Brandy's Bizarre Adventure

by Von Reivanon

Brandy the Bandit lives happily with her king Oticat, her best friend Dan the Knight, and the rest of her fellow troops. But when the dark machinations of an evil King and an evil Clan start to tumble into motion, her life is thrown into chaos. Rated T for intense action, peril, heavy themes, and slightly suggestive content. And yes, there are lots and lots of JoJokes.

17. Chapter 16

"Losing altitude!", Annabelle screamed, as the Balloon began to fall from the sky. She stumbled and fell to the floor, hitting her face on the hard wood. "We're going down fast!"

Dan looked out over the side of the Balloon, in utter horror. He could see Brandy falling far faster than the Balloon was, even now barely even able to be seen anymore. "Brandy!"

Leon looked out over the side as well, just barely able to keep himself from going invisible with all the panic. He screamed as loud as he could. "Mom!"

Bubble just stood there, in a sort of blind panic, not sure what to do. She started to scream as well, but it wasn't any words. The only thing that came out of her mouth was a high, wavering screech, composed of pure panic.

Trevor looked back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. His eyes settled on something lying against the side of the basket- and then lit up once he realized what it was. He grabbed it with a swift motion and tossed it to Dan- a very long, weighted at the end, rope.

"Dan!", he shouted, and Dan caught it one hand. Before Trevor even said "Toss this down!", Dan had already thrown one end over the edge, keeping the baseline wound tightly around his finger.

Song: Throwing

Brandy fell through the clouds at insane speed, feeling the intense wind whip through her hair and clothing. Her eyes strained against the impending force to stay open, trying to see the Balloon up above even as it slowly but surely faded into nothing. It was falling as well- if it hadn't been going the same direction as Brandy, it would have already vanished from her sight entirely.

As Brandy fell, she could feel the weightlessness hit her entire body at once. She twisted and spun around in midair, all the sights and colors blurring together into a single, dizzying, sickening mess. She tried to scream, to yell, to get some word out to anyone in the Ballon above, or perhaps even the ground below. But her words and her breath were stolen from her by the pressure and speed of the wind blasting around her, and they reached no one.

Shoot…, she thought. This isn't good. I need to figure out something to do fast.

On her next rotation around in the air, she chanced a look at the ground. She almost immediately wished she had not done so, as she was then able to see just how close it was getting. Taking in the distance and doing a few quick calculations in her head, Brandy could see that she only had perhaps a few minutes before she made impact with the ground. 1 at the very minimum, but 6 at the most. She could have gotten a better estimate, had the spinning and the burning eyes and sheer, mind numbing panic not been influencing her decisions. But despite the distance, she still had to act- that she knew for certain.

Then, far over her, she saw a glint of metal. She strained her eyes even more, trying to see what it was- until it came closer, at a speed it could have only achieved if it was thrown. She could hear a faint shouting sound from up above, that sounded almost like Dan. And if she forced her eyes to look as hard as she possibly could, she could see that the thing he had thrown appeared to be some sort of anchor, tied on what was most definitely a rope.

Brandy almost yelled in relief, but instead chose to start grabbing for it.

Her hands flew upwards, but she was still falling at a steadily increasing speed. The rope streaked towards her, the anchor shining with the light of the morning sun. She could sense instinctively that she wasn't going to make it- the rate of her falling was too fast for the anchor to catch up with her. Her mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation- and then she remembered something she could do. With a shout of triumph, she reached back, grabbed her cloak, and spread it open wide. A burst of wind hit the back of it, dramatically slowing down her fall, and allowing the anchor to come within reach of her. She let go of her cloak with one hand, reached out with it, and grabbed on to the anchor's metal side.

Dan gasped in relief, as he saw Brandy grab the anchor far down below, just barely beyond the point where she would vanish from his vision. Leon had managed to get the Balloon stabilized from the attack with his help, and Trevor was ready to at least try and help him pull the anchor back in. "Whew.", he said. "That was close, but we did it-"

But, of course, saying such words is well known to have a jynx effect. And of course, as soon as he said them, another blast from the Air Defense came flying upwards from the ground. Dan shouted in panic, and Brandy screamed, as the airborne rocket cleaved directly through the rope holding up the anchor and Brandy, sending a spray of sparks through the air and Brandy falling, once again, towards the ground.

"Dang it!", she yelled, her words trailing in the air, as she flipped and tumbled through the broken air. She could see the Balloon far up overhead, right before a cloud crossed in front, obscuring it from her vision. "Dang itttt!"

She looked down- she could see the ground getting closer and closer. Her face turned white, as she saw the jagged rocks and tan sand of the canyon below. If she landed on them, it would mean almost certain death. She may have gotten stronger on the journey, but not strong enough to survive a fall like that.

But even as she saw the canyon floor approach her, an idea came into her head. It may not have been a particularly good idea, or even a really half-good one. But it was an idea, and it was all she had. So she bunched up her fist, tensed her leg, took a deep breath, and began to charge up her Dash, right where it would most count.

Another blast from the Air Defense sliced right by her, and she almost lost her concentration. But she had been able to jerk herself aside a half second before it would have hit her, using the twisting winds and shifting currents to her advantage. Then she blinked in confusion, as she realized something. How would she have known to dodge, when she had no idea that the blast had even been coming in the first place? The question gave her temporary pause, only broken by the realization that the ground was, indeed, still coming closer. Brandy grit her teeth, pulled herself into a tighter curl, and braced herself for impact. Try as she might, she was going to hit the ground.

"Did we just lose her?", shouted Trevor, gripping the sides of the Balloon. "I don't see her anymore!"

"No!", Annabelle said, straining her eyes to see. "I can still see her! A little bit."

"Where is she?", Dan yelled, almost blasting out the eardrums of everybody on the Balloon. "Is she still in the air? The ground? Where is she?"

"She's still in the air.", said Annabelle, pointing down and squinting her eyes from the wind. "But she won't be for long- I think she's gonna hit the ground in just about 30 seconds or so."

Dan started to say something, but he was interrupted by Leon's shout. He turned to see what was going on- and saw Leon frantically pointing at the high slope of a grassy mountain.

"So are we!", he yelled, and grabbed Bubble from where she stood in the middle of the Balloon's basket, still screaming to herself. He threw himself and Bubble against the side of the basket, plugging her ears and putting a hand over her eyes. "Only I think we have less time!"

"Brace yourselves!", Dan shouted, grabbing Trevor and Annabelle and tossing them to Leon. His eyes watered with tears, but he couldn't focus on that right now. "We're about to make impact!"

Dan didn't even wait for Trevor and Annabelle to right themselves before grabbing on to the sides of the Balloon, digging in with all his limbs to provide a solid shield, and lighting up his arms and legs blue. He shot a burst of Rotation right into the Balloon's basket, sending it spinning around at steadily increasing speed. With any luck, it would decrease the shock caused by the impact with the cliff, and allow them all to recover faster.

"Get ready!", he shouted, and closed his eyes. "We're about to-"

And then, with a powerful thud, crash, scrape, and sound of tearing wood and shredding grass, the damaged Balloon crashed into the side of the high mountain. It skidded across the top, heading straight for the edge- but Dan was already on it. He slammed his hand into the dirt, digging his fingers straight into the rock itself. With a painful screech, the Balloon ground to a halt, unceremoniously dipping the basket over and sending them all spilling out.

"Brandy!", Dan yelled, picking up Annabelle and rushing to the side of the cliff. He held her outwards, and she looked down. "Annabelle, where is she? Do you see her?"

Annabelle looked down, her eyes straining to pick up any sign of Brandy. But even though her sight was strong, Brandy remained elusive. "No. Give me a few drops of that Power Potion."

"The Power…", Dan said, then looked up. "Oh! Right! The Power Potion!"

He let go of Annabelle with one hand, and dug into his pocket. He looked up, and snarled. "Brandy had it!"

"No!", shouted Bubble, and held it aloft. "I have it, here!"

"Good!", Dan yelled, and held out his hand. "Toss it here!"

Bubble tossed the Power Potion towards Dan's direction, and he grabbed it with one mighty hand. He held it out for Annabelle, who dipped her finger in a single drop on the end. She licked it off, and her eyes began to glow with a brilliant blue. She looked down again, and pointed.

"There!", she shouted, with hopeful words. "I see her! There!"

Brandy continued to fall, somehow picking up even more speed. Her eyes watered from the wind, and she felt herself grow light headed. If she kept falling like she was doing, she would certainly faint.

This…, she thought, her heart feeling like it was going to pound out of her chest, is not good.

She looked down again, and saw the canyon getting closer and closer. If she looked hard, she could see the river in the middle come into view, even seeing some assorted animals walking around amid the bushes and trees. She paled. "Not good at all."

She estimated that she couldn't have more than a thousand feet left before she made impact with the ground. If she didn't figure out something to do before then, she would be killed.

Twisting around, she tried to grab at her cloak- but the wind was too strong, and too harsh. She couldn't get a grip on it like she could before. She scrabbled at her cloak in desperation, trying beyond effort for a grab. It didn't matter that she couldn't latch on to it- she needed to. And she was going to keep on trying. But then her arm suddenly gave out, and her cloak got away from her again, soaring up above her and out of her reach. Her face reddened in frustration, and she almost screamed. But, fortunately, Brandy was able to stay at least slightly calm. She looked down again, and saw that the distance between her and death was now only about 500 feet.

Her mind raced, desperately attempting to find some way out of the situation. She couldn't parachute, there was nothing around to grab onto, nothing to stop her fall besides what was possibly very shallow water. Maybe if she moved herself as far to the right as she could- or, no, the left- no, the right-

Brandy scowled. It was impossible to tell which way the river actually was, with all the twisting and turning and falling she was doing. Brandy grit her teeth, seeing the ground approach- and then, like a miracle, she got an idea.

Brandy laughed, as it took hold in her mind. It had been so simple- why did she not think of it before? She had done this kind of stuff already- not in this exact situation, to be sure, but it was the basic principle that counted. So Brandy bent one leg, got in the right angle, gathered up as much Dash in her lower body as possible, took a deep breath, and prepared.

200 feet until impact. That is what she could see and calculate with lightning speed, as she looked down. She needed precise timing on this one, otherwise it would not work.

100 feet. This was it. It was now or never, then or not, jump or death. Brandy tensed, closed her eyes, opened them again, and-

She pushed off of the open air at an exact 90 degree angle, with such a staggering amount of force it created a shockwave that blew in all directions. A flat disk of pure energy spread vertically 30 feet above the ground, blowing back trees and slicing through the rock at the canyon's edge. The force of the falling had somehow been mitigated by the move, and Brandy went flying towards the canyon's edge with merely the impact of a swift 30 foot fall rather than a 3000 foot one. It hurt when she smacked against the hard rock, stayed there for a second, and then slowly slid off onto the ground, but it hadn't hurt enough to really cause damage. And that, of course, was the important part.

Brandy lay there for a second, just taking time to breathe. The pain rolled through her like an ocean wave, going up from her feet to her scalp, then going back down again. She let out a little cough, a spattering of blood falling onto the sand with it. As her vision ever so slowly unblurred, she saw her arm, still flickering a faint blue. She gasped in relief as she realized that she must have unconsciously activated her Dash shield, right as she had kicked. It hadn't lasted long in her panicking, exhausted state, but it was probably what had saved her from getting knocked out or maybe even killed upon impact with the solid granite wall.

"O...okay.", said Brandy, and tried to push herself to her feet. But her muscles had been almost destroyed by the colossal kick she had used to save herself with, and she could no longer stand. She instead just collapsed to the ground, causing a wince of pain.

"Dang it, dang it, dang it.", Brandy mumbled to herself, and sat down where she stood. She began to fish in her back pocket, searching for a Heal spell she had brought for the journey.

After frantically digging for a few seconds, she found the Heal, a few sticks of random, old gum, and a few dozen gold. She frantically destroyed the lid on the Heal, dumped it into her mouth, and drank almost the entire thing in just one gulp. She dragged her sleeve across her mouth and sighed deeply, the pain in her legs all but now gone.

"Okay, that's good.", said Brandy, and sighed in relief. She moved her ankles around, and felt her thighs. "I was kind of worried that I might have to go without them."

She looked up, and put her hand to her forehead. "I just hope everyone else is alright. It was kind of hard to see when I was falling."

Then, as Brandy gradually saw where she was, a black feeling of panic began to set in. She saw the rough sandstone walls, towering high above her. She saw the sharp angles of the walls, threatening to close in and crush her. All the shadows and textures of the area around her settled into her brain- reminding her of one terrifying fact- she was in a canyon.

Brandy felt her hands grab her face, not even controlling their actions. She backed up, her feet carrying her against the wall. What happened the last time she was in a canyon came flooding back into her mind all at once, and she heard a loud scream. It took a moment for her to realize that the scream was, in fact, her very own voice.

Far up above, Annabelle strained to see Brandy. She looked down, just barely able to see her as a dot on the surface of the ground. "I see her.", she said. "But-"

"But what?", Dan asked, his face turning red. "What is it? Is she alright?"

"She's…", said Annabelle, and waited. Then she saw the dot slightly move, and let out a breath. "Moving.", she finished, and Dan's face softened. "I can see her moving around down there… I think she just leaned against one of the walls."

"Well, that's good-", said Dan, then stopped. His mind clicked into gear, as he began to make the exact same realization that Brandy was making, far down below. "Oh no."

"What?", asked Leon, who took an extremely careful look over the edge. The thought came into his head to leap, but he ignored it. "What's wrong? Mom's safe, right?"

"She's in a canyon.", said Dan, and backed up. "Alone. Most likely injured."

"Okay.", said Leon. "Yes, that's bad. I can see-"

"No.", said Dan. "I'm not worried because of that. Well, I am. But-"

He stood up straight, and stared at the far horizon. "Brandy is petrified of both being alone and canyons. And now…"

He looked down, and his face turned a little bluer. "She's going through both."

Song: Danger Draws Near

"No…", Brandy mumbled, trying to push herself further into the sandstone wall. She grabbed tighter and tighter at her face, her knuckles and cheeks turning white from pressure. "No, nononono. This isn't happening again. This can't be happening again. This isn't happening again...because…"

She stopped for half a second, and looked out from between her fingers. "There's… no one… around."

The thought gave her some comfort, as it fully sank into her mind. She slowly stood up, and brushed herself off, still keeping a close eye out for anything that might appear. She had seen animals as she had dropped into the canyon, but they had most likely scattered when she had hit the ground. There was nothing around, save for the assorted plants of the area. A few tall trees, and a whole lot of bushes. There may have been things in them, but Brandy wasn't sure.

"Okay.", she said to herself, and began to pace. "The first thing to do...is…"

She looked up, and tried to figure out where everyone else was. She had not seen the Balloon crash, so she assumed that they all were still in the air. "Wait. I need to wait for them, and then they can come and get me. Yeah."

She stood there for a few seconds, pondering this plan, then went back into thought again. "No. No, that is a bad idea. I need to start walking. They'll find me easier that way."

Then she spun around on her heel, and looked into the river. A fish jumped, it's sparkling blue and gold scales caught perfectly in the midmorning sun. "No, they're not coming to get me anytime soon. The thing that was shooting at us probably took down the Balloon."

Before she had time to wonder where this thought had come from, a pure rush of fear overtook her entire body at the mere idea of everyone else being dead.

"Woah.", she said, and stumbled back. "I can't be thinking about that. I can't afford to be."

Her hand grabbed on to a branch, and she gripped it tight. The thin wood broke off in her hand, and she nervously held it in front of her. It felt reassuring to be holding some sort of weapon again, even if she didn't really need it all that much anymore.

"Hey!", she shouted down the canyon, figuring that if she was to run into something, it might as well be right then, and not later on, when she was unprepared. "Who's out there?"

She waited a few seconds, the sound echoing down the narrow canyon tunnel, but nothing came. The sound of her voice faded to silence, and nothing emerged.

"Hello?", she called again, louder this time. "Anyone around? I broke my leg, and now I can't get up! It would be great if someone were to come and help me, before something got me, because now I'm all helpless!"

This was, of course, a clever ploy. Such words might draw out more predators, allowing Brandy to fight them on relatively open ground instead of close quarters such as the bushes. But, to her mild surprise, nothing came out to attack her.

"Okay then, I guess not.", she said, and shrugged. "I can just-"

She only had time to take a single step, when she felt the sand start to shift under her feet.

Song: Burning Colosseum

Brandy grimaced, and jumped backwards, flipping over and skidding across the ground. It was fortunate that she did so, for a hole opened up right where she had been, revealing a massive crack in the ground. A deep rumble came from within, and Brandy held her stick in a downwards knife position, ready to strike and stab at a moment's notice.

"Foolish, insolent, heathen mortal!", came an incredibly deep voice from within, and scabbed golden arms began to stab at the entrance to the pit. "You dare disturb the long, quiet slumber of…"

The arms heaved and pulled as one, pushing up a colossal golden abomination. It seemed to be made of a single metal slab, with rust and sand falling off of it in equal amounts. A dozen or so long, spindly arms stuck outwards from its sides, grabbing at the edges of the pit and scraping at the sand. Two cold yellow eyes stared outwards from the topmost part of the shape, an evil light seeming to come from deep within. The entire appearance was topped off by a huge swarm of beetles that followed it out of the pit, clacking and clicking their jaws.

The ancient beast leaned forward, slamming its appendages onto the sand with a spray of dirt. A gaping, dripping wound of a mouth mysteriously opened, and spat cursed words.

"The Pharaoh?"

"Oh, shoot.", Brandy whispered to herself, taking in any information about this new threat she could see. The beetles seemed to be completely under his command, their movements orchestrated by a spinning leftish hand. The joints on his limbs seemed fragile- perhaps she could begin by going after and breaking those. The rest of the Pharaoh's body appeared very strong, from his solid metal construction to his bulging arms. There were no legs underneath, only his hands keeping him aloft. The pit seemed to have nothing in it, but perhaps Brandy could push him back in. "We- I, got another one."

She winced, as she realized that for the first time, she was going to be facing off against a Forgotten completely alone. She took a breath, steeled herself, and assumed a defensive stance. "Come on, pharaoh.", she said, and gestured with her hand. "Let's go."

"You dare address me so?", the Pharaoh bellowed, indignant. He reared up, all his hands skittering behind him. "You shall address me as Tekahatan! No, Lord Tekahatan!"

"How about I address you as…", Brandy began, then winked. "Mate?"

"M- mate?", Tekahatan roared, and his eyes somehow widened. "You would dare speak to me with an informal term of endearment?"

"Oh, you're right.", said Brandy, and pretended to think. "Tekahatan? More like- Tekafatan!"

Tekahatan gasped again, and Brandy laughed- but underneath her mocking actions was a strategy. The longer she kept him talking, the more time she had to figure out a weak point. And, she thought as she began to build up her Dash… The more time I have to attack.

"I've heard enough, wench.", Tekahatan growled, and raised one arm. The end of it fell off to reveal a sharpened, gleaming blade, dripping with a thick black liquid. "Pray to whatever god you worship, for you are about to meet them firsthand!"

"I already did.", said Brandy, remembering for a second the time she had met God. "It was wonderful. We talked, drank tea, shared secrets of the universe."

She crouched low, and her heels began to spark. "That sort of thing."

Then she sprung, swinging her stick around with the speed of helicopter blades. The Pharaoh barely had time to draw back, before Brandy's weapon collided head on with his face.

Of course, seeing as it was just a regular stick, and not the specialized, hardened superwood of the Arenas, it stood no chance against Tekahatan's metal sarcophagus. It cracked in half almost instantly, the initial shock behind the blow doing very little harm to the point of impact.

"Your attempts are truly foolish!", Tekahatan shouted, bringing up one arm to grab her. "Did you ever think that-"

But then Brandy grabbed the side of his sarcophagus, spun around, and jammed one foot directly into his eye. The Pharaoh stopped his boasts, started his screaming, and almost fell to the ground. One hand went to his eye, and two more went straight for Brandy.

Brandy ducked and rolled, spinning her way out of the Pharaoh's damaged vision. She slid down the side of his body, making sure to slash a mark in some symbol on the way. She wasn't sure if it was important, but she was counting on the off chance that it was.

The two hands impaled the sand next to her, throwing up two large plumes. She could still hear Tekahatan yelling in pain- until he suddenly stopped. An alarm bell flickered at the back of her brain, and she spun around to face him. There he stood, his eye undamaged and his mouth grinning. Brandy's own mouth went dry, as she realized what he might be about to do.

"You fool!", he shouted triumphantly, and brought up all his arms in front of her. "You think such a feeble strike could hurt me? I, Tekahatan the Pharaoh?"

"I was counting on it.", said Brandy, making sure to keep an eye on each and every one of his tentacles. "Because-"

Then she yelped, as another arm that had been hidden in the sand suddenly grabbed her by the back. It wrapped around her waist, and yanked her upwards into the waiting face of the Pharaoh before she could make any attempt to escape.

"It would be wise not to try and count on anything else.", said Tekahatan. "Look where it got you- in front of me, about to die. Just like the weak little mortal you are."

But even as he spoke, Brandy started to vibrate in his grasp. A low noise escaped her throat, and a bright blue light began to rise from her skin. The Pharaoh took a cautious look at her, not sure what he was to do now.

"What are you doing?", he asked, but Brandy didn't answer. "Stop that!", he said louder, but Brandy continued whatever it was. "I said stop it!", he bellowed. "Stop that at once-"

Then Brandy's Dash Eruption exploded, a burst of pure energy spilling out in all directions at once, right in Tekahatan's arm. He screamed, as he felt the limb explode into a dozen pieces, the charred armor and twisted flesh flying away.

Brandy landed on the ground at an angle, wiping her mouth free of the black liquid that the Pharaoh had spilt. Upon a slight accidental taste, she realized that it was pure Dark Elixir.

That was strange- even Dark Elixir troops didn't usually burst into it upon death. Perhaps he was such an evil soul that the rules were different for him. Or maybe, it was not Dark Elixir at all. Perhaps, it was something else. Some strange substance, that she should definitely not have licked. She spat any trace of it by her side, concentrated some Dash in her left fist, and took another stance. If she could use her Swipe right through his head, it would be over.

"Why, you're better than I thought!", she saw the Pharaoh exclaim, as the dust cleared away. He took a creaking turn towards her, shaking out his remaining limbs. "But that doesn't mean that my Beetles can't make short work of you!"

He gestured downwards in a decisive swipe, and the immense hordes of beetles turned as one to face Brandy. "All Beetles! Charge and feed!"

Brandy grimaced, as the huge swarm of insects all rushed her at once. She tried to think of what to do- but it was hard to concentrate with the noise of rushing feet and chattering mouthparts.

So she just kept on flipping backwards, towards the river, Tekahatan laughing maniacally at her plight.

"Run, little mortal!", he shouted, and spun around his limbs. "Just try and run away from my Beetles… for as long as you dare!"

Brandy Dashed backwards through a bush, but the Beetles continued their pursuit. They scoured the bush to bare sticks in a second, not even slowing down. Brandy grimaced, and looked backwards. The wall was coming up soon, just past the river.

"You may be fast, but you're not faster than them!", Tekahatan shouted, almost buzzing with anticipation. He could feel whatever his Beetles felt- including the satisfaction of a kill. "There's nowhere to escape, nowhere to run, nowhere to-"

His last words of the sentence were cut off, as he watched Brandy jump across the river. The Beetles, single minded in their pursuit, tried to rush over the water, failed, and were carried away downstream by the swift currents, vanishing around a bend.

Tekahatan stared at the spot where his swarm had fallen, in total shock. One arm twitched a bit, and his eyes shook. His mouth dropped, dried up a bit, and took on a bit of a more normal appearance. He stared at Brandy, who just looked down at the river, looked back up, and shrugged. Then she tapped her leg with her foot, an insultive gesture.

"You…", Tekahatan fumed, and began to rise up as high as he could lift himself. "You think this is funny, mortal?"

Brandy shrugged again, and began picking out the best spot on the hillside to make a path upwards, in case she needed to climb. "Honestly? Yes. Yes I do."

"Well then…", Tekahatan growled, and raised his arms. They began a sinister spin in their sockets, and a low whine began to build. "How funny do you find this?"

The wind generated by the Pharaoh's spinning arms began to pick up in speed and scope, blowing the sand around him. It started at first in only minute amounts, but soon became larger and stronger as the wind picked up. As Brandy watched in growing concern, the particles of sand became rushes, and the rushes became blasts- and then with one enormous grunt of effort from Tekahatan, the sand and the wind combined in order to form a gigantic-

"Sandstorm!", the Pharaoh bellowed, sheer triumph in his voice. As Brandy watched, she could see the way the various symbols around the edge of his sarcophagus lit up in a sequence, slowly approaching the center of his collar. It seemed that one or two were lighting up every few seconds, but there were still dozens more to go. "This is my ultimate strategy. The wind generated by the movement of my arms produces a shredding wind, which picks up sand as it goes! Your mortal body will be torn to bits upon mere contact!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know.", said Brandy, looking with renewed vigor for a way out. "It's your ultimate technique or whatever, blah blah blah. Can I go now?"

"Wha-", Tekahatan said, then growled. He pushed forward on his two upright legs, the destroying spiral of wind and sand lurching forward with him. "Of course you can go!"

"Wait, really-", Brandy began, then she realized what it was that he actually meant.

"Go to death!", yelled Tekahatan, and jumped directly at Brandy. She yelped and Dashed to the right, narrowly dodging as the sandstorm collided directly with the spot that she had just barely been. The cone dug deep into the rock, scraping away entire feet of it at a time, until it had eaten away a hole as large as Brandy was.

"Now do you see it?", Tekahatan boasted, and clenched his teeth in triumph. He couldn't clench his fist, so he had just decided to do the second best thing. "The true strength of my sandstorm? Even the stone is fragile before it!"

He stood there for a second, before he realized that Brandy was not going to respond. The reason for this, of course, is that Brandy had leapt out of harm's way, and was currently running as fast as she could down the canyon, already beginning to go out of Tekahatan's sight.

"Come back here, little mortal!", he roared, his mouth again beginning to drip with dark fluids. "Don't you dare think that you've escaped!"

Brandy ran down the canyon as fast as she could, attempting to fight off memories. This all looked the same. Her enemy was saying almost the same things. She could feel the concentration slipping out of her, threatening to send her mind back to the past.

"Dang it…", she mumbled, simultaneously massaging her forehead while trying to look behind herself to see the Pharaoh's location. She slammed her face right into her elbow while attempting to do so, and she deeply scowled. "I can't get distracted like this. I have to-"

She yelped, as she realized she had stopped moving for a second. That second was all that Tekahaten needed in order to take a swipe at her, missing by mere microseconds. She leapt backwards and flipped around a tree, skidding behind herself deep into the sand.

"It's over, fool!", Tekahatan shouted, spreading his arms open wide. The sandstorm widened with him, then began to shrink as he closed in. Brandy turned to run again- but she only now saw that she had forced herself into a dead end. Behind her was the Pharaoh, his destructive sandstorm still going, and in front of her was thousands of tons of solid rock. She was trapped.

"You've had your fun-", said Tekahatan, and lowered his arms with intent to kill. "Now perish!"

He lunged forward, about to finish Brandy off, when Brandy realized something. The glowing status of the symbols had finally reached the middle of his collar, where Brandy had slashed out a symbol. Perhaps if the charge hit the center of it, where there was now little more than a sparkling, sparking mess, something could happen.

And then, as the charge finally reached it, something did. As soon as the magic that was seemingly controlling the sandstorm hit the shattered part of the symbols, Tekahatan howled in immense pain. He watched silently, in total shock, as the sandstorm he had summoned slowly dissolved, into a mere gust of wind and a few columns of loose sand. As he fell forward, he only hit the stone wall where Brandy had been moments earlier with his face, the rest of him carried behind and crunching up behind. And as he did so, the blue light that had powered the sandstorm carried up his entire body, splitting his sarcophagus apart at the seams. Brandy, who had taken the prime opportunity to duck and slide underneath him, watched in a mix of horror and fascination as the bulky metal frame of the Pharoah's sarchophogus splitting open to reveal a very old, badly dressed, very thin man that landed on the ground amongst the wreckage of the metal suit with a satisfying thump. He made no noise, other than an uncomfortable-sounding groan of pain.

"You…", he spat, and shakily attempted to rise. But his arms gave out from under him, and he once again collapsed to the ground. He spat out a ragged cough, a spatter of blood coming with it. His ribs dragged along the ground as he tried to crawl towards Brandy, his paper thin skin beginning to tear. "You actually broke my sarcophagus…"

"Oh, that was just something on you?", Brandy asked, and took a step forward. She slowly brought up her hand in front of her face for the final strike, filling it with pure Dash energy. "And here I was, thinking it was part of your body."

"No, no.", said Tekahatan, and coughed again. He carefully positioned a single finger into place, aiming it directly at Brandy's head. "I suppose that you could call it my coffin."

Brandy took a few more steps towards the Pharaoh, the sparkle in her hand growing. "A coffin. Aren't those usually used for dead kings? Although…"

She reached him, and placed one foot on his hand so he couldn't slip away. She placed her hand over his neck, and brought her hand upwards to finish him off. "You'll be dead soon."

"No…", said Tekahatan, and his finger started to glow. "Just you."

Brandy's eyes widened, and she yanked her head to the side a microsecond before he fired a thin red laser. It pierced directly through the middle of her ear and continued onwards, drilling a deep hole into the rocky cliff behind.

"Oh, you little-", Brandy yelped, and slashed as hard as she could. There was a miniature sonic boom from the impact point, as the Pharaoh's neck was annihilated by her Dash swipe. His head toppled from empty space and rolled across the ground, coming to a rest by Brandy's feet. It took a few seconds for his head to dissolve, then his skull, then the rest of his body fell into a pile of purple muck so dark the casual observer would mistake it for black. Only his headdress had been left behind, the burnished metal dented and ripped. A single beetle ran by, up the cliff.

Brandy, meanwhile, was on the ground, one knee brought up near her face, holding her ear with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding. Her ears were one of the most sensitive zones on her body, and having one of them be shot by a laser felt far worse than it would have for a non-Bandit. She couldn't stop small tears from flowing and her face heating up, as she squeezed them in order to try and apply pressure. She looked around for anything that she could use as a bandage, but the only thing she could see was her own tunic.

Brandy looked around- there was no one. The canyon was quiet now, with the Pharaoh's defeat. So Brandy grabbed the edge of her tunic, grimaced, and ripped a small portion off. It wasn't much, barely enough to cover her ear, but she hated to do it all the same. A quick wind around later, and her ear puncture had been covered, the bleeding stopped. It still hurt.

"Okay, now let's see where we are.", she said to herself, and looked up. She could see that the sun was still not at the apex of noon, the morning still having lots of time left. "And, more importantly, where they are."

She strained her eyes to try and see where they were, but she still could not see them. This, of course, was because they were currently trying to get down the side of a cliff far above, facing away from her, but she didn't know that. All she knew was that for the near future, it appeared she would have to keep on handling things all on her own.

"Or not.", she said, and decided to keep walking. She kept a careful eye out for anything ahead as she walked down the trail, her vision swiveling from one side of the canyon to the other. She thought she could perhaps rest a bit before running into what inevitable monster awaited her next- but of course, no such thing happened. What did happen was that she suddenly felt a thick vine wrap around her foot, and attempt to hoist her into the air.

"Oh, are you serious?", she shouted, and Dashed backwards out of it's grip. The action left burn marks on the plant's side, and it retreated with a loud screech. Brandy spun around, trying to see what else was coming- and saw a dozen more tendrils just like it, all in position to grab her.

"Shoot…", she mumbled, and felt her breathing go shallow. She had been in a situation like this before, she remembered from the back of her mind. It hadn't been very fun.

Song: Overdrive

"I'll allow you to give up.", said a smooth voice, from somewhere in the bushes. Brandy took a quick look without taking her eyes off of the vines, and saw a strange figure. She appeared to be a Witch, but her hood had been replaced with a hood of plants. Her eyes were cream yellow, her skin the color of grass. She sat on a throne of vines, and dozens of pods and tendrils floated around her. A pair of open pitcher plants sat by her, and she took a tall drink from one. "And no harm will come to you."

"Yeah, uh…", Brandy said, and took another look. The tendrils seemed to be shrinking back, retreating into the ground. "Who are you?"

The figure smiled, and folded her arms on her lap. "Why, my name is Emmara. I'm known as the Plant Witch. And you look like someone fun to talk to."

"You want to…", Brandy said, not taking her eye off of the tendrils still. "Talk to me?"

Emmara shrugged, and frowned, her eyes looking in different directions. "Yes. It gets ever so dreary out here, with just me and my plants all day. No one to talk to. Now, don't get me wrong- they are my babies. But they just don't make good conversation partners at all…"

"I see.", said Brandy, trying to keep the conversation going. She could use the same strategy that she did last time, with the Pharaoh. That had worked well. "So you just want someone to talk to, is that it? Because you're lonely out here?"

Emmara frowned, and looked down her nose at Brandy, in what almost seemed like disgust. "Well, yes. That is exactly what I just said. Were you not paying attention?"

"No, I was.", said Brandy, feeling the sparks of Dash start to build up within her entire body. She just needed a little more time, and then she could have enough energy to bring the Plant Witch down in one shot. "I was just making sure you were paying attention."

"Hm.", said Emmara, and slowly brought up her hand. One thumb was brought upwards, and she made a gesture with her free hand. "I did say I wanted to talk to you but…"

She shrugged, and made a clicking noise with her tongue. "You haven't been as fun to talk to as I had expected. So at this point-"

She switched her thumb from facing upwards to downwards, and the toothy tendrils that had seemed to retreat into the ground suddenly sprang back upwards. Several of the ones around her lunged forward, about to move in for the kill.

Brandy grunted, and flipped back. She instantly struck one arm out to the side, an attacking tendril disappearing in a flash of blue and silver light. She could hear a startled cry from the Plant Witch, but she chose of course to ignore it. Such things could wait for later.

Another tendril tried to attack Brandy from behind, but a sudden elbow from behind slashed a deep gash in its side. It screamed in a gutteral screech, and fell to the ground dead. Brandy wiped a spray of green liquid from her cheek, grit her teeth, and continued to fight.

Emmara let out an indignant cry, as she saw Brandy transform another one of her vines into a pile of green muck and goop with a single blow, splattering it across both of the canyon's walls.

Another large, toothy plant maw rose into the sky and dove directly at Brandy, but she had seen it coming. She dived out of the way, and the front of the jaws impacted directly on the ground with a sickening thump. It shook itself, bleeding and bruised from the impact, and looked up- only to see Brandy plant her foot directly through its head, coming out on the other side.

But even as she did so, it took a few seconds for her to yank her foot out of the rapidly melting head. Already, she could see the heads that she had destroyed dissolving from green muck to purple Elixir, and from there melting into the ground. And as she yanked, she wasn't prepared for another vine to come up from behind her, grab her around the legs, and hoist her high into the air.

She yelped as she found herself suddenly rising, feeling her legs get locked together by the powerful grip of the vine. The Plant Witch gave a yell of triumph, as she looked upwards.

"Ha!", she shouted. "I caught you! Now what are you gonna do? You gonna cry?"

Brandy looked down at her in mild confusion. "No- what? Why would I do that?"

"Cry, cry-", the Plant Witch said, and gestured to her pitcher plants. One of them grew in size, and maneuvered itself directly under where Brandy was. Its top opened up, to reveal a spitting, bubbling liquid. It had somehow switched from "Drink Mode" to "Kill Mode" without Brandy noticing. That was annoying. "When you're about to die!"

She cackled, and snapped her fingers. A thick material suddenly spat out from the vine that was holding Brandy, covering her legs and arms in a green semi-solid that dried almost instantly. She instinctively strained against it- but the stubborn material refused to break. Brandy paled, as she realized her usual strategy of Dashing away midair wasn't going to work this time. And as the vine let her go, falling straight for the pitcher plant, she realized she had absolutely no idea how she was going to get out of this one alive.

Song: Figlia

But as she fell, for whatever reason, time seemed to slow down. Her senses suddenly kicked into overdrive, and she became acutely aware of everything around her. She could see a single fly float by, almost seeming to be suspended in thin air. And as she saw herself fall, into the acid of the pitcher plant, coated in hard resin, she realized that she knew exactly what to do.

"Dorra!", she yelled at the top of her lungs, and felt a strange power well up from somewhere deep inside of her. Cracks began to appear in the resin coating her, and she grinned. This new power felt not like her regular blue energy, not even the purple of Rage. It felt… silver.

With one more burst of pure strength, the resin coating snapped. It flew in all directions, cutting through the vine that had held her and splashing into the pitcher plant, tipping it over and onto the ground. Time's sudden slowness then reversed, and she found herself falling once again in normal speed. With a mighty roar that seemed larger than herself, Brandy hit the ground in a mighty blow that blew the dirt into the air, and all over the shocked throne of the Plant Witch.

"What?", she shouted, holding up her hands. A dozen more tendrils rose over her, their snapping jaws and drooling mouths ready to attack. "What was that?"

She stared at Brandy in utter shock, just barely able to see the faint lines of energy that came off of her body, surrounding her in droves. "What are you?"

"What am I?", Brandy asked, and rolled her arm in it's socket. "Well, I'm a Bandit. But I'm more than that."

She took a step forward, and felt the sudden power flow through her veins like hot magma. She cracked her knuckles, and blew her bangs out of her face. "I'm a fighter. And a mother. And someone who is starting to get royally pissed off at this whole business with you forgotten, and all the interruptions we keep on having, and all you Forgotten!"

Her face turned angry, and she leapt forward, her fist outstretched. "Now go away!"

Emmara grimaced, and let her throne fall. She collapsed into the ground, sliding all the way into the dirt as Brandy passed overhead in a rush of energy. Brandy skidded to a stop as she slid on the other end of her rush, looking around for where the Plant Witch could have gone. But there was now suddenly nothing, but a patch of deeply stirred dirt where she had been mere moments before.

"I didn't really finish what I had planned on saying before, you know.", came her voice, echoing from the very ground. Brandy looked down and stomped as hard as she could, but it had little effect on wherever the Plant Witch was now. "About me wanting to talk to you and all."

"Oh, yeah?", Brandy asked, slowly bringing up her fist. A burst of Dash energy ,and it became a sheer destructive force. "What about it?"

"See, I said it would be more fun to talk to you but….", came Emmara's voice, and the ground began to shake. Brandy jumped back, but a ring of breaking dirt came in all directions around her. Several dozens of tentacles burst forth from the ground, one slowly rising to reveal Emmara, back on her throne. She spread her palms, and laughed. "It'd be more fun to eat you."

On another silent command, the tentacles rushed downwards and forwards, single minded in their quest and devotion to get Brandy. But Brandy just drew back her fist, and it lit up blue with a glorious light. Her eyes narrowed, and she tensed her muscles.

"Dorra!", she yelled, launching a Dash-infused punch as hard as she could right against the side of one of the tendrils. It exploded in a mixture of tough skin and chlorophyll, splattering all over Brandy. But she did not care- there were other problems that had to be attended to.

Emmara shrieked as she felt the tendrils die off- each one was telepathically linked to her- she could feel all the pain they were feeling, and the other way around. It was helpful at some times, but for now, it was practically a cursed ability.

"DOraoraoraoraora!", Brandy yelled, and drove her fists deep into another tendril. Its jaw snapped in half, and It screamed in pain as it was driven back. Then Brandy took a moment, concentrated ,and shouted, as loud and as long as she had ever done so.

The remaining plants rushing at her still remained, but they now seemed weak compared to what it was that Brandy had already been through. Another lightning-fast strike from the elbow, and the head fell like a crushed rock. It smacked against the ground, and lay perfectly still.

"Hmm, it's just like the Hydra." said Brandy and grit her teeth. "That's annoying."

Emmara yelled in anger as she saw the carefully built, expertly crafted head of her plant disappear like a wiped eraser mark. She looked around for anything she could use- when something caught her eye, from across the small hiking path. She leaned over, grabbed the rock, and got ready to fight.

As the heads fell upon her, they started twisting. One wound around another as they dissolved into one gigantic super head, its quintuple lines of plant-based teeth devouring something with a bizarre fury. As the head came closer, Brandy sensed that it was time to jump- and jump she did. She carried herself a full 13 feet off the ground, turning around in midair and landing on the other side with a twist. The superhead, meanwhile, smashed into the hard riverbank with a tremendous thud, almost knocking Brandy off her feet. It looked up, shook itself, and spat out a chunk of dirt, Brandy not noticing until late how it was looking directly behind her. Brandy looked up, and saw two things. One was a strange looking moose, walking around in a daze-induced stupor. The other was all the other heads rushing down at her simultaneously, attempting to cover all possible means of escape. Brandy shouted, and sprung to her feet. She bounced off of the cactus below, then the side of the behemoth, then landed perfectly on top of one of the heads. She stood there for a moment, then planted her foot as hard as it could go straight through the jaw, plunging out straight below. The head groaned in pain, and fell forward as Brandy leaped out of it and into a nearby tree.

"Stop!", Emmara suddenly yelled, and Brandy turned to look in shock. So did, for some reason, many of the heads. And they all saw Emmara standing there, tears running down her face, one hand outstretched. "Please… don't hurt them."

Brandy let her hand fall, and stared at Emmara with suspicion. "Why not? You tried to kill me with them."

Emmara took a step forward, as if wanting peace. "I know but- they're my babies. Like I said. And it breaks my heart to see you hurt them."

Brandy was a little taken aback by that, but she had to admit that she understood. She sighed, looked up, decided not to stick out her hand, and instead gave a polite nod. "I see."

She stared the Plant Witch down, still making sure not to take her eyes off of her. She was still an enemy, no matter how sympathetic she might have seemed. "But only if you stop attacking me. Then, and only then, will we have a deal."

"Yes, yes, anything.", said Emmara with a bow, and slowly retreated. She almost stumbled over one of her vines, before it picked her up and hastily put her in the chair. "I understand."

"Good.", said Brandy, and turned around. She made sure to cast one last look at Emmara, full of such power and threats of vengeance it would put a roaring fire to shame. "And if you don't…"

She curled her arm, and a spat of blue fire flickered around her bicep. "I'll kill you."

Emmara stared for a second, before taking another bow and walking backwards. "Yes. I will not bother you from here on out. Thank you for not destroying my children."

"It seems a bit weird to call them that but…", Brandy said, and turned around. She started walking, towards the cliffs. There seemed to be a long chain of stairs that would take her out of the canyon, and towards where hopefully the rest of the group was waiting. It had only been a few minutes since she had been separated from them, but it felt longer. "You do you, I guess."

She kept on hearing the sounds of the Plant Witch grow fainter and fainter behind her, as she hopped up the slopes. A faint thought kept ringing in the back of her mind, but she only devoted some part of her brain to getting ahold of it, and the rest to watching where she was going.

Perhaps she should not have done so, but Brandy stopped in her tracks, looked up, and took the time to admire the sheer beauty of the area. The canyon was huge, nearly a thousand feet deep into the ground. The river at the very bottom, the river that still held the Pharaoh's bug swarm somewhere- or at least Brandy thought, they could have died with him- was a sparkling crystal blue. Brandy thought it looked like her eyes. Or Dan's, they too were bright azure.

The plants surrounding the path on which she walked were quite beautiful, now that she got to see them. The leaves were the color of bright Gems, the flowers shining like pure Gold.

Brandy looked down at herself, seeing how her heavily standardized uniform contrasted so sharply with the utter wilds in which she now found herself. If she took a moment to just stare at it, she could almost forget that she was…

She blinked. Where had she been going with that? Forget that she was… what? In the Continent of the Clans? Where then would she be? That was a normal place to be- it was the largest continent. But yet, something itched at her brain, the thought of a "normal" place- if that even made any sense. All the continents and areas of the world were "normal", in their own ways. But a thought kept coming into her head, one of a world without standardization, one without Troops or Brawlers or anything else- of just people.

She shook her head, trying to clear the thought. It didn't make any sense, and the sheer idea of it gave her a headache. What were "normal people" anyway? She was a normal person- well, no. She was a Bandit. A legendary. And an exceptional Bandit at that. But others were normal- Barbarians were normal. Archers were normal. She thought of a Villager- what was more normal than that? But even as she fought to clear her head of such thoughts, they still persisted.

Song: I'm in Control

Brandy coughed to try and reset her attention, and looked up. The sky was still overhead, in the middle of the morning position. It had only been not even half an hour since they had set out from the Village. She tried to think of that fact, something homeful to hold on to.

The birds wheeling overhead gave her another distraction. She looked up, and saw them, the little green and blue puffballs screaming to each other about nothing in particular. She smiled, the delightful patterns upon their feathers clearly visible. One of them landed on a nest on the side of a rock, still squawking up a storm, and threw a stick as hard as it could. It flew past the other birds and hit the rock on the other side of the canyon, sticking deep in and hanging there.

She saw a trio of Minions fly by, take a glance at the birds and behind Brandy, and then continue flying, upwards towards the cliff. That too gave her rest- there were Minions out here. That was familiar, something to hold on to. "What were they looking at?", she wondered. "Behind me…"

Brandy started to turn around- then something popped into her head. That was what the alarm bell sensation had been ringing about. When Emmara had said that Brandy was killing her vines, that was true. But only then did Brandy realize that all Witches could raise the same batch of spawned Troops, them never truly dying, always able to come back.

And it was that thought that inspired Brandy to spin around, one arm raised, barely blocking the surprise blow of the Plant Witch.

"Why, I'm quite surprised.", the Plant Witch growled, and stared directly into Brandy's eyes. "You somehow figured out how to anticipate my attack."

"Oh, it was easy.", Brandy grunted, and pushed back. "I just smelled you coming."

Emmara snarled, and pushed harder. Brandy was pushed back a bit, further towards the edge of the cliff. She could see that Emmara had dozens upon dozens of plants helping her push- Brandy couldn't hope to outmuscle them all. Not unless she was able to summon up the Rage that had helped her defeat the mighty Serpent with a single blow.

"You smelled me, eh?", Emmara spat, and directed the plants to push even more. "I guess that death is quite the distinctive aroma!"

"Oh, shut up!", Brandy yelled, thinking quickly. She could not hope to stop all the plants from pushing her into the water down below if she just pushed back linearly. But perhaps, if she could use their strength against them- then something might happen.

Emmara pushed harder, and Brandy strained as hard as she could. Emmara's eyes lit up at Brandy's struggling, and she laughed. "Go ahead, squirm! Tell me when you start getting tire-"

Then she stopped, as Brandy executed her plan. She shouted, shifted her weight, spun around to one side, and let go of the plant she was pushing on. Suddenly free of all resistance, Emmara and the plants flew forward, over the cliff, screaming as they did so. They scrambled for purchase upon the rocky soil, but it crumbled under their weight. Brandy watched as they fell towards the canyon floor- until a vine suddenly wrapped around her ankle, and pulled her to fall as well.

They both fell through the air for a few brief moments, both of them screaming at each other. Emmara out of indignancy and anger, Brandy out of just rage. But once the two of them hit the bottom, their shouts were silenced by the immense splash. The weight of the plants was immense, and it created a blast of water that spread all the way to the canyon's walls.

Brandy stood up, and snarled. She took an offensive stance, prepared to kill the Plant Witch. Not only because she was an enemy, but because she had made Brandy think that she could be trusted. She didn't even wait for Emmara to rise before charging forward, Dashing at once and skimming along the surface of the river.

Emmara tried to rise to her feet, but it was slow and hard going with the veritable forest of vines wrapped around her body. She saw Brandy coming towards her, and tried to block the impact- but Brandy, to her surprise, simply tapped lightly on Emmara's head, and flew onto the riverbank.

For Brandy had seen what was coming, from the other end. Emmara had landed in the wrong place to see, and so she had no way to know that the wave of the Pharoah's bugs, still hungry and ready to attack anything, was bearing down on her.

Emmara finally hoisted herself to her feet, mere moments before the hungry horde hit her dead-on. She took a deep breath, looked downriver, and screamed. She motioned to her plants to create a shield, and they as one spewed forth a pile of hard resin that covered Emmara, just as the beetle swarm hit her dead on. They carried the resin cocoon deep downstream in mere seconds, vanishing around a corner and out of sight, carrying the formidable Plant Witch to an uncertain doom.

Brandy heaved a sigh of relief, and turned towards the cliff. She could actually climb it now, with the Plant Witch finally being dead. Hopefully she was the last enemy Brandy would encounter on her way out. If any more popped up, Brandy would be more than annoyed.

Placing one foot on the path, Brandy started the long walk up the canyonside. She could see the red rock underneath her feet, almost as red as the clothes worn by Red troops. Brandy chuckled to herself a bit, reflecting on how that whole idea seemed kind of alien out here.

Then she stopped, as she remembered what it was that she had to do. She was still separated from the group, regardless of her two recent victories. And the best course of action to take right now would be to get as high as possible, so they would be able to spot her easier.

Pressing her foot against the rock, Brandy shot upwards with her Dash, alighting on a higher switchback along the trail. The rock crumbled underneath her feet, falling down to the canyon below. Brandy sucked in a breath and took a few hurried steps, getting away from the edge and onto solid ground. She looked up, trying to judge how long it would be before she reached the top. It was a bit hard to see that high, but she managed to get a number, dizzying as it was.

"Looks like there are…", she said to herself, and frowned. "About 380."

She steeled herself, crouched, and prepared to jump upwards. "Well, come on legs.", she said. "We better start now."

Song: Imminence

Brandy jumped again onto the next switchback, not noticing where she had stepped. Her foot crushed a hollow in the sand upon impact, disturbing the rest of a very large black scorpion.

Brandy barely even saw it coming, flying towards her face with lightning speed, before she struck with her palm and hit the scorpion dead on, splattering it into bits and sending the pieces flying. But the tail kept on going, slashing across her skin and opening up a nasty cut.

Brandy hissed, and shot her hand into her tunic. She quickly bunched up the fabric around her cut hand, and doubled over onto the ground. She sat up and took a quick peek at the cut, and winced as she saw the size of it. "Aw, shoot. That was dumb."

She looked around for anything that would help with the bleeding, perhaps a plant. But there was nothing, only a few random weeds and the ever present grass. Brandy took another look at the cut, hoping it wouldn't get infected- then something popped into her mind. She thought about it for a moment, then almost laughed as she realized it.

"Oh, right.", she said to herself, and fished into her pocket with her non-cut hand. "I still do have that travel-size Heal."

She found the bottle, which was now about half full. Popping the lid open with her teeth and pouring it onto the wound, the pain subsided almost instantly. Brandy watched in relief as the cut slowly grew smaller and smaller, becoming a thin scar just before fading. Or it would have, had the small bottle not run out just before finishing the healing all the way. Now the wound was no longer open or bleeding, but there was a thin white scar on top of her hand. Brandy really hoped there was no venom that had been left inside- you needed a special kind of heal for that.

Brandy stood up, crouched, and continued the jump without words. There was no one to talk to, out in this distant canyon. That thought gave her the motivation to continue, knowing that once she reached the top, she would be able to be reunited with her family that much quicker.

Bouncing from one switchback to another, she was gradually able to settle into a sort of rhythm.

It was really just a matter of jump, move forward, hop a little, jump again, move forward, and then keep on jumping, making adjustments as needed. And as her body settled into the rhythm, Brandy once again took a moment to admire the lush, beautiful landscape that surrounded her.

On the other side of the canyon, she could see deer passing by. They appeared to be very large, but that could have just been the way she was seeing them. Then again, they could actually be very large deer- the way things worked out here seemed to be a little odd compared to what Brandy was used to. And once a vulture flew over Brandy's head, all the way across the canyon, and landed on one the deer's horns, it became very clear that they were, in fact, Giant deer. Brandy whistled in awe, and kept on bouncing. "That's cool."

Up ahead, on her own side of the canyon, Brandy saw a family of what appeared to be mountain goats. She had no idea what kind they were- Dan usually knew stuff like that. He had been getting quite into animals and wildlife lately, in addition to his usual hobbies of comforting, eating, training, and making less than desirable things disappear. The thought of Dan once again gave Brandy a boost of focus, and she kept on climbing the way she could, bouncing from one layer of the vast canyon to another.

She quickly passed the group of mountain goats, leaving them far below as she sprang in mere seconds from one spot to the next. Upon closer inspection, she could see that they were actually Blue's mountain goat, a bit rare type of goat that only appeared on mountains where something big had happened. Brandy chose not to give that much thought, and so continued her journey upwards.

Within just a few minutes, Brandy could see the top of the canyon at last come into view. She rolled her eyes at how annoyingly long it had taken, and put all the energy she had into one final push. As she soured upwards, rocketing through the air and blowing away dust, she saw an incredibly surprised bird scream at her pass. Brandy realized that she did not know what type of bird that actually was- she would have to ask Dan once she found him. She could ask him a lot of wilderness questions, like what were the birds she had seen earlier, or what she could have put on her cut, or what-

Brandy realized that the edge to the canyon's cliff had suddenly appeared right in front of her. She lashed out with an arm and grabbed the side of the cliff, making sure not to break it and her grip off. With a grunt of slight effort, she swung herself up and over the side, in a crouch, ready for anything. Except, perhaps, what she saw in front of her.

Song: Kid Buu

Standing in front of Brandy, about 20 feet back from the edge of the cliff, stood what looked like some bizarre form of robot. It stood at a hunched angle, leering directly at Brandy with soulless, mechanical eyes and an upturned, dagger-toothed mouth. Its two arms ended in sharp blades that it swung back and forth, seemingly at random. A pair of legs at its very bottom both ended in thin wheels, the robotic beast sliding back and forth. 8 rubbery hoses swung and shook around its back, a faint windy current coming from within the half on the right and a faint windy push from the half on the left. Spikes grew from within each pair of tubes, glistening from both Elixir and blood. As if to top off the look, the head of the robot was adorned with a jester's cap, the bells softly swaying in the wind.

"What…", Brandy asked, and tensed. She instantly jumped to one side as soon as she could, expecting this new enemy to dodge- but instead, it just stood there. It seemed only content to watch her, as odd as that was. "What are you?"

The strange being looked at her for a few seconds. Then it took a stock of rubber balls out of its seemingly endless pockets, messed with them a few times, threw back its head, and began to laugh. This was no ordinary laughter- no, this was the laughter of a truly insane individual.

"What am I?", he asked, and let the rubber balls fall. They fell onto his outstretched hand, every single one, and he laughed to himself. "Why, I am the Jester Bot 2.0! Much cheaper than the original, but also much more dangerous."

He threw back his head and laughed, most likely waiting for somebody to join in. But no one did, and he stood there for a second in anger.

"That was funny.", he spat at Brandy. "You… are supposed… to laugh!"

"Was it?", Brandy asked, as she looked across the Jesterbot's body for any weak points. There was a spot in the middle of its chest that seemed rather thin, perhaps she could punch through that. She shivered slightly as she noticed that the insignia that he bore there resembled the same thing she had seen in the forest, before she had run into Leon- the shape of a Dragon's head. Then she realized with a start that it could only be one thing- the insignia of Rakastamos.

What does he mean by 2.0?, she thought. Was there another one before this? Did everyone else run into it, and I missed it? Was I asleep or something? Darn.

"I don't think it was funny.", she said. "Cause, you know- that's the thing about jokes."

She shrugged, and winced, seeing the Jesterbot grow slightly angrier. "They need a punchline."

The Jesterbot rolled back on its two wheeled legs and spat out a few drops of oil, apparently unable to believe what he was hearing. "Excuse me?", it screeched, and its glass eyes turned a deep shade of red. "Doth you dare mock my humor?"

"You know what?", Brandy asked, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Yes. I'm totally mocking you. Now come on, let's fight."

The Jesterbot, with a horrible cracking sound, stood up to its full height. The metal in its midsection creaked and popped as it rearranged itself, apparently designed to look as grotesque as possible. It rumbled as it did so, the mechanisms on its two slicing hands beginning to warm up. "Fight? There is no fight. You will die."

"Okay, okay, whatever.", Brandy said, noticing how close she was still to the edge of the cliff. "Let's just get started now- shall we?"

She flipped forward, high over the Jesterbot's head, and skidded along the grass. Coming to a stop, she drew out her hand, and began to charge it with Dash. Her plan was simple- a clean, fast blow directly through the middle of the robot. Even if it was mechanical, such a strike would make it difficult for it to survive. Even wires and data chips were vulnerable to being broken.

The Jesterbot 2.0 beeped and whirred, its stomach opening up to reveal a bucket of multicolored balls. Each one seemed slightly different, from large red ones to small blue ones and everything in between. Brandy could guess that the colors and size each meant something different- blue was probably ice, red was most likely fire, and yellow could be little else but electricity. The culture in which she lived tended to be shaped around such things as that.

"This one is funny, so prepare for a laugh!", the Jesterbot said, and reached into the bucket with the hoses on its back. It grabbed one or two balls in each grabber, and held them aloft. It began to spin its slicing hands around and around, picking up speed as it went. "The joke is:"

Then the Jesterbot rushed forward, and threw all the balls it had. "You're dead!"

Its face lit up as the barrage streaked towards Brandy at high speed, the balls twisting and whirling in the air in order to make them harder to dodge. But Brandy had prepared for such a thing, and was able to twist and whirl her own body just enough to slip through the attack, the balls carrying on and exploding on the ground behind her.

But to her surprise, they did not react like she had expected. The red ones burst open into a capsule of foam, that looked hard enough to contain anything weaker than a Barbarian within for a very long while. The blue one exploded into a puddle of sticky liquid that melted into the grass, covering it with a thin layer of most likely entrapping goo. And the yellow one simply exploded, blowing the top off of the cliff and sending it tumbling down into the canyon floor below, with a crash that sounded like thunder. Brandy stared in astonishment, at what seemed like some violation of the natural order of things happening right in front of her.

"What the…", she murmured, then ducked and rolled. She came up right behind a large rock, and tried to think. Okay, so… he throws stuff. And it's not the type of stuff you would expect at all. This guy seems dangerous. I need a plan that can take him down. And now…

Another shot suddenly arced over her head behind the rock, and she realized that it was time to stop thinking. A small white ball had been rolled in front of her- and it was anyone's guess to what this one actually did. Rather than stick around, however, Brandy just jumped into the air, right into the path of an orange ball. She yelped and jerked her head out of the way, just barely managing to avoid any contact with it. She landed back on the rock, brushed her hair out of her face, and snarled at the Jesterbot. "You think you're clever?"

"I am clever.", said the Jesterbot, and looked up. "Observe- my famous webbing bomb!"

"The what?", Brandy spat, and realized that the white ball below her had not yet exploded. She hissed and threw herself out of the way, just as the white ball blew into a giant net. The radius was large enough that it almost entrapped her within- almost. But Brandy was just barely too far away, and the white net now stood without victims.

"No, you're still not clever.", Brandy said, and stood up. She clenched her fist a golden white, and filled it with a burst of Dash. "And you'll pay for your lack of wit with your life."

"With my life…", said the Jesterbot, and chuckled. "Oh, that one is funny! For I am but a robot- I have no life!"

"Ha.", said Brandy, as she realized what the Jesterbot had said. "That you don't."

Then she charged forward as fast as she could, touching lightly on the ground with her Dash only once every 15 feet or so. The Jesterbot realized what it was that she was doing, and panicked a tiny bit. Its programming somehow faltered, as it saw Brandy boring down on it at high speed. So it did the first thing that came to its mind- raised its metallic buzzsaw hands into the air. They spun with anger, seemingly about to tear stone into dust and enemies into Elixir. But it had forgotten something vitaly important- and that was to keep throwing rocks. It would be enough to weaken his opponent before moving in for the kill- or, at least, it would have been. But the Jesterbot's lack of personal security didn't help in this situation, and neither did the impressive display of blades that he was putting on. Brandy kept on jumping through the attacks, noticing each and every ball as it flew past, noting their colors, sizes and shapes for future reference, and kept on going for the Jesterbot's exposed stomach. It looked like the perfect spot to stab, in order for a quick kill.

The Jester looked down and seemed to notice this, and its eyes visibly widened. Its two hands flew to its still open stomach, in an attempt to armor itself- but by that point, it was too late.

Brandy tore through the air, knocking aside a direct energy beam that had been meant for her. She punched through a few balls, not bothering to check what they were. They didn't matter, not when she was this close to finishing off the target. The Jesterbot yelled, and the cloth parts of his cap began to lift up. He threw faster, and with more intensity, Brandy continuing to weave her way through the mist, dodging every shot, until-

Her fist punched all the way through the Jesterbot's midsection, coming out the other side in an explosion of sparks and wires. It emitted a high pitched screech as it felt the most important part of its body get destroyed, and oil spat from its mouth like blood. Its arms stopped moving around, and the tubes on its back stopped flailing. They detached a second later, flopping onto the ground and writhing like beached fish. Brandy looked up, huffing from the exertion, into the Jesterbot's shocked eyes. The bright, flashing red and yellow began to fade into a dull grey, the light going out within them. Finally, all the movement of the Jesterbot simply locked up. It slid slowly off of Brandy's arms, off the side of the cliff, and fell, into the canyon below.

Brandy stood there for a moment, huffing and puffing, then brushed the hair off of her forehead.

"Well.", she said. "I guess that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

She turned to leave, looking forward down the long valley for where everyone else might have been. She still wasn't sure where exactly that was- the Balloon could have been a lot of places by now. Perhaps, she thought, they had gone down somewhere. Maybe they were already-

She shook herself, knowing that she couldn't think of such a thought. They were alive. If a fall from over 3000 feet into a canyon didn't kill her, then what would a crash in a Balloon do to them? Nothing, that was what. Brandy kept on repeating that to herself as she ran off towards the closest hill she saw, not knowing that the hoses of the Jesterbot were still, slowly, but surely, following her as she ran.

Far up on one of the hills, up in the Oldrange ridge, a party of 5 walked along, making sure not to waste any time. They couldn't afford to, not when Brandy was still down there somewhere. They stuck together as a team, and could not dare to lose a single one if they were to survive.

"Dan.", said Annabelle, sweeping her high-powered gaze back and forth. "What do we do if you we don't find her?"

She looked up at Dan, his heavy gaze looking as far as he could. His eye faltered a little bit at such words, and he clenched his arm muscles unconsciously. "We will.", he said simply.

"Yeah, but what if we don't?", she asked again. "I'm just asking-"

"And I said…", said Dan, and breathed out. A flash of Star burnt the grass underneath him, in a wide circle that stretched for almost 10 feet. "We will. So accept that."

"Okay, jeesh.", Annabelle said, and scooted off to one side. She bumped Trevor in the arm on accident, and he jumped back as if he had been shocked, his face a little more flushed. "I get it."

Leon took a look behind him, and noticed a pair of Minions flying overhead. Now, such a sight would have been rather normal for any Troop- but it was strange for him. He had never seen a Minion before- to him, they seemed like what they were. Flying, reptilian, beasts.

"What the heck is that?", he asked, and pointed at the Minion. Dan looked up, and narrowed his eyes at it. The thought of the sight managed to take his mind off of his worry, at the very least for a little bit. He actually felt a little better, as the sight of a Minion reminded him of home.

"Why, that's a Minion, my boy.", he said, and nodded. "A pair of them, in fact."

"Uh-huh…", said Leon, and looked up again. He rolled his lollipop around in his mouth a little, suddenly just a touch nervous. "And those are Minions too?"

"Correct.", said Dan, and moved his hand to pick Bubble up from the ground. She had been either just about to walk to the edge, jump on a frog, or traverse a puddle with a stick. Perhaps all three. He slung her onto his other shoulder, and nodded. "Minions."

"And all of those as well.", said Leon, pointing upwards at the vast cloud of Minions that had now gathered overhead. This time, it was not a question.

Dan looked up, and threw his arms out over the group. There was, for whatever reason, an absolutely immense Minion horde- no, cloud that had gathered over them. The sky had almost turned dark with their sheer strength, casting a shadow that the sun could hardly penetrate. Further examining of the situation would reveal that this had actually been accomplished through clever placement and the spreading of wings, but the effect was undeniable. To everyone in the group, it now looked as though they had been surrounded by a truly invincible Minion cloud. Dan whispered under his breath. "Oh, crap."

"Uh… Dad?", asked Leon, and slowly slipped a spinner blade into each hand. He felt the presence of Hunter Killer, deep within his mind, asking if it was okay if it came out. Leon nodded, and felt the gunstand slide forwards into his hand, out of his sleeve. "What do we do?"

"Are they gonna attack us?", Bubble asked, massaging her hands together as if getting something ready. "I don't want to be attacked!"

"Yeah…", said Dan, and popped his neck. He looked up at the Minions, roosting on every available spot there was, and flying in midair where there were not. "That's kinda unavoidable at this point. But just hold on there. We'll be out in a little bit."

"Wait, what's going on?", asked Trevor, and Annabelle looked up at the sky. "Oh.", he said.

"Hey, you can shoot air, right?", asked Dan, crouching down low next to Leon.

"Yeah.", said Leon, and flipped up Hunter Killer into the air. Even though he knew Dan could not see it, it was really the thought that mattered.

"Because.", said Dan, and looked up again. The massive cloud of Minions had begun to shift, now organizing their power towards the core of the structure. "I think we're about to need it."

Song: Solid State Scouter

Leon nodded, and aimed his Stand upwards. "Understood, Dad. Let's get ready. Bubble? Ann?"

Annabelle and Bubble both looked up. Annabelle had taken out her bow, and Bubble's hands glowed with shimmering light. Leon nodded, and gave a thumbs up. "Let's go."

The Minion cloud hovered over the group, waiting for their leader to make a decision. The massive, armored, Mega Minion at the center watched those down below, waiting to find out some more information before he proceeded further. He stared at Dan, almost daring him to make a move.

"Wait.", said Trevor. "How are we sure they're gonna attack us? They could just be passing through. I'm pretty sure that Minions are common in this area."

"There's a difference between common and whatever this is, Trevor.", said Annabelle, and drew back her bow. She knocked an arrow, ready to release. It wouldn't do much against such a vast swarm, but she could at least make an attempt. "This isn't normal behavior for any troop."

Trevor thought for a moment, then drew his sword. He couldn't reach the Minions, but he could perhaps attempt to block their shots. "Yeah, you're right. Let's fight."

Upon hearing those words, the Mega Minion's eyes lit up, and grew. He now knew there was no going back. He screeched, and clicked his claws together like knives. And upon such a signal, the entire Minion cloud began to move downwards, blocking out the sun like a rainstorm of claws and wings.

"Shoot!", Dan roared, and took a deep breath. He released the one he was already holding with his other lung, shooting a long beam of Star that pierced through a large column of Minions, turning them into purple mist in a second. "Shoot everything you've all got!"

Leon screamed, and held Hunter Killer up to the sky. He pulled down on the trigger so hard his finger turned white, and a huge cone of jagged metal and solid bullets erupted like a gale. Dozens of Minions were torn apart by the massive amount of projectiles, but it hardly even made a dent in the storm. Thousands of others kept coming, totally unburdened with their comrades' deaths. As they should have been- they were Wild Troops. They would just reform somewhere nearby, ready to once again rejoin their group. And that is why they attacked without fear, kept on diving through Leon's metal barrage and Dan's shining beam, filled with the single-minded desire to kill for their master.

"Bubble!", Dan shouted, leaning back as he shot a trio of blasts. They streaked through the air like missiles, detonating on the surface of the cloud like a clod of dirt against a Castle. Dozens of Minions exploded into Elixir, but they were swiftly replaced by the sheer bulk of the swarm.

"You can create illusions, right?"

"Yes.", said Bubble, and concentrated. She didn't need to be told what to do here- she already somehow, instinctively, knew. "Watch this!"

She pushed a strange amount of energy into the ground, and screamed in pain. Such a large use of her power took a lot out of her, but it would hopefully all be worth it.

A few seconds later, the image of a Dragon suddenly rose over the cliff. It was well over 70 feet in length, and most likely 80 tons in weight. The scales shone reddish gold, and its eyes glowed with an unnatural fury. Dan knew it wasn't real- Bubble had very clearly summoned it. And yet, it seemed like it was a physical Dragon. Dan also knew that if it was good enough to potentially fool him, then it was good enough to fool the Minions.

Bubble gave a weak thumbs up, and the Dragon moved upwards. It roared at the cloud of Minions, and they were momentarily given pause. The Mega Minion flew towards the top of the cloud, unsure of what to do with the sudden arrival of a Dragon.

"Great job, kid!", shouted Dan, and began to suck in a very deep breath. "How long do you think you can hold them off?"

"Not…", Bubble groaned, and the blue lights in her hands began to falter. "Not very long!"

"That's okay.", said Dan, as blinding gold began to grow in his. "Then we just have to take them out before then."

"Wait!", said Trevor and Annabelle, together. Dan turned around, trying to keep his concentration from breaking. One eye twitched, almost as much as his hands. "What?"

"Don't kill all of them!", said Trevor, wincing uncontrollably. "This many Minions has to be essential for this area of the environment. Destroying the entire group would mean disaster."

"Yeah, and it'll take too long besides.", said Annabelle. "We have to just take out the leader. If there's anything that I've learned, it's that."

"Take out the leader…", Dan said, and looked up towards the cloud. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bubble, still desperately attempting to keep the Dragon sustained. Leon was still shooting like mad, waving his hands back and forth, and the cloud was still coming closer. Dan looked as hard as he could,attempting to search for some sort of leader, but there was no one that he could see. "Right…"

He looked down at Leon, and picked him up by the shoulders. Before Leon could say anything else, he turned him around and stared him right in the eyes.

"Leon.", he said, and lit up his other hand with fire so hot it was nearly white. "How are you with heights, being thrown, and killing the boss?"

"Wait, what-", Leon began, but he was pretty sure that he already knew what was about to happen. So he mentally prepared himself, clutched Hunter Killer closer to his chest, and waited. It wasn't long before he felt the fingers of Dan close around him, and curl his entire body up into a fist. Leon tried to think, to prepare, but he knew such things were useless. Instead ,he just breathed. In, out. Blowing onto hot soup, then actually drinking it. Such things were useful- until he felt the arm he was being held in shift, being held aloft in a straight angle all the way to the cloud above. Then the weightlessness started, as he was flung into the air so fast his eyes were pushed back into his head. He struggled not to drop anything on him. He did have a lot of things-

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Then he looked up and realized where he was, and cursed underneath his breath. He had broken through the bottom of the Minion cloud, and was now skidding along the tops of them inside of his Star armor that Dan had constructed. He could see nothing but tumbling wings and heaving bodies all around him, as far as his eyes could see. Dozens of the Minions attempted to tear at him, but the armor absorbed their blows, leaving only tiny marks.

"Where is it…", he said to himself, looking around for the boss. He didn't know what he was looking for, only what Dan had said to him. And that was killing the boss.

Leon shouted, and fired off Hunter Killer in random directions. The jagged metal and bullets cut through dozens upon dozens of the Minions as they shot through, but it still did nothing to reduce the sheer, overwhelming size of the swarm. And as he shot further in from his momentum, the cloud started to tighten in on him, swirling closer and closer to his bubble. The light from outside had been cut off by the tightness of the Minions- it was almost like he was inside of a thunderstorm, or at sea in the midst of a hurricane. He could barely see in the darkness, and the overwhelming din drowned out any noise he might have attempted to make.

But despite all that, he knew that he had a mission to complete. Kill the leader, and the cloud might disperse. So he looked up, squinted one eye, and-

There. There it was. He could see it. The leader sat high between a pillar of Minions coming down from both the top and the bottom of the cloud, seeming to be shouting orders from behind his thick armor. Leon snarled, and aimed Hunter Killer right at the new target.

"I can't… hold it!", shouted Bubble with exhaustion, and collapsed to the ground. Her eyes closed and her limbs went limp, just barely caught by Annabelle a half second before she hit the ground. The illusion of the mighty gold Dragon that had been keeping the Minions at bay suddenly halted, stuttered, and vanished, leaving an open path in the sky all the way to the group below. It took a while for the Minions to realize what had happened, as they didn't want to admit that they had been so scared of a mere trick. But after a bit, they as one turned downwards, claws and teeth extended to attack.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. He prepared to throw a shield around all four of them, to block the assault. He could not directly attack the swarm, for Leon was still in there somewhere. He refused to take the risk of hitting him too. "Shoooot! Leon!"

The Minions dived, and Dan grimaced. He threw his hand over the group, and a bright golden dome appeared above them. Almost fifty Minions slammed themselves against it, the bright heat and sizzling light turning them to elixir in a second. But more were still coming, and Dan's barrier could not likely block them all.

"Come on…", he snarled, and pushed harder against the Minion onslaught. "Leon, what are you doing in there?"

At that very moment, Leon was sliding and bouncing as hard as he could towards what might have served as a throne for the Mega Minion. He slowly held out his hand holding Hunter Killer, trying to get closer for what absolutely had to be a perfect shot. If he were to miss this, he would be tossed out of the cloud, and out the other side. There were no other options.

"Come on…", he muttered, and held his arm out straight. He slowly inched his finger towards Hunter Killer's trigger, aiming as close as he possibly could. He was almost surfing along the Minions now, and his eyes lit up with anger. "Come on…"

Then he sensed something right in front of him, and yanked his hand backwards. He yelped in surprise, as the spot of air where his hand had been was suddenly filled with a solid metal pole. He shivered a bit, and realized that he was going right past the Mega Minion.

With a start, Leon snatched Hunter Killer out of the air once again, inside of his other hand. He placed one hand on the wing of a nearby Minion, yanking it out of its course and sending it spinning through the bottom of the cloud below. But not before Leon had jumped from it onto a different pile, aimed his Stand, and fired, placing a shred of spiked metal and bullets directly into the Mega Minion's head.

Far down below, Dan's shield had began to crack from the sheer force of all the Minions that besieged it. Hundreds more still came down from the darkened cloud above, gathering around the group like they were their next meal. And then, just as it seemed that they were all about to jump in and attack- something odd happened. Every single one of the Minions suddenly stopped moving, just hovering there and listening to the cries emitting from the nearby cloud.

Our leader is dead, they said, rather simply. His replacement is coming soon.

At once, a great wave of mourning spread throughout the entire cloud like wildfire. Almost before sound could have reached the back of the group, they were telling each other about what had just happened. Minionic gasps were heard, and several of them took off in random directions. Minion societies didn't last long at all, and this one was apparently no exception.

The Minions that had been attacking the group stopped, looked at each other, shrugged, and flew off. It seemed that they were about to join their comrades.

As Dan watched, he could see the rapidly disintegrating Minion swarm break apart, and head in thousands of different directions. And falling out of the disappearing mass was Leon, unable to stop himself from doing so.

"Catch him!", shouted Dan, gesturing frantically to anyone within reach. "Catch Leon!"

But as he scanned the faces of everyone in the group, it seemed as though if no one knew exactly what to do. All Trevor and Annabelle seemed to be able to do was provide information. Bubble had collapsed in Annabelle's arms, so she was out. Leon was falling, and Brandy was still missing- so Dan realized that it had to be him, and him alone.

So he ran towards the site where Leon was going to come down, his feet pounding the ground with every step. He brought up one arm and delivered a solid elbow to some random Minion that came up behind him splattering it into Elixir.

Finally, Dan reached the spot where it looked like Leon was going to come down. He reached out his arms, over a long cliff, the wind rushing through his body- and caught him. Dan grunted as Leon slammed back into his arms, pitching him forward a tiny bit as he rocked back and forth. Dan sighed in relief, and took a sit down. He just sat there a moment, sucking in his breath, as Leon slid out of his grip. He landed roughly on the ground, looked up- and saw something that almost gave him a heart attack. "Mom?"

Dan stopped moving. His head slowly turned around to look behind, and he gasped as well. There stood Brandy, having just come up from the ridge below. She was breathing heavily, and blood trickled down from one side of her face. Mud, dirt, and the blood of plants were smeared across her skin and face, and her hair was messed up. Her skirt had a chunk missing out of it, having been torn off to bind one of her wounds. And yet, as Dan fixed his gaze totally on her, all he could think about was how she could not possibly look more beautiful.

"B...Brandy.", he said, and stood up. He took one step towards her, then another, and then another, speeding up each time. He almost broke out into a run, but there wasn't quite enough space for him to accelerate that high on the tiny grassy hilltop. He slowed down when he reached her, and wrapped his arms around her in a gigantic hug.

Brandy felt herself get swept off the ground, clenched tightly in Dan's arms. She allowed herself to become fully enveloped, burying her face in his skin. She relaxed a bit, for the first time since that morning, finally reunited with him. It had in fact been only about half an hour since they had fallen out of the Balloon, but that had been plenty long enough for her.

"Dan…", she mumbled, not wanting to take herself out of his grip. "Where were you guys? What happened? I just crashed, and then I waited for you, but you didn't come, and I had to fight this weird guy, and then this weird Witch, and then another weird guy-"

"Woah, don't worry.", said Dan, and squeezed a tiny bit harder. "You're alright now. We didn't know where you went down either, but somehow, we knew that you were alright."

Annabelle and Trevor looked at each other- they had no idea if she had been alive. It was only Dan that had been repeating that to himself. But they were glad, even if it meant that Dan wouldn't destroy them for failing at their job.

Dan finally loosened the hug, and looked at Brandy's messy state. She looked up into his eyes, leaning on his gigantic arm, her eyes sparkling with love. Dan smiled, and gently stroked her hair. "Okay. Now let's get you cleaned up, my thief. Can't go back on the road again with you looking like that."

"Where are we going now?", Brandy asked, scratching at her shoulder. "The Balloon was just destroyed, so we can't very well go to the mountain that way."

"The Clashcrush River!", Trevor shouted, and held up one finger. Everyone turned to look at him, and he quickly fumbled for a map. It took him longer than he wanted it to, so Annabelle decided it was the best time for her to say what she had to say.

"It's a gigantic river that flows directly from the Clashcrush Mountains.", she said, trying to explain. "Specifically, the peak in which Rakastamos currently resides. If we follow the river, we can get to the mountain. It does go through several other features, but we'll get there when we get there."

"Features…", Brandy asked. "Like what? What do you mean, features?"

"Oh, you know, rivers.", said Trevor, finally yanking the map out of his satchel bag. "Canyons. Valleys. Acid swamps. Dark passageways through miles of solid rock, from which few return alive. That sort of thing. So just your regular stuff, really- I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"I see.", said Dan, and stood up. He grabbed a nearby tree, pulling off one of the giant leaves. He retrieved the Rune of Elixir from within one of his pockets, poured some onto the leaf, and handed it to Brandy. "There you go, honey. Wash yourself off with that."

As Brandy scrubbed her muddied face with the wet leaf, Dan turned to address the group.

"Alright everyone, this is gonna be kinda tough.", he said, then thought. "Or not. Actually, it's not gonna be tough at all. This is just gonna be a little trip, through weird things and weird places and weird monsters and- oh, what am I saying? This trip has already begun. We're in the weird things and stuff."

He turned around again, leaving confused expressions on the faces of Bubble and Leon, and gestured with his arm over his shoulder. "Now come on, we're leaking daylight. Let's go."

So the group of 6 walked off towards the Clashcrush River, towards a huge wood, and a lurking mountain in between. They did not know what they would find in there. But they knew there would certainly be something. There always was.

Song: Ancientry

In the very same final destination of their journey, a very certain peak in the Clashcrush Mountains, 3000 feet above the surface of the world, dark fire smoldered in pure hatred.

Rakastamos sat in his private quarters of the truly immense cavern, glowering to himself, full of such absolute anger it radiated off of him as real heat. The rocks touching his skin softened from the temperature, molding and shifting to the shape of his body. Cracks of red ran around his skin, as if dripping with both blood and flame. He slowly scratched at the sides of the walls around him, drawing patterns that were lost to any kind of memory.

Although the Messenger waited outside the entrance to his lair, he was too afraid to speak. He knew firsthand how destructive his master could become when angry. He personally had never been on the receiving end of such power, and he certainly did not want to find out what it was like. So he just continued to wait, trying to see when Rakastamos would calm down, trying to see when would be a good time. But even as he just kept on waiting, Rakastaos's fires of anger seemed to only grow. Deep within himself, the Messenger knew that the more he put this off, the more it would hurt when he finally broke the news. So he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and took a single step towards the entrance to the vast room.

"Yes, I know.", said Rakastamos, before the Messenger had even come into full view. "I know the operation failed, and I know we lost two more Forgotten, so you don't need to tell me. I don't want to hear such painful news, particularly such news that I already knew."

"Oh, um…", said the Messenger, and both lightened up, and began to sweat. "That's not the news that I was bringing."

"Hm?", Rakastamos murmured, and brought up his head to look closer. "Well then, what is it?"

"You have visitors, sire.", said the Messenger, and stood up. "And I wouldn't worry about getting ready for this one."

He bowed and backed away at high speed, turning into a tunnel on the far side of the wall. "They're here."

Rakastamos looked forwards, straining his vision to see. Through the clouds of smoke and dust constantly in his cavern, he could just barely make out a few shapes in the distance. The smoke and dust were coming from the hasty construction of a new Blood Elixir Station, after the old one had been destroyed. But it was slow going- even with all of his Builders working on it at once, it would still take over two days to complete. And when he was attempting to get just the right amount, two days was far too long to wait. He scowled at the thought, his eyes narrowing.

This is getting to be a real pain…,he thought, and huffed a small puff of fire out of his nose. Small for him, of course- the puff was about 15 feet high. I thought this would be easier. Get all the Blood Elixir, drink it, and cleanse the world. Easy as that. But all this crap just has to happen, doesn't it? Nothing ever goes simple for me.

The Troops slowly entering the cave, of course, knew none of Rakastamos's thoughts. All they saw was a huge pair of blood red eyes, staring at them through the mist. They only saw him snarl- they thought in aggression, not annoyance. When the jets of flame erupted from his nose, they thought it was an action of combat, not one of frustration. And so the leader, a Barbarian King named Pheram, knew there was only one thing to do. He drew his sword and charged into the cave, yelling death cries passed down from a thousand generations.

Song: Lotte Feroce

"Pheram, wait!", shouted someone else in the group, a Bandit named Jessie. She ran her hands down her face in frustration and groaned, then took off after him. "At least wait for us!"

"No, forget waiting!", yelled a Lumberjack named Sven. "We gotta strike hard, and we gotta strike fast! That is the only way!"

He took off after Pheram, swinging his axe around in frantic circles. He overtook even Jessie, and soon drew neck and neck with Pheram. The rest of the group- a Witch named Tayla, an Iris Tara, and even a Heavy from the Boom Beaches named Joe ran after the three, but at a much slower pace. And as they all ran to beat death into the cave, they could see the immense figure of Rakastamos slowly begin to move towards them.

"Ah, more mortals.", said Rakastamos, beginning to pick up the pace a bit. His footsteps broke the rock below him, causing cracks that snapped all the way to the approaching group, throwing them off of their balance. "I see you've all come to throw away your worthless lives."

Pherem had gotten closer and closer with his intense speed, and could hear his words the clearest. But Rakastamos was so immense that his voice spread throughout the entire cavern, shaking the walls and rattling the bones of the Troops that were rushing at him. Pherem raised his sword, and increased his speed. "Never!", he shouted. "We will bring you down!"

"Oh, do you know how many people say that?", Rakastamos groaned, and swung his head around in annoyance and frustration. "Every single group that comes in here always has to be saying something about how they'll bring me down, or how they're going to defeat me and bring justice to the world, or some such other thing. It tires me out, you know that? All these meaningless, repeated, rhetorical heroic speeches- it just ends up getting me angry!"

He swept out randomly with a gigantic claw, and Pherem slid expertly underneath it. He slashed out with his sword and hit Rakastamo's toe head on, but the mighty Dragonlord hardly even seemed to feel it. He just stared at the group, noticing something odd.

"That's strange…", said Rakastamos, and thought. "You don't have a single real source of firepower within your entire group. The last group had three Super Pekkas, if I remember correctly, and then the group before that had an Archer Queen. But you seem to have nothing…"

He raised a gigantic claw, even as the minigun bullets from the Heavy began to shoot forth, bouncing off his side like rain upon a glacier. "No. No, let me guess. The Barbarian King is supposed to be your champion-"

But then, to Rakastamos's utter shock, he heard another voice from the cave's entrance, and what came in answered his question entirely.

"I am their champion!", shouted a large golden Dragon, as he entered the cave. "I will be the one to bring you down, Rakastamos!"

For a moment, Rakastamos just stared. He stared in absolute, unwavering shock at what had just entered his cave, and for what reason that he had just done so. For Rakastamos had fully expected more mortals to try and defeat him, more humans. He had never even before thought to think that one of the attackers taking him on would be another Dragon.

Rakastamos's hands shook with fury at the sight, and a raging fire began to build from somewhere deep inside of his throat. The human Troops down below all stopped, knowing that something bad was about to happen- something awful indeed. But either the Gold Dragon did not care or he did not know, for he continued to soar straight at Rakastamos as if nothing was wrong. He did not see the piercing hatred in Rakastamos's eyes, nor the bulging throat that was a dead giveaway for a tremendous bust of flame.

Jessie noticed the signal, and her eyes widened in fear. She quickly Dashed to the right and grabbed Sven by the neck, bringing them both down behind a large rock. "Get down!", she yelled, just as Rakastamos unleashed a vast torrent of flame, with enough heat and force to melt any known material.

The main blast of the flame shot overhead, sweeping along the ground in a gigantic pillar of pure destruction. Jessie pulled her hood closer over her face, and tried to withstand the immense amount of heat radiating from 50 feet above her. Sven broke out in an intense sweat, his skin turning red just from the power of Rakastamos's attack. Neither of them dared to look up, in fear of what would await them.

Finally, after almost 20 seconds of the attack, the stream of fire cut off. Rakastamos sat back on his haunches, having thoroughly roasted everything within sight down to scarred rock, and evaporated Elixir. That is, save three things. Two of them were still hiding, crouched behind a rock, so he did not notice them at first. But the third lay out in the open, his golden scales smoldering and smoking, his mouth hanging open in agony. The titanic Golden Dragon had survived the attack, albeit barely. Several spots on his body were bleeding, and one arm seemed to be melting. But as he took a step forward, it looked as though he was still in capable shape. "You…", he muttered, some part of his mouth not working. "You really think such an attack could bring me down? Me, the great archon of draconic justice, Telekas?"

Rakastamos growled, and tensed his back leg to strike. "Draconic?"

With a strike so fast it could hardly be seen, Rakastamos lashed out. His foot hit Telekas right in the side, slashing open a huge gash in his scales and sending him backwards. Telekas hardly even had time to cry out before Rakastamos slammed his other foot onto his shoulder, pinning him down to the ground. "You dare to call yourself draconic, worm?"

He drew back his foot, and kicked Telekas in the gut, slashing open yet another gaping wound. Telekas roared in agony, yet Rakastamos did not care in the slightest. He just kept kicking, not even attempting to kill, only wishing to inflict as much pain as possible upon his target.

"You would attack I, the savior of Dragonkind!", Rakastamos shouted, pure anger tainting his words. "You are no better than the worthless, pathetic, human scum that infest this land!"

Blow after blow rained down on Telekas, beating his torso into an annihilated pulp. Hot red blood spurt out from the wounds like rain, but Rakastamos didn't hold back at all.

"You don't deserve to be called a Dragon, you trash!", Rakastamos screamed, and grabbed Telekas by the neck, piercing through his skin with his claws. "You don't deserve to even exist!"

Rakastamos gave one particularly mighty blow, and sent Telekas flying across the cave, his barely held together body impacting the side of the cave with a loud crash. He had no time to rest before Rakastamos was once again upon him, raising his hand and opening his mouth for the final blow. "You're nothing but trash! Worthless, disgusting, non-draconic trash!"

Telekas looked up shakily, and managed to find the strength for one last burst of flame. Opening his mouth and aiming, he let it fly- only for it to burst harmlessly upon Rakastamos's skin. Telekas grimaced to himself- this didn't look good. The thought remained in his head for a few more moments, until Rakastamos grabbed him by the neck, lifted it up, and bit his head clean off.

Rakastamos stood there for a few seconds, basking in the glory of a powerful kill. He let the body fall, as it turned into a huge flood of Elixir midfall, splashing across the floor of the cave and into every nook and cranny. He turned around, trying to get the awful taste out of his mouth of having killed another Dragon- but it wasn't really a Dragon. No, not to him. To him, it was some obscene mockery of one. No real Dragon would ever go against him. No true Dragon would ever dare to attack the savior of the entire world, let alone the Dragon race. And no real, true Dragon would ever stoop so low as to take upon a human title. He was sure of that.

And yet, some thought from when he was very young swirled in his head. It was of a time when he had somehow put up with humans and other mortals- perhaps, even liked them.

The thought gave him a disgusting shiver down his spine, and he shook his head to clear it. He was about to head back into the cave to get someone to clean the mess up, perhaps convert it into Blood Elixir- but he stopped, when he heard tiny, panicked shouting come from somewhere far below him. He slowly turned one eye around, and saw something that interested him. "Oh?"

There, on the ground below, trying to find their ways through the Elixir flood, were Jessie and Sven. They had survived the fire, survived Rakastamos's brutal beatdown of Telekas, and were now attempting to escape alive. But as they saw Rakastamos slowly turn around and stare at them, the weight of aeons upon his brow, they thought that their plan might not work out after all.

"My, my…", said Rakastamos as he reached out a hand, and picked both of them up. He brought them up to his face and grinned widely, ignoring their attempts to wriggle free or escape. "Now what have we have here?"

Jessie stopped struggling and stayed perfectly still, knowing that it might enhance their chances of escape. Sven, on the other hand, struggled wildly, attempting to escape Rakastamos's grasp. But it was a futile effort- the amount of sheer power that Rakastamos squeezed with was far more than even ten thousand Lumberjacks could summon up. They were trapped.

"It seems you two were attempting to escape… am I right?", asked Rakastamos, and stared at the two as if expecting an answer. But Jessie kept on staying still, and Sven kept on pointlessly pushing. Rakastamos frowned, and spoke a little louder. "It seems you two were attempting to make an escape. Am I right?", he asked again, and this time Jessie perked up as if she had understood.

"Yes…", Jessie said, not knowing the point of delaying it any longer. "We were going to just sneak out of the cave and escape."
"Yes, yes, I could see that.", said Rakastamos, and began walking towards the back. "And I bet now that you're going to assume I want to kill you, or cook with you, or whatever it is that people think of when they think that. But I want to say… don't worry. I'm not going to do any of those things."

"You're… not?", asked Jessie, a faint twinge of hope starting to creep into her mind. She looked around and realized that something was off. It was, upon further and outside inspection, the huge orange glow that came from a small hatch, down at the far end of another room.

"Wha… what is that?", she asked nervously, and Rakastaos chuckled to himself. He arrived at the edge of the hatch, opening it with but a simple mental gesture. He looked around, and shivered with delight, knowing full well what fates awaited every Troop tossed in there.

"I told you I wasn't going to hurt you.", Rakastamos said, and held his staff aloft. The ground shifted underneath his feet, and the mysterious hole in the floor suddenly opened up. Jessie shivered as she could hear the sounds emerge- sounds of nightmares and of blood, sounds of awfulness and wars. IT was almost too much to bear- and then, to Jessie's horror, Rakastamos grinned. "He is."

Rakastamos let go, sending the both tumbling into the pit, to whatever fate awaited them.

Song: Fat Buu

Jessie and Sven both fell into the pit, having absolutely no idea what would await them, only that it could not possibly be anything good. The screaming and the blood red walls of the tunnel that they flew down at top speed only reinforced this fact, the sheer aura of dread concentrated to the point where one could almost reach out and touch it. And touch it they did, as they continued their plummet- or that could have just been the numerous spiderwebs that they suddenly fell through. But either way, after about 30 straight seconds of falling, they finally hit the ground. But it was not rock, as they had expected- rather, it felt almost spongey. Soft, like foam. But they had not seen such things before, and so they were quite confused, having suddenly found themselves in an almost entirely alien environment. They looked around- there was an absolutely immense, grey tunnel leading away from the spot they were trapped in.

To the right and left were absolutely immense statues, of a strange deformed being wearing a striped and belled top hat. He spun around on his pedestal, until Jessie jerked a thumb at the nearby hallway.

"Sven.", she said, and started moving towards the pedestal. "I see a light up ahead. Maybe if were to follow it, we could-"

But her hopes were dashed, as she felt the ground quake underneath her feet. She looked down, saw nothing, looked up, and gasped in absolute terror.

"Sven….", she said, and slowly got the Lumberjacks' attention, who was trying not to have a panic attack at that moment, I need you to very slowly-"

But she never got the chance. For with a titanic bellow, The face of The Jester himself finally rounded into view.

As the Jester appeared, the cave responded. Lights lit up on the sides, spinning and blinking like that of a funhouse. A line of mirrors suddenly appeared, jumping up and down on miniature human hands. A spotlight swung randomly throughout, on a million watt bulb. Jessie screamed, the sight of the abomination filling her vision. He was not human- no, he was far from it. The only thing that even seemed remotely normal about him was his face, a tiny ivory mask on a long, thin neck. The top hat spun on top of his head, the points tipped with silver bells. It was rather colorful, brightly glowing red, green, and yellow. But anything resembling normality ended there- the rest of his colossal body could have been plucked straight from a nightmare.

Huge pink legs extended down from a thick, fleshy tube of a body, the feet mixing with the dirt and dripping evil green liquid. Dozens upon dozens of short, spindly arms hung down from his concave chest, twitching and tingling as he went along. His diabolical neck shot upwards into the upper regions of the cave like a towering tree trunk, ribbed and scarred from no doubt some awful ritual. Two gigantic main arms shot out from the middle of his torso, huge claws and sucking tendrils adorning his hands like a twisted army knife. And to top it all off, the maniacal music that seemed to be playing from an implanted box on the top of his back sounded like a circus act gone horribly, horribly wrong.

As soon as he saw the two, his eyes lit up, extending past the regions of his face and stretching all the way into insanity. His mouth cracked open, revealing dozens of rows of sharp teeth and a three-forked tongue. "Welcome, mortals!", he shouted, the sound like claws on porcelain chalk. "You're going to be the first in line!"

Sven and Jessie stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. Sven thought maybe he should attack, but the Jester loomed so formidable over him he couldn't bring his body to do so. Jessie would have run away, if the entrancing presence of the Jester allowed her the action.

They just watched the Jester waiting, the ground warping under his feet, before Jessie realized that he actually wanted them to respond. She cleared her throat, and tried to calm herself down.

"For… what?", she squeaked out. "What are we first in line for?"

The Jester laughed, and spread out his two main arms. The miniature arms writhed happily, their tiny voices all crying out. "Why, my world-famous Circus of Chaos, of course! Such a sight would cause envy for any! But only if you tell me your favorite joke…"

"JOke?", Jessie asked, her voice cracking from fear. "Why would-"

Then she stopped, and realized what she had to do. "Oh. My favorite joke. Of course."

She took a step back, her mind racing to find something to say. "Umm…"

"I'm waiting, girlie.", said the Jester, his voice a little lower. He drew back his hand, the myriad of blades within it ready to strike. "Tell me."

"Right!", Jessie shouted, then cleared her throat. "Why did the Goblin stub his toe?"

"Hmm…", said the Jester, and his hat spun. He flicked the wall, and shrugged. "Why did the Goblin stub his toe?"

"Because he's a Goblin.", said Jessie with an exaggerated smile, trying to bluff her way through the odd situation. "That's what they do."

The Jester looked at her for a second, and Jessie gulped. Had her joke not worked? What was wrong with it? Was it the timing? The presentation? Was it not just a funny joke-

Then the Jester threw his head, and burst out laughing. He put one hand on the wall to steady himself, the stone dripping down upon his touch. He wiped his eye, and grinned.

"That was a funny joke, girlie.", he said. "What's your name?"

"Jessie.", she said. "My name is-"

"Okay, great.", said the Jester, suddenly disinterested. He looked away from her, and looked back down towards Sven. "What's your favorite joke, boyo?"

Song: Super Buu

Sven looked up in confusion, trying and failing to make sense of the situation. He had always been simple. "...joke?"

"Yes, a joke.", said the Jester, clearly annoyed. He snapped his fingers, and leaned in even more. "The laugh track, the hoo-haa, the one that always gets em. Come on, give me the funny!"

"Uh…", said Sven, and stood up. "Okay. What do you call a Goblin Giant with no Spear Goblins?"

"What?", the Jester asked, confused. He hadn't had time to explore or research the world since waking up, so he had no idea what the Lumberjack was talking about. "What's a Goblin Giant-"

"A Giant!", shouted the Lumberjack, and spread his arms. He had thought it was rather funny. But as he turned his head, he saw the terrified face of Jessie, shaking her head and silently mouthing the word No. Sven's face dropped, and he looked back up at the Jester.

The Jester stared down, his blank face twisting into anger. "That's not funny…"

Then he threw his hand down, the sucking tentacles on his fingers deploying for action.

"That's not funny at all!"

One of the tentacles grabbed on to Sven's chest, emanating a sickly green light. He yelled, and tried to pull away, but the grip was too strong. "You're both going to the Circus!", the Jester shouted, and his face split with a shivering crack. "The girl will be the guest, and you're going to be an exhibit. Isn't that fun?"

"Sven!", Jessie screamed, and the tentacle lit up. Sven's entire body began to split into pieces, his muscle and bone separating off into neat, even spheres that floated upon the air. His skin flew off of him and was cut into ribbons, dancing upon the air and the infernal tune that still echoed throughout the cave. His head was taken off the rest of him and bounced up onto the Jester's body, his screams still coming from it- despite what was being done, he was still very much alive. Sven's head was carried up onto the Jester's back and bounced into a bucket, his fate unknown.

Once the processing was finished, the parts of Sven were loaded up into a basket that hung from the Jester's side. He turned back towards Jessie, who was quaking in fear.

"Now come along, girlie.", he said, and both sides of his face snapped back to happy. "My circus awaits, and you are my privileged guest."

He saw how she still stared- at the spot where Sven had fallen, how the tentacles still hung in the air, at just what a nightmare the Jester was. He noticed these things, concentrated, and began to shrink down. His nest of arms contracted into his body, and his neck shrunk to be more of an appropriate size. His main arms shifted and warped into human limbs, and his body turned from that of an insect to that of a man. His legs straightened up, the fleshy pink going to a long pair of striped and purple pants. Within mere seconds, he had gone from eldritch abomination to what seemed to be a regular Troop, albeit a strange one.

"I said, come along.", he said, offering a hand. Jessie didn't want to take it, but she saw no other choice. She took his hand, closing her eyes in fear and disgust.

"Good, good.", said the Jester, and crouched. "Now away we go!"

The Jester shot off into the tunnel from whence he had come, Jessie screaming as she was taken with him. The blinking lights on the cave walls shut off, and the music slowly faded away, leaving only silence in the cursed halls.

Song: Peaceful Journey

The sun was high in the sky, signaling to the world that it had become almost noon. The light flickered through the tree tops of a very certain part of the woods, with very tall trees and very thick shadows. But that was not the reason why this part of the woods was special- everywhere for miles was like that. This part of the woods was special because of those that walked within, particularly in that hour, on that very day.

"And then there was this weird robot guy.", said Brandy, sitting on Dan's shoulder, explaining what had happened to her in the canyon to Bubble, Leon, Annabelle, and Trevor. "He said he was the Jesterbot or something. And he shot stuff at me, but it wasn't too hard to dodge. And then I turned him into a doughnut as soon as I got close. I don't think we'll be seeing him again."

"A… donut?", asked Leon. "What do you mean, you turned him into a doughnut?"

"I mean that I punched a hole in his torso.", Brandy said with a shrug. "And doughnuts have holes through their middle, so…"

"I get it.", said Trevor, with a raise of his hand, and took a bite of his energy bar. He rolled over on his back, almost falling off Dan's shoulder, but catching himself just in time. "I think it's funny."

"See?", Brandy and Annabelle said simultaneously, and pointed towards him. "He gets it."

"And then what happened?", asked Bubble excitedly, scooting herself together on crossed legs. "What happened after you beat the jester- the robot?"

"Well, I hopped out of the canyon, took off running, crossed a plain, and saw a gigantic cloud of Minions in the air. I figured- I guess correctly- that anything like that had to be after you guys. So I just followed it, and then I saw you, and now here we are."

"Woah…", said Bubble, her tiny eyes glowing bright with wonder. "And where are we now?"

"We're in the woods.", said Dan, and stepped over a huge rock. He accidentally clipped it with his other foot on the second step, and crashed right through it. "On our way to Clashcrush mountain…"

"Where we'll kill Rakastamos and bring peace to the world.", said Leon, laying on his back, joining in with Dan. "Like we told you the other 14 times you asked."

"Oh.", said Bubble, and was quiet for a moment. Then she giggled, and swayed back and forth a bit. "I guess I just need to be told lots of times!"

"Yes…", Dan muttered, and brushed a tree branch out of the way. But he had hardly let go of it before it swung back and hit him in the face, directly in the forehead. It wasn't enough to scratch his skin, but Dan was still bothered. With a growl, the offending branch disappeared in a burst of electricity, and they kept on walking.

Leon felt his stomach suddenly clench, and he took a deep breath. But the breath struggled to enter his mouth, and he could now feel just how thirsty he was. "Hey Mom?", he asked, and Brandy looked up. "I'm actually super thirsty right now. Could we get something to drink?"

"Well, I don't know about getting something.", said Brandy, and sighed. "But we do have something right now."

She pat Dan on the neck, and he twitched. "Dan? The Elixir Rune?"

"It's in my back pocket.", said Dan. "The pocket on my back."

Brandy nodded, and reached into the pocket on his back armor. She carefully withdrew the Rune of Elixir, and swung back up onto his shoulders. "Here you go.", she said to Leon, and dropped it into his hand. "You can drink as much as you want."

Leon looked at it a little strangely, and shook it a bit. He pressed down on the side experimentally, and a few drops fell out. He blinked and repositioned it over his mouth, pressing down harder. A stream fell out, and he started to drink it down- then his head snapped back, and he spat it out. "What the-", he said, again staring at the Rune. "Why does it taste so weird?"

"What?", Brandy asked, grabbing it back. "Is there something wrong with it?"

She drank a few drops of her own, and thought. "No.", she said. "It's perfectly fine."

"No it isn't.", said Leon, and stared in disbelief. "It's purple. And it tastes all weird."

"Wha-", Brandy said, and put her hands on her hips. "Of course it's purple. It's Elixir."

"Elixir's not purple.", said Leon, then thought for a bit. "At least, not where I'm from."

"What color is it in Brawl Land?", asked Brandy, for the name of Brawltopia did not enter her mind at the moment. "If it's not purple."

"Well, there are two types.", said Leon. "There's blue Elixir, which we drink, and red Elixir, which we burst into when we die. I guess that this must be a combination of those two types."

"Yeah…", said Brandy, thinking about colors. "Blue and red do make purple. I guess that's why-"

She stopped, as the realization hit her. Red and blue made purple, the color of life. Red and blue, as in the different colors of Kings. Her mind raced- perhaps that is why the gods chose to make those two colors what they were in the grand scheme of things. Red and Blue, eternal opposites- yet when combined, they made the color of the most essential ingredient for life in the entire world. Her mind spun with the realization, and she suddenly found herself laying in a haphazard position, almost falling off of Dan's shoulder.

"Woah!", shouted Trevor, and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her back up, and Bubble supported her. "What just happened there? Why did you almost fall off?"

"Um…", said Brandy, and the world spun back into view. She rubbed her head, and let out a tiny laugh. "I don't really know… I guess I just lost track of myself."

She righted herself, leaning against Dan's neck as she did so. She put her hands behind her head, then reconsidered and moved them both to her lap. Her mind began to think of other things- how the clouds moved overhead. What caused them to move? She had always assumed it was wind, but it also seemed as though wind would blow them apart as well as forward. Perhaps she would have to look that up in the library when they got home-

Home. Brandy suddenly felt a pane of homesickness, and her stomach dropped. So much had been going on in the last few days- Leon, the quest, meeting all these new people, fighting every single monster, warrior, or other Forgotten Rakastamos had thrown at them- that she had just about forgotten what was happening at home. Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up.

"What do you think is happening at home?", she asked Dan. "It's been a bit."

Dan thought, still not taking his eyes off the road. "I don't know.", he said. "I guess that we might have to wait till we get back to check… because I'm not seeing any way to contact them now."

"Yeah, I hope we can-", Brandy began, before Bubble suddenly piped up.

"I'm thirsty too…", she whined, and put her hands together. "Can I have a drink?"

"Sure.", said Brandy, and gestured to Leon. Leon stopped his slow, forced drinking of the Elixir- he didn't like it all that much. He would much prefer blue Elixir, or even some milk- and handed it over to Brandy. She handed it to Bubble, who took it in confusion. "There you go. Drink up."

"What is this?", Bubble asked, turning it around and upside down. She put it down on the shoulder, yawned, and looked up. "Can I just have a glass of water?"

Everyone in the group stopped what they were doing, slowly turned heads, and stared.

"What?", asked Annabelle after a few agonizingly painful seconds. "You want to drink what?"

"Water…", said Bubble, and shrunk back a bit from the pressure of everyone staring at her in disbelief. "I said I want a glass of water."

"Water's… not… something you drink.", said Dan slowly, wondering what in the world Bubble could possibly be talking about. "Water is… something you bathe in. Or wash something with, or swim in. Fish and stuff live in there. You don't drink it."

"But- yes you do.", said Bubble, very clearly confused. "I drink water. And now I'm thirsty, and I want some."

"But we don't have water!", said an exasperated and even more confused Brandy. "No one just has water with them, carrying it around."

"Wait, wait, wait.", said Annabelle, staring at Bubble with a suspicious pair of high powered eyes. Bubble squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze, and looked up at Brandy for support. "All Troops drink Elixir. But if you drink water…"

She looked deeper into Bubble's eyes, the corners of her own crinking downwards. A harsh line of tension appeared between them, almost visible in the morning air. "Then what are you? What are you not telling us, Bubble?"

"Woah.", said Brandy, putting a hand between them. Annabelle backed off, and Bubble shrank into Brandy's arms. "Let's not get all accusatory. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for why Bubble... drinks water."

She looked down at Bubble, and gave her a little pat on the arm. "Bubble, why is it that you drink water?"

"I just drink water, okay?", Bubble said, with a little huff, blowing her bangs off of her forehead. "Water tastes good, and it refreshes me, and that's what I always thought that everyone else drunk until I met you guys. Okay?"

She waved her hand, and an illusion of a plastic water bottle appeared in the air, much to everybody else's confusion. They had never seen such a thing before. All the Elixir bottles they were used to were metal, or glass, or sometimes even stone or wood- but never plastic. Plastic was not a common sight anywhere in Royale or even Brawltopia. But judging from the nonchalant summons of the illlusion, Bubble was clearly quite used to them existing.

"See, I just twist it open.", she said, opening up the lid of the phantom bottle. She grabbed it by the base and held it over her mouth, tipping it to pour in. "And then I drink the water. Easy as that."

"I see…", said Brandy slowly, everybody still a bit weirded out. She nodded, and put her hand slowly onto Bubble's shoulder. "Well, I hope we can get water soon."

"Wait.", said Leon, tilting his head. He slowly looked up and rolled over, a single spinner blade flicking into his sleeve out of pure instinct. "I think I can hear something up ahead."

He stared ahead into the woods, and Dan knew that he should stop walking for a bit. He too looked ahead, trying to get his ears to listen. They were nowhere near as good as Leon's or Brandy's, but he still strained them to hear what Leon was searching for. "What?"

"I hear something.", Leon said, and the spinner blade slowly retracted itself back into his sleeve. He pulled his hood up slightly, allowing his normally hidden eyes to take in the sight. "And it sounds like… a river!"

"A river?", Bubble asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on her knees. "Oh boy! A river! With water! I can finally get something to drink!"

"Sure, kiddo.", said Dan, and started to bend down. His gigantic muscles bent, as he dropped to his knees upon the ground. Everyone climbed off of his shoulders and back, landing on the grass with various reactions. Brandy slid down off of his shoulder and hit the ground on her feet, putting both hands on her back and bending backwards in a deep stretch. Leon landed on one foot, letting himself stand before putting the other one down. He rolled his lollipop around in his mouth, put his hands in his pockets, and looked around for something to lean on. He was still a bit tired from being flung up into the sky still just a short while ago. Bubble started running for the river almost as soon as she hit the ground- sooner, in fact. She tripped over her own feet and landed flat on her face, but kept on going regardless, instantly bouncing upright and taking off. Annabelle and Trevor dropped down together simultaneously, accidentally falling on top of each other, apologizing profusely, and scrambling to their feet. They stood apart from each other, both of them each feeling about the same things, but not knowing that the other did.

"Hey, kiddo, wait!", shouted Dan, seeing Bubble streak off. He rose to his feet within seconds, and slowly went after her, making sure not to step on anything that he might not have wanted to step on. "You can't just go off by yourself like that! Wait!"

He pounded off towards Bubble, leaving the rest of the group behind. Brandy took another deep stretch, trying to expel the tightness from her body- then she looked up, and a shiver ran down her spine. There was something odd about the sky. It was… it was…

"What's up with the sky?", asked Annabell, standing next to her and looking up as well. "It looks weird. The moon's a lot bigger. And everything else just looks kind of… purple."

"Wait, is it October?", asked Brandy, her eyes widening in shock. "Already?"
"It seems like it.", said Leon, scratching his head. He had taken up a spot on a tree trunk, gently rolling his lollipop stick around in his mouth and chipping at something in his hands with a spinner blade. "Moon, sky, odd sense of constant foreboding floating at the edge of everyone's brain. Yep, seems like October to me."

"No, I'm pretty sure that sense of uneasiness comes from what we're doing.", said Brandy. "Venturing to the dead center of the continent in order to defeat one of the oldest and most powerful beings ever to exist. Yeah, just a little thing like that."

"And it's also October.", said Trevor, having pulled up his schedule. He took another look, adjusted his suddenly appeared reading glasses, and tapped the paper his schedule was printed on. "See, right there. It says that today marks the start."

"Well, how about that.", said Brandy, looking up at the strange, sinister moon. "Happy October, guys."

"Yep.", said Annabelle, trying to decide who she should scoot closer to. She had been standing next to Brandy, but Trevor seemed like he wanted to be closer to her. And yet, something deep inside of her head wanted her to go and stand next to Leon…

Bubble jumped into the water with a splash, the slow moving river disturbed by the impact. A thin layer of pond scum that had been laying upon it vanished instantly, flying up past her face and towards Dan's. He took a shallow breath and exhaled it, both within half a second, a burst of Star flashing out from him and turning the pouncing scum to ash. Bubble noticed none of that of course, feeling only the wonderful sensation of the cold water upon her tender skin.

"This looks like good water.", she said, and grabbed some in her hands. She brought it up to her mouth, took an excited sip, and her face immediately twisted up. She spat out the water to one side, and stared at her hands in disbelief.

"Oh! Yuck!", she shouted, and dropped the water back into the river. Her little face twisted up in disgust, and she stuck out her tongue as she gagged. She stared into the water in shock, hardly believing the apparently disgusting taste. "What's wrong with this?"

Dan leaned over her in confusion, and a little protection. "What?", he asked. "What's wrong with the water? Is it not supposed to taste like that?"

"No!", Bubble said, then folded her arms, spun around, and pouted. "It was yucky. And it had worms in it."

"Worms?", asked Dan, taking another look into the water. It was still, and clear. "I didn't see any worms in it. Are you sure you meant worms? Or did you just mean that it was water, and that water is not supposed to be drunken."

"But it is!", Bubble said, putting out her arms as an expression of confused frustration. "Water is good to drink. That's what everybody always said."

"Woah, everybody?", asked Dan, now suddenly curious. He looked at Bubble with a scrutinizing gaze, once again finding himself wondering just who and what she was. "Who's everybody?"

"Um…", said Bubble, and stared off into space. She didn't appear to have any recognition in her eyes, but Dan could not be sure. Who was she, this Bubble- creating illusions, seemingly not knowing who she was besides her name, not even where she came from? Who was she, that violated all the natural laws of the world by drinking something like water? Dan stared and thought, for he did not know.

"I don't know.", Bubble finally said with a shrug, and resumed staring at the water. "I just remember that's what everyone always said at home."

"Well, okay.", said Dan, and held out his hand. "Want me to get you some water? I can make it all clean- I think."

Bubble's eyes lit up, and she stared at his giant hand in wonder. It was large enough for her to lay down in it, and still have room left over for someone else. "What? I wanna see…"

She grabbed his fingers and bounced up and down, her water troubles apparently forgotten. "Show me show me show me show me show me-"

"I will.", said Dan, and dipped his hand into the water. "Just hold on."

Bubble slid off and jumped back on to the bank, as Dan closed his hand again. A good amount of water was held within, far more than Bubble could or would drink. He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then released it as steam through visible puffs out of his nose. When he opened his hand a crack, Bubble could see the water shining within, all the impurities having been burned away.

"Woah…", Bubble said, barely over a shocked whisper. She looked up at Dan and gave a slow bow, with a barely audible "Thank you." Then she dunked her head in the water and took a few huge, greedy gulps, Dan having to pull her out from her sheer enthusiasm.

"So…", said Annabelle, choosing to step a bit closer to Leon. She looked up at him and squinted her eyes a bit, one finger tapping the side of her dress. "Your name's Leon, right?"

"Yeah.", said Leon, not quite sure that he liked where he thought this was going. "Like I said. I'm Leon. Legendary Brawler… and all that…"

"Ooh, legendary.", Annabelle said, flashing Leon a huge smile. She looked down and noticed that Leon was sitting on a fallen oaken log, so she turned around and sat right next to him. "I like the sound of that. Say, where are you from? I didn't know they had legendaries in foreign places- I thought they were just a Royale thing."

"Uhh… Nope.", said Leon, and looked up right at Brandy. "They- we, exist in Brawltopia too."

He immediately caught Brandy's eye, and they stared right into each other. Leon thought.

Mom mom mom why is she flirting with me what did I do what do I do oh gosh oh frick oh no-

Woah, woah, calm down, Brandy thought, waving her hands to try and calm him down. She looked around the small clearing they had stopped in, trying to figure out what to do. Dan and Bubble were still down by the river getting Bubble's water, and they now appeared to be… splashing each other? Okay, that was good. At least they weren't in trouble. She could get Dan if she needed. She looked to her right- Trevor was staring aghast at Annabelle's flirting with a panicking Leon. Brandy winced- it looked like he was taking it hard. To her left, a largish animal watched them through the trees. And to her front, there was Annabelle, who was now attempting to move onto Leon's lap.

OKay, don't move, she thought again. Just tell her that you don't like what she's doing, and that you want her to move away.

"Brawltopia?", Annabelle asked, and put a hand on Leon's thigh. Leon took in a sharp breath, and the tail on back of his jacket stiffened into the shape of a square. "Where's that?"
"Umm…", said Leon, and looked up at Brandy one more time. She gave him a Look, one that she had mastered over the years. It, combined with her status, gave Leon a shock of bravery that felt like high voltage electricity. He cleared his throat, and looked down at Annabelle.

"It's over there.", he said, pointing to directly behind Annabelle. "Juuuuuust past stop it, and right next to get off of me."

Annabelle stopped moving for a second, and looked down at where her hands were on Leon's body. A barely audible squeak came out of her, and she jumped back in mortal embarrassment.

"OhmygoshI'msosorry!", she said all at once, and backed away from Leon, going until she hit Trevor. But she hardly even noticed as she fell, nor as Trevor stopped her from hitting the ground. "I didn't know you didn't want it and I didn't know that-"

She stopped talking, knowing that it wouldn't help the situation. Instead she just walked further away, all the way to the edge of the clearing where Dan and Bubble were, and stared into the river.

"Shoot.", said Leon, watching her go. I didn't mean to make her be like that, was what he thought, but "I don't think that went too well for anybody." was what came out of his mouth.

"Yeah.", said Trevor, clearly down. His mustache looked even droopier than normal- never a good sign for the health of a Barbarian. It would be like a dimmer glow of the eyes for Witches and Wizards, or a powdery mask for a Bandit. "Especially for me."

"Woah, woah, what's wrong?", Brandy said, and Trevor felt an arm around his shoulder. "What's going on, Trevor?"

He was pulled down to a sitting position by Brandy, and he went halfway limp as he realized that that is what was going to be happening for a bit. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Well…", said Trevor, and gestured towards where Annabelle was. "Annabelle's been my friend for a long time- almost as long as I can remember. Coworker, too. I always thought that when the time came, we'd become a lot more than that. And all of a sudden, she just starts making advances towards Leon over here- hey, no offense."

"None taken.", said Leon, with a flick of his tongue and a roll of his lollipop. "I didn't want it."

"Yeah, see, but that's the problem.", said Trevor. "I did. I didn't expect her to just… leave me."

"Oh.", said Brandy, suddenly feeling down. She didn't know exactly why- she hardly even knew Trevor. They had just met that morning, and this was their first real conversation. But then the answer came to her- Brandy felt sad because someone around her felt sad. That was just how it had always worked, as long as she could remember. Sadness was radioactive to her, making her feel the sorrow of anybody nearby.

"Um.", she said again, trying to think of some way to alleviate the problem. Her brain spun and worked, attempting to come up with something- then she had it. She took a deep breath, put her hand on Trevor's shoulder, and stared right into his eyes.

"Go and talk to her.", she said, seriousness dripping off of her voice. "Right now."

"What?", asked Trevor, shrinking back a bit out of nervousness. "You mean right now?"

"I did not stutter.", Brandy said, and pointed towards Annabelle, who was still staring into the water next to where Dan and Bubble were standing, staring into the woods. "Look, she feels lonely. Go and talk to her. You both need to speak to each other right now before something bad happens."

"Okay.", said Trevor with a gulp, and stood up. He straightened his kilt, jammed his sword into his belt, and strode off towards Annabelle with a sense of half confidence, half fear.

Brandy watched him go, and noticed that Leon had folded his hood over his eyes. She grabbed him and held him tight, waking him up at first, but then he allowed himself to fall back asleep.

"Hello!", said Trevor, as he came up behind Annabelle. "Annabelle. You look upset. Is everything okay?"

Annabelle sniffed loudly, and turned around. Her eyes were streaked with purple mascara, and her hair looked slightly disheveled. She stared at Trevor in a mix of both confusion and sadness. "Wait, what?"
"I asked you if you were okay.", said Trevor, preparing for a short bow. "And I was wondering if"

Then he suddenly felt himself get grabbed by the back and yanked to both the side and the dirt. He saw Annabelle get yanked that way too, with Bubble coming along as well. He heard the warning a second after he had already hit the ground- "Guys look out!". He looked up and rubbed his head in total confusion, wondering what would have caused Dan to react that way- and that is when he saw it. A long, tapered white spear sticking out of a nearby tree, right were both he and Annabelle's heads had been not even a moment earlier.

"Uhh… Daddy?", asked Bubble, slowly turning her head from the sight to look at Dan. "Is that bad-"

"Yes, yes, it's very bad.", Dan said in an instant, holding out his hand. He grabbed and flipped Bubble over his shoulder, landing on the behind of his head with a surprised squeal. Within a second, he had grabbed both Trevor and Annabelle and flung them up onto his shoulders.

"It means we're about to get attacked."

"Oh.", said Trevor, and thought for a moment. Then he realized what Dan had said and leaned down to look him directly into his eyes. "Okay, what?"

"There's been an attack almost constantly, it feels like.", said Dan. "This is an epic quest to save the world- of course they aren't just gonna leave us alone."

"What's attacking us this time?", asked Brandy from across the clearing, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Is it something bad?"
"I certainly hope not.", said Dan, leaning along the grass as he quickly approached Brandy. She didn't need to wait to be told what to do- instead, she just hopped up onto his back, Leon jumping up after her. And scarcely had the two done so than another spear came whizzing out of the woods, striking the spot they had just been with pinpoint, if late, accuracy.

"Oh, shoot.", said Dan, looking at the spear. It looked large- easily large enough to impale all the way through anybody but him. It was at least 3 times the size of the ones that Spear Goblins typically used, maybe even more. But most importantly, the ends of it were highly serrated, dripped with a highly potent looking venom- and bore the mark of a Dragon's head.

"Oh, shoot!", he said again, and jumped off from the ground. He used his powerful jump that he had as a Mega Knight to clear the trees, looking over them in an attempt to find whatever was attacking them. But a quick, second long search yielded nothing, the trees around the only sight. So once he landed on the ground again, flattening an entire circle of trees and bushes with his reentry, he took off running as fast as he could towards a very high hill, far off in the distance.

"Leon!", he shouted, and took a deep breath. He tried to use as much of it as possible in order to surround himself with a burning shield of Star, but quite a bit of his breath was being used in order to run. So when the shield appeared, it was flickering and shivering, lashing out at nearby trees with the instability of its aura. Leon poked his head up, trying not to open his eyes against the rush of wind caused by Dan's speed. "I need you to shoot back at it! Whenever a spear comes towards us, shoot right where it came from- and a little to the left!"

"What about the spear?", Leon asked, and maneuvered himself to turn around on Dan's shoulders. "Won't it hit us?"

"No!", shouted Dan, and jumped over a huge rock, skidding right through a small river on the other side. "Brandy, that is where you come in. Once you see a spear, throw up a Dash shield in front of it!"

"Okay!", Brandy yelled, and saluted. Then she looked behind nervously, and squinted her eyes. "I'm not quite sure how many times I'll be able to do it, though."

"It's fine!", Dan roared, and kept on pushing through. "You other three- keep an eye out for anything that I might have missed! Now let's run!"

Song: High Voltage

Behind Dan, something even faster ran through the woods. A figure, hunched over, his mount slinking through the tree-cast shadows like blood through water. It jumped over rocks and fallen logs without even breaking stride, its four strong legs carrying it at speeds approaching 80 or even 90 miles per hour. Its huge jaws dripped foaming saliva down onto the ground, and its beady red eyes shone with a bloodthirsty vengeance. Matted grey fur hung down from its muscular hide, a tail covered with spines lashing out behind it as it ran.

Its rider was hardly more civilized- a tall, wiry youth covered with tattoos all across his skin. A tall shock of bright red hair was pulled back in a mohawk, a ring of piercings adorning his jaw.

He carried a spear in one hand, the other holding on to the leather reigns of his lupine mount. He had already thrown 3- two at Dan and Brandy's party, and the other at a squirrel that had been bothering him. But like all thrown or shot weapons, they came back.

He was Dalli the Wolf Rider, one of Rakastamos's swiftest and most dangerous cavalry. He was odd among Forgotten, for he had not been imprisoned alongside his master. Rather, he was one of the new ones, the ones that the gods had left behind more recently. And his partner, Fearri, was as well.

He was known as the Gunner, appearing to be a strange cross between a Knight and a Musketeer. His two pistols, similar to a Colt's, hung down by his side. He clenched his hat as the Wolf ran, not wanting it to fly away. He bit down on the knife in between his teeth, and managed to spit out some words.

"Dalli!", he said, and Dalli turned one ear to listen. "Can we catch up to them?"

Dalli laughed, and if Fearri listened carefully, he could swear he heard the Wolf laugh along with him. He waved his hand, and spat off to one side. "Aw, don't worry about it bro! We're gonna catch up to them in no time. How fast can that guy go? Not faster than Sasha, that's for sure."

"Right…", said Fearri, looking down at the snarling beast they rode. "Sasha. Anyway, could you get her to hold a bit more still? I'm going to need a clean shot when he catches up to them."

Dalli just rolled his eyes, as Sasha flipped over a rock, swished in between a copse of trees, and slithered underneath a massive bush. "Bruh. Sasha's already more agile than a Goblin soaked in butter. She can get you a level shot. Just hold on."

"If you say so.", said Fearri, and grabbed his seat a little tighter. He put one hand to his brow and looked into the woods, trying to get any glimpse of movement. "I hope that-"

"Hey, fire a warning shot, will you?", asked Dalli, the corners of his mouth curling down in a snarl as Sasha just barely avoided a huge tree. "I wanna make the blighters afraid."

"Umm… I'm afraid that won't be possible.", said Fearii, giving his guns a shake. "You see, although these can unload a lot of damage at once, they do take a while to load and reload. So really, using them for a warning shot would mean-"

"Oh, okay, fine.", said Dalli with a frown, and raised his spear. "I'll do it, I guess."

Right before firing, he remembered what Rakastamos had said to them before deploying the team of three they were in. "And we should watch out for the kid, too. I heard he shoots stuff."

Then he leaned back a bit, and threw his spear, it flying forward at incredible speeds, headed directly for its mark.

Leon saw a flash of metal in the trees, and he startled out of habit. But once he saw the spear flying towards him, he immediately knew what to do. With one hand he threw a storm of spinner blades past the spear and towards whatever had hit it, and the other drew out Hunter Killer from within him. A single press of the trigger was all it took to send another storm of bullets and twisted metal right at the spearhead, intending to shatter it into bits.

But although the shot was aimed well, it was still a large spray of shots fired at what was from that angle a very small target. Only a single bullet made contact, merely bouncing off of the thick metal spearhead. And as Leon's missed shots continued onwards into the woods, the spear still came, undisturbed by the attack.

"Oh, crap-", Leon began, then suddenly saw the spear stop directly in front of him. He blinked, and saw that the reason for this was because Brandy had thrown out her hand in front of him, creating a shield that shattered the weakened spearhead.

"Leon.", said Brandy, her voice stern. "Dan gave us both orders. I think you should try and follow them."

"Oh.", said Leon, and scratched the back of his head. His cheeks turned a little red, slightly embarrassed at his failure. "Sorry Mom."

Had Brandy been feeling any less serious, she would have taken a minute to pat him on the back and/or head, and to tell him that it was alright. But they were in the middle of a running battle, and thus a simple "It's alright.", and a nod would have to suffice.

"Can you see them, Annabelle?", asked Dan, sweeping his arms to clear aside massive amounts of treeline that was blocking their way. "Get a visual!"
"Okay…", said Annabelle, gripping on to Dan's hard arms as tight as she could. She leaned and stared off into the woods, gasping as she saw the glint of steel, and a vicious pair of blood red eyes. "Yes!", she yelled, and ducked on instinct. "I do see them!"

"Where?", Dan asked, and took a deep breath, preparing himself to fight. "Where did you see them?"

"Just back there!", shouted Annabelle, pointing to where she had seen them. "I saw them back there. It looks like there are two people- at least, that's the number of eyes I counted. Four."

"Oh, so there's a pair of them.", said Trevor, slightly frustrated at his apparent uselessness. "That's wonderful. It's just what we needed-"

"No.", said Annabelle, and drew back her bow. She loaded an arrow into the slot, and prepared to fight. "A mount, and a rider."

"A rider?", asked Trevor, attempting to see ahead. "Of what? What's he riding?"

"Umm…", said Annabelle, and stared into the shadows as hard as she could. But with the constant bouncing of Dan's jarring motion and the shadow figure's own speed, it was impossible to tell, even for her sight. "I don't know. Yet."

With that, she let loose her arrow. But it was even harder to aim than it was to see, and the shot went wild, flying off into the woods and striking against a random tree. Annabelle bit her lip, and hastily reloaded. "Shoot."

"Brandy!", shouted Dan, trying to pick up speed. He channeled all the Star he currently had within him, shooting his legs a boost of speed and jumping over a log. "Are you making shields?"

"Yes!", Brandy yelled back, and threw up her hand in front of herself to demonstrate. "I am!"

"Okay, good!", Dan shouted again, and tried to think of what to do next. "Don't stop!"

If he just kept running like this, there would be a good chance that the forest would run out soon. Once it did, there would be nowhere to go but the huge grassy field he thought he had seen up ahead. And once they were in such an open environment, whatever was chasing them would have to either retreat, or be blown to bits in an open confrontation. Either option was good. But such a thing would take time- time for whatever was chasing them to attack. And its attacks definitely seemed potent, to the point where a single good hit could seriously injure anyone in the group. Dan thought it might actually be more advantageous to switch to direct combat now, and just get it over with. So with a mighty bellow, he swept out one arm and shot a massive burst composed of all the STar he had within him at once. It took a lot out of him and sent him to his knees upon the ground, but the result was worth it. A huge wave of ground broke up in all directions, creating a flood of soil that made a tall ring around them. Everybody on Dan's shoulders almost fell off of them, and they could hear the surprised cries of their pursuers as a mound of dirt suddenly arose in front of them.

"Okay.", said Dan, and took some more breaths to cool down. "I think we lost them for a bit. We can just relax for a bit, hold on."

But even as he sat there, letting his muscles cool, he realized that he had forgotten to account for the specialty physics of the area. And that is why he was a little surprised when the sides of the mound collapsed almost instantly, boosting him and the group to the surface in a wave of dirt. The trees had been pushed aside by the burst of force, leaving them in a small, round clearing about the size of a Barracks.

"Oh.", said Dan, and sighed. He could never just catch a break. "Well then, I guess not."

Hardly even a second had gone by before they could once again hear the thing in the trees, circling the clearing like a shark circling fresh bait. They could see the pairs of eyes in the shadow- two eyes below, and two eyes up top. Although they did not know it, the Gunner was keeping his eyes buried into Dalli's back for now. And above all, they could smell the beast- the wolf Dalli was riding smelled like a bag of rotting meat, left out in the sun and mutated into something else. It was all Brandy could do not to just lean over and throw up.

"Stay up.", said Dan, leaning back in order to protect his group. "Eyes sharp. Don't let it get behind you."

As the thing turned, Dan turned with it. He knew from his training that the number one thing to never do with wild animals was to turn your back on them- and even though this may have not been a wild animal, the same words still rang just as true.

Where he stalked in the treeline, Dalli thought it might have been time to act. With one hand, he yanked sharply on the reigns, prompting Sasha to let out a vicious snarl. It may have seemed like a jerk move, but his bond with her was strong enough to do it, as with any other Rider. With his other hand, he hoisted a spear, took aim, and shot, right into the middle of the clearing and directly at Bubble's face.

"Woah!", shouted Brandy, the second she saw the spear emerge. She instantly went into Dash mode, her senses accelerating and the rest of the world slowing down. She took a look at the spear, performed some lightning calculations in her head, and saw exactly where the spear was going to hit. She grabbed Bubble and set her down a fair distance away from that line, pushing Annabelle out of the way too. And just as she did so, her Dash dropped, the world went back to normal speed, and the spear continued onwards, biting deep into yet another unfortunate tree.

"Fire!", Dan shouted, and Leon raised Hunter Killer from his sleeve. He pulled down on the trigger, and unleashed a hail of gunshot that spread across half the clearing's width, tearing bushes and dirt to bits. Yet even as the bullets made impact, he could hardly feel the damage they had dealt. Which could only mean one thing.

"He left.", said Leon, swinging around his wrist and bringing Hunter Killer back within him. "He's on the run. If we hurry now, we might have a chance to catch up."

"Oh!", shouted Dan, and flexed his arms. He bent down for everyone to jump on again, and immediately straightened up once he did so. "Then let's go!"

Song: I'm in Control

Dalli and Fearri wove in between the dark trees, not allowing themselves to hit even one. With the speed that Sasha was running at, such a collision would most likely prove fatal for all three of them. Fearri had no idea where they all were going- but Dalli had a plan.

"What, may I ask, are we doing?", asked Fearri, one hand on his hat and the other holding on to Dalli's shoulders for dear life. "Are we letting ourselves be chased?"

"No!", snapped Dalli, and looked to his side. He wanted to get some idea of where exactly he was before he began his plan. If he missed this, he wouldn't get a chance again. "Well, we are. For now. But not for long. Once I get my plan ready, we'll be the ones doing the chasing."

"We better.", said Fearri, taking a glance down at his golden guns that hung from his belt. "Otherwise, these boys might shoot before we have a target."

"Wha- these boys?", asked Dalli, tearing his trajectory off to one side sharply to avoid a hanging branch. "Are those what you call your guns?"

"Yes.", said Fearri, a little taken aback. "Don't you have a name for your spear?"

"No.", said Dalli, and shook his head back and forth, hardly even able to believe his ears. "Sasha is the name of my wolf, but I'm not gonna name my spear, man. That's just weird."

Fearri was a little unsure on how to respond to such a statement, so he just sat down, folded his arms, and waited for something to happen. Fortunately for him, he realized before the next bump that folding his arms would mean that he could no longer hang on. He quickly regrabbed Dalli's back and his hat, just as Sasha leapt over a mossy ditch. He gulped, as he realized just how easily he could have been flung off. "I see."

Dan kept on tearing through the forest, not even bothering to find his way between anything. Instead, a strong shockwave of pure force made a half-dome in front of him, pushing down anything that so much as dared to get in front of him. He let out a constant low bellow from the force of his breath, powering the protective stormfront. The group was struggling to hang on, but they were all managing for now- although Trevor was frustrated at his seeming uselessness in the situation. He hung onto Dan's back, randomly swinging his sword every few seconds.

"Come on!", yelled Leon, shooting yet another barrage of high-velocity metal into the woods. His interior Super meter didn't even so much as twitch- no damage had been dealt. "Why can't I hit him! He has to be somewhere!"

"Stop firing.", said Brandy, putting her hand on his gun. "He might be using your fire to keep on telling where we are."

"Really?", asked Leon, more than a hint of sarcasm sneaking in. "Cause I think that Dad stomping through the woods like an avalanche on legs would do a better job of that."

"Well-", Brandy said, and hissed in a breath. She supposed Leon was, technically, correct, but it was perhaps rude of him to say it like that. She would have to talk to him afterwards, once they had killed this current enemy.

"Annabelle!", Trevor shouted out of impatience, twisting his head up to look at her. "See anything yet?"

Annabelle looked forward, straining over Dan's shoulders to try and see the enemy. But she could barely see anything but what looked to be some sort of shape, doing something in the trees. Her eyesight could have detected it clearly, had it not been for the immense, almost unusual darkness that section of the woods held. And the constant jostling did nothing for her focus either. "I can't really see, but-"

In the few seconds that followed, several things happened. One was that Brandy had been so focused on thinking about Leon's response to her, that she had been forgetting to keep up the Dash shields she was supposed to. Another was that Annabelle tried to lean too far forward in order to see her quarry, and thus stood out as a clear target right on Dan's shoulder. The third thing was that a long, sharp spear came flying out of the woods at an incredibly high speed, right towards her, unblocked by Brandy, and impaled all the way through Annabelle's chest like a toothpick in a sandwich.

Annabelle spat out a huge spurt of blood, and was almost thrown off of Dan's shoulder. She lay there totally still on the ground, with absolutely no signs of struggle. Trevor screamed, the suddenness of the kill not yet sunken into his mind. Brandy screamed, absolutely horrified to see her friend cut down like that. Yet, curiously, Bubble did not scream. She merely looked at Annabelle's body, and tilted her hand and head. That in itself was curious- that Annabelle still had a body. Normally, a Troop would dissolve into Elixir once they were killed. And yet…

Dalli pumped his fist, and gave a loud whoop. "Yeah!", he shouted, and gave Fearri a fist bump. "I got one of them!"

The victory cry, of course, gave away his location. And as the real Annabelle, not the sneakily constructed clone that had been made by Bubble, revealed herself on top of Dan's head, she nocked an arrow, aimed, and let it fly.

"Guys!", she said, and whistled. Brandy and Trevor both looked up, and sighed in relief. "I'm okay."

"Good.", said Brandy, and started to gather Dash in her hand once more. Even if Annabelle was okay, she would not make that same mistake again. "Let's make sure that thing isn't."

Dalli's face twisted in shock, and he almost let go of the reigns. "What- but I killed her!", he yelled in frustration, and his expression became a ferocious scowl. "Fine. I'll do it again."

"No!", came a voice inside his head, and Dalli gasped in shock. The voice was one he recognized instantly as none other than Dragonlord Rakastamos. But he knew not to interrupt, as Rakastamos delivered his orders. "Get the girl.", he said, pointing forward at Brandy in Dalli's mind's eye. "The one with the mask."

"On it, sir.", said Dalli, with deadly seriousness. Then he grabbed another spear out of the air, pulled back and to the right on his reigns, and put his plan into action.

"We're running out of forest-", said Fearri, half a second before they all swung hard to the right. Sasha almost turned in a 90 degree angle, banking out of the chase and into the trees, turning back to get behind their pursuers. The force shut his mouth, which he decided not to open again until he saw what came through. This would most likely prove to be a good plan for him, as Dalli charged back towards the group, aiming to cut them off from behind.

"There isn't much forest left!", shouted Brandy, putting out her hand behind her. Blue light swirled within as she charged up a Dash swipe, ready to kill. "What do we do-"

Then she stopped talking, and her vision went to her right. For there, eye to eye with her, was a pair of glowing red eyes, and a pair of yellow ones a bit above that, staring right at her with a ferocity that bordered on animalistic.

She locked vision with them, shoving down the instinctual fear that appeared in her throat. She could see the faint outline of the Wolf Rider through the shadowed trees, his hand pulling on the reigns and the wolf's teeth slavoring with drool. She tightened her gaze, and gave a low, quiet snarl. The effect of it was to show her enemy that she was just as crazy as him, maybe even more- and that she was someone that absolutely nobody wanted to tangle with, especially not him. As if to articulate her point, she rotated her wrist to show a smear of chlorophyll- evidence of her victory over Emmara the Plant Witch.

Dalli snarled back, as did Sasha. He pushed a little bit harder on his reigns, and they took off deeper into the woods, out of Brandy's sight.

"There!", she yelled, pointing to where they had gone. "He's right there!"
"Shoot!", yelled Dan. He waited for a moment for somebody, preferably Leon, to attack- then realized what he had said. "I meant fire, not that I was frustrated!"

"Oh, sorry.", said Leon, and raised his gun. He began to fire directly where he had seen Brandy point, spreading a storm of bullets across the entire area. But he soon thought better of that, and instead swept his gun around in a wide half circle, strafing the whole treeline with a rain of metal. "I'm shooting now!"

"Good!", said Dan, and raised his own hands to fire. The Wolf Rider appeared to be incredibly agile- Dan could most likely only land his shots if he was tripped, or slowed down somehow. That, or he just got very, very lucky…

Dalli wheeled around in the woods, Fearri trying not to throw up from his spot in the back.
"Could we stop… moving around?", he asked, noticing that the glow on his guns had become rather intense. "It's… getting to me. I've always had a bit of a fragile constitution for things such as this, I'm afraid…"

"No.", said Dalli, and slapped Sasha on the side. She screeched, and bounced off towards the clearing again. "We're barely even getting started!"

As the team leaped, some dark magic leapt with them. And as they soared through the trees and into the air, leaves streaming from their explosive arrival, the cold blanket of a darkened sky went with them. The air behind them turned to that of night, allowing them to still conceal their appearance and help disguise their locations.

"Hey!", came the voice of Trevor from the back of Dan's shoulder, and he held up something in his hand. It appeared to be soft and white, as she squished it repeatedly between his fingers. "Catch!"

He threw the small item, Dalli instinctevely tried to dodge. But Trevor had anticipated the move, and the strange object stuck onto Sasha's fur. She snarled, and thrashed as she tried to get it off, but the white goo held fast.

"There.", he said, and ducked back down. "I just stuck some tracking gum onto him. It'll tell us where he is at all times."

Then he looked up again, and saw Dasha leap back into the woods, the tracking gum in a pile of torn out fur on the ground. There was a small amount of blood on the fur- but it would turn to Elixir before soon. Trevor scowled. "Oh, come on!"

Dan continued to build up the shot all that while, mentally preparing himself for the massive blast that it would no doubt create. It wouldn't matter how fast he moved, he wouldn't be able to escape this. "Come on…"

And then, Dalli burst forth in full bloom. His face was bent downwards into a scowl, the heavyset words of Rakastamos burning in his mind. "Get the girl."

Brandy's eyes widened, as she realized that he was heading straight for her. Dan was too busy charging and looking around that she realized she had no time to tell him where Dalli was coming from. Leon was facing the other way, as were Trevor and Annabelle. She knew she had no choice but to fend him off herself.

Or, at least, she thought. But to both her and Dalli's surprise, Dan suddenly whipped around, raised his fist, and surrounded it with a shining golden glow, ready to strike.
"ORA!", he shouted at the top of his sparkling lungs, and drove his fist directly into the ground.

There was a tremendous crack that sounded like the boom of a mountain breaking, and the entire clearing began to tip forward. For unknown to anyone else was the fact that the clearing they had been fighting in was in fact positioned right next to the side of the mountain, a huge outcropping hanging over empty space. And as he shattered the part of the ground that held it there, the entire clearing slowly tipped over, and began to slide down the hill.

"Woah!", shouted Dalli, and shot backwards. He almost would have fallen off of the sliding landmass, had he not shot out his arm and grabbed a nearby tree. Somehow, he managed to swing himself around, and nest himself and his two companions inside of one of the firs.

As the gigantic rocky sled continued down the hill, Dan dug in his feet. He grit his teeth and wrapped his arms around his back, making sure they were all there. There was Bubble, gripping to the fingers on his right hand like her life depended on it- which, of course, it did. There was Leon, still on his shoulder. Trevor and Annabelle were as close to each other as they could be without actually touching each other, on his shoulder blades. And Brandy-

Shoot, he thought, still feeling around for her. Shoot, where's Brandy?

"Here.", he heard Brandy say from the top of his head, and she gave a little wave as she looked down at him. "Don't worry, I'm here."

"Okay, good.", said Dan, and returned his attention to the sliding hill they were on that was beginning to break. "I still need you."

Dan slammed his fists into the ground, trying to get it to break apart. His group was all present and accounted for, and they were on his body. He knew he could survive it if the slide broke, and then everybody else would be able to as well. But their opponents might not.

"Dalli, I need to shoot!", shouted Fearri, struggling to be heard over the roar of the falling hill. "If I don't fire at something soon, my guns are going to overload, and then we'll both be in trouble!"

"Just wait until you have a clean shot!", Dalli snarled, wrapping his hand tighter around the branch they lay in. "You can shoot at them then!"

"I need to-", Fearri said again, attempting to express the severity of his situation, but a single glance from both Dalli and Sasha put a stop to that plan.

"Hey!", Dan bellowed, and blew a burst of air from his nostrils that flattened the grass. "Whoever's been attacking us, come out and fight, you coward!"

"Yeah!", shouted Bubble, with a burst of sudden ferocity. "How about you fight back!"

In response, something came flying out of the woods. But it was not another insult, nor even Dalli himself. Instead, it was another spear, aimed directly at Bubble's head. It was a powerful, well aimed throw, perfectly adjusted to overcome the falling they were all experiencing. But it was nowhere near powerful enough to overcome Dan's grasp, as he reached out, caught it with two fingers, and threw it back even harder than the force used to deliver it.

The spear went straight through the treeline like a toothpick through wet paper, punching out through the other side in a heartbeat. It kept on going, and vanished into the rocky trail below. Unfortunately, however, all it hit were the trees. Dalli remained unharmed.

"That's not fighting, you idiot!", Dan shouted again, trying to goad his enemy into appearing. "Try something real this time!"

The angle of the falling clearing began to level out, and Dan sensed they were reaching the end of the fall. He tensed himself, and prepared to strike- when he suddenly felt Brandy leap off of his shoulder. He saw her land on the dirt, slightly jumping up and down to stop herself from falling off.

"Brandy?", asked Dan. "What are you-"

"Don't worry.", she said, with a fierce expression on her face. "I got this."

And somehow, Dan knew that she did.

At last, the slab of land stopped falling. It slid along the bottom of the canyon with a loud, painful screech, eventually coming to a stop just up against another copse of trees. But even though the ride had finished, the passengers were nowhere near ready to get off.

Dalli finally emerged from the woods once more, holding a spear aloft. He did not come out in any dramatic fashion- no, he came out running. Sasha tore off across the ground as fast as she could, and Dalli took aim directly at Brandy. Everyone watched, as they were too slow or not going to interfere with what followed.

Brandy raised her hand, which was still filled with a Dash aura, ready to cleave the Wolf Rider in two. But Dalli had other plans, even as she yelled and swiped her hands downwards, through the spot where he was going to be in a second.

They both flashed past each other, both attacks far too fast for most eyes to see. A few seconds later, Brandy spat out a huge burst of blood. A triplet of tears opened up in the back of her tunic, and she was thrown forward, right into Dan's arms.

"Yes!", Dalli shouted, and pumped his fists into the air. "I did it!"

Sasha's attack had managed to cut several gashes open in Brandy's back. She howled, even as Brandy screamed. "I took the girl down, my lord- just like you asked!"

Then he realized something. He realized it as he looked at his hands, trying to make gestures of his victory. Then he screamed, as the horror of what had just been done to him sunk in.

"My- my hands!", he screamed, and stared at his empty, bloodless stumps. "What happened to my hands?"

"Ha...ha...ha…", came the dazed voice of Brandy, who was now being picked up by Dan, who was concentrating energy to fire. She held up her shaking hands, which now contained the detached and bleeding stumps of Dalli's. "I got… I got… I got your hands!"

Dalli's eyes widened, as he saw a tree coming at him at high speeds. His initial thoughts were to try and protect himself, but he saw that there was no way he could block the blow, not with his hands missing. So he just tried to dodge-

And was unsuccessful. The branch sliced right into his neck, taking his head off at the shoulders. He sprayed into Elixir all across the clearing, Sasha giving a low roar of anguish as her rider was cut down.

"Dang it!", shouted Dan, and let down his hands. There was still a great deal of energy within them, and he did not want it to go to waste. But, of course, one should always be wary of what they wish for.

Brandy's eyes widened in shock, as she saw Fearri suddenly jump from Sasha's back. He pulled out his two guns in midair, took aim right at Dan, and closed one eye.

"Dan!", she shouted, trying to jump in front of the blow. "Look out!"
"Wait, what-", said Dan- and then Fearri at last pulled the trigger on his guns, filling the clearing with the sound of clinking metal and explosions coming from every direction at once.

A blast of pure, concentrated gunfire erupted from Fearri's twin guns like the blast of a volcano. The full, cumulative strength of the guns tore through the air, hit Dan's torso armor, and continued straight through. Almost all of the bullets that Fearri had fired shot through Dan's armor and ended up going through even his skin, and some of his muscles. A lucky few even made it all the way through his muscles, the magically enhanced super bullets going all the way to his lungs.

Dan coughed up a spurt of blood, and his entire body suddenly tensed. His face twisted into one of pain, as he felt his lungs get impaled by the storm of bullets. He almost fell forward onto his knees, but he managed to keep himself upright. It hurt like nothing he had quite felt before, his wound. It was enough to make him angry. Very, very, angry…

Fearri landed on the other side of a small stone arch, and thought to himself. He had managed to damage the big one quite a lot. And now, once he gave his guns time to regenerate their shots, perhaps he could-

"Hey!", he heard Dan bellow, and Fearri nearly dropped his guns. He looked up in a panic, only to see an enraged Dan, towering high above him. There was hardly even time to aim, before Dan took hold of his head, took hold of his feet, pulled hard on both of them, and then flung the pieces in opposite directions. They both turned into Elixir about a second later, or about 500 feet away from where he had thrown it, spattering the group with well deserved purple rain. For Brandy and Dan, at that point, spilling Elixir all over themselves was no longer something done at parties. No, this time- it meant yet another successful kll.

"There.", Dan breathed, hatred staining his voice. "That's over with."

Everyone stood there for a moment, staring at the carnage that spread across the entire clearing. Dalli and his wolf had been splattered across the tree, Bubble observing the purple puddle with a mild curiosity. The line of Elixir that had been Fearri was still slowly settling onto the ground, bits of it still in the air. And a line of blood dripped from Dan, the hole in his torso torn open from the Gunner's maximum-powered blasts.

"Dan…", Brandy murmured, Dashing to his side. She hopped up on to his shoulder and put her hands on the wound, causing Dan to grimace a little bit. But he bore it, as she looked him over and around, becoming increasingly worried as she did so. The hole had gone straight through his cracked armor like paper, and punctured right into his lungs. It hadn't hit any vitals other than that- his condition would most likely not grow any worse. He was, however, still badly hurt.

"This isn't good.", said Brandy, turning around to face the rest of the group. Her face was etched with worry, and a little bit of panic. Stray bits of Dash energy flickered off of her, as she was unable to contain it. "Does anyone have any Heal on them?"

"Uhh…", said Trevor and Annabelle in unison, as they both searched through their pockets. Both Bubble and Leon knew full well they had none, so they didn't even bother.

"I have some.", said Annabelle, and lifted up a standard-sized bottle. "It's just one use, but-"

"Okay, great.", said Brandy, having Dashed down, taken the bottle, and Dashed back up within a second. She poured it directly onto the wound, rubbing the base of Dan's neck as she did so.

The Heal washed over the puncture, slowly beginning to knit it closed. Blood stopped flowing, and torn muscle was set back into place. But, unfortunately, there was not nearly enough to heal the damage up fully. Dan was very large, and the bottle was made for regular size troops. All it did was reduce the hole to half its size, and cease the flow of blood. But there was still a hole in his body, and Brandy could hear the way Dan's damaged lung rippled with every breath.

"That was our last bottle of Heal, by the way.", said Annabelle, with a bite of her lip. "We'll have to be more careful from here on out."

"Ah, shoot.", said Dan, and slowly got up. He let Brandy clamber up onto his shoulder, and tried an experimental deep breath in. But as he tried to turn the air into Star, all he could manage from one working lung was a weakened line of golden light.

"And I can't really use Star.", he said, with a sigh. "So that's something else."

Brandy threw herself against Dan's head, trying to calm herself down. "That's bad."

"Yeah, but it's nothing we can't handle.", said Dan, rubbing her with his head. "Right?"

"No, I mean that it's really, really bad.", said Brandy, grabbing at his beard. "If you can't use Star, there goes your main weapon. And you're by far the strongest member of our team. And that means that-"

"Rotation.", said Dan, flicking his finger into the air. "I still have Rotation. Not to mention-"

He flexed his arms, the muscles swelling and shifting from underneath his torn armor. "I still have these! And Leon's got his weapons, and you've got yours, and Bubble has her illusions, and Trevor and Annabelle have theirs. So don't worry, honey. I may not be able to use Star at the moment, but believe me. We are far from defenseless."

"Yeah.", said Brandy, taking this information in. It did calm her down- even if she didn't always want to admit it, her emotions were somewhat easily swayed. "I see that we-"

Then, they all heard the sound of a rolling vehicle up ahead, on wooden wheels. Brandy paused mid sentence, to see what was coming up the trail.

It appeared to be a small wooden cart, wheeling an entire Air Defense on top of it. It was attended by a minimum crew of 4 Goblins. They seemed almost not to even notice the group at first, so tired were they from their constant walking.

But as Dan and Brandy looked at them, they saw some rather interesting things. One was the mark on both the Goblins and the Air Defense itself, that of the head of a menacing horned Dragon. The other was the design of the Air Defense, the rockets seeming the perfect ammunition to take down a Balloon. They put two and two together, and grinned.

Song: Stardust Crusaders

"Well, looks like we found them, honey.", said Dan, and cracked his knuckles. "What do you wanna do about it?"

"Hmm…", said Brandy, remembering just how painful that impact with the Air Defense's rockets had been for her. "How about we revoke their life privileges? Just as a special treat…"

"Sounds good to me.", said Dan, and began to spin around one finger. Light blue energy started to crackle around it, in odd geometric shapes that were everything from a nonagon to a perfect square. "And let's do it in a very certain way…"

"What's that?", Brandy asked, almost thinking what Dan was thinking. "I wanna hear."

Their dialogue was playful, almost rhetorical in its manner. But their combined anger towards the Goblins that had taken down their Balloon was immense, and this was the best way to take it out. And as they talked, the Goblins had already stopped, and were currently cowering before the two in terror. They spoke things in desperate Gobbish and very broken Common, but they were, of course, totally ignored.

"Charge yourself up.", said Dan, slowly moving one Rotation-infused finger. "Let's get you spinning."

"Yes, sir.", said Brandy, giving a playful salute. She concentrated, and filled herself with Dash energy, glowing a bright blue and slight silver. Once Dan's finger touched her, she began to suddenly spin around at high speed, becoming a shining cyclone that immediately took off towards the Goblins like a loose Tornado.

The Goblins all screamed, and tried to dive out of the way of the whirling dervish that was Brandy. But her speed was far too much, and the air swirled around her, sucking the Goblins into her path of attack. Her arms, covered in Dash and augmented by Rotation, tore the head off of one of the Goblins, sending his body flying into the woods before splattering into a purple puddle. Another one of her limbs, most likely an arm, slashed the leg off of a second Goblin, and he screamed before meeting the same fate as the first. Finally, a spinning burst of energy shot outwards from her, and sliced the rest in half. They didn't even have time to put their pain into words before they too dissolved, splattering the base of the air defense with thin Elixir.

Brandy dropped out of her cyclone, spinning around a few times from the momentum. She almost fell onto the ground, choosing instead to collapse onto the side of the Air Defense. She looked up, almost threw up, and closed her eyes.

"Woah. Uh.", she said, trying to keep herself on her feet. "That was super fun, but let's not ever do that again. Okay honey?"

Dan smiled, and gently reached over. He put a finger on Brandy's back, gently rubbing to help keep the nausea down. "Okay. I won't spin you again."

Brandy breathed out her gratitude, and her torso spasmed. She wrapped her arms around Dan's hand, trying to keep from throwing up. "Sorry, I just gotta-"

Dan nodded, understanding. He winced a little bit, as Brandy turned her head to one side, Dashed out of his grip and into a bush, and threw up. He thought that even though she was vomiting, she still looked rather cute.

Song: Wind in the Wilderness

After about ten seconds, Brandy stood up, wiped her mouth on a broad umbrella leaf, and turned back to the group. "Alright.", she said, stumbling on her feet a bit. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to…", said Trevor, holding aloft his map. He looked at it, squinted, turned it at a 90 degree angle, then nodded. "To the Great Clashcrush River. Northwest of here."

Brandy started to say something, but Dan cut her off without realizing it. "Hold on.", he said as he took a closer look at the Air Defense. "I wanna take a closer look at this thing. See if there's anything we can use it for."

He strode around the Air Defense, scanning it with intense eyes. It was a fairly standard model- level 8, black and orange stripes on the rockets, attached to the wheeled platform via thick rope. The only modifications that had been added to it was the large Mark of Rakastamos on the front, and several instances of Goblin Graffiti on the sides. But other than that, it was normal.

Dan frowned, and grabbed hold of one of the rockets. With a sharp yank, he broke it off, and ran his gaze alongside it. "Hmm… this could be useful."

He saw out of the corner of his eye Annabelle staring at it, and slowly held it down to her. "What do you think, Annabelle? Do you think you could use it?"

It was Annabelle's turn to stare at it, taking in the bizarre Goblin markings that adorned its side. She tried to imagine herself wielding such a strange weapon in battle- far different from her regular bow and arrow. Perhaps she could ride it, raining fire from above as she soared over the combat. Or perhaps- perhaps she could wear one on her shoulder like a launcher, spreading huge splash at targets. The impact could knock her back, she thought. But she could use that to her advantage- she could perhaps dodge targets. She could even sort of picture it now, as she ran into battle, supporting everybody else with her brand new weapon. But she would have to be called something else. She could evolve from Annabelle the Archer, and become-

"No.", she said, and shook her head. "I just realized that it's not my standard ammunition. Once I fire that, it's gone."

"Oh.", said Dan, and slung it into his pocket. "I suppose you're right… but we should still take them. Just in case."

"Dad.", said Leon, suddenly appearing in front of him. "Why are we taking those."

"Because they'd be useful.", said Dan. "A single hit from one of those almost destroyed the Ballon that we were in. That's a lot of damage if we run into a wild Dragon or something."

"Yeah…", said Leon, and took a cautious look at the rocket. "And we'll be reminded that it took us down every time we see it. We'll be reminded that we almost lost Mom."

Dan blinked, only now realizing this for some reason. He took another look at the rockets, now seeming a whole lot heavier in his hands. His face grew dark, as he whispered.

"Shoot, kid.", he muttered under his breath. He tossed the rocket aside, and it rolled underneath a rock, coming to rest out of sight. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Woah, don't be-", said Leon, when Bubble suddenly interjected herself and her maniac energy into the conversation. "What?", she screamed, clambering up onto Dan's arm. "Wild Dragons? Out there? For real?"

"Yep. Real wild Dragons.", said Dan, and Leon backed up towards Brandy, locking arms with her. He looked up into the sky, and began to roll his lollipop around in his mouth.

"Dragons are real?", asked Bubble, her mouth dropping open in wild-eyed wonder. "I didn't know that."

Dan gave her a look. It wasn't a stern look, nor a strange one. It wasn't really one that could be described by most normal means- it was merely his version of the infamous The Look. Most Troops developed some form of it later in their life, especially when they had become parents.

"Yes.", he said, flatly. "Our entire quest here is to go defeat a Dragon. Did you not-"

"Quest?", asked Bubble, her eyes lighting up. She jumped up onto Dan's shoulder, apparently trying to imitate Brandy. She stuck her arm out, and yelled. "We're on a quest!"

"Yes…", said Dan, and smiled. "We are."

He didn't need to say anything. His leadership over the group at that point had gotten to the point where he just needed to start walking, and everyone else would follow him. And that's exactly what they did- the whole group started to follow them, out of the woods, and into the clearing. A tall mountain waited up ahead, and the other side was their destination- the legendary and mighty Clashcrush River.

"Trevor.", said Brandy, still in locked arms of comfort with Leon. "You're the animal expert, right?"

"Uhh… yes.", said Trevor, straightening up and trying his best to look confident. "I am."

"Great.", said Brandy, and pointed towards the mountain. "What do you think we'll see over there?"

"Uh..", said Trevor, and scratched his head. He tried to remember his education, where he and his group of federal troops had learned about what lived in the area that he now found himself in. But they had been a while ago, in a weird class, and he had mostly put his energy into partying during that time instead of studying. "Let me think."
Then, all of a sudden, he remembered. But he held his tongue, as he thought about it some more. His memory seemed to be failing him- those didn't really exist. Did they? And yet, he remembered it all the same. Remembered hearing about just what lived there.
"Squid- I mean, butterflies.", he blurted out, almost falling over the first word out of nervousness. "Deer. Eagles. Bears, most likely. And… Great Apes."

"Great apes?", asked Brandy. "What are those?"

Trevor swallowed, out of nervousness. All the tales he had heard of Great Apes were those of horror- how they killed without reason, how their sheer physical might equaled that of Golems and Pekkas. How even the fabled Yetis of the high mountains avoided conflict with them. He felt a bit of fear touch his heart, and he shivered even in the noonday sun. "Big things. Things that aren't very nice. Let us hope we do not run into them."

"Hm.", said Brandy, and once again looked straight ahead. It was a long way towards their target, and she did not want to get distracted. "Okay."

And so they continued their journey, all the way towards fate.

Song: Propaganda

About an hour or so after that, there was a valley not far away from where their group was. It was about 15 miles in fact, or as the Balloon flies. They were separated by a particularly ferocious range of mountains, a river, and of course, several dozen villages. But it was not what it took to get to that valley that was important- no, it was what was within it. In the far corner of the small valley was an ancient building, built into the ground, so deeply structured within it that it had practically become a geological structure itself. But deeper still were the knowledge and secrets contained within, dusty scrolls that dated far, far back, almost farther than even history itself. The writings within contained everything from the very beginning of history to battle records from only a week ago, stored at the very front and top. No one knew who built such a place- only that it had been mostly lost to time. Lost, that is, except for a very select few. One of those select few was riding there now, on a mechanical horse of his own making. And his name was Askari.

Along the grassy plains he rode, the pistons and gears of his robotic steed pumping at maximum strength. By the calculations running around in his wired brain, he was reaching speeds of up to 130 miles per hour. Not good enough, he thought to himself, and gently adjusted a lever on the horse's side. I need to go faster.

Once the lever was pressed, a small burst of magical pressure was unleashed into the horse's system, and it began to speed up. The legs on the contraption went faster and faster, blowing along the grass at insane speed, until Askari's internal speedometer read 185 miles per hour.

"Good.", he said, his voice undercut with a distinctly mechanical edge. "That'll do it."

He smiled to himself, as he felt his handiwork boost him forward. He had built the horse himself, once he realized that he needed to travel. And now that work was paying off. The science of the Ivory Tower, after all, was indeed the World's Finest.

He looked up ahead, and tapped the side of his head. His eyes zoomed in where he was looking, and his vision increased a hundred fold from the multiple lenses and layers within them. His target at last came into view- an unassuming, grassy hill that seemed of no importance. But he knew different, for this was the fabled entrance to the mighty Vault of Knowledge. There he would find the secret on how to reinvent his ancestor's greatest weapon, and the knowledge on how to truly bring Rakastamos down for good. But it was a rather deep vault- it would most likely take a great degree of searching. He knew it would take most of the day, so he had left his assistant in charge of the Silver Tower while he was away. Isaac will do a good job, he thought, and slowly dialed back the speed on his horse. He didn't want to destroy the vault's entrance by running into it. He's a good Prince.

As he squeezed his heels on the horse's sides, bringing it skidding to a stop along the grass, Askari dialed back his eyes. He detached himself from his horse and jumped down onto the grass, one hand automatically rifling through his pocket for the Key to the Vault. His horse, now not in use, sat down on the grass, folded itself up into a cube, and went to sleep. Askari could summon it again when he needed it, at a moment's notice. As Askari strode towards the Vault, he finally found the Key. His hand twisted in its socket, as he brought it up, ready to use it- when he suddenly stopped. Because there, in his way, was a monster.

It stood about 6 or so feet tall, a few inches taller than Askari. It was a rather simple design, although it was most likely deceptive. Two blank arms stuck out from either side, along with two stocky legs. A thin mouth ran along its head, underneath two lightbulbs of eyes. It was entirely metal, save for one thing- a multicolored Jester's cap, perched on top of its head.

"Ask..ari..", it rasped, its toxic breathing coated with malice and reeking of hate. "You...die…"

Song: Evil Buu

"Oh?", asked Askari, tucking the key back into his pocket. A highly detailed lens popped down in front of his eye, projecting a thin ray of light all over the robot. It took in as much information as it possibly could, retreated back into Askari's head, and delivered the information directly to his brain. "And just what is supposed to make me do that?"

"I am…", said the robot, and took a single, stuttering lurch forward. "I was… designed to kill you. I will not… fail…"

Askari took one look at the robot, and its total lack of either weapons or defenses. "Really? I doubt you could kill even a Goblin, with that pathetic structure of yours. And somehow, in your wildest dreams, you think you could have managed to best me."

"Ha...ha…", said the robot, and scratched at its head. "You're… funny. My master would… like you. It's a pity I have to...kill you…"

"It's not a pity, really.", said Askari, and finished reading the information his probe had given him. This was known as a Jesterbot- specifically, the third version. It seemed to have no weapons, at least from visual cues. But Askari of all people knew that appearances could be deceiving- his certainly was. As he finished his taunt, his hands began to turn into weapons, and he narrowed his eyes in ferocity. "Because you won't kill me."
"Oh… really?", asked the Jesterbot, and smiled. "How I am now… that is… the joke. But… but this is…"

He stood up, suddenly at his full height of 6 feet. His torso unscrewed, propelling him to even greater heights. Askari watched in surprise as the Jesterbot's upper body spun around on a massive screw, revealing stacks upon stacks of guns that had been hidden. Each one of its hands split open to reveal more, each barrel on the end of a long, tentacle-like appendage. Two holes opened up on either side of both of its feet, and a long gun stuck out from both of them, swiveling around to point at Askari. A cannon shot out of the top of its head, aimed straight forward, and began to gather energy. Finally, two long limbs jutted out from both sides of its spine, the ends covered in sharp blades ,and began to spin like a chainsaw.

"Is the punchline!", shouted the Jesterbot 3.0, the rasping in his voice suddenly gone. "Death!"

Askari smiled, and took a deep breath. His own torso opened up to reveal an entire menu of guns and blasters, each of them a different color, each of them a different effect. His hands spun around, his fingers extending to form into ammo clips. He clenched his palms, as the long, spotted barrels of machine guns extended out of his wrists. Each of his shoulders split open, a multi-loaded rocket launcher extending from both of them. The lenses on his eyes turned red, their laser vision now fully online. And as a finishing touch, the jet soles on his feet activated, sending him into the air for a short second before he fell back down onto the ground. "Well, you were right about one thing.", he said, and grinned. There was a loud ratcheting sound as all of his weapons were filled with ammo, and he struck a triumphant pose. "You are a joke!"

The two gun-laden living weapons stared at each other, both ready to unleash their immense firepower at a moment's notice. But the Jesterbot hesitated to fire. It knew that Askari easily possessed the power to kill it, but was not quite sure if it had enough strength to truly take down Askari. It had a multitude, perhaps even an overkill of weapons, but the truly insane grin on Askari's face told him there was no way he didn't have a surprise up his sleeves. One that would most likely explode.

"Attack, you idiot!", the Jesterbot heard within his head, and he startled at the unmistakable voice of his master. "This is essential to the master's plan! We have to kill Askari!"
"Right-", the Jesterbot began, then somehow sensed a shock of fear running down its robotic spine. For Askari had already begun to fire.

A hail of bullets shot out from Askari's main guns, almost knocking him back from the sheer force of the blasts. Hundreds of spent bullet casings dropped from his hands and chest, as the air between him and the Jesterbot thickened with sharp bits of metal. They had almost hit their target, when the Jesterbot 3.0 retaliated with a few dozen guns of his own.

Another overload of volleys erupted from all his blasters, colliding somehow in midair with Askari's. For every bullet that one of them fired, there was another coming up to meet it. Even though they both shot hundreds of bullets every second, the pure destructive force met in the middle of the space between them, like two opposing winds. There soon became three piles of spent bullets- one in front of Askari, one to the side of the Jesterbot, and one in the middle, all three of them growing larger by the second. The sound was almost that of a rock tumbler on Rage, or a thousand gears all turning at once. Smoke rose from both of them like wildfire, mixing up above in the air, above where their relentless, ceaseless gunfire met.

"It appears… we are equal.", breathed out the Jesterbot, making his voice louder so he could be heard over the deafening thunder of their weapons. "My master built me to be your equal, and this is proof of that."

"You?", asked Askari, and laughed. "My equal. That is ridiculous. How could anyone be the equal of…"

He moved his hands slightly, and his ribs shot outwards from his body to reveal another pair of guns. He grinned manically, and the guns began to fire. "The world's greatest?"

The added firepower mixed with Askari's current flow of bullets, and the Jesterbot was forced back. It let out an alarmed beep, as its system's automatic sensors let it helpfully know that it was about to be overwhelmed. Its vision started to turn red, as bullets leaked through the stalemate, puncturing into its metal skin. Askari continued to laugh, as smoke rose from the Jesterbot's body.

"The world's greatest?", asked the Jesterbot, and let its secondary procedures take place. A burst of processing power erupted from deep within it, and its guns shifted into second gear. More bullets came spraying out, enough to match Askari's hidden guns. "Is that what you fancy yourself? But can the world's greatest… do this?"

A small sensor popped out of Askari's head, and let a bright red floodlight fall over his body. It lingered there for a few seconds before popping back in, reading his body, his abilities, and how he worked. But once it did eventually retreat back into him, the Jesterbot smiled.

"No.", said the Jesterbot, and the process took full effect. An exact copy of all of Askari's weapons, even the ones he had been hiding, appeared somewhere on the Jesterbot's body. He sprouted two additional arms, each with three blazing barrels. His chest widened and heightened, the complex elemental guns taking shape. From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, the Jesterbot was now bristling with twice as much weaponry as he had before. He lowered all his guns, and took aim. "I didn't think so."

"You're right.", Askari said, and flipped back a single small gun on the top of his wrist. "I can't do that- but I can do something better."

"What?", the Jesterbot asked. But before he could do anything else, he was suddenly enveloped with a bright blue light, all across his body, that froze him in place and stopped him from doing or moving anything. He tried to scream, but he could not do even that. And as the magisciencal field pushed down on him, he could feel somehow… temporal.

"There you go.", said Askari, and let his wrist fall. The weapons he had revealed slowly retreated back into him, as he watched the Jesterbot begin to fade away from reality. "See where that takes you. My guess? About sometime tomorrow. Have fun."

He didn't even look at the Jesterbot as he left, as it spun around, turned completely blue, and vanished into thin air. He kept on walking towards the Vault of Knowledge- that is, until he remembered the side effect of his Temporal Gun. He let his right hand fall open into a machine gun, turned around, and immediately opened fire on the injured figure that came stumbling out. The Jesterbot 4.0 barely even had time to shout in pain before its mysterious body was ripped into shreds by Askari's bullet rain, having not been made for such an opponent. Askari looked at it as it fell, broke open into parts, then dissolved into strange Elixir.

"Hmph.", he said, as he kept on walking towards the Vault. "I should probably warn somebody about that. Looks like it came tomorrow."

Song: Approach

Once Askari reached the door, he slithered his hand into his pocket once again. A single finger extracted the key, and he spun his hand around on his wrist to bring it up and around to the lock. With a single fast motion, the key was inserted and turned, and the age-old door ever so slowly creaked open. Hundreds of years of moss and dirt fell off and crumbled into dust, the 15 foot thick doors just barely being pushed open by Askari's mechanical strength.

Not a single source of light illuminated the dark halls, as Askari entered the vault. All was dark, the final torches having been burned apart and the last bioluminescence having gone dim hundreds of years prior. But that was not an obstacle for one such as Askari- he merely swung his hand around, the metal nanobots within it transforming into a flashlight within moments. He pointed the barrel directly at the part of the room where the darkness was thickest, formed his other hand into a ready and loaded gun, and pulled the trigger.

The beam of light fell across the floor, and landed on- nothing. Nothing, really, just some small mice, bugs, and a Hog that seemed totally lost and utterly confused. But after a few seconds of staring at Askari in primitive befuddlement, long after its companions had left, it turned around and ran, vanishing into the dark.

"Light switch…", Askari muttered, flicking his hands along the wall, his arms extending to great lengths. "Come on, I knew there was a light switch around her somewhere… where is it?"

After a few more seconds of searching, he finally found the light switch. His face lit up in triumph as he flicked it, then fell again as it too failed to turn on. He scowled and turned away from the wall, merely buffing up his flashlight another 100 or so lumens. "Never mind."

Askari ran his finger along the length of the bookshelves, carefully searching for a special book. He couldn't quite remember the name of the volume, but he would most likely remember it when he saw it- at least, he hoped. It was an extraordinarily ancient book, having been penned, reportedly, by the great Wizard Askari the 5th. In it were all the secrets of the world's hidden places and hidden things, from what Ice Golems did in their spare times to what was the key to defeating Rakastamos. His search grew more and more frantic, as his repeated ventures into the bookshelves continued to turn up no new results. "Come on… where is it?"

He flung a few dozen or so books in one direction, and grabbed another dozen or so with his hands. "It's got to be here somewhere. Come on, come on, come on-"

Then his seeking nail caught on something, and he startled. But after lifting up his hand and revealing just what had cut him, he realized that he had just struck exactly what kind of Gold that he had been looking for. His eyes and hands lit up in excitement, and he laughed softly to himself. "Excellent…"

He put down the book on a nearby reading table, with a loud crack. The book itself was probably somewhere around 6 feet across, most likely a few hundred pounds. He saw the cover, and laughed- it held two things. One was a picture of a massive red and gold dragon, coiled up in the art of the second dimension. The other was the words below that- "Rakastamos."

"A guide.", it said in shorter, smaller, weaker letters below that, but Askari did not care. This was the book that he remembered.

"Yes…", he said, and started to skim through the pages. "This is what I needed."

The book almost glowed, with pages as thick and malleable as solid gold. In fact, as Rakastamos looked closer, he could see that they were in fact gold- written upon with ink of pure silver and melted ruby. He reconsidered his previous estimate, and realized that the book had to weigh, at the very least, thousands of pounds. Most likely around 6.

He turned the page, and drank in the words in front of him. The book seemed to begin with the early bits of Rakastamos's life- how he was the second eldest born, how he was the physically largest, how he may have been the most powerful at one time. And especially, above all, how he longed to have that power back. According to the beyond ancient text, there was a time where he very nearly approached the incalculable might of even perhaps the Primal Dragon himself. But when he had been about to impart his vision of a Dragon-only society on the world, he was struck down by a force that included Askari's very own ancestor.

"Yes, yes, I already know all this.", growled Askari, flipping the pages faster. "Come on book, give me something new."

As he flipped the pages, they spun by in a beautiful golden miasma of thick metal sheets, and the most expensive ink ever used. But one page stuck out from the rest, slapping against Askari's thumb and causing him to stop flipping. Once he took even a single look at the page, he realized why.

"Oh, Il'kka…", he whispered to himself, the name of the one highest god. "Now this is what I was looking for."

Song: Prelude to a Comeback

There, in front of him, dancing across his vision, was a fully body chart of Rakastamos. Every single bit of him, every claw, every scale, every tooth. The picture was done up in beautiful quality- but that was not why he stared in triumph. That was brought upon by the presence of the chart's legend, detailing the location of all of the Dragonlord's weak points.

"Yes… yes…", he said to himself, and quickly tapped his eye. His vision spread across the entire 12 foot page, taking in every detail and committing it all to memory. A missing scale right in the middle of his throat, torn out centuries ago in a sibling spat? Noted. A scar on his left wing, directly where the muscle of his wing and the muscle of his back met? Written.

A bundle of nerves at the base of his tail, where an otherwise annoying attack may prove aggravating? Observed and committed to his flawless mechanical memory.

"This is perfect…", he said, and straightened up. He waited a few seconds for his eye to finish analyzing and copying down the picture in its entirety, before he would send it to his agents elsewhere. "The Vault of Knowledge really was worth the trip."

He almost thought about going back, before his eye finished the subroutine and slowly, slyly, slinked back to stare at the bookshelves. He thought for another moment, then thought about what invaluable knowledge could certainly be gained from staying there and reading…

As quick as a flash, he was once again running in between the bookshelves. He selected a random tome from the dusty shelf, opened it to a random page, and began to read.

"The perfect Skeleton spell…", he muttered, and raised an eyebrow. "Five hours? This book must be quite old. Almost as old as the Arenas, I'd imagine…"

He skimmed across the book to another page, and almost laughed. "Why, I'd almost forgotten that Spells once used Gold to be brewed. That was a dark time indeed."

Still laughing to himself, he put the book back on the shelf. But as he did so, he noticed a rather interesting looking volume, standing open, protected by a glass shield. If Askari looked closely, he thought he could just barely make out text inscribed on the glass.

THE BOOK OF MODERN TRUTHS, it read on the inscription, a mysterious light coming from within the glass display case. Simply ask it a question, and THE WONDROUS BOOK will answer.

"Hmmm…", said Askari, standing in front of the display case and scratching his chin with a sharp blade he had made out of his fingernail. "That could be useful indeed."

Just as he thought up a question to ask it, he felt his communicator ringing in his ear. He made a tiny mental gesture and answered it, the voice on the other end sounding absolutely relieved to hear him.

"Askari?", he asked, voice on the verge of panicking. "Where are you? What have you found out?"

"I found the weak points of Rakastamos.", said Askari, tapping furiously on his eye in order to send the messages. That part of it had remained manual, for whatever reason. "I'm sending the image files to you right now. You should get them."

"Right…", said the man on the other end. "And I need some information, sir. What teams are currently heading towards Rakastamos?"

Askari frowned, for he did not know. He had heard that there had been random teams of travelers making their way into the center of the continent in order to battle Rakastamos, but he had not heard of any of them with names. He turned towards the book, now thinking again of what his questions could be. "Hmmm… just a second."

"Certainly.", said the man on the other end, and Askari nodded, despite his conversation partner not being able to see it. He leaned in towards the book, and asked his question.

"How many teams or groups are headed for Rakastamos in an attempt to kill him?"

The pages startled, almost blinked, in a way, then sank back down onto the book. It began to rapidly flip pages, until it fell open to a single page, a small amount of text written on it.

"There are currently 14 known teams of Troops, Brawlers, and etcetera headed that way on that course for that goal.", it said, and began once again, to slowly cycle through broadcasted emotions.

"Okay...,", sad Askari, stroking his chin. "And which one is the closest?"

"The closest is one headed by a Princess named Emily.", said the Book, and began to flip through pages once again. "She and her kill squad are only about 15 miles away."

"Okay, okay...,", said Askari, and pointed at The Book. "And which team has the strongest members?"
The book thought for a moment, appearing to drop inanimate once again. But after a few seconds, it picked itself up, and once again began to slowly flip its pages.

"That would be a group headed by a Mega Knight named Dan.", said the Book, the walls of the glass beginning to become misty for some reason. "He is with a Bandit, a Barbarian, an Archer, a Leon, and something that I do not recognize."

"What do you mean you don't recognize?", asked Askari. "You're the book of knowledge, how do you not know?"

"I do not know. That is all I will say on the matter", said the Book matter of factly, and continued on with the answer to his previous question. "He appears to be a Star user of quite prodigious strength. And the girl, the Bandit, has a Stand."

In that instant, before the Book had even started speaking, Askari looked up at it in sheer disbelief. But as he thought more about the situation at hand, his disbelief turned to awe.

Then it turned to planning and plotting, as the gears in his head turned. "Stand…"

He slapped his hand on the Desk of the Book, and yelled with all the fury and authority he could possibly muster. "Then tell me."

"Tell you what?", asked the Book, with its strange calmness. "I already-"

"That group!", shouted Askari, gesturing to the hologram of the group. "I need to know."

He stared right into the pages of the Book, a multitude of weaponry popping out of him on sheer instinct. But this was far more than just instinct for him. His eyes looked crazy, as he was on the beginning of a hunt for help. "Where are they now?"

Song: Calm Sightseeing

The mentioned group was in a rather thin field, sandwiched directly between two deep cliffs. They were still a bit tired from their defeat of the Wolf Rider and GUnner, not to mention the Air Defense, but they still were walking along at a rather good clip. Although, really, Dan was the only one doing any walking. The rest were riding on his shoulders and back- Leon, Bubble, and Brandy on his right, with Annabelle and Trevor on his right. His shoulders, although wide, were a little crowded. But it was nothing he could not handle.

"Dan?", asked Brandy, putting one hand to her face and looking up towards the sun. "What time is it?"

Dan looked up, and squinted his eyes. He struggled to make sense of the sun's position- he had never really learned to read the time from the sun. "Umm… I'm not sure honey. Maybe around 2:00?"

"It's 3:00.", said Trevor, taking a quick glance at the angle of the sun to the horizon. "Actually."

"Huh.", said Annabelle, and raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure that one out?"

Trevor took a look at her, and gulped. One of the corners of his mouth pulled down on its own, and his left eye twitched. "Umm… I learned it. That's why I'm a guide in the first place. Remember?"

"Oh, right.", Annabelle said, and reclosed her eyes. She put her hands behind her head, and rested her head on Trevor's legs. "Now I remember."

Brandy, somehow, could sense the stress that was coming off of Trevor's body. Perhaps it was her "mom-sense", perhaps she just had good senses. But whatever it was, she knew that something was wrong for him. And that she could not stand.

"Trevor?", she asked, from across Dan's shoulders. "Is everything okay?"

Trevor stared back at her, trying to communicate something with his eyes. But he and Brandy did not quite know each other well enough yet, and so the message was lost.

"Alright!", said Dan, and straightened up. He shook himself a little bit, and slowly got down on his knees. "My shoulders are getting tired. Everybody off, we're gonna walk for a bit."
"Already?", asked Brandy, with a little worry. "We've only been walking for about… what, thirty minutes? Usually, you can go for two hours!"
"Yeah, but I don't usually have a hole in my lung.", said Dan with a grunt. He took another deep breath, and let it out in a ragged exhale. "So now everyone's getting off."

Leon stifled a grin, but said nothing. He slid down off of Dan's back, alighting on the grass with a soft timp. He stood as straight as he could, and stretched, putting his hands all the way down on his thighs as he bent back. His hood fell off of his head, and he let his bright brown hair flow in the wind. But so focused was he on his stretching, that he failed to notice a tiny red spark flow upwards from the grass, scamper up his clothes, and climb, noiselessly, into his ear.

Brandy Dashed off of Dan's back, landing on the ground and walking over to where Trevor and Annabelle had already landed without any hesitation. She gave Trevor a look, and he gave one back. Both of them immediately walked off to the side of the group, where they would be harder to hear. Annabelle watched them as they went, but she ultimately thought very little of it.

Only Bubble did not touch the ground, and Dan put a hand to his shoulder to find out why. He let out a slight breath of relief as he saw that it was not for any bad reason- no, she had merely fallen asleep.

Dan pointed to where he had been heading, and started to slowly head off. "Come on everyone, we're going that way. To the river."

As the group began walking, Brandy leaned in to Trevor's ear. "What's going on?", she asked, matronly worry etching her voice. "You can tell me."

"Nothing's going on.", said Trevor, but he was clearly hiding something. "I'm fine."

"No…", said Brandy, and shook her head. Trevor shook it along with her. "You're not fine. Something's happening. I can tell."
"Well.", said Trevor, glancing around nervously. His eye jumped, and one corner of his mouth kept on tugging downwards. "What do you think is happening?"

Brandy pointed at his mouth, and Trevor pulled back. "That. That's something."

"Wha-", Trevor spat, and turned around. "That is nothing. Nothing you need to worry about."

"Hmm…", said Brandy, and raised an eyebrow. "Really? Nothing?"

"Yes.", said Trevor, and folded his arms. He bristled, having become very defensive. "It's nothing, you don't need to worry, and that is it."

"I see.", said Brandy, and a slight grin began to work its way up her face. "Well then… what's going on with you and Annabelle?"

Trevor sighed, knowing that there was no way he could deny that one. "Okay… I guess there's something going on there."

Brandy squealed, and her shoulders shed a little bit of Dash energy. "Ooh, tell me. I wanna know allll about it."

Trevor rolled his eyes and leaned in to Brandy's excited face and open ears, as they kept on walking.

Leon lagged a little bit behind the group, taking a bit more time walking than he usually would. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend time with his family, and he guessed now his friends, or perhaps his parent's friends- he just wanted to hang behind for some reason that he could not quite identify. The truth was that it gnawed at him, some phantom, unknown reason, lurking at the back of his mind like an ancient cobweb. He could not put his finger on it.

But whatever. It may have not made sense why he was making that particular choice, but at least it was his to make. And that was what was important to him at the time. He had only been really free for the last few days, and he wanted to relish that freedom as much as he could.

He slowly turned his gaze from side to side, keeping a careful eye out for anything that might attack them. There had been an awful lot of that- he had encountered well over a dozen enemies since he joined the group, and he was sure that his parents had run into a lot more. Dan had already told him about some- how they had run into the mighty Kraken on the way to the continent itself, brought down only by a gigantic bolt of Lightning. How they had fought the legendary Bonoome, who in the end was only truly brought down by an even more legendary figure, Juno the Primal Bandit. And that wasn't even mentioning the-

"Shoot her.", said a voice inside of his head. It rasped with sheer, unmitigated hatred, the anger in its voice almost visible. "Shoot her in the head."

Song: Mushin no Sakebi

"Wha- what?", Leon spat, and stopped walking for a second. "Who the crap said that?"

"Shoot them.", the voice repeated, fuming over with anger. "You're going to take out that gun of yours, and shoot them all in the back of the head. Starting with your mother, and ending with your tiny little sister over there."

Leon's eyes narrowed in anger. He tried to figure out where the voice was coming from, to no avail. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere, all around him and within him at once. It almost sounded as though it was his own voice- and yet, that couldn't be him, could it?

He would never just take his Stand out and shoot everyone, would he? No. And yet-

"Shoot him.", said the voice again, giving subtle tweaks to Leon's nerves. He startled, yet found he could not cry out. The alien presence in his head had taken care of that. "Shoot that thing that calls himself your father right at the base of the skull. He was never around to raise you, he was never around to call you his son- he hated you when he first saw you. Shoot him!"

Leon wanted to stop it. He wanted to yank his head away, dislodge whatever was making him think like this, and continue on as if nothing had ever happened. But his hands and feet would not respond. No part of his entire body would move- except the part that the thing controlling him wanted to. "Shoot!"

Slowly, painfully, Leon moved his hand towards his waist. He knew he didn't need it in order to summon up his Stand, but apparently this strange entity did not.

"Shoot your mother.", the voice hissed, and Leon thought that for just half of a second, he could see it in his mind's eye. A diminutive, glowing, red staticy ball that sat at a control panel of sorts, somewhere inside his brain. "Your mother didn't want you when you were born. She cast you aside to the wind, never thinking you would find your pathetic, miserable, crawling way back. You would be glad to put a bullet right through her worthless skull."

Leon's hand pulled out Hunter Killer from wherever Stands were kept, and shakily began to move it upwards, to somewhere straight in front of his vision. The Hypnosis Spirit inside his head licked its metaphysical lips in anticipation, relishing the tears that began to flow from Leon's tortured eyes. "Good, good. This is what you want, isn't it? To finally put those cares to an end. Love is no enabler, merely a setback. An obstacle. All you really want is to be controlled, I know that. It's what you've willed yourself towards so far."

Hunter Killer, grasped so tightly in Leon's hand it almost began to draw blood, slowly and shakily made its way higher. Within mere moments, it would reach the optimum angle for shooting.

"Yes, yes… destroy them all.", the Hypnosis Spirit whispered wetly into Leon's hearing. "Those two hangers on? They're worthless. They don't mean anything. You could rid them as soon as you could breathe."

It laughed a deep laugh, and Leon grit his teeth. He tried as hard as he could to stop his hand from moving, from beginning to press down on the trigger. He tried as hard as he could to shout, to yell, to warn someone of what he was about to do. But he could not. The only thing he could do was watch, even as he willed somebody, any of them, to turn around.

"And then, you'll shoot your sister.", the Hypnosis Spirit said, and shivered with excitement. "She's so innocent, isn't she? So many beautiful, pure thoughts running through her head… too bad the last thing to go through it will be a bullet! Ha!"

Finally, despite his best efforts, Leon's arm reached a 90 degree angle. His hand automatically adjusted to aim Hunter Killer directly at the base of Brandy's neck, right where it would do the most damage. He closed his eyes, unwilling to see what would happen next. "Mom…"

"Oh, I'm sorry.", said the Hypnosis Spirit, and Leon could feel the sensation of a pat on the back. "Killing your loved ones is hard. But don't worry, once the job is done, you'll have a new family. You'll come live with us at the lair of Dragonlord Rakastamos. It's a fun place…"

Leon grit his teeth even tighter, and opened his eyes just a tiny bit. To his immense relief, the Hypnosis Spirit had not ordered for him to fire. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I didn't quite get that last part."

The Hypnosis Spirit frowned, and put more of his energy into speaking. "I said, you'll come live with us at the lair of Dragonlord Rakastamos. It's a fun place. It's got a ball pit. You children all love ball pits, don't you-"

Then, and only then, did he notice how he had messed up. For the energy he had put into speaking was no longer being used to restrain Leon's actions. And before the Hypnosis Spirit could react, Leon regained a second's worth of control over his hand, yanked it away from the shooting angle, put it right up against the side of his head, and began to pull down on the trigger.

"Woah, woah, let's talk about this-", said the Hypnosis Spirit. But Leon snarled.

"No."

A shot rang out, startling the silence of the valley. Brandy turned around, and screamed in horror as she saw Leon fall to the ground, Hunter Killer vanishing into mist in his hand. She Dashed over to him in a second, her conversation with Trevor forgotten.

"Holy crap holy crap holy crap holy crap-", she breathed in half a second, grabbing Leon's head and trying to wake him up. His eyes were closed, and smoke still rose from the side of his head. If Brandy had been looking at his ear, she could have seen the Hypnosis Spirit jump out, try to run away, then collapse into Elixir from the force of the Stand's blast.

But she was not looking at his ear- she was looking at his face. A long mark of soot ran up one side, the impact of the shot clearly written upon him. She listened for breathing, and heard none. Tears began to flow from her eyes, as she stared at the apparently lifeless body of Leon.

"Wait…", she thought, then blinked. Bodies weren't lifeless- where did she get that from? If he had actually died, then he would have been turned into Elixir. The thought gave her hope, and she raised her hand high over her head.

"Woah, what's going on?", asked Dan, as his shadow fell over them both. "Is Leon alright-"

Then he saw what had happened. "Oh my goodness, did he just shoot himself?"

"Yes.", said Brandy, trying to keep her breathing calm. She concentrated deeply on her hand, knowing that she only had one chance to get this right. "He's not breathing, and his heart isn't beating either. But somehow, he's still alive."

Dan saw her hand light up with Dash energy, and his eyes widened. "Wait, what are you-"

Brandy took a deep breath, and felt her hand turn intangible. She plunged it deep into Leon's chest, and began to move it around.

"I'm going to try restarting his heart.", she said, and closed her eyes. She needed to get rid of as many unnecessary senses as possible. "Hold him still, just in case he wakes up."

"Right.", said Dan, and gently slid one hand underneath Leon. He put the other over him, taking great care not to get in Brandy's way. He knew that impromptu heart surgery was usually a tricky business.

Brandy felt around inside of Leon's chest, searching for his heart. She couldn't feel the beating, so there was nothing to guide her. But as she put her other hand on her own chest, she slowly felt around to where Leon's was. She grabbed it tight with her intangible hand, and concentrated mightily. It slowly turned physical again, and she could feel the full sensation of holding Leon's heart in her hand. It felt like rubber, covered with thick blood.

"Come on, come on…", she breathed in, and slowly began to manually pump the heart. Her movements were as gentle as she could possibly be, as to not disturb it. "Come on…"

Everyone watched in stunned silence, for all they could see was Brandy sticking her arm into Leon's chest. They could not see the complex and potentially fatal procedures that were taking place- but one thing they all could see is Leon's chest once again begin to rise and fall.

Brandy let out a huge breath, and once again turned her hand intangible. She slowly took it out, and let herself fall down onto the grass. She lay there, listening to Leon breathe, and feeling his heart beat. It had only taken about 20 pumps, the panic in her increasing with each and every one. But at least her sudden doctor's impression had been viable.

Annabelle stood over him, taking careful note of his vital signs. She had not taken very much of medical school, but the 4 months she had been through helped. "He'll live.", she said, and everyone sighed in relief. "But he's going to be out for quite a while. 4, maybe 5 hours. I don't really know though… never been in this situation. It's probably different for Brawlers anyway."

"Yeah, don't they heal up on their own?", asked Trevor. "I've heard they do it pretty fast."

"I've heard that too.", said Dan. "I met a few besides my boy here. I think their names were Carl and Bo."

"Hm.", said Brandy, and slid her hand underneath Leon. A soft groan escaped his lips, as she wiped away the smoke from his hair. The spot where he had shot was slightly burned, but otherwise totally unharmed.

"Makes sense.", she said. "It was his Stand that he shot himself with. It wouldn't harm him."

"Stand?", asked Trevor. "Wait, hold on, what's a Stand?"
"It's complicated.", said Brandy and Dan at the same time. "But basically, a Stand is the metaphysical manifestation of your spiritual self. A Stand can take many forms- Leon's is a gun. He named it Hunter Killer."

They stopped explaining, and looked at each other. A smile crept up both their faces, and Brandy handed Leon off to Dan.

"You seem awfully nonchalant about your son almost just dying.", said Annabelle, as the group began to walk away again. "What's that all about?"

Brandy shook her head, and gave a low whistle. "I'm just happy he's alive. I always gotta be happy about something."

"Makes sense.", said Annabelle, and was about to say something in return, when she felt Bubble tug at her hand. "What is it?"

"There was this voice in my head that told me Leon was my brother.", she said, and Brandy's face froze. "Is that true?"
"I mean…", Brandy said, and paused. She looked at Bubble, looked at Leon, looked at Dan, then looked at herself, reflecting on all of them. Then she nodded her head, and gave Bubble a small smile. "Well, yes. Yes it is."

"I can call you Mom then?", asked Bubble, moving up closer to Brandy. She offered up her little hand, and Brandy took it. "Because Leon is my brother and he calls you Mom?"
Brandy looked up, and thought about this too. After a few seconds, she looked down, with slight tears once again in her eyes .But they were not tears of pain- they were tears of joy.

"Yes.", she said, and squeezed Bubble's hand tighter. "Yes, you can, my little girl."

Askari stared into the vision that the Book had shown him, stroking his chin, deep in thought.

"I see.", he said, all the possible information that could be gleaned from the vision rotating deep inside his complex brain. "That Leon is certainly not normal either- I did not see that thing he appeared to shoot himself with. Perhaps he has a Stand as well."

"My readings confirm your suspicions, User Askari.", the Book said, and somehow seemed to nod. "That Leon does indeed possess a powerful Stand."

"Okay, tell me about it.", said Askari, snapping his fingers impatiently. "I need to know now."

"Well, let's see.", said the Book, going over its readings further. It needed to make sure the information it was about to give was correct- Askari seemed to be forming a plan. And that was something the Book knew he needed to help with. It looked over its words one last time- everything looked good.

"The Stand's name is Hunter Killer, User Askari.", said the Book. "It's an object type, more specifically a gun. He was born with it- inherited by his mother."

"Okay, what about her?", asked Askari, filing all this information away for further use. "What's her Stand? I certainly did not see her using one."

The Book turned a single page, then turned it back. It glowed with a warm golden light, and floated a few inches off of its pedestal as it thought. Finally, it let itself down again, and let out a minute, blue sounding, beep. "I could not find any information on that. She appears not to have used it in any recordings I have made."

"I thought you were the Book of all modern knowledge.", said Askari, and his mood shifted from heated and planning to slightly annoyed. "And yet, you cannot find a single use of a particular Stand, used by someone you are watching even as we speak?"

"That would appear to be so, User Askari.", said the Book, hoping Askari would react better than the last user who had been angry at him. The Book was still dented from it, and there was still Elixir staining the walls.

Askari stared at the book some more, tiny jets of air escaping his nose. The Book slowly began to touch the switch used to activate its emergency security measures, just in case Askari tried something. He may have been important, but the Book held the most knowledge of any single entity that was not a god. It needed to be preserved.

But, fortunately, Askari just sighed. He turned away, and turned his blade back into his right hand. He narrowed his eyes, and looked up towards the ceiling.

"I suppose that information will be sufficient.", he said to himself, and slowly began to re-adopt his confident manner. "Although… they are Royale Troops. Royale Troops most often come from a King."

He turned around again, and pointed in an exaggerated pose. "Computer- I mean, book! I need information on the Kings of those Troops! Tell me their names, their locations, their levels- I need everything."

The Book beeped, happy to provide something it did certainly know. "Of course, User Askari. They both belong to the same King- one Oticat, of clan LosDementosCT. The entire Clan is located near Builder's Workshop, with Oticat being near the center. He is currently level 10."

"Interesting…", said Askari, and his eye began to whir as a subconscious sign of his interest. He threw back his head and began to laugh, the roots of an ever grander plan taking hold in his mind. "I guess that I will have to pay him a visit."

By the time Askari had finished up his conversation with the book, Dan and Brandy's group had reached the very bottom of the ridge they had been going down. A long, grassy plain awaited them, looking very similar to the other many long, grassy plains they had walked through. A range of tallish mountains awaited at the end of them, round trees dotting the entire landscape like seeds on a bun.

Or, at least, that was the way that Brandy thought of it. Her stomach rumbled, and she groaned as she realized just how long it had been since she had last eaten any real amount of food. She thought she might have eaten breakfast at the village, but she wasn't quite sure.

"Dan?", she asked, looking up at him. "I'm starving. I think everyone else is too."

Dan looked at her, then back around to the rest of the group. He was met with about the same reaction- frowns of hunger, and a slight stumble from Bubble. He thought about it, and realized that he, too, was quite famished. So he set his jaw and looked forward, looking for something to eat.

"Hey, what are those?", he heard Annabelle say out of the corner of his hearing, but he wasn't really listening to her. He needed all his attention focused on getting them food. There was a group of trees that seemed to have large fruits on them- perhaps that would do. But really, Dan required meat. He was a very big man, with a tremendous appetite to boot. Using the Star, even if he couldn't use it right now, took a lot out of him. And he certainly needed a lot of food now, even if he had filled up on meat back at the village before they had set out.

"I think those are deer.", he heard Trevor say, and immediately whipped around. He grabbed a rock from the ground, took half a second to aim, and flung it directly at the closest deer he could see. It streaked through the air like a bolt of lightning, his aim perfect, and collided directly with a deer's head, taking it clean off. The lifeless body slumped to the ground- animals such as that were not Troops, and thus did not turn into Elixir upon their deaths.

"A Western Field deer, to be exact.", Trevor continued, rather dryly. "Or, at least, it was."

"There.", said Dan, and started walking over to where the deer had fell. It was about 100 paces from a regular man, but he could make it in far less. "Now we have food."

Brandy hissed in a breath- as hungry as she was, she was going to have immense trouble eating the deer. She was not vegetarian by choice- no, it was because all meat tasted like sand to her. There was nothing she could do about it- it had always been that way, ever since birth.

"Aw, crap.", she said, and began to look around. "Is there anything for me?"

"Maybe we could… find some vegetables?", asked Trevor, and shrugged. "If you don't want to eat that meat. Maybe we can make a nice wilderness salad."

"Oh, I want to eat salad?", asked Brandy, with a slightly aggressive roll of her eyes. "I'm a vegetarian, and all I can eat is salad. Is that what you think, Trevor?"

Trevor's eyes widened, and he backed up, almost tripping over the grass. "Woah, woah, no. I didn't mean it like that, I promise. I just-"
"Aw, you're fine.", said Brandy, and sat down on a nearby large rock. It seemed to not have been there before, but it must have been if she was sitting down on it. "I'm just a little aggressive cause I haven't eaten lately."

"Oh.", said Trevor. He pursed his lips together, saw Annabelle leaning over Leon- who was still laying totally unconscious on the ground- and tried his hardest not to blink. "Well, okay then."

As Brandy sat there, wondering what she could do in that situation, she felt Bubble tap her knee. She looked down, and saw her holding up a basket full of ripe fruits and fine cheeses, a beaming smile on her face and a slight sway of her body out of shyness.

"Wow, Bubble!", said Brandy, and reached for the basket. "Where did you find these-"

Then she stopped, and her face went neutral as her hand passed directly through the basket's handle. She looked down at Bubble, who she could now see was smiling with an expression of mischief. "Bubble?", she said. "That wasn't real."

"No.", said Bubble, and the image of the basket disappeared. "But I did want to help in any way I could."

Brandy looked at her, the look on her face obviously one of playing a trick. And yet, her words were so sincere that Brandy did not quite know what to think. So she just leaned over and gave Bubble a hug, patting her on the back and putting her head on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Bubble.", she said. "Even if you can't find me any real food, it is the thought that counts."

Bubble had been about to express the fact that it had been a prank, but something about Brandy's reaction told her not to. So she smiled back, and went deeper into the hug.

Their tender moment was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the headless corpse of a deer landing on the ground right next to them, blood spraying out of its stump neck. Bubble screamed and hid behind Brandy. Brandy jumped up and gathered Dash in her stance, ready for combat.

"There we go.", said Dan, coming up a few seconds after. He clapped his hands and looked around, apparently not noticing the shocked faces of everyone there. Except for Leon. "We're having deer for lunch. Hot and fresh."

"Dan!", Brandy screamed, and looked at the corpse in disgust. "We can't eat that!"

"I know you can't.", said Dan, and sat down with a thud. He reached for the deer, apparently about to rip into it with his bare hands. "But you're the only vegetarian here. Everyone else, dig in."

Brandy rolled her head around on her neck, and stared at Dan in exasperation. "No, it's not because of that! Dan, we are not going to eat raw meat!"

Dan stared at the deer, and stared at the chunk of dripping red meat he had ripped out, already halfway to his mouth. "And why not?"

Brandy didn't even want to argue with him over this. He was clearly not thinking straight- most likely due to his restricted airflow. That and his lack of food over the last several hours. She just shook her head, and stood up. "Trust me, Dan. Just cook the deer."

Dan shrugged, and set the meat down. He took a deep breath, preparing to roast the entire animal at once with a brief flash of Star. "Okay."

He held out his hand, preparing to cook it- then stopped, as nothing came out. He sat there for a few seconds, before remembering that he was currently incapable of using the Star.

"Shoot.", he said, and withdrew his hand. He moved to a different position- this one with his hand on his chin, both on one knee. "How are we going to cook this then?"

Brandy thought about it too, wondering how it was they were going to cook it. There were some sticks around, she supposed, but they were green and thin, not at all suitable for building a fire. The deer was quite large anyway, probably around 300 pounds. Such an amount would be difficult to cook without any equally large source of heat- but Star was not usable right now.

"We could use rocks.", said Trevor, and everyone looked up towards him. "If we hit some rocks together really, really hard, that'll start a fire."

Dan got up, and got into a position over the deer. "Why, that's perfect! Anyone got any rocks?"

He saw Bubble hold up a rock larger than she was up to him, and he shook his head. "Any real rocks, Bubble. I need real rocks."

"This is a real rock.", said Bubble, and Dan looked again. The rock had shrunk, to a size that Bubble could reasonably hold. "I just made it look different."

"Okay, that'll work.", said Dan, and took the rock. As soon as he took up and looked away, the rock went back to its larger, true, size. But of course, he did not notice. "Now another."

"Here's one, honey.", said Brandy, tossing over a decent size rock.

"Alright, great.", said Dan, and concentrated on one. He pressed one finger against it, harder and harder, until the rock lit up with a brilliant blue light. It started to spin on his hand, hitting against the other one faster and faster until the sparks began to fly.

A few of the sparks flew onto the pile of dry brush that he had thrown the deer onto, and a lick of flame sprouted up. It continued to burn, faster and faster, higher and higher, until within mere seconds of the ignition, Dan had constructed a roaring flame. Right underneath the deer.

"There we go.", said Dan, and sat down. "That'll be done soon."

"More like done now.", said Trevor. "Look."

Dan looked up, and jumped up a second later. The deer was flaming, several bits of it already falling off and turning into carbon upon the ground. "Oh, shoot. You're right! Sorry!"

He took a deep breath, and then coughed violently as it triggered his wound. But he still had enough breath left in his punctured lung in order to expel a huge gust of wind, hitting the fire dead on and blowing it out within a second. Left behind was the deer, or at least the half-charred remains of it. "There we go.", he said, and grabbed a leg. He tore it off effortlessly, and bit it in half with a single bite. "Lunchtime."

Brandy looked at it in trepidation, dreading the fact that she had to eat it. No one had found anything else for her, so she didn't really have any other options. She hated such a concept, being forced into something like that, but it was just food, in the end. Even if it tasted awful, she could still just hold her nose and choke it down. As she reached for a small scrap of the side, she was surprised to see that everyone else was already chomping away. Trevor had grabbed a bit of the other leg, and was devouring that. Annabelle had taken some off the head, taking small bites. And to her total surprise, even Bubble was ripping and tearing into a rump piece like a vicious, adorable piranha.

Brandy brought her small, fairly unburned bit to her mouth, closed her eyes, and took a bite. The taste of it was hard to describe, but it was more like burned sandpaper than anything else. It hurt her to do so, but she slowly chewed the tough, wild flesh, choked out a painful, agonized swallow, and instantly tried not to gag. She let her tongue hang out of her mouth, wishing she had a brush to scrape it off with. She set aside the rest of the deer meat on the rock, leaned over the side, and tried not to throw up.

As she sat there, looking at the ground, she could see a puddle. And in that puddle, as she looked behind and over herself, she could see a Minion fly overhead. And then another, and then another, and yet another still, and then three or four more. Her curiosity and caution overwhelmed her disgust at the taste of the deer, and she sat up. Looking overhead, she could see that there were indeed many, many Minions in the sky- far too many for her to count.

"Uh, guys?", she asked, a nervous look upon her face. "Is that maybe too many Minions?"

Dan briefly glanced up from eating another section of the deer, wiped the blood and ash from his face, and immediately his face grew serious. "Oh, great. Not this again."

Bubble looked up, and dropped her small hunk of meat. "Mommy? What's going on?"

Brandy was about to say that she didn't quite know, and that she should listen to Dan, when she felt Dan grab her from behind. She and Bubble were both instantly tossed up onto Dan's shoulder, along with Annabelle. Trevor waited a few more seconds to come aboard, which he helpfully used to grab Leon. Once they were all on Dan's back, he instantly jumped for a ditch by the side of the small pathway, leaving the rest of the deer behind.

"Not this again…", he groaned, glancing upwards once again. "Another cloud of Minions. And right when I can't use my Star, either."

Song: Overdrive

About a hundred or so feet away, behind a thick line of trees, there was a tiny clearing, built into the woods. That clearing was currently hiding a ragged-looking, insanely cackling Night Witch- or, at least, she was almost one. But there were some important differences. For one, there was no trademark axe. Instead, she held a strange weapon that was a wicked scimitar on one end, and a spiked chain whip on the other. Her hood hung so low over her face that she could barely even be seen, and her dress was torn into tatters at its ends. For she was not a Night Witch, in truth- no, she was Telavile, the Dusk Witch. Instead of mere Bats, she was capable of summoning entire flocks of Minions at a time, ready and willing to rip and tear into anything that she wanted gone. And as of right then, that thing was the group of Dan and Brandy.

"It appears as though my first plan was not enough.", she said to herself, recalling her first assault. "Even though my cloud of Minions was indeed very large, large enough even to kill them all, I had forgotten that my colleagues had not yet made their moves. But now that Dalli has disabled the girl, Fearri removed the Star from the man, and the Hypnosis Spirit has rendered the boy unable to fight, my target will be easy indeed."

She thought for a moment, and transferred her mind. For a few brief seconds, she was able to see through the eyes of a Minion, staring at the group with gleeful anticipation of a slaughter.

"Yes, it now appears that the only thing able to even fight back among them is the Archer.", she crooned, gently stroking her own head. "And she will do nothing but be overwhelmed, in the face of my mighty numbers."

She raised a shaky hand, and spun around her sinister weapon. The Minions in the distance all obeyed her, and began to swoop around their targets, eager to close in for the kill. "Now fly, my children! Take them apart, and grant me the rank of Chosen for the master!"

"What do we do?", Brandy said in a whisper-shout, crouching underneath Dan's arm. "Leon's still out, Dan can't use Star for another few hours at least, and now Annabelle's the only one of us that can hit air! And I don't think she could take on a whole Minion cloud- not trying to be rude, that's just facts."

"Yeah, you're right.", said Annabelle, shivering with fear of the situation. "Even so, I don't think I could even manage to nock an arrow right now. Look at my hands."

She held up her shaking hands, and Brandy felt a pang of homesickness as she thought of who else had shaky hands when they were nervous. Meg…, she thought, then steeled herself.

"Bubble." she said, and pointed down to where she was. Bubble looked back up at her, with nervous eyes, but a willingness to help in whatever way she could. "Do you think you could make an illusion as big as all of us put together?"

"Maybe…", said Bubble, and nervously flexed her fingers. "What is it of?"

"Of us.", said Brandy. "We're going to sneak away while they're busy attacking that. And maybe once we're in the clear, we'll be able to fight back. Leon can't stay asleep forever-"

She thought for a moment, and her face went as pale as her voice went quiet. "Sheesh, I hope."

"You heard her, kid.", said Dan with a low voice, and motioned for the group to get lower. "Start summoning up something good."

Everyone ducked further down into the bushes, as even more patrols of Minions began to fly overhead. They looked all sort of different levels- there were level 1 Minions flying directly next to level 8, and everything in between. Whoever had summoned such a gigantic cloud of Minions clearly didn't care about uniformity.

Bubble tightened up her face, and scrunched further into Dan's leg. "I don't want to.", she said, with a tiny toss of her hair. "Not when Dad's being all yelly."

"You-", Dan snorted, and almost erupted. But his sense got the better of his anger, and he breathed out. "No, you need to. This is important."

Then he opened his eyes all the way they could go, and whipped around to stare at Bubble in astonishment. "Wait, did you just call me Dad-"

"Illusion!", shouted Bubble, ducking her way out of the conversation. She waved her hands around with a mighty effort, and lifelike effigies of the entire group began to appear in the air.

They were not just realistic- they were almost identical. Everything from the grain on Dan's armor to a specific cut on Brandy's arm was copied. Once they landed on the ground next to them, they looked almost exactly like the main group. The only difference was that they were lifeless and inactive, totally unmoving.

"There.", Bubble said, and took an uneasy step forward. Her left eye was drooping, half-closed from the sheer effort the illusion took to create. "One… illusion."

Then both eyes abruptly shut, and she toppled forward into Brandy's arms as she lost consciousness. Brandy looked at her collapse, saw the illusion that she had made suddenly crumble into nothing, and she held back the gargantuan impulse to let out every swear word she knew.

"Shoot!", she hissed instead, and threw Bubble up onto her shoulder. "Bubble's out now. What do we do?"

"I could yell at them.", said Trevor, and fiddled with his sword. "If I were to just run out there, and yell a lot, maybe we could-"

"No.", said Dan, and clenched his fist. "You are not dying. Nobody is, except for whatever sent those Minions."

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Dan knew that the Minions themselves would not die- they were all clearly very wild. But he did want to kill whoever was sending the vast swarm directly at them. Very painfully.

"Dang it…", he breathed, feeling the pain of such an action spiking through his lungs. "If only there was some way to fight back… to just attack…"

As he spoke, he felt a strange feeling build its way up inside of him. Neither him or Brandy knew what it was- only that it caused him to, half a second later, suddenly flare up. His hair spiked up, his muscles swelled, and a destructive green and yellow light appeared around his entire body. But it was only for about half a second, and then it was gone. And somehow, it actually left him feeling weaker than he had felt before he had done it.

And then, he noticed something. His destructive flare-up, small as though it was, had torn a sizable hold right through the bushes that the group had been in. And once the Minions passed by, turned its head, and saw them, it let out a loud screech rivaled only by various types of monkeys.

"Shoot, it spotted us.", said Dan, and stood up higher. He tried to will himself to access Star, but it was to no avail. "Well, I guess it means they all spotted us. Great. Try to hold on."

He took a step, then realized he had no idea what he was doing in such a situation. A gigantic cloud of Minions were about to attack, and he had no way to defend everyone against such an air-borne menace. Anyone else who did was now unconscious. It was not a good situation to be in, at all. Which is why Dan set himself, started to jog, and gave off a low roar.

"Get ready, everybody.", he said. "We're getting out of here- oh."

There, in front of him, were hundreds upon hundreds of Minions. They all turned as one as they saw the group, and prepared to attack.

Actual panic began to surge through Brandy. It was not a feeling that she had felt in a long time, but here it was again. It felt like a red, raw part of the back of her brain being ruthlessly scratched, as she saw the hopelessness of the situation. There was no way they could take out so many Minions, and even less so that she could defend against them. Out of options and desperate, Brandy reached her hand inside of her pocket, hoping beyond hope to find something useful- when her hand brushed what felt like a button.

Brandy's heart stopped. She almost didn't even hear the sound of the dozens of Minions beginning the attack, divebombing the ground and Dan's back. He groaned as they slashed across his back, trying to protect Annabelle and Trevor inside his grip.

"Guys!", she whisper shouted, and held the button aloft. She made sure to press it, before any of the Minions could take off with it. "Look what I found!"

"What-", Dan asked, then his eyes lit up with shock. "Oh. Is that-"

"Haha, it is!", shouted Brandy, and slid it onto her finger. "It's the Ring of Three Wishes!"

She sighed, twisted the middle jewel, and slapped her hand onto the plate. "I tell you, these things come in handy all the time."

She didn't really have much time to articulate her thoughts. The massive enemy cloud of Minions grew closer by the second, and what appeared to be Goblins riding some of them didn't help anything. But she knew what she would do.

"Oh, Ring of Three Wishes…", she said, noticing the tiny sliver of health missing from a few of the Goblins. She shrugged, not really knowing what to say- and then it came to her in a flash of inspiration. "Help!"

Like a magical burst of lightning, absolutely nothing happened. Brandy stared at the Ring again, pushing down on it a few more times, as the Minion storm grew closer. Her heart beat faster from the panic, until she stuffed the Ring in her pocket and turned to Dan.

"Okay, that didn't work.", she said. "What do we do now?"

"Um…", said Dan, and jumped. He took everyone with him, wrapped up in his massive arms. Exploding out of the bush and taking off across the ground, he slammed a few of the Minions with his gigantic body, exploding them into purple mist. Annabelle fired haphazardly into the crowd from Dan's back, picking off a single Minion with every shot. Even though she was totally unable to aim, the sheer amount of them allowed her to hit anyway. "We run!"

"What?", Brandy shouted, and tried to slap Dan on the back. But her angle restricted her, allowing only a few small thumps. "Dan, we can't run away! These are Minions! Wild Minions! They'll outrange us and outrun us!"

"Do you have any better options?", asked Dan, and glanced behind him. He could feel his lung start to heal automatically, even though he was working it like crazy. Perhaps if he just kept running, it would heal all the way, and he would be able to use Star again. Perhaps Leon would wake up, and he could teach the Minions what for with Hunter Killer. Perhaps-

He shook his head. He could feel the Minion cloud grow larger behind him, growing ever closer in their pursuit. Him trying to run away was like trying to keep away from a tsunami in a fishing ship. He could feel they had mere moments left before they were in the Minions' ranges.

But then came something that none of them expected. Bubble, who had been fast asleep on Dan's shoulder just a moment ago, raised her head. She whipped around and glared at the Minions, an intense fire burning in her eyes.

Song: Nella Cerneria

"I won't let you touch them!", she shouted, with a voice that seemed larger than herself. "I just found these people! And now you're trying to kill them?"

Brandy stared at her, in total wonderment. She seemed older now, far older than she was normally. Her hair stood off of her head, her eyes singing with a mysterious blue light. And as Brandy watched the energy fly off of her, she could almost swear that it seemed familiar somehow. "I won't let you!"

With an unearthly cry, Bubble thrust forth her hand. More illusion energy than Brandy had ever seen her release flooded out of her in a magnificent burst, totally filling the air with all sorts of shapes and colors. The Minion cloud reared up and halted, confronted with wave after wave of bizarre imagery. There was a gigantic purple Dragon, letting out a mighty roar that seemed to shake the entire world. There was a huge steel tower, the lights glowing from within seeming to burn anyone who looked too closely. There was a man in green with long red hair, an emerald octopus flowing around him. That one was visible only to Brandy, although nobody there knew it. There were hundreds upon hundreds of ghostly green Minions, scowling and hissing at their physical counterparts. There was a huge multicolored machine, dropping what appeared to be valuable ores all over the ground so fast it scorched the grass. There was a gigantic clock, counting down some mysterious number, while the hands spun around at incredible speed. And in the middle of the entire wall of Illusions was a huge coat of arms, Lions and Dragons intertwined around a purple and silver shield.

"Bubble?", Brandy asked, as Dan sped away. Bubble kept on holding her hand into the air, intent on maintaining the illusion for as long as possible. "That was amazing! How long have you been able to do that?"

Bubble kept on straining, the intense light in her eyes slowly beginning to grow dimmer. "Sorry Mom can't talk now I have to keep the illusion up sorry-"

Brandy's brow raised. Bubble had been calling her Mommy before. But now, with her energy raised like this, and an older appearance assumed, she was referring to her as Mom.

Annabelle nodded, and began nocking a trio of arrows into her bow. "Good job, Bubble. You're putting in some real work there."

For a second, Bubble's eyes once again became visible. She rolled her pupils back at Annabelle, and her face broke into a wide smile. "Am I really?"

Everyone shouted in alarm, and Bubble realized her mistake. She once again applied pressure to the illusion, and it resurged in solidness. It had come dangerously close to breaking.

"Okay, so that's one thing.", said Brandy. "But what do we do after this? That illusion's not gonna hold forever. We need a way to take them out for good, and fast."

"I'm trying, I'm trying!", shouted Dan, looking for another place to hide. The idyllic grassy field they had been walking through was about to run out, only a dark twisted forest coming up ahead. He looked behind them, checking on the Minions- they were beginning to go through the Illusion, some brave ones forging on ahead. "We might be able to lose them in the forest. Get ready to jump!"

"Jump?", Bubble screamed, and immediately regretted it. The light vanished from her eyes, and she fell forward, off of Dan's back. Her hair and age went back to normal, and the Illusion crumpled into nothing. She cried out as she hit the ground- or she would have, if Brandy's arm had not shot out and caught her by the ankle.

"Bubble…", said Brandy, and yanked her back on to Dan's shoulders. She hugged her tight, feelin the young girl go limp from the exhaustion. "That was amazing. Thank you for saving us."

"I… I did?", asked Bubble, and her eyes closed, as she fell further into Brandy's grasp. "Yay…"

"Yes, my girl.", said Brandy, and looked up. There were the Minions, coming up at immense speed. She tried not to let Bubble see. "You did."

Dan shouted in triumph, and took a deep breath. His lungs had finally started to knit back together again, and he could feel a small bit of Star enter him. It wasn't enough to take down the Minions- but it was enough for one thing. He raised his fist, aimed at the ground, and-

"Dan!", he heard Brandy scream in panic, and he turned his head. "What?"

Then he saw too. The place where he had laid Leon to recover was empty. He had fallen off.

"Oh shoot!", he yelled, then turned back to what he was doing. With a mighty "Ora", he plunged his fist downwards, causing an eruption of dirt. It sprayed up behind them, blinding the front row of Minions, and causing many pained shrieks. Once the burst cleared, the ones they had been pursuing were nowhere to be found.

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, simultaneously shrieking and crying. "What happened to Leon?"

"I don't know!", Dan yelled back, holding up his arms to support the makeshift dirt cave he had made. He was in the middle, holding the whole thing up. Brandy was in front of him, at the flap of the entrance. Trevor and Annabelle were in the back, sort of paralyzed from the shock. And Bubble was still in Brandy's arms, having fainted again. "Maybe he fell off! Maybe he woke up, turned invisible, and ran off to go do something!"

"Wait, you think so?", Brandy asked, as this notion came into her head. "That would be good-"

Then she stopped. A faint sound reached her ears from outside the dirt cave. It sounded like the stampeding of horses, and the gunshots of Musketeers. But then, as she listened closer, she could hear their shouts. Not Musketeers- men.

"What is that?", asked Dan, as he heard a single note of a brass tune play. "What's going on out there?"

"Maybe we should check.", said Annabelle, crawling up to the cave's entrance. She put a hand underneath the charred dirt flap, and peeked. She gasped.

"Yes.", said Trevor, recovering from his shock long enough to follow her. "We should."

Dan lifted up the flap fully, and allowed the light of what was happening to pour in. They all looked, and gasped as they beheld the unimaginable sight.

"What- what the-", the Dusk Witch spat, as she saw what was happening to her cloud of Minions. Dozens upon dozens of them were being cut down by the second, even hundreds falling out of the sky. They were all being turned into Elixir, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was powerless to control them, with all the panic and the flying and the deaths- no, the only thing she could do at this point was to make more. So she raised her staff, and raised her weapon, and began her chant.

"Meial aluda tynam deja un tul…", she moaned, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. "Yui sueda jukela fortul-"

Then she stopped, the words dying in her throat. For as the cold metal of a gunbarrel pressed against her cheek, a slow fear began to rise from her. For one thing, she knew she could not strike before the gun shot. For another thing, she could not see who the gun was being wielded by- it hung in the air, as if possessed.

"Hey.", said Leon. "What you doing out here?"

The Dusk Witch thought for a second, then tried to smile. On her weathered, shriveled up face, it was like watching an old prune try to walk. "Serving my master, the one and great, only and true, unknowable in his entirety, Dragonlord Rakastamos? Just like you!"

It was a wild gamble, but it did not even come close to paying off. Leon snarled, and raised his finger. "Yeah, no. Die."

And with that, he pulled right down on Hunter Killer's trigger.

There, in front of the group staring out of the ground, were three entirely curious individuals. They rode on Horses, but they were unlike those of a Prince. They were much larger, stronger. They were brown as well, coated with a thick layer of dust from what seemed to be intense travel. The riders on them, however, were far stranger.

They all wore matching uniforms, gaudy in their patterns but simple in their colorations. Black jackets adorned with white spots hung over frilled white dress shirts, a red cummerbund and belt adding a colorful accent. A darkly colored belt with a golden buckle tied their pants to their shirts, which were the same color and pattern as their jackets. A golden gun holster hung from each of their hips, but they were now empty, as the mysterious strangers were riding around like madmen, shooting their guns into the air as a maniac celebration. Their ebony hats completed the otherworldly ensemble, wider than their shoulders and covered with white symbols- an Eagle for the first, a sun for the second, and some yet unknown symbol for the third. They whooped around and bucked on their horses, then eventually came to a stop.

"It sure is weird out here.", said the first, and took a small drink of water from his canteen. It ran out after about a mouthful, and he tucked it away.

"You could say that again.", said the second, and tried to take one from his. But the only thing that came out was a burst of sand. He frowned, and tapped it a few times on the side.

The third one said nothing, for he was too busy gulping down seemingly impossible amounts of water from his own canteen. He sat there for almost 10 seconds, the water rushing down his face, as his two friends stared at him in shock. He wiped his lips in an exaggerated motion and threw the waterskin aside, leaving it to drain on the ground nearby.

"Oh, come on.", said the first, and slapped the side of his horse. "Did you really have to do that again? It was bad enough the first time, but now you're just being rude."

"Excuse me, I planned.", said the third, and gave a lazy, watery burp. "Did you two plan? I don't think so."

The first odd rider glared at the third, who returned the look with a wide smile. They were most likely about to burst into words again, when they were interrupted by a polite cough from Dan.

"Excuse me…", he said, rising up out of the ground. One of the horses began to draw away from his tremendous size, but was restrained by his rider. "Who are you people? Why are you here? And… thanks for getting rid of that Minion cloud. That was helpful."

"Who are we?", asked the first, and put his hands on his hips. He stood up straight and proud in his saddle, and his two partners, in mere seconds, followed suit. "Who are we?"

"Yes, that is what I asked-", said Dan, but his words were suddenly cut off by the sound of a mariachi guitar kicking in from nowhere.

"I'm Dusty Bottoms!", said the first, and stared off into the distance with a proud grin.

"I'm Lucky Day!", said the second, and did the same, but for the opposite direction.

"And I'm Ned Nederlander!", finished the third, and gave his horse a slap on the side. They all began to trot around and sing, much to the rest of the group's wonderment.

"One for each other and all for one…", they sang, and crossed paths on their horses. They exchanged brief high fives, before slowly beginning a spin.

"The three brave Amigos are we!", they said as one, and lined up in a row. They once again put their hands on their hips, and smiled wide, heroic grins.

"Brother to brother and everyone, a Brave Amigo…", said Dusty, and brought his hand up to his forehead in a sharp salute.

"Wherever they need us, our destinies lead us…", said Lucky, and replied with a salute of his own. It was sharp as well, perhaps even sharper than Dusty's.

"Amigos, we're always togetherrrrr…", Ned sang, ending on a long, drawn-out, high note. They broke formation and spun around again, preparing for the finale of their bizarre song.

"Mommy, who are they?", asked Bubble, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, Bubble.", said Brandy, staring with wide eyes. She had never seen anything like this before, and she wanted to get every second of it. "But they're the ones who saved us."

"We are the three Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamigos!", the Three Amigos sang as one, hanging on the word for at least 10 seconds. "And Amigos forever we'll be!"

Their song finished, they put their hands on their hips for the last time. They turned and coughed both directions for whatever reason, took a collective bow, and rode off, into where the sun would presumably set, in a few more hours.

"Well.", said Dan, as he felt everyone slowly come up behind him, still really unable to believe what they had just witnessed. "That… happened."

"Where's Leon?", asked Brandy, now ready to get back to business. Her head started to pound, as she thought about what could have happened. He could have been brought down by the Minions, or left in a ditch somewhere, or wandered off, or something even worse that she couldn't think of at the moment. "We still haven't found him-"

"I'm right here.", she heard Leon say, from right next to her. She gasped in shock and relief, as Leon became visible again. He hardly even had time to breathe before Brandy enveloped him in a tight hug that made his face turn red and his spine pop. "Woah woah woah-"

"Sorry.", said Brandy, and let out a little bit of a laugh. "I was just worried about you. And I guess you woke up then."

"Killing the Forgotten that unleashed all those Minions.", said Leon, and flicked his finger against his cheek. He rolled his lollipop around a bit. "All it took was one shot to the head."

"Where were you, and what were you doing-", said Brandy, then realized what Leon had said. She gasped, then smiled. She resumed her hug, squeezing him not as tightly this time. "You're my son, alright."

Then she gasped, as the reason for why the Three Amigos had appeared hit her mind.

"Dan!", she shouted, and brought the Ring of Three Wishes out of her pocket again. One of the tiny circles on the face of the Ring had been snapped in two, solidifying Brandy's theory.

"The Ring!", she said excitedly, and bounced up and down. "It worked! Agatha said that it summoned help, and it just totally did!"

"Wait, who's Agatha-", said Trevor, but Brandy gave him a look. She squealed to herself, and tucked the Ring deeper into her pockets. "Thank you.", she whispered into the sky.

"We should probably get going.", said Dan, wrapping a hand around Brandy and Leon. His other hand grabbed the rest of the group, and dumped all five of them onto his shoulders. "We're burning a lot of daylight out here, and we should probably at least get to Clashcrush River before nightfall."

"Right.", said Brandy, and nodded. She stuck her hand down Leon's hood and rustled his hair a bit, then looked towards the horizon. She hung off of Dan's head and put her hand to her brow- Dan could not help but think she looked very cute. "Let's be off!"

Dan nodded, then gave a mighty shout. His lungs had finally repaired, and a burst of golden Star flared around him as a warm aura. With everyone in place and injuries healed, the group once again set off for the Clashcrush Mountains, yet another defeated enemy under their belts.

Song: Approach

Far away, in a hidden valley at the very edge of the continent, incredible amounts of godly power radiated through the very air. So much energy was concentrated in this one spot that the atmosphere and ground simply could not contain it. It shifted manically every few seconds, going from the atmospheres of Clans, to Royale to Brawltopia to even the Hay Day Farms and the Boom Beaches every few seconds. A low hum shook the area, brought about by those same many cosmic forces.

All the gods of the world were gathered here, as were all the Primals. Most of them, anyway- the mighty Anghammarad was still asleep far under the surface of the oceans. He would not fit in the valley besides. And Akulamastar was somewhere out far in deep space, in a location unknown to anyone but himself. But the rest of them were here, in a glorious assembly that affected the very fabric of reality around them. The Primal Knight, Jonathan, spoke with the Primal Frank about something having to do with sandwiches. The Primal Executioner, Falce, spoke to himself, standing in a magically darkened corner of the grassy field. Fallon hovered above the ground, engaged in mental conversation with his brother, the Primal Bo.

The general mood was light, almost celebratory. This grand pilgrimage to space was not something that happened that often- once every thousand years. Many of the Primals had never been. Many, such as the Primal Fisherman Maurice, the Primal Goblin Brawler, and the Primal Emz were eagerly awaiting their first journey into the great beyond of reality.

Only Juno sat alone on a rock, not really sure if it was a good thing for her to be going. She could feel something coming, something very bad. It scratched at the back of her mind like a persistent cat, not letting itself be seen, but letting Juno know it was very much there.

"Juno, what's wrong?", she heard the voice of Se'th say from beside her. He sat down on the rock, and Juno microdashed to make some room. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"Something's coming.", she said, and looked up towards the Clashcrush Mountains. She gulped. "Something very, very bad."

"Oh?", asked Se'th, his godly eyes lighting up. "What do you think is coming, Juno?"

"I don't know.", Juno said, and gestured towards the world. "Something. I think I had it all figured out, but then I forgot. My memory can be bad sometimes."

Se'th smiled, and gave her a pat on the head. "Don't worry. Even if something does happen, I'm sure it will be taken care of. The strength of mortals tends to be enough- it surprises even me."

"Yeah, but…", said Juno, and sighed. She appreciated the head pats, but they weren't enough. "What if it's not? What if something happens during The Meeting, and we're not there to stop it?"

Se'th closed his eyes, and stood up. Once he opened them again, he was holding a small object in his hand. "Look at this, Juno. Tell me, what do you see?"

Juno looked into Se'th's hand, and gasped. There was a Bandit card, glittering with iridescent dust. "Is that… my card?"

"Yes.", said Se'th, and produced a small packet of dust from his pocket that read Strength. He took a gentle pinch from the small bag, and as Juno watched in excitement, sprinkled it over the card. Juno instantly felt different- stronger, even more powerful than she was before.

"There we go.", said Se'th, and gave Juno a pat on the back. "A nice buff will always make anyone happy."

He put his hand on her shoulder, and pointed to where Jonathan stood. "And wouldn't you know it, I think Jonathan said he wanted to talk to you."

"He did?", asked Juno, her nose going a bit red, as well as some skin directly underneath her mask. Then she collected herself, and opened her eyes wider. "I mean… he did?"

"Yep.", Se'th said, and stood up straighter. "Now go talk to him-"

But before he even finished his sentence, Juno had already Dashed away.

Se'th watched her go, then sighed. The truth was, he had been feeling something coming as well. He had no idea what it was- it was more Daria's turf. But it was something big.

"Come on, everyone!", he yelled, attracting the attention of everyone there- except for the Primal Ice Golem. But that was because it had no attention to attract. "We're leaving now!"

He snapped his fingers, as did the other gods around him. Dr'ew had naturally gravitated to him, as he tended to do- they were co-gods of Royale, after all. It only made sense.

With the snapping of the fingers, the crowd of assembled Primals began to vanish into thin air, and reappear inside the ship. Within moments, the true gods were the only ones left. Dr'ew began to step into the ship, when he noticed the look upon Se'th's face.

"Se'th.", he said, his godly beard flowing in some magical wind. "I know what and how you are feeling. Believe me, I feel it too."

"Then what are we to do?", asked Se'th, in a very low voice. "The world is defenseless during this time. I just told Juno what I did to make her feel better."

"Yes.", said Dr'ew, and the two began to walk into the gigantic spaceship. "But no matter. The strength of mortals will be enough to guard everything while we are away."

"I can certainly hope so.", said Se'th somberly, as the doors closed, the landing gear went up, and the spaceship began to lift off. "I can certainly hope."

Then the spaceship of the gods lifted off and blasted at the speed of light, far away and into the star studded sky.

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

It was not long after such a monumental event that Brandy found something odd wandering among her thoughts. When Dan had brought down that deer for them to eat, Trevor had mentioned something about her being a vegetarian. That in itself was not bad- it was common knowledge among people that she knew. But only among people that she knew- it wasn't as if she went around with a sign on her back that said "I'm a Vegetarian" or anything like that. So the thought managed to creep into her head- how did Trever know that? She was pretty sure she had never told him…

She took another look at him, engaged in an engrossing conversation with Annabelle. They were talking about the plants that they were passing through- Dan was currently walking along the banks of a small river, in the middle of a thick, gnarly forest. Bushes of juniper lined the sides of the walkway, accented by oak saplings popping through. The sunlight fought to reach the forest floor, and the air smelled like dirt and water. Yet for Brandy, the only thing reaching her senses was suspicion.

"Hey.", she said to Trevor, making sure to keep her voice level. She did not want to raise undue suspicion. "You remember earlier, when Dan was getting that deer for us?"

"Hold on a moment.", Trevor said to Annabelle. She nodded, and leaned her head against one palm. "I love the way you explain things.", she said.

"Oh.", said Trevor, with marked surprise. "You- you do?"

He sat there in stunned, happy silence for a few seconds, before Brandy loudly cleared her throat. With an "Oh right", he turned to her. "Yeah, I remember.", he said. "Why?"

"Well, Trevor…", said Brandy, a note of anger leaking into her voice as she leaned closer. "I never once told you that I was a vegetarian. And yet, you suggested a nice salad for me- because I was just that."

She narrowed her eyes, and Trevor looked around in confusion. "Vegetarian."

Trevor gulped, not really knowing what to say. "And… why does that matter?", he asked. "Does it really affect anything, me knowing that?"
"Oh yes it does.", said Brandy, and folded her arms. "Because I never told you. No one ever told you. Which means, Trevor…"

Her eyes, normally a mix of green and blue, took on a distinctly purple tint. "That you already knew. You already knew about me, long before I ever met you."

She snarled a bit, and the corners of Trevor's mouth tugged down so hard his lip began to bleed. "Who are you, Trevor? Or is that even your real name? Annabelle, you too… you said you were federal Troops. Or is that just a coverup too?"

"Brandy, stop.", said Dan. "They're not anything evil, they really are-"

"We can't be sure.", said Brandy, and began to concentrate Dash energy in the palm of her hand. A faint purple light began to glow from her, and she slowly stalked forwards toward them. Bubble cried out, but Brandy was too deep in her trail of thought to hear her. "They might be working for him."

"Brandy, I told them you were a vegetarian.", said Dan with a sigh. "Right before I went to get the deer. You were just too busy doing something else to hear."

Brandy blinked, and the purple from her light suddenly disappeared. She sat back a bit on her legs, the Dash energy from her hand dissipating back into the air. Her cheeks went a little red at the mistake, and she put her hand over her nose. "Oh.", she said, and creased her eyes. "I'm sorry I- I didn't know."

She once again moved her hand towards Trevor and Annabelle, but this time it was a lot more gentle. "Sorry about that. I guess I just messed up there."

"Oh, don't worry about it.", said Trevor, and shook his head. "I guess we all just got a little mixed up."

"Right…", said Brandy and gently brushed her finger against Trevor's arm. He gave her an odd look, but let it drop. "Now we can continue what we were talking about earlier."

"What?", asked Trevor, and felt a slight tingle in his arm where Brandy had touched him. "What are you talking about-"

We can talk in here, he heard Brandy's voice say inside his head. Like this. Now you can spill all the juicy secrets you want, and nobody else can hear you.

Oh, was Trevor's startled reply. Well, that's cool. But how are we doing this? I never took any mental classes.

I set up a mental link when I brushed your arm, said Brandy. I learned that trick from Agatha, a Witch I knew back at home. Well, I guess I still know her.

Woah, a Witch?, Trevor asked excitedly. I had heard that Witches could do stuff like that, but I was never really expecting to come face to face with it. Especially when it's a Bandit speaking to me with it- honestly, I just can't believe that you guys are really a Bandit and a Mega Knight. I know it seems regular to you two, but to regular old Common Troops like us, it's a real honor to be fighting alongside a couple of Legendaries-

He noticed Brandy was giving him a raised eyebrow, arms folded, almost laughing.

I'm sorry, was that too much?, he asked, and winced. I have a bit of a tendency to overshare whenever I really like something.

No, no, it's fine, Brandy thought with a wave of her hand. Now, I want you to tell me exactly how you feel about Annabelle.

Oh…, thought Trevor, pulling at his collar. Well uh… like- you mean now?

Of course I mean now, Brandy replied. There's not really much of a better time.

I guess…, Trevor thought back, and scratched the back of his neck with his hand. The truth was, he didn't really know how to approach this. He had always sort of been crushing on Annabelle, as long since he had met her 2 years ago. He thought she was beautiful, and smart, and a wonderful conversation partner, and interested in all kinds of cool stuff. And most importantly as all, whenever he was talking to her, his tics weren't as bad. It was like her presence somehow managed to calm them down. This journey, with both of them being stuck together, was like a blessing to him. But even though he desperately wanted to tell her how he felt, he could never manage to work up the courage to do so. She was always with the rest of her Archer friends, or on work, or having "personal time". But someday, he wanted to man up, go up to her, and tell her how he really felt. Someday, he would-

Woah, he heard Brandy say, and he stiffened. That was a lot more information than I was expecting, but the more the better, am I right?

Wha-, Trevor thought, and spun around to face her, his face an expression of betrayal. You- you- you heard all that? All of it?

Brandy shrugged, and gave a silent wink. Well, yeah, she thought. They were your thoughts. And they were very loud. So of course I heard them all.

Oh…, Trevor thought, and his face fell. He hadn't wanted Brandy to hear those things just yet.

And I heard that too, said Brandy. But don't worry.

Don't worry?, Trevor asked, and aimlessly tapped at Dan's armor with his sword. Don't worry about what?

I know you want to get with Annabelle, said Brandy with a silent giggle. She put her hand on Trevor's shoulder and turned his face towards where Annabelle sat, talking to Bubble about an adventure in accounting and Castle-to-Castle sales she had once had. And fortunately, I know just how to do it.

Th-thank you, said Trevor, then stopped. He sniffed the air, and looked around.

"Wait.", he said out loud, and tapped Leon's shoulder, waking him up with a start. A single spinner blade nocked into Leon's grasp, but it retreated with a thought. "Hmm?"

"Does anybody else smell that?", Trevor asked, and took a deep whiff of the air. "It smells like- like-"

"Goblins.", said Annabelle, and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Then her face whitened in alarm, as she realized what was nearby. "Wait, Goblins? Guys, there are Goblins around-"

"No.", said Dan, and took a sniff of his own. "Well, yes, but those are not the only things."

He pushed aside a heavily gnarled tree, and looked into a small clearing up ahead. The entire group gasped, as a bustling Goblin town was revealed unto them.

Dozens of Goblins milled around, chewing on popcorn, chewing on Gold, chewing on each other, chewing on- well, anything, really. The buildings were tall and rickety, giving the likely true impression that they could topple over at any moment. A stall full of Goblin patrons sat right in the middle of the center road, holding a large sign written in Gobbish that nobody there could read. But they did not have to- the gigantic pile of food in the middle of the complex told them enough.

"Holy crap.", said Dan, and began inching forward. "Are those… hot wings? A gigantic pile of 100% authentic Gobbish hot wings? Heck yeah!"

"Dan, wait-", Brandy said, ever cautious, when there suddenly came a gigantic clap of thunder. Dan spun around, throwing up a shield on instinct, and grit his teeth at the thing on the horizon. An immense wind blew from the furthest shore of the continent, grey and lifeless, looming immense over the world like a gigantic wave.

"What the heck is that?", Dan shouted, and crouched in preparation to jump. Despite all that had happened, he was still mostly a Mega Knight. "It's coming straight for us!"

Bubble turned around, took one look at the gigantic grey wind, and screamed at the top of her lungs. She buried her head into Brandy's arms, who wrapped her legs around Dan's neck even tighter in an attempt to stay on. "Mommy, help!"

Dan grabbed them both and tucked them under his chest, dropping low to the ground on his knees. He made a cave large enough to hold the entire group, although it was a bit squished. Bubble kept screaming, and the cries of confusion came from everyone, but Dan just kept on kneeling onto the dirt. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind come blasting across the plains, hitting the trees as it went, stripping the leaves from them like lava strips away snow. The grass turned brown and dead as it went, bending underneath the onslaught of… of… whatever it was. Dan still did not really know. But still on it went, turning the bright, fluffy clouds to hulking grey rainholders, darkening the sky to a slate blue. Finally, with a tremendous roar, it swept over him, almost sweeping underneath his firm grip to the soil. But he held firm, and the mighty force passed, blasting through the Goblin village. It affected it the same as it did the other places it had hit- yet it did not touch any of the buildings. Only the terrain was affected, almost as if it was supposed to.

Dan looked out over the now-blasted landscape in slight confusion. The grass was dead, the trees had lost the majority of their leaves, and somehow the previously temperate forests had been replaced with those of pine. Curiously enough, there were also a great deal of pumpkins everywhere. "What the…"

He heard muffled shouting from within his grip, and he slowly got up. There, on top of a single patch of still healthy grass, was the group, a bit squished from the sudden cave. Brandy bounced off of Trevor's back, and landed on Dan's shoulder with a groan. Leon picked up Bubble by the back of the shirt, and looked towards the Village. Annabelle rubbed the side of her head- she had accidentally hit it on the ground during the whole mess.

"So uh…", Trevor asked, staring over the valley in confusion. "What just happened, exactly?"

"I'm not sure.", said Dan, and rolled his neck. He inwardly debated over whether or not they should continue into the Goblin village, or if something bad had happened to it. But as the smell of the hot wings continued to drift into his nose and mind, he slowly made his choice. "I'm not from around here naturally, so I'm still not familiar with all the stuff that goes on."

"Pumpkins…", said Brandy, staring at the ground. She knew that around this time of year, pumpkins would usually appear- but no one really knew why. Or where they went the rest of the year. But it was not widely considered an important enough question to devote research to, so the question was still unanswered. As Brandy continued to stare at the pumpkins, she thought she could feel a slight memory bump into the back of her mind. It was nothing that she could really get much of a handle on, save for one moment when she-

Roundabout travel enjoyment night sky other identity pie kitchen lights

Brandy's head snapped back, and she blinked a few times. A memory had just surfaced, what appeared to be a very old one. It had lasted less than a second, sufficient only to give her a few brief sensations. But what sensations they were…

She was slowly jostled out of her dreamlike state by the feeling of Dan walking, and she realized that they were heading into the village itself. She looked around and down at the Goblins, all of them staring in wonder at the group of foreigners that had so suddenly arrived in their midst.

"Hey Dan?", she asked, about to tell him what she had just experienced. But something, a miniscule voice in the very back of her head, told her not to. "I just had a thought."

"What is it, honey?", Dan asked, and stopped where he was walking. He turned towards the hot wing stand, his mouth already beginning to drool. Authentic, real, Gobbish hot wings were a legendary delicacy for most of the world. And here he was, about to have as many as he could.

"I think I know what that weird wind was.", Brandy said, and began tapping off on her fingers. "You do remember how Juno and Fallon were talking about how they were going to leave to go to space, right? And all the other gods were going with them?"
"Yeah, I do.", said Dan, casting his gaze around to make sure that everyone was still with them. He nodded, because they all still were. "Why?"

"What if that just now happened?", she asked, excitedly. "And that big old wave of non-life was because all the gods are now no longer on the planet?"
Dan stopped, having not thought of this. He only resumed walking again a few seconds later, after having given the possibility some work. "Yes, I think that's accurate. Good call, star."

He crouched down in front of the Hot Wings Booth, and dug into his right pocket. Inside was some of the wealth that Brandy had managed to take from the last Village's Gold Storages. It was a relatively small amount, only about 1480. But that was more than enough to pay for any rations they might need. He yanked out about 600 of it, and slammed it all down onto the front of the booth. The Goblin staffing it jumped, and looked with a mixture of fear and awe at the titan overhead. "I'll have as many as this much can buy.", said Dan, thinking of everyone else. "Make about half of them as spicy as you can, and try to find like some fruit or something in the back for my lovely wife over here, she's a vegetarian."

Brandy put her hands to her cheeks and swayed back and forth at his words, while the Goblin shopkeeper tried to rake in all the cash that had been dumped onto his storefront. He said a few excited words in Gobbish, and slowly waddled off with all of it. "617 batch!", he barked to his workers, and they began to immediately get to work. Wings were dumped from an immense vault into a huge frying oven, and gigantic tubs of sauce were mixed with Spears. A bushel of hot peppers were dumped into it and broken apart with a giant pitchfork, the eyes of the Goblins lighting up as they worked.

Brandy watched the proceedings for a bit, but soon grew bored. The smell of the cooking meat, while appetizing for everyone else there, served only to turn her stomach. She looked up, scanning the rest of the village for options- then she smiled, when she saw a place labeled Shiv's Smoothie Shak. She slid off of Dan's shoulder, grabbed Bubble around the waist, and walked off towards it. Her hands had automatically grabbed a few dozen or so Gold from within Dan's pocket. "I'm gonna grab a smoothie, Dan. Don't worry, I'll be safe."

Song: Shark Bytes

"Okay, be sa-", Dan started, then realized what she had said. He sighed as she walked away, out of happiness. Somehow, sometimes, deep down in his heart, he still could not believe that he was actually married to her. That they had a son. And now, he guessed, a daughter. She had already directly called him Dad, and he had seen and heard Bubble calling Brandy Mommy. And that, by extension, made him her Daddy. Only once he thought those words in his head did he realize just how weird it sounded.

He saw that Annabelle had joined them too, going towards the smoothie shop- they had once again split off into groups. The boys getting hot wings, and the girls getting smoothies. That seemed fitting, somehow.

"Hey. Dad.", he heard Leon say, sliding in to the bench beside him. Dan looked down, to see Leon spinning his eternal lollipop around in his mouth. "I know you really like to take care of Mom, and protect her, and stuff. But what else do you like to do?"

"What else?", asked Dan, and put his hand to his chin. "Well, I guess I haven't really done much else lately. This quest has just been so hectic that I haven't really gotten a chance to do anything else."

"Well, yeah, but like- before all this.", said Leon, giving Dan a look with a double raised eyebrow. But Leon's face was under his hood from Dan's point of view, and so he did not notice.

"Well, taking care of your mother is a full time job.", said Dan, with a content sigh. "She's always bound to get into trouble somewhere. She's such a bundle of energy. And she's so nice. And she's so cute, and so smart, and the best person in the entire world and-"

Even though he could not see Leon's face, Dan could sense the look he was giving him.

"Oh, sorry.", said Dan, and thought some more. "Just got sidetracked, is all. Although I do really like animals."

"Animals?", asked Leon, and flicked his lollipop stick with his finger. "What kind of animals?"

"I just like animals.", said Dan, and shrugged. "I like looking at them, I like observing them, I like finding rare ones. And if we ever get our own place, I think I might try collecting them."

"Own place?", asked Leon, and stopped all movement for a bit. "What- uh, what do you mean by that, own place?"

Dan noticed the Goblin waiter coming up from behind him, and reached out an arm. The gigantic plate of hot wings was deposited right into his hand, and his eyes reflected the steaming meat. "Well, after all this is over, I was thinking about moving somewhere a little off of our Castle. Just us four. We'll have our own little house."

He leaned down to Leon, and looked at him with an expression that only guys knew. "But you cannot tell your mother about this, you understand? This is going to be a surprise. No matter what."

Leon nodded, and grabbed a hot wing. He took a huge bite and swallowed almost instantly. "Understood, Dad. Now let's have an eating contest."

Dan laughed, and grabbed a handful of hot wings. A handful for him was more like an armful for most, or even a barrowload for many. "Oh, you're on kid. You're on."

Dan shoved an entire bucket of hot wings into his mouth, savoring the sweet, rich, yet somehow light and earthy flavor of the Gobbish secret sauce. He heard they put liquid Gold into it, but he wasn't sure. Leon ate one at a time, slicing the meat off of each bone with his surprisingly sharp teeth. He thought he was doing well, having eaten 15 wings in a minute- when he looked up at Dan. He had not bothered to strip the meat off the bones. No, he was just eating them by the dozens, bones and all, chomping down on them with the ravenous appetite of a starving piranha on crack. Leon looked at the dwindling plate, and realized that it was time to admit defeat.

"Woah, woah, Dad.", said Leon, and started to eat his slower. "Let's slow down, or we'll run out."

"Okay, okay.", said Dan, and stopped his frantic shoveling. He began instead to pop them into his mouth like popcorn, savoring every one.

"What kind of girl do you wanna marry?", Dan said, and Leon almost spat out his hot wing. He gagged and hacked a bit, before looking up at Dan in shock. "Excuse me, what-", he choked out, before again launching into a fit of spastic coughs.

"Sorry, that question was a little strange.", said Dan, eating a few more wings. "And sudden. But I'm curious. What kind of girl, eventually, not even close to right now of course, do you want to end up with? In the future. Not right now."

"Uhhh…", said Leon, and slowly chewed on a wing. He stared off into space and his own imagination, thinking about the question. What kind of girl, indeed? He had always thought he would end up with a nice Jessie, but a Bibi might be equally nice. He started to say his thoughts, but then realized Dan had no idea what those names would mean.

"Maybe a ginger.", he said, leaning against the bench. "Or a strong girl. I've always liked strong girls, I guess. Maybe a ginger and a strong girl. That would be cool."

"A Valkyrie?", asked Dan dryly. "You want to get with a Valk?"

"What?", asked Leon, and scoffed. "Frick no. The only Valkyrie I met once tried to beat me up for looking at her half a second too long. I don't want to deal with that."

"Good.", said Dan, and ate another wing. "Valks are mostly jerks. I've met a few good ones, but-"

He blinked, and looked down. "Wait a minute. When did you ever meet a Valk?"

Leon shrugged, and almost ate another wing. But he had eaten almost 20 at that point, and he was getting rather full. "It was about a week before I ran away. I wasn't old at all. Down by the docks, in fact. You see-"

But his words died in his throat, as a horrible scream rolled across the village. He looked up at Dan, who looked down at both him and Trevor, who had apparently been standing there the whole time. "That sounded like-"

"Brandy.", said Dan, at the same time that Leon said "Mom." Dan stuffed another pile of hot wings down his throat, finishing off the plate, then took off, both Leon and Trevor running to keep up.

Song: Danger Draws Near

Around the same time as the boys were having their hot wing eating contest and highly philosophical discussion, the girls had been in the smoothie shop, doing roughly the same thing.

Of course, they were not eating hot wings, they were getting Goblin smoothies. But the philosophical discussion was still very accurate.

"Bubble, what flavor do you want?", Brandy asked, as she stepped into the shop. She let her down and looked up at the display, only then noticing that it was written in Gobbish. "Let's see, they got… uh… ummm…"

She stared at the totally unfamiliar language, now wishing that she had paid attention all of those times Agatha or Bowza or Oticat had tried to teach her Gobbish. They had all said it would be important for the future, and now she realized that they had been right. But she sure did not expect that the time she would be using it would be in the middle of the Continent of the Clans, on an epic quest to save the world, ordering Goblin smoothies for her adopted daughter.

"How about the third one?", Bubble suggested, pointing at the sign. "That looks good. It has-"

She stopped, and tried to sound out the words. "Maaakaaa tealatooka burshkeen. Can I have maakaa tealatooka burshkeen, Mommy?"

"I don't know.", Brandy said. "We don't know what that is."

"But I do.", said Annabelle, and came up behind Brandy. "I took a year of Gobbish- I'm pretty sure I can tell you what it all says."

"Oh, hello Annabelle.", said Brandy, and sighed in relief. "Yeah, that would be great."

Annabelle leaned forward, using her specialty eyes in order to look at the menu. "We'll have…", she said, and looked up and down. There was a daily deal on for the Triple Berry and Swamp Grass smoothie- that would be nice. But so would the Pineapple and Spring Water smoothie, or the Mountain Bush and Turquoise Apple, or the "Grape." There were a lot of good options.

"Triple Berry and Swamp Grass smoothie.", Annabelle said finally, and nodded. She took out a small pouch of Gold from her pocket and tossed it onto the table, and winked. "And that'll be three of them. Yes, you can keep the change."

Brandy sat down at a nearby table, and Bubble took a seat right next to her. Annabelle waltzed over and slid down into the third chair, humming an aimless tune.

Brandy thought for half a second, her mind working at top speed. She turned to Annabelle, and decided that this was the best time to make her move. "So… I was talking to Trevor."

The corners of Annabelle's eyes pulled down a little bit, and Brandy inwardly grinned. The mention of his name had, however briefly, gotten Annabelle to smile. That was good.

"Oh, you did?", asked Annabelle, tapping on the table with one finger. "What about?"

"Oh, nothing.", said Brandy, with a sly wave of her hand. Her goal was to figure out just what she thought of him, without revealing that is what she was doing. Annabelle's goal here was to keep that from happening. "Just, you know, important stuff."

Bubble looked excitedly from her mother to Annabelle, wondering what they were talking about. She figured that it was adult stuff, but that was a very large group of topics.

"I see…", said Annabelle, and the corners of her eyes pulled down even further. "And by the way, I have something to ask you."

"Oh?", Brandy asked, and her eyes automatically refocused on what was coming up behind Annabelle. She tensed for a second- then relaxed again, as she saw that it was just the waiter arriving with their smoothies.

"What is it like living with those two men?", asked Annabelle, and blushed a little bit. "Well, I guess, one boy, and one man. A real cute boy, if I might add."

Inwardly, Brandy frowned. If she had heard Annabelle correctly, she appeared to be going after Leon. That wasn't good. But she would have to get as much information as possible before proceeding- it would be a mistake to rush into any relationship matters.

"What about it specifically?", asked Brandy, momentarily Dashing to the tray that the waiter held. Not even half a second later, she was back with the drinks, passing one to each of them. Bubble happily sipped on her straw, and squealed from the taste. Brandy took a sip from hers, and Annabelle waited until it settled to start drinking. "Ask me questions, and I will answer."

"Well, what is it like living with such a… massive man?", asked Annabelle, her cheeks turning even redder. "How does everything… work? Functionally, I mean."

Brandy waved her hand, leaned back in her chair, and took a long sip on her straw. "Oh, it works fine. I don't really want to explain the details. But it works out great for both of us."

"Why not?", asked Annabelle, and finally began to drink her smoothie. "Is it like-"

"It is something sensitive.", said Brandy, and flinched. "I'll tell you when I'm ready."

"That's fine.", said Annabelle, and stared off into the distance. "But what about your son? Leon? He's a real cutie…"

"Well, of course he is.", said Brandy. "Everyone who dresses in a green hood and surrounds their eyes with black is a total cutie. Everybody knows that."

She grinned, her not so subtle subtle message going through Annabelle's head in a heartbeat. It was her turn to roll her eyes, and take another long sip of her drink. "No, really, I mean it. He doesn't have a girlfriend, does he? Cause if he doesn't, I would be glad to-"

The time it took for Brandy to perform her next action was not something that Annabelle, even with her superhuman eyes, was capable of seeing. It took a few seconds for what had just happened to work its way into her brain, flashing into her eyes with a burning yellow and purple light. Brandy had Dashed right in front of her, snarled for all she was worth, and uttered a single, immensely powerful word- "No."

Annabelle blinked, now noticing that Brandy was still reclining in her seat. But several of the patrons of the shop had stopped eating, and stared at Brandy in shock. Bubble was still sipping quietly on her smoothie, the sound the only one in the entire shop, but she was staring at Brandy in a mixture of admiration and fear. Annabelle's hair was blown back by the force of Brandy's eruption, and her hand hung in midair over the smoothie cup. She tried to work up the courage to speak, and only found it after about 15 seconds or so of stuttering.

"Well uh…", she stammered out, and tried to pour herself another swallow of smoothie. But her hands were shaking so much that most of it ended up on her face, and she had to lick it off. "Well… I saw a hat shop on our way here! You wanna try on hats-"

Right in the middle of her words, a Goblin ran screaming into the shop, tore a sword out of his bag, and stabbed it right into the middle of the table. He was not screaming in aggression- no, this was sheer panic. Bubble yelped, and shot right out of her chair. Annabelle jumped backwards, and quickly drew her bow. She was so surprised she forgot to scream. Brandy, once Bubble screamed, screamed as well. She drew back her foot to give the offending Goblin a kick- then stopped, once she saw the look on its face.

"There's-", it spat out in decent Common, and tried to keep itself from dying out of fear. "There's a monster outside! It's going to eat me!"

Brandy got up, and sighed. She shot a look to Bubble that said wait here, and started to walk the same way that the Goblin had come running in from. "Oh, great. Yet another Forgotten. Just what we needed. Not like my cuts still haven't healed fully from the last two or anything."

"It's over there!", the Goblin screamed in sheer panic, as Brandy quietly walked past him. "It tried to kill me, and now it's gonna try and kill the entire village! Help me!"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time.", said Brandy, and kept on walking. "No need to get your suspenders in a twist."

She reached the street of the village, and looked to her right. Judging from the trail of panic and mild destruction coming that way, that was the location of the Forgotten. She sighed, and Dashed down the road. Several Goblins along the side pointed her to the right location, among the maze of streets. She nodded, thanking them without a word, and kept on going.

"Thanc… yuu.", said a small Goblin child, peeking out from behind a larger one. Brandy stopped running, looked down at the tiny Goblin, and smiled. She raised her fist, and gave the Goblin kid a bump. Her mood brightened a bit, to be helping someone like that. "Hey.", she said. "It's what I do."

Then she kept on running, around and around the maze of streets and hastily built buildings- until she came to the clearing at the end. She figured that it was where she would find the so-called Monster- but to her utter shock, it was nothing like what she had expected. From the silhouette that she could see, it didn't look like a Monster at all. It looked like a tiny female Troop- it looked like a Princess. That in itself was strange enough, but as the Princess stepped forward into the light, exhaustion written upon her small face, Brandy gasped in shock.

"Oh my Se'th!", she screamed, and took a step back. She couldn't believe it. There was no reason for her to be here. And yet, here she was all the same. "Chloe?"

Chloe looked up from staring blankly at the ground, saw Brandy, and her face burst into an elated smile. It took a second for her to start running, but once she did, she sprinted towards Brandy like she was the last drop of Elixir in the desert. Brandy opened her arms and Chloe jumped into them, wrapping her own arms around Brandy like a tight knot. She sobbed directly into Brandy's chest, pushing herself deeper in for safety.

"Brandy…", she cried, sniffing out of both fear of her situation and happiness that she had found Brandy. "Where am I? What's going on? I'm so afraid…"

Brandy hugged her tighter in return, and rubbed her head. Her crown was missing, likely fallen off during her travels. It would be impossible to find in such a large forest, but perhaps one of the Builders at Oticat's castle could make her a new one. She gently grasped Chloe's chin and tilted her face upwards, staring directly into her tear-streaked eyes. "It's alright. I'm here now. And Dan is here with me, and some other nice people we met too. You're gonna be alright."

Chloe buried her face into Brandy's waist once again, and let out a flood of tears. Brandy gently stroked the back of her head, still a bit wondering about the situation. "Chloe, if you don't mind me asking, just how did you get out here? This is pretty much in the middle of the continent… did you wander out here yourself?"

Chloe looked up, and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She took a deep breath and started talking, all the words spilling out of her at once."I just asked Meg's King what he was working on, and he said it was a teleportation device, and so I pressed the button and then I was in this weird place with all these weird buildings and this Giant Skeleton but he was a Barbarian and-"

"Herb?", asked Brandy, in surprise. "You met Herb?"

"Yeah he said his name was Herb, and there was this really nice lady and her name was Sophia, and they took me to their big red house and I said that I was Oticat's third Princess and they told me that you guys had been there too and I went off looking for you only I couldn't find you but now I've found and- and- and-"

She once again threw herself into Brandy's lap, and began another round of panicked, yet happy sobs.

"I see…", said Brandy, and slowly got to her feet. She pulled Chloe to a standing position as well, and brushed off her sleeves. They had gotten very dirty from the journey. "Well, how about I just take you to where everyone else is? Me and Dan made some new friends- one of them's even a little girl like you! Maybe you can be friends too."

She heard a mighty crash from up ahead, and both of their heads snapped towards the source of the noise. They saw the Goblin from before staring at them in shock, his finger trembling as he pointed. "There she is! She's with the monster!"
"Monster?", Brandy asked, and Chloe's face recoiled in hurt. "She's not a monster, she's just a little Princess!"
The crash sounded again, and Dan came charging into view. He looked panicked, but Brandy didn't really notice. "Hey, Dan!", she said, and waved. "Look who I found!" She smiled, thinking that he could talk some sense into the Goblin. That is until he raised one finger, shouted "Single Spear Overdrive!", and shot a thin bolt of energy, directly through Chloe's head.

Brandy gasped in utter shock, as Chloe fell forward onto the ground. Blood spat from both her mouth and her head, a neat hole drilled through her brain. Brandy barely even had time to react before Chloe screamed in pain and fear, tried to grab Brandy's hand, and then burst into Elixir, right there on the ground. Brandy just stood there, watching the Elixir gently sway back and forth on the hard ground. Hardly any sound escaped her lips, just a low, agonized whisper. Somewhere, off in the sky, she thought she could hear the faint singing of a bird.

"D- Dan!", Brandy screamed, and whipped around. She yelled through her tears, unable to believe what he had just done. "What did you just do?"

"No time to explain!", Dan said, and grabbed Brandy around the waist. He tossed her up onto his shoulder, and jumped backwards from where Chloe had fallen. "Get away from there!"

"Dan, that was Chloe!", Brandy shouted, hardly even coherent. "How could you kill her?"

"Just watch.", said Dan, staring at the puddle of Elixir. "Any second now, it's gonna change. Any second now…"

But the puddle just kept on sloshing around, until the hard ground yielded, and slowly absorbed what had once been Chloe. Dan's face dropped, and he took a step back.

"Oh- oh.", he said, a lot quieter than he had been. "Oh my Se'th."

"Dan, what were you thinking?", Brandy screamed, the tears running across her eyes obscuring her vision. She yanked on his ear, turning him around and back towards the village. "You just killed Chloe! She had followed us here, and you just killed her! How could you-"

"Gotcha!", Dan roared, and suddenly spun around. His hand was raised, just in time to block a sword attack that would have stabbed straight into his neck.

There, on the end of his palm, was a black and jagged sword. Holding that sword was a black and jagged person, covered all over with spikes and layers of armor scraps. He hissed, his plan foiled, and tried to drop down to the ground- but Dan's hand contracted, and grabbed him tight.

"You thought you could get us that easily?", he asked, and squeezed tighter. The thing groaned in pain, and tried to escape, but his efforts were wet paper compared to Dan's grip of tempered steel. "Good thing the Goblins told us about you, and all of your tricks."

"How…", the thing squeaked out, feeling his lungs beginning to pop. "How did you figure it out? I thought I had her fooled… all my information was-"

He coughed, and only then did Brandy realize what had happened. "Was correct!"

"I'm sure it was.", said Dan, and snarled. "She may have believed you. But my fist sure doesn't."

Dan gave one last, might squeeze, and the Shapeshifter screamed in pain. His entire middle section popped, and both halves of his tortured body flew from Dan's grip like a sliced grape. He bled a runny mixture of both blood and Elixir onto the ground, then expired for real. The Elixir he had been before was merely a ruse, in order to trick Brandy.

"That wasn't Chloe, Brandy.", Dan said, watching the remains of the Shapeshifter slowly melt into the ground. Some of it was drunken by a small, bright green frog, but most of it merely disappeared. "That could only have been a Forgotten."

"I see that now.", said Brandy, quietly, the shock of the past minute or so silently settling in. "That was stupid of me. I should have seen it coming-"

"No, no, not stupid.", said Dan, giving her a look. They both heard footsteps from behind them, everyone except for Leon coming up from the back. "You're not stupid. That was just an exceptionally good trick. If the Goblins hadn't told me what he was up to, it would have fooled me as well."

"If you say so.", said Brandy, and slowly slid off his back. "That just… unsettled me a bit. Actually no, screw that- it unsettled me a lot. He looked and acted so much like Chloe that-"

She choked on her words a bit, and looked up, her eyes pleading. "Dan, I need to make sure she's okay. I need to. Even if that wasn't her, it feels like she's dead now."

Dan frowned, and put his hand to his chin in thought. "I'm not sure we would be able to know that, Brandy. It's not like there's any means of communication we can use right now… we don't have any homing Minions with us, and it doesn't seem as though there are any around."

"Yeah, and both our communicators probably ran out of battery a few days ago.", Brandy sighed, and put her head in her hands. She felt Bubble's tiny hand touch her thigh, and she looked up at her and smiled. "If only there was some way to… just to talk to everybody back home."

"Letter for you.", said a Goblin, and Brandy felt a single letter drop into her lap. She looked down at it, up in front of her, up at Dan, and then finally up at the Goblin, the sheer crushing irony of the situation not lost on her, or anyone there, in the slightest. Although it could have been lost on Bubble- she did not appear to be listening. Then she took another look at the Goblin, and her eyes very nearly bugged out of her head. She jumped to her feet, and stammered in shock.

"Holy crap!", she shouted, and Dan's eyes raised as well. "Glabnack?"

Song: Calm Sightseeing

She had not recognized Glabnack at first, in his new mail carrier's uniform. His face was half hidden by the thick goggles that were required, and the standard cloak obscured almost all of his body. He was also no longer carrying the gigantic book that he had been practically attached to the last time they had seen him. And yet, the crook in his nose and the small Honorary Wizard's tattoo on his cheek were unmistakable. And as Glabnack performed a little curtsey, they both knew, without a doubt, that it was him.

"Hey, how you been buddy?", asked Dan, reaching down a hand for a high five. "It's been-"

He thought for a moment, trying to think of the exact time, but then gave up. "It's been a while since we last saw you. Brandy, how long has it been?"
"Oh, it's only been about 4 days.", said Glabnack, scratching his chin. "Of course, I've spent a lot of time in the basement fetching books. My perception of time is a bit altered…"

"Oh right, you were going to become a Wizard!", said Brandy. Everyone else in the group looked at them strangely, having no idea what the conversation was about, or who this Goblin was, or why Dan and Brandy seemed to know him so well. "How is that going for you?"

"Ayy, it's going great.", said Glabnack, with a heavily exaggerated swing of his arm. "I just love carrying books to graduated and natural Wizards for seven hours a day."

Then he gestured to his Mail Carrier's badge, and grinned. "But I have graduated to Mail Carrier Goblin, so that's pretty cool, I guess. Only took me a few days too."

He flashed a smile, and bobbed his eyes up and down. "Natural talent."

"What comes after that?", asked Dan, wanting to find out more. "How long do you have until you're a full level Wizard?"

"Well…", said Glabnack, and counted out on his fingers. "There's kitchen duty, then guard duty, then assistant, then apprentice, then Wizard. So I've still got a bit to go."

Dan had been about to ask him more questions, when he saw the faces of everybody there.

"Oh, right.", said Dan, and gave Glabnack a light tap on the back. "This is Glabnack. He helped us fight the Kraken and the Gorgon, remember? We told you all about this."

Nods were passed around the group, except for Bubble. She was too distracted, staring at Glabnack's shiny Mail Boots to pay any attention.

"But as much as we all would love to catch up with you more…", said Dan, and stood up straight. "We really should let you get back to your work. Mail Troops are always busy, huh?"

"Oh, too right.", said Glabnack, and straightened his robe. "Too right…"

He gave a sharp salute, and began a brisk trot towards his Mail Camel. "Nice talking with you guys! And remember to tell me if your quest works out! Lovely family you two found yourselves!"

He slapped the side of his Camel, and it emitted a sound unique to it only. Then it slowly lumbered off, covering more ground that made sense, and soon vanished around the corner, into the many trees that made up the valley.

"Well?", asked Dan, staring at the letter. "Open it up. Weren't you saying you wanted to see what everyone else at home was up to?"

Brandy's eyes lit up blue, and she gasped. "Oh, you're right!", she said, and quickly sliced the seal with her fingernail. "This is gonna be good." She excitedly extracted the letter, unfolded it with a movement boosted by Dash, and began to read.

Dearest Brandy and Dan, the letter began. Both Brandy and Dan could immediately tell it was from Agatha, based on the handwriting. That made sense.

I truly do hope that this letter finds you both in good health, and in high regards. That fight against Bonoome a few days ago had me worried, I do admit. But I heard from Spacekrakenx that you two are fine and alive, and I do believe him. I'm glad that you managed to survive the fight against that monster.

And just in case you were wondering, we are all doing fine as well. Oticat went on a touch of a losing streak, but he's all better now. That may be in part to my rework- I'm the best I've ever been nowadays. All Witches are. It's like how we're rumored to be by new Kings, although in reality this time. Brenda and Meg are getting along well as well- they might even move in together in a House of their very own soon. And more work is done to make a hypothetical marriage legal. May it be, for their two sakes.

As Brandy read the letter, she could not help but tear up a little. Such reminders of home sparked a feeling of bittersweet longing inside of her, a split loyalty between the quest and just wanting to be home again. A tear rolled down her face, as she continued to read.

Chloe's been a real handful around the Castle lately- she misses you two ferociously. However, there is some interesting news about her- all of the Wizards have been working hard lately, and we might be able to create a cure for her before too long. Maybe, just maybe, by the next time you see her, she'll be a normal Princess again. That would certainly be a pleasant surprise.

Brandy gasped in relief, having just read confirmation that Chloe was, in fact, still alive. She had been harboring a little bit of uncertainty in her mind since the Shapeshifter, and was happy to hear that she could finally let it go.

I hope that you haven't needed to use the Ring of Three Wishes yet, the letter continued, and Brandy sighed. But if you have needed to, I hope that it served you well. I'm sure you're seeing all sorts of interesting things, over there on the Continent of the Clans. Not too many other attacks, I hope.

"Oh, I wish.", Brandy muttered underneath her breath. The fights with the Forgotten had been very fun and refreshing at first, but now, Brandy was getting a little fed up with the constant opposition on their way to the Mountain. She almost wished they could hurry up and just get there already…

I'm pretty sure you can write back using the included kit,the letter continued. But if you can't, just know that we are all here waiting for you when you come back. Hopefully it won't be long- the Castle just isn't the same without you two being here.

With best wishes of love and hope, Agatha

Brandy looked up from the letter, and slowly tucked it into her left interior pocket. She stood up, wiped a few tears from her eyes, and looked up at Dan. His reaction was mostly the same- full of bittersweetness, but without most of the tears. There was, however, quite a bit of closed eyes and sighing, attempting to keep his emotions in check. Brandy knew that despite his colossal size, and his mighty temper, and his extreme toughness, Dan was really a very emotional person. He just didn't tend to show it to anyone but her.

"We need to continue.", said Brandy, and looked up towards the sky. She put her hand to her face, staring at the horizon, or at least where it could be through the unbroken line of mountains.

The sun was beginning to approach the other side of them. They most likely only had a few hours left in the day, until the world was plunged into night. They certainly needed to stop before then- a journey at night would be far more perilous. There were things wandering about after dark that should not have been, things that were rather left unseen.

Brandy had seen one of those Night Monsters once. Or at least she thought she had. It was from a while ago, back when Dan was still a Knight. She had been looking out her window one night, not wanting to go to sleep- and there it was. A grinning, toothy mouth, held aloft on four thin limbs. No other facial features, merely a mouth. The body was pasty white, and it stood still as a rock. Just staring with its soul, right back at her. She had hid under the covers, she remembered. She had been pretty easy to scare back then-

"Brandy?", she heard Dan asked, and she was startled out of her memory. "Yes. Let's go."

"Oh!", Brandy said, and shook her head. "Right, right, sorry. I was just thinking about something, is all. Let's go."

Dan held out his hand, and she hopped onto it. The group, who had gotten ready to go while Brandy had been remembering the Monster, began to walk from the edge of the village to outside of it. But they had hardly gone even a few feet, when they heard a voice call to them from the side.

"Good day, travelers…", said the voice, and they all turned as one. There they saw an old, grinning Goblin, in front of a two-story, rickety, very thin and tall Goblin house, moving a pile of cards and Gold from one hand to the other. He was dressed in a clean purple suit, button up, a solid black top hat and pure white dress shoes completing his look. He affixed them all with a powerful stare, and everybody in the group could feel a menacing aura coming from both him and his house- not to mention the tent next to it. "Would you like to play my game?"

"Honestly?", said Leon, and kept on walking. "No. Normally we would, but we are quite busy."

"Oh no.", said the Goblin, and shook his head. "You're missing out of the deal of a lifetime here, madams and sirs. You see, should you win…"

He took off his top hat, and threw it into the air. It flipped over as he did so, about a dozen times, then landed at a slight tilt back on his head. "I will tell you all which you most desire to know."

Leon's face went from one of boredom to curiosity. "You mean… you can tell us information."

The Goblin gambler ran a single Gold piece up and down his arms and shoulders, then into his hand. He closed his eyes, the Gold disappearing without even a trace. "I guess you could say that… I am a dealer in many commodities. And information… can be one of them."

"Well then, in that case…", said Dan, and stepped forward. He leaned down, and offered up his hand- but did not shake. "What happens if we lose?"

"If you lose, then I get to keep the money.", said the Goblin, matter of factly. "It's as simple as that. You win, you get my information and your money back. You lose, and you don't."

Dan narrowed his eyes, and opened up a mental link between himself and Brandy.

This guy's a Forgotten, he thought, and slowly extended his hand. There's no doubt about it.

Almost certainly, yeah, Brandy agreed, and gave the smallest nod she could. Probably calls himself "The Gambler" or something like that. All of the Forgotten have weird names, now that I think about it. I don't think he would be very out of place among them.

Too true, Brandy, Dan thought, and the Goblin extended his hand to shake it. But Dan knew better than to just shake on deals in the wild- instead, he gently tapped the Goblin's hand with a fistbump. "Deal.", he said, and then straightened back up.

That was a good call, Dan, Brandy thought, and rubbed her head against his neck. Not shaking.

Aww, thanks, Dan thought back, and started walking. The Goblin had suddenly appeared next to his tent, lifting up the flap, beckoning them all to come in with a single clawed finger. I figured it was the best thing to do.

And just to make sure…, thought Brandy as they entered, Bubble almost tripping over the pile of stuff at the entryway, most likely arcane items. The boxes and bags certainly seemed that way.

We are asking him for information on Rakastamos, right?, she thought. It would really seem a waste to ask him about anything else.

Well, of course, Dan thought, as the entire group slowly filed into the tent. There wasn't much there- just a small cupboard, a few decks of playing cards against the wall, and a large table to use them on.

"Well, you all know the stakes…", said the Goblin, and expertly grabbed a deck of cards from the shelf. He began to shuffle, with lightning fast moves. "But the player? Who will that be?"

Brandy opened her mouth to speak, saying that she would go. She was quite good at games- but she closed it in shock, as she saw Bubble slip out from behind Dan and slide into the chair, without anyone saying a single word.

"I can do it.", she said quietly. "I'm good at cards."

Song: Crucial Situation

"What?", asked the Goblin, leaning over and taking a long, perhaps too long, look at Bubble. He chuckled to himself, and continued to shuffle the cards. "You want to play against me?"
"Bubble?", Brandy asked, in equal confusion, but far less amusement. "Bubble, what are you doing? Let one of us play instead."

"No.", said Bubble, and huffed. She blew her long blonde hair out of her face, and slammed her hands down onto the table, interrupting the shuffling. "I want to play, and I am going to."

"Hmph.", said the Goblin. "Well, in all my years… I, Daxos the gambler, have never heard such a thing. Surely you wouldn't mind if I…"

He smiled, and flipped a small switch on the bottom of the table. Suddenly, the doors to the tent disappeared, and the ground turned from brown and yellow grass to a solid black material. Dan looked around, trying to sense what laid beyond the tent now- and found nothing. Daxos smiled, and flipped the cards from hand to hand. "Raised the stakes?"

"Go ahead.", said Bubble, to the surprise of everyone. "As long as I get to pick the game."

Daxos leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, utterly confident. He knew from his years of experience that there was no way he could lose to this strange little girl, no matter how much she wanted to challenge him. "Very well, girl. Choose the game."

Bubble held up one finger, and stared him down with deadly intensity. "Traditional High Evening Goblin Poker.", she said, and Daxos dropped his smile. "No Switch turns."

Daxos got down from his position, and dropped his elbows onto the table. "Very well then.", he said. "It seems you really do know your stuff… Goblin Poker it is then. High Evening Trad, no switch turns. Everyone else, sit down. And Barbarian, please stop poking my decks."

Trevor looked up, guiltily, as Daxos looked at him poking the spare decks. He sat down on the chairs, besides everyone else. Dan looked down at Brandy, with a look of confusion. Brandy just shrugged- Well, I guess this is how we're going- and turned forward to watch the game.

Daxos flipped a pair of 10-card hands from the deck, onto the table in front of both him and Bubble. She took it in a flash, scraping it against the top of the table in order to completely obscure any sight that Daxos may have had. Daxos did the same, and instantly began to read his cards. His face showed absolutely no sign of emotion, nothing that would give away his hand. His eyes were as of stone, his mouth a thin hard line. Even the famously expressive ears of the Goblin remained totally inert, his nose not budging an inch. Bubble's face was mostly hidden behind her hair, but what could be seen was as smooth and expressionless as a canvas.

"First hand.", said Daxos, and calmly selected a card without looking. "Blind trump. Winner takes-"

"I'm sorry, but you forgot one of the rules.", said Bubble, and looked up. "We select each other's cards. Only then can it truly be blind."

"Ah, but we are playing High Evening.", said Daxos, and his left ear slightly twitched. "Therefore, we get to choose our own cards, as we have both sworn a silent oath not to-"

"Not just High Evening," said Bubble, and raised a single eyebrow. "Traditional as well."

Outwardly, Daxos showed no sign of emotion. But inwardly, he began to get slightly nervous. Who was this girl, so wise in the art of cards? She appeared so young, and he could not place her as any known Troop. And yet, there she was, telling him what rules were rules.

"You're right.", he said, and set down his hand on the table. "I'm sorry… I must have forgotten in the heat of the moment."

Both of them reached across the table, and selected a totally random card from their hands. At least, it was random for Bubble. She simply selected the card closest to her, which happened to be the one in the middle. But for Daxos, there was far more subtlety involved. He knew that most people tended to hold their most valuable cards in the middle of the two sections of the hand, on both right and left. He also knew that the power cards were typically held in the middle, so people would remember them for instant use. But the rest, the low-powered chafe, were kept on the outside as a sort of shield. So he drew one card from the far left side and flipped it over, letting it land on the table in front of Bubble, as her selected card landed in front of him.

"Ah, you've got a 6 of Elixir.", said Daxos, and clucked his tongue. "Whereas the card you've selected for me is a 9 of Gems. How unfortunate… it appears as though I have won this round."

"So what happens now?", asked Bubble, and quietly looked up. She caught the eye of Leon, who had chosen to sit at the very end of Daxos's vision for a very specific reason. He exchanged her gaze, nodded, and silently disappeared. "You said you had raised the stakes."

"Yes, yes, I did.", said Daxos, and laughed. His hand gestured to a chart hanging on the wall behind him, a tiny icon for each of them. A marker was next to each icon, going from green, to yellow, to red. "You see that chart? That is the consequences of each loss."

He drew his finger along the side, going down the chart as he went. "The final penalty is, of course, this tent is collapsed. I will automatically teleport out and back to our reality… you, of course, will not be so lucky. You'll have the void all to yourselves, though…"

Dan stood up, and now realized why he had failed to sense anything outside of the tent. "That's where we are right now? The void?"
"Indeed.", said Daxos. He sat back down on the chair, and continued to flick his cards. "Now, shall we continue with the next hand?"

"Yes.", said Bubble, and held up one finger. "Next gamemode: True Guesswork."

"Indeed.", said Daxos, and began to take a card from one hand, ever so slowly, to the other. "We guess each other's cards, from instinct and skill alone."

Bubble nodded, and selected her own card. Brandy, staring forward, could see that she had chosen the 10 of Gold. She bit her lip, hoping that was forgotten enough of a card to avoid a correct guess.

Daxos and Bubble simultaneously slipped their cards onto the table, quick as a flash- but not before Leon, standing undetected behind Daxos, had gotten a good look at it. He knew that his card was the 8 of Trophies- but then his mouth went dry as he realized he had no way to say so.

Bubble stared at Daxos, waiting for Leon's hands to reappear. She knew that he had no way to communicate verbally, or else Daxos would find out. So she had to watch for his physical signal- hopefully she could find out. And soon enough, his fingers appeared, holding up four on both ends. Leon hoped that was enough for her to tell… and fortunately, it was.

"Eight of…", she said, and waited for the rest of the clue. But Leon had no idea how he was supposed to mime Trophies to her. He didn't really know these cards, he had no idea which suite came in which order. So the only thing he could do was try and make a T with his fingers, in blind hope she would get the clue- but she did not. She tapped the table with her finger, and said "-of Gems."

"Oooh, not quite!", said Daxos, and flipped over his card. Bubble groaned, and Leon knew it was time to go back to his seat. Now it was Daxos's turn to guess, and he stared forward with a mighty intensity. His powerful eyes had finally warmed up, and his vision slowly began to penetrate the back of the card. It was yellow- a sure sign of the Gold suite. But the number was a bit trickier. However, as Daxos ran some numbers through his head, contrasting chances with the amount of cards spent and still in the deck, he finally arrived at a sure answer. "The 10…", he said, and spread his arms. "Of Gold."

Brandy almost cried out, but managed to contain it. She could not allow Bubble to be given away. But to her surprise, Bubble flipped the card over, to reveal… the 4 of Elixir.

Song: The Kakero the Bluff

WHAT?, Brandy screamed inside of her head, as she saw what the card had suddenly become. It made no sense. First, the card had been the 10 of Gold, then the 4 of Elixir. Unless Bubble had suddenly switched out the cards, it was an impossible move. Cards didn't just change like that- and then, Brandy realized what had happened. Why Bubble had volunteered. They didn't change like that unless you were an illusionist- unless you were Bubble.

"Huh.", said Daxos, and leaned forward. He stared at the 4 of Elixir, which he could have sworn was not the card that she had been holding. Perhaps his eyesight was giving out. "Okay, I guess neither of us won that one. Next hand, I suppose."

"Yes.", Bubble said. "This one is to be Strength of Hands. However, I have a request."
"Oh?", asked Daxos, and tapped his cards together. "What is that request?"

Bubble narrowed her eyes, and put her cards together in a pile on the table. She put her chin in her hands and stared at Daxos, with a mischievous grin. There was only one way to win this. Despite her powers, Daxos had the far superior skill, and would win in a long game. "If I win this hand, I win the whole game. But if I lose, I lose everything."

Daxos raised an eyebrow, his poker face finally broken. With such a bold action, his interest had been well and truly piqued. "Hm. Very well then. Put your hand and claim it."

"You first.", said Bubble, and began to think about her next strategy. "Tell me what you have, oh master gambler."

Daxos frowned, but knew he had to comply. Bubble had lost the most recent round with a loser, and so he had to state his hand first. He took a look at his cards, selected four, and placed them down onto the table. "Four Aces, one of each suite. Ascending."

You could have heard a pin drop. Such a hand was the most powerful one in the entire game, and everybody there knew it, except for Leon. He was not familiar with Clash cards at all.

Trevor scooted a little closer to Annabelle, and Annabelle scooted a little closer to him. Dan gripped his fist, ready to get physical if something went wrong. Only Brandy knew what was going on, and was actually unworried about Bubble's chances here. She couldn't wait to see what the look on Daxos's face would be when he lost.

"My, that's a good hand.", said Daxos, and grinned. "Very strong, in fact. In the rules we have, there's only one hand that can beat it. The-"

Bubble slammed her hand face down on the table. "Four Ascending, same suite."

Daxos spit onto the table, hardly able to believe what he had just heard. There was no way. There was absolutely no way. This little girl could not have somehow managed to assemble the perfect hand to beat him. There was no way- oh. Of course there was not. She was bluffing. She had to be. He had to call her bluff- but he did have to call something else first.

"What suite?", he asked. "You have to say your suite, kid."

Bubble tapped the table, and grinned. "Grass. Four Ascending, same suite Grass."

Daxos stared at her, in total shock. After a few seconds, a low laugh began to build in his throat. The laugh turned into a chuckle, which turned into a guffaw, which became a deep seated belly laugh that turned his face red. "What Grass?", he gasped between laughs. "There's no such-"

"AND I'm going to raise that bet.", said Bubble, and drummed on the table once more. "This hand is worth everything. If I lose, my entire family becomes yours for the rest of our lives. But if I win, you tell us everything you know and could ever know about what we're after."

Brandy's eyes very nearly bugged out of her head. Bubble, what in Se'th's name are you doing?, she wanted to scream, but she knew she could not. Grass was not a suite that existed. Making solid cards that appeared that way was out of Bubble's power. Brandy began to freak out a bit, but that was by far the tamest reaction out of anyone in the room. Leon had taken out Hunter Killer, and was prepared to shoot his way out. Dan started to take a deep breath. Annabelle and Trevor had both fainted, fallen asleep in each other's arms. But Bubble just sat there, incredibly calm, knowing what she was in for.

"Very well then, I call.", said Daxos, and reached for her cards. "Let's flip those over."

With the breath of everyone there held on the moment, Daxos flipped over Bubble's cards.

Daxos laughed, and slammed his hands down onto the table. "I win!", he screamed, up towards the ceiling. "I knew some stupid little girl would never be able to defeat I, the great Daxos the gambler-"

"Daxos?", asked Bubble, and pointed towards her cards. "Perhaps you should take another look."

Daxos looked down, and his eyes bugged all the way out of his head. He stared at the cards in utter shock, unable to even process what he was seeing. Those were his cards, from his own deck. He had played with them many times before, knew every mark on their surface. And yet what he was seeing was not the regular cards, but a perfect, pure, almighty, unmatched, Four Ascending, same suite of Grass.

No sound was heard from the entire tent, save the long, wavering whine of Daxo's brain slowly shutting down. The tent began to hum, and the black material underneath everyone's feet once again became grass. The sensation of the world once again touched Dan's mind, and he gasped in relief. Bubble slowly scooped up everyone's cards, humming a little aimless tune to herself, Daxos's head laying on the side of the table, still in absolute shock.

How?, he asked himself, still unable to comprehend what had happened. How did I lose that? How did that happen? How was her suite grass?

But his wonderings were interrupted when he felt the strong fingers of Dan pick him up off of the table and turn him around, staring up into the angry faces of the entire group.

"Now, Daxos the Gambler…", said Dan, and cracked his knuckles. "You're going to tell us everything you know about Rakastamos."

Daxos stared up, still struggling to get his damaged mind in order. His mouth still trembled, repeating "How?" over and over, quietly as he could. His fingers scrambled at the floor, digging at the grass like it was a precious gemstone waiting to be mined.

"I said…", growled Dan, and gently placed one finger underneath Daxos's chin. Daxos shrieked, and felt his head be pushed upwards, staring right into Dan's intense gaze. "Tell us."

"Who?", asked Daxos, finally free from his repeating. "Who is that?"

"Rakastamos, you idiot.", Brandy said, and held up a fist of her own. "You know, the gigantic Dragonlord that you so obviously serve."

"I'm- I'm sorry, but…", said Daxos, his eyes moving rapidly around the room, searching for a way out. He gripped the grass tighter, and swallowed hard. But nothing could help the intense beating in his heart, both from the shame of his loss and the fear of death. He knew that every single person in that room could probably easily kill him, and he had most likely just managed to make every single one of them very, very angry. "I don't know who that is."

"What?", Dan snapped, and drew back his other fist. It sparked a gold flash, and Daxos jumped back in terror. "Of course you know who Rakastamos is. You work for him."

"But- but…", said Daxos, and swallowed hard. His arms and hands began to shake, from panic as much as fear. "I don't. I have no idea who or what you are talking about."

"Hmph.", Dan scoffed, and began to slowly ring his hand downwards. The sheer heat from the action began to leave its mark on Daxos's skin, a gradual blackening of his jade tone. "Well, if you really won't talk, I guess you're just gonna have to die. Exactly like every other Forgotten."

Annabelle stared at Daxos, reading his eyes with hers. Her eyesight was so advanced, it was as if she could actually look into his soul. And when she looked deep into his eyes, she could see no trace of deception.

"Dan, wait!", she shouted, and thrust out her arm. Dan's hand stopped just a few feet away from the terrified Daxos, the sweat dripping from his face only to be instantly evaporated by Dan's heat. "I think… I think he's telling the truth."

"What?", Dan asked, and stared at her in disbelief. "Look at him. Look at what he can do. He's obviously a Forgotten."

"Maybe…", said Brandy, stroking her chin in thought. She considered that maybe Annabelle might be on to something there. "But he hadn't instantly attempted to kill us, like all the others. Every other Forgotten that could talk said something about their intent to get rid of us."

"And the recent ones have said explicitly that they were working for Rakastamos.", said Leon, pointing a finger in the air. "That's what the Dusk Witch said when I took care of her."

"I've looked into his eyes.", Annabelle finished, and slowly got up. "He's not lying about this. He genuinely does not know who Rakastamos is."

"Wait.", said Dan, an expression of both confusion and embarrassment slowly creeping over his face. "So that means… Daxos is… we just…"

Both Brandy and Dan, in exact unison, thought the exact same words. Dan's face was one of a letdown, while Brandy's was one of acceptance. We just fought a regular guy…

Dan's face turned a little redder, and he stood up to his full height. The roof of the tent lifted off the ground with him, leaving the bottom of the canvas about 10 feet off the ground. He turned to the exit, and coughed into his elbow. "Well, we had best get going. I'm sorry to bother you, Daxos. I think we all are."

"Wait.", said Trevor, and bent down next to Daxos. Daxos merely groaned, in vague acceptance of whatever would happen now. "You said you could tell us everything we wanted to know. So even though you don't know anything about Rakastamos…"

Annabelle caught on within a second, and finished his sentence for him. "What can you tell us about the Clashcrush River? And mountains."

Daxos gestured aimlessly, most of his sanity broken. "There are fish in that river.", he mumbled, and dropped his head to his chest. "Big ones. Big nasty ones with lots of pointed teeth, that will eat you right up if you let them. Watch out for those."

"Okay…", said Brandy, trying to commit that to memory. Watch out for fish. "Now, is there anything about Rakastamos's schedule, or maybe his weaknesses, that you could tell us about?'

Daxos stared at her in confusion, and his lips curled up. He closed his eyes, put his head to his knees, and began to sob with the confusion of one who has truly no idea what's going on.

"Okay, just checking.", said Brandy, and gave him a little salute. "Well, thanks for the information, Daxos the Goblin Gambler. Now, don't ask anyone else for their soul or anything like that. We're about to head out now."

As the mighty group slowly left his tent and headed back on down the road, Daxos staggered to his feet. His mind swam, as he stumbled to the open flap of his tent- and just barely managed to avoid tripping over a tiny stack of cards. A quick glance downwards was all it took for him to realize that those cards had been Bubble's winning hand, the so-called Suite of Grass. But as he flipped it over, it was not the cards that had stolen his victory and ended his 5-year streak- no, it was a mere collection of random cards.

Daxos stared at the cards for a few seconds, blinked, and immediately knew what he had to do. This was a wakeup call. No longer was he going to gamble, put his life on the line with every game. No longer was he going to sit here by the passage through the forest and to the mighty Clashcrush River, trying to swindle innocent Troops out of whatever they had. "No.", he resolved as he clenched his fist. "From now on, I'm going to be a responsible, mature, adult, normal Goblin. And I know what I have to do next-"

With a bold twinkle in his eye, he snatched his coat off of the wall, flipped it on, and ran out the door. "Run down to the town, make a lot of friends, and get myself stone drunk!"

Which, of course, is what he did. But he did prove popular at parties.

About a few dozen or so miles away, very near the huge and legendary Clashcrush river, a rather peculiar pair sat among the bushes. One was immense, purple, and muscled all over, barely able to keep himself hidden even through the thick trees. His head was largely obscured by a thick metal helmet, only his eyes and nose visible through it. The other was a much smaller figure, wearing bright blue robes and a tall, pointed hat. He gently waved his hand back and forth, swishing the water in a small offshoot of the river back and forth.

"Sir…", asked the purple one, slowly scratching his ponderous head. "I was wonderin' somethin'."

"What is it?", asked the smaller, and looked up from his Highly Important Actions. He stared up at the larger one with an oddly kind smile, considering who he was and who he worked for.

"Why are we doin' this?", the purple hulk drawled, his dim mind trying to put his thoughts into words. "What are we out here for, anyway?"
"Why?", asked the smaller, and stood up. He thrust one fist into the air, and shouted boldly. "Why, for the honor of Lord Rakastamos, of course! For the glory of all Dragonkind, and the sanctity and safety of all the world."

"Not that, sir.", the big one said, and shook his head. "I was wondering why we're out here by the river, and not in the mountain with Rka- Rakkaa- Rakasa- Rakastamos. Shouldn't we be in there, protecting 'im?"

"Well…", said his caretaker, and winced. "No. You see, the master has a very specific plan. And out part in the plan is to be out here, and protect him from anything that might come along, trying to attack him."

"Oh.", said the purple giant slowly, and nodded his thick head. "I suppose that would make sense."

The small man's ears perked up, as he heard the sound of something in the brush. He quickly turned his head, and saw a full Troop of Barbarians in the bush. There were 5 of them, all wearing matching armbands- this was clearly a bunch of Royale Barbarians. And he had guessed that they had clearly come to attack his master.

"Like that, William.", he said, and waved his hand. The attention of the monster towering above him was slowly led down, and the man pointed at the Barbarians. "Those are the ones we're supposed to destroy."

William's face lit up, and he slowly leaned down. He put up a hand, and waved. "Why hello, Barbarians! What are your names?"

The man blinked, and the rest of his face violently twitched. "No, William, we are supposed to destroy them. Destroy, not befriend-"
"Well, I'm Phil.", said the front Barbarian, and nodded. "These are my bros Dave, Bob, George, and Fred. I guess those are pretty common barb names, but we all know each other well. So it works out for us."

William drew upwards again, and he clapped his hands. "Yay! Yay! Phil n Dave n Bob n George n Fred! We're all going to play a game together!"

The man watching him closed his eyes in exasperation, and began to move his hands in the general direction of the river. The water rippled and moved, beginning to flow towards him. William's sheer power was almost unrivaled, but his intelligence was approximately that of an uneducated rock.

Phil looked around at the rest of his troop, and shrugged. "Sure, why not?", he asked, and put one hand to his brow. "What are we going to play-"

"Smash!", William shouted, and flung his head down right at them. None of the Barbarians even had time to react before the solid metal helmet he wore crashed into them like a meteor, splattering them into Elixir almost instantly. "We're going to play Smash."

William drew his head back, and once again clapped in delight at the scene of purple carnage before him. "Yay! Yay! Smash is so fun!"

The man dropped the water, and shook his head. "I'm glad you like to play it, William. It is rather useful at times, your smash skill."

William laughed, and slammed his fists into the ground, creating several more offshoots from the main river. "What are we going to play now, sir?"

The man put his hand on William's leg, and looked up towards the sun. It was closer to the horizon that he had expected it would be, but that was alright. There was still plenty of time left in the day. "We're going to play wait for the next targets, Willaim. I expect they should arrive in just a few hours."

"And then I can play Smash with them!", William shouted in happiness, and clapped his hands. "Yay!"

"Yes, William, then you can.", said the man. "Yes, you can."

Song: Killer

The Ship of the Gods, for all its size, grand construction, and splendor, tended to be a bit of a quiet place. The journey to their destination was always a few weeks, and they had to conserve their enthusiasm for each other to last all that time. A few of the Primals were up front, serving as guides. The Primal Kings, Blue and Red, were Co-Captains of the ship, along with the Primal Shelly, the Primal Barbarian, and the Great Elder God of Gods himself, the almighty Il'kka. Some of the other gods and Primals were off doing important things in the ship's rooms, such as cooking or making sure they had enough fuel, but most of the cosmic passengers simply sat around in the Main Hall, lost in their godly thoughts. Primals could see through the vision of any member of their lineage, and so most of them were doing that to pass the time.

But of course, the Primal Skeleton, King Doot, had grown bored of such a thing. He had wandered off to the far side of the Main Hall, and found a row of curious buttons. After messing with them a few times, he determined that they had no purpose, and so were useless to anyone, but especially him. Especially him. But as he began to turn away, ever on the hunt for something else, he stepped on a small button that lit up the entire wall behind him in a blaze of color. He hopped and turned around in panic, looking at what he had done.

The TV, arrayed alongside the entire side of the ship, came to life. It showed a Royale logo, which then zoomed and flipped outwards to show a pair of announcers- one a Wizard, and the other an Archer. They were both in the middle of something, but King Doot could not tell what.

"Oh, hey, TV Royale's on!", grunted the Primal Bowler, and looked up. He had been spectating the World Bowling Championships through the eyes of his personal favorite champion, Gret, but he supposed that would have to wait. "King Doot, turn up the sound, will ya buddy?"

King Doot happily nodded, and started to fiddle with the remote. He clicked through several buttons, not really sure what all of them meant. Perhaps it was the red one that changed the volume, or maybe it was the blue. Although it could have been the green- no, that one made the popcorn. He was sure of it. But he could not, of the unlife of him, remembered which one messed with the sound. So he just kept on flipping through the buttons, pressing one about a dozen times that seemed promising. Unfortunately, however, that was not the volume control. It was the channel button. The Bowler groaned, as King Doot flipped through channel after channel, seemingly oblivious to what was going on. "Doot, wait!"

With the flick of a button, King Doot went from the TV Royale channel to the Brawl TV, to Cooking with Goblins, to Goblining with Cooks, to the very same bowling tournament that the Primal Bowler had been watching just a few seconds earlier, to Alex Jones screaming about how it was impossible to find good sushi anywhere these days. A few more clicks sent everyone watching- which was quite a few Primals now, as they were all in the same room- through ads for fine Frozen Peak dining, an in-depth explanation, now a long while late, of the Pass Royale system, and a very small, angry-looking Princess demanding a movement for all Mega Minions to be rounded up, de-winged, and finally thrown into the ocean to be eaten by Sharks. The audience was mostly getting into it by now, having turned towards the TV to watch. But just as they were beginning to enjoy themselves, a huge gasp fell across them, as King Doot changed the channel once last time. He had continued to press the button, but nothing happened. Nothing changed the channel away from the immense, shadowed face of Dragonlord Rakastamos, staring back at them, his evil, toothy grin staring through the gloom.

Se'th and Dr'ew had been lazily reclining on a couch up near the front of the ship, reflecting on what they should do once they returned to the world. THey had discussed the theme for the next few seasons, the inevitable nerf to Elixir Golem in just a few weeks, what card they should put their godly powers into scouring the world for and manipulating a chosen into becoming, and theoretical other balance changes for the future a few seasons out.

"So uh…", said Se'th, and tapped his glasses a few times with his finger. "What do you think, Dr'ew? Should we buff Goblin Hut?"

Dr'ew- the real Dr'ew, not the demonic copy from a few weeks earlier- scratched his long, immense beard, and thought about it. "I don't know, Se'th.", he said, and shrugged. "I know that a lot of Kings had been asking for it, might buff a dead card which is always nice. But on the other hand…"

"Spawners are extremely unskilled and very annoying when meta.", finished Se'th dryly, and scratched at his bald head. "So that's two arguments here." '

Dre'w dug into his pocket, and withdrew a single Gold coin. He gave Se'th a knowing look- this was, in truth, how they settled most things. It seemed very odd to outsiders that the two gods of Royale decided things with a simple coin flip, but it was how they worked. But even as Dr'ew put the Coin on his finger and prepared to flip, an air-shattering scream came from the Main Hall. The two gods looked at each other in shock, and then turned towards the direction of the sound. They could see the Two Kings running past them, holding on to their crowns as they ran.

"Hold on, we're coming!", they both shouted at once, for the scream sounded like that of a Princess.

"What was that?", Se'th said to himself, as he too ran towards the Main Hall. "Why would somebody be screaming-"

And then, as both he and Dr'ew skidded into the room, his face went white. There, in full glory upon the TV screen, was a sight he hoped never to see again.

Song: Perfect Cell- Friedrech Habetler

"Hello, everyone.", said the booming, elegant voice of Dragonlord Rakastamos, as he stared directly into the camera feed. "I'm sure that you're wondering why I've called you all here today."

"You…", Se'th breathed, hardly even able to believe what he was seeing. "I thought you were sealed away for all eternity. That prison was designed to be inescapable for you."

"We all make mistakes, don't we?", Rakastamos laughed, and spread his arms open wide. "You're making one right now, leaving the world all alone and defenseless like that. What a shame."

Rakastamos bashed his tail against the rocks of his cave, making sure the bell-like tones were heard loud and clear throughout the entire ship. He rather liked the sound of bells- how powerful they sounded, how clear, how impending, how full of justice. If he were ever to just sit down and write himself a theme song, it would certainly include bells.

"And what a coincidence that your Godly Meeting and my reawakening just so happened to coincide so well…", Rakastamos laughed, then held up one finger. "Oh, wait. No they didn't."

He threw back his head and howled, a streak of red fire escaping from his mouth as he did so.

"I engineered that myself! The timing was perfect, thanks to my planning… and your cooperation. Thank you for that, by the way."

The Two Kings stared at Rakastamos's powerful form, not sure what to think. They had not fought against him when he first rose- they were not suited for such combat themselves. But they had heard many things about him, and knew he was one to be feared.

Fallon glared, his pure white eyes showing a small bit of pupil from his fury. He remembered vividly how everyone working together had just barely managed to put Rakastamos away the first time- and now they could not touch him when he returned. He cast a small glance to Juno by his side, who he had expected to be nervous. But instead, she seemed to be planning something.

"Enough boasting, Rakastamos.", said Se'th, and pointed his finger at the TV screen. "You couldn't have just called us to tell us that you awoke. That would be a mistake."

"Oh.", said Rakstamos, and a diabolical grin tore its way across his face. "Oh, oh, oh. I have a reason for why I called you, alright."

He grabbed the camera in his gigantic draconic hand, and began to slowly move across the floor of the cave. The gathered Primals watched in fear, not quite sure what they would find.

"You're going to enjoy the sight of this very, very much.", said Rakastamos, and came to his destination. He stopped moving, and slowly took his hand off the camera. He laughed, a jet of fire erupting from his mouth. "I know I did."

This time, it was Dar'ia's turn to gasp. The god of the Continent of the Clans knew full well what he was looking at, and he knew of its true power. He pointed at the screen in shock, his finger trembling with real fear. "That- that's Blood Elixir!", he said, and took a closer look at the enormous, almost full, container of sloshing dark red liquid. "And the container's almost full…"

"That is correct, Dar'ia!", said Rakastamos, and slowly moved one huge hand towards the container's surface. "But how would you like it to… be a little less full?"

"What?", asked Dar'ia. "What are you talking about? Unless you want to pour it out-"

"You see…", said Rakastamos, ignoring Dar'ia entirely. "Ever since I began to gather this Blood Elixir, I have just been dying for a taste. I'm sure it tastes absolutely…"

He moved his hand closer to the surface of the evil liquid, almost touching it. "Divine."

Fallon, with his unrivaled intelligence, was the first to figure it out. "Rakastamos, don't drink it!", he shouted. "That much Blood Elixir at once will kill you. Before you reach the magic amount, you need to be careful of how much you drink."

Rakastamos's eyes lit up in genuine surprise. Fallon had organized the first efforts to seal him away, those many years ago, and now it seemed he was… supportive?

"I know what you're trying, Fallon.", said Rakastamos, and scoffed. "You're trying to reverse reverse psychology me. You want me to not drink it, which means that I will drink it, but you want me to drink it, which means you don't want me to drink it. But…"

Rakastamos dipped his hand into the Blood Elixir, and it hissed and spat at the physical contact. "We're not doing things how you want them. I was going to drink this long before I called you."

The entire Main Hall shouted in shock, as Rakastamos swirled the puddle of Blood Elixir around in his hand. Small drops of the stuff ran over the edge of his fingers and hit the ground, eating at the stone like Poison through Skeletons. Rakastamos grinned, put his hand to his maw, and gently tipped his arm and his head back. As the gods and the Primals of the world watched in terror, Rakastamos drank about 3% of all the Blood Elixir he had been saving up.

For a moment, nothing happened. Only silence covered the sky, as the Blood Elixir slowly ran down his throat and into his stomach. He stood there as it processed- then a sharp shock of pain ran through his chest.

Rakastamo's pupils all but disappeared, as an almost solid line of sheer power shot from his stomach to in four directions all around him. The rock broke where the lines shot, leaving an X shape etched directly into the mountain itself. Rakastamos began to shake, and a low roar of both agony and triumph escaped his lips. The red and gold of his body shifted, becoming an even darker red and an even brighter gold. He roared, the low noise sending impact tremors through every bone on the ship, and every bone in his lair. A long, blood red line of spikes ran up and down his body, jutting out of his skin with a burst of blood. He groaned in pain- then once again began to laugh, as his small transformation reached its end.

"Oh…", he breathed, savoring the rich feeling of added power rush through him. "What strength… what power… what might! I would certainly go for another, if I had enough to do so…"

The Red King's face shook in horror, as he stared at the absolute power that he was now witnessing. That had been a tiny amount of the Blood Elixir, a mere droplet. And yet, it had boosted Rakastamos's overall power almost 20%, if not more. And Blood Elixir was exponentially more effective in large amounts. He shuddered to think of what would happen if Rakastamos accumulated the magical amount of 50000 Blood Elixir. Most likely, he feared, it was that he would become truly unstoppable, an invincible force of nature not even the gods could tame.

Rakastamos once again laughed, and put his wings on his ribs. "Now do you see, fools? You were the only ones who stood a chance of stopping me. And now you fret and frolic about in space, while my plans are about to come to full fruition. And there is nothing you can do about- nothing whatsoever."

"Maybe not.", said Jonathan the Primal Knight, and looked upwards at Rakatamos with boldness. "But not all immortal beings left with us on the trip."

"What?", asked Rakastamos, and began to think of who he had forgotten. "Who the-"

But then he remembered, and he closed his eyes in relief. "I fear not. Chuqualita and I are the only Dragonlords even awake, much less prepared to fight. And I already made sure she was far too afraid to even put up a challenge…"

He saw Se'th about to say something, and cut him off. "And do not think you can count on Anghammarad for help. It's been too soon since he built the Rushlands- he'll be asleep for decades, if not centuries."

Rakastaos laughed again, and wiped a tear from his eye. "It appears that the only beings that could even try to stop me are the world's mortals… and we all know how that would turn out."

"Oh, do we?", asked Jonathan, and summoned up a tiny amount of power in his left hand. A hologram of Dan beating down Bonoome appeared, large enough for Rakastamos to see. "It appears as though there are several mortals that are giving you quite the amount of trouble."

The Primal Wizard nodded, thinking of the current member of the Askari lineage. He did not mention him, for he did not want Rakastamos to be reminded. "There have always been."

Juno smiled, thinking of what she had seen deep, deep within the Bandit she had met. Perhaps, if nurtured correctly, it could be the way to defeat Rakastamos in battle. "The world has its champions, Rakastamos. Even if we are gone."

"Oh, hilarious.", Rakastamos growled, and reached up one hand to turn off the camera. He had a lot of things to do, and to sit here getting lectured by a bunch of Primals was not one of them. "But once I drink the full, complete Blood Elixir, there will be no power in the world that can stop me. Certainly no mortal- and eventually, not even you. My growth will be endless, and my potential infinite. When you return to your precious world, with all its precious little mortals, the only thing you will see is me. Me, and your quick deaths."

He gestured to himself, and tapped his head. "Once my rampage begins, I know just how the mortals will act. They always do. They'll pray to their gods, they'll ask their overlords for help. But, of course, you won't be there to help them."

Rakastamos gave one last snarl, and locked eyes with Se'th. "And I won't be listening."

The feed turned off, leaving the gods and Primals in shock. Dr'ew turned to Se'th, all thoughts of Goblin Huts totally forgotten. "Se'th?", he asked. "You got a plan, buddy?"

Se'th grimaced, and made some hand symbols around his heart. "You heard it yourself, buddy. The world has her champions. We can just hope they are enough to defend it."

Song: Silver Twist

At that very same time, two of those mentioned champions were walking through the deep woods, where the light struggled through the thick overhead canopy to kiss the ground with yellow glows. Curiously, it was still lush, despite what had happened earlier near the Goblin village. But although they walked in dusk, their mood was as light as a feather. THey had not run into any Forgotten or any other obstacles for about an hour, and they were all very grateful for it. The only thing on their minds was the wind blowing through the trees, the thought that night was now not too far away, and the fact that as in soon as the next two days, they could be facing down a legendary Dragonlord who planned to destroy the world. But they pushed that particular thought to the back of their minds, except for Dan, and just tried to focus on the happy.

Brandy leaned back on Dan's shoulder, letting her entire upper body fall behind. She stared behind the group, watching the trees sway as they walked. Although really it was her swaying, and the trees stayed still. But she wanted the trees to be odd and sway, so that is what she told herself. She felt and saw Bubble next to her try and do the same thing, but she stuck out an arm to stop her from going over the side. "Bubble, woah!"

Brandy shot back up in a situp, grabbing Bubble by the back of the head. She pulled her to a staring position, and stared at her with concern. "Bubble, I can do that because I'm big, I can Dash, and I'm used to it. You shouldn't try to do things like that yet."

"Mommy…", Bubble whined, and stuck out her lip. "I can do things. I helped against those Minions and the Goblin, right?"

"Yes, yes you did.", said Brandy, and softly petted Bubble's head. "But this is different, okay? Trust your mom."

Bubble sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned up against Brandy. It only took a second for Brandy's hand to reach out again and catch the real Bubble starting to lean again, who pouted and crossed her arms. "Okay, Mommy. Fine."

"How's everyone doing back there?", asked Dan, taking a break from his image training. He had been thinking up the best ways to defeat Rakastamos inside of his head. He estimated that he was about 80-100 feet long, as the largest Great Gold Dragons were. And off of that information, he figured the best, very precise sequence of moves to bring him down. Elbow strike to the neck, blast of Star in both eyes, slice from everyone at the neck…

"You need me to find some food, or are you okay?", he asked, taking a look down at the road. His legs were large and strong enough to break the majority of obstacles, but he still had to keep an eye out for the odd huge rock, or muddy pothole, or maybe even a Gem Box. It was unlikely that they would run into one, but you never did know.

"I think we're fine, Dad.", said Leon, and aimlessly shot a spinner blade into the woods. He worked his lollipop around in his mouth, and sat up a bit. "Those hot wings you got us filled me up pretty well. Probably won't have to eat for a few more hours."

"I'm still a bit hungry…", said Annabelle quietly, and raised her hand. "I didn't get that filling of a smoothie. It was too Goblinish."

"Okay, so we can pick something up for you.", said Dan, and looked around. There had been quite a few fruit trees on the path so far- but to his mild concern, they seemed to have run out.

But once he looked closer, he could see something strange. There were fruit trees around them, alright- but there was no fruit. The empty stems hung everywhere, with nothing on the end.

"Hey Trevor.", Dan said, and Trevor perked up. "What kind of trees are those?"

Trevor raised his head, and took a closer look at the trees Dan was passing. He scratched his chin and gave his mustache a yank, then snapped his fingers as his knowledge activated. "Those are banana trees.", he said, gesturing to the long stems. "Apples and cherries and pears, too."

"Hm.", said Dan, and his movements slowed down. It wasn't a conscious action- his feet seemed to sense something in the area before he did. "Why are they all missing?"

Trevor shrugged, and leaned back on Dan's shoulder. His hand went for his sword, without his notice. "Maybe there's something living in the area that really likes bananas."

No longer had those words left his mouth than he realized what he had said. His face went white and his mustache straightened as he swung his head around, looking for all the most telling signs. His hand had gone automatically to his sword- check. Dan was moving more cautiously- check. He took a deep sniff- yep. There it was. The distinctive smell of-

"Ewww!", said Bubble, and wrinkled up her little nose. "What's that smell?"

"I wouldn't call it eww, Bubble.", said Annabelle, and Bubble's nose immediately unwrinkled. "It's an interesting smell, though. I'm not sure what it is."

"I do.", said Trevor in fear, and everyone turned to look at him. He stared down at the ground, looking at the gigantic footprint right below Dan. It was bigger than his. "Great Apes."

"What?", Dan asked, and his eyes shot wide open. "You mean those are real?"

"Absolutely.", said Trevor, and gulped. "I remember learning about them. They are very real- and very, very terrifying. I've heard they can rip a Pekka limb from limb like a Goblin tears apart a Gold Storage."

He pointed down to the footprint, which Dan had stopped walking right next to. "See that? That's how big they are."

Everyone else looked down, with various results. Dan jumped back a little bit, then took a deep breath. Brandy's eyes widened, and she gripped on to Dan's shoulder a little, no, a lot tighter. Bubble drew her hair across her face, and Leon pulled down his hood. Annabelle scooted closer to Trevor, who put his arm protectively around her.

"Hmm.", said Dan, and the flow of Star around him began to heat up. "Well, they do look big. But I doubt that any one of them could be a match for me. We'll just-"

"Oh, there's never one.", said Trevor, with a shake of his head. "They always come in packs. Packs of two dozen or more, always ready to-"

"Trevor.", said Dan, suddenly deadly serious. Trevor felt a chill run through him, although his seat was pleasantly warm. "Do you doubt my strength?"

"N-no.", said Trevor, and shook his head. "I don't, Dan. It's just that Great Apes are like, really, really strong-"

"And I'm sure they are.", said Dan. He shook himself off from the tension, and once again began walking. "But I have yet to meet anything on this entire journey that was stronger than me."

"And it's not like they're Forgotten, or anything.", said Brandy, jumping to dissolve the tension. "So they won't attack us on sight, they'll just like… be animals. They might even let us pass."

"Maybe.", said Trevor darkly, tapping out a panicked rhythm on the side of his sword. "But I've also heard that Great Apes are viciously territorial. Even one wrong step in their part of the woods will set them off. In fact, I heard in my Wildlife class that-"

"Oh, my Se'th!", Dan groaned, swinging his head around on his shoulders. He turned to face Trevor, clearly very annoyed. "Could you be quiet about the Great Apes for one second! They're probably not even dangerous! I bet I could come face to face with a Great Ape right now and not even-"

Dan felt a snort run down his neck, and he turned. Whatever he was about to say next vanished, as he saw, right in front of him, a titanic brown ape, fur matted with blood and two huge teeth revealed in an underbite so pronounced it looked like a tectonic shelf.

"Oh.", said Dan, looking right at the nose of the huge beast. "Hello, Great Ape."

The enormous ape grunted, and sniffed Dan's face. Dan could see every inch of the Great Ape- the massive, muscled arms, each as thick around as entire other people. The fur, dark brown and spiked with blood, although hardly any of it the ape's. The ferocious look in the monster's eyes, one that signaled its life passion for killing anyone it did not like. It continued to sniff, until after about 15 seconds, it drew back.

"Huh.", said Dan, and folded his arms. "Well, it looks like I smell alright."

But then, of course, the Great Ape roared. It beat its chest a few dozen times, and more Great Apes stumbled out of the woods. They ranged in size from "only" 15 fee to a truly colossal 27 feet, brushing up against the tops of the trees. They were all in different colors and shapes- the only thing that united them was their overwhelming rage.

"Woah, woah.", said Dan, and stuck out his arms to fend them off. "Let's just think about this rationally, huh?"

Even though none of the Great Apes could really understand him, he knew how well a tone of voice worked. The number one thing animals responded to was that. He began to slowly move in a circle, pushing bits of Star out in order to keep the titans at bay.

"How about you all just back off, and you can let us pass through.", said Dan, taking a single step forward. "That way, we won't have to-"

One of the Great Apes lunged forward, his hand headed directly for Brandy, and Dan lost his train of thought. He lost what he had been thinking about, and for a brief second, he lost his sense of reason. He thrust out his hand and smacked the Ape's hand aside so hard it spun around and slapped its owner, who staggered back.

"Dan, stop!", shouted Annabell, trying to rack her brain for something she had learned. Although she had not taken the same Wildlife classes that Trevor had, she had taken language lessons. And it was with that knowledge that she was now coming up with something that would help.

"They're not trying to hurt anyone.", she said, staring at the Great Apes. "They just feel threatened by your presence in their territory. Try saying hi to them."

Dan stared at her for a few seconds, trying to keep his rational thoughts in the front of his mind where they belonged. That ultimately ended up to be a fruitless attempt, and he shouted. "Oh, and how am I supposed to do that? I tried speaking to them, but they wouldn't-"

"Not in our language!", said Annabelle, and gently beat her chest. "In theirs."

Dan saw what she was doing, and instantly tried to copy her. The beats were odd, but the message was clear. One of the Great Apes walked away, and the other two turned around. The left hand on the left and the right hand on the right pointed outwards, as if guiding.

"Okay, it seems that got their attention.", said Annabelle. "Now, let's see if we can get out of here."

Alas for that moment ,for they were blocked within seconds by another massive Great Ape. This one was decorated with so many war trophies that it was almost hard to see the Ape beneath. His sunken eyes looked absolutely ancient, yet his body swelled with muscle like a balloon swells with air.

"Oh, the leader.", said Trevor, and closed his eyes. He fainted on Annabelle and Brandy's laps, unable to handle the sensation. "Isn't that just our luck."

Dan stared the titan down, noting just how huge it was. The apparent leader stood almost 30 feet tall, larger than a Barbarian King, Dan, or even Bonoome. Even the tallest known official Troop, a Giant Skeleton, was on average about 3 feet shorter than the heavily muscled behemoth. His arms were thicker than of a Golem's, and his face seemed hewn from solid Bridgestone. Dan took a deep breath, just in case the situation escalated.

But the mighty Great Ape seemed to have no interest in fighting. Instead, it rolled back onto its haunches, raised its hands, and began to flip around its fingers at rapid speed.

"Wha- what is it doing?", asked Dan, and took a look at Annabelle. "Is this their language too?"

"It is…", said Annabelle, and bit her lip. "But I don't know any sign language. I can't talk to him." Annabelle paled, and put her hands to her cheeks. "Oh, shoot, I can't talk to him-"

"But I can.", said Leon, and leaped off of Dan's shoulder to the ground. He stood up and brought up his own hands, flipping them around with lightning speed. "I was taught sign language by a Frank I knew. Never thought it would come in handy, but- here we are."

The leader ape looked down in surprise, then opened its mouth and threw back its head. A low, guttural cry echoed from it, and it took the group a second to realize that it was laughing.

You speak sign?, he signed, and gave a grunt of approval. I approve. Let talk.

Leon gasped in relief, and turned to his parents, a smile on his face. "He says that he'll talk to me.", he said, and turned again. "I just hope he's nicer than he looks."

Song: Night Bird

My name, Great Ape Chief Kragonbrock, signed Kragonbrock, and looked down at Leon's small frame. Your name, what?

My name, Leon, signed Leon, almost shaking at the sight of the giant Ape above him. Leon come with family, to go to river. Mean Great Ape Chief Kragonbrock no harm.

Kragonbrock harm?, Kragonbrock signed incredulously, then laughed. Hah. Kragonbrack no get harm. Kragonbrack the strongest. Kragonbrock invincible.

Leon sure you are, Leon signed, and gulped. Leon family need passage. Get to river.

Kragonbrock leaned back, using one foot to lazily scrape all the fruit off of a nearby tree. He tossed it into his mouth and gulped it all down at once, presumably to show dominance.

You go through Kragonrock land, he signed, and gave a disapproving look. Dan started to step forward as the Ape stared down at Leon, but Brandy silently told him to back up. He did so, watching Kragonrock sign even more. Kragonrock no like Leon family in land.

Leon family need go through land, signed Leon angrily, and pointed to somewhere behind Kragonrock. Leon family go through land, go up river, go into mountain. Leon family save world.

Kragonrock didn't even glance behind him. He merely yanked a branch off of a tree, gave it a few chews, and then let loose with another hearty laugh. He chuckled as he signed. Leon family save world? Save world what? World need saving? No. World okay.

No, Leon signed, anger seeping into his moves. No, world not okay. Dragon want world dead. Leon dead, Leon family dead, Great Ape Chief Kragonbrock dead. World not okay.

Kragonbrock reared up to his full height, and Leon thought that he might have said something wrong? Was it mentioning that Rakastamos wanted to kill the Ape? Looking back, it most likely was.

No!, Kragonbrock signed, barely able to keep it readable. He bashed his fists into the ground, creating two huge craters. Kragonbrock die? No. Kragonbrock kill Dragon. Kragonbrock invincible.

Kragonbrock invincible, signed Leon, sighed in frustration, and took time to fingerspell a few names.He wanted to get the title just right. Dragonlord Rakastamos over invincible. Dragonlord Rakastamos, anything tougher? No.

Kragonbrock kill Dragon!, he signed, the words almost ringing in Leon's head. Many Dragon come out of mountains. Kragonbrock kill all Dragons. Kragonbrock strong, protect tribe.

Kragonbrock strong? Yes, signed Leon, seeing a way he could bring the stubborn ape around. Kragonbrock busy? Yes. Kragonbrack kill Dragon that want to kill world, but Kragonbrock no time. Kragonbrock protect tribe. Leon family kill Dragon, in name of Ape Lord Kragonbrock?

Kragonbrock put one hand to his furred chin, and stroked his long beard. He thought for a few seconds about this compromise, then once again signed.

Kragonbrock like Leon plan, he signed, and gave a single nod. Kragonbrock like name Ape Lord. Kragonbrack now Ape Lord. Kragonbrock think he trust Leon family? No.

Leon had been liking what Kragonbrock had been saying, up until the last part. He stuttered a bit in confusion, then furiously signed a response.

Leon family no lie, Leon signed, and pointed towards Bubble. She gave a little wave, not sure what was going on. That face of liar to you?

Kragonbrock looked down, and dropped his face to the ground. He opened his mouth, his gaping maw at least the height of Leon. Leon almost screamed- but all that happened was Kragonbrock's tongue came out, licked up Leon's bare leg, and then retreated back into his mouth as he stood up. Kragonbrock reflected on the taste a bit, then broke into a wide grin.

You taste like liar?, he signed. No.

Kragonbrock folded his arms, and frowned. His fingers were free enough to sign, and he did so. Kragonbrock not sure, he said, and a low growl escaped his lips. Kragonbrock old. Great Apes old, old as Dragons. Kragonbrock wise as mountains. Leon young, Leon family young. Leon family not know Dragon like Kragonbrock.

Leon family young, signed Leon, and nodded. But Leon family wise. Leon family journey, many monsters dead. Leon family kill Kraken. Leon family kill Giant. Leon family kill Dragon.

Leon family strong? Yes, Kragonbrock signed, and Leon sighed. But Kragonbrock old. Kragonbrock old as mountains. Great Ape older than troops. Great Ape old as world. Great Ape stay here after all else gone. Kragonbrock not sure Leon family kill Dragon for Kragonbrock.

Leon turned around, and whispered to Dan. "Hey, Dad?", he asked, and Dan perked up.

"What is it?", he asked. "Does the ape need to… umm…"

He made a subtle gesture that involved a punch to the hand, and Leon shook his head. "No. no, nothing like that. He just doesn't think we're strong enough. Or old enough… I think."

"Hmm.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. "Well, will this convince him?"

Leon turned back to Kragonbrock, knowing what Dan was about to do. Leon family strong, signed Leon, and hopefully grinned. Leon father show great Kragonbrock.

Before Kragonbrock could articulate a response, Dan gave a mighty shout. Kragonbrock startled in surprise, as a huge column of light erupted from Dan's body, breaking a clean hole in the treetops above and continuing upwards towards the sky like a volcanic eruption. It burst a neat patch out of the clouds above, continuing onwards until it could no longer be seen.

Kragonbrock stared at the group for a bit, his mind swirling with this newfound revelation. He slowly put his hands together, and signed a response.

Kragonbrock believe Leon family, he signed. Leon family strong, strong like Kragonbrock. Kragonbrock let Leon family go on quest.

Leon, once again, sighed in relief. He got a little light headed from all the complex breathing action he was getting himself into, but kept on signing through the mental fog.

Leon and Leon family thank Ape Lord Kragonbrock, he signed, and gave a small bow. Ape Lord Kragonbrock dress sense fashionable.

Kragonbrock looked down at his various forms of battle armor and trophies, then gave a low, hearty chuckle. Lord Kragonbrock thank Leon. Leon dress good, too.

Leon gave another bow, and turned to the group. A single tear of relief slowly made its way down his face. "Okay guys. He says he'll let us pass."

"Oh, thank Se'th.", said Dan, and took a single step forward. He gave a single nod, and Kragonbrock gave one back. "I was afraid we were gonna have to fight this guy."

"You fight Kragonbrock later.", said Kragonbrock, and Leon's jaw dropped open in shock.

"You look strong. You fight Kragonbrock when done with quest."

"Wait, you mean you could talk that whole time?", Leon shouted, and Kragonbrock broke into a wide smile. "Then- then- then what was all the signing and the tension for?"

Kragonbrock grabbed his feet and rocked onto his back, letting out a deep, booming laugh. "Funny joke!", he shouted. "Ape Lord Kragonbrock love funny joke."

Leon continued to stare, then just hopped back on to Dan's shoulder, right in between Brandy and the unconscious Trevor. "Let's go, Dad.", he said. "The River's waiting."

"Not quite yet.", said Dan, and extended one fist. He looked right into Kragonbrock's eyes, and the gigantic ape met the gesture with a fist of his own. The peal of their colliding strength echoed across the entire forest, and several other members of the Ape tribe looked up.

"You bet I'll fight you, bro.", said Dan, and grinned. He bumped fists with Kragobrock a few more times, then both of them backed away. "Right after I kill Rakastamos."

Kragonbrock stretched out his arms, and reclined on a nearby boulder. He gave a thumbs up, wich turned into a finger circle on his thigh as soon as Dan looked at it. Dan groaned in good nature, and Kragonbrock laughed again. Several Great Apes began to pop up in a circle around the pathway, hooting and hollaring their newfound praise. Apparently, Kragonbrock was the only one capable of Common speech. "Maybe- maybe Kragonbrock help you against Dragon! If Kragonbrock not too busy, of course."

His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked into his hands, his voice changing to imitate what were presumably other members of his tribe. "Kragonbrock, kill pesky Dragon. Kragonbrock, kill enemy Ape. Kragonbrock, what for big tribe dinner? Kragonbrock, kiss me. Kragonbrock…"

As the group walked away, hurrying before Kragonbrock had any chance to change his mind, Kragonbrock continued to speak. "Kragonbrock, go defeat weird robot. Kragonbrock, go tell metal Wizard information about mountain. Kragonbrock…"

Such information would have no doubt proved useful for the group, had they been there to listen to it. They still had no idea who Askari was, as strong of an ally as he would have been on their journey. But, alas, they had no idea what Kragonbrock was still talking about.

As Dan took the last few steps out of the treeline, for the lair of Kragonbrock had been established at the very edge of that particular belt of forest, Trevor slowly blinked awake.

"Hey guys, what did I miss?", he asked, and sat up. But no one answered him- instead, they all just stared forward, in total awe of what was in front of them. "Guys?"

Then he too looked forward, and he saw what they were all looking at. Veritable sparkles ran through his eyes, as a rush of satisfaction ran through him. He pointed, and struggled to speak.

"Guys?", he said, and Annabelle nodded. "That's the-"

"The Clashcrush fricking River.", Annabelle finished, and nodded again. Although the ground around it was brown and mostly dead, the bright blue of the river flowed just as beautifully as it did ever. "We're here."

But hardly did they have a moment to relax, before the hair on the back of Dan's neck stood up. He looked around and sniffed the air, his highly trained senses activating. He breathed in the sense of the area around him- water. Trees. Soil. A distinct aura of both aggression and magic, coming from a copse of trees on the other side of the gargantuan river. He did not know what it was.

"Dan?", asked Brandy. "What is it?"

She asked, but she already really knew the answer. In truth, she had come to expect it at this point. So when Dan rolled his eyes and bent down, letting everyone off onto the ground, his answer came at the same time that Brandy's did. "We're about to be attacked."

Leon slid off in a flip, skidding to the ground, and spun Hunter Killer out into his hand. Bubble tripped over a rock a little bit and stuttered in her walk, but soon took up a pose. Trevor stood up tall, his sword in hand. He had a good feeling that he was finally about to get a chance to use it. Annabelle jumped down next to him, and drew back her bowstring. She waved it around in the air, looking hard with her magic eyes for anything that moved. Brandy stayed on Dan's shoulder- she figured that was the best place to be. Plus, she could hang on there better than anyone.

"Eyes up everyone, stay sharp.", said Dan. He had heard the phrase in a show once, and it seemed to apply well here. "There's no telling what we're gonna run into this time."

"Mommy?", asked Bubble, and saw that a small rivulet of water beside her was beginning to shake. "Why do we keep having to run into monsters?"

Brandy sighed, and bit back a word she would not say in front of Bubble. "Because, sweetie, Rakastamos knows we're dangerous. So he's sending as many of his minions after us as he can."

"No talk.", said Dan, who was facing outwards towards the river. He pointed towards the treeline, at what was crashing through. "We gotta fight!"

Song: Gang-Plank Galleon

There, charging through the trees and right into the water, were William the Charger and Tremon the Aqua Wizard. William's solid metal, sharply pointed helmet glinted off the light of the evening sun, a gargantuan roar echoing through the entire valley. His appearance was that of an overgrown Bowler, about the size of or maybe even bigger than Dan. His bright blue shorts were connected to a pair of brown overalls, barely holding back his bulging muscles. His eyes glinted with rage, spurred onwards by the presence of Tremon who rode him. As he splashed through the waters of the river, throwing huge plumes of water behind him, Tremon grabbed hold and began to mold them into spikes.

Tremon was dressed in light blue robes, complex layers draped over his body. A tall pointed hat rested upon his head, somehow not falling off despite the intense speed. His long white beard flowed in the wind, azure particles floating around his hands. His fingers moved and swirled, sculpting the water into weapons as William charged.

"Oh, that's a big one.", said Dan, and brought up his arms to block the charge. He guessed, from the way William ran, that his attack must have been similar to a Battle Ram's. "Brandy, I need you to jump off of me as soon as he impacts. Grab the little guy, take him out. You got that?"

"I do, Dan.", said Brandy, and threw her hand out back behind her. Her palm sparkled with blue and silver light, as she concentrated lethal amounts of Dash within. Once she leapt onto the Charger's head, she could eliminate the strange blue Wizard with a single Dash Swipe. "Let's do this."

"Trevor. Annabelle.", said Leon, and carefully aimed Hunter Killer right at the estimated spot of the Charger's heart. "Once I shoot it, climb up on there and take out its eyes. It doesn't seem like it's that smart. If we take out its vision, it probably won't be a threat."

"Got it.", said Trevor and Annabelle in perfect synch. Both of them noticed, but neither of them wanted to draw attention to the fact.

"What about me?", asked Bubble. "What do I do?"

"You distract it.", said Annabelle, and slowly slid a second, then a third arrow into her bowstring. "Show him… I don't know, a birthday cake."

Bubble's eyes lit up in excitement, and she put her hands together. "Okay!", she said, and slowly drew them apart. "One birthday cake, coming up!"
"Wait, I wasn't serious-", Annabelle said, but was cut off as a massive step rocked her footing. She looked up to see the Charger only meters away, actually leaping out of the water, his pointed helmet right in a collision course with Dan's crossed and locked arms.

Dan dug his back foot into the ground, to make himself as hard of a target as possible. The ground broke beneath his applied pressure, and he pushed a flare of Star into his arms. But despite the plan he had carefully put together, the force of the Charger slamming into him was almost unreal.

A huge shockwave spread throughout the entire area, as William's unstoppable force of a head met Dan's immovable object of his arms. It sounded like the peal of a mountain-size bell, pushing back the trees and tearing up the water for hundreds of feet in every direction. Dan and William struggled against each other for half a second, although it seemed like minutes for each. But unfortunately for Dan, only his arms were an immovable object. The rest of him was not so anchored- and William's entire body contributed force to the unstoppable impact of his head. Dan groaned as he was thrown back, throwing up a huge spray of dirt as he slid. Annabelle, Trevor, Bubble and Leon all yelped, as he demolished the ground right where they had been standing.

Dan stopped sliding, coming to a rest against a very large tree. He uncrossed his smoking forearms and grunted, rolling his neck around. He spat, and gave the Charger a very angry glare. "Okay then.", he said. "This guy's really tough. New plan."

Leon yelled in anger, and spun Hunter Killer around in his hand. Taking quick aim, he pulled down on the trigger, and shot a hail of bullets right at the Charger's massive chest. He was hoping for a good round of shots to the heart, but his mental state had been disrupted by the Charger's impact. As such, the bullets he shot went in a stray pattern, barely even scratching the titan's skin. But it did have an effect- William looked down, and thrust his hand straight for Leon. "Me eat you up!", he roared, and Leon jumped back as far as he could in panic.

"Birthday cake!", Bubble yelled, and thrust out her hands. A massive illusion of a birthday cake suddenly crossed the Charger's vision, jumping past him on four legs. It was complete with streamers and dancing candles- truly, everything a hungry monster would want.

"Cake?", William asked, in total confusion. He spun around and stared at the sprinting confection, his mouth beginning to drool. "Cake!"
But before he could get running, Tremon slapped him on the ear. "She's trying to trick you, William.", he said, and turned William's attention back to Dan. "The little one's an illusionist. We figured that one out already."

Upon hearing those words, William's face twisted, and grew angry. He began to stomp towards Bubble, and stretched out his hands. "You trick William? William no like being tricked! William crush!"

Tremon sighed, even as Bubble shrieked and tried to run away. But the thick mud that Dan had thrown upwards made such a thing impossible. "William, you don't have to pull the whole third-person talk thing during battles. We've been over this."

"Sorry, sir.", said William, his attention momentarily taken off the battlefield. "I was just thinking it would scare them, you know-"

"ORA!", came the mighty shout of Dan, his fist plunging directly into William's jawline. The Charger flew back, hitting the waters of the river with a mighty splash. Dan brushed his fist off on his other arm, and growled. "Yeah? How does that feel?"

Then he noticed something. Normally, Brandy would have done something to jump in by now. She would probably be on his shoulder by now. But, he discovered as he looked around, she was nowhere to be found. His face went a little blue. "Brandy?"

But there came no answer, only the sound of William rising to his feet. He rubbed his helmeted skull, which had been heavily protected from the brunt of Dan's attack. "Sir?", he asked, and pointed forwards. "Which one of them do I get first?"

"Get the big one!", yelled Tremon, beginning to search for his own target. "If he's out, the rest of them will go down that much easier!"

"Yes, sir!", shouted William, and slapped himself in the forehead with his palm. Bending down close to the ground, William took aim at Dan, bellowed, and charged.

But this time, Dan was not going to fall for something as stupid as that. This time, he was ready. And this time, he placed one hand into the river, taking a preparatory breath. And as William charged him, Dan pushed himself off the ground, over William's head, and landed again on the other side. But before he had landed, Dan took time to push Tremon off, sending him flying into the water with an undignified scream.

"Sir!", shouted William, as soon as he felt the weight of Tremon vanish from his head. He suddenly turned upwards faster than he had any right to and slammed his foot into Dan's head, sending him back a few meters. "You don't attack him!"

"I do!", shouted Dan back, and let loose the breath he had been holding. A burst of Star rushed from his entire face and burned across William's, the Charger letting out a deafening shriek.

He slammed one foot angrily into the water, sending up a huge column that splashed into Dan's eyes, closing them on instinct. He shouted, his face red from both burns and anger. "You don't!"

The Charger had been about to deliver up a second blow, when he felt a sword sink its way deep into his ankle. He roared in pain, and an arrow suddenly pierced the bottom of his ear.

"William angry!", he shouted, and immediately spun around. He raised his fists into the air, about to bring them down again and crush both Trevor and Annabelle, who both stood there. "William crush you to paste! Only William best at Smash!"

But even as he started to bring his fists down onto Annabelle and Trevor, an even larger fist than his own collided with his spine. Dan had once again thrown a huge blow, sending the Charger slipping over the slippery river rocks and flat onto his face. A gush of water erupted from the impact, slamming right into Bubble and sending her all the way back up onto shore.

"Heh.", said Dan, and wiped his mouth. He took a deep breath again, and held his hand high above his head. A glowing orb of pure Star started to grow within it, a blast ready to destroy the Charger's neck. "This wasn't so hard after all."

Tremon shoved himself up from where he had landed in the water, but he recovered instantly. He did not splutter or spit- no, he was the Aqua Wizard. He had no need for such things. But no sooner had he gotten up than he saw Brandy jump up from the water as well, only a few feet or so away from him. He brought up his hands, and chuckled to himself, even as Brandy began her own movements to attack. "Hehehe… fool! You are in my element! I have you now-"

"Lemme guess.", said Brandy, and prepared to jump forward. It would be harder than usual with all the rushing water in the way, but a few quick calculations could let her do it. "You're some sort of water wizard, able to control water."

"Indeed.", said Tremon, and flicked his fingers. A tall arm of water rose out of the river and fell towards Brandy, and he laughed once again. "I am Tremon the Aqua Wizard, ruler of the rivers and seas. In any body of water, I am truly invincible!"

Brandy raised an eyebrow, and Dashed. The water arm broke apart from the force, and she appeared right over Tremon in a heartbeat, ready to Dash Swipe him out of life. "Oh really?", she asked, and swung downwards. "Well, we'll just see about that."

But, of course, Tremon had not left himself defenseless. Such a move would be an amature mistake for any Wizard, most of all him, the only one of his kind. So as Brandy's hand slashed downwards, vanishing away the water it touched, Tremon zipped away, an Aqua Rope pulling him back onto William's shoulders. Brandy winced, fell forward, then cried out in pain. Using her Dash Swipe took a lot out of her. It made her lungs hurt. It made her fingers ache. It made her shoulder bleed. She snarled, and began to build up Dash again, this time in her feet. If fancy techniques did not work, then she supposed she just had to take him out the old fashioned way.

Just as Dan had finished charging the blast, Tremon appeared on William's shoulder in a dramatic splash. With a high-pressure burst of water that knocked the Star charge right out of Dan's hand and into the trees, the Charger rolled away, into a place where he could safely get up. "Come on, William, get up!", shouted Tremon. "You cannot die here."

William grunted, and wiped a streak of blood off of his nose. He snarled at Dan, and beat his chest. "William angry!", he shouted, then felt Tremon glare good-naturedly. "I mean, I'm angry! I'll smash you flat!"

As William roared and bellowed, Trevor and Annabelle both saw their chance. Their minds working in perfect tandem, they did not even need to use words in order to figure out a perfect plan. Splashing through the river as fast as they could go, they snuck up behind William, avoiding Tremon's gaze. They both got into position, gave each other a look, and grinned. Trevor shouted an ancient Barbaric war cry, and swung his longsword, right above the spot that he had hit before. At the second that he did so, Annabelle shot two arrows at once, right into the bend of the back of the Charger's knee. Trevor's sword sunk deep, into the sensitive flesh, and Annabelle's arrow pierced straight through a nerve. William's roars were cut short and abruptly turned to howls of pain. He had almost turned around to attack them, when Tremon grabbed his ear. "Attack the big one, Willi!", he shouted, and raised his hands. Blue light swirled within them, and his eyes narrowed. "I'll take care of the rest."

Brandy started to sprint through the water, using small bursts of Dash to actually jump on top of the waves. She clenched her fists, preparing to plunge them directly through Tremon's heart. She kind of wished she still had her stick- it had been broken against the Bibi she had fought a few days earlier. It was useful, her stick. It allowed her to do things she couldn't with just fists and feet. But sometimes it did get in the way…

As she drew closer to William and Tremon, she felt something directly below her. It felt alive- alive and wriggling. Brandy looked down, and bit back a curse at the sight of a very large, extremely angry Piranha. It leapt out of the water at her almost before she could react, its jaws clapping together like a wind up toy and its eyes full of liquid Rage.

Brandy snapped back, the Piranha flying by her and splashing down in the waves behind her. Brandy turned around, looking to where it had landed. "What the…", she said out loud, in total confusion. "What's a Piranha doing in the river? And why did it attack me like that? That doesn't make sense- unless."

She looked towards Tremon, who seemed to be chanting. Even though William was once again charging towards Dan, Tremon's concentration was totally unbroken. His fingers flew at incredible speeds, his eyes closed and his legs floating a foot or so above the Charger's back. "He's controlling them?", she realized in shock, then instinctively dodged out of the way of something flying up behind her. As it splashed into the water again, she saw that it was another Piranha.

"Oh, crap.", she said, and took a deep breath. "Here we go."

The Piranha yet again leapt out of the water, teeth slamming together like a piston. Its eyes boiled over with unnatural fury, and it jetted itself towards Brandy's face- until Brandy thrust her fist forward in a Dash-augmented punch, bursting straight through the fish's body. It spat a burst of blood out every direction, and slid off of Brandy's hand into the water. But Brandy had no time for relief, as she saw the body become shredded into pieces within a second. There were more, she realized. And as the waves churned around her, she realized there were far, far, more.

A trio of bright blue Piranhas jumped out of the river right at her, intent to rend flesh written upon their faces. Brandy yelled and struck out with her leg, cleaving each of them in half across the front. Such fish, ferocious as they were, presented no obstacle to her. She had helped defeat the Kraken- what were a few Piranhas?

But even as she thought those thoughts, she felt something right upon her left forearm. She just barely managed to yank it out of the way before another four Piranhas bit down on the air, slamming into another strike from Brandy and falling hideously apart.

Brandy took another look towards Tremon- he was still chanting. His body had begun to float high above the Charger's back now, even as William's own battle with Dan continued. The two titans punched wildly at each other, Dan's cries of "Ora ora ora" reaching across the entire area. Brandy grimaced- there would be more.

On a whim, she struck out behind her. The cries of piscine pain and bursting of fish flesh confirmed yet another hit. She ducked out of nowhere, and another trio flew overhead, to splash into the river in front of her. Brandy only saw that she was succeeding. She did not see that all the instinctual combat was slowly, minutely, but surely, igniting a silver glow within her eyes.

She felt something else behind her, and let out a backhanded punch. But to her surprise, this one did not burst. Instead, a jolt of pain shot through her hand, almost like electricity. Brandy cried out, and turned- to see that she had hit a Jellyfish instead of a Piranha. "Oh, shoot.", she spat, and leapt into the air. "He's improvising."

From her lofty vantage point, she gathered all the visual information she could within a few seconds. She gulped as she saw that there were now far more than just Piranhas in the water- Jellyfish spun around, Sharks bit at the water, rocks, and each other, and even large Squid flailed ferociously in the magical current. She activated a quick Dash right before she fell, flashing about 20 feet to the right. Hopefully, she would land away from the area with the most of them.

But as she fell, she looked down, and groaned. She had actually gotten herself into an area with more of them. That was just her luck. What did she expect, acting on instinct like that?

Yet even as she thought that, that word stuck in her mind. Instinct.

Even as she fell, right into the teeming mass of Sharks and Squid and Piranhas and Jellyfish, the silver glow in her eyes heated up.

And even as she landed, right in the heaving, biting, yondering bulk of fleshy death, a bright white flash erupted from her entire body, taking the sound from the entire area and replacing it with a grey burst of absolute silence.

A few seconds later, Brandy lay in the water. She had trouble moving her limbs, and her eyes shook with exhaustion. Yet somehow, in those few seconds, every single river monster that Tremon had summoned lay dead beneath her, floating away in the rough current.

Dan lashed out with a huge punch, his Star coated fist slamming directly into the Charger's armored cheek. Had the steel helmet not been there, it most likely would have broken his jaw. But all it did was knock him back quite a distance, and cause him to get even angrier. He bent down and leapt right at Dan's body, too quick for Dan to really dodge. All he had time to do was cross his arms to block, throwing him backwards a few dozen meters and into a deeper part of the river. William guffawed, then stopped when he felt Tremon land unceremoniously on his back. William's eyes rolled up, to see Tremon angry. "Sir? What's wrong?"

"Something happened with the girl!", Tremon yelled, and pushed his hair out his face. "I had her all set up to get eaten, and then she just kills everything out of nowhere!"

"Oh, that doesn't sound good.", said William, putting a finger to his chin. "I don't-"

But he never got to finish his sentence, as Dan slammed a hand across his face. His steel grip stopped William's words, and Dan took a deep breath. "With overwhelming force… and blazing anger!"

"What?", Tremon shouted, and raised his hands. "Is he attempting to cast a spell?"

But unfortunately for Tremon and his skills in countermagic, Dan was not. He as merely charging up his Star. "My power of justice is truly unmatched! Force Cannon Overdrive!"

Dan's hand shone with a titanic light, and he shouted as hard as he could. William screamed as the heat reached him, pushing both him and Tremon all the way to the other side of the river, blood dripping from the Charger's face in the shape of Dan's handprint.

"You looked tough.", said Dan. "Looked."

William, feeling thoroughly discouraged, almost began to cry. He had taken great pride in his strength, even being able to best Bonoom in an arm-wrestling contest. Yet here he was, being beaten by the very one he was supposed to take out. It was too much for his fragile mind to take. "Sir… I don't think this is working…"

"Don't worry, Tremon.", said Tremon, and raised his hands. "And don't worry, William. You can do this. You are strong. I am wise. We are the perfect team. You just need to trust me. We got this. I just need to-"

"Hey!", he heard Brandy shout, and he turned to look. There she stood, upon a pile of his dead creatures, an expression of anger upon her face. "I appreciate the thought, but next time send something that I can actually eat!"

Tremon's face finally went from one of restrained anger, with mostly patience, to one of total rage. His eyes snapped to full red, and his hands twisted into claws. "That is it!", he shouted, and yanked on some magical thread. A massive roar echoed from downstream, a far upgrade on what he had previously been planning to do. "Everyone dies!"

"Uh… sir?", asked William, in alarm. "Everyone?"

"Everyone but us.", said Tremon, and pulled harder. "Sorry, I should have specified."

The mighty roar coming from downstream attracted everybody's attention, as they looked. Their expressions were various levels of alarm as they saw that Tremon had summoned a massive wave, one that seemed fully capable of grabbing all of them at once.

"Oh, shoot.", said Dan, and held out his hands. Trevor and Annabelle grabbed on to his fingers, and Brandy started running for him. "Everyone, grab hold! This one's gonna be big!"

Tremon laughed, and William tucked his hands over his head. "This is it! Goodbye!"

Bubble looked in despair downstream, as the wave approached. "Mommy!", she screamed in panic, and started running. "No!"

But she was too late. There was, to be true, nothing she could have done anyway to stop the wave. And as it crashed into everyone in the river, the last thing she could see was Brandy leap for Dan's hand. It was unclear if she had made it or not.

Brandy, too, was unsure. She was pretty sure she had grabbed on to something, but it was hard to tell if it was Dan or not. She couldn't see through the constant churning of the waves, the water splashing and pulling and pushing every which way at once. It thrust her up and down simultaneously, around and around, like she was stuck inside an infernal washing machine. But she held on to whatever she had grabbed, knowing that it was her only chance of making it out of the river alive. Even if she had grabbed onto the Charger himself, it was better than holding on to nothing. She had just to hold on, to hope, to stick to it a little longer-

And then, the wave subsided. The sides of it splashed down, their magical momentum dwindling down to nothing. The reason for this became clear, as Tremon threw down his hands by his side. He laughed, and William began to laugh along with him. "Behold!"

Tremon pointed to further downstream, revealing the spot where the river dropped off into the mighty Clashcrush falls. "This is your doom, foolish travelers!"

Trevor grimaced, and cupped his hands to his mouth. "That's a 5 mile drop into the rest of the river! Even if someone survives the fall, they can't survive the churning at the bottom!"

"That's right, boy!", shouted Tremon, and raised his hands. "The legendary sight of the Clashcrush Falls… how would you like to experience it firsthand?"

"No thanks.", said Trevor, and shrugged. He tightened his grip on his sword, motioning for Annabelle to do the same with her bow. "I choose life."

Tremon frowned, and pointed his finger towards Trevor. "William?", he asked dryly.

"Yes, sir?", asked William, and pounded his head into his hands. "Should I-"

"Kill those ones first.", said Tremon. "I changed my mind."

As Tremon was talking, a strange force began to take hold of Dan's mind. It was no foreign or opposing influence- no, this came from deep within him. It sounded like a mighty roar, echoing from somewhere beyond himself. It smelled like gunpowder, smelled like a volcano about to erupt. He felt his mouth open unconsciously, and an eerie growl start to build within his throat.

He was reminded of his training with Juno and Fallon, something about it flickering in the echoes of his subconscious. A curious green and yellow light began to flare around his body, and he hunched over, almost unable to take the immense strain.

"What…", Brandy breathed, pushing herself to her feet. It turned out that she had grabbed onto Leon, who had turned invisible before the wave hit. She didn't know where he was at that moment. Perhaps he was sneaking up on Tremon- that would be nice. A quick kill was the most desirable outcome in this situation. "Dan? You okay?"

A powerful light flashed deep within Dan's eyes, and he straightened up. A blazing corona of bright lime light blasted out from him in all directions, a visible sphere erupting outwards and tearing up the surface of the waves. He roared as he did so, with a tone that seemed far larger and stronger than himself. His mighty roar soared throughout the entire area on wings of rage, physical force beginning to push back everyone that was there.

Brandy stared in shock at Dan, at what he was doing. His pupils were beginning to fade from the force of whatever had taken hold of him, what armor he had on starting to crack. The sound that came out of him like a volcano barely even resembled his regular voice- it sounded like a titanic force of nature, calling from deep within the ground. And as it kept on growing and escalating, Brandy was thrown back into the waves along with William and Tremon, who were struggling to keep hold of each other. Trevor and Annabelle, who had been on the side of Dan closer to the waterfall, were struggling to hold on to a single rock sticking out of the surface of the river. But as Dan continued his primal bellow, Trevor's hand slipped- and with a cry of alarm, they were pushed closer to the edge.

"Dan, stop!", Brandy screamed, feeling the waves of his bizarre anger buffet her like a wild hurricane. "Dan, you're gonna send them over the edge!"

But Dan kept on roaring, his muscles vibrating with sheer fury. Waves of Star began to shoot out in totally random directions- into the sky, to the side of the river, even into the water below. A bolt of Star shot the tip off of a tree, sending a Gem spinning out. A shoot of fire-like Star shot directly into the water, heating up the rocks on the bottom until they burst, sending lava spurting towards Tremon and the Charger. Tremon held up a hand in panic and raised a wall of water to stop the blast, but Dan continued to roar with inhuman vigor.

"William, get him!", shouted Tremon, putting one hand to his face. "He's distracted, you can get him right in the back! Send him over the edge and eliminate him!"

William saluted, put his head down, and charged forward. "Yes, sir!"

But even as he charged, Dan dug as deep as he was daring to go, down to the direct source of the power that this odd roar was emanating from. And just before William reached him, one last flash of lime energy erupted from Dan's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, sending a massive wave of sound through the brains of everyone there, throwing William back about 50 feet, throwing Brandy back nearly a hundred, and sending the still-invisible Leon who knows where. Fortunately, the wave passed right over the heads of Annabelle and Trevor, who were just barely hanging onto the side of the waterfall as it was.

The roar finally stopped, Dan's body falling into a limp state. He still was able to stand, but most of the light had vanished from him. He took a few deep breaths- not to get any Star back, no. This was just to breathe.

"William?", asked Tremon, frantically slapping the side of the Charger's head. William lay in the water, not really moving at all, his eyes closed. Tremon could tell that of course he was not dead, but it was much harder to tell if he was unconscious. His hand reflected off the hard metal, causing more harm than good. "William, wake up! Wake up! We still need to beat this guy!"

William slowly blinked awake, and gradually pushed himself to his feet. He broke the rocks that he had been pushing against, and grabbed his helmet. With a quick readjustment, he could once again see out of both eyes. "Sir, which one?"

"The big one!", shouted Tremon, gesturing randomly to the group. "Actually, no, the big one. Wait no, the girl. Actually-"

His wandering eyes caught hold of Trevor and Annabelle, still struggling to hold on to a single rock. Trevor strained to pull Annabelle up, but he was not quite strong enough to pull both of them to safety. Tremon's eyes lit up with glee, and he pointed to them. "Those two!"

"Those two?", asked William, and scratched his chin in confusion. He always followed Tremon's orders, but these ones seemed a bit odd. "But those two aren't even important."

"No, but they are certainly vulnerable.", said Tremon, and slapped the side of the Charger's head. "Now get them, William! Finish them off!"

"Yes, sir!", William bellowed, and put his head down. He scraped both feet against the rocks, beat his chest, and charged.

"Trevor, pull harder!", Annabelle shouted in panic, looking down at the yawning 5-mile abyss with unmasked terror. It loomed immense far below her, spelling certain doom if they should fall.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!", Trevor shouted back, immense pain straining his voice. He desperately tried to pull Annabelle to a better position than just hanging above the fall from his hand. His other arm tried as hard as it was physically capable to pull the both of them up, to no avail. He was a fairly strong Barbarian- under normal conditions he would have been able to do it. But the waterfall pushed at his arms, and he could feel his grip slowly beginning to slip.

"Who's there?", shouted Annabelle, and closed her eyes. She could no longer bear to see the sight below. "Is there anyone that can help us?"

Trevor looked up, and very nearly lost his grip. There was indeed someone coming towards them, but it was no help. It was the Charger, head down, ready to smash.

"Uh…", Trevor said, sweat clouding on his brow. "No. No there's not."

Annabelle took a deep breath, and attempted to calm herself. She didn't like this. She did not like this at all. But if it was her fate to die here, falling into a watery grave at the hands of a Forgotten, then so be it. "Trevor.", she said. "Before we die, there's something I want to tell you."

"What?", Trevor screamed. "We're not gonna die. Don't say that."

But Annabelle was not listening. She stared up at Trevor, who had been her friend for most of her life. "Trevor.", she said. "I just want you to know that-"

"ORA!", came the mighty voice of Dan, drowning out whatever she would have said next. Trevor felt his entire upper body seized by Dan's massive fist, yanking both him and Annabelle out of the edge of the waterfall. As they flew overhead, they could see Dan's other fist violently collide with the Charger's left cheek, a spurt of blood coming out of it. The metal on his helmet began to crack from the force. He had been so focused on potential targets, he had forgotten to watch his sides. And as the Charger stumbled backwards, Dan knew what he had to do. Even though Trevor and Annabelle had managed to inflict some damage onto the Charger so far, the battle had entered a new stage. They would no longer stand much of a chance- he had to get them to safety.

"Trevor!", he shouted, and took a step back. "Hold on to Annabelle! Don't let her go!"

"Wait ,what-", Trevor asked, but did as he was told. He was immediately glad that he did, for he suddenly found himself flying through the air towards the shore. Dan had thrown them.

They hung in the air for a few moments, Trevor holding on to Annabelle for all he was worth. He dared not to let up, for he knew it would mean both their deaths.

But after a few seconds of free flight, they landed with a rough impact on the shore. Rolling like a Barbarian Barrel, going over and over each other, Trevor smashed against a tree, groaned in pain, and fell flat on the ground. Annabelle lay there on top of him, very shaken up, but also very much alive. They both lay there for more than just a few seconds, watching the world spin like a washing machine.

But the sight of the churning sky was interrupted by the sight of Bubble standing over them, eyes wide, giving a little wave. "Hey guys.", she said. "Are you alright?"

"Oh.", said Annabelle, and cracked a bit of a smile. "Heyyyyyy Bubble."

Annabelle felt Bubble's hand slide down underneath her neck, and gently lift her up. Annabelle winced, but let herself be hoisted upwards and laid to sit on Trevor's side.

"Let's sit here, guys.", said Bubble, and sat down between the two. She stared at the ongoing fight nervously, for that was all she really could do. And after a few seconds of thought, both Trevor and Annabelle realized it was all they could do too.

Dan's punch to the Charger's face had done a lot more than just knock him backwards. It had caused significant damage to his jaw. It had made a crack in the metal helmet that could be seen from several meters away. But most importantly, it had managed to dislodge Tremon. And as he lay there dazed, seeing illusions of birds and stars rotate over his head, he gradually became aware of the water flowing through and over him. The sensation restored his strength almost immediately- he was, after all, the Aqua Wizard.

Tremon stood up, and turned around rapidly, searching for William. As soon as he saw him landing a revenge hit on Dan's chest with his head, he sighed in relief. "William!", he shouted, waving his hand over his head. "William, I'm over here-"

But a sudden sucker punch to the jaw cut off his words. His entire body twisted around from the force of the blow, sending him once more into facedown into the water. He yelped in surprise, the healing force of the river allowing him to instantly jump back on his feet. He raised his hands and prepared to fight- but to his confusion, there was no one in front of him. The river all around him was devoid of opponents… but that did not stop another punch from hitting him directly upside the nose.

"Hey.", said Leon, and let himself become visible. He drew back his fist, and a single spinner blade nocked neatly into it. "You're fighting me."

"Why, you little brat!", Tremon yelled, and raised his hands. "You dare to take on the Aqua Wizard in his own domain!"

"Well, normally I wouldn't.", said Leon. "But given your current state, I'd say I have a chance."

Tremon made a sound that sounded like a small pillow being squished with a brick, and thrust his hands down. Leon flicked off the spinner blade, just before two ropes made of solid water leapt out of the river and wrapped themselves around his wrist. Another rope shot out and wrapped around his waist, securing him to one spot.

"Ha!", Tremon said, and prepared another round of watery arms. "You think I'm-"

The spinner blade that Leon had thrown a few seconds earlier suddenly sliced right into the back of Tremon's head, cutting through his skin and flesh and lodging itself inside of his skull. He spat out a spurt of blood and fell forward, the water ropes releasing themselves from Leon.

Leon dusted himself off, and stared at Tremon. He knew he was not dead, for his body yet remained. And sure enough, just about a second later, Tremon gasped, shot upwards, and jumped back out of Leon's reach. Leon's suspicion was correct- it appeared as though just being in the presence of so much rushing water was enough to heal him from wounds.

"But what about all these wounds?", Leon asked, and drew out Hunter Killer from the air. "If I just really let loose, could even you survive?"

"I can survive anything, you fool!", Tremon growled, and raised his hands again. A sword and shield made of water rose from the river, taking up positions in front of him. "Especially arrogant little brats, who don't even have a weapon!"

Leon smiled. Of course Tremon couldn't see Hunter Killer.

"Ora!", Dan yelled, throwing yet another blow. "Ora! Ora! Oraoraoraora!"

Dan unleashed a flurry of blows upon William, yet they hardly even seemed to bother the Charger at all. He had managed to get his guard back up, and now every attack of Dan's was shrugged off with hardly any effect. The Charger roared, and jumped forward.

"Darn…", Dan growled, as he stepped out of the way of William's reckless blow. "This guy's a tank… he takes whatever I throw at him. What can I do to-"

Then, Dan began to think. He thought of to just a few days ago, when he had unleashed the column of energy that had destroyed both the Tick and hundreds of feet of forest. He thought about how his legs had always been the strongest part of his body, far stronger than his arms. It made sense, after all- a person's legs were usually around four times as strong as their arms. It was even more so for him, being a Mega Knight. His leg strength was legendary.

Dan jumped back lightly on his feet, dodging uncalculated strike after uncalculated strike from the enraged Charger. He thought about how the part of his body that shot his Star, regardless of how much he had put into it, seemed to directly correlate with how strong the blast was.

"Crush you!", William shouted, and Dan realized he had not been paying attention. He crossed his arms in defense- a half second too late, as William's metal head slammed right into his chest. Dan gasped, and threw himself backwards. William's attacks seemed to be getting stronger- he was evidently effected by his rage. But Dan had a plan.

"Super…", Dan shouted, taking in a deep breath. He dropped to his back, sticking his legs up in the air. He still had distance from William, as he scrambled to come up with a name. "Double…"

Two twin blasts of Star shot out from his legs, and formed themselves into spheres in the air. Once they began to come down again, Dan jumped up, and gathered energy in his hand. "Leg Day…"

William began to charge forward once again- but it was far too late for him. As the leg-shot blast of Star, far stronger and larger than normal ones, fell in front of him, Dan unleashed the energy within his hands. "Overdrive!"

The beam shot from his hands, a raging blast of Star that would have dealt heavy damage to the Charger normally. But as it hit the two shots that had been fired from his legs, the force was amplified nearly 20 fold. The beam grew from the width of Dan's arm to wider than he was tall, the bright light glowing blinding. A titanic roar shot out from the attack that drowned out even the sound of the waterfall itself, and hit the Charger head on. Even though he was as large and physically strong as Dan, Kragonbrock, or even Bonoome, he stood no chance against Dan's attack. The beam continued on like a meteor strike, going over the side of the waterfall and continuing out for almost a full mile, straight into the air. But the Charger did not- he fell almost as soon as he reached open air, going over the side of the falls and into the five mile drop that awaited him. He screamed Tremon's name as he fell, one last gasp at help.

Down at the bottom of the falls, a minute or so later, a portal just large enough to hold a person opened up. It was only there for a second, depositing a terrified man with long blood-red hair and a fishnet across his torso. He gasped for breath, noticing how he had been deposited in a small liferaft.

"How am I going to die this time?", he asked himself, looking around. It did not occur to him to look up. "What mad end will I meet?"

His question was answered a few seconds later, as the body of William the Charger came crashing down onto him with a sound that defied description, sending up a splash the size of a Castle and killing them both instantly.

As soon as William hit the ground, splashing into a huge puddle of Elixir that turned the churning of the water purple for a hundred meters in every direction, Tremon felt it. He heard the splash with his ears, and kew what it meant. But most importantly, he felt it in his soul- the Charger was no longer with him.

"William!", he shouted, a splash of water surging up in all directions around him from his sorrow. He clenched his fist in incredible anger, and the river around him began to turn red. "No!"

He heard Leon slide a single bullet into Hunter Killer's chamber. He turned slowly around in rage, deciding that it was time to drop the pretenses. "You fool…", he said, and slowly breathed out. "Did you think your little gun would be enough to stop me?"
"Wait, you can see Hunter Killer?", asked Leon in shock, and pulled back a bit in surprise. If it turned out that Tremon was a Stand user, there would be no telling of what he was about to do. Every Stand he had met so far had been wildly different. Even if the only Stands he had seen up to that point were his own and Brandy's. "So you are a-"

"Indeed!", Tremon snarled, and a ghostly purple light began to concentrate behind his body. "You idiots never truly stood a chance. Now feel the wrath of my Stand, Toxi-"

He abruptly stopped talking. His eyes bugged out of his head, and any words that had been traveling up his throat were replaced with a cold, wet, gasp. He looked down in immense pain, to see the reason for such a thing. He thought it was odd that he could see his heart being held about a foot away from his chest, grasped in a black gloved hand.

Brandy pulled back her hand, taking Tremon's heart along with it. Her arm still vibrated with Dash energy, as Tremon fell forward into the river. This time the presence of the water was not enough to regenerate his injuries- he had no heart in order to do so. This time he just died, dissolving into a purple stream that was washed away over the falls within a second, to join what had once been the Charger.

"Whew.", said Brandy, and wiped a bit of stray Elixir from her forehead. She restraightened her bangs and wiped off her glove, the blood beginning to soak in. She gave the heart a look, before tossing it aside. She had no use for it, and it quickly dissolved. "There we go. Finally done."

"He was just about to bring out his Stand, too.", said Leon, with a hint of remorse. "Darn, I kinda wanted to see what it was."

"Hmm…", said Brandy, putting her hand to her chin. "He had a Stand? Then why didn't he bring it out during the battle?"

"I don't know.", said Leon, and shrugged. He looked up above Brandy, seeing Dan looking over to the far side of the river. He appeared to be searching for someone, although Leon did not know what. "Maybe he did. It could have been a Stand like yours."

"Maybe…", said Brandy, lost in thought, staring at the river. She reflected on the fight, only now realizing how close several members of the group had been to losing their lives. Even though she had seen Trevor and Annabelle hanging over the side of the falls, she had not done anything about it- and that fact worried her. "I don't know."

Then she stood up again, and placed her hands on her back. Brandy groaned in a deep stretch, feeling something odd in her mouth as she did so. "Anyway… I think we should meet up with everyone else. I think they're on the shore now, right?"

"Right.", said Dan, his immense shadow falling over them. "Bubble is on the shore with Trevor and Annabelle. I made sure of that. They're safe."

"Okay, good.", said Brandy, and bent to leap up onto Dan's shoulder. "I was a little worried about Bubble… I hoped she was alright."

"Well, she is.", said Dan, grabbing Brandy right as she was about to jump. She frowned at the unspent energy rocketing back through her legs and smashing against the bottoms of her feet, but she was alright. Dan turned to look at her, giving her a wide smile. "There's no need to worry about-"

Then he stopped, his eyes switching from reassuring to alarmed. "Brandy!", he shouted. "Brandy, what happened to your tooth?"

"My tooth?", Brandy asked, and crossed her eyes. She could not see her mouth, of course, but she tried so anyway. She started fishing around in her mouth with her finger, trying to find what Dan was talking about. "Why, did something happen to my teeth-"

Then, after a few seconds of searching, she found it. One of her front teeth had been knocked out in the battle, leaving an empty space in her line of pearly whites. "Oh, shoot. My tooth."

She leaned over, reaching for Dan's back pocket in an attempt to find something to fix it. "You still got a Heal around here somewhere, right? Please tell me?"

Dan frowned. "No, there's no Heals anymore. We spent them all. But don't worry, honestly. I think it looks really cute on you."

Brandy sat back up onto Dan's shoulder, the line of skin directly below her mask turning a little red. "Oh… you do? It's a missing tooth though. How can it look cute-"

"Because you look cute.", said Dan, giving her a gentle kiss on the side of her head. "So you look cute no matter what happens to you."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and leaned up against Dan's head. "But what if something happens to me that will make me not look cute anymore? What then?"

Dan held out his other hand, and Leon silently jumped up onto it. He deposited him on his other shoulder, not even breaking stride in his conversation with Brandy. "Well, nothing can do that. So don't even worry about it."

"But…", said Brandy, and thought about the wildest, most outrageous thing that could happen. "What if I lose my mask? Or my hair turns black instead of white? Will I still look cute then?"

Dan rolled his eyes, and shot the barest spark of Star at Brandy's side. She yelped as it tickled her, and they both smiled. "I said what I said, Brandy. You'll look cute no matter what."

He looked up as he remembered, and gave Brandy a little squeeze. "And besides, you heal from a lot of things quickly. So you'll probably have that tooth back before you know it."

"What do you mean?", Brandy asked, and raised a brow. "I don't heal that quickly."

"Oh yes you do.", said Dan, and took his hand off of her. "Your back was cut by the wolf guy just a few hours ago. But I bet it's already gonna be healed. Lift up your tunic and show me."
Brandy, without even thinking about it, turned around and lifted up the back of her tunic. Dan took a look at her back, noticing with admiration how the slashes that had caused the fabric to be stained with blood were now but scars, almost completely healed.

"Well, what did I say.", said Dan, with love, and tapped Brandy on the head. "You did heal up all the way. So that tooth's probably gonna be just fine."

Brandy felt Dan's finger stroke her head, and closed her eyes in happiness. "Thank you, Dan.", she said, and smiled. "You always know just what to say."

Dan drea little closer to her, staring at the sun on the horizon. It cast beautiful red and blue rays across the entire valley, illuminating the idyllic landscape beneath. The river continued all the way through the whole thing, most likely ending up in the ocean. Countless trees and bushes dotted the landscape, like the little loops on a carpet. A huge purple mountain range made a wall of stone in the distance, broken only by where the river wound through. And everywhere he could see along the banks, there were Villages, separated by a distance of exactly 3 miles. It made him think for a second- think of what they were protecting here. Their quest was not merely to slay a Dragon- no, it was to save the entire world. He blinked- oh, they were saving the entire world. But that could wait to think about- he was holding on to something far more important. "You're welcome, my love."

Trevor stood at the bank of the river, Annabelle by his side and Bubble gripping on tightly to his shoulders. He swallowed, a bit nervous. Actually, scratch that. He was a lot nervous. Annabelle had said that she didn't really know how to swim all that well, and Bubble was a little kid, by the looks of it. That left it up to him to cross the part of the river they had been thrown to, and get to the other side.

"Trevor, are you sure we can't just walk across?", asked Annabelle, shivering from the cold water. "That would be a lot easier."

"Positive.", said Trevor, and rolled his shoulders. "Now both of you, get on my back. I'm gonna swim across."

Bubble stared at him in exasperation, and rolled her little eyes. "Boys.", she said under her breath, and gave a little flick of her fingers. She had already sensed the average depth of this part of the river- it was a mere 1 and a half feet deep. Any of them could walk across it without any trouble. So an illusion of a rocky bridge suddenly appeared, appearing to be just a few inches underneath the water. There was actually a difference of about a foot, but Trevor didn't need to know that. "Trevor, look!", she said, and pointed. "A bridge."

Trevor blinked, then started walking towards it. "Why, so there is.", he said. "Thank you, Bubble. Now I can walk across."

Bubble rolled her eyes once again, climbing up onto Annabelle's shoulders. Annabelle grunted, and hoisted herself onto Trevor's shoulders. Trevor's eyes bugged out of his head, and his shoulders nearly burst, but he managed to take a step onto the bridge. It was deeper than he had expected, but still very workable. He took another step, then another, then kept on walking towards the other side of the river, where the other half of their group was waiting.

"Oh, looks like they're making it across.", said Dan, putting his hand up to his brow to block out the rays of the setting sun. "That's good. It doesn't seem like they need my help, either."

Leon stretched below Dan's arm, putting one hand to the ground and leaning down to reach it with his head. "You know, that was a pretty good bossfight we just had."

"Boss fight?", asked Brandy in confusion, giving Leon one of her Looks. This one was not an angry one, as most of her Looks were, but simply one of disbelief. "What do you mean, a boss fight?"

"Oh, it's just a thing we have at home in Brawltopia.", said Leon, and briefly stopped for the shock of memories that went with the sentence. "It's where three Brawlers all fight this huge, super tough Boss Robot. It just kind of reminded me of that, is all."

"I know what a boss fight is, sweetie.", said Brandy. "But that wasn't a boss fight at all. Rakastamos is gonna be the boss fight."

"Oh, yeesh.", said Leon, his eyes going darker for a second. "Right, forgot about him. Guess this was a… a mini boss then."

"Exactly.", said Dan, and nodded. The other group had almost caught up them. "What else would be a mini boss then? I'd certainly say the Kraken was one."

"Bonoome, too.", said Brandy. "And Leon, you went up against Chad and his group… those were minibosses."

"You keep on not telling me about Bonoome.", said Leon, staring up at Dan. "Why not?"

Dan cleared his throat, and turned around. Despite the fact that Bonoome had died, and they had survived, they had not technically won that fight. Juno had needed to save them, and that was what he was ashamed of. "Nothing, son. I'll tell you later."

"You only call me son when you're thinking about something else.", said Leon. "What is it-"

"Hey, they're here!", said Dan, leaning over to the side of the river. Trevor took two steps forward onto the ground and instantly collapsed in agony, Annablle and Bubble hopping off his shoulders. "You guys made it!"

Trevor groaned, and Annabelle gave a thumbs up. "Right.", she said. "We finally made it past the river."

The group all stood there for a second, admiring their accomplishment. They had made it to the Clashcrush River, despite all the obstacles that had stood in their way. They now had a plan, and a path. They just had to follow the huge river- and at the end was their ultimate destination of Clashcrush Mountain and Dragonlord Rakastamos.

"You know…", said Brandy, and hoped her next words would not jinx their luck. "I do belive the worst of the journey is behind us. I mean, we've beaten every single Forgotten we've bone up against so far. And we keep on getting stronger every time we do so. What can even stand up to us now?"

"I don't know.", said Dan. "I sure hope nothing."

"Right…", said Brandy, and scratched the back of her head. She flipped down her hood, letting the wind flow through her sweaty hair. "Hey Dan, could you follow me? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure, honey.", said Dan. He threw a set of hand signals to Trevor and Leon that had no real meaning, but he hoped they would mean something to them anyway through sheer context. He followed Brandy as they started walking, to a huge rock against one side of the clearing. "What is it, honey?"

Once they reached the rock, Brandy sat down against it. Dan thudded down to the ground as well, shaking the rock a few inches. Brandy sighed, looked up to the sky, then looked back at Dan. She wasn't quite sure how she wanted to put this, but she was going to try anyway.

"When you roared back there…", she said, and put her hand on Dan's leg. "There was this weird energy around you. It didn't sound like you either… you looked, well, honestly kind of terrifying. What was that?"

Dan let out a deep breath. He had thought that Brandy had wanted to talk to him about something serious, but it wasn't. "Oh, that.", he said, and his eyes lit up as he started to tell a story. "Well, to explain that, I need to go back to when I was about to become a Mega Knight."

About a month ago, in a secret clearing somewhere on Hog Mountain

Song: Super Saiyan 3- Android Orchestra

Dan stood in the middle of a circle of Troops, all their watchful gazes focused on him and him alone. He had been training for a long time now. He had lost count of the exact number of days. It could have been weeks that he had been stationed in Juno and Fallon's Star Training Program, but he wasn't sure. It had gotten progressively harder to tell.

"Dan.", he heard Fallon say from his right, and he turned around. Fallon stood there on a tall rock, staff in one hand and bow in the other. The look on his face was halfway between pride and worry- both proud that his student had at long last progressed to his final test, and worried that he might not pass. He was speaking from every bit of himself- from his soul, his heart, and his mind. "Are you sure you are ready?"

Dan nodded, putting his hands together and giving a slight bow. "I am, Master Fallon. I am ready to complete my training, for those that I love."

He, of course, had not yet become a Mega Knight. He was still a regular, small Knight- but he was raging with potential. His naturally ingrained strength combined with his intense training had pushed him to the very height of his potential as a Knight, and he was now ready for what came beyond. Or, at least, he hoped he was.

"Then take your spot.", said Juno from beside Fallon. She pointed towards the high rock at the middle of the section of the mountain they were on. "And ascend."

At the sight of Juno, Dan felt his heart surge with a raging flame. She looked so much like Brandy that it hurt him. But he would pass this last test, and finally become what he was meant to be.

With a surge of courage, but still nervousness within, Dan slowly stepped up to the makeshift stone podium. He was still not quite sure what this test would entail, if he was being honest with himself. The ascension test for every Troop had always been different, and he was sure he was no exception. That was the only warning he had been given- no hints on what to expect at all. So he stepped onto the podium, turned around to face the circle, and mentally prepared himself for anything he might face.

Fallon stared at him for a few seconds, Juno closing her eyes. Dan stared back, expecting them to tell him what to do, but the sudden staring contest only continued. Dan felt himself get a little hot under his armor, and he scratched the side of his cheek.

"Well?", asked Fallon, and gave his hand a little wave. "Go on then, transform. We haven't got all night, Knight."

"Wha-", said Dan, and pointed to himself. "What do you mean, just transform? Isn't there a test first?"

"The transformation is the test.", said Juno, and winked. "You figuring out how to do it, that is. We've trained you this far. But the last step of the journey is one you must take on your own."

"I see…", said Dan, and shook himself to clear away any tension remaining. He took in a deep breath, feeling the Star flow within him. "Then I will."

He thought for a moment, wondering how to transform. Obviously, it would require a great degree of power. But where would he get such power? The only place he could think of was his Star, but there was a limit to how much he could hold in his body at a time. So he let out his breath that he had been holding in a loud exhalation, trying to give himself more room to think.

But even as he did so, he noticed something quite odd that had happened. The expelled air had given him a tiny bit more power. It was not large or particularly strong- but he had noticed that it had raised his power on the smallest scale. And that made it significant.

Dan took in another deep breath, making sure to get as much air within his lungs as he possibly could. He had to, in order for his plan to work. He leaned back as he did so, allowing his lungs and chest to fill with air as much as they physically could. Once he stopped sucking in air, and had packed his lungs full to bursting, Dan shot it all out in a loud huff that bent the branches on the air around him. He thought that it would perhaps be enough- but no. His interior power scale on himself barely budged, only ticking upwards infinitesimal amounts.

Dan thought for a bit, trying to figure out what to do. Regular breathing would obviously not do it, but neither would forceful techniques. And yet, if there was some way he could expel even more force-

And then, he almost laughed. Of course. The answer was so simple. All he had to do was take in a breath, so he did that. All he had to do was let it out again with great volume, so he did that. All he had to do was scream as loud and hard as he could- so he did exactly that.

He screamed as loud as his Knightly lungs would allow- they were strong, but nowhere near the monsters that he had in the present day. They were only strong enough to boost his scream to the volume of an avalanche, rather than an erupting volcano. He felt his hypothesis confirmed, as the power scale within him began to climb linearly, indicating a massive shift in strength from a single scream alone.

"Ah, I see he's figured it out.", said Fallon, and smiled. "That's good, it actually took him less time that I had expected."

"Well, what did you think was gonna happen?", asked Juno, and shrugged politely. "I did train him, after all."

Fallon nodded, and continued to watch Dan scream. He sucked in immensely deep breath after immensely deep breath, filling his lungs far past any legal capacity. Hie volume began to slowly increase, going from avalanche to passing train to jet liner, all within the space of a few

moments. The look on Fallon's face suddenly turned to worry, as he saw what powers Dan was beginning to unleash.

The grass bent around Dan's immense vocal outpouring, visible waves of sheer sound beginning to appear in the air. Dan bent down, letting the energy within him begin to soar to newer and newer heights. The hood on the back of his head fell, revealing his jagged blond hair.

Dan clenched his fists, from just the feeling of the power running through his entire body. His inner power scale was beginning to steadily climb- but there was no reason to tell him. Everyone there knew, just from the sheer shockwaves emanating around. And as he searched ever deeper within himself for yet more power, the very mountain began to tremble.

"What…", Fallon whispered to himself, and put his hand to his bow. "What is he doing?"

"It feels as though-", said Juno, then looked down to the ground. "No, the entire mountain is shaking! What power…"

"Dan!", Fallon shouted, and cupped his hands to his lips to try and be heard over the all-encompassing sounds coming out of Dan. "Are you okay?"

Dan turned a fixed Fallon with a look of bravery. It could only mean one thing considering the circumstances, the squared jaw and burning eyes- Yes. I Am.

"Okay.", Fallon said, and leaned back on the air. "Well then, I can only hope this plays out well."

But Dan kept on screaming. He pushed as much out of himself as he possibly could, allowing the power of the Primal Mega Knight to flow through him unhindered. He thought he could see himself in his mind's eye, a true Mega Knight at last.

The ground shook even more, and the members of the circle around him began to get worried. The amount of energy that Dan was giving off seemed far more than what was required for a simple transformation, even a Knight to Mega Knight one.

"Hold on…", said a Prince, stumbling as the ground quaked. "Fallon, isn't he going a bit overboard?"

Fallon opened his eyes, and took a closer look at Dan. His magical eyes widened with concern as he read Dan's energy levels- they were far beyond what they should have been. Fallon did not quite know why- perhaps it was his Star, mixing with the aura of the Mega Knight he was aiming to become. Perhaps it was the fire that was within his soul, pushing him to heights higher than it was safe to go. But whatever it was, Fallon knew that Dan could keep it up no longer.

"Dan!", he shouted, standing up straight. "You're pushing too hard! Slow down!"
"No!", Dan bellowed, with a voice that was far deeper and more powerful than his own. A bolt of lightning shot out from his body and struck a far away tree, reducing it to ash and a single spinning Gem. "I can't! I have to keep on going!"

"Dan!", shouted Fallon again, with intense urgency. "Your body cannot stand the energies you are outputting! If you keep on going, you will die!"

Dan turned his gaze away from the sky to Fallon. Dan was levitating now, borne aloft by the sheer might of his transformation. "I mean that I literally cannot stop now! My body is too deep in to stop!"

"Then unless you transform right now, you're going to die.", said Juno, calmly, with a hint of regret. "That plain, and that simple."

Dan heard that information, and took it to heart. He grit his jaw, prepared for one final push, and screamed.

His scream- no, his yell- no, his roar, blasted through the air like a tidal wave of solid sound. The entire section of mountain they were on began to shake apart, the dirt flying up in chunks from Dan's essence. The sound tore off into the dark night, flooding down into the valleys and biomes below. Several Castles around the area would report strange sounds with no source the next day, all having been heard at the exact same time. But only those on the mountain knew what happened that night.

"Dan!", shouted Fallon, knowing what he had to do. He hated to interrupt the ascension process of any student, but it was better that than Dan lose his life. "I'm going to get you out-"

Then he stopped, dropping his hands by his side. He reconsidered that course of action, as he saw that Dan's entire body was starting to grow larger.

Dan's muscles began to swell, shifting upwards in size like a balloon being inflated. His arms and legs grew longer, stretching to support his thickening torso. His screams became even lower in pitch, taking on a brassy tone, sounding like a solid gold Rocket being launched rather than anything remotely human. His mustache grew as well, becoming far more rugged and thick than what it had been before. And as the group below all stared in total wonderment, Dan's body swelled from that of a mere Knight to the fabled form of the legendary Mega Knight.

But even as he did so, Dan felt immense pain. The physical pain ran through his body like wildfire, from the stretching of his very bones and organs. It was far greater than any other pain he had ever felt- except for the mental agony that assaulted his brain.

His eyes were closed, trying to concentrate as hard as he could on the transformation. But the dark image of a certain individual blocked his mind, and stopped him from doing so. He had no idea who it was- but he was terrifying. His spiked hair flowed uncontrolled in some metaphysical wind, and his grimace burned with rage. His fists dripped with blood, as he roared like a wild beast. Somehow, Dan knew that the figure, whoever he was, was the source of his power. And then he realized it. The legends about the Primal Mega Knight- how he was prone to berserking, how his initial ascension had drove him half-mad, how he had to control himself at all times- were true. And Dan also knew without a doubt that he now had to take that mantle upon himself.

Dan's eyes shot open, and he gave one last roar of pure power. A ring of green and yellow energy shot out from him in all directions, scraping away the top layer of grass on the mountain's side and knocking everybody to the ground except for Juno and Fallon. And as Dan let the last of his weakness fly away into the cold night air, the screams finally faded from his throat. The light slowly dimmed around him, and he floated down onto the scarred and broken ground. He had no armor, save a shattered metal strip around his waist. His head spun from exhaustion, light-headedness, and the odd sensation of being in a much larger body. But most of all, the power he now held dizzied him. He could feel it in every part of himself. He knew that the power he had been searching for all month long was finally here. But he had to test it out.

"Dan?", asked Fallon, taking a step forward. "Are you okay-"
Dan's answer was not of mere words. It was of a single inhaled breath and a blast of Star from his mouth that shot out for hundreds of meters into the air, lighting up the night like a fireworks display. It was, unfortunately, accompanied by a slight spattering of blood. All of Dan's screaming had left the inside of his throat rather damaged.

"I'd take that as a yes.", said Fallon with a smile. He reached out his arm and grabbed Dan's student band off his neck, replacing it with one of a Master with a single swift movement. "Congratulations, Dan."

Juno looked up at him, barely containing her admiration. "Yes… now go help your girl.", she said. "She's a Bandit, right? I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. I know I am-"
She didn't even need to wait for Fallon to give her A Look before closing one eye and throwing up her arms. "What?", she asked. "I'm just saying."

Fallon shook his head, and put his arm on Dan's shoulder. It took Dan a moment to realize that Fallon, too, was flying. "Dan.", he said, and gave him a nod. "You are ready. Go."

Present Day

Brandy sat back, and gave a low whistle. She had never heard that story before, and some parts of it came as a bit of a shock. "Woah.", she said, and blinked a few times. "That's what happened?"

"Yep.", said Dan, and flicked at the rock they were sitting on. A chunk of it came off, skidding across the ground and exploding on another rock. "It was hard, becoming a Mega Knight. But it was way, way worth it."

"You- you almost died!", said Brandy, tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes. "You almost exploded, or had your heart give out, or whatever would have happened to you…"
Brandy threw herself forward into Dan's leg, and buried her face in his muscle. "Don't let that happen again, okay? I don't want you ever dying."

Dan rubbed the back of Brandy's head as gently as he could, not wanting to hurt her. A single thought popped into his head of how easily he could, but he shoved it outside within an instant.

"Don't worry, I won't.", said Dan, and gently smiled. "And you won't either. None of us will."

"Are you sure?", asked Brandy, and looked up. "Because I-"

"Brandy.", said Dan, lifting up her chin with the very tip of his finger. "Look at me."

Brandy looked at him, deep into his eyes. They were blue today. Sometimes they were blue, sometimes they were green, sometimes, more recently, they had been purple with Rage. But right now, they were a gorgeous shade of azure. "Okay.", she breathed.

"You're not going to die.", said Dan. "Simple as that. You know why?"

"Why?", asked Brandy, hardly able to contain herself. She felt every hair on the back of her neck stand up, as Dan's low voice reached her ears over and over again. "How do I know?"

"Because you have been through so much crap.", said Dan. "And you have not died, not even once. What's a giant Dragon and his army of weird troops when you've faced down demons? Nothing, that's what. And besides…"

He moved his finger from Brandy's chin to her ear, and she shivered. "Nothing can hurt you as long as I'm around. Nothing's allowed to. You got that?"

"Yes…", Brandy moaned, and let herself fall onto Dan's hand. "I do."

As she looked out under Dan's arm, her forehead wrinkled. "Wait, when did it get so dark-"

A crash sounded from the opposite end of the campsite, and Brandy jumped up. She and Dan looked at each other, then looked to where the crash had come from. Trevor had managed to set up camp with help from Annabelle and Leon, and they had been sitting together around a campfire. But Brandy saw Leon turn invisible out of instinct, and Trevor jump back as something emerged from the bushes just beyond, its tortured looking body looming high.

"Oh great, we got another one.", said Brandy, and rolled her eyes. "Come on honey, let's blow this one to bits."

"Right.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. He held up his hand as Star flowed into and around it, and made a sound like the cocking of a gun. "Just real quick."

Brandy laughed, and ran forward. She saw Annabelle finally roll away from the Thing and grab Bubble- that was good. It would make it so Brandy didn't have to be careful aiming.

"Dorra!", she yelled, and suddenly Dashed forward. The monster didn't even have time to respond before Brandy had planted her foot deep into its face, pushing the back of its skull a full foot behind where it would usually be. It screamed a gurgled scream and hit the ground, but curiously did not burst into Elixir. Brandy decided the best course of action would be to jump back, and examine it from a distance.

"You…", she heard the thing say, as it slowly rose to its feet. As the light from the fire hit it head on, Brandy could see just how ugly it was. Its nose was a flat stump with two slit like nostrils, its skin a pasty white. Two long fangs jutted from its mouth, its head a shiny dome. The two long ears on the side of its head were sharp, almost as if they had been filed to a point. The strange, oil-black clothes it had on seemed to be actively falling apart, and its fingernails had been grown out to the point of claws. The liquid that dripped from it was no doubt toxic- Brandy made sure to keep her distance. "You fools…"

"Huh.", said Dan, as he came up behind Brandy. "What is that? Ugly one."

The thing laughed, throwing its head back as it spat blood into the air. It flailed its fingernails around randomly, and turned to look directly at Bubble. "I am the Vampire, Dan."

It laughed again, and turned to face each of them in turn. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I know each and every one of you by name. Dan. Brandy. Leon. Bubble. Trevor. And Annabelle."

"Yeah, okay?", asked Dan, and crossed his arms. He noticed the grass rustling right next to the Vampire- no doubt Leon was sneaking up on it. "I'm sure everyone in Rakastamos's army knows our names by now."

"Oh, but I know more than that.", said the Vampire, and stroked his arm with his claws. "I know what each of you can do. And I also know that you cannot kill me."

"Really.", said Dan, and nodded, hoping that Leon would see him. "Then what do you call this?"

The Vampire had no time to respond before Leon became visible next to him, and let loose. A volley of dozens of rounds from Hunter Killer shot directly into his head, each blowing a clean hole straight through his brain. He threw multiple spinner blades from his other hand, all of them shredding through the Vampire's central body like a knife through paper mache. But that was far from all- Dan gave a low shout, and fired his Star Cannon clean through the Vampire's torso. A hole almost as wide as the Vampire himself appeared, shooting the body back into the bushes with a deafening sound of thunder. And for the finisher, Brandy Dashed forward again, delivering a devastating Dash boosted punch all the way through his stomach, carving upwards through his chest and throat, and finally ending by coming clean out through his head.

Brandy leapt back, and almost stumbled over Bubble, who was staring at the bloody carnage with utter fascination. Brandy moved her hands in front of Bubble's eyes, and slowly backed her up towards Annabelle. "There you go.", she said. "Don't look at that."

But, unlike the bold statements of many of the other Forgotten, the Vampire's warnings of his inability to die held true. He groaned in sheer agony as he slowly, somehow, with his mangled arms and broken legs, picked himself up off the ground. His split head gradually knitted back together as he stood there shaking on his shattered legs, gasping for breaths he did not need. The gaping hole and gash in his stomach still dripped blood, but his head had pretty much popped back into one place after a second. He put up one finger, and let loose a torrent of blood from his mouth onto the ground. "You…"

Dan stared, and gave a low whistle. "Wow.", he said. "Looks like he wasn't kidding."

"Do you know how long it's going to take me to regrow that?", the Vampire rasped, clearly in immense pain. "That- that gaping hole in my chest?"

""Well, I don't know.", said Brandy, and shrugged. "Could be maybe 10 minutes. Looks like you're hurt pretty bad-"
"Nope.", said the Vampire, and flexed the muscles remaining in his torso. A veritable wall of flesh slammed down from every side of the hole, sending a spurt of blood outwards. The damage that had been dealt to his torso automatically healed up, leaving no sign of the group's attack except for, of course, the blood that had been expelled from his body.

"But if it makes you feel any better…", he rasped, and grinned. He licked some of the blood from his fingernails, drinking it down. "That hurt a lot."

Dan frowned, and folded his arms. "Well, shoot.", he said. "If we can't kill him, then what are we going to do?"

The Vampire grinned, and slowly tilted his head back and forth as if mocking their puzzlement. "Oh, I know precisely how you can kill me. And it looks like the boy there has already figured it out."

"Leon?", asked Brandy, and turned to him. "Do you know how to take this thing down?"

Leon nodded, and stood up. "I do. But I don't think we can. I'm pretty sure he can only-"

"I can only be killed by the light of the sun!", the Vampire screeched, at a volume that made both Bubble and Brandy instinctively cover their ears. "And it looks like it's already vanished, down below the horizon."

He put one hand on the rock that he had been standing behind the whole time, and lazily strode forward. From the look on his face, he supposed he had all the time in the world. "That leaves me until morning to kill you… and I'm sure I can figure out a way to do it by then."

He looked around the campfire, staring at each of them in turn once again, then laughed.

Dan narrowed his eyes, and made a finger signal to where Bubble stood. "Bubble.", he said, and pointed another finger at the smug Vampire. "Trap him. Stick him in a cage until we figure out what to do."

Bubble stared at him, confused. "Daddy? I can't-"

Then she caught on, and smiled broadly. "Oh, right. Time for your cage time, monster!"

She brought down her hands with a happy crash, and the illusion of a very thick, iron-barred cage crashed down over the Vampire. He had no idea it was an illusion, and he pulled back to avoid getting crushed. For even though he was immortal, he didn't exactly relish the pain.

"There.", said Bubble, hands on her little hips. She closed her eyes, and stuck out her tongue at him. "Stay there, ugly. My Daddy's gonna wreck ya."

The Vampire growled in protest, wondering if it was worth it to try and dig underneath the bars. He did have very long and strong claws- but they were made for slashing, not digging…

Dan stood there, hand on his chin, trying to figure out what to do. Here in front of him was an enemy that could not, apparently, be killed. And from the assortment of weaponry and his status as a Forgotten, Dan assumed that the Vampire was easily capable of doing at least some of them in. And that was not a loss Dan could ever get himself to accept.

"Dan?", asked Brandy, and his eyes shifted downwards, to see her staring up at him. "How are we gonna get rid of this guy?"

Dan still continued to think, tiny flecks of Star running through his fingers from the rhythmic in and out of his breath. "I'm not sure, honey. I'm thinking to figure it out."
Brandy saw the Star twitch in tiny bits around him, and her mind raced to come up with an idea. "Well… what if you shot him with all the Star you had? Like when you shot that other dude."

"No.", said Dan quietly, and shook his head. "Wouldn't work. I already shot a hole in his stomach with Star. And now he's fine."

Brandy bit her lip, noticing how all damage from the combined attack had healed up completely. "You're right…"

She stood there for a second, scratching her own cheek in thought. She brightened up, as another thought entered her head. "Well, what if I just reach inside his head and destroy his brain! Even he couldn't regenerate from that."

Dan just shook his head again, but this time it was Leon who spoke up. "Not that either, Mom. I already used Hunter Killer to destroy his brain. And he regenerated from that easy."
"Hm.", said Brandy, and frowned. She aimlessly stroked the ground with her foot and Dan's arm with her hand as she thought, trying to think up something to do.

Dan felt something crawling on his back- but rather than panic and try to flick if off, Dan knew from muscle memory that it was most likely just one of the group. He was right- Annabelle had climbed up to his shoulder, and was now gesturing for him to lean in.

Song: Birth of a God

"Me and Trevor had an idea.", she said, and Dan leaned in. Annabelle grabbed his ear and whispered the plan, making sure that the Vampire had no way of hearing. And as her words flowed into his ear, the plan taking light in his brain, Dan began to nod.

Once Annabelle had relayed the entire plan to Dan, Dan took his head back up straight. Annabelle nodded and slid off the ground, landing next to Trevor with a soft thump. They exchanged thumbs up and frantic giggles, before taking a seat next to each other to see how this next bit playedo out.

"Vampire!", Dan shouted, trying to be as dramatic as possible. He thought that if perhaps he was to be dramatic, then the Vampire would try to be dramatic as well. He gestured towards the illusionary prison that held the beast, and made a slight bow. "I do hereby challenge you to a duel."

"A duel?", asked the Vampire, and his eyebrows perked up. He got up from the corner where he had been sitting, and slowly walked to the other end of the cage. "How interesting… but you see that I am in a prison. But perhaps if you were to offer a member of your party as tribute, then-"
"Oh, get out of it you stupid frick.", said Dan, and waved his hand in exasperation. "That thing's an illusion anyway. What, did you think it was real?"

If either Bubble of the Vampire took offense at this, none of them displayed it. The Vampire merely chuckled and walked out, stopping right in front of Dan.

"So, you wish to battle me?", the Vampire chortled, and looked around. "I, who cannot die?"

Dan had the precise answer for that. But it did not involve words in any way. The thing that it did involve was him slowly lowering himself a bit further to the ground, closing his eyes, focusing the energy that surrounded him within his own gigantic body, and beginning to scream.

The scream started off normal volume at first, or at least normal volume for him. It would be beyond the sound or vocal capabilities of any normal being. The Vampire looked mainly confused, but a touch mildly amused. That confusion kept on growing as Dan continued to scream, but the touch of mild amusement was soon replaced with one of fear.

"Wha-", the Vampire spat, the deafening loudness of Dan's roar beginning to hurt his eardrums. He covered his ears with his hands, but the sound pierced through like a sword through wet tissue paper. Dan continued to scream, as the first lines of Star flashed around his body.

"So, that's your plan?", the Vampire asked, now covering his entire face instead of just his ears. But it was hard to do so- especially as Dan's screaming kept on growing ever louder. The ground started to shake, and the Vampire stumbled. "You're just gonna scream me to death? Hope that my eardrums will give out, and I'll spend the rest of my life writhing in agony on the ground?"

Dan gave him a single second of stare, before averting his gaze and looking up once again at the sky. The screaming triggered his Star to grow, a bright curtain of blue, gold, and oddly mint green shooting into the sky far above. His hair stood up off his back and neck, flowing in some energy-based wind. The shining light that was Dan became visible throughout the entire valley, catching the attention of dozens of Troops below. They wondered just what that thing up on the top of the falls was, that could be glowing like that. He screamed so much his jaw hurt, his throat beginning to tire. And yet, he only screamed louder. He continued to scream above all, the ancient lungpower he possessed kicked into full gear. And as it did so, as he summoned the full force he could muster within his arm, sparks of Star flew around him a tremendous rate. With just a few more seconds of screaming, they had graduated from sparks and flashes to entire bolts, winding around his body and creating an aura of sheer power that lit up the entire campsite. He roared, and shot one hand above his head.
"Oh, no, I get it.", said the Vampire, and chuckled. "Try to bore me and distract me until the sun comes up, huh? Well, don't think I haven't prepared for that exactly."

He sharpened his claws on the rock, and prepared to leap directly for Dan's neck. But right before he did so, a shadow made of light fell directly over his head.

"Oh.", he said, and looked up. Dan had still been screaming, and now the ball of energy that he had been building up was approximately the size of a large building. A single tinge of fear ran across the Vampire's face. "Somehow, I had forgotten about that."

"Overdrive!", Dan bellowed, and shot the massive ball of energy downwards. No one there was even able to see it hit its target- none of them were that fast. There was a bright flash of light, one that seemed to light up the entire mountain with their brightness. UNfortunately, it didn't kill the Vampire.

Once the dust settled, Dan stood in front of an entire scorched area of the ground, the dirt and grass broken into pieces. The Vampire ever so slowly removed his hands and fingers from his face, sneaking a look at what had happened. He became utterly confused when he realized that it was… nothing. Nothing seemed to have changed.

"You- you missed me.", said the Vampire, and began his most annoying laugh ever. "You missed me! Haha, you fool! You just had to aim a little better."
But as the Vampire continued to laugh, Dan slowly laughed along with him. It took a few seconds for the Vampire to realize this was happening, and he slowly looked at Dan with an angry gaze. "What?", he asked. "What's so funny.?"

Dan gave a few tired chuckles, and pointed right at the Vampire. "I wasn't aiming for you."

"What?", asked the Vampire, strange feelings about such a sentence flooding his mind. "What do you mean-"
Then he looked down, and understood. He looked down at the gradually expanding crack in the ground right where he was standing, and he understood.

With a titanic flash of pure elemental force, having been nudged a bit by Dan's Star, the mountain that had been revealed to be an active volcano blew a tiny bit of its top. A solid sheet of lava blasted out in a long, thin, shape, right underneath the boulder that the Vampire now found itself to be standing on. And as the blast elevated, the Vampire screeched, and the Volcano roared ,that rock blasted off into the sky, towards the clouds. Dan kept on watching, as the panicked screams of the Vampire slowly, gradually, faded into nothing.

Song: The Oh of Pleasure- Ray Lynch

"Well.", said Dan, and clapped his hands together, dusting them off. "That's that, I guess."

He turned to Annabelle and Trevor, and gave them a broad smile. "Thanks for the idea, guys. That was a good one, just straight up removing him from anywhere like that."
"Heh.", said Leon, and flipped his lollipop around in his mouth. He felt his legs begin to feel funny, from the activity of the day."I wonder if he'll reach the sun like that. You know, go into space."

"I don't know.", Dan groaned, and leaned back. He popped his back with an echoing snap that could be heard for miles, and opened his mouth in a loud yawn. Within seconds, everybody else was following suit. Yawns were indeed extremely contagious, no matter what the situation.

"It would be funny if he did though. Would make absolutely sure we would never see him again."

Brandy blinked a few times, stifling yet another yawn. Only now, after the last enemy had been defeated, did she truly notice just how dark it had become, and figure that it could only get darker from here on out. Only now could she feel the pure exhaustion across every point of her body, begging her to fall asleep. Only now could she remember just how good sleep felt, and how much she wanted nothing more than to crawl onto Dan's massive body and sleep like a Log for 4, or 5, or 18 hours. She figured such thoughts would be visible on her face- but judging by Dan's next words, they were not.

"So, what do you guys wanna do now?", he asked, looking around the circle of exhaustion. He did not look directly at anyone's faces, so it was hard for him to tell what was going on.
"You guys wanna tell stories, or maybe cook some more food, or just-"

"Sleep.", said Brandy, and flopped unceremoniously down onto the ground. "I want to sleep. Right now."

"Oh.", said Dan, and shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds good to me too."

He put one hand on the ground next to Brandy, and gently laid himself down next to her. She used a tiny bit of Dash to roll over onto his stomach, snuggling deep as she could go.

"What a day this has been.", she mumbled, beginning to feel the exhaustion overtake her. "Like, seriously. This day has been just so, so long. And crazy. And weird. And exhausting. And-"

"I feel that.", said Dan, and moved a hand over Brandy's back. "I guess I'm pretty tired too… we all are, really. It's getting hard to talk. Let's just go to bed."
"Let's…", said Brandy, and let her eyes close. She felt herself fall deeper into Dan's grasp, feeling his warm body pressed against her cold one, her familiar bed out here in this wild wilderness. It was a good thing, the comfort of home.

"Mommy?", she heard Bubble say, and Brandy's head immediately shot up. Tired or no, Bubble had a question. And that took priority. "Yes, Bubble?"

"What are those things?", Bubble asked, slightly nervous. She pointed towards the river, where Brandy could see an oddly familiar shape floating down the falls. It took her a moment to realize what it was- but once she did so, she almost burst out laughing. Well, not burst out- more like a few soft chuckles. But she was quite amused at the sight of the Pharaoh's coffin, floating down the river. It turned out the river she had fallen into was the Clashcrush after all.

"Oh, nothing Bubble.", she said, and laid back down onto Dan's chest. "I'll tell you in the morning."

"Okay.", said Bubble, then pointed at a small snake-like object, coming down the grass to meet Brandy. "Then what's that?"

Had Brandy been more awake, she would have jumped out of her position. But she was not, and so remained totally still as the thing approached her. She stared at it through bleary eyes, and was slightly shocked to see that it was a vine. In its snakelike mouth was gripped a note. And on that note were two words that shook Brandy to the core, and made tears appear in her eyes.

Thank you.

"I'll tell you about that one in the morning too, honey.", she said, and gave the vine a teary nod. "You're welcome."

The vine turned away and headed back off into the darkness, its grateful mistress no doubt somewhere out there. Bubble stared into the night, not wanting to go to sleep just yet, as young children often do. She tried to think of something to prolong the night, something to keep her awake. Then, in a flash of inspiration, she had it,

"Wow, that Dampire sure was vumb.", she said, then realized she had mixed up the words. "Wait, I mean-"

"Yeah.", said Annabelle, and giggled a little. "That Dampire sure was vumb. Good thing you crapped him in that tage."

Bubble laughed, and squirmed on her patch of ground a bit. "And then Daddy shot him into space- wait, no, that one doesn't work. And then Saddy dot him into-"
"Oh, could you guys be quiet?", asked Leon, and sat up. "I'm trying to get some sucking fleep."

With those words, everyone knew that it was truly time to end the day. Bubble laid down, scooching a little closer to Leon. He let her put her head under his arm, and closed his eyes. Trevor and Annabelle slept near each other, both wishing to get closer, but neither of them knowing each other's desires. Brandy and Dan let each other fall into a deeper embrace, both of them knowing that no matter what lay ahead, they would always have each other. They had made a family out here, and they intended to keep it.

Song: Propaganda

The city of Glordnod the Goblin King was one of legends. From its soaring towers of randomly placed wood and stone to its inordinately heavy defenses- dozens of Eagle Artilleries lined the district around the Castle itself- it was regarded by architects the world around as simultaneously a disaster and a triumph. Sense and good taste were in short supply, and yet sold by vendors near the gate. The entire city was surrounded by an incredibly thick wall of some unknown, stone-like material, making even the strongest Village Walls of Town Hall 12's seem like wood and glue in comparison. Legend had it that not even a direct hit from an asteroid could dent the mystical structure, built by the first civilized Goblins nearly a million years ago. But past the wall is where the city got truly interesting.

The tall towers leaned in every direction, interconnecting with one another at totally random angles, forming every postal delivery worker's ultimate nightmare- except, of course, if you were a Goblin. Most inhabitants of the city were Goblins, so it all worked out in the end.

The streets were filled with all sorts of shops and carts and vendor stalls, each vying to sell their wares for any price to anybody who walked along. There were food stands, selling recipes and cooking that would either delight the senses, or burn them right off. There were weapon stalls, selling everything from rusty stone slingshots that could barely shoot a meter to legendary swords and axes, forged in volcanoes and tempered in the glacial heart of Frozen Peak. For the Goblins, money was about the essence of the stuff, not the amount. They would rather take 100 in coin than 1000 in anything else. For it was Gold that formed the foundation of most of their buildings, seen implanted in cornerstones the whole city over.

The Goblin Military was even stranger- it had no set ranks, no positions, and certainly hardly any plans. The typical strategy of proper Goblin warfare was to form your soldiers into something resembling a line, or at the very least some sort of shape, and then send them screaming into the enemy horde. Usually the Goblin Military would be milling around the city, finding new and interesting ways to screw up and mess around. But this time, today, they had all gathered for something else.

Indeed, the vast majority of the city's entire population had gathered inside, on, or somewhere around the Castle in the exact center of the ancient city. This was not a rare behavior- it was common for Goblins to gather for a great feast or festival. Their annual Great Goblin Feast was only in a month or so. But that was not the reason they had gathered. It was no festival, or protective gathering, or sheltering from a plague. It was something else, something very, very rare. It was also not even close to everyday that the Goblin King actually invited a non-Goblin into his Castle to come speak to him. The last time that had happened was to his ancestor, Globidigork, when he had met with the legendary Askari the First. But, of course, history tends to repeat itself all too often. And that is exactly who Glordnod was meeting with on that day, for almost exactly the same reason.

The throne room of the Glordnod's castle was an exercise in wanton design ineptitude, random columns, statues, and buckets strewn all over like a child's kicked over blocks. That was actually the way they had drawn up the plans all those years ago- a Goblin child had been playing with ice blocks, and had kicked them over. The design was clear, if you looked at it from above. But almost no one was, except for the semi-rich Goblins that had gotten themselves a seat in the roof. Most of them had to sit outside.

But right in the center of the throne room was the great Goblin King himself, Glordnod. Usually he would be eating popcorn, or a chicken wing, or some Gold. But today he leaned forward in utter fascination, listening to every word of what the charismatic Askari had to say.

"Glordnod.", said Askari, on one knee. His most loyal retainers- an ElectroWizard and a Knight- flanked him, making sure the Goblins kept their distance. "You surely understand the immense gravity of this situation, I hope."

"Hmmm…", said Glordnod, and rubbed his head. "Glordnod think understand. But Glordnod not sure? What if Askari trick Glordnod?"
"A trick?", asked Askari, and breathed in. "Glordnod, I assure you on my word as guardian of the Ivory Tower that this is no trick!"

"Okay.", said Glordnod, then tapped his fingers on his throne. "But what if trick?"

Askari sighed, and a single piece of paper flipped from his interior storage to his hand. "Read this, Glordnod. This is a signed letter."

Glordnod picked it up, and Askari dropped his trump card. "From Lady Chuqalita herself."

For half a second, there was silence in the room. Unlike the lands of Royale and Brawltopia, the older lands had not quite forgotten their Dragonlords. The Goblins especially knew this- they were all familiar with the names of all of them, down to the last schoolchild.

Glordnod read over the letter, nodded, then gave it back to Askari. He stood up from his chair, put his fist into the air, and turned to address the crowd.

"Goblins fight! Goblins fight! Goblins fight!", he yelled with vigor, and the crowd went wild. Askari smiled- the military might and numbers of the Goblins would no doubt prove useful. After all, every bit mattered against the might of Rakastamos. Askari checked his mental checklist, thinking of who he was to visit next.

"Let's see, I was going to make a stop on Brawltopia…", he mused, fiddling with his trick eye. "And then Royale… no. I was going to check on the King of those two Troops Juno and Jonathan told me to keep an eye on. What was his name?"

He tapped his head, signaling his brain to dig up the answer. His brain began to do so, searching through the last few days and weeks of memories. After about a second, a single name popped into the front of his enhanced vision with a slight ding. Askari stopped, looked at the name, committed it to memory, and smiled. "Ah, yes. That was it."

He looked up and took a deep breath, signaling to his retainers that it was time to go. The journey would be no trouble- they could catch a ship easily. He merely repeated the name to himself, determined not to forget it. He tapped his eye again, for no other reason than he thought it would look cool. "Let's pay you a little visit…"

He and his retainers left the Goblin Castle, knowing that everything depended on their mission. Askari smiled to himself, knowing that destiny laid in his hands. "Oticat."