Voltiana

In a quiet area with lots of bushes and trees, Himeka Hisatomi was busy sitting on a rock, brushing her hair. As she began to file her nails, she heard a noise.

"Hmm?"

There was a small metal boomerang attached to her back. She looked around the area and asked:

"Hey? Is anyone there?"

She peeped between some of the trees and she had to catch an arrow just before it hit her face.

"What the hell? How rude!"

But she had to jump up into the air as an entire volley of arrows came at her. She looked down and saw a group of dwarves, all with wooden armor and armed with bows with tungsten arrows.

"Hey! You all look different! What gives?"

They ignored her, and a dwarf stepped out of the pack, preparing to shoot THREE ARROWS AT at her at once. "Fire again!"

He shot his bow and the others did the same, but somehow Himeka managed to twist and evade all the arrows, slowly falling to the ground.

"Damn it! She's a circus freak! Keep shooting!"

Himeka took her boomerang off her back and she clicked a button in the middle. Soon after, it began to extend and GROW EVEN BIGGER THAN HER. It was now at least seven feet tall. The dwarves below her began to stare in shock and backed up.

"What kind of madness is this?"

"Sir Betheal! Your orders?" As his subordinates began to tremble, the dwarf in front, Betheal, lifted his bow again and prepped more arrows from his quiver.

"Don't let her win! We must not falter in our stance!"

"You guys are so mean, so I'll have to TEACH YOU A LESSON!"

She began to do a DOUBLE FRONT-FLIP in mid-air and she threw her boomerang down at the archers like a spear.

"Go, my Gigarang! Go!"

The impact sent most of the dwarves flying, and when Betheal got up, he saw that his foot was pinned under it. As he tried to pull it, it wouldn't budge. "What the…? How heavy is this thing?"

Himeka landed on the ground. "20 tons!"

"How on earth can one little girl hold this thing up so easily? You're a different kind of freak!"

Himeka clasped her hands together and smiled. "It's so cool, isn't it? Now I think you've learned your lesson! You may get up."

With ease, she picked her Gigarang up and held it over her shoulder as it began to shrink with the press of a button. Betheal took a moment to recover and then he gave another order:

"Run! EVERYONE RUN! She's TOO DANGEROUS!"

Himeka cocked her head to the side. "Really? Making assumptions is just so rude!"

As she began to take off after them, she heard the sound of running coming from a nearby area. "Hmm?"

She peeked her head between some more trees and she saw her squad maneuvering through the trees, searching for her.

"Here, she might be somewhere around here—-!"

"Guys! You found me!"

Vice-General Kanai was so startled that she nearly fell out of the tree she had landed on. "AHH!"

Then she looked up and saw who it was.

"Himeka? Don't scare me like that!"

Tsugumi, Tetsuya, and Kazue all approached, along with the rest of Squad S-2. Himeka clapped, sporting a huge grin on her face.

"Good job! I'm so proud!"

Tsugumi walked up to her and gave a brief bow. "Thanks. I discovered the presence of Squad S-4 nearby, they are heading towards the center."

"Oh, Nakada's close? Let's go meet up with her then!"

Kanai nodded. "Okay!"

And then Himeka took off running. "Point the way, Tsugumi!"

As the rest of them followed her, a group of dwarves, hidden in the trees, watched them. One of them, the one wearing a robe, whispered to the others.

"I just left the castle. The Prince should still be there, go and let him know the Voltians are grouping up. I'll keep watch over our unwanted guests."

They nodded and disappeared into the leaves of the trees. The remaining dwarf began to quietly follow Himeka and the rest of Squad-2.

"Where to next?"

"Left."

"Okay! Let's go!"

She moved even faster, so fast that the rest could barely keep up. Tetsuya began panting heavily, sweat dripping down his face.

"Okay, I see why she's the number 2 General!"

Tsugumi scoffed. "Stop being so weak and run."

Almost as if to prove her point, she touched her legs and began moving even faster, almost matching Himeka.

"Ooh, you're real fast! Where next?"

"Straight."

Alright!"

As she jumped from tree to tree, she was able to do back-flips, front-flips, and even SIDE-FLIPS. Tetsuya just looked at her with surprise and admiration, stating:

"You 100% have to teach me how to do that, General!"

"Okay!"

Tsugumi simply just groaned and Kazue laughed, but soon Himeka stopped and raised her hand for them to halt. "Wait…I think I see her!"

Right between a thick line of trees, Nakada and her squad were going to war against an army of transformed dwarves. While the other members of Squad S-4 seemed to be somewhat struggling, Nakada was easily holding her own.

"Keep it up, squad! The real fight will begin soon, we must make our way center!"

She easily shot a dwarf attempting to jump at her with her gunblade, not even looking at him.

Himeka looked around at the battle, and then she held her Gigarang up and activated it. "She's having fun! Let's go help her!"

As Himeka jumped into the fray, Kanai began to follow. "Well guys, you heard her! Let's go do this!"

They all made their way through the trees and right in the center of the action. Himeka did a flip and threw her Gigarang at a horde of dwarves attacking Nakada. Nakada just had an unimpressed look on her face, as she had to catch the thing before it hit Kai.

"Phew! Thanks, General!"

As she nodded, Himeka retrieved her weapon. "Hey, Nakada!"

"Himeka. As reckless and childish as ever."

"Umm, well…"

Nakada pointed towards the center. "We're heading to the middle, loud sounds have been heard from that area."

"Okay!"

As more dwarves came to tackle the two generals, Nakada yet again shot them without looking. Soon after, all the dwarves in the area were taken care of.

"My Squad, come!"

Kai, Obara, Vice-General Oyakawa, and the others all followed her as she left. "Yes, ma'am!"  

Himeka took off as well. "Don't leave me! Let's go, guys!"

As the two squads left, the dwarf in the robes landed in the wreckage, looking at the remains of the violence and carnage they caused.

"Villains…"

Meanwhile, at the Quiet Pond…

Marachii's eyes opened to find Hikari violently shaking him. He slowly sat up, a bit dazed.

"Oh, you're finally awake!"

"Where is everyone…?"

"Now isn't the time for that!"

"Why—?"

He looked up. They had been swarmed by tons of dwarves, each of them with weapons at the ready. "Oh…"

He immediately jumped back and nearly fell into the pond when one of the archers fired an arrow at him. "What's going on? How did this happen?"

Hikari didn't respond, too deep in her own thoughts. "What do I do? What do I do? Why do *I* get left with this, why?"

Marachii looked around, wide-eyed, as dwarves approached. "Kill them, now!"

The dwarves began to charge, as Marachi stated:

"Wait! Can't we find some non-violent solution to this?"

They stopped for a moment. Even Hikari looked at him, confused. One of the dwarves spoke up.

"You can't trick us, boy! Not after what your kind did! Not again!"

"My kind? Humans?"

All the dwarves looked taken aback. The one speaking pointed at Hikari. "Don't play dumb! Or else why would you side with her? HER?"

"Well, it's a complicated matter—-"

"Die!"

They rushed at the pair, and Hikari managed to use her Storage Magic to deal with the projectile attacks. However, as they got closer, the two were at the edge of the pond. Hikari looked at him and said:

"Can't you do something?"

"Like what?"

"Anything!"

As the dwarves moved to strike, Marachii tried to focus on something that would help them, anything, and then…

His mind was so quiet, he could hear a heartbeat…

"AHHH! Get back, get back!"

"What are those things? Go, make haste and run!"

"Attack them, now!"

All Hikari saw were massive metal tendrils coming from his back, bigger than any he had formed before, swinging frantically at any targets next to it. She had to duck under them a few times.

"Hey!"

"Sorry! It's…not listening!"

An arrow nearly hit him in the face, but she used her magic to get rid of it. "Then try and make it! Just focus—-!"

"He has a POWER! Capture the boy and kill the girl!"

"But that isn't fair!" Hikari exclaimed.

As Marachii continued to try and get his tendrils under control, Hikari fended off dwarves one by one, using her magic to store their weapons and her raw strength and speed to hold her own.

She held out her hands above her, and a spear she stored from one of the attackers fell from a portal into her arms. "Please be easy to use, please be easy to use!"

The one who seemed to be the leader drew his sword. "Die, pitiful girl!"

They clashed blades, and she eventually was disarmed. When he tried to slash her head, she reflexively kicked him so hard he fell back into a tree, coughing massive amounts of blood. "I feel…like I'm dying…what have you done…?"

"Sorry, that may have been a bit too hard!"

"She has a Power too! Stop her now!"

Marachii tried to help as the dwarf soldiers ganged up on her, but one of his tendrils came back around and hit him in the face, knocking him into the pond.

"OH NOT AGAIN!"

Hikari watched, sighing, but she quickly refocused her attention as a soldier tried to slice her neck. She put her hand up, and it grazed it, leaving a small cut that healed immediately.

"Do we kill her too, Faldor?"

The dwarf coughing blood, Faldor, managed a response. "Yes! Take the boy instead! He doesn't seem like her!"

Hikari was backed into a corner, and as dwarves moved in with the intent to kill, she looked down at the grass, an idea forming in her head.

"Okay. I've got this."

She knelt down and touched the grass as the dwarves came at her.

"Heal."

 Immediately it GREW so high, that it resembled a giant hayfield.

"Where did she go?"

"Find her!"

She quickly grabbed the soaking-wet Marachii out of the pond and ran through the trees, getting away from the dwarves.

"Ugh…are we alive?"

"Thankfully, yes!"

As she stopped for a moment, she saw a bird fly up to and perch on her head. "Hey! Get off! My hair!"

And then an axe struck it and killed it. When Hikari looked at who threw it, she found:

"Luca? You come now? NOW, when you're not NEEDED?"

He picked up both his axe and the bird. "Sorry, I was looking for the Dachii kid. Lost him."

As she rolled her eyes, he gave a brief laugh.

"Saw the fight just now. Seems you don't need the Princess for EVERYTHING."

"Oh, very funny, Mr. Wolf."

Marachii weakly got to his feet. "You were…with my brother? Any traces…of where he went?"

"Most likely center. All the signs point towards something big happening there."

"Like a final boss or something?"

Luca nodded. Hikari looked down at the ground before speaking. "Should we wait for help, or should we just go risk it?"

"Someone is probably there with him. If not, well, you just use some more grass and we'll figure it out."

"Whatever! Okay, let's…go."

They started to journey to the center of the forest. As they began to walk, Luca began to eat the bird he'd killed. Both Hikari and Marachii recoiled in disgust.

"Ew, Luca! Have some decency!"

"I…I'm gonna hurl again."

Meanwhile, back at the Dwarf Kingdom…

Alarax walked out into the streets of the town, in deep reflection. He took a seat for a moment, looking at his hand.

"Mother…Father…Mistress…I WILL succeed."

He heard a sound and he looked up. When he did, he saw various squads at the edges of the forest, ready to confront him.

S-2. S-3. S-4. S-5. S-6. S-7. And even Kenshi Fujii himself.

Fujii looked around at the other squads. "Wow, you guys all made it! Bad look on my part, I let you guys beat me here! And you got your squads with you!"

Shinjii laughed and stated: "It's fine! I'll do all the crushing!"

Morino scanned the area. "No sign of my grandkids. Or even Naito for that matter."

"She was sent here first, so he must know where she is," Toru replied, as he aimed his Joustblade at Alarax. "We'll deal with this now."

Alarax stood up, lifting up his hammer. "So you all made it. I hope you're pleased with yourselves, you vile pieces of trash."

His eyes began to glow even brighter, as he slammed the ground with his hammer, yelling:

"AH-MAH-KANAWA!"

Meanwhile, in the dungeon…

"Haha! I hear fighting! Dachii! Let's join!"

Tomoko and Dachii were still in the cells, and Dachii was still unresponsive. Tomoko laughed again. "Haha! Still taking a nap?"

Meanwhile, in an unknown land…

Dachii's eyes opened with a start. He wasn't in a cell anymore. He wasn't even in Asmana Forest…

He was back home in Estrium, sitting on his couch. And as he looked around, he saw his best friend.

"Mihina?"

She smiled at him. "Welcome home, Dachii."

——