The town of Twoson was in ruins after Cain's insane rampage. One hundred and twelve people survived the fires; most notable among these was Everdred, Apple Kid, and Orange Kid. Many funerals were held the next four days. Most were informal memorials held in shelters by family members of the deceased, but a select few were held in the Onett church and cemetery. Paula's parents were one of them. She had insisted against it but the townspeople had said that it was least they could do for her after she saved them from Cain.

It was the day of the funeral and Ness and Paula were on their way back to Twoson in order to find a family picture to put on top of the caskets. Ness had suggested that they send somebody else to do it, but Paula insisted that this was something that she'd have to face eventually. They arrived at the charred ruins of Polestar Preschool. The noise of reconstruction crews from as far as Winters could be heard all around. Paula walked up to the front door solemnly with Ness close behind her. She gently walked through the charred door and was instantly hit with a flood of memories.

She was suddenly back eight years ago at Christmas sitting on the living room couch with her mother and father wearing her new pink bow and petting a small kitten with a red bow comically tied around its head. It purred happily as Paula said, "This is the best present ever! I love you mom and dad!"

Her father looked at her with loving eyes filled with the kind of happiness one can only find by seeing a child happy and said, "What are you going to name him?"

But no, that time had passed now. She moved on. She was in the school room now. She could see the children laughing and eating during lunchtime while her mother stood by the blackboard. Smiling.

The time was gone now too. She was in the kitchen now; her father was bent over and pulling something out of the oven. He stood up and turned around revealing an apple pie. Her favorite.

She was at the foot of the charred stairs now. Ness was standing beside her silently, staring up into the darkened second floor, "Are you sure you want to go up there alone? The floor isn't in very good condition."

"I'm sure. I need some alone time." She looked at him briefly and smiled for a moment. She let out a sigh and carefully walked up the stairs and into her parent's bedroom.

She was four and it was night. The door opened with a slight creak and the outline of her father could be seen shooting upright in the bed that looked about twenty feet wide to her four year old eyes. Paula ran over to him crying. Her mother was up now too and they were both hugging her and making calming "shhh" noises.

"What's wrong dear?" Her mother said quietly.

"I-I had a dream where I woke up and you guys weren't here!" She broke out into sobs again.

"Shhh," Her mother began to stroke her hair reassuringly, "It's okay honey. We'll be here for a long, long, time. Everything will be alright."

"A-Are you s-sure?"

"We promise."

Tears were forming in Paula's eyes now as she kneeled next to the burnt bed and picked up a slightly charred picture of her mother and father standing on the front lawn holding the cat and smiling. The tears began to flow freely and she broke out into sobs.

Four minutes later Ness came into the room and walked over to her. He knelt down next to her and hugged her, "Shhh, everything will be alright."

"T-They can't be gone. They said they'd never leave me..."

"Shhh. It's alright, I'm still here Paula. I won't leave you."

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They left the house five minutes later with the picture in hand. When they arrived back to Onett, they started the funeral. Ness sat next to Paula who was next to Jeff. Poo sat on the end of the pew, now fully healed after a nights rest at the hospital and staring at the large stain glass windows. They were all dressed in black and Poo had put ceremonial golden tassels on the hilt of his sword.

Looking around the large church, Ness saw that nearly all of the surviving Twosonites and even a few people from Onnet and Threed had come to pay their respects. Ness noticed Everdred and a few of the remaining Twoson police force in formal police attire sitting in the back pew. The organ stopped playing its dirge and an old priest in a long white and red robe walked over to the pulpit and cleared his throat, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember the passing of two of the greatest and kindest people in all of Twoson. Anna Maria Polestar and Richard Dean Pol-"

The heavy wooden doors of the church flew open and all eyes turned to see the tall silhouette of a man walking into the church. A familiar chuckle could be heard as the glare faded and Cain's smiling face could be seen. Everdred's eyes grew wide and he bolted out of the front doors just as they slammed shut. Jeff stood up and quickly drew his gun and fired a blast at Cain, only to have it bounce off of an invisible psychic shield.

"Awww," Cain began in a tone of mock-sadness, "Did the funeral start without me? I was just passing through the neighborhood and I says to myself, 'Cain,' I says, 'Golly gee wiz, you should pay your respects to that nice Polestar girl!' So that's just what I did!"

He turned and faced Paula, now standing and shaking uncontrollably while tears of anger rolled down her face. Cain opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted by the voice of an old man, "GET OUT!" Cain turned to see that the priest had gotten down from the pulpit and was walking towards Cain at a surprising speed for someone of his age, "GET OUT! YOU ARE NOT WELCOMED HERE! THIS IS THE HOUSE OF GOD! THESE PEOPLE HAVE DONE NOTHING TO YOU! RETURN TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG! GET OU-"

Cain made a swift motion with his hand and the priest's head flew back as if he'd been struck with something. When he brought it back up his nose and mouth were covered by a solid plate of ice. He clawed at it for a moment and eventually fell onto his knees, struggling for breath.

"Put a cork in it father. Take a chill pill man. Cool off." Cain began to laugh while everyone else looked on in horror. Poo jumped from his seat and landed next to the struggling priest. With a swift strike the ice split in two and fell off.

Cain's laughing began to subside and he began to look around the room with his arms outstretched, "Nothing? Come on folks! 'Cool off?' it's called a pun! You people have no sense of humor." He turned toward Paula, still unable to do anything but stare with hatred, "What's wrong Miss Polestar? Why the long face?"

She screamed and shot a blast of fire at him. He smiled and snapped his fingers, sending a blast of ice and canceling it out. A few of the other mourners began to panic and they fled the church screaming. Ness stood up and used Flash. A blinding ray of light made direct contact with Cain's eyes. He shot his hands up to his face and hunched over screaming, "My eyes! I can't see!"

Poo took this opportunity to draw his sword and charge at him. He got two feet away when Cain suddenly produced a gun and pointed it directly between Poo's eyes. Cain smiled, "Just kidding. That little flashbulb of yours won't work on me again. I've adapted." His grin widened and Poo stared down the barrel with an expression of cold defiance. Jeff fired his laser and a purple beam shot the gun out of Cain's hands. Cain grunted and waved his hand at Poo. Poo was psychically lifted into the air and twirled above Cain's head once before being flung at Jeff. Both were sent crashing into the pews. Paula raised her arms to her sides and two pews ripped themselves from the floor and hurled toward Cain. He leered at them and they shattered against his shield. Ness shot a blast of Rockin' at him and the force merely pushed Cain, safely enclosed in his shield, back a few feet.

Paula's extended hands seemed to erupt into a mixture of fire and ice. She launched the entwined forces and Cain only smiled as they connected with his shield. The shield began to crack and his smile turned to a look of confusion. Poo and Jeff stood up and fired Starstorm and laser blasts respectively. Ness let loose a steady stream of PSI Rockin' and turned his head toward the crowd gathered along the wall, "Get out now! Run!" They did.

Cain screamed in frustration and his shield shattered, sending all four forces colliding into his body at once. He let out a pained shriek as he fell to the ground, tendrils of smoke rose from his clothes. Paula gave what could best be described as a war cry as she charged at the fallen psychic. She swiftly kicked him in his side and then grabbed him by the collar, hoisted him up to her eye level and began to punch him in the face. Tears of rage began to run down her face and she continued until Cain's eyes shot open. He screamed, half in anger and half in pain, and psychically sent Paula flying across the room. His shield regenerated and he levitated up to the ceiling. He punched his fist straight up into thin air and the roof of the church tore itself free and shot into the sky. He opened his fist and it stopped, levitated in mid-air. Cain grinned insanely and clapped his hands above his head; the former roof shattered and became many small chunks suspended in mid-air. He snapped his fingers and the debris began to fall.

At this moment Everdred kicked open the doors of the church and stormed in wielding a large shotgun taken from his police car. He pumped it and fired at Cain. The shotgun pellets stopped at the shield and fell to the ground harmlessly. Cain spun around quickly and fired his small pistol randomly at the bold police captain. Everdred spun backwards and fell to the ground, clutching his right shoulder.

"Really," began Cain, "What exactly did you hope to accomplish? I can't see how you thought that would sto-" He turned to the falling debris only to notice that Everdred's intervention had given Paula enough time to take control of it and send all of the chunks of ceiling directly at him, "Well that's no good." His shield withstood most of the falling concrete but it broke eventually, sending him into the ground. After the dust cleared Cain was gone.

"NO!" Paula began to scream at the nothingness, "He got away again! How dare he show up here!" She fell to he knees and stared at the remains of the church, shuddered in anger, and then collapsed.

"Paula!" Ness shouted as he ran over to her, "She must have fainted from the mental strain of fighting Cain..."

Poo sighed with relief and silently walked over to Everdred and knelt beside him, "How is it?"

Everdred grunted a little as he spoke, "Well my shoulder's been better I have to say."

Poo smiled a little and then held out his hands over the bullet wound, "Hold still as best you can, this will hurt but it'll save you some hospital bills."

His hands began to glow yellow and Everdred gritted his teeth and began to grunt in pain. The bullet began to push itself out of the wound and the wound itself healed behind it. After a moment the small metal pellet clanged on the ground and Everdred stared at his shoulder amazed.

Meanwhile Jeff was kneeling over the last area that he'd last seen Cain standing, "Amazing, there's scorch marks everywhere around here, he must be using some powerful form of teleportation that doesn't require movement. But where did he get so powerful so fast? The only time we've ever faced a shield that strong was against Giygas. What is going on?"

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In one of the many hills of Onett, Cain sat nursing his many wounds.

"Stupid kids, I'll get them for this. But what else can I do to torment her? I've already destroyed Twoson and ruined her chance of making peace at her parent's funeral... THE BOY!" He stood up quickly, "I'll kill the one in the red hat! Oh this should be fun!"

"Not now." Cain turned quickly and drew his gun, pointing at the source of the mysterious voice at the mouth of the cave. He sighed with relief and put the gun away when he saw that it was Koga.

"Oho? So what does my mysterious benefactor want with me?" Cain asked in a bemused tone.

A look of disgust crossed over Koga's face as he spoke, "Make no mistake Monster, I'm not doing this for you or my master's benefit. He sent me to tell you that you are to render your services unto him from this moment forward. He says that you are not yet strong enough to do what he intends of you to your fullest ability."

"And if I refuse?"

Koga pulled out the small device that looked exactly like the one that Cain had used to gain his powers. He pressed the red button and a yellow light enveloped Cain. He clutched his sides in pain and began to scream in pain. After a few moments of this, Koga, against his better judgment, pressed the button again and the light faded into nothing and Cain's pain stopped. He lay on the ground, covered in sweat and panting.

"That," Koga began, "was all of your body being torn apart by the very device that gave you your abilities. I was told to lie to you about the number of remaining pieces of the Devil's Machine when we first met. This part does the opposite of what the other one did. Instead of giving power, it takes it and stores it. Another five minutes and your essence would have been in this small machine, ready to be given to someone my master deemed more able to follow orders."

Cain coughed and then spoke, "That's a cruel way to do business."

"Cruel is all my master is..."

"Well, I guess I can't fight him for now," Cain paused as he shakily stood up, "what does he want me to do?"

"Simply put, he wants you to lead the invasion force."