Viola was currently climbing up a part of Thule before managing to reach a part of the mountain, only for shaking to occur as the part she was standing on began to give way as she quickly tossed her blade onto a stable area as Cheshire appeared, Viola quickly running over and trying to grab his paw only to miss.

"Oh, shiiiiiiiiiii-!" Viola screamed before Cheshire extended his tail and grabbed onto her as he pulled her back up and rolled across the ground. Cheshire pulled out his pipe from his mouth and gave a puff. "Just great… Glad Bayonetta and the others weren't here to see that… 'You've only got nine lives, kitty!'" she imitated before calling back her sword and sheathing it as she soon heard a howl. "That wolf-dude's here too?! Better find Luka quick!" she added as she made her way across the part of Thule she was on, dealing with any Homunculi before reaching a Multiverse Portal Generator as she stepped on it, and traversed through Ginnungap fighting more Homunculi as she soon reached the portal. Viola walked around and found herself in a desert of sorts before looking down and seeing wasn't standing on any ground. "Hey, what the-" she said before she began falling down and screamed as she soon crashed into the sand and rolled across it before stopping. "Shit! Is this desert out to get me or something?!" she asked before standing up and clearing the sand off her as she looked around. "Uh, where is this desert anyway?" she asked before hearing Strider's howl again as she reached for her sword, only to find it missing. "Fucking really? Just great, now Cheshire's gone too!" she groaned as she began her trek across the desert, trying to call out to Cheshire to no avail before the ground shook as a snake-like homunculus popped out of the sands.

Light Covert Combat Unit

UNCINUS

Another Unicus appeared as Viola could only fight them off with her darts and bare hands as they were quickly dealt with. "Cheshire, where are you?" she groaned as exhaustion eventually hit her as she began seeing mirages of Cheshire before spotting some rocky formations. "Ca…can't…walk any…more…" she said before collapsing. She quickly sat up on her knees however as a scorpion was pinching her nose. "OW SHIT FUCK AHHH!" she screamed before swatting the scorpion away. "I can't. I just…can't." she moaned, collapsing onto the ground again as a stronger version of the Uncinus dove underground and was about to attack her before she quickly dodged as it popped back up.

Heavy Covert Combat Unit

TUBA

Viola threw a dart at the Tuba as it dove underground and popped out from behind trying to attack her as she dodged. "I am not…gonna die here!" she declared as another Tuba appeared and tried to attack as she noticed her sword stabbed in its body. "Cheshire!" she said as she continued dodging the two Homunculi's attacks before holding her hand out as her sword flew back to her.

With Cheshire back in her hands, Viola soon began fighting off the two Tubas, managing to destroy one of them, and leaving the last one stunned.

(Cue- Cheshire Gets Serious- Bayonetta 3)

Viola summoned Cheshire as he was about to grab the last Tuba before it dove back into the ground as Cheshire put his tail in the sand to try and fish it out as he managed to do so before slamming the Tuba onto the ground repeatedly before destroying it with one last slam as he let out a roar and disappeared as the sword flew back to Viola. "I swear I can't take you anywhere." she said before collapsing onto the ground again.

(end song)

"Hey, there she is!" Viola heard voices just before she passed out. That was when the group arrived to see her in her state.

"Thank the goddess… how long has she been wandering around out here?" Marianne said.

"Possibly for a while. She's dehydrated and exhausted." Ginseng said.

Just then, the cat doll on Viola's sword began twitching before Cheshire soon appeared and looked at Viola and the group before tapping Viola a few times and standing up with his arms crossed.

"We need to get her some water, big guy. Mind giving us all a lift? We've been walking through this place for a while now, and some of us are already sick of it."

"No kidding, it's Dubai all over again." Aya groaned.

Cheshire nodded and tossed Viola onto his back as he got on all fours, allowing the group to get on.

(Cue- Cheshire the Wanderer- Bayonetta 3)

"So… it's pretty obvious this world is smack dab in the Desert Universe, right?" Connor asked.

"Right on the money there." Kokonoe said.

"The desert area… great…" Zi-O complained.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Zi-O. We found Cheshire, and he's making sure we're not trudging through hundreds of miles of sand." Hilda said.

They soon arrived in a closed area with pillars scattered around as Cheshire used his tail to search for a source of water, and whenever his tail buzzed, he would pull out a shovel from his stomach and begin digging. He did it a few times before finally finding one as a spout of water erupted which he tossed Viola onto before it stopped as she fell into the pool of water it formed.

"Wait, why did we go through all that trouble? Thorani could've offered Viola some water like she did with Qadira." Kampan remembered.

Viola quickly sat up and coughed a bit. "Ahh…I thought… I was done for." she said as Cheshire growled a bit before turning back into a doll on Viola's sword. "'Preciate it, Cheshire." she said, tapping it before noticing the others. "Oh, hey guys. When did you get here?"

"A while back. We found you all passed out. Cheshire gave us all a ride." Travis said.

"Really? Well, thanks for coming." Viola said before Strider was heard howling again.

"Strider must've made it to this world too…." Ignatz said.

Viola then stood up and patted her cheeks. "All right, it's magic time. Hang on, Luka!" she said as she and the group began their trek through the rocky area before spotting four claw marks as Viola sniffed around. "Where are you, you mangy psycho! You'd better be okay, Luka!" she said. The group then traveled across a sand river and fought off Homunculi before finally spotting Luka slouched over on the ground in a regal-like pathway.

"There he is!" X said.

"Luka!" Viola called as she and the group quickly ran over before a few Stratus and Nebulosus blocked their way before being quickly cut down as Viola and the group turned to see Luka holding his head in pain. "Luka? You okay?"

"Stop…stop please!" Luka pleaded as the group ran over.

"Well, you're breathing at least… Don't worry, they're all gone." Viola said, crouching down to him. "Are you hurt? Can you get up?" she asked.

"Stay back!" Luka said as he pushed Viola away. "Damn…my head… Feels like it's cracking open! That voice…again!" he said as he stood up.

"Voice?" Viola asked.

"In my head…telling me…to see…the truth!" Luka said before he stopped holding his head and looked up, his eyes glowing red. "There's only…one…truth." he said as if he was in a trance while approaching Viola.

(Cue: Blood Moon- Brandon Yates ft. Tre Watson)

"Uh… Luka? Buddy?" Connor asked as Viola reached her hand out to him.

"There's only…one… truth." Luka said.

"Uh oh, I don't like that look." Starlight observed. "I think we need to give him a good beating to snap him out of that trance!"

Luka then grabbed Viola's arm and punched her in the face as he began attacking before stopping as he then turned to the group and a familiar visage appeared over him as he transformed into…Strider. And without warning, he attacked as the group started fighting him.

"No, it can't be!" Viola said as they battled Strider as a sandstorm kicked up.

"So that's why Luka and Strider were never in the same place at the same time… Luka WAS Strider!" Lysithea said.

"Okay, Luka, funny joke! Little early for Halloween though, don't you think? Come on, snap out of it!" Viola pleaded.

"It's no use…. He's completely lost himself." Marianne said.

"Guess we'll just have to bring him back the hard way!" Ragna said.

Viola charged in for a sword strike, only for Strider to block it as he launched her back. "Gah, damn sand…" she said as Strider charged in and impaled her with his claw.

"VIOLA!" Simon called as Strider dropped Viola's body to the ground.

Strider then looked at the others, focusing on them.

"Don't think you're gonna get away with that, even if you are Luka!" Makoto said.

"Then it looks like we're gonna have to purify you in order to get your head straight! Sorry Luka, but this is going to hurt a lot!" Starlight declared. "Regina, Maria, Serena, Kiana, let's do this!"

"Right!" The four nodded and stood by her as Strider roared.

The group then evaded a lunge attack from Strider before Starlight and Regina countered with energy blasts, pushing him back a bit.

While the five of them were pushing Strider back, Viola started to rise up and glow purple.

"Viola?!" Hibiki gasped, noticing the glow.

"This power…" Lysithea noticed.

Strider leaped past the five and tried to finish Viola off, but suddenly she let off a burst of energy, and floating there where she was now was a cat-like humanoid with clawed limbs and pink fur covering most of her body. Her eyes are covered by a mask resembling stained glass, and she wears a cloak that functions like a pair of wings that is made of the same material.

With that, Viola soon rushed Strider and attacked him as the two viciously clashed.

"Is that… Viola?!" Noel asked.

"What's with that form? Did she use Demon Masquerade unintentionally?" Connor asked Simon.

"No, this is something I've never seen before. It's almost like she awakened into an untapped power." Simon said.

"She looks almost similar to Strider… could that mean…?" Marianne asked.

Viola and Strider then faced off before Viola charged towards him and delivered multiple afterimage strikes before launching him into the air with a reverse flip kick and sending him crashing back down with a dive kick before landing on the ground herself as she soon reverted and collapsed onto one knee only for Strider to charge at her as she blocked the best she could before flipping over him as he sent her across the ground with a back kick as he charged at her again only to be stopped by gunfire as Bayonetta appeared.

"Ran off to bully Little Red Riding Hood and her friends, did you? Predictable." Bayonetta said as she aimed one of her guns at Strider.

"Wait, Bayonetta, stop!" Connor called as Viola and the others got between them.

"What are you all up to?" Bayonetta asked.

"Stopping you before you make a terrible mistake." Noel said.

"It's him… It's Luka." Simon said.

"Impossible…" Bayonetta said.

Strider held his head in pain before he leaped away.

"I think we're starting to get why Luka got like that. He must also be connected to the Multiverse in some way, and with every world Tormal and Singularity destroy, he ends up growing more and more unstable and… well, turns into that thing." Connor said.

"All the more reason we have to stop Tormal and Singularity." Tsubasa added.

"Tsubasa's right. If we can get to the Alphaverse and stop them both, we might be able to help him." Viola said.

"'Might' isn't good enough." Bayonetta said as she pulled out a Chaos Gear. "And at any rate, we only have three of these."

"Let me take care of him!" Viola said.

"I'm in no mood for jokes." Bayonetta said.

"Please! You and the others have to be the ones to find all of the Chaos Gears. Look, I know how you feel…" Viola said.

"So?" Bayonetta asked.

"...But trust me. He means a lot to me, too." Viola said.

"Besides… in your own way, you actually care about him, don't you Bayonetta?" Connor asked.

"He's a bit of a fool and a reckless one at that. Always getting himself into some kind of trouble. But, he always pops back up with that foolish grin, no worse for the wear. This time will be no different. However… If he doesn't pop back up this time, I'll have you tearing apart reality to find him." Bayonetta said to Viola. "Got that, kitty?"

"Yeah, I got it." Viola said as Bayonetta looked at her. "Sir yes sir!" she said as Bayonetta kicked her sword's sheath to her followed by her sword. "Shit!"

"Much better. Now off you go." Bayonetta said as Viola took off before coming back.

"And hey, the name's Viola! Don't forget it!" Viola said before taking off again after Strider as Bayonetta and the group looked on.

"Y'know what? I think she's gonna go far." Connor said.

"If she learns the right lessons, she might have a chance at being your successor, Bayonetta." Zi-O added.

"Only time will tell to see where kitty goes." Bayonetta said. "Now let's be off."