Hey, everyone. :)

Anyways, this chapter is especially cheery (sarcasm), and takes place entirely within the Nowhere Islands V-game. I wasn't expecting it to turn out as 6.6k words pre-AN, but I always write more than I'm expecting to. Don't worry, we'll get some more supportive/sweet moments outside the V-game. :) After all, Claus did send Ninten into this timeframe to witness what needs to be stopped.

As always, thanks for everyone who's reviewed this story. I don't know if I'd be here without you peeps. :)

Review Responses (plural yay):

booping the snoot: Heh, Lucas' actions will (hopefully) all make sense in the end. And I found that I felt bad for Claus as well while writing this story... and I felt a little less bad for Isaac and Fassad haha.

asamiruria: Aw, thanks! :3 And with the amount of time it's been since Power of Love's been updated, I don't know if we consider it happening within the "for a while" timeframe. Sorry, PKTofuMaster. :P Writing Ana in this story is SO much fun, and I'm glad you like her. She started off being quite similar to someone I know, but I think she's kind of gone her own direction. Unfortunately, Ana's still a side character and doesn't really get character arcs in the same way that Ninten does. :( I just don't have time to have everyone resolve all their problems haha. I'm glad that you like the psyspace mechanic as well. :) Basically, I wanted computers and internet (psyweb) for an alternate PSI culture, and the idea of psyspaces stuck. Prior to reading this I read some really good sci-fi about an information-era (not too futuristic) civilization and I wanted to give it a try for myself.

As for the Mother 3 world... well, this fic for the most part is set in the Earth we know and love (or hate). Most of the fantastical elements in the Mother series work better because the protags or kids... it wouldn't make as much sense thematically for college-age Ninten and Ana going to the real Nowhere Islands and encountering Magypsies and all that. So Ninten and Ana, despite the shit they've seen, still think that the Nowhere Islands are just part of a game. But the game does say that the Nowhere Islands are real, and that they're in both the future and past. Haha Ana is flippant about racism and police brutality because she's just with Ninten and they're homies. She recognizes that police brutality and racism are super serious issues and wouldn't joke about them with people she didn't know. But when college students get together, we tend to say offensive things. :P And I believe different publishing/citation standards have different formats on capitalizing races... for example, in APA format it's standard to capitalize races such as White and Black. So I'm just going to leave it that way.

Thanks for the support! :D

Kumatora's first plan of action was to kill a pigmask and use the suit to disguise Ninten. They waited for what felt like hours to ambush a pigmask in the mines. When a pork trooper finally walked by, Kumatora knocked it out with a fist to the back of a head and took its pig suit off.

And then, in accordance with her plan to throw the world into chaos, Kumatora slit his throat with a dagger.

Ninten stepped away from the blood as he put on the pig suit. It reeked of sweat and grease, the stench so strong that Ninten nearly gagged. He looked over at Kumatora for help, and she chuckled.

"You'll get used to it," she said.

"Will I really?" Ninten coughed and nearly gagged a second time.

Kumatora shrugged. "Maybe eventually."

At least the suit was loose. Ninten supposed that it would have to be in order to fit the plump man that had previously worn the suit. When Ninten was finished putting the suit on, Kumatora eyed him down and nodded.

"I think we both look a little skinny for pigmasks," she said, "But there's not a whole lot we can do about that. Come on."

Kumatora led Ninten out of the mines through the same twisted pathways. After emerging back in Saturn Valley, Ninten spotted a group of pigmasks congregating between the white houses around the central pond. A pigmask with a white suit spoke words that Ninten couldn't make out from the distance, a white cape flapping in the wind behind the pigmask to make him look extra-official.

"That's the colonel," Kumatora whispered to Ninten. "Treat him with respect until I can wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze."

Ninten nodded, trying not to focus on the image of Kumatora strangling someone. He didn't know how long he was willing to fight by Kumatora's side if she really wanted to watch the world go up in flames, but the pigmasks were occupying this area. Killing the pigmasks now would liberate whoever Saturn Valley belonged to.

The caped colonel waved Kumatora and Ninten over to the pond. Ninten exchanged a glance with Kumatora, who shrugged and walked over to the pond next to the other pigmasks. Ninten followed Kumatora and stood by her side, trying to blend in as much as possible. The image of Kumatora tearing off her pigmask suit and lunging at the colonel popped into Ninten's head, and he wondered if he would freeze when Kumatora choose to make her move.

"Welcome," the colonel said. A woman's voice, most likely. "And thank you for mustering the garrison during this time. I heard that it's gotten a little… boring around here?"

The pigmasks nodded, and Ninten bobbed his head along with them. Kumatora remained still, her gaze directed at the pigmask colonel.

Ninten couldn't blame her. There was something in the colonel's tone that sent a tingling sensation down Ninten's spine. He hoped that she wouldn't try to remedy the boredom by creating unnecessary excitement in the Saturn Valley, so to speak.

"Once we found the Needle, there was little need for this place," the colonel said. "And really, there still is little need for this place. I don't think that we ever understood who the Mr. Saturns are or what they do, and we no longer have a reason to care. It's time to terminate our occupation of Saturn Valley."

Many of the pigmasks' postures relaxed. Ninten tried to picture what was on their minds. Maybe they were excited to see their families again, or maybe they just wanted to go back to the routine they had known before in New Pork City. It was almost enough to make Ninten feel bad for them.

"Should we release the Mr. Saturns, sir?" one of the pigmasks asked.

Say yes. Please. Ninten stared at the colonel, trying to read an expression through her mask.

"They are free to come and go, yes?" the colonel cocked her head. "I was informed that you were using fear to keep them cooped up inside their houses. Once we leave, they'll be free to do whatever they wish with their pitiful lives."

Kumtatora's shoulders tightened. Ninten glanced back and forth between her and the colonel.

"We can all go back to New Pork City in the Mothership," the colonel said. "I'm sure that King P. will have new assignments for us there. The pigmasks always could use more helpful hands back at home. And on the way there…"

The colonel paused for several moments, looking up at the clouds in the sky.

"Sir?" Kumatora said.

"Hmm?"

"What is going to happen on the way there?"

"I need to tell you some information. You deserve that much, I suppose." The colonel turned around, her cape whipping behind her. "Pack up your belongings and meet me at the Mothership in two hours."

The pigmasks nodded, saluted, and walked off. Many of them walked into the cylindrical white houses scattered around the valley. Kumatora didn't budge, staring straight at the colonel. Ninten took tentative steps backwards, but Kumatora remained perfectly still. After a moment, the colonel looked back at Kumatora and cocked her head.

"Is something wrong, soldier?" she asked.

"No," Kumatora said. "This is… excellent news."

"I'm glad to hear it. Just as I am glad to hear the voice of another woman among our ranks. I looked at the register, and I didn't see any names that looked like they should belong to a woman. What's your name?"

"Violet. I transferred here recently, Sir." The words came out even colder than before.

The colonel nodded. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, then, Violet. Just be careful, soldier. There are some commanders who are… less trusting than I am. They'll study the registers almost religiously, and would act on Title XIII. And of course, being a true pigmask, you know what means."

"Of course, sir."

"Yes. So please… if you're working under another colonel, tell them about anyone else you see who's off the registers. I'm sure that you know that we are required to treat them as impostors."

Kumatora nodded.

"Although I'm sure you're a good enough pigmask to never let something like that slip." The colonel glanced at Ninten. "Some of the people who wish to infiltrate our ranks come from different words, and they have motives that we cannot possibly fathom. And while I know we give you a bunch of empty propaganda, I can promise you that what I'm telling you now about our enemy is real."

Ninten felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She had to know. Which meant…

"Yes, sir," Kumatora said.

"I'll make sure that your name's added to the registers once we get back to New Pork City," the colonel said.

"Thank you, sir."

"Now scram and get packing. Even someone who transferred here should have some belongings, hmm?"

Kumatora saluted and walked back off towards the cave. Ninten followed, his heart pounding in his chest. He couldn't bring himself to look back at the colonel to see what she was doing.

She had to know.

Kumatora walked into the caves, and found a dead end in an abandoned mineshaft. She released a sigh and reached to take off her mask. Ninten shook his head and grabbed Kumatora's hand.

"We need to be perfect pigmasks until the time is right," Ninten said. "She knows, Kuma."

"The colonel?" Kumatora frowned. "If she knew who we were, she wouldn't have let us go. She probably just thinks that we're eager recruits who haven't officially joined the ranks yet."

"Eager recruits who already have pigsuits?" Ninten looked down the mineshaft to make sure nobody was listening. "Listen, every word she spoke was hinting that she knew that we were impostors, but that she didn't want to say it out loud."

Kumatora took off her mask and took a deep breath of air. She grinned at Ninten, as if to tell him that he had no way of forcing her to put the mask back on.

"Kuma, please," Ninten said. "They already suspect us."

Kumatora frowned. "Okay, maybe they suspect us, but nothing more. I've seen how pigmasks deal with impostors. Once they know, they lose their shit."

"And did the colonel seem like a regular pigmask to you?"

"Uh, yeah? She called the Mr. Saturns pathetic. Do you know how smart they are? Sure, they can be a bit odd at times and they don't dedicate much of their time to labor, but people who are normal and do dedicate their time to work are all pigmasks by now. It's just like them to treat the Mr. Saturns as lesser race."

"Yeah, I get that, but…" How could Ninten explain? "She seemed too aware."

"Aware?" Kumatora frowned. "Of what?"

"She seemed to know about me. How I came from a world outside the Nowhere Islands and all."

Kumatora shrugged. "Glorifying outsiders and portraying them as almost literal aliens is standard pigmask rhetoric."

"I know." Ninten hadn't known, not really, but it was easy enough to infer.

Kumatora frowned. "If you knew, then why did you tell me?"

"Because I get the feeling that she knows way more than she's letting on."

Kumatora rolled her eyes. "Well, I get the feeling that she's just a regular pigmask colonel. So our impressions cancel out and now we're back to square one."

"You know how at the Thunder Tower, Fassad got a little abstract?"

Kumatora raised an eyebrow.

"He talked about industrialism as a whole, how the pigmasks could create and destroy anything they wanted, et cetera."

"Mm hmm."

"All he needed to do was kill a few kids. But he seemed to understand exactly what industrialism meant for the pigmask army with the insight of a historian."

"Meaning?"

"He's more aware than he should have been. He knew me, he knew that I had seen the Masked Man before, and he understood the effects of a combined industrialism and totalitarianism with stunning clarity. Because where I come from, the industrial machine of fascism wasn't really used to create. It was used to destroy. It destroyed buildings, lives, and it almost destroyed entire cultures. Fassad knew that the pigmasks weren't really creating a new world order. They were taking everything that wasn't useful and burning it to the ground."

"Yeah, they did quite a bit of that. But Fassad is dead. What's your point?"

"I see that same sort of insight in this colonel. I think she's a little better at hiding it, but I think she understands exactly what's going on, with the pigmasks and with us. She always seems collected and in control, like she's been planning out this entire sequence of events for years."

And if she was another person like Fassad or Isaac who understood that the Nowhere Islands was just a V-game, she could have planned this out for years. Every instinct in Ninten's body screamed for him to run away and forget that the colonel ever existed.

"Okay, let's say you're right," Kumatora said. "What exactly would change? The colonel can know who I am and still die to my fists."

Ninten frowned. He didn't want to call Kumatora naïve, but the colonel would obviously prepare for whatever Kumatora had in store. To underestimate reconnaissance and intelligence during wartime seemed like an almost criminal offense for someone wanting to fight the entire pigmask army.

"I'm still not sure if we should mess around with the her," Ninten said. "I think she's going to lead us into a trap."

"Well, if that's the case then you don't have to come with me," Kumatora said. "I won't blame you."

And there it was. Kumatora had called his bluff with the ultimatum. Claus had brought Ninten here for a reason, and even ignoring him Ninten knew that he couldn't leave Kumatora to die alone. Ninten sighed, and Kumatora smiled. She knew that she had him.

He just wished that he could explain to Kumatora that even after a short conversation with the colonel, he was more scared of her than he had been of Fassad, Isaac, or the Mecha-Drago.

"We're both going to die," Ninten said, burying his face with his hands.

"Quit whining. We all die eventually, so we might as well make sure we go out with a bang."

"All right, fine." Ninten shook his head. "I just hope it's not a literal bang."

"Hey, our odds at the Thunder Tower were probably worse and we all survived that."

"Yeah, but I would have run away from Fassad and the Masked Man if I could have."

"Glad to know that I have such a brave companion," Kumatora said.

"There's a fine line between brave and stupid. And I feel like right now, I'm well past that line and over onto the stupid side. But I might as well get this over with."

Kumatora raised an eyebrow. "We still need to wait two hours."

Ninten closed his eyes and cycled through his power… yep, there it was. Looked like his idea would work.

"Hold my hand," Ninten said.

"What?"

"Just do it."

Kumatora sighed and gripped Ninten's hand, the padded gloves of the pig suit doing little to soften her iron grip.

"4th-D slip," Ninten said.

The world blurred around Ninten, space stretching and compressing like a longitudinal wave. After a few moments, the world rematerialized around him.

"I moved us forward in time," Ninten said, walking away from the mineshaft's dead end. "Let's go. The colonel will be expecting us any minute now."

"So is this why you disappear for years and show up at the most random moments?" Kumatora said, fitting her pig mask back on her face. "You just… travel forward in time?"

"Yeah."

"And you can't travel back?"

"Not really, no."

"Must be frustrating as hell. If you were there with us at the final battle against the Masked Man, maybe the Nowhere Islands would have turned out differently."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. Really, I don't think there's much you could have done against the Masked Man's lightning attacks anyway. I'm just daydreaming at this point. We put all of our hopes in the fairy tale of the Dark Dragon, and I'm only realizing now that it was because we were so desperate. We couldn't see that the world was meant to go up in flames."

Kumatora squeezed past Ninten in the narrow mineshaft and took the lead, and after that line Ninten decided it would be best not to complain. Kumatora led Ninten through the mineshaft and back into the cave area, and soon after they exited back into the sunlit realm of Saturn Valley.

The Mothership was landed right over the pond, the only place big enough for the airship in the main part of the valley occupied with houses. The colonel stood at the airship's entrance, eyeing the pigmasks as they walked in.

"So I guess your time travel actually works," Kumatora said. "At least you can get through the boring parts of your day more quickly, I guess."

"If I want to use my psychic energy for time travel, anyway."

The colonel spotted Kumatora and offered a slight nod. Ninten forced himself to take a deep breath. She knew Kumatora on sight, even though Kuma wore the same pigmask suit as anyone else. Ninten couldn't begin to imagine what the colonel had in store for them, but he knew that he didn't want to be a part of it.

But if he ran now, the colonel would probably gun him down.

Ninten gulped and followed Kumatora up to the Mothership. Kumatora saluted as she walked up the steel ramp and past the colonel, and the colonel saluted back. Ninten could only imagine that the colonel was smiling under her mask. A tingling sensation went down his spine.

The inside of the Mothership was nicer than Ninten expected, with a couple rows of velvet-padded seats and a complicated-looking control panel in front of the main windows separated from the rest of the cabin by a steel railing. Ninten looked around and saw multiple hatches that were controlled by single levels, perfect for a quick escape.

The colonel walked over and leaned on the railing in front of the control panel as she waited for the rest of the pigmasks to congregate around. A pair of pigmasks at the control panel pushed a button to close the main entrance. As airship's ramp flipped up and closed to secure the hatch, Ninten felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"All right," the colonel said, turning back towards the pigmasks working the control panel. "Prepare for takeoff."

After the pigmasks pressed a few buttons and flipped a few switches, Ninten heard the sound of engines whirring. He looked over at Kumatora, who once again stood perfectly still while the other pigmasks fidgeted with their watches or phones.

"While the engines are heating up, I should explain what's going on," the colonel said. "I wasn't lying when I said that we were terminating our occupation of Saturn Valley, but I was ordered to carry out specific orders that some may find… distasteful."

Ninten gulped, hoping that nobody else could hear him.

"In short," The colonel said, slouching back on the railing, "We're going to blast Saturn Valley to bits."

It took Ninten a couple moments to look past the colonel's casual tone and comprehend what she was saying. In those seconds, nobody spoke and the only sound on the ship was the humming of engines. Ninten felt Kumatora tense up next to him and forced himself not to look over. She would make her move when the time was right.

"Why?" Ninten said. "I mean… I'm not challenging your order, sir, but I don't really see the point."

"I'm glad someone asked," the colonel said, "But I'm not going to answer unless I know that you're staying on board. Anyone can choose to leave the Mothership now if they have objections to what is about to happen."

"And die along with the Mr. Saturns?" Kumatora said, her voice dangerously quiet.

The colonel shrugged, unfazed. "Most likely."

Silence fell over the room again, save for the white noise of the engines whirring.

"Well?" the colonel said. "Anyone want to leave?"

Nobody spoke.

"Wonderful." The colonel looked back at the pigmasks by the control panel. "Takeoff time."

Ninten bit his lip, hoping that nobody could see the action under the pig mask. He stared on as the pigmasks at the control panel thrust a few levers forward, prompting the sound of rockets below. With a rumble, the Mothership started to rise. Ninten looked out at the window as the ground started to fall beneath him, and grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

Now would probably be a bad time for Ninten to focus on his fear of heights.

After a few minutes of standing silently while the airship ascended, Ninten could make out the entire Saturn Valley and see the snow-capped peaks of the mountains on either side. The view, rounded out by the sparkling pond within a cluster of alien-looking white cylindrical houses, looked like it should have belonged in a postcard.

And the pigmasks were about to destroy it.

"I will not apologize for what we are about to do," the colonel said, "But I will say that I'm sorry for anyone who loses their innocence today. This is the way the world works, and it is best for every one of you to know the truth sooner than later. Even if it hurts." the colonel paused. "Especially if it hurts."

"I still don't understand," Ninten said. "Why does it have to be this way?"

Ninten heard a gasp from the other pigmasks, and realized too late that he had neglected to call the colonel "sir." The colonel herself, however, kept a casual posture even as she hoisted herself off the railing and stood up straight.

"What do the pigmasks stand for?" she asked. "What is our ideology?"

"I wasn't aware that we had one," Kumatora said dryly."

The colonel ignored her. "Anyone?"

"Prosperity, maybe," one of the pigmasks offered. "Our society advanced a lot after the pigmasks formed."

"And when we say prosperity, we mean greed," the colonel said. "Life for most people hasn't gotten better, but at least they have cool new gadgets that they tell themselves they can't live without. Is that right?"

The pigmasks exchanged glances. Ninten was the first one to offer a hesitant nod. Kumatora, as expected, kept a stiff posture and didn't respond to the question even as the other pigmasks eventually nodded along.

"Our critics agree," the colonel said. "They say that we're teaching people to care only about the bottom line. They claim that the warm hearths of Tazmily grew cold and the houses were barricaded shut following the introduction of money. Of course, those people are idiots. Small towns are the best sources of xenophobia and are quite good at homogenizing their little societies by stifling subcultures. But that's what they say."

The pigmasks hesitated before nodding along. Ninten wondered if anyone else in the room had actually understood what the colonel had said about small towns. He wasn't even sure if the words "xenophobia," "homogenizing," and "subcultures" were really a part of the Nowhere Islander vocabulary.

And if they weren't, it would be enough to prove that the colonel existed outside of the game's timeline like Isaac or Fassad.

"King P. himself gave us pig suits as a symbol for greed and crony capitalism," the colonel said. "He was aware of exactly what sort of society he was trying to create, and he didn't hide it from anyone. Our king has always been… above such deception."

A couple of cheers sounded from the pigmask soldiers. Ninten bit back a smile. They were quite literally applauding greed and destructive capitalism, honest or no.

"Everyone seems to agree that the pigmasks are all about greed and money," the colonel said. "However, they're all dead wrong."

The room fell silent.

"That's right," the colonel continued. "Most of the pigmasks don't know who we are. Our critics don't know who we are. King P. didn't even know who we are. But I do."

"But…" one of the pigmasks stammered. "Everything we have comes from King P."

"Don't give me that bullshit. Surely you're not so brainwashed to thing that he planned out every move of our expansion? King P. created something far larger than itself. In fact, I wouldn't even say that he created it. He just revived a political system from times past."

"You mean fascism," Ninten said.

Oh, hell no. Whether or not the colonel was going to admit it, Ninten knew that his assessment was true. He looked down at Saturn Valley.

Fascists didn't just destroy cities. They destroyed cultures and erased identities. And the colonel had already admitted which genocide they had in mind next.

"Ah, at last a pigmask willing to speak the truth around me." The colonel nodded. "Yes. We are indeed a fascist state. And does fascism preach greed as an ideology?"

"I wouldn't say that fascists lack greed, particularly," Ninten said.

"But greed is a means to an end. And I think you can tell me exactly what end that is."

Ninten was the psychic, but the colonel seemed to be the one who could worm into his thoughts. Ninten gulped and nodded.

"When people think about who the pigmasks are," the colonel said, pacing back and forth. "They think too much about the pig and not enough about the mask. Sure, we show our greed and unregulated capitalism off to the world, but it's just the first layer of what's in our hearts. It is, to say, a façade."

The colonel paused, and for a moment Ninten was back at the Thunder Tower, looking at the smirk of a brown-capped man.

"But unlike Fassad, I know what lies underneath the greed," the colonel said.

"You want to-I mean we want to take over the world," Kumatora said. "That's what we're really after. It's all about the land we control."

"If that were the case, I wouldn't be ordering you to abandon Saturn Valley right now." The colonel shook her head. "Good try, but no. All empires functioned on the principle of expansion, and that expansion is tied in with bringing in resources to fuel greed. That's not what we're after."

"Why don't you just tell us what we are after, then?" Kumatora said, exasperated.

The colonel nodded, ignoring Kumatora's insubordinate tone.

"Hatred," she said. "Fierce, fiery anger directed against another group. Only hate is more powerful than greed. Only hatred is more useful than greed."

Ninten bit his lip, looking down at Saturn Valley. Unfortunately, it made perfect sense why they would want to wipe Saturn Valley off the map.

"We gave the people happy boxes," the colonel said, "So that they would come to us. And when they did, we took away everything. We took away their leisure, their loves, and soon we'll take away the very air that they breathe and replace it with smoke. But it's not because we wanted their labor and life for ourselves. We only want to put the burning fire of hatred in their eyes."

"I don't understand, sir," one of the pigmasks said.

"We beat our own people down," the colonel said, "And then we told them that it was someone else's fault. When people in New Pork City lose their jobs, we blame it on immigrants from small towns like Tazmily. And then, without fail, the people who lost their jobs will seethe and let their anger fester into an infection that consumes them. They'll yell about restricting immigration and riot when they see someone speaking with a country accent. And that, of course, inspires others to do the same.

"And we tell our people that they don't have enough food because we're feeding the insane people on the streets," the colonel continued, "And then our people take up arms against the mentally ill. Because fundamentally, we tell our people that we're better than outsiders. We tell our people that all of their problems will disappear if we remove the pesky, lazy outsiders from our own community of angels. And with just a little nudge, they'll believe it. They'll want to deport any outsider they see. And with a second nudge, we can push them to commit genocides."

"Is it really that easy, sir?" another pigmask asked.

"It's all too easy. We told all of you that you were special, that you were deserved to be special. And whenever you failed, we told you that it was because you were being deprived of what you deserved and that you should seize your own destiny. The people under King P.'s rule are not just a community. We are a race of people, and we are superior to other races. It's a lie that our people want to believe, and it's one that they lap up like dogs. The belief that we are superior gives us strength. The belief that we are superior gives us unity."

Ninten's heart sank into his stomach. In a way, the pigmask colonel was right. The strongest communities were powerful and unified precisely because they all worked together to exclude others from entering their group. On a college campus, the closed community mentality led people in elite fraternities and sororities to take harmless pride in how they had passed rigorous hazing and screening procedures. In the struggling Nowhere Islands, the closed community mentality led to the growth and expansion of the pigmask regime.

"Humans always form into communities," the colonel said, "Even during our days as hunter-gatherers, we travelled in groups. Those groups evolved into villages, and then cities and empires. And finally, they formed into countries, which gave birth to national identities. The national identities strengthened, until they eventually became sacrosanct. That is when countries turn fascist. The strongest community is the one such as the pigmasks that believes our people pure and that all others are inhuman. Our desperation and our desire to feel superior brings us together. We need hate to keep us together."

"And that plays into what we're going to do to Saturn Valley?" Nitnen said.

"Ah, someone's clever. What our soldier here is getting at," the colonel gestured towards Ninten, "Is that fascist nations constantly need a target for our hate. Right now, We're targeting Mr. Saturns. It doesn't matter who we choose. We've already engineered some bullshit plot about how the Mr. Saturns are inventing machines that outcompete the local factories and force those factories to lay off workers. What matters is that we got the people in New Pork City to blame all of their problems on the Mr. Saturns. And if anyone defends the poor creatures, we say that they're conspiring with the Mr. Saturns to take away local jobs as well."

Ninten shivered. The colonel's rhetoric about outsiders stealing jobs cut a just little too close to the real world.

"You honestly expect that to work?" Kumatora said.

"Soldier, it already does. Nobody has complained about the action we're taking against the Mr. Saturns. In fact, everyone is outspoken about how much they despise the little creatures. Because even remaining silent is enough to draw accusations about being a Mr. Saturn sympathizer. We have friend spy on friend, neighbor spy on neighbor, and children spy on parents to make sure everyone agrees that exterminating the Mr. Saturns is necessary. Even a little bit of hatred always spreads wide enough to drown out cries of sympathy."

Ninten heard a noise coming from above and looked out the window to see the laser cannon that was used to destroy the Thunder Tower swivel around until it was pointed straight at Saturn Valley below.

"I've said this once and I'll say it again," the colonel said, "People focus too much on our masks. Even beneath our uniforms, we are all united. We are all part of the strongest community in the world. And we are all examples of how hatred can twist people to commit a genocide against a group like the Mr. Saturns that we never really knew."

The colonel yanked off her mask to reveal a face with soft features and hardened expressions, plain brown hair and fiery black eyes. It was a face that most people would have noticed for its stiff expression, but the sight left Ninten wide-mouthed and stunned for another reason entirely.

A single moment of silence.

"Hinawa?" Ninten said.

"Kumatora," Hinawa said, smiling at Kuma's pig suit. "You should really join the pigmask ranks. I can make sure that you get to watch the world burn. After we exterminate the Mr. Saturns and other outgroups we can find, we'll need a new enemy. I predict that within a decade, the pigmasks will be divided among themselves, fragmented into different regimes. Wouldn't it be so delicious to watch them all slaughter each other?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Kumatora said, throwing off her own mask. "I'll kill every single pigmask I get my hands on, and I'm not going to stand by and watch as you slaughter these terrified Mr. Saturns."

Hinawa sighed. "Ah, Kumatora, you can't pick and choose who to kill when you plunge the world in darkness. Let me show you the-"

"PK Freeze."

Shards of ice sprayed over Hinawa, who only frowned in disappointment.

Hinawa cocked her head in calm contemplation for a single moment.

"Fire the cannon," Hinawa said, glaring at Kumatora as she gestured towards the pigmasks at the control panel. "Everyone else, kill the girl."

Ninten sprang into action, slamming his elbow into the face of the pigmask next to him and stealing the pork trooper's laser gun. He fired a shot at the pigmask's face before dashing past Hinawa towards the control panel. He debated for a moment turning back to help Kumatora, but he was confident that she could handle herself.

The Mr. Saturns, however, could not.

Ninten fired laser bolts at the two pigmasks by the control panel. The laser cannon started to rumble and glow with an eerie light. Ninten let out a shout and fired more lasers, dropping the two pigmasks just as the laser cannon started to flash enough light to disrupt Ninten's view of outside the window.

He looked over at the control panel and saw a meter of the laser cannon's charge progress. It was one tick away from full, which hopefully meant that the cannon wouldn't fire. Ninten shot the meter with his laser gun, sending sparks flying from the control panel.

Ninten looked at all of the glowing buttons and levers on the control panel and couldn't make sense of a single one. Maybe there was a way to deactivate the cannon, but Ninten couldn't afford to look around for the perfect button when Kumatora was fighting for her life. So Ninten took the safe approach to make sure that the laser cannon couldn't fire.

He fired lasers at every single part of the control panel he could see. Each button went up in flames, and each switch emitted sparks as Ninten fired laser bolts at each one. After a few wild shots, he went from right to left along the control panel and destroyed every button and lever systematically.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ninten spotted Hinawa leaping over the railing and running towards him.

Ninten raised his laser gun to fire a second too slow. Hinawa punched Ninten in the gut, sending his vision swimming as he stumbled back in pain. He squinted and made out Hinawa darting away to the other side of the control panel, reaching out for-

No.

Ninten let out a scream, raising his gun.

Too late.

Hinawa pushed one of the buttons Ninten hadn't shot, and the entire ship rumbled for a single, horrible moment.

Please…

The laser cannon on the top of the ship released its energy in a cone of light directed down at Saturn Valley. For a full second, white light filled Ninten's vision.

The next moment, Ninten looked out the window to see Saturn Valley engulfed in flames.

"No." Tears blurred Ninten's village. "I…"

"I regret to do this, Ninten," Hinawa said, pointing a laser gun at him. "I'm not as petty as Fassad or Isaac. I don't really want you dead. But… well, it won't be permanent, right? I promise that it will be painless this time."

"You killed… all of them…" Ninten could hear the emptiness in his own words.

He looked around to see the rest of the pigmask squad pointing their laser guns at him as well. There was no way that Ninten could hope to fight them all.

"You killed all of them." Ninten raised his shaky fists.

A few high-pitched pews sounded, followed by a storm of lasers. With each laser that hit him, Ninten's vision turned red with pain for a fraction of a second. He let out a cry and slumped over at the control panel.

"Kumatora?" Ninten said, raising his head to look at Hinawa.

Hinawa glanced away from the control panel. "Dead, by the looks of it. I know you hate it when people say this, but she is just lines of code in a game."

Ninten let out a whimper. For the first time, he had failed to save anyone. He tried to stand up, but he couldn't find the strength within himself to support his own body weight.

What good was standing up to fight when there was nothing left to fight for?

But there was still another option. Ninten had a way to run away from any situation. He couldn't use it to save anyone else, but maybe this time he could save himself.

"4th-D slip," Ninten said.

He wondered if the world going hazy around him was just in his mind.

Ninten rematerialized into existence in the burning Saturn Valley. He looked around at the flames and coughed at the smoke. One glance up at a spotless blue sky told him that the Mothership had likely taken off without him, explaining why he had appeared back on the ground after using 4th-D slip.

"B-Boing…"

Ninten jerked his head in the direction of the sound, wondering if he had imagined the voice within the cackling of the fire. There, inside of a burning house, Ninten could make out a creature with large whiskers and stubby little feet lying on its side. Its feet flailed in the air as pieces of its house started to come down around it.

He looked around at the other houses. Most of them had been completely disintegrated already, so this one must have been caught on a weaker part of the mothership's laser. Not seeing anyone else he could help, Ninten dashed into the burning house, using Offense Up and knocking aside the debris that prevented the Mr. Saturn from escaping. The creature kept flailing its legs, looking at Ninten with panicked eyes. The flames licked at Ninten's legs and parts of the white ceiling fell down on Ninten's head, depleting his life bar.

The next piece of ceiling that fell down on Ninten knocked him to the ground. His vision swam as he tried to reach out towards the Mr. Saturn, coughing again at the smoke. The piece of fallen ceiling was still on top of him, pinning him in place and bringing his health bar to a blinking red. If only Ninten could…

He felt a whisker brush beside his hand. Maybe that was good enough.

"4th-D slip," Ninten said.

Ninten closed his eyes and hoped beyond hope that he hadn't been too late this time.

Silence.

Pain.

And then, the shuffling of feet.

"Zoom."

Ninten opened his eyes to see the Mr. Saturn standing on top of white rubble. The image floated around, as if his entire vision were seasick. Ninten coughed and forced a smile.

"You're… safe," Ninten said.

He laughed. A joyous feeling rose in his chest, bubbling through a sea of pain. His laughter turned to sobs a moment later, but the tears were of joy rather than sorrow.

Even in so much destruction, in so much evil, there was a little bit of life. A little bit of good.

And that good was worth holding onto.

As Ninten's vision got dimmer and dimmer, he saw the Mr. Saturn move closer and closer. Was that just a trick of his mind?

No. Ninten could definitely feel something in his hand. It was coin-sized, and Ninten wrapped his fingers around the mystery object as he continued to cry.

"Courage, ding," the Mr. Saturn said.

Courage…

Was there really any courage to Ninten risking his life when he could go back in time and try again and again and again to make things right?

He put that question aside, looked the Mr. Saturn in the eye, and smiled one last time before his vision went black.

Once again, words began to appear before Ninten's floating consciousness.

I AM IMPRESSED.

YOU MANAGED TO SAVE A SINGLE MR. SATURN FROM THE GENOCIDE.

THEIR CULTURE SHALL LIVE ON.

BUT IT IS STILL NOT ENOUGH.

THE MR. SATURN WAS NOT THE ONE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE.

BECAUSE THE FACISM CONTINUES TO SPREAD.

PEOPLE HAVE LESS AND LESS TO EAT,

AND THEY GET ANGRIER AND ANGRIER.

THE PIGMASKS TURN TO GENOCIDE AGAIN AND AGAIN,

AND PEOPLE START TO LOSE WHAT LITTLE HOPE THEY HAD.

THIS WORLD IS BEING TORN APART.

THIS WORLD IS BEING TORN APART.

THIS WORLD IS BEING TORN A…P…A…R…T…

N…I…N…T…E…N…

P…

L…

E…

A…

S…

E…