Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
Ironwood stepped out on the edge of Atlas, looking down and seeing the Phazon moving rapidly toward Mantle. He would see the Grimm being corrupted and made their way toward the town. Helplessness was seen all over his face.
To make matters worse, a few Phazon corrupted Heartless were digging deep into Atlas's defense system and before he knew it, the shields dissipated. He fell to his knees as he punched the ground in frustration.
A Nevermore made its way over to him, ready to sink its talons into the general… but it was quickly destroyed by ice as Esdeath approached him. "When I heard about this Phazon in the Mushroom Kingdom… I didn't think anything of it… but now… now it's too late."
"Dad…"
"I failed… I failed to protect Mantle and Atlas! Now this infection is spreading more rapidly compared to that blorb virus… how can I be a leader if I can't protect two cities…"
Esdeath knelt down next to him. "Don't beat yourself up, none of us knew it'd get this bad." She said.
"Did we get everyone?"
"Yeah." Esdeath turned to the Great Fox and the Blue Typhoon. "Evacuation has gone smoothly." She said as suddenly the Halberd rose from the cliff. "It seems they got everyone in Mantle."
"We got all we could." Meta Knight said. "We got all we could over at Mistral as well."
Esdeath turned to see Harriet approaching. "Did we get all evacuated?"
"Yes, we even got the Winter Maiden evacuated."
Esdeath nodded. "Understood. All we need to do now is evacuate Vacuo and Menagerie." She said as she picked up her father and walked over to the Blue Typhoon.
"Why not Vale?" Harriet asked.
Esdeath looked at her somberly. "Vale's done for… we can only hope Beacon got evacuated." She said as they soon got on the Typhoon where they would see the X-Tornado landing on the ground as Tails hopped out.
"What's the news?" Sonic asked.
"Vacuo's gone…" Tails said. "But I think if we hurry, we can get to Menagerie before the Phazon gets a hold of it."
"Then let's do what we can!" Sonic gave him a thumbs up.
Ironwood took one last look at Atlas, seeing some Heartless and Grimm spreading Phazon around. "This truly is the end of Remnant…" He mumbled as the Blue Typhoon turned around as they all flew off.
"This is the Blue Typhoon. We're heading to Menagerie before we leave this planet's atmosphere."
"Copy that, Tails!" Peppy would say from the Great Fox.
Back at the Observatory…
BGM: Dr. Toadley (Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story plus Bowser Jr's Journey)
"Incredible!" Mikan said as she was examining Ruby. "This Dimentio pretty much gave you an advantage. Not only did he get rid of the corruptive nature of Phazon, which in turn, caused you to not be brainwashed but gained a lot of powers as a result… which is… odd, considering you just got your Zinogre form." She rubbed her chin.
"The weird thing is… it burned like heck but the moment he took that away, it stopped hurting." Ruby said.
"Oh suuuuuuure." A voice said as they turned to see Cinder receiving the cure from Eirin and Reisen. "When I get Phazon on my hand, it burns like hell but when Red Riding Hood gets it, she gets new fangled powers."
"Oh, put a sock in it." Qrow said coldly.
"It's like… you have this crazy new power." Mikan said. "Sure, it did a number on your appearance, but it did give you new Phazon-like abilities and despite having your whole arm covered in it, I'm not detecting any signs of corruption… so it's like, you can hug someone with this and they won't have any ill effects! I must know more of this, this is a massive breakthrough!" She said with her eyes sparkling. "This could turn the tide of this war!"
She looked through the list. "Make Metroids of this thing, non-corruptive powers… heck, you can easily go through phazon without any ill effects! You could probably absorb it and get Phazonn off of anyone! The potential we can have with this is extraordinary!"
"…Is she okay?" Ann whispered.
"I think she's in fangirl mode." Weiss whispered back.
"My deepest apologies, I tend to get a bit excited over breakthroughs such as this!" Mikan said, her eyes sparkling non-stop. "Oh, the mass potential… I've never seen anything like it!"
"Well, I think you should get rid of it." A voice said as they turned to see Samus not looking very happy. "Just because she's not "corrupted" because that clown got rid of those nasty side effects doesn't mean anything to me. For all we know, the Phazon could easily control her without even realizing it."
"I don't think that'll happen." Ruby said. "I'm in full control of the Phazon. We might turn this around and destroy Dark Samus for good."
"You don't know that!" Samus said, her tone getting a bit snippy. "You might be in full control now, but down the road, you'll lose yourself to it and soon, you'll be corrupted and next thing you know, you will need to find a way to get rid of it before it consumes you!"
"What's gotten into you, woman? She's fine!" Yang said. "Yeah, the Phazon makes her a bit creepy-"
"Hey!" Ruby said as Weiss handed her a mirror. "…Oh! Good point."
"-But she's able to fully control it, hell, it even bled into her Zinogre form so I don't know what's the big dea-"
"Because I know what it's like!" Samus nearly shouted. "You think it's not much, but it'll get worse as it goes on and soon… soon you'll lose your comrades…" She said as she turned around. "If you continue down this path… don't say I didn't warn you." She walked out of the dome.
"…Was it something I said?" Ruby asked.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it." A voice said as Ghor and Rundas walked in. "She's just worried… because she had been down that road before."
"Indeed." Rundas nodded. "She, too, was corrupted by Phazon and even when she was able to control it… it would blindside her without warning."
End BGM
Outside…
Samus walked toward the garage, closing her eyes as flashbacks entered her head.
"If we don't make it to the top in time, we can kiss this planet goodbye."
"Hey, relax! We're the good guys! Justice will prevail and all that stuff… right, Samus?"
"AAAAAAAARGH!"
"Nnngh! Aaaagh!"
"Warning: Corrupt Hypermode! Shoot the Hyper Beam as much as you can to fight it off!"
"It seems whenever you enter Hypermode, the Phazon within you starts overreacting and causes corruption. The Federation didn't forsee this, unfortunately. I am deeply sorry, Samus."
"RUNDAS!"
"Don't you feel the power? Soon, everything will be corrupted. Including you!"
"Rrrrgh!"
"GHOR, NO! …Dark Samus, you BITCH!"
"You know, you should never trust strangers, Sammy… hmph, this is going to be fun!"
"Nnngh… Sam-Sammy… he-help… me…!"
"…I'm sorry."
"Graaaagh!"
"Hypermode permanently online. Do not fall to corruption!"
"Welcome… to your final hour, Samus. This place will be your tomb!"
"This… is for my COMRADES!"
Samus leaned on her ship, groaning. A tear escaped her eye. "Ruby… please… don't go down the same path as everyone…" She pleaded quietly. "I… I don't think I can go through that again…"
"Okay, so from what I know…" Marnie looked at the white board while holding Morpeko in her arms. "Serpentina is in this galaxy called Chompworks. Wendy is in some sort of beach-like galaxy. Lemmy is in a gravity changing galaxy and… I think Morton is in some ancient ruins."
"I can tell you this much... Lemmy wasn't in Flipsville!" Captain Toad said, holding an ice pack.
"Wow! You know where they are?" Roy asked.
"No offense, Roy… but I paid attention to where everyone was going." Marnie said. "Heck, I think Kamek and General Guy did too."
"Ouch!" Roy mumbled. "But hey, at least I knew where Ludwig was."
"You forgot the name of the Galaxy." Velvet told him.
"I was halfway there!" Roy defended.
"So what about Captain Slime? Surely he's gotta be stationed somewhere." Lillie said.
"As far as I know, he's still on the ship." Marnie responded. "He hasn't been stationed anywhere… and yet, I've seen him strike up conversations with his fellow non-corrupted Koopa Troop so he's not all the way lost. That said, he always looked melancholic…"
"You sure? He seemed pretty chipper to us despite being corrupted." Captain Goomba said.
"Yeah… it's like the corruption didn't faze him all that much." Captain Koopa spoke up.
"Odd… he was always melancholic when I talked with him."
"Hmm… curious…" Kamek mused.
Umber scratched his chin in thought. "Melancholy while talking with you, chipper with everyone else. Did he say anything odd to you?"
"Something about… wished things were different. I'm not really sure what he meant by that."
"That's interesting…"
"Let's see… all that's left is your brother and those dimwits." Guzma said with his arms folded. "How are we gonna get them out of there… like, where are they?"
Marnie looked down. "I left as soon as he stepped in to save me… so I don't know where they're at."
Guzma put his hand on her head. "Don't sweat it, kid. We'll find them."
"Yeah! All's not lost for 'em!" Junior smiled, causing Marnie to smile.
"Yeah… of course."
"Hey, Polari! Do we have any galaxies available?" Weiss asked.
"Let's see here… oh, there's two of 'em that's available. Chompworks and Honeybloom." Polari responded.
Marnie's eyes widened. "Chompworks? …Serpentina's there."
"Then we'll go." Weiss said as she and Blake walked up. "Our magic's gotten stronger. We can take her."
"I dunno, guys… Phazon hits hard. It ain't gonna be easy." Roy said. "You're gonna want extra firepower."
Weiss smiled. "Well, let's get some extra firepower then."
At Chompworks…
"Here, deliver this armor to the Battle Belt Galaxy. Also, be careful with this. Captain Slime requested that this armor is to be handled with care." Serpentina ordered as the armor in question looked advanced for an arm and also had advanced goggles.
"Why?" A space pirate wondered.
"Let's just say he wanted this armor for someone to be fixed. Now then… work faster, gearheads! Master Ridley expects more Phazon enhancement armor for his troops!"
"We've been working to the wires! We had only gotten three minute breaks after six hours of this labor! This is against labor laws. I want to speak to our Gearmo resources." A Gearmo protested.
"Gearmo resources!" Serpentina chuckled. "They're right here!" She said, pointing to a corrupted Jerkules. "You have a problem you wish to speak with him?"
"Yeah. We have our rights!"
"I see… so I guess you want some employee benefits." Serpentina said.
"Yes! Shorter work hours for strenuous tasks, oil baths and-" The Jerkules grabbed him. "Ack!"
Serpentina smirked wickedly. "You're getting a "promotion" along with the added benefits of our choice!" She said, glancing at the Phazon pool.
"That stuff won't work on us, we're mechanical!"
"Oh really?" Serpentina whistled as corrupted Mecha Koopas, Hunter Mechs, Mecha Mynas and a Metal Dragon showed up.
"…Oh…" The Gearmo sweatdropped.
"Oh, you will be more efficient… after being corrupted by the beauty of this!" The Metal Dragon said as the Jerkules got ready to throw him in.
"NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOO!" The Gearmo was thrown into the pool of Phazon.
"Anyone else want a promotion? You will work more efficiently." Serpentina offered.
"No ma'am!" All the other Gearmos said.
"Good. Now I expect double the amount before the next Space Pirate ship arrive for the armor!"
"Serpentina!" A corrupted Mecha Myna approached her. "Our scouts detected the cosmic heroes are arriving here!"
"Rrrgh… they're earlier than expected. You!" She pointed to a Space Pirate. "Deliver this unfinished quota of Phazon Armor to Ridley. I will deal with them… right as I promote some more slackers!"
BGM: Chompworks Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
Chompworks Galaxy Power Star #1 - Where The Chomps Are Made of Phazon - Weiss, Blake, Marnie, Iggy, Neo, Palutena, Dark Pit
The group landed on the starting planet, all of them landing gracefully, though Marnie landed a bit hard. "Mmmph!" Marnie winced. "That's a bit hard on the ankles…"
"You get used to it." Blake said.
"I'm… surprised you actually wanted to come with us, Palutena." Weiss said.
"Well, I've been meaning to stretch my legs a bit." Palutena smiled as she looked over at Iggy. "Now, are you sure you're stable enough?"
"Me? Stable? Bahahaha! Oh, that's cute, Palutena. Reeeeal cute!" Iggy said.
"He's not wrong…" Dark Pit mumbled.
"So, this is how Chain Chomps are made?" Blake asked. "I was thinking it'd be more… ya know, sensual?"
"Someone's been reading too much smut lately." Dark Pit smirked, earning a glare from Blake.
"How would…? …You know what, that's better left not asked." Weiss sweatdropped while Neo pictured it in her head, which lead her to raise an eyebrow.
"Mmm, best left to the imagination." Palutena said as they watched the Chomps roll by. "What I'm more interested in is that planet over there." She pointed toward the Lava Chomp Planet in the distance, or more appropriately, Phazon Chomp Planet. "I don't know about you, but I have a pretty good feeling that's where the Power Star is located, plus Serpentina."
"It would make sense." Marnie said as she climbed up the platforms where Weiss would put up a protective gravity glyph to stop the Chomps from rolling into her. Her cybernetic eyes started to glow as her vision enhanced, acting like binoculars as she looked toward the planet.
"See anything?" Iggy asked.
"Yeah, I see movement alright." Marnie responded. "Dear Arceus, those robots have Phazon on them?! …Shit, that means Penny, SAPR and ROB aren't safe… oh, and that cute Adam bot."
"Do we have cures for robots?" Weiss wondered.
"Anti-viruses?" Blake shrugged.
"Hang on…" Marnie took a closer look at them. "Oh, those goggles and armor look kinda cute… wonder who those are for? Hmm… maybe for one of the eggheads back at the Observatory."
Marnie's eyes went back to normal. "Alright, our target is over there. Now we can figure out a way to get a Launch Star or-"
"Or allow me~" Palutena smiled as she surrounded them all in light, taking them to the Phazon Chomp Planet, right where the Golden Chomp usually spawns, instead Phazon Chomps rolled out of the phazon.
End BGM
"Okay, so there she is." Marnie whispered as Serpentina and the Phazon-infused monsters weren't noticing them yet. "So, how are gonna knock that Liege Lizard out…"
"We could have Weiss sic Azure on her." Blake said.
"I'd rather not accidentally poison her." Weiss said.
"She's… kinda already poisoned."
"I mean… true."
"Oh, I know!" Iggy grinned.
"LUAU!" Iggy yelled, catching the attention of the monsters as he was wearing a hula skirt and a Liepard was next to him. "If you're hungry for a hunk of juicy meat, eat Lady Marnie's Liepard because she has a treat! Come on down and dine on a tasty feline, all you have to do is get in line~! Aaaare you achin-"
"Mrow mrow!"
"Foooor some cat food!"
"Mrow!"
"Sheeeee's a big cat! You could be a big cat too! Oi!"
"…I am not putting my precious Liepard in danger just like that." Marnie protested.
"Eh, Blake's got one!"
"Nope."
"Well, we could get Weiss's Ratha-"
"Nope!"
"Hmm… oh, we can dress Pittoo in a pig costume and-"
"Dress me up in a pig costume and being dipped in phazon would be the least worst thing that will ever happen to you." Dark Pit threatened.
Iggy sweatdropped. "Yeesh, tough crowd…"
"Oh! Maybe Neo and I can dress up in the hula skirts!" Palutena smiled, causing Neo to smile at this idea.
"Translation: Hula skirts but nix the coconut bras." Dark Pit said, causing Neo to blush a deep red. "That's what I thought."
"I don't think she's saying no though~" Palutena giggled mischeviously, causing Marnie to sweatdrop while Neo was too flustered to sign her hands.
"Ugh, forget it, let's just do some old fashioned beat downs." Dark Pit said, aiming his Dark Pit Staff and hitting Serpentina in the head.
"Mmph!"
"Sure, take all the fun out of it, ya party pooper." Iggy mumbled.
"Ah, I see you've made it!" Serpentina smirked. "You know, Weiss and Blake, I was looking forward for that rematch with you. Master Ridley and Dark Samus has given me the power to infuse the element of Phazon to my elemental attacks. Now you will be corrupted by it! You mechanical minions… attack their friends! That includes you too, Gearmos. Jerkuleses, throw those chomps at the green haired one!"
"But what about Iggy, Lady Neo and Lady Marnie?" A Mecha Myna asked.
"It's simple. They turned traitor… but perhaps if you pushed them into phazon, they'll go back to being loyal." Serpentina said.
"Nope, I've had enough phazon for one day!" Iggy said. "…Or two, I've lost track because I've been in space for so long!"
Marnie activated the blade in her arm. "Sorry about this." She said as she got in her stance as did the others.
"Attack the others! Weiss and Blake are mine."
BGM: Battle For Glory (Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of An Elusive Age)
Corrupt Manager - Serpentina
Weiss and Blake took out their weapons, while magical aura surrounded their hands as Serpentina lunged, swinging her tails at them but Weiss jumped back while Blake jumped over, her jet boots activated while darkness formed in her leg as she Kazammle Kicked her in the head, then Serpentina got it with a Kacrackle Slash from Weiss.
"Hmph! That all you got!" Serpentina taunted, creating a ring of fire surrounding the two and then made a hard stomp that created a wall of fire, and to make matters worse, it started to close in on them.
"Grab on to me!" Blake said as Weiss grabbed her arm as she activated her jet boots and launched over the wall of fire as it exploded underneath them as Blake threw her to Serpentina as Weiss switched to her longsword and slashed down, hitting Serpentina on the head as she was knocked back while Weiss gracefully landed on her feet.
"I see you can wield that sword with one hand now, you truly have gotten stronger... but can you keep up!" Serpentina lunged at Weiss, swiping at her but the ice queen would swiftly blocked and parried her, stepping on the ground as ice shot toward Serpentina as Weiss thrusted her hand up, where a massive Crackle iceberg struck the Liege Lizard as Blake switched to her Belladonna Claws and slashed through her, but Serpentina would grab the Faunus and slammed her to the ground, before throwing her to Weiss where she would catch her then used a Moreheal spell on her.
"Let's see if you can dodge this!" Serpentina smirked, lifting her hands together and formed a tornado... only said tornado happened to be Phazon.
"Do I even want to know the rating scale on that?" Blake sweatdropped.
"An E-F GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!" Weiss responded, as they tried to dodge the massive Phazonic Tornado that was thrown at them.
"Bahahaha! Of course there'd be a Phazon tornado, why wouldn't there be!" Iggy laughed, dodging some Gearmos attacking him.
Marnie would see something come up in her radar in her cybernetic eyes. "Huh?" She wondered as she took a closer look while her Grimmsnarl knocked down a Mecha Myna. "Guys... what's a Prankster Comet?"
"A Prankster Comet?" Palutena looked up. "Well, this might get interesting..." She said as she saw a shadowy comet approaching them before orbiting the planet they're on.
"Yahahahaha!"
Palutena would see cosmic Clones of themselves appear before them. "Rrrgh, dammit! We don't need three Pits in this universe!" Dark Pit complained, dodging his counterpart's attacks.
"It's cute when a Zoroark or a Ditto does it but this? This is just creepy..." Marnie said as Neo would get into an umbrella slap fight with her doppelganger, while Cosmic Marnie swung at Marnie, causing her to duck and then sweep kicked her clone away. "You may be me, but I know your moves."
"Rock paper scissors!" Iggy said, going for scissors while his clone went for rock. "...Eh... how about best two out of three?"
Palutena let out a low growl, staring at her doppelganger. "This prankster comet dares to make a mockery out of me..." She telekinetically twirled her staff around, the orb on the staff glowing with energy. "Unforgivable!"
"You gotta be kidding me..." Weiss grumbled, seeing a few of her cosmic clones siding with Serpentina while several cosmic Blakes surrounded her.
"Honestly, not as bad as the SA-X, but this is very annoying..." Blake mumbled.
"Hmhmhmhm, I never thought I'd gain some allies!" Serpentina smirked. "Now, melt into the acidic abyss!" She exclaimed, unleashing an acid lightning storm on them.
"Acid?!" The two yelled as they tried to dodge the acid rain that followed.
Palutena floated up into the air, her eyes glowing brightly. "Mockery shall be eradicated from my sight!" She declared, clapping her hands and formed a black hole in her hands as she pushed the black hole toward the planet, sucking in all the cosmic clones inside as she raised her hand in the air as a massive Mega Laser came down and shot through the black hole to destroy them, then she snapped her fingers as the laser split as it went through the blackhole, going through all the infected monsters, including Serpentina.
"GRAAAAAAGH!" Serpentina roared, the laser piercing through her chest as Palutena clapped her hands, the black hole closing in and shrinking, crushing those inside the black hole before the laser exploded into a heavenly light, then the black hole exploded, sending a shockwave that went around the planet... and said planet started to fall apart.
End BGM
"And THAT is why you never make Palutena angry." Dark Pit said, where a Power Star appeared.
"More like never make a deity angry to begin with." Marnie said. "That said, considering this planet is collapsing..."
["She went overboard."] Neo sweatdropped.
"Oh, goodness... did I overdo it?" Palutena wondered as Serpentina fell on her back after being knocked down by Weiss and Blake, while the Liege Lizard dropped another Power Star.
"I'd rather not drift into space and potentially go into a black hole." Blake said as Palutena went to take them all back to the Observatory, the monsters and Gearmos included.
Chompworks Galaxy Power Star #2 - Spring into the Chompworks - Umber, Gloria, Lillie, Hau
The four landed on the Rolling Chomps planet. "Alright, let's see what we can find here." Umber said as they walked ahead, only to see a few Spring Mushrooms. "Oh?" He curiously walked over to them.
"I'd be careful, lad. Those Spring Mushrooms are wild. Ye never know if you'll turn into an actual spring or a Lopunny or-"
"That's only you though." Hau said.
"What? I'm just warnin' the lad." Gloria shrugged as Umber looked at his staff and then the Spring Mushroom before pushing the latter into his staff, where it turned into a pogo stick.
"Aw sweet!" Umber grinned.
"A pogo stick?!" Lillie said in surprise, as Umber hopped over as it let out an electric shock wave, which in turn, caused him to bounce.
"Wahoooo!"
"That's a sick pogo stick!" Hau grinned.
Gloria blinked in surprise. "Hmm!" She picked one up and pulled out her lead pipe, and then combined the two together... only she just turned into her Lopunny form while holding the lead pipe. "HUH?!"
"...Logic fails me on this." Hau said, rubbing his head.
"Eh, what are you gonna do?" Gloria shrugged as she did a few graceful flips over some Phazon Chomps as Hau grabbed one and put it on his shoes, where he had springs attached to his heels.
"Hey, grab on!" Hau smiled, taking Lillie's hand.
"What exactly am I gonna-" Hau leapt into the air, taking Lillie with him. "-HOLD ON TOOO!" She yelped, instinctively wrapping her arms and legs around him as if Hau was giving her a piggy back ride.
"Ha ha! Don't feel scared, Lillie! I got ya!" Hau said, hopping into the Launch Star after Umber and Gloria launched away to the Spring Tower Planet.
Hau gracefully landed on the planet, doing a few hops while chuckling, then looked up to see the Power Star up on top. "You up for round two?" Hau looked at her with a sweet smile.
"That's... quite the climb." Lillie sweatdropped, looking a bit intimidated but looked at Hau with a nod. "But I know you have it in you."
"I won't let go of ya!" He smiled as he got a running start and hopped up on to the platforms, Lillie holding on tight but she was also laughing.
"Hmm?" Gloria looked down. "Are you sure they're just good friends?"
"I've had my suspicions but I didn't want to pry into it." Umber said.
Gloria smiled. "Well, they're cute together, that's for sure." She giggled as they continued to hop over the platforms where Hau and Lillie would catch up to them before the two leapt off a platform and snagged the Power Star.
"Got it!" Lillie beamed,and then beams of light courtesy of Viridi sent them back to the Observatory.
"Love birds." Viridi quietly said with a playful roll of the eyes.
"Mmm..." Zinnia had her arms folded, tapping her fingers on her forearms. "What haven't I tried yet..."
"You do know that Charizard is not a Dragon type, right?" Pyrrha asked.
"Oh, I'm aware. But hey, he looks like a dragon so I might as well give it a shot!" Zinnia shrugged. "Besides, not like Cindy isn't doing much better."
They would see Cinder rushing out of the airship while dodging a flamethrower. "Yeah well, screw you too!" Cinder yelled.
"I'm gonna find a way to tame it. I got a ton of Burn Heals and Full Restores, so I can do this all day... or... all night? Man, space can be confusing..." She rubbed her head.
"SHE DID WHAT!" A voice screamed as Zinnia and Pyrrha turned to see Ibuki staring at her phone, her body trembling in anger.
"Hey, Metal Head, you okay over there?" Zinnia asked. "You're kinda... fuming."
"When Ibuki gets her hands on Dark Samus... SHE'S GONNA THROTTLE HER FOR WHAT THAT BITCH DID TO DOOM GUY-CHAN!" She yelled as a fiery aura surrounded her.
"Doom Guy who?" Zinnia whispered.
"Supposedly a very good friend of hers." Pyrrha whispered back.
"Aaaah... welp, I think I'll uh... stay out of Metal Head's way for a bit."
"IBUKI'S GONNA TAP DANCE ON HER FACE FOR THIS!"
At Boulder Bowl...
"Hmm?" Hiyoko turned her head. "Strange, I can't help but feel I just missed the easy going metal head exploding... aww. Oh well, I'll get the full details later."
Meanwhile, in the Bedroom Dome...
Chelsea peeked into the room, seeing Kokoro continue to write the lyrics. "Hey, mind if I come in?" She asked as Kokoro turned to her and smiled at her. "Thought so."
She walked in and sat down next to her, smiling at Kokoro. "How you holding up?"
"I'm hanging in there..." She wrote.
BGM: A Gentle Breeze (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
"Well, better than not hanging in there…" Chelsea chuckled, causing Kokoro to giggle with her, then the latter looked at Chelsea and motioned her to come closer. "Hmm?" She leaned closer. "What is it?" She asked as Kokoro suddenly gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Chelsea's eyes widened in surprise as Kokoro gave her a smile that read "I love you too!"
"Oh… Kokoron…" Chelsea teared up before pulling her in for a hug. "You're the best little surrogate sister ever!" She smiled. "Being in space definitely is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, isn't it? You get to see the different sceneries, different galaxies… you're surrounded by far away stars, comets, meteors, a lot of Star Bits, those cute little Lumas, the inhabitants of the galaxies… they're all so awesome, isn't it?"
Kokoro smiled, nodding in agreement.
"If those other galaxies weren't covered in Phazon, I'd definitely check out Gusty Garden Galaxy or Freezeflame… they all sound so pretty." She giggled. "Of course, space can also be pretty scary… but we did try to help Blake from that eel, so that was something." She said as Kokoro nodded again.
"…Although…" Chelsea tightened her grip on Kokoro, the latter looking up at her with a bit of concern.
End BGM
BGM: Luma (Super Mario Galaxy)
"Mind if I… confess something?" She asked as Kokoro tilted her head. She let out a sad sigh. "Even though I wasn't showing it, I was absolutely terrified I would lose you over at Haunty Halls. I knew you can handle yourself but with powerful Grimm such as the Apathy and those creatures from Hyrule… I had to act fast. I was hoping I would have gotten to you in time before they did. I'm… glad Cardin, Blake and Ibuki came to help because I wasn't sure I could do it alone… I didn't care if my aura broke because of that stupid Daredevil comet, I was more concerned about saving you… I nearly lost you…"
Tears swelled in her eyes. "As… cliche as this possibly sounds, I… began to wonder if I was doing a great job being an older sister figure to you. I… thought I was weak and useless back there. All I had were my needles against powerful Phazon-infused creatures and I couldn't use my semblance to gain the upper hand… Heh, I guess we rely on our Semblances too often, don't we?"
Chelsea looked down at Kokoro. "Kokoron… did I… do a good job…?"
"What? Of course you did, are you crazy?" Kokoro wrote.
Chelsea wiped a tear from her eye. "Hehe… maybe a little."
"I think it's a lot more than a little."
Chelsea let out a chuckle, shaking her head in amusement with relief written on her face. "I see…" She said as Kokoro tapped her on the shoulder with a smile.
"Thank you, for everything."
"You're welcome… for everything." She hugged her tightly while holding her hand.
End BGM
Meanwhile, with Yang…
"Honeyhop, hmm?" Yang had her arms folded, deep in thought as she glanced over at Raven watching a few Lumas fly around. …Am I absolutely crazy? She wondered, then noticed Apollo poking Raven by the foot.
"Hmm? Oh, I've seen you before…" Raven knelt down and picked up the Cosmog. "You're Yang's, aren't you? I think you're just the cutest little thing!"
"Pew!"
Yang gave a small smile and then looked at her hands, closing her eyes and clenching her fists. Swallow your pride… She thought as she walked over to Raven. "Hey… uh… Raven?"
"Hmm?" Raven turned her head. "Oh, hey Yang."
"Look, um… I was wondering if you and I could… ya know… go out to Honeyhop… just the two of us?"
Nearby, Akechi was drinking water out of a cup before doing a spit take, as he had overheard their conversation. He immediately got interested, as did Roman, Emerald and Roy, as they had overheard the conversation as well.
Come on, bombshell… you got this! Nyx thought.
Swing and a hit… come on, swing and a hit! Summer thought.
Raven looked at Yang in surprise before giving off a genuine proud smile. "Of course… I'd love to go with you."
Wait, WHAT?! Yang thought, surprised that it had actually worked, while Summer fist pumped while Iris and Nyx highfived each other. Holy crap, that worked? I… okay, calm down.
Raven took Yang's hand. "Come on, let's go." She said, smiling at Yang as the latter unconsciously formed a smile as well, where the two of them went into the Launch Star and flew off together.
"…You think we should follow them?" Akechi asked.
"Yeah, I want to see how this goes." Roy nodded as the two of them went into the Launch Star and flew off, where Roman and Emerald looked at each other and then they hopped inside of the Launch Star as well.
Honeyhop Galaxy Power Star #1 - The Sweetest Reunion - Yang, Raven, Akechi, Roman, Emerald, Roy
BGM: Honeybloom Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
Yang and Raven landed on the ground together as the two of them would see a few Bee Mushrooms, where the two would walk over as Yang ate one and Raven did the same, the latter sporting bee antenna, her katanas turning into lances, her outfit changed into an elegant prom dress with bee patterns on them and she also had wings.
"What… the buzz?" Raven wondered.
"You get used to it." Yang giggled, flying up with Raven as they walked together, the latter happy to spend time with her daughter… while the former was absolutely nervous into figuring out what to say to her. She didn't think she'd get this far.
"Oh! Aren't you just the cutest things!" Raven suddenly blurted out as she walked over to some Bees, where they all were amazed by her.
"She's a queen!" One of them said.
"Hot daaaaang…"
"Buzz buuuuuuuuzz~"
"Psst!" A voice caught Yang's attention as she turned to see Roman peeking out of a bush, along with Emerald, Akechi and Roy. "What are you doing? Strike up a conversation with her!"
"I don't know how to do that! I didn't think I'd get this far… I'm in uncharted territory!" Yang whispered.
"You need a little push." Akechi chuckled as he got out. "Well, I'm glad you made it this far. Thankfully, you're not as narrow minded as you once were, along with Summer."
"Are you kidding? I slugged her in the face when we reunited." Yang mumbled.
"Yeah, but you and her teamed up when you were fighting Dimentio. Sure, it was brief but I could see you were willing to put your pride to the side and worked together." Akechi said.
"Yeah but… aaaagh, I can't believe I'm saying this but… ya gotta help me!" Yang clapped her hands together. "Please, I don't know what to say!"
"The blondie is asking for help, that's new." Roman teased before chuckling. "Sure." He pulled out a small box of cigars and opened it up… only to see there were lollipops instead. "Huh?!" He exclaimed in surprise before seeing a small note.
"Suck on these instead. Love, Marnie."
Roman chuckled, popping a strawberry flavored one in his mouth. "Always looking out for my health…"
"I don't know what to say…" Yang said. "You guys have mothers, help me out!"
"Well… I'm not much help since my own mother abandoned me." Roman said.
"I was fending for my life… but I did have A motherly figure." Emerald said. "Unfortunately, it was Cinder and… you know how that went." She folded her arms with a sigh. "Of course, General Esdeath is more motherly than Cinder'd ever be."
"I… don't want to talk about my mother. My relationship with her is… strained at best." Akechi admitted. "Still, it's better than Shido." He mumbled.
"I've been in the same boat as you, Yang. I wanted nothing to do with her when she came back into my life but I managed to get past it. Took me a while since, ya know, I'm more brawn than brain-"
"He finally admits it." Roman teased.
"Hey!" Roy glared. "Anyway…"
Yang sighed. "Great… my one hope and I'm met with this."
"Now now, we can try to help ya!" Roman said. "For instance, you could strike up a conversation. Make small talk."
"Just don't be so nervous! This is your chance to make up with your mother." Emerald said. "And if you blow it, don't worry… you got plenty of more chances considering, ya know, we're in space."
"Take a deep breath. In… out… it does wonders. You've come this far and now… now it's your moment." Akechi said.
"Just don't push her away." Roy said as Yang turned to Raven still having a conversation with the Bees as even the Honey Queen was also chatting with her.
"TO HELL WITH HER!" Yang's words echoed in her head.
"No… to hell with you, past me." Yang mumbled as she approached her.
"That's our girl!" Roman grinned.
"So what do we do? Stand here and watch a potential trainwreck?" Emerald asked.
Akechi looked up, seeing some Silver Stars floating around. "Oh, maybe we can have something to do while this plays out."
"Hey… Raven." Yang spoke up as Raven turned her head to look at her.
"Hmm?"
"Um… I… well… I just want to say that-… I… um…"
Raven looked at her, curious to know what she wants. "Yes?" She asked, a small smile forming on her face. Deep down, she was proud of her for coming this far to try to strike up a conversation with her, even if it was a bit awkward for her.
Yang rubbed the back of her head. Ah geez, this is difficult… She thought. "Well… I… I just want you to know that… That I…"
Raven continued to smile at her, but then saw something approaching Yang from behind. Her eyes widened and her smile disappeared. "LOOK OUT!" She yelled, immediately diving and pushing Yang to the ground.
"Mmmph!" Yang grunted as a fireball went past her. "Huh?!"
BGM: Tension (Super Mario Galaxy)
"What the…?!" Akechi said as he collected a Silver Star. "Where did-"
"Look!" Emerald pointed toward the sky as they saw a figure approaching them fast, and he had wings approaching them.
"Oh no…" Roman whispered as RIdley landed on the ground.
"Well! This is quite the thing, isn't it?" Ridley smirked. "Not every day I get to interrupt a heart to heart!"
"You…" Yang got up after Raven got off of her. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"What does it look like?" Ridley smirked.
Yang let out a growl. "If you think you can just pop out of nowhere by yourself… you got another-"
"Oh, I didn't come alone." Ridley said as several Space Pirates dropped onto the ground and surrounded them all. "Now then… let's get down to the destruction, shall we!"
"Protect the queen!" The Bees declared, readying their spears.
Yang squared up. "I got this." She said. "Raven, make sure they don't harm the queen."
"Right."
Ridley smirked. "The bombshell's fighting me? Adorable!" He cackled.
End BGM
BGM: Proteus Ridley - Phase 1 (Metroid: Samus Returns)
Back For Blood - Ridley
Yang lunged for Ridley, punching him in the face but he flew up into the air to avoid such an attack as Yang jumped up into the air and slugged him, but Ridley grabbed her by the wrist. "You know, you're just like Little Mac! Good on the ground, horrible in the air… only you're just a tad more decent!" Ridley threw her to the ground, only for Yang to recover as Ridley breathed fire at her. "In a way, you might just be his echo fighter!"
Yang quickly dodged the flames as pumped her gauntlets, pumped filled with electricity as she jumped over and Thundaga Punched him, but Ridley would fly to avoid it before grabbing her by the throat and dragged her across the ground, slamming her into a wall before pelting her with fireballs.
"Just because you dyed your hair doesn't mean you've gotten stronger!" Ridley threw her across the pond. "Your sister is the same way, especially when the first time we've met!"
"I noticed you were quite interested in her back then… any reason why?" Yang growled as she got up.
"The answer is simple. Wouldn't you be interested in someone who attacked you? If you thought I was interested in those silver eyes, you're wrong! If I was interested in those eyes, I would've extracted them out of her a long time ago!" Ridley said, lunging at Yang but she quickly avoided it as she delivered an uppercut to Ridley's chin to make him take a step back and then unleashed a Hadoken right after.
"Hmph! You've gotten decent with your Hadoken… it's a golden color, but should I be impressed!" Ridley grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the ground, face first into the water. Ridley let out a vicious smirk… but Yang grabbed his hand, squeezed it and electrocuted him with a Thundaga Squeeze, but Ridley would throw her away to the cliff.
"I could have thrown you off this galaxy and fed you to a black hole, but I'd rather play with my prey before they meet a grisly end!" Ridley lunged as Yang got up and delivered a few punches, before delivering a shoryuken to knock him away before lunging forward and punching him in the gut… and right as she did, she felt somethig sharp going through her abdomen as she looked down and saw his tail impaling her.
"Predictable!" Ridley pulled away as he grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the water. "Right hook, left hook, it's easy to coordinate a counter attack! Your punches are all the same, it's a wonder how K. Rool lost to you!" He said as he stepped on her back to push her further. "You think you're the toughest in Team RWBY? Please! I think if I got rid of you, nothing of value would have been lost! Come to think of it, the entire team is nothing! Nothing of value would be gone if I kill every single one of ya!"
Ridley got off of Yang as she coughed out water as she got back up and punched him, but Ridley caught it. "YOU'RE PREDICTABLE!" He yelled as he threw her across the planet.
"Nnngh!" Yang grunted, her aura nearly about to break.
Raven turned her head after deflecting a Space Pirate's attack. "Yang…!" Raven exclaimed.
"Now… SAY GOODBYE!" Ridley roared as he lunged at her as Yang looked up to see Ridley raising his arm up, his mouth wide open and his tail ready to finish her off. Yang weakly squared up, ready to try to throw a swing at him.
…If it wasn't for Raven getting in the way and getting herself impaled in the stomach, bitten on her right shoulder and Ridley's claws embedded into her left. Yang let out a gasp. "Raven?!"
End BGM
"Nnngh! …I got ya…" Raven winced, coughing out a bit of blood.
"But… but… rrrgh… you idiot! Why did you take the hit for me?!"
"Because… what kind… of mother would I be… if I didn't protect her daughter…" Raven said. "After all… it's not the first time I saved you…" She said as Yang's eyes widened, remembering how she was saved on the train by Neo.
"Wait… that random lightning bolt at Gloomy Galleon… was that-"
"Yes… it was me…" Raven said as Yang's eyes widened even further. "You… you may not love me… after I left you… you may even hate me… and I understand that but know… know that deep down… I still love you…!" She said as Yang's eyes widened… while Ridley pulled away from Raven. "Nnnngh!"
"How touching, it almost brings a tear to my eye. ALMOST!" Ridley whacked Raven away with his tail, knocking her over, but she got back up while holding on to her gut. Raven clenched her teeth as she activated her maiden powers. "So… this is the power of the maiden? Show me your strength… if you have any strength left!"
"…Gladly." Raven glared as she lunged at Ridley and slashed him but he avoided it and then slashed at her from the side. "Argh!"
"Just like your daughter… PREDICTABLE!"
"Crap… we gotta help her!" Akechi said.
"Mmph! Easier said than done!" Roman grunted, dodging a few Kihunters.
Yang tried to move but her legs gave out as she fell on her knees, watching Raven fight Ridley. This woman… she saved her twice on different occasions, and now she saved her again.
"Deep down, she still loves you… but she can't reciprocate that love if you push her away. And I'm not going to push my family away… because that's not what family does."
"Yang, this is your one chance to reconcile with Raven… and I bet she's waiting for you to make the first move. Don't waste this chance, okay?"
"Yang, I am speaking for all of us, you need to let this go before you end up like I did."
Tears swelled in Yang's eyes as she put her hands into the water, closing her eyes.
"TO HELL WITH HER! I don't need her then and I don't need her now!"
"What have I done…" Yang whispered, softly sobbing as she had pushed the one woman that had just told her that deep down, she still loved her despite Yang thinking poorly of her. She had to make this right… for Raven.
No…
Her mother.
"Gragh!" Raven fell on her back as Ridley landed on top of her, placing his foot on her throat.
"Tell me something, Yang!" Ridley said as Yang looked up. "Your abandonment issues… oh yeah, don't think I don't know anything about that! Dark Samus told me everything when I was down and out for a while! You claim you hate this woman despite her coming back in your life… you tried to reconnect with her but look what happened! You're down on the ground and here I am ready to kill her!"
"You wouldn't!" Yang exclaimed as Raven looked at Yang, slowly reaching out for her.
"Yang…"
"Tell me, Yang… would you prefer if she was no longer in your life? I will make that happen personally!" Ridley raised his arm up.
"No… NO!" Yang yelled as something inside of her snapped. Her eyes turned red, her hair caught on fire as she slowly rose. "That… that… THAT'S MY MOTHER, YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!" She screamed as she suddenly started glowing.
"Hmm?" Ridley looked intrigued.
"Is there something troubling you, Yang?" Ryu asked. "You seem… out of focus."
"Well…" Yang sighed. "It's complicated. I was off doing something with the Phantom Thieves and, well… something came up. It's… about my mother."
"Oh, I see." Ryu nodded. "Mother issues."
"I just… I just don't know what to do."
"Yang, let me tell you something." Ryu said. "When I was at these crossroads myself, I wasn't sure what to do. I was fighting a dark side that I was afraid I'd let loose. However, there came a time when I had to fight it, prove to anyone that I wouldn't step into the darkness. That… is when I unlocked the Power of Nothingness. It is only unlocked when you are at one and nothing is holding you back. It was enough to fully impress someone by the name of Akuma."
"Power of… Nothingness?"
"Indeed, and I can sense that there's something inside of you ready to come out. Perhaps it'll be unlocked if you make peace with Raven."
"And… how do I do that?"
"You will find a way. You might have something similar to the Power of Nothingness… but it might be a bit more dragon-like considering your fighting style."
Yang chuckled. "Alright, what do we call it then?"
"We'll call it… Order of the Dragon."
"Sounds like a mouthful."
Ryu chuckled. "It does. But perhaps it'll unlock a new form. One that will make even the toughest of opponents stare in awe."
"What do we call this form?"
Ryu smiled. "We'll call it-"
"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
BGM: Armed and Ready (RWBY) (Start at 0:42)
Once the glowing stopped, Yang looked entirely different. Her eyes were dragon-like, her scaleras were black, irises were white and her pupils a bright yellow. Her hair shimmered like the sun as tattoo-like patterns were on her face and body. A sun mark was on her forehead while two of Yang's emblems appeared on the back of her hands as the top of the flame on both hands made a long line to her forearms as three other lines formed in place a few inches apart from each other and met at the elbows.
Yang stared fiercely in front of Ridley, giving him a piercing glare.
Fiery Dragoness - Shin Yang
"-Shin Yang." Ryu's voice echoed.
"Should I be impressed!" Ridley mocked as Yang lunged at him, punching him in the gut with sheer ferocity. What surprised Ridley was the fact she was faster. "Rrrgh!" He grunted as fireballs formed around Yang as she delivered a strong punch, unleashing a Firaga Explosion right at Ridley.
Yang would then leap into the smoke and grabbed Ridley by the mouth and threw him to the ground. Ridey would definitely feel that Yang's a lot stronger as he got up and breathed plasma at her but Yang jumped to the side, but to Ridley, it looked like she actually teleported away as she punched him straight in the face to send him flying before she jumped over and unleashed a Shakunetsu at him, pushing him away.
"You're still predictable! You're nothing more than an echo fighter!" Ridley exclaimed as he lunged at Yang and swiped at her, but she grabbed his arm without even blinking.
"Echo THIS!" She yelled, her arm glowing with energy as she punched him hard enough that it went through him, and then unleashed a Spinning Shoryuken to knock Ridley up in the air, then she got on one knee as energy coursed around her as glowing dragon wings came out as she flew up into the air, meeting up with Ridley before she flipped over and axe kicked him to the ground hard enough to make a giant crater as Yang landed right on top of him, punching him in the face that unleashed several mini shockwaves before throwing him out of the crater, then she grabbed him by the tail and threw him toward a wall.
Ridley snarled, before breathing fire at her, but to his surprise, Yang pulled her head back before unleashing a firey breath attack of her own, both of them colliding as it exploded on contact as Yang jumped in and grabbed Ridley by the throat, punching him repeatedly before punching a mini Hadoken into his throat… and then she punched him in said throat before unleashing a full on punching combo before hitting him with an explosive punch that knocked him on his back as a burning rose symbol collored yellow-orange appeared behind Yang… eerily similar to how Akuma tends to finish people off.
End BGM
"Hmph." Yang turned to the other Space Pirates, all of them starting to sweat before hightailing it out of there.
"Well… that happened." Roy said.
"Yup." Akechi agreed.
Ridley got up, groaning as Yang stared at him. "Heh… it'll take a lot more than that." He smirked before flying away.
"Tch… good riddance." Yang said as she closed her eyes and turned back to normal. She quickly turned around and saw Raven knocked out. "Mom… mom! Are you okay?"
"She's fine. She's just unconscious after you went into that form, which I will have to say, is completely awesome." Viridi said. "Hang on, I'm bringing you guys back. The rest of them can get that Power Star."
Back with Kokoro…
Cardin petted Yukina before he would spot an acoustic guitar on the wall. Hmm, maybe this would work? He thought as he walked over and picked it up before sitting on the bed and started to tune it, which would catch Kokoro's attention, curiously looking at him.
"Y'know, there's this one song I've been wanting to share with ya." He smiled. "I figured this might cheer ya up. I used to sing this a lot to my little sister when we were younger… and after my old man passed on…" He strummed the guitar. Here goes nothing.
BGM: Forever Now (Michael Buble)
Back in the infirmary…
"Easy there… easy…" Reisen said, putting Raven on a bed as Mikan would hit her with the Medigun to heal her up.
"There we go… good as new." Mikan smiled and looked at Yang. "I'll… leave you alone." She said as she and Reisen walked away as Yang looked at her unconscious mother.
"You… probably can't hear me but…" Yang closed her eyes. "I'm an idiot… I never should have said those things about you or… punched you in the face. I shouldn't have been so close minded over this. You… obviously left us but as Iris had told me, you probably had a good reason and… you never wanted to but had no choice."
Tears filled up in her eyes. "I should've seen the bigger picture… if I had, I wouldn't have been so hard on you." She said. "This… this damned abandonment issue that I have. I… when you came back into my life, I… I admittedly was happy but I let my issues take over and I just… let it out. I never realized you were the one who saved me twice… make that three times. I didn't want anything to do with you but a few of my friends made me realize I was pushing you away when you were trying your best to make up with everyone…"
She closed her eyes, tears falling from her cheeks. "I'm a terrible daughter… I don't know if I have it in me to forgive myself over all this…" She sniffed. "Rav-… I mean, mom… I… I'm sorry for everything…"
"I… I'm sorry too…"
Yang looked up as Raven was coming around and gave her daughter a sad smile. "It crushed me when I had to leave you… and I've always wanted to come visit but I never could bring myself to do it, but deep down… as I've said, I still love you despite what I've done to hurt you. You probably don't have it in you to forgive me, and I'm fine with that… but just so you know, I still lo-"
Yang wrapped her arms around her, burying her head into her shoulder. "I… I'm so sorry I said all that and… punched you and pushed you away and… all those other things!" She quietly sobbed.
Raven wrapped her arms, tears swelling in her eyes. "I'm sorry too…" She whispered, holding on to her. "I love you… and I promise you, I'm never going away. When this is over, I'm going to pass the torch to Vernal and I'll spend more time with you, I promise you that…"
Yang sniffed. "I love you too…" She sobbed as both of them embraced one another, while nearby, Summer was trying her best to compose herself but tears continued to fall.
"Oh goodness, I promised myself I wouldn't bawl like this!" Summer said, waving her hands while Tai and Qrow chuckled as Iris, Nyx, Rosalina, Weiss and Blake looked in with smiles on their faces.
Back with Cardin…
"No matter what you do~ I'm forever proud of you~ I love you forever now~" He sang the last bits of the song before stopping.
End BGM
He put the guitar down and looked up to meet Kokoro's tearful eyes. "That…" She finally spoke, yet her voice was soft. "That was beautiful, Cardin…" Kokoro said, rushing up to him and hugging him.
"Whoa! Easy there, kiddo…" Cardin chuckled, scratching her head before hugging her back.
"Th-thank you… s-so much!" She quietly said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Heh… anytime, kiddo." Cardin said softly.
Meanwhile, with Samus…
"Hey, Samus?" Ruby walked up to her. "You, uh… got a minute?"
Samus turned to her, as she was sitting down at the edge of the garage with her Pokemon and Newt with her. "Sure…" Samus said as Ruby sat down next to her.
"Look… about my Phazon pow-"
"No, don't go there." Samus said before looking down. "I'm… sorry I yelled at you like that. It's just-"
"You've been down this road before." Ruby said as Samus turned to look at her Phazon-fused eyes. "Rundas and Ghor filled us in and… well, I was trying to come over earlier but I figured you needed some space."
She put her phazon arm on Samus. "Look, I don't blame you… I think I would've been the same way if our roles were switched."
"When I heard you were okay with this, I… I panicked a little. I knew what it was like to have phazon in you. It's not a big deal but then you get more and more corrupted to the point where you don't really recognize yourself. I lost comrades over this too and… I couldn't think straight when you said you were fine with it."
"Yeah, but… Dimentio took away all that corruption. I mean, yeah, now I look absolutely freaky but I don't feel anything. Maybe… maybe this is different compared to how you experienced it?"
"Maybe…" Samus nodded as she wrapped an arm around Ruby. "Hopefully it won't be as bad as I used to be."
Ruby smiled. "I doubt it!" She giggled. "Ya know, despite you being a fearless Bounty Hunter, you really do got a soft spot."
Samus chuckled. "Blame these knuckleheads." She said, scratching Pichu and Pikachu behind the ears while Newt nuzzled affectionately on her neck, the former doing the same and kissed him on the head. "…Fission Metroids, hmm?"
"Yeah, apparently."
Samus let out another chuckle. "Ya know, with your Phazon powers, we might just have the upper hand in this war." She said, staring out into space as a shooting star shot overhead.
"So… I have a question. Back on your home planet, did you have any… friends before it all went to hell?" Ruby asked.
"Well…" Samus leaned her head back. "There was this one girl that was about two years older than me. She was a hell of a chatterbox and really friendly with everyone. Of course, since I'm the only survivor of K2L, you can tell that she didn't survive. She was my best friend after all."
"What was her name?"
"Chell." Samus smiled fondly, letting out a sigh. "Sometimes, I wonder if she's looking down and smiling at my accomplishments…"
"I bet she's proud of you."
"Yeah… I bet."
Meanwhile, with Polari…
"What in the world…?" Polari wondered as he curiously looked at the screen. "Well, that's peculiar."
"What is it?" Lubba asked.
"There's a planet nearby… but I'm not detecting any Power Stars in this planet."
"So, do we ignore it?"
"I dunno… something about it intrigues me." Polari clicked on the planet. "Hmm…"
"Does it have a name?"
"Appa… Appo… Appor…? Agh, it's too small!"
"Why not enlarge it?" Rosalina suggested.
"Oh right, duh…" Polari enlarged the wording as Rosalina would read it before her eyes widened.
"Oh… oh dear…" Rosalina turned to Polari. "Get Samus."
"Right!"
Rosalina turned back to the screen. "This… might get interesting." She said, staring at the words on the screen.
"Aperture Science - Branch of the Galactic Federation"
Major shout out to DarkRebellion for the Chelsea/Cardin and Kokoro scenes.
Ibuki: Aperture Science? Ooooh!
Hey, how you holding up?
Ibuki: Still pissed, but nothing like chocolate that you gave me to calm Ibuki down, somewhat. *smirks* Still gonna tap dance on Dark Samus's face.
*snickers* That'll be a scene for sure.