The trek to Jupiter’s Point of Power was arduous. The Airpuffs kept ambushing them by way of teleporting right by them once they unfroze from time. The Crazed Cacti were easily avoided, but occasionally one would be close enough to smack a Timechaser and drag all of them into a fight. And somehow, word had already gotten out that they were on the planet, and more of Captain Deepsea’s Starmen were patrolling the paths between Bolos and Anolin and attacking them if they even so much as saw them out of the corner of their eyes.

“So I guess… this is what time ending looks like?” Buzzy Bol wondered aloud as the quartet made their way south.

“It seems so,” Arix replied.

“What else could it possibly be?!” Boson questioned, spinning around to face Arix as he continued to follow Ralivil.

“Listen, I… I know that we’re all a little shaken from all the fighting and Malik, but can we all try to focus on the positives?” Ralivil asked.

Boson sighed as he spun back around.

“We’re getting closer to the Point of Power, I think,” Ralivil said.

And sure enough, they were. The Timechasers had entered a small area to the south where there were no enemies to be seen, and a cave entrance. They went inside the cave to be greeted with darkness. It should have been no surprise, but given that the caves that held the last two Points of Power were strangely bright, it did catch them off guard.

“Hey Ralivil, I just thought of a positive,” Buzzy Bol suddenly said as the four Timechasers stood in the mouth of the cave.

“Yeah?”

“Maybe the last Point of Power we visited did give you better control over your PSI! I dunno what that last thing was, but it wasn’t disastrous like the first time you used it!”

“Oh yeah! That is nice, isn’t it?”

Boson extended one of his UFO’s metal arms. A battery powered torch was firmly held in its hand. He clicked it on, and a beam of light filled the cave.

“Never thought I’d actually have to use this old thing,” Boson commented, glancing at the torch in his UFO’s hand.

“Oh yeah, didn’t you find that thing in some dump of earth garbage, or something?” Buzzy Bol inquired.

“Yup.” Boson then frowned as he said, “I dunno how long it’ll last, though. Earth tech ain’t that flash.”

Boson took to the front of the party of four and led them through the maze of tunnels. His torch pierced through the darkness of the cave, but it didn’t help the fact that he had no idea where he was going. Arix suggested that they try backtracking to the start to the maze, but the Timechasers were so hopelessly lost that they all agreed it would be better to keep going forward instead of going back and getting more lost in the process.

It took what felt like an eternity to find the exit. Maybe it was. There wasn’t a sure-fire way to tell now. But when they all saw the light coming from the end of the tunnel, they all let out weary cheers. Their paces picked up a little as they continued onward. Boson turned off the torch and retracted the arm holding it back into his UFO.

The Timechasers now stood on a green cloud overlooking Red Eye. It glowed continuously, even with the deteriorating seconds stopping and starting the winds. Like the previous Points of Power they had visited, it filled them with both strength and relaxation. Boson and Buzzy Bol hovered up to the edge of the green cloud and peered over it, taking a good look at the Red Eye. Buzzy Bol was the first to climb out of his UFO to absorb the Red Eye’s power. Boson followed suit. They both went stiff for a few seconds, then took a few moments to shake out their limbs before climbing back inside their UFOs. Ralivil shuddered at the thought of peering over the cloud so boldly.

As Boson and Buzzy Bol returned to the other two Timechasers, the latter whispered to Ralivil, “It’ll be okay.”

Ralivil gave Buzzy Bol an uncertain glance. Buzzy Bol simply extended one of his UFO’s arms to give him a thumbs up. Ralivil put on a small smile.

As Ralivil edged toward the edge of the cloud, Buzzy Bol turned his attention to Boson and Arix and told them, “Okay guys, Ralivil’s reaction to the Points of Power is way different than ours, so try not to freak out.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of light erupted from the Prophet’s Mark on Ralivil’s back, grabbing the other three’s attention. The winds began to howl.

“That flash didn’t happen last time!” Buzzy Bol exclaimed.

“Maybe it’s from the Red Eye’s own glow?” *click*” Arix suggested.

Ralivil had curled his right tentacle and covered the Prophet’s Mark with his left again. While he had experienced the pain before and he knew what to expect, it didn’t hurt any less than the last time. The corners of his vision were starting to go white again.

“That looks mega nasty,” Boson commented. He looked over at Buzzy Bol and asked, “Are you sure he’ll be fine, dog?”

“Nothing bad happened the first time, I’m sure this time won’t be any different,” Buzzy Bol assured him.

Ralivil could barely hear the otherwise howling winds around the Red Eye now. The white had almost filled his vision entirely, and although he knew that closing his eyes would do nothing, he did so anyway. The white filled his vision once more.

A few moments passed, and then the pain subsided. Ralivil released the tension that had built up in his body, letting his tentacles fall beside his body, then opened his eyes. The white remained for a few seconds, then faded away.

He was back on Saturn again. Back on the rings. Back home. Judging from the position of the moons and the stars, it was about midday. Mr. Saturn houses sat in the distance, but there weren’t even caves for living in nearby. The Mr. Saturn houses didn’t look too old. Whenever he was, it couldn’t have been many more than ten years back. Ralivil looked around for the blue Mook he had seen last time. He had to be around, right?

Said Mook slithered into Ralivil’s view, his eyes scanning the ground as he passed by. He had grown a lot since Ralivil had last seen him. He appeared to be about seven now. Still young. His right tentacle was clenched, and he looked troubled by something. He didn’t know why, or how, but deep down, Ralivil knew he had to try and find out. Or at least reassure him that everything would be okay.

“Um… excuse me?” Ralivil asked. His voice echoed around him, causing him to shiver a little.

The blue Mook straightened and went stiff, then looked over his shoulder at Ralivil, eyes wide.

“I thought… there would be no one else here…” the blue Mook murmured, glancing away.

“Oh- No- It’s okay! It’s okay it’s okay it’s okay, I’m not going to tell you off or anything,” Ralivil reassured him, taking a small step towards the blue Mook.

The blue Mook looked back at him, doubtful. “P… Promise?”

Ralivil gave him a small smile. “Promise.”

The blue Mook didn’t smile back, but seemed to be put at ease. He looked back at the ground and continued to slither around. He stuck close to Ralivil. Ralivil watched as he frowned at the ground.

“Are you looking for something?” Ralivil finally asked.

The blue Mook looked up at Ralivil and told him, “Dropped Bowbucks. There was a music festival here and it ended last night… I’m looking for dropped Bowbucks so Mom won’t be so stressed.” He glanced away as he added in a mumble, “It’s the least I can do.”

“How many do you have so far?” Ralivil asked.

The blue Mook opened up his right tentacle to reveal a handful of small coins with a Saturnian B engraved on them. “Four.” He looked back down at the ground and murmured to himself, “Maybe the rest all fell through the ground…”

The blue Mook clenched his right tentacle again and continued searching for dropped Bowbucks anyway. Ralivil watched. He didn’t know how to comfort the blue Mook. Not anymore. He thought it would be a lot simpler than this.

“Do you have any family who could help you?” Ralivil asked. Internally, he bashed himself for the potential sore spot he may have just hit.

“Yeah, but Mom doesn’t want to,” the blue Mook replied. “She’s never told me why, but I already know. I’m blue, and Mom doesn’t want to make the rest of my family mad at her.”

Silence. A long, empty silence. Now Ralivil only felt worse.

The blue Mook paused, then looked up at Ralivil. “Wait, what’s your name?”

That… was actually smart of the blue Mook. He didn’t know it, but Ralivil would be seeing him again. He didn’t know how old the other Mook would be by then, but he knew that this wasn’t the last time a meeting like this would happen.

“…Ralivil,” he replied. It was a dangerous move, telling the blue Mook his name; who knew what sort of temporal collapse he could have brought on from that single word.

“Cool. I won’t tell anyone about you, but I’ll remember you,” the blue Mook replied. He paused before adding with a small, sincere smile, “…Thanks.”

Ralivil didn’t know what for, maybe it was just for lending an ear, but regardless, he closed his eyes as he smiled back. “No problem.”

He opened his eyes again to find himself back at the Red Eye. He looked around to regain his bearings, then looked over his shoulder at the rest of the Timechasers.

“You all done there?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“Yup!” Ralivil replied.

As he walked back over to his group, Arix pointed to a gust of air blowing through the cloud. “We can use that gust to get back up to the main paths and continue onward. *click* Where and what onward is… I don’t know. It may be a bit hard to get up there, with time the way it is…”

Boson and Buzzy Bol flew up to the main path without a problem, though Ralivil and Arix had to step on the gust of even try and get up. It worked for Ralivil on his first go, but Arix had a bit of trouble. He ended up stepping on it several times before he suddenly got shot up into the air and landed face first on the ground.