Meanwhile, in the south streets of Onett, a pale aqua Pinto rolled slowly down the street. The man in the driver's seat looked out the window, eyeing the brilliant shades of yellow and green that adorned the mid-autumn leaves of the maple trees. He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, trying in vain to smooth it out. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain, as the nearly black locks bounced back to their original position. He sighed, blowing on the edge of his mustache. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him that drastically brightened his mood. His fingers drifted towards the radio dial, stopping short of the play button.

The man had just dropped his younger sister off at the Onett library, and this was his first chance to actually listen to some music of his choice. It was not that his sister didn't like the music he chose, it's just that he was always a little overprotective of her, considering the six years age difference between them. However, by this point it mattered very little, since he was 35 years old, and she was 29. Well, physically anyway. His closest estimation for their actual ages was hovering somewhere around three thousand, but he really had no idea…

Shaking his head suddenly, the dark haired man brushed off all of his previous thoughts. He pushed the play button on the radio, bringing up a recent Tenacious D song. Sliding on a pair of black sunglasses from his glove compartment, he flipped down his overhead mirror and glanced at himself.

"I have to say, I look pretty good." He laughed to himself, snapping his fingers. He leaned down to raise the volume on the radio, keeping his eyes off the road for a brief second. However, that second was all he needed to completely miss the trio standing in front of him...

Dan stormed out of the library, completely irate. He had just sat down to do his English homework when he realized that he had left the book they were supposed to read for the night in the arcade, which was several blocks away. Muttering to himself, he raced toward the arcade, running to make up for the lost time. Although he would have usually accepted this change of pace as exciting, the thought of loosing so much time to work on his homework irritated him to no end.

He reached the arcade in record time, and scanned the room for his book. In a few moments, Dan spotted it resting on top of the new Skeeball machine. He grabbed it hastily and ran back out, determined to make it back to the library with enough time to finish reading before the building locked up for the night. In his haste, he neglected to look both ways before he crossed the street, and instead barged across the road. Suddenly, he felt his nose slam up against a solid surface, instantly bruising it.

"Hey, my nose!"

He looked up to see a familiar face rubbing his forehead, not looking in Dan's direction. However, the boy next to the familiar person suddenly thrust out his hand.

"Look out for the car!"

-----

Moments before, Siris and Matt had finished devouring their pizza while catching up on old times. Matt had tried to be delicate whenever the issue of the fire in Summers came up, but Siris seemed to lose a little more of his appetite each time it was referred to. This being the case, their outing was relatively short. However, Matt was still hungry, so Siris walked with him to the bakery to retrieve a butter roll. When they were through, Matt stepped out onto the street corner with Siris close behind him. They walked silently together, Matt's attentions focused on the roll, Siris staring at the ground.

"Hey, my nose!"

Matt looked up from his roll to see another boy standing next to Siris, holding a book in his one hand and rubbing his nose with the other. He was about to offer them help when he saw a rush of aqua with the corner of his eye.

"Look out for the car!"

Looking up from the radio, the man slammed the breaks just in time to keep from hitting the three boys in front of him. The squeal of the tires caused them all to look up abruptly, completely disbelieving. When they did, the man rubbed his eyes with shock and recognition.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

He stepped out of the car as he removed his sunglasses, listening to the boys instantly recognize each other once the confusion was over.

"Dan, is that you?" Siris asked, his jaw dropped considerably. Dan nodded mutely, blinking. The man put his hand to his mouth and coughed, gaining their attention.

"Dan? Siris? What in the name of all things holy are you doing here?"

Dan and Siris looked at the man. Siris narrowed his eyes, recognizing the voice.

"Who are you? And how did you know my name?" He asked, terse because of his confusion. The thought of recognizing the voice without having seen this person before was irritating to him, and it was clearly showing.

The man looked down at himself and suddenly let out a loud laugh, instantly seeing the problem. Siris scowled.

"I don't see what's so funny."

When the man finish laughing, he held out his hand sheepishly. "It's me, Chartreuse! Just don't use your aura magic on me!"

Dan's eyebrows shot up, recognizing the person before him quicker than Siris did. "But...you! You were a ghost! A green ghost! What? Where's Anna?" Upon hearing the word Anna, Siris realized whom he was talking to.

"It's you! You're the ghost who helped up defeat Belch! But look at you!"

"Yeah, here in the flesh. Sorry to shock you guys like this; I never thought I'd see you again, so I hadn't exactly prepared an explanation."

"How are you alive?" Dan queried, ignoring the confused Matt at his side.

"That's a funny question, which I'm going to try to summarize as best I can. While Anna and the rest of us were touring around the universes, we met up with this scientist in Fourside who was doing some research on Fire Shamans, and to make a long story short, she found the way to bring my siblings and me back to life. So Scarlet, Saffron, Indigo and I all look the way we did just before we died. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Wait - you all live in Fourside now?" Siris asked, watching Matt out of the corner of his eye. Matt stood still, monitoring the conversation with complete mystification.

Chartreuse nodded. "Anna and Saffron live in a penthouse in the middle of Fourside, and Indigo and I live with Narcissa Topolla, the scientist who revived us, back in her lab. I was just doing some errands for her, in fact, before I dropped Indigo off at the library." Dan gaped as he looked at the car behind Chartreuse. Almost eons ago, he remembered leaning up against that car, his Zapper in hand as he faced off one Narcissa Topolla...

"Narcy?"

Chartreuse raised his eyebrows. "You know Narcy? Boy, do we have some catching up to do..."

“This is all very well,” said Siris, suddenly feeling as if he didn't have much of a clue what anyone was talking about; and indeed he didn't, as he had never encountered a woman named Narcissa Topolla. He thought he might have remembered hearing about her from somewhere, but he wasn't quite sure if he did or not. Probably just deja vu, he decided. “But what exactly…” He paused, and looked disturbed for a moment. Something was bothering him. Was it the fact that four adventuring males had coincidentally ended up in the same town, and indeed were presently having a conversation? Was it that seeing familiar faces and hearing familiar voices (and indeed, viewing familiar auras) was bringing back even more memories, most of which he would have liked to forget? No, it was something simpler, more mundanely irritating…

“Where’s that awful music coming from?” As it turned out, the music was coming from Chartreuse’s idle car.

“Oh,” Chartreuse said. “It’s coming from my stereo. I’ll turn it off if you like.”

“Please,” said Siris with a frown. He lightened up as the music died down. “As I was saying… what exactly brought us all together? I don’t really trust coincidences anymore.”

“I know what you mean,” muttered Dan. Matt nodded.

Siris continued, even though he had probably already made his point clear by now. “Every time that I’ve met with one or more of you, I’ve ended up being involved in some world-saving adventure.”

“So then, what happens now?” asked Matt.

“I… uh… guess we have to be sure the world needs saving before we can actually go ahead and save it.”

“That would certainly be a good idea.”

Meanwhile, at his house near the hilltop, Ness lay on his bed, alone in his room. There was not much he cared to be doing besides this at the moment, though he wished endlessly that he could be doing something to occupy himself. It didn’t really matter; it wouldn’t have been the same. One thought still plagued his mind, still as strong as it was a year ago.

All of my friends are gone.

During his first adventure, this feeling had certainly been on his mind a number of times, though to a much lesser extent. All those times they had merely been unconscious; easily revived with a trial of PSI Healing or a visit to the hospital. They couldn’t be revived now. No amount of PSI Healing could bring people back from the dead. Not for the first time, Ness began to cry. It wasn’t fair. They had been too young to die. And why couldn’t he at least have been taken along with them? He was sure that if Dr. Andonuts were still alive he would have developed, or at least attempted to develop, a machine that could bring them back. But Dr. Andonuts was dead too, and Ness suspected that a scientist like him didn’t exist in the world. He continued to sob.

"Ness, there's some strange guy who was just outside a moment ago," Tracy called as she entered her home. "He was acting kind of weird. I thought maybe he was a friend of yours." She walked up the stairs towards her room, stopping in her doorway when she glanced at Ness briefly.

"It couldn't have been. My friends are all dead," he whispered bitterly, tears still fresh on his face.

Tracy turned and entered Ness' room unhappily. "Ness, I thought you were over this already. It's been a year; you need to move on."

Ness' eyes met Tracy's. "It's not that easy. They were my closest friends," he argued. "And the only reason they died is because of me." The tears started silently flowing again, and he turned away to conceal them. "You could never understand."

Tracy's tone became angry. "It's YOU who doesn't understand," she retorted. "I'm fed up with all of your whining. Don't you realize that when you mope about them that you're hurting us, too? Mom spends a good amount of time worrying about you whenever you start this up again. And I worry, too, Ness." Her voice calmed, and she sighed. "Just... don't let Mom see you like this," she concluded, walking out.

-----

The gentle ocean waves lapped at the wooden boat's port. The sun was rising, quietly ascending in the east, casting its warming rays on the deck of the small vessel. The ship rocked and heaved as the waves smacked against it, causing that sensation common on the open sea. Ocean sickness. That was what the ship captain was feeling now, tied tightly to the mast. A few paces in front of him, facing in the direction they were travelling, stood a squat man with very little hair and a thick, bushy black mustache. A twisted grin danced on his lips.

Risosha viewed the rising sun through bloodred eyes. He licked his lips and snapped militaristically in the opposite direction, now facing the captain. His face seemed uncharacteristically contorted in a sneer.

"Well, good sir, perhaps you may...enlighten me. Yes, yes...but to what? Quite simple, yes! I believe you know of a...Young Protector. You traveled with him once. A young boy, in his teens...mm hmm...yes, he wore a red baseball cap. Surely you remember this. Quite." He strode forward, eyeing the captain, continuing to lick his lips.

"Why you! If I wasn't tied up I'd throw my slippers at you!" The captain exclaimed. "Arr, I'm not tellin' ye anything, matey! Tis mutiny! Let me go this instant, blast ye! Why I--" He was cut short as Risosha's hand closed around his throat, tightening relentlessly. He gasped, choking on his own saliva, unable to inhale.

"Now, now..." Risosha leaned in, his face quite close to the captain's own. "I have come.... such a long way to see the Young Protector. It would be a shame if I could not find him, wouldn't you agree?" His hand moved up, gripping the captain's chin, and he shook the captain's head for him, nodding it slowly up and down. His grip tightened considerably, and the captain's eyes seemed to grow vacant, almost filmy as he did so. "And now, my dear captain...you will tell me where the Young Protector is."

After a moment, the stunned captain at last spoke. "He's in...Onett. Aye, that's where he be." He snapped out of his reverie at once. Risosha chuckled.

"Excellent....yes, quite." He removed his hand with a snap of the wrist and cradled it with his other. He turned his back briefly to the captain, and a strange, purple energy began to pulse in the protected hand. The index finger grew in length, becoming more pointed, until at last it was the equivalent of a claw or dagger. With one blur of movement, Risosha darted his hand across the captain's face, drawing a gash across his cheek. Fresh blood trickled from the wound. Risosha leaned in and stroked some of the blood off his face, placing the now-stained finger in his mouth and licking the red fluid off, seeming to savor it.

"Delicious." Risosha licked his lips, as if planning on a second helping. Instead, he straightened.

"You, dear captain, are of no more use to me. You will make an excellent trophy, however." Risosha's right hand shot out and gripped the side of the captain's temple. He leaned close, piercing him with those deadly crimson eyes. The captain gasped, and a wave of nausea encompassed him. A wave of white energy engulfed the sea-faring man, drawing from him into Risosha's own arm. The captain struggled noticeably against his bonds, then in a moment, lie still, and his head rolled to the side. His tongue lolled off the side of his mouth, and his eyes, once full of vigor, were now vacant and glassy. Risosha turned to the horizon again.

"Well, Young Protector. We shall see what sort of challenge you pose."

-----

Rustopher sped through the streets of Onett. His short, neatly combed black hair did not move as he walked. His closely trimmed beard also stayed still as the seven-footer raced through the sidewalks of Onett. He was on a mission to stop the buffoonery of the TV evangelist, Everdred. A group of oddly-dressed people were in his path of destruction.

"Out of my way, peons! I am on a mission to express my disgust with Everdred and the Onett Public Broadcasting System!"

Chartreuse raised an eyebrow as he looked at the man before him. Never had he seem someone in Onett so overdressed for an occasion.

"Excuse me?" he asked, approaching Rustopher.

Rustopher glared at Chartreuse. "What do you want with me? I'm a very busy man! I do not have time for small fry!"

Standing at almost six feet tall and being relatively well built, this was the first time in Chartreuse's life that he had ever been referred to as a 'small fry.' However, the man before him was right. Although he cut quite a nonviolent figure, what with his choice of clothing and mannerisms, this newcomer could have easily stepped on him.

He coughed slightly, wishing he didn't approach the man in the first place.

"You could have been a little more polite," He finally mustered.

"Do you have any business with me? Otherwise, I need not to be associating with the likes of your kind."

"All right, chief" mocked Chartreuse as he backed out of the way. Matt and Siris followed his lead.

"Darn it!" yelled Matt. "I dropped my butter roll." He kicked it away.

"Speaking of butter rolls, that man's aura is strangely familiar," commented Siris as he tried to locate the aura.

Chartreuse's eyes lit up. "Rusty! What are you doing dressed like that?" he said, laughing.

Rustopher, caught off guard, turned his head, but kept walking. Unfortunately, he didn't see the butter roll next to the banana peel on an oil slick. He fell flat on his face in the oil slick. Infuriated, he picked himself up and marched over to Chartreuse.

"Rusty? You infernal being! I do not even know you and you think we are pals? You go ahead and trip me and now you have the authority to change my name? And look at my attire! These stains will never come out! I demand that you buy me new clothes. You better believe that I am will not let you out of my sight until I receive these exact same clothes in perfect condition!!!"

Siris looked at Matt. Matt was looking right back at him. In unison, they both looked at Chartreuse.

"Well isn't that a kick in the teeth?" remarked Chartreuse with a goofy grin.

-----

Christina arrived to a town filled with smoke and awe-struck visitors. Looking around slowly, she noticed that the hotel was on fire. Living in a secluded part of town has its ups and downs; not knowing what's going on is definitely a down. It also doesn't help that a person spends most of their time outside. Christina, not knowing what exactly was going on, decided to ask a passerby what happened.

Seeing a car coming down the road, Christina hailed it, waving her arms rapidly. It slowed to a stop. The car was one of the later model Honda Diamond Dogs. As it stopped, Christina put her hand down on the hood. The driver exploded in a rage.

"EXCUSE ME YOUNG... lady." The driver, a young man in his early twenties, noticed that the person touching his car was no ordinary person. The person was an attractive young blonde. "Hey baby, how's it goin'?" The guy flashed a smile to Christina. "I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?"

Christina, although knowing where this was going, decided to ask the man what was happening in town. "Sir, can you tell me why there's so much smoke here?"

"Sure thing, babe. L'hotel du Summers burned down last night. It's such a shame too because a good looking guy like me and a hot girl such as yourself cou-"

"Thank you." Christina ran down the street because she knew that some cheesy pick up lines were about to be said. She noticed that she was only two blocks away from the jeweler. She started to walk at a leisurely pace. A few minutes later and she was there. Before entering, however, she decided to call her mom. She took out her cell phone and dialed her phone number.

"Hello?" A feminine voice could be heard over the phone.

"Hey mom, it's me. I'm at the jeweler. I found another diamond earlier. Also, I found about $3000 just lying in the street. I guess I should go to the police."

"That's nice, dear. Come home soon, okay?"

"Mom, did you know that the hotel in Summers burnt down?"

"Yes, I saw it on the news earlier. You really should watch more TV. I mean, my goodness, most parents have to tell their kids to get away from the TV, but here I am telling you to watch more of it!"

"Mm. I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, I'm going to get this diamond checked out. Back later!" Christina hung up the phone and walked into the jeweler.

"Why HELLO Mth. Evanhouthe!" The jeweler, a fruity guy in his mid-fifties, had a lisp. "What bringth you hear today? Another Evanhouthe diamond?" He laughed, knowing that there's no way a 17 year old girl could find another humongous diamond.

"Actually, that's exactly why I'm here, sir." Christina had carried the diamond in behind her back. She didn't want the jeweler to pass out or anything. "I need you to check this out." She dropped the diamond on the jeweler's display case. It broke along a central plane, creating two smaller diamonds. "Hm, look at that." The jeweler's jaw dropped. He brought out his monocle and inspected both halves of the diamond.

"Mmm, yeth, thith diamond hath a good quality." He brought both halves to a scale and nearly passed out. "Mth. Evanhouthe, thethe diamondth BOTH weigh more than the Evanhouthe! You could be a millionaire!" The excitement of the discovery actually caused the jeweler to pass out.

"Oh, that's great, sir. Sir? Are you alright?" Christina went over to the jeweler and shook him, trying to make him recover from his shock. She stood up and started to walk over to the phone to call an ambulance when she noticed that paramedics were outside the window taking a break from the hotel disaster. She leaned out the window and called over to the paramedics. "Hey, I need a paramedic over here. The jeweler passed out again." The paramedics shrugged and walked into the jeweler's shop to give the jeweler aid for the seventh time today.

In the meantime, Christina left the jeweler in order to explore the town. Being disconnected from what was going on really didn't sit well with her. She decided that the jeweler-when he came to-would watch her diamonds. She walked off towards the former hotel to find out what was happening.

-----

Ness stared blankly out of his window. Despite the fact a year had passed, the deaths of Paula, Jeff and Poo still hung around his neck like the albatross hung around the neck of the Ancient Mariner. Ness had always felt he could have done something that would have prevented his friends' deaths.

That Tracy had become angry with him had not helped his situation. But she had gotten through to him, somewhat: he understood that he couldn't let his mother see him like this.

"You're the chosen boy, Ness," he whispered to himself. "You're supposed to save the world, not withdraw into your own personal world. Face the world." Summoning his courage, he wiped his eyes with his arm and walked outside.

Tracy knocked harshly on the Minches' front door. Inwardly, she fumed. She was angry with her brother for refusing to move on with his life. Other people lose friends, Tracy thought. Why can't Ness accept that he's lost his friends?

-----

A year had gone passed, aging the Adonuts lab considerably. Where there was once the light of knowledge, a darkness of sorrow now clung to the walls, seeping in through the cracks and out into the south of winters. All the trees in the area had died; whether it was from neglect or from some higher power would never be known.

Inside the lab, a coral toned stinky ghost hovered through the halls, displacing spiderwebs as she went. The air around her was thick, almost foggy; the mold that had sprung up over the year had taken over the lab, filling it with tiny clouds of spores at every turn.

The pink ghost lifted one of her horns, as though it were an ear. She could hear violin music coming from downstairs, past the room where the Sky Runner had departed from. Sighing, she floated down the stairs and towards the hum of the soulful dirge.

When the ghost entered the room, she saw another of her kind resting in a red easy chair, his hunter green arms tilted to the side as he rested a violin as best he could against his neck; for the ghost, impaired without a chin, this was no easy task. Before the pink ghost alerted her housemate that she had arrived, she took a moment to listen to the melody being played. As it wavered through the air, she smiled softly, shutting her eyes. It was the sound stone melody, although much more mournful than it had been when she had first heard it.

Having heard enough, the pink ghost interrupted the violinist.

"Jeff? What are you doing?" She asked slowly, taking care to speak gently toward him. The ghost in question opened his eyes behind his glasses and rested his violin in his lap.

"Paula, I didn't see you come in," he responded wearily, slumping in the chair. Paula nodded, the feelings of being around Jeff making her feel glum.

"I know." She said finally. The two stared at each other for a moment before Paula finally spoke again.

"Jeff, I know that what's happened to us is bad, but we need to make the best of the circumstances."

"Bad?" Jeff snapped suddenly, his voice bouncing around the room. His voice held a mocking tone as he repeated the word again, stinging Paula's ears. "We're dead, Paula. I don't see how it's possible to make the best of the situation!" So saying, he slumped down in his chair again. However, Paula was resolute in making him listen. They had had this conversation one too many times for her taste, and being gentle wasn't working. While Jeff was looking downward, Paula grabbed a hand-mirror from a desk nearby. Before bringing it over to her sullen partner, she blew on the glass slowly, knocking off a thick layer of dust that had formed on its edges. When she was at Jeff's side, she held it up to him carefully.

"Jeff, look at yourself..." She whispered, the mirror shaking in her wavering hand. Jeff turned away.

"What's the point? I know what I'm going to see," He replied sullenly, not looking at her. Paula narrowed her eyebrows, pushing the mirror toward him.

"Look at yourself!" She commanded, thrusting the glass forward. Enraged, Jeff slammed out his hand, knocking the mirror out of Paula's grip. It flew into the wall, shattering the glass within. One of the larger shards landed at the foot of Jeff's chair, and he looked down at it. A dark green stinky ghost stared back, his eyes impossible to see as the light bounced off his glasses. Jeff felt his body wracked by a single sob, but he held it back before he began crying.

Paula looked at him sadly, putting a comforting arm around his shoulders.

"Jeff, we can't stay here forever. We're like this for a reason, and we need to find out what that reason is...Jeff?" She asked, wondering if he was listening. When he turned toward her, dripping tears ran down the lenses of his glasses.

"Paula...I don't want to be like this anymore..." He sobbed, leaning toward her. She hugged him gently, patting him on the back.

"I know, I know," She said, consoling him. Despite her best efforts, she felt the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I don't want to be like this either."

-----

Ness walked aimlessly south from his front door. He wasn't going anywhere, but he wanted to be somewhere else. "Since I couldn't save them, I wish I could bring them back... They brought Cyan back, after all," Ness muttered to himself.

By now he was a distance down the path. His eye caught the boy his sister had mentioned. Then a spiteful little crow flew towards the boy.

"Hey! Look behind you!" Ness called.

No sooner did the words leave Ness' mouth, than the boy reached to his belt and out of nowhere a sheathe appeared. He drew his sword quickly and spun around, guiding the sword to hit the crow as he turned. The spiteful crow returned to normal, and the boy sheathed his weapon - the sheathe reappearing to accept the sword, and disappearing with it. This all seemed familiar to Ness, but he didn't know why.

"That wasn't a threat..." the boy said aloud, shaking his head slowly.

"Uh ... I guess you're okay."

"Isn't that what I said?" He then realized he made the mistake again. "Shima ... yeah, I'm fine. You look familiar ... who are you?"

"I'm Ness, but I really want to be alone right now." Ness walked past the boy.

"What's eating you?"

"My best friends are gone because I couldn't save them, that's what," Ness replied, dryly.

"Is that all? Quit whining and grow a back bone." Ness topped in his tracks. "If you can't get over it, fix it."

"What's your problem?" asked Ness. His spirit may have been broken by the death of his friends, but his fighting spirit wasn't gone for good.

This time it was the boy's turn to walk past Ness. "Nothing. Just giving you a hint I learned along the way. Sometimes all it takes is a wish to fix things, but it didn't work for me this time, so I'm going to go find a way to get home to my friends. There's almost always a way. Cya!"

Ness just stood there as the boy walked away.

Maybe he's right. There's gotta be a way, but it still hurts...