Life in the Whiter household has been pretty slow ever since Shina's been saved. Joe Dark is primarily spending time getting used to Mew's overexcited attitude while trying to maintain a good night's sleep on his couch.
Joe Dark has been stuck eating nothing but scrambled eggs for the first few days he's been here, and though its better than trash he is getting tired of the non-stop yolks.
During one such breakfast he finds Mew writing in a notepad and get curious, which Mew teases him over as he does his usual "deny, deny".
Riku tells Mew not to push himself but Mew can't help himself from getting stuff done. Joe Dark off-handedly suggests making more beds, and Mew takes it seriously.
Riku, however, points out the lack of space for more beds. Joe Dark then brings up the bigger problem: No money. Its a wonder Mew even has so many damn eggs.
The answer is simple but baffling: Mew gets them at the store.
HOW, Joe Dark asks? Why, Mew has a debit card with a lot of money on it. He's had it for a long time now, doesn't know why or how.
Joe Dark doubts there's even any money left with the amount of video games Mew buys. Riku stops a scuffle by reminding them about the space issue.
Joe Dark thinks they could use the second floor, except Mew has never found a way up there. As tempting as it is to have Joe Dark play house wrecker to get them up, Mew stops him.
So the three decide to try and find a way up to spend their day.
Joe Dark takes the halls between the bedroom and living room, traveling through them bringing him melancholic vibes of memories he only vaguely recalls.
His attempt to internalize his rage ultimately leads to him punching the wall and hearing a hollow sound on the other side.
Mew wanders in, worried they were under attack. They decide to investigate this wall with Riku's help, leading to Joe Dark discovering a small square shaped imprint hidden out of sight.
This opens a secret passage to the second floor. Mew's excited to see it, wondering if perhaps his parents were secret agents.
They head up on up and after picking up all the dust with a gale, they examine around to see if there's any other cool secrets. Turns out, no, its very barren.
But hey, this makes it the perfect spot to put in a new bed. And lights, drawers, the whole she-bang!
Joe Dark appreciates the sense of privacy it'll give him.
Mew offers to build him a new bed with Riku's help, the kindness on display leaving Joe Dark stunned silent.
While they wander off, Joe Dark sticks behind to recollect some more. Remembering a lullaby his mom used to hum when he cried causes him to cry in the present day.
He escapes this area as soon as possible and goes to check on Mew and Riku's progress outside.
Joe Dark answers a few questions about what type of bed he wants, focusing on Mew doing a lot of the handiwork without the use of his elements as a crutch.
Joe Dark waits patiently for the bed to be done, recalling more about his parents. Rather...the fact that they abandoned him on the Dark family's doorstep.
He tries to think more pleasant thoughts afterwards, but finds it difficult given his life up until now.
Mew wraps up work but then realizes they still got to carry the thing upstairs. Joe Dark groans and then uses his dark powers to send the bed up to his new room, wondering how these two survived without him.
Mew thanks him for the save and then asks what he wants for the sheets and pillows. Joe Dark leaves it up to him, deciding to take off to his new bed and lie down.
Its so comfortable, by far the best bed he's ever laid upon. Its warmth imprints itself on his heart, making him wonder what he did to deserve Mew's kindness.
Mew comes up not long after with his new sheet, wrapping him up in its further warmth. Joe Dark tries to say "Thank you" but can't do it. Not yet anyways.
Joe Dark soon drifts off into a nap, smiling without realizing it. For now, at least, this place was his home again.
A couple weeks of adjusting to this new status quo later, Mew's been happily enjoying peace and quiet.
Though he still has some things he wants to get done and its been nagging him this whole peace time. He pulls out his notepad and focuses on Helping Venus and Helping Mercury.
Riku strolls up to him on the couch and notices those two names, connecting them to the Planetary Aurians.
Mew sits up and explains their conditions briefly, realizing their powers can't really work a miracle to save them.
Mew decides to drop it and offers to help Riku exercise a bit to work with having only one arm. As they prepare to head out though, Saturn suddenly kicks their door open, having felt she heard a cry for help.
Mew wonders HOW before it slowly dawns on him that she's been standing outside their front door for a while now.
Saturn says that's not important and brags about finally coming up with a solution to Venus' problem in two words: Cosmos Drive.
Mew calls her out for forgoing Mr. Reality's powers but being totally willing to abuse Shina's, and wonders why Saturn would even be here if she needs Shina's help.
Turns out Shina's already on board and pops out from the side to say hello. She knows the deal and thinks it'll be fine to use the Cosmos Drive a little bit if there's no other way to save this person.
Though this still doesn't explain what they are doing HERE.
Saturn would rather not have, but Venus INSISTED Mew come with.
The little gas phantom girl pops in and says hello. Saturn cuts Mew off from getting near her given his devious ways.
Then it turns out they aren't even going to be fixing Venus here and need to go elsewhere. Saturn will explain along the way.
Riku offers to stay behind and watch, until Saturn INSISTS that he has to come with, saying it'd be in his best interest.
After Saturn's blatant disregard for visibility with her ship, they head off to space...Leaving Joe Dark to man the house with no clue as to where everyone else has gone.
Saturn states they're going into enemy territory...To which Mew has to translate to mean she just doesn't like the guy, but he's probably not evil.
Saturn loathes to admit that yes, the person isn't that terrible. In fact they are brilliant in the field of biology.
Mew can't believe she's not the smartest ever, to which Saturn reinforces that she is when it comes to technology, emphasizing that point right in Mew's face.
While they wait to arrive, Mew chats with Venus to make sure she's not nervous or nothing. She's perfectly fine, spending her spare time reminiscing about traveling the stars with her mama and papa.
Her wandering thoughts makes Mew wonder what she's going to do once she gets her body back...
Once in the Eastern Quadrant of the universe they arrive at a strange planet created out of a bunch of muscles and other body building blocks. Saturn refers to this as the Macros Biome.
Mew wonders if the person knows they are coming, to which Saturn claims yes, Venus states "No".
Upon landing on this planet they get out and see a bunch of people wandering around. There's some strange creations such as giraffe necked people and those with spider abdomens. Though the parts may vary like someone went crazy in a character creator, all of them share the same type of head and colorless skin.
They aren't hostile though, and in fact greet them...Not that it makes them any less creepy.
Mew wonders which one is their man, to which the owner of this planet appears behind him without Mew catching on.
The owner of this planet has a very distinct appearance bordering on overdoing it. He's flashy as hell but speaks with a very calm and direct tone of voice.
The man greets the others by examining them and their attributes, ending on complimenting Saturn's continued spry attitude.
Saturn calls him a gremlin, the man in turn saying this banter has been missed.
Mew finally wonders who this guy is, and he introduces himself by his most important and common title: Commandant Macros. But he'd simply rather be called Macros.
He considers himself an artist of the body, having examined many specimens in his billions of years alive. Boasting his fingertips could mold gods out of clay, he does consider such power to be...worthless. He's all about preserving life.
Despising extinction as a concept, he wants to ensure that the cultures and lifestyles of all worlds remain intact no matter how much Death tries to get in his way.
The clones populating his planet are just a fun experiment he does when he's bored.
Riku has his suspicions and questions Macros on his profession, worrying about some unsavory folk wanting to abuse all the DNA in his possession.
Macros admits to having good and bad people come to ask for his services, but explains his rules to try and assure Riku he's got standards.
Rule 1: He does not discriminate when it comes to picking his clients. However...
Rule 2: He does not accept corpses that have begun to rot. If even a little decay is present, he'll toss the body into a fire.
Rule 3: He enforces a strict customer confidentiality.
Rule 4: No money allowed. Information is his reward.
Rule 5: Respect is the most important thing between him and his customers.
Riku's got some qualms with the fourth rules, taking it to mean that he'll be perfectly willing to do work that harms lives so long as it gets him more information.
Macros does not hide the dark truth that this is indeed what his profession entails, but he has to get whatever information he can get to stave off extinction.
He knows he has a lot of blood on his hands and can sense Riku's bothered by his existence, and to judge him as he wishes.
Riku doesn't feel ready to judge anyone right now, but warns that if he screws up helping Venus there'll be trouble.
So Macros vows to just NOT fail.
He guides them towards his lab, taking a question from Mew about possibly knowing Gravitus given his connection to Saturn.
And by taking a question, he actually passes it off to Saturn to confirm that yes, Gravitus has been here and that Macros is responsible for creating his robotic body.
They arrive at his lab not long after, finding its shape like part of a lung. Macros dares them to enter, so that they may reverse Venus' poor fate.
Here Macros stores DNA in capsules for projects he has yet to finish. However, Mew notices that some of Macros' peculiar energy is in some of the capsules.
Macros is sad to admit that sometimes his customers get angry and kill him, so he winds up having to come back to life via these capsules. And if people go as far as to blow up his entire biome, he has a capsule stored away on every planet in the universe.
Primarily though, the capsules harvest DNA samples to deliver back here. Its how he first met Saturn, and they've been "friends" ever since.
But this isn't the time for fond memories, as they have lots of work to do. But first, Saturn has to give a one-time only lecture on everything that's going to happen.
Initially Saturn wanted to transfer Venus' conscious into a robot body. However, her entire consciousness is spread throughout the gas in her current body. Any attempt to transfer would risk her losing some bits of herself, including important processes like motor functions and memories.
Macros compliments the Sage for even managing as well as he did.
Macros then brings up how he was happy to work on restoring her body but was missing quite a few details, such as what Venus originally looked like.
He does not do any hack jobs. He demands perfection in his work, even down to the simplest pores on the skin or flaws in their bone structure.
And that's where the Cosmos Drive comes in. Saturn noticed how the fakes Shina had created were perfect, simply perfect. Biological simulations, if one would call them.
But Shina points out those only existed as long as she thought about them.
Saturn has a solution to that problem though, having Macros summon a pair of capsules with gauntlets sticking out of each one.
The gauntlets will act as conduits to help Shina focus the Cosmos Drive's power into the capsules.
Macros remarks how the power of the Cosmos Drive will help access all the important details on what Venus looked like and such. Then, with Macros' help, they'll be able to build the framework for Venus in the other capsule for them to work on.
Shina worries, but Macros assures her its fine. The only thing on the line is a child's life after all...
Venus hops into one of the capsules and Shina plugs herself into the gauntlets.
Macros, meanwhile, gets on his large piano organ and starts playing a tune that moves his worker hands to knit new skin and crafted bone marrow into the framework.
The limbs are able to work on their own and will do so for two hours, by estimate.
In the meantime Mew wanders around, Saturn stands by in case something goes wrong, and Riku gets dragged into a private conversation with Macros.
Despite Riku's distrust of him, Macros assures he's no enemy to any of them. Riku has his worries, given the abnormal nature of this world and ESPECIALLY his presence.
Though Riku's got a strong sixth sense, Macros doesn't think he can see deep enough to understand who or what he used to be.
He then proposes a question...If Riku's ever questioned the laws of God?
Riku says yes, and Macros labels him a sinner, though also remarks that he shouldn't take the opinion of God the hypocrite so seriously.
He quotes the laws of Equivalent Exchange, noting how God created the entire universe but exchanged nothing of equal value.
Macros calls God little more than a thief that stole from the abyss and many other dimensions to create "his" universe.
So why does Equivalent Exchange exist? Why, simply to restrain the potential of his creations.
As humanity is made in His image, therefore they too have the potential to become Him or surpass Him. So He creates laws and commandments to restrain their potential.
And so He sits upon His ivory throne, fearing His mortality.
The speech Macros gives sends a chill down Riku's spine, but no answers he can reach will ever come close to explaining what Macros is.
In the end Macros is simply a defiant man who seeks to benefit the universe in spite of God's hypocrisy. If God demands him dead, then he is welcome to try.
Right now though, Macros wishes to assist Riku...rather, the Phoenix of Balance.
Saturn had requested a second job of him, to help deal with Riku's lost arm.
Riku appreciates her concern but wants to work this matter out himself.
Macros says its impossible, due to his unique body. And because he lost his arm, that balance his body was maintaining is gone.
Riku thinks he can still get that balance back, Macros continues to insist its impossible. He may have that determination that many people draw strength from, but this is not something that can be solved by being determined.
Macros thinks Riku's denial for help stems from pride in refusing to get other involved. But pride is stupid, and has no value equal to or greater than life itself.
He slips his card into Riku's pocket, hoping he changes his mind.
Riku recalls Justek's words to him, and bitterly bites his lip, thinking he might be acting like a fool.
Some time later the timer goes off and Macros' work on Venus is complete. Of course nobody's allowed to check on her right away, as she's naked.
Macros is fortunately fond of knitting and spends a little extra time doing up some clothes for her based on her memories.
Finally, once she's well dressed, he allows Mew to take the first peek at her since she seemed to like him the most.
Back in a flesh and blood body, Venus looks like an eight year old girl fast asleep. She's got a type of cowgirl-ish set of clothes and looks really cute.
Venus awakens slowly and the first thing she does with her second chance at life is throw herself at Mew and hug him out of appreciation for his help.
Mew has this strange but pleasant warmth in his heart from seeing her alive again. So he hugs her back, giving her comfort and warmth back to her body.
This tender scene is ruined a bit when Shina's cuteness sensors go into overdrive, with her preparing to hug Venus tight for being so gosh darn cute.
Mew defends Venus, calling her by her real name, Maria, from Shina's overly affectionate hugs. Shina thinks she's earned the right to a hug given she did most of the work.
Saturn intervenes and snags Maria up, telling both Mew and Shina off for corrupting her. The two find it ironic coming from Ms. Shonen Heroine.
Saturn has to run some tests to make sure Maria's ok, despite Macros' continued insistence.
Mew and Riku head back home while the others take Saturn's ship back to their homes. Maria waves Mew goodbye, the two promising to see each other later.
Riku's left to think about some stuff but for now, the two brothers head back inside...To find that Joe Dark's destroyed the oven trying to cook his lunch.
He then demands Mew NEVER leave him alone again.
Sometime later, its still peaceful up in Sancturia. However, Shina seems to be sneaking around, trying to hide something from her family.
Kairi manages to catch her doing something in the bathroom for a long time and worries that she's not in good health.
However, Shina delivers some surprising but pleasant news...She's pregnant.
And this causes Kairi to collapse on the spot in surprise.
Down at the Whiter house, an interesting game of UNO is interrupted by Auris contacting Mew via the orb.
She wants the three of them to get to her house immediately, which they do, learning as well that Shina is pregnant.
After Mew gets over the initial shock he wonders how the heck that happened. Joe Dark can't believe he has to think about this.
Mew blames Joe Dark and he nearly kills Mew for being so damn tasteless.
Its just a natural response for him, cause this is a hard truth to swallow that Alex is the responsible party, given he's now DEAD.
Also seeing how not even a few weeks ago they were beating up Shina, Mew's worried for the baby's health.
Gabriel assures him the baby's fine. An Aurian's birth cycle is longer than a human's due to the processes required to allow a newborn to use a Drive as it matures.
As it so happens, its been long enough that the baby's only now gaining a physical form.
Now that all the concerns are hashed out in Mew's head, he's excited to know the baby's gender. Shina doesn't really want to know right now, and thinks it doesn't matter anyways.
Mew's excited for Kairi since she gets to an aunt, she yells at him to shut up.
Gabriel even notes the three boys are going to be uncles, though Joe Dark refuses to be lumped in with the idiots.
Riku asks Mew and Joe Dark to come outside with him for a moment to discuss the baby, as he has his concerns, given its Alex's child as much as it is Shina's.
That means the baby's going to have both of their power, and also, possibly, Alex's insanity.
Joe Dark thinks that's the stupidest thing he's ever heard, mental conditions being passed down to children.
In fact he interprets Riku's talk as a sign that he wants to abort the baby now, which is NOT what Riku's after in the slightest.
He's worried the baby will be very, very powerful and if the chance of him going insane is possible then he NEEDS a really good influence around to help him grow up.
And it has to be someone who can use elements. Riku turns to Mew, who points at himself in surprise.
Mew doesn't like the thought in his head of the kid destroying the world and starts reluctantly changing his mind.
The whole conversation gets dropped for now when they catch Shina eavesdropping.
Mew says he's happy for her, and this seems to be the breaking point for Kairi, who yells at everyone for acting like this is NORMAL.
She runs out after calling Shina horrible, forcing the big sister to go out and have a chat with her as best she could.
She finds Kairi sitting upon the edge of Sancturia where they used to go stargazing, all hunched over and not wanting anything to do with her.
Yet Shina approaches softly but firmly, letting Kairi know that she WILL be having this baby. Its not that its Shina's baby that angers Kairi, its that its HIS baby.
Shina has to try and tell her that she never knew Alex like she did, but Kairi throws it in her face that she's unable to cope with the fact that Alex was a destructive monster who tried to kill her AND their mother.
Shina nearly slaps Kairi across the face for that, only to then place that hand on her shoulder and look her in the eyes.
She knows how many personal demons Alex had, but that's not what she saw the most out of him.
Kairi's also worried that anyone in Sancturia will be able to piece together the kid's father when he starts shooting fireballs. And then neither Shina nor her kid will be happy.
She just doesn't want to keep seeing her big sister suffer for Alex's mistakes.
Shina forces Kairi to put a hand on her stomach, and though there is no heartbeat yet, there will be. And she'll be responsible for that life.
Kairi's unable to win this argument now and feels like such a fool for even trying.
The two sisters begin to head home, however...
Suddenly, a fiery pillar crash lands in the middle of Sancturia. And from it, emerges Solaris and Lunis, seeking revenge against Mew and Riku for their hand in killing their father.
Mew, Riku, Joe Dark, Gabriel and Auris come running in soon enough, with Mew thankful that they came to them instead of the other way around.
Mew tries to approach them but Solaris lashes fire in his way. Mew remembers the city's in the way and tries to calm them down through talk.
Riku says if they want to avenge their father, fine, but they'll fight outside the city. Solaris does not want to be told what to do and wants revenge NOW.
Him and Lunis had been traveling across many worlds for months now trying to find Justek, only to find a smoldering crater on their moon with his glasses nearby.
Solaris has no intent to let an atom of them remain.
Mew can't recall destroying Justek on the moon, neither can Riku. That doesn't bode well until Joe Dark steps up, taking a great amount of pride over how he killed Justek and telling Solaris off for acting tough when everyone here can kick his ass.
He leaves it at that, with Mew pitying the sun god for being a victim of such a merciless takedown.
Solaris is enraged into attacking anyone, but Gabriel blocks his path and demands he stop. There's no reason to put innocent lives at risk yet again.
Solaris is so sick of his high and mighty attitude.
Mew asks him one question...If he actually knew what Justek would have wanted from him.
This holds Solaris back, though not before he barks that Mew doesn't know either.
Mew says he's right, but believes he has an idea. Justek guided him to fight the two of them because he would spare them both. Ultimately, as their father, Justek never wanted them to die for his cause or destroy themselves avenging him.
Solaris thinks he's full of shit. Riku, however, pushes Lunis to answer on her own behalf.
Solaris has faith in her taking his side until she's got one of her knives at his neck, pleading with him to stop rampaging across the universe.
Solaris likes being this way though, because fighting keeps him feeling alive.
But this isn't fighting, its massacring and terrorizing.
Solaris thinks that's rich coming from the "White Shroud". Lunis admits to her culpability in murder but tells him that they don't have to be those violent people anymore. There's no one like the Ten Sages to force them to be that way.
Yet Solaris does not want freedom while his father's murderers walk free.
Lunis accepts their father's decision to have fought the others even though it led to his demise. Solaris can't believe SHE is taking their side.
Without hesitation Lunis walks over to Mew and the others, devastating Solaris. Mew tries to calm him down, offering him a place at his home.
Solaris, in an outburst of rage, just simply leaves the planet for now.
Lunis is crushed but decides to let him have his space. She asks Gabriel to have the Planetary Aurians keep an eye out for him though, just in case.
She then acts more approachable with the others, especially Riku, noticing his lack of an arm finally.
Mew wonders what she plans to do now and chooses to stick around until she figures that out.
Kairi doesn't have any objections since Gabriel doesn't seem to care about the kidnapping. However, she's gonna be keeping an eye on her.
Shina thinks she's friendly enough and says hello, awed that Lunis is actually taller than her and her mom.
Now comes the matter of where Lunis will be living. The Aurora household is voted out given Kairi's sharp opinion of her.
So the only real choice obviously is to have her live with the Whiters, which Joe Dark immediately objects to her sleeping in the same room as him.
Lunis, however, wants to sleep in the same bed as Riku. Mew thinks dirty thoughts, but Riku offers the rational answer that they know each other a little more.
Mew gets the stink-eye from Kairi and Joe Dark for his thought process though.
Thus everyone goes their separate ways for now, with Kairi needing aspirin for the massive headache this day has given her.
The Whiter group, however, plan to introduce Lunis to the television for a movie night.
Meanwhile, far in the cosmos, Solaris is tearing apart some poor moon with a tantrum.
His rage calls forth a titanic entity that Solaris attacks on the spot. And his identity...is Dracula.
Dealing with his rage with ease, Dracula then introduces himself, recognizing the specific scent the god's rage is directed towards.
He demands Solaris tell him where to find the Dark King...And Solaris is more than happy to direct him to where he lives.
Daily life at the Whiter house changes with the addition of Lunis. She's a bit quirky but that seems to stem more from being unfamiliar with life on Earth more than being dumb.
She's already a lot more helpful than Joe Dark from the start, offering to cook breakfast and even tending Mew's garden on occasion.
Joe Dark's getting uncomfortable though because of her body, with Mew teasing him over finally going through his puberty.
Joe Dark brings up a good point over how they can't take Lunis out in public looking like a ninja. As he puts it, the tight leather makes her a series of car accidents waiting to happen.
Mew calls her one who awakens puberty, even if they got her into other clothes. But at the very least, they can get her covered up.
Mew offers to make her clothes and Joe Dark instantly vetoes him for obvious reasons.
So instead Mew offers to take her clothes shopping, Joe Dark shoots him down there too. So since Joe Dark's being such a bitch, he can do it.
HE disagrees, throwing Kairi under the bus instead. Knowing her and Lunis would kill each other, Mew then tries to drag Riku into this.
However Riku's off in his own little world right now.
Lunis brings in some stuff from the garden, but has no clue what half it even is.
Mew decides to break the ice with her about the clothes topic. She's surprised her type of clothing isn't normal around here, and nearly strips nude to fix the problem.
Joe Dark stops her before Mew catches an eyeful, then explains the concept of "stores".
She thinks buy clothes sounds like fun and wants to go do it later.
Lunis winds up making some bizarre combination of eggs and sausage called an Omelet Cake, that everyone ends up loving, even Joe Dark.
With breakfast set in their tummies, the daily routine can truly begin. Riku offers to tend to the garden, though Mew is worried of him trying.
Riku's taking this as an excuse to try and use his powers with only one arm. But despite his best efforts at concentrating he winds up causing some of the plants to explode.
And worst of all, Lunis was watching. Like it or not, she's pitying his situation and wants to know what happened to his arm.
Riku can't bring himself to pin the blame on Justek, instead saying he lost it to a powerful foe because he was weak and prideful.
Lunis doesn't think that makes him worthless like he believes though. After all, he helped her finally break free from her doubts when he asked her what she wanted to do with her life.
Riku's strongest part isn't his strength, but perhaps his heart. And she has faith he'll make it through this trial as long as he keeps trying.
And if he does need help, she's there to provide some...If he wants.
Riku denies her aid, and Lunis' mood turns dour, stating how it worked so well for him before against her father.
She's not stupid and is a little upset he thinks she is.
She doesn't get how he can spout on about being weak but then do nothing to fix it even when someone's willing to extend their hand to help him.
He thinks he's beneath help but she screams that he's not. If her father had that same blessing, maybe he wouldn't be dead.
She assures him he's not alone, and that he deserves to be happy for once. He's not a bad person, and he needs to stop thinking he is.
Riku thinks back to a lot of times he's been mocked for his behavior, and realizes it all centralizes around one problem...His stubborn pride.
If he keeps following a self-destructive path such as this, then what will he lose next? It'll be worse than his arm...It could be his whole family.
Tearfully entering the house, he tells Mew that something has to change, and that change has to be him.
He pulls out the card Macros gave him and it immediately causes the house phone to ring, with Macros on the other line.
Macros appreciates what he's chosen to do and decides to call Saturn up to have her give him a ride to his place.
A few minutes later Saturn arrives to pick him up. Mew sends him off, assuring him that they'll be able to hold the fort down while he's gone.
Riku's confident in his brother's confidence and departs, having more positive feelings for the future, and thanking Lunis in particular for setting him straight...
Story 4 END
