Bear caught the oxygen mask mid-air and tossed it toward Tuka.
"Put it on," he said, voice steady despite the chaos around them.
"I can't use Kanten again. Atleast not for you."
Tuka caught the mask, slid it over his face, and exhaled slowly.
Blood still trailed from his nose and lips, but his stance didn't shake. He rolled his shoulders once, knuckles tightening, eyes locked forward.
Drayke watched them both in silence.
With great interest.
Bear stepped forward, cracking his neck. "Guess it's just us now."
Drayke moved first.
The ground compressed beneath his feet as he vanished, air folding inward with a sharp crack.
Tuka reacted instantly, twisting his body aside as a blade of compressed wind sliced past where his head had been.
Bear followed up without hesitation, closing the distance with a brutal low kick aimed at Drayke's knee.
Drayke blocked it with his shin, the impact sending a shock through the low-gravity ground.
Tuka was already there.
His fist drove forward, not powered by energy or flames, just raw force and timing. Drayke raised an arm to guard, but Bear grabbed him from behind, locking an arm around his shoulder and pulling him off balance.
"Now," Bear muttered.
Tuka didn't hesitate.
A clean punch slammed into Drayke's ribs, followed by another to the jaw.
Drayke staggered back, boots carving trenches into the surface of Marsh before he twisted free, air bursting outward and throwing both of them apart.
Bear slid back but stayed upright.
Tuka dropped to one knee, caught himself, and stood again.
Drayke wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"So," he said calmly, eyes sharp, "you're still standing."
Bear smirked faintly. "We're stubborn like you."
Drayke stepped forward once more, pressure thickening around him as the air bent and warped.
Chitki gasped.
Her lungs burned as oxygen finally rushed back into her body.
She jolted upright in her bed, ripping the mask off her face, coughing violently as her vision cleared.
Metal walls.
Soft emergency lights.
Tema HQ.
She was alive.
"…Bear?" she whispered.
No answer.
She forced herself up, legs unsteady, and stumbled out into the corridor.
Her suit lay broken nearby, cracked and useless. Whatever had brought her back had done it forcefully.
She turned a corner—
—and froze.
Chiki stood there, surrounded by half-built bombs, wires hanging from the ceiling, tools scattered everywhere.
He looked exhausted.
"CHIKI!" she shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! WHERE IS EVERYONE?! WHERE'S TEMA?!"
Chiki didn't even flinch.
He casually picked up a small round object and tossed it at her face.
Chitki screamed and ducked—
—only for it to bounce off her forehead harmlessly.
"…Fake," Chiki said. "Relax!."
She stared at him in disbelief.
"One of your mecha units threw you right in front of HQ," he continued. "Emergency auto-protocol or something. You were barely breathing."
Her expression changed.
Memories crashed back into her mind—Drayke, the portal, Tema being dragged away, the fight, Bear teleporting her out.
"…Tema," she whispered. "She's gone."
Chiki's jaw tightened.
"After Tema got pulled in," he said quietly, "I searched everywhere. Headquarters. Signal residue. Portal residue. I tried a hundred times. Nothing."
He looked back at the bombs.
"So now I'm making better ones."
Chitki clenched her fists, panic rising again.
"No," she said firmly. "Not like this. We don't fall apart now."
Chiki finally turned to look at her.
"We're going to space," she continued. "Again.... We fight properly and bring them back."
Chiki stared at her, eyes wide.
"…Space?" he repeated.
Chitki met his gaze, deadly serious.
"Yes."
And somewhere far away, on a dead planet under a broken sky, Bear and Tuka stood their ground as Drayke prepared to move again.