Chapter 37
The sky was dark and full of stars. Silicon was at the bottom of the hill. All a certain man and his angry mob of strange creatures had to do was descend it and attack. "Interesting place," the leader said to himself. "Who'd have thought I'd find it on the way to Belome Rock...?" He turned around and faced the army behind him. He swung one arm in the direction of the peaceful village. "ATTAAAAACCKK!" Immediately, the ruthless beings charged down the hill and entered the town in the most violent way possible...

Inside the inn, Pixel was cleaning off the tables of the dining room, humming a tune to herself. Nothing could have prepared her for what happened in the next instant. CRASSHH! She jolted her head to the right. One of the windows had been broken. What had been thrown through it managed to tip over a good few tables and chairs upon landing. It was the girl's brother, Ion. She gasped, ran up to him, and started helping him up. "Ion! Are you all right? What happened?"

"A bunch of bug things are attacking the village," he quickly explained. He was standing again, wiping blood from his forehead. "Find Mom. Make sure she's safe."

"Ri-"

KSH! KRSH! CRASH! Three more windows had broken. This time, it was due to the fact that three of these bug things had just leapt into the vicinity. Pixel got a good look for herself what these things looked like. They looked like vaguely humanoid ants with three-fingered hands, samurai-like suits of armor, and big battle-axes. Oddly enough, Pixel noticed there wasn't a single difference to make out between any of them. They were perfectly identical down to the last skin cell.

The three of them held up their weapons and began to advance on the girl's sibling. Ion took on a fighting stance of sorts. "Go," he said to Pixel. He clasped his hands together and pulled them widely apart. Somehow, this caused his fingertips to suddenly be connected by five long, metal, guitar-like strings. "I'll handle these brutes." Pixel nodded her head and began to run upstairs. This left the boy alone with three of the village's new adversaries. "Come on," he taunted.

One of the bug creatures leapt towards him with its axe reared back, ready to hack something to pieces. Ion let him sail towards him. TWANG! He ducked as he caught the insect's face between his strings. The scraping metal began to make the fiend's face even more contorted. Ion stood up, carrying the bug with him on this net of strings he had made (they had somehow elongated). Combined with the bug at the end of them, the male Pixie had managed to make a makeshift ball'n'chain out of his strings. He used it against the next ugly thug that decided to come his way. WHAM! He swung it hard against him. Soon enough, the strings had mysteriously disappeared and both ants were flying out the window from whence they came. When Ion looked for the third one, he cursed to himself upon finding out where it was going: up the stairs. He began to chase after it.

We could really use some reinforcements right about now...

The seven of Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Cutlass, Waluigi, Tessa, and Annabyss were almost at the bottom of Belome Rock. They just had a bit more of the road to walk down. During this, Big Guy and Laser Snifit were engaged in conversation once more.

"Which just goes to show you that, if you want to get by in life, muscles are the way to go!" one of them was saying while showing off a bulge in one of his arms.

His shorter companion scoffed. "You're only fooling yourself, Big Guy," Laser Snifit said. "What good are muscles when you don't have the brains to back them up?"

"Heyyy," Big Guy exclaimed, "are you saying I'm dumb?!"

"I'm not saying you're dumb," the grey 8-Bit said, "I'm saying muscles alone will only get you so far ahead."

"Fart head?!" Big Guy fumed. "You wanna start somethin'?!"

"I'm not trying to insult you, you moron!"

In front of the rest of the group, Cutlass was ignoring the inane bickering that was going on between two of his teammates. He turned to his new leader and asked her something. "So, Annabyss... How much longer until we reach Uaurpe?"

"Well," the woman started, "a few days, I suppose. We'll have about three or four towns to pass through in the meantime, by my estimate."

"Towns, huh?"

"Yes," Annabyss replied. "For instance, the one at the bottom of this mountain, Steen Stream, named for the Steens that inhabit it." At this point, Big Guy and Laser Snifit had commenced kicking clouds of dirt in each other's faces out of their annoyance for one another. "At the moment," Annabyss continued, "it's under attack..."

The group had reached the bottom of the mountain. They immediately realized what their leader meant. Even Big Guy and Laser Snifit stopped what they were doing in order to take a look for themselves. Not too far away from them was an entire town built right inside of a miniature river of some sort. Its houses of bamboo and sticks did a nice job of standing up in the water, but there were numerous little gremlin-like monsters hopping through each of them, tearing them all apart and causing various small people to start running and screaming.

"What's going on?" Tessa fretted as she took in the horror of the situation. That was when Annabyss heard it: a high-pitched laugh of utter insanity echoing across the valley. Listening closely, she could make out what it was saying.

"Insolent fools! It is pointless to run..."

The shadowy woman scowled. She recognized that voice. "Larva," she growled. "So you're still alive..."

Five of her comrades gasped. Cutlass just looked confused. "Larva?" he said. "Who's that?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, we've got work to do." The other five people nodded and got themselves ready for battle. Cutlass was the last to do so. In the next instant, the seven-some was off. Their second ever encounter with the Mistress of Wigglers was about to begin...

Xoshi, Davey, White Rose, and Leif couldn't believe their eyes. Not only had Belome led them back to Silicon, but he had also unleashed a very strange army upon it. A drop of sweat rolled down Davey's temple as he took a good look at it. If he didn't know any better, he'd say each of those soldiers looked exactly like...

"... Chogun?!"

"I highly doubt any one of them's the real Chogun," White Rose said to Davey. This complemented how all the bug things kept breaking people's windows, beating people up, knocking them out, and even running off with their unconscious bodies. "Something tells me there's more to this than what meets the eye..."

"Indeed," Leif quipped. He withdrew his trademark mace. "I suggest we get to the bottom of this."

"I concur," the knight said. Davey watched as White Rose took out his sword and as Xoshi put his fists up. A second later, the boy caught on and took out his gun.

"All right," Davey stated. "Let's do this!" The other three agreed. After that, the quartet started running down the hill, right into battle...

Once they reached the bottom of the hill, they were running down the streets of Silicon and between all of its houses. Some of the Chogun look-alikes that weren't already looting some of these homes spotted the newly arrived four-some, and started charging towards them. Davey went wide-eyed and swallowed hard once this happened. He probably would have gotten hurt had his three partners not have leapt towards the oncoming pests just in time. SHING! BANG! FWOOSH! Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif landed in dramatic fighting stances. One of the fake Choguns got sliced in two, another got its face pounded into the ground, and another was sent flying sky-high with a big, shiny, golden star lodged in its chest. Davey's jaw hit the floor at the sight. His three companions turned and looked at him.

"Davey," White Rose said, "I know how you feel, but you mustn't let your emotions control you. These are not the real Chogun!"

Davey was about to nod. He stopped once the group heard a voice ahead of them that was familiar-sounding and goofy, yet spiteful. "Of course they're not Choguns; they're my latest creation... Shoguns!"

The group looked ahead. It was none other than the man they had been chasing down: Belome. Davey's raging hatred for the monster was born again. "YOU!" he yelled. "What have you done to Chogun?!"

"The guy who tasted bug-tastic? I made clones out of him! Did you know that I can make clones out of whoever I taste? Allow me to demonstrate!" Belome lunged towards the boy with his tongue flopping around like crazy. Davey thought fast and walloped the beast with a front kick right in the center of his tongue. This sent him flipping through the air. He landed with a CRASH, resulting in his face getting stuck in the outside wall of someone's house. Davey was going to run towards him in order to start beating some more of the stuffing out of him, but then one of the Chogun clones ran up to its dog-like master, carrying a screaming female Pixie with it. The four-eyed beast popped out of the wall and looked at the damsel in distress hungrily. He was starting to drool again. "Oh, goodie! My next meal!"

The woman shrieked. Before Belome could grab her, though, two explosions erupted, sending Belome flying backwards and reducing the Chogun clone to dust. The woman fell to the ground as Davey put away his laser pistol and his wand, taking note of how time energy proved to be quite effective against these bugs. The boy who had just used two weapons at once in order to save this woman ran up to her. "Are you all right?"

"Y-Yes. Thank you," she replied, letting herself be helped up by the young man. She was almost all the way up again when she heard something extremely unpleasant.

"MY... NEXT... MEAL!"

The woman screamed and ran off, breaking away from Davey's grasp. The boy got mad. He jumped at the deranged canine, grabbed him by his shoulders, and knocked him to the ground, pinning him to it. While the peckish monster struggled to break free of this boy's hold, Davey addressed his three party members. "Well, don't just stand there! Get the other ones! I think this sicko wants to eat all the people here!"

Remembering the woman Davey had just saved combined with the thought of who here could possibly get eaten next made Xoshi snap awake. "PIXEL!" Hurriedly, the brown Yo'ster ran off, leaving Davey, White Rose, and Leif alone with Belome. At this point, the monstrous dog had succeeded in flipping himself over and switching who was pinning down who. Davey got even more mad.

"C'mon! Get going!" he yelled. Immediately, White Rose and Leif saluted him and ran off in different directions. Now it was just the boy and his dog. "We won't let you get away THIS time, Belome!"

"But I'm... really... HUNGRY!" The two bitter enemies snarled at each other and continued to fight each other over the fate of Silicon and the real Chogun...

Windows were being destroyed, roofs were being damaged, and people were getting rows of bleeding wounds clamped into them. Four of the Steens of Steen Stream cowered behind the corner of one of these buildings and watched the mayhem unfold before them.

"Why?" one of them said. "Why would Fuzzipedes do this?"

"What did we do to them?"

"What are we going to do, Elder?"

"I don't know," the leader of the bunch said. "All we can do now is pray..."

Standing high atop one of the roofs of this village was none other than the culprit of this act of chaos: Larva, Mistress of Wigglers. She grinned at the destruction going on below her. "That's it, my servants," she purred. "Destroy everything in your path! Leave no survivors..."

"Sorry, Larvie..." a voice called out from behind, but the Wiggler-summoner didn't budge. "But I'm afraid the only victim of THIS operation will be you." Larva smiled. What she had just heard was surely the voice of a certain muscleman she had encountered previously, which could only mean one thing.

The fancily dressed woman turned around, looking smug. Her six least favorite people were right there as expected, but they seemed to have one more with them this time. It didn't matter to her. "So, shape shifter, we meet again," Larva said, addressing the group's leader.

"The name is Annabyss," the shadowy woman growled.

Larva smirked. "Well then, Annabyss..." The immoral sorceress closed her eyes and swept a hand through her red hair. She opened her eyes to stare at the shape shifter, mischievously. "I was hoping something would make you come here. I had a feeling your unquenchable sense of justice would do the trick..."

Annabyss narrowed her eyes at the enemy woman. "So it's revenge you want? Revenge for what we did to that madman of a partner in crime of yours?"

"General Wind-up?" Larva scoffed. Her facial expression changed to one of disgust and murderousness. "Just so you know, I feel nothing for that man's death. What you took away from me is not a friend or even a comrade; it was power... the power to take this world head on, to make it bow to me, and to demolish anything that got in my way!" Annabyss' six teammates began to stare at Larva as though there were warts sprouting all over her body. The woman ignored them and went on with her speech. "But you... You ruined everything..."

The vengeful woman began to raise her arms before her, making claws out of their open palms. For some reason, once she did this, all the Fuzzipedes attacking the village instantly stopped what they were doing. It was almost as though they had just heard a whistle that only they could hear. This was very confusing to the Steens. Larva made her next move.

"AND I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THAT!!!" She swung her arms forward and FFOOOOOOMMM! A tidal wave of black, furry things flew out of nowhere and plowed right into the woman's seven adversaries. She stared at where they had disappeared, knowing full well that all those teeth must have torn them all to pieces by now. Once the swarm of angry Fuzzipedes had faded away, she could see the fruits of her labors. Only three were still standing on the roof: the big one, the new one, and Annabyss. Larva put her arms down and cocked one eyebrow at the trio with a mildly amused look on her face. "So you're the strongest ones? This should be interesting..." She held her hands out and made six pillars of blue fire burst out of them.

Big Guy had his trusty club out, but he was looking worried. "Annie?!" he panicked. "What happened to-"

"Go and look for them, Big Guy," Annabyss interjected. "Cutlass and I will deal with this woman."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Big Guy instantly turned tail and fled. He jumped off the roof and commenced running around in search of his friends. This left only three people on the roof. Cutlass had his sword in hand. Annabyss said something to him in private.

"Don't hold back," she told him. "I couldn't take her alone the last time we fought, but, with you here, it just might be possible."

"Yes," Cutlass replied.

Larva stared at her two opponents while chuckling to herself. They seemed to be surprised she wasn't foaming at the mouth. Her laughter came to an abrupt end. She glared at Annabyss and Cutlass with burning eyes. "I swear, I will kill you..." FWOOOSSHH! In the blink of an eye, the shape shifter and the swordsman were surrounded by a web of blue flames. With two people dodging and fighting for their lives on this infernal roof, the next battle between justice and immorality had begun...

A swing to the left, and one of the Shoguns got his skull caveed in from the right. A swing to the left, and the same thing happened to a different one, but from the left. With his mace in hand, Leif quickly spun around and punted another Shogun coming at him right in the chin. The unnatural creature fell back, and the Viking moved on with some of the others. Ten more were headed his way. He was ready for them...

White Rose was holding out just as nicely. In just a few seconds, he had managed to chop an arm off of one Shogun, a leg off another, and the head off another. Three of them tried flying at him at once, but he was able to chop all three of them in half with one sweep of his sword. He saw a bunch more wanting a piece of him, and he prepared himself...

Meanwhile, Xoshi was running around frantically through their favorite inn. He burst through the front doors, looked around at the waste that had been laid to the dining room, thought of the worst, and made his way up the stairs. Remembering what Pixel had told him, he found the right door and kicked his way in. What he found wasn't pretty. It was both Eon and Ion lying on the floor with bloody spots all over them. The girl he was looking for was being backed into a corner by one particular Shogun. Xoshi could see that the thing was struggling its way through a web of metal strings that appeared to be coming out of the fingertips of the young female Pixie. For a second, it looked as though she had a chance. Then the ant-like monster suddenly broke his main arm free and started using it to hack away at the metal strings binding it. Pixel gasped as the strings that were originally around the Shogun instantly zipped their ways back into her fingertips and disappeared. A look of horror befell her face as the approaching Shogun raised its axe.

That was when Xoshi decided he had seen enough. He ran up to the Shogun, grabbed its axe while it was still clutching at it with both hands, and used it as a makeshift handle in order to swing the pest over his hand and send him crashing to the ground. The brown Yo'ster stared at its unmoving body for a second or two. He heard Pixel starting to crawl towards him. He turned around and faced her. There was a weak smile on her face.

"Xoshi," she said, "you sa-"

Then CRASH! About six or seven other Shoguns suddenly burst through the window and started dog piling the desperate woman. The minute Xoshi saw this, he let go of his hold on the axe, allowing it to drop to the floor. His eyes lit on fire and became a pair of multicolored flames...

Outside, Davey and Belome were back on their feet. They were both panting and covered in bruises. In the next second, Davey had his wand ready once more. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. ZING! ZING! ZING! The boy had to start dancing like crazy for his life, if not his consciousness. Belome was using his Aurora Flash attack on him again, this time making laser beams of blue light rain down from above. Each one was a bullet that could have easily determined the outcome of this battle. After that last attack, Belome put his arms down and addressed the boy.

"C'mon, little boy, do you seriously believe you can beat me?"

"You won't be saying that," Davey wheezed, "once I have you begging for mercy!" The two combatants quit talking and got back to fighting. It was going to be a long night for Silicon...

In order to dodge the barrage of flames, Annabyss had turned herself into a monkey while Cutlass was merely using his flexibility. Each jump and swerving movement brought the two of them closer to their female enemy. Once she was but inches away, Cutlass pulled his sword back and Annabyss turned into a lion with one of its humungous paws out. Larva smirked.

Cutlass and Annabyss could suddenly feel some sharp pains in their necks. Annabyss reverted back to her original form and Cutlass dropped his sword. They were reeling in agony, clutching at their necks. After a while, they were finally able to rid themselves of the pain. They managed to tear off a pair of Fuzzipedes and toss them over the roof. They glared at Larva, who just laughed at them. "Beautiful, isn't it?" she said. "They obey my EVERY command..." The woman's two adversaries ignored her. Cutlass got his sword back in his hand and Annabyss turned into a rhino. They went charging towards the woman once more...

Meanwhile, Big Guy was still in the midst of looking for his friends. His frantic search had led him to believe they were no longer in Steen Stream, so he began to search on land. After running around a bit, he was able to find them. He gasped at the sight. All four of them were on the ground, trying to get a whole swarm of Fuzzipedes to quit biting away at them. Big Guy got mad. He pulled out his club and ran into the fray. It took him about twenty swings more or less, but he eventually pulled it off. He began helping them all up. Both Laser Snifit and Tessa said, "Thanks, Big Guy."

"Don't mention it," he replied. He spun around and swung his club forward almost as though it were a baton. "All right, now let's go! Cutlass and Annabyss need our help!"

"YEAH!" the others yelled. Once their gigantic teammate took off, they began to give chase. Unfortunately, they couldn't get very far. An angry mob of Fuzzipedes had suddenly hopped right in front of them, all of them snarling and gnashing their teeth. The opposing team rushed right towards them.

"GET OUT OF OUR WAY!" Big Guy yelled. A huge battle broke out between the two groups. It had one of them punching, kicking, and firing lasers relentlessly for the sake of what was right. They weren't going to let Larva get away this time...

TSEW! TSEW! TSEW! Davey was making Belome dance. The dog-like creature worked furiously to make his legs hop from left to right in order to dodge each of the strange, glowing projectiles. Then FWOOSH! The boy fired a big one. Belome bent his body way back the other way like in a game of limbo to dodge. The giant orb of dark energy sailed over his face. Davey was running towards him. The shrunken man leapt forward with his arms out as though he were about to pin someone down, but Belome knew better. WHAP! One of his bear-like arms got him in the gut in the nick of time. The boy went sprawling across the grass, all the while clutching at his stomach, wincing and groaning in pain. The monstrous dog got off the ground and approached the winded boy.

"I'm telling you," said the canine, "it's useless! No matter what you or your friends do, I will win this battle! I'll be treating myself to fried Pixies of all shapes and sauces for weeks on end! Hee hee hee!"

Davey forcefully pried one eyeball open to glare at the beast. He just barely managed to rasp out a retort. "Oh, yeah?!…"

At the moment, in three different places at once, Davey's partners had more than enough problems on their hands. White Rose was surrounded by about ten Shoguns, Leif was surrounded by about ten more, and Xoshi could see another whole bunch simultaneously attacking the Pixie he cared about most. Once the Shoguns began to advance on White Rose and Leif, they did what was just about the same thing Xoshi did, and Belome was about to see the results of their efforts.

He laughed at the boy's last comment. "C'mon," he taunted, "what are they gonna do?"

Then three extremely unpleasant sounds tore their ways into the four-eyed monster's ears. It was the sound of fire burning, necks cracking, and even meteorites soaring through the air. Both White Rose and Leif had whipped out their wands. The white-clad knight had sent a wave of flames ripping through his enemies, burning them all to a crisp. The aquatic Viking had made a number of thorn-covered vines pop out of the ground behind each of his assailants. With a little help from the magic wand's powers, he was able to elongate each of these strange plants, make them grab the necks of each of the Shoguns, and give them each a good twist. Belome had instantly lost a good portion of his forces, and it didn't stop there.

Looking at the inn in the distance, he could see a massive amount of Shoguns flying out the window, each of them with these oversized, sparkling, star-shaped fragments of gold energy lodged in their chests and, in some cases even, in their necks. Belome watched in pure shock as all of his handy soldiers were sent to the ground, not a single one of them continuing to move anymore. It all made the foul mastermind behind this attack begin to question the real state of the situation.

Davey smirked. "Well, Belome?" He got back on his feet and pointed his wand at the dog. "Give up?" The food-crazed beast looked around. He noticed how White Rose and Leif were nearby, pointing their wands at him as well. The meal-loving freak of nature became shifty-eyed as he plotted his next move...

Back in Pixel's room, Xoshi was panting up a storm. Golden glitter was still falling from his fingertips. Pixel slowly got her battered body off the floor. She stood and faced Xoshi. She swept one hand through her messed up hair and laughed once. Xoshi's mouth crept into a smile. His breathing barely started to sound like chuckling. Then it stopped. Pixel gasped at two different things at once, the first of which being the sound of some very loud yelling reverberating its way throughout the village for all to hear.

"SSHHOOOOGGUUUNNSS! RETRREEAAATT!"

The second was that, at the same time Belome started yelling, the Shogun that Xoshi had knocked aside earlier had gotten back on its feet with a broken piece of wood in its hand in order to swing at the side of the brown reptile's head. As a result, WHAM! Xoshi's eyes rolled into his head and he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Pixel slapped two hands over her mouth as she watched this with wide-open eyes. Meanwhile, the Shogun who did this was making his escape by jumping out the window.

Outside, Belome and the few surviving members of his Shoguns were running their way through the houses of Silicon and into the woods beyond it. The giant stuffed doll of the group was thinking to himself as he made his getaway. Okay, so the raid on Silicon didn't work out, the beast thought, but Belome Rock will be mine... All mine!...

Davey, White Rose, and Leif were standing in the middle of the village with their wands out. They were panting and staring at where their enemies had run off to. The next thing they knew, a bunch of people were running towards them from nowhere. One of them was a female face Davey recognized fairly well...

As for Xoshi, Pixel was holding his head in his lap, a frightened look on her face. The Yo'ster was slowly slipping away. He could faintly hear yelling and cheering going on outside. In the midst of it all, he could also make out Pixel's sweet voice calling out to him. He tried pinpointing its exact location, but then everything became muffled. The brown Yo'ster blacked out...

Larva stared Cutlass down. She didn't know who he was or what exactly the connection was between him and Annabyss, but he was evidently in cahoots with her. At this point, she had managed to throw the sorceress of the group off the roof, so it was just her and this silver man fighting now. He stared back. His sword was drawn, and the Mistress of Wigglers was about to put his skills with it to the test.

One of her hands flew out. An orb of blue fire shot out of it and headed towards the silver alien. CHING! He deflected it with the side of his blade. Larva smirked and threw him another one. CHING! That one became deflected as well. Larva grinned. CHING! CHING! CHING! This time, she had Cutlass making that sword dance like crazy. It was all necessary in order to prevent a single member of this barrage of blue fireballs from damaging him. After a good few seemingly endless seconds of this, Larva flung one final one at her opponent, only to have it flicked away as all the others did. Her metallic assailant was panting and covered in sweat. The treacherous woman smiled at him.

"Had enough?" she taunted.

Cutlass smirked back. "You wish..."

WHUMP! Larva yelped. Something heavy and blunt had slammed into her ankles, sending her onto her back and hard. She caught a glimpse of a shadowy crocodile turning into something humanoid before noticing a long bar of steel was pressing itself against her throat. Cutlass had her pinned to the ground, and he couldn't have done it without that woman's help.

Larva snarled at her. "How long will you continue tormenting me, you harpie?!"

Annabyss's rainbow eyes squinted in an amused manner as five people suddenly ran up from behind her, each of them looking evidently ready to fight. Behind them, Larva noticed, in the distance, was an enormous pile of immobilized Fuzzipedes. Their festering bodies were raising a column of steam into the air. Annabyss' next line added insult to injury for the woman. "Until your evil has been wiped completely from this plane of existence."

Larva's eyes narrowed in unrelenting fury. She huffed out a sound that was somewhere between a bark, a hiss, and cursing beneath her breath. She flicked her hands upward and immediately ended the battle in her own way.

BBOOOMM! What appeared to be a miniature and rather ephemeral tornado suddenly materialized beneath Larva, blasting a huge hole in the house everyone was on. It sent Cutlass flying backwards and made his six comrades jump back in surprise. The group of seven looked up. They saw a huge Flying Wiggler soaring through the sky at a noticeably low altitude. It swooped over the damaged roof and began to take off. Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Cutlass, Waluigi, Tessa, and Annabyss bore witness to something clad in red and yellow suddenly falling from the sky and onto that thing's back.

It was Larva. She faced the group with her arms folded and her eyes burning with hatred. One of her arms unfolded itself and pointed to her clique of adversaries. "Watch yourself, Annabyss!" she yelled, her voice gradually becoming quieter as the bug carried her off into the night. "Your days are numbered!!!"

The seven-some watched as the maniacal woman's silhouette slowly faded away until it had completely merged with the night sky. Larva had miraculously escaped once more, and her seven victors could finally get down from the roof. Once they did so and were on the wooden deck surrounding the straw house they had just been on, a whole bunch of Steens suddenly appeared, all of them running towards them and yelling out of awe and gratitude.

"YOU SAVED US!"

"OUR HEROES!"

"HUZZAAHHH!!!"

The Steens were hardly distinguishable from one another. They were incredibly small, dwarf-like creatures with peachy skin, green hair, bulgy eyes, and ball-like hands. One of them had a red cape and a green beard hanging off of his chin in addition to all this. He slowly walked towards the group, causing the Steens behind him to settle down some as all attention began to be drawn towards him.

"Strangers," he said, "we know not who you are, but know this: you have our eternal gratitude. We just want you to know that, no matter what happens, we will always have a place for you here, in Steen Stream."

The Steens all gave one more cheer for their group of saviors. Big Guy raised both of his arms in a gesture of pure gloating. Laser Snifit scratched the back of his head. Wario and Waluigi were giving their fans a very strange-looking salute, Tessa was waving to them, and Annabyss was bowing. Cutlass was just looking bewildered.

"Come, my friends," the elder of Steen Stream said, "allow me to give you the grand tour of our village..."

The bearded Steen began to walk off in one direction and the group of seven began to follow him. Making an unfamiliar little town extremely happy was starting to pay off and the tour was starting, but Cutlass couldn't get one thing off his mind.

She's a shape shifter, he thought, as he eyed his new leader. I wonder... How in the world is that possible...? And the night carried on...

Beneath the moonlight somewhere, there was a sea just off the coast of Mario Land. At its center was a small island with a statue of a giant turtle on top. Nearby, the waters were starting to bubble. They quickly began to increase in number. Finally, in one big watery FWOOSH, Boshi popped out, gasping for breath.

"Not here either..." he panted.

The blue Yo'ster was scratching his head and looking around when he noticed more patches of bubbles were bursting their ways onto the surface of the water. He watched as, of all things, sharks with boxing gloves on suddenly popped out. Boshi examined each of them in perplexion.

"What is this?" he said. "A boxing frenzy?"

The sharks flashed some toothy grins at him. The next thing Boshi knew, BOINK! The front of his nose had been scrunched inward, the violent way.

"Dowww," he moaned as he rubbed his shnoz. "What'd you do dhat bor?!" Boshi noticed how their next move was to put all their gloved fists up.

The sharks all moved in. In the center of all of them was a lot of punching and a lot of splashing noises. Unbeknownst to them, a small trail of bubbles was leading itself away from their assault. Boshi popped out of the water right where the bubbles were once they were far away enough. The cocky Yo'ster chuckled to himself.

"So long, suckers," he said quietly. The arrogant reptile began to swim away from all the madness with his arms taking turns swinging forward. This exercise continued until the shades-wearing man suddenly stopped, feeling an incredible pain in his left arm. He lifted it out of the water to notice a very small shark with boxing gloves had clamped its teeth onto it. Boshi sighed. "It's gonna be a LLOOONGG night..." The blue Yo'ster commenced trying to shake the puny shark off of his appendage. His trip to the Turtle Zone had proven to have been a rather unsuccessful one...

"This is the dojo..."

Annabyss and Co. had been led to the front of one of the many little straw buildings of this stream-based town. Through its window, they could see a padded floor, but not much else. The elder of this village, Jean, went on with the elaboration of it.

"It's a place of many students," the elder explained. "It's essential for a Steen to be a master of martial arts. A Steen must be strong, lean, and mean. That is why we are the Steens." The elder laughed, but the seven people following him merely nodded. "My son, Jinx, used to be a member of this place," Jean continued as he led the group across another one of the bridges connecting all of these houses. This one was particularly long and wide. It was cross-shaped, so it was connected to three buildings and some of the land on the other side of this town. The elder gestured to it. "But he eventually left in order to start one of his own in Monstro Town." Jean pointed to the dirt road between all the trees this part of the bridge led to. "At the end of this road, there's another town. It's called Il Ville. The Ils there are more into racing than they are into fighting. Still, should you ever find yourselves there, I'd watch out. Ils and Steens do not mingle well, after all..."

The tour continued on like that. The elder led his seven guests around for a little while longer, explaining various things along the way. Finally, he stopped at one particular building.

"And, as the last part of our tour," Jean said, "my house. If you'd like, the lot of you are more than welcome to stay here for the night. I even have rooms and tea for you."

"That'd be wonderful," Annabyss replied. Jean nodded and showed them the way in. In a few minutes, the elder had gotten them all sitting on the floor and surrounding a table with very short legs. All eight of them were sipping up cups of tea. Before long, Jean had gotten another explanation going.

"Three-hundred years ago," he began, "war ensnared this world. All of its people were forced to either fight for one person, or fight for someone else..."

Tessa's ears perked up. She put her cup of tea down and began to listen to the story more intently, just to make sure if she had heard it before or not.

"One such person was an extremely powerful, extremely dangerous witch named Veyran. She along with two others tried taking over the Clover Kingdom. Our ancestors wouldn't stand for it, so they fought to the death. However, in spite of their efforts, only one man was able to defeat her; his name was Belome..."

Big Guy elbowed Laser Snifit, making him splash some tea all over his mask. He said something about having heard of this. Laser Snifit told him to shut up. Jean resumed his story telling.

"Once he used his powers to seal her spirit away into a nearby mountain, the threat was over. Ever since, there's been a curse upon Belome Rock. Also, the Steens and the Ils have been acting as rivals to one another. They were, after all, some of the enemies our ancestors had to face in order to prevent Veyran from getting her way..."

Annabyss put down her steaming teacup. She listened intently to the rest of the story, as though waiting for something.

"Nowadays, the curse of Belome Rock is one of the many hardships we have to face in our day-to-day lives. The Fuzzipede attack we experienced earlier was just one of them..." The elder paused a bit to take another sip of his tea. "Thieves, monsters, witches trying to avenge Veyran's death... even a giant bird we started referring to as 'the Steenix'..." Cutlass took his turn to start listening more closely. Annabyss was the more determined one, though. "We've seen it all." Jean placed his tea down onto his saucer with a prominent clinking sound. He looked exasperated. "But how much more of it must we take? When can we become a normal village again? Only time will tell..."

Everything became silent. All that was left was the sounds of Wario and Waluigi drinking. In a moment, Annabyss broke the emptiness of the conversation. "Once we arrive at Uaurpe," she said, "the curse will be lifted..."

The elder suddenly perked his head up. He was staring at the shadowy woman. "I beg your pardon?"

"Once we arrive at Uaurpe, we will begin collecting each of the 120 Super Sparkles. We will take them from the seven felons that have enslaved them as well as the seven kings that once reigned over the land. Then we will have the power to set things right in this world. That will be when the curse will be lifted. Then your village will be free..."

"You'd do that?!" the elder breathed. Annabyss nodded. "Oh, thank you!" His actions reminded quite a few of his guests of the person they met on Belome Rock a while back, but it didn't matter. The eight people in the room finished up their tea. The elder stood up and told them it was probably about time for them to start calling it a night. "Come on," he said, "I'll show you to your rooms..."

The seven saviors of Steen Stream got up off the floor and began to follow their host out of the room. One by one, they each disappeared from sight. This entire meeting that had occurred had been watched in great interest by a spy. It was none other than a lone Fuzzipede staring into the corner of the elder's window.

Once its subjects were all gone, the small, gremlin-like creature began to hop away. It made its way past the houses, past the river, and onto dry land. Then it began to bound its way into the woods beyond Steen Stream, and it was gone.

Ever since the end of the attack, the night had been very quiet and peaceful. People everywhere were finally starting to bed down and sleep until morning. Each of them was blissfully unaware of a very dubious meeting that was going on between three different beings in the middle of these woods.

"Super Sparkles, you say?"

The Fuzzipede nodded. Its master was sitting on the branch of a lone tree. Her giant Flying Wiggler was resting on the ground nearby. Larva's mouth twisted into a malevolent smile.

"Excellent," she purred. "Perhaps my plans for world domination have not entirely been ruined just yet..." The deadly woman slid her way off of the branch. She landed on her Wiggler's back. It picked its head up and began to flap its huge, butterfly-like wings. "But first..." Wind was being blown everywhere. It was whipping itself in the face of anything that just happened to be nearby as the Wiggler began to take off like a helicopter. Even the trees, the grass, and the Fuzzipede were having trouble staying their ground. "I have some unfinished business to take care of..." With one final WHOOSH, Larva and the Flying Wiggler were off. The lone Fuzzipede watched as its master slowly disappeared into the moon. Exactly what her next plan of action was remained a total mystery...

Through darkness and day
Through death and decay
I will wait for you...

With a gasp, Xoshi snapped his body upright. His consciousness was back with a vengeance. Feeling very confused, he looked around and took in his surroundings. He was in Pixel's room. More than that, even, he was in her bed. Looking around, he noticed how the window was still practically just a big semi-rectangular hole in the wall with broken glass fringing it. The brown Yo'ster figured that this was the source of the draft.

He also noticed how the unmoving bodies of Eon and Ion were gone. In addition to all of this, everything was extremely silent, although he would have sworn he had just been able to hear a heavenly voice a little while ago. The brown reptile scratched his head. He wondered what could have possibly happened during this short time he was out. After turning his head to the left once more, his eyes finally managed to pick up some answers, if not what could lead to them. Xoshi reached over and picked up off of Pixel's nightstand what appeared to be a folded-up letter. He unraveled the piece of paper and began to read its delicately written text.

Xoshi,

Everything's okay now. Thanks to you and your friends, the monsters have left the village. Everyone was happy. You're all the heroes of the village now.

White Rose and Leif returned to the inn and had a few drinks with Ion, after I fixed him and Mom up (I'm something of a medic, you know). As for Davey, he went to stay at this one woman's house. She's actually a friend of my mom's. Her name is Era. For some reason, she really wanted to thank him.

Oh, yeah. I fixed you up as well! That one monster hit you so hard on the head. I did the best I could to stop the bleeding. I hope it heals soon enough...

Xoshi stopped reading for a moment to touch his right temple. Lo and behold, there was some type of padding taped to it. He caressed the soft thing for a second, and then went back to reading.

Anyway, you're probably up by now. Everyone's probably asleep, so I wouldn't make too much noise, if I were you.

Anyway, I thought I'd just clear all that up for you. If you have any more questions, or if you need anything, just ask, okay?

Love,
Pixel

Xoshi lowered the letter he had in his hands. He took a few seconds to reflect upon all this. In the end, he decided that all that mattered was that all's well that ends well. He snapped awake from his thought process once he heard it again.

I will wait for you...

"Now I KNOW I can hear something," the Yoshi mumbled. He put the letter back where he found it, hopped out of bed, and started trotting towards the door. After opening it up, walking through it, and closing it behind him, he found himself in the hallway of the tavern, and remembered what Pixel had told him in her note. He commenced doing his best to tip-toe his way through the place and down the stairs while making as little noise and as much tracks as possible. He HAD to find out where that sound was coming from.

He figured it was singing. He moved his way through the messed up cafeteria and pushed his way out the door. The cool air of the night enveloped him. The sound of a gentle breeze and crickets chirping overtook his ears. He could start trying less to be quiet now, but he could also start hearing the sound more clearly.

The Yoshi trotted his way through the village, doing his best to follow his ears. His travels took him past the roads, past the houses, and right into the grassy outskirts of the small town. All he had left to do was to ascend this hill. It was the same hill he and the others were on earlier, and it had the source of this sound on top. His legs pumped their ways up this obstacle of nature. Once the Yoshi was at its peak, he began to slow down. On top of this hill, sitting on her knees and facing the woods beyond Silicon, was none other than Pixel. Her small hands were being held over her chest, and her lips were moving. A very beautiful sound was escaping them. The young Yo'ster stopped and waited for her to finish the song. It ended on a very sweet note. It made him feel as though he had just exited a hot spring.

"You're good," he said quietly.

"Thank you," the young woman replied. "It's a song Pixidus wrote. She used to sing it all the time. She was very good at it."

"That makes two of you, eh?" Xoshi had walked a little further so he could sit right next to the girl. She smiled at him.

"Both me and her were students of my mother. You should hear HER sing."

"Can your brother sing?"

"Yes, he can."

Xoshi smirked. "Sounds like quite the music-oriented family you've got there."

"I know."

"But what about your father?"

The girl sighed. "I actually never knew my father. He died when I was very young. I heard he was good friends with Pixidus's father, though. Both he and my mom would always look out for us."

Xoshi looked at the ground solemnly. He nodded softly. "Hmm..."

"Pixidus and her dad got all the fun, though. They were always going on trips and stuff. Pixidus always had stories to tell me. That's how I found out about things like the Ring of Dheos and the Super Happy Tree."

Xoshi and Pixel exchanged smiles over the reminder. However, the young singer's story didn't end there.

"It seemed that all ended about one year ago. Pixidus's father eventually left for the Beanbean Kingdom. He said there were people out there that were trying to revive Tondariya, and he just couldn't let that happen."

"Another good singer..."

Pixel nodded. "That was all during the War of the Shy Gang. He brought a few bodyguards with him." Pixel closed her eyes and heaved a great sigh. Xoshi watched with a gentle look of worry. "Not all of them returned. They said a giant monster got in their way. Pixidus's father... didn't survive..."

Xoshi was looking forlorn. "I... I'm sorry," he uttered.

Pixel waved a hand to him. "It's okay," she said. "It hurt Pixidus more. You can see why she eventually decided to take it upon herself to start heading for the Beanstar."

"Yeah..."

Pixel tilted her head upward. She was looking at the starlit sky. "I hope she's doing all right," the girl said. "I hope Acid and Base are all right, too. I don't want the three of them to die while they're in the Beanbean Kingdom."

"I know what you mean," Xoshi responded. He, too, began looking at the stars. "Three of my friends are somewhere out there. We lost track of each other a little while ago. Now I don't know where they are. I just hope they're all right." Pixel gave a nod. Xoshi reacted to this by giving off another smirk. "But you know," he added, "I'll bet that if they knew how to sing as nicely as you can... I'd be able to find them in a jiffy."

Pixel laughed. She smiled appreciatively at him. "Thank you," she said.

"Yup," Xoshi replied. He looked at the stars for a second more, but then turned to face the young Pixie again. "Say," he said, "you think you could sing that song one more time?"

Pixel beamed. "Sure thing..." Xoshi watched with his chin on a fist as the girl closed her eyes and began to let the song flow from her lips once more...

I remember when I was young
A dragon lived nearby
A winged dream of pearly silk
And a sapphire in each eye

He would hold me
So gently
As we flew into the sky
He was always there
He took special care
But then he said goodbye

Oh, dragon of time
Where have you gone?
I am lost and alone
The wind has come and blown
Yet I gaze into the blue

The river keeps on flowing
It gives no ear to me
Through darkness and day
Through death and decay
I will wait for you

Our adventures were never-ending
There were strange worlds far and wide
No man, no beast would face us
They would always run and hide

We were joyful
And blissful
Our friendship could not end
But he had to go
For I did not know
There were shadows around the bend

Eternal life
The desire of the world
But it's often a dream
So my friend, it would seem
Is never to return

I'm growing older now
My life has changed for good
I'm being torn and tried
Without you by my side
It leaves my eyes to burn

Oh, dragon of time
Where have you gone?
I am lost and alone
The wind has come and blown
Yet I gaze into the blue

The river keeps on flowing
It gives no ear to me
Through darkness and day
Through death and decay
I will wait for you...

Even in the Beabean Kingdom, things were as peaceful as ever. The three of Pixidus, Acid, and Base had come a long way. The trio of Pixies had found a nice opening in the middle of the woods somewhere. The whole lot of them were doing little more than relaxing. The two tall bodyguards of the group were seated near the fire, and the singer was standing atop a large rock coming out of the ground. While facing the dark sky, she had just completed singing her trademark song. She opened her eyes and speculated for a moment.

Eon, Ion, Era, Pixel... Father... she thought. It's been a long road, but we're finally here. Soon, we'll finally be at the castle. Then I'll awaken the Beanstar, and all this madness will come to an end. Tondariya must not get away with all that she's done...

Away from the rock, one of them was gazing into the flickering flames, looking deep in thought. The other looked as though he'd rather be somewhere else. The one with a lighter shade of silver coloring his hair got a conversation going. "So, Acid," he said, "what do you think it'd be like if you were fire?"

"I'd be pretty hot," Acid answered. Base seemed unphased by his snide remark.

"You'd have no control over yourself. You wouldn't know how big or how small you were, or even if you were getting any bigger. You also wouldn't know what you were being used for. You could be being used for a campsite or burning down a building, and you wouldn't even know it."

"I'd be dead."

"What if fire were alive?" Acid cocked an eyebrow at his partner. "It'd be wondering who and what it was and what it was doing..."

"Well, I know what I'M gonna do," Acid snorted, turning away from the other Pixie, "I'm gonna go to sleep."

Base nodded. "Yeah. Good idea." He looked up and watched the person walking towards them. "Care to join us, Pixidus?"

"Yes, thank you," the woman stated. While Acid and Base were beginning to make themselves a bit more comfortable, Pixidus was starting to walk a bit closer to them and the campfire. All three of them would have gotten the opportunity to start enjoying some well-deserved rest had something prominently hideous not have interrupted this little session of theirs.

TSEW! Something bright and yellow suddenly flew out of nowhere. It collided with the campfire and made it disappear in a small explosion. All that was left of it was a rising pillar of smoke coming from the ground. Everything became pitch black. Regardless, the three Pixies looked up in order to catch a glimpse of whoever or whatever it was that caused this assault. They couldn't make it out exactly, but it was unbelievably gigantic. It was a towering silhouette sticking out of the forest. It was quite possibly over 50 feet tall. Its only visible physical feature other than its gargantuan height was its eyes, both of which were glowing green like a pair of oddly-colored suns. The Pixies stared into them with one thing on their minds.

"We're under attack."

"Indeed," Base said, replying to Acid's quip. "Well then, shall we?"

"Yes..." The three Pixies jumped up and got the battle going. Base made his move first. He launched his right hand forward with its claw-like nails aiming at the tremendous beast. ZZWWOOFF! Five big, long, metallic strings fired from them like a quintet of grappling hooks. One second later, they had latched onto the chest of the behemoth. Acid jumped onto this five-some of cords and starting running up them like the makeshift bridge they were. It was a long bridge and it made twanging sounds with each step, but Acid eventually made it. Once he was a few feet away from the monstrosity's face, he spread his arms out. ZWOOFF! Ten strings flew out. They curved around the fiend's face and disappeared behind it. Once Acid could tell they had latched onto one another, he pulled hard. It was possible that taking this thing down face first by the neck was their best chance. Acid had succeeded in forcing the demon to inch forward, but that was it. It gave him one good glare. Then he was instantly out of the battle.

TSEWW! The same force that got the fire fell its next victim. An explosion collided with Acid's chest. The cords snapped and the male Pixie fell off of Base's bridge. Base watched with wide eyes and a mouth gaping open as his comrade fell from the sky and went crashing into the trees below. After wincing and scowling for his defeat, Base decided to try his hand at showing up this monster.

He snapped the cords attached to the beast's chest back into his fingertips and started going all out against it. ZWOOF! ZWOOF! His hands took turns lashing out at the enemy. Both of their movements had caused ten more strings to start flying, almost like a bunch of steel whips. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough. TSEW! TSEW! The monster kept blasting each of them away, thus forcing the Pixie to keep lashing some more at it. However, all this resulted in was two flurries of cords and explosions clashing into one another repeatedly. Eventually, one of the two forces made its mark. TSSEW! A severe amount of damage scorched its way onto Base's chest. The ill-fated Pixie flew back and went skidding across the ground. Both of the bodyguards were out. Now it was just between Pixidus and this behemoth.

The golden-haired woman looked deeply into its flaming green eyes. "I'm afraid I must bid farewell to you now," she said. The monster wasn't listening. It began to take quake-causing footsteps towards the woman. The Pixie ignored it. She closed her eyes, put her hands over her chest, and opened her mouth. Three different voices came out, each of them singing a haunting melody in perfect harmony. The instant the huge beast heard this, it stopped in its tracks. It was no longer in the woods; it was in a humungous dungeon. More than that, it was hanging in the air by its ankles, both of them being held in place by some shackles. Out of the corner of its eye, it could make out a man by some gigantic machine. He grinned devilishly at the beast and flipped a switch. This caused two enormous, steel doors to open up beneath the demon. They revealed two tremendous, steel, spike-covered cylinders, whirling about madly. The monster itself was being lowered into it. Refusing to believe any of this was happening, it began to thrash about.

Pixidus saw an explosion of blood fly out from the scalp of the beast's head as it suddenly broke out of the illusion and began to take more seismic steps forward. Pixidus furled her brow a bit and tried again. Her mouth opened up once more, this time pouring forth a strange tune even more unworldy and unsettling than the last.

In a flash, the monster, again, was not in the woods anymore; it was lying on its back in the middle of a field. Ropes were all over its body. Each one was tied to a stake pounded firmly into the ground, thus rendering the overgrown monstrosity completely immobile. To top it all off, the creature was surrounded by a bunch of Pixies. Each of them kept jumping on it, crawling all over it, and digging their nails into it. They kept tearing out chunks of its flesh and stuffing it into their mouths. It was being eaten alive.

Bloody holes started being blasted out of the fiend's chest. It may have turned the clear night sky into a black mass that was raining some thick red liquid, but it didn't matter to Pixidus. All she cared about was the fact that this pest was finally being given what it deserved. Her eyes widened and began to quiver once the beast let loose a deafening roar and lunged its way out of the forest. It had broken the illusion again, and was in the opening, making it dangerously close to the accomplished singer. It glared down at her. Pixidus looked back, but only for a second. She closed her eyes again and started singing a song that was even more traumatizingly unnerving beyond redemption than the other two combined.

Once again, the beast froze up. This time, it was neither hanging upside-down nor being pinned to the ground; it was being carried off. Thousands of strange creatures of all shapes and sizes had it on their upraised palms. Some of them had horns growing out of their heads. Some of them had multiple heads on their shoulders. Some of them had eyeballs all over their body. The whole lot of them were in a massive cave, a cave of fire and brimstone. They were leading the tremendous beast to the edge of one particularly colossal cliff. Beyond it was an entire ocean of raging flames. There didn't seem to be a bottom to it. The gigantic monster growled as the foul beings beneath it got closer to the edge, causing the beast's body to become overwhelmed with immense heat and perspiration. With one bloodcurdling, monstrous howl, it had been thrown into the flaming abyss. It could feel its skin begin to turn black and flake off as it plummeted deeper and deeper into this never-ending nightmare.

Pixidus watched as the monster began to gradually transform into a humungous, walking pile of debris. Its eyes were no longer visible, and huge flaps of burnt skin kept flying off of it and being sent across the forest like black snow. The woman saw this and gave a subtle smile. However, once the ground began to shake and the giant creature shot up into the air like a rocket, panic overcame her. She looked up into the sky at the mass of black coming down at her. She closed her eyes and clasped her hands tightly over her chest. She knew this next split-second was going to determine the outcome of this battle...

Through darkness and day
Through death and decay
I will wait for you...

Pixel's eyes opened up as her song slowly faded to a close. Xoshi had a look on his face as though he was having a dream in which he was relaxing in a valley of flowers. "You're so good," he said quietly.

"Thank you," the girl replied.

"So, not only are you a medic, but you're also a good singer? Talk about multi-talented..." Pixel gave a small laugh. Xoshi wasn't finished, though. In the nick of time, he remembered something. "Oh, and speaking of talents," he said, getting Pixel to face him once more, "what's the deal with that one string thing you were doing? You know, when you were attacking the monster?"

"That?" Pixel said. "It's just something Pixies can do. Watch..." Pixel lay her arm down on her leg. When she brought it up, it looked as though she was pulling a set of metal strings out of her leg with her arm. Xoshi was awestricken. He was even more so once the girl slid a thumb through each of them, revealing it sounded perfectly like a harp.

"Wow..."

"That's not all..." She pushed the strings back into her leg with her arm, causing them to disappear. Once she pulled them back up, there turned out to be only six of them this time, each of them noticeably thicker than the last ones. She started strumming them with her fingers, forming a little tune. It sounded like a guitar this time.

"Ooh..." Xoshi watched and listened in great interest as the Pixie girl used this unique ability of hers to create more makeshift instruments, including a mandolin, a sitar, and, somehow, even a harpsichord. "A woman of many talents," Xoshi commented.

Pixel smiled and said, "I know." She made the strings disappear again. "As you can see, they're mostly used for instruments, but they can be used in battle as well."

Xoshi watched her breathe a sigh. "What is it?" he asked.

"Well," she started, "I've just been thinking lately... Maybe Tondariya's not the only evil force out there at work. Maybe there are others threatening the world, like those bug things that attacked us earlier."

"Tell me about it," Xoshi replied. "Before me and my friends came here, we had to deal with a bunch of ghosts, a bunch of Pokeys, and even a bunch of Crazee Dayzees. It's like..." The brown Yoshi began gesturing with his hands, "there's a bunch of organizations out there, and they're all just... racing to see who can dominate the world first."

"I know," Pixel said. "I just hope none of them succeed."

"Hey," Xoshi responded, "you've got Pixidus fighting them. What could go wrong? Not to mention, there's me..."

Pixel laughed. The Yoshi and the Pixie talked for a little while longer beneath the stars. They greatly appreciated each other's company. After a while, though, they had to bring it to a close. The two of them agreed to call it a night and they began to walk back to the inn. Once they were back up the stairs and in front of a certain door, the girl turned to the brown reptile with a very peace-inspiring facial expression.

"By the way, Xoshi," she said, "there's one other thing I forgot to write in my letter..."

"What's that?"

The girl took the Yoshi's hands in hers. "Thank you..." It took Xoshi a bit by surprise. He could swear he felt his heart skip a beat once those delicate little hands took his reptilian ones and he stared into those gleaming, magenta-colored eyes. "Thank you for saving me..."

Xoshi blinked and felt his throat dry up, but this moment required him to say something. "Y-You're welcome," he got out. The cute young Pixie gave him one last smile.

"Goodnight, Xoshi," she said to him

"G-Goodnight." The young woman had walked back into her room. Xoshi watched her do so. After contemplating for a second or two, he decided to hit the hay himself. He slowly began to walk back towards his room.

Oi, the Yo'ster thought. I like her. I like her a lot. But...

Yes? Beel queried.

How would Jeila react... if she were to find out about me and...

Infatuations are but one of many things in life, Xoshi. Like anything else, you'll manage to work it all out in the end, one way or another, even if it takes a while. I can guarantee you that...

Yeah... I guess you're right... Xoshi entered his room. He didn't come out until morning...

Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Cutlass, Waluigi, and Tessa had each been shown to their rooms. When offered a room of her own, Annabyss turned it down and said she preferred to stay outside and keep watch. As a result, Jean for this one night had got his own guard for his house. While she was out there, her six teammates were preparing themselves for some sleep. In one room, Wario and Waluigi had already gotten it. In another, Big Guy and Laser Snifit couldn't have been further from it. The two of them had engaged each other in a pillow fight. As for Cutlass and Tessa, they were a little bit closer to it. Cutlass got the bed that was further away from the door. He was already lying beneath its covers with his hands behind his head. His eyes hadn't closed yet, though. Then again, neither had Tessa's.

The fact she was sharing this room and its two beds at someone else's house vaguely reminded her of the old days in Dr. Kamenstein's dome. She thought about her brother for a second, and then began to part her hair in certain ways with her hands so that it'd be easier to sleep on. As she did this, Cutlass noticed how, not only was her hair purple, but, beneath it, there were these oddly-shaped, curvy, pointy ears. Purple hair and pointy ears seemed to ring a bell. He kept staring at the girl, wondering if there was more to her than just her appearance.

"Why are your ears pointy?" he asked.

Tessa stopped and looked at him. Her eyes shifted for a bit as one of her little hands fiddled with an ear. "These? Uh..." Her brow furled in thought. "I don't really know. Every time I asked my parents about them, they just changed the subject."

"Parents..." The silver alien began looking at the straw ceiling of the room. "I wish I could remember what kind of parents I had..."

"It'll come back to you, don't worry," the girl reassured.

"Hmm..."

Tessa got herself beneath the covers. She looked at her metallic companion once more before beginning to rest her head and her eyes. "Well, goodnight."

"G'nit," the silver man mumbled. Tessa was another story, but falling asleep wasn't very easy for Cutlass. For a while, he remained awake, thinking certain things over and over again. At last, his eyes shut, and he began to slip away into a realm of dreams and memories...

It was a few years ago. He still lived in the world of blades and a perpetually cloudy sky. Dwarfing all of the other buildings in this city of knives was one particular building that was very large, very fancy, and very palatial. The young Cutlass had made his way to it. He had gotten past the humungous, pricy, blade-covered wall surrounding it that doubled as a sort of fence and a moat-substitute. He had gotten past a few of the guards and servants within the place and around it. His travels eventually took him to the enormous, circular ballroom of the mansion. No sooner than when he entered one of its immense doorways did he suddenly get attacked.

He heard a loud CLANG behind him. He quickly pulled out his sword and turned around, only to see dust falling out of a gash in the wall. He turned around again, and CHING! His blade was knocked from his grasp. Something heavy slammed him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and pinning him to the ground. He heard a whoosh and saw another, slightly different sword aiming at his face. His eyes moved their ways up the weapon and onto the face of the man holding it: his father, Cutthroat.

Cutthroat, in essence, looked perfectly like an adult version of his son, only his long, white hair was in a ponytail and he had a mustache bordering his mouth in a semi-goatee. His body wore an extravagant, white tuxedo that looked as though it originated in colonial times, but his face wore a grave expression that seemed to ooze with anger, frustration, impatience, and maybe even hatred.

"You're pathetic," he snarled. "I pay good money for that class you go to. This is the best you can give me? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?!"

"I... I'm the best one there," Cutlass rasped, feeling like his chest was being crushed.

"I know that," Cutthroat growled, "but you're still PATHETIC." The rich man pulled his sword away from his son's face and got his foot off his chest. Cutlass began to get himself off the ground, only to feel a swift kick in his ribs. The young boy turned his head to glare at his father. His father looked at him back with a look of disdain. "Don't give me that look." The man put his sword back in his scabbard. He pointed to his son firmly as he started standing again. "And don't go sneaking around my office, either. Daddy's got an important meeting with two business partners tonight, and he can't be disturbed. GOT IT?!"

"Yes," Cutlass said flatly.

"Good." The corporate success put his finger down and began to walk out of the oversized room. He may have been more than twenty feet away when he did so, but Cutlass could still hear him mutter, "Little maggot." The boy continued to glare at where his father had disappeared. He was still jittering and feeling as though there was a fire beneath every inch of his skin. The next thing he heard was a soft, feminine voice behind him, but it didn't help.

"Don't mind him... He just wants you to be perfect..." Cutlass turned around and saw an attractive, young woman sauntering through the room. She had long, wavy, white hair and an incomparably fancy, queen-like dress on. The boy watched her walk past him without even looking at him. He sneered at her as she walked out of the room. He began to walk out of it himself. His hands were in his pockets and his brow was knitted.

Parents? he thought disgustedly. I don't have parents... Just people that hate me...

The present-day Cutlass jolted awake. Some rather loud voices could be heard next door. "Oh, yeah?! Well, next time, I'LL be able to take on TWO-hundred of them!"

"Big Guy, will you keep it down?! You're gonna wake someone!"

"Next time..."

The last sentence had been spoken in a considerably lower volume, but it didn't make much of a difference to Cutlass. He merely got himself comfortable again and closed his eyes.

This is indeed an interesting group of people I've gotten myself with...

"Goodnight, Hyrg."

"Goodnight."

Another long day of training had gone by. Once again, it was time for Hyrg to enter his room, climb beneath the covers, and sleep the night away. He got on top of the bed, but he didn't start relaxing just yet. Instead, he whipped out that one book Galileo had given him once more.

He turned to the page where he left off last and looked at its picture. This one was of a big, fat woman in a green dress and a pink fur coat. Her skin was white and her fingernails were long, red, and pointy. One of her hands was holding a frilly fan. Where a pair of legs would normally be was a ghostly tail. By looking at what was on the woman's shoulders, Hyrg could see what vaguely resembled a long, mutated face. However, most of it was obscured by a mask that looked as though it belonged to the face of an elegantly dressed empress from a faraway land, complete with the white skin, the chubby cheeks, the slick black hair, and the heavy amount of makeup. Hyrg also made sure to take note of four other things this woman was wearing: golden bracelets, golden earrings, a golden necklace, and a golden crown. It came as no surprise to him to find out what this woman's name was once he commenced reading...

God of Chaos #4: Golden Diva

Gender: Female
God of: Gold
Element: Star

Golden Diva was thought to be greedy beyond comprehension. What she wanted was all the treasure in the world, all for herself. This included everything from rare and valuable statues to small pieces of jewelry. She didn't care who she had to trample in order to accomplish this. Not even the other members of the Twelve Gods of Chaos were excluded from this.

Eventually, though, her greed caught up with her. She started setting her sights on the ultimate treasure: an entire kingdom. More specifically, the kingdom of Kora. It was a country in the desert that lived under a feudal system. The royal family that presided over it lived in the land's feature Golden Pyramid, something Golden Diva couldn't get her eyes off of.

War broke out once she invaded the kingdom, backed up by her army of demons. However, none of them could compete with Golden Diva herself. Many people tried their hand at defeating her, but only one truly had the power to do so: the heir to the throne of the kingdom, Princess Shokora. Both the mystical powers she had been blessed with since birth along with the four family heirlooms were required in order to bring down the demon for good. These heirlooms consisted of a crown, a necklace, a pair of bracelets, and a pair of earrings. Only Shokora could unlock their powers.

The final battle of the two sorceresses ended in victory and in tragedy. Princess Shokora's magic proved effective against Golden Diva, meaning it was beyond too much for the demon to take. Before the princess could forever seal the female monster's spirit inside a cursed tomb within the Golden Pryamid's walls, the God of Chaos unleashed one final attack against the kingdom: a spell that killed every last person in it, including the people, the king, the queen, and even the goddess' own army of demons.

The woman had something special reserved for the lone survivor of the kingdom, however. Unfortunately, no records can truly say what that was. All that is known is that, from that point on, Princess Shokora's whereabouts were completely unknown, although, legend has it, her last wish was to be reunited with her family and the people of her kingdom, even if it meant death.

In order to be revived, someone must enter the final resting place of Golden Diva, the Golden Pyramid. Inside, many trials await. If done correctly, they can lead one to all four of the treasures, which are essential for the God of Chaos's resurrection...

Hyrg took a moment to think over this new God of Chaos he had just read about. Once he got that out of the way, he put the book back in its rightful place, and finally decided to start getting some sleep. I can't wait to find out what the other ones were like, he thought...

The young Cutlass was walking beside the railing of one of the floors of his mansion. The look on his face was of annoyance at first. Then it became one of pure hatred. He could hear some extremely loud, obnoxious laughing coming from far beneath the railing. The silver alien looked over the edge just to confirm his suspicions. It indeed turned out to be three people: a silver man with a sword, a silver man with a sledgehammer, and a purple man with a laser pistol.

My father and two of the most infamous intergalactic conquerors in the galaxy, Cutlass scowled. Smithy and Tito...

Once his two friends quieted down their laughter a bit, the purple one continued his story. "And then when his family looked at me with these scared looks on their faces, I say, 'What is the matter? Wanna join him?' And I pulled out my pistol and I killed all of them." The other two started guffawing again. Cutlass rolled his eyes in disgust at them.

"Mindless idiots," he grumbled.

"CUTLASS, YOU WORTHLESS INGRATE, YOU'D BETTER NOT BE EAVESDROPPING ON US!" his father yelled. The young boy immediately shoved himself off the railing and began to speedwalk away. He faintly heard his father say, "Sorry about that. He can be a little nuisance sometimes. How about we talk more in my office? Just follow me..."

Cutlass hoped and prayed his father would someday die a horrible death as he continued to walk through the halls. As he got closer to the room he was looking for, he started hearing more voices. The first one was a bit goofy-sounding. The second one was more snake-like.

"Isn't Tito the greatest? He killed all of 'em! Wow!"

"Yeah, but he doesn't compare to Smithy. Now that's a man!"

"Hmm... You're right! Ha ha ha!"

"Ha ha ha!"

Cutlass came within reach of his designated door. It was being guarded by two of the house's many servants. Both of them were silver aliens, but, for one of them, it was kind of hard to tell. Cutlass could see his hands but, for reasons unknown, his entire head and neck was concealed beneath a purple hood of some sort. Only his eyes were visible. As for the other guard, only half of his face could be seen (not that there was much about it to be seen). A good portion of it was being obscured by a ridiculously huge, white mustache. The mustachioed one with the goofy voice was the first to speak once Cutlass drew near.

"Master Cutlass! Gonna try your hand in the Machine Made room again?"

"Either that, or I'm gonna cut off a few," Cutlass grumbled.

"What?" said the mustachioed one.

"Nothing, Cloaker. Just let me in."

"Okay!" Cloaker and the other one pushed the double doors open. Cutlass sulked into them and disappeared. Once the doors closed, Cloaker got the conversation to resume. "Say, Domino? What do you think he meant?"

"Who knows?" said the hooded man. "The boy's got problems..."

Inside, Cutlass paused before walking any further into the room. I've got problems, all right, he thought darkly. The Machine Made room, whatever it was, was gigantic. It was quite dark in there, but everything in there still appeared to be a cold, sterile, metal grey color. In the center of it all was a bunch of markings in a circle. Cutlass walked directly into the middle of it. The second he did that, the circle and the markings began to shine with a teal light. The light spread throughout the neatly shaped, neatly arranged cracks that spanned from the circle. Once they hit the two far walls, a total of twelve rectangles of teal light lit up. Not only did those rectangles make everything in the room a lighter shade of grey, they also caused twelve different doors to open up.

Soldiers started pouring out of them. They surrounded the young boy, each of them with their weapons drawn and their fists up. Looking to his left, Cutlass could see soldiers that looked as though they were of the same race as Smithy as well as his father. Others looked more like Tito. The remaining ones looked like humanoid frogs. Looking to his right, the young swordsman could see a whole horde of Shysters, Flunkies, and Drill Bits. These were two very different, yet very similar groups he was opposing. The consistent thing about them was that they were all completely grey, just like anything else in the room. Cutlass grimaced at all of them, drew his sword, and lunged at a few of them. Then the battle began...

The young boy put on an amazing display of skill and flexibility. Exactly where he was going to flip or turn next was constantly unpredictable. Using nothing but his hands, his feet, and his sword, he was able to do everything to these grey soldiers, including breaking their arms off and beheading them. They'd die twitching whenever that'd happen, but sparks would be flying from them rather than blood. The silver alien-like ones would fight using swords, the purples with laser pistols, and the frogs with their tongues. Even the Shysters, the Flunkies, and the Drill Bits were pulling out all the stops. In spite of this, none of them were anything of a match for Cutlass.

SHING! He chopped the head off of a Shyster. My father is the most selfish, most greedy in town. BDDZZT! He gouged the guts out of a purple alien. People assume I must not be much better than him, because I'm his spawn. WHAM! He kicked one of the frogs in the gut so hard, it split the amphibian in two. He and my mother married for money rather than love. A silver alien and a Flunky went flying towards him. He jumped onto their heads and separated them from their necks just by jumping off of them harshly enough. He landed and took out about ten Drill Bits in a row just by sweeping his sword through them. Neither of them could care less about me...

I hate my life. He hacked the arm off a purple alien. I hate my father. He chopped the legs off a frog. I hate the company he owns. He made shish kebob out of a Shyster's head and threw it into a charging mob of Drill Bits. I hate all the potions he makes. He punted a Flunky out of the way and went running full tilt towards a group of silvers. I hate all the people that buy them from him, because they don't know how to get strong otherwise.

I hate those two goons he's always hanging out with. A frog went down. Just looking at how chummy those morons are with each other makes me sick. A purple, a Shyster, a Flunky, and a Drill Bit went down. The only thing this room they gave us is good for is an escape.

I hate my life. Cutlass slashed about 20 more soldiers to pieces. The room was becoming cluttered with the pieces of their mechanical corpses. The boy stood at the center of it all, panting and feeling sweat roll down his temples. The flow of attacking enemies had slowed down significantly. He turned and saw that one was left: a silver one. He gripped his sword tightly and scowled at the final enemy with the utmost of hatred. But most of all... He began to run towards the silver alien. Above all else... He jumped high up into the air. I... He raised his sword. HATE HIM!!! He could see his father's face on that soldier's shoulders. This made it feel all the more gratifying once his sword cleaved the whole thing in half, right down the middle.

WHAM! The boy overdid it. He not only split his opponent in two; he also slammed out a big chunk of the stone floor that was beneath it. It didn't matter to him. He wrenched his blade out of the ground and sheathed it. The young fighter collapsed into a sitting position on the ground as he began to pant heavily. He was hot and sweaty. The exercise had set his whole body alight. However, it wasn't just due to the workout that it was burning...

He wallowed in his personal lava pit of resentment and loathing for a bit more. He was gritting his teeth at the thought of his own father when he started hearing the voice of none other than that man himself. The boy's ears perked up. He wondered where the source of that voice could possibly be. Once his eyes fell in front of him, he found it: it was the hole in the ground he had just made. He marveled for a second about how he had done more to it than he thought. Then he crawled up to the thing to have a look.

It wasn't a particularly big hole. The young silver alien could only make out the tiniest fragment of light peaking out of it. Most of it, after all, was little more than a missing chunk from the ground. Still, Cutlass could hear voices coming from it. He leaned his ear against it and strained the best he could to find out what they were saying.

"Well?" his father said. "How does it taste?"

"Like blueberries," said Tito.

"With a touch of gasoline," Smithy added.

Cutthroat chuckled. "Regardless, I guarantee you this potion will make you immortal. As long as you have it, you won't die. You won't even get hurt! It's very expensive, though, and I don't normally show it to people (let alone let them drink it), but I feel I can make the exception with you guys. You do, after all, have a worthy cause."

Tito laughed. "What could be more worthy than conquering the universe?"

"Just remember," Cutthroat continued, "this is a PACT. You guys bring me back the ingredients, and I can make newer, more advanced potions. I don't want your planet-conquering to go wrong... and I don't want my company to fail."

Tito scoffed. "Is that doubt in your mind?"

"Cutthroat, my boy," Smithy said in his gruff voice, "you are talking to Titotal Gonnic and Sledge Smithy. We are the most fearsome beings in the galaxy. Doubting us isn't even physically possible."

"Of course," Cutthroat replied. "Of course, it isn't..."

Cutlass pulled his ear away from the hole. He didn't understand everything he had just heard. All he could really make out was that three of his least favorite people had probably just become three of the galaxy's worst enemies. The boy wondered what the point in all this was. He wondered what it was about planet-conquering that could get such a three-some of people so interested. He sighed and shook his head, thinking about how he really had not been in any need of one more good reason to hate them.

A while later, he got off the ground, brushed himself off, and began to walk through the pile of dead mechanical enemies strewn about the floor. Once he walked out the doors, he greeted Cloaker and Domino and began journeying towards his room. Unfortunately, the worst possible delay prevented him from doing so. After turning around one corner, he accidentally ran right into the chest of his father. He stood back and looked at his stern face.

"You," he growled. "You were eavesdropping, weren't you?" The boy noticed how he had a chunk of grey rock clutched tightly in one hand. His knuckles were white.

"I-"

The adult Cutlass couldn't remember much else. The grim session between him and his father had been interrupted by a young girl rubbing his shoulders.

"Come on, Cutlass, it's time to get up!" Tessa insisted.

Cutlass began to push himself off the bed. Tessa took her hands off of him as he let the sheets slide off his body. He started sitting on the bed and running a hand through his long, messy hair as sunlight from the nearby window bore down on him.

"Meet us in the kitchen, okay?" the girl told him. Cutlass just nodded. His eyes were still crusty with yellow stuff. "Okay then!"

The young female ran off. Cutlass was by himself. He took his time to stand up and stretch. After getting the feeling back in his arms and his back, he began to walk out of the room while digging his fingers into his eyes. Interesting night...

Back in Silicon, the three of Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif were back on the path leading outside of the place. They just had to wait on one more person.

"Where is that boy?!" Leif asked. "Surely, if there's anyone who would be in a rush to reach Belome Rock, it would be him!"

"Perhaps that woman he's with is to blame?" White Rose suggested. About half a minute later, their latest member finally showed up. He trotted up to his three party members.

"Sorry, guys!" Davey said. "She uh... she made me a pie."

"What flavor?" Xoshi asked.

"Tomato."

Xoshi stuck his tongue out. Leif said, "How repulsive."

"Hey, shut up," Davey said. "Tomatoes are fruits, too, you know."

"Yes, well," White Rose chimed in, "talk of pies can come at a later time. Right now, we must move onward to Belome Rock."

"Right!" Davey chirped. With that, the reformed quartet began to walk away from Silicon once more, another exotic adventure being but a few hours away. During the walk, Xoshi looked at the young Davey and pictured him with the adult woman he had just met a little while ago. It seemed kind of odd to him. Then again, he had been spending quite some time with Pixel as of late, and their races weren't even that similar. He remembered her smiling and waving to him before he left again.

The brown Yoshi gave a small sigh. I guess it's not just justice we're fighting for anymore...

"You have done so much for us," Jean said. "Please... Take care."

The seven of Big Guy, Laser Snifit, Wario, Cutlass, Waluigi, Tessa, and Annabyss had gotten their things together. They had made their ways to the part of the bridge leading to the other side of the river, and were seen off by the mayor and a bunch of other Steens that had become big fans of them. They all waved to each other as they parted ways. It was finally time for Annabyss and Co. to get their journey to Uaurpe back on track.

The sun illuminated the cloudless sky, making it one massive canvass of solid blue. Beneath it was a dirt path in the middle of two forests of fluffy, green trees. It was a colorful day, but Cutlass doubted that was the only thing within five feet of him that was colorful. He looked at the gigantic Big Guy, the small but equally strange-looking Laser Snifit, the extremely dubious Kamenstein Bros., the purple-haired little girl he had shared a room with, and, of course, the ever so enigmatic Annabyss. The silver alien wondered how such a group could help him recover his memory. He also wondered what ordeal was lying in wait for them next.

Somehow, he thought, I just don't think getting to Uaurpe will be that easy...

In the Beanbean Kingdom, there was a trail of destruction. A path of assorted trees in the woods had each been flattened and crushed into the ground as though trampled upon. It led to an opening. It had a rock, a pile of black ashes where a fire once was, and two people. They were standing in front of an ovular mound of dirt covered in white and pink flowers. The one with dark silver hair had one hand over his forehead as though he had just done something unbelievably insolent. The other one was wiping moisture from his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Pixidus," Base said quietly. Acid reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well," he said, "I... I guess we should just go back now."

"Y-Yeah..." Acid was starting to turn away, but Base remained staring at the flowers. "Well," he whispered, "so long, Pixidus..." The Pixie didn't budge. He wouldn't let the collection of petals and symbolism leave his sight. Acid had to walk up to him, put an arm around his shoulder, and slowly lead him away. It took a brutally long time, but they were eventually both gone. Everything was eerily silent. It seemed even the trees and the blades of grass themselves could feel the loss. The mission in the Beanbean Kingdom had ended in failure.

The river keeps on flowing
It gives no ear to me
Through darkness and day
Through death and decay
I will wait for you...

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