"None of us found anything..." Akino groaned as he drank some water.

"Well, what did we expect to find, honestly?" Chenhua sighed. "I mean, they just up and left after kidnapping Keisuke. Did you expect to find them still here?"

"True..." Choiseung massaged his head lightly. "We're in for a very long search."

Rau shrugged, "Probably going to be all over the multiverse."

"Please don't jinx us," Natsume sighed.

"We've been looking around for who knows how long, and we still haven't gotten anything..." Ayame wiped some sweat off her forehead.

"Ah- Hey guys, isn't that him?" Touma stopped as he saw a big blue bear with a red slime walking away from an alley.

Akinori's eyes widened seeing them, "Yeah! That's him!"

Natsume was already rushing after the Youkai, screaming, "GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!"

Bearlynyan stopped. His bear ears perked up as he turned to see Natsume charge towards them.

"Looks like we'll have to fight, Gluesome," he warned the slime.

"Huh?! But we already have everything we need!" Gluesome looked annoyed.

"Yeah we do, but if we don't fight them now, chances are they'll follow us to our temporary home."

"Where Keisuke is," Gluesome immediately understood.

"So, fight or flight?"

"Fight."

With that, the two turned back.

"Let's do this," Gluesome narrowed his eyes.

"They want to fight, huh?" Aruke watched from the roof of a building.

"Looks like I'll have to step in sooner or later, huh?" Konju leaned on the railing as he said that.

"You don't have to, KonKon."

"Huh? What are you talking about, RukeRuke?"

A grin appeared on the Fate Changer's face.

"Let them see how serious they are for Multi Surge. The Shadowside cast will have a bunch of things to reconsider, especially about Keisuke the 'coward'."

"Hm? Wonder why you said it with air quotes...."

"You'll see, KonKon."

"Eh... as enigmatic as always, Ruke."

Everyone didn't hesitate to get into battle stances the moment they saw the other 2 do so.

The battlefield opened up to Akino and Rau, only this time it was using the 4th game system, and only Touma, Akinori, Ayame, Choiseung, Chenhua, Shutendouji, Rasen and Douketsu available.

"Let's do this!" Akino called out.

"OH!" the fighters all nodded in agreement.

The battle started with Touma turning into Benkei as Shutendouji, Douketsu, Ayame and Akinori attacked Bearlynyan while Choiseung and Chenhua dealt with Gluesome. Rasen took to providing support for the main attackers.

Bearlynyan and Gluesome didn't waste time either. They immediately went to their Shadowside forms, and attacked them ferociously.

"How dare you kidnap Keisuke-kun!" Ayame sent her heart attack at Cuddly, who dodged.

"You don't care for Keisuke! We do!" Cuddly snapped back.

"What are you talking about?! Of course we do!" Akinori growled as he made 2 star attacks and shot them to him.

"All you want him for is to be the "scared" kid according to the script! You don't even care how he feels!" Cuddly punched Akinori, knocking him unconscious.

"Akinori-kun!/Akinori!" the 3 humans shouted.

Akino quickly switched him out for Kyryn, his eyes narrowing a bit.

"You guys need to learn a lesson," Glugazoid growled as he reflected Choiseung and Chenhua's attacks, causing them to get hit.

"This is bad..." Natsume mumbled.

"Double bad, you mean," Rau switched them out for Obonyuu and Unsan.

"We're going to give Keisuke the second chance most Level 5 characters don't get; Character development! True and pure character development!" Glugazoid sent Ayame and Benkei back flying, before Cuddly added, "And anyone who comes in our way will get it! No matter who it is!" as he grabbed Shutendouji and Douketsu, tossing them away.

Rasen's eyes widened. H-How are they so strong?...

Glugazoid then grabbed Rasen and tossed him to the pile before turning around, turning back to Gluesome as Cuddly opened the portal.

"Keisuke may look like a coward, but he's not." were his last words before they left, leaving everyone with their biggest mystery yet.

What did he mean?....