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They’d been wandering through space-time for what felt like months at this point.
They fought hard whenever people needed help, and more often than not they won, but Sarah felt like this was in a lot of ways just another bout of wandering. There was a goal: to spread Platinum’s will, but to do so across many dimensions, their own universe, their Earth… even for the two of them it was truly a hefty legacy to carry on.
Not to say Sarah would give up. She had to drag herself into the next day in whatever way she had to.
For all his enthusiasm for such a thankless act with no clear endpoint, Shou seemed to stay pretty steadfast, but she knew he had his limits.
The thing was, even though Shou seemed straightforward with what those limits were, she never stopped being thrown off course too.
There also was a chance that she'd been too stuck in comparing this to that last lonely journey of hers too.
Of all times, her own determination to do good, to move forward and not get stuck on days gone by couldn't waver.
In places like this where there was nothing but red sand and skies lit up by too many suns to count though… nostalgic chains of thought she assumed were long abandoned came through.
They ended up arriving in this wasteland hot on the trail of a assassin hired to kill them on another planet. Apparently news of their exploits traveled quicker these days.
Getting any information about this guy on the other hand proved to be another story.
No matter how much Shou went back and forth with the guy or Sarah actually tried to hold an interrogation between exchanging blows, all he said was “doesn’t matter when you die”, which led to more punches and kicks.
Since it was a two versus one situation, this back and forth only lasted a few minutes. Eventually, the guy fell to his knees.
“Y’know what? Screw it, this isn’t worth the pay at all!” the guy said, looking up to the sky as he lifted a hand to his cracked mask “Just so you know though, my employer’s the one that tore this place to shreds!”
He then sank into a portal on the ground.
“Hey, we aren’t done yet!” Shou yelled as he tried hopping inside.
Sarah grabbed Shou's arm and said, “Clearly he wasn’t going to give us details."
She then placed her Dictator back in the holster while Shou rubbed his hands together as he looked around the endless amounts of different shades of red.
“Woah, y’all were so cool just now!”
Shou pulled his Dictator back out and pointed it ahead while Sarah kept a hand on the grip of hers.
A white figure ran over to them clapping.
On a closer inspection, the figure looked like a humanoid beetle with a trunk strapped to their back.
“Howdy, name’s Kabuto! Caught the tail end of your fight just now and you two really did that guy in!"
“You from here?” Sarah asked.
Kabuto laughed. “Nope! This is my first time round these parts. Haven’t seen a soul for so long too. Just a bunch of sand and burnt out ruins."
“We chased that guy through a portal thing after he tried jumping us,” said Shou as he lowered the Dictator. “Last place we were in had a hit on us with a real large bounty just cause we pissed off some galactic bigshot."
Sarah nodded. “If there’s nothing here then maybe this was where he left targets to die."
“Oh that’s cold,” said Kabuto, “After going through all that, y'all interested in takin’ a gander at my wares? Oh wait! Forgot’ta ask you folks for you're names too."
"Sorry pal, not happening," said Shou.
"Aw come on now, in a wasteland like this none of us should be strangers," said Kabuto.
"As a long-time traveller, it's better to be cautious.," said Sarah.
"Maybe, but guessing the best outta folks hasn't killed me yet, Miss!" Kabuto held out a hand. "Promise I won't try any of that assassin stuff! I can't hurt a fly!"
Sarah reached out with her free hand and shook it. "I'm Sarah. The one in blue's Shou."
"We're Blue SWAT," Shou eventually said, and Sarah could almost see him making a face under his helmet.
"Blue SWAT? Where'd y'all come from?" asked Kabuto.
“Earth,” said Shou.
“Which one? There's a ton of 'em out there in different dimensions, haha."
“I dunno, just an Earth! Better question, you said you got anything, right?”
“Yup! From rapiers to ramen, I got it all!”
“How much is the spiciest ramen you got in yen?”
Sarah frowned. “Shou..."
"C'mon, Sarah, it's been forever and if you trust this guy it's probably gonna hit the spot."
"Yeah, for a conversation. Buying things is different."
Kabuto skipped around as he hauled his trunk off his back and opened it. He hummed a tune as he shuffled through what felt like an infinite void of stuff before pulling out a plastic bag that had steam rising up from it.
Kabuto jumped up and down, causing the sandy snow to kick up around him. “Hoo-wee, looks like it’s pipin' hot ‘n ready to eat already! That'll be 500 yen!"
Okay, so it's the suspiciously too-good-to-be-true cheap route instead of the convenient in the middle of nowhere but frustratingly expensive route.
Shou walked over, taking the bag away from Kabuto with one hand and shoving the cash in the other.
“Shou!”
“What? The last couple planets and dimension didn't have it so I'm taking what I can get."
“Ah gee, I knowhow ya feel! Haven’t been back home in a hundred years myself so finding all that ramen out there was a real treat! Cool thing about it is that once ya got it, it stays basically the same no matter where ya take it!”
“Ah, so like super instant ramen!”
Kabuto nodded. “Yes sirry- wait a sec, Earth got ramen you can make in an instant now? Gee wilickers, I missed a whole lot!”
“Kabuto, are you from Earth?” Sarah asked.
“Yup, born ‘n raised! I miss the place a whole lot…”
“What’s stoppin' you from going back then>”
“My old man! Can’t stand even bein’ on the same planet as him and never will as long as I live!”
“For a hundred years though? That’s a bit much, don’t ya think?” Shou asked.
“Hoppin’ dimensions messes with time in all sortsa ways too! How long’ve you folks been travelin’ around?”
“A few months. You start losing count when its just nonstop fighting aliens day in and out," said Shou.
Sarah sighed. “I’d say it’s been about three months but really feels like it's almost been a whole lifetime."
“Gosh, I bet y’all already got a bunch of stories,” said Kabuto. He looked through the still open trunk one last time, chucking another steaming bag before closing it for good.
Sarah caught it with a hand. “And what’s this?”
“Y’all are nice so have that fried rice on the house!”
Shou threw a fist in the air. “Hell yeah! Today’s really lookin’ up!”
“Aw shucks, glad I can help! Maybe I’ll make a trip back to Earth sometime to check out this instant ramen! Hope y'all can shop 'n talk with me again soon! Bye!"
Shou and Sarah waved as Kabuto disappeared in a flash of light.
Placing his helmet on the ground, Shou pulled out the container of ramen and chopsticks from the bag
“You seriously can’t wait until we get back onto Star Fortress for this?” Sarah asked.
“Look, I’m just gonna give it a try. We still gotta make sure no one else’s on our trail too anyway,” Shou said as he took a bite, only for the smile on his face to twist into agag.
Surprisingly, he still swallowed it, but after that he chucked that bag as far as he could before becoming Hyper Shou and using the Drum Gun Fire to make it nothing more than ashes.
“Next time I see him… he’ll pay!”
Shou’s shout echoed off into the empty expanse before petering off into grumbles about the cold sand getting into his helmet.
Sarah sighed as she considered using the bag of fried rice in her hand as target practice too. It's not like she needed either, but...
Maybe, once they help more people and see more sights, they should head back to Earth too.