“Hey there, Ringo~! One Ouroboros coming right up!”The space ne

     “Hey there, Ringo~! One Ouroboros coming right up!”

The space next to Ouroboros warped with a swirling fwish. And then, with a bursting pop!Ecolo appeared.

     “That was entirely too abrupt! How about warning us before popping out of the ether, or actually confirming that we’ve finished preparing our solutions before just offloading chaos at our door?!” Ringo said.

     “Ahahahaha! But this way I get to surprise you!” Ecolo was sporting a carefree attitude as always.

     “Arghh, Ecolo—!” Ringo let out a frustrated groan and stomped her foot against the ground. 

     “Let’s not get hung up on that now! You have a battle with Ouroboros to focus on, so break a leg!”

Urgh… Ouroboros… I don’t really even want to look at the thing. Because it’s scary. …Not like I could say that out loud, though!

The red and black snakes were still firmly entwined around those white gates. They lifted their heads and stared in our direction, swaying slightly back and forth. Their tongues flicked in and out. 

     “We were planning to savor the power emanating from these gates…”

     “Yet you continue to interrupt Us. How dare you…”

     “We may have overlooked your insolence once before…”

     “…but now, We shall smite you for testing Our patience!”

The two snakes alternated their speech in those horrible hissing voices. Waah, they really were scary—!

     “Ahahaha~ Ouroboros is kinda fuming because I dragged them through space-time~♪” Ecolo held their sides as they laughed, spinning in circles midair.

H-how can they keep that happy-go-lucky attitude in a situation like this?

     “Uhm, hey, Ecolo…” I said, figuring I might as well ask, “Are you gonna help us?”

I think Ringo once said something about Ecolo being really strong, so if they help us out…

     “Nope!” Ecolo said immediately.

     “Oh come onnn! You could at least do just a lil’ bit!” I pouted.

In response, Ecolo let out ahmmm and raised their fingers…? Or should I say finger-like lumps? Either way, they drummed them against their mouth.

     “Don’t think I’ll be much help here anyway. I’ve kinda got my hands full with keeping this fragment of space-time sealed up tight so Ouroboros can’t run off.”

     “R-really…?” I replied.

     “Yeah, really! It might look like I’m hanging around doing nothing, but I’m working reeeeeally hard! I’m doing a job nobody else can do!” 

     “Oh, wow! That’s incredible!”

     “Ehehe!” Ecolo puffed out their chest.

     “Amitie…” Ringo muttered in a low whisper, “That was your cue to reprimand Ecolo for bragging.”

H-huh? 

     “That’s Amitie for you…” Arle sighed. “Well anyway, we have to make do with our team here, right? Got it…” Switching gears, she called out a command. 

     “Here we go, Carby! Everyone gear up!” Following her lead, everyone’s faces turned serious, and we broke into a run. 

Arle, Ringo, and I have worked together to pull off giant chains a bunch of times before. But this time we had a group of four with Ally, and we had to figure out how to fire a giant Synchro Chain off on top of that. Could we really pull it off…? No, we hadto!

     “The result will be the same no matter how many times you try…”

     “Even if you defeat one of Us, the other will simply revive the fallen.” 

     “And thus, defeating Us is… Hm?”

Ouroboros had been laughing and making fun of us, but both of its heads tilted to the side in confusion once it saw that we had split into two groups. Then both heads exchanged glances.

     “We see… You seem to have come up with a plan,” it hissed.

I was building a chain with Ally, while Arle and Carbuncle were doing the same with Ringo. 

     “You aim to defeat both of Us at once… Is that your scheme?”

They figured us out right away. But who cares! There’s no other way to win anyway, right? I wondered if Ouroboros was getting nervous… I took a quick glance, but they seemed unbothered.

     “Do you truly think you have any hope of success…?”

     “Even if you breathe as one, you will never surpass the connection We have shared since Our very birth…”

It was making fun of us again! Aaack!

Right as I was starting to feel seriously intimidated, Ally’s voice flew over to me.

     “Amitie! Focus on the chain in front of you… Next, place that blue Puyo over here!”

     “I-I got it! Sorry! Uhm, ack…” I tried my best to focus while Ally checked in on the others.

     “Is everything going all right over there?” she asked Arle’s group.

     “I think we’ve got it…” Arle replied. “Put that yellow Puyo over there for me, Carby!”

     “Gu-gugu~!”

Oh, right. It wasn’t just Ally I had to sync with. I had to match the others as well. Though… Huh? How far were we in this chain again? What color Puyo was I supposed to put next to this blue one I just put down…?

     “Yes, panic! What you seek to accomplish is impossible! Ssshahahassss…!”

Aaah! Shut up a bit so I can think, Ouroboros! 

I tried to ignore the horrible hissing noises and the creepy voices coming from its swaying heads, but they still wormed their way into my ears. The panic descended from my head to my chest, clenching around my heart. Every beat of it carried a pang of anxiety that told me I was fighting all alone. 

I knew that I had to stop panicking. I knew that I had to focus on the chain I was building. But I couldn’t shake these feelings! Augh! What do we do if our plan fails because I panicked and messed something up? I could feel myself starting to tear up, when…

     “Itis possible! We will show you it is possible!” Ally’s voice rang out. “In fact, this is a decidedly easy task for us! So, how could we possibly not succeed?!”

Huh? Easy? You’re kidding me, right…? Really?

     “Ally…?” I asked.

     “We will succeed because… We have love on our side—!”

……. 

Lifting my face, I glanced at Ally, who was still stacking Puyo with all her might. Ally wasn’t saying anything out of the ordinary for her, but she looked really keyed up!

     “Ouroboros! You may have warped me here, but this is where your luck runs out!” she declared.

    “ Oh…?” Ouroboros said.

     “I have learned so much about love from the people here! They have taught me the many names of love, and immersed me in love anew!”

     “Love… Ssshahahasss… How pointless.”

     “You may laugh all you wish! But now, you will face the power of our love, and you will have no choice but to reflect upon your misdeeds! Isn’t that right, Amitie?” 

Ally’s voice was unwavering, but there was no smile to be found on her face. It was as if she was trying to convince herself with her own words. Oh. I wasn’t the only one who was afraid… Ally was too. Barely holding on herself, she had called out my name. I had no choice but to trust her… No, I wanted to trust her!

I hear you loud and clear, Ally! I’ve received your “love”!

     “Of course!” I said without missing a beat in stacking Puyo, “The love we share is super unbeatable right now!” 

     “Yes, we are now in love!”

I could hear a difference in Ally’s voice now. It sounded happier.

     “And we’re perfectly synced in love over here too, right, Ringo?” said Arle.

     “Sure, though I wouldn’t opt to phrase it like that myself!” came the response.

So, Arle and Ringo chimed in for some extra reassurance. And then…

Puyo! Puyo! Puyo puyo…

     “We are almost there!” Ally said.

     “We’re just about ready to go!” As I said that, I looked over to Arle and Ringo.

     “Nice timing!” Arle cheered.

     “Gu-gugu~♪”

     “Right, one more move and we’re ready as well!” Ringo said.

W-wow! Our timing really was perfecto~! We did it. This had to be it, right?

     “This is the power of love!” Ally shouted cheerfully.

In other words, time to get started?

     “Ready, go!” we all shouted.

Puyo! Puyo puyo-yo puyo-yo-yo-yo puyo~n!

Puyo! Puyo puyo-yo puyo-yo-yo-yo puyo~n!

The two giant chains popped away, each building power. Arle and I nodded to each other, and…

    “BAYOEEEEEN~!”

We fired off our best spell with our best chains! Our giant chains of love were ready to slam into both heads of Ouroboros at the same time. You could see a giant pile of Nuisance Puyo hovering above them each! We had them…!

     “Hmph… So you managed to match your chains properly.”

     “Very well done. And yet…”

     “You’re still far too naive!”

…Huh? Wh-wh-why was Ouroboros still grinning? Was it really not bothered by this at all?

In a single moment, all of my hype disappeared, replaced by a terrible sinking feeling. But I didn’t even have time to really feel the anxiety, because in the next moment…

WHAAAM—!

WHAAAM—!

The giant pile of Nuisance Puyo fell from above onto Ouroboros… 

Phew, our chains are setting off just as planned, but…

…HUUUH?! You’ve got to be kidding me?!

What I saw next made my head spin.