"Which way did Riley go?" PikaChan wondered out loud. She was now wandering in the middle of Fourside. Above her, if she cared to look, wafted a mysterious cloud of smoke from the clouds themselves.

A glinting of light as if from a sword's blade appeared in a nearby alley. Emboldened, she chased after the glinting, only to find it a mirror that had fallen from an apartment window.

"Seven years' bad luck. I hope whoever lost that mirror has insurance," she murmured.

PikaChan climbed on the brick wall that separated one half of the alley from the other. From there, she leapt from balcony to balcony until she reached the tops of the buildings of Fourside.

"I should be able to find him from here..." she whispered, and began to confidently leap from building top to building top.

Seong-un struggled up.

"Did anyone get the regithtry number on that firearm?" he stammered rather incoherently as he forced himself up, first to a sitting position, and then to a rather shaky standing position.

Paithan walked over to Seong-un, he himself rather weakened by his battle with Riley.

"Are you all right? I apologize for Riley in his stead. He's not himself."

"I think tho..." Seong-un mumbled, fumbling around in his mouth with his tongue, then sticking his hand in it and pulling out a tooth. "Wonderful, Riley'zh thword knocked out one of my teeth.

An integral one, too."

"My name's Paithan; what's yours?"

"Kong. Theong-un Kong."

"Is that Theong-un or Seong-un?"

"Theong-un." Seong-un glared. "I mean, the thecond one."

Paithan smiled grimly.

PikaChan landed nimbly on an apartment complex not far from the Monotoli, er, Enrich Flavor Building. From this new vantage point, she spotted Riley.

She leapt down and confronted him.

"Now, it's your turn to suffer the fate of your comrades," the darkness-voice said, manifesting itself through Riley's larynx.

PikaChan unsheathed Riley's father's sword. "I doubt that highly, whoever you are."

Be careful! Riley's regular mind-voice warned. If you even look as if you're going to attack him, Riley might—

Riley blinked slightly at PikaChan. His face blanched, and he ran off.

PikaChan attempted to race after him, but soon lost him.

"Argh!" she yelled.

I told you so, pooh-poohed the voice. Now, let's go see the others, how they're faring. We may need them to help hold Riley up while you get close enough to him.

PikaChan sighed and began a lonely trek, with Riley's mind-voice, back to where she had left the others.

Eric, now almost healthy after his fight, was sitting against a wall, massaging his right shoulder. He had his PSI aura up, speeding up the recovery, waiting for PikaChan, and hopefully a sane Riley, to get back. Paithan and Seong-un were a few yards away, talking, although Eric couldn't hear their exact words. Paithan seemed to be pointing at something, and the two walked over to Eric.

"Eric, this is Seong-un Kong. He's got an injury caused lisp right now, so he asked me to tell you that." Paithan was cheery, yet subdued a bit.

Eric groaned back, "Nice to meet ya. Could one of you grab my sword over there for me? My shoulder's still hurtin' from that grab." The red aura around his injured shoulder flared up a bit as he thanked his lucky stars he came up with that darkness shield so suddenly. Seong-un came up with the sword and laid it in front of Eric, who thanked him. Eric sheathed the sword with his off-hand and got back to healing himself.

"Eric, do you know where PikaChan went?" Paithan must've not seen her run off.

"Yeah, to find Riley and get him back to normal."

Having evaded PikaChan, Riley now stood alone on the roof of one of Fourside's many tall buildings. He stared out over the skyline.

"Where are you, father? You know you can't hide from me."

He formed a ball of dark energy in his hand. It flamed as if it was on fire, then suddenly froze.

"You may have had power of your own ... but I've surpassed it. You cannot hide from a power beyond yours."

He held his hand out in front of him, and concentrated. The frozen flame blazed into life again, and shot out from his palm. It streaked into a building across from the one he was standing on. The resulting explosion left a sizeable hole.

Riley didn't stop to wonder or care if anyone was caught in the blast, it was only the confirmation of his power which held his attention.

"Dark Matter can be the beginning - and the end - to many things. For you, father, it will be the end. But for my power, this is just the beginning."

He lifted off the building, and began searching the city from the air.

Meanwhile, well beyond the boundaries of Fourside, another felt the power radiating from Riley, and realized he was a kindred spirit - fighting to defeat that which had overshadowed him for too long.

----

The fairground was leveled completely into the dirt by the time Rasheed allowed himself to lower the shotgun to the ground, which he did with little flair. Once he had tossed the gun away, he turned to Dio and Tracy.

"Now that I've managed to calm myself, ladies, I have some business to attend to. Dio, would you care to rent us a spot at the Threed hotel? It's been a long day, and we're going to need to sleep sometime soon. Don't you agree?"

Dio stared at Rasheed, her eyes narrow. Hadn't it just been last night when he had been yelling at them for wanting to sleep and wasting his time? Something was up, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Rasheed, aren't you worried about cutting it close on time? The horsemen haven't returned, and we have no idea who's tailing us now-"

"Dio, leave the schemes to the schematic. Don't worry yourself about matters such as this," He responded distractedly, waving his hand around airily. Dio curled her lip.

"Some schematic," She snorted to herself, turning away momentarily. "Fine, Rasheed, I'll go to the hotel. What do you want me to do with Tracy?"

"She can take care of herself," He responded coolly. "Much better than you can." So saying, Rasheed turned on heel and walked toward the northern woods of Threed, leaving the fuming Dio and amused Tracy in his wake.

Once he was sure that they were out of sight, Rasheed made a quick turn toward the graveyard. Wringing his hands nervously behind his back, he picked up his pace as he looked up into the setting sun. Soon the moon would appear on the horizon, ready to welcome his reign of terror. He cackled evilly to himself as his black orbs combed the trees around the graveyard, looking for a place to set up camp. A brief search yielded a small clearing north of the graveyard, which he hastened to upon spotting.

Shadows coated the edge of the clearing, creating an aura of moonlight in the center of the area. Rasheed stepped into the circle and drew in a deep breath. He grinned with satisfaction as the faint taste of death entered his body, dragged in with the cold night air. Threed would be the perfect location to communicate with his master.

From his robes, Rasheed withdrew a small leather sack that was closed tightly by a rawhide string. Tugging on the rope slightly, he opened the pouch to reveal a sample of white, crystalline powder. The grains of the powder grated against his fingers as he grabbed a handful and tossed it onto a pile of logs that he had picked up during his walk. Now all he needed was a flame. Cursing his inability to use magic, he grabbed a piece of flint from his robes and began to strike away on rock, shooting sparks toward the dry wood after a grueling effort. After several unsuccessful attempts, one of the sparks caught on the wood and quickly formed a roaring blaze. As the flames passed over the powder on the logs, their color changed from a brilliant orange to the darkest black, a color that was reflected back in Rasheed's shadowed eyes.

"Lord Golgothas, I require your assistance once more. Come forth, and tell me of the final step of the plan!"

A small hissing noise was the only warning preceding the giant column of black flame that shot from the pile of logs, piercing the black sky. Rasheed gazed on in silent awe as the flames died down, revealing the smoky visage of his master, Lord Golgothas.

Although not actually there in body, the spectre of Lord Golgothas offered quite the imposing figure. Like the horseman, Death, Lord Golgothas was a demon of the skeletal nature, choosing to conceal his haunting features beneath a simple cloak spun from the silk of countless spiders. However, the simplicity of the fabric was well overshadowed by the gigantic, batlike wings that extended from the warden's body, formed from the darkest energy of shadows. In his one hand he gripped a long, wickedly curved scythe, carved from

"Well, well, well, Rasheed, I thought you'd never call," Lord Golgothas snapped, surprisingly irritable. Rasheed was caught off guard, and made every attempt at deference that he could think of.

"Lord Golgothas, all has gone well, only thanks to your impeccable guidance, but now you must tell me the last step of the plan! We are so close, yet I know not where to go now that the child has come to us!"

Lord Golgothas withdrew a bony hand from his sleeve and placed it into his shadowed hood, presumably to scratch his chin.

"You must head to Scaraba, to the very same place where Dio attempted to summon demonic power before your death. The power of demons still lingers in this place, and it is there that you must bring the girl to be sacrificed."

Rasheed nodded; he knew the procedure for opening the underworld, and also knew that Dio knew nothing of the sacrifice. Smirking slightly at the thought of Dio's stupidity, he considered the demon's words. Still, he had some questions of his own.

"Lord Golgothas, do you know of the locations of the horsemen? Dio summoned them, yet they have not responded. I fear that they have decided to entertain themselves with less important matters..."

Lord Golgothas waved Rasheed off with as much impatience as a skeleton can express. "Don't worry yourself about the horsemen, mortal. They are reliable, and always do as they are commanded. Eventually they will obey their master."

Rasheed nodded again, his fears assuaged. Sensing that Lord Golgothas' visage was about to leave him, Rasheed raised his hand hastily. Lord Golgothas eyed the mystic, vaguely amused by the sight of the normally arrogant figure raising his hand like a frightened schoolboy.

"Something you need?" Lord Golgothas asked, his teeth curving together in a twisted grin under his cloak.

"Well," Rasheed began, mumbling slightly, "It's the girl...her attitude is beginning to get on my nerves! She was so much easier to deal with when she was pliable, but now-"

"You must continue to break her down, instilling your own principles in her all the while. The intense hatred she feels toward her brother is immeasurable, and the power of vendetta must never remain unharnessed. If you continue to train her think like yourself, she will be more than willing to sacrifice anything to bring her brother down."

"Even herself?" Rasheed asked, the words escaping his lips before he had a chance to stop them. An uncomfortable silence came between the duo before Lord Golgothas responded, fading from view as he departed from the flames.

"We shall see."

-----

Dio was brushing her hair in her room in the Threed hotel when the door behind her slammed open, revealing a shadowed figure outlined by a surge of light. She shielded her eyes from the light instantly, turning her head away.

"Rasheed, don't scare me like that! If I've told you once, I've told you a million times!" She snapped irritably, throwing her brush at him. The comb hit him in the chest, bouncing to the floor upon impact. Rasheed didn't seem to notice; in fact, he didn't even acknowledge Dio's presence as he flopped into a nearby chair.

Rasheed was livid. The meeting with Lord Golgothas had not at all gone as he had planned. Although he had planned all along to make Lord Golgothas believe that he was in the position of power, this was too much. The act he had to put on make him sick to his stomach, and working with Dio and Tracy was driving him out of his mind. The sooner that Tracy was dead and buried and the demons took back the planet, the better. The cooldown that the fair massacre had brought him was long forgotten as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, gnashing his teeth together.

-----

Tracy had just been tucking herself into bed when she heard the loud shot of a door slamming open in the adjacent room. She yawned loudly as she slid out from under the covers, eager to give the creator of the noise a piece of her mind. Sliding her feet into a pair of hotel slippers, she padded out of the room and toward the doorway of the neighboring room. The door had swung all but shut, leaving a small crack of visibility between the edge and the door and the frame. Tracy was about to go in when she heard Rasheed and Dio open up a conversation. Grinning wickedly to herself, Tracy leaned in closely toward the crack of the door, doing her best to spy on the conversation.

-----

Rasheed was still recumbent in his chair when Dio approached him cautiously, having retrieved the brush from the floor moments before.

"Rasheed, where were you? Why are you so raging pissed all of the sudden, anyway?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips with indignation. She hated when Rasheed got in moods like this. Rasheed stared past her, his expression one of contemplation. Dio snorted and waved a hand in front of his eyes.

"Hello? Is anyone awake in there?" Dio snapped, motioning with her palm frantically. Rasheed swatted the hand away irritably, regaining slight consciousness.

"Its nothing you could help with, Dio. This is out of your league." He replied, some of his coolness coming back.

"Out of my league?" Dio let out a snort of contempt. "I don't think there's such a thing."

"No, you can't help me through this. You couldn't even improve my mood if you tried!" Rasheed paused here, an odd light burning suddenly in his eyes. "Unless..." Rasheed pushed his arms against the chair suddenly, almost springing from the cotton arms. He immediately approached Dio, narrowing the space between them to less than an inch.

"You know Dio, there is something you could do for me that would...brighten my mood, considerably so," He began, staring at her intently. Dio recoiled in horror as she felt his arm creeping up her back.

"Ugh, you pig! As if I would ever touch you that way! I don't care how bad your day was, it's not going to make me do something that disgusting!"

Rasheed grinned at her now, his eyes glittering with malice. This was exactly what he wanted. Stepping back a foot, he leered at her viciously.

"Have it your way!" Rasheed focused his burning black coals on Dio's eyes, drawing her forward. Dio stared into his eyes, unable to resist his power. The center of her eyes clouded over as she gazed at Rasheed, his will becoming her own.

"Rasheed," She gasped slightly, stepping toward him. Rasheed flashed a brilliant grin as Dio wrapped her arms around neck, pulling him close. Staring up into his eyes, she pressed her lips against his own, her body sagging into his grip. Rasheed held her in the passionate embrace, staring deeply into her eyes as she submitted to his will. He tightened his grip as her hand slid under his shirt, touching his bare skin. It was only when he felt her tongue barely graze his own that he unwrapped his arms from around her, stepping back to regain the lost distance. Smirking arrogantly, he released his mental grip

The clouds shielding Dio's eyes lifted, allowing her mental freedom once more. She stared at Rasheed blankly for a moment, blinking in silence.

"What did you say?" She asked finally, rubbing her head. She would black out like this on occasion, waking up to remember nothing. Thank goodness that Rasheed was always around to help her fill in the holes. Rasheed lowered his eyes and looked at her sadly.

"Dio, I was merely saying that I accept that you don't want to help me with my mood. After all, I can't force you to feel for me." The volume of the sentence declined at the end, giving Rasheed a dejected look. Dio nodded her head sharply, once more on firm ground.

"Well, I'm glad you realize that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed!" So saying, Dio excused herself from the room as quickly as possible. Now alone, Rasheed's grin slowly contorted into a vicious sneer, coupled with a burst of maniacal laughter.

-----

Tracy's eyed widened with terror as she listened to the sound of Rasheed's laughs echo through her mind.

"Rasheed is controlling Dio...he couldn't be controlling me too, could he?" She asked herself quietly, staring ahead. A little thought told her that this was impossible; she was too important to be controlled by someone as simple as Rasheed.

Or was she?

----

PikaChan walked through the streets of Fourside, cursing herself. "Why? Why did I let him get away?"

*You should have been a little more quiet in your approach, but meh. He saw the sword, he ran away. He knows that his dad's sword can be used to counter the darkness within him, apparently. That's sort of good, since if he didn't know that then you probably would have had to fight him. And with your energy like it is, you wouldn't have had the strength nor desire to fight him.* the voice said.

PikaChan sighed to herself. She didn't want to fight Riley. He was her friend.

*Heza, you do realize that you're going to have to confront him soon, don't you?* the voice asked her.

"Yeah, but... right now it just seems pointless. After all, he has this darkness inside him, and now matter how hard I try, I can't catch him long enough to..." PikaChan trailed off.

It wasn't long before she rejoined Eric and the others, her eyes downcast.

Eric and Paithan ran over to her.

"Did you find Riley?"

"What happened to him, anyway?"

"Did you fight him?"

"He took all of us out."

PikaChan looked up, somewhat annoyed by the barrage of questions she was receiving. "Yeah, I found him. But the second he saw this sword," she held up Riley's dad's sword, "he turned all pale and ran off. Now, I don't know where he went..."

Eric nodded, then remembering Seong-un. "Say, PikaChan, this here is Seong-un Kong..." He motioned to their new companion.

PikaChan nodded at Seong-un, but then crossed her arms and looked back down at the ground. She didn't really care about anything at the time, as her thoughts returned to Riley's condition...

----

Although his physical body had become a drunken mess incapable of perceiving the slightest simple concept, his mind was feeling things that were very painful, very disturbing, and very real.

In his mind, Skulryk felt an immense amount of physical pain. It was as if his body was being plunged ice cold water, yet, at the same time, being scalded by molten lava. He also felt like he was being stabbed by razor sharp knives, bitten by snakes, and infused with pain.

But this was simply the physical aspect of his torment. Mentally, his mind was being tormented. He saw images of himself at the lowest ebbs of his life, repeating themselves over and over again. He felt the pain he felt then, the anguish multiplying itself tenfold.

The torment in his dream went on, very realistic for a simple drunken dream. He tried to scream, yet no sounds would emerge.

Skulryk suddenly awoke, letting out a loud scream before he could see the change in scenery around him. He was in a bed, most likely somewhere in the Altian castle. He noticed that he was covered in... cake frosting.

He saw Indigo standing in the doorway, frowning. "You were screaming in your sleep. It sounded horrible, almost... inhuman." she said.

Skulryk was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat. He had a splitting headache, and was still rather disoriented. "What..." he started.

"I know that what you drank can have some serious affects, but I've never seen a case this bad. Still, you really shouldn't touch that stuff."

Skulryk tried to remember what had happened, but it was all a blur. He had drank something? He hardly ever drank alcohol. He couldn't remember.

Indigo shook her head. "Why don't you clean up... you're a mess. Everyone else is in the main foyer, so I suggest you meet them there." With that, Indigo left. Skulryk sat in his sweat-soaked bed for several minutes, shivering before he got up. He couldn't piece anything together. All he knew was that he needed to get something to cure his splitting headache.

----

Talus rolled over on his side. He couldn't sleep. Something was really bothering him. Was it that girl, whose name he couldn't place, even though he'd heard it all day? He tried to think about her, her face, her hair, anything, but something always stopped him. Was it his mind playing tricks on him?

Click.

No. It was the bathroom light. Why, oh, why did he have to share this room with that bank robber...

Trying not to give himself the offensive answer to his rhetorical question, Talus rose from the bed and wandered to the bathroom, where he found Jimmy sitting on the floor with a glass pressed to wall. "What are you doing?" he demanded groggily.

"Shhh!" Jimmy warned him with a finger to his lips. "I think somethin's goin' down in the chick-room!"

Talus rolled his eyes. "Like what, exactly?"

"Shaddup!" Jimmy hissed. "This listening thing ain't easy!"

"Oh, it can't be that hard."

"Oh yeah? Then you try it!" Jimmy stood quietly and handed Talus the glass. Sighing, Talus sat down and put the glass on the wall as Jimmy had done. Instantly, he heard two female voices talking.

"I don't know," Amber was saying. "It's like he was just going to kill us, and then I yelled at the horse, except I kind of didn't. Does that make any sense at all?"

"It makes plenty of sense," another voice said. "Believe me, telling animals what to do is easy as long as you have the right tone..."

"But I didn't talk to it," Amber said. "It was more like I commanded it. Didn't the cameraman say I'd learn something like that in the valley?"

The other voice was comforting. Talus wished he could put it together with a name. "Then maybe he was right. But don't worry about it now; you can try asking the statue tomorrow. Just get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight, Luna."

Inwardly, Talus was excited. Luna! That's the name! But to Jimmy, he just shook his head and said he couldn't hear anything.

Jimmy scowled and grabbed back the glass. "Amateur. Ya wouldn't last five minutes in the big city. Go to bed, ya hoser."

"Close the door or turn off the light if you're gonna stay there all night," Talus said before dropping back into the bed. He slid under the covers, holding onto the name as carefully as he could.

----

Dio took a sip of tea, stretching while doing so. She smoothed out the silk red robe draped about her body and yawned. "Well, Rasheed? What's next on the agenda?"

Rasheed sat brooding in the chair opposite her, a bowl of Cheerios before him. He muttered incomprehensibly and snatched up a newspaper from the table, flipping through it rapidly. It was at that moment that Tracy shuffled in, hotel slippers dragging across the ground. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, a stuffed Crested Booka cradled under her arm. She greeted Dio with a wave and a smile, who the latter promptly returned.

"How are you this morning, Tracy?" The mystic smiled. Tracy shrugged, dropping roughly into a chair near her.

"Bored, that's what. Rasheed had so much fun last night, and I didn't get to do anything. I'm dying here! Let's go do something!" She huffed. Dio grinned.

"We could go out and buy some new clothes if you want. I definitely need to get something a little less...conspicuous." She glanced at the stylized Scaraban dress draped across the bed. Tracy nodded.

"That's a great idea! Anything to get out of this musty hotel room --" Rasheed cut her off with a snap.

"I don't want to hear about your little female bonding rituals. We've got a job to do." Both Dio and Tracy glared at him irritably.

"And what pray tell, is that, oh grand schemer?" Tracy growled indignantly, gripping the sides of her chair tightly in frustration. Rasheed held up the newspaper he was reading. On the front page, a single headline emblazoned the paper -- Scaraba Tourism predicted to increase dramatically over the Holiday season. Rasheed grinned wickedly.

"I think it's time to teach a lesson. We're going to purge our homeland."