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ESPR

Does Omega Dream of Electric Friends? · Chapter 9

The Final Frontier

Cube Palace

...That's all. Did you understand?

Omega

No, Omega doesn't get it...!

But it's okay. Omega's gonna trust you because we're friends!

Cube Palace

...Confirmed.

Omega

Elisa, Elisa...

Elisa

Y-yes? Miss Omega?

Omega

When Cube says "now!"...

Throw Omega up in the air.

Elisa

P-pardon? U-up in the air?

Omega

Yeah... One, two...

Three...!

Cube Palace

Now.

Muriel & Elisa

Aaah, L-Lord Gaaaph!!

Story illustration

Omega

GYAAAHHH—BZZZT!!

Trish

Heyyy?! Is this even safe?!

Elisa

KYAAAAHHHH! Miss Omega?!

Muriel

Th-the spirit got struck by lightning! Lord Gaph is angry!

Run! He's forsaken us!

Elisa

S-S-Saintess Muriel! Look again!

Muriel

I-I can't look at corpses! It's scary! ...Huh?

Story illustration

Omega

Heh...

Elisa

Her body... is crackling with energy...

Cube Palace

Omega Control, calculating charge rate. 32%... 67%... 88%...

Omega

Hehe, hehehe...!

Cube Palace

98%... 138%... 166%...

Omega

Omega can see smells...! Can touch sounds...!

Omega

Tons of new stuff opened up in the database! Lots Omega's never seen before!!

What should Omega pull out? What should Omega make?!

Trish

She really got charged up...? From getting struck by lightning...?

Muriel

Lord Gaaaaph! I knew you wouldn't let me down!

A-actually, just one more! While you're at it, just one more!

If you could send another lightning bolt at the spirit, it would be perfec—

Muriel

Eh.

Trish

...The rain's stopping.

Elisa

Maybe... even Lord Gaph was a little put off by all that...

Muriel

W-wait! Is this somehow my fault?!

Khan

She really got charged up from getting struck by lightning...?

...

Damn it, so what?!

Nothing's changed!

Omega

Take this...! Square attack!

Khan

That again?! I'll just deflect those squares—

Omega

Five hundred of them!!

Khan

What.

Trying to crush me with weight... how stupid...!

This exoskeleton can carry boulders and still keep running...!

Omega

Oh, Khan's getting back up. He's holding out.

Khan

Don't underestimate the source of my confidence!!

Omega

Then five hundred more!

Khan

Ghk.

Omega

Okay, next... next...

Ooh... this one! The name is super cool!

[Mass Driver]? What is this?

Cube Palace

Cross-referencing data...

The Mass Driver is equipment that uses electromagnetic acceleration to launch metal objects into outer space.

Additional note. The enhanced exoskeleton is metal.

Omega

...Ah! Omega's got it!

Mass Driveeer... projected!!

Muriel

S-She just made rails appear...

Trish

Whoa, this thing... it's gotta reach all the way to the Astro Sanctum!

Khan

Kraaawr!

Cube Palace

Analysis. Hostile entity Khan is rebooting.

Requesting that all currently functional combatants intercept hostile entity [Khan].

Time limit... until the Mass Driver finishes charging.

Omega

Okay! Omega's gonna fix Khan so he becomes good too!

Trish

There, he's on his knees!

Elisa

M-Miss Omega! Now!

Khan

You... what are you trying to...

Omega

Hey, Khan?

You know? Friends don't only say nice things to each other.

Sometimes friends are annoying. Sometimes they make you angry.

So... you can be Omega's friend too!

Omega's gonna fire the strongest blast!

Once you're all fixed up nice and clean, you'll be Omega's friend, okay?

Khan

W-wait!

Omega

Repair...

Mass Driver!!!

Muriel

...He got blasted away.

Elisa

He's become one with the stars...

He didn't... explode, though.

Muriel

What?! You were hoping he'd explode?

Elisa

W-well, I just thought it would look more beautiful that way...

Trish

Ahh! My Blue Fang! There's another crack in it!

I only just paid for the repairs...!

And I can't pull him back, so no bounty either...

Omega

I-is that so...?

Should Omega bring him back? Omega's database has airplanes!

There are rockets too! Right now Omega can make any—

...H-huh?

Aw... Omega... isn't crackling anymore.

...Back to normal.

Cube Palace

Lightning is powerful but an unstable energy source.

Furthermore, the previous projection used 95% of the energy secured.

Omega

But what about Trish's bounty?

Trish

...Haha, well, it's fine!

Whining about money's not very cool anyway.

Plenty of bad guys left to catch out there. Like those two con artists over there.

You two con artists turned out pretty helpful this time around.

Muriel

S-shut up! We rescued the spirit!

Elisa

That's right! Saintess Muriel went through so much stress fighting them!

Muriel

If we'd just quietly grabbed the relic and the spirit and fled...! Climbing dozens of ranks would've been no problem...!

Omega

Yup, thank you for helping Omega, everyone!

You're Omega's friends too!

Muriel

Friends with the Star Piercer's spirit?!

I g-guess... not a bad result, all things considered?

Omega

Time to head back, Cube!

Omega

But Cube. There's something Omega's wondering about.

Cube, you can call Omega, right? You can go "ping", right?

Why didn't you "ping" when Khan took you away?

Cube Palace

Answer. A matter of Omega Control's safety.

Omega Control is emotional and inexperienced.

Assessed as dangerous: Omega Control receiving this unit's distress signal and rushing in alone.

Additionally, Omega Control's fuel efficiency is low. Combat endurance is weak.

Conclusion: Factored in the risk of a crisis like the one just experienced.

Misjudgment: This unit underestimated Omega Control's capabilities. Correcting calculation vector.

Omega

Hehe.

Cube Palace

...

Question. Requesting the meaning of that laugh.

Omega

It means Omega's glad! That's all.

Cube Palace was worried about Omega too. Right?

And Cube! Admit it!

Without Omega's friends, it would've been bad! Just like Cube worried!

But what about it? See? Lots of friends helped, didn't they?

So aren't friends really helpful for [the objective]?

Cube Palace

...No comment.

Omega

Oh, and Cube! One more thing!

Friends don't have to be helpful to be friends!

Friends... you know how they are. Sometimes they're annoying. Sometimes they make you angry.

But if Omega were alone, Omega wouldn't have felt any of that. Not anger, not annoyance, not fun, none of it.

That's what's so good about friends!

So Cube, you know what? You can keep being annoying to Omega!

Cube Palace

...

...Tactical and functional evaluation of Omega's friend theory is deferred.

However, adding feedback for future growth.

To begin with, this unit was captured because Omega Control went outside, set this unit down, and left—

Omega

Aaah!

C-Cube! Big trouble!

It's almost evening... it's nighttime!

Omega has to sneak back in! Or else Mister won't bring back anything tasty!

Wh-what do we do? Which way?!

Cube Palace

...

Calculating route.

Warning. Do not stray from the path this time.

Story and illustrations © Studio B-Side. An unofficial reading archive — for questions or requests, see the About page.