No longer feeling much pain over his body, Schezo now walked more normally as he entered a small forest area past the bushes, and proceeded through it, a small abandoned house coming into view close to a lake. 'Finally there...' He approached the house's front door, intending to open it, only for the door to already slightly open in front of his face, and a cat-like creature popped out, jumping on Schezo's shoulder and wrapped his tail around his neck, greeting him. 'Meooww.'

'Heh, I'm happy to see you as well, Lynx, but I need to get inside and brew a potion first to get back in shape...' Schezo gently put him down as he closed the door behind him and proceeded towards what seemed to be the kitchen area, opening up a separate closet filled with various odd ingredients alchemist bottles. He started working on an elixir to fully revitalize himself, Lynx giving him the necessary bottles with his long tail while he was busy sorting out the right ones during the brewing.

Though they were unaware that someone was hovering above the water, observing them from a distance. 'Hm...he wields dark magic as well...' the figure floated towards the house.

'There we go.' Holding the potion towards his mouth, he took a deep breath and swallowed it down, coughing a bit from the odd lime-like taste, but he felt himself rejuvenated almost instantly, and petted Lynx's head. 'Haha, that's better. Now what to do next?' He stared at the lake. 'How can I possibly attain stronger power to stand a chance against Arle...' Lynx purred, and Schezo moved his head closer to the Persian, widening his eyes at what the cat mumbled in his ear.

'What?! Ask that insufferable Witch for help?!' He grumbled. 'I don't exactly like her attitude...but maybe she knows a thing or two...huh?' He noticed Lynx suddenly jumped off his shoulder, and hissed at the front door, it being opened slowly. Schezo grabbed his sword, and stepped towards the door, a purple-cloaked figure with demonic ears and black hair entering inside, apparently female from her facial features.

'Hmhm...forgive me for entering in your little living quarters, but I've noticed your magic strength...' She smiled faintly with devious smirk on her face, and Lynx instinctively jumped towards her, but she grabbed the cat with some dark aura, emitting from her left hand and froze him in place. 'Bah, don't interrupt me, cretin...' Schezo was startled by her quick reflexes, but pointed his sword further in her direction, visibly angered. 'Let Lynx go this instant, or else—what?!' He felt his sword pulled from his hand by the sorceress' other free hand's aura, and it flew in her hand, her taking a closer look at the blade.

'Not bad...not only do you also wield dark powers, but you're also a adept swordsman, judging by the craftsmanship of this sword...' Schezo snapped the sword back in his hands, and stepped back slightly, visibly intimidated by her powers. 'W-What do you want from me?' She smirked.

'A man who gets to the point? I like that. Let me be direct with you. I seek help with a little objective, and I think you'd be of great help...inexperienced, but with great potential. You'll help me, and I'll be sure to repay you dearly for it, for example with the garantueed safety of this little kitty here.'

'I don't help anyone who threatens Lynx, you hear me?! Now release him at once, or—ARGH!' Being struck by a sudden jolt of black magic behind him, he lost consciousness, and fell to the ground. 'Bah...' She stepped forward, inspecting his body. 'I don't think you're aware of who you're dealing with here.' She thought to herself, though she then sensed something in his body...something wicked. '...I think you might be of some help to me after all.' Mumbling a wicked spell, she extracted some black substance from his body, and formed it as a small orb in her hands, placing it in her cloak. Hissing, Lynx tried to claw with his little paws in her direction, but to no avail, as she grinned deviously to him. 'Oh, don't worry, I can find some use for you as well, kitty...' She left the house, leaving the unconscious Schezo behind.

The group saw the forest appear in the far distance as they came close to Chestnut Village, and Rulue was baffled by the thick purple fog that has clouded the forest. 'Wow, you weren't joking, Arle. It looks pretty serious.' They entered the forest, and were greeted by a few of the Puyo looking pretty agitated, but they quickly dispatched them without too much effort. 'Ha...come on, we've got to get to that cave Minotauros mentioned.' Arle looked at Rulue's servant. 'Minotauros, can you still remember where that cave was, even with this thick smog?' He nodded. 'Yes, I have a pretty good idea where it was. To the right from here...' He walked ahead, the others following him as they were cautious of any other wildlife that might attack them out of nowhere.

They were fortunate to not run into any other nuisances so far as they saw a mountain come into view in the deeper parts of the forest, and could make out a large cave close to it's footing, with the fog apparently flowing out of there at a slow rate.
'Moo...this is it.' Minotauros carefully approached the entrance of the cave, though Rulue hurried towards him, grabbing his broad shoulder. 'Hold up there, Mino! It looks like the fog's pretty thick in there, I don't want you heading in there.' Though he wasn't paying attention to her, his gaze focused towards the cave. 'Hey, are you even listening to me, oaf?!' He carefully pushed her back a bit, and put his axe in front of him. '...I hear footsteps, something is coming this way!'

'Groo...' A faint sound came from the cave, and they stepped back, a large bear-like creature stepping out of the entrance, looking at them with an intimidating glare. 'GROO!'
'Owlbear!' Arle expressed shock that the kind creature from yesterday would be affected by this as well, and he swiped his claws wildly around to warn them, wanting them to back off.

'You know this beast?' Rulue inquired, also standing in a fighting stance to defend herself. 'Uh-huh, he was pretty kind yesterday when he helped me and two children, but it seems he's gone mad from this smoke as well...' She launched a fireball towards Owlbear hoping to scare him off, but he simply swiped his claw at the spell and flung it aside into a bush. 'Groo!' He rushed towards Arle, Minotauros stepping in to push him off, but Owlbear wasn't having any of that, and he started swiping his claws at him. 'Grr...' He dropped his axe and carefully grabbed his arms evading the swipes, and tried holding him in place, though Owlbear seemed to be pretty strong as well, and Minotauros was trembling in place, not being able to hold him in place for very long.

'Hang in there!" Arle encouraged Minotauros, though Rulue tried aiding him with delivering a kick to his side, though he didn't felt much due to his thick hide, and Carbuncle noticed something. 'Guu!'
'What is it, Carby? Oh, his butt? Ah, I see...' She dashed behind him, careful to not draw his attention, and formed another fireball in her hands. 'Fire!' She flung it towards his behind, setting it on fire, and Owlbear felt it stinging in his behind, and screamed, flailing his paws in a attempt to put it out. Rulue noticed a small pond close to where they were fighting it, and she got an idea. Waiting for Owlbear to come close to the edge, she dashed forward and kicked him with all her strength, pushing him off the edge and with a giant splash in the water. 'That ought to give him a cold wake-up call...' She sighed, hurrying to Minotauros' side to check up on him. 'Mino, are you alright?'
'Moo...' He rubbed his left arm slightly. 'I'm fine, Mistress Rulue...just a small scratch, that's all...'

Arle was relieved as well, though she noticed something rising from the pond and climbing out of from the edge. 'Ah, he's back!' They stood ready for any possible retaliation from Owlbear, but much to their surprise, he seemed to look docile again, and grumbled, shaking his wet hide. 'Groo...'

'Mr. Owlbear...are you alright?' Arle approached him, the creature nodding. 'Gu gu guu!'' Carbuncle communicated with him, and Owlbear nodded, hurrying out of the forest. 'Sorry about that!" Arle shouted to him as he left. 'Carby...did you tell him to get out of the forest and wait in the fields until this is over?' He nodded, earning him a small pet on his ears from her. 'Thanks!'

'Arle, don't get all cheery yet, there's still that issue with that smoke we've got to investigate...' Rulue commented, grabbing Arle's attention, and they approached the cave again. 'Odd...this wasn't Owlbear's home cave, yet he emerged from this...maybe he was hypnotized to guard something in here?'
'Hmm...that's a good possibility, most likely whatever's causing that smoke in here...' Minotauros mumbled, as they stepped forward into the cave, them coughing from the smoke that seemed to be much more thicker inside, and they were barely able to see much ahead of them. 'Erg...be careful to not inhale too much of this!" Arle held a hand in front of her mouth, trying breathe carefully with her nose, feeling a bit agitated, but otherwise fine. Minotauros and Rulue nodded, doing the same thing, though Carbuncle was strangely not affected much by it, looking mostly cheery as usual. 'Gu?'

'Huh...it doesn't seem to affect your pet much though, Arle.' Rulue was questioning why, but as long as he wasn't affected by it, she didn't complain. 'Come on, we've got this far, we gotta press on!' Arle formed a small orb of fire from her hands, holding it in front of her as it lighted up the cave somewhat and allowed them to see a bit further ahead. Venturing forward, they ran into very few other hostile cave dwellers that Rulue and Minotauros took care of easily, though they were at a crossroad when the cave split into two pathways, and they were wondering which way was the correct one.

'The smoke doesn't seem thicker in either way...seems we'll have to split up.' Rulue suggested, though Minotauros was quick to object. 'M-Misstress Rulue, why split up? We need to stick together so to not be ambushed!' She scoffed at his remark, being stubborn to her decision. 'Bah, don't get so pigheaded, Mino! We'll double our efficiency with the search this way, and we'll meet up here within a few minutes if we don't find anything, then see from there what we'll do.'

'That...doesn't seem too logical.' Minotauros inclined, though Rulue glared at him. 'Bah, fine, then you'll accompany Arle as punishment, got it?!' He widened his eyes hearing that. 'Mi...Mistress! No, I must object! I'll accompany you to the bitter end if necessary!' Rulue shakes her fist in anger, growing easily more irritated with the second due to the smoke. 'Enough! Just get out of my way!' She dashed off to the right, leaving Minotauros behind with Arle and Carbuncle. 'No! Mistress!" Arle grabbed his shoulder to calm him down. 'Just obey Rulue for the time being and follow us to the left, okay?' He nodded silently. 'It's better to just do as she wants and explore the other part. We don't want her to turn against us, do we?'
'No, you're right...' They wandered off to the left, Minotauros looking behind him briefly. 'Mistress...be careful.'

'That annoying moron, thinking he's smarter than me...' She mumbled out loud to himself, though the smoke was partially starting to influence her thoughts, and she coughed from inhaling the smoke as well by now, though she thought she heard some faint noises in the distances, and came closer, hiding behind a big rock as she peeked her head out to barely spot something huge, with two figures in front of it talking to themselves.

'Hmm...still nothing, it seems the smoke's getting less thick here, actually...' Arle squinted her eyes as the trio moved on ahead in the separate pathway, though Minotauros was still visibly distraught over letting Rulue dash off all by herself. 'Hmmrrgh...I should have gone with her, even if she would have kicked me so hard in the chest I'd feel it for 3 days straight...' He mumbled out loud, grabbing Arle's attention. 'Hey, she's pretty tough, don't worry too much-*THONK* bumping her forehead against a wall while talking, she grunted rubbing it slowly. 'Moo, are you okay?' Mino grabbed her gently, helping her get up on her feet. 'I'm fine...looks like this is a dea—'

'GRR, LET GO OF ME! HRAAAA!" They heard a loud voice echo throughout the cave, and Minotauros immediately rushed off, Arle following suit. 'Mistress Rulue!' They arrived back at the point where they split off. 'Right, we came from the right, so we should head left!' Arle pointed in that direction, though she took a step back as she felt a slight gust of wind, something speeding past them at high speed. 'Gah!' Barely noticing what passed them, she could make out that they were heading for the exit by going to the right.

'Moo! We gotta check on Mistress Rulue!' Minotauros rushed off once more, Arle barely being able to keep up with Carbuncle hanging onto her shoulder. 'W-Wait up!' As they ran past a big rock, they noticed something massive, apparently a purple plant spewing out all that smoke, and Rulue was close to it as well, walking towards them. 'Mistre—UOORGH!'Minotauros approached her, only for her to forcefully push him towards a wall with one hand, and glared at Arle, her eyes glowing red with fury. 'Pathetic imbeciles!' She shouted out, flexing her arms and legs. 'R-Rulue?! Oh no...she's inhaled the smoke too much from that...thing!" Arle was nervous, but Carbuncle reassured her to stand her ground. 'Guu!' 'R-Right...we just have to knock some sense into her.' She laughed maniacally. 'Whohoho! ''Knock some sense?!' I'll be sure to knock you out, QUICKLY!' She cracked her knuckles and dashed over to Arle, attempting to punch Arle straight in the face, only for her to barely duck and jump out of the way, Rulue hitting a rock instead, shattering it into pieces, with Arle now visibly trembling. 'T-Thunder!" She attempted to hit Rulue with a bolt of lightning, but due to her nervousness, she hit her feet instead, and Rulue slightly flinched. 'Gah! Grrr!"

Though unexpectedly, Minotauros managed to sneak behind Rulue, and wrapped his arms around hers, attempting to restrain her. 'HRRRNGH, I'LL BREAK EVERY SINGLE BONE IN YOUR BODY!' Though he wasn't intimidated by her threats, and shouted: 'Arle! Destroy that plant, it might restore Mistress Rulue back to norm—Guh!' He was flinching as he felt Rulue started to deliver blows to his stomach using her elbows, but he braced the pain, trying to buy Arle time.

'Right!' She looked at the massive plant which continued to spew out purple smoke. 'Here goes...fire!' She tried launching a fireball at the plant's roots, but it only started a small fire. 'Urgh, this won't do. It's shell looks very durable...ah!' Getting an idea, she scanned her surroundings. 'Gu!' Carbuncle pointed towards something. Arle ran over there, picking up Minotauros' axe trying to hold it above her head, and ran towards the plant, letting the massive weight of the weapon do the work and plunged it into the plant's shell, causing a small opening in it's thick coating.
'Ergh, it's leaking some purple liquid...Carbuncle, help me out please!'
'Guu!' Standing in front of the plant, he fired off a red laser from the gem in his head straight into the gap, causing a fierce rumbling within the plant as it glowed red, ready to explode. 'GET AWAY!' Arle screamed as she picked up Carbuncle and ran off, Minotauros firmly grabbing Rulue and got away, both being launched slightly from the explosion, and they opened up their eyes a few seconds later to notice that the smoke was now diminishing, Arle sighing from relief.

'Whew, glad that's over with, thanks Carby!" She hugged him tight. 'Gu!'
Minotauros grumbled as he slowly got up, noticing that Rulue was slowly opening up her eyelids as well. 'Mistress Rulue...are you injured?' She felt dizzy and tingly all over her body, though soon enough noticed something firm gripping her front, and she trembled slightly.

'Mino...why are you holding me like that?...' Suddenly realizing just where exactly he was holding her, he immediately got off her. 'M-Mistress! It isn't what you think it—EEURGH!' Feeling her knuckles ram straight against his snout, Minotauros squealed in pain as Rulue's face was boiling with anger. 'HOW DARE YOU?! AND TO THINK YOU WERE JUST SERVING ME ALL ALONG OUT OF LOYALTY! YOU FILTHY ANIMAL!" She was about to beat the living heck out of Minotauros who shivered against the wall still rubbing his snout, when Arle grabbed her by the shoulders. 'Rulue! Calm down! It isn't what you think it is!'

She took a deep breath, and glared at Arle. 'What, that my servant isn't taking advantage of me?!'
'If it weren't for him, we'd most likely not even be standing up right now.' Rulue was at a loss what Arle meant with that. 'What? Please explain to me what you mean with that!'
'After we split up, Minotauros and I heard noise coming from this direction, and we ran over here, only to find you totally out of your mind and about to trash us thoroughly, and Mino had to forcefully restrain you so I could do something about that plant!'

Rulue was reminded of something when Arle mentioned a plant. 'Really?! Well, come to think of it, I don't remember much after we split up. I vaguely recall seeing two weird-looking creatures talking to each other, but I didn't quite catch what it was they were mumbling, then they noticed and grabbed me, forcing me to inhale that weird smoke from something huge, and then...well nothing. I felt like I was having a horrible dream and just woke up. Well, rather rudely!'

'Wait, we saw something speed by us before running into you. It could be those figures that forced you to inhale that smoke! Rulue, you sure you don't remember what they looked like?' She put a finger under her chin. 'Not much, but I could clearly see wings on one, and um...the other had a long jaw and felt scaly...' Arle sighed. 'Well, at least we know that this isn't just some weird natural occurrence if those creatures have something to do with it.' Rulue nodded in agreement. 'Right, but what happened to that big thing?' She looked in the direction of where she remembered it standing, only now seeing a small hole in it as the smoke now fully cleared out of the cave. 'It was a giant plant that was emitting that foul smoke, Carbuncle destroyed it with a laser.' Rulue petted Carbuncle on his head as a means of thanking him. 'Heh, thanks little guy.' She turned her attention towards Minotauros, who was quivering, expecting her to strike him again. 'M-Mistress, I'm sor—'
'Mino, are you absolutely sure that you were just grabbing me like that out of protection for Arle and Carbuncle as they claim so?' He nodded. 'Uh-huh. Mistress Rulue, I serve you loyally, and I would never think of ever taking advantage from you considering your kindness towards me.'

She pet his shoulder slightly. 'I'm sorry for that...outburst, and for not listening to your advice.' He smiled faintly. 'M-Mistress...uuhuh...' Though Rulue was quick to act beyond that act of gratefulness. 'Come on, let's get back to the village first and tell what we saw, Arle.'
They followed Rulue out of the cave. 'Right.' Though Arle was quick to notice Minotauros slightly shedding a tear from his eye. 'M-Mistress Rulue...I'll always stay loyal to you...heheheh...' Though Arle was not sure what to make of his odd mumbling there.