Imbue, Chapter 5: History Unmasked
Imbue, Chapter 5: History Unmasked


As the boat left port, Skulryk looked out over the open seas. A haiku came to mind, although he couldn't remember where he heard it.

Skulryk's Haiku
Riding on the seas
So calm and yet forboding
Window to the soul


Captain Poo stepped up beside him. "You ok? You haven't moved since we got out on the ocean."
Skulryk suddenly snapped back to reality. "Oh, sorry... I was just thinking."
"Thinking? Pretty deep thoughts to keep you busy for hours..."
Narcy, overhearing Captain Poo, snapped "You couldn't think for minutes, you blockhead!"
Captain Poo looked behind him, watching Narcy walk through with a sour look on her face. Once Narcy was gone, he sighed.
Skulryk ignored Narcy, and went on. "I've lived a very simple life before... now I get sucked out into the open world and experience all this adventure... It's overwhelming, yet I don't feel overwhelmed at all... I think I'm beginning to like adventure, actually."
Captain Poo laughed. "I think everyone has a longing for adventure, if they know it or not. That's why I became a pirate... just for adventure."
Skulryk sighed, looked at the waves once more, and said "I think I'll go belowdeck." Captain Poo decided to stay on top.
Below deck, the rocking motion of the waves put Skulryk to sleep. In his sleep, he had a dream...

He was in a complete void. Nothing and everything surrounded him.
A voice called out: Skulryk... you've come very far, yet have much to learn. You've made some good friends. You must depend on these friends to awaken your true power...
"My true power?" Skulryk spoke into the void. "What do you mean? What are my powers?"
Skulryk felt himself leaving the void. He didn't know how, but he could simply feel it. The voice called out as he left the void. "You have psychic powers... Use them w......."
As Skulryk fell out of his bed, he awoke to the ship rocking violently, and a panic in the air.

Mike was below, examining the ship. He was in the engine room. "This is some pretty good work. It's amazing how one person could build all of this by himself. It's really too bad that Poo is a pirate. He would have made a good sailor. ... Wait, he is a sailor. Well, a sailor for the military." He continued to look around when he noticed that the ship was rocking much more than it should have been. "Hmm, we must have hit some bad weather and some rough water."
After saying that, Mike noticed that an eerie creaking was coming from the hull of the ship. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the integrity of the hull was diminishing every second. "The only way that that can happen to a bulkhead is if... something were pushing on it." Mike's eyes widened once he observed that. He ran for the ladder. Before climbing up, he closed the door to the engine room. He heard a gigantic crash and the sound of water flooding a compartment. "This is bad." He scrambled topside, checking the status of everybody else. They were already in action, rigging sails and setting a course to the nearest island.
"What in the world is going on?!" Poo fumed.
"Poo, this wasn't due to shoddy craftsmanship, I can tell you that much. We were hit by something. Set a course to that island." He pointed to the northeast.
"Already done. Why don't you-" Poo began to say something but cut off. Mike had begun rigging lines and securing equipment. "Nevermind." Poo looked over the side of the ship and noticed a dark figure swimming around. "This can't be... another... Kraken?" There was a long silence and the figure swam away.
"What did you see?" Mike asked. Poo shook his head and said that he didn't see a thing. "Well, alright." Luna helped tie off a knot. The ship slowed down considerably and began drifting towards the island. Dan looked around and noted that nothing was happening, so he sat down. Skulryk came topside as well and assessed the situation for himself.

"What was that?" Cyan cried.
"No idea... but I know it's not good," Anthadd replied.
They hurried up, out of the below-deck dining room.

"Kraken!" Anthadd exclaimed.
Yep... only here, Cyan thought.
"Ke Bao Dragon Armour Infuse!"
"Honour Armour Energise!"
"Graaaaaaaahr!" Another Kraken arose!

"What's happening?" Captain Poo exclaimed. "I thought there was only one Kraken that could exist at a time!"
"You thought wrong," Narcy glibly shot back.
"Stop arguing!" Mike yelled.
"Yes, stop!" Luna offered.

More Kraken had appeared.
Everyone had converged on the side covered least by the Kraken.
"What can we do... FOB?!" Tony asked frantically.
"Fight!" Charles tried fisting his reptilian hands, but failed miserably.

Then there came a rumbling.
"That's not good... FOB!"
"It's below us!" Skulryk exclaimed.
"No!" Venus cried. "I just can't die! I'm too young and beautiful!"
I thought you were at least 35, Narcy muttered in her thoughts.

CRASH!
Yet another Kraken appeared... tearing through the ship!
"76% charged... please let this work!" Anthadd cried, firing his Ditel.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaahrrrrrrr!" the Kraken all roared, having lost their lunch. But the plate was still edible...

Jeff, his father - Dr. Andonuts, and the Apple Kid had all retired to observe the hair carefully. By the next morning, they had summed up the results they had reached.
"Well," began Dr. Andonuts in the presentation to the others, "we studied the energy of the hair very carefully. From our readings, we determined that part of the energy might have been partially psychic, but that was a small factor."
"Instead, it was a more pure form of energy," said Apple Kid. "By doing further observations, we found that the hair possessed living cells." The audience became appropriately intrigued by this. "It seems to have such a strong life energy, which it generates itself, that the energy was actually radiating from it."
Jeff, finishing the summation, added, "For this much life to be in hair separated from the body, it would had to have been added directly."
Rusty nodded. "Hmm, seems ther're some other pretty good scientists out there!" The three present scientists were taken aback, and colored red slightly.
"The energy was obviously strong enough to dispel Paula's PSI," continued Jeff. "But the energy had to have been artificially added. However, most scientists would have published information about such an accomplishment."
Dr. Andonuts dropped his head. "We may have on our hands a rogue scientist. And worst of all, we have no idea who it might be."
"Well, what other scientists d'ya know?" asked Rusty.
Everyone thought about the question. "Well, there is a reclusive scientist called Anthadd.... but we don't have enough information on him to judge him as such," stated Dr. Andonuts.
"There's also the Orange Kid," mumbled Apple Kid. "However, he never seemed to get much accomplished, so I can't imagine him managing something like this."
"So, how can we found out more? And what do the Topolla Theater and Winters have to do with it?" asked Paula, hoping that these had been discussed as well.
"We've concluded that a base must be at Winters, due to the strange occurances there," responded Jeff. "Regretfully, we don't know if we can find a way in. The field around there is probably a purer form of energy than we can deal with.... due to the fact that we ruled out the other possibilites." He looked at Paula and Tsurami, and they nodded.
"We have decided that for now, we should do research on the Topolla," finished Apple Kid. "We propose heading back to Fourside. We will all go and investigate."
"I've been working on this teleportation device," spoke Dr. Andonuts. He got out a strange structure. "I assure you that it is perfectly safe. By copying the molecular structures of an entire space that we stand in, and placing the copy in Fourside, we will appear there. You can be certain our spirits will follow."
"Everyone, stand here," Apple Kid directed, indicating the precise area. "Don't stand too close to each other." Paula and Tsurami got visibly nervous at this remark. They were all standing inside the space in a few moments, though, and the device was activated by a Mr. Saturn.

The group noticed that they were in the city of Fourside.
"Ah..... my body isn't twisting horribly into a new shape 'cause of integrated DNA. That's good," said Tsurami. Paula, Jeff, and Rusty just stared at him unappreciatively. "Sorry."
"Let's get going," commanded Apple Kid. Heading towards the Fourside Memorial Library, the group readied themselves for as much research as the lot of them could muster. The library would be only their first stop... along with the site of the destruction (once again, and for the benefit of the other four investigators), and the city records office as well.

Just before Cyan touched down he wondered to himself, "Where will we end up this time?" When he touched down, he landed in sand again.
"Don't tell me we're back in Scaraba!" shouted Narcy.
"I don't think the Ditel was that low. What was it at, Anth?" asked Cyan.
"It was at 76%. We should be fairly close to Fourside."
"Maybe we're in the Dusty Dunes Desert?" suggested Venus.
"I think she's right," agreed Poo.
"I'm amazed, she actually had a good idea for once," muttered Narcy.
"Do we start walking now?" asked Sebastian.
"I guess so ... Anthadd, can you fly using your armour?"
"I think so..." replied Anthadd, unsuredly. He tried it, and found he could indeed fly using his armour.
"Good. Revert," said Cyan and his armour reverted. "Armour up!" he then called, his armour changed again and he floated up a bit.
"What are you doing?" asked Narcy.
"I was thinking we could fly there, not all of us could, but we could start looking sooner," replied Cyan, drily. Of course, Cyan had an alterior motive. He wanted to get away from - primarily - Narcy and Poo.
"Cyan has a point,"stated Anthadd.
"I think we'll be all right, you two go on ahead. Maybe you'll find something by the time we get there"," said Skulryk.
"We'll meet you at the theatre, then," said Venus.
"See you," said Cyan as he and Anthadd took to the skies....

Rockwell was still standing outside the entrance of Winters' Lab, waiting for the group.
"I think they forgot about me." Rockwell said as he scratch his head out of confusion.
He picked up his Esca Sword and tightened his pouch upon his belt and walked up to the Dungeon Road that Mr. Brickroad made a year ago.
As soon he got into the dungeon, he found the pathway to be completly destroyed. A groan came from a pile of boulders.
"Help me..." the voice said weakly.
Upon hearing this, Rockwell ran to the boulder and began to take the rock apart. As soon he left the last part of the boulder, he came face to face with a damaged Mr. Brickroad.
"Oooh, who are you?" Mr. Brickroad groaned.
"Mr. Brickroad? I thought you mysteriously disappeared to Scaraba Desert!" Rockwell asked.
"Oh, I was. But a man named Star Master restored me to my normal self," said Brickroad.
"Can you tell me what happened to you?" Rockwell asked.
"Oh, a Starman came and started destroying everything. It found me in a corner. She mocked me by pulling out a piece of my hair! Look at me! I'm nearly bald!" Brickroad coughed.
"Where did the Starman go to?" Rockwell queried.
"Down the secret passage right next to the sign reading, 'Beware of falling objects.'" Brickroad coughed.
"You don't sound very good. You need to rest for a while. Here, have a cup of tea," said Rockwell.
"Thank you." Brickroad yawned.
They had a cup of fresh tea and as Rockwell drink his tea, he pondered about the mysterious phemonemn that has been happening lately.
"Force fields, strange phemonmens and the disappearance of Tessie Watchers. Why, this is as strange as the disappearance of Tony's deceased body. Say, I remember a boy who called himself Orange Kid. I saw him go down that hole but heard from him again. Would that connect to anything unusual? What about the noise that I've been hearing at night? And the mysterious shadows as well? I can hear Mooks, but they look like Moles. Why? This doesn't make any sense at all. Destruction of the Topalla theatre, disappearance of Tessie Watchers, Tony, Miss... Fake? Miss Fake? Where did she go anyway? Maybe I should do some investigating on my own before meeting the group again. Hopefully I'll be able to piece together the jigsaw puzzle... or at least one small piece..."

As Rockwell finished his tea, he bade farewell to Brickroad and left for the secret passage.
"Farewell and good luck! Oh, wait. Take this, it might come in handy."
Rockwell got a stick of dynamite!
"I don't know what you can do with it, but I think you can light up dark places with it," said Brickroad.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Anytime you want to record your progress, call me. I'll save your game and record your progress. Would you like me to save your game for you?"
Rockwell looked at him with a skeptical look.
"No? I've always want to do that." Brickroad smiled, "Hey, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Um... right. I'll save my game." Rockwell chuckled weakly.
"Great! Call me when you want to save your progress!" Brickroad smiled once again.
Rockwell nodded and left for the secret passage.

While Anthadd and Cyan were flying to Fourside, they met up with unacat in his mini-airship.
"Need a lift?"
"Umm... no, we're doing fine here, but thanks," replied Cyan.
"Well, I'll go along with you anyway."
"No, really, it's OK." The two flew off, leaving unacat in the dust.

They had arrived in the Topolla's wreckage.
"Anyone there?" Anthadd called out.
"Guess not," Cyan replied.
"Back to searching."
And the two began to investigate.

"Put your hands up!" yelled Narcy to the bakery manager. "Put all your money into this bag!"
Narcy tossed the manager a black bag and the manager began pouring hundreds of dollars into the bag. Poo was standing in the corner of the bakery, chewing on a loaf of bread, clearly uninterested in what Narcy was doing.
"Hey! Little help here?" said Narcy to Poo.
"Nah, I'm not into robbery. Besides, being a pirate, this would make me look like a stupid crook," said Poo with a grin on his face.
Narcy shot him a dirty look as she ran out the bakery.
"Hey, wait for me!" yelled Poo as he ran after her.

Rockwell tried to walk his way through the musty passage with much effort, but failed. He couldn't see anything. He raised his hand in front of him and cast Flare. A small flame ignited in his hand; using this flame, Rockwell put his hands around it, preventing light from escaping. He held it there for 5 seconds and then muttered in some foriegn language.
"Saka Gora mor..."
As the last word was sounded out, he released the flame and bright flash evneloped the area.
"Better." Rockwell said to himself as he continued down the path.

Meanwhile, Narcy ran through the street with Poo being chased by a Baker.
"I can stand being asked to bake a cake with a B marked on it for a baby and someone. But I can't stand running!" The baker sighed as he stopped in his tracks "Oh, forget this. I'll let Mr. T long lost cousin, twice removed, to take care of them."
With that, he turned around and walked back to the bakery.
"I think we lost him." Captain Poo panted.
"Gee... you think?" Narcy sighed as she brushed her hair back.

Mike was sitting on a bench in the park. He looked up and saw that there were many, many birds squawking and acting crazy. "Crazy birds," Mike mumbled to himself. He saw that he was all alone, at least until Narcy and Poo stopped by the bench. "What are you doing?" Mike asked.
"We're... uhh... exercising," Narcy responded. "Where's everybody else at?"
"I'm not exactly sure. They just sort of... disappeared. I decided to take a seat for a while, you know? Enjoy this nice weather. Besides, there's the Topolla theater. I can observe from this excellent vantage point," Mike responded.
"I see... so..." Narcy started. Poo glanced at her. "What are you thinkin', ya pirate?"
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! What are YOU thinking?" Poo countered.
Mike noted that a rather large guy wearing gold medallions was walking right towards Narcy and Poo. "Uhh... hey guys, you may want to start running. Now. I know what you did and you deserve what you get, heh heh. Now go!"
The person was Mr. T's long lost cousin, twice removed. He sprinted towards Narcy and Poo who had just began to run away. "Hey, foo's, get back here wit' mah friend's cake."
All three sprinted out of Mike's vision, leaving him alone, once again. He sat and began thinking, oblivious to the fact that there were many mysterious figures observing him.

Narcy unshouldered something from her purse.
"How did you fit a bottle rocket in there?"
"Who cares? RUN!" She blasted a giant crater in the ground with a missle, and all the faux-Mr. T could see was a cloud of dust for minutes on end.

"Now can we go to the theater like I wanted to?" Narcy said impatiently.
"Ok, blame the fact that you had to rob a bakery on me."
"YOU wanted the croissant! THe cash register just looked..so...full..."

The two walked along, each trying to outpace the other. After a brisk jog around 3 blocks, they halted at the wrecked remains.
"Finally, I can look around without getting my car stolen. I know this place like the back of my hand..." narcy whispered into the cold air. "I wonder if they ever took my lab out."
"Narc, what are you talking about?" Poo said, tapping her on the shoulder. However, she was far gone.
"I used to have a lab here..did you know that? There was a secrect passage to a chemical research center..below the stage..I wonder if she ever found it..."
Narcy ran her long nails across a stray board of wood near the wreckage, and sighed.
"What's still down there?" Poo said curiously.
"You know, I don't even know. A few test tubes, maybe even a couple of leftover chemical compounds. I never got to move out before Fake took the place over..."
"Fake?"
"Yeah, Miss Fake. Used to work here before the place got blown to bits. I wonder what happened to her."
"I'm sure she can take care of herself." Poo muttered. "Shouldn't we look for the others?"
"They're big kids. I'm going down to my lab; see if I can find any thing I left behind."

"Have you found anything?" Anthadd called out.
"I found something!" Cyan cried.
"What?"
"A ripped up newspaper."
"Relevance?"
"Well," Cyan replied, "the date reads the same day I arrived here. That was the day right after the Topolla was bombed, right?"
Anthadd nodded.
"Therefore, there is a connection between Miss Fake and the Stonehenge base."
"Do you think we should return to Stonehenge to investigate further?"
"What are you two doing here?" It was Narcy!
"Investigating!" the two said simultaneously.

TsuramiSea was sitting absentmindedly in the library. So far, he and the others who had come to the library - Jeff and Paula - had not been able to find any useful information. There were many books on the history of the Topolla, but none of them suggested any reasons for it to be destroyed. Jeff had suggested that they look for information on adding life energy to substances. With his help, Tsurami had begun to read the latest science publications for sources. However, he had found nothing of the sort. And now, Paula and Jeff had gone ahead to the records office to meet up with the Apple Kid and Dr. Andonuts.
Tsurami sighed. I don't think I'm going to find anything else. He rose from his seat, replaced the magazines and other documents, and stepped outside. I'll go tell the others that I couldn't find anything.
As he walked towards the records office, a strange being looking like a fox ran forward. TsuramiSea, surprised at seeing a non-human running around, forgot his manners and stared.
The stranger spun around. "What? So I'm not human. That's no reason to freak out," he said.
"I'm not," mumbled Tsurami. "I was just surprised."
The stranger, who happened to be unacat, rolled his eyes. "Never mind...." He began to run past TsuramiSea, but then turned back and said, "Say, you wouldn't have happened to see two guys coming through here? One carrying a sword?"
TsuramiSea shook his head. "No, I haven't." Then, feeling compelled with a strange sense of curiosity, asked, "Why?"
unacat sighed. "Well, I was going to help them search for clues as to what happened to the Topolla... and also to research the trouble in Winters. But they turned me down and went ahead alone."
TsuramiSea shrugged. "Maybe they don't want you with them?" Then he thought to himself, These people must know about the problems in Winters as well.
"Well, maybe," muttered a frustrated unacat. "But I hold an important position in all of this, and I delivered a message which no one in our group seems to have listened to."
"Our group?"
unacat decided that it couldn't hurt to explain the situation to this boy. He introduced himself, and told TsuramiSea about Captain Poo, Narcy, Venus, Mike, Skulryk, Dan, Anthadd, Cyan, Luna, Sebastian, Charles, and Tony. "Some of them reached Winters using Anthadd's teleportation device. Captain Poo took me there on his ship, and then turned on me. Sebastian, Charles, and Tony were found in Winters. That's how we got together."
TsuramiSea nodded. "Well, my group...." He took a moment to describe Paula, Jeff, Rusty, Dr. Andonuts, and Apple Kid. "We're also studying the theater situation. That is, after Paula, Rusty, Jeff, and I tried to enter Winters and failed because of a force field."
"Hmmm.... well, we could fill you in on a lot," said unacat. "I could tell you some of what happened, but for a better story, you could ask Anthadd." He looked around in irritation. "If I could find him."
TsuramiSea started to walk off towards the records office. "Well, you're welcome to join the others and me. We can help you find the two you're looking for... Anthadd and Cyan, right?"
unacat nodded, and then considered his situation. Well, since the others are trying to avoid me, maybe I should get the assistance of these people for now... It's strange, though. The Apple of Enlightment said that I needed to talk to Anthadd, but he doesn't seem concerned with what the AoE has to say. Looking up, unacat addressed TsuramiSea. "All right, I'll meet the rest of your group."
TsuramiSea simply returned a nod. "Okay. Let's go to the records office... they said I could meet them there when I finished." unacat consented, and the two headed off to the Fourside records building.

"Where are you headed?" Anthadd demanded of Narcy.
"My old lab. It's down here. Somewhere."
"Any specific reason?" Cyan inquired.
"Well... I may have left something behind. Fake didn't give me long before I had to vacate."

After arriving in Fourside, everyone in the group went in their separate ways. Skulryk looked about, wondering where to go.
Aaah... Where do I go? I'm the only one who doesn't know where anything is in fourside... But it's such a big city, and everything's so... confusing! I'm supposed to head to where the theater was, but I have no idea where it is. It's been a while, and I seem to have time, so... maybe I should just take a break...
After standing around a few minutes, Skulryk walked up the road into Fourside. He looked around and decided to take a break, heading to the park.
It's been a while since I practiced my fighting. Maybe I should practice a bit here... I might remember more about what happened.
Skulryk took out his dagger and let his bandanna rest on the ground. He threw his dagger up in the air, letting it spin, and caught it. He then performed a couple of moves he had learned during his training.
A couple people passing by watched for a moment. One of them threw some money on top of his bandanna.
"Oh, I'm not working for mo..."
"Do that again!" the person said.
"Keep going!" another said. "I want to see more!"
"Do you mind if I get a picture, or will flash photography hurt?" A third person said.
A bit overwhelmed, Skulryk kept practicing. A crowd kept forming, and the pile of money began to grow and grow. After about an hour, he was finishing one of his moves when Luna made her way to the crowd and came up to him. He stopped.
Luna looked a bit angry. "Just WHAT are you doing here? I thought we were supposed to be headed to the theater ruins!"
"Oh..." Skulryk said. "I sorta... forgot. Sorry... but why aren't you at the theater?"
Luna sighed, and said meekly, "I don't know where it is... But what are you doing here? You seem to have forgotten what we're all doing, and decided to take up a side job as a street performer and make some cash!"
Skulryk looked at the pile of money on the bandanna. "Oh, THAT... I was just practicing my fighting technique when people came up and started giving me money."
"What? Geez, can't you at least think of a better story than that?" Luna said, getting ready to lecture him.
"Uh, excuse me..." a person said.
Luna cut them off. "Quiet! I'm lecturi..." Luna stopped as she looked at the person.
A police officer stood there. "That's better. Do you have a license?"
Skulryk was rather confused. "A license? What do you mean?"
"A license. For performing."
Luna slapped her forehead and sighed, then said "It doesn't matter, we were leaving anyways!" She grabbed the bandanna, scattering coins and money on the ground everywhere, and dragged Skulryk out of there before the officer could say another word.

Mike, who was still sitting on his bench, watched as a bunch of people, signs, and animals ran into the ruins. Hang on a second, signs? This doesn't look good, especially for those looking around in the ruins. Maybe I should go and follow those things in since some people may need some help. Mike thought to himself. He got up and started walking expeditiously towards the ruins.

After walking down a poorly lit coriddor for a few minutes, narcy came across a large glass door, swinging off its hinges. "Just like home..." She sighed.
Opneing the door, she prepared herself for the worse. However, her worry was unnecessary.
"It's just like I left it! I bet that..oh, it must be!"
"Must be what?" Anthadd and Cyan said together.
Narcy said nothing, but ran over to the right hand wall. She sharply kicked one of the stones in the side, and to everyones surprise, it popped out of the wall.
"My greatest achievement! The first ever noted melding of mind and machine - look!"
SHe pulled a small revolver from the cement drawer, and pushed a button which was also inside. 7 cones popped up around the room.
"Look at this! When you fire the gun at the target you want, it can dodge around all the obstacles, since it harnesses the telekenetic power around it!" She fired a tester shot, and it bounced around the room before stopping at a small target and exploding.
"Impressive," Cyan mused.
"Yes, and now to add the final touch." Narcy pulled a large stone form her pocket. "THIS!"
Anthadd goggled. "Where did you get that diamond? it must be worth millions!"
"I lifted it off of Fake a few months after she bought the theater; she never knew what hit her. That's what started my crime spree. I just got a taste for it, and went with it."
She pushed the diamond into the handle of the revolver, and smiled.
"GIVE MY DIAMOND BACK!"