Chapter 39
It had taken a while, but Dr. Kamenstein had finally succeeded in getting another one of his journeys out of the way. After flying around in his Sky-Pop for a bit, he was at last able to arrive at his dome, park his flying contraption in its tremendous garage, and head on inside. It was great to be back.

The only thing about this that bothered the Madscikoopa was the thought of having to face his most reliable bird. Things didn't go too well between the two of them last time, but the scientist wasn't looking for a repeat of that; he was looking for Storko.

But where was that bird? Surely at this time of day, he'd be stuffing his face full of pellets if not sitting around somewhere with his beak in a book. However, the lab coat wearing intellectual heard nor felt the sign of food being eaten or pages being turned. This place was dead silent.

"Storko?" the doctor called. He was answered by his own echo. "Storko?" he called again, as he moved his way through the halls. It was beginning to look hopeless.

As he checked each room of his home, he gradually noticed one thing after another. The piggy bank was missing. The paddleball was missing. Even some of the books had gone missing. What struck the man the hardest though was that one of the shelves had a vaguely geometric shape engraved into it that was surrounded by dust. Pictures were next to this spot. They depicted images of the inventor in some of his younger years as well as his two obnoxious parents. The one that was missing was the one of him and the bird.

With a heavy sigh, Dr. Kamenstein turned away from the photos, sauntered up to the couch, slumped down onto it, and buried his face in his hands. He had been attacked by three witches. He had been kicked out of Mario Land. He stole their two children. He returned them. Now he had yelled at the honorable man that was responsible for the feat. Was life like this for everyone? Was he the only one that seemed to be doomed to forever be constantly switching back and forth between having people do horrible things to him and him doing horrible things to people? His head hurt. It felt like it was being soaked in acid and freezing cold water at the same time. He needed to clear it up.

Ding-dong! The doctor could hear he had guests at his door, but he heard no babies screaming. None of this felt right in the least. Regardless, he shoved himself off the couch, walked up to the door, and opened it up.

"May I-" The Madscikoopa shut himself up once he realized who it was: his own two parents.

"Amos! Sonny boy!!" his mother and father said respectively as they suddenly ensnared their beloved son in his arms. Amos hated to admit it, but, even though it was from his annoying parents, this was exactly what he needed. They gently pushed themselves away from their son to get a good look at him.

"It's been a while, eh son?" his father asked. "We just thought we'd stop by and get some catching up done. How does that sound, eh?"

"It... It sounds delightful." Dr. Kamenstein gave a weak smile and stepped aside with an outstretched hand. "Please come in." His parents thanked him and did so. Before sitting down somewhere in the living room, they had to look around.

"Boy, Amos, this place doesn't change, does it?" his father commented.

"You always were a stickler for consistency," his mother added.

Dr. Kamenstein made a short laughing sound and came out of the kitchen with a few cups of coffee in his hands. He distributed them so they each had one and they all started sitting down and chatting amongst themselves. The son of the group got the conversation going. "So, what's new in your lives?" he asked.

"Oh, not much," his mother replied. "Alexis is just as energetic as ever. In fact, he brought us three whole rats the other night. Honestly, I don't know why that cat thinks we need them that badly..."

"He's just being affectionate, dear..."

"I know... Oh, yes! Your father's thinking of writing his will soon. He says he doesn't feel he's long for this world..."

"For Christ’s sake, woman, I don't think I should be writing my will soon, you do!! You keep telling me how I'm gonna slip on the sidewalk or something one of these days."

Mrs. Kamenstein laughed and mumbled something as she and her husband started making waving movements with their hands at each other. The father just grumbled and continued to drink his coffee. "But what about you, Amos?" the mother asked. "What have you been up to lately? Still working on that Kame Saucer invention of yours?"

Dr. Kamenstein stopped before his lips could reach his coffee again. He started stammering. "Mother, it's been... I haven't even... You might..." He wasn't sure if he should tell her it's been years since he worked on that thing or that it's about time he started. He also wasn't sure if she should know why. After all, word of Storko and the Kamenstein Bros. had not yet reached them, and he kind of intended to keep it that way.

"Yeah, son, how is that thing?" the father chimed in. "I'll bet you've found all kinds of people with it."

"I-It's still in production," the doctor hastily responded. "I still have some bugs to work on and-"

"-Amos, dear, you've been working on that thing for quite a while now," his mother interjected. "I thought you told me that Raven Stone you got would work miracles for you?"

Her son began to nervously tug at the collar of his lab coat. "Er, about that, uh..."

His father could think of something to say faster, though. "Raven Stone??" he blurted. "What the devil is that?!"

The mother stared at her husband. "It's something he found one time when... You never heard this story? I can't believe you..." The couple mumbled a few things to each other. Their son just sat in his seat and watched them while sipping his coffee uneasily. His mother turned to him. "Amos, your father hasn't heard this story. Would you kindly fill him in?"

The father grumbled something else and Dr. Kamenstein stared into his coffee. They had basically asked him to relive one of his less treasured moments: the one where the witches attacked. He wasn't exactly in the mood for unpleasant memories, but he also wasn't exactly in the mood for his current situation. He took his eyes away from his drink, looked at his parents, breathed a sigh, and got on with it. "Well... It all started a while before we went to Mario Land..."

"Are you sure about this, Kamek?"

Helga, Bowser, Doppel, and their two Koopa Troopas had gathered before the entrance to Monet's Mansion once more. Gorroh was the one in front of them all, talking to Kamek.

"I'm sure of it, sire," the Magikoopa replied. "Unless I do this, I may as well just put the Koopa Klan in even more danger." The blue garbed sorcerer pulled out his broomstick. "I should be back in about two days," he added as he stuck the broom between his legs. "Wish me luck." The Magikoopa pushed off the ground and shot into the air. The six people behind him were waving and saying goodbye. The further he got from them, the more he could concentrate on this new goal.

Cranky Kong and Wrinkly Kong, he thought, you and I have much to discuss...

Dr. Kamenstein got going with the story. He was in a huge underground cave somewhere with his two friends, Prof. E. Gadd and Mad Scienstein. All three of them had their weapons out. Dr. Kamenstein had a bazooka-like device, Prof. E. Gadd had a vacuum-like device, and Mad Scienstein had a bottle of some liquid substance. Floating around in front of them was a group of eight Clusters that had forced them to stand up and fight. It had been quite the rough battle, and the three aspiring scientists were starting to tire of it. They decided it was finally time to put an end to this.

Prof. E. Gadd turned his vacuum on, Dr. Kamenstein aimed his bazooka, and Mad Scienstein readied his potion. When the timing was right, they each pulled the triggers and fired. In the next instant, the three Clusters on the left had been sucked into Gadd's vacuum, the three on the right had become covered in Mad's liquid, and the two in the middle had become stuck together thanks to a huge blob of purple ooze that had been fired from Dr. Kamenstein's cannon. The two of them fell to the ground in a pile of purple gunk, which stuck to the ground and started wobbling back and forth like gelatin as its two prisoners struggled to break free from it. As for Mad Scienstein's three Clusters, the entireties of their pink outer shells had been melted clean off by his acidic juices. Once the whole things had been eaten away, the tiny star-like creatures within them were exposed. The dwarfed trio immediately became aware of the circumstances at hand, turned tail, and fled. This left the three scientists as the only triumphant ones in the room. It left one other as the grateful one.

"Oh, glory in heaven, y'all saved me!!" A mole man ran up to the three-some with a pig in his arms. "Who'd have thought a walk with Flossy would have resulted in such disaster? Oh, you are just the nicest folk! You have my eternal gratitude."

"You're quite welcome, sir," Dr. Kamenstein said.

"Quite welcome indeed," Mad Scienstein added. "By the way, what kind of pig is that?"

"This? It's Jlakan swine. You know, they live for a very long time."

"Fascinating," said Dr. Kamenstein.

After that, the mole thanked his saviors a few more times, wished them luck, bid them farewell, and began to walk out of this section of the cave with his pig on a leash. The three scientists had their backs turned towards him with their fronts turned towards their goal, whatever it was. A few seconds later, they could hear the mole behind them talking faintly.

"Ah! How you ladies doin' on this... AUGH!!!"

They heard a thud and some squealing. Immediately, the three scientists turned around. They saw that the mole had dropped to the ground unconsciously. His pig was running around him in a state of panic. Floating towards the trio was another one on a set of broomsticks. They were all wearing purple robes, pointy hats, and movie star glasses. Their distinguishing feature was that one of them had blonde hair, another had pink hair, and another had brown hair. They didn't look too friendly.

"Four men and a pig, and no Clusters," the one with the brown hair snorted. "They were lying when they said this stuff was hard to get."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Dr. Kamenstein demanded.

"We're Magikoopas," the blonde one said. "We've got a god to revive, but two people are in our way."

"One of them's the guy lying down over there," said the pink one.

"One of them, we need to make a Voodoo doll of," said the brunette.

"We know a certain mansion that can help us out," said the blonde, "as well as a certain rock."

"Well, the rock's right here," spoke the brunette, "but... so are you... and that's a problem."

Dr. Kamenstein looked behind himself. Their goal was still there; a huge rock of some shiny black material sticking out of the ground. The Madscikoopa saw it glimmer once and he faced the witches once more.

"This Raven Stone?" he asked. "But... We found it first."

"It doesn't matter," said the blonde. "We need every last atom of that thing. It's for a reason you wouldn't understand. Obviously, the reason why YOU would need it is stupid."

Mad Scienstein clenched his fists. "Why you... HOW DARE YOU INSULT SCIENCE?!" He tried lunging towards the three sorceresses, but Prof. E. Gadd stopped him just in time by placing his hands on his chest.

"Don't act so rashly, Mad!" E. Gadd said. "We can resolve our differences peacefully..."

"No, we can't!! First off, they're trying to take from us what we worked really hard on to get and what there may be no replica of, and secondly, THEY INSULTED SCIENCE!! We can't let them get away this!!"

"He's got a point there, Elvin," Dr. Kamenstein chided. Calmly, he took out his bazooka. "These witches are just gonna have to... disappear..."

"Damn right," Mad Scienstein agreed as he pulled out one of his potions. Prof. E. Gadd watched uneasily as his two friends prepared for what appeared to be a vicious battle. The three witches were making similar actions. They were each pulling out their wands.

"Ho ho, you boys are actually thinking of fighting back? That's interesting," said the blonde.

"Wonder if they can," quipped the brunette.

E. Gadd became even more uneasy. His two friends and these three witches were glaring at each other very hatefully with their weapons drawn. Unwillingly, the man gulped and pulled out his vacuum cleaner once more. The two trios were ready.

"Well, this should be good," said the blonde.

"HHAAAUUUGGHH!!!" The brunette yelled. She rocketed forward on her broomstick and slammed right into the chest of Dr. Kamenstein. The blow felt extremely heavy for a woman her size. The aspiring scientist found out why once he was flipped onto his back with his head against the wall: she had attacked him with a giant yellow block she had materialized. It was currently lying on top of his chest, slowly crushing his ribcage.

"That oughtta hold you for a while," the witch taunted as Kamenstein grit his teeth.

"AMOS!!" Mad Scienstein yelled. Thinking quickly, he clenched onto his potion even harder and started aiming for the block crushing his friend. ZZAP!! Mad yelped as his hand became scorched. The potion fell from his hand and smashed on the floor, causing its acidic contents to burn a hole into the ground. Mad angrily clutched at his wound and turned around to see who did this. It was the blonde Magikoopa waving to him and sticking her tongue out at him. The scientific man grimaced and pulled out six potions at once.

"Aw, no you don't," came the voice of a certain block-making witch.

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! Mad felt as though someone had just grabbed his fingers and forcefully snapped them open. He screamed, jumped back, and let go of his potions, or rather what used to be his potions. All six of them had transformed into a bunch of Thwimps hopping around on the ground. Mad stared at them for a second in confusion and frustration while massaging his aching fingers. Then he just started pulling out some more of his potions. Little did he know that the brown-haired witch and the blonde-haired witch were floating up from behind him with their wands raised...

E. Gadd couldn't take anymore of this. Both of his friends were in grave danger, and he had to do something about it. He put up the tube of his invention, aimed, and started sucking. Success! He had simultaneously gotten three of the Thwimps stuck on the tip of his weapon's mouth. The little stone trio was squirming to get away from the device, but its wind was too powerful. Elvin smirked at his handiwork and took a good look at the situation before him. Three Thwimps were still hopping around, Mad Scienstein was about to be attacked, and Kamenstein was being crushed. The third scientist did the math in his head, licked his lips, and aimed for the right spot...

ZING! ZING! Hearing two very strange noises from behind him, Mad Scienstein looked over his shoulder. He saw two triangles, two circles, and two squares headed for him. Almost instinctively, he hit the dirt. Luckily, the six geometric shapes just barely missed him. ZAP! ZAP! Two more odd noises made him pick his head up. Where two Thwimps had been hopping about earlier were a pile of rubble and a much smaller Thwimp. It confused the scientist greatly and frustrated the two witches. They were starting to get dangerously to their target when Prof. E. Gadd suddenly made his move...

FOOM!! Like a firecracker, the set of Thwimps went soaring into three different directions. KONK! KONK! They had belted the two witches sneaking up on Mad right in the snouts. SMASH!! The third one nailed Dr. Kamenstein's yellow block right in the center of it and made the whole thing crumble to pieces. Amos snapped his head up and inhaled deeply while clutching at his chest. He looked at his friend and savior. "Thank... you..." he rasped.

Elvin smiled. "Anyti-"

BANG!! An explosion of power suddenly erupted right beneath Elvin's feet. The little man went flying and tumbling through the air. Dr. Kamenstein watched in horror and awe at this. He turned to glare at the culprit. This time, it was the pink-haired Magikoopa.

"Did you forget about me?" she taunted.

"Why you..." Dr. Kamenstein aimed his bazooka and fired. The pink Magikoopa swerved out of the way just in time. SPLAT!! A huge, messy blob of purple ooze splattered onto the wall and remained stuck there.

"That was close," the female Magikoopa breathed as she began to change course. "Now on to the prize..."

Amos scowled once he saw what she was doing: going for the Raven Stone. The big, black rock shimmered as the pink Magikoopa flew towards it with her wand out. She was about to start pointing her weapon at the thing when a look of perplexion befell her face. The rock was shaking like an egg that was about to hatch. Then it popped out of the ground and went skidding across the floor. It stopped once it reached a certain man covered in bruises and skid marks. Using the nifty abilities of his vacuum cleaner, E. Gadd was able to suck up that entire chunk of rock right into the canister that was strapped to his back. The Raven Stone had officially become a part of the scientists' possession.

"YOU GIVE THAT BACK!!" the pink-haired Magikoopa shrieked, the tip of her wand starting to glow.

"NOT SO FAST, YOU HAG!!" Mad yelled from across the room. He turned and punted the remaining Thwimp hopping right in front of him. The little stone creature was fired through the air. BAM!! It got the pink-haired one directly in the back of her head. She made a loud grunting sound and was knocked right off her broomstick. She skidded across the ground as her flying device merely fell. Her wand fired a spell all on its own once it, too, clattered to the ground. Its victim was the pair of Clusters that Dr. Kamenstein got earlier. One magical poof later, and the two of them were a pair of trapped cockroaches. The pink-haired Magikoopa wasn't much better off. Once she stopped skidding around, she was unconscious. She had lost the battle, but there were still two more.

"How dare you do that to our sister!!" the other two witches yelled in unison. They started flying towards Mad Scienstein with their wands upraised once more. The long-haired man merely turned around and flung two of his potions right in their faces. KSSHH!! "AAUUGHH!!" Blazingly hot acid was tearing away at their faces. They could no longer concentrate. They dropped their wands, fell off their broomsticks, hit the ground, and started clutching at their faces and groaning. Both Mad Scienstein and E. Gadd smiled at this turn of events.

"Elvin! Hold them!!" E. Gadd caught a glimpse of his friend, Amos, dragging the pink one's unconscious body over. He immediately caught on and deployed his vacuum once more. In an instant, both of the two remaining witches were sticking to the machine's mouth just as the three Thwimps had been.

Dr. Kamenstein placed the pink Magikoopa right in front of his friend and stood back. He aimed his bazooka at her. "All three of these pests are gonna be here a LOOONG time." E. Gadd nodded. "On three now. One..."

"Wait!" said the blonde-haired Magikoopa, still trying to get the acid off her face. "What are you doing? What is this!?"

"Two..."

"LET US GO, DAMN IT!!" fumed the brunette.

"Three!!"

FOOM!! Amos and Elvin fired at the same time. All three of their projectiles collided with the downed pink Magikoopa's body in a big, slimy, purple explosion. The three scientific men surrounded their latest three victims. The three Magikoopas, like the two cockroaches in the corner over there, were encased in a blob of unbreakable purple jelly. The three scientists smiled as the two conscious ones of the three witches tried struggling to get out of the quagmire.

"What... is... this?!" said the blonde.

"Muckun Muck," said the Madscikoopa, "a substance normally used by Muckun Flowers, a powerful breed of Piranha Plants. It's especially effective against witches such as yourselves. Try breaking out of it if you want. Only time will do the trick."

"Time?!" the blonde one spazzed. "What kind of time?!"

"Oh, I don't know," Dr. Kamenstein mused. "Months... Years... Decades..."

The blonde one started making loud sputtering noises. Her sister just yelled, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, YOU WRETCH!!"

"Yeah, yeah," the Madscikoopa mumbled. "Well, we'll be going now. We're taking the Raven Stone with us. See you later."

"Next time, think twice before insulting science," Mad Scienstein spat as he and his two friends began to walk out of the cave in triumph.

"YOU LITTLE BRATS!! GET BACK HERE!!" the brunette yelled as she thrashed beneath the thick substance, inadvertently pummeling her two sisters as she did so. "YOU'RE NOT WALKING AWAY FROM US!! GET BACK HERE AND-"

"Ugh..." The pink one woke up. She had some new bruises on her forehead and someone was yelling in her ear. "Wha..." She found she was in an extremely cramped space and there was some transparent purple substance right in front of her. She lifted one hand and poked it. It was smooth and stretchy, but it was incredibly thick. It was almost like gelatin made out of steel. "Huh?"

"BUNCH OF WORTHLESS GOOD-FOR-NOTHING'S!! I'LL KILL YOU AND MURDER YOUR WHOLE-"

"What's going on?" the pink one asked.

"Nothing. We're just doomed, that's all," the blonde grumbled.

"What?!" the pink one blurted.

"I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN BLOOD!! I HOPE-"

"Ugh," the blonde groaned as she rubbed her head tiredly. "I can tell I'm going to be extremely sick of both of you by the time this is all over..."

Whoever those three witches were, the three scientists had successfully taken care of them. The two trios weren't going to be able to see each other again for a very long time. One of them was walking its way out of the cave victoriously. Through many trials and tribulations, the Raven Stone had finally become theirs. With it, many great things awaited them. Their spirits were high.

"Boy, Amos, the Kame Zooka saves our lives once again," Mad Scienstein commented. "What's next for that thing?"

"Well," Kamenstein said, "I've been thinking lately I could put it into the Sky-Pop somehow..."

Dr. Kamenstein's story came to a close as the three of him and his two friends in his flashback discovered the body of the mole man they met earlier and started helping him up...

It was another bright, shiny day. Annabyss and friends were walking down the dirt path they had been informed of earlier. Wario and Waluigi were goose-stepping in unison, Cutlass and Annabyss were taking the lead, and Laser Snifit was just walking. Big Guy had Tessa sitting on the back of his neck. He helped her stay on by holding her feet in place with his hands, just as he would with Davey or even Laser Snifit.

"Beluga," he said to her.

"Cheetah," she said back.

"Dalmation."

"Elephant."

"Flying fish."

"Goose..."

Other than the wind rustling up the leaves of the trees and the birds chirping, there wasn't much else to listen to. Once his two most child-like teammates got to "rhino", Cutlass was suddenly reminded of something. He turned to his female superior and asked her something.

"That reminds me," he said. "What was it you were doing that one time we fought Larva? You were changing shape..."

"I'm a shape shifter," she replied. "It's a very useful ability."

Cutlass shook his head. "That's not what I mean," he elicited. "I mean... how are you able to do it?"

"Manajus."

"Manajus?" Cutlass repeated. The sorceress nodded her head. "What's that?"

"Oh, I know what that is," Big Guy said, suddenly breaking away from his game with Tessa. She didn't seem to mind, though, as she was also interested in this conversation. "My friend, Crystal Guy, was telling me about it once. He said it's this weird form of energy that's always floating around in the air and stuff. He said you can use it if you do certain things. That was how he could shoot crystals out of his eyes."

Annabyss nodded. "Very good, Big Guy. That's exactly it."

The overgrown 8-Bit felt proud of himself. "You know," he added, "he also said something about it having been created by a group of people called the Starls a long time ago."

"Ten-thousand years ago, to be more precise," Annabyss elaborated. "Legend has it, they created it to protect Tronnajus."

"Tronnajus?" Laser Snifit asked.

"It's what some people call this planet..."

Everyone suddenly started staring at Cutlass. He looked around at them as though they were all suddenly dressed in funny outfits for no reason. "What?" he said. "I just know that..."

"It is indeed called Tronnajus," said Annabyss, the only person who didn't start staring at him. "It means 'World of Wonder', although it is far from the only one of its kind here in the Milky Way galaxy. More specifically, there are 24 others just like it... Well, almost..."

All six of her companions had their eyes fixed on her as though that'd help them hear the explanation better. She paid it little mind and went on with it.

"Tronnajus is special in the sense it was the one Manajus originated on. In fact, it was named after it. Similarly, it means 'Energy of Wonder'.

"The Starls, as you said, Big Guy, made it so that this substance could be used by the people of Tronnajus, but only if they did certain things. They are as follows: defeating giant monsters, putting an end to evil men and their heinous operations, recovering from amnesia, awakening from a coma, making a fortune, having children, taking someone's life, making a beautiful work of art, destroying an entire building, inventing something wondrous, starting a war, and solving a mystery."

Each of these tasks made something ring in the heads of each of the woman's teammates, Cutlass especially. He thought for a moment, and Annabyss went on with her explanation.

"That may not sound as though there are very many things one can do in order to induce the powers of Manajus, but, in reality, it's a little more complicated than that. After all, there are various versions of each task. For instance, 'starting a war' can mean 'starting a fight with someone' just as easily as it can mean 'getting two countries to start trying to kill each other'. 'Solving a mystery' can mean 'solving a puzzle' just as easily as it can mean 'discovering why it's 25 planets, and not 24 or 26.' Different versions of these tasks will get you different amounts of Manajus, but no matter how you do them, Manajus you will get. You can also see how this system can be used as easily as it can abused."

This was all found very fascinating by the others, but their questions were many and close together. They didn't hesitate to voice them.

"So, Annie, when I killed that big, ugly guy at the base..."

"We met this guy in a crown once. He was controlling people with plays..."

"Does this mean that once I recover..."

"What about that one green thing you all killed?"

"Yes, yes, you all gained Manajus when you did all those things," was Annabyss's hasty reply.

"But, Annie, how can we tell when we've gotten Manajus?" Tessa asked. "How can we tell how much of it we have left?"

"Whenever you gain Manajus, you will feel a very faint tingling sensation," Annabyss explained. "Exactly where is different for everyone. For some people, it's in their knuckles. For others, it's in their feet. For me, it's in my eyes...

"As for how you can use Manajus, I can't quite explain it, but, in essence, you merely have to concentrate on where you feel that tingling and picture it exploding. The tingling will occur again. Exactly how harshly it will occur depends on how much Manajus you have left. This can be unbearable at times, but, overall, it's merely an obstacle any decent Manajus-user must overcome.

"Once the tingling returns, picture it exploding once more, although, often, it requires a bit more than this, such as certain movements with your hands and feet (it takes some time to get used to). Exactly what happens is different for everyone. Some people are able to temporarily increase their speed and strength while others are able to summon certain creatures."

"Like Larva," Cutlass quipped.

"Exactly. They say it all depends on what kind of soul you possess."

Annabyss's words had reached them. Soon, they were all looking extremely pensive.

"I wonder what kind of ability I have," Big Guy wondered.

"Me, too," Laser Snifit added while scratching his chin.

"The next town is just ahead," Cutlass commented as he gestured to a collection of little houses that the dirt road sloped into. "Maybe we'll be able to find out once we get there."

"That's Il Ville, so it is indeed a possibility," Annabyss responded. "So, everyone, be on guard."

"Right," her comrades all stated. With that, the group of seven continued walking, unaware of what perilous trials they had lying in wait for them...

"You remember the plan, right?"

"Right."

"Okay... Let's do this..."

On this day, a good few members of the Death Sickles were gathered. All of them were basking in the faint glow of the sun shining through the building's stained glass window. Most of them were sitting down, but three of them were up there on the altar. Two of them were Alexander and Kitty holding each other's hands. The third one was Minister Zelm. He was standing behind the betrothed couple explaining something to them.

"Here, starting with the groom, I ask you to recite the vows that you two have made for each other. You describe your love for one another, how it shall go undying for generations on end, how you couldn't ever spend eternity with anyone else, and so forth..."

Hyrg, as promised, was one of the people sitting down. Galileo was to his right. The wolf looked significantly less bored than his disciple did. The younger one's mind kept drifting. He kept thinking about all kinds of irrelevant things. He wondered where his family was and what they were doing. He wondered if they were okay or if they were in grave danger. He wondered if he'd ever see them again. Thoughts like these came plentiful to him. However, other such thoughts like how they made stained glass windows and how Minister Zelm managed to get a nose like that weren't uncommon either. At one point, listening to the ongoing explanations of Minister Zelm, the boy gave a groan and asked his teacher another question.

"How long's this gonna last?!" he asked.

"Hyrg, hush. It'll all be over in about 20 minutes, more or less."

"Sheesh," Hyrg complained. "You'd think the strongest Death Sickle around would be a bit more... exciting..."

"Just so you know, being exciting is not a requirement in order to achieve the rank of 'minister'," Galileo stated. "It's not even required in order to be 'sub-minister'."

Hyrg looked at his teacher. "There's a sub-minister?"

"Yes. Her name is Galm. She's Minister Zelm's daughter."

Hyrg's eyes widened out. "He's got a daughter??"

"Oh, it doesn't stop there. His daughter has a son named Zill who's got a wife named Laren."

"Uh..."

"And they've got a daughter named Shleo. She is the cutest little thing."

Hyrg didn't say anything. He just sat there with an extremely bewildered look on his face. His mouth was hanging open and his eyebrows were contorted.

"It seems they all have some of the same talent he does," Galileo added.

Hyrg still didn't say anything. After letting it all sink in, he finally got his mouth moving again. "Wow," he said. "So, uh, Galileo... What exactly DO you need in order to become minister?"

"Well..."

KSH! KSH! KSSH!! Three explosion-shaped holes were made in the stained glass window. Alexander and Kitty's wedding rehearsal had been interrupted by three Centaurs that had leapt into the room, each of them with fur, eyes, and long, wily hair of the same grey. They were all heavily armed. Hyrg was terrified. Everyone started staring at this trio of intruders. One of them grabbed a hold of the minister's face with his brawny hand and he held a knife up to his neck. The other two Centaurs had whipped out some crossbows and started pointing them at everyone in the room.

"Alright, you maggots," one of them said, "if you want this idiotic leader of yours to live, then you'd better start giving in to our demands. Number one, this base is ours now. Number two, 50,000 of your members now belong to us. Number three..."

Hardly anyone seemed to be interested in what this guy had to say. It showed. Hyrg looked around at all the bored faces and became anxious. He started tugging at Galileo's sleeve and hissing in his ear. "What do we do, Galileo?! If these guys kill him-"

"They won't be able to, Hyrg," Galileo retorted. The boy gave him a pleading stare. "Just watch..."

"Number four, we..." The Centaur stopped. He finally noticed how, other than that one young boy over there, there wasn't a single soul in the room that was looking the least bit threatened. The Centaur scowled. "What's wrong with you people?!" he yelled. "Don't you care about your leader?!"

The two Centaurs with the crossbows suddenly started looking very confused. They were hearing some choking noises behind them. They lowered their weapons and slowly turned around. What they saw wasn't pretty. The Centaur that was taking Zelm hostage was starting to whither away. His skin was drying up, cracking all over the place, and falling off like debris.

"If you want anything from us," Zelm said calmly, "you should at least apologize for what you did to our window..."

CLANG. The knife fell to the floor. It still had a hand clutching onto it, but it was no longer attached to a wrist. It, along with the man it once belonged to, was turning into dust. The Centaur gave off a few more hopeless gasps before his dry, flaky eyelids closed and he fell to the floor with a dull THUMP, knocking some clouds of dust off his body as he did so. One of the two remaining Centaurs was speechless. His jaw was hanging open, but the other one merely started scowling some more.

"You wretched..." he growled. He jammed his crossbow right into Zelm's face, but his look of hatred soon turned into one of despair and disgust. His hands became shaky. The crossbow slipped and clattered to the floor. Then the Centaur knelt down, opened his mouth, and began to regurgitate heavily. However, what was pouring out of him and splattering onto the floor was, not his stomach's contents, but his own blood. It was thick and seemingly endless, like a red waterfall. All of the Death Sickles on the premises winced at this a bit, save for the one who caused it, who merely watched it as though it were just a worm frying up in the sun.

The ones who were the most horrified by this were Hyrg and the Centaur who hadn't had anything done to him yet. The one who was heaving out rivers of his own blood was struggling to gasp and say something between rounds. "P... Please... make it... stop..." His skin was growing pale and his body was thinning out. Hyrg placed a hand over his mouth as he watched this man's veins and arteries flatten out. It was as though leeches had been placed all over his form and they were all sucking rapidly. Finally, he hacked up one last blob of red liquid, and he collapsed, his unmoving eyes forever remaining only half-closed.

There was only one more left. Everyone turned to look at him expectantly. The man was shaking all over. He could no longer hold the crossbow steady. He looked around at all the people staring at him. His breaths had become dangerously short. The curse had practically already begun. Once he saw Minister Zelm glaring at him, he let out a short scream. In a panic, he zipped one arm behind, yanked something off, and smashed it onto the ground before him.

FWISSHH! A large, billowing cloud of purple smoke enveloped the room. Everyone started coughing. Once the smoke wisped and faded away, there was no one left in the vicinity other than the Death Sickles and the two Centaurs' dead bodies. One of them was lying in a puddle of its own blood, and the other was nothing more than a pile of dust.

Minister Zelm slowly moved his eyes from left to right. Finally, he just flipped his hands out. The dust scattered as though it had been swept away by a gust of wind. Hyrg expected people to start coughing from it, but it seemed to just vanish into thin air. As for the other Centaur, its body began to break into pieces like a rock becoming rubble, and each piece that broke off turned into a little pink flower petal that blew away and began to float across the room. Once this was finished, not even the blood was still there. For a finishing touch, the minister turned around and waved his hand. The broken pieces of glass floated off the ground and put themselves back into place. Before long, the stained glass window was back to normal. What was done was now undone.

After that, Minister Zelm faced forward again. "Everyone, I apologize for the interruption," he said as he walked back into place. "May I suggest we continue with the rehearsal?"

Alexander and Kitty nodded. They walked forward as the Death Sickles behind them began to quietly chat amongst themselves a bit as a result of the recent occurrence.

"Those guys had it coming..."

"They had no idea what they were getting themselves into..."

"That's our leader!"

Hyrg was greatly surprised. He looked around at all these smug Death Sickles, being unable to believe their reactions. Did they know all along that this was going to happen?

"Well, Hyrg, to put it shortly," Galileo said, breaking Hyrg away from his thoughts, "in order to be minister... you have to be able to do THAT..."

Hyrg stared blankly for a few seconds. All of the patrons quieted down. Minister Zelm was talking again. It was amazing how quickly it had ended as soon as it began. So THAT'S a minister? the boy thought. To think... If only one person's been able to leave a scar on him... he must have really been something...

Meanwhile, outside, running through the trees of the Forbidden Forest was the one Centaur who survived this ordeal. He was galloping fast, panting madly, and refusing to blink. The others were right. Bedrus was right, he thought lamentably. Minister Zelm... He's too much!! We can't afford a slip-up like this again...

Clouds of dust were being kicked up everywhere. Everyone in the village watched excitedly as six of its best racers ran tracks around the circular road surrounding it. The race was almost over. The checkered bar was but a few yards away. Two racers were in the lead, one of them being slightly taller and more muscular than the other. Both of them were panting heavily and being drenched in rivers of their own boiling sweat as their legs worked furiously. The sounds of cheering was all around them. They couldn't give up, not for their family or their friends.

The smaller one's speed was starting to lapse. Fatigue weighed him down. The larger racer was soon taking the lead. The other one blinked the sweat out of his eyes and caught sight of this. Anxiety and desperation caught hold of him. Already, he was letting it all go to waste.

Then everything became silent. The sounds of the people cheering and the mad footsteps died down. The smaller racer looked into the crowds. Standing clearly amidst all the blurry faces was a lone woman. The object of his desire. She smiled gently at him and held her folded hands against her chest. A subtle gesture. It was all he needed.

The sounds were coming back. A newfound energy was ebbing throughout this man's body. His legs had become powerful machines. Before anyone knew it, he was breaking records left and right. His weakening dash had turned into an unstoppable stampede, one that a certain other racer had no prayer against.

The village was in shock and admiration. The smaller racer left a bewildered opponent of his in the dust. In the next instant, it was all over. One man had flown across the finish line and ended it. Patrons galore flocked him and cheered nonstop. An elderly man patted him on the back. A ways behind him, his defeated opponent was yelling and shaking his fist. Six of his equally fit friends were holding him back. In spite of this, everyone was still ecstatic. To top it all off, the woman from before approached the winner of this race, embraced him, and kissed him on the lips. The villagers saw this and cheered even harder. Then they began to move back into the town for further festivities. It was a mirthful, lively place. Annabyss and co. had entered Il Ville.

"Annie?" Tessa asked. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," the woman replied. "Perhaps we should find out... But we must be careful..."

Their next move was to walk across the dirt path that served as a racetrack earlier, and to wander into this strange new town. The houses were chiefly made of planks of wood painted white, thus noticeably giving the place a more modern feel than Steen Stream did. The big similarity between the two towns, however, lied in the fact that both of their inhabitants were rather small. The Ils, though, had dark skin instead of peachy skin, and their hair was black instead of green.

On this day, their town was loaded with stands aplenty. People were getting snacks and drinks of all kinds from them. One of them caught Tessa's eye. The girl immediately grabbed Annabyss's hand and pointed. "Annie! Can we get some cotton candy? Please?"

"Yeah!! Cotton candy!!" Big Guy crowed. Cutlass gently covered half of his face with one of his hands and Laser Snifit shook his head.

Annabyss laughed. "Yes, of course," she said.

"I guess I could go for something," Laser Snifit added.

"Something alcoholic would be nice," Cutlass added. In a moment's time, everyone had gotten what they wanted. Soon afterwards, they were back amongst the crowds. They all seemed to be headed in one direction.

"My cotton candy could kick your caramel apple's butt, Snifit," Big Guy stated.

"Big Guy, shut up."

Tessa was the next to speak. "I don't get it, Annie," she said. "Is this place really as dangerous as they say it is?"

"Well," Annabyss stated, "it could be, and it couldn't..."

A few seconds later, the gathering was complete. The Ils had stopped walking and started standing around in front of the platform in the center of town. On top of it was a microphone and, of all things, a giant treasure chest. In the middle of all this, Annabyss and the others were but more faces in the crowd; faces that didn't know anything. To remedy this, Big Guy leaned over to the man to his right. He was the same elderly man who was there for the winner of the race.

"Hey, uh, what's going on? What's this all about?" he asked.

"Newcomers, eh? Of course you wouldn't know anything about this," the old man commented. "We do this every year," he explained. "We get six of our best guys together and we let them race. The winner gets to pull the lever."

"The lever?"

The aged man pointed to the left side of the humungous treasure chest. A lever was sticking out of it. "Whoever pulls that thing activates the Sacred Treasure Chest. This year, the man who's gonna pull it is none other than my son, Jack. Damn, I'm proud of him." This elderly man was baring a dreamy smile, but Big Guy was just confused. Then the old man sighed resentfully. "Not like my other son... Jax... He left two years ago to join some cult called the Mushroom League, or something. He said the world needed cleansing and he was just the man to do it. I haven't seen him since. The big idiot..." The man suddenly started smiling once more. "Not like my other son, Jack, though. Now THAT'S a real man! The one who's going to pull the lever, yes sir! Not like my other son..."

"So, uh, what exactly happens when you pull the lever?" Big Guy inquired, interrupting the man's reminiscing.

"What happens? People die."

Annabyss and her other five teammates suddenly turned their heads towards the man Big Guy was talking to. "Wh... What?!" the huge Shy Guy blurted.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you about that. Before we get the race going, we capture ten people and we throw'em into the Sacred Treasure Chest. Once the lever is pulled, spikes from inside the chest fly out and squash all the poor saps inside of it. We do it in the name of Veyran."

"Sacrifices," Annabyss whispered.

"Yup. Sacrifices. You gotta love'em!"

"This is horrendous," Annabyss seethed. "Ten innocent people are going to die for that foul witch! This ceremony must be stopped..."

The old man turned and looked at her. "You have something against this ceremony?"

"It's an abomination! Innocent people must not-"

BAM!! Annabyss and the other six had suddenly received some heavy blows to the head. In the next second, they had all slumped down onto the ground, unconsciously. Behind them were the runner-up of the race and his sextet of equally muscular companions, each of them with their fists up.

"Change of heart, Jabb?" Jack's father asked.

"Don't get me wrong," the runner-up said. "I'm gonna get Jack for this... But nobody... NOBODY messes with Veyran!!"

The old man turned away from Jabb and smiled. He continued to wait for the main event as the rest of the Ils did. It was mere seconds away. Once those two people over there walked onto the stage, it could get started. As they approached the stairs to this platform, the one in the lead was smiling and thinking to himself.

Racing, he thought. For so long it's been such a favorite pastime of the Ils. In fact, one time, me and my brother found a very strange object in the woods. In order to determine who was to keep it, we challenged each other to a race. Well, lucky him, he won. The treasure was his and he used it to get a nice place of his own somewhere. It's just as well; he was the best in the village. And now... a new champion has arisen...

The Ils in the crowd cheered as a man in a business suit walked onto the stage and up to the platform with Jack in tow. The two of them waved to the audience as they took their places (Jack waving to his father and the woman of his life in particular). Jack stood beside the lever of the Sacred Treasure Chest and the other man stood behind the microphone. Everyone quieted down as he began his speech.

"Citizens of Il Ville," he announced, "I, Mayor Jad, am pleased to announce that Jack Illiyard is the winner of this year's race. Let's all give him a big hand!" The mayor started clapping and all the other Ils immediately joined in, complementing it with a few whistles and cheers. Jack smiled and waved to all of his admirers in return. Once the crowd became silent again, the mayor went on with his speech. "Anyway, we have in the Sacred Treasure Chest ten people who-"

"-Seventeen!"

The mayor stopped and looked around. The audience was looking equally confused. "Uh... Excuse me?" he asked, still not really knowing to whom he was speaking.

"Seventeen!!" Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn to the right side of the stage. Walking up its steps were Jabb and his friends. Each of them were dragging the unconscious bodies of Annabyss and co.. "Heathens," Jabb said as he dragged Annabyss's body up to the mayor. "They said they wanted to stop the ceremony."

The leader of the town stared at this man and his friends for a second. Then he shrugged his shoulders. He turned back towards the microphone with his hands spread out and a smile on his face. "Seventeen people," he said. "What's seven more this year, eh?" The crowd cheered. Jabb and his friends had taken a ladder to the Sacred Treasure Chest. They popped it open and took turns heaving the newly acquired sacrifices into it. They closed it, waved to all the people, walked off the stage, and let the ceremony continue.

"Seventeen people, everyone," the mayor stated. "All of them opposed to the resurrection of Veyran. She'll be glad once their blood has been spilt in her name." The mayor spread his arms once more and then brought his hands together. The Ils in the crowd all followed his example. "Let us now bow our heads in prayer..."

Meanwhile, inside the giant treasure chest, as the mayor prayed, seventeen people were dwelling, all of them unconscious. The only one who still had some life in him was the one with strong arms, a yellow cap, and the faintest glimmer of a rainbow light shimmering between his eyelids. "Tu... Kear... Lyss..."

Out on the sea, a ship was sailing along the salty breeze of the ocean air. The ship's deck was overflowing with all kinds of strange creatures running back and forth, doing everything they could to keep their vessel afloat. The head-honcho of them all was the one behind the steering wheel, the dread Capt. Sugar. Not too far away from her was the spoiled Syrup.

"Sugar, how long 'til we get there?" she asked.

The leader of the White Sugar Pirates squinted her eyes. In the distance, she could make out their much-awaited destination, a little town near the coast. The treacherous woman cracked a mischievous grin. "Not long..."

"And in your name, we pray... Amen..."

The ritual was over. Everyone in the crowd opened their eyes and lifted their heads back up. Once again, the mayor was the center of attention. "Now," he said, "let the show begin!! Jack, if you will..."

Jack nodded. He walked closer to the lever sticking out of the side of the revered Sacred Treasure Chest. He put his hand on it and time seemed to stand still. Everyone in Il Ville was excited beyond redemption. They all watched and waited, all of them standing on the tips of their toes.

Seventeen sacrifices, the mayor thought. It should be good this year. Jadz doesn't know what he's missing...

Come on, son, thought the father of the winner. Make us proud...

Yeah, make us proud, thought the bitter Jabb with his arms folded. You lucky bastard...

Jack tightened his grip around the lever. He was sweating. He had never been more nervous in his life. All of these people staring at him as he was about to perform the most sacred of rituals. Did he have the guts to do it? Was he going to screw up? Was he going to be scorned for life?

Suddenly, all of his doubts vanished. He saw HER in the crowd, smiling at him. The mere sight of such an uplifting look from his significant other cleansed him. He felt reborn. He felt as though pounds had been lifted from his body. There was NOTHING he couldn't do.

Jack gladly returned the smile. The time had come. The winner put his attention back on the lever and began to push...

BOOOMM!!! Jack jumped back and fell down. The stage had been destroyed! He, the mayor, and the podium fell to the ground along with the broken pieces of wood. Everyone leapt back and screamed. What could have caused this? Suddenly, it happened again. BOOOMM!! A nearby house had been demolished. Once they looked in the distance and saw what the cause of this was, pandemonium ensued; a pirate ship was sailing towards them...

Il Ville was terrified. All of its citizens were running frantically, trying their best to defend what mattered most to them. They gathered up their things, tore down their stands and merchandise, and got their children indoors, all for the sake of protecting them from these pirates. Their attackers found it all rather amusing...

"Stupid Ils," Capt. Sugar smirked. "You're just making it more fun..." The ship stopped at the shore's edge, dropped the anchor, and took the raid to the next level. The captain raised her sword and swung it in the direction of the town. "CHAAAARRGE!!"

The pirates yelled and hooted excitedly. They withdrew their weapons, jumped off the ship, got back on land, and began to stampede towards the village. The last Ils to get to safe places were the first to go. Pirate Gooms were tackling them, holding spears to their throats, and forcing them to empty out their pockets. Wanderin' Gooms were raiding buildings, running out of them with stolen valuables, and lighting the architectures on fire. Dangerous Ducks were submissing people and beating them senseless just for the fun of it. Once Jad and Jack pulled themselves out of the wreckage of the stage and saw all this, immediately, it dawned on them that despair had consumed Il Ville. There were too many of these pirates, and there was nothing they could pray for to change that.

Then it hit Jack. His eyes snapped wide open and he began to look around desperately. Where had she gone? Where was the woman that made his life worth living? Where was everything he had ever fought for? He had to find her. Nothing else mattered. He decided they'd be together even in this torrent of chaos, regardless of how many bones he'd have to break in order to pull it off...

He took a huge step forward. That was it. He felt a delicate hand clasp onto his forehead and a blazing river flash onto his neck. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, suffering from a wound that would never heal, yet it was one that wouldn't allow him to ever suffer again. In his place stood a woman in green, a sword covered in blood being held in her left hand. The mayor saw what Jack was about to do and what this woman had done to him. The winner of a very cherished tradition was gone, as was a young girl's love. All this, and the village they adored was being destroyed. The pride and glory of Il Ville was slipping away like sand in an hourglass.

"What do you want?!" Jad cried. "Why are you doing this?!"

"The Kreer Sphere," Capt. Sugar said. "Tell me where it is."

The mayor scowled at the atrocious woman. "Why should I?" he snarled. "Why should I do anything for anyone who took everything away from me and the ones I love?"

WHAP. Sugar caught Jad by his left arm. She grinned malevolently as she looked directly into his eyes. "Why not?" She violently threw him out of her grasp. The harsh maneuver spun him all the way around so he could see what was going on.

Half of the village's buildings had already been burned to ashes. In the distance, a Wanderin' Goom was hurling another torch into another. It, too, caught fire. Closer by, a few Dangerous Ducks were walking away from a family huddled together. The ducks were laughing in their faces and walking away from them with loaded sacks slung over their shadows. A few yards from there, one of the female Ils was lying on the ground. A Dangerous Duck was reproaching her, holding a pearl necklace in his hand. The woman tried crawling towards him and reaching out to him with one outstretched arm, but the duck just turned around and kicked her in the face. The woman fell to the ground, defeated. The Dangerous Duck laughed and walked on.

Jad didn't want to see any of this anymore. Tears welled up in his eyes. He turned towards Capt. Sugar and let it spill.

"Ganchan Canyon," he choked. "My brother, Jadz, lives there. I gave it to him after losing in a race to him once. Take it, if you want, but please... leave our village alone..."

Capt. Sugar smirked. "Wise choice," she chided. "That's all I needed to know..." The woman lifted up a foot and slammed it into the mayor's face. He went sprawling backwards and rolling down the pile of wood. She watched him lay on the ground, wincing in pain. She smiled once more. Then she swung her blood-stained sword up into the air. "ALRIGHT, YOU WORTHLESS DOGS, FALL BACK!! BACK TO THE SHIP!!" she yelled.

A loud cheer from her vicious minions shot up in response. Soon, Pirate Gooms, Wanderin' Gooms, and Dangerous Ducks were running away from Il Ville along with its burning buildings and suffering people. All of them were heading back towards the S. S. Teacup. Only ten Dangerous Ducks remained.

"Say, uh, captain, what should we do with this big treasure chest here?" one of them said, pointing to the tremendous thing turned on its side.

Sugar looked at it and instantly switched moods completely, like a light turning on. She clicked her heels together, clasped her hands together, and gazed upon it with shimmering eyes. "That?" she said. Then she relaxed her shoulders and sported a devilish grin once more. "Haul it back. It's gotta be LOADED with goodies..."

The Dangerous Ducks saluted her. They immediately got to work on picking it up from different sides and carrying it over to the ship. Sugar watched this in devious satisfaction. She turned around and started to walk off this huge mound of broken wood. At the bottom of it, she came across her little sister. She was holding a rather large bundle of jewelry in her miniscule arms.

"Sugar?" she asked. "You think mom would be proud of us?"

"I don't think it, Syrup," Sugar replied. "I know it..."

As the two demonic siblings walked away from the wreckage that they had reduced Il Ville to, Jad lay on the ground, gazing dazedly into the sky. A tint of grey had darkened it due to the smoke rising from the ruins. He felt as if the day had instantly turned to twilight just because of this one dire event. However, at least it wasn't night.

Monsters, he thought. Go to Ganchan Canyon if you want, but you won't find the Kreer Sphere there... Only death...

The disheartened mayor pried himself off the ground so he was sitting upright. Once he did so, he could see that, on top of this hill of destruction was a young woman holding a dead man in her arms. Back and forth, she looked at his closed eyes, his expressionless face, and the gash on his neck. Finally, she just exploded in tears and buried her face into her former-love's chest. Mayor Jad watched this and sunk his face into his hands.

Heaven help us... Night consumed Il Ville and a ship sailed away...

Above the waters bordering the Clattagin Woods, Kamek was flying around on his broomstick. He had already covered a good amount of distance. Let's see, he thought, I should be able to arrive there within the next 24 hours...

As he was flying, something suddenly caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he could swear he had just seen something strange sticking out of the water below him. It looked like a flower with white petals... but why would a flower be growing out of the middle of the ocean? He looked downward to make sure.

Nothing was there. Kamek stared at where he was certain he saw it. A few seconds later, he shrugged it off. This isn't the time to be distracted by such trivial things, he thought. There's something important I must do. The fate of the Koopas depends on it...

The White Sugar Pirates were in high spirits. On the deck of their ship, they were all dancing and sprinkling themselves in the rain of money and treasure they were able to pillage from Il Ville. It exceeded their expectations by far.

"Captain, look at all this stuff!!"

"Who'd've thought those stupid little Ils would have had so much of it?!"

"We're rich! RICH!!"

Capt. Sugar smiled. "I know," she said as she watched a select few of her minions try their hand at tipping their newfound giant treasure chest open. "Now we're going to see just how rich we really are..."

WHAM!! It was knocked over now. Once that happened, the Dangerous Ducks stepped away from the chest. Then a bunch of Pirate Gooms leapt on top of it and jammed their spears into the thing's hinges. SHING!! The top part was hacked off. The chest was open now and it was time for the ducks to venture inside. Capt. Sugar and the others were excited. However, once they came out dragging a bunch of people with them, everyone was confused.

"Oi, captain, there's just some weird people here," said the one holding an unconscious Wario by the shoulders. "What do we do with them?"

The captain didn't respond at first. She frowned for a bit in disappointment that no treasure had been found inside this chest. Then a smirk came upon her face. "Throw them in the brig with the other four," she ordered. "It's about time we let the games begin..."

That was all the White Sugar Pirates needed to hear. They, too, had been let down by the outcome of this, and now they were eager again. The enthused pirates saluted their captain once more and commenced dragging these unconscious people to their destination...

"...And so, after having searched for it for so long, I was finally able to find it... The Kreer Sphere!"

"Mm-hm."

Foreman Spike, Guido, Oglian, and Swoompster were still rotting away in the brig of the S. S. Teacup. Between the four, Swoompster was the one telling the story, Foreman Spike was listening, and the other two were just sitting around. In this dank, smelly place, only the Swoompire's rambling kept the scene alive.

"But it was in the hands of that greedbag, Mac Rozone! I tried getting it away from him, but all I got was a lock of his hair..."

CHING! The door opened, but only for one brief shining moment. In one humungous blur of orange, grey, yellow, and other such colors, 17 new cellmates had been added to the S. S. Teacup's brig. Each of their motionless bodies had been unceremoniously thrown onto the floor, getting a yelp from the surprised Guido and Oglian. CHING! The door closed again. The sound of hands wiping dust off themselves and footsteps walking away filled the air.

"Get along, now! But I wouldn't get TOO attached to each other, if I were you. Heh heh heh..."

The guards' taunts faded away. They were alone again. Foreman Spike scoffed. "How many people are they gonna cram in here? Sheesh..."

"Ugh..." Big Guy pulled himself off the ground, clutching at his head. "What happened? Where are we?" Others began to wake up as well while the titanic Shy Guy was busy looking around at their new surroundings. "What is this? Did those stupid Ils throw us in here?"

"On the contrary..." The few people in the room that had resumed consciousness at this point turned towards the source of this new voice. It was harsh, misty, and deep-pitched. It almost sounded like it was echoing. "The Ils threw us in a treasure chest. This is a ship. Something must have happened while we were out..."

"You can tell that?" Big Guy inquired. He stared at the mysterious man. "Just who are you, anyway?"

The man stared back. Like Big Guy, he was a muscular brute over eight feet tall and he wore a white mask. Unlike the 8-Bit's mask, though, it consisted exclusively of two eyeholes and no mouth. Peering through those holes were a pair of deep-set, unforgiving eyes. They seemed to have a reddish glow to them.

Like a diver, the skintight thing he was wearing was in one piece, and it covered everything including his hands and his feet. It was red and it encased his hands in mitten-like formations. Around his right wrist was a strange thick, white, coiling bracelet with what looked like the head of a spear. Around his neck was a huge, billowing, dark red cape. He looked extremely intimidating.

"I am Marlukin," the giant responded, "a servant of the goddess, Golden Diva..."

The still groggy Tessa scratched her head. Servant of... she thought. Wouldn't that make the Ils... capturing their own kind?

"And these..." Marlukin went on. He gestured towards seven smaller people, all of them baring striking resemblances to him, but mostly in outfit. Only three of them had already woken up. "...Are my subordinates..." The three that were awake were yellow, blue, and red. The yellow one wore a dark yellow jacket, the blue one, a dark blue poncho, and the red one, a dark red scarf. Marlukin pointed to each of them and named them respectively, who all nodded and waved. "Milgurin... Masle... Melcro..." The other four were evidently taller and more gangly than the previous three. There were two red ones, one yellow one, and one blue one. Marlukin named them as well. "Metch... Meech... Milsh... and Milt..." None of them moved. "We're the Spear-Masks," Marlukin elaborated, "and we will stop at nothing until our goddess is revived..."

Big Guy nodded, but Tessa was slightly confused. Eight of these new people were cleared up, but that didn't explain the two in the corner. One of them was a young woman and the other one was a little girl not much older than her own brother. The little one was leaning against the other with a frightened look on her face. The older woman held her and stroked her gently.

What Tessa noticed about them was that they both had long, wavy brown hair and four whisker-like marks on their cheeks. They also had, strangely enough, four plumy white wings growing out of their backs. Between the two, though, the younger one was the one with a fancy-looking red robe and the older one was the one clad in some rather exotic boots, as well as some gloves, a leotard, and a tiara. Tessa found them interesting.

"What about them?" she asked Marlukin. The gigantic Spear-Mask slowly turned his head towards them. The elder woman of the two merely glanced at him once this happened. Marlukin scoffed and turned away.

"Halimus and Hessen," said the tremendous man. "Honorary Spear-Masks."

"Honorary Spear-Masks?" Tessa repeated.

"Long story..."

At this point, Swoompster was confused to death. He tried listening to all these people and keeping up with them, but it just couldn't be done. His brow furled and he let his voice be heard. "Now, just a darn minute!!" he yelled, grabbing everyone's attention. "I was just telling Foreman Spike, here, all about the time I tried getting the Kreer Sphere, and then you people show up and take the spotlight away from me!!"

"Egotist," Foreman Spike muttered.

"And YOU!!" The little Swoompire pointed at the seismic Spear-Mask. "You people! Trying to bring her back, huh?! Well, just so you know, I've got my eye on you, so watch it, servants of Golden Diva!!"

"Is there a problem," Marlukin growled, "servant of Count Dheos?"

Suddenly greatly frightened, Swoompster jumped back. "Well, actually, I, uh, I just..."

CHING! Everyone turned around. The feature ghost of the White Sugar Pirates had floated into the cell. A small troupe of Ghost Gooms were right behind him. He looked around at the prisoners and started pointing. "You, you, you, and you," he said. "You're comin' with me."

Big Guy stood up with his fists clenched. "Hey!!" he yelled. "What right have you to start ordering us around?!"

The ghost looked directly into the overgrown 8-Bit's eyes and smiled. "What right DON'T I have?"

Big Guy suddenly felt a strange vibration shake his body. It was as though the distance between him and this ghost was expanding, as though the room itself was stretching. It seemed everyone in it was inside the belly of some tremendous creature. Big Guy felt this, gulped, and stepped back.

Obediently, Milgurin, Swoompster, Laser Snifit, and Waluigi got up and started filing out the door. Foreman Spike, Guido, Oglian, Cutlass, Halimus, and the Spear-Masks were cautious of this and Hessen was her usual worried self, but Tessa appeared to be genuinely concerned. "What?!" she said. "So... Just like that, you're all going to..."

"Tessa, you were always a worrier..."

The girl's ears lit up. She recognized that nasal-sounding, raspy voice, but there was something different about it this time. The next one she heard was a similar, but deeper one. It, too, was familiar, but strange.

"He's right, you know. Have you ever seen us NOT able to do something?!"

Tessa looked back and forth. Two of her companions were both smiling at her. One of them was standing in front of the exit to this cell, having yet to leave it as the others did. The other one was still there and with his arms folded. It was the Kamenstein Bros., cocky as ever, but Tessa could no longer see those Annabyss-like rainbows in their eyes. They were... normal...

"Well whatever," Waluigi said. "But, I'm tellin' ya, you're only wasting your time by worrying about us."

"Listen good, woman. This is good stuff," Wario added. Then he yelled out to his brother. "Just don't screw up or anything, alright, you idiot?!"

"I know, moron!! Just leave it to me!!" With that out of the way, the younger Kamenstein Brother began to goose-step out the door. Finally, the pirate ghost floated as well, closing the portal behind him and locking it tight. Seconds later, all of them were gone. Things were getting stranger...

Tessa was anxious. In a panic, she looked down, noticed Annabyss's unconscious body, and began shaking it. "Annie, Annie!! Wake up! We need you!!"

"Don't bother, Tessa," Cutlass advised. "She's out cold." The girl looked at the man pleadingly. Cutlass looked back and sighed. "Look," he said, "I don't quite get what's going on myself, but I doubt it's anything to lose your head over. Think about it..." The silver alien held his hands out. "Are any of us worth underestimating?"

Tessa stared at him for a while. Then she looked away, a pensive air about her. "I... I guess you're right..."

I never really thought about it, the girl speculated. All of us... We're pretty strong... The young female lifted up her gloved hands and started to look at them. Does that... include me?...

Meanwhile, in the corner, Hessen was still frightened. She glanced upward at the elder woman. "Halimus," she said, "when's it going to be over?"

"Soon, Hessen," the woman responded. "Just wait, it won't take long..."

"No," Hessen elicited. She glanced at the Spear-Masks beside them, Marlukin in particular. "I mean... When's IT going to be over?"

Halimus looked at the group of Spear-Masks as well. They paid them no heed. The woman sighed and continued stroking the younger girl. "I don't know, Hessen," she said. "Maybe... It'll never end..."

After being led and even poked at with their spears, Laser Snifit and the other three had finally made it onto the deck by the ghost and his subordinates. A rather vast opening had been made for the lot of them. It was surrounded by all of the other pirates, each of them looking quite eager. The ghost put the four prisoners in their places, and he floated off to join the crowd. Behind them all, the two pirate sisters were beaming maliciously, anxious for what was to come. Beneath them was the group's feature spiky Koopa Troopa. Once the timing was right, he stepped forward with his arms spread out.

"Alright, everyone, listen up!" he called out. "Our elite fighter, Cave Master, will now explain the rules of the Death Matches!!"

The four prisoners were shocked by this. The sound of all of these bloodthirsty pirates suddenly cheering for it didn't help any. After that, the minotaur-like creature that was behind the Koopa Troopa stepped forward and began to explain it.

"The matches will be between four people, two people per team. The object is to keep fighting until both of your opponents are dead, if not thrown off the ship. Any means to do this are allowed..."

"Death Matches?!" Laser Snifit blurted. "These people really are barbarians!!"

"Yeah, well," Waluigi muttered, twitching his fingers.

"Heh, this is starting to get interesting," Swoompster commented. Milgurin just folded his arms and scoffed. Cave Master continued with the explanation.

"On one side, we will have the grey guy and the blue guy," he stated. "On the other, we'll have the Spear-Mask and the little Swoompire. All of you, do your best."

"Just like that, huh?" Laser Snifit mumbled.

"Heh. No problems there," Swoompster quipped as he began to do some stretches.

Cave Master raised his hand up into the air, making it look like he was about to do a karate chop. "On my mark, now..." Reluctantly, Laser Snifit and Waluigi took their places. Their opponents didn't take long to assume theirs from across them. They all waited for the signal. "Ready..."

"Just so you know," Swoompster said to his two opponents, "I have nothing to do with Count Dheos. He and I are through! The only person I work for is me, myself, and I."

"Set..."

Swoompster bared his fangs and grinned. "After all, they do call me the Swoompire of Greed..."

Waluigi rolled his eyes. "Whatever, weirdo..."

Cave Master finally chopped the air before him, and it was on. The crowd cheered. "FIGHT!!"

Milgurin whipped out a white spear, Laser Snifit fired a laser hoop, and Waluigi shot a kick out at his opponent. While Milgurin dodged the laser, Waluigi's foot slammed into something as hard as steel. It made his foot ache. He glared at Swoompster for a second, wondering what could have caused this. The miniscule Swoompire just grinned at him. While Laser Snifit was busy with the Spear-Mask, Waluigi was ready to give it his all against this bat-like man...

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!! Three kicks later, and the result was the same. It was getting on the blue man's nerves. He stopped for a second to look his enemy over in order to find out if there was really anything that special to him. He regretted it. BANG!! Waluigi went flying backwards. He skidded across the deck of the ship, feeling an intense agony in his chin. He stopped himself and started rubbing the sore area. He looked up and finally saw what the deal with this man was. Swoompster had a golden ball floating above the back of his hand. It was glowing rhythmically. The Swoompire chuckled.

"Balls, spheres, globes..." The creepy-looking dwarf snickered and moved his hand around. Surprisingly, the ball just spun around it in midair as though it was hanging on by an invisible chain. "Call them what you will..." The Swoompire grabbed the ball with his other hand and put it behind his back. His hand returned with a silver ball with no glow to it, but rather a line going around it. The midget reared it back, getting ready to fire. "I want them all!!!"

WHOOSH! The ball went flying. Waluigi watched it in an almost bored manner. He could just kick it away. He swung his leg upward and BANG!! It hurt severely. The Kamenstein Brother started hopping on one foot, clutching at the injured one. It was bleeding. The silver ball returned to the hand of the Swoompire like a boomerang. Waluigi noticed how it had sprouted three curved and jagged blades out of its line. The gangly man scowled at this.

"All of them," said the Swoompire, "they're my treasures!!..."

Laser Snifit turned around and saw the predicament that Waluigi was in. A tall guy like him was trying his best to land even a single hit on this tiny nuisance, but, thanks to all of those strange orbs, such a thing wasn't looking to be possible anytime soon. "Geez," the 8-Bit said quietly, "I'm glad I'M not the one fighting him..."

SHING! "Yowch!!" The grey Snifit felt something tear a bloody gash out of his shoulder. Swiftly, he turned around and fired another laser. The Spear-Mask just jumped out of its way again. Laser Snifit growled. "I got problems of my own, I guess..."

Waluigi was panting. He stood firmly with his fists by his sides, trying his best to ignore the pain in his left foot. He stared down his cocky opponent who had put away a red ball only to pull out a clear green one. He held it out in front of him and squeezed it like the spherical mass of gelatin it was. Waluigi didn't care what this one was going to do; he wasn't going to let it win this time.

The ball exploded into several smaller green ones. They all shot forward like bullets from a machine gun. The damage was critical, but it wasn't to the man in blue; it was to the Pirate Gooms behind him, all of them screaming. One of them had lost an eye, one of them had been nailed in the gut, and one of them was clutching at his throat. Swoompster was confused. Where had Waluigi gone? This, he found out the hard way.

WHAM!! The small Swoompster felt two huge clubs smash their ways into his face. He yelled and reared back in pain. Waluigi jumped off of his face and readied another assault. Swoompster had just gotten his eyes open again when his enemy was suddenly right in front of him. His eyes bugged out. In the next instant, multiple gunshots were being kicked into his stomach. To top it all off, Waluigi got back on the ground and whipped one leg around. BAM!! It slammed right into the left side of the dwarf's head. He was sent sprawling.

The little man was lying facedown on the deck when Waluigi was suddenly found standing before him. "Jumping and kicking," he said. "Just two of the things the human legs are good for. Keep that in mind."

Swoompster laughed, though it sounded more like coughing. "That so?" he said as he reached underneath his cape. "Well... I can tell now that you're not one of the weaker ones..." He pulled out another silver ball, but this one had no line on it. Waluigi cocked an eyebrow at it. Swoompster got off the ground and held this new orb with both hands. "The Tran Sphere," he said, "the sphere that can turn even a simple lock of hair into power. Behold!!"

The Swoompire raised the ball into the air and smashed it on the ground. Like a smokebomb, it exploded and enveloped the dwarfish man in a small accumulation of silver clouds. Waluigi stared at this in shock and confusion. The pirates of the S. S. Teacup and even the other two fighters in all this did the same thing. The next thing they heard was a different voice emanating from this smoke.

"Part Mario, part Crook," the voice said, "the guardian of Thornton, the one, the only..." The smoke cleared away. Standing there in a dramatic pose and with a bulging sack over his shoulder was, not Swoompster, but a taller man in green. He possessed the same bulbous nose and curly mustache as any other male Mario did, but, from the nose up, it was completely different. From there, it was pitch black and with two malevolent-looking eyes of pure white gazing out. On top was a tassel hat striped green and dark green. His long-sleeved shirt matched. Lastly, he had white gloves, black pants, and black shoes. Who was this? "Mac Rozone," the transformed Swoompster answered. He held one hand out to the bewildered Waluigi and beckoned him with it. "Come on..."

Waluigi got it going. He lunged at his new opponent with his kicks flying. Somehow, the man in green was able to block every last one of these. Just when the blue one was starting to get agitated by this, WHAM!! He got it right in the forehead with a slam from the man's bulging sack. Waluigi squealed and staggered, rubbing at where the blow had been dealt. The transformed Swoompster chuckled.

"You like that?! Well, there's plenty more where that came from..." The green man slung down his bag and started rummaging around inside it. Finally, he found something and he chucked it at his adversary. BOOM!! The bomb exploded right in front of Waluigi's chest. It pushed him back and made him start clutching at a scorched wound. He silently cursed the craftiness of his assailant. "Don't stop!!" the hybrid yelled. Waluigi soon found himself jumping and flipping out of the way of a rainstorm of more bombs. This was even more agitating.

Swoompster cackled as he hurled these explosives at his retreating enemy. He could tell he wasn't going to last long. However, what happened next was something he had not anticipated in the least. WHAM!! The harsh sound of wood breaking rang and the green man was sent flying into the air. By slamming one foot down on one of the planks of the ship, Waluigi was able to instantly form a makeshift catapult. He grinned as he saw his opponent come crashing down. He jumped, landed on the ground with his hands, and flung himself into the air with his feet aiming for Swoompster's mustachioed face. They hit hard, but the man still wasn't damaged. He had brought his arms up just in time. Waluigi scowled.

The crowd held its breath as a green and blue blur plummeted back onto the deck. In the next second, both of the part Mario fighters were back up and flinging their unarmed attacks at one another. Both of them were doing all this with lightning-quick reflexes and harsh blows. At one point, it stopped abruptly with Swoompster suddenly catching both of his enemy's fists in his hands. The two stared each other down. Swoompster smiled deviously.

"Getting frustrated?" the transformed man asked.

"As a matter of fact..." Waluigi put on an equally devilish grin. "I am..."

CRACK!! Swoompster screamed bloody murder. He leapt back feeling the most indescribable pain tearing away at him from both wrists down. Had this blue guy shattered every last bone in them? If so, how? He took a quick look at his adversary for answers, but all he saw was a demonic grin. Once he saw him start to take strides towards him, he panicked. He couldn't fight with two useless hands. He had to get out of this and fast.

Mustering up as much energy to do so as possible, he forced his left hand behind his back and pulled out another ball, this one being checkered red and black. Shakily, he plopped it into both hands, causing it to suddenly become a ball of some blinding light, like a miniature star. Waluigi saw this, jumped back, and winced with one arm covering his eyes. All of the spectating pirates did the same. Once the light died down, it was revealed that Swoompster was back to his old Swoompire self, but still holding that strange orb in his hands. Laser Snifit had Milgurin pinned to the ground at this point, but he was eying this new sphere in interest.

"The Kariboo Sphere," the Swoompire panted. "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through in order to get this thing..."

All of a sudden, Laser Snifit was the one feeling infuriated with this man. He jumped off of Milgurin's chest and started pointing accusingly at the Swoompire. "YOU!!" he yelled. "You bastard!! You're the reason Chogun and Davey left us!! I oughtta-"

BAM!! Laser Snifit's left temple was dealt a rough blow from the blunt side of Milgurin's spear. The little Spear-Mask started charging towards his downed enemy with the pointy end forward, resuming the fight. He leapt on top of the 8-Bit and thrusted. With impeccable timing, Snifit caught it with his fins and began to struggle to throw this pest off of him. He wriggled his head to one side to yell to the confused Waluigi.

"Waluigi!! Kill that guy!! I don't care what it takes, just kill him!!"

The blue man nodded. He thumped his right fist against his chest and turned it into an outstretched arm, its palm facing his grey comrade. Then he turned towards the Swoompire once more, only to notice he had that silver Tran Sphere in his hand again. What was it this time?

"This may not be a fair fight," the Swoompire rasped, "so I'm going to change that..."

WHOOSH! He fired the orb. In a split-second, any doubts Waluigi had on his mind on what good this was going to do had become doused. Much to his surprise, the sphere had sprouted a mouth, filled to the brim with very sharp-looking, steel fangs. Waluigi yelped at the sight and ducked. Little did he know that this was exactly what Swoompster wanted him to do. No sooner than when that happened did Waluigi instantly feel a sharp, searing pain in the back of his neck. He shot one hand behind him to clutch at it, and he could tell what the problem was: one lock of his hair had been torn out.

Taken by surprise, he looked back at Swoompster. The Tran Sphere returned to his hands. Waluigi could see it swallow a few brown hairs and then have its mouth fade away. Swoompster's smile had become even bigger and more maniacal. "You," he breathed, "you can't handle YOU!!" The diminutive Swoompire raised the ball into the air again. A huge smash occurred, but not due to the Tran Sphere. This time, Waluigi had been faster...

A few feet away, Laser Snifit was finally getting fed up with his enemy. He held on tightly to his spear, aimed his snout at the right place, and fired. TSEWW!!

"AAUURRGGHH!!" Milgurin was in incomprehensible pain. He let go of his spear and started staggering about, clutching at his eyes. Both of them were on fire.

Meanwhile, Laser Snifit was hopping back onto his feet. He got himself into a certain stance as though he were starting a race. "Well, Milgie," he said, "it was nice knowin' ya..." The 8-Bit charged forward with his arms out. WHAM!! He rammed his shoulder into the Spear-Mask and started holding him there with his arms. Seeing him continuing to charge forward in their direction, the pirates began to shift out of the way. At last, the final blow was delivered. Snifit skidded to a halt and hurled the yellow Spear-Mask over the edge. A good portion of the pirates watched as this little man tumbled through the air and eventually got swallowed up by the sea. In a big, white, foamy SPLOOSH, the Spear-Mask was gone.

Laser Snifit turned away. Victory was his. Then he saw that he wasn't the only one...

There was something strange about Waluigi. Everyone was in awe of this. He looked as though he was glowing blue. Actually, it looked more as though there were three of him, two of them being transparent, blue ones. All three of them were standing in the same spot, making for one very strange look for the Kamenstein. Before him, Swoompster was lying on the ground, blood streaming from his mouth. "You fr... freak..." he wheezed.

Waluigi didn't listen. He raised his fists, getting himself ready for the next attack. His other two images mimicked this movement, but more slowly, providing the man with a very odd echo-like effect. Then he squatted down and rocketed high up into the sky. The patrons looked upward. Swoompster recognized this as the same technique the man used to dodge those green orbs earlier, but he didn't want to see it be put to good use again. He began to pry himself off the wooden floor.

Forget it, he thought. It's not worth it!!...

Waluigi aimed. He pointed his feet downward, ready to slam them into his opponent's head like two missiles. What happened next was instantaneous. BBOOOMMM!! The hit landed. It was so devastating, it sent gigantic waves of vibration ebbing throughout the ship. Every last person felt it. They even felt splinters and pieces of wood fly into their faces as a result of it. Once it was over, they could see that the blue man was the only one standing. Swoompster was nowhere in sight.

"Damn," Waluigi cursed to himself. Slowly, his other two images faded away, returning him to his normal self. "He got away. I was just barely able to hold myself back..."

"Game, set, and match!!"

The pirates all cheered. Waluigi began to pump his arms at them all in his own arrogant little victory dance. He stopped once an awestricken Laser Snifit trotted up to him. "What was that?!" he asked. "What did you just do?!"

"Weren't you listening?" Waluigi responded. "Manajus. Apparently, I can temporarily raise my speed and power with it."

"Wow..."

"Alright, you scumbags, move along..."

Laser Snifit and Waluigi were being poked again. The pirates of the S. S. Teacup chatted amongst themselves excitedly as the ghosts of the group led the two winners of the Death Match back below deck. The sounds of the White Sugar Pirates' awe and admiration of this battle slowly faded away in Swoompster's ears. He had gotten far, far away from it all. With his bat-like wings spread, he soared across the waves of the ocean, desperate for a new destination.

I just want the Kreer Sphere, he thought. That, and a nice hide-out... But I'm not about to risk my life for that!!...

"I can feel it in my feet," Waluigi explained, "but, apparently, I can make it go wherever I want."

"I see..."

CHING! The door to the cell opened once more. The prisoners watched as Laser Snifit and Waluigi were shoved back in. The door shut, and everyone was trapped once more. "Just stay there," said the ghost. "I'll be back..." He floated off with his minions again. This suited Tessa just fine. She ran up to Laser Snifit and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Snifit!!" she flipped. "What happened up there?? Where's Milgurin and the other guy??"

Slowly, the 8-Bit put his left hand on the girl's right. "Well, Tessa, as hard as this may be to believe, uh..." Snifit took a deep breath. "They're making us fight to the death up there.

The girl gasped. Similar reactions came out of Guido, Oglian, and Hessen. Others, like Foreman Spike, Wario, Cutlass, and Marlukin, just looked mildly interested.

"How could they do that??" Tessa breathed. "Do you at least get to choose who you get to kill?"

"Well, uh," Snifit hesitated, "not really, I'm afraid."

Tessa gulped. Wario just wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulder and gave him a harsh noogie. "Killed that guy, eh?! I knew you weren't completely useless!!"

"Sh-Shut up!!" Waluigi sputtered.

Big Guy was looking pensive. Annabyss and four of the Spear-Masks were still unconscious. Hessen just started looking even more terrified. The rest of the cellmates were either equally worried or excited. The air in this dank place had become rather unusual. It was interrupted with another CHING.

The ghost floated in just as he did before. He pointed to four more people. "You, you, you, and you. Come with me..."

The other caged people looked on as Marlukin got out of his seat and as Masle started following him. The other two fighters weren't budging. The ghost was annoyed by it.

"Come ooonnn," he drawled, beckoning them with his hands.

Very slowly, Halimus and Hessen got out of their seat. Grimly, they walked past the other 15 prisoners until they reached the door. They sauntered out of it and began to follow Marlukin and Masle. Not long afterwards, the ghost closed the door, locked it again, and began to float away. At this point, Tessa had become extremely worried. She looked at Annabyss's motionless form.

"Come on, Annie," she quietly urged. "We NEED you..."

Just as the original four did, Marlukin, Masle, Halimus, and Hessen were led to the middle of the ship. The pirates were eager to see this next battle. They could tell it was going to be a big one this time. The two winged girls stood to one side and the two Spear-Masks stood to the other. Halimus looked determined. Marlukin just folded his arms. Masle stood beside him patiently and drops of cold sweat were sliding down the side of Hessen's face. The two groups stared each other down. Then the tense moment was broken by Cave Master's announcement.

"On one side," he said, "we will have the young woman and the little Spear-Mask." Halimus gasped. Hessen's blood ran cold. "On the other, we will have the huge guy and the little girl."

"Well, well," Marlukin chided as he strode to Hessen's side, "an interesting turn of events, eh, Halimus?"

The woman gulped as she looked at this towering man. She could feel the freezing cold fear emanating from Hessen's body. "Don't worry," she said to her. "I won't let anything happen to you, Hessen. Once I kill this man, we are out of here!!"

Marlukin laughed. "Something you've always wanted to say, right, Halimus?" The giant Spear-Mask held out his brutal hands pityingly. "Ever since that fateful day, five years ago, I've always seen it in your eyes. Hatred... Resentment... Vengeance... You've always wanted to take my life from me, but you just couldn't. Something was holding you back. A promise you made... right?"

Halimus said nothing. She stared into Marlukin's eyes as a bead of sweat rolled down her face. She could remember everything. Their parents dying. Her and Hessen spending their days in a building full of other kids. People young and old looking at them strangely. An entire life of pain and loss, all of it leading only to something even worse...

She recalled the day the city got attacked by a man and his seven minions, all of them with spears and masks. People gave it their all against them. They did everything they could to drive these newfound enemies out of their land. Even Halimus refused to give up.

She recalled taking on Marlukin himself. His power was beyond human. Even with her best, nothing worked on him. The woman was defeated, and the man got his way. He grabbed a nearby priest in spite of the spectators' protests. He laid him out on the altar and drove a spear right into his heart. Silence fell and blood dripped...

A strange blue aura enveloped the man's body. The people, angered by this, began to fling themselves upon him. It was useless. All of them were easily swatted aside by this beast. Halimus remembered the threat he made unto them all. She remembered terror striking into all of them like lightning. Darkness and despair swallowed them all...

Then the man made an offer. Suddenly, a very small glimmer of hope began to drift through the air. Small as it was, no one really had a choice. Halimus stepped forward. She made her proposal unto the man. Everyone gasped. Then the young Hessen ran forward, grabbing a hold of the woman's legs. Gently, she reached down and stroked the girl's hair. The crowd became captivated by this. Not even Marlukin could say a word.

Finally, he gave her an order. The woman hesitated, then nodded. He said that that was good and that he'd be waiting. Slowly, he walked out of the room. No one dared to come even within a yard of him.

Halimus knelt down and hugged the young girl. She knew everything was going to be a lot worse for them from then on, but there was nothing else she could have done. She wondered if she had made the right choice...

In the present, Halimus was coming out of her trance. She fixed her gaze back on the gigantic, heartless Marlukin and glared. The giant just laughed some more.

"Yes, that's it," the ogre purred. "Hate me. Detest me. This is the moment you've been waiting your whole life for..."

SHING! Halimus had pulled it out; a sword with an elegant, silver handle and a blade made out of pitch blackness itself with a glow of a yellow-green color surrounding it. Once this happened, the pirates of the S. S. Teacup started hooting excitedly. Once Hessen saw it, she swallowed hard and pulled out a sword of her own, only this one was glowing magenta.

Marlukin laughed again. He raised his beefy right arm, revealing the coiling bracelet on it. He grabbed near its pointy head with his left hand, and the whole thing magically unraveled itself off of the man's arm like a snake. Then it solidified into an actual spear. He banged the bottom of it on the ship's deck. His significantly smaller subordinate pulled out a spear of his own. The pirates were all unquenchably eager at this point.

Cave Master raised his hand up again. "On my mark..." The four fighters got into some attack stances. "Ready..."

"Everything I did," Halimus stated, "I did for my people. Remember that."

"Set..."

Marlukin's eyes smiled. "But can your people... compete with a god?..."

"FIGHT!!"

The smaller fighters clashed their weapons together, as did the other two. Halimus was faster than her opponent. Instantly, she rushed forward and swung her sword. SHING!! Then the sword became stuck. The woman was horrified by why this was; Marlukin had caught its blade between the fingers of his right hand.

"Is that all you have?"

Halimus gritted her teeth at the man. Deftly, he threw the sword away from him. Halimus was knocked back along with it. She landed and rolled on the ground. CHUNK! The woman gasped. Marlukin's spear had just nicked her cheek. Just by looking into his eyes, the female could feel his lust for her pain. She jumped back onto her feet and thrust her sword forward. Marlukin whacked the blade to the side with the dull end of his spear. The impact swung the woman around and slammed her head against the Spear-Mask's weapon. She was down once again.

"Halimus, you can't be serious," the giant said. "Is this the revenge you've been dying for all these years?"

Halimus growled. She jumped back up and spread her wings for the extra lift. She reared her sword back and aimed for the Spear-Mask's thick neck. She didn't make it. "Ugh!!" Marlukin grabbed her in midair by the neck, causing her to drop her sword. She began to struggle to breathe and break free from this man's grasp.

"Why can't you be more like your younger sister?" Marlukin asked. "Look how she fights..."

Hessen tried to chop the little blue Spear-Mask in half, but he skillfully blocked it with the side of his spear. The two of them were trying to push each other's weapons out of the way. SHING! The instruments slid off. Masle made his next move. He pointed his spear forward and charged. Hessen swung her sword upward and clanged it against the long weapon, forcing her opponent to skid on his feet and fall backwards. The little Spear-Mask fell on his back and his spear rolled away. He seethed in anger and then let out a curt grunt. Hessen had slammed her foot onto his stomach. Escape was no longer an option.

All the people of the ship seemed to be in awe of her skill. They were whispering amongst themselves, commenting on this little girl's strength.

"Sheesh, and I thought that huge guy was good..."

"So young, and yet so dangerous..."

"She's like a whole new person..."

Hessen paid them little attention. She just raised her sword up into the air and aimed for the heart. The floating head of the crew became shocked.

"It comes!!" he said.

SHING!! It went through. Hessen's sword was sticking out of the Spear-Mask's chest. His eyes had rolled back into his head and his body had become limp. Masle had been defeated by Hessen.

The young girl pulled the bloody sword out of the newly formed corpse and the pirates all cheered. At last, they had gotten what they wanted. These Death Matches were getting interesting. Marlukin smiled at all this.

"That's the child I raised," he purred. He turned to face the girl. "Hessen. Well done." He threw the choking Halimus from his grasp. The woman landed harshly on the deck. She was coughing and rubbing at her neck. Marlukin ignored her. "No mercy at all. I couldn't be more proud."

Hessen looked up at the towering man and stared with unblinking eyes. She stepped away a bit. "Two of them are dead now," she said to him. "Don't you feel anything??"

Marlukin's huge shoulders shook as he chuckled sadistically. He swayed his head back and forth. "Hessen, I'll tell you what's holding the world back." Marlukin held out his right hand. "It's emotions. People let these feelings that not even they themselves understand take control of them, and they make the most foolish of decisions because of that. They go on killing sprees just because they're angry with the world. They commit suicide just because they feel there's no hope left. They take bullets simply because they're in love..." Marlukin lifted his strong hand up and pointed to his head. "Think, Hessen," he said, "don't feel."

Halimus was back on her feet. Her sword had returned to her hand, and she was ready to fight again. Marlukin saw this and pointed his arm towards her. "Now, Hessen," he said. "Kill your sister..."

Both of the sisters gasped and stopped breathing at the sound of this. The pirates just all started cheering and egging the young girl on, wanting to see some more bloodshed. Marlukin saw the fear in Hessen's eyes and her hesitation. He lifted his spear up and pointed it at the child.

"Choose, Hessen," he said. "It's her... or you..."

Hessen gulped. On several occasions while being forced to be with this man, she could see just how cruel he was. It never ceased to amaze her. Now this same cold persona and lack of compassion was being directed towards her. She had felt despair before, but this was the feeling of being crushed between two massive walls of ice and darkness. She was suffocating.

Halimus watched her younger sister and the predicament she was in. This was enough. The woman clenched her teeth, furled her brow, and started rushing towards the giant Spear-Man with her sword in hand. "MAARRLLUUKKINNN!!!"

CHING! CHING! CHING!! Halimus swung madly at the giant Spear-Mask, but the behemoth was able to skillfully block each one with his spear. It was almost as though she was moving in slow-motion to him. At one point, Halimus swung her sword only to let it be blocked again, but then she dropped down and swung her legs around in an effort to trip the man. Marlukin thwarted this as well. He just jumped over the small woman. Confused, Halimus rolled to one side, got back up and started charging again.

Halimus jumped up into the air. As she did before, she spread her wings. She held her sword out and aimed for the foul man's neck. In the nick of time, the giant bent backwards to dodge the blow. However, this was exactly as she anticipated. She landed hard on the deck, swung one arm behind her and fired her sword like a harpoon. Marlukin was still looking at her upside-down. Surely, this would gouge out one of his eyes...

CHING!! Halimus's sword was sent flying. It had bounced off of something. Shocked, the young woman looked at her opponent. He was standing upright again, this time with a corner of his cape gripped tightly in his right hand so a different half of his body had been covered.

"Useless," the ogre growled. He tossed his cape aside and swung his spear at the woman. Nimbly, she back-flipped out of its way. While in midair, she stuck out one of her hands and caught the sword that had been knocked aside. She landed and got herself in a very unique pose. Her ankles were held close together, her knees were bent slightly, and she was holding her sword behind her with its tip point downward and both hands on the hilt. Halimus closed her eyes. Marlukin scoffed. "The Sword Storm," he said. "You're going to use THAT?"

The pirates all started whispering amongst themselves, trying their best to figure out exactly was going to happen next. They were very confused. Halimus ignored them. She focused solely on one thing: Marlukin's death...

Hessen and the pirates stared as everything became dead silent between Halimus and Marlukin. Both were just standing there. Their eyes bugged out at what happened next: Halimus vanished.

The patrons aboard this pirate ship may have been astonished by this, but Marlukin still looked bored. Clouds of dust blowing in the wind started to materialize around him. They seemed to all be sweeping in specific directions; they were forming a circle around him.

The clouds were starting to spin faster. It was as though they had caught the giant Spear-Mask in a whirling vortex of dust. Then splinters started to fly out of the planks of wood forming the deck. The pirates started to shield themselves again. Some of them seemed to be flowing straight for Marlukin as though they were being told to. In spite of this, he just stood there, waiting.

The pieces were getting bigger. Entire chunks of wood were flying out of the ground and being hurtled towards Marlukin. Somehow, he could sense a particularly large, jagged one was headed his way. He pulled his spear off the deck and got started with some fancy moves of his own. He began to twirl around like a top, all the while with his spear and his cape flying around him. He looked like an atom.

The members of the audience were starting to stand on their toes, desperately wanting to take in every last bit of the action. Seemingly, on this deck there were four different storms raging against one another. There was a spiraling ring of dust clouds, barrages of broken wood, and a red blur in the center of it all. Not only were there wooden pieces being deflected by it; they were also flashes of black and a yellow-green color. Hessen knew perfectly well what this meant. She curled her hands together, held them close to her chest, and gazed at the tempest.

In the next few seconds, the people could have sworn there was an entire tornado on their ship. The pirates were becoming scared out of their wits. Some backed away while others even jumped off. This was too much.

Then a loud noise pierced through their ears. It was like a mountain of steel being split in two. The crowd looked on as the storm began to slow down and fade away. A lone figure burst out of its clouds and landed. It was Halimus. She was panting heavily, but she seemed alright. Suddenly feeling very fatigued, she landed on her knees and jammed her glowing sword into the ground for support. The cloud had not yet dissipated. Hessen felt her heart rise. She stared at her older sister with tears welling up in her eyes. It was finally over...

Then everyone gasped. The smoke cleared away and everything was revealed. Hessen suddenly took in a very sharp breath of air. It felt like her throat had just been stabbed. Halimus slowly turned her head around to see what was there.

Marlukin was still standing. His knees were far apart and bent. His cape was swaying in the wind and both hands were clutched around the spear. Magically, it had formed another coil, this one going around his whole body. There wasn't a scratch on him. He wasn't even tired.

Halimus's mouth hung open. She stopped breathing. Her body became extremely cold. How could any of this be happening?

"Halimus..."

Marlukin's spear unraveled. It turned itself back into its spear-shape in the man's left hand. He stood up straight, faced the young woman, and began to stride towards her.

The woman snapped. The sight of this red man and the fact he could still breathe filled her with a white-hot sea of flames. Every thought and every memory in her mind shattered into a million pieces. She gritted her teeth, yanked her sword out, and charged towards the behemoth, screaming. The entire ship was watching. Even Marlukin couldn't look away. Then...

It was all over. A frightful silence fell upon the entire vessel. Halimus's screaming had stopped. Only rasping breaths were coming from her mouth. When Hessen saw what had happened to her, she lost her breath and stood perfectly still. The giant Spear-Mask had the young woman hanging in midair with a spear going through her heart. Blood dripped from behind her.

"You have lived," Marlukin whispered, "for nothing..."

SHING! The ogre ripped the spear out. Halimus was flung off the weapon. Her body hit the deck hard. A mighty cheer exploded from the bloodthirsty pirates of the ship, but Hessen just screamed.

"HAAALLIIMMUUSS!!!"

The young girl ran past the overgrown Marlukin and up to her downed elder sister. She dropped to her knees and began to hover her quivering hands above the red hole that had been formed in the woman's chest. A white light was shining beneath them. Her brow knitted and her eyes teared up as she bit her lip. This just couldn't be it.

The girl felt a warm hand shakily place itself upon her left cheek. Hessen looked fearfully into her sister's eyes. "Halimus, please! Don't die! You're all I have left!!"

"I'm afraid... it's too late for me, Hessen," Halimus breathed.

Hessen shook her head. She could feel despair clawing away at her dry throat. "Halimus, I, I..."

"Listen, Hessen," the woman said. "Lisylla... Don't let them down... We made a promise..." Halimus struggled to take a few more breaths. Hessen wrapped her little hands around her sister's wrist. "Everything Marlukin said was true; I have ALWAYS wanted to kill him. I thought that this was my big chance and I could finally do it. I thought I had gotten stronger these past five years, but... it seems... he's gotten a bit stronger too..."

Halimus coughed and began to clutch at her fatal wound with her other hand. Hessen gasped and started staring at her sibling more intently. "He's the one keeping our home alive, Hessen," Halimus continued. "I know it won't be easy, but you mustn't give up hope... Whatever it takes, keep your promise... Don't make the same mistake I did..."

Halimus breathed in a few more times. Her lips began to tremble. Hessen leaned in closer. Her elder sister said one more thing.

"I love you, Hessen..."

Halimus's eyes closed. Her body became very still and the hand on her sister's cheek became limp. Hessen could no longer feel her heartbeat. Once this happened, the girl could no longer hold back. Tears poured from her eyes. She collapsed onto her sister's chest and began to wail in anguish.

All around her, pirates were cheering, but the young girl was too clouded with her own sadness to hear any of it. She recalled her birthday being celebrated alongside Halimus. She recalled going to see a play with her. She recalled falling asleep right next to her. Halimus was a representation of the only good memories the girl ever had. Now she was gone...

The pirates continued to cheer, but Hessen was still crying. After a while, Marlukin finally got sick of this. He strode up from behind the girl, grabbed her by her collar roots, and began to drag her away from Halimus's body and into the hull, ignoring her tearful yelling and screaming all the while. It took a while, but, finally, the ghosts of the ship were able to muster up their courage and begin to follow this gigantic prisoner of theirs and the little girl.

Soon, only the pirates were left. One of them was a very small girl who didn't blink even once throughout this whole fight. Syrup seemed troubled. She looked up at her taller, older sister and started leaning against her. She wrapped her arms around her legs. The captain responded to this by reaching her left hand down and placing it atop the child's head. Sugar was still staring at where the last two fighters had disappeared off to. Slowly, she closed her eyes and breathed.

It's a cruel world, she thought, and we are a part of it...

"WHAT?! What do you mean you couldn't kill him?! What good are ya?!"

"Hey, like you're any better, fatso!!"

"Don't call me fat, string bean!!"

"What?!"

CHING! Wario and Waluigi stopped arguing. Marlukin walked through the door, carrying the little Hessen in his right hand. Tears were still coming out of her eyes. Behind everyone, the ghosts were closing the door again and floating off.

"Wait right here, kiddies..."

Marlukin threw Hessen to one side. Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Tessa, Guido, and Oglian were horrified by this, but the rest of the Spear-Masks in the room had other things on their minds. They could tell the fight had gone well. They cheered for their gigantic leader.

"Yeah!! Way to go, Marlie!!"

"We knew you could do it!!"

"Now we're finally rid of that woman!!"

Marlukin just sat down and scoffed. Tessa was looking back and forth between this merciless giant and the little girl in the corner over there, crying into her knees. Just by seeing this, Tessa could faintly feel her heart being stabbed. She looked up to the giant Spear-Mask and scowled. After basking in more compliments and praises, Marlukin finally took note of this and looked down.

"Is there a problem, young lady?" he drawled.

"Are you really that heartless?!" Tessa demanded. "How can you just kill her older sister like that?!"

Marlukin scoffed and looked away. "You're no different from her..."

Tessa growled. She lifted her hands up, pointed their palms at the behemoth, and started making yellow sparks fly. She stopped once someone grabbed her by the collar from behind. It was Cutlass.

"Tessa, don't," he advised. "Can't you see he's out of your league?"

"But..."

Marlukin laughed. "It's so nice to see that there are still some people in this world who can be reasonable..."

Cutlass stepped away from his young female comrade. She was quivering and biting her lower lip. Then she felt a hand place itself on her left shoulder. She turned to see that it belonged to the sympathetic Big Guy. She looked down sadly and placed her hand on his.

"Oh dear," Oglian said quietly. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take..."

"You're not the only one, Oglian," Guido commented, solemnly.

CHING! The ghosts were back. The prisoners heads were up, and the next four people were called forward. "You, you, you, and you. You're coming with me."

Wario punched the air above him with both arms. "ALRIGHT!!"

Cutlass got up off the floor and smirked. Foreman Spike grinned and started cracking his knuckles. Guido just gulped. Tessa called out to her two comrades. "Be careful, you guys!!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Wario replied as the four of him and the others followed the ghosts out the door. Soon enough, the whole lot of them were gone. Only 17 people remained in the cell. Now Oglian was looking worried. She buried her face into her hands in desperation.

"God," she croaked, "when will it end?..."

Wario, Cutlass, and Foreman Spike were all very excited as they were led into the middle of the deck. Guido, as usual, was still a bit nervous. Bloodthirsty pirates surrounded them and were anxious to see some more mind-blowing battles and horrible deaths. Then Cave Master started talking again and, at last, it could begin.

"On one side," he said, "we will have the yellow guy and the silver guy. On the other, we will have the green guy and the teal guy..."

The four fighters took their places. Wario stood across Guido and Cutlass stood across Foreman Spike. Cutlass drew his sword and watched as his yellow partner began to crack his knuckles. He said to him, "Are you really that strong?"

"Keh. Worry about yourself, Cuttsie," the Kamenstein Brother replied. The silver alien stared at him strangely.

"Cuttsie"?...

On the other side, the two residents of Mario Land were withdrawing their hammers. "Hey, Spike," Guido said, "the guy on the left... Don't you think he kind of looks like you?"

Foreman Spike looked at their yellow opponent from top to bottom. He had to admit that, to an extent, he DID look like him. The muscles, the nose, the mustache, and even the outfit were all quite similar. Exactly why this was, he couldn't guess. The foreman shrugged it off. "Well, kind of... But listen, Guido," the higher soldier said, "that silver guy right there; he's mine. He looks tough."

"Uh..."

"You can have the yellow guy," Spike said. "I think you can take him."

Guido stared down his yellow Foreman Spike look-alike of an adversary. The lesser soldier nodded slowly. Cave Master began the countdown again.

"Ready... Set..."

The two groups locked eyes. The pirates around them raised their fists excitedly. Finally...

"FIGHT!!"

Cutlass swung his sword. Spike blocked it with his sledgehammer. Wario threw his fist at Guido, but the little man blocked it with his own weapon, as his superior did. The two pairs of fighters struggled against each other for a second. Then they flung themselves off of each other and readied some more attacks. The four fighters charged forward and unleashed a fury of sword swings, hammer blows, and punches. Regardless of what was done, the two groups seemed to be evenly matched. With a few beads of sweat forming on them, they exploded off of one another and stared each other down.

What is this guy? Guido thought as he stared at Wario. A monster?

Is this guy even of this world? Foreman Spike thought as he stared at the silver swordsman. In response, the two members of Annabyss's crew merely glared back. Then, in a flash, the weapons and the clenched, brutal fists of the group were flying once more. All the while, the pirates of the S. S. Teacup merely continued to watch excitedly. They hoped that, soon, there'd be more blood spilled on their vessel...

 

 

Back beneath the deck, the mood was very dark. Big Guy, Laser Snifit, and Waluigi were basically just sitting around, basking in the uncertainness of the atmosphere. Marlukin was kicking back with his hands behind his head. Some of his Spear-Masks were continuing to slap him on the back and tell him how amazing he was. During all this, Hessen continued to sit in the corner of the brig with were face concealed behind her knees. Even from a distance, her shaking body and her damp cheeks were visible. This was noted by the only other two conscious females of the vicinity.

That poor little girl, Oglian thought, a very forlorn look on her face. I don't know what she's been through, but clearly... she didn't deserve it...

How? Tessa thought. Her gaze shifted from the young girl to the man that ruined her life. How can he be so cruel? The purple-haired girl knitted her brow and scowled at the giant Spear-Mask. I can't believe it. I can't believe people like THIS exist...

Forlornly, the young girl tilted her head towards her left. Not too far away from her was Annabyss's unconscious, clawed hand. At first, she paid it little heed. Then something happened that made her eyes light up. The girl gasped and began to stare at the hand more intently. Annabyss's fingers were twitching.

Desperately, Tessa ran up to the woman and began to nudge her. "Annie? Annie, are you awake?" she asked.

"Mm..." Slowly, the woman lifted herself back up. She got herself into a sitting position and began rubbing at her head. "Oh, Tessa dear. I let my guard down. For that, I apologize."

"No, Annie, it's okay. We just need your help, that's all."

Annabyss looked around. She took in her surroundings as well as the other prisoners within them. She noticed Big Guy, Laser Snifit, and Waluigi were there. She also noticed about 14 other people, none of which including Wario or Cutlass. They did, however, include a giant man sitting on the bench over there with his hands behind his head. Once the woman laid eyes on him, she seemed to suddenly start remaining as still as a statue. Marlukin tilted his head towards her. He stared deeply into her eyes for a few seconds, and then looked away.

"Tessa," Annabyss said, "what is going on?"

The girl fiddled with her fingers a bit before answering. She took a deep breath and began to explain it all. "Well..."

Cutlass swung his sword for his green opponent's neck. The crafty Foreman Spike dodged the blow by dropping to one side, landing on one hand, and bringing one foot up to knock his enemy's sword in one direction. The maneuver surprised the swordsman, and it didn't give him enough time to react to the sledgehammer headed for his left hip. Thinking quickly, the silver alien jumped up, landed on the hammer, leapt off, and went for a downward swing on the foreman's head. Spike merely flipped forward and rolled out of its way. Soon, both fighters were on their feet again, glaring at one another. Swiftly, they picked up their weapons again and charged forward once more...

Guido and Wario ran towards each other. Guido had his hammer raised and Wario had his fists ready. Once the two fighters were but a few feet away from one another, Guido made his move. He leapt into the air and began to bring his weapon down on his opponent's head. Unfortunately, this didn't work.

WHAM!! The wind was knocked out of him. Wario landed on the ground first, still feeling the ringing sensation in his knuckles from the blow he just dealt. That was one for him. His enemy hit the deck and rolled across it for one second. The diminutive man from Mario Land forced himself back up, clutching at his face.

Geez, he thought. It seems I've underestimated this guy... Then he looked up and saw his beefy yellow adversary sprinting towards him with one fist up. Guido scowled and pulled one of his hands back, anticipating his assailant's moves. Time to kick it up, I suppose...

Cutlass leapt away from the foreman and landed. He was about to go charging again when he suddenly saw his opponent perform a rather unusual move: he slammed his fist into the ground. At first, Cutlass thought little of this, but then he felt his legs jolt and he nearly fell to the ground. He couldn't believe his enemy could just create shockwaves like that. Scowling, he looked upward and saw his enemy flying towards him with his sledgehammer out. Reacting quickly, the swordsman sprang into the air and did a flip. WHAM!! Foreman Spike was slammed hard in the stomach with his adversaries' feet and was sent flying. When he skidded to a halt on the deck, he wondered for a second where his hammer had gone when he suddenly heard a loud CHING! With a swing of the alien's sword, the very hammer was spiraling towards the foreman. WHAP! Cutlass raised his eyebrows and smirked. He was surprised his enemy was actually able to catch that.

"You know, you're pretty good," the silver man complimented.

"Heh. I was thinking the same about you," the foreman replied. Then the two of them heard a loud noise that made them jerk their heads in one direction. It was a zapping sound. Wario was being knocked back further and further, each time with a lightning bolt flying out of his opponent's hands nailing him. Cutlass was mildly horrified, but Spike was grinning maliciously. "Too bad we can't say the same about your partner, though..." Cutlass grimaced, scoffed, and went flying towards his enemy one more time...

Wario was getting agitated. He hadn't counted on his enemy having an ability like this. Each time a bolt struck him, he was pushed back a little bit more. He was starting to get dangerously close to the edge of the ship. Once the yellow man realized this, he scowled and decided it was about time he did something and fast...

Guido kept his Thunderhands going. He knew that if he didn't win this battle, only death would await him. Come on, he thought, as Wario began to near the edge. Fall off!!

The backs of the yellow-clad warrior's feet did bump into the wall behind him, but he didn't fall off. Instead, his teal foe stopped and took his turn to look utterly surprised. He stepped back and stared at his opponent. The pirates on the ship were staring at him as well. Wario had become three different Warios in one, the other two glowing blue. It was the same technique Waluigi had used.

Wario grinned and raised his fists. "Manajus," he said. "Shall we send it for a test-drive?"

Guido gulped, but he should've been quicker. Before he knew it, this muscular yellow man was slamming fists into his gut, one after another. It felt like an entire gang was beating on him. Once Cutlass saw this, he turned to Foreman Spike and smirked. "You were saying?" he said cockily. Spike growled and ran forward with his hammer once again...

"I see," Annabyss said, once Tessa's explanation was finished. "So it's finally begun..."

"...Huh?" Tessa asked, confusedly.

"Up until now, the Kamenstein Bros. have been in a trance," the shadowy woman explained. "These past few days, they've been absorbing all the necessary emotions and experiences in order for a soul to be complete. Happiness, sadness, anger, victory, loss, fear, suffering... At last, it's all complete. They can finally awaken and be one with the world..."

"I see," Tessa said. She let the words of the older woman sink in, and she thought about them for a bit. One second later, she snapped out of it and looked her in the eyes once more. "But, Annie, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna get out of this place?"

"Simple." Annabyss turned to Big Guy who was in the midst of chatting up a storm once again with Laser Snifit. "Big Guy!" she called. The giant Shy Guy pointed to himself, then got up off the floor and began to walk towards his female leader. He leaned down so he could hear her and the woman told him the plan. In response, the oversized 8-Bit slapped himself in the forehead, muttered something about wondering why HE hadn't thought of that, and made his way over to the bars. The muscular fighter spat into his two hands, rubbed them together, and wrapped them around opposing points on the set of bars before him. Then he began to pull.

The prisoners all watched as this gigantic man pulled with all his might. At first, the huge metal contraption he was latching onto was merely trembling and bending backwards. Then little pieces of wood began to fly out of them from the corners. The prisoners' eyes were starting to widen. Even Marlukin seemed to be impressed by this.

Finally, in one huge, metallic ripping sound, the bars were out, but it didn't stop there. With the bars being held high over his head, he strode up to a certain spot on the floor, and he heaved the metal thing he was holding right into it. The result was like a cannonball. CRRASSHH!! The projectile went flying and ripping right through the deck. The prisoners could all hear it echoing as it tore through the floors beneath it. To top it all off, a few seconds after this task was complete, a column of water began to spray out of the newly-formed hole. Now the prisoners were extremely surprised. Big Guy just laughed.

"Well," he said, "that's what you get for messing with us!"

Laser Snifit, Waluigi, and Oglian began to pick themselves up and make their ways towards the recently created exit. As for Marlukin, he just got up and said, "Well, I suppose it's time we took our leave as well..." Then he turned around and threw a fist into the wall. BAMM!!! This new feat was just as impressive as the one that had preceded it, if not even more so. It created a tunnel of broken wood. At the end of it was nothing but blue sky. "Alright then," said the giant Spear-Mask, unraveling the magic spear from his arm, "let's go..."

Marlukin held out his spear with his left hand. It suddenly began to grow longer and coil around, much like a snake. It wrapped itself around the waists of each of his seven remaining minions, including Hessen. The colossal Spear-Mask then turned towards the hole he made with his minions trailing behind him like a giant chain. Before he could leave, though, he was once again interrupted by a certain young girl that had suddenly renewed her hatred for him.

"I can't believe you!!" Tessa yelled. "This whole time, this WHOLE time, you already had the ability to just leave... Just like that?! What's wrong with you?!"

For a second, the Spear-Mask said nothing. Then, without even looking at her, he just said, "Just so you know, a little bloodshed never hurt anyone." He let the girl tremble with hatred before he began to walk out his personal exit, his subordinates lagging behind him. Tessa was still infuriated. She snarled and began to sprint towards this humungous murderer. However, she wasn't able to get very far. Someone had to grab her from behind and stop her. This time, it was Annabyss.

"Annie, please!! That man needs to die! He HAS to!!"

"Tessa," Annabyss slowly said, "we let him go..."

The girl stopped squirming. She turned around with a horrified look on her face. "A... Annie," she said quietly, almost pleading.

"Tessa..." The woman knelt down and wrapped her arms around the young girl. Tessa felt this and could swear her heart was in danger of pounding straight out of her chest. She listened closely as the enigmatic woman slowly spoke once more. "We let... him go..." Her voice was very quiet. It almost sounded like it was choking.

"Annie..."

This somber moment between the two girls was interrupted by some voices yelling from where the bars used to be. "HEY!!" A pack of Dangerous Ducks had suddenly arrived, the leader of which being the most angered by the sight of all this as well as the geyser that was in the middle of the room. "What the hell do you think you're up to?! Trying to escape?! We- ACK!!"

Big Guy cut the noisy man off. He picked him up by his throat and threw him into his slew of subordinates. The whole lot of them went down like a bunch of bowling pins. Big Guy felt triumphant. He called out to the two that were still in the cell. "Yo, Tessa! Annie! We're leaving! This place is about to sink!!"

Annabyss nodded. She pulled herself away from the younger female and began to stride towards where her other partners had gone. For a few seconds, Tessa stayed put. Looking at the hole in the wall, the geyser in the room, and the new exit, all she could do was think about the previous events and the current ones and how she couldn't believe any of it. Then Big Guy showed up once more.

"Yo! Tessa! Come on!!"

Tessa perked her head towards him. "Alright," she said. Finally, she picked up the pace and ran out of the room, following her seismic friend out. After that, it was finally over. The S. S. Teacup's prisoners were escaping...

The spectating pirates were beginning to drool with anticipation. Four extremely powerful prisoners were right before them, each of them unleashing all of their potential on one another. Already, the pirates could taste the blood that was dying to be spilt.

Cutlass and Foreman Spike were swinging away at each other, but, for Wario and Guido, it was a battle of the superpowers. With each flaming punch his opponent threw, all Guido could do was jump out of the way. He had never seen anything like this technique in his life. All he could tell was that it was dangerous.

Things were bad enough for the man in teal. His enemy's reach was starting to get longer. Then the man from Mario Land could hear some yelling behind him. This yellow man had pushed him all the way back into the crowd of pirates! Finally, Guido's brow began to twitch in agitation. He had to get serious about this and soon. He gripped his hammer tightly and readied a single blow...

Cutlass swung at the Foreman's neck. Spike punched the blade off course with his left hand and front-flipped forward. The silver alien saw this and attempted to slam a fist into the side of his opponent's head at the right moment, but he only succeeded in banging it against the man's steel sledgehammer. He grunted and pulled it back, beginning to feel it sting in pain. Foreman Spike landed and spun himself around, sledgehammer in hand. Both fighters were panting desperately.

"What is it with you?" Spike breathed. "Why do you want to live so badly?"

"That's exactly it," Cutlass replied. He gasped a few more times, swallowed, and said, "Unless I kill you, I won't be able to find out, will I?"

"Tch..." Foreman Spike pulled his hammer up and held it behind his shoulders. "I hope you realize that if you kill me, you're killing an entire country..."

Cutlass scoffed and got his sword into another attacking stance. He stared his enemy directly in the eye. "What makes you think I give a crap about some dumb country?"

Foreman Spike snarled. Cutlass just smirked at him. In a flash, both of the warriors were off, mere split-seconds away from bashing and slashing each other's brains out. Then...

BAMM!!! A huge flash of blue light illuminated the deck of the ship. It stopped both Foreman Spike and Cutlass along with all the other people on the ship. All eyes turned to the fight between Wario and Guido. Between the two, Wario was the one with his fist being held defiantly up in the air and Guido was the one with a stunned look on his face and a pair of empty hands. The light was beginning to fade and a lone figure was spiraling away, further and further into the sky. Guido had been disarmed. All that awaited now was defeat.

Wario lowered his fist. He placed it into his other hand and began to crack his knuckles, all the while, keeping a careful eye on his enemy. The pirates had even begun to chant.

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"

Damn it, Guido thought through gritted teeth. What do I do now? I can't take him on with the Thunderhand alone!!

Wario laughed sadistically. He pulled his fist back and aimed carefully for a sweating Guido's face. It was only a matter of time now...

Once Foreman Spike saw this, he cursed beneath his breath. "That idiot," he growled. "What does he think he's doing?!" The foreman began to sprint towards his partner. Cutlass just laughed and began to chase after the man.

"Hey, hey, where do you think YOU'RE going?" the silver man taunted.

Pirates were chanting, Guido was sweating, and two men were starting to run towards the scene of the crime. Wario looked just about ready now. He called forth all of his unnatural strength and began to thrust his fist forward. Before anyone knew it, all of this ended before it even started...

BBOOOMM!!! An explosion seemed to have erupted from within the ship. Everyone on deck could hear it resonating in the air. Some of the pirates, from a certain angle, could see a whole bunch of wood flying out from one side of their ship. Baffled, they looked on and saw more. The next thing they knew, eight different people were flying out of this newly formed hole. Actually, only one of them was flying. He had taken an enormous leap and seven others seemed to be trailing behind him. Like the hammer from before, he was soaring through the sky, but he wasn't coming down. Was there no limit to Marlukin's strength?

In any case, this didn't change the issue at hand for the pirates. They started yelling out. "CAPTAIN!! THE PRISONERS ARE ESCA-"

Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn towards the fights on the main deck again. Actually, the fights were over. The other five prisoners had shown up and put an end to it. Big Guy was keeping a firm hold on the now normal Wario's arms, Annabyss was grabbing a hold of Cutlass' collar, and Oglian was grabbing Foreman Spike by the ear.

"Lemme at him! Lemme at him!! This ain't over yet!!" Wario fumed.

"Wario, knock it off! We're leaving!" Big Guy urged.

"Annabyss, I swear, if you don't let go of me-"

"-Cutlass, get a hold of yourself!! For goodness' sake, grasp the situation!!"

"Oglian, get off!! Have you any idea what that guy just said?!"

"Young man, I'll not have you behaving so foolishly!!"

All of the pirates were extremely confused by all this, even their captain. All the woman could do was lean forward over the railing and squint at it all, perplexedly. "What is going on?" she said slowly. Then, just when she needed it the least, more trouble showed up. A Dangerous Duck ran up from out of the door the prisoners had just left and started yelling stuff.

"Captain!! Emergency!! The ship is sinking!! There's a big hole and-"

"-SHUT UP!!" The duck was almost immediately silenced. Laser Snifit, Waluigi, and Tessa had all simultaneously yelled at him and kicked him in various places. He didn't remain standing for long. Capt. Sugar looked on at this and how the two groups of prisoners had reformed. Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Cutlass, Waluigi, Tessa, and Annabyss were on one side and Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian were on the other.

The captain watched them in confusion and anger. The death matches were going perfectly until this happened. Now their fun had been ruined, the prisoners had escaped, and their ship was sinking. How much longer would their crimes against her and her crew continue? The captain growled and grit her teeth. Once she saw the prisoners and how they were starting to run towards the opposing edges of the ship, the woman reacted even more fiercely. She tore her sword out of its sheath and, with a definitive SHING, she pointed them at the fleeing prisoners. "GET THEM!!!" she yelled. The pirates instantly got to it, and another battle began...

Complete chaos was everywhere. Clubs, swords, and hammers alike were swinging this way and that. Laser beams were flying, spears were stabbing, and punches and kicks were knocking into foes in every direction. Neither side showed any mercy.

Big Guy whalloped a Wanderin' Goom flying towards him with his club and kicked one in the face that was coming from behind. "Think you can keep up, Snifit?" he asked, still continuing to beat up Pirate Gooms and ducks.

Laser Snifit grabbed a Dangerous Duck and threw him into an oncoming crowd of Gooms. "Just watch me!!"

Cutlass slammed his foot into a duck's stomach and grabbed another one by the neck. He tilted his head towards Foreman Spike and yelled, "Yo! Green guy! This is you!!" POW!! The alien slammed his fist into the duck's face and turned it into a welt with blood seeping out of it.

In retaliation, the foreman raised his hammer into the air and yelled, "Oh, yeah?! Well THIS is YOU!!" WHAM!! The foreman turned a formerly charging Wanderin' Goom into a pancake.

"Oh, yeah?!"

Wario was surrounded. Pirate Gooms and Wanderin' Gooms were all around him. To combat them, he merely reached behind himself and grabbed whoever just happened to be there by the arms, ignoring his protests and the quacking noises he was making. The yellow man held the duck like an overgrown baseball bat and began to swing just as the mob began to draw close. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! The Kamenstein Brother was spinning like a drill, slamming into numerous surrounding enemies as he did so. Finally, he stopped himself and sent the screaming duck flying. With a faint SPLOOSH, that particular enemy had been defeated. "How you keepin' up, weakling?" he called as more enemies began to fly towards him.

"Better than you, fat-ass!!" Waluigi retorted as he sent one Dangerous Duck's head flying clean off his shoulders with a single kick. The Kamenstein Bros. continued to beat the living snot out of these pirates, and their captain continued to watch, angrily. Here, the huge man with the club was bashing her minions' skulls in. There, the one in the lab coat was frying them up with lasers. The silver guy was cutting them up and the green guy was smashing them flat. Even the little purple-haired girl and the little man with the Thunderhand were beating her crew up so relentlessly. All it did was anger the woman even further. The icing to the cake was once she saw the yellow one and the blue one standing atop a steaming pile of motionless pirates.

"Losers!! You're all a bunch of losers!!" Wario crowed.

"Nya ha ha ha ha ha- Gugh?!" Waluigi was yanked off the pile by a Dangerous Duck that had suddenly grabbed him from behind. His brother just began to do manly, triumphant poses. Once the captain witnessed this, she fumed and decided that enough was enough.

"Syrup," she said to the small girl nearby her, "you stay put. Sister's gonna clean that fat guy's clock."

"Be careful!!" the young girl yelled as her sister flung herself off the railing and onto the deck.

Wario grinned and flexed his muscles as he danced atop his latest achievement. "Nobody messes with Wa-" The man felt a tap on his shoulder. "Huh?" Once he turned around, he only got a split-second to see a pretty face scowling at him. Then BAMM!! The captain's fist connected with the Kamenstein Brother's gut, winding him, and sending him tumbling backwards down the hill of defeated pirates. Once his back hit the deck of the ship, he stopped, and groaned. He got up and started rubbing where his stomach was hit. "What in the world was-"

SHING!! The captain's sword nearly cleaved Wario's face in half, but he had grabbed its blade with his free hand in the nick of time. "Got a problem, toots?" he said.

"Don't you EVER insult my crew!!" the femme fatale yelled.

"I'll insult whoever I want!!" Wario retorted, knocking the woman over by swinging one leg into hers. The woman yelped and went sprawling for a bit. She stopped herself, got back up, gave the yellow man a hateful stare, and went charging towards him with her sword out. Wario merely beckoned her with one hand and readied a fist with the other...

Meanwhile, Waluigi was in the midst of hopping back on top of the makeshift hill. A Pirate Goom was clinging to his face, beating him over the head with his little fists, but the blue man merely grabbed the nuisance and flung him behind him. He was back at last, but then he saw his older brother taking on a woman with a sword. Waluigi grimaced. "Taking on the captain?" he grumbled. "That glory-hogger..."

Wario looked up and got his fists ready. Capt. Sugar was flying high above him, intending to cleave him in two with her sword upon falling back down. The two mustered up their strength and readied their attacks. One mere second later, and the forces collided in one seismic crack of blood and bruises. Wario skidded to one side and Sugar skidded to another. Wario clutched at his bleeding glove and the pirate captain rubbed a sore spot on her face. In the next second, both fighters stood back up. The woman pointed her sword at her yellow nemesis and raised her free hand up into a defiant fist.

"Let me show you something my mother, the great Capt. Spatula, taught me," the woman said. Then she started to clench her fist so tightly, it began to make her entire body tremble. When Wario saw this, all he did was cock an eyebrow, but when he saw her body become encased in a mysterious red aura, both eyebrows were raised. Capt. Sugar smirked at him. "You can't be a pirate unless you can do stuff like this," she boasted. Then, with a boisterous SHING, she pulled her sword back and bolted towards her mustachioed opponent. Wario only had but the blink of an eye to react...

BBOOOMMM!! Watching from behind the railing, the young Syrup's face became shocked. Wario was still standing. That blue glow of his had returned. The elder woman and her sword had fallen to the ground. Wario raised a fist in front of himself. "Listen, missy," he snarled. "I don't care WHAT ship you're from; if I can still kick your ass, then you're just full of crap!!"

Sugar forcibly pried herself off the deck and sat back up. Her hand gripped her aching face and her teeth gnashed. When she glanced up at her yellow assailant, her pupils shrank. His glowing blue fist was coming at her in an uppercut. The woman was just barely able to let the smallest yelping sound escape her lips. WHAM!! Wario's fist connected with her stomach. The pirate woman went skidding across the deck. She slammed into the wooden wall from behind and fell to the ground. Her head tilted to one side. Her eyes rolled back into her head and foam dribbled from her mouth. The red glow surrounding her gradually faded away. Wario scoffed, cracked his knuckles, and made the blue glow from his own body fade away as well.

Up above, the young Syrup couldn't believe her eyes. Her honorable older sister had become so bent on giving that ugly man what was good for him, only to have it all thrown in her face. Now the younger of the female pirates wanted him dead. She grabbed a hold of the bars of the railing and let him have it.

"YOU!!" Syrup shrieked. Wario looked up, uninterestedly. "Look at what you've done to my big sister!! Oh, when I get my hands on you-"

"-You'll what, brat? Beat the snot out of me? Yeah, right. Listen, why don't you go crying to your mama before you get hurt, alright?"

Syrup shot out a very cat-like growl. Almost instantaneously, she flung herself down from the balcony, landed on the deck, and began charging towards the yellow man with her little fists flailing. Wario rolled his eyes and wiped his hand on his face. "Sheesh, why do I gotta..." The Kamenstein Brother was starting to stick his left foot out as if to trip the little three-year-old coming at him when he heard it.

"GUUUYYYSS! COME OOOONN! WE'RE LEAVING!!"

Big Guy's voice was calling from just off the ship. The three of him, Laser Snifit, and Tessa had already gathered atop Annaby'ss head in Nep-Enut form once again. Wario was too busy thanking the heavens for this to notice Syrup actually had tripped over his foot and fell flat on her face. He was already running towards freedom when the girl got up with an extremely red visage.

"That slime-head!!" she growled.

"Miss Syrup, please. Leave it to us!..."

Wario suddenly stopped running. He swore he could feel six huge things flying towards him. He looked behind him and his eyes bugged out. The spiky Koopa Troopa, the Cave Master, the penguin with the boxing gloves, the floating head, the giant bird, and the ghost were all flying towards him with their fists and their weapons flying. The yellow fighter doubted he could take all of them at once. Then...

CRACK!!! They each went flying off of the ship and splashing into the water. Wario was only able to catch a glimpse of an orange shoe. Whatever it was, it sent those guys scattering like billiard balls on a pool table. Then he saw Waluigi landing on the deck behind him as though he had just done some heroic deed. Wario made a small huffing noise. "Their six best guys," he grumbled. "That glory-hogger..."

"You say somethin', bro?"

"Nothin'..."

Syrup watched in awe and then hatred as these two guys ran off. She scraped her tiny fingernails against the wooden boards of the deck. There was no way she'd be able to let them get away with this...

"Yeah?! Well, this is you with a sword comin' out of ya!!"

"Yeah?! Well, this is you with a concussion!!"

"Yeah?! Well- ACK!!"

Waluigi grabbed Cutlass by the collar roots and began to drag him off the deck. Guido was starting to do the same with his superior, Foreman Spike. The two groups ran past the still seemingly endless amounts of pirates and jumped off of their ship. Wario, Waluigi, and Cutlass landed safely on Annabyss, and Foreman Spike and Guido landed safely on Selkford. Both of the groups began to sail away from the S. S. Teacup as the pirate ship slowly began to sink into the briny depths. On its deck, pirates everywhere were either running around frantically or licking their wounds. In the midst of it all, the young Syrup was helping her beaten older sister back onto her feet. A scowl remained on her face.

If I ever see that pile of mustard barf again, she thought, I'll kill'im...

On Annabyss's head, Big Guy was feeling some of his rippling biceps, Laser Snifit was shaking his head, Cutlass was sitting down with his arms folded and his face scowling, and Waluigi and Tessa were just sitting down. Wario was thinking to himself. I don't care much for that little twerp, he thought, or that woman for that matter. That little teal guy, though... He and I have something to settle...

On the sea camel, Foreman Spike and Oglian were in the middle of arguing with each other. Guido just ignored them and kept to his thoughts. I hope I won't ever have to see any of those people again, he contemplated. I just want my hammer back...

Oglian stopped arguing with the foreman, leaving him to turn his back from her and fold his arms haughtily. She asked the lesser soldier, "You're sure you saw it go in this direction, dear?"

"Yes, I'm sure," the small man replied.

"Alright," Oglian replied. "But lemme just warn you, if it IS in that direction, we may have to look for it in the Forest of Dheos, and that is a very dangerous place."

Guido paused. "Alright, Oglian..."

The mustachioed man lifted his head up and looked into the sky. Dangerous, huh? he thought. What could possibly be more dangerous than what we just went through?...

"I see," Dr. Kamenstein's father said as he finished up the last of his coffee. "So that's what happened." Dr. Kamenstein nodded.

"Our son is quite the renegade, isn't he?" the mother commented.

"He sure is!"

"Yes, well," the son replied sheepishly. He got up and began to gather the empty cups from himself and his parents. He had begun to near the kitchen when his mother called after him.

"Oh, Amos, you don't mind if we stay the night, do you?" she said.

The doctor hesitated for a moment. Then he said, "No, that's fine."

"Ah, thank you. What would we do without a son like you?"

The Madscikoopa gave her a subtle smile and continued to enter the kitchen. As he carried the coffee cups with him, he thought to himself about how his parents may have returned, but Storko had not. He wondered deeply where he could have gotten to and if there was any hope left. He wondered the same about his two sons. Once he started pouring new cups of coffee, he furled his brow. He knew there was only one thing he could do. It's as she said, he thought. If I want anything done... I'll have to get done with the Kame Saucer...

 

 

Things had calmed down significantly from the group's encounter with the White Sugar Pirates. At this point, all that was left for them to do was to continue their journey to Uaurpe. The others seemed to be in good enough spirits, but Tessa couldn't stop looking so serious. With her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes staring forward, she remained thinking. This was an ordeal she most certainly wasn't soon going to forget. It had so much bloodshed, pain, and loss in it. All kinds of people were responsible for it all. But, out of all of them, one man stood out in the young girl's mind: the man with the spear, the mask, and the red cape. Every time the girl even thought of him for one split-second, her blood would boil. It was too much.

"...Annie?" she quietly said, not being able to take the questions for much longer.

"Yes, dear."

"Why did you let him go?"

Annabyss sighed deeply. "I met all kinds of people while I was Astral Projecting, dear. By far, one of the most terrifying was that man." Tessa shifted her eyes towards the woman, though she wasn't sure if she could actually see her from there. Annabyss continued explaining. "Countless times, he has attacked villages, torn apart families, broken people's hearts, and slaughtered any who got in his way. His strength is so vast, he doesn't even need a gang in order to do it all. Frankly, dear, not even I dare to oppose him..."

Tessa's eyes trembled a bit. "Why does he do it, Annie?" she asked, her voice keeping very gentle. "What's he after?"

"He has devoted his life to one person," Annabyss answered. "Golden Diva."

"But who is she?"

"She is one of those who fought 300 years ago."

"Three-hundred years ago?"

"Yes..."

During the conversation, Cutlass was still sitting defiantly with his arms folded. He was only able to catch so much about gods trying to take over the world when he took his attention away from the girls of the group. He closed his eyes, sighed, and shook his head. I don't know why, he thought, but I just don't feel like I care what happens to this world. The swordsman opened his eyes and looked forward in the direction the group was heading. All I want, he thought, is to know why I'm here...