Part X: Companionship
Three days has passed since Cyber Star fled from Gemini Spark. Flaky still hasn't left the house. She didn't want to face the world, most of all Flippy. Alpha had finally left her… but she didn't care. Her life turned the wrong way when he came anyway. She sat on the couch watching the news.
"And so, once again, the twin terrors strike another town. Thousands of people died" said the newscaster "Many survivors are wondering where is the mysterious heroin known as Cyber Star? Many have speculated that she has retired at this last minute. Yet, her disappearance is still widely speculated to-"
She turned off the television. She did not want to hear the name Cyber Star again. She slowly rolled over and tried to take a nap since she had nothing better to do. Suddenly someone knocked on her door. She tried to ignore it, but the knocking got more ferocious. Then, the knocking stopped and was replaced by Giggles' voice.
"Flaky!!! We know you're in there!!! Come out this minute!!!" she said.
Flaky tried to at least pretend to sleep.
"Don't you dare, pretend to sleep on us!!! We know you're awake!!!" said Giggles.
Flaky gave up and walked to the door.
"What is it now?" said Flaky.
"Flaky! You have been absent for the past three days with no explanation!" said Giggles "Therefore, I have gathered everyone to try to get you out. I even got Mark with us!"
"Flaky, please come out!!!" said Cuddles.
"Yeah!" said Toothy "You can't stay in there forever!"
"No!" said Flaky "I'm not going out! I never will! Okay?!? So just leave me alone already!!!"
"What?!?" said Petunia "We just got you out of your shell and you enjoyed it! And now you want to go back in? What's the matter with you?!?"
"Flaky, we're all worried about you" said Mark "You have to at least give us an explanation"
"Listen! Please! Just go away!!! All of you!!! I don't want to see anyone!!!" said Flaky.
Giggles sighed and said "Flaky-"
"GO!!!!" said Flaky.
"Well!" said Giggles "If you put it that way then, come on, guys, let's not worry about Flaky anymore. In fact, let's just forget she exists! Come on!"
They all walked away. But Toothy turned around and said "What about Cyber Star? Does this mean you're gonna quit being Cyber Star"
"Yes, Toothy!" said Flaky "There is no more Cyber Star! Just forget about her!"
"But she was the best!" said Toothy "She would never do something like this!"
"She just did! Now go away!!!" said Flaky.
Toothy ran off. Yet, Mark stayed behind.
"Flaky, listen" he said "We all are wondering what happened to you. You used to be so nice… now… you changed…"
"It's none of your business, Mark. Now will you please leave?" said Flaky.
"No, I won't" said Mark "I'm not giving up on you that easily"
"Why… why won't you go away?"
Mark sighed, put his back against the door and said "Because you're my friend that's why…" Flaky, ironically, put her back against the door "In fact… you're the first friend I ever had. Everyone else just rejected me, but you… you didn't. You reached out to me. You asked me if you could be my friend. I would never forget that. I would never throw that away"
"… Mark… I'm sorry… But, I can't go on like this…"
Mark sighed, looked at the sky and said "Could you at least let me in and tell me why you're being this way?"
Flaky didn't answer. Mark stood there for a few seconds. Then, he got off the door and started to leave. Then, the door opened behind him. He turned around and saw Flaky standing there. She didn't look nor acted like it, but, she wanted him inside. Mark turned around and walked towards the door and she let him inside.
The two sat at the kitchen table on either side. Flaky was staring at the floor, and Mark was staring at Flaky. They were both looking for the right words to say.
Mark cleared his throat and said "So… what happened?"
"Hm?" said Flaky "Well… I… It's someone I know…"
"Who?"
"Flippy… his name is Flippy… I met him a few days ago. He was so nice to me, so friendly. He was a great person. I started seeing him every day afterwards. And every day, I looked forward to seeing him again. But three days ago…"
"Yes?"
Flaky hesitated but said "Three days ago, he took me to a junk yard to tell me his secret. He had a split personality. His white side, the one I knew so well and his black side. His black side was very different from his white. His black side was a very bad person. He disliked people and… whenever his white side made friends with someone, his black side killed them"
"Oh… I see…"
"That's not all. Flippy was looking for someone. He never told me who it was. He never thought… but… Mark… I learned that… Flippy can wave change!"
"Wave Change?"
"Yes, and his partner is Gemini!"
"Gemini? Beta told me about him"
"Yes… and… well, it turns out… Flippy was looking for me! For Cyber Star! He wanted to destroy her! When he found out about it… he wave changed into Gemini Spark and… he… he forced me to fight him… It was so painful, Mark… I couldn't take it anymore. He was strong, yet, I didn't want to hurt him. He was bent on killing me, though… Flippy, the one who was so nice to me. I pulsed out and… well, here I am. Now, I don't want to go out to face the world… even Flippy…"
"Ah… so, where's Alpha?"
"He wouldn't put up with me anymore, so he left…"
"He did, did he?"
"So, now you know, Mark… now you know why I don't want to go out to the world… I don't want to get hurt again. I don't want to hurt people"
"And how do you think Flippy feels?" said Mark "If he really did care about you, then it must be very painful for him. I think, if he really did, he would've wanted you to run away so that you wouldn't get hurt anymore. In order to do that, he had to push you and push you and push you, until you couldn't take it anymore. You probably are strong enough to take on Gemini Spark. I know you are. But, you shouldn't be sad about Flippy. Because, you may not know it, but, you've had so many supporters. Giggles and her friends supported you even before you actually became friends with them. They didn't want to admit it, but, they were really concerned about you. They wanted to be your friends. You also have my support. Because, without you, I wouldn't know what it feels like to have someone to care for me, to be there for me, and for me to care about them. And Alpha… even Alpha supported you…"
"Alpha? ……" Flaky remembered Alpha "…… Alpha……" Suddenly she burst into tears and said "Oh, Mark… I've been so stupid! I… I didn't realize until now… Alpha… he… he did support me!" Mark got up and went over to Flaky to comfort her "He… he saved my life the other day. He said… he said that I was a real friend to him… his only friend and I… I… I just made him leave… leave as if I didn't care about him… Some friend I am… I'm such a jerk!"
"Flaky…" said Mark
"And you, Mark" she said "I've been a jerk to you, too! I know that you've been rejected from the world. I guess I'm no different! I just treated you like everybody else did, like a worthless nobody!" she embraced Mark and cried into his shoulder "I've been terrible to you… I'm sorry, Mark… I'm sorry…"
"It's okay, Flaky" said Mark as he pulled her off his shoulder. He tried some of her tears and said "It's alright. I'm here for you. That's what friends do, they stick out for each other. That's what I think"
Flaky smiled and said "… Thank you, Mark… Thank you so much…"
Mark smiled back and said "I'm just glad we're friends again, right?"
Flaky nodded.
"Now, you know what you have to do, right?" said Mark.
"Yes, I do! But first, I have to find Alpha" said Flaky "I have to apologize"
"Don't apologize, just show that you care"
"I'll go look for him!"
"I'll help! Two sets of eyes are better than one! Beta will even help, right?"
"You bet!" Beta said from Marks transer.
"Thank you, Mark!" said Flaky.
Mark smiled.
The three went out of Flaky's house to look for Alpha. They looked everywhere for him. They looked all over town. Flaky had her visualizer on the whole time and so did Mark. Beta looked in the wave world for him. They searched for hours. Flaky and Mark checked everywhere: the park, the stores, the city, the space museum, the library, the construction lot, everywhere. Finally, the two decided to split up to look for him.
Flaky walked along the streets. She was really worried about Alpha. She wondered if he would really forgive her. After all she said to him. Suddenly, she saw something in the allyway. It was Alpha! And he was cornered by Gemini!
"It seem you have no where to run to, Alpha!" said Gemini "That's too bad for you"
"Alright, I guess you got me trapped now!" said Alpha "Guess I have no choice but to fight you myself!"
"Ah, fighting alone?" said Gemini "That is so typical of you. Yet, you know as well as I do that I'm far more powerful than you!"
"I don't care! I'll still try!"
"Try? Yes, you may try, but you won't succeed! Not alone!"
"That may be the case. But I've always fought alone! And I always will!"
"That's not true, Alpha! You're not alone! Because I'm here for you!" said a voice. It was Flaky!
"Flaky?!? What're you doing here?!?" said Alpha.
Flaky rushed to Alpha and said "I've come to help you!"
"So, you finally decided to admit you've been a jerk, eh?"
"Yes, I've been a jerk. A big jerk. However, you saved my life! And now, I remember it. Can you forgive me?"
"Forgive you?!? Are you crazy?!? Just take action! That's what I do!"
Flaky smiled.
"How touching!" said Gemini "It's so sad to see me do this. Fortunately, I don't seem to care!"
"Alpha! We have to wave change!" said Flaky.
"I thought you'd never say that!" said Alpha.
Flaky got ready and said "EM WAVE CHANGE!!!"
Flaky changed into Cyber Star.
"Heh… what a surprise" said Gemini "I'd love to stay for this reunion, but I have some business to take care of! I'll leave you with a little present. Ta!"
Suddenly, EM viruses appeared all around them and Gemini left.
"Flaky, you know what you're doing, right?" said Alpha.
"Yes! I'm ready!" said Cyber Star "We'll delete these viruses and go after Gemini!"
"That's the spirit!" said Alpha.
Cyber Star fired Alpha at the EM viruses. They were deleted and some of them went after her.
"Get me some battle cards, Alpha!" said Cyber Star.
"Coming up!" said Alpha.
Cyber Star looked in her left hand and got out the bomb card and inserted it into Alpha. A fire bomb appeared in her hand and she threw it at more viruses. She got the lance card and inserted it into Alpha. She then fired and electric ball at the viruses and deleted them. Cyber Star shot the rest.
"That was flawless!" said Alpha "They didn't see it coming!"
"Now, there's one thing left to do" said Cyber Star "… Gemini Spark…"
Alpha nodded and said "The fastest way to him is through the wave world"
"Then let's go!" said Cyber Star.
Alpha sent Cyber Star to the wave world where she flew through. She looked for Flippy. She went all the way back to the junk yard and she found him standing in the middle of a bunch of piles. She jumped off the wave world and in front of him. Flippy was surprised to see her.
"Flaky?!? What are you doing here?!?" said Flippy "I thought I scared you off!"
"Where is your black side? I want to talk to him!" said Cyber Star.
"Wh-what?!? Why would you want to talk to him?" said Flippy. Suddenly his face changed and he said "Heh… heh… It doesn't matter, White, if she wants me then so be it!"
"Black Flippy!" said Cyber Star.
"So, you're back, Cyber Star" said black Flippy "I was wondering if you would ever show up again"
"I know Gemini is here!" said Cyber Star "Tell me where he is so I can delete him!"
"Heh… be my guest!" said black Flippy "I'll call him for you!" he turned around and said "GEMINI!!!"
Gemini appeared before them and said "I'm here, Flippy, what is it?"
"Wave change with me!" said Black Flippy "Apparently, Cyber Star wants us to finish the job!"
"So be it" said Gemini.
He dove into Flippy and he became Gemini Spark again.
"Flaky, why are you doing this?" said White Gemini Spark "You know you can't win"
"Yes I can!" said Cyber Star "Even though I'm fighting you, I know there's good in you! You showed it to me! And I'm going to prove it somehow!"
"Flaky… you should have stayed away" said Flippy "I don't want to hurt you!"
"Neither do I" said Cyber Star "But, there are some things I have to do" she aimed Alpha at them "I'm not afraid anymore! I'm going to stay and fight!"
"She really does want to die!" said Black Gemini Spark "Very well then, Cyber Star, we'll gladly delete you!"
"……. Flaky…" said White Gemini Spark.
Cyber Star and Gemini Spark charged at each other. Cyber Star jumped over them just as Black was about to slash at her. She landed behind him, but White appeared behind her. Cyber Star quickly turned around and shot him! Black charged at Cyber Star, but she jumped high in the air and Black collided into White. Cyber Star flipped over and shot them both while still airborne. She landed a few feet away from them.
Black got up and said "Very good, Cyber Star. I must confess, your skills are impressive. However, we've just been going easy on you! White, let's get her!"
White said nothing, but he obeyed.
The two split up in the junk yard. Cyber Star decided to chase after Black, but she remained on the alert in case White attacks her from behind again. She shot at Black but he rolled behind a large pile of junk. Cyber Star quickly ran around it, but he wasn't there. Then, Black, who had jumped in the air, came down on her and punched her to the ground. Cyber Star rolled backwards to get up and she fired at Black, but he disappeared. Then White appeared behind her and slashed her. Cyber Star fell over.
"Why do you fight, Flaky?" said White "I don't want to hurt you. You must understand that the only way to avoid this is to surrender!"
"I will never let Gemini destroy this world!" said Cyber Star "Flippy, you don't have to do as Black says! He's not in control of you, you are!"
White then shot a punch at her. Cyber Star quickly dodged it and said "You don't have to do this, Flippy. You can fight for justice, like I do!"
"I have to listen to Black!"
"No you can't! He's evil! Gemini is evil! You're not evil! You can fight them!"
"I have not choice! If Black dies, I die, too!"
"That doesn't mean you have to listen to everything he says!"
Black appeared behind her, slashed her and said "Enough of this! White! You know that we have to destroy her!"
"Fine! I was in the process of that!" said White.
He shot another punch at her, but Cyber Star pulled up her shield and defended against it. She turned around and shot at Black and then ran to take cover behind a pile. Gemini Spark started to run towards it.
"Alpha! I need some battle cards!" said Cyber Star.
"Here you go!" said Alpha.
Cyber Star picked the lance battle card and inserted it into Alpha. She jumped from behind the pile. Gemini Spark got close enough to her and she impaled him with the lance. Both Gemini Sparks flew backwards. Cyber Star got the fire sword battle card and inserted it into Alpha. She charged towards them. Black retaliated by throwing a punch at her, but the moment it reached her, she vanished! She quickly appeared behind them and hit them with one slash.
Black quickly got up and rushed towards Cyber Star. He slashed at her, but she dodged it. Suddenly, White came behind her and grabbed her. He threw her into a pile. Cyber Star quickly recovered and inserted the gatling gun battle card into Alpha and fired at Black. Black fell over. White then threw a punch at her, but she sidestepped and fired at him. White dodged it by jumping on top of a junk pile, Black did the same on a junk pile next to it. Cyber Star then jumped on a junk pile in front of them.
"Give up, Cyber Star! There's no way you can win!" said Black.
"I will never give up!" said Cyber Star "Not until Gemini is deleted once and for all!"
"The only one who will be deleted is you!" said Black.
"Flaky, please stop doing this…" said White.
"Flippy! I'm doing this for you!" said Cyber Star "I ran away last time because I didn't want to fight you. But now, I know that I have to fight you in order for you to see the light!"
"See the light?!?" Black laughed "He obeys only one! Me! I control him! He does what I say. He's too kind hearted to do otherwise!"
"Then, I'll keep fighting until you stop!" said Cyber Star.
The three of them jumped in the air and fought. Cyber Star dashed to Black, twirled around and kicked him. White came up behind her and slashed her. Cyber Star fell a little, but she landed on a junk pile and jumped again. She fired at White. Black appeared behind her and threw a punch at her, but she dashed upward and fired at him. Black dodged it and slashed at her. Cyber Star dodged it, grabbed Black and threw him at White and fired at both of them. They landed on a junk pile and jumped up again.
Black, white, and red streaks filled the sky as they kept going at each other. None of them would give in. When they fell, they jumped back up. Cyber Star kept fighting them. She knew she had to defeat them.
Cyber Star got the sword battle card, inserted it into Alpha and a blade came out of his mouth. She dashed to Black and slashed at him. Black defended himself with his arm. White then came up behind her. Cyber Star quickly shoved Black away and slashed White down to the ground. Black got ready to slash at her, but she turned around and defended herself. The two got into a lock for a few minutes until they broke away from each other. They both fell to the ground and landed.
All three of them collapsed on the ground breathing heavily. They stared at each other. All three of them were too tired to move.
"Well, Cyber Star…" said Black "You certainly are skilled…"
Cyber Star couldn't speak. She was too exhausted.
"Heh…" Black turned to White and said "We've managed to last this long against her. Now she's far too exhausted to fight anymore. We must use our last amount of energy and finish her off!"
Black got ready to fire a bolt of electricity at Cyber Star and said "This is the end, Cyber Star!"
White stared at the two of them.
"… F… Flippy…" said Cyber Star.
White walked up to Black. But, he did something unexpected. He got behind Black and grabbed him!
"Wh… What are you doing?!?" said Black "You're supposed to help me! We've been looking for her for far too long! You're going to throw that all away?!?"
White had a determined look on his face and said "For many years I've tried to make friends. And for many years, I watched you kill them all! I… will not… let you hurt this one!"
"Flippy!" Cyber Star was surprised.
"Flaky! You have to fire at us! Finish us off! We're too weak to take another hit!" said White "Do it! Please!"
"But, Flippy…" said Cyber Star "You'll-"
"I don't matter right now!" said White "This world would be a better place without Gemini Spark! Do it, Flaky! Do it now!"
"You can't do this, White!" said Black "You will do as I say!"
"I refuse to take orders from the likes of you!!!" said White "FIRE, FLAKY!!!"
Cyber Star got ready and aimed Alpha at Gemini Spark and fired a powerful blast at them.
Gemini Spark started exploding.
"NOOO!!!! WHITE! HOW COULD YOU?!?" said Black.
They exploded one more time. All that was left was Flippy collapsed to the ground. He looked at Cyber Star and smiled.
"… Thank… you…" he said.
He fell over.
Cyber Star laughed slightly. Then, she extremely very weak and fell over.
"Flaky!" said Alpha "Don't black out on me!" Cyber Star was losing it. Everything was going dark around her. All she could hear was Alpha's voice calling her "Flaky! Flaky!!! FLAKY!!!" then, it all went dark and his voice changed to a more calm familiar one.
"Flaky. Flaky. Wake up, Flaky!" said the voice.
Flaky opened her eyes and saw Mark. He was leaning over her and smiling.
"M-Mark?" said Flaky "Wh… where am I?"
"You're in the hospital" said Mark "I found you in the junk yard and took you here right away"
Flaky got up and saw she was in a hospital bed. She also saw that she reverted back to Flaky. She was bandaged up as well. She looked around and saw that this was a hospital.
"Glad to see you're awake, Flaky" said a voice. It was Alpha and he was floating beside her bed with his arms crossed "You were out for two straight days!"
"Two days?" said Flaky "Wh-Where's Flippy?"
"He's in another room" said Mark "His injuries were more severe than yours but, he'll be alright"
"I'm glad…" said Flaky.
Suddenly, Cuddles walked in and saw Flaky. He then received a strong expression of joy on his face. He turned around and said "Hey, guys! Flaky's awake!"
Suddenly, Giggles, Petunia, Toothy, and Sniffles stormed into the room and surrounded her bed.
"Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" said Petunia "We were all worried sick!"
"Yeah! You wouldn't wake up at all!" said Toothy "You sure are a heavy sleeper!"
"Flaky! We were here the whole time!" said Giggles "We never left the hospital at all! We were here for you the whole time! We never left your side!"
"It's true, Flaky" said Mark "We were all here for you"
"You… you were?" Flaky was touched by this "After all I said to you? After I… I…"
"Hey! We're friends!" said Cuddles "We stick out for each other no matter what!"
"That's right!" said Sniffles "I didn't matter to us what you said. We still were there for you!"
Flaky started to cry.
"I… I don't deserve this…" said Flaky.
"Don't be crazy!" said Giggles "You deserve it as much as we do! You're our friend after all"
"Th-thank you… all of you!" said Flaky.
A few hours later:
Flaky finally found the strength to walk again. Though barely. But, when she did, she went to Flippy's room to see how he was doing.
When she walked in, she saw that Flippy was covered in more bandages than she was. He was awake, but he could barely move. He slowly turned his head to Flaky and smiled.
"Hi, Flaky…" he said.
Flaky smiled and said "Is this the black Flippy or the white one?"
"Don't worry" said Flippy "Black's resting now. It'll be a while before he recovers"
"Flippy… I'm so sorry that I hurt you so bad" said Flaky.
"Don't. It was necessary" said Flippy "You were great, Flaky. No matter how hard I fought you, no matter how I tried to make you surrender, no matter how much I tried to scare you away, you still fought. You still went at it. And you did it all for me"
Flaky nodded.
"Thank you, Flaky. Thank you so much. You made me realize that Black can't control me, that I control myself. That is what free will is about. From now on, I will try to stop him at whatever he tries to do… maybe someday, he'll back off… and it's all thanks to you…"
"No, it wasn't me… it was you" said Flaky "I just showed you the way"
"And I'm thankful for it. You really are a true friend…"
Flaky smiled.
Flaky and Flippy remained in the hospital for a few days to recover. Everyday, Flaky's friends came to visit her, and every day, she visited Flippy.
After a few days, the two finally recovered and went home. Flaky was so glad that she could sleep in her own bed again. Glad that she could go outside again. Glad she could be with her friends again. It was a very special night for her.
The next day:
Flaky went over to Flippy's house to visit him. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
"Where could he be?" she said.
"I don't know" said Alpha.
Flaky twisted the door knob and, to her surprise, it was unlocked! She went inside. Everything was quiet and empty.
"Flippy? Are you in here?" she said.
No answer.
She went up to his bed room. The drawers were open and empty. She looked around.
"Looks like he's not here…" said Alpha.
Then, Flaky saw something. It was a note lying on his bed. She picked it up and read it:
Dear Flaky,
I'm sorry I have to do this, but there are some things that I have to do. I'm leaving this place, and I probably will never come back. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but I will never forget what you did to me! I promise I will hold our friendship close to me, even though we may never see each other again.
Good-bye, Flaky. I will miss you.
-Flippy
"Wow… that's a bummer…" said Alpha.
Flaky looked at the letter. Yes, she was sad. But she wouldn't let it get to her. For she knew that someday, maybe sooner or later, they will see each other again. She knew it for a fact. She would never forget Flippy for as long as she lived. She looked out the window and smiled.
Meanwhile in space:
It was a dark, lonely room inside the vessel. The shadowy figure looked out the window down at Earth.
"So, Gemini is deleted…" he said to himself "Hmmm, this may be more tedious than I thought. It seems that I'll have to take matters into my own hands… I'll have to rid of this world myself. That includes this Cyber Star…"
Even though Cyber Star had successfully defeated all the invaders, there is still one more thing left to do. Can she defeat this shadowy figure once and for all? Or will she fail and seal the fate of the world?