Inside the Central Lab…
"Welcome, welcome!" Sirena greeted. "I'm so glad you could make it! At first, I really wasn't sure about you guys coming along, but a scientist can't be picky about her company!"
Aoki and the others stared at Sirena, who was perched atop a platform above.
"Who are you?" Aoki demanded.
"I'm Sirena!" she replied. "Inventor, tinkerer, scientist, scholar, you name it!"
"She's a Zharian," Akari whispered. "Even if she looks like a kid, she's likely dangerous."
"But she looks so sweet!" Saori pointed out.
"She at least doesn't appear to have ill intentions," Hikari stated. "Maybe we could hear her out?"
Aoki drew her blade. "Where's our leader?"
Sirena put a finger on her cheek, almost confused. "Hmm? Why so rude? Do you want some tea?"
"No, I don't want your tea. Tell me where you or whoever you're working for took Kenshi Fujii!"
Sirena sighed. "Fine. Let's take a tour!"
She pressed a button, and the platform lowered her to ground level, where she skipped over to the group. "Follow me!"
She advanced deeper into the workshop. Aoki sheathed her blade, but her eyes turned red. "Stay on your toes. Be ready to attack."
They followed Sirena as she walked past her contraptions.
"Aren't these things amazing?" she boasted. "A tank that can turn into a jet, a fully autonomous self-flying guided missile, and look! Fully synthetic androids!"
She pointed to a small group of androids standing on a display table. "Isn't it amazing?"
"Totally!" Marachii agreed. "This stuff is top-tier! How'd you do it?"
"Marachii!" Aoki interrupted. "This isn't a field trip!"
"Why not?"
Sirena turned around. "Aww, a fellow scientist?"
She quickly appeared in front of Marachii, looking him over. "I can tell you're really smart! Do you tinker too?"
"Sometimes, but I'm nowhere as good as you!" Marachii admitted.
"The key to inventing is practice and consistency! That's what I always say!"
She noticed Fido at his feet. "Fido? My little boy! I missed you so much!"
She picked up the dog, which happily barked and licked her.
"Owner!" Fido barked. "Owner!"
"You missed me too? Yes you did, yes you did!" she gushed, turning back to Marachii. "How did you find him?"
"He was on sale," Marachii explained. "And this Tech Director gave him to me!"
"Akira?" Sirena questioned. "I told him Fido wasn't supposed to be sold!"
She gave him back to Marachii. "Well, you can keep him! Wouldn't have it any other way than with a fellow inventor!"
Aoki stepped in front of Marachii. "Enough geeking out. I believe I told you to show us where General Fujii is."
"Right! Right!"
She pressed her hand to a door, and it opened, revealing even larger machines on display. "These are my highly classified weapons! I'm not supposed to show them, but what good is an invention if it's not for the public?"
Marachii touched his hand to a large railgun, but Hikari gently pulled him away.
"You seem to have a natural aptitude for technological engineering," Naito commented. "Is that innate?"
"Hmm," Sirena thought for a moment. "Kinda?"
When they got to the next door, a pair of mechanical hands opened it, revealing a laboratory where various experiments and tests were being conducted, with androids and animals serving as subjects.
"And here's the lab!" Sirena introduced. "Sit down! I'll bring some tea!"
A table and chairs popped up at the press of a button, while Sirena disappeared to a back room.
"I really hope Fujii is here," Hikari worried.
"He'd better be," Aoki growled. "For her sake."
Outside of the Lab…
"They've been in there quite a while, haven't they?" Akamon wondered. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think they'd be dead."
Akamon smirked at Dachii. "What do you think, kid?"
"Probably fine," Dachii replied. "This place is big."
"Is that the optimism talking? Or just the indifferent attitude?"
Dachii didn't respond.
"Quiet now, are we? Well, at least they didn't leave me with one of those loudmouths. Man, those girls are annoying."
Akamon stood up. "Time for me to hike outta here."
"Aoki doesn't want you escaping."
"'Aoki' doesn't know secrets that can give you what you want, does she, kid?" Akamon told him. "Everything you could ever want to know, the truth about your past, your family, your grandfather, they've got the information hiding away in Inokuni."
"Then who lives there?" Dachii asked. "Voltians?"
Akamon shook his head. "Nope. They're as human as me and you. Well, can't say about you, but you get the point."
"What do you mean?"
"Your mom ain't tell you?" Akamon scoffed. "I'm shocked. All I can tell you is…"
He got close to Dachii. "There's a reason there's no drop of Voltian blood in you, or her. And I think you know it too."
Dachii stood there, frozen.
"Anywho, see ya around, kid. I trust you'll know what to do when the time comes."
To Dachii's surprise, Akamon lifted his arms, and the chains clanked to the floor. "Take it from a bounty hunter, tell your girls how to tie a chain."
A smoke bomb shot out from his wrist, and through the smoke, he was gone. Dachii stood there, his mind racing.
"What did he mean…? And what is this place he's talking about…?"
Dachii noticed a card on the floor, which had a note on the back that read:
"Two weeks. If you're not a chicken, meet me at Shonora Gate. Come alone."
Dachii took a deep breath and put the card into his pocket, before leaning against the wall and waiting.
Inside the Central Lab…
As the group sat around the table, waiting for Sirena, Aoki began impatiently tapping her foot.
"Where is this girl?"
Luca pointed to the back room. "Back there making tea."
Aoki slammed her hands on the table. "No, she's stalling! General Naito, don't you agree?"
"It is a possibility," Naito confessed.
"The ONLY possibility," Aoki corrected. "If she doesn't come out in the next few minutes, I think I'll have a little chat with her. One on one."
Saori stretched out on the table. "I'm hungry! Does she have any food?"
Hikari put a hand on her back. "I don't know if food from her would be good for you."
Suddenly, the back door burst open, and Sirena was holding two pots of tea. "I'm back! Do you guys like your tea hot or cold?"
Marachii raised his hand. "Hot, please!"
Akari put his hand down. "Excuse me. We didn't come for a tea party. We came to find our General. Is he here or not?"
Luca sipped a cup of tea. "Man, this tea is good."
Aoki glared at him. "Luca! Put that down!"
"But it's good."
"Fujii's going to be out in just a moment!" Sirena promised. "He was just finishing up!"
"Finishing up what?" Aoki demanded.
"This."
From up above, a figure dropped down, wearing metal armor and with a metal helmet on his head. As soon as he looked up, his eyes glowed purple, and the entire table got up, shocked.
"No way…" Akari gasped.
"General Fujii!" Hikari exclaimed.
"Say hello to my newest project!" Sirena announced. "The new and improved Kenshi Fujii!"
The group all stood there, shocked, while Marachii sipped a cup of tea.
"What did you do to him?" Aoki shouted.
"I just made him better," Sirena explained. "Do you not like it?"
Aoki's eyes began to flare red. "You…you…"
Sirena gestured to Fujii, who handed her a small metal box. "He helped me create this! It's an Elemental Replicator! With it, I can copy any Elemental powers to use for my robots! See how helpful he's been? Kenshi's amazing!"
Naito narrowed her eyes. "This situation is unfavorable. No one do anything hasty—-"
Without warning, Aoki kicked the box out of Sirena's hands, and it shattered on the floor. "No!"
Aoki pointed her blade at Sirena. "Listen here, girl. I don't care about your stupid little projects. Restore him back to normal, or I'll break you next."
Sirena began to tremble, before her voice became filled with rage. "You…so rude…I worked so hard on that…you…you're gonna pay for that!"
Her eyes flashed purple, and Luca slapped his forehead. "Nice going, Aoki, you pissed the girl off."
"I don't care!"
Sirena held out her hand, and a purple wave shot out, causing everyone to grab their heads and drop to the ground. "Cognitive Control!"
"My head!" Saori cried out. "It's burning!"
"What's she doing?" Hikari exclaimed.
"Making you all better," Sirena answered, her voice colder and harsher. "It seems you're too imperfect to leave as you are. You break my things, I break you."
She clenched her fist, and they all dropped to the ground. In a few seconds, they were all up, eyes glowing purple.
"Now, are you ready to serve, subjects?" Sirena asked.
"Yes, Lady Sirena!" they all answered.
"Good," she said. "Line up with Mr. Fujii here! We'll need to fix up the machine you broke!"
One by one, they all lined up, standing perfectly still. Little did Sirena know, Marachii and Luca's hands twitched just for a moment.
Somewhere else…
"Ugh…where am I?"
Marachii awoke in a purplish wasteland with an indigo sky. He sat up, rubbing his head. "This isn't Earth…"
"Nope."
Marachii fell over as Luca leaned down next to him. "Sup. Seems I'm here too."
"Luca? Are we in the same dream or something?" Marachii questioned.
"No clue," Luca shrugged. "That scientist girl hit us with something. I don't know what."
"Damn, and she was super nice too!" Marachii groaned. "Leave it to our team to make an enemy out of a friend."
"We've got to find a way out of here," Luca noted. "Any sign of the others?"
Marachii shook his head.
"Then they'll have to catch up. Look, something is floating in that pond over there."
Marachii peeped at the small body of water a few feet away. "Is that…a portal?"
"Looks like it," Luca analyzed. "Let's jump through it."
As they got close, the portal began to shake, and purple creatures began to spill out from it, lunging at them.
"Why did I think this would be easy?" Marachii complained.
"We'll have to fight our way out!" Luca shouted, summoning his axes.
Marachii formed a pair of cannons, and they began to battle the horde of monsters that erupted, blasting and slashing through them.
"The portal's closing!" Marachii pointed.
Luca shifted into a gorilla and knocked away the monster ganging up on him before shifting back. "Quick! Jump through!"
Marachii summoned a tendril and launched it through the portal. When he began to pull himself out, a swarm of monsters pinned down Luca.
"Shit! Keep going!"
"No way! Grab on, Luca!"
Marachii extended his hand out, and Luca grabbed it, and Marachii yanked them both through the portal, and the world around them collapsed.
In the Lab…
Both Marachii and Luca fell over, their eyes back to normal.
"That was a close one," Luca said, breathing heavily. "Thanks."
"No problem!" Marachii told him.
Sirena whirled around. "You two broke my control? How?"
"Dunno," Luca admitted. "Weird place, weird creatures, weird portal."
Sirena's eyes widened. "You two ate those stimulants I made! It must make you more resistant to my powers! Aww, why am I too good for my own sake?"
"The chocolate bars?" Marachii recalled. "You made those?"
She nodded. "I call them protein bars."
"Ah-hah, well, lucky us! Can we be set free now?"
"Nope!" Sirena declined. "Grab them, my assistants!"
Luca tapped Marachii. "Time to run."
"With you all the way!"
They both quickly ran out of the lab as Fujii and the others chased after them. Marachii shifted into his car form and drove Luca and himself out, reaching the exit, which was locked.
"Come on!" Marachii groaned. "Can't a door stay open in this place?"
Marachii and Luca banged on the doors, and after a few seconds, they opened, revealing Dachii behind them, standing on the pressure plate.
"You're back," Dachii said.
"Dachii!" Marachii said, relieved. "Good to see you, but we have to ditch!"
"Oh."
A blast of ice knocked all three of them into a wall, and when Dachii opened his eyes, he saw Fujii standing before them, flanked by Aoki, Akari, Hikari, Saori, and Naito.
"This just went from bad to worse," Luca worried. "What do we do?"
Sirena landed beside Fujii. "Ooh, is that Dachii? This day keeps getting better and better! Assistants, grab all three of them! No need to be gentle!"
Fujii watched as the girls stepped forward, preparing to attack.
"Boys against girls again?" Luca laughed. "We'd better not lose, or we'll never hear the end of it."
Marachii gulped. "I think that's the least of our worries right now!"
Fujii pointed his blade at the three. "For the Lady!"
"For the Lady!" the others chanted.
And then they rushed the trio.
—-