Chapter 5: Early Warnings

"W-where am I?" Klonoa found himself in what seemed a to be an abandoned town. Surrounding him where destroyed buildings, debris, and smoke flying from every nearby house in sight. It filled the air with a terrible smell that made Klonoa sick to his stomach. He had no idea how he got into this strange location.

"What happened here?" Out in the distance a rather loud growl was heard behind Klonoa.

"I'm guessing that had something to do with it." He looked around scan the area.

"It must have came from somewhere in that direction." He said after spotting the creature's hiding place. The roar seemed to have been located in the nearby forest area judging from the amount of birds flocking off from the treetops. Thus, Klonoa began walking south to hopefully find the creature.

"I sure hope it's a lot more friendly then I think it is." Klonoa joked to himself. Part of him was terrified of what he would find when he saw the creature, The other side of him just really wanted to know what was going on.

More then anything however he was afraid. His mind was already set on finding the creature however so there was no way he would just walk away. Klonoa had finally made it to the forest when he suddenly felt himself stop cold.

"I can hear footsteps I must be close." He looked at his hands and noticed how much they were was like fear had taken over his body

"But why do I feel so... afraid? It's not like I haven't dealt with tons of monsters before, so what's different now"

Klonoa could feel himself getting more and more afraid by the second. He tried calming himself down by taking breaths but nothing seemed to be working. "Fine, maybe I am afraid. That doesn't mean I can just turn around now, whatever that thing is has to be evil. I just need to tough it out and find it." He said to himself encouragingly.

"Alright, I better not waste anymore time standing here. Rupuroo-doo!" With that signature call he began trudging through the forest to look for the creature. With all the branches making it hard to navigate through.

"Wuh?" He said finding himself nearly tripping over a seemingly rather large object. He looked down to see what it was to find a rather familiar face lying there.

"L-Lolo!?" Klonoa was shocked to find her right at his feet unconscious. She had cuts and scratches all over her.

"Oh no, please wake up Lolo." Klonoa tried everything but she wouldn't even nudge. It didn't seem like she would wake up anytime soon. Suddenly he found himself being flown across the forest by a incredibly strong gust of wind.

"Oomph!" He landed hard on the concrete. Klonoa had been blown all the way back to the city with the massive force of wind. Lolo was left unharmed by the wind surprisingly as she continued to lay there.

"What was that?" He asked himself. Something had to have caused it. That wind was no natural event. He heard another growl, this time it seemed even closer then before.

"Looks like you finally decided to come out of hiding." Klonoa could very faintly see the figure in the near distance closing in on him. It looked rather familiar to Klonoa although he couldn't quite see why.

"Did you do that to Lolo? Why? Who are you?" Klonoa asked many questions, but the creature said no reply. It simply continued walking.

Finally, the creature had came face to face with Klonoa.

"N-no way. that can't be..." Klonoa looked in horror. The creature smiled at his confusement.

Me?...

He was almost exactly like Klonoa, with a few key differences. He had sunset orange eyes, His claws were protruding his gloves, and the bottoms of his ears were shaped like razor blades.

"B-but it can't be true. There's no way I would ever attack Lolo... right?" He found himself unable to comprehend it. He wouldn't ever really do anything to hurt Lolo. But he was standing right in front of himself and it was obvious he was the only other person around.

Klonoa lost it. He found himself standing there completely still immobile unwilling to move a muscle. The other Klonoa saw this as an opportunity to strike giving him almost no time to react as he was running at him with incredible speed. Klonoa was unable to do anything but scream.

The next thing Klonoa knew, he was sitting up in his bed panting heavily. He looked around to see that he was back in his own room at Lolo's house.

It was... a dream...

He put his hand to his chest to feel his heart racing like crazy.

"Klonoa?" He heard that familiar voice call out to him. It was Lolo, she must have been checking up on him again.

"Are you alright?" Lolo said concerned. She assumed that he was having another nightmare.

"I'm fine, It was just another nightmare is all." He tried to reassure her. She wanted to question him more but knew that he probably wouldn't bother given past experiences. So she let it go for now.

"Well, alright. Breakfast is ready so don't take too long getting up." She said while walking into the kitchen.

"I think I'll just go outside to sit for a while." He said to himself. Klonoa wanted to have some time to understand what he just witnessed.

So he had gotten out of his black star embedded pajamas and into his normal Blue attire of shorts a shirt and his favorite hat. Then walked outside the door while nobody was looking and sat near the large hill to sit quietly.

What's wrong with me?...

"Here you go Popka. It's your favorite, An omelet with extra cheese." Lolo happily teased. Popka found himself wagging his tail in glee.

"Oh boy! Thanks a bunch Lolo!" He happily replied. Lolo smiled. "No need to thank me. I actually enjoy cooking a lot." She said while handing him his plate.

Ever since Balue had took Lolo up on her request to teach her how to cook she had been doing it ever since. She had always enjoyed watching him do it whenever the three went to eat at his restaurant. Sometimes he even asks her to make recipes for his restaurant if need be. It had become one of her favorite things to do and even teaches Klonoa a couple of things sometimes.

"Say... Lolo is that a new outfit your wearing?" Popka said after noticing her different attire. Lolo gleefully spun around showing it off to him. It was a skirt that resembled her old one a little except with sleeves that had blue and pink stripes on them.

"Do you like it? Since my old clothes got ripped up pretty badly when I went to sew them back it wouldn't work. So I decided to try out these new ones." Lolo seemed rather excited to show it off.

"Yeah, I think it looks great. Did your boyfriend Klonoa yet?" Popka teasingly asked. Lolo could feel herself blushing a little from his comment.

"He's not my boyfriend. Besides, He looked a little... out of it this morning." She commented. Popka frowned.

"Another nightmare?" Popka asked. Lolo nodded. "I told him not to take too long getting dressed though. Maybe I should go check on him. It usually doesn't take him this long to get ready." Lolo suggested.

"Try outside first. He probably went ta go off somewhere on his own if that's the case." Popka added with a mouthful of food. Lolo nodded.

"I'll be back soon. Try not to make a mess everywhere this time." Lolo joked. Popka simply rolled his eyes and went back to eating. She hurried outside to find her friend.

Klonoa, please be OK...

"Why would I do any of that to Lolo? It doesn't make any sense."

Klonoa still couldn't understand what caused him to hurt her like that. "I mean the other me, he looked so evil and heartless. Something must have happened to turn me like that. It's the only way it could happen... but what?" Klonoa could sense the evil in his other self's heart. It was like his polar opposite in a way, pure evil.

But from what? Surely something horrible must have happened for Klonoa to go rogue like that and attack the person he cares about the most in this world.

"Klonoa! Klonoa are you out here!?"

He could see Lolo calling out to him in the distance. She must have gotten worried sick waiting for him to join her and Popka for breakfast.

He suddenly felt very guilty. Making Lolo worry was something Klonoa hated doing. It always made him feel terrible for it.

He sighed. "Lolo! Hey Lolo! I'm over here!" He called out to her. She turned around at the voice to see him.

"Ah, there you are" She said relieved he was ok. She began to walk over to him slowly to not make him uncomfortable.

"It's a little chilly this morning" Lolo shivered. At least her hands were warm with the sasague. "Yeah... but the cold usually doesn't bother me much." He said deadly. Lolo could see how lifeless he looked just sitting there by himself.

"Klonoa, Are you alright? You don't seem to be yourself today." Lolo said worried. She knew that he would probably just tell her everything was fine to make her feel better, but it was worth trying at least.

Klonoa let out another sigh. "Lolo... can I ask you something?" He said looking at her. She nodded.

"Of course."

Klonoa wasn't sure how else to put it. "If I ever put your life in danger, you'd leave me and run away right?" Lolo looked at him with sudden disbelief. She couldn't believe what he was asking, run away from him?

"But why would you ever put my life in any danger, silly?" Lolo said looking at him with a smile. She expected him to be joking, But he didn't even smirk.

"Klonoa?" Lolo was starting to get worried that he was actually planning to do something. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna attack you or anything. It's just that sometimes I wonder if you being friends with me is actually a good thing." Klonoa said curling up and sulking his head in his lap.

Lolo was in total shock and disbelief, Something was clearly wrong with Klonoa today. Now she had to figure out what it was and try to get him back to his normal, happy self.

"Klonoa..." She knew what she had to do next. Sitting down right next to him ready to consult her friend.

Sorry, High Priestess. It looks like training will have to wait...

Wow, I'm really late on this one. Sorry about that everyone. It looks like Klonoa's nightmares are starting to get even worse then before. He's the one hurting his friends? Something about it just doesn't add up. It looks like Lolo will have to try to get through to that tough shell though. For once Klonoa has to be the one opening up to her. See you next time in:

Chapter 6: What's Most Important