Colin sat upon a branch in the Heart of the Forest of Legends with his eyes closed. There was the rich smell of leaves and wood here, and the shade of layers of greenery sheltering them from a relentless sun. There were friends here, and Comrades, and peace.
He still felt a bit sick to the stomach after dying his way back here. Larry didn't mind taking the long way back to Sunshine Town via Umi, but Alicia decided that killing Colin and respawning with him at his Home Base one more time was more profitable despite equipment losses.
At least they wouldn't lose their disguises. Those were Adventura Visages, so there was no chance of that.
But Colin's heart was heavy right now. Despite being Home, at the Most Welcoming place in Nakama World, he felt a great sadness.
He might not lose his disguise, but he was about to lose other things a lot more dear to him.
Colin opened his eyes and looked at his Comrades sitting around him on other branches. "Sonia. Eclipse. The time has come to say goodbye. I release you back to your Clans."
Kyubia had been very specific about it. {It's bad to release them far away from their Clans. Best to bring them to their Clans to release them. For Sonia and Eclipse, that's the Forest of Legends. For Foxie, that's the Lamico Dark Forest, but Kyubia would take care of her, so Foxie could stay until the end. Cour's place would be the Sunshine Forest, near Sunshine Town where they needed to go to meet the others. Kirin, I can release whenever Swift is around to guide her back to her mom and Shinji. Shiro is the Lord of his own Clan; he could warp back to them any time he wants. The only problem was what to do with Raiki. Maybe I can hire Swift to drop her off at the Continent of Eternal Winter.}
Sonia came over first, and sniffed at Colin. She nudged him, pawed him, and wagged her tail a bit. And then she bounded off into the trees, leaping from branch to branch, a green glimpse fading into the green treetops.
Eclipse just bowed in farewell, and then spread her wings and glided silently into the shadows.
They were gone. Just like that, they were gone.
"Goodbye." Colin said, to the empty air.
***
Sunshine Town had been left in ruins after the Green Men Invasion. Though some brave folks had tried to rebuild it, the majority of it remained under construction or just plain rubble.
Edward's Farm was gone forever too. It had been bombed, sold to the J-Knights for a base, and even that had been bombed by Gaian saucers. Blackened ground and ashes were all that were left of Colin's first Home Base, the place where he spent simple and happy nights with Ed, Katrin and the animals. Colin tried not to look at it, but his gaze was caught, trapped at the sight of what used to be the place he wanted to be at the most.
This should be close enough. Colin didn't have the heart to go on any farther. "Cour. I release you back to your Clan."
Cour gazed at Colin solemnly with those blue eyes, so very different from the fiery red of his Clan. Going Frenzied and being Redeemed had changed him permanently. He offered Colin a solemn nod, and then loped away south, down that same road that Colin and Katrin had chased Shiro and Raiki the very first night they came to Nakama World. Colin watched him go... and this time, he did not give chase.
"I figured I'd find you here." Katrin said from behind. Colin turned to see 'Huntress' and 'Knight' sitting with Swift and May on two of Swift's birds hovering inches off the ground at his back.
Philip came over and gave Colin a wrist bump. Their Traveler Watches buzzed and blinked red. They bumped wrists all around until everyone had their maps shared. "One last stop."
Katrin turned to go. "Come on. The last site has to be our point of Origin, the place where we got these watches. The Comrade Home where we first started. Or at least, the ruins."
"Do you want to take a moment?" Colin asked, glancing at the ashes of Ed's Farm.
"No. I've taken all the time I needed nights ago." Katrin said, but as they left, she gave the place one last, sad look.
The end of the Epic Treasure Hunt wasn't anywhere near as Epic as Colin expected. As they approached the ruins of the Comrade Home, their watches all buzzed and shone gold for a moment, and then a notice popped up "Epic Treasure Hunt Complete. Map Piece Awarded."
Then another notice popped up. "All Map Pieces collected. Assemble them at Boom City, Pepper Tourism Headquarters."
"I guess that's where we'll finally find out where the End of the Journey awaits." Katrin said. "Still with us, Swift?"
"You're still paying, right?" Swift shrugged.
"It's going to be dangerous." Philip warned. "The Cult could have figured out what we're up to. They could be waiting for us."
"Us, yes. But 'Prayerman', 'Luna', 'Forkscar II', 'Huntress' and 'Knight'?" Colin shook his head. "I think we might be able to walk right in."
"Let's hope I don't give us away, then." May grimaced. "Since I don't have a disguise. Maybe I'll hang back until you guys have gone on ahead, just in case they jump me."
"And who's going to rescue you if they do jump you?" Alicia asked. "We'd face the same risks if we do that."
May, for some reason, turned toward Swift.
"What?" Swift asked blankly.
***
Philip was right. Security was definitely tighter around Boom City now. Reward notices were posted up all over the place asking for captures or information on Colin, Philip, Katrin and Alicia, with their faces all shown.
"There's a five hour timer." Philip noted. "They know what's going down tomorrow. How did they know?"
"What?" Colin asked blankly. "What's going down?"
Philip didn't answer, but his face was troubled. "They have informants. They have informants at my home."
"You're being spied on?" Colin stared.
"Shh." Katrin nudged him. "Play it cool."
She didn't seem surprised. Colin wondered about that. {Why not? Why does Philip seem so certain that he's being spied on? What's going on tonight? And why is he so sure that he's the one the Cult is after?}
"Good luck, guys." May bade them as they neared Pepper Tourism HQ. There were squads of Green Men lounging about the place. They didn't close the place down, thankfully, but they were clearly waiting to pounce.
"Swift, keep an eye on her, will you?" Philip asked him. "In case we don't make it out... thanks for bringing us this far."
Swift eyed his tired birds and scratched his head. "Just so you know, if they grab you, I don't have much confidence in being able to swoop in and save you."
"If they catch us, grab May and get out of here as fast as you can." Philip told him seriously. "You don't want to be anywhere near here if we get into a serious fight."
"Just how serious a fight are we talking about?" Swift asked, eyeing Kyubia in cub form. Right now, she was the only Comrade they had with them.
"Remember the battle north of Lamico?" Colin hinted. It was no exaggeration. If the Forest Prince and the Ocean Prince called in the Wilds and the Gaians threw in their armies, Boom City would most definitely be destroyed in the crossfire.
"That serious?"
"Let's hope it won't come to that." Colin said. If it did, and Boom City was wiped out, he'd never lose the nickname of 'the Destroyer'.
But three minutes later, he changed his mind.
"Gracie?!" Alicia gasped.
Colin's younger sister was sitting in a cage dangling twenty feet above the Assembly Table where Fanny was waiting, literally tied to a chair. Around the room, armed Green Men stood on guard.
"Twenty troopers." Katrin growled from where they 'chatted idly' in the hall outside. "This doesn't look good. Anyone marching in there is going to get nabbed for sure."
"We can't leave her there." Larry rumbled. He glanced at Colin. "We can't."
"I know." Colin growled. Despite everything, he agreed. Blast it, after all their efforts and planning and sneaking around, in the end it was going to come down to a fight. Even if Gracie wasn't there... but she was. And saving her was the job of her older brother. Even if he really didn't like it. {I'm never going to lose the nickname of 'the Destroyer'.}
"Let's not go in full force just yet. Let's try a diversion." Philip said decisively. "If we can distract the guards into leaving the room, we might be able to sneak in, assemble the pieces, and grab Gracie before they get back."
Kyubia wagged her tail and looked at Colin expectantly. "Whuff."
"I know." Colin told her. "I still don't like it, but you're right. You're the expert when it comes to diversions. Call in your Clan. We're going to need a big one."
***
Screaming was not unusual in Boom City. At any given time, all sorts of screaming could be heard; happy screams, terrified screams, screams of delight, screams of desire (especially from fussy kids in front of ice cream shops), even screams of frustration (especially from those kids' parents).
But tonight, the screaming in Boom City took on a whole new level.
"What's going on?!" Millennium Priest Karodius Somar yelled into the comms, trying to be heard over the cacophony.
Someone shouted a report. "We're under attack from Muffins! Muffins and Cupcakes! And JELLO!!!"
Someone else yelled. "They're taking our clothes! My pants!!"
Somebody else said, "Yggdrasil! Godzilla! Both of them at once! It's too much! It's TOO MUCH!!!"
"The WALLS! The WALLS are coming to life!! And the road!! Oh, planets, the ROAD!!!"
And worst of all, someone said, "...Bunny? Bunny! Bunny, bunny!"
"What does that even MEAN?!" Karodius roared. "Order! We will have order! Mobilize all forces! Whatever's going on, I want it quelled AT ONCE! Alpha Squad! What of the Assembly Table?"
"Nothing happening here, sir." Alpha Squad reported.
"Stay put! This reeks of a diversion!"
"Of course, sir."
***
"They're not moving." Alicia said dubiously.
"Give it another minute." Katrin said, her voice tight.
"They're not moving!" Alicia repeated. "I don't think this is going to work."
Katrin growled. "What else should we do? You want to be a diversion yourself? Put on a Super Jello Costume and dance in there?"
"Now that's an idea..." Alicia said thoughtfully.
"Not you." Colin tapped his badge. "Foxie!"
Foxie popped up and waved her tail at Colin.
"We need to ambush them." Colin pointed. "Can you disguise yourself as one of them?"
Foxie wagged her tail a bit, then in a puff of smoke, appeared as a two foot tall Green Man.
"Close enough." Colin sighed.
"That will do." Philip tapped his badge. "Felice!"
There before them appeared the cat Colin met at the Hot Sands mountains. It mewed a soft greeting to Philip, then Colin.
Philip explained his plan. "We're setting up an ambush. We need you to take out everyone in there at the same time without making noise or frying the Assembly Table. Can you do that?"
"Mew." Felice nodded. Then, right before their eyes, she disappeared.
"What the...? Invisibility?" Colin stared.
"More like a camouflage cloak of light... but it works just as well." Philip said. "Let's do it."
Foxie went in, marching along formally. The sight of the two foot tall trooper drew the attention of everyone in that room. A good deal of them took of helmets and scrubbed their eyes.
"Now!" Philip ordered and there was a flicker of shadow behind each figure in the room.
Twelve men dropped to the ground at almost the same time.
"You know," Alicia observed. "If we had done that at the start, there would have been no need to start a riot outside."
"Let's move!" Katrin dashed in and touched her Watch to the Assembly Table. There was a series of beeps and then a notification popped up. 'Assembling Map Pieces File. 10%...'
"This might take a while." Colin grimaced. He glanced up. "Gracie! Are you okay?"
"Colin?! What's with that two foot tall Trooper?" Gracie called back down.
"It's not a trooper! It's my Streak Fox in disguise!"
"I want one!" Gracie said at once.
Colin sighed, half tempted to just leave her up there. "Anyone know how to bring her down?"
Katrin tapped her badge. "Grace."
Her winged horse warped in. Katrin pointed up and said, "Get her, please."
Grace flapped her way up to Gracie and kicked the cage's door with one hoof. There was a flash of sparks and then the door swung open.
Alarms went off immediately. Loud blaring sirens and red flashing lights and bells ringing all together.
"Great." Alicia sighed.
"Thank you!" Gracie called, climbing on Grace's back.
"Colin!" Philip laid his watch on the Table as well. "Hurry!"
Colin gritted his teeth and did the same. Alicia and Larry did too.
{Assembling Map Pieces File. 10%...}
Shouts were coming over the comms from someone on the floor. "Alpha Squad, report! Alpha Squad!"
"They have comms?!" Colin protested. "How come we don't?"
"The Cult disabled our comms, but clearly, they still have theirs." Alicia's mouth twisted. "Typical."
{Assembling Map Pieces File. 30%...}
Foxie marched over to the comms, still in the form of a two foot Green Man. She barked. "Sir!"
"Who's that? Who are you?"
"Sir!"
"What's going on there?"
"Sir!"
"Who are you? What's your squad and identification number?!"
"Sir! Sir!"
"Great. Foxie can't talk." Alicia facepalmed with her free hand. "Gracie?"
Gracie, the only one of them not having her hand stuck to the table, went over. "Ahem. Hello."
"Who's that?!"
{Assembling Map Pieces File. 80%...}
"This is Gracie." Gracie said innocently. "Nice to meet you. To whom am I speaking?"
"The prisoner?!" the voice gasped. "Full alert! The Table Room has been breached! The prisoner has escaped! They're here! They're HERE!!"
Gracie winced. "Whoops."
Colin gave her a flat look. "You think?"
{Map Pieces File Assembled. Now decompressing. 10%...}
"Great. There's more waiting to be done." Alicia bit her lip.
Phillip called, "Felice!"
Felice acted. The doorway suddenly faded and became a blank wall.
"Wow." Katrin said. "That's some illusion."
Footsteps rang outside in the hall... and went right past the 'wall'. After that, some arguing and confused yells sounded.
{Map Pieces File decompressing. 40%...}
Knocking sounded on the walls. They knew the doorway was here, somewhere. It was only a matter of time.
{Map Pieces File decompressing. 70%...}
"Whoa!" Someone fell right through the 'wall', trying to knock on an illusion that was not at all as solid as it looked. A Green Man landed face down on the ground with a thud.
Felice flickered with light and shadow. The Green Man vanished.
{Map Pieces File decompressing. 80%...}
"Here! He disappeared here!" shouting went on outside. Then two men burst in together, guns raised.
{Map Pieces File decompressing. 90%...}
"Down!" Philip ducked, hand still stuck on the Table. Colin crouched as Felice whacked the guys who came in. One of them managed to fire a shot at the nearest and weirdest figure in the room.
The shot hit the two foot tall Green Man. Foxie went poof.
Map Pieces File Decompressed. Opening now.
"Cripes." Colin stared as the Table projected their destination on a map of Nakama World. There blinking red, was the spot they needed to get to.
https://imgur.com/2nbhEM3
"A place that changes location every week..." Colin whispered. That actually made sense now. Turtle Island was on the back of a giant turtle.
Katrin spluttered. "But we didn't see any arch. We were right there, and we didn't..."
"Maybe we weren't looking." Philip paused.
"Or maybe we needed the key." Alicia said. "Where's the Keeper of the Key? Where's the Pepper President?"
Colin groaned. "We should have gone for the key first..."
Gunfire was pouring in from outside now, hitting the walls indiscriminately. Colin and the others crouched on the other side of the table, letting it pass for a while.
"We need an exit." Katrin said. "We're on the second floor, right?"
Alicia nodded. She said something in reply, but the gunfire drowned out her words.
Katrin didn't seem to need to hear it. She just pointed to the ground and said, "Grace! Give us a hole!"
Grace blasted the floor with a laser beam or something from her forehead. A few quick twists and there was a hole.
"Felice!" Philip pointed.
Felice darted down and blasted away at stuff below. Philip followed, then Katrin and Alicia. Colin turned to Gracie. "You next! Hurry!"
But Gracie wouldn't budge.
"Gracie! What's the matter?!" Colin frowned.
Grace moved. She grabbed Colin's badge, and pulled it off his shirt. Then, she grabbed his legs and screamed.
"I GOT HIM! HURRY! I've captured Colin Rivers!"