Meanwhile, halfway across the maze, Boomer's ears twitched as he poked his head around the corner. Sure enough, he found himself back in the break room! Even with this labyrinthine maze, he could always count on this to be the one room he'd always find, having spent many an afternoon contemplating life and other things during his meals…

But, now wasn't the time for contemplating, it was the time for action!

Well, it would be if the break room wasn’t filled by trolls and imps who peaceful snoozed away when they were probably supposed to be on high alert. Well, not that anybody ever kept track of that kind of stuff anyways. But, if he didn't want an incredibly explosive and one-sided fight on his hands, he was probably going to have to keep quiet.

So, Boomer shushed himself and tip-toed across the halls…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Boomer's ears twitched while he whipped his head around. Wait a second, who was screaming? It certainly didn't come from him! Did somebody get their hand stuck in a bomb or something? Whoever's scream it was, it was loud enough that everybody in the break room immediately jolted up and man their stations!

"GUARDS, INVESTIGATE THAT NOISE!" exclaimed one fancily-armored troll who still had sticky papers stuck to their face as they pointed towards the open door!

Boomer yipped and immediately flattened himself against the back wall. He gritted his teeth as the guards all scampered in a big flurry ahead of him with no mind paid to the troll who had his back flat against the wall, or the paper that fluttered in the breeze behind them! Boomer grabbed the paper, and smiled as he looked it over! On it was some crudely-scribbled directions, along with part of a faded, clearly disobeyed instruction to not tear this paper under any cost and the words "Minefield Map." Yep, this had to be the next map piece!

"Man, talk about lucky!" Boomer chuckled as he clutched the map piece tight. "Well, for me anyways, not so much whoever was screaming." Boomer hummed a tune as he walked up to the nearby door and opened it with a simple button's touch. "Hope that person's not in any big trouble."

The map piece held tight in his mechanical hand, Boomer opened the door before him with a free hand, and bounded out to find none other than an inattentive Trigger Happy!

"Trigger Happy!" Boomer called as he waved towards Trigger Happy. "Good to see you, buddy!"

"Huh?" Trigger Happy's ears twitched, then he turned around and beamed. "Boomy, there you are!" Trigger Happy giggled as he leaped into Boomer's arms, and he climbed onto Boomer's bald scalp next as he kicked his stubby little legs. "I thought you got stuck in a box!"

"You bet I'm here, and you won't believe what I found!" Boomer lifted the map piece to Trigger Happy's line of sight and waved it just a bit. "The next map piece!"

Trigger Happy's smile grew even wider as he hopped off of Boomer's head and did a little jig from the sheer glee he surely felt!

"Maps, maps, maps, we're gonna get the maps…" Trigger Happy stopped mid-dance, frowned and looked around. "Hey, on another note, where's Snuckles?"

Boomer's own smile quickly faded to a frown as he looked around. Now that Trigger Happy mentioned it, Snuckles was still missing! That kid would probably be dinner bait on his own—where'd he go?

Trigger Happy frowned as well as he looked at Boomer and sighed. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine!" Trigger Happy chirped as he caught sight of the concerned frown on Boomer's face. "He probably just took a wrong left or something! He'll find out before you can even say 'honey cream pancakes!'"

"But, still, we did say we'd keep that kid safe." Boomer straightened out his beard and adjusted his backpack. "With him wandering around all on his lonesome and stuff, who knows what could happen!"

Trigger Happy's own smile faded into a reluctant frown. "I guess you're right, Boomy."

Trigger Happy and Boomer both looked towards the gate they came from. They'd been through such a long, winding way, and surely Snuckles got even more lost than they had! Just where was he?

"Maybe we should retrace our steps?" Trigger Happy asked with a shrug. "Who knows, we might've passed him without noticing him or something! That's happened to me lots of times before!"

So, Boomer shrugged, walked up to the gates, and opened them once more with a few button presses. With Trigger Happy by his side, he trailed down the long, winding halls, took a few turns right, then skedaddled down left, walked straight down… Wait, did he take the right or the left turn last time? Did he even take a turn at all?

Boomer moaned and looked behind him, but at this point, the halls and corridors all started to blend together in his mind. Guess he had no choice but to continue walking down the path before him, unfamiliar as it was. It almost felt hard to believe that once upon a time, he knew this place like the back of his hand!

Wait, Boomer thought as he examined the back of his hand and scrunched his brows. I'm prettyyyyyyyyy sure that one circuit is new…

"Hey, Boomy?" Trigger Happy urged as he shook Boomer's shoulder. "I don't wanna freak you out, but—" Trigger Happy looked left and right before he shrugged "—I think we're lost."

Boomer jumped up and make a couple hearty laughs. Silly Trigger Happy, there was no need to worry! That's what he wanted to say; after all, he knew this place so well, there was no way they could be completely lost! Wherever they went, surely he'd…

Wait a second, he didn't remember walking on this railed platform bridge.

"When did we get here?" Boomer asked as he looked around and frowned.

"Five minutes ago?"

Trigger Happy shrugged, looked right and skipped away as if something had caught his attention. Stuck between the itty-bitty spaces in the bridge's railing was some kind of… Note, maybe? Whatever it was, Trigger Happy yanked it out of the rails, unfurled it and smoothed out the many creases in its papers.

"Boomy, Boomy! Look!"

Trigger Happy jumped in front and back and all around Boomer in such an excited haze that Boomer's head spun just from trying to keep up! Boomer groaned as he swayed back and forth, and shook his head right as Trigger Happy shoved the piece of paper in his face!

"It's that next map piece!" Trigger Happy grinned, and his grin faded as he lowered the paper and looked over it himself. "At least, I think it is…"

Boomer took the paper, grabbed the other two map pieces out of his pocket and compared them against the faint, fluorescent light from overhead. As he moved the pieces closer and closer in, he couldn't help but beam. They matched up perfectly!

"By Troll Bunyan's boots, you've got it, Trigger Happy!" Boomer grinned for a few moments more then stuffed the map pieces away in his pocket, "And better yet, this map's nearly done!"

"So what are we waiting for?" Trigger Happy bounced around Boomer a few more times and ran across the platform. "Let's find the rest of that map!"

Boomer grinned as he followed Trigger Happy down the way, his mind now completely fixed on finding the last bit of the map! But at the same time, a nagging feeling egged on in his brain, as if he forgot something important. Was he looking for something? Oh well, whatever it was, he could surely find it after he got this map assembled!

§

Chihiro stepped back as the artifact's glow grew bigger, and she couldn't help but wonder…

Oh god, what did she just get herself into? As the glow became brighter and brighter, bigger and bigger, it slowly took what appeared to be a solid form—a big, hulking solid form with muscular arms and stocky legs, complete with a tiny head to match. The form grew more detailed as the light started to fade, and it was now clad in different shades of neon purple that painted translucent bodies carved with intricate line markings. Its face had simple depressions in lieu of eyes, and a fanged, almost beak- or muzzle-like mouth. The appearance seemed so simple, and yet, so horrifying, and worse yet, the Guardifound it was born from was stuck square in its chest, and surrounded by fountains of brightly-colored sparkles!

Chihiro winced as she looked over the monster, and her eyes glazed towards the artifact stuck in its chest once more. The chest itself held a decently-sized crack in it, one perhaps born from the crack she spied in that battery artifact that gave it life. Maybe, just maybe, she could reach in and pull it out?

While the monster made low growls and looked around, Chihiro leaped forward and plunged her hand into its chest to no avail! The monster grabbed her by the arm before she could even do anything, and tossed her into a nearby tree! Chihiro screamed as she slammed against the tree trunk and slid down.

While she cradled her dizzy head, she staggered back up just in time to catch the monster turn itself towards the mini-mechanizer that laid hapless on the floor. It held out one meaty, clawed hand, and from that hand sprung out another bolt of magical lightning! The magic lightning bolt hit the mini-mechanizer, and surrounded it with a bright, this time orange light. A growl echoed from the former mini-mechanizer, and from it emerged a new monster that was near-identical to the first save for its floral decorations and orange coloring!

The Guardifound shot a few more bolts into the depths of the woods, and from those came bright bursts of light that stood out well against the darkness of their depths. Soon enough, more of those monsters crept out from the woods, each with their own unique colors and traits but no less horrifying.

Not that Chihiro had time to note them all, for before she knew it, they all ganged up on her and were ready to attack! Chihiro cast a shield as one sent a punch her way, but the punch just shot right through the shield and shattered it! As the monster leaned forward, she jumped out of its path and teleported out of their circle.

"I know Hugo said not to use magic on you guys," Chihiro said as she crafted a magic sphere and shot it right towards them, "but I think he'd understand in this case!"

The blast rocketed towards the first Guardifound, but it only grabbed the sphere and cracked it like an egg!

"What the heck?" Chihiro stumbled back and gasped. "It didn't even get a chance to hit the darn thing!"

Before Chihiro could react further, something slammed against her and knocked her into a nearby tree! Chihiro winced as her back burned with pain, but bit her lip to keep the tears from coming. Instead, she looked up and shot another magic sphere at the monster that just attacked her—but the monster simply batted it away like an annoying fly!

"Alright, magic spheres are out of the question," Chihiro grunted as she lurched down while magic crackled within her body as she held out her hands, "BUT WHAT ABOUT MAGIC HAMMERS?"

Chihiro summoned a magic hammer, teleported behind two of the backmost monsters, and smacked them right in the back! They were so caught off-guard that they rocketed off into the other monsters like golf balls and slammed them all right into the nearby flora!

"Finally, it hit—" Chihiro's smile turned into wide shock as the Guardifound latched onto her hammer and forced her to release it. "SOMETHING!"

Chihiro jumped back, ducked as the monster swung her own hammer at her, and tossed it at a nearby rock. Though she didn't see the impact, the loud crashing and cracking noises she heard behind her told her enough to know that her hammer was done for!

Crap, looks like they can counter any of my magic attacks! Chihiro thought as she scrambled back. Not to mention, shields are out of the question—they'll just shatter those too! What do I do? Chihiro's eyes widened, and she held out her hand as sweat poured down. That's right, looks like it's time to practice those advanced spells I was trying out!

Chihiro narrowed her eyes and gulped again, all while her body shook like crinkled autumn leaves in the breeze. While a sliver of confidence flared in her heart, the panic and anticipation she felt instead ate it up.

Come on, give me a nice, big chain reaction spell! Chihiro begged, her eyes now closed tight as she tried to focus her shaky heart.

She shot those eyes wide open as she heard the sound of crackling electricicty! Turns out, nothing came out of her hand but a few sparkles! No kind of orb or spell to be seen!

"Come on, come on, now's not the time!" Chihiro exclaimed as she shook her hand and shuddered. "If that's not gonna work, give me a time-stop spell! A magic minion spell! JUST DO SOMETHING!"

But alas, the more spells and requests and pleas Chihiro tossed out, the more her hand sparkled. It was almost like it laughed at her, mocked her desperate cries to help her get out of this awful, awful situation! With nothing else possible to do and the monsters' growling much louder and more ominous, Chihiro whimpered as the monsters ganged up on her. She looked up, and their menacing faces morphed into… Kaos's face? What was going on here?

"You fool, there's no way someone like you could defeat me! You may think you're some big hero…" The monsters became a mocking chorus of annoying birds while they chided in Kaos's voice. "But in the end, you're nothing more than a helpless child impersonating a warrior!"

Kaos's crooning, stinging laughter echoed all around as the Kaos-faced monsters laughed right in Chihiro's face! Worse yet, Chihiro could do nothing about it. All she could do was sit and watch, frozen in fear as they all mocked her for the pathetic, useless being she was! So weak, so helpless, so completely unable to defend herself or do anything about the mess she made.

"Now, stand there and let me show you what we do to you SO-CALLED HEROES!"

All she could do was curl into a ball and sob as her failures became the death of her. but that death never came! All she heard was groaning that made her open and wipe her teary eyes. Rather than attacking, the monsters had covered her ears and shook their heads, as if something hurt their heads—wait a second!

"My crying throws you off, huh?" Chihiro snarled as she summoned a megaphone and raised it to her lips. "WELL HOW 'BOUT I CRY YOU A RIVER?!"

Chihiro cried out strangled sobs as she held the microphone down, and raised a face both grief-wrecked and furious at the same time.

"AFTER ALL, I'M AN UTTER FAILURE AS A PORTAL MASTER! I WASN'T STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT KAOS, I MESSED UP THIS EXAM, AND I CAN'T EVEN STOP YOU GUYS! I KEEP TRYING AND TRYING TO GET STRONGER AND BETTER AND SMARTER BUT, I, I, I, I'LL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT EVER AGAIN!"

The monster clamped their hands around their heads even further, though even with them distracted, Chihiro hardly felt better. If anything, saying all that stuff out loud made her feel even worse!

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS THAT I'M DOING WRONG, EITHER! I'VE BEEN TRAINING AND FIGHTING SO HARD, BUT NONE OF IT EVEN MATTERED! I COULDN'T LAND A SINGLE THING ON YOU! AND IF I CAN'T CAST A SINGLE, STUPID SPELL AND BEAT YOU GUYS…" Chihiro croaked and gasped for air as hot waterfalls poured down her face, and found herself struck silent as the megaphone slipped out of her hands.

"I'll never be able to beat Kaos."

Chihiro just stared wide-eyed in total shock, while the entire world around her blurred into a chorus of melded colors and sounds. Soon enough, that strange chorus warped into the broken, leveled forests of the Fairy Kingdom

No, no, what's happening? This isn't real, I'm not at the Fairy Kingdom, I'm back at Ancient's Peak! Kaos isn't here, he isn't!

Chihiro’s memories of that battle flashed through her brain, the same battle where she could barely cast a single spell to nail down her worst foe. Once again, her whole body locked up as the monsters all morphed into proper reflections of Kaos, with those soul-piercing eyes and those bright, magical flames ready to strike.

"NO, NO, NO!" Chihiro screamed as hard as she could as she backed closer and closer, until she hit something prickly and leafy. "STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!"

The shrill, terrified tone of Chihiro's finally melted away into something more remorseful and full of sadness as she felt the thing behind her, the area morphed back into the forests of Ancient's Peak, and the Kaos clones turned into the monsters she faced with earlier. But, she could hardly find herself relieved! With whimpering tears, she lurched down and held another hand over her hot, puffy face.

"What's going on? What's wrong with me?"

Just before she could sob some more, one of the monsters swung forward and punched Chihiro in the gut! Chihiro screamed as she flung into the bushes, grunted and pulled herself up, but found that the monsters closed her in once more! They lurched towards her like zombies and imposed themselves over her form, so big and lurking compared to her own small body. Out the corner of her eye, she saw the original, purple monster stomp on her megaphone and smash its bits underneath her foot. Great, there went her one chance to stop them!

Chihiro whimpered, looked up, and watched frozen stiff as the monsters completely surrounded her and raised their attacks.

Now she really was finished.