Seong-un felt a slight hunger strike him, so he pulled an energy bar he had packed in the off-chance he wouldn't have had the time to eat lunch when he went searching for his parents. Savoring the artificial strawberry taste, he grimaced as he wondered, fleetingly, what he was putting in his mouth. Suddenly, he noticed a missing person.

"Where'd Pika go?" Seong-un wondered.

"Huh?" Eric asked. He, too, checked the surroundings, and found it lacking a PikaChan.

This sort of happening snowballed itself, as first Paithan, then Chase, and finally the others who had been acquainted with PikaChan looked about.

They were unable to find her as well.

"Maybe you could use your ring to find her, Seong-un?" Paithan suggested.

"I wouldn't think it would work in that way, but I'll try." Seong-un tapped the jewels on his ring. Show me where PikaChan is... he thought, his thoughts free of the lisping which now plagued his speech.

The jewels sparkled, and his heart lightened — he suspected that it might actually work. Then he noticed it was just the reflection of light off a chandelier in the room.

He groaned.

"No, it sheems that I can't find her," Seong-un reported, compensating for his newly-acquired lisp by exerting the sh sound rather than let the th lisp show through.

"Hey, maybe we can contact PikaChan directly," Ness mused as if exasperated with himself, or perhaps the others around him.

"How?" Paithan inquired.

"Paula contacted Jeff and me seven years ago. I know PSI, but Jeff doesn't. So Paula should be able to contact PikaChan."

"That would work very well," Paula murmured. She brought her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes, beginning to meditate.

Beginning to attempt to establish a psychic connection with PikaChan.

Paula reached out with her mind, trying to locate PikaChan. Due to the latter being unconscious, this was rather difficult. Fortunately, because of the voice which was currently residing in PikaChan’s mind, it was not impossible.

PikaChan? PikaChan, can you hear me? My name is Paula. PikaChan?

The voice did indeed hear Paula, but since it wasn't really PikaChan, he wasn't sure if he should answer. It would be slightly difficult to explain his presence. Then he got a perfectly good idea that would confuse Paula enough she wouldn't ask questions.

Hi. PikaChan can't answer your call right now, but if you leave a message she'll try to get back to you.

Wh, what? stuttered Paula mentally as the voice transmitted the mental image of the sound of a beep. She then went on auto-pilot and started acting as if she was talking to an answering machine. Uh ... your friends are with us now. We're trying to get to Scaraba so we can stop Dio and Rasheed. We think they're trying to perform some kind of ritual.

Interesting, thought the voice, but didn't let Paula hear it.

We'll get there as soon as we can, but where are you? We'll try to find you when we can.

Hmm, might as well let them know we're here... thought the voice to itself. It then added aloud, Please expect a collect call from Scaraba when PikaChan can respond. Thank you. It closed the connection.

----

Presently the group was huddled into the great hall, Jakob in the lead. He held out his palm once more, mock-reading a list off names.

"Ok, when I call your name, I want you to raise your hand, and then say your favorite color and where you're from! Got it?"

The group stared at him blankly, unable to believe what they were hearing. However, it would be better to appease the madman than to argue, so they silently agreed to follow his whims.

"Talus?"

Talus raised a tentative hand. "Yeah, that's me. And, uh, my hometown is Fiveville, and my favorite color is blue."

Jakob nodded. "Ok, Chase?"

Chase stood sullenly in the background, his arms crossed guardedly across his chest. Upon hearing his name, he called out a short response.

"Yeah, that's me."

Jakob narrowed his eyes and stared at the boy. "Now Chase, you have to participate! What's your hometown and color?" Chase rolled his eyes, but responded nonetheless.

"Onett. Green."

"Sounds like somebody needs a nap!" Chase snapped his head up just to see Chartreuse stride into the room, Anna and Indigo in tow. Jakob glanced at the Fire Shaman and hit himself across the forehead.

"Anna! I knew I forgot somebody!"

Chartreuse rolled his eyes, stepping forward into the middle of the room. He surveyed the surrounding area with a concerned interest, eyeing the several Altian men working hard to repair the damage done by the horsemen.

The horsemen, he thought suddenly, raising his eyebrows with a sudden sharpness.

"Guys, where are the horsemen?"

-----

Recumbent in the chairs of a local Altian café, the horsemen's minds were as far from retaliation as possible. With their horses tethered to poles outside the building, the three were given their first chance to relax in quite some time.

Pestilence sipped his coffee, basking in the aroma of the clear black liquid. The soft tones off old jazz wafted through the room as he leaned back in his chair, forcing the creaking leather to fold under his weight.

"You know, I have to say," Pestilence paused for a look at his comrades, "Last night's sleep was the best I've had in a long time. We should slack off more often."

War nodded in agreement, sending a trail of blood trickling down his chin and into his vanilla latté. The remaining horsemen watched this with a vague disinterest, long used to the sight of War's ever flowing blood.

"Aye, Pestilence, 'Tis much easier ta get up in the morn' when I've had a night of solid rest. But still, I don't think we should be shirking our duties." He turned to Famine for his opinion. "What do you think?"

Famine eyed his partners, nothing beyond a slight curl in his betraying his emotion. His face was impassive as he pressed a cigarette to his lips and lit the end with the snap of a finger. Taking a drag, he shut his eyes.

"Well Pestilence," The horseman responded, his words laced with sarcasm, "You are looking less jaundiced than usual - I'd say that's an improvement."

"Ha ha ha, so funny I forgot to laugh," Pestilence sneered, tilting his head slightly. Pausing only to take another sip of his coffee, he turned back to War to continue his conversation.

"Seriously, though, we should have thought of this a long time ago. Any other night, we would have gone in there 10 minutes later, guns blazing. And you know what? We probably would have killed everybody, even without Death."

"Do ya think?" War asked suddenly, scratching his head. "Without Death, I think we're missing something. After all, he IS the one who delivers the final blow." Famine rolled his eyes and let out a ring of smoke.

"Three demons vs. a group of civilians, some of which have no fighting skill whatsoever. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like something we could handle."

Pestilence snorted arrogantly, gripping his coffee mug with a lesioned hand. The stump of his index finger tapped against the glass impatiently as he flashed Famine a cruel grin.

"That's funny, I seem to remember you diving behind a table when those ice shards came at you. I must say, you looked quite a bit like a 5 year old girl running from the boogie-man!"

Famine snapped his teeth together angrily, forgetting about the cigarette that was resting on his lips in his rage. The end of the tube snapped off and fell into his mouth, followed by the contents of the now-opened cigarette.

"What was I supposed to do," he snapped angrily, "Let them hit me? You saw what happened to Death! Or were you too busy being stuck in Raltise's pathetic little Ice Tomb?" Pestilence rose to the bait, lunging at his comrade's throat with his hands outstretched. War stood up angrily, catching the diseased horseman in midair. However, he was but a moment too late, as Famine had already taken an offensive swing at his assailant’s jaw. Unfortunately for Pestilence, the bones unhinged from his mouth, and his entire lower jaw dropped to the floor. He reached for it desperately, but War’s firm grip was too much for him. The gigantic horsemen shook angrily, spraying blood in all directions.

"Gentlemen, please! With Death gone, this is not the time ta be thinkin' about mutiny! Do ya see what's happenin' ta us? We take one night off from our duties, just to catch up on a little sleep, and we're all at each other's throats! There's a reason we spend all our free time purging the land! Because that's what we do! We're demons! We're supposed to make people suffer, not to get beauty sleep!"

By now, the entire café was staring at the show being put on by the three demons. Everyone had stopped moving, all waiting with baited breath to see what the horsemen would do next. War blinked suddenly, realizing that they were being watched. Letting Pestilence go instantly, he turned around to face the crowd. Pestilence made a quick dive for his jaw, desperately snapping it back into place. Aside from an odd clicking noise which sounded when he opened his mouth wide, it was for the most part in place.

"Well War, it appears that you've caused a ruckus," Pestilence snapped, brushing stray drops of blood off of his tattered suit. He stared wearily around the room, met by the unblinking Altian faces. Sighing audibly, he turned to Famine.

"Get up, Famine - we're going to have to do something about this." Famine said nothing in response, choosing instead to converse all of his energy for standing up. He slowly pushed himself up from the chair, his bones creaking with each movement. The expression on his face would have led a bystander to believe that this was the first physical motion he had made in several days, and that the physical strain was much too much for him. It was only when the silence between the three became overwhelming that the emaciated horsemen spoke.

"Do we kill them all, or should we just make them suffer?" He asked, clearly displaying his lack of interest with a loud yawn. Pestilence, at a loss of ideas, shrugged lightly.

"It doesn't matter to me. We could always burn the place, I suppose." The diseased horseman picked at scabbing wound on the stump of his finger idly, staring out at the people with casual indifference, stopping only when he saw a look of horror appear on War's face.

"Look at that!" War shouted, his voice rough with terror. The entire café turned around in universal terror to stare at a blank wall. The gigantic horseman took that opportunity to grab his two comrades by the neck and hoist them into the air, running out of the room with them as quickly as possible. As soon as he was out the doors, he grabbed the reins of the horses and practically threw the riders on their beasts.

"Let's go back to the palace while we still have the chance!"

-----

Rather than allow the group to mull over Chartreuse's question for what she deemed to be an unreasonable amount of time, Anna tapped Chartreuse on the shoulder quickly.

"Chartreuse, I need a word alone with Sir Chase the Chaste." She began. A cry came out from the group of people.

"Hey, I'm not chaste!" Anna flashed a sharklike grin.

"Slaying the hydra doesn't count!"

"I understand you need to talk to him, Anna," Chartreuse cut in, "but the group also has a few questions they need to ask of you." Anna crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows. She stared out at the group, scanning the faces with her ruby eyes.

"Like what?"

"Well," Luna said, stepping forward from the group, "Rasheed and Dio, two people who've escaped from hell, have Ness' little sister hostage and they're going to break open the underworld and release the dead from Scaraba!" Anna stared sharply at Luna when she was finished speaking.

"What did you say their names were?" She asked. "Rasheed and Dio?" Luna nodded mutely, unsure of where this was going.

"Well, Rasheed and Dio. I never thought I'd live to see them again," Anna mumbled, more to herself than anyone else. "What do you want to know about them?"

"There's nothing we need to know about Rasheed and Dio." Chase rolled his eyes. "They're just power-hungry jerks!" He stopped in surprise to see Anna shake her head adamantly.

"People only seek power for two reasons - either they're burdened by their soul, or they've lost it. Being a jerk isn't an automatic qualification." Chase scratched his head, a bit bemused by her sudden outburst.

"Be that as it may," He continued, "We need to know how to stop Rasheed and Dio before they release the dead on our world. Violet said you'd know the answer." Anna's eyes sparkled with an amused light as she replied.

"Oh she did, did she? And here I thought she never liked me much! But yes," She switched tones suddenly, now all business, "There is a way to stop their plans in their tracks. It's an old inscription on one of the pyramids in the museum - I think it goes a little something like this." Making a ball out of her hand, Anna pressed it to her lips and let out a short cough.

"To fight against the invaders, we built this pyramid fortress. However, our efforts were futile, and we lost. Nonetheless, our pyramid was protected by the gods of Scaraba. The invaders will be reborn every millen-"

Ness waved his hand impatiently, the urgency of the situation putting him on edge. He stepped out of the huddle to face Anna head on, his remaining hand pressed on his hip.

"Yeah, I know how this goes! The invaders will be reborn every millennium and attack again! We defeated the invaders!"

"Quite so, Young protector," Raltise interjected from across the group, "But you said that about me too! Apparently, you aren’t very efficient!" So saying, Raltise stepped outside the group and toward the young protector with a twisted grin on his face. Unfortunately, the men who had been working on the doors were also gardeners, and had left their tools lying around. Sure enough, a stray rake found its way under Raltise’s foot, and the pole connected directly with his face. The Nightmare demon let out an irate shudder, lifting his foot from the metal strips.

"Rakes," he muttered darkly, "My old nemesis." Ness raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"I thought I was your nemesis!" He cried defiantly. Raltise shook his head irritably.

"I do have a life outside of you, Ness."

"Anyway," Anna snapped, "You’re missing the point. The hieroglyph says that the gods of Scaraba protected the pyramid, and we can infer that they’ve done so for every millennium thereafter. Evidence to this is the fact that the pyramid is still standing."

"So? How does that help us?" A voice snapped from the thick of the crowd. Anna rolled her eyes tersely.

"If you were smart you’d realize that if the Gods can put off the Giygan threat, then you’d figure that amateurs like Rasheed and Dio are like breakfast to them!"

A silence came over the group as Anna’s words slowly sank in. Chase raised his hand slowly, as though unsure of his words.

"So, you’re saying that if we could summon the gods, they could stop Rasheed and Dio?" Anna clapped her hands together in mock excitement.

"Well, there you go!"

"Now how do you suggest we do that?" Skulryk cut in, slightly proud that he finally had something to offer the conversation. Anna’s expression changed slightly, losing some of its combativeness. She stared thoughtfully at the group as she scratched her chin.

"It’s something about combining the forces of light and dark, I know that much. But I’m sure that it’s in the pyramid somewhere - probably the same one Rasheed and Dio are heading for, if I know them."

"You know them?" Chase asked in confusion. Anna waved her hand, brushing him off.

"Don’t worry about that - I didn’t know them very well, and even I did it wouldn’t help you any. But while we’re on the topic, I still need to talk to you."

"How is that on topic?"

Chartreuse stepped between the two, interceding before things got any more out of hand.

"You know Chase, I have a few things I’d like to talk to you about also. Now that Anna’s usefulness has worn out-"

"Thanks ever so much!" Anna responded dryly, a grin accenting her features nonetheless. Chartreuse returned the joking smile briefly before turning to Chase.

"As I was saying, now that this conversation is over, I think the three of us should sit down and have a little chat. Would you mind doing that terribly?"

"No, not really. There’s a few things you can help me with, I suppose." Chase agreed reluctantly. Chartreuse turned to leave the room when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. His expression softened as he looked down at Indigo, who had remained silent throughout the conversation.

"Chartreuse, do you need me to help with anything while you’re gone?" She asked softly. Chartreuse shook his head.

"No, just get to know everyone in the group. You’ll be with them for quite some time." With that, Chartreuse left the room with Anna and Chase at his side.

-----

Once the trio was situated in a nearby sitting room, Anna immediately began her interrogation.

"So how do you know Siris O’Brien?" She asked, perching herself languidly on the arm of a chair. After a tense pause, Chase offered up a short response.

"We’re...related."

Anna let out a short laugh. "I hope you don’t mean the way Cyan and Anthadd are-" She paused to make quotation marks with her fingers. "Related."

Chase, having known neither of these people, could do nothing but stare ahead blankly. Chartreuse, between suppressing a loud laugh and casting a disapproving glance at the Fire Shaman, leaned forward in his chair to rest his arms across his lap.

"Chase, would it bother you if I were to suggest doing a mind-probe on you, just to understand what your thoughts are? I know some of what you’ve been thinking, but I can’t quite figure it all out. I respect your privacy, but I’d also like to help you." Chase squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before nodding.

"Ok, you can do a mind probe on me. Just so long as these things don’t hurt."

With another laugh, Chartreuse leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Anna watched Chase intently as he jumped up slightly in his seat, aware of a shiver running down his spine. The fire shaman grinned slightly; whatever the relation was, it caused Chase to look quite a lot like Siris when he was confused.

"Wow." Chartreuse leaned up in his chair, his eyes opened wide. "You’re, well..." He paused, searching for the right words. "Chase, you’re screwed." Chase let out a hollow laugh.

"Yeah, tell me something I don’t know."

"Hey guys, I’m a little in the dark here! Care to clue me in?" Anna asked, waving her arms frantically. Chartreuse raised a careful eyebrow at chase.

"Do you mind if I fill her in?"

"No, it doesn’t matter to me."

"Well, Anna," Chartreuse began, "Siris is related to Chase - He’s Chase’s Father. Hence, Chase is not from our time, but from 20 years in the future, where all is devastation. He came back to learn more about the warriors who defeated Raltise, but along the way he inadvertently stopped his father from re-meeting his mother, who is now in love with someone else. Therefore, he’s fading out of existence."

"Oh," Anna replied, slightly mystified. "So who’s your mother? Lorraine McFly?"

With a glance from Chase, Chartreuse shook his head slightly. "Who his mother is isn’t important right now. As for you, Chase," Chartreuse turned to Chase and looked at him strangely, with the sort of look that one usually reserves for an ailing loved one, "Enjoy these last days that you have. I know that won’t help you, but it’s good advice. I suppose that’s all I wanted to say."

As the three left the sitting room, Chartreuse pulled Chase aside for one last tip.

"Don’t tell ‘your mother’ about this - If she finds out that her actions will kill you, she’ll marry your father solely to make sure you exist; in short, out of pity. I may not know Siris very well, but I know him well enough to know that he’s not the type of guy who would be happy in a relationship based on pity. He deserves something better."

Chase nodded mutely, only half-paying attention. Enjoy these last few days,, he thought sullenly. After all, what else are you going to do?

"Thank you," Chase muttered. "I'll... join the others now."

What else am I going to do? he thought as he left the room. And he quite suddenly realized the answer to this question. I know exactly what I'm going to do: I'm going to do what I came here to do. I came to this past in order to help fix the future. What would my father do? He wouldn't sulk like this... would he? Well... maybe. But he'd get the job done. He would try, at least... Where my father would fail, I am going to succeed.

Chartreuse frowned as Chase departed his company. "Good luck, kid," he whispered.

"Chase, hey," Dan said as Chase rejoined the group. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," Chase replied with a grim smile. "You guys been talking about what we're gonna do next?"

"Yeah," Skulryk interjected. "Guess we're going to Scaraba. What I want to know is how we're supposed to get there."

"Times like this when I wish we just had an airship we could just fly anywhere," mused Dan. "Then it would be as simple as 'We can fly the airship to Scaraba.'" He grinned slightly at this, but was met with confused looks. He frowned and shrugged.

"Maybe not."

----

The entire group was gathered in the great hall of the Imperial Palace of Altus, currently trying to decide what their next course of action would be.

"Ok..." Dan said. "We need to get to Scaraba, do we not? Rasheed and Dio are there, ready to do some bad stuff..."

"Yeah, that's right." Raltise said. "They are either there or headed there right now. We must get there to find out how to stop them."

At this point, Paula's eyes snapped open. "I've found Pikachan! She's in Scaraba! But... I couldn't make contact with her. I managed to talk to something, but it wasn't her..."

Raltise sneered. "Why do you care about this person so much anyways? You barely know her, and I doubt she's more important than stopping Rasheed and Dio. Nevertheless, we're going to Scaraba anyways, so I suppose you can find her once we're there."

Skulryk shook his head, still recovering from his headache. "So how are we going to get from here to Scaraba? It doesn't seem very easy."

"I think I may have an idea." Indigo said. "Please wait here."

"Not like we have much else to do..." Jimmy grumbled as Indigo left.

The group waited in silence until Indigo returned. "Please follow me." she said. "We're going to see Queen Cirra."

Paithan looked up from some artifacts he had been admiring, not noticing them slipping into his pocket. "We're seeing the Queen? Wow."

Indigo opened the door to the throne room, revealing a lavishly decorated chamber filled with banners and beautiful ancient decorations adorning the walls. A large flowing carpet covered the floor, leading up a set of stairs to an elegant throne in which Queen Cirra was seated. She stood up. "Greetings! Thank you for coming. I am truly sorry about the... unexpected events which occurred during our feast, but I welcome you."

Raltise grinned, showing his yellow teeth. "Hello again... Rita."

Cirra grimaced, looking away from Raltise, but continued on. "Indigo has informed me of your predicament, and I believe that I have a solution for you. Now..." Cirra frowned for a moment.

She didn't remember their group being that large during the feast. Her first idea no longer worked, but she quickly thought of another. "Hmm... Your group is quite large. I won't be able to send you through a portal as I had originally planned, but... I have a plan. Follow me."

Cirra whispered into the ear of a guard who stood by her side, and the guard quickly bowed and departed.

Indigo frowned, hurrying over to Queen Cirra. "My Queen, what are you proposing? How are they going to get to Scaraba?" Queen Cirra simply grinned and motioned for Indigo and the rest of the group to follow.

She lead them through the palace to a place that looked somewhat like an old airplane hanger. The concrete construction greatly differed from the much more traditional stone look of the castle. Queen Cirra stopped.

"Now," she said. "I know a portal cannot bring all of you to Scaraba, but this can. Have any of you ever ridden in a... hot air balloon?"

Jimmy raised his hand for a short time, but shortly put it down. "Oh, hot air balloon. No, no... not at all."

Cirra frowned, but continued. "We have not used this in Altus for many years, but since it is the only thing which can take you to Scaraba, I give it to you as a gift from the Kingdom of Altus. I present to you the Royal Altian Hot Air Balloon."

Cirra opened the doors to the outside, where there sat a gigantic balloon. It's basket was not like most hot air balloons; instead it was very large, almost the size of a bus. Above it were three balloons which kept it suspended in the air; two balloons on the side attached to one larger balloon. Each of these balloons were exquisitely designed with magnificent artistry.

Eric was so overcome by the beautiful vehicle that he clapped his hands. The rest of the group turned their attention from the balloon to him.

"Well, it is a pretty nice sight..." he said sheepishly.

The group climbed into the basket, which easily seated the group, despite their large number.

Several servants came by Queen Cirra's side, carrying several packages. "This is some food for your trip. It will definitely take some time to get to Scaraba, so take it with you. I've also gotten your personal items; some of you left it in your bedchambers. And Skulryk, they have your video camera here as well."

"Sweet!" Skulryk exclaimed, running over to the packages and grabbing his camera, quickly setting it up. Chase looked at him, questioningly. "Hey, it's not every day I can get footage from the sky! This is a reporter's dream!"

Cirra continued. "I've also hired someone to fly you to Scaraba. He's been Altus's best hot air balloon pilot for years."

A middle aged Altian man climbed aboard the large balloon and introduced himself. "Hi there. I'm Targus. I'll be your..." He stopped midsentance and stared at Skulryk. "Hey!" he said. "You're that crazy guy who drank all my liquor! Now normally I would be pretty angry about that; that's expensive stuff! But with the horsemen invading and all, I figure I'll let it slide. Besides, your drunken antics were enough to make me forget all about that stuff!"

Skulryk simply stared blankly at him. He could not remember a thing about the feast.

Targus shook his head. "Anyways," He replied, picking up a knife and slicing carefully through the ropes restraining the basket, "let's get out of here!" With one last look back at the regal palace, the group ascended into the air and over the horizon.

Paithan watched Altus float away as the balloon started toward Scaraba. He couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad. I mean, it's not everyday you get to ride over the world in a basket held up my large amounts of canvas and hot air, but it's also not everyday you get to search around the palace of a city in the clouds that's filled with magical artifacts either. Paithan didn't have any choice in the matter, honestly, but he liked to measure his choices anyway, even if they didn't exist.

An hour into the trip, Paithan firmly decided that the palace would have been better. He was now bored silly.

Paithan managed to go through and sort his pockets three times already. This was particularly enjoyable for a while, since everyone would gather around him when he did it, gasp and take stuff that they claimed was theirs. Eventually, however, the people stopped checking with Paithan when he sorted his pockets. The stuff was probably safer with him anyway, at least until they reached Scaraba.

Paithan tried to enter conversations, but the people would either change the subject to something boring (like the weather or theology or bizarre incestuous love triangles) or stop talking altogether when Paithan would come around.

Eventually, Paithan went to the pilot, Targus. He calmly listened to Paithan, answered his questions, much like a patient parent listens to an inquisitive child. Targus put up with this because he was prepared for strangeness on his passengers' parts. After all, what could you expect from people that came from below, people of the ground?

Paithan eventually became bored with this man too. He began to examine the machinery Targus was working with but, after a stern reprimand, instead began to walk around again, talking, looking around, anything to try to end the boredom...

"I'd like to try this without the balloon, wouldn't you?"

Amber gave Paithan a sideways glance. "Try what, plummeting?"

"Yeah."

"I suppose you could try it once..." Amber turned back to the scenery.

"I wonder how far you could plummet before you blacked out?" Paithan wondered out loud.

Amber changed the subject. "Hey, look over there."

Paithan looked eastwards, the exact opposite direction that Amber was pointing. "Over there, where the smoke is?"

"No, over here - wait, what smoke?" Amber looked over Paithan's shoulder. Black smoke was pouring from a massive blaze, just northeast of Twoson...

"Oh my god." Amber held a hand to her mouth, her eyes fixated on the crimson flames and the dark smoke. She choked on a sob as if she were caught in the middle of the fire. The valley was burning. Happy Happy Village was nothing more than a pile of ashes. The Scientologists and the Cultists were killing the land as they spilled each other's blood. Amber knew so many animals who lived in that valley whose homes would be destroyed...

She closed her eyes and turned her back on the scene, slumping against the side of the balloon. "Why?" she asked, speaking to no one. "Why do people have to cause so much suffering in this world? Even my own father is a killer," she sobbed.

<That's not true.> Amber felt King sitting next to her, comforting her with his presence. <Your dad just didn't know what he was doing. If you can make him understand, he'll stop. That's what everyone is like. We all get mad sometimes, and it takes a lot to step back and snap out of it. Some of us just have farther to step back.>

Amber said nothing. She kept one hand over her eyes, crying into her palm. Her other hand was in her pocket, absently holding the Rallets Gem again.

"Aw, jeez, can we drop her off somewhere?" Jimmy complained. "I hate whiny chicks."

I should ask King to bite him, Amber thought to herself. She didn't get the chance because King was getting up again.

A moment later she heard a very feminine scream. King sat beside her again. <I have no idea why I just did that,> he said. <That guy just ticks me off.>

"Me too," Amber whispered. "Me too."

"Duh-hee!" exclaimed Chase. "I done got ketchup on my stoppedy watch!"

The group diverted their attention to Chase who was smiling at his wrist. He was not wearing a watch.

"Ketchup???" Dan scoffed. "There's no food on this balloon! What's gotten into you?!? Why am I yelling?!?!?!?"

"Oh sweet mother of God, quit yelling...my brain is all hurtage," moaned Skulryk.

"My goodness, there's a gas leak! And people are getting loopy! Old school!"

Indigo was pointing at Chase who was dancing in circles next to the leak.

"No, you stay way from my wife ... life ... trife," muttered Eric as he was shaking his finger at Indigo.

"Your wife? But you haven't..."

By this time, Eric was rolling on the floor looking at his fingers. Many others started to do similarly idiotic things.

"Did it ever occur to anyone that we're slowly crashing because of the leak?" asked Venus.

"Why don't you shut up!" intruded Targus.

At this time, the balloon was descending at a rapid speed. Although very confused, the passengers held on to the balloon as it fell. Luckily, the balloon crashed on a remote island. The balloon was completely destroyed, and bodies were strewn everywhere.

The people slowly came to and started to notice their surroundings. The vegetation was astounding, and the sky was a bright pink. The birds were playing happily with the rodents as the nearby ponds reflected the surrounding beauty. Indigo was the first to speak.

"Did I ever tell you that I've never... I've never... you know... what's the thing? What are they callin' it nowadays?"

"Jenga?" replied Ness as if he was valedictorian of his class.

"Yeah, that's the ticket," Indigo smiled forgetting the question in the first place.

"Young warriors, I see you have been excellent to each other."

The throng looked up in unison to see a ten foot David Lee Roth towering over them. His hair (or lack thereof) was slicked back, and his sunglasses and shwag was reminiscent of Rufus's in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

"Follow me. You have much to learn."

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't look at the villagers because looking at each other is their way of saying 'Please castrate me now.' So just keep your head straight and follow my every move."

Diamond Dave spun around and danced into the forest. The group miserably attempted to groove as they, too, went into the desert.