A Heavenly View (Guntz)

Because our spacesuits were skintight, we had to strip down to our underwear to ensure we could fit in them.

It took us about half an hour to suit up, since we couldn't slip them on as easily as the larger dive suits. I didn't really have any trouble with it, as I could simply tuck my mane under my bodysuit, but Klonoa needed help fitting his ears into his helmet's sleeves.

Once we were finished, I tested out the built-in radios. "Klonoa, do you read me?" I asked, my voice a bit muffled.

"Loud and clear." he answered, his voice crackling through the speakers near my ears.

With that confirmation, I set the onboard computer to transfer all radio and music functionality to our suit computers, before we floated into the airlock and tethered ourselves. "So the rocket doesn't fly off without us." I explained.

I firmly grasped the control panel inside, my finger above the AIRLOCK CYCLE button. "Hold on tight!" I told Klonoa. He did so, wrapping his arms around my waist.

As soon as I pressed the button, the interior door closed behind us, hissing as it latched itself. The airlock depressurized itself with a louder hiss, before everything went quiet… the only sounds I could hear being each breath I took, and my own heartbeat.

Finally, the exterior door unlatched and opened itself, muted by the vacuum.

"You good, Klonoa?" I asked. "Can you still breathe?"

I heard him take a few deep breaths. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Great; wanna lead the way? The thruster controls should be on your gloves."

"Say no more!" Using the thrusters in his wrists and boots, he propelled himself out of the airlock, disappearing past the top edge of the doorway – his tether trailing behind him.

"Pretty enthusiastic…" I commented, still in the airlock. "Did you wanna do this on our last trip up, too?"

"Of course!" he radioed back. "Our dive suits didn't have any thrusters on them, though… so I doubt I could do much with them outsi-"

He fell silent.

"…You still there?" I asked nervously…

"Y-yeah…" he responded. "It's just… this view… it's much more breathtaking from outside, especially up here… wanna see?"

"On my way."

Using my own thrusters, I slowly propelled myself out of the airlock.

Though I knew I was still moving forward, towards the vast expanse of space… it didn't feel like I was getting any closer to the stars or galaxies in the distance. Probably makes sense, as they were simply too far away – sorta like how the sun seemed to follow me whenever I rode the Red Clan.

I turned back to the rocket – sure enough, I was still flying away from it, my tether following suit. Once again using my thrusters, I slowly stopped myself, the rocket appearing to do so likewise, before taking another look around. Though I knew I was looking through my helmet's visor, it didn't feel like there was anything between me and the stars anymore…

"You alright, Guntz?" Klonoa asked.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine…" I stammered. "Just tryin' to reorient myself… kinda hard to tell which way's up out here…"

"Fair enough. Can you see me, by any chance?"

"Hold on…" Looking around, I eventually spotted Klonoa about a hundred yards away from the rocket, waving back to me. "Okay, now I see you."

"Good; care to come up? I really think you should see this…"

"Heading over now." Following his tether, I propelled myself towards him. Stopping by his side, I followed his almost dream-like gaze – now looking down at the planet Earth – and was nearly taken aback.

Though I can't perfectly describe what the view was like – floating this high above the planet – the closest I could get would… well, would probably be like I was looking at a live globe or an atlas.

Our orbit has already taken us farther away, but from where we were, I could still make out the entire length of Jugkettle's coastline, and the full range of Mira-Mira's mountains… miniature streams of smoke creeped out from what I could only assume were Volk's factories… the pointed roofs of the Sky Temple's buildings seemed to graze the clouds…

All in all, seeing everything from up here, it just… it just felt so…

"Heavenly…" I muttered.

"Agreed." Klonoa responded. We fell silent for a few minutes, taking it all in.

"So…" Klonoa began again, his voice now pensive. "Speaking of heaven… do you… do you think your father has a view like this?"

"…Possibly… I'd love to imagine him just…" A few tears floated away from my face, sticking to my visor. "…just watching us from above… seeing how the world will turn out without him…"

"I see… I wonder if Lolo's doing the same… at least, until she can find a way to visit us again…"

"…You know what?" I rested my hand on his shoulder, being careful not to push him away. "Maybe… maybe she is."

He turned to me, a pensive smile on his face. "Thanks, Guntz."

"Any time."

We continued to float in silence for a few more minutes, the Earth seeming to get smaller as our rocket continued to take us farther away.

Eventually, I broke the silence.

"Are you…" I asked Klonoa, "are you ready to continue our dance?"

"Ready when you are." he answered.

Using the suit's wrist display, I started the current song up again.


After a while, we entered the moon's gravitational field, the rocket's autopilot adjusting our orbit.

The music stopped. A deep, robotic voice crackled through our helmets' speakers, nearly startling us.

"Greetings, heroes."

Using my wrist display, I double-checked my suit's radio settings. As expected, it was relaying the rocket's radio.

"Our client from Volk, I presume?" I asked.

"You presume correctly."

"And I take it you won't just tell us who you are?"

"Correct."

"Okay, but…" Klonoa cut in, "can you at least answer a few things for us, while we have you on?"

"Go ahead."

"We've been arguing about this for a bit, so let's just get it out of the way: are you or are you not Janga?"

The shadow didn't respond immediately – I wanted to ask Klonoa why he'd just blurt that out, but we were still on the shadow's frequency.

Eventually, the shadow's voice crackled once again. "…That depends. When you saw me at the factory, did you see any long, red claws protruding from my sleeves?"

Klonoa closed his eyes, deep in thought. "…I… I don't… think so…"

"…Then I am not Janga." Klonoa's expression seemed to sink, but perked up slightly at the shadow's next statement: "…Though, I have worked with him, as well as with the legendary Butz, long ago…

"So you did know Pops…" I cut in. "But he said he only worked with Janga… how come he never mentioned you?"

"…Perhaps he didn't trust me well enough… at least, not as much as he trusted that cat. Guntz, I presume that was your voice I just heard?"

"That's right." I responded involuntarily.

"Good. I've been looking for you for quite some time, ever since I heard your father died by Janga's claw. At first, I wanted to see what Butz taught you before his passing… see how well you could protect yourself without him…

"Years passed with no sight of you, however… I feared the cat got you as well… that Butz's training was for naught… so I almost gave up my search…

"Last month, though, I've heard reports of a 'Golden Killer' for hire – those I spoke with said he'd dispose of phantom beasts and criminals alike with ease. But what drew my attention, and what got me to continue my search, was how they described the insignia on his pistols – a yellow, pointed cross… the same kind Butz marked on his weapons…

"And it paid off, just over a week ago. Like everyone else on Earth, I too fell to Garlen's nightmare mist, and through Nahato's Darkness, I thought I could see you, fighting tirelessly against this 'Nahatomb' creature… alongside a pangolin and a long-eared boy.

"I have to admit, I was impressed seeing the three of you – especially you, Guntz – last that long against such a creature. So much so that when I woke up afterwards, I was more determined than ever to find you… to see how well you can fight on your own…"

"So that's why you led us out here?" I retorted.

"Indeed." the shadow continued. "Garlen mentioned his mist originated from a base on the moon… given that you were actively fighting inside the Darkness, and given the reports I heard of 2 rockets being stolen from Volk's space force base, I presumed you made it there beforehand.

"So, I put a high bounty on the remaining phantom beasts in Volk, knowing you would accept – once you arrived and cleared out the beasts, I could then lead you back here, to the Lunar Base. I figured it'd only be appropriate to have our duel… near the site where you avenged your father."

"I take it you found Janga's corpse, then…?" Klonoa cut in.

"I have… it looked like he was able to climb out of that magma crater, shortly before perishing.

"Now, if you want any more answers, the Golden Killer will have to fight me for them. I've left one of the Lunar Dome's landing bays open for you – once you've landed, I'll lead you to the base's training area for our duel. Over and out."

The shadow's signal cut out. I took a quick glance at Klonoa… his face was once again pensive.

Well… I thought to myself. It was fun while it lasted…

Using our tethers, we pulled ourselves back into the airlock, cycling it before entering the rocket's cabin.

I opted to leave my spacesuit on – aside from my helmet – to save time if we wanted to go outside again, holstering my pistols to a strap around my waist. Besides, I figured I could use the extra protection, depending on how the shadow wanted to fight.

Klonoa, however, decided to change back into his regular clothes. "…Since we're gonna stay inside the dome this time." he explained.

Once we strapped ourselves back into our seats, I set the onboard computer to guide our landing. It was rough, but I was eventually able to land us right inside the dome's open landing bay, a hatch in the ceiling closing behind us.

The shadow's voice crackled out of the cabin's speakers. "Stand by; I'm pressurizing the bay now."

I heard a loud hiss from outside, lasting for a minute or two.

"Okay," the shadow continued, "you're good to disembark. Meet me outside."