3:14 P.M.
Airship Falcon, Mystic Ruins Airspace

Sharp, erratic breathing. That was all that emitted from Shantae's battered and bruised body as she was escorted back to Tails' Workshop in the Falcon. Sky was the first to approach them when the airship touched down, shocked and fearful as she saw her friend's near-lifeless body.

"Oh god..." She breathed. "W-what happened to her?"

Sonic shook his head. "No clue. We got seperated when he headed out to see what was up, next thing I know I hear a scream, I rush off in her direction and found her like this.." He said, resting her on a bed inside the workshop. "She's alive, but barely... and whoever attacked her clearly knew what they were doing."

"No kiddin'," Rottytops remarked, getting up from her seat and headed over to the injured Shantae. "Look at this. These gash-marks across the side of her face are not made by normal animals. These are harpy slash marks. You wouldn't by chance have any harpies living in this world, do you?"

Tails shook his head. "We don't have any harpies living around here..."

"Then what we're dealing with is potentially, another half-genie." Rotty said, crossing her arms. "Not to mention that whoever did this knew about her hair's power."

"Yeah, someone really did a number on her." Sonic said. "These cuts through her hair are uneven..."

3:14 P.M.
Death Egg, Outer Atmosphere

"Well now, I personally call this a success!" Eggman said, strutting over the walkway above the hangar. "Risky's managed to get the energy ore extracted from the forest ruins, and Ghadius is doing well with the storm machines I've crafted... and no sign of those pests being anywhere near the base! Perfect..."

"So, doc, everything goin' well?" Risky said, strutting out onto the walkway. "Just received a message from my troops, we've located another Chaos Emerald."

"Ah, perfect." Eggman said. "Where is it located?"

"Ghadius has already taken care of, since it's in his icebox world." Risky said, rolling her eyes. "Other than that, ran into an annoying pest during the ore extraction. Hopefully Nega's taken care of her by now..."

"You called?" A voice said. Risky turned to see Nega-S standing on the walkway with them.

"Well, you're back sooner than expected." Risky remarked. "So, I assume that you took care of things?"

"See for yourself." Nega-S said, showing her the long lavender ponytail of the genie. "Even if she survives, which is doubtful, she won't be using this for a long time. Consider it a trophy."

"Hmph, now this is impressive..." Risky said, looking over the hair with interest. "You've done well Nega."

Nega-S nodded. "Anything to please." She grinned, before that grin soon disappeared. "In other news, I just got into contact with Nightmare-K, and-"

"I'm sorry, who?" Eggman asked. "Who is this 'Nightmare-K'?"

"Oh, it's... it's one of Ghadius' henchmen. He looks like that cabbit brat that escaped from here a while back." Nega-S grimaced. "Either way, he's just contacted me. Apparently that little cabbit brat and his fawning girlfriend have already made it to Phantomile, and are looking to throw a wrench in his plans."

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Eggman said. "I've got bots ready, they will depart for Phantomile immediately."

"I will go frame this in my ship's cabin." Risky said, eyes glimmering at the lavender ponytail in her hands. "This will make an excellent addition to my wall..."

3:15 P.M.
Tails' Workshop, Mystic Ruins

"Look, even with our magic, she'll need time to heal." Terra said, emitting a green glow from her hand over Shantae. "She's been banged up really badly, and no amount of our healing magic is gonna make her hair grow back."

"Terra, the most important thing we need to worry about right now is her survival." Celes said, emitting the same glow from her hands. "We can worry about her hair later."

Terra nodded. "Sorry," she apologized. As the two worked to heal Shantae, Sonic tried to comfort Sky and Rotty over what had happened to their friend, the Mario brothers were talking to various other people inside the Falcon, and Tails was busy typing away at the keyboard, trying to figure out how to locate Klonoa and Lolo and to get to Phantomile to retrieve them in the first place. Needless to say, the kitsune was stressed, and definitely wasn't expecting the youngest member of Terra's group, 10-year-old Relm Arrowny, as she skipped her way up Tails' side. "Whatcha doin' Tails?" She innocently asked.

Tails literally jumped and fell backwards out of shock from not expecting Relm. Relm helped the poor kid off the floor affter shocking him. "Sorry..." She said, helping Tails up.

"I-it's okay, Relm." Tails said, fixing his fur. "Just don't startle me like that..."

1:23 A.M.
Jugpot Royal Palace, Phantomile

"Alright, if I remember correctly..." The cabbit boy said, slicing open into a center column of the palace, revealing a hidden elevator. "Here we go... this oughta take me to the underground heat generator. That's gotta be why the all the water's frozen..."

As the elevator slowly creaked down the elevator shaft, Klonoa started to think of the others back at the workshop. By now they must have been in a full-out panic attack over his and Lolo's disappearance. No doubt they were trying to find some way to get into this world and get him and Lolo out as fast as they could...

Soon the elevator whirred to a halt at the bottom of the palace. Klonoa stepped out of the elevator and into the large room, the generator towering above him. Klonoa smiled a bit as he approached the control panel to the generator. He'd get this thing back online and be able to get to the fallen Coronia in no time and stop Ghadius!

A slight tapping was heard behind him, and he turned around to see Lolo, shivering as she walked up to Klonoa.

"Lolo?" Klonoa asked. "What are you doing here? I thought I left you back in Forlocke Forest to keep safe.."

"That nice lady actually helped hel me a bit before pointing me in the right direction." Lolo said. "Why are you here?"

"I'm trying to get the furnace generator back online." Klonoa said. "If we have any chance of reaching Cress, this is our shot."

"O...kay..." Lolo said, uneasily. "How do we get this back online?"

"Give me a hand here." Klonoa said, bringing Lolo closer to the control panel. "I just need to override this and it'll start back up..."

Klonoa started typing all across the keyboard. "We should be able to... ah! There we go!" He said, finishing typing as two levers came out of the sides. Lolo took her position on one side of the generator, Klonoa on the other. Both pulled the levers at the same time, and soon the generator whirred to life, heat starting to emit from the generator itself.

"Alright! We've got the generator up and running!" Klonoa said. "Now we gotta get to Coronia and get it back up and running!"

"Wait, I'm out of the loop. What do we need to do?" Lolo asked.

"The Chieftess told me that Coronia had crashed into the west coastal area, and that it'd be impossible to go through while the entire thing was frozen. Now that the generator's back up and running, the entire frozen ocean should melt down so we can reach it!"

"Okay.." Lolo said, a slight shiver in her voice from the cold. "But you're not going alone. I don't care what you say, I'm coming with you."

"It'll be too dangerous." Klonoa said. "Look, Lolo, I care about your well-being. Don't you see that I want to keep you safe?"

"Don't you see that I care for you?" Lolo said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Klonoa, this isn't like you! Sacrificing yourself just to keep everyone safe is not how you're going to go about this!"

"The last thing I want is to lose any of you guys, especially you Lolo."

"You can't just go through everything by yourself! Don't you realize that people care about you?" Lolo said, tears starting to stream down her heat-flushed cheeks. "What about all of your friends back in Lunatea? Don't you think they care?"

"I know they care!" Klonoa barked. "I wish I could help it! You know I'm forever bound to being a Dream Traveler! I can't get attached to anyone or they'll undergo the same fate that you had!"

"Can't you see that everyone you've met cares for you?" Lolo said, breaking down into tears streaming from her eyes. She collapsed to her knees, sobs wracking her entire body. "I can't lose you again... not permanently..."

Klonoa looked upon the sobbing girl, then walked over to her and sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close while she cried, tears starting to flow down his own cheeks. "I-I'm sorry Lolo... I just want to keep you safe..."

"I-I just can't risk losing you for good..." Lolo sobbed, burying her face in the cabbit's shoulder. "You're all that I've had to keep me going... Without you, I'd... I'd..."

"Don't talk like that.." Klonoa said, bringing her head up to his, locking eyes with eachother. "Look, we're gonna get through this, I promise."

"R-really?" Lolo sniffled, looking at the cabbit with tear-stained cheeks.

"I promise." Klonoa said. "And I promise to make up for all the time lost together..."

3:20 P.M.
Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins

A slight moan emitted from the unconscious half-genie's mouth; faintly, but enough for Sonic to hear it. Sonic glanced over to see Shantae, still being healed by the green magic aura emitting from Terra's and Celes' hands. Slowly, the half-genie girl started squirming before her eyes shot open, screaming before she shot straight up, drawing attention from everyone else in the workshop.

Awkward silence filled the air as Shantae's eyes darted around to the others, unsure about what was going on. The silence was eventually broken when Sky and Rotty, rushed over hugging their revived friend. Shantae squeaked at first, mainly due to the burning pain from her wounds had not yet vanished, but she shrugged it off and hugged her friends, thankful she was alive...

3:24 P.M.
Ruins Valley, Mystic Ruins

"Well, I guess this is how this is now.." Shantae said, feeling the shortened hair where her original ponytail was severed. "That... that kinda sucks..."

"Well, hey, you're alive!" Sonic said, sitting down on a nearby rock chunk. "That's what matters the most, right?"

"I guess..." Shantae sighed, taking a seat on a ruined pillar. "Still kinda sad about it though..."

"Hey, lighten up a bit!" Sonic said, flashing her a smile. "It ain't the end of the world yet! As long as old Egghead ain't gettin' the Chaos Emeralds, we're still fine!"

"I guess so..." The half-genie said. "What about Klonoa though? Hasn't he come back yet?"

"We don't know at this point." Sonic said. "Guntz and Leorina last contacted Tails saying that they're coming back soon, but as for Klonoa and Lolo, we're still in the dark on how to get them back."

"I see..." Shantae said. "Didn't Tails say we needed to move base or something?"

"I think he did." Sonic answered. "We're moving to Stratosphere Skyway once Klonoa and Lolo get back, but for the time being, we're staying put."

Shantae nodded, turning back and looking at the ground.

"You know?" Sonic said, looking over to the half-genie. "Short hair doesn't look bad on you."

Shantae blushed. "Thanks..." She said shyly. "I hope the others are doing well..."