Hey, everyone. :) With this chapter, I finally catch up with my editing to where I am in my writing. So don't expect me to keep up this pace of one chapter per day haha.

This chapter has a bit of a... weird scene that takes place in futuristic Earth, so I included a lot of geopolitics (an area that I don't know much about). The way I portray the representatives of different countries is likely inaccurate in subtle ways, even though I tried to do my research. I'm hoping to have a bit more leeway since it's in the future and relationships between countries do change. Although in this case, most of the countries have regressed backwards socially. The way I portray China isn't how I actually think it is today. I revived a lot of more charged language used historically in China to represent a social decline back into the age of the Cultural Revolution.

But yeah, I just wanted to have fun with writing different leaders of different countries, even if my portrayal of them isn't entirely accurate. Hopefully it feels natural.

Review Response: PKTofuMaster: (I'm going to respond to your ch. 1 review by PM) Aw, I'm glad I could help. :) Advanced mobio sounds like death lol. Ochem is already taking a lot out of me and it's week 2. I did a little confused head tilt irl when you said that her character was true to her personality, since in M3 she's quite upbeat. But I'm glad that you liked the character. I was worried that her dark motives would be a turn-off to people reading the chapter. And then I completely neglect Duster and Boney because I can't write them for shit lol. Yeah, I was reading around the internet and saw that some people view the pigmasks as a literal fascist regime, and I thought that would be a cool concept to run with... especially after Lucas and crew fail to pull the needles.

Heh, I'm glad you recognized that the Mr. Saturn was giving him the courage badge (I make it more explicit this chapter). Really, the reason I wanted to include a Saturn Valley scene at all was because Ninten needs the Franklin Badge to fight the Masked Man at the final needle. Oops, spoilers... but hopefully it's not too surprising where that was heading. I was also at one point planning a scene with Salsa (that's the green door that Ninten never goes through) but decided to scrap it for the Thunder Tower scene since all I really needed to do there was introduce Kuma. The person Ninten is supposed to save is closer to #2 (I think), but honestly I'm sorta writing this as I go. I had a good idea of who it was supposed to be, but some things changed in my story and now I'm not sure if it makes as much sense. We'll see. :)

Ninten took a deep breath, staring at the glowing stones beneath his feet. He was fine. He wasn't obsessed with the Nowhere Islands V-game. He just… had a healthy appreciation for it? Ana played V-games all the time, so surely Ninten couldn't be blamed for finally getting into the scene when he was trapped inside this dingy cave anyway. Just a perfectly normal person playing a perfectly normal V-game.

A dry laugh escaped from Ninten's lips. Who was he kidding? The Nowhere Islands V-game had taken away his contentment, his time, and eventually his freedom.

And yet he couldn't wait to go back.

Ninten closed his eyes and pictured the hazy memory of the Mr. Saturn standing on a pile of white rubble in front of him under an ocean-blue sky. The creature's whiskers seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as it walked closer and closer to Ninten.

"Courage, ding."

Ninten opened his eyes, looking down at his right hand, which was balled into a fist. He must have grown used to the feeling, but now that he focused on his sense of touch he could tell that he was holding something in his fist.

Ninten uncurled his trembling fingers and looked down at his open palm, seeing a single rusty badge pressed into his skin.

He bit his lip and placed his palm over his chest, along with the badge in it.

"You killed… all of them…." Ninten's own voice rang in his ears.

But the pigmasks hadn't wiped out the Mr. Saturns, not completely. He had saved a single little creature out of the entire village from the inferno. A single pair of wide eyes, two stubby legs, four whiskers, and a ribbon. That was all he had managed to preserve.

Ninten pressed the badge more tightly against his chest, feeling tears come to his eyes.

"Courage, ding."

Courage… was that the badge's name?

"Even a little hatred always spreads enough to drown out cries of sympathy."

No. Hinawa was wrong. There was always good in the world, and evil couldn't snuff it out completely. Ninten remembered his own laughter bubbling up from his lungs as he saw the lone Mr. Saturn on top of the white rubble. Ninten himself could remember his consciousness slipping away, leaving him in a hazy, dreamlike state.

Even through the pain and suffering, Ninten managed to laugh.

Because of the pain and suffering, Ninten managed to laugh.

So Ninten laughed again. He laughed for Claus' starry eyes, for Lucas' gentle smile. But he also laughed for the Masked Man's emotionless expression, for Hinawa's stern gazes and Kumatora's stiff anger. He laughed because they had never gotten a chance to let everything go and let joy take control.

Tears continued to stream down Ninten's cheeks. He kept his eyes closed and counted sixty heartbeats, feeling the Courage Badge pressed against his chest each time his heart pounded.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Ana looking straight at him with a smirk.

"Ah." Ninten scrambled backwards and fell onto his rear. "Ann. Uh… how are you doing?"

Ninten chuckled and began to stand, but a wave of dismissal from Ana cut off the motion. Ana exhaled and sat down next to Ninten, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. She looked into his eyes, smiled, and then let the arm she had placed on Ninten's shoulder drop to her side. Up close, Ninten could see the dark circles under Ana's eyes, and the red capillaries in the whites of her eyes looked like they were about to burst.

"Everything that's happened to us doesn't feel like it should be able to fit into a single day," Ana said. "A week, a month, a year. Those can change people's lives. But a day?"

"I didn't even need a day," Ninten said, glancing down at the Courage Badge in his hand. "All it took for me was a couple of hours."

"And is it okay if I ask how you changed?" Ana's voice sounded distant.

"I'm not scared of the Nowhere Islands anymore," Ninten said. "I mean, I'm still terrified, but I'm not exactly…" Ninten sighed. "I guess maybe I'm just ready."

"For what?" Ana's eyes followed the silhouettes on the ceiling.

"To help someone," Ninten said. "To finally be useful. Even if it's just inside of a game"

"I'm… glad." Ana yawned. "Maybe the fatigue is just making me delirious. But even though we ended up walking into a big mess, I'm so glad you're here with me."

Ninten blinked, looking over and studying Ana's expression.

"I'm serious," she said. "I hope that we stay friends forever. I know that college friends tend to go their own ways after school, and some of them don't ever see each other again. I don't want that to be us."

"You don't want us to go our own ways?" Ninten said, raising an eyebrow.

"I…" Ana sighed. "I don't know what I want. Right now, I want to stay here until I know that you're safe. In a few days, I want to find Lucas and turn everything back to the way things were. In four years, I want to enter a PSI fellowship and become a healer. But for the rest of my life? I just don't know."

Ana paused, looking over at the Courage Badge in Ninten's hand. She squinted and looked closer, poking at the rusty badge with a finger. However, the badge remained just a rusty badge, and Ana smiled.

"What about you?" she said. "What do you want?"

"I don't know either."

"We're expected to know what to do with our lives," Ana said. "But what if we just can't tell what the future holds?"

Ninten nodded. Even in the world of the Nowhere Islands, the future was vast and he could only cling onto fragments of time in a sea of eternity. Ninten couldn't plan out his future when he could slip through time. If he were dragged along through real life and poured through the hourglass of time like every other grain of sand, how could he hope to know what he wanted to do in five, ten years?

"I think," Ninten said, "That we should set little goals for ourselves. We should laugh and smile. We should go to bed and dream happy dreams. And we should work as hard as we can right now to find Lucas and make sure he can do the same."

Ninten spent the next few minutes telling Ana about what happened to him during his last trip to the Nowhere Islands. Her expression grew more and more concerned the further along the story.

"I wish Claus hadn't made that deal with you," Ana said after Ninten finished.

"That he would tell me where Lucas is? Why not?"

"Because if you don't beat the V-game and Lucas never comes back, you'll probably go the rest of your life thinking that it's your fault that we never found him."

Ninten sighed. "Okay, point taken. It might be kind of hard to live through a life where Claus knows where Lucas is but won't tell me because I can't beat his stupid game."

"Kind of hard?" Ana said.

Ninten rubbed his temples. "Look, Ann. I do get it, and I appreciate you pointing out that scenario. But at least I have a chance this time. At least I have hope."

Ana pursed her lips. "I'm just scared that you're investing yourself personally in that V-game."

"How could I not?"

"But what if you fail, Ninten? What if the game is actually impossible to beat? Claus couldn't stop the cycle of suffering after living in that stupid game, going through each timeline again and again until he watched the world crumble in a thousand different ways. What can you do that he hasn't tried?"

"I'm not sure." Ninten looked up at the ceiling. "Thanks for keeping me real, Ann. I'll go into the game expecting to fail, hoping that the police will find Lucas before us. But I can't ignore what's going on right in front of my eyes. Not anymore."

"And I assume that you won't turn back now because Claus claims to know where Lucas is?"

Ninten nodded. "I have to at least try."

Ana smiled, stood up, and dusted herself up. "Look at my little Ninten. All grown up and ready to take action. Does this mean that you'll try on your physics homework first before you come complaining to me?"

"Hey." Ninten crossed his arms. "I always try on the physics assignments. I'm just stupid so I can't accomplish anything on my own."

"You have an A in the class, right?"

"I get lucky on the tests."

"Well, let's hope that your luck carries you through here," Ana said, smiling. "I think I'm close to breaking you out of here, so I'll be chugging along through the night trying to make progress as well. I wish us both luck."

"Thanks, Ann. I know I always say this, but-"

"You wish you could be more helpful?"

Ninten gulped and nodded. "I definitely feel like a princess locked away in a castle right now."

"Well, read any modern story about princesses and they'll motivate you to kick some ass. You can't do anything about your own position. You might not be able to do anything about Lucas', either. But you saved that Mr. Saturn, right? That's worth something."

"Yay me. I saved a V-game character."

"And I'm saving a digital letter on your transcript next to the word 'physics.' These things matter, Ninten. And I…" Ana paused with her mouth hanging open, and then laughed. "And I guess if we're changing things up while trying to have some fun, I should stop mooching off of your family's money and take you out to ice cream some time. Whatever happens with this whole Lucas business, I think we deserve it."

Ninten's mouth watered. "Ice cream sounds great. And you're going to pay?"

"That's generally implied when I say I'm going to stop stealing your money and take you out somewhere."

"Just wanted to make sure." Ninten yawned, and got up to his feet. "I'll look forward to it. You're going to want the triple fudge brownie flavor again, I bet."

Ana raised her hands in mock surrender. "What can I say? Triple fudge brownie ice cream is the only boyfriend I'll ever need. And you're going with some shitty fruit flavor, I bet."

"I always wanted to try mango," Ninten said. "And you should watch which flavors you call shitty when yours actually looks like a turd."

Ana laughed, her notes of joy echoing throughout the caverns. She closed her eyes and licked her lips.

"I can already taste it," she said. "The ice cream, not the turd you were talking about. And it's enough to distract me from my crushing existential questions for a while longer."

"The best taste," Ninten said, grinning.

Ana opened her eyes and looked over at the dragon-and-islands sprite.

"Well, I think that Claus and the others are waiting for you in there," she said, "And I think we've kept them waiting long enough."

Ninten nodded, closed his eyes, and walked towards the floating sprite. He stopped when his fingers brushed over the hard scales of the Dark Dragon sprite. Ninten opened his eyes, looked back at Ana, and waved goodbye.

Then he transferred his consciousness back into the Nowhere Islands.

THE YEAR IS 20XX. WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS THE LAST REMNANT OF…

OF…

…

I THINK…

I THINK THAT MAYBE YOU SHOULD SEE WHY THE REST OF THE WORLD WAS DESTROYED.

(ILH)

No smell of smoke.

No glass box with stars flickering outside.

Instead, Ninten stood inside a tunnel. The floor was lined with mine cart tracks, and wires snaked up the dirt walls and powered dirt-covered light bulbs from the ceiling.

And at the end of the tunnel, a metal door with a fingerprint scanner.

"I don't like this place," came Claus' voice.

Ninten turned around to see the Claus wearing the Masked Man's stiff suit, minus the helmet. Claus looked down at the door at the end of the tunnel, his expression conflicted.

"Have you been here before?" Ninten asked.

Stupid question. Claus had been everywhere in this universe. The corners of Claus' lips tilted upwards to form a thin smile.

"Well, the Claus in the game hasn't. But I got curious and checked out a bit of this world's history. I don't want to say it was a mistake, but…"

"But?"

"There are times I wish I hadn't."

Wonderful.

"I'm sorry," Claus said, looking away. "I think it will be better for you, since you're not stuck in here."

Ninten took a moment to study Claus' face with his soft features and wide, sad eyes. Compared to Claus, Ninten did have it easy. Ninten could choose to leave—well, not Lucas' Magicant, but at least the Nowhere Islands V-game—while Claus was watching the same tragedies play out again and again. If Claus had managed to survive this long without break down, Ninten could put on a smile and step into the unknown without flinching.

"I saw what you did last time," Claus said. "With the Mr. Saturn. I saw you… laugh."

"Yeah, I was out of it by the end."

Claus frowned. "But you didn't seem insane. You looked at the Mr. Saturn with the same overwhelming relief as if it were your own child."

"I'm a little young for that, Claus."

"I remember Lucas used to go into the woods just to stare at the trees. I would tell him that they were just stupid plants. I would have to physically drag him over to the pond to play. But again and again, I would find him holding a leaf in his hand, staring wide-eyed at the veins and laughing as a breeze carried the leaf up into the air."

Claus paused, looking back at Ninten.

"I had forgotten," Claus said, "That people could be so amazed at small signs of life."

Ninten looked around at the mine cart tracks and dangling light bulbs while breathing in the humid air of the mine. What he would give for a tree, a leaf, and a breeze right about now...

"I might have forgotten as well," Ninten said. "At least, until just recently."

"I wonder how you will react to what happens next now that you remember." Claus gestured towards the steel door. "It will react to your fingerprint. The door acts the same as one of the glass doors. It will transport you to another place."

"And there's only one place I can go?"

"If you want to progress in the Nowhere Islands, you have to see this. After you witness how the world ended once, you'll have your chance to break the cycle of suffering."

"And there's nothing I can do to save this world?"

Claus shook his head. "We are not on the Nowhere Islands anymore. Changing what happens here is far beyond either of our powers."

"So I just watch, then."

"You can try to take action, if you want. But this world, with or without your interference, is doomed."

"Lovely."

Claus shrugged. "What a pleasant V-game we chose to make."

Ninten cocked his head. "We" chose to make it? That meant Claus and… other people helped design the game?

"Yes," Ninten said, trying not to alert Claus to the slip he had just made. "Better to get it over with, I guess."

Ninten walked over to the door and the fingerprint pad. He hesitated, looking down at the black touch screen with the picture of a fingerprint above it. Taking a deep breath, Ninten put his thumb on the fingerprint pad and closed his eyes.

"Good luck," he heard Claus say.

As Ninten looked back, he heard the steel door rumble open, and he caught a glimpse of Claus waving goodbye before white light filled his vision.

A single sleek, steel floor.

Four walls with the reflective sheen of metal.

Two men and two women clothed in black suits, congregated around a machine. And hooked up to that machine through an IV was another unconscious woman laying down on the floor wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

The machine displayed the unconscious woman's heartbeat, spiking up about once a second. Ninten looked for a heart monitor, and frowned after seeing no wires coming out from the unconscious woman's clothes.

Three of the four people stood around the unconscious woman, while the last man sat in a wheelchair smoking a cigarette. One of the women spoke in a foreign language, her voice halting after each syllable as she pronounced every sound using a different tone. Likely Chinese, then, although Ninten didn't want to be the guy to ask.

"Uh…" Ninten looked back and forth between the four people clustered around the IV machine.

Four heads and a wheelchair swiveled around towards Ninten. Two men and two women greeted Ninten with nods, their expressions unfazed. The man not relegated to the wheelchair walked over to Ninten and smiled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an earpiece. He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly to mimic speech, but no words came out. A moment later, the man pointed out to myself.

Speak to me. That must be what the man was trying to say.

"Um…" Ninten looked over at the other people by the machine. "Hello? Can you understand me? My name is Ninten."

The man nodded, fidgeted with the earpiece, and handed it to Ninten. He pointed at the earpiece and then pointed at his own ear.

Yeah, like Ninten couldn't tell what an earpiece was. He put the device in his ear and gave the man a thankful nod. The man smiled and spoke in the same tonal language as the woman from before, and moments later the earpiece translated the word to English.

"Greetings, Ninten," the man had said. "Where are you from?"

Ninten paused. "You know America?"

"Knew," the man in the wheelchair said in a different language.

"Oh, I bet you're going to love giving him shit, Kim," the woman who hadn't yet spoke said. "He's probably been memory-gassed, you know. But I suppose a dictator like you can't feel bad at all."

The man in the wheelchair shrugged. "Being with you makes me wish that I had been memory-gassed."

Memory-gassed? They probably thought Ninten had amnesia, which wasn't far from the truth.

"Mr. Kim. Ms. Park." The man who had given Ninten the earpiece sighed. "Please keep our discussion civil."

Kim. Park. Those were Korean surnames. Two Koreans, and the man in front of Ninten was likely Chinese. He looked over at the last woman, whose language also sounded like Mandarin, or possibly Cantonese. Where did she belong?

"I hate to break this to you," the man who had given Ninten the earpiece said, "But the American government has already collapsed. You probably don't remember it, since they gassed all of their citizens into forgetting all of their short-term and many of their long-term memories. Your effects seem to be pretty mild, since you still know what America is."

"Thank you," Ninten said. Should he bow? "If you don't mind… where are we?"

"Underground," the man said. "Probably somewhere near Seoul. After living in the caverns for so long, the old lands and countries start to lose meaning."

"If only," the man in the wheelchair said with a snort.

"We should probably introduce ourselves," the man who had given Ninten the earpiece said. "I am Zhang Yan, president of the Republic of China. Do you… remember what that means?"

Ninten smiled. He didn't know how many Americans had ever learned Taiwan's official name to begin with.

"I do, sir. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"And I," said the Chinese-sounding woman, "Am Liu Mei, president of the People's Republic of China. I must say that I didn't expect to find a gas victim here of all places. The security procedures are quite rigid. But it would be feasible for another bio-terrorist to feign amnesia, hack into our systems, and meet us here."

Another bio-terrorist? Ninten frowned.

"I assure you, Ms. Liu, that I really don't remember what happened," Ninten said. "And I know that I can't prove anything. You really just have to trust me."

"Well, I like him just because Liu doesn't," the woman referred to as Park said, smiling at Ninten. "I'm Park Hae-Won, president of the Republic of Korea. It's nice to finally have someone to talk to other than a pushover and two communists."

Two communists? Liu made one, and Zhang was likely the pushover that Park mentioned. Ninten turned towards the man in the wheelchair.

"Yeah, I fucking hate this part," the man in the wheelchair said. "The name's Kim. Just call me Kim. And I'm the leader of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea. And since you Americans can't seem to be able to see through our bullshit name-"

"North Korea," Ninten said, a chill running down his spine.

"Yeah, I'm the glorious immortal leader and all that." Kim shook his head, taking a puff from his cigarette. "You'd think that if I actually had superpowers, I would be able to stand up and quit smoking. But my people are still too fucking scared to say anything about that part."

"Even though you're so forward about it?" Ninten said.

"He let the real power fall into the hands of the military," Park said with a sneer. "He's just a figurehead. And instead of the military sending us one of their generals, they give us this little fucker."

"I think that calling me a fucker is a little rude," Kim said, "To all those who are actually attractive enough to find someone to fuck."

"Comrades," Liu said, slamming her palms on the IV machine. "Focus. My congress threatens to break the armistice if we don't get any information from the terrorist. They tell me that it's all Zhang's fault."

"You're the one with nukes." Zhang frowned. "Why should your people be scared of us, Liu? I mean, I know you brainwashed them all just like the Nazis-"

Liu's eyes lit up in anger. "We are not fascists."

"Yeah, you're not. Chairman Mao killed six times as many people as Hitler killed in the holocaust. I'd say that makes the communist party worse."

"You know those numbers are inflated."

"Oh, so Mao only killed four times as many people as Hitler. Now suddenly, everything's okay?" Zhang laughed.

"This is what happens when you try to reason with communists, Zhang," Park said, shaking her head.

"Everyone shut the fuck up," Kim said.

Ninten looked around as silence fell over the room. Everyone other than Kim looked stunned, giving the man in the wheelchair enough time to catch his breath.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Kim said. "How old are you? Most children I see can at least pretend to be civil when company's watching."

Ninten wondered what kind of kids Kim knew.

Liu frowned and opened her mouth to speak. Kim cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Please, Liu," Kim said. "Don't give me the bullshit you have prepared about swearing by Jesus being reactionary. I think that Ninten and I are the only ones in this room who know that we don't live in the fucking sixties anymore."

Well, this could have been set in the 2060s and Ninten wouldn't have known the difference. Although it did concern him that the most level-headed person in the room seemed to be the North Korean dictator.

"We," Kim said, "Are all going into the terrorist's psyspace. Together. We will tell her that we can still find ways to hurt her and bring her out of her slumber. And Ninten is coming with us."

"Ninten?" Liu gagged. "Comrade, have you gone insane?"

Zhang frowned. "I do believe that we should trust Ninten until he proves otherwise, but I'm unfortunately forced to agree with Liu. Disclosing sensitive information to civilians simply doesn't make any sense."

"Fucking communists," Park muttered. "Fucking North Koreans."

"Ninten is coming with us," Kim said, "Or I will release enough nukes in these goddamn tunnels to collapse every last one."

The room fell silent. Ninten looked into Kim's eyes and felt his last shred of doubt fade away. This man really would sacrifice millions of lives to fulfil his petty agenda.

"You…" Park chocked on her own anger. "You can't do that."

"Oh, I can't?" Kim's voice was dangerously soft.

"Your military is in charge of the nukes," Park said, "Not you. Everyone knows that."

"And would you like to test that claim? If so, feel free to keep on chattering."

Park opened her mouth to speak again, and Zhang silenced her with a shake of his head.

"If it really means so much to you," Zhang said, "I will allow Ninten to accompany us. But this may have diplomatic repercussions, Kim. I was sincerely hoping that we were all above resorting to such threats."

"I, unfortunately, have to agree with Zhang," Liu said, glancing over at Ninten. "It is not truly a big deal if he come with us, but I do not understand your motives."

"I don't approve," Park said. "We can't let ourselves cave into his hollow threats. North Korea's been threatening my country for a century, and we haven't backed down before."

"Too bad that you just got outvoted," Kim said, flashing a smile filled with crooked teeth. "Turns out coercion gets you votes. Isn't that the wonderful thing about democracy, Park?"

"So, uh…" Ninten gulped as all four heads turned towards him. "The unconscious person hooked up to the IV machine. She's a terrorist?"

"More than that," Liu said, scowling. "She's part of a group that wants to annihilate humanity completely."

"So far, they've been successful at stirring unrest," Zhang said, "But not much more."

"Not much more?" Kim snorted. "That's plenty bad enough."

Liu flashed a thin smile. "You have to give him that one, Zhang."

Zhang sighed. "Let's just get this over with. Ninten, you are still familiar with psyspaces, yes?"

"Er… yeah." What he didn't know was how it would work to enter a psyspace inside a V-game that was already inside of a psyspace.

"I still cannot believe that you're caving into Kim's demands, Zhang," Park said.

Zhang walked over to the unconscious woman and placed a hand on the IV machine. Kim wheeled his wheelchair over and did the same, his hand shaking as he set it down on the steel machine. Liu walked over to the opposite side of the machine as Zhang and placed her own hand down.

It took Ninten a moment to realize what was going on.

"You can force your way into her psyspace with the IV?" Ninten said.

"Well, it's not really an IV," Liu said, frowning. "But yes. The Americans must have done a good job with their memory gas to make their people forget about these machines."

Ninten decided that he didn't want to know what the American government had done to make Liu say that. He walked up and placed his hand on the opposite side of the machine as Kim, between Zhang and Liu.

"Coming, Park?" Zhang said.

Park sighed and walked over, glaring at Kim as she placed a hand on the monitor between Ninten's and Zhang's hands.

"Now," Kim said. "Let's go into the terrorist's psyspace and see what she has to say."

Ninten nodded, closing his eyes and transferring his consciousness into the machine in front of him.

Moments later, after his consciousness left his body, Ninten opened his eyes to see crystal-clear waves crashing down on the white sand underneath his feet.