"Louis!" As soon as the group got back to the castle, they went straight to Louie's room.

"Todd!" Sure enough, Louie's face had returned to where it belonged. "You... Ya got my face back for me, did ya?"

"It wasn't just me, Louis." Todd nodded to the rest of the group. "I... Had some help. And I think we got rid of Saff too."

"Let's hope so," Yardi huffed.

"Hey, you guys," Louie looked up at the group. "...Thanks. For savin' my face. And for bringin' Todd back to me. Tonight, we're gonna have a celebration, in honor of our heroes!"

"That sounds great!" Susumu and Sachio exclaimed in unison, before they saw the look Yardi was giving them.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't we go after the Dark Lord FIRST?"

"Oh yeah. About him," Louie stated. "I saw that guy fly off toward the desert. He must be headin' to Neksdor. That's where Saff is from."

Yardi's eyes widened as soon as he heard that, but Susumu quickly tried to calm him down. "Well, let's just hope we don't run into him again, okay? Thanks for telling us, Louie. Come on guys, let's get going to the desert."

As the group made their way through the Arid Frontier, however, Susumu and Sachio started to look more and more nervous. "What's up, you two?" Vinny asked them.

"We're going into the desert..." Susumu seemed a bit afraid to admit it. "I... I don't do so well with heat, and from the look of things, Sachio doesn't either."

"...Well, nothing we can do about it, hey? Hopefully Azamir won't cause too much damage there," was all Vinny had to says. Susumu, however, wasn't so sure.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and by the time they stopped at the next inn, the desert was in sight. During the night, however, a strange shadow began to creep across the inn. "Ahahaha..."

Yardi was suddenly jolted awake as soon as he felt something grab him. "Waugh! H-Hey! Let me go! Susumu! Help me!"

But all Yardi's screaming didn't seem to wake Susumu at all. In fact, it seemed as though she was now shaking in her sleep. "No! Get away from me! Someone, help!"

Azamir shifted his glance to Yardi. "Oh, I don't think little miss hero can help you now," he said with a pout. "In fact, if I've done this right, she won't even remember a thing in the morning! Ahahaha!" With that, he scooped up Sachio and Vinny before vanishing into the night.

The next morning, Susumu woke up feeling... Pretty bad. "Urgh... W-why do I feel like..." She tried to sit up in her bed. "Yardi, wake uuuuup. I think I'm siiiiick."

But Yardi never answered. "...Yardi?" She pulled herself out of bed, only to find that Yardi was no longer there. "Sachio? Vinny?" Looking in Sachio and Vinny's rooms, they weren't in their beds either. "Where is everyone?!"

And that was when Susumu heard a familiar voice. "Susumu! Susumu, are you okay?! Azamir attacked you in the middle of the night, and he took all your friends with him!"

"Wait, he did what?!" Susumu demanded. "H-How am I supposed to go stop him now? I'm just a girl!"

"...Oh, yes. Now I remember," Garaden explained. "Azamir tried to erase your memory too. It seems he's made you forget about your powers... But you still remember everything else, so I suppose it didn't work!"

"I... I had powers?" Susumu was only getting more and more confused. "But, now what am I gonna do? I still have to stop Azamir, and now my friends are in trouble..."

"Fear not, young Susumu!" Garaden assured her. "I am still on your side, and I shall grant you a new set of powers with which to defeat Azamir!"

"Wait, you can do that?"

"Of course I can! I'm a goddess, remember? Now, just hold still, okay? Haaaaa... HAAAAA!"

When the light cleared, Susumu took another look at herself. She was wearing a long blue coat with a checked pattern on it, and on her head seemed to be a pair of plastic goggles! What's more, she was now carrying... A ketchup bottle? "Now go forth, Scientist Susumu! Rescue your friends, and knock Azamir down a few pegs while you're at it!"

"Whoa! Thanks, Garaden! So, what can I do? ...Garaden?" But before Susumu had a chance to ask, Garaden was gone again. "Guess I'll just have to figure things out myself..." She headed out the door and into the desert, not feeling particularly happy about it.

End Of Act 1