As the spear pierced through Vapron's chest, he simply stared down at it, slightly surprised.
"Wow...you've actually done it."
But to the shock of everyone present, he grinned and ripped the spear out.
"Let me teach you kids something. You have to go for the HEART!"
And with a wave of his hand, he filled the room with smoke, making Atomu cough and sputter.
"What is THIS? It's even more powerful than the last wave of smoke!" he thought.
As he tried to push through the smoke, he saw a faint outline of Dachii and Kia struggling.
"Need...to...move..."
As Vapron prepared to jump out of the window, Atomu put one foot in front of the other, forcing himself further and further toward them.
"Go...go...!"
As he kept pressing forward, he realized his body felt much stronger and more energized than before.
"The bar!"
Atomu began to move faster through the smoke, even as it began to burn his body.
But just as he made his way out, he saw Vapron jump out of the building with Kia and Dachii, and he was too late to grab them.
"Dachii!" Kia called out, squirming.
"Mom!" Dachii tried to reach for her, but Vapron kept them apart.
He looked up at Atomu, who frantically yelled out.
"Dachii! The bar! Use the bar!"
And then they fell.
"AHHHHH!"
Dachii and Kia stared at the ground coming up below them, and Dachii managed to get one arm free, pulling out the chocolate bar.
"Will this work?" he questioned to himself. "But what if it permanently affects my mind? What if I'm never the same?"
He looked between Vapron, the shocked faces of Nakada and the others on the ground, and his panicking mother.
"Mom..."
He remembered the smiles she gave him over the years, even with all the sacrifices and pain she endured for him.
And then he ripped open the chocolate bar and ate it.
Immediately, Vapron turned his attention to him, but Dachii had already slipped and fallen out of his grasp, hitting the ground with his eyes closed.
CRASH.
"Aww, crap!"
Vapron watched as a storm of dust rose from the impact, just as Kia screamed for her son.
"DACHII!"
She attempted to punch Vapron in the face, but all Vapron could see was a blur taking her out of his grip.
"Huh?"
He landed on the ground, and he heard something land behind him.
When Vapron turned around to check, he saw Dachii holding Kia, his back facing away from him.
"Mom..."
He gently sat her down, and she immediately grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed behind him.
"Don't worry about me, son! You have to go! That man wants to take you——!"
Before she could finish speaking, a chain of smoke coiled around Dachii, picking him up and slamming him into the ground repeatedly.
"You're making this too hard! I'm taking you back to the Homeland!"
Kia tried to help her son, but the smoke forced her back. Vapron stopped his attack.
"Now, maybe you've learned your lesson—-"
Before he could finish his line, he felt the presence of a fist coming for his head, and he ducked a swing from Dachii.
"Faster. That's good."
His expression turned from cocky to surprised when he saw Dachii's face: dark black eyes, cracked skin, and an eerie smile.
"Boo."
Dachii tried to punch Vapron, but he evaded the attack, and Dachii's fist hit the ground instead, causing massive damage to the entire street.
Dachii looked around, and he saw Vapron land on a nearby lamppost, narrowing his eyes.
"I underestimated your resolve, Dachii! Risking your mind for your mother, that's commendable! Unlike these creatures you serve."
He looked to his left and saw a group of scared teenagers hiding in an alley, and he raised his hand.
"And so you don't play right into their hands, I'll stop pulling my punches."
He closed his fist, and a massive smoke cloud came out of his back, making the kids scream.
"Run! We have to run!"
Before they could get far, the smoke was on top of them, and they quickly suffocated inside of it while Vapron watched.
"Good riddance."
Dachii watched the scene with a mix of emotions before preparing to jump.
"Destroy."
As he did, Vapron extended a hand out, and a concentrated blast of heated smoke came out.
"MISSLE!"
It hit Dachii square in the chest, sending him flying into the ground with a loud BANG.
More terrified civilians behind Vapron began to flee the scene, and Dachii slowly got up, his military vest singed.
"Had enough yet?" Vapron asked. "Good. Now enough with the theatrics—-!"
To his confusion, Dachii held his hands at his sides, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Harness."
Vapron watched him carefully. "The hell are you doing?"
The air around Dachii seemed to slow down to a halt, and he closed his eyes, holding up and clenching both of his fists.
"Screw this," Vapron said, launching chains of smoke at Dachii.
Right before they reached him, Dachii's hands began to shift, and they went flying high into the sky instead.
"No way—-!"
Dachii sprinted toward him, and he unleashed more smoke at him, but every time, Dachii managed to punch through it.
"What got into this kid? Why is he so...different?" Vapron thought.
And right as he approached, Vapron saw the reason.
Dachii's hands had formed large gray gauntlets around them, stretching up to his mid-forearm.
"An...ELEMENTAL WEAPON?"
BOOM.
Before Vapron could turn his body into smoke, one of the gauntlets collided with his face, and he immediately felt heavy and slammed into the ground.
"The weight!"
Dachii stood over him as he struggled to get up. "I know just what to call that!"
And as soon as Vapron got to his feet, Dachii swung at him again.
"Density...PUNCH!"
This time, Vapron felt light as a feather and went flying into the air, unable to stop. Instead of panicking, however, he just laughed.
"Now you're making this fun! Never thought I'd see the day someone's able to stand up to me!"
With a smile on his face, his body began to shake, and a thick explosion of smoke burst out, coating the entire area.
"Now, ATTACK!"
And out of the smoke came Sir Triune, lunging at Dachii with all his arms. "You're mine, kid!"
Just as Dachii prepared to attack him, he saw his mother inside the smoke, coughing on the ground. She weakly reached out to him.
"Dachii...run..."
Before Dachii could help her, he was surrounded by a swarm of monsters.
"Grab the boy, NOW!" Sir Triune demanded.
And the last thing he saw before the monsters filled his view was his mother passing out.
"M...mother..."
Just as it all went dark, a bright flash of light danced in his vision.
WOOSH.
And all of the monsters around him lost their heads, including Sir Triune.
Dachii opened his eyes and saw himself in the arms of Nakada, who proceeded to grab Kia as well, setting them both on a wall outside the smoke cloud.
"Sorry it took so long!" she stated, steadying her blade. "That's a shame on my part."
As Dachii collapsed to the floor, Nakada turned back toward the monsters, most of which were beginning to die. Sir Triune regenerated his head, charging at her.
"You stupid girl! You'll bleed for that—-!"
Nakada gripped her blade, and she easily cut through all of his arms and his neck, dropping him to the ground. Vapron watched with slight interest.
"Now that's some speed."
To his surprise, she kicked off Sir Triune's body and jumped into the air, attempting to slice his chest.
"Come on, just go through!" she thought.
Vapron narrowed his eyes at her, and just before her blade could even reach him, she heard a loud noise coming from within the smoke behind him.
"Uh-oh. This is where you die, Nakada."
Just then, a large hand reached out to grab her, one she barely managed to avoid.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The entire block began to shake as a large figure walked out of the smoke, stopping next to Vapron.
"Alterna!" Vapron said, waving. "Glad you and Prismar could make it!"
Alterna knelt down, allowing Vapron to land on her shoulder. Prismar glanced at him from the other side.
"You still haven't captured the Holder? How sad."
Nakada touched down on the ground, standing in front of Dachii and Kia. Vapron pointed at her. "See! She threw off my vibe, just as I was gonna catch him."
He also pointed out Kia. "And there's his mom. We can take her too."
Prismar summoned a crystal blade. "Okay, then. Let's kill the General and take the pair."
Nakada held her blade out, but she began to shake. "Three of them? That girl, she's grown to the size of a skyscraper!"
Alterna began to take steps toward Nakada, who stood in place. "Think! Think! What do I do here?"
Prismar fired a large crystal at her, but it phased right through her body.
Nakada steeled herself and prepared to attack the trio, but just then...
BOOM.
A massive green Hydra crashed into the side of a nearby building, shocking everyone present. The Hydra shifted back into Luca, and he, Yuri, and Tomoko fell to the ground.
Nakada immediately rushed over to them. "Yuri! Are you guys okay?"
Yuri weakly gave put a thumbs up, before she slid to the floor. Tomoko got up, jumping up and down.
"Ooh! Can we fight some more? Please?"
Luca dropped to his knees, breathing hard. "We...softened them up..."
Vapron shook his head, just as Morino approached behind Nakada.
"Nakada! Great job holding the fort!"
He held his axes in his hands, the chain still broken in half. "We're gonna have to get this over with quickly, the damage to my axes is close to irreparable."
Nakada nodded. "What now?"
Morino held his weapons up. "Winning time."
Vapron groaned, holding his face in his hand. "And you guys talk about me? What is THIS?"
Prismar shrugged. "Alterna, just crush them all—"
A loud honk stopped them in their tracks, and Morino and Nakada turned around to see Marachii in his car form, with Atomu and Nishiyama inside.
"Grandfather!"
Morino and Nakada breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good, you're all okay!" Morino commented.
Morino looked at Kia and Dachii, who were still against the wall. "Marachii, watch over them!"
Marachii parked his car in front of the two. "Got it!"
Atomu and Nishiyama looked out the windows.
"What do we do, guys? I'm shaking here!" Nishiyama exclaimed.
Atomu just sighed and prepared to leave the car. "Three of them, a bunch of us. We fight them."
Vapron rolled his eyes and looked toward his allies. "Well now, don't slack on me, guys!"
His eyes then shifted to Dachii, and in a burst of speed, he appeared right behind him, attempting to grab him.
"Now come with ME!"
Dachii slowly lifted his head, locking eyes with Vapron.
"Condense."
With a punch to his gut, Vapron went flying into a wall, too heavy to move. "Guys...grab him!"
And then he burst through the entire building. Morino nodded to Nakada. "We'll handle their leader in no time! Don't you guys lose Dachii!"
And with that, he and Nakada chased after Vapron. Prismar groaned.
"One job. You people have ONE JOB!"
Dachii stood up, his gauntlets glowing with a soft gray hue. "Destroy..."
Prismar stood up, gripping his crystal blade. "Enough. Alterna, handle the extras."
In the blink of an eye, he attacked Dachii. Dachii punched him in the chest, but Prismar used his blade to block the blow.
Marachii's car spawned its guns, and he pointed them at Prismar. "Dachii! Hang on!"
But Prismar easily dodged all of the attacks, and before he could fire off an attack of his own, Dachii grabbed his arm.
"Hey, we're not done."
Dachii tried to punch him, but Prismar easily sliced off his arm, before kicking him in the face.
Alterna lifted her foot. "No fair! You get ALL the fun!"
And then she brought it down, sending everyone flying back and causing a massive amount of dust to rise.
When everyone could see again, they saw Prismar back on Alterna's shoulder, but this time...
...he had Kia with him as well.
"Time for you to make a choice, Holder!"
He held Kia up by her arm, staring directly at Dachii.
"You, or your mother."
—-