Vestige: Re-Union, Tesseract 3: "Foreign Me"
Unity emerged from the bathroom, and quickly explained the situation to Dan over a bowl of nuts.
"We need to find the six pillars of energy, and restore them for the name of light. The Universe is contracting, and there's trouble in a parallel universe; she won't tell me what though."
"Parallel universe?"
Unity shelled a peanut idly in her hand. "Quite possible. There are dozens of Universes; Universe 1 and 2 are apparently conjoining in a parallel. There may also be a connection between 5; I have yet to figure that out though."
Dan raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"Come on," Unity said, dropping a few bills on the table. "Let's go."
"Do you know where Anthadd would be?" Cyan once more asked Okabe.
"I think I do..." Okabe mused.
"Where, then?" the cat asked.
Okabe shivered slightly, still unused to a talking cat. Yet she felt that her memories were weirder than that. She brushed back a few locks of her golden hair, and clipped them with a wing barrette.
"I believe," Okabe replied, "that he would be in the Balance Room."
"Balance Room?" Cyan inquired.
"It's an auditorium designed by Picky and Tracy, the Children of Ke Bao, to serve as a meeting place for the Keepers of Ke Bao, who number ten."
"Would you happen to know where this auditorum is location?" the cat added.
"If memory serves me right, it is located in the suburbs of Onett. Some place called Dewey Hill. There once was a meteorite located there. But after the universe was restored -- something I'm sure you doubt could have happened, but it did -- the meteorite was just... gone."
"Gone?" Cyan asked. Mysterious, he mentally added. It wasn't like that when Lardna had entered into the Tryst with Giygas. And what of Miss Fake's problems with Imbuing?
SimonBob spoke up from his corner of the table. It was odd, the way he gave the impression that it was a "corner" when the table was round.
"What do we plan to do about the temples? Blow up the columns again? Just strike 'em down?"
Picky shifted slightly in his chair. "Of course. We need to have them reclaimed for balance."
This seemed acceptable to SimonBob. He rose from his chair and went for the door.
Tracy called out to him as he was leaving. "Where are you going?"
SimonBob stopped, his hand pressing against the door and holding it open. "Do you really think you need to know?"
"Don't do anything rash, Simon," spoke Picky. "There isn't any problem..."
"No problem, eh?" SimonBob spun angrily. His eyes darkened from their customary hazel to a swampy colour. "Let me ask you: How much of the universe have you seen since the collapse?"
"The reformation, you mean," corrected Anthadd.
"It collapsed. Trust me, I've seen it. I'm the communications guy, remember?"
"When have you had any time to do that job? You've been meditating," noted Picky.
"And what do we normally do when we meditate? Ah, yes! We visit places through our minds. And let me tell you, some of the planets out there are absolute junk. I only had the chance to mentally probe a few dozen or so, but not one of them understood what had happened." Simon's eyes narrowed. "If you were really worried about the balance, you'd ignore the pillars and concentrate on other parts of the galaxy. There are monuments of incredible power out there..."
"Not as great as the pillars, I'm afraid." Anthadd was completely confirmed in his belief.
"Yes!" insisted SimonBob. "There's plenty of stuff out there, we just need to use it..."
"No." This time there was firmness in Anthadd's voice. "The pillars are the most important. Now sit down."
Glancing around the table one last time, SimonBob announced, "I have something to take care of," and left the council room. He wasn't sure he wanted to come back, either.
On a faraway planet...
There was a man, a dark man. Possibly the darkest of all professions belonged to him: he was a bass player.
The only thought that kept him from simply giving up on everything was revenge. Ah, the purest of all reasons! Simple and quick to perform is revenge. Just send all your hate at the one thing you despise most, and destroy it.
This man knew who his hatred was for: SimonBob. Although SimonBob probably didn't know it yet, it was his fault that the musician was stranded in this dimension. He had a power; to bend time with his mind, and send himself anywhere he chose. At least, he thought he had it.
When he reached a planet full of people like himself, he stopped and chose to live there. Best to enjoy what you have, right? Well, then SimonBob managed to get the universe rearranged. This sent all of the man's new friends away, perhaps to death... and he lost his teleporting abilities. So SimonBob deserved the worst he could be given.
The man's name was Jakob. He was angry. And he was waiting for SimonBob to show himself...
Suddenly, it was there. SimonBob was crossing the surface of a planet far away, and Jakob could concentrate right on him and go finish the job.
Jakob materialized right on the hill in Onett. SimonBob was just heading down. Jakob's hand rose, holding the Ray-Gun that he got so long ago.
SimonBob started talking, as though he talked to strange people who materialized out of nothing every day. "It wasn't me, it was the Warriors of Balance. You wanna help me get them back?"
Jakob was stunned. "How'd you know why I was about to kill you?"
Grinning, SimonBob pointed to his head. "All in the mind. You play bass?"
"Yeah," said Jakob, blinking. "How much do you know?"
"More than you." SimonBob's grin cranked itself up a notch. "You thought I was behind everything, because you didn't bother to check for anyone else. You gotta learn the skills for meditation, man."
Jakob became irritated. "Fine, I get it. What do you want to do about these Warriors?"
"Let's take a fight to them," suggested SimonBob, "and see if they'll fight. They may not; I don't know. But something drastic will make them take notice, and then..." he paused. "Then we'll see what happens. Deal?"
Jakob frowned. "I don't trust you, but I don't trust anyone else. So let's do this. Like you said, we'll see what happens."
SimonBob pulled out a small keychain and pressed a button. The side of the hill seemed to light up, like two eyes glaring at interlopers. The grass melted away, and a car appeared.
Jakob tried to hide his admiration, succeeding only because SimonBob wasn't watching him. "Is that a '69 Chevy?"
"No, it's a Chevy '69."
"What's the difference?"
"In one, you don't need to wear your seatbelt."
They sat down in the car. SimonBob turned the key, started the engine, then turned to Jakob. "Y'know, when I said that seatbelt thing, I meant that this was the one where you're supposed to buckle up."
"In that case, you should always buckle up."
"Well, that's good advice. Buckling up is always good..."
The conversation continued in this vein, until finally Jakob and SimonBob reached their destination. Jakob stepped out and looked around.
"What are you trying to pull, Simon? There's nothing here."
"You'll stand corrected in a moment," replied SimonBob. "Look closer, something could be right under your nose."
Jakob looked down. There was a rabbit-hole of some sort... no, it was a gopher-hole... what....
"It's opening up?!"
The hole collapsed onto itself, forming stairs into a lower passage. "The Plain Temple," announced SimonBob. "Come on, this is what we need to do." They went down the stairs, toward the inner sanctum of the Temple.
Within the temple, the two travellers stared at the location where the giant pillar had once stood. "This pillar wasn't shattered like the others, since the Warriors never got the chance to smash it," said SimonBob. "But neither Evil nor Good claimed it. It was only destroyed when the universe became balanced."
"So what do we do here?" asked Jakob.
"Uh, I dunno..." SimonBob suddenly worried about what they could do. Nothing? Out of the question; the Warriors would be overjoyed with that. Restore it for Evil, or Good? SimonBob didn't play for either side, and neither did Jakob...
The air where the pillar had been shimmered, the shimmer faded. Jakob walked forward, entranced, and touched his hand to the air. The pillar slowly reappeared. It turned to black.
SimonBob stepped up and touched it as well. The pillar was colder than ice; it was... absorbed?
"What'd you do, Jakob?"
"I think I gave the power to selfishness... that's not Good, or Evil, or even Balance. Absorbing all the power for yourself is something else, isn't it?"
"But if you absorbed it all for yourself, how do I know you're not going to turn on me?"
It was Jakob's turn to grin. "Like you said, I don't know how to meditate. I'll bet I can't access this power, either. Just call me the receptacle of justice."
In spite of himself, SimonBob laughed out loud. "Receptacle of justice! I love it! Okay, at any rate, your new power should be noticed soon by the Warriors if we leave this place. Back to the Chevy!" They headed back to the car, and soon made tracks across the plains. The Temple sealed up, to wait for another visitor.
Luna and Mike had been walking for about an hour. They were almost to Gulf Temple, the temple of which Mike was the priest of. Overhead, Rockwell could be seen, flying circles.
"You know, what are we going to do when we get to your temple, Mike? There really isn't nothing to do there, is there?"
"Well, I was just planning on checking on it, maybe try to see if there's anything bad there." Mike shrugged. He looked at the pig squirrel.
"Well, I guess that's alright, although I don't think that there'd be anything wrong. But if there is... Hee hee hee." Luna giggled. The pig squirrel could only squiyer in an amused tone of voice. "Anyways, let's get going. We should be at the temple shortly."
Mike and Luna continued on, not knowing that there would be something that they would have to face at the temple. Something... indiscrete. Something that would bring a change.
"Hmm..." Siris sat calmly on a tree branch somewhere in Eagleland. His long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his eyes were closed. There was something going on, he knew it; he could always tell when something was happening concerning people he knew.
"Where are they...?" Siris mused. "I know there's something happening... something important. Imbalance... hm. I can feel it, yes."
What he was actually searching for now were his friends; the people he had met not so long ago but had such a great impact on him. He wasn't sure, however... would they recognize him? He knew for a fact that there were multiple universes in which they existed. Anthadd... he doubted. Luna... he hoped, but also doubted.
"Aha!" he opened his eyes. Yes, he could sense some of them. An aura with what he recognized as Sugemo... it must have been Anthadd. And he was with somebody else... some girl Siris didn't recognize. Shifting his attention from those signals, he located two other familiar auras.
"Yes... I think it's... Mike," Siris whispered. He then smiled. "And he's with Luna right now."
Siris jumped down from his perch in the tree. He wasn't in the mood to fly... too tired. He pondered which signal he should follow, and began to walk in some direction.
"I wonder if they'll recognize me?" Siris said to himself, with doubt in his voice.
Solitude followed SimonBob with her eyes as he walked out. She narrowed her eyebrows, and stared ahead.
"He'll regret that. I swear it."
Swiftly excusing herself, Solitude pushed through Picky and Tracy to get out of the Balance Room. She ran outside, trampling flowers in her wake.
"SimonBob! Get back here! You fool!" In a sudden rage, she whirled around, and snapped her fingers. A silver cloud formed, and she was gone.
Solitude appeared about a mile away from the center of town, in a place that overlooked a large, blue ocean. In the sunlight, it almost seemed purple, but she was too distraught to notice.
"This is impossible! I don't understand! Why can't the fighters for balance work out their own difficulties? This was never meant to happen! None of this..."
Solitude stared over the horizon, bitterly and soundly defeated. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and the sunlight bounced off it, before it splashed into the water.
Solitude's Memories
A woman was standing in a small, darkened room. Her outline could barely made out, and only someone listening for it would have heard a voice.
"Agent 'Parity'...you haven't done your job very well at all, have you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," another voice replied blandly, with a hint of rebellion.
"Don't push me, 'Parity', you're lucky to be alive."
"I could have survived," the second voice started, but was cut off.
"Don't be a fool. I'm beginning to think you aren't very happy working for our cause, are you?"
"Couldn't be happier," came the sarcastic reply.
"If that's how you feel, then you WILL be punished. Not today, tomorrow, but when you don't expect it. You will never be able to recover. Watch your back," the voice said, and with a final bite, "Agent 'Parity'.
Solitude blinked back more tears as she watched the sun slowly set. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and her head whipped around. No one was there.
"I need a place where I won't be bothered..." Solitude said, and racked her brain. The only place she could think of... Anthadd's lab.
"That shall do for now."
Wind whistled through the island foliage as Solitude touched down in the sand. She began walking toward Anthadd's Lab, taking in time to admire the scenic environment.
"Nothing like my castle," she said bitterly.
As she said that, an icy chill swept though her body as she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.
"Who are you?" Solitude said, whirling around. She looked down to see a small girl standing there, looking up at her.
"My name is Okabe Ryuuda. Anthadd's been taking care of me since I washed up on the shore of the island."
Solitude nodded, interested. "How did you get here?"
"I don't know... I can't remember anything."
Okabe seemed to be misting up slightly, so Solitude decided not to probe any further into the question.
"Is Anthadd still at the meeting?"
"Yes, he should be there for a while."
Solitude nodded again. She looked down at Okabe and smiled slightly. "May I come into the lab?"
Okabe bit her lip, but finally moved her head. "Yes, I suppose Anth wouldn't mind." She began to walk away, and Solitude followed. Just as Solitude passed the door threshold, a glimmer caught her eye. She looked down, and found a small coin-like object. It had a cross with a circle at the top.
"Okabe?" Solitude called out. "Does this belong to Anthadd?"
Okabe strained to look at it, then shook her head. "I don't think so."
Solitude peered quizzically at the item, and before going inside, pocketed it.
As Luna and Mike drew closer to the Gulf Temple, a dark, heavy feeling emanated throughout the air. Luna and the pig squirrel, especially the pig squirrel, felt it.
"SQUIYYEEEEEER!" The pig squirrel started to spaz out on Luna's head.
"OWowowow! Quit it!" Luna was trying desperately to stop the squirrel from messing with her hair. Mike could only laugh.
"Hee hee, it's spazzing out."
"Mike! Shut up! Don't you feel it?" Luna looked at him while trying to deal with the pig squirrel.
"No. Wait... yeah, I feel something."
Overhead, Rockwell was circling. He didn't seem to expect anything, when all of a sudden his wings seemed to freeze. He fell to the ground, landing in a clump of grass.
"Rockwell!" Mike ran over to him. He picked up the bird, only to notice that it was only slightly injured. "What happened?"
<I... I don't know. I felt... like something was holding my wings down. I don't like this.>
Luna looked Rockwell over. "It probably has something to do with the temple! Mike, there may be something wrong with your temple."
"Oh no. I hope it's not a fight against an enemy or anything. You know how much I hate fighting."
"Yeah, but don't worry. We can deal with essentially anything."
The pig squirrel stopped spazzing out and let out a squeal that seemed to say "Right!"
"I agree with the pig squirrel." Mike grinned.
Luna and Mike, who was carrying Rockwell, ran the rest of the way to Gulf Temple, expecting a confrontation.
Siris continued tracking the various auras he felt. He was so involved in tracking the auras that he didn't, for a second, actually sense the dimensional rift that would transport him across the time-space continuum.
He ran into Dan and Unity.
"Da... Da... Dan?" he finally stammered.
"Yes, my name is Dan," Dan confirmed. "Why would you know my name, though? We've never met."
"I... have met with someone very much like you," Siris sort of lied. "His name was Dan, too."
"What an amazing coincidence!" Dan rolled his eyes.
"And who, pray, are you, ravishing lady?" Siris said, hitting on Unity.
"Unity," Unity replied curtly.
Solitude sat down at a table, beside Cyan and the cat-like creature.
Okabe dampened another facecloth and wrapped it around her neck. "Why do I keep getting superheated?"
"Your name would be...?" Cyan trailed off.
"Solitude."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Solitude," Cyan said. "My name is Cyan."
Unity glared at Siris. They had merely exited the restaurant for five minutes when they were run into by THIS creep.
"And pray tell, WHAT are you doing here?" Unity said, looking down at Siris. She frowned, and gripped her staff slightly.
Siris looked around, and jumped. "I'm not where I was! Where's Luna?"
"I guess you just got lost, then, huh?" Dan said sarcastically.
FLASH!
Unity's Memories
Click! The door to a small, nondescript room opened, and a tall woman strode in. This action would make her the second person in the room, as one would have noitced upon closer inspection. There was a second woman sitting at a counter, sipping something out of her drink. Her silver hair washed around her, with black and gold pieces occasionally filling in the number. The little amount of light in the room bounced off the drink on the counter, and reflected a pink light into the newcomer's face. She put a hand to her eyes, and strode over to the counter.
"Agent Parity, do you know what time it is?"
Parity glanced up, and looked into the intruder's flashing green eyes. She glared in disgust as the woman curled a piece of her blond hair around her finger.
"Time for you to get out and let me finish my Rum Runner? What are you doing here, Anyway?"
"Oh, nothing really," She started, but Parity cut in.
"I guess you just got lost, then, huh?" Parity said sarcastically.
"Not quite. I'm here to give you a message from your superior. Apparently, your punishment will come quite soon."
Parity scoffed, and took a sip of her drink. "Oh, that's REALLY gonan happen."
Instead of retaliating, the woman took hold of Parity's chin and looked into her eyes. "You know, you could have a bit of personality like me in there. We shall see."
The woman gathered her things, and readied herself to walk out the door, but tripped over something. Parity's leg. The woman started to cry, and ran out the door.
"You'll pay for that!"
FLASH!
Agent Parity... oh, Unity had not thought of her for a LONG time. Hundreds of thousands of years, to be exact. However, she was broken from her stream of conciousness as Dan and Siris' bickering got louder. Unity, covered her ears, and sighed. "Let's just get moving."
The meeting adjourned. In earnest, this time.
"Ke Bao Dragon Armour Infuse," he cried, and the armour appeared on his body.
He focused, and transformed into Anthdragn.
He then flew home.
"Okabe!" he exclaimed. "I'm hoooome!"
Although their relationship was nothing major, just friends, Anthadd still felt the urge to announce his return home from trips beyond the island.
The dining room light was on.
"Odd," he thought, "Okabe should have eaten by now. Unless of course she had another seizure..."
He wandered into the dining room.
"S, Solitude?" he finally stammered. "What are you doing here?"
"Thinking," replied she. "And I met some new friends of your... housemate."
Anthadd blushed. There was nothing between he and Okabe. Was there?
And what of these friends Solitude tells me of? he thought. I hope she's still okay...
Cyan shot up, seeing the youthful scientist enter.
He had encountered others like him, before, but was this one he had already met?
"Hello," he said timidly, not wishing to assume before knowing all the facts. "Your name is Anthadd, correct?"
"How... how did you know my name?" Anthadd demanded.
Cyan was silent for a minute, then finally answered, "I have my ways."
Anthadd let it hang at that. There was no sense in delving further than he ought to.
Okabe sucked on a popsicle, once more becoming too hot for the washcloth to have much effect.
Mike and Luna finally got to the temple. They looked around briefly and noted that everything seemed to be in order.
"Everything looks alright... maybe I should look around." Mike wandered around, looking for anything that hinted towards trouble. He even stopped to smell the air. He smelled nothing, so he stopped.
Turning to Luna, Mike grinned. "Well, it looks like everything is-" He stopped grinning and became wide eyed. "AAaaaah!" He yelled and ran behind Luna.
Luna, afraid, asked Mike what was wrong.
"It... it... it's a... s... s... s... snake! Oh of all the horrors in the world, a SNAKE!" Mike continued to hide behind Luna.
Luna was about to hit Mike when she thought better of it. "Well, that's how you'd react to snakes, huh?" She giggled. "There there, it's not going to hurt-" She couldn't finish her statement. She was interrupted by a voice that seemed to be coming from... the snake?
"Hahahaha! Mike, I am your fear. You can't defeat me."
"You're absolutely right, talking snake! Leave me be!"
"No. I'm going to eat you up!!"
Luna became annoyed. "Oh, you two SHUT UP. Snake, go away. Mike, be a man."
The snake became enraged. "Talk to me that way, squirrel girl? So be it." The snake's eyes started glowing red, then orange, and then yellow. A heavy feeling of fear mixed with energy immersed the temple grounds. "Hahahaha... prepare to meet your maker!"
A bolt of black lightning pealed from the sky, hitting the snake. The snake seemed to absorb the energy of the bolt and in turned grew to enormous proportions.
Mike passed out at the sight of the humongous snake.
Luna, seeing that she was essentially alone, prepared to defend herself. "Very well, bring it on snake. I'll catch you and..." She smirked.
The snake was about 3 meters around and 25 meters long. "Ha hah, fool! When I defeat you, I will DESTROY Mike, and take this temple for myself and my allies!" The snake lunged towards Luna with a biting attack. It missed.
"Is that the best you can-" Luna's statement was cut off due to the impact of the snake's tail on her side. Her taunting had lowered her guard. The pig squirrel went flying at the shock of the attack. "Ow..."
The snake laughed. "Now I shall finish you..." It slithered over to Luna, ready to deal a bite that was meant to kill. It prepared to strike, when all of a sudden Mike recovered.
"What in blazes are you doing? Oh, you had better not harm her in any way." Mike was angry, almost to the brink of insanity. Good thing, too, or else he would have passed out. "I'm going to TAKE YOU DOWN!" Mike rushed the snake with his fists.
The snake had an impression of fear acrost its face. "No! Don't!"
Mike ignored the snake. Instead, he was pummeling the snake in its head, on its neck, in its eye, and pretty much anywhere else on the body. "ARG! YOU STUPID, STUPID SNAKE. YOU THREATEN ME OR HER AGAIN AND..." His rage took him too far. He struck the snake on the head once more. The force of the blow caused the snake to pass out and promptly die.
Breathing hard and shaking, he went to Luna. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah."
"Good." Satisfied with the answer, Mike grinned. He then passed out.
Luna looked Mike over, and came to the conclusion that he had just fainted. "Interesting. A snake... his worst fear. Trying to destroy him. And yet, he overcame one of his fears to... destroy it." She sat down and started to think. The pig squirrel rejoined her.
"Squiyer?" The squirrel then climbed onto her head and started to sleep. She sighed, and waited for Mike to recover, which didn't take long.
Solitude looked at Okabe thoughtfully, and then over at Anth. "Something about those two..." She thought, "Something about those two is the same. But I don't know what."
Indeed, Anthadd and Okabe did look quite similar at the moment. They had the same expression of confusion on their faces; almost as though they were mirror images. Even Cyan was inclined to notice this, but he chose to ignore it. Solitude, however, had seen that face before. After a few seconds of thinking, she could almost recall it.
"I used to be the Royal Advisor... what country was that? It's not like it was that long ago, either. Only a good 15 years..."
Solitude's Memories
Solitude sat across from one of her charges, and looked down at a chess board. She moved her pawn forward a space. The girl in front of her smiled.
"Why did you do that?" She brushed a lock of gold-brown hair away from her face, "I'm free to take your queen." The girl took her bishop, and moved it right into the black queen.
Solitude smiled, and moved her pawn to the place the bishop had once stood.
"Checkmate."
The girl looked up, uttery confused.
"How did you do that?"
"It's the queen's sacrifice. You have to let go of your best player to win the game some time."
The girl nodded in awe, but her twin sister stood in the doorway, and looked over with disdain.
"I hate chess..."
Solitude snapped her fingers, and pushed the chair out from under her, much to the surprise of Cyan, Anthadd, and Okabe. Yes, there was that same look of confusion alright.
"I think I've figured something out...I have to leave."
Solitude felt she had encountered Okabe before. She knew she had. But not like that. She didn't look like that at all. She flew off; she needed to think about this turn of events.
"Could it be her?" she wondered. "But how can she look so different? And what of him? What's his connection to them?"
"I wonder what her problem is," Okabe mused.
"She's a little ... eccentric," Anthadd explained, "but you already knew that."
"I didn't know she was that eccentric. And I get the feeling I know her."
"From before that accident that killed your memory?" he asked.
"She has amnesia?" Cyan inquired.
"We both do. I can't remember anything from my early childhood. I only remember what happened when I was growing up in Threed with my foster family. All I had with me was a medallion and a book of strange runes. And a locket."
Anthadd looked at the locket. He could never bear to look at the picture therein; it was too painful to see it, and ever since Okabe arrived on the island, it hurt deep in his heart to even look at the locket itself.
"You never told me you had amnesia," Okabe said. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I felt that it wasn't really sensible; it was sixteen years ago, and it's all behind me now."
Okabe looked at the locket. She also felt a weird pain with it, as she did when she thought of the Ke Bao Dragon Armour Medallion. Her reactions to the Tome of Sugemo were the same, so she shied away from that as well.
"Oh," was all she could manage to say.
As Unity walked farther away from the resteraunt, she formulated Solitude's plan over in her head.
"Claim the Pillars in the Name of light...My Ae Ahl beam should work..."
Dan looked over his shoulder at Unity. "Are you alright?"
She blinked slightly. "No, I'm not. We're changing course; to heck with the pillars."
"What?" Dan yelled. Hearing that had nearly made him jump out of his skin. "Wasn't that the entire basis of the plan Solitude gave you?"
"I don't always have to agree with her!" Unity hissed vehemently. "She's wrong! I know of the pillars; the energy they contain is enormous. But she's wrong! You don't need them to save life! You need life to save life!"
Rusty and Siris merely stood still, listening to the two warriors fight amongst themselves.
"We're changing course, as I said before. I'm going to break through the Universes, but I need a few more people to help. The Chosen Four."
"Unity... Poo is dead. How do you even plan on getting him?"
Unity wheeled on him. "The Stream of Time. We go back, take whatever part of Poo we can find, leave false memories where we need to, and bring the chosen four to Paula on the other side."
"What does this have to do with Paula? Solitude never told you about any of this!"
"She underestimates our connection sometimes, I can't say I don't give her credit for what she's accomplished though."
"Now we're going to the stream of time, and whether we can navigate it on our own or not, I am FIGHTING IN THIS WAR!"