A/N: And now for another trip down memory lane...

XXXVI

He was beaten. He was stripped of the one thing that gave him so much power and now his life seemed meaningless. As he rested his back on the cold hard floor while the rain fell, Astral looked over him and shook his head in disappointment.

"I thought you were better than this."

"Don't."

"I thought you were incapable of being corrupted."

"I said don't!" Remus shouted.

"It's over, Nine. You've become obsessed with the power of the amulet. It's practically driven you insane."

"You of all people have no right to lecture me!"

"I'm a changed man now. You stripped me of the amulet and I faced the demons within me to gain a new start. I have nothing but gratitude for you. I've realized my mistake and I am willing to repay my debt to you by helping---"

"NEVER!"

"I'm getting away from all of you and forming a town of my own! One where they will listen to me and obey my every rule! I will be adored by many and you can't stop me, Astral!"

The man known as Number Nine jumped to his feet and struck the monk down, charging into his comrades next. One man, in his mid-forties and armed with a lance, swung his weapon around to try and immobilize the former superhero.

"You're no match for me, monk! Don't even try!" Remus said as he grabbed hold of the sharp object.

"I must turn you in!" The man insisted.

"You're not taking me in alive!"

Remus pushed the weapon forward and turned it around, scraping across his rival's face and leaving a bloody gash.

"Demetrius!" Astral hurried over to his friend. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! But hurry! He's getting away!"

"You can't follow me!" Remus said as he lifted the Earth amulet. "No one can! In fact, I'll make it so you can never leave this place again!"

"What are you doing!?" Astral demanded to know. "Put the amulet down, Nine!"

"No."

The magic that glowed within the green gem caused the ground to shake and crack as a massive black wall of brick and stone erupted from the ground. It carried Remus upward as he maintained his focus on sealing the inhabitants of HazyTown within the confines of his greatest creation. The shaking and cracking traveled throughout the small town and wherever it went so did the wall. Eventually, all of HazyTown was trapped and there was nothing the people could do to break through its magic seal.

"You monster!" Astral aimed his wand. "Come back here!"

"No. This is your fate, Astral! And to further ensure you can't follow me…"

Tilting the amulet at an angle, the entire town was then overshadowed by a blanket of thick cloudy fog. The ex-hero could then feel the magic getting out of control as he held onto the golden disc with both hands and watched helplessly as the winds picked up and an entire storm brewed within the green gem.

"No!"

Nine struggled to pull the amulet away. With all his might, the hero managed to regain control of the magic beam and swung the powerful storm into another direction.

"What have you done!?"

With the fog now blocking out the sun and smothering the peaceful town, Astral and his allies bowed their heads in defeat as the former superhero shook his head and scoffed.

"I hereby curse you, HazyTown!"

---

Astral remembered that day very clearly even now as he laid on top of the medical table where the doctors and surgeons desperately tried to save the old man's life. He was bleeding internally and showed no signs of stopping. His vitals were dropping and he was growing paler and colder by the second. Despite the doctors' best efforts and their advanced technology, there was no way of saving his life. Astral was dead.

Upon hearing the news, Stephanie closed her eyes and turned away from her friends then headed down the hallway. Trixie began to follow but Stingy held her back.

"What are you doing?"

"Let her go, Trix."

"But--"

"Give her space."

"Fine. At least someone will get some…"

"Trix, this isn't about us right now."

"…You're right."

---

Remus remained lying down on his bunk inside his cell when he heard the door open. He sat up and was surprised to see Stephanie glaring at him with darkness smeared over her eyes.

"Hello, Stephanie. How was the mission?"

She remained silent.

"That bad, huh? Oh well. You can't win 'em all."

Still silent.

"Oh, what's the matter? Did you lose somebody?"

He saw her eye twitch and grinned.

"Aha, so that's what it is. Well what can I say? War always has its casualties. So who was it? Your boyfriend? No? Trixie? That Stingy fellow? How about one of those stupid monks? Was it Demetrius? No? How about…" His eyes widened as the realization settled in. "No… It wasn't Astral, was it?"

He could see her tensing up and gasped.

"Wow… after all these years, the old man finally bought it. And now I suppose you're going to try and pin this on me when you know damn well it was Khan who finished him off. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Ha!…Wait a minute. NO!"

She charged into Remus and lifted him by the shirt, swinging and pinning him against the cold hard wall. "It is your fault, Remus. You brought this upon us."

"If you'll recall, it was your friend Robbie who asked me for assistance. I came and took back what was rightfully mine."

Frustrated, she swung him against the other side of the wall, smashing his head against the brickwork. But Remus continued anyway despite the pain he was feeling.

"Then… then… just when you thought you had me beat… I recreated that Earth amulet and regained a portion of my youth. With Robbie's help, no less! I tried to take over LazyTown again but no… you and that retarded boyfriend of yours just had to play rough!"

Now angered, she flipped him over and slammed his back against the edge of the bed, where he cried out in pain and remained sitting on the floor.

"Then…" He writhed in agony and breathed hard. "…Then I realized the only way to defeat you is by taking away that which you loved most! Your boyfriend!"

She punched him in the face in retaliation but he still refused to stop talking.

"I ran into Chameleon before I moved to the outskirts of LazyTown. He told me everything about the Shadow Dragon, Khan and Mutari. When I realized the connection to Aðalsteinn, I found my opportunity to come back home and take my revenge on those who stripped me of my title and--"

"Shut up!"

She punched him again and picked him back up. She then dragged him over to the door and slammed his head against it repeatedly but he refused to shut up.

"And to think…" His breathing became intense. "…It was all… because… of Robbie!"

"Yeah?"

Stephanie stomped on Remus's back, increasing his already agonizing state, and threw him back on the bed. She then cracked his knees with her shoes to keep him from getting up and sat on his lap, pinning both of his arms down.

"Now there's a chance Pixel might not be able to locate my friends, so I'm going to ask you one more time. Where are they?"

"I… I don't know…"

"You sure?"

"I swear…"

"You're absolutely sure?" She asked, grabbing hold of one of his fingers.

"I… NOOOO!"

He could feel the bone of his index finger crack all the way back and tried to squirm away but it was no use. His immobility refused to let him fight back and he had to suffer through the pain the pink-haired girl was inflicting upon him.

"You're not going to tell me, Remus?"

"I'm not… afraid of you… You're just… a… a kid…AAAHHHH!"

His middle finger was now broken.

"I stopped being a kid the day you came into my life, Remus. I've had a lot of growing up to do since then."

"You can't… you can't kill me…"

"Of course I can. But I would rather hurt you. Just like you hurt us."

"You…AAAHHHH!"

His ring finger was the next to be folded back.

"The amulets… they're doing this to you…"

"Yeah. I guess they are. I kind of like it."

"What… are you going to do?"

"The question is, what are you going to do?"

"What?"

"It's time to face your sins, Remus."

Stephanie reached into her pocket and pulled out Astral's wand, aiming it directly at his chest. "This was Astral's. And it's going to send you to the one place you've been avoiding all your life."

"No… Stephanie, please."

"Goodbye, Remus."

"NOOOO!"

The blast illuminated the entire room and in seconds, Remus was gone. As Stephanie stood up from the bed, her friends rushed inside and noticed their captive was no longer there.

"Stephanie!" Trixie gasped.

"Oh mon dieu." Amelie looked away in horror. "Stephanie…"

"What have you done?" Demetrius asked her. "Stephanie, what have you done!?"

"He won't be bothering us for a while."

Stephanie walked out of the room and immediately bumped into the king, who was now up and running again.

"King Hallbjörn!" She suddenly backed away. "You're alive! Sportacus! Is he--"

"He's fine." He reassured her. "He's doing much better now."

"I was…"

"Remus. You sent him to the cave, didn't you?"

"Yes. It was the only way he could pay for his crimes without actually…"

"Killing him."

"Father." Sportacus suddenly appeared with Helmina by his side. "Maybe I can help."

"Sportacus!" She hurried into his arms and buried her head into his chest. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm fine, Stephanie. But from what I gather, you're not."

"I…" She started to tear up. "I can't control it anymore, Sportacus… the amulets… they're… speaking to me…making me…"

"Calm down, Stephanie. Come with me."

While Stephanie followed Sportacus down the hallway, the others sighed from relief. Especially Trixie, who thought her best friend had crossed the line even further.

"So Remus isn't dead?" She asked.

"No." Hal shook his head.

"Then where is he?"

---

Remus dusted himself off and looked around him. It was worse than he had imagined. The space was empty, dark and cold. He could hear droplets of water falling in the distance and a low trickle coming from the body of water that was more than likely surrounding him. He slowly lifted himself up and limped along the murky path of the cave, moaning from the intense pain that was swelling throughout his body. The more his legs flexed the more he could feel the intense numbness in his shattered knees. He paused in his trek and collapsed on the floor, where he then heard a voice ring inside his head.

"Who's there?"

"Remus…"

"Who are you?"

"…Remus…""Is this a trick?"

"…No trick…"

"Show yourself."

"…Look down."

"What?"

"Look down, Remus… look down…"

"Look down?"

Remus realized there was no way he could possibly look any lower than where he was until he noticed the edge of the trail. He crawled his way over and saw his reflection in the black waters that rippled before him.

"You're… me?"

"Your judgment is at hand, Remus. Behold your crimes against humanity…""No… NO!"

---

The sky was dark and the moon was shining down on all of Aðalsteinn. From the rooftops of the castle, Stephanie and Sportacus could see members of the Trinity Watch as well as the Royal Guard bury their fallen comrade into the ground.

"Are you sure you don't want to be there with them?"

"I'm sure." She turned away and looked down as the cool wind blew her pink mane to the side. "Now what did you want to show me?"

"This."

Sportacus reached over his back and drew a long sharp blade made entirely of silver. He then gave the weapon a few swings to show her its simple and uncomplicated maneuverings and light weight.

"A sword?"

"Not just any sword, Stephanie." He pointed at four small round fissures lined down the center of the blade and explained. "You see these? It's possible that if you placed the four elemental gems into these gaps, you'll be able to use their magic without getting corrupted."

"Because the sword will be absorbing their energies and not me." She finally understood.

"Exactly. You said you wanted a way to become one with the elements without using the amulets. Here's your chance, Stephanie. The Silverfox is yours."

"Silverfox…" She took the blade from Sportacus and began twirling it around with ease much to her surprise. "…Wow. Thanks, Sportacus."

"You're welcome." He smiled for a moment before giving her a sincere stare. "… I heard about Coast City."

"Oh…" She lowered the blade and frowned. "…I guess Demetrius told you?"

"Yes he did."

"…I suppose you're disappointed in me also."

"Not exactly."

"Come on, Sportacus. I killed four men. I took that gun and I shot them down in cold blood."

"They were coming after you."

"But they were supposed to come back here and help us. I should have been able to control my actions but I just couldn't. My mind was clouded. My judgment was…"

"It was impaired. I know, Stephanie. And this incident with Remus--"

"I tortured him." She gasped. "Dear God, I tortured the man and…"

"And what?"

"…I enjoyed it."

"I could only imagine." He smirked.

"Are you…" She looked at him funny. "Are you saying you're not mad about me hurting Remus like that?"

"Well there's only so much a person can do before he finally gets what's coming to him. And we all know Remus deserved what he got."

Stephanie couldn't help but smile. "And here I thought you were the most noble out of all of us."

"Nobody's perfect, Stephanie."

"I always thought you were." She paused. "Even when I was a kid, I…"

"You what?"

"Well I guess it's no surprise but I kind of… you know… had the biggest schoolgirl crush on you."

"Ah." He nodded with a grin. "No, that wasn't exactly your best-kept secret."

"So you did know."

"Yes I did."

She paused again and stood silent while the wind blew her hair across her face. Sportacus waited for her to say something but shrugged it off until…

"Sportacus?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think…" She hesitated for a second. "…Do you think it could have worked out between us?"

"It's possible."

"I'm not talking about this lifetime. I mean in some other time. Some other world, some other universe, some other reality. Do you think we could have gotten together then?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." He took her hand in his. "But I'm in love with Helmina. I've always been in love with her. Since we were kids. Since before I came to LazyTown and until the day I die."

"I know you do, Sportacus. And I love Clyde. I love him with all my heart. I just… couldn't help but wonder, you know?"

"Of course."

"I'd better go check on Pixel's progress."

As Stephanie turned to leave, she stopped for a moment and looked back at her old friend. She slowly walked over to him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips much to his surprise.

"I can let you go now."

And with that said, she went down the steps and back inside the palace. Dumbfounded and a little flushed, Sportacus smiled and laughed the whole incident off.

"Women."

---

Inside the lab, Pixel and Claudette viewed a grid of all the sent and received calls on the dead mobster's cell phone and tracked down the whereabouts of each call.

"What's this one?" Claudette pointed at one of the numbers. "It's got the same area code as the other?"

"I'm looking into it right now…" Pixel ran his fingers along the keys. "That one… is 11th and Bleaker. Two streets along Main. That one… nope, that one isn't it."

"How do you know?"

"Because the calls are leading back to the same spot we came from."

"The same area, mean?"

"Exactly. What we're looking for is a number that takes us into a whole other district."

"Beyond Coast City then."

"Right… There's got to be one somewhere…"

"What about this one?"

"Which one?"

Claudette pointed at another number on the chart. "This one here. No area code, no prefix number that matches the others."

"Okay, yeah. Let's try that one."

Pixel typed in the number and waited for the map to appear. Once it showed up and displayed a full grid of the entire area surrounding the source of the call, Pixel dropped his jaw in shock.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"What is it?"

"Claudette, you're a genius! This is it! Several calls were made here and several went out! I can't believe they were being kept there all this time!"

Pixel turned on his earpiece and made contact with all his Trinity Watch comrades to inform them of his recent find.

"Guys! I found them! Get your things ready! We're going back to LazyTown!"