You're Bothered, Aren't You?

Once Okarun identifies the thing beneath them as Nessie, the trio bolts as it lunges at the Serpo, even though the aliens paid it to target Momo. Diving past them, the enhanced crab alien fires an underwater shockwave punch that flings Aira up against the watery ceiling to drown. He boasts that his blows hit harder beneath the surface, yet he soon panics, admitting he has no gills, and races upward for air. Seizing the chance, Okarun shifts into his Turbo Granny form to kick through the water faster, only to sink and learn it does not work. Back to normal, the pair keep dodging the crab alien's strikes. Okarun offers to bait the alien so Momo can reach Aira, but Momo balks and the two bicker, dredging up his earlier mess with Aira at school. Sure she is bothered, Okarun says he will finally lay out what truly happened, though the crab alien cuts him off as he dives to shield Momo from an incoming shockwave.

That rescue sparks an idea: Momo uses her powers to ride Okarun like a living speedboat, racing through the water. She launches him upward to grab Aira and wrings the water from Aira's lungs so she breathes again. Finding their waterlogged clothes too heavy to swim in, Momo peels off her own outer layers down to her undergarments and, over Aira's protests, insists Aira shed hers too.

Down below, the crab alien spots a Serpo gliding close and asks for a bit more time to finish the hunt, only to recoil when it proves to be a severed head left by Nessie. Another Serpo swims up and uses its body cables to bind itself to the alien and Nessie, combining what each one can do. As the three of them get ready to dive once more, they all look down at the huge fused monster now facing them.

Nessie cleaves a Serpo in two with its beam, unable to tell friend from enemy. The water-boosted Dover Demon punches Aira through the ceiling toward drowning, then has to surface because it lacks gills. Okarun discovers that Turbo Granny cannot swim and uses the lull to address the Aira misunderstanding with Momo. Squeezing Okarun through the water with her psychokinetic grip, Momo gains the speed to rescue Aira. The final Serpo fuses itself onto Nessie and the Dover Demon, and the stripped-down trio climb onto Okarun's back to face the combined creature.

Adapted in Episode 9 and collected in Volume 3, this Serpo Arc chapter belongs to the Kintama Hunt Saga and debuts the fused Serpo Dover Demon Nessie.