After getting some rest at the nearby inn, the group headed into the cave. Susumu's eyes widened, however, when she saw that the cave was full of lava. Upon noticing her worried expression, Martcha spoke up. "Susumu? Is... Everything okay?"

Susumu suddenly jumped at the sounds of Martcha's voice. "Eh? ...Oh, it's... Everything's fine!" she panicked. "It's just... I don't really do so well with extreme temperatures... And heat tends to make me..."

As she was talking, however, Raya's ears perked up. He thought he could hear... Some sort fo rumbling. Almost like something was...

"! Susumu! Look out!"

"Eh?!" Susumu was suddenly shoved out of the way by Raya, as part of the cave's roof came crashing down.

"Susumu!" Martcha screeched, quickly dashing over to her side. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah..." Susumu said, sitting up. "But... Where's Priff and Vinny?"

"Kukukuku..." Priff's laugh could be heard even from the other side of the rock. "Seems like we've been split up~"

"Split up?!" Raya shouted. "How are we gonna get back together?!"

Vinny just closed his eyes and continued walking. "Looks like we'll just have to keep going," he said.

Priff followed along behind Vinny, and Susumu turned back to Martcha and Raya. "Well, you heard the dog," she sighed. "We'll just have to keep going and see if we can catch up." As the group set off, Susumu couldn't help but feel grateful that she had Martcha and Raya with her.

Priff and Vinny walked through the cave for what seemed like hours. Eventually, however, they came across a very familiar figure. A short person with red hair, wearing blue robes. "I told you we'd find you again, Susumu," Vinny said, approaching the person.

When they turned around, however, they revealed that they weren't Susumu at all. In fact, it was actually Sachio, and his face had been stolen!

Not only was Sachio there, but Samuel and Bowyetta were there with him, and their faces were missing too. Priff approached the three carefully, tilting her head. "It's okay," she said. "We're here to help you. Take us to where your faces are."

Meanwhile, however, Susumu and Raya weren't doing as well as the others. "Urgh..." Susumu groaned. "How much farther is this cave anyway?"

"It can't be that much farther!" Raya tried to assure her. "Come on, let's just go find everyone so we can-"

And that was when Martcha suddenly let out a yelp. "S-Sorry!" she apologized. "I just... I-I thought I heard something! It sounded... Like a growling noise, and..."

What she didn't realize, however, was that a cerberus was standing right behind her, preparing to attack. "Martcha!" Susumu warned her, swinging her microphone at the cerberus's face. "T-that thing almost swallowed you up!"

"Hey, that thing's got faces on it too!" Raya pointed out. "That... Looks like Bowyetta?! But... Who else is there?"

Susumu, on the other hand, recognized the other two faces all too well. "Sachio! Oh, Samuel..."

Martcha twirled her staff around, firing a beam at the cerberus. "Susumu! We have to be strong! We can save them, I just know it!"

Susumu, however, wasn't entirely sure about that. Martcha was strong and Raya was strong, but she was just a girl. Not only that, but their party was split up as well. "How are we going to fight this thing...?"

The group continued fighting, slowly chipping away at the cerberus. It was hard to tell if they were doing any real damage or not, especially when the thing was able to hit ALL of them at once. "Gah..." Susumu slumped onto the ground. She was trying her hardest, but... This thing could hit pretty hard, and it was starting to hurt a lot...

"Kukukuku~" It was about this time, however, that Priff, Vinny, and the others had caught up to the group. Priff had noticed that Susumu wasn't looking so good, and decided to take it upon herself to give her some motivation. She carefully snuck up behind Susumu, and gave her a quick jab in the back with her fork-

"Aiiee!" Susumu jumped up as she suddenly felt something jab her. "Wha-?! Who-?!" She suddenly started smiling when she saw what had jabbed her. "Priff! Vinny! You're okay! And... You found them?"

"Hey, why are these guys?" Raya asked, staring at the faceless bunch, not realizing that he was about to take another attack.

Martcha quickly protected him by firing another beam at the cerberus. "We can discuss it later," she replied. "Right now, we have to save these three's faces!"

Susumu nodded, and swung her microphone at the cerberus again. Now that they were all back together, things felt a lot easier than before! The thing was still pretty strong, but with five people fighting together, it went down a lot easier than before.

"Three faces in one!" Raya exclaimed, his tail thumping against his armor. "Now let's see who-"

"Uwah!" Raya was interrupted when he was suddenly jumped by Samuel. "I-I was... You... You saved us!"

"Sachio!" Susumu quickly scooped Sachio into a hug, tears filling her eyes. "I-I was so worried about you... Are you okay?"

"Susumu..." Sachio sobbed. "I-I'm not hurt, but... I-it was really scary! Azamir just dumped us in this lava cave, and then he took our faces and stuck it on that thing... I-I don't even know where I am!"

Martcha landed on Sachio's shoulder to comfort him. "It's alright, you're all safe now," she said quietly. "Bowyetta? Are you okay?"

Bowyetta, however, seemed to be the only one who wasn't terrified. In fact, she just seemed more confused than anything. "...Huh?" she finally responded. "Um... Is nothing. Bowyetta... Is just not being certain what have happened."

"It doesn't matter now, Bowyetta," Susumu groaned. "I'm... Starting to get tired again..."

Samuel started to look a bit worried. "Um, Susumu?" he asked. "I think I saw an inn up ahead. If you need to rest, you should..."

Raya's eyes widened again. "Another inn? Inside a cave?"

"At this point, I'm surprised that you're surprised by anything anymore," Priff said.

"Well, whatever," Susumu sighed. "Let's just move on. We've... Still got to find a few more people before we can go after Azamir."

Of course, Susumu knew she wouldn't be completely calm until everyone was safe...