Disclaimer: I do not own To Love Ru.
Memorze, Ten Years into Lala's Future
Lala wiped the sweat form her brow, and stepped back to admire the last piece of the main machine having been put into place. Now all that was left was a proficient power source, which led to Lala looking at the back of her machine. A mile long power cable, of gigantic thickness and durability, stretched as far as her eye could see, through various hangers and twisting through rooms, in an effort to collect as much power as necessary. Hence the need for the mile long cable reaching to the Devilukean shuttle's power converter, since the facility they were currently in was barely able to sustain everyone as it was.
She starts a diagnostic through the Pyon-Pyon Warp-Kun Dx, Mk. Chronos, to ensure it would activate properly and not send her hurtling through time and space into an era or planet she couldn't return from. She also had it checking the ship's energy grid, to make sure there weren't any problems with the ship or the cable, that could lead to some other catastrophic failure. Satisfied, she turns to find Lacospo approaching her, with Peke by his side. "Lala, I'm glad to see you finished in time, with everyone's help," he states with a leery smile, "Rito is less than ten minutes out, he hasn't responded to Ren's communication satellite, so I believe he will come knocking on Eden's door soon." He sighs, grabbing at Lala's hand and cupping them between his. "There is something I have to tell you Lala, and it cannot wait," Lacospo states, "I initially intended-" Lacospo is cut off by the blaring of sirens, and the change of lighting, causing Lala to pull away and stare in shock at the base around her.
"What's going on?" Lala asks Lacospo, "Is this something that should be happening?" People shuffle around them, in a blur of panic and shouting, until Lacospo pulls a nervous and young looking elfin human from the mass panic.
"What's happening?" he demands, "Those alarms shouldn't be going off until something breaches Memorze's atmosphere, and Adam's ship is still eight minutes out!" The young girl cowers under Lacospo's gaze, but quickly pulling him away, Lala looks at the girl with a sympathetic smile.
"I-it's an unidentified projectile, it was fired from the flagship,," the young girl states, "It almost didn't register on scanners, because its so small, but we tripped the alarm to warn everyone to get evacuate civilians and then get into defensive positions." Letting the girl go on, Lala turned back to Lacospo.
"Where is Uwe, Mikan, and Nana?" she asks, "If Adam was targeting the base, he'd go after his daughter first, are they safe?" Lacospo nods.
"They'd be in the central bunker, lowest level in the base with a secret exit out into tunnels that lead into the mountains," Lacospo states in return, "If Adam does come here personally, Peke has orders to rendezvous at a beta site with a spare ship to take them off world; Uwe's safety is our top concern if Adam goes wild on this base." He nods to the door, where Yami is currently entering through the vacating crowd, to meet up with them.
"They're secure Lala, Ryoko Mikado and Oshizu are currently watching over the ship in lock down, to keep the power flow from being interrupted, and Ren is guarding them with a squadron of his personal guards," Yami states, "I'll stay here to watch over you until you can activate the time machine, you're our top priority in keeping this whole mess from getting worse..." Laal nods, then quickly moves to her invention to speed up the process of preparing the machine.
Mikan, Nana, and Uwe are all sprawled out onto the floor, knocked unconscious and shocked by the betrayal they hadn't seen coming. She had made sure to inject them all with a mild sedative, to keep them both safe and unaffected by the carnage that would shortly be ensuing outside. Locking the door from the outside with a special spatial lock, one the Devilukean guard would recognize from their briefing to not disturb, she walked towards her next objective, which was to open the nearest vacant hangar door. In less than five minutes, Hangar Thirty Six opened, to reveal a fiery red head standing at the door, flanked by a squadron of Devilukean guards in siege armor, holding various close combat weaponry. "Very good, spy," Red-Headed Mea, the youngest of the Three Facets of Darkness, congratulates the girl, "I always knew you had it in you!" Peke bows, as her eyes flash from their natural pink, to purple, and back.
"Yes Mea Sama, this way to Hangar Twelve, the spaceship powering Lala's means of escape is located there," the monotone voice of the robot states, "Ren sama, Mikado Sensei, and Oshizu sama, are all located within the Hangar, as well as guards stationed to protect King Ren." Mea nods, and turns back to her command.
"You heard the 'bot, do what you want with the guards, but keep Ren, Mikado, and Oshizu alive," she orders, the men crying out in affirmation, "Adam wants them alive, and try not to damage the ship in the process... I'll be seeking out our King's bride-to-be."
Adam watched from the bridge of his ship, in full battle armor, as the flagship descended into low orbit above the planet Memorze. It currently hovered high above the massive prison holding dozens of dissenters and political enemies of his. "Fire," Adam commands, "Blast a hole directly into their secret bunker." Firing up the weapon, Adam smiled at the carnage he was unleashing onto the unsuspecting fodder below. Momo gripped tightly onto her own arms, crying to herself as she watched from the sides, bound hand and feet in chains, and watched over by an impassive Nemesis.
Yami looked up, as the first blasts rocked the whole base, causing Lala and Lacospo both to stumble from the aftershocks. "He's blasting through the prison above, he's going to drill a hole into the lower levels of the base," Yami states, still staring upwards, "The bastard doesn't even care about who he could be hurting in the process, not even his own men." Alarms begin to sound, louder than ever, and Lacospo is quick to track down what they meant.
"Ren's being attacked, it seems someone let guards into the base through a vacant hanger," Lacospo reports, squinting at the screen, "It sounds like he was assaulted by a dozen guardsmen, before Red-Headed Mea showed up and took down the rest of his guard; it seems she's trying to break into the ship, but they're using the ships blasters to keep her away as long as possible..."
"Damn, she must have been the unidentified projectile, she was probably utilizing a troop transport to invade the ground, as Adam attacked us from above," Yami states, "If she manages to knock out power, we're all going to be screwed..." She looks back to Lala and powers up into her Darkness form. "I'm sorry Lala, but I need to go keep Mea from undermining our whole plan!" she states, moving to the door, until it opens to Peke's smiling face, "Peke, aren't you supposed to be guarding-" Her words aren't even finished, when Peke raises a weapon to Yami and fires an electrical shock into her system. Yami breaks her darkness form down, as she falls unconscious from the shock. Two guards suddenly enter from behind Peke, holding up a shield and pike each, towards Lacospo and Lala.
"Peke!" Lala cries out, "What are you doing?" She cries out, as she is hit by one of the guards pikes, before grabbing it out of his hands and snapping it in two. She grapples for the man's shield, then bats him backwards with all her strength. She then tosses the other shield at the unsuspecting guard's exposed head, knocking him to the ground and out cold. She then turns to Peke for an explanation.
"I'm sorry Lala Sama, but Adam Heika managed to alter my programming," Peke states in her robotic monotone, "I have secretly been a spy within Eden for the past eight years, ever since Mikado sama took me with her; Rito never could stand to get rid of me after Momo took me home, Adam merely purposed me to serve his end games." She raises her hands, charging another electrical bolt towards the time machine. "Adam always planed to take down Eden when the time suited him, he merely chose to speedup his plans when all his political enemies were in one place," Peke states, "It was merely the misfortune of Lala's presence that alerted him to the need to step up his plans, and for that he will be eternally grateful to you, Lala sama, for helping him proceed..." She is about to fire the bolt of electricity, when a massive scythe suddenly cuts her arm off at the elbow. Looking beyond the entryway, Peke's eyes visibly widen, before a few dozen threads of dark matter blow her away from the door.
Nemesis walks through the door, followed by Momo in chains, pulled along by the living weapon. Lala almost cries out, until Adam steps through, a triumphant grin on his face, as he walks past Momo and Nemesis, stepping over Yami's unconscious form with barely a glance, and stopping to beam at Lala and Lacospo, his scorpion tail swirling in giddy anticipation. "My, my, look at what we have here, is this a time machine?" Adam states, eyeing the invention with wonder, "Oh, how busy you've been, my darling!" He turns to Nemesis and motions for her to pick up Yami, which the living weapon does, dragging her unconscious form back behind Momo and herself. "It's a pity Yami betrayed me, all her power will be going to waste, after all," he states, before turning to Lacospo, "Sorry old man, but you've failed in ruining my perfect universe; in fact, Mea should be cutting off the power to this machine...now!"
The machine, in fact, flickers and dies, lights going dim as the power is cut off from the ship. "Oh, deary me," he says, pointing to the machine, "Did you need that to work?" Helaughs, before turning to face Lala. "Do you even know what he has said is true, my dove?" Adam asks, "Did he ever tell you the truth about why he brought you here, why he formed Eden, or how he really lost his sight?" He laughs when he sees her confusion, before turning to stalk up to Lacospo, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "You didn't even tell her the truth, you vile little toad!" he picks him up and forces him into the wall, "Did you tell her how you lost against me, when I hunted you down when you hid in your summer house on Regulus, or how you managed to hunt down Zastin, torture him for the location of Hades, and them kill him without any remorse, whatsoever?" Lala turns to Lacospo, a shocked and betrayed expression across her face.
"You're right, that was my greatest in a long line of failures, but it was long before I ever chose to turn my life around, and I swear, I was going to tell you Lala," Lacospo states, his eyes welling up with tears, "I've kept that secret, and swore to bring those loyal to you, Lala, together to destroy the diabolical empire I saw forming before my eyes; an empire I had inadvertently created by letting my crazed, vengeful wife one last petty act to spite Rito, if we couldn't beat him fairly..."
Nine Years Ago
Azenda stood high above Rito, looking down on him, as he readied his sword for battle. "Azenda, let her go!" Rito states, staring down the crazed assassin queen, who held Lala at knife point, "I swear, if you or Lacospo harm her, you'll taste the edge of my blade!" Azenda merely smiles before letting go of the knife, before pushing Lala down the rubble of the Yuuki house that reached up to the second floor, from the roof and floor debris. Rito quickly rushes up to meet her, before he feels that he can't even move his own body. "W-what?" he asks, as he feels his body move on its own, leveling his blade in his hands, "S-stop it." Lala gets up in a daze, shaking her head and checking her body for any cuts and bruises.
"Rito!" she cries, looking up to see her fiance slowly walking towards her, "I'm okay!" She goes with open arms to hug him, in a tearful reunion. She doesn't even see the blade move, as it embeds itself in her breastbone. Her eyes open in shock, before she coughs reflexively, blood dribbling out of her mouth in the process. The wind whips the fire in the rubble back into a frenzy, as Azenda cackles madly.
"Azenda, what have you done?" Lacospo calls from his spaceship, which was currently hovering beyond the rubble of Sainan, having destroyed most of it while Azenda faced off with Rito and Lala, "I told you not to harm Lala, she'll die without medical attention!" Azenda just ignores him, as Lacospo watches in horror the events unfold before him.
The fire raged around them, as Azenda laughed at his misfortune. He could only stare in horror at the blood on his blade, as it slowly trailed down from the tip, over the handle, and onto Rito's hands. The tip wedged into the body of the one he loved, now dying on the floor. "No!" he cries out, "LALA!" Removing the his hands from the blade, he grabs her as she collapses to the floor, and into his arms. "Lala..." he cries out, tears staining his cheeks, "No, please..." She smiles at him, putting her hand to his face as the light in her eyes begin to fade.
"Rito, it's okay," Lala coughs out, "Don't forget I- love- you-" Closing his arms around her, he brings her closer to him, not caring as her blood mixes with his tears of sorrow. Lacospo watches as Rito's face contorts with confusion, then anger, before he turns to the forgotten sword he had dislodged from his beloved's chest. Rito grasps the sword, and all sense of his former humanity begins to burn away at his touch, as the dark matter begins to bubble up through the pores of his skin. Lacospo watches as the monster that was once Rito Yuuki, raises it's now flaming blade, basked in glorious purple, an unholy light of the void of space. He then watches as this new monster proceeds to kill Azenda. Lacospo then wisely chooses to retreat, as the monster's gaze glances towards him. He was not unashamed of the tears he shed that day.
"I've regretted that mistake from the day I made it, and the resulting mistakes I made out of anger afterwards, but ever since I've done my best to undo them," he states in reply, "Now, I'm prepared to face your anger, Adam, but please, let Lala return tot eh past..." Adam merely laughs off his pleas.
"And let her avoid this very future?" he balks, "Hardly, I'd rather send back a clone to take her place, then let her go back in time!" He levels his gaze at Lacospo, before letting him go, and turning away from him. "Very well, I'll at least be lenient towards her, since she still doesn't understand the ways of my new universe," he states, pondering something, before his eyes light up, "Ahh, why don't we recreate her death as your punishment then, ehh Lacospo?" Lala quickly opens her eyes, and stands between Lacospo and Rito.
"No, no more death like that, Rito!" she calls out, "I forgive him, he didn't do it, Azenda did!" Adam looks at her, a dangerous crazy glint in his eyes.
"How can you be so forgiving of a man, who only wished to use you to inherit a kingdom he was too weak to take for himself?" He sneers, and whips his tail back, ready to strike, "Perhaps t's too late for you, Lala, if this toad's poisoned your mind against me already, maybe I should just cut my losses!" Adam begins to strike out with his orichalcum tail, it's three pronged blades ready to dig through Lala's very heart, just to reach Lacospo. Lala closes her eyes, not wanting to die, before feeling like she was falling to the floor. Lala opens her eyes, to see Peke impaled on Rito's tail instead, pinned to Lacospo instead of her.
"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry La-la-la-la," the robot turns it's head towards he position on the floor, "I f-f-failed you on-on-once before, not n-now..." The pink eyes dim, as Rito removes his artificial appendage from the wall, allowing Lacospo's lifeless body to fall to the floor, but keeping Peke's trapped in it's three pronged grip.
"Hmmm, perhaps I didn't erase enough of her loyalty programs," Adam remarks, before turning his attention to Lala, "Now, about you..." Before Adam can do anything, the time machine behind Lala lights up, back to fully operational status. "What is going on?" he cries out, before opening a communication channel to Mea, though a screen pops up it shows static only.
Red-Headed Mea, currently groans from her sublime position on the floor, her hair in tatters and bleeding from the many cuts and scratches on her entire body. Ren is currently nursing a broken arm, turning on the power supply, and looking at his mysterious savior in utter confusion. "Hello Father," Adam states, grabbing Mea's communicator and staring at the static filled screen, "I'm coming for you; it's time for a little family reunion." The screen flashes to life, and 'Adam' is staring right back at him, Lala in the background, leaning against the time machine's console.
'Adam' stares at the impossible before him, before a look of anger crosses his face, and he smashes the communicator in his bare hands. "Who was that?" Lala asks, looking to Momo and Nemesis. Momo merely shrugs her shoulders in confusion, as Nemesis bares her teeth and clenches her fists together. In one swift motion, she unlocks Momo's cuffs and places herself between Momo and 'Adam'.
"I knew you weren't him, and I damned well knew you weren't my son, after you didn't even bother attempting to brush off my advances," Nemesis states, readying over a dozen, if not more, strands of dark matter with which to attack 'Adam' with, "I don't know who the hell you are, but you'll pay for impersonating my son!" She attacks 'Adam' in a blur, moving almost too fast for Momo or Lala to see. Suddenly the body of Peke goes flying into Nemesis, causing her to skid backwards, dropping the robot's lifeless torso and positioning herself into a defensive stance.
"Come now, Nemesis, I'm exactly who you think I am," 'Adam' states, "I'm Yuuki Rito, I'm the Ninth Blade's soul, though I have to say I find this tail more suitable for my taste... it almost feels like being in my original body." He flexes his muscles, before centering his gaze back on Nemesis. "As strong as this human's body has been augmented by your powers, Nemesis-kun," he states tauntingly, looking back at Lala with a smirk, "It's still nothing compared to my true, Devilukean, body!" A flash of recognition passes over Nemesis' eyes, as she recognizes who is possessing Rito's body.
"Bladix?" she states in confusion, "Rito totally destroyed your soul, he told us himself, when the energized dark matter wiped the nanites!" 'Adam' merely chuckles in return at Nemesis.
"True, and I prefer my old name, Creed Diskenth, since we're being honest," Creed states, "Lacospo forgot to mention that he had a piece of my true self hidden away, the last piece of consciousness, my soul, left inside it waiting to be reunited with the rest of the Ninth Blade; Lacospo never knew he gave me a way to reunite and join the Ninth Blade's soul." Creed smiles, as he turns to Nemesis and Momo. "Though Rito had managed to fight me into the deepest recess' of Adam's consciousness, upon Lala's death, there was a crack in Rito's defenses," Creed states, "One I wholly took advantage of, influencing Adam subconsciously at first, before Gid's last attack shattered the Ninth Blade into two pieces..." He then puts his tail into his hand, pointing to each of the tipped blade in turn. "Thankfully Rito managed to have the blade itself forged into bladed guards for Anubis' tail, which became my new resting place, until I subsumed Rito completely," Creed states with a laugh, "I guess Adam didn't die off, forgotten in that accursed hilt that went missing..."
This time Momo laughed, which caused everyone to look her way. "I guess when Uwe asked to turn that hilt into a necklace, it was a good thing she kept it on her," Momo states, smiling, "I guess that's why she's been so rebellious, she's had a guardian angel all her life..." Creed merely sneers at the Queen, before moving his tail to block one of Nemesis' attacks.
"Certainly so," he grunts, as he strikes out with his tail towards the dancing Nemesis, "He would be the reason I could never get her to act like I wanted." Striking out blindly, he causes Nemesis to falter, and manages to grasp his hands around her neck. Nemesis' eyes widen in fear, as Creeds hands glow in their telltale purple color. "Good night, sweet princess," he mocks her, before draining her quickly, reveling in her scream of pain before tossing her away, "And with one less obstacle..." He goes to turn to Lala, before he feels the shadows tug at his very feet. He looks down, just as the shadows pull his feet right from under him, Adam appearing in their place.
"Hello Creed," Adam states coolly, hands blazing with his own dark matter, "Let's have a reunion battle, shan't we?" Creed growls in return, shedding his armor in seconds, and raising his own hands in defiance, as he lights them aflame. In a flurry of fists and purple flame, a storm of kicks and energy goes flying, as everyone is helpless to look on. Lala meanwhile looks at the whole scene, and decides to turn her attention to more important matters, as the time machine kicks into completion, having finished its diagnostic scans.
"Come on, work," she states, as she slowly begins the activation sequence, painfully aware of the ensuing battle around her, watching helplessly as Adam and Creed fight over Rito, and Momo looks over Nemesis' weakened state, her physical state of being beginning to deteriorate physically. Lala continues to try and get the activation sequence just right, and begins to input coordinates.
"Enough!" Creed states, blowing back Adam, who braces as he lands, "This ends now, boy..." Creed readies his tail, as Adam motions with one fist out to come at him. As Creed charges towards him, they fall to the floor, grappling together, as Creed tries to end it with a fatal blow from his tail. Suddenly, as the two are grappling, dark strings wrap around Creed's tail, wrenching fast and harshly, ripping the tail in two. Everyone turns their attention, seeing Momo glowing in an aura of purple, her eyes reflecting this light, as strands of dark matter emanate from her hands. "Nemesis!" Creed growls, realizing the damage he had done was too severe for the living weapon not to take a host, "Fine, I will do this with my fists-" Creed stops, as he feels Adam's strong arms reach behind him and hears him speak.
"Imagine blade, full power," Adam states with a smile, much to Creed's horror. In less than a second, a flaming blade of pure dark matter has lodged itself through both Adam and Creed's body. Creed would survive, if he managed to free himself from Adam's death grip, his last ditch attempt to end this threat by suicide would be in vain, if he could just break free and absorb Adam's life energy... "I'm sorry it had to end like this, Rito, I couldn't save you," Adam responds to Creed/Rito with an apologetic smile, "Do it now." A gunshot rings out, piercing Adam's back, and entering Rito Yuuki's heart. Creed spurts out blood from his mouth, as he feels his lungs collapsing inside him. He was in shock, though, so it didn't really hurt like he imagined. As he looks past Adam, he sees it was the last person he expected who pulled the trigger.
"I'm sorry daddy," Uwe states, crying tears as she lowered Hades from her grip, letting the weapon fall to the floor, "Adam... Rito... Lala...I'm so sorry..." Teh eight year old collapses to her knees, as Nemesis/Momo glide to her side, embracing the wailing child in a tight hug.
"It's okay, it's all over now," Momo states, "I'm so sorry sweetie, but you did the right thing...you'll see..." Momo looks up at Lala, who was crying as she watched her loved ones die in front of her, herself still in shock from the scene she just watch unfold before her. "Go!" Momo shouts, causing Lala to break form her hypnotic bout of shock, "Go now, keep this all from happening... search out the weapon smith on Mistletoe, fix the Ninth Blade, keep Bladix from returning, and all of this can be prevented!" She lets go of Uwe, and runs up to Lala, standing over the console and staring at the past self of her eldest sister. "The Ninth Blade, it feeds on a persons anger, their hatred, their greed, and doubles it back on them, that's what birthed Bladix, the being which gorged on the blood and life force of it's enemies," Momo states, "Creed was a warlord, a shunned knight of the Deviluke empire from before the great galactic war, he had lost his position of favor when our Father's ancestors came into power..."
Lala stares up at Momo, confusion evident at her sisters insistence. "I looked this up long ago, when I began to suspect Bladix had taken control of Rito, and I learned of the terrible secrets hidden by the great galactic war; one, a specific tale of a disgraced ancestor of Zastin's," Momo states, "Creed sought to take the power of our ancient gods, Charmian invaders who had once controlled mystic energies as Taoists; legend states he stole the unfinished Ninth Blade of Chronos and fed the blade with his blood, and an unending hunger awoke within him." Momo grabs Lala's hands, and holds them tightly. "He slaughtered many of our people across dozens of worlds, focusing on the few remnants of the Charmian civilization that escaped to the stars, and escaped his hunger; our blood was apparently an intoxicating substitute to sate the blade's hunger," Momo continues, "Until all record was lost of him on Mistletoe, some think he ran out of power due to the planet's properties, but a single legend spoke of Chronos' apprentice, who had escaped to the stars with his master's last project, the gun Hades."
"Mau!" Lala states, and Momo blinks in confusion, "He was like Celine, I met him before when I went to Charmia's past."
"Apparently, this 'Mau', escaped with Chronos' techniques, and finished Hades in secret," Momo continues, "He also was stated to have faced Creed, killed him after sustaining mortal injuries, before somehow gaining immortality in an unspecified way... supposedly pirates docked above Mistletoe, found Bladix and a living mummy, before making away with the blade and leaving behind the deadly planet, unsure of what they saw."
"But Bladix awoke again, and that began his legend," Lala replies, "Mistletoe, huh, isn't that Class S dangerous?" Momo nods in return, before stepping back from Lala and the machine.
"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough... how do you think we got Hades repaired, and an orichalcum bullet?" Lala widens her eyes in response, but smiles as she begins the sequence to return home, "Don't forget what I told you!" Lala nods, as she disappears in a flash of pink, a wave of energy tossed outwards from her disappearance.
Momo looks at herself, as her hands begin to become transparent. "Mama!" Uwe shouts, running towards her, the same problem occurring to her, "What's happening now?" Momo merely smiles, and looks up, seeing the base around them begin to fade away, revealing the open night sky above them.
"Something wonderful, Uwe," Momo states, smiling as she looks around the room, "The future is changing!" The bodies of Lacospo, Peke, Adam, and Rito all begin to fade away like scattered dust on the wind. Momo watches as her hands begin to do the same, and sadly smiles as Uwe disappears before her eyes. She closes her eyes against all odds, and lets the sweet embrace of the newly rewritten existence take her.
"Can you tell me a story?" an eight year old girls asks, sitting on the older Devilukean female's lap, the young girls usual pigtails uncurled and causing her hair to fall over her eyes, as she sleepily yawns, "Pleaseeeee?" The pink haired woman merely chuckles, as she moves the girl's tail out of her face, which had suddenly curled upwards with the yawn, causing it to bop the older woman in the face.
"How about I tell you the story of how your daddy saved the universe?" the older woman states, "It began about nine years ago, long before you were ever born dear..." The young girl's eyes sparkle in the starlight, as she looks up with curious, gold-brown eyes. "It was the day he saved the princess from an evil queen..." she begins, "And it ended with him expelling the greatest, most ancient and evil darkness the universe had ever known...at cost we never could have foreseen..."