In the glowing haze of dust and magic from the intense battle, Shroud looked around in disappointment. Everyone was down and had reached their limit with exhaustion quickly setting in. "Is this truly the best you mortals can do? Pathetic. And here I was hoping our battle would at least be amusing." He said before frowning as a few of the group started getting back up. "If you think I'm giving up… after what you put my village through… you have another thing coming." Ethan said with a glare. "Not only that. But you won't stop till the world falls to chaos. Won't you?" Yoshi said through grit teeth as he held his side where his vest and shirt was ripped with the skin baring a bad magic burn. He twitched a bit as his eye gave a flash of red. But it subsided as he took a deep breath. Shroud let out a huff before lazily firing magic at each of them, not even bothering to manifest it into spells. They just stood through the magic blasts and moved to approach Shroud. "Well, I think it's time to end this, once and for all." Shroud said as he manifested a powerful spell from the tome of chaos. Before he could fire the spell, a sudden booming sound caught his attention along with the others. Before anyone could move, something streaked by right toward Shroud.

~ Ch.10: The Battles End

Shroud barely had time to summon a shield against the object. The shielding magic held for not even a second before the object broke through, hitting Shroud through the air. With a loud clanging crash, the two collided into the town center's bell and tumbled into a nearby hut. "What just-?" Ethan questioned as he looked to where the thing and Shroud went. Yoshi smiled as he had a good idea of what the projectile was. He turned to where Shroud once stood and his jaw dropped. "The book!" He shouted as he quickly made his approach. Shroud must've dropped it when he was hit! Ethan turned to see Yoshi about to pick up the tome of chaos and went wide eyed. "Don't touch it!" He warned, but it was too late. Yoshi had picked up the tome and a dark aura surrounded him making him shout out in pain.

Yoshi opened his eyes and all around him was darkness, along with faint ghostly images faded in and out of focus around him. Images he knew but didn't want to remember. Screams were heard as he tried to cover his ears. He couldn't relive this. He couldn't take it. He ran in the darkness but the images followed. There was no escaping it. "You cannot run from yourself forever." A voice said that stopped Yoshi in his tracks. His blood going cold as ice. He slowly turned around and saw a sight he wished could be wiped from existence. Before he could react, a sudden flash of light swept through the darkness.

Opening his eyes with a gasp of shock, Yoshi saw he was still holding the tome of chaos, and so were Ethan, Neko and Wendy. Magic energy was sparking where they held it. "Not the smartest move there Yoshi." Ethan said with a pained smirk. Yoshi let out a sheepish laugh. "Just the relief of getting the thing away from Shroud got the best of me I guess." He said to which Ethan nodded. "Alright now, this thing is too strong for any of us to take care of on our own. So we work together. Neko and I'll stabilize the energy within it and you two pull the opposing forces apart. Am I clear?" Ethan said with authority. Yoshi and Wendy nodded. "How exactly do I stabilize it?" Neko questioned. "Just focus on separating the light and dark forces." Ethan stated to which Neko hesitantly nodded. "All right, let's get this over with!" Ethan shouted as he sent a powerful pulse of magic through the tome. The tome let out sparking streams of chaotic purple magic energy in retaliation. With a few more pulses of magic from Ethan, the purple streams of magic started to shift to streams of grey, then to black and white. "Now!" Ethan ordered. Yoshi and Wendy pulled with all their might at the tome. Cracks of glowing energy started forming along the middle of the tome as the color started to fade. The eye centered on the book looked around panicked before glowing a deep purple and sending out a chaotic pulse of energy. Yoshi and Wendy withstood the blast, but Ethan and Neko were caught off guard and thrown back. "Neko/Ethan!" Yoshi and Wendy shouted in worry. In their distraction the tome of chaos tried putting itself back together. Seeing this, Neko jumped back to his feet. "No you don't you stupid book!" He said as he grabbed the book once more, Ethan not far behind.

All four holding the tome focused all their might on pulling the opposing forces apart. The magic energy being released in the process thickened the air, making it hard to breath but they couldn't give up. The tome of chaos had several glowing cracks forming and the eye in the center glowed deep purple once more. Neko then jabbed it with one of his claws causing the tome to screech. "Not this time you scholastic nightmare. More cracks formed rapidly as the tome screeched and a sudden flash blinded everyone as they were thrown back.

Once more, Yoshi opened his eyes to look around. The air seemed drastically clearer than before, and brighter. Getting up, he saw that all the dust and magic in the air had cleared, and it was morning. Looking around more he saw Ethan, Wendy, Neko, and himself were all on beds set up outside a collapsed hut. "Oh, so you're finally awake I see." Someone said. Yoshi turned and saw the village elder along with a few other mages. "Elder, you're ok. What happened?" Yoshi questioned. The elder looked to the others who were still out. "You did it, that's what happened. You four defeated the tome of chaos. But the energy released knocked you all out pretty good." He informed. "Oh, and Grimshade became himself again, minus his magic. The events of that battle seemed to have sapped him of it all. Your mech, zurg and nightfright friends are guarding him." Yoshi nodded at that. But something bugged him a bit. "What about the books. Are they safe?" He asked. The elder looked aside before turning his gaze next to the pirate. Yoshi followed his gaze and saw the books of light and dark on a table… along with two others that seemed almost ethereal and semi transparent. Before he could ask about them, the elder cleared his throat. "It was a bit of a difficult task getting them there… they seem to each have become soulbound to you all."

The elder walked to the table. "The book of light. It connected onto the one with the purest soul, Wendy. The one we have decided to call book of radiance, it has connected to the one with the strongest light energy, Ethan. The one we called the book of shadows, Neko." The elder listed them off as he gestured to each book. Knowing what the only one remaining was, Yoshi groaned. "And the book of darkness has chosen me, right?" The elder simply nodded at Yoshi's question. Yoshi gave a defeated chuckle and smirk. "Why must I be burdened with darkness each time I come here old man?" He asked. The elder gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "You've done well in taming your inner darkness old friend." He stated. Yoshi thought back to when he grabbed the tome of chaos. Those ghostly images. Who he saw. The pirate shuddered as he recalled the mirror image of himself who had flaming red eyes. "More like locking him up in the depths of my soul. Crimson can't be tamed. He's nothing but a bloodthirsty killing force." Yoshi said as a tear came to his eye. "After what he did, I can't risk letting him surface." Said the pirate as he recalled the ghostly images. It was at this point when the others began to stir and wake up. They were then filled in on the events that took place.

Within one of the last standing huts, Diesel (back in his default form) and Nina stood outside a makeshift cage of pipes and wood holding Grimshade behind it. Grimshade was complaining and making empty threats. "Just shut up already. If you have any complaints, how about taking it up with the complaint department." Remmy says as he had Diesel hold up his shotgun arm. This shut the now magicless dark mage up quick. Nina meanwhile sighed as she looked out a broken window at the village. It was almost completely destroyed, and the surrounding forest was burnt to ashes and charred wood. The elder did inform that they could revitalize the forest to help it regrow, and that they could always rebuild the village. But she still couldn't help feeling bad for it all. A few figures that turned past a corner caught her eye. It was the elder with the others. The nightfright quickly went out the door of the hut and ran up to the group. Before anyone could say anything, Nina tackle-hugged Yoshi and Neko nearly knocking them over as they yelped in surprise. "You're all awake. I was so worried about you." She said hugging them tighter. "Ah, hey, there's no need to worry bout us. Yoshi and I are tough as nails." Neko said with a chuckle as he and Yoshi hugged her back. Nina was about to release the two from her hug but felt someone else hugging her. Looking beside her, she saw that it was Wendy. With a smile, the nightfright knelt down and ruffled the little mages hair making her giggle a bit. "Glad to see you're alright as well Wendy."

The group soon talked with the elder about the future of the village and how they planned on rebuilding and regrowing the forest. They seemed to have it all under control. They also had sealed Grimshade in a sort of pocket dimension prison. It was also decided that since the books had become soulbound, they could be kept, although Yoshi didn't really want the book in the first place. Soon the crew decided it was their time to leave. "Gonna miss this place." Yoshi said adjusting his hat before turning to the village elder. "Don't die on me anytime soon old man, the world needs your wisdom and support." He said earning a laugh from the elder. "Don't you die either youngster, the world needs your hope and spirit." The elder said as he pointed his staff at the pirate. Yoshi grinned and waved as he and the others walked off out the village entrance. They stopped a ways away from the village when they heard the sound of someone running after them. Turning around, the group saw it was Wendy, and that she had a backpack on with her staff held to it. "Wendy? What are you doing here?" Nina questioned. Wendy nervously pulled at the straps of her backpack. "Well, umm, I was thinking…" she started, a call in the distance interrupted her and she stiffened. "Wendy!" Ethan shouted running up to the group. "What are you doing out here?! You had me worried sick" Ethan said trying to catch his breath. "If I understand correctly, I assume she wants to join us." Diesel spoke. "What! Wendy, that's crazy. I could never allow you to leave on your own to travel with a crew of pirates, even if they are good." Ethan stated. "But Uncle Ethan, look at them. They don't have anyone that can heal them if they get hurt. They need me." Wendy reasoned. Before Ethan could respond, Yoshi spoke up. "Why don't you come with as well?" He asked, the question catching Ethan off guard. "What? I- I can't do that, the village needs me to protect it!" Ethan said. "Well, not really, we pretty much took out the only group that was a threat to them, right?" Yoshi said smiling. Ethan tried thinking of another reason, but with a look at Wendy's pleading blue eyes he sighed in defeat.

Back at the wrecked cloning mechanism, two figures looked at the wreckage. "Man, now I'm glad Alex had us leave to check on what that thing was." One said as he kicked a piece of scrap. "Ya think it was that Bloodmoon Bunny who did this?" He continued. "I don't know Bobby. But what do we do now?" The other said with a slight whimper. Bobby put his arm around the other dark mage. "Benny bro, we got a world of opportunities now. No Grimshade, no bogus prophecies. We're our own leaders now." Bobby said with a bit of a cheer. "I wouldn't say that." A figure said behind them. The two dark mages jumped and turned around. "Wha- you?! You're that scientist who built the cloning mechanism!" Bobby said with a point at the figure. "Hmm, indeed, or should I say I was the scientist." He said. Bobby faltered at that. "Wha-what's that supposed to mean?" He questioned. Benny meanwhile got a bad feeling. "Let's just say…" The figure started as a green mist emanated from him that made the two dark mages start choking. The figure brought out what looked like a piece of an amulet. "Thanks to some research and experiments…" the figure said as his form vaporized into gas before reforming itself. "I have been reborn into my old self that I thought was long lost. And I wish to bring others I once knew back as well, but I need a bit of help…" the green mist thickened around Benny and Bobby. "And I'm not taking no for an answer." The figure said.

~ Epilogue: Sail, Durem Pirates!

With Ethan agreeing to join, the group made their way out of the charred forest into the south Barton Fields and made their way passed the gnome village once more. Nina once again caught a glimpse of the big muscular gnome and swore he looked like the gnome kingdoms leader from her world. Perhaps they were parallels? A convo from the group caught her attention. "So you're from Durem Yoshi? Great place I gotta admit. I spent a few years there after some events of my past happened." Ethan said walking with his hands locked behind his head. Remmy let out a laugh. "Gotta say, I love the Durem lifestyle. If it weren't for Aekea's tech and surplus of scrap and spare parts that would be where I would live." The zurg said. Neko got an idea and twirled his lucky black cane. "Well, since we all like Durem so much, how about we call ourselves the Durem Pirates! We could make Yoshi's house there our home base with a little remodeling." He said making Yoshi turn to him. "But that'll be alot of work and heavy lifting." The pirate whined. The feline then wrapped his arm around Yoshi's neck and noogied him. "And you call me the lazy one!" He said making the rest of the group laugh.

After a few stops to grab supplies and various items, the group made their way to the Gambino Harbor. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Grand Crimson." Yoshi said gesturing to the giant red ship. Wendy stared at it in awe and Ethan had to admit it was an impressive looking vessal. He loved the design, but he was confused at part of it. "What's with the gold platings?" He asked. Yoshi chuckled and led the way aboard the ship. "Let's set sail and you'll see." With that, the crew made their way on board and together they got the ship setting sail. After the harbor was out of sight Ethan and the others approached Yoshi at the helm. "Alright, we're sailing, now what's the deal with the gold plates along the ship. They seem pretty out of place." Ethan asked, the others seemed pretty curious as well. Yoshi and Neko smirked at each other. "Ready to show em?" Neko asked. In response, Yoshi gave a twist to one of the handles on the helm and a button was revealed. With a press of the button, mechanical whirring was heard in the ship and the plates on the sides clanged open as giant metal tube structures extended out of them. Several jaws dropped. "No… way…" With a slight jolt and the sound of thrusters along the bottom of the vessel igniting, the Grand Crimson began lifting out of the water. A console of different controls, gauges and screens rose up around the helm. "Now then, the seven seas, and the open skies, the world is filled with adventure and mystery. Let us meet the unknown at full force and fly into tomorrow." Yoshi said with pride and enthusiasm. With a cheer from his friends and crew, the pirate captain pulled a lever that ignited the large thrusters, setting course for the great blue skies.