Miran KND: "Ghostbow" Juniper. They grew up a hunter in the forests of Gormott, their homeland. As an operative, Juniper became famed for stalking and sniping thieves and monsters, moving swiftly through the woods using grind-rail harpoons. Juniper based their colony in Maktha and trained their operatives in maneuvering around the forest with these techniques. They also established their own farm in Colony Tau, and seemed to grow close with Supreme Commander Zeon over their shared love for farming.
A light, bleak rainfall began to water Maktha, along it soft thunder. Vanilla's body fizzed wherever the droplets touched. Colony Tau thanked the Go-Getters by sharing their reserve rations, replenishing their stamina after all they'd been through today. "Well, we'd never expect anyone to come up that elevator." Juniper said. "It's never worked since we based here. I never thought I'd be so glad to be taken off-guard."
"Mmm," Kansai chewed a large turnip, "if ya have more of these bad boys, we'll ambush ya more often!"
"But we can't stay." Pochi said. "Some friends of ours were just captured. I know it's short notice, but you think you guys could help?"
"Sure! Do you know where they are?" Juniper asked.
"Nyoro mentioned waterfalls." Pai answered. "And that Colony Lambda caught them."
"Lambda? Yes, their base is at the bottom of Cotte Falls. We saw them while we were… you know, and it seemed like Mio, Sena, and Taion were with them."
"Yeah, we know." Pochi nodded. "So, if we can free them, they're sure to be a big help."
"Listen, they have most of the routes to their colony watched by hidden cameras. But the route at the Cotte Fountainhead isn't. We could sneak up on them from there."
"We'll give it a try. Will those two be alright here?"
He gestured toward the soldiers that were retrieved from the Ferrons, one an Urayan with glasses and another with black hair and icy horns, both in small cells. Their arms and legs were robotic. "Are they cyborgs?" Tattsun wondered.
"They're Colony 0 operatives." Juniper answered. "They're children who were kidnapped by a villain and modified to pilot Ferrons; a new brand of Face Mechon. I suppose they're connected to their own clock."
"Nothing we can do for them until we find their base. At least Dunban made it over here. He can watch them."
Dunban was wearing a hillbilly straw hat and overalls, sitting on a rocking chair next to the prisoners and rubbing his sword.
"Do you have a place Chuko can rest, too?"
"Hold on." Chuko pushed herself up from the tented dining table. "I…I'm good to go now."
"Whoa whoa, you ain't goin' anywhere." Kansai stated. "We finally found a safe place to rest, so you can't go out and make yourself worse."
"I said I'm fine! What if there's another consul you'll have to fight? You won't be any good without me to fuse with."
"In your condition, I'd be pullin' all the weight in our Fusion, anyway."
"Grrrr! I'M COMING, LIKE IT OR NOT, cough, cough!"
"She's a lot more spry, at least." Vanilla said.
"The fountainhead is made of spirit water." Juniper said. "If she drinks it, she might get better faster. Isurd and Mio can also help if we manage to free them."
"Gnnnn…ugh. Fine, you can come to drink the water." Kansai complied. "But we're stayin' back unless we're really needed."
"Deal."
Cyberspace
"UGH! Son of a-!" The Genius stormed out of the bathroom tripping on his own dropped trousers. He wore a white lab coat and light-blue shirt, defined by his spiked blue hair and monobrow. "I! Another Life Clock just went offline! Ya can't, burp, keep letting this happen, I, I'm gettin', burp, ahem, I mean, ME, I-me, am getting irritated with-" He wobbled his way into the control room.
"Well, you're sharply dressed today, Dr. Sanchez." A portly woman remarked. She had a black shirt with a wide skirt, its top half yellow and bottom red, both with a triangular pattern. Her brown hair was in wide spikes with a gold headband and red jewel in its center.
"Omelette! BURP! Hey, you know the rules, we don't… say, our real names, here, burp, there's eyes… and ears watching, Omelette, burp!"
"That explains why you have your name plastered clean on your underwear."
Sanchez's angry face was depicted on his underwear, along with the words, Suck my Rick! "Pssh, don't look at a man's tidy-whities unless, burp, ya plan to give him a nice leopard pelt bed." He squat down to pull his pants up.
"Sigh…I'm sorry for having to leave you with this man, Sage."
"It's been tolerable." Sage replied. "So, Doctor… do you know who that girl is? That Blade?"
"Honestly… my only guess is she's your other half."
Five years ago
Returning to this planet brought back bad memories. The place where her father died. But Omelette had been asked to research the black fog on the new continent… and it was there she picked up a powerful data signature. She followed it to the Black Mountains, into what seemed like a gothic prison compound. She found a black, red, and white crystal… and it reminded her of a certain ally.
Omelette returned to her ship and inserted the crystal into her computer. The data that came pouring in was incredible. Too much to even process. But amidst that data, she saw six colored hearts and a larger black heart. "It can't be! Are these the Pure Hearts from Aincrad?! And the black one is… How did they end up here?! Huh?!" The virus alarm began blaring. "NO! Eject, eject! Log out all systems, reboot!"
The six hearts spiraled wildly before connecting. But when they tried to become a unified heart, it wound up cracking in several places. "AAAAH!" The crystal shattered into particles, red, black, and white. Many of the white particles scattered away, never to be gathered… but the black and red ones slowly reconnected before Omelette's eyes. They shaped and took a semi-solid form: a girl with a black dress, white hair, and several parts made only of data.
The girl opened her single red iris. Omelette, having fallen from the burst, looked at her directly. "Who… are you?"
"I'm… Dr. Omelette. The greatest scientific genius on Mobius!"
"Mobius… Omelette. Huh! You're the one Father spoke of!"
"Father?"
"You are the daughter of Dr. Eggman… the man my father served."
At that moment, Omelette knew. "You're… Infinite's daughter?"
"No. I was born from nothing."
That crystal looked like the Phantom Ruby, a rare gem imbued with strong Matter Chi. The gem that was used to stabilize Infinite, Eggman's mercenary accomplice. But this wasn't the same one. The last time she spoke with Infinite, after Eggman's death, he had given up. He chose to stay on Mira and look for a place to die.
A looming mountain, cold, desolate, and flowing with black fog. To his one, red eye, it was a gigantic gravestone. He climbed until his weak matter would succumb to the weather. Then, he found the ruins of a dark prison. Perhaps he was fated to arrive here first. …But amidst the prison's fog, there was a crystal. Familiar, yet different. Could this crystal also preserve him? No… that would be the opposite of what he wanted. Or was it a sign? Just why did fate let him find this gem? He stepped closer and picked it up. It was different from the one he was thinking… but still very familiar. He pressed the crystal into him… and his very matter dissolved into it.
"And from that moment," the child continued, "…I became a conscience. When I heard his voice… I became aware. And now…" She stared at her data hands. "I finally… exist."
Present
"Your father found the dataspace that housed the Pure Hearts and the Chaos Heart. They were likely taken by God Deoxys and wound up there when he made that continent. But it wasn't until I tried to download that data that your 'birth' was instigated. Parts of that data seemed to scatter while the rest of it formed you. We were still in Mira's atmosphere, so it might be that that data became lost in it. And this project, converting Aionios into a game world controlled by you, seemed to finally restore its form. The Chaos Heart and combined Pure Hearts formed two hearts in that dataspace… except the Pure Hearts were still missing pieces and therefore couldn't stay whole."
"So, that Blade is the other heart. Then she must be stopped! Or I'll fail you and Father!"
"No you won't, Sa-"
"Yes she will, burp, and don't you lie to her!" Sanchez yelled. "Don't lie… to I! Thankfully, Cosplayer and I—I mean, myself, we already came up with a plan for this. A Driver… I, what you need is a Driver. Everyone needs a good Driver to give 'em a cozy ride home after a night on the booze."
"You mean to say a Blade Driver. And I see." Sage acknowledged. "If my opposite is using that boy as a medium for her power, then I need my own medium. Is that why the Cosplayer went to-"
"Pardon me, I, but we will have need of your aid soon." O's voice spoke.
She returned down to the map. "Affirmative."
Cotte Falls
"Oh!" Pai gasped. "This is the same forest we landed in, Aniki!"
"Well, you picked a nice spot to land." Pochi smiled at the glimmering blue flora.
"We'll have to swim across the spring." Juniper mentioned. "Just watch out for Dorampé and Doramma." They indicated the Quardun and Quarmu swimming around.
"They attacked another one of those Colony 0 mechs before we got away." Aniki said. "They might still be aggressive."
"Just stay along the left."
"Um, about that…" Vanilla began, "I'm already not good with water, I'm not sure how my digi-body will last in deep water. Wait, Reycho, are you waterproof?" He nodded. "Great! Do you mind if I stay inside your body?" He shook 'no.' "Thank you, Reycho!" She glitched inside, Reycho's eyes blinking between both of their colors.
"You never thought 'swimsuit' would be one of your functions, huh?" Tattsun remarked.
The group swam to the shore on the other side of the spring. From here, they overlooked the Cotte Falls. "There!" Juniper pointed. At the falls' bottom, a band of Agnians were surrounding some captives; one of which was unmistakably Mowchan.
"He makes a good waypoint, that's for sure." Kansai said.
"Why haven't they executed them, yet?" Pochi asked. "Something's wrong here."
"We ain't gonna wait for them to do that, right?!" Aniki stomped. "Let's get down there and save them!"
"Yeah. Kansai, Chuko, stay here. We'll try to be quick so you won't have to endanger yourselves."
"Hey, I ain't the one you should worry about." Kansai said. "So, yeah… you better get this done quick."
…
Dawnhero Isurd was a handsome young man with silvery-brown hair, a small blue gem on his forehead, and lines of the same color that arched along his face, through his blue eyes. He wielded three-pronged weapons in either hand with yellow energy rings around them. As Mowchan, Suna, and Nyoro sat tied in energy nets, Isurd cautiously studied Suna closer. "Hmmm…" Being looked at like some animal was simply infuriating and she'd welcome no greater opportunity than to kick him in the nards. "It's too early to say these monsters are really harmless, yet they don't seem hostile. It's quite… absurd."
"Oh, I'll show you harmless, boy." Suna retorted.
"Suna…" Mowchan whimpered.
"Way they speak gibberish," Manana begana, "and sit so well-behaved, would suggest they intelligent species?"
"But what if they're like the Kevesi… or ourselves?" Taion wondered. "What if… they're trying to feed their own clock? Besides, we were also told they can corrupt us. We should destroy them before they get the chance."
"But if can, why not corrupt us before?"
"Maybe they need to destroy our clock first?" Mio replied.
"All routes bring us to the same conclusion." Taion said. "They're a danger to us, no different from Keves. We must dispose of them."
"We can't! I mean… there's just something about them. It's like… they fear for their lives in a way different from us or Keves. And I want to understand what this fear is."
"Oh, Mimi…" Sena was warmed by her friend's kindness.
The Go-Getters and Juniper reached the last layer before the bottom, crouching on the cliff. Pochi focused on the girl with the fiery ponytail. "It's really her… Sena!"
"You know her?" Jennu asked.
"Sena is our mom's Blade. It's how she found out she…er, we could be Drivers, too."
"Yeah…!" Tattsun lit up at the notion.
"Heh, it's pretty cool that she became part of the Top Sector. But anyway, I don't see the Ferronis."
"I bet I know." Juniper said. "There's a large cavern behind that waterfall."
"Then Reycho, it's off to the waterfall!" Vanilla sparked within her robot vessel. "You guys can make a diversion by saving those three! We'll be out of here lickety-"
"NAEUUUU!" The earth-shaking cry woke them from their focus. "Wasn't that… the Titan?!" Pochi gasped. "There!"
Above the cliff opposite of the falls, the rain seemed to be shaping around an invisible force; a chameleon shape. It opened its mouth. "It's gonna spit that slime again!"
"Aniki, let's fuse!" Pai exclaimed. "We'll block the slime with a large barrier!"
"Right!"
"Heh…" Pochi figured they must've come to an understanding while the others were separated. He channeled power and fused Paniki!
"What was that sound?!" Isurd asked in worry.
"I feel a disturbance in the air." Taion said. "…And it's probably THAT!"
He directed their attention to the huge Paniki monster on the cliff. The Aion spewed a meteor shower of slime clods, but Paniki created a golem and, with it, projected two barriers to serve as an umbrella. "Yo, that's Aniki and Pai!" Suna exclaimed.
"They got back together, huh?" Nyoro smiled. Mowchan shared the sentiment; this meant he was really clear to fuse with Nyoro again!
"Well, this complicates things." Jennu said. "You'll probably need me to get up there."
"Our friends come first!" Pochi said as he and Yuki formed aura swords. "Juniper, you can keep your vantage up here. In fact, do you think you could shoot Suna's net? The girl with the helmet, I mean."
"I'll try!"
"Okay. JUMP!" They leapt down the cliff as Jennu's bending softened their land on the shallow ground. Isurd, Sena, and Mio were first to lead the attack, the commander shooting energy rings from his weapons. Paniki's barrier blocked them, afterwards flipping the earth beneath him to fling Isurd away. Pochi and Yuki slashed and dispersed Sena's fireballs, the former blocking her hammer with his sword while Yuki dealt a cut to her hip and broke her stance. "Sorry about this…"
"Sena!" Mio splashed them away with a strong wave, going to her friend's side to make a Water Shield.
"Bad idea." Tattsun smirked. He stuck his fingers into the bubble and channeled lightning, sizzling both girls.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of!" Taion huffed. "We were just wasting time until their backup arrived! Well, I'm not about to-" He turned his papers onto Mowchan, but Suna spun to kick him off his feet. The net bound her arms and legs, but her roller-blades were still free and she was still nimble in this position. Taion recovered and positioned his birds to dart into her, but she was quick in rolling and evading them; meanwhile, Mowchan lied down and bowled Taion over.
"SUNA!" Pochi called. "Stay still for a second!"
"Still?!" That was Suna's least favorite thing to do, but she trusted Pochi's guidance.
"In fact, try to spread your legs, that might make it easier!"
"Easier for what?!" Suna tried to spread her legs and stretch the net as best she could, though the binding was still tight.
"Much thanks." Juniper finally loosed their arrow, piercing the space directly between Suna's legs. The net strings were pushed and ripped.
"YIKES! Warn someone before you do that!" Suna gave a more forceful stretch and ripped free of the net! She swiftly kick-sliced Taion's birds as they tried to swarm her, afterwards flipping to slice Mowchan free. She then turned to Nyoro—she became a squid to slip out of her net and reform. "You could've done that all along?!"
"There wasn't really a safe moment to."
"Hey, look out!" Mowchan quickly bent over the girls like an umbrella, protecting them from the Aion's slime storm. "Ewww…at least there's a lot of water to wash this stuff off."
"We owe ya for that one." Suna said. "Let's help them do something about that thing!" Suna sped out toward her teammates, quick to counter Mio's Water Slices. She flipped and chopped both skates onto the Gormotti, who blocked and withstood with her Moonblades. Tattsun was able to land another shock to Mio, Suna following with a hip kick. "Tattsun, I say we fuse and give that Titan a shock!"
"U-Uh…" Tattsun hesitated. If they fused, she might see his memory with Rex. He promised not to mention Rex to anyone… let alone let Yuki find out.
"Just be careful not to shock us!" Pochi channeled power. Their two matters scattered and merged into each other… but they suddenly repelled. "Huh?!"
"Now THEY'RE having problems?" Paniki questioned, stomping boulders that Sena would hammer away.
"The heck is wrong this time?!" Suna shouted.
"Ummm…" Tattsun fiddled his fingers, needing a good excuse. "You know, our time apart got me thinking… you've been kinda mean to me, Suna."
"EXCUSE me?!"
"You're always hitting me or threatening me, you never support my ideas… it's just not very comforting."
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
"Hey, I think it's about to shoot its laser again!" Jennu said.
"Screw this! Jennu, fuse with me! Now's your chance for a partner!"
"Uh, okay!"
"That will actually help!" Pochi proceeded to fuse them instead.
Being her first experience with it, Jennu was astonished by the vast space of screens around them. She felt unsafe standing on the bottoms of Suna's wheels, yet both were still balanced. "I wish I could musicbend, too!" a little Jennu said to a taller Zathurian. She had seemingly all white skin with a white buttoned dress, her hair half red and half white. Each side had two loops on top and long braids ending in two loops.
"You don't need musicbending to be a singer, Jennu. You already have such a nice voice!"
"Uta…" Jennu whispered.
"Oy, how long are you gonna keep fumblin' around on those things?" an older girl said to a fallen, 8-year Suna, her voice loud and gangster-like. "You ain't gettin' nowhere in the KND like that!"
"Ghondor…" Suna glared.
"Jennu! I've been invited to the Symphogear program!"
"Really?! That's great!"
"Hmmmm…" Jennu scowled.
"Guess who's goin' to Mira, Suna Lusa?" Ghondor rapped. "I'm too good for this world!"
"They're sending you away 'cause you keep getting us in trouble, and they're sick of it!"
"Dang right." Suna glared.
"…I think we loved our sisters very differently." Jennu blushed.
"I didn't even know you had one. But let's not get distracted by bad memories."
"Duly noted."
The Fusion of Juna floated cross-legged in the air. Suna's wheels were on Jennu's shoes while Suna's shoes replaced their hands. Their knees and elbows equipped with pads, while their head was made of only Suna's helmet, with purple braids hanging out and Jennu's eyes peering sharply through.
"Incoming!" Paniki sent a golem to block the Aion's laser with a barrier, protecting them, but the impact blew the group down and spread a circular tidal wave of the surrounding water.
"Boy, that was a close one." Yuki said. "Ms. Juna, can we count on you?"
"Well, we didn't grow shoe-hands for nothing! Let's fly!"
Juna uplifted the duo as their gauntlets combined into Lucky. Their eyes narrowed with conviction on the chameleon Aion. As it revealed itself, its body was of a smoothish texture with a sharp protrusion along the middle-top and bottom of its face, folded in cheek webs that coursed with fiery energy, a thin spiked spine, and a hole at the end of its tail. "At least it wants to fight fair now." Pochi said. (Play "Break Through It All" from Sonic Frontiers!)
Boss fight: Dreadwyrm Aion
Juna changed their gravity to fall toward the Titan; its orb-shaped eyes rolled aimlessly while shooting constant lasers, so Juna relied on Suna's maneuverability to evade them. The eyes looked as poppable as balloons: Pochi aimed his sword to PIERCE the left one directly in the pupil, with Juna immediately moving them in an arch over to the right, piercing it. The Aion furiously shook them off, flinging them several meters before Juna stopped them midair. Dreadwyrm spat a storm of slime around the air, the kids avoiding it on their way to its main body. Pochi tried to land a firm cut to the body, but his sword seemed to bounce right off. "Crud! I can't cut through this slippery-bouncy texture!"
"MR. POCHI!" Yuki screamed when the Titan suddenly lashed its tongue to snag them all, made of staticky Velcro material. It yanked them into its mouth, swishing around to coat them in slime before shooting them out like a cannon. It intended to shoot them across the Wildwood, but Juna could still redirect gravity so they fell down, then curved to splash into the waterfalls. The slime washed off as they immediately fell back toward the Aion. The eyes seemed to repair, seeing them as it shot its tongue—Pochi slashed off the tip. The tongue receded and did a curving lash to surprise them, but Yuki took Lucky and sliced the next tip. Closing in on the Aion, its tongue lashed at several more angles, but the two exchanged the blade to slice it bit by bit. Finally, Juna would slam her bottom shoes against Dreadwyrm's lower lip, then shoot up to bend the upper lip with her hand-shoes. This left Pochi and Yuki to soar in and dice the inside of its throat, the Titan sparking in pain before shaking them out.
Dreadwyrm shut its mouth and inflated like a blimp. Its tail hole blew a strong gust, allowing it to fly. As the four pursued, a red gap formed in the sky, Sage herself appearing. "SAGE!" Yuki exclaimed.
"You've disgraced me enough!" Enforcing her will over the sky, the rain intensified as lightning struck Dreadwyrm. Its body absorbed the energy as its neck fins opened; solar panels that would stir up the energy. It faced the ground and unleashed a powerful electro laser.
"That's WAY too much for me!" Tattsun panicked.
"AAAH!" Isurd screamed. "EVERYONE, TAKE COVER!"
"SAGE, DON'T!" Yuki screamed.
"HYAH!" Paniki combined their own barrier with a golem's, Taion flew his origami above it to apply their barrier, while Tattsun pushed it back as much as his bending would allow. The barriers shattered, but everyone survived.
"Is that thing trying to destroy both our sides?" Isurd wondered.
"The monsters helped us!" Mio said. "I…I don't understand…"
"Commander!" another soldier yelled. "Something's making its way toward the Ferronis! It's attacking Nimue!"
"What?!"
"Tch!" This only worsened Mio's confusion. "I'll go stop it!"
"I-I'm coming with you!" Sena followed.
"That's a low blow, you creep!" Juna yelled, falling as fast as they could. Working with Pochi/Yuki, they all spun as both their roller-blades and Lucky tried to dice the Titan's balloonish body, yet its armor kept repelling them. Dreadwyrm spun and stretched out its spine spikes, attempting to fly toward and saw them the same way. Juna spun the opposite way to kick up against its spikes, ultimately slowing its rotation. With that, Pochi dug Lucky into a space between the spikes, cleaving up and down to clear them away. Juna spun them once more to saw directly into the spine's gap, the Titan holding in its cries of anguish. Dreadwyrm spun to whip them away with its head, giving itself more distance as Sage focused more lightning into it.
Dreadwyrm's solar panels fire another Thunder Beam toward the surface. "It's do or die, Aniki!" Paniki readied their arms and, with quick timing, formed a barrier just when the lightning connected. The Perfect Guard sent the beam straight back, but it simply reabsorbed into the panels. "Fools." Sage cursed. "You didn't think that would-"
"Gave us enough time for this!" Juna kicked the Aion's head strong enough to spin the balloon around, so the beam would shoot skyward. Dreadwyrm flew away once more as its eyes ejected, flying independently as they shot their own lasers into its body. The energy absorbed and shot stronger bursts from the solar panels, and this was along with the slime globs that blasted from the eye socket cannons. "Now you're just cheating… but this gives me an idea." Juna caught some of the globs in her gravity. She would close in on the Aion and orbit it like a bloated moon, making the globs rain and cover its body. The eye lasers continued shooting it, causing the slime to dry-roast around its armor.
"No! It's ruining the armor!" Sage exclaimed.
"'Bet it's not so bouncy now!" Pochi declared. Juna focused gravity all around Dreadwyrm's round body, the Driver and Blade exchanging Lucky to land cuts all over it. They made several loops around different sides of the planetoid, enough to cause air to leak out and for the Aion to deflate. It plunged and crashed atop the cliff above the falls. The eyes were still afloat, blasting more rapid lasers at the kids. Juna looped them around so Pochi could impale Lucky into the back of one, then Juna flipped toward the other to grab it in all four feet. They fell toward the recovering Titan and shoved both eyes backwards into its sockets. They kept bashing the backs of the eyes, forcing lasers out and causing the entire head to implode. The friends exchanged smirks: Pochi and Yuki clasped Lucky firmly as Juna focused intense gravity at the innards. The duo fell in with great force, mulching the Aion's insides and popping straight out the tail.
Juna used her last dose of bending to send the Aion's remains skyward, allowing it to explode with endangering the cliff or their comrades. The fireworks lit up the falls as scraps rained. The Cyber Key landed in Pochi's hand as Juna floated them back to safe ground. (End song.)
Juna diffused, the four splashing into the water. "Uuuugh…" Suna groaned. "Jennu!" The Zathurian was floating limp, quickly running to lift her up.
"So… tired…"
"She really worked hard today." Pochi said. "Now we just need to wrap up with these guys. How're you feeling, Yuki?"
"I'm hyper-pipper-poppity pooped!" Yuki cheered. "But I can go on a bit longer!"
"Heh heh! Looks like the rainfall caused the water level to rise. It's gonna make it harder to move, but we can't stop now!"
Inside the Clearwater Shelf, Reycho was frozen by Nimue, a girl with icy hands, feet, and a forehead horn, along with soft purple hair. "There. Now, what to do about that creature in the Ferronis? AAH!" Nyoro threw an F-Bomb at her, drenching Nimue with ink. Mio slashed water at the Inkling, but Mowchan sat his massive rump right atop the little cat.
"Now I see why my parents wouldn't let me have a cat."
"UGH! GET OFF ME!" Mio was barely able to push the giant up.
"Let's cut her down a size." Nyoro aimed the Weenifier and shrank Mio. Mowchan got up to avoid hurting her, with Nyoro leaving her at house cat size before she could flee.
"MIMI!" Sena immediately ran to her, Mio extending her arms for her friend's help. "You monsters!" Sena brashly picked her up. "You shrunk Mimi! Oh, Mimi, are you okay?!" She gave her as warm a hug as she could. "I'm so sorry!"
"S-Sena, I'm fine, but you're k-kind of crushing me now!"
"Guys!" Vanilla glitched out of the Ferronis. "I found the Life Clock, it's a little ways west of here!"
"Where do you think you're going?!" Sena batted a sapphire fireball, and as Vanilla dodged, the ball's heat spread close to Reycho and melted him free. Vanilla glitched inside the robot as they fled.
"I was about to say we might need Chuko's help, but that was lucky!" Nyoro said. "Time to split!"
They made it outside the waterfalls, rejoining their teammates. Juniper had Isurd grounded in the water. "Just what are you things after?!" Sena yelled. "We tried to spare you and understand you, you protected us from that thing, but you're still hurting us!"
"I'm sorry, Sena." Pochi said. "Don't worry, we'll have you back to normal soon. Vanilla, which way's the clock, we're going after it right aw-"
"Hey!" a soldier yelled. "My gun!"
"Huh?!" The guns all rose against their control and unloaded fire onto Taion and Sena.
"TAION!" Isurd screamed.
"SENA!" Mio fell into the water and was splashed away by Sena's falling body. "Sena, wake up!" She swam to Sena in desperation. "AAAH!" Consul O splashed down and shot Sena directly in the Core Crystal, derezzing her. "NO!"
"HAHAHAHA!" Consul J splashed and swiped the kitty up, snapping her neck and derezzing her. "Well, that was a close call, eh?"
"YOU TWO!" Pochi rasped.
"YOU KILLED THEM!" Paniki flipped the earth against them, but both consuls evaded.
"We can't close the show that early, kids! Especially before the big finale! Yours, that is. Now, presenting the double act of J the Joker,"
"And O the Ocelot!" O twirled his guns and stood back-to-back with J. "I, we are ready!"
Sage appeared above them. "You two better not mess up this time." Channeling power, the two's matter disassembled and merged.
Ocelot and Joker stood afloat in a black space of red code, surrounded by memories. "I used to think of Fate as EVIL. Predetermined. Not by some higher power, but by the rules of human NATURE." A red-caped figure ventured across the dark walkway, unsuspecting of the bat that preyed on him. "Now I understand. There are no chance encounters. It was all meant to be. It was all leading to the one I met tonight." He was taken by the bat and thrown into an abyss from which there was no return. "Even in a crowd of other screwballs, you're so alone that you can kick, claw, and scream at the top of your lungs, and no one cares. It's like you don't even exist. But tonight… I've met someone I can actually relate to. Which, believe me, dear, I've never felt before."
"Bats…" Joker spoke.
"This is what your government has done to you!" Ocelot punched the jaw of a fellow elder, both men shirtless with muscular torsos. "They cloned you to fight for them and don't even allow you a full life. GUN may accept mutants now, but your leaders will never change! It's not too late, brother! Let us be comrades again! On our last breaths, we will demolish the world they desire!"
"Someday… this world will change, Ocelot. I've already seen it myself… what those kids have done. It's too late for us to change anything… but we can watch those kids grow into something greater. Someday… they'll change the world again. But I'll let them have a world to change. So, let us die… with our ideals."
"Snake…"
"Do you wish to be with him again?" In parallel screens, two different hands from the same person extended to them. "To do what you love for eternity? I can give you both." The screens panned up to a portly, grey being. "Join me… and I will give you that eternity."
"J… I will never understand your feelings for that Bat." Ocelot said. "But we both strive for an Endless Now. Let us work toward that 'now' together!"
"I suppose I'll take what I can get." (Play "Moebius Phase 2" from XC3!)
The Go-Getters couldn't believe it! Sage had actually fused them. O and J became… a huge man with a plumb-purple coat, a juicy-yellow head with green hair and a mustache, pedaling a large unicycle with a revolver wheel, and four arms with which to juggle revolvers. "EW!" Suna cringed. "He looks like he's full of orange juice!"
"Or a Simpsons character." Tattsun inputted.
"A Simpson made of OJ?" Vanilla queried.
"I made some additional touches." Sage said.
"Hoho, it's sure given me the vitamins, I tell ya!" OJ exclaimed. "Let's make sure these kids get-"
Paniki tackled them with a golem, OJ blasting powerful juice jets from his coat flowers to shatter it. "Well, no one ever taught these kids manners." Aiming their guns, they fired juice balloons that exploded with deadly force, Paniki defending with a shield.
"Ugh…" Unfortunately, they had spent too long in their Fusion. As the juice bombs kept bombarding them, they were doomed to fall apart.
"Dang!" Pochi cursed. "Yuki, we can still fuse the others."
"Yo! What's that thing?!"
"Kansai!" Vanilla exclaimed. The baseballer was on the cliff above the falls, Chuko riding his back.
"Hey, you're just in time!" Pochi called. "Get down here!"
"Alright, Chuko… I hope you're ready."
"I got your back, don't I?"
"Safer than yours." Kansai held tight to his teammate and leapt. Pochi and Yuki fused them midfall, the pair drawing their axe-ended bat and SMASHING OJ's head.
"OOOOUUUUCH! YOU POPPED ME! Just kidding~" They shot Kansuko away as a new head sprouted.
"Nyorochan, you too!" They fused Nyoro and Mowchan. "And…" Pochi's gaze drew to Vanilla and Reycho, who were already fused. "I wonder if we can improve that?" Pochi focused the Fusion effect on them anyway: Reycho grew pink rabbit ears with a monkey's tail and feet, his eyes still Vanilla's.
"WOW!" They excitedly hopped on the surface of the water, light on their feet. "I'm fine with this! Make way for Reychilla!"
"Well, I didn't think you'd come with your own circus." OJ remarked. "I won't let a rabble of amateurs steal the show!" The surrounding water became juice. "Time for beddy-bye!"
"Yuck! Even Mowchan didn't pour that much!" Nyorochan said.
"WHY'D you have to say that?!" Suna shouted.
Boss fight: Fusion OJ
Reychilla glitch-skipped across the juice, and OJ knew it would be fruitless to shoot the bunny-chimp. When Reychilla reached them, they tried to glitch around the villain and whack or slap him, but OJ's CQC countered each blow. He snagged the monkey's tail and stuffed an Orange Grenade in their throat, but tossed Reychilla skyward when Nyorochan bowled him over. Reychilla glitched away from the grenade before it burst. Nyorochan kept rolling with the clown flattened, but OJ hopped upright above Nyorochan and balanced on them like a circus ball. When they caught on to this, Nyorochan bent up and twisted their legs around the clown like snakes. They swung and bashed OJ around the juicy ground before tossing him to Kansuko, who dealt him a hearty swing with their Kilocorn Axe Bat. The blow knocked several Orange Grenades out of his coat, but in the position he splashed in the juice, OJ began to surf around it like a dolphin.
"Well, Chuko, time for this cat to go fishing!" Kansuko smirked. They crouched on all fours while wrapping the bat in their tiger tail. They hounded after OJ, laying scratches with burning claws or swinging their axe, while OJ used his hind hands to shoot explosive juice balloons. Nyorochan rolled to intercept OJ, but the clown shot into the air like an acrobatic, remaining aloft with revolvers. O's power willed the guns to float, while J's converted them into circus cannons to blast giant oranges. Reychilla, meanwhile, collected some of the dropped grenades. While dodging the cannonballs, they chucked the grenades at OJ's arms, knocking him out of the sky. Nyorochan squashed him with a Ground Pound while Kansuko chopped and popped his head.
The villain shoved Nyorochan off and shot Kansuko away, inflating a head with an upside-down face. They fired juice streams from their flowers, which Nyorochan countered with ink streams from their utters. OJ also focused its cannons on Kansuko, who sliced the oranges with their axe, but the juice would burst and blind their eyes. "CRUD! I can't see anything!"
"Then use our ears, dummy!" Chuko stated.
"Ah, mouse ears! I guess they're good for somethin'!"
"Grrrrr!" Honing their hearing, Kansuko dodged the cannons and whacked flaming baseballs in their direction to destroy them. OJ had submerged under-juice to pop out and shoot Nyorochan from any direction, the cow curling up to endure it. Reychilla glitched onto OJ for one of these occasions, landing on the upturned chin and grabbing the jaw. With their ape feet grabbing the neck, they mustered the strength to throw OJ toward Nyorochan, who met him head-on with their sharp squid head.
"Now, the clown isn't supposed to be juggled! But if you're going to tackle me, I'll be the pitcher!" OJ retreated and began to grab orange footballs from his coat. He threw them in the juice as they spun like torpedoes, bound to explode. Nyorochan rolled in a curve toward the clown to evade the footballs, distracting him. Reychilla grabbed and held onto one until it slowed down.
"Reycho, over here!" Kansuko called, ready at bat. Reychilla beamed and threw the ball, and Kansuko's swing would give it great force as it crashed straight into OJ. As the clown lay weakened, Nyorochan rolled back to their friends.
"Let us have a turn with that!" Nyorochan rolled into Reychilla, but they were too heavy for the little Fusion to lift. "Okay, backup plan." Nyorochan extracted the Weenifier from their ink and steadily shrank their selves to a manageable kid size.
"This calls for a change in perspective!" OJ twirled his four revolvers and rose skyward. A giant cannon materialized, beginning to grow a massive orange. "You kids are in for a sunny awakening!"
Reychilla lifted the minimized Nyorochan and threw them to Kansuko. With a mighty swing, Nyorochan blasted straight for the cannon's opening. Midflight, the Fusion resized their selves. The orange was ready to launch, but the giant's speed and mass pressed it right back in. "Eh?! Uh-oh." OJ said.
The juice was a sun spreading over Cotte Falls, soon to pour amongst the rain. Nyorochan diffused upon being sprayed away, Nyoro thankfully landing on the giant's belly as both lay unconscious. OJ, also, returned to the earth, separating with a splash. The juice turned back into water. (End song.)
"Keh…pleh…" J gagged, he and O emerging in heavy breaths. "Now, that… was much too… sour…"
"This isn't over!" Sage stated. "They're weak now. Finish them off-"
"Boy, seems like we're in time for a party!"
To their surprise, Valdi and Nikol came flowing in from a river cave, backed up by some colony mates. "Nice of you to show up!" Tattsun said.
"Yeah, we took a shortcut through the Urayan Tunnels. I guess the map wouldn't have depicted that very well. Ah, Juniper and Isurd! Yoohoo!"
"More monsters?" Isurd spoke hoarsely. But between them and the consuls who killed his comrades, he wasn't even sure who to fight, anymore.
"Sigh…it seems our bond was not strong enough, J." O said.
Kansuko diffused. "Darn right! That's 'cause we're the KND Go-Getters! HEY, HEY, HO!"
The remaining conscious ops grinned and thumbed up. "Hmph…is that what Snake saw in the ones back then?" O wondered. "What rubbish. I… we are withdrawing."
"Hmph…" Sage turned her glare to Yuki. "You won't surpass me…" She conjured balloons on O and J to uplift them away, afterwards disappearing.
"Joker…" Pochi repeated. "He… really looked like the Joker from Batman comics."
"Probably just a cosplayer." Kansai shrugged.
"Even Ocelot… I feel like I heard of him from somewhere, too. Ahem, Juniper, Valdi, help carry some of these guys. We have a clock to find."
"It might be in the tunnels you just came out of." Vanilla said.
"There's another way in up there! Let's go!"
Yzana Plains
A new sprinkling system watered the farm and grassland: balloons that floated upward diagonally as two streams of red poured down from each of them. The Kevesi would always derez at the moment of death, along with their blood, but with this method, they would bleed out from the legs before perishing. Consul P could still Rewind and Replay the event with his timebending. "Well, despite the drawbacks I has cursed us with, this is acceptable. We'll just have to get a little creative."
"That won't be a problem to you then!" R smirked. "I'm already havin' fun meself! Ain't that right, Noah?"
After a strenuous but losing battle, Noah and Eunie were on their backs with severed legs. "Ugh…even if you're from Agnus… consuls aren't… supposed to fight…"
"No worries, we'll still harvest your EXP in our own clock. Only reason we don't just slaughter all of you is 'cause the Cosplayer wants a good, bloody war game. Pixelly blood, at any rate. At least I had the honor of slaughtering Dunban and Melia's brats at least once."
"What?! Who's-"
Mumkhar beheaded Noah with his scythe, his body derezzing. Eunie was too horrified to even scream his name. Her own quivering eyes grew smaller in the reflection of the reaper's scythe. "It'll all feel like a bad nightmare in a moment. But even bad dreams can stop your heart if it's scary enough."
Slice.