I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter, but here you go^^ I hope you like it^^ And it's my longest chapter yet! Horray!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own AKB0048, nor it's characters.
After a landing that was as safe as it could be, and after a short wait, the order from Tsubasa came as a relief. After all, after nearly getting captured by DES without being able to do anything, and then being forced to wait inside the Flying Get on a planet on which they never could know where DES might be hiding, was taxing.
"All hands, listen up." Tsubasa spoke through the earpieces everyone had been told to keep on at all times. "The Flying Get will now undergo repair operations. Meanwhile, members are to scout the area to ensure our safety for the time being. Successors, you are to scout in LAS, mainly for enemies. Understudies, you are by foot, and are mainly going to focus on getting tests of the water, plants, and so on. Make sure to be armed in case you encounter DES, and if you do, be careful. Avoid getting spotted, if you are, then possibillities are we'll have to space jump again."
While the successors set up the LAS and got ready for scouting, the understudies teamed up into groups by two and two or three and three. Kanata had pressed to go with Makoto - not, that the junior understudy complained - to be able to check on the latter's injury. Then Sonata had decided to go with Suzuko, and Nagisa, Yuka and Orine had ended up together. The three groups spread out, and kept their eyes peeled for anything that would be a threat.
"Are you feeling better, Makoto?" Kanata asked, just as she and Makoto left eyesight of the Flying Get. Even if Makoto was supposed to stay in bed for a day more, Makoto had insisted that she wanted to help, she had managed to convince Tsubasa to let her do it, but Kanata wasn't entierly sure that Makoto's injury had fully healed.
"Yep." Makoto smiled. "Fit as a fiddle."
"Then let's get going." Kanata said as she ducked under a gigantic leaf from an immense palmtree-looking plant. Makoto quickly hurried after, though with a bit's hesitation.
"Not so fast though!" She exclaimed as she made her way under the leaf as well, and found Kanata squatting by a pond, holding out a gauge device over the water surface. When Makoto got over to Kanata, the device beeped, and Kanata checked the values.
"Great, we won't have to go thirsty. It's regular water, and no toxins were detected." Kanata said, and put the device back in it's pocket, and rose up. "Let's continue then."
At the same time, Suzuko and Sonata had reached a big forest consisting of, very much like the rest of the planet, mushrooms. Suzuko calmly walked, leading the way for Sonata who was happily skipping along, almost like a puppy.
"Mushrooms, Heirlooms, bathrooms!" Sonata repeatedly sing-songed as she walked after Suzuko and for at least the tenth time that day Sonata stopped by a mushroom that caught her eye. She stretched out a hand to poke the jelly-looking mushroom which had sparked her interests.
"Sonati." Suzuko said, stopping and turning around. "Don't carelessly go and touch any mushrooms. They might give you halluciantions, and diseases and whatnot." Sonata immediately pulled her hand back, and grabbed it with her other hand, as if to make sure it stayed there.
"Diseaser!"Sonata exclaimed accusingly at the mushroom.
Only minutes later, Suzuko laid her eyes on a particular pink mushroom with darker, heartshaped humps and small yellow dots and stars.
"Oh my, how cute." She said as she walked over to it, completely oblivious to the look of suspicion Sonata gave her. When she stopped by the mushroom and leaned in to take a closer look at it, it spurted out a purple cloud of particles straight in Suzuko's face, and said girl was knocked out, and she fell backwards. Sonata screamed, ran over to the older girl, and pulled her up.
"Linda! Hey! Linda!" She yelled. Suzuko just wouldn't wake up. Granted, Sonata hadn't tried for very long, but to try for a a long time, you'll need to be patient. Besides, some mushroom had just knocked Suzuko out, so being patient was really not Sonata's main focus at the moment.
She started slapping Suzuko on the cheeks over and over, wildly guessing that that would wake Suzuko up. She was right. After a good three minutes of yelling and slapping, Suzuko stirred.
"Huh..?" The greenhaired girl asked as she slowly opened her eyes, and recognizing the girl in front of her, she asked. "..Sonati..?"
"Linda! Thank goodness!" Sonata exclaimed and wrapped her arms around Suzuko tightly. "I thought you were gonna die!" As Sonata kept repeating those words, she heard neither Suzuko's "Thank you for waking me up.", neither her comment about having a strange dream including succession, mushrooms, and Sonata herself. Sonata didn't even hear Suzuko complaining over hurting cheeks.
Elsewhere, Nagisa, Yuka and Orine was in a mushroom forest as well, owever, it was a lot different with tall mushrooms, with small hats, and the occasional rock. On the particular rock that the three apporached a bundle of small, at least compared to all the other mushrooms on the planet, rainbow coloured mushrooms stood proudly.
"We're back at the rainbow mushrooms..." Yuka sighed.
"Are we… going in circles?" Orine asked.
"Don't tell me we're lost!" Nagisa exclained, making the other two quickly hush her. "Then what are we going to-..." She asked more quietly, but was cut off by Yuka.
"Stop!" Yuka held her finger up, not unlike a teacher. "If you get lost, just stay where you are. That's the golden rule for lost children." Her words and posture completely took Nagisa and Orine off-guard.
"Eh?" They asked, requiering an explanation, and Yuka lost her teacher-like appreance.
"At least, that is what I always told my younger siblings. It was my job to find them when they had gotten lost." She sighed. "I guess I now realize how afraid they were..."
Orine nodded. She and Nagisa had once helped Yuka to search for them when she had been unsuccessfull alone. "First we ran away from Akibastar…"
"...And now we've been chased out of Akibastar." Nagisa finished. "I feel that way too, and I guess everyone else does as well… The feeling of being far, far away from home."
"Still, it's thanks to you two I've made it this far. And of course, Chieri. And Suzuko. And Makoto. And Sonata. Kanata and Mariko as well, as well as Takamina, Yuuko, and all the other successors. Not to mention Tsubasa." Orine said, leaning back and looking up at the sky.
Now it was Yuka's turn to look quizzingly together with Nagisa. "Eh..?" Orine smiled and sat down on a praticularly big and low mushroom.
"I've lost so many loved ones, and been through lots of hardships. But you two and Chieri shared our dream. And then, when we got to Akibastar, that included Sonata, Suzuko, Makoto, Kanata and Mimori*. That's what made me be able to continue. It is what keeps me going even now. If this had happened a while back, I'd probably have given up, and thought getting elected and becoming a successor was out of my reach. But now… I think that 00… No, that we'll be able to take back Akibastar, and reach the hearts of everyone. Not just our fans."
Yuka and Nagisa smiled.
"Yeah! We'll all work together, and make sure that we'll get back home!" Yuka exclaimed, fist-pumping.
"And then we'll become successors and sing on the main stage!" Nagisa followed suit. "And then we're going to hold a concert at Lancastar!" All three of them started to laugh.
But their sounds of joy we're cut short as they heard a non-human yell from above, and when they looked up, they saw a small, fairly round, and very cute animal falling down.
Their screams joined in with it's as they moved to catch it.
Makoto and Kanata had gotten a good bit of test results and was walking towards a large, treelike mushroom, when they heard a scream made out of two joined voices. The two of them froze for a second, and Makoto whimpered.
"Was that..?" Makoto asked, turning her head towards the place where the sound came from.
"Yeah. That was definately Nagisa, Yuka and Orine." Kanata exclaimed, before running towards the sound.
When they got there, they found Nagisa awkwardly standing beside Orine who was rubbing the top of her head, and breathing heavily.
"Ow..."Orine said. "It was heavy for being so small."
"Are you all right?" Kanata asked from the ground. Nagisa turned, and a small smile of different emotions showed on her face, such as uncertainness, shock, awkwardness, and embarrassment.
"...I think so..." The strawberry-haired replied, turning to Orine who nodded.
"Where's Yuka?" Kanata asked, furrowing her brow. "You haven't lost her, have you?"
"Nope, I'm here!" Came Yuka's - slightly strained - voice from the side of the mushroom that Kanata and Makoto didn't see. "Though I'd be grateful for some help."
As Nagisa and Orine slided down from the mushroom to the other side of the mushroomKanata quickly ran around the mushroom to help Yuka (Makoto didn't dare because of the straint in Yuka's voice). What she found, was Yuka holding a furiously scratching small creacture mostly in beige, with long arms, and something that could only be it's ears. Makoto finally dared to peak she found the scene in all of it's absurdity. She started laughing, trying to hide it, but finally gave up, laughing right out. Four heads turned their heads towards her, and one yelled when she accidentally let go of the fighting creature.
Orine yelped when it rushed to her chest, hugging it's arms around her neck.
"I couldn't find any detailed information, but I can safely say that it's of a indigenous species." Suzuko pushed her glasses further up her nose. "Though I will continue search."
The girls had brought the Flying Get, since they didn't know where it came from, and they had to get back either way. The little creature was munching on a small bar of food, when sayaka came over.
"Hey, what's that thing?" She asked, being completely ignored by the little one.
"Well, we have no idea of what it is, and I haven't been able to find anything about it yet." Suzuko said, without taking her eyes off the hologram screen her phone was producing.
"All we know is that it for some reason fell from it's home or something down on Orine's head when we were out scouting." Yuka scratched her chin.
"And let's just say it was more fond of Orine than Yuka and me..." Nagisa added making the the five of those who had been at the site where they found it laugh. When Orine gave the creature it's second food bar, Sonata skipped forward, extending a hand.
"Is it yummy?" She asked, and jumped back when the little creature gripped it's food bar, and let out a sound somewhere inbetween a growl and a scream. As Sonata quickly recovered, she stomped her right reet, and leaned forward. "Hmph!" Sonata said. "Then Sonata's gonna..." She let out a surprisingly similar sound. The small creature got scared, and in an instant, even before Sonata stopped, it was hugging Orine again.
"It seems it has taken a liking to you." Suzuko stated, matter-of-factly.
"I bet it thinks you're it's mother." Yuka added, making Orine turning to her, surprized.
"Eh? It's mother?" She asked, before turning her gaze back to the creature. "But how can I be a mother?"
"By being yourself." Mariko walked up to Orine. "I mean, was it the Orine who tried to be a mother that it got attatched to? Even if you only just met, it feels safe around you."
"You've got quite the gift, Orine. Not all people can communicate that well with animals without having tried alot before." Sayaka smiled at her.
"I don't commun-..." Orine replied, but was cut off.
"Do you want to hurt this little guy?" Sayaka asked, leaning forward and scratching the creature on top of it's head. It did not acknowledge her.
"What? No!" Orine exclaimed.
"That's what I mean. He trusts you because you don't want to harm him. That's the communication I'm talking about. Body language and feelings." Sayaka rose up, and grinned.
"Feelings?" Nagisa asked, clearly confused.
"Yup. Feelings." Sayaka smiled. "A lot of animal species can sense feelings, and I'd reckon this little fellow is one of them." The group quieted, and the only sound, except from the forest all around them, was the happy sounds of the creature.
"Mofufu." Orine said, confusing everyone listening.
"Mofufu?" Sayaka asked and the others nodded in agreement. Orine smiled.
"That's what I'm naming him. Because it sounds like he's saying Mofu-Mofu."
"That's so cute!" Yuka exclaimed.
Little did they know that several rather unhappy eyes was watching them. The eyes glowed red as the watching being growled, but the idols didn't hear it.
Later that night, when everyone was off to sleep, they had decided to… Well, Orine had decided to sleep outside, because no matter what she did, Mofufu didn't want to to enter the Flying Get, and the other girls had decided to sleep outside as well, not wanting Orine to sleep outside alone and unguarded. They had made up a scedule, where first a pair of understudies would stand watch for an hour, then it was a pair of successors for an hour, and so on.
When it was Sayaka and Yukirin's turn, everything seemed to be normal for about half an hour, everything was quiet and (somewhat) normal. But then, several huge creatures, who did not look very friendly, or happy either for that matter, emerged from the mushroom-trees.
"What are those?" Yukirin asked as she and Sayaka moved their guns in the direction of the creatures, which only made them angrier and screamed more.
In the tents, everyone started waking up, and Makoto who was still half asleep, sat up, and rubbed her eyes. "It's so noisy..." She mumbled, before a pair of claws ripped apart the tent she, Yuka, Nagisa, Orine and Mofufu were sleeping. Her eyes went wide with fear, and she screamed, which only seemed to antagonize the creature more. The other three girls rose up, and Orine held a struggling Mofufu close to her.
"A space monster!" Makoto yelled, before dashing backwards, hitting her foot on a small, but firm, mushroom, which made her fall backwards. Sayaka turned around, and rose her rifle into the air.
"Shoo!" Sayaka yelled, and fired two shots, which made most of the creatures back away, but the one infront of Makoto reached out it's palm, and grabbed Mofufu, pushing down Yuka, Orine and Nagisa in the process. It then turned and left surprisingly quickly, given it's size.
Sayaka and Yukirin quickly ran over to the girls on the ground, helping them up.
"Are you guys all right?" Sayaka asked. Yuka, Makoto and Nagisa nodded. Orine ran past them, grabbing a rifle, and ascended towards the forest line.
"Mofufu!" She screamed, and stopped abruptly when someone grabbed her arm and held her back. Sayaka had, even though taken by surprise, had caught up to her. In a matter of seconds, Nagisa, Yuka, and Yukirin were by Sayaka's side, trying to stop her.
"Orine! Try to calm down!" Yuka exclaimed as they held Orine back.
"She's right! It's dangerous out there! You saw what they did to the tent!" Nagisa added.
"But…!" Orine made another lunge forwards, but stopped when Tsubasa approached them.
"What's all the fuss about?" The older woman asked.
"Orine wants to save Mofufu." Yuka explained.
"It's out of the question." Tsubasa stated and sighed. "Have you forgotten our situation? We can't go out rescuing animals when we barely get around ourselves. We are on the run from DES. Once the Flying Get's repairs are done, we'll be leaving this planet. In the meantime, you'll have to refrain from any unneccesary actions."
Orine's grip on the rifle tightened, and she looked down. "I just can't abandon him!" She said softly, before taking advantage of the idols holding her's lacking attention, and she got free from their grasp, and within moments, she was inside the forest.
"Orine!" Sounded the united voices of Nagisa and Yuka.
Orine got a good way into the big forest, when she climbed up on a mushroom, to get a better view of the surrounding area. Looking around, she saw no sign of the creatures who had taken Mofufu. As she took a step forward to climb down from the mushroom, her foot slipped, and she lost her footing. She slided down to the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes widened in fear when she realized the mushroom had grown on the edge of a precipice. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Her body left the surface of the mushroom, and her rifle went tumbling down into the ravine. Feeling something tugging strongly on her left arm, and it took a second for her to realize that she wasn't falling. Looking up, Yuka was holding her arm with both of her hands, keeping her from fallin.
"Come on, you guys!" Yuka yelled over her shoulder. "I can't do this alone!"
"We're coming!" Came Nagisa's voice, and Orine could hear footsteps from several people. After half a minute, she could feel that she was slowly rising up, and she realized Nagisa and whomever was with her, had grabbed Yuka, and was pulling her up. When her head came over the edge of the mushroom, she saw Nagisa, Kanata and Mariko.
"Come on" Kanata said, smiling. "If we're going to save Mofufu, then we'd better do it together."
"And Tsubasa won't even have to know." Mariko winked.
"She couldn't stop you, and since you're so set on doing it, you'll have a bigger chance of success if you have us watching your back." Nagisa smiled.
"We'll save him." Yuka said between her breaths; she was a little out of breath because of first running as fast as she could to be able to get to Orine before she fell, and then holding the latter up until the others could get there to help pull her up. "For sure."
At first Orine could only stare at them, and tears formed in her eyes. "Thank you!"
Some time later, the five girls reached the edge of a clearing, from which they had heard similar sounds to the ones that Mofufu had made. Creeping as close as they dared to the clearing, they peeked over some clutches of mushrooms. All around the clearing was several of the big creatures which had attacked the camp. The girls quickly spotted Mofufu being held by one of the bigger creatures, which only could be the one that had grabbed him earlier, and unlike then, Mofufu wasn't struggling to get away from the other animal. In fact, he seemed rather at peace.
"What's…" Nagisa asked. "...going on?"
"I don't kno-..." Orine was interrupted by a large explosion behind the two creatures. "What?!"
Out from the flames flew a metalsuit, closely followed by two others. The five idols gasped as they recognized them.
"What's DES doing here?!" Yuka exclaimed.
"It can't be..!" Orine added.
The three mechas turned, and aimed at Mofufu and the other animals. They started shooting, and chaos errupted. One of the mechas landed beside Mofufu and the creature, and the creature turned around, and started to flee. It got no further than a few metres before it got shot two times by the mech-suit. It fell forward, and Mofufu fell out of it's grip. Mofufu bounced once, before turning around, hurrying to the bigger creature's side, which forced it's way up to a sitting-like stance, protectively in front of Mofufu.
"It's..." Orine said. "It's Mofufu's real mother. It's protecting Mofufu!"
"What?!" Kanata exclaimed in disbelief.
The mech-suit in front of Mofufu and his mother rose it's gun again, and prepared to shoot, only to be shot down from above by one of 00's LAS.
"Hey, girls, you hanging in there?" Miichan's voice was being projected from the LAS. "Probational undersudy Minamino Mikako, reporting for duty!" They could hear the grin in her voice. "Here on Chan-Tsuba's orders!"
"Miichan?" The idols exclaimed, only to turn at more of the sound of shooting battles. Several other LAS had engaged the other two mechas, and did easily defeat them.
"Everyone all right?" Takamina's voice came, and they recognized the ribbon on top of one of the LAS.
"Y-Yeah!" The idols on the ground answered, still taking in the sight. The LAS landed, and the pilots, namely Takamina, Yukirin, and Sayaka, exited them on flying boards. What looked like the rest of the 00-members came after in the small shuttle-like modes of the flying boards, before they changed into their board-forms.
"What happened?" Takamina asked, as she got down to ground level. "We arrived just in time to see Miichan shooting down that mech-suit, but nothing before that."
"We found Mofufu and the other big creatures who attacked us before here. Then an explosion happened over there-..." Nagisa pointed at the place which had been behind Mofufu and his mother. "...and DES turned up, and started shooting at them. We found out that the creature who took Mofufu before was his mother, and the rest you know."
"What did DES even have to do here anyway?" Yuka asked.
"They didn't know we were here." Kanata added.
"It wasn't DES." Miichan said. "They are mining drones from Zodiac. It seems that this would be one of their main mining planets."
"What? This is one of Zodiac's mining planets?!" Orine exclaimed, before noticing that Mofufu and his mother were on their way away from there. "Look!" She pointed, and the others understood. Takamina, Sayaka and Yukirin went back into their respective LAS, and Mayuyu took over Miichan's before she had any time to object. They started following Mofufu's pack, and did so in silence until Suzuko spoke.
"I've found where we are, and what animal species Mofufu are**." She said, and flipped on her ear-microphone, so that Tsubasa and the rest of the staff on the Flying Get would be able to hear. "The planet we are on is called Funghistar, and Mofufu is a member of the species Funghi, whom are known for the drastic difference between child Funghi and adult Funghi."
"Drastic is an understatement!" Makoto wailed.
"Vast amounts of Dualium exists on Funghistar." Miichan said. "And it seems that the poor Funghi that lives in this part of the forest are in the way."
"It says here that "Grown Funghi are intelligent, peaceful lifeforms who live in harmony with the forest." It does not seem to apply to the Funghi we crossed paths with, though."
"You can hardly blame them." Miichan said, pulling up her camera. "When I was scouting earlier, I got these pictures." She used her own phone to pull up an image that everyone could see. First, it showed some small Funghi being held hostages in cages and tied up into mushroom trees, and the like. The next showed angry Funghi attacking the Zodiac machines, and the next showed Zodiac shooting at both the small Funghi and the attacking ones. "They've been treated really badly. Zodiac take the young ones hostage in order to lure the parents out of the forest."
"That's terrible!" Nagisa exclaimed.
"Mofufu was able to escape..." Sayaka trailed off. Her hands were clenched and were shaking out of anger.
"...but the others..." Sae finished. "It's..." She trailed off, as she couldn't find a word good enough of what she was feeling.
"The Funghi must see us as vile humans, just like Zodiac… After all, they've only met them, not us." Mariko said, and several of the other girls nodded in agreement.
"Look!" Orine exclaimed. "There's something glowing over there!"
Everyone turned to where Orine was looking, and sure enough, a faint, blue glow emitted from behind some of the big, thick mushroom trees. As they got closer, they gasped.
"Is that..?" Yukirin asked.
"Yes, that's a massive crystal of Dualium!" Miichan exclaimed.
"So this is what Zodiac is after..." Takamina sighed.
When their eyes left the giant Dualium crystal, they saw a lot of Funghi in the water-pools around the crystal.
"Ah!" Sonata exclaimed. "They are all gathered here!"
"Are they healing their wounds?" Yukirin asked.
"This must be an important place for the Funghi." Suzuko added.
Orine flew down to the grown, and slowly walked down into the water. "I'm sorry." She said. "We humans have dune such terrible things to you."
As she got closer to one of the big Funghi, it started growling, and a lone young Funghi peeked up from behind it. "We tried to take something special from you." Orine sat down on her knees. The grown Funghi growled once more, before rising one of it's palms and trying to hit her. Orine only managed to avoid the hit by falling backwards into the water. Takamina made an attempt to go help her, but Sayaka held an arm out, stopping her. Orine sat up in the water.
"We can't let them have this place!" She said. "I don't want any more of that sadness!" She slowly rose up to the angrier and angrier Funghi."All of us feel the same pain when our homes are taken from us!" She stood her ground against the growling Funghi who towered over her. "Please! Let me help you defend this place!" Orine exclaimed, which became the last drop for the Funghi. They lunged for her again, and once again she fell backwards.
Yuka flew infront of her, and spread her arms. Mariko wasn't far after, and she went down into the water, helping Orine up.
"We're not like the other humans!" Yuka exclaimed angrily. "We want to be your friends! Why won't you get it?!"
"Oide oide samishii hito yo. Ochikondetatte shou ga nai ze." Sayaka sang, interrupting Yuka from saying anything more. She rolled up her sleeves, and her kirara, an orange flame-shaped one, flew out, and started shining. "We aren't dealing with humans here. Our words won't reach them. But..." She pulled out a micsaber. "We have our song!"
Music started flowing from the three LAS behind everyone. Uhho Uhhoho started playing, and everyone joined in on the singing. Before long, all of the kirara's belonging to the idols were shining brightly and danching above their heads.
Orine walked forwards to Mofufu's mother, and Mofufu jumped to her. She held him by his arms and her kirara started shinging more brightly than the others, rivalling Sayaka's.
As they sang, the Funghi changed from being angry and scared, to getting the message, and singing along. The crystal of Dualium started to shine as well.
Nagisa was dancing by Sayaka and Takamina's side, when her Kirara flew in front of her, and then up behind her. That, followed by the sound of flying motors made her turn around.
"An attack?" Asked as she noticed several small dots high up in the air, and alerted Takamina. She nodded, and flew over to her LAS. Kanata took over Sayaka's, and Miichan took over hers, as Mayuyu was in on the singing and dancing.
The three LAS took off, and the idols on the ground and on Flying boards flicked the switch on their micsabers, and the blade flickered to life. They positioned themselves so that they covered most of the Dualium, and the Funghi as the Zodiac machines came closer. Miichan shot down one of them before they even came close to the clearing, and as soon as they came into the clearing, the three LAS engaged them. Takamina followed closely after one of them, being fully aware of the one following her. The one behind her shot, and she avoided the bullets, and they continued into the one in front of her. When the one she pursued was down, she did a loop, and shot down the next one while upside down.
Kanata, unwillingly, got into close combat with one of them, but managed to get herself some space by kicking the other Mech-suit away, before shooting it down, and she went on to the next one.
Miichan was engaged by three (not that she was that bothered by it, they had mostly outnumbered themselves) of the robots. She quickly shot one of them down before they got the chance to shoot at her, and then she easily avoided the barrage of bullets from the two other. She kept avoiding them, until one of them sent out their rocket-bombs. She flew high into the air, and shot a barrage of shots herself at the incoming projectiles, and made them explode harmlessly mid-air. She used the smoke as a cover, and looked at the radar, identifying her persuers quickly. She shot both of them down before the smoke faded.
Nagisa had not felt that kind of unity before. As she sang, it was like if she could hear the thoughts of not only her friends who sang by her side, but the Funghi, and the forest as well. And when she glanced to her sides, she realized that her friends felt the same way.
The Zodiac robots did just keep coming, and the idols and graduate found themselves out-numbered after a while, but at that time, the song was almost over, and their Kirara's was like small suns, and the Dualium-crystal as well. As the robots fired their rocket-missiles, a bubble of light spreaded from the crystal. The missiles hit the expanding bubble and exploded, being completely harmless to the idols. The robots didn't have time before the bubble of light hit them too, and they got pulverized. Litterally.
Takamina noticed the light, and turned her LAS, sending a signal to the Flying Get with a live image of the crystal. "Tsubasa, I think you might be interested in this." She said, before turning the mic on her ear-piece off. She landed, and flew out of the LAS.
"All unmanned Zodiac robots down. They should be unable to launch anouther attack on the forest." She said.
Orine jumped back into the water, and hugged Mofufu. "What do you say?" She asked. "Did our feelings get through?" Mofufu made a satisfied 'Mofu~', and formed a heart with his eyes. His mother turned around, and went over to the base of the Dualium crystal, before returning with a crystal the length of Orine's upper body, but nothing compared to the big circular one in the middle of the clearing. It held it out towards Orine.
"What a beautiful crystal..." Orine said, before Mofufu's mother held it closer to her. "For me?" She took it in her hands, and Mofufu jumped gleefully. "Thank you, Mofufu. Thank you Mofufu's mother. It's lovely." Her kirara landed on the top of it, causing it to shine briefly. Her smile widened, and she turned to the other girls. "Did you hear that?" She almost laughed out of joy. "The Fughi said they're our friends!"
"That's great!" Nagisa exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Yuka added as her eyes became glossier.
"Everyone, do you hear me?" Tsubasa asked.
"Yes!" Came the answer from everyone in the clearing.
"Good." Tsubasa said. "As much as I'd like to let you stay, you need to get back here. We'll leave in 6 hours. It seems that your concert speeded up the repairing process, and the Flying Get is good to go. And when you get back here, get some sleep. You've earned it, considering what has happened today. Great work."
That felt like a good place to end it^^
I'm not sure of what to do with the next chapter, though^^; Episode 24 is mostly about Nagisa and Chieri's trip to Sagittariusstar, but since there's no Chieri to run off into Zodiac's space-ship, Nagisa doesn't follow her… What do you guys think I should do? Should I just jump over that episode and write the equivalent chapter to episode 25? Or what should I do?
* I am fully aware that I wrote Mimori here, and that's because Orine is talking about the very beginning of NO NAME, and back then, Mimori hadn't suceeded;)
**I am aware that Suzuko didn't know what species Mofufu was when they went to sleep, and only found out later, but I figured she had probably googled (or idk xD) 'Mushroom Zodiac mining planet' or something, and Fungistar was one of the hits.