(Pre Chapter Words: A bit of a timeskip, this chapter would coincidence with the final chapters of The Geist Within.)

[Opening: Project M Theme]

FusionFall Infinite

Season 7

Chapter 51: Another Day in the Life


[Neo Bayview, Outer Towns]

What was left of Jade Company? A group that had seen better days. Ryker sat in the hospital alongside Greg and Priyanka simply waiting quietly. Shifting got them to break their silence. Words struggled to come out as vision grew less foggy.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, it's me." Greg said as Steven coughed.

Connie was walking up herself as Priyanka came to her side.

"What the hell happened?" Connie asked. "I remember fighting Akuma and Ce-"

"They ran your shit, but you gave them hell in the process. Seems your students intervened in the fight, and in the process…you both took a pretty bad hit for them. It put you both in a coma…for several months." Ryker explained.

"I miss anything?" Steven asked. "What month is it?"

"About the end of August." Ryker mused as the injured duo groaned.

"At least you're all right." Ryker said before going to the door. "I have to deal with some business…and alert the others of your survival."

Ryker left quickly texting on his phone of their survival before letting out a deep sigh. He did not have the heart to tell them that Cell and Akuma had gotten away after the fight, and because of the agreement Kenji made…would not face punishment for it.

That personally made Ryker seethe, but he had more important issues. As leader of Jade Company, he had to keep things together. It was same for him being a father. He noticed Pink Diamond rushing into the hospital, no doubt to see her son. Even if their relationship was not the best, Pink still cared for him.

He was actually proud of her for not daring to drink any alcohol while Steven was in a coma. She had spent most of her time near his side…Ryker had sent her home earlier because she needed a shower. Wet Gem does not exactly smell too great. He needed to his office, a small office building not far from home that hid an underground facility. Annabelle still had her own company to run and had managed to get Jade Company a small, subsidized building.

He went into his office and plopped on his chair before getting on his computer. At the moment, the company needed more money. He needed more cash to keep his family afloat as well. The generous tax benefits he used to enjoy were in flux thanks to the drama with Rendo Nexus. Madame President wanted to declare war with RN and thus…he had to pay more taxes. He needed new operations. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts as Amethyst came through the door.

"What's up, boss?" Amethyst said taking a seat. "I got you a donut. Chocolate glaze."

"Thanks." Ryker said taking it from her before biting into it. "You check on Steven?"

"I have. It's good to see him awake, but now that he is…I wanted to let you know I was planning a potential operation. I've been doing some looking into recent developments." Amethyst said surprising Ryker. "But I'd have to leave the planet to do it."

"Where to?" Ryker asked.

"DBG-22 Universe 14." Amethyst said confidently. "That planet Spicer is sitting is prime material, and he hasn't claimed most of it. I've done my homework…and know we can pinch a few assets. Get some business flowing. Everyone's happy. I even got a group to go with me. I reconnected with Pearl..."

"How's she doing?" Ryker asked.

"She's been traveling around. Hung around your bartending cousin for a bit. But I called her up…and told her about my plan. She offered to help me get to the universe. She's planning on settling on the planet. Considering MHA's pretty low-risk her and Tsubasa, she's willing to plant roots there." Amethyst noted before giving him a folder. "I'll be leaving later today. This folder has the information you need…handwriting is a bit messy though."

"So this is goodbye…" Ryker said.

"No, more see you soon, Ry." Amethyst said before leaving the room.

~FFI~

Garnet was watching Amethyst pack her things back at the home. Garnet was not surprised having seen this coming even without her Future Vision. Rai had returned from his after-school program escorted by Jasper.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home. Wait, where's dad?" Rai said.

"He's at work." Jasper said as Rai shrugged before going to watch television.

"You going to be alright out there?" Garnet asked her.

"Yeah, I was trained well." Amethyst said confidently. "And I'll call if you I do need you."

Amethyst finished packing and ruffled Rai's hair telling him she was leaving. Rai hugged her before letting go. She walked out that door with her head held high and Ryker would come in slumping on the couch next to his son.

"Tousan, how was your day?" Rai asked.

"Tiring. But rewarding. How was school?" Ryker asked.

"Same old." Rai insisted.

~FFI~

[Original County, Outer Towns]

Carol sat on the porch swing in front of their home taking in the air as it fell to the evening. They had finally moved out of the trailer park to a house of their own…but they lived on the same street with Enid's family. K.O. did not complain about it being that Enid could easily drop him off home after work.

Kaze and K.O. both landed on the ground from the air with K.O. returning back to his human form.

"Hey, Carol. How was the dojo?" Kaze said sitting next to her.

"Good all around. Getting a few new students. How was hero work?" Carol said as K.O. sat on the other side. "And how was work for you, peanut?"

"Same old. We got a new flavor for the slushie machine…but there's something weird going on around the plaza. There's this strange blonde girl poking around the place." K.O. said as Kaze raised an eyebrow. "Then a blue haired girl showed up and they stared fighting. Blue girl snapped the blonde girl's neck and flew off with the body."

"This is exactly why I'm so hesitant to have another child." Carol said half-jokingly. "At least you're safe."

"Hey, you have me and this one back in your corner. That future kid of ours to going to have a lot of love looking after it." Kaze said holding her hand.

"Speaking of that…there is something I should have told you sooner. But you were off on that assignment two months ago." Carol said sheepishly. "It's a bit too late for me to be hesitant about another kid anymore…I'm nearly three months along."

"I continue the road of fatherhood, so nothing will change." Kaze said as Carol kissed his cheek.

"I have to tell everyone I'm going to be a big sibling!" K.O. said excitedly.

~FFI~

[Hidden Ghetto Village]

Joshinari Blackthorn was beyond annoyed. He was pissed. Rendo Nexus had seemingly forgo using Rei and Asuka clones to use clones of Delta. If anything, Rei had to practically sneak up on it to kill it. From what he and his team could peel from her head, this clone's task was to seek blind spots for infiltration.

"So I get Rendo Nexus isn't fucking around anymore. This is a sign that they likely have managed to gather enough resources to attack Zen Kuro, but I have a feeling it's more than just that." Joshinari said looking over the clone.

"The Metsu Emeralds. They could be after them…"

"No. They'd only really need one. One regular one…one Sol one." Joshinari remarked with worry. "Considering how those cursed things were made, they'd only need one to find their way to Altar Createria. If this is their plan, then the Emeralds need to be sealed away or fully secured."

He called for Shinobu.

"Shinobu, go pay our business partner a visit. Make sure his universe doesn't have any Deltas crawling around." Joshinari said as Shinobu nodded before vanishing. "Keitaro, inform President Periwinkle of this development."

"This is going to lead to a war." Keitaro mused.

"It is already a war." Joshinari said sternly as one of his Ghetto Ninja came in. "You better have a good reason for…"

When that ninja told him, Joshinari had taken to the skies flying for the Core.

~FFI~

[Haunted Ridge, The Core]

[Cues: Succession Studios – Valor is Dead]

Joshinari was not the only one on the way as Ryker, Saki, and Kaze (in his hero outfit) arrived at the sight of the disaster. The Retro Revival. The ship had crash-landed in the area and the damage on it made it clear to everyone that the crew got jumped. Kuki and Wally both arrived first to rush in as its crew were climbing out injured.

"What happened?" Kuki asked.

"Rendo Nexus." Fenix said before collapsing.

"We need to get them out of there." Kuki remarked. "If the President knows…"

"Don't worry about it."

They looked up to see Joshinari floating down.

"How did you know?" Ryker asked.

"That was me."

Himiko Toga came down revealing a distress beacon with Joshinari's symbol on it. She had never tossed it out…and she was glad she had not in this case.

"Does Peridot know anything?" Joshinari asked Kuki and Wally as they shook their heads. "Good."

"Why did RN even attack you?" Ryker asked them.

"They're trying to prevent people from getting to DBG-22." Abigail said leaning against the ship for support. "They don't want…"

"Another Blackthorn superpower. No doubt, they're probably watching Desmond's verse as well. And MHA V-2406 as well." Joshinari mused as Ryker realized something.

"Fuck. RN's trying to strangle the lot of us. Attacking supply ships, raiding them, and axing anyone trying to-Oh shit! Amethyst!" Ryker said before calling her up.

Much to his relief, she picked up.

"Amethyst. We got an issue. If you're going to leave the universe, use a portal gun on the planet. Do not attempt space travel." Ryker said.

"What's going on?" Amethyst asked worriedly.

"RN is pulling sneak attacks on several ships going in and out on some universes. One of their victims just pulled a teleporting crash landing." Ryker said. "You got a portal gun?"

"I do, but it'll take some time for me to portal the ship." Amethyst remarked.

"Just do it near the planet. Good luck…and let Pearl know." Ryker said before hanging.

"What do we even do?" Kaze asked.

"Get in contact with our allies and prepare for war. Rendo Nexus has clearly planned their method of attacks. They want Peridot to think they're only after Zen Kuro…with it as it's only target." Joshinari said icily. "They also want her paranoid."

"We were not supposed to survive the attack. They wanted us dead…but thankfully our emergency teleporter kicked in last minute." Cree mused helping her boyfriend.

"Ok, I'll take you all to my village for you to recover and repair your ship." Joshinari said calling for backup.

He also called Shinobu to update her on the situation and to be careful.

"We'll keep off any other teams sent to investigate." Kuki said cocking her handgun.

"Same." Kaze said readying himself.

"I think I'll take off." Ryker said before flying away.

[Music Ends]

Ryker returned home exhausted. Despite this, he put Rai to bed before going up to his bedroom. Garnet sat on the edge as he collapsed on the bed.

"I saw what happened." Garnet said.

"Did your future vision give you anything valuable?" Ryker asked.

"Thankfully, the Metsu Emeralds within me have been useful for fixing up my Future Vision. I see two possibilities. They're going to go after either Desmond or a man known as Jalapeno Spicer. Regardless of who gets attacked, they will come to MHA V-2406…but not far an attack…but I don't know what for." Garnet said.

Joshinari texted Ryker information, but Ryker did not bother to look at it. He was too tired.

"Garnet, can you call Kenji for me? After all this crap, I really need to rest." Ryker said glumly as she put a hand on his hand.

"Don't overwork yourself, I'll handle it."


(A/N: Rendo Nexus is starting its master plan and rearing its ugly head being allow to affect everyone across the board. I've built it up and it's time to do it. The final major arc for FusionFall Infinite where one of my passion projects is coming to an end. And where it ends, the Kenji focused spin-off will continue along Spice of Destruction. Yes, it is still in the works and well cover this story arc as well.)