Reunion Four (Guntz)

Several minutes earlier…

"B-b-but…!" I eventually stammered, still in my spacesuit and Pops' embrace, "how… how did you survive!? I-I'm pretty sure I saw Janga strike you, and… you fell unconscious in my arms and…"

"Right." Pops cut in. "But tell me this… Klonoa said it was thanks to you and this 'Pango' that he withstood the cat's poison… how long did it take to save him?"

I thought it over. "L-let's see… I think he… he lost consciousness after only a minute or two, and we… we had to fight through the base's defenses to get him to the medical ward… it ended up being half an hour before we could get him an antidote… at least, that's what I told him…"

"So, as you witnessed, Janga's poison doesn't work very fast, despite how he always boasts about it."

"T-then… then I just left you there… alive?"

"…Left me there…? …I presume you tailed the cat immediately, then…?"

"Right; I took your pistols and chased after him, but…" My voice wavered. "But if I'd known you were still alive… had I known how to tell…"

"But you didn't… and I don't blame you. Still, someone must've found me, as a few months later, I regained consciousness at a hospital near our home, and the doctors said they couldn't find you.

"Once I was cleared to leave, well… like I said on the radio, I spent the next several years looking for you, desperately praying Janga didn't get you, too…"

"T-then that means…" I jumped in, leaving Pops' embrace, "you said you saw me in the Darkness, right?"

"Indeed." Pops went on. "As I said before… from how you fought the beast, I could tell… that you grew stronger than you ever could under my tutelage."

"And you didn't say anything then, because…?"

"Well, for one, I didn't want to distract you… to give the beast an opening. And two, once again, I wanted to see for myself, later on, how you'd fare alone in a duel… pretty well, it turns out.

"That's also why I concealed my identity… if I led you to believe I was an ally of Janga's, then you wouldn't hesitate to beat me to a pulp… let your skills shine unfettered…"

"B-but… how did you know I wouldn't kill you, then? I mean, you're lucky we wanted some answers from you first…"

"Agreed. Even so, I knew with how I brought you up, you'd show mercy to even your greatest of enemies… so much so, that I was rather shocked when I heard of Janga's passing…"

"Alright, for that one, he did convince me to let him go… he said that's what you would've wanted."

"Indeed, it was. …Was that how he poisoned your friend?"

"Right – he tried to poison me while my back was turned, but… but Klonoa must've saw it coming, as he shoved me down and took the blow himself.

"After that, any mercy I had left for the cat vanished, and…"

"And you shot to kill?"

I nodded.

"I see… is this true, Klonoa?"

We turned to him… only, he wasn't there anymore! Instead, his wind ring lied in his place.

My mane, still tucked under my bodysuit, started to act up…

"Damn it…" I muttered, picking up the ring and my helmet. "Can't believe I forgot about him… where did he run off to…?"

I stepped back out into the base's maze-like hallways, setting my suit's frequency to channel two using the wrist display – he still has his radio, right?

"Klonoa?" I spoke into the display's microphone. "Guntz here. Do you read me?"

"H-hold up!" Pops yelled, limping behind. "Why 'damn it'? Is it urgent that we find him? If so, I can lead you to the main surveillance room… see if one of the base's cameras got him…"

"Perfect." I responded, now letting Pops lead the way. "'Cause I don't wanna leave him alone with his mind the way it is…"

"How come?"

"I-it's just… in the Darkness… right before you woke up… did you feel anything peculiar?"

"W-well, just this… large burst of… of energy or something…"

"Right… that was Klonoa's lifelong friend, Lolo… she… she said she needed to send all of her dreams out to drive Nahatomb back… or we would've died doing the same…"

"Oh…" Pops said, his expression falling a bit. "So then she…"

I nodded again. "In Klonoa's arms, no less. And his… his mind's been pretty unstable ever since…"

"Is… is that why he wanted to fight me?"

"Pretty much…" I continued, my mane still tingling. "I tried to tell you before he cut me off, but… he wanted to confirm that Janga and his sworn allies were dead… afterwards, he said, he could rest easy knowing Lolo's death wasn't in vain…"

"Christ, I… if I'd known…"

A few more paces in, I spoke into my wrist display again: "Klonoa, this is Guntz. Can you hear me?"

"Trying his radio?" Pops asked. "Does he even have one with him?"

"He-he should – I remember I gave it to him back in Breezegale, so he could reach out to me if he needed anything. Then I told him to give it to Boris while we looked for you in Volk…"

"Boris?"

"Pango's son; he had it with him this morning and…"

My expression froze.

"…Guntz?"

"…Now that I think about it… he never gave Klonoa back that radio, did he?"

"Can't say; I'm pretty sure I already took off for the moon by then."

He stopped walking. "Ah, we're here…"

We headed into a room on our left – a sign near the doorway reading "SURVEILLANCE".

The room stretched out in front of us, the wall to our right lined with hundreds of numbered television monitors – each one displaying video from a different room or hallway in the base, and several areas inside the dome. Facing the wall were several computer terminals – Pops sat down at one of them.

"Alright," he said, "I'll look through the tapes, you check the live feeds. If you see Klonoa, let me know."

"On it." I replied.

While Pops browsed the terminal, I scanned each wall monitor closely, praying Klonoa was on one of them. Nothing so far… and my mane was still rustling…

"Just…" Pops began again, "just how is his mind, by the way…?"

"About the same as mine, back when I thought I lost you… that's part of why I let him fight alongside me these past few days… help him take his mind off his grief…"

"And did it help?"

"I don't know, but… I at least wanted to make sure it didn't get any worse…

"He's been blaming himself for not saving Lolo, and… well, I told him I wouldn't tell anyone aside from his friend, Popka, but… he's been thinking about… about joining her…"

"Shit… so that means… you've thought about joining me?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Not your fault; I'm the one who jumped the gun."

"God… still, I… I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner… was it Janga that stopped you?"

"It's fine… and yes; it was only thanks to him that I…"

My mane flared up a bit – if Klonoa's still looking for Janga, then…

"Wait…" I told Pops, "which monitor covers the base's entrance?"

"Let's see…" He typed something on the terminal. "Alright, it's 37 for inside the entrance, 38 for just outside."

I scanned the wall once over, setting the wind ring on Pops' terminal… monitor 37 didn't show anything useful, but…

There! On monitor 38! It was Janga, sprawled out on the ground face-up. Thankfully, he looks like he died a while ago – his fur and claws seem to have lost their color, and multiple, bloodied holes lined his chest… from my pistols, no doubt…

And Klonoa was sitting right next to him, deep in thought yet again.

"Found him!" I exclaimed, sighing in relief… though my mane hasn't calmed down yet… "Pops, what's the best route to the entrance?"

"Hold on…" He typed something else on the terminal. "Okay; turn left as you exit this room, head down to the end of the hallway, then turn right. It should be a straight shot from there."

"Got it." I approached the doorway, my helmet still under my arm. "Stay here and let me know if Klonoa goes anywhere; my suit radio's on channel two."

"On it."