BunBun her name was BunBun. Yeah…I think I remember her.

BunBun crawls along the ground sending tiny needles into me. “It won’t hurt. Promise and then we’ll be friends forever.”

My tendrils whip around her and pull her into an embrace. “We are already friends, BunBun.”

The RiftRipper’s head spins around. “Who’s that?”

The Archivos on the Sturtle points at the newly arrived Archivos. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you were looking for me. So, I kept tabs on you. RinguWorms are special creatures that send radio waves to each other. These waves are then interpreted by the hosts brain. Couples in the Northern islands often get them implanted upon weddings. It’s an Elfen tradition.”

“All traditions are inferior to ours!” yells the glasses brat.

“It’s exactly that closemindedness that kept you from finding me.” The clever Archivos cleans his glasses on his shirt.

“Why are you even here? No. It doesn’t matter. You’re coming back with me.”

“I have a RiftRipper and a warrior Elfazonian on my side. What do you have?”

“I have the mystic powers of our people! I can bend the minds of everyone here! You never finished your training! You can’t overpower me.” The bratty Archivos starts chanting and his hands begin glowing. He then grabs his chest and falls off the turtle, bleeding.

“Oh and I have a Pistol Wasp. Nearly forgot.”

“Why are you so familiar?” I ask, creating Spyder legs to retreat from BunBun’s assault.

“Must be because I taught BladEagle. Hmm, so it’s not just a memory transfer, but a transfer of feeling as well. Very interesting indeed.” The renegade Archivos looks at me with wonder.

“Please, tell her to stop.”

“Sorry, can’t do. I need to lie low for a bit. Isekai has been hunting me down for fleeing and I’m running out of places to hide. Figure I can win back their favor and continue my research after a few years.”

“Your name it’s Logos Archai. You’re a primordial.”

“Ha! You have his memories too. Kids will believe anything you tell them. Just Logos is fine. Despite me being the one who rescued her, ISEKAI sent your little BunBun to kill me. We worked out a deal though. I help her get friends and she doesn’t kill me. She nearly has a thousand now. Needs a new friend every day.”

BunBun zips around me and traps my legs. She then assaults my body with her needles.

“I’m not alive. You can’t kill me. BunBun. It’s me, Weech. Don’t you remember me?”

“Please be my friend. It’s a party every day inside my mind. Nobody ever fights. We’re all together in one big cuddle puddle.”

I feel terror behind me.

Annie is in danger. And the one holding a knife to her throat is CatScratch.

“I heard it takes years for an Angel to regrow her wings.” He slides his blades up and down her black wings.

“Huntress! Save her!” I yell, trying to shove BunBun off of me.

“Busy with old friend,” says Huntress, wresting another Elfazonian warrior.

“Friend!? You abandoned people! Left to die!” the Elfazonian shoves a curved knife into the Huntress’ back.

“Was unfit to protect them.” Huntress tightens her back, shattering the weapon.

CatScratch puts the knife to her gentle cheeks.

Racheal, who is caught in Braven’s hand screams out. “Tell that damn cat to let her go!”

Braven lifts Rachel to his face. “With that demon gone, we can start a new life together. We can return home and get married all over again.”

BunBun sobs as she stabs me. “Weech, why won’t you be my friend? Is it because I’m scary looking now? I just wanna snuggle you forever and ever! You have lotsa friends inside you! We can all live inside my mind! Hop! Hop! Hop!” She jumps around me, her cloak emitting a black fog.

A curse?

The fog eats away at my cloak.

CatScratch tosses Annie to the ground and steps on her. “Two friends killing each other! This is such fun!”

“Now Nasuke!” yells Annie.

Nasuke throws an electric shuriken at the bloody puddle, zapping both Annie and the sadistic CatBoy.

“Sound Shot.” Annie absorbs the sound waves from both their screams and the electricity and then fires it off directly at the General’s head.

BunBun’s body twists toward Annie. “She’s super cute. Is she my replacement?”

I grab BunBun and pull her toward me. “She kept me sane in a crazy world…like you used to.”

“She’ll be my cutest friend ever! I can snuggle her in my minds eye forever and ever.” The black smoke eats away my cloak and BunBun escapes my grip.

Annie!

My tendrils shoot out and cleave BunBun to shreds.

“You really do love her more than me! You big meanie!” BunBun’s body emits darkness.

The rocks around her deteriorate at it consumes everything.

“What angel did she kill? Was it Tumble?” I ask the Archivos.

The Archivos clenches his little fists. “Focus on the matter at hand! Are you really going to let her kill your angel? Hey, Hoppy! If you kill her, then I’m done helping you! The Angel lives! We’ve been over this!”

Gloom shoots hooks into the ground around BunBun and lifts it up. “We have to kill her Weech. This isn’t murder! It’s survival. She’ll kill everyone here!”

Annie looks up in tears. “My little sister…she’s gone.”

“Don’t cry, doll. Everyone will be friends inside me. No pain. No fear. Just joy forever and ever and ever and ever.” The darkness expands further, becoming a massive BunBun.

She leaps off the air at us. We flee as we strike her but all our weapons are eaten by the corrosive energy.

“Careful! If I get teleported into that, there will be so many women who will weep at my funeral,” yells White Knight, running along with us.

The Huntress fires a volley of arrows while wrestling her enemy. “Moves too fast. Can’t aim.”

The black energy stretches out as the massive BunBun strikes at us.

Goopy and I sink into the floor to dodge, but even the ground starts breaking apart.

“I need to get to Annie!” I rush toward the BunBun, distracting it from my allies.

The BunBun leaps at me, leaving a back pool of sludge where it kicked off from.

Invisible blades cleave through her darkness and slice her to pieces.

A shadow grows out from the ground. “I always knew I’d be the one to end you.”

Teacher is here!

I turn to the Archivos who looks equally shocked. “Oh, your bond led you to her. Of course! Why wait so long to intervene though?”

“A teacher must keep his students from fighting each other.” He lifts up BunBun’s tattered body.

“It’s you. Will you be my friend? My old friends…they don’t want me anymore.”

Teacher holds her tightly. “I know what rejection is like. When she saw me as a RiftRipper. My wife to be…she had no spark of love in her eyes. Just disgust and fear. I ate up that fear and let it take control. She screams her final screams every day inside me. But if anyone can calm her. It’s you.” He caresses her with his knives, slowly revealing her core. “Weech, Goopy. Create the portal. Dig into your oldest memories. You came from Earth, from a house with a loving family. Desire to return there with all your strength. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Gloom turns to me.

Our tendrils fuse together, becoming a single blade. The rest of our body exists solely to support that blade.

Mom. Dad. I don’t remember you. I want to see you again. But more than anything. I want my daughter safe! I want her free from this cursed world!

A third blade joins ours.

BunBun’s.

“One last mission for the Assailants?” she asks, her tattered body leaking tears.

I feel WarWolf’s spirit, BladEagle’s too. Camoctopus and every other soul inside me are thinking the same thing.

Annie brought them all peace inside my corrosive mind. They want to help her now.

The wall of light in the chasm fuses with the portal as we carve it.

BunBun turns what remains of her cloak into ears and holds onto Teacher. “What happens when a RiftRipper dies?”

“Total darkness…” Teacher trembles as his blades pierce her core.

“Oh, that’s no biggie. I’m used to that.” Her ears give one last smile before her core shatters.