"Are you SURE this is gonna work?"

Yardi was standing in the middle of a back room of the inn, with Junpei standing at some sort of computer. Priff was there, too, but she was just watching. "Of course this is going to work," Junpei answered. "I've run all the calculations, and there's only a 10% chance of me dying!" He then walked away from the computer and stepped over to what appeared to be some sort of transporter. "Alright, Priff, hit the button and let's see if this works!"

Priff stepped over to the computer, and pressed a glowing yellow button on the keyboard. The transporter began to give off light, and began moving around Junpei. It kept moving faster, and faster... Until suddenly, there was a bright flash, and Junpei... Was gone!

"What in-?!" Yardi jumped back at the sudden flash, and was even more startled at Junpei's disappearance. "J-Junpei! Junpei- Where did you go?!"

Before long, a blurry image of Junpei started to flicker inside the transporter. After a moment the image cleared up. "Sorry about that, everyone," he said. "I, uh, guess I destroyed my own body."

"D-Destroyed your own..." Yardi was shocked at first, then became angry. "How the heck did you even manage that?!"

"I... Don't know," Junpei answered. "Maybe I should've had Priff press the blue button instead... Anyway, hey, at least I'm not dead, right? But, uh... It's gonna take a while for my body to reform. So... I won't be able to fly the helicopter for a while. Sorry."

"Then... How are we supposed to get around?" Yardi asked.

"Hey, Yardi," Priff said suddenly. "Why don't we all take a break? You know, relax, hang out in the inn a bit... I'm gonna go to the beach myself." With that, she walked out of the room.

"Uh, yeah, you have fun there," Yardi said. "I'm gonna stay here with Junpei. If only to keep him from feeling too isolated."

While Yardi kept an eye on Junpei, Priff, Samuel, and Susumu went to check out a beach not far from Greenhorne. "Well, folks, welcome to Galados Isle," Priff said, looking around. "Kukuku... It's everything I thought it would be~"

"It's so pretty here..." Susumu remarked, looking around. "I wonder if anyone lives here?"

As soon as she said that, however, a voice could be heard nearby. "Eeep!" A strange, short girl with green hair was rapidly approaching the group, but there was something different about her. She had pointed ears!

Whatever was going on, the girl seemed to be frightened by... Well, something. "Oh! Travelers!" The girl called out. "Please, I need your help!"

"That's a bit sudden," Priff stated.

Well, this girl seemed like she meant well anyway. It couldn't hurt to help her out, could it? "Er, hey, it's alright," Susumu said. "Just... Tell us what happened, okay? We'll help you out, but..."

The girl shook her head, and calmed down a moment before speaking again. "My name's Claire," she began. "And, I live here on Galados Isle. It's normally a pretty calm place, but... Well, lately things have been kind of a mess. Monsters have been popping up left and right... You may not believe this, but I was just attacked by a hamburger!"

Samuel blinked. "A... Hamburger?"

"Maybe we should've brought Vinny~" Priff remarked.

Okay, now that got Susumu interested. A hamburger attacking someone? "Now I'm curious," Susumu said. "Take us to this hamburger, Claire!"

As Claire led the group to their destination, she continued talking. "You know, I can't thank you enough for your help!" she said. "Galados Isle is my home, so I like to make sure it stays calm and peaceful around here. But... Do you guys come around here often? I've never seen you around before."

"Actually, we're new to this place," Samuel answered. "We would've had someone bring us here, but..."

"Our driver is sort of out of commission," Priff finished.

"Out of commission?" Claire asked. "What happened to him?"

Before anyone could answer, however, Samuel screamed. Looking in the direction he was pointing, Susumu could see... What looked like a giant hamburger?! From the looks of things, the hamburger wasn't alone either. There was some sort of red whispy thing with it now-

"Susumu, get back!" Claire suddenly called out. "That thing is going to-"

Before Susumu could respond, however, the hamburger ended up biting at her. Susumu tried to step back, but... It ended up biting her right on her arm, the one that was still injured. Susumu yelped, falling back slightly and holding onto her arm, but... The hamburger had different ideas. While Susumu was distracted, the hamburger tossed her into the air and caught her in its mouth.

Samuel was horrified. "O-oh no! Not... Not again!" He rushed over to help Susumu, but... As he did, he let out a scream. He saw the red whispy thing slash at him, but he couldn't feel anything. At least, not physically. Everything was starting to get dark, and he suddenly felt very cold...

Susumu, meanwhile, was trying to escape from the hamburger's mouth, before it decided to actually eat her. "S-Samuel?!" she called out. "Samuel, what's going on?!"

Claire then leaped forward, ready to save them both. "Susumu, just hold on!" she declared. "Samuel just got attacked by a Reaper, but don't worry! I'll resuce both of you!"

No sooner had she said that, however, than the Reaper slashed at her as well.

Priff shrugged, stepping up towards the hamburger. "Kukuku... Looks like it's up to me~" She then turned toward the Reaper, hoping to talk things out like always. "Hey. Uh, sorry to interrupt, but... We don't want any trouble. We just want to keep our friend from getting eaten. So... Could you give my friends their souls back and let her go? We're really not asking for a fight here."

The Reaper, however, didn't seem to take too kindly to Priff's words, and slashed at her, too.

This was it. Susumu was going to be eaten, and her friends had all had their souls taken. Was this how it was going to end?

...No.
No, it wasn't.
Susumu may not have been the quickest thinker, but she had to do something to help. She had to get herself out of here somehow, didn't she? All she could do was grab onto the hamburger's "tongue" and pull as hard as she could from this position.

The hamburger twisted its "face" around, trying to shake Susumu off, but she still held on. It started to get difficult, but eventually the hamburger spat her out. "Urk!" She landed on the dirt next to her friends. "O-oh no... I can't fight these things by myself... But I can't just leave everyone behind... What do I do?"

For some reason, Susumu felt like singing. She couldn't place why, and she wasn't sure if it would even help but... She felt like she HAD to sing. And so she did. After a minute, Samuel started to open his eyes. Her song had reached his soul! "Ahh... Su... Sumu...?"

The first thing Susumu did was swing her microphone at the monsters, hitting them both before the Reaper could take either of their souls. "Samuel, revive the others!" she instructed. "I'll hold them off!"

As Susumu fought the Reaper first, Samuel turned to the other girls and raised his staff. "I hope this works..." he mumbled.

Sure enough, Claire and Priff started to sit up again as well. "Urgh... W-what's..." Claire was stunned when she first woke up, but Priff on the other hand...

Priff charged directly at the Reaper, he eyes glowing oddly the whole time. "Kukukuku~" It wasn't long before she and Susumu tok down the Reaper themselves. "These things are so fragile~"

"We took care of one of them," Susumu said. "Now let's hurry and- AUGH!"

Once again, the hamburger scooped Susumu up into its mouth. It was clear that it wasn't going to let her go so easily. "Oh no, not again!" Samuel squeaked, raising his staff into the air. A bright light started to fill the area, surrounding Samuel and the hamburger. A flash came from Samuel's staff, and a beam of light struck the hamburger. The hamburger was stunned, allowing Susumu to escape!

Claire then jumped up into the air. "Oh! May I?" she asked, twirling around. She pointed her bow to the air and fired it, taking down the hamburger with a rain of magic arrows.

Susumu landed face-down on the dirt, as Samuel rushed to help her up. "A-Are you okay?"

Susumu was perfectly unharmed, but Claire... Claire's eyes were sparkling like never before. "T-that... That was amazing, Samuel!" she proclaimed. "I had no idea you could do that!"

Samuel shook his head. "I've... Never really had to use it much before," he said. "Garaden gives me the power to punish monsters, but... I'd rather not kill them if I had to."

Claire was over the top with happiness. "Oh, travelers, I can't thank you enough!" she exclaimed. "And, if you don't mind... I have a request. Seeing the way you battled... Fighting alongside you... It filled me with an energy I've never felt before! You go on adventures around Miitopia, don't you? May I join you?"

Susumu was a bit surprised by this. Someone she just met... Wanted to join her team? She did like Claire a lot, and wanted to get to know her more... Her confused expression changed to a wide smile. "Claire, we'd be happy to have you along!"

Priff, meanwhile, was scooping up what was left of the hamburger with her fork. "Hey, let's not waste food here," she said. "We're gonna have enough for lunch and dinner today, kukuku~"

The rest of the group looked at each other in silence, before helping Priff pick up the hamburger's leftovers. Well, at least Susumu had a new friend- And quite a story to tell the others when they got back. "Hey, I wonder if Junpei's body's reformed yet?"