BJ
"The scanner says Lomond is somewhere on the other side of that mountain," Tracy observed.
We looked at the mountain. Although it might not necessarily have been a mountain, it was tall, and menacing; and it was detached from the rocks that surround the Lost Underworld.
Ness sighed. He took his hat off.
"It'll take a few hours. And the Lost Underworld used to be wild, and I don't know if that's changed," he finally said. "I suggest we keep close together. We don't know what kind of enemies are here now."
"What kind of enemies were here when you traveled here, then, Ness?" I wondered.
"Terrible lizards," Paula answered.
"Dinosaurs?" I said, disbelieving.
"Yes, dinosaurs." Ness began to explain. "Dinosaurs evolved into what they were before we ourselves evolved into present-day Homo sapiens. Our textbooks have claimed that the dinosaurs were killed when a large meteorite -- or an asteroid, for that matter -- crashed. They claimed that the dinosaurs were completely wiped out. It seems that they were wrong. Somehow, perhaps through volcanic eruptions, some species of dinosaurs were able to survive and escaped to the Lost Underworld. Or maybe two different sets of dinosaurs involved. Really, there's no way to prove it; in fact, we're better off doing nothing but accepting the fact that dinosaurs still live down here."
Something that resembled an elephant's trumpeting blasted our eardrums. I turned in the direction of the trumpeting.
"Was that an elephant?" Paula asked.
"If it were in our world, and not in the Lost Underworld, yes," I replied morosely.
"How is that possible?" Tracy demanded.
"Simple. It's not an elephant: it's a mastodon."
The other three turned in the direction I was facing. The mastodon turned towards us. Its eyes narrowed, possibly a sign of anger, possibly not. The bull mastodon -- I'm saying this because the tusks were quite long, and I couldn't see a cow mastodon having such long tusks, even though I'd never seen any living mastodon before -- raised his trunk. He trumpeted again, lowered his head, and began to rumble towards us.
"PSI Rockin Omega!" Ness cried. The psychedelic light show dazzled us, but didn't seem to faze the mastodon at all. He just kept on running.
"PSI Fire Omega!" Paula exclaimed, the fire bursting from her fingers. The mastodon roared, this PSI attack finally getting to him. He stopped running towards us, I guess collapsing from the flames.
What a goofy mastodon, I thought, punching my Crystal-shard. But nothing happened. Again. Why can I only use my Crystal-shard at certain times?
"Stop it!" Tracy cried. "You're hurting the mastodon." She pulled out her Crystal-shard and aimed it at the mastodon. "Hopefully, this can help him."
Her Crystal-shard began to glow. Hers. Not mine. Why? A red beam shot out from the Crystal-shard and enveloped the mastodon. When the beam faded, the mastodon was effectively healed. But his hair was a little singed.
The mastodon rose up. He looked at us, blinked his eyes, trumpeted, and ran off.
"I think that we should get moving before that mastodon gets his herd," Tracy noted. "If he has one, that is."
"There's a Tenda Village between here and where the scanner says Lomond is," Paula noted. "It's completely caged off from the rest of the Lost Underworld, although the Tenda call the area outside their village 'The Cage'." We decided to take Paula's unsaid advice, and began to walk towards that Village.

"That's good," Ness said. "The gate door hasn't been locked." He pushed the door open, and motioned for us to enter. "These Tenda seem to be very commercial. They charge fees for their inn, for their shop, and for their ATM services. Compare that with the above ground Tenda, who charge Horns of Life for their shop, have no ATM services, and run a free -- albeit no-frills -- inn."
"What escapes me is the fact that only one of them seemed to have any real education in commerce," Paula observed.
"Which one was that?" Tracy wondered.
"That's Ay-Go Stikke," Ness answered. "He claimed to be 'a world-wise Tenda who studied in a country that is known as an economic superpower'. We supposed that he meant Eagleland, but we had no real proof."
A Tenda appeared. "You're looking for Ay-Go?" he asked.
"No. Did something happen to him?" I inquired.
"Well, he did return to the Overworld to study for something called a 'bee-paw-lee-sigh' so he could organise an elected government when he returns here."
"A B.PoliSci?" Ness pressed.
"That's it! Bee Paw Lee Sigh." The four of us groaned. The Tenda ignored us, perhaps due to naïveté.
"Did you happen to see something fall in that direction?" Paula asked, pointing in the direction where the scanner had said we would find Lomond.
The Tenda shook his head. "I'm sorry. Nothing has fallen in that direction for the last few days."
"Have you seen anything fall anywhere in the last few days?" Tracy pressed.
The Tenda squeaked. "Sorry. I'm not at liberty to discuss that. Talk to The Boss." Panicking, he scurried off.
"Who's The Boss?" I wondered.
"The Boss is the equivalent of the Tenda's King, it seems," Paula explained. "I wonder if Ay-Go left because he doesn't like the way The Boss comports himself."
I felt a pricking in my back and turned around. A Tenda was there, holding a pike.
"The Boss has requested a presence with you," the Tenda said.
"Tell him we'll talk to him later," Paula shot back, turning to head out the gate. But two more Tenda closed the gate doors before Paula could get through.
"When The Boss requests, what he requests is granted," the Tenda poking her pike into Tracy said.
Five more Tenda appeared, moving behind us. The Tenda who had piked us stood in front of us, and two more appeared from each side to ensure we didn't escape that way. They led us through the village to a larger hut.
The Boss' Hut.

Ñrutas
"Robe!" I exclaimed. It was Robe. But why wasn't he attacking?
"Please... help me," he moaned. "I don't want to fight for Giogas any more. I want to be me... I want to be--" He quieted.
"You want to be whom?" Tony pressed.
Robe collapsed. He pounded his fists on the ground.
Picky extended a hand out. "We'll help you. All you have to do is take your hood off. Here, let me help you."
"No... I don't need that. I need something else." "What?" Picky wondered. "Just let me help you remove your hood." He reached over. Robe coughed a few times, then growled and struck out at Picky.
"No!" He stood up and pushed Picky away, who landed on his butt. "I want the Crystal-shards. I don't want my hood taken off. I want the Crystal-shards."
Dusty stood up. "I won't let you do that."
"Would you say that if I told you that I could harm your dear Julia?" Robe asked. Dusty quieted down.
Tony fired off a Bottle rocket. "Eat bottle rocket, you Giogas-serving scum!" he laughed.
"I'm sorry. The number you have called has recently been disconnected. PSI Reflection Alpha," Robe said, giggling, as he brought his staff towards us. The Bottle rocket glowed, then flew back towards Tony.
"I'll try a redirection of my own." Dusty pulled out a card. "Astral Strings!" he cried, the card charring.
He moved his hands about, and white strings flew from the sky, pulling the bottle rocket up, up, up, where it exploded.
"That was you, too?" Tony demanded, reflecting. Boing.
"Fight now, Tony; we'll talk later," Dusty muttered, pulling out another card.
"PSI Delta Breaker Alpha!" Picky cried. As the water burst from somewhere before him, he wondered out loud, "How'd I do that?"
"PSI Reflection Alpha," Robe muttered. "Honestly, you four are a pathetic bunch."
Picky punched his Crystal-shard towards Robe. It began to glow, and a blue beam shot from it, blasting Robe backwards.
"Do you give up yet, ...Robe?" Dusty asked, thrusting a card towards him.
Robe struggled up. "No, I don't give up." He brandished his staff. "Take your best shot."
"Be careful, Dusty!" Tony warned. "He can absorb the powers with that staff and send them back at you!"
"Thanks for the warning, Tony," Dusty said, "but I can take care of myself. Robe, you think you're invincible, and that no one can stop you?"
"Neither PSI nor physical attack can stop me," Robe said.
"That's too bad. My tarot cards rely on neither of those powers. And I happen to have one card that can stop you fast."
"I'm sure you're deluding yourself," Robe replied. "All things are grounded in either the psychic or the physical. Your cards' powers must be grounded in the psychic."
"Let's try out this hypothesis of yours." Dusty smiled demonically. "Chained Will!"