In Sanbu…
Toru dodged the attacks of Melodar, hiding behind buildings as the clone topped them one by one with powerful sonic waves.
"Not good," Toru realized. "That damage he inflicted is starting to kick in."
"Come on, Kaneko!" the clone laughed. "Getting sloppy there!"
More buildings toppled with another strum of his guitar. The clone formed another large bell, preparing to strum it, but suddenly, his body began to shake.
"No…" the clone realized. "My time's up already? That must mean my real body has been defeated…"
As his arms fell off, and the bell disintegrated, the clone laughed. "Man! I know the other Elites are going to be pissed! Ahh well, won't have to deal with them for a while."
Toru watched, confused.
"See ya, Kaneko," the clone stated.
Then he exploded in a pile of black dust.
"Odd," Toru remarked. "Very odd."
Noriko, Reika, and the other members of Squad S-1 walked over to Toru, fully healed.
"Is it over?" Akari asked.
"Took you all long enough," Toru grumbled. "That's one major chunk down, but our objective isn't complete yet. We have to find the others and secure the armor. Reika, gather the rest of my squad."
"Will do!" she replied.
Toru pulled out his watch, and a holographic map appeared, showing a red dot off in the distance.
"What's that?" Hikari questioned.
"The tracker I placed on Dachii when we first met."
"What??"
"Did you think I would be so foolish as to send him with no insurance? What naivety."
Toru narrowed his eyes. "Appears to be on an island…and he's on the move! That's not good. We must hurry!"
Meanwhile…
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Marachii pushed through the trees, heading for the sound of fighting on the beach. When he arrived, he saw his brother flying around, punching an army of giant water sharks with force that shook the entire island.
"WHOA!"
Dachii landed on the ground, and in the blink of an eye, Vortessia appeared beside him, launching a barrage of attacks with her spear that Dachii narrowly avoided. Dachii tried to punch her, but she punched him first with an impact so great it split a portion of the ocean.
Marachii quickly ran over to Dachii. "Dachii! I'm here to help!"
"Help?" Vortessia mocked. "Little boy, there is no helping."
She swung her spear at him, but Dachii blocked it with his gauntlet, struggling against her strength. Vortessia took a good look at him.
"Gravity, hmm. I'm jealous."
With a swipe of her spear, both Dachii and Marachii went flying into the ocean, with Vortessia forming a large hand of water around them. Marachii blasted out with his plasma cannon, but the water quickly reformed, slamming both of them into the beach with a hard THUD.
"What do we do?" Marachii asked. "She's not just gonna let us go!"
Vortessia rose in the sky, using water from the ocean to tower over the boys. "I think I've entertained myself enough. This has been amusing."
A watery hand reached out for Dachii, but a sudden wave of green energy exploded throughout the island, stopping all three of them in their tracks.
"Guys, guys! I'm back! I got it!"
Dachii and Marachii saw Saori running out of the trees with the chestplate in her hands, now clearly a teenager and with longer rainbow hair and soft rainbow eyes.
"Saori…?" they both questioned.
She held up the armor. "I got it! I beat Uta, and I got an age boost! Wicked, right?"
Vortessia almost looked like she was in disbelief. "Melodar lost? How could he? To such an insignificant pest as yourself? You're just as weak as your mother!"
Saori shifted her attention to Vortessia. "Don't talk about her, you prick!"
"Whoa," Marachii gasped. "Her language just got a lot stronger."
Saori covered her mouth. "Oops! I'm sorry!"
"Yes," Vortessia agreed. "You will be."
Vortessia threw her spear into the ground, forming large water spikes near Saori's feet, and Marachii pulled her out of the way with a metal tendril.
"Great job getting the armor, Saori," Dachii praised, his tone slightly more approving.
Her eyes lit up. "Really? Do you think so?"
He nodded. "Now these demons don't have anything more to work with."
"Demons?" Vortessia repeated. "The only demon here is that girl standing next to you."
Saori's body began to glow rainbow and violet, and she threw her arms out. "Resonance!"
The air rippled, but Vortessia lifted a body of water and blocked the frequency, causing the water to dispel. "I see now. Two Magical abilities. One that was a perfect weakness for Melodar's Sound Element. A lucky win."
"Two forms of Magic?" Marachii exclaimed. "Saori, what happened between you guys?"
"A bunch of stuff!" she answered, joyfully. "And it all worked out!"
Vortessia heard a voice in her head, and she suddenly stopped. "Seems like the Master is getting worse. I'll need to put this on pause. Give me that armor."
"No!" Saori refused.
"I wasn't asking."
She formed a water hand and snatched the chestplate from Saori. "Give it back!"
Dachii charged up his body and flew at Vortessia, but a portal opened, and a large plume of flame shot out.
BOOM.
Vortessia looked down, noticing Ravos standing there. "Ravos. Here to escort me?"
"You know it! Where's my man Melodar?"
"Beaten, unfortunately. Expending too much energy on clones paired with his natural weakness to vibrations brought him down."
"Aww, not my guy!" Ravos moaned. "He was one of the solid ones, too!"
"Yes, well, the Armor takes precedence. I've already got the rest, we just need the last piece."
She waved her hand, and a water shark appeared with the crown, leggings, and helmet.
"That's the crown that we saw in Morino's basement!" Marachii recalled. "Why do THEY want it?"
Dachii wasn't paying attention, his gaze hyper-focused on the flaming man before him. "You."
Ravos noticed Dachii. "Hey, there you are! Looking sharp, Dachii! Long hair, edgy style, man, you're like a new guy!"
Dachii remained quiet.
"Ravos…" Vortessia implored. "Please, don't start this."
Ravos smirked, forming a blade forged from flames. "Wanna go a round?"
Dachii reformed his gauntlets. "Gladly."
Before Dachii could lunge at Ravos, Marachii and Saori grabbed his arms.
"Wait, Dachii, it's too dangerous!" Marachii warned. "Don't risk it!"
"Mister Dachii, don't get yourself hurt!" Saori begged. "My mom always told me blind revenge isn't the answer!"
Dachii broke free of their grip, rushing at Ravos.
"Yeah," Ravos grinned. "I like the new you."
BOOM.
With a powerful swing of his sword, he sent Dachii crashing into the ground, cold fires burning all across his body and causing him to twitch. Marachii and Saori rushed to help him.
"DACHII!"
"Still got a long way to go," Ravos remarked. "But you're improving! Nice!"
Vortessia formed a hand of water next to Ravos. "Ravos. We need to go."
He sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Coming."
He stepped on the hand and it lifted him up to her level. As he grabbed onto her, she shook the crown.
"Teleport us, by wish of the Master."
A large portal formed above their heads, just as Toru and the others appeared, surfing the seas on the back of Luca's Hydra Form.
"Stop, fiends!" Toru ordered.
The two Zharians paused, glaring at them. Akari quickly stepped onto the island, locking eyes with Vortessia. "You! You think you can jump us and get away with it? Come down and fight like a real woman!"
Vortessia's face began to swell with anger. "What do you know of being a real woman, royal scum? Don't address me like your equal!"
"Uh-oh," Ravos whistled. "Now who's getting caught up, dear?"
Vortessia straightened herself. "Ugh! We leave, now."
Dachii lifted his hand out. "Don't run…cowards."
Ravos wrapped an arm around Vortessia and used his flames to propel himself through the portal. "Till next time, Dachii!"
The portal closed, and they were gone. The rest of S-1 noticed Dachii's condition, immediately running over to their squad mates.
"Dachii!" Hikari gasped.
"What happened?" Akari worried.
Aoki placed a hand on his head. "He's burning up. We need to get out of here, now."
She grabbed his arm. "You stay with me, alright?"
"Oh…sure…"
And then he passed out.
Sometime later…
Dachii awoke back in Toru's safe house, finding himself lying on the couch. He sat up and noticed his squad surrounding him, placing ice on his body.
"Finally, you're up!" Hikari exclaimed, relieved.
"What were you thinking?" Akari demanded. "He could have killed you!"
"I'm with her on this," Aoki added. "That's reckless."
"I TOLD you," Marachii sighed.
Luca popped some beef jerky into his mouth. "Meh. He's not dead. I'm more curious about her."
He motioned to Saori, who was standing there with an awkward expression on her face. "Hi…?"
"That is you, right, Saori?" Luca asked.
She nodded.
"She's not a kid anymore," Akari noted. "But how?"
"That armor she touched," Aoki explained. "It must have contained the same essence that stopped my aging. But for her, it accelerated it?"
Saori scratched her head. "Now I'm just like you guys! Isn't that great?"
"Uh…" Luca, Akari, and Aoki murmured.
"Yeah!" Hikari said, taking Saori's hands. "Great job back there!"
On the opposite side, Toru was beating Noriko, Yamato, Reika, and the rest of Squad S-6 with a wooden stick. "Failures, all of you! We failed our mission, and you all did nothing of note!"
"We're sorry," Reika apologized.
"I'm not," Noriko scoffed.
"Yeah, beat us some more!" Yamato cheered. "I can take it!"
The rest of the soldiers groaned in pain.
Marachii looked outside. "Maybe we should say goodbye to our friends before we leave."
He opened the door, and Mihina, Haruta, Zentaruo, and Chiho were standing there. The moment he opened the door, they bombarded him with a hug.
"Marachii, we were so worried!" Mihina cried. "Why'd you leave us?"
"Yeah, that wasn't cool!" Haruta agreed.
"It's the glowing people…" Zentaruo muttered. "They're back…"
Mihina rubbed her head. "What happened? Last thing I remember, we were at my house playing hide and seek. Now everything is all…fuzzy."
"Yeah, no clue about that," Marachii claimed. "We were just about to head out."
The group noticed Dachii lying on the couch and burst in.
"Dachii! What happened to you?"
Dachii lay there, his face still covered by his hair. "Nasty fall."
Mihina put her hands on her hips. "Really? You need to be careful! And you were really going to leave without telling us?"
"Yes," Aoki said. "He was."
"You hush!"
Aoki immediately got angry, but Akari put a hand on her shoulder. "Not worth it."
"Wow," Haruta commented. "He looks even cooler now."
Zentaruo and Chiho had water balloons behind their backs, but Marachii quickly popped them.
"Don't even."
"Come on, man!" Chiho groaned. "That's how we say goodbye!"
Saori ducked off before the humans could see her, while Mihina patted Dachii's forehead. "Well?"
"…Well?"
She squeezed his hand. "I'm going to miss you again, you know that?"
"Uh…yeah, yeah."
"How about you invite me over to your place? Matter of fact, we can all come! I wanna see what your new home is like!"
Akari, Hikari, and Aoki all motioned no behind her with their hands. Dachii remained still.
"Sure."
The three girls dropped to the floor.
"Thanks!" Mihina beamed. "You're the best!"
She noticed Toru beating the life out of his soldiers, visibly cringing. "Goodness, is he crazy?"
"Probably," Haruta replied.
Marachii looked outside. "Man, I wonder where my Mom is."
As soon as he turned around, he heard her voice behind him. "Son?"
He whirled back to the doorway, where Kia was standing, wearing a hoodie. "Mom?"
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you! I told that little brat to get you out of this place, but he didn't listen!"
She saw Dachii on the couch. "No, no, don't tell me you've been hurt again, son!"
Dachii coughed. "I'm fine."
"You don't LOOK fine!"
She caught wind of Mihina and the others standing nearby. "Mihina? It's been so long since I've seen you all!"
Mihina blushed. "Hi, Ms. Jones. I'm glad to see you too."
Zentaruo and Chiho attempted to throw water balloons at Kia, but Marachii quickly popped them again. Kia looked around, noticing Saori hiding in the corner, and Toru beating his men.
"What the hell?"
Yamato gave her a thumbs-up. "We meet again, Kia!"
"You know him, Mom?" Marachii asked.
"Unfortunately," she sighed. "He was a big fan of your grandfather. I should strangle the little demon for not listening to me."
She saw his bruises. "Seems that Toru already has that covered. How barbaric."
Toru turned around instantly, and Kia stared at him. "Problem?"
"Who the hell let her in the house?" Toru yelled.
"I let myself in."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"Ahh, so you've got a mouth. Let's see if you can back it up."
He raised his stick, and Marachii jumped in front of his mom. "Wait, wait, wait!"
Saori watched all this from the corner, smiling. "I love my friends. At least we're all alive, even if we failed horribly."
Outside, at the spot where the vanished house was, cops pointed their flashlights and investigated the area.
"Hmm. Didn't there used to be a house here?"
"Thought so. With all the destruction to the cities and mysterious events happening, the president has ordered a nationwide cleanup and security boost."
"What happened to that Uta guy?"
"No clue. The President's looking for him."
"Huh. What a strange week."
Later, Mihina and her friends waved goodbye to Dachii and the others as they drove through the borders.
"Are you actually planning to follow him?" Haruta asked.
"Maybe, maybe not," Mihina smirked.
As they turned away, Okuda secretly watched them, narrowing his eyes. "I'd like to follow him myself. What's going on with that boy? What's across the sea?"
He muttered to himself as he left, turning to glance back one more time.
Meanwhile, in the S-1 Mansion…
Fujii whistled to himself, watching TV in his living room. "Ha! Imagine being so in love with such an indecisive man!"
KNOCK. KNOCK.
Fujii paused his TV. "Must be the gang! About time they got back!"
He opened the door, but instead, there was a girl in a cloak, shrouding her appearance. "Can I help you?"
"Yes," the girl said, softly. "Is this the residence of Kenshi Fujii?"
"Yep!" Fujii announced. "You're looking at him!"
The girl appeared to analyze him for a moment. "Tall…long icy blue hair and eyes…pretty handsome…confident appearance…your claim is correct."
She suddenly looked up, and her eyes flashed indigo. "Please come with me."
"What the—?"
Out of nowhere, a giant robotic hand grabbed Kenshi, pulling him out the door. Fido emerged from Marachii's room, barking, but there was no trace of the girl…
…or the General.
—-