Zax found Jet and Melanie standing in the lobby. Melanie was doubled over and panting.

"What happened?" Zax asked.

Jet looked over at him. "She's just a bit tired, she just woke up. What happened to the guild? Fuego said the portals are all down and one was destroyed."

"It's a long story, I'm going to call a meeting, a lot has happened and we need to collect all the information." Just then Zen, Ellie, Maryland, Gizzit, Solomon, Flutter, Alpha, Karl, and Omega came in the entrance.

Fuego and Kassidy came downstairs and everyone met up in the lobby.

"Alright guys, a lot has happened today and we need to get the stories of what happened. First Maryland, what happened in Bridge Tower?"

Maryland stepped forward and told them l about Marshadow and its attempt at trapping them. Then how Flutter evolved to destroy the barrier.

"Did you say Marshadow? That's the thing that attacked us in the Grand Woods!" Jet remembered.

"Well, then I guess you're next."

Jet recalled their battle against Marshadow and how it was able to teleport in the darkness. Then how their old friend Kut Tana had saved them and they narrowly escaped.

Zax appeared to get more and more stressed from every sentence. "Well... I suppose that just leaves our story." He retold how they had encountered some

weird scientists and defeated them but not before the guild had been damaged.

"Well it's been a long day, so everyone go and rest. We can evaluate the damage and work on a recovery plan tomorrow." Zax told everyone and they all gratefully went to their rooms.

The next day Zax went upstairs to see just how serious the damage was. All of the portals were off, rubble had fallen all over the floor, and the portal to Dragon Mountain was completely decimated.

Gizzit was right next to him and in shock. "The portals! Oh goodness, this'll take forever to get these back online! Especially with Dragon Mountain in pieces. I've never understood how these portals operate, and without blueprints, I'll never be able to repair them."

"I had blueprints, I just gave them to Zen because she's the only one I trust to do much as touch the portals," Zax told Gizzit, who shot him a glare and stormed off.

Omega and Jet went to Central Town to check on the Jellicent Shop. Jellicent and his sister were talking to each other.

"Hey guys, when do you think we'll get the Jellicent Shop back?" Jet asked.

Jellicent turned to them. "I'm not sure. We have to rebuild the shop which will take a while, and we lost all our inventory so we need time to restock before I can send my sister back into the Mystery Dungeons. Soon as the Spearow Brigade returns I'll be able to start reconstruction and restock on lost inventory."

Jet nodded. "Well, best of luck to you. Sorry to hear what happened to the shop."

"I should say the same to you and the guild. The second floor looks destroyed." There was a giant hole in the glass windows.

Omega whimpered. "I-I should've been there to s-stop it."

"Omega," Jet looked at him sympathetically. "You didn't do anything wrong. It was out of our control."

Omega gave a slight nod but didn't seem convinced.

The day progressed and everyone helped in the cleanup. Before long Zen had restored most of the portals and the rubble was cleared, the only thing left to do was get some glass from Spearow Brigade.

Zax was planning on sending word to the Spearow Brigade when suddenly the doors of the guild burst open. He moved out of his office everyone else seemed to end up in the lobby with him as if they were magnetized to it.

Shadow fell through the window and Marshadow appeared on the floor of the guild. But he was smokey and translucent. Beneath his foot was Kut Tana.

"Hello, guild! You got very lucky that you managed to survive, but I'm not done. Far from it really. This sword was so pathetic I stomped it even in a weakened state! Let's make this easy, shall we? Surrender now and I'll make your deaths painless! If not then I'll be waiting at the top of Dragon Mountain ready to destroy you!" Marshadow growled.

Maryland tilted her head. "Hey, wait didn't you scream random words?"

Marshadow shrugged. "Suppose inconsistency is a side effect of insanity. Bye bye guild!" The shadow vanished leaving the group alone.

Alpha huffed. "Why would he tell us where he's hiding?"

"It's clear he has some kind of plan. So we'll just have to make our own. We all go together, forget the rules. Nothing he throws at us will stand a chance. We need to get back Kut, he's a friend from a time where there weren't many." Zax decided, thinking back to the old days. Everything had been so simple, their biggest issue was some petty rivalry with their now best friends. Everything was different now, maybe that was for the worse.

"If I may, how do you propose we get to Dragon Mountain without the teleporter?" Gizzit pointed out.

"The Spearow Brigade. They normally come once a week to pick up a request for a trade and item requests for the trade. They'll take three days to get here, maximum. In the meantime stock up on as many items, you can and take on as many requests as possible. We need to be ready for this." Zax answered, with that he took the letter in his hand and went outside to the mail post.

In the morning a Spearow would pick it up and deliver it to the Brigade. They'd ready a ship and be there in just a few days. Then they'd repair the teleporter and Jellicent's shop, after that they'd stop this Marshadow once and for all.

Maybe Zax could convince Zen to become Guildmaster. Then everything could go back to the way it was before when things were better.

Zax was standing outside the guild, looking out at the water when Alpha came outside.

"Hey Zax, are you ok?"

Zax gave a slight nod. "I think I am. I'm not fit to be Guildmaster Alpha, I know that now. I lead my guild into not one but two traps in one day. The entire guild was almost destroyed in one move and I had no idea. I failed my guild. I should've done more research on Marshadow. I still can't find anything on it. But I'm going to find a better leader, one who won't let this guild be shattered in one blow."

Alpha laughed and stopped. "You're serious? Zax you can't let this stuff get to you, Friction lead most of the guild to their deaths without knowing a thing about it and we all still miss her. Nobody ever died, heck Flutter even evolved! You've led us to the greatest three years this guild has ever seen! We're bigger, we've got the Spearow Brigade on our side, and we even managed to climb all of Bridge Tower!"

Zax shook his head. "Thanks, Alpha, you're a great friend. But I know the truth. I'm no leader." Zax turned and walked inside.

"Stubborn, ungrateful, stuck up... and yet I don't hate him. I wish I was as great as Zax, wish I was like him. But I'm not, and he doesn't see himself like I do. Well, I supposed I'll have to help him see the light in himself."

Sorry for another shorter chapter but after the very longer than normal Chapter 8 I need to supplement with some shorter chapters, especially because next week the chapter is going to be very long. Things are kicking up in the story and I hope everyone's excited to see where they're going. Thanks so much for reading and have a great day, bye!