AUTHOR'S NOTES

Wow, across here AND at Deviantart I seemed to get more responses than the prologue. Thanks this time around :)

I'm glad to see that the ideas are slowly getting appreciated by the community, and from the responses seen I hope to further boost things up well step by step. It should be fairly easy to go through some of this.

One of the most interesting questions I got was from SilverSister at Deviantart, whom seemed curious over the idea of Senator Cortex bossing Ripto around when given their attitudes in their respective game series (Crash Bandicoot/Spyro the Dragon), it should be the other way round. I already stated there that I would assume they would remain to have close links after the GBA collaboration efforts, which in there they ended up being just as aggressive to each other. And given that Cortex has a higher rank in the city than Ripto, I see it as a means of expressing a side to politics here. Never fear Ripto fans - he won't be a wuss all the way through, I assure you. ;)

Either way, it's time we got to chapter 2. In this one, we take our companions to the Red Globox District. That means relating a section of the city to a bunch of Ubisoft related videogames, in this case having links to Rayman, Beyond Good and Evil, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Of course, the introduction of Spider-Man isn't relating to Ubisoft, but his role is still very important. Still, whatever kind of trouble would emerge from that part of the city would remain to be seen.

I hope it goes down well, and have fun reading. Once again, feedback will be great.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

Being in this house was hard enough as it is. Every birthday and Christmas, I was given a fair deal of what I managed to request.

However, what I came to see is that almost every time this event happened for Akumi, she got everything she would have asked for and then some. I feel concerned if she seems a little spoilt.

She even tells me now that she wants to run a Goose farm of her own when she's older, and mother is spending a lot of time saving up for that to help her out. Her continuous talking on that seemed to get more on my nerves than ever.

Right then, I was a little bit concerned over what things are like for her. I just wished that things seemed a little bit more balanced between us.

Little would I know is that I know that the reason would be nearer than I thought.

Day 1

Red Globox District - 5:30PM

Fletch, Sora and Darkwing all travelled up and down the White Dragonfly District for a set amount of time for the afternoon. Yet when they found out that they couldn't trace Ariel in such a small location, other measures were taken.

Darkwing looked down to the emblem that Spyro gave to him, and immediately ran towards a checkpoint located to the west of the district. Showing it to the guards immediately gave him access outside this area.

Even going through many of the southern districts of the town would consume too much time to track down an Emperor and some friends, but also there didn't seem to be enough time in the day to keep searching.

Eventually, they all stopped by a small tavern to a district to the west, where instead of firefly-like creatures being present to light lamps, there were small blue and pink frog-like creatures – young Globoxes – there on their duties dealing with all sorts of procedures, including newspaper deliveries, hot dog stands and market trading.

The atmosphere inside the building was a little dark, with lights only shining upon the bar area dimly. The tables were polished oak, circular in shape, placed in random locations all around the lower floor of the bar.

They all settled down with a lemonade glass each, looking almost worn out from all the travelling. It got to the extent where Fletch and Sora had their shoes off, placed underneath their chairs.

"I can't believe that finding my friends is harder than it seems", sighed Fletch. "What made this Fox guy think they'd be around here anyway?"

"To be honest", Sora replied, "we don't know. I think it's partially thanks to the opening of the city gate for much of this afternoon. I heard various citizens stating that a small animal pushed it open with both of its hands."

Fletch's eyes widened, amazed that a creature as big as his feet can push a large door open. "How can it do that?"

Darkwing shrugged towards the others. "Beats me, but things like that feel odd."

Fletch and Sora couldn't help but nod in agreement. As that happened, Darkwing took another swig from his lemonade glass, spilling a few drops down his coat, causing dark stains upon them.

"Besides", he started again while licking his beak, "I was told by Fox that multiple footprints were seen at the time of closing the gate, so they – I mean, possibly your friends - should be pretty much inside the city. They'll be around. How long it'll take for us to find them, we don't yet know."

Fletch looked on at Darkwing, showing a more hopeful expression than before. Multiple footprints at the gate meant that he could stand a very good chance of being able to see his companions in the flesh once more.

Fletch made a smile towards the duck. "If some procedure seems to be taken on all this, then this sounds good."

Smiling calmly, Fletch continued to consume his own lemonade, being sure to look back at all his companions as he did so. Feeling happier than he was upon entry, he started to feel the feelings of being reunited with friends.

As that happened, another figure walked past them, which Fletch managed to look towards – a human-like figure in some red and blue costume, with spider webs being drawn upon them cleanly. His face wasn't seen – only a mask that completely covered it, bearing two white eye-like visors to act as his means of vision.

He brought his way towards a bar, where standing there was a man that wore a pewter gray set of dungarees over a black t-shirt. His head would look bald in some lights, yet roughly shaved in others.

"I still can't believe you would want to sacrifice her to re-trace him!" shouted the bartender angrily.

"Hey, why are you looking at me like that?" the masked figure retaliated, pointing at the figure ahead of him. "I'm not the boss of Club Ubi! Whether your manager's missing or not, someone should still be able to make all the directions around here in his place."

"Excuse me, Mr. Parker? Who do you think you're talking to? All I do in this bar is pour drinks and serve to my counterparts! Thank God I'm still an active in the Imaginarium, otherwise I'm pretty much screwed for the rest of my life, just like her."

'Mr. Parker' sighed and folded his arms, leering at the bartender. "At least she's making big bucks from her photography."

"So?"

"It's a start. You should know well that your Splinter Cell roles wouldn't last forever, Sam."

Sam clinched his fists and slammed them hard upon the desk. "None of us would last forever, Spider-Man. But I'd rather enjoy my role for what it is rather than worry about what to do next. That would come after my final encounter with the outside world, whatever that would be."

Sam leered on at Spider-Man – the masked stranger – before steadily getting back to his own business, polishing various cups that were seen around him. With hesitance, his visitor leant forward towards him.

"I don't understand what you're thinking, but you can't keep Jade around if you don't want to", Spider-Man shouted to him. "I would sacrifice myself if it comes to this, Fischer!"

"You're out of luck", Sam scowled back. "Besides, you and I both know that only certain citizens can actually traverse certain parts of the city. She has no chance on searching beyond the district without guidance."

The conversations of both figures were seen through Sora's eyes, whom seemed to take great interest in the entire conversation. Seeing an additional concern added to the missing persons has shown that the city may be facing further perils than before.

Smiling, he turned back towards Fletch and Darkwing, the latter being halfway through a gulp and resulting in spilling the rest of his lemonade down his coat, completely drenching himself.

"I think we'll need to investigate on it", said Sora with a serious tone. "This could be helpful to us."

"But why?" Fletch asked back.

Darkwing placed his empty cup down and smiled. "A missing club manager could make a connection on those of Crash and Ariel. I'll see if I can take a closer look into this mess."

He then stood up and made his walk towards the other side of the room, where a long stairway was seen trailing up. Right next to it, he saw an additional room with a silhouette of a boy upon it.

"Don't move!" Darkwing commanded to Fletch and Sora. "You hide in the Little Boys' Room."

Sora's facial expression showed that Darkwing might have made a bad decision. "But-"

"Just stay where you are!"

And just like that he managed to make his trail towards the stairs, hiding himself among the shadows as he did so and occasionally using his own cloak to disguise himself among the coat racks that were placed around.

He soon found himself settled among a darkened corridor, where almost all view of him was placed out of reach. Silently, he went into his coat and pulled out a pocket flashlight, shining a small yet strong light down the shadowed hallway.

"Now if only if I can find a way to that office from here…"

He started tiptoeing down the corridor, making sure not to step on anything below. The floorboards slightly creaked, yet other than that he was able not to make a sound from his steps.

But as soon as he started, he managed to shine his light to a nearby door, where he saw a room labelled "Shauni". He would have passed it easily had there not been a plastic toy of a monstrous creature – a DomZ – placed upon the floor near the door.

"Bingo!"

Smiling, he brought his way to the door and opened it gently. Bright daylight started to stream through the door, leaving him to almost too quickly get behind the door and close it.

"Shauni, we have dinner ready for you!" spoke a faint voice. "It's outside when you want it!"

Coming further down the hallway, lighting up the darkness with a larger flashlight on the tip of a cart, was a pink Globox. She made her way cautiously among the darkness, carrying a tray with a serving of Quiche Lorraine and two glasses of orange juice.

She stopped the cart in front of the door, yet she only just noticed something upon the floor – the DomZ toy was knocked down. Her eyes widened as she knew that there was something going on behind those doors.

Darkwing stepped inside a dark room, with thick emerald green curtains blocking all sources of the sunset light. A few candles were seen placed around on certain desks near him.

With caution, he picked up a match, struck it and lit one of the candles, giving off a fresh alpine scent across the room as the wick was lit. He took a clearer look, and saw it to be a near perfect representation of a young female adult's bedroom.

He made his walk carefully across the room, feeling uneasy about the entire setting. Stepping onto some clothes thrown onto the floor as well as the occasional tea towel, he seemed to show some interesting concern to his surroundings.

"What happened to this place?" he muttered quietly to himself.

Starting to feel more uneasy, he placed the candle down and drew back the curtains. The sunset light shone through the windows, giving out a more orange shade among the greens that mainly decorated the room.

He then proceeded to extinguishing the candle and placing it back where he found it, when as that happened he noticed a small desk to the left of him, topped with a mirror above it.

He went towards it and started looking through the drawers, hoping to find more clues. But as he gave up in one drawer, he sighed and closed it, before seeing a white envelope right in front of him.

"A letter?" he gasped.

Carefully, he took the envelope into his own hands and opened it. And there it was - a complete written letter, with words of expression placed onto it in green ink. Twitching his beak, he went on to read it.

Nearly a couple of minutes passed before he was able to finish reading it, and by then he started to show a complex expression of fear upon him. With his hands continuing to shake, he quickly read the letter once again.

As the words sunk in more so, he then soon came to a stop and got onto his feet. Placing the letter into one of his pockets inside his coat, he quickly rushed towards the windows, being careful not to trip up.

"This sounds terrible…!" he then exclaimed louder.

He looked at the windows, and there he saw them for himself – the window glazing was wide open. Feeling a draft, he quickly closed it by its handle and made his way towards the door.

Hesitantly, he took a hold of the handle and tried turning it in multiple directions before he could come to enough senses to open it. And then he did, leaving a shadow to creep in front of him.

"YEEARGH!" he then shrieked.

There, standing in front of him stood the pink Globox that was at the door just after his arrival. This time, she was seen scowling at him, with a rolling pin in her possession, her teeth clutched together revealing braces near the gums.

"What do you think you're doing here?" she growled as she took hold of him by the collar.

She instantly pushed Darkwing down to the floor, whom started to show concern upon the brute that became of her. She marched her way towards Darkwing once more, picking him up once again.

"Trying to murder Shauni, are you?" she said with her voice slowly warping into a cockney accent. "Let's push you to the manager, pronto!"

"Please, you don't understand! I wouldn't hurt a fly!"

The pink globox picked up Darkwing higher into the air and shoved him onto the cart that she pushed on the way up, pieces of quiche sticking to the walls and various juices spilling to the floor.

She took a hold of the long pink gown that covered the cart and tied him up that securely he would be left in a cocoon-like shape as long as he was on the cart itself. The globox leered on at him once the result was materialised.

Darkwing couldn't do much but shout. "What do you want with me, you big oaf?"

The globox didn't listen. With a facial expression filled with success, she pushed the cart down the hallway, satisfied that she found trouble and took care of it as a one-soldier army.

For Darkwing, he felt happy that he got the letter from Jade's room, but his face showed that he couldn't have been humiliated even more. He continued to hang his head down low as the cart advanced further into the main room.

Meanwhile, back in the main room itself, Fletch and Sora were left back to their own devices, looking on at the hallway that Darkwing went down minutes before, hoping to hear news back.

Yet, Fletch couldn't help but look on at Spider-Man, who was in a corner reading a graphic novel. It seemed as if he might know so much, yet something about going up to him and randomly speaking to him didn't seem to click.

Eventually, he took the courage to stand up on both feet, but before he could even make his way towards him, the sound of wheels was placed within the air. He looked all around him, before he saw the source of the sound – the hallway that Darkwing came from.

"Mister Fischer!" the female globox cried out.

Sam managed to regain his own focus as he looked on at the corridor's end itself. And right there, she came storming down in the middle of the room, the wrapped up clothed cocoon rolling onto the floor as she made her stop.

"We've had a raider in Shauni's bedroom!"

Sam's eyes widened as he heard her shout. He looked down and saw Darkwing rolling around on the tavern floor, trapped in the cloth and unable to move from the neck downwards.

He went towards him, released him from the cloth and picked him up on the collar, just like the globox did. He towed him up to his face level, so that their eyes were merely several inches apart.

"So, who in heck are you?" Sam growled back at Darkwing. "A robber in her tracks are you?"

Darkwing gave out a brief cough before he was able to speak. "Actually, I am the terror that flaps in the night. Not the molester that goes through women's' underwear!"

"Talk funny all you want, but we're not having it. Why are you here anyway?"

"You have to believe me. I wanted to see Miss Jade, and she's not in her room."

"Don't tell lies to me! I won't believe a single word of anyone that tries to attack this part of the city."

Darkwing quickly opened his coat and pulled out the letter inside it. "Read this, and see if it can change your mind."

The letter was received in Sam's hands, and then, he too started to unravel it and read it for what it was. His eyes growing more concerned, he dropped Darkwing on the floor with a thud on his back.

Calmly, he ended up sitting down upon a bar stool, hoping to read the rest of the letter. Equally as concerned, Fletch, Sora, Spider-Man and the pink globox all looked over and saw the letter for themselves.

I don't know if anyone will be able to read this, but to whomever it concerns, I hope that it finds you well.

I'm sorry if I have to leave you the way you did. Ever since hearing that our manager has suddenly vanished, I really wanted to look into the matter without any peer pressure.

The manager is a very nice guy to everyone. I just don't understand what happened when he made his usual meditation routine at Ly's Tower this afternoon and failing to come back. I won't be coming back until I find the cause at the tower.

Sam, if you eventually find this, let me tell you something – you may think I work for Club Ubi to make a successful post-game living, but I'm there for the sake of a friend.

If there's any other close friends reading this, I'm sorry for leaving you all like this after what I've done for you. But I promise that I will still think about you as my trials go along.

Signed, Shauni (Jade)

Sam's hands continued to shake more so, until the muscles began tightening up and his teeth started to clutch together. Then, with brute force, the letter was scrunched up within his fist.

He then got up from the bar stool, bringing his arms out and knocking Fletch, Sora, Spidey and the globox over separate tables around the bar. With panic, he rushed towards the corridors that lead to her room.

"This has to be a hoax! I'm going in!"

Like a bull in a china shop, he ran up the stairs and made his way towards Jade's room. The sound of his raging feet clattering soon faded into silence, leaving them with a peaceful bar for several seconds.

As the silence continued, the personnel of the bar continued to look on at one another, wondering how Sam would react to seeing the emptiness of Jade's room right in front of him.

And right there, a shriek was heard from further inside the building. Those screams got louder and louder as the figure made his run towards Fletch and the others once more, making a stop near the same stool that he sat on before.

Darkwing was left to look on at him with a "told you so" expression upon his own face, leaving Sam to leer at him before gradually starting to feel more confident once more. He then stood up, looking down at everyone else as he did so.

"Okay, so maybe you're not so wrong after all. We'll need to figure out a way to go after her."

Darkwing started to rustle his own hands. "But how are we supposed to find this Ly's Tower place in a district like this?"

"Darkwing!"

Sora's shouts caused Darkwing's eyes to widen and him to react by running to the window that he managed to stand by. There, they end up with a view of the city from one window.

And in the distance stood a tower. It looked slightly faint from the angle they were looking at, which resulted in Sora making his way towards a closer window and getting a clearer viewpoint.

"Just look out the window!" he said while gesturing Darkwing over. "I can see something!"

Darkwing made his way towards the window once more, wanting to see what Sora had his eyes on. As that happened, Fletch, Spidey and Sam made their way towards the window for themselves.

And right there, they saw a clearer view of the tall brick-layered tower. And near the front of it, they saw a silhouetted figure making its ascent up the walls, using only its hands for support.

"I see someone ascending Ly's Tower", commented Spidey. "But… why would they do that?"

Fletch gave out a shrug. "I don't know, but is this person climbing up who you're looking for?"

He pointed towards the silhouette again, and by that point Sam went behind the bar and took out a miniature telescope from one of the drawers. He instantly went back towards the window and saw a close-up of the tower.

And through his own vision, he saw the back of a female with short black hair, wearing mainly green clothing and small amounts of brown here and there. Instantly, Sam was taken aback.

"That's Jade! We need to get her down from there this instant! Only designated people can actually open the door to get in!"

Sam looked on at everyone else, whom all showed equally concerned expressions upon one another. He brought his attention to Spidey, whom was then looking out of the window with one of his hands on his chin, stroking it gently.

"Spider-Man, can you do this for us?" Sam commanded to him.

"It's not often that I take orders from Club Ubi", he said with a slightly cheerful tone, "but I will give it a shot and see what I can do. But don't expect a perfect score after what we just talked about."

Sam looked at Spider-Man for a further amount of time. He saw that he is destined to make the better of the current situation, but what would he mean by "not expecting a perfect score"?

Yet, it was from there that Spidey continued to pace around the room, his eye slots showing a small tint of thought in spite of the mask around him. Eventually he turned to the others, that expression still remaining.

"Question is... how am I supposed to get right to the top with a door as tight as that?"

Darkwing looked on at the door, and soon turned back to Spidey with a smile. "Perhaps this can help you."

He went into his coat pocket and brought out a small trinket upon his hands. That left Spidey to be curious enough to take a closer look at the item for himself. Its radiant green light easily shone bright to reveal a more reflective sense of mind upon him.

And right there, he saw it – the green stone that was passed from Spyro to the party beforehand. Spidey took a close inspection to it, and saw all the details on it – no scratches, just the bird-shaped emblem upon it.

"Ariel's Emblem", he gasped in awe.

The party continued to look upon Spider-Man and the trinket. It seemed as if he was reunited with a long-lost friend, in spite of it being nothing more than a symbol of city status.

Eventually, he gave the trinket back to Darkwing, his eyes fixed upon Spidey's face, awaiting further vocal response from him. And then, he opened the door and turned straight towards the others.

"It's not often that I asked for help, but what I can say? Four heads are better than one."

Darkwing's jaw dropped. How would they imagine that Spider-Man, a comic book hero, would be able to give them some assistance with this light quirk? Even Sam seemed amazed, applauding almost instantly after Spidey's speech.

And so, Spidey, along with Fletch, Sora and Darkwing, left the tavern and started making their journey towards Ly's Tower. For them, anything that would help for the sake of a city element like a tavern in the Red Globox district would help out Ariel as well.

Yet they knew that though this would be a short task and having little to no connection to re-tracing neither Fletch's companions nor the Emperor, but whichever the results, it still remains as a strong priority.

They managed to reach the foot of the tower some 15 minutes later, and as soon as they were there, the first thing they did were looking up at its structure. Jade was nowhere to be seen among the walls, but they were still amazed by the limestone carvings and various statues of mythical creatures being placed around it, from scarf-wearing serpents to cat-like fairies to even dancing rabbit creatures.

Their focus was soon brought back to the main task of getting through to the tower itself. Darkwing looked hard at the door, and right in front of him, there was a slot to place various round objects in.

With that, he took out the emblem and placed it into the slot. A radiant glow of green light surrounded the door, before clicking open. They pushed the wooden doors open, re-claimed the emblem and started going up the spiralling stone stairs.

It was an ascent that almost felt as if it was going to last forever. Looking up, it didn't seem to be as if there would be an end to the tower at all, something that would make various climbers feel uneasy.

Feeling agitated, Spider-Man took a shortcut by shooting out a white web substance from his hands and climbing the stairs by connecting to the multiple ceilings and ascending them almost eight times as fast as the others.

Yet it didn't feel easy for the others, as they ended up starting to struggle to keep up with Spidey as he swung higher and higher among the tower spires. It was by the halfway point that Fletch started to tire out and almost collapse.

By then, he helped the others by letting them climb on his back as he ascended the spires. One by one, the remaining members of the party were placed onto the final few steps that would separate them from a coming floor.

Finally, Spidey made his final ascent with Darkwing in tow. By the time they managed to get up, they walked towards the door and opened it gently, highly anticipating what could be at the other side.

In front of them was a wooden ladder. It didn't seem to be as drastic as the stairs that they just faced, so they all ascended them step by step, with the exception of Spidey who just used his webs to swing himself up.

Eventually, they came to yet another ladder and a trapdoor. They opened it, and right there they were brought into a small circular room, where a fountain was placed in the middle, topped off with a statue of the same cat-like fairy they saw at the entrance.

"Is this it?" Sora gasped with awe. "The top of the tower?"

"It looks like it", replied Darkwing with a stern nod.

They both took a closer look around the building itself. The purest waters flowed through the mountain, glistening with a pale pink among the deeper sunset colours. Even the ground looked so clean you could eat from it.

The vintage points had nothing to prevent people from falling off aside from a few columns holding the ceiling up. Carefully, Fletch went to the edge and looked down, seeing the view from down there.

"But I don't understand", he frowned. "We would be seeing Jade up here right at this window, so what went wrong?"

Darkwing remained near the fountain and shook his head. "I'm not too sure about this place myself. Unless she might have slipped on the way up, this tower could end up being full of surprises."

With a sigh, Fletch stood up and made his walk back to the others. As they felt defeated, Spider-Man looked on towards the fountain. And with the same expression he had when he saw Jade climbing the tower in the first place, he turned to the others.

"Be careful! It's a trap!"

Everyone else stood in their tracks, curious over what kind of quirk might have happened. And yet, they soon saw something stirring among the water. Ripples. There were no stones thrown into it – the cause of the effect seemed to be mysterious.

And then, all of a sudden, the waters faced what felt like an explosion, and out from the fountain came a female silhouette, dripping with water all around her. Eventually, she came in the light and showed herself as the girl in green – Jade herself.

"You!!" she scowled over to the group.

She made a run towards them, getting out a stick that glowed with an eerie turquoise light. As that happened, she tried to make her attack on them, but Spider-Man made his defence by standing in front of them and using his hands to block her off.

"You tried to kidnap the manager!" she screamed back at him.

Spidey started to nod hesitantly. "Listen, we didn't do anything to you!"

That left both Jade and Spidey to be involved in a brute combat of their own, evading and eventually striking upon one another with their respective weapons of fists and a stick. That left Fletch and the others to just watch from the sidelines as the event happened.

Eventually, she made her jump up towards the top of the fountain and started shooting sickles of light straight down towards Spidey, whom often rolled out of the way more so than not.

He saved himself by using his webs by climbing straight to the ceiling and remaining there. That left her to suddenly change her focus from him to Fletch, Sora and Darkwing, still standing near the door.

"Perish, now!"

Jade then jumped high into the air, swinging her stick around, which then glowed with a stronger light than before. Then in almost a fraction of a second, she sent a giant turquoise ball straight down towards Fletch and the others.

"DUCK!" he shrieked.

He and Sora made a duck to the ground almost immediately, but Darkwing ended up looking around, idling into space. All that Sora would do to respond to that was sighing with disbelief.

"What?" the duck asked with a confused expression.

Eventually, Fletch pulled Darkwing down to the flow, with Jade's ball instantly skimming the top of her own hat and striking the walls nearby with heavy essences of smoke and rubble following on from the collision, falling on top of the trapdoor that they entered the room in.

Jade tried to counter them again with smaller sickles from the stick, but Sora stepped in front of Fletch to counter with his own weapon, a keyblade – a giant key made of steel. He countered the attack by blocking all the physical blows Jade could provide from the stick.

Yet, in spite of the difference in textures, she managed to overcome Sora and push him to the wall. That left Fletch and Darkwing to come to action and tried to pull her away from him.

"You can't do this to Sora!" Fletch cried out to her.

"Tell me!" she shouted as she continued to corner the key bearer. "What did you do with Rayman?"

"They did nothing", spoke a mysterious voice.

The voice caused Jade to freeze in her tracks, looking on around the room, with a face actually starting to look more hopeful. And then, attention was placed towards a small glowing object on the floor.

Darkwing walked towards it alongside Jade, and saw it for what it was. It was a bright green glowing stone, just like the one he received from Spryo. He picked it up and compared it to the one he had – they both looked exactly the same, except one of them had a dragon shadow inside the bird emblem, and the other had an unnamed creature with no limbs, a long rounded nose and bushy hair going forward, silhouetted within it.

"Ariel's emblem?" Darkwing blinked with a puzzled expression.

Eventually, the new emblem he picked up started to glow more intensely. And as soon as he did, he dropped it straight to the ground, shocked by the intense light. And right through it, he saw a shadow showing upon it.

"Shauni, they did nothing", spoke the shadow. "They weren't the ones that kidnapped me."

The light soon faded out, and the silhouette showed itself in a more potent form. It was a limbless creature with yellow patterned shoes, a purple body with a white ring upon its front, a red hood/neck scarf on the top, white gloves, and deep blue eyes and ginger-blonde hair upon him.

"Wait…" Jade gasped. "Rayman!"

She tried to run up towards him and embrace him into a hug, but as soon as she tried to touch him, she just ended up going straight through him like a ghost. Maybe the illusions were too good to be true, she thought to herself.

Yet she pulled herself together and wondered how he was able to speak the way he was, in what essentially looked like a hologram. She took some closer steps forward to him, her eyes looking more curious as she walked.

"If you're kidnapped", she said while pondering, "how are you speaking to me?"

Rayman focused his attention to the stone that Darkwing picked up and successively dropped. "There is a reason why I owned this Emblem. It's too hard for me to describe it to you right now, but I can say it's my way of letting you know that I am in good health."

Rayman outstretched one of his own hands, showing that his own palms were in firm shape. Jade placed her own hand upon it, and even though she was unable to physically touch him, she managed to understand his own ideals.

She then looked on towards him, her eyes starting to show more determination. Now that she knows that she is safe, she still had thoughts of her own to tackle. By that, she continued to place her hand upon hers, looking into Rayman's with a more concerned look.

"Can you please tell me where to find you? Club Ubi would not even be the same without you."

Rayman just lowered his head. "I don't even know where I am, but my kidnapper seemed like a figure of high authority. He was small, wore a blue suit and had a deep voice for his own height. I just wish I saw his face, or where I've been taken to."

He lowered his head, unable to show that he was able to do anything for her aside from showing his safety. Eventually, he placed his other hand upon Jade's cheeks, which she felt a cold aura going across her face.

"Please, do Club Ubi a favor and help me. I will be in your debt if you do."

Jade's eyes widened. It was expected that she was to do something to help Rayman out of the pickle that he was in. Yet, she just remained speechless for a matter of seconds since he spoke.

"Huh?" she finally muttered to herself some time later.

She managed to recompose herself, thinking so hard about Rayman's words. A potential search for him would be good, yet even by just looking out of the window, the place looked too big to tell.

"Rayman, how can I do this?" she asked him almost disappointingly. "You can't leave me without any sense of direction!"

"I'm sorry."

She looked towards Rayman once again, who by now was also glowing a faint white color. He looked on at Jade, whom again started to feel more concerned than ever about the search.

He brought his hands out once again, and placed them through her hands. That left them both to bring them both up into the air, their palms facing each other. His eyes started to feel more relaxed and focused as this procedure happened.

"Follow your heart, Shauni."

By then, white glowing stars started to show up around the team, with Rayman beginning to fade out into nothing. Yet in spite of this, the aura of his holographic body felt as strong as ever.

"Let me tell you something that a member of the senate once told me", he said more confidently. "Never give up. Trust your instincts."

Jade smiled back at him, knowing that he gave out a very reasonable response to the whole thing. Yet in spite of the comfort, she felt that the aura was starting to weaken around her.

She looked on at Rayman, whose figure started to become merely a shadow once again, enveloping itself in the bright stars of the light. And then, there was a gentle flash, one that enveloped the room for a brief period of time.

As soon as it faded out, the vision of the room was brought back to them. This time, the second emblem stopped glowing, leaving Darkwing to pick it up more freely. All that Jade could do is show a face filled with some light anguish.

"Rayman…" she whispered quietly.

She brought herself down to her hands and knees, before bringing herself in a sitting position with her legs causing the only set of support required. She looked down from that position, knowing that her journey in the tower faced a bittersweet conclusion.

From the other side of the room, Fletch started to make his way towards her, showing a concerned facial expression upon him. He then placed one hand upon her hair, rubbing it back gently with a reassuring look.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Jade sighed and continued to look down. "I don't know. Since Rayman was abducted from Club Ubi, the entire place has fallen into despair. If it wasn't for him, we couldn't even imagine us even standing together today."

"I would say that you should keep your faith in him."

She looked towards the sound of the deeper voice, and saw Sora making a similar approach towards her. As soon as he managed to get there, he took Jade's hand and helped her up onto her feet.

"This sounds very similar to the Crash Bandicoot case that Fox told us about", he said while fixing a calm gaze onto Jade. "I'm sure we'll help you locate your manager if there seems to be a connection."

Jade looked on at Sora; while he seemed like a different kind of person to end up looking towards than back at Club Ubi, he seemed to feel comforting towards her own inner self. That left her to smile back at him.

"Thank you."

Almost completely out of the character she demonstrated on the entrance to the tower, she brought her arms around Sora and the two were embraced into a small hug, comforting one another at a tense moment.

Fletch and Darkwing looked on at the scene with similar thoughtful expressions onto them, with Spidey rejoining them from the ceiling a few seconds later. Yet, as fast as the hugs started, Darkwing's eyes showed more nerve.

"Okay, so now that everything's been done... um..."

Spidey turned towards Darkwing. "Is there something else wrong?"

Darkwing hesitantly nodded and pointed towards the rubble that was crashed on top of the trapdoor. And then he pointed out of the window, where a giant drop was seen upon them.

"How are we supposed to get back down?" Darkwing screamed.

Spidey showed an instantly concerned face, yet eventually he found a solution. He instantly took a hold of Darkwing and used his webs to make a descent down the same wall that Jade climbed up earlier.

The process was then done for the other people up at the tower until everyone that was inside were brought straight back down to ground level. By that, the sun was just about to make its departure upon the horizon, ready to leave the city in a blanket of twilight.

Eventually, the group made their return towards Club Ubi as a group of five, and as they did so, Sam welcomed Jade back into the building with open arms. Happy as he was, his facial expression still showed one thing – a potent figure in the Club's generation returned.

Yet, unknown to him, the thought about Rayman's hologram in the tower were left upon the others' minds. That thought remained fixed upon them during the hours in the evening that passed.

The group had their own share of drinks and supper served from the tavern staff, leaving them to be content enough to make their way to the dormitories and settle into their lodgings for the night.

Day 2

Club Ubi, Red Globox District - 8:45AM

As the sun made its ascent, the tavern was shown in a more golden color around the setting in comparison to the shanty buildings placed around it. By that time, a small blue globox rode a bicycle delivering newspapers.

Inside the building itself, Fletch and Sora were already up on a table, sharing out the last of Coco's biscuits upon one another. Various crumbs were seen from their feasting as they did so.

While Sora managed to eat more quickly, he saw that in some intervals, Fletch was starting to look down at the crumbs, brushing them all over the table. By that, the key bearer placed one of his biscuits down and brushed his fingertips upon Fletch's left hand.

"Fletch, you look like you're upset. Is there something wrong?"

Fletch sighed with a shaken voice tone. "I can't believe that has been my first night

away from home. What if my mother is worrying about me?"

Smiling back towards Fletch, Sora brought himself up from his own stool and brought his own hands towards himself. Just like with Jade the other night, he brought him up onto his feet and placed him in a warm hug.

"I can feel for you", Sora whispered quietly towards him.

Fletch continued to show a fearful look upon him as he continued to be hugged. But it wasn't until he looked back up a Sora when his eyes looked, and he knew that he would do everything in his power to calm him down.

"Not far from here is a place called the Imaginarium", Sora began again, "where those with the highest links with the outside world step forth towards the tower and provide their wish to show their form to the outside world."

Fletch gave out a couple of blinks. "So you're saying that's where videogames come from?"

"In a sense, though all we do is just state what we want to see in a nutshell", the key bearer replied with a shrug. "In my case, my idea of fighting with a giant key for a weapon got handpicked among the elites for me to express it to the world. I wasn't expecting myself to be heavily distanced from some of my own friends for an extended period of time."

As Sora spoke, he went into his own jacket pockets and pulled out a small photo encased in a silver frame. Fletch went towards him and saw it, seeing a picture of him posing with several other youths just like him, all of them having blue eyes.

By that, Fletch managed to take a light hold upon Sora's body as he looked upon it, trying so hard to place his arms upon his shoulder but only just touching it with his fingertips.

"But from what I've learnt throughout this experience", Sora began again, "it's that hearts can connect us together. As long as your mother can feel your heart, and as long as you can feel hers, that's the connection you need to tell each other that you're fine."

Sora crouched down towards Fletch and pointed towards his chest. That left him to look down towards it and gently pat it with one of his hands. By that, he started to wonder about the strength of his own heart.

His face started to change. First it was a slight twitch, and then his mouth shrunk before he brought it into a really gentle smile. He then went towards Sora and held both of his hands, as if they were two brothers.

"I guess I should owe you something for that, Sora."

Sora quickly shook his head. "There's no need. Let's just focus on finding these missing people first. Then we can-"

Before anyone could respond further, a rumble was heard from a nearby corridor, causing the ground to shake and two glasses to fall to the ground, shattering upon the ground into many pieces.

"What's that?" Sora quickly reacted.

Another thud happened, leaving Fletch to find the source. "It's coming from Jade's room!"

Both of them quickly made their way inside the corridors once more. In spite of it being daybreak, they remained to be as dimly lit as ever. That left both Fletch and Sora to hold hands as they went further.

It wasn't long until they finally came across Jade's room, and right there they managed to see the DomZ action figure lying on its back as soon as they came there. Several clothes were seen also thrown out of the room.

They looked inside, and right there, Jade was seen in confrontation with Sam with her stick in her hand. Every time he tried to take a hold of her, he kept on striking him across the body.

"But Shauni, why are you doing this?" he panicked to her. "We can't have you leave the Club behind! We'll end up drawing significantly less customers without a professional photographer!"

Jade lowered her head. "Aside from the photographer part, you said the same thing about Rayman. That's why I am putting life and limb to be able to track him down and restore the Club's former glory."

Sam started to growl towards her. "Look, I know we're without a manger, but I am sure he can look after himself. Let him find his way home on his own."

"You don't understand him like I do. I know him like a brother, and I really wish to be able to relocate him and help you. Until then, I will quit my job."

Sam once again growled and tried to take a hold of her but once again she used her stick to block him. She also took it one step further and knocked him straight towards her bed, which by then was still unmade.

"Jade, seriously", Sam said with a struggle. "We need you here!"

"I'm sorry, but my mind has been made up", she replied while folding her arms. "You caring more about this stupid tavern rather than the welfare of the staff is not doing you any favors. Have a nice day."

And with that, she turned to the door and made her way out. The shadow from the door left Fletch and Sora to take hiding behind a nearby statue, hoping for Jade and Sam to see that they weren't there to witness the trial.

Jade then left her room carrying a small khaki backpack upon her back. It seemed as if she didn't have much time anymore to stay within the tavern, especially after since facing what happened. She made her walk down the hallway, passing Fletch by the statue. By then, the boy emerged from behind and went to her.

"What just happened?" she asked her.

"I faced problems with Sam again. He seems to be the only guy who's not fond of my idea of going to search for Rayman."

Jade looked down, showing a feeling of anguish over her. By then, Darkwing and Spider-Man emerged from another room, also viewing what happened within the corridor.

"Listen Jade", the duck spoke with a sympathetic tone. "I know that you want to find your old friend again, but we're looking for people too."

"That's true", replied Spidey. "As they said, they're looking for Crash for a similar reunion in the south of the city, some of Fletch's friends to take him home, and Ariel as a way to help restore the city to the organised rule it had last month."

Jade brought her head up and looked at everyone. It seemed as if everyone lost something or other, just like her. And then, it seemed as if she started to nod while keeping a straight face, understanding of their situation.

"I can see what you mean. I suppose it won't be easy going alone on that matter."

She made a walk towards the end of the corridor, her ideas already being fixed in stone and a smile showing upon her green lipstick covered lips. By that, her hair started to gently sway from side to side in spite of it being too short for it to reach her shoulders.

"Jade, what are you going to do?" Darkwing asked. "And why are you smiling like that?"

"You haven't realised already?"

She turned back towards Darkwing, whom looked curious from his own position. Then, she looked at the others, the smile on her face starting to grow so much more. And then, she took a small step forward.

"Guys, I am coming with you!"

Right in front of her, the group reacted with gasps and jaw drops around them. To think that the female they saved in Club Ubi would be there to help them out would easily make things feel more efficient for them.

By then, she took further steps towards the others and started shaking hands with everyone there. She looked on at them as soon as she finished, and made a further gesture to them.

"I am sure that as a team we will work so much more efficient. This way, the city will be given a great amount of support very quickly. What do you say to that?"

The others remained silent, but the response was unanimous – they were willing to accept Jade into the team. After seeing their smiles and enthusiastic thumbs up and victory symbols on their hands, she lip-synched the words "thank you" from her mouth.

By that, Sora placed his own hand out, and one by one, everyone placed their hands on top of it. Fletch, Darkwing, Spider-Man and now Jade placed them upon one another. The group of three that started off from the evening before has now become a group of five.

As they all started to leave the tavern together, they saw the bright sunlight that crept upon the city. The market stalls were being established from the many globoxes that were getting ready to work among the plaza.

"So where should we go from here?" Spider-Man asked the others.

"I don't know", replied Sora with a shrug. "This city seems to be really big. It could take us a long time to cover its many districts."

Fletch looked down towards the ground, thinking over the situation. The sooner he found his friends the sooner he can go home, he thought to himself. Eventually, a location was fixed upon his mind.

"Sora, what about that Imaginarium place you told me about?" he then asked. "The way you mentioned the elite troops is that they would seem to help you in almost any given situation."

"I think you could be right", replied Sora. "If there's anywhere that has links with multiple parts of the city, it would be that place. I'm sure someone will tell us something."

Fletch's right eye widened with hope. "If you say so..."

They made their way towards a road within the plaza. Comparing it to the Rosemary Fields and White Dragonfly districts, the traffic actually showed itself to be much more versatile for vehicles than what was seen before.

They stopped by a bunch of traffic lights, being operated by two globox wardens. Various cars were seen making their way past them, trying their best to evade the coming rush hour traffic.

And right there, one of the globoxes sent out a red light onto the road to stop the cars from crossing over the pelican area. The other issued a green light to the pedestrians waiting there.

"Let's go!" Fletch jumped with a smile.

And as the green light remained as it was, they made their walk across the road, ready to make their way towards another district. They went towards varying degrees of signposts, finding their way to the Imaginarium.

Regardless of how far it could be for them, they learnt from their time at Club Ubi that by starting to develop some further friends around them would further help in the general input of the city.

For that, Fletch is slowly starting to feel happier than he was when he first settled in. Whether the homesickness would come back is something that would remain to be seen, but as he learnt, if he felt his mother's heart, he will know that his life in the outside world will still be as secure once he leaves Theoropolis behind.

-end of chapter-