Alexander got up early and, after taking a brief shower, put on a pair of jeans and a purple shirt. He raced down the stairs and hastily made himself breakfast – a slice of bread with peanut butter hastily smeared on – which he then proceeded to wolf down. Once he was done with his food, he sat down on the couch, eagerly awaiting the return of Angela, who was out for groceries.

He decided to just turn on the television, after which he spent several minutes lazily browsing through the channels to see what was on offer. Eventually he settled on a live broadcast of the racing event held on Kalebo III. Unsurprisingly, the broadcast was swamped with Gadgetron advertisements.

He heard a door open behind him, and thus he turned around. "Hey, mom!" His ears had not been wrong, the door connecting the living room to the hallway was indeed open now, but there was no sight of his mother, nor could he hear any sound coming from said hallway.

Alexander quickly muted the holovision and slowly made his way to the hallway, careful not to make a sound, and peeked around the corner.

There was nobody.

He let out a sigh of relief before he heard another sound: a key turning in a lock. It was the front door. He watched in horror as the doorknob turned, and...

"Alexander, I'm home!" Angela yelled as she entered, dragging two filled shopping bags with her, of which Alexander quickly took one to distract himself from the creepy event.

"I probably didn't close it right in the first place." he concluded as he helped carry the groceries, before assisting his mother as she puzzled the food into the fridge.

"Can we continue the story now?" Alexander asked as soon as she was finished. Angela smiled at him. "Sure, why not?"

After sitting down on the cough, Alexander hastily shut down the holovision whilst Angela began to continue where they had left off.

Alcyone found herself in complete darkness, and she could barely make our her own limbs. She summoned her staff, gently lighting up her immediate surroundings in the staff's ambient glow.

She sank to her knees and gently let her hands run over the floor she was standing on in absolute puzzlement. It seemed reflective, but the less perpendicular her line of sight was to the ground, the duller the reflection became.

"Shouldn't this be inverted?" she whispered to herself in utter confusion. Suddenly, she had a strange idea, and moved her staff closer to the ground. The moment the jewel atop the staff touched the ground, the area lit up, startling her so badly that she slipped and fell ungraciously to the floor.

She hastily climbed to her feet and let her eyes roam about the massive place she was in. A gigantic glass sphere built out of large triangular faces held together by a supportive metallic framework encapsulated the area, with two massive rings, one golden and the other silver, sliding over this framework with seemingly randomized trajectories. The surface she was standing on now emitted light the more parallel her line of sight to it was, and was bound by a large, silver framework. Said framework was separated from the outer sphere by a set of massive, rotating rings.

Beyond the glass dome was a bizarre world shining brightly in shades of blue and purple, twisting and blending into each other seemingly randomized in a complicated, somewhat nauseating pattern.

"Where am I?" she whispered to herself, her eyes the size of dinner plates and her mind struggling to comprehend her surroundings.

In response... something coalesced in the center of the area. Soon she found herself in a staring contest with a strange, humanoid entity. It seemed as featureless as a hunter, but lacked the clawed hands and feet as well as the hunter paintjob of red and black. Instead the entity was pure light. It raised its arm, offering her their hand, and Alcyone found herself reaching out to it.

The moment her hand touched the creature's, it collapsed into a sphere of energy that shot high into the sky, before dividing itself over twenty-five smaller orbs, growing dark and ominous in color as it did so. Alcyone realized what was going on when the orbs began to turn into hunters.

She quickly attacked the nearest hunter with her staff, obliterating it with a quick blast of light energy, but she was horrified to realize that it was quickly replaced by two more enemies. She conjured up a wall of light around her before detonating it, sending shards of light in every outwards direction. Needless to say, all nearby enemies were perforated and destroyed, but more and more hunters took their place until Alcyone was getting swamped.

Out of desperation, she commanded her staff to form a defensive barrier just in time. A crystal shell formed around her to protect her, and immediately it got pummeled from all directions as more and more hunters tried to break through.

Although she was safe, every hit against the barrier weakened her, and not before long she fell to the ground, panting. The barrier began to flicker.

"I should have listened to you..." Alcyone thought as a tear formed in her eye. She'd lost.

At the last possible moment, her barrier was rejuvenated but not by her. She felt something grace her fingertips, and looked up to find Final Eclipse lying in her hands.

"Why do I have this?" she wondered out loud, and immediately she heard Simon's voice in her mind. "We fight as one now. You'll be the hand, I'll be the stone."

"What?" she thought in utter confusion.

"Go on, I'll follow your lead," Simon replied. It didn't clarify much, but it inspired her enough to take the blade. Dawnbringer reacted instantly, moving to hover above her left shoulder.

Feeling strength return to her, she took a deep breath and shattered the barrier. Immediately the obliterated the nearest hunters with a blast of light, before she realized that Final Eclipse was trembling. Feeling a strange sense of knowing, she decided to swing the sword.

This simple motion was enough for the blade to light up brilliantly and, to her own surprise, the brightly-colored entity she had seen earlier coalesced from the trail left by the blade, before taking the sword from her.

The hunters around them seemed to freeze as the entity extended his hand. Knowing know what it was, Alcyone smiled and gladly took it. Immediately the entity began to swing her around as if locked in a wild dance, Final Eclipse obliterating everything nearby whilst Dawnbringer cleaned up faraway enemies with eruptions of light energy raining down on the hostiles around them. To her surprise, the more enemies they destroyed, the more this friendly specter began to reveal its true identity, and in the end, when the last few hunters closed in, the specter lifted her off the ground and began to spin, giving her a perfect chance to aim.

Shortly after, the last few hunters fell, and the specter, now fully appearing as Simon, bowed to her.

"What just happened?" Alcyone asked in genuine surprise.

"You awoke my rage," the specter replied. "This place is mine, and I'll be damned if I let anything take away my right to choose who I do and don't let in. But you're not done yet," the specter added, shaking his head.

"What?"

"What we've just faced was a pitiful effort to try and overwhelm you. Outraged, I resisted, but that's the best I can do without losing control. My sword is yours to bear, but I can't fight with you actively. I can't hold back this evil any longer. I must warn you – if you fail, there will be no more stopping this corruption from taking over. We either win, or we both end miserably. Good luck."

"Wait!" Alcyone cried out, but the specter vanished.

For a few seconds, everything was eerily quiet, but then the ground below her began to tremble.

Suddenly, something shot out of the floor ahead of her.

It was a massive dragon-like head. Alcyone let out a cry of fury and aimed her staff at it before unleashing a blast of light energy that burst right through. However, it didn't seem to even leave a scratch, and the hole she'd created was swiftly refilled.

All it did was enrage the demonic-looking creature, and soon it burst out of the ground in its entirety.

And Alcyone was horrified that what she'd mistaken for a head was merely the end of the creature's tail. The creature was easily half a mile in full length, with a maw the size of a skyscraper. It was serpentine in nature, although a set of large wings resembling some kind of middle ground between claws and fins sprouted from its back. It was in fact so massive that it shattered the arena into thousands of pieces before letting out a deafening roar.

Alcyone found herself falling into the abyss, and quickly called on her staff's power to stay airborne. The creature advanced on her, its three eyes lock-on. She barely had time to fruitlessly try to fire a blast of light energy at the eyes to gain some ground before the creature, with a terrifying scream from Alcyone, swallowed said Lombax whole.

A flood of dark energy washed over her, and her staff barely had time to form a protective bubble before the vile tide could reach her.

But she was distracted: Final Eclipse had begun to burn. She let it go with a startled yelp as it began to incinerate her, but found that it clung to her hand.

"Fight!" she suddenly heard Simon's voice in her head, through the sword she soon realized. "I... I can't..."

Her eyes went wide as she realized what was happening. He was losing control. The sword resembled Simon, and it was burning out of fear. It was pleading for her to do something.

He was pleading for her to do something.

Realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and it brought her a handy gift. A rage unlike anything she had ever felt in her life took hold of her, and she was powerless to stop a roar of pure anger escape her throat.

It felt... good.

She let out another, this time borderline hysterical, as she reminded herself of what was happening. Simon needed her. He was begging for her help.

And she was going to save him.

She directed all of the anger she felt and channeled it, and suddenly, the barrier around her shattered. Immediately malice forced itself against her but she didn't feel it. She'd begun to glow.

She had changed.

Her very skin was glowing brightly golden, and instead of white fur, her skin resembled the surface of a star: a bizarre and complex texture frequently collapsing on itself.

She forced herself forward, and found herself effortlessly bursting through the creature's skin.

It turned around immediately but she didn't care. Calling on her newfound strength, she began to charge power, more and more and more, and forced it into a single point. The second the creature began to approach her, insisting on making her its lunch, she unleashed the energy, sending a focused beam of energy right through the creature's skull.

Although the damage wasn't too severe, it sent a message, and she quickly added her own words on the matter: "Bring it on, you wasted existence!" she shouted.

The beast roared, and immediately a dark hurricane of sorts formed around them.

"You think you are in control?!" Alcyone roared back before unleashing the true power of her weapons.

Over thirty clones of Final Eclipse materialized around her, and her staff transformed, its components taking position around her.

Suddenly, she charged forward, more and more copies of Final Eclipse materializing around her until there were thousands of blades charging into the fray alongside her. At her command, her staff began to put in work as well, creating a veil of golden energy around her.

Like a golden comet, she charged right through the creature like a bullet would go through paper.

"How does it feel?!" she roared. The creature, realizing that it was outmatched, tried to make a run for it.

Alcyone's lips curled into an evil smile. "There's nowhere to run," she growled before freezing time in its tracks.

Letting out a roar of indescribable rage, she charged forward yet again, this time taking two of the blades into her hands and going ballistic on the creature's skin. She ran across the surface of its body, letting the blades she was holding slice it right open where she ran, like two trails of destruction, while the thousands of other blades acted on their own, assaulting the creature from every direction.

Alcyone suddenly launched herself upwards, creating some distance, before commanding every blade to regroup. She again made her way towards the creature's face, this time having the blades bombard the creature as she flew around it.

Upon reaching its front end, she capitalized on the last few moments she had before the creature would break free of her grasp. She had every sword fly beside her as she began to charge energy, and soon enough, a miniature star began to form in her hands under the immense energy she forced into a single point, before she detonated it.

A massive, golden beam of energy charged right through the creature from head to tail, absolutely pulverizing it.

Alcyone had one last trick up her sleeve. She warped above the creature and let her staff form in her hand again, whilst taking the 'real' Final Eclipse into her other hand. She commanded every illusory Final Eclipse to take position in a spherical formation with the tip of the blade pointed at the creature.

"Now!" she shouted, and thousands of beams of focused energy from every direction eviscerated the massive, shadowy entity, while she herself dove at the creature and swung the weapons like a madman.

When the creature broke free, it was already too late.

"You still don't get it, don't you?" she growled as she prepared to put everything into one final attack.

"This. World. Is. Mine!"

Letting out a final roar of pure rage, she forced every 'fake' Final Eclipse to charge... at herself. Immediately the thousands of light weapons merged with her, unifying all of their power within her and her alone, before she charged forward, right in front of the creature. Just as expected, it was dumb enough to try and swallow her yet again, and she let it. The second she was about to disappear into the creature's throat, she began to force every last bit of energy she had left into a single point. The result was a miniature star, which she then detonated with her last bit of strength.

The explosion was absolutely cataclysmic and completely obliterated the creature. However, it had taken every last bit of Alcyone's energy, and as a consequence, she had lost consciousness, and fell into the dark abyss. Her skin had also returned to normal.

The specter suddenly emerged in mid-air and caught her.

"You've saved me at great expense. Allow me to alleviate your fatigue, at least a little," the specter mumbled before passing on most of Simon's own energy to Alcyone. Given that Simon, too, was bone tired, it wasn't much, but enough for her to wake up.

She immediately locked eyes with the specter, who gave her a patient smile, before letting her go and, with a loud scream of terror, she fell into the void.

She shot upright with a gasp, eyes wide open in shock. It took her a few moments to register that Simon's arms were tightly wrapped around her upper body, that he was pressing her head against his chest, and that, judging by his shaky breathing, he was crying.

Immediately her cheeks reddened and she instinctively wanted to create distance, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"What's the matter?" she whispered suddenly, not daring to move an inch.

"You are. You stubborn idiot," Simon whispered. "You nearly got yourself killed! I told you it was dangerous, why couldn't you just listen to me?!"

She opened her mouth to reply, but closed it again, realizing what he was hinting at. "If you don't heed my warnings, how can I trust you?"

"I... I just wanted to help you..." she whispered, getting up on her knees and putting a few inches between her and Simon.

"If we are to move forward as a team, I need you to promise me something," Simon whispered back, and Alcyone noticed that his blindfold, which he had tied around his head again, was indeed damp. "Promise me that, if necessary, you'll leave me behind. Don't value my life above your own."

"I would ask you the same thing," she replied. "Truthfully, I value your life as much as I value my own, so that's a promise I can't make. If it comes to it, I will fight for you, but I'm not stupid. You think I'd pull some reckless stunt and get myself killed as well," she continued before shaking her head. "If you end up sacrificing yourself or something like that, I will ensure that it won't be in vain."

"That's... that's what I needed to hear," he whispered.

An awkward silence followed, which Alcyone wanted to break. She bit her lip before eventually cutting the knot. "May I see if it worked?"

"Go right ahead," Simon whispered back, bowing his head forward slightly so she could untie the knot more easily. For the second time, the blindfold fell, and this time, they revealed two worried, teary, brown eyes.

Alcyone couldn't help but smile upon seeing them again, but to her anguish, Simon tied the blindfolded himself again shortly after. "Why are you-"

"You used light energy to enter my being," Simon said. It was enough to make her realize the mistake she had made. "We'll be swamped in minutes unless we get out. Wake your father, I'll wake Ratchet and Angela. We need this camp packed up now," Simon added before getting up and entering the tent sheltering Angela and Ratchet, and Alcyone wasted no time in waking her parents.

"What's going on?" Atlas asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "I'll explain later, but we need to move. Fast," Alcyone replied. It was all they needed to hear.

Pleione, Alcyone and Angela repacked the tents and belongings, Atlas and Ratchet moved Alcyone's sleeping sisters, while Simon stood guard, using his light shard based vision to scan the area for hostiles anyone else couldn't see.

Suddenly however he was back at the camp. "Too late," he yelled. "They're here - ETA one minute!"

"We're gonna need seven!" Ratchet yelled back. "Can you hold them?"

"No!" he wanted to yell, but bit off his tongue. Truthfully neither he nor his sword had the energy to engage in such a fight, and he was well-aware of the dangers of brute-forcing light weapons. "I'm... I'm not prepared for such a fight." he eventually mumbled.

"Why not?" Ratchet asked.

"He's tired," Angela, who came running past with a packed-up tent in her arms, clarified with more than a hint of irritation.

"Oh..." Ratchet mumbled in response as Pleione came walking over. "Can I help you?" she asked Simon. "Is there some way I can bestow my own energy upon you?"

Simon frowned. "You can do that with simple willpower, but-"

Pleione interrupted him by taking his sword and pressing her hand against its core. "Now," she mumbled through gritted teeth, "you'll be fine."

She handed the now partially charged sword back to him, but Simon didn't move. "What are you waiting for?" she impatiently asked. "Are you okay?" Simon asked with genuine concern.

"I'm... I'm feeling lightheaded," she admitted. "I'm just going to sit down inside the ship."

"Ratchet, escort her," Simon commanded, who realized what was about to happen: Pleione had quite literally given him all of her energy and could pass out due to fatigue at any moment. He didn't have time to wait and see if Ratchet heard him however, as company arrived.

A flood of hunters came rushing down the mountain. Simon, with newfound power, charged up the hill to meet them. Before they had a chance of reaching him however, the front lines were eviscerated by Photon, who charged right through in his bulky form. "A tag team, is it?" Simon asked as he went ballistic on a nearby group of three hunters. Photon quickly ran past him and finished them off before Simon could, flashing the human a cocky grin.

It was a competition. Simon grinned back. "If that's what you want." he mumbled before stepping up the intensity.

He dashed past Photon, his sword an absolute maelstrom of metal that decimated everything in its path.

He slashed a group of hunters five times before knocking them into the air with a flick of the blade. He followed them into the sky before unleashing a torrent of strikes.

Some of the hunters began to break through however, and in response, Simon raised his sword and sealed the area. Photon, seeing an opportunity, seized the moment right away. His mane began to glow as he began to leech off of Final Eclipse's power, before he charged through every hunter in his way until he was in the center of the dome Simon had built. He took half a second to prepare himself before unleashing a mighty roar, one that electrified the ground with light energy powered doom.

Simon leapt into the air and took position above Photon before spinning his sword around overhead, creating a vortex that pulled the hunters in, before he pointed his sword at them and began to charge.

A minor star formed at the very tip of the sword before he threw the sword into the clawing mass of hunters, causing said star to explode spectacularly within.

"I won!" he told Photon as he landed. Photon shook his head with an amused smile before transforming back into his old self.

"Guys!" Angela yelled at them at the top of her lungs. "Nice going! We're good to go here - group up and we're out of here!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Simon and Photon raced down the hill, and less than a minute later, the two ships made their way out of the atmosphere of Aridia.

"Where do we even go?" Angela asked after letting out a tired yawn.

"Rilgar," Ratchet replied all of a sudden, "if we don't discuss any important info, we might as well get some quality beds. Hotel costs are on me."

"What's a hotel?" Alcyone mumbled as she let her head rest against Athena's windshield, her eyelids rapidly gaining in weight. She didn't last to hear Ratchet's explanation.

With no better idea, they all gratefully took Ratchet up on his offer, and soon enough the three ships landed near the outskirts of Blackwater City, near a three-and-a-half star hotel identified by Aphelion. While Ratchet went inside to rent rooms, Simon couldn't help but stare at the person occupying Athena's passenger seat. "Poor thing, whole ordeal must've her out." he thought.

Ratchet ended up renting five rooms, with the same room distribution as they had distributed the tents. With the help of Atlas, his sleeping daughters were swiftly tucked in with the exception of Alcyone, who Simon carried himself. She woke up midway through the journey to her room, and at her request, Simon put her back on her feet.

"You okay?" he whispered, careful not to awake any of her family members or Photon.

She took a deep breath and told him the truth. "No. I can't banish that image of Electra from my mind. Every time I fall asleep I see her. I didn't wake up just now because you were rough or anything... it was another nightmare," she said, leaning against the wall of the hallway. There was nobody but them nearby, Ratchet, Angela, Atlas and Pleione had already gone to their rooms, and thus she kept her voice low as to not disturb anyone. She let out a groan and moved her hand to her forehead: she was having the worst headache, as if someone was repeatedly striking her skull with a stone hammer.

Simon's eyes, no longer hidden behind dark fabric, were filled with worry, as well as something that destroyed her when she noticed it: regret. She wanted to once again reassure him that Electra's death was not his fault, but was interrupted by Simon.

"Is there something I can do to help?" he whispered.

She bit her lip. "I... I'm quite embarrassed to ask this, but... could I stay with you for the night?"

To her relief, he smiled warmly at her. "I'd be honored to watch over you."

And thus Alcyone shyly followed him to his room, in slight disbelief that he had said yes.

"You okay?" he whispered to her on the way, given that she was holding her throbbing head.

"No, my head is killing me after that fight I had," she mumbled.

Simon frowned. "When we get to the room, let me see if I can do something about that."

Fortunately the door to the hotel room appeared soon enough – although it felt like an eternity to Alcyone – and Simon wasted no time in opening it.

The room was small but cozy, with a bed for two that seemed large enough for three. An old holovision was mounted on the far wall, a room-wide cabinet for their belongings underneath it. On the other side of the bed was a door that lead into the small bathroom, which was currently closed.

Without a word, Alcyone threw herself into the mattress while Simon closed the door to the room. She let out a groan of satisfaction as she sank into the pillow, although the moment she closed her eyes to sleep, she flinched again.

She gave Simon a hopeless, pleading stare, which he answered with a patient smile. He killed the main lights and turned on the lamp above his nightstand, before gently pulling the blankets, which she had ignored until now, over her tired form.

Simon then headed into the bathroom, where she heard water running shortly after. Two minutes later Simon returned with a glass of water. "Take this," he whispered before handing it to Alcyone, who sat upright in bed before taking it from him.

"Fair warning, it'll be a bit bitter," Simon added before explaining, "I added some crushed paracetamol tablets to the water. A painkiller," he clarified in response to her confused stare, "it should relieve your headache soon enough. However, like I said, it's somewhat bitter, so be careful."

"Thank you, Simon," she whispered before taking a sip. Immediately she frowned and coughed. "Good grief, you weren't kidding."

"Just stay strong. I'll be right back, just gotta brush my teeth," Simon whispered before moving over to the bathroom door, where he paused. "Say... shouldn't you clean your teeth?"

She shrugged. "My toothbrush is still at my home. I'll have to do without for tonight," she replied before downing the rest of the water. She shuddered afterwards. "Well that was awful," she mumbled, and Simon, who was applying toothpaste to his toothbrush after having taken both items from his coat, couldn't suppress a chuckle.

After a minute or two, he returned and, after taking off his shoes, he climbed into the bed as well, letting out a sigh of satisfaction himself. "These things are way softer than they look," he murmered.

For the first time, Alcyone noticed the bags under his eyes. "Uuh... Simon?"

"Hm?"

"How much have you slept?"

"To be honest, not much," he truthfully replied. "I've been running on three-to-five hours a night, in which Photon and I take turns looking after each other."

Alcyone was shocked. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"One, because I can take it. For now at least. Two, because I don't know how much time we have to find the cause of the hunters. They grow stronger with every crystal they find. I can rest when this is all over."

"Simon, how do you expect to defeat whoever is behind this when you keep weakening yourself?"

"I'd worry about that when I'd find them."

Alcyone rolled her eyes. "Come on now. You have to be ready at any second, no?"

"Technically, yes."

"How can you be, when you're too tired to?"

He stayed silent for a few seconds. "Well... you kinda got me there."

"Well, at least I'm here now to pull on the brake when you're pushing yourself too hard," she mumbled before rolling on her side and pulling her knees up to her chin. "I also wanted to say – thank you."

"For what?" Simon asked, genuinely surprised.

"For watching over me," she whispered with a smile.

He smiled back at her. "Why would I not? I care about you."

She could feel her cheeks begin to burn. "You... you do?"

"Of course I do!" Simon said, rolling on his side and locking eyes with her. "You're one of my best friends."

He averted his gaze to his feet. "And if I every made you feel otherwise... well... then I can only hope I can one day make it up to you."

"You never hurt me," she whispered, barely audible, as she stared at her own feet.

An uneasy silence reigned, one Alcyone broke. "Shall we go to sleep now? We've both been running on little sleep for a long period of time."

"Yeah," Simon muttered before killing the lights, shrouding the room in darkness. "Goodnight," he whispered. "Goodnight, Simon," she whispered back before closing her eyes.

Once again she was startled awake with a yelp by the horrifying visage of her late sister's last moments. "Curse it!"she hissed in frustration as tears began to form in her eyes. She was desperate.

"Oh, brother," Simon mumbled before moving over to her and wrapping an arm around her waist. "Here. I'm here for you," he whispered as he gently motioned her head to rest against his chest before briefly letting his hand rest on her cheek to wipe the tears away with his thumb. "No need to panic," he added.

Alcyone took a deep breath, and let a weak smile form on her lips because, for the first time in weeks, she felt safe again, and for the first time in weeks, she drifted into a peaceful sleep. Once again the haunting visage of corrupted Electra presented itself, but just like it had done in real life, Final Eclipse appeared and destroyed the creepy visage.

Simon himself appeared where Electra stood, and offered her his hand. She took it, and with a sudden, strong pull, he guided her away from the dark, murky environment she had been in, into an entirely new environment.

Little did she know, it was exactly what Simon was whispering into her ear to help her fall asleep.

"Don't worry," he had whispered. "I'll protect you from it. Now let's leave this gloomy, ugly realm behind us, shall we? I'll guide you."

And just like he instructed her to, Alcyone found her eyes wandering the endless blanket of stars spread out above her, before noticing the sand underneath her feet. She reached down and took some of it in her hand, and watched it slip through her fingers grain by grain.

"Now feel the cool water of the ocean against your heels," Simon whispered, and indeed, she could feel a wave run over her feet, tickling her.

"I'm there with you, do you see me?" Simon whispered, and shortly after Alcyone turned around in her dream to find Simon standing beside her.

"Where are we?" she asked. He smiled and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. This piece of the world is peaceful, and ours and ours alone," dream-Simon replied.

"And then I take your hand, and we walk along the coast as the moon, majestic as it can be, slowly drifts over our heads," Simon whispered into her ear before concluding, unknown of the effect his words had on her dream, that she was asleep, and stopped talking. Instead he closed his own eyes, and shortly after, he found himself on the same beach, walking hand-in-hand with her like he'd said, the water occasionally running over their feet.

And despite the fact that both of them were fast asleep, they smiled.

Meanwhile however, in a room nearby, two other Lombaxes were having trouble finding sleep.

Ratchet was lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Angela was lying beside him on her side, knees pulled up to her chin.

"So... what's your take on all of this?" she mumbled. In response Ratchet rolled on his side and moved closer to her. "I don't know," he whispered. "I really don't know. I mean, the hunter stuff is pretty straightforward, but what about Veldin, and Torren VI? And where even are we supposed to go? Is there any place where we'll be safe?"

"Now there's a question I didn't expect from you," she whispered, rolling around to face him.

Ratchet shrugged. "What's there to say? I've seen plenty of fighting, but nothing like this. This is a battle we can't even fight. Literally." He let out a sigh. "I just feel... useless and powerless. I mean, I've been hunted before, but at least those times I could fight back! But this time, as soon as those hunters show up, all we can do is run, and it's driving me nuts!"

Angela moved closer and let her head rest against his chest whilst wrapping her arms around him. Ratchet returned the embrace and let his chin rest on her head. "Thank you," he whispered.

"We'll find a way to fight," Angela whispered back. "Nobody lacks a weak spot."

"I know, it's just... what if we'll find ourselves in a situation where we need to do something, and we can't?"

"That's not going to happen."

"It's my greatest fear, Angela," Ratchet whispered with a desperation hidden in his voice that made Angela flinch. "That I won't be able to protect you. That's why being powerless is maddening to me."

"We'll find a way," Angela once again reassured him. "Who knows, maybe we too get to wield a crystal."

"I hope so," Ratchet mumbled. "Thank you, Angela."

She gently squeezed him. "Any day, any night. Now let's postpone any worry until tomorrow, alright?"

"Did... did you just speak in rhyme?" Ratchet asked in response. Angela stayed silent and blinked a few times. "I... I suppose I did?"

Ratchet found himself laughing silently, and Angela rolled her eyes with a smile.

The next morning, everyone met in the hotel's dining hall for breakfast. Alcyone had ultimately accepted Angela's offer, and had exchanged her pajamas for a sky blue t-shirt and light brown shorts. Her hair, formerly messy, was now once again neatly combed, and a spark that had been absent had returned to her eyes.

"Just, wow! You've been resurrected!" Ratchet exclaimed upon seeing her.

"I feel like that, too," she admitted before sitting down at his table with a tray full of food. While Ratchet had chosen for toast, a boiled egg and a cup of strong coffee, she'd loaded a bowl with exotic-looking chopped-up fruit.

"Do you know any of these?" she asked, gently turning some fruits over with a fork.

Ratchet smiled and used his knife to point. "This one," he began, pointing at a branch sprouting dozens of small, yellow berries, "is a sweetberry cluster. Not the most inventive of names, I know, but they definitely live up to it. They're found on Umbris, Aridia, and... and Veldin."

Ratchet's smile briefly fell as he remembered what had happened to his home planet, but a second later, he continued as if nothing had happened.

"And this is a tide fruit," he said, pointing at a large, light blue fruit. A human would describe it as a disfigured apple with a palette swap. "Don't be fooled by their appearance, they're very, very juicy. Depending on how ripe they are, they can be either sweet or sour. Like the tides, it's not a one-way transition, instead the taste bounces between the two possibilities."

"Fascinating," Alcyone remarked shortly before Angela sat down at the same table, who had chosen a bowl of cereal.

"Told you some new clothes would suit you well," Angela said with a wink, and Alcyone chuckled. "It seems you were correct," she replied before repeating the question she had asked Ratchet.

Angela, having a history in biology, was able to identify most of the remaining fruits save for one.

"I've quite simply never seen this one before," Angela mumbled as she lifted a peculiar fruit from Alcyone's plate.

"I don't remember putting it on my plate either," Alcyone said in thought as she took in the strange small fruit. It somewhat resembled a cone with a rounded bottom, which arched back inwards slightly, where it sprouted a set of small, green leaves. The fruit itself was deeply red in color.

"What are you and where did you come from?" Angela mumbled to the tiny fruit.

"It's a strawberry," Simon suddenly said behind her, and Angela nearly dropped it.

"Sorry to startle you," he said to Angela before taking the last unoccupied seat at their table. He then turned to Alcyone. "It's a little something from my home world. I don't mean Custos, I mean the home world of my species. I have a greenhouse on Custos where I grow some plants from my home world. I went to check early in the morning, and found this little one. When I saw you were going for a fruity breakfast, I couldn't resist slipping it onto your plate when you weren't looking. It's some of the most rare fruit you'll find, given that there's only one planet where they grow naturally. The only other planet where you can find them is Custos."

"Wow," was all she could say in absolute awe as Simon took the strawberry from Angela and handed it to Alcyone who, handling it as if it was a priceless gem, gently took a bite.

Simon, who'd gone for a simple set of sandwiches, took a bite of his breakfast, but this was a mistake as he was too nervous to hear her response to swallow his food. Fortunately a smile formed on her lips, taking the stress away.

"My goodness, these things are explosive!" she happily exclaimed.

Simon smiled shyly. "I was hoping you'd like them," he mumbled before turning to Ratchet and Angela. "Now, we need a plan."

"What do we need exactly?" Ratchet asked.

"Uuh... firstly we're going to need a base of operations. Some kind of safe house. Preferably not on an inhabited planet, that way, if we mess something up, there aren't billions of lives at risk. I could build us a base within minutes using Final Eclipse, but... yeah. We're going to have to build something from scratch."

Ratchet frowned and rubbed his chin in thought. "I... I might know something."

"What is it?"

"Well... my friend Talwyn has a space station, and right now, she's the only person that visits it other than Clank and I. I could ask her if we could use it, but... last time I talked to her, it ended on a bit of an awkward note."

Angela could feel her stomach flip when she remembered the moment Talwyn kissed Ratchet out of sheer joy. For a brief moment, she felt the same sense of desperation that she had felt a year earlier.

Her upper arm getting squeezed gently snapped her out of her thoughts. "You okay?" Ratchet asked.

"Hm? Yeah, I... I'm fine," Angela lied. She was nervous about Ratchet seeing Talwyn again. Despite knowing better, there was a persistent voice in the back of her head.

"But what if he decides he's made a mistake by picking you over her?" the voice whispered, taunting her.

She forced herself to focus on the conversation Simon and Ratchet were having. Alcyone was also trying to listen, but evidently couldn't follow very well, and it took Angela some effort to realize what the conversation topic was as well.

"An octa-core processor with a Gadgetron Cryomax cooling system and a Synotic port upgraded to firmware AT105 should help..." Ratchet mumbled, clearly lost in thought.

"We're also going to need something capable of fusing nuclei," Simon said, "and the last machine I saw capable of doing that was destroyed during Tachyon's invasion."

"You don't have one?"

"I tried replicating it, but I haven't succeeded yet. It's something several teams of the smartest Lombaxes had years to develop, and I've only been at it for fifteen years as a side project. So far I can only manage it with light energy assistance, which is cheating," Simon replied.

"Huh. Maybe we can score one on Fastoon?"

"That'd be our best bet if we want to have even the slightest chance of making your idea a reality. We also need a good supply of trillium and, of course, I cannot guarantee that it'll work. Remind me again what your idea was?"

"I want to be able to help you destroy those hunters, but the only light crystal I have is built into my wrench, and it's a stubborn piece of garbage."

Simon frowned. "Oh yeah, I should take a look at that. It did its job when it needed to, but only when supplied with a surprising amount of energy. It's almost as if it has lost its ability to store energy."

"What do you think could've happened?" Ratchet asked.

Simon shrugged. "Sorry, your guess is as good as mine. I'm far from an expert on these things, I only know the basics: how to make them work for you."

"Say... can we split it somehow?" Ratchet asked.

"Why would you want to break it?"

"So Angela can help too?"

Simon frowned and leaned back in his seat. "The only time that has happened as far as I'm aware is when the original crystal was shattered, and how that happened is a mystery to me."

"Much confuse..." Alcyone mumbled before forcing another fork full of fruit into her mouth.

"Sorry, nerd fest." Simon replied. Her confused stare told him enough: she had no idea what a 'nerd' even is.

"Oh, boy," he mumbled before he remembered something. "One of your sisters is comatose, right?"

Alcyone's smile faded. "Yeah..." she whispered, disheartened. Simon placed a hand on her shoulder. "Not to worry. I say we head back to Aridia – we've raised the alarms there now anyway – and try to purge her of the corruption."

"Excuse me," Pleione suddenly said, who had popped up behind him, and Simon let out a startled yelp. "Please don't do that," he said over his shoulder with a frown, "but do continue."

"Well, you said I am somehow capable of controlling how much power light crystals have. Can't I just block it?" Pleione nervously rubbed her upper arms after throwing her idea into the mix.

Simon opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. "I... I actually don't know. Generally the target crystal would need to be within range, I'm not sure if you can also block their effects if the crystals themselves are out of your range. We could always try it though, given that your powers make you immune to the affliction."

"So, to recap," Angela began, "we need Ratchet to meet up with his old friend, and we need you-" Angela nodded her head toward Simon, then Alcyone, then Pleione- "to save Alcyone's sister."

"Precisely the plan," Simon replied.

After finishing breakfast, the three Lombaxian ships left the atmosphere of Rilgar before splitting up. To transport all of Pleione and Atlas' children, two ships were needed, which is why Ratchet and Angela set sail for Igliak on their own using Aphelion, with the other two ships setting sail for Aridia; Simon piloting Athena, with Perihelion on autopilot in pursuit.

"Leaving it at that," Angela concluded.

"Aww," Alexander whined. Angela shrugged in response. "Sorry, but just look at the time."

Alexander turned around to look at the clock. "Eight?!" he whispered in disbelief. "Yep," Angela replied, "and we have yet to eat."

There was a mischievous glistering in her eyes. "You know what? I feel like just ordering a pizza and leaving it at that."

Alexander grinned back in turn. "I wouldn't mind that."

I don't have much to share here, so I'll just keep this short and simple and skip to the reviews.

Max Chronicle: "*Due to sheer quality of mind explosives, there will be no screamed intro*
…
…
That's it. You've done it. Eight chapters. Spiz 2. The medal is yours. I'm done. I'm out of here.
Max out.
P.S. All I can say is that I'm waiting for the next installment now."

I hope I managed to achieve that major feat again, and you bet I'm aiming for Spiz squared, haha! I can't wait to see your reaction to this chapter.
P.S. And I hope I delivered! :)

Since uni's starting, I can't say for sure when the next chapter will arrive, but I'll try my best to get it uploaded reasonably soon. With that said, thank you for reading, take care, and (hopefully) see you in the next chapter!