Chapter Three: Restoring the World
Max, Monica, and Gokuu stood on the porch of the Firbits' home, waiting for all seven Firbits to come out of the bushes.
"So, once they do this, the world will be back to the way it used to be?" Gokuu asked.
"I hope so," Monica said. "It would save us a lot of trouble, that's for sure."
There was a loud whirring noise. Gokuu closed his eyes, hoping that, when he opened them, Sindain would be back to the way it used to be. He opened them when Max said, "Look!" and looked up. There was a giant machine floating in the air with multiple hands carrying various tools. To Gokuu, it looked like a barrel with a mustache, red eyes, and grass and a propeller on its back.
Max ran towards the machine, Monica and Gokuu following. Max stopped when a tree suddenly came from the sky and almost crushed him. He was inches away from the now planted tree.
"Hey! That thing almost crushed Max!" Gokuu said. "What is it?! Do we need to fight it?!"
"H-Hold on a sec, Gokuu," Max said.
Another tree was sent towards Monica. Monica backflipped out of the way moments before the tree was planted.
"It almost crushed Monica, too!" Gokuu said. He looked at the machine. "Hey, watch where you're going!"
The machine sent a tree towards Gokuu. Gokuu stopped it with both hands and thrust it upward. The tree, along with the machine's hand that was carrying the tree, flew into the sky until they weren't visible anymore. Max and Monica stared at the spot where the tree and arm disappeared, astounded by Gokuu's strength.
"That'll teach it!" Gokuu said, staring after the tree and the arm. He looked at the machine again and took a battle stance. "Alright! I'm ready! C'mon!"
The machine did nothing.
"Huh? Didn't you hear me? I'm ready! Come at me with everything you've got! I haven't had a good fight in a long time!"
The machine did nothing.
"I'm coming up there, then!" Gokuu bent his knees and prepared to jump.
"W-Wait, Gokuu! It's me, Conda!"
"You turned into a machine?"
"…No, Gokuu."
A platform extended from the bottom of the machine, carrying Conda. The platform landed.
"Come on, you three," Conda said. "By the way, you're fixing that arm, Gokuu."
Max, Monica, and Gokuu stepped on the platform, and the platform lifted them into the interior of the machine. Max, still stunned by Gokuu's power, wasn't paying too much attention to the machine. Instead, he was wondering if Gokuu was human.
When he reminded himself that he was on a machine he might never get to go on again, Max began to look around while Conda explained that the machine was called the Carpenterion and that it could restore the world with the right materials.
Something caught the corner of Max's eye. He looked diagonally. There was a hole where it looked like something was supposed to go in. Gokuu had already noticed it was and was lowering his head towards the hole, about to poke his head inside of it.
Conda noticed what Gokuu was about to do. "Hold on, there! We don't want you to break the Carpenterion again. That slot right there is for Geostones only."
"Geostones?" Max said.
Conda explained that Geostones were knowledge of the ancients. They had the power to tell them what was needed in order for Sindain to be restored—with the necessary materials. He said that that a Geostone could be found on each floor of Rainbow Butterfly Wood.
"If that's the case," Monica said, "then why didn't we see them on the first couple of floors?"
"Actually, I saw some weird glowing rocks on the first couple of floors I was on," Gokuu said.
"Those were the Geostones," Conda said. "Bring one back here, and I'll tell you what to do next."
Conda backed up. The platform began lowering again, carrying Max, Monica and Gokuu. When the platform was lowered, they began running back towards Rainbow Butterfly Wood.
"That was an incredible machine," Max said.
"According to the map, we're almost there," Max said. He was holding a map up directly in front of his face while walking. Monica and Gokuu were following him as he guided them to the Geostone.
"It should be right…here!" Max stopped and lowered the map. In front of him was a Moler. The Moler tackled him, sending him flying backwards, the map dropping out of his hand. Max immediately got back up and withdrew his Battle Wrench and Classic Gun.
"Max, are you sure you're gonna be okay with those the whole time we're on this journey?" Monica asked. She had already withdrawn her Long Sword. Her Magic Brassard was on her arm, as it always was.
"Now that you mention it…" Max got sprayed in the face with goo that came from the Moler, cursing him so that he couldn't change weapons. However, that didn't affect him, as he didn't have any other weapons. The goo on his face dissipated. He raised his gun and shot at the Moler. The bullets went through the Moler, blood spraying out of the bullet holes.
Monica jumped forward and began to slash at the Moler with her sword. She was somewhat slow, as her sword was a little heavy, but she still managed to deal damage to the Moler fast enough so it didn't have a chance to retaliate. Blood spurted out of the deep cuts her sword left behind. Once she had given the Moler cuts that covered almost all of its body, she backflipped, landing next to Max.
"Alright! It's my turn!" Gokuu disappeared. Max and Monica looked around for him, as did the now cut up and near-death Moler. Gokuu appeared behind the Moler, saying, "Gotcha!" and dealt multiple punches in less than a second, disappeared, reappeared beside the Moler, dealt multiple punches, disappeared, reappeared in front of the Moler, dealt multiple punches, and then landed a punch in its stomach. Blood, along with a red, glowing stone, came out of the Moler's mouth. Max caught the Geostone, almost dropped it and then caught it again. The Moler's eyes rolled back. It fell on the ground and then disintegrated.
Max and Monica stared at the spot the Moler disintegrated at, wide-eyed. Gokuu was suddenly in front of them. Max almost jumped while Monica took a step back.
"That was fun!" Gokuu said.
"Who are you?" Monica said.
"Son Gokuu." Gokuu began heading back towards the entrance.
Max, carrying the Geostone, led the way back to Sindain. When he, Monica, and Gokuu arrived, they saw that Conda was already waiting for them. Conda gave them supplies they would need and then told them how to call the Carpenterion. Max called it. While they were waiting for the Carpenterion to arrive, Conda told them how to put the Carpenterion away.
Once the Carpenterion came, with the arm Gokuu had broken back in place with masking tape, the four of them boarded it. Conda told Max to put the Geostone into the reactor—the hole in the middle of the machine. Max did as he was told. Information that almost seemed random came up on a screen in front of them. Conda explained that the Carpenterion had downloaded all of the data they would need in order to restore the world.
Finally, he explained Polyn—the energy that confines how much one can build. He said that as long as they stayed within that limit, they would be fine.
"You're now prepared to begin building," Conda said. "I even fixed the arm so you three can get right to work. Now get to it! I'll be in the train just in case you need any more supplies—for a fee, of course."
Max, Monica, and Gokuu stepped backwards against the wall of the Carpenterion to avoid being taken down along with Conda. Once Conda had disembarked and the platform had reattached itself to the Carpenterion, they stepped forward again.
"I can't believe he wants to charge us for saving the world," Monica said.
Max turned around and looked at the screen. "Okay, let's get started." He read the data. "'Forest lake restored… Glowing mushrooms restored…' No info on how to restore them. Maybe going back into the forest will get us a Geostone with the information we need."
Max, Monica, and Gokuu disembarked the Carpenterion. As they ran towards Rainbow Butterfly Wood, the Carpenterion flew off into the distance.
Max, Monica, and Gokuu were about to enter Rainbow Butterfly Wood when Monica stopped.
"I don't think we can go any further," she said, "until Max gets better weapons. Come here for a second, Max."
Max went over to Monica. She told him about synthesizing weapons with items to get weapons to be stronger and eventually built up. She handed him some crystals and then gave some synthesis points to both his weapons to get him started. Max synthesized a few crystals to the Battle Wrench until the wrench began to glow green.
"That means you can build it up so it's stronger and has more of a chance against the monsters here," Monica said.
Max built the wrench up. It was now a wrench with a drill attached to it—the Drill Wrench.
He worked on his Classic Gun next. Once he was finished synthesizing, the gun began glowing green, and he built it up. The Classic Gun was now a trumpet. Max was confused. He examined the trumpet and saw the trigger on the bottom.
"It's a Trumpet Gun, I guess," he said.
"You're prepared now," Monica said. "Remember that your weapon will glow blue when it levels up, giving it a certain number of synthesis points. You can't tell how many it gets, though, so you can synthesize until your weapon rejects any more crystals. You can synthesize regular items, too, so you're not restricted to just crystals."
"Got it. I'm ready."
"Let's go, then." Monica ran towards Rainbow Butterfly Wood, Max following, and Gokuu leading the way.
Monica had the map this time. She wasn't saying anything, but led Max and Gokuu towards the Geostone. She stopped a few feet away from the Geostone, as she was afraid that another monster would take her by surprise, as the Moler did Max. She lowered her map and saw a Sonic Bomber with two Tores at its sides. She put the map away, drew her sword, and readied herself, as did Max and Gokuu.
Inside the Sonic Bomber was a Flotsam Balloon carrying the Geostone. Max reached into his pouch and, without taking anything out, pressed a button. The Ridepod rode up to Max from behind. Without looking back, Max backflipped into the Ridepod's seat. He grabbed the controls.
"Wow, that thing's huge!" Gokuu said, staring up at the Ridepod.
"It's the Ridepod," Max said. "It's easier to fight machines with this. Anyway, I've got the Sonic Bomber! Monica, Gokuu, take care of the Tores!"
"Right!" Monica said while Gokuu said, "Got it!"
The three went their separate ways, Max towards the Sonic Bomber, and Monica and Gokuu towards the two Tores.
Gokuu charged at the Tore. The Tore released six Kotores. Gokuu kept charging at the Tore until he was close to the Kotores. Then, he kicked all of them into the Sonic Bomber with one swing of his leg. They disintegrated the instant they hit the Sonic Bomber. Gokuu's Tore began waving its arms wildly, scratching Gokuu.
"Ow, ow!" Gokuu said, protecting his face with his arms. "That hurts!" He looked around while the Tore kept slashing his arms. There wasn't a way to escape the Tore's swinging hands...except down. Gokuu grinned.
Gokuu began spinning around, but managed to stay in place. When he thought he was fast enough, he hopped and then pushed down with all his strength while continuing to spin. He drilled himself into the ground.
The Tore stared at the hole Gokuu had left, waiting for Gokuu to come back up. Gokuu shot out of the ground directly below the Tore, hitting the Tore and sending it flying into the air. The Tore went so far that it wouldn't be seen again.
"Alright…" Gokuu said, stumbling. Everything around him was spinning. "All done…" He collapsed.
Monica slashed at the Tore's arms using her sword. The Tore's arms came off, making the Tore incapable of attacking Monica. Instead, it released an army of Kotores. Monica backed up. She was outnumbered by a few hundreds.
"How do I deal with this…?" she asked herself. An idea hit her. "That's it!" She closed her eyes and concentrated on her sword. She began charging power, channeling it into her sword. A Kotore threw itself into Monica and exploded on contact, throwing Monica backwards. She fell on her back inches away from a tree.
"Damn…" Monica stood back up. The Kotores were running after her. "I can't store power with those things coming at me." She looked around for a way to store power without the Kotores interrupting her. Her face lit up when she saw the tree she had landed near. She jumped up and landed on one of its top branches. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her sword. She began charging power, channeling it into her sword.
The Kotores couldn't jump up that high, nor could they climb a tree. They began ramming themselves into the tree Monica was in, making the tree shake. Monica, however, was still able to concentrate and charge power. When she thought there was enough power to eradicate all the Tores, she jumped off the tree and landed swordfirst in the middle of the Kotores, who were still trying to knock the tree down. She sent a shockwave through the crowd of Kotores, killing them all.
There was a lone Kotore coming at her from behind to explode and avenge its comrades. Monica heard it coming and backflipped behind it. Then, she kicked it, sending it into the mouth of the Tore she had torn the arms off of. The Tore began choking. A few seconds later, its eyes rolled back, and it fell, disintegrating.
The Sonic Bomber spun. While it was spinning, Max, who was inside and controlling the Ridepod, guarded. The Ridepod was equipped with its Cannonball Arms, Iron Legs, and a Drum Can Body. However, the Sonic Bomber was still able to damage the Ridepod, as Max hadn't upgraded it since he had first gotten it. The Flotsam Balloon inside the Sonic Bomber got dizzy and stopped, giving Max a chance to attack. Max swung the Ridepod's arms back and prepared to punch when the Sonic Bomber began spinning again. Max guarded.
"Oh, no," Max said. "If this keeps up, the Ridepod'll die on me! I need a faster way…" He looked around and saw a few rocks that were small enough to be picked up, but big enough to damage the Sonic Bomber around the area he, Monica, and Gokuu were fighting in. "Those should help!"
When the Flotsam Balloon got dizzy again and stopped, Max went to the nearest rock and kicked it. The rock hit the Flotsam Balloon in the face, knocking it out and leaving the Geostone unattended.
"Great!" Max went over to the Sonic Bomber. He jumped inside of it took the Geostone. Just then, the Sonic Bomber began spinning again. Everything around Max was a blur. He dropped the Geostone. Then, he felt a hard hit to his stomach. He stumbled backwards and stopped on the tip of the Sonic Bomber, close to falling off. He looked down and saw the Flotsam Balloon's head where his stomach had been. Max didn't know how the Flotsam Balloon had recovered so quickly, but he knew he had to keep the Geostone from being taken. He pulled out his Drill Wrench and Trumpet Gun as the Sonic Bomber stopped spinning.
The Flotsam Balloon charged at Max with its head lowered, about to headbutt Max again. Right before Max could react, the Sonic Bomber began to spin again. Max, unable to see anything but a blur, threw his hand out in every direction to catch the Flotsam Balloon before it headbutted him and sent him flying off the machine. He didn't hit anything, however, and when the machine stopped, he saw the Flotsam Balloon stumbling around, dizzy. Max was also dizzy; the forest was spinning. Max stumbled around, his hand that held his Drill Wrench outstretched, until he felt his wrench hit something. He saw a spinning Flotsam Balloon fall out of the machine into a spinning world, where it disintegrated. He had won.
Max held his head in his hands for a while. Then, when he was sure he wasn't dizzy anymore, he lifted his head and saw that the world had stopped spinning. The machine was now still. Max wondered how the Flotsam Balloon was able to control the machine without being at the controls, but he shrugged that thought off and picked up his reward—the Geostone.
Max, Monica, and Gokuu boarded the Carpenterion once more. Max tossed the Geostone into the reactor and then turned to the screen, awaiting the information.
"'Make withered tree appear...'" Monica read. "So far, all we have is a list of requirements. It's not telling us how to fulfill those requirements."
"You think we need to figure it out ourselves?" Max said.
"I don't think so. Let's just gather a few more Geostones and see how it turns out."
Max, Monica, and Gokuu disembarked and went towards Rainbow Butterfly Wood. While they were walking, Gokuu said, "Hey, does this really play like a trumpet?" He pointed to the Trumpet Gun Max had just pulled out and was carrying in his left hand.
"I dunno," Max said. "Why don't you try it?" He handed Gokuu the Trumpet Gun.
Gokuu pointed it to Max's ear, put his mouth on the mouthpiece, and blew. It made a loud screeching noise. After Gokuu stopped blowing, Max couldn't hear anything but loud ringing and began to rub the inside of his ear.
Gokuu grinned. "Yup, it works!"