"Do you have any twos?" Tracy asked Picky.
"Go fish." Picky smiled.
Tracy snapped her fingers and reached over to the stock.
Picky closed his eyes. "Tracy, any threes?"
Tracy turned over the card she had picked up. The three of diamonds. The only three she had.
She reluctantly handed it over.
Venus was humming the tunes to Smiles and Tears as she watched the game.
"Venus!" Lardna hissed. "Get over here and play some canasta!"
King started barking incessantly at the door, where he was outside.
"Woof woof!" (Let me in!)
"What, King?" Tracy slipped her cards in one of her shirt pockets and went over to see what King was so uptight about.
She opened the door.

Time stood still.
"Aaaaaaaah!" Tracy shrieked.
She fell backwards from the shock. King ran over her, dirtying her face with his muddy paws.
Now entering the yard... was a floating clock. A floating clock... that looked like it had been to the sun. And back.
Venus rushed to the door, distraught by Tracy's cries.
She gasped, seeing the weird, misshappen timepiece.
"...I remember this from my collegiate art classes. Salvador Dali. He was known for abstract art. One of his most famous pieces was a melted clock. Would this be a 'Dali's Clock'?"
"We've got to protect our kids!" Mrs. Lee announced. She picked up a frying pan from the drawers and began to run outside into the yard.
King tugged Tracy's skirt, pulling her out of the way of the sudden echelon of women fighting to protect their young.

"Now, I will shrink those on the bridge!" Raltise laughed maniacally. "When their comrades return, they will find themselves... apparently abandoned!
"Then, after they come for me, I will cause the city of Fourmoon... to become the island of Fourmoon!
"Without the Numbers Bridge, their friends, if" -- and he meant that if -- "I decide to smile kindly upon them and return them to their normal size, will be unable to help."

Moments passed. It seemed like an eternity...but eventually, the group found the world around them grown closer. "We're returning to normal!" Cirra shouted. Harsemhin nodded in agreement, and sighed with relief. Then, all was right again, with the exception of the thick black sky, and the eerie neon glow of the city in the distance.
"That worked quite well, Cyan!" Harsemhin managed to say at last, turning to the afore-mentioned. "I'm surprised that you were able to do that. It could possibly mean that there is power to rival Raltise's...in any case, I think we should decide what to do next. We can sit and wait for the others, but there's a chance that Raltise will do something again."
"You're right," Dan interjected. "We should probably go out and look for him, or at least keep him preoccupied until the others find whatever they're looking for." He gazed into the unearthly dark calm of the ocean waves.
A sharp laughter split the twilight, rendering the tranquility nonexistent. The sordid sound reverberated across the ocean waves, and opened itself to the skies above, creating a dome effect. It was everywhere. Harsemhin, Cirra, Cyan, Joe, and Dan all turned their heads upwards to face this intrusion. Their eyes traced one of the spires of the bridge upwards, upwards, on and on. The figure was poised above. Without a doubt, the one whom they were looking for had come to them first.
"Oh, you'll keep me preoccupied, alright! Yes, yes...you will entertain me very much!" Raltise shouted. Another twisted strain of laughter followed. "You didn't overcome my power. I allowed to return to your normal sizes." He revealed. "Now, now...hmm...which one of you wishes to provide me with some amusement? Is it you, Princess?" His gaze followed Cirra. "Or maybe you, magician?" He stared at Harsemhin. "Ah! Let's not forget about you, noble knight." Those crimson eyes fell on Cyan. "Well, well! Step up! Don't be afraid!" He chuckled and folded his arms across his chest.
Cyan strode forward, and pointed upwards at their nemesis. "I've had just about enough of you!" He cried, unsheathing his sword. Raltise's grin broadened. Cyan fell into a concentration stance, then gripped the hilt tightly with both hands. He crouched and leapt into the air, sword on the offensive, pointed directly at his adversary's jugular. Raltise simply unfolded his arms and closed his eyes, yet the grin remained. Reaching into his overcoat, he seemed to be searching for something.
Cyan closed in, closer, closer, waiting to meet his adversary with unrelenting steel. With one final battle-fueled yell, Cyan raised the sword high over his head and, when his arms peaked, rapidly snapped them downwards right over Raltise's head. As the deadly blade came downwards, Raltise finally found what he was looking for. He pulled what seemed like a small stopwatch out of his overcoat, and clicked it rapidly once, twice, three times. The blade came down. It severed a few of the fine auburn hairs on the ghastly one's head.
Then time stopped.
Raltise reached up and casually removed the sword from Cyan's tensed fingers. He grinned. "What's the matter?" He mused. "You seem surprised...didn't expect this, did you?" He raised the stopwatch up to Cyan's view, revealing it to be what looked like a smaller version of the Dali's Clock. "This Dali's Stopwatch is quite invaluable, as you can see." He looked down below, from Joe, to Dan, to Cirra, to Harsemhin. "Quite an ingenious creation, yes? You are still conscious, of course, but you cannot move, you cannot speak, you cannot even blink." He jumped off the spire, holding Cyan's sword, while leaving it's owner stranded in midair. Raltise slowly approached Harsemhin.
"Well, well...what have we here? A magician who cannot escape a trick? Yes...apparently so..." Raltise leaned into Harsemhin, whispering into his ear. "Of course you know, that this must be the end for you...mm hmmm..." He backed away, raising his arms in the air, as if indicating his surroundings. "Yes...the end for all five of you! And your friends will be dealt with soon enough! Splendid plan, yes? Quite." He laughed insanely. Then, twirling the pointer finger on his left hand, he signaled a vortex to appear. It grew larger, larger, over the group's head. Then it came downwards. The last thing the victims saw was Raltise's malevolent grin, and then blackness before being teleported to who-knows-where.
"And lastly..." Raltise whispered in the darkness. "Yes, yes...to fulfill the course of events..." He waved his hand passively.
A rumbling slowly traveled across the Numbers Bridge. The suspension cables began to shake violently, as the concrete experienced upheaval. Rockwell's comatose body slowly slid into the choppy waters, then began drifting towards a nearby shore. Then, the bridge came tumbling down. Chunks of asphalt created huge splashes of water as the entire structure plummeted into the waves.
Below, in the temple, everyone collectively heard a rumbling, followed by a large, devastating blow that shook the floors beneath them. "What was that!?" Siris shouted.

Beyond Time. Beyond Space. Null.
5 People were lowered down into the swirling winds of the deepest nowhere, beyond all rational things. Physics did not apply; only the mind was a limit.
Harsemhin looked across the barren landscape.
"Null...it's been a long time...or have I never been here before?"
He shook his head, dazed.
Cirra sighed dreamily. "This is the sort of place where you could just rest forever," she finished, while casually throwing her arms over her head and behind her back. Joe nodded, and half closed his eyelids.
The only one not caught in the surrounding silence was Cyan. He was pacing back and forth, kicking up silver dust as he moved.
"This isn't right! What is it Raltise has done? What is he trying to do?" He muttered something under his breath, and his sheathe appeared, sword in tact. Cyan drew it in one fluid motion, and held it close to him.
Dan nudged him. "Ah, come on, just rest for a while," He yawned. "And you can put down the sword; it's not a security blanket."
Cyan scowled at him, the continued. "It just doesn't seem right...or fair to innocent people." Cyan mumbled.
"What IS fair, then?"
Cyan whirled around, and swung his sword. Someone behind him grabbed the blade, and held it. No skin broke.
"Greetings, you five. Welcome to Null; my name is the apple of enlightenment. You are probably wondering why I brought you here. When Raltise pulled you through the warp, you eventually would have been destroyed. However, I pulled you out of the astral plane you resided on, and now you are here."
Cirra gazed around, and felt a short twinge. "I feel as though I've been here before," she started, but was cut off.
"Oh, you haven't, but people connected to you have. In fact, I believe your family had a royal advisor for a short time period that has entered this domain. However, that is not what is important right now."
Cyan grunted. "Why didn't you Pull Raltise into Null, and finish him off?"
"Because it is not my place to interfere. This is a special situation; desperate times call for desperate measures." The Apple nodded with conviction, and continued.
"Another aided me in my quest here; the Nightmare rock."
"Excuse me for saying, but how can a rock summon people?" Dan said casually, but slowly. The apple laughed. "By that logic, an apple could not have saved your life. But here we are, and there it is. I believe your friend Raltise may know of the Nightmare rock as well, but again, that is a story for another day." He smiled softly.
"I have brought you here to tell you that there are certain things that must happen; certain events must occur. The most important concerns Raltise.
"Raltise will not die; cannot die; not this time."
Cyan slammed his sword into the ground. "That's impossible! We have to destroy him! Think of what he's done; with so little remorse!"
The Apple smiled sadly. "The system of life cannot continue if Raltise is destroyed. You must listen to me. When the time comes for Raltise to be removed, you will use all your power, all the power of the stars, and shout these words: 'Yunba nahr aph!' If done correctly, they will transport Raltise to Null, where he will be sealed until the power is gone. I must warn you again! He cannot die!"
The apple nodded, and looked at the five people in front of him. They were all so young...the oldest, only a thousand. They had so much to learn. He waved his hand loftily, and watched as gold dust surrounded the weary travelers. It washed around them, and formed columns of energy.
"You will return to the Gulf temple; your friends are waiting. Remember, Yunba nahr aph!"

A flash consumed the group in Null.
"Good luck, Warriors," the Apple said. "May the goddess of good fortune always smile upon you. And you, swordsman, calm thyself; no good will come of your anger. Stay thine anger; true power comes only to those that might control their tempers and focus their efforts."

"What are you doing here?" RG asked.
Cirra's eyes fluttered open.
"You just popped out of nowhere," Matt explained.
"It was... Null," Cirra whispered.
"Null?" Kyle asked.
"All, but nothing," Harsemhin replied. "Nonexistenence, yet existence."
"There was an Apple there. The Apple of--" Joe began, but was interrupted by Ness.
"The Apple of Enlightenment?" Ness offered eagerly.
"Yes," Cyan confirmed. "He gave us the key to defeating Raltise."
Ness sighed. Finally! My friends' deaths will be avenged! he thought.
Mike smiled.
"Then shouldn't we be returning to Fourmoon?" he proposed. "After all," he said, motioning about him, "the tremours seem to have stopped."
"I can't help but feel," Siris warned, "that something's wrong, that something is horribly, terribly wrong."

The waters once more yielded a path up out of Virgule Bay.
"What happened to the bridge?" Tsurami asked.
"I'm not sure," Harsemhin admitted. "When we awoke in Null, we had no memories long after Raltise froze us."
"With that stupid Dali's Stopwatch," Joe added.
"Look over there!" Luna pointed worriedly.
The group turned around.
They found part of the Numbers Bridge, and the city of Fourmoon... to be an island.
Maniacal laughter could be heard coming from the island.
"Raltise!" the group snapped angrily.
Ness reached for his Receiver phone, which had been recently converted by Apple Kid into a Sender-Receiver phone, and began to dial his home number.
"I hope mom, Tracy, and King are all right..."

Raltise laughed maniacally.
"Without enemies, I may continue my plans unfettered," he mused. "My plans to rule the world...
"If I might control the destiny of others, surely I can control my own..."

Tracy splashed the blue and black-striped water over her face to wipe off King's pawprints. She reached for a towel and dried her face.
Tracy toddled down the stairs and expertly tossed the wadded towel into the laundry hamper.
"Tracy!" her mother called. "Get the phone!"
The parents and Venus were presently warding off flying works of art.
"I'll get it!" Picky offered, and he reached the phone ahead of Tracy. He picked up the phone. "Lee residence," he spoke politely.
"Picky?" Ness asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Monsters are sieging Onett!"
"Can you hold them off?"
"Our parents and Venus and her mom are doing all right," Picky answered.
"That's good. If you have any troubles, just call me. Tracy knows the number. I've got to be going, myself. There's some troubles we're having in getting to Fourmoon. That's what Fourside is now: a weird combination of Fourside and its dark counterpart, Moonside."
The dial tone buzzed in Picky's ear.
"Was that Ness?" Tracy asked.
"How did you know?" Picky shot back.
"...I just... know these things," she replied.
Picky and Tracy began to pray fervently for the success of Ness and his friends in getting to Fourmoon.

"What in the world?" Siris asked.
"It looks like strands of light are wisping towards Fourmoon Island," Cyan mused. "Could it be...? No..."
Harsemhin timidly tested the strands. They were able to hold his weight.
"Rather sparse stranding, isn't it?" TsuramiSea said.
"Quite," Cirra concurred.

Raltise looked from his vantage point atop the Enrich Flavour Building.
His eyes blinked at the bright strands connecting the broken shards of the Numbers Bridge.
"What could that be?" he wondered. "Nonetheless, I must destroy it; it could be detrimental to my cause."
He focused and focused, but nothing came of his efforts.

"We should cross now while we can," suggested Harsemhin as he looked out over the expanse of water now spanned by the light.
"Right," said Cyan, stepping onto the light to make sure it was safe. It held his weight easily.
"Let's go," agreed Cirra.

They crossed the light and had almost reached the FourShore tunnel when a section of road in front of them broke and fell into the water. A moment later, a pair of all too familiar unidentified flying objects flew up through the new gap.
"Now we'll get our revenge on your for destroying our brothers!" shouted Eon.
The two UFOs shot towards the group. The people split and ran in two directions: Cyan backwards with Nual soaring straight for his face, and everyone else to their right and forward, avoiding Eon.

"If you hadn't screwed up, Nath and Nayc would still be around!" shouted Nual as she fired beam after beam at Cyan, who barely dodged most and entirely failed to dodge a few others.

The others were faring better than Cyan was; being in a large group, Eon had more targets to choose from and couldn't dodge all the attacks. Unfortunately, their attacks weren't having much success.
"My bullets aren't doing anything!" shouted RG during a reload.
"And it keeps dodging my zapper!" added Dan.
"They must have been upgraded since we fought them last!" shouted Harsemhin as he dodged a beam.
"You won't be able to ..." started Eon, but never finished. One of Dan's zapper shots had finally struck home. Though her shields were capable of blocking bullets and other attacks, they just couldn't stop the zapper gun. Eon fell to the ground, a hole burned clean through her metal chassis.
"Now that we got that settled, where did Cyan get to?" wondered Siris.
"He's at the other end of the bridge!" replied Cirra.
First Cirra and then the rest of the group broke into in a dead run towards Cyan.

This doesn't look good ... just remain calm ... Cyan thought to himself as he began to run out of road to retreat to.
Nual fired another beam. Cyan let himself fall backwards to the ground instead of backing up, causing Nual to fly past him and over the water.
Cyan regained his feet and Nual turned around, loosing another beam at him. Instead of dodging, Cyan stood his ground. The dormant courage, waiting for the occassion to erupt with the fury of a volcano thought Cyan as he felt his own courage swell. He raised his right gauntlet to deflect the beam and felt a surge of energy in his right hand. He pulled his arm back and shouted, "Yuuki no Kyuukazan!" swinging his arm forward and releasing a large ball of fire.
"What?!" exclaimed a surprised Nual as the ball hit her. The attack didn't do that much damage to the UFO. "Ha! You can't defeat me!" it taunted.
What happened next surprised Cyan as much as Nual. A low rumbling caught their attention. Nual spun around, then dipped up and down in confusion, wondering where the noise was coming from. She found out a a moment later when a great pillar of lava, flaring orange and unbelievably hot, erupted from the river and smashed into her. It came out of the water with a low rumble that turned to thunder as it burst through the surface with a great hiss of steam. It slammed into the unsuspecting UFO, propelling her upward to a great height. A pile of cooling slag was all that crashed down on to the bridge deck a few seconds later.
Cyan fell to his knees, surprised and drained by the attack. The pillar of lava returned to the water as quickly as it had come out, leaving almost no trace it had been there.

"Cyan! Are you all right?" asked Cirra breathlessly as she and Harsemhin rushed up to him.
"I'm all right," replied Cyan.
"That was some attack. What was it?" asked Harsemhin.
"Yuuki no Kyuukazan, the Dormant Volcano of Courage. I think I gained some power when I came back, but ..." started Cyan.
"But your rage was preventing you from using it," finished Harsemhin.

It would be unresonable to think that the transformation of Fourside to Fourmoon did not catch the attention of others; others who would try to stop it. This being said, it seemed that measures were being taken not too far from the heroes...

Sevend; two cities adacent to Fourside. A few dozen kilometres across the water, it was a seemingly normal town. However, it held one secret.
After the Giygas crisis, whereas aliens and robots were sighted, the Eagleland government thought it neccessary to create a new branch of special defense. One that would protect Eagleland from any future extraterrestial threats. Underneath the Sevend forest in an underground bunker is where the Eagleland Special Forces (ESF) was born.
Though relatively new, the force quickly expanded. There was much still amiss in Eagleland. Even after the defeat of Giygas, there were still many aliens left in the area. Their prime mission was to eliminate this alien threat and prevent the general public from finding out.
And with the Fourmoon crisis now, it was the ESF's responsibilty to set things right.

"Smithe!" exclaimed General Green, scanning the lab for the wayward scientist. "Where are those reports? I needed them half an hour ago!"
A pale-looking fellow in a lab coat burst in from a back room. He was carrying a stack of papers.
"Here they are sir." said Smithe, handing the papers to the general. "All the information my team could get from long-distance scanning area 51-Delta [Fourmoon]."
"It's about time!" muttered General Green, looking over the reports. "Minor Gamma-type light radiation, Neo-dark energy patterns...Interesting..."
"Indeed" stated Smithe, adjusting his glasses. "In fact, we picked up some energy and auras that we've never seen before! It's really quite amazing! I'd like to run a few more test bef-"
"Nevermind that." interrupted Green. "Cut to the chase; is it safe to send troops in?"
"Well, the main kind of radiation emitting from Area 51-Delta, the type we were afraid might be harmful to humans, so far seems to be harmless to biological targets." explained the scientist, pacing across the lab. "We've done many tests that confirm to this, but we're still not one hundred percent sure about it. I'd like to run some more tests before any units are sent in..."
"There's no time!" ordered General Green. "The darkness has already reached Onett! It'll be here very soon. He have to send troops in to destroy whatever is causing this. We'll just have to pray that your tests are accurate..."
The scientist meekly nodded.
"I understand sir..."
General Green reached to his belt and pulled out his radio communication unit and began speaking into it.
"General Green here: dispatch ESF units Beta and Omega to Area 51-Delta. Mission objective: search and destroy. Find what's causing this calamity and eliminate it! Over..."
General turned to Smithe, issuing an order.
"Continue your scans of the area. Alert me of any break-throughs." The scientist saluted and dashed back to his research. General Green, scanning over the report one last time. He saw one of the included pictures of the neon outlined buildings of Fourside and shook his head.
"We're going to have a heck of a time explaining this one to the public," grumbled the General, putting down the report and returning to his command post.

"All aboard!" yelled the commander of the Omega force. All of the few 50 members of the team clambered onto the transport ship. The beta team did the same. The motors kicked in and with a whirl of the propeller the units began heading due west. They could see the neon-dark horizon of Fourmoon in the distance.

In his lair on the top floor of the Enrich Flavour building, Raltise shuddered and suddenly jerked as though hit by a surge of electricity. He didn't have to wonder long what caused it. Over at the Numbers Bridge, the gloom was abruptly seared by intense light as Cyan's volcano of courage erupted from the water. Exactly what had caused it Raltise did not know, but he had no doubt someone in the group over there had just unleashed an ability of unprecedented power.
He glowered. The contemptuous smile he normally wore dissolved into a frown. That incompetent Mani Mani! he fumed. Those meddlesome kids were so weak before, yet he couldn't deal with them. And now they're getting stronger, threatening my plans!
He didn't have much time to act; he realized that much. He didn't know which of the group on the ruined bridge was responsible for the surge, but it was imperative they be split up as quickly as possible, lest the others pick it up as well. Time for a strong illusion of his own. One that could have multiple effects.
Raltise's eye caught a glimmer low on the horizon to the southeast. The moon was rising, a slender crescent just out of new. An idea crossed his mind. The moon could well prove useful. The frown disappeared, replaced now with his customary grin. Bringing up his hands, he formed a circle in the air, then flicked his fingers as if setting a volleyball.

"What's that?" asked Cirra as light, pale but strong enough to cast a faint shadow, suddenly blinked on around them.
"Odd, if nothing else," Harsemhin said. "Two millennia ago the moon usually rose slowly. It didn't appear suddenly in the sky like that."
Seeing the full moon in the sky, Kyle's face dropped. "Oh, no ..." He looked around for Matt. He was just a few steps away, but not yet looking up. Kyle lunged for him, shouting, "Matt! Don't look at it! Don't look up!"
"What the ... ?" Matt started saying. Oomph! and he was on the ground, bowled over by Kyles' rush. But he landed on his back, and his eyes, now cast skyward, caught sight of the white full moon above.
Matt's transformation was startling in its suddenness. Kyle found himself on the ground, but instead of pinning Matt to the bridge deck, he was face to face with the jaws of an angry wolf. The large black dog glared back at him, then curled back its lips to expose its teeth, and let loose an ominous growl.
In seconds Ness rushed over to Matt and Kyle, his bat held high. Joe saw him, and in horror realized Ness's only good target was the wolf's head. "No!" he yelled. "Don't hit him! You'll kill him!"
Ness paused. The moment of indecision was all the wolf needed. Snarling, he rolled over on to his feet and scrambled out from under Kyle. Then with astonishing swiftness he turned and bit deeply into Ness's ankle. Ness cried out. With a sudden jerk the wolf unbalanced the boy, bringing him to the ground, then began dragging him away. Ness screamed: the teeth hurt horribly, and any movement he made to try to release himself only made it worse.
RG pulled a gun and aimed for the wolf.
"Are you insane?" Mike hissed at him. "Miss by a little and you'll get Ness! Miss by a little less and you'll kill your friend!" RG turned to glare at Mike, and did not fire.
"Ness!" called TsuramiSea. "Try to stay calm! So long it's holding on to your foot, it can't get your throat! Hopefully there's still enough of Matt there that he won't hurt you."
Ness tried as best he could to follow his friend's advice. With as much self-control as he could muster, he stopped screaming and struggling. But the wolf did not slow down; it continued dragging Ness away from the others, moving ever closer to the edge of the bridge.
"Now what?" came Harsemhin's voice. "See what strange things are happening with the moon!"
RG did not look; he returned his gaze to the wolf and Ness. But Skulryk looked up, as did Cyan, Cirra, Luna, and Siris. A strange shadow seemed to be moving across the moon's face. It went back and forth from one side to the other, pausing at the edges as if probing for something. Then it jumped from the left to the right, passing through the right hand side of the moon's disc, and descended to the ground.
A squat, round man landed on the cracked and broken bridge. He was bald, and his face was marked with deep criss-cross lines. He did not smile, but gazed stonily at the group, ignoring the wolf still dragging Ness away from them all.
"Who dares summon me from my rest?" intoned the Man in the Moon.
Now even RG turned to look as everyone stared at the man. Even in this strange world of illusion, where reality and fantasy could not be separated, a visit from such an ancient and revered figure was difficult to fathom.
"Oh man, I have to get this on tape!" thought Skulryk. He pointed his camera at the Man in the Moon, lining up for a shot. But all he could see in the viewfinder was a large eyeball staring back at him. Remembering now the back-to-front nature of this world of illusion, he spun the camera around and pointed the lens at his face, the viewfinder looking at the bald, squat figure on the bridge.
"Who woke me?" the figure demanded again.
"Uh, I did," said Dan, thinking quickly. "Could you do something about that wolf?"
"I care not for your problems!" Contempt seemed to drip from his very words. "Millennia have I slept, and you awaken me for a paltry thing as this?"
"But he needs help!" said Dan.
The stony face hardened in anger. "Silence, you silly mortal!" he cried. With an abrupt flick of his wrist he sent a small, irregular chunk flying toward Dan. It struck, and in an instant the teen was encased from head to foot in hardened cheese.

Dan, not at all enjoying this small man, managed to pull the trigger of his Zapper, which he had grabbed out of reflex the moment the small man appeared. A bright red beam broke through the cheese, pieces of which broke off and fell to the ground. Dan pushed his hand through the small hole, and eventually had himself out.
"Thank you very much, moonman. At least you don't have any life threatening powers. I mean, cheese? You had to have been last in line at the super powers convention or something, because..." Dan had planned it correctly. He ducked down, and watched as the cheese hit a lunging wolf. It stopped in midair for a moment, and fell down, trapped in cheese.
"Ha!" Dan yelled, laughing as the quasi-omnipotent figure glared, not knowing what to say. "Ugh...Take your petty victories...you do not know what you're in for with Raltise..."