Susumu quickly found herself surrounded by Rock Moths. "W-where did they all come from?!" She was frightened, and knew she couldn't beat them all herself. "I-I can't fight like this..." She huddled up on the ground, hiding inside her robes in the hopes the Moths would go away, until...

FWISH.

When Susumu looked back up, all the Rock Moths were gone. She put her head back down, however, when she saw someone approach her. "Uh, are you gonna get up now or what?" A voice asked her. "Why were you hiding from those things anyway?"

Susumu tilted her head up slightly to get a look at whoever was standing in front of her. The stranger was a somewhat tall boy, dressed in leather gear, with a very stern look on his face. "Uhhh..." Susumu wasn't sure what to say now. She was still somewhat embarrassed to admit how weak she was...

The boy sighed. "Well, whatever. Name's Yardi. What are you doing out here on your own anyway?"

"Susumu!" Susumu exclaimed as she stood up. "Uh, that's my name. Susumu. And I'm on an important mission from Garaden to defeat the Dark Lord Azamir!"

"Garaden? Dark Lord Azamir?" Yardi sniffed. "Geez, how hard did you hit your head on the way down here? Even if there was a Dark Lord, why would Garaden pick someone like you to stop him?"

"Well... I honestly don't know myself," Susumu admitted. "But! I can't hang around here all day!" She darted off. "I've gotta go find Aqua's face!"

"Hey! Wait!" Yardi called, chasing after her. "Geez, you're gonna get yourself killed if you go it alone! I'm coming with you!"

"W-wait, you're what?!" Susumu was shocked by this. "But, why do you wanna help me?! We only just met, and you don't seem like the helping type..."

"Hey, I just saved you from getting eaten by moths, alright? Besides, this world's gonna chew you up if you don't get someone to help you!"

Susumu seemed confused by this, but she decided not to argue. "Right... Anyway, we've gotta find Aqua's face. I'm willing to bet that it'll be stuck to a monster somewhere."

Sure enough, after a minute of searching, the two came across a particularly large butterfly. They didn't really think anything of it, until it turned around and they saw...

"Look!" Yardi exclaimed. "That thing's got a face on it!"

"And it's Aqua's face no less!" Susumu pulled out her wand, prepared to fight.

Yardi, however, already had his knife in hand, slashing at the butterfly. "What, more stupid butterflies?" He snorted. "This should be over in no time!"

The butterfly, however, ended up hitting Yardi pretty hard in return. "Yardi! A-are you alright?!"

Fortunately, Yardi seemed to be a lot tougher than Susumu. "It's... It's nothing!" He assured her, slashing at the butterfly. "Go on, hit that thing with all you've got!"

Susumu nodded, and pointed her wand straight at the butterfly. "Okay... I'm going to try something..." She thrusted her wand forward. "FIRE!"

The butterfly was suddenly engulfed in flames, and that was enough to take it down. The butterfly was defeated, and. as before, Aqua's face flew off of it and back into town. "We did it!" Susumu exclaimed, dancing around a bit.

"Hey! We're not outta the woods yet!" Yardi scolded her. "Don't we have to get like three more faces back?"

"Hmph... Could've just let me victory dance..."

And so the two continued along their way, searching for the rest of the townspeople's stolen faces. As they were walking, however, Susumu heard that familiar voice once more. "Ahaha..." She wasn't even surprised this time when Azamir's figure appeared before her. "Well, well, if it isn't the little hero herself," he remarked. "My, my, you certainly do get places, don't you?"

His words only served to make her angry. "Hey, Azamir! I've got a bunch of new powers now, and I'm gonna take you down here and now!"

"Ahaha. How precious," Azamir mocked. "She thinks she can defeat me just because she has shiny new clothes. Well, let's see just how tough you really are..." Azamir opened his eyes, and a pool of shadows began to form around Susumu's feet.

"Ee!" Susumu tried to get out of the way, but... She couldn't move her body at all. Some strange force was holding her in place, and a feeling of dread was starting to consume her. Was she going to be dragged into darkness, or something far worse, or...

"Stop!"

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright green light. A small yellow creature streaked by, the shadows around Susumu's feet disappeared, and she found herself able to move again.

An annoyed expression crossed Azamir's face. "Oh, it's you again," he huffed. "Must you always ruin my fun?"

The small creature placed a tiny paw on her chin, and spoke in a high, squeaky voice. "So, you're this Dark Lord I've heard so much about? You look... Familiar somehow. No matter. I will not allow you to bring harm to the innocent, no matter who you are!"

Azamir frowned at her. "Hmm. What a shame, I could have used another soul for my collection..." He then pointed directly at Susumu. "Don't think I'm finished with you yet. The next time we meet, I will not hold myself back any longer. Farewell." With that, Azamir vanished once more.

The small creature turned back to Susumu, who was now shaking on the ground. "Do not be afraid, child," she said. "My name is Martcha. You must be Susumu, correct?"

Susumu looked up, nodding. "H-How did you...?"

"Well..." Martcha began. "This is going to be hard to explain, but I... I'm something of a god, as it were. That Dark Lord... He's been tormenting you for a while, has he?"

"Y-Yeah... But, don't worry!" Susumu jumped up. "I'm going to stop him! ...But..."

Martcha nodded as Susumu spoke. "But... You feel like you aren't strong enough to take him on, is that right? Listen to me, Susumu. You may not think you're much now, but you have a great future ahead of you. If you continue saving the faces of the world, you're only going to keep getting stronger. Then, one day... One day you will be able to defeat the Dark Lord. Do you understand? Just hold on, and keep helping people. I must go now, but I have a feeling that we will meet again." Martcha turned away, and flew off into the sky.

Susumu wasn't exactly sure what just happened, but... "If Martcha is who she says she is... Gosh, she was cool either way. And... She believes in me too." Susumu stood up, dusting herself off. "Yardi! Martcha! I'm going to get stronger for both of you! Hear my words!"

"...Who are you yelling at?" Susumu was interrupted by Yardi, who had finally caught up to her. "Where did you even go anyway? We've gotta go save the rest of the town!"

"Oh yeah, that's right." Susumu mumbled. "Come on, let's go see where Caden's face could be."