Clover's eyes slowly opened and were instantly met by a wooden ceiling. She felt the warmth of the sun hit her body once again as it glistened through the window near her bed. She looked next to her to se another bed with Sho happily sleeping in it, giggling to herself, which only made Clover smile over at her.

Clover: ( she must be having a nice dream)....

~~

*Sho's Dream*

Sho sat at a giant office desk while wearing a captain's hat. She let out a prideful chuckle as she grabbed a pencil and marked an "X" on a piece of paper in front of her, then drew a line in between three "X's".

Sho: hah! I win, Bobby!

Bobby simply was just perched on top of a chair that was across from Sho's office desk, looking around and not paying attention. Sho crumpled up the paper and threw it away, then grabbed a marker, walking over to a white board and marking a line under her presented name.

Sho: Ten wins in a row! I believe this deserves a slice of victory pizz-

Just then, Sho's doors to her office busted open aggressively, catching her attention, and when she looked over, she saw another Sho, but instead of wearing a captain's hat, the other Sho was wearing a helmet and camouflage gear while holding onto a tiny pepperoni pistol.

Capt Sho: hiya!

Soldier Sho: Captain!! We have a big oh no!!

Capt Sho: a big oh no!? what is the problem, soldier!?

Soldier Sho:......it's back.....

Capt Sho:......I knew this day would come again....

Soldier Sho and Captain Sho ran out of the office together, then they ran out of their base facility to see a gigantic war zone with many Soldier Shos running and yelling into battle.

Captain Sho looked up and her eyes looked straight at a gigantic pineapple that was stomping it's way throughout the war zone, shooting pineapple juice down at her Sho Soldiers.

Capt Sho: pineapple Pete.....we meet again....*points* I'll never surrender to you!!

Soldier Sho: Captain! What do we do!?

Capt Sho: we fight!!! Don't give up!! I refuse to allow pineapples anywhere near my pizza!!!

The Pineapple stomped through many Soldier Shos, shooting down Pineapple juice while one Soldier Sho held onto the body of another Soldier Sho, seeing that her uniform was stained in pineapple juice.

Soldier Sho 2: I'm hit....*cough*...

Soldier Sho 3: hang in there!! We can get you help!!

Soldier Sho 2: it's too late...go on without me....

Soldier Sho 3:.....but you won't get to eat your victory slice of pizza! Every Sho needs a victory slice!

Soldier Sho 2: *smiles* you can have it....eat it for me....*cough cough*

Soldier Sho 3:......

Soldier Sho 2: fight on....fulfill your destiny.....*dies* Bleh.

Soldier Sho 3: Noooooooooooooo!!!!

More and More Shos charged at the pineapple but it simply blown them away with multiple pineapple bombs, making them fly back.

Soldier Sho 56/91/22: BWAAAAAA!!!

Soldier Sho 77: I need more pizza bites!!

Soldier Sho 42: pizza bites!!

Soldier Sho packed the pizza bites into a giant tank that was loaded to a stationary machine gun, then the other Sho began to shoot at the pineapple.

Soldier Sho 77: HYAAAAAA!!!

Pineapple Pete: foolish Shos.....

The pineapple raised his hand in the air, then swung his hand down at the army of Shos knocking all of them away along with their machine guns of pizza bites, making all of them face-plant on the floor right in front of Captain Sho.

Soldier Sho 123: *slap* Pluh!

Soldier Sho 441: *slap* Geek!!

Soldier Sho 984: *slap* blah!

Soldier Sho 75: *slap* geebop!

Soldier Sho 303: *slap* coy!

Capt Sho: My soldiers!!

Pineapple Pete: hahahahahaaaa!!

Capt Sho: you monster! How could you take away my soldiers!? Now they'll never get their victory pizza slices!!

Pineapple Pete: I'll always haunt you....forever....hmhmhmhmhm!!

~~~
*End*

Sho: *snuggle*...mm...no...I refuse...

Clover:......

Clover looked down on the side of her bed and saw her Ink tank that was full of the golden ink within it. She picked it up and looked at the tiny squid sleeping inside of it. She stepped out of bed and slid the ink tank on her back once again, walking over to the window and opening it up to see the same Raven from yesterday, but it was perched on top of chimney in a distant house.

The bird stared at her directly in her eyes......she felt more and more uncomfortable while watching the bird, seeing it's pure purple eyes before looking away from her and flying away, which finally allowed her to breath.

Clover:.......that bird.....is weird.....

~~~~

Within the scar base, Rose was sitting at her desk by herself and looking at a picture of Clover on her holographic screen, glaring specifically at her eye marking.

Rose:....computer....enhance....

The computer zoomed in on Clover's marking, and Rose took a closer look at it just as her doors opened and Zero walked inside, slightly confused towards her.

Zero: you wanted to see me?

Rose: yes....take a seat.

Zero sat down in a chair in front of Rose's desk, folding his hands as she flipped the hologram and pointed at Clover's mark to him.

Clover: does this marking look familiar whatsoever?

Zero leaned closer to the image, looking straight at the curved marking around the squid's eye. He thought deeply to himself, but then shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

Zero: not that I can recall. What's her name?

Rose: Clover. I'm just confused....that can't be a birthmark....it just.....it doesn't feel like it....something's off....

Zero: I'm guessing she already denied that it was her Kilu?

Rose: yes. SHE was the one who claimed it to be a birthmark....when I looked into her body, her flow of Sumi was very weak, but very disoriented.....

Zero: are you just simply trying to find out what clan she's from?

Rose: that's something I want to figure out later...

Rose sighed and the hologram disappeared as she covered her face with her hands in disappointment, making Zero a little concerned.

Zero: what exactly are you thinking about now?

Rose:.....how we're going to beat Yufine.......we might as well surrender...

Zero: we can stop her, Rose. Don't lose hope.

Rose: no....Zero.....you don't understand......Clover is the reason why we're all going to perish to Yufine.

Zero: how so?

Rose: this is the girl that Eleanor risked her life for.....Eleanor died for this random squid.

Zero:......excuse me?......

Rose:.....I'm sorry to inform you on that.

Zero: why did you tell me about the death of Citrus....but not Eleanor while I was away?

Rose: because.....I wanted to tell you in person about Eleanor....we're in serious trouble.

Zero:.....

Rose:.....we lost one of the keys to awakening Luna.....now she'll never wake up...Luna is the only one who can defeat Yufine.

Zero:......keys?.....

Rose:.....There is a stream.....an especial stream that can be preformed with the assistance of 3 Archdemons. It is called the Demonic Heaven Seal. Luna split her strength between Eleanor and two other Archdemons, and if we managed to find the other two....we could've did the Seal to bring her back.

Zero: do you have a good idea on where these two demons are?

Rose:.....One of them lives within the Flower Clan village....but their village whereabouts are unknown.....the other one....I'm not sure......but it's not like it matters anymore.

Zero:....you're stressing yourself....Relax for a while and take a deep breath....

Rose:....yeah....I guess you're right.....I'm just worried....What the hell are we gonna do now against Yufine?

Zero: with all of our efforts combined, I know we can stand a chance against her.

Rose simply stayed silent and waved her hand at Zero, signaling for him to leave the office as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Rose: you're dismissed....

Zero simply nodded towards Rose, standing up and walking out of the office to give her alone time, gently closing the door behind himself.

Rose:......Dammit.....

~~~~

*Sign*
*Closed for the day. Come back tomorrow please :)*

Shadow:....yup, she's definitely working hard on that weapon...

Clover: how long did she say it would take?

Shadow: the whole day.....

Clover: *shrugs* eh, that's fine. I'm surprised she can even finish it this fast.

Sho: does this mean we get to ea-

???: so you two were the uncommon sense of Sumi that I was analyzing....

Clover, Sho, and Shadow all turned their heads to see an Inkling....a robotic inkling girl that was silver from head to toe. She wore simple clothes as she walked up to the three girls with her blue sapphire glass eyes staring straight at them.

Sho: *gasp* hi Jenny!!

Jenny:...........hello....biki.......

Shadow: Jenny?

Jenny: yes....I am Code one Jennifer......that is my name.....

Sho: do you like my new frien-

Jenny: why did you let these two......scars past the barrier, biki?....

Sho: because they're going to eat with me and Gage!

Jenny:......

Jenny looked over straight at Clover, making eye contact with her and glaring deep into her soul. Even though she was a robot, she was expressing so much emotion with just her looks alone, which made Clover shift in embarrassment from the robot as it looked back over at Sho.

Jenny: are you positive that master Gage approves of this?

Gage: I approve of it, Jennifer.

An Inkling boy walked up from behind Jenny, surprising her along with the three cephalopods. Sho smiled greatly at the boy....but Clover felt uneasy....a tingly feeling surged through her after seeing the boy.

She looked at Shadow, actually seeing her skin turn slightly pale due to Gage's appearance. Her focus shifted to the people in the area, seeing them mumbling and hearing surprised gasps from them. She saw a piece of paper in Gage's hand, but before she could analyze it, Sho ran up to Gage and hugged him tightly, which earned her a fierce glare from Jenny and Shadow.

Shadow: that idiot!

Sho: hi Gage!

Clover saw Gage's eyes shift down towards the Octoling, and saw him raise his hand a little. Feeling the weight on her shoulders from thinking that he was making a hostile attack on Sho, Clover gritted her teeth in fear, but it was soon released from her when she simply saw the boy gently put his hand on top of the Octoling's head, rubbing it a little to express his means of greeting her.

Gage: Hello Sho....

Sho: I brought your favorite pizza here, but I dropped it! Don't worry though, I made sure to eat it just for you like you asked!

Gage:....wouldn't be the first time....

Just then, Jenny walked over to Sho and grabbed her by the back of her shirt, pulling her off of Gage and placing her away from him, then looked straight at the boy.

Jenny: Master, I believe It'd be best if we hang up the notice and head back. We are drawing too much attention at this moment.

Gage:.....I see.....

Gage walked past Clover and Shadow, placing the piece of paper firmly onto the door of the blacksmith's shop, then Jenny's finger tip opened up, shooting a nail straight past Clover's face and hitting the paper to pin it to the door.

Clover still felt the heat that the nail gave off when it skimmed her face, then turned her head to see Gage looking back at them, then let go of the paper while opening his mouth to speak once more as Clover fixated her attention on the paper's wording.

Gage:....Sho.....did you bring these two Scars into the walls?.....

Sho: Mhm! They wanted to join us for dinner!!

Jenny: Master, I discussed this with her prior to your arrival. I believe we shou-

Gage: *tiny shrug* understood Sho...it would be nice to have more guests accompany us for a meal.

Jenny:....Master....

Gage walked past Shadow and Clover once more, giving them a gentle hand gesture to walk with him down the road as he then said his hands in his pockets. Despite their hesitation, Shadow and Clover were guided along with Sho, leaving Jenny behind completely.

Even though the boy was menacing, covered in battle scars, and wearing dark provoking clothing, his gentle nature soothed Sho from Clover's view, which made her relax a little as well around the boy. People on the street looked at Gage and stopped in their tracks to pay their respects to their Core, with most of them bowing in respect towards him.

Just then, giggling could be heard; giggling from a child caught their attention which made them look over and see a young Inkling girl adorably run up to Gage and hug his leg, cuddling up against him.

Child: Mr. Guy!

Gage:.......

An Inkling woman quickly ran into the scene and grabbed her child, pulling her from off of Gage's leg and holding her while giving Gage an apologetic nod as he looked at her.

Mother: I am so sorry, Mr. Gage!

Gage:......it's alright.....

Gage walked over to the mother and looked at her child that was in her hands, putting his finger close to her face, then grey ink formed around Gage's finger, and a spinning Gear formed above the finger, levitating and shocking the child.

Gage saw the child gently grab the gear and hold it in their own hands, then let go of it to see it levitate in front of their face like a gravitational rock, making them laugh in joy. Gage continued on his walk, with Shadow, Sho, Clover, and eventually Jenny following him. Clover still felt very weird about the boy even though she cooled herself from his presence. She heard the mother stutter before opening her mouth properly to reply to Gage's kind offer towards her.

Mother: T-Thank you, Mr. Gage! I appreciate your gratitude!!

Gage:...mm....

Clover:......(something feels off....about this guy.....)

Sho: Gage, Gage!! I found my pet rock from before!! I lost him last week!

Gage: is that so?

Sho reached in her pocket and pulled out a Little Rock and showed it to Gage, smiling at him as she wiggled the solid material in front of his face.

Sho: I found Fred! He's still alive!

Gage: that isn't him....

Sho: What!?

Gage pointed to the rock and averted Sho's attention to a certain part of it, making her gasp loudly at his cruel discovery.

Gage: it's fake.....Fred's left side was chipped.....Remember?

Sho: maaaan! I thought I found him this time.

Gage: he'll show up eventually.....

Just as Sho tossed away the rock, Clover felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked to her side and saw Shadow looking at her with even more concern than her on her face, leaning close to her to whisper in her ear.

Shadow: I know you feel it......something feels off about this guy......

Clover:....*nods*...

Shadow: these people are showing him respect, yet it seems like they're forced too.....as if they're scared of him......

Clover: do you think he's....gonna ambush us with something?....

Shadow: maybe not.......it's not like that matters to you.....from his gaze alone, I could tell that he already knew that you weren't a scar.....he knows you're normal.....

Clover:.....

Shadow: I have a bad feeling that...he would've killed us if Sho wasn't here with us.....

Clover: *smirks* I guess her assistance really paid off.

Shadow: shut it......

From behind them, Jenny was listening deeply to their conversation, doing nothing but walking and analyzing, glaring straight at the two girls from behind, getting more and more suspicious.

Jenny:.......

~~~~

A Large forest was standing right in front of the woman of flames. Yufine looked up at the trees, then heard the noises of footsteps approaching her, but she simply looked within the woods to see five guards charge out towards her and thrust wooden nature spears towards her.

Guard 1: Halt!

Guard 2: Yufine! You canno-

Yufine simply put her hand up to stop the guard mid-sentence. Showing no care on what he had to say, then one of the guards saw the tip of his spear heating up from being far too close to her neck, to which he simply moved his spear back a little while sweating in fear.

Yufine: I simply wish to speak with him.....then I'll take my leave.....unless....

Yufine glared at all of them, giving off a fiery aura that made them all quiver before her, barely managing to maintain their composure near her.

Yufine:....you want me to....barge through you all instead......

Guard 4:...*deep breath*.....*sigh*....alright then....

Guard 3:.....*nods*....come.....

Yufine simply walked into the woods as three guards stood behind her and two guards stood in front of her, guiding her through the woods. Yufine closed her eyes while walking, then tuned everything out around her at that moment.

She began to sense the five guards...sensing the Sumi within their bodies, feeling the rapid flow and prideful pulsation of their inner energy, but when she sensed their hearts, she heard something that was off, clearly noticing the obvious, she played it off and walked a bit further into the woods.

Yufine:.....(letting me into the domain so willingly........mm........yet the fear I sense......it's not from my presence...but from something else.....)

Yufine listened deeper, hearing the double thumping of their hearts get faster and faster, then she felt all of the guards slowly get closer to her as they guided her through the woods.

Yufine:......(especial stream....)

Yufine's hair quickly turned white and her flames completely dimmed away. She summoned her scythe, but instead of it being red and gold, it was now white and gold. A halo formed over her head and she quickly turned around, cutting one of the guard's heads clean off, then dashed away from them, only leaving a gold trail from where she cut the guard.

Guard 1: NOW!!

all of the guards chests began to explode within a big radius, but for some odd reason, one of the guards noticed that the explosions weren't reaching Yufine as she stood near them, watching their own deaths backfire on them.

Guard 1:.....impossible....

Yufine: suicide bombers......foolish....

The golden trail from Yufine's slash that she used to cut off the first guard's head began to grow and turn into a type of reflective force field for Yufine, reflecting all of the explosions away from her and not even landing a single scratch on her.

Guard 1: what is this especial stream!?

Yufine:....it's called reflective radiance........I applaud you for your attempt of taking my life.....

With his last moments, the final guard, burned from the explosions of his other comrades, stared at Yufine and saw her flaming eyes within his vision of the explosions around him, seeing her Angelic radiance emit from her irises.

Yufine: how foolish do you think I am?.....

Yufine saw the last explosion happen right in front of her eyes, and all she did was let out a tiny "hmph" of disappointment before sprouting Angel wings made of ink and flying above the woods, looking around above the vast landscape of trees.

Yufine:.....where are you?.....

Just then, Yufine sensed a strong movement of ink behind her, then she quickly turned her face and saw a giant hand of stone rushing towards her, making her scythe shine in gold as she glared at the approaching fist.

Yufine: especial stream.....one year of a thousand slashes.

Yufine used her wings and quickly sliced through the whole fist and arm within the blink of an eye, landing back on the ground before letting out a sigh as her tentacles turned back to their normal red appearance along with her scythe just as her wings faded away as well with her halo.

Yufine: Sending suicide bombers to escort me inside of your domain?.....I must say that was a tricky move....especially for someone like you.......Oak....

An Inkling boy emerged from the shadows of the woods, looking straight at Yufine and showing no signs of fear from her presence as he crossed his arms at her.

Oak: what do you want?.....

Yufine:....I have a simple question....

Oak: and if I refuse to answer it?

Yufine, within the speed of light, quickly dashed towards Oak and appeared behind him. Before Oak could even blink, he felt a pocket knife straight along his throat, feeling Yufine's fiery presence.

Yufine: I'll allow you to figure that out......

Oak:.......*sigh*......what do you need to know?....

Yufine:.......where is Flower Clan's empire?......I know that you have a good idea on it's location.....

Oak: after the death of Luna's kid....I knew you'd come here for answers.....

Yufine: if you knew, then that means you've had a month to figure out a logical answer for me, so you better not disappoint me....

Oak:......even though we are in a land of plant life......Flower Clan is not within our region.....

Yufine:.......

Oak: I do not know where Flower clan is......

Yufine:......you're lying......

Oak felt Yufine's fiery radiance get stronger and stronger, which heated up the blade that was placed against his neck, making him grunt in pain..

Yufine: if you don't speak the truth.....I will not hesitate to burn this region down.......

Oak:....do as you must......even if you burn the region down....you will not find any traces of Flower Clan......I know exactly what you want from them.....

Yufine:......

Oak: the Archdemon.....you want their strength.....you know the demon is impossible to find.....no matter what you do, I still can't give you an answer.

Yufine let out a tiny sigh and removed the knife away from the boy's neck, allowing him to rub his neck where the warm line ran across it, inflicting a shock of pain on him.

Oak:.....so what will you do no-

Oak turned around to face Yufine, only to notice that she was completely gone, making him look around in confusions just as a look of guilt rushed over his face.

Oak:.......*sigh*......dammit...
~~~~

Time passed by within the Core's residence, showing the Sun slowly descending from the sky. Shadow leaned against the wall and crossed her arms in annoyance, turning her head over to a nearby window and sighing.

Shadow: just a little longer......

Clover: you're not gonna eat?

Shadow looked at Clover, then shook her head at her, pointing to the window to show the sun.

Shadow: I'm going soon.

Clover: what? Why?

Shadow:......you do understand the ground rules I gave you, right?......we're still not friends, Clover, so don't drag me into thi-

Jenny: why are you in a rush?

Shadow's head quickly shifted to the side to see Jenny walking towards them while wearing a simple maid dress, which only made Shadow roll her eyes at the robot.

Shadow: what do you want, Tin can?

Jenny: the food is ready, so I recommend you sit and eat with Master and his friend...

Shadow: like I said, I'll pass.

Clover could feel something weirdly emerging from the Inkling, seeing the same glare as before when they first met. Before anything could escalate, Clover grabbed Shadow's hand and walked away from Jenny, dragging Shadow quickly along with her.

Shadow: hey!

Clover: let's go.

Shadow was going to quickly pull her hand from Clover's grasp, but before she did, she looked back to see Jenny's glare like before, which made her annoyed and turn her head back around and play along so she didn't start drama.

The two walked into a main dining area with a very long table with many seats. Sho sat near Gage, who was at the very end of the table, and once the two stood in front of the table, Shadow snatched her hand away from Clover just as Gage gestured them with his hand presenting the table.

Gage: sit.....

Just then, Clover and Shadow felt something weird, tough, and smooth wrap around their waists. The two looked down and saw metallic tentacles wrap around them, then lift them up in the air aggressively, and another set of tentacles reached over to the chairs at the table, pulling the chairs back and sitting them down.

Clover was placed at the opposite end of the table, facing directly across of Gage while Shadow was placed directly next to Gage, which left Clover on the other side of the table all by herself.

The metallic tentacles stretched far and wide throughout the area, seeping into the kitchen and grabbing plates of food, then placed the four plates in front of the four. Clover turned around and saw the tentacles emerging from Jenny's back, grabbing onto a bottle of wine and pulling it towards herself. Her tentacles returned to her body and she took the wine bottle with her own hands, walking down the table until she stood next to Gage.

Gage:......what is your name?...

Gage folded his hands as Sho munched down on her food and Shadow simply looked at her food, poking it with her fork while Jenny poured wine into Gage's glass, to which he picked up and took a little sip from.

Clover: my name is Clover.....

Gage: I see......care to explain why you're here exactly? I'm usually not that fond of normal squids and Octos coming into my domain.

Clover: I just need a weapon forged by your blacksmiths, then I'll be on my way.

Gage:....a weapon forged, huh......that's interesting...it's been a while....I'm surprised they actually managed to get a customer.....

Clover sat there, feeling something weird surge through her body at that moment....a feeling of pride....a feeling that told her to fight back after the boy's rude comment, which only made her disappointed and angry.

Clover:......what do you mean you're "surprised"?

Gage stayed silent for a second, gently spinning his glass, watching the wine slowly spin around with it. Shadow looked at Gage and used this opportunity to closely analyze him, seeing the rapid strength of his Sumi flow within his body.

Shadow:....(his strength.......I've never felt Sumi flow like this before......what the hell is up with this guy?.....)

Gage: I meant exactly what I said.....they're just wasting their time by building weapons that will get older and attract nothing but dust.

Clover : they are your squids within the empire. why did you hang up that paper? Why are you closing their shop permanently to prevent them from doing something that they love to do?

Shadow: Clove-

Gage: is that a problem to you?.....

Clover: of course it is. You're taking away something that's valuable to them. Are you even protecting your people?

Gage:......

Jenny: Master is doing his best, so I recommend you close your mouth and eat your food.

Gage stopped spinning his glass, then sat it down on the table, crossing his arms at Clover, seeing her looking straight back at him. The drama began to take a turn for the worst, but before anything could get even more terrible than before, Sho let out a loud burp and rubbed her stomach, making Gage look over at her.

Sho: more please!

Gage slid his plate of food over to Sho, then she smiled and began to continue eating while not even paying attention to the drama. Gage let out a sigh to relax himself, then regained his composure before speaking.

Gage: Clover.....I need you to think of it like this....

Clover:....

Gage: my father explained this to me when I was younger. People who only have one skill are useless. There are people out there who can do what you can do, but expand more and have multiple strengths and skills; they are the ones who are truly the upbringing of empires.

Shadow stayed silent, then looked over at Clover, seeing a very disturbed face as if she was trying to hold in her anger. Shadow wanted to stand up, grab Clover, then leave, but before she had the chance, she felt Jenny's metallic tentacle rest on top of her shoulder, forcing her to stay.

Clover:.........Gage.....I'm sorry.....but your father is a piece of shit......

Just then, everyone stared straight at Clover except for Sho, who already finished her second plate. Jenny's glare towards her along with Gage's was enough to freeze Shadow completely just as Jenny moved her tentacle from off of her.

Jenny: how dare you disrespect master's father in such a way?

Gage:....do you have something to say about this?.....

Clover: of course I do. I'll explain it like this...

Gage:.....

Clover: at times, the ones who know how to do multiple things aren't as valuable as the ones who can do only one thing.

Jenny: what are you rambling about?

Clover: if I had the choice to have ten blacksmith that could forge weapons and also have many other traits to them, compared to a blacksmith who's only good at that one subject of forging weapons, I would choose the one blacksmith.

Gage: explain more...

Clover: the ones who are good at only one thing would put in more effort, time, and patience to build themselves off of that one skill. The one blacksmith would truly perfect a weapon for their customer because they worked really hard on it.

Shadow: Clover....that's enough.

Gage:.....My father trained me in every way of combat.....I perfected and honed my skills to their peak......you disgust me...

Sho: *sneaks over and takes Clover's plate*

Clover:....you should be more disgusted of yourself....these people seem to be more scared of you than anything. I'm guessing you just come from a family of assholes.

Gage:.....

Shadow: Clover, stop!

Gage......Jenny, escort this squid out of my domain.

Jenny: as you wis-

Clover: I'm not leaving until I know their shop won't be taken down. How would you feel if someone came by and took everything from you, and you didn't have a say in the matter?

Gage:.....that has already happened once......talking back to a Core........you have a true heart of steel.....I've been alive for over 100 years and have never heard anyone disrespect me and my bloodline in such a way.....

Clover: well I'll just say what everyone is thinking. You're just putting on an act....you're hiding your true self, and I could already tell that you're nothing...those cephalopods in your empire looked scared of you....they just show appreciation because of their fear.

Shadow: alright! That's enough, we're leaving!

Clover: the point of a leader is to bring peace, happiness, and protection to their empire, but you instead brought fear, pain, and torture onto them, and since you brought up your father....he was a piece of shit as well, huh? I guess cruelty runs within your family.

Shadow looked at Gage.....she saw his hand rest on top of the table, then slightly move forward. Shadow gritted her teeth and quickly opened up her own hand to summon her axe.

Just as her axe was summoned, she saw Gage jump on top of the table and dash at the speed of light towards Clover, to which Shadow immediately did the same, jumping onto the table and running straight for Gage who was dashing for Clover.

Gage's hand began to glow as he opened his hand and thrusted it towards Clover's neck. Gage's hand was only mere centimeters away from Clover, yet Shadow swung her axe straight at Gage's torso, gritting her teeth in anger, but before she could hit Gage, he quickly dashed away right before her eyes, shocking her completely.

Shadow:......what?.......

Just then, Shadow could hear gasping for air and the grunts of pain, which made her look in the direction of the sounds, only to see Gage holding Clover by her neck as she was pinned up to the wall.

Shadow:.....his speed.....

Clover:....gggh.....y-you.....

Clover's feet were lifted from the ground, and all she saw was Gage's Sumi weapon holding onto her neck. The boy wore a pair of gauntlets that were big and durable, dripping with glowing grey ink.

Gage: do you care to say it again?....

Shadow ran straight at Gage and let out a roar as she swung her axe, but Gage didn't move for flinch in fear from the girl. One of his gauntlets fazed away and he reached over to his utility belt, taking a dagger and using it to block Shadow's swing, not even making eye contact with her whatsoever.

Shadow began to rapidly swing at Gage with her axe, but Gage easily blocked all of her swings with his tiny dagger while focusing most of his attention on Clover.

Gage: I knew that you scars were nothing but trouble......

Jenny: I'll take her out, Master. Just like you instructed previously.

Gage stayed silent, and all that was heard was the bashing and scratching of metal, then he let out a sigh and pulled Clover away from the wall, yet still keeping his tight grip on her neck.

Gage:.....good.....

Gage threw Clover straight at Jenny, and Clover saw Jenny open up her hands to catch her, but before Jenny touched her, Clover turned into her squid form and slid through Jenny's hands, then landed behind her, tumbling on the ground and coughing up blood slightly, which caught Sho's attention.

Sho: Leaf!

Sho quickly ran over to Clover and saw the blood seeping from her mouth as she covered it, which made her look over at Gage, who was still easily blocking Shadow's attacks.

Sho: that wasn't nice!

Gage ignored Sho and simply used his free hand to point straight at Clover as he looked at Jenny.

Gage: instead of an escort......I have changed my mind......Jennifer.....kill her....

Jenny:.....understood....

Shadow yelled and swung her axe straight at Gage's legs, but throughout this motion, Gage slid his dagger back in his belt, then jumped up to dodge the swing.

Gage's feet landed right on top of Shadow's axe, which was directly in front of her face as her axe was still above the ground. Shadow grunted and Gage squatted down to make eye contact with her, summoning his other gauntlet while looking dead into Shadow's eyes.

Gage: are you finished?

Shadow aggressively pulled her axe from under Gage, making him almost fall to the ground, but Gage caught himself upside down with his gauntlet, then used his foot to kick shadow straight in her stomach, making the girl grunt in pain before getting launched backwards and slamming into a wall.

Shadow regained herself before quickly standing back up and rushing at Gage once more, swinging her axe straight at his head once more. Shadow roared again, and all Gage did to her attack was use his finger from his gauntlet to completely stop her swing entirely, which left Shadow stunned.

Gage:......especial stream......

Gage's gauntlet glowed even more, then he quickly thrusted his gauntlet towards Shadow, palm striking her straight on her stomach.

Gage: nitro shock release....

Just then, grey ink exploded from Shadow's back from the aggressive surge of strength that rushed through her body. Shadow coughed up blood of her own from the pain, then Shadow was quickly launched straight back into the wall, but instead of the wall stopping her, Shadow bursted straight through the wall and ended up high above the Gear empire.

Everyone in the empire below gasped and screamed when they saw the explosion and burst come from the empire residence, and seeing Shadow's body high in the sky.

Shadow's axe disappeared from her hand as she saw herself getting further and further from the residence, seeing nothing but a very, very huge staircase that led all the way up to Gage's residence. She gritted her teeth as her arms began to glow black and blood flowed from her mouth.

Shadow: especial stream! Emerging Shadows!!

Shadow extended her black inky arm, and used it to grab a flag pole that was on top of the residence. Shadow pulled herself forward and launched herself back above the resistance, letting go of the pole, but then she extended her hand down to grab onto the roof while summoning her axe once more. Shadow pulled herself downwards and used her axe to crash through the ceiling of the residence, landing directly in front of Gage once again.

Shadow: ok, you bastard! Now I'm fucking pissed!

Sho helped Clover from off of the ground, then shook her rapidly while Clover tried to regain her composure.

Sho: are you ok, leaf!?

Clover:....y-yeah.......

Sho: phew...alrighty. Don't worry! I'll make Gage say he's very sorry soon, but first I want to get some leftovers-

Within the blink of an eye, Jenny used her tentacles to hit Sho straight onto the side of her face, which quickly launched her back and made her fly through the wall next, falling towards the empire below, but unlike Shadow, Sho had no way of returning so quickly, which made her crash down into a building within the distance.

Clover: SHO!!!

Clover looked over and saw Jenny's, eight tentacles emerge from her back, then she swung one of them straight at her face, but Clover barely managed to dodge the swing, seeing the tentacle skim her head and make her bleed, but then Clover grabbed onto Jenny's tentacle, to which Jenny picked up and violently swung around.

Jenny: get off of me...disgusting girl....

Clover's grip didn't last that long, and she eventually slipped off of the tentacle, which threw her outside of the residence exactly like Sho.

Clover: S-Shadow!!...Dammit!!

Clover saw Jenny's tentacles emerge from the building and shoot straight towards her mid air, to which Clover turned into her squid form and spun her body to dodge majority of the attacks until a tentacle eventually slapped her and made her fly down faster as she grunted in pain.

Clover fell downwards and landed into a cart full of apples from a street market, surprising and scaring the market manager. Clover emerged from the cart and looked up to see Jenny hovering in mid air with jets as her feet.

Clover:......

~~~~

*chapterly art*

*Gage*