Hazel-Naut's Story

"You can go ahead and try, missy." says the farmer before pointing north of the farmhouse. "They're all over my land, but their main hideout's that-a way. You can't miss it."

As the group check out the land, they find the land is infested with bandits. They're everywhere!

"This.. is a problem..." Karasz gulped.

"There's so many of them..." Kremlouie scouted, "How are we gonna fight them all when there's eleven of us and hundreds of them? Think... think... think...."

At this time, Red was already tossing some Spark Drones in decently-hidden spots. "I find that traps work well against aggressive crowds~"

Meanwhile, not too far from the area where Karasz, Red and the others were originally teleported to before they wandered off, Garrison soon appears there as well. Thankfully, he seems to be quite far away from the group at the moment, though.

"..So this is Sockonia, hm?" the voice in Garrison's head muttered. "I've been meaning to see this place for a while myself, incidentally."

"Incidentally, I don't care," retorted Garrison, looking at the strange and unfamiliar sights before him. "Now, where could the sheep have wandered off to, I wonder..?"

"Perhaps it would be best to ask a person experienced in tending to such animals?" the voice hinted, as Garrison turned around and saw the farmhouse off in the distance.

"I knew I kept you around for a reason," laughed Garrison, soon walking for the farmhouse; more specifically, towards the farmer on the porch.

Fortunately, the masses of bandits have not noticed the group. Yet. Many of them patrol the farmland, not coming near the Spark Drones at the moment.

...

"Well, slap my face and call me a jackal!" exclaims the farmer as he sees Garrison. "I'm gettin' all kinds of weirdos visitin' today!"

"But we still need something to kill these bandits!" Koseki groaned, "You can't expect them to walk on them right away."

Then Koseki sparked an idea.

"Hana! I have an idea!"

"What?" Hana tilted her head, "What is it?"

"You think you can create a cloud? A big one, in fact?"

"I'll try..." Hana raised her arms and summoned the wind to form a cloud. "How's that?"

"What are you two doing...?" asked Leilanie.

"Create a humongous storm cloud! It'll zap them to pieces! Just watch!" Koseki grinned.

"Are you crazy?! They'll know you're doing this, kid!" Kremlouie yelled, "Oh jeez, our mission's gonna flunk!"

"No! Everything must come with a better solution than just that!" Koseki began to zap Hana's growing cloud with lightning, "Hey, can you give us some ice?"

"I'll try," Sarina transfers her ice energy to Hana's cloud, "But why do you need ice for a thunderstorm?"

"Who says anything about a thunderstorm?" Koseki turned towards Hana, "Alright, Sis! Let'er rip!"

"O-Okay!"

Hana blows the sparking frozen cloud to the skies. The cloud continues to grow until it covers the entire sky. Koseki and Hana changed the weather from cloudy to a dangerous lightning hailstorm. The clouds boom as it begins to pour big chunks of hail towards the bandits. If the hail chunks hit the ground, it will spark dangerous electricity to its victims.

"Well i'll be..." Hazel commented.

"Whoooa.... Hail and thunder. Nice..." Crunch commented.

Hana sprouted a giant mushroom, "Get in here! Quick!" Hana and Koseki hid under the mushroom, as the others followed.

Red set a few more Spark Drones in waiting in hiding. She then hid by the newly-grown mushroom. "Alright then...ready to face the horde?"

Garrison sees the strange weather suddenly forming in the air.. and pays it no heed, thinking it's natural on this planet, before turning back to the farmer.

"Good day, kind Sockonian," Garrison greeted. "I don't suppose you've seen a strange group of people pass by here recently, have you?"

The bandits scream in agony as the hail's electricity shocks them, many dying and many more running for shelter. Some even end up running by Red's Spark Drones.

...

"As a matter of fact, yep!" answers the farmer before pointing north of the farmhouse. "The bunch of 'em went to go stop the bandits that have taken over my land! And they think they actually have a chance, can you believe it?"

"It's working! Looks like Hothead is getting a jackpot... or something." replied Crunch, "Now what?"

"Follow the bandits and prepare to ambush them." Leilanie instructed as she and the crew follow the bandits to the hideout, "Then we'll finish them off for good."

"I can't believe Sockie was slacking off while these bandits continue to run amok." Karasz groaned, "You know, for a leader, he seems to be terrible at it. I can describe a lot of things that I don't like him. He is lazy, self-centered, and unreliable."

"Save your rant later," Toniyo said, "Let's finish the job so we can get Alex out of purgatory."

"Right.. Press on."

As they get closer to the bandits' hideout, Hana could not help but bothered that the crew was being followed. Koseki stopped and looked at her.

"Hana? What's wrong, Sis?"

"I don't know... I have a strange feeling that... somebody is following us... Koseki.. I'm worried." She approached her brother and got close to him.

"Oh, you're just worrying too much! Nobody will follow us," Koseki assured, "But if they do, you just leave this to me."

"NO!... I.. don't want you to get hurt." Hana shook her head, "Let's... finish this... for Alex."

The Spark Drones fly out from hiding and strike into the bandits that come near, electrocuting them.

"Let's finish this job as fast as we can, then!" Red said, brandishing her Fairy Wing blades. She then dashed out to finish any injured bandits quickly.

"Oh, I believe it all right," muttered the voice occupying Garrison's mind. "Much as I wish I didn't..."

"I see; I should go take a look, then. Thank you for your assistance," thanked Garrison.. before he suddenly outstretched a hand and fired an explosive ball of dissonant energy at the Sockonian farmer.

The group heard an explosion coming from the farmer's. Hana knew she and the gang were followed. "RUN FASTER!!!" She cried.

"I didn't know the Sock hounds can explode!" Hazel said, "BUT WHATEVER! RUN RUN RUN RUN!!!"

Red had just dealt a swift, clean death to several bandits and was pausing for a moment in apology...then she heard the explosion from the house!

"More company?!" she growled, ready to fight whatever's chasing them.

A bunch of the bandits run inside of the hideout in sheer panic, still oblivious to the group.

...

The farmer isn't going to do much farming anymore.

Staring at the smoking remains of the Sockonian farmer and the small fire that proceeds to quickly envelop the farmhouse, Garrison gives a quick, evil laugh.

"Scratch one Sockonian," he said, sighing happily as he tossed a strange ebony-colored rock onto the ground. "Oh, it feels so good to be back."

"We were only in hell for two or so days," the voice in Garrison's head grumbled.

"Semantics. Now, let's move on." Garrison retorted, turning away from the rock and briskly walking towards the open farmland ahead of him.

-----

The heroes (or Red, rather, as she seems to be the only one looking back) can soon see a grayish blot in the distance, slowly increasing in size and focus; behind said blot, the farmhouse the group was just at - which is currently covered in roaring flames.

"We've been followed!" Toniyo, now noticed Red's battle stance, "I should've known that Shu hired a fucking assassin!"

"What?!" Karasz yelled, "Then it looks like Shu doesn't want us to save Alex."

"Why?!" Sarina asked.

"He wanted more. It's us!" Karasz replied.

"THAT... FUCKER!!! WHEN WE GET BACK, I WILL KILL HIM!!!!" Leilanie shouted and pulled out her explosive kunais as she armed herself. The others did the same except the Noname Gang and Koseki and Hana, "Finish the job! We will take care of Shu's assassin!"

"Oh god, I made it worse...!!" Hana thought in shock, "I didn't want this to happen..."

"COME ON!" Koseki grabbed Hana's hand as the Noname Gang followed them to the bandits' hideout.

"Shows what happens when you deal with the devil...!" Red said, accompanying the kids and the Noname Gang to the hideout.

Upon reaching shelter in their hideout, the bandits turn around... and see the Noname Gang, the kids, and Red.

"HEY!" shouts one. "Who the hell are you people?!"

"The killers that the fearless leader Sockie didn't hire." Crunch replied, "But enough with the intro, it's to SMACK YOU DOWN!!!!"

Crunch charged the bandits and grabbed them to swing them around. Then he piledrove them into submission. Hazel-Naut attacks by throwing peanut butter bombs at the bandits, and unfortunately for the bandits, the peanut butter bombs went past their expiration dates. Expect them to have explosive diarrhea before dying. Gumble attacks the bandits with his tuna for a weapon. Surprisingly, the fish is a deadlier weapon. Koseki charges his electric orbs and shoots the bandits with them. Hana uses her nature powers to sprout and constrain the bandits with her poisonous thorns.