Dimension

Sophie, Goro, and an unconscious Star freefell through an intense high-speed dimensional medium that suspended them in flight and surrounded them with dimensional essence, high-energy colorful particles that accelerated their traversal through. The time singularity that Goro utilized to punch through the fabric of time and space soared ahead of them, magnetizing the dimensional essence into its core.

"Star...?" Sophie whimpered, placing her in her arms after removing her from her back. There was a faint pulse in her neck, but her skin was as cold as ice. "Star, wake up! Star!" Sophie cried, shaking her back and forth. But to no avail, there was no answer. She was in a permanent comatose state without the memory fragment inside her.

Sophie gasped, traumatized by the forceful removal of Star's memory fragment. She released her grip on Star's hands and let her float along in the dimensional medium. She flailed her arms and legs to catch up with her, rotating them as if she was butterfly-stroking against a competing district in her high school swim team. But she held back her movement, drained from the idea that history had repeated itself; she had lost someone that she desperately attempted to protect again in her life. Her shoulders and knees drooped down, leaving them hanging as mental fatigue began invading her mind.

Goro, whose left arm was nearly burnt by the bare touch of the time singularity's energy, pressed on and swam through the medium with his body. He imitated a mythological mermaid's form of movement, tilting both his head and legs down before rapidly swaying them up and down to increase speed. He was able to reach Star, holding her shoulders and pulling her blouse toward Sophie for a reunion.

"Pull yourself together, damn it!" Goro berated Sophie, disgusted at her loss of courage. "I just saved your life and this is how you repay me?" He held up his scorched arm and revealed its darkened and scalded spots. "She's gone! But you don't have to be."

Sophie's zombified and defunct eyes refused to look at Goro's severe condition. She shook her head and remained idle, letting the dimensional medium carry her around like a fleeting dream. First Ash, and now Star, Sophie thought. History truly did repeat itself, and it had hurt even more after returning and believing that she could change the past. At that moment, she believed she was a fool for leaving her life as an AIL worker.

"Have it your way, then!" Goro yelled, swimming through the dimensional medium to reach the singularity. He released Star and dodged multiple tears through the dimension that rippled around their surroundings.

Star softly collided with Sophie's body. Her blue hair tickled Sophie's arm, forcing her to look at her comatose body. They were alone in a dimensional rift with no guarantee to return home. Sophie could not leave her alone. She grabbed her hand and pulled her close, remembering a previously suppressed goal that she wanted to fulfill. She needed to tell Ash that she loved her and that she never regretted spending time or protecting her from others that actively envied or detested her identity as an alien.

She had enough of it. She grabbed Star's hand and swam across the dimensional medium, dodging the explosion and creation of conglomerate energy particles. Goro noted that Sophie began moving, reluctant to touch the time singularity to burn his arms once more. Once Sophie reached the singularity, Sophie hovered her palm over to sense tingling waves of energy particles circulating her.

"Decided to wake up, have you?" Goro said. "We need to find a way out of here. You're going to have to use it. My arm can't handle it any longer."

Sophie grabbed the time singularity, instantly being struck with the scalding sensation of the radiating energy from the object. "I don't know how to...!" Sophie cried, gripping the singularity firmly, praying that she activates it to punch a rift out of the dimensional medium. "Shit, this hurts. We need a doctor-"

The singularity transformed into a repulsor, blasting away the high-energy particles toward a distance. The combination of particles colliding with one another punctured another rift in time and space. The newly created dimension within revealed an unknown hospital's emergency room filled with doctors surrounding an injured man on a bed. The doctors and assistants took notice of the dimensional rift, slowly turning around after an ear-splitting humming sound shattered their strenuous attention on the injured patient.

"DOCTOR, WHAT IS THAT!?" A female nurse cried, clutching the hospital curtains that kept privacy for the hospital patient. She shuddered in fear, lying in wake of the dimensional rift that Sophie punctured open.

"Close it," Goro muttered.

Sophie peeked in the rift, unveiling the frightened reactions of the doctors rushing away from the rift. The patient shouted and rolled off the hospital bed, following the doctors and healing whatever injury that he had because of his fear.

"CLOSE IT!" Goro shouted.

Sophie yelped, pulling her hand away from the singularity. The dimensional rift was sealed shut. Sophie clenched the hand that she touched it with, spreading it against her knee to alleviate the burning effect. "What... what the hell was that?" She asked.

"You opened a dimensional rift to a hospital bed," Goro said, recounting his observations. "You said that we needed a doctor before you opened it. Is that what you were thinking about before you used it?"

"I... was, I guess..." Sophie said, gazing in awe at the time singularity's special abilities. They were the kind of magical properties that she could find in animated cartoons that she enjoyed and binged when she was a child. One of her favorite cartoons involved a family utilizing dimensional rifts to solve the world's problems with time travel. She was living her childhood at that moment, which made it all the most unbelievable. "If that's the case... then I think I know what to do to get out of here."

"What are you doing?" Goro asked.

Sophie leaned forward and grabbed the singularity with her palm. She closed her eyes and concentrated on visualizing the main lobby and living room of Sunlight HQ in the Virgo District. She envisioned from top to bottom, every single detail that she could remember; even the key members inside. The cute pom-pom monkey, Nana, was one of the first details that she imagined. After retaining the image in her memory, she opened her eyes and tightened her grip on the singularity. "Sunlight!" Sophie shouted. "We need a passage to Sunlight!"

The singularity repulsed another group of high-energy particles in the same direction. A rift opened up into the exact location that Sophie imagined. Her tactic worked.

Cupping the singularity in her hand, she sustained through the scorching pain and signaled for Goro to move. "That's our exit! Hurry!" She cried.

The two of them swam through the dimensional medium with Star in their hands. With one final push of their legs, Sophie, Goro, and Star escaped the medium and landed on the wooden floor of the first-floor lobby. The wide-screen television behind them was on, playing a somber and romantic scene from a drama series. The rift closed behind them and Sophie released her grip on the singularity; it rolled across the floor.

Sophie lifted her head above the floor and witnessed an astounded and innocent Jinni with a teaspoon of vanilla yogurt stuck in her mouth at the sight of the dimensional tear. Her bare legs were spread and elongated on the leather couch, dressed in a nylon white crop top and white skirt. Her long dandelion-yellow braided ponytail rested on her thigh. Stunned by the interdimensional phenomena that she had witnessed earlier, she blinked briskly as she searched for a proper reaction to it all. Her mouth opened after swallowing her yogurt, dropping the spoon on the wooden floor.

"Che... cazzo...?" Jinni mumbled. She dropped her yogurt on the coffee table and rushed toward the three with Nana by her side. "Sophie? Star? Cosa sta succedendo!? What is happening!?" She panicked, switching her attention between the three sprawling on the ground in a jumble.

"Long story," Sophie said, raising her volume. "Take Star. She's not well!" She pleaded.

"O-okay!" Jinni said, nodding in understanding. She loudly whistled for Nana. "Nana, administer emergency aid!" She ordered.

The adorable and perky robot monkey bunny hopped into the air from behind the couch, bouncing on the wooden floors until it reached Star's lifeless body. Sophie and Goro moved aside to make space for it, and Goro observed every detail of what was happening, keeping his observant and high intellect among Sunlight Headquarters. After watching the time singularity roll across the wooden floor, Goro pointed at it, informing Jinni and Nana of its existence.

"One of you, be careful with that object," Goro said. "Put it in a safety capsule or container so we can examine it."

"I'll do it," Sophie said. "You just make sure Star's body is safe with the others," She turned to Jinni and nodded at her. "Thanks for this, Jinni."

"It's no problem," Jinni replied, supporting Nana with aid. Nana administered a dose of calming medicine and another medicinal agent for observation purposes. Jinni picked up Star and was shocked to witness how cold her skin became. She rushed her upstairs into a guest bedroom while Goro watched it all unfold with his observant eyes.

Sophie raced off to the hangar, believing that everything happening to her today was a nothing but a dream. She hoped it, at least.