"My, what a lovely day for a battle. Mmm hmm...yes, it will all come down to this." Raltise turned from the rail on the stern of the ship and paced solemnly across the immense deck. Chaz flitted from on high, bazooka in hand.

"Well?" He said succinctly. Raltise paused, and arched his head to look at him.

"When they come, give them some fireworks." He grinned sadistically, then resumed his stride.

----

Talus stood with his arms folded across his chest, one foot propped upon the rail of the speedboat, ever facing the horizon. In the distance, a looming cloud of darkness spread increasingly. He squinted, narrowing his eyes venomously.

"There it is." He said, motioning to the distance. "Fourmoon. Raltise's ship must be directly ahead." Skulryk approached him, quickly pulling out his camera and readying it. He trained it on the distance.

"We're approaching Fourmoon now. Viewers will remember this from a year ago." He whispered a commentary. "The sky is pitch black, and the buildings look like some bad casino. Raltise is waiting aboard this ship..." He trained the camera on the massive ship, zooming on the visible object. "The SS Thed. It all comes down to this." He then trained the camera on Talus, standing solemnly by the rail. Chione and Siris approached as well, standing to either side of the white-haired boy. Chione frowned, pointing to Talus' face.

"Hey, what happened to your eye? The scar's gone." She inquired. Talus' hand reached to his cheek, fingering it. He smiled.

"Hey, you're right. What do you know? The sanctuary must have healed it." He shifted his eyes to look in her eyes. She did the same.

"...can you see out of that eye still?" A long pause. The smile faded from Talus' face, and he turned to look at the ever-growing city of Fourmoon.

"No." He stated succinctly. A long quiet passed over the ship. Nineteen heads turned to the horizon. Nineteen hearts readied themselves.

----

Step, step, step.

It's all a delicious game. Yes, yes...the pieces are in their final positions. Now, all that must be done is to achieve the final checkmate. This too, shall come in time.

Raltise ascended the steps of the great pavilion, the darkened interior comforting him. Step, step, step. The most excellent of performances was about to begin, and he, the Puppetmaster, wished to have a front row seat.

Of course, some strings may need to be severed...yes...but this is of no consequence, for while the marionettes falter, the master overcomes all tangles, and succeeds.

He sat solemnly in the great lush throne at the top of the stairs, crossing his legs and clasping his hands before him. He rested his chin on them, his face set solemnly. Two crimson eyes winked in the darkness.

----

The speedboat came to a drifting stop in the port of Fourmoon. Nineteen bodies scuttled off the small sea-worthy vessel. Nineteen pairs of eyes gazed upward at the mammoth ship before them.

"Whoa...tenacious..." Chartreuse murmured.

"It's too quiet for my tastes." Harsemhin hissed. He looked warily from person to person, then focussed on Talus. "What do you propose we do?"

"Well...we have an invitation. It'd be rude to refuse." He said, smirking. A long flight of retractable steps led the way from the rocking wooden dock to the massive yacht deck. Single file, with Talus in the lead, they piled onto the Thed. Once aboard, they looked about uneasily.

With a bang reminiscent of thunder, a rocket roared out of the murky skies and struck the deck, sending up shrapnel in all directions. The group scattered once more as a fire kicked up from the active ocean breeze. A man in green army fatigues jumped from the upper decks. Skulryk whipped out his camera, backing off and training it on the individual.

"You may have an appointment with the Puppetmaster, but I am the doorman." He stated solemnly. Chaz grinned wickedly, his shades falling lower on the bridge of his nose, revealing glowing crimson eyes.

"Chaz!?" Narcy gasped, remembering her old arms dealer. "What in the world is going on!? What are you doing!?" Chaz cast a glance at her, throwing the bazooka aside, and digging his hands into each side of his jacket.

"Simple. I'm killing you." He flung his arms outward. Dozens of miniature hand grenades scattered along the ground, and the heroes scrambled to their feet. Within seconds, the ship was aflame as the explosives detonated and fire leapt across the wooden structure. Chaz pulled two semi-automatics from his waist, clutching one and each hand, and opened fire on the throng.

Amid the roaring chaos, Chartreuse strained to focus on Chaz. He encountered disturbances from Raltise' own power, and began searching for gaps. After a minute or two, he frowned, staring incredulously. "...sheep?"

Chaz charged across the fiery clearing, straight for Chione. As he met her, Talus suddenly dove in the way, pushing her out of harm's reach, and countering Chaz' guns by gripping the barrels of each and hoisting them skyward. Chaz fired, spraying a plethora of bullets into the sky as Talus redirected him. He gritted his teeth, and kneed Talus in the stomach. The young man doubled over in pain, and Chaz took this opportunity to retrain the two semi-automatics on his skull. He grinned cruelly. A silence fell over the battlefield as nearly two dozen heads turned to the scene. Then a ball of old, grey wool struck Chaz in the side of the head and fell to the ground. He looked at it, and his bloodred eyes went wide with horror. He backed away, dropping his firearms, the guns clattering to the ground.

Chartreuse stepped forward, smiling. "Baaaah." He cooed. Chaz gripped the sides of his temple in fright, shrieking at the top of his lungs. Narcy frowned, as did Siris and Harsemhin, but they followed Chartreuse's lead. The rest followed after, save Kageru, who refused to submit to such an absurd thing. Within seconds the sound of bleating filled the battlegrounds, and Chaz was curled in the fetal position on the deck floor. Ness walked up to him, lifted him by his chin, and gazed deeply into his terror-stricken red eyes. With a flash of blue light, all of Chaz's muscles went limp, and he fell to the floor in a heap. Ness stood up.

"Alright, I hypnotized him. He shouldn't trouble us now. And he'll be fine again if we defeat Raltise." He gazed at the grand pavilion in the center of the ship. Then he quirked an eyebrow, eyeing Chartreuse. "Hey, how did you know he'd freak out like that?"

Chartreuse smirked. "He's afraid of sheep. It sort of fell into place from there." He grew solemn. "But we have a game-master to attend to. Let's end this." As if on cue, the massive doors to the pavilion swung open. An ear-shattering explosion rocked the SS Thed just then, shattering glass and structure alike. A rumble followed, and a large cloud of dust encircled those on the deck. Siris coughed as the dust entered his lungs. After this cleared, they gazed at the pavilion, only the pavilion was no longer there. Instead, the remains of its foundation lie in a heap on the deck, and in the very center of the ship, a towering staircase rose. Atop it, a throne rested, and in this throne, the Nightmare Demon reclined, one hand extended, a distinct red aura surrounding him, pulsing violently.

"Yes, yes...you took very good care of my doorman. But you will not find me quite as easy as him. Quite." He stood with a grand gesture. "Nor will you have quite as easy a time as you had in Fourmoon a year ago...Young Protector." He grinned sadistically at Ness, his yellow teeth glinting in the darkness. "Yes, yes...the Young Protector....I have waited patiently for you. And now revenge is mine. Do you see this?" He held up a bottle of Schmitt's Beer. "This holds a dear friend of yours...a girl, yes..."

A bullet streaked through the air, the sound ricocheting off the distance. The beer bottle in Raltise's hand shattered instantly, and shards littered the ground. A dull brown liquid drenched Raltise's boot. The Puppetmaster frowned. Narcy blew smoke off the end of a barrel of a colt .45. Raltise chuckled, and she paused in reply, eyeing his distant form at the top of the staircase curiously.

"I was going to drink that actually. No, your precious Paula is in another bottle I'm afraid. Or did you think I would be that...foolish?" He smirked cruelly. A long silence passed over the dark, turbulent waters. The sound of thunder ricocheted through the eerie void. Raltise surveyed his puppets appraisingly.

"Well, well...all the world's a game. And this one has come to an end. Very well, heroes! Prepare yourselves!" With a sickeningly twisted laugh that broke the silence of the waves, Raltise levitated into the air, raising both arms before him, and with a thunderclap, a massive bolt of red energy seared the twilight, blazing for the throng below with incredible speed.

All of the heroes managed to dive away or sidestep this initial blast, and quickly took up fighting poses. Hastily, Talus shouted instructions to the group.

"We need to bring him down; anyone with a shooting weapon, now is the time!"

Several things began to happen simultaneously. Dan took aim with his Super Scope, and began unleashing blast after high-energy blast. Jeff drew his gun of choice and began taking shots. Narcy, pointing a pistol into the air, let fly a succession of bullets. At the same time, the party's several great-skill users were letting fly attacks of their own: Matt began shooting beams of ghostly light, while Kapeka let loose balls of searing flame. Siris cast a random ice spell. Harsemhin used his Centaurus Flare skill, shouting its name in the process. Those who were unable to attack from a distance simply prepared themselves.

Raltise dodged many of the attacks; he allowed many of the less dangerous ones to hit him, knowing they would do no harm. He laughed as the air around him cleared. Descending a bit, he eyed his opponents.

"Hm, I suppose you want me to come closer so that you might all have a chance to fight me. Yes, quite." He calmly set himself on the deck of the SS Thed. He had not been on foot for more than a second before most of his nineteen opponents rushed to attack him.

Christina held back, not quite having power enough to be able to fight against such an enemy. "You can't all fight him at once! Form a group of five or six around him; when someone is knocked down then someone else can take their place."

The group heeded this advice. Raltise smiled as he found himself surrounded by Chartreuse, Ness, Siris, Harsemhin, Chione and Penetella. This would be all too easy.

Ness swung his bat; opposite him, Chione swung her sword. Raltise caught both of these, and reversed their attacks. Ness found himself the victim of a hard blow to the head; Chione was hit rather hard with the flat of her own blade. Both reeled. At the same time, the others around him were throwing ineffectual punches and kicks, Penetella bashing several times with one tough pair of dirty socks. Raltise delivered an iron kick to Penetella's stomach, sending him backwards. Rustopher took his place immediately and began to continue where his mohawk-sporting ally had left off.

Siris and Harsemhin's attacks had begun staggered, but the gaps between them were slowly growing smaller. Chartreuse had been throwing punches, but presently Raltise caught his arm and threw him against the deck. Anticipating an assault, Harsemhin and Siris jumped back while almost simultaneously loosing low-level Stellar and Magic attacks, respectively. New fighters joined the fray.

Talus lunged forward with a powerful kick; Matt came forth as well, wielding his as-yet-mostly-unused katana. Bruiser and Vincent began attacking as well. Raltise let loose another maniacal laugh as he began easily blocking and dodging most, if not all, of their attacks.

Harsemhin and Siris breathed heavily from outside the circle of combat. As both realized that his breathing was in direct synchronization with the other's, both smiled; and indeed, at the same moment.

During the battle, Bruiser managed to score a direct hit to Raltise's chest. Raltise, flinching the very slightest bit, immediately grabbed Bruiser's arm and threw him across the deck. Talus narrowed his eyes.

The SS Thed rocked back and forth between the force of the waves and the force of the battle raging on its surface.

Harsemhin and Siris faced Raltise, power flowing into him ever so quickly from the continued shattering of the Nightmare Rock. Raltise's own abilities grew in strength.

"Pitiful souls," Raltise muttered. "They believe they can stand up to me."

"You may believe you are invincible," Harsemhin murmured. "But that's far from the truth."

"If we believe in ourselves, we can do anything," Siris finished.

"Indra's Rage!" the two yelled out, raising their arms to the sky. From in front of them, a torrential pillar of water shot towards Raltise!

The Puppetmaster merely curled his free hand into a fist, paradoxically squelching the water pillar as if it were a fire.

"Do you still believe I can be defeated?" Raltise laughed. "If I could defeat that attack with ease, what makes you think any of you could do better with another attack?"

"Raltise... You've ruined my friends' lives," Ness growled. "I can't let that pass. I can't let you survive to perhaps return another day and ruin others' lives. PSI Rockin Omega!"

Despite Ness' best efforts, the pyrotechnic light display only served to amuse Raltise.

"Eat my lead!" Narcy yelled, firing off a few more rounds from her gun. Raltise again countered an attack: this time, blinking his eyes three times in quick succession caused the bullets to melt down to a pale grey sludge and to fall to the boat's floor.

"...this encounter is laudable, if I do say so myself. No, it isn't laudable; it's laughable. This is pitiful. And you're supposed to be the protectors of the world?" Raltise exclaimed. "You can't even strike me now."

Talus' eyes narrowed in anger. "You're despicable, Raltise. The pain you've caused is not limited to Ness and his friends."

"As if I care what you think, Talus-boy," Raltise spat. "All the world's a stage, and the people merely players, except for me. I'm the playwright. Although this is your final act, my curtain call has yet to come."

The heroes and heroines struggled to their feet. Being careful to stay away from each other in case Raltise attacked them with another red thunderbolt, they readied themselves for the onslaught they knew to be coming.

Everyone was looking warily at one another. The battle wasn't going well, and they knew it. Lightning crackled off in the distance, followed by a threatening roll of thunder. Raltise was pacing like a wolf getting ready to attack, and grinning insanely. His eyes flitted from one person to the next, surveying their movements, their weapons, and their wounds. They stopped at Chione, and the Puppetmaster stared out of his crimson eyes at her. She took a step back, and readied her grip on her sword. The whole group was ready, and on the offense.

"You reminded me of someone quite familiar..." Raltise started, not taking his eyes off her. "Yes, yes...and I was determined to know why. Why I had this sensation we'd met before, although I knew that we never had!" He took a step closer, and his face twisted evilly. Chione gritted her teeth, and raised the sword up. "Then, it came to me, in a flash! The very person I had been comparing you to, is YOU! Ah, yes indeed! I know who you are now, Luna!"

Something in the back of Chione's head clicked again. Something that was trying to remind her of something else. Of something before something else, and it happened every time somebody called her Luna. These people around her... she felt like she distinctly knew some of them, very, very well. Flashes of picture, snippets of memories rolled past behind her eyes. She furrowed her brow in frustration, and stared into Raltise's eyes with defiance and anger.

"I AM NOT LUNA!"

The sword swished through the air, with a hum like a hornet, then slashed across. Chione jumped back into place, and stared.

Raltise was still looking at Chione with elated insanity. There was a small rip in the fabric on his arm, but nothing else. "Yes, hmm...! I can see you are frustrated with your lack of memories, since what you are missing is millions of universes worth of them!" Chione's face twisted angrily, trying to remember, but Raltise pushed on. "I see you were not counting on the side-effects of the merge! Indeed, yes, but I can help you with that, Luna! Yes, just sit back, and watch now!"

Chione saw it coming, but wouldn't have been able to dodge it, even if she'd been the fastest person in the world. The wave of invisible energy hit her full force. Voices were calling to her everywhere, unable to discern the real ones from the ones in her head. She fell to her knees, shaking. Memories rushed in, memories of dying, of living again, of seeing through other's eyes. Simple memories, of growing up, and going to school. Other memories of adventures, large and small, of saving the world... she twisted around, and recognized people in a new light. Harsemhin, Siris, Narcy... these were people she knew.

But Chione's thoughts wrestled still with the flood of memories like a drowning survivor, clinging to a piece of driftwood. She tried to fight against them, and their reality, but there were too many, millions upon millions, and the teenaged girl was losing. Chione put her hands on her head, and stared at the sky, her eyes wide.

I am... Chione... Dia.., she thought silently, struggling to believe it herself, a single tear rolling out the corner of her eye.

I am... Chio-

But another thought cut it off. A much larger, truer thought, that reverberated in her mind, and wouldn't let go.

No.

I am Luna.

Shuddering violently, the lilac-haired girl fell to the ground, unconscious.

-----

Jack sat at the Happy Happy Blues Bar, drowning his sorrows in root beer. Before he'd even gotten halfway to HHV, he felt the evil influence melt away from him. So he'd tried tracking the other group, but somehow managed to lose them. He didn't feel like he had any motivation left. "Where'd I go wrong?" he moaned to himself, slumping onto the counter.

The local band combo must've gotten on stage while he'd been feeling sorry for himself, because the next thing he heard was a shock of microphone feedback. "Uh, hey, this on? ...You can hear me? Good. Sorry 'bout that. Hey, this number's for anyone out there who's got hopes or dreams but can't carry on."

The lead man sounded familiar. Jack couldn't put his finger on the voice, though.

The song started up. Something about wishes. It seemed very familiar to Jack, but he still didn't get it. He rolled his head in his arms, watching the countertop slide back and forth under his eyes.

Then he heard the line that told him everything. The lead man sang it with such a heartfelt quality, he knew it couldn't be anyone else.

"I wish I was the full moon shining off a Camaro's hood..."

Nope, it wasn't Eddie Vedder, nor was it his non-union Eagleland equivalent. Jack spun around on his stool, glanced up at the stage for the first time. The man on stage was dressed in full flannel-wearing splendor, and had an unusual kilt around his waist. It was none other than the man they call SimonBob.

Seeing that Jack noticed him, Simon shot Jack a grin. It was the kind of grin that would remind you of Douglas Adams's popular "Ford Prefect" character.

After the song ended, Simon left the combo to play some more rock while he went to talk to Jack. "What's the word, man?"

"Chillin' bad, but not as bad as your fashion sense," Jack replied in a decidedly uncharacteristic change of style. "What's up with the kilt?"

"You know me, I do laundry at bad times," Simon confessed. "Hey, listen. I know it seems rough..."

"Yeah?" Jack prompted, hoping for some kind of revelation.

"...but it's about to get a lot tougher." Simon shook his head. "Might as well let you down now. The whole thing with the Regime? Totally fake."

"What?" Jack was astonished. This was like telling a normal Foursider that the Department Store was run by aliens; it was completely unbelievable.

"Yep. I did the British voice myself." Simon switched into his accent to demonstrate. "Pack o' fags, mate?"

"You're a ciga-"

"Yes, yes, we've all seen the Clerks cartoon," Simon interrupted. "Listen, forget every single picture I showed you and memorize this one. The name's Raltise, and once he's wiped out, it's all over." He handed Jack an 8 by 10 glossy color photo of a truly chilling man, whose two striking stripes of crimson hair would make him easy to remember even if the onlooker had Alzheimer's.

Jack studied the picture, then looked up at Simon. "We goin' after this guy?"

Simon grinned his wild grin again. "You're going after him. I have things to do. But I'll take you there." He dropped some cash on the bar for Jack's drinks and started to leave. Jack got up to follow him.

"After all," Simon continued on the way out, "some of us are doers, and some of us are leaders. I'm too busy running around to be a doer, so I'll settle for leader." He climbed aboard a bus. Jack couldn't help but feel a little strange about the symbolism of following Simon onto it.

"Right, let's get going!" Simon fired up the engine and drove it haphazardly up a rickety-looking ramp, onto the cliff surrounding HHV. From there, he drove haphazardly across the grass, then jumped the edge and landed on the desert highway, nonchalantly humming "Too much, the Magic Bus" while drumming out the respective beat pattern on the steering wheel.

"Geez!" Jack yelled from the back, trying to hang on. "Where'd you get this thing?"

"Well, it's kinda funny," Simon said whimsically as he dodged around a special forces roadblock. "I was playing GTA3 a little while ago, when suddenly, the dimensional fabric of the universe twitched, and I was dropped into the game. So I managed to steal a bus and drive it through my TV screen, which is why those cops are chasing us. Be a pal and shoot 'em out for me, would ya?"

Jack pulled out his matching white/black MP5s and fired at the chasing cops through the emergency back door, knocking out the tires on two of the lead squad cars, which resulted in a good-sized roadblock that stopped the chase prematurely.

"Good shootin'. Now we need to go out on the water." Simon pulled the bus over and leapt through the window into a yellow four-seater motorboat. Jack chose to stand behind so that he looked cooler.

After a few minutes of driving, Simon pointed to a large ship that seemed to loom out of the fog. "That's Raltise's ship. You go up there and take care of him."

"No problem!" Jack vaulted out of the motorboat with a little help from the ejection seat and landed on the deck. Spotting Raltise, he lifted his MP5s and emptied both clips into him, screaming defiance.

Raltise didn't even flinch. When the last bullet hit the deck, he knocked Jack clean off his feet with a mere wink. Jack had been an enjoyable plaything, but now.. he was just another useless man.

Jack lay on his back, staring up at the sky, knowing he was dying. Then he got the feeling that he wasn't gonna die, at least not right away. He sat up to see Simon standing in front of him.

"You're not gonna die, at least not right away. I would hate for you to miss this."

"Miss what?"

"How to kill an evildoer, part one of one." Simon turned to Raltise and belted him with a right hook. Amazingly enough, Raltise staggered from the blow. Simon continued to hit him with double-fisted uppercuts, bouncing Raltise's head like a volleyball, until finally hitting him with a straight left that seemed to carry the universe behind it. Then Simon threw his flannel open, firing off twin hookshots that dragged Raltise to him, and tossed him over his head by the neck.

"See? Easy." True to Simon's word, Raltise didn't appear to be breathing. Everyone gave Simon a lovely round of applause, but stopped as he poured a handful of golden sparks over Raltise's body.

"What'd you do that for?!" Jack demanded angrily. "We had him finished off!"

Simon kicked Jack in the head, knocking him flat on his back again. "Because I'm not supposed to be here, dum dum. I'm gettin' outta here before someone else beats me up. With that, he jumped off the boat and began walking across the water towards Summers.

Jack's mind raced. Alright, so if Simon could beat the crap out of Raltise.. no, that line of reasoning went nowhere. Simon was nothing like anyone else here. Or maybe he'd just dreamed the whole thing. Either way, it was no good simply challenging Raltise to fisticuffs.

Maybe with something sharp, though...

Jack reached into his suit, grabbed something that felt sort of like a pen. Nice and sharp, was a pen. He leapt to his feet and ran forward, stabbing Raltise square in the heart with it. He collapsed to the ground as Raltise stared at him, completely incredulous.

"Hmmm. A poor choice of weapon, my friend.. what will you do now!!" Raltise shouted as he grew to twice his original size.

Jack turned over, looked at the object he he'd been holding, which he thought was a pen. It wasn't.

It was the second needle of growth serum. And he'd emptied it into Raltise.

"Whoops," he said, just loud enough to cause Simon to facepalm on Carillon Beach.

Needless to say, Simon didn't bother to invite himself back to Raltise's boat party.