The group from the past finally reached their time once more. The ship landed, albeit quite roughly. The mood was still tense ever since Onyx put into question everything that they had believed.

"Time to see if we did defeat Don Armage." Lucky tried to sound hopeful.

"Let's go."

They returned near where they had been before going into the past. As they walked down the street, there was no one around.

"It's like a ghost town." Spada commented.

"I get the feeling we may have failed." Onyx said quietly. "This feels the same as before we left."

"Guys, it's Hammie!" Lucky suddenly exclaimed.

Hammie had been running across a bridge when she spotted them as well. She jumped up and down and waved to them.

"Hammie-chan!"

"Hammie! What's the current situation here?!" Onyx shouted.

Hammie suddenly stopped being happy. And then a screen came up on a building. It was the present Akyanba and Kukuruga with Naga.

"That means..." Tsurugi whispered.

"We failed to defeat Don Armage." Onyx finished.

Had they though? But, Don Armage wouldn't have found a new host near them. So did that not even kill the current one? Onyx was so lost with all of this. This was complicated.

Hammie joined them and everyone returned to the ship. They had some things that they needed to discuss now. If nothing had changed, then they needed to get back to their original plan again.

"That's what happened in the past?" Hammie was filled in on what they had done.

"We definitely defeated Don Armage in the past." Lucky stated, "History should have changed... but Don Armage is still in control of the galaxy."

"My word! So nothing has changed?!" Tsurugi cursed. "Onii-chan, do you have idea what we did wrong?"

"I have an idea but..." Onyx sighed. "I don't have much to go on to confirm it."

"I see..."

"Hey, where's the commander and Champ?" Hammie questioned.

"They stayed in the past to spread the legend of the late Orion." Stinger explained.

"If they hadn't, we would have disappeared." Spada added. "He was the only reason we were able to gather here today."

"How come you wouldn't have done it instead, Onyx?" Raptor questioned.

Onyx sighed. They had pondered that as well for a while.

"I don't think Don Armage would've let me get that out there. And... maybe I would've been stubborn enough to try and take down Jark Matter on my own." Onyx replied.

"Oh..." Raptor said. "Um... the Orion-gou required repairs. For the time being, it can't fly. Was going to the past a mistake?"

"Of course not." Lucky stated. "I gained a new power in the past. I'm sure the commander and Champ will make it back. So this is no time to be downhearted! This is for Orion, who entrusted the future to us."

"Lucky's right." Tsurugi agreed. "In other words, all we can do is defeat Don Armage in the present day."

"But to do that, we have to rescue Naga from Akyanba." Hammie said, before explaining what happened between them and Naga. "Balance has been missing since then. We tried our best, but Kotaro and Garu... were taken captive."

"That's really bad..."

The door to the bridge opened. Someone who looked very similar to Naga walked in.

"Who the hell are you?" Onyx questioned, a bit more aggressively than they had intended to.

Hammie walked over to the intruder. "This is Echidna. She's from Ophiuchus like Naga."

"On our planet, having emotions is a sin." Echidna spoke. "Naga must pay with his life for breaking that law."

"Eh?!"

"Help me." Echidna asked.

"Hold on here." Onyx said in reply, "You come into our ship, and ask us to murder our friend? Are you serious? No fucking way are we killing Naga and if you dare get in our way of saving him... I won't hesitate to exterminate a pest."

Spada hit them on the shoulder. "Don't start threatening murder with murder, Onyx."

Onyx rolled their eyes.

"Onyx speaks for all of us in the fact we won't help you." Lucky stated. "Naga is our comrade. We're going to save him."

"Then I will do it by myself." Echidna replied.

"I told you-" Onyx tried to threaten her again, but was roughly jabbed in the side by Spada again.

Echidna left. As she left, Balance entered.

"Balance!"

"Yo!"

"Where have you been?!" Hammie demanded. "I was worried about you!"

"Mea culpa! Now, now." Balance replied.

"Don't be down. Let's save Naga together." Tsurugi said.

"Come on! I'm not down!" Balance replied.

"Balance." Onyx spoke, "After what you've been through, I think I'd be more concerned if you weren't down about it."

Balance stared at them for a moment, and then walked down, acting fine still. "Actually, there's something I want you guys to help me with."

Everyone gathered around the table. Balance placed down a kyutama. What did he have in mind?

...

After discussing the plan, and everyone agreeing to it, they headed out to try and find Naga. Well, most of them. Stinger and Raptor remained behind.

They stumbled upon Naga in a desolate area. Echidna had gone and attempted to fight him on her own. However, it seemed she wasn't doing too well. From what Onyx could observe, it appeared that Naga was able to control her movements and was making her press the gun to her own head. As much as they really wanted to let her die for even thinking of killing Naga, that probably wasn't something a savior of the galaxy should be thinking.

They shot at Naga to make him let go of Echidna and then rushed in front of her. They all faced Naga.

"There you are."

"I've missed you, Balance." Naga said.

"Naga! I will restore you to normal, no matter what!" Balance stated.

In reply, Naga summoned indavers. This was unfortunately an expected outcome. There was no getting through to Naga as he was now. They would have to fight.

Everyone transformed and began to fight. Balance was left to fight Naga on his own. It was per his own insistence that they let him do so. Everyone else focused on taking down the indavers.

Naga sent Balance tumbling down a hill. Balance seemed quite hurt from the attacks. Naga began his finisher.

"Balance!" Lucky rushed over to him and held back the attack with his sword.

Then there was an explosion. When the smoke cleared, both Lucky and Balance were gone. Perfect. The plan was going as it should. Now to just play along.

"My word." Tsurugi said. "Balance and Lucky were killed!"

That seemed a bit overly dramatic. Was Naga really going to believe that?

Everyone else started acting just as dramatically. Hammie fell to her knees. Spada also yelled in anguish. Onyx just stood there and stared blankly at the fire. That reaction should be fine too. The reaction of just shock.

Naga undid his transformation. "At last... I did it! I defeated Balance with my own two hands!"

So he actually did believe it. Wow.

And then Naga left, laughing maniacally.

Echidna walked over to them. "This is a tragedy born from your indecision."

"Don't jump to conclusions." Tsurugi replied. "This was just a legendary ruse."

"I can't honestly believe that worked." Onyx stated. "The reactions felt way too over-the-top."

"Don't criticize our acting!" Hammie huffed.

The four of them undid their transformations.

"A ruse?" Echidna repeated.

"Balance analyzed the citizens that were freed from Akyanba's control." Spada explained. "He learned that she sent micro-sized indavers into their brains to control them."

"That's why Balance modified the Kenbikyuu kyutama to shrink themselves." Hammie added on.

"Then... those two are?"

"They're in Naga right now."

With that done, they returned to the ship. All they could do was wait for now.

"Fine work. The operation is proceeding smoothly." Stinger greeted them. "We know where Garu and Kotaro are from Lucky's blaster."

"Everything's going well. This operation is legendary." Tsurugi said.

"So, how are we getting Garu and Kotaro back?" Hammie asked.

"Good question." Onyx said. "Raptor, can you pull up an image of the area?"

"Yes!" Raptor nodded and pulled up a picture. "This should be the place here."

"I say we have two groups. One in the front, one in the back. Chances are Akyanba will be there as well. Hopefully we can distract her and another group can go inside still." Onyx offered as a plan.

"Who would be the groups?" Spada questioned.

"We have five to work with. Raptor needs to remain here."

"But, you are still injured, aren't you?"

Onyx paused. It was true. Their leg was still unsteady at times. Without the ship being very functional, they had limited options for faster healing.

"I'll live. Don't worry about me." Onyx replied.

"Hammie, Spada. You come with me. We'll go through the front. Stinger and Onyx, you two can sneak into the back." Tsurugi stated.

"Okyuu!"

Onyx wasn't particularly pleased that Tsurugi was separating them. They didn't want to complain about it though. Guess they were going on a rescue mission with Stinger. Hopefully things wouldn't get too complicated along the way.

"You... don't want Onyx on your team?" Stinger also seemed a bit surprised by the teams.

"The group that gets in will most likely have to face Naga." Tsurugi replied. "That's why I put Onyx with you."

"I don't see talking doing anything, Tsurugi." Onyx said.

"I know. But, perhaps if you can get through to him just a little it can help Balance and Lucky as well. You won't admit it, but you are good with your words."

"If you say so... guess I have no choice."

...

It wasn't long until they launched their rescue mission. Stinger and Onyx took the long way to get to the location. They couldn't risk being spotted with the others. They had to try and keep some semblance of surprise on their side for this to work.

"Do you think this will work?" Stinger asked quietly.

"To be honest, I don't know." Onyx replied, "This whole operation is very risky. Even if one group does everything right, if the other group messes up, this could end in disaster."

"Are you... worried about Lucky and Balance?"

"Yeah. Not being able to know what exactly they're doing... It does scare me a bit. From what Balance said about the control thing... if they mess up... we might never get Naga back. At least, not the Naga that we know."

They fell silent as they reached the back of the building. They scouted the area before coming into view. This place was quite rundown.

A call came from Tsurugi. "Stinger, Onyx. We leave Garu and Kotaro to you."

"Okyuu." Stinger replied.

"Looks like they found her." Onyx said.

"Makes this part easier for us then." Stinger responded.

"Let's go. We can't afford to waste time."

The two rushed into the building as quietly as they could. Even if Akyanba was distracted by the others, who knew what else could be lurking in here. Besides Naga. There could very well be guards stationed around to prevent anyone from getting too close for all they knew. They had to proceed cautiously. Garu and Kotaro's lives were on the line. They couldn't put it past Naga to kill them in his current state.

They reached the room where Garu and Kotaro were being held captive. Onyx stopped Stinger from rushing out. They held a finger to their lips.

Naga seemed to be struggling. He was holding his head. That must mean that Balance and Lucky were doing something. Hopefully whatever was happening was a good thing for them.

"Stay here for a minute." Onyx whispered to Stinger. "I want to talk to him. You free those two once it's safe to."

"Okyuu. Be careful, Onyx."

Onyx nodded. They jumped down the flight of steps, trying to ignore the pain that shot through their leg. That was probably a stupid thing to do when they were injured. Naga startled and stared them down.

"Onyx!" Kotaro and Garu both exclaimed.

"So, how's it feel, Naga? You like this power you get? You like the thrill of hurting people?" Onyx stared Naga back.

"I... have emotions. I'm happy." Naga growled.

"I used to be like that." Onyx smiled, leaning up against the railing. "But, it honestly got pretty boring after a while. The thrill faded. And all that was left was remembering what I had done to people because I thought it was funny."

"What are you trying to say?!" Naga started getting aggressive, though with whatever was happening in his head, it didn't feel very intimidating.

"Am I trying to say something?" Onyx hummed. "I don't know. Just telling you that once you get used to these emotions, you may regret things."

"Get... used to... my emotions...?" Naga repeated.

"This feeling you get now won't last. Even if you don't stop being evil, you'll get used to feeling this way. The way you feel now is only temporary."

"Shut up! You just want to take away my emotions!" Naga swung at them.

Onyx didn't even try to dodge. They stood still as Naga's weapon sliced open their cheek. They kept a smile on their face.

"I'm meerly telling you what it feels like when you do have emotions. You don't think twice about them. They just happen. You can't live off this thrill forever, Naga. One way or another." Onyx said.

"S-shut up!" Naga took another swing, but he stopped inches from hitting Onyx again.

"Am I that infuriating?" Onyx chuckled.

Naga stumbled backward, his hands grasping his head again. He left the room. Onyx felt their cheek. They winced. Naga had gone in pretty hard.

"Onyx..." Stinger finally joined them now that Naga was gone.

"I'm going after Naga. Get these two to safety." Onyx stated.

"But-" Stinger tried to protest, but Onyx ran off before he could finish.

Onyx found that Naga had wandered to where the others were fighting. Akyanba had done a lot of damage to everyone.

"Naga!" Hammie walked over to Naga and hugged him. "Naga, you're not alone. So don't be in pain!"

Naga looked like he was having a lot of internal conflict from the way he was acting. Onyx cracked a smile. Maybe this was going to work a lot more smoothly than they had thought it would?

"Hey! Open your eyes, Naga!" Spada spoke now too.

"He won't return to normal no matter what you do." Akyanba taunted. "Didn't I tell you?"

"Shut up! Very soon, you will see Naga's legend!" Tsurugi yelled. He was being restrained by two tsuyoindavers.

Onyx was about to go help him, but Tsurugi got out of their grip. And then Akyanba shot him and knocked him to the ground. He was now not transformed as well.

"Tsurugi!" Onyx rushed forward and placed themself between Akyanba and Tsurugi.

"Come back, Naga!" Tsurugi yelled.

Someone must've gotten the others in on it too as Stinger, Kotaro, and Garu yelled for Naga through their blasters. Raptor's voice came through as well from back at the ship.

"Come on, kid. Everyone needs you." Onyx said as well.

Naga stopped struggling in Hammie's embrace. Hammie let go of him. Naga backed up. He was very out of it. Did that mean their words were helping? A tear fell down Naga's face. Everyone watched in anticipation. Was this going to work? Were they going to snap Naga out of it?

Naga let out a scream. The markings on his face started to fade. Balance and Lucky came out of him. Naga fell to his knees. He was back to normal. They had done it.

"Naga!" Balance called his name.

Naga looked over at him. Everyone rushed to his side, calling his name as well. Onyx stood in front of him.

"Welcome back, Naga." Hammie said.

"It's good to have you back, kid." Onyx offered him a hand.

Naga stared at their hand, before he looked down. He was crying.

"Hammie. Onyx. Balance. Everyone... thank you!"

"Bow down!"

Oh god... did that mean...

Onyx turned around. Had someone grown giant?

"Eh?"

A governor stood before them. Normal size. Huh?

"I am giant Micro Tsuyoindaver." It said.

"Hey! Don't cover me!" Akyanba yelled and shoved him out of the way.

Naga took Onyx's hand. Onyx pulled him to his feet. He placed his hand on the wound on their cheek.

"I did that to myself. We have more important things to worry about." Onyx reassured him.

Naga nodded. "Time to settle this."

"Let's go, everyone." Lucky said.

"Yeah!"

Everyone activated their kyutamas. Time to end this fight.

"Star change!"

They all transformed.

"Miracle Star!" Shishi Red Orion!"

"Trick Star! Tenbin Gold!"

"Silent Star! Hebitsukai Silver!"

"Shinobi Star! Chamaeleon Green!"

"Food Meistar! Kajiki Yellow!"

"Space Bustar! Houou Soldier!"

"Dark Star. Kogitsune Brown."

"The Ultimate Saviors! Uchu Sentai... Kyuranger!"

"Let's test your luck." Lucky said.

Everyone rushed into battle. Onyx fell into step beside Tsurugi.

"Leave Akyanba to me." Lucky stated.

Lucky began attacking Akyanba alone. Onyx didn't have time to pay attention to his fight. They were focused on the tsuyoindavers.

"That's Lucky's new power?" They heard Hammie exclaim. Right. She had yet to see it.

Onyx, Tsurugi, Spada, and Hammie took down the two tsuyoindavers that had been with Akyanba. They had left the other one for Naga and Balance to deal with as payback. They seemed to have handled that pretty well.

Everyone regathered at the initial fighting area just in time to see Lucky and Naga take down Akyanba. Unfortunately, she somehow survived the blows and fled. And then apparently the micro indaver guy hadn't died yet either and he came back. He summoned a giant evil Naga, or however they should describe it, and then he died.

"What the hell is going on...?" Onyx mumbled.

"A giant me has appeared." Naga said.

"That's not Naga. It's just a puppet." Lucky stated.

"We haven't used KyutamaJin in a while." Tsurugi said, already summoning his voyager.

"Eh? We're gonna use it without everyone here?!" Onyx said.

Tsurugi had already started the process of combining everything. Guess they were. Alright then.

The eight of them that had been fighting combined into KyutamaJin. It was a very short-lived fight. In no time at all, they had defeated the puppet. Wow. That thing was weak.

...

Everyone gathered back on the ship. This time, they finally had Naga. The moment Onyx walked into the bridge, Stinger had grabbed them and forcibly started tending to the wound on their face. Onyx just smiled as he scolded them for being so reckless.

Once that was over with, everyone gathered around the table. It was time for a talk with Naga.

"I'm sorry for all the problems I caused everyone." Naga apologized. "I am sorry."

"Hey, don't act so alone." Garu walked up to him. "Aren't we comrades?"

"I'm happy you're back, Naga." Kotaro said.

"I'm just glad you're back safe and sound." Onyx patted him on the back.

"Thank you... everyone." Naga replied.

Balance walked up the stairs and faced away from everyone suddenly. Was he getting emotional?

"Balance, what is it?"

"Say something, Balance."

"No, I..." Balance mumbled.

"Be more happy!" Lucky said, "Balance, you're the one who worked hardest."

"That's right." Spada agreed, "Naga is waiting for you to say something."

"Oh really? Then..." Balance said. He turned around. There were somehow tears on his face.

He leaped down and hugged Naga tightly. "Naga! I missed you! I'm glad you're back. Thank you!"

Balance then turned to everyone. "Everyone! Big