Beyond the old brick building that laid a few hundred meters west of the forest and had a smidge of RPG-maker leakage nibbling at its corners was a large fenced area. The stretch of field, longer than it was wide, was littered with mountains of dirt, metal and the occasional rusted human transport. The torn, rolled up pieces of paper that had come to life batted at Ralivil and Arix’s feet, but weren’t much of a problem otherwise. The trek to the nearby Point of Power was long and quiet.

Things were looking alright until the Timechasers reached the narrow dirt trail that led to the Point of Power. Standing in front of the trail were four Starmen – two Starman Supers, one Blue Starman and one Ghost of Starman.

The Blue Starman was the first to spot the Timechasers. He dramatically pointed at them once they stood only a couple of feet away and boomed, “Stop right there, horsemen!”

The Blue Starman paused before his pose faltered. He leaned over to the Starman Super who stood on his right, quietly asking, “Those are the horsemen, right?”

The Starman Super muttered to themself and pointed at each of the Timechasers, then replied to the Blue Starman equally as quiet, “Yeah, *click* that’s them.”

“Stop right there, horsemen!” the Blue Starman repeated, reassuming his dramatic pose.

“You guys are from the Sigismundo, right?” Arix asked.

“…I was JUST about to say that! *whirr*” the second Starman Super shouted.

“*click* We’re only here on Malik’s say so. The old man kinda just took control of the ship without much of an explanation. Best we gotten is somethin’ ‘bout an ‘RPG-maker’, some leakage from it, an’ you four. *beep*” the Ghost of Starman explained.

“And we’re here to stop you! *beep*” the Blue Starman added. “We can’t allow you to reach this… *whirr…*” He leaned over to the Starman Super standing next to him and asked, “What did he call it?”

“A Point of Power.”

“This Point of Power!”

The second Starman Super then explained, “We’re the four strongest Starmen on the Sigismundo! *click* We’ll each face off against one o—”

The Ghost of Starman smacked him on the back of his head. “*click* Don’t tell them our strategy, idiot! *beep*”

The Blue Starman began, “Take this Point of Power from us…”

The four Starmen readied their attacks.

“…if you dare!”

Four PK Beams of varying strength fired from the hands of the enemy Starmen – two PK Beam Betas flew towards Buzzy Bol and Boson, and two PK Beam Gammas shot towards Ralivil and Arix. Buzzy Bol managed to dart out of the way of his. Boson tried to dodge as well, but his UFO got scraped by the beam. Ralivil and Arix weren’t quite as quick, and got hit directly. The Starmen then teleported in front of their respective opponents – the Ghost of Starman to Ralivil, the Blue Starman to Arix, and the two Starman Supers to Buzzy Bol and Boson. Immediately, Buzzy Bol cast PSI Shield Sigma on himself and his teammates.

Ralivil shot a PK Freeze Gamma at the Ghost of Starman. The Ghost of Starman’s right arm got frozen stiff. The Ghost of Starman fired a regular beam with their left arm. Ralivil’s shoulder got burned by the attack, but it wasn’t the worst pain he had felt. He could ignore it.

Arix and the Blue Starman shot PK Beam Gammas at each other continuously. As Arix shot yet another PK Beam Gamma, the Blue Starman teleported away. Before Arix could figure out where he had gone, he felt a PK Beam strike him in the back. The Blue Starman teleported back in front of him and followed up with a regular beam.

Buzzy Bol and Boson had another pair of PK Beam Betas shot at them, which they dodged yet again. After circling anticlockwise around the PK Beams, they followed up with their own. They didn’t do as much damage as the PK Beams from their enemies would have done, but it didn’t matter too much. They would have been down soon enough.

The Starman Supers were the first to admit defeat. They were a bit battered from the beams shot at them by Buzzy Bol and Boson, but ultimately just fed up. They teleported away from the scene, and Buzzy Bol and Boson flew ahead to the Point of Power.

Arix and the Blue Starman had both run out of power to continue firing PK Beam Gammas. The Blue Starman had resorted to using only regular beams while continuing his strategy of teleporting about. Arix still had a smidge of power he snagged from the Blue Starman via PSI Magnet, and there was something he could try with it. Holding his right arm up, lightning crackled at its tip. He stood still as the Blue Starman continued to teleport around him. A bolt of PK Thunder shot down from the sky, and directly hit the Blue Starman just as he teleported in front of him. The Blue Starman fell backwards, dazed, before teleporting away.

The Ghost of Starman, even after all of Ralivil’s PK Freezes, was still standing. Ralivil was tiring, but continued to summon his strength and fight. As the Ghost of Starman got assaulted by Tentacle Slaps to the face, they looked around to see the other Starmen that had been with them were gone. They shrugged, then teleported away as well. Ralivil fell flat on his front. Arix, who had stayed behind to watch Ralivil fight, padded over and helped the green Mook up. They headed over to the Point of Power wordlessly.

The Point of Power was a pool of bubbling black liquid. Scraps of metal poked out from the pool’s surface, and a yellow human transport with an elongated claw sat at the back end. It also smelled really awful. The closest Ralivil could compare it to was the stink of the surface of Mars.

The usual pain from the Prophet’s Mark flared up again. A burst of light also emanated from it as well. Ralivil clenched his jaw as the pain from the Prophet’s Mark spread and his vision went white. It was all routine.

As the white that clouded his vision cleared, Saturn came back into view. He was in front of a cave this time around. The last time he had been in a cave during the strange occurrences he had at the Points of Power was…

Ralivil cautiously approached the cave and peered his eyestalks inside. Sanded rock made for sitting on, old hyberpod against the back wall – yup, this was the cave he had been placed in during his visits to the Misplaced Treetrunk and the Eye in the Pyramid. This was the blue Mook’s home. If Ralivil’s last encounter with him was anything to go by, then he wouldn’t be too happy to see him again.

A shuffling came from inside the cave, and Ralivil quickly swung his eyestalks out. He ran down the outer left wall of the cave and pressed his back up against it. Despite his better judgement, he still looked out to the cave’s mouth. The blue Mook, who had grown more since his last meeting with Ralivil, slowly slithered out of the cave. He scanned the area for a moment, then cast his eyes back at the cave. It was hard for Ralivil to tell from where he was, but the blue Mook looked… guilty. He looked ahead again, then ran.

Realisation hit Ralivil like a truck.

His lower tentacles gave out.

He wasn’t looking anywhere in particular anymore.

His mind ran wild with one thought only: ‘Was it my fault?’

Tears welled in his eyes.

He blinked them away.

The pool of black liquid returned.

He looked to his sides to find the other Timechasers sitting next to him. Buzzy Bol and Boson had parked their UFOs on the grass and emerged from them. They all wore equally concerned expressions.

“You were sittin’ here all zoned out for ages, Ralivil. Like, half an hour, probably,” Boson told him. It was the softest Ralivil had ever heard his voice.

“I don’t know what’s been going *click* on during our visits, but if you don’t want to visit them anymore, we understand,” Arix assured him.

Ralivil wiped his lower eye.

“You wanna head back to the ship?” Buzzy Bol asked.

Ralivil cast a weary glance to Buzzy Bol and nodded.

---

Anue’s search for Malik had been fruitless thus far. They weren’t one to give up easily, though. He had to be around. They knew so. But the idea of taking a break on the ship was tempting.

A shrill scream from the Sigismundo cleared any thoughts of taking a break in Anue’s mind. They bolted through the air to the Sigismundo and descended onto its roof, their feet touching the cool metal silently. Standing on their tip toes, they slowly moved toward the edge of the roof and crouched down. They peered down at the elderly Mook and the four Starmen standing in front of him – two Starman Supers, a Blue Starman and a Ghost of Starman.

“They were really *beep* strong, Malik! And they were only using regular beams!” one of the Starman Supers cried.

“Or are you just WEAK?!” Malik growled in reply.

The Starman Super’s gaze fell to the ground.

“I can’t BELIEVE YOU LOT! I give you a simple task – stop the horsemen from getting to the Point of Power – and you FAIL! HORRIBLY FAIL!”

“*click* But didn’t you say that we’re all doomed? *beep*” the Ghost of Starman asked.

Malik’s reply was too quiet for Anue to hear, but if they had to guess, it was along the lines of, “I’m trying to stop it.”

The rest of the conversation was nothing noteworthy to Anue – just Malik chewing out the quartet of Starmen for not defeating the Timechasers. There were a couple of threats thrown in, both aimed at the Ghost of Starman. He eventually sent them inside the ship.

Standing back up, Anue told Malik, “Shouting at your crew like that will not gain you any respect.”

Malik’s eyes swerved to the roof of the Sigismundo, and he shouted back, “I’m not looking for respect, I’m looking for a way to fix this whole mess.”

Anue jumped down from the roof and slowed their descent once close to the ground. They landed on their tip toes and looked at Malik. “If you intend for the Starmen aboard the Sigismundo to help, I doubt that they will before too long. Your attitude is unsavoury.”

“This is the end of the universe we’re talking about here,” Malik growled, “and you think I shouldn’t be upset about this?!”

“I am upset about this as well, Malik, but I do not take my anger out on others.”

Malik’s voice dropped to a whisper. A broken smile curled onto his lips. “You don’t get it. I have spent countless hours thinking of ways to stop the RPG-maker. I have lost sleep because of this.” His tentacles curled into fists. His voice got louder. “I’m fighting to live another day! I’m fighting to let others live another day! You don’t get that, do you? Do you? DO YOU?! YOU DON’T GET IT!!”

“I am not like the rest of my kind!” Anue snapped.

Silence hung thick in the air. Anue’s tail lashed.

It seemed like forever – maybe it was – before either one of them spoke up again. Malik quietly added, “For someone looking to change their identity, you’re doing a lot of the same thing you did before.”

From the direction of the town, a loud crackle echoed. Both Anue and Malik looked in its the direction.

“Deepsea,” Anue muttered.

“The horsemen told you,” Malik noted aloud, looking back at Anue.

Anue’s tail lashed again. “They have names, you know.”

“I don’t care for them. Are you thinking of stopping it?” Malik asked.

Anue nodded.

Malik cackled. “It’s too late for the sap who got possessed! That machine took away any heart and soul it could have had!”

As Malik continued to laugh to himself, the gears in Anue’s mind began to turn. “Heart and soul…?”

Anue took to the sky again, startling Malik. No doubt the Timechasers would be back on the ship by now.