Joel looked around Traquo’s depressed state as the three approached the grey city. Brief images of his past involvements there began filling his memory once again, and all of the scenarios with Sarralyn mysteriously returned to his mind as Joel felt a strange pulse being sent from a part of his neck up towards his brain. He felt as if he were getting a sudden head rush and stopped to shake his head dizzily. Joel put his hands up on his head and began moaning softly, and his two traveling companions stopped for him as they noted his discomfort.

"My head…" Joel mumbled, "I lost these… memories… long ago." He looked up into the city towards the large figure of the hospital, "Sarralyn."

Lynn put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot with a disgruntled look, saying, "What now?"

"Just goes to show you that the Guardian thought process doesn’t rely on just their brains!" Ryan said with a wide grin. He tapped his neck and said, "While our brains might forget something our cores don’t. Think of it like a computer system where we use temporary memory and hard storage memory." His face turned maniacal as he looked up and pointed into the air yelling, "Take that you nasty dream sprites! You thought you could beat us?"

"Wow, aren’t you going to have nightmares for the rest of your life." Lynn told Ryan. She turned away and looked towards Traquo again and asked, "I want a shower, so how are we going to get in without being jumped?"

Ryan slid to the side with a proud and sly look over his face in front of Lynn and said, "Well we can do this a few ways."

"I’m listening." Lynn said.

"First, we can try strolling on by and hope they don’t notice us." Ryan said, putting a finger up.

"Like that’ll ever happen." Lynn said, rolling her eyes.

"Second, we can try strolling on by and hope they don’t notice us…" Ryan trailed off, putting another finger up, "With disguises on!"

A wave of energy flew over Lynn’s head and a pair of fake glasses with a fake nose and mustache appeared on her face, and Lynn tossed them away saying, "Next plan."

Ryan’s eyes gleamed as he put up a third finger as he counted off ideas, then said, "Third, we can storm the whole city, killing everyone in our way until we get to the mountains!"

Lynn shuddered and began stepping to the side, saying, "Umm, you go right on ahead, Ryan. I’ll just, uh, be over here."

Ryan chuckled and grinned wider for a moment, then said, "Fourth, well…"

Ryan trailed off for a moment, glancing at Lynn, and she stopped and looked back at Ryan curiously.

"Well…?" Lynn asked.

"Fourth, we have Lynn strip naked and prance around, placing her charms over all of them, thus distracting them long enough for us to make it inside the city!" Ryan exclaimed.

A brief silence struck the three, and crickets could be heard from around them through the occasional car passing by. Joel and Lynn stood like statues, Joel with a dumbfounded look over his face and Lynn with a look of slowly increasing anger. Lynn began stomping her feet as she marched up to Ryan again, and Joel fell to his side in his idle position with a loud thud.

Lynn clenched her right hand into a fist as she growled at Ryan, and she brought it back as she yelled, "I…" she threw her fist into Ryan’s gut before Ryan knew what he was doing, then Lynn brought both her hands up over his head, "…am not…" she slammed Ryan down over his head, "…like…" Before Ryan hit the ground Lynn kicked him as hard as she could, sending him flying up into the air, "…that!"

Joel stood up and looked away and asked, "Can we go just one day without a reference to sex?"

Several moments later Ryan appeared again from up in the sky as he fell down at high speed and crashed head-first into the ground. His body stuck up like a solid pole with the exception of his cape, which drifted down to the ground, and soon Ryan pulled his head up and out from the earth, lifting a large chunk around his neck out with him. He looked down at the ring of dirt and hit it with both hands, causing it to crumble off and to the ground.

"Alright, alright!" Ryan said, waving his hands at Lynn. He turned around and faced Traquo again and said, "Plan five then." He put his left hand up and put a finger to his forehead and said, "I’ll throw a confusion ray over the entrance area where all the guards are at."

"Why didn’t you say that in the first place?" Lynn snarled at Ryan.

Joel stepped up and scratched his head, saying, "Well you know Ryan." He watched Ryan as he began sliding his finger across his forehead, chanting a spell, "But I wouldn’t be surprised if he still isn’t now either."

Ryan’s grin faded away slowly as his concentration built up in the form of a spell, and a ball of glowing light began collecting in front of him slightly above his head. He brought his right hand up and waved it in a circle behind the orb, causing it to float around in motion with his hand. He then rose both of his arms up high, and the orb shot forward towards the area where the guards of Traquo stood. The ball shattered into a sprinkle of light and covered each guard evenly. Ryan put his arms down as the spell completed and began pointing at each guard while he counted how many there were that were affected.

"One, two… ten… twenty…" Ryan mumbled. He nodded and exclaimed, "Looks like I got them good this time!" He waved at his traveling companions and said, "Come on, they won’t know we’re coming."

Ryan began walking forward, and Joel looked around at the guards before going any further. The large group had stopped what they were all doing and were standing around in a clueless spaced out daze. Joel began following close behind Ryan as he marched confidently towards the entrance gate, trying to avoid being seen or remembered.

"This is embarrassing." Lynn thought as she followed Ryan and Joel into Traquo, "All of these guys must have seen me on TV in my underwear." She covered herself with her arms, even though she was wearing her shirt and overalls, "Just waiting for the first jerk to come by!"

The three had passed smoothly through a scattered crowd of the guards outside the city and stopped at the front gate guards.

"Hold it right there." The guard told them, putting his hand up.

"Uhoh, Ryan missed this guy. We’re doomed!" Joel thought, ducking behind Ryan’s cape.

Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at the man and asked, "Yes officer?"

The man glared at Ryan deep into his eyes for a moment, squinting them tight, then back off and asked, "You look like a bright young fellow. Would you mind telling me what you get when you cross a cow and a chicken?"

Joel gave a cry of shock and disbelief as he fell to the side behind Ryan.

Ryan shrugged his shoulders and told the man, "I dunno."

"I don’t know either, but I bet it’d taste good on a plate!" The guard exclaimed as he turned around, laughing uncontrollably.

Ryan chuckled and said, "Right. Well we’re heading into town."

He waved the man off, who had fallen down in his state of laughter, and Joel and Lynn began to cautiously follow Ryan in. The two guards at the front looked over Joel suspiciously and stopped him before he walked through the city entrance gate.

"Wait, you look familiar, son." The right guard said.

"Definitely looks like it." The left guard said, "But what is it?"

Joel looked between the two guards quickly, then pointed out towards the outer crowd of guards and said, "Umm, he’s over there!"

The guards looked at each other strangely for a moment, then nodded at Joel and began running out towards the field at random guards in a confused assault. Joel followed the guards with his eyes for a moment, cringing at the sight of the guards attacking their own comrades, and he slowly tip toed into Traquo whistling a tune to himself.

Lynn looked back at the scene, then walked into the city with the other two, thinking, "Just like all men. They’re idiots."

The inside of Traquo had not changed much since Joel had left five and a half months in the past. The destroyed structures such as the jail were in the middle of being reconstructed. People who had once roamed carefree through the city now walked with paranoia and grief as since Joel’s days there people had been allowed to set up more of a self defense against their surroundings, which meant the city was now easier for criminals and bad people to do their business. There was also the dark shadow of gloom that covered the city, preventing day light to pierce onto the ground

Ryan stopped a ways into the city and looked back at Joel, saying, "Lead the way, man. You should know this place better than the three of us."

Joel shook his head and said, "As long as I can make some stops first."

"Sure, no problem. We got the time." Ryan told him.

Lynn bent over with her arms around her belly and groaned, "I’d just like to stop by and get something decent to eat!"

Joel nodded at the idea and said, "That’s a good idea, Miss Lynn. Where do you like going to eat?"

"Not jail food." Lynn mumbled to the side. She looked up at Joel and Ryan, then around the city, and said, "Anywhere fancy will do. I’m dying for some real food! I haven’t had any in five months!"

"I thought the fried turtle hoppers were good, though." Ryan said, thinking back to their Christmas vacation.

Lynn stopped looking around for a moment and shuddered, then said, "Umm, eww. For one thing I had never heard of those things until that time." She put up two fingers and said, "We didn’t even have the right spices, and they didn’t sell the kind I need over in Old World!"

Ryan slid over to Lynn’s side and put his arm down around her, squeezing her close to his side, and exclaimed in his best cheap detective imitation accent, "Stick with us, kid. We’ll show you the world of monsters, and all the spices, too!"

Joel scratched his head for a moment and said, "We will? I don’t know about many monsters myself."

Ryan looked at Joel and slid to his side, releasing Lynn, and he slightly hit Joel’s side with his knuckle, saying, "Sure we will, man!" He looked back at Lynn, and then whispered to Joel, "Besides, I don’t think she’d be very secure with just me around. Best have you around for the comic relief."

"I never thought of myself as a comedian." Joel said, crossing his arms together and beginning to think about the matter.

"Of course you are!" Ryan exclaimed. He summoned a pair of sunglasses onto both of them and said, "You’re practically a star!" Ryan flipped the shades down over his head and said, "Dig it, man!"

Lynn grumbled and approached Ryan. She jumped up and hit him along the backside of his head, trying to hit the sunglasses off from his head.

"You dork! You only wear sunglasses when it’s light outside, not when it’s practically dark!" Lynn exclaimed.

Joel took his sunglasses off and inspected them for a bit as Ryan began walking around blindly.

"Ah, don’t worry. I’m an old pro at this!" Ryan said with a grin, "It is kind of dark in here, though."

"Don’t hurt yourself." Joel and Lynn said together.

Ryan shook his head and began walking around, attempting to stick to the sidewalk with his arms out as a guide.

"I’ll use my super spirit awareness powers, and…" Ryan trailed off as he ran into a street light. He staggered back and rubbed the red line down his face, and he took the sunglasses off and said, "Okay, you’re right." Ryan tossed the sunglasses away and quickly switched his leather armor suit out for his common city travel clothes, "Well then, let’s go get something to eat, guys!"

Lynn sighed in disappointment while Joel looked at them both without a clue before they both followed Ryan still blindly down the streets of Traquo. All around the city people stared the group down as if they were part of a mob of bad guys. Some people would even flee in fear of being attacked from out of the blue.

Lynn stopped in front of one of the restaurants as they passed while they selected where they wanted to eat, and her eyes began to gleam with excitement.

"Wow! A Happy Pot!" Lynn exclaimed, beginning to drool, "I didn’t think they had any of these anywhere else!" She ran up to Joel and Ryan, who had stopped for her, and began dragging them in, saying, "Let’s eat here!" She began begging, "Please! Please! I love this place!"

"Don’t you know it’s strange for someone to love a place they used to work at?" Ryan told Lynn.

Lynn stuck her tongue out at Ryan and said, "It is not! You just don’t know what’s the best thing on the menu!"

Ryan shrugged and said, "I don’t know what anything on the menu’s like. I didn’t even get to eat there the only time I was at the store in Choajoi."

"What do they serve there anyway?" Joel asked curiously.

Lynn let them go and said, "Hamburgers and steak for the most part."

Joel and Ryan slumped their shoulders and began drooling with Lynn and both moaned, "Steak…"

Joel shook his head quickly for a moment and put his hands together with a grin like Ryan’s and exclaimed, "That settles it then! We’re going into the Happy Pot!"

The three cheered with glee and walked into the restaurant. The store was dark with neon lightings across the walls and small personal table lights for mood. There was a slight happy tune playing over the stereo throughout the store, and there were no singers, dancers, or stand up acts to be seen in the whole structure. They signed in at the front counter and were directed to a round table in the center of the restaurant by the waiter. They were provided free glasses of water and a menu of choices to look through for their order and were left alone.

"Let’s see if they still have my favorite dish!" Lynn exclaimed as she quickly opened her menu towards the back.

Joel looked through his menu for a moment, then looked up at Lynn and asked, "So did you really used to work at one of these stores, Miss Lynn?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lynn jumped in excitement, pointing at something in her menu, "I found my order!"

Joel looked towards Ryan at the other side of the table to find his reaction and found him with a stale face as he looked down the menu.

"Man, look at these prices. Who the hell made these up?" Ryan thought as he began to pale, "There goes my last five month’s savings." He put the menu down and said, "I’m just going to stick with water today, man."

Joel turned back to his own menu and began looking through it again and asked himself, "What do I want, though?"

The waiter approached the three again with a note pad to take their orders with, and as soon as the three ordered the waiter retreated to the back to deliver the order to the cooks.

"Are you sure you don’t want anything, Ryan?" Joel asked his friend.

"No way. I needed to diet anyway." Ryan said, putting his head down on his hands as he finished.

"I ordered a pretty big steak, you know. I’d be more than happy to share it." Joel offered.

"Nah, don’t do that!" Lynn snickered, "He passed up his chance!"

Joel turned his attention from the table towards the back of the store where the waiter walked off to with their order. He could not see where the orders were all taken to or where the cooking took place, and then his eyes began to wander off towards the other tables surrounding him. He caught sight of a table where two people sat and ate together on the far side of the dining room. Even though they looked like ordinary city folk they reminded Joel of a couple from the past he had once ran into.

Joel quickly turned around and said, "Hey Ryan, look." He turned around to try finding the table again, and when he found it he said, "Yeah, those two. Do they look anything familiar to you?"

"Humans!" Ryan exclaimed. He looked closer and said, "Oh yeah, I remember them." He stood up with a sly evil look over his face and said, "Why pay for your food when you can get it for free?"

"Huh?" Joel blurted out slightly in confusion. He stood up and followed after Ryan suddenly and said, "Wait, don’t go and do anything we’d regret!"

"Wait! Where are you guys going?" Lynn called out so much as to not be an annoyance to the rest of the restaurant.

As they approached the table closer Joel was able to determine who the two people at the table were. It was the short buzz cut brown haired young adult Tim and the long gleaming black haired young lady Katy. At first they had paid no attention or knew that Joel and Ryan were around, but Ryan planted himself standing right to the side of the two rudely and Joel had made an accidental first move by blurting out something to them.

"Hey Tim and Katy! Long time no see!" Joel exclaimed in surprise.

The interruption caused the two to stop the conversation they were having back and forth between one another and looked up suddenly at the two Guardians standing with them. Lynn soon ran up to join them from behind and looked at the four with curiosity.

"Do we… know…" Tim started, but trailed off as he focused on Joel’s figure, "Oh, it’s you. So you came back."

"Not came back, just passing through, man." Ryan told him.

Tim looked back at Katy and said, "Would you please excuse me, m’dear. I’d like to have a private man to monster talk with these two."

"Okay love." Katy said quietly with a nod towards Tim.

Tim stood up and patted himself down of crumbs from his food and directed Joel and Ryan towards the back.

Ryan poked Lynn back a bit and told her, "Man to monster! That means you can’t come! Keep this lady here company while we’re away!"

Lynn looked across to Katy, who had turned her attention to filing her nails, and stomped her foot on the ground. She turned away and sat back down at her table and waited for her food to come as ordered.

"What do you want from me?" Tim demanded in the far dark back of the store.

"Nothing, unless you want to start stuff with us again like last time, man." Ryan said with a grin and twinkle in his eye.

"Well I would and send you all to hell right here and now, but I don’t want to cause anymore damage to my home town." Tim told them.

"It’s good to see you have a heart for understanding and consideration." Joel said, "I just saw you and thought I’d give a friendly hello, though. I didn’t ever want to start anything."

"Right now I just want to spend time with my girlfriend." Tim said, "I’ve heard about your deeds in the last five months, and I promise I’ll get you back for all that’s happened since our last meeting."

Joel scratched his head in confusion and asked, "You mean saving an entire town from a mob?" He looked at Tim for a moment, then said, "Oh, you mean…" he trailed off into space, trying to think about how he would explain the situation and what happened, then said, "Umm, well if that were really me I wouldn’t have done that."

Ryan stepped up and gave Joel a friendly hit on his back and said, "That’s right! You can’t blame him if you don’t know the whole story, man." He tapped his forehead with his right hand and said, "He can’t hide anything from my powers. I saw what really happened with my own eyes, too."

"Whatever." Tim said as he turned his back to them, "I may have matured some over the last five months and lost some arrogance, but I still won’t stop until I get deep into the core of your demon race and stop the pain they’re causing our world. That’s why I plan on joining the Brave Corp soon." He began walking off and finished up by saying, "You may find some useful information about what’s going on here from Mister Howe. And stay away from Matt, because he won’t show the same care I do."

"Mister Howe?" Joel mumbled between himself and Ryan, "Doesn’t he mean Mayor?"

"Maybe he retired, man." Ryan said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well at least the Axle Gang hasn’t assaulted us on sight… yet." Joel said.

Ryan shook his head and sighed, his grin fading away slowly, and said, "I’d just like to throw a big spell over all of them so they understand where we’re really coming from.

"They’ll learn their lesson on their own, I’m sure." Joel told Ryan. He looked across the restaurant to where Tim had returned to and said, "I was actually going to go to Howe’s place while I was here anyway."

They began returning to their own table as the waiter brought their food in, and Ryan said, "I’d just let bygones be bygones, man."

"That’s not the point." Joel said as they sat down."

Lynn jumped in excitement as her meal was set down in front of her, and she gathered her fork and knife and exclaimed, "At last! The Lynn’s Super Special! My masterpiece!"

Joel and Ryan looked blankly at Lynn for a moment, and Ryan asked, "You mean you actually made that menu item?"

"Uh huh! I just threw in a bunch of random ingredients one day for a customer who wasn’t picky and he said he liked it a lot." Lynn said as she nodded.

Ryan looked closely at her plate and asked, "You know that looks like a slab of wyrm rib meat. You knew that, right?"

Lynn’s face paled as she asked, "It is? Dragon… meat…?"

"Yeah, it looks pretty old, too." Ryan explained, "But then again you have to bury the meat of a dead dragon kin in the ground for several years to leech the poison out of it, if I do remember."

"This was… in the dirt… for how long?" Lynn slowly stuttered sickly.

"I’d be feeling sick, too, if I was in your position." Joel said as he cut up his mushroom and gravy covered steak. Ryan turned to Joel’s plate and inspected it for a while, but Joel put a finger up at him and told him, "Don’t even think about it!"

Lynn twitched as she picked her fork and knife up from the table where she dropped them in her shock and disgust and thought, "Okay, it never killed me before. It won’t kill me now!"

They had asked for a third plate so Joel and Lynn could share some of their portions with Ryan so that he would not go a day without eating. The three continued with their meals and called for their check. Ryan gave a large sigh in disbelief as he looked at the total cost of their trip at the restaurant.

"Fifty three dollars just for two orders!" Ryan exclaimed.

"That’s quality food for you." Lynn told him, "You can’t get imported goods from exotic countries if you charge low rates."

"At least the customer base likes it" Joel said as he looked around at everyone’s expressions in the store.

Ryan put a bundle of money on the table and stood up and said, "Well next time if I want exotic foods I’ll go kill the monsters myself."

The three left the Happy Pot restaurant and entered back onto the streets of Traquo. The oppressed people of the city who had been forced out of their homes and jobs were sitting along the darker shades of the streets and watched the three pass by. Five months ago the city did not look like this, and a homeless and poor person was a rare sight to find. People would still flee back into the shadows from the Guardians even though they watched them with hope in their eyes, because they still thought they looked like a mob group. Joel suddenly felt a tugging at the back of his long and baggy red clothes along the cold and desolate road, and he looked back to find a nervous and scared young man trying to get his attention.

"Hmm? What’s up?" Joel asked as he stopped behind his traveling companions.

The youth began to mumble as if he was trying to form words in his mouth, but he could not make much more of a sound. Joel looked down at his throat to find stitch marks across it. The man began making motions with his hands, trying to communicate with sign language, but Joel could not understand what he was saying. The homeless people from the shadows began drawing out around Joel slowly as they found him alone.

"I’m sorry. I can’t understand what you’re telling me." Joel told him.

Ryan turned around and returned to Joel, and Lynn soon did the same when she found herself alone. Ryan moved his hand up towards the youth’s head in an attempt to read his mind, but he ran away in fear of Ryan’s touch. The crowd of oppressed people from the shadows disappeared again as Joel’s friends regrouped with him.

"Screw those guys! They were probably just after your sword so they could sell it and make it big!" Lynn said in a snobby voice.

Joel looked around in confusion, then down at his own hands and sighed.

"Nah. Lots of people can pick out a Guardian from a bunch of humans." Ryan told Lynn, "They’re most likely looking for help from us."

The three began moving again down the road, taking turns throughout the city, and Joel asked, "But is sticking around to save this city really something we want to do?"

Ryan nudged Joel with a grin and said, "I know you would, man!"

"I’d do it, too, if it helps show you’re not a bad guy, Joel." Lynn said.

Joel nodded and said, "Okay, let’s go for it then. Let’s figure out what’s wrong with Traquo and help fix it."

"But first thing’s first!" Ryan exclaimed, "Hi ho team! To Mayor Howe’s residence!"

As the three passed through the city the swarm of homeless people continued to follow slowly behind the three and watched them closely in hopes to witness something great happen. Cries from the children could be heard from behind them as they passed through neighborhoods of aging torn buildings. The memory held inside Joel’s core directed them to Howe’s house, and it looked just as it did when he first arrived in the world. Joel knocked on the door to the house several times and waited for an answer from inside, but no one would come to open the door or answer him from inside.

"Hello?" Ryan called into the house, "It’s the pizza delivery guy!"

His peers gave him a blank look, and Ryan looked back at them and shrugged his shoulders with a sarcastic grin on his face.

"Oh, stop it." Lynn said, "Everyone knows that old guys don’t like pizza."

"Yeah, but how else are we going to get in?" Ryan asked.

Joel lowered his head and closed his eyes, and he stepped forward close to the door and reached for the doorknob.

"Burning Hands…" Joel chanted in Guardian tongue.

His hands began radiating with hot waves of energy as he touched the handle, and the metal began to melt away, destroying the lock to the entrance of the house. The remainder of the doorknob passed down through Joel’s hand to the ground where it bubbled for a moment, then cooled down into a solid again. The wooden material of the door where the knob once was had become charred from the extensive heat let out that touched the door without catching it on fire. Joel brought his hand back and blew on it slightly to cool it off, and Ryan opened the door for them.

The trio looked between each other for a moment before they entered into the dark house. No lights were seen at first through the house until they reached the living room. They found a man in an easy chair sitting in front of a lit fireplace silently. Howe had taken on a deathly look as if he had not eaten for an extended period of time, and dust appeared to be gathering around him as if he had not moved from the chair in the same amount of time. His skin was beginning to shrivel down onto his bones as his body fat had disappeared. His beard had grown long and thick with time and his hair grayed thoroughly with age and worry. He moved his eyes to the side as he heard the familiar sound of Joel’s breath.

"So…" Howe’s voice crackled, "Have you… come back… to take me, too?"

With every pair of words he took a deep breath to keep himself going.

"Sir, I…" Joel started, trailing off.

Ryan stepped up and interrupted Joel and said, "Hey man, no need to worry. We’re not here for that."

Joel shook his head, trying to clear his feelings of guilt, and said, "I’m sorry this has become of you."

Howe moved suddenly, throwing his arm out towards them and said, "You don’t even know the half of what’s happened to me! Let alone my whole city! I had to resign because of you!"

"Well I’m all open ears for your story." Joel told him.

Lynn stood around and looked at the old clocks and mechanisms that lined along the walls of Howe’s house, and it reminded her of the weaponry and artifacts that decorated Master’s house on the mountain. The clocks had all ceased to work at near the same time, which had all worked together in harmony. The time was passed midnight, the same time that Sarralyn was put to death by Joel as Howe had recorded it. She turned around and looked at Howe directly, and Sarralyn’s memory triggered in Lynn’s mind.

"Daddy?" Lynn mumbled as she shook her head, putting her hands up over her face, "No, don’t do this to me! I’m not her!"

Ryan walked over to Lynn’s side and rubbed her head with his hand and said, "Its okay, kid. Let it all out."

Joel looked back at Lynn, then down at Howe and said, "I tried bringing your daughter back for you along my trips in " He pointed back at Lynn, "She’s all I could muster, though."

"Why would a monster like you want to bring back my Sarralyn?" Howe asked, "You can’t bring the dead back to life anyway."

Ryan stepped up with a wide grin and said, "Ah, you might think so! But we’ve been there and almost had it, man."

"Well just kill me so I can be with my daughter again." Howe demanded, looking slightly away.

"No can do, man." Ryan told the old man, "You won’t find Sarralyn up in heaven. She’s still alive somewhere according to the dream sprites of the Dream Plane."

"I’m here." Lynn said, blurting out Sarralyn’s memory.

"Why don’t we leave Miss Lynn here to make things easier on you?" Joel offered, "She helped us in our first attempt to bring Sarralyn back, but instead she traded some of her life for Sarralyn’s memory."

"I don’t care." Howe said, "I’ve lost my daughter, I’ve lost my job, and Dirk’s in jail. My city’s out of control. What more is there to look forward to anymore?"

"Lots of things if you just get up and go." Joel told the man, "I kept trying to go since those days even though I felt horrible and worthless, and now I’ve met a lot of good people who understand me for who I really am."

Ryan stepped up and waved at Howe and exclaimed, "The name’s Ryan, Guardian of the Mind! Not just another demon."

Joel nodded at Howe and said, "He’s a good friend who’s teaching me about who I am and what we’re really here for. He’s taking me to meet my real family."

"That’s just fine." Howe said in disgust, "All this time I wonder why I took in the ‘thing’ with the mentality of a two year old when I knew you’d just turn out to be a killing machine."

Ryan chuckled and reached out to the old man’s head, locking onto his skull. He resisted Joel’s tugging as he tried pulling him away, and Ryan began transmitting his records of Joel’s history through Howe’s mind. He showed the man Joel’s ventures through the Old World, how he met Celia and Koichi, how they got along and fought together against evil, how they moved together back to the New World and set up a decent living together and met Ryan, and how they set out on their trip through the world. He tried to transmit an explanation through Howe’s mind about Joel’s dark half, Zareon, but Howe drew back and fell out of his chair suddenly. He looked up at the two Guardians helplessly as he took deep breaths on the ground while he tried to understand the new thoughts that were speeding through his brain.

"Dirk’s in jail?" Joel asked as he drew back, "He helped us out a lot, especially on my last day." He turned around and said, "I wonder about Luke."

"Luke?" Lynn asked, "Who’s Luke?"

"Stay here for today, Miss Lynn. Ryan and I are going to go find out what exactly’s going on." Joel told her, "Keep Sarralyn’s dad company with what you have."

Lynn nodded at Joel as her previous anger faded away more with Sarralyn’s soothing thoughts passing through her mind for her family. She walked up to Howe and helped him up back into his seat and sat down next to him as Joel and Ryan departed from the house.

The two looked around outside as they closed the door to Howe’s house. A group of police swat teams had formed around them, aiming their guns at them ready to fire. The oppressed people were no where in sight as more guards ran into place all around Howe’s residence. Joel and Ryan’s heart began to race for a moment as they saw them in surprise, and they both stood in their strange battle stances as a reflex to the surprise. Word had gotten out about the Guardians in the city of Traquo, and the government defenders would not stand for it.

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