Riku's spent a month in E. Gadd's lab salvaging the Origin Temple for any important information he can find regarding the Elemental Overlord.
But he's made no progress determining what the Phoenix of Destruction's Gaia Temporis' weaknesses are.
Alpha has been very handy in telling Riku what Alex Whiter's powers were and Riku HAS pieced together some weaknesses from this info...But he's doubtful that he'll be strong enough to last that long against him to even exploit those weaknesses.
A sudden knock comes at the top of the lab and when E. Gadd goes to check it, he nearly has a heart attack, prompting Riku to go investigate.
And there he finds an unforeseen sight...Joe Dark, Chaos Alex, and Mr. Reality, this planet's three greatest threats at the time, working together.
Riku pulls E. Gadd away for his own safety and then verbally confronts the trio. Information is exchanged that reveals how Joe Dark and Chaos Alex came back to life, and how they exist solely to get vengeance upon Alex Whiter and his ilk.
Mr. Reality, however, just wants to meet up with Mew again so he can fulfill his promise to him. But Riku reveals the amnesia bit, and Mr. Reality is surprised. Joe Dark doesn't believe the amnesia bullcrap though and accosts Riku, demanding he step aside and let them use the Stargadd to find Alex Whiter.
Riiku doesn't care if they go after Alex, in fact he'd even consider working with them...But given they also want to pester Mew, and possibly kill him, Riku refuses to let them past.
Joe Dark draws his dagger to Riku's neck and is prepared to kill him to get through. Riku shoves him out of the lab with a powerful thrust and they move their fight to the outskirts of Toad Town so no one can get hurt.
Mr. Reality then flexes his powers slightly to make it so no one will see what's going on either.
Before the battle begins, Joe Dark recalls the last two years of his life. Having crushed the fool Gravitus' neck, he flew out into space to resume his hunt for Alex Whiter.
But he quickly got lost and, without the Dark King's spirit, he loathes to admit that he's starting to feel a crushing sense of loneliness.
A spiral of madness and loneliness leads to Joe Dark accidentally running into Chaos Alex again on the same moon he left him on.
Chaos Alex has managed to suppress Cackletta's will and began thinking on his own. He thanks Joe Dark for giving him a chance at individuality, much to Joe Dark's surprise.
Chaos Alex wishes to use his free will to do everything in his power to kill Alex Whiter, his "evil me". His sudden burst of enthusiasm is rather...unnerving, but Joe Dark lets him come along with him.
They decide to return to the Mushroom Kingdom to hunt Alex Whiter down, but along their travels run into rumors of an alien capable of manipulating reality that fought the Elemental Overlord and almost won.
They head to his planet, seeking to potentially make him an ally. After a run in with some guards, the two present themselves before the king.
The alien they seek, however, is the personal aide to the king, Mr. Reality. Joe Dark does now vaguely remember the alien from having his body used to try and kill Alex Whiter way back when.
Mr. Reality is skeptical of these two being here but chooses to hear them out at his home in the palace.
Joe Dark and Chaos Alex are introduced to his family, their presence Joe Dark to suddenly hesitate on wanting to recruit the alien.
Joe Dark and Chaos Alex have dinner with Mr. Reality's family. When the meal is through, Joe Dark decides to have a chat with Mr. Reality in private.
Though life seems comfortable for Mr. Reality now, its not without its flaws and concerns. One, he always worries about his reality-bending backfiring and hurting, or potentially killing his family. Two, he may outlive them. Three, he feels like he's still living a lie.
Joe Dark decides to try and make an offer, but with an added bonus...To bring Mr. Reality to Mew so he can fulfill his promise to give him peace of mind.
Mr. Reality hesitates, explaining the deal with the parasites inside of him. Joe Dark tries to use his darkness to pull them out, but all he can do is suppress them for a brief time.
Joe Dark then makes a demand to have him come along, stating that he doesn't seem like a terrible person and should get to enjoy living his life.
Mr. Reality decides to join their quest, but has one thing he has to do first. With Joe Dark's help, Mr. Reality suppresses the parasites long enough to freeze time on his world, so that when he returns, it'll be like he had never left at all.
And thus, from there on, they found their way back to the Mushroom Kingdom.
In the present, Riku goes through all his forms to fight the three off. But they have surprisingly good teamwork and are putting him on the ropes.
Even when he goes into Chaos Form, Joe Dark counters with his Phantom Beast state and Chaos Alex goes Phoenix Form. Meanwhile, Mr. Reality is able to provide support with a variety of trickery.
Once Riku takes Chaos Alex's ultimate attack head-on, it all goes downhill from there, as Joe Dark batters him to the point of being a broken body stuck to the ground.
Joe Dark chooses to spare Riku, stating that he's not like the others, and his time is better spent preparing to deal with an actually strong opponent.
Riku slams his fist against the planet in frustration, realizing that he does nothing but lose and lose with no end in sight. He's still too weak. He HAS to be stronger still.
He pushes his body out of a bold but dangerous assumption...That if Light and Darkness combined isn't enough, perhaps he should combine ALL nine elements together.
His efforts in doing so cause the whole planet to quake. The trio freezes in fear, watching as Riku ascends from the ground wearing a divine garb, appearing more akin to a true god.
Within a millisecond, Riku has put his fist through Chaos Alex's gut. Chaos Alex curses his name, and how his kind is always favored by the universe while he continues to get nothing. He vows to come back, over and over and over again until every Whiter dies.
Riku smashes his body across the cosmos down to the atomic level, then turns to Joe Dark and gives him one chance to leave quietly.
Joe Dark loses himself completely and absorbs Chaos Alex's darkness, finally regaining the power of the Dark King on his own.
He tells Mr. Reality to become scarce and confronts Riku's new power all on his own. Just by existing, Riku's form threatens the planet, so he quickly drags the battle with Joe Dark out towards space.
Seemingly without much effort, Riku nearly eviscerates Joe Dark apart so thoroughly that even his ability to regenerate breaks apart.
Its only through Mr. Reality's pleas towards Joe Dark's character that Riku chooses to spare him. Riku then tells them to leave, and they do so without hesitation.
Riku then leaves his new form but is incredibly exhausted, to the point that he's forced to have E. Gadd open the Stargadd just so he can safely return to the planet.
He collapses inside of the lab and decides that this power shall be his trump card against the Phoenix of Destruction...And he decides to name this new form..."Genesis Form".
Part 5 Side Story END.