"You gave me a headache, Kang." A long drawn out whine escapes from Howard's lips, as he settled himself on the tram that will take them on their second portion of their tour, "I really don't want to think about this anymore." This was supposed to be a happy occasion for him. Furthermore, he was gaining these intense flashes of his 'friend' and him talking about something important.

"From what?" Debbie sat in front of him. She never turns her head to Howard to acknowledge him. Her eyes were trained on Randy, who flashed her a nervous smile before settling down in the far-right corner of the tram.

"He's definitely hiding something." Finally, Debbie turns her gaze over to Howard. She couldn't help but express her concerns when she saw Howard leaning his head against the glass pane of the window.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine." Howard grumbled, already in a sour mood. What Debbie didn't know that deep down inside, he was screaming out in frustration.

"Okay, just don't let Cunningham get to you. Alright?"

"Too late for that."

The tram started to move, resulting in the students lurching forward at the sudden sharp move. Howard finally looked at Cunningham. Randy's look hardens at the Robo Ape that started to talk about the sights they were going to see.

Howard would normally be elated over the prospect of what he was going to see at Mcfist Industries. He kept his eyes on Randy, toning out the Robo Ape entirely.

"Here is the most famous Mcjerky. 100% Jerky-" One of the Robo apes fell into the assembly line, causing it to let out a mechanical cry.

"Ahem, anyway. If you turn to your left." Here is where we work on the bacon. We work tirelessly to make sure the bacon is up to par and ready to be shipped worldwide. You children have the opportunity to taste our new McBacon!" The tram went into a halt at the station. Once, the doors were open. The class lined up to get a taste of that bacon.

Howard sluggishly got up from his seat. He looked around to notice that Randy was no longer there. Howard had taken his eyes off him for a second. How did he just leave like that?

He slowly scooted over to the door, then scrambled away when no one else was looking.

What the juice was Cunningham up to now?

There was a lot to see in Mcfist Industries. It was possible he might have wanted to see more of the place. To be honest, if that WERE the case. Howard wouldn't blame him. Howard knew there was more to this. He had done this beforehand when Randy had appeared from the back of the school after a monster attack.

It was suspicious.

Mechanical footsteps can be heard from a distance. He quickly looked for a place to hide as the footsteps of the Robo Apes inched closer towards his location. Howard found a door and quickly opened the door and closing it gently, "Whew."

Howard watched carefully as the robo apes walked by the room that Howard took refuge in. The teen sighed in relief when the sounds of The Robo Apes disappeared down the hallway.

The door creaked open to reveal an empty hallway. Howard breathed in and out to calm his nerves. So far, no signs of Cunningham.

A terrifying scream echoed down the hallway. There was searing pain that suddenly emerged. Howard felt like his inside were on fire, resulting in his screaming as well. It wasn't a normal scream, it was more like a monster crying out in pain.

The screaming stopped for a minute, then it proceeded once more. Yet again, Howard felt that sharp pain from within his chest. He screamed out in pain, clutching his hands against his chest tightly. Tears rolling down on his face.

The door down the hall swooshed open. Several Robo apes appeared, some of them had weapons in their hands, while others were unharmed. The armed Robo Apes approached Howard with caution. He could feel one of them prodding him with their foot while the armed mechanical apes trained their weapons at Howard.

"We found it, sir." One of them said.

"Good, bring it here! And hurry up! We don't have all day!" Mcfist screamed into the microphone. He pressed the button that allowed him to hang up. A grin spreads from ear to ear as he shifts his gaze to a figure looming over the Ninja with contempt in her eyes. She reached out, grasping his chin.

"We have it, Sorceress." Mcfist said almost excitedly, "Now, about my reward-"

"What about the pay raise you promised me, when you said after you caught the Ninja." Viceroy chimed in, crossing his arms, "I still haven't forgotten.""

"Silence!" With the wave of her robes, she turned around to the two people; she unfortunately had to ally herself with. It was only temporary. The Sorceress had planned to kill them off when she reached her full potential.

"It...?" The Ninja behind her said. His wrists strung up in chains that connected to the ceiling above.

"Don't play dumb, Ninja. You know what we're talking about." Viceroy scrunched up his nose. If the Ninja would have just spilled the beans already. He would have been home already, watching soap operas without a care in the world.

"I don't..."

"We found the Tengu Stone." The Sorceress hissed through her teeth, "Your attempts at hiding it was in vain."

"No..." The Ninja's voice trailers off, his eyes widening in pain, "That's not possible. The Tengu is gone. We all saw it disappear!" He coughed violently, a splatter of blood escaped out of his mouth.

"Don't you lie to me." The Sorceress sneered, "You sealed it back into the stone after the last fight. You may have won that time. Now, things have changed."

The door slides open to reveal a redheaded teen in the robo apes grasp. His head hung low, too weak lift it up. His chest is rising and falling, indicating he was still alive.

"That's the Tengu stone?" Mcfist looked at the boy critically. He grabs a fistful of his hair, yanking him up, making Howard yelp. "Looks like an ordinary child to me."

"Howard!" The Ninja exclaimed in a panic. He started moving his tied hands, fully knowing he could not do anything to stop the Sorceress.

"I know this kid." Viceroy examined him closely, "That's Mort Weinerman's son. His father works here. Huh, I wonder if his father knows about this-"

"D-D-Don't touch my f-family..." Howard said weakly, "I'll kill you."

"You will do no such thing." The Sorcerer conjured up red stank from the tip of her fingers, "Hold him down while I extract the Tengu from him."

"NO!" The Ninja screamed again, kicking at nothing but the air, "You'll kill him!"

"On the Contrary, Ninja. You killed him." She cackled, "You killed him. When you decided to put the demon bird in him. This is all your fault."

"What...?" Howard spat out, "The Ninja? I don't know the Ninja-"

The Sorceress laughs as if this whole scenario was the funniest thing in the world. The Red Stank made its way towards Howard swiftly. The Red Stank turned into that of a hand. The hand sunk it's fingers in Howard's chest. The boy let out a blood curdling scream as the Red Stank started pulling on the bird that was within him.

"You truly don't know?" The Sorceress balked at him, "Did the Ninja erase your memories like everyone else?"

Howard turned his attention over to the Ninja. His sad eyes met the Ninja's, "Is this true?"

"Howard-"

"Is it true?!" Howard snapped. His eyes turning red. Howard felt anger, like he never felt before. He was still confused. Howard was obviously not thinking clearly. His anger was mostly directed towards the Ninja than the Sorceress. All this time, it was the Ninja who had the answers to his questions. That left him in the dark.

The reason why he was suffering.

The Ninja and Randy were the reason why he was so angry.

"I'm sorry, Howard. I'm so sorry." The Ninja apologized. He stared into Howard's red eyes with guilt-ridden expression written on his face, "I'm sorry-"

"You cannot hide in there forever, Tengu!" The Sorcereress applied more pressure, trying to draw out the Bird. Howard screamed out in response, thrashing under the Robo apes grasp.

"S-Stop! You're hurting him!" The Ninja cried out for his pain-stricken friend, "Please, stop!" He pleaded in agony over Howard's well-being.

"This is getting bad." Viceroy commented, "You sure this superpower is worth all this?" He spares an irritated look over his boss that was hugging him tightly.

"Now is not the time to be questioning our morals, Viceroy!" Mcfist tightened his grip on his colleague.

"Oh, boy."

"Boy."

There was a voice calling out to him. It sounded curt, blunt, in fact.

"Wake up."

Howard cracked his eyes open. He felt like he was floating. Weightless. It felt weird, not that he was complaining. He liked this feeling. Howard took in his surroundings, his feelings of relief were short lived and replaced with panic. Where was he? Everything around him was black, with a little bit of red illuminating in the background.

In front of him was a large black bird that he had seen in the school. Quickly, he backpedaled upon seeing the large bird, "What is going on?!"

"You do not remember me?" The bird cooed at him. Tilting its head curiously at its host.

"S-Sort of?" Howard stammered out to the bird, "I saw you at the school...? I think? And that dream, I had."

"Dream?"

"You were there and the Ninja-No. I remember, he had the suit on." Howard thought back to that dream he had back at the bus. It was fuzzy, so the details were hard to recall, "He was unmasked."

"That was no dream." The Tengu said, "That was real."