"We're finally back! At least the train learned to properly brake, somehow," Segato cautiously spoke.
"You're seriously scared of the Subspace Subway? How unreasonable! You should only be afraid if you are an evil spirit or soul," Sparrow chided.
"I bet it's only acting respectful just because you boarded it!" Segato remarked.
"I thought that was obvious. You have no achievements worth acknowledging right now," Sparrow flatly replied.
"That was harsh. I mean, you aren't wrong, but still," Segato wailed.
"Go ahead and enter your body again. I'll tag along with you. That's how you'll escort me into the Potato Wars," Sparrow continued and ignored Segato's waiing.
"We don't have much time left before the Potato Wars at all. You should hurry," Hubris added.
"Okay, okay, I'm going!" Segato yelled as he leapt back into his body.
"It seems you finally regained consciousness! I was admittedly getting worried there," Talenhutt spoke.
"Judging by the amount of sweat on your face, it seems I caused you a lot of trouble. Any results?" Segato asked as he slowly got up to his feet.
"It seems what is keeping your Ordinance deactivated is the absence of a foreign energy unbeknownst to me. We should check in with the others," Talenhutt summarized.
"I may have found the answer to that, so don't worry about it," Segato replied. "Let's try something."
Activating it now. I should probably give you a heads up. Your Ordinance is not a friendly one, Sparrow telepathically spoke to Segato.
I'll manage somehow. I have plot armor, Segato nodded with confidence. Segato couldn't see it, but he could feel Sparrow staring at him like he was sick in the head. Talenhutt just assumed he was talking to Hubris and shrugged.
Segato's body begun to emit an energy that was a darker magenta color than his hair. The ground also started to violently shake, which drew the attention of everyone in the nearby vicinity.
"What is this creepy feeling I'm getting?" Hooligan spoke as the aura grew stronger and thicker around Segato. A bright flash of light soon erupted from Segato's body, engulfing all of Flipside.
"Are you the one who woke me up?" A voice spoke behind Segato. Segato turned around and found himself face to face with the hologram of a woman.
"I think?" Segato sheepishly responded.
"You look like 'him'."
"Well, my name is Segato Evelnoke, after all. I'm probably not the one you are referring to--"
"... I see. So you are related to Segato Evelnoke. I imagine he hasn't told you about the Twin Worlds Collision yet?" The hologram spoke.
"All the talk these days is about 'universes', not 'worlds'. I'll ask Hubris later about it. Now then... Miss... uh, what was your name again?"
"I haven't introduced myself yet. I am the Holographic Omnidimensional Travelling Terrestrial Intelligence Encyclopedia, but you can call me by my acronym, H.O.T.T.I.E."
"... You're joking, right?" Segato finally replied after a moment of silence.
"I am unfortunately not designed to make jokes that would harm my masters. I apologize for the inconvenience," Hottie casually replied, and Segato noticed her voice started becoming less robotic.
"It's fine, I guess. I have a feeling calling your name out in public will cause me problems in the future, on the other hand," Segato notified Hottie.
"You can simply speculate information you'd like me to look into and I can do it," Hottie informed Segato. "I surmise you did not enter the Hidden Room for me, based on the mental scan I performed upon your arrival."
"Cool! ... Wait, WHAT?!" Segato exclaimed. "That's a major invasion of privacy!"
"I do not divulge information without receiving information, so it is a necessary process, I'm afraid," Hottie notified.
"Fine. Moving on... my Ordinance! Where is it?" Segato screeched as he jumped up and down in place.
"Over there aboard the spaceship," Hottie pointed to an area beside her and Segato. An obsidian flying saucer that looked like it had seen better days was parked on the ground of the gridded white space. Segato quickly ran over to it, before he slowed his pace and stopped right in front of it.
I should have asked how to board this spaceship--
"Just pass the test after creating a new profile," Segato heard Hottie say inside his head.
"Create new profile!" Segato shouted.
"Requesting profile name," the ship replied in a high pitched voice.
"Segato."
"Profile created. Welcome, Master Segato," the spaceship spoke with satisfaction in its voice.
"Totally not creepy at all," Segato mumbled as he walked up the stairs.
The interior of the ship had many different consoles with various buttons, but in the center of it was a transparent cylinder with a glowing cube in it. Segato instinctively put his hand on the cylinder and closed his eyes. The box turned into a mist before entering his body.
"Oh yeah!" Segato exclaimed while doing a dance. "Ordinance obtained!"
"... What the hell are you doing?" Sparrow grumbled.
"It's normal behavior for him. Might as well start getting used to it now," Hubris warned.
"You guys are really killing the vibe for this whole ordeal. Can't a guy have his happy dance?" Segato whined.
"Check the Ordinance so you can start training in it ASAP. I'm gonna go to sleep," Sparrow spoke before he yawned.
"You are a total buzzkill right now... You know what? You make a good point. Sure, let's check it," Segato gradually agreed. He closed his eyes before he felt a pain in his arms. He opened his eyes to see holes in his arms. "Holy arms! Holy arms! I mean shit! Help! I have holes in my arms! How is this supposed to be useful?!" Segato screamed at the top of his lungs. As he uselessly flailed his arms around, wind flowed through them. That's when Segato realized the reason why his Ordinance put holes in his arms. The pain increased as the holes spewed out a floating black liquid, similar in appearance to the clothing he was wearing. The liquid formed 3 hovering bangles on each arm that moved with Segato. He didn't quite understand it fully, but he could tell the bangles each were storing something within them.
"Hubris, Sparrow, any ideas?" Segato asked. There was no response. "Guys?" He asked again. After getting the same reaction he then decided to ask Hottie.
Before he could even speak, Hottie quickly said, "Each bangle contains one of the powers or weapons of a being from a different timeline. You can activate these by meeting the conditions of the original owner of that weapon or power. By the way, your 2 friends passed out from mitigating the excess pain the implementation process caused and accelerating your healing."
All Segato could say in response was, "Oh."
"Since your business is done here, I'll be sending you back to Flipside. Goodbye."
Segato opened his eyes to find himself back in Flipside. Everyone else was passed out on the ground outside of him and Hooligan. The look on Hooligan's face was not a pleasing one.
"It wasn't intentional, I swear," Segato quickly spoke.
"I'm not mad about that, actually," Hooligan reassured him. "I'm more mad about the power coming from one of those bangles you have. It reminds me of something I can't quite remember. Its presence is making me very agitated."
The 2nd bangle on the right side started to glow brown in response.
"Perhaps you are related to the activation condition for this one," Segato surmised.
"Most likely. If I can help you awaken even one of these 6 powers of yours, I'll entertain this gross feeling, " Hooligan agreed. "Let's get started, then."
Hooligan instantly appeared in front of Segato and punched the bangle. The reaction was strong enough to send him flying very far away, but it caused a memory to flood Segato's mind.
"Are you done, Neon?" A familiar looking figure with blue hair spoke.
"Hardly," Neon replied back. His yellow eyes held an intense fury not at his opponent but at himself for the powerlessness he felt.
The blue haired man opened his eyes to reveal heterochromatic eyes that were red and orange in color.
"Usually I don't bother showing people my eyes as a sign of respect, but it also serves as a handicap," the blue haired man spoke. "When my eyes are open I genuinely see myself as the strongest in the world." He swung his sword with intense ferocity in various patterns, and large black lightning razed the land before them, shredding anything it touched. "That's the reason why you can't beat me, Neon. You have your own strength, too. It just can't be compared to mine."
"Can't be compared, huh? That's quite the understatement," Neon bitterly chuckled with tears in his eyes. "You literally burn up your life force every time you swing your sword, and yet you are casually using it to help me train. How can I not mourn you?"
"I am Cloudstorm, a strong ronin who invented the Stormclad Slash within the Slash family. Even outside of that, I am a proud grandfather. If my last moments ensure you will survive whatever may come you and your friends' way, then I'll happily help you awaken the fangs and claws of a crouching tiger!" Cloudstorm proclaimed at the top of his lungs with a joyous smile on his face. Those were the last words he said...
"Why can't I stop crying?" Hooligan asked Segato, who just woke up from the memory. "What did you see that is making me feel this way?"
"I saw you, or the you from the past... it'll be difficult to explain this, but maybe this will help you remember," Segato cautiously murmured. He held his hand out and summoned a katana with a black hilt and a glowing yellow blade. Hooligan's eyes widened in response.
"I know this blade. I don't understand how, but it's important to me!" Hooligan roared. "What is that blade?!" Segato silently swung the blade to answer Hooligan, and it looked as if light itself inverted in color as black lightning danced along the ground, greedily devouring the direction of the swing.
"This is the power of a man named Cloudstorm. The Stormclad Slash. It makes me wonder if there are other slashes to learn from the Slash family someday--"
"Drop the notion out of your head, and avoid using that technique in the Potato Wars," Hooligan warned. "Even though you didn't steal it, this is one of the highest level techniques of the Slash family. Only a few in history ever learned it. They will definitely think you stole the technique, and both them and Dippity Doo will deliberately do everything to sabotage or kill you from that moment onward."
"I'd be more terrified if the Slash family head wasn't called Dippity Doo, to be honest," Segato growled in response as his face formed a deadpan.
"His actual name is Drayden Denn, if that helps, and he is a Deity," Hooligan corrected while he sweatdropped.
"So D.D. either way, I suppose. Whatever. I'll use the technique anyways. I have a feeling the Slash family was going to target me even if I hid this technique," Segato replied.
"Wait. Ignoring that it is a family technique that should have been long forgotten to time, why else would they target you? What are you hiding?" Hooligan interrogated.
"Since we're already talking about ridiculous stories, let me tell you about this equally ridiculous sounding short story. Where should I start, I wonder? Ah, I got it. So I was training with Talenhutt to awaken my Ordinace, as you know, and then there was a ghost train...'"