Chapter 35
It was high noon now. Cutlass still didn't have any answers. All he knew was that he had been walking for a while now across a big mountain of some sort that, oddly enough, was covered entirely in a big green blanket of fuzzy moss. It got him to start wondering whether this was really a mountain or just one ridiculously huge rock. Either way, it didn't help his cause.

After walking out of the shadow of one of the mountain's more high-raised parts and into the sunlight, Cutlass started rubbing the back of his head, remembering how something horrible had happened to it a little while ago. Doing so caused him to start feeling something gritty and kind of greasy. Once he pulled his hand away from his head so he could examine it, he noticed his fingers had gotten a few specks of something silver and sparkly. Mostly though, he had gotten something dark red and dirt-like. This confused the silver man. That most definitely wasn't his blood.

The silver man wondered for a few seconds whose blood exactly this was. When he decided mulling it over in his head wasn't going to do him any good, he started walking again, only to suddenly find his foot had landed in something with a SPLAT. Looking down, much to his disgust, he had ruined his right boot by stepping in a puddle of blood of all things. What disgusted him even more was what he managed to discover upon lifting his foot from the muck: this blood was oozing out of the moss itself.

Cutlass wondered what this could possibly have meant. Was this whole place really more than just one big rock? Was it the wrath of some local angry ghost? What did it mean? Just when he was about to contemplate further on the matter, the man suddenly noticed the sun had been blotted out. He was in the middle of an ominous shadow. Turning around and looking up, he could tell what was looming in on him. Bravely, the swordsman withdrew his weapon and leapt at the thing...

Hyrg had his sword out. Various vampire-like creatures kept lunging towards him with their claws and their fangs out, but he wasn't going to go down so easily. A swing here, and one of them went sprawling with a newly formed bloody gash going across his chest. A swing there, and another one started clutching at the wound on his left shoulder. He was doing pretty good. Unfortunately, that was when one of the creatures suddenly leapt at him, grabbed him by his shoulders, and started staring at his neck with its fangs bared. Having been frightened for a second, the young boy thought fast and kicked the fiend somewhere between its legs. Immediately, it backed off, and fell down in pain. The young Death Sickle winced in agony from the claw marks his shoulders had just gained. He had to maintain his composure, though, for there were still more of these things coming at him. It was quite the fight that was going on in the middle of these woods...

From Galileo's perspective, however, the boy was not in the middle of the woods. Rather, he was on top of a wooden platform, sticking out of the floor in the form of a cylinder, complete with a side made of stairs. The teacher and his student were in a vast room loaded with these things. Each person that was dancing atop one had stuck to their foreheads somehow a small, rectangular piece of paper with strange writing on it. Hyrg was no exception.

Galileo continued to watch his disciple fight off all these invisible enemies. Come on, Hyrg, he thought, Swoompires are nothing...

Somewhere out there, a group of six people were walking down a path of some sort. The whole thing was rock-hard and it was covered in moss. It seemed to perplex five of them to know end.

"So this is Belome Rock," Laser Snifit mused. "Quite the weird place, I see."

"Yeah, it's weird alright," Big Guy agreed. He turned to Annabyss. "So, Annie, what's the story? What's the deal with this place?"

"It's more than just a mountain, as you may have guessed," said the shadowy woman. "Although it's difficult for one to tell such a thing at first glance, it is, in actuality, but a giant map of the Clover Kingdom as well as the sea around it."

All five of Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Waluigi, and Tessa looked utterly shocked to hear this. "A... A giant map??" Tessa asked.

"Yes, but it's not just that," Annabyss stated. "It seems to also have a sixth sense of its own."

"Wha... What do you mean by that?" Snifit inquired.

"This mountain... It can tell when someone in the Clover Kingdom is going to die a horrible death within two days," Annabyss explained. "Exactly where is represented by these spots on this giant map that start bleeding."

Annabyss's five companions stopped dead in their tracks after hearing that. This dwarfed the fact this whole mountain was a map. "W... Wow," Big Guy breathed. "This mountain's got some problems."

"It almost sounds like this place is cursed," Tessa commented.

"I wonder what kind of creature those guys at Full Moon were looking for here," Laser Snifit said.

"What matters now is not the whereabouts of the creature, but of its would-be assailants," Annabyss clarified.

"So, how are we gonna find those guys then?" Big Guy wondered.

Then the sextet heard it; it was the sound of someone screaming in agony. "STOP IT!! LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE!!"

"Well, I guess that answers that question," Snifit said.

"Let's go!!" Big Guy exclaimed. He started running towards the source of the noise. The others weren't too far behind him...

Somewhere in the Death Sickles' secret hideout, a man was walking around. He had a place to head for as well as a thought process to go through. Only once the sky turns black, he thought, do human beings truly begin to draw out their strength...

Elsewhere, an extremely bony woman was walking up to a wolf-like man. Apparently, he wasn't the only one interested in all these people fighting off invisible enemies. "Ah, Oceanus, what brings you here?" Galileo asked.

"Nothing," said the dead woman. "I just wanted to see how my tags were working."

"Oh, they're working great," the wolf responded. "Hyrg here, he's using the one that makes you see Swoompires."

"I see..."

A few seconds after that, a man strode up to them. Once they noticed his presence, Galileo was slightly surprised, but Oceanus didn't seem to be affected in the least. "Ah, Minister Zelm," the wolf said. "How are things going?"

"Splendid," said the old man in his deep voice. "I merely decided it'd be most pleasurable to see my disciples honing their potential."

"Sounds good," Galileo replied.

"Speaking of which," the elderly man added, "how goes it with you and the new one, Hyrg?"

"Well, he started off a bit shaky, but I think he's starting to get the hang of it," the hairy man answered.

"That is good," Zelm elicited. "After all," he added, "we can't be too careful during a time when the accursed night is almost upon us..."

Oceanus didn't really react to this, but Galileo started blinking for a bit. "Excuse me, sir?" he asked.

"It is but an old man's ramblings. Pay it no mind," Zelm replied.

"Hm..."

At the moment, Hyrg, in his illusion, was surrounded in dead Swoompire bodies. He had his sword out, and his breath was becoming ragged. Then, with his peripheral vision, he could tell one of them was flying towards his side with its claws bared. With a rather swift reaction time, the boy spun around and slashed out a bloody gash going across the thing's chest. Once that happened, the creature winced in pain, went sprawling, and joined its downed brethren. Hyrg stared at his latest work, still panting as though he had been jogging non-stop for hours on end. Then WHAM!! A stray Swoompire tackled him from behind. Hyrg cursed to himself. The sudden attack not only made his feet leave the ground; it made him feel as though gravity suddenly ceased to exist. He was soaring through the woods with this monster stuck to him, and there was nothing he could do about it...

His head was about to crash into something blunt when ZING!! He wasn't flying anymore; he was floating. The Swoompire that had him was gone, as were the woods. Even the tag on his forehead had gone missing. He was back in the basement of the Death Sickles' secret hideout. Looking behind him, he could see the one behind all this was Minister Zelm with his left palm held out. "Don't get yourself killed, boy," he said. "They're not even the real thing..."

Upon further inspection, Hyrg could notice this was the same wrinkled hand he used to send him flying that one time he tried attacking him without even thinking. Not only that, he could also notice there was something coming out of the center of its palm. It looked like some type of dark grey mark leaving a spiraling shape on his hand that extended all the way around his wrist and then some. Hyrg couldn't see what else was beneath those sleeves.

Then the old man broke the spell. He gently let the boy down so he could stand freely again. "Well, Oceanus, Galileo, Hyrg," the old man said, "stay in good health. I'm going to check up on the other students..."

The two older Death Sickles said their own temporary farewells as the elderly one began to stride away. Hyrg just watched him go in wonder. "Galileo," he said, "what was that thing on his left hand?"

"A scar," the wolf stated. "He got it when he fought an extremely powerful wizard a while ago. Neither man won."

Hyrg looked away from his teacher and back to the old man who was talking to some more Death Sickles just around the corner. A very quizzical look was on his face. "Say," he said, "how powerful exactly is that Zelm guy, anyway?"

"Minister Zelm, Hyrg," the wolf corrected. Hyrg rolled his eyes. "He's our leader."

"Yeah, I know."

"No, I mean, the fact in of itself that he's our leader should serve as proof of just how powerful he really is."

"And, uh," Hyrg hesitated, "how powerful is that?"

"Well," the wolf exclaimed, "lemme put it this way: if you even THINK about killing him, you'd be a pile of dust before you even blink."

Hyrg looked a little shocked. He scratched his head some. "Uh," he said, unable to believe such a thing from such an old man, "is that true?"

"I wouldn't mess with him," Galileo said, while holding his right hand up beside his hand. Oceanus placed one of her tags between its fingers. "Now come on," he added, handing the little piece of paper to the young Death Sickle. "You still gotta work on maintaining your alertness."

"Alright," the boy responded, taking the piece of paper from his instructor. Catching on, he ran back up the stairs, got back into the middle of the platform, and slapped the amulet back onto his forehead. Somehow, it stuck, and the illusion started back up again. Once again, he was in the middle of the woods. It didn't take long for the Swoompires to start leaping out of nowhere and attacking him once more. Again, the boy had his sword out and he was ready for anything...

In real life, Oceanus and Galileo were watching this young boy fight off more invisible enemies. The female patron broke the silence after a while. "Does he ever annoy you?" she asked.

"Not really," Galileo responded. "After all... He and I are a lot alike..."

Elsewhere in the basement, the leader of the Death Sickles was talking to two others that weren't necessarily on one of the platforms fighting off unseen enemies. Little did anyone know that, through one of the small windows near the ceiling of this place, a devious trio was spying on them.

"That Minister Zelm thinks he's so tough..."

"God, how I'd like to strangle that guy..."

"Just think, old man... Tomorrow is your last day... Heh heh heh..."

In one neck of Belome Rock, there was an upraised wall of moss-covered rock. Being backed into it by a group of six brigands was a very odd creature. It resembled a giant dog with four eyes and a huge tongue hanging out of its mouth. It also had a number of blue marks all over its battered and bruised body. Whatever it was, it was sweating and shaking at the same time. Fear wracked its whole body. "Please... I beg of you... Leave me alone!!"

However, its attackers weren't so easily persuaded. They all resembled a bunch of Chuckyas, but with the feet of Bob-Ombs, as well as these wicks sticking out of their heads to replace the usual antennae. Also, their dominant colors actually consisted of grey and dark grey rather than purple and red. These were the Cutchyas, and they weren't taking their prey too seriously. The one in front just scoffed. "And tell us," he said, "why would we do that? Are you even aware of how many people out there would just love to have the power that you do?"

"I... I..."

"Listen up, you freak," the leader exclaimed, "what Albert Einamite wants, Albert Einamite gets, and what he wants is your power. You got that?!"

The beast just whimpered some more.

"This is your last chance." The head hoodlum unsheathed a knife and pointed it at the creature. "Either come quietly, or we cut you up and take you by force. It's your choice."

"I..." The dog-like thing took a gulp with his parched throat. He gathered up his courage and glared his enemy in the eye. "I won't give myself up to such lowlifes like you!!"

"Heh... Well, you heard'im, guys." The other five members of this gang pulled out similar knives. "Let's get'im..." The incongruous six-some began to advance on the ill-fated dog. "Sorry, but it's Albert Einamite's orders..."

"I'm sorry, gentlemen." The group of six moving towards the strange dog suddenly stopped and turned around. They noticed another group of six had just shown up. "But I'm afraid your dear Albert Einamite is no more..."

The Cutchyas looked offended by Annabyss's words. "What did you just say?!" one of them yelled.

"That place you guys all work for, Full Moon," Big Guy stepped in, "we blew it all sky high. There were no survivors."

The Cutchyas all started clutching at their knives even more tightly. "YOU LIE!!" another one yelled.

"I'm afraid, we do not, gentlemen," Annabyss said apologetically. "We do not take kindly to injustice, so your Albert Einamite along with his General Wind-up have now perished. Now, will you take advantage of this opportunity to turn your lives around, or must you suffer the same fate?"

Some of the Cutchyas were hissing through their teeth. Others were just looking shifty-eyed. As for their leader, he just scoffed again. "Guys," he said, "whatever you do, don't take any of their crap." He began to grip his knife harshly once more. "Let's just get'em and get this over with!!"

"YEAH!!" It had officially begun. With their blood boiling, all six Cutchyas raised their knives into the air, waving them dangerously. Their six opponents could easily see what was coming.

"Oh lord, not this again," Laser Snifit moped.

"I'm ready, Annie," Tessa said.

"Don't hold back, Tessa dear."

Wario and Waluigi just cracked their knuckles. Big Guy whipped out his trademark club. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he said. "LET'S DO THIS!!"

The two groups rushed towards each other. Within seconds, all twelve people had paired up. Thus, the battle begun...

As the lucky ones, Wario and Waluigi both just got the most basic of the Cutchyas. Wario got the one with a knife in his right hand, and Waluigi got the one with it in its left. Wario's opponent came at him from the left, and Waluigi's from the right. POW! WHAM! Waluigi's enemy went flipping backwards across the ground and Wario's went sprawling sideways. Kicks and punches proved to work just fine. A few seconds later, both Cutchyas were back on their feet with their weapons in hand. Were these creatures really not much different from the Chuckyas?...

Big Guy got the one carrying what appeared to be a abnormally large knife. In spite of the apparent difference in size between it and its wielder, it didn't seem to hinder anyone's progress in battle, save for that of Big Guy. The Cutchya swung at his left ankle, and he jumped. He swung at his right ankle, and he jumped. Then he went for the chest. CLANG! Big Guy blocked the blow with his club. The two struggled to overpower each other's weapon. SHING! Both weapons slid off one another. Big Guy and his opponent locked eyes for one second, then went charging with their weapons out again...

Laser Snifit's opponent was the one with the very long, thin, and katana-like knife. He was surprisingly nimble with it. He kept back-flipping through the air and swinging it around as though it were more of a prehensile tail of some sort rather than an actual blade. Dodging it repeatedly made Laser Snifit feel as though it were raining knives. After a while, he got sick of this and he fired one of his hoop-shaped lasers at the pest. CHING! Much to the 8-Bit's surprise, this had no effect whatsoever. The Cutchya merely deflected the strange projectile with his sword. The odd hoop disappeared into the sky, and all Laser Snifit could do was wonder what he was going to do about this guy's knife...

The weapon of Tessa's opponent was indeed a strange one; it resembled a giant ninja star consisting of three curvy prongs. The Cutchya used the hole in the middle to balance it atop his ball-like hand like a frisbee. Then he whipped his arm around and fired. With some rather quick reflexes, the girl jolted her head to the left and let the unusual weapon sail past her harmlessly. Then she got herself back into a normal fighting stance, faced the enemy, and started making little lightning bolts fly off of her gloves. SHING!! The girl yelped and jumped to the right. A bloody gash appeared in the left sleeve of her robe and the Cutchya once again had his weapon in his hand. This confused the girl, but she knew this was no time to be so. She was in the middle of making the sparks appear some more when she suddenly started having to hop on one foot. This time, the enemy's weapon was running along the ground like a runaway hubcap. It had nearly hacked into her right leg. Fortunately, her quick thinking got her to save her left once the blade came back around. Staring in frustration at who she was fighting, she noticed the blade was back in his hand. Whatever that thing was, it was way worse than a boomerang...

Annabyss was having an easier time of it. Her opponent kept firing thin, needle-like knives at her, but they would only land in the ground so long as she kept dodging in her monkey form. Her enemy may have been the leader of the Cutchyas, but he wasn't doing too well, even with that strange knife of his. He was about to use it as a makeshift needle gun once more, but Annabyss had already gotten in his face and transformed herself into a tiger. WHAP!! The Cutchya started rolling uncontrollably across the moss-covered ground. CHINK! In a flash, he stopped himself by jamming his knife into the ground. Quickly, he was standing once again. He glared at this shadowy woman before beginning his attack again. He was sure he could take her; it was just going to be a bit tricky...

The right-handed Cutchya and the left-handed Cutchya weren't giving up. They were charging at Wario and Waluigi at full speed with their knives pointed forward like lances. Once the Kamenstein Bros. saw this, they just scoffed. What happened in the next instant practically turned these two Cutchyas' worlds completely upside-down, almost literally. In the blink of an eye, Wario had snatched the right-handed one in a bear hug and jumped high up into the air with the pseudo-Bob-Omb's head pointed towards the ground. Similarly, Waluigi had ensnared his enemy's head between his ankles like a bear trap. With his hands planted firmly on the ground, he flipped his legs through the air like a ball-and-chain. Wario just started spiraling towards the ground. The next second, WHAM!! Both Cutchyas had been defeated. They were stuck in the ground like two very large seeds. The brothers resumed standing upright. They wiped the dust off of their hands to the sound of two knives clattering to the ground behind them. These two had done it, but how were the others holding up?

CLANG!! The two weapons of Big Guy and his attacker had locked once more. Again, they struggled until the two instruments of battle slid off of each other. Once these two fighters had reentered fighting stances and started watching one another carefully, Big Guy started wondering if it was really going to go on like this. Just when he had managed to think up an experiment, he had to jump again. He reasoned he was going to have to be able to pull this off, even at the cost of his ankles...

Laser Snifit had formed a plan himself. He was already carrying it out. True, he was still dodging his nemesis' long knife like crazy, but each time he did so, he got a little closer to him, even though, at the same time, this also meant the dodging was getting a little harder. SHING! A flip to the side, and Snifit had succeeded in saving his right shoulder. The Cutchya was a bit perplexed by how close this grey-robed man had become, but he decided to continue to swing regardless. Just when the blade was about to come down once more, BANG!! It was out of his fists. Laser Snifit and jumped into the air and punted it out at the right time. Once the Cutchya heard a SHING behind him, he turned around. Then a heard a TSEW and he sprang through the air. He landed safely. That laser nearly had him. Then ZZAAPP!! The little swordsman's body lit on fire. Before he could wonder how this happened, he passed out. Snifit watched him do so in satisfaction. Over there, he could see the long knife sticking out of the ground, wobbling back and forth from the hit it recently took. Laser Snifit felt proud of himself for using that guy's knife against him. Now if only the others could do the same...

Tessa's body was starting to get tired. It had only been a few minutes, but it felt like it had been hours. This whole time, she had been discovering method after method of dodging this guy's shuriken. She figured it wasn't going to take long for this Cutchya to start growing weary of scarring only the ground. As for the girl herself, she was just becoming annoyed. A flick of the wrist later, and the blade was back in her enemy's hand. She stood firm, panting, knowing perfectly well she was going to have to end this soon...

After jumping around and swerving out of the way enough times, both Big Guy and the Cutchya with the enormous knife were in the same fighting stance. For about the third time during this match, they locked eyes. Then they struck. CLANG!!! This time, the blow of their weapons seemed to be extra severe. Both combatants commenced struggling for the millionth time. During this, Big Guy was feeling mischievous. SHING! The weapons slid off once again, but, this time, it was different. This time, it was due to the fact Big Guy had suddenly taken a dive as though he had just slipped on a puddle of oil. This banged his shoe against the foot of his foe, sending him soaring. Both of these suddenly occurrences had gotten Big Guy's enemy exactly where he wanted him. SHING!! He was dangling helplessly from the handle of this giant knife sticking out of the ground. The next thing he saw was Big Guy starting to swing his club like a bat...

The Cutchya's leader was becoming worn out greatly. His breath kept coming out in painful puffing sounds. He glared at his female predator, who didn't appear to have shed even a single bead of sweat. Snarling, he lifted his unusual knife once more and started unleashing upon the silhouette-like woman a non-stop barrage of weird, little knives. However, it was no use. In one little explosion of rainbow-colored sparks after another, each knife seemed to just bounce away, inches from the shape-shifter's face. At last, the Cutchya ceased the attack. He started staring at this woman in confusion and fury.

"What are you?" he asked.

"I am..." Annabyss turned herself into a boa constrictor. In one second, the panic-stricken leader of the Cutchyas was between her coils. "...The woman who shall free this world..."

The Cutchya's mind began to race madly as this woman began to crush his body. This couldn't be the end. This couldn't be the failure of their mission.

Then it happened. "AAAUUURRRGGGHHH!!!" Two big losses had been suffered. One Cutchya had been chopped in two. The other had been sent tumbling down the side of the mountain. Big Guy's secret was that he had connected his club to the face of his enemy while he was hanging right in front of his own humungous blade, thus causing two dead bodies to fall to the ground beside it. As for Tessa, simply enough, she had fired one of her yellow lasers at the key moment. Her Cutchya had hurled his ninja star straight for her, but the girl sent it flying right back. It jammed itself into his shoulder, and he went hurtling backwards. Even now, his screams as he continued to go bumping down this tremendous rock remained ringing in his leader's ears.

"This can't be," the head Cutchya breathed as he continued to be pressed against himself. "This can't be!! The world belongs to General Wind-up!! It belongs to him!! WE CAN'T FAIL!! WE CAN'T-"

Then everything turned red. Then it turned black. Annabyss unraveled herself from the Cutchya's dead body. She returned herself to her normal form and looked at what had become of her latest victim. Like four others, he had become a corpse lying uselessly on the ground. Along with two large knives sticking out of it and three others lying on it, this was all that was left of the six Cutchyas. The mission had been a success.

"W... Wow..."

Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Waluigi, Tessa, and Annabyss turned their heads. Behind them, this whole time, had been the unusual creature they had done this for. His body was still covered in black and blue splotches, but a smile was on his face as he struggled to stand up again.

"I don't know who you folks are, but I owe you one," it said.

"No reward is necessary," Annabyss replied. "We are merely doing what life as beings with senses of right and wrong requires from us."

"Thank you," the dog said again. "I've been having nothing but bad luck for the past few days. I was wondering when it was all going to turn itself around."

"Bad luck?" Tessa asked.

"Yeah," the four-eyed thing said. "First this giant bird shows up, then I start feeling these huge amounts of pain for no reason, and then those guys show up. I wasn't sure how much more of it I could take."

"By the way," Laser Snifit started, "why exactly were they after you in the first place?"

"Well, if you should know," the canine began, "it's because I am my ancestor's descendant."

"Your ancestor?"

"Yes. His name was Belome. As you can guess, this mountain is his legacy. They say he sealed the spirit of a witch deep inside of it a long time ago. Unfortunately, at the same time, he brought a curse upon him and his family. Now, no matter what, a Belome always has to be guarding this place."

"Why is that?" Tessa inquired.

"Something about our blood makes the seal extra strong, I guess," the dog shrugged, somewhat solemnly. "But I hate it here. We've all hated it here. It's cursed. Weird stuff has always been happening here, and it's not just the fact that it keeps bleeding."

Big Guy, Laser Snifit, and Tessa seemed to all shutter at the thought of this. Wario, Waluigi, and Annabyss, of course, appeared to be unaffected by it. The descendant of Belome went on.

"Sometimes, I wonder if guarding this place is really necessary. I mean, hardly anyone out there really knows its secret anymore. On top of that, they say if all this moss weren't here, the curse would be lifted." The burdened dog heaved a sigh. "That'd be great, huh? Then I wouldn't be stuck here. I'd actually be able to go out there and see the world... But, what the hey, that's not gonna happen, right?"

"It will."

The Belome's eyes lit up. He looked at Annabyss dead on. "What did you say??"

"We're on our way to Uaurpe," the woman explained. "Once there, we'll retrieve all 120 of the Super Sparkles and use them to set the world right. If you'd like, we could use their power to lift the curse of this mountain."

The four-eyed dog looked as though he was starting to vibrate with excitement. "Wow!! You'd do that for me??" Annabyss nodded. "Oh, thank you!! Gosh, I don't know how to repay you!"

"Your blessing alone is enough, dear."

"Oh, THANK YOU!..."

A few minutes later, the Belome's six new friends had said goodbye and had begun to ascend the mountain. The fact that this day was an extra sunny one complete with a totally cloudless sky may as well have brightened their moods even further, Big Guy's especially. He couldn't stop strutting over the fact that, for once, saving someone's life had actually done him some good. Laser Snifit, on the other hand, couldn't stop wondering about something.

"Hey, Annabyss?" he asked.

"Yes, dear?"

"These Super Sparkle things," he began, "are they really capable of that much?"

"As a matter of fact, dear," Annabyss answered, "there is NOTHING they can't do..."

Those last few Swoompires may have been a waste of time, but this huge one was proving to be rather difficult. Hyrg had been unarmed. All he could do was try to push this guy's arms back. To bring this fight to a close, he simply kicked the beast in the shin. This proved effective as it stunned the behemoth for a second or two. During that time, Hyrg had gotten his sword back in his hand. The Swoompire was about to tackle him again when SHING!! His head had been lopped off.

Both that and the body fell to the ground loudly. With this, the forest was dead quiet at last. There was nothing more to do. Having that in mind, the boy began to fiddle around at the air in front of his face until it grabbed something invisible. He gave it a tug, and WHOOSH! The illusion had been killed. He was back on the platform with an amulet in his hand. He commenced walking down the stairs of the platform to Galileo. The wolf looked to be rather pleased.

"Good job, Hyrg," he said. "Maybe soon, you'll be able to move on to Centaurs."

"Thanks," the boy obliged.

"Alright then. Time for our break."

The two Death Sickles had moved their ways out of the basement and up the stairs. Once in one of the many vast hallways of the hideout, Hyrg got to catch a glimpse of two people in a room making out with each other. He looked a little disturbed by it. "Is that Alexander and Kitty?"

"Yup."

"What's the deal with them?"

"Their wedding rehearsal's tomorrow." Hyrg's eyes bugged out once he heard this. "I'm invited. You're more than welcome to come with, if you'd like."

"Uh... Sure."

"Alright then."

The teacher and his student continued to walk. During this, Hyrg was left alone with his thoughts. He felt he was constantly finding out new things about this place. So not only can people actually laugh here, he reasoned, but they can also fall in love. How weird...

A group of six was still moving its way through a certain mountain. The area was relatively quiet for the most part, until one member of this group decided to strike up conversation with another. "So, Snifit," Big Guy started, "you like being able to shoot lasers out of your nose and stuff?"

The grey 8-Bit paused a bit to soak in his friend's idiocy. Then he responded. "Yeah. It comes in handy, I guess."

"Yeah, wish I could do something like that..." The enormous Shy Guy said nothing for a few seconds as though he were deep in thought. "Hey," he finally said, "you know that gunk that turned us into this?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't suppose its effects are temporary, do you?"

Snifit seemed to suddenly start walking a bit more slowly. "Um," he said, "actually, the thought had never really occurred to me."

"I hope it's not temporary, though," Big Guy shared. "Being huge has its advantages, you know? After all, you never know when some form of trouble or another's gonna rear in its ugly head..."

What happened next was as sudden as a whip cracking. "GET BACK!!" Annabyss transformed herself into a Boo Blah, and used one of her long arms to knock everyone out of the way, but it didn't do her much good. BOOM!!! Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Waluigi, and Tessa may have been spared, but this sudden assault had left their enigmatic female leader lying down on the ground with smoke rising from her body.

"ANNIE!!" Tessa screamed.

"Look out!!" Laser Snifit yelled. Instantaneously, everyone had become alert. They all managed to run away in time before yet another pair of tremendous white lasers could collide with them. BOOM!!! With their weapons drawn and their fists up, they looked to see the source of all these attacks: it was an unbelievably huge, green, stork-like, monstrous bird with four wings. Whatever it was, it was circling them like a giant vulture. Judging by how its eyes were starting to glow white, it was also about to fire again. "Oh no you don't," Snifit growled. TSEW!! He fired one circle of energy at the beast's leg. BAM! It hit the target right where it was supposed to, but it may as well have been made out of water. It had no effect whatsoever. "WHAT?!"

"Snifit, COME ON!!" Big Guy yelled. BOOM!! It was a good thing these five people got out of the way just in time. Sadly, this didn't change the fact they were cornered and this new, seemingly indestructible monster clearly wasn't going to continue scorching the mountain all day.

"What do we do?!" Tessa moaned.

"Should we just make a break for it?!" Big Guy yelled.

Then something suddenly leapt out of nowhere and latched itself onto the fowl's back like a giant claw. It whipped out a sword and stabbed the monstrosity in its shoulder. This caused the feathered demon to start beating its wings viciously and screeching like a bottomless pit full of ghouls. The five people it was attacking earlier watched as this man grabbed a hold of the fiend's large neck and leapt off of it, carrying the whole thing like a gigantic sack of feathers. He aimed for one of the equally large, upraised horns of Belome Rock and swung the merciless beast at it. WHAM!! This practically caused a tremor to shake the entire mountain like a giant bell. The five people watching this fight could feel it. The attack also caused a huge, bloody wound to open up between two of this bird's wings. Back on level ground, the man tried continuing to chase it with his sword out, but it was gone. The demonic creature finally started to beat its wings like crazy so it could get as far away from the man as possible. The silver person watched sternly with quick breaths as his humungous enemy flew away. The fight was over.

Strange, he thought, why do I keep getting the feeling I've heard of this beast before?

Trying to return his respiration to normal, he relaxed his shoulders and stuffed his sword back in its scabbard. He could finally start taking it easy...almost.

"WHOA!! YEAH!! MAN, THAT WAS AWESOME!!"

Startled, the man turned around to find four people running up to him, yelling praises to him. Behind this odd quartet was a little girl in a strange, lightly colored robe trying to wake up a mysterious woman on the ground. This entire scene confused the man to no end.

"Annie, Annie!! Are you okay? Did you see what happened?"

"I'm fine, dear, and yes, I saw the whole thing..."

As the woman got up and started brushing herself off, four people started walking a strange silver man towards her like a celebrity. He was a handsome young man with long, messy white hair, red eyes, and a rather vibrant uniform that was torn in some places. In fact, both of its sleeves had gone missing entirely, so the swordsman's muscles were in plain view. He looked very befuddled.

"Annie, did you see??" Big Guy hooted. "This guy kicked that huge bird's butt!"

"He's amazing!" Laser Snifit.

Annabyss nodded. "I, too, have witnessed his strength, dears, and am in awe by it, but please... I don't doubt he could use some breathing space now."

Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, and Waluigi got the picture. They let go of the man and started backing up, still muttering in pure excitement. At this point, Annabyss and the gifted swordsman were standing directly in front of each other. The man stared into the woman's rainbow eyes in what may as well have been both confusion and mesmerization.

"Young man, you have saved us," Annabyss said. "For that, you have our gratitude. I am Annabyss, Queen of the Anuboos. These are my companions, Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Waluigi, and Tessa." She pointed to each of them respectively, who all waved and nodded to the man. "What is your name?"

"Cutlass," the alien stated.

"I see," said the woman. "And what brings you here?"

"I..." Cutlass looked dazed. "I'm not sure."

Annabyss paused. "You are not sure?"

"No, ma'am, I'm not."

"Do you remember how you got here?"

"Actually..." Cutlass began to rub at the bloody spot on the back of his head again. "I don't."

Annabyss's quintet of excited teammates seemed to have their cheery moods begin to dwindle. They were staring at the man worriedly.

"Do you remember anything?" Annabyss continued.

"I, uh... I don't."

The silence that had befallen the group was eerie. It was as though someone had just died.

"I see," Annabyss replied grimly.

"All I remember," Cutlass added, "is a bright light. That, and my name. That's it." His fingers strummed the hilt of his sword. "As for how I can wield this sword, I don't know that either. It just comes naturally to me."

"Hmm..." Things remained silent for a moment. Before anyone could become anymore worried, Annabyss started talking again. "We are on a journey to a place called Uaurpe," she said. "If you'd like to come with us, we'd greatly appreciate it. Your strength would very well prove to be quite useful. In return, we will do our best to help you recover your memory."

Cutlass blinked. He wasn't sure of what to make of this offer at first. Glancing to the side, he could see the almost pleading faces of Annabyss's five comrades. The huge one in the furry robe and the folded arms nodded to him. He faced the dark woman once more. It wasn't as though he had anything better in mind. "I'll come."

This seemed to do the trick. Everyone started lightening up once again. Annabyss nodded to their new party member. "Thank you," she said. Cutlass nodded back, but more subtly. "Well, come on. The day is young..."

Thus, the group of six became a group of seven. The lot of them continued marching their ways down the mountain. In addition to this, the other four male members of the clique had resumed crowding around Cutlass with eager looks on their faces.

"So, Cutlass, what was the deal with that bird?" Big Guy asked.

"I'm not sure," said the alien. "It's just territorial, I guess..."

At that time, Dr. Kamenstein was getting ready to leave once more. His stay at Gana Village was another pleasant one, but it couldn't last forever. Once he got his things back together, he and Christopher's wife began to exchange their goodbyes again. They even hugged each other this time.

"I hope you get your sons back," the woman voiced.

"Thank you, madam," said the doctor. A few minutes later, he was back in his Sky-Pop. Before long, he was in the air once more, waving to the woman he had been staying with this whole time, along with her fellow villagers. It was sad to have to leave again, but the scientist reminded himself that this was just life.

In due time, he was flying over vast collections of trees again, alone with his thoughts. True, he was worried about his creations, but there was one other person he had on his mind. Storko, he thought, I wonder how you are doing right now...

 

Surely, by now, it was finally miles away from them. Still a bit shaken from the two big injuries it had just received, the giant bird of Belome Rock flew up to its favorite peak and perched itself atop it. Immediately, it started to lick at its wounds. It was getting started on the one in its shoulder when it suddenly noticed it wasn't the only one with wounds. Looking ahead, it could see the spot where it had come across Cutlass for the first time. It was still bleeding. It had been doing so for hours. The meaning of this was unclear. Whatever the case, even in this transformed state of his, Storko could tell one thing: Belome Rock was indeed an interesting place...