Act 2, Chapter 8 - Old Friends, New Memories (Part 2)
"Welcome to the penthouse of Arisa Meigo." Articho announces.
Articho and co have finally reached the penthouse that sits at the top of the apartment building, where Chika and her friends all awed at its decorative interior. Not as flashy as Mari's place since Mari had a sculpted statue and paintings of herself as a sign of showboating, no doubt, but it still looked pretty basic for anyone to live in.
"Looks normal looking to me." Yō admits. "I'm alright with that."
"Ditto." Riko nods. "And less Mari, to be honest. One's already bad enough as it is."
"Creepy." Chika agrees with her two best friends.
"Gee, you guys." Mari grumbles. "You didn't need to say that out loud."
"Sorry Mari, but they kinda have a point." Kanan sheepishly grins.
"Not everywhere we go has to look luxurious by your standards." Dia rolls her eyes. "You could at least be grateful they've offered a roof over our heads instead of leaving us alone to rot with no ID and money."
"It's not joke." The blond rich girl puffs her cheeks, avoiding eye contact with her two childhood friends.
"Sure you're doing alright?" Maaya asks her husband with a concerned expression on her face. "Seems to me you haven't slept in days."
Which is true, considering he had to help Ryouko on another one of her pet projects since the Ginza incident.
"I'll sleep when I'm dead." He said, rubbing his tired eyes.
"We both know you need a clear head for this." She points out. "You should catch some shut-eye."
"We'll let you know when breakfast is ready." Kinuho assures with a warm smile.
Articho only nodded and walked towards a flight of stairs, making his way to his own bedroom.
"Now then." Maaya faces the girls. "Let's see if we can find some new clothes for you to wear."
"I can handle that, Maaya." Kinuho says. "Go and start cooking up a hearty breakfast for all of us."
"Of course." The shinobi princess bows. "Just let me get out of my armor first. You will join in to help out, right?"
"That's right." The light chestnut haired girl smiles softly towards her best friend.
"I'll leave you to it then." The indigo haired girl smiles back before walking upstairs, leaving the rest of the girls by themselves.
The Pathfinder walks into his room and shuts the door behind him. He then pulls out the lightsaber hilt and sets it on his workbench alongside his heavy pistol, as well as both the compass and tuner before completely removing his N7 Pathfinder armor piece by piece.
"Today sure was a hassle." Articho mutters, sitting in a spinning chair in front of his desk.
He then picks up a holographic picture frame, showing him an image of himself and two other human looking boys roughly around his age.
"Hey Articho." One of the boys called out, a blonde with purple-tinted blue eyes. "Ready for some training?"
Articho turns himself around in his chair and sees that a holo movie is being played in the center of the room. Setting the photograph back down on his desk, he rolls up for a closer view of the footage dating two years back.
"I'm ready alright." The 16-year-old Articho says in a slightly younger voice, walking besides his friend. "Still don't think this is necessary, given that I'm superior to both of you. A waste of time, really."
"Cassus will be the judge of that." The boy with short blond hair named Kai Rees shrugged, as they reach the doors into one of the Absolution MK II.5's AR training rooms. "If it were up to me, I'd have considered leaving you out of these sessions."
"For once, Kai, we agree." The future Pathfinder deadpans.
Soon, the doors open up to reveal someone that appears to be a Mandalorian in armor, sitting in a meditation position, as he's without his helmet on and sports brown hair in the form of a mullet with matching eye color.
"You're late." The armored individual spoke with his eyes closed, having already sensed their presence earlier.
"Sorry, Cassus." Kai explains. "One of Articho's girls was in the mood this morning and he couldn't refuse."
"Hey!" Articho shoves the former Padawan before stepping forward to face the meditating Mandalorian who isn't facing them. "I'd rather be out there finding the Book of Destiny than be here training with either of you guys."
He spoke too soon as he started coughing uncontrollably, where small drops of blood flew out of his mouth and landed on the beskar alloy Cassus' armor is forged from.
"And how's that working out?" Cassus questions, as he opens his eyes before standing up and faces his friends with a stern expression. "This is exactly why you're so overconfident in your own abilities."
"That's the point." He crosses his arms. "It's Saiyan pride. Mandalorians are no exception."
"And where has that gotten you, hmm?" The Mandalorian calmly remarks. "Black sealed off most of your power, which by the way, has been keeping that illness of yours at bay."
"Black may be formidable, but he's still predictable as always." Articho snorts. "I'll find a way out of this mess. Because I'm always ten steps ahead of everyone."
"Aren't you worried that he's gonna surpass you?" Kai questions, confused. "I don't see the logic of you being so calm about it."
"Strength isn't everything, Kai." He rolls his eyes. "That's always been his mindset since he stole my ancestor's body for his petty crusade on us mortals. He can abuse the zenkais all he likes, it won't work. Taking shortcuts to reach a new level of power isn't my style."
"So he's just another pathetic psychopath with a superiority complex." The former Padawan deadpans. "Reminds me of a certain Emperor I know of back in Earth-77."
"I did kick Black's ass in a tournament not too long ago." The hybrid Saiyan smugly grins, looking away from his friends. "Best time of my life."
"A tournament?" Kai questions further.
"Ahem!" Cassus interrupts. "If both of you are done chit chatting, then I suggest we all get started."
"Roger roger." Kai mockingly salutes.
Cassus casually Force lifts Kai up, pinning him to the AR training room's ceiling as their surroundings have turned into one of the dojos that the Jedi have in their former temple on Coruscant. And Cassus is not amused by the former Padawan's antics. Articho eventually snickers at how easily Kai let himself get pinned to the ceiling in the most humiliating position that anyone else who talks a big game would end up in.
"Ya win some, ya lose some." He quips, still snickering.
The holo movie fast forwards to a different scene, revealing a timestamp dating a few days later.
Kai is now sitting on his bunk beside Articho and Cassus, as they look at a holographic photo of one of the former Padawan's wives and his eldest daughter who happened to be an alternate counterpart of Febrie.
"Still can't believe that the Misaki in your universe is married to you." The future Pathfinder deadpans. "How exactly were you able to pull that off? On my Earth, she finally put a lot of damn effort to even try to get into physical shape. I'm surprised yours is still the same old useless Esper that she is when going up against enemies who are way stronger and faster than her."
"Let's just say it started off as an accident, trying to help out Ruiko's Force-Link delivery of Febrie." Kai sheepishly grins, rubbing behind his head. "What about you, Cassus? You've been awfully quiet for awhile now. Go on. Tell us your story."
The other boy glanced at his friends. For a 19-year-old, socializing isn't one of his strong suits. And who can blame him? He is a Mandalorian and a bounty hunter with a Jedi heritage. Then again, on Earth-95, he was able to make some very interesting friends of his own.
"Do you want me to start at the beginning?" Cassus blankly asks.
"Short version's fine." Articho nonchalantly says. "It's none of my business poking around in somebody else's life."
"Thanks for understanding." He sighs before summarizing his own backstory. "To start, I'm the offspring of a exiled Jedi father and a Mandalorian mother."
"You're kidding?" Kai questions in surprise. "I was adopted by a Jedi. Who also happens to be a Temple Guard whenever he's on-duty at the Coruscant temple."
"Didn't think the Order would allow one of their own kind to have adopted kids." The Mandalorian raises an eyebrow curiously.
"It was a one exception scenario situation." The blonde Force-Sensitive shrugged off. "On the bright side, my master was trustworthy."
"Don't you call him your father if he adopted you?" Articho questions.
"Only when he and I aren't around other Jedi, as well as other people." He nods. "I was adopted against the Council's wishes, despite myself being a special case. Dad was a huge admirer of Dooku and Master Qui-Gon back in his day."
"Mine as well." Cassus admits, chuckling at the coincidence. "Very few Jedi know this, but Dooku is a descendant of Revan and his wife Bastilla Shan. One of the last, apparently."
"Wait, what?!" Articho exclaims. "You're screwing with me."
"Nope." Cassus shakes his head.
"Damn, the fandom's gonna go nuts if they learned about this." The future Pathfinder mutters to himself. "Then again, these two are from a version of the Canon timeline after all."
"Sounds to me like you idolize Revan." Kai suspiciously glares at the Force-sensitive Mandalorian.
"Something like that." He says with a ghostly smile.
"Cryptic." The former Padawan deadpans.
"What will you guys do after we save the multiverse?" Articho questions. "Any plans on going back to Earth-77 and take the fight to the Empire?"
"Realistically…" The blonde boy looks away for a moment. "I abandoned that idea a long time ago. Scratch that. More like, a few months before we first met. "I talked to Jun about it, and surprisingly, she agreed with me."
"So what stopped you?" The young Saiyan raised his eyebrow.
"One word… Febrie."
"Understandable, but there must be more to it than that."
Kai's expression then turned dark. Both Cassus and Articho could sense immense hatred within him.
"The Council had failed my father." Kai answered. "Failed me. But now that they're gone, me and my fellow survivors are finally FREE from the dogmatic, narrow-minded code that has shackled us for the past ten thousand years since its foundation. Their blind loyalty to a corrupt government has made the Order too complacent, weak, and pathetic. On Earth-0, we have a chance to begin anew. Independent from the jurisdictions and corruption of governments. World and galaxy-wide alike."
"Damn." The young Saiyan whistled. "You're starting to sound as ambitious as Dagan Gera was with Tanalorr."
"Until he became obsessed and went mad." Cassus blankly adds.
"Hai, hai." He casually waves him off.
"Guys, relax." Kai assures, raising his hands up in defense. "I'm not so easy in falling to the Dark Side, no how many times I've come close in being consumed by it."
"That's what worries me." Cassus says otherwise. "If you hadn't stayed your hand against Vader, you could've robbed the Galaxy of the only hope who is capable of destroying the Sith and bringing balance to the Force."
Kai looks down, ashamed of his own reckless and emotional actions in almost killing a once great Jedi Knight who has been manipulated and enslaved his entire lifetime.
"I'm disappointed with myself." The former Padawan sighs, admitting to his mistake. "I let my own anger cloud my better judgement. And to think that I almost killed the man who was once Anakin Skywalker. Perhaps he and I have a lot in common after all."
"Well, join the club." Articho quips. "You're not the only one that's been through a lot."
"He's right." The Force-sensitive Mandalorian agrees with the young Saiyan. "We're all in this together, Kai. Remember that."
The holo film fast forwards another few days, as the three boys are sitting at a table in one of the ship's kitchens eating dinner with Kinuho, Arisa, and Maaya.
"Wow!" The future Pathfinder exclaims while taking bite after bite from his delicious bowl of rabbit stew. "It's not every day Arisa makes a good dish every now and then."
"You've always been biased towards my cooking skills." Arisa huffs. "Well, guys? What do you think?"
"It's good." Kinuho answers, staring inside her own bowl of the same dish everyone else is eating out of with displeased expression. "Could use some more salt, though."
"Too much salt is bad for you, Kinuho." The pink haired girl frowns. "Maaya, Cassus?"
"It's wonderful, Arisa." Maaya rolls her eyes, deciding to remain neutral involving criticism towards Arisa's dishes that are sometimes good or downright awful to consume.
Cassus says nothing, focusing solely on finishing his meal. Food is food, no matter how bad it is. This is the Way.
"I'd actually pay credits, or dollars, or yen for this." Kai admits, surprising everyone at the table.
"Oh yeah? I think I might start charging you, Kai." The former popstar giggles.
"Hey, does anyone smell something burning?" Articho noticed, sniffing the air.
"Huh?" His pink haired wife questions, sniffing the air as well until her face pales in horror. "Waaah!"
Arisa then frantically jumps out of her seat at the table, and heads straight for the oven. While she tries to save as much of the toasted sourdough bread from the oven, Kai looks at Articho, Kinuho, and Maaya as he shakes his head in disgust.
"Well, she tried." Articho snickers.
"You're completely diabolical." The French-American heiress coos, resting her head on his shoulder. The Shinobi princess did the same thing with the other.
"Huh. So the Kinuho and Maaya of your universe really are your wives." The former Padawan raised an eyebrow.
"And yours aren't?" He shot back.
"Touché." Kai points at him with his spoon, passing his bowl of stew next to Cassus' for the latter to have. Much to the Force-sensitive Mandalorian's annoyance, of course. "Gonna miss you both when this is over."
"Same here." Articho says.
"This is the Way." Cassus utters, merely nodding his head without another word.
"Is he going to say that all the time?" Kai questions in annoyance.
This earned a laugh out of the three teenage Saiyans at the table.
Soon the holomovie ended while the Pathfinder staring at the paused video.
"I missed them as well." Arisa told him. She was wearing a pink nightgown, that was also See-through. Basically she was naked.
"Dank farrik!" Articho cussed, jumping up in his seat from his pink haired wife appearing out of nowhere. "Stop doing that!"
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." She giggles, sitting on her husband's lap.
"Morning to you, too." He sighs. "So what are you doing here?"
"Thought I check up on how my husband's doing, of course." She shrugs. "Have you checked in with Ryouko? She told me you were off on a mission at Mount Fuji before going radio silent all of a sudden."
"I haven't checked back with her yet, Ari." He yawns as the hologram for the holo film shuts off. "And right now, I need to rest my eyes."
"Awww." Arisa groans in disappointment. "And I was hoping to have a quicky before breakfast."
"I've got to rest every now and then." He argues, closing his eyes while remaining in his spinning chair. "You should know that already."
"Fair point." She sighs. "By the way, who were those girls I saw with you, Kinuho, and Maaya?"
"Some guests who'll be crashing here for a while." He answers with his eyes still closed. "Speaking of which, is my daughter here?"
"Inside my room, keeping Juliet company." She explains, getting up and began stripping.
"You know I can sense your intentions, right?" Articho points out, sensing his wife's dirty thoughts. "So don't even try."
"I was talking about changing, stupid." She scoffs, placing her hands on her waist.
"Lying to me will get you nowhere, hon." He chuckles.
"Either I get dressed by you or I'm walking out naked."
"Well… that can be arranged." He smiles. He smiles. "But I'm not interested. Now leave me be and go dress in one of the empty rooms we have here. Our guests will be too busy finding themselves some new clothes while Maaya prepares breakfast. Unless you can't handle that."
"What am I, your housemaid?" She scoffs.
"You're my wife." He remarks. "So stop acting like a spoiled child, will ya?"
"Fine." The former popstar exhaled in frustration. "Always such an ass."
As she takes her leave, Arisa takes notice of the lightsaber, the compass, and the tuner on the boy's workbench.
She could ask him where he got them from, but turns around to see that he finally fell asleep.
"You can tell me later." Arisa whispered softly, giving him a peck on his cheek. "Sweet sexy dreams, my Champion."