Chapter 49 (Mars):
Sometime after Joe Dark's vacated his home, Mew's been stuck with a whole lot of bored thoughts and nothing to really do since everyone is busy actually like...having a life.
His boredom is soon answer though when Mars calls up, asking for his help with something. Mew accepts without hesitation and Mars beams him on-board his two man ship.
Mars is doing some bounty hunting for some cash, since he's been out a job following Gravitus' defeat. Mew doesn't apologize but Mars doesn't mind. He figured Gravitus would fall eventually, but never spoke up against the guy cause well...He's tough and he's not.
The current mission Mars' doing has him going after a 'Tremorlord' on the planet Bickbock. He wants to take the tough missions because in the chaos around the galaxy, bounty hunters have been taking advantage of smaller missions for quick cash and avoiding the tougher ones that could save lives. And it pisses him off.
They arrive on the planet and Mars suits up in his old Galaxy Rider outfit so he can breathe. They then head to the surface in hopes of finding their burrowing beast. They have to hurry, cause the planet's made of rocks and Tremorlords eat them until none remains.
Their bounty erupts out behind them and starts consuming all in its path. Mars notes its stupid and hyper-focused only on one thing, so taking out its brain will put it down.
Mew gets on top to try and stab into the brain, but the worm is too developed so its being protected by a thick and very hard substance.
And worst of all, the people on this planet are made of rocks too. Mew's forced to use his elements to guide the Tremorlord away from the chasms the populace lives in.
Mew and Mars then alternate positions, using fists and shotgun blasts respectively to try and breach the skin. Once they manage that, Mew stabs into the brain, finishing the Tremorlord off.
Mars reports the bounty to his bureau and then calls Saturn in to carry the carcass to the sun for disposal. Mew then asks to come along to where Mars' getting paid out of curiosity.
The bureau definitely is a hive of scum and villainy, but the security is so tight that no one tries to rough up the two while Mars picks up his check.
The check's been split though, and the other half Mars plans to drop off. He seems hesitant to have Mew come with, but Mew's enthusiasm wears him down.
They head to Alluranda, the Oasis that Never Sleeps, which, as the name suggests, has a lot of sand.
More specifically, Mars needs to go to a day care on the outskirts of the capital city. There him and Mew are assaulted by a bunch of little kids who are happy to see Mars.
The lady running the place, Gala, also greets Mars, treating him with a bit more forwardness and respect.
Mars is shy because of Mew being around but being able to focus on the kids for a bit does help ease his mind.
While Mars tells a story, Mew notices a bunch of pictures taken over the ages, the most common trait being that Mars is in all of them.
After the story's over, Gala asks Mars if he wants to settle down and work at a new day care opening up in another town. Mars declines, then gives Gala half of his recent paycheck.
She then delivers a message about the King having missed him coming for dinner last month, so Mars promises to be there next month.
Him and Mew then leave the day care, where Mew has obviously pieced together that this planet is Mars' home world.
Mars figures he has no choice but to explain his story. This planet used to be known as the Land of Fading Gold. It was in dire straits, and the day care they were at used to be a lot more run down.
He was an orphan living here, and because he owed the caregiver at the time so much he felt he had to repay them somehow.
He snuck into the city constantly to get food and money but got caught a lot. His skills improved over time and eventually his feet were was quick as the wind.
In order to survive though they needed better food and money. So Mars chose to ransack the King's palace, sort of as his planet's equivalent of Robin Hood.
But his attempts alerted the King, and he sent his guards to attack the orphanage. Mars fended them off, but a few family members of his had perished.
Mars attacked the palace in a fit of rage and went straight for the King, only to discover a horrible truth. The King despised him in particular, because he is the King's bastard son.
Mars' mom had tried to use his birth as leverage against the King to help the people. But the King, not wanting to have people learn he had an heir of "dirty blood", had her killed.
But with her last strength she managed to dragged baby Mars to the orphanage.
The King summoned his guards to attack Mars in the present, but Mars made his escape. Thus began a war of attrition between the two.
Sometimes after that Mars had a run in with the Grand Cosmic Aurian Sage, which made him immortal, giving him an unbeatable advantage against the King.
Eventually after years of fighting and thievery between them, Mars was brought before the King as he was on his death bed from old age.
The King expressed humanity for the first time, realizing he had been selfish at the top of the world. Only at death's door did he realize how unhappy his life truly was. He will die, alone, with no friends or family by his side.
He could not make amends for years of tyranny but wanted to at least ensure future generations had a chance. He created "Seth's Law" based on Mars, beginning a new age of equality between the poor and the rich.
Mars thinks the King was a bastard, but his last moments proved to him that there's good in everyone.
And he wants to keep passing on that message, which is why he keeps providing to the poor with cuts of his paychecks.
Mew, however, says that while that's honorable, it won't mean anything if he dies, citing how sad the kids here would be to see him dead.
Mars agrees, and promises to dial it back a bit or at the very least ask Mew for help again.
Mars thanks Mew for the time together and then brings him back home, leaving Mew feeling more satisfied for having done some heroism.
Chapter 50 (Priscilla):
After her usual busy day at work with a little bit of fooling around thrown in, Priscilla returns to her loving wife lying on her bed half-dressed with a book in hand.
As tempting as the scenery is, Priscilla has other priorities on her plate today. She's got a day off to look forward to now.
Getting dress in less formal, punk-ish clothes, Priscilla has to fend off the powerful cuddles of her darling tempting her to spend the day off with her.
Instead, Priscilla will be spending it with her wife's sister, Jupiter. They take a ship to another planet, passing the spare time talking about recent events.
They arrive upon a nameless world, where mighty dragons roam the fiery wastelands. But there is no bad blood between Priscilla and these mighty beasts. In fact, she is their superior in every way, as she is the Scourge Draconis.
Her story begins long ago, when a human crash landed upon this planet and fell in love with one of the dragons, giving birth to the young Priscilla.
He of Indominance, the Scourge Draconis, ruled this hellscape as a bloodthirsty tyrant who could not be beaten.
Seeking challenge, he dared the outer realms of the world to find it, and instead found a foul union of man flesh and beast.
He killed the human with ease and then devoured the dragon. Priscilla survived by a miracle, her rage so great it held off the hand of Death.
She scoured the planet, growing stronger out of a need to survive the harsh world she'd been left to roam. Eventually, her path of carnage led her back to her enemy, the Scourge Draconis.
The two dueled for a tireless week, ravaging the surface around where they stood. Priscilla won, but the Scourge Draconis had his last laugh when he revealed why he reigned supreme.
For in order to inherit the power of the Scourge Draconis, one has to completely devour its wielder...
But Priscilla had no hesitation left in her heart. Her revenge had to be complete, and she ate every piece of flesh, sinew and muscle. Leaving only the lungs for last, so that the monster would scream until the end.
Then she was the one who reigned supreme over all her beastly kind, and made an edict...That this would no longer be a world of bloodshed, so that the weak would have a chance to survive.
It turned out to be a costly mistake, as not long after slave traders arrived to claim her people as prizes, having followed the faint signal of the ship Priscilla's human mother crashed here years ago.
Priscilla was enslaved and brought before Casino Neptune as an attraction...But Neptune swiftly killed the slavers and freed Priscilla, fighting her until she calmed down, and return to normal.
Neptune swore vengeance in her name and with Gravitus' help, crushed the slave trade organization in days.
In turn, Gravitus fortified the dragon's world with technology to help them survive.
And from there, Neptune and Priscilla fell in love.
Nowadays while the dragons of Priscilla's world aren't AS fierce, they still boast incredible power and love the thrill of competition.
This is one world where Priscilla and Jupiter can just let loose all their power without breaking something or someone and so they spend the day doing activities that let them have fun.
The dragons join in, but only to have fun, as its painfully clear they are mice compared to these two beasts.
After many hours of drinking, playing and feasting, the dragons, Priscilla and Jupiter stampede across the planet's surface until they arrive at an active volcano to go lava dipping.
Jupiter loses herself to a drunken stupor for once and starts sounding sad about the state of her life compared to Priscilla and her sister, who both have love and success to their name while she's currently jobless, without a home, is single.
Priscilla offers her inspiring words, knowing her feelings won't get recorded with just how drunk Jupiter has gotten.
When this day off is over, Priscilla carries Jupiter back to her home so she can lay on a soft bed for once and get some needed rest.
Neptune has regrets over not noticing her sister's poor straits sooner, but has faith she'll tough it out like always.
Priscilla, meanwhile, can only keep moving forward with the happiness she has now.
Chapter 51 (Neptune):
Neptune receives an invitation from a creature known as Aava'ris, the Endless of Greed. It is a demon she shares a past with, as its the same "master" the demon who took her in answered to.
For the last two-thousand years she had been amassing much of her treasure in order to draw in Aava'ris' attention, and finally, she's ready to confront him.
Priscilla has her concerns for what might come next, but Neptune is confident in her victory.
After preparing some little tricks for a duel, Neptune glides her finger along the invitation to be sent to the demon's realm.
It is a world of endless jewels and gold, of which the demon resides over all. It is a centipede demon with bony arms, who invites Neptune towards him by using her real name and former home.
Neptune stands unamused and defiant, ready to rob Aava'ris of all he has. And in turn, Aava'ris plans to do the same on a grander scale.
He will steal Neptune's entire existence, essentially making it so she will have never been born and all that she accomplished will be undone.
Neptune accepts his challenge without hesitation.
What begins is a rigid gauntlet of 501 different games, both sides allowed to fiddle around with tricks as long as they don't directly affect one another.
They alternate who is in the lead or behind quite often, ultimately leading to a finale that has to be decided with a tiebreaker in the utmost dramatic of fashions...A coin flip.
Aava'ris takes out a single penny and flips it. Neptune has every right to suspect trickery given how close the demon is to a possible defeat.
Sure enough, the coin lands on "Tails" in favor of Aava'ris, and victory is his.
But as Aava'ris prepares to take Neptune's existence, Neptune shows she has one last trick up her sleeve.
In a prior game she had set up a booby-trapped card that Neptune activates with a snap of the fingers. Priscilla, having been sealed away in the card, emerges and chomps down on Aava'ris vulnerable neck to kill him.
The centipede cannot believe he was cheated like this, of which Neptune notes the hypocrisy...Before picking up the penny, and noticing that it was not hexed. It is just a normal penny.
Aava'ris never enjoyed earning his riches dishonestly despite the nature of his existence, so he has to sort of laugh at how he's dying...At the hands of someone even greedier and more amoral than he is.
He thinks greed is the most honest part of the human soul, and now that Neptune has proved that to him he's happy to die with the knowledge that Neptune will keep his Greed Endless.
But Neptune disproves his theory on a simple matter...She is greedy, sure, but her greed has always been in service to the greater good.
Aava'ris refuses to believe her, as no human could deny the treasure he has hoarded.
Neptune can, however, because she already has the greatest treasure she could ever have acquired...Priscilla.
Aava'ris dies, physically incapable of understanding Neptune's humanity.
And finally, Neptune collapses into Priscilla's arms from exhaustion, though continues to play things off coolly.
As far as this treasure goes, as this world still exists in the normal dimension, Neptune plans to have Saturn dispose of it, refusing to let the stench of greed infest anyone else.
But as they leave this dimension behind, two beings appear where Aava'ris fell, one of them saying that they've lost "another" and cannot let this stand any further...
Chapter 52 (Solaris):
After some training with Riku, Solaris is notably improving enough to force Riku to go into Chaos Form briefly. Riku takes a break to read with Lunis, leaving Solaris to just stand around doing nothing.
Lunis suggests going to meet Samantha again, which Solaris is hesitant against. Obviously, cause he's embarrassed, but he won't admit it in person.
Lunis urges him to go though, which Solaris only considers on the basis of getting payback against her for the humiliation he suffered before.
Lunis doesn't want him to be a fool like he normally is and offers her aid with the help of her woman's magazine.
Solaris declines and prepares to leave, only for Lunis to loudly protest and force him to come back and learn common decency.
A brief fling with her advice later, Solaris heads down to the bar alone and meets Samantha again. She's her usual boisterous self and Solaris at first has his lips sealed, not wanting to feed her insults anymore fuel.
Its not as busy around here because its in the middle of the day, so she remarks. She then hands him a menu and, in a brief glimpse of self-awareness, Solaris doesn't try to get drunk this time by ordering something lighter.
Samantha then vaults over the counter to have a chat with him.
Solaris begins to follow Lunis' advice, starting by being honest when answering questions, for as it turns out, Samantha doesn't know his name.
Though he can't be TOO honest given how strange his name is, so he shortens it to "Sol".
They then chat about the drink he's having for a bit. He likes it, but the tougher stuff was way better. Samantha agrees, but thinks it was too much for a newbie like him, and is glad he took her book to heart.
But he laughs, cause he doesn't read like a NERD would.
This seems to make her clam up, forcing him to follow the second hint, looking her in the eyes as they're talking.
After a little more chatting Samantha has to bail for refills, leaving Solaris at the mercy of Black Ice Zeke.
He senses his rank novice experience with woman and tries to give some advice on Samantha specifically, though his way of speaking goes way over Solaris' head.
Samantha returns right as the topic of Solaris' sister comes up, making Samantha interested.
The conversation stops once that question is answered though, forcing Solaris to start asking his own questions to her to show he's not just all about himself.
Samantha reveals she's an only child and actually loved being one, as she got all her parents' attention.
Solaris then asks about her metal leg and Samantha proudly shows it off on the counter. She calls it a prosthetic she got from the war, as she used to a soldier fighting in the Middle East.
Solaris slips and reveals he was a soldier too, though thankfully manages to glue his mouth shut on saying anything else incriminating about his true history.
But what he DOES do is mention that his father's dead, and surprisingly, Samantha's sympathetic to his loss.
He was the former Secretary of Defense for America and taught Samantha a lot of what she knew, the rest she had learned from Zeke.
Her dad's connections let her join the military at a young age where she fought in a Jungle Platoon. The reason she lost her leg is due to trying to save members of her platoon from some pressure-sensitive mines, the explosion of which sent her into a coma.
It took a lot of favors from her father to get her the proper treatment to stand again let alone walk, but she doesn't even feel like she ever lost her leg to begin with.
She then reveals her dad died recently in a random fire. She dislikes it cause after how tough he was, he didn't go out in a blaze of glory. He just...went.
There's melancholy in the air for a bit and even Solaris gives his regards to her.
But she perks back up to her usual self and asks Solaris to play them a tune off the jukebox.
Solaris staggers over to the jukebox and chooses NOT to follow the next bit of advice regarding not being masculine all the time, ultimately picking a grunge metal song from the jukebox.
He likes it, and so does Samantha.
They chat some more while Solaris finishes his drink, after which Samantha stretches and asks Zeke to cut out early to eat.
On her way out Samantha invites Solaris with her, upon which he remembers the last bit of advice about offering to pay for food.
He wonders if what he's got will be enough for a big meal. Samantha laughs as she only wants to go get McDonalds, not some of that fancy schmancy shit.
She appreciates the gesture but offers to pay for it herself. The two then head out for a nice dinner date over Big Macs, leading Solaris to return home in quite the good mood.
He reports his accomplishments to Riku and Lunis and believes he's now an expert on talking to women.
Lunis is happy, and wonders just how far he managed to go.
And when she says "how far" she means "did they have sex". Once Solaris pieces together that she means that from her obscene gestures, he gets angry at Riku, assuming he corrupted her due to him being related to Mew and his perverted mind.
The two thus start up an impromptu training session to help Solaris let off some heat...
Chapter 53 (Alura):
In the two weeks following moving into this mansion, Alura has grown a little more accustomed to human customs, and has gained a lot of tertiary knowledge through the use of a tablet.
But she's also just been laying around doing nothing, save for getting her haircut and buying some new clothes that match Joe Dark's style.
Joe Dark approaches her to call out her laziness, forcing her to get up and join him in going to get a job.
All Alura wants is more and more things, but Joe Dark stresses the importance of needing to get a job if she wants to buy more stuff.
The money they've kept for now is what's going to let them keep living here.
Joe Dark's rather blunt about it though and Alura has adopted the nickname "Jerk Dark" for him because of that.
Julius approaches, berating Joe Dark for his lack of tact, and doing a better job of explaining the merits of job hunting to Alura.
Alura becomes excited at the idea of earning her own money and decides to go with Joe Dark. Joe Dark states how it won't be easy, and Julius critiques him on saying such things when he's so green himself.
Julius then demands of Joe Dark to recall the proper etiquette for job hunting, which Joe Dark is attempting to follow as best he can.
Once the advice has been ingrained into Joe Dark's head, Julius hands him the job list he researched and the two of them head into town.
Their first stop is a Safeway for a cashier position. Alura learns quickly the harsh reality's of lower wage living and the stresses involved with getting jobs.
She's forced to interview someone one on one and while she tries to answer his questions, she's not sure if she's doing a good job or not.
She's told "We'll call you later" and then joins Joe Dark outside the store, knowing what true terror finally is like.
But it doesn't end there. Joe Dark has a whole list of job interviews they need to go to. Every place ends the same way, with a "We'll call you later", which causes Alura to suspect a conspiracy.
...Save for the Chuck E. Cheese, where an incident causes her to get banned from the chain for life.
Joe Dark's trying his best but its hard for him too. Alura wonders if she really needs to bother getting a job if Joe Dark can earn them both money. But the more she thinks about him getting money and being happy without her, the more it hurts, and she doesn't know why.
She tries to drown her confusion and stress out with a burrito, but while she's walking around town with Joe Dark she happens to find a guitar calling to her from behind a glass window.
Not knowing what this curious object is, she goes inside the store and hears music playing in the atmosphere.
She starts wandering around like a kid in a candy store as the two dudes running the front counter take notice. Their names are Jeff and Stewart. Jeff's a straight laced guy trying to just make it through his 9 to 5. Stewart is a trouble-maker who probably will someday have 10 kids across 7 different wives.
Stewart takes interest but Jeff is against the idea given she looks too young. The two debate for a bit before deciding who'll try and approach Alura over a game of Rock, Paper Scissors.
Jeff wins, and winds up having to hurry towards Alura when she goes to pick up the guitar she saw.
What ensues is a brief struggle in which Jeff ends up getting knocked down and Alura presses down on top of him. But too innocent to really do anything, she picks up the guitar and tries to hold on to it.
Jeff tries to be cool and explain that he needs to keep it or his boss will give him grief. Alura doesn't really understand, nor does she know what a guitar is, surprising Jeff.
Alura tries to pluck the strings and is frightened, yet enamored by the sound it plays.
Jeff offers to take the guitar for a moment, promising not to just take it away. He then starts playing it, showing Alura the beauty of applying instruments to songs.
Seeing her act so bewildered around basic human concepts makes Jeff worried and he goes to his friend Stewart, discussing her weirdness and believing they should call the police.
While they're talking Alura sneaks up and asks to learn how to make the guitar make sounds.
Introductions are passed between the three of them before Jeff just comes out and asks if Alura likes music. She does, and so Jeff wants to test something.
He hands her headphones and has her listen to a few different genres. But when she winds up crying about her dead mother due to an emotional piece, Jeff freaks out and takes the headphones off.
But to Alura, it wasn't a bad memory it reminded her of. And so, she thanks these two for helping relieve her stress, so now she can go back to job hunting.
Upon hearing that though, Jeff springs into action to hire her here. Stewart has objections but Jeff cuts him off prematurely.
Sure, Alura would have to be trained but, well...
Alura promptly ignores all that extra stuff because she's got a job now, and does a little dance in the store over it.
Which is interrupted when Joe Dark storms in, worried that she had gotten lost. His rough way of handling her causes Jeff to butt heads with the man.
Joe Dark doesn't care until the subject of Alura working here comes up. This fires up his protective instincts and assume the two bozos are running a shady gig.
Jeff gives proof that they're certified and Joe Dark still has his suspicions, so he decides to be firm and lay down some rules with the two.
One, Alura is to receive above minimum wage for her time here. Two, she'll get fair lunch time. Three, if these two morons teach her anything inappropriate he will personally come and chop their nuts off.
Thus Alura is hired thanks to Joe Dark reaffirming the fear of God into the two idiots.
Her first day will start at 10 AM tomorrow, and with that good bit of news Alura leaves with Joe Dark.
Alura's happy over how easy it was to get a job, and Joe Dark is clearly annoyed at that.
She can sense his frustration and teases him over how she'll be "bringing home the back" as Julius worded it.
Thus Joe Dark fights back by threatening to take her tablet and eat peanut butter over it. The two harmlessly bicker some more on their way back home...
Chapter 54 (Mars and Jupiter):
Vergo II, home of the peaceful Halfids. Once part of the Gravitus Empire, they are now victims of the vicious Klaggs, a splinter cell of lizard-like warriors.
The Klaggs have set up a fortification on their planet with demands sent to reclaim the strongest of Gravitus' fleet, otherwise they will unleash their superweapon upon this planet.
Now Mars and Jupiter, forced to work together at Saturn's behest, are infiltrating the planet to take down the Klagg fortification and hopefully disarm the superweapon and save the imprisoned Halfids.
Mars and Jupiter are still at odds with one another and don't really bother trying to work together to come up with a plan. Jupiter is on the move first and Mars lags behind in his own direction, stealthily taking out Klaggs without trying to raise the alarms.
Eventually after taking down a couple handful of these lizards armed with Saturn's stolen tech, Mars notices some the caged Halfids and his better nature forces him to divert from the plan to save them.
He fortunately manages to free them without alerting the guards, but instead Jupiter is the one who has screwed up the plan.
He catches up with her and helps her fend off the stronger Klaggs, arguing that she's off her game despite her greater protests.
Eventually the sore subject of what happened between Mars and Saturn pops up and Mars is absolutely PISSED at Jupiter for continuing to hold that against him while refusing to talk it out.
Jupiter doesn't think it'd make a difference as he doesn't do anything to improve himself, like he's satisfied with mediocrity.
But that's not it at all. Mars just finds it hard to stand out among his friends that are all so incredible, especially Jupiter.
The two wind up listing off what they like about one another, and realize from there that they've been massive idiots for avoiding this talk sooner.
Now they feel more motivated to strike back, taking down all the Klaggs except the commander, who rises from the roof to confront them with their superweapon...A planet destroyer known as the Planet Cracker.
The Klagg, Jet Black Ankro, declares himself to be the one who will carry on Gravitus' legacy, having been inspired by his power. Though he may die here, his message of destruction will ignite the spark of anarchy across the universe. Even the Planetary Aurians can't be expected to uphold the peace forever...
Jupiter punches him into the Planet Cracker's shield to disintegrate him but the weapon's already charging.
Jupiter hastily tries to dig her fingers under the weapon to try and flip it over. Mars joins in, even if he can't contribute much.
Together, their combined strength flips the weapon right as it fires, sending its payload hurtling deep into space and saving the planet.
Mars and Jupiter then discuss the future briefly, deciding to take it slow...Which lasts all of five seconds before they both jump each other and have sex.
Later on they return to Saturn with obvious signs of their misdeeds all over their bodies. Saturn stutters trying to keep her cool, as she has an important message to deliver to them.
Mars and Jupiter's rescue of the planet was used as a demonstration to a bunch of their allies across the universe. In light of Gravitus' misdeeds and lies, Saturn wants to form a Coalition to help protect the peace the right way.
This new organization, C.O.G.S. (Coalition Overseeing Galactic Security), has now gained the approval of many world leaders due to them proving their justice.
And Saturn needs her old team back in order to headline the security force.
Mars and Jupiter are happy to return to being Galaxy Riders, and with this new mission established, Saturn declares that justice shall be done.
Chapter 55 (Gabriel):
One fine day, Gabriel is tasked with a formidable task...Finding something new to do with this daily routine.
Auris wants him to get out of a rut and he does admit he could use some fresh experiences.
His first attempt to find something new results in him joining Kairi and Shina in going clothes shopping...Though he winds up sticking out like a sore thumb in the women's department they wind up going to.
Watching their search for shirts makes him lament how women present themselves nowadays compared to the old times.
He tries to impart advice to Kairi on how to present herself, only to be rebuked when it turns out the target of her bolder clothes is Mew, unsurprisingly to Gabriel.
Realizing he can't really help here, he leaves at the first opportunity presented to him. Figuring he needs to learn more about the youth and their spirit, he decides to go bother Saturn for advice in her space station.
She's currently working on sorting out management roles among her new C.O.G.S. Association. And as much as she'd like to help Gabriel, she really knows nothing about the latest trends.
Gabriel jokingly suggests he help with the tech, both of them sharing a laugh.
Instead though, Saturn offers him to use his wisdom to sort out the management while she takes a break to work on her tech.
Gabriel agrees, and begins sorting through them while heading to her gardens on the 14th floor.
And that garden area also turns out to be a prison, of which Pluto is the only person housed inside. Pluto calls out to Gabriel, mocking him for being a lapdog to another of Saturn's blind dreams.
The two sit before each other and talk about the state of the universe and Saturn's qualifications to bring her dream of peace to reality. Surprisingly, Gabriel agrees that Saturn is not the savior, but knows that she has the push and pull necessary to unite those who can.
He then directs a question towards Pluto, asking if he still believes he can be king. Pluto says how Gravitus' lies don't change the truth he preached, that the universe is in need of help, HIS help.
After all, the Elemental Overlord, Dark King and Gravitus all failed to make change. For all their power, it meant NOTHING against the immovable whole of the universe.
But Gabriel believes in one person who can make a change...The same person who has already changed his and Pluto's lives, whether the Disgraced King wants to admit it or not.
Pluto finds that laughable, but doesn't say anything further.
Their talk ends there and Gabriel leaves to finish up his task. But that talk gave him another idea on whom to talk to to learn new things.
After finishing up for Saturn, he asks her to send him to Mew's house...
His presence there comes as a surprise to Mew, who invites him in. Currently Maria's resting from a stomachache, with Mew giving her medicinal herbs with milk and honey to help her relax.
Gabriel smiles at how well he's handling a child, then, once Mew's got her all rested and comfortable he asks what Gabriel wants.
Gabriel explains his dilemma for the day and Mew is more than happy to help by introducing him to...video games.
Specifically, he introduces him to a fighting game named "BlazBlue: Central Fiction", an old favorite of his.
Gabriel has to get accustomed to the controls but gives it an honest try despite this seeming like a poor match for him.
Gabriel recognizes some characters on the roster from some events in his past, though doesn't quite get into the details for now.
He picks Hakumen out of respect for the man while Mew picks Ragna the Bloodedge.
Over time Gabriel slowly learns how the game works, performing things like combos and even perfectly guarding Mew's attacks.
He's actually really getting into it, so much so that Mew's not having fun at all after a point, and hastens Gabriel out of house under a false pretense of "having company".
Gabriel then returns home, satisfied in reporting to Lady Auris that he has learned something new. He plans to bust out Shina's old console and challenge her to fighting games to teach her a lesson regarding earlier.
Auris sighs, however, believing she may have made a grave mistake...
Chapter 56 (Alura):
Alura's forced to adapt to the life of the working woman...And she despises it. She's not a morning person in the slightest and quite often, it seems, she even forgets to put on her pants before going down to the kitchen.
She's trying though, god bless her she's trying.
She wants to also start exercising to counteract Joe Dark's off-handed remarks about her being pudgy. She sneaks off to Mew's house and asks for his help.
To test her mettle, Mew has her climb with him and Maria up the mountain. Alura doesn't make it very long before her weak constitution leaves her exhausted.
Mew offers her water but Alura declines, stubbornly wanting to press on...Only to wind up falling face first into a puddle of mud.
After she's cleaned off she returns home just in time to take the bus with Joe Dark to work. Joe Dark has a job as a cashier at Safeway now, while Alura's working with Jeff and Stewart at Metalheads, the music store.
At one point Jeff and Stewart have to take care of deliveries and that winds up leaving Alura alone to handle the customer that comes in.
Her lack of understanding over some basic terminology along with a straightforward tone pisses the customer off and causes him to leave.
When Jeff returns he yells at Alura for scaring a customer off, causing her to feel tight in the chest.
By the time Alura returns home she's feeling terrible about herself and doesn't understand why. All she knows is that something needs to go right for her, and thus demands from Julius that she make dinner instead of Joe Dark.
Julius stays by her side and helps her out calmly, but even still the end result of Alura's efforts leads to a spicy beef stew that Joe Dark stomachs down as best he can.
He tries to compliment Alura but she doesn't feel the sincerity and winds up throwing a brief tantrum, storming up into her room in protest of her crappy day.
Julius reprimands Joe Dark for his lack of tact then heads upstairs to try and console the poor Alura.
Alura doesn't want to hear him out though, cause in her eyes she's just a failure, and nothing else.
Julius can sense her distress and wonders why exactly she believes such things, to which Alura cites her day, making Julius chuckle a little.
He can't let Alura live with her failures just because she happened to have one bad day. He instills her with knowledge that failure is only a path to success, so long as she's willing to keep trying.
The fact she's even taking the effort to improve herself shows tremendous initiative and he thinks she should be proud of that.
To help her feel better he evens cites Joe Dark's failures. It does lift her mood, and from there Julius offers to help her improve herself.
And the next day, Alura puts those improvements into practice, managing to get up early AND get fully dressed. She brings a bottle of water to help with the climb at Mew's place, and she even manages to reconcile with Jeff and learn more about talking to people.
Finally, when she gets back home, she gets another chance at making dinner and prepares some simple cheeseburgers for Joe Dark.
Joe Dark gives a genuine reply of joy at the burger's taste. He tries to run it back but too late, Alura had already recorded his response on her tablet to lord over him.
Joe Dark is miffed at both her AND Julius for enabling this. But Alura, on the other hand, is all the happier for succeeding in the moment. And she wants to keep getting better, so that one day maybe Joe Dark will rely on her...
Chapter 57 (Solaris):
Its been two months since Solaris started going to Samantha's bar and the two have developed a teasing, playful relationship between each other, with Solaris spending some time trying out new beer ideas she comes up with.
The next day's going to be a little different though. Samantha's forced to take the day off for Veteran's Day and she wants to spend it going on a date with Solaris. Worst of all, she's suggesting a double date with Lunis and whoever her boyfriend currently is.
Solaris explains the situation and while Lunis' excited at the prospect, Solaris quickly shuts her down by reminding her she doesn't have a boyfriend.
So Solaris suggests that Riku pretend to be one, surprising him and freaking Lunis out for some reason.
But Riku goes along with it since Lunis is insisting it will be fun.
The next day Solaris meets up with Samantha wearing some more civilian level clothes and waits for his sister and Riku to come along.
Eventually they do...wearing ridiculously fancy dresses and looking like a genuine couple. Solaris gets into a panic, moreso when Lunis recognizes Solaris and gets Samantha's attention.
Introductions are passed between them before Samantha starts laughing at their fancy clothes. She takes initiative to rough up their clothes and then Lunis and Riku do the rest, getting into the free spirit Samantha's displaying.
They wind up going to a bowling alley first. Riku knows some of the basics and thus teaches Solaris before they arrive, while Samantha ends up taking a more...hands-on approach to help Lunis' posture, much to Solaris' grief.
Solaris and Samantha bowl nothing but strikes while Riku and Lunis alternate scores. Samantha, worried that she might lose however, plays dirty and ends up taking advantage of Riku's leg fetish towards Lunis in order to make him break his concentration and lose.
Solaris is understandably upset but winds up letting it go when Samantha offers them pizza.
Lunis proves to be a big eater, gobbling down pizza slices like a vacuum. Everyone's having a swell time though and so far Solaris has not managed to blunder it up somehow.
The subject of prosthetics and Riku's profession do come up at some point but Riku manages to expertly lie his way through them.
The happy times between them are soon cut short though when some scraggly looking dude comes wandering in and fires a gun at the ceiling.
He then aims his gun at Samantha, threatening her life in particular due to something her father did.
Samantha freezes up do the gunfire causing PTSD, forcing Solaris to step in and confront the gunman.
He crunches his hand around the gun's barrel the moment he tries to fire it, causing the bullet to explode and shrapnel to hit the man's chest.
He then yells at the man for ruining their date and tosses him to the ground, where he falls unconscious.
Samantha then regains her strength and screams, punting the man in the skull for what he had done.
Some brief time with the cops later, the four have to cut their night short and go home. Solaris sticks around with Samantha until she gets back home to her apartment.
She talks a bit about her father and sounds in doubt about her encounter with the gunman, especially the terrible things he said about her father.
Solaris isn't able to really chime in as he doesn't know how to handle this kind of talk, and she winds up ultimately thanking him for listening and being there before hoping they can pick back up the usual routine tomorrow.
He says that's fine and they part way, the feelings she had lingering in the back of Solaris' mind as he heads home himself...
Chapter 58 (Maria Whiter):
Ever since starting school Maria's been a victim of Kris' bullying pranks. After her latest scheme left Maria dangling in the air and exposing her underwear to her classmates, Maria wants some payback.
At lunch, her and Nikolas discuss some ideas on how to get back at Kris. Violence isn't going to work, as the teachers would catch on quick.
So instead, Nikolas and Maria plan to beat the bully at her own game by pranking her back.
After lunch Nikolas discusses meeting up with Maria after school to plot things out, but this is heard by Kairi. Kairi winds up walking Maria back to class while discussing her recent bullying, which has finally reached Kairi's ears.
Kairi worries that Maria is getting stressed out and is going to retaliate against her bully. Offering advice thanks to her own experiences, Kairi warns Maria about getting physical because there's some damage you can never take back...
However, Maria disagrees in her mind, because she believes the only way to win is to play the bully's game...
The next day she has some prankster items stored in her backpack...Which catches Mew's eye as he sees her off.
She explains her plan, knowing her papa would get what she's after. And sure enough, Mew praises her for standing up for herself and sends her off to class.
Not long after, Maria and Nikolas stuff balloons with itching powder and stuff them in Kris' locker. Maria's gas sets them to pop the moment the door opens, covering her in that powder.
Kris later gets revenge by filling Maria's backpack with heavy objects to leave her on the ground like a helpless turtle, and pulling Nikolas' underwear over his head.
But then the two troublemakers have their own counterattack already in motion. After lunch, Nikolas dives in front of Kris and uses his Flash Drive to temporarily blind her while Maria uses scissors to cut off the back of Kris' shirt and then pull her pants down.
This leaves her nearly naked in front of a bunch of students.
But the war of pranks doesn't end there, as later on in gym class, Kris waxes the floors before they start to play dodgeball. Thus, Nikolas and Maria, and in fact all their classmates and teacher, get sent sliding around the gym like hockey pucks.
After a quick trip to the nurse's office Nikolas and Maria plot their final, definitive revenge.
Once Kris goes to the bathroom, Maria drops some gas bombs into every toilet and sets them off, flooding Kris with toilet water.
...But also crossing a line they can't back away from in time, as the janitor catches them in the act and reports the three troublemakers to the principal.
This earns all three of them two days suspension and their parents will be hearing about this.
Nikolas is annoyed and blames Kris for this whole thing starting to begin with, stating this isn't over.
Maria lags behind, noticing Kris freaking out over the suspension, specifically, what her parents are going to do.
Maria has no sympathy for her and says she brought this upon herself.
Kris gets angry and slams Maria against the nearby lockers, sick of her looking down on her.
Maria's fight or flight response kicks in and she smashes the lockers with a gas fist to make a point. But Kris stands her ground anyways and tries to choke Maria.
Maria lunges off the lockers and knocks her to the ground, the two engaging in a brief, violent scuffle before Maria ultimately decks Kris across the face to knock her down and out.
Maria spits on her and tries to walk away the victor...Only to hear Kris whimpering, her body clearly in pain physically and emotionally.
Maria can't pull away, her better nature draws her back so she can give Kris a tissue to clean her bloody nose.
It doesn't change anything in Kris' mind, so Maria has to wonder why she hates her so much.
Turns out Kris did believe Maria when she said she was a Planetary Aurian...And she despises her for it. Because in Kris' mind, Maria's got the easy road through life while people like her have to struggle just to maintain their parents' exceedingly high expectations.
Maria, however, pulls out some of her graded homework to reveal that her grades aren't quite up to snuff...In fact they're kind of bad.
Kris has a moment of agreement with Maria when she says that school is hard.
Maria talks about how she's still got a lot to learn, and so does Kris, so she shouldn't throw away her dreams by hurting others.
Kris, however, is only just doing whatever's necessary to get to the top, like her parents told her too.
Maria thinks adults say some really dumb things sometime, but ultimately they mean well for their children.
Kris wonders just how far that love goes, as her parents paddle her butt when she doesn't behave.
Maria decides to ask Auris about that after school...
And that results in Auris storming the household of Kris' parents on a one-woman warpath of discipline regarding their physical and mental abuse of their own daughter.
Ultimately Auris ends up getting Kris' parents to recognize the consequences of their actions and after a tearful argument, the parents agree to therapy to help sort out their own problems and hope to help Kris feel better about herself.
So it seems as though Maria's bully has been nipped in the bud. Some time later, she rejoins her friend Nikolas for lunch with a surprising new friend...Kris herself.
Nikolas is quickly coerced into accepting this when Kris gives him an apple of apology.
The new trio then discuss how fun it was to do pranks and think they should just keep at it despite getting caught before. They'll just have to be more secretive this go around!
And the first victim of their operations? Why, Maria's mama Kairi, who gets a cream filled pie stuck to her butt.
Kairi groans at their laughter, hoping they'll outgrow this one day...
Chapters 59-60 (Saturn):
Saturn stands in her space station cataloging research on a blue sun while performing her duties in C.O.G.S. To the fullest.
She then receives a warning about an intruder coming in from down below. An old foe of hers...The Technomite Knight, a literal mite with a ridiculous grudge against any manner of technological advancement, believing it inflicts the sin of Sloth upon all races.
Saturn endures his usual nonsense for a bit for fun and then dares him to try, cause he's going to fall to her justice yet again.
Refusing to let her deceit stand any longer though, the Knight stabs his lance into the ground, unleashing a terrifyingly familiar fungal virus throughout the ship.
Saturn becomes paralyzed with fear but tries to stay confident, tapping in a code in secret behind her back.
But the Knight knew she would. He has familiarized himself with this virus fully...and disabled the shutdown code.
Saturn hastily equips a suit and starts attacking the growing viral mass, which the Knight has merged with the full intent to consume and destroy her sinful legacy.
Saturn tries many manners of ways of cutting down the mass but its size keeps growing due to how much technology it can feast upon.
Eventually her suit gets infected and she's forced to remove it and set it to self-destruct. She then makes a mad dash for the elevator, equipping another suit and even summoning her ships to defend her.
The Knight begins to corrupt her systems, taunting her over the intercoms and monitors as she tries to escape to higher floors.
Eventually forced to detonate the elevator, Saturn escapes higher with her flight and makes her way to the garden, freeing Pluto out of desperation for aid.
But Pluto sees right through her attempted bravado and wonders what the hell's going on. She has no time to explain, as the Knight crashes into this floor, the mass now gargantuan in size.
Pluto attacks the mass and manages to make it withdraw, only to then understand the scope of what he's dealing with.
He believes Saturn has a plan, which is why he's freed...But it turns out he's only there to stall for time, as nothing she's got can put that thing down.
Pluto senses the familiarity to the virus in her voice but they have to keep moving, as the Knight pursues with ravenous intent.
They eventually make it to the top of the space station and Pluto locks the way up with magic so they can buy time.
At this point the Knight is referring to himself in terms of "we" and "us", meaning there's two entities at play here, and Pluto suspects Saturn knows who the other is.
When the Knight's voice begins to morph into a more feral, confused child, Saturn destroys the intercom and then starts madly tapping on the console before her.
Pluto gets in her way, demanding the truth.
Saturn feels it doesn't matter at this point, as she's going to just activate the self-destruct.
This disappoints Pluto, who never expected her of all people to cling so foolishly to pride instead of her justice and hope.
Saturn doesn't know what to do, and Pluto expects her to have had a plan.
Except...this IS the plan. The only way to destroy this virus now is ensure its wiped out completely. She knows this because...she created it, as Pluto suspected.
He had heard passing tales long ago of a planet of superintelligent people that had been suddenly wiped out by something terrifying of unknown origin. But there was one lie in that tale...One person survived.
The one responsible, Catherine of Planet Farad, known now as Saturn...
And at this point, she can no longer deny that. Breaking down into laughter, she admits to her hands being bloodied so long ago...
Even by her planets standards she was a genius among geniuses. She had built this space station of hers at the age of ten, after all.
But she wanted to do more to help her people, and had created a program that would expand the scope of technology on their world.
...But a miscalculation, a mere moment of neglect in her work, caused the program to transform into a virus that consumes technology to expand its world.
She had failed to catch this in time and by the time she had returned from off world, her whole planet had been consumed and the virus, thinking of her as a mother, asked if she was proud.
She shut the virus off in fear and fled her home in shame. Ever since, her heroics have acted as an attempt to redeem herself for that moment, and her bravado is the mask covering her trauma.
Upon hearing this whole story Pluto has his own thoughts to give, specifically addressing Saturn with respect...At least by his standards.
He believes enough time has passed that she shouldn't be letting herself weighed down by the past. She has done so much to save so many lives, and whether by intention or not her heroism has inspired thousands to rally to her cause DESPITE what Gravitus had done.
But if she commits to this sacrifice now, then she'll be spitting in the face of the dead AND the living affected by her actions.
So surely, Saturn has some way to defeat this virus that doesn't end with them bursting into flames.
And upon hearing all he has to say...Saturn is struck by inspiration, and returns to her old self in an instant.
She realizes the virus is weak to high concentrations of heat due to it requiring technology to survive. So she plans to use the still active thrusters to force the space station into the nearby sun and put the virus down for good.
But the virus has ingrained itself so deep that the auto-pilot is disabled, meaning someone will have to stick behind to pilot the station.
And that person...will be Pluto.
Pluto forces Saturn into the nearby escape pod before she can pull a fast one. He has confidence he'll live through this, as her justice will prevent him from dying before he's paid his dues.
He ejects her out into space, proclaiming that the story of Catherine of Fadar has not even begun.
Saturn's forced to watch as Pluto begins to move the space station towards the sun.
However, in an act of defiance the virus begins to crunch the station into the shape of something more human, forcing the thrusters to the bottom of its feet so it only floats in place.
It then tries to snag Saturn's pod out in the open...
Believing she's about to meet her end, Saturn closes her eyes to embrace it...Only to be saved at the last possible moment by her comrades Mars and Jupiter, who punch the giant space station with an equally giant mech they ride in.
The mech then pulls Saturn's pod in, allowing her to teleport into the cockpit and join her comrades in piloting this great mech.
After crying over the fact she has friends this great, Saturn debriefs them on the mission to force the viral entity into the sun.
The three sync up fully with the mech, the Aura Sovereign, as the Viral Orbitron stands before them.
The fate of the universe hangs in the balance here, for if the virus fully consumes the space station, it'll be able to use its warp drive functions to teleport to technology rich worlds and become a cancerous mass that will easily be able to consume even technology bare worlds.
With the great strength of her soul fueling the Aura Sovereign, Saturn and her allies alternate modes to force the virus back towards the sun bit by bit.
The virus continues to cling on, demanding its "mother" be proud of him. But Saturn has no pride to spare for this abomination and is determined to seize the future by obliterating the past this thing consumed.
When it seems like the virus is beginning to gain the upper hand, a fleet of C.O.G.S. Aligned battleships suddenly jump into the scene, firing upon the virus to keep forcing it back.
This is the final push the trio needed to force the virus into the sun, where they manage to then finish it, and Saturn's old station off for good with a final attack: Roaring Future Star Cannon.
Of course, Pluto's snagged out of the head at the last second, no worse for the wear.
In the aftermath of this traumatic duel, Saturn feels like she has to finally say goodbye to her past for good now. Using a Planet Cracker to finally destroy her old planet, and ensure the end of the virus for good, she's able to press forward...And truly begin her story.
Chapter 61 (Christmas):
(Mew and Kairi):
Mew's heading up to Sancturia to join the Auroras, Maria, and Gabriel in a Christmas celebration. This is Maria's first Christmas after all, and she's enjoying it decorating Gabriel up like a Christmas tree.
Once Mew has arrived though he has brought his own tree and helps Maria decorate that up.
Though he missed dinner, he's still able to join the others in watching a few Christmas movies that he picked out.
As they watch the likes of "The Santa Clause" and "Jingle all the Way" Gabriel voices some criticism of the messages they're teaching impressionable young children about the meaning of Christmas.
However, Mew manages to salvage the night by showing Maria "The Christmas Carol" which teaches her that the importance of Christmas is to spend time with family.
Not long after that Gabriel has to leave to spend time with the other Planetary Aurians, but he does apologize to Mew for once again misjudging his intentions.
Maria's then sent up to bed to get some sleep, with Shina and Auris doing the same not long after.
Mew and Kairi then talk quietly about Maria's gifts, with Kairi feeling she's always going to be outclassed by Mew given what he can do.
But then she notices how his hands are scratched up, meaning he made Maria's gift with his own hands, no powers necessary.
Seeing how hard he's trying to be a good, genuine father, Kairi decides to treat him to an early gift by allowing him to sleep with her and Maria as a whole family for the first time.
And so ends their Christmas night, remembering the meaning of family...
(Solaris):
Solaris gets invited over to Samantha's apartment for Christmas Eve. Her place is a little run down but he actually likes it this way. It gives him a survivors' vibe.
She brought him over because she's got a gift for him. While he waits, he winds up happening upon a picture of her parents, taken when she was young and had braces.
She's a little surprised but isn't ashamed. She talks a bit about her parents, Annabelle and Judas Jeremiah.
She doesn't remember her mother much because she died from a pandemic long ago. Before her father comes up though, she shifts topics to Solaris' gift.
She hands him a fully realized contract to get him a job at her bar, with her believing he's got plenty of credentials to handle it.
Solaris is excited at first...until guilt catches up with him.
He shoves the paper back into her chest and decides he's not been honest enough with her.
He explains his true name and powers to her, with her seemingly unfazed by the whole affair.
And to his surprise, she had suspected something was up with him the whole time due to how he presented himself. And its not frightening, its cool as hell, cause she's made friends with a god.
But Solaris forces her to take this seriously because there's more to the story than that. He believes that when he arrived here six months ago, his recklessness is what got her father killed, as the dates line up.
Samantha proceeds to kick him in the nuts and get on his case for thinking she's both weak AND stupid. She knows how many enemies her father had and that for as much as she looked up to him, she knew he was still vulnerable...And she believes ultimately, his enemies caught up to him, and won.
She appreciates him trying to make her feel better though.
To help take her mind off this crap though, she demands Solaris do something "illegal" with her...Which ultimately really means having her riding his back while he flies all around the world.
The two spend the rest of their Christmas Eve basically soaring the skies on a world two and having a blast. Though Solaris was honestly expecting them to have sex or something...
(Joe Dark and Alura):
The two are having a relatively simple Christmas. All cozy on the couch before the fireplace, they enjoy some hot cocoa prepared by Julius and just...relax.
Joe Dark feels a little guilty for not inviting Mew, but is just so...overwhelmed by this feeling of relaxation on his mind at the moment.
He embraces the Christmas mood a little early by giving Alura her gift.
It turns out to be the guitar she first saw at the music store, which Joe Dark saved up for by penny pinching his checks.
Alura's awestruck and can't bring herself to say anything in return. Joe Dark winds up feeling a little bad because Alura didn't know about this holiday ahead of time, and that's on him.
Except...she did know. Mew told her ahead of time. And she had prepared a song for Joe Dark...only to find herself unable to bring herself to sing it.
(Riku and Lunis):
Riku and Lunis are up in the moon palace, with Lunis eagerly awaiting the clock to strike midnight so she can exchange gifts with Riku.
But she manages to wear Riku down early so they decide to just get it over with now. Riku hands Lunis off his gift first.
What she receives...are Justek's glasses, restored to their old glory, just with minor adjustments to fit her.
Riku noticed she was having trouble reading so figured he could fix those glasses to help her out. Lunis can't believe he'd go this far, and really wants to give him her gift now...
And it turns out to be a love confession. She explains how connected she feels to Riku after all these months, and how she owes him so much for helping her break free of her doubts and hesitation.
She's truly happy now, and its all because of the effort he put forth.
Riku struggles to accept her love, still believing that he's got a ways to go to be worthy of it.
Lunis forces herself onto him with a kiss and in doing so, gets him to change his mind.
The two embrace each other passionately and it winds up quickly growing into something more, as they tangle together atop their bed and spend their Christmas night wound in ecstasy...
Chapter 62 (Riku and Mew):
The start of a new year. 2042 AD.
Riku and Mew are standing before each other in the moon palace as all their friends and family watch them from the stands...Even the likes of Pluto are allowed to watch through a monitor.
Samantha has joined their ranks, with Solaris being quite a blabbermouth since Christmas.
The group knows why they're here though, to watch these two brothers fight it out. Bets are made and discussion is shared on who will win. It seems pretty split down the middle, with it leaning slightly in Riku's favor due to the training he's been up to.
Riku stands before his brother, confident in his victory, even if it won't be an easy one. He picked this fight today, now of all times, because he needs to confirm his training has been worth something so far.
Mew's happy to have a fight as a belated Christmas present and readies his sword for battle, swearing not to give Riku an easy time.
The two start off simple by showing their mastery of the basic seven elements, which Mew has the upper hand on given his trickery.
But then Riku unveils a trick of his own, summoning concentrated energy orbs that can shift elements on the fly and counteract Mew's tricks.
And best of all, Riku has the ability to turn them invisible by warping the light around them, a trick Auris notes not even Sarajin could've done.
Mew escalates things first, as expected, by going into Light Form and pressing his advantage to keep Riku from changing as well.
But eventually Riku finds a gap and goes right up to Chaos Form.
The crowd notes how Mew can't do the same, which is hard to believe given his training junkie attitude, yet as Maria confirms, he's not really been training much lately...
Even still, Mew has his own tricks still to match Chaos Form. By shifting between Light and Dark Forms on the fly, and using one element to bolster the power of the other, Mew's able to match Riku surprisingly well.
But Riku has the advantage in both offense and defense so long as he keeps his concentration going. And, he's got yet another trick up his sleeve.
Before going into Chaos Form he had dispersed all his other elements into the floor. Now, by going into Genesis Form for a few moments, he triggers the elements to explode upon Mew all at once in a very powerful blast.
Mew manages to hold out, because that's just how stubborn he is, yet its clear now that him and Riku are running out of fuel.
So after reflecting upon their feelings for one another, they decide that it doesn't matter who wins this fight, because they're having the time of their lives in this moment.
They throw everything left into making either side yield, with Mew even going so far as to tickle Riku to make him break concentration.
It ultimately boils down to one final punch to both brother's guts, of which while Mew falls first, Riku goes down right after.
They agree to a "Draw", and laugh at how far they pushed each other.
Mew's annoyed at himself for slacking off on training and Riku offers to let him come and train with him and Solaris. Mew denies it though, wanting to stick to his own pace.
Once they're healed up, Riku wants to go have a burger with his brother, and Mew's more than happy to agree to those terms. Just a little brother bonding time to start the new year, finally...
Chapter 63 (?):
A mysterious journal details the end of one universe biome, the Dragon Ball universe...
Some years ago, following the end of the Tournament of Power, the Zenos, Angels, and GoDs were approached by two of the "higher-ups", Yen Sid and Homura.
They came with but one purpose, to bring an end to the Zenos' destructive ways, for their constant treatment of the universe as playthings was threatening to spread to other biomes.
The Zenos called Yen Sid a magician and wanted to see his tricks, so Beerus winds up fighting him.
Yen Sid handles with him with ease using his old magic, forcing Beerus to rely on Hakai to try and stop him.
But then Yen Sid pulls out the X-Blade and cuts Beerus, not intent on killing him, instead granting him mercy.
The other 11 GoDs surround him and prepare to unleash their Hakais together, only for Yen Sid to reflect it back upon them to wipe them out.
Then the Angels intervene, forcing Homura to join in as well. The battle begins to warp the fabric of time and space but the "higher-ups" struggle to put the Angels down...Until they stop holding back.
Homura stops time when angered by her locket being messed with, and Yen Sid kills all the Angels instantly with a technique.
All except for Whis, who was just out of range.
The Grand Priest intervenes, escalating the battle further and causing the cosmos to tremble and spasm uncontrollably.
Beerus and Whis flee to Universe 7's Earth to force Goku and his friends to gather the Super Dragon Balls, with the intent being for them to flee.
Yen Sid and Homura are even with the Grand Priest, but this has been going on long enough. Futanji Shinryu, manifesting only as an orb of light, threatens the Zenos with one last warning...And instead they defy him, readying their powers to wipe out all universes.
Meanwhile, the Super Dragon Balls have been gathered and the wish is about to be made...Until a strange child appears and intercepts the wish to instead send Goku and his friends, save Beerus and Whis, to another Earth.
The Zenos wipe out their entire universe, but it does not even scratch Futanji, who sighs in sadness and then devours the Zenos whole.
The journal then goes on to discuss the mysteries this event brought up, and how there have been answers given recently.
Essentially, the Dragon Ball Universe was sacrificed and the "higher-ups" are the pawn of a mysterious entity known as the "Author".
Goku and his friends were sent to the Earth Alex Whiter originated from, and through the process of Justek's clairvoyance delivering knowledge to Gravitus who then gave that same knowledge to Prometheus, Goku and his friends were killed before they could respond to their strange relocation.
This was done in order to transplant Saiyan DNA into the "Author's" "Blanks", Alex, Mew and Riku. The strange child was another "Blank" who was wiped out when the Zenos destroyed everything to remove the evidence that the "Author" was even there.
Alex was given all the tools to be a weapon of pure destruction and power. The Saiyan Zenkais, which, when combined with the Elemental Overlord's sheer power and the ability to heal from absorbing energy from the environment, caused a potentially infinitely powered warrior. Then there's the Gaia Temporis, which would save Alex from danger.
The "Author" also lords over Futanji, the creator of this universe, as a false God.
The journal writer stands against Futanji as a natural enemy, but curses the "Author" more, as his actions threaten to spread venom through his "Blanks" that could awaken the "Omni-Extinction".
But he alone cannot save the universe. As weird as it sounds, he has to put his faith in the "Blanks" of the "Author" to undo the mess the "Author" has caused.
Who is writing this journal? Why, its Macros. And though a lot of questions are answered, there's one he worries about the most...
Beerus and Whis are unaccounted for, and its clear they did not get erased like everyone else did...
Story 8 END
