United Final Chapter: A Grand Journey

Having run off from Alpha and the strange girl, Alex made his way to the rooftop of the MSI base, where a cold breeze flowed through the afternoon lands. Though to him, the winds carried a nostalgic feeling that helped him relax and gather his thoughts. He closed his eyelids as the wind graced the presence of his body without his guidance, taking in a deep breath and letting out a tired sigh as he put his hands into his pockets.

"Figured I'd find you up here. Reminding yourself of home again, eh?" Alex was snapped out of his relaxation by Alpha's attempt at comfort, and he glanced over his shoulder to see him walking up the staircase with his metallic arms crossed behind his back.

"If you're going to tell me to go back, then save it. Can't I just stand here peacefully for a moment?" Alex bluntly told the Goomba as he stood his ground ten feet away.

"If I didn't say anything I wouldn't be me. You worried me a bit though with that sudden freak out Alex. Mind telling me what's going on?"

"…I think you can take a guess" Alex replied while turning ahead and closing his eyes.

"Heh, I'm no expert on human biology, but I was going to assume a confliction born of infatuation towards the girl and a simple cursing of your own weakness to help her." Alpha said with a humored grin on his face, though Alex glared back at him rather bluntly immediately after.

"It's got nothing to do with infatuation…I-I don't know how to describe this feeling that's plaguing my heart and soul" Alex then looked down at his beating chest and clamped his right hand around the part of his shirt closest to the heart, continuing on with "Looking at her, I get the feeling she has something that I'm missing…Something I'm not worthy of having."

"Ah, I think I get it now…It's not infatuation, what you're feeling is admiration." Alpha answered with a wise-cracking smirk, then extended his right hand out as Alex turned and dryly glanced his way.

"It may be presumptuous of me to say, but perhaps she reminds you a bit of your clone?" Alex's glance aside afterward gave a good enough answer, but even so the boy told Alpha "In some ways she does, but…" Alex grit his teeth a little and then let go of his shirt to swing his arm out to emphasize his next point.

"Even after I told her I was of no worth to her she didn't give up on her goal…She immediately tried another solution, and even when the note suggested to trust in someone who denied her once…She still looked at me, put on that bright smile, and gave me another chance."

"And you don't think you have any right to help her out…Cause one mistake would lead to a catastrophe." Alex bitterly bit his lower lip and mumbled in response to that "I-I just can't let HIM be right about me Alpha"

"Fair enough, but it certainly doesn't make you look any better to just run away from the issue at hand. You're lucky I stopped the girl from chasing after you, otherwise you'd be feeling pretty pressured right about now." Hearing that surprised Alex immensely, and with widened eyes he asked "S-She still wanted to find me…? After two rejections?" He glanced aside and thought back to the girl's smiling face, and once more the strange sensation entered his body.

"D-Damn it…Why does she care this much?!" In the face of Alex's frustration, Alpha gently chuckled, much to the boy's ire at first.

"Here you are getting upset and you don't even understand what drives her to go this far." Alpha cracked a grin while Alex just let out a puzzled "Huh?" followed by the Goomba gesturing his right hand out to the boy.

"You're not looking at the big picture right now Alex. She willingly left her home to come all this way out here. Clearly, whatever drives her to do this is more important than even her own life"

"More important than her own life, huh?" Alex thought upon those words as he slowly looked towards the sky, and the immediately thing that came to mind was "Selflessness, optimism…Could she actually be the one and not Alpha? The 'light' that could burn away the 'darkness' that haunts my nightmares?"

"Let me ask you just one thing Alex" Once Alpha grabbed Alex's attention towards him, he continued on to say with his eye shut "Do you trust that girl and everything she's said so far?" Hesitantly, the boy glanced aside with a bothered look on his face.

"It's not the girl I'm suspicious of…Rather the circumstances behind her being here, and especially that note"

"Judging by your reaction, I get the feeling you've somehow met the woman in question. Care to share your thoughts?" Alpha smiled in intrigue, while Alex slowly raised a hand to scratch the side of his head.

"She's the former wife of the original Overlord, and apparently immortal…After I got my powers, I went to the temple and I guess triggered the Gaia Temporis to send me back in time where she fought and defeated me effortlessly. So I really don't get why she chose me to help her daughter."

"Sounds to me like she's the kind of person who sees things that others don't."

"But my clone would've probably been a better choice to ask for help." Alex's words got Alpha to let out a gravely hum as he was left deep in thought, and Alex raised an eyebrow his way until the Goomba snapped his left fingers out in front of him.

"Look Alex, I'm going to be honest with you…You're going to have the face the fact that at some point or another, my ability to help train you is going to reach a wall. There's only so much I can teach you, even if you have made some progress over the last few months." Alex focused on Alpha attentively with a dry look on his face as he continued on to say "That being said, I also can't force you to just go help that girl out. That's ultimately your decision to make."

"However…! Let me just make a quick argument in favor of the idea…There's nothing better for training than first-hand experience, and as an Elemental Overlord you need all the experience you can get. The universe is a vast place, but that means there's plenty of planets out there that could use help…Over the course of helping that girl find that 'Cosmos Drive', you could try and save any planets that in danger along the way." Alex slowly raised his brows in regards to what Alpha was trying to do.

"You're doing that thing again Alpha."

"Heh, whatever do you mean…?" He replied with a sly smirk. Alex just closed his eyes and after a sigh remarked "Oh never mind" but as he had his eyes shut he examined Alpha's words carefully and thought about what to do next.

"The wiser option would be to stay and continue training with Alpha…I wouldn't harm any other worlds if I stick to that. But, at the same time…" He's reminded of that girl's smile once more, which caused his body to nervously twinge against his will before he continued on with "…If I just ignore this feeling, will I come to regret it for the rest of my life? Alpha can do enough to help improve my ability to fight, but can he really offer me the other half necessary to conquer this 'darkness'…the ability to be a better person?"

"With her I'd get the whole package…I'd fight evil to improve my ability to be the Elemental Overlord…And around her optimism and selflessness I'd be able to improve my ability to be Alex Whiter…And then after that…" Alex clenched his gloved fist tightly enough for the crinkling of the material to be heard by Alpha, and the Goomba smiled as the boy lifted his head up. A visage of his clone's face appeared in front of him, and Alex murmured "…I can be worthy of making things right with you."

"I haven't fully decided on leaving to help her yet, but I'm going to take your advice Alpha and go talk to her. Is that ok?" Alex firmly said, and Alpha just stood there and mentioned approvingly after a chuckle "Go right ahead Alex. I'll stick around here and…catch a bit of that peaceful breeze, if you don't mind."

Alex then dashed off back downstairs, while Alpha pressed a button on his arm that caused a small gravestone to rise up in front of him. Walking over to it, Alpha folded his arms behind his back, closed his eye, and said with a smirk "After all, it's how you handled me, eh Commander?"

Meanwhile, Alex made his way back to the cell Shina was at. The door was still open, and the girl was sitting on the bench her head hung over slightly and her hands resting on her kicking legs. The moment she sees Alex though she turns her head and with a frazzled look on her face she said "H-Hey…! You came back!" But then Alex realized something as his heart felt momentary shock, and that was that he didn't really know what to say to the girl.

"M-Maybe I shouldn't have rushed here" He thought while turning his head away from the girl as she asked him "Soooo…Are you feeling alright? You surprised me when you ran off like that!" Alex then glanced at her as she leaned forward a bit and tilted her head.

"I-I'm fine…U-Ummm…Sooooo…" "Crap, I really don't have much experience talking to other humans, let alone a girl" Alex looked at and away from Shina repeatedly until deciding to let out a deep gulp and slowly inch his way over to the bench, walking sideways until he's in front of the bench beside Shina. As she patiently waits, Alex looks away from her and then sits down, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall. He only gave her an occasional glance, but now that he was this close he was able to truly grasp how much bigger she was compared to him.

"She said she's 16...? Only a two year difference, and yet she looks like an adult…Ugh, that's probably not making this any easier, so if I keep looking away…" While Alex was in a deep trance of thought, Shina lightly slapped a hand against the side of his face a few times and he reactively turned to face her, leading to that hand resting against his face complete with the cold feeling of her skin. As his cheeks turned a light shade of red and he focused on the hand, Shina pulled it away with a nervous grin on her face and said "S-Sorry…! I was worried you were daydreaming for a moment there!"

Alex quickly averted his gaze and told her carelessly "…Y-You could…try and make this a little easier for me" "E-Eh?!" She replied with no idea what he meant until she glanced down and saw how close the two were, assuming that the short distance between them was the source of his discomfort before she slowly nudged herself back on the bench until she was a couple feet away. She then cracked a smile, thinking that everything was alright, though Alex just let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.

"Y-You know what, never mind…So, Shina's your name, right?"

"Yessir!"

"Hrmmm…C-Can you tell me something?"

"What's up?" She replied in a quick and chipper manner, leading Alex to look away from her for a moment so he can better concentrate on the subject at hand.

"What is it that drives you Shina…? Why would you go so far to try and stop this one man?" In contrast to what Alex had seen of her so far, Shina suddenly hung her head and put on a more subdued expression.

"W-Well…It's not that hard to answer really. It's because of my mother and my little sister Kairi…I want us all to be one big happy family, but if I don't stop Gravitus then…" Shina bites her lower lip and tightly grips the top of her pants, quivering as she didn't want to think about it. Alex, however, did not understand what she meant and thus against his better judgment chose to probe her for information.

"What? What is he going to do?" Embarrassingly, Shina lifted her head up and stared at Alex for a little before chuckling and telling him "O-Oh right, I never finished earlier did I? Ummm…How do I put this?" For a moment she laid a finger against her chin and tried to bring the words from her mind to her tongue.

"That Neo Drive I mentioned? It can only be used by people of my mother's bloodline. Gravitus knows this and keeps taking any children my mother has once their bodies and thus their auras are properly mature, testing them to see which one is worthy of the Neo Drive. I-I've felt my sister's potential, and once she turns 16 in two years time…I-I honestly believe Gravitus will be able to activate the Neo Drive, and then he'd be able to easily abuse it's power through her"

"…How could he even do that?"

"I-I don't really know, but I can't take any chances to find out" Shina then looked at Alex and with a half-baked smile asked him "I-I mean…Ya understand what I'm saying, right? I tried not to make this confusing."

"It's not hard to get it…He's a tyrant trying to abuse whatever power he can to lord over his people." As Alex spoke in a nonchalant manner, Shina looked at him with a rather shocked glare and asked "Y-You speak from experience?" Alex only grumbled afterwards and looked away, and Shina just pulled back and shook her hands out beside herself.

"S-Sorry…! I didn't mean to dredge up old memories…! U-Ummm…Oh, I got it! Since you asked me why I wanted to stop Gravitus, I'll ask you something myself!" Shina desperately tried to change the subject and clapped her hands once she got an idea, snapping Alex's attention her way as she smiled and asked "If you don't mind me asking, ummm…What drove you to become the Elemental Overlord?"

Alex held his hands together above his legs and with his eyes closed murmured "Like I could tell you if I don't know the answer myself…I mean, Mario came to me and explained the situation and I just left my planet without even thinking about it. Can't really blame me, I was eleven at the time"

"T-That young…?! But what about your parents? Surely they are wo-" Alex put on a grimacing scowl and looked away from Shina, and she stopped herself and turned her head while scratching the back of it embarrassingly.

"Darn it Shina, you're doing a terrible job talking to him…You got to make this better, fast!" She swiftly turned back and then tried patting Alex on the back a couple times, finishing off with a rub while Alex froze his expression into one of wide-eyed surprise as the girl told him calmly "Sorry again for that slip of the tongue…And I'm really, REALLY sorry to hear your parents are dead."

"You don't have to be, but…t-thanks anyways" Though he said that, in his mind Alex thought with absolute shock "God, look at how easy she makes that sound to say sorry to me, even for mistakes she couldn't have had any idea she would make."

Alex glanced at Shina again as she was talking, but he was so focused on his own thoughts that he didn't understand a single thing coming out. What mattered was the smile she kept as she talked, how she was naturally just filled with happiness and joy with every motion and word she took and said. "Her optimism and selflessness, her desire to have a happy family, her bold fight against a power-hungry tyrant…She's got similarities to me, but was born without any of the burdens of anger and death that I have…I was right about her, she is the 'light' I've sought out…She's the one person in this universe that can end this 'darkness' inside of me, perhaps for good."

Without realizing he would be interrupting her, Alex suddenly sat upright and faced Shina, telling her bluntly "Shina, please hear me out for a moment."

"H-Huh? Sure thing Alex!" Shina sat there after a moment of surprise and laid her hands atop her legs with an innocent grin on her face, and Alex closed his eyes to ease the next part as he mentioned "There's a lot you don't know about me, and a lot I don't know about you…But if I don't help you after you've willingly come this far away from home for your family and people, then I deserve to burn forever. What I'm saying, basically, is that-"

Shina suddenly lunged at Alex and embraced him in a tight hug, her chest pressing against the front of his neck as he suddenly found some breath forced from his mouth. Alex was left feeling completely stiff by how swiftly this happened, only stuttering out quietly "H-Hey…!" as Shina squeezed him and exclaimed joyously "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I could just KISS you for doing this for us!"

Alex suddenly widened his eyes and said while lifting his hands up and accidentally pushing on Shina's chest to put some distance between them "N-Now hold on a moment there…! There's no need to get that-" even as flustered as he was, he recognized the mounds of flesh on his palms and after a brief gaze at them his face turned even redder as he turned around. Even with his inexperience with others, he knew that was a big mistake.

Even then, Shina just chuckled and nonchalantly said "I guess I was getting a little too close there. I'm just REALLY excited and lost control of myself, hehehe!" Alex glanced back and forth a few times at her and the door before replying "Y-Yeah well…A-As I was trying to get at, w-we need to establish a few rules before we do anything else."

"Oh, alright then!" Shina stood still and patiently, giving Alex time to let the blush leave his face before he let out a cough and turned around, still not believing that he let that mistake happen. Closing his eyes he stated "First things first, no more sudden physical contact. That means no hugs, kisses, or breast…p-pushing." The red returned to his cheeks for a little bit while Shina chuckled, only for Alex to let out a cough a couple times to try and regain focus on the matter at hand.

"S-Second rule…No unnecessary questions. Either we say what we want to or we don't, that'll stop us from striking each other's nerves." Shina perked her head up and said "I can't make ya any promises, we need to get to know each other somehow."

"…Fine, but you have to absolutely, above all else, promise to follow this last rule." Alex firmly looked Shina in the eyes and handle a finger up before his chest, telling her with the utmost bluntness "I am not the original Overlord…I don't even a hold a candle to what type of person he was, so please don't make any comparisons to whatever you read about in those history books."

"Ok, I can do that, that's easy!" Shina responded surprisingly fast, and Alex glared at her and punctuated his point with "I'm taking this seriously here. You could at least do the same."

"Well I mean, I already knew you weren't going to be like him the moment I saw ya…So, all you really got to do is show me why mom put all this faith in ya, ok?" Shina said, with her looking around the room all the while. Alex blinked a few times and then pulled back, scratching the side of his head as he remarked "Then…that's all there is to it really. Only other thing I have to do is tell Alpha and we can head off."

Alex got off the bench and headed for the door, but with a hand laid on the edge of it he glanced back and said "You can go ahead and meet me out front, that's where we'll take off, if you're ok with that." Shina nodded her head, but as Alex sprinted off she closed her eyes and looked at his aura through that vision of hers. His aura was distorted and unable to maintain a stable form, with pitches of black shifting it's way through his body. Opening her eyes a little, she murmured "I'll get you to open up somehow Alex…And maybe I can help you just like you're helping me."

A few minutes later, after Alex has caught up with Alpha and told him what was happening, the Commander and Gemini followed the two to the outside of the base as the sun was starting to set. Shina happily folded her arms behind her back and turned around as Alex conversed with the other two.

"So you made your decision, huh Alex?" Gemini remarked with a bit of a smile on his face, to which Alex nodded his head to the both of them and replied quietly "It's for the best if I do. But it's not like I'm going to come back someday. We'll find this Cosmos Drive, stop Gravitus, and then I'll come back here…hopefully having improved as both an Elemental Overlord and as a person."

"Heh, you're underestimating the scope of the universe a bit there if you think it-" Alpha stops himself from ruining Alex's slight enthusiasm towards this goal, with a grin quickly moving on to say "…Honestly though, do you have a plan to head out into space?" Alex nodded his head confidently, and that was all Alpha needed to see.

"Alright then, well, don't be a stranger Alex, and good luck out there."

"Yeah, seriously, don't keep us waiting more than two years again, alright?" Gemini said while holding his right hand out, which Alex shook after a momentary smile, followed by him asking "Thanks for tolerating me for the last few months Gemini, and if you see Geno tell him thanks for bringing Shina over here."

"Will do" As Gemini pulled his hand away, both him and Alex looked to Alpha, but he just stood there and both said and did nothing. Alex gave him a slight nod before turning around and walking over to Shina.

"You ready to go?" He asked, and she glanced at him from the side and said nervously "Umm…We don't have a spaceship, how are we going to fly through space?" In response, Alex stepped in front of Shina while holding his arms out.

"Don't worry, I could figure this much out on my own." From his hands, Alex generated a giant sphere of wind around both himself and Shina, lifting them slightly off the ground. He then folded his arms together and said "With this we'll be able to breathe, and it'll contain both of us while we travel swiftly across space…As far as provisions go, I can make us any fruits, vegetables or nuts. And I believe that's all I have to say on the matter." He then looked back at Shina, who was staring with an agape mouth in fascination of what Alex created.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Shina then firmly looked at Alex and told him with a smile "I can't be unsure about this. For the sake of my people and family, we can't waste even a single second!"

"…Then we're off!" Alex said, hesitating from the girl's bright smile before he clenched his hands together tightly and commanded the sphere of air to push off the ground and rocket off towards space. As they watched them take off, Gemini glanced at Alpha and said gently "Pretty small farewell, huh Alpha?" The Goomba closed his eye and smirked in response.

"I've never been big on sentimentality. Besides, it's better this way." Even with what was said, Gemini just smiled and told him in a humored tone "Alright Commander, I'll let you get away with that. Still, I'm glad Alex made the right choice here."

"You and me both Gemini…you and me both." With that, Alpha and Gemini were left to their own devices again, free from the Elemental Overlord's influence on the world for now. However, as Alex and Shina flew high into the sky and breached the planet's atmosphere, they were unaware of someone watching their departure from afar that had other ideas of what was going on…

"So…the time has come for your journey to begin, is it? That Goomba made the wrong decision this time, but I suppose that leaves me no choice then but to get involved. No matter how many times this happens, I'll always know when to be here to witness it's beginning…and see it through to it's inevitable end. But ultimately, your path leads to death, Phoenix of Destruction. That's what I will witness, and not the destruction you bring to the one place I love in this grand universe…"

Whoever they were, they cracked a small but eerie smile that hides every devious intention on their mind. "Though really, this shall be a fun little venture…I will enjoy this thoroughly, so you better put on a grand show in the meantime, and that goes double for you, Ms. Aurora…Enjoy the false pretenses of hope you have now, for I have seen the outcome, and so have all of you…Viewers beyond that veil of computer glass. Fufufu…!" And with that, they simply vanished from sight via unknown means…

As the planet of Plit was left behind her, Shina pulled out the note her mother had given her and flipped open a part of it that she hadn't read to Alex. With a curious smile, the girl thought "So our first clue is at the land of dragons, huh mother? No matter what that means for us, I will face the challenges ahead. What I'm fighting for..." the memories of her sister flooded through her mind as she held the note to her chest "Means I cannot lose, no matter what!" With a fierce, determined face, Shina put the note away and looked forward to what lied ahead.

CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX PROLOGUE…

THE END

Author's Note:

Thus begins the next tale of Clash of the Elements. I want to thank a lot of people who have so far been helping me reorganize how I write this story, and I do plan on going back at some point and fixing earlier parts but right now Alex and Shina's story is going to get all the attention it needs...Save for Phantasm Masquerade and another story I'll be needing to do on the side later.

So if it wasn't obvious, this story will play out like Part 4 did, with Alex and Shina going to different video game worlds on their way to finding the Cosmos Drive. I'm not going to reveal all the worlds they go to right now, but here's a basic guideline of how things will go:

Spyro the Dragon , Crash Bandicoot , Guilty Gear , BlazBlue (Two Stories) , Mega Man X (?) , ? (?) [Really site, can't allow the fucking greater than sign either? And multiple question marks piss you off?]

I'll need a few days to outline it, but when it's ready come back for the first story of Part 4 EX (Grumble grumble stupid site not allowing 4.5 to be the title) titled "Year of the Dragon"! Thanks again all of you, and please, review as much as you can, it really does help keep this going.