At high speed, the matte black pod races past dark city buildings with traditional rectangular shapes, all under the dark black sky cloudy which hides the sights of space as instead only the soulless abyss looms above. The buildings it passes don’t appear to be the same smooth silver beauties of the metropolis but rather are grimy and made of a more concrete-esc material devoid of charm. Those buildings are hard to focus on however due to the speed of the pod as it speeds down blocks in seconds, passing other pods which have lighter colored bodies with more rigid shapes closer to rectangles rather than smooth curves that the black pod racing past exhibits.
Same color as the gloomy atmosphere, the pod’s engine roars as it bolts through the air, as while at first it appears that there is no present danger, its hasty movements assume otherwise as it’s clearly not moving at the same speed as the others in the light traffic.
That is then explained when only a few seconds later when the pod suddenly strafes to the right lane, shifting to the side right before a barrage of radiating orange bolts fly right beside it, narrowly missing its matte black body as it is sprayed through where the pod had been only a second ago. Around, several of the pods lean outward and turn on intersections, dispersing like a flock of birds after being subjected to a quake.
Again the pod strafes, this time back to the left, avoiding another burst of orange bolts that follow the ring of gunfire from behind. After the burst passes, the pod returns to the right, weaving constantly as there are still more pods on the road ahead which it has to maneuver through, trying not to collide with any while keeping adequate speed.
Soaring through the air behind the black pod, a crowd of about five other pods race close behind seemingly in pursuit. Every pod is designed exactly the same which bunches them together as they race past other lighter pods which swerve out of the way upon their introductions, clearly threatened by the cluster.
While the pods are also black, their bodies are glossy and are far more geometric with more traditional rectangular shapes, giving the pods more of a boxy design that’d have been in fashion little less than a millenia ago.
Along the outer walls of the chasing pods, the areas where the windows would be located have been hollowed out to create apertures even in flight, and sticking out of those apertures are men dressed in formal buttoned up suits with black blazers but no ties wearing black fedoras on their heads in an outfit resembling that for a mafia from a century less than a millenia ago. With youthful and seemingly innocent faces, they stare down the sightlines of the firearms they tightly grip both handles of–on each side of the wide circular disk shaped as a magazine– aiming ahead. Given the weapon’s stock and handles which appear wooden with the rest of the body metallic black, the weapon has an intimate uncanny resemblance to a tommy gun.
Sticking out from the front passenger seat and back seats, the men continue to tap on their triggers, firing bursts of orange bolts at the matte black pod they’re hunting down.
While most of the pods trail right behind their target, one of them veers to the left and accelerates faster in an attempt to flank the sleek pod ahead.
Inside that sleek pod, the driver glares with sharp blue eyes ahead while beside him the front passenger keeps her head facing back, viewing the window next to her. Behind both of them, the two passengers in the back bench are also glued to the windows in anticipation, all on edge as they observe the orange bursts fly past them.
In fact, the only one inside the pod who isn’t facing back is the driver himself, whose expression is also the only one that doesn’t expose anxiety but rather is coated stern in determination, his hands by his side as he drives the pod through his mind, making it strafe from side to side every several seconds to evade another burst of fire.
In front of the driver, the windshield provides a view of the dreary city ahead, where many of the buildings are dimly lit yellow to provide minimal light, yet the city is still very much dark and gritty. On the corner of the windshield are the default holographic interface gauges, however also displayed along the sides are video players exhibiting live footage of the respective sides of the pods as well as a central display at the top of the windshield showcasing the rear view where the pursuit is most dense.
Complementary with the various perspectives of the black pods on the bottom of the windshield is also a rotating three dimensional model perfectly representative of the sleek matte black pod in the center surrounded by other black pods albeit in the boxy design of the chasers, providing a full three dimensional view of the chase to further keep the driver fully engaged with his surroundings.
Able to get a full view of the pod’s surroundings without needing to turn his head, the driver keeps it straight forward and remains collected while those around him shutter to every orange flurry they witness graze right in front of them.
Watching the pod trail them incessantly, Kokei insistently exclaims, “Uh…they’re right behind us! They’re only getting closer!”
Not even twitching his head, Meditat softly sighs before calmly acknowledging, “Yes, I see that,” with a passively irritated tone.
Next to the front left window beside the driver, one of the chasing pods reaches beside Meditat, having successfully caught up to him. Both pod engines roar as they race through the city, and the chaser then leans towards Meditat, having first been using a neighboring lane but gradually closes the distance between the two.
Meditat glances to the side and notices the approaching pod, and he sighs in knowing that they were far from free. His left hand curls into the shape for projectile firing, keeping it on his lap below the window as he faces the pod beside him while taking quick glances back ahead to monitor the ones behind him.
Across the window, the boxy pod keeping pace hollows out its front right window, exposing the interior of the vehicle similar to the act of rolling down a window, rather this window instead bursts. Behind the opening reveals another man in the same suit and hat, who faces the target window.
Unexpectedly the window next to Meditat dematerializes as he voluntarily makes himself vulnerable, creating a full unobstructed space between himself and the neighboring pod. He glares through the opening as Dana takes note of the ballsy act with a gasp.
Past the aperture, the front passenger in the suit faces Meditat while wielding a short revolver with a wooden handle but black metal body, and given the petite barrel it resembles a Smith and Wesson Model 19. The passenger aims the stubby barrel at Meditat while next to him another suited man controls the driving of the pod.
Holding the revolver with only subtle waves of instability in front of Meditat’s face, the young man then inquires in a roughened yet equally prepubescent voice, “Excuse me sir, do you have a moment to talk about-,” before his forehead is met by a bright blue bolt, and he immediately falls unconscious.
Next to the fallen body, the driver glances at Meditat with a shocked expression of horror before he is then struck by a similar bolt also to the head, to which he slumps forward on the dashboard, and the pod gradually declines down in an automated park after registering lack of a conscious driver.
Witnessing the fall of the pod, Meditat’s stern gaze traces the descent while his left arm still remains extended out of the vehicle in the shape of the gun which he had just fired.
A few orange bolts soar past Meditat, some of which strike his hand, to which he retracts it back inside the vehicle and allows the window to be rematerialized.
The matte black pod then suddenly inclines up, flying higher towards the sky as it rises above several buildings on its way away from the city and the subsequent world. It appears hope had been lost for this world too, and the chase through the claustrophobic towers of the city only caused unnecessary difficulties.
Inside the pod, Meditat irately grouches, “One day, we cannot go a whole day without this!”
In the backseat, Ekitai leans forward after hearing Meditat’s disapproval expression, and he attemptively justifies, “I haven’t been here for a while, I didn’t know about this whole revolution of ‘aggressive missionaries!’”
“Is that what you call them? God dammit Ekitai, research! Or do I need to start doing that?” reprimands Meditat back, clearly discontent with the series of events they had been experiencing for more than they wished for.
Ekitai shakes his head and holds his hands up, insisting: “No, I got you wolf, don’t even stag! I swear on my dead family, I’ll ship something better next! Let me uh…give me a second….”
He then pulls his right sleeve up to expose his wrist, which houses the unsanitary metal device punctured into his bony wrist arm supported by bolts. He holds his arm to shoulder height, and lowers his left hand as the disk on the cylinder projects a gray light that expands into the rectangular holographic screen.
The screen displays what appears to be a white worded list with every installment’s start to the right of a white circle acting as a bullet point. Next to each bullet point is a number ranging from one to a hundred, and next to each number is a description in between parentheses.
The top portion of the list also has a visible red strikethrough that permeates through the bullet point and all its accompanying text, with the first nonstruck point displaying the accompanying text: ‘7 (nice city cheap girls breakable laws easy access to clubs and bars NO EGA AUTHORITY).’
However, after letting out a disappointed sigh, Ekitai watches the animation of a red line forming from the edge of the bullet point and being drawn through the text, striking through it just as the others above as though he was also abandoning it due to the circumstances of them being fired at.
He then moves his gaze down to the next bullet point which presents the text: ‘3 (nice people flying city cool luxury houses known tourist place corruption black market paradise).
Enchanted by the promising prospects of the next suggestion, Ekitai raises his head up with an optimistic grin before innocently proposing, “I got it, Earth 3! 3 is a lucky number! Well, so was 7, but I mean they say ‘third time’s a charm’…even though I think I said that five Earths ago too ....”
Only comprehending segments of the proposition as his attention is primarily on the chase as he passes the final city building with now nothing in his way from the abyss above, Meditat mindlessly mutters, “If you’re certain,” before then glancing to the footage displays on the side of his windshield where the four other pods are still in pursuit.
He then notices how from one of the pods at the front, the front passenger leans out of the pod while carrying a firearm designed differently from the others as rather than it having a circular drum it instead just has a long barrel with a wooden underbarrel grip, resembling less of a machine gun but rather a Remington Model 870.
The mobster missionary aims the shotgun at the back of the pod before firing a wide orange blast much larger than the bolts fired previously, as while only one was fired at once that one wide blast manages to strike the back of the pod.
Suddenly from inside, the pod is shaken to which Dana’s body is tossed forwards before she leans back. She gasps with agitation and faces past her window while gripping the edge of her seat for more stability before imploring, “What was that??”
His head unmoved but his expression becoming more irritated, Meditat tsks before discerning, “Higher energy concentration, it’s damaging the shields. It’s not much but constant fire can be an is-,” before the pod shakes again from the distant sound of the shotgun shot.
“-sue, okay hold on,” finishes Meditat, to which Dana glances at him in intrigue to the last part of his statement.
Her perplexion is then changed to panic as Meditat leans his right shoulder forwards, and the entire pod suddenly spins horizontally, causing Dana’s body to swerve towards him, and for both Ekitai and Kokei in the back to nearly collapse on each other.
Outside the matte pod spins around with its front facing the pursuers although still driving away from them. It directly faces the frontal pod in the chase, aligning both of them perfectly.
Faced directly, the mobster wielding the shotgun remains leaning outside of the pod stares forward with expanding eyes and a dropping jaw, shocked speechless.
Facing directly, the driver extending his gun-shaped hand revealed leaning outside of his pod through the side window glares forward with tightened eyes and wrinkles due to his stern expression, strenuous silently.
He then flicks his wrist, to which a blue bolt fires.
Precisely shot, the blue bolt strikes the mobster’s forehead, yet interestingly enough, the bolt doesn’t embed itself into the mobster, but rather it then ricochettes off him and straight into the pod through the opening where the driver would be seated.
Concurrently the armed mobster falls unconscious and slumps back into his pod but not before dropping the shotgun far down below, but at the same time the entire pod then begins to descend as the driver had been shot down too from the modified bolt’s complex trajectory.
As the defeated pod plummets down into the earth, the remaining three pods pull forward in a straight row, and in retaliation the front passenger in the central pod reveals that in his hand is a device shaped as a bottle, and the missionary waves his free hand over the top to which a bright blue flame suddenly awakens off the top, awakened and blazing over the bottle in a design similar to a lethal molotov bottle, as the pin had been pulled.
The mobster then pulls his arm back before chuckling the bottle straight at the opaque pod’s front windshield right next to the driver, shouting: “REPENT SINNER!”
Its trajectory unchanged due to its driver not controlling the vehicle, the pod is struck by the bottle, and on impact the bottle erupts in a fiery blue explosion off the windshield.
Alarmed by the successful strike, Meditat immediately leans back inside the pod and the side window materializes shut.
The pod then promptly spins around to once again face away from its pursuers and instead to the sky, where it continues towards as it begins acceleration.
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Back in the pod, Meditat breathes heavily as he faces the windshield to see that on the upper right corner is a new holographic window, albeit this one red rather than blue and also repeatedly flickers, which has a triangle with the icon of a bicycle helmet next to the warning: ARMOR LEVEL CRITICAL.’
“Dammit, I should’ve put custom weapons on this scrap, I was just concerned over it being detected and putting me under suspicion. Come on…,” regrets Meditat before he vents out a sigh which calms his breathing.
Reimbursed with control, the pod boosts off into the sky above as the engine roars aggressively, taking planetary exit procedures to try making its escape off world.
Relentlessly however the remaining three pods follow closely, also accelerating after the target as the passengers leaning outside return inside the pod and allow the windows to be shut. With the pods enclosed, they then boost faster, trailing the matte pod ahead.
Racing in a black ray of pods, the front matte pod soars straight through the dark clouds high in the sky, vanishing into the darkness where the three pods behind also enter through without hesitation. All four pods vanish from the surface of the world, yet the chase was far from over.
Inside the sleek pod, Meditat monitors the windshield and watches the red warning display flicker rate decline as it flashes slower before completely vanishing as though the problem had been resolved.
Behind the invisible wheel, Meditat keeps his head straight and his body firm, silent in tight focus. His sharp gaze and calm body are the baseline necessities for the mindset needed if he hoped to come out of the chase alive, thus he cut himself off from the three passengers so he could be in his own world to control.
“We’re flying straight into the ring! Come on, can’t you just make a giant net to stop them at once or something? We could’ve defeated them back in the city from the beginning!” Kokei interrupts the silence, to which Meditat’s forehead wrinkles as his concentration is cracked ever so slightly by the intrusion.
However, regardless of the agitation the splinter to his meditation caused, he instead doesn’t respond but rather remains silent, not wanting to engage in the conversation especially during the tense situation.
Outside the sleek black pod bolts straight out of the clouds and up to the peak of the black atmosphere, soaring to the edge of the Earth. Only seconds later it penetrates through that edge, rocketing out of the Earth entirely and reaching into the cosmic field beyond. Suddenly white shimmering stars begin to appear over purple nebulas, as the environment is injected with the life of infinite expansion.
It soars further ahead into space away from the Earth, but straight ahead of the pod is a huge field of hovering space debris of gray rock, as if the asteroid belt was right in front of the Earth.
Instead of an asteroid field roaming in front of the Earth however, the entire world was surrounded by a monolithic ring of space debris, and the planet doesn’t appear to even have a moon of its own orbiting around. Instead there is the ring, which in width is not as wide as the radius of the moon by even a longshot, yet it spans the entire world closely to its atmosphere.
Behind the pod in the far distance the three remaining mobster pods reach the end of the Earth’s atmosphere, still in pursuit even off-world. They don’t slow down either, for even without the ability of easily firing due to the inability to lean outside the vehicle so simply, they still pursued nonetheless.
Inside the central chasing pod however, the driver stares with an uneasy expression, and he apprehensively queries, “Uh…boss, I think he’s going in the ring. You sure you want us to follow him, I mean he’ll probably crash anyways so it’s probably not worth the risk.”
Next to the driver, the front passenger who also at first has a similar anxious expression gulps and controls his face to become calm and determined. He glares with contracted eyes before boldly declaring, “We’re going in, we have God on our side.”
Leading the missionary mob, the central pod accelerates more towards the matte black pod, and the two other pursuers follow suit and speed up to keep pace.
With an unrelenting gaze, Meditat drives his pod straight into the ring, and without even slowing down he begins tightly maneuvering the vehicle around the various space debris. Dana grips tightly onto her seat with both hands, uneasy about the bold move, yet Meditat’s eyes don’t flicker away.
Slithering through the field with precise turns to the sides but also up and down, the pod not only makes its way through the ring but it also intentionally complicates its own path, making pursuit more difficult.
Behind it, the three mobster pods attempt to follow, although they do instead noticeably slow down in order to make the necessary movements, trying to follow the matte pod as it doesn’t even seem interested in leaving the belt as its vertical and side movements take more prominence than trying to go forward.
Paths twisting and turning in complex networks, the mobster pods are challenged with full omnidirectional movement to chase down this one runaway, but in the tight turns and cuts one of them crashes straight into a rock the size of itself, coming to a straight halt as it’s front is embedded into the rock where it then remains frozen.
After glancing back to notice the crash, Meditat returns his gaze ahead where he then nods his head to himself, prepared to take the movements to the next level.
Each strafe executed by the lead matte pod is followed by the remaining two pods as the drivers do their best to read every move, turning left, then up, then rolling downward right, and then forwards. Then, the sleek pod suddenly pulls up but not only that it completely loops backwards, flipping overhead the two mobster pods and flying back several feet daringly around the dense debris before looping back around, now right behind one of the pods that was meant to be chasing it.
Inside that trailed pod, both the passenger and the driver synchronously glance backwards to the back window, only to watch the matte pod charge straight into their backs, crashing straight into them, to which both of them are thrown forwards against the dashboard.
That struck pod staggers into two rocks simultaneously where it then comes to a stop as well, leaving only one remaining.
In the final missionary pod, the boss glances to the side window and observes the last comrade stuck in between rocks. He grunts irately before then facing forwards in discontent, for now it was only him left.
Trailed now by the target, the final mobster pod makes a hard strafe to the right, evading the matte pod’s charge as it dashes straight through where it was. The matte pod, having thrusted forwards now with the intent to have driven into the final hostile only to miss, instead reaches the end of the ring where it continues to race forwards at the same speed.
Right behind the runaway, the final mobster pod emerges from the ring as well in hot pursuit, the two racing into the open cosmos no longer challenged by the dense rocky region.
To try shaking the last missionary off, the matte black pod swerves to the right and to the left repeatedly, however right behind it the last pursuer copies every single action, staying right behind it without being brushed away. While before it was able to take advantage of the rocky ring as natural cover that doubled as weapons, allowing the disparity in skill to easily translate in providing more options for combat, now with complete openness there was little that could be done, as now there was a clear shot at the escapee.
Inside the final mobster pod, the boss aggressively orders, “NOW, RAM INTO HIM! LET’S SEND HIS SATANIST BOTTOM TO THE UNDERWORLD!”
Following commands, the final pursuer then accelerates more towards the back of the matte pod, intending to crash straight into it as it did to its comrade.
Inside the sleek pod, the driver growls as he glances at the screen exhibiting the acceleration of the chaser, judging that in only seconds the crash would occur if no preventive action is taken.
Dana stares through the window with wide, anticipatory eyes.
Ekitai gazes through the back window with a delighted, enthusiastic grin.
Kokei faces away from the window with a hidden, petrified face.
Meditat pivots his hips and faces the back of the pod where he then extends his right hand straight forward, which ignites in an azureus blaze.
Screaming with all his might through radiating blue eyes, Meditat exerts all his strength into a stream of flames that fires out of his hand, and straight in between both Kokei and Ekitai into the pod’s back bench.
Even more, the flames phase straight through the entire back of the pod, emerging out the other end in the vacuum of space where it continues towards the final mobster pod before then expanding wider than the pod’s face.
Through the blaze manifests a dense grid of elastic shiny ropes forming a net, which the missionary pod soars straight into, being caught in the net that wraps around the front of the vehicle before then flashing blue and discharging its shot into its captive.
While speeding through space, the mobster pod abruptly ceases its chase and instead freezes entirely, stopping in place as the discharge appears to have dismantled its abilities.
In a brief instant the pod’s speed plummeted from thousands of miles per hour to just a minor drift, coursing aimlessly through space.
Inside that final missionary pod, the boss helplessly watches through the gritted view past the net as the matte pod expedites its escape in seconds, from soaring rapidly to dashing straight ahead in an immense leap. In seconds the pod loses visibility, far from the perception of its pursuers, having successfully made its escape at last.
Only then when the pod is no longer perceivable does the net burst into blue flames before dissipating, erased off the hood of the mobster pod, and only then the pod begins to drive faster as it no longer appears to be restrained.
But by then the damage has been done, as the driver’s head slumps into the dashboard filled with disappointment, but the boss only tilts his head in pure bewilderment after having witnessed the miraculous action right before his eyes.
Unable to take his eyes off the windshield or even move them an inch, all the boss can do is quietly wonder to himself, “Wait…was that…‘Him?’”
Far in the distance beyond what the naked eye can capture, the matte black pod roams the cosmos no longer being chased, for now it is free to coast through the solar system without fear. It doesn’t stop as there’s still a destination to reach to, but without any intense conflicts all those within the vehicle could rest calm.
Behind it was no samurai sheriff, fascist fish, targeting tribe, cruel colossus, or murderous missionaries.
Instead it glides through the canvas of purple clouds over white lights, the beautiful infinity away from the grasp of any world’s threat. In this moment, off world, the pod was untouchable, safe, able to rest and take that breath it had been holding in for all those days.
Inside the pod, the passengers take those breaths, and rapidly, their hearts nearly having burst from their chests from the daring escape. Even the driver appears to have been exhausted, breathing heavily with his hand over his chest leaning forwards.
Taking the much needed break, the passengers continue to calm themselves as the driver breaks into a dry cough, covering his mouth with his fist again. The incessant coughing sounds pained like that of illness, and he leans more forwards in the excessive cough lasting several seconds while Dana watches with perturbation, pausing her own recovery.
Eventually Meditat’s cough ceases, and he gulps before pressing his hand against his forehead with tightly sealed eyes for a few seconds as if feeling a pain, but only to lower his hand, open his eyes, and lean upright again, seemingly healthy.
Behind him, Kokei quietly murmurs to herself, “Well, we should;ve just done that from the beginning,” while beside her Ekitai leans forwards and enthusiastically announces, “So, off to Earth 3, yes?”
Clearly drained from the long string of adventures, Meditat instead leans his head against the headrest of his seat, raising his head up while facing the windshield. He weakly waves his right hand down before betting, “Yes, yes we are. But I’m putting this down now, if not a day passes after we get there we get into another fight and have to abandon the Earth, I’m not taking your advice from then on. This is your last chance.”
Shoulders weak from the burden weighing many tons dropped on his frail body, Ekitai slouches forwards with a forcefully innocent face and apprehensively persuades, “Yeah, yeah that won’t happen, don’t even prong, this Earth is going to be like Earth 36 if Earth 36 was affordable to more people than the eighth percent! Like, my man, I am an all Superverse traveler, I know these worlds like the back of my hand!“
“Then your palms must always be up,” Meditat callously strikes, causing Ekitai to deflate like a balloon and retract against his seat’s cushion.
After dealing the blow, Meditat lightly smirks to himself before Dana faces him and insightfully advocates to which Meditat’s expression reverts solemn, “Hey, maybe this time we should start off looking for residences, maybe a house we could rent so we don’t need to be too close to others just so even if they’re not exactly friendly it won’t be too big of a deal. I mean, this is a temporary living situation anyways, we don’t need to make friends, as long as we get our own private space I think we’ll be fine.”
Meditat lowers his head and sighs in defeat before acknowledging, “Yeah…you’re right. It’s probably best if we don’t anyways, the more we can avoid attention the better.”
He then raises his head and faces Dana before nodding and deciding, “Very well, that’ll be our plan. Honestly, more than anything we just need somewhere where we can think clearly, I’ve still made no progress on any plans against…you know.”
“Wait, seriously? We’ve been running all this time and got nowhere?!” exclaims Kokei demandingly, jumping into the conversation with a fierce attitude.
Meditat opens his mouth to respond, but only to close it and lower his head, unable to find a suitable response to the question, for he could find no answer satisfying to even himself.
“Don’t worry Kokei, as we said we got a plan now to get us somewhere where we can formulate a strategy, I’m sorry there was that hiccup but now what matters is how we proceed, right?” reasons Dana with the gentle grace of her voice while facing Kokei, to which Meditat swerves his head with expanded pupils.
Now the one to lower their head, Kokei frowns in a reserved manner. Squeezing her arms to her side like a turtle retreating to its shell, she subtly nods her head before quietly surrendering, “Mm.”
Staring smugly, Ekitai pushes his finger into Kokei’s gentle cheek before commenting, “Heh, you’re cute when you lose.”
In the speed of lightning Kokei slaps Ekitai’s wrist down and glares at him with arcs sizzling in her irises before aggressively threatening, “Shut up, I’m going to throw you out of the pod!”
“Hey now, we just avoided getting the pod destroyed, don’t you start doing that yourselves,” lectures Dana sternly inside the matte black pod as it glides through the cosmic canvas, passing a distant Earth vivid of greens and blues below the swirly clouds, neighbored by its own fully intact Moon further away.
“Hmph, why do I have to sit next to him? Why can’t I sit in the front or something?” pouts Kokei as the pod drifts past the world, continuing in its simple path through the system.
“‘You’ sitting in the front? That doesn’t make sense, you’re the shortest, if anything I should get shotgun since I’m the tallest one here!” proclaims Ekitai, arguing back in the battle for the throne.
“Hey, I’ve fixed this pod so many times that I wouldn’t be surprised if every single part was one I made! So technically I own this pod more than you do, which means it’s my say who sits in the front. And that’s me! Right Medit?” contends Dana in a voice of royal strength, dominating control over the pod while the true owner remains distant from the battle, just keeping his attention on the path the pod’s taking among the stars.
“What? How can you do this? This is outrageous; it’s unfair,” Ekitai protests dramatically.
Regardless of what is argued over the airy debate, and regardless of who is seated where, all four of them continue on their odyssey through the stars together, traveling the hundred worlds as they seek refuge from not only their hunter but the worlds themselves.
A harsh beating into the true nature of the Superverse was served, for while it was technically flourishing with extraordinary stories and lives of cultures impossible to experience elsewhere and species exclusive outside the bounds of home, it was also swamped with darkness and hostility as those cultures drove conflicts that pushed against outsiders and those species wielded destructive might that posed the threat of life and death.
Now however, that tragic truth was accustomed to, and now they could move forwards prepared with what they may have to face, and ready to combat their challenges with greater nuance and understanding that may help them evolve in worlds of entirely unique developmental histories, they were ready for what lies beyond.
No matter the sharpest spear.
No matter the strongest strike.
Together they were prepared to face it all, never to leave one behind, for regardless of their own dysfunctional relationships they still fought for one another.
Now that they’ve learned the workings of the Superverse, their next objective is application: rather than fight against it instead live with it.