With his feet up, a cup of coffee at his side, a swimsuit magazine in his hands tucked behind the counter so no one could see, Dale was ready for another slow day at work. Even with the strange singer girl and Allisa downstairs and the others going off to who knows where to do god (or Goddess) only knows what, Dale still predicted it to be a quiet, peaceful, and mostly uneventful day.

"I'm just the support guy," He said to himself, not hearing the doorbell ringing "Whatever It is, those idiots can handle it.... Or make things worse..."

"Sure you should be reading that?"

Dale looked up from his magazine. Standing there was a familiar-looking teenage boy, a large build with a sports jersey with the Little Wood's raider logo on it.

"Oh hey... Tristan right?" Dale greeted. "Don't see you around here,"

"Uh... well, I'm here with someone," Tristan said bashfully.

"H-Hello," Bill popped his head out from behind Tristan, his scrawny body dwarfed by Tristan. Like Tristian, he had been a victim to the Alchemist serial killings that had racked the town a few months prior.

"Answers still no," Dale returned to his magazine.

"I-I wasn't gonna ask that!"

"Just putting it out there in case you ask again." Dale chuckled. "So what can I do you for? Anything in particular?"

"Oh uh n-n-nothing really," Bliff said. "W-Was wondering if Allisa w-was in?"

"Allisa? She's uh...." Dale paused. "No I haven't seen her all day." He said as casually as he could. Even if they knew about the hunters and the home, it was best to keep them out of the current mess with Ion and Markus especially with the black ops prowling the town.

"Oh... really," Tristan sounded disappointed. "So um.... Allisa. She seeing anyone at the moment?"

"Like a boyfriend? Hmm... Don't think so." Dale said, finally looking up. "Why'd you want to know?"

"Well..." Tristan blushed. Bill gave him a small tap on the back, encouraging him to go along. "Was... was kinda hoping to ask her out."

"Huh? You don't say," Dale said with a sly grin.

The doorbell rang again. "I think you'd be the last person she'd be interested in."

"Who asked- F-Francesca?!"

Standing at the door was the last person anyone would expect to see inside Little Wood's mystery's, Francesca, a slim teenage girl with long black hair; another victim of the Alchemist incident.

"What? I'm not allowed here?" She scoffed walking into the counter. She narrowed her eyes at Dale before he realized he still had the magazine in his hands. He quickly strolled it away, adjusting his glasses awkwardly.

"S-So what can I do for you?" Dale said as he regained his composure.

"My cousins turning ten next month so.... I was hoping you could help me pick something out. You know... like a comic."

"Sure, I can help," Dale said standing up. "So what does he like?"

"I dunno. Superheroes I guess."

"Good place to start." Dale leads Francesca to the superhero section of the store, browsing through the various strips he had. Even though he was certain everything he was saying was going over the girl's head he continued on. Eventually, Francesca picked something out, ignoring the strange gaze he got from the two boys.

"Um... has Allisa been around today?" She asked as Dale tapped on the register.

"Allisa? Uh... no haven't seen her."

".... Right?"

"Y-You're looking for Allisa too?" Bill asked.

Francesca jumped slightly, forgetting that he was here. "J-Justs wanted to wish her happy birthday..." She said flustering.

"Oh yeah, it is coming up," Dale said.

"Wait? It's her birthday? Today?!" Tristan exclaimed.

"It's tomorrow," Dale said. "Damn... of all the times for all this to happen...."

"F-For what?" Bill asked.

"Oh, uh nothing."

"Oh shit! I should have got her something." Tristan banged his hand on the counter. "Yo! You gotta help me get something?!"

"Slow down kid. I'm busy," Dale said before returning to Francesca. "Alright, that's-"

Dale had just finished his business with Francesca when a horrible rattling began to fill the store. "What the...? Is that the vents?"

The noise only grew louder and louder. "Uh... scuse me." Dale retreated into the back room for a minute. He reemerged with a ladder tucked under his arm and a flashlight in his teeth. He set it up at the rear wall of the store where the vent opened up covered by a loose grate.

"Um... what is that?" Francesca asked.

"Probably another mouse or rat," Dale said as he climbed the ladder to the grate. "The other stores have been petitioning the mall's owner to layout more traps or reinnervate these things to stop them from crawling into-"

WHAM!

The grate suddenly flew open as something slammed into Dale's forehead pushing him and the ladder back. The man landed on his back with a loud thud as the ladder toppled onto him. The bronze object zoomed around the store, knocking over everything from the comic book racks to the figures on display with a loud "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" ringing through the entire store before stopping short of Francesca. The girl let out a scream as the object stopped short of her.

"Ba! You're not the spy! Where is she?!" The voice continued louder than before. "I have to find the spy! EMERGENCY! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

The flying object did two full laps of the store before finally crashing through the store windows, frightening other people as it zoomed out of sight. Francesca, Tristan and Bill simply stood dumbfounded and bewildered by what they had just seen, oblivious to the utter devastation that was wrought on the comic book store.

"Uhhh..." Dale was still on the floor in pain. "Anyone get the license plate of that frying pan...?" He growled as he squirmed on the ground.

"Wh-What the fuck...?" Tristan finally spoke. "D-did you see that?"

"Y-Y-Yeah..." Bill muttered. "I-It looked like a small bunny...."

"A bunny...?" Dale finally sat up.

"I-I saw it too!" Francesca shouted. "I-It looked like a robot! A robot bunny!"

"A robot-?" Dale went pale. "Oh nonono...." He jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain in his forehead and back. "Hold down the fort for me!"

Without waiting to hear back from the three teenagers, Dale shot to his feet, burst through the door to the office, opened the passage to the home, and finally swung open the door to the home.

His worst fears were realized; Allisa and Ion were gone.

"Ohhhh not good..."

****

It's too quiet...

The parking garage was packed with cars as typical of a busy Saturday but the lack of people was certainly unnerving to Allisa. While she was not expecting it to be packed like the mall was the complete absence of a soul was not normal. There was also the eerie silence. There were only the sounds from the cars outside and only Allisa's heavy footsteps echoed through the soulless forest of concrete and cars.

"I'm here!" She called out. "Hello!"

There was only silence.

"It's me! Allisa Reed! I'm alone!"

There was only silence.

"Is this the right place?" Allisa brought out her phone. No sooner did she flip her screen open that footsteps echoed once more, and not hers. A girl dressed in a black coat casually strolled out from between two cars stopping dead center of the complex standing a few meters behind her.

Allisa slowly turned around to face the girl in the black coat. "Are you the one who sent this message?" She asked even knowing the answer. "What do you want."

In the girl's right hand, Allisa saw a small crystal that began to shine. All of a sudden, it burst into light. When it subsided, it took on the form of a silver curved sword decorated by a green emerald embedded in the crossguard. Allisa could feel the rise in tension, immediately jumping right (Dropping her phone) as the girl swiped the air, sending a blade of wind past her, narrowly missing.

"Right..." Gritting her teeth, Allisa summoned her sword, facing down the girl in black. The two circled around each other waiting for someone to make the first move.

It was the girl in black who attacked first, swiping her blade twice launching more wind blades. Allisa ducked under the first before teleporting before the second struck, reappearing a few feet in front of the girl swinging her sword down, the blades clashing in a shower of sparks.

Allisa pushed into her sword but the girl used that against her, ducking to the ground, Excalibar sliding upwards over the curved edge as the girl repositioned herself, moving to Allisa's back. Allisa turned fast, parrying two strikes from the girl before teleporting backward.

The girl sent three more wind blades towards Allisa, who dodged two before blocking the final one, cutting the projectile in two pieces ignoring the damage to the cars behind her. The girl did not allow Allisa to catch her breath, closing the distance swinging upwards to decapitate Allisa.

Bringing up her sword, Allisa blocked the strike, kicking outwards at the girl to force her to back off before attempting to counter-attack. A sudden gust of wind blew her backward. Allisa gasped as her back slammed against the boot of a nearby car. The girl inverted her sword, the wind began to compress around the blade.

Sensing the danger, Allisa teleported away as the girl swung her sword releasing the built upwind slicing through the car as well as the one behind it. Allisa skidded to a halt behind the girl who was showing no signs of slowing down, charging towards Allisa once again.

"Aqua Heart!" Allisa's blade transformed as the swords once again clashed with Allisa allowing her opponent to slip past her, spinning on her axis before counter-attacking, feeling her muscle memory changing to correspond with the changed blade.

The girl seemed taken aback by the sudden change, parrying two strikes before retreating and launching another wind blade. Allisa skidded right, water splashing from the souls of her shoes as her blade began to flow like water itself. Spinning clockwise, Allisa threw a water whip at her opponent which wrapped itself around her sword arm. There was a small grunt as the girl wrenched her hand back. Allisa was caught off guard, by the sudden pull, stumbling forwards towards the girl before being kicked in the gut.

She got to her feet quickly, branding her sword on her attacker. However, the girl in the black coat stood at ease. "You're not yet ready..."

"Huh?" Allisa heard the girl speak very softly.

"Master Cob needs to you be stronger."

"Who... who are you?" The voice she heard sounded familiar. It sounded like-

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"

"Wha-?!"

WHAM!

Allisa fell to the floor as Berken rammed into her head at full force. "EMERGENCY! IT'S AN EMERGENCY SPY!"

Groaning, Allisa jumped back to her feet throwing her sword out. The girl in the black coat was gone. "Where... Where are you?!" Allisa called out. "Hey! Who are you?!"

No response.

"EMERGENCY!" Berken zoomed into her field of view once again, so close Allisa backed away in shock. "Didn't you hear me? It's an EMERGENCY!!"

"Oh what?!" Allisa snapped. She was not in the mood for the robot's nonsense. "And what are you doing out here? I told you and Ion to-"

"Ion's gone!"

".... What?"

"She's gone!"

Allisa felt a deep chill going down her spine. "What do you mean she's gone?!" She demanded.

"I don't know!" Berken panicked. "We were playing that low tech junk when Ion deactivated me! When I rebooted Ion was gone!"

"She- She what?!" Allisa exclaimed. "Are you sure it was her?"

"Ion's the only one who can deactivate me! I dunno why she did it but she's gone!"

"Where could she have gone? She doesn't know this town at all? She's got nowhere to go?" A horrible thought began to creep in. "She... she couldn't have gone to the black ops base, could she?"

Berken shook his head. "I'm locked into her Eather resonance. She's heading southeast! Somewhere outside the town!"

"Outside...." Allisa thought out loud. "But the only thing that way is... the old steel mill. Why would she go there?"

"It doesn't matter! We have to go after her!" Berken exclaimed frantically, zooming closer to Allisa's face. "Ion may be ditz but even she wouldn't pull a stunt like this! There has to be something behind it!"

"Damn it..." Allisa gritted her teeth. It was only about half an hour since the gang left for the black ops base. I gotta let the others know...

She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. Only it wasn't there. Looking around she found it on the ground shattered into pieces. It must have been destroyed in the fight. Her only back up was Dale...

But then she'd have to admit she purposely left Ion alone....

She left her to try and live her old life....

If I'd been there then.... Then Ion would....

Shaking her head, she dismissed her guilt. If it was her fault then there was only one thing for her to do.

"Berken. That mana-Eather-whatever- are you sure it's Ion's?"

"Ba! Of course, it is!" Berken snorted. "I can only track Ion so I'll know where she is all the time."

"Right," Allisa nodded as her sword vanished. "Lead the way!"

Berken wasted no time, zooming as fast as he could through the crowded mall narrowly avoiding the other shoppers. Allisa ran behind, barging through the berwelded crowds, saying sorry to those she knocked over in her rush. She stuck to Berken like glue. When he zoomed down off the balcony of the second floor Allisa vaulted over the railing without hesitation, landing on the popcorn stand at the bottom to break her fall, ignoring the angry call of the stand owner when she hit the ground running.

Berken zoomed through the crowds before smashing through the glass of the automatic doors. Allisa lept after him, jumping through the glassless frame running down the street.

"Hold on!" Allisa darted to the left towards the bicycle park with Berken following. She grabbed the nearest bike she could regardless, summoned her sword "Sorry about this," and severed the chain that clamped it to the rail.

"Ok! Let's go!"

With the stolen bike she persuaded Berken staying close by him as they went at full speed, trying her best to avoid traffic as they exited the town center on the road that leads out of town.

"Ion..... Please be ok!"

****

Ion's heart felt heavy. So many had sacrificed themselves to save her from those she was stuck into service. But in the end, all she was doing was hiding behind them, letting them suffer all for her sake.

She wanted to apologize to them, to Berken, to Markus, to Larek and Otto, to Bec, to Berta, and to Allisa. They had all sacrificed so much to help her, to free her. Yet the enemy they were facing was all too powerful. She knew that better than anyone.

I have to do this. For their sake.

She had told herself as she walked in silence. Before her was a giant dilapidated complex that dated several decades. It was so far removed from the town proper, she could tell why it was chosen.

There they were. A full squad of Altosk Troopers, hune, borgo, and bunika stood at attention. The hermit could be seen several feet away, parked next to the large metal structures.

In the center of the formation though made her heart sink. The lieutenants Felt and Rall, neither had changed in the slightest.

And walking ahead of them was the one man she could never run away from.

"I'm here.... Leo."