Disclaimer: I do not own any Klonoa characters… The others are mine, though.

Chapter 14: Muck Monster

How they had actually managed to convince the doctors at the nearest hospital to take care of Klonoa, Nikki couldn't remember. Perhaps it was from her screaming in their faces that he'd die if they didn't. Maybe their medical instincts were triggered, making them unable to turn down a patient, even if it was a strange creature such as Klonoa.

Nikki had always been uncomfortable around doctors, ridden with jealously of their success. But right now she really didn't care. At the moment she, Pango, and Guntz were sitting in the waiting room… waiting. She was honestly surprised no one had kicked them out or called the police on them.

Or perhaps they had, but the police couldn't get here due to the still occurring tremors. Either way, they were safe for now. No one dared come near them. Anyone who did received quite a nasty glare from Guntz and would back off immediately. The few children around were obviously the only ones not intimidated by the group.

Luckily, as was in all hospitals, this building ran on a generator. That way, during the short power-outages due to the earthquakes, the lights would soon come back on. Though there was a second or two of darkness, during which Nikki couldn't help but suspect someone would do something to them. Things had been happening so fast lately.

It was dawn now, and Nikki was finding it hard to keep her head up. Only a rather large tremor woke her up from semi-unconsciousness. The earthquakes had only been slowly getting bigger since they started. The lights went out, soon to be replaced by slightly dimmer lights. There was a commotion going on outside.

Natural instinct forced Guntz and Pango, along with a few other people, to get up and see what was going on. Nikki didn't react fast enough to tell them that it was probably better if they just stayed inside. Reluctantly, she followed them.

People outside were abandoning their cars and running in a certain direction down the road, panic on their faces. A few screamed, pointing behind them. Another tremor erupted just before the group could follow their frantic gazes. This one was strong enough to cause most of them to fall over.

A loud laugh echoed from somewhere high above. "I'm ba-ack!" a familiar voice chirped. "Joka!" Guntz growled, looking in the direction of the voice. It goes without saying that no one expected to see the round clown standing on top of a giant monster. It was incredibly tall, standing above even the highest skyscraper.

Joka laughed, apparently somehow seeing their incredulous faces from so high up. "I told you you weren't through with me! I'm just getting started!" he exclaimed. The beast took a step with one of its thick, short legs, causing the whole city to tremble violently. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Joka then spread out his armless hands above his head.

"I bring you my new muck monster! Here to destroy you all and your pathetic, litter-ful lives! I couldn't have done it without your help." He bowed in mock-modesty. At first glance the beast Joka stood upon looked like a poorly shaped, tall blob with multi-colored ridges. But, upon further inspection, they could see that the beast was actually covered in a coating of garbage. From paper, to soda cans, to old cars; it had every kind of junk on it that one could name. Perhaps the whole beast itself was made of trash.

A green slime oozed out of its body here and there. A strange, visible stench was arising from it. Before long it had the whole area around them misted with the smelly substance. People coughed, holding their noses, as others panicked and ran. "What the hell is his stuff?" Guntz asked. "It smells like garbage," Pango murmured through a covered nose. "It's making me dizzy," Nikki mumbled. Joka laughed again. "You like? My little pet here took a bath in the sewages just before coming here," he joked, patting the top of the beast's head.

"This is the result of all the trash in this dirty city coming together as one big heap of rubbish! Took me all day, but it was worth it to see you guys squirm. These people have caused their own demise by carelessly tossing trash anywhere they want. Now they'll finally get what they deserve!" Joka exclaimed enthusiastically.

The people amongst the ground were collapsing one by one. The toxic aroma was too much for them. "Dammit. Joka wasn't joking when he said he was going to destroy this whole city," Guntz growled, struggling to resist the stench that was much stronger in his nose. "At this rate, this whole city with suffocate," Pango said.

Nikki's knees were buckling underneath her and soon gave out completely. "Nikki!" Pango exclaimed, but she was out like a light, along with pretty much everyone else around them. "So that's your plan, Joka? You just want to suffocate everyone?!" Guntz called. "Oh, no. Why would I stop there? I said I was going to destroy this city, didn't I? And naturally I expect some challenge from you guys," Joka smirked.

"By the way, where is the short, floppy-eared one? He's going to miss my darling junk monster's performance. This is the real grand finale!" he cheered, raising his hands. The beast took an unsteady step forward, causing the road to shake underneath it. Guntz lost his balance, leaning on a knee. He suddenly found that he didn't have the energy to get back up.

"Are you okay?" Pango asked, stepping beside him. "It's getting a little hard to breathe," Guntz replied, trying his best to make it sound like it was no big deal. "Then let's finish this quickly." Pango took out one of his bombs, preparing to swiftly light it. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Joka chuckled. Pango paused.

"I can just imagine what would happen if you lit that with that these flammable toxic fumes," Joka explained. "He's right," Guntz agreed reluctantly. "It could cause a huge explosion… My guns probably would, too." Joka laughed. "Well, I guess you are your weapon. And when your weapon is useless, so are you." Guntz growled bitterly.

---

Klonoa couldn't tell what was going on. He felt like he was back in that laboratory, with something blowing air in his mouth and the stench of chemicals in the air. But he wasn't lying on a cold table, nor were sharp things poking into his skin. And there were no voices.

Expect for one, but this was a good voice. A dim emerald glow shone in Klonoa's mind, a familiar, incomprehensible, soft voice coming from it. It spoke of what was going on and that he had to wake up immediately. Klonoa tried, but a terrible pain in his abdomen shot through his body the moment he moved. He gritted his teeth tightly. I can't... move.

The same emerald glow then encased over his entire body. Like a gust of cold wind, Klonoa felt his energy coming back to him. The pain slowly dissipated. He snapped his eyes open.

---

"Well, I might as well start the show, since you guys are ready to drop," Joka announced. Guntz and Pango watched helplessly as the round clown lifted his left hand. As if knowing without actually looking at him, the monster lifted its own hand. It prepared to slam it into the nearest building, the impact probably enough to destroy the whole thing, along with the people inside.

But a green beam a light shot from seemingly nowhere a second before the monster could strike, blasting its whole arm apart. The beast shrieked in surprised and possibly pain. "What the hell was that?!" Joka spat. A glow of the same color then shone over Pango and Guntz' bodies. Guntz twitched his ears, suddenly standing up with newfound energy.

"I can breathe just fine now," he muttered incredulously. "Me, too," Pango agreed slowly. The glow soon dimmed out, but the air to them was still as clear as ever. "What's the meaning of this?!" Joka snapped. "You shouldn't cheat, Joka, or you'll get caught." Guntz and Pango looked over their shoulders, baffled to see Klonoa standing just behind them.

Joka smirked. "Ah, but cheating is what I do, shorty. I'm sure glad you showed up. I was starting to get bored." Klonoa frowned seriously. "Good, 'cause I'm just getting started." Joka pretended to shiver. "Ooh, how scary!" he laughed. Klonoa took a step in front of the others, who were still too dumbfounded to speak. He looked back at them.

"The ring purified your weapons. You can use them now," he said in a plain tone. Guntz twitched. "What?" Klonoa waved his ring slightly, as if that would help comprehend it. "Just trust me," he said simply, facing forward again. "These people won't last too long like this. We can't waste time." He suddenly sounded unusually mature and serious, and Pango and Guntz had to exchange glances quickly.

"Wonderful! Let's do this!" Joka cheered. The junk monster suddenly went down on all fours and ran toward them with surprising speed. The ground quickly separated to dodge before it could crush them. Every step it took made a short tremor, along with a pile of garbage behind it.

Pango then lit the bomb he had before and tossed it at the beast. It exploded at its shoulder, making it screech and fall to the side. Joka made a mighty leap off its head, landing atop a tall building. "Quite fooling around!" he scolded, as the beast struggled to stand up.

Its dislocated shoulder began to regenerate itself, the junk moving on its own to attach itself correctly back onto the monster. It stood up again, as if it had never been struck at all. It reared up and let out a roar as Guntz fired at its back. It twisted around to look at him, suddenly throwing its arm in his direction. Guntz barely dodged as a glob of garbage was thrown at him.

"This thing is invisible," he growled lowly. Klonoa had inflated a piece of garbage with his ring and was just shooting it at the monster. It automatically stuck, the enlarged trash soon to be absorbed inside its body. "What the hell good is that gonna do?!" Guntz snapped. But Klonoa ignored him.

The beast prepared to strike at them, when it suddenly jerked in surprise. The area the inflated garbage had been absorbed into exploded, causing trash to go flying through the air. The beast fell again. "What was that?!" Joka exclaimed. Klonoa wasted no time repeating his act. He inflated pieces of garbage and tossed them at the monster one by one. The beast was unable to reject what was itself, and automatically absorbed them.

All at once the pieces of trash exploded, soon making the monster nothing but scattered piles of garbage. There was a moment's paused before Klonoa looked up at Joka. "That's it, Joka. You're finished," he said. Joka seemed shocked at first, but then suddenly smirked. "You think I'm that easy to beat?"

The heaps of rubbish then started to move, slowly crawling together, creating larger piles of moving garbage. They began creating arms and legs with their bodies. Before long there were several miniature versions of the huge junk monster. "Dammit. There's no way to beat this thing," Guntz muttered. "Now what?" Pango asked, suddenly beside them.

The smaller junk monsters surrounded the ground, slowly narrowing in on them. Guntz quickly shot at them as Pango threw his bombs. The monsters were easily defeated, but when one was destroyed, two more took its place. "This is impossible!" Pango exclaimed.

Klonoa looked up at where Joka was. The round clown was waving his hands around gleefully. Klonoa paused thoughtfully, before motioning toward Guntz. "Guntz, shoot at Joka," he said. Guntz looked up at the blissful clown. "My pleasure," he grimaced, shooting upward. Joka twitched, managing to dodge just in time. "What the—?!"

The junk monster's suddenly stopped in their advancement, looking a bit confused. "Oh! I see. These things are being controlled by Joka," Pango realized, looking up. "Then we just have to beat Joka," Guntz replied, smirking. All at once the group prepared their attacks. Klonoa shot a heap of garbage, as Guntz shot his guns, and Pango threw a bomb with his strong arm.

Joka gave a scream of surprise, running off as the attacks sped toward him with amazing speed. The combined explosions sent him flying, but he managed to regain his balance and land on his feet. "Th-That's cheating!" he stammered. "You can only beat a cheater by cheating," Guntz sneered.

"You'll pay for that! Get them, my rubbish minions!" Joka commanded, lifting his hands. The garbage monsters then straightened, looking back toward the group and closing in on them again. "We can't beat Joka from way down here," Pango admitted. "Then let's bring him to us," Guntz said. He fired his guns at Joka again. This time, the clown dodged without putting his hands down. "Not this time!"

The junk monsters then leapt at the group, latching themselves onto their bodies. The three struggled to detach the moving heaps of trash off of them. "Quit struggling! You're outnumbered, you don't stand a chance!" Joka laughed loudly. Klonoa's ring then started glowing, with it the group's bodies. The garbage monsters were suddenly thrown off of them.

Joka clenched a fist. "It's not that easy." As expected, the trash beasts soon gathered themselves together and stood up again. "How can we beat him?" Pango asked quietly. Klonoa looked down at his glowing ring, as if it were speaking to him. "That's it!" he suddenly yelled. Pango and Guntz looked at him quickly.

"One of these monsters has a core that's keeping the others alive. If we can destroy it , then all the monsters will die," Klonoa explained. "What? How do you—" Klonoa cut Guntz off. "Just trust me!" he snapped, catching the two off guard. "Well… it's easy for you to say. But these things keep making more as soon as we beat them," Guntz said, looking away.

"Then we have to be quick," Klonoa replied simply.

Yay! Almost done. The next chapter should be the last. Then I can start on another! -gigglesnort-