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.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 6

"Egol, wake up," the hushed voice of Sekito I Bitna sounded in the darkness. "Wake up, something is happening." Egol slowly opened his eyes, only to see just as much as he did with his eyes closed: "Where are we again?" "In a storage room in submersible boat, remember?" "Oh, right, right. It's coming back to me." He tried to get up, but bumped his head on something hard. "Shht!" Sekito shushed him, "Somebody might hear us."

"But I can't see a thing. Platine, a little help?" With a little flash the Sinistro appeared at the edge of the room, her lit-up eyes shedding some light on their situation. "There you are," Sekito said to the summon, "I was worried sick about you." While Egol got up from underneath some storage shelves, he comforted his friend: "Don't worry about her, Sekito. Sinistros are not of this world. They cannot die here. They can only be forcefully sent back to their own plain of existence."

Platine's eyes flickered as she let out a series of clicks in dismay. "Yes, I know it's not a pleasant transition," Egol replied, "But it sure beats dying." "How would you know?" Sekito jumped in, "Have you done either of them?" "Is this really the time or place for this discussion?" Egol said sternly.

Before any of them could reply, the boat shuddered slightly. "We must have reached our destination," Sekito guessed. "That felt as if the ship was being moored." "Then they'll come for me very soon. We have to devise a plan." "A plan? This is boat is filled with soldiers. How do you want to get past them?" Platine hovered next to Egol and started clicking and creaking at a rapid pace. "You can turn yourself invisible?!" Egol asked his friend after the Sinistro grew quiet again. "Well, not really invisible. I can temporarily transport myself to a higher plane where my healing powers increase and I become less noticeable to bystanders." "That's just what we need. We just need to time it perfectly. But with a little help…"

The Xelor and Sinistro looked at each other for a moment when suddenly the voice of the lieutenant sounded outside: "Right, time to go. The Captain wants to present her prisoner to the Admiral right away." "Yessir," the guard replied and they both entered the sick bay. "All right, get ready. Sekito: when they find out I'm gone, they'll start searching every room. When they enter here, go to your other plane and stay there until they're gone. Understand?"

"But what about you?" "Don't worry, I'll use a similar trick. Your turn, Platine: Double time." Sekito watched in bewilderment as the Sinistro blinked its hollow eyes and two more Sinistros appeared beside her. "What? How did you do that? Which one is the real Platine?" The three Sinistros clicked in unison. "They all are," Egol responded, "Temporal images of the same entity."

By then the voices sounded a bit more panicked in the other room: "That can't be!" "You fool! You let him escape!" "But, Sir, how could I know that he replaced his body with pillows?" "Just shut up and search the nearby rooms. I'll sound the alarm." The friends heard the lieutenant run back into the hallway while the sailor started opening and closing every door nearby the sick bay.

"Get ready…" Egol said as the entire group stood poised for the sailor's entrance. The moment the handle on the door moved the Sinistros' eyes all started to glow, slowing down the opening of the door. In the meanwhile, Sekito became ethereal again as he switched planes and Egol first started to hover and then simply teleported out of the room, followed seconds later by the Platines. Sekito saw how the soldier scanned the room with a slight fear in his eyes before closing the door again.

When all was dark again, Sekito materialized again moments before Egol and his summons appeared back in the room. "Where did you guys go?" Sekito said with a lowered voice, "I didn't know you could vanish just like that." "We didn't vanish," Egol said as his feet touched ground again, "We just teleported to sick bay next door. We knew they wouldn't search there anymore, so it was the perfect hiding place. And because we had been there before, we knew the room well enough not to teleport into any object."

The three Platines clicked again and in a single flash, two of them vanished again. "And what was that good for?" Sekito said in a higher pitch indicating that there was a bit too much weirdness going on for him to grasp. "Simple math. Three Sinistros can slow down more than one." "But… but… there weren't three. There was just Platine." "Yes," Egol said in a soft tone of voice, "but every Platine has the same power."

"That just doesn't make sense," Sekito finally gave up. "It doesn't, if you consider just one space-time continuum. But the great Xelor allows his disciples to touch several space-time streams and use them to their advantage." "I'll just believe you on that," Sekito sighed, "But we're still not out of here." "No, we're not," Egol confirmed as they heard the alarm bells ringing through the ship. But I think our best option is to keep doing this until they believe we're not on the ship anymore." "Let's hope the great Xelor and the god Ecaflip are still on talking terms then," Sekito joked as they settled down again, waiting for the next guard.

Mei de Prac, still in chains at the Mask of Shushu's hideout, was awoken from her uncomfortable slumber by a heated argument moving in her direction. The door to her prison room swung open and Kzam stormed in, saying nothing, closely followed by Lani Mirc: "Great going, oh formidable leader! A little trip to Bonta to scare off an Enutrof and what do we have to show for it?! Our brother behind bars and a large pile of snot!"

She hurled a blob of green goo at the back of the Masqueraider's head. But instead of hitting him, it smacked to pieces on an invisible shield inches away from his backside. "That was not Wally Maart," he replied menacingly without facing her. "Igor!" the Shushu possessing his mask shouted towards the large mirror in the back of the room, "Have you completed your search yet?"

"But of course, Sarojam," the Shushu mirror replied placidly, "I searched the underground as instructed and found what you were looking for." "Good work," Kzam complimented. "Now I will have my revenge for the humiliation we suffered at Bonta!" "Show us!" the mask almost screamed. "I really didn't need to look far," Igor told them as the image in the mirror changed.

"His hideout is actually not far from here. An underground complex not unlike this one right here in Brakmar. The entrance to his 'lair' lies hidden in the cellar of a little jeweler store on Scara Pass named 'The Darth Mussel's Pearl'." "Yes. Yes!" Sarojam cheered, "Nos, Lani, prepare yourselves, we're heading out for…" But he was interrupted mid-sentence by three clicks coming from behind them.

The Masqueraider turned around and he and Sarojam found themselves staring in the barrels of the two Rogues' guns. "We ain't going anywhere before we spring Lenny from jail!" Nos threatened him. "Yeah, family always goes first," Lani added. "You two can have your little revenge afterwards."

Mei stared at the criminals' standoff and wondered who would free her from her bonds should they finish each other off right then and there. "You miserable pond scum!" Sarojam spat out, "Is this your thanks for all the power and riches that we delivered?" "Riches mean nothing if you don't have your family to share them with, Shushu," Lani said while aiming one gun at Kzam's mask and one gun at his chest, "But you wouldn't know anything about that, now would you?"

"We have no time for this," Kzam said ice-cold but still calm, "How will you free your brother from Bonta prison without our help?" "We've always got by without you before, Kzam," Nos replied, "Why shouldn't we be able to do so now?" "You little, pretentious humans! Do you know who you're talking to? I am Sarojam, major Shushu and right hand to Lord Rushu himself!"

The argument was then interrupted by a high-pitch cackle coming from the shadows at the other end of the room: "Right hand? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Don't flatter yourself, snake! You're hardly worthy enough to clip Rushu's hooves!" "What!?" Sarojam's eye flared up as everybody turned around to see where the voice was coming from. Then a scrawny figure in a Strawcrow outfit revealed himself from behind the large mirror: "You always thought too highly of yourself, you little worm."

"Who the Shukrute are you?!" the Shushu in the mask called out. "Oh come now, Sarojam," the Strawcrow jested, "don't you remember me?" "Maybe if we see your face…," Kzam said and with a single blow of his fist, launched a shockwave at his masked opponent, but he just cartwheeled out of harm's way.

As the rock wall behind him shuddered from the impact, he pulled out a club resembling a small Scarecroolate on a long stick: "You stay out of it, Shushu lover. This is just between me and Sarojam!" "And us," Nos and Lani added in unison, "No one enters our hideout unwanted and lives to tell the tale."

"Oh, but you didn't think I came unprepared, now do you?" He snapped his fingers and through the door next to Mei his two henchmen barged in, swinging their weapons menacingly. "What kind of circus is this?" Nos asked when seeing the two masked men approaching them. "One of the short variety," Lani replied, "All right, fearless leader, you take on the scarecrow, we'll deal with pumpkin and bone head here." "My pleasure," Sarojam and Kzam said together.

The Rogues opened fire on the henchmen while the Masqueraider slowly but menacingly walked towards the Smiling Strawcrow. "When I'm done with you, you bug bag," Sarojam spoke, "there won't be enough of you left to scrape the dirt of Rushu's hooves. Let me show you the true power of a major Shushu!" The mask started to glow crimson red as thick, black smoke came spewing out of all openings.

Kzam let out a feral roar as his body slowly started to change, becoming black and snakelike. His arms and legs became shorter, but he grew a long, slender tail. On his back several small craters formed that started to belch out more smoke, enshrouding him almost completely in the black mist.

Finally the mask itself became alive and bared its teeth at the Strawcrow. Its eyes glowed like fire and the next moment, it seemed as if the smoke around him became alive. It twirled around his body and formed to enormous black wings on the back of the possessed Masqueraider, giving him the appearance of a winged dragon. "I am Sarojam, the Shadow Serpent, the Scourge of all Srams, the Snake of Shapeless Smoke! Witness my power and despair!"

He roared again, spewing black smoke from his mouth as if it was a flame. "Now it's you and me, you cheeky little…" But before he could finish, a soft squeaking noise sounded beneath his feet. "What?!" The Shushu looked down and saw a cute, little stuffed Tofu moments before it exploded.

The Mourning Wood plains. Sulpa Venneir sat on top of one of the larger boulders in the area, still recovering from his fight with Jaffacrack. He had specifically chosen this rock as a resting place as he didn't completely trust the local flora anymore. He had ditched his female disguise and was pondering his next move. His suspicion about Wally Maart using a Bellaphone in his organization seemed more and more plausible, but it had not given him any usable clues on the Enutrof's whereabouts.

He sighed softly and got ready to head back to the Zaap, when he heard a soft humming coming from the tall grass near the rock. It were the same female voices he had heard when he had arrived in Mourning Wood. "Bellaphones!" the spy thought to himself. He pulled out his cards and got to his feet, ready to strike. "Show yourselves!" the Ecaflip called out. When all remained silent, he pulled back his arm, ready to launch his throwing cards.

But just before he attacked, a soft female voice answered: "Ok, ok. Hold your fire. I'll come out." Sulpa saw how one of the slimy witches revealed herself at the bottom of the rock. But to his surprise, she didn't look as vile or seductive as tales had pictured her kind. True, her hair seemed was made of translucent green slime that flowed behind her like real hair, but the rest of her looked like a sweet young naked girl, shy and cautious instead of hot and pleasing.

"Sorry," she said in a sweet voice, "Didn't mean to startle you. But I've been following you since you came to the plains." "So I've noticed," Sulpa said as he jumped down from the boulder, still wielding his cards to be safe. He made a mental note to improve his skills to blend in as seemingly everybody in Brakmar had noticed his presence here.

"Why are you following me? Looking for your next victim?" The white skinned girl almost seemed to blush: "Oh goodness, no." She hesitated for a moment. "I had heard you were inquiring about our long lost sister and was hoping you could bring us some information about her whereabouts." "Long lost sister…" Sulpa echoed, "Oh, you mean the Bellaphone accompanying Wally Maart?"

"So that is the name of the Enutrof who abducted her? Such an awful man… We're used to being hunted by the Osamodas for our unique skills, but never an Enutrof. These Kama hungry creatures don't know the first thing about tending to such delicate flowers as ourselves."

Sulpa put in his cards back in his pocket as he relaxed a bit: "Well, I can reassure you: she's still alive and in good health the last time I saw her. And from where I was standing, she was enjoying her time in Wally's service." The Bellaphone scooted a little closer: "Oh, I reassure you, kind Sir, we Bellaphones can fake and pretend very well. It is the only trick we know to stay alive when in captivity, as our frail physique doesn't allow us to fight our captors."

Sulpa looked at her questioningly: "Well, that's not what I've heard. But never mind that. You know now your sister is still safe and sound, so if that is all…" "Yes, I'm very grateful for this, but I was hoping I could lend you a hand in finding her captor and returning her to us." This turn of events genuinely surprised Sulpa Venneir: "What? She's been missing for so long and just when I happen to pass by, you decide you want to rescue her?"

"It's not nearly as simple as make it out to be, Sir. Me and my sisters have been trying to locate her for some time now, but since we are bound to this plain, we are limited to travelers and passersby as sources of information. But lately we may have found a way to circumvent this handicap."

"You have decided to send out missionaries into the World of Twelve?" "No, we've found a window into the world: a demon mirror located right beneath this very soil." Sulpa raised his eyebrow in disbelief, but the Bellaphone girl grabbed him by the arm: "Follow me, I'll show you."

She led the Bontarian spy with her gentle touch to a small inconspicuous opening between the rocks not far from the boulder where they had met. "So what you're telling me," Sulpa recapitulated, "is that this is the entry to a Rogues' lair in which I would find a mirror possessed by a Shushu allowing me to see anything I want in the World of Twelve?"

"That is indeed the rumor," the Bellaphone confirmed, "but none of the adventurers we've enlisted have returned to confirm us this tale." "So actually you're sending me into a possible deathtrap with only a rumor to guide me?" "I'm afraid so, but I'm convinced you're as motivated to capture her abductor as we are to retrieve our sister. Such passion cannot be withheld by the insignificant scoundrels lurking in these caves. But if you fear to go down there alone, I can breed you some help…"

"No, thank you. I think I have better chance alone down there." The Ecaflip pulled a lantern out of his Haven bag and cautiously entered the unlit cave. The monster girl waited by the entrance until the glow from the lantern had disappeared from her sight. Then she walked away with a mocking grin on her face.

"So, he fell for it?" another female voice sounded from the bushes. "Of course. Males are so gullible," the girl replied as she threw her hair back. As she did so, her body seemed to grow more mature, becoming that of a voluptuous adult woman no man could resist. She joined a few other Bellaphones who were waiting for her behind the rock formation.

Between the slimy witches a Rogue was sitting with a dazed and love-struck look in his eyes. "Let's hope this one is a bit more resilient than the previous meat bags we sent in there." "Oh, I'm quite sure of it," the transformed Bellaphone said, "The pussycat doesn't know he's under our spell. He still thinks he's trying to achieve his own petty goals." "Maybe for the better," one of the other replied, "because they become so useless once they've complete fallen for us."

The original walked over to the Rogue, grabbed him by the chin and squeezed his cheeks: "Oh, I wouldn't say that. Because when the time is right, you will walk right in there and kill them all, won't you, my pet?" The Rogue replied to her question with an enthusiastic nod. "See girls, they do have their use," she said, smiling menacingly.

Sulpa carefully lit the way as he advanced into the supposed Rogues' nest. He realized very well that the Bellaphone's story could have been completely fabricated, so he advanced with extreme caution. But after a few minutes the first signs of human presence started to show themselves and it didn't take Sulpa much longer before he reached the heart of the hideout.

A larger cave lit by several torches was filled with crates, stools and tables. The walls were adorned with a multitude of crude banners and flags. To his surprise, Sulpa recognized the coat of arms depicted on them. "Bless Ecaflip," he thought to himself, "I've found me the Mask of Shushu's lair! Captain Lees would give a fortune for the location of this place. But I wonder why I still haven't run into anyone."

The gang that had accompanied the Mask on his raids on Bonta, except for the last one, consisted of a rather large number of Rogues, so Sulpa expected to run into at least a few of them. He pulled a Hairy Moon card out of his card deck and at his feet a black Bow Meow appeared. He softly petted it on her head and whispered: "Ok, girl, let's see if we can find some bad boys." The feline rubbed his legs for a few more seconds before she darted off into the one the open doors.

Sulpa continued to scan the main room, but found nothing but the usual stuff: alcohol, explosives and guns. Then he heard his Bow Meow meowing from the other room. He went to check it out and as he walked through the door, he noticed a distinct smell that almost immediately gave him a slight headache. The room was obviously a dormitory and was filled with sleeping and snoring bandits.

"What is going on here?" Sulpa thought to himself as he tried to fight off the intensifying dizziness. The Bow Meow meowed again. She was sitting next to what looked like a plush Puffnando with a plume of green gas coming from his mouth. Sulpa Venneir tried to get closer to the toy, but felt himself losing consciousness real fast. He fell to his knees and was about to pass out when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg. He jerked up and got out of the room as soon as he could.

Back in the main hall he felt his head clear again. He rubbed his leg and saw the claw marks left by his Bow Meow. The kitty followed him out a bit later with the toy Snapper in her mouth. Sulpa accepted the gift and petted her again: "Good girl! If it wasn't for you, I'd be snoozing there as well." He studied the plush fish his pet had given him: "This at least explains why no one has come out to greet us. But who dropped it here? And with which purpose? Criminals normally aren't so kind to their kind, so any rival clan would have just plain killed them."

Sulpa was about to take the toy apart when he and his pet were startled by the muffled sound of an explosion. "It looks like not everyone's asleep," he said out loud, but the Bow Meow had already vanished. He pulled out his playing cards and headed in the direction of the sound. It wasn't long before he came up to a large, reinforced door. Behind the door he could here several muffled voice beneath the clattering of weapons and gunshots.

It seemed like the gods Xelor, Eniripsa and Ecaflip had all met up at Pandawa's bar that day and had struck a deal, for Egol and Sekito were extremely lucky and had managed to stay hidden during the entire search of the ship. They had remained on their guard for some time after the last visitor, but decided it was time to make the next step.

"So now what do we do?" Sekito whispered as he slowly opened the door of their hideout. "I suppose they placed guards at the main door, so that's not an option." "Indeed," Egol replied as the sneaked into the hallway. "And I don't know if there's any other way out of this submersible." "Maybe a back door? The bridge and main entrance are that way, so I suggest we check the other end."

"Well, for the moment, I think that is our only option," the Xelor conceded. "Platine, you see if you can find schematics of the ship somewhere. They might give us a clue on another way out." The Sinistro flickered her eyes affirmatively before she vanished into the time stream. "Ok, Sekito. Lead the way."

They crept through the eerily quiet submarine with almost no guards to avoid. They left the more decorated main halls and went down into the engine room. Here there were a few technicians running some checks on the engines. Sekito and Egol made sure they stayed out of sight, but this didn't require too much effort as the mechanics were very enveloped in their work.

When they reached a quiet corner between the running engines, Sekito looked back at the mechanics and said: "What is driving this boat? I've never seen such technology anywhere in the World of Twelve. Even the ancient Eliatrope contraptions look nothing like this." Egol let his hand run over one of the pipes: "Whatever it is, it feels very powerful."

"I know. I felt it too, back in my cell. It almost feels… evil." "And I know why. Look!" Egol pointed at a pair of mechanical claws that grabbed chunks of the purple Stasili ore and dropped them into a funnel leading towards the engines. "This boat is powered by Stasis!"

"What evil mastermind is behind this madness?" Sekito wondered out loud as Platine reappeared next to them. "Ah Platine, any success?" The Sinistro clicked in excitement as her eyes lit up and projected the schematics of the entire vessel. It seemed the boat had roughly the shape of a whale with the bridge and crew quarters in the bow while the entire stern was filled with engines and other strange machinery.

Egol studied the projection and pointed at one of the larger engine rooms: "We should be… about here." "That's great," said Sekito a bit sarcastic, "but I don't see any way out of this infernal vessel on that end." "Maybe not," Egol squinted his eyes and paused for a moment. "Then again, maybe there is. Look over here."

"What am I looking at?" "Not far from here there should be something named 'escape pod'. I'm not quite sure, but from the look of it, I would say it's some sort of underwater lifeboat. It seems completely detachable from the ship and should be accessible through this hatch." Sekito looked around the cramped room and saw the hatch not far from their location: "Over there. That should be it."

"Probably installed to evacuate the engine crew during an emergency. Ok, thanks Platine. It looks like you saved our hides again." The Sinistro creaked with pride as her eyes dimmed again and she transformed in a Tofu again. She landed on Egol's shoulder and together they crept after Sekito who had already reached the escape pod.

Meanwhile on the bridge, Captain Mofette listened to the lieutenant's latest status rapport with thinly veiled annoyance. Frida waited for him to finish his report before she got out of her command chair and leaning on the railing, barked out at her subordinate: "So what you are telling me is that the prisoners escaped both our brig and our sickbay, both guarded by your men, and afterwards managed to elude your search party on a closed submarine?! I'm seriously starting to doubt the competence of your squadron, Lieutenant!"

The lieutenant knew that this was hardly the time or place to start arguing with his superior. There was an emergency that was more important than his personal pride or honor. He just replied: "We will redouble our efforts, Ma'am." "See that you do. They cannot have escaped this vessel without us knowing. Now see to it that…"

She was interrupted by one of her officers standing by the all female navigational crew at the helm of the submarine. "Ma'am, we've just launched one of our aft escape pods!" "What?!" the Captain shouted and she grabbed the radio communicator located next to the steering wheel: "Engine room, who authorized that escape pod launch?"

A panicked engineer sounded through the speaker: "We didn't authorize anything, Ma'am. We're all here and accounted for. It must have been someone else who snuck in here without us knowing." Frida Mofette slammed the communicator back onto the control panel and turned towards the lieutenant again: "Time for your squad to prove themselves, Lieutenant! Man the Steamflexes and retrieve that pod at all costs. But I want them alive, do you understand?" The man clicked his heels and saluted: "Yes, Ma'am!" before he stormed out the bridge.

On the other side of the door that Sulpa Venneir had reached, Nos and Lani Mirc were having serious difficulties in holding back Heckle and Jeckle. "These guys just won't take a hint!" Nos shouted as he blocked Heckle's incoming attack with his longsword. The sword almost bent under the hammer's blow, but Nos put his weight into it and pushed back the masked attacker.

A bit further his sister continuingly dodged Jeckle's axe as she tried to get some distance between her and her assailant: "You're telling me! And what's keeping the rest of the gang? Are they snoozing on the job or what?" She fired another volley at the cranium wearing crony, but he reflected them with the blade of his axe and used the handle to counterattack.

Lani was knocked back against the wall, right next to where Mei De Prac was still chained to the wall. "Set me free, Lani," the Pandawa said, "You can't take these guys on your own." The female Rogue wiped the blood from her chin and glared at the bounty hunter: "It will a cold day in Shukrute before I let a stuffed bear tell me what to do."

Their little conversation was cut short as Heckle planted his axe in the rock wall between them. "Two girlies to play with," the henchman chuckled as he pulled his weapon out of the rock. "Let's have some fun." He pulled back his weapon for another blow, but Lani beat him to it. She took her boomerang dagger from her belt and hurled it at Jeckle's head.

He dodged it just in time, but that gave Lani enough time to roll between his legs and get back on her feet behind him. There she pulled out both her guns again and fired at the masked man at point-blank range. Jeckle reacted with lightning speed and shielded is head from the blast with his axe. "Ha! You missed!" Jeckle mocked.

"Not quite," Mei's voice sounded from behind him. The ricocheted blast had cut one of Mei de Prac's bonds, giving her enough room to maneuver closer to the skull wearing criminal. Jeckle turned around, but before he could respond, Mei kicked him hard in his side, propelling him towards Lani. She moved out the way and tripped the masked henchman, causing him to fall right on top of Heckle. Nos used this opportunity and knocked them both down with one swoop of his sword.

"Now will you cut me loose? Together we can take them," Mei proposed to the Rogue. Lani directed one of her guns at the Pandawa: "I wasn't born yesterday, Missy! You'll hightail out of here once I free you. So I think I better take care of you now before you become a liability." Nos kept the Strawcrow's henchmen at gunpoint, but they obviously weren't very impressed and were getting ready to attack again.

"Lani, will you get over here?" he called over to his sister as he started firing. "Too bad for Lenny," Lani said between her teeth as she started to fire on the masked men with one of her guns, "He'll just have to find a new toy." But before she could pull the trigger of her second gun, the door behind the recovering henchmen was blasted out with by a huge explosion.

The door itself hit Heckle and Jeckle and the shockwave that followed the explosion knocked down the Mirc siblings. Through the smoke of the explosion sounded the voice of Sulpa Venneir: "I think the lady said to release her!" Before the Ecaflip even became visible, one of his cards flew through the room, cutting Mei de Prac's second chain, finally releasing her from her prison.

A few seconds later the cat man entered the room and pounced over the Rogues, joining Mei. "Good thing a Rogues' den is always full of explosives," he joked. "Hello there, Miss de Prac, long time no see. I believe this is yours?" He handed her the tube-like bamboo barrel so typical for all Pandawa warriors. "Yes, thank you. Good to see you too, Agent Venneir."

She slung the barrel on her back and together with Sulpa turned her attention towards Lani and Nos Mirc who were back on their feet. "Look what the Bow Meow dragged in," Lani scolded. "He's that tomcat that took out Lenny!" Nos added, "Time for payback!" "Come and get it, boys and girls," Sulpa Venneir taunted them as the Rogues opened fire on Mei and Sulpa.

Meanwhile in the back of the room Kzam possessed by Sarojam flew around on his smoky wings to avoid the Strawcrow's bombs, all the while attacking him by spewing pitch-black smog. "You never were more than hot air, Sarojam!" the Strawcrow screamed over the sound of the last explosion. "You think you'll impress Rushu by terrorizing these puny humans?" "Puny humans?" Kzam's voice sounded through Sarojam's growl, "And what might you be?" The Strawcrow smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know, mask boy?"

Kzam-Sarojam landed in front of the masked criminal, its smoke wings changing into two large arms that lunged out at the Strawcrow. He waited until the last moment to somersault backwards, causing the smoke claws to dissipate on the cave floor. "Stand still, you arrogant grasshopper!" Sarojam growled.

The arm smoke reformed itself as four large tentacles on the Shushu's back. With them, he picked up small boulders lying about and started hurling them at his opponent. The Strawcrow deflected the first few with his club, but after a while the rocks got bigger and he barely avoided being squashed by them. Sarojam laughed out loud as every boulder he threw came closer to hitting the masked man. "Not so tough now, are you?"

The Strawcrow looked at him and smirked. "Maybe not, but neither are you," and with a single motion hurled four Wodent bombs at the smoke creature. The Shushu-human roared in anger as he was blasted by the force of the combined explosions. He hit the rock wall of the cave, causing his smoke tendrils to evaporate temporarily.

The smokeless lizard got back on his feet and hissed at the Strawcrow as his body started spewing smoke again: "You truly are mad, aren't you?" You know you have no chance against a demon with my powers!" The masked man just chuckled as Kzam-Sarojam's entire body glowed crimson red and the fresh smoke spiraled around them as a huge twister, soon reaching the ceiling of the cave.

Sarojam roared as the top of the smoke tornado changed into a huge snake's head with glowing red eyes. "Now let's get serious!" The smiling Strawcrow readied his Scarecroolate club as the smoke snake dived towards him. He evaded the head and struck at the body with his weapon, but it simply went harmlessly through the smoke. They repeated this little dance a few times, each time enraging Sarojam more and more: "You really think you can hurt us like that?!"

"Time for playing games is over," Kzam's voice sounded through and with a flick of his tail, the Shushu tackled his opponent from behind. But before he hit the ground Kzam-Sarojam grabbed him with one of his smoke coils, now suddenly very solid, and squeezed him good. They brought the squirming criminal closer to the huge snake's head and gloated: "Not so tough now, are we? But before we crush your very bones, let's see who's beneath this pathetic mask."

They grabbed the top of the mask with the tip of their smoky tail when the Strawcrow laughed out loud again: "You still haven't figured it out, have you?" "You're still mocking us? Even now, at the brink of your destruction?" "You really never were the smart one, Sarojam. Father should have smashed you when he had the chance."

"What?" At that moment a strong sucking noise was heard at the bottom of the cave: there a dozen Don Puffnando toys activated all at once, inflating themselves while sucking in the black smoke. Kzam and Sarojam swore in unison as their entire snake body quickly dissipated, dropping them and the Strawcrow amidst the inflated Snapper toys.

The Shushu possessed human quickly crawled to his feet and hurled himself at the Strawcrow in a fit of rage: "WHO ARE YOU?!" "Sorry," the man said pinned to the floor, "Your time is up." At this cue all the Don Puffnando toys exploded in unison, engulfing both Kzam-Sarojam and the Strawcrow in their blast.

In the escape pod Egol was trying his best to manage the alien steering mechanism and guide them out of the docking bay. "Look out for that wall!" Sekito screamed behind him as he covered his eyes. "Try to keep calm, Sekito," Egol said in a shaky voice as he pulled the leavers controlling the rudder and propellers of their little ship.

"I'm doing my best to get us out of here, but I'm not used to this technology." "Over there," the Eniripsa pointed, "There's the exit." The little pod skimmed past the bottom of the basin and propelled towards the gate. "There, we're clear off the docking bay," Egol said in relief.

"Wow, would you look at that," Sekito said in amazement. "It's an entire city under the sea!" The two friends marveled at the impressive view of the sunken city of Sufokia lighting up the sea bottom with countless floodlights and portholes. It consisted of many steel domes connected with short pipes, all riddled with lights. Egol slowly set course towards the city as they kept staring at the marvelous display.

"This must be the long lost city of Sufokia," Sekito said in awe. "The one that sunk beneath the waves because of Ogrest's Flood?" "Yes, the very same." "But how can they have survived this long?" Egol wondered, "And with such advanced technology?" "The Foggernauts were already quite skilled in submersible technology before Ogrest's Chaos, so if anyone could have survived such a catastrophe, I would have been them. And about being so advanced: where were you when those Foggernaut robots invaded our land? They were unlike anything we had ever seen."

Sekito suddenly realized something: "Hey, that's funny: according to Wicky Leeks, most of old Sufokia's population was turned into these mechanical creatures, but I didn't see one of them on the submarine. But now I do see the resemblance: the Foggernauts were brimming with Stasis and so is this submarine technology. Egol, don't you see? We have an unique opportunity to explore this lost civilization! We can't just let that slip through our fingers."

Egol looked at his friend in disbelief: "May I remind you that this lost civilization captured us, imprisoned us and was about to bring us to justice for crimes we didn't commit?" Sekito felt a bit embarrassed and slumped back into his seat. "And I don't think they're giving up that easy either," Egol added. "Look over there: several small pods are launching from the docking bay we just left." Sekito squinted his eyes: "What are they? They look smaller than our little boat."

"Yeah, and a lot faster too. Hold on tight, I'm going to try and pull out all the stops." Sekito was thrown back into his seat as Egol pulled back all levers and their mini-submarine accelerated towards the city. "Let's hope I can shake them!" Back on the bridge of the submarine, Captain Mofette and her crew listened to communications of the Steamflexes in pursuit of the escape pod.

"They're heading back towards the city." "The sub is too fast. We can't beat it when it comes to speed." "Stay in formation." Frida took the communicator in hand: "Lieutenant, remember that the fugitives are probably inexperienced and not familiar with the terrain or our technology. Use this to your advantage." "Understood, Ma'am. All right, boys, this is just like hunting Kralamores. We just have to drive them in the right direction. Sharks 3 and 5, break off and move towards the south of the city to intercept. The rest of you follow my lead."

Sekito looked through the backward porthole of their sub and saw how their pursuers were losing ground fast. "We might just make it!" he called out to the front, when suddenly a muffled explosion was heard and the boat rocked violently. Sekito lost balanced and fell between the chairs: "What was that?!" "Looks like they're shooting at us."

Egol regained control of the sub and made a sharp turn just in time to avoid a next volley of Stasis shots. "They're firing pure Stasis, just like the Foggernaut robots!" Sekito remarked. "That's all very interesting," Egol said slightly annoyed, "but there firing pure Stasis at us! If we don't get out of their range soon, they'll blow us out of the water." He made another sharp turn, causing the incoming blasts to harmlessly hit the sea bottom, scaring some Bernardo dia Reya.

As Egol got the hang of the controls, he tried to zigzag more and more to avoid the energy blasts. This seemed to work, but at the cost of their speed. The Steamflexes weren't hitting them, but they were closing in on them. "Don't want to alarm you, Egol," Sekito said slightly nervous, "But they gaining on us." "I know, I know! Just hold on, I'm going to try something."

Egol leveled the submarine again and continued in a straight line next to the submersed city. Sekito felt the boat accelerate again, but saw how the robot-subs got ready for another volley. He turned around to warn his friend, but held his tongue when he saw how his Xelor armor was glowing brightly.

He looked outside again where he could almost see the bubble in time created by Egol formed around their boat, causing it to move faster than its surrounding. The Stasis shots aiming for them missed their mark and Sekito saw the Steamflexes struggling to keep up.

"What in Osamodas' name?" sounded through the speaker on the bridge, "How did they do that?" "What is going on?" Captain Mofette said into the microphone. "The mini-sub suddenly accelerated to an unseen speed, Captain. There is no way we can keep up." "The Xelor," Frida grumbled under her breath. "Lieutenant, don't let them out of your sight! I do not want them leaving this city!"

Slowly decelerating to normal speed, Egol turned their escape pod towards the sunken city of Sufokia, using its structure as a cover. He maneuvered around a few pipes and glass domes before setting the ship down in a dark corner on the ocean floor. "What are you doing?" Sekito panicked "We're losing momentum!" "I'm sorry, but I couldn't last any longer. But I'm sure we couldn't outrun them for long. They must know these waters and this technology much better than me. We got to wait for them to move on so we can slip away unseen."

The two friends kept quiet as they saw the searchlights of their pursuers lighting one of the larger dome nearby, but they let out a sigh of relief when the turned around before noticing them. "Well, that seemed to have worked," Egol sighed as he slumped slightly in his chair. "But for how long?" his friend wondered. "And how much oxygen do we have left in this metal barrel." The Xelor looked around and said: "If I am correct, this little gauge is telling us that we have about two hours left. That should be enough to wait for them to leave."

"You don't know that," Sekito countered. "We haven't got the slightest clue how long it will take us to reach the surface again and…" Sekito was interrupted when their sub rocked violently. Two bright lights emerged from both sides of the sub, blinding its passengers. A crackled voice sounded through the speakers as the two Steamflexes grabbed the escape pd with their claws: "End of the line, boys!"

Everyone in the cave stopped their fighting as the blast from the toys made the entire hideout tremble. "Kzam!" Nos called out, joined in by Heckle and Jeckle: "Boss!" "What is that madman doing?" Lani added. "What's going on?" Sulpa asked Mei.

"These three masked men had entered the hideout to challenge Kzam and his Rogues. Then Kzam let himself be possessed by the Shushu in his mask to become some sort of hideous smoke creature to fight the leader of the intruders. Now I think the fighting is officially over." The six fighters approached the scene of the blast and found the two leaders unconscious on the floor, seriously battered by the explosion.

Sarojam was separated from Kzam again and lay next to him on the floor, back in his mask, still smoking softly. The Strawcrow's henchman wanted to move in to help him up when everyone heard a soft giggle coming from his body. As the laughter got louder, he slowly pushed himself off the ground, still trembling. His outfit was seriously tattered, revealing his body through the rips and tears.

Mei de Prac gasped: "You're… you're one of those robots. Those Foggernauts!" The Strawcrow's laughter slowly turned into a chuckle as he faced the onlookers: "Close, but no cigar, my dear. I'm made of something stronger." He took off his Strawcrow mask, revealing what looked like a prototype Foggernaut. His face looked more like a battered skull than the refined visages found on other Foggernauts, but it was also brimming with Stasis.

Sarojam's voice sounded: "A puppet? We were beaten by a tin shell?" "Oh Sarojam," the Strawcrow said in a mocking voice, "You never could see beyond the end of your vile nose." He walked over to the Shushu in the mask and picked him up. "You still have no idea, do you?" "I don't know any copper cronies, you cretin! You are nothing but a failed attempt of a long drowned people to augment themselves into something they're not!" The Strawcrow laughed and threw the mask into the direction of the still unconscious Masqueraider.

"I think you need further evidence. Igor!" The Shushu mirror had kept quiet during the fight, but now responded as if nothing had happened: "Yes?" "Show me … my father." The Rogues and Bontarians looked puzzled at each other while Heckle and Jeckle cringed in fear. Igor on the other hand simply replied: "As you wish, my Lord." The image in the mirror twirled and faded until it revealed the fearsome face of the demon god Rushu, Lord of the Shushus and Ruler of Shukrute, realm of Shushus.

The huge demon seemed to be snoozing and didn't notice he was being watched. "Lord Rushu," Sarojam said in a trembling voice full of awe and fear. Rushu seemed to wake up: "Huh? What? Who dares to disturb my destruction?" His voice boomed through the cave, causing small pebbles to dislodge from the ceiling. "Hello there, Daddy. It's me," the Strawcrow said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

The huge demon stared at him in disbelief, so the battered robot continued. "Don't you recognize your own son?" "My own son?" To illustrate his point the Strawcrow opened his vest, revealing a canister similar to that in a Foggernaut's chest. Only this one contained a small gear with glowing green eyes interlocking with other gears leading into the robot's body instead of pure Stasis.

Comprehension crept over Rushu's hideous face. "Jushu? Jushu! You posy picking pansy! What kind of dainty disguise have you donned yourself in this time?!" "Oh, a Shushu must do what he must to survive, Father. Certainly after a certain demon god had ordered to bury him on the bottom of the deepest ocean!" Rushu almost seemed to smile: "And yet you persevere, like the true Bow Meow Fish that you are."

"Oh, I will do more than just persevere, big guy. I'm going to do what you never could: I'm going to take over the World of Twelve! With the Gods still recovering from Ogrest's spanking and you locked in your desolate sandbox, there will be no one here to stop me!"

This seemed to enrage the huge demon: "You pathetic Piwi! You really think the heroes of that puny world will just sit and look how you take over their homeland? They'll reduce that little can you're riding to rubble before you even can make a move." The gear in the middle of the chest raised his glowing eyebrow: "If they wanted to stop me, they should have done so earlier. I've come too far now to be stopped by those demigod-wannabes."

In the back, Sulpa and Mei were looking for a way out of their predicament. "Shouldn't we put a stop to this?" Mei asked. "If that Shushu in the shell is really the son of Rushu bent on ruling the world, we're in way over our heads." Sulpa kept his eye on the conversation, but tried to calm his companion: "Don't worry about that yet. The only thing we have to do now is get out of here alive so we can get this information to the right people."

In the meantime Rushu approached the screen until his face filled the entire mirror: "Even so, my little larva, my power is not contained in this realm. My reach goes far beyond that. Sarojam, you worthless worm, prove your loyalty to me and take out this traitor!" "Yes, my Lord!" the mask screamed, mounted back on Kzam's face. "Oh please," the Strawcrow sighed as he took out his plunger gun from his haven bag.

The Masqueraider stormed the battered robot, yelling in unison with his mask. His fists started to glow with energy as he got ready to strike. But right before he could launch his attack, the Strawcrow fired his gun, planting the plunger in the middle of the Shushu possessed mask. This broke Kzam's momentum and after a few seconds of status quo, the Masqueraider and his mask glowed purple.

Sarojam and Kzam simultaneously screamed in pain as the purple glow left their body and went through the tube connecting the plunger with the Strawcrow's haven bag. Kzam, writhing in agony, tried to take off the mask, but it was too late: the mask exploded in a million pieces, propelling him backwards against the cave wall.

Jushu's robot body retracted the plunger and revealed the backpack containing the extracted Stasis to his father. "As you can see, oh Lord of Lunatics, I have found a way to suck the Stasis out of all life forms, giving me an almost limitless supply of Stasis to power my plans. And guess who's a prime source of delicious Stasis?" The Strawcrow held up the container next to his robotic face.

"You bastard of a Bow Meow!" Rushu roared, "You would turn your own kind into Stasis?! Just to further your own goals?" He grinned. "I'm starting to see the resemblance." "Yeah, well see all you want, Pa, because I will rule this backwater world like none has done before me. And I'll make sure you can watch it every step of the way!"

He turned around towards his onlookers and raised his gun into the air: "Who's with me?!" Heckle and Jeckle cheered while the humans just stood there, rooted to the spot by the series of events. "What's in it for us, gear boy?" Lani suddenly spoke up. Jushu chuckled and turned around as his father roared: "You would chose to ally yourself with these pathetic humans rather than with your brethren? You will regret that decision, just like that soft smoke-trail of a Sarojam did!"

"I think you need a time-out," the Strawcrow said and the mirror's image blurred over again. "I think this is our cue. You ready for a diversion?," Sulpa whispered to Mei. "Just leave that to me," the Pandawa grinned as she got a hold of her bamboo barrel. She jumped behind the Rogues and the henchmen, spun around with her barrel, hitting them off guard.

Then she planted the barrel in the floor in between them. The barrel started to tremble as the villains turned around to face her and just when they were about to attack, it exploded in a frothy fountain of bamboo milk, knocking them all down. She grabbed the barrel and slung it on her back again as she and Sulpa Venneir headed for the exit.

Lani swore under her breath as she got up and got ready to pursue the escapees when the Strawcrow grabbed her by the shoulder: "Let them be. We don't have time to waste on Mooflies like them." "But Boss," Jeckle tried, "they know of your identity. If they reveal it to the World…" "I didn't say we were going to let them live," the Shushu interrupted him.

"Right now there's an entire Rogue's lair waking up, finding two unwanted intruder in their midst. Guess what they'll do?" The sound of shouting and guns firing sounded from the central hall. "Right," Nos grinned as he nodded in understanding. Meanwhile in the hall, Sulpa and Mei were doing their very best to survive the horde of angry bandits pouring from the sleeping quarters.

"Just our luck!" Mei shouted over the roar of battle while knocking down the approaching Rogues with her barrel. "Luck has nothing to do with it," Sulpa answered back as he flung card after card at their assailants, "He must have known. Otherwise he wouldn't have let us go." He jumped up, avoiding the incoming gunshots. "We have to think of something or we won't get out of here alive."

Another Rogue met with Mei's barrel. "Are there any of those bombs left you used to blow down the door?" Sulpa's dice ricocheted from one Rogue to the next, disarming two of them: "There should still be a pile of them near the dormitories." "Right," Mei grunted as she pulled a flask from her belt and struck it against the cave floor, lighting the cork.

"Heads up!" she called as she lobbed the flaming flask over the crowd of crooks straight on a pile of bombs. The flask exploded, causing a chain reaction with the bombs, launching several Rogues into the air. The cave trembled from the explosion and filled up with smoke. Sulpa and Mei made use of this distraction slip away towards the exit and relative safety.