Rockwell rose from the ground and teleported into Fourside, with the same message running through his head. He staggered through the street of Fourside, looking for those who oppose Mani Mani. An officer stood in his track and said, "Hey, buddy. Are you okay? You look like you were corrupted by a Mani Mani!"
The officer chuckled as Rockwell whipped out his sword and plunged it deep into his chest. The officer gasped and fell back, dropping a gun. Rockwell picked up and pocketed the gun. He continued to stagger his way toward the aura of opposers.
"Kill all who oppose Mani Mani..."
The baker grumbled and spat on the ground, as he fumbled with his keys to lock up the place. The scratching sound of a sword dragging upon pavement caught the Baker's attention. He turned around and came face to face with a bloody face.
"I will... kill all who oppose Mani Mani..."
Rockwell threw his sword up and brought it swinging upon him, slashing him in half. The baker never saw it coming. Rockwell looked at the lock on the door and pulled out the gun that he took from the deceased officer and aimed carefully.

"It's Rockwell!" Siris hissed. A second later, the sound of bullets pierced the air, and the bullets themselves pierced through the room. Rockwell strongly kicked the door open.
"Hahahah..." Rockwell laughed. "Of course. I thought it suspicious that the bakery should be closing already."
"It's you!" Ness shouted.
"He's possessed by some evil... He's not himself," Siris noted.
"Mani Mani?" Skulryk asked.
"Siris!" Rockwell shouted. "I'm going to kill you this time!"
"This guy doesn't quit," Siris muttered. "He's stronger now, though..."
Rockwell advanced toward Siris, and Siris quickly chanted: "Bind my foes with unbreakable chains, Ray of Paralysis!"
Siris sighed in relief as Rockwell ceased to be able to move.
"This won't last long..." he said. "Harsemhin, come here, quickly!"
As Harsemhin approached Siris, Siris said softly, "You use Sugemo and Stellar abilities, correct?"
"Yes," Harsemhin replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm sure you've heard of a certain technique-combining ability, then?"
"Adekae?" Harsemhin's eyes widened a bit. "Yes, I know of it. However, I have never had a chance to try it."
"Well, we're going to try it," Siris asserted. "Cyan would have been a much better partner, but he's not exactly with us."
"Your spell is wearing off, Siris!" Dan exclaimed. "You better hurry!"
Harsemhin nodded. "While fighting, we both must synchronize our movements and attacks."
"Right," Siris agreed.
Rockwell broke free from his imprisonment, and lunged forward. He raised his gun, but TsuramiSea quickly kicked it from his grasp.
"Such cowardly weapons," he said, to which RG scowled.
With that, all-out combat commenced, and Siris and Harsemhin began synchronizing their movements. Soon enough, the two were perfectly synchronized, and they shouted in unison:
"Acid Breaker!"
The combination of Siris's 'Acid Vapor' spell and Harsemhin's 'Breaker' sugemo skill produced a spiral cone of murky, green-blue liquid which spewed forth, nailing Rockwell head-on. The force of the twister was enough to throw Rockwell forcefully out through the door, which Mike quickly closed. Siris sighed, walked to the door, and put his palm to it. The door glowed a bit, and Siris stepped away.
"I've arcane locked it," he explained. "Nobody is getting in this time."
"Yes, uh... Now where were we?"
"I'll go with whoever wants me to go with them," said Kyle. "I'd like to go with people to try to defeat that big Dino rampaging outside. I need some action to get Moonside out of my head. ...Hey will you SHUT UP!"
They could hear Rockwell banging on the door. It was loud and relly annoying.
"Of course, that dinosaur isn't going to be weak," said Siris. "Have you any experience with fighting dinosaurs?"
"Well, there was this one time when... no, wait, that was a vending machine. Well, I'll just go with the next people that come up with a reason to leave this bakery."
Plus, I want to test the Excalabur out on a stronger enemy.
"We should really stop that dinosaur as fast as we possibly can." said Matt, listening the the heavy pounding of skeletal claws in the distance. "I'd be willing to fight it. Kyle can come too, if he still wants to. We've had a bit of experience fighting together earlier."
"Yeah, sure" agreed Kyle, unsheathing Excalabur and looking it over promenently. "That dino won't know what hit him!"
"You two could use some more help." pointed out Mike, turning to the others. "Any other volunteers?"
TsuramiSea pondered the situation for a moment.
"My trick seemed to work fairly well against the monster," he said. "I'll come along too."
"Good" proclaimed Mike, scanning over the three fighters. "Your foe will be extremely challenging, so come back for help if you need any." He turned and pointed up to the back staircase. "You can use the fire escape to slip out without running into Rockwell. Just climb throught the window and take the ladder."
Following Mike's instructions, the three headed out of the bakery and to the rampaging dinosaur.
"Do you think they'll be able to beat it?" questioned Dan, unerved by the whole thing. "Maybe more of use should've gone..."
"Don't worry" replied Siris, oddly confident. "Though it will be a rough fight, they have one huge advantage."
"And that is?" asked Dan, puzzled.
"A mind." explained Siris, slumping down in his chair. "Though the creature may be far stronger then any opponent they've ever faced, it lacks sentient thought. It cannot strategize, it cannot outsmart them, it cannot be skillfull. It can only thrash about randomly. It feels, thinks and knows only one thing; blind anger. Mani-mani is telling it to destroy his opponents, but he can't specifically order it around. It's mind is not complex enough handle such commands! It will just madly thrash about. As long as they try to outsmart it, and not overpower it, they'll be fine."

Harsemhin sat down beside Cirra, still holding Cyan's ashes.
"Harsemhin..." Cirra began. "Do you think there's a way we could bring Cyan back?"
"I know there has to be a way," Harsemhin said, quickly lowering his voice, "but frankly, I don't know what it might be."
Cirra looked at the ashes.
"It seem such a waste that such a kind warrior was felled because of his past," she murmured.
"I know," Harsemhin replied, "yet if I look back on that period, I can't think of a single way we could have alleviated that beyond defeating Mani Mani."
"And of course you can't find Mani Mani, can you?" Siris asked, sitting down on the other side of Cirra.
Harsemhin glared eerily at Siris.
"No, we cannot," he finally said.
"We'd need to be able to physically sense the energy that Mani Mani's expending to manipulate the dinosaur," Cirra offered, "if we wanted to find him."
Suddenly both Siris and Harsemhin shot upright and looked at each other.
"Did she...?" Harsemhin began.
"Just come up with the most probable improbable idea possible?" Siris finished. "If you meant that, then yes."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Cirra jumped up. "Let's go Mani Mani hunting! The others can catch up with us once the dinosaur's been defeated."
"Okay," responded Mike. "Those other three went to take care of the dinosaur. You three will look for Mani Mani..."
"Four," corrected Luna, moving over to those that had just spoken.
Mike waved his hand. "Sorry. You four will do that... Skulryk, RG, and I will go try to find more information and spread the word..."
"Well, I'm coming with you, too," pointed out Joe.
"Right. That leaves.... you..." Mike pointed to Dan. "And you," he finished, pointing to Ness. "What about you two?"
Dan looked at Harsemhin / Cirra / Siris / Luna, then at Mike / RG / Skulryk / Joe. "Hmmm... well.... I don't know...." Hearing the continued pounding on the door of the bakery, he snapped his fingers. "I know, I'll distract Rockwell so you guys can go about your business!"
"But what if he kills you?" said Cirra severely. "You can't do that alone."
"I'll help him," suggested Ness. "He's too strong to defeat, but I'm sure there must be some way to incapacitate him."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Ness," said Siris.
"Let's get going," said Cirra. "We'll head out the fire escape as well. Mike and you other guys, you can do as you see fit." She turned a worried gaze onto Dan and Ness. "You two be careful. Rockwell is very powerful because of Mani Mani."
"Don't worry, we'll find some way to hold him off," assured Dan.
Mike rose from his seat, as did everyone else. "All right then, let's move out!"

The three boys ran towards the dinosaur skeleton looming in the distance. "So what's our attack plan?" queried Kyle. "Do we attack from one spot, or split up and hit him from different sides?"
"Splitting up would keep him from focusing his power in one area, so that sounds best," came Matt's reply. TsuramiSea nodded his agreement.
The dinosaur noticed them, and let out a screeching type of undead roar. "We've been spotted! Everyone spread out now!" Matt turned to Tsurami. "If you could try to slow him down again, that would help."
"I'll think of something." TsuramiSea's words trailed off as he ran in another direction. Kyle, too, headed away from Matt.
What can I use? I could try Dream Daze this time, but I don't know if it would be effective. It's best that I try, though.
Kyle was keeping his eye on the behemoth, wondering how he could best attack. He switched Excalabur back and forth from darkness to water. If only I could realize another skill. Once Tsurami does his thing, I could strike right after that.... Then, stopping the Excalabur on its water setting, he was inspired. That's it.... Falling Water!

It seemed best that Kyle use Falling water instead of Stasis Slash because the dinosaur was already dead and had no bodily fluids or currents to stop.
Kyle watched as the dino tried to decide which one of us to attack. It started in Tsuramisea's direction. Then a haze fell around it. It was wobbling as if trying to stay awake.
"Here goes nothing," Kyle said as he started towards the monster. It didn't take long before he got there and slashed through the thing's heel saying, "Falling Water."
The sky opened up and water fell onto the dino. The water never touched the ground.
The dinosaur came out of it's trance and went after Kyle, who was closest. It swung its tail and tried to eat Kyle a few times, but Kyle was able to dodge the attacks thanks to the boost of speed that the Excalabur gave him and the loss of speed thanks to the Falling Water attack. But Kyle couldn't attack because he was too busy dodging.
"HELP!" yelled Kyle, thinking of some way to outsmart and escape from the monster.
Kyle frantically dodged the dinosaur's attacks, barely managing to keep himself out of harm's way. The other two realized that he couldn't keep it up for much longer.
Tsurami was attempting to divert the beat's attention from the tiring Kyle, with little luck. It seemed to have Kyle as its top priority.
Matt scanned his surroundings for anything that could help the situation. A nearby construction site caught his attention. A large coil of metal wire was laying in dirt near some girders. This gave Matt an idea...
Hey, Tsurami!" Matt 'yelled' telepathically. "Ever seen Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back?
What are you talking about?! replied Tsurami, doubting Matt's sanity.
Just answer me! ordered Matt.
Yes, a few years back... answered Tsurami, confused by Matt's line of questioning.
Well, remember when they were on that ice planet in the begining, and they're being attacked by the land-walkers? explained Matt, pointing to the long spools of wire. Remember how they take them out?
Yes! With the pull-ropes! added Tsurami, realizing what Matt's plan was. Tsurami dashed towards Matt, and the two swiftly headed towards the construction site. The two lifted the coil out towards the street. Matt motioned to stop by an abandoned taxi.
"Help me lift this thing into the trunk." instructed Matt. The two heaved the wire into the compartment, and welded the sides shut (with a PSI Fire of course). However, the left a hole just big enough for the wire to spindle out of in the back, leaving a 'tail' trailing out.
Tsurami grabbed the trailing end of the wire.
"I get it; I somehow tie this around the dinosaur's leg, and you drive around and trip it. And hopefully it won't notice because it's so transfixed on Kyle."
"Precisely." said Matt, sliding into the front seat. Luckily, the previous driver had panicked when he had seen the dinosaur and left the keys in the ignition. He started the car, and turned to Tsurami. "Now go! Kyle can't keep it up much longer!"
Tsurami dashed towards the beast. Luckily, it was stationary and primarily using it's maw. Well, not so lucky for Kyle since it had him trapped against a wall and the skeletal monster was like a wall, preventing him from escaping.
Tsurami deftly rounded the creature's right front leg. He wrapped the cord around, the creature too focused on attempting to destroy Kyle to notice. Within a minute a knot had been tightly tied.
Tsurami gave Matt a signal, and he revved up the ignition. He didn't know how to drive, but he assumed it wouldn't be that hard. He swerved forwards, almost crashing into a wall, but managed to avoid the buidlings. He regained his stearing, and began quickly circling the creature.

Mani Mani muttered a curse under his breath. Things were not going as planned. He knew that the only way to achieve his goal was to take care of the job himself. Yet, even with his limitless power, there was nothing he could do at the moment. He had not yet achieved his Zenith. Until that time, he was forced to watch, and wait...
"Perfect...not only were Cyan, Nath, and Nayc destroyed, but now Nual and Eon have lost those infidels! How am I supposed to achieve my goal with such incompetent underlings? How useless can they be!?" Mani fumed.
"Not as useless as you, I would imagine..." Mani heard a faint echoing sound behind him, as if the fabric of space and time had been ripped in two. A tingling ran through his system, and he struggled to overcome the sensation. He could feel the figure leaning over his shoulder, its breath tickling the back of its neck. "My my, dear Mani, are things not going as planned?" The creature whispered into the statue's ear. Mani drew in sharply.
"It's you..." he gasped at last. "Is there something that must be done? Have the plans been altered? Or something else entirely?" He blurted out. The apparition grinned, shaking its head.
"You are quickly running out of chances, dear Mani. Continue to fail, and you will find your command terminated." The figure emphasized this last word in particular. Mani Mani breathed in deeply once again, shifting uncomfortably. The figure noticed this, and leaned closer. "Do you understand?"
Mani Mani nodded hesitantly. "Y-yes," he stuttered. "I promise I will achieve my goal! I will not fail in this! There have only been a few setbacks, but they have been none of my own fault. Just give me some time, that is all I ask!" The statue pleaded. He jumped in surprise to hear a burst of laughter from the figure.
"Yes, yes! You will have your time! However, keep in mind that my patience is not everlasting. There will come a time where I will no longer tolerate failure. You still remember the plan, yes?" Mani nodded slowly, swallowing hard in the process. "Good. It is necessary to achieve Zenith. However, you certainly are not needed in order to do so. I can always return you to the lifeless form in which I found you. I can banish you back into the dark void of the shadows. Would you like that? To be part of the inky blackness again?" The creature chuckled mildly.
Mani Mani grew pale. "N-no! I don't! I will not fail in achieving Zenith! Just please, give me some time." Mani Mani shut his eyes tight, as if bracing himself against the idea of being tossed once again into the land of the shadows. The figure nodded.
"Good. Do not fail again." The apparition turned its back to the puppet, opening a mind rift while doing so. It stepped through the swirling blue vortex and disappeared, leaving Mani Mani with a new sense of purpose.

"AAAAHHH!" yelled Kyle. The demonic dino was about to engulf him when-
*CRASH*
It tripped.
Kyle looked for whet it tripped on and saw Tsurami and Matt with a taxi and a coil wrapped around the monster's legs.
Kyle decided to finish the monster.
"I've always wanted to do this!" Kyle jumped onto the dinosaur's head, raised his Excalabur, and rammed the Excalabur into the ancient skull.
The darkness faded from the monster. The white bones of the skeleton became dust.
Kyle ran to Tsurami and Matt. "That was amazing! How did you trip it?"
"We used the coil and taxi like the snowspeeders and tow cables in The Empire Strikes Back," said TsuramiSea. "Matt came up with the idea."
"Yeah, well, I couldn't have done it without Tsurami," said Matt.
"That's a cliche. A big cliche," said Kyle. "So, now where do we go? All we seem to have left to worry about is Rockwell, the two UFOs, and Mani Mani himself, right?"
"I think so," said Tsurami. "Maybe we should go back to the bakery."
"No, there would probably be no one there," said Kyle. "They should have all left to go do their own things by now. I say we start looking for Mani Mani. I think I can get us to him."
"How?" asked Matt.
"Well, when I left you because I was angry at the others for leaving us, I led myself straight to Mani Mani. I think that because I'm a dark elemented person, I'm attracted to things that give off strong dark energy. So, if I follow my senses, I should be able to lead us straight to him."
"Okay," said Tsurami. "Let's go then."

Rockwell growled and stopped pounding on the door. He looked at the window above him and stepped backward, with his Sword of Light facing the window. Under his breath, he began to say a few unknown words and the sword began to radiant as he say each word. When he stopped, the light flow through his body and his free hand shot out and a large fireball was hurdled toward the window, setting the bakery afire.
"That should smoke the rats out." Rockwell chuckled as he weild his sword, waiting for them to exit.

"Maybe we should execute the plan now before we become a part of Rockwell's crispy snack." Mike suggested as he beat the fire, trying to keep it down.

Mani Mani smiled.
"Perfect," he mused. "They're willingly yielding themselves up to me. My, what fools these mortals be!"
He reclined back as best a Golden Statue could, and awaited the arrival of his first victims.

"Have you sensed Mani Mani yet, Siris?" Harsemhin inquired.
"Does it look like I've sensed him yet?"
Harsemhin shuddered slightly, so slightly no one saw him. Meanwhile, Cirra and Luna were having a discreet conversation.
"Have you noticed how he's hitting on you, Rita?" Luna asked.
"Of course!" Cirra sounded shocked. "You think I didn't?"
"You've been oblivious to it."
"Could we get going?" Siris motioned for the two girls to hurry up.

The companions fled through the city streets, flying from the ever-present threat of Rockwell. The smell of burning goods hung in the air as the Bakery burned placidly in the distance. The Fourside Police Department had already arrived on scene to contain the blaze. Meanwhile, the group stopped to catch their breaths once they were a considerable distance away from their nemesis. Smoke drifted skyward from the shell of the Bakery, and a small amount continued to waft, as if it was alive, after the ones being so viciously pursued by Mani Mani's minions. Finally, Harsemhin caught his breath after a considerable amount of coughing due to the smoke.
"Well? Where should we begin?" He directed the question, of course, to his fellow group members. The location of Mani Mani, their tormentor, was of utmost importance, and they needed to find him as fast as possible. Cirra shook her head.
"I don’t know where he could be! He could be anywhere in this city. There’s just too much to search. Siris, you really need to find him before it’s too late...who knows what could happen next, who could come after us?" Siris shook his head, as if attempting to clear it.
"I know, I know!" He shouted. "I'm trying, but I can't seem to locate him…there’s some sort of shield or aura that's preventing me from making the connection. I don’t know...I could find him, but it might take a very long time...or I may not find him at all. In that case, the only alternative we have is to search." He shuddered at the thought. They all stood silent, pondering the suggestion, considering what might happen if they indeed had to search the entire city. However, the concentration was broken by a rather crisp and terse clap, which repeated over and over. Frowning, Harsemhin’s eyes began to wander about their vicinity, looking for the one who was clapping. But...no one was there. There was no one to be seen. Not right, not left, not behind or in front of them. But the clapping continued, and it was accompanied soon after by a booming voice, one that split the silence indefinitely.
"Well done, well done!" The voice cried. "You are on the right track, there is no way to go but forward! Yes, yes...indeed, you are closer than you think to your enemy. He is eluding you only because you refuse to think." Cirra gazed upwards at the source of the voice. Her mouth dropped open.
It was Raltise.
Raltise hopped off the white and pink striped awning on which he was standing and landed neatly before the assembled band. A grin was slowly creeping across his face, the yellow of his teeth seeping through the white visage. Harsemhin stepped forward, pointing directly at Raltise, his mouth open as if to speak, but not a word came out.
At last, he found his voice "...You!" He gasped. "How did you escape the realm of Moonside?" He demanded. Raltise simply turned from the group and crossed his arms behind his back. Staring into the blue sky overhead, he replied.
"I have my ways, of course. The realm of Moonside is…illusion. An illusion of the mind. One that can be broken easily. Mani Mani’s power, on the other hand, can not be dispersed so easily. And the longer you take to confront him, the greater his power will grow. When he reaches his pinnacle..." Raltise turned to them, his face solemn. "... Well, it will not be pleasant...yes, yes...not pleasant at all."
Cirra frowned. "So? How do we find him? It's not like it’s an easy task..." she murmered. Raltise chuckled mildly and smiled.
"That is what I am here for, you see. I happen to know where your nemesis lies in wait. Or, at least his base of operations. Getting in, however, will be far more difficult than leading you to it. However, if you are willing to follow, I am to lead. Mmm...won't it be pleasant? Yes...quite pleasant indeed." He whispered.
Harsemhin nodded firmly, albeit with apprehension. "We would most appreciate it if you would assist us. Thank you." Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness that lay in the pit of his stomach.