"Sanctuary."
Written by Calum Traveler
[Queen Millia il Velch Cutrettola Turan] stood out on the deck of a rather small personal Vanship that was lowering towards an island in the middle of the Grand Lake. With a deep sigh, she wondered if her wishes would truly be answered.
The last time she'd been here for this ceremony, it had lead to war with the Ades Federation... Of course, the influence of Quartzmon had something to do with it, no doubt, but even so...
Millia did not look forwards to a repeat of that situation, and prayed that it would not happen this time. Behind her, [Teddy; Servent/Aide/Secretary; Expert Tea Maker] stood silently, holding a towel. She smiled back at him, "Don't worry, Teddy, I'm sure things will go alright."
"Oh yes, definitely," Teddy nodded. "Although...I can't help but to be nervous."
"Yes, the timing of it all is somewhat of a concern," Millia nodded, "but it all should work out. Nobody else knows we're out here, so an attack isn't likely... not like with Luscina."
"Yes..." Teddy frowned. "I remember that day all too well. I still have nightmares sometimes!"
"Don't we all?" Millia asked silently as the small ship landed, and she took a step out onto the sandy islet.
Her bare feet squished the sand between her toes, and for a moment, Millia thought back to her childhood. No, this was not the time for looking back into the past.
Millia walked out into the water, shivering as the early morning's chilled temperatures contrasted sharply against her feet and ankles, slowly rising higher up her legs as she walked out.
Tradition stated she stop a bit sooner, but it never hurt to be cautious. Millia went out until the water reached her knees.
"Oh Grand Lake," Millia began, "I seek your blessings in this most trying and stressful of times..." She knelt down- shivering as the water nearly overtook her body, which still was a few years younger than her sister had been at the time... "Please, allow the next week to pass uneventfully, without harm... and if it is at all in your power to return Fam to us, please, do such..."
Teddy stood on shore watching as Millia finished her long request to the Grand Lake. It was an errant breeze that made Teddy's nose itch- threatening to sneeze. Teddy glanced to the side as he did such, so as to not dirty the towel...And it was there that he saw a strange light in the sky. "Uh...Millia?" he called out.
"Hm? What is it, Teddy?" Millia asked as she stood up to turn to return to the island...
"Look!" Teddy nearly dropped the towel as he pointed up at the horizon.
"Hm?" Millia followed Teddy's gaze, and saw what he saw...
A glowing fireball- the heat of an object entering the planet's atmosphere- that quickly vanished, revealing the strangest creature Millia had ever seen.
If the giant ships that Sky Pirates had hunted were "Sky fish", then this was a "Space Whale" in all definitions of the term, save for the fact that it looked nothing like a whale at all and more like a long-necked Seal of the same scale as the Grand Exile, if only due to a lack of perspective and distance making it seem larger than it was.
Or perhaps it was actually closer than it seemed?
"ZYUOOOOON!" a loud cry boomed through the air as [PLEZUON- VOLTASAUR #9] descended towards the deepest parts of the Grand Lake, swooshing overhead with a roar of massive sound and flames.
"What in the Great-?" Millia cut herself off as she caught sight of a translucent window in the creature's neck- revealing what looked to be some kind of battery of a rather familiar design. Millia's eyes widened- "No way! It can't be...!"
Plezuon turned in mid air- and then opened her mouth to allow a glowing light to shoot out and expand into what appeared to be a giant silver -!
[BRAGIGAS- VOLTASAUR #10] shook his neck out and let out a quiet call of approval.
Millia stared on in surprise- "Just what...the...?"
And then Plezuon spat out the battery from her mouth- to quickly be replaced with a giant red device of identical design.
_GABURINCHO! OVERCHAAAAAARGEEEE!_
And then Plezuon disappeared in a flash of red light that shot into Bragigas' Mouth.
Teddy fainted.
Millia turned to the only other person who had accompanied them out on this trip- the ever illusive boy, [Dio Eraclea], presently serving as pilot.
"Woah!" Dio grinned. "That was amazing!"
"Dio!" Millia called out, "Try radioing them! I think it might be Fam!"
"Fam, huh?" Dio mused on it, then laughed. "Alright then!" He brought out a radio and called out. "Attention Giant Flying Purple thing! Or giant silver thing! Whoever's there! This is-"
"Di~ooo!" Came the familiar tone of Fam's voice over the radio, cutting him off. "What? How did you know we were out here?"
"Well, you did just happen to fly over us just now!" Dio smiled. "Also- welcome back, Fam."
Millia smiled, "I knew it," she congratulated herself quietly before walking over to help pull Teddy up from where he'd fainted. "C'mon, Teddy. It's rude to faint when the Grand Lake grants us our wishes."
"It did...?" Teddy asked groggily, holding a hand to his head. "I thought I was dreaming..."
"Yes, it did," Millia laughed slightly. "Now come on, help me dry off. A Queen must be dressed appropriately when greeting an old friend, afterall."
"Terrifying Prospects."
Written by Calum Traveler
"So how come you've put on the flight jacket you haven't touched in a year, again?" Roxy asked, slightly concerned. "It's a bit small now."
Fam shrugged as she zipped the jacket up, "Honestly, if Millia and Dio are down there, I just...don't quite wanna let 'em see how tough I got over the last year. It'd be kind of a shock, y'know?"
"I say you should open with the plug suit," Inaba said. "If you're dead set on flying over with Pteragordon, I mean."
"Well how else am I supposed to get over there?" Fam frowned.
"Maybe the Vespa that's designed for flight?" Dogold offered.
"I'd rather wait until we got a teleport pad set up before we move it," Fam said. "Remember how hard it was just getting it out of Plezuon into Bragigas?"
"Fair point," Dogold mused.
"In the mean time," Torin spoke up, having returned to his bird-man form, "I'll keep watch for any winds of misfortune, and let you know if something comes up."
"With the ten of us here," Caleb began, "we should be good to handle anything that does come up."
"Ahhem," Mahiro coughed. "Kuuko and I are here too, you know."
"Yes, but-" Caleb stopped as Kuuko sneezed and accidentally ZAPped away,
"You're both still trying to control it," John added with a nervous smile, "is what he's trying to say."
"Fair enough," Mahiro sighed. "Especially since it looks like I've got to go find Kuuko now before she gets us into trouble, since she hasn't returned yet from that last Zap." With a wave and a ZAP,his voice echoed, "Be back soon!"
"DO~DOOOOON!"
A strange cry tore through the air as a giant golden winged beast [PTERAGORDON- VOLTASAUR #6] appeared in a flash of light and soared over from Bragigas.
Teddy fainted yet again, even as Millia turned around and stared up in surprise.
And then with a flash of crimson light and another _OVERCHAAAARGE!_ the giant bird shrunk down into a humanoid form- landing on the island next to her alongside a female figure in a gold and yellow colored, full body suit of...was that spandex?
The figure stood there for a few moments, simply looking Millia over- and then shook her head before pulling her helmet off.
Much to Millia's surprise- it was Fam's face who was there underneath the helmet.
"Hey, Millia," Fam smiled. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"er..." Millia was at a loss for words. "Yeah..." She fought to contain the blush that wanted to break out on her face. 'What in the world is she even wearing,' Millia thought, 'and why does she get to look ridiculously cute in it?'
Fam blinked, and then laughed nervously as she scratched at the back of her head, "Oh, right, the Plug suit," And then with that, she opened the gauntlet on her wrist and pulled out another of those familiar batteries. With a snap of the gauntlet's mouth- the golden colored suit vanished from around Fam's body with a flash of yellow light, leaving her in the ever familiar flight-suit clothes she'd usually worn when flying. "See? It's still me!"
"Wooooah!" Dio cried out- leaping down from the ship and running over- "That was awesome, Fam! How'd you do that!?" And then he turned towards the transformed Pteragordon- "And who's your new friend!?"
"Ah, well, this is my partner, Pteragordon," Fam introduced. "He's a Voltasaur, one of Kaiyumi's pet projects, actually. Same with the suit. Though, this is the chibi-version of his transformed mode, [Raiden-Oh]."
"I'd figured as much," Millia reasoned as Teddy came to his senses again. "I thought I recognized the design of those batteries."
"Dondoooon!" Chibi-gordon cawed in approval.
"Haha, yeah," Fam nodded at the Voltasaur. "It is pretty distinctive."
Teddy blinked- "You can understand that!?"
"Eyup," Fam nodded.
"oh myyy..." Teddy fainted yet again.
Millia flinched, "I really think we need to get him to a bed. Poor boy's had enough surprises for one morning, I'd think."
"I'll bet," Fam nodded, then asked, "so what's the emergency John mentioned?"
"Who's John?" Dio asked as he pulled Teddy up into his arms.
"Tall, black hair, glasses, wears blue clothes and appears and disappears with a Zap?" Fam offered a description.
"Oh- right- him!" Millia laughed slightly. "Did he actually say it was an emergency? I think he misunderstood me."
"Misunderstood how?" Fam asked.
"Giselle and Davis are getting Married," Millia said.
Fam's right eye twitched, and then she turned to Chibi-gordon. "I seem to vaguely recall," She began, "something along the lines of a certain bamboo monster..." ChibiGordon nodded and cawed in confirmation. "With the ice cream, yeah."
Millia stared on as Fam suddenly broke out laughing.
"Er, is everything okay?" Millia asked.
"Just a little bit of wibbly wobbly time wimey," Fam waved it off, "that's all." And then with a grin she added, "Something about Stable Timeloops that'd really just bore you two to tears." And then when Pteragordon gave an inqusitive caw, Fam turned sharply around and yelled directly at Bragigas- "And Yes, Gordy, I AM GOING TO CHASE HIM DOWN AND SHOCK HIM WITH MY SWORD FOR NOT TELLING ME ABOUT THIS! JOHN, YOU WINDY-!"
Inside the Spirit Base, John hid beneath the table as he watched that declaration from Bragigas' holgraphic screens.
"You okay there?" Roxy asked.
"Meep," John replied. "She's really serious about that, isn't she?"
"Considering what she did to me for trying to set her up on a date once?" Inaba then laughed as Shiro chimed in with an "Oh My!"
"I repeat:" John repeated, "Meep."
"Um, Fam," Millia coughed. "Besides that, there actually was something of minor concern alongside that I'd like to speak with you about."
"What?" Fam turned around, a suddenly serious expression on her face.
"We've heard rumors of some disappearances around the fringe areas around most major settlements," Millia explained, "we think they may be the remnants of Quartzmon's towers acting out against us."
"Towers huh?" Fam mused on that, and then brought up a strange box like device that seemed to have a screen on it. "You guys hear that?"
"Every word. Bragias' ears can pick up a lot at this distance," Caleb said into his own Mobuckle. "We'll spread out and search while you catch up with everyone here."
"Sounds like a plan," Fam agreed.
"I'll come down and join you, Fam," Merry spoke up. "I wanna sight see!"
"Who was that?" Millia asked.
"Remember Merry? Rina's kid?" Fam asked, "That's her."
"What?" Millia did a double take- "She's grown that much in a year?"
"Er, well..." Fam scratched at the right side of her forehead. "Has it really only been a year for you guys?"
"Fam Fan Fan-" Millia narrowed her eyes, "Please tell me you've not been traveling for more than a year."
"More like a month and a half with about a year of continuous giant monster battles in between?" Fam offered.
"Giant Monsters!?" Dio cried out as he returned, sans Teddy. "You've gotta tell me more!"
Fam's left eye twitched this time. 'This is going to be a long day.'
"Misplaced."
Written by, Calum Traveler.
Somewhen at the heart of the Lagann Cluster, a DeLorean sat partially abandoned, it's owners having just sneaked off to perform some unknown secret mission.
Kuuko pushed the trunk hood open, and gasped for air. "Dagnabit!" She whined.
Quickly, she climbed out and closed the hood before sneaking away.
"Where am I...?" She frowned, glancing at a map on a wall. "...this isn't helping at all."
A few hallways later- Kuuko ran face first into Mahiro as he ZAPped into existence.
"Oi! Finally," The boy said in a tone that sounded like he'd been searching for quite a while. "I almost ran into my dad as a kid because of that sneeze just now! Uncle Ren had to pull me out before I screwed things up!"
"Sorry," Kuuko appologized, bowing her head sharply. "I got stuck in the DeLorean's trunk right as it materialized, and I think Nyarko and Jules are doing something so I couldn't Zap out in case I accidentally messed things up and now I'm just not sure where I am-"
"Lagann Cluster," Mahiro summarized, "Just before our parents go and..."
The building shook violently.
"...Fight Quartzmon in the void between worlds," Mahiro summarized as he pulled Kuuko into a hug and ZAPped away not a moment too soon.
The entire building began to glow as it was pulled into a fusion.
"Found her!" Mahiro said as he and Kuuko appeared on a cliff-face next to one Ren Tobari and his partner Dracomon.
"Good," Ren motioned for them to hide next to him, "now get down and outa sight. You need to see this."
They were on a cliff-face overlooking... "Is that the Monita-fort?" Kuuko asked.
"Yeah," Ren nodded. "And Zenjirou's about to get his Xros Loader." He nodded to Mahiro, "Thanks for the assist on that, by the way."
"What?" Mahiro blinked, "but I didn't do anything."
"Not yet, anyways," Dracomon chuckled, and before anyone could reply to that remark, there was a burst of light- and a familiar cry of a familiar name.
And then Zenjirou Tsurugi went to town against Musyamon- who became Kotemon at the end of the fight through a purification attack.
"And that's that fight settled," Ren nodded as he made a mental note, and a literal check mark being placed in a notebook that he'd pulled out of thin air. "I swear, you kids have it easy these days, just zapping around without a care. Do you know how tedious it is for me to make sure every single thread is in the right place for everyone to make the same choices they already did? You're not making it very easy for me when you go and pop up in strange places, you know."
"We're still trying to get the hang of it," Mahiro said. "No need to lecture us..."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Ren raised his dirtied, beaten, and old Xros Loader then said, "Now get back before you draw Quartzmon's eyes down on us."
"But why did you ask us to stay for?" Kuuko asked.
"Zap-" Was Ren's only answer.
And then the duo disappeared with a flash of blue light from the Xros Loader.
Dracomon chuckled, "So why did you ask them to stay then?"
"Because they're going to wind up watching his wife next," Ren motioned his head towards the triumphant Zenjirou. "They're going to need context."
"Ah- I see," Dracomon nodded.
"No, you don't," Ren joked, "your eyes are sewn onto your mask."
"Alas! It is true!" Dracomon mock fainted.
"Reintroduction."
Written by Calum Traveler
Kartoffel looked fairly unchanged for a year's absence, Fam noted as Dio flew the small ship down towards a landing pad.
Sure- the ships in the scrap heap seemed to be smaller and smaller, most likely remnants of battles long since passed, but the trading district seemed in higher demand than ever before.
At least, that's how it seemed from the air.
Merry, meanwhile, seemed excited just to see it all. "Wow!" Her eyes were wide, "Everything's so different than how I remember!"
A time gap of...how many years was it? Twelve? Ten?... would probably do that, Fam reasoned.
Millia had been slightly off put by Merry's changed eyes (but who hadn't?) and was somewhat startled by the discovery that a month-to-year ratio had been put into effect when it came to communications with the Digital World due to Fam's disappearance straight off of the SpaceTrailmon. (Which, Fam explained, had lead into all the Kyoryuger stuff. (She neglected to mention being possessed by a suit of armor)).
But beyond all of that, Millia seemed glad that Fam had come back, especially with help from Xros Heart (even if they were the next generation).
Pteragordon, for the time being, had returned back to the Spirit Base, which they could access easily through the teleport pad that Merry had hidden inside the tan trenchcoat that she was carrying in her arms like it was the most important thing in the world...Which it probably was, all things considered.
"Touching Down!" Dio called out as the small ship landed, and then the engines shut off with a grunt of a job well done. Millia lead Fam, Merry, and Teddy off while Dio stayed on board. "I'm gonna refuel and head back to Anatoray. I've gotta tell everyone from the Silvius that you're back, Fam! We're gonna throw you the biggest welcome back party in the history of-!"
"Woah, Dio! That's not really necessary," Fam said, shaking her head 'no' and waving her hands in a dismissive manner. "I really don't wanna make a big splash, you know?"
"Aww, okay," Dio frowned for a moment, then grinned anyways, "I'm still going to let everyone know, though! They're all going to want to know what you've been up to!"
"Alright, that's fine!" Internally, Fam gave a sigh of relief.
"A 'Big Splash', Fam?" Millia asked, grinning slightly. "You- who rescued the Augusta, flew in the Grand Race, and mysteriously vanished for a year only to return standing at the side of a Queen- don't want to make a 'big Splash'?"
"C'mmon, Millia," Fam huffed, "you know how it is..."
"You're lucky it's still early enough in the morning that most people are still half-asleep," Millia remarked. "There'll be rumors all day before long."
"So let's get to Giselle's and get outta sight then," Fam grumbled.
"Aw, but I wanna sight see!" Merry complained.
"You can sight see after we leave the teleport stone somewhere safe," Fam replied.
"How does that work exactly?" Millia asked as they walked familair steps up towards one of Kartoffel's higher-tiered houses.
"Bragigas was sort of torn across dimensions for a while," Merry answered, "so his body's gotten this sort of teleportation power going on. As long as he can work off of a point zero and himself, he can figure out where to put any teleport pads he wants to."
"Originally, it worked off of the summoning system for the Voltasaurs that Kaiyumi built," Fam added, "but since we broke that connection leaving Tokyo-3, we have to place at least one stone manually so Bragigas can choose where to put the other stones, usually only temporarily though. We don't want random people just walking in and getting teleported inside."
"Haha, remember the time Eri broke into the lab?" Merry asked. "We were chasing her all over trying to catch her!"
"I was out fighting Stricteach," Fam said, "but yeah, I remember you telling me about how she bit Yumeji on the hand!"
"It's just a love bite!" Merry said in as tongue-in-cheek-y of a tone of voice possible. Both Kyoryugers shared a laugh, which made Teddy frown.
"I feel like I'm missing out on something," He lamented.
"Life moves on, Teddy. We've had our own share of adventures that would sound just as strange to them as it does to us," Millia remarked, then smiled at Fam and Merry. "Your life has certainly had its fair share of adventures since you left, Fam."
"It's...been eventful," Fam agreed with a nod. "Not all of them pleasant, but...there's been some fun times in there."
Félicité Vingt sat on the edge of the garage's landing balcony breathing in the early morning air.
As the second-oldest daughter of the family, Félicité found that there was an odd serenity in being up before everyone else. That was probably why the oldest sister of the famile, Giselle, was often up just as early most mornings, especially with the wedding on fast approach.
"hm-mm-mh," she humed just a bit, "hm-hmm-hmm hmm." It wasn't any real melody she knew by heart, just some random thought appearing in her mind as she watched Kartoffel slowly wake up.
"Oiii, Félicité!" Félicité flinched slightly as she heard Dio's voice call out from a vanship that was raising past the docks and going past her.
She couldn't see him, but no doubt Dio was waving at her. She waved back at the ship as it went up higher. Strange- hadn't she just seen that ship come in for a landing? What was Dio up to now?
"Look down!" Dio called out and that made Félicité frown.
"Down?" She asked herself, but alas, Dio's ship was already out of range.
Félicité then heard the sound of feet climbing steps, and the sound of chatter along with it.
Visitors? This early in the morning?
Ahh- so Dio had been dropping someone off.
There were familiar tones to some of the voices- and one rather unfamiliar one- but it was the familiar voices that Félicité focused on.
The first was... "Honestly, though," Turan accent, female, "I seriously don't know how you managed to pull that one off." Queen Millia!
That made the second voice easier to place, same Turan accent, only boyish, "I agree completely! That sounds simply amazing!" Teddy. So they were going to have Tea for breakfast, sweet!
"Haha- Ol' neck-loose was the only monster we girls pretty much had to solo," there was that unfamiliar voice, female. What accent was that? It sounded somewhat like the pilot and captain pair from the SpaceTrailmon... Was it someone from that world? "The way the guys were acting though had me concerned for 'em. Candelira was just too focused on her own ego!"
"Honestly, though," third familiar voice, female as well. Disturbingly familiar, though slightly gruffer than what Félicité's memory said it should be. "What even was that guy's theme? It still doesn't make any sense to me. Neck bones equaling weak in the knees?" Familiar patterns of voice and word pauses...
"Fam!?" Félicité's eyes widened, and she jumped to her feet to run over to the stairs.
Indeed, climbing up the stairs were the familiar faces of Queen Millia, Teddy, and Fam, along with the unknown girl with blue hair and... what was with those eyes?
"Félicité!" Millia called up with a smile upon seeing her. "Good morning."
"Fam's back?" Félicité asked, eyes wide.
"Hey there," Fam gave a small wave with her right hand while quickly placing her left hand into a coat pocket.
"Where have you been!?" Félicité ran down the stairs to give the older girl a hug. "It's just been so quiet without you here!"
"Aw, come on, I'm sure it hasn't been that different without me," Fam laughed it off, even though she did put her right arm around Félicité in returning the hug.
Félicité's eyes narrowed, and then she reached for Fam's left arm and pulled it out of the pocket so she could get a good look at...
"What the...?" What in the world was this? Some kind of gauntlet thing shaped like a bird's head and had a folded up wing on the side. "What is it?"
"It's a transformation device!" the other girl spoke up, grinning. "It lets us become super heroes and fight off the badguys! Fam gets the cool gauntlet though! Everyone else just got caution tape guns!"
And as the girl spoke, Félicité's eyes fell down on the holster and gun that was strapped around her left leg. "Adelle is going to want to steal that, I can promise you that," she finally said. "René too, probably."
Giselle stopped writing in the book in front of her as the sound of muffled conversation came through the door.
"Visitors...?" Giselle mused as she stood up to go walk to the door...
And then Félicité opened it, and lead in a face that Giselle hadn't seen in a little over a year.
"Fam..." Giselle stared on in surprise.
"Hey, Gigi," Fam waved with an awkward smile on her face. "I'm back."
The hug that followed was enough to bring a smile to Millia's face.
A.N.: Say it with me now: "D'awww..." We might be focusing on the present for a while now, although that's all dependent on if the Life Fibers don't start acting up.