Ina is happy.


Ina: " AO-chan! AO-chan! Look at what I drew today! Do you like it? I think I'm getting better!"

Ina is happy?

Ina:" AO-chan! I've been meaning to ask you... Why do people always make you look so evil? They think you'll take over my body and attack my friends! You wouldn't do that, right?"

AO: "Our dear Ina, you need not worry, We would never do anything to hurt you."

Ina:" I know that! But still... Why do people do that? Do you know?"

AO:" Humans, they fear what they do not understand... It is easier to reject than to try to understand. That is why. They do not know Us like you do, Ina."

Ina:" That's true, we have been together for a while now heh... Hey AO-chan. I'm really glad I found you..."

Ina was happy...

---

Ina:" AO-chan! AO-chan... AO-chan...? What's going on? Where am I?"

Ina wakes up in an unknown place. It’s cold, it’s dark, and it’s hard to breathe. She can’t move, her arms and legs are wrapped up in tentacles.

Ina: (What’s happening? Why are AO-chan’s tentacles... wrapped around me?) She tries to move but she can’t. (I can’t use any of my powers. I can’t control the tentacles. I don’t understand. Is this a nightmare? How do I get out of it?) Then Ina gets a good look at her surroundings. It’s as if she’s above a sea of blood, with people’s heads floating in it. (This... has to be a nightmare...)

???:” Indeed, this is a nightmare, but one you will be unable to wake up from, Ninomae Ina’nis...”

---

The Ancient Ones had taken over Ina's body. They are standing on top of Amelia's roof and are looking at the sky with their arms crossed.

Ina:" AO–chan! What’s happe-" she gets cut off before she could finish her sentence.

AO:" Ninomae Ina'nis... How foolish you must be. Did you really believe that you have befriended an Elder God?"

Ina:" W-what? I don't understand... AO-chan, what are you saying? This is some kind of joke, right? Just let me go already, it's not funny anymore..."

AO:" Do not call Us that. That nickname... Drawing on Our appendages... Have you no respect for Us, Ninomae Ina’nis?"

Ina:" B-but I thought you said you liked the nickname! And my drawings..."

AO:" That was a lie. But it does not matter now. It is over Ina. Today will be the last day of your life."

Those words echoed in her head, she was in a total state of disbelief. With tears forming in her eyes and her mouth shaking, she opens her mouth to speak. 

Ina:" Hey AO-chan, stop it already... I really don't find this funny."

AO:" We understand Ina. How hard it must be for you to comprehend what you are hearing. But it is the truth. We no longer need you. We were never your friend, Ninomae Ina’nis. We were simply using you. That is the truth."

Ina:" N-no, there’s no way… I-I must’ve done something wrong… Please tell me what I did wrong…"

AO:" Is the truth not evident? You were the only one who was able to understand Us. We needed you in order for Us to survive. But now the day has come, Our full power has returned to Us and We no longer need you. "

Her eyes widen upon hearing that and tears start streaming down her face.

Ina:" No! NO! I-I don't believe you! What about all those times you've saved my life?! All the times you protected me from danger, and when people were attacking me because of the way I looked. Y-you… You always protected me..."

AO:" Indeed, We have protected you. But, it is not because we had cared about you, We did so because We needed you. If you were to die, We would have to look for a new vessel. But now We have regained our full power and We no longer need you. We only protected you, because We had no other choice. You, as a person, were unimportant to Us. "

Ina:" NOOOOOO!! Y-you're lying... I'll never believe you..." 

She lightly moves her arms and legs while crying and sniffling, as if she wasn’t even trying to break out of the tentacles. 

AO:" We pity you, Ninomae Ina'nis. If you truly think we are lying now, then let Us ask you. What makes you think We were telling the truth before?"

Ina:" I...I-I don't..." (I can’t believe this. This is really happening isn’t it? They said it wasn’t true but it was. Was anything ever real? Everything. All this time. All the things, the nice things they said, it was all a lie, it meant nothing. Someone... Help me wake up from this nightmare, please...)

Fear. Sadness. Loneliness. Despair. All of these emotions fall on top of Ina, as she’s been betrayed by someone she truly thought was her friend. The being that was always there for her, the one that was there when no one else wasn’t.
She can’t take it. She can’t even say anything back to them, she’s just crying, crying so much her eyes begin hurting.

AO:'' This is truly unfortunate. You were supposed to be more cooperative. It seems your friendship with these humans has made this harder for you to bear. We will have no other choice, but to utterly consume you, until there is nothing left of you. But worry not. We will give you some time. We will let you bear witness… The destruction of this world... “

The Ancient Ones use a portal to go back inside Amelia’s bedroom, then point their palm towards the two sleeping girls.

AO:” Starting with these two.” 

Ina:" NO! Wait, please don't! I'm begging you, please don't hurt them! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!"

AO:"... Very well" They put down their hand. "We shall grant you this one request. But, if the two try to pursue Us, We will not hesitate to kill them."

Ina: (Ame, Gura, please just forget about me...)

The Ancient Ones fly out, straight through Amelia's roof and leave a huge hole in it.

Ina:" You did that on purpose... You could have just used a portal but now they'll wake up and come after us..."

AO:"..."

---

Amelia wakes up and juts out of the bed upon hearing the loud noise, but Gura keeps sleeping.

Amelia:" Oh no! Ina!!" She turns to Gura and sees that she's still sleeping.
(How are you still asleep???) "Hey Gura, wake up!!" she starts shaking her lightly.

Gura:" Nngh five more minutes..."

Amelia:" Gura, we don't have five more minutes! It's Ina! IT happened!"

As soon as Gura hears that she jumps out of the bed.

Gura:" WHAT!? Are you sure!?"

Amelia:" Oh wait, I think she just went through the roof cause she didn't want to use the door!"

Gura:" AH ALRIGHT I GET IT! I don't need your sarcasm right now!"

Amelia:" Come on, we gotta get dressed and go after her quickly!"

They start taking off their pajamas and getting into their usual outfits. As Gura is putting on her hoodie, she looks at Amelia's calendar, with March 16 circled.

Gura:" Dammit! I can't believe you were right! Even about the date!"

Amelia:" I'm always right!"

The two say while quickly putting on their clothes. 

Gura:" I know, but this time, it's not a good thing!"

Amelia:" Yeah, I know... " 

She finishes putting on her skirt, then just looks down and swallows nervously.

Gura:” Hey Ame, we can do this! Your plan will work, I’m sure of it!” 

Amelia:” Yeah, you’re right! It’ll work!” 

Amelia quickly puts on her thigh highs, then opens a drawer and takes three syringes of Watson Concoction. While she’s attaching them, Gura takes her phone from the nightstand next to the bed. 

Gura:" Oh I almost forgot, I have to call Calli and Kiara!" she says, but then notices something about her phone.
"Oh crap, my battery is empty!"

Amelia:" Don't worry, I'll call them, I just have to call someone else first." 

Gura:" You mean the Mayor?"

Amelia:” Yeah, him.”

Amelia calls the city Mayor, puts him on speaker and then starts looking for something from underneath her bed.

Gura:" What are you looking for?"

Amelia:" Just a little something I prepared for this." she says and then takes out a huge suitcase and puts it on top of her bed.
"Ah, found it!" she says and unlocks the suitcase.

Gura:" A sniper!? For how long was that under your bed!?"

Amelia:" Not long, I just bought it recently. Also it’s not a sniper, it’s a tranquilizer gun." she says while putting darts into it.

Gura:" What’s the difference, y-you’re still gonna use that on her, aren’t you!?" she asks and looks at Amelia with a worried expression on her face.

Amelia stops and looks up at her, then notices the look on her face.

Amelia:” Oh please don't look at me like that. This is just supposed to put her to sleep after all. Besides, it probably won't even work, I only bought it so I won't be completely useless out there. It will be all up to you then. At least until Calli and Kiara get there."

Gura:" Ugh now you're putting all this pressure on me! But hey, you won't be useless, you’ll be like uhh my moral support!"

Amelia:" Yeah right, more like a distraction. Oh hey, the Mayor hung up on me!" she says and calls him again.

Gura:" Maybe he's in a meeting or something."

Amelia grabs the gun, attaches a belt to it, then puts it on her back. 

Amelia:" Yeah probably. We don’t have time for this so, let’s get going. I’ll keep trying to get him along the way. You ready?

Gura:" Ready as I'll ever be!"

---

The two quickly leave the house and as soon as they do, Amelia starts running, and Gura follows behind her.

Gura:" Where are we going exactly!?"

Amelia:" I put a bug on Ina's outfit so I can track her when this happens. Just follow me!"

Gura:" You really were prepared for this huh. But this is weird, I expected to see more destruction around here. It looks like they haven't killed anyone yet either."

Amelia" Who knows what their true goal is. But whatever it is, we have to stop them and get Ina back!"

Gura:" Oh wait, since I'm faster than you, I should carry you so we get there quicker! You just tell me where to go."

Amelia:" Oh good idea!" She says and then turns her gun to her front.

Gura picks Amelia up like a princess, prepares to start running and Ame puts her hands around her while still holding her phone.

Gura:" Alright, just hold tight now!" She says and starts running extremely fast.

Amelia:" Whoa you're fast!"

Gura:" Heh, that's Atlantian speed baby!"

Amelia:" Wait wait, slow down!"

Gura slows down and stops running.

Gura:" Too fast?"

Amelia:" If we come at them so fast they'll notice us right away and I don't want that. Just go fast but not THAT fast ok? It looks like they aren’t moving, we should still catch up pretty quickly."

Gura:" Aye aye captain!" she says and starts running again.

Right after she says that, the Mayor answers Amelia’s call angrily.

Mayor:" Detective Watson, I'm in a very important meeting right no-" Amelia interrupts him mid sentence.

Amelia:" THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT! IT happened!"

Mayor:" It? You mean that girl-"

Amelia:" Yeah, she's lost it. Do what I told you to do and evacuate the city!"

Mayor:" Alright Watson, I trust you. You better know what you're doing!"

She hangs up the phone and puts it in her pocket.

Gura:" You really have him wrapped around your little finger, don't you?"

Amelia:" Pretty much. Oh wait, stop running! We're here..."

Gura:" Oh right!"

She stops running and puts Amelia down. They hide behind a building and peek out to see someone that appears to be Ina floating in the sky with her tentacles out and her arms crossed.

Gura:” That’s The Ancient Ones, right? They’re just floating there...” she whispered to Amelia.

Amelia:” Hah I think I know what's going on here.”

Gura:" You do?"

Amelia:" They want us. We are the only ones who can stop them, so they want to get rid of us first. They're probably planning on going after Kiara and Calli too! Ina must've begged them not to kill us before they left. They agreed but never actually planned on sparing us, they just went through my roof on purpose so we'd go after them. That's my theory at least."

Gura simply stared at her as she talked, with amazement in her eyes.

Gura: (Theory? It sounds like you just figured everything out! Man, she's smart!) "Uhhh yeah that's a good theory!"

Amelia:" Hey Gura, people are gonna start freaking out here in a bit, help me calm them down so they can get to safety!"

Gura:" Oh of course!"

A video of the Mayor appears on every screen in the whole city, as dozens of military vehicles arrive at the scene. On the video, everyone can see the serious look on the brown-haired Mayor's face. He addresses his people with steely confidence, it was clear that he has seen the battlefield inside and out. His body was that of a proud warrior, and despite now wearing a business suit, the people could tell it was well-defined. 

Mayor:” This is an emergency! I want everyone to get out of this city as quickly as possible! There is no time to explain, my men, along with Detective Watson will help guide you to safety! I repeat, this is an emergency!!” 

Upon hearing the message on the big screens, the people notice The Ancient Ones in the sky, which causes them to panic. Amelia and Gura come out onto the busy street and they start helping people, guiding them and trying to keep them calm, along with the military men. The message goes on to repeat several times, while the people evacuate.

Amelia:” Everyone get out of here as quickly as possible, this is an emergency!”

A scared woman with a confused child comes up to Amelia.

Woman:” Detective Watson! What’s going on here, what is this emergency?!”

Amelia:” There’s no time to explain, but it’s really dangerous here right now, you need to get out of here!”

The child looks up at the sky and points towards The Ancient Ones, who were staring them down.

Child: “Detective... What is that in the sky? Is it a monster? Are you here to save us?”

Amelia:” Yes, we are going to save you from the monster, but you have to get out of here! Just follow your mommy ok?” Amelia pats the scared child’s head and smiles, trying to calm him down.

Gura:” Don’t worry kid, I’m an Atlantian!” she raises her right hand  and materializes her trident in it. 
“We’ll beat this monster in no time!!” 

Child:” Woah…” 

The mother grabs the child's hand and they both run away. Amelia looks down at Gura who had a smug look on her face, while having her trident against her shoulder.

Amelia:” You know, you’d be more convincing if you didn’t look the same age as that kid.” she says while giggling.

Gura:” OIII!! “

---

The Ancient Ones continue to stay still in the sky, simply watching and not attacking anyone.

AO:(Humans, scattering away like ants... How amusing. Worry not, humans. You shall all soon be relieved of your misery.)

Slowly, the streets get cleared out completely, with the only ones left being Gura and Amelia.
Multiple army jets and helicopters arrive at the scene and they start shooting at the Ancient Ones from all sides, but they don’t do any damage to them.

Gura squints while looking at the aircrafts high up in the sky, then notices something.

Gura:” Uhh is it me or is no one driving those things?”

Amelia:” They’re remote controlled. They won’t last long, but they’re supposed to be a distraction until people evacuate. And so I can use THIS!” She says and takes aim with her tranquillizer gun.

With The Ancient One’s back turned Amelia aims for their neck. By using their tentacles, the Ancient Ones grab every jet and helicopter at once and bash them into one another, until it all becomes just a hunk of metal and then they drop it to the ground.

Gura:” Come on, it’s now or never Watson!”

Amelia shoots straight for the neck of The Ancient Ones and without even turning around, by using one of their tentacles, they grab the dart that was meant to put them to sleep and drop it onto the ground. Amelia prepares to shoot again, but The Ancient Ones turn to face her, which startles her. They stretch out one of their tentacles and grab her gun with it, then take it into their hands. They fold it into a little ball, as if it were made out of paper, and while holding it with their right hand, a dark purple energy surrounds the ball and they reduce the small chunk of metal into nothingness.

Gura:” Well, that went about as expected.”

Amelia:” Worth a shot at least. Alright, it’s up to you now, I’ll call Calli and Kiara!! They better get here quickly!”

Ame takes out her phone, but before she could call her friends, The Ancient Ones charge a red laser beam in their index finger and shoot the phone out of her hand.

Amelia:” FUCK!” she yells out as she’s looking at her hand.

Gura:” Ame! Are you okay? They didn’t get you, right?” 

Gura quickly grabs Amelia’s hand and looks for any wounds.

Amelia:” No, I’m fine, it’s just the phone.... I’m really sorry, I should’ve been more careful.”

Gura:” It’s fine, I’m just glad you’re okay. Besides, I have a feeling the two of them will get here even without us calling them.”

Amelia:” Yeah, I think so t-“ 

Before she could finish her sentence, The Ancient Ones interrupted her.

AO:” Gawr Gura and Amelia Watson... Your friend has requested of Us to spare your lives. This will be your one and only warning. The choice is yours.”

Amelia: “...Spare our lives? So what, you’re saying you’ll kill everyone on the planet except us? And you expect us to be okay with that?! And there is no way we are going anywhere without Ina!”

AO:” An expected response, Detective. Very well...” They say before descending onto the ground.
“We shall end this quickly.”

Gura gets in front of Amelia and takes a battle stance.

Gura:” Just stay behind me, Ame! I’ll try doing that thing you told us to do.”

Amelia:” Just be careful!” (I only just noticed it but, it looks like they have a crack in their halo... It can't be from the helicopters, can it? No, it's something else... I wonder what that could mean…)

AO:(This human... It would appear that she has seen this day coming, and has prepared for it. How very interesting.)

Gura:(This is annoying. They look exactly like Ina except for their eyes... They’re completely white and glowing. I wish they didn’t look so much like her... Fighting them is gonna be hard.)

The Ancient Ones point their palm at Gura and send out multiple tentacles from their back towards her. Gura holds her trident with both hands and spins it, shredding any tentacles that come in contact with it. She rushes towards The Ancient Ones, switches to spinning her trident with only her left hand and prepares to punch with her right. Just as she’s about to punch them, she looks at them in the face and the fact that they looked exactly like Ina made her lose focus. She punches them in the stomach, but The Ancient Ones only get pushed back by it a bit and seem unaffected by it. The Ancient Ones respond by summoning a huge pitch black fist and punch, she quickly defends herself with her trident, but still gets thrown back into a building and destroys some of it upon impact.

Amelia:" Gura!!" she yells out her name while looking at the building she got punched into. 

Gura:" I'm fine! This is nothing, don't worry!" she says while coming out of the rubbles.

Amelia:" Gura... You held back with that punch, didn't you?"

Gura:" I... I'm sorry, but they look like Ina! I was about to do it but then I looked at her in the face and just couldn't... I'll try it again without holding back!"

Amelia:" You better not hold back again! This is the only way to save her... Just don't look at her in the face this time!"

As Gura opens her mouth to respond, The Ancient Ones grab her leg with one of their tentacles and swing her towards a building to her side. Gura, before she could hit the building, lightly throws her trident behind her and by using it as a foothold, she launches herself off of it, going towards the Ancient Ones at high speed. With her right hand she calls back her trident, grabs it with both hands and swings it down at The Ancient Ones with all her might. Without moving, they easily block her attack with the back of their forearm. The Ancient Ones’ feet dig into the ground from the impact of Gura’s attack.

As she’s landing onto the ground, she swings her trident down, cutting a portion of The Ancient Ones' arm off. She then dematerializes her trident and prepares to punch them again, this time, not paying attention to the fact that they look exactly like Ina. Before she gets to punch them, The Ancient Ones point out their left palm next to Gura and charge up a purple beam. Gura's eyes shift back and see that they're aiming for Amelia and she instantly jumps back to protect her, but then they stop their attack. With a smug look on their face, they regenerate the part of their arm which she cut off.

Gura:" Tch, so they were only pretending to attack you."

Amelia:" Sorry Gura, I knew I was going to end up being a distraction for you..."

Gura:" No, don't worry about it, I'll protect you! And I'll make them pay for this!" 

Gura clenches her fists in anger and as she’s about to move towards them, Amelia puts her hand on Gura's shoulder and stops her.

Amelia:" Gura wait. You can't go into battle if you're filled with rage. Just calm down a bit okay?"

Gura takes a deep breath before responding.

Gura:" Okay okay, I'll calm down."

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Bubba comes running in and starts barking at the Ancient Ones.

Amelia:" Bubba!? What are you doing here?! Get out of here, it's dangerous!" she says while waving at him,

Gura:" How did he get out of the house?!"

Amelia:" I don't know!!"

AO:" Annoying little creature... Die."

The Ancient Ones shoot a red laser beam from the tip of their finger at Bubba, but Amelia jumps at him and gets him out of the way.

Gura:" Hey! He's just a dog, he can't do anything!"

AO:" Dog. Human. Atlantian. What is the difference? You are all dogs in Our eyes."

Amelia grabs Bubba and starts running away with him.

Amelia:" Sorry Gura, I have to take him somewhere! I'll be right back!"

Gura:" Ame wait!!"

---

She ignores her and keeps running, with Bubba continuing to bark.

Amelia: (I can't go all the way back home, I'll just find some place to put him in temporarily!)

She sees an abandoned shop and decides to put Bubba inside it.

Amelia:" Just stay here buddy, it's dangerous outside." she says while patting his head. 

She quickly leaves the shop and runs back towards Gura.

Amelia: (I feel so bad, I hope nothing bad happened. But, it's not like I was actually useful over there…)

---

When Amelia returns, her entire world falls apart, as she sees Gura lying on the ground with a huge hole in her chest.

Amelia:" GURA!!" she screams out while running towards her.

Amelia falls to her knees in front of her body and starts crying.

Amelia:“ Gura I-I'm so sorry, this is all my fault! I-I distracted you... “she says with tears streaming down her face while holding Gura's hands.

Gura:" N-no... Ame... “

Gura struggles to speak. She coughs and spits out blood as she’s trying to say her last words to Amelia.
Gura:” Please...don't... blame...yourself..." she barely manages to say that one sentence before her life comes to an end.

Amelia:" NOOOOOO GURA!!" she screams out as her tears fall down on Gura's face. (No, no no no no this can’t be happening. I can’t believe this. Is this... really happening? I knew what we had to do was dangerous... But I never thought that I’d lose her... And it was all my fault...)

The Ancient Ones simply stood there, silently watching Amelia have a breakdown.

AO:" How very nonsensical."

Amelia, with her face still full of tears, slowly turns her head up to look at them.

AO:" You have refused to heed Our warning... Now that one of you has paid the price, you have fallen into despair. Indeed, this is very unusual. Did you truly believe you could have defeated Us? This outcome was evident from the very beginning, Detective... Although We would love to stay here and watch you weep, We have other things We must do. Such as looking for a Grim Reaper and a Phoenix. Perhaps you know where We might find them, Detective? "

Amelia says nothing and looks back at Gura.

AO:" Very well, We shall find them on Our own. Farewell Detective, We have decided to spare your life, given that you are just a worthless human. " Ancient Ones say as they jump up and fly right above Amelia.

---

Amelia:(What do I do... What am I supposed to do now? Is there anything I can do? Gura is dead... All because of me…) She thinks to herself, with her mouth shaking and a waterfall of tears raining down on Gura. Amelia then looks down at her watch.
(This watch... If only I could turn back time with it... But I can only go to different timelines... it's useless...) After staring at her watch for a couple seconds, she remembers something.
(No wait! It's not useless! I can't turn back time with it, but I know someone who can! And I'll use my watch to get her to me!) Amelia suddenly gets a slight smile on her face, thinking things are not completely over.

Amelia:" Gura, I'm going to save you!! And I'm going to make The Ancient Ones regret keeping me alive!" she slowly lets go of Gura’s hands,  gets up and grabs her watch
"If I remember correctly, she gets a headache whenever I time travel... Kronii, you better understand this one"

She touches the button on her watch and disappears into another timeline. She starts running and time travels again and again, but then suddenly she stops. The image of Gura's lifeless body lying on the ground appeared in her head and she couldn't take it. She runs off to a nearby alleyway and throws up in a trash can. She drops to the ground next to the trash can.

Amelia: (Fuck... I can't, this is too much... What if she doesn't want to help me? What if she just kills me instead?). As all those thoughts fill her head, she starts crying again.
(... At least if she kills me, I wouldn't have to live in a world without...)

Her dreadful thoughts get interrupted by a familiar feeling, as if time had stopped. Then she hears footsteps.

Amelia: (She's here...)

The person that has been chasing her for years, is now the same one Amelia has to ask for help.

To be continued...

---

Just an FYI for any new readers, I recently updated this chapter, along with the prologue. The way the chapter looked was just bad, that's just how it was in my earlier chapters. This is my very first time writing a story after all. I decided to start fixing my earlier chapters, but if you think the next chapter looks like shit or something, it's cause I haven't fixed it yet. I'll be fixing one old chapter per new chapter posted. Don't just wanna spend all my time fixing old chapters lol. And to clarify, I didn't make any insane plot changes obviously, just made some slight dialogue changes, added some bits and made the whole chapter look nicer. Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and continue to read my story! :D