07BiP8nk

1Prologue
2Pendulum - Prelude (Instrumental Edit)
3
4	Once, in this world, was a singular star. A star that spread warmth and light to all the inhabitants of the universe, some thousands of years ago. It was the supreme being in this universe.
5	There were two parts to this singular star—the Guider of Light—and the Crusher of Darkness. These two might have been polar opposites of each other in nature, but both worked together to bring comfort and joy to all.
6	Over time, the star began to split itself in half due to some unforeseen conflicts within itself. And when the separation was complete, only a core of light and a core of darkness remained there, floating, in space…waiting for the day that they would be idolised, worshipped…
7	The two cores found their way into Planet Earth several millennia later, disguised as objects that could not be described by words alone. After all, where darkness is, light must be as well to counter it. Only time would tell what would happen as these beings would wage several wars to assert dominance.
8	The two World Wars…the wars all from ages and eras past…were all caused by two warring incarnations of stars.
9	This is the story of the most recent one, and the most deadly one. May none of the terrors caused by this war ever be repeated again.
10
11
12
13Chapter 1: The Good Old Familiar Situation
14Infected Mushroom - Spitfire
15(Crystal)
16
17	Some Sunday mornings were not a fun time. In general. Especially if there was the requirement of rising from the comforts of bed early in the morning. Even so if there was the biggest race up to that point that she was preparing for. The one race that she had seen so many generations of paddlers before her train so hard for, and only lose narrowly by fractions of a second.
18	Crystal let out a long yawn before dressing in her race attire. Blue CYC jersey, black Spandex and shorts, and a dark grey hoodie. These three were all objects that she grew accustomed to during her time paddling, which, in addition to her black PFD and carbon-fibre paddle, let her stand out as truly one of the best paddlers on the team.
19	“Mom, we’ve got breakfast covered at the lake. Let’s just go quickly, we’re late anyways,” she called out as she assembled the rest of her race things and leaped out of the door and towards her car.
20	The time read 6:30 AM on Crystal’s phone. Her mum hurried along and drove her to that hole known as Lake Merced as quickly as she could. Crystal jumped out of the car door almost literally, thanking her mother for transporting her to what was perhaps her most important race up until now. She remembered everything as just how it normally was on race day: tents scattered in every which direction, paddlers messing about and having fun with each other to relieve stress, the stench of the lake water…why did she think of that in the first place? Locating her team, she made her way past a series of tents and ran into all of her friends.
21	“Crystal! Check out what we’ve made!” Genevieve and Melissa turned around, each pulling Crystal into a hug at the same time.
22	“Wait…ribbons? Just like…” Crystal responded as she hugged them both back.
23	“Yep! Just like last year and, from what we were told, the year before that!” Mel eagerly screamed as she calmly pulled out a bag. “Let’s see…A, B, C…aha! Here’s your ribbon. We hope you like it!”
24	Crystal gently took the blue ribbon from Mel’s hand, carefully studying its appearance. That ribbon was the same one made as the one from last year: blue body with “CYC” written on one main side of the ribbon, and “Crystal C.” in neat capital letters on the other main side. Seeing this made her recall how everyone would don these ribbons, as some would touch up their hair by tying a ponytail with the hairband attached to the ribbon. Others attached it to their PFDs due to there being a convenient slot for them in their centre. But there was one special way that no one really saw before, and that no one had ever done.
25	Sam…her mind flashed with an image of the alumnus. He appeared more calm than normal, and he was wearing his trademark blue windbreaker and black track pants. His very own blue ribbon was strung through the loop of his white hat, and his glasses…resonated with the thoughts of a pure maniac. If only he was there to help her now…
26	“Uh, Crystal? We’re the next heat!” her friend Remi called to her, shaking her from her daze. “Remember that they’re doing genders first this time around?”
27	“Oh no! I forgot about that!” Crystal alerted herself as she scrambled to exchange her tennis shoes and socks for the pair of flip-flops she always wore. “At least we’re just warming up. Thankfully.”
28	Indeed they were, but as the various girls on the team completed a couple of laps around the race waiting area, she couldn’t pay attention to Gen’s and Mel’s banter. As a matter of fact, she could only remember one thing about races. The memory of last year’s sad ending when it should’ve been a happy one for everyone, that led to an intense fight to save the world. She had a gut feeling that something wrong would happen today, but she didn’t know exactly what was her reasoning behind that thought.
29	“I’ve gotta push these aside and concentrate. Concentrate, Crystal, concentrate! We made a promise to everyone, and now isn’t the time to fall back on it!” she scolded silently, hoping that no one would notice her slightly weird footing.
30	From below Lake Merced, a bright object faintly emanated a shimmering ray. No colour could be interpreted at all from the surface, but something within that light seemed to react to Crystal’s thoughts. That person, however, remained oblivious, even after completing an easy heat and leaving the lake to return back to base.
31	“Is it just me, or are you scared?” she asked her captain Nathan, who just so happened to be free at that very moment. “I just don’t want to repeat last year over again, even though we won the race.”
32	Nathan turned quickly to face her, then turned back towards the bridge and the other teams currently on the water. “I don’t really think it matters whether we won or not. We were always told it was the race that mattered, not the results. I kinda get what you’re talking about, but I’m not scared in that way.”
33	“So you mean…?”
34	“That something’s gonna go down here? Yeah. I’ve got similar feelings as you, but I’m not sure if I can help you out in this state. Speaking of which…Thunder, get in your lineups and head to marshalling!” he called out loudly. “Just try to get it out of your mind now. Hopefully today goes by without anything bad happening…” he whispered before staring straight ahead once again.
35	“I don’t know…”
36
37Chapter 2: Rise Here
38The Glitch Mob - Take Me With You (ft. Arama)
39(Crystal)
40
41	The time came for the final races of the day. As per tradition, there were four finals, and Crystal had managed to land her way in the top of the pack. By this point, everyone knew what they were capable of, and it made A division seem all the same to the viewers. Lincoln Gold, Lowell Crewzers, GCD 1, CYC Lightning…a year ago, these were the four teams that had to get themselves unified to save the world. Many of the paddlers on those teams could recall all of the events that unfolded after that, culminating with the sacrifice of the two masterminds of their joining, Sam and Jerry. They also knew that those two, plus Daven and Justin, would certainly be present to witness this final race.
42	Crystal paddled with Lightning to the starting line, feeling extremely nervous at the pressure of her racing. How did she get to be at this spot in the boat? How was she on Lightning in the first place? Could she perform her task, and do it perfectly at least once for the seniors and alumni watching them?
43	She could see the four former leaders out of the corner of her eye, all of them wearing their respective teams’ hoodies and black track pants and looking towards the starting line. She desperately wanted to do something to garner their attention, but that couldn’t happen as the usual “Paddlers, are you ready?” echoed from the starter.
44	Instinctively, she and every other paddler jammed their paddles in the water, with her not letting the “Sha!” from a distant boat to her left break her resolve.
45	“Attention…” She mentally steeled herself for the hell that was about to take place at the lake.
46	The horn rang, and the loudest grunt the lake heard up until this point almost shook the ground where the spectators watched. Each single stroke of her start led her to give more and more of what she had left.
47	“Five, UP!!!” came the voices of fellow captains Clinton and Will as their boat gradually gained some more speed, pulling it ahead of the pack.
48	Her strokes finally gained power as she felt the souls of her boatmates embed themselves into her mind. Emily B’s incredible ability, Caitlyn’s dedication, Ivy’s passion, Katelyn’s and Wendy’s motivation…all of it became clear as to why they had those abilities. “Three…two…one…!” she screamed along with everyone in the boat as their rate slowed down dramatically, but not their power.
49	The surge felt by the boat was almost incredible. It felt like whatever monstrosity lived down in the foul lake wanted to give its own power to Crystal’s boat, which almost could never have happened on its own. They all paddled on with strong strokes, Chris Wu up front screaming at Chris Liang in engine to give more and more. With Allan, it was entirely obvious that he was doing everything in his power to keep them ahead.
50	“Second half…march!” Michael called out. “I need…you…now!” he strained as he reset his own technique, the entire boat following suit.
51	All of the other boats weren’t far off from the leader. Three dominant voices rallied them all, one voice for each of the other three teams, and slowly the race began to close up more and more. Crystal could sense it, but knew if she panicked and called for a power, everyone would lose their flow and sync.
52	By this point, one boat was still clearly ahead of all the others. Suddenly, there came another loud “Finish it, NOW!” that was just as loud as the beginning of the race. The paddlers’ strokes only became more fierce and rapid, no one wanting to lose a race due to the stupidest mistake from them. She knew there was too much on the line for CYC to fail at this point, after they had held off everyone else for so long. So she took matters into her own hands, calling out “Who…are…we…?” in an angry tone.
53	The rest of the boat knew how to respond to that. Half of the paddlers shouted “C…!” and the other half responded “Y…!”
54	And when the whole team screamed a final “C…!!!” to the lake, they had crossed the finish line. And they had done it first.
55
56Chapter 3: You Can Call It a Ceremony
57Hellberg & Deutegen - The End (Follow My Heart) (ft. Matilda Dalhberg)
58(Lydia)
59
60	For the first time, Lydia felt a real sense of satisfaction. Satisfaction from giving all of her teammates what she could, and a complete serving of it. She knew that they weren’t going to land on the podium, but it was all in good spirits. She loved the competition, but it wasn’t all simply for competition’s sake.
61	She tried to catch her breath as she let out a scream to the sky when her crew heard a “Let it ride!” from the steers. So many loud sighs of relief, sadness, and joy all mingled together in one place at the other end of Lake Merced. She was a part of it all. Her face lit up with joy as she fell back into her seat, only being caught by the lap of the paddler sitting right behind her. “Thanks…everyone!” she whispered as all vision around her began slowly to blur into all sorts of colour, ranging from red to blue to…violet? Yellow?
62	Something must have been odd.
63	“Lydia! We’re about to go!” her seat partner Eric called.
64	So everyone on that boat set their paddles up in the air, and relocated themselves all back to the now-refurbished dock. Her old captain, Daven, set up a fundraiser to finally fix the old dock that had been broken since who-knew-when, and only during the wintertime was all that money finally used to repair the thing. Even after that, the job was finally finished only a week before race day, a real testament to the aloofness of construction workers citywide. The GCD paddlers offboarded the boat, thanking the volunteers sincerely as they walked by.
65	“So, Lydia, how was your first A final?” Eric asked her, looking quite happy himself.
66	“I didn’t expect it to be this competitive, actually! To be honest, whatever the result is, I really don’t care,” Lydia answered. “I just know for myself that I did all I could.”
67	“And that’s what we’re looking for. We don’t have to be uber-competitive like CYC, Lincoln, and Lowell to perform as well as we did, maybe even perform even better. But we just want to, to make the game way more fun for everyone watching and everyone participating.” He paused a moment, and then pointed in an arbitrary direction. “Is that…those four?”
68	“Eric, which four…oh!” she exclaimed, running along with him to the four masterminds from the past year. “Hey!”
69	Jerry raised his eyebrow a little bit. “Daven, this is your paddler, right? Wait, I meant to say ‘was’ your paddler,” he giggled with a slightly intimidating tone.
70	“Man, you don’t have to sound so mean all the time!” Daven burst out. “And, yes, you’re right. Lydia, you’ve definitely made me proud today. Keep on going like that. Eric, you’re gonna keep bringing wonders to the team. I can’t wait to find out which ones you’ll perform.”
71	“Aw, thanks!” She turned over to Sam and playfully stabbed him in the back with her paddle. “And that’s for all the times you did that to me.”
72	Sam turned around and laughed a little bit. “Yo, I think the ceremony’s about to start. Do you think we should make our way over there now?”
73	None of them even needed to move, for as soon as the majority of the paddlers gathered around the statue of the unknown man, a now-visible glimmer of golden light emerged from the depths of the water. The four masterminds and two GCD paddlers jogged over to that source of light, which shone brighter and brighter. Over time, something began to emerge itself from the water, a bright yellow object that seemed to tower over all that it saw.
74	“What the f––” Lydia managed to squeak as she watched the thing finally leave the water and float over everything, somehow not managing to drip water over what was underneath it. Nearby, all of the paddlers huddled in fear together, not caring if the person next to them was their worst enemy on another team. The being itself was completely yellow, with two emerald-studded shields surrounding an almost humanoid core. What its head could be remained unknown, but it seemed as if there were two golden wings behind the head. Another pair of wings folded downwards at its mid-body level, almost as if they could represent legs. Two red eyes stared down menacingly at all of the paddlers there.
75	Almost immediately afterward, it levitated near where the table where all of the plaques and medals stood, waiting to be distributed to their rightful paddlers. From there, it could only radiate more electricity as it seemed to put up a complete barrier around itself, letting no eye see what was behind it. The medals and plaques all seemed to attract themselves to that metallic thing, and they made a cling-clang attaching themselves to it. Lydia watched in horror as all of the prizes absorbed themselves into its main frame, and from there, all she saw was a flash of absolute white.
76	“Don’t tell me…” she thought to herself as she felt herself sink into a deep sleep, but somehow not really one at all.
77	“If my instincts are correct, then…it really is,” she heard Justin’s voice come up in her mind. “But how?”
78
79Chapter 4: Fallen Angel?
80JVNA - First Storm
81(Lydia)
82
83	“Where…where am I?”
84	Lydia seemed to have awoken from her nap, but her location wasn’t at all the same as she had thought it was. She, along with the people she was with before the being emerged from the lake, was enclosed in some sort of transparent sphere that overlooked a view of the universe. Colourful swirls of stars and stardust passed around her, shining in a series of blues and greens. Planets stood majestically, showing nothing but complete smoothness on all its visible sides. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the sparkle of a distant comet, its tail signalling the arrival of something really special.
85	She turned around to see Eric lying down on the floor of the sphere. Closer by, Sam, Jerry, Justin, and Daven all were looking at each other in a worried manner. Was it something that they saw just then? She couldn’t figure that out in time and immediately, for then she noticed some other thing that seemed rather strange.
86	Three girls, each of them wearing their own team jerseys.
87	Why was it that there were four girls and four boys on the four teams? Lydia could sense that the worst had indeed come to the worst. There was to be another fight. But why would it bring them all the way to some remote location in outer space? She tiptoed to where the four old leaders were talking, and managed to overhear some pretty interesting things.
88	“The cores are back, Justin. When they’re back, you know the world is gonna go to shit, not like it’s already in enough of it already,” Jerry snapped.
89	“That much is obvious, but we don’t paddle for the old teams anymore. There’s gotta be new people that are going to stop them from wreaking havoc everywhere!” Justin called out, seemingly losing his mind a little bit.
90	From the background, the newly-identified core started to descend from the apex of the sphere, that which seemed very high up for any human to comprehend. It certainly appeared less intimidating than how it did so when it appeared at the race site, as in almost none of the electricity crackled from the body at all. Once again, it still floated a couple metres above the floor’s sphere, almost beckoning to everyone. To make them come over to it. As she was about to take one step forwards, a glint came from atop the core, and immediately afterwards, a giant head just magically attached itself to the real top of the core. It appeared as it was just another, different version of the head of the core, yet it seemed a lot more menacing. A halo of gold surrounded the very top of the head, with two pairs of smaller yellow wings flanking the very sides. Red light beams spewed vertically upwards in very intermittent patterns and lengths, almost like it was trying to communicate to everyone in some way.
91	Sam ran up to Lydia. “Is something the matter? You look a little…shaken, for lack of better words to use.”
92	She nodded and only turned to face the machine, signalling Jerry, Justin, and Daven to all walk towards it. The other three girls turned towards that machine, and they all gazed earnestly, waiting for it to say something, or at least do an action that proved that it was a living machine. And to her surprise, the machine spoke.
93	“You only gaze upon a remnant of the complete machine. I am Windsor, the memories of this core, Seraphis.”
94	Its voice sounded completely monotonic, yet there was clearly a sense of distress within it. “The world is about to come to war because of the Crusher of Darkness. And you are our only hope of stopping the complete destruction of the world, even the galaxies as we know it. Do you four wish to take on this task?”
95	Jerry muttered something weird to himself, but it didn’t catch on to Lydia. Something about the world of games coming into the realm of the living, but what did it matter. She called out, “Explain what’s happening. Who needs to go? What must the ones who do go accomplish to save this world?”
96	While the machine whirred a little bit in attempting to analyse the request it heard, the other three girls steadily moved closer to Lydia, taking a spot behind her. “Do you know anything about what’s going on?” one of them whispered.
97	“Allow me to tell you the story.” Seraphis paused for exactly ten seconds, then continued, “There were two entities of the Star of Life millenia ago. Orpharion—and Despharion. One side represented light, the guidance of stars. The other represented darkness, the crushing of that darkness. I, Seraphis, am the core of Orpharion, the one who is supposed to suppress the darkness with stellar strengths.”
98	The robot paused yet again, and then the head, Windsor, spoke once more. “To make a robot machine, you need more parts. There are four necessary parts that you need to complete me. If you look carefully, then you will find out exactly what those parts are. I need you to find them, and then bring them to me. Only then will Despharion not bring his influence over the world and prepare to wage yet another war.”
99	Lydia looked very carefully at the core and head. Now that she thought about it, she noticed that there were indeed some parts missing, but how could it get away with just levitating like that? There were four different empty spots, each one corresponding to a part that was required to fill it in. She thought long and hard, and she came to the realisation that Seraphis was missing a set of wheels and maybe some sensors. However, a gut feeling told her that wasn’t the complete story.
100Yet another one of the girls spoke up this time, clearly showing signs of fear. “What are we looking for? Who is going to be going?
101“Child, that is an easy question. You four are to hunt for four limbs. Aquor, Frahje, Trigo and Dukdey. They are all hidden somewhere in this place, and it is your responsibility to find them. Not just find them, find them FAST. I will stay with the other four. Be warned—to get the limbs will not be easy for you. You will have to do some…tinkering to coax them out of their hiding spots. Now go!”
102Lydia gasped as she felt some things rush over her. She tried to scream to Seraphis, “Is it us four paddlers or the four old heroes? Please answer the question!”
103Quickly, the sphere crumbled into a million pieces, sending everyone flying throughout the starry sky towards a world that had nothing left. She screamed as her acceleration through the sky skyrocketed to levels that would normally tear a person in three. She noticed violet fire surrounding her during her fall, which prompted her to scream even louder. But must she die in such a way? Would she die in that way?
104“You four girls are. Good luck out there…” Windsor’s voice droned, before all sharply went completely black.
105
106Chapter 5: Unbreakable Barriers to Build
107Slander - Happy Now
108(Kiara)
109
110	She knew everything that happened last year with Jerry. Kiara’s insights into the misadventures at Vancouver were not slim, surprisingly, but somehow, she managed to figure out all of the things that happened within the span of two months. As one of the strongest members of LDB, it was her duty to tell the truth about what happened, even though at the very end, she didn’t know, she could only assume the worst.
111	Somehow, that sphere…just the sight of the sphere and those trapped inside made her recall last year’s events. Four other people that she probably didn’t know…and yet, she’d have to work with these four? To bring about a light that would eliminate the darkness for at least a certain period of time?
112	“Man, I just don’t want to think about it!” she burst out angrily as she literally threw on the clothes of the day while heading out the door towards school. “I don’t know how I’ll tell my friends about everything that’s happening. Do they know who the other three are at all? Hell, do the older leaders know anything?”
113	Kiara arrived at school looking clearly angry, emotionally drained after yesterday. At that point, she didn’t care if Crewzers hadn’t won gold. It didn’t matter in the first place if all that was going to go away because of something she could stand against. She made her way to the tennis courts and almost literally dropped her bag on the floor. Seconds later, out came a tennis racquet and a few tennis balls, and then a scream as she served one of those tennis balls to the green wall. Her racquet made contact with the ball with such a force, so much so that the ball actually caught fire and bore a hole through the wall before its flames smoked out.
114	“At least I didn’t set off the smoke alarm,” she thought as she struck more and more tennis balls even harder than all the times she did so before it.
115	Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone in a red windbreaker approach the tennis courts. She could not tell who exactly that person was because none of the text on the article of clothing showed up clearly at all. So she stopped rallying with herself and set the racquet’s head on the ground, leaning on it slightly. “Is something the matter?” that person asked, obviously concerned with Kiara’s unusual behaviour.
116	“Yeah, just…shit’s going down the drain right now. I just need some space to vent now, Isabella. You did know what happened at race, right?” Kiara answered, approaching Isabella and looking dejected.
117	“It’s the same situation as last year, apparently. Jerry’s not going to be involved in this, I don’t think. You are the one that has to lead the team and join the others. Other than that, you’d have to ask Adela, although I don’t think she would like to remember last year at all.”
118	“Maybe I’ll have to do that then. Plus, I’m late for class anyway. See you later at conditioning, Isabella,” Kiara said as she slung her bag over her shoulder and started walking off towards the main building.
119	Isabella waved, but stopped as the girl she was waving to turned back, apparently having something new on her mind. “By the way, if you know anyone on CYC, GCD, or Lincoln…see if you can try to figure out who the four really are. Please?” Kiara pleaded before really heading back to her class.
120
121	3:30 PM, Kiara checked her phone. She really didn’t want to go to conditioning, as even though it was scheduled for today, no one would really be motivated to go to it anyway. Solitude didn’t really fit her, even though she genuinely wanted some feeling of privacy earlier that day. And despite that, she managed to brave her wants, making her way to the TRX and expecting to see no one there. Instead, she saw two people, and both of them she hadn’t seen before. One of them seemed to be her age, but the other looked almost creepily similar to Jerry. That one person waved slightly, beckoning her to approach the pair that sat on the ledge.
122	“Have I seen either of you two before…?” she nervously asked to neither of the two in particular.
123	“You probably have heard of me, but I’m not surprised you forgot. I’m Sam,” said person replied, looking up with eyes hidden by dark glasses lenses.
124	“THE Sam from last year? I’m so sorry, I forgot all about you!” Kiara shouted, looking slightly ashamed at the fact that she did. “But her…I may have seen her in the sphere, but is there really a way I can confirm that notion?” she asked again his time.
125	At that moment, she could predict what Sam was going to say next. It would go something along the lines of “That’s for you to figure out.” Was she really ready to begin to form a friendship with those that seemed hostile to her? Not really, no. Inside feelings still conflicted within her as she struggled to find some more words to say, especially as she hadn’t met that other person before.
126	“I’ll leave you two now. Just remember this, you two. We’re not always gonna be here, but there will definitely be a way out of this entire situation. Good luck, as the first steps begin with your actions now.”
127	Sam stood up and literally backflipped up to the roof of the school, where a figure that looked like Jerry waited up above there for him. Both the two saluted below before scampering off somewhere else. There was still the step that she had to accomplish.
128	“Hi there, what’s your name?” Kiara inquired, extending her right hand to the other person to shake.
129	Neither party spoke for a little bit. There were so many past prejudices that both girls carried on both their teams towards each other, but it still made sense that they were both to unite, to get their teams together one time. Sam and Jerry, as much as they quarreled sometimes, still managed to pull it off. Yet Kiara knew that it would take more than just the desire to completely unite to force seemingly different teams to yet again get themselves completely as one team. And that was what the two original leaders really wanted in the end of it all.
130
131Chapter 6: Beginning a Temporary(?) Alliance
132RAM & Stine Grove - Saving Angel (Extended Mix)
133(Kiara)
134
135	“My name? Oh, I’m Crystal. I presume that you’re Kiara, right?” the other girl responded enthusiastically, shaking Kiara’s hand firmly. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you, but there’s some important matter that we have to discuss…”
136	“Let me guess. That Orpharion guy, do you know if he is right or not? I think that some parts of his story seem a little bit off. Four parts, four of us…” Kiara drabbled slightly. “Do you suppose that there really are four parts to him?”
137	“Sam was explaining the lore to me before I met you,” Crystal said. “Apparently, both of the robots, Orpharion and Despharion, are present in so many places. Some of the buildings downtown are representations of either of the two, but not necessarily as to which one they’re allied to. Just by coincidence, the both of them are in some game he plays.”
138	Kiara invited Crystal to take a walk with her throughout the school campus, not wishing to take her on a tour of a place that she know decently well already. The sight of an LDB and a CYC paddler together just talking might have drawn suspicion from the paddlers of both teams, especially to those who didn’t know the complete story of what happened at last year’s Vancouver race. As both of them made their way past the science building, the former girl noticed a group of LDB boys actually holding a session of conditioning. Crystal commented something about that being a wish for her own team, that they’d actually get together on their own and just drop to do a few push-ups or something. Kiara laughed a little bit before taking both of them to their final destination.
139	“Here’s a good place where we can discuss everything. What do you suppose we do? I don’t know if we have a deadline to find the parts or any of that,” asked the LDB paddler while stepping into a random empty classroom.
140	Crystal followed Kiara into that classroom, closing the door behind her and taking a little cylinder out of her pocket. She pressed it in seemingly random spots before setting it down at the door frame. Quickly afterwards, she also shut all the shades with complete accuracy, leaving the two in a completely darkened room. A light came out from the cylinder thing, leading Kiara to question exactly what that thing was. Crystal, however, answered that question immediately with “That is a soundproof device. No one outside this room will be able to hear us talk, because with this kind of information, we could literally die and fail the mission.”
141	Kiara’s face changed into one of seriousness, and then she nodded. “I didn’t know you had that, but thank you for putting that thing up. Anyway, I just want you to tell me everything you recall from yesterday. We’ll go from there.”
142	Crystal also nodded, and then she started to speak. “There’s something really weird that happened as we were warming up for girls’ seeding. Almost as if something was…trying to influence my own thoughts. Every time I stepped foot on the boat, various memories of wars long past came flashing through my mind. Other times, I could see a big city that was clad in complete darkness, menacing light edging across every corner. During A final, it felt like a force was giving my boat power, the power to push through the race and come out on top, but it was all short-lived.”
143	“Why so? I might have noticed you afterwards, and you looked like you were…burned and burdened, for lack of better terms,” Kiara replied.
144	“It felt like something was trying to take me over, as the only thing I could really do was resist that power. I’m sure that you felt some sorts of knowledge flowing through your head around that time too.”
145	“That’s right! Then at awards ceremony…he emerged from the water, and it kept everyone under a spell of sorts…and then it seems like the sphere came and enveloped everyone!”
146	Crystal sighed again. “I was honestly scared when I woke up from that sphere and didn’t see anyone I knew. I only saw you and two other girls. Some people on GCD were telling me that they saw the four leaders there too? I can’t confirm any of that, but from what Sam explained to me earlier today, it’s a reasonable assumption to make…”
147	“Fair enough.” Kiara paused, and then added something else. “You noticed that we all hid behind one person in the sphere? I couldn’t tell who that person was, there wasn’t any identification possible. And now that I think about it, I did actually notice Jerry and Daven talking about stuff that I can’t describe at all. They were indeed in the sphere as well!”
148	All of a sudden, something in the cylinder began to flash rapidly golden. Quickly afterwards, the entire damn thing started shining, first pulsing to a blood-red, then to a midnight blue, over and over again. Something within it threatened to burst open the soundproofing device, resulting in the two of them both lunging towards the cylinder in an attempt to shut it off. Neither of them succeeded.
149	“Crystal! Do you remember how you turned it on?” Kiara screamed, hoping that no one outside would hear what was going on.
150	“I don’t know how to turn it off, only how to turn it on!” Crystal screamed back, chucking the cylinder at the wall while hoping that something would result from taking that particular action.
151	The latter’s wish came true indeed, for a sort of weird-looking object came flickering into clear view for the both of them to see. It seemed to be in the shape of a disfigured golden arm, with a face similar to Seraphis and Windsor at the location of the lower arm. There was no upper arm present at all, but rather, at the base of the lower arm, a black hand slid very slowly out into the classroom, showing five perfectly proportioned fingers. From the looks of it, the blue face, emerald-studded design, and crackling white electricity, it had to be one of the four parts Seraphis had talked about yesterday.
152	“It seems like you have indeed found me, hero. I cannot let you use my power just yet, however. You will have to prove something first,” it droned, wriggling its hand around really mechanically.
153	“Identify yourself,” Kiara commanded, taking a step forwards.
154	“Simple enough. I am the right hand of Orpharion. You can call me Aquor, if it makes things easier for you,” the right hand droned again. “Well done, but you still have to prove yourself to me.”
155	Crystal thought of a question, and started to ask, “What must we do?”
156	Aquor levitated to her, however, and snapped. When he did so, Crystal screamed as white lightning encased her fully, Kiara not knowing what to do at all. “Why did you do that?” she asked, clearly getting ready to bash something into the right hand.
157	“She is not the one that I am destined to find. As such, I have had security measures implemented in me such that only that one person can communicate with me. If I were you, I would make it quick, so that she does not die.”
158	She gritted her teeth, and asked the same question in a more pleading tone, looking at Crystal’s suffering with the corner of her eye. The latter was clearly not having any sense of enjoyment, despite her boat being named for the very thing that was slowly shocking her. “Aquor, what is it that we need to do, no, I need to do to obtain your power?”
159	“That, too, is simple. Find the previous hero’s weapon and armour, the one whose destiny YOU carry now!” commanded Aquor before snapping again.
160	Immediately, Crystal fell to the ground, smoke surrounding her. Kiara sprinted over to her, checking in on whether she was alright or not. All it took was for the latter to tell the former that she was indeed alright, before slumping into a deep slumber. The fire alarm started to blare, signalling that it was their time to exit the building, and so Kiara slung Crystal over her shoulder and bolted out of the school building surprisingly quickly before anyone noticed her. As she did, though, she had a few questions. Did the right hand mean that she had to carry Jerry’s old paddle? Or was it that special one that he used last year? Either way, there was no way of knowing what was the plan for her. She just had to get out and figure it all out later.
161
162Chapter 7: I See Everything, I Think
163Project 46, Varien, & Ephixa - The Anthem
164(Lily) 
165
166	Was there really a reason to believe there was something bad about to happen? Lily was always skeptical about hearing things randomly that seemed too scary to be true, but maybe it was. Especially if they were coincidences happening around the same time every single year. Lily walked through her own school’s halls, trying to contemplate everything that happened the day prior to this one.
167	“What the hell is happening?” she asked as she noticed one of her elder teammates coming out of a random classroom. “Allison! Hey there.”
168	Allison put her index finger to her mouth, signalling her to keep quiet. “There’s a test going on. I just finished, so if you want to talk, let’s go someplace else. Preferably not indoors.”
169	Both of them silently walked out to the schoolyard, which was completely empty save for a handful of other kids playing basketball in some distant court. Lily could take in the essences of the noon sunlight at this time, visualising the changes that would have to be made for future times. “I don’t know about this stuff I saw yesterday. I’m completely unsure of what my particular role is in trying to get this world saved, because it’s hard to be completely thrown into that specific task,” she voiced annoyingly.
170	“For that…you’d have to ask Justin,” Allison answered.
171	“But he’s so hard to reach these days, with all that DJ-ing and stuff.”
172	“I believe you’ve answered your own question, then…” a voice came from behind the two people.
173	Both Lily and Allison whirled around where they were standing, to find the other of the two original leaders, this time garbed in a simple red jacket and traditional shorts. “You mentioned a DJ, and the fact that Justin himself does that? Easy enough for you to sneak in to one of his concerts.”
174	“Jerry!” screamed Lily, attempting to reach out to him.
175	He shook his head before attempting to stop her. “And the fun thing is this. I have intel about when that particular one would be. And no, in case you were wondering, there isn’t an age restriction.”
176	Allison laughed a little bit, trying her best to keep calm. “So you’re saying we could get in to that concert for free? Just us two?” she inquired.
177	“I suppose that is the case. One more thing.”
178	Jerry reached into his jacket, and pulled out a small black cube. There was no other colour present on that cube until he motioned for Lily to enclose it with her left hand. She complied, fearful that something adverse would happen if she didn’t do so, and then, warmth came flowing into her.  Lines started to trace on the cube, growing steadily thicker and thicker and these lines filling with all sorts of colour. Pretty soon, she herself began to glow yellow all around, that aura rapidly increasing the radius of coverage. Allison was too intent in watching that growth, before it suddenly subsided just a few minutes later.
179	“I see now…I think I know who and what to find! Thanks–” Lily began, before noticing that Jerry was all but gone from the place.
180	“Lily, what was that?” asked Allison, clearly concerned about what had just taken place.
181	“Who to find…what to find…what to do…it all makes perfect sense now! I have to establish myself as the one that will bring peace to a war-ridden world!” Lily declared as she dragged a protesting Allison back inside to the school building.
182	From the roof of the school, Jerry turned to another figure that watched the entire encounter. Both the two saluted in the direction of the football field before again scampering off someplace completely random. In the distance, several streams of stars began to streak across the sky in a diamond pattern, followed by several darker star streams in that very same pattern. Something was about to brew, and Lily knew she had to find the three others before it was too late.
183
184Chapter 8: Don’t Ignore Requests I Make, Please
185Direct - Tranquility
186(Lily)
187
188	At home now, Lily had several sheets of paper sprawled out on her desk. It was only 9:00 PM, yet there was still so much planning for everything to come together. Her laptop was open to a website of game information, and she grabbed her favourite blue Muji pen and started to write some different words and phrases.
189	“What we know.”
190	She contemplated for a second. What exactly was it that she knew? The sphere wasn’t showing everything she had tried to comprehend. She could recall that there were four people indeed present in the sphere, four girls to be exact. They all seemed to be the only ones that were conscious while the…robot-thing made its little spiel. Something about four parts that needed to be found, a dark counterpart of the robot that she couldn’t quite remember the name of. Seraphis, yeah, Seraphis was its name. Once again, her pen made contact with the paper, tracing squiggles that managed to appear as neat block letters.
191	“Four heroes, four parts. Dark version exists.”
192	Once again, there was a parallel. While she did go to Vancouver last year to fight against the shenanigans that were now a distant memory, she couldn’t recall minute details about the battle there at all. But was that really important? She had a few connections to other people on different teams so that she could inquire about those weird events. I see, she thought to herself silently as she began to write more and more on the blank page in front of her.
193	“I am to find the other four. We are to find each other and unite our teams once again. Where they will strike, that is completely unknown to me.”
194	She softly shouted, “What the hell? That’s gonna be a drain on all of our money! I can’t just do that…”
195	All of a sudden, her computer screen flashed briefly, signalling a notification coming to her. She decided to look at it, not knowing the name of the person who sent her that message. The content of that message was completely unreadable also, but was it really because she didn’t know the language it was presented in? Instead of clicking on the message, she opened a new tab and searched up the names of the two robots, Orpharion and Despharion. The Google search result that popped up was indeed completely surprising. Instead of all fun-looking toys and strategies on how to defeat them in various games, there was instead a much darker series of links. Black markets, governments, scam sites…
196	“Searching up either of the two robots’ names brings up weird phenomena. Perhaps it relates to the conflict at hand.”
197	Lily got up and stretched herself. Sitting at her desk for a couple of hours straight, not even doing homework…yeah, her parents would definitely kill her for that. But at that point, she didn’t care about doing homework. She had to always plan everything, especially something that would mean the life and death of her and the world. “Maybe I ought to find out what that message reads…” she thought once again as she exited her room to finish some family business outside.
198	Little did she know that the message was really from someone that she definitely knew. At least she’d have time to check on it later, when her mind was fresh.
199	11:45 PM. Lily knew that time passed by really quickly whenever she had to deal with anyone that wasn’t herself. Once again, her laptop seemed to beckon to her with a string of unread messages. This time, she was determined to figure out what all that mess was about, but as she scrolled through, she became completely scared.
200	“Lily, we’ve got to meet up quickly, and fast. I managed to find one of the parts, but it claims that we have to prove ourselves to obtain its power. I don’t know if you have found any part yet, but it’s clear that we have to do so quickly. There are three chances that the dark robot will strike, so we only have that much time to find everyone. Unite everyone. We are the next generation of heroes. Crystal.”
201
202Chapter 9: How They Take Everything
203Au5 & Fractal - Dreaming
204(Crystal)
205
206	Crystal wasn’t always someone that wished to involve herself in conflict, much unlike many of her favourite people that were long gone from the team. Something else was much more important to her, how she’d be the one to resolve this conflict. Sure, she had to find some series of parts, and she may have seen just one of the parts, but it wasn’t her own. Did she have an idea that there were…assignments of sorts?
207	There was no time to contemplate that. Clinton and Will already called the beginning of practice. She sighed loudly before joining her peers in the circle, starting stretches like what the rest of the team was doing. So many things went through her mind at that very moment, but none of them were related to what her friends might have thought about the events that happened at race.
208	“Apparently there was some golden light that shone in the sky from Lincoln,” Allan just spoke out of nowhere.
209	Allan was often regarded as the team’s “beast,” although he was quite soft-spoken. For him to point that out was really a sign of his attentive eye. “Crystal, I thought you would have noticed, considering that you go to the place.”
210	“What? You can’t be serious!” Crystal shouted back, eyes opening really wide.
211	“That’s just what I heard from some of the Lincoln people Chris was telling me about. I thought you might know the person responsible for it, that’s all,” Allan responded back.
212	Crystal leaned down in an attempt to touch her toes, succeeding on her first try. “I…might know people. I’ll probably go and as—ah!”
213	All of a sudden, there was a swarm of paddlers rushing to the parking lot entrance at the lake. Since when did people just ditch their own commitments? Much less the captains also? Crystal signalled to Allan, “I wonder what’s going on down there. We have to investigate, I’m just not sure about how this will play out.”
214	The pair did that, not wasting a moment of time. Both bolted towards the entrance and the swarm of CYC paddlers. All of them were arranged in some ring formation, surrounding some foreign object that no one could quite identify. It looked very familiar, however. On the ground lay a cape of some sorts, coloured pure white even after looking like it had been on the ground for some time. There was no smidge of dirt or dust on that strange piece of fabric at all, in fact. 
215	Nathan stepped up to it, with Clinton, Will, and Ivy following suit immediately. As soon as they approached it, they stepped back in shock, apparently with them having realised something completely off was happening at that very moment. Crystal asked, “What is that thing?”
216	Will scratched his head, trying to think of the least shocking answer. “That thing is related to Sam. But Crystal, why are you interested in that thing at all?”
217	“Nothing, I’m just trying to collect a few answers.”
218	“For what?”
219	“N-nothing! Just…don’t worry about it.”
220	Ivy walked to Crystal, who was now looking down at the floor, almost ashamed of something. “You don’t have to tell everyone what it is. If you’d like, we can get everyone else on the boats right now.”
221	Clinton added, “That’s a good idea. CYC, gear up and line up at the hill! Brandy and Henry will take care of you from there.”
222	“Clinton, that’s not what I meant. I suppose I could tell you over dinner…” Crystal moped before joining all of her friends at the hill.
223	Behind her, Nathan muttered, “I wish she felt better, honestly. That burden must be…his burden must be really tough to bear.”
224
225	All four captains were now sitting at a table at the food courts at Stonestown. Crystal joined their group, bringing back boxes of fried chicken wings for the five of them to snack on. “I made sure they were your favourite flavour, Nathan,” she spoke softly to the named person.
226	“Thanks, Crystal. No pressure, but would you tell us what’s going on right now?” he asked her, sounding extremely concerned.
227	Clinton, Will, and Ivy silently ate while simultaneously paying attention to what Crystal was saying. “So at race, before the awards ceremony, there was just some weird robot coming at us. You saw how it just attracted all of the medals and plaques to itself? Then it flashed, right? Do you remember up to then?”
228	The other four nodded intently, making Crystal sigh in relief. People were listening to her, taking her seriously outside of dragon boat. Maybe it was because they recognised that their futures were at stake once again, she thought to herself silently. “Well…after the flash, I managed to wake up from unconsciousness. I found myself in a sphere of pure light, stretching all the way up to some place in the sky…” she continued.
229	Clinton paused Crystal to ask one question. “Did you manage to see anyone there? Anything there?”
230	“Clinton, I was about to get to that. I met three other people, and they all looked so similar to the people my age. Four girls…yeah, four girls. There was also the four heroes from last year…and also the same machine that attacked us at race. It revealed to all of us that the world was about to come to a catastrophic war, and the only way to stop it is when his four parts are gathered.”
231	Will then noticed a correlation. “Wait, this is almost exactly like last year, isn’t it? How Sam had to gather four heroes and save the world before dying and resurrecting once again to us?”
232	All of a sudden, there was an awkward silence between the five of them. The wings were finished by now, and then Ivy pulled out that same white cape from earlier. Almost as if his name prompted something special to come into it. She said, “Crystal…Sam used to own this sheet. I don’t know exactly what it does, but because it was used by him, I hope it’ll guide you to find what you’re looking for.”
233	Nathan popped in, adding, “Bryant and them never officially told Sam, but if you need it, we four are willing to bring in the entire team to help you out. They did once, so I promise I’ll utilise all of my power as captain to make it so the world survives.”
234	Now completely reassured, Crystal rose from her seat. “Are you gonna tell the team about what I just told you?”
235	Clinton answered, “Only if you wish for us to.”
236
237Chapter 10: Signs of the Rift
238Dabin - In Flames (ft. Lexi Norton) (Inukshuk Remix)
239(Kiara)
240
241	“Crystal?” came Kiara’s voice from her room. “Have you been able to find any leads? Anything at all?”
242	It followed that both these CYC and LDB girls grew a strong friendship with each other after the latter saved the former from near instant death. After all, that was what it took to get the part revealed in the first place. What more was required to bring out the remainder of them, much less obtain them?
243	Crystal came crashing up the stairs to Kiara’s room. The former appeared clearly rushed and tired, given her huffing and puffing after scaling only two flights of stairs that weren’t even that steep. Kiara noticed something on the other girl’s back, not something that she expected anyone to bring to her house so spontaneously. It appeared to be a cape of some sorts, pure white without a speck of impurities on it. “Yesterday, my captains found this on the ground right in the middle of practice. They decided to give it to me because I think they recognised something about us,” she rattled off.
244	“Such as?” Kiara asked, now completely intrigued.
245	“You remember Sam? This sheet was his!”
246	Kiara’s mouth opened up quite widely at this time before she searched her memory banks for a memory of him. Sam…all that popped up was references of Jerry. Clearly the two of them must have been related somewhat…
247	“You mean the leader that was in blue? And Jerry’s, uh, relative?” came her voice, seemingly recalling everything that happened the year prior.
248	“Yeah…he was perhaps one of the best people I’ve met, a real friend on my team before he died the first time. I don’t remember much at all during Vancouver because we were so preoccupied with keeping everyone safe. Come to think about it, now I vaguely remember that sheet. It had some other magical power, didn’t it?”
249	Kiara walked over to the sheet, which Crystal removed from her shoulders and handed over. The first girl carefully ran her fingers over the smooth fabric, not getting any sense of magic running through the thing. Despite that, her eyes started to shine brightly, almost as though Sam’s lost memories were flowing through her. Her hand remained on the sheet, this time beginning to feel not a warmth from the friction, but a different kind of warmth. What it was, she couldn’t explain at the time.
250	“Crystal, I see now! If this sheet was Sam’s…then I’ll have to get…the cardinal! That cardinal. The one that Jerry showed all of us that one practice.”
251	“And if my intuition is correct…the army of centurions and the celestial dragon have to be found once again!”
252	Both girls high-fived each other, proud of what they had deduced together. There was still one looming question over them, however. Just what was it that both of them needed to do? How would they obtain their sources of power, their very namesakes? The both of them decided to head downstairs to prepare dinner. Although it was only 7:30 PM then, just talking and formulating all sorts of plans made them very, very hungry. “Anything you want in particular?” Kiara asked Crystal, taking out a frying pan from the cabinet under her stove as well as some other various ingredients.
253	“I was going to ask you the same, actually!” Crystal laughed. “Actually…do you have instant ramen somewhere? I know the perfect way to make it the best way you’ll probably ever imagine…”
254	Both girls laughed before beginning the almost perfect storm in the kitchen.
255	And above the house, bright-coloured lightning flashed diagonally across the sky, changing everything around it to darker shades as the sky parted ever so slowly. Rain came pouring down, first as a drizzle, then a deluge as the girls had finished preparing their ramen. They ate and formulated more plans for their inter-team meetings, just how Sam and Jerry had done so a distant year ago.
256
257Chapter 11: Driving a Storm to Hell and Back
258Kayzo & RIOT - Wake Up
259(Lydia)
260
261	Nothing more than strangers passing by…that’s how everything felt these days. School was always a drag, but practice…practice never made Lydia’s day boring at all. As such, she’d always get excited whenever she passed by the strangers that were the various students at Galileo High, knowing that she was almost unique in her own way. The best part was that practice wasn’t going to have any bad weather conditions, which meant perfect time to practice remained always nearby.
262	4:30 PM, and Lydia found herself doing stretches as Benny led them all. Benny was perhaps one of the most respected paddlers on GCD, maybe even the entire city, due to his involvement with the US national team, U18. For Lydia to be able to know him was really an honour. The same could be said about Kali, another girl Benny’s age. Her drive to paddling, even going to paddle for college teams, showed a lot of what GCD could really accomplish if they set their minds to it.
263	Pretty soon, it was time for everyone to head on the boats like they always did. Vancouver was relatively soon, and so, training frequencies had increased. “Why are we going this year when we went last year?” asked a boyish voice behind her.
264	She whirled around before noticing Tyler, one of the underclassmen with big potential and a bigger drive to succeed. “Well, last year was kind of a necessity for us to go because Daven went. This year…I can’t really say much about it, but it’s probably going to be a necessity again, given all the crazy stuff that’s happening now,” she lazily answered.
265	For a moment, while she was headed into the first boat’s dragon butt, she pondered the answer she gave to Tyler. Was there a way that she could tell him, no, the whole team, in a more serious manner? Probably not, not as of right now. But she knew that she’d have to do so soon. The boat pushed off, and she reflected back on how hard she had worked to get a spot on GCD 1, similar to all of her friends on other teams. All the pain and suffering, just to be a part of the dragon boat elite, was all worth it to her.
266	“Lydia! Are you alright?” Eric asked her. “I’ve just gotta look out for my teammates, you know.”
267	She shook herself mentally awake, focusing more on the strokes she took out to the bridge. “I’ve just been thinking about stuff. What happened while you were unconscious in the sphere at race should definitely concern you,” she answered again.
268	Bad answer!
269	“Actually, let me rephrase that…we’ve gotta find the piece. We’ve gotta find the other three so that we can stop Despharion from a chaotic land!” she screamed more passionately, surprising everyone on the lake with that particular volume.
270	It was then that a rumble seemed to come from the sky. All of the paddlers that were currently at Lake Merced attentively peered upwards at a golden light that steadily shone brighter and brighter. Lydia herself could only stand up and try to gaze at it, and the boat couldn’t really do much to stop her. But it was fine, as she wouldn’t make the boat tip due to her rather lightweight status. When the thing that was shining descended down towards the water level, her face reddened in shock.
271	The object was shaped in a rather oblong fashion, almost like a coffin or sarcophagus. Where the intricately-decorated head was, instead there was that familiar blue face with red eyes and an emerald implanted atop the face. Near the bottom was a slot that could extend what seemed to be a…foot, although there weren’t visible toes to confirm that theory. Lightning fizzed around the entire thing, and then more rain began to fall on the lake.
272	“What is that thing?” Lydia asked out loud, not daring to extend any part of her body outside the boat now.
273	“That thing you refer to…is Dukdey, the left leg of Orpharion!” boomed the machine part, lowering itself down to submerge its lower third in the lake water.
274	“Everyone! Don’t touch the water, don’t put any part of yourself outside those boats!” she commanded, something she didn’t expect to do in the heat of the moment either. “Dukdey! What is it that I must do?’ she screamed as wind started to pick up.
275	“I just request that you beat me in a race. Should you accomplish that task…you will be able to gain my power. Do you accept the challenge?” it asked, steeling itself to race and bolt somewhere.
276	“As long as I don’t die, as long as we don’t die, and as long as you give me some answers…I shall accept your challenge!” Lydia declared, setting her paddle into the water and motioning everyone else in her boat to do the same thing. “I’m ready for you, and we’re going to save the world, one step at a time!”
277	“Paddlers. Are you ready?” asked Dukdey robotically.
278	Nothing but the sound of paddles entering electrified water could be heard from that point.
279	“Attention? Go!”
280	And Lydia’s boat began to perform its deadly start. From the shore of the lake, another girl stood on the fishing dock, watching everything unfold from that very moment.
281	“I found you…one of the next generation!”
282
283Chapter 12: Observe! Adapt! Claim!
284Trivecta & Wooli vs. 1788-L - Falling vs. A S T R A Y / R
285(Lily)
286
287	“I knew that you would guide me here…” Lily muttered, pulling out the cube she had obtained a couple days earlier.
288	It had a yellow-orangish glow jetted in various erratic patterns. She would figure out eventually what that meant later, but now was the time for her to observe how this heroine would call the shots. Plus, the fact that there was a part of Orpharion meant that there was so much more at stake. From afar, there was a boat, presumably the one that…she…was on at that very moment. Dukdey, the part called itself. She knew that for a long while, ever since Justin hooked her up on a particular game that she forgot the name of by now. The characters, however, remained memorable in her mind.
289	“Looks like the paddlers will win. There’s not much to compare now, I guess I’ll just go on home right now…” she muttered, but then a loud groan made her twirl around and scale the small wall on that dock.
290	The boat that was winning at the time had some hints of smoke coming out the tail end. Meanwhile, Dukdey whirred on ahead, not really caring about the aftermath of the race itself. A girl’s voice screamed in the distance, and shortly afterward, the rest of that boat followed suit, attempting to catch up to the machine. “That race isn’t unwinnable for the boat, but what happens if the robot piece wins? Does everyone die?” Lily thought to herself once again. “I ought to…”
291	“HELP OUT!” she screamed as she somersaulted directly across the lake and into the paddling boat, shocking everyone in that specific boat. She had a deathly yellow aura surrounding her, and she materialised a black carbon-fibre paddle from seemingly nowhere. When she jammed her blade in the water, the paddle started to glow a yellow hue as well, forming a stripe pattern along the blade and shaft. Even her outfit shifted as well, as she now wore a black, sleeveless shirt, adorned with four golden stripes and doubling as a workable piece of armour. She turned around to the person that seemingly was the true heroine, and asked, “WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”
292	That person gritted her teeth and screamed back, “I…am Lydia! And this…is my race to win!”
293	“Lydia! My name is Lily, and I’m happy that you’ve…been chosen to help fight this monstrosity! Have you found the Cube yet?”
294	“What cube…” Lydia shouted as she passed the finish line, Lily noticing that they actually beat Dukdey in that previously mentioned race.
295	“You are talking about the Cube, eh? You there! Pass it to the other one. You deserve to do so because you have succeeded against me. Now, go! Show what happens!” commanded Dukdey.
296	Lily wasted no time in doing so, passing off the cube to Lydia. Immediately, the colours on the block shifted from a bright yellow to a bright violet, spreading all over her body. The same yellow aura around Lily now duplicated, this time becoming a purple one surrounding Lydia at that moment. Her paddle also changed, and it was exactly the same as Lily’s, save for the purple that was characteristic of Lydia. The same thing happened to her shirt, becoming a black sleeveless shirt with a decorative purple pattern around it.
297	“That is better. And, Lydia, heroine…as I promised, you are now permitted to wield my power whenever you wish to!” Dukdey shook out, before steadily shrinking itself into a more phone-sized shape.
298	Lydia picked up the piece and stuffed it into her PFD, before raising her paddle and firing a shot of violet energy into the darkening sky. Lily leaned her back against Lydia’s own, repeating the same action to have a yellow shot of energy in the air.
299	“I think we’re gonna make great partners, then great groupmates. Let’s get together our own teams!” Lily giggled while commanding the boats to head back to dock.
300	“Glad it was all for everything, Lily. I didn’t know a lot of things until now, but just you showing up made everything crystal-clear,” Lydia responded. “Will you explain to me exactly what’s happening with this new armour and weaponry a little bit later?”
301
302Chapter XX: Interlude
303?
304(n/a)
305
306	Excellent…all is according to plan, isn’t it? Just as they would’ve wanted…
307	The clacking of a keyboard, and then the sound of voices.
308	Knowing their luck, soon the four of them will be gathered. And at that moment, they get wiped down for lack of experience.
309	There are four of us, stupid. Little do they know that we have the core to our own star machine.
310	Ah yes!
311	The Dark Star Crusher!
312	Despharion!
313	But in the meantime…we are to wait.
314	Something will go wrong for them…
315	That is when we capitalise on their blunder.
316	More machines whirring in the background, and then the cry of various other digitally-produced characters.
317	Are you sure this is the right choice to make?
318	It has to be! We have to battle together! As one complete unit!
319	I suppose that works.
320
321Chapter 13: A Dance to Shake Cores
322Sound Remedy & Nitro Fun - Turbo Penguin
323(Lydia)
324
325	“I don’t understand. Would you say that again for me, please? I’m just a little bit tired…” came Lily’s voice as she lay down on Lydia’s couch. “I shouldn’t have jumped in there, you know?”
326	“Lily, don’t apologise! I just wanted to know a couple of things about the Cube, the parts, the other two that we need. I thought you might know the most about it, considering everything about you just…changed all of a sudden,” Lydia stated simply. “You actually hid behind me while we were in the sphere…why?”
327	Lily’s eyes closed a little more than they did so before. She yawned, covering her mouth in the process out of politeness. “We did…the cube is just how the power of the previous captains was stored away. Whether Orpharion or Despharion did so is irrelevant, but now it doesn’t really matter. We just have to get the two others to touch the cube, then Sam’s and Jerry’s souls for saving the world will reignite once again!”
328	As soon as she finished that statement, she fell into a deep sleep. Lydia was thankful that the both of them showered prior to this, else her parents would be very, very mad. She whispered something to herself very quietly before silently turning to her computer to do some more research on other things…and those that related to the task at hand.
329
330	Sundays were normally practice days, but somehow Lydia managed to convince her captains to not hold practice that day. Instead, she carefully extracted the miniature representation of Dukdey, the left leg, from her PFD. She noticed that in this state, the machine was completely static. No sounds came from it, no movements traced themselves around. Its intricacies all remained the same, that much was certain. They were just smaller, but they managed to pierce through the silent air and bring about nervousness all around. She breathed heavily while setting the part down on her desk, covering it with a piece of blue paper, and scrawling “TOUCH THIS AND YOU DIE” on said sheet.
331	Lydia walked outside to see Lily, now clearly awake and typing frantically on her phone. “Lydia, my parents are gonna kill me when I arrive back home! Helphelphelp!” she wailed, pulling her into a rather tight hug.
332	“Oh…I’m sorry about that, but ya know…I’d just tell them that things required you to stay the night over here. Anyway, would it be alright if we resumed our talk from last night?” Lydia inquired, this time really wanting some answers.
333	Lily pulled out two slices of bread from the toaster and smeared them with soft butter before sprinkling some plain white sugar on top of it all. “Yeah, sure! Because the Cube is in existence again…we get to channel all the power that the four heroes set into them. Because of that, we get their paddles and armour. They look really cool, don’t you think? I learned you can extend and retract a pair of sleeves as well,” she spoke clearly and calmly.
334	Lydia poured four beaten eggs into a buttered nonstick skillet, stirring them gently. “Do you recall at all the fact that those four had MORE than just paddles and armour? I vaguely recall Sam having some sort of sheet that did some special things, those particular things I don’t remember much of,” she answered as she continued to stir.
335	“Oh, the cardinal, the dragon, and the army?” Lily wished to clarify. “Those are…I don’t know if we can still collect them, much less see pictures of them. As far as I know, all record that those things existed is completely deleted…” she sighed, taking another bite of her quick breakfast.
336	The fresh scrambled eggs came out onto a plate. Lydia brought over two forks and portioned the hot eggs evenly between themselves. “Word has gone around on GCD that the sheet itself was found somewhere. I do not know who has it.”
337	Lily’s eyes opened up wide. “Don’t tell me…if the sheet exists, then surely the other four MUST be somewhere! Wait…there’s a dance at my school today. We’re weird and combine junior and senior proms together, and I have a feeling that we might have the third person we’re looking for there!”
338	“Then let’s get ready. How do you intend to sneak us in there?”
339	“Don’t ask. We’ve got six hours until it starts.”
340
341	Lydia checked her phone for the time, which read 5:50 PM. Apparently, either Lily had miscounted the time, or they were entirely late for the dance to begin. Both of them wore outfits that totally didn’t suit the formality of prom, but as they planned to actually attend the event super last-minute, there wasn’t time to get proper prom dresses. Plus, neither of them wanted to drop several hundred dollars just for something that’d get ruined instantly. Just their team windbreakers would suit them nicely.
342	The two girls were walking downtown, right past the Ferry Building and towards the Hyatt Regency ballroom where things were to go down. They entered the door of the hotel and were immediately presented with a “Do either of you have tickets?” by one of the security guards.
343	Lily sharply said, “No. Both of us are hotel guests.”
344	“I-I see. Please enjoy the rest of your day, then.”
345	Lydia, as she walked by the commotion of students, could only stare in awe at the magnificence of the hotel lobby. Two escalators led them to the true main lobby, carpeted floors leading to plenty of open seats and space galore. A bar served many of the student clientele, although only adults came in to drink some alcohol. On top of that, each outfit she noticed looked absolutely stunning. She wished she had taken the time and effort to choose the prom dress that fit her.
346	“Lydia! Lydia!” came Lily’s voice to the right. “We’re taking the elevators right here. I’ve got keys to a room to reduce all suspicion.” She brandished the card keys, tossing one.
347	Now, the both of them finally made their way into the cylindrical elevator. Lydia marvelled at the transparent sides that enabled anyone to view the lobby from a different angle each and every floor it rose. Lily hit the close-door button, and they rose, higher and higher, until they reached the twelfth floor. They stepped out, and swiped into the room that was directly in front of the elevator bank.
348	“This is where we strike. Remember we’re not going to hurt anyone, by the way. We only want to see if my suspicions are right and that particular person has the sheet on them. I’m sure there are bad people that warrant the use of the sheet, but you know what? That’s the plan. All that’s left is to wait for a couple of hours…” Lydia instructed, surprised that the pair didn’t go along with Lily’s original plan.
349	“We’ll leave at 9 PM. She should show herself by then,” Lily muttered before turning on the TV to some random channel.
350	What a night they would be in for.
351
352Chapter 14: Making Her Way to the Wishes of Elders
353Mazare x Feint - Where Do We Go (ft. RUNN) x Lift
354(Crystal)
355
356	“This is gonna be such a fun day and time!”
357	“I know, right? You look really, really cute right now!”
358	Crystal and her junior friends Caitlyn, Remi, Sara, Ariel, and Ivy were all in the very same room, helping each other fit their prom dresses on perfectly. Most of that crew had next year to go to a real prom, but decided it would be nice to go for a…test run of sorts. Not that anyone would really know who the majority of that group was.
359	The six of them quickly situated themselves on the street, hailing a limousine driver that happened to be travelling past Crystal’s house. They laughed a little bit, talking about paddling phenomena that occurred over the past few weeks. “You heard that Gen managed to fall for someone, right? I think he’s really cute…” swooned them all, exchanging the names around for various other people in their community.
360	Crystal herself, on the other hand, was deep in thought. She knew that she’d be meeting up with Emily B a little bit later on, but was going to prom really the right move for anyone? She had a gut feeling that danger was to be present at the venue, the Hyatt Regency. Danger…from the things she didn’t know, what she couldn’t embrace at the time. “Emily’s going to meet us all at the place, because she’s closer to there than she was to my house,” she told her group. “But I have a bad feeling about what’s gonna happen.”
361	The tone in the back suddenly darkened. “Wait, why?” Caitlyn asked. “I thought you were really excited to go!”
362	All eyes then turned over to Crystal. “Well…I have to show you all something. Maybe you’ll remember what it looks like…”
363	She reached into the back of her dress, taking out a simple white sheet. The white sheet, in fact, that the old hero used. “This thing…” Crystal shook the sheet before readjusting her dress, “was actually Sam’s! Ivy knew that, but I decided to reveal it to you now.”
364	The four remaining girls’ eyes opened widely. “Caitlyn, weren’t those other, well…things…destroyed a long time ago? That one time we paddled out with Justin’s and Daven’s stuff was supposed to be the end of the conflict, right?” stammered Remi, clearly a little bit concerned about her friend’s duty.
365	“That couldn’t have been true. If the sheet is here, then surely the remainder of the items have to appear somewhere. Maybe they’ll be found right here at prom!” declared Ariel, now quite determined to help out with the cause.
366	“We’re here!” called the driver. “Enjoy yourselves…”
367	The six girls exited the vehicle, graciously thanking their driver for going all that distance, before heading into the hotel lobby. Along the way, they picked up Emily from before, and the group of seven boarded the escalator…
368
369Excision & ILLENIUM - Gold (Stupid Love) (ft. Shallows)	
370
3718:00 PM, and now all of the girls walked onto the dance floor. Caitlyn immediately speed-walked over to her boyfriend, Collin, who seemed to be waiting for the seven of them. “Collin! Why the hell…” Sara asked before being swept up into a crowd of people that was dancing themselves away. The same thing happened to the remainder of Crystal’s friends, leaving Crystal all alone for the time being. “DIdn’t expect it to go this way…” she muttered.
372	“Wait! I have…the cylinder! Maybe that’ll…” she thought to herself once again, gripping onto it tightly and uneasily entering that same crowd of people. She had time, so she might as well have enjoyed the entire event to the fullest while she could.
373	She could hear the voice of the DJ calling out, “LINCOLN! Are you READY?” while beat after beat of deathly buildups played loudly throughout the ballroom speakers. As the kick drum sped up to its sixteenth-note pattern, that DJ screamed, “I WANT YOU TO SING THESE WORDS WITH ME ONE TIME!”
374	Crystal found herself bouncing on her feet harder and harder, but she had to be careful to not break her very fragile shoes. Soon, the drop kicked in, and she found herself singing the lyrics to the song. “Is it stupid that I love you? Was it all just a big…mistakeee?”
375	Now her voice lit up in a scream as she shouted the next words, doing so in complete sync with everyone else. “Do I wanna let it happen? Do you wanna just walk away?”
376	She might have gone to a rave before, but the fact that this kind of music played made her question the real formality of prom. She certainly didn’t expect to be crying, or, at least, close to doing so. Sam would’ve looked enthusiastic that she had gotten herself completely immersed in EDM culture, but not necessarily into the rave culture. Despite that, it wasn’t his wish that she did so. His wish was for her to inherit his old power and to use it for good. But how could she accomplish that task?
377	“One! Two! One, two, three!” screamed the DJ once more as the second drop hit the entire dance floor.
378	Immediately at that moment, glass shattered above the mass of people on the dance floor. Two girls leaped forwards from the rubble, both wearing purely black outfits. Neither of them could be distinguished from one another, yet Crystal felt that those outfits looked oddly familiar: sleeveless top, long bottoms, and a helmet that left the face to mystery…just who were these people? The two black-clothed ones approached the lone girl, fumbling around for the sheet in the back of her dress. Crystal managed to yank out the sheet, twirling it around and expecting nothing to happen, but instead, a black cylindrical object dropped to the floor, cracking open and revealing some sort of blue core inside it.
379	“It is her! You there…tell me your name and the team you paddle on!” commanded the both of them at the same time, drawing out carbon-fibre paddles from seemingly out of thin air and brandishing them at Crystal’s neck.
380	All of a sudden, a nimble figure managed to scamper towards the three girls, and took defence of Crystal. “Kiara! What are you doing?” she asked loudly, sounding quite scared at this point.
381	“I’m here to, uh…never mind! I’ll explain later!” Kiara shouted back.
382	“And to you two…my name is Crystal!” the named person shouted, waving the sheet in an aerial zigzag pattern.
383
384Chapter 15: Awaken, Heroines!
385Blastoyz & Reality Test - Kabalah
386(Lily)
387
388	“Crystal, hm? I’ve heard of you from my teammates before. Don’t worry, we’re not here to hurt you at all,” Lily declared, her and Lydia retracting the visors on their helmets and extending their hands to Crystal. “You look really pretty, by the way. It’d be a shame if you were to burn in such fancy attire…”
389	Crystal grabbed Lily’s hand, scared at what she had just said. “Did you say I was going to burn? What is it that you mean by that?”
390	“It’s simple. That sheet that Sam owned…we figured out its magical power. The way you waved it around was a keystone to awakening yourself as one of the next generation of heroes. If you were completely aware of its power, it would set the entire place aflame…” muttered Lily grimly. “Fortunately, you were not awakened fully, so nothing bad happened.”
391	The scattered crowd of dancers stood up from their fallen positions, surrounding the Lily, Lydia, Crystal, and Kiara. “Hey, why are you four trying to ruin prom for us? It’s supposed to be a special night!” shouted a random boy before charging at all of them.
392	Kiara screamed, “Stop! That’s not our purpose. We’ll move over. Forgive us for that untimely interruption.”
393	“Before you do, you two…Crystal! Kiara! I know your names now, and now you have to show that you are indeed the heroes. If you are, touch the Cube that Lily will bring out for you!” commanded Lydia just as Lily did that very same action.
394	As expected, both of them laid their hands on the cube simultaneously, bringing about a feeling of dread to all the promgoers around them. Lily watched with delight, but still felt a little bit fearful of what was to happen should their plan fail. Crystal and Kiara both grew a separately-coloured aura around them, blue for the former and red for the latter. Their eyes closed while their bodies shined, and the cube’s colours seemed to fight for dominance over which one to take on. Red stripes overlapped blue ones, which overlapped with more reds and blues, before all of a sudden, the cube itself shattered completely into a billion pieces.
395	But Lily knew that it didn’t matter, for the transformation was now complete. The two new girls’ outfits looked exactly like the ones the two older girls’ outfits appeared. “Hey! I actually like this. Feels representative of how Sam and Jerry were before…” Kiara admitted, admiring the new sights.
396	“You’ve awakened completely. But why did the cube break? Is it trying to tell us something, or…” Lily whispered, looking down at the floor that was now beginning to shake violently.
397	Crystal shouted, “I think I know what’s happening! My Cylinder and your Cube…I think that they’re reacting to each other, but…”
398	“Crystal! Get away from there!” came Lydia’s voice, with all three of the other girls diving out of the way of some weird object. “Is that?”
399	“A part! Aquor…is that what we had to do?” Kiara shouted at the now-materialised right hand, signalling the three others to get everyone else out of the hotel before any more damage could be caused.
400	“You would be correct. I see that you have all awakened. But you must pass my test before you can gain my power. Firstly, I will provide you with nothing. It is up to you to figure out the task at hand,” it droned, bracing itself.
401
402Chapter 16: Puzzle and Puzzle, Partly Difficult Edition
403MitiS - Namaste, Alvida
404(Kiara)
405
406	“Remind me what your names are, so that we can get ourselves together before anything else,” Kiara spoke as she and Crystal approached Lily and Lydia. “If we’re the heroines, then we have to know each other as if we were best friends…”
407	Immediately, colour started to snake across all four girls’ outfits, each colour representing a particular team. Crystal sported dark blue zigzags, Kiara had crimson V-patterns, Lydia showed violet spirals, and Lily simply wore golden, orderly, parallel lines. The four of them introduced their names before turning to face their particular opponent, the right hand of Orpharion, Aquor. Why was it so unwilling to help out, even to provide any sort of information when its own host was required to save the world? Something was clearly off, but Kiara shook all that aside.
408	“Did you notice us bringing a paddle from the depths of the void?” Lydia asked both Crystal and Kiara. “You have the power of your two older heroes now, so you should be able to accomplish that with ease.”
409	Both of them did so without even having to think about a mystic subdimension running underneath life as they knew it. Soon, the paddles, too, shone their respective colours, and now the team was complete in itself. Aquor simply floated around, observing every little movement the four girls made, not even speaking a single word. That was what made Kiara mad, the fact that everything important was hidden from her, regardless of importance to the world. She had made a vow earlier to change that, and there was no way  she would deviate from that very same promise now.
410	“Think! Since it said it will provide us with nothing…what sort of riddle provides us with nothing at all?” Kiara questioned out loud, twirling her paddle in a simple circle and tracing a red outline in the air with the paddle’s path.
411	Lily walked around the almost-ruined area, seeking for some sort of clue. Flat ground with patternless floor wasn’t going to help her a lot, but still at least something had to be tried to make this work. “Well, Orpharion and Despharion are represented in a game. I actually knew that Justin played the game, and Sam and Jerry still do. But it’s almost impossible to get ahold of them right now due to our situation…” she thought out loud.
412	“Lily, say that again!” Kiara pleaded, a bright idea going off in her head. “You said the word ‘game,’ so maybe that’ll be a place to start!”
413	Lydia pulled her phone out in the hopes that it wasn’t dead, and she sighed in relief, presumably discovering that that wasn’t the case. Kiara looked over at her screen, noticing the various loads of games that were downloaded for a day and forgotten until now, as she tried to piece together in her mind which the correct game was.
414	Crystal, inspecting Aquor without making direct contact with it, called out to the other three, “Ah yes, that game! We all used to play it at some point. I remember now where it came from!”
415	“Care to reveal the name?” Lily asked impatiently, still searching for any sort of clue. “We might have a timer set up in here, ready to make this place blow.”
416	Hearing that, it seemed, Aquor shook in glee. “Ah yes, you have…I do not know, I suppose…seven minutes to solve the puzzle. Do not worry as you will not have to fight against me in any sort of way. All you need to do is call their names!”
417	Their names…who could “they” be in this situation? Kiara pointed out to one game on Lydia’s phone, and asked politely for her to tap its icon. As she did, though, some strange happenings in the behaviour in the robot started to stir up, causing it to erratically bang itself on the ground, sending shockwaves around. Crystal took the full brunt of the first couple shockwaves, but drew a square with her paddle to hold the shockwaves back, at least for a time. “This won’t last long! Hurry, hurry!” she pleaded, straining quite a lot.
418	Aquor mechanically drummed out, “You have two minutes.”
419	On Lydia’s phone, Kiara quickly scrolled through the endless menus of text and icons that she couldn’t decipher, until one particularly interesting phrase caught her eye. “Heroines,” it read. Perhaps that was the key to the puzzle! Nothing could be shaken around or moved slightly, save for the heroines, but still, she felt knowledge surging through her.
420	“I’m gonna share that knowledge with you!” she screamed, raising her paddle in the air and circling around herself once with it, before dropping it bladefirst to the crack in the ground. “Prepare to call the name, on my command!”
421	The ground began to shake more and more violently, triggering the four girls’ safety reflexes to find cover together. Red particles of Kiara’s memory about what she had just called started to rain down from an invisible dome, imbuing themselves within the bodies of the girls. They all screamed as shockwave after shockwave came after them, and they skilfully dodged each and every single one of them.
422	“Ten, nine, eight…” Aquor beeped.
423	“I’ve got it! Come, Oria!” called Kiara, folding her hands.
424	“Cherun! Guide us!” called Crystal, repeating the same motion as Kiara.
425	“Seven, six, five, four…”
426	“Ilmina! Appear now!” shouted Lily, bracing herself for a fall.
427	“Three, two, one…”
428	“Last one! Planar!” screamed Lydia over all the chaos going on around them.
429	At the very last syllable, everything stopped happening in slow-motion. Chunks of floor magically reattached themselves to where they used to be previously, and the area managed to return to its previous state. The four girls and Aquor, however, still remained just as they were at the present moment, and they watched with awe as everything shifted right before their very eyes.
430	“You have proven yourself. Kiara. Take my power now!” burst Aquor as it shrunk into a little long shape, finding its way into her jacket pocket…
431
432Chapter XX: Buildup
433?
434(n/a)
435
436	They are now awakened, it seems…
437	Never fear. Just like they did, we shall awaken also.
438	What is patience in the first place? I want to get powers NOW!
439	You know that isn’t possible. Chill out…and let the world be taken by storm when we are on the scene!
440	The sound of steps diminishing in volume.
441	The sound of energy forms flowing into an entity.
442	Wind gusting throughout the place.
443
444Chapter 17: Go On, Now Tell Us
445Shut Eye x Cloudier - Play Pretend x Fantasy
446(Kiara)
447
448	Fortunately for Kiara, there wasn’t any more planned formal to occur for at least another couple of months. Not after the disaster that was Lincoln’s prom. It was crazy to think that only three weeks had gone by since the incident at race, and there was so much progress towards the requirement made already. She smiled slightly before finishing her lunch and heading off to class. It was 1:20 PM already, and she was already quite late for class. She noticed that she took longer to eat because of the fact that she had to plan so many new things for the team, none of which included any short-term bondings whatsoever.
449	On her way to class, she bumped into one of the captains of LDB, Ryan. He, though quite short and “cute” (as described by many of the boys on that team), held so much hidden power inside of him that propelled him to captain status that year. “Ryan! Did you see my plans for what we can do over summer?” she asked gleefully.
450	“Kiara, hey! I was just about to look at them. But I do have a question—why are you making these plans in the first place?” he responded.
451	Uh-oh, she thought to herself. How was she going to explain this to him, that she was the next chosen heroine? Ryan wasn’t particularly close to Sam, neither was he to Jerry. As such, would he really know what was going on?
452	“Well, if I’m honest, I’ll just let this show you.”
453	She reached over at her paddle, activating a faint red glow surrounding it and shutting it off again. His face remained at a standstill, which was quite the opposite reaction as she expected. He must have been thinking about it, though, given that he stayed still as the two were walking to some building.
454	“I need to get the captains in this. As for me, personally, I want you to succeed as a paddler, but is going to so many races over the summer going to wear you out at all?” he asked, sounding much more worried now. “I’m scared that last year is going to repeat itself over again, I don’t want anyone else to falsely die on us.”
455	“Ryan, if there’s anyone that ought to be really scared, it’s Adela. She had to go through double the trauma, losing BOTH Sam and Jerry at the exact same time. In fact, she had to witness them dying too while she couldn’t do a single thing about it,” Kiara answered, sounding a little bit annoyed. “I also don’t want anyone to die, whether it’s real or false. That’s why I believe that we should go to every race. Macau, Vancouver, Long Beach…I just don’t know how this will play out.”
456	She stuttered over the last few lines before tears started to well up in her eyes. She attempted to no avail to hold these tears back, and released a flood of them onto the pavement. Ryan couldn’t do anything but hold her in a hug so that she’d feel at least a little bit more comfortable. “It’s not you, Ryan. It’s just the pressure that’s digging into me right now. There are times I feel unsure…” she sobbed.
457	“I’m sure it’s so. I’ll see what I can manage with the CYC captains, what they know about the other two teams. One thing I can promise you is that we’ll definitely have all four of our teams practicing together sometime,” Ryan tried to comfort her.
458	And she thought to herself, “As long as we don’t go for six or more hours at a time. I can imagine why that would be necessary, though.”
459
460	4:45 PM at Lake Merced on a Tuesday afternoon meant that LDB was all present, ready to practice for whatever sort of event came next. But before that, they were known to be a team that took a notoriously long time to follow any direction that came from anyone, really. Kiara felt it as weird, given that they were still regarded as one of the most elite paddling teams in all of San Francisco. Regardless, it was time for them to get on the boats, and Ryan and fellow captain Audrey began calling lineups for the said boats. Kiara fell into place in her proper spot, right with Crewzers. That was her home ever since the year began, and she had no intention of losing that home.
461	The crew made their way down to the boat and boarded it, pushing off silently. There was no conversation whatsoever with this group of people, which was yet another oddity present in these days of post-race shock. Kiara couldn’t stand the silence when she was used to conversing with all of her partners, her friends. She couldn’t help but think that they were all affected by her own burden. And that, for her, wasn’t something that she wanted for them. She wanted them to be safe, but it wasn’t possible at the moment when everything was literally out for blood.
462	Paddling provided at least some sort of outlet for Kiara to vent her anger and frustrations out. Her old captains always told her to leave her anger out on the water, and last year, that phrased always resurged between Sam and Jerry to the rest of the masses. Every stroke led to an expression of anger, some way to release everything that she felt from the day, whether it was good or bad. Emotion, passion…all that embodied themselves in the sport they called dragon boat.
463	“Let it ride!”
464	Ryan turned again to Kiara, who clearly wasn’t feeling the rhythm of practice for such a crucial race. “I thought that taking you out to practice would help you somewhat, but I guess I was wrong…” he whispered sadly.
465	“Again, it’s not you. I just want to get the whole team, no, all four of us, together one time at least. Maybe then I’ll feel a little bit better, I hope…” she responded before trying to focus on what their coach was teaching them all.
466
467Chapter 18: Older Plans With Newer Paddlers
468ILLENIUM & Said The Sky x Porter Robinson - Where’d You Go x Divinity
469(Crystal)
470
471	Sam had told Crystal once last year that he was to save the world. At that point, she didn’t have a single clue as to what that meant. He wasn’t really known to confide in people that he didn’t really talk to, but since he told her something that vague, she had thought that he was crazy. Back then, that feeling of craziness had a backdoor feeling that he was definitely suffering through an ordeal he told no one else but her about. She reflected back on that encounter, when even last year, everything was just…normal.
472	Now, as she prepared to meet with Lily, Crystal realised that Sam made lots and lots of plans for various scenarios that could occur. That much she learned from him, it was good to make plans, especially for something so ambitious. She hoped that if ever it was to happen again, there would be no repeat casualties. 3:15 PM. The time had come for the real meeting, the one where all of her plans would be drafted and, hopefully, become a reality. For the world’s safety and well-being.
473	“Oh, hey! What’s up?” came a familiar voice from behind her.
474	Crystal turned around to see Lily behind her. The two waved at each other before approaching the other. “Not really much. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, actually,” Crystal said. “Let’s go somewhere a little bit more private, just in case we have CYC or your paddlers around.”
475	Both of them agreed to that plan, and so they walked side-by-side towards another random classroom, with no words being exchanged. Lily opened up the door and led Crystal inside, before entering the room and shutting the door quickly afterwards. They took the places of two desks, sitting down in them. There was no part of them that knew what sorts of plans either of them would encounter.
476	Lily spoke up after a few minutes of complete silence. “Let’s get this out of the way right now. I want our four teams to go to three races over the summer.”
477	Crystal appeared surprised for a second. She knew of two races that they could all go to, them being Vancouver and Long Beach. But since when was there a third race? She had to dig her mind for a long time before the answer was presented right before her.
478	“Lowell goes to Macau every summer, according to some of my friends on that team. I was thinking that maybe we could go there as well…” Lily whispered. “We’ve got to increase our chances of finding parts, considering how slowly we’re going in the first place. I figured that’s the most logical option for us.”
479	Crystal interjected, “But have you considered the costs? I don’t know how ALL of us managed to sneak in Vancouver last year, but you’re really ambitious here! I don’t know how we’re gonna make everything work with more races.”
480	Lily reached for her bag, opening the zipper carefully and extracting a small manila folder. She set it on the desk with even more caution, opening the folder and showing a series of intricately-drawn blueprints. Of what, Crystal didn’t know yet. Everything was to be explained in due time, but… 
481	“The first stop is Vancouver. It’s not really usual that this happens, but it’s something to realise. I thought it was gonna be the other way around. Anyway, do you know how Vancouver works?” asked Lily.
482	When Crystal shook her head no, the other girl continued, “It’s just like a two-day race. All of the seedings and semis are on the first day, and all of the finals are on the second. Technically, there’s a day beforehand that’s dedicated to practice, but we shouldn’t be worried about that…”
483	“That should be the easiest for all of us to sneak into. After all, our four teams always register for that race,” Crystal commented. “What about Macau?”
484	“I only know the dates that it’ll happen. And Long Beach is, well, Long Beach. I would assume we have at MOST until then to figure out what the hell is going on, and to stop the entire thing.”
485	“Haven’t we been here long enough? Not that I want to get out of here, but I feel that our plans are solid now…”
486	“Since we’ve got two hundred again, and we don’t have Justin’s hacking at our side easily, we’ve gotta think of something else. Camping at the race site simply isn’t an option for all three places. I’ve managed to get our teams registered for those races, however. Hopefully, Lydia and Kiara will tell their teams to register themselves as well.”
487	“So it’s lodging that’s the problem, then. I could try to get UBC for Vancouver. Kiara would have to help us out in Macau, and then Lydia for Long Beach. I think we’ve got prowess now!”
488	Both girls exclaimed, “Now all we have to do is get everyone to practice! Together!”
489
490Chapter 19: Join the Army, You’re Drafted
491Makoto Shinkai & RADWIMPS - Weathering With You OST: We’ll Be Alright
492(Lily)
493
494	“Attention, Lincoln Dragon Boat! One of our paddlers has an announcement! Lily, please explain the new situation!” Allison announced to the entire team as they were all at practice, huddled together on that grass as normal.
495	Lily hopped up to take her spot at the front of all the paddlers there. She cried, “Hi there! I just wanted to tell you that…it’s no longer gonna be just us at practice. We have some special guests here that’re gonna join us for three more races. Why don’t you observe the distant land? Check it out.” 
496	All of the paddlers obeyed her immediately, looking towards the clubhouse to see a large swarm of…paddlers? People? Only Lily knew that that crowd was all people. People from three different teams, in fact, all uniting together for a common cause the second time. She remembered her first practice with over two hundred people strong, how Justin and Jerry managed to handle all of them at once and make a team work. She recalled Sam’s and Daven’s incredible heart, wishing to train them harder to save their lives. All in all, it was an amazing, yet sorrowful experience for her. She certainly wished that the next generation of paddlers didn’t have to experience that, that the veterans had to go through it all over again. But she knew deep down that it was all due to necessity.
497	Pretty soon afterwards, that cloud of people fast overtook the area of grass where all of the Lincoln paddlers were. Lily’s eyes brightened at the sight of different colours, paddles, PFDs, and overall people that came to her today. “I want to introduce to you now the three others that will assist me in bringing us to have a great summer. You three know who you are, why not come on up?” she asked.
498	One random voice shot, “Since you’re gathering over two hundred of us, does that mean we’re in a desperate situation, like last year?”
499	From the amalgamation of paddlers, three very distinct figures stood out, ones that could only be known as the leaders. Lydia, Crystal, and Kiara joined Lily at the front, much to the surprise of so many of the paddlers.
500	“So they’re…”
501	“Who are they…?”
502	“Can they…”
503	The three new heroines introduced themselves to everyone, and then immediately set forward their plans for the summer. In great detail, they explained what they were going to be doing during June and July. The paddlers’ eyes brightened over the mention that they were all going to be racing in not one, not two, but three races, all of them in different venues and against different people. “One thing is certain about this. You’ve gotta be really, really careful about what’s going on around you. Especially since we don’t want to repeat last year’s unfortunate events…” Lily muttered sadly. “Anyway, let’s go. Gear up and line up on your lefts and rights!”
504	As they did so, the official captains of all four teams gathered to separate them all into their proper lineups. The four heroines moved over to the side, worried about what they had all gotten themselves into.
505	“You sure this is the best plan?” Kiara asked nervously.
506	“I’m sure of it. To be fair, I’m kind of scared too…” whispered Lydia. “Despite that, we’ve still got to push on if we want to have any hope of completing Orpharion and the world’s future. You see?”
507	“Let’s do it, then. For us,” Crystal declared.
508	The four of them circled together, putting their hands in the very centre.
509	“For them.”
510	“Are you ready?”
511	“I’m ready.”
512	“I am.”
513
514
515Chapter 20: Clearer Skies, Aside From a Purpose
516Seven Lions & Crystal Skies - Sojourn
517(Lydia)
518
519	After their brief huddle, Lydia hopped in the line with her usual spot just waiting to be claimed. After all, since there were so many new people to get to know that she neglected to do the year prior, she wished to do so right then and there. “Hey, how are you?” just seemed like such a cliché thing to ask to a random person. Instead, she decided to just wait until they had all gotten on the boat.
520	Everything felt like it was all the same these days, especially considering that she sat in the same place on the boat, and she was surrounded by the same people mostly. Did she see the usual stuff each day? She could definitely consider herself as someone who always looked for patterns in everything. The ripples of the water as the boat paddled, the same angles that all of the paddlers made with their top arms and the angles that their blades entered the water, the rhythm of all their breaths. Nothing else felt so formulaic, yet so intriguing at the same time to her.
521	“Hey, what’s your name?” she asked to the person in front of her.
522	That person turned around, and he looked like he was HUGE. “Me? Oh, I’m Chris. I paddle for CYC. You seem like Sam, if you know him. What’s your name?”
523	“I’m Lydia. I do know Sam, if we’re talking about the same Sam. Leader from CYC last year, sacrificed himself to save us…you’d know him. He used to jab me in the back back in those days, you know?”
524	“No, but I would assume it was playful and not to hurt you,” he sighed before returning to paddling.
525	She heard a “Let it ride!” coming from her coach. Everyone stopped paddling immediately, allowing Lydia to gaze up at the sky. For an early May afternoon, the sky was blue and clear, something unusual for that time of year when it was normally foggy and bleak grey. But something seemed to be odd about her observations. Almost as if she was thinking a little bit too deeply about everything she knew up to that point.
526	“Are you alright?” she heard a voice from behind her.
527	Immediately, she snapped out of her daze and turned around to see a Lincoln paddler waving a friendly hello. “My name’s Preston. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. And based on that reaction, I can say that you are.”
528	“Thanks, Preston. I’m just fine, I needed a little bit of time to think,” she answered, not really thinking about the words she said.
529	“O-okay, I see.”
530	Lydia once again steeled her thoughts, preparing to paddle out again. She knew that paddling wasn’t really a hobby at this point in high school, it was a real career (albeit unpaid) and the best lifestyle she had known up to this point. As she set her paddle in the water and pulled to her hip like the coaches of old instructed her, she realised something. This was what she wanted to do all this time. To have an influence on many of the younger and older folk on the team. That was her opportunity to do so. Each stroke she took made her reflect more and more on these thoughts. And above her, the sky grew more clear, the sun making its appearance for a short time.
531	Grateful for a team to support her, for leaders that she could call friends, for the heroines. For the heroes who saved her life. So many thoughts ran around her mind so that she couldn’t really concentrate on the main goal.
532	“Paddle like your hearts mean it!” a loud voice called from the middle of the boat.
533	Of course Riyad would say something like that. He had Daven’s touch running right through him, which was completely unsurprising to Lydia. She liked that, though. For people to share a similar passion as her, right on her own team.
534	“Let’s have a race!” called a voice from the boat to her left. 
535	Had they really been out there that long already? She didn’t have time to think about that, for Kiara’s angry voice shouted, “Paddlers, are you ready?” to the groan of so many people on the water.
536
537Chapter 21: Early Fruition
538Slander vs. Gammer - Superhuman (Spag Heddy Remix) vs. THE DROP
539(Kiara)
540
541	The four girls hadn’t actually gotten the chance to talk in-depth to each other before, so hopefully this was the best time for them to do so, Kiara thought. AP exams came around this time, and frankly, none of the four wanted to do anything to study for them. “Don’t study the day before,” she always heard the seniors on LDB tell her. She knew she would learn in due time when she took that particular calculus teacher the following year, the one where many fun and funny stories would be told. But that wasn’t something for her to worry about at that moment.
542	Kiara and the other three heroines were at the new malatang restaurant that had opened at Stonestown, all enjoying a delicious bowl of spicy soup. None of them exchanged any words whatsoever, focusing only on the delicate balance of flavours from each ingredient that they added into that concoction. Choice meats, fresh vegetables, potent condiments…that’s what made a bowl of malatang really good, considering they’d never had such a dish before.
543	“Spicyspicyspicy! Aaaah!” Lily screamed, doing so as softly as she could without attracting attention to themselves.
544	“Calm down! I thought you were able to handle spiciness…” Crystal groaned, filling up yet another glass with water and handing it to the suffering girl.
545	Lydia and Kiara looked at each other, slightly giggling as they continued through their bowls of soup unscathed. “This place is actually good! Shame it’s so expensive though,” the latter girl moaned as she took another bite of noodles. “Everything’s so premium, so I guess that’s the reason why we spent so much money.”
546	The four girls continued eating, not seeming to notice four very familiar faces approaching their table. All of them wore the very same jerseys that represented some sort of paddling team that none of them knew. At least, Kiara didn’t know who they were, but Lydia gasped, “Wait…are those Northwind jerseys? Don’t tell me…”
547	Jerry turned around before readjusting his red windbreaker. “Yep, we all managed to find ourselves in here. We’re Northwind, indeed. Are you surprised?”
548	Kiara asked, “So, is Northwind the best team now that the four of you are with them?”
549	Daven answered, “You can never say you’re the best team. We all just got here to eat some food. If you want more food, it’s on us.”
550	The four girls graciously thanked him, but declined. All of a sudden, Lily’s face lit up with a question on her mind, it seemed. “Justin. I was informed that you were gonna have a concert soon, so would you tell us when it’ll be?”
551	That person scratched his head, then all of a sudden, he whispered, “It’ll be tonight, actually. All four of us are going to be going back-to-back on that stage tonight at Bill Graham. Since I know you personally, you’ll get in there free of charge.”
552	Crystal protested, “Hey, what about the rest of us?”
553	“Don’t let anyone on CYC know I’m performing if you want to get free admission,” Sam whispered, almost in a threatening, yet playful tone. “I’ll say the same for you, Lydia, Lily. See you tonight, I guess.”
554
555	10:30 PM, and the four girls found themselves together in the Bill Graham floor. Usually, this place was widely used as a venue for Lincoln, Lowell, and Galileo graduations, but when it wasn’t June, said place became a haven for concerts and raves alike. Everyone wanted to have at least one rave here, whether all ages or not. They all found themselves headbanging to the hardest drops that Justin knew, crying to Daven’s beautiful melodies, and just plain dancing to Sam’s glitch hop and Jerry’s drum and bass at the same time. All in all, stuff really proved to be a fun night, at least for what it seemed.
556	“I didn’t think that security wouldn’t ID us, you know?” Kiara screamed while jumping up and down to good old-school techno.
557	“Those guys did say that we were gonna be just let in! I thought we were gonna get VIP treatment tonight, but I mean, they can’t do everything!” Lily shouted back.
558	Neither of the four old heroes spoke a single word aside from their greeting to the audience, although Justin often showed signs of wanting to burst out some encouraging words to them. Kiara only got more into the event as she felt the rhythm and melodies of all sorts of music thrown at her, everything from simple drum beats to complex electric guitar solos performed by Jerry himself. Sometimes, she noticed her companions crying when Sam tinkled a series of notes that invoked pure emotion, but she herself couldn’t cry with them. She didn’t know why that was true.
559	Her ears continually pounded with adrenaline from the message of the four heroes’ music. Lydia pulled her phone out and got the heroines in a selfie, then got one with the DJs at the set right while they were performing. “I’ll remember this for a long, long time, guys,” she screamed through tears. “Love you!”
560	After what seemed like three hours, Sam shouted into the microphone, “Thank you for coming tonight! We all hope you enjoyed it, get home safely!”
561	Slowly, all the ravers left the place, and it left nothing but the four heroes and the four heroines. Both groups stared at each other, the females all activating their armour. “I think something’s off here,” Crystal noted. “We’ve gotta be careful.”
562	Justin looked up to the ceiling and got a glimpse of something really odd. Something almost metallic, and with a shine? That meant that…could it be a part?
563	“Kiara, try to fire something at it,” Jerry calmly instructed.
564	She obeyed, and shot out a red blast of energy from her paddle. But instead of a big clanking of metal and a task, she, along with everyone heard a big bird’s cry.
565	“That’s Brian!” Daven exclaimed, looking up towards the ceiling and catching the sight of the metallic cardinal descending down. “So all of our memories are still alive, then…”
566	Brian let out another cry, before settling down right next to Kiara. Said person spoke, “Jerry, it’s ironic that he chose to lodge here. I don’t think after all the people on my team went to races here that the cardinal would even dare to come to Bill Graham.”
567	Jerry chuckled. “Well, it’s true I wouldn’t come here unless I performed myself. I guess that came true today, didn’t it?”
568
569Chapter 22: Time’s Not to Run Out, But It’s Happening
570Makoto Shinkai & RADWIMPS - Date 2 (Kimi no Na Wa OST) vs. Sky Clearing Up (Weathering With You OST)
571(Crystal)
572
573	It was really coming, wasn’t it? All of those races that Lily had such grand schemes for were really approaching them, and what had she done? Crystal decided she needed a little bit of a break from talking to people, at least for a little bit. 7:20 PM was a fine time for her to write down her thoughts and feelings, or, at the very least, to think about them deeply. Why was she chosen, really? What made her be thrown into the sphere that fateful race day, made to inherit the destiny of such heroes like Sam and Bryant?
574	She slammed her fist on her desk. “I…can’t answer that! Just why?”
575	Hoping to find answers, or some relief, she pulled her phone out. She opened to some random app, trying to watch videos and relieve her stress. TikTok didn’t help in that regard. Same with Snapchat’s trending snaps and her friends’ streaks that she neglected to read for two weeks. Even YouTube videos about cooking and paddling technique did nothing to alleviate any of the feelings she had about being one of the heroines. She couldn’t handle any of it, and so she decided to try and find stress relief in some other way.
576	“Mom! I’m going to take a walk now,” she called as she exited her room, donning a black jacket on the way out of the house.
577	“Crystal? Where are you going? Don’t be out…” Crystal’s mum started, but couldn’t finish that statement. “Maybe she needs this…”
578	Outside, the child took her steps with a degree of uncertainty. That slowly diminished itself, and before long, Crystal took many steps, increasing her pace steadily, but not so much that she was actually running. A colourful sunset sky rained down warm light on her, neatly illuminating all of the houses and roads she passed by. Every plant and lawn seemed so much more beautiful with all the light coming down on it. To her, this seemed like a world of ideal, far different from the time she spent identifying with one singular colour. That was something she genuinely enjoyed.
579	“Shit, I left my phone at home…” she whispered to herself upon feeling her pockets. “Maybe it’s better this way, I can at least not be distracted by random ass crap. Onward, I guess?”
580	She heard a rustle of footsteps behind her, and instinctively swung a fist in that direction really quickly. Upon hearing the “Ow!” in a rather familiar voice, she turned around and immediately looked rather surprised. It wasn’t a person that was making footsteps, but instead, a different thing entirely. The thing in question looked very, very similar to another part that she had encountered before. Which was the name of that part? Aquor, she recalled from her near-death experience in the Lowell classroom with Kiara. That meant…
581	“Are you the left hand of Orpharion, Frahje?” Crystal asked harshly, stepping forward to the left hand.
582	“You are correct in assuming so. Believe it when I say that you have already passed the task that is required to obtain me,” Frahje said in the robotic monotone classic of machines these days. “Would you like me to explain?”
583	Since when did Crystal pass any sort of test? The only thing she could conclude at this point in time was that part was her assigned part, the one that she could interact with and not die at the same time. But after all, she knew that Kiara and Lydia had to pass their own tests, so, she reasoned, it would be right to inquire as to why.
584	“Do.”
585	“The answer is simple. You freed yourself from a simply mentality of doing one thing only. Even though you still technically must do one thing only, the fact that you have recognised when to turn away from something giving you stress and doing something about it helped you. The Star Guardians noticed that when you went to paddle, when you did any sort of work begrudgingly, you always focused intently on it to get it done.”
586	She protested, “But paddling isn’t a burden…!”
587	“You have said it before. Everything you have said is recorded in our memories, available for your own reflection. Come, let us walk together. Is that not what you came out of your room to do?”
588	That wasn’t something she could question. Defeated, she decided to lead Frahje to a small park, one that was enough to accommodate several small groups of people who wished to picnic in the outdoors. By now, it must have been 8:00 PM, but that was irrelevant as though the sky was darkening rather quickly, so many of the colours she admired remained visible in the light. She approached some random area of grass, and then the left hand floated directly in front of her, standing about three metres away.
589	“Is paddling really a burden for you, young lady?” asked the left hand. “Please answer the question truthfully.”
590	“Of course it isn’t! Well…as of late, it has been, solely because of that task. I’m unsure about it all, and it relates to paddling,” Crystal answered, feeling a little bit sad at her answer.
591	“I understand. Heroes and heroines often must endure a terrible fate. Surely you remember the story of the last generation of heroes, where two of them were unfortunate enough to fall in their battle that they won themselves.”
592	“I remember…”
593	“Good. That proves that you have won one battle, looking back at unfortunate events that you were indirectly involved in. We have to know that you are prepared to experience such an event yourself. Do you believe that you are ready?”
594	Hearing those questions, she felt a surge of wind begin to kick up around her. FIrst it was a little gust, and then its speed ramped up exponentially, so much so that she struggled to keep her footing on the grass. Bracing herself, she noticed Frahje remaining still without any sort of need to readjust its position. And as such, she concluded one thing, and one thing only. Rain began to pour down on her, immediately followed by a bolt of lightning that happened to land there as an unlucky coincidence. She screamed in agony, feeling as if her skin was about to literally be ripped off her frame by that wind. She could also feel the sting of lightning again, not unlike what she experienced in that classroom weeks earlier. But that lightning seemed to spark a hidden fire within her, one that caused her to break free of the pain and say one final thing.
595	“I am!”
596	And just like that, everything returned to how it had been. Frahje said nothing, but it simply shrunk down and found its way into her pocket.
597	“What a walk that was…” she muttered to herself as she began to walk back towards her house, eyes now clearly opened up.
598
599Chapter 23: Usual Stuff
600Teqq - Lock in Your Love (ft. Charlotte Haining)
601(Lydia)
602
603	Every day was practice day. During AP exam season, that statement still remained true, almost to the point where every single person went to practice even though they had their biggest test the next day. Still, Lydia didn’t want to require people to come out to practice whenever the heroines had their meetings. She much preferred to make it optional at least during this time, but Lily and Kiara always pushed to gain more out of it. That was always quite characteristic, considering they were from the two teams known to be the elites of the city, and it was the mentality that Lydia wanted to bring to everyone.
604	Speaking of which, wasn’t it time for practice? Lydia sat at the lake, conversing with many of the newer paddling folk on all four teams. None of her other allies were present at all. Perhaps they had to do something else and they were running late? She checked her phone, the time only reading 3:56 PM. “They have four minutes to get here. Not much time left, honestly,” she told to one random person on LDB, one who was impatient for everything to start happening.
605	She heard three other feminine voices shouting, “Let’s go! Let’s go!” from behind her, and immediately she turned around to see her newest friends. They all ran to the centre of the circle that all of the paddlers formed, leading traditional warm-up stretches and the run around the lake. “We don’t usually do lake runs on weekdays, but since we have time and this is the last AP exam day, we’ll probably out here for a good long time,” Crystal shouted back at the two lines struggling to run that lake.
606	Next to Lydia was another of her friends, Elizabeth. “You don’t mean to tell me that we’ll be out here for more than three hours?” she asked Lydia nervously.
607	“I can’t say…I don’t think it would hurt us if we did that. I just remember all the times that Daven had us practicing for four hours before Sam and Jerry thought it was cool,” Lydia joked, eliciting a forced laugh from her friend.
608	Apparently, someone had heard Lydia’s comment from way in the front of the lines. “I mean, that was a pretty fun time, if I was to be honest. Even though everyone literally died during those practices where we went for eight hours, even…” a male voice screamed in her direction.
609	“Nathan, shut up! Don’t give them ideas!” another, more female voice, shouted directly back.
610	All Lydia could do was laugh at that exchange, but she couldn’t do so for long. Before anyone knew it, they found themselves all in random boats, doing their usual paddle out to the bridge, around the lake, and around the lake yet again. Yet somehow, the beauty of the simple paddle, the daily routine, all made sense. But not once could she ever look outside the boat, save for breaktime, when almost…everyone did so. So many colours came rushing through her brain every time she made her way to the lake.
611	“We ought to practice what we’re gonna do at our three races,” she spoke up suddenly, finding a sudden burst of courage.
612	“We never discussed the start? Middle? Transition? Finish?” asked one of the CYC captains, Will. “Why not just practice what each of our teams do and decide from there?”
613	A stream of agreement flowed throughout all of the boats, with the paddlers all nodding their heads and engaging in little side-chatter. Lydia thought about it a moment, then answered, “I suppose that’ll work. Can someone tell me what Lowell’s start is? I suppose we could try that one…”
614
615	7:30 PM. Three hours and thirty minutes of practice was apparently not enough to break the paddlers’ morale in the slightest. Sort of odd, for Lydia at least. After the official captains of all four teams had sent everyone home, they decided that it was time for a chat with the heroines. Fun stuff, right?
616
617Chapter 24: Newer Responsibilities All Around
618Knife Party - D.I.M.H
619(Lily)
620
621	“Come on. Let’s go to eat, is there anything in particular that you all want?” asked Allison, offering the heroines her phone.
622	Lily inspected the still image on the screen, noticing a bunch of different restaurants with different sorts of reviews and pictures of delicious-looking food. “Why not just go over to Justin’s place? It’s big enough for all of us, I think,” she suggested while handing Allison’s phone back to her.
623	“I would suggest against it, though. He let us into his house once for that concert, I’m not sure if he’d let us in again,” Lydia tried to reason. “I guess it’s worth a shot if we don’t want to spend money at this very moment.”
624	Allison thought for a couple of moments, and then she turned over to her fellow captains on the other teams. “Nathan? Ryan? Any ideas?” she questioned.
625	A captain of CYC, Nathan, mentioned the idea of raiding yet another of the old leaders’ houses. “Sam’s probably going to let us in there, especially if it’s all talking about what we have to take care of. But should he be there? That’s the question.”
626	Crystal piped in, “I can ask him if he’s home and if he’s willing to do so. Just hang tight for a little bit.”
627	That person separated from the big group momentarily, and Lily realised that she was simply cold. Practice might have been warming during its time, but when she wasn’t doing anything, chills definitely set in to her. Yet, she still thought about the thing she wanted to have that night. Preferably, it would be something nice and warm to contrast the chilly weather kicking in. Pretty soon, Crystal put her phone down, saying, “We can go there! Sam’s house isn’t too far from the lake, just one bus ride away…”
628	The group cheered lightly, before packing up their stuff and moving into several cars. Lily herself hopped into one of these that wasn’t her own, personally quite excited to see what was in store, both in cooking and in what was to be told. Well, maybe some things she wouldn’t want to hear from her captains, but did she really want to think about those things specifically? Perhaps not, but regardless, she nestled in neatly with Allison at her right side. “Could you possibly tell me now what you’re gonna tell me later?”
629	“No, I’m sorry. All four of you need to hear it together,” she responded, shaking her head slowly.
630	Onwards they moved, outside of the parking lot, onto Great Highway and Skyline. Outside, there was just plain fog not unlike what San Francisco normally saw these days. An infinite grey stretched forever, it seemed, and Lily liked that. In her mind came the very many practices that took place in the fog, often with brutal winds as a special guest. Fortunately, she wasn’t just thrown in the water whenever it happened, because no one had ever capsized a boat due to wind alone.
631	“We’re here, aren’t we?” she blurted out upon hearing the car engine’s hum stop.
632	The car door opened, and she immediately exited the doors, tired and wanting some sort of nourishment to keep her drive. She spotted Kiara, Crystal, and Lydia all coming out of separate cars, and walked over to them, striking up a conversation about their futures as paddlers after all of this death-robot crap ended. Some of them shared that they’d stay for another year, their last year with their best friends. Others thought that they might leave, for the stress had gotten to them completely and they wished to end their careers. In any case, soon, the door to Sam’s house opened up, and the whole group stepped inside.
633	“Oh, hi!” came Sam’s voice. “I didn’t think there’d be a huge influx of guests. Make yourselves at home, and remember to remove your shoes,” he cheerfully whistled as he hurried to some unknown place.
634	This residence was rather small, but yet it still felt very inviting to Lily. She and her three other companions all looked around at Sam’s various family pictures depicting him as a younger boy, evoking a strong nostalgia for times past. They ascended the flight of stairs to see a rather open living room, which had a smart TV in  one corner, a mahogany upright piano with sheet of music strewn all over the place, and the table, where a girl was already sitting down. She looked quite similar to Sam, but definitely was more on the shy side.
635	“Is that your sister?” inquired Lydia simply.
636	“Yeah. Her name is Claire,” was Sam’s reply. “Claire, meet the heroines. Lydia, Crystal, Lily, Kiara. They are all the same age as you are.”
637	Sam strode into the kitchen once again, with the captains of the four teams taking this opportunity to step into the kitchen. Lily took a glance in that direction also, seeing the currently unused wok ring with a jet engine as the fuel and the more traditional Western stove, currently with a bubbling orange pot of something delicious. The “superiors” were in a conversation that probably shouldn’t be interrupted, she figured. So she asked, “Why didn’t you join dragon boat when Sam was younger?” to Claire.
638	The sister made a weird face, before shaking her head and looking down to the floor. “That’s too hard for you to comprehend.”
639	“Damn, I never knew that it’d offend you…”
640	“Just shut up about it, alright? I don’t want to talk about it!” Claire yelled. “Just…it’s really draining to tell because it’s so complicated…”
641	Kiara shot up in her seat, quite literally. “Is she alright?” she asked out of pure concern. “Are you okay?”
642	“I…guess so. That wasn’t the best question to ask me, wasn’t it?” Claire replied back snidely, not even looking up from the floor.
643	“Food’s ready, everyone! Come up here and help yourselves. I’ve got chicken curry in the orange pot, rice in the rice cooker,” Sam’s voice called out from the kitchen. “I’ll get silverware and napkins on the table shortly.”
644	Claire stepped out of her seat and called, “Brother, let me. Pardon.”
645	She opened one of the drawers, pulling out the entire container of spoons and forks for everyone to use. Plastic, obviously. And there were paper plates, all of them ready for distribution. Lily and her friends all piled food on their plates and sat down at the table, their captains all following suit. They began to dig in, quite literally, and immediately, her face teared up due to all that love that came into preparing that delicious curry. Every flavour just seemed to resound something in her mouth, a taste of emotion.
646	“What did you make this with? It’s fucking delicious, mate,” one of the CYC captains, Nathan, mentioned.
647	“I was gonna ask that question!” Lydia protested, quickly taking in another bite of tender chicken.
648	“Hush. Family secrets can’t be revealed. Am I right, Claire?” Sam answered the both of them while turning over to Claire herself.
649	“I think it’s time to let them do their business, Brother,” Claire mentioned, eating all of her portion really quickly. “I’ll leave them now. Let me know when they’re gone.”
650	“That’s a good idea. I’ll leave you be,” Sam said, taking his own plate and leaving with his sister to some other room.
651	And they were all alone. Just the four heroines and their captains. Lily braced herself mentally for all of the questions that they were going to ask her, and she could sense that same feeling in Crystal, Kiara, and Lydia as well. Why were they to be talked to individually? She couldn’t answer that question immediately, but then…
652	“I bet you’re wondering why we wanted all of you here, right? It’s really simple,” LDB captain Audrey pointed out. “We’ve been thinking that you’ve been doing a little bit too much work.”
653	“That’s why we propose this. We, the captains, will take over leading practices, both land and water. You four…will plan all the logistics and stuff for the three races. In addition, you’ll help out to lead other sorts of trainings that aren’t necessarily dragon boat-related. Does that sound good?” Nathan asked.
654	Lily immediately wanted to answer a good loud “No!” due to some of those terms, but some things held her to keep her mouth shut. “I think that’s something that we’ve thought about, honestly,” Crystal answered. “I personally don’t want to lead land, and in terms of water, I just want to get our boats blending together once more BEFORE we work on in-depth training.”
655	“Have you considered the timing though? If you really intend to race three races this summer, you only really have less than a month to train!” burst out Allison.
656	Lydia noted, “Earlier at practice, someone mentioned more and longer practices. I guess we could go that route, as much as I don’t wish to impose that on the other paddlers.”
657	Such arguments continued throughout the night, with neither side successfully convincing the other of a good deal. It certainly was a part of responsibility that Lily didn’t know she’d have to deal with, but she knew she was ready to do so. “Just give us ideas for leading water. You captains lead land. What about that?”
658
659Chapter XX: Drop
660?
661(n/a)
662
663	Shall we go?
664	Yes, I think it’s time that we did.
665	Don’t we have to make sure that they’re ready first?
666	The rustling of several chairs, then the sound of a briefcase slamming down on a desk before being opened without much thought.
667	They’re done with this thing.
668	Yes…the dark core, Demonius. Do you want to set it in motion?
669	No! Don’t be impatient. We can send the team to obtain the parts. The Dark Parts. Despharion must be made of complete darkness.
670	In that case…then we will go that route instead!
671	Laughing ensuing, growing exponentially more hysterical.
672
673Chapter 25: Yearly Classics Everyone Knew
674Axwell Λ Ingrosso - Dreamer vs. Dreamer (Matisse & Sadko Remix)
675(Lydia)
676
677	June rolled around, and it was just plain and simple. Most of the captains were to graduate this month, bringing about the usual air of pride and happiness for them. The paddlers all knew that their memories would forever be remembered long after the captains all graduated, both from school and officially from the team. Lydia knew that firsthand, after having to go through three generations of seniors leaving the team. Starting last year, she always went to her school’s graduation to send these people off, even though that particular one had various…other events happening within it.
678	“Do you have your ticket?” asked one of the security guards at the gate, which woke Lydia from her daydreaming.
679	“Uh…” she fumbled around. “Oh, yeah! Here it is!”
680	She pulled out a slip of paper from her cinch bag with some sort of indecipherable text on it. “Alright, you may proceed upstairs. The bottom level is reserved for the graduates only. Enjoy,” the guard said, turning back.
681	Lydia smiled, heading into the Bill Graham auditorium that she knew and loved since the one day she had went to that concert with the other three heroines. This was the place that she had discovered there was…another way that people knew to graduate. She recalled that one time when Daven burst on stage during his own graduation, warning everyone that there was imminent danger right outside the doors. Those were not fun times for her.
682	She pulled out her phone, noticing a message from Crystal. It read, “We’ll separate ourselves just in case anything happens outside. I’m gonna be near the back end. Hopefully nothing goes wrong, yeah?”
683	“Alright, Crystal. Kiara, Lily, watch out as well. When are you going to get here?” Lydia typed into the search bar while speaking mentally to herself.
684	She sat down in a random seat in the balcony, seeing three schools’ banners all placed in a sequential order on stage. Lincoln, Galileo, Lowell, she noted. Perhaps that might have influence on everyone in there, considering that the paddlers on all three of those schools’ teams would be present in that auditorium, plus the CYC ones scattered around the schools would be there too. Good, good, she felt. In no time at all, orchestral music drifted to her ears from the floor, and she noticed a swarm. A swarm of scarlet and violet rapidly filed their way to their seats in an orderly manner, and all sat down at the same time.
685	“I thought I heard a rumble somewhere,” Eric’s voice mentioned.
686	Lydia turned around, seeing not only Eric, but also his two other friends, Jadan and Tyler. “Bet you didn’t expect to see the two of us here?” Jadan remarked, high-fiving the girl. “We’ve gotta see this graduation happening also.”
687	A voice from the front of the group of four harshly requested, “Can you quiet down, please? We’re trying to see this.”
688	“Oops, pardon us,” Lydia apologised. And to her friends, she whispered, “Let’s just watch, you can whisper if there’s something off.”
689	They all nodded in approval, and then they sat down to enjoy the show of speeches and names being called up to receive diploma covers and take pictures with a rather sketchy group of people. They clapped in applause when they heard the names of their paddlers, their approach to the top of the stage. For Lydia, she revelled in the moment where she could simply just watch them all cross the stage, for she knew that there would be a time when she would have to make that very same symbolic walk.
690	“Hold on. Something’s off…” Lily’s message popped up on Lydia’s phone.
691	Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, she thought angrily. Why would something pop up so suddenly? First, it was the captains keeping everyone in the auditorium when a different menace came descending outside. Why was she the one to have to do something like that when she didn’t like that feeling? It took her a while to make a decision as for what to do, but she steeled herself and made a determined look.
692	“Go time. Leave quietly, all of you…” came Kiara’s message.
693	And so, from the view of a cheering crowd of graduating students and paddlers among them, four bodies left the audience to encounter something more sinister waiting outside for them. Lydia felt sorry that there wouldn’t be any graduation pictures under picturesque night skies for the second year in a row now, but there was naught she could do. As she was turning out of her seat to exit, she felt something grab onto her shoulder.
694	“Be safe,” Eric whispered quickly.
695	“Promise.”
696
697Chapter 26: Menace, They Say
698Kayzo & 1788-L - ARK
699(Kiara)
700
701	Kiara scurried down the hallways of Bill Graham, hoping to run into her other three companions. With a pause and a simple twirl on her feet, she activated her armour, the red glow accentuating the natural black of the armour perfectly well. Once she made a left turn near the entrance, she noticed them, all ready to battle something given their looks and their armoured-up appearance already.
702	“What is outside in the first place?” Lily wondered, turning to the door.
703	“Only one way to find out, you see. How are we gonna keep everyone inside safe?” questioned Lydia.
704	Crystal looked like she immediately came up with another genius idea. “We can draw a pattern of fire, I think. Let’s try that and we can see how it works.”
705	The four heroines burst open the doors, running out into the lawn nearby and attempting to inspect their surroundings. Kiara raised her paddle to the sky, calling forth a pattern of red fire and setting the blade to the ground to draw a line of red fire in a square surrounding the auditorium and lawn. “Do it also!” she commanded, standing with her back to Lydia’s own and maintaining an attacking stance.
706	The remaining three also drew their own squares in the same manner, each coloured blue, yellow, and violet. As soon as the fourth square became complete, a really loud rumble came from the ground beneath all of them, causing them to separate from each other. “Find cover! Find cover! Crystal, watch out to your right!” Lily shouted, leaping over a recently-created hole in the ground.
707	Quickly, Crystal reacted to Lily’s command as a giant tail came reaching out of the ground, followed by an even bigger mass with a lavender colour throughout. It must have taken many minutes for the entire…thing to emerge fully from the ground, but Lydia’s face showed visible signs of shock. Almost as if something had returned back to claim some sort of vengeance once more…
708	In the far distance, another rumbling came from all directions as several large masses of small things came marching up in rhythm to the flaming barrier, all passing through unscathed. Lily’s face grew surprised instantly from that this time, her mouth seeming to move on its own accord and, perhaps, trying to say something. Kiara couldn’t tell, she was only busy looking upward at the thing in the sky and the other things on the floor. She had an idea as to who they were, but what she could see was something very off about them.
709	“The dragon and the army,” Crystal announced to the whole group. “Something’s off with them, but I don’t know what. I think this is Lily’s and Lydia’s thing to handle…”
710	“I’ll call the cardinal. Crystal, you ought to summon that thundercloud,” Kiara suggested, raising her hand up towards the dragon and nervously watching the other two’s actions.
711	Lily raised her paddle into the air, shooting out a large golden laser towards the sky. That mass of soldiers that had known simply gazed upon her majesty, kneeling in allegiance to what they all considered their new master, the one that they’d all give their lives to. A loud “RAAAAH!” echoed throughout that crowd, making her feel more powerful, and she smiled at Lydia, who seemed to be going through a different story.
712	That person carefully approached the dragon, completely awed by its beauty. It stood tall above her, regally and majestically coloured in lavender. Patterns of constellations and galaxies traced all over its body, and the head remained above all, its nostrils fuming out grey smoke that could kill anything it wished. Lydia extended her hand to it, but Kiara could tell that the dragon didn’t seem to recognise the new dragon caller, which wasn’t expected at all.
713	“Is something wrong? Lydia?” she called out while jumping on Brian the cardinal, who had just descended down to the girls’ area.
714	She didn’t need to have that question answered, for the dragon lunged down into the ground again, circling around the four girls while remaining inside the flaming barrier. After only twenty-four seconds, it reemerged from the ground, carrying a screaming Lydia atop it while it rose metres upon metres into the air. “Is this supposed to happen–aah!” her voice came from the heavens, Kiara somehow hearing that perfectly clear.
715	From the sky, there came another scream, followed by several flashes of violet light that signalled her being alive and, well, well. “I need you all up here! Something’s wrong with the dragon!” Lydia screamed again.
716	“We’re on our way!” Crystal and Kiara called out, rising on the thundercloud and on Brian. “Lily, do you have a way up here?”
717	“I can do ground assistance! I can see what’s going on up there, so don’t worry about me hitting you with any blasts!” Lily responded, shooting a beam into the sky in an attempt to calm the dragon down.
718	A few minutes later, Kiara found herself surveying the thrashing dragon in an attempt to find something that was wrong with the thing, not initially finding anything. She and Crystal both timed their blasts of red and blue energy to distract that dragon, succeeding somewhat when they noticed it let go of Lydia.
719	“Jump onto Brian! Quickly!” Kiara called, waving her hand in the direction she and her mount were currently in.
720	Lydia complied immediately, landing shakily on that metallic body. “Shit…something’s so weird. Daven’s memories wouldn’t help to calm it, but I have an idea. Everyone, fire your beams together into one!” she commanded, raising her paddle.
721	“Lily! You heard that from down there?” Crystal screamed at the top of her voice. “One, two, three, shoot now!”
722	Each beam came sequentially at the dragon, with first violet light encasing it. Following that came red, then blue, then yellow from an even longer distance. The dragon writhed around, seeming to struggle against the being that apparently controlled its movements. Kiara had to be careful, dodging the flipping of its tail and ducking under plumes of smoke and debris. But there was indeed a light at the end, for all of the four coloured beams of energy merged into one singular white, expunging darkness from the dragon as they all fell down to the ground slowly, helplessly.
723
724Chapter 27: Last-Minute and Unexpected
725marasy - 夢、時々… (Mes Cover)*
726(Lily)
727
728	With Vancouver coming up soon, Lily decided that the best thing to do was to think about things a little bit more. School was long over, but that still wasn’t an excuse to keep her mind open about various things. Once again, she sat in her room, silently pondering her reasons as to why she took on her role as a hero. The door was long closed, but the interesting thing was that her laptop was as well. She didn’t have any music playing through her phone, as she only wanted to know some things. Different perspectives from a foe she didn’t know in any way whatsoever aside from a name. Despharion.
729	Unfortunately, she received a call from some unknown number, and really didn’t want to check as to who it was. Curiosity got the better of her, however, and she mindlessly accepted the call, greeting, “Hello?”
730	Lydia’s happy voice came from the other end. “Lily, you aren’t gonna believe what happened when we fought my dragon. I’m now the dragon caller!”
731	Lily grinned, setting her phone down to lightly clap for a few seconds. “So what actually happened after we all fell from the sky? I don’t remember anything that happened after that aside from just falling.”
732	“You, Crystal, and Kiara were all out cold. But I managed to spot the dragon change its colour from lavender to its characteristic black. The celestial dragon is back for us, and with that, we have all four items collected again.”
733	“But why was the dragon being so weird? Surely there’s an answer for that.”
734	“No…but I noticed when the white light was covering it, some dark particles were all expelled from the dragon’s body. Weird, considering that when darkness flows out, it’s supposed to grow brighter, but I suppose that’s another oddity…”
735	“Ehh? Dark particles coming out from the dragon? That’s not good at all. It might mean that the worst has come, and we have to go. Earlier.”
736	“Say that again? You mean to say that we’ve gotta leave tomorrow?”
737	“I’m afraid that it’s come to that. Something’s telling me that getting the hell out of here is the best course of action for our four teams. I want you to tell the others to meet up at SFO by 3:00 AM tomorrow. Tell the teams too. I’ve gotta take care of something now, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
738	Lily hung up the phone, breathing heavily. “I didn’t want to do that…” she dreamed aloud, knowing what had happened at Vancouver last year.
739	Justin driving himself to keep the whole team safe, Daven assisting him in his efforts, Sam and Jerry taking themselves to make sure everyone remained alive. All of that brought in trauma again, nothing that was unfamiliar to her ever since she took on that role of heroine. No amount of stress relief would help her now, she thought.
740	“Why must you four be so close, yet so far?” she cried slightly, tears beginning to well up in her face. “What would you have done?”
741	Pretty soon afterward, she began sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow, not normally something she did outside of really heated A division finals that she herself took part in. Just pure emotion completely took over her actions. She made a bunch of muffled sniffles into that pillow, wishing for help from anyone, anything. As if her phone could read her emotions, it immediately began to play genuinely sad songs, but she couldn’t handle it, and she almost literally slammed her phone against the wall had it not been for a modicum of self-restraint. “Won’t you tell me? Guide us through this trouble?”
742	The clock on her desk read 10:30 PM. Lily noticed this, and she immediately turned off the lights and crashed in her bed. It’d be a hell of a trip tomorrow, so she felt like she would be better if she just slept and prayed to someone, some god that she knew would hold her hand and lead the way to a better world.
743	But little did she know that another part would soon make its way into her life, the final part required to complete the puzzle.
744
745*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgAa6cR_vj8 is the best way to access this song. Sorry for formatting the song in this way, you won’t find the song if you search for it on YouTube normally unless you know Japanese. In the future, I’ll format songs that are similar genre/have weird artist/song titles in this way by providing a YouTube link. Translated, the song means “Dream, sometimes…” and reads “yume, tokidoki…” when written in romaji.
746
747Chapter 28: Airplanes. Just Airplanes.
748Xtrullor vs. SIDEPROJECT & EH!DE - Dropping Fish vs. Shots Fired (Mafia Pineapple Remix)
749(Crystal)
750
751	“I can only think that we’re going slightly more crazy as time is passing by,” Crystal yawned, having that being the first thing that she thought about as she rose out of bed.
752	She only got one hour of sleep last night. The news that the four teams were to be at the airport at 3 in the morning came at a shock to her, as she was playing League of Legends with some of her friends, Collin and Darren. Her other dragon boat friends on CYC were a little bit busier, instead prioritising training over gaming. Yet when they all received Lily’s new request, they got scared. Crystal herself became really nervous, as normally, the whole team would leave at least a couple of days later. Of course, like C code, that made a whole lot more problems that she really wasn’t in the mood to fix at the moment. It didn’t matter whatsoever as she took her paddle and her travel bag and moved out to the car that was waiting outside.
753	“Well, you’re late,” Lily griped. “I thought you would be on time of all people.”
754	The car sped off towards SFO, while inside, the car simply remained silent. No music came through the speakers, no conversations inside. Both the girls simply were in deep thought about their plan to move on to the race site a few days early. Crystal herself couldn’t tell how they were gonna all do it, but she hoped for some sort of miracle to occur. She counted thirty minutes during the trip, which was the very same amount of time it took for the both of them to arrive in the airport parking garage.
755	“Lily, you said I was late, but look at the time. It’s 2:50, not really my definition of ‘late.’ Everyone else is probably late, if I was to be honest…” Crystal noted.
756	She then separated from Lily, meeting up with her group of nervous friends. It had indeed been a long while since they had really any meaningful conversations, so Crystal wanted to savour the moments that they had before the race came and they couldn’t bond anymore. At least she hoped it wouldn’t be that way forever.
757	“Crystal, hi!” said Sara, wrapping her arms around Crystal. “I know we haven’t been talking much, but we’ve got some things to say to you…”
758	Sara pointed to the airport door, where, as usual, the rest of CYC literally stormed the place. Nathan and Clinton led the crowd, both of them carrying an envelope with some illegible handwriting scrawled over one side. The two of them beckoned over to Crystal, who immediately bolted over there to find out the contents of the envelope. But before she could grab that envelope, she called, “Let’s go through security first. Remember last year? Hopefully that happens, without all that transformation shit.”
759	They all complied, and so CYC met up with the other three teams. Crystal took the envelope and stashed it in her jacket pocket, not wanting to open it until she sat down in the plane. Following that, she made her way over to her fellow friends and heroines, all leading the group to the place that she remembered for one reason only.
760	“Is something off?” Lydia asked Crystal again, sensing something weird about her behaviour. “You don’t seem really enthusiastic about the trip and its fun factor.”
761	Crystal sighed, then turned her face forwards again. “Normally, if there wasn’t this much pressure to save the world, it would be really fun. If it was just to race, I would still have fun. That’s why…I’m scared.”
762	Lily turned to wrap an arm around Crystal. “To be honest…I cried a lot too last night. The thought of all this pressure really put me in a weird moment. I broke down, and I promise I’ll be here to comfort you if you do.”
763	“Thanks…” Crystal murmured quietly. “Security is right up ahead. Does one of you have a way for us all to bypass it?”
764	She surveyed the area, just a mess of mazes with security guards and machines and metal guiding barriers every which where. “I think we’re gonna have to just charge through it. Any objections?”
765	Kiara glared. “No! They probably learned from last year that they’ve gotta let a group of two hundred of us through.”
766	Lily again shook her head. “They were possessed last time, you realise? But don’t worry. I’ll possess them for our purposes…”
767	And with that, she breathed in deeply, channeling some sort of energy from the ground. Yellow influxes of mana came to surround her, and she began to move her mouth in an odd way that Crystal couldn’t describe. It did have an immediate effect, however. She noticed that the security guards’ pupils shifted to a negative colour, and upon them arriving at the big group of paddlers, the guards simply just melted away temporarily.
768	“Now’s our chance, guys! The plane leaves in forty minutes,” Lily burst out. “The magic won’t last long at all!”
769	The paddlers all heeded her words, performing light parkour across the maze of metal detectors and X-ray machines. Crystal felt it was a weird sight, just seeing some people effortlessly scale the fences and everything else going on, all while nothing came at them. As a result, pretty soon, the entire team made their way across security, and into the plane immediately after. So at that point, she jumped into a random seat, her companions following suit. As she opened up the envelope, the heroines all gazed intently upon what the thing read, as it, too, simply had black ink scrawled into what apparently the writer called handwriting. Weirdly enough, the scribbles all seemed to flow intently into words.
770	“Crystal. We are your friends, all here for you. Sometimes, we’ve noticed that you shut yourself away from us. We just want you to know that we’re gonna be here in your times of trouble. Hope everything goes safely. CYC.”
771	As soon as she finished the main body, tears started to well up in her eyes as well. She didn’t seem to notice that there was a set of more flowy handwriting at the very bottom of the page. Kiara wiped Crystal’s tears as the plane prepared to take off, motioning her to look at the part where she hadn’t read just yet. This she decided to do aloud.
772	“Be careful. S.”
773	Crystal smiled as the sky around her shifted from black, to grey, to blue, all within the span of a few minutes. She knew that everyone would be there for her, that she needed to save the world to return the favour. Her eyes fluttered shut, putting her in a much-needed resting state for the two-hour journey ahead of them all to a new place.
774
775Chapter 29: Pre-Race “Fun” Stuff and Fun
776Dabin - Alive (ft. RUNN) (Trivecta Remix)
777(Crystal)
778
779	“Wow! Is this…?”
780	7:00 AM, and those were the first words that came out of Crystal’s mouth as she stepped out of the airport with all of her team. Beautiful city skylines, vibrantly coloured buildings and vehicles, and different cultures all presented themselves, yet somehow, Vancouver felt just the same as San Francisco did. Lydia rambled about it while they were all on the plane, but Crystal wasn’t really paying attention to her as she intended to catch up on the sleep she missed earlier. As the whole team of two hundred stood on the sidewalk attempting to get into the Skytrain station, the heroines realised that that sort of transport was simply impractical.
781	“Why don’t we try that thing the heroes did last year?” Kiara motioned, reaching into the realm of nowhere to find an expansion of space. “Except we can make it better, hehe…”
782	Crystal grinned, silently commanding the other two to do as Kiara did. They did so, attempting to find a way to get their hands all together in that dimension. After a little bit of fumbling around, their hands all connected, and then they rose out back into Earth with a small capsule. Lily pressed a little thing on the spherical object, and it opened up into a large portal, swirling with nebular patterns. “Everyone, get your stuff inside here,” she instructed, with the paddlers all chucking all their stuff in there.
783	“Now, since that’s taken care of,” Lydia started, “do you want us to all separate and meet back at the hotel in the evening?”
784	“Let’s do that.” Crystal turned to the large team, asking, “Can I have your attention, please? The plan for today is really simple, we’re just gonna go explore the city. Make sure to stay safe and with at least another person. We’re gonna meet back at the hotel at 6 PM for dinner together. Sound alright?”
785	The paddlers all immediately scattered in all sorts of directions, leaving the four heroines alone. They walked across the street to Skytrain, tagging the card reader with prior tickets and simply boarded the first train to arrive, not really caring about their destination. Crystal marvelled at the development of technology, as here, she noticed that the trains were not only driverless, but also on time. She remarked that it was a far cry to Muni and BART back home to her buddies, who simply laughed along.
786	Some time later, they disembarked from that train, and walked over to an unassuming sushi restaurant. Kiara asked, “Are you sure you want sushi? I know it’s good and all here, but…”
787	“Honestly, dim sum would work better for just the four of us. I recall that last year was a nightmare,” Lydia joked. “I can’t imagine how Daven and all of them managed to deal with our antics.”
788	“Lydia, there isn’t any dim sum restaurant nearby,” Crystal lamented. “We might as well go here, it’s way more convenient.”
789	And so the four of them did so exactly. They took bar seats, which overlooked the Pacific Ocean with a grand morning view. It might only have been 9:00 AM, but the colourful waters sparkled vibrant yellows and oranges off the reflection of the sunlight. The chef seemed to know what the heroines wanted without even speaking to them, and moments later, they were presented with a big platter of sashimi. So many kinds of fish and shellfish…delicately sliced thin…Crystal took up her chopsticks from their holder, her friends doing the very same.
790	“It’s all looking so good…” Lily muttered, trying to hold herself back from just lunging at the entire plate and inhaling everything.
791	“Let’s eat!” the four of them cheered, raising their chopsticks in the air and quickly cleaning off the plate in less than a few minutes.
792	But to Crystal, that time felt almost like an eternity. So many flavours exploded in her mouth, and she really wanted to have some more of it. None of the items needed any sort of soy sauce or wasabi, all they required was a piece of pickled ginger to cleanse the palate. Every colour that she observed, she took in, for she knew that might very well be the last piece of food that she ate. It took a long time for her to be awoken from her daze yet again, but it took something surprisingly simple.
793	“Do you want more food?” asked the waiter to the four girls.
794	Kiara shook awake. “Ummm…we would! Right?” she questioned cheerfully.
795	So they all ordered another plate of food, making sure that sashimi came and only that. They all knew the classic buffet trick of not ordering rice or any starch, fortunately, so that was what the most mileage came from. “These shrimp are soooo good!” Lydia exclaimed, reaching for another piece.
796	“I don’t know, I personally prefer the hamachi better,” Crystal replied back, searching for that exact piece. “Speaking of that, how much money have we spend so far?”
797	Lily gasped, then she pulled out her phone. She opened up a currency converter on that phone, and then gasped even louder. “$100 CAD? That’s not possible!”
798	“Lily, if you think about it, sushi is usually this expensive…” Kiara whispered while pulling out that exact amount of money from her pocket. “I managed to get us stacked for this trip in particular.”
799	Quickly, she paid, and then the four girls literally ran out of the restaurant into the street, taking in all the sights of downtown Vancouver before doomsday was to arrive right then and there.
800
801Chapter 30: A Year Later…
802Crystal Skies - Finally Home (ft. Satellite Empire)
803(Lydia)
804
805	As soon as the heroines arrived back at the hotel, they all jumped into the same room on the fourteenth floor of the building. Lydia thought that Lily had really pulled off all the stops to make this leg of the journey memorable, and she could tell due to the exorbitant amounts of money that they wouldn’t normally be spending had that not been the case. Luxury hotels, a private bus all to themselves for race transport, free food within a half-kilometre radius…
806	“Plush bed?” Kiara noted, throwing herself onto the thing. “That’s so cool! Guys, get on this!”
807	They all did so, each of them grabbing a random pillow nearby. Sounds of laughter came from the room as the smacking of pillows on pillows increased in volume and intensity. Lydia herself managed to land good hits on her comrades, only realising that she left herself wide open to an assault from them. Even so, many memories came to her mind, those especially being when she was a young, innocent child.
808	“Gotcha!”
809	More laughing ensued as the heroines swatted at each other with their pillows, just having all of the fun they wanted to have before they couldn’t anymore.
810
811	“Is everyone clear of what’s to happen if we’re gone?” Lydia asked the entire team later that night.
812	Everyone was all in the hotel lobby, sitting attentively and paying straight attention to the four heroines. They had gone over the various race plans to be held at the race site for all three days, because none of them knew it at all. The leaders didn’t have a concrete plan either, save for one outcome that they anticipated.
813	“What’s gonna happen if Despharion comes out?” asked Lillian, another of the paddlers on LDB. “Are you going to take care of them?”
814	Lydia looked over to the other three friends with a look of concern. She seemed to want to tell them that they weren’t ready to cross that bridge, but that wasn’t a true statement. Partially, at least. The leaders had to take care of a couple of things before it got to that point anyways. “Well, if that comes up, we just want you safe. We’ll hold the robot off so that you can get away from the place.”
815	“And we can just look the hotel up?” Wendy asked from farther back in the group.
816	Lydia again responded, “The bus will be waiting where we get dropped off. You’ll see immediately where that place is tomorrow on arrival. Sound good?”
817	The team nodded in unison, and then dispersed without further commotion, once again leaving the leaders completely alone, just like how they were this morning. None of them wanted to talk much at all, so they just decided to ride up to their rooms and call it a night. They knew what waited for them, and Lydia had her own ideas as for how to attack everything. She didn’t know, however, that there’d be a big surprise waiting for them upon setting foot once again at False Creek.
818
819	“Are you serious? It’s been two days and no sign at all of an attack? NOTHING?” Lily screamed at the dome of the notable science museum dome. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. We planned all this way, and our paddlers are just treating this like another outing?”
820	Kiara ran up to the angry girl, holding a big bottle of water for her. “Think about it! We’re actually poised to take Laoyam and Hambert this time around, after we’ve failed for the past years we’ve been here. They’re about to start, too!”
821	Lydia looked at the very same familiar surroundings that she knew for a long time. The fog, beautiful buildings under construction, all the various other boats flanking the sides of the dragon boat races under progress. All of that she recalled fondly ever since she joined GCD and went to Vancouver herself to race. That notion of fun, however, was thrown away last year, with the very same spot being the site of an epic final battle between the four heroes of the past—Sam, Jerry, Daven, and Justin—and evil other entities that she would rather not recall from her memory. She remembered all of the progress that everyone made since that time, especially with the thoughts that two of those four were presumably dead.
822	“GOGOGO!” she screamed at the water, noticing the paddlers she helped raise somewhat sweep effortlessly through the competition.
823	“Yeah! LET’S GOOOO!” Crystal joined in, waving a banner carrying the four teams’ logos in a square pattern on it, with Kiara helping to hold the other end.
824	By now, there was perhaps only one hundred metres left in the race piece. Lily nudged Lydia in the elbow and pointed to the boat in the very front, looking quite literally like a machine trudging through the water. This boat was clearly way ahead of its competition by at least a boat and a half, but something odd struck her. Machinery…the science building? She sensed some presence coming right at her from the dome of the museum right as their boat crossed the finish line, only amplifying with each second passing by. Suddenly, she started to move her feet slowly towards the dome, gaining the notice of the other three.
825	“Are you…” Kiara started, but she failed to gain Lydia’s attention.
826	“I feel like something’s there…we’re gonna investigate…” Lydia droned, almost weirdly unlike herself.
827	“Then we’ll go. Together, and we’ll see,” Crystal encouraged, her and Lily joining Lydia in her walk over to the different site.
828
829Chapter 31: Enter the Colosseum
830Kill The Noise - Kill The Noise (Part 1)
831(Kiara)
832
833	The red of the science museum looked down upon the four heroines, an uninviting aura surrounding it. Somehow, they still felt like they were being sucked into something that they never signed up for. Kiara knew that entirely, and honestly wished for the safety of everyone else who was involved in this conflict. A golden light came in her direction, blinding her temporarily as she felt something just…exit.
834	“My part! Aquor!” she exclaimed, fumbling around for the miniature version she kept in her pocket right then.
835	“Frahje! Dukdey!” Lydia and Crystal exclaimed at the same time, following what Kiara did and wasting time trying to find the part they owned.
836	“I don’t have a part…that must mean something, right?” Lily questioned, not really having to wait long at all.
837	The thing that happened was completely unexpected. Another part’s silhouette suddenly sprang up into appearance, showing a blazing glare to them all. Suddenly, it became completely visible, and it appeared just like another version of a part that they had all seen before. Lily’s face lit up in shock yet again, but then she brandished her paddle at the mysterious floating object. “So you must be Trigo…I’m honoured to meet you.”
838	The right leg droned on, “I am. And I, too, am honoured to meet you as well. I have not shown myself to you before this point because it was not needed. You have proven yourself worthy of my power already.”
839	Another voice came from what seemed to be the very top of the dome, one that the heroines had heard a very long time ago. “You are all ready to put the pieces together, are you not? Come in and test your might! Bring yourself closer to me, Windsor!”
840	Kiara looked nervously ahead at the blinding light waiting for her. She turned over to her companions, asking, “Are you ready?”
841	“I am,” Crystal responded with confidence, adjusting the ribbon in her hair, the very same one she had obtained that March.
842	“I guess so…” Lydia answered. “Shall we?”
843	Lily’s fire burned in her eyes, such that anyone looking her could see a mental image of her burning soul engulfing her entirely. “We’re gonna go in together, and I promise that we’ll come out together. On me!”
844	The four of them grasped each other’s hands, and, in unison, walked in a single-file line into the bright door that would make or break the world they knew, the wills and wishes of their paddlers and their alumni all on their souls.
845
846	Cheering. Cheering. But for what? What had they done to deserve cheering? They didn’t save any world whatsoever, all they did was make a futile attempt to. She was the main one behind the entire operation, she was the one responsible for its failure…
847	“Waaa! Sorry, I was just in a daze…” Kiara muttered, literally attempting to shake herself out of that negative mindset.
848	“Look around, you guys. It seems like we’re really in a colosseum. Which means…” Lily noted, “that we’re gonna battle a bunch of really strong beasts and things!”
849	Kiara again looked around her, identifying her surroundings. They were all situated in a typical Roman stadium, various entryways leading to an arena in the centre. Everything appeared modern, however, at least with all of the pillars having a display of the various fights that were occurring in real time. Real gold plated the ceilings and floors of the hallway they were in, and it was evident that someone or something took the time to wipe it clean for all of the visitors. “This place is amazing…” she breathed, attempting to identify a path that would take them to the centre.
850	Lydia pointed straight ahead. “You see those fruity-looking things? I think that’s the path that we’re gonna take.”
851	The heroines stared in that direction and nodded, being showered with fruit by those dragons and with flowers with some other dragons a couple of paces ahead. Kiara led the way through them, searching for a fork in the path or something else equivalent to that. It didn’t take very many steps for that, however, and immediately, three paths opened up. She noticed Crystal attempt to hear some sounds from each path by putting her ear up close in that direction for a couple of seconds, then repeating for each path.
852	“What’s up?” Lydia wondered.
853	“So, here’s all that I have. The path on the left was one big hissing. And in the middle, I heard some weird chanting and whispering…”
854	Crystal didn’t have time to interpret what she heard on the right path, for then, another voice screamed out, 【やってやんぞ！こいよオラ！！】
855	(I’ll do it! Hey! Come here!!)
856	“What the hell was that?” Kiara wondered. “What did he say? Must we investigate? Something’s about to go wrong in that direction.”
857	“No! It could be a trap, and we don’t have time to be trapped!” Crystal rushed. “We’ll take centre path again, and I think it’ll be sufficient enough.”
858	As they made their way towards that path, Lily stepped on a suspicious spot without noticing, sending the floor down in little pieces to a deeper level of the dungeon. The heroines all remained floating for a couple milliseconds, not even daring to look down further. “Sorry about that…” she muttered, looking away.
859	Then, they all fell down screaming, noticing the various rounded-looking creatures that coloured themselves orange, blue, green, yellow, and purple and held a circular plate with some sort of intricate design traced on it. Kiara looked around as they were falling, and before long, she actually saw two mechanical dragons flying around them, surrounding them with a gale of wind embedded with words in a language she couldn’t read. Before long, they landed on a rather soft patch of floor on their feet, still ready somehow to take in some action. And the action didn’t take very long to come to them, either. The four heroines found themselves immediately flanked by two large guardians. One of them was a blue alligator-like creature with flowing red hair, surrounding itself in water and wielding a staff surrounded in dark mystery. The other was a more human being, draped in red, mounted on a black wild boar, and carrying all sorts of dim sum items on her person, with a nine-toothed rake in her other hand and ready to strike anything.
860	“So that’s where all that dim sum went?” Lily wondered out loud.
861	Lydia exclaimed, “Wait! That’s Shā Wùjìng and Zhū Bājiè!”
862	Both the mystical beings nodded and opened their mouths to speak some words, but no one could really identify them, save for Lily. She worked hard at translating those words for the remainder of them to hear, and she really had to pay attention at that. Kiara noted that they were speaking in Chinese, but they were conversing too fast for her to understand.
863	“I think they want us to freshen up on our combat skills…” she whispered to her comrades. “We’re probably gonna need them…”
864	“In that case…” Crystal fired several bolts of blue energy at the celestial mystics. “We’ll challenge you head-on!”
865	Kiara bolted ahead, seeking to analyse the foes at hand. While dodging strikes from the alligator’s staff, she managed to find out his very weakness. “Guys! He doesn’t look like he can take very many hits!”
866	Lily gasped in surprise. “No! Don’t go all out on him in one attack! You need to hit him with multiple attacks timed correctly, Kiara!”
867	“What? I already…”
868	“Then be careful!”
869	The red being turned around, charging directly at Lydia with the black boar coming at full speed. She quickly bolted out of the way, but wasn’t agile enough to not get grazed by the blazing-hot rake.
870	“Shit! Aaaaah, fuck, fuck, fuck, aaah…!” she screamed, feeling an intense burst of pain surging through her.
871	“Lydia! I’ve got you!” Crystal cried, slapping Lydia with a charged stroke of her paddle. “It’ll only hurt for a little bit more. You’ve gotta brace through it!”
872	Kiara looked behind her while staring at the alligator, channeling her power. How could she accomplish the multi-hit Lily told her she must do? There was a way. There had to be a way. She clasped her hands together, and drove her paddle into the ground. A rift in that ground sprung up, and as she rocked the paddle from side to side, the dungeon floor only split apart from side to side with the motions. “Get on one side of the ground so we can separate the mystics!” she commanded as she fired one pillar of crimson light at the boar, knocking the pair into the chasm below.
873	“Now’s our chance! Lydia! Go and attack the alligator right after I do!” Kiara once again commanded, landing a long combination of differently-angled strikes of the paddle.
874
875	“Phew…”
876	After the four heroines passed through three of the Grimoires (who managed some weird actions with keys of Solomon), some little party-horn-blowing creatures that actually hit surprisingly hard, and a goddess of hell combined with a sake-drinking demon, there was one last spot before the big break.
877	The four of them were clearly worn out, panting onward and onward with each step they took forward. There was no path to be taken this time aside from a perfectly…straight one, for lack of better words. Kiara noted that they had been taking the same path for the past few hours. But at the same time, she wasn’t sure what was happening to the time outside. Were all of the paddlers safe and sound, celebrating their well-deserved victory at the Grand Final? Had they abandoned the idea of a fun-filled summer season? Or were they making preparations of their own…?
878	“I see a light…” Crystal marvelled, rushing ahead to approach it, only to be greeted by a yet another figure dropping down slowly and gracefully blocking the exit.
879	She was…beautiful, to say the least. The girl in front of the heroes had two long, white twintails swishing about, as if the wind was blowing through her otherwise black hair. She had a regal white-blue outfit on, and appeared to be meditating about something. Prancing around her was a blue rounded spirit, with its head in the shape of a tiger. The tiger’s soul landed atop the girl’s headpiece, causing her to stir in anger.
880	【なにしにきたの？】
881	(What did you come here for?)
882	The girl’s face flushed red for a couple of seconds, before she turned away to the ground, letting out a slight “hmph” to the heroines. Crystal didn’t have any idea about what to say, but she thought rather quickly about it. Kiara instead decided to answer this question, and she did so very bluntly. “We’re here to complete Orpharion. Who are you? Do you have a name?”
883	For a second, there was simply silence as no one dared to speak. She must be a goddess that’s bound here, Kiara thought to herself as she attempted to eye what lay beyond the girl standing in front of them all, but to no avail.
884	「オルファリオン？ この名前は長い時間が聞いていない。」
885	(Orpharion? I…haven’t heard that name in a long time…)
886	Puzzled, the heroines looked at each other, before waiting to hear the goddess continue her little spiel.
887	「私の名前はハク。私と四姉妹はこの所を守る。あなた達は伝説に四人のヒロインでなければならない…」
888	(My name is Haku. I and my four sisters help guard this place. You must be the four heroines talked about in the legends…)
889	Haku’s face lit up, before she gracefully ascended from her spot and struck the ground in front of the four heroines, scattering them around the rather narrow corridor.
890	「しかし、私はあなた達を手放してはいけません！続けたいなら、戦いに私を倒します！」
891	(But that doesn’t mean that I can just let you pass! Defeat me in battle if you wish to proceed!)
892	Immediately, the four of them all charged at Haku, landing what they thought to be their most powerful attacks without any resistance whatsoever. Several coloured lights flashed through the corridor as energy came flying in all sorts of directions, some of them mixing together and crashing the floor randomly, parting the ground just a little bit. Kiara flurried around with her strikes, deflecting any bolts of blue, yellow, and purple energy towards the foe at hand. After what seemed like an endless onslaught, the four of them jumped back, breathing in heavily, but they noticed something very weird.
893	It appeared that Haku hadn’t suffered any serious damage either. In fact, she didn’t take any sort whatsoever!
894	“How is that possible?” Lily wondered angrily.
895	“That should not be possible!” screamed the rest of the three heroines, now scampering together to form a sort of guard against Haku.
896	【ごめんね…】
897	(I’m sorry…)
898	She looked down again, saying that line with a slightly burning tone. Soon afterwards, she began to channel some sort of mystic power, all of it filling herself with celestial energy almost unheard of. Crystal asked, “What are you sorry for? There isn’t any-”
899	【白虎七星陣！】
900	(Byakko Seven-Star Formation!)
901	All of a sudden, a surge of blue, purple, and red came firing down on the four heroines, bringing about a large onslaught of pain as Haku came striking down with full force this time on them all. They tried desperately to parry any hit they could, be it from the tiger or her energy. Kiara felt her energy being drained especially quickly, but at least she could identify what was killing her slowly. Fire…and water…and darkness. Three elements that made such an unusual, but highly deadly combination to them, and they had nothing to counter any of it.
902	“Brace yourselves! I think it’s all gonna be over soon!” she commanded the best she could, holding on to all the energy that she had.
903	“I’m…” Lydia began.
904	“No! We’re…” Lily and Crystal corrected as they all stepped forward, their paddles all glowing a new colour.
905	“White?” they all exclaimed. “Oh…like the light that triumphs over all in the end, no matter how dark it might be…!”
906	They met up once more, continually pushing onward through the stream of deadly burning darkness. It felt like mist crept up on their faces, but Kiara didn’t care at all about that. All she needed to do was find the opening to attack Haku, and she felt like it was right there, completely obvious and ready for the finishing blow…
907	“Here! Together on the count of three!”
908	Crystal began counting upwards rapidly, and on her saying the third number, the heroines all lunged forward, jamming their paddles right through Haku’s stomach. No blood came spurting out, but instead, her face turned into a smile as she slowly faded away into transparency.
909	“And to think we’re not completely done yet…” Kiara muttered, breathing heavily in-between her words.
910	“Come on. We’re close, but let’s rest for a little bit. I believe we can afford this,” Lily declared, stepping onwards into the light to the following trial.
911
912Chapter 32: Assembling All Six? Pieces of the Puzzle
913Au5 - Seraphim
914(Lily)
915
916	“Onwards we go, I guess…” Lydia’s voice rang throughout the place.
917	Now the four of them could definitely feel that they were close to the central room, the one where Orpharion lay. Just how far, Lily couldn’t tell exactly, but she did keep track of how many other creatures they all defeated in battle until that point. Some large red knight that called itself Homura, another machine knight that claimed to be called Cosmo Crusader, and a dragon that leeched poison wherever it went came up prior to the point they were at now.
918	“Another fork in the path?” Lily asked herself mentally. “We know how bad our luck has been going through these…”
919	On the other hand, Kiara had a brilliant idea, judging by the appearance of her face. “Do you suppose we could bypass some of the monsters, like how we did last time?”
920	Lily turned around, raising her paddle and summoning a yellow aura to surround it. She then shouted, backflipping in the air before slamming the paddle to the ground. On impact, everything shook around her, including her comrades. They struggled to hold their balance during this miniature earthquake, but still stayed standing. As for the ground beneath them, instead of that beginning to break, the ceiling…?
921	“How’s that possible?” Lydia asked to Crystal, who seemed to concentrate on a direct consequence of the ceiling breaking.
922	That girl’s paddle glowed blue around the T-grip, but not around the rest of the paddle. She was murmuring a chant of some sort, drawing a pattern with the T-grip in all sorts of ways. Lily noticed what she was doing, and she asked, “Wha…? Oh…”
923	For the parts of the ceiling that were on the floor arranged themselves in another formation. She marvelled as Crystal opened her eyes, turning around proudly to the rest of her comrades. Behind her, a beautiful staircase appeared, glowing with another blue aura that symbolised the work of the blue heroine. “Are you surprised? I just found out how to do magic like that. What’re you all waiting for?”
924	They hurriedly ascended the long, long flight of stairs, passing by two dark dragons, one of them being called by the other, and also a pair of two twin dragons that ravaged the world around them with their fearsome power. Following them, there was a series of two known beings, one of them a fearsome god of fire with bulls’ horns, and the other a thief of legend that constantly set off red fireworks in the place. Finally, there were three marionettes that manipulated the very strands of light and darkness themselves, absorbing their very power. At the very top of the staircase, there was yet another light growing larger and larger as the four of them climbed towards that light. But, however, two large, menacing shadows briefly blocked the entrance to the floor above them. A series of cling-clangings could be heard as they moved off, again bringing the light to the tunnel back to its fullest. And finally, the moment came where the heroines made their way all the way to their true final destination.
925	The centre stage.
926	With Seraphis and the parts waiting for assembly, and a grandstand full of cheering spectators, Lily didn’t know what to think at all about this place. She knew what she had to do, however, so she made her way to the area where Seraphis stood, simply levitating. She motioned for the rest of her friends to follow her, and she set her paddle on the ground, bowing low to the ground.
927	“We have arrived, just as you have waited for the parts to come and arrive, and we have brought them…” she spoke stoically.
928	“Ah…” Seraphis droned in an odd tone.
929	“Guys. Find your part, and place it in the correct part of its body. Come to me, Right Leg of the Guider of Light, Trigo!” Lily shouted, clasping her hands together.
930	“Come, Left Leg of the Guider of Light, Dukdey!” Lydia called, doing the same action as Lily.
931	“Appear, Right Hand of the Guider of Light, Aquor!” Kiara pleaded, repeating what the two before her did at the moment.
932	“Show yourself, Left Hand of the Guider of Light, Frahje!” Crystal cried out, slamming her hands out and getting the other heroines to do the same thing.
933	As the four shouted the names of the parts, the ground around them started to shake yet again. Pillars of light rose out from holes that were just recently created, bringing with them the four limbs of the machine. With grand splendour, they magically attached themselves in the correct places, and when they did, the almost-complete robot fiddled about with these new abilities it had, flexing a finger at random times and stamping its foot. An object that looked like a sword started to form out of thin air, but Lily couldn’t really tell. What she did notice, however, was something missing.
934	“Windsor!”
935	Unfortunately, she didn’t have to wait very long for that to happen. At the very moment she called on his name, the Guider’s memories crashed down from the sky, right into the slot for the head. The machine rattled off a little bit every now and then, before beginning to radiate holy energy in every single direction. Lily and Crystal found it quite intoxicating to be around, but the former noticed Kiara and Lydia steeling themselves for an attack at any moment. The sword-like object did indeed confirm itself to be a sword, flickering pink lightning sparks from it near its golden hilt, and the giant machine struck the ground with it, sending shockwaves in all directions. The cheering grew louder as the crowd began to chant repeatedly, whereas the four heroines had to find a way to avoid the shockwaves created just then.
936	“Orpharion! Orpharion! Orpharion!”
937	And Orpharion raised its sword triumphantly, declaring one simple sentence to the ones who dared challenge it and the crowd members who dared watch the battle that was about to unfold..
938	【我が名はオルファリオン！！】
939	(My name is Orpharion!!)
940	“So that’s Orpharion…in all of its glory. I didn’t think it’d appear so majestic…” Lydia breathed.
941	“I think it wants us to battle. It’s definitely a lot more dangerous on first sight,” Crystal commented a little more rationally. “I mean, just look at it! All that size must mean he can take a lot of hits, and dish out a lot of damage to us if we aren’t careful.”
942	“That’s what you ought to be. Something bad will happen if it almost gets destroyed,” Lily noted. Yet…
943	【パラディーソピューマ！】
944	(Paradiso Puma!*)
945	Immediately then, angelic feathers started to descend upon the Guider. Lily noted they were real feathers and not just some decoy, for directly afterwards, two mechanical wings sprouted from Orpharion’s head, seeming to shield it from very particular moves. Kiara decided to raise her paddle into the air, firing out a large red laser towards the sky. Crystal then leapt onto the machine’s head, attempting to lay a small beating to it. Unfortunately, it noticed the attempt on the vital part, and spouted a single word out.
946	【ディスペラツィオーネ。】
947	(Disperazione.*)
948	Hearing that, Lily shouted, “Crystal! Get away from it, and quickly!”
949	But she was too late to do so, and Crystal was quite literally hurled down to the ground, making quite a loud impact. She did nothing to resist, instead falling into a state of immense fatigue. Lydia rushed over to her, asking, “Are you alright?”
950	Crystal only managed to choke out, “No…I don’t think we can win anymore…”
951	Lily quickly slapped her in the face. “Don’t you say that! We’re so close…I don’t want us to lose at this point! Didn’t you promise we were gonna win, no matter what? And that you’d be the one to help us make that wish true?”
952	“I did…but I’m not sure if I can uphold that anymore…”
953	Meanwhile, Kiara literally dodged the strikes of the digital sword, one after another. As she made her way towards her three friends, Orpharion noticed, and spoke yet another powerful sentence.
954	【アネステジーアスパーダ。】
955	(Anestesia Spada.)
956	That phrase literally froze Kiara in her tracks, and in that position, she was highly vulnerable to an attack. The machine raised its sword one more time, intending to completely and utterly finish the stunned girl, but a blast of fire intercepted the sword as it made the downwards swing. If that wasn’t enough, Brian the cardinal swooped down, ramming its beak square into the machine’s chest.
957	Lydia tried to summon her own power as well. The dragon! Lily realised that those were the objects that would enable them to win this fight. But as for Crystal…could she herself do the thing that they were all about to do? Lily didn’t know the answer to that question, but she prayed and prayed. “Army and dragon…our powers unite…” she started.
958	Lydia caught on to the chant. Looking at Lily, she nodded and clasped her hands with the other girl’s. She finished, “To be together once and bring harmony, so that we may accomplish the goal at hand! Come!”
959	As if on cue, yet another rumbling came around, this time from the heroines’ side. Crystal seemed to awaken from her state of despair, raising her paddle to shoot several blasts of blue energy towards the robot king. She turned around to see a transparent lavender dragon, embroidered with all the constellations of the stars on it, with the rider as none other than Lydia herself. Directly behind, a regiment of soldiers marched in a complex rhythm towards the robot, and that one regiment revealed itself to be a large multitude of soldiers, all ready for only one task and one task only, all led by Lily.
960	“Crystal! Your task is at hand!” that girl commanded, sending all of the soldiers to attack Orpharion.
961	【オスクリタアルクーニ。】
962	(Oscurità Alcuni.*)
963	Slowly, patches of the arena became shrouded in darkness. Lily looked around, but to no avail, as soon, nothing became visible to her at all. She couldn’t rely on her paddle to fire yellow energy, because it wasn’t true light. But, she knew something that could really bring light to the place in her time of need. In their time of need, actually. It relied on Crystal acting fast, but could she communicate it to her?
964	“Now! Do it!” she screamed, preparing to channel a deadly yellow laser in a set direction.
965	And from a distance, she heard the answer that she wanted.
966	“I bring the lightning to the ground…kneel before me!” Crystal screamed, white lightning coming to flash in another random direction.
967	Lily knew from observation that it was the correct direction. She released her laser in that very same direction, and then she noticed the dragon firing a cosmic fireball in that same direction too, and on top of that, the cardinal and the legion all attacked that direction together, in unison, dealing what she could only assume was a tremendous amount of damage…
968	Soon, the light made its way back to the arena again, the darkness having receded back into the floor. The four girls stood huffing and puffing, all in a straight line, wondering where in the heck Orpharion was. All that they could see was an immense plume of dust and smoke created from all the fire down there. Lily noticed her soldiers still battling, well, whatever remained in the mess, but did she have to recall them? She thought about it in her mind, the crowd having gone completely silent while waiting to see the outcome of that entire dark encounter.
969	Something continued to stir from that place, frightening all four of them. A smouldering Orpharion struggled to make its way past that army of soldiers still battering it down, but it managed to let loose something from its head.
970	【アンジェロラクリマ…】
971	(Angelo Lacrima…*)
972	“What? How is it still alive?” the heroines shouted in unison, clearly shocked about the force of that attack.
973	But Lily knew there was one more thing to that. Orpharion’s eyes, normally red, were…blue this time? What made them change their colour so absurdly quickly? On top of that, why was there a stream of fluid pouring from those eyes?
974	“Tears…I remember that from a piece of lore I read. When the tears come out, then the suffering dealt will be immense…” Lily muttered. “Quick! Lydia! Get off the dragon and send it to the machine! It’ll come back!”
975	Lydia shouted, “Wait, what? Are you sure that this will work?”
976	“Just do it if you want to live!” Lily commanded, beginning a retreat to some other corner of the arena.
977	Lydia did as she was told without asking any further questions, and she joined Crystal and Kiara in following Lily to the same place she was headed to. Orpharion barely grasped its sword, raising it up high, and flashed its last few words.
978	【インヌメレーヴォレフェリータ。】
979	(Innumerevole Ferita.*)
980	The machine expended its last bit of energy flurrying all sorts of moves with its sword at the celestial dragon. Each strike went at such a high speed that Lily could only stare in awe at the complete and utter destruction that unfolded right then. The dragon, on the other hand, suffered greatly, but not before it could encase itself in a white inferno, exploding in more white flames that shaped themselves in a sphere, taking everything within contact range into all but ashes.
981	“Now use my power…to resurrect me in the upcoming battle!” Orpharion called as its base form began to slump down, melting slowly into a puddle of gold and liquefied jewels.
982	“We will…” silently thought Lily as she saluted and hopped on the cardinal Brian, the rest of her comrades following suit as they began to be flown out of the arena…and back to the world of False Creek, Vancouver, Canada.
983
984*Italian names. Paradiso Puma = Paradise Wings. Disperazione = Despair. Anestesia Spada = Anesthetic Sword. Oscurità Alcuni = Darkness Swarm. Angelo Lacrima = Angel Tears. Innumerevole Ferita = Countless Wounds.
985
986Chapter XX: Transition
987?
988(n/a)
989
990	Well done, heroines.
991	You certainly know how to impress your dark counterparts.
992	But can you pass the trial that will come at you?
993	I certainly think they will pass this particular one. But their last trial will be the end for them!
994	The tick-tocking of a clock, and then a loud series of whirrings.
995	Yes…this will be the end of the sad world we live in. It ends with true darkness rather than the false light of hope for an afterlife.
996	The thing is legendary. We only wait for the day-
997
998Chapter 33: Done Already?
999164 - 天ノ弱 (ft. GUMI) (Akie秋絵 Cover)*
1000(Kiara)
1001
1002	“Yeah! Everything went really, really well! We managed to finally beat Laoyam and Hamber this time around!”
1003	“It was close, but we still managed to get out that first place…”
1004	Kiara smiled and laughed as she walked past all of her LDB paddlers, hearing all the stories about what happened during their Grand Final. Sometimes, she sincerely wished that she actually could paddle for that race, but she shook them off. “Congratulations, guys. You deserved that,” she said simply as she plopped down into one of the random chairs in the combined teams’ tent.
1005	The science museum was what everyone knew that domed red building across the creek as. She was certain that after that incident with the Guider of Light, there wouldn’t be anything hidden there. That would be the last time she intended to be separated from her team unwillingly. Fatigue kicked into her, even though in real time the heroines were in the Colosseum for only about twenty minutes. It felt like at least a couple of days, and she concluded that there must have been some sort of distorted time mechanism within Orpharion.
1006	“‘Now use my power to resurrect me!’ it said. What’s meant by that statement?” she asked aloud, unfortunately attracting the attention of another paddler that she didn’t intend to hear that.
1007	“Well…maybe the thing gave you a thing…” a quiet, feminine voice weakly whispered in her ear.
1008	“Oh, Adela? That wasn’t…” Kiara started to speak up, but she failed to find the words that fit her situation.
1009	“I know from last year…something. It related to the four old heroes, but they were around when the world wasn’t threatened by these two giant machine stars…” Adela continued. “I’m worried that the worst has come to the worst…”
1010	“In what way? You can tell me and I’ll keep your secret safe.”
1011	The shyer girl moved to Kiara’s ear, and placed her hand to cover her mouth. She whispered, “I fear that…the Star Crusher…is made of the old heroes…!”
1012	Kiara jumped out of her seat, quite literally. “I’ve heard many things before, but that just doesn’t sound right! I mean, aren’t Jerry and them incapable of doing any harm unless it’s completely necessary?” she shouted, just as loudly as she could to not attract anyone else’s attention.
1013	“I guess that’s true…but it may be that way because we haven’t seen them in a long while. At least, I haven’t. And it’s weird…because the other alumni…I’ve heard from them, even talked to them sometimes…but not Jerry, nor Sam.”
1014	The red heroine looked up into the sky briefly. “I’ll probably go on a sunset walk tonight. Give me something to think about, you know? After all, tonight is our last night here in Vancouver before we move off to Macau and Hong Kong.”
1015	Adela nodded, and ran off to the rest of her friends to take some pictures of the place. Kiara, on the other hand, reclined back down into her chair, thinking to herself about who she might want to accompany her on her walk. Someone that she could talk to on her team, one that could hold some deep, deep secrets. But after only some minutes, she came to the sad conclusion that there wasn’t. Not secrets relating to the end of the world, at least. Oh well, she thought. She’d find what she needed later on.
1016
1017	7:20 PM, and she found herself again at the race site. Everything was cleaned up by now, so there wasn’t a chance that a random team would attempt to recruit her for the autumn of that year. The sunset really was beautiful, she noted, especially since there was no longer any sort of eerie fog that clouded the entire place up. The colours of the orange sun sparkled on the reflection of the water, dazzling her eyes with beauty almost unmatched.
1018	Kiara decided it was a good idea to lean on the rail above the water level, just so that she could take in the view of the beautiful Vancouver skyline. If now was the time to do it, she definitely took advantage of it, because she didn’t know if this entire place would be here next year…or if she’d even be alive to see it. That was the thing with these world-ending journeys. She didn’t know how to differentiate between something classified as a “nice-to-see” destination and a “required” place, well, aside from the three major places for the summer. She looked down at that water, and she was glad that she found a clear spot, so that she could see the reflection of just how much the duties of the heroine had shaped her into who she was today.
1019	“Done already?” asked a voice next to her.
1020	Startled, Kiara looked over to her left to see another human being. This one simply wore a black zip-up hoodless jacket and hoodie, yet he appeared and sounded so familiar to her. Almost like it was someone she knew once.
1021	“Jerry…?” she started, attempting to reach out to the figure, who simply disappeared upon contact. “What the…what’s happening to me?”
1022	Dejected, the girl began to trudge back to the hotel, clearly disappointed now. But at the same time, she knew that this kind of trickery would be something that she’d be subject to regularly, and that would be the last bit of patience she had with something like that. Red fire began to envelop her in an angry aura as she turned one more time to the setting sun.
1023	“Just you wait…Despharion…you won’t prevail!”
1024
1025*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxRhxsTmNg to find this song. The song reads “Amanojaku” and translates to “A Born Coward.”
1026
1027Chapter 34: They Don’t Know This Place, Neither Do I
1028ILLENIUM - Gorgeous (with Blanke, ft. Bipolar Sunshine) x Angel x Lonely (ft. Chandler Leighton)
1029(Lydia)
1030
1031	There was nothing like waking up early, rushing to pack up stuff, and hopping into the airport at 5 in the morning for Lydia. But at least by this point in time, she knew that it was something she’d expect Lily and Kiara to mandate for the team. It felt quite weird that she still didn’t agree with some of their tactics and policies, and sometimes Crystal shared those very same feelings. Fortunately for all of them, going through Canadian security was completely uneventful, unlike the incident back home. That made sleeping on the fifteen-hour flight a hell of a lot easier for everyone, really. For the first time, Lydia experienced what sleeping on a plane felt like when she could never successfully do so before. As soon as she herself sat in the centre row with her co-leaders, sleep hit like a truck.
1032	“Wake up!” shouted someone to her a long fifteen hours later. “We’ve gotta get to Macau, and fast!”
1033	
1034	“W-who’s tha…” Lydia groggily grumbled, tossing slightly in her seat. “Are we still…”
1035	Suddenly, she snapped awake, slamming her glasses onto her face. “We’re not moving? Whaaa?”
1036	Kiara peered into the recently-awoken girl’s eyes before crossing her arms. “We’re in Hong Kong, because that’s only the first part in getting us to Macau,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Now come on! We’re gonna need a day of rest, which Lily managed to factor in.”
1037	“Technically, the race is in three days. If we have one day dedicated to a break, then we’ll have two days to take in the sights of Hong Kong. Or one here, one there…” Crystal thought aloud.
1038	“Why not go to the hotel and let’s rest before we do anything rash?” Lily suggested. “But first, let’s get out of this plane before any decision happens…”
1039
1040	“Lydia, how’s this place? We’ve made sure that we only experience the finest of luxury travelling while we’re here, you know?”
1041	She really was amazed. The hotel lobby in some rather touristy place was indeed like a palace. So many fountains dotted the place, and people in all formal attire darted round and round these fountains, some brushing past the team of two hundred people and looking a little bit disgusted. But what did it matter? They’d only be here a couple of days in the first place. “Shall we all go to our rooms first, and then we can do something else?”
1042	“Sounds like an idea. Maybe we’ll enjoy some good stuff here. Do you know stuff around here, Kiara?” Crystal asked, clearly excited for what the lack of plans would bring to the four leaders.
1043	“No! I had to rely on Henry, Sharon, Christine, and all the others…” Kiara responded, looking a little fond of their memories. “Honestly, I just remember the racing. ‘Best of the West…’”
1044	Lydia burst out a little chuckle. “Well, considering there was only one team in the West that competed there…”
1045	“Shut up! I wouldn’t genuinely say that to you…”
1046	Now the four girls were laughing quite loudly, completely oblivious to the antics of the team at hand. Lydia remained calm, and pointed at some of their paddlers. She bolted over to them, shouting, “Don’t! We’re abroad, remember?”
1047	“Sorry about that…” the three paddlers glumly apologised, before moving right to where their own friends were standing, just waiting around for some sort of direction.
1048	At that point, everyone was just restless in waiting for the concierge to help them book that room. Lydia reckoned that they must have been chilling for at least an hour, and she still hadn’t gotten the chance to jump into bed and rest for a little while. Actually, now that she thought about it, any bed would do nicely, no matter how hard or soft it might be. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the Lincoln captains, Allison, approach Lily about something she had on her mind. It would be best for her not to question what it was exactly.
1049	“Let’s go! To the rooms!” Nathan’s loud voice called over the crowd of paddlers, his voice having a sort of trancing effect on them all.
1050	They all followed him to the elevator banks, leaving the heroines all alone.
1051	“Shall we go? There’s still so much to explore…” Kiara brought up. “There’s a malatang place here that’s wayyyy better than the one at Stones!”
1052	They all set out from the hotel. It looked like Lydia wouldn’t get the sleep that she so desired after that rough plane ride…
1053
1054	Sunrises were really one of the most beautiful things that any of the four girls had seen. Streams of light rising from the east always brought together a sense of reality, bringing together the corners of the world into one single, shining ball of light. As the colours of the harbour the heroines looked over shone from duller pinks to brighter blues, Lydia noticed something simple about the sights she saw.
1055	She had the opportunity of her life to make her impact, something that she searched to reach ever since her inspirations left GCD.
1056	She had friends, both the ones on her team, and more importantly, the three other individuals that helped guide her to today.
1057	“You all are gorgeous…” she whispered as she looked over the harbour, into the distance where they’d be racing the next day.
1058
1059Chapter 35: Beating the Best of the West
1060The Glitch Mob - Starve The Ego, Feed The Soul
1061(Crystal)
1062
1063	“This place is…”
1064	Crystal marvelled at the absolute beauty of the new race site. Macau was something that previously, only Ariel and Ivy had told her information about via their own friends on LDB. For her to actually show up one day and race in this off-continent race was honestly, for her, something that she’d never thought she’d see ever. And for it to be with her entire team, both CYC and the entire army of paddlers, that was…
1065	“Did you know this is probably the biggest race we’ve been to before?” Kiara asked, apparently feeling really bubbly at that moment. “There’s so much to do here! Plus, if we really wanted to, we could see ourselves get completely smacked by these crazy teams on the jumbotron right there!”
1066	“Kiara…that’s not helping…” Crystal sighed, before searching for their tent. “I thought we had to actually try somewhat this race…”
1067	“Let’s not worry about that,” Lydia thought aloud. “There’s a box of things right at that tent, and it looks like it’s labelled for us. I wonder what they are?”
1068	Nathan opened up the box, and Crystal peered very quickly at it. Inside that box was a big clump of brightly-coloured…stuff. Upon closer inspection from Nathan and several other Lincoln paddlers, she found out that they were jerseys! Bright yellow jerseys lay on the top of the box, but the real surprise came after Clinton and Will distributed the jerseys and they found lanyards. Since when did verification of races become so strict? That was one of the questions that baffled her mind as soon as she was handed her lanyard, clearly identified as hers because of her picture printed right on it.
1069	She checked the time on her phone. 10:15 AM meant that their team’s first heat would be within the following hour. Of course, that meant that the time came for the usual routine. Stretch, warm up, and marshal. Lily decided to lead this routine on, and Crystal didn’t bother to stop her for any of that. As they all began to stretch, the latter decided to place herself right next to her younger friends, Gen and Mel. The ones that she last talked to in great depth a few months ago, before all this crap started.
1070	“You seem like you’ve changed a lot. I like that you’re way more mature and grown-up now!” Mel excited. “But there’s one thing…”
1071	“What’s that? I’m sorry that I didn’t get to spend as much time with you guys as I said I would before. This kind of stuff feels like it’s really dreamy, but it’s really hard to deal with sometimes…kind of how Sam was in his last days the first time around…”
1072	Gen pondered a second, wondering to herself a couple of things. Quickly afterwards, she spoke her own mind out. “I just wish that we could be able to help you out somehow, you know? Again, like…he was never open about his thoughts. He was only dedicated to keeping us safe…I don’t want you to fall down that path and not care about yourself…”
1073	Crystal felt a little bit guilty that she had “abandoned” them, but she shrugged it off temporarily. “I’m not sure if I will come out of this entire thing alive…”
1074	“WHAT? YOU’RE SAYING THAT…” both the two sophomores literally screamed in her ears.
1075	“Nononono, that’s not what I meant at all! I…probably didn’t mean it in that way. Just this entire thing changed me entirely…”
1076	And before she knew it, it was time for them all to get on the boat. Crystal sadly looked at her two friends, before pulling them into a really deep hug. “This isn’t going to be where I fall…if I do fall. I promise that I won’t die, not until a long time from now…”
1077
1078	Nothing but an expanse of blue water lay ahead of her as she sat in her seat, trying to chill out and get all of her thoughts out of her head. Now, the only thing left was to race, and to perform above her own expectations. And with her being in the right side of the dragon butt, she thought the task might be impossible.
1079	“Focus, focus!” the drummer, Amber, called out to the entire boat. “Where we place doesn’t matter, as long as you have a satisfying piece!”
1080	Crystal looked outside the boat temporarily, attempting to scan for any sign of the starter boat. She didn’t realise that there was none until she heard a heavily-accented voice call out “Paddlers, are you ready?”
1081	Where’d that come from? What the hell? she thought as her paddle buried itself in the water and she looked straight ahead to her strokes. There’s no way that the loudspeakers are this loud, not after Vancouver.
1082	“Attention…”
1083	She steeled herself for the hell that was going to be her first stroke.
1084	Then the airhorn sounded, and a loud grunt echoed throughout the entire venue. Everyone could hear the varying start calls coming around, the added difference being that these were all in different languages, Mandarin being the most popular of these. As for her boat, she felt content enough listening only to Amber screaming out numbers and calls in good old plain English.
1085	“Three…two…one!”
1086	“Launch this damn fucking boat!” Kiara screamed all the way from timing box. “I need you here!”
1087	“And now! I’ve got you!” both Lydia and Crystal screamed back in unison, channeling their power back to the one calling to them and pulling their blades perfectly.
1088	From engine, Lily felt a surge coming from her fellow paddlers, which made her just continue paddling as she had done for all the time that she been. Her own paddle started to glow yellow around it, which Crystal noticed almost immediately. Quickly afterwards, her own paddle took on a yellow aura that faded to blue, the very same blue that her native team sported since she had joined them a few years ago. Memories flowed through her, and she realised again that she had to do the best she could…
1089	“Where are you? I need more!”
1090	But immediately afterwards, Amber’s voice called the “Let it ride!” that was welcomed by almost all of the paddlers then. Crystal looked outside, and saw that they hadn’t gone as far as they wanted to. Or so she thought.
1091	All that mattered was that they were in front of several prominent Chinese and Malaysian teams that showed up that day, although certainly not placing within the top three. That was her surprise. “Can someone tell me how far we paddled?” a voice asked one that Crystal could tell belonged only to her friend Sara.
1092	“We only went 200 metres…” Lily answered almost nonchalantly.
1093	“WHAT?”
1094	The entire boat shared a laugh as they all paddled back to the dock to report on the news of their race.
1095
1096Chapter 36: We Didn’t Say Anything Was Over!
1097Dimrain47 - Every End…
1098(Lily)
1099
1100	“Yeah, well, that was probably the best race day I’ve ever been to, Allison! Being out with friends means a lot to me, especially when we’re all doing the same stuff.”
1101	Lily’s voice seemed very reflective about what had been happening to her and with her the past couple of months. “You remember all the food they had there? It was soooo good! Especially the curry rice…honestly, the flavours contested my parents’ cooking!”
1102	The both of them giggled as they lounged about in the captain’s room, waiting for a sign of something to happen at any time. After all, they both knew that it was their last day in China, and they’d all be heading home for a few short weeks before moving on to the final destination that was Long Beach. Lily had heard that many of the older paddlers called that place “Big Long Beach” due to the sheer size of the festival, despite her not knowing any of the other lingo down there. In either case, that would be the race where the fate of the world would be decided, and she’d be one of the ones leading an army to keep the world all alive. She didn’t dare think about any of the potential consequences.
1103	Allison could tell immediately, judging from Lily’s facial expression. “Is something the matter?” she asked, doing so with more than a slight bit of concern.
1104	The leader turned around. “Uhhh…not really. I just have some thoughts…”
1105	“Like what? We’re close, you can tell me whatever you’d like!”
1106	Lily’s expression turned from concerned to sorrowful in the snap of a second. Soon, she began to cry a little bit, something she felt guilty of doing at all. “It’s because I don’t feel that I’m doing enough to help you all out. Am I really ready to go out and battle it out at Long Beach? Will Lydia and them be hindered because of my insecurities? I don’t know, I don’t know!” she cried into the nearest pillow nearby.
1107	Allison went over and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t worry…please, don’t worry…”
1108“Why should I not worry? If it happened to Justin, almost. I don’t want it to happen to anyone, but if does…I’ll probably be the first person claimed by it.”
1109“Why do you think that? Please don’t think that you’re the reason for everything wrong to happen, please! Hear me out.”
1110The captain was literally pleading at this point, trying to do anything to get Lily out of her dark thoughts. Some of the words that Allison thought were encouraging only served to elicit more tears out of the already-suffering girl.
1111“There’s one thing I want, at least for tonight…” Lily muttered, weakly looking up.
1112“Which is?”
1113“Would you stay with me and watch over me as I sleep? I’m sorry I couldn’t word it in any less-awkward way, but you get what I mean…?”
1114Allison took a couple of seconds to think about what Lily had requested of her. She quickly responded one thing that seemed to comfort her.
1115“I will. I promise.”
1116The lights immediately shut themselves off as soon as that phrase came out of her mouth, but Lily didn’t care. She immediately fell into a deep sleep, taking her into the realm of dreams that she desperately wished to enter ever since the whole damn thing started. Or maybe she was exhausted.
1117
1118Chapter 37: Return to Normalcy
1119ODESZA x Last Heroes - Memories That You Call (ft. Moonsiren) x Dreaming (ft. Luma)
1120(Lydia)
1121
1122	It was a while since the events of Vancouver and Macau, and all of those warnings and other things faded away to the back of the paddlers’ memories. July just rolled around, and they all quickly returned to their usual lifestyle of going out for bubble tea and Korean barbeque, or hopping on League of Legends and feasting in their own salt spilling, or just lying in bed and being completely sedentary. Nothing got done, which really irked someone. Actually, it irked a lot of people, but none so much as Lydia.
1123	The last time that nothing happened was at GCD’s decisive victory back at Long Beach the previous year. Lydia remembered exactly what went down afterwards. Partying happened, raving happened, and just overall, a sense of fun seemed to take precedence over the instinct of training hard for whatever event was to come next. She knew that it took precedence, at least for the few fleeting seconds after races in general.
1124	“I wish that never happened…” she whispered silently to herself. “I know I should be enjoying this stuff, at least the non-race frenzy, but why is it so hard to?”
1125	She paced around her room nervously, trying to find something to do for the time. It was only noon, and she hadn’t had anything to eat up to that point. She reckoned that she could go to Stonestown for malatang or udon, or maybe even to Westfield for some undisclosed foodstuff she never even knew existed. However, that line of thinking was only due to her parents being at work, as they usually were at this time.
1126	“Is it time for boba?” she asked, pulling out her phone to call someone. “Could go with Eric and the boys, or…”
1127	She didn’t need to continue that statement, for at that moment, the phone rang instantly. Her screen flashed with a picture of Elizabeth’s face, smiling brightly at the camera lens that took that picture. Upon answering, Lydia was greeted with the bubbliest “Hiiiii!” imaginable, making her smile quite a bit herself.
1128	“Yo, Amy and a couple of the friends are getting boba right now! You down to come in maybe 30 minutes?” Elizabeth asked.
1129	“Uh…sure, why not? We could get lunch or something right before that, though. I’m honestly craving some tofu stew right now,” Lydia responded, setting her phone to the speakerphone setting.
1130	“The place we’re going to actually sells tofu stew! Best part is that one of the alumni runs it, so hopefully we get discounted stuff.”
1131	“Then let’s go!”
1132	As soon as Lydia spoke that line, she said goodbye and hung up, slipping over a black windbreaker over the white long-sleeved shirt that bore her team’s name right over the centre of it. Quite soon afterwards, she ran into her friends that she talked to earlier, and they pulled her into their arms quite…uncomfortably. But it didn’t matter.
1133	“So, how spicy do you intend to go here?” Elizabeth’s friend, Amy, asked Lydia instantly. “It’s so good to see you, even though I can’t be with you for this thing at all.”
1134	The trio strolled into that tofu stew restaurant, choosing a seat at the bar. They knew that they couldn’t drink alcohol, as much as the heroine wanted to drink all her troubles away with several shots of soju. As soon as the owner stepped outside the doorway leading to the kitchen, their faces all glowed up in surprise.
1135	“Daven??? Since when did you own this place?” they all exclaimed, trying their best to stop themselves fawning over him.
1136	“Whaaa? Oh, hi! It’s been a while, haha!” he shot out, walking past them with a trayful of individual hot stone pots and metal bowls filled with rice. “Since not too long, actually. I’ve got a lot of orders to fill out, maybe we’ll talk later?”
1137	He winked before distributing his tray to a nearby table. That left time for the three girls to order their own food. Lydia couldn’t decide whether she wanted her seafood tofu stew to be a middle ground between not spicy at all and flaming hot, or simply just flaming hot. “Which should I get?” she inquired, giggling a little bit at some of the gossip going around.
1138	“It’s up to you,” Elizabeth answered. “As for me, I’ll probably just go for a medium-spicy one myself.”
1139	“Same with me,” Amy concurred.
1140	That line finished, and then a waiter came up to take their order. Literally ten minutes later, three bubbling pots of red tofu stew and bowls of soft red rice made their way to their table, and Lydia’s mouth could almost taste the heat coming from the air.
1141	“Spicy like you…?” the girls asked each other before digging in and enjoying the sensation of their mouths burning.
1142	And Lydia knew that this was the feeling that she wanted before everything would change drastically.
1143
1144Chapter 38: Over Those Memorable Moments
1145Dabin - Home (ft. Essenger) (Mazare Remix)
1146(Lily)
1147
1148	Apparently the team had a full bus now? Their own personal bus?
1149	“Since when were my companions so expensive? I really wish that we didn’t spend so much money for something that won’t last us that long…”
1150	The day before the team was to leave before Long Beach,  Lily decided that it would be a good idea to go for a long, long walk. How ironic that she chose to go walk near a beach, the one that happened to be closest to her school. Lincoln High wasn’t that far away, actually, it being only a bus ride to the west away without transferring. And despite there not being school for the summer, she thought that she might go there anyway, just to see what was happening and if she could, well, reflect.
1151	Lincoln Dragon Boat was not known for going to Long Beach, rather, instead preferring to go to more outside races like Tempe and Hungary. She felt somewhat jealous that they didn’t go to that particular race, but with the high-school competition being so one-sided between CYC and GCD (from what she had heard), she felt that the coaches wanted those two teams to enjoy their moment of glory. Now, looking back, she experienced the wish to participate in that race at least once. At least once was now a real looming threat, for thoughts pooled up inside her head that she might only get to race there once.
1152	She hopped off the bus she was sitting on when it got to its terminus. From her view of Quintara Street, all she had to do was scale a small hill leading over to Great Highway, and then the beach entered her viewpoint. Sand dunes being blown away by a gentle breeze, grey waters waving back and forth almost hypnotically…
1153	“At least I have a little bit of food to eat before I think about…” she muttered before crossing the Great Highway to the beach she so wanted to see.
1154	But instead of her going down to water level, she instead chose to climb up to the top of one of the taller sand dunes. Pulling out a basic croissant, she simply stared out to the distance, trying to think about her favourite times on Lincoln Dragon Boat up until now. Her first buttery bite came up with something almost instantly, and she sighed quite audibly.
1155	“The time I first joined this team…”
1156	She recalled immediately all of the pain that she initially felt in her exercises, the stacks of push-ups, sit-ups, and jump squats that would make the unconditioned strong person very sore. She knew also of the people that she first met, how she was too shy to talk to them at all until much, much later in her dragon boat career.
1157	“When I met Allison…and Justin, and all of them. Those were really good times. I was so young, and they were willing to guide me through how everything worked.”
1158	And they did. Even though Justin left quite soon after Lily joined the team, she still remembered the amount of work that he put in for that team before he departed. Allison remained with her from the very beginning, and their friendship formed to something extremely deep, such that they could talk about their string of personal problems with various aspects of life. The coaches too, even though they tended to flip-flop around between each other, inspired her to continue and strive to be a leader, just like the ones she looked up to were still.
1159	“What about the ones I’ve only met recently? They provided me with a way of looking at life more than just being at the top of the pack.”
1160	Lydia and Crystal…the ones that came from the two teams she couldn’t consider as true rivals. Lily knew that it was all ego that made her think this way previously, but was she conditioned to think this way at all? Regardless of her prior beliefs, she knew that they commanded teams that, when put together, could bring a massive change to the world at their own will. Similar to what Sam and Jerry did that year. She didn’t believe how it was possible that four almost warring teams could be unified to fight under the same leaders. As for Kiara and LDB, Lily knew why they could be considered not just a rival, but an enemy. Such thinkings went contrary in her mind as she finished off the last bit of croissant, the wind flowing through her hair and blowing it to her left.
1161	“My first race…and the first one outside the Bay Area…and each one after that…”
1162	All of a sudden, all of the memories of these past races and bondings hit her hard. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she closed them, burying her face in her hands. Tears of accomplishment, tears of emotion…both of them caused so many things to happen in her life, influencing her decisions to be conditioned to think about dragon boat and dragon boat alone. Just like that, pieces of the puzzle in her ind as to what to do at Long Beach began piecing themselves together, and she could see these pieces attaching themselves to each other right in front of her.
1163	The sky’s colour slowly shifted to grey as the wind picked up in speed. She could tell that it was about to approach 40 kilometres an hour, something that would warrant the cancellation of practices on an ordinary day. But…
1164	“Cancellation…”
1165	Suddenly, she darted off the top of that sand dune, closing her eyes such as to avoid the sand that poofed upwards as she took her steps. Landing on the ground, she sprinted back to the bus terminus, where the very same bus seemed to be waiting for the entire time that she was there.
1166	“I must cancel Despharion, yes. But how is that going to be possible at all? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!”
1167	She boarded the bus, tagging her wallet to hear that satisfying beeping sound. Its doors closed, and she found herself on her way home again, where she knew a more satisfying lunch than a simple pastry would be waiting for her.
1168
1169Chapter 39: Last Trips
1170Said the Sky x ILLENIUM - All I Got Falls Apart
1171(Crystal)
1172
1173	“I hate bus rides…”
1174	Crystal jostled around in the bus seat, attempting to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Again, she was rudely awakened by Kiara’s call informing her that she was late, as always, to events that she herself planned out! The worst part was that the paddlers had all arranged to meet up at Lake Merced by 7 AM, yet Crystal somehow couldn’t make it there exactly on time as she always did.
1175	“Stop being annoying, Collin! I’m trying to sleep!” she shot out, turning towards the window and pulling one of her jackets over her head.
1176	“But check this-” he protested.
1177	“Can you show someone else, please? Show me later.”
1178	Evidently, the leader didn’t really have enough sleep last night. But who could blame her? She had to make sure that every prayer was said, every blessing was counted. Not even playing Bedwars with Bryant and the two twins was enough to keep her mind off the fate of the world for even a second. It just wasn’t possible, especially not with her being the first to have to do something many months ago.
1179	The volume of the bus rose exponentially louder. How Crystal wished that she could’ve brought something more than AirPods to drown out the noise, but alas, she hadn’t anticipated the volume growing that loud. It was only an hour into the bus ride and clearly she didn’t want to be there at all. Well, except for the one thing that she was training for all her life (or, more accurately, for the last couple of months…)
1180	She noticed a body plop down in the seat adjacent to her. “Darren, did your brother send you here? Not right now,” she muffled through her jacket.
1181	“Darren, who? You should really be more attentive…” a more feminine voice echoed, sounding displeased overall.
1182	“Oh…is now the best time?” Crystal yawned, pulling her jacket closer over her face.
1183	Immediately, it got yanked away from her, revealing a now-fuming Kiara. “We’ve got to discuss plans! Hotel? Dinner? Race stuff? Hello? Have you forgotten? Earth to Crystal? And all you care about is your personal sleep?”
1184	“Well, I’m sorry that all of these thoughts kept me awake the entire damn night last night! You’re right, I’ve forgotten so much…”
1185	As the leaders’ bickering increased in intensity, Lydia showed up and literally inserted herself between them. “Guys! What are you doing?” she asked in a distressed tone.
1186	“This isn’t what they would’ve wanted of us.”
1187	Kiara and Crystal both whispered that at the same time before the former handed the latter her jacket back. “I’ll probably come back to talk in a few hours. Meantime, can you keep the bus not so loud so that the ones that want to sleep can go to sleep?” Crystal inquired before immediately falling back into her seat, eyes closed.
1188	“Well, I guess I could do that. A bunch of people are going to make a TikTok to keep the world happy in the event that we’re gone…” Kiara breathed before heading off to the rowdy back of the bus.
1189	“The end of the world, or the end of us…?”
1190
1191	In-N-Out? The day before day one of racing? Crystal heard of them going to some fast-food joint as quick nourishment before settling into another couple hours of brainless travelling. However, she was never opposed to eating anything, especially if it was with the people that she called her family. As it stood, she sat down in the place, indulging in the greasy mess that was animal-style fries and 3x3 burgers. To wash all that down, nostalgic milkshakes came in green-decorated paper cups, flavoured with both vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Making it better was the group of friends that she knew since she started doing dragon boat, all of her junior friends.
1192	“You ready, Crystal?” Caitlyn and Ariel asked. “It’s been a while.”
1193	Crystal took another bite out of her 3x3 before hesitantly thinking of an answer to that question. “Honestly, only for the racing part.”
1194	Will, looking quite confused, asked again, “Do you mean something else by that? Clinton probably knows, but he’s not gonna tell me.”
1195	The brother laughed at that statement. “Bro, she hasn’t even TOLD me what’s going on outside the dragon boat life! You’ve gotta stop being so curious, I thought you had a girlfriend already?”
1196	The table howled with laughter at that, Will just blushing immensely. “Probably wasn’t the best thing to say, eh?” Crystal teased lightly. “But yeah, I did realise I haven’t really told you the true story of what’s been going on behind the scenes…”
1197	Quickly, the tone changed from jovial to sombre. All of the juniors on CYC turned over to her as she nervously spoke and told the story of what happened ever since that fateful March day. “I met three other girls on the three other teams, and we…” she nervously started. “We joined our forces together once again, just like how Sam and Jerry and them did to us last year. I never thought that a bad force would come up to show itself to the world again, more so that I would have to be one of the ones that saved you guys.”
1198	Her voice and face sunk a little bit. “And it’s been keeping my soul away from you guys. I haven’t been as good a friend to you as I should’ve, instead only focusing on my duty to protect you. Nothing hurts me more than seeing you alone, and I want to be with you, at least for the last chance that we have together.”
1199	A gasp emerged from the entire restaurant, and now all eyes remained fixated on her. She quickly shrunk down. “Did I…say something?”
1200	Nathan made his way over to Crystal, sliding next to her quite smoothly. He turned his face over, literally glaring her in the eye.
1201	“No. We’ll be here for you, always. If you disappear, which I wish does not happen, we will carry your soul on whenever we get on those boats…whenever we have any team event. You’re that important to the functioning of this team. Just promise me that you won’t disappear like Sam did that one time.”
1202	And with that, he pulled her into a gentle hug, the rest of the team instantly following suit. Crystal’s face began to stream tears into her friends, and she closed her eyes to allow her bad feelings to run completely out of her. Slowly, slowly, more determination rose in her mind, and she muttered something into a random shoulder, which just happened to be Sara’s own.
1203	“I promise…”
1204
1205	4:30 PM and there was still no end in sight of the nowhere the bus travelled in. At least Crystal’s mood lightened considerably, and she was actually having some amount of fun with the music playing then. Allan’s speaker seemed to be overplaying many throwback songs that the entire bus knew since they were at least seven years old, but she didn’t mind it at all. She sang along with her companions, sometimes angelically, other times completely off-tune.
1206	Lydia and Lily came up to her together, presenting yet another JBL speaker that they could chain up with the four already in use. “I think you might want to play some of the music YOU like. You know, to get us hyped up?” Lydia asked.
1207	Suddenly, Kiara bursted in with a song suggestion. “Maybe you could play some good old classics? We all can still sing them together! I was thinking we could do ‘Fly Me To The Moon.’ Such a good song…”
1208	Crystal grinned before pulling out her phone. “I actually have something else planned. I want to tribute Sam and Jerry here, you know?”
1209	The bus immediately oohed as she played the mix she had in mind.
1210
1211Seven Lions, Wooli, & Trivecta - Island (ft. Nevve) w/ Island (Au5 Remix)
1212	
1213“Bet none of you expected me to play this song?” she laughed, turning up the volume of each speaker individually.
1214“I don’t like this! The voicing, what is this? I’m not really a fan of it at all, but at least the remix drop is better…” Eric the GCD paddler complained.
1215“Fine…”
1216
1217SLANDER - Love Is Gone (ft. Dylan Matthew) (Kompany Remix)
1218
1219	“What about this? Jerry goes pretty hard, you know?”
1220	Immediately after that, the entire bus felt the drop of the song hit, and instinctively began to bob their heads back and forth, first gently, then extremely violently as the climax approached them. That last “Don’t tell me that your love is gone…” came really off-tune by everyone’s voices not knowing the pitch of the singer.
1221	But quickly, they came to their senses. Kiara shouted, “Jerry wouldn’t play this at all. Try something else?”
1222	“I suppose that’d be a good idea. Maybe after the song?”
1223	“It’d be preferable if you did that now!”
1224
1225Pendulum - Different (Glastonbury 2009 Live VIP)
1226
1227	“Now this is more like it!” Crystal commented while doing her usual volume adjustment. “The lyrics…the instrumentals…”
1228	“They’re perfect! Sing along now with me!” she shouted to a raving bus.
1229	“Don’t hide baby…show them just how deep it goes…” one half of the bus echoed, dancing in the aisle to the best of their ability
1230	“Don’t mind the camera…let them see your black heart baby…” the other half chanted back in round format.
1231	So the bus continued on its merry way, being not so far from the ultimate destination that would soon decide the fate of the world. The Cypress Hotel, followed by Marine Stadium. She didn’t know what to expect at all aside from those two places where many shenanigans occurred.
1232
1233Chapter 40: Calm
1234月代 彩 - h*
1235(Kiara)
1236
1237	With her not being to Long Beach before, seeing all these new places made Kiara feel a sense of excitement coming from her. Sure, she was the guide for Macau and Hong Kong, so at least she recognised that it was time for her to step back and for her to be amazed by what Lydia and Crystal had to show her.
1238	The Cypress Hotel wasn’t by any means a fancy hotel, instead, it was rather quaint and calm, something that the average person might spend a business trip lodging in for a couple of days at most. The bus pulled up to the hotel, and immediately every single paddler flocked over to the side to fish out their stuff from the bottom of the bus. Lily was already helping to facilitate this distribution, so she decided to head over there and do that dirty work herself.
1239	“Why’s it so hot?” she groaned, despite it being 6 PM with a nice, colourful sky.
1240	Ryan came up to her. “It’s SoCal, there’s not really that much to expect aside from it being really damn hot here. Plus, you do have on black clothing…”
1241	As Kiara continued passing out random suitcases and duffel bags, she responded back, “I guess…” before finding her own PFD and paddle and exiting to the hotel lobby.
1242	Once there, she checked all two hundred paddlers into the place, and they all stormed the stairs to find their rooms. Lydia had told her that the elevators wouldn’t be of much use due to them already falling apart, and the fact that there were only two of them made it even worse for the entire team. At least it was only the team that was to stay there this weekend, or else things would have went much, much worse than they already were.
1243	For her, she chose to lodge with her usual friends. Her fellow leaders that she grew close to was this particular choice of group, and she wouldn’t choose any other people at all. “You see? We go in together, we go out together!” she beamed, to some rather…differing looks from those companions.
1244	“Not the best way to put it…” Crystal muttered to herself. “Let’s settle in, and then we’ll eat something nice and hot.”
1245	“What’re you in the mood for? There’s poke, noodles, fish and chips…” Lydia brought up. “Personally, I’m down for poke tonight, but I’m not sure if I’ll fuck my stomach over. That’s the only problem, so the question falls over to you.”
1246	Lily didn’t have an immediate answer as to what food she wanted for dinner. “On that note, I’ll go with poke myself. Some sushi-like thing at least sounds good.”
1247	Kiara giggled, “Guess it’s settled then. We’ve got a room on the top floor, it doesn’t make sense to have this stuff with us at the place even though it’s literally one walk away…”
1248
1249	Now the four girls all sat at the empty poke restaurant, hovering over a table near one of the entrances. Each of them had a full bowl of white rice, topped with unmarinated raw fish of various sorts and an array of toppings that seemed interesting. Kiara chose salmon and hamachi as her fish, and she topped hers with luscious seaweed salad and spring onion, and completed that with a drizzle of spicy mayonnaise. As she took a bite out of her bowl, she noticed the other girls eating slowly, not saying a word to each other. She thought that she was not really experiencing Long Beach as she thought she should. Normally, they talked together about literally everything, but this time was different.
1250	She was the first to break the silence. “I’m scared too…”
1251	Lily spooned some tuna and crab salad into her mouth. “We all are. I know that it’s hard for us to talk when we’re scared about stuff.”
1252	Right at that instant, several boys and girls from all the teams stormed the restaurant, swarming the server with so many orders that he had to force them all in a less-than-orderly queue at the counter. Kiara sighed, thinking that she wouldn’t be able to voice her thoughts at all that night. As she continued eating, she noticed Isabella and Amber both approaching her, but she herself couldn’t do anything but wave back.
1253	“Is it alright if we joined you four?” the former asked politely.
1254	“We’ve got some stuff that might help you out…” the latter mentioned discreetly, such that only Kiara could hear that.
1255	Crystal and Lily nodded, and the two LDB girls pulled up two chairs to join the group of four. “So apparently, Jerry and them are going to be here. I don’t have anything about where they are, though…” Isabella and Amber whispered at the very same time.
1256	Kiara’s eyes widened in shock. She had the intuition that they’d show up at their race, but the second clause really shook her. There was no way she could figure out why they’d come. “I thought they forgot about us entirely…?” she whispered back. “I mean, back at Vancouver, I thought I saw Jerry again, but he wasn’t really…there…”
1257	Lydia’s expression pained itself also. “Then at the tofu place, Daven was not there? That makes absolutely no sense…”
1258	Isabella answered, “Yeah, we haven’t seen any of the four in a really long time. But chances are, they’re gonna be together probably. I just thought it would be nice for you to know. May we eat with you?”
1259	Crystal responded quickly. “Go ahead, we’ll wait for you. I’m probably going to go and contemplate some things after this, so, uh…yeah.”
1260	The six girls again ate in silence, while the restaurant only further unfurled into deep chaos and disorder. At least they all came in time before the mess even started, Kiara thought. Shouldn’t matter when everything’s gone.
1261
1262	9 PM, and she thought of a couple of different scenarios that could go down tomorrow and the day after that. Or, at least, she had drafted possible courses of action to take for whatever might happen.
1263	“The pool looks nice and quaint tonight. Maybe I’ll go for a little dunk in the hot tub? I need to relax before the big day,” she said to herself. “No need for a swimsuit, because at least no one cares about it.”
1264	Kiara slipped off her tank top, having a black sports bra underneath. Setting the tank top down on some random chair, she descended into the hot tub, nice and bubbly as she was the first person to use it that day. She let out an “Aaaah…” upon contact, leaning back slowly and letting the warmth overtake her. Her eyes instantly closed themselves, but not so that she would fall asleep in that place. White foam, the bubbling of the machine that produced those bubbles, and a cool breeze was all that she could hear at that time.
1265	The door to the pool opened up, and another girl made her way over to the hot tub, dressed similarly as she was. It was Lydia. “So, what’s up?” Kiara asked, not really looking anywhere particular.
1266	“Ah, the usual. I don’t think Crystal or Lily will come down here tonight. Neither will anyone else…” Lydia breathed, glaring back at the door to make sure that statement was indeed true. “I thought I might enjoy this night sky one last time.”
1267	“But why do you say ‘one last time?’ Is the worst the worst for you? Do you mean that we’re gonna fail, or die succeeding?”
1268	It seemed like the water’s temperature was increasing pretty quickly for the both of them. “Kiara, honestly, I can’t say what’s going to happen tomorrow and Sunday. But whatever does happen…” Lydia began.
1269	“We’ll succeed in the end, no matter what,” Kiara concluded, shaking the other girl’s hand firmly and with a fierce determination in her eyes. “That was nice and relaxing, I’m going to go sleep now. Night.”
1270	“I’ll see you at 6 tomorrow morning, then.”
1271
1272*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMZ0je45cqg to view the song. Song is written by Tsukishiro Hikari, and yes, the name is only “h.”
1273
1274Chapter XX: Bridge
1275??? - ???
1276(n/a)
1277
1278	I cannot do it now!
1279	Please. You were sworn to fight them. And to crush them!
1280	No, no, no…what are you doing to me?
1281	I am instilling within you the will to execute your last duties on this earth! As a warrior for the Crusher of Darkness!
1282	You cannot do that!
1283	A series of screams, all in different pitches, and then the rumbling of a spot in the earth.
1284	Yes, rise and terrorise the world! Show them what true darkness entails! Crush their darkness and replace it with even darker shadows! Bring about the world without light, where no more does good and evil have to battle!
1285	Someday we’ll…not…
1286	Resisting, I see? It is no use!
1287	The sound of a shard of glass shattering on the floor, and then another scream, this time in only one pitch.
1288	It is useless to fight. Against me and my will! Your only use is to fight FOR me.
1289	No…n…o…es…YES!
1290	Now bring about your destruction!
1291
1292Chapter 41: First Day of the Last Days
1293ILLENIUM - Free Fall (ft. RUNN) (Kompany Remix)
1294(Kiara)
1295
1296	“Hey, wake up. It’s time…” a feminine voice spoke softly.
1297	Kiara rose from her slumber, rubbing her eyes slowly. She noticed the hotel room was completely closed off from any light entering, so it took her a while to see what was around her. The room light turned on, and her three friends were already dressed in their respective teams’ jerseys, making their last preparations with themselves. “You should change,” Lily said. “There’s breakfast downstairs in the lobby.”
1298	She complied, literally throwing on her own jersey and black windbreaker. For a minute, she contemplated on whether to bring along the windbreaker, looking slightly confused in the first place. She decided not to, and left it neatly laid on one of the two beds. Making sure she had everything, she and the girls left their room and prepared to head down to the lobby. It didn’t take that long to get there because the stairs were not that steep, so at least, for her, that was a huge relief.
1299	“What’s this?” she asked upon reaching the bottom step. “I thought everything was right in front of us.”
1300	Lydia giggled a little bit. “Well, it’s right…” she scanned the ground floor for signs of paddlers or a table of food. “Right there! Do you see now?”
1301	Kiara nodded, and the four of them approached the table. All of the paddlers looked over at them and saluted as they passed by, but the Lowell girl didn’t think of herself as worthy of being treated almost like God in that moment. In fact, that was what she didn’t want at all. “Are you ready, guys? I sure am,” she mused nervously to yet another group of LDB paddlers. She certainly didn’t feel ready for the races themselves.
1302	Audrey and Ryan looked over at her and flashed a thumbs-up before returning to some conversation about their team’s future. Kiara, with her three friends, each picked up a plate and loaded it with breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, and sausage patties before sitting down at the bar.
1303	“Is it always gonna be like this?” Crystal wondered out loud, sneaking a bite of the three items mixed together. “Race and then chaotic event?”
1304	The phrase was enough to attract Nathan over, actually, both the Nathans from LDB and CYC, respectively. The one on LDB was certainly one of the most promising paddlers Kiara had ever met, considering his often hyper personality. In addition, she had already heard lots about the one on CYC, and she came to the conclusion that both of them together would absolutely slay any competition on the waters of Long Beach.
1305	“Did you say something?” they both asked simultaneously.
1306	“No,” Kiara lied. “But we do know for sure that you’ll be on the same boat. The younger Nathan probably needs to get adjusted to these waters.”
1307	That named person shot back, “So do you, you’ve never paddled here before!”
1308	The group of six started laughing quietly before continuing their eating of that breakfast. “He’s not wrong,” Lily and Lydia commented together, bumping each other on the elbow.
1309	“Ah hell, the bus is about ready to go. Team! Hurry up and finish your stuff so that we can head over to the race venue. Got it?” Crystal commanded, herself finishing her food almost instantly and taking a swig of water to go with it.
1310	“Got it. I’m about ready too…” Kiara worded. “I’m going to head over to the bus now. I’m gonna drive.”
1311	“What? Since when…?” the other three leaders protested. “I thought you didn’t have a license!”
1312	“Let’s not talk about that. If you want to, you could sit at the front with me and blast some good drum and bass to get the vibe going, you know?”
1313
1314	For the place being named Long Beach, the weather certainly didn’t seem very beach-like, even though it was already 11:30 AM. Some sort of fog seemed to overtake the place, shrouding everything in some sort of mist that could barely be seen through. And it was almost really, really cold there, a stark contrast to the warmth of SoCal that Kiara expected as she boarded the bus. But it was hot yesterday…did something suddenly change in heaven’s plans?
1315	“Didn’t expect the weather to change so quickly. I should’ve brought my windbreaker, I think.”
1316	Crystal lamented, “I agree, but maybe paddling during our races will warm us up somewhat?”
1317	“I suppose. Third boat, line up and prepare to marshal!” Kiara called, setting down the clipboard she was holding. “I’d jog over to that area, by the way…”
1318	The thing about Long Beach that she didn’t expect was the long, LONG walk from the tent over to the festivities. It certainly wasn’t the kilometre long hike at Vancouver, but it was enough to stress any paddler about arriving on time. She had heard stories of crews being disqualified from a race because they arrived too late to marshalling, due in part to the lack of judgment in leaving their tents earlier. And if her event was to continue, then she’d have to make sure that everyone showed up to every race on time.
1319	“Do you want to take a walk to get some lunch?” she asked her three co-leaders. “I don’t think breakfast was enough for me, honestly.”
1320	Lily glared harshly at her. “Not the best idea…I think we’re on soon. This heat is gonna be really, really tough.”
1321	“Yeah, all of the college teams are here too. UCI, Cal, and all of them. Apparently some international teams are in here too, and they’re GOOD,” Lydia brought up, squinting to look at the boats in the distant water. “Hey, what’re you doing? Do you really want to die now?”
1322	The four random paddlers looked up at her, before sulking away from the tidal lines and back to some other random place within the team’s tent. “At least wear some flip-flops or something like that…” she sighed before turning over to the sheet with the race grid.
1323	“Time? I believe so,” Lily announced to her comrades, donning her PFD and materialising her special paddle. “Let’s head out and stop some chaos…?”
1324
1325	“Paddlers, are you ready?” announced a highly unfamiliar voice.
1326	Kiara suddenly awoke from her daze. Since when was she on the dragon boat? Who would do such a thing as to just randomly throw her there, not giving a damn as to where she was placed? Why was her paddle violently pulsating red, crimson energy? “God, I can’t…” she thought for a long time, before attempting to jam her paddle in the water like how everyone else was.
1327	Time seemed to flow well with her, however, and the “Attention…” she was expecting never really came. She felt like every action she took was being captured frame by frame, and she could only perform actions at the will of someone else. Like something was possessing the entire venue, holding everyone from the start of the race. And she couldn’t do anything but conform to the will of that someone, the very thing she didn’t want to have happen at all.
1328	“Let the darkness come and crush all…” she could make out a voice coming from beneath her boat as she finally managed to land her aching paddle in that perfect A-frame, before suddenly plunging in with a blazing-fast entry.
1329	“Attention…”
1330	“Who’s there?” she wanted to scream, and she felt many times that she was damn close to doing so. Something inside her was keeping her mouth shut, or maybe it was her brain shutting down slowly, preparing for the one thing that it knew how to do. To fight for the goal that she and her friends had set those months ago.
1331	“Bring your boat up, Boat 5. We will race without you.”
1332	Kiara wasn’t going to let anything distract her from this goal. All she knew was saving the world. Like how Jerry had done so more than a year ago, and Sam did too. All of those thoughts ran throughout her mind, but it only served to channel into the paddle’s power, making it shine an even deeper crimson. Whatever that was doing for her apparently worked magic for her other three heroines as well, as she felt that sisterly bond making its way from the four different places that they sat in to the boat’s centre.
1333	And when it dispersed itself in a shining light, the four colours of blue, red, yellow, and violet glimmered down on the boat they all sat in, and the hiss of the gates being sucked into the water sounded clearly this time.
1334	But she, Kiara, wasn’t focused on the particular sound. She was focused on just insane power to contribute to her friends, her family even. No small side thought could take her mind away from that. That was what ended the race almost instantly, at least for her.
1335
1336Chapter 42: Preparations for the Final
1337Makoto Shinkai & RADWIMPS - Weathering With You OST: Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do? (Soraru Cover)
1338(Lydia)
1339
1340	“We’ve got our plans finalised, then?” asked one of the paddlers on Lydia’s phone.
1341	Obviously, it came by text, because she had disabled all calls to that phone, just like all of her other heroine friends. By this point, the day before the second day of Long Beach, everyone felt the immense pressure that lay on them to perform. Lydia knew that she had a different kind of pressure on her. And her life clearly depended on it.
1342	She picked up her phone and began to type another message. “Go to sleep. You need all of the rest you can get.”
1343	Once again, she sighed and set her phone down again. Did she feel ready at all? Were her friends ready? So many questions flooded her mind, and she really didn’t want to answer any of them at all. Not a thing came to her clearly, not even her friends’ encouraging words from many years past. She didn’t have a clue as to what to do so that she could sleep and take a rest from it all. “Maybe that’s what I need to do. To see my friends one last time before this shit goes completely downhill…”
1344	Lydia noted that the other three heroines weren’t present in the room with her. It was 9:45 PM already. Did they eat dinner that late? Do they normally? Whatever, she thought. Taking the room key into her pocket, she exited her room and headed over to the elevators. Fortunately, when she arrived there, one elevator had just arrived on the floor, doors opening for her with no one waiting inside. When she entered the car, the doors immediately shut, transporting her down to the ground floor.
1345	She saw the lobby and all its emptiness. Something seemed to be off, with there being no one in there from her team chilling out over TikToks or Snapchat streaks. She did manage, however, to spot Lily on one of the couches with a small cup of water, seeming to contemplate…something relating to the last day at hand. Lydia walked over to her, sliding in to take the seat adjacent. “Something the matter?”
1346	Lily stared blankly in front of the both of them. “I just finished writing my last words to my family and the team. I think you should too.”
1347	Lydia’s face turned puzzled all of a sudden. “What do you mean? I didn’t know that we’d just give up on any hope of life tomorrow.”
1348	“Look!” The Lincoln girl took a neatly-folded piece of white paper, unfolding it to reveal a page with small handwriting, casually printed in black ink. Three distinct sets of writing took up three quadrants of the page, and she held out the same black pen to the GCD girl. “I feel like our wills should be known if we die tomorrow. In any case, I’ll let you do your own thing, I’ll be going to sleep now.”
1349	As Lily rose to prepare to leave for the room, Lydia called her back. “Wait! When did you get the other two to write these things?”
1350	Lily didn’t turn around to answer her question. She continued walking towards the stairs, saying back, “They wrote this a long time before we came here together. Good night.”
1351
1352	What was Lydia to tell her team? What things did she want to make clear before,  perhaps, the last time she was going to see them? Obviously she didn’t think that she’d simply just die tomorrow, but what did it take? She recalled the fact that Daven managed to escape death last year, something that she hoped was going to happen.
1353	Hope.
1354	That was the thing she was riding on. She didn’t want to recognise that there were actually two phases of hope. The hope of triumph, and the hope of coming out alive. Everyone hoped that, actually. Her only question was on capability, and if the wise words of her friends and alumni would help her out in the hour she needed it most.
1355	She carefully unfolded the paper with the writing on it. All of the pen’s strokes told a different story, one for each of the writers. She’d be the fourth one to tell her story and her wishes, which was the main thing that she was here for.
1356	“How do I start this? I don’t want to go cliché and all that.”
1357	Her hand grasped the pen, and unwillingly clicked the base to reveal the metallic point, seemingly dipped in black ichor. Almost like she was commanding the blood of the dragon boat gods to put her into a state of godhood herself…no, that wasn’t true. Lydia knew that she couldn’t be a god, at least not in a divine sense. And neither did her other friends think that. She pored over what the others had written, thinking of words that had the same message, but had her own style to it. “I was never good at writing…” she whispered before looking over the top-left quarter.
1358	“To you, the paddlers of the four teams that I had the honour and privilege of meeting. In the event that everything goes wrong as you see this, I just want to let you know something. When I needed humour, you always gave it to me. When I joked around, you joked with me. Whenever I paddled, you gave me the motivation to continue, even though I literally wanted, several times, to drop this sport entirely. You see, you’ve done so much for me. Drama, jokes and all, you guys have helped shape me into the person I am today. Let me make to you a promise. Lowell Dragon Boat, keep your passion and your personality alive for future paddlers to experience, just as I did. And for the rest of you, promise me that whenever disaster strikes, you’ll remember who you were and once again become one, like how I and the previous generation did before. Kiara.”
1359	Lydia’s eyes already started to water. The pure emotion that she could sense from such an ecstatic and bubbly person was honestly unreal for her. She didn’t express much aside from happiness herself, and yet she could feel herself in Kiara’s shoes, dying with honour after a long, well-earned triumph. She decided to brace herself before going to read the brief paragraph in the top-right corner.
1360	“Team. I only have one wish for you. Carry on as you’ve been doing for the past year now. You’ll make me proud no matter any result. That isn’t going to change if I survive the battle or if I die. 做你想在這世界看的變動…Lily.”
1361	(Be the change you want to see in the world.)
1362	Lily’s words reflected her: simple and to the point. Lydia felt every bit of that message just as much as she did Kiara’s. It might have had a sharper undertone, but she had the idea that the paddlers would think of that writing as one of the last commandments their “gods” gave to them. Maybe she’d write that they shouldn’t be deified anymore. In any case, she turned her attention to the bottom-left corner’s writing.
1363	“Everyone…before I leave, I have something that’s been on my mind that I want to tell you right now, simply because I don’t think I’ll be around to tell you. Three words: I love you. For everything. That’s my reason, and I know it’s selfish of me to just leave you behind because of something I have to do and that I’m uncertain about. Please be sure to be friendly with each other, be the peers that you’ll talk to beyond college. As for me…don’t worry about me. In the end, I’m no more important than all of you in the quest to be heroes and heroines. Thank you all so very much. Crystal.”
1364	That almost broke Lydia’s emotions entirely. At this point, tears were now visibly flowing, such that anyone a couple of metres away could see them fall down onto the floor. Weirdly enough, her sobs were not accompanied by any other noises other than the AC running through the place. She didn’t have the strength to pick up the pen and write her letter, lest the tears run onto that paper and ruin everything already written. Like how she’d ruin the very meaning of those messages had she carried on. She rose to walk over to the front desk in search of a box of Kleenex, and she didn’t really have to walk very far. Soon afterwards, she was back at her seat, dabbing her eyes with that tissue paper while thinking of lines that would surely coax out her paddlers’ emotions.
1365	Placing the pen to the paper in the bottom-right quarter, she began to write in a neat cursive, something she wasn’t necessarily used to writing.
1366	“Dear paddlers of the four teams. One year ago, we did not know what we got ourselves into when four strong individuals from these four teams united all of us together. It took me a long time to realise that our unification once was not merely some coincidence. It caused me to expand my network to meet new people, ones that I wouldn’t have met if we just stayed separate. And for that, I thank you. What else could I thank you for? You taught me that everyone is an important figure for the greater good, but you yourself are the greatest change that you can make. It might be hard for me to write this now, but I’m sure that you will get the message. I’ll remember until the moment I die what you’ve done for me. Honestly, I’m not sure when that moment will be because of what’s been happening this past year. If I die tomorrow, remember us—and do. Good luck. Lydia.”
1367	Lydia scanned the paper for any errors or wordings that she didn’t like, but didn’t find any such things. Satisfied, she neatly folded the paper up back into four, and she set it on the table underneath one of the lamps. Finally, she rose from her spot and strolled straight over to her room, where she found the other three leaders sleeping soundly, yet nervously. Almost like the feeling that something would go wrong later would actually happen right then and there.
1368	“Good night, guys. I’ll let someone know when to read our notes…” she breathed softly to herself before falling asleep next to Crystal. “Let’s pray before we sleep…we’re going to need it all…”
1369
1370Chapter 43: Ascent From a Distant Place
1371Zeds Dead & REZZ - Into The Abyss
1372(Crystal)
1373
1374	Morning.
1375	“Good morning!” the four leaders screamed simultaneously before donning their jerseys and bolting out their room to a lobby full of attentive, yet scared paddlers.
1376	Crystal felt scared herself. She had come all this way, learning tactics for leading, paddling, and overall friendliness. That was why she had the smart idea of writing a final note, just in case the unthinkable truly happened. Where the note was, she didn’t have a single idea of it. At least it was in good hands, wherever it was at the moment.
1377	“Let’s get on the bus now. Have you all eaten well?” Lily called out, herself having the same concern.
1378	The entire team grabbed all of their things and bolted right past the leaders and through the doors. Crystal took that as a sign of the resounding determination in all of their minds, translated nonverbally into the familiar three-letter word signalling affirmation. Yes, she sensed. They were ready to move on and fall into their battle positions on the salty beach at Marine Stadium. However, so many uncertainties remained inside herself, and she simply stared down at the ground for a little bit of time.
1379	Kiara approached her and put an arm around her shoulder, asking, “Are you alright? Something’s off. You’re not usually like this.”
1380	The other two girls stood by Crystal’s other side, saying nothing as they also draped their arms around each other and walked simultaneously to the bus, where everything would change for them when they stepped inside…
1381	Upon making that step inside, they strode to the back of that bus, ignoring any requests for their attention. Those were plentiful, and Crystal didn’t want them, instead preferring to spend her time thinking about their plan. The doors closed, and the bus started to pick up speed, accelerating from zero to too many kilometres per hour almost instantly. She didn’t feel any of it, however, as she was so deep in meditation that nothing could break her. Not even the chaos of the bus could do anything to ruin her train of thought. Not even the bus stopping at the venue almost as instantly as it started up could. But her mind was now clear.
1382	“Let’s get it. Lydia. Kiara. Lily.”
1383	Those last words were said with a completely dark undertone. She knew that she was prepared for anything to happen now.
1384
1385	“Wait, since when were you all here?” Crystal laughed with the group of people all older than her. “I thought more of the alumni were gonna be here…”
1386	“Yeah, Bryant. When did we all get here?” a female CYC alumna teased towards a male one, who simply laughed back, much to her surprise. “Anyway, Crystal, it’s really nice to see you again!”
1387	She blushed and hugged that person. “Aww, Bella…that means so much to me and all of us here! How’s UCSD treating you?”
1388	“Really nicely actually! But dragon boating is really hard down here, especially since we discovered that the competition is much fiercer,” Bella replied back. “Bryant told me that UCLA is even rougher. But we’re gonna perform better than them, right?”
1389	The alumnus Bryant laughed again. “Alright, bet. Crystal, do you think that my team wins or her team wins?”
1390	Right at that moment, another alumna, Serena, happened to stroll by the four teams’ tent. “Oh my God, I didn’t expect to hear you all talking about dragon boat at a dragon boat race. Hi Crystal!” she waved back as she joined the group.
1391	“Ah, UCI is here to represent, hm?” Bryant asked. “I’m looking forward to our race together. Try to land in the same mixed final as us…”
1392	Crystal slapped Bryant’s chest lightly. “We already are! Division IA is gonna be the most fun race that we’ll experience in our lives, I think,” she said with a more scared tone.
1393	The non-paddling alumni, Lu-Aung, Cameron, and Andrew, also showed some sort of scaredness. “Probably because we had to go through Sam’s antics last year. Does that mean that she’s…related in some way?” Lu questioned. “I didn’t think that could happen again, much less the following year.”
1394	Cameron added, “Speaking of that…wouldn’t Sam be here with us? He was always dedicated to this team, I can safely assume that he still is…”
1395	Andrew also looked around, failing to catch any sight of that particular alumnus. “You’re right! Where do you think he is right now?”
1396	At that, Crystal hung her head down, falling to the soft sand on her knees. “Yeah…I can’t answer that. I’ve tried contacting him, but I haven’t been successful whatsoever since March. I’m really worried right now…” she began sobbing, reminiscing about her memories with him and how they might shatter eventually.
1397	“I’m just not sure at this point…” she muttered even softer. “I think it’s time for us to go now. Good luck, guys. May we meet again someday…”
1398	She turned around and prepared to call the first boat to gear up, but she didn’t need to do any of that. It was time for Division IB final, but a rumbling from the core of the earth seemed to stop any plans at that. That rumbling first started out small, then increased in magnitude to become an almost unbearable earthquake as something seemed literally to rise out of the waters.
1399	“Is that what you meant by ‘May we meet again someday?’” all the CYC alumni screamed as they attempted to find something to hold onto for dear life.
1400	Crystal turned around to face them, materialising a carbon-fibre paddle out of thin air from a midnight-blue portal. Her body became enclosed in a black material with similar blue stripes that crossed her chest horizontally, leaving only her arms, legs, and head exposed to sight. Those lines also glowed brightly, shining even brighter than the sun they all stood in. She turned over to the other heroines, who activated their armour and summoned their paddles in much the same way, the only difference being with the colour of their teams.
1401	“That is what I meant, you’re right. The place calls to me. I must battle and triumph for my fate…”
1402	The alumni all looked surprised, but seemed to accept the destiny that lay on them. “And you’ll fight for our fate too. Promise me that you’ll survive.”
1403	The four heroines set out on their way, crossing the tent and finding the tidal line, all to begin their part of the final journey they’d take together, possibly ever. Crystal looked back longingly for a few seconds, and noticed the alumni all throwing hearts at her. “Captains, you’ve got them from here. We’ll get you all from over there…”
1404
1405Chapter 44: Building Up in Defence Mode
1406Evilwave vs. 1788-L vs. Trivecta & Varien - Calm Down vs. S E N T I E N C E vs. Revelation
1407(Lily)
1408
1409	The thing about water was that it meant that there was always a way to cross it. Lily saw the giant structure that just towered above them, rising, quite literally, to the sky. It was just a complete dark tower, yet with strong influences of Roman architecture, complete with the colosseum look. One pair of wings jetted out from either side of the tower, swaying and creating an artificial wind towards the four heroines. Lastly, a singular arch opened up right in front of their eyes, but no bridge existed to bring them over to the tower, or…colosseum. Lily didn’t know which it was.
1410	A menacing aura seemed to radiate from the unholy building. Almost as if it was taunting the four girls to enter and fight whatever things resided inside. She again didn’t know what to make of it, aside from a requirement to keep the world that she knew alive.
1411	“How are we gonna get across…?” Crystal timidly questioned.
1412	“Don’t know. There isn’t anything there for us to use to make a bridge or anything,” Lydia noted. “It’d take years to get all the sand here in such a way that it could hold the weight of four girls, let alone four MOVING girls.”
1413	Quickly, however, a display seemed to form in the sky right in the side of the tower. Maybe it was a hologram, but again, why question what it was? Seven diamond-shaped segments appeared on that display, and then fourteen, and then twenty-one, and then twenty-eight. Fourteen more appeared to the right of the rightmost segment, although smaller. They all arranged themselves into a familiar shape, one of an 8 that older microwaves usually displayed. Directly afterwards, four words popped up above the display, one that couldn’t read a cornier message.
1414	“End of the world in:”
1415	“Oh, come on! So we’re pressured for time now?” Kiara moaned, setting her paddle into the water, causing a red light to form around the T-grip she submerged.
1416	“Wait! Kiara, you said…” Lily started, an idea having popped up in her head.
1417	“Time! Did I…OH!” Kiara screamed. “That makes WAY more sense now! How are we going to get across this water?”
1418	The display, noting the explanation Kiara had, did some random initialising of the digits, and then displayed “30:00.00” in big, bold, red letters. Everyone could see the numbers counting down the centiseconds until doomsday. Lily didn’t even want to think about how the world might end should the timer reach zero, but she and her other friends had no other choice but to solve the puzzle.
1419	“Lily, I have an idea. Let’s try flying across. Kiara’s got the wings from the old mechanical demon,” Crystal stated. “But wait…how are we going to keep the other paddlers safe while we’re in there?”
1420	“Well, you’ve got the sheet!” the named person responded. “The one from the hyper-ultimate pantheon?”
1421	“You know you can just refer to them by their real names, right?” Lily shouted at the both of them, sounding more than a little bit annoyed. “Think about it. The dragon and the army…there’ll be no bridge for us. We’re the ones that have to get the help of the paddlers, the army…”
1422	“To paddle the DRAGON boat? Then the paddlers aren’t gonna be safe,” Lydia shot back. “But you did mention the dragon and the army.”
1423	The four heroines all bickered, and the timer still counted down steadily. Lily estimated that they had about twenty minutes remaining, and a quick glance at the timer confirmed that she was off severely.
1424	“It’s at 14:19 right now. Come on and let’s think!” she snapped, now clearly straining her mind for any other ideas that didn’t require the usage of any of their special weapons. “How can we bridge together two unknowns…?”
1425	“Swimming’s out of the question, there’s no way that we’ll touch the arch in time…” Kiara and Crystal noted. “Is that all we have to do?” they asked simultaneously. “If so, then it’s going to be so much easier to cross.”
1426	Lily looked around, peering at the arch. No spot on it looked particularly suspicious, but she decided that an honest attempt at a solution wouldn’t hurt anyone. She aimed her paddle at the arch’s vertex, and fired a yellow energy ball at it. The ball travelled in a lazy arc, taking its time before eventually landing at its target. It stuck there for a few milliseconds, then suddenly got pulled into the arch.
1427	From above, the display suddenly changed from reading a time of 08:24.93 to flashing “WARNING! SYSTEM OVERLOAD. WARNING! SYSTEM OVERLOAD.” The heroines all showed a sign of confusedness, but it changed to shock when all of a sudden, that changed to reading a time of 02:00.00. And that time started counting down instantly.
1428	“Okay, well, at least we have an idea…” Lydia mentioned stressedly by elongating the “well” part of her sentence. “Some combination of us shooting at the arch will cause the timer to stop at least…”
1429	Crystal shot back, “If one person shooting caused us to lose six minutes, then imagine what four people shooting would have. We’d have negative time, and that’s not possible. Maybe if the device was nice it’d stop at zero.” That last statement she huffed out, aiming her paddle for the arch.
1430	A stunned Kiara whirled around in her spot, shouting, “Are you just gonna turn away like that? After we went through all of that?”
1431	“Just fire it right now! Then we’ll all die honourably!” Crystal stammered, shakily attempting to steady herself.
1432	“On one condition. We’ll all do it together,” Lily and Lydia both ordered. “Honourably and together. Is that clear?”
1433	The other two nodded sullenly, and then knelt down and prepared to fire. “On my call. Ready…”
1434	Lily looked up at the timer. 00:05.75. If she ruined the timing of her paddle, then she knew that they had already failed before reaching their true destination. Yet she felt the force of something within her, guiding her as to when to shoot.
1435	“Aim…”
1436	A glint of yellow passed right by her eye, and then a vision of emeralds. Yeah, she knew what the thing holding her hand was, even though it was all mental at this point.
1437	“Fire!”
1438	The four heroines shot balls of energy that represented their respective teams’ colours, each of them striking the arch at the same time. And all of a sudden, the timer stopped counting down. Had they ruined it for everyone? Did she make the wrong call for them? Was the world all over now? Lily caught Lydia looking up at the timer, and she pointed to it and tried saying something, but the former couldn’t hear anything. All she paid attention to was a rumbling from the start line of the race course, which signified that the world had not ended, that there indeed was still a fighting chance. As for the timer, it read zero.
1439	Chunks of black rock rose out of the water sequentially, forming the bridge that the heroines all desired. It was all jagged and crooked, but it didn’t really matter for them. They scampered across the bridge, entering the tower-colosseum hybrid hand-in-hand.
1440
1441Chapter XX: Breakdown
1442??? - ???
1443(n/a)
1444
1445	The time has come, I am ready to face them.
1446	Yeah, well, so am I. When will the battle start?
1447	That depends on whenever they get here.
1448	Everything does. But I still have my doubts about whether this should be done or not.
1449	A sound beating reverberating through the area.
1450	Of course it is! They will be surprised when they find it. It is still required that this be done.
1451	In that case, we wait.
1452	And I hope.
1453	Silence returning to that area, and then darkness closing in on the known number of figures in there.
1454	My time is now, a quiet voice whispered.
1455
1456Chapter 45: Enter the Colosseum Again
1457SNAILS & Kill The Noise - Front 2 Back (ft. Sullivan King)
1458(Crystal)
1459
1460	The gates closed behind the four heroines, meaning that they were safely…well, not completely safely…inside the place. Unlike the colosseum in Vancouver, this interior was completely coated in hellish shadow, with a demonic chanting coming from what seemed to be the centre of the arena. Crystal guessed that sort of thing was common with darker entities, especially with this particular entity being a complete counterpart, in a sense.
1461	“Are you scared?” a mysterious voice called out of nowhere. “Come and begin your journey through what will be your literal hell!”
1462	“Who’s that?” shouted Lily in some random direction, hoping that her voice would reach somewhere.
1463	Golden light seemed to flow out of the four leaders, filling in the shape of a familiar being. One mechanical star god, to be precise. In particular, it was just one part of it, composed of a body and a memory.
1464	“It has been a while since Windsor and I saw you last,” Seraphis droned on. “It only takes coming into the domain of my evil counterpart to awaken the two of us together.”
1465	“But to get the remainder of the parts, Frahje, Trigo, Dukdey, and Aquor, you all will have to awaken that yourself. As of now, we can only guide you to your final destination.”
1466	Crystal paused a minute, and then asked what she thought was a rather simple question. “So you will choose the paths that we have to take, then? Makes sense to me…”
1467	“Yes. You are correct,” Windsor answered. “We cannot tell you how to triumph over what beings lie here.”
1468	Seraphis added on, “Unlike in our colosseum, the creatures and gods here are much tougher. I would highly advise you to be highly careful. Everything here deals plenty of damage. So much, in fact, that I would dare say that a single hit could obliterate all four of you at once.”
1469	The girls’ mouths curled into an O for a fraction of a second, then returned to normal immediately afterwards. “Oh…do you suppose you have any protection magic spell? Something?” Kiara asked next. “Because if you don’t think our armour is enough, then…”
1470	“It really is not. Again, Seraphis mentioned this already,” Windsor sighed mechanically. “I would also advise you to hurry up and make your decisions. You see that spot on the wall there?”
1471	Obediently, the girls moved their heads over to a more suspicious spot on the wall. A red display showed itself over that spot, displaying 60 minutes. Quickly, the timer started to tick down the milliseconds, just like the one outside the colosseum. Crystal had a feeling that she had to eliminate the timer completely, but she didn’t know quite how to.
1472	“The timer will extend as you continue your battles in here. Aside from that, that is all we can tell you. Now go beat Despharion!”
1473	With that, Seraphis and Windsor vanished into golden dust, and the dust started to form a new pattern. Eventually, it led to an arrow coming through and pointing to some point deeper within the stone labyrinth of the dark colosseum. The leaders glanced at it, and then walked along its path. Along the way, they passed by three coloured marshmallow-looking objects that carried weirdly coloured shields that somehow matched them. They were fighting each other playfully, not really noticing the heroines passing by into the next room at all.
1474	“Why did it get so hot all of a sudden? Did the creators of this armour not invent any cooling system?” Lydia asked loudly, retracting the sleeves and noticing the others doing the same.
1475	Crystal attempted to answer, but noticed the burning red dragon breathing smoke through its nostrils before she could even say the words required. Three fireballs burst out of the smokescreen before splitting into three smaller ones, forcing them all to split out of the group they huddled in. Yet she sensed some sort of weakness that it had.
1476	“Let’s try and perform another combo attack! Remember like how we did back in Vancouver?” she shouted, pulling out the white sheet that she had from earlier.
1477	“Sounds good! Guys, now!” Lydia screamed, unleashing several violet bolts out of the end of her paddle while turning it around in so many directions.
1478	The rest of them did the very same, not relenting in their strikes. As the dragon felt itself being battered by pure energy, it roared loudly and shot a load of tiny fireballs in a complete circle. They seemed to dance around tauntingly, almost wishing that someone would touch any one fireball and get incinerated on contact. A few seconds of floating around later, they homed in on Kiara, who struggled to don the wings Jerry knew and upgraded personally.
1479	“Get out of the way!” Lily and Crystal commanded, showering the surrounded girl in a sphere of golden blue energy. “At this rate, we’ll only last for a few more seconds!”
1480	“A-ha! Take this!” Kiara shouted back, unleashing the spike flurry at the dragon.
1481	It roared one last time before fading away into dust. From its remains, a timer popped up out of the ground, which read 57:46. Crystal didn’t know how long they’d spent there, but it really didn’t matter. A slot on the far end of that room opened up, revealing a light down near the end. The heroines all rushed towards that light, not knowing at all what to expect from that point on.
1482
1483Black Tiger Sex Machine - Hell Motel
1484
1485	The four progressed right on to the next room to see something that they’d never seen before. A giant wolf, to be precise, and it seemed to be bound in some sort of thread, but it was able to move about and roar menacingly at them all.
1486	“Which of you knows any sort of mythology at all?” Crystal shouted, trying to analyse its movement and patterns. “I don’t really know any sort of wolf-legends that exist.”
1487	The wolf once again roared, but this time, the heroines all felt their energy being drained from themselves. Crystal felt it especially, dropping down to one knee and gasping in pain, causing the other three to rush over to her carefully. “Are you alright, Crystal?” Lydia asked. “I might know what that thing is.”
1488	“Fenrir…the enemy of some of the gods themselves. At least, that was the case in Norse mythology. He also happens to be one of the most unique…” Lily tried saying, but was cut off by Lydia. “Is now the time?”
1489	Kiara noticed the wolf Fenrir raise its front legs up, signalling the rest of them to prepare a jump. “He’s gonna slam! And perhaps he’ll charge at us and gore us all!” she screamed.
1490	Crystal attempted to get up, but received help from both Lydia and Lily as the paws came down on the ground, sending a large ripple throughout the ground. “This is what jump squats were so helpful for, I guess…” Lydia mumbled.
1491	“You know what? I was just about to say that!” Crystal exclaimed, forcing out a little giggle.
1492	“And now it’s weak! Get it!” Lily commanded, emptying a round of yellow energy upon Fenrir, the rest of them following suit. Within one minute, the beast was slain, and the next room opened up for them.
1493	Briskly, they all paced towards it, not noticing the timer reading 55:02. They noticed, upon passing through, that they now faced some birthday-party decorations, as Lily called them. These creatures always blew streamers in the most disgusting pitches and rhythms, so much so that the heroines had to cover their ears all the while. Maybe that was why Crystal suffered so much, she thought, as she had to hear all that din from however far away. Regardless, Kiara simply activated her wings, shooting out four single spikes that drilled into four of the beings. “Pyyy…” they droned as they broke down even further.
1494	“That’s what they were called, huh,” Lydia said to Crystal as they moved on forwards to the following chamber. “I have a feeling I know where these things are all coming from, but I’m not sure about its truth or not.”
1495	Crystal turned around to her. “In what way?”
1496	“I don’t know how to explain it…” Lydia responded sadly. “I do have a feeling as to what we’re going to be battling against come the next few chambers.”
1497	Speaking of that, as soon as she said those words, the four of them arrived at the next chamber to a very…flamboyant “Get over it!” echoing to them.
1498	Crystal looked over at the being that quite literally towered over them, and she gulped. Was this going to be the reality for them? Just some underlings, small things, all of them uprising and taking down literal deities? She didn’t know, and she instead focused on the green-coloured god posing right in front of them. “Ah, forgive me for my rudeness. It’s just that I finished drafting up a test for you…” he sighed in a heavy accent.
1499	Kiara stepped up to him, looking prepared for another battle. “What is your name? Tell us.”
1500	“Oh, me? I am Cronus. I’m  quite disappointed that you didn’t recognise me at first sight. Surely you’ve heard of my name elsewhere…right? Like that rip-off mythology series that happened to live on longer than the rest of the Titans themselves…”
1501	Now angry, Kiara snapped, “Cut it and let us pass if you don’t want to battle us!”
1502	Cronus paused for what seemed like a couple of minutes, and then he offered his challenge. “Then pass my test if you think you are worthy. On order of the King himself, I present the King’s Test!”
1503	Several large pots began to drop from the ceiling. They all landed perfectly on their bases, wobbling slightly before stabilising eventually. Crystal noted that something rather fishy was inside these things, but she didn’t want to investigate. One hit could mean instant death, she remembered from the beginning of the encounter. Unfortunately for her, Cronus continued rambling on about the terms of the challenge, something about selecting the proper one to open. “Which one is it? Choose wisely…”
1504	She studied them all intently, attempting to find a pattern. “Here is the King’s Edict that I bring to you now! Select the one in the MIDDLE by breaking the pot. What’s inside? I don’t even know…” he teased, lobbing some clay that he was molding in a ball at the four heroines. “Meantime, you can deal with this, I guess…”
1505	“We can disregard the order,” Lydia screamed. “I think I figured out how weak he is. He can only take any sort of damage by the combined force of all of our attacks!”
1506	“That sounds like a plan. Kiara, spikes?” Crystal suggested. “I’ll set them aflame, because clay is…”
1507	Kiara didn’t need another word to be said, for she began to flap the wings she had on, bringing her into the sky. She readied the barrage of spikes at Cronus and all of the pots combined, and then the other girl waved her own sheet, causing blue-coloured fire to wave out and engulf the already burning spikes. They both descended on Cronus, while Lily and Lydia came from the ground with more energy bolts and discs this time. All in all, it proved to be too much for the god that lay before them, and he simply faded away, not even caring about what happened to his precious clay pots.
1508	“And on we go,” the four of them declared simultaneously as they moved on to what the next chamber held for them.
1509
1510Chapter 46: Impotent Beings
1511Virtual Riot x Modestep & Trolley Snatcha - Pray For Riddim x Sing (Köln E-Werk 2016 Live Version)
1512(Kiara)
1513	
1514	The four girls already knew that they had only forty-five minutes remaining. After the debacle that was Cronus, none of them expected that they’d spend such a long time just trying to fruitlessly pass through him. Kiara had a feeling that only more dangerous stuff lay ahead of them, and they’d have to go quickly and efficiently.
1515	“Do you know if they set up a system to prevent any sort of cheating?” she wondered aloud, beginning to sprint towards the gate to the next chamber.
1516	“Well, in what way?” Lily answered with her own question. “I don’t really understand what you’re getting at.”
1517	Kiara looked quite shocked, but then remembered that she didn’t explain herself clearly. Thus, she attempted to do so. “Must we battle against every single enemy or…thing in this place? Remember how I think we just bypassed some people in the other colosseum…”
1518	Lily’s face lit up. “Aha! I get it…knowing that the other colosseum was hard means that this one is gonna be harder. So probably there’ll be some anti-cheating mechanism somewhere, if that makes any sense. How they enforce it, I’m unsure.”
1519	Regardless, the four of them finally proceeded to the next room, and right there lay two dragons, simply waiting for something or someone to step past the invisible line that would begin the fight. The one on Kiara’s left radiated a fire so hot that it might make anything careless enough to approach it roast within minutes. And to her right was a yellow one, seemingly overflowing with cybernetic knowledge about histories and ages long past. Both of them roared at once before showering the heroines with a combination of explosive fire and electric charge, making them scatter yet again.
1520	“They’re so large…” Lydia shouted. “Let’s find a way to turn them against each other. That’ll do it for these guys!”
1521	“Go, Lydia! We’ll help you as long as you state your plan!” Kiara responded back, vaulting across more electrified fireballs.
1522	“I need water, then!” Lydia called out. “But do any of us make water? Crystal? I thought blue would create water…”
1523	Crystal, looking annoyed, shouted back, “Blue doesn’t imply water, but I can try and do something about it. Lydia! Let’s go and fire a laser!”
1524	Kiara’s face turned shocked all of a sudden. “Together? Do you have the energy to?” she questioned, almost disapprovingly. “You must’ve gone out of your minds! Unless I’m missing something…am I?”
1525	Lydia steadied herself, signalling Crystal to do the same thing. Kiara and Lily, meanwhile, darted back and forth in an attempt to distract both dragons from their prime targets. Kiara, however, found out why those particular people selected themselves to fire that laser, The colourful combination of blue and violet streaked through the dragons effortlessly, causing them to fizz into nothingness. “Colour advantage,” Lydia stated simply, Crystal nodding enthusiastically with her. “Thought you knew that already…”
1526	“I really didn’t,” Kiara answered flatly. “We’ve got three minutes added to the timer, let’s see what’s coming up.”
1527	With that, they proceeded onward, none of them taking into their vision how the colosseum’s interior almost warped in appearance. They were all too busy focusing on the beauty in front of them. This goddess, quite literally, was clad in blue peacock feathers all around her back, and a simple blue-white tunic on her person. In her right hand was a golden staff. “There’s the water that we were looking for last room…” Lily muttered to herself. “Anyway, who’s she?”
1528	The other three girls attempted to briefly study who that person was. Kiara knew that she was a goddess, but of what? And from where? What was her name? Some sort of goddess that wore peacock feathers…that certainly didn’t ring a bell with her limited knowledge of ancient world history. One good thing was that the goddess simply stated her name to the four paddlers. Sarasvati…a goddess of the rivers. They didn’t get to see her for long, however, for suddenly a mist rose out of the floor and enveloped everyone within the chamber.
1529	“Can’t see! Can’t see!” called some random voice, but with all the other commotion around, Kiara couldn’t tell whose voice that one belonged to. “Just try to stay together, and we’ll try something!”
1530	Rain began to fall down slowly afterwards, clearing that dark mist and fully revealing the goddess in all her glory. She didn’t need to say any words to signal to them that she was out to kill. Her staff glowed at the tip, and then a torrent of water gushed down from the colosseum ceiling, raising up the water levels to heights that almost submerged the four girls, but not Sarasvati. “Crys…tal! One thing you can do…” Kiara shouted. “You know how…to do the thing, right?”
1531	Crystal clearly struggled to make her way to the rest of the girls. “Yeah…if only it was easy to channel the power that he had at this time,” she ranted while she swam away from Sarasvati. “Actually, on second thought, if you can find a way to lower all of this water…”
1532	“Crystal, I can create a sort of platform for you,” Lily said while treading water still. “We’ve got a little bit of time. Here, just stand on our hands…”
1533	No sooner had she done that then four wicked bolts of lightning surrounded the goddess in the four cardinal directions, immediately drying up all of the water, and thus, her power. She attempted to use her staff to call up another round of mist, but Kiara, Lydia, and Lily easily dispatched her, sending her screaming and releasing behind lethal puddles of water.
1534	“At least we haven’t taken a hit yet…” commented Lily.
1535	“Hope we can keep it that way…” added Crystal, still huffing and puffing. “Let’s move on to the next place…”
1536
1537League of Legends - RISE (ft. The Glitch Mob, Mako, and The Word Alive)
1538
1539	【先に仕掛けさせてもらう…】
1540	(Allow me to get us started…)
1541	That voice rang throughout the corridor, but Kiara couldn’t pinpoint where it came from. She muttered something about there being another anime tryhard actor in the colosseum, but considering her last experiences with Orpharion, she didn’t doubt anything about it. Rather, she just knew that another god thingy waited for them somewhere in the next room. They had to hurry as well, because she estimated that they were about halfway through the entire place (with, of course, a couple of doubts.) 
1542	“Lydia, it doesn’t look like the dragon will do any good on him,” Lily said briefly as they stepped into the chamber, the gate slamming shut this time.
1543	“I didn’t intend to do so unless the situation escalated that far,” Lydia answered back. “Why? Because that action is really draining on me.”
1544	As for Kiara, she tried to engage with the foe that stood in front of the four of them. He wore a set of dark purple armour, the classic rifle aimed straight for her heart. His pure white hair blew with whatever wind there was inside, however slight it may have been. Actually, she herself didn’t feel wind, but somehow his hair blew about wildly.
1545	“Tell me who you are!” she shouted, her voice feeling a little bit more fatigued than the last time she shouted that exact phrase.
1546	The god lying in front of them did not have any time to react or say something before the four girls descended on him, completing the ritual they’d been trying to complete within combat for so long. Crystal channeled all of her energy to direct a blue laser upwards, prompting the other three to do the same with their own colours, before leaping atop the god and forcing the now-giant mash of colour to suddenly drop to the ground. This action caused a loud scream to come out of his mouth as he became consumed by holy energy, it seemed.
1547	“Now, let’s make a run for it! We don’t have time to battle these guys anymore…” Lydia suggested loudly as they bolted towards the next door.
1548	But that door didn’t open a centimetre, instead remaining completely shut. A laugh came from the god as he struggled to rise into a standing position, literally hobbling over to where they were and shakingly aiming the rifle at the sky.
1549	「あなたはそのように俺を終える... あなたは俺の名前が知る必要はない...」
1550	(You can’t finish me like that…you don’t need to know my name…)
1551	And all of a sudden, his laugh turned as sly as did his face as he began to fade away into nothing, just like all of the encounters before him.
1552	【…まだ…終われない…】
1553	(It can’t end yet…)
1554	Immediately, Kiara and her companions felt an instant blow to their vitality, and they all slumped downwards to the ground, struggling to walk. “Why…now…of all times…?” she muttered while they continued to move their way past the next two encounters.
1555	Those two things she only vaguely remembered as differently-coloured rotund things with funny crowns, all of whom seemed to want to just crush them instantly. Lily muttered something about Seraphis’s and Windsor’s pep-talk that seemed an eternity ago, but Kiara definitely recalled the phrase “lots of damage” popping up within that very same pep talk. As for the other encounter, she recalled lots of red and green coming around her in a blurry frenzy, as well as the roars. Too many roars for her, but Crystal and Lydia, thankfully, managed to dispatch that beast-thing quickly.
1556	“I think we’ve recovered enough…” Lily whispered. “I just don’t know how long we’ve got left and whether we’ll make it in time…”
1557	“We’ve just got to fake our way through the rest of them. And put a stop to their plans,” Crystal suddenly declared. “I’ve got some stuff for us to help hasten the healing.”
1558	“What do you mean by ‘them?’” Kiara started to ask, but couldn’t finish, for the next door’s room seemed literally to suck the four girls into whatever waited for them ahead.
1559
1560Chapter 47: Knowing How Close We Are
1561Madeon - All My Friends (1788-L Remix)
1562(Lydia)
1563
1564	“I can’t…fight back!”
1565	“It’s just…I have the urge to just…dance, you know?” Lydia voiced to her comrades as they continued their battle against the lady in front of them.
1566	She had revealed herself under the name of Hatsume, and from then on, didn’t speak a single word as her fan continually clacked and unclacked. Lydia grumbled as that reminded her of the concert that she and her other friends went to with the four old heroes, which was the one thing that soiled the experience a little bit for her. But the dancing she repeated, and Crystal was desperately trying to get her attention.
1567	“Focus! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but dancing wasn’t supposed to help! We’ve only got 28 minutes, you know…” she yelled in a more-than-frustrated tone.
1568	“Wait, maybe, maybe…I can find something!” Lydia yelled back, stepping back and forth, left and right, all in some irregular pattern.
1569	“I guess I’ll finish it, then. Ha!” Lily screamed, finding a sure spot that she could bounce off and ensnare Hatsume in bursts of yellow energy. “Lydia, now you!”
1570	“Aha!” Lydia responded back, joining the Lincoln heroine in firing violet sparks from her paddle, twirling and sending them in a beautiful alpha helix and making the ninja lady in front of them smirk.
1571	Hatsume simply allowed all that energy to corrode into her, her fans clacking down on the ground as she slowly became a pile of nothing. “Next time, let’s hope we don’t get to see her again,” Lydia breathed in relief. “Dancing really sucks, especially if we’ve got…”
1572	“Shut up and let’s just keep moving!” Crystal shouted, quickly quieting her tone. “Didn’t mean to snap at you, this is just really, really stressful for me…”
1573	Lydia didn’t say a word, instead walking towards the next room by herself, without her companions. “Where are you going?” Kiara questioned, this time not sounding happy as she normally was.
1574	“I’m just waiting for you,” Lydia declared, crossing her arms and staring into the void of the next room. “I thought we were together in this, we’d take our steps together, we’d fight together. We haven’t been feeling together recently, so…”
1575	The three other girls nodded before pulling themselves and the speaker into a brief huddle. “I know the timer’s ticking, but we have to be together if we want to go and complete this thing.”
1576	A distinct sound came from the huddlers. “So let’s go. Together.”
1577	So they moved on, Lydia leading the way, and they found a rather open room this time around. Instead of the blue skies of Long Beach above them, she noticed that the sky was dark and clear, a smooth full moon gleaming up in the distance. As per usual, the door closed the moment the four of them were fully inside the room, and all they had to do was wait for the room’s guardian to appear. It took a moment, but she could identify the being that waited for them. The moon flashed to a new moon, completely darkening the room up.
1578	“Don’t take a step farther…” she cautioned, firing some energy in an attempt to illuminate a part of the room.
1579	【近寄らないで…】
1580	(Don’t get closer…)
1581	“What? Who said that?” Lily asked loudly, heeding the voice’s words, and to an extent, Lydia’s own.
1582	Right then, a form came from the darkness in such a way that only it could be the only thing seen. Lydia noticed a long-haired woman this time, half her face covered in a ceremonial mask of sorts. She carried a dark longblade, perfect for slicing up anything it wanted. Demonic spirits wailed around her, and a priestesses headpiece adorned her head.
1583 「ツクヨミ、月の女神。今すぐ引き返すか、月の真の力に直面してください！」
1584(Tsukuyomi, goddess of the moon. Turn back now or face the true power of the moon!)
1585The goddess charged at Lily, attempting to prepare a flurry of sword strikes. The four heroines separated, although they found it hard to due to that waning moon’s influence on them. Lydia watched Lily barely escape Tsukuyomi’s rapid movements even under this false sense of fatigue, but she herself had some idea in mind.
1586“Try and hold her off while I summon the being that controls the moon!” she commanded Kiara and Crystal, clasping her hands together and beginning to mouth words she didn’t know that she had.
1587“Wait! But aren’t you gonna die if you try that?” Crystal shouted back.
1588“We can’t have you die on us now!” Kiara added in a similar tone.
1589“I remember…Daven told me once…that he manipulated the dragon against something far, far worse than just the moon. So I will try to as well.”
1590「何？私だけ月をコントロールができる！」
1591(What? Only I can control the moon!)
1592“We shall see about that. Come, celestial dragon, and show what you REALLY do!” Lydia pleaded, hearing the ground begin to rumble underneath them.
1593	Her wish was granted instantly, as the ground shook immensely, the familiar dragon that inspired awe shooting out of the crack it forced out. Its constellations dotting the hide gleamed tremendously as it let out a roar, apparently happy that its will was wished upon one more time. Lily and Lydia helped Crystal and Kiara onto the head, and the dragon circled around the goddess, blasting lavender fireballs all around.
1594	「それは…」
1595	(That is…)
1596	The moon’s light flickered…? Not flickered, but struggled to put on some light again as the dragon’s will forced the new moon to become full again. Tsukuyomi gasped as she attempted to slay the dragon, along with all four heroines on it at that time, but Lydia could tell that the goddess’s strength waned intensely. She slumped over before disappearing into nothing, stars dotting that sky above them. “Let’s go quickly. I don’t think we can skip any encounters this time around,” Lily suggested, the other three heroines taking that and progressing onwards.
1597
1598Pendulum - Hold Your Colour (Noisia Remix)
1599
1600	“Nothing’s going to stand in our way. Not even these guys and girls. Even though they might look differently dressed,” Kiara declared firmly, suddenly expelling a controlled red wave or energy out of her paddle.
1601	Lydia sighed, but then came up to attention as she heard a scream coming from the next room over. Curious, she stepped up ahead, searching for who they all might be going up against next. Crystal followed, pulling her ear closer to the source and removing it rather quickly. “Something in Japanese. I’m not sure how to translate it for you,” she observed out loud.
1602	“That’s because you don’t know Japanese…” Lily whispered back, earning a glare from the first person. “I guess we’ll pass through, then. Shouldn’t be too hard of a thing if they’re just gonna hide from us.”
1603	Lydia protested, “But they said something! Shouldn’t we find out what they want from us first?”
1604	And with that, they began to walk through the next room, which was completely empty aside from various decals all around the place. Empty sake glasses, a set of armour on the floor, a collection of beach floaties, Santa hats, and chocolate boxes. Just what kind of thing were these people going for, she thought. That question answered itself immediately with what a female voice called out.
1605	「私たちの兄様のために大事な何かを準備する。」
1606	(Will you come back later? We’re preparing something important for our brother.)
1607	She could identify four other voices seemingly agreeing, followed by an elemental surge of coloured waves. “The door isn’t gonna open!” she screamed out loud. “How can we open the door?”
1608	“As far as I know, there hasn’t been a way to! Just try and avoid that stuff!” Kiara commanded back in her similar loud tone. “This is not going to be the end for us.”
1609	“You sure? By now we have only 20 minutes left!” Lily called. “Actually, I might have found the solution to our problem! Just hold on and let me!”
1610	Right then, she cupped her hands to her mouth, and shouted three simple characters. Lydia knew what Lily was referring to. The simultaneous attack on them at once. Never in her life did she think that she’d face the entire thing, for someone else in the previous colosseum had exposed all the heroines to the name of the attack coming at them.
1611	“That’s the Seven-Star Formation! Never did I think I’d ever see it in its glory…” she marvelled, before joining her mates in making a run for it towards the next door. “Thank you…you incarnations.”
1612	By that point, Kiara had already begun taking down the next encounter in front of them, a greenish demon with extremely long purple hair and guarding some sort of painting. This painting had another similarly-coloured figure on it, this time being a human, and it seemed to distort the reality they were currently in. Almost like this painting was whispering to the demon, translating her commands into full-fledged attacks. How Lydia felt these feelings of despair, she didn’t know. All that she could do was batter the demon with violet energy, it somehow not translating into the malefic intents of Satan or something like that.
1613	Crystal’s sheet proved incredibly useful, and the wielder of said sheet noticed what was currently happening with the demon. So as a result, she waved the sheet once, signalling Lydia to add her own energy to the white fireball that began to emerge. It fired, engulfing the painting in a spectacular burst of fire, taking the demon with it in an awful-sounding scream. They quickly moved past, not even daring to take a look at the thing behind them. Lydia didn’t remember what even came next. All that she could identify was some sort of snake this time, dropping from the ground and nearly flattening the four heroines. That, and the colour from their paddles and the poison in a seemingly-eternal clash. In addition, the teeth.
1614	“We’re so close…” Lily breathed as they finished vanquishing the snake-being totally. “Zahhak, that is his name. Only some time more before the final showdown. Are you all ready? I for sure am.”
1615	“Then let’s go. We haven’t got time to waste,” Lydia confirmed, leading the way onwards to the next chamber.
1616
1617Chapter 48: Hatred Flowing Across the Frontier
1618Current Value - Dark Rain
1619(Lily)
1620
1621	“Ah, clouds. Just like back home in SF,” Kiara grumbled. “How far are we until HE shows up?”
1622	Lily treaded the path cautiously, seeing only pure white clouds covering the arena room. Something was present behind these clouds, generating them to obscure everything around the heroines. “We’ll have to rapid-fire if we want to get through these,” she noted, taking aim and signalling her comrades to do the same.
1623	They did, and then all of the coloured energy she was familiar with by now came out of the paddles, blowing holes throughout the cloud wall and revealing the beast right there. It was definitely a beast, but with a white and gold shipwreck lying below it.. The beast itself seemed to be some sort of whale, and there was only one possible thing that the beast could’ve been. Moby Dick, she thought to herself. That thing was truly majestic, a beast from a book she’d vaguely remembered once before actually coming to life. “It seemed to work, considering he’s kinda angry now…run!” she shouted, diving to the floor as the whale let out a majestic roar and circled around.
1624	Lightning began to rain down from the skies, shocking the girl almost literally. She thought Crystal knew something about this storm, especially considering that she was on a boat literally named Lightning. Lily asked, “Try and shock IT with lightning, Crystal.”
1625	She complied, with Kiara and Lydia readying different forms of attack to complement her own. Lily darted back and forth, trying to force Moby Dick to spawn clouds in places where the other three girls wouldn’t be affected by them. Wind started to blow out everywhere, but it didn’t stop a spectacular series of lightning striking the whale, it being accented with crimson and violet sparks. The whale groaned as it tried to muster the biggest windburst it could, failing to release it at the very last second.
1626	“Phew…onward we go…” Lily mentioned. “It’s kind of cold though, maybe we should start running now.”
1627	Crystal brought up, “We’ve now only got thirteen minutes.”
1628	“Thirteen minutes? Why have we been messing around all this time?”
1629	“Hurry, hurry!”
1630	And hearing those words, the party of four hastily sprinted towards the next room, where they saw another menacing thing waiting for them without even going through the door. “Oh God no…not them!” Lydia moaned, tapping her T-grip on the ground to channel some sort of healing before their battle started.
1631	“…what do you mean?” Kiara started, before suddenly halting at the majesty of the TWO dragons waiting for them.
1632	Both of them looked completely identical, save for their colours. One of them had a green and purple hue going for it, the other preferring to go for scarlet and yellow embellishments. Both stood on their hind legs, having monster swords as claws. At least, that was what it looked like from Lily’s point of view. They then roared simultaneously, and the red one’s sword, actually a rocket engine, blasted on the four girls, scattering them like usual. “They look like they’ll be tough to kill…” Crystal observed, swiftly dodging sword strikes.
1633	“They’re slow. But just don’t get hit, or else you’ll die,” Kiara sternly said. “Now’s not a time to be messing around.”
1634	“Maybe we could hack their system and program them to kill each other?” Lydia thought aloud. “That’ll be the most efficient way to end these dragons.”
1635	“Tell me that once you figure out how to program. Water won’t help at all, despite the fact that they are machines…whoa!” Lily shouted, narrowly dodging a sword strike and a blast from the rocket engine. “Closer than expected, but I’m fine…”
1636	“Idea!” Kiara and Crystal shouted. “Flaming spikes?”
1637	“Whatever works, just go for it!” Lily responded. “I’m running out of ways to counterattack!”
1638	The sheet came out once again, and so did the wings. Kiara flapped upwards the best she could, sending a series of spikes coming up to the sky. Crystal came to set them all aflame, channeling all of her energy to make the fire much hotter than usual. “It’s go time, Kiara! Fire with me!”
1639	They did, and the now-flaming spikes struck the green dragon clean in the head. It roared, bursting into an explosion of shrapnel immediately. That shrapnel scattered everywhere, claiming the red dragon cleanly as well before it, too, imploded this time, sending multiple layers of shrapnel towards the four girls, who all tapped into whatever lifeforce remained in their paddles to create an explosive barrier. Upon the chunks’ contact with that multicoloured sphere fragment, they vapourised after mere milliseconds, shooting a way straight to their next encounter.
1640	“We’re close. I can tell. My estimate is for two more of these guys,” Lily solemnly said before turning forwards.
1641
1642Abraxis & Crystal Skies - Night Rider
1643
1644	An altar waited for the four heroines in the very centre of the next room. Since when were sacrifices a thing in modern times? Lily couldn’t answer that question on her own, nor did she feel like her comrades knew the answer to that question either. In any case, she noticed the altar being lit, giving off a terrible smell of incense. She hated incense, especially due to some festivals that she once participated in and she didn’t really want to remember. “Don’t know who that person is, but we’ll see anyway…” she mouthed. “The person doesn’t look familiar at all, but then again, do any of them?”
1645	As the four girls approached the altar, they noticed that instead of a dark colour scheme around the place, it was less pronounced, with more traditional Greek pillars lining the area in four straight columns. Each one lit ablaze when they passed each pillar, setting off an entire chain reaction to make the whole room smell of incense. But with all that smoke, where was the person they were to fight?
1646	Quickly, a girlish figure shot up among them, darting right between the lines where they all stood. Lily couldn’t tell whether it was a boy or a girl, despite their previous encounters being extremely clear to her in that regard. “Man, he’s crazy, isn’t he?” some voice asked.
1647	“Oh, that was…ah. Sorry I didn’t recognise you, Kiara,” she responded. “As for you, what is your name?”
1648	The figure leaped atop the altar and proclaimed, “I…am Odysseus!”
1649	Neighing came from the back of Odysseus, and a huge wooden horse barged through the wall of the room, something that no one thought could happen before. “And this is to be your end. Come!” he commanded.
1650	From the bottom of the horse, some things started to descend. Lily noticed boots, then legs, then…skirts? That wasn’t good. If anything, she knew what she was to do. As the general’s army poured out of the horse and began charging at the heroines, she called, “I think I know what I must do now!”
1651	“What exactly?” Crystal worried, helping Lydia and Kiara fend off some of the soldiers. “You mean?”
1652	“I do mean!” With that, Lily raised her paddle to the sky, firing a yellow beam up and attempting to carve a hole in the ceiling. “I command the real army here!”
1653	On cue, Lily’s brigade came storming in, each of them finding another of Odysseus’s soldiers to battle. She, and the rest of the heroines, fired healing bursts at the Roman soldiers to keep the other group distracted. From there, the four of them targeted the main leader with circular coloured rings, and somehow they teleported a short distance away, crippling him greatly. Lydia leapt up to swipe him, thereby landing the finishing blow after a tough, tough battle. “Nice!” Lily complimented, sighing as all of the soldiers retreated back to where they came from.
1654	“Last one. I can feel it. I can feel we’re close,” Kiara breathed.
1655	“Six minutes left. Are we gonna make it?” Crystal inquired nervously.
1656	The moment they approached the next room, they were greeted by a complete beauty. At least, Lily thought so, judging by her looks. Rings of water surrounded this blue-haired goddess, as well as a pink heart. It sort of reminded her of a game with a similar character, minus all of the otherwise unnecessary stuff. She was in a kneeling position before rising up and greeting them with an enthusiastic “Pleased to meet you!”
1657	“Likewise,” Lydia replied. “What do people call you?”
1658	The goddess bashfully smiled, lightly covering her mouth with her left hand. “Me? Oh, I’m…Andromeda. We’ve not much time, let’s get started!”
1659	And so, the goddess let loose a bunch of chains, attempting to shackle Crystal to the floor. “Where’d those come from?” she madly blurted, successfully evading a burst.
1660	“Now’s not the time to ask this question,” Lydia chided, managing to dodge a stray chain shot. “Here I go!”
1661	“Let me join you!” Kiara shouted, unleashing the rain of spikes onto Andromeda. “You can enhance these too!”
1662	“Ah, little things. Can you avoid THIS?” the goddess teased after emerging from that deluge. “Here I go! Starsea Glimmer!”
1663	Suddenly, columns of pure water burst out of the ground, filling the room entirely with pure water after only four seconds. Normally, pure water would be something that Lily would want, but in this case, she didn’t have a PFD on her. Neither did her other friends with her at the moment, but fortunately, she realised she could enable such a device with her armour. “That’s a relief…Crystal, get her with lightning!”
1664	That girl complied, summoning a lightning bolt right above Andromeda. It crashed down several times in the water before landing on its target, presumably to keep on whittling it down before the final blow. The goddess screamed before the water drained away just as quickly as it came, revealing a dark pair of double doors and a timer display directly above it. On the display read four numbers, 00:01.
1665	“Is it gonna count down?” Kiara wondered out loud.
1666	“It’s stopped entirely,” Lydia answered. “I guess that means that we’ve reached the end of our journey.”
1667	The double doors creaked open, revealing a darkness inside that showed nothing to the eye. Lily knew that she had to be the one to lead the journey inside it and into the unknown, so she took Crystal’s hand and instructed her to link hands with the other girls. Then, the four of them prepared themselves mentally for what exactly lay right ahead, and then together they stepped into the void, a faint glint of light shimmering behind them as the doors slammed shut.
1668
1669Chapter 49: Their Wills Realised
1670Gryffin & SLANDER - All You Need To Know (ft. Calle Lehmann) (Midnight Tyrannosaurus Remix)
1671(n/a)
1672
1673	“So you’ve arrived. That was rather expected,” a voice congratulated the four girls as they passed the dark mist from the previous door. “Are you wondering where the Crusher of Darkness is?”
1674	Kiara’s voice came from the other side of the chamber. “Our battle has been destined to take place ever since the race happened! So it’s natural that I wonder where Despharion itself is!”
1675	A differently-toned voice chuckled at that. “Ah, so enthusiastic. What if I told you that…we were Despharion?”
1676	“What do you mean?” asked the four girls at once, with an obviously shocked tone. “Are you saying that…?”
1677	“See for yourself…”
1678	“…what waits for you at the end of your journey!”
1679	Facing the four girls, suddenly four male figures came into vision. They had the same armour as the girls did, with the same colours to match. Yellow, blue, red, violet. The only difference was that shadow-black masks covered their faces, and they carried no paddles or any other dragon boat equipment. The four men stood tall in a straight line, arms crossed and showing no signs of emotion whatsoever. “We are Despharion. Only Despharion will come to life.”
1680	One of the men summoned a dark portal, pulling out a dark core of sorts. It expanded several times its size, growing much taller than all the humans in the room, yet something familiar remained in the air. It was definitely purple-coloured, emitting some sort of demonic language translated into code, Lydia thought. She commented on its appearance being so similar to the light core Seraphis, except instead of angel’s wings on its side, instead, the horns of the devil were placed.
1681	“And you will not believe this. Come and bring the memory of the Crusher of Darkness! Except he is the very EMBODIMENT of darkness itself!”
1682	The four men suddenly transformed into parts that looked so similar to Orpharion’s own, even having the same golden colour. These four parts then attached themselves to the dark core, which formed a large devilish head on the top of that core. “Demonias…you are once again complete. You are Despharion!”
1683	“That thing…” Crystal whimpered, steeling herself.
1684	The “thing” Crystal showed fear towards again looked so similar to the completed Orpharion, except with the different colour scheme and devilish body features. However, instead of two noble swords on the light counterpart, the dark one brandished a cursed sword, one that bore all the memories of the unfortunate beings that failed to dismantle the machine. In place of the other sword was a draconic arm cannon, ready to fire laser upon laser of cursed energy at whatever came at it.
1685	【刻め、デスファリオンという名を…】
1686	(I, Despharion, shall be legendary…)
1687	Despharion raised up its arm cannon while firing a giant purple laser towards the air, boring a hole again in the colosseum’s roof. With the debris that came down, the robot levitated it all such that a complete suit of armour covered every part of it, except for its weaponry.
1688	「あなたが準備すべきだけのことはあなたの死です。エテルニタムーロ…」
1689	(The only thing you should prepare for is your death. Muro dell’Eternità…*)
1690	Its wings unfolded, revealing ones not unlike a pterodactyl and dripping with blood all over. Then somehow, it took flight, rising up a couple of metres in the sky before slamming its sword down near the girls, creating a shockwave that forced them all to scatter.
1691	「絶望を感じる？絶望的なを感じる？強制的にさせてください！インフェルノアーラ！」
1692	(Do you feel despair? Do you feel hopeless? Let me force it into you! Ali dell’Inferno!*)
1693	From there, Despharion charged headlong towards the four heroines, making them jump atop it. “Who are you anyways? Why were there four people standing in front of us before…before YOU were formed? Tell us!” Crystal screamed in its face, desperately hoping for some sort of answer.
1694	It only laughed.
1695	「私は誰でしょうか？あなたは面白れぇな。前に私たちがヒーローだったと言ったらどうしますか？」
1696	(Who I am? You’re funny. What if I told you that we were heroes before?)
1697	Crystal, who had her paddle prepared to strike, simply froze in shock. The other three heroines did the same thing, their mouths gaped open.
1698	「一年前…世界を特定の死から救った。そして今、あなたは特定の死を防ごうとしていますか？」
1699	(One year ago…we saved the world from certain death. And now you are trying to prevent certain death?)
1700	“So you are…them. Jerry. Justin, Daven. Sam. Everything’s coming together now…why you weren’t present for the longest time after the concert. It’s because you were chosen to be the bringers of death, and I…” Lydia stammered, clearly trying to hold back a stream of tears. “I can’t believe you’d do this to us, even after all that we’ve been through!”
1701	At that, Despharion let out a laugh again. It then shook the four girls effortlessly, not even seeming to move a mechanical limb. They landed on the floor with a loud crash, and they could only look up at the emperor.
1702	「彼らが苦しんでいるのを見たいですか？はい...彼らと一緒に苦しみ、彼らの痛みを分かち合ってください！」
1703	(Do you wish to see them suffering? Yes…suffer along with them and share their pain!)
1704	Its chest opened up, revealing four figures inside it, lifeless and looking like they were barely holding on. Kiara and the other girls could very easily identify the four old heroes without even seeing a single identifying element on them. Just their shapes and their looks of agony were enough to enrage the Lowell paddler, shrouding her in a blood-red aura.
1705	“You…TOOK them from us…and you made them into something they didn’t wish to be…you’re not getting away with this!” she chanted, letting angry tears drip from her eyes as she felt something transforming within herself.
1706	“What are you…” Lily whispered, feeling the same sort of pent-up anger well up inside her heart. “We have to hold it back! Kiara! Try to!”
1707	“Lily…I can’t-!” Kiara screamed as a pillar of crimson light shot up from where she stood,  and when the light subsided, Lily looked back in pure awe at what was there.
1708	Kiara’s armour had turned white, the red on it turning from crimson to a vibrant scarlet. Her paddle wasn’t merely a paddle anymore, instead, it was a flaming sword that had the capabilities to fire red energy like before. In addition, the wings she had on her back became white to match her armour, yet still appearing deadly. “This will be your atonement, Demonias. We will crush you! Now!” she declared, a radiance of justice to be delivered hanging over her right then.
1709	“You’re…” Crystal whispered breathlessly before jumping in to land a double strike to its head. “Ha! Take this and this!”
1710	「それで、私たちの戦いは今始まります！ニエンテスパーツィオ！」
1711	(So our battle starts now! Niente Spazio!*)
1712
1713Evilwave & Teminite - Mutant (ft. Prey For Me)
1714
1715	“She actually ascended into something more,” Lily commented, rather amazed at that sight. “That’s going to be the key so that we can piece together Orpharion once more! For all of us to ascend similarly…”
1716	Lydia, too focused on dodging Despharion’s cursed lasers, replied back, “But how are we to do that? Kiara’s case just seemed to happen out of nowhere.”
1717	“You’re right,” Crystal added. “I don’t think she’ll know how it happened either. We’ll just have to keep on going with our battle!”
1718	The four of them continued their battle with the machine lord, who seemed almost unstoppable to the girls. It moved around with such agility and precision that was completely unbefitting of its colossal size. None of the bolts of energy that the girls fired specifically targeted at it actually landed, and the shockwaves that came only did minimal damage to it at best. “It’s that shield, that blasted shield!” the CYC girl called. “We’ve gotta find a way to dismantle that, and quickly.”
1719	【エスプロジオーネテンペスタ！】
1720	(Tempeste Explosiva!*)
1721	From its arm cannon, ten bombs lobbed out, and Kiara didn’t even bother to check their manner of explosion. Instead, she opted to hurl some copies of her paddle-sword object at those bombs in an attempt to deflect them right back to Despharion. The fortunate thing was that she had the full and unwavering support of her three companions, and she noticed that Lily seemed especially fiery in her attitude. Each copy collided with a bomb, sending it back and forcing some sort of corrosive substance onto the machine. That happened ten times in total, and from Despharion, it jammed its sword into the ground blindly, just wanting to crush all that opposed it.
1722	Lily, too, felt something surging through her, a desire that only she could put into words. But she didn’t know how to, instead preferring to remain silent and only grunt and scream as she attacked it more and more. Hatred, revenge…those were two valid emotions she was experiencing that that very moment. “Take this!” she called, unleasing a series of golden homing bursts at the robot, and they all landed, sending it back a metre or so.
1723	“Now’s our chance!” Kiara rallied, rising up with her swords a similar height. “And go! Now!”
1724	The swords came at Despharion at mach speed from a diagonal, giving it no time to react to the combined lasers of blue, yellow, and violet from the horizontal. Despharion let out a series of incomprehensible noises as it felt the full brunt of the heroines’ rage and emotions at their inspirations being suddenly snatched from them, which must have continued for at least a couple of minutes.
1725	But by the end of it, only a mechanical laugh came from it, as while it might have come out of it all draped in smoke, all that damage only seemed to make it stronger than ever.
1726	“Damn…” the four of them whispered while attempting to catch their breaths. “And I thought that’d do something…”
1727	The machine lumbered over to them, with them not noticing that it had a slight stagger in its step. Its arm cannon locked right on at them, and an atomic ball began to charge right at them.
1728	「彼らに別れを告げる…そして、お互いに別れを告げる！」
1729	(Now say goodbye to them…and say goodbye to each other!)
1730	It released the ball, this time at literally lightspeed.
1731	【アヴィドヴィゴーレ。】
1732	(Avidità Vigorosa.*)
1733	The ball connected with its targets dead-on, causing an evil light to flood the room completely, seemingly erasing the four girls from sight. As Despharion watched what it thought was their complete and utter elimination, it saw something else instead. It saw an army of soldiers coming at it from the centre of that light, and in addition, a golden pillar emerged from the ground where the heroines stood, almost contesting the evil light itself.
1734	“You won’t dare…to hurt my friends!” a voice called out.
1735	「誰が言った？死んだ人は喋らないと思った。」
1736	(Who said that? I thought that dead people couldn’t talk.)
1737	From there, out came pillars of violet and cobalt. In addition to that, a second crimson pillar emerged, and they all converged with each other to make the colour that was the total opposite of darkness itself. White. A large, white pillar of light, with helices of violet, cobalt, crimson, and gold continually circling around it, burst open the ceiling of the colosseum. It then turned over to the side, easily boring a hole through that too. When it connected with Despharion, it took the full brunt of the light, forcing it back into the wall that was still intact. A few minutes later, this light subsided, revealing four completely new figures within this radius, clad in brilliant white all around.
1738	And off to the side, something began to crack in the wall, eventually leading to its collapse from the side. The sound of the rushing water of Long Beach came flowing through the colosseum, and then, actual water flooded through the gaping hole in the wall, adding quite a different element of surprise to the heroines and the machine emperor.
1739	「あなたは何をした？これは起こらないはずです！」
1740	(What have you done? This should not be happening!)
1741	From there, four voices declared together in an angelic, commanding tone, “Help is here, and we have become the vanquishing light as one!”
1742
1743*Italian names. Muro dell’Eternità = Wall of Eternity. Ali dell’Inferno = Wings of Hell.  Niente Spazio = Nothingness Space. Tempeste Explosiva = Explosive Tempest. Avidità Vigorosa = Vigorous Greed.
1744
1745Chapter 50: Dual Duelling
1746Excision & Space Laces vs. PhaseOne - Rumble vs. Welcome To Mayhem (ft. In Hearts Wake)
1747(n/a)
1748
1749	Some time after the heroines entered the colosseum…
1750“What is that light? The one over there?” Will asked, by now concerned about the fate of his friend.
1751He turned over to Nathan and Clinton, who were deep in conversation at that moment. Most likely it was going to be their last words to all four teams, but wouldn’t they discuss that with the other seniors on the other teams? He recalled that happened last year, at least to some extent. “Will, are they gonna be alright?” asked a female voice coming from behind him.
1752“Vicky, I don’t know about that,” he responded dryly, still figuring out what his brother and his fellow captain were conversing about. “Plus, I don’t know about that light. It seems so ominous, but nothing’ll let us across the water into that building.”
1753He turned over to see the rest of his team, the other four teams, in fact, trying to do something to pass the time. Clearly, with a giant tower in the middle of the waters of Long Beach, no final races could possibly take place without a boat’s destruction. Some sandcastles sprung up, and others made some different sand creations. Most of the other people, however, had a look of fear in their eyes, reflected with them texting their parents or non-paddler friends something about not ever being seen again. And all of it broke his heart deeply, that he didn’t know how Crystal and the others were doing in there.
1754Suddenly, a deeper voice echoed throughout their tent. “We’re gonna go in there somehow, I promise.”
1755Clinton and Nathan turned around, and were instantly joined by Ivy, Ryan, Audrey, Eric, and Allison. “We are going to raid the place, and we’re gonna triumph over whatever’s going on inside,” Nathan commanded.
1756“Are you sure you want to go about this? I mean, what about our lives? Our race?” popped up several voices from the paddling army, confused about that sudden change of pace in how things were going.
1757“Yeah! We have lives, you know!”
1758“What are you trying to get at? Do you mean we have to save them?”
1759“They’re independent and should be able to save themselves!”
1760Another female voice snapped instantly, “Do you understand what it means to be family? You always say that all the time, yet you won’t help out members of your family while they’re in need? Think about that.”
1761At that statement, a few handfuls of paddlers hung their heads down slightly, indeed trying to think about the weight of what Nathan had just told them. “Well said, Wendy,” Ivy told everyone. “It’s important that we stay together. Do any of you remember…never mind. We’re going to figure out the way to save them!”
1762The crowd cheered, though with a slight tone of uncertainty. Were they really going to do such a thing as save Crystal, Kiara, Lydia, and Lily? All at once, without any fatalities? Will didn’t know, he only walked over to his brother.
1763“So it’s time, isn’t it?” he asked.
1764“Yep. Didn’t think it’d come that quickly, another fight to save the world again. I’m surprised that we managed to survive the first one,” Clinton replied, softly and nervously chuckling. “Nathan and I were actually talking about something pretty important. Since we’re siblings, I thought it’d make sense to tell you.”
1765Will scratched his head before asking, “Does it have anything to do with the current seniors?”
1766“No…it’s just the future of this team. Remember when Sam said that Wendy was a huge part of the future of this team way back then?”
1767“Kind of. Why is that?”
1768Nathan walked into their conversation, along with Ivy beside him. “That’s only a part of it. We’re not going to cement a future for the underclassmen if this operation doesn’t go according to plan…”
1769“But how are we gonna get there? What’s going to be the plan?” Ivy questioned, definitely growing impatient by now.
1770“That’ll come as time passes,” he confirmed. “We should do something sooner rather than later, though. They might be dead already, but knowing them, they’re not gonna be. I have faith, and the rest of us captains do too.”
1771In walked Audrey, who looked like she was silently in prayer over something. “Well, yeah…and I think we have to find a way to get through that building. Through, not to.”
1772The four CYC captains’ faces turned to shock. “What do you mean by that?” Clinton inquired, suddenly curious.
1773“We have to reach them…by our own wills alone! They have to be in a grave state of suffering, however. I’ll lead them in it,” she hastily explained. “How long it takes, I’m not sure at all.”
1774Right then, she suddenly commanded, “Everyone, let’s huddle!”
1775All of the paddlers looked towards her, and immediately they followed her instructions, gathering near the shore. They formed a couple of concentric circles around the captains of the four teams, wondering why they had to do such a thing. “This is how we’re going to get to them. They need us now, I can just feel it. Are we just going to stand here and let them suffer while we’re able to do something about it?”
1776Another female voice began to speak up this time. “Audrey’s right. I can tell what’s going on. I want you all to just…to think about them. Bring up memories of how YOU felt when YOU suffered. How do you think they’ll get past without us?”
1777 “You see, Wendy said so. She just knows when others are suffering. They’re not the only ones that are going through a really hard time. Some of the people you may have paddled with in the past…are also suffering. They’re being manipulated somehow…and the task of saving everyone belongs to all of us,” chimed in yet another female voice.
1778“Excellently said, Katelyn. Link arms with the person next to you, everyone!” Nathan’s voice called out, with them instantly complying.
1779He thought of a time three years ago, when Sam had injured himself in his right shoulder just weeks before the Youth Race then, and despite that, he still pushed on, despite how much pain he felt by not being able to race. He thought of Crystal, who always somewhat felt jealous of her year on the team due to her wish for experience and prestige. He could feel every sense of pain, longing, want…all being manifested into one large canvas of despair hanging over the air.
1780“You feel it…now?” he whispered to himself, pulling the two people adjacent to him much closer to him.
1781But at the same time, something was coming from the minds of the four teams. He glanced around, seeing the brothers Clinton and Will focusing their minds on that very task, the freshmen and sophomores’ faces streaked in tears over the heroines’ well-being, the juniors and seniors wishing for a miracle to happen. Something began to rise out of all the paddlers’ bodies, a ball of wishes for precision. First ten of them rose out of people like the brothers, Ivy, Wendy, Katelyn, Michael, and Jason, among other deeply passionate paddlers on CYC. All of a sudden, out came fifty, then one hundred, then soon came two hundred of these, amalgamating together into a form that they wished for.
1782A bridge.
1783This was the bridge that would bring the paddlers to their heroines, joining them together as one.
1784“I think that we’re getting there…wish harder…!” he gritted, straining to wish for something that would tear down those walls in the distance.
1785As for the bridge of light, it slowly began to descend down towards the water, flattening into a sort of platform. It materialised within milliseconds of touching the water, and guardrails sprouted up automatically on either side. The straight path went up straight to the colosseum, then it began to rise up higher and higher into the sky, but definitely converged to a singular point there. More warm light enveloped each of the paddlers outside, filling them with some strength that they never thought they’d get filled with before.
1786“Do you feel now?” Audrey asked Nathan.
1787“Let’s go. We should be ready now,” he replied. “Despharion, whoever you are…you’re gonna pay for what you’ve done!”
1788
1789Sullivan King & Wooli - Don’t Forget Me
1790
1791	「彼らは今死んでいるはずです。」
1792	(They should be dead by now.)
1793	Despharion quit his firing of its deathly ball, smoke rising from the dragon-gun it had attached to it. It blew, or did the equivalent of what would be considered as that. Smoke continued to rise from the spot where the heroines seemingly were incinerated at for a really long time. But nothing seemed to happen there, aside from some sort of murmuring below. It brushed that aside, not seeming to have any other sounds at such a low decibel count register in its databanks.
1794	No, something was definitely alive down there. But what it was, it couldn’t tell. The four heroines weren’t dead as it thought…or maybe it was dreaming and hallucinating. It couldn’t tell at all, in all honesty.
1795	But suddenly, four pillars of light emerged from the colosseum floor. One a vibrant blue, one a deep red, one a regal violet, and one a brilliant yellow. Their lights shone brightly within the chamber all of the beings were in at that time, illuminating everything to show a flaming room with dark torches. But eventually, all of those lights swirled together into one large beam, almost like a laser, yet it was accented with those same four colours that swirled in that familiar helix.
1796	「何これ…」
1797	(What the hell…)
1798	That completed light suddenly shot towards Despharion, deflecting off it and boring a hole in the wall, which not only let in water from the beach, but also a large stream of people. Paddlers, to be precise. But it didn’t know that, and so as a result, it saw nothing. It only seemed to concentrate on that new addition to the colosseum as the light continued to shine brighter and brighter, eventually culminating in a large flash.
1799	“You wouldn’t dare…to hurt my friends!” a voice called out, one that was filled with pent-up rage.
1800	「誰が言った？死んだ人は喋らないと思った。」
1801	(Who said that? I thought that dead people couldn’t talk.)
1802	“Do you hear now? We are their friends…we were your friends…” Nathan called out to the machine king. “We’re here to save them from you…and to save you all too!”
1803	Gen and Mel added in, “So Crystal! Kiara! Lydia! Lily! Hear our voices and please…just please be able to pull through…”
1804	Voices of all sorts of tones chimed up similar encouraging phrases, all in an attempt to rouse the heroines up from what they perceived was certain death. It managed to work, however, for right then, four figures emerged from that large plot of smoke, all of whom looked so familiar to the paddling army, yet so…different. Almost as if they had a new personality unlocked within them, which was only complemented by their appearance. All four wore highly flexible suits of armour that were white, but each of them had a different colour associated with them. One wore scarlet, another wore cyan, another gold, and the last wore purple. Rather than them having simply their paddles as weapons, they had instead changed to different forms that had the paddle as a basic shape.
1805	The one with the scarlet had what seemed to be the form of a paddle, but really wasn’t one at all. Instead, it appeared as a burning red longsword that radiated a sort of desire, also completed with flames coloured in a similar blood-red. The one with the cyan had, instead of a sword, a sort of crossbow with the lovely accents of blue wisps surrounding it. Already set in the bow was a crystal-blue arrow, ready to be fired at a moments’ notice. The one with the purple had that trademark purple embellishment on the armour and held the paddle like a scepter, but was mounted on a large dragon instead, one that had quite literally the cosmos emblazoned on its lavender hide. The one with the gold, rather than a paddle, had a crossblade that looked like it could cut through literally anything despite its simple appearance. That crossblade was all yellow, its four points gleaming and raising a beacon in the bleakness of the chamber everyone was present in.
1806	“So that’s them, huh…” Gen marvelled. “Something’s about to go down.”
1807	Mel, turning over to the new heroines, looked over and shouted, “They’re about to transform, won’t they?”
1808	「なぜあなたはあなたの戦いではない戦いに参加するのか？失せ去る！」
1809	(Why do you involve yourselves in a fight that isn’t yours? Begone!)
1810	Despharion lunged forward in an attempt to crush as many paddlers as it could under its large feet. But Nathan managed to dodge its strike, saving everyone that was within that stomping radius. “There’s a reason why we’re here. It’s to save the four of you from the evils that consume you right now!”
1811	The machine definitely appeared surprised at that moment, its eyes flashing red briefly on and off several times. It then let out a couple of words in a very teasing tone.
1812	「どうやってそれをするつもりですか？あなたは、すべての人々のうち、知りません！」
1813	(How do you intend to do that? You, of all people, wouldn’t know!)
1814	Right then, the four heroines spoke in unison, “Help is here, and we have become the vanquishing light as one!”
1815	Something else began to materialise out of thin air as well. The girls definitely knew what that thing in particular was, but the other paddlers had zero clue themselves. First, Nathan carefully observed the heroines transforming yet again, as he overheard Mel saying earlier, into various golden appendages. For what, he didn’t know just yet. Those parts converged and joined to a common golden body, but then all of a sudden, he glanced behind him and saw all of the paddlers getting enveloped in a golden glow, before being dragged up off the floor and combining into another part atop the rest of them. He, too, noticed it in himself, as he floated above to where the other paddlers were. Yet another light came up out of the centre of this mass of parts and people, lasting for over four minutes as whirring and clanking sounded at completely random intervals.
1816	By the time it was all over, there stood the light counterpart of Despharion. Its sword resonated with holy thunder, its components comprised of the pure intentions of all the paddlers that worked together to summon it.
1817	“Despharion…so we battle now once again, don’t we?” it taunted, preparing its first strike upon the dark version of itself. “I can’t wait for the day I crush the darkness!”
1818	Despharion laughed loudly, before raising its own sword and charging in.
1819	「オルファリオン！それはあなたです、結局のところ。それで、持って来い！待たせないで！」
1820	(Orpharion! So it is you, after all. Bring it on, then! Don’t keep me waiting!)
1821
1822Muzzy - The Phantom (ft. High Maintenance)
1823
1824	Their swords collided, sending a ripple of the long years of pent-up desire for conflict throughout the entire arena. Kiara didn’t feel like she was in control of Orpharion at all, in fact. But she sensed that neither was Jerry, nor the older heroes on the other side of things. Nor were her friends. They were all a part of the two machines’ war that spread throughout the ages, their most recent confrontation only occurring at that moment.
1825	“Take this! Chiave Spina!*”
1826	Orpharion managed to shock Despharion briefly, freezing it in place before landing a solid strike square in the chest. The dark machine reeled back, steadying itself and then firing a barrage of dark matter, all of the shots expanding into little spots of ethereal spikes. These then raised themselves off the colosseum floor, showering the light compartment in toxic debris that hampered its movements.
1827	「あなたはそれを簡単にするつもりはありません。来い！」
1828	(You’re not going to have it that easy. Come!)
1829	“I shall, then! Sopra Perdere!*”
1830	【オスクリタヴィヴァーチェ！】
1831	(Oscurità Vivace!*)
1832	Another round of clashes ensued, each of the counterparts striking the other with a ferocious, blinding speed that no one could tell the actions of. A glint of lightning here, some dark matter spreading there…it was literally impossible to interpret what was happening without some sort of slowed-down camera replay. Large arms and legs shot out from a freshly-formed cloud of dust where the two brawled, these things trying to escape from the main fight somehow. It took a while for the dust to settle, and the two counterparts appeared in full again, although slightly dinged up in different spots.
1833	“Haha, not bad! That wasn’t my ultimate form!” called out Orpharion, raising its sword for yet another flurry of electric energy. “Not just yet…”\
1834	Despharion merely let out a mechanical laugh before rushing back in for its own strike.
1835	「あなたは死を遅らせるだけだ、てめー。再び！」
1836	(You only delay death, fool. Again!)
1837	Once again, the titans resumed their brawl in much the same manner as before, but this time, the four heroines, trapped within the limbs of Orpharion, could feel something coming from Despharion itself. Or rather, someone. Some people that were trying at that moment to break free from its curse.
1838	“Cry…stal! Can you hear…us?” strained some voice in that person’s ear, but she couldn’t figure out who that was. “Beat…him down…”
1839	“What? Who said…that?” she tried screaming in that direction, hoping that her words made it across all the noise from outside.
1840	A different voice strained this time, ‘We…are the same parts…of this beast as you are to that one! The memory is all that’s changed!”
1841	Lily shouted back as best she could, “Is that…you four? Not some fake?”
1842	“It is! Just continue fighting as best you can!”
1843	The heroines complied instantly, this time commanding Orpharion’s legs to take steps where they wanted, and also its arms to swing the sword in all sorts of manners. The giant itself let out a weird groan of sorts, feeling the full mass of dark matter consume it from Despharion’s end. Both of the machine lords seemed to be failing in energy at this point, which let Lydia call out for the ones stuck inside the dark machine. “We…detach?”
1844	A voice was nice enough to respond. “We have to in order to end this conflict. On my call!”
1845	Both Orpharion and Despharion were now clearly bent out of shape, but it was enough to trigger what would be considered suicide. The light counterpart’s eyes turned blue, muttering “Angelo Lacrima” softly. As for the dark counterpart, its eyes faded out to nothingness, and it, too, muttered another phrase.
1846	「ディアーヴォロサングエ…」
1847	(Sangue del Diavolo…*)
1848	“It’s almost time! We’ve gotta go!” commanded one of the voices, becoming much clearer as to who its owner was.
1849	“Wha…Sam? You’re calling that stuff?” Kiara attempted to ask, but was instantly shushed by something else.
1850	“Daven, Justin, and I have been trying to call out stuff to you since this whole damn ordeal started. We all don’t have that much time before this guy blows us into beyond Kingdom come! Detach!”
1851	“Nathan, you hear that?” Crystal asked. “You have to wish to…”
1852	“Wait, hold on! What was that?” he shouted, the noise in the background becoming exponentially louder.
1853	“Just get off this robot! It! Will! Explode! Very! Soon!” the four heroines commanded.
1854	“But that’s suicide! For all of us!” Ariel protested. “We’ve got futures to live for, family to return to!”
1855	“Well, what about for others?” Wendy chastised. “We hope that we live, but for now, we have to follow a simple order!”
1856	And at that moment, all two hundred paddlers on the light counterpart’s end, plus the four old heroes on the dark counterpart’s end, began to wish for the best future possible. One that didn’t have supernatural events invading harmless dragon boat races, nor weird happenings during school and outside of it. One that was just…to best describe it, normal. Crystal wished for it, Lydia wished for it, Lily wished for it, and Kiara wished for it. A return to normalcy, despite all the fun adventures that they had over the past two years and especially the past three months. Their futures might be extinguished, but it wouldn’t matter, for all of the nonpaddlers’ futures would remain brightly burning later on.
1857	“Innumerevole Ferita!”
1858	【インヌメレーヴォレモルテ…】
1859	(Innumerevoli Morti…*)
1860	At that instant, the entire living population that was currently in the colosseum, trapped in a mechanical body, had their wish granted. They all managed to separate from the cores Seraphis and Demonias, flying in seemingly random directions as a light hole and a dark hole spiralled out from the centre in which they stood, opening a rift portal to a completely different cybernetic realm. The limbs shot out through the hole created from earlier, followed by the light star’s memory. While the parts escaped the colosseum that was now collapsing in on itself, the dark robotic voice rang out through the entire world a chilly sentence.
1861	「あなたがしているのは、私たちの戦いのサイクルを続けることだけです…そしてそれはあなたの未来にとってもっと悪いことでしょう…」
1862	(All you are doing is continuing our cycle of fighting…and it'll only be worse for your future…)
1863
1864*Italian names. Chiave Spina = Lock Spine. Sopra Perdere = Lost Above. Oscurità Vivace = Lively Darkness. Sangue del Diavolo = Devil’s Blood. Innumerevoli Morti = Countless Deaths.
1865
1866Epilogue
1867麻枝 准×やなぎなぎ - Last Smile*
1868
1869	“Are you alright? Anyone?”
1870	Nathan found himself in a grassy field. He didn’t know where in particular it was, all he could figure out was that he was somewhere in California. That, for a fact, was incredibly odd. Wasn’t he in Long Beach just moments before? Wasn’t he helping Crystal and her friends in the annihilation of a giant robot? All of that was clear to him, the flashy colours when blades clashed, the gruff and intimidating speech in two languages.
1871	“Is anyone here? Hello?”
1872	He looked around before spotting his bag and paddle. Thankfully, that stuff was safe and completely unbroken. But in terms of paddlers, people he knew…those were nowhere to be found. Not even a clue, or any sort of identifying clothing was present at all. Maybe he was just searching for a pair of wings, or a white sheet. These two items reminded him of two people that definitely were familiar, but he couldn’t recall their names at that moment.
1873	“No one’s here…there isn’t phone service either. Maybe I should actually walk around instead of just staying here.”
1874	He didn’t need to do that, for another two of his own teammates approached him right at the spot where he was standing. “Are you looking for them, too?” Wendy and Mel asked together at the same time.
1875	“Y-Yeah. Where’s Gen and Katelyn? Weren’t you two together before this crap all went down?” Nathan questioned, visibly getting a bit irritated over the suspect disappearances.
1876	“They’re nowhere to be found. We did, however, find this,” Wendy brought up dejectedly while pulling out a neatly-folded piece of white paper. “Maybe this’ll have clues as to where everyone is, you see?”
1877	Without wasting a second, she unfolded the paper, and her face instantly turned over to shock. “Nathan, you might want to check this out…”
1878	He gently took the sheet out of the girl’s hands, looking briefly at it. “No way…did they…plan this out?”
1879	“Just read aloud the words on the paper…”
1880	And he nodded, beginning to read the writing slowly and carefully. He marvelled at the four distinct sets of handwriting present on the sheet, before starting at the top-left corner and going along clockwise.
1881	“‘To you, the paddlers of the four teams that I had the honour and privilege of meeting. In the event that everything goes wrong as you see this, I just want to let you know something. When I needed humour, you always gave it to me. When I joked around, you joked with me. Whenever I paddled, you gave me the motivation to continue, even though I literally wanted, several times, to drop this sport entirely. You see, you’ve done so much for me. Drama, jokes and all, you guys have helped shape me into the person I am today. Let me make to you a promise. Lowell Dragon Boat, keep your passion and your personality alive for future paddlers to experience, just as I did. And for the rest of you, promise me that whenever disaster strikes, you’ll remember who you were and once again become one, like how I and the previous generation did before. Kiara.’”
1882	“‘Team. I only have one wish for you. Carry on as you’ve been doing for the past year now. You’ll make me proud no matter any result. That isn’t going to change if I survive the battle or if I die. 做你想在這世界看的變動…Lily.’”
1883	“‘Everyone…before I leave, I have something that’s been on my mind that I want to tell you right now, simply because I don’t think I’ll be around to tell you. Three words: I love you. For everything. That’s my reason, and I know it’s selfish of me to just leave you behind because of something I have to do and that I’m uncertain about. Please be sure to be friendly with each other, be the peers that you’ll talk to beyond college. As for me…don’t worry about me. In the end, I’m no more important than all of you in the quest to be heroes and heroines. Thank you all so very much. Crystal.’”
1884	“‘Dear paddlers of the four teams. One year ago, we did not know what we got ourselves into when four strong individuals from these four teams united all of us together. It took me a long time to realise that our unification once was not merely some coincidence. It caused me to expand my network to meet new people, ones that I wouldn’t have met if we just stayed separate. And for that, I thank you. What else could I thank you for? You taught me that everyone is an important figure for the greater good, but you yourself are the greatest change that you can make. It might be hard for me to write this now, but I’m sure that you will get the message. I’ll remember until the moment I die what you’ve done for me. Honestly, I’m not sure when that moment will be because of what’s been happening this past year. If I die tomorrow, remember us—and do. Good luck. Lydia.’”
1885	He finished the last note in tears, noticing Mel and Wendy in tears as well. “They can’t be dead…if they flew out…”
1886	“But what if they ARE?” Mel sobbed into Wendy’s shoulder. “It would’ve meant that…the other paddlers wouldn’t be able to hear their words one last time…and you didn’t read them during the last huddle…”
1887	Nathan immediately felt a large pang of regret. “Fuck…I should have…you’re right. It’s just like when he disappeared last Vancouver…”
1888	“Who, Sam?” Wendy asked. “That was out of his control…don’t be blaming yourself on stuff that’s out of your control…”
1889	“But it’s my fault still…I trust that they, the heroes, the other paddlers…they aren’t dead yet. I’m gonna make sure that they’re alive, and that they hear those last words…so that none of the past ever gets repeated again.”
1890	With that last statement, he headed off straight forward, slinging his bag and paddle over his back as he moved on to what shouldn’t have been his final quest as a CYC paddler, but ended up being so anyway.
1891	“I suppose it’s only right that we join him…” Mel whispered before tugging Wendy along in the very same direction.
1892
1893*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE69xAWdTq8 to find this song. Maeda Jun × Yanagi Nagi - Last Smile is the title you should be looking for.
1894
1895Fin.
1896
1897Author’s Note
1898
1899	Hello there! I just wanted to express my thanks for reaching the end of this story. I wanted to talk about this story and its history with me as a writer. Unfortunately, as you probably know, many of the dragon boat races this spring were cancelled due to the recent outbreak of coronavirus, and it made the writing of especially the latter parts of the story a little bit painful. This story was meant to take place one year after the previous race, which was supposed to be this March, actually.
1900	It was a lot harder to write this story more so than my other stories, simply because I focused not on myself. After all, you are the one who knows yourself the best. My decision as to who to feature, if you’ve noticed, was directly inspired from my very first story I’ve written, but this time, I wished to feature different paddlers this time. As such, as I didn’t know them really too well, I had to make many assumptions about their personalities, confirming with them along the way anything that might have made it into this story.
1901	Theming was quite hard to do. To me, this goes along the line of “upholding a legacy, but knowing that sometimes it’s time to let it go” represents my own struggles with teams these days. Sure, I might have a past with teams, especially CYC, but sometimes I fail to recognise that sometimes I should move on. Theme-wise, I wanted to show it in my music choices. Most of it is EDM, but there’s always a general theme as to what the chapter should sound like. This time, I broke tradition by adding songs in Japanese, due to the certain movie I watched two months back that completely changed my life, perhaps rather obsessively. They really spoke to my heart, and I wanted to communicate that with you.
1902	Allow me to conclude by thanking several people. First off, I want to thank all of the people that helped me with the Japanese translations, most notably Ryzle and Yuki on Discord. Without these, the story’s feeling wouldn’t be the same. Thank you, anon, for making an absolutely incredible artpiece that visually represents the story and its plot. Lastly, thank you, the reader, for making it to the end of the fifty chapters that compose this story, and I hope you enjoyed this rough version of it in spite of its writing time. Maybe you can expect something from me in the future, but for now, that future is uncertain. Until next time…