THE CHRONICLES OF FINALGAMER
Dreams On The Breeze

"For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man."
Wilbur Wright

Another world was welcomed unto him by a light breeze, the feeling of the insufferably humid lava fading away from him as he went from the interior of a volcano to a refreshingly balmy beach.  Warm sand underneath his body, the sounds of the waves greeting him upon awakening, slowly blinking his eyes to see yet again a pure blue sky.  One that was somehow different, somewhat lighter blue than Miracle World's.
	"Oh hey, yer awake!"
The voice that greeted him seemed to speak his language this time, though after spending time in the last world and its denizens he wasn't sure.  He hadn't really found out how quick or good this auto-translator of Slippy's was.  The voice was still understandable but with the same childish tone that Alex had as the raptor slowly got up, pushing his claws into sand to see the owner of the voice.  Standing on a beach before him was a chubby little character, looking like a brown marshmallow with black oval eyes and an adorable little sailor's hat adorned on top.  James greeted with a small wave.
	"Uhhh, hey there."
	"Hi there!  You okay?"
	"Uhh think I am.  Nothing broken at least."
	"Didya get lost at sea too?"
	"Uhhhhhh...yyyeah.  Yeah I did...did I wash up here?"
	"Seems like it, I just found you on the shore a few hours back, glad yer okay though!"
	"Thanks...where am I?"
	"I wish I could tell ya, I dunno the name of this island."
The strange little guy waddled around looking at the sky, his flippers rocking back and forth against his body, which James found to be weirdly adorable.
	"Well maybe you can start me off in telling me what world this is."
	"World?  Whatcha mean, world?"
	"You know, what planet I'm on maybe?"
	"Awww you don't even know that!?  Don't tell me you got amnesia!"
	"Maybe?  I don't know where I am after all."
	"Well, since I know that stuff can happen from being in a shipwreck I'll tell ya.  Yer on an island somewhere in the south seas, on the planet Pop Star in the world of Dream Land."
	"Dream Land?  So what, am I still asleep?"
	"Nope, you're awake!"
James also started to realise something odd about this waddling marshmallow.  He had no mouth, yet he spoke clearly.  He decided not to ask, but the creature asked something else instead.
	"Can ya at least remember yer name?"
	"Yeah, thankfully."
	"Great!  So...what is yer name?"
	"Oh, I'm James....and you?"
	"Sailor Dee, pleased to meetcha."

They shook hands, claw on flipper with James being careful in case the flipper was more sensitive than it looked.
	"Whatcha doing out here, Sailor Dee?"
	"Tryin' to get back home."
	"Hah, same here!"
	"You tryin' to get home too?"
	"Ahh huh, been trying for weeks or...longer even, keep ending up in the weirdest places lemme tell ya.  Where's your home li'l guy?"
	"Way back in Green Greens...but we're so far away."
	"How long you been trying to get home?"
	"Three weeks?"
	"...huh, that is a long time, what's stopping you?"
	"Well...there's this cave on the island that might lead out of here, cuz it's too far to swim...but I'm too weak to get past all the monsters in there."
	"Well you got me now, maybe I can help you out with my claws."  James patted the sailor's hat.  "Whenever you're ready we'll get through those caves and find your home...besides, I don't wanna be stuck on an island as long as you have."
	"Wow really?!  Thanks!  I'd really appreciate it.  I wish I knew where my friends went."
	"Friends?  Oh yeah, you're a sailor, what happened to your ship?"
	"It...it crashed."
	"...damn."
	"I dunno how many actually made it, I know my captain did because he's unstoppable, but the Halberd and the rest of 'em...I'm not sure.  Though a lot of 'em did abandon ship pretty fast, I mean it was hard not to!"
	"Well I can see why."
	"But I...I stayed."
	"...what?"
	"I stayed with my captain.  I wanted to go down with the ship, I made an oath when I became a sailor, and I was gonna stick to it!"
	"Damn...you got balls, Dee, even if that could have killed you."
	"Amazing I even survived.  It was a biiiiig ship and it was right out there in the ocean."
	"Did you swim or did you drift up here?"
	"I swam...was so tired."
James was silently impressed that such a little guy could have so much energy inside of him.
	"So, you wanna head out to that cave?"
	"Well...I-i dunno."
	"What, you don't trust me?"
	"Well I dunno what you are and you DID just appear today so..."
	"Fair enough dude.  How about we eat something before going anywhere, cuz I am STARVING."
James indeed felt his hunger reminding him of his position, and whimpered at how empty he felt, with Sailor Dee nodding eagerly.
	"Sure!  There's a lotta food on this island at least, most of its fruit if that's okay with ya."
	"Anything, please, but meat would be best if you can find any."

They soon began to gather food together.  James had never been on a tropical island before, but the atmosphere was picturesque.  Sprawling smooth sands ringing around the island, the sounds of the waves calmly licking across the beach, their larger cousins further away sending up a great rushing noise compared to the little lapping sounds of the longshores.  The island itself was clustered with all sorts of exotic plants.
It was largely a forest, filled with strange creatures that leapt, waddled or crawled amongst bountiful fruit-bearing trees.  But to James' surprise, there were also plants that spawned candy, swirly-patterned lollipops and toffee sweets on the ends of stems just unfolding like buds, and tasting just as sugary sweet as they should be.  James filled himself with some fruit first, largely bananas and watermelons before moving onto candy to top his stomach.  Sailor Dee joined in the feast, munching away happily.  The fact that Sailor Dee didn't have a mouth only irked the raptor more by the fact he was EATING.
Must be a very tiny but efficient mouth, he thought, like some kinda mini-grinder like the ones in fancy kitchens.
	"Mmmph, goddamn I can't believe this place."
	"I know," said Sailor Dee wiping his face with a little flipper, "you could live here forever!"
	"With all this food and...how do these plants make candy!?  How!?!?"
	"Whatcha mean, that's where candy comes from!"
	"Not back where I come from, it's made by people."
	"Candy?  Made by people!?  Okay maybe the sunstroke got to ya a li'l early."
	"Whaaaatever."
They just kept eating away, readying themselves for some cave exploring and building up each other's trust with small stories about each other.  When they were finished, Sailor Dee led James deeper into the jungle, along a particular path that he seemed to have memorised in his time here.  They traipsed through a few unstable liquid areas, as well as densely thick areas filled with trees in such close proximity to each other that they had practically become naturally formed barricades.  Roots intertwined with each other to the point that they tripped a little too often.

After a slightly frustrating journey for the raptor, they finally reached the cave.  A large dominating craggy entrance from raised rocky formations, with a cold wind coming from it.  It intrigued James certainly, the idea of exploring a cave as something he had only really had dreams of, despite his subterranean exploring back on Zebes.  But that was different.  He hadn't explored enough of that planet, and as much as a part of him wished he had explored the place more, he wouldn't have had time concerning what had occurred.
Okay stop thinking about Zebes, argued James in his thoughts, let's just move on to the nice happy fucking candy island okay?!
	"Alrighty," said Sailor Dee a little nervously to himself, "we just gotta get through this cave and if we're lucky, we might have a way off this island!"
	"How do you even know this thing goes under the sea to another land?"
	"I don't!  But we gotta try!  It's the one place I haven't explored here!"
	"...you have no idea if this even goes anywhere do you?"
	"Well...no...but we gotta try!"
	"Okay okay, you just stick behind me okay?"
	"Okay."
	"You think it'll be dark inside?"
	"Yer right, we better grab something to light the way."
Sailor Dee grabbed some firm sticks with stones to light them, which James put away in his small pouch before they began to explore, the raptor out front and keeping his guard.
The cave was certainly wide, the roof about 11 feet high, high enough for two raptors to stand on each other to be able to hit the roof.  The sound of rushing wind filled their ears as they thankfully were able to see enough, due to crevices and shafts allowing light to seep in.  The creatures he encountered within the grey deepening tunnel were largely bats and worms, but there were also stranger ones such as electric clouds that crackled and fizzed, gazing with eyes like Sailor Dee's.
Other anomalies included floating tribal heads made of stone, who stood guard and barely wanted to fight, and at one point a rather cuddly-looking bear with a bandana who tried to challenge James to a fight.  Despite the size, he was offput by the cuteness of the thing when he slashed left and right at the stomach.  He did not seem to cut it, but certainly cause it harm and only getting sucker-punched twice in the head before he delivered a gut blow to subdue the plushy-looking thing.

With a dizzying head from his headwounds, he walked onwards, the place confused him all the more, and even in the cave they could find the occasional piece of candy.  But neither of them wanted to touch anything seemingly edible in the subterrane.  Indeed, they felt like they were going ever deeper into the earth, to the point that they did eventually lose some light and could barely see each other.  Sailor Dee held James' hand to not get separated, the sounds of dripping water echoing louder as they walked further within.
After some time, they imagined hearing the sound of water above them, the strange bubbling dullness one hears whenever underwater, the sound of water filling the ears and swirling around.  Hopefully this made Sailor Dee's guess correct, as they kept walking until they were in total darkness.
	"Darnit, I can't see anything!" said the sailor.
	"H-hang on, get some rocks, I got my stick!"
	"Okay okay...where are ya?"
	"Right here, lemme just tap ya with the stick."
	"OW, MY EYE!" roared James.
	"S-SORRY!"
	"God dammit, okay I got it now, I got the stick, now just hold still and let me just spark this..."
James did his best to strike the flint together to make a tiny spark that barely illuminated either of their faces, making sure they would spread on the stick.  It took him a while as he continued to do so, wishing to strike lucky and make fire while muttering under his breath.
	"Come on you bastard, light up with fire already...come.  On.  GOD!"

Soon he felt a little tingle in his hands when he struck one more time, and fire suddenly was formed on the end of the stick, lighting up their faces both physically and mentally.  James got his own stick to light another torch as they walked through the darkness, holding hands to keep together.  The walls around them glittered with natural formations and the occasional common mineral.  The grey shine of quartz largely dominated the place, twinkling at them mischievously so, the sight of more further ahead only inviting them forwards.  The only creatures that were around this darkened path were blind worms, and the odd mole-like beast that tunnelled away out of sight.
After what felt like half an hour just solidly walking through almost total darkness, they started to feel sunlight from somewhere, with the sound of the water that had come from above the cave roof now fading away.  They also felt they were going up an incline, subtly so, but they eventually felt the steps turn steeper, and light soon began to blissfully pour in from slivers unseen.  Soon they could see all of themselves again, and with the sight of an exit far away, they disposed of their torches by extinguishing them in small rocky puddles.
	"We did it!" cried out James.
	"I knew it!"
	"You sure did Dee!  Damn, nice work."
	"Hehe, thanks.  Though it was just a guess, I mean it coulda been a dead end."
	"Don't you dare jinx it now come on let's go!"
Willingly running into the blissful light, they found it actually not as harsh as it was on the island, since it had now become sunset.  Yellow with an orange tang, they saw the new land before them.  Just as green as the other island was, but not quite so tropical.  This felt more like grassland, despite there being palm trees still and the sounds of the ocean nearby.  Looking one way they could see a beach, and in the opposite direction, there was nothing but a wide grassy plain pockmarked with trees and rocks.  Sailor Dee wiped his brow with his hat and said:
	"Finally...this must be Orange Ocean, it really feels like I'm home already!"
	"Lucky you, hope I find mine soon after this."
	"I wonder if the captain knows I'm still alive..."
	"I'm sure he does, now come on, we need to find a good place to rest before it gets dark."
	"Okay!"

Crossing the wide open land together, they barely encountered anyone of a malevolent nature with various other creatures.  Some of them were stranger still, like mushrooms with wide black eyes and oval mouths who could take off their fungus tops like hats, or creatures just as round and waddle-like as Sailor Dee, but with a single huge eye in the middle that blinked widely.  One creature that James liked was a floating orange thing, with a face as cute as a button.
	"Mew?"
	"Hahaha, awwww what's this guy?"
	"Wha?  Oh yeah, thassa Scarfy.  They're cute, but yer better off not touching them."
	"Why, are they poisonous?"
	"Well, if you hurt them by accident, they don't exactly-"
	"Oh come on I'm not gonna hurt him.  Come here li'l guy."  The Scarfy fluttered closer to James and he petted it softly, stroking away before Sailor Dee said:
	"Just mind your stroking now."
	"I will, jeez don't be such a-"
In his temporary distraction, he got a little careless and scratched the floating thing's cheek, making it squeak and flap away from him.
	"OH, dammit, sorry sorry!"
	"Uh...oh."
	"What?"
	"I think we should run now."
He turned to look back at the adorable slightly scratched floating head, to see the expression turn from a diabetically cute black-eyed fluffball, into a vile snarling mouth.  The transformation disturbed James more than the end product, the way its skin tightened back as if it was a loose mask.  Two rows of teeth revealed more and more to their very roots, the double eyes slowly atrophying into a single eye as evil as the devil himself, piercing deep into his soul.  Soon it launched at the raptor with rabid fangs.
	"AAAAAGH FUCK!"
They both ran in one direction, pushing their legs to the limit to escape this horrifying abomination, its eyes tense and piercing, its maw ravenous with vengeance.  Thankfully they were faster than the Scarfy as they managed to lose sight of it and hide behind a rock, trying to catch their breath.  "The...wha...the...fuck was that?"
	"They get...nasty...when ya...hurt them."
	"Wouldn't have...hurt him...if ya...hadn't...distracted me."
	"S-sorry..."
	"S'alright...hooo...hokay...hmmph...okay...where we gonna sleep?"
	"Not sure.  If nothing else we can sleep back in the cave?"
	"I suppose, if there really is nothing else.  Wish we had some blankets though."
	"Me too.....we could keep walking until we find a place?"
	"I suppose, but we might lose our way back to the cave."
	"You really wanna sleep in the cave?"
	"...god no, fuck it let's walk."

And so they did, walking in one direction that Sailor Dee picked out of familiarity, having the tingling feeling that something good was beyond there.  James wanted to doubt him, but he had no idea how to considering there was no way he would be able to do better.  Night was soon coming, the orange turning a darkened blue.  Luckily there were some lights in the distance from a rather tall building that pierced the sky.  The raptor blurted out:
	"Hey, a castle!"
	"Hah, I thought there was somethin' along this way!"
	"Nice one Dee!"
	"We better head there fast and get shelter!"
James could run easily ahead of his friend what with the sailor's stubby little legs blurring underneath him in a useless-looking fashion.  While he was fast, he was nowhere near as fast as a raptor, so James slowed his pace down to a lengthly jog as they reached the entrance of the castle.  Closer up, it was far more intimidating, downright spooky even with the night sky above despite its pure white exterior.  It reminded James of the kind of castle a princess would live in, with the colours of a wedding cake minus the pink frosting.  Sailor Dee merely stammered:
	"Uh...it's not as nice as I thought it'd be close up."
	"It's night and we're desperate, there's nowhere else to go."
	"Alright alright, let's go in already."
The door was a huge ornate single sheet of metal, complete with door knocker and all.  Despite their knocking, nobody came to open the door for half a minute, the sound of metal clangs resonating inside throughout endless-sounding halls.  Then the door opened like a portcullis, upwards into its frame, making the sailor ponder.
	"Well...that opened rather weird."
	"Whatever, come on Dee."
They walked into the castle, unaware of who was observing them from the dark corners of the doorway directly within and above their entering selves, gazing across the grounds curiously so.  The interior was a large inner court, a square section of cobblestone exposed to the starlight above, pillars and arches surrounding it.  The spires of the castle rose above the stone walls, lined with parapets jutting like teeth to chew upon the horizon.  As they stepped in further, the door slammed down behind them, half-surprising both of them.
	"Wha...ohhhh maaaan."
	"Dammit I knew that was gonna happen, this always happens with old spooky castles."
	"Yeah but-"
	"Seriously, whoever owns this place has to realise that's a cliche waaaay overused."
	"Yeah but it stops us getting out well right?"
	"Why can't they just slowly make it go down?"
	"Cuz they just have to release the mechanism and it closes easier?"
	"...oh yeah you're right."
Despite James' observations, the sailor was still scared of the rather foreboding atmosphere, and he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation on the back of his neck.  The kind of feeling you get when someone's staring intently at you.
	"What?"
	"Nothin'...just a li'l scared."
	"Oh come on, you're a sailor and you survived a ship crash, man up."
	"Hey, I can handle the skies and the sea cuz it's all open and out there, and I can see anyone fer MILES, but...here, in the dark, walls everywhere...."
	"Alright alright, let's just keep walking and try to find someone, or at least a spare room to sleep in."
They walked deeper into the dark castle, followed by shadows both their own and of others unseen, hoping to find someone or someplace to relax.  The only thing that concerned them was sleep in a comfortably closed room, regardless of this place's intentions.