Everyone is standing around, contemplating what just went down. "I don't get it. Why am I there? This couldn't be MY Lethe, right? That's not MY shadow!" Asks Hiro. "I don't think this is the case of this being your shadow, I think you're the cognition. This world has to be how you yourself became a tyrant." Tomomi says. "But then how does Kap know about all these guys? That dude was a literal killer from my hometown before I was born! I sure as hell would've remembered Kap knowing this dude!" Hiro replies as he points to the corpse of some plain looking detective. "He's right. Hiro-kun, did your mother let you watch the news as a child?" Asks Ai. "A few times, it was really the case of keeping me occupied and shit. I did always sing along to the Junes theme though." Hiro answers and follows up with a jingle. "Every day is great at your Junes." "Why?" Rikiya asks. "It's one of those jingles that you HAVE to sing along to, it's the law! It's been pretty much hammered into my memory as a child!" Hiro retorts. "And weirdly enough, also some bear puns." "I think we are going to find Kap at that tower. It's going to be a long walk to get there." Tomomi says. "We all must be careful. We don't know what we are walking into." Ai adds.
At the back of the town on the way to the tower, there is a massive cliffside, with a bridge near the bottom, overlooking a large ocean of lava. "You guys ready?" Hiro asks. "Yeah!" Everyone responds. They jump down to the first rocky platform, and behind them, is a shadow, the shadow ambushes them and surrounds them. "What the hell?!" Hiro exclaims as they summon their weapons, they get four enemies, one is a yellow hooded human, with black gloves and boots, with a spear looking onto the holy side with a white mask. Another is a headless couple, holding hands as if dancing with one pair of hands holding a rapier and a floating black heart over their heads. The third being is a wrapped around piece of paper that appears as a fish, having a pink mask and some blue fins. The final one is in the form of an obese man in a chicken costume. The white t-shirt and hood that it wears has "BE A HERO" written on it and it holds a drumstick as a club. The yellow hooded man swings his blade down doing mamagma, causing a miniature earthquake, to everyone. The headless couple does agidyne on Hirozaku, damaging him. The paper fish strikes Rikiya with a cleave attack. The chicken man throws some egg shaped grenades at the party, damaging all of them immediately. "Silky!" Hirozaku summons a green-skinned woman with a beautiful red and silky dress, and has a white headpiece. "Bufu!" Hiro demands, to which Silky has some ice surround the headless couple before getting them down. "Rikiya!" Hiro exclaims, giving Rikiya a high five. "Show time!" Rikiya exclaims. "Blast them away, Ugly Duckling! Garu!" Rikiya exclaims, to which Ugly Duckling has a tornado form around the hooded man, taking him down. "Let's go!" Rikiya has Ugly Duckling to strike down the paper fish with Garu. One final turn, Rikiya turns his attention to the obese man. "Come on!" Rikiya says, doing Garu again, only for it to not do anything to the obese man. "What?!" Rikiya exclaims. "He must be strong against wind attacks. Don't attack carelessly." Ai says. "Tomomi-chan!" Rikiya says, passing the baton to her. "Get to it!" Tomomi says. "CurseStrike Link!" Tomomi exclaims, having Snow White to strike with a link against the obese man. "Hit that charge!" Tomomi exclaims, using charge on Hirozaku. Next was Ai's turn. "Shall we? Rapunzel?" Ai has Rapunzel to do a Kouga attack on the obese man, and then he gets damaged by the curselink strike. The obese man swings his chicken leg around, hitting all at once. "Queen Mab!" Hirozaku summons a green and blue skinned creature with light purple hair that extends to the shoulder, with a white striped shirt, some crimson gloves, a white cape and pure red eyes. "Let's go!" Hiro exclaims, to which Queen Mab does Agidyne, taking down this enemy. Afterwards, they dash forward, striking with their All-Out Attack with Hiro at the end.
"We must all be careful after that. It appears that these enemies can ambush us as much as we can ambush them." Ai says. After another cliffside and battle later, they make their way to ground level, where they are surrounded by the woods. In the epicenter, is the Black Angel, standing there. "You're here." The angel says as he turns in his armored suit, with his crowbar at his side like a sword in a sheath and his British STEM on his back like a bow. "Look, asshole, we don't have time for you." Hiro says. "I can tell. Do you know how this world works? It's a paradise for anyone with a destroyed cognition. With a vast depression." The Black Angel says. The others just look at one another. "Sorry, but I don't think we asked, pal." Rikiya says. "Just shut up for once in your worthless life and listen." He growls before clearing his throat. "This is meant to be a safe haven for those who are struggling in the real world, but what happens if someone has no memory of their lives? What becomes of their Lethe?" Black Angel asks. "Get to the damn point, moron!" Hiro says, very impatiently. "Tsk. You disappoint me, Hirozaku Chiba. I expected you to develop some brain cells after all these years." The Black Angel says. "Shut up! We have never met! And if we have, I sure as hell would've recognize that! So do us both a favor and take off that helmet!" Hiro says. "You are capable of predicting the future, correct? Why don't you see if I do." Black Angel asks. "How do you know that?!" Ai asks. "I've been watching for a while. After our first confrontation, I wanted to know if Hirozaku Chiba can match me." Black Angel says. Hirozaku looks into his foresight but at no point does the Black Angel remove his mask. "That face tells me I have not. As I was saying, do you know what happens to the ones without any memory? What happens to them? What goes on in their head? Do we think we know them or do we know the people they surround themselves with? They couldn't produce all of this, their lack of knowledge wouldn't get them to do this. What do you think happens?" Black Angel asks. Ai starts to contemplate this. "Do you believe that there is something more to Kap's Lethe?" Asks Ai. "Possibly. All my Lethe hopping and this is relatively unique to me. This feels the same yet there is something vastly different, and I would love for you to find out what that difference is." "Are you just here for cryptic stuff? Why don't you just wear a green jumpsuit and spout riddles?" Asks Rikiya. "Fine. I shall at least give a hint. Consider your relationships. Consider your history. Consider ALL of your unhappy memory clips." Black Angel says. "So you're just gonna leave us off on a riddle?" Asks Hiro.
"Well, since I'm here, I will at least tell you how I do my work. A shadow must live in this world, period, full stop. Should they die by the likes of their cognitive nightmares, then they will perish by noose, however, death doesn't have to be by the cognitive selves' hands. They simply need to die." Black Knight says. "Lay a goddamn hair on Kap's head and I'm gonna feed you your own heart!" Hirozaku threatens as he summons his red beam, to which the Black Angel chuckles. "Please, you couldn't feed a homeless man a five star meal, let alone me my own heart. I'm simply stating that his shadow must survive. I would pummel you to the ground like usual, but I would love to see your priceless faces when you get the chance to find your special "Kap" and the truth behind this place. Good bye for now." Black Angel has his wings out and flies to the sky at a high speed. "What was all that about?" Asks Rikiya. "Consider your relationships. Consider your history. Consider all of your unhappy memory clips." Tomomi repeats. "He placed a rather large emphasis on 'all' so that has to mean something." Ai answers. "I think he is all "prick", now let's get Kap and get out!" Hiro says. The group wander through the forest until they are face to face with the castle door, which slowly starts to open it's gate from the entrance. They all enter the place and there, they see the Mighty Alpha there. "Howdy there, citizens. Good to see you again. A little birdie told me that there is some trouble at this place. And if I'm being honest, I think that we can work together. Wouldn't it be better if we work together, son?" Mighty Alpha says. "Thanks, but we kinda got shit handled here." Hiro says. "Oh, oh no, no, no, no, you really misunderstand. That isn't a request. It's a demand." Mighty Alpha says. "Keep this up and I'm gonna shove whatever pike nearby up your ass." Hiro threatens. The Mighty Alpha does a disappointed sigh. "Fine. Fine, deal with this yourself." He says in a very upset tone and flies off. "Wow, clingy much?" Rikiya asks. "Something about him seems oddly familiar. Hiro-san, do you think that he is someone Kap-chan knows?" Asks Tomomi. "Only guys that that skunk knows are some kids at the elementary. That dude probably was some stranger or some shit, so let's go." Hiro says as he walks ahead. Ai starts to ponder a bit as they follow him.
They approach the building, entering through an elevator, it's currently heading up to the first floor. So far, there isn't any shadows that would attack them, however, there are what appears to be a single door, having some strange marking upon them. "So, that's new." Rikiya comments. "Yeah... What's happening, exactly?" Hiro asks. "There has to be something beyond this door in order for us to pass through." Ai says. Hiro turns to the door and approaches it, and it appears to have an image of a jagged circle, almost like a rock. "Only one real way to find out." Hiro says.
He opens the door and inside is a variety of staircases and bridges overhead. "Are we in some underground cave or something? What the hell is all this?" Hiro asks. The Sovereign Heroes step fourth and suddenly, a shadow jumps out at them and prepares for battle as it morphs into a weird eagle shaped being that has a sort of collar like a queen. "Kelpie!" Hirozaku summons a green horse with a mane that's as wet as a rainstorm in England, while the lower half of it's body is as distorted as the wet mane. "Zionga!" Hiro exclaims, which has Kelpie to fire off some lightning from the heavens, weakening it vastly. Hirozaku gets a second chance and rains down another Zionga again, weakening it again. "Let's dance, Ugly Duckling! Rampage!" Ugly Duckling delivers a flurry of light attacks against the eagle. the Eagle does Maragion on the group, hitting everyone with a fire attack. "Come fourth! Rapunzel!" Ai summons her persona to do a Sonic Punch at the eagle. Tomomi steps fourth and pulls out her sniper rifle, shooting at the wings, landing a critical hit. "All right, boys! Get his ass!" Hiro exclaims, pulling out his rifle. Everyone shoots their weapons in rapid succession, before ending the eagle. "Our battle isn't over yet." Tomomi says as the group gains experience. Hirozaku has obtained the skill Magrio, the ability to use a light grass attack on a whole group of enemies. "That's what I'm talking about!" Hiro exclaims.
They proceed onwards until they get to what appears to be some boulder with a crack. "Oy oy, we should be real careful here. I've seen Indiana Jones. For all we know, that rock will reveal some big trap and crash down on us." Rikiya comments. "He's right. We don't know what trap lies within." Tomomi agrees. Hiro uses his future sight upon the rock. "Your worry is warranted, Rikiya, but I don't see anything that could cause some problems." Hirozaku says. "Ai. Can I borrow your knife for a minute? And Rikiya, you still got that sledgehammer from a while ago?" Hiro asks. The two hand their weapons to Hirozaku who chips away at the rock, until it breaks and out comes what appears to be an egg. "This is it? This feels really weird to have." Hiro says. "Hiro-kun, try to crack it." Ai suggests. Hirozaku looks into the future and sees that it's a capable idea. He cracks the egg and suddenly, everyone is hit with a bright light. They find themselves on some rocky road next to a home that is surrounded by fog. "Where are we?" Rikiya asks. They hear some crying and feet pattering behind them. They turn and see a small child, approximately Kaoru's age, completely covered in shadows. Rikiya kneels down to get the child's attention. "Hey, kid, do you know where-" the child phases right through Rikiya. "Are we dead?" Rikiya asks. They hear a some other feet pattering behind, seeing a group of kids, about middle schoolers age, running after the child. The Sovereign Heroes follow them, to a corner. The taller kids throw some rocks at the kid. "Jesus Christ! Kaoru was getting bullied?!" Hiro exclaims. "Who are these brats?! When did this happen?!" Rikiya agrees. "What a freak!" Some of the kids mock. That's all that is heard. Everything else is muffled, rocks are continuously thrown at the child. "Hey! Brats! Get the hell away from him!" Hiro exclaims as he summons his red beam and swings at the middle school silhouettes, to which they all disappear, as if they are turned to dust. The light shines bright again and they are at the cave again, with Hiro's eyes still pissed.
"What was that? Who were those pipsqueaks?!" Rikiya asks. "Who would bully Kap-kun? Rikiya, your little sister goes to Dojima Elementary with him, would she know?" Tomomi asks. "No. She talks about Kaoru so I didn't think that he had any problems. They do often play Sonic though. That was their whole play time. Sometimes Sonic in crossovers like Pokémon." Rikiya says. "Still sounds better than any other Sonic game Sega makes nowadays." Hiro comments. "Are we really going to talk about his rough transition into 3D? That feels like it's been done to death." Ai asks. "Regardless, we've gotta get going. Who knows what else is in this place." Hiro says as he is the first to leave, with Rikiya and Tomomi following suit. Ai stands there, however and puts a hand on her chin, contemplating something. "Consider your relationships, consider your history, consider all your unhappy memory clips... Kap, are you hiding something or is there nothing to hide?" Ai ponders. "Ai, you coming?" Hiro asks. "Yes, pardon me." Ai apologizes and follows the Sovereign Heroes. They leave this cave and wander to the center of the room, which teleports them to the second floor.
This floor has a bit of a spiral, leading to an upstairs area. The group follows through to see the image of this door appearing to be in the shape of some straight line with jagged line across from above, like a child's stock rendition of grass for a drawing. They enter and see a large maze of trees, a forest with trees that are as large as an African rainforest, where an average tree reaches to 130 feet tall. "Fantastic..." Hirozaku mutters. "How should we get past this? This feels endless." Rikiya comments. "Watch your steps. I am seeing a variety of traps here." Hiro says to the group. "What kind of traps?" Tomomi asks. "Net traps, sudden spike pits, spiders and snakes." Hirozaku answers. "Dammit... I hate snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" Rikiya jokes. The group walk forward and thanks to Hiro's foresight, they avoid several traps. They climb a tree and each grabs onto a vine. "Everyone hold on. It was a pain in the ass for us to climb this damn thing." Hiro says. They swing down from the vine, holding on for dear life before they find their way into a treehouse, crashing through the roof and landing face first into the ground. "Ouch..." Hiro groans as he gets up. Everyone else is with him. "Is everyone ok?" Hiro asks. "I think I cracked my ass." Rikiya replies. "Where the hell are we at now?" Hiro asks. The group feels some strange presence nearby, as if someone is watching very carefully. They look around to find some shadow of some sort, expecting it to pounce on them like a big cat, something like a puma. Suddenly, two shadows jump down at them and start morphing, turning into a pair of creatures with intense power. One being is a head with black hair, while above it is a crown with a book levitating inside it. The other is a green hooded humanoid person with a yellow staff. "Poltergeist!" Hirozaku summons a small blue creature made of some cloth and has some dark eyes and mouth, while holding up some red chair. "Magna!" Hiro says, summoning a minor earthquake to the masked man. The head book does Magaru and damages everyone with wind attacks. The masked man does poisma, poisoning Ai. "Ai's sick! We need to do something!" Tomomi exclaims. "Ugly Duckling! Aques!" Rikiya exclaims, striking the masked man with a strong water attack. "I'll try to endure it... Rapunzel! Bash!" Ai summons Rapunzel to slam to the head and then takes some damage. Tomomi brings fourth Snow White and strikes with Eiga against the robed man. "Posumudi!" Hiro tells Poltergeist and cures Ai of her poison. "Thank you, Hiro." Ai thanks. The head does Mabufu, striking everyone with ice. The robed man does Senpu Jin, attacking with a large wind attack against everyone. "Counting on you! Sonic Punch!" Rikiya says to Ugly Duckling against the head. "Lightstrike Link!" Ai exclaims, striking the hooded man. "Come, Snow White!" Tomomi says, healing up Ai. "Thank you." Ai thanks. "Ares!" Hirozaku summons a man with a golden heraldry, he's got a sharp knife and a curved knife in hand, along with a white cape and yellow armor, purple boots, and red skin. He also has some cuffs and a white sheath. "Ramaizen!" Hirozaku exclaims, having Ares to swing down his knives and has lightning strike down upon the head, striking it's weak point and splashing it to the robed man. Hiro has an extra move and uses it to swap to Poltergeist. "Magna!" Hiro exclaims, striking the robed man with a light eruption from below and greatly damaging it, hitting it's weak point. "Let's give 'em hell!" Rikiya exclaims. They dash forward and rapidly attack the two in an all out attack. While it did a lot of damage, it only defeated the head and the robed man is greatly weakened. He does Garudyne on Tomomi, hitting with wind attacks. "I'm ready!" Ai exclaims with her Jackpot ready. She summons Rapunzel and does a gentle twirl around before adjusting her glasses. She looks directly at the robed man. "Jackpot!" She exclaims as Rapunzel slams in front of her and has a massive pillar of light spring out from under the robed man, defeating him for good. "We can keep this up!" Tomomi exclaims as Hiro cracks his neck in victory and puts a hand in his pocket. Ugly Duckling has learned a new move, malaqua, which is an all enemy water attack. "Wicked!" Rikiya exclaims. It's not just him, though. Rapunzel learns Makouh and Snow White knows makouha and Snow White knows Meiha. "That's very excellent!" Ai cheers. "That's the way!" Tomomi whoops.
Once they were done with the shadows, the group approaches to some trees shorter than every other tree and examine it. The fact that it's in this treehouse is the biggest reason why they need to examine this. From within the holes, there is one egg from within. Hiro cracks it open and the Sovereign Heroes are blinded by some light. Once their vision clears up, the group finds themselves at a riverbed, at the bottom of some concrete stairs, and a platform next to the riverbed, likely as a spot for fishing. All while a rainstorm is taking place. They notice the Kaoru's silhouette there, the same silhouette that was chased by those bullies and had rocks thrown. Except they notice something, this version of Kaoru seems a bit plump, not unlike the Kaoru that they saw before or the Kaoru that they know now. They are seeing this silhouette doing some workouts ranging from jumping jacks to pushups, with what appears to be some bits of water forming at the eyes. "Hey, is it me or did Kap get a bit chubby?" Rikiya asks. Tomomi kneels down to Kap's silhouette. "Kap-kun? Can you hear me?" Tomomi asks. The child ignores her while tears form with Hirozaku staring, not saying a word. Ai looks at the kid. "Ai? You see something?" Rikiya asks. "I've been thinking about something. Consider your relationships, consider your history, consider all your unhappy memory clips. That is what the Black Angel told us, yes? He told us that our Lethe are meant to be our paradise. That much is true. I've had my memories of a vast ocean with Maeba-I mean Megumi being the distortion. Tomomi has her fear of death with Kobayakawa being the distortion. Rikiya, if I may, who was your distortion?" Ai asks. "My half bro, why?" Rikiya asks. "Exactly! The distortions very likely happen within our memories. And it seems that the memories are not limited by time since Megumi was a child with Kobayakawa, and yet, Kap HAS no memories! He couldn't remember his own life! He couldn't remember anything before he met all of us! He said that he woke up one day on a park bench with the name "Kap" on his stuff." Ai says. "Wait, then how do you explain all this happening? If this isn't Kap's Lethe, then who's is it?" Rikiya asks. Ai slowly turns to Hirozaku. "You know exactly who's Lethe this is, don't you, Hirozaku." Ai asks, to which Hiro stays quiet.
"Or do you prefer the name 'Hirocles'?" Hiro still stays quiet. Tomomi and Rikiya look at one another before looking at the boy, who stops and slowly stands up. He turns and approaches Hirozaku and looks up at him, his entire visage blinking rapidly before turning into a much younger version of Hiro, with neck length red hair, with a blue shirt with a duck on it, and some small jeans. The child vanishes like dust while Hiro just stands there. "Hiro? Is there something you want to talk to us about?" Tomomi asks. "NO! No... I don't got anything to say. This is Kap's Lethe. And I'm gonna... discipline that sentient stink bomb for coming here without us..." Hiro turns and leaves. During all this, tears were forming in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away and continued walking a set distance, waiting for the Sovereign Heroes by the exit. "Wait, I don't get it. Is this really Hiro's Lethe?" Rikiya asks. "Yes, and there were a lot of hints. Hiro's knowledge of the weapon Hirocles, or more accurately, Shadow Hirozaku used against those criminals which made our ears ring loudly. He said that his hometown was Inaba, and this bank is part of Inaba, which is commonly used as a fishing spot. Consider your history, it isn't uncommon for children with different hair to be bullied, those kids throwing rocks weren't Kap's bullies, they were Hiro's bullies. Consider all your unhappy memory clips, this is Hiro's childhood!" Ai explains. "If this is Hiro's Lethe, then why is it the depths of hell? Is it the same case for me?" Tomomi asks. "No, because in your Lethe, it was a question of what happens after life, brought on by the trauma of your uncle's death. This IS Hiro's paradise. It's only like this because he has absolute rage. You've met him on his first day, he seemed rude, yes? He seemed easily annoyed. His paradise is to get back at those who has wronged him." Ai explains. "So, this is Hiro's Lethe, we established that, who's the cognition? You can't tell me Kap's the problem here." Rikiya asks. "Far from it. Again, the distortion isn't limited by our memories' age, only by what we recall. And there is only one person that's ever gotten Hiro so angry, so violent, so uncontrolled. And that person is-"
"Howdy there, citizens! I didn't think you'd be this far into the spire." Mighty Alpha says, suddenly appearing behind Rikiya and Tomomi. Hiro looks up, with his tears wiped and a rage-fueled look that can burn a hole through space and time, with his hands clenching so hard it literally has the same pressure of crushing coal into diamond. "Looks like you got it all figured out, huh? This is Hiro's paradise. Guess you all can assume who I am then, right?" Mighty Alpha asks. Hiro walks past the others and summons his weapon, swinging it straight at Mighty Alpha who doesn't even flinch. He simply adjusts his jaw a little, like a minor cramp. "Well crap! That was crazy. Hate to rain down on your parade, but Hiro kinda figured it out before everyone here. The hint was from me, of all people, my face has to ring a bell. I told you guys that I lost somebody, but I haven't been THAT specific. Wouldn't you agree, son?" Mighty Alpha says. "WHAT?!" Rikiya exclaims while Hiro's rage is building with the world shaking. Unlike the previous times the world shook, this one doesn't even cause any real harm, no cracks in the ground, nothing, only a shaking backdrop. "Oh wow, that's cute. Well, I gotta head out now. Wouldn't want to keep the guests waiting." Mighty Alpha flies through the sky and the shaking dies down. "Let's go." Hiro says to his team in a cold tone. "Are you sure, Hiro? We can take a break if you want." Tomomi says. "I SAID LET'S GO!" Hiro says angrily as he turns around and heads for the exit.