Smile of the Strawcrow

by Grimack

While the four nations of the World of Twelve try to assert themselves, a mysterious figure only known as the Strawcrow hatches his own little plans with possible disasterous outcome.

3. Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Sulpa pulled his beggar's outfit a little more over his face as he approached the tavern known as 'The Last Resort' in search of his next lead. The streets of Bonta held little secrets to a top spy as Sulpa Venneir, so it had taken him only a day or so to find out that a mystery man was recruiting miners in this tavern under very lucrative conditions. But with the nearest mines nearly a day's ride away and more importantly, the request not posted in the bigger taverns, Sulpa had a hunch this was the best place to start. He draped his ragged cloak over his shoulders and opened the door. Next to the usual lowlifes the bar was filled with several uneasy-looking strangers. Sulpa guessed they were the applicants and approached them: "Hey, you here for the mining job?" Most of them turned their backs on him, but one scruffy-looking Enutrof grunted affirmatively: "Yeah, but we've been waiting here for hours with nothing to show for it. I think we've been had." "Oh, I guarantee you, good sir, that you have been anything but had," a melodious voice sounded from behind them. The men turned around and found a woman almost entirely wrapped in robes. But even with barely any part of her body visible, the clothing could not hide the woman's obvious beauty. Her eyes alone were the deepest blue Sulpa had ever seen and it took him some effort to take his gaze off them. "So, you're here to take us to the mines?" he asked casually, "I hope you brought a big enough cart." "Oh, don't worry, mister…" "Virennes, Paul Virennes." Sulpa was a sucker for anagrams and couldn't resist thinking out clever names for his pseudonyms. "Mister Virennes," the lady continued, "I assure you we've thought of everything. But before we discuss the practicalities, please follow me." The mysterious woman slowly stepped into the backroom of the tavern, closely followed by the enthralled men. Sulpa was about to follow them when he heard a painful sigh. Apparently not all interested parties were of the male gender. In the corner, a few female Enutrofs, Iops and Fecas slowly got out of their seat and followed the rest of the group. "Hello, ladies," Sulpa tried, "You all here for the mining job as well?" "What are you suggesting, young man?" one of the Enutrof women spat out, "That we're not fit for such physical labor?" The Ecaflip recognized a losing battle when he saw one and withdrew quickly: "Of course not, ladies. Let's find out what our mystery woman has to say, now shall we?"

Sulpa and the rest of the gang entered the backroom where the men were already crowding around the veiled woman. "Ladies and gentlemen," their hostess began, "I am very pleased to see so many of you here today. Now before I explain the nature of your job you must all sign this contract swearing absolute secrecy." The dazed men stirred but didn't react, but the women were obviously not so complacent: "What is all this about a contract? We came here to mine and excavate, not to sign paperwork!" The cloaked woman seemed unfazed by the sudden uproar in the female part of the population and produced a stack of papers from underneath her robes. "We are in a very delicate business, my dears. We cannot risk that our competitors learn our trade secrets. That's why we have these standard SLA-contracts to assure us you won't run and tell." One of the female Fecas took the top piece of paper and investigated it: "What in Feca's name is a SLA-contract?" "Sram's League of Assassins' contract" As if to reinforce her words, four Srams appeared out of the shadows of the room, surrounding the miners. "Understand this: we do not force you to sign or participate, but if you want in, you will be sworn to secrecy. Anyone who breaks this contract will have to deal with the League… and trust me, you do not want that." All the miners, even the men, looked uneasily at each other and at the assassins staring at them silently. Sulpa was impressed: the SLA was one of the most prestigious clans of Srams in the World of Twelve and they didn't come cheap. Whoever was funding this operation spared no expense to remain invisible to the Bontarian authorities. It took a few moments to sink in but after a while the miners started to sign the contracts one by one. Sulpa didn't want to raise any suspicion and signed the paper just like everybody else. The lady collected all signed contracts and handed them over to one of the Srams.

"Now that formality is out of the way, let me commence by giving a small sample of our gratitude." She signaled one of the other Srams and he started to hand out small pouches to every miner. Sulpa opened his and found it filled with Kamas. Judging from the gasps and contained squeaks of joy coming from the men and women around him, the others were just as surprised as he was about this little gift. "Secrecy is highly valued in our business and this is just to show you that we do appreciate your commitment. Now, on to the business at hand." The two remaining Srams rolled out a large map and held it up behind the mystery woman. It portrayed the layout of a mining complex with several smaller tunnels all coming together in the center in a large gallery, indicated with a gemstone on the map. "We are now here," she pointed at the drawing of a beer mug at the end of one of the tunnels. "In a moment, you will depart towards the main excavation site where you will be digging up these." She pulled out a small purple shard and held it out for all to see. "This is Stasili, a very valuable but very volatile ore abundantly present beneath the city. Our clients are most interested in these gems so we must make sure they reach them intact. That's why all excavated stones are to be loaded into carts and transported here." She pointed to a small ship drawn at the end of another tunnel.

"We have another team already actively searching for new veins, so your job consists solely of excavation and transport. Are there any questions?" A scruffy-looking Ecaflip slowly raised his hand. "Should we be… worrying? You know, about being caught and all?" The entire room stared at him in silence. "Well," he continued hesitantly, "We all know we're doing something illegal, right? So should we be on the lookout for guards or something like that?" The silence lingered for a few more seconds before the hostess intervened: "I assure you that none of our activities are illegal, sir. If you were hoping to break the law, you are in the wrong place, I'm afraid. All this secrecy is required to keep our competitors guessing to where we're acquiring our goods." "Yeah right," Sulpa Venneir thought to himself, "if this is a legal mining operation, then I'm a Brakmarian Bow Meow. But I never knew that the Bontarian underground contained this much Stasili. No wonder those Foggernauts invaded our shores a while ago. I must make sure to take a little sample back to the lab." The masked woman scanned the room: "No more questions? Very good. Then let me introduce you to your foreman: Mister W." A skinny looking man wearing a complete Black Zordfish-outfit concealing his recognizable features entered the room through a back entrance and greeted his new employees: "Hello, guppies! You all ready for some digging? Then follow me, I'll hand you your equipment and point you towards the richest veins in the mine." Mister W was obviously a man of little words as he turned after his little speech and headed back out the backdoor. The miners followed him in a single file, not really knowing what they had gotten themselves into.

Egol Rho slowly awoke when he felt the click of 6 o'clock in the back of his mind. He yawned and stretched in his hammock before checking in on his crewmates. Thur and Sekito were still fast asleep, but that didn't surprise him. It had been a short night for all of them as it had taken quite some time to get Captain Cin back to the ship. It was not until Thur and Ega had joined them at the Sea Dragon that they had been able to lift the Osamodas off his seat and steer him towards his cabin. Egol was surprised at the strength Cin O'Card had displayed at the tavern: even Thur Becrofal had to give it his all to drag the Captain out of there. Above him, Platine clicked softly, apparently also awoken by the temporal wave of the morning hour. Egol quietly teleported himself outside their cabin onto the ship's deck, directly followed by his Sinistro. When his feet touched the wooden floor, he lost his balance for just a moment. "Wow," he said as he took hold of the railing, "what's that? That doesn't normally happen when I teleport." He looked at his companion and saw Platine struggling as much as he did. Once he regained his balance, he allowed her to perch on his wrist and petted her on the head. "You too, Platine? Our adventure from yesterday must have gotten to us more than I thought. We better take it slow today." Platine clicked faintly and they both stared at the Bontarian harbor slowly awakening. Many of the ships were already bustling with activity, preparing to leave for open sea. "I guess the early Albatrocious catches the fish," Egol thought to himself. "I think we better take care of the breakfast today, Platine," Egol said out loud, "Sekito didn't look as if he was going to wake any time soon."

It took another three hours before the first member of the Creaky Kraken's crew joined Egol in the galley. "Good morning, Ega," Egol said softly, "Do you care for some breakfast?" Ega muttered something under her breath and sat herself down at the table. Egol knew the Sacrier's morning mood, so he prepared her plate and placed it in front of her. Before he could retract his hand, she grabbed him by the wrist without looking at him: "Where did you two go yesterday?" Egol was startled at first, but relaxed a bit when he felt she didn't really squeeze his arm. Well, at least not very hard and that was being friendly in Ega's world. "Well, we went and visit the Hand of Xelor's congregation here in the city of Bonta. I wanted to learn if they had seen my friend Quanti after she had left the Creaky Kraken." "And?" she grumbled. "They hadn't heard or seen from her since her departure at the monastery on Kalf-Cil-Fel." As Ega didn't respond, Egol assumed their conversation was over. But when he tried to move his hand, she tightened her grip: "Why do you want to find her?" Egol was rather surprised by this question coming from Ega: "Well.. she is my friend. I worry about her. Why shouldn't I be looking for her?" "Do you know how many people have gone missing during Ogrest's Chaos? If you had to look for all of them, you would need a hundred lifetimes." "But I don't want to find them all, just Quanti," Egol replied honestly. "And have you ever thought about the possibility that her disappearance wasn't an accident? That maybe she doesn't want to be found." Egol considered this as Ega slowly loosened her grip: "No, she wouldn't do that. Quanti was eager to preach the Word of Xelor." But then he thought about his experiences in the World of Twelve and how he also almost forgot his calling and slowly doubt crept in his thoughts. "No… she wouldn't… would she?" "They're all the same, Egol," Ega grumbled, "just forget about her and move on. Life's too short and too dangerous to be constantly worrying about others." "That was an unexpected bit of wisdom coming from Ega," Egol thought to himself. But he couldn't stop worrying about his friend. He just couldn't imagine Quanti leaving the Order like that.

An hour or so later the entire crew was up and after a hearty breakfast, Captain Cin gave the sign to head out to open sea again. Thur, Ega and Sekito got everything ready for departure, but Egol just stood on deck, staring at the horizon. He still felt as miserable as he did this morning and Ega's comment hadn't improved his mental health either. He just felt like a train wreck, not capable of much more than just standing there and staring. And Platine felt no better as she sat on the railing next to him, lifelessly staring into the distance.

"What do you mean, he's gone?!" Admiral Belvu tried his best to remain calm as the ensign repeated his report. The Admiral rose from his desk with an air of controlled rage: "So you are telling me he took one of the mini-subs and left? After I specifically had instructed him not to leave the city?" The ensign replied with a quick 'yessir'. He knew that none of this was his fault but he also knew that the phrase 'shooting the messenger' had a slightly more literal approach in the military, certainly with men like Omar Belvu. The Admiral was a strategic genius and a great leader but with an ego the size of a Squidwhale. In his own mind Belvu's commands were absolute and to be obeyed by all, so when civilians as Doctor Knarf blatantly disregarded them, it struck quite a nerve. For a moment, his pale face turned a shade of indigo, but then faded again. He turned his back towards the ensign and waved his hand: "Dismissed." The soldier scurried out of the office, leaving Omar alone with his thoughts. "This is disgraceful," he said into the silence, "I should not be here, babysitting some half-baked scientist. I should be out there, at the spearhead of the military operation. Mofette is not cut out to lead our fleet, I am! I don't know what the King was thinking when he assigned me to 'Operation Breach'."

"Maybe he wanted to avoid another debacle like your invasion plan, Admiral." Admiral Belvu spun around and found himself staring straight at Prince Adale standing at the other end of his desk. "The ensign must have let him in when he left the office," Omar thought to himself. He quickly recomposed himself and straightened himself up to his full height: "May I remind His Highness that I had his full support in the realization of that plan? It was His Highness's idea in the first place to combine our Stasitech with the ancient Foggernaut technology." "It was an experiment worth undertaking, Admiral," the Prince said coldly, punctuating each word, "but there is a large difference between sending a scout troop of those new Foggernauts to the surface and launching a full-scale invasion! Hundreds of Foggernauts were lost to us because of your impetuousness." "We can build more," the Admiral countered, "We made the initial mistake to underestimate the perseverance of the people topside, but we won't make that mistake again." "Indeed we won't, Admiral," Adale said in a still monotone voice, "Father will not have it. He wants to keep walking the road of peaceful resurfacing and not of aggressive invasion." "You have seen the ferocity with which they attacked our Foggernaut army the moment they surfaced! You think those land-dwellers will hesitate one moment to show us the same 'kindness' when we finally breach the surface?" "Admiral," Adale sighed, "we invaded their lands. Their 'ferocity', as you call it, was purely out of self-defense. We would react the same should they one day decide to attack our city." "Even those treacherous New Sufokians joined in!" Omar Belvu was pressing his argument, but felt he was waging a losing battle. "How could they have possibly known that those machines were our doing?" Adale asked, "When even most of us down here were unaware of the ongoing events? No, it's better this way."

He grabbed one of the chairs in the corner of the room and sat himself down in front of the desk. "It's a good thing the people up above believed the little fairy tale we made up about the body modifications and technomagical surgery, but it won't take long before they'll start looking for our long lost city of Sufokia. You've surely twisted our arm, Admiral: resurface now or be discovered and disgraced." The Admiral sat down in his seat and got ready to rebut the Prince's story, but Adale raised his hand to shut him up: "Not to mention the enormous amount of Stasili that was wasted on this invasion force. Should we have used these supplies to keep our city running, we would not be in this precarious situation. Your mistake surely cost us dearly, Admiral." "My mistake?! You…" "Not to mention all the loose ends we have to tie up," Prince Adale continued. "Not all Foggernauts were accounted for. There must be a number of them still at large in the World of Twelve. Wicky Leeks' story should convince most of the population that these Foggernauts are faulty prototypes not to be trusted, but we can't take any risks. So, taking all that into account, it is not illogical that my Father confined you to the city." The Admiral gazed at the Prince, waiting to make sure that he wouldn't be interrupted again in his defense. After a few moments of staring, Belvu spoke: "Your Majesty, you and I both know that if our little invasion had succeeded, we would have been hailed as the new heroes of Sufokia, forever going down the history as the liberators of our fair nation. We took a gamble and we lost. And since history is written by the victors, I'm now being pictured as a selfish egomaniac, thinking only of my personal glory, while I have done nothing other than my very best to keep this city afloat, so to speak. I care for Sufokia, my Prince, and your Father knows this. As for these loose ends, let me arrange a strike team to hunt them down and eliminate them. Soon the Foggernauts will be nothing but a fading memory to the World of Twelve. And as for those adventurers coming down here to search for the mythical lost city of Sufokia: our defenses are ready for them. No one will return to the surface to tell the tale until we say so."

"Spoken like a true soldier," Adale commented. "I'm not saying your ideas are not… commendable, Admiral, but I don't think you were paying close attention at our last meeting. Our Stasili supplies are running dry and so are our funds, so we can only invest our efforts in the most vital operations. True, the Foggernauts are a risk, but one we can't afford to spend any resources on. We must just hope that nothing too detrimental will come of it. You must concentrate your attention on 'Operation Breach'." "And do what exactly?" the Admiral countered bitterly "Check up on our dear Doctor every two minutes? The man hasn't come up with any viable idea to raise our city to the surface. Even if he comes up with a plan, time and resources will probably be too few to realize it." "See the bigger picture here, Admiral. If raising our city isn't an feasible option, we must examine other alternatives." Omar Belvu stared at the Prince intently. Last time Adale had made such suggestion, it had resulted in him being scoffed for leading a failed Foggernaut invasion. Prince Adale stood up and walked to a world map attached to one of the walls. "I've read some of the long range scout reports and one of them mentions an archipelago with 'unusual readings'. They suspect it's full of Stasili." Adale pointed to an empty region on the map. "But that's almost on the other end of the world!" the Admiral replied. "I'm just suggesting, Admiral." Adale said. "You are free to wait here in your office for Knarf's solution, but for the good of Sufokia, it might be better to think proactively." Smiling lopsidedly Adale gave Omar a small nod and walked towards the door. "It's up to you," he added before he exited the room, closing the door behind him.

Admiral Belvu locked his hands and stared in silence to the door. After a minute of silence, he spoke: "Well, that was close. For a moment there I thought he had seen you." "Not to worry," a metallic voice spoke from the far corner of his office, "my receptors had already noticed how he had slipped in. That is why I didn't respond to your earlier statements." Out of the corner of his eye the Admiral noticed a small robotic spider with a single purple eye scuttle away towards his file cabinets. A purple glow appeared from behind one of them as it slid open, revealing a bronze colored Foggernaut glowing with Stasitech technology. With one hand, he brought a cigarette holder with a glowing orb of Stasili to his mouth/grill, making it glow by drawing on it. "I told you to stop that, Gaspard," the Admiral said without looking at him. "I provide you with enough Stasili to keep you up and running. No need to waste any more on that filthy habit." Omar never understood how the robot had picked up on that strange habit, but whenever he had the chance, he 'smoked' a chunk of Stasili. "I am afraid it is the only thing that keeps me sane in my cramped jail cell." "Can't you shut down or something? That would spare Stasili and pass the time." The Foggernaut took another puff as he walked towards the Admiral's desk: "I'm afraid not, Sir. I told you before, we are no mere machinery. We cannot be switched on and off as you people please." As Omar kept staring in silence, Gaspard walked on passed the deck towards the map on the wall. His Stasili pipe lit the map as he studied the area Prince Adale had indicated. "Hm, not much there, now is there?" "He's trying to set me up, I just know it. Just like he did last time!" "Now I wouldn't say that, Sir," Gaspard said sarcastically. "At least you have an entire new division for your Navy." He pointed at himself with his cigarette holder. "For what good it will do me! The King was quite clear that there would not be a single Foggernaut enlisted in our forces." "Of course not, Sir, not in our proud and visible military forces. But every nation has its covert operations, its spies, its secret agents." The Admiral looked at him: "We don't even have enough Stasili to keep our own city up and running, so there certainly isn't enough to maintain an entire squad of energy consuming mechanical agents." "Now we don't, no. But if those islands are as rich as the Prince claims, maybe we can finally hoard enough of the precious ore to keep this city -and your private army- running for an indefinite period of time." The Admiral snorted. "Your thinly veiled attempts to preserve your own existence are pitiful, Gaspard." "Maybe so, Sir, but as His Majesty said so eloquently: maybe we should start acting proactively?" Omar Belvu pondered these words, muttering to himself: "What else can we do?"

Several hours and another Bontarian Navy inspection later, the Creaky Kraken crossed over into international waters. All this time, Egol and Platine hadn't left the railing of the ship, still feeling miserable. "What's the problem, sailor?" Cin O'Card asked while slapping him on the shoulder, "Don't feel like working today?" "I'm sorry, Captain, but I've been feeling terrible since this morning. I hardly can keep myself standing." Cin grinned: "Yeah, the Sea Dragon can have that effect on greenhorns." "But I haven't drunk one pint, Captain," Egol protested meekly. "Yeah well, whatever the case may be, you're still useless to me in this state. Get down to your cabin and I'll send Sekito to check up on you." Egol tried to refuse, but the Captain's orders were final. He went back to his cabin and laid himself down in his hammock, trying in vain to get some sleep. His head was bursting and every temporal wave felt as if Xelor himself hit him on the head with his hammer. Somewhere in the dark of the room, Platine clicked softly. "You can't sleep either?" Affirmative click. "Me neither. I don't know what happened yesterday, but it sure messed us up." Another affirmative click. "You think it had something to do with our visit to the Bontarian congregation yesterday?" A clear negative series of clicks. "But then what? We didn't drink at the tavern, ate anything unusual or been to places that didn't look healthy." After a few heartbeats, Platine clicked tentatively. "Wally Maart? No, I don't see how he could do this to us. Except for his strange doppelganger back on Kalf-Cil-Fel, he looked completely harmless." Another series of clicks. "Yeah, I know Sekito warned us about him, but it's not within an Enutrof's power to curse anyone. Not like this, anyway."

"Hey guys, you talking about me?" Sekito i Bitna joked as he opened the door. "Hi, Sekito," Egol greeted his friend, "It's nothing like that. Platine and I were trying to figure out how we got so sick." "Yeah, the Captain told me you looked miserable. Well, his exact words were that you probably looked miserable, but he couldn't see with all the bandages." The Eniripsa chuckled as he sat himself down in the hammock next to Egol's. "So, what seems to be the problem?" "I really don't know. Both me and Platine have just been feeling awful since this morning." "Well, let's see if we can fix that," Sekito said as he pulled out his brush, "Some general healing should do the trick." He mumbled some unintelligible words and drew some figures with his wand, generating small sparkles that slowly descended towards Egol. He kept doing this for a minute or two before putting his brush away again: "Any noticeable difference?" "Not really, sorry." "Hey, no need to apologize. And besides, we're not done yet!" Sekito rolled up his sleeves and pulled out all the stops. Sparks and flashes filled the room as the healer performed his most advanced healing spells, requiring more and more complex gestures and even more muttering. After a while the Eniripsa slumped in the hammock, panting heavily. "Well, do you feel any better now?" Egol examined his body as the last sparkles slowly faded on his Xelor armor. "Sorry, Sekito. Maybe this is a side-effect of being away from the monastery for so long. I don't know." "Well, buddy, then the only thing I can prescribe is rest. I'll let the Captain know you won't be up for a few hours at least." He let himself slide out of the hammock and almost swooned as he got up. "Wow," he said while holding his head with one hand as to prevent it to fall off, "really took out all the stops on that one." He slowly waddled towards the door, trying desperately not to hit anything on his way out. Egol watched as his friend slowly closed the door and resumed his effort to get some sleep.

At the same time, Mei de Prac woke up with a droning sensation in her head. She immediately felt she was chained to the wall as her vision returned to her. She heard voices in the distance, but her first priority was to asses her situation. She was inside some dark cave with the subtle scent of sulfur and magma: Brakmar! So the Mirc siblings had brought her back to their homeland. But what for? And what were they planning with all those miners? Another voice came through, more clearly this time, answering her question. It was Nos Mirc, the oldest of the trio: "I've released the miners as you told me, but I still don't understand why. Why do we kidnap them in the first place if we're just going to release them later? Weren't we going to use them as hostages?" "No, Nos," a second voice responded. Mei recognized this one as Kzam, the Mask of Shushu, the one who presumably knocked her out back in the Bontarian underground. "Their abduction served simply as a warning to their employer that we know about their little operation and that we want our share of the profits. But it seems to have had little effect as they are already digging with a new crew." "How do you know this?" the voice of Lani Mirc sounded through. A low, nasty voice replied: "Haven't you learned yet to trust us, little Rogue?" "That must be the Shushu inhabiting the mask," Mei thought. "No," the Mirc sister replied flatly. "Well, though luck, little sister. You are on our payroll, so you'll just have to trust us," the Shushu mocked. "That's enough, Sarojam. They are our associates, remember? Let me show you a little secret."

Mei heard them approaching her prison and quickly pretended to be unconscious. She heard the door open and felt the bandits walking right past her. Suddenly she felt a finger stroke her face. "What do we do about her?" the voice of the second brother Lenny sounded right in front of her. Mei swore she could hear the soft sound of a dagger being unsheathed. "Shouldn't we just eliminate her? If she wakes up, she'll be a threat to us." Mei felt the weapon hovering inches away from her jugular. "Let her be for now," Kzam instructed. "She may still be of some use to us later. Come here, so I can introduce you to our secret weapon." Mei was relieved when she felt Lenny's presence fade but was curious what this secret weapon was. She peeked very subtly just to make sure no one was paying attention to her and saw them all standing in front of a large object covered by a cloth. "Allow me to introduce…" Kzam began while pulling away the curtain, "our magic mirror!" Mei was as surprised as the Rogues seeing the large, oddly shaped mirror with three large eyes on top. "Hello, Igor," Sarojam greeted the mirror. "Hello there, Sarojam," the Shushu mirror replied with a slight Slavic accent. "How have you been? Still serving these puny humans?" "Hey!" Nos retorted as he pulled out his gun, "who are you calling puny, you piece of furniture?" "Never mind him," the demon in the mask spoke. "You know my point of view on this, Igor. They are not as useless as our great King believes them to be. They have a natural knack for destruction and mayhem." It seemed as if the third eye on the mask was grinning. "Suit yourself. What can I do for you?"

"Show us the Stasili mine beneath Bonta again," Kzam answered in his stead. "As you wish," Igor said stoically. Their reflection on the mirror swirled and transformed into a view of the digging site in Bonta. "Incredible," Nos muttered, but Lani was less impressed: "Son of a Stalagmote! They've already replaced every miner we took from them! They just ignored our threats and went on with business as usual!" "Indeed," Kzam said in a cold voice. "They clearly didn't get the message the first time. Time for more… drastic measures. All right, bring as much explosive devices as you three can carry. We're making another little trip to Bonta tonight." "We're going to blow up the mine?" "No, but we're going to make sure that the Bontarian authorities can't miss it!" Kzam and Sarojam let out a villainous laughter echoing through the caves. Mei's mind was racing in trying to find a way to stop this mad plan when she suddenly noticed a familiar face in the mirror. "What's he doing down there?" she thought to herself, "The last time I saw him, he was serving drinks at Crusty Road."

Egol awoke in the middle of the night, a strong buzzing sensation filing his head. He obviously had fallen asleep somewhere during the day as the room was pitch dark and he could hear the snoring of Thur and Sekito somewhere nearby. But then he heard something else, a soft mixture of ticks and clicks coming from the direction of the door. "Platine?" Egol whispered into the darkness. "Is that you? Be quiet or you'll wake everyone up." The clicking continued, more urgent this time. "What are you talking about," Egol whispered as he slipped out of bed. "Who's in the hallway?" The Sinistro fell quiet and disappeared with a subtle flash. Egol tried to remain upright as his legs shook underneath his body and the Creaky Kraken softly bobbed on the waves. He didn't risk teleporting yet and softly opened the door of their cabin and stepped into the hallway, his eyes slowly getting used to the darkness of the ship. "Platine?" he called into the hallway, which was immediately responded by a series of clicks coming from behind him. When he turned around, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. A few feet in front of him a ghostly looking Xelor girl was sneaking through the hallway. "It… it can't be. Quanti?" The slightly transparent girl didn't respond and slowly crept further away from him. Platine fluttered in front of her, trying to get her attention, but she just pressed on and went straight through the Sinistro. "Platine, what's going on? Is that… Quanti's ghost?" Platine clicked negatively. "You're right. We had ghosts at the monastery and they could see us just as well as we could see them. Then what is this?" His pet shrugged, but clicked nervously as the blue specter almost disappeared out of sight. "You're right, better follow her first and ask questions later." Egol slowly followed her at some distance with Platine perched on his shoulder. "Where is she going? That way's a dead end." As Quanti reached the end of the hallway, she squatted down and started to scratch at the wooden wall. Egol approached carefully and saw her pulling up a ghostly version of one of the planks. "This is a recording of some sort, Platine. Some kind of temporal image that lingered on the ship. I don't know how she did it, but…" Suddenly, the ghostly Quanti spun around like a startled animal, looking terrified. "What's going on? It almost looks as she's discovered." The female Xelor held her hands in front of her face as if to guard herself from an incoming attack, when suddenly her arms were grabbed by two ghostly tendrils and the entire image dissipated. For a moment Egol stood there thunderstruck as the faint blue glow disappeared, leaving him in utter darkness again.

"Did you see that?" Platine readjusted herself on his shoulder, but kept suspiciously quiet. "Those tentacles that grabbed her… that was Ega!" For a moment Egol felt all his self-control smolder away. He grabbed the board which the ghost of Quanti had forced open and gave it a strong tug. The plank broke off, revealing a purple glow beneath it. Egol calmed down as he felt his headache intensify again. "There's an entire hidden room behind this wall," Egol said while peering into the newly created opening, "filled with some kind of purple gemstones. And according to me," he got up again as his head flared up with pain, "are they the cause of our sickness, Platine. There's doing … something to the temporal waves around the ship. Since we didn't get sick on the way to Bonta, they must have been loaded into the ship last night. And that's why Quanti's image didn't appear before! The previous distortion must have caused her temporal presence to linger on this ship and now that the distortion is back, so is the image." Egol almost leapt at his discovery, but suddenly came to realize something: "But that must mean… Quanti was with them when they transported these purple rocks… and since the ship was empty when I got on board…" "See, I told you he was trouble," an angry female voice echoed through the darkness, "just like his girlfriend!" Two silhouettes became visible as a torch was lit on the other end of the hallway. "Ega. Thur. What did you do to Quanti?" Egol yelled at them. "What we do to all nosey rats: exterminate!" To punctuate her statement, Ega launched her tattoo tentacles at the Xelor and his pet. But Egol was prepared: he slowed time a little bit, allowing him to dodge her attack while Platine vanished in a flash. "Hm, at least you have better reflexes than her. But let's see you dodge this: Thur, crush him!" The Iop stormed at him with a feral roar, readying his fist to reduce the little monk into a bloody pulp. Egol braced himself for impact, but just when Thur's punch was about to hit, teleported away, sending the unstoppable force crashing through the back wall. Unable to stop himself, Thur Becrofal landed head first into the large pile of purple ore while Egol reappeared seconds later in the same spot, completely unharmed. "Thur, you oaf! Be careful around that Stasili! That stuff can blow up with the slightest spark!" Ega shouted. "Stasili?" Egol thought to himself as he turned around to see the big giant floundering in a pile of the mineral. The Sacrier used this distraction to her advantage and launched another attack at Egol. She grabbed his wrist with her tentacle and catapulted him through the hallway towards the exit. Egol hit a floor a few times before he rolled to a stop in front of the staircase leading to the deck. His entire body was aching, but he got up just in time to avoid Ega Wutat's next volley of tattoos. He summoned the hour hand of his Hora Prima just in time to launch an energy blast at the advancing Sacrier, hitting her straight on the chest. This was enough to halt her momentarily, but certainly not to stop her. Egol got up quickly as he saw the rage burning in her eyes and teleported to the deck.

Materializing on deck, Egol summoned both his weapons and joined them into a spear. He held out the weapon in front of him and focused his powers on it, causing its center, gear-like handle to glow. Down in the hallway, a similar gear with two hands appeared before Ega and the now recovered Thur. "Ogrest's Thunder!" she swore, but before they could move the hands on the floating gear turned towards them and fired an energy beam, propelling them back into the hallway. Egol closed the hatch and looked around on deck. The sea was pitch black but calm and the skies were clear. At the horizon he could see the first sign of a sunrise while below deck he heard his hydrant firing nonstop at his assailants. For a moment Egol let down his guard when another voice came from the ship's rudder: "Well done, boy, but you've run out of places to hide." Egol peered into the direction of the voice and saw captain Cin O'Card stepping out from behind the steering wheel. "So you are part of this conspiracy as well?" Egol called out to him. "Our employer is very clear on this: no one is to know of our little operation. All snoops are to be eliminated." As he descended from the stairs towards the main deck, a Gobgob appeared from behind him, hovering close to Cin. Egol split up his weapon again and prepared for combat: "So what did you do to her? Just killed her in cold blood?" "You make it sound so cruel," Cin said almost mockingly. "The sea has no mercy, son. It's eat or be eaten and I have no intention to become someone's snack. It's too bad, you were a good pair of hands to have around." Egol pointed his minute hand at him: "I'll make you pay for what you did to her!" "You are welcome to try, boy," the Osamodas said as his little demon attached himself to his back, "but few have ever succeeded to lay a hand on me!" As he spoke these words, Egol watched in horror as his entire body slowly started to change. His arms and legs became more muscular and grew spikes, his hands and feet developed claws, his face slowly turned more draconic, with his nose and mouth becoming a snout and on his back sprouted two large wings. After the transformation was complete, he beat his wings once, lifting him into the air. There he kept hovering a few feet above the deck and growled at Egol: "Show me your worst!"

Egol tightened his grip on his weapons and prepared to attack when Cin suddenly let out a brutal roar, almost knocking Egol of his feet. "Ha," the Osamodas scoffed, "You'll need to be faster if you want to beat me, son!" The Xelor glared at him, but then vanished, only to reappear in the same spot, levitating above the ground, his two weapons hovering in from of him. "I will show you fast." The discs on Egol's armor started to glow as he made a few jerky gestures. To Cin, Egol suddenly seemed to speed up, but to the rest of the world it was actually the Captain who was slowing down. Egol brought his minute hand floating in front of him, it's point aimed at Cin O'Card as it slowly started to glow. For a moment Egol seemed to hesitate, but then squinted his eyes and launched the hand-sword at Cin. Like an arrow out of a bow the weapon soared towards Cin, who seemed to be accelerating to normal speed again. He gave his wings a powerful beat and avoided the hand just barely. While the weapon disappeared behind him, Cin flew higher and started to bombard the deck with Crobaks. "I'll show you how shoot someone!" Cin shouted over the explosions. Egol's armor glowed again as he tried to slow down as much as the birds as possible, but he couldn't hold them all and before long he was hit several times by the incoming Crobaks, bringing him back to the ground. Egol summoned his weapons to his hands again before they hit the deck, ready to counterattack. But before he could even get up, Cin hit him with a powerful gust of air, knocking him flat on his back, sending his two weapons skidding over the deck. The Xelor tried to get up but was knocked to the floor again by another blast of the flying Osamodas. "You're not getting up anymore, boy!" Egol cringed in pain as blast after blast pinned him to the floor. "And now for the finishing blow!" Cin cried as he readied his talons and dived straight for Egol. "Let's see what color you bleed!" Egol slowly lifted his head and saw him approach like a screaming harpy. He was about to close his eyes and accept his fate when he suddenly felt a familiar presence: "Platine!" Egol saw his trusted companion flutter not far from his assailant, her eyes glowing brightly. Cin's descent had decelerated to a crawl, giving Egol one final chance. He mustered all his remaining strength and teleported out the way seconds before Cin's claws reached his chest. "Whaaaaat?!" the Captain yelled in slow motion as Egol appeared behind his back, eyes glowing. Cin tried to stop himself, but with an outstretched arm Egol send out a single pulse of energy, accelerating him again and smashing him right into the deck.

He lay there motionless as Egol slowly descended and summoned his weapons back to his hands. He reattached them and pointed with the minute hand at his struck down opponent: "Now, Cin O'Card, I will punish you for your crimes against the Hand of Xelor and against Quanti, my friend." The weapon started glowing with a red hue as Egol's hand trembled with fatigue. He got ready to fire when suddenly Platine started clicking franticly. "A what?" Egol managed to utter before he was struck down by a giant rock fist from above, causing him to collapse on the floor. "Did you really think a young whippersnapper like you could beat me?" Cin growled as he slowly got up from the deck floor. He walked over to the slumped Xelor, batting away Platine who tried to protect her friend in vain. He grabbed Egol by the bandages of his throat and lifted him off the ground: "You filthy bilge rat, you should have kept your little nose out of our business." Cin flapped his wings, taking them both high above the ship. Egol took hold of the Osamodas's wrist and tried to break free from his suffocating grip. "You could have been part of our happy little crew, living the sweet sailor life. But no, you had to ruin it! You had to start digging, just like your girlfriend!" "You are insane," Egol gurgled, gasping for breath. "No," said Cin stone cold, "I am a winner." On this final word, he released Egol and simultaneously beat his wings, creating a small tornado that catapulted the Xelor out into the darkness of the surrounding ocean. With a smug grin Cin landed back on the ship where he and his Gobgob separated again, reverting him to normal. At that moment, Thur, Ega and Sekito open the hatch: "Captain, are you alright?" "No need to worry, sailors. That mummy was no match for me," Cin gloated while petting his demon companion. "What's going?" Sekito screamed, "Where's Egol?" The grin faded from Cin's face and he put his hand on Sekito's shoulder: "I'm sorry, boy. It seems these monks can't stand being away from their monastery for too long. Egol went nuts and we had to take him down, just like his girlfriend." Realization flashed over Sekito's face: "Wait, so you knew what happened to Quanti all this time?" "Well…" "Captain, look! Pretty lights!" Cin was saved by Thur calling them over. In the darkness of the ocean several white discs lit up. "What? No, it can't be!" the Osamodas growled. Egol's armor glowed as he used his last bit of strength to keep himself afloat above the waves. Next to him, Platine clicked anxiously. "Don't worry… about me…. Just… get… Sekito… out of there," Egol forced out each word. The Sinistro hesitated for a moment before she vanished, leaving her friend alone above the ocean. "Forgive me, Xelor, for what I am about to do," he muttered to himself. He stretched out his arms towards the ship and summoned the pocket watch given to him at his departure from Kalf-Cil-Fel. He then joined his hands and started to focus all the time he had collected in the watch floating in front of him. As he began to do so, he and the watch became engulfed in a transparent red flame.

On the Creaky Kraken, the crew stared at the visual spectacle unfolding in the middle of the ocean. "What is that little runt doing now?" Ega snarled. "I don't know and I don't care!" Cin responded. "Thur, grab a harpoon and take out that will-o'-the-wisp!" "No!" Sekito intervened, "There has to be another way! Let me talk to him. Maybe I can talk some sense into him?" "Ignore that, Thur!" the Captain ordered. "That Xelor's dangerous and must be taken out." Sekito felt utterly helpless when he suddenly heard a familiar ticking behind him. "Platine!" The little Sinistro hovered over the railing on the other side of the ship. Luckily the rest of the crew hadn't noticed her as they were too focused on Egol's display of power. "We have to do something. They're going to pierce Egol!" Platine started to click and tick frantically as Thur got ready to hurl a harpoon at Egol. "Oh no!" Sekito squeaked and he flicked out his brush/wand. Thur drew back the harpoon, aiming carefully (for a Iop), when he suddenly felt something tugging at the back of his weapon. "Huh?" he uttered when he saw a cute Coney dangling at the end of the harpoon. Ega and Cin gazed in unison at Sekito while Thur kept staring fascinated at the bunny summon. "What's the big idea, pixie?" Cin called out, but Ega replied in his stead: "That's what you get for taking wimps on board!" She suited the action to the word and launched a tattoo attack at the Eniripsa. But Platine's eyes flared up once more, slowing Ega down to a crawl and allowing Sekito to avoid her attack easily. "Come on, Ega, you really would off me just like that? After all we've been through?" "No need for sentimentalities, son," Cin interfered. "The truth is real simple here: either you're with us or you're against us. Can't be both!" He grabbed the Coney still hanging on to the harpoon and chucked it into the ocean. "Thur, you dunderhead! Quit your daydreaming and bring down that glowworm!" "Sure thing, Captain! Take down the… Oooh, pretty." The entire crew turned around again to see how the flames surrounding Egol got sucked up into the watch's dial, making it light up as a flare. Cin scoffed: "What does he hope to accomplish by that? Take out an entire ship with one shot? Ha!" Egol stared over the glowing watch at the Creaky Kraken and its crew, but then turned his gaze towards the stern of the ship. He unlocked his hands, gesticulated rigidly which caused the dial to flare up even more, followed by a powerful blast of energy. The blast headed towards the ship as a big fireball as Egol and his watch plunged into the ice-cold waters. Sekito jumped in after him while Cin O'Card suddenly became pale as he saw the ball's trajectory: "Wait… no. No! Stop him!" But it was too late: the attack hit the ship right above the waterline. Right on the hidden compartment full of Stasili. The following chain reaction of explosions ripped the entire rear-end of the ship to sunders, sinking it faster than a burning brick.

Deep beneath Bonta City, Sulpa was amazed at the size of the mining operation: he had only seen one of the tunnels on their entrance, but the cave in which they excavated the ore was huge on its own and from it left at least a dozen tunnels. The little map the mystery woman had shown them obviously hadn't done these subterranean complex any justice. The first hours the Ecaflip had scanned the cave for any signs on the true identity of their employer, but this had turned up nothing. He had found the reason of their hurried recruitment campaign though: one of the entrances had been barred and during his digging he had noticed marks of explosions. Either there had been a freakish mining accident or someone had decided to crash this party. Either way it was worth investigating later on, Sulpa thought to himself. But for the moment he had seen enough, so he managed to be moved to hauling duty and soon was on his way with the first mining cart full of the mysterious Stasili ore. He and two others were pushing the cart while the mysterious Mister W lead the way. At the end of the tunnel they had to shovel the ore into inconspicuously looking unmarked wooden barrels. When they were done, the foreman instructed them to put them on a wooden elevator and then sent them away, leaving him alone with the barrels. On their way back, the Bontarian spy suddenly said: "Oh drat, I've lost my lucky die. I must have dropped it while filling those barrels. I'll be back in a second!" "Yeah, leaving us to do all the work here," one of the miners muttered, but Sulpa was already gone. He silently sneaked back towards the end of the tunnel only to find Mister W and the barrels gone, just as he had expected. He looked upwards in the shaft in which the elevator had disappeared and saw a small flicker of light in the distance. "Right," he muttered to himself, pulled out a tarot card from his deck and looked at it as it lit up dimly. "Hm, Fickle Dice. At least that's a good way to start." Sulpa squatted on the floor, calculated the distance in the dark and pounced upwards. He leapt from wall to wall, sinking his claws almost silently into the cracks, swiftly moving upwards.

When he reached the top of the shaft, he halted right beneath the elevator and listened for any activity on top. After a few moments of absolute silence, Sulpa Venneir slipped up, ready for any surprise. The scenery he found there was rather disappointing: it was a small storage room with no windows, filled with crates and barrels and with the newly filled Stasili barrels in the center of the room still on the elevator. He did notice the Black Zordfish mask lying on one of the crates near the exit, so that meant Mister W felt safe enough to unveil himself. Sulpa heard some rummaging in the other room, so he hid behind some crates, but no one came in. He got ready to move into the other room, but not before first drawing another tarot card. This time it depicted a black Bow Meow on a red background. "Oh craps," Sulpa muttered, when he suddenly felt something moving from behind. He jumped out of the way just in time for the approaching Sram's dagger to land in the crate next to him. He spun around and found himself face to face with a female assassin. "SLA-insurance, I assume?" The Sram didn't respond but got out another dagger and swiped viciously at Sulpa Venneir. The spy backflipped onto one of the crates and got out his deck of cards, wielding them like a fan. But before he could launch his own attack, the Sram was already within range for another swipe with her dagger. Sulpa guided her attack with his fan of cards, causing it to go harmlessly past his arm. This created an opening on the woman's side for a powerful kick in the ribs from Sulpa. The attack made her drop her weapons and propelled her into a stack of crates. Sulpa prepared for an attack when he noticed the Wheel of Fortune card glow for a moment on his deck of cards. "Now that's more like it!" he said to no one in particular and snatched two dice out of his pocket. "Hey, sweetheart. How about a little game?" While the female Sram was still trying to free herself from the pile of crates and contraband, Sulpa squeezed the dice and hurled them at the assassin. She was too late to avoid them and took them right between the eyes, knocking her back down. She hit the floor together with the two dice who started to glow intensely once they had stopped rolling. "All right, lucky seven!" Sulpa exclaimed as the two dice exploded in front of the Sram, knocking her out.

Sulpa walked up to the fainted assassin and picked up his dice who were strangely unscathed after the explosion. "Sorry dear, but never mess with a true player." He spun around when he heard hurried footsteps coming from the other room, followed by a door slamming shut. "Craps!" Sulpa swore and rushed into the other room. After a quick scan, he found only one door and ran through it, up some stairs and through some narrow hallways. He was about to enter a larger room when he saw a shadow on the floor. Not able to stop on time, the Ecaflip used his momentum and rolled into the room, thus avoiding being beheaded by an Enutrof shovel. He rolled to his feet and spun around, his cards in hand, ready to attack. But he relaxed a little when he saw Mister W trying to unlodge his shovel from the side of the door: "Well, well, well. If it isn't the most notorious merchant in the World of Twelve? Can I give you a hand, Mister Maart?" With a final tug Wally Maart, still in half a Black Zordfish-outfit, pulled his shovel out of the woodwork: "Humph! Bonta must be getting desperate if they're calling back their top agents from their assignments to look for little old me. Isn't that right, Agent Venneir?" To substantiate his claim he slashed the air in front of him with his shovel, its edge glowing with a blue hue. Seconds later, Sulpa's beggar disguise fell apart and hit the floor, revealing his true identity. "You won't escape us this time, you scoundrel!" Sulpa said and started to fling his playing cards at the Enutrof one by one. Wally parried most of them with his shovel, but couldn't help being cut by a few of them. He slowly backed up in the hallway from which they came when he heard a sharp hissing sound behind him. Sulpa stopped throwing his cards and showed a glowing Hairy Moon card to Wally: "My little Kittikaze doesn't like it when people run from a fight, Mister Maart." Wally Maart only then noticed the angry-looking black Bow Meow at his feet. He turned towards Sulpa again: "Well, that's a coincidence. My Eduarf doesn't like it when people attack me." "Eduarf?" the Ecaflip repeated, followed by the loud crash of a mature Drheller crashing through one of the wooden walls of the room. Sulpa couldn't react on time and was pinned to the floor by the hairy beast, but managed to push it off with his feet.

By the time he got back on his feet he heard the yelp of his kitty summon meeting the sharp end of Wally's shovel. He wanted to resume his pursuit, but the door was blocked by the Enutrof's protective pet, growling menacingly at Sulpa. "I'm sorry boy, but I have no time for you. Let's go all in." He pulled out a card portraying the god Ouginak and rubbed it between his fingers, causing it to glow. Eduarf didn't wait for Sulpa's next attack and launched himself at the cat-man. At the last moment Sulpa hurled the glowing card at the beast, preparing himself to jump over the temporarily stunned beast when something unexpected happened. The moment his attack hit the Drheller, it exploded in a slimy goo that hit the Ecaflip right in the face. "By Ecaflip, what's this?" Sulpa said out loud as he wiped the mucus from his face. He examined the slime dripping from his fingers when the sound of an explosion came through the hallway. "What is that sneaky Enutrof up to now?" Sulpa headed back through the door from whence he came, following the sound of several muffled voices nearby. This brought him to the front entrance of the warehouse where Wally was facing off against three Rogues and a Masqueraider. "I told you before, Mask, the Wally Maart Cooperation does not give into threats!" Wally shouted, pointing at the Masqueraider with his shovel. "I don't care about your little façade, Enutrof," the Mask of Shushu answered, "I just want to make clear to your employers that we mean business. If they don't give in to our demands, we'll expose them to the entire World of Twelve, starting with this little operation!" He signaled the Rogues, making Lani and Nos Mirc open fire on the shopkeeper. But Wally reacted with lightning speed and planted his shovel in the ground at his feet, causing a large rock to rise from the floor guarding him from the incoming shots. Sulpa ducked back into the hallway to avoid any stray bullets and saw how Wally launched a counterattack from behind his rock. He formed two small orbs of water in his hand and catapulted them towards his adversaries with his shovel. This didn't impress the Mask of Shushu: "Lenny, do your thing! Nos, Lani, you two lay down suppressive fire!" The two siblings opened fire on the little rock formation while Kzam took a battle stance. Sulpa saw how he made a few fluid motions before he slashed the air, creating a powerful shockwave aimed at Wally's location. The attack pulverized the rock and knocked the Enutrof back. But before the Rogues could focus their fire on him, two Srams appeared from the shadows and attacked the gunners. "Damn, bodyguards!" Lani shouted as they turned their attention towards the new threats. The Masqueraider remained unfazed by this turn of events and slowly marched towards Wally Maart. Sulpa wanted to come to his aid when he suddenly noticed the younger Mirc brother slipping away. In the meantime Wally was back on his feet, attacking Kzam in full force. "He doesn't need my help," Sulpa thought to himself and he went after Lenny, avoiding the Sram-Rogue fight that went on in the background.

Outside he found Lenny and one of his boombots placing a load of bombs against the wall of Wally's warehouse. "Planning a little firework, Lenny?" Sulpa jested. "Mind if I join in?" Lenny didn't respond, he just pulled out his boomerang dagger and hurled it at the Ecaflip. Sulpa flicked out a single die and threw it at the approaching weapon, altering its trajectory ever so slightly so that it spun harmlessly out of the way. "You'll have to do better than that," Sulpa commented and took out his deck of cards. "You're too late, pussycat," Lenny grinned as he lit a small bomb in his hand. "When I drop this, the entire warehouse will be blown sky high." "With your boss, your brother and your sister still in there," Sulpa replied. "You're bluffing, Lenny. I on the other hand…" He revealed a tear shaped crystal from under his deck and smashed it on the ground. The crystal exploded in a sparkling fireball that soared into the sky where it exploded in a beautiful firework display. The Rogue stared at the sky for a few seconds before looking back at Sulpa with puzzlement in his eyes: "So what was that supposed to do? Scare me into submission?" "No, not really. But what it did do was signal the entire Bontarian army of your presence." The visible part of Lenny's face became deathly pale as he heard the voices of the first guards coming down the street. He hurled the bomb at Sulpa and ran back into the building: "Boss, the guards are coming!" While Kzam was holding Wally up by his throat, Sarojam scolded him: "What did you do this time, you blundering Blibli?" "We can blame each other later," Nos said while avoiding one of the Sram's incessant attacks, "Now we just have to get out of here." "We can't!" Lani yelled from the other side, "They seem to coming from all sides!" "No need to panic," Kzam said coolly, "we'll move through the mines." He then turned towards Wally again: "But we're not through yet, Enutrof, so you're coming with us." He lifted Wally from the ground with one hand when he was suddenly struck with a playing card, forcing him to release his victim. "He's not going anywhere, Mask," Sulpa said, "and neither are any of you. I'm sure Captain Lees would love to have a few words with you about some missing prisoners." As Wally hit the ground, he saw his chance and darted toward the hallway, but not before tackling Kzam with his shovel. This surprise attack didn't faze the Masqueraider: he landed on his hands, propelled himself back up and somersaulted towards the hallway, landing clean on his feet: "Move, you Moogrrs! He's getting away!" The Rogues broke off their individual fights and followed their leader while the Srams disappeared back into the shadows. Sulpa was too far away to reach the Mask of Shushu, so he focused on one of the Mirc siblings. He pounced on Lenny as he ran past him, causing them both to hit the floor. "You rabid fleabag, get off me!" The duo wrestled on the floor while the Bontarian guards streamed passed them into the warehouse. After a while, the Ecaflip ended on top with Lenny lying flat on his back. "Sorry Lenny, but I've got a black and white suit with your name on," and he punched the bandit right between the eyes.

Chapter 5

Sekito splashed around in the open water between smoldering planks and splinters, trying not to be sucked down by the rapidly sinking Creaky Kraken. Platine fluttered over his head, pushing aside the burning debris with her tail. Sekito gasped for air: "Platine! Where's Egol? Can you see him?" The Sinistro scanned the surface but saw no sign of her companion. "We've got to do something. We've got to save him. Where did he go down?" Sekito took hold of one of the larger, non-burning boards floating around and peddled after Platine as she flew into the direction where Egol had hit the water. After a few strokes he had reached the spot where Platine was zigzagging over the surface, staring into the murky depths. "Here? Right. Hold on the board for me, Platine," Sekito instructed as he took a deep breath and dived. Underwater he soon learned he was almost completely blind. Only the top water layer was lit by the fading fires of the ship while in the deep he could see small lights, probably from some school of fish. But in between was only darkness, with no sign of his friend. He quickly resurfaced, trying to think of a better way to find his friend. "Platine, I can't see anything down there. Can't you light up his armor or something like that? Like it did when he attacked the ship?" Platine clicked negatively. "We've got to be able to do something! Egol is drowning!" As the Eniripsa was desperately trying to devise a plan of action, he didn't notice that the water around him started to bubble, slow at first, but soon intensifying. Platine saw this and tried to alert Sekito. "What is it Platine? We don't have time for…" He looked around and saw how the water was becoming more turbulent and even seem to light up. "What in Eniripsa's name is this? Something's going on below, I've got to check it out!" He took another deep breath and dove under, but he was hardly submerged when he was blinded by bright lights and hit a hard surface, pushing him back up.

Seconds later he was above the waves again, lying flat on a large metal surface. "Ow, my face… What is this thing?" Platine pulled him up with her tail, directing his attention to a mechanical hatch opening on the far side of the metal island. Out of the hatch several masked men appeared all wearing the same blue naval suit with white hems and wielding a strangely shaped rifle. Sekito jumped up and pulled out his soaked wand as the men advanced towards them. "Put down your weapon!" the man in front yelled, " Or we will open fire!" On these words the other masked men aimed their rifles at Sekito and Platine. Platine growled softly, sounding more like a rusty gear then an actual animal, but Sekito calmed her down. He put away his weapon and raised his arms: "We surrender!" The front man approached while the others stayed back and kept Sekito and Platine at gunpoint. "Please, you've got to help us," Sekito pleaded. "My friend has fallen into the ocean and is drowning. We must…" But before he could finish his sentence, the man grabbed his wrists and cuffed them behind his back. "We have to do nothing," said the masked man threateningly and he forced Sekito to his knees. Platine squeaked, but vanished before the masked man could grab her. The rest of the squad lowered their guns and stood to attention as the hatch behind them opened once more. The man pressed hard on Sekito's shoulder as he tried to see who was coming out this time.

He didn't have to wait long to find out, because a loud female voice boomed over the deck: "Who is responsible for that direct attack on my vessel?" A black-haired woman in a similar naval costume stepped passed the men standing at attention. Sekito noticed the strange purple makeup around her eye before the man behind him pressed him down and saluted the woman: "Captain Mofette, we've captured this survivor of the shipwreck as he was trying to breach our submarine." "What?!" Sekito protested, "I was doing no such thing! My friend is still out there, I need to…" "Silence!" the Captain shouted, "Now tell me: where is Captain O'Card? And who is responsible for almost crashing his ship into my submarine?" "You know the Captain?" Sekito asked her, but this resulted in more shoving from the soldier: "Answer the question!" Behind the Captain another female in naval suit appeared: "Captain, report from our Steamflexes: they've recovered another survivor from the wreckage." "Any of the contraband left?" "No, Ma'am. It seems their entire cargo has gone up in smoke." Captain Mofette swore under her breath. "Very well, take this one to the brig together with the other survivor. I'll question them on our way back to the city." The female soldier seemed hesitant: "Captain, are we taking them with us? Instructions are…" "I know very well what our instructions are, Ensign! But we're running on a minimum of fuel and I am not going to waste another grain of Stasili on some second-rate smugglers. We're taking them with us! The Admiral can sort them out there." The ensign saluted and headed back in. The soldier pulled Sekito back to his feet and followed the Captain and the rest of the squad as the submarine started to submerge again. "I hope Egol is the survivor they've recovered," Sekito thought to himself.

"Well, I hate to admit it," Captain Jonk Lees began, "but you surely delivered, Agent Venneir. Shutting down a smuggling operation of that size is quite a recommendable feat. Our troops are still busy investigating the tunnels of this huge mining complex. Who knew there was such a large system of caves beneath Bonta?" "Any sign of the Mask of Shushu or Wally Maart?" Sulpa asked. "No," Jonk sighed, "those slippery devils got away again. We did apprehend most of the miners and even two Srams of the Sram's League of Assassins." "The miners won't be of any use to us, I'm afraid," Sulpa said, "They knew as much about the smuggling as I did." "And the Srams won't talk. The League's code is clear on that. But that doesn't matter, because we've got the little Mirc brother. He will talk." "Rogues don't betray their family, Captain." "Oh, we have ways to make him talk," Jonk said in a lower tone of voice, punching his own hand. "I'm sure you do," Sulpa said, smiling faintly. "But it seems that only the Mask and Wally know who the real sponsors are of Wally's mining operation. Were you able to look at the samples I gave you?" "I delivered them personally to our science department. Miss Kamargent was going study them further but already had some initial thoughts on them. Maybe you should pay her a visit, Agent Venneir." Behind them the large wooden door opened with a soft creak: "Maybe we can visit her together? Then we can brief each other on the way." "Master Joris," Sulpa greeted his friend with a little bow, "so good to see you again. Already finished your inquiries in Amakna?" "Yes, with some disturbing observations. Please, walk with me." Joris guided the Ecaflip into one of the hallways as they said their goodbyes to Jonk Lees.

When they turned a corner, Sulpa asked: "Is there something the Captain shouldn't know?" "Oh no, it's nothing like that. He was present when I briefed the King. But I'm afraid we have little time to waste, my friend. Both we and the King believe that whoever is behind this operation will not hesitate to destroy all evidence leading to his or her identity. So we must make sure that we can catch this snake by its tail before it slithers under its rock again." "Now that I understand," Sulpa said, "but what has this to do with your assignment?" "I don't know yet. But in Amakna I came across a masked madman who had singlehandedly… 'disabled' Baddoboss of the Riktus clan. With the involvement of the Mask of Shushu in this mining operation, it could be possible that this Strawcrow character is a part of his plan for domination of all criminal activity in the World of Twelve." "So you believe the reason for the Mask of Shushu's latest appearance here in Bonta was to take out the competition?" "Well, all signs point to Wally Maart running an illegal smuggling ring from Bonta, so unless he swindled the Mask as well, I see no other reason for the Masqueraider to come after him personally." "Well, he does seem to have a knack for drama, being present at every major action his gang has undertaken in the city. But there's something else that is bothering me: when he was threatening Wally, he mentioned Wally's employers, indicating that the Enutrof is but a pawn in this game." The duo walked down a flight of stairs towards the dungeon levels of the castle. "His network of shops is spread over every nation in the World of Twelve," Joris pondered. "It would be the perfect cover for a worldwide smuggling operation." "Then the question of who is behind this network remains." "Yes, but now we're closing in on him, Wally will probably relocate his other shops beyond our borders where we can't reach him." "I assume we will still try to apprehend him before he leaves the country." "Of course. Captain Lees has already contacted the garrisons of the towns where Wally had set up shop. But no one has seen him since yesterday."

"Maybe the Mask of Shushu did take him out?" Sulpa wondered as they opened a heavy wooden door. "I wouldn't worry about that, Agent Venneir. Wally Maart is a slippery little Snapper," a female voice echoed in the dimly lit chamber. "Ah, Miss Kamargent, how lovely to see you again," Master Joris responded. The brown-haired woman greeted her two guests: "Judging by your conversation, I assume you are here for the samples you collected, Agent Venneir?" "Indeed, Miss Kamargent. I must admit that I'm surprised at the swiftness of your conclusions. I only delivered them yesterday." "Oh, don't worry, I haven't performed any invasive tests yet, but my first analysis did confirm my suspicions: the ore you've retrieved from the mine is indeed the fabled Stasili, the gemstone sought after by those robotic Foggernauts. This is what happens when pure Stasis seeps into the soil and is compressed over many years time. It is soiled with little particulates over time, so it is not as pure as real Stasis, but because of its crystalline structure, it is much more manageable than the original. The Foggers must have found a way to distill the ore back into its original form and use it as a power source. Quite ingenious, I must say." "And dangerous," Joris added, "those ancient technomagical devices razed our shores and nearly invaded our city. We are still rebuilding what they have ruined." "Yes," Miss Kamargent said dreamily, "concentrated beams of pure Stasis, Stasis mist, Stasis converted to flames for attack and propulsion, Stasis mixed with minerals to create weaponry,…" "Miss Kamargent!" Joris interrupted her reverie. "Oh… Yes. Now what was I saying?" "You were explaining that this was indeed Stasili as Wally Maart had claimed," Sulpa reminded her. "Right. Right. Now how Wally found out that there was so much of this mineral beneath the city is still a mystery to me, but I think it's no coincidence that we uncover a huge Stasili smuggle only months after the invasion of a Stasili powered army of robots. There must be a connection." Joris looked at the piece of ore held by Sulpa: "So you think the Mask of Shushu or Wally is in league with these Foggernauts?" "Or at least has gotten his hands on their technology. The Stasili ore has absolutely no other known use than powering the Fogger technology." Sulpa turned the stone towards the lantern and looked how the light was refracted and absorbed by the mineral: "Is there any way to scan for the presence of Stasili? Because judging by the size of the mine, they must have amassed an enormous amount of this stuff already." "Drhellers are tested in Wally's mine as we speak on their ability to pick up the scent of the Stasili."

"That reminds me: do you have any explanation for Wally's Drheller turning into a pile of goo?" "Ah yes. I haven't studied the sample intensely yet, but it seems to resemble the remains of a Bellaphone bulb, so my first conclusion would be that the Drheller was actually a Bellaphone clone." "A Bellaphone? Those charming witches from Brakmar?" Joris wondered. "Yes," Miss Kamargent replied matter-of-factly, "besides charming their prey, they can also duplicate them by planting their bulbs near them. From these pods an identical copy of their opponent will hatch, ready to fight on their side. It's really quite an ingenious ability." Suddenly Sulpa realized something: "Of course! The mystery woman at the Last Resort! Her eyes were so intriguing. She must have been a Bellaphone." "So, Wally has recruited one of those witches in his ranks." "And since those creatures are almost unique to the Brakmar environment, this is the first place we start looking." Joris and Miss Kamargent both stared at Agent Venneir: "Brakmar is a big place, Agent. Where do suggest we begin?" "The Clan Member of that area, Jaffacrack, owes me a few favors. I might be able to squeeze some information out of him." "Very well, Agent," Joris said, "you follow that lead while Miss Kamargent and I try to find out where Wally has taken all his Stasili." Joris and Miss Kamargent turned back to the table filled with scientific equipment.

"Is there any news from the Strawcrow's victims?" Joris continued as he took some papers from the table. "I'm afraid not. Their illness remains, so we have put them in individual patted cells so they can't hurt themselves… or others. How are your wounds, by the way?" "I'm healing fine, Miss, don't worry about me. I'm more worried about those poor souls trapped in their insanity. Did you take a look at my report from the Riktus cave? Especially the part on the Strawcrow's weapon?" "I assume you're referring to the purple glow emanating from the tube?" "Yes. With all this Stasili business, I started thinking about the Stasis-Wakfu balance within every living creature. Now imagine that the Strawcrow somehow managed to disturb that balance, could that result in these symptoms?" "What are you suggesting? That he extracted the Stasis from his victims? Stasis and Wakfu form a delicate balance within living creatures. I can't imagine what the effects would be should one of the two be removed, if it is even possible to begin with." "But they do exist in pure form, so it must be feasible?" Joris argumented. "They only leave the body on death and even then it's very hard to capture them as they dissipate together with the body. But you're now suggesting that these victims were deprived of their Stasis? Becoming pure Wakfu-filled beings? It would explain their unnatural physical health, of course." "But not their mental health," Joris countered. "I've seen people in perfect harmony with nature, reaching very high levels of Waku, but they never go insane like this." Miss Kamargent seemed to ponder this: "Well, these people still have a residue of Stasis in them to maintain the balance, of course. And besides, if the Strawcrow's weapon really does extract their Stasis at such an alarming speed, it can't be healthy for the human mind. It probably can't cope with such a violating act."

Joris took the piece of Stasili from the table again: "What is going on, Miss Kamargent? First this robot invasion looking for Stasili, then a madman presumably extracting Stasis from people and now this smuggling ring exporting Stasili to some unknown destination. All these things must be connected. Maybe we didn't repel these Foggernauts as thoroughly as we thought." "You think they are behind Wally and the Strawcrow man?" Joris walked towards the back of the room, followed by Miss Kamargent: "What do have on these Foggers? I know you studied them intensely after the invasion." Miss Kamargent pressed one of the stones on the wall in front of them, revealing a hidden door. "Yes, and they were very fascinating subjects indeed. Most of my findings I've written in the report I presented a while ago." The room they entered was filled with all kind of items related to the Foggernaut invasion: entire deactivated Foggernauts, pieces of Foggernauts and a wide range of weaponry and robots. "Their technology is amazing, being a mixture of the old Foggernaut technology sporadically found on the bottom of the ocean and some sort of unknown Stasis-powered mechanism. It's because of that mechanism that Stasis forms the heart of their technology: as you can see around you, nothing works without it." To prove it, she took one of the futuristic looking guns and fired it at the wall, only to result in a soft click. "And what about this Wicky Leeks' story of them being rebuilt Sufokians from the bottom of the sea?" "I have read stories about the amazing technological abilities of the old Foggernauts, so maybe they could have found a way to rebuild their bodies, but what bothers me is the soul." Joris stared at her as she put the gun down on one of the tables: "The soul?"

"Yes. The models you see before you have not one once of organic component left in them. Only a large canister filled with Stasis resides within their chest. Wicky Leeks told of a way to transfer the soul from the living flesh into this canister of Stasis, but it is common knowledge that Stasis is detrimental on any tissue, alive or dead. So I don't know how a soul would react being inserted into pure Stasis." Joris examined one of the dissected Foggernauts and saw how the central soul receptacle had been pierced. Miss Kamargent joined him at his side: "But on the other hand, Stasis isn't a life force on its own, so a Foggernaut couldn't become a sentient being just by Stasis." "Maybe that's the main question, Miss Kamargent: were they sentient to begin with? Boombots also appear to be alive, but are completely controlled by their owners. It's still a possibility that the entire Foggernaut invasion was orchestrated from afar and these shells were really nothing more than mindless drones." "It may be possible, but is highly unlikely. The Foggers displayed complex actions and tactics way beyond any remote control technology we can imagine." Joris sighed softly: "Maybe a personal appointment with Mister Leeks will clear some of these things out." "Do we actually know where he is? Because no one has seen hide nor hair from him since his official apology. Maybe he has gone back to their sunken city?" "No, our sources tell us that he has temporally settled at the governor's mansion of Sufokia. So I think that will be my next destination. If the Foggernauts are at the center of this mystery, Wicky Leeks must have some of the missing pieces of the puzzle." "Let me know as soon as you find out," Miss Kamargent added as Master Joris headed towards the exit. Joris turned his hide and simply smiled before disappearing back into the hallway.

Sekito sat in a small cell, still dripping with sea water as he felt the submarine slowly descend towards the bottom of the ocean. He was worried what these navy-types were planning to do with him and the other survivor, but he was also impressed by their vessel. Sekito had never seen such a beautiful piece of technology. He had heard of the ancient Foggernauts, who had all kind of submersibles, but these were made mostly of wood and iron, not this stainless steel. The entire surrounding also buzzed with power: cables and pipes ran against every wall and Sekito could feel them humming. "I wonder what they use as fuel," Sekito thought to himself, his precarious situation completely forgotten for a moment. He lay his hand on one of the pipes and slightly shuddered: "Wow, what's that? I could have sworn I felt a malignant presence in there." He looked at his hand and wanted to pull out his wand to soothe the tingling sensations, but then remembered the magic jamming device. "Oh drat, what use is an Eniripsa without his healing?" "Hey, quiet in there!" a voice boomed from the other side of the bars. Two of those masked sailors carrying a gun appeared after a few seconds: "Ok kid, time to meet the Captain. Assume the position." Sekito was cuffed by the soldiers and lead out his cell through the submarine's hallways. During this escorted walk, Sekito looked around, trying to find any clue on his kidnappers' identity, his destination or who of the Kraken's crew had survived the explosion besides him. But he hadn't learned anything new by the time he reached the bridge.

There he was amazed by the view through the large forward portholes: the ship was travelling a few meters above the ocean floor, its searchlights revealing the remains of the old world, washed away by Ogrest's Flood. The houses and other constructions were overgrown with sea weeds, barnacles and coral, but their shapes were still vaguely recognizable, giving the scenery a ghastly atmosphere. In front of the portholes sat a crew of similar looking females, all wearing the same naval outfit as the men Sekito had met up until then. "So, little Eniripsa, we meet again," a familiar female voice sounded from behind him. Sekito's escort turned him around to face Captain Mofette seated at the command station above the bridge's entrance. "Lieutenant-Commander, you have the bridge," the Captain said to one of the female naval officers behind her. She took the Captain's place with a quick "Yes Ma'am" as the Captain descended towards Sekito. The entire bridge remained quiet as Captain Frida Mofette approached the prisoner. Sekito gulped when she halted a few inches from his face: "Well, little man, start talking." "What would you have me saying, Captain?" Sekito said uneasily, "I'm just as dumbfounded as you, Captain. I don't know what went on before I awoke, but when I did, I found my Captain and crew trying to murder my crewmate." "And who was this crewmate?" "Egol, Ma'am, a Xelor from the order of the Hand of Xelor who had recently joined the Creaky Kraken. A very nice guy who was looking for his lost friend, who I believe was also killed by the Captain." "If he was such a nice guy," Captain Mofette said with obvious sarcasm, "why would Captain O'Card try to kill him? According to my records, Cin is a trustworthy Osamodas with no violent temper. He doesn't seem like the man who goes around killing random Xelors." "Well, no, Ma'am, I hadn't seen the Captain like this either, but he seemed a completely different person when fighting Egol. Almost malicious…" The Captain ignored this subjective interpretation and continued the interrogation: "So it was during this fight that the boat got hit?" "More or less. Thur Becrofal was about to harpoon Egol when he launched an attack at the stern of the ship, causing the chain explosion that sank the ship. I still don't know how he managed an attack that powerful." "I do," said Frida Mofette while staring out the porthole. "The Xelor must somehow have been aware of the large amounts of Stasili stashed in the cargo hold. He deliberately aimed at the volatile ore to trigger that chain reaction." "Stasili? What are you talking about? We were fishermen, heading out to our international fishing grounds."

The Captain ignored him again and addressed one of her officers: "Lieutenant, has the Xelor regained consciousness yet?" "Yes!" Sekito thought to himself, "It is Egol that survived! Now I only got to find him." "No, Ma'am," replied the Lieutenant in the meantime, "he is still recovering in the sick bay." "Inform me the moment he wakes up. He is obviously a covert agent instructed to reveal and cripple our network." "What?!" Sekito exclaimed, "Are you nuts? What network are you talking about?" The two soldiers flanking Sekito grabbed him by the arms, restraining him from approaching the Captain. "I've heard enough. Take him back to the brig. He is of no use to me." "Wait a second; you just can't accuse people like that!" Sekito protested while the guards dragged him back into the hallway. As he was slowly dragged out of the bridge, Sekito suddenly got an idea. He noticed there was no magic jamming device on the bridge, so while the guards were distracted by his squirming, he summoned a flask from his magical Eniripsa pouch and stashed it in his sleeve. He gave up his struggle and let the guards drag him back to his cell. Entering the brig, he felt the magic jamming kicking in, sealing off his healing abilities and magic pouch again. Back in his cell, Sekito waited for the guards to leave before he produced the phial from his sleeve: "Thank Eniripsa that you didn't break. That would have left a nasty burn. Now where are you, jamming device?" He scanned the hallway through the bar of his cell and found the technomagical ball floating a bit farther down. "Right," Sekito said to himself, "got only one chance at this." With careful aiming, he lobbed the flask at the device. It hit the ball in the center of one of his eyes, exploding on impact. The magical jamming device was blown back, hit the back wall and fell apart in a dozen pieces. Sekito let out a quiet "Yes!" as he felt his magical abilities returning to him.

But before he even could utter one incantation, Platine appeared in his cell with a little flash. "Platine!" Sekito said excitedly as he hugged the Sinistro, "I thought they had left you on the surface." Platine started clicking and ticking as if she was telling her own story, but Sekito interrupted her: "I'm sorry, Platine, but we have to move quickly before the guards come back. Can you sense Egol?" The summon clicked affirmatively, transformed into her Tofu disguise and flew out into the hallway. After a few moments, she returned as if to ask Sekito why he wasn't following. "Give me a moment. I don't think I have a potion strong enough to eat through these steel bars… but maybe I can burn through them." He pulled out his wand and started mumbling to himself in a strange language while he drew several symbols in the air between him and the bars. Platine saw how the symbols vanished slowly into thin air but reappeared on the bars themselves, where they made a slight sizzling sound as they burned into the metal. "Ok Platine, that should have weakened them enough. Let's see if we can wiggle them out." After a few attempts, they got out a few of the bars and Sekito was able to break out. "All right!" he whispered, "Now Platine, to make sure we're not detected, I'm going to go to a higher plane. So don't worry if you can't see me, I'm still here. Just lead the way to Egol, ok?" Sekito muttered another set of unintelligible words as his aura slowly started to glow. After a few sentences he slowly vanished, becoming almost invisible. "All right," Sekito's disembodied voice sounded in the hallway, "let's go and rescue our friend from these unjust accusations." Platine clicked once and fluttered out the doorway, leading the invisible Eniripsa through several of the submarine's hallways, careful to avoid the few guards that patrolled there. When they arrived at the sick bay, she halted as the door was guarded by one of the masked naval soldiers. The Eniripsa materialized behind her and hid behind the corner before the guard could spot him. He swore under his breath: "This is going to complicate matters. Platine, can I ask you a favor?"

The sick bay guard sighed as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "Do they really think someone is going to break out a soaked Xelor inside a submarine?" But the soldier knew Captain Mofette's reputation and didn't dare to leave his post. She was nothing like her father, General Mofette. While the General was a calm and collected leader under every circumstance that had earned his men's respect through experience, his daughter was more of a loose cannon. Cool and collected on the surface, she was a true berserker at heart. And when she unleashed that hidden fury, you had better stay clear. There were rumors that in the academy she had taken on her entire class in a close combat exercise and had won, laughing madly all the way. Frida was not the strategist her father was, but on the battlefield she really shone. But as the sailor knew, if you got on her bad side, it didn't matter if you were friend or foe. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt something pressing down on his helmet. He looked up and saw a little Tofu hover above his head. "What the…?" he uttered before Platine pecked him right between the eyes of his helmet. "You little pest! How did you get down here?" Platine fluttered in front of him for a few seconds before she darted into one of the hallways. "Get back here!" the guard yelled, "If the Captains sees you, she'll have a fit." He readjusted his grip on his rifle and headed after the little yellow bird. Sekito waited a few more moments to make sure the guard was around the corner before he headed towards the sick bay. There he found a little room with only a few beds, one filled with a still unconscious Egol Rho. "Egol," Sekito whispered, "It's me, your buddy Sekito. Can you hear me?" The Xelor didn't respond. "Hm, he really looks out of it. Well friend, I don't like to do this, but I'm afraid I have no choice."

He closed his eyes and muttered silently to himself. Again his aura began to glow but now only around the little demonic wings on his back. Soon they were enveloped in light which seemingly started to grow. After a few moments they looked like glowing angel wings, lighting up the entire room. Sekito did not open his eyes, but pointed his wand at Egol. The Xelor's aura glowed in a similar fashion for a few heartbeats before all light vanished again. Sekito's wings were back to their original size and Egol still lay perfectly still on the bed. But only for a moment, because the next moment he jerked up, coughing intensely. Sekito came to his friend's aid and supported his back as Egol was about to slump back into the bed. "Sorry buddy, you must be feeling miserable now. That's why I don't like to use my Eniraser skill: It's a quick fix for most ailments, but it leaves the patient feeling like a wreck for hours." "W…where are we?" "We're inside some kind of submersible boat heading for destinations unknown. These guys picked us up after you sunk the Kraken." "I sunk the Kraken?" Egol echoed. "How?" "Don't you remember? You launched that fireball from your watch at the stern, causing a huge explosion." "Explosion? I must have passed out before that. I remember charging all the time I had stored in my pocket watch for one final temporal burn, but after I unleashed the energy, I only remember hitting the icy waters." "Yeah well, these guys emerged moments after we both had hit the water and took us prisoner. They believe you are some kind of agent on a mission to expose and cripple their network!" Sekito helped Egol sit up straight as he tried to get his bearings. "Agent? Network? What kind of mess have we gotten ourselves into this time?" "I really don't know, but I do know they knew about Captain O'Card and a secret stash of… Stasili, I think they called it." "Stasili! The purple ore that Quanti had discovered!" The Eniripsa stared at him: "What are you talking about, Egol?" "I saw a temporal image of Quanti discovering the secret room filled with that Stasili, right before she was discovered by Ega and Cin." "So you're telling me the entire fishing operation was a cover up for Stasili smuggling?" "It's starting to look that way." "That means the guys on this ship were the recipients. Oh boy, we're in more trouble than I thought, Egol."

The Xelor tried to stand up, his legs still shaking from the Eniraser spell: "We have to get out of here, Sekito. Who knows what they want to do with us." "Whoa, not so fast there, buddy. You're in no shape to be running around. And by the way, we're sailing on the bottom of the ocean. We can't just get out and walk." "Then what would you have us do? Await our recapture here in this little hospital room?" Sekito supported Egol as he got up to his legs: "No, of course not. But I think it's a wiser course to hide for the moment and see where this crazy captain lady is taking us. But first things first: Platine can't distract the guard forever, so let's get out of here before he returns." "Platine is here too?" "Yeah, she helped me to find you and distracted the guard while I got you back to your feet." "Thank you, Sekito. I don't know where I would be without you guys." "Hey, this is no time to get all mushy. You can thank us when we get out this steel sturgeon. By the way, maybe we should mask your absence by placing a dummy in the bed in your stead." Sekito let his friend lean against the sick bay's doorframe while he filled the bed with pillows and sheets to make it seem as if Egol was still lying there. "I hear someone approaching." The duo limped into the hallway, looking around for suitable hiding places and finally ducked into a storage room nearby. They tried to close the door as much as possible before the approaching person appeared around the corner. "Hey, where did that lazybones sneak off to this time? Sleeping in the storage room, I bet!" Sekito and Egol held their breath as they heard the man approaching their hiding place when suddenly a second voice sounded from the back: "Lieutenant!" "There you are!" replied an obviously annoyed officer, "Snoozing on duty again, sailor? This is a dangerous prisoner we have in here! You can't let him out of your sights even for a minute, do you understand!" "Yes, Sir! But I was assaulted by a Tofu, Sir, and gave chase to the little intruder. I had it cornered near the engine room, Sir, but there it just disappeared into thin air, Sir." "A Tofu that can disappear? Have you been drinking again, sailor?!" "No, Sir, but…" "Then get back to your post and report the moment that mummy revives, do you understand?!" "Yes, Sir!" In the storage room, the two friends exhaled as quietly as possible. "Ok", Sekito said, "Now all we can do is wait and hope for the best."

San Telen: a small, inconspicuous yet lush island somewhere in the vast oceans of the World of Twelve. From afar it looks like a floating green ball with its tropical forest covering everything but the beaches. It looked like a perfectly peaceful scene when suddenly some seagulls flew up as Nietzschen Knarf's little submarine breached the surface. It sailed straight for the beach, but instead of stranding in the shallow waters, the little boat revealed four crab-like legs that allowed it to walk right up to dry land. It crawled further until it reached the first trees where it then waited for some time. "What's taking them so long?" the professor muttered to himself. But then one microbot appeared, soon followed by another and another, until the walking submarine was surrounded by them. "You know the drill," Nietzschen said through the boat's speaker system, "Now let me in." On this command the little spider bots all vanished between the trees, leaving the crab-sub alone again. After a few moments a purple gas started to appear from beneath the trees, causing them to shrivel and wither within minutes, leaving only the microbots. Behind them stood a man whose features were hidden beneath a large straw hat and an outfit made almost completely out of straw. He stood before a long narrow path cut out between the trees leading to the center of the island. The submarine stirred again and walked over to the man, right over the little mechanical spiders. There Knarf halted his ride and shut it down. In the meantime the straw hat man sewed some seeds between the microbots where the trees were before. Each of the little robots extended a claw towards one of the seeds and seemed to zap it with some purple electrical beam. This caused the seeds to sprout and grow at alarming rate. By the time Nietzschen was out of his submarine the trees were almost back to their original height. The Feca smiled faintly at this before he turned his attention towards the straw hat man: "Now listen here: I didn't come here to waste my time, but check up on your progress. So take me to the Oktapodas immediately." The man gave a little bow and pointed towards the road ahead of them: "Yes, Sir, as you wish."

After a short walk through the cut-away jungle, the duo arrived at a small village. Unlike typical tribal villages, this one had huts constructed with steel tubes and metal plates who were then covered with straw and grass to camouflage their unnatural appearance. Between them crawled some microbots and clawbots with glowing Stasis bulbs on their backs, moving back and forth between the huts and the men working at the edge of the village. They all wore similar clothing to Professor Knarf's guide and were chopping down the trees surrounding the village. When they saw the professor approach, they stopped what they were doing and saluted him. One of the men came forward and saluted again when he reached the Professor: "Greetings, Professor Knarf. We are very honored by your presence." "Greetings, Sub-Commander. How goes the harvest?" "Very well, Sir. Our experiments have shown that chopping down the trees is the most cost-benefit effective method of removal, giving us a 43% margin of pure profit." "Very good, Sub-Commander. That must mean your stocks are completely replenished?" The Sub-Commander invited Knarf into one of the metal huts as he continued his report: "I'm afraid not, Sir. The work on the Oktapodas has proven far more costly than we had anticipated and with our current time table, we're hard-pressed to reach break-even." The inside of the huts was completely different from the outside: with no effort put in camouflaging the interior, they looked like the interior of the Sufokian submarines, with pipes, dials and valves everywhere. This particular hut had a large circular staircase in the middle leading downwards. The Feca halted in front of the staircase. "Break even?" he said agitated, "You've been harvesting Stasis for months! Your tanks should be bursting with pure Stasis by now!"

The man took off his hat, revealing the metallic features of a Foggernaut with the glowing purple eyes and the skull-like head: "We have to sustain ourselves as well, Sir. If we shut down, the Oktapodas project will fail for sure." "You don't have to explain Foggernaut technology to me, Sub Commander," Knarf spat out, "it was me who dragged your empty shells from the ocean floor and gave you life through Stasis technology. It was also me who arranged that mockery of an invasion and allowed you and your crew to escape to this backwater island. And it was me who gave you all the necessary means to survive and to hide from the Sufokian Kingdom. The only thing I ask in return from you is that you build me the Oktapodas!" The Stasitech robot looked at him with his hollow eyes: "We are doing the best we can, Sir. And the Oktapodas is nearing completion, so we are on schedule. Only the collection of Stasis is running behind." "But you're entire Foggernaut division is equipped with my Stasis extraction technology. You can drain this entire island of Stasis in no time!" They continued their descent downstairs. "You have seen my men, Sir. They are doing their best to chop down the Stasis-drained trees so we can replant them as soon as possible. It is not your technology or the extraction that is most time consuming, it is cleaning up afterwards. The flora brimming with Wakfu is quite resilient." Knarf halted again and retraced his steps, muttering to himself: "How is this possible? I create an army of high-tech Stasitech cyborgs and they can't even handle the weeds!" He revealed his Feca-gear and touched the red orb, causing it to glow like a flame. "I would advise against that, Sir," the Sub Commander said in monotone voice. "Pardon?" Nietzschen spun around and glared at the Foggernaut. "Are you telling me what to do, Sub Commander?" "Of course not, Sir," the robot replied, "but we have learned from experience that the Wakfu weeds burn long and hard, developing a lot of smoke that could attract nearby vessels." Nietzschen Knarf stared into the Stasis-filled eyes with disgust and disappointment: "All this power and yet still not the ingenuity of a true living being."

He walked back up and exited the hut towards the men cutting down the trees. "You!" he shouted, "Stand down and move out the way!" The Foggernauts in disguise stopped their weeding work and turned around just in time to see how Feca activated his gear and made the small shield on his arm glow with a deep red glow. The robots moved out of the way as the ground beneath their feet began to glow in the same color. Strange glyphs appeared from beneath the plants seconds before the ground started to rise and crack, revealing hot magma slowly rising to the surface. The nearest plants already caught fire when the Professor activated his gear a second time, this time summoning small clouds above the smoldering plants. These clouds rained down several local thunderbolts on the vegetation, accelerating the already growing wildfire. The Sub Commander joined at Nietzschen's side: "Sir, I must again warn you. If the fire grows out of control, we will attract unwanted attention." Professor Knarf didn't look at the Foggernaut, but charged his gear again: "That is the difference between you and me, Sub Commander. You are only built to destroy. I, on the other hand, know how to heal as well." His gear glowed blue this time as he raised it into the air. The next moment a large wave of water appeared behind the burning plants. It came crashing down on the vegetation and put out most of the fire with one blow. Then Nietzschen Knarf summoned several small bubbles of water which he lobbed at the remaining flames, dosing them with a few fluid moves. He hid his gear beneath his sleeve again and turned towards the Foggernaut next to him: "That's how you do it, Sub Commander. Now if there are no more questions, take me to the Oktapodas, please."

Sulpa Venneir readjusted his latest disguise as he left the Brakmar village of Weapons Bridge. He gazed over the barren landscape and remembered again why all poets had left this country: not only did Weapons Bridge have to be one of the least original names for a village full of weapons' salesmen located on a bridge, the view from the village was also anything but inspiring: dark and desolate plains formed by the magma from Brakmar's volcano. There were a few patches of green in between, untouched by the Brakmarian miners, but most of the plain was riddled with holes leading into small mines or straight into the boiling lava below. Why the Brakmarians even called it Mourning Wood was beyond Sulpa's comprehension: the trees here were few and far in between and the entire scene had more of a burned savanna look than anything resembling a forest. Yet the local fauna somehow managed to thrive in this dismal environment. Even the Gobballs imported from the rich Amakna fields long time ago had found their niche here and grazed contently on the patches of grass. But these docile herds were not why Sulpa was here. His target was the most dangerous predator of the plains: the seductive Bellaphones. They seem harmless, scarcely dressed girls, but this is but a façade they use to lure in their unsuspecting victims. Records state that they have learned to imitate human speech patterns, giving them even a more human appearance. They charm their victims, mostly males, until they become as docile as little Gobblies, ready to obey the Bellaphones and even die for them (which they mostly do moments later). They hate to get their claws dirty, so if their prey does break free from their spell, they use his own powers against him by creating a double that fights in their stead. These copies are made up entirely out of a sort of green mucus, similar to the Bellaphones' 'hair'. Sulpa took a vial from his haven bag containing the slime that used to be Wally Maart's Drheller and held it against the faint sunlight. "Wally must have found a way to harvest the Bellaphones' abilities for his own benefits," the Ecaflip thought to himself.

Then he thought he heard the soft sound of women singing over the bleating of the Gobballs. "No time to waste," he said out loud in a feminine voice and pulled his skirt a little higher. His latest disguise was that of a female lumberjack named Raven Supline. She had long, flowing black hair, wore a typical checkered red-and-white shirt and a very short skirt. Normally the Ecaflip couldn't risk showing too much fur with his female guises, but for a burly woman like Raven it wasn't odd to have rather muscular legs. Besides, it sure helped when talking to his next informant: Jaffacrack, the Sadida clan member of the Mourning Wood, had been so smitten with her that Sulpa went against his own rule of reusing his alter-egos. He got his oversized axe out of his bag and slung it over his shoulder. In the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a movement in the shadow of the trees, but he decided to ignore for the time being and headed towards the volcano. While Sulpa slowly disappeared into the scenery, something shortly glistened in the shadows before disappearing again. A little later, Raven Supline ran her fingers through her hair before entering a small grove at the foot of the volcano. As she entered the little forest, she heard a deep voice chanting some strange lyrics: "Oh, kama, kama, kama, kama, kama chameleon. You come and go, you come and go-o-ooh…" "Hello, my big tree trunk," Sulpa said in his most seductive voice to the big Sadida meditating on a tree stump in the middle of the grove. "I know that voice," Jaffacrack said with his eyes still closed. "Is that my little twig Raven?" He opened his eyes and got off his stump to greet his friend. "Well, well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" he chuckled as he slapped Sulpa's buttocks. "Watch it, Jaffacrack, or I'll have to chop down your tree as well," Raven said with a slight menace in her voice after she had grabbed her axe and aimed it right between the Sadida's eyes. The big man just chuckled. "Now that's the spicy Cinnamon tree I remember. How have you been, my Chestnut?" Raven slowly lowered her axe but kept her eyes on the lumberjack: "You know, the usual. Travelling the world, chopping down trees in every land." "That's my girl. So what brings you back to this neck of the woods? You finally want to see what wood I'm made of?" He jiggled his eyebrows, but Raven just sighed: "I thought you had enough girls in these woods to keep you satisfied?" Jaffacrack stared at her for a few seconds before Sulpa's remark got through to him: "You mean the Bellaphones? Oh come now, you know I'm not into those weed wenches. Only real wood interests me," he said while eyeing Raven's legs. "I know," Sulpa Venneir conceded. "But it was one of these 'weed wenches', as you call them, that got me thinking of you again. I saw her in Bonta City, accompanying an Enutrof called Wally Maart."

"Wally Maart?" Jaffacrack scoffed, "It's been years since I've seen that swindling Strangleweed in these parts! But he better not show his ugly face around, because I still got a score to settle with him." "So he scammed you as well?" As a response to her question, one of the trees opened up behind her, revealing a rusty axe stuck in its center. "That Thistle sold me this second-rate butter knife as a premium wood axe! I can hardly cut down a sprout with this rusty spoon!" "Yeah, same here," Sulpa lied, "he traded me a pair of worn-out boots for a golden tip on where to find some first class wood." "Never give away your trade secrets, my Api blossom. I would never reveal such information!" "So did he want from you? Kamas? I thought you didn't give those away either?" "Certainly not!" the fat Sadida replied offended. "He just wanted every bit of knowledge I had on the Bellaphones. Guess he wanted to train one or something… Well, if you saw him with one, he's the first man to succeed in taming one. Those shrews normally answer to no man. Or woman," he added when he stared at Raven's chest again. "So you never saw him here again afterwards," Sulpa tried one more time. "Nah. You know those Enutrofs: once they pilfered you of everything you've got, they disappear like a Sram in the night. But why so interested in that miserable Mistletoe? Didn't you come back to see your old pal Jaffacrack again?" the Sadida said as he rubbed his gut against Raven's side. She just pushed him away: "Not really, no. I just wanted payback against that little weasel." "Well, than we have something in common," a second female voice sounded from the shadows. Sulpa and Jaffacrack both watched how a Sram literally emerged from out of the shade of the tree as if it was a pool of water. "Good to see you again, Agent Venneir. We still have a score to settle." Sulpa felt his heart skip a beat as he recognized the female assassin: she was one of Wally Maart's body guards. She was the one that had attacked him in the storage room and had been knocked out by his lucky dice. He couldn't risk letting her reveal his cover, so before she could say another word, he pulled out three playing cards and hurled them at the blue-haired woman. But before the projectiles could reach their target, she vanished in a cloud of smoke, causing the cards to disappear harmless in the bushes.

"I won't be so easy this time," her voice sounded in Sulpa's ear and he felt her dagger at his throat. Jaffacrack got ready to defend his friend, but the assassin already loosened her grip, releasing the agent in disguise. Raven spun around and saw how the woman held up one of his playing cards displaying his deity. "Ecaflip must be smiling on you, pussycat, because this is your lucky day. It seems we are on the same side now." She flung the card back at him, which he caught between two fingers and aimed at the Sram again: "What do you mean, 'the same side'?" "Wally Maart has gone and…" she thought a moment about the right euphemism, "let's say: displeased our employer, so he is no longer under the League's protection." "But rather one of its targets," Sulpa added. "He has indeed become a liability to our employer's operation and you should know what that means." Jaffacrack looked back and forth between the two women: "What is she talking about, Raven? Have you gotten yourself mixed up with this Sram scum?" The ninja girl ignored him and approached Sulpa: "As I see it, cat man, you have two options." Again she pulled out two of Sulpa's cards she had somehow pilfered from him moments earlier. She revealed the first card, showing the Hairy Moon: "Either we join forces in hunting down our common target or…" She showed him the second card, depicting Meowtyrdom: "We can go our separate ways and the next time our paths cross, one of them will end." She came almost face to face with Sulpa and whispered:"And trust me, Agent Venneir, they will cross again. The SLA has never missed its mark." Sulpa pulled out a die and threw it at the Hairy Moon card, knocking it out of her hand: "There's a first time for everything, my dear."

The fat Sadida forced himself between the two woman, driving them apart with his bulk and faced the Ecaflip in disguise: "Who is this Agent Venneir, my Cherry Blossom? And what does he have to do with you?" "Oh, you don't know?" the Sram said into his ear with suppressed joy in her voice. "Allow me to enlighten you." Jaffacrack spun around, but by then the girl had already disappeared into her own shadow. Sulpa knew what was coming and also turned around just in time to see her slash him with two daggers. He kicked her straight in the chest, propelling her backwards, but the damage was already done. Sulpa felt his wig sliding off his head and Raven's chest falling out of his shirt. "What in Sadida's name?" Jaffacrack's voice sounded from behind Sulpa's back, "You're a… a tomcat?!" Sulpa slowly turned around and saw how Jaffacrack's eyes flared up and his face turned a green-red. He backed up slowly, trying to calm down the fat woodman: "Come now, Jaffacrack, remember the good times we had?" "Good luck, Agent. I'll leave Wally Maart's corpse for you to pilfer… if you survive this lovers' quarrel." The Sram disappeared again in the shadows just as Jaffacrack's brambles broke through the ground around Sulpa Venneir. The green thorny tentacles came at Sulpa from all sides, so the Bontarian pulled out Raven's axe and simultaneously struck at the plants and jumped around to avoid them. "You lying Pine!" Jaffacrack roared and he stomped the ground with his feet, causing small quakes in the entire grove. "You will not leave these woods alive!" Sulpa cut off another branch right before he landed next onto one of the lower branches of a nearby tree, giving him relative safety from the vines.

"Jaffacrack, be reasonable: killing me won't make it better." But the Sadida was too enraged to even hear his arguments. "My trees won't help you!" he barked and he clenched his fists, causing the branch supporting Sulpa to become limp and dropping him straight to the ground. The cat landed nicely on his feet, but his ankle was soon grabbed by one of the surviving brambles and hoisted him into the air. Hanging upside down Sulpa saw how Jaffacrack focused on the tree with the rusty axe in. The tree opened up and spat out the axe straight at the hanging Ecaflip. Sulpa stretched out his entire body for a second and then crouched, causing the axe to miss him by an inch and cut down the bramble stalk instead. He landed on his hand and veered away from the approaching Sadida. He landed at the edge of the grove and immediately had to dodge a few lumps of fertilizer that Jaffacrack launched at him. "If you want to play dirty," Sulpa said, "then we'll dirty." He took out two dice and held them next to his ear, ready to throw them. But before he did, two fleas hopped on the dice and dug in their claws. Sulpa Venneir felt the grass at his feet wrapping around his ankles as he threw the dice at the Brakmarian clan member. They bounced almost harmlessly off the Sadida's gut as he approached Sulpa. "Your little toys are no match for me, tomcat!" The Bontarian spy squatted and cut the grass with his claws just in time to avoid Jaffacrack's incoming punch. Jaffacrack got ready to pull another punch when his expression suddenly changed and he started scratching his sides: "What in Sadida's name?" He soon forgot about Sulpa and was scratching everywhere, making the plants in the grove become docile again. "What did you do, you nefarious Nettle?" The Ecaflip grinned as slowly walked away: "I gave you just what you needed, Jaffacrack: a little love… in the form of a few love fleas."