Two hours later, the Ceremony of Shame began.

It was no surprise that Lanny Parker lead the ceremony, that was held in the courtyard. People were free to come over, sit on one of the chairs and watch Mason be humiliated. Boz, Mikayla, Brady, and Boomer stood by the side and watched from there. The crowd consisted mostly of other guards, which included Mahuma and Stan. In the middle of the ceremonial circle stood one chair, for Mason. The gentle giant stood before it, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Lanny appeared wearing the ceremonial black and silver cloak, which looked like a dress while he wore it. It did not help him not to look like an elf, or a hobbit. If anyone noticed, they said nothing.

"People of Kinkow," Lanny spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "Mason Makoola has lost the sacred bat medallion. He must be publicly humiliated. Sit!"

Mason refused to budge, even when Lanny tried to pull him down. Eventually, he did obey, probably so the ceremony could continue and he could get it over with.

"Everyone thinks Mason is so brave," Lanny continued, "He can wrestle an alligator and knock the teeth out of a hippo, but that doesn't mean he's without fear, does it, Mason?" He faced the guard directly, a cold look on his face. Lanny clearly reveled in the attention and the power he exerted over the guard.

"I'm also not afraid of little elves who run in elf dresses," Mason deadpanned, and the crowd chuckled. Lanny could not stand what he perceived to be an insult;

"It's a cloak," Lanny responded. "Now, what does the scare the macho hippo puncher? Bring me the beast!"

A guard came from the side. He carried a plate, with a blanket pulled over it. Whatever was underneath the blanket moved, but did not jump off the plate. When Mason spotted it, Boz could see the anxiety inside the guard building up. Mason tried not to show it.

"Picture this," Lanny continued, "a six-year-old Mason on a spring day, and a little Easter hunt when you became the hunted."

Lanny pulled the blanket off of the 'beast' – it was the rabbit from the kings' vision dream. Boz, as well as Brady and Boomer, were surprised to see it. What was even more shocking was Mason's reaction to the rabbit.

Mason leaned away from the animal on the plate, not dangerous at all, his eyes on the rabbit at all times. He could not pretend this animal wasn't something that induced some great fear inside of him.

"Get that floppy-eared monster away from me!" Mason snapped.

"Big bad Mason is afwaid of a little bunny wabbit!" Lanny mocked the guard, who glared at Lanny for just a second. It wasn't going to make Lanny any more popular among the guard population. Even now, Boz could see that Stan wasn't enjoying this and Mahuma glared at Lanny, as well.

"That's the bunny from our dream!" Brady said as if he just recently connected the dots. "What if all that stuff is coming true?"

"No, it's not," Boomer argued. "It's all just part of the show. Now, relax and enjoy it. Cousin Lanny worked really hard."

They turned their heads to the Ceremony of Shame again. Mason was made to hold the bunny or put it in his lap. Mason pleaded not to be made to pet the bunny, which Lanny promptly ordered him to do. Mason was terrified, awkward, and Boz hated to see him like that.

"I'm telling Mikayla that we lost the bat medallion," Brady said. This surprised Boz – he figured Boomer would be the one to come clean. Then again, maybe Brady was doing it because seeing Mason like this made Mikayla sad and he didn't like to see Mikayla sad. Whatever the reasons, it was the right thing to do.

Brady walked towards the guard girl, ready to share the news that Boomer desperately tried to keep under wraps.

"Mikayla, I—"

Boomer tackled his brother like it was Junga Ball. They quickly got to their feet as Mikayla looked at them with confusion and disappointment. Boomer must really want that cake. Brady grabbed his shoulder, which Boomer had hurt during his tackle.

"I'm sorry, it just hurts him to see that your dad is a wimp," Boomer told Mikayla. "I'm taking him inside to get him some fresh air."

It was a testament to the kings' stupidity that Mikayla did not even question what just happened, but let the kings go inside the castle without a second thought. What did strike her as odd, was Boz not following them inside.

"You're not going with them?" Mikayla asked. Boz shook his head.

"Honestly, I don't feel like being around them right now," he said honestly. Until they found a solution, Boz was not going to go with them. For all he knew, they were going to try to find that solution now. Boz probably should stay with them to make sure they wouldn't make mistakes, but he didn't care at this moment. He shouldn't be with them 24/7 and his guard training, when he was better, would make sure Boz wasn't seeing them that often.

The two focused on the ceremony. Lanny relished in the attention and had found the best way to torture Mason. As time went on, it became worse and worse. Lanny thought it hilarious to let the bunny loose near Mason's legs. The guard was not allowed to stand up – so when the bunny neared his legs, Mason had to pull them back to make sure he wouldn't accidentally touch him. Mason was terrified.

And the kings hadn't returned yet.

They had been inside the castle for quite some time now. Normally Boomer should have knocked some sense into Brady by now, which means they should have been back. But they weren't and it worried Boz. Maybe he should have gone after them.

"Where are Brady and boomer?" Mikayla wondered – she too had noticed that they hadn't returned yet.

"Still inside, I guess," Boz responded. "Maybe in their room, they're there most of the time."

Mikayla shook her head. "They're doing something. I can feel it."

Boz shrugged. "Maybe. Do you want to check up on them?"

His gaze wandered to Mason again. Now he just suffered and that was evil. The sooner the kings got the medallion back, the sooner they'd also have to admit they were the ones who lost it. Mason would be excused from the Ceremony of Shame and it would be the brothers who would have to undergo this ancient humiliation tradition that Lanny now took a step too far.

"I do," Mikayla said – if she saw them doing something normal, it might calm her down. "Let's go find them."

Boz and Mikayla disappeared into the castle. Neither saw the disappointed look on Mason's face when they left him on this miserable Ceremony of Shame.

"They're not in their room," Mikayla announced as she ran down the stairs into the throne room. Boz waited for her there, after he scouted the first floor for a sign of the kings. She would be faster going up the stairs, anyway.

"They're not down here, either."

"Where could they be?" Mikayla wondered out loud. In the following silence, they could hear the crowd from outside laugh. Whatever happened to Mason, it amused them.

She turned to Boz again.

"Where do you think they could be?" Mikayla asked him. For some reason, he had the feeling that she was putting him under the same scrutiny she would put the kings when they were doing something suspicious. Boz pushed that feeling off of him.

"I'm not sure…" he said, shaking his head. "They might have gone out to try and find the lost bat medallion. Probably on the Dark Side."

"The Dark Side?"

"Yeah," Boz said. "Last week they lost their pants – long story – but they first searched the palace and they then dragged me to the dark side. They thought the Tarantulas had stolen them, which… I don't even know where that idea came from. Anyway, they eventually got their pants back from the Dirt Fairies, who thought the pants belonged to them." He looked at Mikayla, who in hindsight probably wasn't in the mood for this story. "The point is: they assumed their pants were on the Dark Side. That may be where they went."

Mikayla nodded. Though she didn't need to hear that story, she seemed to agree with Boz.

"If the medallion is lost, it somehow will find its way to the Dark Side," she said. "We need to go after them."

"Agreed," Boz said, and they left the castle to try and find the missing kings.

Boz and Mikayla went into the jungle together, on the search for Brady and Boomer. While it was a chore for Boz and his crutches, he did think he was going as quickly as he could and managed to keep up with Mikayla, who walked so fast she might as well be running. They stuck together, Mikayla with her machete out, when they entered the Dark Side. They slowed down as the world around them darkened and they got an uneasy feeling.

Hopefully, they were going to find Brady and Boomer before they did anything stupid.

"Hide!"

"Dinosaur!"

Mikayla and Boz stopped and glanced at each other. Definitely Brady and Boomer, who now hid behind a tree. As if that was going to be helpful in any hostile situation. The tree was so small, you could still see them peeking out from behind, from multiple angles. Boz shook his head – they had much to learn.

"Oh, I wonder where my Kings are," Mikayla said. It sounded as if she read it from an autocue. "I wish they were here to protect me."

Brady appeared first from behind the tree and almost stumbled, quickly followed by Boomer.

"Wish granted!" Brady said, his gaze firmly on the girl who rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, dinosaur?" Boz said out loud, mostly to Boomer. He could have shouted anything. Even 'peanut butter' would have made more sense than 'dinosaur'.

Nobody paid attention to Boz, however, and Mikayla took charge of the conversation.

"Are you looking for the bat medallion?" Mikayla asked Brady. "Look me in the eyes."

That was a great strategy – Boz never thought Brady's crush on Mikayla would be used against him. Then again, he never learned of anything like this happening. It was an effective strategy, though, as Brady looked deeply into her eyes. So much so that Boomer put a hand on his brother's shoulder and turned him around.

"Brady, look me in the eyes," Boomer commanded. Brady leaned away with light disgust.

"If you don't mind, I like it better over there," Brady said.

From the corner of his eye, Boz noticed something move in the jungle. It wasn't a particularly windy day, so seeing some leaves wave and rustle was alarming. Mikayla might have thought the same if her attention wasn't on the kings. And though Boz saw nothing, his instincts were still impeccable.

Something was out there.

"Um, guys?" Boz tried to draw their attention. It didn't work.

"We made a bro-mise, bro," Boomer told his brother, "we stick together, no matter what."

The Tarantulas appeared from the bushes. One, two, many Tarantulas. Enough to capture the four of them. Boz reached to his side but found no machete. He'd grown so used to having it there that it did not even cross his mind that he wasn't wearing it today. Disappointment immediately set in; he was dead weight.

Mikayla's instincts were great as well, pulling up the machete and staring at the threat, slowly encircling them.

"Look behind you," she said calmly.

Brady turned his head. It took a whole second for his brain to process what was going on and know this was a threat. He almost stumbled over his own feet and, like his brother, screamed like a little girl. Fear gripped him, as well as some frustration of his own.

"If we had the bat medallion, we could control them," Brady said. He barely realized what he revealed was need-to-know information that nobody had taught them yet. Especially not Mikayla.

"How do you know that?" Mikayla wondered out loud. Brady hesitated. He didn't answer just yet, but there were more important matters than what the bat medallion was capable of. The circle was getting smaller, and they were increasingly in danger.

With nothing much to lose and without giving it a second thought, Boz made a move he would later regard as extremely stupid. He threw himself on one of the Tarantulas. He had a bat – the kind you play baseball with – and might have picked Boz as the weakest link. They did not know that, even when Boz used crutches, Brady was the weakest link. Boz was still fighting back.

Mikayla and Brady surrendered peacefully. Boz did not want to go down without a fight. The Tarantula he jumped on soon threw the monkey boy on the ground. Boz groaned – that really hurt. When Boz opened his eyes again, he could only see the bat rapidly coming down on him, and all went black.