran a hand along her cheek, reeling back from the amount of sweat that now coated his metal fingers. "Guys, I think she's really sick! She's practically soaked in sweat!", he said. "We need to find Daddy and Professor Venomous! They'll know what to do", said Shannon.

They quickly made their way towards Boxman's office, though Ernesto tried his best not to jostle Maurecia too much. Boxman sat in his office talking to Venomous when he saw his minions/children burst into the room, "Haven't you fools heard of knocking?! What gives you the idea to just burst in like that?", yelled Boxman.

Maurecia flinched because the sound of her father's yelling had aggravated her already painful migraine. "Daddy, Maurecia is really sick and for some reason she looks like that KO chump", said Darrell. That was when Boxman and Venomous looked at Maurecia resting in Ernesto's arms, and a look of fearful concern appeared on Boxman's face.

He rushed over to his daughter and placed his bird claw hand on her forehead before immediately pulling it because his palm started burning, "My word! She's burning up, almost literally! What happened to her?", he said.

Venomous sighed as he walked over to them, "I suppose this is my fault. Last night, I was working on a sort of virus that I was going to inflict upon KO and his two friends. The plan was that KO and his ninja friend would probably be smart enough to go home to recover but his alien friend would more than likely ignore that and let himself get worse.

"And if so, then that means he'd be out of commission and couldn't help the other two after I send a robot to attack the Plaza. But, Boxman, your daughter caught on to my plans and tried to dispose of my virus; she grabbed the beaker before it was done cooling and dropped it, spreading it as it turned into gas and filled the room.

"I told Maurecia to go to bed, hoping that she'd recover like KO would've if he were affected, but it looks like I was wrong. Perhaps being exposed to the virus before it had time to cool down caused it to take on a much stronger effect", he said.

Boxman gasped as he looked at his daughter who was now breathing heavily, "Is there a way to cure her, Venomous?", he asked. "Yes there is, I have much of the chemical compounds left over from the first concoction as well as my notes, just in case I or Fink accidentally became infected by it. I just need a blood sample from Maurecia first so I can analyze it and see just how strongly the virus is affecting her", said Venomous.

"But that doesn't explain why she looks like that KO brat", said Shannon. Maurecia coughed before she opened her eyes, though they were barely visible past her eyelashes. "Last night...I had a weird dream...KO and TKO were in it. Then I woke up like this, and I can't change back. I don't know why...this never happened before and...Mom never told me what to do if it did...", she panted.

Venomous pondered for a minute, "Hmm...maybe the virus is either dampening or hindering your powers. You must've changed into this form in your sleep and the virus is keeping you from changing back. I'll get started making an antidote", he said.

Then, Venomous reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a syringe; he stuck it into Maurecia's arm, which made her flinch, and took a blood sample. "In the meantime, I suggest you put Maurecia back in bed and make sure she doesn't strain herself. Right now, some bedrest might help her", he said.

While Venomous went to his lab to work on the antidote, Boxman immediately put Maurecia to bed and had his robots take care of her. Darrell sat near the bed, soaking a washcloth in cold water and placing it onto Maurecia's forehead to bring down her fever.

As the hours passed by, it seemed like Maurecia was getting worse. Her already high body temperature rose, though she was also shivering from cold, she kept coughing continuously until the same reddish pink substance she spat up in her dreams was dripping from her nose and mouth, and she had a searing pain in her head and chest.

And if all of that wasn't bad enough, the virus seemed to mess with her emotions as well; at this point, if no one noticed her ponytail or long eyelashes, they would've been completely convinced that she was TKO because she became extremely aggressive.

Maurecia laid on her bed, staring at the wall while shivering; Raymond walked into the room holding a tray with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a glass of milk, "Maurecia, dear sister, I've brought you a little something", he said. "Unless it's a cure for my virus, I'm not interested! So tell me, Raymond, is it a cure for my virus?", she grumbled.

Raymond felt a little uncomfortable by this, "Um no, Venomous hasn't finished making the antidote yet. Its actually a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup and a glass of vitamin rich milk. Father said these will help you feel better, also you haven't had breakfast at all yet", he said as he held the tray closer to her.

Maurecia turned around and scowled at him, then she grabbed the tray and threw it at Raymond; the soul and milk splashed onto him as the cup and bowl shattered upon impact with the metal floor, he looked up at Maurecia who's hands were glowing with purple flames. "Screw you, your soup and your milk! Talk to me when you've got my antidote!", she screamed.

She then fell back onto her bed, her energy having been spent that she immediately fell asleep. Raymond sighed sadly as he picked up the broken dishes and then went to a mop to clean up the spilled food, he couldn't be angry at Maurecia because he knew she didn't mean to behave this way and all he could do was try to make her feel comfortable until she could be cured.

As Maurecia slept, she was bombarded by incredibly strange fever dreams. In one dream, she was in an underground area with a large tree and more glorbs floating around her; in another dream, she was lost in the middle of a forest at night. And in another dream, she was sitting in the middle of the road between Boxmore and Lakewood Plaza, both places were destroyed and on fire.

All of these fever dreams had about three things in common: the same hooded man was present, KO and TKO were there fighting him and the dreams ended with both boys standing over Maurecia asking if she's okay as she lies on the ground coughing up the same fluid before shutting her eyes.

And every time she woke up, Maurecia had to bend over to vomit up more of this reddish pink liquid into her trashcan, and Venomous still hasn't finished making an antidote. Not to mention she was feeling immensely bored just lying in bed doing nothing, Maurecia had never really been sick before and the only few times she was, it wasn't for very long nor was it this painful.

A few hours later, Maurecia's fever had risen again and her room was beginning to feel cramped and stuffy to her; she knew it probably wasn't the best idea but she threw caution to the wind and opened the window, levitating outside. Maurecia smiled as she took a deep breath of fresh air, though she inhale with her mouth because her nose was too stuffed with that pink fluid.

She gazed over at Lakewood Plaza before she began floating over to it, she was also feeling lonely just being stuck in her room even though her siblings kept coming in or out to take care of her. Maurecia landed in front of Gar's Bodega and slowly drudged her way inside before collapsing in front of the counter.

"Hey kid, you can't take a nap here...! TKO!?", said Enid as she looked down from the counter at what she assumed was her young friend's alter-ego. Just then, KO and Rad came out from the storage room holding boxes. "Hey Enid, do you dare me to drink this entire box of sodas?", asked Rad.

That was he spotted what he thought was TKO lying on the floor until he remembered that KO was standing right next to him, "Um...what's going on here?", he asked. KO let out a gasp as he dropped the box he was holding and ran towards the child lying on the floor, "Maurecia! Are you okay?", he said.

That was when Rad and Enid took a closer look at the "boy" and noticed the ponytail and long eyelashes. "It is her! But...what's wrong with her?", said Enid. "Yeah she doesn't look so good", said Rad. KO gently shook Maurecia until she slowly opened her eyes to look at him, "Oh hey KO...when did you get here...?", she panted.

Concerned, KO tried to pick her up but then he nearly dropped her because his hands were burnt by her absurdly hot skin. "Guys, she's really burning up!", he said. Rad then decided to use his finger beam to lift Maurecia off the ground and carried her to the breakroom.

Meanwhile at Boxmore, Venomous had finally finished making an antidote for Maurecia's sickness but now he was taking a short break to analyze her blood sample to see what other affects his virus had on her.

"It seems like the virus had been dampening her powers, its blocking the gene in her DNA that allows her to shapeshift. Honestly, if I had known it could do this while heated, maybe I would've used it sooner. But I suppose trying the same trick twice with Maurecia around would be pretty foolish", he said to himself.

Venomous looked at the blood sample under a microscope, he then watched as Maurecia's infected red blood cells were starting to be attacked by her white blood cells; they were slowly destroying them, Venomous looked at the sample with fearful shock.

"Oh my Cob! Her blood...I've got to get the antidote to her now or else my virus is going to kill her!", he muttered. Venomous took the beaker holding the antidote and poured it into a vial, then he placed it as well as an empty syringe into his lab coat pocket.

But just before he left, Venomous suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, with his head pointing downwards so that his hair covered his eyes. "Perhaps...we could use this to our advantage...", he whispered to himself.

KO, Rad and Enid had laid Maurecia on the couch in the breakroom, draping a blanket over her. In the midst of her coughing and heavy breathing, Maurecia was able to explain to them what was going on and they were surprised and horrified by what they heard.

"Maurecia, we appreciate you trying to help us out, you're a good friend and seem on your way to being a great hero. But in the future, don't put yourself in danger for us; any evil plans Venomous or your Dad cook up for us, we'll be able to handle it", said Enid. Maurecia gave her a smile before she started coughing and shivering again, KO gave her a few napkins for her cough into.

"Ugh, you look worse than I did whenever I got sick", said Rad as he was visibly disgusted by the pink substance she spewed everytime she coughed. This prompted Enid to punch him in the shoulder, "Rad! She's suffering enough, she doesn't need your help! Why don't you be useful and go soak this towel in some cold water so I can bring her fever down?", she said as she handed him a towel.

Rad grumbled as he took the towel and walked out to head to the bathroom, Enid then turned to KO. "I'm gonna head into the storage room to see if Mr. Gar has any medicine back there for me to use. KO, stay here and look after Maurecia. Oh and while you're at it, try to see if she'll eat anything, she looks pretty thin", she said as she walked out of the room.

KO nodded as he looked at sick friend lying on the couch, a look of sadness on both his and her face. Before he knew it, his hand reached out and began stroking her hair; KO looked down at his right hand and saw that his red wristband hand turned purple and spiky.

KO smiled softly as he realized that TKO was trying to comfort Maurecia, even though her eyes were closed and she couldn't see the wrist. Just then, KO heard an odd noise outside of the room. "Maurecia, stay right here. I'll be back!", he said before he left the room.

Suddenly, KO almost tripped over the unconscious bodies of his two friends, who were lying on the floor. "Rad! Enid!", he shouted. Just then, a small blue canister rolled into the room and suddenly opened up, spewing out a pink gas. KO coughed as he had accidentally breathed in the gas before he finally fainted and fell onto the ground.

The bodega doors opened as a dark, cloaked figure strolled inside towards the breakroom; they opened the door to see Maurecia lying on the couch, coughing and wheezing. The figure leaned over until their face was a foot away from hers, Maurecia opened her eyes and nearly screamed in fear at the sight of the cloaked man standing over her.

"Wh...who are...? Wait! I...[cough] I think I've seen you before!", she croaked. Indeed, the person standing over her was Shadowy Figure, the person who kept appearing in her fever dreams; he then stretched his hand out to her as if expecting her to take it. Maurecia hesitated for a moment before she slowly stuck her hand out to grab his, Shadowy Figure smiled as he gently grasped her hand and began leading her out of the bodega.

Maurecia gasped when she saw KO, Rad and Enid lying unconscious on the floor. "Don't worry about them, they're only sleeping. Come along now, little one. I need your help with something", said Shadowy Figure as he led her away from the Plaza.

Meanwhile over at Boxmore, Fink had finally woke up and was groggily making her way towards the kitchen; when she got there, she found the Boxmore bots preparing some things to help Maurecia feel better.

Raymond was making more soup, Darrell and Shannon were heating up wet towels to act as hot pads, and Mikayla and Jethro were helping Ernesto sort out some children's medicine to give to her. That's when they all finally noticed Fink standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Fink, what are you doing here?", asked Darrell. "Well first off, I live here now! And second, I just woke up. Have you guys seen Maurecia? I'm hungry and I need her to cook me some pancakes", said Fink.

This confused the robots because they were sure that Maurecia was still in bed.

Just then, Boxman came running into the kitchen with a scared expression on his face, accidentally pushing Fink to the ground in the process. "Hey watch it, Box-butt!", Fink shouted. "Daddy, what's wrong? Why do you look so scared?", asked Shannon.

Boxman panted before he finally regained his composure, "I went to Venomous' lab to check and see if he finished making the antidote for Maurecia's sickness. I read over his notes and it turns out he did, but that's not why I'm scared. The notes also explained that the virus is causing Maurecia's white blood cells to attack her infected red blood cells and that's slowly killing her!", he shouted.

The Boxmore bots all gasped in horror when they heard this, "And not only that, Venomous and Maurecia have disappeared as well as the antidote!", shouted Boxman. Everyone gasped in horror again, "Well don't just stand there, you dorks! Go find them!", shouted Fink as she got up from the floor.

"But we don't even know where to look!", said Shannon. Then Mikayla started chattering as she pointed out the window, the others followed her to see that she was pointing at Lakewood Plaza. "Good thinking, Mikayla! She's probably at the Plaza, let's go and get our little sister!", said Raymond. Darrell turned to Boxman, "Don't worry, Daddy. We'll get Maurecia back and hopefully we'll find Professor Venomous too!", he said as he and the rest of his siblings ran out the door.

Shadowy Figure had led Maurecia through a pipe tunnel near the Plaza, she cautiously followed him into this mysterious tunnel until they both came upon a red door that looked like it was wielded shut. "Here we are, my dear. I need you to open this door for me", said Shadowy Figure.

Maurecia looked at him with her black ringed, tired eyes. "But the door looks like its wielded shut and I don't have super strength", she said as she let out a cough. Shadowy Figure hummed, "Well...you happened to be in the form of TKO and he's quite strong. And I have reason to believe that you adapt the powers of those whose forms you take", he said.

Maurecia thought about that for a moment and realized that he was right, so she stepped towards the door; she pulled her hand back as she charged up a power fist and then she launched it forward, breaking down the door. She gasped when she looked into the room to see it was a large chamber with a tree, waterfalls coming from the walls and there were glorbs floating around in the air.

"I...I've seen this place in my dreams. What is this...!", Maurecia was cut off as she once again started coughing up more of that pink fluid. It dripped down onto the watery floor, turning parts of the water into a sickly lighter pink color before it was washed away by the waterfalls.

Shadowy Figure simply pulled out a jar and began gathering a few glorbs, as he was doing so, he suddenly heard a series of violent coughing and hacking behind him; he turned around to see Maurecia lying up against the glorb tree, pink fluid dripping from the corner of her bottom lip.

Her eyes looked blank and glazed over, the light from them have all but extinguished, her skin was so pale that it almost looked translucent and her left hand was clutching her chest where her heart was as if her chest was hurting her. Shadowy Figure walked over and bent down to her level, running a hand along her cheek.

"Wha...what's happening to...me...?", Maurecia gasped as she struggled to keep her eyes open. "There's no easy way to put this: you're dying! That pink fluid you've been spitting up is the result of your white blood cells attacking your red blood cells. And your chest is hurting from the strain it's all putting on your heart, in about a few minutes, you're going to have a seizure before it'll stopped beating altogether", said Shadowy Figure.

Maurecia would've been scared if she wasn't so weak and having trouble breathing, through her half opened eyes, she could see Shadowy Figure looking down at her with concern or as much as he could show due to his hood covering his eyes. "Why...why did you bring...me here? Who are you? Wha...what do you want from...me?", she wheezed.

Shadowy Figure smirked as he gently placed a hand on her head and stroked her hair, "Well if I'm being honest with you...I'm quite interested in you, Maurecia. Your powers, that little friend living in your mind. You may only look like TKO right now, but you have more in common with KO than you think and I find that interesting. One day, you both will be of use to me but for now, I'm going to end your suffering", he said as he reached into his pocket.

But before he could pull out whatever was in his pocket, a power fist came flying at him, forcing him to dodge. Shadowy Figure looked up to PKO standing before him, KO had woken up a couple minutes ago and after seeing that Maurecia was gone, he jumped to the conclusion that something was wrong.

TKO had convinced him to fuse with him to form PKO and go look for her; they then came upon a set of footprints near the Plaza, one belonging to a child but the other clearly looking adult feet. The boys then came to the conclusion that Maurecia was kidnapped by Shadowy Figure and he was probably going force her to open the door to the glorb sanctuary, which she would've been too weak and sick to resist.

"Well well, nice to see you again, PKO. How's it been?", said Shadowy Figure. "Shut up! What did you to Maurecia!?", PKO shouted. Shadowy Figure pointed towards them semi-conscious girl lying up against the glorb tree, PKO looked at her in concern before his expression changed into that of panic and fear when Maurecia started convulsing, more pink fluid foaming up at her mouth.

"What's happening to her?!", PKO screamed. "The virus has gotten worse, her body has been slowly destroying itself from inside and when her seizures stop, so will her heart", said Shadowy Figure. PKO gasped as tears spilled from his eyes, "What do I do?! How do I save her?! Is there even a way to save her?!", PKO shouted in hysterics.

Shadowy Figure reached into his pocket and pulled something out, tossing it to PKO; he caught it in his hands and looked down to see that the object was a syringe with a tiny cork stuck onto the end of the needle to keep the yellow liquid inside from leaking out. "That's the antidote Venomous was working on, I suggest you hurry up and give it to her before her heart gives out", he said before walking away.

Despite his confusion as to why Shadowy Figure would even help him, PKO wasted no time in running towards Maurecia, ripping the cork off of the syringe and sticking it into her arm, though he had to hold her arm still because she kept convulsing. He pushed the plunger of the syringe down and injected the yellow liquid directly into Maurecia's bloodstream.

PKO watched as Maurecia's body slowly stopped convulsing and went still, the pink fluid stopped foaming up at her mouth and her eyes remained closed; he sat there looking at her, waiting with baited breath for her to wake up or speak or do anything, but she just laid there still and silent.

"Maurecia?", he asked but she didn't respond.

"No...no, no, no! No, Maurecia please! Don't do this to us! Please wake up! Please!", shouted PKO as he dropped down and threw his arms around her body, sobbing uncontrollably. He sat there for what felt like hours, crying into the shirt of his dear friend, his breath hitching.

Just then, PKO felt something touch his arm; he looked down to see a small hand holding his arm, grasping it somewhat tightly. PKO looked up to Maurecia looking at him with an exhausted smile, not only that but no longer looked like TKO, she had changed back to her normal self with her blond hair drooped down and looking quite soaked.

PKO smiled down at her, relieved to see that she was alive, Maurecia smiled at him. "Hi...KO, can you take...me home? I'm really...sleepy", she whispered. PKO smiled as he wiped away his tears and gently lifted her into his arms, carrying her out of the glorb sanctuary as her eyes closed and she slowly fell asleep.

Maurecia let out a small groan as she woke up, when she opened her eyes, she saw that she was back in her bed with her blankets practically wrapped around her body like a cocoon. She struggled for a bit to wriggle out of her blanket prison and sat up in bed, looking around in confusion.

Just then, Ernesto walked into the room and gasped when he saw her awake, he stuck his head out of the doorway. "Everyone! Maurecia is awake!", he shouted. Then suddenly, her other siblings, Boxman, Fink and KO came running into the room.

Boxman leaned over and hugged his daughter, "Oh thank Cob you're alright! You were asleep for three days, we thought you were never gonna wake up, but you did. And we're all happy to see you", he said. Maurecia looked around, "What happened to Professor Venomous? How did I get the antidote?", she asked.

"Turns out Shadowy Figure must've attacked Venomous and took the antidote from him. He had you let him into the glorb sanctuary so he could steal some glorbs, TKO and I fused together and went after him but then he threw a needle with this yellow stuff in it and told us it was the antidote. I don't know why he helped us but that doesn't matter now, you're okay!", said KO.

"As for where's Boss, he's in his room taking a nap. He's got a major headache and seemed pretty tired", said Fink. Maurecia sighed as she flopped back onto her bed, suddenly she heard and felt her stomach growling loudly. "Oof, I'm really hungry!", she said.

Raymond came towards her holding a bowl of steaming hot chicken noodle soup, "Perhaps this might help stave off your hunger. I made with extra noodles and chicken bits", he said. This time, Maurecia smiled and took the bowl of soup, blowing on it to cool it off before beginning to eat it.

"We'll leave you be for now, sweetie. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call out for one of us", said Boxman as he, his children and Fink left the room. KO sat at the edge of Maurecia's bed as she ate her soup, "I'm so glad you're okay. When you stopped moving, I...I thought I lost you. We thought we lost you", he said as he was referring to TKO.

Maurecia smiled as she placed her bowl down on the bedside table and reached over to hug him, "Oh KO, I'll never leave you and TKO. Thank you both so much for saving me", she said as she kissed him on the cheek. KO blushed and smiled as he stood up, "Well I think I should head home now, you take it easy okay?", he said.

"KO, wait! Before you leave...can you pass me the tv remote? I...wanna watch cartoons", she said. KO smiled as he grabbed the remote, turned on the tv and gave Maurecia the remote. "Here you go. Get well soon, okay?", he said. "I will", said Maurecia as she waved goodbye to her best friend.

Maurecia leaned back against her pillows and made herself comfortable as she turned the tv to one of the cartoon channels; even though she had been given the antidote for her illness, her body was still weak and frail, and she needed to stay in bed a little longer until her strength came back.

But that wasn't so bad because Maurecia had her friends and family there to help her and she was happy to be alive. She had never been that sick before and she hoped to Cob that she wouldn't experience something like that again because it was the worst time of her life.

Though one thing still rattled around in her mind: who was this Shadowy Figure? How did he know her and KO? What did KO know about him? And why would he use her to steal glorbs only to give KO the means to save her life? And why did she see him fighting KO and TKO in the burning remains of Lakewood Plaza and Boxmore in her dreams?

"Turns out I know very little about the things going on around me. I wonder if I ever will...", she said quietly to herself as she laid back and watched her cartoons.

~The End~