The nameless little girl walked slow circles around her intruder. She had never encountered a human that could enter her woods so easily. Her roaming branches carried in far to much junk and always passed by the energy sources she required. However, this time it seemed as if her branches had finally drug in something useful. She filled her senses with whatever her controlled environment could tell her about this new man. The grass beneath and around him swayed and rocked towards him, trying to guess at his power level. The water flowed over un-trenched land, feeling for his life force. All of her information gathered she stood in relative awe at her lucky catch. Just from a feel of his life energy, she could tell that this was no normal human. This one had an intense energy that would petrify a normal person. All she saw in his tremendous power was that it would help her in her quest. However, she couldn't drain him of it, for doing so would result in her breaking two rules that came with her quest. Rule one: never take a life and rule two: never defy Tsunami's order.

She knew that it was Tsunami that made her, and Tsunami could destroy her just as easily. She knew that this mission could be filled by someone else, making her all the more obedient to the goddess. She would follow her orders and keep this one alive. Tsunami had made it clear that he was more valuable alive than dead , but she didn't understand the goddess's exact meaning. She crouched down and ran her fingers along his arm, feeling both his warmth and dominance with the simple touch. She wouldn't have to worry about him waking up until she wanted him to. The best part about her job was the ability to change her little world into anything she wanted. Of course, it was only an illusion of power in her world between all others, but it gave her a feeling of importance.

' It's time to awaken our guest. Tell him his mission and make sure he doesn't fail'

Tsunami's voice whispered her mission to her and she was quick to obey. A slight difference in the air quality and the young man's head snapped up and turned towards her, " Welcome to my domain. "
The boy looked at her cautiously when she spoke, as if she couldn't end his life at anytime, with him resisting or not, " Some welcome. Is that how you greet everybody who stumbles into here?"
She smiled slightly, " No. Usually I kill them. However, my boss has displayed some interest in you. You might know her name, Tsunami?"
A little smile played across Knucks' face when he heard her name. Of all the people he had ever met once, he least expected to ever hear from Tsunami again. He noticed a thousand questions enter his mind after hearing her name, and he wasn't going to get the answers just sitting there, " Why does Tsunami want me?"
She was glad that Tsunami's name had cleared the uncertain air and he was comfortable talking with her, "She wants to warn you of an approaching enemy. A dark force that has been gathering all dark energy to itself for the past two years, waiting for its time to strike and claim the power of the gods."
Knucks knew what that meant, and it was bad news. It probably meant that his friends were going to be getting a visit from some not so friendly visitors sooner or later. He took a slight look around, but not really taking in to many details. He was just trying to think of the next sensible question to ask, " What is this place?"

She looked at him and smiled slightly as she attempted to explain this realm to him, " This world is a space between all other planes of existence. It is a safe haven from evil, and an ideal spot for growing Jurain ships. However, every few millennia, there comes a request from Tsunami herself to build a special, more powerful, ship. This ship has only the oldest and wisest trees to harbor its awesome power, and is built for a god to command. You are now standing on the bridge of the newest ship of that kind, but I'm not sure who it is intended for. Whomever Tsunami names this ship as its owner, their name, and mind, will become one with it, making them a being powerful enough to be called a god. Unfortunately though, to make one of these ships requires amazing amounts of energy, and it takes a while for the ship to develop this energy on its own."

Knucks let the new information slip through his ears, barely noticing she said anything, his mind to gathered around how he was to protect his friends from danger. He knew he had to warn everybody, and standing around and thinking about it wasn't helping, " What are these guys after exactly?"
Her expression straightened as she answered, " Tsunami has not shared that information with me."
Knucks just shook his head at that and looked around to notice that a few flowers were flying around like helicopters. He just followed them with his eyes, wondering if he should consider this weird or not. He shook his head and just looked away, deciding that he had seen weirder things in his life. He remembered the situation and decided that it was now time to leave this place, "Well, thank you for all your help, but I'm afraid I have to go now."
After hearing this, the nameless girl burst out in laughter. She fell down to one knee, now laughing uncontrollably. She soon regained her composure when she heard Tsunami's voice in her head, telling her her next course of action, ' Did you hear me'
She whipped the tears from her eyes and responded, ' No, forgive me mistress. Please repeat'
' I want you to fight him, and if he beats you, you are to release him'
All of the humor now evacuated from the her nameless face. She just stood there, staring at her soon to be challenger, noticing his confusion on his face, but also feeling nothing but hatred for him, ' But Tsunami, this human could not possibly beat me here! Why do you want me to fight in a battle that-'
'-I assure you that Knucks is more than capable of beating you, even in your own domain. Now fight him cleanly and notify me when you are finished'
Tsunami had raised her voice when she interrupted her thoughts, causing her a headache and her nose to bleed. She felt the blood start to drip from her nose and wiped it away calmly. She realized that she had been out of line, and it would never happen again. Tsunami's orders were never up for negotiation, and she should've known to bite her tongue instead of shout her opinion. She looked at Knucks and a slight smile played across her face, " I'm afraid that you're stuck here until you fight me."
She could feel his power rise slightly, but he didn't attack, " No, I don't want to fight you. Just let me go so I can warn my friends."
She started to summon her own powers while responding, " Well, you're not leaving until you fight me. I control the doors to this realm. Even if you got through my tree barriers, all you would do is drift in space for eternity. So I recommend we get this fight over with so you can go see your friends again."
She could see him sigh and then drop into a battle ready stance. She smiled again and prepared to show Tsunami how potent her battle skills were.

---

It was official, Knucks had dropped off the face of the Earth. Ryoko now sat on top of a high mountain, mentally going over the places she hadn't checked. She ran her hands through her cyan hair and then slammed it down on the mountain she sat upon, sending a shock wave through it. She was angry at Knucks for running off, her inability to find him and her mother's persistent talking in her head. Telling her where her little computer thought Knucks was, and being totally off was starting to get on her nerves. She missed Knucks, she thought that was her main issue, and one she was no closer to rectifying than she was three hours ago. She shuddered from the hated cold and decided it was time to find a warmer place to think.

Ryoko jumped and started to glide down the mountain side towards the small valley that led her home. She felt bad for overreacting earlier, but the first thing she was going to do when she saw him was hug him and kiss him to death. She teleported and then dropped to the soft soil in front of her home. One last look behind her showed that Knucks wasn't coming up the path or across the lake, but a sudden dark feeling sent a tremor down her spine. A cold breath blew across her neck, and Ryoko reacted immediately, summoning her laser sword and spinning quickly, only to look into Knucks' face. A look of bewilderment feel across her face as she stared into her boyfriend's face, unable to believe that it was actually him until he spoke, " Hey! Easy big fella. I thought you would be happy to see me."

Ryoko retracted her sword and ran into his arms and her arms wrapped around him. She kissed his cheek, vaguely aware that he was extremely cold and that he had failed to hug her back yet. He finally raised his arms and embraced her and smiled slightly at Ryoko. She felt so happy, but still had many questions, " What happened? Where'd you run off to?"

Knucks' smile grew with her every word to him, and it made her happy to see him so happy about seeing her again. He finally responded, " I just got a little hung up. No big deal. I'm sorry I worried you, but let's forget it and go inside."

Ryoko looked into his eyes for the first time, but didn't see the comfort she usually did. She always saw nothing but warm love and caring in his eyes, but the eyes she looked into now were...off. That was the only word her mind could come up with to describe them. A mixture of cold and blank eyes that were a direct contrast to the wide smile he had on his face. She also noticed that the evil presence was still somewhere nearby, and Knucks must've either not have felt it, or simply not care, " There's someone bad nearby. Somebody might have followed you back. We should warn the others and take them out-"

" No there's nobody around. You worry to much Ryoko. C'mon, lets go relax inside." Knucks had shocked her with his interruption, and angered her. She knew her instincts enough to know that when they thought something was wrong, then something was wrong, and Knucks knew that. He had always trusted her when it came to problems, but now he just wanted to relax. It made no sense to her at all.
" Well then I guess I'll go relax without you if you're going to just stand there." Knucks just walked past her and into disappeared into the doorway. Ryoko stood there, astonished that he would be that determined to go inside and do nothing at all. She shot a look back at the doorway, and realized that something was very wrong with Knucks. He just simply wasn't the same as when he left, and she was still curious to the darkening feeling she felt. She looked up into the gray, cloudy sky and wished that they would tell her the answer, but they told her nothing. She lowered her head and decided to not worry about it to much for right now, but her deep subconscious kept telling her that her boyfriend was to be watched very, very closely.
------

Knucks fell to both of his knees before going down to the ground. The little girl had been more of a fighter than he could've ever expected. She hadn't even used her control of her realm and she still had almost gotten the best of him. He decided that this was definitely the best course of action; playing possum until she turned away. He had to time it just right if he was going to pull it off. He summoned all of his remaining power into his right fist, and heard her talk to somebody as he sprung his trap. He saw the shocked expression on her face right before it became one of contorted pain. She flew like a cannon ball into the far wall of the dimension and hit with a very hard thud.

Knucks landed on his feet, amazed by how strong he still felt. He had put al is power behind that punch, and he still felt like he could run a marathon. He also admired the toughness of the walls, and of his opponent. He knew that being hit that hard would've torn a normal human, in a normal place, a new mouth hole. Yet, while she wasn't moving, he still only saw one mouth on her, and not even a crack on the wood that her body had rammed. He saw her move slightly before saying, " I give up. You hit to hard!"
Knucks smiled at that, " Must be all those push ups I do-"
A bright light cut him off in mid sentence and a familiar figure stepped out of the light. Tsunami was kneeling next to her servant, checking on her health, and Knucks found himself relaxing with her presence. He didn't know what brought this feeling on, but he also didn't know anything else that was happening was happening so it fit in perfectly. He saw her, floating with her feet a few inches off the ground, and checking on her subordinate's health.
" I told you he was formidable, " she turned to Knucks and addressed him, " So we meet again Knucks."
" Yeah, it's a small universe after all."
Tsunami smiled and floated forward a few feet, " Yes it is indeed, and the funny thing is that we always come together when darkness is closing in on what we both cherish most. I fear that this coming evil is far more cunning and dangerous than our last."
Knucks had caught his breath from the fight and now walked a little closer to Tsunami, " I just need to know who they are and what they're after and I'll fight them."
Tsunami had always admired his ability to throw caution to the wind for his friends. She had seen many humans run for their own protection when danger arose, completely ignoring their friend's cries for help as they ran for cover. To many to count now that she thought of it. If she were ever to become a human, she would definitely model herself after Knucks, " Our enemy is a mixture of two potent powers. Nagi is the only one that you would recognize."
" The bounty hunter?"
" Yes, I thought you would've heard of her."
Knucks thought back to what he had heard about the notorious Nagi, "She's pretty well known around my old planet because of all of the banks she robbed around there. Wanted by every law enforcement agency everywhere. I haven't heard anything new about her though in quite a while."

Tsunami closed her eyes and spoke, " Because she has been recruited by my sister, Tokimi. She is the other part of our problem, and she is by far our biggest concern. She has as much power as I do, and an evil desire to gain control of the universe. She has tried to overthrow me before, but hasn't succeeded. I feel that she has the opportunity to gain the power she needs to go through with her plans this time."
" How? Is she going after Ryoko?"
" I believe so."
Knucks started pacing, digging his trench while thinking of a solution. It seemed that he was way out of his league this time, " So, I can't stand up to Tokimi?"
" I don't thin you would have a prayer against her, " she saw his shoulders slump and tried to male him feel better, " You can beat any human anywhere-"
"-but I can't beat a god. Got it."
Knucks looked towards the farthest point from which he stood and tried to find a way to help. He realized that he was starting to hate this place and that anything he could do was definitely hindered with him being trapped here, " Why don't you get me out of here and we'll come up with a plan."

Tsunami felt that she had hurt him somehow, but knew that she had told him the truth and that it would be for his best, " You might want to see something before you go rushing back home." Knucks turned his head back towards her only to see a large blue circle appear in front of him. It swirled blue smoke for a moment, then it showed what looked exactly like a reflection of himself. The reflection didn't move like he did, and it's eyes were different and it had a sadistic smile on its face, " Who is this?"

Tsunami answered, " A clone sent by Nagi to collect information on your home. More likely to watch Ryoko than anything else though. He has invaded your home, kissed your wife-"

"-and seriously pissed me off! Send me back there so I can take him out." Tsunami smiled and waved the blue circle away, and at the same time, the tree gates opened, revealing lots and lots of darkness. Knucks looked out one of the openings, and thought he felt some kind of energy. It wasn't familiar to him so he took an educated guess that he wasn't getting home that way.

" Perhaps you would like some assistance?" The little girl had offered the assistance.

Knucks smiled back at her, " Well now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind a point in the right direction."

She smiled and pointed to the door opposite of her. He walked over there and thought he felt Ryoko's energy.
" Before you go, I would like to check back in with my disciple after you think you have a lead on them. It would help me prepare for Tokimi better."

Knucks had one foot on the frame of the portal and looked over his shoulder, " No problem buddy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an imposter to kill."

Tsunami smiled as he jumped through the dark portal, leaving the goddess with her servant, " If you see him in trouble, make sure you save him."

The little girl was slightly baffled, " But why? You said yourself that he was no help in defeating Tokimi."

Tsunami smiled wider and responded, " You only get the most out of yourself when you have something to prove. Remember that."