A look of surprised confusion passed itself among the six who overheard this.

“Monotoli? Carpainter?”

“No time for questions, I think,” said Siris, beginning to run in a southerly direction. Talus quickly followed suit.

“Yeah,” Talus added. “Let’s see what’s happening.” The rest of the group ran after them.

It was not long at all before the party reached the southern side of Onett. It could quickly be seen where the trouble was coming from; the three familiar men in question were beginning to set fire to some small buildings.

“How absolutely horrid!” shouted Rustopher. “What could possess men such as these to commit such an act!?” He looked a bit more closely. “That man is Mr. Everdred! I believe I’ll give him a piece of my mind for the review he gave of my wonderful piece of literature!”

“I don’t know why they’re doing this,” said Matt. “But I think it would be best to stop them.” As Rustopher was already far ahead of them, the others nodded their agreement.

All party members with weapons promptly drew them. Those without felt it best to use bare hands, and as the case may have been, some special powers.

Siris couldn’t help himself; it had simply been too long since he had had the pleasure of using magic on a wrongdoer. He extended the first two fingers of his right hand, and shortly they began to glow with a bright blue light. He pointed these fingers at the nearest enemy, who happened to be, quite appropriately, Mr. Carpainter. There was no magic word from Siris’s mouth; he had lately thought keywords for spells to be in bad taste. A wave of blue-colored energy suddenly spewed from his outstretched arm and into its victim, who was knocked backwards and stunned, but certainly far from defeated.

Talus looked directly at Siris. “Showoff.”

Siris grinned.

Talus was about to give Siris a piece of his mind when he felt the presence of someone sneaking up behind him. He whirled around to see Geldegarde Monotoli raising his hands like a club, ready to send them crashing down on Talus' head. Talus dodged swiftly, sending Monotoli reeling. The old man's crimson eyes sparkled brilliantly as Talus landed a kick in the back of Monotoli's kneecap, sending him crumpling to the ground. However, the dark power that had consumed him gave Monotoli the strength to go on further, and he bounced back with an agility that would have been seen as quite uncommon for a man his age.

Meanwhile, Matt and Dan were taking turns fighting against Mr. Everdred. Thinking quickly, Matt had found two planks that had fallen from the burning building, and the boys were now using them as makeshift swords. In his rage, Everdred had trouble calculating the origin of the blows, giving Matt and Dan an easy time.

"Hey, this isn't as bad as I thought it would be! I sure wish I had my Zapper though!" Dan shouted to Matt above the fray. Matt laughed despite himself, swinging his plank dangerously close to Everdred's face. In a fatal miscalculation, Everdred stepped forward to punch. Unfortunately, The corner of the plank clipped against his open ruby eye, scratching it roughly. Everdred screamed, pausing from the fight to hold his hand up to his eye and nurse it. Matt inhaled a huge breath, waiting for Everdred to recover.

A few paces away, Carpainter had changed opponents, and was now fighting against Chartreuse. Carpainter was having a hard time dodging Chartreuse's attacks, as he was seemingly able to predict all of the cultist's attacks. Carpainter cursed himself silently as he swung out with the paintbrush, only to have it swipe through thin air. He turned to see Chartreuse standing behind him, a devilish grin on his face.

"You're going to have to try harder than that!" Chartreuse laughed, easily dodging another assault. Carpainter snarled angrily, his red eyes flaring.

"I have not yet begun to paint!" He yelled, thrusting out with the brush. At that exact moment, Chartreuse turned around, having sensed a desperate need for aid by one of his group members. Carpainter was able to strike Chartreuse in the chest, creating a large blue stripe of paint across Chartreuse's shirt. Without even turning back to face his attacker, Chartreuse slammed his balled fist into Carpainter's nose, instantly knocking him to the grass. After checking with the corner of his eye to see that Carpainter was out cold, he turned to the disturbance he had sensed.

Lier X. Agerate had shown up, and he had Chione backed up against a tree, her sword in hand. He was just about to slam it between her ribs when Chartreuse moved away from the group, after checking to see that no one else was doing, and thrust out his hand. Concentrating the best of his ability, he felt Lier X's mind freeze up, halting him in place. Chione watched in fear as she saw the sign-maker's eyes flick back and forth wildly in his head, unable to move anything else. Before he had a chance to consider release himself, Chione kicked out wildly, knocking him backward. He lay in the grass, still frozen solid with her sword in hand. Chartreuse, still holding his hand out, stepped closer to the Chione, making sure the rest of the group hadn't noticed what happened.

"What did you do?" Chione asked fearfully, briefly considering retrieving her sword.

"Don't bother to get your sword," Chartreuse responded, ignoring her question. "He's gripping it too tightly."

Chione suddenly understood what had happened. "You can read minds?" She asked fearfully, wishing suddenly that she had room to step back.

"Yeah, and I can freeze them too. That's how I was able to predict Carpainter's moves, and how I locked up Liar X there. Every single thought that everyone close to me has floats into my head, and I can't do anything about it. Trust me, I didn't get this by choice."

"Then how did you get it?" Chione inquired.

"I'll have to explain later; I can't hold this guy much longer," Chartreuse said in a strained voice, indicating to the twitching Liar X with his thumb.

"You're right, we need to get back to the fight." Chione was about to step forward, but before she could move Chartreuse spoke again.

"Chione, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I can read minds...I don't want people to think that I'm looking through their thoughts, trying to find out everything about them. It's really not like that."

Chione looked up at Chartreuse; she smiled sadly as she saw his jade eyes flicker pleadingly, ignoring Liar X's gathering movements behind them.

"I promise."

-----

Vincent watched as the cops started swarming the area, trying to stop anyone from entering or leaving the town. By this time, he highly regretted leaving the hospital, for it had only led him into dead ends and other people. The strange ship was still at the back of his mind; these instincts he had about certain things were too strong to forget easily. Perhaps that was why he had trouble concentrating on other things so often.

He sighed as the police started blocking ports and driving towards the airport. It looked like after this, he wouldn't be able to get out for a while. Not wanting that to happen, he decided to follow Christina.

"Oh, it's you again," Christina said placidly as he approached. She accepted her ticket from the cashier and briefly searched for the boat she was supposed to board.

"I think I'll get out of this place while I still can," Vincent explained, motioning towards the policemen. He bought a ticket and followed Christina towards the boat.

"Sorry, can't leave," the passengers heard a voice say a few minutes later. "A vandal escaped the hotel scene, and we need to find him."

"You really think he's still around?" Vincent asked. "Don't you think someone like that would have left the crime scene as soon as possible?"

"Er... Look, I don't make orders, I just follow them."

"What a life you must lead. Look, none of us are hiding criminals on the boat, sir. You can let us go and move on to more important things."

The cop conceded and allowed the boat to begin its journey.

-----

Rustopher stomped toward the ailing Everdred, clearly peeved. "You scoundrel! How dare you pan my book and soil my reputation! Have at you!" Everdred, still cradling one eye, looked up in time to see Rustopher's fist closing in on him. With no time to dodge, Everdred took the impact of the punch square in the nose. Rustopher's immense strength, situated behind the blow, caused Everdred to rear back and crash into the wall of a brick building, some of the brick shattering off and crumbling to the ground as his head impacted with it. He slumped to the ground, out cold. Rustopher tugged at his suit jacket, pressing it with the palms of his hands, and smiled triumphantly.

Meanwhile, Talus continued kicking around Monotoli. Monotoli darted at him with a quick jab to the gut, but Talus launched a high kick forward at the assailant's face. This connected, sending the former mayor reeling backward, his head snapping up in response. Talus followed up with a roundhouse kick to the side of his opponent's head, causing Geldegarde to move with the impact of the blow, stumbling to the side. He recovered, and darted at the youth. However, Talus merely sidestepped, evading with ease, and as Monotoli released a punch, it hit nothing but empty air. Dazed momentarily from missing his attack, Monotoli could not recover in time, and was subject to Talus dropping his elbow square on his back, knocking him flat.

The group re-convened, having felled their respective adversaries. Talus swaggered up, nudging Siris playfully as if boasting over the way he mopped the floor with the former mayor. Siris muttered.

"Yeah, it sort of helps that he's an old man, doesn't it?" Talus frowned.

"Hey, I didn't see you do much of anything. You zapped a cult leader. Ooh, really impressive stuff there!" Chione interrupted.

"Would you both shut up! Anyway, why were they attacking?" She glanced at Talus. He arched an eyebrow in response.

"Wasn't it obvious? Didn't you see their eyes? They're under the red-eyed demon's control now. Which is strange..." This time it was Dan's turn to frown.

"But why?" He inquired. Talus turned to him.

"It was all too easy, wasn't it?" A wave of laughter echoed in response, each coming from the four felled foes. The group turned in time to see each one rise to their feet, their bruises disappearing as if they had never been harmed at all. The four stood together, facing the group of seven. Lier stepped forward.

"You're displeasing the puppetmaster. You need to be eliminated." Lier casually raised a hand, his palm open toward the group. With a blur of motion, a wave of dark energy erupted from his hand. The seven evaded, each in a different direction, just in time before the energy slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. Chartreuse shouted over the din.

"That's impossible! How are they still moving!?" Talus responded nonchalantly.

"They're imbued with a great evil. They're strung up like marionettes. There has to be some way to stop them..." He said this last more to himself than the rest.

"What in the world is going on!?" A thirteen year-old's voice sounded behind him. All eyes turned to see two figures running down the street. One held two swords in hand. The other brandished a baseball bat, and wore a red baseball cap. Ness came to a halt right at the edge of the battleground, and the eyes of Lier X. Agerate, Geldegarde Monotoli, Everdred, and Mr. Carpainter -- the Four Puppets -- all turned to him, staring coldly at him through bloodred orbs. Lier smiled cruelly.

"The puppetmaster awaits you, Young Protector."

-----

The storm had come up quickly. What had once been a bright, sunny autumn day had degenerated into a cloudy, typhooning autumn day.

"Please do not worry," the ship's captain's voice boomed over the intercom. "We will be docking at Fourside harbor within a number of hours."

The millennium-old quasi-Druid, Harsemhin Aberfydd, stared out his porthole window at the stormy skies. He gently handled the vial he had placed the black carnation in, treating it with respect.

I failed. Maybe I should return to my diamond stasis... he thought. I can't face her.

As he stood up, Duran Duran's Is There Something I Should Know ran through his head, and he began to whisper the lyrics.

"I made a break: I ran out yesterday, tried to find my mountain hideaway. Maybe next year maybe no go..."

Harsemhin turned on the radio. The reception was mostly static, but that was acceptable given the circumstances.

"The reasons for the mysterious fire that engulfed the Hotel du Summer yesterday are still unknown. Eyewitness reports have suggested an arsonists' bombing, but these reports are uncorroborated. A red aura, claimed a number of witnesses, surrounded Risosha Richmonde, assistant manager at the Hotel. We'll have more on this story as the news breaks."

That's strange... thought Harsemhin. Arson, in this time of peace? Ah, I'll get to Fourside. I need some relaxation.

-----

Having left Ness, the red haired boy - whose name was still entirely unknown - made his way into greater Onett. As he entered the town, a "Welcome to Onett" banner caught his eye.

"Onett? Weird name for a town," he said to himself, confusing the girl standing outside of the library.

If I can't get back just by believing I can, I'm obviously outside of the codes reach. But if I got here in the first place, that means the write technology can get me back. But where am I going to find anything sophisticated in this place?

Thoroughly stumped, he went into the drugstore he was passing to get a drink. Oddly, he couldn't find anything to drink, although there was a large selection of bats and sporting equipment. Shaking his head in disbelief, he walked up to the front counter to ask if they actually did have anything to drink. Glancing around the counter, he noticed a newspaper encased in a display.

'Hotel burns down in Summers.' No cause known. What fun. While the main headline was useless, the lower one was much more interesting. 'Prominent scientists theorize existence of separate existences'? Maybe my luck doesn't suck as badly as I thought.

He read further down. Working in conjunction, famed Sugemo expert Anthadd and Twoson's Apple Kid have released a hypothesis claiming there are more dimensions than our own. Their leading evidence for the claim was the appearance of a traveler called Cyan - one of the brave warriors who defeated the maniacal Raltise one year ago.

"What the? Is Kenji here, too? And is that the same Cyan? This is starting to get more weird than Goggle-brain back home."

"How do I get to Twoson?" he asked the clerk.

"The road goes south, out of town. As long as there isn't a road block, you can't miss Twoson."

"Thanks,' muttered the boy as he headed out the door and south.

He reached the south end of Onett just as the battle between the Ghost and Company and the puppets was starting up.

Street battle? Weird place for one, strange outfits. He shrugged. Good for them. He jumped the unattended roadblock, and continued south to Twoson, unnoticed.

-----

The ship set sail. The Toto port authority had sent in its fleet of ships to close down the port, effectively preventing any ship to enter or leave. On board the ship, Christina, Vincent, and the captain of the ship looked back at Toto. It was amazing how efficient the port authority had put their blockade into effect.

"So I see that you decided to come along, huh?" Christina looked Vincent over. "Well, that's good. I never really got a chance to meet anybody on a one on one basis. You said your name's Vincent?"

"Yeah. There wasn't much else I could do in Summers anyway. Police are crawling all over that place, enforcing their orders."

"True. A reporter -- Skulryk was his name, I believe-is still back there. Hopefully he'll be able to figure something out."

"Yeah."

The captain cleared his throat in preparation for a sea story. He looked up at the sky. Christina looked up too and saw that it was nearly dark. "Arr, I've heard some stories from some salty seadogs that a ghost haunts this 'ere waterway. I don't wanna scare any landlubbers with it, though."

Christina looked at the captain. "Well, actually, I would like to hear your story. It's nice to talk to people every once in a while." She sat down on a few shots of brand new chain. Vincent took a seat on a box of supplies.

The crusty old seadog cleared his throat once more and refilled his pipe. He took a drag on it and blew out a perfect smoke ring in the air. "Arr, before I begin, let me give this to you, yar." He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Christina. She noted that it was written in her father's handwriting. She admired it for a moment then opened it.

Well, before we set a course across the ocean, I landed at Toto to give the sailor this letter. I forgot in my last letter to tell you to be rather careful. Strange things happen out on the high seas. Anyhow, the real reason that I wanted to talk to you was that I wanted to give you this pendant. It was a gift from Dalaam's crown prince several years ago. He told me that I should give it to you when you were 17. Working has kept me pretty busy and has also kept me from my family. I wanted to give it to you. Anyway, see you soon, honey.

Dad

Christina detached the pendant from the letter. It was stuck on with a piece of tape. She inspected it closely, noting that the stone looked like an ever-changing sea of colors. Sometimes it would be green and other times it would be red. It changed color softly when she touched the stone. It was set in a gold design of some sort and etched onto the gold itself was a crest and a saying in a language that she couldn't understand. She shrugged and put the piece of jewelry around her neck.

"Say, that looks nice." Vincent had settled himself into a comfortable position on his perch atop the supplies. "Anyway captain, why not continue with your story?"

"Aye. It's been said that a ghost haunts these waterways. Some say that its wail is unbearable; others say that its stare can paralyze you. Still others say that it's just an unfortunate soul stuck between planes of existence. Arr, but they all agree that this ghost does bring some bad luck to the crew of a ship. Another fellow mariner said that he lost four kegs of spice over the side of the ship when he saw the ghost. They all also say that it comes at midnight during a night much like this one." The captain looked up at the sky. "Storm's comin'. Hope you landlubbers have your sea legs. You'll need it." He took another drag on his pipe. The captain continued with his story. Vincent dozed off in the relative safety of his seat while Christina did the same against the other bulkhead.

Hours passed. The storm outside of the ship got worse yet the ship that they were on was holding up okay. Waves two stories high crashed into the bow of the ship. The captain, being experienced with bad weather navigation, was doing well. Christina had woken up when the last wave hit. She noted that it was about midnight. She looked about, seeing that a ceiling of dark clouds had surrounded the ship. A sporadic bolt of lightning lit up the night. "About how far are we from our destination, sir?"

"Ar, I'd say about another 6 hours of sailing." The captain coughed a few times, but was alright. "I should stop smoking this pipe, yar. But don't you think that it completes the whole salty sailor appearance?"

"You know, I think that it does." Christina was being totally honest with her answer. Vincent awoke suddenly and looked outside. "What?"

"I have a feeling that there's something out there." Vincent scanned the horizon. "There!" He pointed in the direction of a milky white... thing."

"ARR! THAT BE THE GHOST!" The captain was rather nervous, but his navigation skills were not hampered in the least bit. He held his current course accurately.

The ghost, attracted by some force, came closer and closer to the ship. Eventually, it was outside of the pilot house where the captain and his passengers were located.

"You two landlubbers watch me. An old seadog taught me this maneuver. He used it when a Kraken attacked his ship while a couple of kids were with him. Apparently, he slew the thing by himself." The captain fetched his slippers and tossed them at the ghost. It was unaffected but the slippers went over the side. "Ar, they were right. It's unlucky that I lost my slippers."

The ghost went through the wall and entered the pilothouse. Christina and Vincent were rather calm about the whole ordeal and even the captain kept a straight face. It reached out and touched the pendant that Christina had around her neck. "Is this from me?" The ghost's voice was raspy, yet it sounded young.

"No..." Christina was confused. "It's from my father. He says he got it from the crown prince of Dalaam a while back."

"Oh. I remember him." The ghost let the pendant go. "He saved my life back then. A few... conspirators tried to assassinate me. He foiled their plans. He called that operation 'Crazy Birds' for some reason..." The ghost seemed to materialize a bit more, resembling a person more than what appeared to be a stinky ghost, but only for an instant. It returned to its stinky ghost form. Vincent stood his ground, taking everything in.

"How- you're the crown prince, huh? I heard that you died. I'm so sorry..."

"No, don't be. I would like to come with you. Haunting these waterways is no fun." The ghost of Poo hovered inside of the pilothouse.

"Well, I don't mind him coming." Vincent settled down into his seat again. The storm eased a bit and the waves calmed down.

"Yar, me neither. We'll be in Fourside soon." The captain lit his pipe again.

"Alright Poo. Perhaps we can figure out a way to make you better while we're looking for my dad." Christina settled down. All but the captain and the ghost of Poo went to sleep, making the voyage go much faster.

-----

Lier, Monotoli, Everdred and Carpainter closed in on the protagonists. Already tired and weakened, they weren't sure if they could hold up against Raltise's seemingly invincible cadre.

Ness, still at full strength, stepped in and struck. He recognized some faces and knew who to fight for. With a swift swing of his bat he smashed Carpainter head-on. The ex-cult-leader fell to the ground with a thud. To Ness' shock, he just picked himself up. That blow would have been enough to fell a man twice Carpainter's size, yet his opponent just grinned demonically. And continued his assault.

"We already tried that!" shouted Siris. "Raltise is giving them terrible power! We need to..."

Siris' words trailed off in Ness' mind. All he heard was that accursed name. Raltise. It burned inside of him. Haunting memories of the villain coursed through his mind. He had taken everything from him. Jeff, Poo and...Paula. All dead because of that monster.

Filled with rage, Ness turned towards the opposing group. Now he was back. Those walking 'zombies' were proof of it. He could feel Raltise's spirit emanating from them, like heat from a fire. Oh, how it burned. And now Raltise was after the only other people he knew. What next? His family? He couldn't let anyone else get hurt. He couldn't let the guilt of anyone else's death bare down upon him.

Screaming madly, he swung his bat again. Tears streamed down his face as his weapon collided at full force. The mere shock of the blow sent Lier flying into the side of a building. A snap could be heard and Lier's lifeless body fell to the ground. Even Raltise's power could not bring him back up.

Ness continued his mad assault on the others. Fueled by his rage, seemingly nothing could stop him. He cried out vengeance as he struck down each foe. No intention of 'returning them to normal' was on his mind; he was going for the kill. When one would get up, he would hit them again; this time in a more fatal manner.

Horrified by the savageness, Chione stepped in to stop him. A hand on her shoulder prevented her from doing so. It was Talus.

"That would not be wise. He his blinded by his rage and would not recognize you as a friend in his state."

"But look at what he's doing!" exclaimed Chione, struggling in the man's grasp. "We don't want to kill them!"

Talus bowed his head in sorrow.. "This anger has been brooding for a long time. Ever since the first of his friends was taken a year ago. Now, with the mention of Raltise, it has exploded out. There is little he can do to control it, and definitely no way you could help. As awful as this scene may be, we must step aside for now."

Chione nodded reluctantly. She winced as she watched the fight wrap up.

With a fierce slam to the neck Monotoli was defeated, the last of his adversaries. But Ness was not yet finished. One opponent was still left standing.

"Raltise!!!" he screamed madly. An aura of energy pulsed from around him, causing the surrounding group to duck for cover. In a second flash of light he disappeared into the sky.

Siris emerged first, a look of bewilderment on his face. "What was wrong with him?! And why could he fly?"

"Anger brings out strange things in people." narrated Talus, staring up as Ness faded from view. "Hidden abilities, hidden vendettas. When Ness fell prey to his hatred these all emerged in full force."

"Well should we go after him?" asked Chione.

"As I mentioned before, it is not advisable." stated Talus. "He is not in his right mind now."

Chione and the other remained silent for a moment, contemplating the bleak scene. Matt spoke up. "What do you think he'll do?"

Talus shook his head. "Who knows. He definitely won't find Raltise, if that's what you’re thinking. The villain would never allow such a confrontation. Not yet. And with all his henchmen dead, I'm sure he already knows about this turn of events..."