Inside the shopping district, Raylon's body began to shake as he fell to the ground.
"Master, I've been…defeated."
Everyone watched him suspiciously, and he began to simply walk away with a detached look on his face.
"And also, you've still got three others to beat. Goodbye."
And then he turned into a puff of black smoke and disappeared.
Kai looked at the black powder on the floor. "He isn't dead, is he?"
Mashimo turned toward the streets. "No time to worry about that! We've got to help the others!"
He ran out of the shopping district, and the others followed his lead, heading toward the loud sounds north of them.
Meanwhile, on the right side of the battle…
Prismar stood on Alterna's shoulder, holding Kia up, when he realized the news.
"Raylon! That idiot!"
Alterna groaned. "I told you guys he shouldn't have fought alone, now look at him! No one listens to me!"
Prismar gripped his blade, his stoic expression hardening. "It doesn't matter. We'll just capture the holder, right now!"
Alterna chuckled. "You've got that right! For Raylon!"
She stomped the ground, making it shake and forcing everyone to seek cover. Dachii dove behind a nearby building, and he saw Luca, axes in hand.
Luca looked at Dachii, eyes widening.
"Is that…a WEAPON? You've unlocked your weapon!"
Dachii stared at him, growling. A piece of rubble from the street came towards them, and Dachii used his gauntlet to send it flying into the air.
Luca gave a slight smile. "That is one cool weapon! I'm kinda jealous."
Before Dachii could acknowledge him, Alterna pulled the building they were hiding behind out of the ground, tossing it like a paper ball.
"There you are! Come on, don't hide from us!"
She tried to reach and grab Dachii, but Luca pushed him out of the way and slashed her hand.
"Ow! Bad little gremlin!"
Alterna batted him away, but Dachii jumped onto her arm and ran up it, charging right at Prismar.
"Give…her…back!"
Prismar lifted an eyebrow just as Dachii attempted to strike him. As soon as he got close, Prismar disappeared, landing on Alterna's other shoulder.
"Not fast enough."
With ease, Alterna grabbed Dachii in her hand, enclosing him in her fist. "I got him!"
Nishiyama, Atomu, and Yuri stood below them, watching the scene. Nishiyama nervously fiddled with her thumbs.
"This doesn't look good! Atomu, do something!" she demanded.
"I would appreciate it if you could be of use, Nishiyama!" Atomu replied. "There's two extremely dangerous enemies with their target within their grasp, what makes you think this is time for you to slack off?"
Nishiyama balled her fists. "You're the Prince, damn it!"
Yuri nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, if you really want to beat your sister or whatever delusional goal you have, shouldn't you take care of this?"
Atomu removed her hand, looking up at Alterna. "I do, but we need to work together against these opponents, just like my sister did!"
Before they could make a move, they heard a honk behind them.
"OUT OF THE WAY!"
They barely managed to jump back as Marachii drove his truck right past them, hitting Alterna right in the ankle.
"Hey! That wasn't polite, little boy!"
Marachii poked his head out of the window, yelling so Alterna and Prismar could hear.
"Put my mom and brother down, you psychos!"
Alterna laughed and kicked Marachii's truck away, sending it flying down the block.
"Marachii!" Atomu exclaimed. "Come on girls, move your feet!"
Atomu took off toward Alterna, dodging her attempts to stomp him.
Yuri and Nishiyama looked at each other, conflicted.
"Should we follow him?" Yuri asked. "I know it's our mission to protect that kid, but I can't exactly die yet!"
Nishiyama stepped back, scanning the scene. "Why does being a soldier have to be so hard? I thought I'd have it easier because you know, it's me!"
Yuri stared at her, confused. "Huh?"
"What? Everyone knows the Kimura family is good at everything they do! Everything!"
Yuri opened her mouth, but Atomu was launched into Nishiyama, sending them both tumbling away.
"Hey, jerk! What the hell?"
Once they had stopped, Atomu helped her to her feet. "Get it together, Nishiyama! This isn't a place to deliberate on your next move!"
"I'm trying! It's not easy, and you're not helping!"
As Alterna stomped toward Yuri, she instinctively touched the ground and made her sink, this time to her knees.
"Ew, trapped in this again!" Alterna remarked.
Prismar just shook his head in response.
While Alterna struggled to get up, Yuri began to run, and Luca pulled her into a nearby coffee shop.
"Luca?" she wondered, surprised. "Why are you in here?"
He watched outside the window, making sure their location wasn't known, and then he turned his attention back to her.
"We need to take them by surprise. Attacking head-on won't work with these guys. Trust me, I know."
Yuri looked outside, seeing Alterna begin to break free from the ground. "Like set a trap?"
Luca nodded. "Don't know where, but we can try—"
"I know where!"
Luca and Yuru jumped back, surprised. "Tomoko?"
"Haha! The entrance! The guard robots will attack them, and we can use the security system as well!"
Luca thought for a moment. "True, true! And the bridge, if we can get them to touch the forcefield and drop the bridge at the same time, the ocean will electrocute them!"
Just then, Alterna broke free of the ground. Yuri gulped.
"Good idea, but one issue. How are we going to lure something as giant as HER?"
Tomoko laughed, running out of the store. "I know!"
Yuri sighed. "He's going to die, isn't he?"
"Probably," Luca replied.
Outside the shop, Nishiyama tugged on Atomu's arm. "Well? Go and get them!"
"We're going together, Nishiyama."
"We are NOT!"
Tomoko ran right in front of them, giving Atomu an orb. "Here! Toss this at the big lady!"
"Tomoko?" they both stated, stopping their argument.
"Haha! Toss the orb!"
Nishiyama immediately rounded on him. "Are you stupid? They'll just get mad!"
Tomoko smiled. "I know!"
Atomu looked at it for a moment, his right eye glowing, and he smiled. "I see. Let's do it."
"Wait—-!" Nishiyama cried out.
Atomu chuckled the orb at Alterna's face, and it exploded in a wave of white sparks, annoying her.
"Hey, who would DARE do that?"
She looked down and saw Atomu sizing her up. "Me."
He leaned in close to Tomoko, whispering: "What now?"
"Now we run!"
Tomoko immediately took off toward the entrance, and Atomu and Nishiyama hesitated.
"Hey! Where are you going, idiot?" Nishiyama asked.
Alterna began to stomp toward them, face contorted in rage. Prismar sighed.
"Don't bother chasing them. We already have the Holder and his mother."
Alterna growled. "They just disrespected my face! No one disrespects my perfect face!"
She looked down at the group, smiling. "Besides, what's the harm in a little FUN!"
Prismar groaned, and Alterna began to move even quicker. Atomu and Nishiyama took one good look and turned away.
"Yep, time to go," Atomu realized.
"No arguments here!" Nishiyama responded.
They began to run, and Alterna ran right after them, laughing maniacally.
"Cowards! I'll enjoy stomping you into red paste!"
Luca and Yuri watched as the area cleared, and they left the shop.
"It worked, now we've just got to follow them from behind!" Luca remarked.
Atomu and Nishiyama caught up to Tomoko quickly, as Alterna began to gain on them.
"You're crazy, you know that?" Nishiyama stated.
Tomoko laughed, and they spotted Marachii up ahead, getting rid of his truck. As they approached him, he appeared confused.
"What are you guys doing?"
Atomu pulled him along, pointing behind them. "No time, run!"
Once Marachii saw Alterna racing after them, he immediately took off. "Oh dear."
"Where are we going?" Nishiyama asked.
"To the front!" Tomoko answered. "We'll get them to the entrance!"
Atomu nodded. "Right. Whatever you've got, I hope it works!"
Alterna ripped a skyscraper out of the ground and tossed it at the group, making them stop. It soared over their heads and landed in front of them, blocking their path.
"What now, what now?" Nishiyama questioned. "She's coming!"
Atomu pointed to the roofs. "We can go up! Marachii, can you get us there?"
"On it!" Marachii unleashed half a dozen metal tendrils from his back, and he used two to climb up the roof and the rest to help the others up.
Alterna began running her hand through buildings, destroying them.
"Run, run, run away. I'll always find you ANYWAY!"
"Go, go, go!" Atomu yelled, Alterna getting closer to them.
From Alterna's grip, Dachii watched them run, still attempting to free himself.
"What the hell is going on…?" he thought. "What stupid plan is this? I need to get free!"
He tried to bite her, but she barely even noticed it, continuing her pursuit.
"Oh, CHILDREN!"
She jumped into the air, right over the skyscraper, and cut them off.
"Got you."
Marachii pointed left. "We gotta wrap around!"
Without wasting a single moment, they jumped to the roof on the left and ran as fast as they could, just as Alterna tried to destroy the building they were on.
Tomoko pointed toward the giant metal walls in the distance. "It's right there! The forcefield is down!"
Alterna's fist slammed into the building right in front of them, and Marachii used his tendrils to hurl them over it.
Atomu looked up, seeing Alterna right above them. "Pick up the pace, people!"
They continued to scale the rooftops, getting closer and closer to the front of the city.
Behind them, Yuri and Luca followed.
"She's so fast for someone so big!" Yuri remarked.
Luca shrugged. "Yeah, but luckily for us, that's just what we need."
As they got closer to the entrance, people evacuating saw Alterna and began to panic.
"What is THAT?"
"It's a monster! Go! Go!"
"Let us out of here!"
As they tried to hurry out of the gate, Shu and members of the Protection Force tried to maintain order.
"Hey! Move in an orderly manner, please!" Shu ordered. "No one trample each other!"
Akira, standing beside Shu, grabbed him by the shoulder and pointed at Alterna. "Look! It's one of Kobayashi's men! Let's use her to find him and KILL THEM BOTH!"
"Sir, wait—-!"
As soon as Akira stepped forward, he saw Atomu and the others jump off a building and run right towards the gate.
"You guys?" Akira asked.
Tomoko approached him. "Put the forcefield up! It'll hit her!"
Alterna got closer and closer, and Atomu pointed outside the gate. "We need to run through, then you activate the field and drop the bridge on her!"
Akira stood there for a moment, wondering. "Hmm, that's not a bad idea! We can KILL HER!"
Shu motioned for them to run through the gate. "Well, no time to waste! Go on through!"
As they ran through the gate, Marachii looked up at Dachii and Kia.
"I hope this works!"
As they fled with the civilians down the bridge, Akira pulled a remote out of his pocket. "Don't you worry, my technology will never fail!"
Alterna walked right through the metal gate, a large smile on her face.
"Ooh, even more prey! That's right, RUN!"
Prismar began to realize the situation. "Alterna, wait! Don't make any hasty moves—-!"
"DIE, INSECTS!"
As soon as she made it out the gate, Atomu nodded to Akira.
"NOW!"
Akira clicked the remote, and immediately, the forcefield went up, electrocuting Alterna as soon as she touched it.
"AHHH!"
Robots emerged from behind, shooting at her and making her lose her balance. Atomu laughed.
"Take this, you sick bastard!"
He pressed another button, and the bridge below began to withdraw, and she fell over.
Her grip loosed, and Dachii broke free of her fist. "Finally!"
And then he zipped past Prismar and grabbed Kia, and they both fell into the ocean, opposite to Alterna and Prismar.
"Guys!" Marachii called out. "We need to help them, now!"
Atomu and Tomoko followed Marachii as he ran to the spot that Dachii and Kia fell into.
"There!"
Marachii used his tendrils to pull them out of the ocean, and Dachii and Kia collapsed to the ground, coughing up water.
"Are they okay?" Atomu asked.
"I think so!" Marachii said. "They're just a bit shaken up !"
Nishiyama looked down into the water, starting to calm down. "Did we get them?"
Luca and Yuri watched from the gate, breathing sighs of relief.
"The plan worked! Tomoko is a genius!" Luca commented.
As the civilians began to relax and cheer, they heard the ground below them shake.
"What's going on, guard?" Akira asked.
"I don't know! Did the security system fail?" Shu wondered.
A wave of water rose up, as a figure emerged out of it, putting an arm on each side of the bridge.
"Impossible…" Atomu stated, shocked.
Alterna stood over the crowd, standing much taller than she had before. Prismar was still on her shoulder, blade in hand.
"YOU'VE WET MY HAIR!" she roared, making everyone fall to the ground.
She slammed one end of the bridge, making a group of people fall over, right before leaning in and unleashing a terrifying war cry.
"RAHHHHHHHHHH!"
—-