Varren woke from his slumber in the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. The wound in his stomach had healed over the night, but the gentleman wasn't in the least bit surprised. He knew that he was a fast healer. The assumption as to why played in his mind. Probably because of the energy that was consumed yesterday.

Then Varren remembered that he'd carried in Meta Knight and Kirby into the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN as well in order to give them a place to recover. He looked at the two guest seats, where he'd placed the two. Meta Knight had left while Varren was sleeping, but Kirby was still lost in his dreams in a peaceful rest.

The gentleman wasn't sure whether to let Kirby sleep and let him fully regain himself, or to wake up the pink hero and send him off elsewhere so he could continue his own adventure. For just a brief moment, Varren experienced an emotional contradiction. But this was simply for a moment. The gentleman quickly drew the conclusion that he should move Kirby out of his ship. After all, Varren didn't want to sit around waiting. He couldn't stand waiting.

He patted Kirby's head gently, yet firmly. "Wake up, now."

Kirby slowly opened up his eyes, then stared at Varren sleepily. "Ehhh…?"

Truth be told, Varren was slightly annoyed with the task of waking Kirby up, but he didn't let that waver his friendly smile. "You should leave now, if you don't mind. You can't stay here locked in my ship forever, can you?"

The pink hero curiously looked around the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. He wasn't used to the metallic surroundings. Then Kirby's gaze landed on the constantly spinning, small black hole, trapped behind some kind of glass that somehow managed to bear the pressure of such a powerful force.

Varren noticed the young hero's confusion. To reassure the small puffball, he patted Kirby's head, still grinning at his companion. "Oh, that's right, you weren't conscious when I put you in my ship, were you? I'm sorry if this is a bit strange to you, what, with how you enjoy the forest-like surroundings and all. But don't worry. You can be out of here in no time."

Kirby didn't exactly want to leave though. Varren could tell as much by the curiosity in the hero's eyes. That was the familiar look of adventure that he had seen back when he first came into contact with Kirby, that desire to go off on a magical quest, slay demons, and suchlike. Varren sympathized with his pink friend. "I understand that you want to stay here and explore the universe with me, Kirby, but really, you have your world to defend. One world is quite a lot, trust me. It just doesn't seem like it's that much to me because I don't have the time to examine all of it. Your planet is much bigger than you think it is."

Kirby stared at the gentleman for a long moment. During this time, Varren wondered if Kirby had understood a word that was spoken. However, Kirby nodded his head, smiling brightly at Varren. "Yah!"

Varren could then take comfort in the fact that the hero at least processed his words. He gestured with his hand to shoo Kirby away, yet he had a friendly smile. The emotion mixed with the action was quite a confusing contradiction; Kirby only gave a puzzled stare in return.

"Alright," Varren said friendlily, "thank you for understanding." (Saying this as if Kirby had agreed wholeheartedly to leave, even though Kirby was just staring at him in confusion) "I hope to see you again someday!"

Kirby reluctantly walked out of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, still slightly dumbfounded by what had just happened.

Varren watched as the door closed behind Kirby. The gentleman sighed in relief. At last, Varren could take comfort in the idea of isolation. He always enjoyed being alone. Ever since he was young, Varren had enjoyed isolation, and couldn't 'function properly' throughout the rest of his day unless he had at least four hours' time to himself, or so he used to say. But now look what he was doing. Varren was making new companions left and right, and it was quite possible that he was going to make yet another one.

Varren had to put himself out in the world, so that he could become stronger and save the universe from being enslaved by Darmaque's malevolent reign. The gentleman turned his gaze to the massive screen. "I'm sure you know your orders from here. Get me as close to Darmaque as you can. I don't want this adventure of mine to drag out for too long, after all. I've already been out here for nearly a week or more!"

A see-through, light-blue hologram emerged from the screen. It was the same woman as always, wearing what seemed to be a white, sleeveless shirt with equally white, ragged pants

Now that Varren got a good look at her attire, her clothes reminded him of what someone in an insane asylum would wear.

Just as the gentleman was about to consider if it was mentally healthy for him to take comfort in talking to someone wearing such clothes, the guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN spoke in her usual, monotone voice. "I must advise against combatting Darmaque, master Varren."

"And why is this?"

The female projection stared at him blankly. "Answer: With all due respect, it's quite easy to calculate that the chances of your success against him are below one percent, optimistically. From what I have scanned through your memories while you slept, it seems as though you struggled to defeat Ghirahim when he transformed, as well as before the transformation even took place. Darmaque, considering the power he possesses, is more than capable of casting the Demon Lord aside in his current form. If you struggled as hard as you did against Ghirahim—"

Varren finished the guide's sentence thoughtfully. "—that would be the reasoning as to why I wouldn't stand a prayer against him at my level of power."

For the first time, the guide smiled weakly at Varren. "Precisely, master Varren. I'm entitled to protect and advise you the best way I can, as it is what I was programmed to do. I refuse to allow you to engage Darmaque in combat, but as for getting you to the nearest destination of his current location, that is something that would be safe for you to explo—"

"Just a moment," Varren interrupted. "I apologize for my rudeness in interrupting you, guide, but there's been something that's been puzzling me for quite the while."

"I am programmed to answer nearly every question that you can offer to me, master Varren. What troubles you?"

Varren looked up at the ceiling of his ship in deep thought, placing his thumb on his chin, forefinger on the side of his cheek in his usual thinking position. "Every time I ask you to transport me to the closest you can safely have me arrive to Darmaque, you instead bring me to a place in which my energy resides, rather than fulfilling my request. When it'd happened the first time, I simply thought it was because we weren't close enough. The second time was acceptable as well because it was only twice that we'd ever traveled. But the third time, I thought that we might at least be about halfway there. I began to grow suspicious, and since then, my suspicion has only continued to strengthen."

The guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN said something Varren never thought he'd hear the female projection say: "I'm afraid that I cannot answer that, master Varren."

The gentleman blinked in confusion and turned his gaze back to the projection herself. He tilted his head to the side, completely flabbergasted. "You're refusing to answer me? Why's this? Weren't you programmed to obey me?"

The guide responded with tasteless, but kind manners. "As I've said in the past, master Varren, I am also programmed to advise you in the best way I can, and protect you at all costs. The answer to this question which you have provided would only influence you to charge into your own demise. I discourage any questions similar to this."

Varren stared at the guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN in complete and total surprise, entirely unused to someone refusing to answer his questions. Varren was a man of intellect and inquiry, so he often made sense in the questions which he would ask. Since this was the case, people usually answered his questions when he asked them, friend and foe alike. It was always a shock to the gentleman when someone simply refused to comply with his curious mind.

All the same, Varren nodded, trying to understand that the guide simply wanted to protect him, but the fact that the answer to this question would have led Varren to his death sincerely bothered and confused him. Now there was an even greater amount of suspicion in his heart.

But he needed to put aside his curiosity and deal with the sheer lack of knowledge in this situation, no matter how badly it bothered him to not know things. He couldn't waste any more time with thoughts and questions, and it was obvious that time in itself was quite limited. "Alright then, take me off to the location please." He glanced down momentarily, then added, "Thank you for protecting me, by the way." Varren hoped that he didn't sound as bitter as he felt.

"You're welcome, master Varren. Beginning the process of travel."

With that, a wormhole forced itself open in the air, and the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN launched into yet another unknown destination.

With Darmaque…

Darmaque was sitting in his throne, frantically mumbling to himself in a fit of madness. "I could easily—no, no, I must wait. Wait, I must wait. But I don't want to wait. I want to act now! No, no, you must wait, Darmaque, you must wait…"

Then he could feel Ghirahim's presence appear in the room. Darmaque hoped that the Demon Lord had failed in capturing Varren. After regaining his sight of common sense, the future ruler of the universe had constantly been telling himself to wait later on. He'd told himself that Varren wasn't meant to be brought to him yet, but, all in due time, Varren could be in his grasp.

Ghirahim was panting in exhaustion, then he knelt down in front of Darmaque. "I'm sorry, my lord. I have failed to retrieve Varren for you."

Darmaque smiled triumphantly. "Good! Wonderful, wondrous! Wonderfully wondrous!"

Ghirahim stared at Darmaque, completely dumbfounded. "Excuse me?"

The overlord mumbled as if he were talking to himself, but his speech was toward Ghirahim. "You see, Demon Lord, we cannot capture him now. He's not ready, Varren is not ready to appease me. We need to wait, we need to wait… Patience, Ghirahim."

The Demon Lord couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd done so much to retrieve Varren. Ghirahim had gone through hell in his fight with the gentleman. The Demon Lord put in so much effort, sacrificed both of his minions, had his pride stomped on by a mere creature as frail as Varren was, and his transformation had been put to waste, only to be told that he needed to be patient before he was to actually retrieve Varren? The most infuriating thing was that Darmaque had stupidly changed his mind in the midst of all this!

But Ghirahim did not complain. He knew better than that. The Demon Lord needed to be tolerant with Darmaque, if he was meant to overthrow him, and become the new overlord of the universe. Ghirahim bowed politely. "As you wish, lord Darmaque."

With Varren…

Another wormhole, a zoom, and then a sudden halt. Varren was now on a different planet. "Alright," the gentleman said, "where have we arrived this time?"

The guide responded in a monotone voice, as usual. "Answer: We are on planet Hashmagan. This planet is populated with intelligent life. The history of this planet is quite unique. In the earlier stages of this civilization, massive rock, inside which contained strong amounts of magic, crashed onto the planet. The magical components of the rock, combined with its collision with the planet, resulted in coating the entirety of the area in magic, even its population. The magic infused itself within the genes of the population, and has been passed down ever since. Strangely enough, it's quite rare that you will ever see a legitimate wizard in this planet, despite their natural inclination for magic. Most of the time, you will find that they will be able to control their appearances through polymorphic tendencies, but that will be the only magical skill they will possess."

The gentleman grinned in interest. "Oh my, it seems very appealing! I assume that there have been tales of heroism?"

"The answer is no, master Varren. This is part of what makes the planet's history so unique. While it's true there have been a very small amount of wars, there are no records of adventurous plots to correspond with these wars. Despite their magical abilities, they seem to be a surprisingly peaceful planet."

The gentleman shrugged, trying to not let his prejudice cloud his general thought of the planet. Though he couldn't help but be disappointed. Varren was hoping for a planet with a lot of action, a lot of story and suchlike, but all he had was an explanation as to how they had magical abilities which they didn't do much with. Still though, a planet didn't have to have an adventurous past to be an overall interesting planet. Plus, this was a place in which his energy somehow managed to end up; the gentleman couldn't just stay here forever..

Varren sighed, then began to walk outside to see where they had landed. To greet him were trees, familiarly. But, unlike the other planets, he could actually see an end to the forest. Behind the trees was a city, filled with hustle and bustle. The gentleman couldn't help but grin. This place reminded him so much of his homeland. Varren was going to be very comfortable here, he could just feel it.

Then Varren could sense something from the city calling him closer, as if something wanted him to go there. Varren could detect his energy. What else could it have been? It seemed so familiar… only blending in even further with the general sense of familiarity of this planet. Contented with the idea of home, Varren let out a sigh. Hopefully it would be a cinch to get his energy, considering how peaceful it was recorded to be.

The gentleman headed towards the city. There weren't many trees for Varren to get passed in order to get to where he wanted to be. It was a straight line from here.

When he'd arrived at the place, Varren saw a sidewalk next to a concrete road. Out of instinct, he moved to the sidewalk to avoid being hit by whatever this planet might consider to be a vehicle.

As Varren continued to walk towards wherever the feeling of his energy was, he looked around the area to find that it was rather a beaten up, scruffy-looking down. There were bits of graffiti on brick walls, little doodles here and there. At first, Varren was intimidated by the drawings on the walls. Where he came from, these indicated that the town was corrupt and vile. But the messages that they communicated didn't seem to be all that bad. There was a poorly drawn man holding chopsticks in his hands as it was gulping down what appeared to be spaghetti. The idea was obviously innocent.

Words interrupted Varren's thought process. "Invitations to Glavius's party!" said the voice of a young male.

Varren looked to where the voice had come from. There was a strange, human-raccoon figure, handing out small papers to other human crossovers of animals.

The gentleman hadn't noticed the 'people' around him until he'd had his thoughts broken. Varren always was the type to get lost in thought. Now he could acknowledge the fact that there were people walking passed and in front of him, since he wasn't ensnared by his thoughts. The gentleman stared at the house that the young human-raccoon was standing in front of. He could feel a small, yet noticeable attraction emanating from it; Varren could easily tell that his energy resided within that building.

The gentleman walked over to the human-raccoon. He used his most polite voice, unwilling to allow himself to get on the bad side of a newcomer. "Excuse me, sir, may I have a moment of your time?"

The human-raccoon turned his attention to Varren. For a moment, he stared at the gentleman somewhat condescendingly for some reason. Eventually though, the young creature forced a smile at Varren. "Yes, of course!" he exclaimed. "What can I do you for?"

Unable to recognize the disdainful look or the amount of effort it took for the smile, Varren pointed at the house momentarily. "Would you mind telling me who lives in this building?"

The young man answered Varren as if he were advertising a product. "Why, that would be Glavius himself! He's been hosting a party to celebrate a truly phenomenal discovery! Be there to witness the new beginning of how Hashmagans use magic today!"

The gentleman quickly came to the assumption that this 'Glavius' fellow was going to use his energy to change how an entire species used theirs… How unrealistic. It wasn't that much power. Even if Glavius could distribute his small amount of power across an entire species, they wouldn't know how to control it. It was obvious to Varren that they hadn't put much thought into this 'plan.'

Nonetheless, Varren needed to get into this party, no matter how little reasoning, or lack thereof, there was. The gentleman held out his hand, smiling at the human-raccoon. "Would you mind if I were to have an invitation?"

The young man shook his head. "Nope, I'm afraid that I can't let you in. Judging by how you're in your human form, you obviously don't have that much control of your magic. This place is for higher class only."

Varren didn't like this person's reasoning before, but now he was really starting to get annoyed. If this party was truly for higher classed members of society as he claimed, then he wouldn't be offering invitations out to the common public! Varren knew that the human-raccoon was being prejudice against him. But he couldn't get angry. He knew that the young man was ignorant of his whereabouts; it wouldn't be fair if Varren were to shout at this person. All the gentleman could do now was simply abide by the logic that was displayed, but manipulate it so that he could get what he wanted.

Varren put his hand on his chest as he gave a courteous bow. "I'm aware of my lower class, sir. But that's why I've come here. I wanted to gain a portion of this magic so I could learn how to transform, just as everyone else can. Please, allow me this chance."

The human-raccoon stared at Varren thoughtfully. The gentleman hoped that he was putting on a good show. The human-raccoon sighed, then offered Varren an invitation to the party. "Okay, you're right. I'm sure that this is what Glavius would want. You're free to go in." He must have succeeded.

Varren smiled as he took the invitation off the young creature's hands. "Thank you, sir. I believe that you've made the right choice." With that, the gentleman walked into the building.