Brynn was the first of the two previously warring women to emerge from her room. She staggered out into the now quiet main area of the bus' interior. Hanso was sprawled on the couch, sleeping. A small line of drool trailed from his mouth. Pick and Animal seemed to have gone to their rooms.

Phew, thought Brynn. That Hurk! Blargh! -ing had caused her to vomit uncontrollably, then left her shaking on her bed, reeling from the horrible things she had seen beyond Animal's tentacles. She presumed that Xandra had suffered the same reaction. Xandra WAS being rather stubborn and unwilling to listen to anyone. Brynn hoped that she would eventually soften or at least cooperate with them a bit more.

Brynn picked up the latest newspaper off its rack and flipped through it. Eventually she got to the music section, where there was a big article about another band making an overnight sensation.

More competition, she sighed inwardly.

In a corner of the centerspread article she noticed a small picture of the band. Reeling, she dropped the newspaper and her fotsteps thudded across the floor as she ran to wake up Hanso.


"Ah!" Hanso jerked at Brynn's touch. "Can't an Ixi have a nap in PEACE?"

"You have to look at this." Brynn shoved the newspaper article in front of Hanso's snout. He scanned the paper and flopped back onto the couch.

"The past IS COMING BACK to haunt me!" he screamed into a pillow. "First you, then Xandra, now THEM?"

"Hey," Brynn chided. "You got 5 star reviews when I performed at your concert. You can hardly say that I came back to HAUNT you, let alone help."

"You only notched it up by .25 of a star," Hanso grumbled. "But we can talk about this later. What matters now is that they're back.


Five minutes later the band was gathered in the main area of the tour bus for an emergency meeting called by Hanso.

"Whassit nao?" Pick didn't seem too happy about being roused from his nap. He was, after all, an aging Zafara, and he needed his rest.

Xandra, who was still shivering occasionally, flinched when Animal came to join them. She looked poorly, and had a blanket wrapped around her. Evidently she was still suffering from the Hurk! Blargh! -ing unlike Brynn. All the band members stared at the centerspread. Animal was the only one who didn't go completely hysterical after seeing it.

Meet the Shadow Wraiths! They are what they say they are, a band of Shadow Wraiths, the

last ones left after the Battle of Brightvale. Turning away from desctruction, they have

decided to put their talents into music instead! With songs that bring out the best of the

Roar genre, their first single, 'Graagh! (Rargh)' has debuted at the number 2 spot on the

Neopian billboard, just below the treasured top spot, currently held by rock veterans Flip

Side. Does this spell competition for them and other bands such as The Evil Fuzzles?

"WE'RE DOOMED!" Xandra shrieked. Her nerves had already been frayed to stumps. Seeing one of their worst enemies back just destroyed them altogether. The sight of the purple demons was too much for Pick too.

"Aye, these Shadow Wraiths dinnae give up easily, eh?"

Animal blinked. "We're still on the top of the charts. Even if they planned to destroy us musically, I don't think they're succeeding just yet."

"Well, they will, they're at the spot right below us! And it's their debut track at that!" Brynn failed to see how Animal could remain so positive.

"Well, at least we're nae tae only ones who have compatishun," Pickpocket pointed out. "Tae Evil Fuzzles are gonnae be challenged too, nae?"

"What do the Evil Fuzzles have to do with us?" Hanso asked. He wondered what Pick was getting at this time.

"We could make a deal with 'em, and together we could destrae thayse Shadow Wraiths once and fer all."

"Good idea, Pick, but how are we going to get to them?"

"I know," said Brynn. "Let's go."


Hanso stood in fromt of two huge steel-reinforced doors, kitted out in a VSS-standard issue spacesuit. Brynn was beside him, giving a thumbs up to Xandra, Animal and Pickpocket before pressing the rather evil looking red button on the side of the door before stepping out onto the platform.

Being a former employee of Grundos Cafe, Brynn was a familiar face to many of the workers, including Zygorax, who was a familiar face at the restaurant. The third-level waste cleaner had allowed them to enter the platform without a proper cleaning bot seeing that Brynn was a capable young Kougra and could handle any kind of situation. Another pointer was that she had Rogue with her, and he had given Zygorax his autograph as a sort of bribe.

"Are you sure you know how to get through to the Fuzzles?" he had asked them. When she hadn't replied, he had given her a translator.

"Keep it safe, or else my boss is gonna get mad," he had warned.

Brynn gripped the translator and tramped down the walkway. Her boots made sounds that were muffled through her helmet, but she knew that she would be making enough noise to arouse the Fuzzles.

The walkway was dusty and windy, and Hanso had to grab Brynn more than once to prevent her from floating away. Eventually Fuzzles had begun to swoop around them, examining the newcomers. Brynn greeted the biggest one, a huge Grey Fuzzle.

"Er, hello. We come in... peace? We're here to talk to The Evil Fuzzles."

"Raaargh! Bgarrh raagrarh," the Fuzzle rasped. Brynn fumbled with her translator. It said "We're ALL evil Fuzzles here."

"I meant the Roar band the Evil Fuzzles. Can you bring us to them?"

"Graaarh." The Fuzzle looked around at its comrades for approval. After five seconds of eye contact and nothing else, the Fuzzle turned to them again.

"Braggh grabblargh hararalgh." Follow them.

The Fuzzles began to fly away. Brynn and Hanso fired up their jetpacks and soared after them into the deep recesses of space.