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They could hear it in their hearts more and more as the elevator ascended. Loud as the day, clear as the blue sky.
The roar of the crowds. The thundering engines. The stunts of the hoverboard show-offs. The latest explosion, a weird ghostly thing chasing down the frontrunner, and scream of frustration as the monster truck ran over the most unfortunate racer. The opening of a portal. And soon, very soon, they would be up on one of the biggest stages in the multiverse, performing for thousands, no, trillions from literally everywhere.
The elevator couldn’t open any sooner towards perhaps the biggest delusion made true. None of them still could believe they’d actually be here, far beyond the 404, beyond the familiar streets of New Eridu, beyond the adventures in the Hollows and the stages they’ve taken all over home…they finally made it to perhaps the biggest stage of their lives.
The Angels of Delusion were just about to step foot into the CrossWorlds Grand Prix.
The first angel, a young girl with green hair and a very introverted demeanor, held onto the black-haired girl with wild hair. “I still can’t believe it,” Sunna spoke. “We’re here…”
The black-haired girl turned to her compatriot. “Of course we would be,” Nangong Yu began. “That Dodon Pa guy liked our music and wanted to sign us on as a musical act for his CrossWorlds Grand Prix thing.”
“But how?” Sunna said, nervously. “How did someone so prominent find us so worthwhile?”
The pink-haired girl with the puffy dress took notice of Sunna’s nervousness. “I feel you,” Aria began. “I still can’t believe it either. We certainly are going big after this. On the biggest stage in…the multiverse? It’s absolutely a delusion come true…but did we really deserve it?”
Nangong rolled her eyes. “Oh come on you two, I thought we’ve been over this. It’ll be just like performing at home in New Eridu, only that we’ll have trillions of new Delulus from literally everywhere. That doesn’t mean it’ll be any different from usual.”
“Umm,” Sunna began, “it is different from usual! So many delulus will have come from worlds beyond our own! And who knows what life is like for them? We’re talking people who are probably far past our time!”
Nangong chuckled. Yeah, figures we’d have this conversation again.
“Look, that didn’t stop our music from resonating with everyone back home, okay?” Nangong said. “We scored so many new Delulus that day: Manager and all her friends all said they loved our show!” She was running through the list. “Astra said entire groups like Belobog and Spook Shack became fans, even Zhao from her TOPS gig became a fan!” Nangong got confident. “If we could sway even her to being a Delulu, we can sway anyone - no matter where they came from in the multiverse - into being a Delulu too!”
Sunna shivered in place. “I guess…”
Nangong gave Sunna a hug. “Hey, c’mon Sunna…if anything goes wrong, you already know me and Aria will be by your side for all of it.”
Aria joined the hug as well. “You were all there for me when I was at my lowest. I’ll return the favor out here too.”
The elevator would finally come to a stop as the floor indicator reached 1. When the door finally opened after what felt like an eternity, the trio of rookie idols with wings on their backs stepped out into the garage room. Waiting there were three more people, three of them with vehicles of their own. One of them was a little girl with big white hair, flashy blue accents, and a white dress, and she reminded Aria a bit of herself. Another was a young girl with wild orange hair and a cape, who Nangong couldn’t help but fawn over. The last of this trio was a walking, anthropomorphic wolf, with some sort of hi-tech mask, cloak, and a weirdly-shaped rifle. Sunna thought from the wolf’s demeanor that she found someone like herself, or at least someone she could easily make friends with. It probably helped that this wolf lady was likely a Thiren themself.
“So many fascinating people,” Aria remarked. “This CrossWorlds Grand Prix thing attracts so many different kinds of people.”
“Like fellow Thirens?” Sunna said, her eyes still focused on the wolf with the rifle.
“Well, them and girls like us,” Nangong followed up with, still admiring the other cape girl in front of her.
The other trio finally turned their attention to the idols as both parties came into each other’s proximity. Sunna admittedly felt her anxiety work up, Aria was caught by surprise, and Nangong simply waved.
“Who are you?” the girl with the white dress began, somewhat menacingly.
“Cute dresses!” the girl with the cape exclaimed.
“Hi,” the wolf simply said.
Aria took the lead to introduce her crew. “I’m Aria, lead vocalist of the Angels of Delusion!” She did her best cute pose. “Bringing your sweetest delusions to life!”
“Sage,” the girl in the white dress introduced herself as. “I’m the greatest creation of my father. Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik.”
“I’m Nangong Yu!” Nangong began. “Captain of the Angels of Delusion! Only well-behaved boys and girls escape the wraith of my punishment~”
Her match twirled. “Then you found her!” the girl with the cape exclaimed. “Name’s Arle Nadja! Expert in all things magic and never one to fall for any zaniness!”
It was finally Sunna’s turn, and she simply awkwardly waved. “N-name’s Sunna…” Sunna responded. She immediately saw her match equip the mask and scan her entire being for a brief moment. “Why are you scanning me?!”
The wolf’s mask went back to the side as she faced Sunna. “Name’s Whisper the Wolf,” Whisper said, quietly and quickly. “You’re safe here.”
Sunna let her guard down as each of the trios faced each other. “So, I heard Dodon Pa is having you three be our…representatives, on the track?” Nangong began.
“Sounds about right!” Arle simply responded. “I’m not entirely sure what’s going on either, but Dodon Pa said I would be representing what he called the next hottest musical act in the CrossWorlds.” She met eye-to-eye with Nangong. “That being you three?”
“So much praise…” Sunna said, sounding like she hadn’t gotten used to it at all just yet. “Yeah, that would be us…”
“You chose not to race?” Sage asked. “Why?”
“We’re not much of racers,” Aria frankly spoke. “We like to perform more.”
“I’ve met an idol myself in the races,” Arle countered. “You three could totally do it!”
“But so many scary weapons!” Sunna exclaimed.
“As if our Hollow commissions are any different?” Nangong remarked. “Anyway, starting out the way we did, I don’t think we have anything we could race with. What do you all use anyway, cars? Horses?”
Right after Nangong said that, coming up right behind Arle and Whisper was three hoverboards, recolored in the Angels’ colors. Each of these corresponded to each of the racers representing the Angels on the track.
“We can use Extreme Gear as well as cars,” Sage replied. “Dodon Pa said he wanted us to use these Extreme Gear models in particular as part of representing you three on the track.”
The Angels took a closer look at the Extreme Gear in question, a hi-tech-looking hoverboard with two amplifier-looking guards on the sides, a soundwave visualizer on the back, and what sounded like a radio function, which upon Sunna’s curiosity, briefly played a snippet of a song she knew all too well.
“ReDreaming Angel?!” Sunna exclaimed upon recognition. “We haven’t been here a day and Dodon Pa is already playing our songs all over the CrossWorlds Grand Prix?!” In her shock, Sunna shut off the audio on the Gear. “Oh my gosh, what is everyone thinking about it, do they hate it?! Do they hate it!?”
She didn’t have to wait long for an answer - and a much different one than she thought she’d get. “Wait, why did you do that?!” Arle shouted. “Turn it back on! It sounded so good!”
“No!” Sunna shouted. “I’m embarrassed enough!”
“Wait, Sunna-!” Aria exclaimed, hugging Sunna to calm her down, with a very bewildered Sage watching. “We have a new Delulu in front of us! Give her a chance!”
“Does she act like this all the time?” Whisper said to Nangong.
“Yeah,” Nangong said. “To be fair though, this is the biggest reach we’ve ever had. We’re absolutely hitting the big time with this.” She felt somewhat sad. “Back home, we just barely managed to make a breakthrough after we nearly lost Aria.”
Whisper felt sympathetic. “I know how that feels.”
“How?” Nangong questioned.
Whisper swore she could see a bit of herself in Nangong’s eyes. “Me and my best friend, Tangle the Lemur, are making breakthrough appearances by being here in the CrossWorlds Grand Prix as well.”
“Are you and Tangle an idol duo too?”
“No,” Whisper replied. “Just two loving partners and heroes.”
Nangong nodded. “Me, Sunna, and Aria are a trio ourselves. All we got going for us is our Proxy managers, and their circle of friends that were there for us when we most needed them.” Nangong wanted to snicker and add “and my friends in high places,” but seeing Whisper’s sincerity, she backed off.
“I have a circle of friends myself too,” Whisper said. “All of them are world-renowned heroes that anyone would recognize but me and Tangle. Until now.”
“And for losing someone?” Nangong asked.
“My old squad,” Whisper said. “Old friends of mine I lost to a traitor.”
Nangong watched as Aria calmed down Sunna. “My mom is a traitor too.”
Whisper nodded. “I think you belong here too. Just as much as we do.”
Nangong sighed. “We’d better. I’d rather we not come all this way for nothing.”
When Sunna calmed down from her nervous breakdown, she and Arle met eyes. “Do you really mean it?” Sunna spoke.
“Mean what?” Arle said. “Me liking that music?”
Sunna nodded.
“And you didn’t think I’d like it because…?”
“Because…” Sunna said, deflated. “Because we’re just some newbie trio from some place in the multiverse that you probably will never hear about. And we just barely made a breakthrough and now are just trying to get new Delulus at all.”
“A Delulu…?” Sage questioned.
“Our affectionate name for our fans,” Aria explained.
“Noted,” Sage said. She suddenly giggled.
“Why are you giggling…?” Sunna said.
“It sounds cute,” Sage said, genuine emotion coming out as she spoke. “I think that nickname sounds cute!”
Sunna still looked embarrassed about the whole thing, but it was clear that none of these new people found her or the Angels of Delusion weird at all. She looked at Arle again. “Do you really like our song?”
Arle nodded. “And if we could just turn the thing back on and hear the rest of it, I’m confident I’d love it even more!”
Sunna looked at Sage, who was also smiling. She then saw Whisper, whose eyes seemed always closed, but for a moment, she opened them to see Sunna properly, and smile too.
“She says we belong here, Sunna!” Nangong said. “I told you!”
Inspired, Sunna went back to the Extreme Gear. She re-enabled the radio function, and coming in live from another race somewhere out there, ReDreaming Angel filled the garage atmosphere once more. Mustering up courage, Sunna paid close attention to Arle and Sage’s facial expressions, how they’re reacting to this silly song from this silly group from a silly corner of the multiverse. To her pleasant surprise, she saw Sage and Arle getting into the rhythm, and Sage even outright tried to sing along somehow.
To which Aria then began to sing along.
Followed by Nangong.
…and once Aria and Nangong were singing, Arle too.
Whisper simply vibed along, leaving Sunna as the only one not doing anything at this moment. At that point, she ultimately made her choice: to sing along too. The Angels’ voices meshed with Sage and Arle’s in harmony as all three “representative” racers became fans of the Angels of Delusion in that moment.
When the song finished, it wasn’t even a minute before what sounded like a very enthusiastic DJ came on. “What’s up CrossWorlders, you’re listening to CrossWorlds LIVE…”
“They have DJs here too?!” Aria exclaimed, equally enthusiastically.
“Word’s going around fast of this hot new idol group that’s performing at the CrossWorlds Grand Prix, and lemme tell you, the people are demanding the Angels of Delusion get on a stage and meet their legions of new fans! That last song? ReDreaming Angel? I gotta tell you, I’m getting request after request from fans asking that we replay that song, and I’m like, man, the love for these new guys is crazy! Well, luckily for you all, we just so happen to have the other Angels of Delusion songs on cue already, starting with this one called Turn Heartbeats Into Tempo…” The unmistakable guitar on that song kicked in as the DJ talked. “And if there’s one thing this is turning my heartbeats into, it’s the urge to go Super Sonic speed!” She laughed. “Sorry, that was awful. Anyway, enjoy this next one, CrossWorlders!”
Everyone looked at Sunna in that moment, who went from embarrassment to having waterfalls ready to burst from her eyes. Her voice was choking in awe and heartfelt joy. She sniffled, tried to hold back her tears, before giving in and crying so many tears of joy, leading to Aria and Nangong to hug her, with Sage, Whisper, and Arle joining in too.
“So many new Delulus…!” Sunna tried to say beneath all the tears.
“I told you we’d resonate with so many people!” Nangong tried to say. Yet, even she was getting quite teary-eyed. “I told you we’d…resonate with so many…”
Aria held Sunna even tighter. “It’s a delusion come true…and we’re all here for it.”
“And what was that about me not liking your music?” Arle said.
“Your song reminded me of good memories,” Whisper said. “I really loved it.”
“I think Father would like your songs,” Sage said. “Obviously not as much as the ones he composes, but besides that-”
No one seemed to have heard Sage slip that one as the Angels relished in their achievement together while Whisper and Arle provided their comforting support. The scene could’ve gone on for longer, had Dodon Pa not warped into the room.
“Ohohoho!” Dodon Pa exclaimed, announcing his presence. “How are the Angels of Delusion and Racing doing?”
Sunna shrieked in surprise as she heard Dodon Pa’s presence, then fainted. Nangong picked up Sunna herself as everyone else paid attention. “We’re doing great, Dodon Pa!” Aria answered. “Orientation is going wonderfully!”
Dodon Pa seemed pleased. “By the way Aria,” Dodon Pa began. “Are you sure neither you or your friends would like to become proper racers? I always welcome new competitors to the races!”
Sunna got back on her feet as Nangong pulled her up. “Thank you for the offer Dodon Pa,” Nangong said, “but we’ll stick to simply performing for the legions of new Delulus we’ve scored.”
Dodon Pa had a heartily chuckle. “A fine decision!” he exclaimed. “Whatever the choice, I’m sure the Art of Racing will make your performances throughout the CrossWorlds even better!”
“The Art of Racing…?” Sunna said, dizzingly.
Dodon Pa pulled live feeds of the many, many, many races ongoing right now. The Angels saw bleachers full of crowds in a cute amusement park, at a seaside ruin, in a city not unlike New Eridu, in a world made literally out of blocks, inside a massive museum, on top of an aircraft carrier unlike anything PubSec has, and so many more places. “The Art of Racing is the joy, excitement, spirit, and memories of a lifetime made through high-speed racing!” Dodon Pa simply explained. He pulled more feeds, showing those same crowds and more cheering, hugging, and hi-fiving. “It brings together anyone, anywhere, no matter who they may be!” More feeds showing performers not unlike the Angels of Delusion themselves, one feed showing a pink-haired girl and her all-girl rock band performing at a really beautiful seaside village. “Whether you’re a racer, a performer, or a fan, the Art of Racing unites us all, truly a gift that keeps giving!”
Aria and Sunna were getting into the explanation, while Nangong rolled her eyes. “Okay, so where do we come in then?”
A Travel Ring portal opened as Dodon Pa pulled one more live feed: a massive stadium at night, with fireworks going off in the sky, colorful lasers everywhere, and even more massive crowds, along with a floating stage, its intended performers all too clear. Even Nangong couldn’t help but widen her eyes in shock. “There,” Dodon Pa simply answered. He even enlarged a bit of the live feed for Nangong, Aria, and Sunna to see, revealing unmistakable banners, flags, signs, and even fanart of the Angels of Delusion themselves. There was no doubting it - those were all new Delulus, all of whom were waiting anxiously for the Angels to finally take the stage, make all their sweetest delusions come true, and give the warping in racers something to fight for.
“That’s your first stage, girls!” Dodon Pa joyously announced. “Look at all those new fans, waiting for you!” He then turned towards the racers. “As for you three, you will represent the Angels on the track proper!”
The Angels took another look at their counterparts. Sage giggled, Arle twirled, and Whisper gave a little, but sincere, smile. They then hopped on the Extreme Gears, anti-gravity magnets connecting between their feet and the Gears. “This is what I believe your ‘delusions’ coming true,” Sage remarked.
Arle giggled. “Yeah, you’re gonna love this, you guys!”
“We won’t let you down,” Whisper said.
Before the three turned to go through the Travel Ring, Sunna raced up to Whisper to give her a hug, followed by Nangong and Aria hugging Arle and Sage. “Make our delusions come true!” Sunna cried.
Whisper nodded. When Sunna finally let go, Arle and Sage nodded to each other and Whisper, as the three finally went through the Travel Ring. Just as they did, Aria saw on the live feed that three more racers joined the race at the big stadium - the same three racers whom she was just talking to.
The Travel Ring in the garage then closed, leaving the Angels alone with Dodon Pa. Not long after that though, the ring opened again, which the live feed revealed its destination: the stage itself.
“That’s for you now girls,” Dodon Pa said proudly. “Go on, and enjoy yourselves.”
The Angels joined hands with one another. With encouragement from Dodon Pa and the cheers of trillions of new Delulus, New Eridu’s rising trio of sweetest dreams stepped forward into the Travel Ring, the roar of the crowd getting louder and louder with every step.
“Doesn’t it feel like we’re going between Hollows when we enter this big portal ring?” Sunna remarked.
“It sure does,” Aria agreed. “That said, where we’re going, it definitely won’t be a Hollow at all…”
When they finally crossed to the other side, the Angels of Delusion were met with the most beautiful sights in their career yet.
All around them, the fireworks were louder and more colorful, the countless faces in the crowd belonging to humans, cute creatures, ugly creatures, Thirens, robots, and so many more all greeted the Angels to ear-shattering applause, and below them, the glows and roars of racing machines all waiting for a green light. From high above the world, Sunna could see Whisper waving to her from below, Sage clenching her fist and hovering upon seeing Aria, and Arle smiling as she recognized Nangong from the track.
“There they are,” Aria said, shedding a tear. “And here we are.”
Nangong couldn’t help but choke up a bit too. “Yeah…feels great, huh?”
Sunna blushed as she saw someone else altogether. “Aria, Nangong…over there.” She pointed to a particularly large banner being lifted high, some of the hands lifting it belonging to the most unmistakable face - or rather, faces - in the multiverse.
“Manager!” Nangong exclaimed.
“Belle! Wise!” Aria exclaimed as well.
And Sunna saw so many more besides those two.
“All of Manager’s friends!” Sunna shouted. “They’re here! Everyone is here!”
And soon enough, Dodon Pa appeared again, with a live camera aimed at the Angels themselves, as holo-screens appeared all over the stadium, from the racers to the crowds, all to allow the Angels this moment.
Everything they had ever worked for has led them to this moment. They stood before an audience of so many who crossed dimensions to be here.
And they were ready to give this their all.
“Welcome everyone, from all throughout the CrossWorlds!” Nangong said. “And thank you for coming to our inaugural show at the CrossWorlds Grand Prix!”
The crowds cheered so loud that they overpowered the racers’ own applause, over the Angels’ own voices. “We are the Angels of Delusion! We’re here to make your sweetest delusions come to life!” Aria spoke in turn.
“And we’re here to give these racers the greatest delusion yet!” Sunna said. “Racers, start your machines!”
The countdown began for the racers below as they all revved up for the battle ahead. Meanwhile, the Angels heard the unmistakable hymn of ReDreaming Angel begin, a sign that green light was right around the corner for them too.
“Three!” Nangong shouted.
“Two!” Sunna exclaimed.
“One!” The crowd shouted together.
And as the green light flashed, the delusions of trillions began to come true.