Book IV Finale

Chapter XXXVII

"Mythra?! Sheba?!" I called out, looking around the room. I was in a lot of pain, felt like I had been hit by a truck.

Mythra responded first, walking in the door immediately. "Oh you're awake! You alright?"

"Kinda feel like I got beat half to death with a bunch of logs and thrown down a river and then buried alive in a pit full of scorpions. So yeah," I chuckled out. "'Alright' is subjective."

Mythra giggled a bit. "But you're still making sarcastic jokes so it can't all be too bad."

"Well we won and Sheba's back, so the pain's a little sweeter," I laughed.

"Oh great... you're a masochist too," she groaned sarcastically.

"Wait... who else was a masochist?" I questioned.

"Well it wasn't Rex or Addam, so I guess that narrows it down..."

"Hey," a voice said, distracting us both. It was Malos. "You two gonna keep flirting or are you going to help us get out of this vessel?"

"What do you mean?" Mythra asked.

"Some little artificial blade just surrounded our entire vessel with bombs strong enough to wipe out this entire city that'll go off if we try to leave," he shook his head and chuckled a bit. "So that's a development."

I started to get up, but Mythra gently pushed me back down.

"No, stay down, you need your rest, we'll take this," Mythra insisted.

As much as I hated it, she was right, I wasn't in any condition to fight. Ether damage may not leave physical wounds, but it wasn't a joke. Ether damage takes its toll.

...

"Poppi! Slow doooown!!" Rafi yelled as Poppi grabbed him by the hand and shot out of the building using rocket boosters installed into her feet.

Poppi didn't respond, instead she was more focused on fighting Lila. Five hundred years ago, Poppi fought Lila one-on-one under Tora's instruction. The only reason she believed she'd won was because her master had told her not to fail, and so she didn't. However fusing her own technology with Lila's is what gave Poppi her QT form. This form made her look like a teen, and no longer a child, she had used it when Rafi and her walked around Fonsa Myma. The form she was using now, however, designated Poppi QT π, was much different than any form she had.

Every part of her was designed by Tora's grandfather, Professor Soosoo. Tora may have built her up from scratch, and even made a few modifications, but her ether furnace, AI, blueprint, and most of who she was was personally designed by Soosoo. Lila has been designed by Soosoo and Tatazo, Tora's father. Poppi had always had the capacity to have three forms, but they weren't ever finished. Poppi QT was completed by Tora, Tatazo, and Lila, however Poppi QT π was designed by the same three and helped by her previous friends. Rex, Nia, Dromarch, Zeke, Mòrag, and a few others.

Poppi QT π was Tora's way of acknowledging that Poppi had grown up, she wasn't the same child he'd first turned on. As such, she was given a stunning female body, with beautiful features that turned heads no matter where she went, even by Rex. She hadn't intended it to be like that, but it sort of... happened. Each form was also much more powerful than its previous, Poppi QT π alone could rival even Mythra herself.

Each form also had its own weapon, Poppi alpha carried a shield with engines and a large drill built in it. It did serious damage and could block very powerful attacks. Poppi QT carried a pair of large, heavy gloves that could work defensively like a shield and deal out some major damage. They also fit snugly onto nopon earflap arms. Poppi QT π was different, though. Instead of being built as a tank like her previous forms, this form came with a powerful sword and was completely offensive, doing some of the most insane damage anyone had ever seen.

But the one thing that bugged Poppi about this form right now, was that it was Lila who had designed this outfit. It was skimpy, and definitely a head-turner and not Poppi's first choice, but Lila had made it for her, and for that reason it was special.

Even without a master to command her not to lose, Poppi was confident that she'd win. Lila wasn't even as powerful as Poppi alpha, so there's no way she'd lose. And worse case scenario... she could always use... that.

Before she had really wanted to, she arrived near the ship her new friends were on. And, sure enough, Lila was waiting.

Poppi landed quickly and sat Rafi down next to her.

"Get somewhere safe, Poppi will handle this," Poppi commanded.

"No! Rafi want to stand and help Poppi fight!" Rafi tried to argue.

Poppi simply ignored him. "Poppi said go."

"Aw what's the matter sis? No more masterpon for you?" Lila laughed.

"What happen to Lila? Lila used to be Poppi's friend!" Poppi asked.

"You look quite stunning in that outfit," Lila complimented, completely ignoring her question. "I've convinced your friends that if they try to leave the ship I'll blow this city into rubble."

"Rafi will go defuse bomb!" Rafi said as he ran towards the device outside the ship.

https/youtu.be/-eU9N59CkkA

"Try not blowing us all up dear, I have a sister to shatter," Lila laughed.

"Lila cannot beat Poppi! Poppi QT π is far superior!" Poppi threatened.

"Maybe stronger than my alpha form, but allow me to give you a new perspective."

Lila smiled before changing form entirely, her hair grew longer, and her maid dress turned into a familiar outfit. In fact, the entire form was familiar, she looked just like Poppi QT π, but with a black and purple outfit rather than black and red. Her black sword shot out a purple plasma blade.

"Introducing Lilan Byu-T," she smiled as she held her blade up.

"Wha-?!" Poppi said in shock. "Where did Lila acquire such power?!!"

"Oh please Poppi, you didn't think you were that special, did you? I happen to be just as capable of your power as you are, even more. My tech has been updated throughout the ages," Lila explained, before her face twisted into a more thoughtful expression. "Oh but what about you? Forgotten by the one who built you and left in a Leftherian dump for five hundred years."

"Lila knew where Poppi was?!" Poppi gasped.

"Of course I did," Lila laughed out. "But telling Juliani would have met I wouldn't get the chance to fight you myself, now allow me to wipe the floor with you."

Poppi shot out her own bright blue plasma blade out of her red sword.

"Bring it on!" Poppi shouted before activating the thrusters concealed in her feet and slashing at Lila full speed.

The two slashed at insane speeds, parrying each other quickly as they eventually pushed each other back.

"Poppi Ignition!" Poppi yelled as she sliced wildly.

Lila did nothing but laugh as she simply slammed her sword into Poppi's, throwing her back.

"What was your other art?" Lila asked, in deep thought. She then smiled, "ah yes, I remember."

She flipped her sword over as it became a gun and charged up a bright purple flash. "Noponic Axiom!"

Poppi brought her engines to life as she shot out of the way as a giant purple laser beam ripped through the air, hitting the back of her leg. She spun out of the air and landed on the ground.

"Oh come on sis, I KNOW you have more power than this pathetic display," Lila said, unsatisfied.

"Poppi!" Rafi called out! "This not bomb at all! It just... big hunk of metal, Lila only said it bomb to scare friends!"

"Oh? Looks like he's smarter than he looks," Lila laughed, before turning back to face Poppi. "You have more power."

"Poppi does not know what Lila talking about!" Poppi defended.

"Oh don't lie to me! You went head-to-head with a blade that shattered Malos in one hit and defeated both Pyra and Mythra. They say she was even faster than the speed of light, blessed by the Conduit itself. And you sacrificed yourself so that the others could flee! That power, I want that!"

Poppi sighed. "Poppi only use that as last resort, it not safe!"

"Afraid you'll hurt someone here, are you?"

"What?! No!" Poppi said. Something else entirely was hurting her, and oddly enough it wasn't even the thought of that power killing herself. She didn't want to hurt Lila. "Poppi... Poppi not want to fight Lila!"

"Oh come on, quit being so soft! If you won't show me... then I'll BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!" Lila shouted before her form began changing again.

Lila's physical appearance didn't change at all, instead the two large gloves that she used in her alpha state, the same gloves Poppi QT used, appeared in her hands, and she held two plasma swords. However, the entire atmosphere felt different, her power... Poppi didn't want to believe it was real.

"Enter Lila, Cosmic Anomaly," she said with a sudden fierceness in her eyes. "We end this now."

...

"Hey chums," Gabriel announced to all of us, still on board. "Rafi's fine, said the bomb's a fake. We ready to go?"

"Hold it," Mythra said quickly.

"Problem?" Malos said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Let Poppi and Rafi handle it," she said simply.

Acacia seemed taken aback, even irritated "What do you mean?! We could be—!"

"It's no surprise to anyone that our teamwork is the worst," Mythra said, cutting her off. "And worst of all, the blade and driver relationships here are an actual joke. I haven't seen relationships this bad since Jin stabbed Fan La Norme through the core crystal!"

I looked at her puzzled. "You mean... those guys from five hundred years ago?"

She sighed. "Sorry, I forgot you guys weren't there for that." She switched gears, crossed her arms, and continued. "Listen, Rafi chose to stay behind and save her, odds are he's trying to prove himself. Poppi's fighting her sister, and she also believes she doesn't need a driver."

"Not true!" Kasandra argued, her cheeks flushed red and she pouted. "Poppi asked Gabriel to help train him and they've been working really hard!"

Mythra shook her head. "No, she didn't want him to feel useless. Tora made her special, there's nothing, no one else like Poppi, not even Lila. She has Tora's caring heart. Without a driver, without someone to tell her who she is and what she's to do, she will lose. Rafi needs to see that for himself, that's what will fix their mess."

"Lila's power output is at least twice of what Poppi's it, and it recently just multiplied itself by a factor of ten, there is a one point zero zero seven chance that she will succeed," KOS-MOS stated.

Acacia glared at Mythra before sighing. "And you're sure about this?"

"Positive," she confirmed, she then smiled a weak smile. "Call it... a blade's intuition."

...

Lila slashed at Poppi faster than she could see, Poppi tried to block it, but she got thrown down mercilessly.

"Come on Poppi! Where's the fire I saw in you so many years ago?" Lila scoffed. "You're hardly the same blade I met, did Rafi mess up something when he 'fixed' you or have the years taken that much of a toll?"

Poppi wanted to fight, but Lila was right, she wasn't the same blade she used to be. Tora had wanted nothing more than to be a driver, to help those in need. Even if some of his own design choices were... morally questionable... no one could deny that he had an honest heart and deeply wanted to help those suffering. Poppi remembered when Tora would still complain about not being able to be a driver, and every time he complained, it hurt her. Was she good enough? Could she fill that void that he couldn't even fill himself? It wasn't fair, she had never complained, but Rex accidentally ended up with the Aegis, and he was given so much power, but Tora worked with everything he had, and in the end he never even stood outside Rex's shadow. It wasn't Rex's fault, Tora so desperately wanted to be who Rex was, strong, powerful, loved by all, someone who took a stand for those who failed to stand on their own.

As Tora and Poppi grew closer, Poppi found that Tora no longer complained about not being a driver, and instead focused on making Poppi better and better. She stayed faithful no matter what happened, and he had loved her. They were inseparable.

That's why Poppi beat Lila all those years ago. Lila had been stolen and used for evil deeds she wasn't designed for, and therefore, even with better tech, Lila could never win.

But now, now... there was nothing. Poppi had no reason to fight. Poppi really loved Mythra, she was like Poppi's older sister, but Mythra alone wasn't the reason she fought.

Poppi made her decision, she had no reason to fight. The only thing she wanted was to rest with Tora, but she couldn't quit now, so she'd finish this, and there was only one way.

https/youtu.be/s2QJ6gV2XGo

"Initializing Poppi Q-TCE Finale," she said as Poppi QT's gloves appeared on her arms, her Poppi alpha shield appeared in one hand, and her sword in the other. It was time to finish this.

"What is Poppi doing?!" Rafi wasn't dumb, he knew that was too much power. "Poppi can't handle that! Stop now! We find another way!"

"This is the way, and I will end it now," Poppi said, suddenly speaking normal English, enough to even throw Lila off.

Lila stopped to laugh. "Oh this is so much better, bring it on sis."

"Agreed!" Poppi said before blasting off at her sister.

Their swords clashed with intense ferocity, and much to Rafi's dismay, Poppi's chest began glowing an intense orange, a major sign of overheating.

"Cosmic slash!" Lila yelled as she brought her two swords down toward Poppi, slashing away with speeds unseeable to the human eye.

Poppi used her shield to block every single attack without fail.

"Locked on, Poppi Unlimited," Poppi stated as her sword flipped into a gun that fired an insane number of rounds into Lila. Poppi then flipped her gun back into a sword before spinning around, creating a serious whirlwind, strong enough to blow Rafi off his feet, and slashed her sword into Lila, throwing her back.

"You cannot win! Surrender now!" Poppi yelled, not letting up. She shoved the drill on her shield into Lila's chest.

Lila stood her ground and pushed back the shield. "Don't be an idiot! I'm going to end this now!"

Lila slashed quickly, knocking Poppi off guard and then slashing through Poppi's chest, which was currently weak from the overheating.

Poppi fell back and Lila dropped the sword and punched Poppi with her glove, square in the torso, throwing Poppi into the sand.

Lila then went in and slashed at Poppi with her sword. Poppi parried it with her own, but Lila flicked it out of her hand and went for the finishing blow.

"It's over!"

"NO IT'S NOT!" an unexpected voice said as he grabbed Poppi's sword and slammed it into Lila, throwing her back.

"What?! Rafi what are you doing?!" Poppi scolded.

"Rafi is sick and tired of watching Poppi cry! Rafi didn't fight own fear just so Poppi could die for no reason!" he said as he slashed at Lila, who found it more amusing than threatening.

"Rafi! Stop it! That's not—!" Poppi started again.

Rafi silenced her. "That form, is not Tora's design! Rafi can tell!"

"What?! What does that have to do with anything?" Poppi questioned.

"Every form Rafi has seen. Alpha, QT, QT π, those forms all made with extreme love and compassion. Rafi can see it in engineering! But this form, this form have no love! It just a sick excuse to blow self up! Friends don't help friends by dying! Friends need friends to live for each other! Because that how friendship is...," Rafi stopped and took a deep breath, trying to steady his trembling hands as he slashed again at Lila.

"A-And...," he said as he ran at Lila full speed. "If Poppi have problem, THEN POPPI CAN FIGHT RAFI TOO!"

Poppi gasped. "Rafi no!"

Lila slammed the sword out of his hand and punched him to the ground. "Out of the way runt!" she said before bringing her sword down to his chest.

Poppi jumped in-between them and shielded him. "Do you think you can replace my masterpon?" she asked Rafi.

Rafi shook his head. "Of course not. Rafi can never promise to be what Tora was. But Rafi can promise to be the best Rafi can be, just as every other blade does! Blades forget everything when driver dies, but Poppi remembers, just like Aegises! Which mean Poppi have to move on, just like them!"

He... he was right... How could she have been so stupid?!

She, to Lila's dismay, powered down back to her QT π form and handed Rafi her sword. "Then what is Poppi's order, masterpon?"

Rafi stood up. "Just Rafi, is fine. And as for Rafi's first order, Rafi day beat Lila, no matter how powerful Lila is! DO NOT LOSE!" He handed her back her sword.

Poppi clenched her fist around the sword and glared at Lila.

"Roger roger," she acknowledged.

Lila slashed. "YOU'LL NEVER BEAT ME! NEVER!! THERE'S NO LOGICAL WAY THAT THIS IS POSSIBLE!"

Poppi grinned as she slashed back, defending much easier than before. "Rafi told Poppi not to lose, so Poppi won't. Logic very simple."

"No, NO! I WON'T LOSE!" Lila yelled.

"COSMO UNLIMITED!" she yelled before discharging a powerful laser, turning the sand around Poppi into purple-colored glass.

When the smoke cleared, Poppi was in her QT form, using her gloved-arms to block the blow, she then switched back into QT π.

"Rafi! It time!" Poppi called, flipping her sword into a gun and firing a few shots into Lila, throwing her off her game.

"Right behind Poppi!" Rafi said as he spun around, grabbing Poppi's sword and hitting Lila square a couple times.

Poppi took the sword as they shouted in unison, "Quantum Judgement!"

Poppi spun around, throwing Lila into the air with her swords as she released one hundred percent of her power in mid-air, slamming Lila into the ground, ending the fight.

Poppi quickly changed back into her alpha state and ran towards Lila, who had also reverted, and wrapped her in a hug.

"What... is Poppi doing?" Lila asked. Her speech pattern had glitched and returned to her noponic manner of speech.

"Hugging Poppi's sister," Poppi answered.

Lila began crying. "Where did Lila go wrong? Why did Lila fight Poppi?!"

"Lila was just following mistresspon's orders, it not Lila's fault," Poppi tried to calm. "Please don't cry..."

Lila cried even more. "No, no... Lila not crying... Lila just performing routine eye-cleaning proto—"

"Oh hush," Poppi giggled. "Poppi already use that excuse too many times."

Lila giggled a bit too. "Juliani have much stronger technology than Lila, but... Lila think Poppi will beat her."

Poppi hugged her tighter as Rafi our a sympathetic hand on Poppi's shoulder.

"Rafi can fix Lila, if that ok," Rafi offered.

"Oh... Rafi adorable, but there no fixing Lila. Cosmic Anomaly is... imperfect. Lila... doomed from start...," she said, as she began shorting out.

"No! That mean—" Poppi began.

"Lila about to explode, yes," Lila smiled. "Lila love Poppi so much... beat Juliani... for Lila..."

Lila shut down completely in Poppi's arms, and Poppi cried.

"Of course... Poppi will...," Poppi smiled.

"Rafi hate to break up sad moment but... LILA ABOUT TO EXPLODE!" Rafi said in a panic.

"Poppi will fix it," Poppi said before taking Lila in her arms and rocketing into the sky.

She flew as high and as hard as she could, and, at last second, she used her insane superstrength to launch Lila out of Alrest's atmosphere, where she detonated harmlessly.

"Rest happily, Lila."

...

"Yes General, I'm almost there," Lieutenant Violet Uzuki said unto the cell phone.

"Great," Adonis responded over the line. "Eliminate that entire Architect-forsaken place!"

"With pleasure."

"And bring your sister in alive."

"I'm free to break her first, yes?" she clarified.

"As long as she's breathing, I don't care what you do to her. Bring me Mythra's core crystal, all other blades and drivers can be disposed of."

"Wilco," she said before hanging up. "You hear that T-Elos?"

T-Elos, her mechanical blade, perked up at the sound of her name.

"KOS-MOS is all yours."

T-Elos smiled, this should be fun.

Up Next:

Book V: Uzuki

Readability Level: College Level

Time Taken: 9 Hours