On The Horizon
(Disclaimer: I don't own any Klonoa characters, but I own my redesign of Joka.)
"Put me on a Wind Bullet and shoot me into Nahatomb!"
"B-but what will happen to you, Huepow?"
"Don't worry! We'll always be together! We have to win... with both of our strengths combined!"
The hero nodded, "Huepow, I understand!" He aimed his shot carefully and focused every last bit of strength he had. "TAKE THAT!"
As the hero watched his friend sacrificed everything to destroy the nightmare entity, Nahatomb, he remained unaware of the plot. The thoughts of a power hungry entity taking form against his existence. His thoughts rested upon Huepow, his friend who had stood by him, and Lephise, the woman kidnapped into nightmares. The back of his mind also dwelled on Joka and Ghadius, the court jester and his malevolent king. Somehow, now it didn't matter. All he wanted was to know that his friends were okay. That would make him completely content. The light from Nahatomb's demise blinded the Dream Traveler if only for a brief moment. As his eyes adjusted, his gaze fell upon a figure in a white and purple cloak and a green star surrounded by a dark bubble. There was a purple hat adorned with emerald spheres holding two bronze tubes with lavender material flowing out from within. Her soft pink face had a slight blush, making her seem almost childlike. Teal eyes filled with gratefulness shined at Klonoa, making him smile slightly. At once, the hero recognized her.
"The Diva... Lephise."
"Thank you." She smiled, "All of the nightmares have disappeared."
Klonoa should have been happy. Maybe even overjoyed. However, he was only depressed. He hung his head and felt hot tears well in his yellow eyes.
"Huepow... Together always! That's what you said!" the cat-like hero cried. "Huepow..."
Then a voice responded, "We're together, Klonoa. We'll be together...always!"
As the duo was reunited, a dark figure watched on in anger. He wasn't finished with this little spark. He felt a deep anger and hatred welling up inside him. His face denied his feelings though, for his only expression was a twisted smirk. Revenge would be close. Closer than the poor cabbit knew. All it would take was time which was convenient because that was his only possession. The spirit would bide his time and strike hard when the most opportune moment came. His smirk looked sparked with insanity as a devilish plot came to mind.
"Might as well get started..." With that final statement, he teleported to another realm.
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"Help...me...Help me... Please..."
Klonoa opened his eyes, but all that was around was darkness. That voice though... He could have sworn he'd heard a call of help. As his eyes closed again, he slipped into unconsciousness as he fell to the dark sea below. In his world, there was a completely white setting save for a black figure reaching out to him.
"Help me... Please, help me..."
Then the vision began to fade. Klonoa tried to reach out to the figure but something was pulling him in the opposite direction. Then he felt the burn of someone's gaze. The Dream Traveler slowly fluttered his eyes open and saw two creatures hovering over him. One was a yellow dog-like creature with sharp claws and shattered green eyes. He had a red bandana around his neck and was curiously cocking his head from side to side, probably wondering what exactly it was he was looking at. The other was a young girl with soft blue eyes, spiky orange hair, and rather large ears. Klonoa was shocked to see a tail on the strange girl. She was wearing a pink hat, light pink dress, black stockings, and pink shoes. There was an odd insignia right under her chin. It was an upside-down green triangle with wings.
"Umm…Are you alright?" she asked in a soft voice.
Klonoa's words clung to his throat but eventually coughed out, "Uhhh... yeah... at least... I think so..."
"Thank goodness. I'm Lolo. I'm a priestess... well... a priestess in training. And this is Popka," the girl motioned to the dog-like creature beside her.
It raised one paw, "Yo!"
Klonoa nodded, "You're the ones who saved me, huh? Thanks. I'm Klonoa."
Lolo then tilted her head and added while deep in thought, "Klonoa... So Klonoa is the name of the Dream Traveler."
"Huh? Hold on there! I'm just-" The cabbit interjected before being cut off.
"Watch out!" Popka exclaimed.
Just as Popka warned them and the duo pulled Klonoa back against a rock wall, a huge Digon surfaced and bashed its head into the spot they previously inhabited. Klonoa yelped in shock, but Popka was more annoyed than shocked.
"Just great, monsters here too?!" he yelled and started jumping up and down in anger.
Lolo nodded, "M-Maybe we should wait until later to talk. Please Klonoa, won't you help us?"
Klonoa looked at them questioningly, "Huh...? Who me?"
Without answering him, Popka exclaimed, "Lolo!"
The girl nodded, and a green glow surrounded her as she turned into a spirit and floated into Klonoa's ring.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Popka yelled in anxiousness.
"Huh? What? What the...?" The shocked hero looked his ring over in amazement. How did she do that? The only one Klonoa knew who could do that was Huepow! His thoughts saddened as he remembered his long gone friend back in Phantomile.
"Awww, will ya move it? All ya gotta do is get to that island!" Popka snapped him back into the current world.
"What island?"
Popka simply pointed to an island on the black horizon. Through the darkness and the rain, Klonoa saw that the island had a huge statue of a decorated woman on it.
"Where am I anyway?" Klonoa asked, hoping for an answer.
Popka offered no such thing yet again, "C'mon, let's go!"
He hopped into the ring with Lolo. Klonoa wondered if they had some sort of secret club in there or something, but nevertheless, went forward into his new journey.
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Meanwhile, a young maiden and her feline companion watched from the skies in their red airplane. The dark skinned woman stared on with a glint of anxiousness in her midnight blue eyes. Her red ponytail sailed in the plane's breeze much like her red coattails. A smile would have cracked onto her face had she not composed herself. Finally, that power she had longed for would be within in reach. Subconsciously, the lady reached out her hand to an invisible strength, waiting for that surge of energy to flow through her. Finally, it was hers. That raw power...
"Leorina...?"
Leorina snapped to attention and faced her comrade. The black and white feline stared at the woman through her open, yellow eye with concern. She was holding out her paw, revealing the golden star.
"I was worried about-"
Leorina shook her head quickly, "Forget about it, Tat... Just stay on course."
The small cat jumped a bit at her forgetfulness and brought her attention back to the ship's controls, "Yes, ma'am!"
Leorina's mind was just swirling with emotions. So The Dream Traveler had come, like that old fake of a prophet said. But there was another who had predicted this sunspot to approach her world. He was the one who had consulted her after... Her mind quickly dropped that subject. She wouldn't think of those who had tried to hold her back. They had tried to keep her from what was rightfully hers in the first place.
"Let's just test your power, hmm, Dream Traveler?" Leorina mumbled with a slight chuckle.
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A black figure sat on the bell tower at La-Lakoosha, the Bell of Tranquility's home. He wasn't very patient for the new arrival of Lunatea to start on his merry way of setting things right. Those Priestesses had been annoying as well, but they were much weaker than previously expected. He may have had a black hearted agenda, but there was no need to assume right off the bat! That's just rude.
"Rude hosts will not do at all..." he thought out loud, shuffling a deck of purple and black backed Tarot cards. "Now, Dream Traveler, let's see what kind of hand fate has dealt you."
The figure laid out four cards: The Emperor reversed, The Queen of Pentacles, The Lovers, and finally The Tower reversed. He glanced down at the final card with a sincere thought, trying to think of its meaning.
'The Tower...?' Then he remembered one phrase as clear as the tone of a bell, 'A fall from glory is inevitable.' A cold smirk grew across his pale face.
"As is deserving of one such as you, Dream Traveler. You've gotten your taste of victory, but we'll take it away..." He chuckled, "Won't we, Master?" He teleported yet again to plant another seed.
The King of Sorrow sat up quickly from his deep meditation. Red eyes filled with years of isolation seemed to harden with unfathomable hatred and anger. He walked around the stone room, as if expecting to find some new detail. When he finally discovered that his search had ended in vain, he let out a piercing high pitched wail of despair. A wall of blue energy shot out from his body as electrical arms grasped at pieces of stone. The chunks were shot out into the colorful stained glass windows, shattering parts of them to reveal the deep, dusty orange sky. He ran to the edge of the window and looked down into the abyss below. The green cabbit nearly just let himself fall to the end, but one thought saved him.
'Redemption is at hand, Your Grace. The Dreamer shall awaken your heart to its true form.'
"The Dreamer...?" he spoke out in a whisper. "Help me..." His cry grew louder, "Help me..." The King of Sorrow's cry became so powerful that it had the strength to echo through the long abandoned tower, "Help me! HELP ME!" He fell to his knees and cried, "I don't want to be so alone... Please..."
"You aren't alone, Your Grace."
Tear stained eyes blinked in surprise, but their gaze couldn't leave the cracked floor. He spoke in a tiny voice that seemed so distant but so desperate, "I'm not...?"
"The Dreamer is your only hope, Your Grace."
The King of Sorrow turned to see his guest. It was a creature with tall skinny legs but no arms. It had black gloved claws were just floating at his side. Its feet were in deep red shoes that curved into a tight loop at the toes. The creature's torso was skinny, almost like a skeleton with a royal purple and jet black striped suit on over top. Its face was painted white with black plus signs for his eyes. On top was a sort of hat that slowly curved inward with the same stripe scheme. He had a big red smile upon his snow complexion. The King of Sorrow instantly thought of a clown.
"And who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"
The figure smiled, "I am a mere court jester, but if you must have a name, I'd prefer...Joka. But I'm sorry to make my appearance and have to fly away so very quickly, but I've most urgent business to attend to. You shall surely see me again though, before the day is out."
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Back at La-Lakoosha, Klonoa had just proven his strength to Leorina the Sky Pirate by defeating Folgoran the Armored Beast. She seemed impressed, but not as impressed as Tat, who privately claimed him cool and somewhat cute. The scheming duo flew off in their red plane, just as the trio ran up to the bell.
"So I just shoot this?"
"NOT SO FAST!"
Klonoa whipped around so fast it gave Lolo and Popka whiplash. The two jumped out of Klonoa's ring and gave the figure a shocked gaze. What they saw in front of them was the antithesis of Lunatea; a dark colored figure seeming to represent the joy of people, but its aura gave off a malevolent, murderous insanity. Lolo felt a bit woozy from the darkness of its energy, but she kept her ground.
Klonoa stepped forward, "Who are you?!"
"You mean you don't remember?" the jester laughed hysterically. "Then let me give you a hint!" He threw one of his elastic-like arms towards Klonoa. Its clawed hand transformed into a black lobster claw as it clutched a tight grip on Klonoa's small frame.
"Klonoa!" Lolo cried out.
The black and white cabbit slipped out of the claw just before it snapped tight and, all at once, exclaimed, "Joka!"
He exclaimed with a toothy grin, "BINGO! We have ourselves a winnah, ladies and gents!" He extended his arms while brightly colored confetti shot out from his long sleeves, "Are you happy to see me, Dream Traveler? Or should I call you Klonoa? Which do you prefer?"
Klonoa offered no reply to his old nemesis.
"Because I don't want to call you the wrong thing! That would be awfully vexing, don't you think?" Joka asked. "Besides, I don't want to mess up your epitaph." Then, as if he were on stage, he spoke aside, "That's the message on a tombstone for those keeping score at home."
"Why are you here?" Klonoa asked angrily.
The jester seemed shocked by Klonoa's anger, "Oh, don't be such a sour puss! I just KNOW you're tickled pink at the thought of spending time with me again! Besides, I'm not here to play; that's later, my dear cabbit. Our final dance will be much later, but I'll be the last one standing this time. I just came to see you before we become engaged in heated battle. So until then, ADIEU MY ADORING PUBLIC!!" He left, but not before throwing something at the trio.
Popka picked up the small old red and yellow mini-Joka. Then he noticed that the swirl on the back of his head was a fuse. He threw it in the air just as the bomb burst into a multitude of colored smokes. It seems that the clown had a few more tricks up his sleeve.
'Joka…I thought I defeated you once and for all,' Klonoa wondered. 'What do you have in store for me and Lunatea?'
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End of Vision
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