The TSD Kids:

The Adventurer’s Agency

Lv. 24

White Tiger Grove

Last time, I spotted that one-eyed thing again! I chased it to the woods when everyone caught up with me. That’s when we met Harold, a friend I once met on my travels. Like Nadia, he too helped me find one of the Medallions. We all followed the thing to a darker part of AppleCherry Woods, and now we have just ventured into the place where the Byakko Medallion was first located… White Tiger Grove…

Eiji: “Wow…”

Sean: “This is quite a sight to see…”

As soon as we stepped in, we looked at all the tall trees and heavy foliage. Thick as it was, the sky was still somewhat visible.

Harold: “…Just as I remember it…”

T: “Yeah. And if I’m not mistaken, I bet I know where that floating eye has roamed off to…”

Eiji: “Where?”

T: “I’ll tell you when I tell you. But hey, get this; the two of us have been in here before, but you four are like n00bs to this place as it is!”

Ellis: “Do you really think that we like to be called n00bs as well? You’re not the only one who doesn’t…”

Harold: “He’s just saying that you don’t know this place like we do! Though it has been a while…”

T: “Yeah… either way, there’s one thing I do remember! Come on!”

We jumped across some tree stumps to reach a door on a slightly higher level. While walking through a hallway carpeted with moss, I said,

T: “There’s a big waterwheel that turns and turns! It’s really fun to ride on! Of course, there’s more to this place than that, but that thing rocks, in my opinion!”

We passed through the door at the end. I then motioned my hand toward the very thing I talked about.

T: “There it is guys; the waterwheel!”

It basically looked like a large wooden flower, sticking up out a body of water. I expected to hear remarks of how cool or big it looked, but when I turned around, everyone was holding their noses in disgust!

Sean: “Good gravy man! What is that stench?!”

Eiji: “It smells like rotting meat… and then some!”

Ellis: “What died in here?!”

T: “Hmm… now that you mention it, it is a little funky in here… what could it be?”

Harold: “It’s the water!”

Sofia: “How so? Only raw sewage would smell this horrendous!”

Harold: “Be that as it may, look!”

The water was tinted an unhealthy orange glow!

Ellis: “This is even nastier than the spider webs!”

Eiji: “What could’ve tainted these waters like this?”

Harold: “Xylos. Without a doubt.”

Sofia: “Xylos again… you really think so?”

Harold: “I’m positive. I knew things wouldn’t be calm yet, even if T acquired the Byakko Medallion. After we parted ways, I continued seeing signs of his malevolence.”

T: “Seeing this, it would make sense… like I said, if things went unhindered back then, then…”

Eiji: “We know; the world would’ve fallen into chaos…”

Sofia: “And… pollution… I’m guessing the water never looked this grody before, huh?”

T: “No. As far as I can tell, the water was always crystal clear. The only problems we faced were the fog… and a bunch of wild vines.”

Sofia: “So how would we go about clearing this up?”

Sean: “No clue… T, you said this wooden thing was a waterwheel, right?”

T: “Of course!”

Sean: “So why isn’t it spinning? That is what waterwheels do.”

Sean was absolutely right; it was completely stationary.

Harold: “Hey, T, wasn’t there a… switch or something around here?”

T: “You’re right! Tanooki!”

I changed into a raccoon dog and hopped across the waterwheel. I started sniffing around on the ledge across the way.

Harold: “Whoa! Now how did he do that?!”

Eiji: “There’s a lot to T you don’t know about now!”

T: “Ah! Here it is!”

My ears pointed up in excitement as they jumped across the log to me.

T: “But… no…”

When they stood behind me, my ears pointed down, disappointed.

Harold: “Didn’t know you could turn into a pup, buddy…”

Ellis: “He’s not a puppy, he’s a raccoon dog! Um, what’s wrong, T?”

T: “The switch… something’s covering it.”

Sofia: “Oh? Looks like a cage.”

Sean: “Looks awfully old…”

Sean tried to use his Cyber Staff to jimmy it open.

Sean: “But it’s built like a rock!”

Eiji then took note of four holes on the cage, as I reverted back to normal.

Eiji: “There are keyholes, y’know…”

T: “Which are probably worth a pile of peanut butter if we don’t have the keys required! Huh… have I said that before?”

Sofia: “We have no other leads… we might as well find these keys. I don’t suppose A.N.A.L.Y.Z.E.R. has a map of this place?”

Harold: “A.N.A.L.Y.Z.E.R? What’s that?”

T: “This.”

I showed him the device. As he looked at it, I said,

T: “To answer your question, Sofia… no, because she wasn’t built at that time.”

Sofia: “Ah, I see. Then you can just have her scan a map, right?”

T: “That’s doable.”

Harold: “This thing’s really something! Maps, monster logs; I could use one of these!”

T: “She’s one of a kind; I made her myself.”

Harold: “Oh… so like Sofia said, you can scan this place for a map?”

T: “Yeah, I’ll do it right now.”

After a few seconds…

T: “…Done! There isn’t much we can do here, unless you all wanna go for a swim…”

All: “No! Heck no! Hell no!!”

T: “My thoughts exactly! But this room here looks promising!”

I pointed to a ledge, down by where the water was. A jump from up where we were standing would get us to it easily.

Ellis: “It’s still close to that nasty water…”

T: “Don’t let that stop you…”

We jumped down to the door and went in.

The room had stairs going up, but that wasn’t the only thing about the room.

Eiji: “At least none of that water’s in here…”

T: “…Hey, check it out!”

I pointed to a large round disc on a wall. It was spinning.

Sofia: “What’s this, some sort of ancient clock?”

T: “Hard to say, but I saw this dealy here last time. I like to call it a ‘dizzy dial’, heh, heh…”

Ellis: “How… cute. Why did you call it that?”

T: “Cause’ it’s always spin, spin, spinning! One would get dizzy if they looked at it long enough. The designs on it look cool, yes?”

Eiji: “Yeah… really cool…”

Sofia: “Wow…”

T: “Huh?”

I looked at the others. All eyes were on the spinning disc.

T: “Hey, you guys really seem to like it!”

Harold: “Uh-huh…”

Ellis: “Pretty colors…”

After a minute or so, I went to go upstairs, but I realized they were all still staring at the ‘dizzy dial’!

T: “Hey come on! We hafta get going and find those keys!”

I walked up to them. I could’ve sworn they were drooling a bit!

T: “…Yep, they’re zonked…”

I looked up at it.

T: “I wonder why I don’t feel so inclined to gawk at it…? Heh, heh, I guess all our adventures where I’ve performed my T Tornado attack has given me a tolerance to the spinning sensation! But seriously, how does this thing spin? Has it been rotating all this time?”

I then took note of the pattern…

T: “I dig the design, but four of the markings resemble keys! Eh? Looks like one of them is…”

Instead of an engraved design, one if then had an embossed look… that and looked a little loose!

T: “What if… A tap oughta do it!”

I backed away from the wall and readied myself!

T: “Gangway! Outta the way, everyone!”

I blindly charged forward, towards the wall. But the others were too busy being dizzy to hear me!

T: “Oof!”

I fell into the others, which in turn made us all hit the wall!

Ellis: “Ow!”

…Which of course, snapped them all out of their dizzy state…

Sofia: “What was that for, T? Were we in Train Formation again?”

Ellis: “Seriously, that hurt!”

With open palm, I said,

T: “I did say ‘gangway’, but you guys were too dizzy to even listen!”

Then the key-shape fell out the indent into my hand!

T: “Yes!”

Eiji: “Is that a key?”

Sean: “That collision course must’ve jarred the key from that thing.”

Harold: “Smart thinking, T! You’d make a fine adventurer someday!”

T: “Someday?? (Scoffs) You must not have heard all of our exploits, have you?”

Harold: “After this, there’s time. How about getting the second key?”

T: “Right-o!”

Eiji: “Were we headed up these stairs?”

T: “Now that we have key 1, yeah!”

We scaled the stairs and found another flight that led to a second floor.

Sofia: “Oh dear… it does not look good down there…”

The room we entered was very wide, about the size of a football field.

Sofia: “That haze from outside is lining the bottom of the floor!”

Sean: “Huh, if there even is a floor…”

Eiji: “I really don’t want to think about that… how’d you get across last time, T?”

T: “Vines.”

Harold: “We swung on vines to get across…”

Ellis: “You mean those vines??”

Ellis pointed to a series of vines, each a sickly shade of green, and rotting…

T: “Uh, yeah…”

Ellis: “As light as I am, I don’t think those will support me.”

Sofia: “You must’ve been a flyweight to use those delicate things…”

T: “But they were stronger back then; how could…?”

We then saw orange liquid oozing from the vines.

Sean: “The toxic water must be more dangerous than we thought…”

Eiji: “We’ve only seen it in here, but if all the plants in this forest are exposed to this water…”

Sean: “Then they would most likely die.”

Sofia: “Aww… then I’ll never know what an applecherry tastes like!”

Harold: “A what?”

T: “A hybrid fruit the forest was named after…”

Harold: “Oh… but aside from the forest, if this toxic water in any way, shape, or form got to Ura Village and beyond…”

Ellis: “Then numerous people would be screwed!”

T: “It’s amazing how much we can gather from one hazardous problem, yet I hear no ideas as to how we should cross this room!”

Sofia: “Oh! Um… how about your Bye-Bye Balloon trick?”

T: “That?”

Eiji: “If it can get us over fences, it should work for this!”

T: “Very well… Wind!”

Harold: “Another transformation…”

T: “Bye-Bye Balloon!”

After expanding, everyone grabbed on. Harold, after standing there, shocked, followed suit. I then floated loftily into the air and made my way toward the door on the other side.

Harold: “I gotta say, this is better than playing Balloon Fight!”

Sofia: “Just try not to make any sudden moves…”

Harold: “Okay… huh? What’s that?”

Harold saw something-shiny hanging from a vine.

Harold: “What is that?”

Sean: “Is that a key??”

Eiji: “It is! T, float over there!”

Ellis: “Go! Go!”

Ellis, who was sitting on top of me, pulled on my ‘Tornado T’ hair!

T: “(Distorted voice) Ouch! What the heck am I, a hot air balloon?!”

Sean: “A living one, at this point…”

T: “Ugh… I’ll try…”

Slowly, I floated to the key, which was hanging to one corner of the room. We were floating close to a wall.

T: “Someone reach for it!”

Sofia: “As if our arms are that long? We’re not squid! Go closer!”

Eiji: “Don’t worry! I got it!”

Eiji used his sword to reach and get it through the key’s handle…

Eiji: “Almost… ugh… there! I got it!”

T: “Yes! Uh, a little help here?”

Ellis: “Here…”

Ellis kicked away from the wall to get us going. We were 1/3 of the way until…

Sofia: “Aah! Hey what is this?!”

Sean: “Moths!”

Eiji: “Aw man, again?! These bugs were in the spider’s nest last time!”

T: “What the…? H-hey, stop it, you guys! That tickles! Ha, ha!”

Ellis: “It’s not us! It’s the moths!”

Sean: “They’re trying to make him lose focus and deflate!”

Harold: “And he's not exactly at the door yet, is he?”

Eiji: “No.”

Harold: “Can we swing our weapons or something? We won’t… pop him, will we?”

Ellis: “He’s not an actual balloon!”

Sean: “Save it; I’ll handle this…”

Sean pulled out a ‘Bright Light’ Tech Arrow from his pack and threw it down! It lit up during its descent, and the nasty moths flew after it!

Sean: “Big and hideous as they were, they were still drawn to light… suckers…”

Ellis: “Let’s speed this up; I don’t want them to come back!”

Pulling on my hair again, Ellis made me do a 180 and face the opposite way!

T: “Ouch! I said I’m not a freakin’ hot air balloon!”

Sofia: “Be careful! He’ll deflate!”

Ellis: “Exactly!”

She then poked me with one of her daggers!

T: “Owwww!!”

I expelled all the air I inhaled, propelling us to the door!

Eiji: “That was a good move!”

T: “Yeah, even if it pains me to admit it…”

Ellis: “Sorry!”

Sofia: “It’s okay, let’s get going!”

We then walked in a super-dim hallway.

Sofia: “It’s too dark in here!”

Harold: “Hang on, I still have the lantern…”

After Harold switched it on, it was slightly easier to see.

Sean: “Not much, but it’ll do…”

Eiji: “Just how much more to this place is there? Its called White Tiger Grove, but it feels like we’re in some sort of building…”

T: “Truth to tell, I heard back then that this structure was once home to some ancient civilization, but something bad happened and this place is all that’s left. It just then became so overgrown.”

Eiji: “Huh… something bad happened… you think it was Xylos?”

T: “Who knows? It happened way, waaaay before we were born.”

Sean: “This it’s safe to assume that Xylos is a relic itself; an entity possibly hundreds of years old.”

Harold: “It feels like we’ve hit the center of some chamber…”

Ellis: “Oh! There’s something here!”

Taking the lantern from Harold, Sofia shone light on it and declared,

Sofia: “It’s another torch!”

Ellis: “Now we can shed some light on this place!”

Then multiple small circle-things lit up in the dark!

Sean: “Are those lights too?”

Sofia: “Who knows? Let’s light this first!”

The whole room lit up when the torch was activated. That’s when we realized those circle things were eyes! And we also saw the creatures they belonged to!

Eiji: “Somehow, I think we were safer in the dark…”

They were all chattering wildly. They were black creatures, all of them, with a dark red X emblazoned on each of them!

Harold: “These look like… Xylos’ minions!”

Sofia: “These imps?”

T: “Don’t underestimate them… In a horde, these things can be quite mean!”

Ellis: “And it just so happens there’s a horde of them right now!”

They then jumped at us!

Sofia: “They’re closing in!”

T: “Get back! Bright Flash!”

The light my Flash WristBands emitted glowed way brighter than the lantern or the torch! After the flash subsided…

Ellis: “Are… are they gone?”

Harold: “So it would seem. What’d you do, T?”

Sean: “The intense light must’ve eradicated them. I made those WristBands, by the way!”

Harold: “Hm…”

Eiji: “Hey, a chest appeared! Probably from when those things were destroyed…”

I opened it.

T: “A key!”

Sofia: “We found the third key already!”

Ellis: “The locked door also opened!”

We went through the door, which had stairs leading down behind it. When we reached the bottom…

Eiji: “Aw, no…”

Ellis: “This is bad!”

We found ourselves faced with a wide lake. Of course the water was completely orange.

Sofia: “Talk about needing a bridge over troubled waters! How will we cross this stuff?”

Sean: “We definitely can’t swim in it; our lives would be forfeit.”

T: “Hmm… oh! I remember!”

Sofia: “What?”

T: “Leaves!”

Eiji: “Are you implying that we cross this using leaves?”

Harold: “Ah, I see what you mean! Not just any old leaf, Eiji! Show them, T.”

I went to and odd tree and did a Slide Kick in its trunk. A leaf fell down and dropped on my head!

T: “This leaf!”

Ellis: “It’s so big!”

Sean examined it.

Sean: “It feels sturdy enough… it’s like a raft!”

T: “Yep! We used this to cross then there were Snap-Snaps lurking in the water!”

I set it on the water and we all stood on.

Eiji: “How do we… uh… move it?”

T: “I used a pole last time… don’t see it anywhere…”

Ellis: “I can help! Water!”

After Ellis transformed, she fired a constant stream of water to propel us along.

Sofia: “If this water weren’t so dangerous, I’d say this was actually nice!”

Sean: “Yeah, if only the water weren’t so dangerous! Look!”

Sean pointed down at the leaf. It started to turn slightly brown!

Harold: “Damn! The toxins must be withering the leaf!”

Sean: “The damage is slow; we’ll manage.”

Sofia: “Ah! I see something shiny over there!”

Sofia indicated a lone large tree stump sticking out of the water. A vine dangled over it, and at the end of it was…

Ellis: “It’s the fourth key!”

T: “Then steer us so I can get to it!”

When we got close to it I hopped up on top of the stump. I reached for it, but it wriggled and shook out of the way!

T: “This thing is annoying!”

Sofia: “Hurry up, T! This leaf’s getting soggy!”

T: “I’m trying; gimme a minute!”

I reached for it time and again, until…

T: “Yes! I got it!”

Ellis: “No! It’s gonna give!”

The others jumped onto the stump before the leaf fully withered from the toxins and sank in pieces!

T: “Whoa! Everyone okay?”

Sofia: “We’re good.”

We looked around. The safe ground was too far away, and there was nothing but dangerous water all around us.

Ellis: “…We’re stranded, aren’t we?”

Eiji: “So it would seem.”

Sofia: “But at least we have all the keys needed to release the switch, right?”

T: “Be that as it may, I wonder; I really do wonder who is the ripe twit who put these four keys in such piss-poor places like this?!”

Ellis: “Umm… Xylos?”

T: “I dunno…”

Harold: “He could have minions lurking about, like those little imps we saw earlier…”

Sean: “But then how will we get to the other side now?”

Ellis: “How about the Bye-Bye Balloon again, T?”

T: “I’m not gonna have you pull on my hair again! I’ve got a better idea!”

Before she knew it, I used the Analyze Beam and copied Ellis!

T: “AquaConversion!”

Harold: “Just how many more skills have you gotten since we last met??”

Sofia: “How will you fly like that?”

T: “Just grab on!”

When everyone got a tight grip, I pointed my water pistol downward.

T: “Now charging…”

The pistol began to fill with water, and a bubbling sound could be heard…

Eiji: “What are you doing?”

Sofia: “I do hope you’re not using Tidal Wave again…”

Last time I used AquaConversion, I was in a sleep-deprived rage, and I wound up flushing everyone, friend and foe, down the drain, or in that case at the time, out the volcano…

T: “Charge complete! Water Rocket!”

In an explosive burst of water, we were propelled into the air over the water!

Sofia: “W-what are you doing?! What if we fall in?!”

T: “We won’t!”

As the others let go of me in midair, Harold and I managed to land on the other side of the room with no difficulty whatsoever.

T: “Told ya! I… huh?”

Sofia: “You should’ve been more careful!”

T: “Sorry!”

Eiji: “At least we landed on these lily pads…”

Sean: “Why do these pads have these rows of thorns on them?”

Harold: “Uh, T? Do those ‘lily pads’ look familiar??”

T: “You mean…? Oh, crap…”

Ellis: “What?”

T: “If I remember correctly… quick, get off them before…!”

Suddenly, the lily pads that they stood on closed on them!

T: “Eep… I knew it…”

Sean: “(Muffled) Hey, what’s this thing doing?!”

Harold: “It’s trying to eat you!”

Sofia: “(Muffled) Then get us out!”

“Sure,” I said, looking along the wall. I found and used fresh, healthy vines to reel the plants in. Harold and I whacked away at them until they opened up.

T: “Hey, we made it bloom! You’re a flower! What beauty!”

Ellis: “Flower? …How sweet!”

Sofia: “Thank you…!”

Eiji: “Thanks for freeing us.”

Harold: “Does this door lead back to the waterwheel room?”

T: “I believe so!”

We followed the doorway back into the waterwheel room.

Sean: “Now we can put the keys in…”

We unlocked the cage and pulled it off.

T: “But now I wonder exactly why this water wheel spins?”

Eiji: “Let’s find out!”

Eiji stepped down on the switch. Slowly but surely, the large wooden flower began to turn!

T: “Oh, yes! It’s on!”

Ellis: “Look! The water!”

We went to the lower level, where the first door was and looked on as the waterwheel spun. The water lost the orange hue and turned clear blue!

Sean: “Of course! The waterwheel filters the water, keeping it clean!”

Harold: “Xylos must’ve stopped it to help the toxin spread faster…”

Sofia: “Is it safe?”

T: “Hmm…”

Without warning, I jumped into the water, seeing as I was still in AquaConversion!

Ellis: “Are you crazy?! That water could still be…!”

T: “Clear! It’s crystal clear!”

Sean: “Well that’s good! Then we won’t have to worry about the rest of the forest or Ura Village…”

We then heard a rumbling sound.

Ellis: “That’s coming from where the switch is!”

We went back up to see a stone door sliding open!

T: “This should get us deeper!”

After crossing a room with platforms and more water to the floor, we six stood before a large door.

T: “…Uh!”

Sean: “What happened?”

T: “Do you all feel that? I sense a powerful force from behind this door.”

Eiji: “You’re right; it is strong…”

Sofia: “It could be that eye thing we were looking for.”

Sean: “Then we should be careful.”

We opened the doors with great effort.

On the other side was a circular room.

T: “Looks like most of the walls have weathered away…”

Dense foliage made up for the missing stone. The moonlight shone through the leaves.

Eiji: “I can’t believe its nighttime already.”

Harold: “The night must still be young…”

Ellis: “Ooh, look at this!”

Ellis pointed to a large flower in the center of the room.

Sofia: “This is one big flower! How long has it been growing?”

Sean: “It’s hard to say… but it looks like its not feeling too hot…”

It was drooping to the side.

Eiji: “A lack of water maybe?”

Harold: “Perhaps… huh?”

Suddenly the flower began to twitch!

Sofia: “It’s still alive!”

The head of the flower then tilted toward us.

Eiji: “Is it just me, or does it feel like that flower is staring at us?”

Everyone looked at the yellow pollen part. It almost felt like it was staring back.

Sofia: “I feel it… a gaze… I can’t look away…”

Ellis: “M-me neither… as much as I want to, I can’t… it’s scary…”

Sean: “My mind must be playing tricks on me…”

T: “…(Gasp!) Guys, stop looking at it!”

Eiji: “How? I can’t move…”

It really was like that flower was staring at them! By the fearful looks on their faces, I could tell this was more than an ordinary flower, and I had to cut this off now!

T: “Hydro Judgement!”

Seeing as I still didn’t lose AquaConversion yet, I tossed the Emerald Sword, which was infused with Water energy! I hacked the flower by its stem, cutting it down where it stood!

Eiji: “Oh! My eyes… what happened?”

T: “The flower… it’s not normal… something’s wrong…”

Cautiously, I approached it…

Sofia: “Looks like you took care of it…”

T: “Can’t be…”

Then… it raised its head!

Eiji: “Whoa!”

Ellis: “Ew!”

T/Harold: “Just as I thought…”

The flower’s center bore a large gold-rimmed red eye!

Eiji: “You were right! That ain’t normal!”

The black eye-thing then rose from it and circled around it to show itself!

Harold: “So this is where it was hiding!”

Ellis: “How do we destroy it?”

Suddenly the moonlight shone down on the flower and the eye retreated back into it. Its four large blue and white petals then seemed to resemble wings and two green leaves stuck up to imitate antennae.

Sofia: “What the…? It looks like a moth!”

T: “I suppose I should scan it…”

Name: Moth Moonflower

Species: Plant

Habitat: Unknown

Info:

No possible information can be applied for this creature. It would seem an evil force has taken root in an abnormally large flower. Could it be this Xylos entity of which you speak?

Eiji: “No info? That doesn’t sound good…”

Harold: “It’s preparing to attack!”

The center of the flower, which was of course the eye, fired an X-shaped beam our way! We managed to dodge it.

T: “All right, take this!”

I aimed my water pistol and fired a stream of water at it!

Harold: “Is it working?”

Sofia: “Hard to say… plants like water, but that one is acting like a bug…”

T: “…Huh?”

Suddenly, the blast of water grew weaker and weaker until any water barely came from the nozzle! Before I knew it, it disappeared from my hand and I was left wearing my green shirt and blue pants again!

Harold: “It wore off just when he was attacking it! That’s bad isn’t it?”

Ellis: “He can’t keep using a Conversion form forever. If he keeps using super strong moves, he’ll wear it down, but in this case…”

T: “…Too much time elapsed… no worries, I can… Aah!”

Ellis: “T!”

The Moth used its stem like a vine and snared me by its severed end!

T: “Let me go!”

It merely blinked its single eye as it flew high above the others and sprayed pollen all around!

Harold: “Ugh! Don’t breathe it in! It’ll…”

Eiji: “I can’t… move!”

Sean: “That thing… paralyzed us!”

T: “Crap! Not cool!”

With me in the monster’s grasp, and the others immobilized, we weren’t gonna get anywhere like this!

T: “Oh… things that fly have to be light enough to do so…”

I should know… before the time that my Wind power was brought to full strength, I could hardly carry my own weight! To this, I changed into a raccoon dog!

Sofia: “What… is he doing?”

T: “Two-Ton Drop!”

The heavy weight I morphed into was too much for the Moonflower Moth to bear! It fell to the floor and lay, stunned.

T: “Hang on, guys! Aroma Therapy!”

Very much unlike the Smog Smokescreen, I emitted a fragrant pink mist that induces muscle relaxation. Of course this meant it cured the others of paralysis!

Ellis: “Thank you!”

T: “No problem, it’s what I…”

Sean: “Behind you!”

T: “Ah!”

The giant flower then sprouted several vines and lashed them out at me!

T: “Vine Snare!”

I used vines of my own and lashed back! But just my two vines against all those were a little overwhelming!

T: “Help!”

Sofia: “I’m here!”

Sofia used her whip to help counter the vines alongside me.

T: “We’ve got it occupied!”

Sofia: “The rest of you do something!”

Quickly, Ellis and the others circled around to its rear.

Ellis: “What do we do?”

Harold: “Let’s look for a weak spot!”

Sean: “The only thing I saw that would count for one is that single eye.”

Eiji: “The eye… you might be right!”

Ellis: “Then let’s have it turn around! Those two are getting tired!”

Sean: “Alright, Then someone make it turn around!”

Sean readied his Cyber Bow.

Eiji: “Fire Ball!”

Ellis: “Aqua Spear!”

Harold: “Dragon Fang!”

Eiji, Ellis, and Harold aimed for three of the Moth’s flower petal wings. Eiji burned one off completely, Ellis ripped a hole through another, and Harold sliced the third in half! It let out a hissing sound as it started to ignore Sofia and me. It was still airborne, using only it one good wing and the wing with the hole in it. The second it turned around…

Sean: “I see you! Tech Arrow, Rapid Fire!”

Sean unleashed a single-line barrage of arrows at the Moth’s eye! When it ended, the flying flower lowered to the ground slightly…

T: “I got this!”

After reverting to normal, I drew my sword and cut it straight down the middle!

Sofia: “You got it!”

It let out another roar as it floated up into the air… Then…

BOOM!

It exploded in a large puff of smoke and flower petals! Through the smoke, something dropped to the ground!

Eiji: “What is that?”

It looked like a ball, bearing an eye. I picked it up.

T: “It looks like the eye… ugh!”

Sofia: “T!”

Suddenly, as I held it, it looked like black sparks were flying around me!

T: “I still feel it… this evil power! It’s… it’s trying to…!”

Harold: “Quick, here!”

Harold pulled out an odd-looking capsule. The eye-thing then left my hands and was drawn inside!

Harold: “Phew… that was close…”

Eiji: “T, you okay?”

T: “Yeah… I’m cool…”

I opened my eyes and faced the others…

Sofia: “Aah!”

T: “W-what?”

Whatever it was she screamed about, they all looked me square in the eye about it… I blinked one, then twice.

Ellis: “It… it’s gone!”

T: “What?”

Sean: “Your left eye…! For a moment, it looked like…”

Harold: “Xylos…”

T: “What’re you saying?”

Harold: “No, I mean this.”

Harold held up the capsule. We all took a closer look.

Sofia: “What is that thing??”

Sean: “I’d like to know myself! I’ve never seen a container like this!”

Sofia: “I don’t mean the jar-thingy; I’m talking about this eye.”

Harold: “Just as I feared, it’s an indelible token of the power of Xylos. This is his left eye; The Eye of Decay.”

T: “No… so it’s true…”

I fell to my knees, dismayed.

T: “I guess I didn’t actually defeat him… but… wasn’t I strong enough?”

Harold: “I’m sure you were. I should know; I was there.”

Eiji: “You shouldn’t feel bad; they say you never can truly destroy evil…”

T: “(Sigh)”

A few minutes later as the sun rose, we all sat atop the flower-shaped waterwheel. Everyone else sat on the ‘petals’ as I sat in the center, all while the wooden thing rotated continuously.

Sean: “So this thing… is a part of Xylos…”

T: “Whom I apparently didn’t destroy back then…”

Ellis: “The eye is kinda creepy…”

T: “So don’t look at it.”

Sofia: “Now that I think of it, since we found this thing’s eye…”

T: “Yeah?”

Sofia: “Who’s to say that his other eye isn’t out there wandering somewhere?”

T: “Hmmm…”

Harold: “You raise a good point… if we could just find his second eye… and any other parts of him that’s out there…”

T: “I hear you all so far…”

Eiji: “We can find some means of actually destroying him!”

T: “You guys just might be right!”

Ellis: “So please T, don’t feel sad… if you beat Xylos before, you can do it again!”

Sofia: “That, and you have us! We will help you.”

T: “Cool. I wouldn’t expect any less! Hey by the way, guys…”

Harold: “What’s up?”

T: “Don’t you all feel awful dizzy? We’ve been sitting on this thing for some time, you think?”

Sean: “Now that you mention it…”

Then they just felt it the second I brought the subject up!

All: “Ohh… my head…”

They were so dizzy; they all fell off into the water!

SPLASH!

T: “Oh? Wow, they got dizzy again? Wait up!”

SPLASH!

I jumped in after them!

T: “So, shall we be on our way?”

Eiji: “Sure.”

We left White Tiger Grove, and AppleCherry Woods altogether.

Justine: “There you all are!”

T: “Hello, Ms. Mayor. We were just on our way out.”

Linda: “You’re leaving?”

Ellis: “Yeah. Our friends must really be wondering where we are now.”

Sofia: “That, and we pulled another all-nighter!”

Linda: “Then take care!”

Harold: “Where are you all headed again?”

T: “To our house, in VG City.”

Harold: “They have hotels there, right? I think I’m gonna be hanging with you guys for a bit! I have to see what the nightlife there is like! Ha, ha!”

He put his arms around all our shoulders while laughing loudly.

T: “Fine, but you’re not dragging us to cafés in the wee hours of the morning!”

And with that, we headed back.