After walking the whole way to Lateria, I overheard something that happened in Parum that made me upset. It was Amelie displaying Vados to the entirety of Parum and sending out a voice wave that could be heard even as far from there as Lateria!
"Attention all people of Parum! I introduce you to Vados! He is not a Tyrant, nor is he a Nexomon! He is mankind's last hope of ending the wars with the Tyrants! Any who wishes to stand by me and him will be given peace and prosperity! If you do not stand by me and humanity's lasst hope, then you will be thrown out of the city! And I will not tolerate anyone badmouthing Vados! If you do so, I will see to it you are stripped of everything! Vados WILL save us all and he WILL do so, no matter who dares to oppose him!" Amelie shouted, me growling at that.
"I heard that, too... She's actually threatening the residents of Parum!" Coco growled angrily.
"Then we gotta get (~Rollin' around at the speed of sound!~) before Vados does any (Gnasty Gnorc) stuff!" Odiborg said, causing Atlas and Coco to look at him in confusion as I simply smiled.
"Oh, if only you knew the context, it'd be SO much funnier," I smiled as we finally arrived in Lateria, the heat on my skin feeling nice as opposed to being underwater or in the frigid tundra. "Let's go find out where the boss is," I said as we then went through the place, asking around the different citizens... and almost all of them either treated me like shit or ignored me... until I showed them who I was in their minds. When I did so, their attitudes changed drastically. But none more so than a certain Laterian female warrior, who looked at me with seriousness.
"So, you're the one that Commander Rico wanted to find. He's been expecting you for a good while, now," she said, me smiling at her.
"Could you please lead us there?" I asked, her nodding as she then led me to the tent that Rico resided in... and just in time to see that he was being spoken to by Edward. And it wasn't going too well.
"So what?! You expect us to listen to that HORRID LIAR?! We may be buff, we may be brash, but we ain't stupid! We know what you did to those blokes underwater!" Rico shouted, Edward frowning at him.
"As do I. And to be frank, I am paying the price for it already, with my girlfriend wanting to break up with me for not telling her the truth," Edward said... wait... would this girlfriend happen to be Bonnie? "But I'm warning you ahead of time. Amelie and Vados are charging up a powerful attack at this Tyrant coming close to your city. I don't think she'll care if any Laterian warriors get in the way, given what she's been doing as of late. It's for your own sake. Don't engage the Tyrant Petram. I don't want any more innocents to be... hurt..." Edward said as he only then saw that I was inching myself closer to the duo and he frowned at me. "Oh. It's you," he frowned.
"Yep," I frowned.
"And I doubt you'd want to have an explanation as to-" he was about to say before I spoke over him.
"Nope."
"And you probably want to take on Petram by-"
"No shit."
"Hmph. Just know that Vados will try to target you as well, as you are a Tyrant in human clothing," he frowned, that making Rico frown, but I could tell it wasn't an angry one. "I must take my leave now," Edward frowned as he then left, and Rico then looked at me and my small team.
"So, you're the one that's been getting into our heads lately, huh?" he asked, me smiling at that.
"Yes, I have," I said with a smile. "And even if I am a Tyrant, killing me won't be a good thing to do. I'm the only Tyrant out there that can be eligible as the next ruler of the Nexomon, if only because my mother was Nara, who is of Omnicron's descent," I said, him raising his eyebrow at me saying that. "And I can say this much. Most of my fights I engage in, I use my fists and my own powers as opposed to fighting with Nexomon," I said, that making him smirk widely.
"Well, if you can manage to slay Petram without using any Nexomon BEFORE Vados kills him, then I'll consider you a true Laterian!... So long as we're still allowed to slay any evil Tyrants that might appear in the future," he said, me smiling and nodding at that.
"But of course. I'll make sure you can still hunt Tyrants that crop up after I become the queen, but only when they are evil or too powerful... as for Vados, you don't need to worry about him. I plan on stopping him myself," I said, him nodding at me.
"Just don't get killed yourself, queenie," Rico said.
"Thanks. Coco, Odiborg, Atlas, let's get going," I smiled as we exited the tent and proceeded up the stairs and then due east.
"You're very good at this talking thing. But I guess Edward is still wanting to stick with Amelie, so we'll need to watch out for him," Atlas said, me nodding at that.
"Yeah, and he said he has a girlfriend that wants to break up with him... you don't think that it's Bonnie, do you?" Coco asked, me sighing at that.
"Only one way to find out," I said as I then focused my mind to connect to hers, and I then spoke to her telepathically.
"Bonnie? Can you hear me?" I asked, making her look around in surprise. "It's me, Sunny... you know, the one that's been sharing the truth to you and others?" I asked, her sighing at me.
"Yes... I learned a lot of horrible things, like how Edward and Amelie lied to everyone... lying to me, lying to Saria the receptionist, lying to all of the innocents of Parum... I don't even know if I should still work at the guild anymore," she said, me speaking to her.
"Unfortunately, there's only one way to go about this. You're currently the closest to Edward, who is second only to Amelie. I'll need you to stay close to him as you have been and relay any information to me using a high-pitched signal that only a true Nexomon can hear. I can understand Morse Code, so use that if you want to contact me," I said, her smiling at that.
"Genius. You're even more of a genius than I am!... Okay, I'll do that... but how can I even look Edward in the face after he lied to me?" she asked, me sighing at her.
"As a wise man once said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Everyone does bad things to others, even if it were meant to be in good intentions. I met Edward again after Amelie tried to order her Guild guards to arrest me and all of my friends. And he simply spoke to me and gave me permission to attack Petram, a Tyrant that's attacking Lateria. He also warned me that Vados might try to kill me as well, because of me being a Tyrant. But I'm going to be extremely cautious, so as not to get blasted," I explained.
"Okay... I'll talk to him, then... I'll also use Morse Code to speak to you when you need to know anything important," Bonnie said, me smiling at that. We had already reached the battlegrounds, where we saw that the giant golem itself was absolutely trouncing the different Laterians. And sitting atop of Petram's shoulder was the final Renegade, that being the underdeveloped character of Celine.
"AHAHAHA! How pathetic! Your measly spears do nothing but tickle Petram!" Celine cackled, me seeing that she wasn't speaking English. She was speaking Nexomon! I then rushed in and proceeded to sweep Celine off of Petram's shoulder with a blast of air, her being shocked as she recomposed herself on the sand, her looking at me with a snarl. "Who the hell're you?! Do NOT mess with me!" Celine shouted, me frowning at her.
"Listen, little miss Nexomon. Vados is preparing a massive strike to kill Petram where he stands! You need to return him to his Nexotrap before it's too late!" I said, completely in Nexomon tongue. And Celine gasped when I said that, her looking at Petram and then at the guards.
"B-But he doesn't have a Nexotrap! H-He's a sitting Cruff!" she said, me then frowning at that... I could feel it. Vados was nearly finished charging up.
"Then it looks like I have no choice," I said as I then rushed in and connected one of my Gold Nexotraps to Petram, effortlessly capturing the gigantic golem in one go... and then, I felt it. Vados was unleashing his power... and aiming right at me! I immediately activated the time freeze ability, and mere seconds before the beam of light could attack me! I then proceeded to grab Celine, Coco, Atlas, Odiborg, and all the Laterians with my Psychic powers and get us the heck out of dodge by going due south. And just when the time stop ended, I smirked at how Vados's laser stayed where it was prior! And just for the heck of it, I sensed his thoughts and smirked.
"BAH! I missed! How could I miss?!" Vados asked himself and Amelie in shock and confusion.
"Maybe because one of those Tyrants is extremely agile and quick?" I asked directly to both of them, Amelie gasping and growling, looking all around her but not seeing me. "Trust me, Amelie, you don't want to be around me right now. Your reign of terror will not be tolerated. Threatening people with getting banished from Parum if they don't agree with Vados is just what a dictator would do. People who rule with fear are much more unpopular than those that rule justly and fairly. And don't try to say you're saving humanity, because if I hadn't acted, that blast would've hit a bunch of Laterians and my friends!" I said, her simply staying silent, both in mind and in voice. "Hmph, not even going to dignify with a response. Pathetic," I frowned before then going back to my group, seeing that the Laterians were knocked out cold, but Celine, Odiborg, Atlas, and Coco were fine.
"How did you do that?... And why did you spare me and Petram? You're a Guild Tamer, so why did you do that?" Celine asked, me frowning at her.
"For one simple reason. Amelie is the true monster. And with Vados on her side, she'll be hard to dethrone. I need the help of as many Tyrants as possible, and even if I ask the dragons for assistance, Vados will be tougher to slay than any Tyrant they've faced before," I said with seriousness.
"Wait... you're against Amelie... but still in the Guild?" she asked.
"Listen, miss. The more questions you ask, the less time we'll have to explain them. Let's just get you somewhere that the Laterians don't know of... I recommend the Drake Isles for now," Atlas smiled.
"Y-Yeah... if you need help with anything, anything at all, just send me a message with this," she said, it being in the form of a high-pitched dog whistle.
"Oh no, you are not using that anywhere around me," Coco frowned at me.
"If I do need to use it, I'll make sure you're frozen in time, so you don't get hurt ears, okay, buddy?" I asked, him smirking at me.
"Cheater. You are the definition of a cheater," he smiled.
"Use Morse Code. It's something that Nexomon halfbreeds like us can hear froma far, but humans and normal Nexomon cannot," Celine said, me nodding at her.
"Before you escape, I must ask. Who was your Nexomon parent?" I asked.
"It was a Floerena. I can't function without sunlight, but I can disable opponents with pheromones," she said, me smiling at that.
"I'll contact you when we meet up for a plan of attack," I said, her nodding as she then warped away just outside of Parum, me then entering the city with the passed-out Laterians and the other citizens to look shocked at me.
"What the hell happened?" asked one of the soldiers, me speaking to them.
"They got knocked out by Petram, who I slaid mere seconds before Vados unleashed a powerful laser attack. If not for my special Nexomon powers, they'd all be dead from the crater that came afterwards," I explained, that making the soldiers gawk.
"You killed Petram with your own strength? We must take you to Commander Rico! He'll be proud of you!" said one of the children of the Laterians, me following him to Rico's tent... and Odiborg spoke along the way.
"This is a [Jumbo Champloon] of excitement! I can't [Shittake] the excitement!" Odiborg said, that making the kid look at him in confusion.
"What's that thing talking about?" he asked.
"He's talking about video games that you've never heard of before... but the Shittake is a type of mushroom," I said.
"Huh, you learn something new every day," the kid smirked as we then got to the tent and we saw that Rico was there and he looked at me with a smirk.
"Heh, that was quick! You already slaid Petram, then?" he asked, me nodding at him.
"But it was literally three seconds before Vados zapped a laser down at Petram, wanting to beat me to the punch but being a few seconds too late. I rescued the Laterian warriors that were knocked out from the fight against Petram, but because I did so, Petram's owner got away," I said, Rico smiling at me.
"Hehe, I knew there was something off about ya! I bet that you let the girl get away, huh?" he asked, me sighing and simply nodding. "Heh, thought so. But you did prove your worth by saving your fellow warriors. And do you have anyone that can vouch for you slaying the monster of Petram?" he asked, Coco about to raise his hand, before he smirked. "Besides your little friends?" he asked, me frowning as I simply gave him some false memories of me landing the killing blow on Petram in the form of a powerful Water attack, which, in said false memory, made him turn into mud.
"Hmm... that was from your memories, then? Or was it from someone else?" Rico asked... and then, before I could try to come up with an excuse, a certain visage of another person appeared, me being surprised.
"Zetta?" I asked when I saw him, which made Rico surprised.
"W-Who the heck is this? A ghost that isn't light blue?" Rico asked.
"Hehe, I'm Zetta, the Tzar of Zap! I'm an ancient relative of little miss queen here," Zetta smirked, that making Rico smirk. "I can vouch for her. She absolutely destroyed that Tyrant!" he smirked.
"And how would you know that?" he asked.
"Because my shrine is close to where the battle took place. And even if I am a spirit of my old self, I could still see everything!" Zetta smirked.
"Peheheh! If you were trying to fool me, I'd have found a flaw by now, but I can't. You're alright, kid! You passed the test. You are now a true Laterian Warrior," he smiled as he then gave me the coveted Laterian Sigyl. "That Sigyl marks our partnership of you, the queen of Nexomon, and us, the Laterian human warriors. And with it, I hope we can both have a team-up against the Guild to make Amelie pay for the crimes she's done," Rico smirked at me.
"I will definitely give you updates in the near future. But uh, we're not going to have you attack Vados. Just one attack from him was able to completely destroy an area of 17 feet. All that's left there is a giant crater," I said, him being surprised.
"Yeah, I don't want to lose any of my men to a blast like that. Give me a job to get back at the guild at any time, and we'll help out, kid," he smirked at me.
"Eh, I'm actually a young adult, but I still have the mindset of a kid, so no worries. Or, in another language, Hakuna Matata," I smiled.
"Does that mean no worries?" Atlas asked, me nodding.
"Hmm... that's an ancient dialect back from way, WAY back in the day. I think it was from an ancient movie... how do you know that?" Rico asked, me looking at him with a bit of surprise. Mainly because I didn't expect him to be THIS smart!
"I actually uh... have seen the movie in question... there's this one room in an ancient bunker in the Frozen Tundra. It once belonged to very ancient relatives of my human forefathers that weren't of Omnicron's descent. And it contains video games and movies galore, one of them being a movie called The Lion King," I said, being honest about that much. "And it's a cartoon kind of movie that has animals from before the great nuclear wars that changed the world back in the day."
"And one of them was a meerkat... and the other a pig?" Rico asked.
"Warthog. You were very close, I'll give you that," I smirked.
"I think that the pigs turned into the Porklet family, and the Meerkats just went extinct. I only know this stuff because I have seen small snippets of it in our most ancient archives of back then. I'm not as dumb as I may seem, as I'm sure you've noticed," he smirked, me nodding at him.
"I've noticed. You've got just as much brains as you do brawn. And that is going to be very useful if we decide to take the fight to Vados. But for now, I need to meet with my other friends, just to see how their progress is going," I said as I then proceeded to use my psychic powers to connect to my allies' minds, starting with the team in Palmaya.
"Hey, Bolzen team? How's the recruitment going?" I asked, sensing that it consisted of Ross, Hannah, and Videl.
"We managed to convince him to join with Bolzen in his Nexotrap. But he says it needs to be kept secret of him being with us. We asked him to change clothes, but he doesn't want to abandon his lab coat," Videl said, me smiling and rolling my eyes.
"Tell him to regroup at an area north of the orphanage. Just go due north down the path and you'll see a hole that leads to a secret cave. Hide there until I can meet up with you again," I said, them agreeing on that. Then it was time for Lydia to talk to.
"Lydia? Did you get Eurus into his Nexotrap?" I asked her.
"Not only that, but I also explained the situation to my Greater Drakes. They've calmed down immensely since you've gotten your queen status and recognize you as such. They've agreed to attack when you hold their dragon claws and call out their names," Lydia said, me smiling at that.
"That's good to know. For now, I need you to go to the north of the orphanage and stay in a small cavern that's there. I'm making that our meeting spot, as its hidden from the guild's eyes," I said, her nodding at that. I then decided to check on Team Jin.
"Hey, Mulcimer team, report status immediately," I said, me seeing that it consisted of Nora, Leo, and Riley.
"We managed to get him to understand the situation, but it sure as hell wasn't easy. You sure you want him on this mission? He's kind of got a short fuse," Leo asked in thought, me smirking at him.
"Tell him to go to the north of the Orphanage and to make sure Mulcimer stays in his Nexotrap. If he leaves it at any point, he'll be a big target for Vados to annihilate in a single laser attack. Trust me, I barely escaped one myself while in Lateria," I said.
"Got it, we'll get him there," Nora smirked at me. And finally, the last team was the most important.
"Contacting Deena, Eliza, and Dorothy. Have you managed to get Ziegler on our side?" I asked them.
"He's agreed to meet us in the very near future, but not in the area you've been telling the others to meet up at," Deena said, me being confused.
"What?" I asked.
"He wants to test your skill at a certain grave site in Lateria. He said if you can defeat him, Darine, and Titan at the same time with your own moxie, he'll use his powers to revive Hannah's mother, Zeusana, as well as be an ally. But if you lose, he won't help out at all with anything we do," Eliza smirked at me.
"A challenge, huh? Well, I'm going to go for it. And the grave site is most likely the one where the Laterians dump all the Tyrants at, right?" I asked.
"Actually, no," Dorothy said, me being surprised at that. "It's a special site that Hannah made shortly after she died. It's located to the south of Lateria, by the river."
"Okay, I'm going to go meet with him, then. Tell the others I may be a bit late, okay?" I said, her nodding at me.
I then sighed contentedly as I stopped using my mind powers and I saw that Rico looked at me in surprise.
"Your brain was doing some weird shit right there. What were you doin'?" he asked me.
"I was just rallying my own troops to meet at a secret location to talk of a plan to bring down Vados. But in the meantime, I need to talk to a certain Tyrant to the south of this place," I said, Rico smirking.
"Talk to a Tyrant? What are ya, thick?" he asked.
"It's not a normal Tyrant. It's the grim reaper of the lot, Ziegler," I said, him actually gulping when I said that.
"Really? Ziegler wants to meet you in Lateria? That's kinda odd, isn't it?" Coco asked as I simply smiled at him.
"I've learned that he's cut me a deal. If I can defeat him and his assistants in a battle of three against one, he'll assist in the overthrowing of Amelie and Vados, as well as bring Zeusana back to life," I said.
"Hmph, you mean the Tyrant that's Hannah's mom?" he asked, Atlas smirking.
"Yep, that's the one," he smirked.
"I'd like it if I could get a front row seat, please?... Personal reasons," he said, me already knowing what those reasons were just by looking at him and his emotions. He felt a bit of guilt as well as hope and love.
"I already know why just from your emotions. Come with me and you'll see her again. And that is a promise," I smirked, him blushing for the first time ever and me smirking at that.
"Wait... you're Hannah's dad?" Atlas asked.
"[PLOOOOT TWWWIIIIISSST! ! !]" Odiborg shouted in the Mister Torgue voice from Borderlands 2, which made me smile, but it made Rico annoyed.
"I don't like that Odiborg. Very tasteless," Rico said.
"You get used to it," Coco smirked.