Author's notes: In case you haven't noticed yet, I've decided to combine Chapter 8 with what was originally Chapter 9. I've put the reasoning for it in Chapter 8's author's notes.

Star Force Ark, Chapter 10: Realizing The Mistakes They Made

"Hey... Hey!", a voice called out, "Geo, are you okay?" Opening his eyes, Geo noticed Luna standing in front of him with a concerned expression.

"L-Luna...?", Geo asked before looking around, realizing he was back in Echo Ridge, "I... I'm back...?"

"Back...?", Luna asked before shaking her head, "Never mind that, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine.", Geo replied. Hearing this, Luna gave a (fake) sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness.", Luna said as she looked back up at Geo, "I went to find help, but when I got back, you and Zack just suddenly disappeared. I looked all over for you, and then you three were suddenly just... here. Like you materialized out of thin air." This caught Geo's attention before he heard a groan coming from behind him. Turning, he noticed both Bud and Zack getting up off of the ground.

"What... what happened?", Zack asked, raising his glasses with one hand while rubbing his eyes with the other.

"That's what I want to know.", Luna replied, "Where did you three disappear to?"

"D-Disappear...?", Zack said, "I... I'm not sure. I can only kinda faintly remember Bud turning into some kind of monster, but even that feels like a dream." This caught Bud's attention for a moment.

"(He doesn't remember?)", Geo thought to himself. After a moment, Bud turned to Luna.

"Prez... I... I've been hiding things from you.", Bud said, catching everyone's attention, "You know about all those things getting broken? I think I'm the one doing it...", this caught all three of them off guard. "After I got mad at you that one time, I saw the strangest thing. There was a cow monster guy, and he told me he'd give me powers."

"He said if I wanted to keep you as a Brother, I had to show you my power.", he continued, "Then you'd appreciate me. After that day, every night I'd get restless. I'd go outside, but when I'd see something red, I'd blank out... And then wake up in my own room. I thought it was all a dream, but... car pieces, or bricks would be all around me... I'm sorry... I'll apologize to everyone..."

Hearing this, Luna paused for a moment before looking down with a dejected expression, bringing her closed hand to her chest. "To be honest...", Luna began before closing her eyes, "I think... I think this may have been my fault." Opening her eyes, she opened her hand and looked at it. "I... I never actually intended to cut our BrotherBand." This caught Bud off guard as she closed her hand and eyes again, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I just thought... I thought that if you believed you had something to lose, then you would try harder..."

"But that was wrong!", Luna continued as she shook her head before her tears began to roll down her cheeks, "Regardless of what reason I had, I shouldn't have done that! I... I'm so sorry..."

"Prez...", Bud began before walking up to Luna and putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm also responsible for this." Hearing this, Luna opened her eyes and looked at Bud. "If I didn't accept that cow monster's power, this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry..."

"Bud...", Luna began, "I..."

"The past can't be changed.", Zack said, catching everyone's attention before he looked up at Luna, "But... I think the most important thing is acknowledging your mistakes and learning from them."

"Zack... I... I think you're right.", Luna said as she wiped her tears and gave a sad smile, "Thank you... both of you..."

"Acknowledging mistakes...", Geo said to himself. Closing his eyes, he thought back to what Luna said at Echo Ridge.

"Actually... I wanted to apologize. I did some thinking, and I guess I was being a bit too forceful... I'm sorry."

"A-Ah, right.", Luna said, catching everyone's attention, "Bud, Zack... I want you two to meet up back here tomorrow morning so we can fix the things Bud destroyed." Though they were surprised, Bud and Zack both gave a confident nod in response.

Looking at his pendant for a moment, Geo nodded to himself before looking at the trio. "I'd like to help as well.", he said, catching them off guard.

"Geo...?", Luna asked, "Are you sure?" Geo gave a nod in response.

"I... I feel partially responsible for this as well.", Geo said, "So I want to do what I can to make up for it. Plus..." Geo looked back at his pendant. "I feel like it would be wrong if I didn't help out."

Pausing for a moment, Luna gave a nod. "Thank you.", she said, "We'll meet back here at 6:30AM."

Giving a smile, Geo nodded in response. "I'll see you three tomorrow, then.", he said. Giving a wave, he walked off as he headed home.

Back in her room, Luna gave a yawn as she put her Transer and the Visualizer on the desk of her vanity mirror before undoing her braids and walking over to her closet. "Hey, kid.", Omega-Xis said through her Transer, "Can I talk to you for a minute before you fall asleep?"

"Just give me a few seconds, Mega.", Luna said. After changing into her pajamas, she grabbed her Transer and put it back on her arm, opening it as she sat on her bed. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I just want to know what happened back there with Taurus.", Omega-Xis said, "You froze up for a bit there, but then you were suddenly dead-set on taking him out.

Pausing for a moment, Luna put both of her hands on her bed as she looked at the ceiling. "I... It was my fault that Taurus was able to control Bud like that.", she said, "Because I threatened to cut our BrotherBand..." After a short pause, Luna looked back at her Transer as she brought it back up. "But then Taurus said he was going to use Bud to destroy the town, and I... I didn't want that. I got so angry that I..."

"That you couldn't think of anything else?", Omega-Xis asked, catching her off guard.

"Y-Yeah...", Luna replied, "Destroying Echo Ridge was bad enough, but using one of my own friends to do that... and he didn't even intend to stop there."

"Yeah, I think I understand now.", Omega-Xis said. Luna gave a sigh in response.

"Well... I guess we've got our work cut out for us in the future.", Luna said, catching Omega-Xis' attention, "Taurus said more FM-ians were coming, and I have no intention of letting them destroy our home." Omega-Xis gave a nod. Giving another yawn, Luna started pulling the blanket over her.

"Hey, aren't you gonna take your Transer off?", Omega-Xis asked.

"Too tired...", Luna replied, "One night with it on shouldn't hurt..." Closing her eyes, she started to drift off as Omega-Xis gave a sigh.

"Night, kid.", Omega-Xis said before closing the Transer himself.

*To Be Continued*