Double Dragon?

Seraphim appeared in the beach, slightly bewildered. He had planned to stay in his 'house' until he got some answers, and now he'd been teleported to the beach? He supposed it was a plot derivative he slightly needed, but didn't appreciate the way it was done. He scooped up some sand, then looked at his boots and armor. He wasn't exactly outfitted for the beach... Where was his obligatory seawear? The gritty sand would get into his leather boots, the sun in his eyes...

Ugh.

Maybe this particular game was just kinda--

Breaking the theme? He didn't know, but he treaded on through the sand, sighing vocally. It seemed more like a desert than anything...

[Battle 1, Start! Druidman can join up Mid-Battle if he's man enough.]
A gust of wind blows across the net, bringing in leaves that swirl to form... Druidman.

Druidman examined himself carefully. He seemed to have fully recovered from his bout with Drauchen. He turned to look at his surroundings.

He was in a sandy area, that was for certain. The sand would help him track, but only if the trail was fresh. Further investigastions showed what looked like almost a beach resort type cluster of buildings, but one thing was certain: they had long since been abandoned.

Normally, when he jacked into the net, he could see other Navis wandering around. But not here. This area had a sense of a dead area about it. Then he spotted Seraphim a ways off.

"Sera-dude!" he called. "Hey, man! Wait up!" he said as he hustled to catch up with him. He remembered that Seraphim was kind of a weird customer, but that was better than no one.
Druidman and Seraphim trek along, footsteps lightly depressing the sand...

Until eventually they spot what appears to be a thick, hardcover book laying on the ground on the path ahead.

Hm.
((DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU!))

"What the heck is that, man?" Druidman said, scratching his head.

"Uh, it looks like a book, Druidman." Steve called into his PET, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Well, duh. But what's it doing here?" he stooped down next to it as he looked back up to Seraphim. "What do you make of it, dude?"

Rubbing his chin, he sighed. "Must be left over from whatever made all the people leave. Someone dropped it or something." He scooped up the book. "Here, you take a look." he said as he walked to hand it to his new busting partner.
"Hey, it's a save point!" Seraphim commented as he reached out for the book.

"I guess there's a boss fight coming up!" His clothes shimmered, and suddenly he was down to his boardshorts. He held the beach parasol in one hand, opening it up and providing some shade.

[Equip Swimsuit!]
The book-

-reappears in Druidman's right hand, with his left now holding a mysterious pen.

Hmm.
"Wait, I think that you're the party leader, you had better use the command to switch it over to me, or I guess you could save..." Seraphim commented, still on his train of thought, which had derailed and gone its own way long ago.
"What?" Druidman said somewhat dazedly. He wasn't sure what was weirder, the fact that Seraphim had somehow instantly stripped almost naked, or the fact that the book instantly was in his hand.

"Uh, command?" he continued. "What are you talking about, dude? If you want to call the shots, that's cool, I guess." he shrugged. He had no reason to argue the point.

"Right now I'm all freaked out about this gnarly book. What is this thing, anyway, man?" he said, and he flipped open the front cover to see if he could find a title page or a publication date or something.
"I think you're supposed to sign your name in it or something," Seraphim commented idly. He pondered over the book, and looked for one of his own curiously. Perhaps it was a sidequest for one of the alternate party members!

"Oh right, Your name was-- Druidman, right?" The navi pondered some more. He shrugged, taking a closer look at the book himself.

"Hey, it--"
The first thing Druidman notices is a blank page.

The second thing he notices are words, written in black ink, which appear from nowhere. "I am the Book of Perils." they read.

"Write something."
"Uh, our names? Sure, I guess. What's the harm?" he said.

Sticking his tounge out of the corner of his mouth, he printed in a somewhat messy scrawl: Hello, Book of Perils. I am Druidman, and my friend is Seraphim.
The ink seeps into the book, and a short reply appears in its' place.

"Your names, to me, are worth 8 letters each, nothing more. You are my 'Master' for now, and the navi next to you is nothing more than cannon fodder you like to carry along with you."

The words disappear as Druidman reads them, and are replaced with:

"Would you like to begin?"
"Cannon fodder?! I'm the main character!" Seraphim hmphed, looking at the book disdainfully as if it were an obstacle to be defeated. Although, that began to spiral into another tree of derailed trains, as the navi grimaced slightly, closing up the parasol.

"Well, lump of paper, I'm ready." He spoke with a slight smirk, holding the oversized umbrella like it was er- an actual weapon.

He tilted his head slightly, "We going to your personal resort, compressed wood pulp?"
Druidman smirked. He liked Seraphim already. It was clear he was a bit of a control freak, but that was alright since he himself was a laid back type. This book, however...

Druidman looked back at the book, grabbed the pen, and wrote again.

Yes.
Two things happen in rapid succession.

The first thing that happens is Seraphim is struck by a blue lightning bolt from the sky, damaging him slightly. (20)

The second thing that happens is a large white rectangle appears in the air: A doorway.

Seraphim: 180
"OW!" Seraphim glared at the book, raising his parasol, and grimacing. With this insult, it was obviously an enemy. He raised the parasol, leveling it and pulling a trigger located low on the base.

Whoomph

A carefully aimed column of both compressed air, as well as a bullet of tremendous size was fired at the book, trying to send it into the distance.

1] Arc Shot [50, Microburst, Phasing] +Snipe
2-6] Step through door

[Passive cure, 36 HP]
The book flies maybe a quarter of an inch before reappearing in Druidman's grip, completely still and unharmed. The pen flies about four inches before doing the same.

Seraphim also cures back to full health.
"Well, uh." Druidman said. "Maybe you should holster that gunthing until there something actively coming at, us, okay, Seraphdude?" he said cooly, closing up the book and putting it on a strap of his belt.

"You coming, man?" he said as he stepped through the white doorway.
Steve Druidman and Seraphim step inside to find...

Area 1: The Temple. ...appears on the book's pages, though it isn't open for anyone to see...

The pair finds themselves standing on a large stone 'landing' with an incredibly tall, wide, and thick stone wall behind them, as well as the doorway (which closes).

Upon the landing are two tall stone walls, each with a wheel near the bottom on the side facing Seraphim and Druidman, and a weight attached to a pulley on the backside. The weights are resting upon the ground.

At the end of the stone landing is a long stone staircase leading up to a giant temple; a section of the staircase is missing, made to be floating in a small pool below where the 'hole' for it is.

Aside from all of this, the rest of the area is surrounded by thick bamboo that would look like an 'impassable wall' in a video game.

Hm.
Seraphim's first thought was of the obvious. It was also spoken out loud.

"Hey, this isn't the beach!"

His second thought was viewing the area and that one immediately went into a tree of a plethora of ideas.

This was a puzzle.

"I think we're supposed to turn the wheels to get out of here, raise the door or something." He said. It was a rather obvious solution, but the usual method was brute force, anyway.