After escaping from the Towering Pagoda, the group minus Future Luke reconvened in an alley in Chinatown.
"Okay, this should be far enough from the Family." Jexi said keeping an eye out.
"Let's try and get some things straight. First of all, when did Don Paolo become friends with the professor? The dude tried to run us over with a ferris wheel." Indigo said.
"Bug off, girl. I ain't no friend of his." Don Paolo said. "He ruined me...by taking her as a girlfriend."
"Geez. It's been ten years. Just get over it Paul." Flux said.
The others gaped wide.
"All of this has happened… just because he was jealous of Layton running off with Claire? Dude! Priorities!" Yosuke said.
"Oh yeah. I was there when it happened. I even have the video of it." Flux said taking out a recording device. On it played a younger Don Paolo with a couf hairstyle, watching Layton hand a letter to Claire, only for her to kiss him. Don Paolo's hair then stood on end before splitting in two. He then grew angry as they became the devil horns. "LAYTON! You'll pay for this!" Don Paolo cried as he ran into a lake. "I won't forget this!" He gurgled as he tried to run underwater.
"Layton has been my sworn nemesis ever since that fateful day!" Don Paolo said.
Indigo slapped him. "Oh my god, get over it! You almost seem like you and Juvia are related!"
"Never! I've already picked my path and I will follow it to the grave! Even though there really isn't much of a reason to do so." Don Paolo said.
"Hey, where's Naoto? She's been absent ever since we got back here." Yu said.
"I asked Miss Shirogane to do a little detective work for me. She'll be back soon. But I have made a discovery of my own: a secret lab across the thames. The scientists who worked on the time machine are trapped over there." Layton said.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's over there and save them!" Natsu said.
"Wait, we're missing someone else. I don't see our Luke anywhere." Rainbow said.
The group looked over the streets until finding Luke tearing up at a statue of a small child and a grown man.
"Luke? Is there something wrong?" Layton asked.
"Professor. I don't wanna say goodbye yet." Luke said.
"Goodbye?" Jexi asked.
"You see, my dad has a new job overseas in America. I'll be moving there in two weeks." Luke said.
"Then this is gonna be… our final adventure with you, Layton." Jexi said.
"Yes. I expected this." Layton said. "Then let us make it one worth remembering."
The group was soon seen in the sewers as they headed over to the secret lab. "Why did we have to go through a sewers?" Rarity said.
"This was the only way we could get over without being noticed." Jexi said.
Surfacing in the main hallway, they found Natoto in a gunfiggt with Guards with a girl.
"Claire? No way." Layton said.
"My eyes must be playing tricks on me." Don Paolo said.
"I'm not Claire. I'm Celeste. Her younger sister." The girl said.
"But how did you get here?" Jexi said.
"That's what I found out. I've already freed the captive scientists. Inspector Chelmey and Barton as well as Future Luke are waiting at the Thames Arms across the river. We need to get over there. You're suspicions were correct Professor." Naoto said.
"No way you sneaky sneaks are getting away this time!" A gangster said.
"Oh yeah? We beat you last time, we can do it again!" Lemon shouted.
A robot then came in, all armored.
"This baby right here, it knows all of your moves. There's no way you'll get past it. Especially since we'll be helping by giving it backup fire." The gangster said.
"It doesn't know all of us." Jexi smiled as Crona walked up to the front.
"Crona's still here? Holy crap, I thought he was gone a long time ago." Yosuke said.
"He's always been here. How have you not noticed until now?" Maka said.
"He's been….super quiet?" Yosuke said.
"Ha! You think that string beans got a chance against all of us? You got a losing score in your future." The gangster said as he and his buddies laughed.
"Really? Crona's not someone you shoud take lightly." Soul said.
With one slash, Crona sliced off the robots arm and knocked out half the guards.
"Finally. It's my turn." Crona said.
"What in blazes? What sort of freak is this kid?" The gangster said.
Jexi smiled. "All yours Crona, go get em."
Crona dashed, Ragnarock drawn.
"Shoot him!" The gangster said as they began firing their bullets at Crona.
Crona was all over the place as he doged each one.
"He's fast!" Luffy said.
"No kidding." Thorn said.
"Just keep shooting. We gotta hit him eventually!" The gangster said before seeing all of his guards taken out and the robot slashed in half, leaving only him. "Uh, is it too late to surrender?" He asked.
"Sorry. I dont deal with thugs like you." Crona said bonking the gangster with the hilt on his sword, knocking him out.
"Well, that's that then. Let's get going. We need to head to the Thames Arms." Jexi said.
The group hurried out of the sewers and into the bar.
"Good. Now that you are all gathered. Its time to reveal...the truth of this unwound future." Layton said.
"First, we already know that the Future Layton was Dimitri Allen. This isn't the future. During my investigation, I found a tunnel leaving back to present day London. We never were in the future. This is a set created to look like London." Naoto said.
"That 'time machine'? Its actually a transport set to carry us deep underground. We're miles below the actual london. We've been on a wild goose chase." Vector said.
"One that is already over." Said a new voice as they saw the barkeep removing his disguise and revealing himself as Dimitri. "You may know the truth, but you will not stop me from building my time machine!"
HOLD IT!
Sunset said that. "Time travel is not possible for many. Only the Famous Doctor Brown, Twilight, and the Doctor himself can do it. Dimitri, I realize you cared about Claire, but going back in time to save her is not the answer."
"Dimitri, I have a question for you. You've been used as a pawn for a long while. Have you been aware of this?" Layton asked stunning everyone in the room.
Naoto tipped her hat. "We've all been played. The true master mind of the whole thing…. Is him!" Naoto said pointing to Future Luke.
"So, you have it all figured out than?" Future Luke said getting up.
"Yes. We have Luke, or would you rather be called Clive." Layton said.
"We found out about you in the records. There were ten victims in that fire ten years ago. Two of whom were your parents." Vector said. "After that, you were adopted by a very wealthy woman. She died five years later, but not before leaving her entire fortune to you."
"Yes. I am very thankful for that. That money shall help me with my revenge. This city...created from greed and hatred and betrayal. I will destroy all of it. And you cannot stop me." Clive said running as he grabbed Flora and ran out the door.
"Flora!" Luke said.
"I think we got bigger problems!" Yosuke said as the ground shook.
Looking at the lighthouse on the other side of the river, it began to slowly rise as a large monstrosity quickly rose up. It was at least 100 meters tall and was on four legs as it fired weapons from its mounted cannons.
"That's….big." Jexi said. "Well, guess we know where Clive is now."
Hope then came into range of communication. "Guys, that fortress is gonna destroy London if it isn't stopped!"
"Well duh! We kinda already got that just by looking at it." Jexi replied.
"Looking at the thing, it bears resemblance to Phantom Lord's Jupiter Cannons." Juvia said.
"Except this things a lot bigger than Phantom Lords." Gajeel said.
"We need to find a way up there and fast." Jexi said.
"Well, some of us who can fly should be able to easily get up there, but the rest of us don't have a plan besides that." Thorn said.
"Easy. We just go at that thing with everything weve got, and smash it to bits, just like Jupiter." Natsu said.
"But we need to rescue Flora first before that plan. Clive's using her like a shield right now. We can't destroy it till we rescue her." Luke said.
"I can help with the planning." Hope spoke. "Sunset, call a yokai who can hold it off."
"Dromp's the biggest Yo-kai I have. He should be able to buy us a little time for us to come up with a plan. Come on out my friend! Calling Dromp! Yo-kai Medal, do your thing!"
"Summoning….Tough!"
Gruff Stuff
Rough Bluff
Red Ban Jacket Stand
Bling Blang Tough!
"Dromp!" Dromp said. But the group was shocked to see Dromp was only half of the size of the fortress.
"Dromp, please hold it back until we get an actual plan together!" Sunset said as Dromp stood there like a human shield, slowing the thing down.
"I'll go." Crona said.
"You'll what?" Jexi said.
"I said, I'll go. I can fly up there and save Flora." Crona said.
"You aren't going alone. I'm coming with you." Jexi said.
"Let him. Guy's hadnt had much action since Termina." Hope said.
"Then at least bring me. I might be able to think of a way to stop Clive." Celeste said.
"All right." Crona said grabbing Celeste as he and her flew off toward the armored monstrosity.
"Well stay here, and then hit this thing with everything we;ve got once crona fires the signal." Jexi said before they heard a motor. They looked back to see Layton and Luke in a flying car heading toward the fortress.
"Was that the Laytonmobile? I thought the one here was a prop?" Kanji said.
"It was till I modified it to act like a plane. I have always been handy with machines." Don Paolo said.
"All we can do now is wait for Crona. I cant belive he's the one saving all of London." Maka said.
"Me and Barton are gonna evacuate this fake London. We can't risk any casualties down here." Chelmey said.
"Go." Jexi said.
Inside the fort, Clive watched as Crona, Celeste, Layton and Luke ran throughout the machine. "They don't stand a chance." Clive grinned.
The four kept running till they came across Flora in the center of the room. "Don't come in!" She shouted as the door shut behind them with floor tiles falling one at a time.
"You think I would make things easy for you? This is nothing. I will not stop till I get my revenge!" Clive said on a monitor.
"Quick! On that tile!" Layton said as they all jumped on a certain tile that was the only one that didn't fall.
"Wait, maybe your friends don't need to take it out. If we can remove the power source, we can shut it all down." Celeste said.
"And I have a hunch what it is. The one thing we came here to get." Crona said.
Heading down into the depths of the fortress, they came across several small cell like bodies clinging on walls with a big capsule in the center.
"Jackpot. Hope, we found several of Zygarde's cells. Now we're going to remove the…" Crona said opening the capsule, only to see the unconscious Prime Minister inside.
"Ironic isn't it? The leader of the country gets to destroy his country. Quite fitting." Clive said over the intercom.
"This is the main power center. He's using the Prime Minister to power it." Layton said as Crona reached out only for Layton to stop him. "Not wise. Its tapped into his heart. If you remove the wires quickly, you might kill him and set of the self destruct for this entire room."
"Well, what if we had something that sounds like a heart beat instead?" Celeste suggested as Crona began gathering the cells.
"This should do it." Layton said as he carefully reconnected the wires. "There. But the watch doesn't have much battery power left. We only have a few minutes to get out before it begins to crumble." Layton said.
The group hurried to the car only for Crona to look back. He then started flying as he saw the fortress begin to crumble.
"Crona! Where are you going?" Luke asked.
"I'm going to save Clive! He's not a bad guy and he doesn't deserve this!" Crona said flying up to the control room to see Clive pinned down by some fallen pipes.
"Hang on! I'm here to save you!" Crona said.
"Why? Why save me?" Clive asked.
"I used to be lead by my own thoughts, Ragnarok corrupting me. But then, I was beaten by them." Crona said remembering his battle with Maka and Soul. "Clive, you made a mistake and that's okay. We can learn from them. If we just went back in time to fix them before we make them, we wouldn't learn anything. That's why we have mistakes. Clive, you can learn from this." Crona said moving the pipes off of him.
"Thank you." Clive said as Crona grabbed him as they flew off just as the machine exploded, taking out all of the underground London.
Chelmey was then with Clive as he was arrested. "Crona, I don't know how long I'll be locked up. Might be for the rest of my life. But I promise, if I ever get out, to set things right." Clive said as he was carted off.
"Well, that's that for us, Layton. But it sucks that not one Z cell got salvaged." Jexi said.
"Actually…" Crona said holding a container of the cells. "I managed to get them all before I escaped."
"Well, excellent on your part." Hawks said. "And I congratulate you for getting that filth thrown in jail where a terrorist like him belongs."
"And what happened to Fujitora?" Emily asked.
"Transferred back. The Prime Ministers okay so there really isn't much need for him here." Chelmey said.
"Oh boy. Guys, we need to be on guard." Emily said as Dimitri approached.
"I can't believe...I caused all of this. This is the last straw. I'm closing the book on the time machine once and for all. But, there's one other thing I should mention." Dimitri said.
Celeste gasped as she started glowing.
"My time is almost up here." She said. "You've taken good care of that hat, Hershel."
"What do you mean?" Layton asked.
"I did the look up you asked me to do. There's no record of Claire ever having a younger sister." Chelmey said.
"Oh. My. Gosh. Then that means… Claire is here." Thorn said.
"Yes. In that split second before the machine exploded, it worked, teleporting her into the future. However, its only temporary. Her body is trying to go back. Back to the moment before the explosion." Dimitri said.
"Claire. I'm glad I get to say that-" Layton said before Claire stopped him.
"I know how you feel Hershel and I feel the same. But I don't belong in this time. Its time to move on Hershel, to a better future. Goodbye." She said walked off before vanishing completely.
Layton cried as he removed his hat and looked up at the snowing sky above them.
"I can't believe it's ending like this." Ruby said.
"Well, sometimes in life, there are no happy endings. Sometimes, you get some sad ones too. But its through the sad ones that we find true happiness." Jexi said.
"That's true. You get through life with nothing but flawless victories." Natsu said.
Two weeks later, the group stood at the pier as they saw Luke getting ready to board.
"So, I guess this is it. Hard to believe this is the quiet boy we met back in Misthallery." Jexi smiled to Luke.
"I'm really gonna miss that kid." Sanji said.
"He's been a really good friend." Aelita said.
"Guess we should be heading off now." Jexi said as the group began to board the ship.
Meanwhile on a crystal ridden planet, several women in pink lied on the ground defeated as Laser Man absorbed from a pink lantern.
"Love acquired. Three more energies remain before final initiative." Laser Man said before flying off. "Current Objective: absorb remaining three energies. Final Objective: Elimination of all corps."
And on another world, it was a dark city setting as a figure on a bike road across the highway with the bike braying like a horse sometimes.
To be continued in...Dimensional Heroes Legends: Durarara!
Jexi and Hope
