Hawkland International Airport was a large, bustling place. People milled about, heading for their flights or arriving off of them. Shops lined the walls, making the place look a lot like a shopping mall.
Zain looked up as they walked under a large skylight in the ceiling. By now, any trace of the forbidding black clouds that had covered Troisemburg until recently was gone, leaving a clear blue sky. Zain still didn't understand why the rain had suddenly stopped the way it had, right after they had acquired the second part of the melody; he suspected that the Tranquil Zone had something to do with it, but he couldn't be sure. It didn't matter, anyway. All that mattered was the warm, welcoming sunlight shining down on him, and that clear blue sky...
His mouth curved upward in a smile. That blue sky reminds me of Sasha's eyes...
Zain's attention plummeted back to earth as he walked right into Guy, who had stopped in front of him. He blinked and shook his head, clearing away the reverie.
Guy turned around. "Are you well, Zain?" he asked. "You should pay more attention to where you are going."
Zain threw Guy a lopsided grin. "Sorry, Guy," he said. "I wasn't looking where I was going." He pointed up at the skylight. "The sky looks so beautiful now that those clouds are gone."
Guy looked up, adjusting his glasses. "I agree," he replied. "It is quite a sight, especially when you have not seen it for some time. It is also reassuring that we may now travel outdoors without being saturated by rainwater."
Zain nodded, and paused a moment, looking up as well. The warm sunlight reminded him of the morning after that fateful night when he had learned of his destiny, the morning on which he had set out on his journey. "You know, this is the 6th day since I set out on this quest," he said, partially to himself. "It's getting later in the afternoon now, so pretty soon it'll be the 7th day." He looked at Guy. "In less than a week, I've made four good friends."
Guy smiled and was about to reply when Kato stepped up to them, looking uneasy. "Zain," he said, "Sasha and Karen have run off to browse the shops."
Upon hearing this, Zain almost laughed. Here they were trying to save the world from an alien menace, and two of the Chosen Eight had decided to go shopping.
"I do not agree with their timing," Guy commented.
Zain shrugged. "I guess even aspiring heroes have to have a little fun now and then," he admitted. He adjusted his broken goggles. "We might as well make the most of it, you two. Come on, why don't us guys go get something to eat?"

Later on, the three of them were sitting at a table in the airport's food court, and Zain and Guy were enjoying a meal of hamburgers and pizza.
"Airport burgers are pretty good," Zain declared, polishing one off.
"And the quality of the pizza is commendable," Guy added, taking another slice.
Zain looked over at Kato, who simply sat there saying nothing. "Come on, Kato, you haven't had anything yet. We bought enough for three, eat some!"
Uneasily, Kato reached over and picked up a hamburger. "I will try one," he said.
Slowly, he lifted the burger to his mouth and took a bite. Abruptly, his face contorted into a grimace of disgust. "It tastes vile!"
"How can you say that?" Zain demanded. "Burgers are the best food there is!"
"I am accustomed to eating a bowl of rice gruel every morning," Kato replied. "I don't normally consume meat."
"It is no wonder," Guy remarked. "You have lived in the East all your life. It is natural that Western food would not agree with you."
Kato nodded in agreement. "This is true. However, I haven't had much to eat lately, and I would wager that rice gruel is not a common food item in Hawkland. I cannot be picky about what I eat; though I won't enjoy it, I'll eat this." He took another bite.
"I hope it doesn't make you sick," said Zain, starting to be concerned.
Just then, Sasha and Karen came up to them. "There you three are," said Karen. "We've been looking for you for a while. Why did you have to run off to the food court like that?"
Guy put down his slice of pizza. "You should have thought of that before the two of YOU 'ran off' to the stores. We merely gave you time to browse."
Sasha hung her head slightly. "I'm sorry we ran off," she apologized. "It's just that this place is so big, and there are so many stores. Last time I was here, I didn't really get to look around, and Karen's never been shopping before."
Zain smiled at her. "Don't worry about it," he assured her. "Here, why don't you and Karen have some of this food before we go get our tickets? I don't think Kato's going to eat all of his part."
"You're right," Kato agreed, looking a little pale. "I'm not." He forced another bite of hamburger.

After the meal, the five of them finally went to the ticket booth. "Hi," said Zain to the ticket seller. "I'm Zain Maximillian. I was told that tickets would be ready for us."
The ticket seller nodded. "Yes, 5 tickets have already been purchased for you and your party," she said, handing them to Zain. "The next flight to Nordfour International Airport leaves at 7:00 PM."
Zain accepted the tickets. "Thank you."
He turned and distributed the tickets to his friends. "Thanks to Sasha's dad, we'll be in Quattro City in no time," he said, feeling in high spirits.
"The flight will leave at 7:00 PM," said Guy, repeating what the ticket seller had told them. "It is 5:12 at the present."
Karen folded her arms. "So we have to wait for at least an hour and a half."
"It looks that way," said Zain. "You and Sasha can go look at the stores some more, if you want. We'll all meet up at the gate at 6:45."
Karen nodded, her black eyes lighting up. "Yeah, I'll go and do that. See you later!" She turned and walked away, heading back for the stores.
Zain turned to Sasha. "Are you going too, Sasha?"
Sasha shook her head. "Not this time, I already looked at everything I wanted to before." She paused a moment. "Can I borrow your Receiver Phone? I haven't talked to my mother since I came to Hawkland, and I'd like to call her."
"Sure, of course you can have it." Zain got the phone out and handed it to her.
"Thank you, Zain," said Sasha, smiling at him. "I won't take long."
"Take as long as you need," replied Zain. "It doesn't cost anything to make calls with the Receiver Phone."
Sasha nodded and walked a short distance away for privacy. Guy put his hand on his chin, thinking. "I wonder how that telephone accomplishes that?"
Zain and Kato turned to him. "What?"
"That mobile telephone can make calls without costing money," Guy mused. "I wonder how it accomplishes that? Perhaps it broadcasts pirate signals, or hacks into cellular phone networks."
"I don't know how it does that," said Zain. "I don't think the Receiver Phone was originally built to MAKE calls. If you look at the keypad and display screen, it's easy to see that they were added in later."
Kato shrugged. "Guy's suggestions do not sound very... legal," he said. "Maybe we are better off not knowing how that phone works."
"I will change the subject, then," said Guy. "I have formulated a theory as to why the rain ceased, after we visited the Tranquil Zone. Would either of you be interested in hearing it?"
"Sure," said Zain. "I've been wondering about that."
"Well," explained Guy, "it was easy to see that the rain over Troisemburg was not a normal occurrence. With all of the strange happenings in the world lately, I would wager that the one known as 'Giaguo' was somehow responsible for it. I also theorize that somehow gaining the melody of the Tranquil Zone somehow broke the aliens' hold over Troisemburg, and that they have lost their ability to control the weather."
"There is no evidence of that," remarked Kato, "but it IS a compelling theory. It WOULD explain some things."
"Yeah," Zain agreed. "Maybe the Tranquil Zone made the surrounding area tranquil and peaceful." He looked up through the skylight again. "It sure LOOKS peaceful."
Just then, Sasha came back to them. She returned the phone to Zain. "Thank you, Zain," she said gratefully. "Mom was glad to hear from me."
"It's no problem," Zain assured her. "You can borrow the phone whenever you want." He turned to Guy and Kato. "So, what shall we do until 6:45?"
Guy reached inside his pocket, gripping his Equalizer gun. "I have to disassemble all of my weapon projects, to make them look innocuous so that I may take them on the airplane," he said. "I will go and find a place to do this; I will meet up with you at the gate, at 6:45."
Zain nodded. "See you later, Guy." Guy nodded back and walked away.
After he had gone, Zain turned back and looked at Sasha and Kato. "Looks like it's just the three of us now," he said. "Why don't we go back to the food court and get some more hamburgers?"
"MORE hamburgers?" Kato repeated incredulously. "You just ate four of those vile things not even fifteen minutes ago! Not to mention that terrible pizza!"
Zain shrugged. "What can I say? I eat a lot."
Kato's eyes narrowed. "Apparently."
"Besides," Zain continued, "I want to buy some for traveling food, when we're out in the middle of the forest again, or someplace like that."
"I suppose that is a good idea," Kato allowed.
Zain smiled. "So come on, let's get over there before we run out of time. I can't wait to bite into another juicy burger, with some cheese, ketchup, and mustard... Oh, and mayo, too."
Kato clutched his stomach. "Zain, could you stop talking about--"
Zain wasn't paying attention; he was too busy envisioning his perfect hamburger. "I could eat a truckload of those. Especially the ones from the restaurants in this airport. The hamburger patties in this place are 100% beef."
That did it. Kato covered his mouth with both of his hands and ran away, retching.
Sasha watched him leave. "Is there something wrong with him?" she asked.
Zain turned, jarred from his reverie. "Oh... Oops." He looked at Sasha. "Kato doesn't like Western food. I guess I was a bit too descriptive for his tastes." He looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Sasha. I guess my appetite gets a little out of hand sometimes."
Sasha laughed. "I don't mind, Zain. I think your appetite is funny."
He looked up at her and smiled. "I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted by that."
She laughed again. "Well, in any case, all your talk about hamburgers made me hungry," she said. "Let's go and get some."
Zain's green eyes lit up. "That's a fantastic idea," he agreed.
They turned and started walking toward the food court. "And while we eat," said Sasha, "I'll tell you about how my brother Shiloh froze our swimming pool yesterday, trapping my sister Shyla inside. I just heard about it on the phone; Mom grounded him for a month."

Finally 6:45 PM came around, and they regrouped. Zain and Sasha arrived at the gate carrying bags of hamburgers. Guy returned as well, having disassembled his weapons to the point where their components appeared to be no more than miscellaneous junk. Karen came back, having perused every store in the airport. Finally, Kato showed up, showing no sign of having been sick earlier.
Their timing couldn't have been better; as they all arrived, a voice sounded over the intercom. "Flight 235, bound for Nordfour International Airport, is now boarding."
"That's our flight," said Zain. "Let's get on it." The others nodded in agreement.
At the metal detectors, they removed all of their metal objects and passed them through the x-ray. Guy had done a good job of taking his weapons apart; no one even suspected what they really were.
Kato stepped through the metal detector, and alarms blared out instantly. A security guard came up and stopped him. "Please remove all metal objects you are wearing or carrying," he ordered.
Eyes narrowing, Kato held up his arm. "I am the Crown Prince of Dalaam," he said. "These items, the Bracer of Kings and the Diadem of Kings, were worn by Emperor Poo himself. The only way that you will get me to part with them is by killing me."
"You mean, Poo as in one of the four who defeated Giygas...?" Flustered, the security guard stepped aside. "M-Move along."
Kato folded his arms and rejoined the group, looking satisfied. They continued toward the gate.
As they walked, Zain leaned over and whispered in Kato's ear. "You know, if they had found out that you're carrying a sword under your cloak, you probably wouldn't have gotten through, Crown Prince or not."
Kato smiled. "Then it is good that they did not figure it out," he remarked. "The Sword of Kings was entrusted to me by my master in Dalaam. I will not be parted from it under any circumstances."
Just then, they reached the gate, along with all of the other people who were traveling to Quattro City. There were windows there, and Zain looked outside. He saw the airplane they would be flying in; it was a smaller one than most, since they weren't going across the ocean.
As Zain looked at the airplane, he suddenly felt overcome by a great dread. Dad died in one of these...
Without thinking, Zain reached up and grasped the broken goggles around his head, the only remaining part of Lawrence Maximillian.
Sasha saw him. "Zain, is everything okay?" she asked.
Zain forced a smile. "Yeah, everything's fine," he replied.
But as they entered the tube that led to the airplane, Zain knew that everything was NOT fine. He was afraid.

Meanwhile...

Jeff put down his blowtorch. "It's finally finished," he declared.
With the help of Kyla and her father, the Sky Runner was now in perfect working order.
Jeff turned to his two colleagues and laughed. "You know, I've been trying to rebuild this for the last 30 years, and we just completed it in two days."
Kyla smiled and put away her tools. "When we were rebuilding it, I found a problem in the landing sequence," she pointed out. "I did some calculations, and I figured out that because of the error, the Sky Runner would crash instead of land properly about nine times out of ten." She paused for a moment. "I fixed the error, so there won't be any problems from now on."
Taken aback, Jeff and Apple Man looked at each other. They still recalled the times when the Sky Runner had crashed when they had used it 30 years ago, and Jeff remembered those times firsthand. "That's really something, Kyla," said Jeff, extremely impressed. "My own father was never able to fix that error, and he's the one who built the thing!"
Kyla stared at them blankly. "You mean you already knew about the error?" she asked.
Jeff nodded. "I 'experienced' that error," he said. "Twice."
At Kyla's shocked expression, Apple Man explained further. "Jeff used the Sky Runner to travel from here to Threed in Eagleland, in order to save Ness and Paula, who had been captured by zombies," he said. "When he arrived in Threed and tried to land, the Sky Runner crashed into a graveyard instead."
Jeff grinned. "Later on, we went back to Threed, and I managed to fix it," he said. "We used it to come back here, and my father made some repairs on it so that we could use it to go to Summers. He also THOUGHT that he fixed the crash error, but when we got to Summers, the Sky Runner fell to the beach and exploded."
Apple Man mirrored Jeff's grin, swelling with pride for his daughter. "Kyla, you're a genius," he praised.
Kyla's leaf-green eyes looked away, and she blushed slightly. "It... It wasn't that much," she said modestly.
Jeff shook his head. "Don't say that," he admonished. "You should be proud of your accomplishments."
Just then, footsteps came from the stairwell that led to the lab's small second floor. The three turned to face the newcomer.

Deckard Petersen had been staying there for the past two days. It had been a hard journey to reach the lab, and he had had to fight his way past Madness creatures more than a few times, but he had eventually made it.
He had finally found the legendary Dr. Andonuts, one of the four heroes who had defeated Giygas. After Deckard had explained the situation to Jeff, the scientist had agreed to help him. However, due to the current state of the lab, Jeff was not able to help much yet.
Jeff wasn't certain if he could find where Lexa had been taken, but he had promised to try. First, however, the scanning equipment had to be repaired, so that they could try to locate her.
So for the past two days, Deckard had stayed at the lab, training upstairs, waiting for Jeff, Apple Man, and Kyla to fix the lab's scanning equipment. Although he was concerned for Lexa's welfare, Deckard had learned patience long ago, and if Jeff could help him, then he could afford to wait.

"Good evening, Dr. Andonuts," said Deckard. "I see you finished that flying vehicle."
"Yes, it's finished," Jeff replied. "We'll be starting on the scanning equipment next. Once that's done, we'll try and search for your friend."
"I'm glad," said Deckard, his spirits lifting a bit. "Thank you for helping me, Dr. Andonuts; I really appreciate it."
Jeff smiled. "It's no trouble, Deckard. I understand what you must be going through. 30 years ago, my father and my best friend Tony were abducted by Giygas' minions." He gestured at Apple Man. "So was Kyla's father."
Apple Man looked away. "Jeff, I don't like to remember that time," he said uneasily. "It's too painful."
Jeff winced. "Oh, sorry, Apple Man," he apologized. "I forgot about that." He turned back to Deckard. "My point, Deckard, is that we've all been separated from people we care about. I promise that I'll do everything in my power to help you find Lexa."
"So will I," Apple Man added.
"I will, too," said Kyla. "It might not be under the same circumstances, but I was also separated from someone I care about." She thought of Guy, and looked at the floor. "It hurts..."
The room was silent for a moment, and then Apple Man spoke again. "Jeff, once we repair the scanning equipment, we might also be able to find some of the Sanctuaries for Zain."
Jeff looked at him. "That's true," he agreed. "My father's scanning equipment was--IS--very sophisticated. Once we get it working again, it should be a great help."
His voice trailed off, and he looked over at the telephone, where it sat on a table. "I haven't heard from Zain in a while," he said. "He's never called here."
"Why don't you call him, like you did that one time?" asked Kyla.
"I've thought about it several times," Jeff admitted. "But I don't want to seem like I'm sticking my nose in his affairs. This is his mission, his destiny... Him and the rest of the Chosen Eight, whoever the others may be. My mission ended 30 years ago; my destiny was fulfilled."
He adjusted his glasses, feeling uneasy. "Back when I set Zain on his path, I had planned on joining him... On fighting for our world once again, like I did 30 years ago. But when we encountered that Starman Junior X... I was barely able to harm it at all, while Zain tore it to shreds. And not only was the Starman Junior X after ME, making me a liability to Zain; I also realized that I don't belong with Zain, that I'd only hold him back. This isn't my time anymore."
"Maybe not," said Apple Man. "Maybe you're not meant to fight alongside them. But we have to do everything we can to help them. We have to make sure that the events foretold in the Apple of Enlightenment come to pass."
Jeff slowly nodded. "You're right," he agreed. He looked at the phone again. "I'll give Zain a call tomorrow," he decided. "In the meantime, let's get started on that scanning equipment."

To be continued...