Shara rolled over, shuddering as she felt a cold breeze blowing over her. What? There aren't breezes underground. And anyway, there's still the fact that I'm inside a teknopod now… aren't I? Shara opened her eyes.

The first thing Shara noticed was that her vision was no longer filled with the blurry, liquid distorted shadows that she had become so familiar with inside the teknopod. Instead, Shara saw a dirty, hay-strewn floor, and the lower edges of what seemed to be a row of tables. Sitting up, Shara noticed two more things: one, she didn't have a single thing on, and two, that there was a pile of clothes lying next to her legs.

Picking up the clothes, Shara saw that they were about a size too big for her. But then, it's not like I'm being given a whole lot of other options here, Shara thought with a soft chuckle. Once she'd gotten the clothes on, Shara could really appreciate how ill-fitting they were.

The jeans bunched up badly around her ankles, since they were made for someone about ten or eleven inches taller than her, maybe even an entire foot. Shara tugged at the shirt, which fit reasonably well except for the fact that it hung halfway down her thighs. Shara stood up and took another look around at the place where she had somehow ended up.

Shara saw that the tables she had spotted earlier held an assortment of cages. Some of them were empty, but most of them held animals. Shara walked up to one of the tables, and noticed that the only animals that were held in the cages were those of the injured variety.

Shara was currently staring down at a raccoon with a bright white bandage covering its left forepaw.

"Hey," Shara said, looking at the raccoon but talking mostly to herself, "I think I'm a little lost. D'you think you could help me?"

Laughing softly at herself, Shara wondered just how a raccoon with an injured paw was supposed to help her do anything. Maybe I've just been watching too many Disney movies. Shara laughed again, this time a little louder.

"I don't know about the raccoon, but I think I might be able to help you." That voice! That painfully familiar voice. Shara turned slowly, trying to squash the stubborn bit of hope that was rising within her. Her brother Ness was dead, or else he might as well be.

Once Shara saw him, though, it was as if she forgot everything she had been reminding herself to think. Looking closer, Shara noticed something that completely blew away all of the concerns she had been having. His eyes, Shara realized. His eyes are still green!

Shara knew that if Ness had been completely transformed by the Radam; his eyes would have changed to a bright crimson color, betraying the presence of the mind-parasite. Since his eyes were still their natural color, Shara knew that there was still a chance that Ness was still the older brother that she had known and loved.

Without a second thought, Shara half-ran over to Ness and hugged him, not seeing the look of confusion that passed over her brother's face.

"Oh Ness, I thought I'd never see you again!" Shara sobbed, not caring how melodramatic that line sounded. Squeezing her brother tighter, Shara was surprised to feel his hands against her shoulders. Almost as if he were trying to push her away.

Why would he do that? Shara wondered.