Chapter 1: Dive into Peril

Harsh gasps for air rung out through the cold night. The rasped exhales wafts into the sky like smoke, there one moment and gone the next. The person wished that they themselves could move like smoke, to vanish without a trace. They so desperately want to take a moment of rest, but they can't. Not while...it is in pursuit of them. Despite the rasping of the person the heavy footfalls that are manic almost crazed with each step, the wind is quiet, the night is silent, and the only thing that could be heard was this person running. They have no idea how long they'd been running if someone were to somehow stop them to ask. Although, it was easy to see that they were reaching their limit soon. It would be hard for them to explain what they're running from, but they didn't need to understand what it was to know it meant harm, possibly life-threatening. Even when they look back, all they see is a peaceful night sky and a quiet forest trail. Finally, the person pauses to take a moment to catch their breath. The manic state calmed as they adjust their traveling cloak on their person. Dry hands grip the edges bringing the cloak in for warmth or sense of comfort.

"Haven be with me," the voice said now revealed to be male. "As the Sage of this layer I cast my prayer to you, so that I may not fail at this juncture…" His keeps his ears open for any unnatural sound.

Nothing…

The hooded figure sharply turns around to see a rush of some strange energy come flying at him. He leaps out of the way a great distance above the attack to land on the ground farther away. He looked to see the enigma was coming, quickly changing direction to charge at him again. He dived out of the way just at the right moment barely avoiding it again. The person who was running began to try and run again but found himself unable to move. Some type of paralysis came over him and he didn't understand how. He looked up to see the enigma coming towards him. It soon began to take shape into a more humanoid form with all its features still covered in some strange energy, with a black coat covering a portion of their form.

"Enough of this, our game of cat and mouse is over," His assailant bent down to place their hand on his head.

"Why have you sought me out?!"

"Asking a question you already know, what's the point of that?"

"Iris will surely-,"

"She has been dealt with. Seeing as you Sages are so unpredictable it's best you be removed as well. It's time you recognize your new god."

"New god,?" He spat. It felt like poison on his lips. "You've brought nothing but chaos in your wake."

They simply shake their head. "You're mistaken,"

His heart pounds furiously as his head is gripped tightly, and he's pressed into the soil."What I bring is a new world order"

Sparks of yellow and white met in a celebratory dance, lightening the area considerably, as a surge of energy poured into his brain. He screamed, body wriggling and wrangling against the ground. The cloaked figure bucks and flails on the ground, in response he's pressed firmer into place.

"Stop resisting or you may just be worthless in the end. You're no good to me dead," They said plainly.

"Then so be it!" he called out, tears soaking his cheeks. "Ifalas zaras I zaraq!"

As the words left his mouth his eyes began to shine a white light and a surge of power rippled throughout his body and radiated out of him as a gust of wind. His assailant recoiled like a viper in preparation for battle, both of their hands raised to cover their face, their hood flapping wild in the air and threatening to fly off from the intensity.

The runaway began shining brighter and brighter. "With this last will, I shall cast you out of this layer unable to step foot here or the next two over! Your power may be great and alien to this world, but by Haven's grace I know you are not the only champion of this power!"

"You're wasting your time Sage, you have no knowledge of where I come from to know how to find those that can challenge me," Their voice is raised, attempting to be heard over the roaring winds pushing them backwards. "Let alone there be such a being that exists."

"Who said anything about there being one?" He mocks with a knowing smirk that's soon covered by the shining light.

He stretches out a hand towards his opponent and fires off a beam of light at them hitting them square in the chest and causing them to lose some footing as they stumble backwards from the impact of his beam and the blaring winds.

A strange symbol appears below his feet, at the same time he extends both of his arms allowing himself entirely to be consumed by a light so great that it could be seen for miles upon miles. A concentrated portion of the sphere shoots into the air and grinds against the atmosphere, and like glass begins to crack, with lines zig zagging across the skies until finally the beam of light bursts its way through and into the endless abyss of space. The light fades away and he slouches forward, his legs wobbling and threatening to give way under his weight.

Re-adjusting their hood as it had briefly blown off, the black coated figure appeared in front of him in what to him appeared to be a matter of seconds. They reached forward a hand wanting to latch onto his neck, only to pass through his form entirely. They pulled back, and raised their hand to inspect it, watching as it fazed into a translucent state.

"Per the nature of my spell, you can do no harm here…" the figure states with a heavy sigh. He crashes to his knees, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"You Sages are just full of surprises," They chuckled. "But so am I."

Vines reach up from the group d constricting him. The sage figure struggles in terror.

"Im-impossible!"

"Not entirely. As I said, you Sages are unpredictable, so it doesn't hurt to stack the deck in my favor, that's an idiom where I'm from." The vines tighten around the Sage. "I would ask you for the piece I'm looking for. But I'm sure you'd rather die with honor or whatever than do that so I won't waste your time," the vines tighten before large thorns jet out impaling the figure. His struggles cease, as does his breath. The black coat figure turns to leave allowing the body to be on display. "Thank you for your help, now go find that piece I need. I will be sending another to help you in your search."

"As you command Phoenix."

-000-

A boy was walking down the street with his hands in his pants pockets and a brown grocery bag floating behind him. He didn't really have anywhere to go that day so he volunteered to do some shopping for his mom, which she teased him for by saying "you must be bored out of your wits". It isn't his fault he had been bored as of late. The return to normalcy was appreciated after the harrowing, life threatening adventure he had been on. However that appreciation had begun to fade away after a few months had passed. The capped wearing boy is a hero, a young hero, but a hero none the less. Ness the psychic wonder recognized by his signature red cap he wore all the time. He decided to update his look a bit by wearing a blue shirt, with a red sleeveless vest that has a hood, dark blue denim shorts, and red high top converse with a black tie and black shoestring.

His good friend Paula had suggested the wardrobe and she found him adorable in it, so he couldn't help but agree with just about everything she said. She was one of his best friends, though teased a lot for there being more there. However, he didn't think so, although everyone thought he was just being oblivious of not only her feelings, but his own. This was Jeff's point, another of his good friends that's way too smart for his own good. Jeff's smart enough to make almost anything into a weapon, a tool, or handy gadget-however, he isn't very people smart. Sometimes mouthing off or saying things that most well cultured folks wouldn't say if they had a lick of social skills. It was difficult to be mad at him, he knew Jeff didn't know better and that oblivious nature can be endearing at times. The last of his comrades is Poo, dalaamnese prince from Dalaam. Very cultured fellow, Ness could never get used to someone calling him Master Ness. Ness felt weirded out by it at first, but grew accustomed to it rather quickly. However, he does tell Poo that it's alright to just call him Ness. It was weird to be called a master when Ness knew Poo could probably, quite easily, kick his butt up and down, left and right or whatever other directions there are with his Mu training and extensive knowledge of PSI.

Ness himself was content though. He often wondered why he was the leader of the Chosen Four compared to the other amazingly skilled members. However, they say he was just being modest. The leader isn't always the best fighter or the strongest. But the one who can make the tough choices, create morale, and have a certain charisma that makes people want to act. Plus, being able to use pure psychokinetic attacks was also a very major fact that put him in a league of his own. Still, with all that had happened in the past and the battles he'd fought, Ness had thought this change of pace would be a relief. Of course it was a relief to finally come home and see his mother and sister again, to know they saved the day and beat the bad guy. Of course the peace was welcomed after all the struggling and life threatening situations, but he got over those feelings a month into this change of pace.

"I just wish something exciting would happen," He'd mutter under his breath just moments before thunder crashed from above.

Ness groaned "Great, now it's going to rain," he glanced up, but he gained a look of confusion. He saw only sunshine overhead. "Wait, thunder…without a cloud in the sky?" he questioned internally.

Ness stared for a moment, a queasy sensation rose from his gut and prompted him to up his guard. He noticed a peculiar energy was building up, He didn't recognize it at all, and that frightened him. Suddenly the sky opened up, like it was shattered like a window, splintered to reveal a shining light. On reflex Ness raised a PSI Shield around his body, and gasped once this was ignored by the foreign energy. Ness didn't know what this was but it certainly wasn't PSI if it could faze through his shields so easily. "What is happening?"

" I beg you ones of pure heart to come and save Peril."

"Who is that, and who the heck are you?"

"Please, our world needs you."

"Wha-" Whatever Ness was going to say was lost as he felt gravity pull him upwards towards the sky, he gave a cry and flailed dramatically as he came closer and closer to the rip in the sky, and in a moment's notice he was gone. Nothing, not even a sign he had been there at all.

Ness found himself flung through a colorful wormhole of some sort. He lost all sense of awareness and his surroundings, as his eyes were completely overpowered by the flashing light all around him. Next thing he knew though the light vanished for it to take the place of a blue sky. A sparkling blue sky that was beautiful to look at, but Ness noticed the sky was getting further away. He soon felt himself at the mercy of gravity as he turned his head to see the ground rapidly approaching. He screamed as the ground got closer and closer. With the disorienting feeling still present over his mind he felt his powers were beyond use. He flinched as the ground got close, and was left thoroughly shocked as he sunk into the ground, then launched back up into the air.

"What the heck?" he questioned as he launched high again. Then he came back down to bounce again.

He repeated this process for a while until he deemed it boring and landed on his feet to cancel out the next bounce. "Weird," Ness said tapping his foot against the ground to feel the rubbery resistance. He noticed that the grass has a beautiful shine to it, the perfect shade of green although the bouncing he just experienced made him realize that the grass was probably not real. He looked around his immediate area to see the grass was the same shade. Also the trees he noticed were probably as tall as skyscrapers reaching jaw dropping height. He had never thought it was possible for trees to get so high.

"An entire forest…of fake grass?"

"Heads up!" called a voice from above him. Ness was startled as he turned his head to see someone falling towards him. Ness yelp in surprise, but was unable to remove himself from the path of the person as they crashed into one another. Ness felt the other person sitting on top of him. He groggily opened his eyes to see the legs and feet of the person in front of him. "Well that landing was less soft than the first one, but still not so bad," Ness shook the confusion out of his eyes then mashes his teeth.

"Get off you fatty!" Ness groaned. He felt like the person weighed a ton.

"Fatty?!" the person quickly took offense. " I'm nowhere near fat dickwad," the person, a boy based on the voice, surmised as he poked Ness in the head. "I said heads up,"

"Two seconds before you landed on me,"

"A warning is a warning,"

"Get off before-," Ness stopped when he looked back to glare into the boy's face but paused. The boy pauses also staring at him in return. Ness summoned the strength he needed to throw the boy off of him and jump to his feet to face the boy properly. "Who are you?" Ness demanded with a serious tone. He was freaked, and rightfully so. When he looked at the boy he saw a very familiar face, his own. The Ness's lookalike picked himself with a small scowl. Ness noticed he has a cap like his own, only the brim was tilted the opposite direction. His hair was lighter than his own as well as it was more a dark brown then black, also his hair was messier. But the face, the face was the exact same. He wore a yellow shirt with a blue sleeveless vest with a hood, a red bandanna around his neck, denim shorts, and blue-white converse.

"Who am I?" the boy questioned incredulously. "Well you should know since you are copying me!"

"Copying you?!" Ness exclaimed offended.

"And doing it badly I might add. If you're gonna try to one up me, you need to try harder, a lot harder,"

"You're just jealous I'm better looking," Ness said crossing his arms.

"What, you've gotta be kidding! Besides, there's only one real Ninten and that's me!" the boy named Ninten exclaimed, punching his chest.

"Ninten, what a lame name, but I guess it fits a lame person like you. I'm Ness, so I don't need anything that yours. You may be trying to throw me off by using that name but it won't work. I can tell you're no regular person. Besides what are the odds of someone looking like me and having PSI?"

"So it wasn't my imagination. Alright, only one way to prove who the real fake is here," Ninten jabbed a finger in Ness's direction. "No weapons, only our fist and skills,"

"That's an oxymoron," Ness muttered to himself. "But okay then let's go!"

Both boys rushed each other head on, although both were having an awkward time because neither were accustomed to the bouncy terrain. A smirk appeared on Ninten's face as he jumped then stomped the ground next to Ness, which launched him high into the air. Ness called out in shock as Ninten bounced up to deliver an uppercut into Ness's jaw. Ness went toppling through the air then bouncing against the ground. Ninten bounced up again then slam next to Ness to launch him again. However this time Ness was ready avoiding Ninten's fist and controlling himself in the air. He placed his feet against one of the trees to push off and deliver a strong kick into Ninten's side that sent him back to the ground. Ninten bounced against the ground then regained his footing as best he could given the environment. Ness rushed him this time kicking off the trees. Ninten bounced up to meet Ness in midair. However, Ness vaulted off of Ninten's extended arm to flip forward and kick off Ninten's back making him catch a face full of a tree trunk. Ness laughed heartily as he landed on the ground again. Ninten pulled himself away from the tree with his face red.

"You asked for it now!" Ninten growled.

"I've been asking for it, when you going to give it?" Ninten then struck the ground from where he was. This sent a wavelength through the ground straight toward Ness. Ness was launched high into the air astonished at Ninten's raw strength. Ness flipped once in midair to regain his balance as he placed his feet against a tree. However, he had lost track of Ninten which he was painfully reminded as Ninten had launched himself to land his foot into Ness' gut. Ninten pushed off throwing Ness into a tree back first. Ninten, trying Ness' strategy, kicked off a tree to dive bomb Ness. Ness saw at the last second and quickly rolled to the side avoiding Ninten's foot. He vaulted off of Ninten's back when the super strong boy turned around to swing. Ness swung his leg to bring Ninten's right leg from underneath him and Ness followed up with a well-placed punch right into Ninten's cheek as he was falling downward. Ninten staggered a bit but regained himself to charge forward. Ninten let out a barrage of attacks that Ness had no choice but to block or dodge. He regrets blocks though cause of the pain they brought. Ninten spun for a spin kick that Ness jumped back to dodge. Ninten, thanks to the bouncy ground, was able to push off on his standing leg to follow. Ness gasped as he crossed his arms just in time to block another of Ninten's punches, but was still thrown back a good distance as he went rolling against the ground. "Man, this guy is a little too much…"

"Geez, what does it take to get a good solid hit in?" Ninten groaned as he was growing tired as he tried catching his breath.

"This guy is tougher than I thought," they both muttered to themselves. Ness decided that in a physical bout of strength Ninten was superior and much more experienced in combat as he was able to adapt to the environment faster than he could. Ness knew he was quicker though and better battle skills. He came to the conclusion to use PSI to make the difference. Ness raised his hand forward pointing at Ninten making the other boy flinch in concern. Ness began charging energy up for his next attack, and his signature move.

"Alright here goes the kids gloves come off, PK RO-,"

"Excuse me," a new voice speaks up suddenly. Ness stalled in his attack as he paused hearing the new voice. Ninten also paused as he turned toward his right and Ness followed his gaze. They both saw a blonde boy wearing an orange shirt and sleeveless yellow vest with a hood that he had covering his blonde head, black denim shorts, and black-white converse. The boy flinched at seeing both boys stop to stare at him but regained his composure. "Sorry to interrupt…I was kinda hoping you guys knew where this is?" Ness and Ninten stared at the blonde a little longer. They looked at each other seeing the same clueless look then back to the blonde. They both shrugged signaling they had no clue either. "Okay…bye," the boy said simply then began walking in another direction.

"Hey wait a second!" Ninten called as he bounced a few times to launch himself in the air. He lands right in front of the blonde startling him and making him fall on his butt. "Hahaha, sorry about that," Ninten said with a big smirk on his face. Ninten regarded the boy for a moment and noticed he looked pretty strong, but maybe a bit younger than him and Ness. "How old are you?"

"T-T-Thirteen," the boy stutters back unsure if he is about to be attacked.

"Oh really, then that makes you a year younger than me huh kid," Ninten said kneeling down to the boy's level.

"I-I don't wanna fight," the boy said in a shaky voice clearly nervous and a little afraid.

"Ah I won't hurt ya," Ninten smirked as he pats the blonde on the head also earning a confused look. Ninten wouldn't like the kid to be afraid of him. "I'm not the bad guy." He assured.

"Well you were quick to attack me," Ness had said wobbling over.

"Well who said our fight is over yet?" Ninten said standing up straight.

"Why don't you use your head, this kid did actually point out an important fact. We have no idea where we are and fighting each other isn't going to get us anywhere."

"You only say that because you were losing."

Ness rolls his eyes. His gaze falls on the blonde that's still on the ground. Ness pushes Ninten aside to extend his hand out to the boy who was shocked to see the appendage. The blonde looked at the hand then to Ness' face as if trying to find deceit. He began raising his hand to take Ness', but for some reason he pulled back at the last second. Ness looks at the boy curiously.

"I can stand on my own," the boy said at last. He did just that standing up by himself ignoring Ness quizzical gaze.

"So we gonna finish this or what?" Ninten questioned with raised fist.

"Time out, once we figure out where the heck we are and why we can settle this whole mess," Ness said waving off Ninten. He looked toward the youngest member there. "So what's your name?"

"…Lucas…"

"Great, nice to meet you…much better than the other guy at least. I'm Ness….I guess my sparring partner over there is Ninten."

"More like your butt's new owner."

"Clever wordplay, won't save ya from getting your block knocked off!"

"Well aren't you lot just a riot" came a voice from above them. The three boys jumped startled by the new voice that seemed to come from everywhere. Suddenly, a person began bouncing all around them like a rubber bouncing ball deflecting off of everything it touched all over the place. The three boys were in shock as they tried to gather their wits. "What's the matter where'd all that spirit go?"

"Right here!" Ness called jumping up timing his jump perfectly to grab onto the bouncing person. Ness tackled the person to the ground. However, somehow Ness found himself on the ground being sat on. He saw that the person wore yellow high top sneakers. He couldn't help but see them since the sides were pressed against his face.

"Well that was fun, but next time you might want to hold on to your target eh?" teased the person. The accent the person had was a bit odd as well. Like a medium bass tone fitting someone of thirteen, with a bit of accent that fit a much deeper voice. The boy was lighter than Ninten though, so Ness grabbed the boy's ankles forcing his feet out of his face. He rose off the ground then slammed the boy face first into the ground and watched with glee as he bounced uncontrollably until his face met a tree.

"Maybe next time, wash your socks before jamming them in someone's face,"

"My bad buddy," the boy said, rubbing his face which tingled from the impact, as he bashfully sat up. "That hive was a nasty way to hit the brakes though wasn't it?"

"You mean that tree?"

"Tree?" the boy questioned.

"Yeah, the tall things sticking out the ground is a tree," Ninten said with a mocking voice.

"No you dumbbells, these are hives," The boy sighed when he noticed their blank expressions. "You know, home of Swarmers? " At their continued confusion he decided to drop it. "Surprised they didn't fly out to deal with you two with the way you were going at it,"

The three boys took in this new arrival. His wild bright red hair was an eye catcher, with the tips of his hair highlighted yellow, the way it stood up in the back, and the short ponytail he has it in. His eyes also matched his hair along with his red hoodie, orange shorts, and of course the yellow high top sneakers Ness got acquainted with.

"So there was someone other than Lucas around here," Ninten surmised.

"I thought there might've been someone around, who are you?" Ness asked.

"It's not polite to ask for someone else's name before giving your own," the flame headed boy responded.

"It's also not polite to spy so I guess we're ignoring manners for today."

"That is fair enough…." The boy scratched the side of his head as he gazed off to the side. "It's a bit unfortunate but I don't remember my name or much of anything about myself."

"Seriously?" Ninten asked.

"Yeah….well I do remember having someone watch over me, I think. My mind had been foggy the past few days, but I do know they kinda vanished. I just feel the presence is gone," That optimistic and energetic spark in those flame eyes seemed to die out just thinking about it. Ness and Ninten share a gaze with one another then to Lucas. "I think they might have taken my memories with them? It sounds weird I know but-"

"Look, we wish we could help you, but we're not doctors or detectives or anything like that," Ness said.

"Oh, that's fine, I wasn't expecting you to help me or anything I just met you guys," The boy responded, the cheerful disposition returning. He stood up to dust himself off. "Well I guess it was fun meeting you guys, but you'd better find some place to hideout soon before nightfall."

"Why?" Ninten asked.

The boy tilts his head at them, "What do you mean why? You got a death wish or something?"

"We're not from around here, maybe you can…um…" Ness felt guilty asking for help from someone who themselves was in such need of help. The boy seemed to catch his drift though and smirked.

"Oh that explains why you thought these hives were trees."

"Dude, these are trees, their hollow on the inside!" Ninten walked over to one to prove his point and went to beat on it. The boy raised his hands to stop him with a panicked express as Ninten's fist hit the tree or hive. Since Ninten's fist cracked the tree which made his eyes widened considerably as he turned to look. He pulled his hand back in shock at seeing this.

"Well….flies is at most just annoying not really threatening…"

"I don't know what kind flies you've been around…" the flame headed boy said. Suddenly a large buzzing was heard and suddenly giant bugs burst out of the, now official, hive. The bugs were giant, about the entire size of the boys' torsos. They have four large wings on its back, giant red eyes that looked like slits; a mouth with a vicious row of teeth, and at the end of the insect's abdomen was a stinger easily half a meter long. The boys all winced at seeing the pack of insects fly out and then glare down at them.

"He did it," Ness said pointing at Ninten.

"RUN!" the flame headed boy exclaimed as he took off surprisingly fast for the ground being so hard to even walk on. The three PSI boys rushed after him as well trying to outrun these dangerous insects. The three newcomers struggled to stay balanced on this terrain as the stingers of these dangerous insects were poised to strike. "A sting from those things can kill!"

"Well obviously that thing is as big as my arm!" Ninten yelled. Ninten yelped out in panic as one fly almost skewered him through the chest.

"AH!" Lucas yelled in surprise as he lost control of his trajectory as slammed into another hive.

"Crap!" Ness gasped, stopping. He leaped back pulling out a metal bat then managed to wail on one of the insects that was about to impale Lucas.

"You…helped me?" Lucas asked with wonder.

"Come on don't look so shocked…I'm not a bad guy either," Ness said, shooting Lucas a quick smirk before facing the swarm glaring down on him. "This is gonna hurt though."

"…I can help…" Lucas muttered quietly but loud enough over the buzzing. He stood up, but Ness raised his arm to halt Lucas from going too far. "Don't worry…" Lucas said as he gently moved by Ness' arm. Lucas removed his hood then stared up at the deadly insects.

"Talking to animals like this won't work if that's what you're trying to do. Feral rage is a pretty strong rage," Ness said. Lucas began to glow slightly as his eyes shined as well. Sensing the danger now the flies moved in poised with their stingers with Lucas only calmly raising his hands to point out at them. A sudden explosion of light blue light came and went quickly, but the effect was obvious as all the flies dropped like…well flies. "Whoa…."

"What the heck was that?" Ninten asked as he walked over as he nudged an insect with his foot.

"Uh…an EMP burst that targets the electrons in the brain and….well basically I turned their brains off," Lucas explained.

"Whoa…that is so awesome!" Ninten exclaimed.

"I totally agree that's cool as inferno! I mean not really since inferno is hot, but ya know what I mean!" the red haired boy agreed trudging over to Lucas. "You ARE just as amazing as the other two after all." the boy then looked at Lucas' head. "Cool hair by the way," he said running a hand through Lucas' blonde locks. This close Lucas can see that he is shorter than Flame perhaps by an inch or two.

"Could you not do that…" Lucas asked politely.

"Huh why?" the boy asked curiously with his hand still in Lucas's hair as he looked the slightly shorter boy in the eye.

"Because it's a little something called boundaries," Ness said with his hands on his hips. "Geez this place is way too crazy for my taste."

"Exciting though," Ninten adds with a smirk as he kicks at another fly.

"Aw if you can't handle it then you may as well go back to wherever you came from…where are you guys from anyway?"

"We're from Earth," Ninten said. Ness and Lucas looked at Ninten curiously. "Oh like anything we've seen so far can be categorized as Earth. The ground is like a freaking moon bounce, giant killer FLIES-"

"Swarmers" Flame injected

"Whatever. Hollow trees that aren't trees, and the sky is even weird!" Ninten exclaimed pointing upward. Ness and Lucas look to see that there are other planets within sight along with a sun and two moons. "So as much weird stuff we might've seen, especially given what we can do, this place should be classified as not Earth."

"So wait you're from another world?" the flame headed boy stared at the three with an incredulous look. "Well… um that might explain a few things. Welcome to Peril offworlders,"

"Peril?" Ness blinked and shared a look with Ninten.

"Why is it named that?" Lucas asked nervously.

"Well it's not exactly the most hospitable planet, barely any sentient life here at all. The ones that do live have to be super strong. It's a harsh world here, and we're only on the tip of the iceberg."

"Well Flame, maybe we can help each other out," Ness said with a thoughtful look.

The red haired boy tilts his head at Ness. "Flame?"

"Yeah, gotta call ya something till we find out your real name."

"What do you mean?"

"Does he have to spell it out for ya. We need help finding a way home and surviving this crazy place. You have the knowledge, and we've got the means to survive. We'll help you get your memory of who you are, maybe even help you find this missing guardian of yours, and while we're doing that you can show us around and help us get home," Ninten explained.

"Really, you'd just…help someone…without knowing them?"

"Well I don't want to be speaking for them, but I don't mind. Besides it's a 'you scratch my back, I scratch your back' situation,"

"I understand that but most beings here do whatever they can to get over, no one is concerned with fairness or selfless desires…but clearly you guys are from another world!" Flame said with a large smirk. "Alright my name's Flame, cool, I like it. Flame, Flame, Flame, Flame, Flame! Sounds cool."

"You mentioned something about nightfall didn't you?" Ninten reminded him. Flame stopped to look at the sky a moment.

"Yeah, we'd better hurry," Flame looked back at Lucas with a smile but it faltered as he watched Lucas pull his hood back up. "Awww don't hide your face like that, it makes you look more like a sad sack," Flame grabbed Lucas' hand surprising the boy. "Come on, let's hurry," Flame said leading the way with Lucas's hand still in his.

"Think this is a bad idea?" Ninten asked.

"Yep," Ness said as he followed Flame with Ninten right behind them.

Farther away a figure watched them over a large cliff that oversaw the coming sunset. "This new development is annoying, guess that Sage did have one last trick to pull. More PSI wielders won't mean a thing in the long run. They'll be dealt with all the same," The figure glanced back. "See to it Void."

"Yes sir," came a young, but dry emotionless voice.