Cherry finally ended up falling asleep in the branch of one of the younger trees not too long before dawn. With a sad sigh, Donguri threw a blanket over her and then went up the hill to speak to the three Mother Sakuranoki.

After listening to the first one's worried plea, he placed a hand on its trunk and promised, "I will stay with all of you until the end. You won't be alone, my friends."

The second one whooshed at him as well, and he replied, "I know, I miss them all too. Trust me, I mourn them just as much as all of you do."

The third one spoke so quietly that he could barely hear it. With a slow nod, he agreed, "It won't be safe here for much longer, but I will let Cherry stay as long as I can. This is her home."

A chilly Early Autumn breeze blew through, blowing a cloud of thousands of cherry blossoms out of the branches of all of the trees. They swirled around for several seconds, then blew off into the lonely, slowly-lightening sky.

He watched the sunrise silently. For as long as he could remember, he'd loved getting up early enough to watch the sunrise, but today, its beauty was lost on him. Everything was falling apart around him, and poor Cherry hardly even had a clue...

As he was thinking this, he heard the sound of someone approaching. With a gulp, he grabbed a nearby spade and prepared for the worst. But when the someone crested the hill, he saw that it wasn't a foe, but a friend.

"A Star Warrior. Greetings. What brings you here, friend?"

The Star Warrior, a light blue puffball person with green eyes, nodded breathlessly at his greeting and then flopped down under one of the Mother Sakuranoki to catch his or her breath. They were dressed in the uniform typical of an SWA Scout: a plain brown, thick cape that would be good for camoflauge or staying warm, brown leather shoes, and a plain brown beret-style hat with a golden star pinned to it. Their Warp Star, which had shrunk down to badge size, proving that they had earned their name and were qualified to serve in the Star Warrior Army. After a minute, the puffball sat back up and addressed him.

"Sorry about arriving so suddenly. This is Sakuranoki Farm, right?" The Star Warrior's voice showed him to be male.

Nodding, Donguri agreed, "That it is. Again, what brings you here? Good things, I hope?"

The Star Warrior instantly grew professional. "Private Tracker of Reverence Clan, sir. I've been sent here to collect something of the utmost urgency and import."

Chuckling weakly, the Brownie assured him as he put down his spade, "There's no need to be so formal, Tracker. If you're trying to get a tree, I'll tell you now that we're closed. Besides which, these things are obsolete. The Lord of Nightmares has found a way past them, they won't work for protection purposes anymore."

 The Star Warrior hesitated, then shook his head. "Then all hope is lost, sir. One of your trees is desperately needed on the Planet Popstar. The Fairy Forces we've been working with there suggested you to help us, and-"

With a frown, Donguri urged him, "Slow down, Tracker, and start at the beginning. Why do you need one of these things so badly if you've already got the Fairy Forces and some Star Warriors there?"

Nodding slowly, Tracker took a deep breath and started his explanation with a question. "Have you ever heard of the Star Rod or the Fountain of Dreams?"

After shaking his head, Donguri sat down underneath one of the trees across from the Star Warrior. He had a feeling this was going to take a while. "No, I can't say that I have."

The Star Warrior nodded again, then looked off into space. "Well, on Popstar, there's a country known as Dreamland. Actually, the whole planet is part of this one country. So Dreamland is one of the more magic-filled places in the Galaxy. You see, the inhabitants can't have nightmares, because there's this magical fountain, the Fountain of Dreams, that prevents them from even happening."

"That's handy," Donguri commented as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the tree he sat under.

Laughing, Tracker agreed, "It sure is. Popstar's actually one of the places where soldiers most want to be stationed. The fighting's no picnic, but it's a lot easier than in someplaces, and no matter how bad things are during the day, you don't have to find yourself revisting them at night. But anyway, the Fountain doesn't just prevent nightmares. It's one of the strongest forces of good in the Galaxy. Because of this, no matter how many of his Nightmares the Lord of Nightmares sends there, they're never able to get much of a foothold, because evil creatures can't stand the goodness of the land. But there's a couple of places that the Lord of Nightmares is bound and determined to get rid of.

"One of them he's already suceeded with. It's called Tick-Tock Clock, and in his attack on that city, he also forced the people who lived in the area above, called Fancy Free, to evacuate to the Fountain's general location. In Tick-Tock Clock, there's a powerful relic known as the Time Pedastal. This Time Pedastal was a gift from the Ancients to the Time Travelers of all species. It casts a magical charm over the whole Galaxy that prevents Time Travelers from ever Time Traveling, except for when it is actually necessary in order to keep time together. You know that if there's nothing to prevent it, Time Travelers will just keep Time-Traveling until they've lived so many lives, been so many different people, and been through time and space so many times in one lifetime that they'll basically just dissolve mid-travel, never to be seen again. But with the Time Pedastal, their number of time-trips is greatly limited. This also allows them to always be able to return to their home, whereas otherwise they'll eventually be unable to go home anymore. Well, it used to do all that stuff for them, anyway. The Lord of Nightmares has poisoned it with one of his experiments, known as Dark Matter. Now he has control of time itself, and can send monsters to Dreamland at any time, from any time. For example, he could send a monster today, and have it arrive last week. Thankfully, he can only send his Nightmares through time to one place in Dreamland and not the rest of the Galaxy."

Interrupting because he had never really been interested in all of that 'Time Traveler' stuff, Donguri changed the subject. "Back to the people from Fancy Free. So for some reason, the Lord of Nightmares has some sort of a grudge against these people and has followed them there, and that's why you need the sakuranoki?"

Tracker shook his head again. "No, he doesn't hate them any more than he hates any other Light species. But the Foutain of Dreams, aside from keeping him from being able to take over the planet with his Nightmares, since no nightmare can survive in Dreamland as long as the Fountain flows; also is the creator and home of one of the few things he fears: the Star Rod."

With a slow shake of his head, Donguri murmured, "The Lord of Nightmares actually fears something?"

Nodding once, Tracker agreed, "He fears a few things. He fears the Star Rod, the star sword Galaxia, the Master Crown, some substance of unknown origin known only as Light, and the foretold Warrior of the Stars. Legends say that the Star Rod is one of the few things that would be able to aid the Warrior of the Stars in bringing him down, and because of this, he either wants to harness its power for his own, or if that's impossible, he wants it destroyed."

Donguri frowned. "But what do you want a sakuranoki for? I still don't understand..."

With a sigh, Tracker explained, "The area the Fountain is in has to be heavily guarded all the time, because the Lord of Nightmares is continually attacking it. We can't afford to keep stationing as many forces there as we already do. So, at the suggestion of General Stellar herself, we're working on building a garden hedge around the Fountain of Dreams, which the Star Rod lives on top of. With the assistance of the Fairies, it's already starting to become a really beautiful place, much better than the mess that's currently around it. Of course, as soon as the Fountain is safe, the whole country around it will begin to heal. But we need something to protect the garden, because obviously a hedge fence isn't going to be enough, even if the Fairies have charmed it to only allow Star Warriors, Fairies, and a local species known as Waddle Dee in."

"So that's what you want the sakuranoki for. To strengthen the spell around the garden, to protect the Fountain of Dreams," Donguri slowly realized. "But what happens if Nightmare somehow manages to get to the Star Rod and either claim it as his own or destroy it?"

Solemnly, Tracker closed his eyes and informed him with a heavy sigh, "The same thing that would happen if he ever got ahold of Galaxia or the Master Crown and made them his own. Game over, for all of us." Rubbing his forehead, he sighed, "You know, I wish that Warrior of the Stars would hurry up and show up. Hasn't he already caused enough trouble for all of us?"

Astonished, the last Brownie questioned, "How is any of this the Warrior of the Stars' fault?"

With a tired sigh, Tracker leaned back against the tree and pulled his beret down over his eyes. "Haven't you ever wondered why the Lord of Nightmares seems to particularly like picking on my people?"

With a thoughtful frown, Donguri guessed, "Isn't because Star Warriors are the species most willing to try and fight him off?"

After a moment's hesitation, the Star Warrior agreed, "Well, that's part of it. But it's also because the Warrior of the Stars, the only one who will ever be able to truly stop him, is going to be a Star Warrior. And so, he hates us, because he knows that his end will come from us. And that's why he comes after us more than anyone else: he's hoping to get rid of us all before the Warrior of the Stars even comes along. Sure, it's a bonus if he gets rid of some other civiliztions along the way, but he hates Star Warriors more than anyone else in the Galaxy. I guess you could say he fears us more than everything else he fears combined."

The Brownie slowly nodded, trying to absorb everything he'd just heard. Looking up at the clouds in the early morning sky, he sighed, "Yeah, he certainly is good at getting rid of civilizations, isn't he? I'm the last Brownie, and my adopted daughter Cherry is the last Oracle Fairy. She doesn't even know that, but she is."

Surprised, Tracker pushed his beret back out of his eyes. "Really? An Oracle Fairy? I thought the last one went to sleep a couple of decades ago, and I'd heard that no New Fairy ever followed her."

With a disgusted snort, Donguri disagreed, "That's just what people say, because she was born without wings and they don't like that. You don't need wings to be great or special, I as a Brownie can tell you that as a fact. Anyway, as far as they know, she didn't make it through her first winter. I didn't know what she was until she started telling us about these vivid dreams she was having, and they sounded like they were taking place on Popstar sometime in the future. So I did some research and learned that her Mother Fairy was the last Oracle Fairy left by the Ancients, and the only one to make it to become a flower. The Lord of Nightmares had already dealt with all of the others. Cherry's the first Oracle Fairy that wasn't directly left here by the Ancients, and since she's wingless and therefore might not turn into a flower when she lays down to sleep for the last time, she might very well also be the last Oracle Fairy to ever bloom."

Seeming a bit awed, Tracker murmured, "Wow. Has she ever seen anything about, you know... Us... well, making it through this war? And, you know, winning?"

Slowly, Donguri shook his head. "She dreams mostly about the Warrior of the Stars, his mentor, and a handful of other Star Warriors, although she doesn't know that's what they are. We've always told her that her mind's just making it all up because we didn't want her to have to know about the Star Warriors or the war. As an Oracle Fairy, she'd automatically feel obligated to go try to help, and since she's wingless... she'd just end up hurting herself. So we wanted her to be able to stay here, safe and sound, but it doesn't look like that'll be possible much longer. All of the others are already gone, Sakuranoki Fairies and sakuranoki both. Anytime now, the Lord of Nightmares will come here to ensure that not a single sakuranoki is left in the Galaxy."

Rolling his eyes, the Star Warrior muttered just a tad bit bitterly, "You know, since he can get past them now, you'd think he wouldn't be so bound and determined to get rid of all of the poor trees..."

Sadly, Donguri informed him as he placed a hand on the root of the tree he sat under, "It's because he hates their beauty. Anything graceful, anything beautiful, anything found good or pleasant by anything that is Light, he hates with all of his being. He'll stop at nothing to make sure they're all gotten rid of. I'm sorry I'm unable to help you. You're free to have a sakuranoki, but it won't do you any good. He'll be able to get right past it and to your Fountain. Again, I'm sorry."

Tracker grew quiet. "Then I guess we're really all doomed. Without the tree to increase the strength of the spell to keep him out, we won't be able to fight him off from the Fountain much longer. Soon, he'll be able to do what he wishes with the Star Rod, and then it'll all be over."

Both of them felt hopeless, albeit for different reasons. You see, this had been Tracker's big chance to prove himself. The Scout had always been the weaker type. He'd been a member of the SWA for almost a decade now, but he'd never made it past the rank of Private in the Scout Forces. He'd been sent on this mission against the wishes of his superiors, who said he'd be unable to handle it. They said if he hadn't been able to move up through the ranks at all in ten years, how on Star World would he ever be able to bring back the sakuranoki they needed? According to them, he was probably the most worthless soldier in the whole Army. And if he couldn't even manage to bring back the tree that the fate of the whole Galaxy rested on, they were probably right.

Donguri, on the other hand, felt hopeless because it looked like the Lord of Nightmares was going to get his way. How could anything stop him now? At least he didn't have the star sword on his side... at least Galaxia was safe...

A couple of hours passed, during which Tracker took a well-deserved nap. (He hadn't slept once since the night before he left Popstar a couple of days before.) Donguri was about to doze off himself, exhausted from spending the whole night comforting the mourning sakuranoki, when he suddenly heard Cherry scream in fright from the general area of their cottage.

"Father! Come quickly!"

Filled with fear, he leapt up and ran down toward the cottage as fast as he could. "Cherry! What is it?!?" he shouted ahead as he ran.

Her answer made his heart stop for several seconds.

"Father, it's Galaxia... It's gone!!"