All was well on the planet of Aquanet. Except for the squawks of oversized seagulls circling the skies for their next victim, the landscape (if it could be called that, considering the land was almost entirely covered in water) was otherwise serene and undisturbed, a veritable display of ethereal tranquility.

That is, until Bomberman and Pommy decided to drop in.

Their tiny plane touched down on the only large enough surface above water in the immediate area, the shaky landing slightly rattling the structure. As Pommy hopped out of the craft, he inhaled deeply and smiled. "Such a pretty planet! It must be an ocean world!"

"Why do you think there's nothing but water for who knows how many miles?" Bomberman grumbled, stumbling out of his seat and slamming the door shut. He was still peeved at the prospect of having nothing to eat. Well, that wasn't entirely true—he had found that bag of chips and that package of Twinkies stashed in the glove compartment of the plane. But the chips had been stale and the Twinkies crushed. Bomberman knew that he should be counting his blessings, but right now he was too tired and hungry to count correctly. After all, half a bag of chips and cream filling only got a person so far, especially with a hyperactive puffball in tow.

Seeing no other way to go, Bomberman and Pommy took a nearby marble elevator down. They stepped out into a massive hallway of white marble, where their footsteps echoed loudly through the quiet air as they began to walk along the corridor. Fluted columns topped with leering dragonheads lined the walls. The high ceiling was frescoed with scenes from a mythology that Bomberman wasn't familiar with (and wasn't sure he wanted to be). Flowing designs of molded silver spilled across the walls and onto the floor, giving off a cool magical glow to light the way.

Bomberman whistled. "Check this place out," he said in wonder. "It's a total opposite from that other planet we were on."

"Myu..." Pommy hopped alongside Bomberman. "It feels weird here. Empty and such. We haven't seen anyone walking around, have we?"

Bomberman nodded. "And it doesn't feel like anyone's here either. I don't get the sense that people live in these parts."

"Maybe it's a ghost town!"

Bomberman gave Pommy an odd look. "I wouldn't exactly call this a town."

"Bomberman's just being nitpicky! Myu!"

"Blame it on my stomach."

They continued to follow the hallway, stopping at regular intervals to marvel at the aquatic-themed architecture and decor. A painted portrait of a topless redheaded mermaid caught Bomberman's attention for just a little too long. This prompted Pommy to nudge him onwards...but not without taking a good look at the mermaid himself.

The sound of rushing water greeted Bomberman's ears as he and Pommy rounded a corner. They had entered a room with an open-air ceiling, which allowed the clear blue sky to shine down upon them. More mythological murals covered the walls. In the center lay a gargantuan pool of water, surrounded by four marble dragonheads spitting water into the pool.

"Myu, look at the pretty water!" Pommy exclaimed. "Let's go for a swim!" And before Bomberman could say otherwise, the marshmallow had sprinted off and performed a cannonball into the pool. SPLASH!

Bomberman raised an eyebrow as he saw Pommy dog-paddling around the perimeter. "You know, Pommy," he said, "you don't know what's in that water. It could be sodium hydroxide for all we know."

"Pommy's not scared!" Pommy declared. "Pommy's the greatest hero in the universe, so Pommy will fight off this nefarious sodium hydroxide!"

"That's what they all say," Bomberman said, yawning. Nefarious? Where did Pommy learn a word like that? He decided to let Pommy enjoy his swim in order to get a few minutes of shut-eye for himself. The last time he'd had anything resembling a good sleep was back on Alcatraz, and that had barely been a catnap. And then he'd had to deal with Baelfael soon after.

The unpleasant memory of the battle with the Astral Knight and his subsequent death rushed back into Bomberman's memories as he lay down next to one of the dragon statues and closed his eyes. It was true that Bomberman had fought many a wrongdoer in his young existence, starting at age 14, and had sent more than his fair share of them to the critical care unit. He was no stranger to death and destruction, either; he'd often seen his older comrades at Bomber Base kill if the situation called for it, and criminals kill whether or not the situation called for it (which it rarely did). But he himself had never taken a life until fighting Altair's band of mercenaries five years ago, when he'd unintentionally killed two of Altair's generals. He hadn't done so again until now. The fact of the matter was, Bomberman specifically avoided taking lives as a means of resolving a situation. He wasn't against a fair amount of roughhousing, although his main modus operandi tended to be peaceful negotiation. But killing, for him, was a definite no-no.

Bomberman rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head. Where had he gone wrong in dealing with Baelfael? Was it when he'd told the knight that he wasn't going to refuse the fight with him? No, not that; the way things had been going, the fight had probably been inevitable since Bomberman had no intention of giving up the Fire Stone. Maybe there hadn't been any mistakes. Maybe, like in Artemis and Orion's deaths, there had only been flukes of the situation, whims of an indifferent force that Bomberman had no control over. After all, how could he have known the magnitude of the backlash when his superbomb collided with Baelfael's flame attack? It had been obvious there was going to be a reaction, but the resulting explosion had—literally and figuratively—blown him away. Baelfael had been too slow, and was consequently caught in the core of the blast. There was no real fault on Bomberman's part...not really. But he couldn't help but feel otherwise, and he wondered dismally if there were going to be any more deaths like Baelfael's.

Despite his troubled mind and the pains that came with using a marble floor as a bed, Bomberman managed to slip into a decent napping mode. For a few precious minutes, all was calm save for the soft sounds of Pommy's splashing. It was the very picture of the Elysian Fields, except...not in the fields. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and this truism was thus invoked by Pommy's panicked cries for help.

"Myu! Pommy's being chased! Help! Somebody please help Pommy!"

Bomberman merely rolled over and scratched his neck, hoping that maybe if he ignored Pommy long enough, Pommy would be chased out of the water and onto dry land so he wouldn't have to go dive in after him. It wasn't just that Bomberman was feeling lazy at the moment: he couldn't swim, either.

"Help! Something's got Pommy's foot!"

"Argh..." Bomberman sat up and rubbed his eyes. He blinked three times to get his vision back into gear. The image of Pommy flailing wildly in the water gradually came into focus. "Pommy!" he yelled. "What do you think you're doing, waking me up for a stupid prank like that?"

"Nooo!" the creampuff wailed. "Pommy's not joking! Something's biting Pommy's foot!"

Bomberman raised an eyebrow again. He dragged himself to the edge of the pool and looked over. As far as he could see, there wasn't anything harassing Pommy. "You know," he began, "you're lucky I'm too tired to do anything but sleep right now, because otherwise I would be wringing you like a sponge."

Pommy stopped thrashing and pouted. "Bomberman's no fun."

"Well, quite frankly, I don't feel like being 'fun' right now." Bomberman stretched a little before returning to his place of rest and curling up on the floor, facing away from the pool. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have about thirty more winks to catch up on—"

"Myu! Ow! That hurts! Let Pommy go!"

Bomberman inwardly rolled his eyes. Why in the world did the mochi mound think that he would fall for the same trick twice? And he hadn't even given Bomberman a minute to rest.

There was a gargling noise from the pool. "Oh, no! Bomberman, help! Help!"

No reply.

"Please!" Another gurgling sound. "There's a really scary monster in the pool!"

Bomberman was ready to ignore this second plea for help when he was promptly drenched head to toe in ice-cold water. "What's the big idea, marshmallow?" he demanded, whirling around and shivering a bit. "Can't you see that I'm trying to—holy son-of-a-biscuit!"

Rising twelve feet out of the pool was a giant, vomit-colored, eight-eyed monster squid.

Bomberman gaped dumbly at the aquatic monstrosity.

The squid let out an ear-blasting roar and brandished its tentacles, flinging water everywhere.

Bomberman held up an arm to shield himself from the liquid barrage. His sharp eyes spotted Pommy struggling in the grasp of one of the higher tentacles. "Hang in there, I'll get you out!" he called, conjuring two bombs. "You're calamari rings, buddy!" And Bomberman hurled the explosives at the overgrown sea creature.

HISSSSSSS!

The blasts dissipated harmlessly as steam off the squid's slick body.

"What?" Bomberman exclaimed. "No way!" He proceeded to charge a more potent explosive, but the monster swung two tentacles at him, demolishing two dragonhead statues and forcing the bomber to go on the defensive. No sooner had Bomberman recovered from the initial attack than another arm rushed down to try and grab him. "Hey!" he shouted angrily, backflipping out of the way. "Do I look like Miko Mido to you?"

The squid growled and attempted to snare Bomberman again. When it was once again foiled, it switched to a different attack in its arsenal. It opened its beaky mouth and heaved forth a large stream of dark, murky ink, effectively blinding Bomberman.

SKWRRRT!

"Gah!" Bomberman grabbed at his eyes, completely thrown off guard. In his desperate attempt to regain his sight, he stumbled right into the pool.

KER-SPLASH!

Bomberman felt himself plunging deeper and deeper into the frigid depths, and he panicked, choking on water as he did so. He was vaguely aware of a feminine voice shouting his name as his mind slowly faded to black...

B-O-M-B

—and then faded back into the warmth and wetness of two somethings that were undeniably female.

Bomberman's eyes slowly slid open.

They met with a considerable amount of Lilith.

A pause for reflection.

...he screamed.

"AAAAAAGH!"

Lilith, startled, promptly let go of him.

Bomberman flailed and toppled into the pool again.

SPLASH!

Luckily, Lilith caught his arm before he sank too far. "Sorry there," she apologized, pulling him back to safety. "Did I scare you?"

Bomberman coughed and shook his head furiously, water droplets scattering everywhere. "No...I was just..." He gasped and jumped to his feet in a battle stance. "Pommy! Squid! Water! Where—?"

Lilith laughed. "Pommy's here," she said, patting the said creature on the head, who was clinging to her brown shorts and shivering. "As for Monsieur Blooper..."

Bomberman turned around. The bloody, limp corpse of the giant squid lay halfway out of the pool, studded with a number of golden throwing knives in addition to sporting a gaping hole in its head. Three of its severed tentacles bobbed in the water like noodles. "Did...did you do that?" he asked, amazed.

Lilith simpered. "Was it overkill?"

And Bomberman knew he was in love.