Arriving at Midgand's shore, Hope hid the raft as his new 'partner' changed out of his scuba gear.

"I can't believe you jumped me. I am impressed, but I don't even know who you are, Mr. Pro assassin. If we're gonna be working together, you have to at least give me a name or something."

The man changed into a suit as he laughed. "Working together? You don't get it. You're my hostage and my bait." he said.

"Oh, so you're treating my friend like an Animal, is that it?" Hope asked.

"That girl? Far from it. She's extremely dangerous that one." he said.

"But she's still my friend, and I'm not gonna let you kill her. She isnt a Parasite like those other alien freaks are." Hope said.

"Para...oh. I'm not killing her cause she's a parasite." he said.

"So why are you out for her head?" Hope asked.

"See...there's this entire network of assassins that work for many different reasons. And the best of them, the top ten, know of the greatest assassins of all time...The Lion and the Lioness. This is a job from the Lioness...to kill one of the former top ten...that girl you call Morph." he said.

"What are you talking about? Morph isn't an assassin! And there are plenty others more worth your bosses' time, I'm sure." Hope said.

"But that girl's got secrets we can't let leak out. We can't allow that. It's code to finish them so the info remains safe." he said.

"I'm gonna see to that myself. But first, we should find out where my friend is." Hope said.

"Oh that is not necessary. She's headed to Stonebury where a dangerous daemon was sighted. I know cause she wants to rise above her expectations." he said. "And you're gonna be a good boy and play hostage."

"Okay...I'll play." Hope said secretly pressing something behind his back which was a homing signal.

"Good. Because from what I've heard… Drawing attention is your specialty." he said. "And I need that to keep them from running off."

"Oh...goodie." he said sarcastically.

They travelled down the road before arriving at Stonebury. "I'll be going for a drink. Chill at the inn until I get back." he said leaving Hope.

"Yeah, knock yourself out." Hope said as he checked into the inn. "Can I get a room here please? Just for myself?"

"I'll see what I can do. We're a bit booked at the moment with all of these people at the moment." the receptionist said.

"Good." Hope said turning to leave before seeing Zaveid at a table. "Zaveid?"

"Well hello there sailor." Zaveid said sitting there with a bottle of a drink with two glasses poured.

"Nah, i'll pass on the Whiskey. I'm not that much of a grog guy." Hope said.

"Oh...it's not for you. Just saying a prayer for someone." Zaveid said.

"Oh." Hope said sitting down. "I'm just glad I found you. You're the first friendly face I've seen since that guy nabbed me while I was fishing for food off the coast."

"Oh, you mean Mantis?" he asked.

"You know him?" Hope asked.

"He's an assassin famous for wielding two scythes and beheading his victims." Zaveid said.

"That's not good. Especially considering my friend Morph is half parasite." Hope said.

"That girl I shot with Siegfried? The one who tried to kill that other person...sorry but I'm not gonna help you with that." Zaveid said.

"The thing is… when you shot her, she wasn't in her right mind, so to speak." Hope said. "Connor told me that since she's half parasite, some of the instinctual behaviors still linger. It's like shes got two minds or something."

"An alternate personality? Well, that explains it." Zaveid said. "But ask yourself this...if this girl's got two personalities...which one do you think is the original?"

"Well…" Hope said. "The one I've always seen the most. That cheery, happy side of her that's always looking on the bright side."

"If you think so." Zaveid said.

"Huh?" Hope asked before Mantis got him.

"Let's go kid." Mantis said dragging him off. "You don't wanna bother that man anymore right now."

"Yeah…" Hope said.

"That bottle he was drinking is called Thorny Forest...a drink you share with your one true love." Mantis said.

"Whoa… Zaveid didn't mention anything about having a girlfriend…" Hope said.

"Probably a dark memory, one he prefers not to share openly." Mantis said. "Maybe I'll get lucky and get a drink of that one day." he said. "Anyway...they've spotted her in the mountains. We're off."

"Guys...I hope you catch up soon." Hope said to himself as they headed up the mountains. When they got to a certain spot, they saw Morph looking off in the distance before looking at them.

"Mantis...so she sent you after me. I knew it was only a matter of time." Morph said.

"She…? Never mind that. Morph, this isn't what you think, I swear!" Hope said.

"Don't worry. I know you're just a pawn in this. Truth is, you're in this mess because of what I've done in the past." Morph said.

"Okay, Cub. It's time for you to join the other past greats." Mantis said drawing his scythes.

"Cub? Greats? What are you talking about? And you should be cheery!" Hope said.

"I'm sorry. But the Morph you knew was a lie. I've done nothing but lie to you guys and Connor." Morph said.

"Don't say that! If you want me to believe you, tell me your whole story! Who are you, really?!" Hope asked.

"My true identity...I am the rank 3 assassin Cub, daughter of the Lion and Lioness. I've always pushed myself to surpass my parents...even going as far as undergoing the experiments Astro was planning of my own free will." Morph said.

"So you were never really the final Love house member. All you were was an assassin's daughter…" Hope said. "That doesn't explain why you acted differently."

"When Zaveid shot me, he brought up a lot of memories that I would have rather forgotten. When Connor found me, my plan was to act like an innocent and defenseless girl until I saw a chance to escape. But...the more time we spent...it felt nice. To have friends, someone to look out for me...it was something I could have never had. I was lying so well...I even lied to myself. Made myself even forget who I really was." Morph said.

"Girl...assassins can never have a peaceful life. Danger follows us wherever it goes. I rather not kill you considering your talents...but this is an order from the top." Mantis said.

"Do as you wish...but I have one request. Please spare that boy Hope...and my friends from Team Revival." Morph said.

"That's fine. All I want is you." Mantis said dropping Hope off as he walked towards Morph.

"Don't you dare touch her… bastard." Hope said getting up. "She's my friend. You want her, kill me first."

"You got guts...but I gotta follow my job." Mantis said ignoring him. "Cub...I'll be seeing you in the next life." he said raising both scythes.

"I have no regrets." Morph said.

Before the scythes went down, two gun shots hit his scythes making him drop them. "What the?"

Mantis, Hope and Morph saw that it was David and Connor that shot the scythes off.

"Sounds like you're having quite the party. Shame we weren't invited." Connor said.

"Connor...no." Morph said.

"Kid, you're disturbing a job here. I ask ya to move before you do something you're gonna regret." Mantis said retrieving his scythes.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen. If you have any sense, YOU should be the one walking away." David said.

"Hmm. I promised not to kill the gunslinger...but she didn't say anything about the ice devil." Mantis said. "Hold tight Cub. This won't take long." Mantis said charging at them with incredible speed.

"No!" Morph shouted as Mantis rose a scythe as both David and Connor quickly dodged.

"Zero Divide!" David called as dark bullets emerged from his guns and flew at Mantis.

"What the…?!" Mantis asked as the bullets flew close to him before he sliced them up. "That was way too close."

"I'm not done. Squall Shot!" David said firing a bullet in the air, causing raindrops to fall on Mantis and damage him.

"It takes more than rain to stop me." Mantis said running up close. "The Mantis's Claws!" he said bringing both scythes in close.

David uses his Ice Reaper Claw to block the attack, but the force still pushed him back.

"This guy is good. So...time the kids gloves come off." Mantis said holding one scythe out in front and one behind his back as he then started spinning. "Mantis...Tornado!"

"Connor… You get Hope and Morph someplace safe." David said.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Connor said running towards them.

"Oh I'm not letting you get my target." Mantis said spinning at Connor, cutting through anything in his path, even solid stone.

David got in front of the tornado. "Hold it! Your fight is with me! This technique is one of my master's favorites. Arctic Style: Shivering Wind!" David said as he casted an icy wind.

"Hah! Like some small blizzard its gonna stop…" Mantis said before the wind hit him, causing him to freeze while spinning. "What the? This blizzard...it's no ordinary one! Even if i keep spinning, I can't shake the ice off!"

"Would you believe me if I told you that my master is a yuki-onna?" David asked.

"No way… he was trained by a snow spirit?" Mantis thought. "This just got complicated.'

"Now for the finisher… Arctic Style Secret Art…" David said as he held his hand out. "Arctic Burial!" He clenched his hand into a fist, causing the tornado to burst.

"I gotta kill this kid now before my blades break from the cold." Mantis thought getting closer and closer.

"David, get outta there! No way he'll freeze solid before he gets you!" Connor said.

"Then I guess it's time for my trump card." David said as Mantis was in an icy dome with reflections of him all around. "Arctic Style Elite Art… Crystal Ice Mirrors!"

"Crystal Ice Mirrors? Now where have I heard and seen that technique from before?" Connor said.

"I recognize it! That's one of those ninja techniques from Naruto's world." Hope said.

"Doesn't matter how many of you there are. I'll cut them all down!" Mantis said.

"I was hoping you'd say that." David said as he fires ice shards at Mantis from the reflections in every single angle possible.

"What is this?" Mantis said before the ice shards started hitting him from all angles before he fell. The dome then faded.

"There...we got him." David said.

"Why did you come? I would have been happy with him ending it." Morph said.

(Cue- I'll face myself- V2)

Connor then faced Morph. "Look, you can believe whatever you want, but I believe that you still wanted to live with me, with Team Revival. You may think you told lies to yourself, but that aint what I believe. The truth is… you never lied to yourself. What you've been telling yourself all this time about being happy with all of us, you being our friend, that was no lie at all. You are our friend, you know it, I know it… we all know it."

"He's right, Morph. It doesn't matter what they say or what truth comes out. You're still a trusted companion. Nothing is ever going to change that." David said.

"But you know… When they find out about this altercation, the Lion and Lioness will come after you." Morph said.

"Doesn't matter much to me. I'm used to making enemies everywhere I go at this point. Besides, like I said back in Titania, families killing each other is twisted, no matter how you look at it." David said.

"I've already been at death's door once...what's a couple more times?" Connor asked smiling.

"Connor…" Morph said speechless.

"Not a single person believes you lied about yourself. And neither do I. You're always our friend, Morph." Hope said.

Morph struggled to not cry. "Thank you...everyone."

"So uh… one more thing. Do we keep calling you Morph, or does Cub seem more appropriate now that you have your memories back?" Connor asked.

"Call me whatever." Morph said. "I don't care." she said smiling.

"Alright. Let's go tell the others that we're all clear now." David said.

"Uh...somehow I don't think that's true." Connor said as flying above them was a large dragon.

"Whoa… How the heck did we miss that?" David asked. "What should we do? We can't take it on as we are now."

"We can try! Haaa!" Morph said running to strike it before Zaveid came and took the hit.

"Zaveid?! What the heck are you doing?! We need to get rid of that dragon." Hope asked in shock.

"She's not a dragon!" Zaveid shouted.

"Wait… that bottle of Thorny forest, don't tell me…!" Hope said.

"Yeah… It's for her." Zaveid said. "I'd do whatever it takes to protect her!" he said pointing Siegfried at himself before the dragon knocked him down before it flew off.

"It got away." Connor said.

"Dang...that hurt babe. And we hadn't seen each other in so long." Zaveid said to himself.

"Alright, you've got some explaining to do Zaveid. Like for instance… how are you in love with a dragon?!" Connor said.

"I told you not to call her a dragon! But if you insist, her name is Theodora. She was my lover. Back then...we used to take in orphans who experienced lots of pain and suffering...which you can imagine generates lots of malevolence." Zaveid said.

"But eventually, the malevolence became too much for her to bear, and she turned into a dragon…" David said.

"Yeah...that's the truth of it. And she's not a dragon." Zaveid said getting up and walking away.

"Then what is she?" Hope asked.

"Hope...not the time." Connor said.

"Sorry." Hope said. "Well, I guess Theodora was who Mantis reported as the dangerous Daemon."

"And it's not like Zaveid was just going to let anyone come up and strike her down." David said. "For his sake, we'd best leave her alone."

"By the way, is everyone else here?" Hope asked.

"They're at the Inn. Sorry about leaving you out at sea. But we honestly weren't expecting an assassin to come and kidnap you." Connor said.

"Trust me when i say that's not the weirdest thing to happen to me." Hope said looking at Mantis's unconscious body. "Although we can't just leave him here… I've got an idea."

A few minutes later, Mantis's still frosted over body was tied to a crucifix in the middle of the town with a sign that said "Arrest me, I am a wanted murderer."

"To be honest, what we wrote there is pretty true." Connor said.

"At least that's one assasin we can say that's not coming back to report the bad news to Lion and Lioness." Hope said. "But how many are left?"

"The assassin underground is in the thousands. But it will be awhile before they send another." Morph said.

"They can send however many they want. They aren't killing you." Connor said. "But for right now, we've got work to do."