The journey to Twoson wasn’t too hard - the ghosts in the Two-Three tunnel were a hassle, but they were no match a song that Tori knew from her time. She sung it at the top of her lungs, and while her singing voice wasn’t good, the heart behind it was enough to drive away the ghosts.

Twoson was empty. It was unsettling to walk through the town - the preschool, with craters surrounding it, was one of the first things they saw. It saddened them to know that so many young lives were ended during the attacks. They soon found a cave, which led them to a valley - they took a detour around the inconveniently-placed iron pencil statue by just taking a dip into the river and swimming around it. After a few battles with Giygas’ robots and some trees, they arrived in Happy-Happy Village, which looked all but. The entire village was literally blue, save the dried blood on the grass in a couple of spots. A nearby cave filled with moles, bears, and bats led them to the next Sanctuary, Lilliput Steps. The way the small footsteps just started from nowhere and abruptly ended was both fascinating and unsettling. Leicra thought they felt someone watching them, but just for a moment. They were sure they were just being silly.

They got out of the village as fast as they could, having to fight more robots and trees on the way back. Leicra learned a new PSI skill while the four were fighting one of the Spinning Robos in the valley, Defense Down Alpha. Leicra used it a lot after that. Once the four returned to Twoson, they kicked down the door of the local hotel and slept there for a while. When they had all awoken, they continued north. There were a lot of walking mushrooms. They were absolutely horrible to fight, but miraculously, their spores didn’t land on them.

The town of Onett had police barricades all over. But since the police were nowhere to be seen, they could do whatever they wanted. Tori gladly kicked down any and all barricades they came across, including the ones that blocked the entrance from Twoson. Before they went into the cave that led to the Sanctuary, Leicra suggested that they went to the northernmost section of the town. There were two destroyed houses, and a hill. The houses had overwhelming energies, which mixed together and confused Buzz Buzz. It was nothing psychic, but rather, just emotional. There was something about those two houses by the hill that stuck out to him, he just… didn’t know what.

But soon enough for Buzz Buzz they went into the caves leading to Onett’s Sanctuary. There was a sign on the fence just outside it saying “Don’t Enter”, but it was completely ignored - the fate of the timeline was at stake here, who had time for following rules? The slugs in the caves were kind of a nuisance. The rats were annoying. But they weren’t too much trouble. And soon enough, they had arrived at Onett’s Sanctuary: Giant Step. It was, well, a giant footprint in the ground. After some banter on what might have caused the footprint, the four headed back to the town. Or… they would have, if it weren’t for the Starman Super standing in front of them. Said Starman Super wore the collar of a cape without the actual cape. The collar was black with red edges. He also wore red wristbands with two mirrored, wiggly black lines. Standing behind him were five Starmen in a semicircle.

“Well well, looks like you’ve been scampering around trying to undo things, just like the Final Starmen said,” the Starman Super hummed. He glared at Leicra and added, “And one of the Blues became a rebel.”

The Starman Super sighed. “Well, I had a feeling it would happen one of these days.”

“Captain, why are we still just standing around?” one of the Starmen behind the Starman Super asked.

“Yeah! I wanna go at ‘em!” another added.

The Starman Super whipped around to face the Starmen and snapped, “Quiet, you lot!”

The Starman Super then turned back to the four and cleared his throat. “Now then. My Starmen and I have been training, and I’m sure we can defeat you here and stop you from undoing all of Lord Giygas’ work into making this world the perfection that it is.”

“Men…” The Starman Super raised an arm and yelled, “GET ‘EM!”

At once, the five Starmen lunged at the four. Buzz Buzz immediately used PSI Shield Sigma, and the shield of PSI enveloped them as the Starmen started attacking with their PK Beams. Tori let out streams of PK Fire Beta, barely managing to defeat the Starmen who didn’t guard. Leicra added in some PK Waters, but mostly stuck to PK Beam Beta. There were about two Starmen left when the Starman Super decided to join in the battle. Everyone, save Buzz Buzz, who had dived into Tori’s pocket, was starting to run out of PP, and PSI Magnet only did so much for Tori. The Starman Super called out for more backup, and two more Starmen came seconds later.

“You’re outmatched,” the Starman Super sneered.

And it wasn’t much longer until three of the four blacked out.

---

The stars in the night sky twinkled, and the grass billowed in the breeze and felt nice on Gran’s wool. This would have been a perfect night, if it weren’t for one thing.

A green Mook, darker than most, slithered over and sat down beside her. He bit his lip as his deep red, almost black eyes stared at the grass.

There was a silence between them for what seemed like forever. And yet, it only felt like mere moments.

Finally, the Mook mumbled, “So, uh… that went poorly, didn’t it?”

Gran looked over at the Mook and nodded.

“This was never what I wanted to happen. I just wanted us to be happy together, but…” The Mook blinked as he inhaled, letting a tear run down his face. His voice distorted for a few moments, as if her own voice was being reflected in his. “This is all my fault.”

“Don’t say that,” Gran softly told the Mook, putting an arm around him. “You were only trying to do the best for us. We couldn’t have stopped it, even if we wanted to.”

“Yeah, but-!” The Mook wrenched his eyes shut as he looked away from her.

For once, Gran didn’t know what to say. She was usually quite good at comforting others, so why couldn’t she now, and right when he needed it most…?

“It’s… just… I’m- I was the captain,” the Mook croaked. His voice distorted again. “I’m supposed to know what to do, I’m supposed to help everyone be the best they can be, I’m supposed to protect everyone.”

He looked back at Gran and told her, “If it had to be anyone, it should have been me. Not… Not…” He looked back at the grass again, tears threatening to spill from all three of his eyes. “Not little Lucy.”

Gran felt tears welling up in her eyes, too. She pulled the Mook closer to her and hugged him.

“And the others- They should have just let me protect her! They could have gone on without me- You could have-”

“We would all miss you very much,” Gran murmured. “Yes, someone else would step up to be captain, but it wouldn’t feel right without you.”

The Mook’s tears were now staining Gran’s wool. His breathing was uneasy. He wrapped his arms around Gran as he returned the hug.

“I’m not sure what I’d do without you, Amie.”

---

“Captain! The Shambler’s awake now!” The voice of a Starman was in front of Gran, calling out to another part of… wherever she was. She just knew it was dim and there were bars in front of her. The other three were awake, and they all looked reasonably okay.

The taps of the captain the Starman called out to came steadily closer, until he was right of her. It was the same Starman Super that had ambushed her and the other three back in Onett.

“Thank you for alerting me, #7269-β. You are dismissed.”

The Starman walked away, leaving the Starman Super standing in front of the four’s cell.

“Well. Isn’t this interesting,” the Starman Super started. “I could only overpower you when you had gotten stronger. How strange.”

The Starman Super’s lower eyelid raised as a grin. “But that doesn’t matter! What matters is that I’ve got you stuck here!”

“Alright, just who do you think you are?” Tori growled, leaning forward.

“In all the logs I am Starman Super #31451-ε, but my troops call me… Captain Astra.”

Captain Astra took a couple of steps to the fours’ right, his hands behind his back. “Although… now that I think about it… I simply wasn’t prepared for you back at the Autumns base.”

“Wait, what?”

Captain Astra glanced at Tori. He stared at her for a few moments before saying, “What do you mean, “what”. You were there. We have seen each other before.

Tori raised an eyebrow. “We have?”

“YES! At the Starman base in Autumns, you came out of the underground chambers, and I WAS THERE! With two Starmen!”

Tori thought for a moment before saying, “Yeah, actually, you do sound familiar. But I don’t recognise you or anything.”

Captain Astra sighed angrily and muttered, “I should have figured. You humans are so bad at everything…”

Tori squinted at him as he took another two steps to the fours’ left. “But anyway. Look at this cool clothing that was given to me! It helps me stand out from the other Starmen Supers.”

“Why, because you’re a pompous nailhead and you want everyone to know?” Tori muttered.

Whipping around to face her, Captain Astra screamed, “NO, IMBECILE!” He stood up straight and took a moment to collect himself before explaining, “I must stand out from the other Starmen Supers because I have been assigned a very important mission. Our Lord Giygas can feel the power of the earth, and you four have been going around to some very important spots and doing who knows what there, and that has been causing him a lot of distress. So I’m following the bursts of energy and recording them. And you are leading me right to them! I don’t know how you’re finding these places, but you seem to be attracted to them like magnet.”

Captain Astra then glanced to the side for a moment before saying, “Now I’ve got to go attend to something. I’ll be back shortly. Don’t go trying to break out, now.”

The four watched as Captain Astra walked away down to the left end of the hall. It was only until the sound of his footsteps could no longer be heard they dared to talk.

“Well this sucks,” Tori said. “He’s been tracking us charging the Sound Stone? What are we supposed to do?”

A muffled buzzing filled the cell, and Buzz Buzz came out of Tori’s pocket and sat up on her shoulder. “We continue charging the Sound Stone. It’s either that or let the world delve deeper into chaos. It’s not the best situation we’re in, but what other choice do we have?”

He looked to the wall opposite of the cell and added, “But more short-term, we break out.”

“But didn’t Astra tell us not to break out?” Leicra asked.

“Yeah, but we’re not gonna listen to him,” Tori said, a sly smile creeping across her face.

“So how are we going to get out?” Gran asked.

“Well, the last time I broke out of a Starman base, I had fired a bolt of PK Thunder at the opposite wall, at such an angle that it would rebound off it and hit the switch located at the top of the bars,” Buzz Buzz explained.

There was a brief silence before Gran asked, “...How did you know PK Thunder?”

“...Certain circumstances.”

“Okay, I have no idea how you managed to do that, because my luck with PK Thunder isn’t good enough to even try that,” Tori commented. “Also, couldn’t you just fly out of the cell and hit the switch yourself, Buzz Buzz?”

“...I could.”

“Then go on!”

Buzz Buzz buzzed off Tori’s shoulder, out of the cell, then pressed the button above it with all four arms. There was a click, and then the cell bars rumbled down into the floor. The other three stood up, their faces lit up with joy, and Buzz Buzz returned to Tori’s shoulder.

“So which way now?” Tori asked Buzz Buzz

Buzz Buzz placed a hand to his chin and thought before replying, “Right.”

Tori, Leicra and Gran ran down the right end of hall and through the door.

“Wait, Tori! Before we go any further!” Tori glanced at Buzz Buzz as he told her, “You should probably use that illusion PSI of yours!”

Tori nodded, then held up her hands. They sparkled for a moment, and the Starman illusion was set up.

“Can that be used on others?” Gran asked.

“Uh, I dunno. I’ve never tried it.” Tori then held out her hands at Gran. Nothing happened.

“I guess not.”

“Oh well. At least you tried!” Gran told her.

Now with Tori under her Starman illusion, she, Leicra and Gran continued through the Starman base with Buzz Buzz’s direction. All the halls looked the same, but they were confident Buzz Buzz knew where he was going. And he did. Eventually, the four came across a dead end. One of the panels was a bit loose, so Gran loosened it further and took it off. The four then ducked through the hole now in the wall to another part of the base, Buzz Buzz flitting off Tori’s shoulder.

It was dark. The only sources of light were the veins of purple energy pulsating across the walls, and the faint green glow of various tubes.

As Tori looked to her left, she found herself right beside a green translucent tube. She stood up and yelped. She backed up to the wall as Gran and Leicra followed her in. Everyone looked at the tubes in shock for a few moments.

The tubes gave off a soft glow, and were filled with some kind of liquid. Inside the tubes were adult humans, some of which still clinging on to consciousness, others already out. Three of the humans looked much paler and thinner than normal.

“I think… I think these are the kidnapped humans from Autumns,” Leicra finally stated.

“Oh yeah… they were kidnapped, right,” Tori murmured.

“But I don’t understand why they weren’t contained in Autumns, too.”

One of the tube-bound adults spotted the four from the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth and let out a plea. The plea was absorbed by the tube and its liquid, and the woman passed out.

Gran stared in horror for a moment, then turned to the other three. “We have to get them out of those tubes.”

“But how?” Tori asked.

“I don’t know, but I can’t stand to see these humans suffer.”

Buzz Buzz settled down on Tori’s shoulder again. “I have to agree, we have to save them. I have a feeling I know what will happen to them if we don’t.”

Tori, Gran and Buzz Buzz looked at Leicra.

“Leicra? Do you have any idea as to how to turn the tubes off?” Buzz Buzz asked.

“We would have to find the computer running the power to the tubes,” Leicra answered, “and judging by the flow of these veins…” They looked over to a door to the right. “It would be that way.”

Leicra led the other three into the right room, then ducked behind them once they had entered. The computer - a round, purple device with green runes - was atop a raised portion of the floor. And standing in front of it was the Starman Deluxe. He glanced over at them and stared.

Leicra let out a nervous “uhh” as they and the other three stepped toward the center of the room. The Starman Deluxe’s gaze followed them.

“Hello, #1-Σ!” Leicra greeted.

The Starman Deluxe stared at Leicra for a few moments before announcing in a flat voice, “Recognition scan complete. Blue Starman #3827-γ. Why are you not in Autumns?” He finished his speech with a click.

“I was sent here to… Check on the computer here! In this room! Just to make sure everything is running as it should.”

“What about the Apple of Enlightenment?”

“Do not worry! One of my fellow Blue Starmen is taking care of the Apple in my absence.”

“And why is there-” The Starman Deluxe whirred, “-another Starman and a Wild ‘n’ Wooly Shambler with you?”

“The Wooly Shambler… is my prisoner! I was just about to take them to some tubes in another room… Since… the ones nearby are all taken…” Leicra paused, then added, “And this other Starman is accompanying me!

“...Wouldn’t you take-” The Starman Deluxe beeped, “-the prisoner to the tubes-” he clicked, “-first?”

“I wanted to make sure the computer was sending power to the tubes just fine before I did!” Leicra’s looked like they were going to explode.

The Starman Deluxe whirred softly for a few moments before saying, “#3827-γ, you are lying. There are no other tube rooms in this section of the Stonehenge base,-” the Starman Deluxe beeped,”-and not too long ago four captives were taken to Cell Hall 1 in the other section of the base.” He whirred, then continued, “Any and all prisoners attempting to escape-” he clicked, “-must be returned to their cell, and if they refuse, then they must be killed.”

The Starman Deluxe held out his hands for a PK Beam. Before the beam could fire, Tori used PSI Magnet on it, stopping the beam and giving the PSI in it to Tori.

As Buzz Buzz used PSI Shield Sigma, he said to her, “Good thinking, Tori!”

A ginormous smile spread on Tori’s face as she dropped her Starman illusion. Buzz Buzz dived into her pocket, and Leicra used Defense Down on the Starman Deluxe. Tori fired a PK Fire Beta at the Starman Deluxe, burning him. Gran followed up with a PK Freeze, and Leicra used a PK Beam Beta on him. The Starman Deluxe started up another PK Beam, but Tori stopped it with PSI Magnet again. Another PK Fire Beta was launched, and Leicra and Gran followed up with another PK Beam Beta and PK Freeze respectively. The Starman Super was getting annoyed now, and decided to use another PSI attack. He pointed an arm up, an a cluster of PSI stars and cosmic energy gathered around it. The energy grew, and soon enough yellow and blue stars shot down at Tori, Leicra and Gran. Leicra managed to dodge a couple, and so did Gran, but Tori got hit by the most. Gran attempted to use Lifeup Alpha on herself, and managed to do half of it before running out of PP.

“He’s too strong, we can’t take him down!” Buzz Buzz called out. “Leicra, get to the computer!”

Leicra rushed over to the computer, but the Starman Deluxe stepped into their way. Leicra frowned, then swiped at his legs. It distracted the Starman Deluxe for a moment, and Tori took the chance to kick him in the hips. The Starman Deluxe stumbled over, and Leicra dashed up to the computer. They frantically searched through the computer’s programs until they came across the power system for the tubes. They shut the tubes’ power down. A bang came from the other room, startling everyone.

“Come on, let’s go!” Buzz Buzz cried.

Tori dashed into the other room as soon as Buzz Buzz had finished his sentence, and Gran ran after her. Leicra followed, and locked the door once it slammed behind them.

The humans in the tubes had been freed, and the liquid that was once inside had spilled onto the cold floor. The conscious adults were getting any others unconscious onto their backs.

“We’re getting you guys out of here, come on,” Tori told them, then dashed out to the left. Gran, Leicra and the adults from Autumns followed. Leicra had scooped up one of the unconscious adults from a struggling one as they caught up to the crowd.

Buzz Buzz darted off Tori’s shoulder and led them through the base again. They ran through dark metallic halls that slowly rose upward, then through the tunnels with a strange fluorescent slime lining them. The way out was blocked by an iron eraser statue, which Tori climbed over, using Leicra as a step, and helped the adults from Autumns over. Once everyone had climbed over, Leicra teleported past it, and everyone kept running as Buzz Buzz led the way. Soon, they emerged onto the surface - a snowy clearing in a forest of pine trees. Sure enough, the entrance to the base was right in the middle of Stonehenge.

Once everyone had climbed out, Tori yelled, “Scatter! Try not to let the Starmen find you!”

The adults from Autumns did as they were told, running in all directions in groups of two, three or four. Buzz Buzz returned to Tori’s shoulder, and she, Gran and Leicra ran north of Stonehenge into a cave.

They weren’t in the cave for long, as on the ledge they dashed across, was an exit leading to another Sanctuary. There was a murky puddle and a cloud hovering above it, constantly raining. There was no time to admire the spot, though. Tori fished out the Sound Stone and held it up, and it charged. The name of the Sanctuary echoed in the fours’ minds: Rainy Circle.

Just after Tori put the Sound Stone back in her pocket, a familiar voice spoke. “We already knew that this place had something special.”

The four looked up to see Captain Astra standing up on the land next to Rainy Circle. “We just didn’t know what.”

He jumped down into the Sanctuary, stuck the landing, then put his hands on his hips. “So thank you for letting us know! Men, you know what to do.”

Two Starmen jumped into the Sanctuary and rushed towards the four. Buzz Buzz buzzed off Tori’s shoulder, then darted away back into the cave. Tori, Gran and Leicra wasted no time in going with him. Tori looked over her shoulder to find the Starmen were a lot faster than she expected. Buzz Buzz was buzzing louder than he ever had, and the sound of it was filling his ears. Without thinking, he sped up, and a blue vortex appeared a short distance away. Nobody knew where it led, not even Buzz Buzz himself. But nobody cared at that point. Buzz Buzz darted into the Teleport vortex, and Tori, Gran and Leicra climbed in after him.