Hello everybody, Exotos135 here! We come back from the little hiatus I had with another chapter of Chains of Reality.
Yes, I know this isn't the first chapter I post since the hiatus.
Anyway, I got good news for you guys! I have completed the full Proto-Lucy arc by the time you're reading this. The grand finale is finished, and the prologue has also been written. Might add a few things here and there if I feel they fit, but overall, the arc is finished.
Another set of good news is that all the chapters up until the prologue have the next chapter preview finished, so the only thing left for me to do is respond to the reviews I get.
How many chapters are left? Well, the arc ends in chapter 42, and the prologue is in chapter 43, so... you decide.
Like usual, let's answer some reviews:
1) Nobody245:
* Yeah, I'm sure there'll be a bunch of action on this chapter. Then again, if you count talking as "action," then we've had quite a lot of that too, right? XD
* Your wait has been rewarded, adventurer! :)
* Well, some of the Proto-Sisters began the mess before he did.
* The Proto-Sisters were completely closed off in the remains of the original reality for billions of years, to the point they probably went numb for a good majority of those years, and you have to remember that most prototypes look notably different from the finished product. Even if they could humor the idea that other prototypes are in the dimension, they have no way of knowing who are the prototypes and who are the neophilim.
** Add-on for the last point: Proto-Tabby is kind of an exception to the rule, but we need to wait and see how the rest of the Proto-Dates look. Hey, maybe that's something I could add...
2) Observant Guest:
* I'm just gonna say it right now: Ronnie Anne will get new friends, in fact she's already kinda getting those with the Sadie Hawkins dates.
* I guess they're going to see if they can get another spin-off from her? I mean, it worked for Ronnie Anne somehow.
* I've actually written a few fanfics about Stella: One with Mrs. Johnson, one with Clyde, one with Lisa, one with Lincoln. But none with Ronnie Anne, so I guess I could try to write that next, thanks for the idea. :)
* If a Lincoln lovechild has only now been brought up, something's definitely fishy. Like why aren't they in this fanfic yet? XD
* I see, yeah, I guess I can see the resemblance.
* Yeah, we had the hydra, now we have the gashadokuro, who knows what other insane monstrosity they'll face next time?!
* That implication was in the Proto-Lana arc, yes, but it was brought up by Flip of all people, so it'd be understandable to take it with a grain of salt.
* I can see why you would: There's something eerie about this tune.
* Silas is from Lucy's caste, he's helping someone who's not Proto-Lucy during the zombie apocalypse.
* That is probably the most upbeat "city destruction" music I've ever heard.
* Or worse, zombie werewolves!
* That song sounds really threatening. I almost wonder if it could fit during any part of the Atlantis arc...
3) ChernoMan: Due to the very long wait between chapters, and how long this thing is already, I'm only going to respond to what you said on the previous chapter, sorry.
* It's okay, man, it happens.
* I'm glad you could understand.
* Yeah, because we're already about to reach three hundred thousand words, and we're not done with season 1 yet. And the only other long fics I can think of, like Syngenesophobia and Requiem for a Loud, are around the same length or reaching 300000 words.
* Especially when in the zombie apocalypse: There ain't no time to waste, yo!
* I never even once thought about that saying when I wrote that line. What a coincidence. XD
* Okay, yeah, I probably wasn't paying attention when I wrote that, but it's still something that's worth pointing out, right?
* Kinda like a certain blonde older sister with the power of lighting...
* The story arc started on chapter 32, so with this chapter, I'd say we're around the fourth chapter.
* Trust me, as this is the culmination of the first half of the season, there's no way I can avoid there being way too much stuff at once on the screen.
And now, to the chapter!
Episode 36: Duality Between the Sun and the Moon! Where is the Gashadokuro Going to Spawn?!
Back where we left off... sorta, the Loud parents were jumping from roof to roof as they searched for their children, with only Lynn Sr. noticing the dome.
"So, Luna's counterpart's dome has been put into place," the man remarked, getting his wife's attention. "Looks like we won't be able to get out of here now."
"Of course we won't, we need to help with the zombie invasion," Rita answered before showing her Loud slayer weapon. "And besides, we still need to deliver these weapons to the kids: The sooner, the better!"
Lynn Sr. lowered his head and thought about it... which caused him to slip on the next roof he jumped too, prompting Rita to grab him and gently put him down.
"S-Sorry, honey, I got distracted for a moment there..." Lynn Sr. said as he caught his breath. "Now, remind me, which of the kids are we giving these weapons to?"
"Well, Luna and Lucy, obviously," Rita answered with a shrug. "Luna's counterpart is the one who summoned this dome, and Lucy's counterpart is the reason for the apocalypse, after all."
The man scratched his chin and hummed. "Splitting off would be a good idea, then, since it's unlikely they'll be in the same place. However, splitting off is also a bad idea, since the zombies are down on the streets..."
"Doesn't matter, we can just slash or pierce them out of the way," Rita snapped her fingers with a confident tone. "So, how about this: I'll go look for Luna, while you go look for Lucy."
Lynn Sr. hummed. "That sounds like a good idea, but-"
Rita gave her husband a thumbs up and promptly began looking for Luna, leaving the man to look for Lucy. Seeing he had no other choice, the guy mused:
"I hope the girls are doing well..."
Speaking of the girls...
Among the teams the group had split off from, Luna and Luan were one of those teams, and they remained on top of a roof, looking at a group of zombies marching to some location.
"Remind me why aren't we doing anything again, Luan?" Lucy asked, sounding slightly concerned.
"It's fairly simple, Lucy; You see, the zombies are marching to some place in order to do... whatever they were brought back to do, right?" Luan argued, earning a nod from Lucy as they focused on the marching zombies. "Well, we just got to watch where they're going, and once we can see where they're heading, that's when we stop them and get to work on stopping the evil plot from-"
Lucy narrowed her eyes and stated, "My counterpart."
Luan blinked once and turned to Lucy. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Luan, you don't have to act like the Proto-Sister behind this is a mystery, it's so obvious that it's my counterpart," Lucy explained, frowning as she added, "I mean, zombies, darkness, the night thing might be Luna's counterpart's doing, but everything else sounds like it's my counterpart's fault."
"Oh, okay, I see what you mean," Luan said, only to notice the marching zombies were leaving their view. "Oh look, they're moving out of sight!"
The sisters jumped to the next couple of rooftops and stopped to watch the continued march as Luan continued:
"Still, we don't know if she's working alone or not: There's a chance she and Luna's counterpart could be working together, hence the dome. Or it could just be a coincidence, and we're dealing with more than one Proto-Sister right now."
Luan paused, and her face slightly turned blue. "And now that I think about it, that would be even worse than if we were dealing with just one."
The comedian, however, quickly shook off the shock and went back to watching the marching zombies, while Lucy looked at Luan with a worried look. Luan ignored this fact, at least until Lucy asked:
"Luan, you haven't made many jokes, or laughed that much lately."
"Yeah, I guess I haven't," Luan answered, rolling her eyes. "Is that something that bothers you?"
"It just doesn't feel like you," Lucy answered, twiddling her fingers as she turned back to the march, and continued to talk, "The Luan I remember is someone who could make a joke out of anything, and bring smiles to everybody, whenever she wasn't making them groan. Now, you rarely make jokes, you rarely laugh, and you seem... I don't know, sadder-"
"Well, you're one to talk, you know?" Luan answered, avoiding eye contact with the goth as she continued, "The Lucy I know is calm, stoic, rarely shows emotions, and can be quite creepy. But now, you show emotions like fear and worry, you sound more emotional as well, and..."
Luan paused, and lowered her head, prompting Lucy to ask, "And?"
"And you're not even alive anymore, in the normal sense anyway," Luan sighed, rubbing her forehead. "You're in some sort of state between life and death, and you could've still been alive if I had done something about the hydra."
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You're upset because you think I died because you didn't do something about a giant beast that took an entire team to bring down?"
"I'm upset because everything that's happening... is just so overwhelming to me!" Luan answered, raising her arms. "I mean, living puppets? Sentient trash? Those are weird, but what we're dealing with the zombie apocalypse now!"
Luan took a deep breath and leaned back, looking at the fake night sky as she finished:
"Plus, one of my sisters died, and even if you came back, there's no way of knowing if the same will be true for everybody else."
Lucy took a deep breath and leaned back, "I... guess I can see where you're coming from. And to be honest, it would be fairly annoying if you were cracking puns while we were in the middle of something important."
"Yeah, especially considering my power's based on puns!" Luan said, getting a little smile. "I mean, can you imagine my powers going haywire because I spat out a pun every 5 seconds? Even I would find that obnoxious!"
The sisters laughed for a little bit, with Luan's laughter dying down faster than Lucy's did. She then took a deep breath and turned to the goth, whose laughter stopped as soon as she noticed this sight. "What?"
"Lucy, I'm sorry I didn't do anything to prevent your death," Luan said, rubbing the goth's hair. "But, I assure you, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Thanks, Luan, I appreciate it," Lucy replied with a smile. "Although, I'm still surprised that you went with me, rather than Luna."
"I'm surprised too; I thought you were going to go with Lynn," Luan said as she and Lucy got back up. "But I'm pretty sure Lori's going to keep Luna safe no matter what."
Speaking of Luna...
The rockstar and Lori, both riding on a cloud, flew towards the artificial moon that was the source of the dome. The closer they got, the better the look they got of the moon, which looked like it was made entirely out of energy.
"So, do you think if we destroy this thing, it'll dispel the dome surrounding the city?" Luna asked, squinting her eyes to see a bit closer at the moon. "I don't see a core or anything we can attack-"
"Destroying it isn't the only way to dispel it, you know?" Lori pointed out, getting Luna's attention. "You're the controller of the moon, after all. And this is a moon, one way or another."
Lori threw a suggestive eyebrow raise at Luna. "Why don't you control it?"
Almost as if on cue, thunder was heard as Proto-Luna made her presence known: She parted the skies in a moon shape, then flew down to the opposite side from the rocker and oldest sister.
"Ugh, don't tell me you can just leave this dome whenever you want!" Luna complained. "That's totally unfair, dude!"
"Well, look who it is, my sweet little Dumah," Proto-Luna said with a mockingly cheerful tone. "How's the angel of silence doing in this wonderful day?"
Proto-Luna smirked. "Or should I say, night?"
"Don't think you can fool me, Proto-Me!" Luna proclaimed while giving her counterpart the pointer finger. "Bun-Bun already told us what this "Eternal Night Dome" thing is about! And I bet that once Lori and I deal with you, everything will turn back to normal!"
Lori raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?"
Proto-Luna closed her eyes and shook her head. "So the little rabbit toy of Lincoln's exists in this reality? As if Lincoln himself wasn't enough of a pain."
Luna narrowed her eyes. "Don't compare my brother to the Lincoln that threw everything off the rails! He's completely different!"
Proto-Luna suddenly shouted:
"I already know that!"
The shout sent shockwaves across the area as both Lori and Luna processed what the prototype just said. The former because of what it implied, and the latter because she knew what this meant.
"Do you really think I'm so stupid, as to believe that the Lincoln you live with, is the same Lincoln that overthrew his own sisters?" Proto-Luna continued with a furious tone. "The same Lincoln whose only purpose in life is to breed? The same Lincoln who believed he was so much better, that he could defy his own purpose?! The same Lincoln, who ruined the universe, and ruined the perfect world made by the maker, in order to try defy his fate!?"
And finally, Proto-Luna let out another titanic shout:
"The same Lincoln that committed genocide against his own children!?"
This time, Lori and Luna had to put some effort in order to not be blown away. After a couple seconds, the intense gale settled down and Proto-Luna calmed down as she lowered her head and took several deep breaths, her hair shadowing her eyes.
"So, wait a minute," Luna said, suddenly realizing something. "Then, if you know our Lincoln's not the same as your Lincoln, why do you and the rest of the progenitors insist on calling him as such?"
The prototype rocker stopped breathing, and remained silent for a couple seconds, until she quietly answered:
"Because he's all that remains of him..."
"He's all that remains of him?" Luna repeated, raising an eyebrow as Lori prepared the cloud to move. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Exasperated at Luna's density, or perceived density anyway, Proto-Luna snapped and charged purple spheres:
"Our Lincoln died along with the original reality!"
Meanwhile, with Lynn...
The burnt jock, alongside Clyde, walked around the streets, throwing fireballs at the zombies that didn't block or catch them, and dodging the ones that did block or catch them, which were taken care of by Clyde and his trusty laser beams.
And as Clyde levitated and threw the Lynn caste zombies away, Lynn jumped high, raised her arms, and charged a giant fireball until it was the size of a small sun. She then whistled, getting Clyde's attention moments before she threw the miniature sun at the group of zombies.
Luckily, the boy jumped away before the miniature sun engulfed the zombies, with the ensuing explosion sending him flying and crashing into a wall. Fortunately, he didn't seem particularly injured as he slid down.
"Thanks coming with me, Clyde," Lynn said as she landed next to Clyde and helped him up. "I can't risk going here alone, knowing that there are zombies that can block and return my attacks."
"And that you can get hurt by your own attacks too, right?" Clyde inquired, pointing at the side of Lynn's face that was burnt. "Why didn't you get somebody to heal you before we split up? Is Leni really the only person who can heal people?"
"Sadly, she really is the only person I know who can heal," Lynn put a hand on her hip and shook her head. "And yes, I know people of her caste might be able to do it too, but I don't know anybody who could be part of her caste!"
Clyde folded his arms. "What about Lincoln?"
Lynn raised an eyebrow. "He's part of Leni's caste?"
"No! I mean, why didn't you ask him to heal you?! Or help you find somebody to heal you?!" Clyde sternly said. "If there's somebody who can help you with that burnt part of your face, then it's him!"
"Clyde, I know you have a lot of faith in Lincoln, what with being his best friend and all, but you must realize even he has his limits," Lynn replied, striking a nerve with the guy. "And besides, whatever healing he could provide probably wouldn't heal me fast enough."
The boy, seeing the girl seemed to be hesitant about accepting help, bluntly stated;
"Lynn, I'm telling you this as a friend; You have to find somebody who can heal you before you're inevitably caught up in a fight with your own counterpart. Even if the only thing that got burnt was your face, you're still hurt! What if she uses that to her advantage?"
"She won't, you know why?" Lynn bluntly retorted. "Because she's not going to appear here! Ever since we've started, we've only faced one progenitor each, and the one time another progenitor joined, it was more like an invasion or something!"
Clyde pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lynn, you can't say you've only faced one progenitor at a time, then follow it by mentioning a progenitor joining the fight with another progenitor!"
"They weren't even working together!" Lynn added in exasperation.
"Whether they work together or not is irrelevant: You, and I guess the twins, were facing two progenitors at the same time!" Clyde bluntly pointed out. "What if this is the same case, and we're dealing with two progenitors right now?"
"Then you'd be very correct."
Lynn and Clyde turned to see the source of the voice, who turned out to be none other than Proto-Lynn, who seemed particularly furious as she set foot on the scorching dust that used to be the zombies.
"And unfortunately for you, Gabriel," Proto-Lynn glared at Clyde. "What you've just done, has left me furious!
"Gabriel?" Clyde repeated, scratching his chin. "Is that supposed to be my divine name or something? I thought only the Loud family had those-"
Without warning, Clyde got on the receiving end of a kick from Proto-Lynn, sending him crashing through several walls until he hit a tree.
"Clyde!" Lynn shouted.
The jock promptly tried to kick her prototype counterpart, but the prototype dodged it, charged her fists with some fire energy, then uppercutted the jock before kicking her in the gut.
However, after a brief shock, Lynn gritted her teeth, grabbed her counterpart's leg, then gathered enough strength to throw her counterpart away, giving her a couple seconds to catch her breath.
And a little bit later, Clyde walked to Lynn's side, his right arm now changed into a charging arm cannon. And with a significant bruise on his cheek.
"Clyde!" Lynn exclaimed in surprise. "Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, but what about you?" Clyde answered as he aimed his arm cannon at Proto-Lynn. "It looks like you took quite a harsh hit right there."
"Heh, don't worry, I've been through worse," Lynn answered while she caught her breath. "If you can keep her occupied for a while, I'll be able to recover in no time! Can I count on you to keep her busy?"
Clyde smiled and got ready to shoot his cannon at the prototype as he answered:
"Sure, leave it to me."
And then, on the city...
Carlota and the club member continued to fight, with the girl getting ready to strike again when the mortician pushed her away with his soul weapon, which he then covered himself in to transform.
The resulting transformation made the mortician grow significantly bigger, as big as a house at least, with demonic traits all around him: Sharp teeth, bat-like wings, and so on. He was also flying, and his soul weapon had grown exponentially as he raised it and got ready to crush Carlota with it...
"Well, what do we have here?"
The transformed club member and Carlota turned around to the source of the voice, who turned out to be none other than Leni, standing right on top of a lamppost, her hair blowing in the wind as she giggled:
"Looks like I'm going to have a bit of fun."
"That girl again..." Carlota muttered sternly.
The transformed club member flew over to Leni's spot and cackled a demonic laughter. "So, the descendant of Progenitor Leni steps into the battlefield? I thought Progenitor Lori made sure you would never interfere with the progenitors' plans!"
"Wrong: She won't let me interfere in anything that interferes with her plan," Leni's smile grew wider. "And luckily for me, you're so insignificant, I can do whatever I want with you. Because you're that worthless."
Then, with a smug grin, Leni added:
"Just like your own progenitor."
The enraged club member swung his soul weapon, slashing the lamppost in half and seemingly getting rid of Leni... Who came down from the sky and landed on a lamppost nearby, signified by her shouting "Hello!" at the member. They then swung the weapon again, this time slashing the lamppost into pieces.
Leni just came down from the sky and landed on yet another lamppost, no worse for wear. And this continued for a while as the member continued to swing and destroy the lampposts, and Leni continued to return without injury.
And eventually, Leni got on top of the member rather than a lamppost, with the transformed club member looking everywhere for the teenager as she telepathically told Carlota:
"Alright, Carlota, now's your turn. Show this brat a superior transformation!"
The teenager didn't take long to realize what Leni was talking about: The form she took while she was under Proto-Lola's servitude. However, with the death of that progenitor, the girl had no idea if she could even access that form anymore.
So, not wanting to risk it, Carlota simply powered up until she was surrounded by a pink aura, and then looked sternly at the transformed mortician, before she shot a pink laser from her eyes.
The mortician, noticing this, morphed its soul weapon into a shield, but Leni simply jumped back into one of the slashed posts and used it as a blunt weapon, hitting the member with it and stunning him long enough to lower his guard, and promptly be hit by the pink laser.
Shortly after that, the mortician was completely encased in ice, and Leni took the chance to jump high and kick him hard enough to send him plummeting to the ground, shattering him into a million pieces.
And shocking Carlota in the process, too.
"Leni, what the hell!?" Carlota exclaimed as Leni landed next to her. "Why did you do that to him!?"
"He tried to kill you, and made it clear he was, like, going to do it if I didn't stop him, and yet you're shocked that I shattered him to pieces?" Leni folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Besides, he's one of Proto-Lucy's playthings, he's not going to die from a little something like being killed."
As if Leni's surprising disregard for the mortician's well-being wasn't enough, Carlota got a shock when Leni was proven right soon after, as the shattered club member morphed into a black cloud, escaped the shards, and merged back into its mortal form, which was badly bruised.
"Sister Lupa was right, you really are a psycho!" the member said as he slowly backed away. "I'm not standing here to deal with a psychopath like you!"
The member ripped off his soul, exhibitting clear weapon as he did, and morphed it into a broom before he got on top of it and flew away in terror. And with him gone, Leni promptly threw a glare at Carlota and snapped:
"Why didn't you transform?!"
"Listen, I know that the Champion transformation is more powerful than whatever the other followers of the progenitors have, but the thing is, they are tied to the progenitors themselves!" Carlota responded sternly. "And in case you haven't noticed, Progenitor Lola is gone! Dead! Vanquished! Out of the picture!"
Leni pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just how stupid are you?"
Carlota raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, prompting Leni to explain:
"As a champion, your power is directly tied to Lola's own power; As long as she lives, you're her designated champion, and as long as that's true, you can access the Champion form without issue!"
Carlota's eyes widened as she realized what this meant, and she remained silent as she thought about it, and eventually gave her answer:
"Even so, I've never even met this Lola you're talking about. The only "Lola" I ever knew was Mother Lola, or Gremory, or whatever her real name was. Who knows what could happen if I tried to access that form again?"
Leni narrowed her eyes. "Then meet her."
Carlota flinched at the sudden response, and Leni bluntly added:
"Find another champion who's lost their master, and convince them to, like, meet the Neo versions of those dead masters or something."
The teenager thought about that option, and nodded in agreement. "Yes... I will do that..."
"Although, you can't really go right now," Leni rolled her eyes. "Royal Woods is currently trapped under the Eternal Night Dome, "Luna"'s special technique. I suggest you help control the zombie apocalypse over here-"
And then the fashionista realized something:
"Hey, wait a minute, how could you get here from Royal Woods if that place is trapped under a dome?" Carlota asked out loud, getting Leni's attention. "I know there are the tunnels, but only a fellow Santiago knows how to find them!"
"One of my teammates is a hybrid between my caste and Lori's caste, who has the power to open portals to any other location, or even another dimension, and you think the only way I could get out is through the tunnels your family uses?" Leni shook her head in disappointment. "Sometimes you have to, like, think outside the box, Carlota."
The teenager groaned. "Don't you have something else to do?"
"I do, in fact; I have to go take care of the other mortician club members," Leni crouched down and prepared for take-off as she added, "Goodbye Carlota, I hope you take what I said into consideration."
With her mind spoken, Leni jumped away, with Carlota watching her leave as she groaned:
"She's still a pain, even after all these years..."
Back with Lori and Luna...
Lori and Luna flew around the cloud as they dodged Proto-Luna's fierce barrage of purple energy blasts.
"Whoa, dude, calm down!" Luna exclaimed as she generated her energy axe and swung the blasts away with it. "I know you're upset because of the fact we kinda made you reveal your Lincoln's dead, somehow, but don't take it out on us!"
"Shut up, you Proof of Genocide!" Proto-Luna snapped as her eyes glew purple. "I demand you shut up before I silence you myself!"
"Luna, there's literally no point in talking to her!" Lori stated as she continued dodging the prototype's attacks. "Just focus on gaining power over the artificial moon!"
Luna glanced at the moon in question. "But how-"
"Just put your hands in front of there and grasp it!"
Not having many options left, not to mention having no time to think about what she was doing, Luna obliged and aimed her arms in front of the moon sphere, trying to "grasp" the thing while Proto-Luna continued her barrage of blasts.
Luckily, after concentrating for a bit, Luna felt something and reacted by clenching her fist, causing the sphere to shift position slightly.
"Huh, that was easier than I thought," Luna remarked, smiling in relief.
But Proto-Luna was having none of that. "You think so!?"
Suddenly, the artificial moon stopped and smacked the cloud, separating Luna and Lori, sending them flying off in opposite directions. Luna flew off into a building and crashed on the wall, while Lori regained her composure, spun around, and landed on the wall before she flew towards Proto-Luna, who aimed the artificial moon at her.
"Don't even think about it, Harut!" Proto-Luna hissed as she prepared to launch the artificial moon. "You may have the powers of the older descendants as Leni's plaything! But even you can't control the moon!"
Lori stopped flying and glanced at Luna, who was recovering from the crash as Proto-Luna noticed this sight... and gained a little smile.
"You know what, Harut? You may not be able to control the moon..." Proto-Luna aimed the moon at Luna. "But as my descendant, Dumah should be able to do it!"
Lori gasped as Proto-Luna promptly threw the celestial body at Luna, who flinched and aimed her arms forward, trying to gain control of the moon one more time. And as Luna's panic started to rise and the moon didn't seem to slow down, the rockstar shed tears as she tried to grasp harder...
And the moon started to slow down, before stopping altogether.
Proto-Luna stood there in disbelief, while Lori raised her arm and cheered up.
"Way to go, Luna!" the older sister exclaimed, getting on Proto-Luna's nerves. "Now literally throw that thing back to Proto-Luna's face!"
Angered at the statement, Proto-Luna grabbed control of the artificial moon and threw it at Lori, only for Luna to regain control of the moon and stop moments before it hit Lori, allowing the girl to fly away and leave the Lunas to deal with each other.
"And here I thought your existence was infuriating enough as is!" Proto-Luna tried to regain control of the moon with one of her arms. "How can you control a moon-like object like that!? Did you even practice for that before this moment!?"
Luna tightened her grip. "I don't know, and you know what?! As long as it helps me defeat you, I don't care!"
Proto-Luna gritted her teeth and, seeing her single arm approach wasn't getting results, she lifted her free arm, and the moon slightly budged to her favor, bringing a smile to her face, and a frown to Luna.
However, the rockstar soon got an idea, and crouched down as she prepared to jump, her arms still extended towards the artificial moon. Once she charged enough, she jumped from the building, created a hammer out of the same energy she made her axe, and then smacked the artificial moon with it, somehow hitting it hard enough to send it flying straight to Proto-Luna, who barely managed to notice before she artificial moon struck her and sent her crashing with the dome itself.
With that done, Luna fell from her spot until she landed on a cloud, which was summoned by a flying Lori, who looked at the dome's slight cracks as she flew towads Luna.
"I leave for one second, and when I come back, you're jumping off buildings and launching moons into your counterpart," Lori remarked with an amused tone. "I can't tell whether to compliment your creativity, or scold you for your recklessness."
"Aw geez, Lori, cut me some slack! I was dealing with my counterpart alone!" Luna answered as she scratched the back of her head. "And hey, since when can you fly?"
"That's not important right now," Lori answered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "What's important is that you recover as fast as you can. Because, and I literally hate to say this-"
Suddenly, the artificial moon budged, and Lori finished:
"That won't be enough to kill her."
Cracks appeared on the artificial moon before it snapped in two, not only revealing a dark purple core inside, but also revealing that, besides some cracks around her face and body, Proto-Luna wasn't all that hurt.
"Why you little...!"
Proto-Luna raised her arms and generated two miniature moons, being barely a third of the artificial moon's size.
"Now you've done it!"
Proto-Luna threw the miniature moons at Luna and Lori, who managed to crack them to pieces with a couple attacks each... only for Proto-Luna to summon a greater amount of miniature moons as she snapped:
"Now you've pissed me off!"
Meanwhile, with Ronnie Anne...
The girl flew around the streets on a cloud, with an unfortunate passenger right next to her: Chandler. They both worked together to shock any zombies they saw on the streets, and while they did a decent job at it, Chandler could easily notice that Ronnie Anne was upset about the situation.
"I don't have a problem with being stuck dealing with the zombies with you," Ronnie Anne stated sternly, not even bothering to look at the boy. "I definitely don't mind sharing the same cloud with you, even though we could cover more ground using separate clouds."
Chandler silently shrugged and went back to shocking the zombies. And then Ronnie Anne added:
"But seriously, now that I mention it, we could cover more ground if we went on separate clouds, don't you think? I mean you could go to this section, and I could go to another section, and we shock any zombies that don't resist the lighting. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"
Getting an idea as well, Chandler overloaded the cloud with electricity, and jumped off with Ronnie Anne moments before it collided with some zombies, resulting in an electric explosion upon contact.
"Yeah, take that you resurrected dead meat!" Ronnie Anne exclaimed, clenching her fist and raising it. "But hey, I only suggested to split up, Chandler, you didn't have to do that."
"Does it matter? We can just call for new clouds to use as rides," the redhead answered, avoiding eye contact with Ronnie Anne. "Especially because the farther away we're from each other, the better."
Ronnie Anne looked surprised for a moment, then returned to her "tsundere" mode and said, "Y-Yeah! You finally understand, don't you!"
"Oh, I definitely understand," Chandler glanced at the tomboy. "But do you?"
Ronnie Anne raised an eyebrow, and the boy asked:
"We're not on good terms, but do you know why? You hate me, but do you really know why?"
"What kind of dumb questions are those?!" Ronnie Anne growled, putting her hands on her hips. "Of course I know why we're not on good terms and why I hate you! It's because of you that I became a bully!"
Chandler raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Yeah! You taught me everything there is to know about how to be a bully! How to intimidate, how to trash talk, I know all of that stuff because of you!" the girl hissed. "And now, nobody will ever let me forget about the fact I used to be a bully, and the only one I have to blame, is you!"
Chandler folded his arms and shook his head. "There's a difference between "the only one I have to blame" and "the only one I want to blame," Ronalda."
"Don't call me by my real name!" Ronnie Anne snapped. "And what the heck do you mean by that!?"
Before the boy could explain, the duo heard an explosion nearby, and saw Lynn and Clyde jumping out of the explosion.
"Jock-O?!"
"Clyde?!"
The duo separated as Proto-Lynn came out of the explosion and tried to pummel them both, but instead she was sandwiched in between Clyde's punch and Lynn's kick, both of which she blocked.
However, Clyde smirked and turned his fist into an arm cannon, allowing him to shoot an energy blast straight to Proto-Lynn's face, disorienting her long enough to allow Lynn to send her flying with a kick.
Lynn quickly jumped straight for her counterpart and threw a punch, but the prototype blocked it as she evaporated the smoke cloud around her. And when Lynn threw another punch, she catched it, and then smirked with sadistic delight as she surrounded her arms in a fiery energy and squeezed Lynn's fists, the jock screaming in pain as Proto-Lynn boasted:
"You once said you were powered by the fires of a sore loser, but can you burn brighter than the fire of an immortal winner?!"
Before Lynn could answer, a lighting bolt struck Proto-Lynn and stunned her, allowing Lynn to kick her away and catch her breath. She also managed to take a look at her fists, which were so badly burnt, she almost could see some bone among the charred skin.
And as she caught her breath, Lynn took the chance to turn around and see the one who shot the lighting bolt, who was none other than Chandler.
"Chandler?!" Clyde exclaimed as the redhead put him down. "What are you doing here?"
"I noticed you were in a bit of trouble, so I decided to lend you a helping hand," the boy answered with a smile. "And I didn't come alone, either."
Moments later, Ronnie Anne leaped into the battlefield and struck Proto-Lynn with her lighting sword, though it didn't make much more than drive the prototype away a couple feet... allowing Lynn to throw a fiery kick at her, sending her crashing into some rubble.
"Nice kick there, Jock-O!" Ronnie Anne remarked, cracking her knuckles. "Now, let me and the guys take care of this!"
Lynn's eyes widened. "W-Wait-!"
Ronnie Anne and Chandler jumped straight to continue their fight with Proto-Lynn, while Clyde walked to her side, put a hand on her shoulder, and said:
"You know, I think I know what you want to do: You want us to stay at the sidelines and watch you fight your counterpart on your own, right? You want to be the "lone wolf" kind of character and deal with this alone?"
"T-That's not..." Lynn stuttered, lowered her head and took a deep breath. "What even gave you that idea?"
"According to Carol, Lana went through the same phase when Proto-Lana attacked," Clyde answered with a sympathetic smile. "And while it took fusing with Lola for her to ditch the attitude, I trust that you know better than them."
"That's not... that's not it, Clyde," Lynn showed her hands to the boy. "You already saw my face... now look at my arms... my counterpart is too strong; Even with all of you together, she could still burn us all to a crisp!"
"But she's not doing that right now, is she?" Clyde argued as he saved his hands on his pockets. "The progenitors think they don't need to do much in order to win: They think that the barest of effort will be enough to defeat you. And that's something we should try to take advantage of."
Lynn glanced at the guy, who smiled and nodded, then turned back to see Ronnie Anne and Chandler's continued barrage against the prototype. Even so, Lynn frowned and lowered her head.
"Even still..."
With all her strength, Lynn clenched her burnt fists.
"There has to be someone else... who needs your help..."
Speaking of that...
Proto-Luan smirked as her torture on the Sadie Hawkins' dates continued, with all of them shivering and trying to remain conscious through the event. She wasn't even paying attention to the torture itself, she simply heard the dates' groans and screams of pain while she looked at a row of cards, mostly a bunch of jokers.
"My oh my, it seems that you all have some inner demons you haven't deal with," Proto-Luan spoke as she checked the cards. "Then again, I guess that's to be expected. After all..."
Proto-Luan looked at Polly Pain, who was staring at her defiantly. "Loyalties can be broken..."
Then to Tabby, who took several deep breaths as she tried to stay sane. "Families can be separated..."
Then to Haiku, who kept crying for it to stop. "Love can be forgotten..."
And finally, Giggles, who seemed to be. "And friendships, can be fake..."
She turned back to the cards and smirked. "Only question is... how long can you last, until you can't take it anymore?"
And with that, Proto-Luan snickered as the Sadie Hawkins dates' screams echoed across the plane, with the loudest being Haiku's scream.
It was so loud, in fact, that Lucy managed to hear it from miles away.
"Luan, I-I think I heard something," the goth said as she hugged herself and shivered. "It was... like a scream of agony... a cry for help..."
"Yeah, I heard something like that too," Luan sighed. "And trust me, I wish we could do something about it, but we need to focus on the march. I think we're almost there, after all."
The goth nodded, and the pair jumped from rooftop to rooftop one more time, until they finally got view of the marching zombies' destination: The city square, where the skeletons piled themselves up in a giant mix-and-match of bones, with Proto-Lucy overlooking the process.
Luan formed a pair of circles on her eyes using her hands, and to her surprise, it functioned as a pair of binoculars. "Oh wow, I didn't think this would work!"
Luan moved one of her hand-circles to Lucy's normal eye, and this allowed the girls to have a much closer look at the gashadokuro's creation... and Proto-Lucy as well, who turned around and aimed her palm at the duo as she said, with a sadistic grin:
"There you are!"
Proto-Lucy shot an energy blast at the building, destroying it and causing the girls to fall on the ground. And as they stood up, Proto-Lucy flew to their side and said:
"I've been waiting for you."
Next Chapter Preview...
"Hello everybody, Carol here!"
The scene showed Carol coming out of a portal, and landing on the entrance to the building before, which was the same one she arrived to during the introduction arc.
"I'm heading to the church of Lincolnism right now."
Carol was stopped by two guards, who turned out to be Boy and Girl Jordan. However, the next scene afterwards showed her inside the church.
"I get the feeling this place is going to help Proto-Lucy with her zombie apocalypse."
Carol walked up to Mabel, who was leaning against a wall, and clutching her chest as she took heavy breaths.
"And that I'm going to witness some really messed up stuff."
The teenager ran down until she landed at a sanctuary of sorts, where some Lincolnists were forcing some children into heading to a particular spot...
"But I can't back down right now."
Carol called out to the cloaked figure guiding them, who took off their cloak to reveal themselves as Renee. And next thing they knew, Paige arrived, sporting her hammer behind her head as she said something.
"Even if it's minor, I have to do whatever I can to help stop the apocalypse!"
Next, some scenes were shown in quick succession: Luan and Lucy getting up and confronting Proto-Lucy, followed by Ronnie Anne and Chandler shooting lighting bolts at Proto-Lynn, then a moon crashing on the ground before cutting to show Luna and Lori fighting Proto-Luna, until finally it showed Mr. Universe resting when Becky and Catherine ran to his side.
"Everybody's trying to stop it, and so must I!"
Luna and Rita crashed into each other, and Luna saw the red weapon she held.
"Next time, on Chains of Reality: Divinity Reborn..."
Luna grabbed the sword, and watched it glow a purple light as it transformed, before the scene changed to show Lisa and Lily heading to the battlefield while reading the Ars Loudia.
"The Ultimate Sacrifice Brought by Faith! Proto-Luan's House of Horrors' Made Visible! Wait, Has Luan Unlocked Her Angel Form?!"
Then the scene showed one of the moons heading straight for Maggie, Sam, and the brothers, as the gothic teenager reached for her back.
"Don't miss it!"
The final scene showed Luan and Proto-Lucy talking for a moment, before the prankster narrowed her eyes and began transforming...