"So, okay," began James as the bus rolled onwards into the late afternoon, "what's the craziest thing you guys have ever done?"
	"Uhhhh...I stole pizza once." said Roy bashfully, making his friends all turn with intrigue.
	"Wait, a whole box?!"
	"Yup!  When nobody was lookin', I took it from this jerk an' thought if he was gonna be like that to everyone then he don't get to eat!  So I got under the table, waited 'til he was arguin' with someone an' took the whole box!  He didn' even notice me run out the door...and nobody told on me cuz they liked me more."
	"Hahahaha, wow you're a gutsy kid Roy."
	"Whut about you James?"
	"Well how about Jack and Tommy first?  Cuz I got a reaaaaaal good one."
The two older boys pondered to themselves carefully, thinking of any particularly crazy stunts they did.  The desert rolled by their windows, catching none of their interest, orange afternoon sands with barely a cactus in sight.  Jack eventually brought up a story with a rather smug expression.
	"I got in a casino once."
	"Wait what?"
	"You guys remember last year when I went to Fourside for a vacation?"  Tommy and Roy nodded knowingly.  "Well I got this fake moustache an' I got into a casino, just managed to walk in and they didn't say anything.  I won five...dollars."
	"Cooooool."
Roy was genuinely impressed, as he was with anything adult-like, but Tommy brought out the holy grail.
	"I snuck into an adult movie."
James grinned with approval and the other two listened eagerly, knowing this story well.
	"They were showing this movie called Halloween and I managed to get in by buying a ticket for some other kids movie, something lame like Rock-a-Doodle.  Walked in and eeeeased myself over to where they were showing Halloween, told the guy waiting there that someone threw up somewhere else, cuz I spilt some Coke, an' got in when he left."
	"How was the movie?" asked James.
	"Pretty awesome!  Totally worth it."  Jack smirked by adding:
	"Even if you had nightmares a li'l after-"
	"Shut up, that was totally different!"
	"Hhha ha ha ha."
	"Anyways...whut about you James?  Done anything crazy?"
	"Ohhhhh well..."

He carefully thought out the details of his story to try and make it sound the slightest bit alien.  Also making sure to avoid more adult-rated details.
	"This one time, when I was like...uhhhh what'd be like eighteen for you guys, me and a friend of mine, we found this thing that's kinda like a credit card, someone dropped it but it was a real fancy piece of work.  So she said 'hey, let's go dress up at the fanciest freaking hotel in the city and splurge the hell out of this guy's card.'
	"So we first checked the card, see if the guy was worth anything.  Turns out he's some jerkwad rich dude who totally deserved a li'l bad cred, so we bought out some costumes for something fancy and went up to the hotel.  Walked in, introduced myself, made sure to get all my details right, and my friend, this older girl called Sarah, was like my date.  And it was AWESOME.  We had the best food, the best wine-"
	"You guys got wine?!" gasped Tommy.
	"Sure we got wine!  And we danced some real fancy dances that she taught me just for the occasion, like waltzes and stuff.  It was...the best night ever.  I felt like I was on top of the world, stealing a guy's credit card and wasting it all on the fanciest night in the fanciest clothes we could get, all suited up in this tuxedo."
	"Hah, cool!"
	"And then we just raided the bar and drank eeeeeverything, we were so wasted, we trashed the room for fun.  And then we started making too much noise and weeeeellllll..."
He decided to omit this part for the sake of keeping it a PG rating and skipped ahead, briefly imagining the insane bed-shaking night they had before ending.
	"We decided to jump out a window to a room we picked because there was an easy way down and made a run for it.  And they never caught us."  All the three boys could say was:
	"Cooooooooool!" with Tommy adding:
	"Wow that sounds awesome, your friend sounds so cool, I mean for a girl."
	"Heh yeah, she's like...the best friend I ever had."
	"So what happened to her?  She still back home?"
	"Oh yeah yeah, she runs a bar, also kind of a...community manager."
He remembered her saying those exact words, rather than say "local mafioso".

	"So what, she runs some kinda neighbourhood watch or something?"
	"Yeah exactly, she's the head of the community!  Everyone listens to her, looks up to her.  She can get pretty crazy when she wants to have fun, but she's always been a good leader, very straight and to the point whenever we need to do something."
	"You ever like, go back to see her?" asked Jack curiously.
	"...well, if I can get back home, then she's the first person I'm going to...I really miss her."
He turned wistful at her memory, continuing to believe that she was still okay, or at the very least, still breathing.  The boys turned a little sympathetic towards him.
	"You homesick?" asked Roy.
	"Yeah...I haven't been able to focus much whenever I think of her.  But she's all that keeps me going, the only thing motivating me to go home.  I mean, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't go back home, I'd find somewhere else to live.  I don't like my home THAT much to wanna go back."
	"Shame you can't call her or somethin', that's always good fer homesickness."
	"Yeah...don't suppose you guys have any phones that connect to other dimensions?"
	"Nope."
	"Thought not."
	"Sorry..."
	"Heh, it's okay, don't worry about it guys."
Despite his shrugging off the subject, he was remorseful for Sarah.  He remembered the night he had told his friends about, the great credit card scam he had pulled off with Sarah.  He reminisced about the whole affair as the bus gently rumbled onwards across the sweltering desert.  The wonderfully extravagant food, the classiest fermented wine, the most eminent waltzes they could perform.
The waltz...that memory had a stain to it now.  When the mansion toyed with his memory of dancing with Sarah, how she taught him to be a graceful dancer.  Lessons from her younger days passed on to him, something he took to surprisingly well for such a slow dance, certainly enough to fool a classy ballroom.
It was the most romantic night he ever had, next to his treat to Daisy.  This only dared to depress him even more, so he snarled and shook his head clean of such thoughts, sighing forcefully to expel them from his body.  His eyes threatened to moisten, which he suppressed by breathing in hard and stiffening up.
	"Hey, you okay?" asked Jack who noticed their alien friend's strange behaviour.
	"Hmm?  Oh uh it's nothing..."
	"Uhhh...kay."
	"Just working on my uh...act, right?"
	"Heh, right, doin' good there James."
	"Heh...thanks."
With the desert slowly fading away from the windows' view, they soon saw a grand red iron bridge, structured with traingular supports.  Cars passed back and forth busily alongside them, with the occasional truck.  Their smiles widened as they soon found themselves reaching ever closer towards their destination.  Soon enough, there it was.
Fourside.

James was no stranger to a big city, so he was not too impressed by the metropolis unveiling before him.  The boys however were awestruck.  All the kids were, a resounding gasp of wonder filling the bus as they started to murmur excitably about all the things they wanted to do when they reached the city, as well as how close victory was coming to them soon.
James sat back and smiled to himself, keeping his disguise up in the meantime as the world passed him by.  Skyscrapers soon filled the windows, busying streets with various folk with yellow taxi cabs roaring back and forth with demonic ferocity.  Only a few buildings were of any interest to him.  The museum, the Topolla Theater which was apparently their destination, a classy hotel and the Monotoli Building, the tallest skyscraper in the city which literally dared to pierce the sky itself.
The coach soon got off in front of the hotel, its passengers offloading hastily to set foot upon the pavewalk of the largest city in all of Eagleland.
It was a beautiful sunny day too, daring to lift everyone's spirits as they received instructions from their supervising adults to not stray too far as they walked up to the desk.  An entire gang of kids would make any hotel attendant panic, including the smartly-dressed stub-nosed receptionist.
	"Hello," greeted the supervising adult, "we're here for the Eagleland Arcade Championship?"
	"Oh, yes of course," returned the receptionist politely, "we have rooms arranged for your...teams.  The bellboy will escort you."
As if on cue, an immaculately-dressed bellboy in shiny red clothes arrived to take them to their rooms.  James noted that the bellboy was actually younger than him, and smirked underneath his hood before the 16 gamers were lead to their individual rooms.  Stern and harsh penalties were implied upon them for any irresponsible actions taken during their visit in the hotel and its city, under pain of immediate disqualification.
The hotel was certainly fancy with its polished entrance hall of caramel-coloured linoleum floors and pillars, with a staircase leading upwards to the second and third floors.  Heading into the second floor, each team was given a room, with a key for each member, as well as a stern but short lecture of the rules they had to obey.  Most of them accepted with one or two snarkers, but they took their keys and went to their rooms.  Team Shoryuken found themselves in Room 14, Roy immediately leaping onto the once-pristine white bed blankets.
	"Roy!"  Jack was not impressed.
	"I can't believe we're actually HERE!  We made it to Fourside guys!  I don' care if even lose!"
	"Hey, don't say that!" said Jack, taking the role of elder temporarily.  "We have to win this, not just for Onett but for ourselves."
	"Oh come on," replied Tommy cockily as he put his things away before patting James on the back, "How can we lose with our buddy here, right James?"
	"Right," nodded the raptor, "just so long as no one finds out, so we better keep things...under our hats, if you get my drift."
	"Hehe, right."
The boys settled themselves in, setting up their packed lunches for a light lunch in the hotel room just to avoid paying for room service.  As they ate, they talked about their strategies, what they were going to do in Fourside, and so on.  Throughout all this, Roy was looking all the more agitated for something, but James put it down to just nerves.
After their lunch, they decided to lock up their room, taking only their money and walked out to the streets.  The contest would be in two days owing to the fact they had to pick up the team from the seaside city of Summers, and they only had the one bus to do so.  This however was a perfect opportunity for the boys to do what they wanted to do.
The Monotoli building was closed off, but they saw various coffee shops and the enormous department store available to them, readily heading on in to browse and even buy a few things.  They were all trying their best not to be swayed by the various toys and games.  The city itself was also bustling with the news about a recent hostile takeover of the Monotoli building that had been thwarted, but the boys paid no attention.

Roy was intrigued by a dinosaur exhibit being proudly displayed upon the front of the museum, and convinced the boys to follow him in out of curiosity.  James was rather curious, whereas Tommy and Jack already knew about the dangers of learning in a museum to one's patience.  Nevertheless, they headed inside to pass the time.
The museum hall was certainly grand with pillars bathed in a classical white reminiscent of the Parthenon.  Dinosaur skeletons were fully constructed all around him.  All he could do was admire their impressive stature, such that he had only ever seen once before.  But he did not want to remember.  Suppressing the memories of that other museum and reimagining himself as this one being his first time, he gazed upon the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
He couldn't believe that such a monster could exist, the skeleton frightening him with the skull alone, a massive jaw that he could easily climb into if tempted.  Roy was just as fascinated beside him and pumped James with every single fact he knew about dinosaurs, from the chicken-sized Compsognathus to the colossal Brachiosaurus.
James let him natter away about all sorts of interesting facts, already taken by the impressive sizes of such beasts.  A few he saw were like fish such as the Icthyosaurus, or even taking to the sky like the Pteranodon.  When he looked upon the fossils, a strange dualistic feeling came from inside him.  Two in fact.

One was conscious in his mind, a feeling of regret he was forcing away, beating it back to the dark corner of his mind.  No he did not associate these impressive fossils to anyone.  Not anymore.
The other feeling however was much deeper, an unconscious feeling that made his heart tug towards the skeleton of a velociraptor.  Keeping himself covered, he resisted the urge to touch it.  Nearing it, he felt a small crooning sound come from his lips without thinking.  A tear rolled down his cheek, but he did not notice it.  After enough walking around the evermore unsettling exhibit, he left with the boys, much to Jack and Tommy's relief.
By the time they arrived back at the hotel, it was nearing sunset, and they were soon rather exhausted enough to settle into their room and talk each other to sleep.  Roy, with an agitation that had been increasing throughout the day, asked:
	"So, when are we gonna do that-"
	"Tomorrow," said Tommy, cutting his friend off swiftly.  "We get up early, find a phone booth, and find him."
	"Wait, find who?" asked James, to which Tommy replied:
	"Oh just a friend of ours, don' worry about it."
	"Ah kay."
He was too wrapped within his own thoughts for now to care about this as Jack brought out a travel edition of Scrabble from his backpack.  The museum had given him a lot of mixed feelings.  Some of them he enjoyed and allowed to spring free in his smile.  Others he snarled at and forced away into the dark recesses of his mind.  Eventually he decided he was unable to sleep with such a chaotic train of thought, and stood up suddenly.
	"Hey guys?  Mind if I take a walk or something, I gotta clear my head."
	"Sure, you alright?" asked Tommy.
	"Yeah yeah I just gotta lot of things to think about and a good walk'll sort that."
	"They're not gonna let you out," added Jack sternly, "since you're a kid and all."
	"I didn't say I was going through the front door, did I?"
He winked and noted the window, the three looking at him incredulously.
	"B-but that's dangerous!" said Roy nervously.
	"I'm not human, so it's okay.  But you three shouldn't do this, ever, okay?"
	"Why?"
	"Because you're human and you don't have claws for climbing aaaand you humans pretty terrible at falling."
	"...yeah okay."
They generally agreed at this, finding it better to take such an excuse from an alien rather than a patronising adult.  James opened the window gently, noting the distance and the brick wall he could scale with his claws.
	"I'll be back in like an hour and a half okay?  Just keep this window open, I'll let you know when I get back."
	"Alrighty."
With that, he left the room, climbing out of the window with claws slipping into small natural slits of the wall.

The streets of Fourside at night were certainly a complete opposite of the daytime, perhaps moreso than he expected.  The raptor expected a city like this to be always bustling, but at night it was much more absent, the streets more open.  Except for the taxi cabs continuously screaming into the night at such insane speeds, that James tensed up against their blast of exhaust.
He kept on the pavement, just once around the block of well-lit skyscrapers gazing upon him in every direction, tiny multiple yellow eyes.  Larger lit windows on ground level gave insights to the people of the city.
Most of the area he was in were all businesses or apartments so he did not have the chance to see many little lives played out before him.  He smirked at how he used to do that.  His mind slowly drained itself of any thoughts he had as the night air caressed him in his thick covering clothes.  He was thankful for them moreso with such a cold wind snaking through both alleyways and byways.  The museum was closed, but he skipped past it rather hurriedly.  A bar offered a chance for some light refreshment, with a tempting neon sign that for some reason read "C A F E".  With no real reason not to, he went in.

The sound of lonesome jazz as he walked down the small step into the bar gave him shivers of nostalgia.  If he closed his eyes he could easily imagine himself by the very atmosphere to be back in Sarah's bar.  But he chose not to, deciding to focus on his current objective with the three boys first before considering anything else.  He kept his disguise tight about him, surveying the rather open bar with several simple wooden tables and a jukebox.
For a place he expected to be a lot classier, it was very spartan.  He sat himself down at the bar, his tail's dulling pain of being restrained having gone for now.  A male bartender in a red suit with an eyepatch over his right eye came up to serve him, the raptor keeping his head down.
	"What'll it be?"
	"Gimme a beer, whatever's local."
	"That'll be $3.75."
He sifted his pockets for change and came up with $4.
Just the one tonight, he thought, just to loosen the nerves a bit.  The bartender came back rather quick with a full pint glass of beer, frothy and dribbling which made him sigh with relief.  He took it carefully by the handle, making sure his claws were as covered as possible in the sleeves of the hoodie, before drinking some down.
	"Mmmm, thanks."
	"No prob, here's yer change."
Taking a quarter back, he sat in silence as the depressing jazz continued to play.  He realised around the third gulp of beer that this was not the right kind of atmosphere at all to try and forget things.  In fact, it was counterproductive at best.  Nevertheless he sat and dared not to reminisce, letting his drinking become automatic while praising the fact he was not an alcoholic.  The beer was bitter, and reminiscent of Budweiser, which he did not mind.
He was hoping to find a place he could disrobe and allow himself to feel more like himself again, but it was only three more days at the most, as he said to himself.
	"Three more days...oy...the hell am I gonna go after this, nobody around here seems smart enough to help."
	"Help with what?"  The bartender had overheard him.
	"Oh um...I'm looking for a guy to help me with something, something to do with portals."
	"Portals huh?  Science stuff like Dr. Andonuts?"
	"Who?"
	"Dr. Andonuts, he's this scientist that disappeared somewhere a few years back."
	"Don't suppose you know him, or anyone else I can talk to?"
	"Nope, sorry pal."
	"That's okay, least you tried.  And you gave me beer so there is that."
	"Heh."
	"You know your pump is broken right?"

He pointed towards one particular handle that had been tagged as "Out Of Order".  The barman smirked sarcastically.
	"Really?  I thought that was just a car hanger to make your bar smell fresh."
	"Hahaha...if you want, maybe I can fix that for ya?  I worked in a bar years ago."
	"Yeah?"
The barman tried to look for any signs of a human face but all he could see was a snout and eyes.
	"What's with the getup?"
	"Costume for a party.  It's from a videogame."
	"Ohhh right.  Why cantcha take it off?"
	"Ehhh, party didn't go well, on my way home, too lazy to take it off and carry it."
	"Hehe, fair enough.  So you can help me with this pump?"
	"Sure."
He drank more of his beer with only a quarter of a pint left, and walked into the bar area itself to examine the pump.  The bartender helpfully gave further information.
	"The thing stopped working since a few days back, it leads to the store room back here."
	"Hmmm..."
James had at least fixed a few pumps before, and from what he could remember, there was nothing wrong at this end as he tried to pump it.
	"Looks like there's no pressure."
	"Yeah I thought that too, but I don' wanna call a plumber."
	"Right...must be something blocking the airflow or the pipes."
	"Not the pipes I know that, I cleaned 'em out and nothing was in 'em."
	"Damn.  Okay show me the store room."
He lead him to the backroom, a rather large somewhat-lit basement of several boxes the size of both of them scattered about the place.  The kegs for the pumps were situated at the far back wall in a row.
	"Watch yerself around 'em okay?" warned the bartender.  "Don't want my drinks gettin' spoilt."
	"Got it, which one's for the broken pump?"
	"The one on the far left."
James investigated the keg, seeing no problems with it, and it was indeed full of alcohol as he could tell from the bass vibration when he tapped on it.  He checked along the pipe itself, again seeing no problems.  The lights started to flicker, and his eyes immediately pinpointed upon something shining against one of the pipe junctions.
	"Hooooold on."
He moved a smaller box over and gently climbed up on it, before he reached out towards the pipe junction and found something odd rubbing against his hand.
	"Hey!  There's something jammed in here!"
	"What?"
	"Yeah, right here, something's wedged itself into the flow valve."
	"The hell did I miss that?"
	"I dunno, it's pretty small, I just caught it shining at me.  Dammit, it's stuck tight."
	"Lemme find a wrench."
The barman went back upstairs to search through a tool cabinet while James kept his hand upon the mysterious shiny, fondling its abnormally smooth surface that threatened to make his hand slip.  Soon the bartender came back with a wrench to loosen the valve with, handing it to James.
	"Alright let's get this sucker out."

Remembering the universal rule of lefty-loosey, righty-tighty, the raptor slowly began to loosen the valve until it fell off into his hand, taking the sparkling foreign object with it.  Grinning at his success, he showed it off to the bartender, his single eye beaming happily.
	"Hah, thanks a lot pal, think it'll work now?"
	"Why dontcha test that when I put this valve back in?"
He was more concerned about the mysterious item, a tiny silver bauble, almost like that of an earring.  Its surface was deceptively smooth and he felt like it would slip from his grasp at any time.  He almost imagined it suddenly sparked with the tiniest of glints before turning somewhat duller.
Pocketing it for himself in his satchel, he put back the valve with a good tightening, giving the A-OK to the bartender as he gave the wrench back to him and put the box away.  Heading back upstairs, they soon found much to their joy that the pump was indeed working again.
	"HAH!  Damn thing's finally up again.  Thanks for yer help."
	"No prob mister, I know how it is."
	"So what was that thing that was somehow messing up my pipes?"
	"No idea, but hey it's working now so hope that all goes well."
	"Well, thanks again."
Feeling more light-hearted for being helpful, James drank up the last of his beer and left the bar with a smile upon his face.  He was too happy to even notice a stranger walk right into him.
	"OOF!"
	"NNGH!"
James was quick to apologise in his cheerful mood.
	"H-hey uh, sorry man, didn't see ya there."
	"Hey it's cool, don' worry about...it..."
The deeper American voice that replied from within a thick grey hoodie started to falter at the sight of the mostly-covered raptor.  James said nothing as he did his best to rush past without looking back, the tip of his snout and a purple mark showing as he left the bar behind.
He decided to return to the hotel, feeling better about himself as he made his way through well-lit streets for safety.  But the bar was not the only place he would have any unusual events within.  Passing near an alleyway beside the museum, he heard a conversation whose first words intrigued him.
	"-on the Monotoli incident?"
	"Negative sir.  The fat one has fled, and the psychic child followed him."
	"But what of the mook?"
	"Defeated.  Even without his healer, the child is unstoppable."
	"The master will not enjoy this.  We cannot even control smaller settlements let alone this metropolis."
The raptor cautiously sneaked towards the alley entrance.  Nobody was there, but he most certainly heard someone speaking.  Walking closer, he soon found a half-opened manhole where the echoes became clearer.
	"When will we attempt to claim his home?"
	"Soon.  First we must monitor his progress in Scaraba, where he shall undoubtedly head to next.  So long as he does not obtain any more assistance in his journey, he will fail."
	"And what of this place?"
	"He has all he needs here, as do we.  We shall leave a few troops to monitor this settlement, but not to engage him."
	"Yes sir...wh-what in the...sir!"
	"What is it?"
	"The monitoring device, it's been found!"
	"What?!"
	"Just now, it sent a distress signal and shut itself off."
	"How did he-...he left precisely seventy-four hours and forty-two minutes ago!"
	"It can't be his work then!"
	"But that was where the Mani Mani was.  It cannot be a coincidence."
	"Perhaps these earthlings are more intelligent than we first suspected."
	"Unlikely, without the power of PSI they are pathetic."
	"Unlike the grandchild of the earthling thief."
	"Indeed.  We are done here, return to your position.  Any words from our contact in the first settlement?"
	"No sir, not since four-hundred-and-eight hours and twenty-eight minutes ago."
	"Damn...send a scout for him.  We do not report this to the master yet."
	"Very well sir."
	"Dismissed."
With that mysterious interlude leaving much food for thought on who the hell they could possibly be, James returned truly to the hotel.  It wasn't late enough that the kids were still awake, greeting him as he climbed back in carefully to not frighten them.  With little more to say other than having had a good night out, he went to bed.  They didn't have to know about the strangely alien dialogue he had overheard yet, not until he had more information to make more reasonable assumptions with.