They started heading back to the train, but he stopped when he noticed a member was missing.

"Miko?" Looking back, he found her still standing in the middle of the pitch. She seemed to be daydreaming. "Miko! Come on! Everyone's waiting!"

Not a single movement could be seen. Her expression was also hidden with her back turned to them. She spoke before he could call again. "Kyou... do you... see that?"

He blinked. "See what?"

"The sky... It's all... swirly..."

He looked up, following her gaze. "... No? It's completely normal..." A frown made its way to his face as he felt something weighing down inside him. "Is everything okay?"

It was then that she finally turned to him, and he could see just how much color had drained from her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by her own coughing.

Something red escaped the gaps between her fingers and dripped to the ground.

"Kimiko!" His body moved faster than he could think. He ran to catch her just as she started falling, but before he could reach her, someone else did.

A very familiar someone.

"Long time no see, Okita Souji." That smirk, that tone, that extremely recognizable outfit and hair...

"Zanark!" He skidded to a stop right in front of him. A ton of questions ran through his mind, but one look at his best friend in his hands immediately brought back his focus. "What happened to her? She was playing soccer with us just fine a few minutes ago!"

"So I saw." He dropped the smug expression and flipped a coin into the air with his free hand. It then expanded into the red sphere device he was familiar with. "She's pushed past her limit. I'm taking her back to Supporter X. If she dies, then all our effort would be in vain."

"Die―?!" The last thing he expected was for that word to be thrown in. But that was also when he recalled everything he knew about the SSC. "W-Wait, didn't they say she still had eight years?!"

"I knew you would say that." The older boy clicked his tongue. "Maximum. She had eight years maximum. There were plenty who went at her age. Plenty of those younger too."

!

He knew that already. And yet... And yet...!

"I can stay and talk about this some more, but she doesn't have a lot of time left. We're going."

His head snapped up, and he was going to ask him to take him too, but―

"Of course, you're all coming too."

"Time Warp Mode."

In a blink, their surroundings changed from the floating rock in space to a garden surrounded by many high-rises.

"What the―?!"

"Where the fuck?!"

"How did we get here?!"

"Where even is 'here'?!"

"Eh? Are we back in the future?"

"Captain, WHAT?!"

"Future?!"

"Did we actually time travel?!"

"Who's that?!"

"Zanark?!"

"Huh?!"

"Kimiko! Why is she―"

"What is going on anymore?!"

The smirk returned to the older boy's face. "I thrive on your loss of sanity. It's only a shame that I don't have the time to watch any longer." His gaze went to something in the distance behind him. Two familiar boys were running over. "I'll leave you all to the bunny and monkey. The kid can't afford to wait much longer."

"Hey, wait―!"

Before he could stop him, Zanark had already teleported away again. Most likely into the El Dorado building that they were standing just outside off.

"Everyone!" The two figures got closer and closer as the green haired one called out to them. "I'm glad you've made it!"

"It's been a long time." The white haired boy beside him gave a wry smile to the rest of the team. "And nice to meet you. My name is Saryuu Evans. Call me Saru."

"And I'm Fei. Fei Rune."

"Okay, cool. Now can someone please tell us what the fuck is happening?!" Ibuki yelled.

"We were in space and now we're here..." Kusaka muttered. "Is this Earth? It should be, right?"

"The captain said something about the future." Minaho pointed out.

"The future, people teleporting left and right, and whatever the heck is happening to Kimiko..." Tetsukado groaned. "I thought space was hard enough to understand, but now we've got all this! I don't get anything anymore!"

"Kimiko's told us about the future before though."

When Manabe piped that in, all Tsurugi could think was, When the fuck did that happen?

"But still!"

"We apologize for the confusion our friend has caused you," Saru began. "But I'll have to ask you all to be a little more patient. We'd like to explain everything all at once when everyone has gathered."

"You mean this isn't everyone?" Shindou asked.

"Not even close. And we're also going to have to ask your caretaker to come out of the train before we move it."

It was only then that they realized that the Galaxy Nauts Gou was teleported along with them. The train was in no way damaged, but it was sitting on top of many flower beds, looking about ready to break the concrete beneath it.

"I-I'll go get her." Shinsuke offered, knowing his size (and therefore, his weight) would come in handy in this case. So they let him handle calling Kamata.

"On top of that, Wandaba and Protocol Omega's captains are picking up the rest of Raimon and some adults from your timeline to be part of this discussion, the most important ones being Kimiko's family." Fei pursed his lips. "It's her life that's in danger after all. They need to be here."

Tsurugi had many things he would like to question right then and there, but seeing as all their future friends had gathered together for this, he could feel a small bit of worry lifting off of him. They all have it under control, he hoped. So once Shinsuke got Kamata out, and some El Dorado guards came to move the train with some strange devices, they all followed their two friends into the building.

~~~~~

Upon arriving at a familiar room (literally the same one they landed in the first time they came), a portal opened about a meter above the ground, and many familiar faces flooded out.

"Endou-san! Everyone!"

"Sangoku-san!"

"Kirino!"

"Midori-san! Akane-san!"

A white haired boy appeared further behind them. "Pulling the lever without knowing what it does wasn't very smart of you."

"You told me I can touch whatever I want, Gamma!" From the pile of people, Kariya's yell was muffled.

"Note to self, never let Kariya do anything on his own when inside a UFO..." Hikaru's statement earned many nods.

As they helped them get untangled, another group appeared the same way Gamma did. They were all adults he knew. Gouenji― with his sister, Yuuka― Kidou, Fudou, and their club counselor, Haruna. With them was Beta, smiling as she always does as she twirled the sphere device on top of a finger. "Alpha, Rei, and Mr. Bear sure are taking their sweet time."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they needed to explain the talking bear more than the actual situation." Gamma muttered.

But before Beta could add in her own sarcasm, Tetsukado cut her off to ask, "The talking what?"

"You may need to see it to believe it." Fei chuckled nervously.

"It shouldn't be too much of a problem." Gouenji said. "Masato is with them, so he'll be able to handle it."

"Let's hope so." Yuuka sighed. "It wouldn't be nice if they end up grounding him from how little sense he probably made, and not believing anything they say about... well... why we're needed here."

"I don't think we have to worry about that." Kidou said, looking up.

They all followed his gaze to find a familiar caravan hovering above their heads. When it landed on the far side of the room, four people came out. Two adults, a boy, and a bear.

While most of Earth Eleven stared in awe at Wandaba, who was more than happy to introduce himself under all the attention, he turned his focus to the others.

"Aunty! Uncle!" Yuuka ran over to the adults and gave them tight hugs.

"Took you long enough, Alpha."

"Explanations took longer than expected, Beta."

"We figured." She then looked around. "Where's Rei?"

"Gouenji Masato borrowed him to pick up one other person."

"One other person?"

Just as she asked, three people appeared near her. Masato, Rei, and...

"Nii-san?!" He couldn't hide his surprise. He immediately ran over to him, getting a smile in greeting as Masato moved to hug his own family and Rei to his friends.

"Kyousuke, it's been a while." Really, that soft expression was almost enough to wash his anxieties away. Almost. "I heard a little about Kimiko. Is she alright?"

The question hit him like a brick. "I-I don't know. Zanark took her to some other place, and w-we were brought here to... to..." His brows furrowed.

What were they here for again? Just to meet up? To talk? Or are they going to be finding a solution together? How, though?

None of them knew anything more about the SSC than what they were told. The most they could probably do is station themselves around the building to prevent her from trying to escape, but that would require her to get better enough to escape. However, no matter how much he didn't want to think of it, Zanark's lack of attitude made him fear the worst.

What if they were too late? What if the timeline changed to one where she dies? What if―

A hand landed on his shoulder, the surprise making him jump. "Breathe." As per his brother's instruction, he took several deep breaths. He didn't realize just how badly he was starting to panic until he was snapped out of it.

It was almost like reliving the day he―

"Yuuichi-san! Your legs!"

... broke them...

He was able to stop himself from flinching at the mention of it, but not from taking a glimpse. He was...

He was...

... standing?

"N-Nii-san... You're... You..." His mind was going down a whole new spiral now.

His older brother smiled wryly. "I only wish I could've surprised you under better circumstances. You and Kimiko both."

... He hated that, despite it being everything he's ever wanted for the past six (nearly seven now actually) years, he couldn't even feel happy that his brother was finally healed. He wanted to be― He really, from the bottom of his heart, wanted to be― but the only thing he could feel was fear for the life of his best friend.

("Of the one he treasured above all" remained chained to the back of his throat.)

"Now that we're all here," Fei spoke up, earning everyone's attention. "Perhaps we should make sure everyone is up to speed on the general situation."

He and Saru, along with the Protocol Omega captains and Wondeba, began to explain all they needed to know, most of it being stuff that Raimon had already been told or shown around Ragnarok. Mostly, it was things about the Second Stage Children― Their abilities, unfortunate fates, Feida, and the reformation of it― and Kimiko's... unique condition.

"... I don't know if all the graphics made it easier or harder to understand..." Sakura muttered.

"If it weren't for captain and the others telling us like... part of it all first, I think we'd be completely lost now..." Kusaka added.

"Speak for yourself. I didn't get any of this shit." Mizukawa grumbled.

"We can go over it again later, if you want to, Mizukawa-san." Aoi said, getting a huff in response.

"Just keep in mind that you're not allowed to share anything about this when you return to your present." Beta's sweet smile changed into a devious one in a blink. "Or else, we'll have to beat the memories out of you!"

Eight of the thirteen from Earth Eleven took a step back simultaneously. Matatagi was the only one of the non-Raimon members to stand his ground. In fact, he had a smirk of his own.

"I like that one."

Of course you do. He was sure he wasn't the only one with that thought.

"Try me." Mizukawa, meanwhile, was already rolling up her sleeves. Aoi had to get in her way once again, and this time, she had the help of Akane and Midori with her.

(They were confused, but went along with it anyway... He mentally noted that they still need to fill all of Raimon and his brother in about everything that transpired on Faram and the Lost Galaxy.)

Fei let out a wry laugh. "Well... In any case, the other adults should be in the process of scanning Kimiko's condition right now, so shall we lead the way?"

They all gave different variants of 'yes' and began their walk. Fei, Saru, the Protocol Omega Captains, and Wandaba led the way. Her family went first, followed by their closest friends. Raimon and the Earth Eleven mingled a little bit behind them. Lastly, even further back, his brother took his hand and started pulling him along.

(He didn't realize how firmly his feet were planted to the ground until he stumbled at his pull)

He felt like a child. A child that was bullied and ran home crying. A child that was too nervous to talk to new people at the park...

A child who's hand was held by his best friend every time he needed it.

His best friend that's...

That's...

...

His grip tightened as he held back the tears that were finally threatening to fall.