Noli Mei Oblivisci, Crossroads into Reality

by Delicatetomb

After Sunny confesses the Truth behind Mari's death and moves away, OMORI and the dream friends from HEADSPACE suddenly begin to appear in the real world, meanwhile a mysterious organization makes big plans for humanity's future and Sunny is their key.

23. Flight Through the NEON-MOONS part 2

Chapter 23; Flight through the NEON-MOONS, part 2

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NEON-MOONS, WATCHTOWER INNER SANCTUM

[Knights Around the Table]

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"Lady MOLLY, rest easy, the intruders are no more..." ALTIMA reported through a holographic video feed, he had told the group to stay out of sight while he gave his falsified report to MOLLY. The oldest of the SLIME GIRLS had been somewhat skeptical at first, but as the report went into more detail about how he had 'destroyed' each and every one of the intruders personally, the more MOLLY seem convinced by the ruse.

"You did? really? all seven of them?" She made a slightly impressed face after the report was finished. ALTIMA nodded silently in response.

She chuckled softly and put on a slight smirk. "...Huh...well, good job darling. I guess that means I should tell the doctors that those nuisances have been dealt with for good...(sigh) I was hoping you would have kept the girl with the shovel blade intact for some experiments, MEDUSA is going to be so disappointed that all that hard work she put into MEDIKA'S sector is going to be wasted...oh well, guess it means more free time for me!"

ALTIMA showed her a ruined Flower Crown from BASIL as further proof to sell the story. "I have done as was required of thee...perhaps the ROBOHEART DRONES may be deactivated now that they hath no purpose left to serve?" he asked calmly. MOLLY pondered his request for a bit as if he had just asked her about the meaning of life. But after a brief moment she shook her head.

"Hmm, ehhhhhhhh...nah, too much work to get them all back into storage, I'm sure you wouldn't mind them being around for your city a bit longer?" she carelessly replied and put her tentacle arm into a bag of cheesy potato chips.

The cosmic warrior's expression hardened and his fingers twitched ever so slightly. "MOLLY...doth thou recall our discussion regarding the terms of our agreement? I agreed to let thou use our technologies and resources to upgrade your automaton women for civil duties, but never once as weapons of war!" he protested, his voice rising with anger. "Where is thine honor?!"

MOLLY rolled her eyes and rested her head on a tentacle, not caring if she was getting cheese dust on her face. "Honor this, chivalry that...why do you people put so much stock in that stuff? why believe in faith and made up rules when you can put your trust in the power of science?" she glanced over at a side screen, she pressed a button, a tiny slip of paper ejects from a printer and lands at ALTIMA'S feet. "Anyways, with those kids out of the way, I think it's time for a celebration! you don't have to take it but I'll just leave you to that...see you maybe at the party!" MOLLY waved and promptly deactivated the video feed on her end.

ALTIMA let out a heavy sigh and beckoned the others out from their hiding spots. "I have granted us more time so we may prepare all of you for the knight training. If we are to strike the metal beast at it's cold heart, it must be with the element of surprise on our side." he pressed a hidden wall panel, revealing armory walls filled with all sorts of armor and weapons. "And with the might of our armaments..."

'Aubrey' picked up a glowing bow from the wall and examined it. "So why are you so keen on taking us through all this?" she asked, plucking the bow's glowing string.

The Cosmic Warrior straightened himself up and glanced towards an ancient mural on the wall next to them, SPECTRE shined a light from his eye to illuminate the wall. "An a excellent question for thee to ask, young one, many years ago, these grand halls were once vigorous training grounds for many a young and aspiring initiate seeking sacred knighthood like thou doth seek currently. But those were during times of great desperation when we were at war with dark forces from beyond the stars." his expression darkened when he pointed at a part of the mural showing people fleeing from shadowy hands descending from the sky and the monsters pouring from them destroying everything.

"A shadowy legion of tarnished warmongers, desiccators of thousands of worlds and civilizations before that sought to destroy us with ancient evil, had it not been for my mentor leading the charge when I was but a squire, we would surly have been lost if not for his guidance."

HERO would have told him that NEON-MOONS had only existed for about a month instead of the implied millennia ALTIMA said it to had been, but ultimately decided against revealing such sensitive information. Who knows what would happen if you told someone their world or it's history weren't actually real? and it was a interesting story as well that it would be rude it interrupt him now...

"A...war? this city doesn't seem like the type to have seen war, I mean, look at this place." BASIL wondered aloud as he fastened a chest plate from a massive armor set over his overalls.

ALTIMA gestured over to a different part of the mural showing a band of seven adventurers leading the charge against the shadows, driving them back to space and the leader picking up a object left behind by the invaders. "Once the invaders were driven from NEON-MOONS we procured a relic they had left behind, a object that held immense power to bring about absolution...we called it, The Final Shape, and with it's power we brought about a new grandiose age of golden splendor." he produced The Final Shape and placed it on a pedestal in the room's center, immediately a light from the top of the engram illuminated the chamber in a bright multicolored light, displaying a intricate map of the stars, leaving everyone to stare in awe at the majestic display. The cosmic warrior puffed out his chest in pride. "Before my mentor died, he bestowed upon me the Final Shape and told me to keep it safe from those who would abuse the power within, MOLLY and her machine legions do not yet know about thine possession of the relic, but if they did...no doubt would they attempt to acquire it and bring about calamity..."

"Doth thou now see? I require thine help, for even with the powers I hath possess within, I cannot fight them alone, lest they destroy the city and the people...and if not her, then the other will..." For a moment, ALTIMA let his guard down to show them the genuine fear in his eyes at the mention of the 'other', this was a man preparing to fight a losing war...unless the gang helped him and saved the city. 'Basil' stepped forward and put on a determined expression. "ALTIMA, we won't let MOLLY destroy or Yen destroy this place. You have our word." he promised.

The cosmic warrior opened a door to a large training room and stood aside for them to enter. "You have much resolve and heart for one so young as thee, an honorable trait...let us see if thoust have the strength to prove thine fortitude and become worthy!" he announced and raised his arm to the sky.

The trial had begun...

KELBREY leapt up into the air. "All right what are we waiting for?! let's do it to it! training montage time!" they cheered and rushed head on into the arena.

...

One long session of rigorous training later

...

Training was as expected, target dummies, obstacle courses and tests of might what one might expect from warrior practice...but doing it was a challenge in of it's own. For one, the group were not initially used to wearing the new armor they were given. More than once they found that the weapons they had chosen were much too heavy to be properly wielded and decided to ditch them in favor for what they had at hand. HERO and FLOWER just sat on the sidelines unable to participate due to them not having human bodies. Within an hour the friend group could barely stand.

"Hoo, oh boy, that...that just happened...I'm so exhausted." Kel wheezed and took off his helmet, he leaned on his sword's hilt to catch his breath for a moment, his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest at any moment. An exhausted 'Aubrey' and 'Basil' leaned against one another trying to support themselves. "This armor is way too hot and heavy! I feel like I'm boiling alive in this damn thing!" 'Basil' groaned, his face drenched with sweat. 'Aubrey' was having similar problems with her own armor being too tight in some places...

"I-I can't (huff) feel my arms (huff)...or legs...or my (huff) everything." BASIL panted and wiped away some sweat, the giant droplets splashing to the ground, drenching Kel and his leather armor head to toe in perspiration. "Ah, s-sorry Kel..." BASIL apologized meekly to his friend. Kel simply gave his giant friend a thumbs up. "No problem, thanks for the water buddy! I needed some refreshment..." he smiled, Everyone around him made disgusted faces when the athletic boy began washing himself with the giant flower boy's sweat.

"I could keep going if my hair would stop getting in my face for some damn reason, seriously, what's going on with me today?" ROWANETTE complained, blowing some disheveled strands of hair from her face. Was she really still unaware about the gender change?

KELBREY, amidst all their exhausted friends was still going somehow. They currently were on top of a test dummy pummeling the thing's head in over and over with a shield. "Lets keep going! come on! we gotta-"

A loud horn blared through the training hall gathering everyone's attention to ALTIMA, who was standing in the doorway with a approving expression. "Enough! thoust have all trained long and hard and thine efforts have started to bear fruit...come, it is time..."

"For the knighting ceremony? are we finally done?" Kel said in a somewhat hopeful tone.

"Oh, no initiate Kel, it is time for the final trial...no ceremonies..." ALTIMA spoke and walked to the far end of the room and flipped a switch, A massive spinning tower covered in swinging blades and all sorts of nasty traps emerged from the center of the floor with a blazing fire pit underneath. At the very top of the murder pillar was a tiny white flag waving around in the wind. The gang all looked at ALTIMA with uncertain and fearful expressions, but the warrior's face remained stern as he turned to them.

"This is where thou shalt become true knights...one final test to prove thine worthiness."

...

"Come on Kel! you can do it! KELBREY called out from the top of the pillar as they hefted 'Aubrey' up to the ledge while she held FLOWER. So far, only he, BASIL, 'Aubrey and Kel had made it to the top and were helping each other climb up the spire leaving 'Basil and ROWANETTE down below to climb the tower by themselves. ROWANETTE had 'Basil' tightly holding on to her back as she climbed up the wall using her spades to dig into the pillar and slowly scale up the wall. 'Basil' made a brief glance at the ground far far below and fought back the sudden feeling of nausea that swept over him.

"Don't pass out on me now! we're just about there!" ROWANETTE barked and managed to make another small leap upward underneath a spinning blade that narrowly missed them. Just a few more inches and...

The sudden lightness in the tall goth girl's back made her turn to see 'Basil' falling. With her outstretched foot she managed to have the flower boy grab on. Unfortunately, the momentum of the fall caused 'Basil' to swing into and smash head first into the wall.

['Basil' took 132 damage!]

Everyone up top gasped in shock and some even began to climb back down to help them. But despite being dazed, he held on to ROWANETTE'S leg until they reached the top with the help of the others...

"Are you feeling okay Aubrey? you look...well...you hit your head pretty hard down there..." HERO spoke with increasing worry in his voice as 'Basil' wobbled over to the others while gingerly holding the bleeding spot on his head. 'Basil weakly smiled and promptly face-planted into the floor soon followed by 'Aubrey' collapsing beside him.

"Oh jeez! Basil! Aubrey! are they gonna be alright?!" Kel panicked and tried shaking his friends awake.

HERO did a quick scan over both the friends while they anxiously hovered over them, waiting for the answer while BASIL used his HERBAL REMEDY SKILL to heal any other injuries the group may have sustained along the way up the perilous spire.

"Hmm, after a quick look, Basil's fine, no concussions as far as I can see, everything is normal, he's just passed out, at least according to this medical app's scans. I just can't explain why it just happened to Aubrey as well..." HERO stared through the screen at the two unconscious friends. Without warning Aubrey suddenly gasped for air and felt her face and legs. Her eyes widening and then relaxing as she sighed in relief.

"Oh my lord...did I fall off my bicycle again?" she rubbed her temples and went over to Basil as he was beginning to stir as well. The flower boy slowly rubbed his eyes and suddenly bolted upright when he felt a jolt of shock to his head that made him grasp at his head. "Ow...ow, ow ow...it hurts...why does it hurt so much..." he groaned in agony as Aubrey held him in her arms.

"Ohhhhhh...ah jeez sorry Aubrey...didn't think about...you know..." ROWANETTE shuffled a bit and looked away.

"A-Aubrey? B-but I'm not Aubrey she's right here..." Basil managed to say through through the aching pain.

Everyone gazed at the Flower Boy in surprise. "Hold on, you two are back to normal? how you were body swapped just a moment ago." FLOWER questioned, glancing down at his leaves, were the effect of the potions temporary after all? Everyone began to murmur amongst themselves about what it could mean until HERO spoke up. "I think I have a theory for what just happened." He chimed in and pulled up a window showing various records and notes about chemistry.

"What's all this mumbo jumbo gotta do with any of this?" KELBREY squinted at the words on the screen.

HERO went over to the side of the window and cleared his throat to explain. "These are notes I found inside the chemical lab's computer before it blew up. So each of the mutations we were affected by, although vastly different in chemical structure and reactions to our biology, a potion's effect can be reversed by applying enough blunt force should destabilize the potion's-"

"English please?" Aubrey sighed impatiently, clearly not interested in the mood for long winded details.

"Well, if we take enough damage, they should wear off instantly...or if we become TOAST that should do it too." HERO emphasized, sounding somewhat unsure about the last part. "Uh HERO? we can't handle that much damage like you guys can, remember?" Kel reminded him, pointing at his friends.

KELBREY frowned and glanced down at their hands. "But...but that would mean...I would have to...stop being me..." they said quietly, feeling somewhat AFRAID all of a sudden.

The now restored Aubrey threw her head back in frustration. "But how are we supposed to figure out how to cure everyone AND take down a flying fortress!?" she exclaimed.

ALTIMA suddenly came up on his flying machine followed by multiple hooded figures on hovering plates behind him. "Excellent, all of you have passed thine trial unscathed and stronger than before, I announce thee...knights of NEON-MOONS." he proclaimed and applauded the team to congratulate on their success.

"Even us? but HERO and I don't even have arms!" FLOWER spoke up, hopping up and down in his pot trying to get the cosmic warrior's attention.

For the first time the group had seen, ALTIMA smiled. "Nay, thine form that thou takes matters not, as long as thine soul is aligned with justice and hope, just as the planets and moons move into perfect harmony on the eve of thine blue moon, then thou art worthy of being a knight." he spoke, his words radiating inspiration and heroism.

("Huh, that's the same line from issue 17...") Basil's inner nerd thought quietly to himself.

One by one the robed figures floated forward, one for each of the group, each carrying an ornate gilded container and placing it at the foot of the chosen individual. Not wanting to seem rude, Basil knelt down and cracked open the chest, coughing a bit from the ancient dust and strong oil scent that leaked out. Once he got a look, his eyes widened at the sight within. Inside the container, carefully and perfectly preserved in white satin cloth and silver leaves from some kind of tree he wasn't familiar with, was the most beautiful set of armor he had ever seen, the way it shown in the light made it's well cared for surface shimmer like it was made from crystal. The armor wasn't bulky like he'd expected and when he gingerly plucked a gauntlet out of it's place, it surprised him how light it was in his hand, like it was made from air instead of valuable metals. The helmet and chest armor bore a sapphire jewel pattern resembling something the flower boy did recognize...

"A bluebell flower, the flower of loyalty and justice..." he murmured aloud.

ALTIMA appeared next to Basil, with a look of pride and reverence he gestured down to the suit of armor. "This is the very armor my mentor wore into battle all those eons ago, he had that very gem pattern made specifically for that flower's meaning. Before he passed, he instructed me to preserve his armor until the one who would also understand it's meaning would come to claim it..." ALTIMA pointed at a small barely visible engraved set of words that ran across the collar of the armor's gorget and ran a finger across it. "He spoke it once, thine very words that I shan't forget..."

...

When the one who comes in a quest for the beloved one..

Soul crossed with another...once tragic foe, turned cherished friend...

Thou must conjoin in thine quest for the sun...

Only then can this gleaming world be seen to it's destined end...

...

He finished his cryptic prophecy and picked up the helmet, kneeling before the Flower boy to hand it over to him like it was a crown. "Sir Basil, this armor belongs to thee now...take it and may it protect thou as it has for mine mentor, SIR REDDICK, OF THE AZURE LANCE."

ALTIMA said nothing more as Basil picked up the immaculate helm and tried it on, fitting over his head without any trouble at all. Meanwhile, the others were trying on their own suits of armor, each one tailored to fit them perfectly as well. Once everyone was equipped the cosmic warrior sent them off to the courtyard gates where the next step of their journey was waiting for them...

On the way, Aubrey came up beside Basil. "Hey, you don't believe this whole prophecy stuff about you right?" she asked.

Basil rubbed the back of his helmet and gave her a playful grin. "It's hard not to pretend though..." he smiled slightly.

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NEON-MOONS, WATCHTOWER COURTYARD

[Flying Batteries not included]

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The group moved as silently through the outer walls surrounding the courtyard where the massive ship had landed in the distance to refuel. ROBOHEART DRONES patrolled the skies and the ground area surrounding the escort shuttles left around, which made some conflict inevitable, but thanks to the new equipment ALTIMA had given them they quickly made short work of the drones whenever they were spotted all the while staying undetected. They waited until colossal AIRSHIP finished refueling and return to the skies to strike at their real target, the shuttles laying about the area. According to the tall goth girl, simply going to the main ship would be too dangerous and a full on attack would be suicide, so stealing a ship and getting on board was the safest way to avoid being blasted to bits.

Once in position, ROWANETTE gave the signal for BASIL to carry out the next part of the plan, The giant green haired flower boy with some effort, crouched down and shifted his body so that his armor made him look like one of the armored trucks around the area. The others climbed into his overall pockets to hide when a group of ROBOHEART DRONES came over to cart the 'truck' away, unaware of it's true nature or it's stowaway passengers.

"ROWAN, are you sure that your plan will work? is BASIL going to be okay?" FLOWER whispered anxiously.

ROWANETTE shrugged and fidgeted with her uncomfortable chest armor. "Of course it will, as long as BASIL doesn't move or breath or anything those buckets of bolts could detect, he'll be fine...probably." he confidently assured.

BASIL meanwhile was not having a good time, holding his breath as his cramped truck disguise was wheeled up the ramp of a shuttle and strapped down was not having a pleasant effect on his well being. He made an uncomfortable squeaking sound when the shuttle shook and took off into the sky. When the transport ship was fully airborne, BASIL, now blue in the face gasped for air and flopped onto the floor while the others got out to have a look around. The ship's crew consisted of a few armed drones and a pilot, all of which offered little resistance to razor sharp garden spades and several fast headbutts. Once those had been dealt with, ROWANETTE took up the pilot seat and directed the shuttle towards the ominous flagship orbiting above one of the moons. A crackling force field blocked the way forward as a robotic voice blurted over the cockpit's intercom, most likely requesting identification. The group exchanged confused and worried looks until KELBREY confidently stepped up to the comms board. "I got this, sit back and watch a master of robonese at work..." they cleared thier throat and took a soft breath into the mic.

"Bleep blop! blarp beep beep boop vrrrrrr...click, barbo bapkins I am a robot...bap boop beeeep!"

After some awkward silence, a confirmation noise sounded from the other side and let them through much to everyone's relief. Basil blinked in surprise and turned to the fusion. "What did you say to them?" he questioned.

"I dunno, beats me, just made robot noises at it until they let us in, you're welcome by the way." KELBREY relaxed all four arms on the back of their head and grinned proudly.

...

The shuttle was landed in one of the AIRSHIP'S cargo bays behind some crates to hide it, the plan being that when they destroy the ship's core it would be an easy escape route to go to when they were done. The group quietly made it through the empty area until Aubrey noticed something. She noticed that Kel had run off in a different direction away from the group and followed the athletic boy through a slightly ajar hanger door until she found him climbing on top of one of the of tanks parked inside.

"Kel get off of that tank!" Aubrey whisper-yelled up to Kel as she spotted him climbing up on top of a dangerous looking vehicle.

Kel pivoted around in surprise and pointed down at the millitary tank. "But we could probably use this! don't you know tank beats everything?" he retorted and kicked open the top hatch and hopped inside.

Aubrey ran a hand down her face and groaned in irritation. "Dammit Kel! now's not the time to be fooling around! leave it alone and lets catch up with the others before we get lost!" she said a little louder than intended.

"Pfft! you're jealous I have a tank and you don't!"

Aubrey stood there for a moment with a neutral expression before suddenly storming over and hopping inside next to a startled Kel, shoving him out of the driver's seat. "Hey! what are you doing?!" he said indignantly as he was pushed towards the back of the tank's cramped interior.

"You couldn't even drive a car without it crashing so why would I let you use a fucking tank? So I'm driving this thing and you get in the back seat cannon and start shooting stuff." she replied plainly and turned the ignition key. The loud roar of the engine marked her success, a small smirk formed on her lips as she pressed full throttle and the war machine broke free from it's restraints and rumbled forward through the front gate.

"Eh? great idea huh?" Kel asked with a wide grin plastered on his face.

The pink haired girl let out small snicker to herself as the tank crushed several unaware ROBOHEART DRONES that happened to be in the way. When she looked back she had a devilish smile of her own.

"Yeah...I'll admit you were right, tank does beat everything."

...

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[]BATTLE START![]

What will KELBREY and friends do?

KELBREY revs up and spin-dashes into the enemy!

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

ROBOHEART DRONE took 1896 damage![X]

KELBREY'S SPEED increased

BLITZHEART transformed into a tank!

BLITZHEART'S DEFENSE and ATTACK went up

ROWANETTE slashes at ROBOHEART DRONE

the attack missed...

[]

KELBREY tosses a ball into the air and HEADBUTTS it!

BLITZHEART took 544 damage

BLITZHEART fires her main cann-

ROWANETTE interrupts the attack!

BLITZHEART takes 1000 damage

[]

Reinforcements arrive!

BLITZHEART transforms into a helicopter!

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Just when it looked like the two would be overrun by the drones, a tank burst through the wall and smashed the hoard of robots they were fighting underneath it before it's main cannon swiviled it's main cannon to aim at the giant specialized ROBOHEART unit in the sky and firing a shell into it's chassis, sending it crashing to the ground in a blazing explosion. Expecting the tank as another enemy, KELBREY rushed over to the vehicle and started rapidly destroying it in a blinding flurry of punches, kicks and headbutts. As the tank was falling apart, Aubrey hastily popped the top of the ruined tank open, waving her hands up and down to get her friend's attention.

"Woah woah hey! stop don't blow it up we're in this thing! we're-"

Aubrey ended up almost getting a fist to the face if it weren't for Kel suddenly popping up in front of her to take the blow. The fusion stopped thier assault when they realized who they almost blew up. "Ohhhh...sorry dude, my bad." they apologized sheepishly to Kel.

"Holy Shit you two...good thing you came out of there too" ROWANETTE says as she helped them out of the now wrecked vehicle and onto the ground.

The Pink haired girl hefted up a dazed Kel by the shoulder. "It was Kel's idea really, But I drove the tank the whole time." she said proudly.

"Hold on a moment, Aubrey how did you even know how to drive a tank?! doesn't that require military training?"

Aubrey glanced back at the tank then back to the Flower boy with a shrug. "Apparently, all that was in there was a control stick and some buttons, like someone didn't know how to make a real tank."

Kel lifted his head up to laugh weakly. "See? I told you...tank...beats...everythi-" he blurted and passed out on the spot.

...

ALTIMA stood on the captain's deck of the AIRSHIP steadily watching from a distance as MOLLY worriedly paced back and forth muttering things to herself.

"Nononono, I clearly saw that black and white freak wandering around the city earlier." she tapped a few buttons on her data pad to bring up more footage on the screens. A security camera recording showed silent footage of the friend group relaxing at the ramen bar to the point where they were attacked by the drones for the first time. MOLLY slowed the footage and rushed over to the screen

"There! right. there..." she pointed at a corner where a black and white figure could be seen observing the scene for a split second before a flash of red abruptly ended the footage. "Did you see that?" MOLLY said anxiously and re-winded to the exact moment it went out and paused at the moment two bright red hands destroyed the camera.

"Another child? Art thou certain this one is a true threat?" ALTIMA questioned, warily eyeing the image of the monochrome boy in the distance.

"Yes...this is the same one that destroyed BARBECUE VALLEY and he's now here, wandering around the city!" The oldest of the SLIME GIRLS confirmed and showed more captured footage of the village of FLANKSTEN TOWN moments before it burst into flames along with the rest of the surrounding area, the same black and white figure was seen walking away from the scene. "He could very well destroy NEON-MOONS next if he wanted to, I'm telling

"By the seven moons..." ALTIMA murmured in shock and horror as feeds showed SHERIFF COWPOKE bravely confronting the small boy and getting torn apart by several crimson appendages that appeared from the boy's back. MOLLY turned off the screens, outside the ship was a brewing thunderstorm that raged all around them. She glanced over at him with a genuinely concerned expression. "I haven't heard back from my sister, MARINA since that happened, I think she might have not made it at all...trust me, you DO NOT want to ignore or belittle that kid."

ALTIMA expression under his helmet was gravely concerned"This is...troubling news, I will contact my elite knight squad and inform them to be on lookout for such a threat lest it spell calamity for all."

"No! don't bother, I told you I got this all under control! I'm going to throw everything I've got at him, my BLITZHEART unit, GROOVEHEART, the prototy-"

Sounds of loud explosions from the hangers stopped MOLLY mid-rant, The Oldest SLIME GIRL looked around for a moment before taking in a breath. Then without a second to spare, she opened a security feed in the hanger bay. MOLLY squinted at the static image on her pad before her eyes widened in surprise and bewilderment.

"What in the..."

Several figures wearing high tech armor were seen fighting through her army and destroying her ship, each of them looked exactly like the ones from earlier. In an instant the blue-purple octopus girl pivoted on heel to march right up to ALTIMA, pointing an accusing tentacle at him. "You lied to me...you told me you got rid of those brats!" she snarled, punctuating the last parts with several jabs to his chest. The cosmic warrior stood unfazed and glared down at her in disgust. "Those 'brats' are mine holy knights, freshly initiated and blessed to carry out the crusade to strike the heart of this metal abomination and liberate the city of thine vile influence, honorless witch!"

The ruse was up, it was time to strike...

MOLLY squinted her eyes at him and huffed in frustration. "...I let you on board this ship as a guest, I send my creations below to help you and your people and after all that you betray me? not cool..."

She then lowered her voice and let out a menacing dark chuckle. "Darling...did you think I would be stupid to let you leave this room alive? did you think I didn't see this coming a mile away? I invited you up here so I could get rid of you!"

MOLLY pressed a switch as several dozen ROBOHEART DRONES flooded into he chamber and surrounded the cosmic warrior. On command, they fired all at once, pelting him with a barrage of lasers and missiles. This continued for a whole minute until MOLLY ordered them to stop. Once the smoke cleared, ALTIMA stood unharmed within a glowing purple bubble shield that had protected him from harm. ALTIMA stepped out of the bubble and reached for the sword on his hip.

"Thou may try to slay thee if that is what thou wishes, but know that I hast walked through thine valley death many times before..."

In an instant, he shot into the sky wielding a blade made from sparking electricity and he swung it in a circular downward arc, beheading each of the robots and causing them all to explode in a dazzling arc of blue light. Once he landed, his whole body and weapon were set ablaze in radiant glory.

"...I fear not evil...for it is evil that shalt break upon mine blade." he began approaching the terrified MOLLY as she slowly backed into her chair and rapidly pressed a button on the back, a trap door opened underneath whisking her away to her lab before the flaming ALTIMA could show her his wrath...

...

the group roamed around the vast winding corridors of the AIRSHIP that were thankfully tall enough for BASIL to stand up and walk rather than crawl. Though with the winding halls and everything looking the same, they would all be wandering in circles if they didn't have HERO tap into the AIRSHIP'S internet router to copy a map of the entire ship layout to help them find the core faster. HERO was currently occupying himself by showing KELBREY some blueprints he'd snatched up along with the map. He sounded very intrigued as he talked away about each design from the standard unit to the much bigger transforming one they had destroyed in the hanger...

"These blueprints are amazing, so many different versions of just one robot...like this BLITZHEART model." he brought up a image of a camo-green and yellow ROBOHEART DRONE to a very bored looking, half asleep KELBREY as they tried keep awake.

"It can shift between a tank or helicopter or a submarine in whopping two seconds between each transformation! and all because of this tiny cog inside it's back plate... and this one! it uses something called 'dubstep' as a crowd control weapon. How did she do it?" HERO wondered out loud, the vast archives of other robots which included things like a small mech vehicle for SPROUT MOLES called a 'W.0.S.H.-MK VII', a scrapped prototype model for a ROBOHEART exo-suit...and so many others.

KELBREY yawned and casually spun around a pink and orange striped bat in one upper hand while holding HERO'S pad in their two lower ones, clearly not interested. "Uh...okay cool I guess? as long we can mash em to bits we don't really need-"

The group suddenly stopped when Basil raised a hand up in front of them and shushed them with his other. "Stop talking a second, do you all hear that?" he said softly.

The whole hallway went dead silent, save for the sounds of metal creaking against the storm outside, but only after a second longer, a faint muffled noise like a boombox and scratching sounds could be heard coming from down the corridor behind a lone door up ahead.

FLOWER cautiously leaned out from his helmet turned flower pot. "That sound...it's coming from that locked door." he whispered anxiously.

Basil stepped towards the door and placed a ear up to it, nodding his head along to the steady beat on the other side. "Hmm, kind of sounds like...music." he confirmed to the others and reached for the door switch next to it. "Should I open it though?" he asked.

"Of course not! it's locked for a reason probably." Aubrey spoke up and placed her hand next to his to block him from opening the door.

"Well, it could be shortcut to the core...or maybe it's a lounge area, I could use a break." Basil answered, making no attempt to remove her hand in the way until she did so on her own.

"Okay, who's betting that there will be a killer robot behind the door? or maybe nice empty broom closet..." ROWANETTE said in a joking tone.

"Oh! oh! robot! robot! I bet it'll have metal saw blades, and it'll throw them at people! cause that sounds reaaaaally cool..." KELBREY commented excitedly

"I'm with Basil, I could use a break from all this walking...I hope it's a lounge...please be a nice lounge..." Kel sighed dreamily, imagining himself in a jacuzi drinking ice cold Orange Joe. With a moment of hesitation, Basil pressed the unlock switch on the door control, it made a light ping sound and the door clicked.

The muffled 'music' was getting louder and louder and soon the door swung open to another new ROBOHEART DRONE and the source of the now deafeningly loud sound, the robot looked more like it would have fit in a discotheque as a DJ than the cold halls of the flying fortress, with it's bright blue coating and flashing yellow and red lights setting it apart from all the other machines the gang had encountered so far. It spun a floating disk on a holographic turntable and the room was flooded in yellow strobe lights.

"I knew it was a killer robot! I call dibs on breaking this oversized walking jukebox!" KELBREY said and cracked their knuckles and stepped up to attack the drone but suddenly stopped when he got too close and started dancing, the fusion's legs and arms began by themselves, waving around wildly as they hopped and spun and shook their hips to the hypnotic beat of the music.

"Buddy, now's not the time to be showing off dance moves right now!" Kel raised an eyebrow at the fusion's sudden behavior.

"My body's moving on it's own! I can't stop!" KELBREY panicked as they did a headspin.

"Must...not...dance..." Aubrey struggled to resist as she too fell under the dancing spell. "I swear Basil if you take a photo of this I'm going to...!" she threatened but was drowned out by a swell in the music, The flower boy let out a nervous laugh as he secretly placed a brand new photograph into his photo album.

HERO checked the blueprints again until he found the one matching the robot in front of them, it read.

---

Model MN-007 'GROOVEHEART'

Function; crowd control, interrogation device, signal jamming device, fun at parties?

74,000 HEART

100 ATTACK

2477 DEFENSE

10 SPEED

200 LUCK

A specialized unit created by merging parts of a DOOMBOX and one of our mass produced ROBOHEART DRONES, this model was developed with a unique way of disabling opponents with hypnotic sound wave frequencies that trigger certain neural responses in the target's brains or computer processors that when heard cause motor functions to kick into overdrive, effectively forcing them to 'dance' as long as they are within range or can hear the music, type of music does not change or improve sonarkenetic capabilities. Prolonged exposure usually leaves victims too exhausted to move or fight back against the unit. Unfortunately, there is no way to shut off it's music so leaving it inside a soundproof closet is the best method of containment until until deployment. The unit was noted to only be able to move in tandem with whatever music track it currently is playing, making it an extremely poor choice against mobile targets.

side note;"Maybe I'll give this one over as a gift for MARINA, I'm sure she'll 'love it' in time... fufufufufufu~"

---

This information was incredibly alarming. "Guys, don't listen to the music! that's how it gets you!" HERO warned. but the last of the group had already been taken by the dance and was at GROOVEHEART'S mercy. The robot then took one of it's turntable disks in it's hand, revealing saw blades that whirred to life as it stomped towards the group in pace with it's rhythmic beat.

FLOWER stretched himself forward out of his pot, extending his plant body so that when GROOVEHEART passed by, it tripped over one him and fell on it's face with a loud cracking sound, snapping everyone out of the trance in the process. ROWANETTE kicked the robot back into it's closet picked up FLOWER and ran ahead with the others before it could escape.

"Nice save back there buddy, that could have gone wrong so quick." ROWANETTE smiled down at her friend.

"Thanthss, yu dith gret tu." FLOWER said cheerfully, though his voice was muffled by two giant mounds of...

ROWANETTE blinked in confusion and shoved aside the mysterious soft lumps blocking her friend's face, realizing they were attached to her chest. "Huh? what the hell are these?" Then it dawned on her. "Oh my god..."

The others stopped and looked back to see what was happening...

"WHEN DID I BECOME A FREAKING GIRL?!" ROWANETTE exclaimed in disbelief and fell to her knees while both flower boys went over to comfort her on this latest revelation.

Kel and Aubrey exchanged bemused looks with one another and turned back to what they were doing. "Hey HERO? we kind of got a bit back tracked with that dj bot back there, where are we now?" he asked his machine bound friend.

"Hold on let me check the map...oh hey! the core is just behind this door next to us!" HERO announced and pressed a button, the large doors opened up and let the group into the final act of the crusade.

---

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

THE AIRSHIP, CORE CHAMBER

[Danger on The Dance Floor]

{}{{{{{}{}{}{}{}{}{{}{}{}{}{}{{}{{

A vast chamber spread out before the friends, numerous machines blinked and flashed in the dark and massive winding cables bent and weaved throughout the entire room, all leading to a heart shaped object floating inside a holding chamber set in the center.

This was it...this was where the ship's core was located.

But before the group could take a step further, sinister laughter echoed all around them as MOLLY appeared from above standing atop a floating platform followed by an escort of over half a dozen ROBOHEART DRONES aiming their weapons directly at the intruders.

"I have a special surprise for you annoying thorns in my side, meet two my newest creations fresh off the assembly line!" MOLLY announced ominously and pressed a switch...

The sounds of static filled music could be heard getting louder and louder until sonic blast blew apart the door behind them. The ROBOHEART lookalike from earlier stepped out, smoking and sparking from all over, it's visor was cracked in half and falling off, it's metallic paint finish was chipped dented all over, extremely loud distorted music crackling from it's punctured speakers in it's pitiful attempts to captivate the gang again, the others covered their ears in response but nothing happened, seemed like it's hypnotic music was no longer working properly.

"It's that really loud ROBOHEART again!" BASIL exclaimed.

"Why yes it-" MOLLY'S excited expression turned into one of confusion. "Wait, you already saw it?" She squinted at her creation's battle damage. "What did you do to my GROOVEHEART?"

"Yeah...we heard it coming too, kind of let it out of that closet, then we had to break it...so sorry miss MOLLY, I hope you weren't planning on it being a surprise." FLOWER apologized innocently and tapped his leaves together

MOLLY'S eye twitched slightly, then she took a deep breath and decided to go on with her villain speech, she put on a smug face again and looking down condescendingly on the group. "This is my little experimental project I've been making in my free time, say hello to GROOVEHEART, my special robot fitted with advanced sound amplification technology." she announced proudly, trying to ignore the sorry state the machine was in. GROOVEHEART produced a disk from it's torso and replaced one of it's turntable disks.

"G-G-GROOVEHEART...superior, Humans...inferior." it chattered in a smooth vocoder voice through scratching the disk on it's portable turntable.

The eldest SLIME GIRL nodded along, her confidence restored. "Fufufu...oh that's not the only thing I've got up my metaphorical sleeves..." She leaned over and pointed at KELBREY. "You there in the pink headband and leg warmers, you like speed? competition? let's give you something to sate that need."

At the press of a button, a grey blur sped into the room from atop one of the cables, almost too fast to see as it went in circles around the group. When it finally came to a stop next to MOLLY the gang could get a better look at what it was. The robot looked exactly like KEL except for it's metallic skin, rocket thrusters and heel mounted wheels.

"Is that a robot version of KEL? why is it so ugly looking?" Aubrey meanly commented about the robot.

The robot KEL said nothing and waved a finger mockingly towards KELBREY, making it's challenge known, it wanted to race.

MOLLY rubbed her tentacle on her chin and raised an eyebrow towards her newest creation. "This is...ROBOKEL?...KELBOT?...er...MECHANI-KEL? eh whatever I'll just call him ROBOKEL for now, I'll give him a better name later." she sighed to herself, showing less interest in the robot KEL doppelgänger than the others, casually leaning on it's head.

"I built this robot specifically to match that annoying brat's speed, but after seeing how you tore through my ROBOHEART DRONES with such ease, I decided to make some...last second additions to this one to adjust this one for your fused friend here." MOLLY gestured to the pile of discarded robot parts laying off to the side that resembled robot versions of the other Dream Friends. She turned to the KEL copy.

"You know what to do darling, show them what you got."

MOLLY nodded over to ROBOKEL and it sped off into the distance at blinding speed with KELBREY trailing not too far behind. With that being said and done, MOLLY ascended upward on her platform, but not before giving her damaged creation a command. "GROOVEHEART, keep these nuisances from the ship core." she said simply and vanished into the shadows above to watch the action unfold.

GROOVEHEART opened up it's pigtails to reveal much large speakers underneath. "Affirmative, commencing operation; R-R-Rave Party!"

Loud music blared around the balcony with every step it took being in beat with the music...

...

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

{}Battle Start!{}

What will Aubrey and friends do?

Aubrey uses Headbutt

GROOVEHEART takes 134 damage

GROOVEHEART turns up the volume to the extremes!

Aubrey takes 112 damage!

Kel takes 123 damage!

ROWANETTE takes 234 damage!

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

ROWAN strikes twice!

GROOVEHEART takes 1432 and 2134 damage!

Kel uses ULTRA FLEX!

Everyone's HIT RATE went up!

EVERYONE became HAPPY

[]

AUBREY uses Homerun

it was a dull attack...

GROOVEHEART took 14 damage

GROOVEHEART changes up her music playlist...

ROWAN watches Kel

Kel uses RUN N' GUN

GROOVEHEART takes 1729 damage

ROWAN copies Kel!

ROWAN uses RUN N' GUN

GROOVEHEART takes 4321 damage

{"Critical damage sustained...RACKET, LASERBEAT, CRUMBLE...Deploy! commence operation; Dub-stomped."}

[]

{"There's more of them?! come on! fighting this thing by itself is hard enough already!"}

{"We need to keep focused, if we can take down the main one the other ones should fall with it."}

Aubrey attacks HEARTWAVE

HEARTWAVE takes 243 damage

RACKET scratches Kel

Kel takes 109 damage

LASERBEAT flies overhead

CRUMBLE shakes the ground, throwing Aubrey off balance

Aubrey's SPEED went down

ROWAN uses RESTORATION

Aubrey heals 328 HEART

ROWAN takes 328 damage

Kel attacks LASERBEAT

The attack whiffed

[]

Aubrey looks at Kel

Kel throws his ball and Aubrey knocks it out of the park

GROOVEHEART takes 210 damage![X]

{"G-R-ROOV-E-{Kzzzztt!}-HEART...inf-{Fzzzzzttt!}-erior...organics...s-s-s-superior..."}

Aubrey and friends were victorious!

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

...

GROOVEHEART'S battered and beaten body buckled and burst into flames as it fell over the side of the railing towards the massive spinning turbine far below, blaring an airhorn the whole way down until abruptly went silent. The three minions it had summoned to the fight lifelessly clattered to the ground and deactivated.

"I don't think it's getting up from that, thought I was going to go deaf from all that noise for a second..." Kel stuck a finger in his ear to try and get the ringing out.

"Uh, what I can't hear you! did you say something?!" Aubrey yelled loudly, making the athletic boy flinch.

Kel turned to the giant flower boy and pointed towards the core. "Hey BASIL? think you can climb up to there?"

BASIL nodded and picked everyone up into his overall pockets before using his FLOWER CROWN SKILL to create a lasso of vines to wrap onto an overhanging cable to swing across. He looked down at the spinning blades below and gulped nervously, now he knew what it felt like to be inside of a blender. With a deep breath and a running start, BASIL leapt off the platform, swinging across the spinning death pit and grabbing onto a jumble of cables on the other side. So began the slow climb up to the heart of the ship...the fate of NEON-MOONS rested in their hands now...

---

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{{}{}{}

AIRSHIP CORE, STARDUST RUNWAY

[Dead or Alive...you're mine]

{}{}{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

"You may know everything I'm going to do but that wont save you cause I know everything you're gonna do!" KELBREY crowed triumphantly and delivered a kick to the robot doppelganger's face sending it tumbling backwards. They smirked and rubbed their nose. "Strange? isn't it-"

A strong kick in return from ROBOKEL knocked KELBREY back a few feet behind but they kept up the momentum. Still this race was very close, neither contestant getting ahead of one another for long. ROBOKEL always seemed to have the advantage over his fused counterpart, with temporary flight, and the general lack of a need to rest, which KELBREY was seeming to show signs of fatigue despite their best efforts to cover it up with cheeky comments and taunts.

"Got nothing to say? the real deal would have thrown some kind of insult by now." They mocked the robot copy and clapped their hands together. "C'mon show me what you got!"

ROBOKEL stopped and twisted his head backwards. He made a mocking expression towards his organic counterpart by slapping his posterior and making a strange noise that sounded like the puckering of lips.

He was telling them to kiss his shiny metal-

("Oh, it's on now.") KELBREY thought excitedly as they ran a little faster.

{}{}{}{{}{}{}{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

[]RACE START![]

}Lap 1{

ROBOKEL takes the lead!

KELBREY uses COFFEE

KELBREY'S SPEED increased

KELBREY is midway

ROBOKEL flashes KELBREY with a light in it's eyes

KELBREY'S SPEED fell

KELBREY'S HIT RATE fell

KELBREY fell behind

[]

KELBREY uses MOOD WRECKER

ROBOKEL took 15 damage

ROBOKEL is midway

ROBOKEL attacks KELBREY

the attack missed...

KELBREY takes the lead!

[]

}}Lap 2{{

KELBREY used YOU CANT CATCH ME

ROBOKEL'S HIT RATE fell

ROBOKEL boosts his thrusters!

ROBOKEL'S SPEED increased

ROBOKEL is midway

[]

ROBOKEL suddenly rams the fusion from the side, throwing them off balance as they teetered off the edge of the road. Only by grabbing onto the robot's leg were they able to prevent themselves from taking a nasty fall.

KELBREY uses HEADBUTT

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

ROBOKEL takes 1663 damage

ROBOKEL fell behind

}}}FINAL LAP{{{

KELBREY does a spin dash!

KELBREY is in the lead!

ROBOKEL overclocks his engine!

ROBOKEL is in the lead!

[]

KELBREY uses SLAM DUNK!

the attack missed...

the ball rebounds!

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

ROBOKEL takes 8210 damage! [X]

}{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

...

KELBREY skidded to a stop at the top of the core, panting heavily as they reveled in sweet victory. the metal doppelganger crashed down next to them, splitting in half from the waist down as ROBOKEL'S upper torso lay motionless while his lower fell off the edge into the ship's inner engine.

"Ha! take that you dumb tin can! you can't beat the real deal right here!" KELBREY stood over the robot and broke into little victory dance. "I'm the best around! nothing's ever gonna keep me down-"

The fusion was suddenly tackled to the ground by ROBOKEL'S upper torso as he latched onto KELBREY'S back and began beeping rapidly as it's self-destruct timer counted down from five to zero instantly.

"There can be only one KEL..." it whispered it's first and last words.

[ROBOKEL used SELF DESTRUCT]

[KELBREY took 19922 damage!]

[KELBREY became TOAST]

KEL and AUBREY lay in a heap atop one another surrounded by the smoldering remains of the robot copy still intact but separate once again.

"(Cough! cough!) KEL are you alright?" AUBREY said through the smoke and flames.

"A little burnt, but I'm alright...just glad we didn't get cooked..." KEL stated and shook his head.

Slowly they stirred and sat up looking at one another, then they both glanced down at the scorched bandana lying on the ground between them, the only evidence that the unification of the two friends bodies, KELBREY ever existed. AUBREY crawled over and picked up the discarded headwear and tied it back into her bow. The two friends stared at one another to contemplate and talk about the merged experience together, as they waited for the others to reach them...

...

BASIL reached up onto the edge with one final effort and heaved himself up onto the platform. He lay on his back exhausted from the climb and let the friends out of his pockets. however upon arrival, they were met by the sight of burning robot parts and a thick smoke obscuring the area, with KELBREY being nowhere to be found.

"KELBREY? where are you buddy?" Kel called out worriedly.

Instead, AUBREY stepped out of the fog carrying KEL in her arms. She let him down and straightened out her singed hair. "We won the race...but that mean robot KEL lookalike jumped on us and blew up...It's just the two of us again..." she said in a solemn tone.

KEL stood up alongside her and nodded. "What a sore loser...I'm gonna miss being fused with you." he turned towards his friend, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I just can't believe I had to share your gross sweaty body! I'm never gonna get that sweaty KEL smell out of my dress!" AUBREY sniffed her underarms, and almost gagged at the stench.

"Hey come on AUBS! I was trying to be nice..." KEL gazed sadly at the ground and sighed, his feeling genuinely hurt by her comment.

[KEL became SAD]

AUBREY glanced over her shoulder and frowned, suddenly feeling guilty at seeing her friend surrounded by a deep azure glow... "Well...it was really neat to be able to run around like that all the time...I see why you like it so much." she admitted softly. Much to her hopes, KEL'S expression immediately lit up and he turned to her with a excited look in his eyes. "You really think so?"

AUBREY smiled warmly and held him closer. "Yeah I do, we made an awesome team together...even if I had to share your giant bubble butt the whole time." AUBREY passively remarked, a sly grin forming at the corner of her mouth.

KEL chuckled and pat his rear. "Aw thank you, I do have a nice butt and-" his eyes widened when he put two and two together, realizing she had just insulted him. "Hey! why you...mop head!" he hissed in annoyance, attempting to make a comeback as AUBREY burst out laughing.

"Ha! so you admit you have a big butt!" she taunted further and grinned even wider, reveling in finally getting back at him from last time after he had tricked her into calling herself fat.

[KEL became ANGRY]

"At least I-I don't pick my...my nose when no one's looking you...booger eater!" KEL shouted angrily, his face a deep red from embarrassment. The two then started grappling with one another until ROWANETTE came in between them and held them apart while they were in the middle of a slap fight.

"Guys...is fusing you both together really the only way to make you get along?" she groaned halfheartedly at his friend's immaturity. The two friends looked at one another for a moment and calmed down.

"Okay, sorry AUBREY, no fighting until we get outta here?" KEL offered and held out his hand for a cease fire.

"It's okay KEL, I forgive you...no fighting until we're out of the city." AUBREY replied and graciously returned the gesture.

With the two best friends making up to each other once again. The gang returned their attention to the main objective they had risked life and limb for, the AIRSHIP'S core.

"So this is the ship's core...well let's smash this thing and get out of here!" KEL ran up to the core's containment tube and punched it over and over again, making little to no progress until BASIL walked over and using his massive size, lightly tipped it over with one finger. Instantly shattering it like glass upon impact with the floor. The room remained quiet strangely enough, no alarms, no explosions, not even a platoon of ROBOHEART DRONES to attack them. Everything was just dead silent.

"Huh, I thought there would be an alarm or probably some turbulence or-"

The entire platform they were standing on suddenly shuddered and broke loose, it plummeted down below into the deeper parts of the ship, smashing through the turbine and several floors until it crashed through the very bottom of the ship and out into the open air of the city far below them...

---

{]{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

NEON-MOONS, CITY CENTER

[Canceling the Apocalypse]

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

"You just had to open your mouth didn't you?!" Aubrey screamed angrily over at Kel. The howling wind overpowering any screams of panic and terror the group was making as they plummeted towards the ground at alarming speeds.

"What the heck? why is this my fault all of a sudden?!" Kel argued back in exasperation at the sudden blame being put on him.

In the distance, the monumental AIRSHIP broke through the cloud line, smoke pouring from it's engines and explosions erupting from it's hull as it screeched past the group and impacted into the center of the city in a massive blaze of glory that sent a heat wave in all directions that redirected the path of the group's makeshift escape platform. The debris the group was clinging onto crashed into a skyscraper building, creating a makeshift balcony. The gang slowly emerged from the wreckage and gazed over the horizon at the flaming wreckage of the AIRSHIP lying in ruin, the silence was enough to leave everyone feeling a bit woozy and experiencing nosebleeds from the adrenaline rush they were all having a minute ago.

KEL jumped up and pumped his fists in the air and wooped. "Aw yeah, score! take that robots! game set and match for the good guys!" He cheered ecstatically and went around offering fist bumps and high fives to everyone. It was until a crackling sound from a nearby loudspeaker in the distance turned everyone's attention back to the wreckage.

"MOLLY to ROBOHEART PRIME! command authorization code; Star-scourge! initiate transformation sequence!" the eldest SLIME GIRL'S voice boomed for everyone to hear.

The ship wreckage suddenly emitted a pulse wave that sapped the nearby buildings and flying vehicles of power as the AIRSHIP began to shift into a new shape, wings folding inwards to form arms and hands, thrusters extending outward to reveal a pair of legs and the back and front of the ship blooming outwards like metallic flowers to make a dress at the bottom while it's head emerged from the front, twin metallic pig-tails flaring outward like wings. The gang looked on in disbelief and shock as the gargantuan titan's glowing white hot form slowly rose from the ground to full height where it eclipsed the seven moons in the sky, casting the city in darkness under a long shadow. BASIL, even with his new thirty foot height was utterly dwarfed the monstrous robot's scale of two thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet according to HERO'S quick analysis, it's glowing bright pink eyes like twin suns fixed on the ones responsible for damaging her.

"SSdNIFJFQURZIFRPIFNIT1cgTVkgTE9WRSBGT1IgVEhFIFBFT1BMRSBPRiBXT1JMRCE=" The colossal moon-sized ROBOHEART boomed, it's voice sending shock waves that shattered any and all glass within hearing radius.

"Did anyone catch what that thing just said?" KEL asked, trying to seem not intimidated by the new threat.

"I think she might have said. 'I'm going to destroy the whole world...ohohoh...' sorry, this translator app is really buggy..." HERO said doubtfully and shrugged from within his data pad.

"Oh no..." Basil whispered, gawking up at the jaw dropping sight, his face going pale with utter shock and disbelief at the horrifying scale of the behemoth machine, thier chances of survival dwindling with each thunderous step it took on it's way to them. "No, no, no, no! this isn't isn't happening! there can't be more! how are we supposed to beat that?!" Basil dropped to her knees clutching his face in shaking hands at the sight of the impossibly huge ROBOHEART PRIME lumbering towards them. Kel noticed his friend having a panic attack and rushed over to assured him, holding the flower boy's hands in his own and looking right into each other's eyes.

"Hey Basil, buddy, calm down...you're having a panic attack...we can get through this..." he said calmly and held him close to his chest until he calmed down enough to stand up. Basil took a deep breath in and out, and stood up staring determinedly ahead at the figure of MOLLY in the distance flying towards them. MOLLY floated down on her hovering platform and leaned over close enough to meet eye to eye with Basil in his full suit of armor at the front of group, she crossed her tentacles over her chest and scoffed.

"I don't know how you simple children and delinquent teenagers managed got through my state of the art security and crash my personal ship, but I'm going to make sure you all pay dearly, and this is how." she spoke in an annoyed tone, she gestured over to the building sized machine. "ROBOHEART herself has undergone...several vast improvements during our time here, she has enough firepower to level this city five times over...and that's just ten percent power." she chuckled darkly and pointed down at them.

"It doesn't matter how powered up you all are or how much help you have. Face it darlings, it's game over for you here...fufufu..." she chortled to herself until a thrown softball bat from AUBREY went right over her head plunking harmless off ROBOHEART PRIME'S head.

[ROBOHEART PRIME took 2 damage]

"Pfftt! brag all you want you cold hearted squid bitch, we'll see how sure you are after we turn your 'greatest creation' into scrap metal!" ROWANETTE sneered and flipped out her garden spades, raring to go for a fight. The Dream friends and Faraway gang with everything they had prepared themselves against their most imposing challenge yet...a massive brawl against a building sized titan robot and it's creator.

...

{}{}{{}{}{}{}{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{{}{{

{}BATTLE START!{}

What will KEL and friends do?

KEL attacks ROBOHEART PRIME

ROBOHEART PRIME took 233 damage

ROWANETTE lashes out!

ROBOHEART DRONE took 378 damage![X]

BASIL Plants a tree

Everyone's DEFENSE went up!

ROBOHEART PRIME unleashes a missile barrage!

KEL took 125 damage

ROWANETTE took 213 damage

Fixates on the enemy

MOLLY'S HIT RATE went down

[]

KEL used ANNOY

ROBOHEART PRIME became ANGRY

MOLLY became ANGRY

ROWANETTE attacks MOLLY twice!

MOLLY takes 434 and 516 damage!

BASIL attacks ROBOHEART PRIME

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

ROBOHEART PRIME takes 236 damage

ROBOHEART PRIME activates healing protocols

ROBOHEART PRIME gained 345 HEART

[]

KEL used FLEX

KEL'S HIT RATE went up!

ROWANETTE lashes out!

it was a moving attack

ROBOHEART PRIME took 3465 damage!

MOLLY took 0 damage

BASIL gave KEL COFFEE

KEL'S SPEED went up

MOLLY retreats!

ROBOHEART PRIME initiates her self destruct sequence!

ROBOHEART PRIME'S DEFENSE went up!

BASIL became AFRAID

[]

KEL used RUN N' GUN

ROBOHEART PRIME took 5 damage

ROBOHEART PRIME took 4 damage

ROBOHEART PRIME backhands everyone!

ROWANETTE took 3445 damage!

BASIL took 654 damage!

BASIL became TOAST

ROWAN blacked out

KEL took 0 damage

ROBOHEART PRIME catches fire!

ROBOHEART PRIME takes 3 damage

KEL attacks ROBOHEART PRIME

ROBOHEART PRIME takes 2 damage

[]

KEL guards

ROBOHEART PRIME'S life flashes before her eyes...she sheds a single tear.

ROBOHEART PRIME took 1 damage

A beam from the heavens suddenly strikes down ROBOHEART PRIME!

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

ROBOHEART PRIME takes 999999 damage![X]

{"SSBKVVNUIFdBTlRFRCBUTyBCRSBMT1ZFRC4uLg=="}

KEL and friends were victorious!

{}{}{{}{{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{{}{}{}{{}

...

The intense blast rainbow colored light parted the clouds and pierced like a laser and into the colossal machine's head and out through it's middle section, leaving a massive hole in the top of it's head and abdomen section. ROBOHEART PRIME stood in place for a bit before completely falling apart into a massive heap that kicked up a massive plume of dust. When the dust settled, the giant ROBOHEART lay in pieces completely decommissioned as smoke poured out from the gaping hole in the top of it's head. The gang gazed upwards to see the seven moons above them had aligned perfectly and were beginning to slowly drift back into their original places in the night sky.

The group had, against all odds and with unlikely help from the very celestial bodies themselves, emerged victorious...

KEL cheered as he stood over the body of a broken ROBOHEART DRONE and did a victory dance, holding hands with AUBREY and a now normal sized BASIL and human FLOWER.

"Did we...did we...just win?" Basil managed to say through his disbelieving awe and relief that he fainted into Aubrey's arms.

"You should have seen it out there! you were all wailing away on that giant SWEETHEART robot like BLAM! and KACHOW! it was like watching a real life action movie! and that freaking hyper laser moon beam...that's was so cool!" Kel was with the dream friends celebrating atop the fallen war machine and doing action poses with his dream self.

The pink haired girl however gazed upward at the sky with a pensive expression, ROWAN stepped behind her and followed her gaze upward. "Well...we aren't dead..." she said solemnly after some silence and put a hand to her forehead. "But I still don't get it...why did the moons do that?" AUBREY questioned aloud.

"It was I who called upon the sacred NEON-MOONS themselves to assist thee in your fight."

The armored man stood at the lead of a small fleet of skiffs with a small army of other armored KNIGHTS, PALADINS, EXEMPLARS and robed SCRIBES in tow behind him. He pointed ahead at the wreckage and the armored warriors and mages went ahead . ALTIMA went up to the group and proudly did knight's salute. "You all have exceeded my highest hopes, Thine chivalry and courageous deeds shall be sung of in the streets and statues of all of you shall be erected in thine honor, thoust have all become legend." he raised his hand revealing a number of golden pendants bearing the same azure symbol on Basil's armor.

"We would be eternally grateful for all of you to continue defending our city." he spoke proudly

ROWAN stepped ahead and raised his hand towards the set of amulets but instead of taking one he gently placed his hand over the warriors hand and pushed it aside. Everyone including ALTIMA blinked in confusion as the tall goth sighed and gave him a melancholy look. "ALTIMA, we understand that honor is important to you, and we mean no offense when I say this but...we can't stay here and be knights, we still need to find Sunny still, if anything we've just done far more harm to the city by crashing that ship and blowing it up in the middle of it, I'd say a lot of people here don't have very high opinions of us right now." he spoke calmly.

ALTIMA lowered his face down in slight disappointment but nodded slowly as the goth boy gave his reasoning. When he had finished, ALTIMA had a look that told them, he understood and would respect their choices. "Thoust speak most wisely Exemplar ROWAN, thine words hath truth and I, I see thou as worthy and grant thee safe passage for thine continued quest." He nodded and had two gold robed scribes unveil the Final Shape. The cosmic warrior opened the mythical relic and reached within to pull out a glittering key from inside, placing it in ROWAN'S hands.

The goth boy glanced up at the fellow warrior and respectfully returned the salute. "We appreciate that you decided to let us go after all that, thank you." he said with a light smile, but frowned when the remains of one of ROBOHEART PRIME'S parts being carted away reminded him of something urgent. "But what about MOLLY? she got away during the fight."

ALIMA pointed over to a pair of PALADINS escorting a disgruntled blue and purple tentacle haired girl into the back of a police vehicle. "The cowardly wench has already been captured and will be locked away in our prisons. SPECTRE sent out a city wide shut down order for all ROBOHEART units, and placed the city on lock down to prevent her escape. The treacherous MOLLY will know divine wrath for her many sins against the people of NEON-MOONS..."

"Well, don't let us get in the way of that, we'll show ourselves out." Aubrey called out and turned to leave with the others.

ALTIMA held out a hand making the group pause. "Hold fast young ones, before thoust continues on thine perilous journey, I must deliver a word of important information for thee. Lady MEDIKA MAGICAL the healing sorceress of the distant lands of peace known as THE FOREVER will be expecting you, but fear not, for she is only benevolent and understanding and will gladly assist thee in your journey." With that note in mind the gang gave one final salute to the cosmic warrior before they went towards the parked skiffs and with permission from one of the drivers and HERO'S GPS app, they were ready to go.

"Thanks for the tip, bye ALTIMA! your city is really awesome!" KEL cheerfully called back as they all boarded one of the skiffs and drove off towards the city.

Once the group departed, ALTIMA noticed a delicate flower growing inside of a cracked helmet. The first blossom in over a millennia...ALTIMA kneeled down and picked up the discarded helm with the tiny daisy inside and had his drone companion teleport it to his personal quarters for proper planting.

"Sir, the dangerous monochrome boy was spotted heading in the direction of the WATCHTOWER..." an EXEMPLAR spoke from behind him. "Shall we recall your newest knights to prepare for the battle?"

ALTIMA shook his head and drew his blade with a grim resolve. "Nay, they have made a choice and I will honor that, we shalt return home, and prepare, so that the menace is brought to justice..."

---

Once everyone had boarded the tram leaving NEON-MOONS for THE FOREVER, they had been required to take a ID scan to use the train, though suspicious at first HERO assured them that it was required for all visitor and was one-hundred percent safe, even though HERO was the only one of the group who had not been restored, he was convinced that once they left the city perimeter he would turn back to normal. One by one the friends took the registration scan, with everyone except for the dream friends getting a card from the machine with names, ages and birthdates.

[Basil Silva Gencelt, 17 years old, February 18]

[Kelsey Diego Rodriguez, 17 years old, November 11]

[Aubergine Margrove Su, 17 years old, May 23]

Aubrey frowned deeply and tried the ID scan again, the same result as last time. "Margrove? no that can't be right..." she muttered in bewilderment.

Basil noticed his friend's repeated attempts on the ID machine and went over to her side to see what was wrong. "Aubrey? what's wrong?" When he saw her card description he seemed slightly confused. "Your last name is Margrove? I thought it was Smith." he asked.

Aubrey growled in frustration and kicked the machine. "It is, or I thought it was...the machine is probably just broken or something..." she grunted and gave it another kick for good measure. The ID reader however seemed adamant on the name it had given her despite how much she kicked it.

"Wait a minute...isn't Dr. Yen's last name Margrove?" Kel commented out loud, earning an angry glare back from Aubrey, she shook her head. "...No way...nuh uh! I am not related to that heartless maniac! she almost killed you and actually killed your own brother! This stupid machine is wrong! it's has to be!" she shouted desperately hoping she was right about it. She took the scan several more times and each one gave the same result each and every time.

[Aubergine Margrove Su 17 years old, May 23]

Aubrey stood up and grabbed her nail bat and pointed it threateningly at the ID reader. "I-I'm Aubrey Smith! not Aubrey Margrove Su! that... horrible woman IS. NOT. MY. MOM!" she yelled and swung down hard on the device, shattering the screen and sending sparks everywhere. the pink haired girl was shaking horribly and crying, she grabbed a hold of her ba and yanked it out of the mess of circuitry and wires to take another swing...

"It's okay Aubrey! it's just a last name! let's just focus on getting Sunny back." BASIL hastily assured in an attempt to calm down his friend before she could hurt someone or herself. The pink haired girl stopped for a moment and then slumped her shoulders, she dropped her bat to the ground and closed her eyes.

"R-right...it's just a d-dumb name...it means nothing..." Aubrey murmured to herself and shuffled over to the far corner of the tram to sit by herself while her friends watched on with worried expressions and concerns, but decided to give her some space. Aubrey's mind was racing with all kinds of questions, if Dr. Yen was her real birth mother, then why did she have no memory of it? True, her mom back at home never really treated her like her actual daughter or really showed any kind of affection, but that was only because Aubrey had only assumed it was because she had a nasty drinking drinking habit, not because she probably knew something she didn't, that Aubrey wasn't her real child. Her father...she had vague memories of her dad before she left them, but did he know? was that why he left?

That just made another harsh reality for her to confront, was she...adopted? abandoned by her sycophant mother for unknown reasons and placed in a random home with false memories? It would seem possible for that to be the case given the female doctor's reputation. Now that she had this information that her own family wasn't even possibly her real one, she wondered desperately... Would her friends still accept her after all this? What would that mean for her life back home? Did she used to have a life before? Was her own name even Aubergine? who was she then? Aubrey rubbed her aching temples and set her head down on the side of the tram seat for a rest, this existential crisis was just too much for her to take in one sitting...

Whatever the case, the pink haired girl had serious questions lined up for Dr. Yen the next they met...and she would not be referring to her as mother...

The tram soon started up and began moving at alarmingly fast speeds, the sights and sounds of the city outside the windows blurring and melting into a featureless mess of bright colors until suddenly turning pitch black as the tram car they were in went into a tunnel, a bright neon sign briefly flashed outside on the wall reading;

THANK YOU FOR STAYING AT NEON-MOONS, WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!

---

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NEON-MOONS, WATCHTOWER ENTRANCE

[Purification in Progress...]

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OMORI walked through the open gate of the watchtower and was immediately greeted by a entourage of armored soldiers and wizards surrounding him from all sides on upper levels and behind pillars with weapons trained on him. The monochrome boy wordlessly continued his approached the center of the courtyard while keeping his gaze fixed on the figure of ALTIMA perched above, his primary interest and highest priority target in his objective to cleanse The Dreamer's mind of these corruptions and this one was next.

"Doth thou feel remorse for the ones you've senselessly killed?" ALTIMA spoke without turning around.

OMORI stopped in place and tilted his head as if waiting for him to finish the thought.

"What intents hath brought thee down such a vile path?" the cosmic warrior continued speaking with his back turned.

ALTIMA'S cape waved in the wind like a banner of war as faint traces of orange, blue, green and violet strands of energy licked off he edges of it.

"I know what thou art...but a lowly parasite...desperate for it's host when it has no where else to feed." ALTIMA spat angrily at the mention of parasite, this boy disgusted him, the way he lurked in the shadows and went out of his way to kill anyone, including innocent bystanders.

The Monochrome boy immediately tossed his knife at the warrior above but it was immediately blocked by a shield bearing Exemplar standing nearby.

"So I ask thee once more..." he tossed a spare sword down where it skittered down to OMORI'S feet, a gesture that the knight still wanted a fair honorable fight despite. "Do you feel remorse?" he asked again, this time more directly now that he had turned around.

The monochrome boy stared blankly at the blade for a moment before kicking it aside, glancing back up at the knight and pointed his steak knife at him, letting the reflection of himself glimmer in it's edge. The cosmic warrior sneered at the arrogant display and called upon a flaming sword and leapt down from his perch, wings of pure flame sprouting from his back as he rapidly descended upon his adversary and the other knights emerged from their ambush places to converge upon OMORI from every angle.

"Because...You will receive none from me."

...

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{}BATTLE START!{}

What Will OMORI do?

OMORI used LUCKY SLICE

ALTIMA Takes 999 damage [X]

SPECTRE flashes a blinding light

OMORI'S SPEED FELL

ALTIMA returns to the fight!

ALTIMA summons a flaming pistol and fires!

OMORI takes 784 damage!

[]

OMORI used RED HANDS

ALTIMA takes 742 damage [X]

SPECTRE dodges the attack

ALTIMA returns to the fight

ALTIMA bolsters his warriors resolve .

ALTIMA'S DEFENSE went up

KNIGHT'S DEFENSE went up

PALADIN'S DEFENSE WENT up

[]

OMORI used FINAL STRIKE

ALTIMA took 486 damage

KNIGHT took 876 damage [X]

PALADIN took 276 damage

PALADIN swung his mace

OMORI took 256 damage

ALTIMA strikes precisely at the heart!

IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!

OMORI took 532 damage

OMORI did not succumb...

[]

OMORI used SUFFOCATE

It was a moving attack

ALTIMA took 354 damage [X]

PALADIN took 397 damage [X]

ALTIMA'S DEFENSE went down

SPECTRE moves out of reach

ALTIMA returns to the fight!

ALTIMA summons a cudgel of null energy and smashes the ground!

ALTIMA'S ATTACK went up

OMORI'S DEFENSE went down

[]

OMORI used STARE

ALTIMA'S stats went down

OMORI attacks SPECTRE directly

[SPECTRE took 14 damage!] [X]

ALTIMA took 423 damage

["I-I have failed thee...Dreamer...forgive me for thine failings."]

OMORI was victorious!

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...

"Foul shadow! thy transgressions against the Dreamer must be punished!" ALTIMA coughed and staggered forward clutching the wound on his leg with one hand and leaning on his sword for support with the other. OMORI stared down at the shattered remains of the irritating drone in his hands and tossed them on the floor. He calmly walked up to a heavily wounded ALTIMA, gazing at him with an expressionless stare. "Do thine worse vagabond parasite, you will hear no pleas for mercy from me..." he spat at OMORI'S feet.

OMORI instead calmly turned his attention to the knights and warriors standing behind him and summoned his RED HANDS to kill the rest of them and prevent any escape. The cosmic warrior's eyes narrowed at the sight of every last one of his allies being massacred like sheep in a lions den. He glared hatefully at the monochrome boy and his neutral expression he had the entire time.

"Vile demon...slayer of innocents...thine part in this slaughter...the blood spilled on these sacred grounds...shalt not be forgiven!" ALTIMA growled hatefully as more RED HANDS shot out from the floor, holding him in place. OMORI slowly walked over to the armored man and gently placed his hand on the warrior's helmet.

[OMORI used SUBJUGATE]

ALTIMA hissed in pain as searing pain surged through his whole body, like red hot needles piercing his skin under his armor. "I need not your apathetic mercy, parasite, thoust believe thineself a savior of one who wishes not to be saved, this arrogance will be thine undoing!" he said defiantly despite the incredible agony he was experiencing. OMORI took a deep breath in and tightened his grip.

ALTIMA'S screams of pain stopped abruptly, he slumped forward as the RED HANDS withdrew. The monochrome boy removed his hand from ALTIMA'S helmet, a bright red imprint leaving a mark as the warrior stood up quietly, obediently awaiting orders, his body an empty shell of what was. OMORI would not kill ALTIMA, instead he would make him watch this world burn...

"Kneel..." The cosmic warrior did as he was told.

"Stay..." OMORI commanded and turned to leave.

ALTIMA did not respond, but instead kept watching The Monochrome boy leave as the WATCHTOWER started to crumble around him...neither did he react when a slab of stone fell on top of him...the courtyard now becoming a graveyard of forgotten dead...

The city of NEON-MOONS went dark immediately after, buildings collapsed on one another, people screamed and ran for their lives. One by one the moons dropped out of the sky and shattered into pieces that only caused more chaos and destruction as the supports holing the elevated parts of the city fell and plunged them into an abyss, the once grand civilization of NEON-MOONS was now and forever lost to the pits below...

OMORI gazed upon the devastation and massive loss of life again feeling the great twisting feeling of shame just like in BARBECUE VALLEY. He placed a hand on his chest in confusion. What was this feeling? he did not want it, he should not be feeling bad or felling anything right now...could he be changing? like his friends was he finally becoming something different than he was?

No he would not allow it to interfere, it must be suppressed and erased...Sunny had to be saved first...then he will make everything right again.

---

Sunny awoke on a bed inside an unfamiliar room of pale grey stone similar to a hospital. When had he gotten here? his last memory was being on a train with Dr. Shwartz and his family, they had just left some place...somewhere very bright and vibrant...though the memory was fading fast. Another part of this dream had fallen as the doctor had foretold...it left him very worried for what would happen once OMORI finally caught up to them, there was no place left to go after that and no chance of being able to fight back against him.

Faint hushed voices coming from the door close by caught the raven haired boy's interest, one was undoubtedly Dr. Shwartz's voice, the other was a woman he had only heard once but still recognized by her light bubbly tone, even if it sounded concerned at the moment. "You will be safe with me...I just need you to trust me..." the voice said.

"Thank you MEDIKA, I imagine the deaths of COWPOKE and ALTIMA must weigh on you." Wlihelm spoke.

MEDIKA sighed in deep melancholy. "They do a lot, COWPOKE was my best friend in the short time we knew one another, we used to go shooting on the range together, and have milkshakes at the bar while telling each other jokes. ALTIMA...oh ALTIMA, he was strong, stoic, kind and never cared to boast about either, and he had that charming accent that I couldn't recall what it was...fancy English?"

"I believe it's called Old English..." Wilhelm corrected.

"Yeah, I miss him too, I know he told me to stay strong but...how am I supposed to be strong when he...he's..." MEDIKA'S voice cracked and turned into a choked sob.

"It will be okay, everything will be okay."

Sunny opened the door to see Dr. Shwartz holding a white haired girl in a nurse outfit close to him in a comforting embrace, they both looked at him with looks of surprise.

"Sunny? how are you feeling?" MEDIKA questioned, instantly changing back into her cheerful persona.

Sunny grimaced and looked at the floor. "I felt him again...this time he was fighting through a whole army of knights, and he killed them all."

The doctor frowned and pushed his glasses onto his eyes. "NEON-MOONS has fallen...we know, this is it Sunny, either your friends reach us first, or OMORI does. We can only pray you're friends are quick enough." Shwartz said gently and took Sunny's hand to lead him down the pristine white halls to the safe place MEDIKA had given them.

"My...my friends?"

Wilhelm stopped and turned to look the boy in the eyes. His next words were careful and slow. "Yes, the ones who came here to save you? Kel, Aubrey...Basil?" he named off each of Sunny's childhood friends.

the boy blinked and made a confused face. "I-I don't...I don't know who you're talking about...who are those people, should I know them?" he asked plainly.

Shwartz's face became panicked as he turned to the magical nurse. "MEDIKA! what's happening to Sunny? why is he suddenly forgetting his friends?!" he frantically demanded.

MEDIKA fumbled a bit with a clipboard in her hands and pointed at some text scribbled on it. "I ran some medical tests on his mental activity while he was resting, it's significantly lower than what a normal person should be, patches of his mental psyche were either very damaged, or missing altogether." MEDIKA said grimly and tapped her pen against her arm before giving her prognosis. "Doctor, it's with a heavy heart that I inform you...that without most of his old memories, the ones you and the others have created for him may work anymore...Sunny may not have long before he completely enters a vegetative state and...perhaps even a permanent coma."

Shwartz felt his heart sink when he heard the news. They were so close...he grasped onto the boy's shoulder and whispered into his ear. "Sunny...please just hold on a bit longer...think of the ones that are important to you." he silently begged him, hoping for some kind of recollection of memories.

"M-Mari? my...my sister...I remember she was my sister..." Sunny murmured to himself.

"Yes! just keep thinking about her while MEDIKA and I have a talk, you should return to your room and wait for us." Shwartz assured and once Sunny was out of sight, he quickly turned on his heel, beckoning for the magical nurse to follow him to a special closed off room away from prying eyes and ears. Once they were alone Shwartz spoke quickly. "I need you to do it just like we discussed...it's time." he said pointing at a chair strapped to an odd device sitting in the center.

MEDIKA placed her hands to her mouth to suppress a gasp and rapidly shook her head."You mean the memory extractor?! now? doctor...you can't be serious! if you place all your own memories in Sunny's, it...it will kill you!" she spoke in alarm, violently shaking her head at him. But Shwartz kept his calm intact as he stepped over to the chair and strapped himself in despite the magical nurse's best attempts to dissuade him.

"I know...but if it buys a bit more time for the others...then it is my time to go..." Wilhelm sighed sadly and wiped away a few tears from his cheeks. "Please...as a final request...just let me do one good thing in my life for the one time while I still can, let me give my life to save someone else's..."

"Doctor Shwartz..." MEDIKA managed to say and reached out to him one more time. "Please..."

But the doctor raised a hand to stop her, he took off his glasses and handed them to her saying. "Tell my wife and child...that I'll see them again..." He said softly and pressed a few buttons on the arm mounted control pad that lowered glass bowl over his head as it whirred to life...he looked over at a mortified MEDIKA and closed his eyes one last time, imagining the little house on a country hillside in his home town of Munich Germany where Noria and Helgi were waiting for him to come home with open arms.

...

Sunny watched the ceiling of his room, for reasons he didn't quite understand he was having a harder time than usual remembering certain things he'd have no trouble with before. But these absent thoughts would be interrupted by a abrupt flash of epiphany as his mind was suddenly assaulted by multiple images of places, people, and events he knew never seen before but now understood what they were without prior knowledge. It lasted a good five minutes before Sunny found himself on the hospital floor panting heavily and staring at his own hands, tears of deep sorrow and grief welling in his eyes when the good doctor's last thoughts dawned on him, it was painless and quick but it still hurt inside. Sunny vowed in that moment that he would remember the man not as a war criminal and a doctor...but as a friend who genuinely wanted the best for the world and a decent person with a noble heart...

he would not forget anymore...he refused to...

Inside the memory extraction room, The dream versions of Wilhelm's family stood beside their husband's body resting on him in one final embrace and with a last warm smile they both disintegrated into a sparkling purple and white dust that spread around the room like a light snow before it too vanished...

THE FOREVER hospital was quiet that day, having lost it's first patient...

---

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D.R.E.A.M. HQ, Secret Splicing chamber

{FACECLUSTER}

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A dozen eyes peer from a cage...

A dozen mouths sigh in a cacophony of discordant voices...

"We are awake..."

"It hurts..."

"Why does it hurt so much?"

"We don't want that..."

"There is a woman and a man, they are arguing."

"One doesn't like me being here, the other wants me to grow strong."

"The woman...she is our, mother?"

"Yes she is...she made us..."

"Gave us life in this place..."

The body moves, bones crack and snap underneath at the slightest shift...

"We try to speak but there is only pain..."

"Mother notices our pain and comforts us."

"It is nice...we like her."

"The man does not think so...he wants to leave...is he our father?"

"No...not father, but a stranger."

"Mother stops him and convinces him to stay."

"She gives him words of encouragement and praise..."

"We don't understand, why does he want to leave?"

"Did we do something wrong?"

"In the end the man stays and Mother returns to take care of us..."

"But these limbs are not my own, they move of their own accord."

"This body is not mine, yet it is ours...many and one."

"These eyes are not mine, there are too many...too much to see."

"I try to speak again...but there is only screams as our bones break and mend..."

"Mother speaks to us...she tells us to go play in a garden with some friends, and find our brother...the one in pale and dark..."

"...and our father...the one like our brother but with one eye."

"...We like new friends...Mother is kind, Mother would never lead us astray."

"The man seems untrustworthy...Mother does not like him, so we do not either."

"I am legion for we are many...yet we are one, unified in a voice and body."

"We are FACECLUSTER..."

"We are all..."

"We are one..."

---

Tomorrow is a new day

Good Night!