At the spaceship hangar entrance, Victor and his crew were met with the mechanic stationed at there.
"I didn't hear any deployment orders, sir." said the mechanic.
"Well, I have. Let us through." replied Victor.
"Yes, sir!"
The mechanic replied before moving away from the crew's path, allowing them to access one of the spaceships in the hangar.
"Everything's all set here. Ready to go when you are, Captain." said Mabel as she setup the supercomputer of the spaceship.
"Right. Close the entry hatch." commanded Victor before the entry hatch closes by itself.
"Are five people enough for this?" asked Julien.
"Oh, yeah. The supercomputers do most of the work." replied Victor.
"Super... computer?" suspected Julien.
"Yeah. Hmm, how to explain it..." Victor struggles in how to explain about the supercomputer, Kotoha decides to take up the role at his stead.
"It's an electronic device that manipulates information, or data. Supercomputer is a super upgrade of that. In short, it helps us work in difficult tasks of their jobs." explained Kotoha.
"Huh, quite a super cool gadget, isn't it?" commented Amelie.
"Of course it is." replied Kotoha.
"Anyway, let's get this thing off the ground." said Victor.
Victor gives the supercomputer commands before the spaceship departs from the federation's spaceship hangar and head towards space.
"You do realize, Captain, that going to Planet Styx is all but guaranteeing ourselves a court-martial?" Mabel gives the captain a piece of mind.
"Yep, I've prepared for it. Worst-case scenario, we'll all be in a labor camp for the rest of our lives. But too late to turn back now." said Victor.
"All the bad luck in the world, I get stuck with you for a commanding officer."Mabel said with distraught.
"No need to be distraught, Mabel. Unlucky things can happened anytime even if we expected of them or not." commented Hester.
Amelie turns to look at the officers before apologizing them.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize, Amelie. I may have a ton of bad luck, but that doesn't mean I'm reluctant to visit Planet Styx." said Mabel. "I'll follow wherever you go, Captain. Just try not to lead me and others astray, all right?"
"You can believe me." answered Victor.
"What is Planet Styx, anyway?" Julien asked up a question.
"It's a planet, just like Earth and Lithone." said Kotoha.
"We stumbled upon it during an earlier deep-space exploration mission." stated Victor.
"They say that Planet Styx was home to a vastly advanced civilization, long before humans even made it into space." explained Kotoha. "We know next to nothing of them after that."
"The Multiverse Gate. We'll use it to visit Lithone in the past." said Victor.
Julien and Amelie surprised upon hearing what Victor was actually planning to do.
"The past?!" surprised Amelie.
"Oh! So if we go back in time, we can retrieve the blood of Abaddon! Then we can make a medicine we need, right?" Julien understands Victor's plan.
"In so many words, yes." said Victor.
"But we still haven't fully unraveled how the Multiverse Gate works. It's too dangerous to mess with, so it's been made strictly made off-limits." stated Cleocatra.
Cleocatra checks the radar of the area around the spaceship.
"We'll be within orbiting range of Planet Styx shortly." reported the young cat.
"Right." replied Victor.
"Will it let us in, though? The Multiverse Gate guardian... the living gate." Cleocatra wonders.
As the spaceship drifts through space, it finally reaches at the orbit range of Planet Styx. The spaceship drives into its atmosphere and carefully takes a landing near the Multiverse Gate. After the landing, the crew reaches at the gate that stood high before them.
"So this is the Multiverse Gate..." said Amelie.
"According to the Ketisian emissaries, a mysterious third party obtained the virus on Lithone." claimed Victor.
"Apparently, it all happened several hundred years ago." commented Mabel.
"That it did. The level of technology they have must outclass anything we could even imagine." said Victor. "We'll have to travel through time to a point before they visited Lithone and collect a portion of the host's body."
"Assuming, of course, the gate will let us through in the first place." stated Hester.
"Just speaking is easy, though. But how are you guys planning to open the Multiverse Gate to go to the past, anyway?" asked Kotoha. "It's not like you're going to recite some kind of an incantation or anything like that, is it?"
"Just watch and learn, miss actress." Victor said as he steps in front of the Multiverse Gate.
"O Guardian of the Multiverse Gate! Please lend an ear to our humble request! We seek your guidance to the world of 400 years past! We wish to visit Lithone as it was in olden times!" Victor chants his request to the Multiverse Gate.
A silence fills the atmosphere after the chant, the Multiverse Gate does not seem to budge or react to Victor's request at all.
"Well, yeah. That doesn't seem to work quite well." said Kotoha.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Victor.
"Aren't you know full well yourself, Captain? I heard Cleo said that it's a sentient gate, so that means the guardian's a judge of the request we given to it." explained Kotoha. "If the gate doesn't respond to our request, then there's a possibility that our request isn't worthy enough for it to grant for us."
"But if our request is worthy enough for the judge, then it might take a time for the gate to..."
As Kotoha was speaking, the Multiverse Gate slowly moves into its operational position, to the crew's shock and surprise!
"What the hell was that?!" surprised Julien.
"The Multiverse Gate is moving!" Amelie commented in surprise as she witnessed the movement of the gate.
"The gate is..." Mabel was speechless to see the gate operates.
As the group was surprising of the Multiverse Gate's operation, the loud voice reverberates throughout the area from the gate as if it finally responds the request.
"I am the gatekeeper."
"Your request has been granted."
"Let us open the gate to the past."
As the voice ends, the dark purple portal appears at the center of the gate, revealing the path to the past as they requested.
"Incredible..." surprised Amelie, Hester and Kotoha.
"We did it." said Victor. "We need to leave our weapons and communicators here before we enter."
As he said, Victor places all of his weapons and communicators near the gate, which the others do the same.
"If you bring them along, you'll bounce off the Gate." warned Victor.
"Well, here we go. I hope that we're not making a mistake by entering a gate, because once we go inside, there is no turning back." Mabel tells the crew.
"Right, here we go. It's time now."
Victor said as the Multiverse Gate's portal turns light blue, synchronizing the destination of the time and space to the proper timeline. Strong wind blows around the portal, almost able to blow any weak enough away.
"Just hang tight, Murphy. We're going to save you, but you gotta hang on!" said Julien as he uses his arms to block the strong wind.
After the synchronization, the portal turns back into its former color. Victor looks at his palm as the harmless electric sparks formed on his hand, knowing that the gate is ready to use.
"Okay... let's go!" Victor then jumps into the portal of the Multiverse Gate first before anyone.
"See you guys later at the other side." Cleocatra tells her crew as she gets into the portal.
"I'll wait for you." Amelie tells Julien before jumping into the portal.
"Our turn now." Kotoha steps up near the portal.
Mabel follows her from behind, but the stair steps crumbles, causing her to fall down before Julien and Hester caught her in time.
"Thank you." Mabel thanks Julien and Hester.
"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Julien.
Suddenly, the portal of the Multiverse Gate become unstable!
"We must hurry! The gate is...!"
Kotoha did not finish her words before the portal sucked the four into it, the four screamed in shock and fear as they were transported to the past 400 years ago unexpectedly unlike Victor's group.
And after the incident of time travel through the Multiverse Gate, Julien and friends fell down somewhere, notable to be a forest, lying unconscious there.
"...up."
The faint voice of someone can be heard nearby.
"...ak...p..."
The unintelligible voice became louder and louder, the light shaking force can also be felt.
"Hey, I said wake up!"
"!!"
Julien immediately wakes up after hearing someone shouts, finding himself in some place supposed to be a forest striking resemble to that of Lyacon Forest.
"Ugh... where am I?" Julien asked himself before seeing Mabel, Hester and Kotoha collapsed near him.
"Hey, guys! Are you alright?" asked Julien as he wakes them up.
"Urgh... yeah, I'm fine somehow..." replied Hester as he tries to stand up.
"Don't worry about me, that was... really off guard." answered Kotoha as she stands and uses her hand to wipe out the dirt on her clothes.
"Yeah, I didn't expected that for sure." said Mabel as she stands up as the last person.
"Finally, you all're awake! I'm waking all of you up a lot of times!"
The rainbow-colored hair girl with the size that of a child with translucent wings on her back speak with pouted face.
"Who're you? Are you the one who woke us up?" Julien asks her.
"Me? I'm the one who took all efforts to woke all of you up! My name's Nympha, and I was seeking for the people who could save this world!" said Nympha.
"Save the world? You mean us?" replied Hester.
"Of course, who else I would refer to?" answered Nympha.
"So did we really made into the past? This place looks like Lyacon Forest, no less." Julien commented as he looked around.
"Lyacon Forest? This is Bulbia Forest." Nympha tells Julien's group.
"Oh, right. Bulbia Forest, I forgot its name. Wait..." said Julien. "Did you say Bulbia Forest?"
"Uh, yes?" replied Nympha.
"I think I heard that name before, though I can't make it out." commented Julien.
"So where should we go? Staying here won't do any good." asked Mabel.
"I know where to go, follow me!" Nympha said as she flies toward the forest entrance as Julien's group follows her from behind.
Outside the forest, they found the path leads to the village. Though the atmosphere is similar, yet it is different. And they went into the village, which different from how they know.
"This is..." Julien said with surprise when he looked around the village.
"Yes, this is Pearlland. The village near Bulbia Forest." said Nympha.
"Huh, never heard of it." said Hester.
"You guys never heard of Pearlland? Where're you guys from anyway?" asked Nympha.
"Uh, well... we're from..." Julien reluctantly tries to answer, but Kotoha takes up his answer instead.
"We're came from the faraway lands to the south beyond Bulbia Forest and stumbled there." said Kotoha.
"Hmm... nice try. If you're gonna lie someone, why don't try to make up the story more believable?" Nympha seen through Kotoha's lies.
"Ah, geez. I thought you'd believe me completely." said Kotoha.
"You came from the future, that's what. Your clothes did make a difference." Nympha replied. "I forgot one thing, what's your names?"
"I'm Julien, and this is..." Julien introduces himself and his group.
"Ah, I see it now. You'd better keep that as a secret from the others." Nympha warns the fact of they came from the future.
"Why's that? How do you know we came from the future?" Hester becacme suspicious.
"You don't want to invoke the unnecessary shockings around. Besides, how I know that is a secret." replied Nympha.
"Nympha's right, we'd better avoid causing any upheaval to the people in the past, or else we'll get ourselves a big problem." said Mabel. "To be said... where's Captain and the others?"
"Right! Where's Victor and the others?" asked Hester.
"I don't know, did we departed from each other during that moment?" stated Kotoha.
"Who's Victor you are mentioning?" Nympha asks Mabel.
"He's my captain, he's with Amelie and Cleo but we don't know where they are now." answered Mabel.
"Say, how about we ask the villagers about them? We might find a clue or more about them." suggested Julien.
"Good idea. Let's go ask them." Mabel agrees with Julien before the group asks about Victor's group whereabouts to the villagers. But their answers they got are...
"I don't see the man you describe, sorry."
"A bipedal cat? You must be joking, there's no way such a creature exists!"
"I never seen the girl as you mentioned."
Their efforts are in vain as the information from the villagers in Pearlland are not helping them to their another group, at all.
"So there aren't really here. Where did they go?" asked Julien.
"My guess is: they must be somewhere near us or far away from us." answered Kotoha.
"But where we can go? We don't know anything about the past of Lithone." said Julien.
"I have an idea, let's go to Obendoore as a next destination." Nympha suggests an idea.
"Obendoore?" asked Mabel.
"It's a village near Pearlland, you just walk for some almost ten minutes and you'll reach there. Easy-peasy!" said Nympha. "Be warned that there are bandits out there too."
"I got it, but..." Julien stops speaking, thinking of something.
"What is it?" asked Mabel.
"We left our weapons and things before we get here. We can't go out from the village like this, anyone can attack us anytime." said Julien.
"You're right, let's look for the weapon shop and general store to stock up items before departing." Mabel agrees with him.
"I see a weapon shop over there, let's go check it out." Hester tells the group.
They then went to the weapon shop in Pearlland, meeting with the merchant who serves as the owner of the shop.
"Welcome! How could I help you?" said the merchant.
"We want to buy some weapons." replied Mabel.
"Order up! I'll prepare them for you guys." The merchant said happily.
Julien's group then orders the weapons they needed for their self-defence, and they paid a certain amount of Sel to the merchant after getting their weapons and went out from the store.
"Hey, Kotoha. You choose a whip as your weapon? That's strange of you." said Julien as he noticed Kotoha's weapon.
"What? You said mine was strange. Look at Hess's weapon, that's a foxtail he was holding there!" Kotoha said as she points at Hester's weapon, which is a foxtail the equipment merchant gave it to him.
"Hey! That's signature weapon for us Gatoans! I'll tell you that we did also use normal staves, sure. But these foxtail staves're our trusty weapons for a cat like me and Cleo!" Hester said as he raises his weapon up.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. And you're using knuckles, Mabel?" asked Kotoha as she looks at the knuckles in Mabel's hands.
"Yes, I used to learn martial arts before becoming a science officer of the federation, and I'm quite an expert of it." answered Mabel.
"Oh, I see..." said Kotoha.
"Interesting. I learned the sword arts from my dad, though proficiency type and level of yours and mine are different, but looks like we have something in common." said Julien.
"You can say like that, really." agreed Mabel.
"And the last thing; we need items as travel supplies." Nympha notes the group.
"Right. Let's look for the general store and buy some items there. I'm going to sell some loot gained from those slimes back then." said Julien. "Hope it could make some Sel more or less."
The group then looks for the general store in Pearlland, and went there after found one. They are greeted by a female merchant who runs the store.
"Hello! I have everything in store for your needs! Have a look around!" said the merchant.
"I want to sell these slime cores." Julien takes out the slime cores he gathered back before traveling through time to the merchant.
"Oh? These slime cores might a little amount of Sel, wait a second." The merchant looks inside her money pouch before picking up a handful of Sel and gives it to Julien's group.
"Thank you." Julien thanks the merchant before taking a money. "Oh right, we did need some things too."
"Tell me the list of items you need up, I'll get them for you." said the merchant.
Julien orders the items they need for their journey from the merchant as she gave them the requested items in turn of the group paid an amount of Sel for their price.
"Please come again."
The female merchant spoke as the group left the store, checking their items bought from the shop.
"Blueberry jellies and mango jellies would be enough for the travel to Obendoore, right?" asked Julien.
"That should be more than enough. I mean, Obendoore shouldn't be that far from Pearlland, right?" said Hester.
"Of course it is, but since there are some bandits and monsters out there, the villagers won't go out there that much." told Nympha.
"Wait. Didn't you mention that there are only bandits outside the village?" Mabel notices the difference of what Nympha said.
"I forgot to tell that, sorry." Nympha apologizes Mabel.
"So we're all ready then. Weapons ready, items ready. Should we depart then?" asked Kotoha.
"Not yet. Let's ask Nympha about how we can get to and how long we will get to Obendoore first. Can you scout the road around for us?" suggested Hester.
"All right, leave it to me!" Nympha accepts their request before flying off from Pearlland to look around the road nearby the village.
"I just can't stop thinking how Amelie would use cats as tracker animals when I see Nympha went off to scout an area like that." said Julien.
"Haha, really?! That's crazy!" Hester laughed as he heard Julien's humor. "Back in our home, there are only us Gatoans, no dogs at all. We love fun and parties and that's what we'll always be!"
"Really? That's quite surprising." commented Kotoha.
"Gato means 'cat' in spanish, if I'm not wrong. That's why you called yourselves as Gatoans, right?" asked Mabel.
"You betcha! I still can remember when Cleo play with the cat toy like a real cat back in the federation's HQ! Hahaha!" Hester laughs as he reminisces Cleocatra's doing back then.
The group laughs as they heard Hester's humor, though it is a simple humor, it is more than enough to create a laughter.
Meanwhile, at Amelie's group. They were at somewhere in Lithone in the past, in the gloomy forest faraway from the town.
"Hmm, that's weird." said Amelie as she looks around.
"What?" Victor asks Amelie.
"I have a feeling that someone's talking about me behind my back..." said Amelie.
"Me too. Did someone talking about us?" asked Cleocatra.
"Oh well, never mind. We need to find a town, don't we?" stated Amelie.
"Oh, right. Yeah." agreed Victor. But he thought of something before speaking. "I know you've got your Astrology or whatever as I heard from the others, but I'm actually defenseless here with no equipment, no weapons, nothing."
"Don't worry. I and Cleo'll help you pick out that to impress the ladies once we find a town." Amelie suggests Victor, which Cleocatra also nods as agreeing with her.
"Uh... thanks, you two." Victor shrugs as he thanks the both.
The three then travels through the trail in the forest, trying to finding the way out from the forest before finding a town.
At Julien's group at Pearlland, Nympha returns to the group after scouting the area outside the village.
"Found anything?" asked Kotoha.
"The path's safe, we can head to Obendoore right now! Take your little traveling time tread through the road out there and you'll reach at that village!" Nympha said with joy.
"Well, if you say so. Then let's head out." said Julien. "You better not try to eat those items or else we'll be in trouble!"
"Okay!" Nympha replies as Julien warns her.
"Looks like this little girl seems to be really like sweets, huh?" said Mabel.
"Seems to be that way." Kotoha agreed with Mabel.
"Oh, please. Don't eat all of those jellies, Nympha. I'm sure that they might have some kind of medicinal properties or something." said Hester.
"I promise I won't eat them!" said Nympha.
"Well, that's good then. Let's go guys, I hope that Cleo and others could be at Obendoore!" Hester tells his group before advancing the first.
"Hey, wait for me, Hess!" Kotoha said as she follows her cat friend.
"Time to go, Julien, Nympha. Let's hope that the Captain's group is there." said Mabel she follows her group.
Julien and Nympha look at each other before they nodded in unison and follows their group out from Pearlland. The group travels off from the village with smiles and hopes, wishing to reunite with their friends whose were departed during time travel, and the odyssey on Lithone in its past times had finally begun...