A/N: Sorry it's so short, especially since I made everyone wait so dang long...I promise more! I've been replaying Okage again and again and then felt bad since I haven't added anything. Thanks for everyone for favoriting my story! I didn't think anyone would like it!! And finally, thank you Instantaneous Death for beta-ing my story. Please enjoy!

P.S. I have a lot of homework so it's harder for me to get on...but I'll try...

P.S.S. Excuse Epros's crappy rhymes.

Chapter 4:

Epros

Ari huffed and puffed, his body weak and his head throbbing with hurt. 'That stupid king,' he thought, almost tripping over a stone. 'He tried to keep me prisoner! I wonder what he was going to do with me.' Sweaty from all of the walking and amazed that he hadn't been caught yet, the boy pushed back a piece of his fiery, red hair. He was only wearing the clothes that what's-his-face gave him, and he was starting to shiver in the cold wind. A plain, green shirt that matched his eyes and a pair of black pants adorned his body, and he carried nothing else with him.

He wanted to go back to the man and the woman's house, the people who called him their son. But he didn't know where that was. A desolate feeling stung him. How did he wind up like this? Yet again, he wracked his brains and couldn't remember.

Now, he was at a midway point, he could see. On one side of him lay a town on top of a lake or something, and on his other was a city made of gears.

Ari stood, shuddering slightly with cold, and decided to go inside the guarded city of steel. At least he wouldn't get cold there.

The big gears at the entranceway opened up for him as soon as he got near, and the boy stepped inside the city with no problems.

'Nice security,' he mused, looking over everything.

The first thing that struck him was "serious pollution." And there was a lot of random gears everywhere. But at least it wasn't chilly anymore.

Ari explored, talked to random people that seemed to remember him (although he couldn't return the favor), and went down to the bottom floor quickly. He stopped at an inn and took a long nap, and then he broke into – uh, looked inside – every house he could find.

Nothing triggered his memory.

Finally, the boy got tired of wandering, and by now he was also starving. He went inside the last house. A sign advertised Mr. Big Inc.

A fat guy with fish lips was talking to a clerk at the counter. Ari had a faint longing to take a bite into that guy, but he knew it would have been rude to jump him.

'I'll introduce myself first,' he reasoned, his stomach growling its unhappiness.

"Hello," Ari tugged on the suit that the fish guy was wearing, trying to look innocent before striking.

"Uh…who're you? Oh…it's Ari? Nice to see you again."

"I know you?" All of Ari's dreams of eating were shattered. What if this guy was important to his past? Besides, he was smoking, and that would have been bad for his health if he ate him.

"What's wrong with you, Ari? You forgot me? I'm the Chairman of Mr. Big Inc., remember?"

"No, I don't." The boy replied flatly. What was with all of these people and big egos?

"Well, anyway," the Chairman continued. "What are you doing wandering the streets all by yourself?"

"I'm lost, Sir."

"Really?" The Chairman scratched his head. "You look so confused. Well, one of the last times I saw you, you got a key to open up the Transverse Tunnel. Why not try stumbling back there? You might remember something."

"…Uh…okay…where is that?"

"You'll see a huge statue in the middle of Rumile Plain…"

"Where's that?"

"Go upstairs and leave the city that way. That's Rumile Plain."

"Ooh, I was just there! Thanks, freaky fish guy!" Ari ran out of the building happily. Maybe wherever he was going had food. He heard shouting back from the company building. Maybe he touched a nerve with the fish thing…

Still, the boy had an extra spring in his step. He went upstairs and left the steel metropolis through the big gears that didn't really protect the said city, and he entered Rumile Plain.

Ari found the statue in the middle of the plain easily, and he sped through Transverse Tunnel quickly. Unknowing of the cold, his shoes touched the snowy ground on the other side, and he yelped because of the biting cold.

"There's no food here!" he screamed into the frosty air.

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When King Stan wasn't happy, no one else was.

He searched Ari's house and village. He dispatched search parties all through Madril, but to no avail. No one said anything about his whereabouts, except for the Chairman of Mr. Big Inc. He told one of the members of the searching crew that Ari was headed through Transverse Tunnel.

'Transverse Tunnel,' the King pondered, after he was told the news. 'He could get hurt. But…the ghosts haven't appeared for a long time now. He shouldn't get attacked, but I'm still scared for him. …Strange, I haven't cared this much for someone in…years…'

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ari took a short break in Pospos Spa, and then set off through the snowfield itself. He reached some gigantic gates, knocked, and heard a voice.

"Hello? Who is there?" The dead-sounding voice asked.

"Um…Ari…"

"Ari? Is that you? Come in…" The gates opened shortly, and the boy was beginning to think he was some sort of celebrity. He was known so well throughout the country.

'If I'm a celebrity, then there should be some food for me here that people will throw at me and beg me to eat!'

Unfortunately, the boy pretty much had a one-track mind.

Ari entered the town of Triste excitedly, only to find that it was practically deserted. However, a merchant who knew him took pity on his sob-story and gave him some food of nuts to eat.

The boy munched on the nuts happily, his small stomach satiated quickly. He wanted a drink of water, so he went back out and ate some snow. Then, he explored the city, whose residents were recluses and boring. Finally, he found a passageway out the back alley.

Searing heat in the desert made Ari want to go back, but something caught his eye. A person was talking to himself off in the distance. Moreover, the person was…floating?

Ari chased down the person silently, and, hiding behind a huge crumpled statue, listened.

"Oh, how alone I am all the time! No matter how many times the bells chime…I, by my lonesome self stand…so, am I that bland?" The man really was speaking to himself.

Ari watched him, mesmerized. The man wore face paint, all white except for his eyes. There was purple eye shadow around his eyelids, and some eyeliner, as well. He had thick, blonde curls, and a snazzy-looking tux and red pants. And he really was floating! The boy wanted to comfort him, but his silky voice spouted more words.

"Valor I wish I could possess, and then, my life might progress!"

"E-Excuse me…I don't wish to interrupt your poetry session…but…Who are you? Are you alone?" Ari finally decided to step out from behind the statue and officially encounter the strange person.

"Oh, why, it's Ari! I must say I am very sorry," the blonde man floated toward the boy and let himself hang in the air like a limp doll above him. "Thou dost not remember me? How many years have we spent apart, free? Has your brain turned to mush? Or, perhaps, it has been crushed? Maybe I am that bland? For I, by myself, stand."

"Um…I don't remember anything anymore…And why do you rhyme so much?"

"Ah, if thy dost not remember…then, your memory has dissolved into mere embers. When you first met me, I used to be known as Phantom Evil King. Danger and trouble I used to bring. Yet in my plight, I was revealed as Epros. And by thy side I used to fight."

"Epros? That name doesn't bring me any closer to remembering anything. Nor does Phantom Evil King." Ari scratched his head, partially because Epros's rhymes were starting to confuse him a little, but only because of all of the information he was giving him.

"I see, I see. I think this is now all up to me. Come, Ari. Let us head over to my home, the Gear Tower, and there, I shall renew your power."

"Sounds great!" Ari agreed, hoping that Epros had food. He watched as the strange man floated over to where his "house" was, the Gear Tower. Unbeknownst to Ari, Epros had been all alone for three long years, just like him. The phantom was delighted to finally have someone to talk with, even though his friend of sorts had lost his memory of him. But now, all Epros had to do was convince Ari to stay with him forever, since he couldn't remember Stan and all of those other idiots.

Then, the phantom would have lovely company all the time.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Epros's lips.

A/N: Oh no! What does Epros have planned for Ari!? Stay tuned!