Philip was waiting for him with Alicia as Colin walked away with the prize of the Eating Contest half an hour later. He wore a rabbit mask of all things, but the blue bunny at his side told Colin all he needed to know. {That's definitely Philip. I might not be able to recognize him under the mask, but that Blue Bunny is definitely M-6 Rue.}
That, and Colin sensed him as he got closer. There was something about Philip that just {felt} familiar to Colin somehow. Maybe it was the recognition of the Forest Prince for the Ocean Prince, but Philip appeared to Colin as familiar as Alicia, like he, too, was an old friend.
{Or maybe it's because we're both running from the same enemies.} Colin mused as they met. "Hello."
[Hello, Colin.] Philip spoke to him the way Lynn did, the way Alicia could; mind-to-mind. {Or maybe THAT'S why he seems familiar. He can mind-talk too. Of course he can. He's the Ocean Prince.}
Colin glanced at Alicia and thought of what Lynn said about who the next Forest Princess should be. What he asked her, though, was "What's going on?"
"We have to hurry." Alicia said straight out. "We need all the map pieces, and we need them tonight. At the rate we're going, we'll take all week. None of us can afford that."
" 'Us'? 'We'?" Colin frowned. "Are you saying you're coming too?"
Alicia nodded. "I intend to finish the Journey at the same time as you two. Tonight, or tomorrow..."
"No." Philip cut in. "It has to be tonight. No later."
"Is that even possible?" Colin stared. "I mean... how many map pieces do you have?"
"Four." Philip answered. "The free one from Pepper Tourism, Pirate Lord Raggy's piece, the Ironguard Labyrinth piece, and the Boom City piece."
Colin stared. "A Pirate Lord...? And a Labyrinth? You have been busy."
"Of course. I knew I would need those map pieces from the start."
Colin felt distinctly uneasy for a moment. {And what have I been doing while Philip was gathering pieces? Playing on a farm. Trying to rescue a girl who didn't need rescuing. Getting involved in a civil war.}
"How many do you have?" Philip asked next.
"Three." Colin answered. "I have Pepper's, Boom City's, and Jijin's."
"You have Jijin's." Philip breathed a sigh of relief. "Then the only one we lack is the one from the Epic Treasure Hunt."
Colin froze. "Wait... we can {share}?!"
"Usually? No." Philip told him. "But you and I have Sigma Systems. I hate to use it, because it sometimes feels like cheating, but right now, we're desperate. We {have} to do this tonight. Too much depends on it."
"Sigma...?" Colin blinked.
"Colin, you're wearing a Sentinel Armlet in an Rank-2 Dreamworld." Philip said plainly. "Most of the kids here only have access to toy weapons. But your Armlet? That's no toy. There are only three ways I know to get that in a Dreamworld like this, and you're neither a Sentinel nor Dreamworlds Admin."
Colin was speechless for a bit. "You know about the armlet?"
Philip looked at him in surprise. "You don't?"
"Lost memories. Might have been a memory wipe." Colin gave him all the explanation he could.
"Oh." Philip paused. "Anyway... the point is, we can share maps. But it's only between you and me. Alicia..."
"I'll have to do it the hard way." Alicia grimaced. "But my deadline is three days. Mine doesn't have to be finished tonight."
"Why three days?" Colin asked her.
"It's a special offer from Adventura." Alicia told him. "If I finish the Journey here, when I go there, I can sponsor Larry to come with me even though he's not yet twelve."
Colin blinked. "Oh yeah. Your birthday was last month. You're already twelve. You already {can} go to Adventura."
"That's right. Thanks to you, I can even afford the license fees on my own." Alicia poked him. "But I want my brother with me."
"And Jonah?" Colin asked.
"He can pay his own way." Alicia sniffed. "Besides, the offer only lets me sponsor family members."
"Leaving already, Colin?" Katrin's voice said from behind.
Colin jumped, spinning around to see three girls in rabbit masks standing behind him. There was Larry too, except he had raised his mask and Colin could see his face quite clearly. "You guys...??"
"You didn't even see us?" Katrin shook her head. She was the one in the middle. "The Cult could have pounced on you and you wouldn't even notice."
"Philip was looking in this direction. He would have warned me." Colin said defensively. "And what do you have to do with this? And is that May? Since when were you two Traveling together?"
May laughed. She wasn't surprised that Colin recognized her from her red outfit. "Since your date. When your sister yelled about it, we just had to come see."
"My {sister}..." Colin gaped.
The smallest of the bunch raised her rabbit mask and Colin found himself staring straight at a smirking Gracie.
She announced in a triumphant tone, "Mom's gonna hear all about this!"
***
"They just approached. They didn't hear what we spoke about earlier." Philip told Colin quietly. "You can hear their thoughts, can't you? They only heard the bit about Adventura."
Colin paused. {Hear their thoughts... like hearing the thoughts of the Wilds? I can do that? I've heard thoughts that were sent to me by others or things people thought about really loudly, but purposely trying...? Philip obviously can... and he doesn't feel bad about it...}
He sensed for it, like listening to the noise in a cafeteria, seeking out active voices, or in this case, active thoughts.
He {heard} them, sort of. Katrin wasn't really thinking about Adventura. She was just thinking about getting Philip and Colin safely away somewhere, and she seemed to have found out about the Journey's End having an option of going to some secret Dreamworld. May wasn't thinking about Adventura either, not really, she just wanted to do the Journey's End and go for another Cycle. She was actually rather curious to find out how things would be under Gaian management. And Larry... Larry was concerned about his sister's brilliant idea for him to go to Adventura with her. While he wasn't sure it would work, he didn't want to be left behind here in Nakama World without her, but at the same time, he also wanted Jonah to come along.
{Uhoh. That's right. If Alicia's going to Adventura, I can't pick her as the next Forest Princess. I KNEW that solution had been too easy.}
As for Gracie... Gracie's thoughts were all about how to tell mom that Colin had gone on a DATE.
None of them were thinking about Armlets or Sigma Systems. At all.
"Let's just hurry up and do this Treasure Hunt." Colin said, a bit more sharply than he intended. Some of Gracie's ideas were really beginning to grate on him. {I did NOT make a face like that! She's going to tell all sorts of crazy stories that never even happened!}
"I agree." Philip said quietly before Katrin could respond. "We don't have much time. We have to get to Pepper Tourism HQ. That's where the Epic Treasure Hunt starts."
"Where is that?" Colin asked.
"There." Philip pointed.
Colin turned and saw it all the way down the street. There was a large tower shaped like a pepper shaker with a banner over the front entrance saying 'Pepper Tourism'.
"Oh." Colin said.
***
The inside of Pepper Tourism HQ wasn't quite as fancy as it looked on the outside. There were central elevators and lots of walkways and about five floors of offices, but nothing crazy like pepper raining from the ceiling.
"Fanny?" May greeted the first familiar face they found in the lobby. "What are you doing here? What happened after Hot Sands?"
"May!" Fanny jumped up and spread her arms for a hug. "It's been a while! How have you been?"
"I've been busy. Now my friends and I are trying to complete the Journey. We need to sign up for the Epic Treasure Hunt." May told her.
"Right." Fanny nodded sagely. "A lot of people are trying to leave Nakama World now that the Gaians have bought over. Quite a few want to finish the Journey before they go. It's going to be lonely here."
"I'm probably coming back for a second Cycle." May assured her. Fanny brightened up at that. May added, "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, I've been transferring here and there. Been seeing the world and making money while I was at it." Fanny laughed. "I've transferred to every single branch of Pepper Tourism in Nakama World already. Imagine that!"
"What's your next move?" May asked.
"I'll probably work here for another couple weeks. The pay at HQ is much better than in most places. But eventually, I want to explore some more. I'll either take to Traveling or apply for an off-world Transfer. Maybe Adventura. A lot of people I know are going there."
"I know people going there too." May mentioned as Fanny led them to a side desk in the lobby.
Fanny herself took a vacant seat and filled in their applications. "Footprint on this panel, please. Oh? Colin? It's you? I didn't recognize you under that mask..."
"I'm in hiding. Ninja-style." Colin said, putting his hands together with pointers raised.
Fanny laughed out loud and went on chattering with May about what happened to the people in Hot Sands as she processed the rest of them.
"Now, before you begin, I need to warn you." Fanny said. "The Epic Treasure Hunt can be started at any time of your choosing, but it has a time limit of one night. Failing that, you won't be able to try it again until next week, that is, until next Sunday."
"We can't afford to wait that long. We need to do this tonight." Philip said quietly. "We can't afford to fail."
"Well, don't be too afraid to try. You see, you're allowed to ask {anyone} for help. Just be aware of the time limit." Fanny added. "Also, this Hunt involves all of Nakama World. You {will} need to travel a lot, so don't waste too much time trying to ask people for help with the clues."
Alicia raised a hand. "Wait. You said we could ask anyone for help. Is that help limited to only the clues? Or can we ask them to help with anything?"
Fanny smiled. "{Anything}. This is End Journey stuff. You're {supposed} to have made lots and lots of friends by now. You're also supposed to make good use of your contacts and knowledge. But be advised; you {must} go to each of the places and acquire a special item from them yourself. Others can help you get there, but you have to get those items in person."
"Shinji." Katrin said at once. "The Wind Knights. We can ask them for transportation. It might not be cheap, but since time is a factor..."
"It'll be worth it." Colin nodded.
"So... when are you going to start? I advise you to prepare all your resources, all your equipment, all your Comrades and all your friends for this." Fanny told them.
Colin and Philip exchanged glances briefly. They both turned back to Fanny and at the same time, answered the only thing they could.
"Now."
***
Upper management was aghast.
"{Now}?" Director Mavin almost dropped his fedora hat. "But it's practically midnight! Are they sure? I mean, are they even {ready}? Do they even have the map pieces? Do they even have the ranking to get the key?!"
"They've got pretty high ranks, boss." Fanny told him.
"How high?" he demanded. "What kind of resources can they draw on?"
"That's the Ocean Prince and the Forest Prince. They're working together."
Mavin froze. All his objections crumbled to dust. He gulped. "Send them in... no, no, {invite} them in..."
Fanny flung open his office door. "In here."
Mavin saw them and gulped again. He cleared his throat. "Ah... your highnesses... most distinguished guests..."
"We have no time." Philip told him softly. "Can we hurry this up?"
"Right! Of course, of course." Mavin scrambled around his desk hastily. He tapped their badges with his pen. "Registration for Epic Hunt. Registration for Epic Hunt. Confirm."
"Wait. We're going too." Alicia spoke up.
"All six of them?" Mavin blinked. "But... ranking... I mean..."
"You need a high enough rank to get the Silver Key. Without that, the map pieces aren't much good." Fanny explained. "Director Mavin isn't just one of the bosses of Pepper Tourism. He's also the Keeper of the Key. Rumor has it that he founded Pepper Tourism because he was bored of having nothing to do and wanted to help people finish the Journey more often."
"Right! Just so! I founded Pepper Journey to help quicken the Tourism!" Mavin stumbled over his words. "Ah... I mean... what she said."
"I've heard about that. We need to be a Coordinator rank or something, right?" Katrin asked. "Do I qualify?"
"Uh..." Mavin tapped his watch. A blue scanning light swept over Katrin. "Err... no. You're just a regular Wind Knight."
"But there are less than ten Wind Knights in total. Surely that counts for something." Katrin protested.
"Um... no. Most of the Wind Knights who come through here are all Council members. You seem to be the only exception."
"Well... what about me?" Alicia asked.
He scanned her. "J-Knight Hunter... D-ranking. Nope." He scanned Larry and May. "J-Knight Hunter, E-ranking, nope. Guildless... absolutely not."
"So what, you're {not} going to let us take the Treasure Hunt?" Katrin flared.
"You can, but it's useless without the Key!" Mavin protested. "This is End Journey stuff, not something a low ranking J-Knight is meant to do!"
"Wait." Philip forestalled Katrin before she made another outburst. "Katrin, you're hereby promoted to Head Marine."
"What...?" Katrin blinked.
Colin got the idea at once. "Hey, Alicia! You're promoted to Head Ranger."
"Gee. Thanks." Alicia said dryly.
"Would that suffice?" Fanny asked Mavin.
Mavin scanned them. "Yes! That will do nicely! But what about the other two? I mean, you can't have more than one Head Ranger or Submariner."
"I'll get the Key later." May said, waving off his concerns. "This is a great chance to get a hard map piece with really powerful teammates. I can always collect the pieces and then rank up before combining them together."
"Um..." Mavin scratched his head. "That's... possible, I guess? But there's a one week expiry. You know that, right?"
"Not a problem. I'll hit the top ranks of a guild within the hour." May shrugged. "Mom's already processing the application."
"What about Larry?" Alicia asked. "Can you get my brother through?"
"Hmm. He'll have to make a substantial contribution..." May paused.
"I'll give you all my Comrades once I'm done with the Journey." Alicia offered at once.
Colin felt a stab of guilt. {Alicia is the kind of person who would do all that for her brother. And me...? How do I treat my sister...?}
{But it's different! Gracie is nothing like Larry! If she was...}
Oddly enough, he found himself looking at Katrin. {If Gracie was like her... I'd probably treat her like I treat Katrin. Give her everything without a second thought. I'd pick her as the next Forest Princess for sure.}
And what about Katrin herself...? {Nah. She's coming with us to complete the Journey. She won't be staying here either. That means... it's probably going to be Lucy or May. Unless I hold some sort of Tournament of Ascension? But what about the Three Keys Quest? Do we even have time for all that?}
Time. That was the problem. There just wasn't enough time. Everything had happened so fast... and had to happen even faster now.
Meanwhile, Mavin had been explaining things to the team. Alicia summarized it. "So, we need to go to seven places in any order, and the Theme for today is 'Contrasts'. The first place will be someplace Hot. As for the rest, we'll need to unscramble the words given."
She drew up a projection from her watch and wrote them down.
"These don't look too hard." Katrin mentioned, eyeing the words.
Colin took one glance and had to wonder about that.
LCMEIGNWO
YRD
NGRIOI
ETW
EIOUWGCNNML
DLCO
"Well, if the first is 'hot', then this one is obvious." Alicia pointed to 'DLCO'. "That's 'cold'."
"Dry." Philip pointed to 'YRD'. Then he pointed to 'ETW'. "Wet."
"Of course." Alicia said smoothly, adjusting her list.
LCMEIGNWO
Dry
NGRIOI
Wet
EIOUWGCNNML
Cold
"Those were the easy ones." May nodded. "What's the other three?"
"Cowelign? Gelowminc?" Colin scratched his head. "Lecginowm? Menowilc? Low Mine GC?"
"Each is only one word." Alicia nudged him. "So we're looking at a long word here. And every alphabet in there is used."
Katrin cut in. "We'll have to think about it on the way. For now, we have to go someplace 'hot'."
May tapped her lips. "Well, the fire seas season is ongoing in Lamico right now. It should be the hottest place on Nakama World while it's on."
{Lamico again... maybe we can get a flight from an airport...}
Katrin tapped her watch. "Val? We need transportation. Six kids. Fast."
There was no response.
"Val?" Katrin tapped her watch some more.
"Comms are down." Colin reminded her. "We have to do this the hard way. We can't call for help."
They exchanged glances then. Eyes widened when they all started to see the implications of this problem.
Mavin cleared his throat. "Sorry guys, but the rules are the rules. I hate to say this, but this time around, well... it looks like you're on your own."