Along the other end of the first island that they reached upon Lake Fathom, Alex had found the Peticopter that Saint Nurari had given him.  The Peticopter, as James found out, was a small man-sized pedal-powered helicopter, with a bubble-shaped cockpit as the main body and some meagre defensive skills in the form of a small fire blaster.  It was also, they were warned, rather flimsy and would go down easily if it hit anything.
And in relation to this, they could see that the other side of Lake Fathom was now a rather sizeable obstacle course with even more of the strange objects that the wall before on the great plains was made of, as well as having various terrible creatures flapping around ready to take down any flying pedal-powered machine out of the sky.  Thankfully they could still swim there if it ever happened, said Alex, but it would make things easier if they made some of the journey over by Peticopter.
After looking it over, the two stepped into the flying machine, finding it to be a rather tight fit for both.  In fact, it was nearly impossible for both to use together, so they decided:
	"Fuck it, one of us has to swim then."
	"...Janken?"
	"Ohhh god really?"
	"Well it's the only way we can decide here!"
	"Oh come on, you had the motorcycle, I should get the helicopter!"
	"Peticopter."
	"Whatever, I should still be the one in it!"
	"Do you even know how to work it?"
	"Please, it can't be that hard.  Pedal makes it go, there's probably a button to shoot the fire blaster and steering, I think I can handle steering."
	"...alright then."
Alex looked oddly smug in lending over control of the Peticopter to his new friend, who was a bit smug in return for winning his argument as he got into it, clambering in a little awkwardly before sitting down in the seat and getting comfy.  Checking the controls and putting his feet on the pedals, he got ready to fly.
	"Ready for liftoff!"
He waved to Alex who waved back before diving into the water and swimming the rest of the journey effortlessly with James chuckling.
	"Hehehe, yeah you swim kid, you just swim like a little fishy, I'm the goddamn master of the skies."

And with a pedalling he was off, upwards into the skies.  But he was a little too fast in his start as he shot immediately upwards, much to his surprise and panic as he lurched forwards into a diving run.
	"AAAH AAAAGH, PULL UP PULL UP!"
Using the steering and laying off of the pedals, he felt the Peticopter pull back and slowly sink from the sky, but he kept it up with more gentle pedalling to keep himself in a regular altitude, panting as he calmed down.
	"Okay...okay...not as easy as it looks.  Little bastard knew it, that's why he was smiling.  DAMMIT ALEX!"
He shook his fist out to the water and was responded to with a faint childish laugh that made him smirk nevertheless.
	"Alright alright, lemme see...."
He knew he had to get over the Lake quickly or else he'd be too tired and fall into the sea, especially with his hunger turning worse.  He gauged out the aerial obstacle course of Janken's minions that laid before him and began to fly forwards, testing his steering before he reached them.  As he neared the first obstacles, he had to remember the fact that the machine was rather flimsy and could not take direct hits from anything, so he tried to make this a no-hit run.  Using the pedals, he largely flew over everything but found that to work not so well with walls too high and impassable to go anywhere but under.
As a result he found that dipping downwards was even more difficult, and that was even if he hadn't had to deal with the ghastly birds and leaping fish that threatened to slalom kamikaze-style into the Peticopter, but they would be dealt with by its blaster.  Despite James getting on not too badly with the flying machine, dodging and even ducking a few times under obstacles to even almost skim the water, he soon made a terrible error when he didn't look upwards to see a row of spheres.  Then he heard the sickening crunch of rotors smashing into them.
	"Ohhhh shit."
And with that, the machine began to break and shudder and fall towards the sea, with James abandoning it quickly as he dived into the water.  The remains of the Peticopter slowly sank with him, the raptor swimming away hurriedly from the crash.  He was soon met up by Alex, who smiled at him in the same smug way as before.
	"Just...shut up."

Without another word, they continued to swim towards the end of Lake Fathom, fighting enemies, navigating through the corals and reeds.  Alex easily carved a path through the water with his fists, with James backing him up using his claws to slash brutally at any particularly nasty marine life they came across.  The lake was largely no different from the last time they had been swimming, and as a result, they easily navigated it, Alex even leaping off the water surface like a dolphin.  Soon enough however, they reached the shore, dripping wet again.  But at this point it didn't feel like a hassle to them anymore as they travelled onwards.
	"Okay...how far's Namui?"
	"Just right across there."
Indeed, there were a small collection of houses in the distance unmistakeably so, which the two walked towards to dilligently.  The raptor was already excitable about the prospect of food, his stomach trying to contain itself, not caring what they ate on this planet just as long as it was edible to him  As long as he could just nom on it happily so, his teeth turned wet with saliva at the prospect as they reached the outskirts of the village.  What they encountered only made Alex angry, and James frustrated.
	"Wh-what have they done!?!?"
	"Oh goddamnit, not MORE of this shit!"
Sure enough, more seemingly impassable structures and platforms stood before them, this time made from rocks for some reason, guarded by dark-minded beasts swooping and crawling around the place.  What distressed Alex more was the sight of some people out in the open, paralysed into stone, motionless in place.  Their faces were symbolic of fear and anguish, twisted up with crying eyes, horrified grimaces and tightened cheeks.
	"My...my friends!  They're petrified!  Why!?!?"
	"Jeez...okay that's it, this Janken is going down hard."
	"First he takes over Radaxian, now he dares to hurt my friends and take over MY village!?!?  Now he has no hope of escaping me!"
Looking around frantically, Alex spotted a shop nearby and hurried towards it, confusing James.
	"Wh-what!?  Hey Alex, where you going!?"
	"Getting something!"
A while later, Alex came out with a Peticopter, wheeling it out from the shop door and climbing into it posthaste.
	"Woah ho hoooo...now I see."
	"I can get through the village faster this way.  You'll have to go through it the normal way James, I'm sorry!"
	"No worries!  I'll just beat up some minions and see you on the other side."
	"I'm going to the Elder's house on the far side.  You head to there, okay?!"
	"Okay!"

And with that Alex took off, much more expertly so than James had which made him a little envious of the fact  The way the "kid" just navigated the tricky-looking barricades with ease, blasting enemies out of the sky from all over.  But being the ground force he was assigned to be, the raptor headed through the grass to take down the scorpions and dodge the jumping fireballs that had come alive to burn those unfortunate enough to be near them.  He had to avoid them in any way possible, ducking under, leaping over, clambering upon rocks, while trying to avoid the seemingly poisonous water pools that had sprung up and bubbled around the place.
As he reached halfway through the village grounds while Alex was already 3/4 the way, James smelt something delicious from a nearby hut.  Ducking into it, he found a hot pile of hamburgers that were far too inviting to not pass up the chance of.  With a small debate of conscience, he took three of them to hungrily devour as fast as he could.
	"MMMNOM!  NOM NOM!  NOOOM!  Mmmmmmmmmm..."
He was so elated to finally eat that he was in tears, and he knew Alex could handle himself for the while.  He restrained himself to fill up his belly with only three, feeling that if he took any more he'd be a rather greedy thief before leaving the hut.  He made his way further into the village, trying not to choke from eating as he chomped down on the last hamburger in his hands, sighing happily that he had sorted his hunger out to some extent.
He headed onwards through the treacherous grass, avoiding ambulatory fire, the occasional strange mutated red-scaled fish that flapped menacingly at him in a suicidal rage before he punch-slashed them out of the way, and of course, the odd scorpion.

What he encountered at the elder's hut made him stop and stand back, in the light of the sunset orange sky that was slowly encroaching upon the land.
Alex was standing firm in a battle stance, facing a huge tan-skinned bull twice the size of himself.  A ring through its nose, eyes bloodshot with rage, the skin like caramel but rougher and brazen as it roared and charged towards the boy, who dodged and rolled to one side to deliver a powerful punch to its stomach making it cry out in pain.  That only made it angrier before it turned around to snort with a vile rage, charging rather unexpectedly at Alex who was knocked down and trampled underneath.
	"AAAGH!"
	"ALEX!"
	"Stay back!"
Despite his order, James wanted to step in, but he let Alex handle it.  The boy got up rather wounded and bruised, facing the monstrous livestock once again who snarled at him.  This time Alex felt dangerous and confident to perform his next move.  Readying himself as the bull charged once more with a furious speed, he stood unmoving, gauging the enemy's distance.  His fist tensed up, then loosened once more, ready to strike.  Without even moving completely out of the way, he made a swift short sidestep and with a mighty battle cry, furiously slammed his fist directly under the bull's left eye.
It was a blow so strong that James swear he saw the bull's body shudder throughout with the force of it.  The bull mooed its enraged pain as it fell to its side from the powerful blow, sliding past Alex, horns nearly slicing past his hair and across the ground with its already-gained speed.  It laid on its side, completely knocked out with a single thick bruise.
	"Holy...shit."
This was all James could say about the impressive power of the Arian prince, who merely walked forwards to the elder's hut, where he was greeted by the old man himself dressed in simple togs.
	"Ahhh!  Alex!"
The old man hugged him happily as Alex hugged back in turn.
	"Ohh my lad, you were so brave to stand up to that monster, but I suppose you are a master of Shellcore now, hmm?"
	"I believe I am, elder.  Saint Nurari told me what has been happening in this world, but I only know the name King Janken."
	"Ahhh...yes, you must come inside, we must talk, are you hungry?"
	"Yep!"
	"Then come in, please!"
	"Come on James!"
Eager for second helpings, the raptor ran into the hut and greeted the elder as a friend of Alex's, sitting down on one side of the room as the elder made his meal for them.  A steaming plate of rice balls, white triangles with a black square centre.  James was not impressed, but he tried one nevertheless as something to fill his stomach, the taste not particularly savouring.  Alex however was ravenous upon them, chomping down excitably on each and every one.

	"Now," began the elder, "perhaps I can explain the details to you better."
	"Yes please elder, I must know more about this Janken."
	"He is a terrible warlord, the ruler of the planet Janbarik.  They call him King Janken the Great owing to his incredible skill in the game Janken."
	"Nice to know he's a humble guy at least," said James sarcastically.
	"He has somehow managed to defeat King Thunder, the first defeat the king has ever had, and even kidnap the heir to the throne, Prince Egle!  Even his fiancee Princess Lora is gone!"
	"That's terrible!" cried Alex.  "Where are they!?"
	"All I know is that your brother Prince Egle is still in the castle of Radaxian, kept under guard there by Janken's goons."
	"Then I mus-...wait...how did you know Prince Egle is my brother?"
	"Did...did Saint Nurari not tell you?"
	"...he did.  But...you knew too!?!?"
	"He told me, years ago when you were very young, and of what your destiny was.  I had no part whatsoever in this other than being your village elder."
	"Wh-...Who else knows now!?!?"
Alex turned angry, the remains of his rice ball scrunched up in his fists.
	"Only him and me.  Not even the royal family know."
	"But how long have they been agonising over the fact they have lost a son, a brother, a prince!?!  Why did you not tell them!?!"
	"We needed a secret weapon, and it had to be one of the lineage of Radaxian in order to keep this world safe.  Think about it Alex, you would have turned lazy within their lap of luxury, you would not know how to defend yourself, you the hero of Miracle World!  As much as we did not like the idea of keeping one away from his true family, had you been with them still...you would be a captive of Janken all the same, and we would be doomed."
	"So," butted in James, "you thought the best plan was to have a kid from the royal family kidnapped to train him into some ultimate hero!?"
	"What, NO!  We never kidnapped him in the first place, that was merely an unfortunate event!  Our idea came afterwards, when we had predictions from the sages of a terrible force coming to this world!  We had to find a way to protect this land, Alex.  We would have trained anyone else but...you had an aura about you."
	"An...aura?" asked the prince.
	"An aura of destiny, of a good heart and noble spirit, the will and devotion to protect others in pure selfless action.  You were our only hope.  And here you are now."
	"I...you mean...all my life, I was to be a hero?"
	"With us yes.  And did you not have a good life Alex?  Did we not raise you and treat you well?  Did we not teach you the virtues of modesty and labour?"
	"Y-...yes...you did.  Thank you, elder."
	"I apologise again for all this Alex.  And I understand you have had a stressful day of revelations.  You may rest here, both of you, if you wish."
	"Thank you elder.  We will be heading to Mt. Kave tomorrow to continue our quest."
	"Very well.  Beware of Janken's henchmen."
	"We have already faced one of them."
	"Yeah," said James, "he had a head like a freaking fist."
	"Ahhh Gooseka, the stone head."
	"Hey that's what I called him!"
	"Hahaha...well, you two have a good rest, and come tomorrow I will help you with supplies for the journey.  The people of Namui shall be freed soon from their curse, now that you have dispelled the influence of Janken from our home."

They were soon given two humble sleeping rugs to lie down on, nuzzling into them while in their clothes, sighing as they could finally rest after what was one of the most strenuous days James ever had.  He was exhausted, and if it hadn't been for the adrenaline of the adventure, he'd have collapsed back on the island in Lake Fathom.  He had never been through so much physical activity in his life, what with the mountain climbing, swimming, pedalling and fighting he had done before, and he immediately fell asleep as a result.
The next day, in the early morning, Alex was already up packing supplies for himself, the elder and the remaining freed citizens of Namui helping and conversing with Alex on what he planned to do next.  James woke up around the time he was half-finished, murring sleepily with a yawn before getting up.
	"Morning."
The villagers looked at him strangely, but Alex reassured them that he was a friend and they continued back to their milling about and giving advice, mothering him as one of their own.  Despite the recent revelation upon his identity, Alex still felt this village to be his true family, and he became rather confused on which one he could call his true family now.  After packing up with supplies, he headed off, with James following to the ominous mountain before them known as Mt. Kave.  As they walked, James noticed Alex's somewhat fallen mood, and asked the Arian:
	"So...you seem a little down today."
	"It's...I still can't believe I'm the long lost prince of Radaxian.  And even worse, my elder and my father both knew!"
	"Can't say I know how you feel, being an orphan myself."
	"Oh...I'm sorry."
	"It's okay, I got over that.  So...how you feeling?"
	"Confused, really.  But as long as I can focus on saving the people from Janken, I can handle my personal problems later."
	"Man...you really sound like a hero sometimes, even before we got to Saint Nurari."
	"I do?"
	"What, of course you do!  You're always going on about protecting the people with the power of Shellcore, saving the people from this Janken guy, you never talk about yourself."
	"Well...I never thought about anything on myself, other than training."
	"Don't you have any dreams, any...desires?"
	"Not...really.  I just wanna live a good life helping people.  I don't have anything I want that I don't already have.  A good home, a father, there's nothing else I need other than food really."
 	"...you know...you're real lucky to have had a good dad to teach you that."
	"Thank you James."

With that answer, James turned away slightly, feeling more or less unworthy to be beside this paragon of a boy.  No, not a boy.  A man, a person, someone with years of experience beyond his youthful looks and optimistic outlook.  And here he was, a dissolute young adult raptor trying to go back to a home he didn't even like that much in the first place, but only because he cared about it.  And because he had the closest thing to a parent waiting for him back home, or so he hoped.  After a while, Alex asked him:
	"Do you have any...dreams or desires?"
	"Well, I'd like to get home."
	"You never told me about it.  What's it like?"
	"Terrible."  The answer made Alex a little sad.  "The skies are always overcast.  The houses are all packed in and filled with struggling thieves and a few honest guys.  The closest thing I had to a mom or dad was a bartender who's a mobster who raised me longer than anyone else did.  And we're all under the thumb of an evil company who manage to cover up the worst illegal shit they can do, to those of us who can't afford to pay."
	"That's...terrible."
	"But I loved it back there.  I loved it because...I knew it well.  I knew the people, not all of them were bad, there was a sense of community BECAUSE of the evil company, it made us stick together.  We became stronger for it, we became a family together, maybe in any other part of the world in any other slum that wouldn't have happened, they'd be stabbing and kicking each other to get one freaking can of beer.  But not in my home, not in Canaryville.  We were all stuck together in the same boat, and we knew we had to work together...or else we'd all be screwed.  I liked that."
	"Even if your friends didn't even like you to begin with?"
	"We did, over time.  We started to sympathise with each other, hang out with each other, make ourselves into a network like a family of friends, we became more honest with each other.  That's the only place I ever felt that much friendship happening in a single community in my world, before I was sucked away into these other worlds.  And I miss it so much.  I miss Sarah so much."
	"Do you want to help people?"
	"I...I dunno Alex.  I'm not cut out to be a hero like you are."
	"What do you mean!?  Of course you are!"
	"Wha?"
	"Anyone can be a hero!  All they need is to prove that they are when the opportunity comes."
	"But what if it never comes?"
	"It will.  Evil always exists, somewhere in the world.  The only way evil can truly win, is if nobody does anything.  But if one person stands up to defy them...then they're already heroes."
With such a rousing speech, James felt emboldened, and perked up as they reached the foot of Mt. Kave.

The place was a dominating tower of a mountain, piercing the sky itself with impassably dark spires.  A large rocky hole was the way before them, already long established with an arch complete to welcome all travellers in.
	"We gotta go through all of this?"
	"Only the base of it, then we reach the Blakwoods."
	"Righto."
They walked into the mountain itself, a somewhat dark ominous place with walls hewn by nature, carved into a wide natural tunnel, complete with terrible creatures courtesy of Janken.  They consisted largely of living fireballs but there were also scorpions, bats and large bugs like dung beetles hopping around, ready to attack unwary travellers.  Rocks were piled all over the place, as Alex decided to make things quicker by bringing out a bracelet studded in red, blue and yellow jewels.
	"What's that you got there?"
	"Lemme show you."
Alex soon put on the bracelet over one of his wrists and began to prepare himself for a devastating move, tensing his feet up as he cried:
	"HeeeeeeYAH!"
With a single punch, a blast of fire shaped like a blade went searing through the rocks, slashing them into rubble within a single strike and immediately rendering them pathetically easy to the Arian.  Any unfortunate giant bugs and fireballs that were in the way of the bracelet's power soon met the same fate.
	"Holy SHIT!  That's some bracelet!"
	"That's the power of Shellcore that is!  It's called the Shocking Wave of Destruction."
	"Hahaha, wow that is a great name.  Where did you get that?"
	"Bought it back in Namui, just in case."
	"Well, looks like you're in the lead again mister badass."
And with that Alex headed on through the mountain, blasting his powerful waves through the rocks, as well as the enemies within them, slashing them into two, carving a way forth without any problems.  Soon however they heard the familiar gooey bubbling of lava.
	"Watch out for that lava!"
	"Wah-oh shi-damn, that...wait...lava in a mountain.....is this a volcano!?!?"
	"It's okay, Mt. Kave's dormant so don't worry!"
	"But...but it's still a volcano!"
	"Calm down James, it's not gonna erupt."
	"Oh yeah?  I bet Janken's gonna find a way to do it with all his mooks hanging around here, huh!?"
	"If he does then I will deal with him, but for now we have to keep...w-w-woaaaah!  There!"
	"Hmm?"
	"Down there!  It's the Telepathy Ball!"
	"The wha?"
	"Look!  Down there!?"

He gazed down the pit that Alex pointed towards to see something intriguing upon a platform surrounded by lava.  A shiny blue ball with a red star emblazoned upon it proudly, which to him looked like any rubber ball a kid would have.  But the way it sparkled with an aura made him think otherwise, as well as Alex's incredulous expression of shock and awe.
	"I...I can't believe it's real!"
	"So...what's so special about this ball?"
	"The Telepathy Ball, also called the Miracle Ball, is a powerful object that legend says gives the one who wields it the power to read others' minds!"
	"Really?  Well...I suppose we can grab it then."
	"How we gonna do that?  The walls are too slippery and there's lava down there!"
	"Pfft, too slippery for YOU perhaps."
Snapping his clawfingers cockily, he leapt down onto the platform and grabbed the ball, gently picking it up and feeling it in his hands softly.  As his claws gently tapped upon the surface of it, a strange power flowed into him.  An aura even, its solid gem-like smoothness making his eyes widen with its glimmer, looking up at Alex as he decided to test it out.
	"HEY, Alex, let's see if this thing works!  Pick a number!  ANY NUMBER!"
	"Okay!"
A short moment later, after an intense gaze towards the boy, James shouted out:
	"Nine thousand, three-hundred aaaaaaaand...eighty-seven!"
	"W-wow, you guessed it right!"
	"MIRACLE BALL, BITCH!"
Grinning upwards with the ball raised in his hand, he held itunder his arm before readily deciding to climb up the walls, leaping over the small lava pit and realising something rather terrifying.  The walls WERE too slippery.  His error almost made him drop the ball from his grip as he flailed slightly, and kicked himself away just in time to not get burnt other than by the smallest singe on his tail.  He fell back on the platform, clutching the ball tightly.
	"James, you okay!?!?"
	"Agh...y-yeah...yer right, it's too slippery."
	"What do we do!?"
	"Well...you're up there, I'm down here, you gotta go on and save the kingdom, and you need this right?"
	"But what about you!?"
	"I'll get out somehow, don't you worry about me!  Not like I can help you any more than I already did right?"
	"Well...you are my friend."
	"I only known you two days, you have to save the rest of your world.  I don't need saving so I'm no bother to you."
	"I guess so."
	"So, you better catch this okay?  I'm gonna throw it up at you so get ready."
	"Okay..."

Making sure he was throwing it right, he threw his hands upwards and flung the Miracle Ball towards the ceiling above the pit and above Alex.  As it flew upwards, he merely made his hands huge enough to the size of a baseball catcher's mitt to easily obtain the mysterious object.
	"I GOT IT!"
	"Awesome!  You gonna be okay on yer own from here?"
	"Of course, I'm the master of Shellcore and the prince of Radaxian!  I have to do this, to save the kingdom!  But how you gonna get out of there?"
	"Like I said, I'll find a way...I guess this is where we part huh?"
	"If you wanna.  I mean, if you wanna come with me or leave-"
	"Hey hey hey, I'm not dissing you or anything, just that I'm stuck here, and there's only one way I know that can get me out of here.  And it doesn't involve being in the same world...I think.  You can't hang around for me, you got the rest of this journey in the bag, I've seen you fight, you're way better than me."
	"Well...glad you think so!"
	"You know it.  So...you head on, we say goodbye?"
	"I guess so...thanks for the help James."
	"And thank you for being so badass.  You're the coolest young-looking hero I know."
	"Thanks!  Well...g'bye then!"
	"Bye Alex."
And with that, they parted ways, Alex leaping over the pits of lava and onwards towards his destiny, while James was left slightly sweating on a rock, sighing to himself.
	"Welp...there goes another hero I met, along with...Samus?  And Fox too I guess, man I meet a lot of heroes don't I, what's up with that?  Heh...I wonder if the other Alex is okay...ach, he'll be fine, I don't wanna go back there.  I gotta keep moving, gotta go somewhere else."
At this point in his ruminations, his stomach started to growl again, loud enough to hear over the bubbling of the lava, which surprised him despite the fact he'd had something of a good meal but not enough yesterday.
	"Hehehe...man I haven't had a thing to eat since those burgers.....mmmm...wouldn't mind a place with lots of food...heeeeey there's an idea."
With a destination in mind, he decided to put something to the test, to see how good this teleporting truly was with conscious thought.
	"Alright...I wanna go to somewhere with lots of food, like so much food it's raining down food every week!  I wanna see gourmets racing through the land eating so much goddamn food to see who eats the most the fastest!"
As he said this with fervent wishes in his mind, he felt the portal slowly accepting him once again into its void, disappearing from the planet Aries, the Miracle World itself.  Parting from the story of another hero, the raptor himself would never be remembered truly within the history of this world.  Not that he cared.  For all he wanted right now, was delicious food, in a land of dreams.