Genki sat up and looked around, Galeon and Cujo were sitting beside the fire, Holly was already starting to cook breakfast, and Golem and Suezo had gone off to find some food.
He yawned then got up stumbling around until he found the fountain and washed his face and hands then came and sat down beside the fire.
Genki looked at Galeon. "Where are you going now?"
Galeon looked at the boy and shrugged. "I don't know. We have what we came here for, I assume Mu has the TimeStone...so he's next."
Genki looked a little shocked. "Y-you're going to fight Mu?..."
Galeon nodded. "I think me, Cujo, Antares, and Daina could take him on."
"B-But you had a hard enough time against that Magic, Mu is much stronger."
"And I also made a stupid mistake with that Magic, I will not do it again."
"But Mu can break boulders with his fists!"
Galeon shrugged. "And I could destroy a whole town in a matter of minutes, he is no stronger than us four."
Genki looked at him in awe. "Y-You're t-that strong?..."
"Yep, I am." Galeon said with a smirk.
"Wow, look at him gloat." Cujo said as he sat down beside him.
Galeon scowled at Cujo and crossed his arms as he looked that other way.
After breakfast was done and they had eaten Genki sat wiping his mouth off. "Where to next Holly?"
Holly held the Magic Stone up in her hands as she concentrated. After a few minutes a small yellow bird's silhoutte appeared in it then morphed into an arrow pointing to the northwest.
"Hmm? What's that mean?" Galeon asked as he stared at the stone.
"It's the magic stone, it's guiding us to the Phoenix!" Genki said as he pulled his skates on and pointed in the direction the magic stone had.
"Hmm..." Galeon stood as he pulled on the last piece of his armor and attached his cloak to his chestplate letting it flow behind him like a cape. "Well then, I guess it's time to leave then."
Genki jumped to his feet. "So you're coming with us?! Good! We need all the help we can get fighting against Mu!"
Galeon nodded. "I owe him a visit anyway."
Antares climbed to his feet as he pulled the saddle bags over his back. "Great, we can use some help too."
Cujo stretched his front legs. "Whatever."
"But wait, someone's missing." Hare said as he looked around. "Hmm...but who- Daina!"
Galeon shrugged. "She'll find us eventually."
"I don't know, maybe we should wait for her." Genki said as he used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the ceiling of the old park.
"She'll come back, she always does. She's either gone to train or is out looking for trouble."
And so, the group set off in the new direction headed for an unknown destination heading wherever the magic stone guides them.
"I'm starving!" Suezo said as he fell down from exhaustion. "How long have we been walking?..."
Genki walked on past the yellow monster gripping his stomach. "Ugh, I'm hungry too..."
"Chi, I'm hungry too, chi." Mocchi added.
"Gol, me too..." Golem said as he stopped and picked Suezo up in his hand.
Tiger sighed. "If you don't think about it you won't be hungry."
Holly looked back at the solemn Galeon and Cujo walking side by side. "Are you hungry?"
Galeon nodded quietly. "A little."
As they reached the top of another hill Genki looked up a tall tree to spy hundreds of juicy red apples. "Food!" he yelled as he ran to the tree and jumped onto the trunk trying to climb up it.
The rest of the group soon caught up and also stood looking up as the boy made it half way to the branches then slid back down. "It's to high!"
Antares looked at Galeon who stood looking up the tree. "Well?"
Galeon looked at the centaur. "Well what?"
"Aren't you going to get them?"
Holly looked back at Galeon and Antares. "You could get them? Couldn't you?"
Galeon seemed to blush a little. "Y-yeah, I can get them, easily!"
The boy walked over to the tree and pointed for Genki to get out of the way.
Genki stepped back as Galeon drew his sword and sized the shot up. "Here it goes." He leapt into the air getting halfway up then dug his sword into the bark and hung onto it as he sized up the next jump. He leapt off the tree pulling his sword from it and flew upwards reaching the first branch. He stood on it looked around before leaping higher into the tree.
"What's he doing?" Suezo asked as he moved in for a closer look.
After a minute there was some loud cracking and branches full of apples began to fall from the tree.
Suezo leapt back and forth dodging the falling timber. "Hey, watch it! You could put an eye out!"
"Holly walked over and picked one of the apples up and took a bite of it. She smiled and looked up the tree and waved.
"These are good! Thank you!"
Galeon looked down at her and blushed a little as he stuck his sword into the branch he was standing on and leaned on the hilt. "Well, it was nothing-" He was cut off by a cracking sound and looked down at the branch under his feet as it snapped off from the tree. "Wha?! Ahh!"
With a crash the young swordsman fell to the ground along with the branch landing in a heap of wood, metal, and flesh.
Holly gasped and ran over to him helping him sit up.
Galeon sat rubbing his head for a minute before stumbling to his feet.
"Are you okay?" Holly asked as she tried to help him steady himself.
"Huh?" he blushed again. "Y-yeah! I'm okay, it'll take alot more than that to hurt me!"
Holly smiled slightly. "Well, okay..."
Galeon laughed nervously.
The whole group sat down eating the fresh juicy apples. Galeon was sitting down the hill from them under a tree resting against it, Cujo sitting beside him.
"What's gotten into you?" Cujo asked as he peered over at the boy.
"What? What do you mean?..." Galeon said as he gulped nervously.
"I mean, you've been acting clumsy, making mistakes, acting...weird, and....mumbling in your sleep."
"What?! What did I say in my sleep!"
Cujo smiled. "You said 'Holly'."
Galeon's face paled and then redened. "W-What?!..."
"That's what you said, do you like her or something?"
"N-no, of course not-..."
Cujo smiled slightly. "Well?"
Galeon sighed as he looked down. "Okay...I do like her, since the first time I saw her I've liked her, that's why I threw myself in front of that Magic...I didn't want her to get hurt."
Cujo snickered. "Galeon has a girlfriend, Galeon has a girlfriend-"
Galeon backhanded the Terror Dog upside the head. "Shut up! Don't tell anyone about this."
Galeon climbed to his feet, brushed himself off and walked off towards the others. Cujo sat smiling to himself as he looked down into the valley.
Galeon sat down under a tree near where the rest of the group was finishing eating. He looked up to see Holly standing in front of him. She smiled and sat down on the grass beside him looking across the small grove at the others either eating, fighting over, or throwing away the apples.
"So you're going to come with us..." She said as she looked at Galeon.
"Yeah, I guess so..." Galeon replied.
"That's good, we need all the help we can get finding the Phoenix."
Holly pulled the magic stone out of her shirt and held it in her hands as she concentrated.
Galeon watched as the bird formed inside the green stone again and turned this time facing to the west.
"So Mu is that way?..."
Holly shook her head and smiled at him. "No, the Phoenix is that way."
"But why are we trying to find the Phoenix?..."
Holly's face changed to a more serious look. "If we can unlock the Phoenix he will destroy and change all the baddies good again."
Galeon nodded. "I see."
A shadow suddenly loomed over the two causing them to look up to see Cujo standing in front of them. "Would you two love birds care to join us where we can get going?..."
The boy and girl both blushed at the same time but didn't say anything as they simply climbed to their feet and followed the Terror Dog back to the group.
"Okay, let's go!" Genki yelled as he pulled his skates on again and started off followed closely by Mocchi.
"Is he on some kind of medication?" Daina said as she landed beside Galeon.
"Daina, you're back..." Holly said as she looked over at the young Pixie monster.
Daina nodded. "Yeah."
"If we're going to follow the road west then we should find a town a few miles from here." Galeon said as he snapped the cloak onto his chestplate letting it flow behind him like a cape.
"How do you know that?..." Holly said as she started to follow Suezo and Hare towards the road.
"We came from that way."
"Oh..."
The group treks off again on the next leg of their journey on the quest to find the Phoenix so they can destroy Mu.
Genki fell to his knees looking foward on the road. "Augh, how much further? I'm starving..."
Mocchi fell down beside him as Hare and Suezo walked by stopping in front of them.
"If you wouldn't be in such a hurry you wouldn't expel as much energy." Cujo said as he walked by.
"Try to not think about your hunger and you won't feel hungry."
"There's a town not to far up the road from here." Daina said as she passed the two collapsed bodies.
Genki jumped to his feet. "A town?! Food!" He jumped to the top of the hill the road went over and slid down the other side quickly followed by Mocchi, Suezo, and Hare.
Daina moved over close to Galeon whispering to him. "Is this the town I think it is?"
Galeon nodded. "Yep. Tell everyone to be on their guard, those guys aren't going to be to happy."
They passed over the hill and could then see a small town in the distance, smoke came from the chimneys of many houses showing the families were home in the warmth of their houses. A small resteraunt, general store, and bar sat side by side near the center of town.
As the remainder of the group finally caught up with Genki and the other three they found the boy standing in front of the restraunt about to die of joy.
"A-A restraunt...we'll finally get a good meal!"
"Yeah!" Hare and Suezo yelled simutaneously.
Genki, Hare, Suezo, and Mocchi ran as quickly into town as they could and soon stood staring up at the sign over the restraunt's door.
When the others finally caught up they found the street empty, Genki and the monsters were already inside ordering.
Tiger looked around to realize that everyone in the town seemed to be staring at them, out of windows, doors, or from around corners. "I don't like the look of this."
"Do you think Mu could have control of this town?..." Holly said as she stepped back closer to Golem.
"He could." Golem said as he looked back to see several men brandishing pitchforks and hoes.
Genki came back out of the resteraunt and stood at the door. "Hey guys, come on in!"
The owner of the place came to the window and looked out then immediatley forced the four monsters and boy out, locking the door behind them.
"Hey, what the?!" Suezo yelled as he was shoved out the door.
At the bar next door to the resteraunt several men came to the door and stepped out onto the porch. One of them in front had several bandages on his body. "So, you think that we'll forget what you did and let you come back here again after what you did?"
Genki looked at the man. "Whaddya mean, we've never-" he was cut off by Galeon.
"Do you think I give a damn if you do?"
The man growled as he stepped forward followed by several other men holding knives or clubs.
"Boy, you're gonna pay for what you did." The man charged forward toward Galeon who didn't move.
"Who's going to make me?" The man tried to stop when he saw a flash of silver from under Galeon's cloak but his feet slid in the soft dirt and he ran straight into the boy. They were frozen in place for a few seconds, the man with a shocked look on his face leaning against Galeon's cloak.
Galeon stepped back and let the man fall to the ground as he produced the bloody dagger from under his cloak and laughed. "Fool, who do you think you are?" Holly and Genki both gasped at the same time as blood trickled out from under the man's body.
"Jason!" The other men seemed to yell simutaneously.
Galeon stepped back and looked at his handiwork. "Really, for a grudge you sure didn't put up much of a fight."
The man rolled over onto his back gripping his stomach. "I-I'll g-get you!"
Galeon laughed as he threw the cloak off and stepped towards the man leaning over him putting the dagger to his throat. "That's a threat, I don't like threats, let's just make sure you can't carry it out."
Galeon looked up to a 'whooshing' sound to see a huge gray fist come around into him. It struck him across his upper body and sent him flying back into the building across the street's porch collapsing it and the front wall onto him.
Golem looked down at the man under him. "Are you okay, gol?"
The man nodded painfully. "Yeah..."
Across the street the rubble fell forwards as Galeon stood from under it, blood trickled down his forehead into his eyes from a cut on top of his head as he stepped forward onto the soft ground. He drew his sword and looked at Golem as he took a stance to strike from.
Galeon leapt forward to see Holly step in his way. He stopped midstride looking at her. She had her eyes closed with a scared look on her face afraid he would hit her. "S-Stop!" She yelled as Galeon came to a halt in front of her. He stood looking at her for a minute as she opened his eyes.
He looked into her eyes, they had tears welling up in them, she didn't want to see anything happen to her friends. Or anyone else.
Galeon wanted to knock her aside and resume his attack but as he looked into her eyes something grabbed him and wouldn't let him do it. He looked away as he resheathed his sword and crossed his arms.
By that time Genki and Hare were both leaning over the wounded man.
"Please, let us help you, it's all we can do." Genki said as he kneeled beside the man.
Jason sat up and pushed Genki away. "Never, I'll never let any friends of this, this monster help me."
He struggled to get to his feet and limped back over to where the other men were standing, one of them helped him inside while the others stood their ground. "Leave now." One of them said.
Genki nodded. "Come on guys, let's go."
The others nodded and followed Genki out of town.
"Why'd you have to do that?" Genki asked as he hung back to keep pace with Galeon.
Galeon didn't answer. He was walking with his head down and his eyes closed occasionaly glancing up at the path ahead.
"Why'd you do that?" Genki repeated.
Galeon didn't respond once again and kept walking.
"Well?" Genki said as he jumped in front of the boy causing him to stop.
Galeon looked back down at the younger boy and then up at the people still walking in front of them, and Holly. He shook his head then stepped around Genki and resumed his slow, silent pace.
Genki sighed and moved on up to the front of the group again.
Tiger looked up at the cliffs on either side of them, they were walking down the middle of a sandy ravine, the last trees, live trees atleast, they had seen were several miles back.
"This looks like a place for Mu to ambush us from..."
Several small rocks rolled down the cliff face landing in front of the group.
"Tiger, I wish you hadn't said that." Genki said as he looked up the cliff walls.
Several green heads poked over the edge looking down at them. "I-It's an attack!" Suezo yelled as the Dinos slid down the walls of the cliffs closing in on them.
"Perfect timing!" Hare said as he backed up towards the middle of the group.
A Salamander swooped down and grabbed Holly throwing her to the ground and ripping the magic stone from the necklace at the same time.
"Holly!" Genki yelled as he leapt at the Salamander who knocked him away easily.
The Salamander then turned and flew down the ravine.
"You go get the magic stone back, I'll hold the Dinos off!" Galeon said as he unsheathed his sword.
"But there are to many of them!" Genki said as he skated over to Galeon's side.
"You forget my power!" Galeon yelled as he leapt into the Dinos cutting and chopping with his sword felling several of them.
"Right." Genki turned and skated off after the Salamander followed by the others leaving Galeon to fight back the hoarde of Dinos.
After a half hour of following and tracking the Salamander the group had finally caught up with it and Daina and Tiger cornered and killed it. Holly had gotten the Magic Stone back and they realized they had left Galeon along with a horde of Dinos and were quickly on their way back.
As they drew closer the ground began to have a distinct black charred look to it, they noticed some rocks were now laying in the ravine from the cliff above and when they turned the next corner it looked like a full scale warzone.
Holly and Genki along with Hare and Mocchi looked shocked as they saw all of the lost disks standing in the ravine, a few on the rocks, some were piled on top of others, and in the middle of it back against the cliff wall was Galeon.
Holly and Genki both rushed to him as Holly kneeled down beside him and touched him. "Galeon?..." She said as she touched his shoulder. She cried out as he looked up at her weakly and then fell onto his side. Genki grabbed his feet and dragged him away from the wall laying him out flat on his back.
Holly sat on her knees cradling his head in her lap, Galeon looked up at her, his eyes were glazed over as he blankly stared at her. Holly returned the stare, she looked deep into his eyes, there was no feeling in them, he was nearly dying. Holly didn't know why but her eyes filled with tears causing them to quickly run down her cheeks, she would of cried had it been anyone else also but for some reason she felt hurt even more inside.
Genki looked around. "Hey, where'd Antares go? He's got the first aid bag doesn't he?!"
Tiger nodded. "Last time I saw him was right after we killed that Salamader, he didn't look so good..."
"What?!" Genki yelled and then looked up as a clacking sound rounded the corner, it was Antares, but he indeed did not look good, his shell was a very pale red color except for around his mandible like mouth. He didn't have his staff and he got to where Golem was standing and dropped the bag beside the monster.
"I know...this is...a bad time...but I...have to...go..." Antares said as he started to turn back down the ravine.
"What?! We need you here Antares!" Genki yelled as he jumped to his feet. "You look sick, you need help too."
"I'm not sick!" Antares snapped at the boy and then galoped off around the corner.
Holly looked back down at Galeon as he arched his back and clenched his teeth together. After the spasm he started to cough causing blood to run down his cheek and chin.
"Don't worry, we're gonna help you." Holly said soothingly.
Galeon looked up at her as his breathing started to quicken and become shallower indication early shock.
"Gali, don't worry..." She said as tears dripped from her eyes falling onto his forehead.
Galeon clenched his teeth together as he looked up at her, she cared about him, she deeply cared about him. He thought back to all the cruel and evil things he had done, it made him feel even worse inside his ravaged body. He just wanted to die, he didn't want help. He wanted to be put out of his misery for all the cruel things he had done.
Galeon sat up as he squirmed to pull himself to his feet. He stumbled around on his weak legs trying to stand. "I-I-I'm o-okay." He said as he straightened his stance shaking and shivering.
Holly jumped up and went over to him as she helped him steady himself. "Galeon, please don't lie, you're dying, you need help." She said between her sobs.
Galeon gave in and fell to his knees as he coughed up more blood and fell forward blacking out.
Genki had retrieved the saddle bags and had the medical supplies strewn out on the ground. "We've gotta get that armor off of him." Genki said as he unbuckled one of Galeon's leggings.
Galeon looked up at Holly one last time as his world went black and his head fell to the side. Holly gasped but was slightly relieved to find he was still breathing lightly.