1. When the Moon Blinked
It began as a flicker.
At precisely 03:03 a.m., every device in Metrosonic froze.
Phones, billboards, even the city's heartbeat monitors stopped. Then, in unison, every light blinked once — in rhythm with the moon.
Shion's eyes widened at her console. "Raon… the moon just—blinked at me."
Raon, wrapped in her blanket burrito, groaned.
"Tell it to stop. I'm on break."
> "No, seriously. The lunar data array just emitted a sound signature. It's your kick frequency — but inverted."
Raon blinked back. "…So the moon's roasting my technique now?"
---
2. Signal in the Static
The sound spread fast.
Across Metrosonic, glass trembled.
Air shimmered. Clouds folded into waveforms.
Manager Kimchi burst into the Bureau office, hair soaked in instant coffee.
> "ALERT! We're detecting cross-dimensional reverb! Every Echo variant just rebooted simultaneously!"
Synthra Byte's holographic body glitched mid-sentence. "Even… me… what the heck is—"
Before she could finish, every nearby screen switched to a single message:
> ECHO PRIME INITIALIZING.
The entire building hummed.
Baron Silence silently pointed to the sky.
Above the city, the moon's surface fractured like cracked vinyl. Beneath the dust layer, something metallic gleamed.
---
3. Raon vs. The Moon (Sort Of)
Raon stood outside on her balcony, squinting at the glowing orb.
"Shion. Be honest. If I kick the moon, how mad will NASA be?"
Shion didn't look up from her scanner. "That depends. Are you asking morally, or financially?"
Raon nodded. "Right. Morally broke, financially doomed."
> "We're detecting a growing field of Resonance energy. It's building faster than Echo-2's collapse. Whatever's waking up—it's not just another remix. It's the original composer."
Raon frowned. "Echo-Prime."
"Exactly. The one that started the whole Resonance phenomenon. The 'first beat.'"
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4. World Glitch: 404 Hero Not Found
At dawn, the sky fell apart — not physically, but visually.
Billboards showed conflicting timelines. Heroes who hadn't been born yet appeared in historical footage. Even Raon's reflection in a puddle was half a second late.
She waved. The reflection waved… slower.
> "Temporal desync?" Shion muttered.
"Nah," Raon said, "I'm just that fast."
The humor didn't last long. A low hum rose from the ground, vibrating through the streets.
In the distance, a colossal structure began to phase into existence above the Bureau district — a floating, disk-shaped monolith radiating waves of sound.
> [ECHO PRIME ONLINE.]
---
5. The Birth of the First Beat
From within the monolith, a voice echoed — smooth, mechanical, commanding.
> "ALL RESONANCE DERIVATIVES DETECTED."
"REINTEGRATION SEQUENCE BEGINNING."
Raon tilted her head. "Reintegration? Sounds like a fancy way to say 'eat your kids.'"
Shion's readings spiked. "It's trying to absorb all sonic signatures derived from your frequency! Raon, it sees you as… an anomaly."
Raon sighed. "Again? What's next — the moon filing copyright claims?"
The sky darkened. A beam of light extended from Echo Prime, scanning her.
> "SOURCE IDENTIFIED: RAON."
"YOU ARE THE FINAL BEAT."
---
6. A Kick Heard Beyond Sound
Shion grabbed Raon's arm. "If it absorbs your frequency, it'll erase every Resonance user on Earth! Heroes, villains — everyone!"
Raon stared at the sky, expression unreadable.
"Then we kick higher."
She crouched, the air around her warping. Dust levitated. The ground cracked.
The Bureau HQ intercom went wild —
> "No, no, NO, she's charging up something again! Everyone—brace for—"
BOOOOM.
Raon launched skyward, breaking through three cloud layers in a single bound. Her leg ignited in Resonance fire, trailing soundwaves that rippled across the stratosphere.
Echo Prime turned its scanners toward her, its voice distorted by static.
> "HARMONIC ERROR DETECTED."
Raon spun midair.
"One Kick."
Her foot connected with the sound barrier. The explosion didn't make noise — it deleted it.
The city went mute for exactly 3.5 seconds.
Then, the monolith split in half.
---
7. Aftermath: The Silence Between Beats
Shion found Raon lying in a crater of her own making.
"Did we… win?" she asked, kneeling beside her.
Raon opened one eye. "The moon's still there, right?"
"Mostly."
Raon grinned weakly. "Then yeah. We're good."
But her scanner kept pulsing faintly.
Buried deep within the monolith's remains, a tiny fragment blinked — not in rhythm this time, but off-tempo.
> "ECHO PRIME FRAGMENT: 0.3% REMAINS."
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8. Post-Credit Scene (Because of Course)
Somewhere in the Bureau basement, Manager Kimchi stared at the damage reports.
"Moon dented. Property losses incalculable. Coffee supply: zero."
He sighed.
> "Why do I even try?"
A small light on his desk blinked — an unread transmission from orbit.
He clicked it.
The screen displayed a single message:
> "UPDATING… ECHO PRIME v2.0."
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[End of Chapter 16 — "Echo Prime Awakens"]