Batz sat at his desk in his home, counting his savings with a grim air.
Both bounty hunting contracts and treasure hunting offers by rich folks had dried up considerably as of recent. There was enough to put food on the table, but Batz didn't want to get complacent, and was making sure they had enough to put aside just in case.
It didn't help that Guntz was growing up quickly around him. The kid was now seven, and his wolf genes were starting to develop in a big way. He and Janga had been able to send him to a local school for the last couple of years, but as Guntz was growing older he was having trouble keeping a lid on his emotions, leading him to start fighting the other kids if they tried to pick on him, or on bad days if they so much as looked in his direction. Needless to say, the teachers had expressed their concerns about his growth, and how to control his anger better.
Batz did have a good idea, but whether it was a viable one was another matter. When he was a boy his parents had signed him up to this academy in Volk specifically designed for folks such as himself, which taught different ways to control their emotions, and harness their righteous anger in a positive direction for the betterment of the world. It was sort of like a cross between a military and a martial arts school, but not quite as rigid and unforgiving as those. It was where Batz had initially met Guntz's mother, whom he would marry many years later, and where he decided he wanted his lot in life to be as a bounty hunter, to try and make something of himself.
Sadly, this academy was quite pricey, the tuition fees especially steep, which led to its reputation as an exclusive establishment. Having the experience of such a place would help Guntz immensely, Batz felt, but with how tight things were at that moment, he just didn't know if it were possible. He had done his best to keep the gorier details of his job from his son, wanting him to grow up right without the knowledge of the numerous deaths his father had wrought when out on missions, but it did concern him that keeping him in his current educational path wouldn't be as effective as he'd want. He wanted his son to be a hero, someone who people could turn to for help.
The front door opened, and Janga stepped through, holding a few pieces of paper in his hands. He had been out to check the local bulletin board that bounties were often affixed to, wanting to see if anything lucrative came up that would fix their money woes.
"Any good jobs?" Batz asked with a weary air.
"Possibly." Janga replied as he brought the papers over for Batz to see. "A couple missions to capture these fleeing diplomats, mostly low paying crap, but then there's this one."
He pointed out one specific poster, in better shape than the others in the pile. It read:
"WANTED: Experienced treasure hunters to find archaeological site linked to Breezegale lore.
Reward: 2,000,000 G"
Batz's eyes widened as he looked at the reward sum, nearly choking on the drink he'd been sipping on, letting out an amazed "GOD DAYUM!" With money like that, he could send Guntz to that academy AND have loads of it spare to do up their house properly, as it could do with a bit of renovating.
A few hours later they had called up the address on the pamphlet and before they knew it they were both sitting in a dark office, their potential client reclining in a chair behind a desk, mostly shrouded in darkness, facing them.
"So," Batz said, wanting to break the ice, finding their potential client unusually enigmatic. "What sort of artifact are you wanting us to find?"
"Oh, it's not an artifact." The man said as he moved forward and came into view properly, showing his green militaristic uniform, a few cybernetic implants visible across his body. "It's the burial site of perhaps one of the most powerful entities in history."
He laid out a map on the table before them, showing a landscape filled with craters, and numerous points of interest laid out. Numerous notes and annotations lined the page, years of research collected together.
"Are either of you familiar with the legend of Nahato's Darkness?"
They both shook their heads.
"Well, then perhaps I should give you a rundown." the mysterious benefactor said as he looked over the map, seeing the mythical town on the lunar surface which hid his great prize, if only he could find its location.
Before he could begin, Janga suddenly piped up. "I'm sorry to cut you off, but I don't think you told us your name."
The man chuckled as he looked up at the feline with a grin.
"Garlen."
…
It was just under an hour since they had set off, and the drill had covered substantial ground, much faster than its large size had implied as it cut through the underground bedrock. According to the on-board sensors, they were about halfway towards their destination, where Garlen's hideout was. Once they were close, Klonoa, Guntz and Janga would be let off and sneak in on foot, infiltrating it and doing as much damage as possible before Garlen could use the Aeternus. Jillius' armies, combined with the forces of Lunatea, would be at the location not long after to aid them in bringing about his defeat.
It was surprisingly spacious in the drill, at least compared to what one might expect. There was the cockpit, of course, with four seats inside for each of them, a cavity accessible via a trap door below the main console to access the engine and some other important systems, and a small room towards the back that was essentially a cross between a weapons storage and a kitchen, containing supplies that the group might need going forward. And of course a toilet, because you never know.
Mercifully, Chipple being at the wheel wasn't causing any big problems. Truth be told, the autopilot on board was doing most of the work, and he was happily miming the motions of driving as they went. Glad they most likely wouldn't end up crashing, the group were mostly able to kick their feet up and talk.
Correction: Guntz, Chipple and Klonoa were kicking their feet up and talking. Janga had gone into the back some time ago and hadn't returned. Guntz had taken note and wondered where the hell he had gotten to. Ordinarily he might assume he was off sabotaging the drill or something, but recent events had made that… hard for him to really believe…
Deciding regardless that he ought to find out for sure, he excused himself and walked into the back room. If nothing else, he had a lot on his mind… and a lot of questions he wanted the answer to.
Walking into the back room, he saw Janga sitting in a chair, facing away from the door, looking to the floor and seeming deep in thought. He looked up when Guntz stepped in.
"Toilet's over there." He said, pointing towards a small door where said toilet was located. An invaluable resource on mining expeditions.
"Actually, I wanted to make sure you weren't up to no good." Guntz said as he moved over and took out one of the combat rations in the cupboards, unwrapping a particularly dry looking biscuit and grimacing when he took a bite. ("ugh… gross…")
Janga gave a chuckle. "Eh, don't feel like it today. Just didn't feel like talking, so came back here to think."
Guntz looked round and closed the door behind him, giving them both some privacy. "You've been doing that a lot recently. And they've been leaning more towards do-gooding than I'm used to with you. It's like you got hit on the head and now you're a different guy."
Janga looked away. "Is there another reason you came back here?"
"Now that you mention it…" Guntz said before making a face and throwing the biscuit across the room in disgust. Jillius ought to fire his suppliers. "I need some answers, and you've got a fuckload of the ones I need."
Janga looked down and sighed. "Depends. What kind of answers do you want?"
"Well, what the hell you're doing helping us, for starters." Guntz said with a slight hiss, as he got closer and stood before Janga. "You and I both know you're not just killing Garlen out of the kindness of your heart, and a death wish doesn't cover it for me. I want to know why you're really doing this."
Janga gave a groan. One question in and he already didn't want to be in this QnA anymore. "You don't gotta believe it, but the redemption arc's the long and the short of it. Garlen led me on with promises for when Nahatomb returned, and when that didn't happen it put all I'd done into perspective. I'd rather die doing something good for once so I don't leave this world a worthless scumbag. Besides, if he's dead, than he can't torment me for eternity"
Guntz smirked. Not as selfish a reason as he'd hoped for, but he wasn't done with his questioning. "I'll take that answer. For now. But that's not the whole story, is it? Seems to me like you really want this fight with Garlen to kill you, whether you kill him first or not. What awaits you on the other side that's worth all the trouble?"
Janga felt a lump in his throat. He didn't want to answer… but at the same time he felt compelled to. He owed Guntz that much.
"The only person I've ever truly loved."
Guntz leaned back with an eyebrow raised. Janga, loving someone? He'd believe THAT when he saw it. "And who might that be?"
Janga looked at him and spoke bluntly, not bothering with subtlety.
"Batz."
The utterance of his dad's name made Guntz reel back in shock, but he soon regained his bluster. "Now THAT is a dirty fucking lie!"
"Believe it, kid." Janga replied as he looked down bitterly. He should have expected that he'd need more than a single statement to believe such a thing. "You remember me telling you once how close me and your pops was?"
"Yeah, you were partners. Going off on treasure quests or whatever."
Janga shook his head. "No. We weren't just partners. We were…" His throat tightened and he choked up, unable to force the words out.
"What?" Gunrz pressed.
"We... we... were..." Janga stuttered, having trouble getting it out.
"You were what?" Guntz pressed, growing impatient.
Janga whirled round, standing up to face Guntz, and without yelling at the top of his lungs loudly said, "We were LOVERS, GUNTZ!" There was a moment's silence before he let out a cry and fell back into his chair.
These words only served to destabilize Guntz further, as much as he tried to keep himself afloat. "You... you're lying. My pops was a great man, he'd never get with the likes of you!"
"Are you sure?!" Janga said, at his last nerve with Guntz's insistent denial. "Don't you remember ANYTHING about your childhood?!"
Guntz began to reply in the negative… and then the memories started to come back to him…
The photo album under his dad's bed, with photos of Batz and Janga in a range of loving situations…
Long lost memories he had blocked out for years came flooding back… of his dad spending time with him… teaching him how to fire a gun… and in almost every one of them, Janga was there, he and his dad talking and seeming joined at the hip… happy together…
"No…"
"Ah, y'see, now you're starting to remember." Janga mused as he saw the look of horrified recall on Guntz's face. "Why do you think me and your pops spent so much time together when not on the job? We weren't just friends; we were closer than you could know. We were… we were intimate."
The imagery of THAT revelation Guntz quickly flushed from his mind as the feelings of denial came back in full force. "No, no, that's bullshit!" he cried out, trying to claw his way back to normalcy. "What the hell about my mother, did you force yourself between them?"
"Are you kidding?!" Janga said, affronted by the suggestion. "I loved her too! She and Batz took me in and helped me get on my feet when no one else would! But she was killed by pillagers not long after you were born, and when me and Batz stayed together, we just grew closer, until… we weren't just partners anymore, we were a couple…" His thoughts seemed to trail off as he reminisced on better times. "Did you know he was the one who gave me my claws and my hat? Those have always meant so much to me because they came from him…"
Guntz fell against the cupboards on the other side of the room for support. For years, he had been sure that Janga despised his dad, that he was just using him, and Janga had never done anything to challenge this notion. To have him say these things… and for them to line up so well with his own memories… he could barely take it…
But there were still things he could cling to. Things he could still hold against Janga…
"W-well… if you loved him so much, how come you killed him when he got in your way?!"
Janga gave a frustrated growl and buried his face in his hands, but Guntz wasn't backing down. "Oh no, you're not getting out of this! All this talk about how much you loved my father, and how much he meant to you, you expect me to swallow that when you struck him down in cold blood?!"
"I didn't mean to kill him!" Janga yelled out, unable to keep his feelings down.
"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?!" Guntz yelled back, grabbing Janga's shoulders. "C'MON, JANGA, TELL ME! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED THAT NIGHT THAT MADE IT HAPPEN! I NEED TO KNOW!"
Janga wrenched Guntz's hands from his shoulders, but managed to calm himself before it went further. Trying to control his feelings, he settled himself back down and started to speak.
"It was when you were seven…" he began. "We received… a lucrative job offer… from someone we had never seen before… but has been the source of my nightmares for far too long..."
"Garlen." Guntz nodded. A common enemy indeed.
"Exactly. He offered us both a huge sum of money to help him find Nahatomb's resting place and raise him back from his eternal slumber."
"And my dad refused it." Guntz suggested.
Janga shook his head. "Not at first. We both went along with it initially, because we needed the money… but not long into it, we found out just how destructive Nahatomb's return would be to the innocents of the world."
"Dad wasn't happy."
"No, he wasn't." Janga agreed. "We briefly argued about it, him wanting to back out and me too smitten with the reward money to want to… but I backed down eventually and went along with his plan."
Guntz paced around. This was barely making sense, how did this lead to his dad's death? "And then what?"
Janga's face darkened. "Garlen happened. He knew we wanted to renege on the deal, so he did all he could to subtly punish our insubordination. I remember after the initial argument with Batz, Garlen ran into me, took me aside and told me he'd been keeping tabs on us and that Batz believed I would betray him… that I was only using him for money and that I would willingly destroy the world to gain my fortune... and that he wanted to cast me out in revenge."
Guntz nodded, thinking it was starting to make sense. "So that was your motivation to kill him. You fell for his words and struck down my dad in a moment of anger. To save your own sorry ass."
Janga winced. "No, I didn't… because what I figured out later was that Garlen had also approached Batz with similar news. He told Batz I planned to betray him… that I thought he was weak for wanting to back out and angry he was depriving me of the reward… and that I would kill him and you the first chance I got."
Guntz frowned as he digested this. It sounded like something Garlen would do, spread seeds of doubt and paranoia between people. As much as he didn't want to believe it… it sounded plausible. "So, you both believed the other wanted to betray you."
Janga nodded quietly. "We both fell for it hook line and sinker. Soon, suspicion turned to paranoia, and paranoia turned to accusations. One night, tempers flew, and we argued about what we both thought was the truth, that he wanted to cast me out, and that I wanted to kill him and you. It steadily grew worse as our tempers flared… it got physical… violent… he had his hands round my neck, and I…"
Janga's voice grew quiet as he held back a cry, tears streaming down his face.
"Go on." Guntz prodded; his anger still present but not as explosive as he saw how pitiful Janga was beside him.
Janga cleared his throat to get the words out. "In… in a moment of blind self-defense… I used my claws and… slashed him hard across the chest and neck. He fell back… covered in blood… barely breathing… looking up at me in shock like his worst nightmare had come true…"
Guntz looked away, trying to hide how much these words were getting to him. Another memory surfaced. One he tried so hard to bury… of his dad on the floor… bloody… dying…
"I couldn't believe what I had done, so… like a coward I ran… and I ran... and I never looked back. How could I, after what I had done?"
There was a moment's pause between the two.
"What happened to the body?" Guntz suddenly said quietly, his voice wavering but wanting to know the details regardless. "When I found him and went to get help, I came back, and his body was just gone. All that was left was his hero medal surrounded by a puddle of blood! Where did he go?!"
Janga shook his head. "To this day, I don't know the answer to that. I never returned to the house, so I only found out later that his body was missing, and I've spent many a day trying to figure out who would take it like that, and why. I just have no damn clue…"
He continued. "Eventually Garlen tracked me down, and even now I still don't know how he knew where to find me. He admitted to no wrongdoing, but he looked so smug over the news of Batz's death. I wanted so badly to kill him… to slit his throat for causing all this and taking Batz away from me… but he told me just what I wanted to hear in my fragile state to keep me from doing that…"
Guntz croaked out a reply, still unable to look at him. "What?"
"He told me that it was regretful, but that it was a good course of action. He said that Nahatomb was powerful, and capable of a great many things, including using his ability to control dreams and the world around him to… bring back the dead…"
Guntz's ears perked up, and he turned back round, incredulous. "You're not suggesting what I think you are, right?"
"I am."
Guntz couldn't hide his flustered outrage. "So, everything you did with Garlen… all that stuff you did for him… it was all to bring back dad.. to bring him back to life so you could have him to yourself again?!"
Janga nodded quietly.
Guntz started to pace again, as he tried to make sense of this. "Let me get this straight. You're telling me you put your faith into a man who had manipulated you into landing a killing blow on my dad… when you supposedly didn't mean to… and he got you to help him cause the very thing my dad wanted to avoid taking place… just so you could bank on Garlen being right, and Nahatomb having the power to bring him back to life?"
"Grief takes you to dark places, kid." Janga said, acknowledging the absurdity of the whole tale.
Guntz kept pacing. There were still questions left unanswered, this barely added up. "But… surely you must have known… that Batz would not have condoned what you wanted to do… and that he'd probably have rather remained dead than risk Nahatomb returning and endangering people?!"
Janga threw his hands up in a shrug. "Perhaps I did, Guntz! Perhaps even then I knew how thin of an excuse it was… maybe it was all just a veil for me to strike revenge on the world for his death! I don't know, I was too drunk to care. Every chance I got I'd drown my sorrows to forget as much of it as I could… in hindsight it was probably all that kept me under Garlen's sway, that I was too plastered to think clearly half the time…"
Guntz shook his head. "My pops was… a great, kind man. Even if you did love him, he would have never wanted you to do this in his name. It would have disgusted him to see you sink so low."
Janga nodded bitterly. "That it would have. And perhaps it did from wherever he watched me from. But even then I was too sloshed to give a damn." He spat at the ground. "In his place, perhaps I would have done the same."
He looked at Guntz, suddenly seeming to have something he wanted to set straight. "And I don't know if I would call him a great man, Guntz, not objectively at least. I loved him dearly… but that doesn't change the fact that we were bounty hunters, going out and maiming and killing for a quick buck. Sure, most of them were criminals and complete scum, hence why they had a price on their heads… but there were also others that were most likely being framed, or in the wrong place at the wrong time… and if the money was good, we didn't discriminate as much as we should have. Either way, there was blood on our hands long before Garlen entered the picture."
Guntz felt like vomiting. He should deny it like crazy… but he looked down at the gun in his holster. He too had some points he regretted in his career as a bounty hunter… not quite as bad as that, but still… he, in an odd way, could relate…
"He always tried to keep that from you, you know, hide the grislier aspects of his work." Janga continued. "He wanted you to grow up free from all that nastiness, and he knew it was nasty work. He wanted you to be a true hero, even better than he could ever be, someone people would look up to… and thanks to me… he never got to see it happen…"
His self-loathing coming back in full force, Janga buried his face in his hands to stop the flow of tears. Guntz looked on in shock. He couldn't help but find what he was saying believable, which disgusted him to no end. There was just one last thing… one last detail keeping him from believing it fully…
"And what about me?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. "Batz's son, his living legacy, practically his spitting image? And yet you tried to kill me at every turn when we met again! How would he ever want that?! What's your reasoning for THAT, huh?!"
"You know why I've always hated you, Guntz?!" Janga cried out, barely moving his face from his hands, unable to even look at Guntz anymore. "It's precisely because you look just like him! The man that I loved. The man that I killed. And like the coward I was, I couldn't stand for you to be there to remind me of him… to remind me of… of what I had… done…"
At last Janga's self-control gave away and he began to weep openly. His worldview now coming down in earnest, Guntz felt a panic attack coming on, and he fled to the only place he could think of; the toilet Janga had pointed out before.
He hid in the tiny, cramped space, his stomach tied in knots, feeling like the walls were closing in on him. All this time, he thought Janga a dirty traitor who had gladly killed his father… was really someone who had struck in self-defense… and who regretted it deeply, the grief leading him to irrational places to block out the pain… and the chance of getting him back…
There was still a part of him that refused to believe it. Such abrupt revelations never sink in fully at first. But there was a growing part of him that… did believe it… that knew that his memories didn't lie, and Janga truly had loved his father…
And that all this, everything he had done and was doing…
Was just to be with Batz again…
It felt like an eternity of these horrible thoughts whirling round his mind before a knock came at the door and Klonoa's voice rang out.
"Guntz, are you in there? I found Janga crying, he said you'd been talking about sad stuff, are you alright?"
Guntz tried to steady himself, not wanting Klonoa to see him this vulnerable. "Yeah, I'm fine… just a lot on my mind that we talked about…"
Klonoa's voice called in from the other side again. "Look, could you please open the door? I'm worried about you and want to make sure you're alright…"
Guntz planned to say no, wanting to be alone… but his hand seemed to move on its own, and unlocked the door, letting Klonoa step through.
The cabbit saw the pain in Guntz's eyes, and the streaks of wetness on his face from tears, Klonoa's face showing a huge amount of concern. "Oh gosh… Guntz…"
Guntz tried to reassure Klonoa that he was fine, but without another word Klonoa leaned over and pulled Guntz into a hug. At first surprised by the sudden affection, Guntz couldn't bring himself to pull away, and his bravado slowly dissolved once again as he returned the hug, trying not to cry as he seeked companionship in Klonoa's embrace.
His whole life seemed to have changed all at once…
But perhaps that wasn't as much of a bad thing as he thought…
…
Janga sat nearby as Klonoa comforted Guntz. He wasn't crying nearly as hard as he had been, but he was still brooding bitterly, reminiscing on old memories, on the one lie he had told Guntz, about how he had never returned to their old home…
He recalled a time, not long after Batz had died, that he snuck into his former house when Guntz was out somewhere. He had found somewhere to stay from then on and there were some things that he wanted to get that he hoped were still in there, since he still had a spare key.
Rummaging round, he was able to find a few of his old belongings, which he packed up to take away. Whilst looking, he also found Batz's favourite gun, sitting in his room. Looking round just to make sure he wasn't seen, he quickly picked it up and packed it away. He'd rather he kept a hold of it rather than letting it languish here.
After rummaging round more, his eyes were drawn to a picture frame, and he stopped to pick it up. It showed him, Batz and Guntz, taken a couple of years before, smiling and spending time together. A tear left his eye as a wave of remorse and regret hit him all over again with just what he had done, and how much he had lost…
At that moment, he remembered the front door opening as Guntz returned home, and, taking the photo with him under his coat, he quickly opened a window and snuck out before he was seen, hoping Guntz wouldn't know he had been there.
What he hadn't stuck around to see was Guntz opening up the fridge to get a snack… and frowning.
"Where did all of dad's beer go? Was there less than I thought…?"
...
In the empire's capital, Jillius' armies set off for the journey to Garlen's secret lair. On the way they would rendezvous with Lunatea's forces, expanding their manpower, and set forth for what was sure to be an epic battle that would decide the fate of the world.
In a vehicle at the front of the convoy, like a flagship, Jillius and the High Priestess sat, looking forward gravely as they drove on.
"May Claire have mercy on us all…" the High Priestess said quietly, not able to hide her fear that they would lose the day.
"It is not Claire who will decide this day." Jillius replied with an optimistic little smile. "It is up to us to create our own destiny, whether it be good or bad."
And far off from them in his lair, Garlen stood in a balcony overlooking the mountains, and grinned. Preparations were almost complete.
It would be soon…