At the top of the stairway of platforms where the atmosphere was thin was a crumbling dirt cliff which Derp ran to the edge of and stopped abruptly. He looked down and noticed clouds floating under him slowly, like a snail that became a puff of smoke and was blown away by the calm but sudden wind. He gulped and stepped away as Ellie landed right behind him; She was definitely mad, but funnily enough had a flower sticking out from the top of her head.

'Dead end,' she snarled, readying a cannonball and aiming it directly at his chest; 'And now you're dead.' Derp jumped into the air just before she fired the cannon, bouncing high into the air and leaping over her, taunting her with a backward somersault before landing firmly onto his feet, albeit a little sloppy.

'Sorry, I'm not ready to die yet,' he shouted, pointing to her in a posing fashion; all of a sudden a fireball shot from his finger and blasted Ellie back a few steps, he looked at his paws which were glowing a dim orange-red.

'What the heck was that?!' he thought to himself out loud as a cannon bolted into his chest, launching him off the platform and sending him hurtling to the dark and soggy ground below. Gasping for breath, Derp tried getting up onto the cannon and surf it to the ground- As he did, just before the cannon made contact with the surface of the grass he leapt into the air at the last second, barely escaping death as he rolled along the floor for a long period of time. Coughing up some stray mud he arose to his feet once more and made a run for it. He couldn't fight the Dark Shaman alone and unprotected, but he couldn't help but think what on earth happened with the fireball he shot earlier.




Meanwhile, the others had only just come across the large tower of platforms and were examining one of the cannons that still had a strange aura surrounding it.

'Could it be...?' Kaoru thought out loud. Everyone looked to her with a curious look- as if she had seen something like it before. However she didn't give much thought to it, as she shook her head and looked away, pacing forwards much quicker. 'N-Nevermind... Let's keep goin--!' CRASH! THUD! She was interrupted by Derp, who had unintentionally ran into her and knocked her to the ground before tripping over her and rolling along the ground for a few meters.

'Nngh... That hurt,' he groaned as he picked himself up. A cannon bounced right beside him as Ellie looked down at everyone with a grim smirk.

'Well, it seems you're all here,' she spouted, readying another cannon that began to glow green. 'I think it's time to put you in your place once and for all!'

'Wh... Why is it--?!' Bela stammered, stepping backward, wide-eyed and trembling. Everyone then started to move away as Ellie cackled maniacally; her eyes began to turn black as everyone began to feel weak and stiff. Derp wasted no time as held his paws close together, concentrating all his energy to them as an orange sphere began to form.

'I won't let you do this... I won't just become a mere burden to everyone and then wind up making them die, having done all this for nothing...' Tears rolled down his cheeks as he held up his paws, revealing a large fireball that was getting bigger and bigger as he built up his energy. The others watched in astonishment as Derp looked to them;

'Cover me while I charge it, I only have one shot at this!' Derp shouted to the team as he looked to Ellie who was charging her own blast. Kagerou got a sudden flashback as she recalled the moment she was given a Shaman's Feather, which she took out and looked at, looking to everyone who were scrambling for rocks to distract her.

'It's time... Let's end this once and for all!' she thought to herself as she ran past Derp and casually slipping the feather onto his head. Derp felt a strange energy flow through his veins as the feather began to light up, enveloping him in a strange white aura.



It was a race for strength as the bright aura surrounding Derp began to enter his body, the fireball began to grow bigger, the heat in the area was beginning to be too much to bear for the others as they ran for cover.

'I will not fail... I will not disappoint you anymore...' he mumbled as his stance changed and the aura began to dimmen as it finished entering his body, revealing mint green markings on his body, as the feather changed it's colour, as well. Only there were three of them, now! Derp let out a shout as the fireball began to shake violently, Ellie's toxic-green cannon was getting much bigger, as well.

'It's time to end this!' Derp shouted as he thrusted his arms forward, aiming for Ellie as he fired the colossal fireball right at her. Ellie hesitated for a moment before firing her huge green cannon- The power of the cannons were at an absolute stalemate. The pressure of both diety's attacks colliding created a shockwave which cracked the ground Derp stood on. He was beginning to sweat, holding the fireball up for such a period of time exhausting his strength as he had not yet learned how on earth he was even managing it. Only one being could inform him of this strange power, but he had to know where she was... if he got out of this alive Keeping her cool, Ellie built up her power much more as the cannon pushed against the fireball, lowering down more and more towards Derp, the others could only witness as the conclusion to the battle was reaching it's verdict of who the victor was. Derp dropped to his knees with a loud thud which echoed in the distance.

'No...' Flashbacks of Derp's nightmare before the start of his adventure flashed in his mind as he felt weak, his arms shaking.



'I'm not going to die--!!' Ellie merely chuckled as a spiritual bond between the large fireball and Derp broke, his arms dropped to his sides as the pieces fell to the ground and faded.

'I'm afraid... You were dead from the beginning.' Derp's nightmare became reality as the combination of the fireball and the cannon merged together as it moved closer and closer before...

KA-BOOM!

The helpless mouse let out an agonized scream as the merged attacks exploded violently, the new shockwave from the explosion knocking everyone back several hundred meters, obliterating trees and rocks. Derp had managed to survive the explosion, but he couldn't move... He couldn't breathe... His life hung by a snapping piece of string as he laid in an enormous crater. His entire body was coated head-to-tail with blood, the candle on his hat was dim and the feather had burned up in the flames, leaving him definitively defenseless. He looked back on his adventure...

His objective.

His friends.

He began to quietly sob as he realized he had failed his mission, the people who were depending on the team, but most of all he had failed himself.

'I'm sorry, everyone...' he cried, 'I've let you all down...' Ellie landed beside him, stepping into the pool of blood that surrounded him.

'It seems you're going to die as you lived... A burden.' she said as she laughed, taking to the skies and flying off. Vision fading, body heavy, Derp let out a pained scream which could be heard from the mansion.







'It seems my time is up... I'm coming, Deity...'