Susumu and Neal walked through the desert for what felt like hours. "Neal... Can we stop yet? How long have we been out here?"

"It's only been a few minutes, Susumu," Neal informed her. "Just hang in there, okay? It'll be a lot cooler inside the cave."

it wasn't long, however, before Susumu saw a tiny, yet very familiar, figure in the distance. "...Martcha!"

As soon as Martcha heard her name called, she made her way over. "Oh, hello, Susumu!" she greeted. "Have you had any luck finding that lamp?"

"Yes, we have!" Susumu answered, producing the lamp from her bag. "But... We think Saff might have released Jeremy. That guy... I don't know what his deal is."

"Is that so?" Martcha stopped to think for a moment. "Well... As long as you have the lamp with you... You can still seal Jeremy away yourself! You do know the trick to it, don't you?"

"...Uhhh..." Susumu had to admit, she didn't know the trick at all.

"It's really quite simple," Martcha explained. "All you have to do is keep saying Jeremy's name, over and over. With that, you should be able to seal him away easily!"

"Thanks, Martcha!" Neal thanked her. "I think I can see the cave over there, anyway."

"Well, we better get going..." Neal had already darted off towards the cave, however, by the time Susumu got moving. "Really, he has so much energy..."

Before Susumu reached the cave, however, she stopped for a minute. "Just... Hang on..." She remembered the potion she had in her bag, and pulled it out. "I hope this works..." She quickly drank the entire bottle.

But she didn't feel any better. In fact, after a few seconds, she... Started to feel worse. "Urk..." Her stomach started to feel like it was on fire, and before long she had collapsed onto the sand.

"Hey! Susumu! You gotta get up!" Neal tried to shake her awake, but she wasn't moving. "Susumu? Susumu!"

"Um... Excuse me... Are you okay?" When Susumu woke up, she found that the entire left side of her face was caked with sand. More than that, however, she heard an unfamiliar voice talking to her.

"Urgh... What... What did I just drink?!"

"Hey, just calm down!" Neal said. "I don't know what happened, but I called my friend Samuel here to heal you. Oh yeah, Samuel, this is Susumu!"

"It's nice to meet you," Samuel said with a slight smile.

"Nice to meet you too, but..." Susumu stood up. "Where ARE we?"

"We're in the Neksdor Cave," Neal explained. "This is where Jeremy is! I think he's further in though. Come on, let's get going!"

Susumu expected the search to take longer than it did, but the group could hear him gloating from a mile away. "Gah ha ha! Man, it feels great to be back! Where should I hit up next?! Actually, I've always wanted to see what's in that Greenhorne Castle. Gah hahahaha! Ol' King Keith better be ready for the Jere-man!"

"Too bad we're gonna seal you up before you have a chance to!" Neal declared, as Susumu produced the lamp from her bag.

"Gah! H-How long were you standing there?!" Jeremy demanded. "And... Where did you get that lamp?! ...Well, so what if you have it! If you don't know the magic charm, I'm here to stay! Gah hahahaha!"

"Ahem." Susumu stepped forward, holding the lamp in front of her... Until she remembered something.

Wait. What was his name again?

"...Jeremiah!" Susumu tried the first name that came to her mind, but nothing happened. "...Jason! Jerome! ...Jeffery?"

"...GAH HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jeremy only burst out laughing at Susumu's attempts. "Stop- Stop it, kid! I'm gonna die laughin'! Gah hahahaha!"

Jeremy's mocking only seemed to make Susumu angry. "...Jeremy!" His name came back to her out of seemingly nowhere.

"Gah... Ha... ...WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

"Jeremy!" Susumu repeated. "Jeremy! Jeremy!"

"U-Uh-oh! This ain't good!" Jeremy felt himself starting to be sucked back into the lamp, but he tried to escape. "H-Hey! Wait a minute! I-I'm sorry I laughed at you, okay? Can't we just talk about this?"

"Jeremy!" Susumu repeated once more.

"Augh! Please don't put me back in there!" Jeremy begged. "I'll give Portia all her stuff back, I promise!"

"...Fine." Susumu was still feeling angry, but she simply threw the lamp on the ground. "I won't seal you away. But you better give Portia all her treasure back!"

"...Eh?" Jeremy seemed a bit confused by this. "You're... Just going to let me go if I do? ...Well..." Jeremy was silent for a minute, but after a moment he picked up all the treasure he had taken and disappeared.

"We'd better go see if he kept his word," Samuel remarked, and with that the group made their way back to the town.

When the group got back into town, however, the first thing they noticed was that everyone seemed to have moved toward the center of town. In the middle of the commotion seemed to be the shady man from before. "I'm telling you, I saw it! There was some big shadow flying around over the desert, and it was coming this way!"

"Do you REALLY expect us to believe that?" Portia asked. "Vee, you've been cheating us all out of our money since day one!"

"A few weeks ago you sold me a can opener," A sleepy-looking man remarked. "Really, what the heck is a can opener for anyway?"

Vee looked around nervously, until he caught sight of Susumu. "Oh! Miss!" He waved her over. "I helped you earlier! You believe me, don't you?"

Susumu, however, remembered all too well what he had sold her. "! I- You- Potion-!"

"Is this the guy who poisoned you, Susumu?!" Neal demanded, removing his claws. Before Vee even had a chance to respond, Neal jumped up and delivered a flurry of punches to Vee's face, knocking him down with the finishing hit.

As the group was about to return to their homes, however, a strange darkness fell over the town. "Ahahahaha..." The townspeople stood staring in confusion, until their faces began to disappear. The dancing girl, the sleepy-looking man, Portia, and even Jeremy's face were taken away, before the shadow flew off.

Vee sat up, rubbing his swollen cheek. "T-there! Now do you all believe me?! It won't be long before he comes back for the REST of our faces too!"

"M-Milo... He was telling the truth!" A white-haired woman started sobbing. "Someone has to do something!"

"But... That shadow... It went towards the pyramid... None of us could stand a chance in there!"

Neal then turned to the rest of the group. "Aha! That sounds like Azamir!" he stated.

"A pyramid, huh?" Susumu started smiling. "Now THAT could be exciting! You guys up for a treasure hunt?" She then took off toward the pyramid, with Samuel and Neal following close behind.