Chapter 27: The Fall of the Divine
A high-speed chase through the gilded hallways of the palace.
"Hey! You little idiot! Give me that device! Delete that picture right now!" R56 roared, his face red with a mixture of gravy stains and pure panic.
R98 sprinted ahead like a mischievous kid who had just pulled off the prank of the century, his "Alien God" persona completely forgotten.
"No way, old hag! This is going straight to the Ranger HQ main board! I’m tagging all the ladies! I’m cross-posting it to the other sectors!
You’re going to be a meme for the next century!"
"I'll kill you!" R56 leaped through the air in a desperate tackle, but R98—fueled by pure adrenaline and spite—ducked at the perfect millisecond.
R56’s momentum carried him straight through an open third-story window. He soared through the air, flailing wildly, before landing with a wet, sickening thud directly into a fresh manure pile in the royal gardens.
R98 immediately leaned out the window, but not to help. He held up his device, the shutter clicking rapidly with a trashy, triumphant grin.
"Ahahaha! Look at you! Fits your personality perfectly, you old hag!"
Below, R56 stood up. Despite his arm being bent at an unnatural angle and his forehead streaming blood from the impact, he looked more annoyed by the smell than the broken bones.
He shook a fist toward the window, dripping with dung.
"You complete and utter bastard! I'm going to feed you your own teeth!"
As R98 cackled at the window, a sudden, icy chill crawled down his spine. He felt a gaze behind him so sharp it felt like a physical blade against his neck.
R98 turned his head slowly, his laughter dying into a pathetic whimper.
"Oh... hello, R76. Did you...enjoy your nap?"
R76 stood in the center of the hallway, arms crossed, staring at them with the terrifying aura of a teacher who had just found two students set the lab on fire.
[R76’s Chamber]
The scene cuts to R98 and a very smelly R56 kneeling on the floor, heads bowed in shame.
R76 paced back and forth, his boots clicking rhythmically on the hardwood.
"You two," R76 hissed, his voice trembling with suppressed rage.
"You made this much of a mess over a photo? Do you have any idea what happens if the humans see you acting like this?
Your 'Alien God' persona would be trashed instantly! Our authority would be a joke!"
R98 turned his head slightly, muttering under his breath,
"Well, they’re going to forget everything after the Reset anyway..."
"SILENCE!" R76 roared.
"YES, SIR!" R98 immediately slammed his forehead against the floor in a perfect dogeza.
R56 tried to chime in, his voice small.
"Technically, he started it—" He stopped as R76 turned a murderous glare toward him.
"And you! Aren't you supposed to be our senior, R56? Is this how a veteran Ranger behaves? Falling into cow dung while chasing a junior?"
R56 didn't answer. He simply looked down at his lap, tapping his index fingers together in a timid "👉👈" gesture, looking less like a cosmic warrior and more like a shamed toddler.
"Anyway," R98 said, lifting his head and suddenly switching back to his serious tone as if he hadn't just been bullied.
"We need to discuss the plan. The clock is ticking."
Chapter 27.5: The Ancient Heart of a Ranger
The scene opens in R76’s chamber as R98 flips open his laptop, the holographic glow illuminating his bruised face.
"Alright, let's check the Lore Tree. Last time we were at 40 Red Lines, right? With all the waves we’ve been making, it should have dropped even furth—"
He stopped. His fingers froze over the keys. "What the hell? What is this?!"
R76 leaned over, frowning.
"What happened? Did the stability crash?"
"No," R98 said, turning the laptop screen toward R76.
"Look."
R76’s eyes widened.
"There’s... no data. The feed is severed."
"That means the universe has been locked," R56 interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically grim.
"HQ has officially handed this world over to a different unit. The R100s, R200s... or maybe even the R300s are already on their way."
[Ranger HQ - R300 Transport Room]
The seven members of the R300 Division stood in the teleportation bay, their heavy combat suits humming with lethal potential.
R_N and another officer, R_EN, worked feverishly at the main terminal, their fingers flying across the coordinate grids.
"How much longer?" one of the R300s barked, his voice distorted by his helmet.
R_N turned, her expression tight.
"We’re almost ready. But there’s a problem—the standard teleportation corridor is being sealed by a third party from within the 98th sector.
We’re going to have to jump you into the 'Void' just outside the universe. From there, you’ll have to breach the reality barrier manually."
"Whatever," the combat expert muttered, his gauntlets sparking.
"Just do it faster. I’m bored."
[R76’s Chamber]
A heavy silence sat over the three Rangers. R56 was the first to break it.
"Isn't this a good thing, though? If another division is coming to handle the mess, we don't have to worry anymore.
Whether this world lives or dies isn't our business once we're relieved, right?"
R76 nodded slowly.
"It makes sense. We aren't equipped to deal with Reality Siblings anyway. This mission was always above our pay grade."
R98 sat quietly, staring at the blank screen of his laptop. "But... I don't want another division to handle it," he muttered.
"If the 300s come, they won't care about the people. They’ll just 'fix' the problem by any means necessary. We don't know if anyone here will survive the crossfire."
"There you go with the heroic speeches again," R76 snapped, though his voice lacked its usual bite.
"Last time we barely survived because those monsters let us leave. Your bluffs won't work twice!"
"I know," R98 nodded.
"But the Hard Reset theory could still work. And since HQ hasn't officially signaled us that our mission is aborted, we’re still technically on duty.
Let’s at least try to do our part. If we fail, the heavy hitters will deal with the Siblings anyway."
R56 let out a long sigh.
"I’m with R98."
R76 turned on him, furious.
"What? Why? We aren't obligated to do this!"
R56’s gaze sharpened, and for a moment, he actually looked like the senior officer he was.
"I understand your logic, R76. But look at him. This is the first time in a while I've seen R98 invest so much of himself in a single world. He’s grown attached."
He paused, his voice softening.
"We Rangers live for an eternity. We maintain thousands of worlds. But every once in a while, one of them touches what’s left of our ancient hearts.
Our bodies don't age—I’m forever thirty-five, you’re forever twenty-three, and R98 is forever nineteen. But our hearts... they still feel the weight of time.
You know exactly what I’m talking about, don't you?"
R98 and R76 stared at R56 in stunned silence.
R76 finally looked away, a small, reluctant smile tugging at his lips.
"You know... sometimes you actually do talk like a senior."
R98 grinned, the blue in his eyes flickering.
"Alright! It’s settled then! We save the 98th Universe before the 'clean-up crew' arrives!"
He turned back to his laptop, his face falling.
"Now... how do I get the data back since I’ve lost access?"
The atmosphere shifted instantly. Both R76 and R56 stood up, towering over him with menacing expressions.
"You mean to tell us," R76 hissed, "that you gave us that whole emotional monologue, and you don't even have access to the Reset button anymore?"
"YOU IDIOT!" Both seniors punched R98 squarely in the face at the same time.
"GAH! My eyes!" R98 clutched his face, reeling.
"Wait! I showed you the screen earlier! It was working then!"
R76 groaned, rubbing his temples.
"Wait... there’s a glitch in the software. Since we're disconnected from HQ's main server, the laptop is trying to sync and failing.
Try turning off the internal HQ database link and refresh the page. Use your local Manager override."
R98 frantically typed, his fingers trembling.
"Okay... syncing local... bypassing HQ cloud... AND WE’RE BACK! The page is on! I’ve got manager access again!"
To be continued...
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