Adventures in the Bermikun Triangle

by Rakoon1

The Shipwrecked in the Sand

The Chaos was walking through the sands of the Sea of Dezer. While he did that, his crew was at the captain’s cabinet, looking to the holographic map of Dezer. Looking to the representation of the sun, Mallet said:

“Um… That doesn’t look like a waypoint.”

“Because it is the sun, Mallet” Star replied, by his side, pointing then to the map. “Here. We are here.”

And so a red line came from their location and then advanced until it stopped.

“This is the waypoint.”

“Are you sure, Star?” Dusk asked.

“I have plotted our course referencing all the ancient astral courts” he replied. “Not mention what mom taught me. Believe when I say I’m not mistaken.”

Suddenly, a gaming music started to be heard, as pillars started to appearing.

“Whoa!” Dusk exclaimed. “Well, what just happened?”

“I don’t know” Star replied, confused. “The map is… What?”

The holographic map then showed the Chaos sinking into a quicksand, and the words “Game Over” appearsed over it.

“Looks like it’s Game Over” Dusk said, joking and laughing.

“Ha, ha…” Star said, not amused. “Your sense of humor is so… dry.”

He then looked at Opal, the one that could have done something like that, and she hasted to say:

“Don’t look at me. Your brother is the captain here, he gives the orders.”

“Dusk, a captain should set an example, not behave like a circus clowns” Star reprimanded.

Dusk made a last laugh, before saying and sitting on his chair:

“Okay, okay. Opal, give us the real chart: Star’s one. Sorry, Star, but you should have seen your face. Priceless!”

“Argh, your brother’s right!” Calabrass told him. “The captain doesn’t behave like a buffoon. He only encourages others.”

Star really was upset with Dusk who then asked him:

“Come on, Star, where’s your sense of humor? Last time I checked, you still had one.”

“Humor has a right time and a right place” Star replied.

“But Dezer is dead boring” Dusk told, in a way of defending himself. “Look around: sand, sand, sand. I was just trying to lighten up the…”

It was then that a roar was heard outside, while something passed through the window of the cabinet.

“…situation…” Dusk ended.

Suddenly, they heard Clover screaming at the outside and Dusk hasted to tell the others:

“Battle stations!”

The Sea Raiders all run to the stern of the Chaos and saw what was pursuing them: a gigantic robotic scorpion.

“Uhh… what is that?” Dusk asked.

“An insect” Mallet replied. “But bigger.”

“Tecnically, Mallet, scorpions are arachnids” Opal replied, receiving then some looks from her teammates. “But I guess this is not the best time to mention it…”

Star then headed to fire a magic blast against her the scorpion and hit it in its eye. But scorpion resisted to that and fired acid to the Sea Raiders. Fortunately, they were able to move out of the way, causing the acid to hit two barrels and melt them.

“The supplies!” Star exclaimed.

“Okay, that’s it!” Dusk told. “No one messes with snack time!”

Taking Calabrass, Dusk leaped to the rail and called. “Calabrass, give me the Eye of…”

Bur before he could call the Eye he wanted, the scorpion knocked at the Chaos, causing Dusk to lose his balance. Fortunately, Star was able to pull him back to the deck.

The scorpion continued to shoot its acid, with the Chaos dodging every single one. When one hit right in front of him, the Chaos changed its direction, always having the scorpion right behind.

“Who gave the order to turn about?” Dusk asked.

“The Chaos!” Clover replied.

“Hey, I’m Captain here” Dusk said. “We turn when I say…”

“But it was a wise decision” Opal told. “That big buster will scour us to our keel if we fight it face to face.”

“Running from a fight?” Dusk asked. “That’s setting a bad example!”

“Dusk is right, we must hold our course” Star said, making the back helm appear with its map turned on. “The Navigatrix shows the waypoint is within reach.”

He was right, as they were really near the waypoint’s location Star had previously calculated.

“See, I’m right!” Dusk said, putting Calabrass back at his scabbard. “Let’s crew up and sting that bug!”

With Dusk now at the helm at the bow, they tried to escape the scorpion as they tried to reach the waypoint’s location, but the creature was still at their tail.

“Don’t give it any ideas, Captain” Mallet told.

“Star, are we positive about the waypoint’s location?” Dusk asked.

“Trust me, hold course” he replied. “I will take care of the creature.”

“Are you serious?!” Opal asked. “You intend to attack that thing?!”

“We are!” Dusk replied, spinning the steering wheel.

This caused the Chaos to skid and Mallet, Star and Opal both slid past Clover and hit the rail of the stern. The little ghost, passed his hooves over his body and then replied to the others:

“Uh, that’s unpleasant for me too, you know. No need to ahhh about it.”

“Warn Mallet next time!” the young Mighty Helmet warrior told Dusk as he and the other two got up. “I get dizzy.”

Seeing the scorpion approaching, Dusk exclaimed:

“Go!”

And he made Chaos advance at full speed, again catching his friends off-guard.

“Go is not a warning!” Opal protested.

Pulling up the helm, Dusk made the Chaos to raise his front metal legs and pin the scorpion against the sand. However, the creature started to fight and so Star pointed at him and fired at it, hitting its eye what this time scared it away.

“That, my friends, is how you squish a bug” Dusk said. “Now, Chaos, set a course for the waypoint!”

The Chaos groaned in accord and walked to where the waypoint was.

“Nice zapping, Star” Dusk complimented.

“When we are trained by both our father and the General of Peace, we tend to get good at aiming” he replied.

Clover looked around Dezer and then said:

“It could be playing possum.”

“Scorpions don’t play possum…” Opal said. “Do they?”

Suddenly, Calabrass shouted:

“Starboard, ho!”

However, Dusk looked to his left, causing Calabrass to reply:

“The other starboard!”

A little embarrassed, Dusk looked right and then saw what Calabrass wanted to show him: the scorpion was coming fast against them.

“What?!” the captain asked.

The scorpion knocked the Chaos aside, throwing him a great distance and shutting down his power.

“Uh, Chaos?” Dusk called. “Chaos! Oh… no, no, no! He’s hurt!”

“It’s his turbines!” Opal replied, taking out her device. “And power couplings! And oil pumps and…”

“And it’s coming back for us!” Mallet told, pointing to the scorpion.

Before that, Dusk took Calabrass and called:

“Calabrass, the Eye of the Aeria!”

And so they transformed.

“Axe of lightning!” Dusk shouted, jumping towards the scorpion.

He hit the ground with Calabrass, causing electricity to be sent to the scorpion and electrocuting it. This caused it to be thrown into the air, do some flips and land hard. After that happened, the Chaos powered up and Opal said:

“False alarm. All he needed was some T.L. Me. And a minor pneumatic re-calibration. The Chaos is like new.”

Despite Dusk was happy that Chaos was okay, he turned to Star who seemed a little odd.

“Well, don’t all thank me at once” Opal told him. “Sheesh!”

“Uh, sorry, Opal” he replied. “Good work.”

Turning to Star, Dusk asked him:

“I don’t like that look, Star. What’s the matter? Other than, you know, the obvious monster scorpion.”

“The chase has brought us to our destination” Star said. “But…”

“No waypoint” Clover said, sitting at the tip of the bow. “In fact, way offpoint.”

The fact he had missed considerably the waypoint’s location caused Star to become very disappointed… disappointed on himself.

The Chaos walked away, but, as soon he was gone, someone else appeared, beside the scorpion. It was a big and muscular jackal with a headdress and mummy bandages wrapped around his forelimbs. He also had two mechanical golden tentacles with claws, as well a golden mechanical scorpion tail.

“More for my collection…” he said in a very deep and cold voice.

Inside the captain’s quarter, Star was looking through a few books on the shelf, with Dusk there, saying:

“It’s not that big a deal, Star, we all make mistakes. Some of us bigger than others, but…”

“That’s just it, Star, I can’t make mistakes!” he replied. “I am the navigator! It’s my duty to find not only the waypoints, but also guide us through the Triangle. And because of my mistake… I put the crew in danger. I got us lost. This is a colossal failure.”

“Aren’t we being a bit dramatic?” Dusk asked. “We just push on and look around. I’m sure that…”

“I am not worthy of being second-in-command” Star said.

That statement really shocked Dusk, as well Mallet, Opal and Clover who were all eavesdropping the conversation from the outside the door. It was then that it opened and Star got out, causing the three of them to pretend they weren’t listening the conversion, with Clover innocently whistling, Mallet pretending to think and Opal looking confused. Dusk followed Star and asked him:

“Are you crazy?”

“You think me insane?” Star asked, looking to his brother.

“What? No! Moody maybe, but…”

“I am to blame for this mess, right?”

“No! Well, I… We…”

Desperate for some back-up, he turned to the other members of his crew and told them:

“Guys, tell him we don’t blame him!”

But they didn’t say anything.

“Guys!” Dusk exclaimed.

And so Clover decided to say something to Star:

“We don’t blame you for getting us lost in the middle of the desert with no waypoint in sight.”

“And you did save us from the scorpion’s claws that you made us fight in the first place…”Mallet told.

“And stopped the Chaos from being completely destroyed in the process that you started… accidentally” Opal added. “Sorry…”

That really frustrated Star and then all the Sea Raiders went in different directions, much for Dusk’s dismay.

Hours later, the sun could be seen setting down and Star was sitting at the point of the bow, near the Plank, sulking. Noticing him there, Dusk told to the others:

“He’s been up there for hours now.”

“You shouldn’t have said he was insane” Mallet told.

“I said crazy” Dusk corrected. “It’s an expression.”

“In my day, such a navigation error meant a walk down the plank!” Calabrass replied.

“Oh, those were the days…” Clover said.

“You two, that is not helping” Dusk replied.

However, Star was able to hear them talking and he became even more depressed and filled with guilt.

The night fell and Dusk was sleeping on his bed in the captain’s quarter. The door opened and Star entered, seeing Dusk snoring.

“I wish I could take things as lightly as you” he said. “But I must be the one to fix my mistake. I shall find the waypoint. You have my word, little brother.”

At Kurama’s place, the tailed beast asked his jinchuriki:

“Please tell me you’re joking about doing this.”

“I have to do it, Kurama” Star told. “Because of me, my friends were almost harm… All because of a certainty that ended up being a wide fail. My arrogance put us all in danger.”

“You know, your brother, is right, you’re being too dramatic” Kurama commented. “You’ve always been this way. That’s why I’m not saying anything more. When you got an idea planted in your mind, there’s nothing that can remove it. Just make sure you don’t get yourself killed by those things or even quicksand.”

And so Star left the room.

At the next morning, everyone went to search Star all around the Chaos, but they didn’t get any luck. When Clover returned from below deck, he said:

“No Star, not anywhere. I even checked the galley, a couple of times.”

And he burped some electricity.

“He was looking pretty miserable” Opal remembered. “You don’t think… Actually, I do think. He went off on his own!”

“We have to find him” Dusk said. “Everyone to their stations.”

And they went to do what Dusk told, but then Mallet stopped and said:

“Dusk, Mallet wants a different station.”

“What? Why?” Dusk asked, turning around and seeing an army of scorpions heading to the Chaos. “Ooh! I’m starting to hate the beach.”

“Outnumbered and out-stinged” Calabrass said, while being held by Dusk.

“This would be the perfect time for Star to shoot them up” Dusk said. “Even without his full strength, he could handle them.”

“Or pass out warm doughnuts” Clover said.

“Ha-ha!” Mallet exclaimed, while taking out his sword. “It is a good day for bashing a scorpion.”

“Hoof to hoof?” Opal asked. “You are all crazy!”

Dusk then whistled to the Plank, while Mallet got off the ship and started battling the scorpions, only to be caught by one. Meanwhile, a scorpion was now attacking the Chaos. Fortunately, Dusk was now on top of the Plank, surfing in the sky.

“Calabrass, give me the Eye of Dezer!” he shouted.

And so they gained the powers of Dezer. Heading towards the two scorpions that were with Mallet first, Dusk was able to block some of their attacks with Calabrass, that had a club form. After that, he went up and shoot from the club a blast of energy that hit the ground between the scorpions, causing an explosion that turned the scorpions into a bunch of stones, from where Mallet was able to break free. The two of them bumped hooves, but then saw the other scorpion on the Chaos, trying to attack their friends. It was able to grab Clover who told it:

“Now you grab me, now you don’t!”

And he phased through the scorpion's claw. Dusk then started heading towards the Chaos who was able to throw it away, allowing his captain to turned it into stones, like the other ones. After that, the crew got out of the Chaos to watch one of his legs that was damaged.

“We can’t sail anymore” Opal said. “It’s impossible for the Chaos to retract his leg. All we can do is just… uh, limp along.”

“Agh, singe my beard!” Calabrass exclaimed. “A ship with a wooden leg.”

“Star couldn’t have gotten very far” Dusk said.

Suddenly, he started hearing a beeping coming from the nearest scorpion.

“What?” he asked, approaching the scorpion.

He noticed the device at its head whose beep accelerated and then stopped. He picked up the device and then the group went to the captain’s quarter to examine it.

“Wow, fascinating!” Opal exclaimed. “An electronic excrescence connected to the part of the brain that controls movement.”

“I had one of those” Clover said. “A brain, I mean. That’s normal right?”

“Of course it’s not normal!” Opal replied. “These monsters are remotely controlled.”

“Who is this remotely?” Mallet asked. “Mallet would have words with him!”

“Remotely isn’t a…” Dusk started, giving up what he was saying. “Oh, forget it. Opal, can you track the signal?”

Using her device, Opal was able to do what Dusk requested and, outside the Chaos, she told, while holding the device and handling it to Dusk:

“I found it! Just over that dune. A phenomenal source of energy.”

“As in, waypoint phenomenal?” Dusk asked, looking at Opal’s tracking device.

“What is that dot?” Mallet asked, pointing to something at the device. “More scorpions?”

“No… something smaller” Opal replied. “Something… Star-ish.”

“Opal, how much time do you need to repair the Chaos?” Dusk asked.

“One, maybe two…” Opal started, hesitating by seeing the look at her friends’ face. “A half hour?”

“Good!” Dusk replied, turning then to Opal and Clover. “You two stay and repair the Chaos. I’ll go look for him with Calabrass and Mallet. Let’s roll!”

As the two of them started to move away, Opal asked:

“Uh, what do we do if the scorpions come back?”

“I’ll think of something glorious!” Clover replied.

“That makes me feel so much better…” Opal replied, sarcastically.

Following the way Opal told them, Dusk and Mallet arrived to the outside a large floating pyramid.

“He’s that way!” Dusk said.

“Ya think we can walk in here, rescue Star, and up anchor just like that?” Calabrass asked.

Dusk replied with a nod and Mallet said:

“Simple. Mallet like that.”

And Dusk and Mallet headed towards the staircase that led to the inside of the pyramid, entering in it.

Inside of the pyramid, the mysterious jackal had Star uncounscious over a tablet and then proceeded to wrap up mummy wraps around Star. As the young alicorn woke up, the jackal said:

“Rejoice, child. Your search is over. Anpu, Guardian of the Waypoint, shall take good care of you. Just as he cares for all the beautiful things in his collection! Wrapped, anointed and preserved. Forever!”

In the hallways, Dusk was looking at Opal’s device, noting Star’s signal.

“Star’s close” he said. “Let’s sneak around back and see…”

“Mighty Helm warriors do not sneak” Mallet replied, as he rose up his word to hit a door.

“Mallet, no!” Dusk called.

Mallet slammed his sword at the door, causing an alarm to be activated. Anpu, hearing it, said:

“More for my collection…”

And he left his collection room.

Back to Dusk and Mallet, the door behind them closed and various traps had been set, causing Dusk to take Calabrass and say:

“Calabrass, quick! Eye of the Aeria!”

Dusk and Calabrass gained the powers of Aeria and so, powered by the lightning, Dusk headed with an immense speed against the door Mallet tried to slam and broke it into pieces.

“Sorry, Mallet” he apologized. “I got better tools.”

They then proceeded their wait, with Dusk and Calabrass now detransformed. They then found the room where Star was and headed towards him, still on the table and wrapped in bandages like a mummy to his mouth.

“Star, we’ll get you out of here!” Dusk said, removing the wrap that’s around Star’s mouth.

“No!” he exclaimed, after being able to talk. “The waypoint! It is here! Anpu said he was its guardian!”

“What did he say?” Mallet asked to Dusk.

“He’s really happy to see us” he replied, looking then to the device.

“No, you don’t understand!” Star exclaimed, while Mallet tried to tear the wraps out of Star’s body. “I have to redeem myself. I must find the waypoint.”

“Cursed linens!” Mallet shouted, having difficulties in freeing Star.

“What are you talk about?”

“It’s my code of honor” Star replied. “It forbids me to return to the ship. It demands that I prove myself.”

“Look, I don’t give a hoot to your code of honor, Star” Dusk replied. “We got to blow!”

That caused Star to sit and angrily glare at Dusk who then said:

“That’s not quite what I meant. Your code of honor is very important, but can’t it wait until…”

Mallet grunted as he finally teared the mummy wrap.

“Argh! Finally! No linen would even beat a Mighty Helm warrior!”

“Okay, now we have to get out of here” Dusk said, getting hold of Calabrass.

But then Dusk was captured by Anpu, using one of his tentacles and pulled him in, while saying, putting wraps around Dusk’s body, while Star charged his horn and Mallet took his sword:

“None of you shall leave this place. You shall be part of my collection. You desire the waypoint of Dezer to free yourself from the Triangle?”

“Uh, something like that” Dusk replied.

“The Triangle is like death: once you’ve crossed over… you never return!” Anpu exclaimed.

“Mallet, Star, go back to the Chaos!” Dusk told. “That’s an order!”

He made sure they would see Calabrass on his hoof. And so Mallet took Star and carried him away. Turning to Dusk, Anpu told him:

“Your life force will mingle with those who, like you, sought to escape my grasp.”

“Sorry, Anp, I’m not collectable” Dusk replied. “I’m an original! Calabrass, Eye of Vapir! Now!”

Activating the Eye of Vapir, Dusk and Calabrass transformed and so Dusk used mist power to get out of Anpu’s grasp and evade his attack. After that, he flew away, phasing through walls to get out of the pyramid and then return to the Chaos, while the weather started to get gloomy.

Having barely reached the Chaos before Calabrass run out of energy, Dusk fell on the deck and, while grunting in pain, he got up and asked to his friends (with Mallet having already returned to the Chaos):
“Ah-ah, how awesome was that?! Do we rock or…”

But he didn’t finish as he noticed not everypony was on board.

“Where’s Star?”

“Tried to stop him, Cap’n” Clover replied. “Turns out he can punch ghosts.”

“Wait, he’s gone? Again?”

“To look for the waypoint” Mallet replied.

“Impossible. Nobody’s that stubborn!”

“Apparently, he has not been informed of that” Opal replied.

“Starboard!” Calabrass shouted.

Everypony looked at their left side of the Chaos, causing Calabrass to clear his throat.They then all looked at their right side and saw an army of scorpions marching. The Chaos started running to the direction of the scorpions, with Dusk at the helm and Opal and Mallet beside him.

“I have a signal!” Opal told, looking to her device. “No claws, no tail…”

“You found Star?” Dusk asked.

“And, from these power readings, it appears he’s found the waypoint” Opal told.

“So did Mallet!” Mallet replied, pointing ahead. “Look!”

And they all saw it: the waypoint of Deser. It was a platform with the symbol of Dezer at the base and with an altar where there was a lock that was a perfect fit for Calabrass’s blade. Star was standing beside it, saying:

“I am redeemed!”

It was then that Anpu immerged from the sand, right behind Star, saying:

“Redeemed? No. Doomed? Yes!”

He tossed Star aside and captured him.

“I am Anpu, master of sand and scorpions! Guardian of the gate! No one leaves the Triangle!”

He then extended his paw, pointing it to the waypoint. It then started to get out of the sand, with its base being a drill.

The Chaos reached the place where the waypoint was and Calabrass told Dusk:

“Quick! We must activate the waypoint before it disappears!”

“But what about Star?” Dusk asked.

“We cannot save Star and open the waypoint” Calabrass said. “It’s one or the other. The choice is yours, Captain.”

And so the Chaos started to head towards Star. Seeing that, he told:

“No! The waypoint! The good of the many before the good of just one!”

And so the Chaos changed direction, heading towards the waypoint. Seeing that, Star smiled and said:

“You acted like a true captain, Dusk. I’m proud of you, little brother.”

But then he saw something that really surprised him. It was Dusk was coming while surfing on the Plank.

“Yo, Anpu dude!” Dusk called. “Heads up!”

And he charged Anpu, causing him to fall. Dusk took that to grab Star and pull him to the Plank.

“No, this is not what you should have done!” Star told. “You fool! You cannot give up the waypoint!”

“First off, you’re welcome” Dusk told him. “Second, who says we can’t do both?”

Getting up, Anpu noticed Dusk and Star approaching the waypoint and so he started running towards them.

The plank returned to the Chaos and Dusk and Star landed on the deck.

“Coordinates set” Opal said. “Next stop: waypoint!”

Seeing the waypoint, Dusk took Calabrass and proclaimed:

“I am Captain Dusk Storm! And in the name of the Seven Seas, I claim this way…

Suddenly, the waypoint disappeared, moving to a much distance point, making Dusk to gasp. Noticing Anpu nearby, he said:

“That dog-nosed so-and-so moved it!”

“That means… I never made a mistake” Star realized. “It was Anpu. He has the power to move the waypoint!”

It was then that Anpu leaped onto the Chaos.

“Anpu!” Dusk shouted. “You cut me off right in the middle of my awesome speech!”

Star then started firing at Anpu, but he didn’t feel any harm. He then summoned a thunderstorm and an army of scorpions, ordering them to attack. Commanding the Chaos with the helm, Dusk tried to evade the attacks of the first two scorpions, causing them to run into each other. Mallet then jumped out and, using his sword, he crushed the eye of two scorpions, with more starting to approach.

Meanwhile, Star was fighting Anpu. Nearby, Clover was also fighting against the scorpions, using their beams to make them attack others. When one was about to attack him, the Chaos blasted it, saving him. Dusk was fighting and beating the scorpions that tried to climb into the Chaos. But then he noticed that Anpu is summoning more scorpions that started coming.

“Concentrate your attacks on his head” Dusk told his friends. “Maybe we can knock some sense into him!”

“Yes, together we can distract him” Star said. “We can weaken him long enough to beat a retreat.”

“Retreat?” Mallet asked, on top of a pile of defeated scorpions. “Mighty Helmet warriors know no such word!”

“Mallet, not you too!” Dusk said.

“I suppose we could charge… the other way” Mallet said, returning then to the Chaos.

Seeing Mallet returning, Clover also returned to the Chaos, teleporting.

“Okay, let’s try this again” Dusk said, summoning the Plank and jumping onto it. “Only this time… together!”

Mallet also jumped to the Plank and they started flying around.

“Yes” he said. “Come to me! Come to your end!”

“Not today!” Star replied.

And he and Opal both fire at Anpu. Despite not doing any effect on him, prevented him from moving.

“Push him!” Dusk told them. “It’s working!”

And so Dusk and Mallet both jumped down from the Plank, with Dusk exclaiming:

“Eat justice, Anpu!”

And the two of them both punched Anpu off the bow of the Chaos. After that, while everyone was celebrating, Clover said:

“If I were funnier, I’d crack a clever joke about dogs digging holes! But I’m not…”

But he didn’t finish, as one of Anpu’s claws appeared and grabbed Dusk, pulling him out. Not only that but two scorpions surrounded his crew.

Dusk started to recover from his fall and then Anpu grabbed him by the belt of the scabbard and then told him:

“No one leaves the Triangle!”

The scorpions were piling onto the Chaos, what really worried Dusk. Anpu prepared to strike Dusk with his tentacles, when the young unicorn then noticed the thunderstorm and got an idea. Grabbing Calabrass, he told:

“Calabrass, give me the Eye of Aeria!”

Once they transformed, Dusk used Calabrass as a rod to attract lightning and electrocute Anpu and the scorpions. Anpu fell down, while releasing Dusk who detransformed, and the same happened with the scorpions. The storm cleared and Dusk leaped back onto the Chaos, saying:

“Now, where was I? Oh yeah! To the waypoint!”

And the Chaos started walking to the waypoint. Seeing them approaching the waypoint, Anpu said, while extending weakly his paw:

“Nobody… Nobody escapes my grasp!”

Making a gesture, he made the waypoint to disappear. Seeing that, Dusk said:

“What?! Ah, man! Not again!”

With his duty accomplished, Anpu also disappeared in the sand.

“When he said no one leaves the Triangle, he meant it” Star commented.

Later, while Chaos was walking towards the nearest vortex, Dusk said, while Opal applied bandages to Mallet’s right arm:

“Well, we’re not mummies in some noob’s collection. I’m calling that a win.”

“This requires exemplary punishment” Calabrass said. “Star has stranded us all on this ocean of sand.”

“What are you talking about, bone brain?” Dusk asked. “He found the waypoint! He’ll find it again.”

Star nodded to him, now confident he could find the waypoint.

“Hey, Star, I don’t know about your code of honor personally, but I do know you’re the best second-in-command I could ever hope for” Dusk said. “More than that, you can be a better leader than I am. I believe in you, big brother.”

Having said that, he hugged Star.

“Even though my stubbornness put us all in danger?” Star asked.

“Not stubbornness, honor” Dusk replied, ending the hug. “Honor is one of the most important things to have. That, and friends.”

“And perhaps, a good wrench” Opal added.

“And handsome calves” Clover said. “Definitely.”

All that caused Mallet to tear up and then say, while trying to hide it:

“Mallet has headache in his eyes.”

“If you thought my code of honor for failure is extreme, you will definitely not like what it says about determination.”

Hearing him saying that caused them to gasp, but then Star started laughing and said:

“You should see yours face! Priceless!”

And he continued to laugh, while the others continued disconcerted.