Somewhere in Greenflower City…

PM Hours

Mato sighed as she unpacked the last of her things. As she sat in her hotel bed she began to ponder a lot of things. About what happened back then, when everything was just so crazy. She had met her alternate self, BRS, and at the same time almost killed her best friend. Then, she was trapped inside IBRS and subsequently beat by her, up until the point she pulled a trump card in the form of the Colored Cannon and banished IBRS from Rock. Or so she had thought originally. A few weeks after all of this happened, BRS suddenly vanished from her heart. It shocked her to her core. Why did she abandon me? What was she doing now? She frowned. It was hard enough coming all this way out here, but to do it without telling her mom and brother, and especially to her friends Yuu, Kagari, and Yomi was extraordinarily difficult. But still, she needed the truth. She needed some sort of closure from her Other Self. She needed to tell her she was sorry for causing her so much pain. She needed to tell her she was sorry for everything.

Changing into her sleepwear, she slunk into bed and tried to get some rest. It was a long trip from Japan to South Island, and she was beat. But for reasons she clearly knew, she couldn't. As a few tears slid down her face, she whispered, "Black Rock Shooter, can you hear me? Where have you gone?"

"Are you sure you don't need a ride Strength?" Ren asked as she went outside. "We'd be happy to give you a lift back to your place in the Brunhilde if you want."

"Thanks, I'm okay Ren." Strength replied with a friendly smile. "I need the exercise."

"Okay, well be sure to stay on the path at night, or you might get lost. Alright?"

"No need to worry. I know the way." She hesitated. "Thanks for doing this. Mato is a dear friend to me. I'd be devastated if anything happened to her."

"No problem Strength. We'll protect her for sure!" He smiled giving thumbs up and a wink.

"…I know. Well, see you later."

"Catch you around."

As she started down the path, Ren closed the door with a huge sigh.

"Strength wanted to walk?" Stella asked while putting Dagger down. The feline brushed up against Stella's legs lovingly for a few seconds as if to formally welcome her into the family, then he bounded over to his little bed by the fire place and curled up into it, falling asleep within seconds

"Yeah." Ren replied.

"For a being from another world, she seems very nice. I like her." Stella smiled.

Ren chuckled. "Well not ALL things from another world are evil y'know." He remarked. "There's still some time left before those Other selves are supposed to arrive. Six days right?"

She nodded. "We can start looking for Mato tomorrow if you want."

He walked up to her. "….Yeaaaah, about that…

She tilted her head. "What?"

"It's just, I've been thinking about what I said before…about us just getting here and already I got dragged into something? Well…" He smiled. "I was thinking that we could go half of the days we have spending time to ourselves. You, me, and Nana-"

"Huh?" Stella blushed slightly. "But what about Mato?"

"Now now, I didn't say we weren't going to find her. In fact, we are going to find her first, then we'll take her with! Whatever we do should be enough to distract her from finding Rock and keep her hidden from Other selves wanting to find her."

"Oh…" Stella hung her head low. "But…is it really alright for us to keep her from the one she really wants to see? I mean…I understand the parts about the purple flamed Rock, but still….is it right?"

"Hey."

She looked up to find herself in a deep hug.

"I know it's not right. From the sound of things, Mato really misses Rock a lot. I wouldn't forgive myself if I actually went through with this…so you know what? We're going to let Mato see Rock."

"So you aren't worried about Rock then?"

"With that girl walking around my island, I think I should always worry. That's to say, we aren't going to let Mato see her right away. We're going to wait until all The Other selves buzz off first. Carrying around that much sorrow and pain isn't good for the both of them. They need some kind of closure. But…" He gave her a quick kiss that made her blush.

"We're still going to spend time together, don't worry. There's a lot I want to show you, and it's going to take longer than six measly days to show you at least half of it."

"Ren…" Stella felt warm inside his arms, and warm in her heart. She knew he wouldn't be able to just deny Mato access to Rock like that. He wanted her to have closure too, and at the same time he was still committed to helping her and Nana settle into their new life together. She gave him a kiss to return the one he gave her just a few seconds ago. She pulled away and smiled. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Remember that thing you asked me to do?"

Ren gulped. "U-uh….what thing? Remind me again?"

Stella smiled a sly smile as she undid her hair, letting it fall to its full length. "Ring any bells?"

Ren's face turned bright red so quickly he thought steam would come out of his ears. "O-oh….yeah…I do now."

"Thought so. So, since you asked me to do this, can I ask you to do something for me?"

"U-uh…s-sure! N-name it!" Ren was shaking like a leaf on a windy day.

Stella held his hand. "Relax. It's not that bad, I promise." She felt him tense down and stop shaking. She whispered something in his ear, and his face and demeanor instantly changed.

"Oh, yeah of course! That's easy! But, we'd better head outside if I'm going to do this. C'mon."

He grasped her hand and gently led her out into the front yard.

"Okay, here goes! Ready?" He asked her.

She nodded, but then realized something. "Wait, won't it be difficult without the Esper gems?"

He smirked. "Nah, when I did this last time I absorbed all the energy the gems had, so now it's all a part of me just like the meteor that gave me Esper." He walked a small ways away from her. "Now, watch closely!"

His cocky smile and bright eyes instantly faded to a frown and a glare as he concentrated. Grasping his hands into fists, he closed his eyes and tensed up. A few seconds passed with nothing happening, then a small Red ball of energy appeared before him. The Red ball was soon joined by a Purple ball, followed by Green, Yellow, Orange, Pink, Gray, and finally Blue. The multi colored energy balls started to circle and surround the teen, all while growing in size until they were about the size of his fist. Finally he opened his eyes, jumped up and thrust his hands to his sides as the Energy Balls entered his body and changed his form in a bright white flash. Stella covered her eyes to avoid being blinded. When the light show was over, Ren had changed completely. His brown spiky hair was now white and upturned, his clothes now a black and white pattern instead of a red and gray and his eyes now a bright red instead of gray. A shining sheen coated his being and seemed to flash and dissipate every second or so, and a white and black aura seemed to pour out of him.

His transformation complete, he casually hovered over to his other. "Well, what do you think? Pretty cool huh?"

"Amazing…" Stella cooed in awe as her eye flame began to blaze softly. "It's exactly like it was last time."

"He he…glad you think so." He picked her up princess style and winked. "Love you Stella."

She smiled and pulled him into a small kiss. "Love you too Ren…" Then they went for another longer one, not caring if someone saw them.

"Ethan, have you managed to reach Ren yet?" Ami asked while tapping on her desk.

"I'm trying Ami, but my phone doesn't have very good reception here. What about you?"

"Two calls and straight to voicemail I'm afraid. He must have it on silent again."

"This would have gone faster if you just let me pick them up." Nana sighed.

"Maybe you're right Nana." Ami said pushing a pencil into her forehead. "Sorry…"

"Oh…it's not…I didn't mean like that!" She panicked, trying to reassure her new boss.

"Hey…hey!" Ethan suddenly said. "I'm getting through!"

BNNNNNG. BNNNNNNNG. BNNNNNNG.

As Ren and Stella were in mid-kiss, a cell phone vibration could be heard coming from Ren's pocket.

Stella pulled away and smiled. "Are you going to answer that?"

Ren smiled devilishly. "I was thinking of letting it go to voicemail. Kind of busy y'know?"

She giggled a little. "I'm not going anywhere. Go ahead and take it. I'm right here."

Ren sighed with a defeated look. "Alright…"

'Damn it.' He thought. He waved a hand over his pocket and his cell phone floated out of it and into his ear. Moving a finger, he telekinetically pressed the call connect button.

"Y'ello?"

"Ren?" Came the voice of Ethan.

"Yo, Ethan. What's up man?"

"Trying to get a hold of you dude. Everything alright?"

Ren took a glance at Stella with a smile. "Oh yeah, everything's just fine." She smiled back at him when he said this.

"Cool. I know it's really late right now, but could you come to the office for a minute? And bring Stella along."

Huh?

"Whoa whoa, Ethan. What's up?"

"It's about a data disk Nana brought in. It's about Stella, it's pretty serious man."

Ren's eyes widened. "How serious are we talking here?"

"Potentially Capital S grade serious. You need to get over here and see it for yourselves, BOTH of you."

Ren sighed. "Ten-four bud. On our way." He hung up the phone with another telekinetic push.

"What's wrong?" Stella asked. "You seem worried."

"Um, nah…Ethan's saying something about a data disk that has something about you on it."

Stella's expression froze. He was talking about the disk Rothcol gave her in her dream!

"Let's go there." She said, all the warm and fuzziness drained out of her voice and replaced with her old serious one.

Ren raised his eyebrow at her sudden change of character but complied. "Okay. You better hang on tight then."

"Wait," Stella glanced at him. "We're not taking the Brunhilde?"

He laughed. "Are you kidding? I can fly without wasting fuel. Plus, I'm in Synergy now, might as well take advantage of it!"

Stella nodded. She wrapped her arms around Ren's neck as he began to float off the ground. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always for you, my princess! Here we go!" With those words he accelerated into flight as they soared over the trees and into the blue night sky towards Cyan City.

Meanwhile…

Mato sighed as she turned over for the umpteenth time in a row. It was no use. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't go to sleep. Physically, she was pretty tired but mentally, she was very active. She couldn't stop worrying about BRS. Rubbing her eyes she hopped out of bed. Maybe a walk will help her clear her head. Girls at school kept talking about this island like it was a paradise, so while she's here she might as well look around. Throwing on a new pair of clothes, she exited her room and started walking down the dirt path overlooking the hills. The people of the small city seemed nice enough, even at this hour, as she could see some people waving to each other and to her as she made her way along the path. As she walked along the path alongside the sea, she couldn't help but look out to it. "The sea…. All blue." She muttered to herself. She had a bit of a habit thinking of the color of something whenever she looked at it. That's why she enjoyed The Little Bird so much since she was a baby. There was so much color in the book, but the ending always bummed her out. That is, until recently that is. She eventually stopped looking at the sea. Blue reminded her of BRS, the very person that deprived her of sleep right now.

As she walked, she heard a rustling to her right. A dark silhouette was standing by a tree, as if waiting for her to arrive.

"Well well well…what do we have here?" A feminine, familiar voice came forth.

"W-who are you?" Mato asked.

"What? You don't recognize my voice? Tsk. What a dull girl. Very well then…"

Mato instinctively took a few steps backward. She was starting to remember who this voice belonged to. It was shared by Yomi, her best friend, and one other more sinister individual. "No….it can't be! You're…!"

The figure stepped out of the shadow into full view. Her hair was in two wavy pony tails and it is dark green. She wore a black dress with a ruffled lace edge and a white bow tied to the waist. It had long sleeves with the same trim. Under the dress she had black leggings with green ribbons laced between the edges, which were slightly ruffled themselves. She wore a sheer veil with bright green horns tearing through it, possibly holding it in place. These horns were tall and slightly curved. On her back there is a pair of wings which are bright green like her horns and appeared as a thick zig zag. And to round it all out she had bright piercing green eyes, eyes that seemed like they could stare into your soul.

"You're….Yomi's Other self!" Mato exclaimed in shock. "But what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I see no reason to tell you. I also have a name you know." She smiled a wicked smile. "Anyways, a little bird told me that you're looking for her. Aren't you?"

"How did…?"

"…I know? Sweetie, I'm Dead Master. I know a great deal many things. For instance, I also know where you can find her."

Mato's eyes widened. "Y-you do?"

Dead Master grinned. "Yes my dear. She's hiding somewhere on this horrid island. If you wish…" She extended her hand out to Mato. "…I can take you to her."

"You can…? Really?"

"Mmm. Take my hand, and we'll go and see her."

Mato's mind raced a thousand miles an hour. She was here! She really was here! She'll be able to see her soon! But at the same time her instincts screamed at her. "You can't trust her Mato! Don't trust her!"

"Hurry, hurry now." Dead Master prodded. "If you don't come with me, you'll never be able to see her."

"I…" Mato's feet moved towards the Other self. Step by step, she began to reach for her hand, her wicked grin growing wider as she did. Finally, her hand was right at her fingertips…

…and was promptly smacked away.

Dead Master was shocked for a second, then glared at Mato. "You little fool! Don't you realize what I'm doing for you here!?"

Mato returned her glare right back. "I do. But it's nothing I'm about to sacrifice my own soul for to accomplish. I can't trust you'll keep up your end of the bargain." Mato's lips curled up into a cocky grin. "I bet you just want to play Puppet master like you did with Yomi, and hold me for ransom as a bargaining chip for BRS. Am I correct so far?"

Dead Master's face scrunched up for a second, then she gave that twisted grin and laughed. "So, you're not as dull as I made you out to be Kuroi. I may have misjudged you in that way. But…" She held her hand out to her side as her Scythe appeared in her palm. "I'm afraid you cannot resist. You see, you may have figured out my little scheme here, but you are powerless to do anything other than play along. Without her, you're nothing but a frail girl."

Mato gritted her teeth. She did have a point. She didn't have BRS on her side this time. This time she was completely on her own. She couldn't take a being that was born to fight, but maybe if she could make it back to town… 'No choice then…' she thought. Turning quickly on her heel she ran down the path back to town. Dead Master cracked her neck a few times.

"I love it when the prey plays hard to get."

"Whoa." Ren said, stopping and hovering in midair.

"What is it?" Stella asked.

"I felt something strange just now…it felt kind of like the feeling I got from Rock and Strength, but…"

"But what?"

"It felt much more sinister."

Stella closed her eyes for a few seconds and concentrated. Then she opened her eyes. "You're right. I feel it too."

Ren faced where the feeling came from, a small forest just next to Greenflower City. "Let's check it out real quick, okay?"

Stella nodded and clung tight. Ren started to descend from the sky over to the forest.

Inside the forest, Mato panted as she sprinted with everything she had. "How long does this forest go on for!?" It felt like she was running for an eternity, when in reality it had only been two and a half minutes.

"You're making this a lot more difficult on yourself Mato." Dead Master's voice echoed clearly through the brush. "Don't tucker yourself out too much. I want you to be awake when I find you."

"Hell with that!" She nimbly jumped over fallen logs and jumped down small hills in order to shake her pursuer. She had to make it back to town no matter what!

Suddenly a rattling metallic sound came from behind her and a strong force yanked her left leg bringing her down. She rolled over and looked to see a long black chain snaring her leg. She tried to get it off, but as she did more chains came and wrapped around her body and restrained her to an oak tree. She struggled to free herself as Dead Master casually walked up, but the chains wouldn't budge.

"And so the chase ends. Tsk Tsk Tsk." Dead Master mocked. As she looked at the Real Self of her rival, and her crush, she laughed a little. "Well, this is nostalgic. I believe I did this to you once before. Well, the other you anyway. Good memories." Mato tried once more to get free, but Dead Master pinned her to the tree, ceasing her struggle. "Now honey, I know you're anxious, but right now I need you to take a quick nap for me." She lifted her finger as a glint of black and green energy swirled around it. She started to inch it closer to Mato's forehead, and as she did Mato's vision began to blur and her body began to slump into unconsciousness. Dead Master smiled sadistically. "Sleep tight, Little Bird."

WHAM!

Mato's vision and body movement began to return to normal as she wearily looked around. "…Wha?" she said weakly. She looked in front of her to see Dead Master fully flattened into the tree across from her.

"…What happened?"

Suddenly a flash of light landed in front of her, and as she got used to the glare she could make out two people. A boy clad in white carrying a girl dressed in black.

"Sorry there," The boy said with a smirk. "Little Bird's going to keep on flying'." He put the girl down. "Go see if you can get her outta there. I got this."

"Okay." She replied. She started to tug on the chains around Mato. "Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

Mato wearily turned towards the girl and gasped. She couldn't believe who she was seeing. Was it really true? Was she dreaming? Was it…

"R-Rock?"

Elsewhere…in Cyan City...

Miku was watching the news with Rock at her small house in the city. After getting home from school and doing their homework, they would usually watch whatever Miku wanted to watch (she had some music news and some soap operas) while on the tail end of their TV time Rock would take over and watch the news.

As Miku happily sipped some of her homemade spring onion soup, Rock suddenly stood up.

"I have to go."

Miku looked up in surprise. "What? Where? Why?"

Rock strode towards the door. "Something's wrong."

Miku set down her bowl and chased after Rock. She was walking down the street when she caught up. "Wait! Wait for me Rock!"

"Stay at home Miku. I'll be back."

Miku pouted. "No way! Where you go I'm going too!"

Rock turned back toward her. "This isn't a game Miku. If you follow me to where I'm going, you could get hurt. I'm not going to take that risk. Go back home and wait for me there. I'm not going to ask you a third time."

Miku's temper flared up. "Why do you always have to treat me like a little kid Rock!? I'm grown enough to look after myself, so you don't need to worry about me like this! I'M not going to repeat myself either, I'm going with you and THAT'S THAT!"

Her sudden outburst startled Rock. She wasn't expecting that kind of response from meek and tender Miku. Then again, she was becoming more and more brave lately. 'So, she isn't going to give eh? Very well. No amount of me doing anything is going to change her mind anyway.'

"…Fine. But," Rock warned. "If and when I tell you to hide, you do it at that exact moment. Not before, not after. That exact moment. You wait for me to come find you, and you don't do anything that will get you hurt, or you can forget about coming with me next time. Clear?"

Miku smiled her bright smile again. "Crystal! So where are we going?"

Rock face palmed at the question before answering. "We're going to pay an old friend a visit."

"Is she from the Otherworld like you?"

Rock nodded. "And I would have preferred that she stayed there, or at least, stayed dead."

Miku's eyes widened. "You mean…?"

"Yes. Dead Master is here on the island."