"Pikati! Pikati! Are you alright?" Navar fumbles with his pager, trying to turn on the flashlight to search for Pikati, but the screen flickers. "Dammit! I still can't get this thing to work right!"
"Navar! I'm over here!"
"Where are you?! It's hard to see anything in here!"
"Here," Pikati activates his Farsight, causing his blue pupils to glow in the dark.
"Ok, I see you!" Navar walks toward Pikati and sees him struggling with a boulder on his foot. "Hang on, I'll get that off you," He lifts the boulder off his leg and staggers backward as he throws it away. "Are you ok?"
"No, I don't think it's too bad. It's just a little sore."
"That's good that you're not hurt too bad. Next step gettin' out of here."
"Got it," Pikati jumps onto Navar's shoulder and activates Farsight, but they are interrupted by a sorrowful howl from behind. "What in the hell was that?" Pikati turns his head and activates Farsight, revealing the V'nn V'nn he saw earlier with its wings riddled with bruises and scars. "Hey, it's the creature from earlier, but he's hurt."
"How did he get hurt?"
Upon closer observation using Farsight, Pikati notices scars on the V'nn V'nn's wings' other end and an abundance of scars on its back. "Navar.... this creature saved us..."
"He did? But why?"
"Rumors say once you tame a V'nn V'nn, they become lifelong companions of their tamer."
Navar approaches the V'nn V'nn, hearing its contented purring as he pats its head. "Thank you for savin' us. Now I'm gonna return the favor," Navar looks at Pikati, and his face breaks into a wide grin. "Use your Farsight to look for a weak point in this rubble."
"Got it," Pikati activates Farsight, the world around him sharpening into focus until he spots a vulnerable point. "Strike in an upper left swing. There's only one boulder in that area."
"Alright!" Navar covers his body in JōKai Amplification as he squats down to gain leverage. With a powerful leap, he slashes upward and pierces through the rocky terrain. "Yes, we're through! Now it's time to free our friend!" With powerful swings, Navar slices through the boulders that encase the V'nn V'nn, setting it free. The V'nn V'nn jumps up and down, rubbing its head against Navar's chest and purring in contentment. "Thanks for gettin' us closer! Now we-" The V'nn V'nn's life ends as an ion blast bolt finds its way into its chest, delivering a fatal blow. As the V'nn V'nn hits the ground, Navar's gaze falls upon the creature, his expression turning solemn. "No!"
Suddenly, Navar and Pikati face a storm of ion beams hurtling toward them. Pikati's fingers dig into Navar's shoulder to pull him out of his trance. "Navar! Look out!"
Navar becomes alert, coating his body in JōKai Amplification and assuming a defensive stance with his blade ready. He raises his sword, anticipating the oncoming attacks, preparing to counter the blast bolts. "Okayasu Blade: Okayasu Parry!" Navar counters most of the blasts aimed at him in a single move and sends them back toward the goblin and elf soldiers.
"There's a boulder right behind us. Let's go there for cover!" Navar and Pikati dash behind the boulder, seeking cover from the gunfire. The more the ion beams strike the boulder's surface, the more the ion beams chip away at its surface, gradually destroying it. "I don't know how much longer this can hold! And to make matters worse, we can't take on the full force of that squadron!"
Navar looks at Pikati with confidence. "It's fine, Pikati, have faith. Somehow, someway, we'll find a way out of this," Above them, a neon green transport roars past, crashing into the enemy squadron and grabbing their attention. "What was that?"
Pikati utilizes Farsight, observing the wreckage of the transport ship and the injured bodies of both goblin and elf soldiers. "How convenient. A ship crashed right into the group, which hindered them all."
"Should we look to make sure?"
"Yeah, it won't hurt anything," Navar and Pikati reach the crash site and examine the transport ship, only to be interrupted by the static sound of the spaceship's radio struggling to transmit. "A radio message. This could be something important," Pikati taps the R button. "Hey! Have you picked up the squadron yet? If you haven't, you don't have much time! This planet is about to blow!" Pikati's stomach churns as he feels his heart drop. "No way! We have to get off this planet in an instant!" Pikati thinks to himself.
"Navar!"
"Yeah?!"
"We need to get out of here! This planet is about to explode!"
"No way! We gotta tell someone!"
"You're right. I'll see if I can transmit a message to a superior," Pikati's fingers dance over the transport ship's radio button as he programs it to transmit messages to Ozania.
"This is commander Bushiyon of Ozania. What do you need?"
"Yes Bushiyon this is Pikati! We need an emergency evacuation ASAP! This planet is about to implode."
"What do you mean?"
"We overheard on a radio message that Overlord ordered an evacuation here because of the planet exploding."
"I had a feeling he was up to something. It was odd of him to remove the planetary blockade. He made us use the bulk of our ground forces to invade the planet. Then, once it got to the point where our ground forces were diminished enough, he'd destroy the entire planet."
"Well, what should we do?"
"I already paged a rescue legion of pilots to head your way and every soldier to evacuate the planet. Just sit tight, they'll make it in time."
"I sure hope so. Thank you, Bushiyon."
"You're welcome."
The page ends, and Pikati heads to the front area of the ship. "I'm going to fix this thing to get us off this planet."
"Alright, Pikati."
Pikati finishes hot-wiring the engine and settles into the pilot seat, waving Navar to join him. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" The sudden sound of the ground imploding reverberates through the air.
Pikati tries to start the engine, but the ship coughs and splutters. "Oh, come on, not now!"
"What's goin' on?"
"This thing doesn't have enough charge to start up all the way!"
Navar contemplates a solution until he takes his pager out of his pocket. "Here! See if this can help!"
"Yes, that might just be enough!" Pikati removes the backplate from the pager and hot-wires the wires into the transport ship's panel, causing the engine to roar. "Yes! Let's get the hell out of here!" Navar and Pikati brace themselves as the spaceship's engines roar to life, propelling them off the ground and toward the stars, away from the exploding planet.
"Phew! That was close," Navar wipes sweat from his forehead, feeling relieved that they had escaped the desperate situation.
"Yeah, now on to other things. We need to figure out where in the hell that energy source is. I assume Overlord has an even bigger weapon containing that same energy."
"Even bigger? So you're saying he might plan to take out another planet or even multiple."
"Yes, that's why we need to find it. Who knows when he plans to activate it?" On the ship's screen, Pikati uses the X-Ray vision setting and observes the energy source flowing north. He navigates the ship through the vast expanse of space until the familiar sight of the space station where Jax, Haru, Soma, Rojo, and Yuki are docked comes into view. "The source leads there, but energy is still flowing behind it. I'm gonna go past this station and see where the end point of this energy trace is," He keeps flying until he spots the space station Overlord is in, in the distance. "This is where it ends and the source of all that energy. And look. There's a ridiculous amount of that energy flowing from that station."
"Should we board it?"
"Even better. I will shoot this thing with the cannon on this transport ship."
"Good idea. If we do this, that takes out the threat of that weapon."
Pikati's finger hovers over the red button on the control panel before he presses it. Suddenly, a black cannon emerges from underneath the ship, crackling with green ion energy.
"Cannon Commencing in T minus 20 seconds," says the ship's automated voice system.
"20."
"19."
"18."
"17."
"16."
"15."
"14."
"13."
"12."
"11."
"Goodness, I wish this thing could hurry!" says Navar.
"10."
"9."
"8."
"7," Out of nowhere, green intangible rings materialize from the space station, pulling Navar and Pikati's ship toward Overlord's station. "Oh shit! We're getting dragged in here!" The rings of the space station drag the ship toward it, causing a devastating crash upon impact. Navar exits the ship, wincing as he grips his back in pain from the crash. "Jeez, that hurt. Pikati, are you alright?" He searches the area for Pikati until he sees him wedged between the ship's steering wheel and the seat. "Hold on. I'm coming!" Navar's heart skips a beat as a Flame JōKai ball lands dangerously close, barring his way forward. As he turns, he feels a paralyzing jolt of fear, and his body freezes in place while his eyes widen.
"Once again, you meander into a place you have no business being… Last time, I spared you only because you served as a test for my new power, but now…." Overlord emerges from the shadows; his fists tightened into balls. "I'll kill you this time."