Real World, Station 13.
The final episode of Stardust Prequel: Embers.
'First!'
'Confetti, confetti!'
'Open up, open up, water meter check!'
Amidst the enthusiastic spam of the dimension viewers, this phenomenal animation finally reached its Season 1 finale. As expected, the production team not only resolved some previous plot points in this last episode but also laid countless tantalizing hooks for Season 2.
[Embers Base Self-Destructs 5 Minutes Ago]
Gon walked expressionlessly through the devastated Embers underground base, eventually arriving at one of its armories. When he pushed open the warped, heavy gate of the armory, he saw William, impaled through the chest by rebar, his entire body buried in the rubble, with only one arm left exposed. Gon looked at him, buried under the debris. A visible complexity flashed in his eyes, then he stepped forward and carefully removed the pink children's watch from William's wrist.
"How foolish, William. To throw away your life for a bunch of enemies."
"But I keep my word. Since I said I'd bring your 'heart' back, I... won't break that promise."
With that, Gon walked out of the Embers base with the pink children's toy watch. During this process, the camera suddenly zoomed in on the 'pink toy watch' in Gon's hand. Its cracked dial, stopped hands, and strawberry sticker stained with blood at the edges—though just a simple children's toy watch, it seemed to be hinting at something. Just as Gon's figure completely disappeared into the darkness, a crisp 'tick' suddenly came from the passage. That... was the sound of a pointer jumping.
Hearing this sound, the bullet comments instantly erupted.
'Holy crap! A foreshadowing, this is definitely a foreshadowing!'
'William's daughter must be a key character!'
'Damn it, when is Season 2 coming out?'
[Embers Base Island, Offshore]
The heavy rain had stopped, and the churning sea had calmed. The faint light of dawn, piercing through gaps in the clouds, illuminated two figures on the sea.
Yun Meng stood on the head of a Great Earth Dragon Lizard in the water, her long black hair dancing silently in the sea breeze with a pair of crescent-shaped earrings by her ears. She gazed at the Embers base, which was steadily sinking into the sea in the distance, and said expressionlessly, "Doctor, are you sure that little Tendo... is alright?"
Although the Doctor had repeatedly assured her, Yun Meng still felt uneasy as she watched the Embers base disappear. For her, Tendo was not just a student; he was like a 'younger brother' she had practically watched grow up, one of the few family members she had left in this world.
The Doctor didn't immediately answer her question. Instead, he gently raised his hand towards the surging giant wave rushing towards them from the island's submersion.
Boom!
Accompanying an invisible force, the ten-meter-high fierce wave was immediately split by an unseen power. The scattered seawater turned into countless droplets, brushing past him and Yun Meng. Having done all this, the Doctor calmly looked at Yun Meng beside him and said, "Don't worry, little Tendo is far stronger than you imagine."
"But he's still just a twelve-year-old child."
Yun Meng's special silver-white pupils silently gazed at the Doctor, as if trying to see his expression beneath the silver-white mask and guess his true thoughts. As the Doctor's assistant, Yun Meng rarely questioned him. But today, she truly had doubts about his decision.
Sensing Yun Meng's emotional change above him, the Great Earth Dragon Lizard, still splashing in the sea, hesitated for a moment. Then, it immediately glared fiercely at the Doctor, who stood on the corpse of the mechanical giant dragon, clearly indicating: Sister, the direction your hand points is the direction of my future battles, Great Earth Dragon Lizard!
Loyalty!
Ignoring the foolish Great Earth Dragon Lizard, the Doctor looked at the expressionless Yun Meng, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Yun Meng, what do you think is the core of the Star Eclipse Heavenly Eye?"
"...Precognition?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No, it's domination."
Yun Meng looked puzzled, clearly not understanding the Doctor's words. In response, the Doctor said calmly, "Yun Meng, if it were merely precognition, Tendo's eyes would only be worthy of being called a Heavenly Eye, not reaching the level of a Star Eclipse. Only by seeing the future and dominating the future can such eyes... be called the 'Star Eclipse Heavenly Eye'."
"So, don't worry. Tendo, who saw the future and has already changed it, is far stronger than you imagine."
"Furthermore..."
The Doctor snapped his fingers, and the mechanical giant dragon beneath him immediately began to rapidly decompose. Countless nanobots rotated like a galaxy, finally condensing into a shimmering metallic sphere that floated before the Doctor. He reached out and grasped this metallic sphere, then embedded it into his chest, into the newly acquired perpetual motion core. In an instant, an invisible quantum magnetic field swept across the entire sea surface, causing strange ripples all around.
"...With my things there, Tendo won't be in trouble."
"After all, he's not the only one who can 'see' the future."
"Alright, Yun Meng, Tendo needs to sleep for a while longer. You can pick him up after he wakes up."
"As for us, we need to leave first, because those old fellows who were tricked won't give up so easily."
"They'll only truly be at ease after they see my 'corpse'."
With that, the Doctor's figure floated up and slowly flew towards the distant horizon. At the same time, his reflection, cast on the sea by the sunlight, was not human, but a golden-eyed, black-winged intelligent mechanical dragon.
"Seeing... and then dominating the future?"
Yun Meng gazed at the Doctor's retreating back, murmured softly, and then gently stomped her foot. "Little Jin, let's go."
Gurgle gurgle...
Hearing Yun Meng's words, the Great Earth Dragon Lizard, with only its nose and above exposed to the sea, immediately blew a circle of bubbles. Then, it energetically paddled its thick limbs, swimming rapidly across the surface of the sea. Although Yun Meng looked very cool riding on its head, treading the waves, the Great Earth Dragon Lizard's constant dog-paddling in the water looked truly pathetic.
Behind them, as they moved further away on the sea, the last outline of the Embers Base Island was gradually swallowed by the seawater, eventually disappearing completely.
Meanwhile, in the unfathomable depths of the ocean, a special intelligent mechanical cube now lay quietly on the seabed. As the camera zoomed in and passed through the entire metal cube, the dimension viewers quickly saw the familiar black calculation pod. And inside the pod, the sleeping Tendo.
And the final scene of the first season completely froze at this moment.
The taste of foreshadowing was overflowing the screen!