The watery world was disorienting. The school rooftop, once a familiar concrete slab, was now an island in an endless, teal ocean under a sickly green sky. The air was heavy, tasting of ozone and brine. Aira stood close behind Rei, her earlier ease replaced by a tense, nervous energy. She could feel the wrongness of this place, a deep-seated hum that set her teeth on edge.
"What do they want?" she asked, her voice tight.
"The same thing they always want," Rei answered, his eyes narrowed as he watched the disturbance in the water grow closer. "Reproductive organs. Power. They saw Okarun's abilities, and now they've likely sensed yours." He didn't need his 'echoes' to know this. It was a simple, predatory logic he understood all too well.
The ripple on the water's surface erupted. A creature burst forth, a grotesque fusion of humanoid and crustacean. It had the lanky body of a Serpo but the head of a monstrous crab, complete with stalked eyes and menacing pincers for hands. It landed on the watery surface with a splash that didn't splash, the liquid simply parting and reforming around its feet. It was accompanied by two of the classic, grey-skinned Serpo aliens, who floated beside it with an air of clinical superiority.
"Subjects located," one of the Serpos stated, its voice a flat, synthesized tone that echoed in the strange atmosphere. "Subject Alpha-Yokai-One and Subject Alpha-Hollow-One. Both exhibit high energy readings. Prime for harvest."
Rei instinctively moved to place himself more fully in front of Aira. "Alpha-Hollow-One? Creative," he muttered under his breath. He raised his hands, and his twin black pistols materialized in a swirl of spiritual particles.
The crab-headed alien charged, its movements surprisingly fast as it skated across the water's surface. Its pincers snapped, aiming to cleave Rei in two.
Rei didn't flinch. He raised his pistols, but before he could fire, Aira acted. A torrent of light pink hair, far thicker and more vibrant than the Acrobatic Silky's, erupted from her back. It was her own hair, now infused with the yokai's power. The tendrils shot forward like living spears, wrapping around the crab-alien's limbs and yanking it to a halt just feet from them.
"I can fight too," Aira said, her voice filled with a newfound, steely determination. The sadness of the yokai's aura was still there, but now it was tempered with a fierce, protective fire.
One of the Serpos raised a hand. "Engaging Awesome Zone," it announced. A wave of invisible energy, the same static-like hum Rei had felt before, washed over the rooftop.
The effect was instantaneous and devastating. Aira cried out as the hair she was controlling went limp, retracting back into her as if it had been burned. She stumbled, a wave of nausea and weakness washing over her. "My power… it's gone!"
Rei felt it too, but the effect was different. The Hollow within him recoiled, its connection to him momentarily suppressed. He could still feel its power, a deep well of energy, but the 'tap' had been turned off. He tried to fire a Cero, but nothing happened. The pistols remained, but they were just inert pieces of spiritual matter.
"Yokai and spirit-based abilities are nullified within this dimensional field," the Serpo explained, a hint of what might have been pride in its monotone voice. "Your unique biological energy signatures are now isolated for extraction."
The crab-alien, now free, lunged again. With his powers suppressed, Rei was just a normal high school student. He shoved Aira out of the way, the alien's pincer slicing through the air where her head had been. He dodged, but he was outmatched in strength and speed.
Suddenly, a new voice cut through the air. "Hey, crab-face!"
A figure shot out from a nearby classroom window, landing on the water with a splash. It was Okarun, already in his Turbo Granny form. He had been trapped in the same dimension, and it seemed he had found them.
"Leave them alone!" he yelled, rocketing towards the crab-alien. But as soon as he entered the range of the 'Awesome Zone', his transformation sputtered. The ghostly aura of Turbo Granny flickered and died, and he reverted to his normal, lanky self, tumbling into the water with a yelp.
"Okarun!" a second voice cried out. Momo appeared in the window, her hands glowing with blue psychic energy. "This energy… it's blocking their powers!"
Unlike the others, Momo's abilities weren't spirit-based. Her psychokinesis was a product of her own latent human potential. The Awesome Zone had no effect on her.
"Finally," one of the Serpos said, turning its attention to her. "The original target. Sub-creature, engage."
The crab-alien ignored the sputtering Okarun and charged toward the school building, intending to get to Momo.
"Oh no, you don't!" Momo yelled. She thrust her hands forward, and a volley of desks and chairs shot out of the classroom, slamming into the crab-alien and sending it stumbling back.
The battlefield was now set. Rei and Aira were on the roof, their primary powers nullified. Okarun was in the water, equally powerless. And Momo was in the classroom, the sole offensive force against three aliens.
The Serpo that had activated the Awesome Zone remained focused on maintaining it, while the other one began to generate a psychic field of its own, a shimmering distortion in the air aimed at Momo. "Your resistance is illogical," it stated.
Rei's mind raced. His Ceros were gone, but the pistols remained. They were made of his spiritual energy. Maybe… maybe they could still be used as weapons. They were solid. He looked at Aira, who was struggling to her feet, her face pale but determined.
"We're not useless," he said to her, his voice low. "Their field stops our powers, but not our bodies."
He spun the pistols in his hands, gripping them like clubs. It was a crude, desperate plan.
The crab-alien, recovering from Momo's assault, turned its attention back to the rooftop. It saw them as the easier targets. It began to climb the side of the building, its pincers finding easy purchase on the concrete.
"I have an idea," Rei said, his eyes gleaming with a reckless light. "When I tell you, I need you to trip him."
"Trip him? With what?" Aira asked, bewildered.
"With you," Rei said, just as the crab-alien's head appeared over the edge of the roof. "Now!"
He charged forward, not at the alien, but at Aira. He grabbed her by the waist, spun her around, and, with a grunt of effort, threw her directly at the crab-alien's legs.