In this route, it begins on chapter 4 where Arnold and Vanilla reunite, then Kazuya and Kahlua have their vacation where they grow closer.
Overcoming Odds (Kahlua/Tequila Route)
It was a bit of a shock to us, Nano was working really hard, healing the crew from injuries after the Luxiole took an unexpected attack by the coup d'tat with Forte at the helm, I could never believe that she would do that unless she was being forced to, but I had to put that to one side.
With Nano on the floor and unconscious after pushing her nanomachines beyond her limits, there was only a small amount of time before something bad happens to her. There was only one person I could think of who could help us out...my girlfriend, Vanilla.
Ah Vanilla...I really missed her so much. When the group disbanded, Vanilla chose to move to the planet of Pico to carry on her research of nanomachines so it could spread across NEUE, at first I was a little reluctant to see her move to a planet far away from me, but she assured me that no matter how apart we are, we'll always be in love.
Well, a few years had passed and we often had the chance to spoke a few times thanks to Nano being her biological daughter, but still...I wanted to hold her and ponder if she still has the commitment ring I gave her all those years ago.
"Everyone." I said. "I believe Vanilla is the only one who can help us."
"I agree." Apricot nodded. "She could help Nano recover."
"Where would she be?" Kazuya asked.
"On the planet of Pico." I replied. "It's on our way to Magiic as well."
Tact was a bit hesitant, but when he saw the look of hope in my eye, he complied and made a call. "Coco, change course, we're now heading for the planet Pico, then find the quickest route to Magiic."
"Understood Tact." Coco replied on his call.
We left the infirmary and we had to wait once Tact made a call to Vanilla to request her on the Luxiole. It was all sudden, but all the same, I was going to see Vanilla in person.
After what seemed like a while, I was in the hanger with the others and a space shuttle flew in and landed. Out came one person...Vanilla...oh how I've missed her so.
She had grown a bit taller since then, she was even taller than Mint now which often made Mint a little jealous, but she had Tact of course. Speaking of Tact and Mint, their relationship had grown stronger and their little love spats like they used to have, had become extremely rare.
When Vanilla saw me, her expression changed and she let a tear flow down before running towards me. "Arnold!"
"Vanilla!" I grabbed her in my arms and spun around a little. "I've missed you..."
"I have as well..." She sniffed.
"Hey, you two." Tact intervened. "I feel bad for getting in the way, but we do have a situation here."
I nodded and let Vanilla down gently before kissing her. "So can you help us?"
"Of course." Vanilla replied before holding my hand. "Show me where Nano is."
We went back to the infirmary and Vanilla checked over her before suggesting that Nano would need to be taken to the moon of Femto where a research lab exists. But before that, we had to deal with a group of defensive satellites although they were no match for us. With the way cleared, we had Nano on a stretcher and we transported her to the research lab on Femto and into a chamber filled with pods.
"We must place Nano in an empty chamber pod." Vanilla said.
"Then I'll help do that." I replied, grabbing Nano and placing her inside a chamber pod, before closing the door.
The machine turned itself on and the chamber pod began to fill up with some kind of liquid, now we had to wait.
"So Vanilla...can we pick up where we left off?" I asked her.
"Yes...but." Vanilla paused as she started blushing...I've missed that blush of hers, she's still adorable when she blushes.
Suddenly, sirens went off across the research lab, looks like the security measures have gone a bit haywire.
"Arnold, Vanilla. We'll deal with the new issue." Tact said. "You let us know when it's done."
The group rushed out of the chamber room, leaving me and Vanilla alone with Nano still inside the chamber pod.
"Tell me the truth...there wasn't an emergency, right?" I asked, looking at her.
She put on her cute smile. "There wasn't...that was a false alarm, but there are automated guards which I'm sure they can take down."
"I see...then well played...this gives us a chance at least to catch up on the all love we've missed for so long."
Vanilla turned and she put her arms around me. "Yes...I'm sorry for being so far away from you..."
I put my arms around her tight. "Don't be...because now, you get to be in my arms again." I looked into her red eyes, shining like a gem. "Do you still have your commitment ring?"
"Yes..." She held her hand out clearly and I saw it, the ring I gave to her, four years ago. "...I've kept it for as long as it takes until we're ready to one day marry."
Nothing made me more happier than hearing those words from her. "Vanilla...I love you..."
"Arnold...I love you too..."
We moved in for one of our rare kisses and held each other close, things were quiet until a ding went off.
"Oh, it's finished." Vanilla said, the liquid inside the chamber pod was drained and she opened the pod door.
I helped Nano out and she began to open her eyes. "Uhh...where...where am I?"
"Nano." Vanilla said. "You're on Femto with me, Arnold and the rest."
"Mother?" Nano was surprised to see her. "Oh, did I overuse my nanomachines?"
"Yes you did...please don't worry me like that again."
"Sorry mother, I promise not to over do it again."
"Then that's one less problem to deal with." I intervened. "It's good to know that you're okay and back to normal."
"Yeah, where are the others?"
"Dealing with security measures and now is the time for us to leave."
Vanilla nodded, grabbing my hand. We rushed out of the chamber room and met up with the rest outside before we got on the Luxiole and resumed with our journey towards Magiic.
After dealing with Dieta for a second time, Vanilla had to go back to Pico...whilst it was sad for me that she had to go so soon, I made sure to have a special surprise for her the next time we meet and when peace is restored.
In the battles that followed, I had begun to notice Kazuya getting familiar with Kahlua, but there was one major thing on my mind. The curse that Dieta had placed on Tequila whilst mentioning my name. Tequila suggested placing a mental barrier in my head just in case the worse comes to pass and I went along with it, despite a minor headache.
When we had our downtime at Hokkori island, Kazuya picked Kahlua to be his date whilst I travelled to the shopping area just a long walk away form the beach side. They had a small jewellery store and this was when the greatest idea hit me. If I'm going to pop the question, I'll need a good looking ring and there was one on display that looked ideal. So, I made the purchase and travelled back to the Luxiole, placing the small box with the ring inside it in my room before taking a rest, I was certain that Vanilla was the one I wanted to marry.
Once the vacation was over, we resumed our journey to Seldar but things took a wild turn, especially on poor Kazuya. During the battles with the fast attack ships, the Spell Caster frame began to act a little strange. This didn't sit well with me so after we eliminated the ships, I went straight to Tequila but before I could get a word in, she turned into Kahlua.
"Kahlua, I couldn't help but notice, what happened with your frame?" I asked.
Kahlua seemed concerned herself. "I'm not even sure, but when I was Tequila, I suddenly grew tense and it threw me off my concentration."
"Then what could it be about?"
"Ah...my head feels heavy. Arnold, I can't come to the bridge."
"It's okay, go and see Doctor Mordent in the infirmary. I'll inform Tact about your condition."
She tried to smile. "Thank you."
I went straight to the bridge along with the others and I let Tact know the situation.
"I see...do you have any ideas?" Tact asked me.
"I could only hazard a guess, maybe she's been working too hard on those spells when she's Tequila." Then it hit me. "Wait a second, she casted a mental barrier to help me with Dieta's curse...yet somehow, it hasn't affected me yet. I wonder if her spell may have produced an unknown side effect."
"Well I don't know much about spells, but this should be looked into before we resume our journey to Seldar."
"Agreed...ah, my head is hurting as well...Kazuya, please go and check on Kahlua, I may need to lie down."
"Sure thing." Kazuya replied as he left the bridge.
I then went straight to my room and took a rest on the bed...after a few minutes, a beep went off around the ship.
I got up quickly and tapped into my speaker device on my jacket. "What's going on?"
"It's Kahlua, the Spell Caster took off as we weren't looking." Tact replied. "We've also lost contact with her."
"Dammit! Alright, I'm gonna get Kazuya and we'll get her back."
"Please do, and hurry!"
I ended the call and dashed out of my room, making a call to Kazuya along the way. I climbed into my Silver Speeder and Kazuya followed in his Braveheart before we flew out at a high speed, it wasn't long though before we could see a frame that was close to falling towards a planet.
"There she is!" I exclaimed. "Kazuya, merge your frame with hers and get in touch!"
"Will do." He replied, merging his frame. "Kahlua, can you hear me?"
"Kazuya! Help me!" She yelled.
"We can't control the frame!" Mimolette added. "This must be the curse that Dieta warned us about."
"But what about me?" I asked as I got in touch with her.
"Well it seems casting the mental barrier resulted in your part of the curse being transferred to her mind, a very rare side effect!"
Suddenly, communications with her was cut off, Kazuya was on my screen.
"Arnold, I can't take over the controls and even if I disengage, I won't be able to stop this frame and hers from plummeting into the planet's surface!"
"Dammit!" I nearly slammed my fist on the controls.
Suddenly however, the spell caster frame began to lit up when it looked like all hope was lost, then it suddenly regained control of itself.
"Arnold! Kahlua has broken the curse, we can finally come back!" Mimolette said happily.
"Oh thank goodness, what a miracle." I responded with a big sigh. "How's Kazuya?"
"I'm not sure, I heard him scream a little when we were falling, let's take him to the infirmary quick."
He must've ended up getting burn injuries because of how fast they were falling, I'm sure he would be okay.
Well, we did it! Verel and his Shadow Moon were gone for good, now we could enter forward with peace for the time being, but there was still one more hurdle for me to jump over...popping the question to Vanilla.
When we all reunited in the hanger, Kazuya and Apricot prepared a celebration in the cafe area with Milfie helping out and whilst the party was underway with all of my old and new friends, I took Vanilla's hand which got me a wink from Nano. I walked Vanilla to my room, she seemed a little curious about why I took her away from the party.
"Is this your room, Arnold?" She asked.
"Yes and it holds many memories of the past times on my walls." I replied as I went into one of my draws to pull out what I bought back on Hokkori Island.
She saw a glimpse of what I was hiding behind my back. "What do you have, is it the something special for me?"
"Yeah..." I took her hand. "...Vanilla, remember the commitment that we made when I gave you that ring? I want us to move on to the next step of our lives. Nothing means to me more than to hear you say that you wish to be with me for all of our lives."
I showed the box with my other hand and opened up the top to reveal a ring, Vanilla gasped before she shed a tear.
"Vanilla H...will you marry me?"
She sniffed, closing her eyes and she nodded. I took off her commitment ring and now in it's place, her engagement ring that I put on for her. I placed the commitment ring on the bedside table and then we locked into a gentle kiss that felt romantic, locking in our arms together in love. I never felt so relived then right there, we made a promise to marry each other and right then was the right time to move forward.
We couldn't wait to tell the others about the announcement, but for now, Vanilla and I had our much needed time for love...but as engaged lovers from now on.
Up next, it's the Kazuya and Apricot route where in an interesting twist, Arnold and Mint have a secret date on the Department Ship.
