Chapter 15: You Hate Time Travel, I Hate Time Travel...

"After countless centuries since the end of the Dragon War, the seven Goddess Keys have finally reemerged into the world." Emperor Zog seethed. "And yet I possess only TWO, while Ryu the Terrorist has FIVE!" He swept his mad gaze around the audience chamber, taking in those observing him. The lesser officers, some hiding their fear, some not... White, her beautiful face angry and defiant but restrained, under control... Black, a motionless lump of sorrow whose eyes spoke of a deperate need to kill something... Silver, emotionless as always in the void beneath her hood... Jade, his frozen face twitching only slightly with the whirlwind of emotions raging under it... and the two empty thrones that none dared even glance at. "And not only that, but two members of my glorious Tiamat Unit have fallen in their duty! TWO!" Roaring, the Emperor lunged forward and smashed a pillar to gravel with his armored fist. "This insolence... this audacity shall NOT go unpunished!"

"It shall not indeed, my Emperor." Jade agreed, voice calm and cool. "I swear to you upon my title as the Gold Lord, Ryu and his ragged lot shall pay with their miserable lives for what they have done to us... to some of us in particular." Goda made a hoarse, animal grunt. "We shall have our vengeance, and we shall make the five Goddess Keys remaining OURS."

"As always, I place my entire trust in my glorious Tiamat Unit." Zog sat back in his throne. "You have always served me faithfully, and never failed me once. I would be a foolish man indeed not to heed you now." A few of the stupider officers started to mumble some commentary on this to their fellows, but stopped as Goda's eyes snapped onto them. Jade and Silver were indecipherable, but the mood on the Black Warrior's face was crystal clear to even the most idiotic Knight. Emperor Zog continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "Even now, I am sure, the spirits of the Blue Alchemist and the Red Dreammaster watch over us at Ladon's side. They cry for vengeance. It shall not be denied them. What are your plans, my Gold Lord?"

"There is as yet one place of importance between the terrorist group and Scande." Jade explained. "The town of Carmen, and the former lands of the Fusion Clan. I'm sure everybody here remembers that area." He smirked, a rare occurance, and the lesser officers blanched to a man. "Good times... even if, by reports, we missed a few. Oh well, nobody's perfect. At any rate, they will most likely be coming through there."

"Ah... so, what do you advise we do?" Zog asked. "Soldiers, perhaps?" Jade shook his head.

"No. As we had proven to us in the Lands of the East, they are largely ineffective against this enemy. The Tiamat Unit shall be dispatching another of its members... one who soldiers would only be a liability for." Zog raised an eyebrow, surveying the remaining members.

"White?"

"Correct, your majesty." Cerl nodded. "Normally, the present circumstances would suggest taking another of our number with me, but I work best alone. And I am definately the best choice for this matter... seeing as how I know the territory better than anybody else here."

"I don't think anybody will dispute that claim, White." Zog grinned. "I won't argue with your choice... you know your abilities better than I do, all of you. But White... don't fail me. If you fall as well, they will reach Scande. DON'T let that happen." Cerl bowed.

"I won't, my emperor. A legacy from Red shall ensure it. They shall not pass." The mad Emperor nodded.

"Very well. Dismissed, then." The lesser officers filed out first, and the Tiamat Unit after them, leaving the Gold Lord to converse in private with Emperor Zog as usual. Once they were away from the Unit, the officers began conversing about the events.

"And they called us stupid!" One General, Zurm, was saying to a friend at the rear of the crowd. "We all know what's going to happen. She'll get taken out just like the others."

"Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say." The other General, Pess, laughed quietly. "And then they'll come here and take the others down too. Maybe even the Emperor."

"Might be time for us to jump ship, eh?" Zurm nodded. "It's a thought, Pess. I sure don't want to wind up like those monstrosities... Ryu the Terrorist showed good judgement in cutting 'em down, I say. World's better off." Unfortunately for the two Generals, they had not taken into account the hearing range of certain superiors, as well as their positions at the rear. Even as Pess nodded, there was a bellow of rage. Zurm turned to see death bearing down upon him like a force of nature, as Goda slammed his cinderblock fist into the General's chest. Zurm's back exploded in red; blood, shattered bone and other, less mentionable things blasted out as if he was a grenade, splattering several other officers as well as the walls and ruining the carpet. General Pess turned to run, but Goda had not come alone. Silver was waiting. Her hands pressed against either side of the General's head, almost gently, and it glowed. The next moment, the head was simply gone, a waft of smoke rising from the neck hole as the body collapsed without even a drop of blood. The other officers fled, screaming. Goda stared at them, nostrils flaring, even as the husk of General Zurm slid off of his fist, but Silver laid a hand on his arm.

"Enough, Black. They've recieved the message... none of them will ever say anything about your brother or Blue ever again." Leading him by the arm, she took him back to the Tiamat Unit's quarters, where Cerl and Jade were waiting for them.

"I take it two positions on the General staff just became vacant?" Jade inquired dryly. Goda nodded without a word. The Black Warrior seldom spoke at all these days. He went to wash his hand off in the back, and Jade turned to Cerl. "All right then. I think we both know what you need."

"The Time Key?" Silver asked. Cerl nodded.

"Yes. Like the King Key, it was hidden far away from where it was actually meant to be used. The place where its powers can be unleashed is the tower of Tock, near Carmen. That Key will be an integral part of my defense against Ryu. However..."

"However, Emperor Zog is about as likely to let you leave here with it as he is to eat his crown." Jade smiled grimly. "So, Cerl, you'll need to use all of your art here, even before you leave."

"Steal the Time Key?" Silver was surprised. "If the Emperor finds out..."

"He won't." Cerl assured her. "Come on, Sil... back up your own gender. I'll be fine."

"If you say it, I believe it is so." Silver nodded. "Just... be careful, White."

"I always am. Tell Black I said goodbye. I'll see you all around." With a blur of motion towards the ceiling, Cerl was gone.

"Anybody know where Karn is?" Ox asked as he walked into the inn's common room. "It's been a while since I last saw him or Mogu, and that makes me nervous."

"Yeah, we know." Bo stretched. "Gobi's gone, too... last time anybody saw them was two days ago."

"And nobody knows where they went?" Ox scratched his head.

"Nope." Deis confirmed. "We figure they know what they're doing, since they waited until now to do this, when we're taking some off time. Still, I'd hate to be them when they get back unless they have a good explanation for the boss." Ox nodded, sitting down at the table.

"Yeah... and even if they do, he'll probably go on for at least an hour. Where is he right now, anyways?"

"Fishing." Bo shrugged. "At the duck pond. As usual. It relaxes him. Granted, this entire place relaxes us, but that helps him even more. Nina's out there with them."

"I didn't know that." Deis smirked. "Shouldn't they be chaperoned?" Ox and Bo glanced at each other.

"You tell her." The big Builder Clanner said. Bo sighed.

"No... they have a problem. I assume you know about the Wing Clan's Great Bird ability?"

"Yeah, I know." Deis nodded. "Oh... they have a law against relationships outside the Clan, don't they?"

"Er... it's even worse than that." Bo shook his head. "Since she's the princess, if she breaks the rules, it'll be setting an example to the entire Clan. One she can't afford to. Responsibility and all that." The sorceress made a rude noise.

"This is why I always avoided positions of authority. They suck. How's the boss taking it?"

"Better than most would." Bo admitted. "He doesn't try to push her about it. He just kind of smiles and shrugs and pretends it doesn't bother him much. Out there, they're probably just making small talk, or not even saying anything at all... that's all they can do, really."

"Yeah." Deis bit her lip. "We're going to have to do something about that, though."

"Oh, not me." Ox held up his hands. "I'm absolutely useless at this kind of thing."

"You're the one who went after her when she broke down." Bo objected. Ox nodded.

"Yeah, but then all I had to do was listen and give her an arm to cry on. That, I'm good at. But actually solving the problem? I'd just make it worse."

"Well, you're married, aren't you?" Deis demanded.

"Yeah, but we didn't have any problems with that." Ox shook his head. "We're both just ordinary folks in our clan."

"Fine, fine." She gave in. "Me and Bo will think of something. There's no way we're just letting this slide, though. Think we'll have time to sort it out before we get going?"

"Eh... doubt it." Bo frowned. "I think as soon as those three idiots-sorry, two idiots and Mogu-get back, we'll be hitting the road again. Maybe next time we take some time off."

"Maybe..." Deis frowned. "Will we get more time off? What's still between us and Scande, anyways?"

"Well, there's a town called Carmen." Ox thought for a moment. "Also, some other old tower... think it's called Tock. And south of those, the former lands of the Fusion Clan. With all of that, I'd guess we'll run afoul of at least one more Tiamat Unit member before we make it to Scande. Wonder which one it'll be." Deis made a face.

"Hope it's the White Assassin. We've already had our obligatory butt-kicking by her, so we can cut to the chase."

"Obligatory butt-kicking?" Ox frowned. Bo nodded.

"Yeah. Haven't you noticed? The first time we meet any of the Tiamat Unit, they kick our butts. Cort shrunk us, Mote sent us into dreamland, and Cerl got away with the Time Key. So we figure the same sort of thing'll happen whenever we actually meet Goda, Jade and the Silver Whatever."

"Let's just hope we don't have to get one from Emperor Zog, too." Deis added. Ox sighed.

"You two worry me."

"Hey, one thing I've learned in my life-and it's been a long life-is that you can never underestimate Ladon's willingness to make things wierd." Deis yawned.

"Amen to THAT." Karn agreed. All three of them turned their heads to see the cheeky thief walk in, trailed by Gobi and Mogu. They were dripping wet.

"Ah, the runaways return." Bo smirked. "You three are in for it when the boss comes back."

"Oh, he's already here." Ryu informed them, walking in with Nina behind Karn. "All right, Karn. You're the ringleader of this little absence, aren't you? Start talking."

"It's really rather simple, boss." Karn looked tired, but happy. "The next survivor of my Clan is a quite a bit away from here. Actually, his house is underground; completely closed off. So when we had some off time, I talked Gobi into taking me there and Mogu into coming along to dig our way in."

"Hold it." Nina blinked. "You've only been gone for two days. How did you get to the ocean that fast?"

"The river just outside this town." Gobi explained. "After it goes underneath Spyre, it stays underground all the way out to the ocean. Dark Dragons can't watch THAT. Coming back up against the flow was a pain, though."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Ryu sighed. "Well, this thing had better be good. Let's see it." Karn nodded and motioned for Ox and Bo.

"Come on, you two. Selecting for strength and speed this time."

"No helping it, I guess." Ox sighed as he and Bo walked over. Karn concentrated.

"Fusios Karn Taurus Ox Canus Bo! Fusios Doof! Doof!" There was the customary flash of bright light, and then the fusion was visible. Doof, as he was apparently named, was... very, very big. His legs were like oak trunks, and his arms not much different. He wore blue, spiked metal armor that made Nina wince just looking at it. His head was buried in a mass of long hair, both front and back, his face barely visible. And protruding from his forehead were a pair of long, curved horns that came forward like a fork. The entire fusion was at least ten feet tall, and almost as wide.

"Well." Deis blinked. "That should do quite a job on our enemies in the mass times acceleration department."

"I guess so." Ryu nodded. "All right, this was worth it. But revert for now, okay? You'll scare the townspeople."

"If you insist..." Doof closed his eyes and split back up.

"So, do we leave tomorrow, boss?" Mogu asked, speaking for the first time since they had returned. Ryu slowly nodded.

"Guess we should... we've stayed here long enough. Yeah, we are. So I should get on with the talk, then. You guys stay here and just kick back... I can take care of this." Sighing, he left the Inn and walked towards the local Temple of Ladon. Waiting for it to clear, he then entered.

"Ryu." Ladon greeted him. "How are you?"

"Better than I was on that day back in Gust." Ryu admitted wryly. "I'm not exactly comfortable here, still. And I had a fight with Nina over it too, which made me even crankier later."

"Is that settled?" Ladon asked, a bit concerned. Ryu shrugged and smiled.

"Mostly... but that's a different matter. After that was patched up, though, I realized I hadn't exactly been behaving appropriately... both there and here." He sighed. "You've helped us out. A lot. I shouldn't be getting angry because you know more about what's going on than we do."

"I still can't tell you everything, Ryu." Ladon admitted. "I'm sorry, but I can't. But... I want you and your friends to succeed, Ryu. That much, I can promise you."

"That'll do for me." Ryu grinned. "But with all due respect, I don't think I'll be becoming a Priest when this is all done." Ladon grinned back.

"In all honesty, I never really expected you to... that wasn't your purpose from the beginning."

"Then we're fine." Ryu gravely shook the Dragon God's hand. "We'll be heading south tomorrow. Anything you can tell me about Carmen?" Ladon's face grew serious.

"Be on your guard, Ryu. Things have already begun to move into motion down there. You are approaching the end of your quest, but before that, you will have to go through something that may be very hard, especially for one of you in particular. Be ready." Ryu nodded.

"I will. See you around, then." Waving, he left the Temple and returned to the inn.

"Still can't believe we had to walk through the freakin' WATERFALL to get into the tunnel..." Karn was grumbling as the group approached the town of Carmen. Gobi rolled his eyes.

"Enough, already. Sheesh. Water is good for you; believe me, I know. And besides, you dried out quickly enough once we were back out in the sun. Look, there's the town."

"Doesn't look like much." Nina commented. "Barely more than a village."

"Just like home." Ryu smiled. "My own town was about this size."

"Carmen is the smallest of the six areas of note-well, seven if you count Tunlan-in the Lands of the East." Gobi explained. "Scande, of course, is the largest. Odd contrast to have these two so close, but it sort of makes sense if you think about it. Come on, let's head to the inn and see if-" He fell silent instantly, and stared forward along with the others. Spring and Gust had had problems, problems that were evident upon first sight. This, however... went beyond a problem. Something in Carmen... was very, VERY wrong.

"What the HELL?" Deis demanded, summing it up. "They're frozen!"

"Not just the people." Bo growled. "The air... the heat... look around. EVERYTHING's stopped." It seemed as if the entire town of Carmen had decided, at one point, that it would stop moving. It was frozen in time. People moving down the streets, children laughing and playing, water being poured into a trough, pigs rooting through a garden, even a bird flying through the air. It was all motionless, statuelike. There was no wind, no heat, and underneath their feet, the ground felt harder than the toughest steel. None of them wanted to touch anything else to find out if it was the same, particularly not the people.

"Tiamat Unit." Ryu spat. "Has to be. Nobody else on this planet could even come close to doing something this radical. And I'll bet I know how... even THEY couldn't do this without the help of something even more powerful than them."

"The Time Key." Karn's eyes narrowed. "So by my guess, it'll be the White Assassin who's behind this. She stole the Key, she'd want to be the one to use it. The question is, where is she now? Doubt she's here..."

"Huh? Hello! Is somebody over there?" A new voice yelled. Looking where it was coming from, they saw a young man running towards them. Like the other residents of Carmen, he was human, although his skin was somewhat darker than the others. "You're... not frozen!"

"Neither are you, we see." Nina smiled. "We're just passing through... we're not form here. You are, I take it?"

"Yes... my name's Alan." The young man loked around, worried. "I have no idea what happened here. I went up north for a few days, and when I came back, this place was... like this!" The heroes exchanged a few glances.

"We... think somebody might be using a Goddess Key to do this." Ryu said after a moment. "The Time Key." Alan's face paled.

"Then... they must be at Tock!"

"Tock?" Gobi blinked. "Even I've never heard of that..." Alan pointed towards the east. A tower, not as tall as Spyre but still impressive, poked upward into the sky.

"They say that in the War of the Dragons, Tock was used along with the Time Key as a horrible weapon... nobody goes anywhere near it anymore except for the occasional daredevil."

"That definately sounds like the place we need to go." Deis nodded. "How do we get to this Tock?" Alan hesitated for a moment, then gave in.

"Head south from here. Once you reach a clump of trees, go east along the cliffs. You'll soon reach a trail that'll lead you up to the top of those cliffs. Tock'll be there."

"Thanks." Ryu smiled. "We'll head up there tomorrow... see what we can do about this. We're kind of professionals when it comes to this kind of thing." Alan nodded.

"Thank you. I'll stay here... see if anything happens." Gobi shuddered.

"Your choice, friend... we'll probably camp outside. It's eerie here." Nobody disputed that.

"Watch out for Gold Dogfish, then." Alan advised. "Sometimes they'll actually come out of the water and flop around in the mud to get a bite out of something... or somebody." Nina shuddered.

"Thanks for the warning." The timefreeze ended twenty feet away from the edge of the town; once they were away from there, they made camp and slept like on any other night. The next morning, as they had told Alan, the group immediately made for Tock. The tower of the Time Key was unremarkable; carved of light grey stone, the only noticable think about it was how its curved walls were perfectly circular, and the top equally flattened off. Inside, it appeared to be just another labyrinth. Soon, though, they found something far different. A steel plate in the floor, with a glowing light panel in the shape of an arrow.

"What's THIS all about?" Deis wondered. Karn shrugged.

"Only one way to find out..." Before anybody could stop him, he stepped onto the arrow tile. The effect was decidedly strange; he vanished, then appeared several feet away, in the direction the arrow was pointing. "Whoa... wierd. But cool. Hey, there's another one over here, pointing towards a wall!"

"Karn, wait!" Bo yelled, again too late. Karn had vanished.

"Hey, it worked!" His voice yelled, muffled by the wall. "Come on, guys! We probably have to use these things to get through here!" Sighing, the rest of the group followed suit. It turned out he was right; by using the arrow tiles, they soon found the stairs up. The following floors were different variants on the arrow tile theme. The second had four main rooms with very narrow hallways outside that required them to take the first tile in their path. The third was actually a combination of two levels, one raised and one lowered, with the arrow tiles the only way between them. And the fourth floor... even Karn groaned when he saw the checkerboard pattern of arrow tiles seemingly pointed in random directions throughout. That floor was only conquered thanks to Nina calling out instructions from overhead. It was a very tired and irritated group that emerged onto the fifth floor and walked down the long hall towards the end.

"Did you have fun down there?" A female voice asked sweetly. All of the heroes dodged or defended as a flying knife came at their heads. When they looked up, Cerl, the White Assassin, was standing on a rise in the floor in front of them. "We meet again. Shall we skip the introductions? I think we all know each other well enough already..."

"Yes, I suppose we do." Deis growled. "And no, we didn't have fun. Those mazes were quite the aggravation."

"You're ones to talk about aggravation." Cerl made a rude noise. "You've caused me and my unit all sorts of trouble. Now, though... now it ends."

"Oh, really?" Karn snickered. "Eight against one, lady. It didn't turn out so well for your friends, and it won't for you."

"Ah, but I've got something they don't!" Cerl reminded him. "Time is on my side! See for yourself!" She made a motion with one hand, and between her and the group, the air itself opened up into a hole of absolute darkness. Ryu recoiled at first, thinking it was an attack, but it made no motions. Then it flashed, and suddenly the window was the only thing that WASN'T dark. Instead, it now showed a still image. The town of Carmen, still frozen.

"Yeah, you did that... we noticed." Gobi remarked dryly. Cerl laughed richly.

"I'm glad you did. I view it as a work of art, myself... so what do you think of it? The entire town, frozen in place. Never changing. The people there will never grow older... they will live for as long as this remains. The plants will never wilt, the water will never dry up, the weather will never change. It will all remain this way... always."

"Get to the point." Karn said sharply. "Art, shmart. If you're an artist, I'm a snow macaque. What's the real reason you did this?" Cerl laughed again, much more evilly.

"If you insist... the real reason was to show you all. Show you what I could do with this Time Key, with the power of the Goddess Keys. And this is only the beginning!"

"The beginning?" Deis blinked.

"That's right. I kind of like the town this way. Who knows? Soon, I might do this to the entire world!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Bo yelled. "You do that, and you'll never accomplish yur goal... you'll never get all the Goddess Keys!"

"Yes, won't it be wonderful?" Cerl giggled. "Never reaching the end... the final chapter of the story never coming. Everybody in the world, knowing what should come, but forever stopped, never knowing the result... caught in anticipation forever! How glorious it will be!"

"You're just as insane as Mote was... and Cort, too, from what I've heard." Mogu realized.

"And if I am?" Cerl challenged. "Who's to say you're not all insane as well? Not as though it matters... you're not the ones who will decide what happens here. The one with the power of time is me, and only me!" And then, somebody in the window on Carmen moved. "Huh?" It was Alan, the young man they had met there. "Who? Who is that? How did he escape the time freeze?"

"He was out of town at the time." Ox informed her. "So you didn't get him. His name's Alan, if that matters." None of them were expecting the White Assassin's reaction.

"Alan! No! No, it can't be!" She shrieked. "You lie! Even if he looks... no!" The darkness around them was sucked back into the window in the air. Behind it, Cerl's teeth were bared like a wolf. "I've had enough of you for now! If you're smart, you'll find someplace you enjoy and wait for the world to stop! Begone!" Before anybody could react, the window pulsed. The world around them wavered as they were drawn inside. Everything went black, and the only thing they heard was Cerl's mocking laughter.

"Ugh..." Ryu slowly regained consciousness. "What the hell. Don't want to do THAT again..." He looked around. It was night, and he was lying with his back against a phenomenally large tree. It was the smell of the tree's fruit that had woken him up; it was sharp, rich and sweet and tangy all at once. All around the tree, however, was ruin. Rubble and broken walls stretched for miles; it seemed there had once been a large town here. But now, it was gone; nothing even remotely habitable remained. For a moment, Ryu wondered if there were any remains of the inhabitants, then realized that they were near a beach and remembered what Alan had told them about Gold Dogfish. If any bodies had been here, they had been dragged out to sea long ago. "Wonder where this is... hey! Anybody else here?" Exploration showed that none of the group had come with him. "Oh well... mabe they're back at Carmen. If that's nearby... who knows how far away that sent me." Fortunately, he soon saw Tock to the north, and from there was able to make it back to Carmen. As he entered, something fell out of the sky and slammed into him.

"Ryu! You're alive!" Nina hugged him. "Thank Ladon... we were all sent to various places near here. We searched, but couldn't find you..."

"I got dumped a little further away." Ryu smiled. "But I'm fine. The others are all here, then?"

"Yeah, they're in there." Nina pointed to a house, and her smile faded. "That's Alan's place... he's in there too."

"Alan..." Ryu frowned. "Yeah... Cerl seemed to know him. Shall we go have a talk with him?" Walking into the house, they found everybody else sitting around a table.

"There you are, boss." Bo smiled. "Knew you'd find your way back here. Well, now that we're all in attendance..." He shifted his gaze to Alan. "Time to talk, friend. It seems you and Cerl, the White Assassin of the Tiamat Unit, know each other."

"Cerl..." Alan's eyes grew distant. "It's been a long time since then. More than a decade..."

"So she was a childhood friend?" Deis asked. Alan nodded.

"Yes. We grew up... here. She had a bit of a rough childhood, I'll admit, but when she was young she was never violent... never cruel. She was my best friend... I never would have believed that she would end up helping the Dark Dragon Emperor like this back then."

"People change, Alan." Bo said bluntly. "Sometimes they change for the better... like Gobi..."

"Hey!" The fat Maniro objected.

"But sometime they don't." Deis continued what Bo had been saying, ignoring Gobi. "Cerl has obviously done the latter. She's the White Assassin now, Alan... I don't know how much you've heard about that, but regardless... she's not who you knew. Not even close."

"Yeah..." Alan sighed. "I guess so. You're right. Are you going back to Tock, then?"

"We have to." Ryu admitted. "We can't leave her up there with the Time Key... I'm not sure if she really intends to do what she said, but either way we have to stop her. We'll rest outside the town tonight, then head off in the morning." Leaving Alan, they made camp in the same place they had the night before. As usual, Gobi cooked. After eating, they crouched around the campfire in pairs, talking about various things. Gobi and Karn argued about comparative moralities in stealing somebody's possessions versus cheating them on the market. Ox and Mogu chatted about their families. Bo and Deis watched the others and muttered about the future. And Ryu and Nina didn't say much at all, really.

"Ryu..." Nina spoke after a while of silence. "You know Alan's not telling us the entire story... right?"

"Yeah, I know." Ryu nodded. "It was pretty obvious. But it was also obvious that he wasn't going to tell us, even if we called him on it. So I let it lie. We'll look in on him again tomorrow before we go... maybe he'll feel like telling us then."

"Maybe..." Nina agreed. "It might not even be anything important, anyways. This is just a guess here, but they were probably more than just friends."

"It does seem that way, doesn't it?" Ryu nodded. "But I don't think we'll be getting any breakdowns like we did with Cort. Cerl seems to remember him perfectly, and she doesn't seem like she'll be changing her mind on anything for him. We'll have to take her down like the others." Nina sighed.

"Yeah. So... where did you go, anyways? When Cerl sent us all flying away, I mean."

"Some place south of Tock... close to Scande, probably." Ryu answered. "A ruined town... completely destroyed. Looked like it had been for a long time. Huge fruit tree in the center, but that was the only thing still living there..." He stopped. Nina's face had become grim.

"Listen, Ryu... don't tell Karn about that place, okay? Just... don't." Ryu blinked in realization.

"That was... where the Fusion Clan lived?"

"Had to be." Nina nodded. "That's the area." Ryu shook his head.

"I never thought of that... fortunately, it wasn't on the main path, so when we're done with Cerl, we can avoid it on our way to Scande."

"That would probably be best." The Princess agreed. "No way to tell how he would react, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to test it. We'll just ignore that place."

"That's the plan." Ryu nodded. "We should probably turn in soon, I guess."

In the morning, Karn went back into town to check on Alan. He soon returned, swearing.

"Boss, he's gone!"

"What!" Ryu demanded. "What do you mean, gone!"

"Gone, vanished, not there, disappeared, elsewhere!" Karn yelled. "He slipped out of town while we were sleeping!"

"Where do you think he went?" Mogu wondered. Karn shook his head bitterly.

"Only one place he could have. Tock. That idiot's going to see Cerl... he'll get himself killed!"

"No time for breakfast, then." Ryu decided. "Come on, let's go! Back to Tock, on the double!"

Wheezing like a herd of stampeding buffalo, the heroes poured up the stairs into the room at the top of Tock. They had made it through the tower in record time; fortunately, the layout of the mazes had remained the same. What they saw in front of them made them all fall silent immediately. Alan and Cerl were calmly facing each other, and the White Assassin was making no move to attack. Neither of them seemed to notice the heroes.

"Cerl... it IS you." Alan said softly. Cerl was silent. "It's been so long. Don't you remember... the days we were together?"

"Don't be a fool." Cerl snapped. "Maybe I do. So what? I'm one of the Tiamat Unit now... I have no past, and no future. You saw that made very clear... and don't try to tell me you don't remember THAT." Alan shook his head stubbornly.

"That doesn't matter. Ever since then... even after what you told me, what you did, I always dreamed of the day I would find you again..."

"Ha!" Cerl suddenly lunged forward, and Alan went spinning off the podium in a trail of blood. The White Assassin turned to the heroes, ignoring the dripping dagger in her hand. "Then you're twice the fool I thought. Don't try to get sappy on me... the Cerl of my childhood died on that day, along with everybody else in our Clan!"

"You dirty..." Nina glared at her. "That's how you treat somebody who cared that much about you?"

"Hey, I didn't tell him to come back here." Cerl shrugged. "I had to become this way in order to survive... I learned to be tough. Cold. A killer. In other words, the White Assassin. If he's too stupid to realize that, on his head be it. I'll kill anybody who gets in my way... even him."

"Funny." Karn smiled humorlessly, drawing his own daggers. "We've sort of followed a similar credo when it comes to Dark Dragons. Especially your two teammates. Care to see if we can make it three?"

"A rematch... fine, I'm game! I could use something to pass the time-no pun intended!" Laughing, Cerl jumped backward, spinning and throwing daggers at them all. They blocked with their weapons as they ran forward, Nina flying to the moaning Alan's side as the others advanced on the White Assassin.

"If that's all you do, you're in trouble, lady!" Ox warned, missing with his sledge and smashing into a pillar. Cerl snickered.

"Oh, I can do much more than that, believe me!" Her hands blurred, and then the floors were covered with small, spiked obstacles.

"Caltrops?" Karn stared. "I didn't know anybody made those anymore! Watch out, people!"

"Allow me to take care of those!" Deis raised her staff, and the ground began shaking uncontrollably. The caltrops all slid down into huge cracks that appeared in the floor before sealing again. Cerl was knocked off her feet as well, but she quickly scrambled back up, narrowly dodging pike and arrow from Gobi and Bo.

"Not bad... how about this, then?" She threw something on the floor, and it erupted in pitch-black smoke. Coughing, the heroes covered their eyes.

"Over there!" Bo fired, and there was a curse from Cerl. The others concentrated their attack in that direction, but the White Assassin eluded them again.

"Damn..." Karn growled. "This isn't working. Even if we hit her, it's only a glancing blow..."

"You have an idea?" Ryu asked, swiping with his sword and missing. Karn nodded.

"Yeah. Ox, Bo, come here! Everybody else, cover us!" The heroes formed around the three.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cerl demanded, throwing another smoke bomb and attempting to jump over, only to be knocked aside by Mogu's claws. "Grr! Whatever it is, it won't work!"

"All right..." Doof rumbled from behind the heroes. "Now I just need to get in one god hit. Ryu, Nina, keep her busy on the ground!"

"Gotcha!" Nina flew up as Ryu began changing shape, becoming the Thunder Dragon. Cerl cursed and tried to dodge back, but the Wing Clan princess remained above her, keeping her from jumping and blocking every attack with her rapier.

"I'll pluck those pretty wings down to the last feather when I... yow!" Cerl moved to one side as a mighty blast of lightning scorched the earth where she had stood. Ryu fired again, and again she dodged. "Not bad, but-HUH?" Cerl only had a momentary image of a mass even taller than Goda rushing at her... and then Doof slammed her, head down and horns first, THROUGH another stone pillar and into the far wall. She hit the ground and then slowly got up.

"Had enough?" Doof asked. Cerl glared at him, then laughed darkly.

"I had forgotten what you were, Karn... the Doof Fusion, I see. Very impressive... the second most effective. I never managed to get any of them right, though... blame it on my mixed heritage, I guess."

"You never... what?" Doof stared, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't tell them, Alan?" Cerl laughed, mockingly. "How dishonest of you. And that's supposed to be MY role. What, did you say we grew up in Carmen? And you all believed him? Ha! Come on... when I launched you out of here, at least ONE of you had to have landed near the ruins! And you never put two and two together?"

"Ruins..." Doof blinked. "Wait. The only ruins around here would be..." He froze, stunned. "No. You can't be... you're a Dark Dragon!"

"HALF Dark Dragon." Cerl corrected. "And Alan here is half human. But the other half, and our childhood, are the same as you, Karn. The poor, pathetic, extinct Fusion Clan. It's not a happy story, and I don't really feel like telling it right now. Suffice it to say, my lacking in the arts of our clan was more than made up for in my skill with other areas of magic... something I taught all my compatriots in the Tiamat Unit."

"Transforming." Ryu growled. Cerl nodded like a schoolteacher praising a child for giving a correct answer.

"Mm-hmm. Why do you think their alternate forms were so fearsome? Because they learned how to make them from the best. Look for yourselves..." Smiling cruelly, the White Assassin began growing, larger, taller. Below the waist, her body became covered with a mat of fur the same color as her hair. From that mass, four blue catlike legs hit the floor and flexed. Above the waist, however, she remained human, twice her normal size. As the final touch, her forearms darkened and hardened, bending upwards and then forward again, becoming insectlike red scythe claws. "Impressed? I can control every aspect of my transformations perfectly!"

"Geez!" Ryu yelled. "THIS is new!"

"Who cares? Blast her!" Deis responded, casting a spell. From around the four blue feet, a wave of frigid air spiraled upward, circling Cerl endlessly and freezing every place it touched. The White Assassin calmly waited for it to finish at her head, then flexed and shattered the ice effortlessly. Mogu and Gobi immediately ran up and began hacking at the legs.

"Oh my... insects!" Cerl lifted her feet, mock-daintily. "Guess I'll have to SQUASH them!" She bent over and lashed out brutally with her claws, and the two fell back, bleeding. Roaring, Ryu dived on her, raking her face with lightning. Cerl's face contorted into an ugly scowl. "Get off me, you! Stop right there!" She threw out an arm, pointing at him, and Ryu froze like a statue. Suddenly, there was a bellow like some god of war, and Doof was charging again. Cerl could do nothing to stop him; he hit her in the side at full speed, and the two of them went tumbling to the floor.

"You were the one, weren't you?" Doof demanded. "You were behind what happened to our Clan... to our people!"

"A Clan you never knew, idiot!" Cerl taunted, raking his face. "You were barely out of diapers when it happened! Believe me, they deserved what they got! And even if they didn't, what does it matter now? They're dead, and nothing can bring them back!"

"And Alan?" The Fusion demanded, ramming a horn into her left foreleg. "What about him? Did he deserve THAT too?"

"I spared his life once already!" Cerl yelled. "What do you want me to do? Welcome him back with open arms? I told him never to come near me again! He didn't listen, it's his own fault!" Doof lunged again and crippled her other foreleg.

"Don't even SAY that. One thing I've learned... anything you do, good or bad, is YOUR decision! Nobody else's!"

"Pathetic wretch!" Cerl shrieked, using both claws to throw him aside. "You know nothing! You talk to me of THAT, of making your own fate! It would be funny if you actually knew what you talk about... instead, it's disgusting!"

"Enough talk." Ryu glared. Cerl looked around and saw that, while she had been wrestling with Doof, the others had surrounded her with her back to a wall. "We don't really care about your reasons. You've done more than enough to deserve death... and we WILL kill you. You're no match for us... just like Cort and Mote. You're through, Cerl." The White Assassin's eyes narrowed.

"You forget... I have a trump card. You're stronger than I predicted, but you still have no chance against THIS!" She spun and put one claw on the Time Key before anybody could stop her. Again, the air itself split, becoming a rift in space and time... and then a window, looking on Carmen. Specifically, on two children, one female and one male. And then, to everybody's shock, the children began growing... older. They were still motionless, but their bodies changed, advancing to adulthood.

"What are you DOING?" Mogu demanded, horrified.

"I'm advancing time, of course." Cerl laughed. "Silly boy. I don't need Tock for this... this function of the Time Key is self-contained. And I'll keep it up... then eventually, poof! Everybody in town's old... and then they're gone! You can't kill me before I do that... so will you let the people be sacrificed to take me down?"

"Damn..." Gobi cursed. "She's got us by the balls, boss. We've got no choice... we have to retreat."

"Pretty smart, for a fish." Cerl sneered. "Now, all of you, get out of here before it gets too late..."

"No..." Somebody croaked. It was Alan, his wounds healed by Nina. He ran towards Cerl. "Stop... I won't let you do this to another town, Cerl! You can't... I know you won't!"

"Get away from me!" Cerl shrieked, and the window shifted. The heroes each had time for only one curse as they were drawn into it once more... but this time, two more were drawn in as well. Alan and Cerl both, the latter still holding the Time Key and trailing curses as they spiraled down, down into the darkness...