Author's note: How does Rune react when he's called Rhys? What's as uglier than Full House? And just what does Demi think of Megaman? These questions and more answered! Enjoy and review.

If only they could turn back time and not make this stupid journey at all! "No what?!" Gryz threw his hands up in surprise, along with the Telepathy Ball. The pair watched in horror as the crystal sphere sailed gracefully through the air and gained momentum as it fell. Kyra and Gryz seemed to act in slow motion as each made futile attempts to catch the glowing Telepathy Ball. It fell to the floor and shattered into millions of tiny fragments, but all was not lost. From the rumble arose a tiny winged Noah who immediately flew to Gryz and cast bolt. Noah was far too small to harm Gryz, but the spell generated enough static to force the Motavian's fur to stick out in all directions. He then floated in front of Kyra's face and used his cane to leave a prominent red mark down the middle of her face. "Both of you shall pay dearly for this!" Noah screamed in a very, very high-pitched voice, "I'll just get my current successor, Rhys, Rimpa, Ruin...whatever his name is! But I'll send him after you, and be warned, he's a real hardass!"

Noah disappeared and Kyra and Gryz exchanged pained looks and began to clean up the scattered bits of crystal. Gryz stored it all in a spare sack and prepared to leave. "Hold on." Kyra said, remaining calm, "We need to replace it." The Motavian glared at her, "and how do we do that?"

She held out a ball of sky blue Play-Doh, "Make a replica. That old guard is nearsighted." Gryz smiled at her insight. It was a poor imitation for the majestic Telepathy Ball, but it might pass for a little while. Giving them just enough time to fly to Rykros and pray they'd never be caught. But before any major plans could be made, they had to return to Zosa....

4:00 am....Hahn woke with a start. Not because of any nightmare, not because he was cold, but because the bed he shared with Chaz and Rika was vibrating...a lot. He squinted to see in the darkness as best he could. Everyone was where they had been, except Chaz and Rika, who had scooted closer to each other, and where moving in a very seductive way. It took the scholar a few moments to realize that they were having a little early morning fun and jumped out of the bed to avoid getting involved. He had no idea how open-minded his friends were, and didn't care to find out now.

To make matters worse, now Raja was snoring and much louder than Gryz ever could! Hahn grumbled something terribly inappropriate and flipped Raja over the same way he had Gryz. Luckily, there was still one good sleeping spot left under Demi's feet. She was short enough that Hahn could almost stretch out on the bed. The scholar settled down and tried to drown out nightmares involving Chaz and Rika.

6:36 am...Gryz and Kyra finally made it back to the Frostbitten Motavi-Inn and sat huddled in the cold corner of their room along with the remainder of the Telepathy Ball. "We should tell Rune before Noah does." Kyra thought aloud. "You tell him then, it'll be easier coming from an Esper." Kyra swallowed hard, "Forget it." The Motavian and Esper let out a collective sigh. Morning was going to be painful.

That mourning....At 8:00 am, the Dezo-owls finally stopped hooting, everyone was happy that night was over- except Demi. "I had the most wonderful dream last night..." she shared with no one in particular. "I met this really cute android. He was strong, smart, and as short as me...his name was Megaman." She said with a large smile. Rune rubbed his still-sore head. "I had a strange dream too.." he eyed Gryz and Kyra, "and you two were in it. I dreamt you guys broke the Telepath- what's in your bag?" he asked suspiciously.

Suddenly, but not unexpectedly, the tiny winged Noah materialized on Rune's shoulder, "Get 'em Rhys!" he screamed in his very, very high-pitched voice. Rune looked toward him instead, "Huh?" he gave Noah a quick flick into the nearest wall. Gryz and Kyra exchanged looks and dumped the remainder of the Telepathy Ball on the carpet. The color drained from Rune's face, "How in-"

"Oh, good. You're awake." Chaz cheerfully interrupted, finally dragging himself away from Rika, "This is for locking me out last night. MEGID!!!" Bright, red sparkles filled the room, injuring no one but Rune. The Reverent Fifth doubled over in pain and prepared to Tandle Chaz in retaliation. Wren was the only one to notice this and stopped Rune, "There's no need for us to battle each other-"

"Shove it you stupid robot!" Rune retaliated. Wren remained calm and muttered under his breath "101000100101010101010111000011010101.." Demi winced. She had no idea Wren could say such a terrible thing!

"SHUT UP!!!! JUST EVERYONE SHUT UP!!!!" Raja screamed. He had a terrible headache, and a battle of any sort in such close quarters promised to only make it worse. Gryz and Rika were the only ones to show some sympathy, promptly running to their friend to alleviate his pain in whatever way they could. "Raja....you look like you've got a terrible cold, were you chilled last night?" the numan asked while feeling Raja's forehead. He attempted to respond but coughed and Gryz was there to pat his back. This caused Raja to sneeze. "Wait...." Hahn began, "Raja, you slept by the fire last night?" he chose to ignore that Raja spent half the night in his lap.

"Yes." The priest replied, not entirely sure where this would lead. "Well, I do believe that you're having an allergic reaction to Motavian fur.." Gryz immediately jumped away from the Dezoran, "Maybe we should go outside, that might help Raja clear his sinuses and help us clear our heads." It was a brilliant idea. After last night, the Protectors would likely kill each other if they stayed in their room any longer. Rune was near death as it was.

As a courtesy, Chaz picked up the tiny, winged Noah as they exited. He couldn't leave a dead bug in the room for the maid to clean up! True to Gryz's words, everyone felt much better when outside the confines of the Frostbitten Motavi-Inn, even Raja felt his massive headache disappearing. "Hey, you nine!" shouted a penguin keeper at Zosa's entrance, "I've been waiting all morning for you to show up!" Rune, much to Chaz's disappointment, appointed himself spokesperson, "Why is that?" The keeper handed him an official-looking letter, "There's a nest of snoworms who have a written request to see you."

Chaz let his mouth fall open, "You're kidding, right?" The Dezoran shook his head, "Oh no, in fact, their diplomat is standing right beyond the town's gate." True to his words, the Protectors looked beyond the walls to see a snoworm waiting patiently for them, even greeting some of the newcomers to town by waving with its tail. However, it did glare at our heroes once it saw them. The penguin keeper smiled at them, "You should go talk to that worm. He's quite eager to meet the people who saved all of Algol."

Wren grabbed the Dezoran by the shoulders, "Sir, that worm means to kill us!"

He continued to smile, "Nonsense, you robot!"

"Android." Wren correct irately. The Dezoran continued to smile "Whatever. Go out and say 'hello'. He's a very charming snoworm!" he herded the Protectors out of town and slammed the door behind them. Demi sighed remorsefully, "Oh Megaman....if only you were real. You'd know how to get out of this terrible situation."

Once our heroes stood before the snoworm, it summoned its allies out of the snow, preventing any change of escape. Gryz once again cursed Odin for stealing the laconian ax. The snoworms attacked as our heroes desperately threw together a defense. Sandworms, the Profound Darkness, not even an episode of Full House! None were as ugly as the chaos that was about to ensue. The Protectors braced themselves for the toughest battle yet!