"Yamagen! Are ya okay?! What happened to ya? Why do you look weird? Is this 'cause your weird experiments?"
"Re...clu...sa..." He mumbled.
Falor probed his side with a hoof. "Yamagen, get up! What are ya goin' on about? What's a Reclusa?"
"I...so...la...ti...on..."
Falor sighed. "Come on, Yamagen. Get up, ya weirdo."
"Gl...oh...m...I...need...Gl...oh...m..."
Falor blinked. "Glohm? Whassat?" Falor forced him to his feet by pushing him up from under his head, flying to the other side of him to keep him stable. "Ya can lean on me, Yamagen."
"Re...clu...sa...I...so...la...ti...on...is...sub...lime...Gl...oh...m..."
Falor dragged him out the Lighthouse, dropping him into the grass. He wiped red off his side, left behind from his arm.
"Is this...blood?! Are ya dyin'?!"
"Re...clu...sa...Re...clu...sa...Re...clu...sa..."
He smacked him across the face. "Get up!"
He moved slightly. "Gl...oh...m...I...need...Glohm..."
"Yamagen, please. Ya can't go dyin' on me now. You're still so young..."
He stirred a bit more. "Conductor...Connectar...Uhg..."
"At least you're sayin' somethin' different."
He slowly sat up. "Unity...Concordia...It's all so...disgusting..."
"Eh? What're ya goin' on about? Where's ya face? It's nothin' but a black screen where your face should be."
"Disgusting...I loathe it all...It makes me sick...I must destroy it...I must...I must..." He floated from the ground, his arms limp.
"Hey, how long were ya tied up like that? Your hair is so long! And what's that on the ends? That wasn't there before."
"I must...I must..." His screen flickered, a sound of muffled, pixilated laughter coming from the static. "I must destroy its source..." He looked to his hands, a single, pale purple eye appearing on his face. "This body...is so different...It's so young and healthy...It's weak...but it can work...It can still fulfill my goal..." He held out his hand, a new face glitching onto his screen.
Falor recognized the two eye colors, but Yamagen's usual frown was replaced with a toothy grin. "Y-Yamagen! What's come over ya?! What are ya doin'?!"
"I must destroy the Uni-Tree...Just as I did eons ago..."
Falor flew in front of him. "Are ya crazy?! Ya took years takin' care of that thing! Why would ya just destroy it for?!"
"Move, piglet. I have a job to do. I failed before, and I will not fail again! I have gone through worlds, destroying everything they held dear! But when it came to Concordia...first that explorer, and now you. You are the only ones who think you are brave enough to end this cycle."
"Ya aren't talkin' like you do. You've been possessed!"
He scoffed, then laughed. "The spirit of Reclusa lives forever, it only comes to if a vessel is willing enough to host it! Once the tree is gone, your little friend will return under my full influence. He will become...Reclusa."
"I'll stop ya and knock some sense into Yamagen!"
"Yamagen is dead. It's only Reclusa now. And if you want to be a pest, then Reclusa will have to kill you itself." He pointed his hand at Falor. "Farewell!"
He was enveloped with flames, the fires centering itself into his palm. He fired it at Falor. Falor moved out the way just in time, the fire only burning a small bit of his wing. Falor winched.
"Y...Reclusa! Stop this! This isn't you! I know ya didn't like people but you were still a good kid at heart! I could tell!"
"You don't know RECLUSA!"
"Ya are not Reclusa!"
Falor smacked his hand down and charged him. Reclusa grabbed him and dug his claws into Falor's sides. Falor squealed.
Reclusa scoffed. "You fool. How weak you turned out to be."
"Reclusa, stop this...Please..." Tears streamed from his eyes as blood dripped from the wounds.
"Why so persistent? What did Reclusa ever do to you to make you care for it so?"
"Because he was a Wattanist. Even if he's evil now, you're always a Wattanist, through an' through! He raised that tree from the dirt and he still cares for it! Ya can't take that from him!"
"...Heh. You think a pathetic little speech will be enough to change Reclusa's mind? Once it set its mind to something, there is no way you can swap it. Now say farewell to your dumb tree!"
He held out his other hand and tossed it to the sky. A crack formed on the distant Uni-Tree, and faint yells could be heard. His smile grew wider.
"What a powerful child. With the ability to control plants themselves, this job was too easy."
He dropped Falor and spread his arms apart as far as they could go. The Uni-Tree split apart, branches drooping and leaves falling to the floor. Concordians started screaming now, and Reclusa chuckled to himself.
"Do you want to see Reclusa's power of Glohm?"
"Not particularly," Falor responded, turning around to face him.
"Well then, too bad!" He summoned a red orb with a blood red center and held it over his head. "Isolation is subli-"
Ignoring his pain, Falor charged Reclusa again. He headbutted Reclusa in the center back, causing him to fall forwards. He dropped the orb, and it slowly fell onto the both of them. Falor closed his eyes, preparing the worst.
"ARGH!" Reclusa scrambled away from him. "Disgusting Connectar! How dare you try to corrupt Reclusa?!"
"Eh? What're ya goin' on about? Connectar can only be used by the Uni-Tree an' the Great Conductor. 'Less you're sayin' I'm the Great Conductor? But that's impossible, right? I mean, the other Great Conductor is still livin' so he has ta die in order for me to-"
"Do you ever stop talking?!"
Reclusa tackled Falor in return, only holding him down for a second before screeching and backing off. Falor flapped closer to him, torturing Reclusa with the faint golden light coming from his wings and the plug on his back. Reclusa screamed in agony, causing Falor to stop.
"Look, I don't wanna hurt ya. I know Yamagen is still in there, somewhere, and I don't wanna end his life for no reason other than bein' possessed. But Reclusa? You've got to go. You're hurtin' people for no reason other than your own selfish reason, and that's pretty messed up. So ya either got to go and let Yamagen go, or I'll end the both of ya to save Concordia."
Reclusa's face changed, for only a moment. In that window of time, Falor thought he saw Yamagen's genuine fear buried in those heartless eyes. But Reclusa shook it off and backed from Falor again.
"Your pathetic efforts to end Reclusa will do nothing. You're not strong enough, capable enough. The only thing you will do is kill your precious friend."
"If that stops ya, and if that's what ya chose, then so be it."
He closed his eyes again, knowing that doing so somehow activated his abilities before. He charged Reclusa again, cutting right through Reclusa's body. Reclusa fell to the floor, sparking and Glohm pouring out through the gaping hole. Falor faced him, leaning over to look him in the eyes.
Reclusa's face glitched uncontrollably, his voice cutting out and being interrupted by static. "You will fail, in the end. Your friend will be reborn as part of the cycle. You made the problem worse while trying to fix it, congratulations."
Falor sighed. "But I did what I could ta help Concordia."
"He will choose Reclusa's new form. He will chose Reclusa's new powers. He will choose Reclusa's new course. And...he will choose Reclusa's new world to destroy after this one is complete."
"Well guess what? I'll be ready when Yamagen comes back. He's still in there somewhere, and I know I can get through to 'em. And if he decides to fight, I'll end him the same way I did to ya. I'll do whatever it takes to protect my home."
"You Concordians think you're so powerful. But you cannot hope to stand against the new Reclusa. He knows this world better than any other Reclusa. He can surely bring it to its demise."
"...Do ya ever stop talkin'?"
"Well played, piglet. Well played..."
His head fell slightly and his screen shut off. His body turned to golden light and vanished in small orbs of light. Falor sighed.
"He'll be back. He's always been stubborn."
Falor pat the Conductor's head gently. The Conductors were meant to guide Wattansits until they were ready to take responsibility of the Uni-Tree on their own. Falor hadn't needed to guide a Wattanist in years, but the littlest Conductor would. Snoutlet, as he was named, would be the guide for Connie when she-
The ground trembled and the sky turned dark. Falor shot up, Snoutlet falling and rolling across the grass.
"What's all that racket?" He followed Falor's gaze. "We weren't supposed to have a storm today."
"That's no storm comin'. Snoutlet, your trainin's over! Go see to Connie! Now!"
Snoutlet oinked. "Okay! Yeesh! No need to yell!" Snoutlet hurried off.
Falor looked to the sky again, taking flight as well as he could. "Whew, I need to loose weight." He flapped harder until he was able to see over the trees. "Oh no. The Uni-Tree! That means..." He landed back on the ground and sighed. "Reclusa's come back. He probably won't even remember me anymore...I can't believe he settled on this. He might be worse off than I thought. It's been hundreds of years, does he even have his own will anymore? But how'd he survive all that time? I saw 'em die with my own eyes!"
A hologram appeared behind him. Whether it was in his mind or physical, he had no clue. But he recognized the person immediately.
"Reclusa! How'd ya come back, eh?"
"I told you! The cycle never ends!" He sounded more like himself with a pixelated undertone, and tossed his arms into a shrug like a child would. "You should really pay attention, old man. Nice mustache, by the way. I didn't think a pig could grow hair like that."
"I told ya, I'm not a pig!"
"Fwahaha!" He kicked his legless body in the air happily. "Anyway, I'm back and better than ever before! What do you think of my new look?" He spun in a circle, showing off himself at all angles.
"Ya look like a jester with that ruff 'round ya neck. And what's with the claws comin' from ya hair? Ya didn't think ya were scary enough?"
"It's not like I care for your rude opinion, anyway. I just wanted to show you that I got a new style, and a few new toys! Oh, you'll love my new apprentice! He's quite the skilled Wattanist! And if I end up dying, I might even use him to continue the cycle! Isn't that nice?"
"Cozette can stop ya! She will!"
"Unfortunately, she cannot." He tapped a hand to his body, both of which were made entirely of Glohm. "She's a bit...preoccupied at the moment."
"Ya didn't..."
"I did. And I'll do it again, too! How'd you like it if I just grabbed your little piglet and did the same to him?"
"Keep ya filthy hands off Snoutlet!"
Reclusa circled him. "You got real fat, didn't you? How can those wimpy little wings even lift you off the ground? Oh, unless you've become a bumblebee, then I'd understand."
"Stop mockin' me an' get to the point."
"There's nothing you can do to stop me now, Great Conductor. Unless, of course, you tore through time and space to find someone with an unbreakable Bond and took them from their world to stop me! But I know you can't do that!" He sang the last part, clearly taunting him to do just as he said.
"We'll see 'bout that! I'll knock your lights out!"
"Can you, really, when I'm not even here at all? You at least noticed this was a hologram, right? Or have you lost your brain when you increased your age?"
"Stop mockin' me and fight me! Unless you've turned into a coward over the years."
"No. I have a bigger, better plan than the past cycles. And if I let you fight me now, it'd only get in the way. You're like a little Foopfly, aww!"
"Your plan will fail in the end."
"We will see, Great Conductor. We. Will. See."
He vanished and Falor sat up. He'd fallen asleep with Snoutlet resting against his stomach. The sky was clear, the Uni-Tree was fine, and all seemed calm. But he knew, now, that Reclusa had returned in some way, and in order to stop him, he would need to choose a duo with an unbreakable Bond and bring them to Concordia; before it was too late.