Zeno looked at the clock and saw it was 11:15.
"Well, why don't we all go home and meet back here after lunch?" Zeno advised.
Everyone agreed this was a good idea and parted ways for a while. Atari was having the time of her life learning to make cheese filled ravioli with a meat and tomato sauce. Atari checked the clock around 2:16.
"Aw man, we're late!" Zeno panicked as he ushered Atari out of the house.
Luckily, they were only late by a minute.
"Sorry, we were making pasta and didn't check the clock." Zeno apologized.
"That's okay Zeno. Actually, it gave us time to compile more data. While analyzing another conversation snippet, we found that Zed owns a lab of his own. We don't know where it is though." Moniqa assured.
Zeno was relieved his tardy was okay. The analysis proceeded to engulf everyone's attention. This ended around 8:45 so everyone was home by nine. Yet again, Atari was placed in S-FIT.
The only difference being she was taken to the lab Zed owned. She was returned to her room before daylight. While in her room, Atari just remembered something she wanted to tell Zeno. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy.
While running to tell Zeno, she slipped on a sock on her rug. This landed Atari in a literal awkward position. Her legs were in the hall while the rest of Atari was in her room. Her left leg was straight but her right was diagonally angled to the right.
A couple of paintings in the hallway fell. The broom fell directly in front the doorway and landed in the doorway. Atari was in shock and absolutely quiet. She expected to see Serpentine, but there was nobody there.
Once Zeno heard the commotion though, that was a different story. He ran directly to her. Upon seeing the predicament Atari managed to find herself in, Zeno laughed. Atari did too, even though she didn't know why Zeno was laughing about it.
"I was going to ask if you wanted to visit Mytyl. But it kinda looks like you're busy. So, I'll just come back later." Zeno joked.
"I wanna go!" Atari begged.
"Alright, let's just get you upright and situated first." Zeno spoke as he grabbed Atari's right hand to pull her up.
Zeno called Xiao who was already at the sanatorium. Apparently, Mytyl had taken an interest in his comics books while he was talking with Copen. Xiao abruptly decided to end the call for "informational purposes". Once he was outside the sanatorium, Zeno was terrified for Atari's safety.
There, floating 7 feet in the air was Zed. He tried to tag Atari with one of the teleporting feathers. Luckily, Zeno shoved Atari to the side before this could happen. Gunvolt and Xiao ran outside the second they saw trouble.
Xiao grabbed a hand pistol as Zeno got in a defensive stance.
"You can't fight him, Xiao! Your Septima isn't made for combat!" Gunvolt hollered.
"I'm fine! Don't worry about me! Get Atari out of here, now!" Xiao protested.
Atari suddenly managed to generate a green energy sword similar in size to Luxcalibur. That's when Zeno noticed the way Moebius was near Atari with his sights on Zed. Then, Atari used the sword to stop Zed from reaching Moebius. The Primal Dragon ruler moved from being near Atari's left shoulder to her right when Zed got closer.
'Are they both scared of Zed?' Zeno noted.
Just then, Zed generated Lux Ballista again and aimed it at Atari. Copen saw this and went to stop him. He had Lola use the Hydro Zapper EX Weapon. Unfortunately, it was evaporated as Lux Ballista was still there.
"The weapon's strength is quite fierce... Even though my flames extinguish it." Zed commented.
Atari seemed triggered by what he said. Because she lept and tried to slash him with her sword. Zed had a ball of fire in his right hand. Which gave Atari a searing first degee burn on her left elbow.
Moebius disappeared, as the did the sword before Atari hit the ground. Zed looked around at everybody and knew he was outnumbered. Once the enemy teleported, everyone could finally relax.
"Okay, what was that?" Zeno fumed.
"A reason for us to separate. We'll meet back here tomorrow." Copen answered.
It was unanimously agreed upon that leaving was the best thing to do. So, everyone left and talked about that days events at their homes.
"Do you want to try those giant shell pasta in some homemade mac an' cheese sauce?" Zeno pondered.
Atari nodded.
"What's wrong? You look sad." Zeno noticed.
"I'm scared. I thought we were done fighting mean Adepts." Atari explained.
"I know, I thought so too. Hopefully this'll be the last ones." Zeno agreed while grabbing the parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
Atari's eyes went as wide as her smile when she saw how big the pasta was. A delicious dinner, relaxing bath and tooth brushing later, Atari easily fell asleep. However, it would be very challenging for her to stay resting. Because Atari was having a nightmare that Zonda was after her.
Specifically, the fake armed male version. The enemy popped out from completely black areas in the house. First was behind Atari's bedroom door. Second was behind the living room couch. The last scare came from the opposite side of the kitchen bar. Atari woke up with a startle at 5:39 in the morning.
"I-is it that late already?" Atari pondered as she knocked on Zeno's door.
Or at least, she tried to. When Atari lited her hand up to knock, Zeno opened the door. Atari jumped back out of fear.
"Ay, you're not making that light are you?" Zeno wondered.
Atari shook her head.
"Well, I'm gonna call GV, you want cereal?" Zeno notified.
"Yes please." Atari smiled.
Gunvolt was rather confused and sleepy when Joule handed him the phone.
"Hello? Zeno? Why are you calling so early? What!? Joule, do you see any red light outside? No, Zeno, I wasn't talking to you. I was asking Joule if she saw that light outside. She sees it too. If that's from Zed's Septima then he has to be somewhere nearby. I'll meet you there." Gunvolt answered before hanging up the phone.
"What's wrong?' Joule queried.
"That light is from Zed's Septima. At first I thought it was the sun. That explains why though." Gunvolt droned.
Zeno was sitting in front of Atari's bedroom window. He was on the floor while staring up at said window. While Zeno's back was turned, Atari was taken again. She found herself being led through the sand covered UTU Media Tower to take part in a very important conversation.
"I'm confused, where is this meeting taking place?" Atari wondered.
"In the inner sanctum at the top. Unfortunately, the elevator is currently out of order. So we'll have to take the stairs." Serpentine answered as they passed the entrance doorway pillars.
That's when they passed Prado who stopped them.
"Oh, Serpentine! I was just looking for you! Sir Zed is holding the meeting down the hall to the right on the fifteenth floor." Prado announced.
'I see." Serpentine commented.
"Good luck." Prado added before walking off.
Poor Gunvolt didn't know why his watch was going off yet again. But when he looked at the screen, it became very clear that he needed to move fast. Lola woke up from charging because she got a strange feeling. It was the same feeling she told Copen about when Lumen was being used as Adept sonar.
"Pst, Copen, something's wrong." Lola warned.
Copen looked up from the work he was doing on his Megante Leon jacket.
"What's wrong?" Copen asked.
"I'm sensing the Muse. It has to be coming from the media tower." Lola notified.
Copen immediately stopped making adjustments and put the armor suit on. He took off with Lola straight for the media tower. Zeno wound up dozing off and fell over to the right once he did. Gunvolt knew that if Zeno was awake, he would've told him what happened. So, he called his senior by two years coworker.
"Zeno, come on, pick up." Gunvolt muttered hopefully.
Zeno woke up on the fifth ring.
"Hello?" Zeno yawned.
"Why didn't you tell me that Lily was gone? You do realize you don't have to shoulder responsibilities like that by yourself right?' Gunvolt informed.
"Nah man, she's right here. Let me hand her the phone so you- uh oh. You're right, she's not here. Where did she go? I know! Maybe she's playing hide and seek again." Zeno supposed.
"She's gone, and in enemy hands." Gunvolt corrected.
"Aight, let's meet up at HQ and tell the others. Just not Copen. He'll never let me hear the end of this one." Zeno remarked before hanging up.
Zeno called Moniqa while Gunvolt called Xiao. Once the calls were made, everyone met up at HQ. During that time, Copen reached the tower.
"Where's the source?" Copen pondered.
"It's coming from the hall on the right in the uppermost room." Lola declared.
Copen couldn't have bursted into the room at a better time. If he didn't enter, then Atari would've been attacked with a Djinn enhanced Rostrum Charge. Copen grabbed Atari and left with her. He brought her to the sanatorium so he could keep an eye on her. Atari was talking with Lola and Mytyl while he called Copen.
"I ca't believe you have this difficult of a time trying to keep an eye on somebody." Copen retorted.
"Where are you anyways?' Zeno commented.
"I have her here at the santorium. Tell Gunvolt to check his watch." Copen anseed.
Once they checked it, the yellow dot was near two white ones.
"I'll come by and get her." Zeno notified.
"And next time, please keep a better eye on Atari." Copen huffed.
Zeno angrily turned off his phone.
"Copen's got Atari at his place. I'm gonna pick her up. Anyone wanna come with me?" Zeno stated.
Both Gunvolt and Xiao raised their hands. So, they swung by to pick up Atari. Who slightly protested because she was having fun. Her pouty face made Zeno give in with a reluctant "five more minutes".
Though his heart was saying fifteen. It's a good thing he agreed, because Quinn soon showed up. Everyone gathered downstairs to talk. Unfortunately, nobody knew that the next sentence was going to have an effect on their circumstances.
At least for a second or two. And it certainly wasn't going to be in a good way.
"If the Octima is as unpredictable and uncontrollable as rumored, we'll be in some serious trouble. Especially with ATEMS after it. With Zed's shoddy attempts, he's probably hiding stronger attacks. And you'll have to kep a better eye on her Zeno, or I'll do it myself." Copen droned.
Suddenly, everyone heard a thud as Atari hit the floor. Upon noticing this, Nori moved Atari to a spare room. Zeno instantly started panicking, so Gunvolt calmed him down. Luckily, he calmed down, but Zeno was still concerned.
He was frightened for Atari when she ran downstairs and outside. Zeno nearly slammed into the doors while trying to go after Atari. However, Copen said he'd only interfere. Gunvolt, Quinn and Xiao went outside to find Atari.
The forestry surrounded every side of the mansion save for the front. It was a rather difficult time trying to find Atari. Until Gunvolt found her standing behind a tree on the left side of the mansion. Her shoulders could easily be seen on either side of the tree.
"Hey, are you okay Lily? I know this is all a lot to take in. But I promise you'll never be alone. Everyone here wants to help you." Gunvolt assured.
Atari turned around confused. She let out a squeak as she turned around.
"I found her! She's over here!" Gunvolt yelled.
"Wh-who are you?" Atari stuttered.
"It's me, Gunvolt. You don't remember?" Gunvolt questioned.
"I don't know, should I?" Atari supposed.
He wasn't just frightened, Gunvolt found himself sad as well. How was he going to tell Zeno? For now though, that would have to wait. All he could do for the moment was bring Atari back inside.
Zeno's posture instantly relaxed. When Atari saw Zeno, she regained her memories. If it were more than a side effect of temporary shock, Zeno would do more than panic.
'She lost her memories again." Gunvolt notified.
Atari gave Gunvolt a confused look.
"I'm fine, and where's Joule? I thought we were going to make jewelry together." Atari wondered.
"B-but you lost your memory outside." Gunvolt muttered.
"I think all this running around's really gotten to ya Geeves." Zeno guessed.
Completely unprovoked, Atari had a vision. She saw a room in Firmament, specifically the one Nova was in during the cutscene where he was talking to the Sumeragi soldier. However, she saw the room was empty. The vision only lasted for a second. But it left a lingering feeling of anxiety.
"I just saw something." Atari stated.
"Was it a squirrel?" Zeno assumed
Atari shook her head.
"I just saw Firmament when I closed my was a room with glass walls from the ceiling to the floor. But it was empty. Do you think that means anything?" Atari elaborated.
"It looks like we'll be paying another visit to the orbital elevator." Copen guessed.
Poor Atari was bored the entire ride up there. The facility had been abandoned since Nova's death. Once they reached the room Atari mentioned, everybody was in shock. There, right in front of them, back from beyond the grave, was Nova.
"Is that... Nova!? There's no way!" Zeno exclaimed.
"Nova? you mean the leader of Project Muse?' Copen remembered.
"If you're going to stand in our way, I'll take you out myself!" Gunvolt declared.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you. Between the Project Muse I worked so hard on, and the 'happy ending' you strove for... Looking back on it now, whichone was the better choice? Think you could tell me? I told you back then, didn't I? That project was the best plan available at the time." Nova stated.
"But when someone is suffering right before your eyes, and you have the power to save them... I would have made the same choice as GV. I'm sure of it." Zeno commented.
"Very well then. In that case, I suppose the only way to convince you of your wrongdoings now is to duel." Nova claimed.
"Fine by me. Oversurge, Azure Striker! I'll cut through your curtain of lies!" Gunvolt shouted.
Nova moved closer to the top right of the room. He flew and stopped above Kurohyō on the right side of the room. At the same time, it slashed its claws, creating a purple energy wave. The mech disappeared before Nova moved back to the right side of the room.
This time, he was floating only 3 feet above the floor. Suddenly, Yatagarasu was seen on the left side of the room. Eight wind orbs were launched from the left while five Psycho Rings were released on the opposite side. A dual shot from Copen and Gunvolt initiated Nova's second gauge.
Firmament's "master" now relied on being 3 feet above the machine that kept him from being attacked. Yatagarasu generated a gust wile Nova launched a row of five Psycho Rings, followed by four more. Nova moved to the right of the room directly above the floor. His black mech wason the right of him.
That's when Nova used his Special Skill. Clamator Aetherus surely was a sight to see. While the giant fireball made its descent, a diagonal wall of wind orbs crossed paths with five more Psycho Rings while Atari and Zeno directed their attacks at the source. Gunvolt and Copen used this opportunity to unleash a new combined attack.
Doppler Striker created four copies as usual. However, this attack made two copies of Copen and two for Gunvolt. This made Nova confused with its combined Reverie Mirror power. That allowed truly lifelike mimics to be generated.
Nova was then revealed to be a copy himself. It was from one of the Setpimas that ATEMS had. Serpentine somehow made a copy of Nova. Which set everyone on edge with worries of what other knowledge and capabilities she had.
In the distance down the now open opposite hall, Copen saw an approaching red light. Knowing trouble was on the horizon, Copen deployed the Flashfield around Atari. Copen was right to do so. As Zed made himself kown while suddely proceeding to catch everyone else of guard.
"It seems Layla's predictions of the Child of Hope were true. Next time we meet, hopefully will be on better terms." Zed spoke before leaving, dissipating into thin air.
"Well, that was unsettling." Zeno added.
Once everyone got back to Earth, it was 11:14. Zeno did get Atari her promised bowl of Tricks cereal. It had corn and cinnamon magic wands with rabbit and magic hat marshmallows. After breakfast, Atari was happily listening to Aoi's "Rock Your World" song. When Joule introduced her to the singer, Atari loved her music.
So, that was the first song Zeno put on the MP3. He heard her humming the song and decided to open the radio app on his phone. Lo and behold, the very same song played on the radio.