Fallen Tranquility [KlonoaAU]

“No no no! What do we do?!” Popka panicked. Klonoa’s body was no longer visible in the abyss of the empty crevice . “How could we be so stupid?! Everything happening right now, it’s just like the chaos! We should have known it’d have been empty again! And we let him jump straight into the cliff!” He kicked the rocks around them pacing back and forth. Lolo sat by the cliff too stunned to speak. She just stared at the last spot she saw her friend.

  ‘I didn’t mean to…’ her arms shook. Popka looked towards his friend, realizing that screaming would not help.

  “Lolo.” he lifted her tear filled face. “Get up, we gotta go in after him. He’s gotta be okay.” Lolo nodded her head, picking herself up from the ground. They both looked down into the dark abyss.

  “Right… let’s go save our friend.” Lolo retorted. “I won’t give up on him… He’s gotta be okay.” And with not another word or hesitation, the duo began to climb down into the cliff.

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  “LEORINA!” yelled a dark colored cat-like creature, she floated through one of the many hallways in the Terminus of Tears. As she ran, another figure was floating the opposite direction.

“LEORINA! WHERE ARE YOU? COME ON, WE NEED YOUR HELP!” yelled another cat-like creature, this one looked identical to the dark one, but was white. This one was floating through another hallway in the castle.

The two cat creatures ran into each other and in a flash of light, became one. Their colors clashed next to each other, one taking a side of the body and vice versa. “URGH! She’s so annoying when she doesn’t answer. This palace is too big to find her anyways.”

  “Tat! You called?” a voice spoke from behind the cat creature. A woman with ginger hair and dark skin wearing a dark blue suit walked over to the feline.

  “Oh, about time you answered!” Tat pouted, “I need your help with fixing this ceiling over here!” She pointed her claw towards a massive hole in the ceiling of the golden hallway. It was covered with a tarp to prevent rain from entering.

  “What exactly do you need my help with?” Leorina asked, putting a hand on her hip. “You can fly and put the new furring strings in, right?”

“IT’S NOT THAT!” Tat yelled back blushing, “I can’t hold everything at once. Urgh, do you mind finding a ladder and just holding some stuff for me while I work on this?” She pointed towards a supply closet. “I’ve been trying to call others, but I haven’t been able to find anyone from the other kingdoms all morning.”

  “Hmm? That’s odd. The Volkan’s should’ve arrived by ship today specifically with materials for repairing the castle.” Leorina retorted. “But sure, I can help you with that in the meantime. Let’s get to work.” She shrugged, walking towards the closet.

  A while later the two were working on patching the ceiling, it wasn’t perfect, but the furring was finally holding the beams in place and the two were ready to proceed. Leorina leaned on the ladder wiping her head, “Phew. About time, any word on the Volkans comin’ with the other tools for this?”

  “Not that I’ve heard.” Tat replied, “Communications have been off since this morning.” 

  “Hmm. How odd…” Leorina wondered, “The Volkans are never late with these deliveries…”

  Before either of them could continue, a quake rang around the Hyuponian castle. The jolt of the quake caused Leorina to lose balance on the top of the ladder. “Leorina!” Tat yelled as she flew towards the ladder.

  “Gh, shi-” she was unable to balance herself as the room continued to shake, the uneven weight distribution caused the ladder to fall. “UAHH!”

  “GOTCHA!” Tat yelled as she caught Leorina before she hit the floor. “You okay? That was scary.”

  “I’m good. Thank you, Tat.” Leorina high fived her friend. The two looked around the room, the quake was still going, but from Tat floating, it no longer affected them directly. “Get towards the door in case anything else falls.” Tat nodded as she floated the two towards a nearby doorway. The two looked out a window, watching as the strength of the quakes destroyed some of the restoration to the Hyuponia.

  “All our hard work…” Tat stared at the destruction outside.

  “This is not a normal earthquake.” Leorina noted, “Tat, you don’t think…” the two looked at each other and nodded. A short moment later the quake ended and Tat was able to lower Leorina back to the ground. From there the two started to head to the rebuilt throne room to see the damages from there. Like every other room, some areas that were reconstructed were once again damaged by the quake.

  The middle of the room, which was the same room where Klonoa once faced off against the original King of Sorrow. He was a desperate king of a fallen and forgotten kingdom when Lunatea once viewed Sorrow as dangerous and needing to be hidden. After the original king’s defeat, Klonoa made the promise that Sorrow wouldn’t be forgotten any longer, and that he wouldn’t be alone any longer as sorrow is just as important as every other element for Lunatea. With this promise, the original king was able to pass away peacefully and reincarnate as the future ruler for the rebuilt kingdom of Hyuponia.

  A giant crater was in the ground that has been there for eons. It was recently filled during the kingdom’s reconstruction, but the quake caused it to be cracked once again. Leorina and Tat felt devastated by the sight of the hard work of everyone being destroyed. 

  “MRYAAAA! We were doing so well!” Tat yelled. “What the hell is going on that ruined all of this?!” 

  “That quake was just like the ones we- I caused back when…” Leorina muttered. Tat turned to her friend, putting away her rage to show concern.

  “You don’t mean..” her eyes focused, “is this the chaos?” 

  A sharp, sour note chimed from the Bell of Sorrow above them. The ring was loud and caused the two to go down covering their ears. Cries of spirits of the lost kingdom roared through the Terminus of Tears as dark mist floated surrounding the duo.

  “Gh- What is this?” Leorina shouted. A familiar voice whispered through the room, circling Tat and her.

“Lakuru… Reemna…” ‘is that….’ Leorina’s expression dropped to an emotion of dread. She tried to look around but the mist was blinding.

  “YOUNG MAJESTY! Where are you?!” she yelled. “Tat, the prince! He wasn’t supposed to be back from Mira-Mira!”

  “Huh?! He’s here? I don’t see him, heck I can’t see anything!” Tat responded, “Mryaa! We gotta find him and get him out of here, if anything! This isn’t safe for him!”

  The two tried to clear the mist away but nothing worked. “Urgh! Enough of this!” Leorina yelled reaching into her pocket, what emerged was a ring with a red gemstone. The wind ring replica she made from copying the data of the Dream Traveller’s wind ring. “TAKE THIS!” she shot multiple wind bullets around the mist, causing it to clear away instantly.

The area became visible again, as Tat and Leorina’s eyes adjusted they prepared to take the young prince Sorrow to safety. “THERE!” Tat pointed towards a silhouette that looked like the young prince. Leorina sprung forward towards the prince.

  “Majesty Sorrow! I’ve got ya!” She yelled ready to grab him, but before her arms could reach the young boy, thin gold ropes wrapped around her waist. “Wh-huh?!” Before Leorina could properly react, she was violently swung to the ground. The ropes held her down as she groaned in pain. “What… is this?” Leorina looked up towards where she thought she saw the young prince. Though dizzy from the hit, her eyes tried to align to make out this potential fake prince of Sorrow.

  This was not their young heir to Hyuponia’s throne. Though they had a very similar silhouette, this one was covered in a dark mist, head to toe. Their height being much lankier than the young prince, almost resembling more close to his previous self. Wings sprouted on their head and back as dark colored feathers covered their body,  and holes were in place of where their eyes were supposed to be. They wore the same gold scarf as the original King of Sorrow though this one was much longer with more threads. These were what was holding Leorina in place. It was the King of Sorrow, ‘but how was HE back? Wait… no he was reborn… and isn’t even supposed to be here right now?!’ Leorina thought.

“Lakuru… Reemna…” the soft voice rang in Leorina’s head. ‘An apparition?’ she thought. “LAKUTO!!!” The voice cried this time going through the entire room. The ghost of Sorrow put his hands over his face almost writhing in pain.

  “LEORINA!” Tat yelled running towards the two. Leorina struggled to break free from the King’s threads, as she wiggled, she looked up and saw another thread getting ready to strike her. ‘NOT GOOD.’ Her movements became desperate. “GET… AWAY FROM HER!” Tat yelled as she swiped her claws, cutting the ropes holding Leorina in place. Leorina rolled away just in time as the charging thread struck the ground, only barely cutting most of her ponytail clean off. The ropes that were torn, quickly disintegrated as the ghostly king grunted in anguish.

  “That’s not the prince,” Leorina said out of breath, “there’s no way that’s him.”

  “We need to get out of here.” Tat responded as her eyes darted looking for a quick exit. “There!” She picked up her friend and began flying quickly to an opening in the throne room. 

  “I… won’t let… you get away… alive!” screamed the ghostly King of the past. Leorina turned her head to see the possible danger, to her horror she watched as the late King summoned a bomb-like object. 

  “Tat, go. NOW!” she yelled, they made it to the opening where down below was an abandoned part of one of the villages of Hyuponia. Just too late. The blast of the bomb thrown by the king pushed the two out of the palace. The heat of the blast washed over Leorina’s body as the sharp sound of ringing went through her ears. She couldn’t even focus on the fact that she and Tat were now falling.

  “Ghk,” Tat moaned in pain, she quickly recollected herself. As she opened her eyes, she began to realize they were falling from the throne room of the Terminus of Tears. Below was the hard rocky ground of one of the Hyuponian villages. “-Gasp- LEORINA!” she looked to her friend who fell unconscious from the blast. ‘Quick!’ she needed to react now, it was only mere seconds before they would hit the ground. Tat wrapped her arms around Leorina and braced impact for the floor as she attempted to float to soften the fall.

  SLAM! The impact was hard, but not enough to hurt Leorina too much. Tat felt the wave of pain rush through her arm, she winced in pain as she rolled off of Leorina. “Arghh…” She didn’t want to but the pain made her look to see the damage. Tat’s elbow was pointed in the wrong direction, the impact from the fall caused her arm to break. “Urgh… just great.” She groaned.

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  Leorina opened her eyes, her entire body was sore and felt like it was on fire. She remembered her last memory was her and Tat falling from the Terminus or Tears. “-Gasp- Tat!” Leorina yelled as she jolted up. “Tat? Where…” She looked around her surroundings, it seemed like Tat and her took refuge in one of the abandoned houses from the village. She noticed her left boot was missing but had new bandages wrapped around her knee. 

 She was sitting on a bedframe, next to her was a broken nightstand with an empty first aid kit, and a glass of water. ‘Tat… where are you right now?’ Leorina thought, getting herself out of the bedframe, she put her boot back on since it was next to the nightstand and made her way into the living room. Upon entering, she saw her cat friend.

  “There you are.” She let out a sigh of relief. Tat turned around from hearing Leorina’s voice. “Dear Claire! Your arm!” 

  “Geez, you couldn’t keep quiet about that?” Tat whined. “You're welcome by the way.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she turned herself to the side to hide her arm.

  “Ugh, Tat you know it’s because I’m worried for you! Hold on.” Leorina removed her scarf and went to aid Tat’s injury. “How’d we even get here… wherever we are?” She asked while wrapping up Tat’s arm into a sling.

  “Well, we got hit by that explosive the king threw at us… At least that’s who I think that was.” Tat muttered, “I managed to barely break our fall by floating. We’re currently in one of the abandoned villages right now, if we can just settle here for a bit, we should be able to go back and-”

  “No.” Leorina retorted.

  “‘No’? What do you mean ‘no’?” Tat asked, looking at Leorina with an angered look.

  “Tat, look at you! Look at me!” Leorina responded, “What happened there, that was not the King of Sorrow. We don’t know what’s going on right now, and we’re definitely not prepared at all to fight that thing.”

  “What?!” Tat yelled. “If that isn’t his majesty, then he could be in actual danger! We need to get out of here and find him! Are you saying we just stay here?”

  “For the time being, yes. We’re both injured and that… impersonator… ghost, I don’t know, but his majesty is still out there for all we know.” Leorina replied, “Look, I just don’t want anything bad happening to you. Last I heard, Klonoa came back into our world, it’s likely he’ll be able to help us.” Leorina picked up her ring replica, “Lets just stay here for now, and wait for their arrival. I can defend us here with the replicated ring.”

    Tat rolled her eyes. As annoyed as she was with Leorina’s rejection of leaving their current hiding spot, she was right. Leorina was injured by the mysterious ghost of the king’s old self. When Tat checked Leorina’s body, she saw her knee was badly bruised, possibly sprained, and she had burn marks on the back of her head and body from the explosion. And Tat herself wasn’t well either, the landing broke her arm. And with the severity, she couldn’t split into her two forms until her arm was better, and who knew how long that’d take. 

  ‘UGRH! Our world is in danger though! We can’t just sit here.’ Tat thought as she sat down. She looked out the broken window of their abandoned home. The cliffs that’d usually have waves of water around the kingdom were dry. ‘It was only this bad when we caused the chaos… is that what’s happening again?’ Tat chose to put her anger aside, while she was allowed to feel angered, it wouldn’t help in this situation. ‘Dream Traveller… wherever you are… please save our world again.’

[Author's Note: HI! SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE CHAPTER RELEASE, I had this one done since the beginning of June but slept on making the illustration. Tbh Art Fight kinda helped spark that grind of motivation to finally draw. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter getting to have a look at Leorina and Tat's situation, they will show up again soon, but next chapter we'll be back with the main trio.]

Prev Chapter: Where's Our Hope

  The trio made their way to the doors of the Claire Moa Temple. Finally, they will be able to speak with the Current Claire, High Priestess. With her knowledge of their world, she will tell them what must be done for this new crisis. With their new adventure, they will be able to save Lunatea, and cure the locals with the feathered bodies. Things will finally look up.

  "We're here." Klonoa made a sigh of relief as Lolo exited the ring, a green hue followed her from behind. The three stood in front of the doors to the temple.

  "I just hope she'll know what to do..." Lolo muttered, "I'm... really scared to be honest." she clutched her winged brooch as she looked to the ground. Klonoa noticed the look in her expression, she was near the verge of tears.

  "Hey, hey." Klonoa reassured Lolo, placing his hands on both of her shoulders, "What's going on right now is scary, I know that. But we've saved this world before. I'm positive we can do it again."  Lolo nodded her head, taking a deep breath. Popka held her hand as Klonoa pulled open the door to the Temple, it's time to meet the High Priestess.

  As the doors opened the trio noticed it was unusually dark inside, no one was visible. Was anyone even inside? Did they have to flee? Dark particles floated about in the room, Klonoa took notice and cautiously pulled his turtleneck shawl over his nose, motioning that Lolo should do the same. 

  "He-hello?" Lolo spoke, "High Priestess? Are you in here?" her words, while slightly muffled from her covering her face, still echoed through the hall. They moved closer to the chair at the end of the room. The environment was still and uncomfortably quiet.

  "Maybe they had to flee... But... where did they go-" Popka asked. They reached the chair at the end of the room, before they could turn around the doors to the temple suddenly shut.

  "My dear Lolo..." A soft voice spoke from behind the trio. They all turned around to see where the voice came from. "Be not afraid my dear..." There she stood at the now blocked entrance to the temple. Eyes covered her whole body, her real eyes covered by the feathers on her face, these feathered wings sprouted from her back and face. Unlike the other seraphs encountered before, she remained calm.

  "H-High Priestess?" Lolo cried. "What happened to you?!"

  "My dear student... what brings you and your friends to my temple?" Her voice was calm but kept everyone on guard, something about her demeanor was… not the Current Claire they all knew.

  "We... saw the statues of Claire the Ancient and Goddess Claire get engulfed by some strange mass." Lolo started, "A-all of Lunatea's in danger, i-it's like the chaos all over agai-"

  "Shhhhh...." The High Priestess lowered her hand, "My dear, you are worrying for nothing... Can't you see..."

  "This is True Tranquility." Her arms extended as her wings opened revealing open eyes on all feathers. Klonoa and Popka backed up in fear. Lolo stood, frozen in her own fear.

  "I feel at peace, the gift from the Goddess Claire has been given to me. But I cannot just keep it for myself. No... all priestesses shall be given this gift and spread her word to all of Lunatea." Klonoa watched as the current Claire raised her broken staff pointing it towards the cabbit himself. "Dream Traveller... I am unaware of your status with our cause, but I am certain that you, like anyone else, would love to live in this tranquil way of life." A slight glow emanated off the staff, "You shall become one of our strongest followers dear hero."

  "WAIT!" Lolo cried. Running to block Klonoa, "High Priestess! What do you plan to do to my friend?"

  "Hmm, I don't sense devotion from your 'friend' dear Lolo..." The soft yet threatening smile faded from the High Priestess, "No good... worry not though... He shall be fixed... even if it means.... I must force it." The glow of her staff grew brighter, still aiming towards Klonoa. A beam of dark mist shot out going towards the Dream Traveller.

  "Look out!" Lolo quickly went back into the Wind Ring, and with a fast swish, the Wind Blade cut through the mist, making it unable to touch the cabbit.

  "How disappointing..." The High Priestess raised her arms, "Come now my students... it seems we must teach these ones a lesson." Groans were heard amongst the temple, as other warped seraphs emerged from the pillars and behind the curtains of the room. The trio was surrounded.

  "Everyone...." Lolo whispered.

  "This isn't good." Popka said with anger.

  "I think it's time to go." Klonoa retorted, but before he could move, the crowd of seraphs jumped towards the trio. "Manya! Not good! Not good! Popka! Help me out!"

  "Right!" Popka extended his claws again, slashing at the seraphs to get closer to Klonoa. The cabbit was also using his Wind Sword, slashing back and forth to get through as well. And it was working for a while, the seraphs were backing up, unable to grab the heroes, until the High Priestess got tired of watching them struggle.

  "That's enough..." The bottom of her staff hit the floor, causing the room to shake as the Bell of Tranquility rang with a sour note. A barrage of feathers flew through the room, obstructing the heroes' eyesight.

  "ACK! LET GO OF ME!" Popka yelled, as a seraph managed to pick up the pup, restraining his arms from scratching them.

  "Popka!" Klonoa and Lolo yelled. But before anything could be done, the Dream Traveller was grabbed as well. "NO! GET OFF OF ME!"

  "All of this fighting... so meaningless." The High Priestess shook her head, "Now then..." raising her staff towards Popka, "Let this be a lesson to you."

  "Ghk!" Popka gasped and struggled to wiggle out of the seraph's arms holding him in place, to no avail. He kept going as Klonoa was only able to watch. "No no no no no!"

  "STOP! HIGH PRIESTESS, THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" Klonoa shouted, but the High Priestess did not listen, nor turn her head to Klonoa. Only having some of her eyes look towards Klonoa, and look back to Popka. The staff glowed, and within a few seconds the beam of mist shot towards the pup friend.

  A loud blast was heard, along with a strong gust of wind. The force of it all caused the seraphs to drop Klonoa, he looked up to where his friend was. As the dust cleared, a green hue glowed where the blast landed. Popka was unharmed, but the person who blocked the blast from hitting him...

  "LOLO!!!" Klonoa screamed. She stood with a dark mist glowing around her, the green light fading quickly around her. Her body began to shake, but she held her ground.

  "We... need... to leave. Now..." She spoke weakly. Picking up an unconscious Popka, and beginning towards the door that was no longer blocked by the seraphs. Klonoa nodded, running to aid Lolo, the two made their exit from the Claire Moa Temple.

  As they exited, more groans were heard from inside the temple as the Current Claire's soft yet threatening voice echoed, "Worry not children. Our goddess makes no mistakes. We will still spread our word... Now get them."

  "Keep running." Lolo yelled, Klonoa looked towards her, her eyes were sunken and her chest was covered in a dark burn like marking where she took the blast from the High Priestess. Yet somehow she was also running, as if nothing happened. Was this just adrenaline?

“Urgh…” Popka groaned, waking up in Lolo’s arms, “Wha… HUH! What happened? Hey!” He quickly jumped out of Lolo’s arms, beginning to float next to her and Klonoa, “ I can float on my own! What’re y’doin’ holding me like I’m some baby-” he was cut off when he noticed the burn covering his friend’s chest area. “Lolo… GRRR! I was so STUPID! I COULD HAVE AVOIDED GETTING GRABBED!”

“Hey! Let’s just focus on getting out of here first.” Klonoa retorted, “I think they’re still going after us right now anyways, so now’s not the time.” And he was right, not too far from the trio was the group of priestesses turned into those feather bodied creatures. The seraphs trailed after the heroes, thankfully despite the multiple wings grown out of their bodies, it didn’t seem that they could fly.

  “Just keep moving! If we can make it to the Sea of Tears, maybe we can lose em!” Popka shouted, “I left a raft there from the last time Lolo and I visited Hyuponia!”

  “Smart idea, Popka!” Klonoa smiled, “Things are scary right now but we can get out of this, I know it. Lolo, are you still able to lend a hand?” Klonoa held out the Wind Ring towards Lolo.

  “I think so. Hold on guys!” In a flash of green light, Lolo reentered the Wind Ring, “We may need a stronger attack, so let me use the last of my power now.”

  The glow of the Wind Ring grew stronger, lifting Klonoa from the ground. He and Popka recognized this as Klonoa gestured for Popka to take cover. “Alright! Let’s go!” The wind around them began to pick up as his ears flapped, making him fly higher, “TORNADO ATTACK!”

  Multiple mini tornadoes floated around their area, some hitting the ground creating ground scourings. The seraphs that got caught in the tornadoes were flung far away, completely out of the trio’s sight. And just like that, the chase was over.

  Klonoa slowly descended to the ground as Lolo exited the ring. Both exhausted, as she stated before they unleashed that powerful attack, Lolo has used up the last of her power. It seemed she even had to use some of Klonoa’s energy to make the tornados strong enough.

  “Guh, sorry about that Klonoa. I think that should at least hold them off until we reach the Sea of Tears.” She smiled, looking towards Klonoa and Popka, but the look on Klonoa’s face was what could only be described as fear. “What’s wrong?”

  “Y-your back…” Klonoa pointed at her, Lolo looked behind her shoulders and noticed, branch like sprouts had emerged from her back. Her hand shakily reached to touch the sprouts, as the tips of her fingers grazed on the sprout, a sharp pain shot through her body.

“AH!” She yelped in pain, tears immediately spilling from her eyes.

  “WHOA HEY! Just don’t touch them!” Popka yelled as he ran towards Lolo’s aid. “That looks… not good.” Popka tried to comfort her by hugging his best friend.

  “That must’ve been from the blast from the High Priestess…” Klonoa whispered, “We need to find a way to fix this. If this is truly what caused the others to turn into those… Lolo, are you okay?”

  “WHAT DO YAH THINK YAH MORON!” Popka yelled, “SHE’S GOT THESE WEIRD THINGS COMIN’ OUT OF HER AND IT CLEARLY HURTS LIKE A NIGHTMARE!”

  “I- I mean like, up here!” Klonoa shook his hands, pointing towards his head, “L-like mentally! Sorry.”

  “I… I think so.” Lolo replied in a trembling voice. She took a moment to take deep breaths, regaining her composure as she stood up. “Yeah… yeah I’m okay. It only hurt when I touched uhm… these?” pointing at the sprouts on her back. “I can still think straight, let’s just keep moving.”

  “If you say so…” Klonoa responded. Still worried, but the cabbit knew if they continued to dwell on this it would only get worse. They need to keep moving. The three continued, “I think I can see the cliff towards the Sea of Tears! We’re almost-”

  Before he could finish, an earthquake hit the area hard. It was a strong jolt followed by heavy shakes, “WHOA WHOA WHOA!” Popka yelled, trying to keep himself and Lolo balanced. “Hold onto something!”

  The ground began to crack and widen where the tornadoes dug through. And before Klonoa could react, the ground under him broke. “MANYA!” Klonoa attempted to hover, grabbing the ledge of the newly formed cliff. “Ah! Lolo, Popka! Please help!”

Popka ran to attempt to aid Klonoa, looking underneath the cliff he realized Klonoa was too low to reach to create a support jump. “No good…”

  “Wait.” Lolo retorted behind Popka, “The Sea of Tears should be right here. Klonoa, if you can land into the sea, you might be okay.”

“WAHEE?!” Klonoa yelped! “B-b-but I can’t swim! I- I WHAO!” he began to lose his grip on the cliff that was starting to crumble.

“We’ll jump in after you! I promise!” Lolo yelled. “Just have yourself ready to hover one more time to aim at the sea!”

  Klonoa looked up towards Popka and Lolo, both of them can swim, he knew that he could trust them. Klonoa took a deep breath, “Okay.” Using his legs, he kicked at the wall, jumping away from the ledge of the cliff towards the Sea of Tears. Quickly, he flapped his ears to give just a bit more momentum, ‘Just gotta make it to the water..’ he thought to himself, his eyes shut out of his fear of drowning. Suddenly hearing yells from behind him, though the constant flapping made it harder to make out what was being said. ‘Lolo and Popka?’ What were they trying to tell him? He turned his head to see his friends and tried to listen better to what they were saying.

  “GO… B-CK .. K--NOA! THE CH--S!”

  “NO! NO! KL--OA..! TUR- …-ROUN-! --ERE’S …-- -ATER!!!”

  ‘What are they saying? …the… chaos? No… water..-’ Klonoa’s eyes widened as he processed what they were trying to tell him. He looked down and the once full Sea of Tears was once again emptied. Could this nightmare have caused the chaos to affect Lunatea as well? There was nothing to break his fall. 

“Ghk! No! NO NO NO!” in a panic Klonoa began flapping his ears even harder. Almost thrashing his arms as well, in an attempt to give himself more time to move. But it was no use. “MANYAAAAAAAA!!!”

“KLONOA!” Both Lolo and Popka screamed as they watched their friend fall into the dark abyss of the emptied ocean.

Author's Note: Yes this is another cliff hanger. Throw your pitchforks at me. But I always wanted this chapter to end here lol. Don’t worry this obviously isn’t the end for our beloved cabbit hero. What’s gonna happen next you ask? Uhhhh damn, hell if I know-

Prev Chapter: So Many Feathers

First Chapter: The Calm Before the Storm

  It wasn't long before the sky darkened from the mist coating the statue. Only small beams of light from the sun peaked through the blanket of dark covering La-Lakoosha. The trio kept moving forward despite it all. Determined to find a solution for this new crisis upon Lunatea.

"Come on, this way!" Popka guided Klonoa to the Claire Moa Temple, as they looked around, they noticed Moo acting out, but they seemed different. Feathers protruded out of their bodies, their eyes were sunken, and their smiles seemed forced, as if they were in pain. Moo were known to be aggressive, this was usually caused by nightmares getting into the dream worlds, but this was... different.

"Klonoa," Lolo yelled from within the ring, "we need to get past them, use the ring!"

"Right! Rupurudu!" Klonoa shot a wind bullet at each of the Moo, inflating them and making them unable to attack the trio. While immobilized, Klonoa was able to lift them up with his ring and throw the Moo at each other, giving them a chance to go through. The path ahead was also affected by this new crisis, with large craters around the platforms making jumping across more of a challenge.

"Don't worry I got this," Popka yelled, he signaled for Klonoa to jump. The cabbit nodded and with a running start, leaped over the giant hole. Klonoa flapped his ears to gain a little more momentum, but he began to descend only 3/4s across the hole. Popka then went underneath Klonoa, and with perfect timing, gave him an extra boost of air. "There ya go!"

With that, Klonoa landed on the other side of the crater, Popka hovering behind. "Thanks, Popka!" Klonoa turned giving a dizzy Popka a thumbs up as they began to continue forwards, "We should be at the Temple soon enough!"

"Someone... help...." A distant voice behind some rubble cried weakly. The trio turned their attention towards the voice. Their voice was weak, trembly, and a bit horse. Were they hurt?

"Who's there?" Klonoa answered, "Are you hurt?" he and Popka ran towards the rubble, checking the scene Klonoa noticed a tail similar to Lolo's, was this a local? "Don't worry, we're here to hel-"

What the trio saw caught them off guard, like the Moo, this La-Lakooshan had the same deformities. Their face was pale, and eyes sunken. The feathers, which turned out to be wings, were growing out of multiple parts of their back and shoulders as they winced in agony. But it wasn't just feathers... their skin opening on multiple parts of their body, their arms, the middle of their face, and their cheeks. These openings... were for newly grown eyes. The La-Lakooshan almost looked like a seraph of some sort, with those multiple eyes that looked directly at Klonoa and Popka as they looked in horror.

"H-help.... me....." they whispered. Their body shook sporadically as they reached for Klonoa. Feathers falling off as they shook, slowly landing on the floor around them. This made the cabbit feel uneasy, but he still wanted to help the La-Lakooshan, even if all he could think of was to attempt to comfort them.

"What happened to you?" Klonoa asked. Before he could get an answer, Lolo from inside the ring sensed danger.

"Klonoa! Look out! Don't let them grab you!" She cried. Klonoa, startled looked at his ring, then back at the La-Lakooshan. They no longer looked fearful, but almost animalistic. They bared their teeth as their wings spread around them, and in an instant, Klonoa was pounced at by the feather covered body. The force of the push making Klonoa hit the back of his head on the concrete, he was disoriented in the moment.

  "MAGYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Klonoa yelped as he tried to push the aggressive La-Lakooshan off. But the multiple wings they had were used as extra limbs, pinning down the cabbit. More feathers shed off the La-Lakooshan, landing on Klonoa's face as he struggled, getting small scratches as the feathers turned out to be shockingly rough. As much as he tried, Klonoa could only struggle, his legs kicked as he tried to escape but to no avail. Opening his eyes, Klonoa faced the frightening sight of the La-Lakooshan's teeth getting ready to bite at him, when suddenly,

"GET OFF HIM YA FREAK!" Popka yelled as he charged towards the winged creature, he struck them with his claws creating gashes in the seraphim's arm, pushing them off Klonoa. "NOW KLONOA! USE THE RING!" Quickly Klonoa shot at the creature, the wind bullet didn't affect them the same as it did the Moo, but thankfully it managed to push them even further, giving them all time to flee. As they ran away, they heard the La-Lakooshan scream in agony.

A while later, the trio took a breather inside one of the caves to the temple. Klonoa was still shaken by the strange attack that nearly took them out. Lolo, now outside of the ring was treating the scratches on Klonoa's arms and sides. While Popka sat near the exit of the cave, using some leaves to clean his claws that collected some of that La-Lakooshan's blood.

"What do you think that was?" Klonoa finally asked. "That couldn't have been a real local... right?"

"No, it was... I recognized them." Lolo replied, "They would sit outside the temple for one of the priestess' in training. I think they were a family member." She looked down as she continued to use her priestess magic, now healing the back of Klonoa's head, "We gotta get to the temple, if anyone knows what's going on, I'm sure it'll be the High Priestess."

"Uhhh guys?" they turned to Popka, who was looking outside the exit of the cave. "Ya might wanna see this..."

Klonoa and Lolo got up and walked towards the exit of the cave, both leaning to peak outside, "Is... that..."

"Oh no...." Lolo voice began to break. Looking outside the first cave, they all saw what made them begin to feel a strong sense of despair. The dark mist, originally seen only covering Claire the Ancient, was now also covering the statue of Goddess Claire. The sky was completely covered making the light of the sun was no longer visible. "Why is it also on the Goddess Claire?" Lolo whispered as tears rolled down her face.

"We need to reach the temple. Don't let this stop us Lolo." Klonoa said putting his hand on Lolo's shoulder, his gaze seemed uncertain but still determined to fix whatever was going on. "As long as we can get there... I'm sure we'll be safe. And we'll figure this out together!"

"R-right..." Lolo responded. Quickly wiping her tears, "Let's keep going." with a flash of a green light, Lolo returned into the Wind Ring.

"I'll keep an eye on ya, Klo!" Popka said before getting behind the cabbit. And in the next moment, the two continued outside of the cave heading into the next one to reach the temple.

To no surprise, inside this second cave was filled with monsters, they also seemed to be affected by whatever this dark mist was doing. These ones seemed even stronger as well, their feathers were grown into wings and wrapped around the bodies like an amor. Multiple feathers coated the floors of the cave. Even more would slowly fall around the air, causing the lights illuminating from the mini priestess statues to dim, making it incredibly difficult to see. Klonoa seemed stumped with what they could do to get across.

"I don't think wind bullets will affect these guys..." Klonoa muttered, Popka and Lolo examined the appearance of the Moo. "The feathers from that La-Lakooshan were rough when I felt them earlier. There's a chance my wind bullets won't be able to inflate them."

"You're right." Lolo responded, "We'll need to think of a different strategy to get through. But what?" The two began to ponder.

"Maybe...if we can't inflate them..." Klonoa contemplated as he paced back and forth, Lolo was also silently thinking, occasionally making small 'hmm..'s within the ring, "Manyaaaa...."

"Not ta sound rude or nothin' but," Popka finally spoke, Klonoa and Lolo turning towards him, "did ya not learn how to make a sword thingie with your ring? Coulda sworn I saw you with a sword of some kind b'fore! "

Klonoa blinked, "I-...I genuinely forgot about that-"

"Of course ya did..." Popka returned an annoyed look, "Niuminia."

Without a moment's wait, Klonoa ran out of their hiding spot and charged towards the monsters. Lolo and him combining their will power into the ring, and with a green flash of light, a blade of wind formed from the gem. The cave, once darkened by feathers, was now lit up by the wind sword. The nearby Moo tool notice and turned towards the light source, ready to pounce.

"DUPA!" Klonoa swung the wind sword. It sliced through the Moo closest to the heroes, pushing back the other Moo further away with the gust of wind. Klonoa swung again and again, dodging the leftover Moo, and countering with more slashes. They kept going through the cave, occasionally switching back to using wind bullets to push other Moo into the hiding Ow-Gow holes so they could sneak past. Eventually the three made it out of the second cave. The Claire Moa Temple was not far now. "We're almost there!"

"Just this way!" Popka shouted, "Like ya said Lolo, if anyone knows how to fix this, it's gotta be the High Priestess!"

And with that, the trio approached the temple doors. Klonoa was breathless but still had a fighting spirit. Lolo, while slightly overcome with fear, was also filled with hope. Her mentor who trained her since she was a young child, was just past these doors. Popka, like Klonoa, was also breathless and tired from the multiple support jumps, but he was also determined to get his home back to normal. This nightmare would soon come to an end.

Author's Note: Oh boy! They'll get out of this soon! I just know it! ....What? Why are you all staring at me like that? Oh-OH the story description spoils what happens next?! NOOOO! DABURDA! Everything here will be okie doodle dokie and Klonoa and friends will go home and get Krispy Kremes I promise! Y'all can trust me! [Also, I know the Wind Sword is more from Klonoa Heroes and Namco X CAPCOM, but this is MY FANFIC, and I can do what I want!] -Evil Laughter- (also thank you to OrieDargon for proofreading this chapter for me, you guys are awesome.)

Prev Chapter: The Calm Before the Storm

The air smelled fresh, the rich green grass flew in the nice, cool wind. As the waves from the Sea of Tears crashed near the rocky cliffs of La-Lakoosha.

"Klonoa! This way!" a girl yelled.

"Yeah! Hurry up already!" continued the girl's small dog-like companion.

"Baramyuu! Sorry! I'm right behind you guys!" responded a dark, cat-rabbit-like creature, his long, white-tipped ears followed.

The three of them stopped at a nice spot on the grass. The girl brought out a blanket, laying it on the grass for them all to sit. Her small friend was carrying a basket with small snacks and sandwiches, while Klonoa was holding some glass bottles of sparkling water. The trio continued to set up the small picnic and finally sat down, all three of them enjoying the food and drinks, admiring the weather.

"Thanks for carrying the heaviest items, Klonoa!" the girl said to the cabbit as he took a breath.

"Oh! No problem, Lolo. I'm glad to help!" he responded, letting out a chuckle.

"Oh please!" yelled the dog friend. "He only carried two glass bottles, I carried all the food! That's heavier!"

"Popka," Lolo looked at the dog friend, "That basket only has three ham and turkey sandwiches, some chips, and the plastic cups you wanted to bring. Klonoa had to be careful with the bottles, especially since this is a steep hill we had to climb."

Popka sighed. "I guess you're right..."

The three finally sat down and let themselves enjoy the nice weather in La-lakoosha. They basked in the warm sunlight, ate the tasty snacks and drinks, and watched the other passerby's enjoying their own days. It felt like a perfect dream.

"Hey Lolo," Klonoa began with his mouth half-full from a sandwich, "While I was gone, how has the progress of Hyuponia been? I remember hearing Leorina was getting help from others in restoring that kingdom."

"Oh! Well, we've gotten help from a lot of people in Volk with getting supplies from rebuilding some of the homes. Mira Mirians are researching the history of Hyuponia to bring back Hyuponian Culture. I think we're doing pretty good with restoring the kingdom!" Lolo smiled.

As they conversed, the sky unexpectedly began to darken. "Hm? What's going on?" Klonoa and the others looked towards the sky, expecting clouds. What they saw was unexplainable. A dark mist flew from somewhere unknown, the trio watched as it spread towards...

"That's going towards the statue of Claire the Ancient!" Lolo cried.

"Huh?! What's it doing?!" Popka stood up getting closer to Lolo.

The mist spread onto the statue making it impossible to see. "We should probably investigate this," Klonoa exclaimed. The others nodded as Lolo went into the Wind Ring.

Author's Note: Originally posted on Wattpad, January 6, 2026. This chapter is short because I haven't done writing like this, or writing in general for a few years. I had this AU idea for a few months and more illustrations of concepts for it as well. I decided to port this to Tumblr and A03.)