The night was young. Taranza didn't end up sleeping in the three hours that passed after he spoke to Magolor in the hallway. Feeling more tired than he realistically should after only being awake for three hours, he tried getting up and about to clear his head. Being in the Lor Starcutter definitely wouldn't help, but he wasn't sure if it was safe to leave. He roamed the ship, looking for either Magolor or something that indicated what was happening outside. There was nothing. The Lor didn't say anything to him. All the rooms were dark, and he couldn't tell what was happening outside from what he presumed to be the mist. He knocked on the door of the Captain's Quarters. No response. Over the monitor that showed what was outside, he heard sounds of conflict. He didn't particularly want to join in, but staying inside made him feel uneasy.

Taranza opened the door and went out. He slowly moved closer to where he heard the sounds, being careful not to make any noise. He saw a few lights in the mist, but nothing that looked like Magolor. Still, there was some kind of battle happening right by the Lor Starcutter. Machines were being audibly destroyed, but it stopped suddenly and he heard a horrible scream. It almost didn't sound real. He moved toward the lights and sounds, but stopped cold.

A drone was flying out of the mist as Taranza heard sounds of a brawl behind it. A voice that didn't sound familiar seemed to be calling to take the drone down. It took only a glance to see why. A few metallic tendrils hanging off the drone were clutching someone by the head. He hung limp in the grasp of the drone, and his eyes were devoid of emotion. The only movements he made were shivering. It was Magolor.

Taranza sprung into action, creating a burst of energy that knocked the drone out of the air. It twitched a few times before shattering into scraps of metal. Magolor lay in the dirt, trembling. Taranza wanted nothing more at that moment than to try to help him, but he couldn't figure out how. "Magolor, can you hear me?" The mage only managed to raise his head slightly. "Can you get up?" Slowly, he got up and moved back to the Starcutter. Taranza followed, just to make sure he got there safely. Then, he went to see what the fighting was about.

It looked like a whole bunch of people he didn't recognize were fighting off robots, and Marx was standing off to the side eating an entire box of cookies. Upon seeing Taranza, he pulled a wing out and gave a lazy wave. "Hey, Ranza. Glad you could make it. These guys are gonna try to kidnap and torture you, so you might wanna do something about that."

"LOOK OUT!" At that voice, Taranza lunged backwards as a missile went by his face. He looked up and saw someone mouse-like wearing a red cape and hat. Shortly after, the robot commanding the drones went up in an explosion, and all the drones fell after it. The caped figure blasted what looked like an ice laser where the explosion happened in order to put out the fire. "Is everyone okay? Where's Magolor?"

Taranza approached from behind a tree. "I think he's fine. Seemed a bit distraught about something, though."

"And who the hell are you?"

"My name is Taranza. I'm a friend of Magolor's."

A deeper voice from behind the mouse in the red cape was the first to have something to say to that. "Aren't you the guy they're lookin' for?"

"Er… probably?"

The one in the red cape waved his hand at everyone behind him. "Never mind all that. It looks like we dealt with the problem. Taranza, do you know where Magolor went?"

"I took him back to the Lor Starcutter. Should we go over there?"

Marx hopped onto a ball. "Nah, I'm just here because I wanted to watch a robot blow up. I'm going home." He rolled away.

The mouse in the red cape gave some kind of signal to the other mice behind him. Maybe he was their leader? They all walked off in the same direction. "I should probably introduce myself. I'm Daroach. Just to get it out there, I'm a thief by trade."

"Oh, you? I've heard about you. You and Magolor robbed the Haltmann Works Company together, didn't you?"

"Oh, my reputation precedes me, I see." He smirked. "Now, you said Magolor was distraught when you took him back to his ship, right?"

"Yes, I did. Did you see him get attacked?"

"No. I just heard him scream real loud and then disappear."

Taranza flattened the hair on the back of his head. "All right. We should go to the Lor and check up on him, right?"

"But of course." Daroach walked in the direction of the Lor Starcutter.

When they got there, he was collapsed on the floor. The Lor was none too happy about this, of course. "What. Happened."

Daroach leaned backwards slightly. "Not sure. We were fighting off this security force robot and all of a sudden he screamed real loud and vanished."

"I found him getting carried away by one of the robot's drones. He was like that when I saw him."

The Lor seemed ready to rip them a new one when the quivering husk on the floor got a few words out. "Not gonna do it… won't…"

Taranza was at his side immediately. "Magolor! You're okay!"

He twitched strangely, and then rose, somewhat rigidly, to his normal position. He spoke in a voice that was slightly distorted. "O… kay… I suppose… you might call it that… eheheheh."

Daroach backed away. "Clearly, he's not okay. What's wrong with him?"

On paper, Magolor's response was completely normal, but the tone and his expression were not. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine!" His eyes were blank, and his tone fluctuated between being emotionless and terrified.

Taranza gestured towards the Captain's Quarters, and led Magolor to the door. "All right, you need to go to bed. Really. It's not a good idea for you to be awake at the moment."

"I really don't see the problem, I justfdkdhfgdfghdmnfgdhfdvsbsmghshk, understand?"

"After that? I'm not letting you stay up. You need some-"

Magolor's eyes flared. " WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU MERE INSECT? I AM A PUPPET FOR NO ONE! "

"Hey, Taranza. You sure he didn't get mechanized?"

After backing a safe distance away from Magolor, who was now jittering indecipherably, he answered Daroach. "I really have no idea what's going on here, can you get some help or something?"

"Right. I'm on i-wait. Write down your phone number so I can contact you remotely." He got the number and left the ship quickly, hoping he'd be back before anything bad happened.

Daroach approached where he'd docked his ship, only to find that it was gone. He checked his cell phone. There was a message from Spinni, saying that they had flown off under the assumption that Daroach would hitch a ride on the Starcutter. He walked back to the Starcutter, typing a response asking them to come back. Sighing in frustration, he stumbled through the forest. If anyone saw me tripping over all this, they'd think I was an idiot. He approached the Lor Starcutter and walked up to the door. The usual automatic opening didn't happen. He knocked. Nothing. He called out for someone to respond from inside, but no one did. A phone call to Taranza yielded no results. With very little confidence, he tried calling Magolor's cell phone. To his surprise, he picked up.

"Daroach? What's going on?" He sounded mostly normal again, although still a little out of it.

"Hey, you're okay!"

"I guess I am, was I not doing well before?"

"Uh… more on that later. Is Taranza okay?"

"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him."

"W-WHAT? How have you not seen him? I left him there to keep an eye on you!"

"You did? What have I been doing?"

"Well, go find him already! He's still in there, after all!"

"I can't!"

"What? Why not?"

"I'm stuck in my room and the door won't open!"

Daroach was about ready to climb into the phone and strangle Magolor in person. "WHY DIDN'T YOU MENTION THIS BEFORE?!"

"I-I didn't check until just now. Uh, what am I supposed to do? The power is completely out."

"How? What could have made-"

"Shh! I hear something!"

Daroach stopped talking to let him listen to whatever he was trying to hear.

"Bad news. Susie got in here. She's leaving now, but someone has to stop her."

"Where is she going?"

"I don't know. I just heard her say 'We can do this the easy way or the hard way' and then leave."

Daroach looked around to try and see where she might have gotten out through. There was a decently sized hole in an odd position in the hull of the Starcutter. He climbed in and looked around. No one. "I'm gonna break down the door to the Captain's Quarters, are you alright with that?"

"Do you have a blindfold?"

Daroach grumbled and wrapped a towel from the bathroom around his head. Blindly, he knocked out the door. "You good?"

"Yeah, I think I'm alright now. Did you see Taranza in here?"

"No."

Magolor led Daroach away from the Captain's Quarters. "You can take that towel off now." As Daroach took the blindfold off, Magolor examined the damage done to the Starcutter. Looks like whoever organized the blackout knew exactly how to shut everything down. I'll get to fixing this later, but for right now I need to help Taranza. Susie's almost certainly making him take her to the core. All I can think of is to figure out where the core is and find them. But where is it? Where's the core? Think! Think! What kinds of places in Floralia has Kirby described? I know my brain is spinning from whatever it was that happened earlier, but I need to find the answer-

Magolor almost recoiled at the realization. "I got it! I know where they are!"

"You do?"

"I'm almost completely sure. Is your ship still nearby?"

"Yeah. Let's go!"