CH.52 The Flames Burn Dark PT.1
I know it's been a while, but this story is not dead and I'm going to continue. But for the sake of admitting that I forgot a plot point, the fight between Kurumi and Inverse Aki will not be shown. Also, my style has changed since my last update so I may update the rest of the story in the future.
Aboard the Bifrost, where the team is rounding up, there is tension in the air around the dock. Ever since Akane was offered that fruit from the mysterious Kokoro that apparently made Sora inverse so quickly. She is training in the exercise room and is getting angrier by the minute, and it shows because the temperature in that room is nearly off the charts. In the command area, Mana and Ellen have found a nice spot to park themselves after arriving in a new timeline. Things are fine and they quickly find the Shido of this timeline without hassle through the computer because it is afternoon and he is shopping with his wife and family. In this time, he is married to Tohka, but this one is different because she's taken a more revealing nature.
The Tohka of this timeline wears a simple black top with a leather choker and purple loose-fitting pants. She and her husband have what appear to be three kids, and Prime Tohka immediately takes a liking to this timeline already.
Tohka happily looks at the image of the family and smiles to reflect this "I want to meet them." She comments.
Mana and Ellen are heading the operation since Kotori is sleeping and Ryouko is in the kitchen eating. Hiro is also doing some basic exercises in his room to help get his mind off things. The others are just sleeping still after the ordeal they just went through and aren't going to be part of this mission for the most part.
Ellen and Mana aren't against Tohka talking with this world's Tohka since she may have seen something interesting. The issue is that Tohka is still in Spirit form because of her gaining her powers back. She transforms her outfit into her casual clothing using her power but the issue is her accidentally releasing it from emotions.
Tohka raises her hand and a determined look on her face "I promise to not let any of my powers loose if I don't need to." She assures them.
Ellen and Mana look at each other, nod, and give Tohka the okay, which makes her smile, but tell her that she has to take a least two others with her just in case they need a buffer. Tohka, while initially disliking the idea, accepts this knowing it is for the best.
However, Mana happily tells her "You can pick who you'd like to go." With sparkles in her eyes and a thumb up to her friend and ally, Mana clearly has Tohka's feelings in consideration.
Upon hearing this Tohka is about to go ask a couple of the others to come with her when somebody enters the room. Akane is this person and she is back to wearing her normal attire without her blazer and now she has two black ribbons tied to her wrists and her shirt has the sleeves rolled up.
She slams her hand against the doorway "I want to go with her." Akane demands
Her aura is very violent and the others can clearly see that. Mana walks up to her friend with concern for her.
Mana puts her hand on Akane's shoulder "Akane, maybe you should sit this one out. You really seem tense." She suggests.
Akane moves Mana's hand off her shoulder and restates her desire. Tohka is uneasy about Akane's mental state and thinks about the danger but making Akane more upset won't do any good either. So she agrees to bring Akane with her.
Seeing the danger, Ellen approaches Tohka as well. "I'll go as well. I kind of miss the homely atmosphere. I also kind of want to see if Aki exists in this timeline as well." Ellen confesses
Tohka sighs because she also wants to see if this timeline has an Aki in it. In response, Tohka agrees to let Ellen come along despite not truly trusting her yet. Akane joins them and they go to the teleporter to get close.
In his room, Hiro is on his hands doing pushups and claps to test his speed, which is five between one pushup. He is sweating from doing it for so long and then stands on one hand to do harder pushups and starts counting. While doing his pushups, Hiro hears his door open, so he pushes up hard on the floor to propel himself up, does a flip in the air, and lands on his feet to greet whoever is in his room.
He sees Origami and is slightly happy to see her since the whole ordeal with his evil counterpart left him uneasy. She is holding a pair of water bottles.
He smiles at her and picks up a towel to wipe himself off "Hey, Origami, do you need something from me?" he casually asks.
Origami looks at him oddly "What? I thought you'd call me mom at least once." She replies.
Hiro shakes his head "But you're not my mom…I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I just want to keep it professional." He retorts.
Origami shrugs it off since she doesn't really care that much. She simply hands Hiro a water bottle, which he quickly drinks while she looks at his Mana Eater on his chest.
She almost touches it, but he backs off and shakes his head seriously "Please don't touch it. This thing is basically my heart."
Origami looks at with intrigue since it is crucial to him especially if it his heart. But she leaves shortly after this and decides to get some sleep.
Below, it is evening and the three are currently waiting for Shido and his family to be home to make sure they're all there at once to make a clearer idea of the situation. Akane dragged Tohka and Ellen to a burger place to pass the time, and Akane is still eating food, even more than Tohka herself. Ellen just ate a salad and water, Tohka ate a few burgers, but Akane is on her fifteenth portion.
Concerned for Akane's health, Ellen grabs her half eaten burger "I think you've had enough, Akane." She states.
Akane, looking mad, silently takes back the burger and finishes it. After this, they leave the restaurant with Tohka and Ellen feeling uneasy about Akane's increased aggression.
But on a lighter note, the Itsuka residence of this time, the happy couple of this time is in a romantic light with this world's Shido, who is wearing a white shirt from his job and blue pants. He and Tohka are lying on the couch while they make out.
Shido pulls away "Tohka, the kids are just upstairs in their rooms."
Tohka resumes their kissing and moves Shido's hands to more personal areas.
She pulls away "The children know of our love, so why bother hiding it?"
Shido simply shrugs and just resumes being intimate with his wife. They have three kids in this world, unlike Aki where he just has the one sister but his parents were talking about having another. Two girls and one boy are the children of this time. While almost pulling down Tohka's pants, Shido is surprised by the sound of the doorbell ringing.
He stands up and readjusts his shirt to look cleaner and wonders who is at the door, but Tohka has an idea.
She opens her eyes and remembers "Oh that must be the food I ordered."
Shido looks at her "Did you order pizza for tonight? I thought you were cooking something." He asks kindly.
Tohka shakes her head "I couldn't make it to the store because my motorcycle needed to be fixed today; don't you remember?" She explains.
Shido doesn't mind and just grabs his wallet to pay for the food. He hears the knocking continue "I'm coming" he exclaims as he walks to the door.
He opens the door expecting to see a pizza delivery person, but what actually happens is surprising. As soon as he opens the door, a figure from the darkness falls over and lands in front of him, but he manages to catch it and thinks its Kurumi because of her appearance, but it's really Saori. She's covered in wounds and looks exhausted as she falls unconscious in this Shido's arms.
She's breathing heavily as she mutters "Lightning…storms….too much…need help…" as she sleeps in his arms.
Upon inspecting her form, Shido notices burn marks on her body and wonders if the Yamai twins were behind this in any way. He takes who he thinks is Kurumi to his and Tohka's bedroom. Tohka herself is surprised by this, but fine with it.
In the streets, the team is making their way to the Itsuka residence of this time and are preparing to walk up to the door with Ellen reminding their Tohka to keep calm. Their part is about to begin and they can't botch it with an inverse Tohka since she is a wild card in this journey.
But now that the heroes have an enemy under their nose, a bigger threat is looming over them. Over the city sky, a new portal opens up and two people emerge, the woman in white Kokoro, and prime Ellen emerge with her Realizer fully equipped as she holds that black and red gauntlet in her hand.
After all this time, Ellen holds this secret weapon in her hand while her unlikely ally smiles at her. She has doubts about using this weapon, but she was told to use it if she needed to, but it also makes a mockery of her abilities.
Kokoro smirks at her and floats in front of Ellen "Mathers, if you wish to please Sir Westcott, then use the weapon my master gave you."
Ellen almost puts it on but stops with a worried look "But if I use this, then it just proves my inferiority to them." She replies with unease in her tone.
"But if you don't, then that traitorous Ellen will defeat again, and then there is that Hiro fellow they have. He's killed you before, and he's killed Ashcroft as well in his time. He's stronger than you, and that other Ellen is more skilled than you. You need that weapon to not be worthless to us, and you know it." Kokoro cruelly explains.
Ellen's eyes widen as she then swiftly puts the gauntlet on her arms and the moment she does, the gauntlet then produces red wiring that digs into Ellen's flesh on her arm and she experiences intense pain from this as a red dragon-like eye appears on the back of the hand as Ellen's body glows blue and the glow turns red as her life energy is being sucked into the eye and then the gauntlet begins morphing into a new shape, like the head of a black dragon and the head opens its mouth where her hand should be and a red energy blade emerges from the mouth. The head takes up her hand and the rest goes up to her forearm.
After finishing and taking a deep breath, Ellen smiles while looking at her new weapon and laughs a little "So, this is model Nidhogger at base power…it feels amazing to have this power. I think I understand why Ike wanted me to use this."
She puts the blade away and the head changes into a clawed gauntlet with red energy claws that is still the same size. Kokoro smiles at Ellen with a slight malice in her face because she knows something that Ellen doesn't. Ellen wanted Jessica or Collette to come with her, but they have other missions to go on.
Bifrost
Hiro arrives on the deck to find Origami on the controls messing around with the cameras, probably to check on the others. He has finished working out for the day and has an energy drink in his hand as he approaches a console.
"Trying to find the others?" he asks Origami casually.
Origami types at the console "no, I'm trying to find out anything different about this timeline compared to mine. You never know" she replies.
Hiro can get behind that and is calm until he sees something out the front of the Bifrost and types on the console he's at to get a visual. He sees Kokoro and Ellen on the screen. He ignores Kokoro and pays his full focus to Kokoro as his gaze turns angry and he runs to the teleporter without any words. Origami, at her console, smirks once he's gone.
After Hiro warps out the ship, Kotori arrives on the deck yawning after just waking up. She looks at the mostly empty bridge, scratches herself, and wonders if anyone else is up.
Origami looks at Kotori and tells her "No, I've been by myself for a while now. The others are below getting to this world's Shido as we speak."
Kotori yawns again "Fine, I'll go get something to eat while they're doing that." She replies as she leaves the area and Origami is alone again.
Hiro appears in the sky with an enraged look on his face as his Mana Eater glows blue and his armor appears all over his body and even his head because he plans to attack Ellen immediately at full power right off the bat. He then moves at his supersonic speed to get to Ellen immediately. But why would Origami lie to Kotori about Hiro leaving, and what will happen if Akane sees Saori at this time.