Author's Note:
Even though this is being advertised as a Mario fic, this story will contain elements and characters from plenty of other series. But unfortunately, since doesn't allow me to list more than one other series as part of a crossover, I am telling you this now instead of just listing the first series that gets referenced. This is meant to be a culmination and conclusion of the entire Part 4 story, so it only makes sense that some of these concepts be brought up again. Thank you for sticking through this long anyone who has been reading this, and well...There'll be a lot more to talk about come the end of this.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it? You have occupied yourselves with the whims of the Chronicler for whatever tales he had to weave for the last two years, but now you find yourselves returning to me for the splendid of my side of the story. Hmmm, I assure you, the events taking place in the universe have not escaped my sight, especially when I have foreseen all that you have witnessed a thousand years beforehand. You do not believe me? Then let me start from the beginning and see just how accurate I am, shall we?"
"It all started with a wish, a foolish and naïve wish from a boy to help those across the universe. But he was scared to go out into the universe after he learned of the darkness that had taken residence in his mind, and thus created a clone to take his place in this task. The boy was imparted the memories necessary to survive and given the name Riku, though I shall admit I am humored by the misaimed reasoning behind giving that name. The boy then set off, leaving his birthplace of Earth behind after not even a day of existing."
"His travels first took him to the land of Hyrule, where the inexperience of his profession caused the power of darkness within his body to be taken by the King of Evil, Ganondorf. Saved by the Hero of Time, Link, Riku and him set out to right the wrongs brought by Ganondorf and restored peace to Hyrule. Even with the Master Sword and the Seven Sages helping them, fate had terrible plans in store as the power of darkness combined with the resting subconscious of Demise within the Master Sword caused the Demon King to be reborn within his reincarnation, and tragedy befell Hyrule as Link was slain and Riku fled the world in fear."
"Wandering the universe, Riku eventually fell unconscious and ended up getting involved in the affairs of the Galactic Federation and the bounty hunter Samus Aran, both of whom would have to deal with the resurgence of Phazon and the rebirth of it's wielder, Dark Samus. With Phazon flowing in his veins by a tempered stroke of fate, Riku fought alongside Samus to dispel the phantoms infecting many worlds until they eventually confronted and destroyed Dark Samus permanently on the reborn Phaaze, though the act cast Riku into a state of unconsciousness for many months and sent him hurtling through space."
"Eventually he awoke only to find himself on the dreamful planet Pop Star, his body changed to match that of the hero, Kirby, though his powers were also spread out across the planet. After a quick journey to recover his powers, Riku and Kirby along with the masked warrior Meta Knight fought against the forces of Zero and the revived Dark Matter forces, who manipulated many enemies including Kirby's other archenemies Dedede and Marx in order to gain entrance to the Mirror World and rejoin with Dark Mind to become the fabled Galacta Knight once more. But Riku's determination shown through, and the creature was trapped in crystal and sent hurtling out into space…"
"Then Riku decided upon training himself, figuring that he'd learn something about how to better master his elements and come up with a method to bring back the dead. In the process, he fused Light and Darkness together to create the Chaos Form and awoke the sealed dragons Takashi and Sodenko accidentally. After some confrontation, Riku eventually earned their trust and got them as allies, with him also learning how to revive one person at the cost of a lot of his energy in Chaos form."
"The fourth world Riku went to was an Earth very similar to his own, but was filled with many creatures that could stand on two legs. The hero of that world, a hedgehog by the name of Sonic, met with Riku and challenged him to a race, but that was shortly interrupted when the villains Eggman and Eggman Nega attacked, sending Sonic's friends after him via mind control. Freeing them from his control, Sonic and Riku eventually confronted Eggman on Angel Island, where the madman revived the invincible monster Nazo, which pushed everyone to their limits in order to stop him for good."
"The fifth world tested Riku the most though, as his desire to interfere with the wrongs occurring in the divided worlds of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant were opposed by the failures he had committed on Hyrule. But in a moment of determination, Riku triumphed against those doubts long enough to remind the tyrant of the two worlds, Mithos Yggdrassil, that his time would soon be up. Eventually, Lloyd Iriving and his seven companions destroyed Mithos and brought together the two worlds with the power of the Eternal Sword. After all the stress of that journey though, Riku chose to seal his emotions away."
"At the final world of his two-year journey, Riku traveled to the world of the gods and helped the young angel Pit fight against the forces of the Underworld. Under the guidance of Palutena, Riku and Pit conquered Medusa, Viridi's Forces of Nature, the Aurum, the Chaos Kin, and even the Lord of the Underworld himself, Hades. But it was on this world that the fabled God of the Forge, Dyntos, put Riku through a series of trials that allowed him to finally conquer his trauma and emotional issues, making him feel alive for the first time in his existence."
"But though his travels to help other worlds in the universe was done for the moment, there was still one threat left to face. A being going under the alias of 'Cryxis' had targeted Pop Star, turning it into crystal in order to lure out the Elemental Overlord that went by the title of the 'Phoenix of Destruction'. Riku entered Cryxis' castle and discovered not only that the man had collected beings of Death across the universe, but that the man in question was the Mad Titan Thanos, a remnant of the Marvel Universe that was mercilessly destroyed by the Phoenix of Destruction. Thanos sought vengeance for the shattering of his only love, Lady Death, but Riku proved to not only be the wrong target but a threat too persistent for Thanos to overcome. In the end, Riku said farewell to Takashi and Sodenko and vowed to put a stop to the Phoenix of Destruction himself."
"And that is where the universe finds itself now, time-wise. To think…It has been over two-thousand years since I have been placed inside of this celestial prison, and we are finally at the year where I shall be freed by the guided hands of fate. Of course, that is assuming all possibilities line up perfectly…Now then, I can tell you have no doubts that I am being truthful regarding my knowledge of events both past and present, but I must also apologize for having to waste your time for this long. After all, you have been my one and only awake guest throughout this imprisonment, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
"But now we must put an end to this tale of the boy called Riku with one last story, an epilogue to these events as you may wish to put it. On this check board the 'higher-ups' wish to use, Riku's piece has yet to be put into the proper place, after all. But I digress…You have had to handle quite a bit of affairs regarding the Phoenix of Destruction in recent months, haven't you my time-honored guest? The time I have had to wait for this moment will forever pale in comparison to what you had to deal with, even if you combined all of my lifetimes across the multiverse together just to match one of yours…Farewell my friend, perhaps you can come visit me once more after I am freed, hmm?"
CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EPILOGUE:
RETURN TO THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM
Chapter 1: His Name Is…
It has been barely a couple weeks since Riku left his two dragon allies behind and began his search for the so-called "Phoenix of Destruction". His search has not gotten him anywhere so far, but even though the task was a high-priority for him he desired to help worlds more if the chance arose. As the expanse of space lies before him, Riku keeps up his barrier of air and remarks to himself "I haven't landed on a planet in a while…Granted, my luck must be bad at the moment since I haven't run into a planet with life on it."
Glancing back and imagining the immeasurable distance of space he has covered throughout the last two weeks, he sighs and says "Perhaps I should've gone back to Pop Star and stayed there for a little bit after all the trouble I went through to save it from being crystallized, but it's too late to remember where it was by now." Riku floats upright and folds his arms together before sighing, saying afterwards "I've gotten good at keeping track of time while in space, in fact I can say with confidence that I've been traveling for two weeks now, but my ability to figure out where I'm at is terrible…"
With a lift of his right hand Riku points towards a bright blue star way out in the distance and says "If only all stars in space could look like you, it'd be easy to identify where I can go and where I have been…But I guess discovery is part of the journey, after all. Lord knows I've learned that from my travels…" Giving up on the matter of figuring out where he is going, Riku begins to turn around to continue flying forward, but then something sparks in his mind for just a brief moment. It was a sharp surge of power, but as Riku felt his head throb in pain for a bit he recognized this power all too well.
"This is…elemental energy…" Riku murmurs as the pain quickly subsides but leaves him feeling a bit of sweat as cold as space itself trickling down his cheeks. He lifts his head up and grits his teeth a bit, commenting in regards to the power surge "That energy felt so violent though…" Putting everything together without a second thought, Riku tightens his arm muscles and quickly propels himself forward through space in the direction of the power surge while stating with a firm expression "That had to have been the 'Phoenix of Destruction'…To think that he would reveal himself so easily…"
Riku braced himself for the inevitable battle against this foe, but after just a couple minutes of traveling through space he was surprised when he did not come across his foe just yet but instead found a planet that was just as big as Earth but had it's own unique set of landmasses. Riku swiftly halted his flight for a moment and glanced at this planet from afar, noticing in particular what appeared to be a couple of cities in the clouds that look almost like dots from where he currently was.
"There's plenty of life in this world, even in the sky…I'll have to find out what's up with that later, right now I need to track the energy of…" As Riku looked around for the specific point where the elemental energy was first unleashed, he stopped talking and noticed something very bizarre in the atmosphere of the planet. There was a hole 'burned' into the atmosphere, created not by a natural disturbance but rather a primordial and possibly chrono-based force. The tachyon particles were easily visible in the air, something that should not be at all possible…
Riku cautiously went to examine the hole in the atmosphere, and the first thing that came to mind was "I remember hearing that the atmospheres of each planet are modified to affect us Elemental Overlords…Then the Phoenix of Destruction must have burned right through that barrier. But these things floating around are tachyons, aren't they?" Riku reaches out to try and touch one of the particles, but the moment he gets close he feels his arm slowing down to such an extent that it feels disjointed from the rest of his body and he quickly pulls back before permanent harm is caused.
"I'll have to be careful here…" Riku comments before advancing towards the hole in the atmosphere, slipping between the tachyons until he ends up past the hole, at which point all he did in regards to it is glance back for a few seconds, afterwards focusing on the planet's surface ahead of him as he descended through the many -spheres of the planet and eventually dropped his barrier of air once he confirmed that he could breathe here. "It would fit in with what Thanos said about the Phoenix of Destruction being able to control time…" Riku thinks to himself as he nears the source of the energy surge.
As the ground composed of arid rocks comes into view, Riku happens to notice the clouds in the sky looking particularly grey while passing them by. Upon landing, Riku looks around and only gets about five seconds to notice the mountains in the area before a large explosion to the east of him forces him to focus in that direction. His eyes widen in surprise before the shockwaves of the explosion spread out and hit him full-on, forcing him to brace his feet against the ground while waves of flame, rock and burnt metal fly his way. Riku has to draw his sword to cut down a particularly large plate of metal before it can pierce through his arm, but he doesn't dispel his weapon as he focuses on where the explosion came from and notices someone emerging into the sky past a thick dark cloud of smog remaining after the blast.
Riku couldn't notice all the details, but the person was quite obviously a human based on the frame and skin color alone. The fact that they were basked in an aura of bright, burning fire made it also clear that they were an Elemental Overlord just like him. "That's him…The Phoenix of Destruction!" Riku proclaims in a somewhat surprised tone before he swung his sword out, refusing to ignite the blade so he could maintain the element of surprise against his foe. But after blinking just once and kicking off the ground to fly at his foe, he suddenly finds that the person he saw has completely vanished from view.
Riku is left in utter shock that the Phoenix of Destruction had vanished so suddenly, and the presence of his elemental energy had also disappeared from sight. There was nothing to indicate that Riku was going to be hit with a sneak attack, especially after many seconds pass by without a single reappearance of the person's energy signature. "Where did he go? Did he use his time powers to escape? But…he couldn't have noticed me, could he?" Riku was left completely flabbergasted by the actions of the Phoenix of Destruction, but upon recognizing that the explosion had to have come from a facility of sorts he quickly turned towards the remnants of smog and grit his teeth lightly.
Dispelling his sword and flying forward, Riku finds a metallic base hidden within one of the mountains, though the explosion from earlier has blown a large crater into the top of the mountain. At the center of the crater was a charred room filled with shrapnel and electrical circuitry, and the ceiling had been caved in enough that it was hard to imagine someone having survived an attack. But even with that thought of his, Riku DID sense a spark of life within the rubble, and quickly descended from the sky into the depths of the crater while surrounding himself in his barrier of air to avoid choking in the smog.
Brushing aside the smog to the best of his ability, Riku also quickly pushed away the exposed wires before waving his hands out to get rid of the flames. Looking around, he notices that there were some broken computer screens to the left, but then upon going for the rubble he sees the broken remains of a metal pole that was used to raise up a platform, suggesting that whatever was here was lifted above the mountain.
But questions would have to wait, as Riku quickly dug his hands into the rubble and effortlessly used his strength to shove the metal plates and stone aside, working quickly since there was no need to worry about the area caving in. His heart raced as he felt himself getting closer to the victim of the Phoenix of Destruction's wrath, but when he removed the final piece separating him from them he widened his eyes for a moment.
What he found lying on the ground beaten to a state of near-death was a Goomba who had golden mechanical arms grafted to his body and the tatters of an eye patch laying close to his mechanical eye. Riku thus realized where he had arrived, even if the creature had features that were unfamiliar on their species. "This is Mario's world…Or at least some alternate version of it, depending on what this Goomba's story is…" Riku thought to himself as he held his hands underneath the Goomba's body and lifted him up, sensing a faint enough heartbeat to suggest that the creature would live if he got treatment quickly.
The Goomba painfully coughs up soot from his mouth and creaks his eyes open slightly, though only the organic one seemed functional as a malfunctioning spark goes off in the other one. Looking up slightly, the Goomba murmurs out to the best of his ability "Y-You…are…Mew…? Hehe…Sorry you…" he falls unconscious before finishing, his voice becoming a whisper at the end. Riku is surprised that his brother's abbreviated name was mentioned by this Goomba, especially since his memories showed that there has not been an instance of his brother being here. Worried more about the safety of this mysterious Goomba than why his brother didn't tell him about being on this world, Riku turned towards the surprisingly unharmed hallways of the base and exclaimed "If anyone can hear me, this Goomba needs assistance! Someone help!"
The clangs of metal are heard coming from the hallway at a rapid pace, and Riku leaps off the burning rubble to meet the person running his way. Once more he's caught by surprise as he finds a yellow-shelled Koopa with a mechanical right arm and an undamaged red scarf wrapped around his left arm. He appeared to be very winded by the way he fervently panted, but upon looking at the Goomba he says "Commander Alpha?!" He was clearly bothered and confused by what was going on, suggesting that he did not see the Phoenix of Destruction enter this place.
The Koopa then lifted his head up and his face went pale in shock upon looking at Riku, murmuring in a ghastly manner "Y-You're actually…" But upon clearly glancing at the color of Riku's hair, the Koopa stops looking on in shock and gestures over his shoulder with his right hand, stating to Riku bluntly "Never mind, we'll talk later. Follow me, Alpha needs medical treatment, stat!" The Koopa turns around and begins to sprint off, and Riku leaves the devastated room behind so he can keep up with the Koopa through the hallways of this base.
Not very long after, Riku is standing in front of a window looking into a medical room, where the Goomba is laying atop a comfortable bed with a breathing apparatus attached to his mouth and some specifically designed equipment working away at his arms in order to perform repairs. His pulse and heart beat were beginning to stabilize, but it's clear that he would not awake from his unconscious state for a while. Even though this was his first encounter with the Goomba, Riku laid one hand against the window and felt sad to see the creature in this state.
A moment later, the Koopa from earlier enters the room while saying to an unknown person "Thank you doctor, I have to handle things from here on out, so just go back to work." He spoke with authority and quiet kindness, and after a momentary nod the Koopa shut the door and turned to face Riku for a moment. He then walked forward until he could turn his head to look through the window, and he sighed before remarking "To see Alpha in such a state…Why would he do this?" This comment grabbed Riku's attention, and he turned his head and asked "Did you see someone come in here? Specifically, another human like me?"
"…Before I answer that question, there's a few things I want to ask so I can trust you first. I hope you understand the state of things has left me temporarily in charge of affairs and I refuse to take any chances." The Koopa states with a firm glare towards Riku, and while showing no fear Riku nods his head and says "Ask away then, but I can only answer so much…" With that fair warning in mind, the Koopa says "Do you have a brother by the name of Mew?"
"Yes, I do. I am also an Elemental Overlord like him." Riku replies while turning his body to look at the Koopa, who says "I figured that…But you seem to not know who I am or where you are, so I was curious about that…" "I'm sorry I don't recognize you or the Goomba you've called 'Alpha'. And I'll have to correct you…I may not know what this place is specifically, I do know that this world should be where Mario lives, and that you are a Koopa."
"You aren't wrong. Mario does live in this world, and everything should be as you know it is…But you seriously do not remember anymore details besides that?" The Koopa inquires, and Riku responds with a shake of his head. "That's a shame…" The Koopa says before turning to look at Riku, extending his hand out and stating "My name is Gemini, the Lieutenant of Plit's M.S.I….And believe it or not, this pleasant little world of ours is where the legacy of the reincarnated Elemental Overlord began."
As Riku extended his hand out to meet Gemini's desire to shake, he widened his eyes and left his mouth partially agape. He pointed down with one finger and said "H-Here? This is where is all began?" Gemini nodded his head and stated "Yep. This is where your brother got his powers, and in turn allowed him to create you." As the two parted hands, Riku folded his arms together and said with a surprised smile "You seem to know quite a bit about how this all works, Gemini. Then perhaps you know of someone known as the 'Phoenix of Destruction'?"
"Hmmm? That's not familiar to me." Gemini says rather quickly, but Riku pieces things together and tells him right away "That's because you aren't familiar with the title…But if this is the place where it all began, then you knew the person by their original identity, since they were the first reincarnation of the Elemental Overlord…And the one responsible for the birth of my brother, as much as it pains me to admit that." The firm confidence shown by Riku makes Gemini chuckle a moment, sounding impressed and confused at what was deduced by this person he just met.
"You didn't know about me or Alpha, and yet you know about him…" Gemini states, rubbing the back of his head before letting out a dejected sigh. "To think it was only a year ago for us when we finally found him again, but it's been three years since the day he became the Elemental Overlord with our help…And now…" Gemini, with a melancholy look in his eyes, turns to the window and remarks "Now he did this to Alpha, the man who tried his hardest to be his father figure…"
"I just don't get it…What happened to you out there that made you this way?" Gemini remarks, and with an empathetic expression Riku states "Sounds like there's a lot of history between you and the person I'm after…If you don't want to say anymore, I won't persist." "…No. If you are after him, then you need to know the full story, especially since your memories don't appear to be complete. But there's a lot that I don't know about what's going on, so it would be for the best if you tried asking Alpha once he regains consciousness in a couple hours. I, on the other hand, should probably get to covering things for him around the base, especially since the Command Sphere was destroyed…" Gemini states quietly.
"I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I'll wait here until he recovers, and you do whatever you have to Gemini." Riku says with the utmost approval, and after a nod of his head the Koopa turns around and is about to leave the room when Riku says to him "By the way…" Gemini turns his head to glance over his shoulder while Riku greets him with a warm smile, saying in an apologetic tone "My name is Riku. I should've been sooner with the introduction." Gemini smiled, appearing to fight back a couple tears as he waved one hand at Riku and said "You definitely take after your brother somewhat…Hopefully you and I will get a chance to talk later, once things have calmed down."
He then left the room through the sliding metal door, leaving Riku to put on a more subdued expression as he slinks down against the wall below the viewing window, embracing his lifted legs with his arms while he counts away the seconds and minutes until Alpha would be awake again. All the while, he was finally able to wonder about the history that the original reincarnation of the Elemental Overlord shared with the people of this world, how his brother got involved but shared no memories of these events with him, and just why the Phoenix of Destruction came to this place but only beat Alpha to a near-death state…Many questions, but none that could be resolved until the time was right.
When the two hours had passed, Riku stands upright quickly and turns around to look at the window, where he finds a doctor garbed Shy Guy leaving the room through a sliding door. Riku thus wait a few more seconds before slipping out of the observation room and going into the room where Alpha was being kept. The Goomba's mechanical arms had been hung up on very sturdy wires, but he appeared to be awake and no longer needed his breathing apparatus. Riku cautiously stepped across the pearl plated floor until he reached the bed, where Alpha looked up at him and smirked, saying to the boy in a groggy but deep voice "So you're the one who rescued me from the rubble…"
Riku nodded his head, and Alpha laid back a bit and said "Wish I could use my arms right now and give you an appreciative handshake, but Doc said I shouldn't do too much for a few days while my muscles recover. So brother of Mew…What's your name?" Riku blinked twice and said in a stuttering tone of surprise "D-Did Gemini tell you about me?" "Heheh, not at all kid. My brain may have been rattled a bit by this whole ordeal, but that doesn't mean I've lost all semblance of intelligence." Alpha replies.
Riku pulls up a chair and sits down on it, stating in a polite manner as he gestures one hand out "My name is Riku. Gemini already told me your name, Alpha, but I'm sorry I had to find out that way since apparently my brother knew you two…" Alpha chuckles and lets out a tiny cough, stating in a nonchalant tone to his company "Don't worry about it, it's not Mew's fault you didn't know about us." "…Gemini said you'd have a lot of answers for me. If you are willing to talk, I'd like to ask a few questions so I can understand what's going on here." Riku says with some hesitation.
"Don't hold anything back then. No need to take pity on my condition considering I brought this all upon myself." Alpha states with another chuckle that sounded more melancholic, and he turned his body as little as he could to look at Riku directly with his working eye. "First off, I want to know everything about the original reincarnation of the Elemental Overlord…The one who created my brother and now goes by the title of the Phoenix of Destruction." Riku says, and with a grin Alpha states "You'll be sitting there for a bit then, but I'll be more than willing to tell you the whole story from the beginning…Everything you need to know about your brother's time here…And the time of the Phoenix of Destruction, Alex Whiter…"
For the next hour or two, Alpha was very thorough in explaining EVERYTHING about Alex Whiter and Mew's time on Plit. He did not miss a detail so long as he was there to witness it or heard about it from another source, and by the time he was done Riku knew all the necessary details about the past of his predecessors and the threats they faced. The reborn Dark King and his host Joe Dark, the space-rending Tabuu, the villainous witch Cackletta and her creation Chaos Alex, and the reality-manipulator Mr. Reality were mentioned by name during the tales, and Riku could not help but express both awe and confusion at everything that he heard.
The most prominent emotion was confusion though, as at the end of the tale Alpha mentioned a particular detail that caught his attention "And after the defeat of the reality-bending alien, Alex used his powers to wipe Mew's memories of his time here…I have never told anyone else about that until now, but I feel it's best that you know what happened to your brother's memories." "How do you even know that's what happened? And what happened to Alex Whiter between the battle against Mr. Reality and now…? He seemed like such a valiant hero that I can't imagine him becoming a merciless destroyer."
"Heh, truth be told, we all thought that at first about Alex…But that's why you never let your first impressions define a person forever. He was way more mentally unstable than I could've ever thought, but I assure you I tried my damnedest to help him conquer his emotions…" Alpha said while gritting his teeth in regret, and Riku gestured out with his right hand before saying in a concerned tone "What happened then?"
Alpha sighs and admits "Hell if I know…A year after the ordeal with Mr. Reality, I finally tracked Alex down on Yoshi's Island and brought him back to the base for his own good, hoping to get him to train his powers and conquer the trauma of the past…But then she showed up." Riku's eyebrows raise in surprise before he remarks "She? What are you talking about?" "Heh, I guess I was a little early in saying my brain wasn't frazzled by the battle earlier…I can't remember the girl's name, but she came from the same Earth you, Mew and Alex are from and asked him to help her stop a madman…The only other detail I can recall is that she had blonde hair, but that might not mean much."
When the hair was mentioned, a spark of remembrance went off in Riku's head, as he recalled a detail Thanos' had told him regarding the 'Phoenix of Destruction's' first appearance before him. "…and through it came two figures. One was a female with long blonde hair…" Snapping his fingers afterwards, Riku says "So that's who he was chasing after…" "I beg your pardon?" Alpha said in a puzzled tone, and Riku extends his right hand out and states "I got to tell you something real quick about Alex Whiter."
Letting Alpha know everything Thanos had mentioned, Riku stops and allows the Goomba to lay back against his bed and say in a disbelieving manner "No way…Are you sure that man wasn't deceiving you?" Riku reluctantly shakes his head and states "What happened in his universe motivated him enough to continue living as long as he had…I can't imagine he'd have a reason to lie. But it's just as his title says…Alex Whiter was born to be nothing more than a destroyer."
"Sounds to me like that girl is responsible for that rampage of his though…I should've listened to my gut when it came to how suspicious that girl was…But still, for Alex to decimate an entire universe…Something just doesn't sound right about this whole thing." Alpha comments, but then Riku has to tell him firmly "While I have to agree with you Alpha, you'll have to look past that bias towards the hero Alex once was. He's going to have to be killed before he brings about the end of this universe…But there's still one thing I don't understand. He killed very powerful beings, but you managed to just barely survive despite being a Goomba…"
"Heheh, I think you're underestimating me based on appearances alone, kid. Alex may be powerful, yes, but I've seen enough of his battles to know exactly how to stand against him…Though I guess even knowledge isn't enough to overcome such a gap in power. But I have to wonder why he didn't even bother to use the Gaia Temporis against me…" Alpha remarks, and Riku folds his arms together and states "That is weird…From what I've heard so far, it sounds like the Gaia Temporis was powerful enough to undo the existence of multiverse level entities. There really should be no way for him to lose with that object…"
"No point lingering on that then…Like I said before, I brought that battle upon myself, and I am very lucky to still be alive, though my Command Sphere was destroyed in the process…" Alpha says, and with an apologetic nod of his head Riku says "If I had been just a minute sooner, I could've stopped that from happening." Turning his head with a nonchalant scoff, Alpha remarks "Don't worry about it, geez…I got all the data from the Command Sphere stored in a chip in my brain. It'll take a good two months to put the thing back together, but it's nothing too bad."
"I wasn't talking about that…I'm saying if I was here, I could've stopped Alex before he ever got to you." Riku admits confidently, and Alpha glances at him for a few seconds in surprise before stating "Defeat Alex yourself? …Heh, guess I can't really judge from outside appearances here…I don't even know about all the things you've had to go through." "I could tell you, if you want." Riku offers politely.
"…Nah, I'm starting to feel a bit tired. You can do so later, when I have a little more energy back…" Alpha says before letting out a brief yawn, and with a respectful nod of his head Riku grabbed onto the back of his chair and prepared to lift himself up when Alpha closed his eyelids slightly and said "Wait…One last thing before you leave, Riku." "Hmmm?" Riku wondered what Alpha desired from him still and sat back down, where the Goomba then turned his head and said "It pains me to admit it, but you're right…I'm letting my biases get in the way of the truth…"
Riku sits himself back down and hears Alpha out as he goes on to explain "A year ago for us…Alex Whiter finally died the moment he left this world. That beast inhabiting his corpse…That thing you called the Phoenix of Destruction…Either you or your brother need to destroy it for good so it can stop tainting Alex Whiter's name. Take every detail I told you about Alex's powers into consideration Riku. You are both Elemental Overlords, but he knows nothing about you…That might be the one advantage necessary to put that beast down."
Riku does not hesitate to nod his head in response to Alpha's request, but he had one thing to say in regards to it all "…Alpha, why do you trust me so easily despite this being our first meeting?" "Heh, I guess after the luck I had with Alex you'd think I'd start to distrust Elemental Overlords…But if you have even a fraction of the kindness and selflessness your brother showed, then I have no reason to worry about telling you what I know…Sorry if I'm ending this conversation suddenly now, but I really need to get some sleep…" Alpha says, letting out another yawn afterwards before beginning to close his eyelids.
With a smile, Riku said "Thank you for your time Alpha, and I wish you the best of luck in getting better. I'll be back to visit you later." After a respectful salute, Riku gets up from the chair and heads to the door, letting it slide open so he could enter the hallway and leave. Looking both left and right, Riku then thought to himself after all that he had discussed with Alpha "…Just what will my next move be now?" He seemed to be lost, unable to determine just where to go from here…
Next Time: The Man Who Began the Journey