AUTHOR'S NOTES

In spite of being pushed around, the comments don't seem to be as frequent but they still seem to be getting somewhere. Thanks though - the last chapter was fun to write.

I did hear from some people that they're starting to fall behind with the story, however. So here's what I'm going to do. At some point this month, there will be a break in the story for an intermission. I'll put forth more information when there's time.

Either way, onto the next chapter. It's time for Fletch and the gang to use the "Goose's Heart" to access the John Moors citadel. We can only wonder what would emerge from here. No new characters this time - just straight to the point.

Thanks again, I guess, even though my reader count is a bit small. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Peace out,

-Rexy-


The three o' clock bell rang, and that left me to depart from the school as quick as I could. I placed my feet upon the ground and raced to my heart's content, happy to share the news with my parents.

I would usually stop by Akumi's school and pick her up from there on the way back, but there was nothing for me to do about that. It was a Wednesday, and by that she would end up stopping over with a friend.

Either way, I managed to get back and settle down to a regular solitary routine while waiting for mother to come home. And so, two hours of my time was spent doing whatever nasty Geography homework I was given.

I was almost done when I finally saw my mother come through the door, with Akumi as well. It seemed as if she had a good time with her friend that she hung out with. As she scampered off upstairs, she came and sat down on a nearby sofa. And then I made my move, telling her about everything that happened, from the bullying through to being saved by that blonde haired boy.

"You must have had one heck of an exciting day", she spoke to me softly.

"It's nothing like that", I replied. "This is the first time that someone has cared for me outside family since the goose incident!"

I thought about the goose incident all over again; that was among one of the most terrible traumas that ended up occurring. With that, I ended up placing my arms around my mother's chest, trying to get that off my mind.

Yet, as much as I wanted a sympathetic glance from her after all that happened, her face still looked really stern and scary. With that, I frowned as I stepped back slightly.

"I've seen the strain that has managed to get to you", my mother frowned. "But do you think you took the goose too seriously?"

"No, I haven't. Honestly!"

I tried to discuss heavily with my mother about everything that happened in the past month. There was the goose attack, and then the fact that waiting for the eye to heal kept me out of school for God knows how long.

And to think, that the first thing that happened was getting bullied over my new handicap. I didn't want that to happen, but thankfully there was another boy in the playground that thought exactly the same.

I told her the story over and over again until it was etched inside her brain like it was a simple etch-a-sketch model, only this time the lines drawn on were there to stay and not get wiped off that easily.

By the end of it all, I swore that I must have strained my own voice box. Eventually, she went into the kitchen and came out with a glass of water. I paused for a bit and took two gulps of that before speaking again.

"I swear that one day I will find that kid and see if I can befriend him. He could be someone that I can confide into whenever you guys aren't around to see me."

"Are you sure that's the right logic?" she asked me oddly enough.

I thought to myself; for someone who's been confined to merely two females for the past month and has had problems associating with the other school kids on return, then YES, that WAS the right logic. She needed to realise that.

"Trust me, I will do it!"

I brought my fists into the air enthusiastically and ran straight up stairs, dashing past Akumi as she made her way down with a painting palette. I took a lot of her designer paper from a nearby drawer in her room and soon made a dash to my own bedroom desk.

I started to scribble down various images of what that blonde haired boy could be looking like when I would make my return to the playgrounds tomorrow. And then came all sorts of odd strategies to try and befriend him further, like giving him a football to play with or letting us be on the same baseball team in PE. But then, I heard Akumi and mother speaking downstairs.

"What's happened to Fletch, mother?"

"He's faced a run in with some kind of "hero" at school. I think it's just one of those days."

"I don't know, that boy he's talking about sounds genuine. Almost as if I could know him personally if I want to myself."

"Don't get any ideas, young lady. He'll get over all this in about a week or two."

"Mother!"

I rushed to the balcony and looked towards them. There they were, arguing about a predicament. MY PREDICAMENT. I never would have realised that even though she didn't physically see it, Akumi would care just as much as me.

With that, I quietly made my way back to my room, continuing to jot down whatever ideas I would come up with upon the paper. That boy wouldn't seem to escape my mind for some reason, a growing sign on how much I would want to be with him.

Yet, I know for sure that I was going to a school that consisted of several hundred kids. And to me, that would be really hard to be able to cope with. Trying to track him down in a crowd is like picking a gray hair from a blonde wig.

Odds are that there will be so many kids around in the playground. And there's so little time to meander through and find the guy for me.


Day 4

Green Goomba/John Moors District Barrier - 3:50PM

The Green Goomba district had a watery section that was on the exact opposite side of the city to where the run-down Chez Klaww shack was. There, it seemed to be a place where food was of an emphasis, with various koopas and goombas working in various fast food joints to feed whatever citizens would come by.

The scent of cheese almost distracted Fletch as he walked his way through, convinced that he hasn't eaten very much aside from scones and smoothies for the past few days or so. He brought his head up, trying to focus on the task at hand.

There, they managed to locate the castle in the distance. A thick canal separated the group from the building itself, and no matter how they would walk, there didn't seem to be a bridge or something to traverse the water.

"I think we've just come to a stop everyone", Fletch gestured.

The group looked on at the castle with the boy. And then they focused upon the water. For them, the only safe method for them could be to swim but what are the odds of surviving in such cold water for a long time?

Fletch tried to place his hand in there, but before he could, several cheep-cheeps jumped out from the water and tried to tackle it. He quickly raised it again, scared that it might happen again with catastrophic results.

"See, if we need to even reach that tower, we need to cross the water", he addressed the group. But how?"

"Does anyone see a port around here?" Jade asked as she looked behind her.

The group started to look around. A port and a boat would be really good to cross over to the other side, especially with water that thick. With that, they started to re-trace their footsteps and look among the water's edge.

A lot of wooden docks were seen as well as the occasional torn buoy, but there was no sign of a working ship anywhere. They were all broken into multiple pieces, left to sink among the water or just looked as if they were on their last legs.

About 15 minutes later, the group looked as if they were ready to just give up and try for another strategy. There was no way for them to cross at such a ridiculous state, like traversing a ruined boat over cheep-cheep infested waters.

"I can't believe that we're going to be stuck without a way to cross, unless someone here is a good daredevil swimmer", Jade signed.

"I think I may have an idea", said Sora. "If we can't walk on water, we can definitely fly over it."

Darkwing started to panic at the mention of it. "Whoa! Don't get any ideas kid! I'm not the eagle that soars above the clouds!"

"Not like that!" Sora shouted back. "Fox McCloud might have something for this task - maybe one of his flying machines can help us out. What are they called again, Arwings?"

"I suppose it's better than nothing", nodded Spider-Man. "We'll see how far we can go with him."

"Good idea, but do you know where he is?" Joanna asked. "And if so, how do we get there from this position?"

Fletch tried to answer, confident that he now knew the location of Blaze's tailors in the White Dragonfly District. But it didn't take long for him to stop, hearing a call from whatever walkie-talkie that was in Sora's pocket.

He quickly brought it out and listened carefully towards the signal. Not long after that, his eyes widened and he quickly passed the receiver to Fletch, whom took hold of it as if it was a giant brick.

"Hello?" he asked the caller.

He focused carefully on the voice at the other end of the line. The high pitched squeaks from the primitive technology tried to infect his head as if it was a bad disease, yet he still concentrated hard to receive a message.

All that the others could do was to wait patiently as they wondered what Fletch was doing with it. Yet they didn't have long to keep wondering as the signal got that intense the boy decided to take hiding behind a nearby green pipe.

Sora's face started to show concern, curious over how Fletch would take whatever news would come down from there. But it didn't remain long until he stood up and gave out a salute as he did so.

"I'll be on my way."

Quickly, he placed the antennae from the walkie-talkie down and tossed it straight back to Sora, whom caught it and placed it into one of his pockets. The boy then went back to the group with a panic-stricken face.

"Sorry guys, but we've got other business to attend to before we can get across. We need to head back to Coco's diner now!"

"But what have we done wrong now?" Ratchet started to panic. "I swear I haven't done anything hazardous to her business since the drinking incident!"

Fletch couldn't help but blink, thinking about what Ratchet might have done. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I doubt we're in trouble. Come on, we have to hurry back to her place, and quickly!"

And so, he started to speed his way back the way he came. The group were left to trail behind him as he would meander around the canal and straight back towards a set of crossroads residing nearby.

As soon as they got there, Fletch skidded in the right direction and continued to make his run down the street, until t hey faced another checkpoint. Darkwing ended up bringing out both Spyro's and Rayman's copies of Ariel's Emblem in confusion as they made their dash through.

The White Dragonfly District still looked as polished and clean as ever, leaving them to make their way straight through the meandering yet significantly more polished streets to make their way towards their destination.

"Coco, wait right there!" Fletch exclaimed while running. "We're coming for you!"

It didn't take the group long for them to end up running straight past Blaze's tailors. As they went past, Fletch placed his focus upon the front door sign. And right there it said "CLOSED" in red bold-italic letters.

His focus soon turned away from that and left him to start trailing through the rest of the district. Once again they faced another checkpoint on the way through to Rosemary Fields, and once again Darkwing showed both emblems at the gate.

They made their dash to the same public square that Fletch met Sora and Darkwing for the first time. By the looks of its unspoilt charm towards it, it wouldn't be long until they would be able to reach the diner.


After a hefty 10 minutes of running, the group went straight through the red sunset skies towards the front door of the diner. They looked on at its polished front door; Fletch started to give out a smile, while Ratchet started to look confused.

The doors were pushed open, and right in front of them they were brought into a fancy entrance. Right there, the walls were no longer dark and murky, but painted in bright citrus colors and had ceiling arcs decorated with diamonds of varying shapes.

The floor was covered in tiles and the tables had pale orange cloth going all around them. One of them was already getting covered in dark stains by Gourmet Guy, whom was seen eating a cake in a corner.

"Wow, this looks amazing!" Spidey exclaimed with surprise. "Seems to be of better quality than Club Ubi!"

"Yeah, something doesn't quite seem right", snarled Ratchet as he folded his arms. "The last time I was in this place, it was trashed after Gourmet Guy convicted me of cheating in a lemonade drinking contest."

That caused Guy's head to turn. "Hey, don't look at me! I'm not the person who spiked his own lemonade!"

With that, Guy ended up picking up a cherry on his cake and tossed it straight into Ratchet's eye, the lombax reacting with a bitter scowl as he pulled it off. He sighed and tossed it straight towards the floor. As that happened, Jade made her walk towards Coco, whom was seen at the counter.

"Are you this Coco figure that Fletch told us about?" she asked her. "And what's with the diamond display?"

"Do you like it?" she smiled. "I got so many donations from the locals that I decided to repair the diner. Then I realised there were some money and extra ornaments left over, so I did some refurbishments."

"You sure were quick decorating in the past two days or so", applauded Ratchet as he walked closer to her, "Maybe the public really do feel sorry for an elegant girl like yourself."

Ratchet leant close towards Coco, bringing his arms out ready to attempt to caress her. Yet the least he could do is get his hands positioned as the two were getting ready to do a simple ballroom dance.

Coco blushed almost instantly. "Thanks, but I don't know how Crash would react if he was here though. Regardless, I'm sure he won't mind."

Ratchet gave out a blink and looked towards one of the walls. In spite of the re-decoration, the old photograph of Crash and Coco still remained in exactly the same place it was prior to the new wallpaper applications.

Before anyone could still reminisce on that, Fletch started to edge forward, trying to make his way towards Coco. As soon as he got there, he squeezed in-between her and Ratchet, trying to make sure his hat didn't fall off.

"Anyway, we're here to try and locate Fox", he addressed. "We've been told to meet him and his gang here."

"Yes, he's in the storage room at the back. He will see you when you're ready."

Coco pointed towards a room at the back – the same one where several days before, Fletch saw Bill and Ted with a drum machine and too many mirrors to count. He gave out a twitch of the eye before he made his advancement there.

The others soon followed suit, wondering what would be there as soon as they got inside. Its dimmer lighting as shown by its entrance from the main room may not quite be welcoming, but it could be put down to it not being decorated yet.

Sora started to pace quickly towards the room. "Fox, we received your call and-"

They looked around as soon as they settled in. There were cobwebs, the mirrors in the same position as before, and Blaze seen sitting on top of a collapsed mirror. Fox and Spyro weren't too far either, trying to comfort her from opposing sides of the seating.

"What's the matter with Blaze?" asked the key bearer.

"She must have taken the latest city news really hard on herself", replied Spyro. "We tried everything we can to calm her down, but nothing seems to be working."

Fletch took a step closer, trying to analyse her facial expression. Her golden eyes seemed to show less sparkle than the usual, and her posture seemed to feel as if she was starting to head into depression rather than optimism.

Before he could try to get closer, Darkwing tried to push his way past the group, stepping on Fox's tail as he went towards her. Once onto the mirror, he brought his hand towards her cheek, causing them both to make eye contact.

"Tell me, what's the matter now?"

"I..." Blaze paused. "I don't feel like talking about it."

"Don't worry", Darkwing spoke calmly. "We won't abuse anyone or anything once you say it. We're here to comfort you every step of the way."

There, he brought out his hand again and locked it into a further embrace going across to her back. He continued to look on at her facial expression and yet it still remained to be really grim and dreary.

He once again used his hands to raise her chin and make her cause eye contact with him. But in spite of that, she still felt reluctant. Then she saw the other personnel showing similar expressions. She just had to say what was on her mind.

"It's Sonic."

Darkwing gave out a blank blink. "Who?"

Ratchet stepped forward to speak. "Sonic the Hedgehog is a friend of mine from the Imaginarium. He seems to be a frequent visitor to the tower, expressing varying wishes from challenges to other comrades to more ambitious projects like a recent one of wondering what it would be like to be a hedgehog in a real world."

Blaze focused her attention to Ratchet, whom couldn't help but show a sympathetic glance as soon as their eyes started to meet up. There, she gave off a reassuring yet timid smile back towards him.

"That cat guy's right. Sonic and I worked really hard on a videogame concept together last year, and we've remained in frequent contact ever since. At times, he was the only person I could speak to whenever I faced problems like this. Now that he's not here, I don't even know how to cope without him."

She lowered her head again, once again showcasing a grim expression across her face. Once more, Darkwing tried to embrace her, yet it soon got to the point that she started to push him away from the fallen mirror.

Eventually, he gave up and slid off, stepping on Fox's tail again on the way out. For the second time he tried not to express pain, but his face did show a painful glance upon it. Meanwhile, Spyro took his position on top of the fallen mirror, into the same position that Darkwing was before.

"Everything will be okay, Blaze", the dragon spoke reassuringly. "We've heard about three other figures from all over the city go missing in the past few days. Maybe it could be connected to here."

Blaze looked up once more. "If that's the case, I'd appreciate all the effort that's possible for you to help me. And even if he's not there, I respect you all for your words of gratitude."

With that, Blaze focused her attention onto everyone, and gave out another shaky yet upsetting smile upon her. Still feeling upset, she once again lowered her head, with Spyro doing whatever he could to comfort her.

Among the crowd, Joanna then took a step forward, taking a look at her face in a closer view. She then looked out of a nearby window – though the buildings outside obscured all view of the northern areas of the city, the tallest tower of the John Moors citadel was still in clear view.

"I think the best chance we have is uniting with Ariel and working together as soon as we can, and Fletch's spear is pointing towards the castle at the John Moors district", Joanna addressed the current situation. "But we can't get over the water."

"I know how you feel, but there is another method", smiled Fox. "I'd like you all to come round to the back of the building with me."

Fox brought himself up from the floor and started to make his walk towards the back. His treaded tail was left to hang gently as the webbed footprints upon them were left to vanish completely in the cold wind.

It didn't take long for him to completely vanish from the room itself, with the mirrors only catching the glance of him leaving the door. As soon as he exited, he took a hold of Coco's hand and brought her inside the room.

"Coco, Spyro, please reassure Blaze while I help out Fletch and his gang."

"I'm sure we will", nodded Coco. "I'll see if I can get Bill and Ted to run the counter, providing they don't spoil the decor."

And thus, Blaze, Coco and Spyro were all left alone in the room of mirrors, as Fox lead Fletch and the others out of the diner through the polished doors, straight back into the sunset skies once more.

They then went into a back alley not too far from the diner itself, and looked around for whatever Fox would gesture to. It didn't take too long until he commanded the group to make a stop near a certain corner.

Right in front of them was a large object covered with what looked like a black bin-liner cloth. There, he took a hold of it and started to reveal the contents from underneath; ready to show what can possibly be their means of approaching the water.


Meanwhile, back at the Imaginarium, the building was slowly getting restored one piece at a time. All the ashes from the gardens were removed to show fine soil, which by then the gardens were slowly being replanted.

The Guardian's Tower didn't change much at all, except among the corridor with the paintings of past Imaginarium guardians, Jak's portrait was seen amongst them at an empty spot near the sixth floor waiting area.

At the top of the stairs, Etna was seen counting pay-checks on her desk, assumingly for close accomplices in the guard. But all of a sudden, the doors opened up suddenly, showing a shadow come inside.

"It's... you?" Etna asked the figure.

The shadow stepped inside, and the figure was revealed to be a short figure wearing a black cloak around it. There was nothing that could be seen in terms of detail aside from two glowing round green eyes.

It then made its way towards Etna and sat down on a stool at the other side of the desk. Knowing that it meant business, she quickly placed away the pay checks and faced a serious expression while looking on at it.

"Etna, I have come to talk to you about the latest events", it spoke.

"Okay, so what is it this time?"

"I have been told that Fletch is on the way to the castle at John Moors. This is almost grave news - why did you give him the Spear of Visions?"

"The fact remained that the kid had potential. He can easily lure him out."

The shadow looked surprised. "...lure?"

"He's possibly still inexperienced with that thing. With the way this is going, once he's found the Emperor his journey would cease and desist. Then, while that happens, as long as Ariel's out in the open I can then go on to killing him myself. An almost ingenious plan, if you will."

"You do know that we can't get him with physical violence, right? There's only one true way that we can be removed from existence."

"I know that. I'll just tint my Elder Spear with a simple charm that will do the other procedure. I just wish there were more scientists around here to give me a hand."

With that, she stood up from her chair and made a walk towards the other side of the room. She grabbed onto her Elder Spear, which by then was sitting right next to the closet located near to her.

She picked it up, and true to her word, the tip of the spear was seen flashing from red to yellow. The shadow looked on at it, and instantly knew that she was to mean business with that weapon, yet it reverted a serious look as it was about to speak.

"I see your ambitions, but there's more we need to discuss. It could be a harder challenge than we thought, now that I lost both Axel and Praxis from the Scarlet Wolf team."

Etna gave off a stern glance towards the creature. "Are you expecting me to donate some of my prinnies to do some slave driving for you?"

She looked outside, and standing out there was one of the peg-legged penguins, assuming that was an example of a prinny. Upon hearing Etna's words, it started to jump with a whimper, before sliding down the stairs on a frying pan.

The shadow gave out a facial expression of annoyance, before shaking its fists and making its way towards Etna. By then, three dark claws were seen emerging from its long sleeves, ready to make their move.

"No, there is something else that has got me more convinced", it whispered. "Listen carefully."

The shadow made a jump straight onto the desk and used its claws to bring Etna back towards her seat. Following its advice, she took a hold of her chair and sat down, ready to absorb its words.

It brought its mouth close to her pointed ears, and started whispering inside it, using its claws to clutch gently onto her head as that happened. A strategy was being witnessed right inside Etna's ears.

After the shadow finished speaking, she leant back in her chair and thought about their words. And yet, somehow she knew that the shadow had a fine idea, to the point that she gave off a devilish smile towards the ceiling.


Back at the Rosemary Fields district, the region itself looked quiet to begin with. But it didn't take long for a rumble to be heard. Many of the passing citizens took a look around, trying to detect the source of the noise.

And from within the back alleys of the diner, a white machine started to emerge. Seconds later, it fully showed itself in the sky as a flying machine with a simple white and blue color scheme placed around it.

As soon as it found its place high in the sky, it started to head across the districts of the city as if it was nothing more than a doll's house collection. It then aimed towards the castle, which by then was looking like one of the most dominant aspects of the city.

"We're almost approaching the ruins of John Moors", Fox spoke with a determined tone. "Hold on tight everyone!"

As Fox said that, the Arwing started to cross the water. At some extent it was seen making a low dip towards it, yet as soon as one of its wings touched it, it quickly shot straight back into the sky once again.

Fletch removed his hat, brought his head out of the window and took a look at the viewpoint. The misty clouds gave him a slightly blurred focus as he looked across the city, yet the thrill of the air blowing in his face was one that gave him a smile.

"So, THIS is an Arwing", he said while retaining his expression of wonder.

"Of course this is", said Fox. "Usually it doesn't carry this many, but I've been lucky to have Peppy - I mean, Senator Hare, to modify this one specifically for air tours of the city. I'm glad this came to be useful."

Calmly, Fletch closed the window and looked on at Fox, whom gave off a smile back from the cockpit. He sat down in the seating area, which basically had a set of four seats to the west and east wings.

It didn't take long for the ship to start hovering directly over the island. The group looked through the windows, and it was there that they saw the ship's shadow among the floor. They knew that they were almost there.

"Everyone prepare for landing!" Fox commanded the others.

And so, the group were left to get back into their seats and buckled up their seatbelts if they didn't already. Fox looked at them, and as soon as he knew that they were secure, he circled the ship around the island while making a steady descent.

As soon as the ship made one lap around the citadel, it brought out its wheels and made a steeper drop towards the ground. By then, the group were seen holding on each other's hands as it came further and further to the ground.

The ship then made a stop among a beach-like area. Placing its wheels among the dunes, it skidded and made its way to a halt near a triplet of decaying trees that looked as if they didn't see leaves in years.

As soon as the ship powered down, all eight personnel made their way out into the open. Fox was the first to do so, just dispatching himself from the cockpit and making a direct landing onto the floor.

The others followed suit via forming an inflatable staircase near the passenger exit and making their way onto the dry territories themselves. They focused, and then they found their direction – a small hillside path leading to a ruin-like structure.

"Let's attend to the pedestal!" Sora exclaimed.

Darkwing jumped into the air while clicking his heels. "I call shotgun!"

Before Darkwing could make his run, the rest of the group ran straight past him, with Fox going as far as to stepping on his feet, causing him to scream. That left him to hop his way up the hill, at a slower pace than the others.

It didn't take long for them to make their way straight to the top of the hill. And right there, they were greeted by a set of stone pillars around what looked like a sundial resting within them. A small opening was seen in the middle of it, rather than a slab to allow the shadow to tell the time.

"This must be it!" Joanna shouted. "Fletch, use the Goose's Heart!"

"We believe in you!" cheered Ratchet while raising a fist in the air.

Fletch went into his rucksack and opened a small pocket. There, he took out the white stone, glistening into the sun as he looked onto it. He gave off a confident smile as he made his way towards it.

"Here we go!"

And so he made his way straight towards the heart of the ruins. He went up a set of stairs that lead towards the pedestal, with his shadow gradually shifting as the skies became redder and redder.

As soon as he got there, he then placed the stone within the pedestal. There was a wait for several seconds to see what would result from the placement of the stone, his eye as well as those for the other members of the group to show deep anticipation.

However, nothing happened.

He gave off a whimper as he took a hold on the gem itself, which somehow slid itself out from the pedestal really easily. With a frown, he tried to place it back inside, only to see the same thing happen once more.

"...what?" Fletch shouted with a confused glance.

"Fletch, what's going on?" asked Jade.

He tried to push the gem, but no matter how much force could be used, nothing would happen. He picked it up and saw the hole for itself – unlike itself, which was smooth and thin, the stone was broad and edgy.

"The gem won't fit!" he shouted to the others.

With a scream of pain, he took a hold onto the stone again and tried to place it within the hole once more. However, Fox somehow knew that he was starting to struggle his way through the procedure.

"That's not supposed to be!" he exclaimed curiously. "The Goose's Heart is made to never break and always fit into that gap. Let me take a look."

He made his walk past the other members of the group and made his way straight through towards Fletch. As soon as he got there, he made his way to the other side of the pedestal and picked up the stone.

He inspected its shape really carefully, and then he inspected the hole within the pedestal. Just like how Fletch found out, there was no way that they would be able to connect to one another that easily.

"Either someone's done some really good misshaping of the gem or this isn't the gem itself", concluded Fox.

"I don't get it", Spider-Man sighed. "Is Dimitri having us on, again?"

"Now I see why Baron Praxis would refer to him as a 'complete bastard' of a guy", Jade quoted with an irritated look.

They were about to talk upon one another about the events, when all of a sudden, a crack was heard in the air. They looked towards the east, and saw what looked like a red/green firework shoot up into the sky.

"There's no way you'll see the light of day again!"

The voice that followed from there sounded very familiar, as if they sensed the figure before. Yet it was Jade whose eyes instantly shone at the sound of it, ready to point a finger on who shouted the battle cry.

"Talk of the devil! That's Praxis!"

"So that means that he and Axel must be here!" Sora followed. "But... how?"

Fox looked at the others with a serious glance. "There's no time to figure that out. We have to hurry!"

And so they all started to run – or in the case of Darkwing, roll on his side – down the hill and towards the Eastern area of the island. The fireworks were still seen flying high, showing that there could be a lot of danger in the area where Axel and Praxis resided.

Various thoughts went through Fletch's mind – Dimitri being deceitful to the group once again, the gemstone itself having problems fitting in the pedestal, and now it could be pure danger to try and get around the citadel itself.

But those thoughts had to be placed right behind him if he and the gang needed to stand a chance at saving them both. No matter how they survived crossing the water, it was him and only him and his accomplices that would assure that the pair would escape from the island.


Near the other side of the island, there stood to be a tall back door around another side of the citadel. Surrounding it were several shadowed creatures, many of which wielding long dreadlocks for hairstyles.

Standing nearby were Axel and Praxis, both of them with their respective swords withdrawn, used for the purpose of offence and defence. One of the shadowed creatures made their move, and tried to tackle Axel straight on.

He used his chakrams to block it off before he tried to attack it by brute force. But before anything could happen, the figure suddenly vanished from view and re-appeared near one of the citadel's walls.

"These guys are too fast!" complained Axel. "How are we to cope with them?"

Praxis instantly turned towards his partner. "I'm sure they'll get weaker sooner or later. It'll happen!"

The creatures started to make their raid once again, jumping straight towards the two of them. This time, Praxis was on hand to use his sword to block the group and attempt to attack, yet once again they vanished before he could even touch them.

He looked around for the shadows that vanished, yet it didn't take long for a white glow to distract his attention, shining into his remaining good eye with a powerful glare. A shadow was seen charging a plasma blast in its own two hands.

"Duck!" Axel shouted with his eyes widening.

The plasma blast was launched, and in an instant, Praxis managed to duck towards the ground, with Axel charging from behind and using his chakrams to deflect the blast straight into the sky, before suddenly transforming into a man-made explosion of lightning.

He charged towards the creature once more, holding his chakrams with his arms spread wide, but it wasn't until further footsteps started to distract his attention. He looked up towards one of the hillsides, and noticed Fletch making his approach.

"Guys, what's going on?" he asked them both.

He attempted to slide down one of the hillsides, but before he could even do that, he was brought to a sudden stop by Fox, whom managed to keep him in one place. All that resulted were some debris falling down the slope and in a crumpled heap on the level ground.

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to show up near the edge of the cliff. Eventually, they all had to come down thanks to Darkwing hopping a step too far and ending up rolling down the slope, coming near Axel's feet.

"Tell me!" Fletch continued to plea. "We can help you!"

"Kid, we tried to break open the entrance to the fortress by force", Axel began speaking, "and these guys just came out of nowhere!"

Axel pointed straight on at the shadowed creatures, and right there they steadily approached the group with such menacing postures around them. Many of which remained on level ground, while the others made their pacing among the citadel walls.

"I can see how gruesome they look", Fletch frowned. "How do you think we should tackle them?"

"Whatever you do, brute force might not work", said Praxis as he shook his head. "We tried that, and look at the consequences!"

The Baron pointed towards a pair of shadows at the back, one of which attempting to poke the other's stomach. But before that could be done, it vanished and re-appeared directly behind him, giving out an ear-piercing cackle.

Their very actions left Fletch to show a more uncertain facial expression than the usual, as he took a tight grasp around his spear and made a further walk towards the monsters. There seemed to be a lot to tackle in one do.

"We need to test every little gray cell we've got if we need to outsmart these guys", blinked Fletch. "But I don't get how we should get around them."

"Don't worry about a thing", Fox followed. "We can work together on this once we put our minds to it."

Fletch looked behind him and saw Fox showing as much as a determined glance as he is. Though, unlike Fletch whom seemed to be keen to fight, Fox spent more time analysing his opponents while squinting one of his eyes.

"Besides, there are just as many monsters as there are people here", summarised Fox. "We should be able to make quick work of them in their entirety."

"Hmmm", Fletch pondered quietly.

Fletch was left to do the same. And true to Fox's word, there were ten shadows, enough for everyone present to take a creature apiece. Having seen that, the boy gave out a confident smile upon his face.

And then, he walked slightly closer, being careful not to get too close to the range of the standing shadows as he did so. The others looked on at him as if he was ready to make a gigantic risk towards the rest of the team.

"If we'll take your word for it, I'm all in. Let's get in there!"

He raised his spear into the air and pointed it forward, where by then it started to glow with a more mood-settling white color around it. The others steadily followed him as they made their approach.

As soon as they were about 5 feet away from the creatures, they brought their bodies into combat stances, with the monsters doing the same. Fletch brought out his hands to signify them to prepare to fight them.

And then he raised them into the air, causing the group to branch off into two separate packs among the two shadows. That left Fletch to duel with one last shadow – one that stood directly into the center.

There, it withdrew what looked like a lance made out of darkness. Fletch and the creature were then seen combating in a small duel, trying to make their way towards inflicting straight damage towards one another.

Back with the others, Jade and Joanna somehow managed to eliminate their targets early by using whatever weapons they could to strike them in any old location. They both went on to help out Ratchet and Darkwing respectively.

"How do you like this, bad boy?" Fletch taunted the creature that he combated against.

Fletch continued to jump around the creature, which continued to swing its weapon with all of its might towards him. He retaliated by further using his own spear to try and strike him upon the front.

However, unlike the other shadows that would vanish upon contact, the spear's tip ended up sinking into its stomach like it was being pushed through play-dough. The creature then inflated its belly, causing Fletch to be sent flying back a few feet.

"Crikey, your front seems tough!"

As a result, he tripped up over a rock and fell onto his back, skidding back a further few inches. It didn't take long for him to get back up on both feet, still wielding his spear and ready to make his walk towards it again.

He ran towards the monster and once again proceeded to attack. But before he could even do that, the creature itself used its lance to further attempt to strike Fletch upon any of his stable body parts. Yet he reacted by taking a hold of its head and frog-leaping over it.

"Missed me!" he giggled while doing the jump.

He landed on the floor steadily, sending his spear directly behind him. But as he did so, a pop sound was heard. He looked behind him, and saw his spear etched within the creature's back, causing it to dissolve into ash and leave to blow in the wind once settled on the floor.

"Wait, I might have figured it out!" Fletch shouted excitedly.

The shout caused the Baron to make a stop in his tracks. "What?"

"Try hitting the back, not the front! You might have missed the point completely!"

Praxis looked on at the creature that was making its approach towards him. Though significantly smaller than the creature that Fletch thought, there was something about its teeth that still looked vile and deadly.

But before any damage could be caused, that too was starting to dissolve into nothing. Showing up from right behind it was Axel, whom had a confident glance as his chakrams glistened in the deep sunset skies.

"Got it memorised?" he asked Praxis with a devious tone.

"Shut up", sighed the Baron.

There, Praxis was determined to use his sword to strike his comrade upon the head, but that was before another roar was heard. Another shadowed creature was being seen, starting to make a threatening approach towards them with footsteps of thunder.

Its shadow soon covered the two of them, as it got ready to make its sweep straight down towards the pair. Its jaws started to show a menacing white glow upon them, leaving them both to hold onto their respective weapons and step forward themselves.

"Let's take care of business!" Axel commanded his partner.

And there, they both made a direct run towards the back. Yet in spite of its size, the creature continued to turn itself around to the point that they are left unable to harm its back. But it didn't mean that all could be lost.

As graceful as they could, they both slid underneath the creature's legs like penguins sliding on snow. And as soon as they got to the other side, they used their weapons to attack the monster on the back and leave it to dissolve into nothing.

"Bite the dust!" shouted Ratchet from another area of the clearing.

The lombax himself was having an easier ride with one of the creatures, the one he fought in particular being one that is just about his own size. He withdrew his spanner and used it to block whichever bullet attacks can even touch it.

And then he was able to make his move. He took his position among one of the smaller rocks around the area, made a leap from there over the creature and used his wrench to strike the creature from behind.

"That wasn't as tough as I was expecting!" Ratchet smiled confidently.

"These guys seem to be quick on their feet too!"

Ratchet looked around and looked straight on at Spider-Man, whom seemed to have his own hands full with another one of the shadows. There he was, jumping from rock to rock, using his web stream to try and slow it down.

But no matter what, the shots would either completely miss the shadows or go straight through them, even if he did try to shoot them from the back. The creature then retaliated by making a leap towards him, causing him to leap his way towards the south of the clearing.

"I need a hand here!" Spidey exclaimed from his current position.

All that Spidey could do was wait patiently as he saw the creatures come closer and closer towards him. All he could do is sigh as he waited for the creatures to do whatever is possible to pummel him.

But all of a sudden, the creature froze and faded into ashes, just like many of the others. Spidey looked over the ashes and somehow saw Fox behind the creature, with his pistol pointed straight ahead at Spidey.

"There you go", he said with a determined glance. "One defeated monster just like that!"

Spidey showed a face of gratitude. "Thanks Fox!"

Fox gave out a confident smile as he went on to tackle the remaining creatures. Though he wasn't the one that would single-handedly take them all on, they still evaporated within the space of a few seconds between them.

It didn't take long until the level ground area was almost completely empty. The group then looked on ahead, and right there they saw the last remaining shadow, standing sheepishly near the citadel's back door.

"There's just one more left", gestured Fletch. "We need to make sure it doesn't go very far."

Darkwing gave out a light chuckle. "This figurehead is ours for the taking!"

The duck started to make his charge towards the creature, almost confident that he could be able to tackle it head on. The creature, however, responded by standing completely still as if it was a zombie.

But before any collisions could even happen, it raised its hands into the air, causing what looked like a bright yellow plasma bolt shoot itself from around the ground, quaking the ground and making its move towards Darkwing like a mole in the ground.

"Yaieee!!!" he screamed as he tried to escape from the plasma bolt's grasp.

It didn't take long for him to run as far as one of the cliff faces. And as soon as he got there, he ended up taking hiding there, as the bolt somehow started to fade straight into nothing. No matter what, the action left him to shake his tail feathers while covering his head with his hands.

"Darkwing!" Joanna shouted towards him. "Let me give you a hand!"

She then jumped straight forward and used her pistols to attack it when it was spinning around, on the hope that she would catch its back. She soon made her way directly over it, knowing that she'd have it cornered.

But she tried to shoot it on the back; yet before it would get struck, it jumped straight up and landed near Darkwing, pulling a raspberry. Joanna continued to shoot, but the creature jumped again, with the bullets landing near Darkwing's tail feathers.

"Mind my feet!!" he exclaimed loudly while stamping his webbed feet on the ground.

With a blush and a growl showing on her face at exactly the same time, she made a giant leap towards the creature. This time around, she placed her pistol away, jumped to the side of the creature and kicked it from behind.

The creature, like the other nine before it, dissolved into black ashes, leaving them to trail within the wind. That left Joanna to give off a confident smile as she made her walk straight towards the middle of the clearing.

"Just like that", she smirked while walking away from the scene. "This is why I'm referred to as Perfect Dark."

Ratchet looked on at her with a leer. "I just wish you'd stop being all smug like that."

Ratchet was left to growl at her, but before he could do anything about it, Spider-Man came from behind and held his arms into place before any fisticuffs could ensue. All that the lombax could do was growl on at him.

While that happened, the rest of the group started to make their way towards the citadel's back door. And right there, the neon lights that graced it started to turn into a shade of blue rather than the standard green they were currently graced with.

"So, now that the monsters are gone, does that mean we can actually get through?" Sora asked the others.

Darkwing gave out a broad smile as he approached the key bearer. "If that's the case, you know that I will be the propaganda with all the news to sell to the tabloids!"

Upon the mention of that, Darkwing jumped straight into the air and clicked his heels together, knowing that he would return from the island with a tale to tell. However, all that Sora showed was a face of confusion.

"I don't know what you mean by that" he replied, "but regardless of what has happened, the door hasn't budged. No matter what we do, it could be dangerous to find a way inside."

He turned straight back towards the doors, with the colour transitioning still occurring. The sight of them would leave him to wonder how it would affect the door and whether the group in general would get access inside.

But all of a sudden, the neon lights started to turn into an intense shade of red and two hatches from the side opened up, bringing out a foghorn from each of them. The sight left the group to collectively take a step back.

"Then again", Sora began again, "we still might not be safe OUTSIDE."

Jade suddenly pointed straight up. "Look!"

Jade gestured towards the edges of the island, where coming out from the ground, slowly but steadily, were pairs of golden electrodes pointing straight up into the sky. Her face started to show concern upon their arrival.

"Trespassers detected", spoke a monologue computer generated voice. "Prepare for elimination in two minutes."

By then, the rods were completely out of the ground, with blue openings showing upon them, revealing silver poles that will interconnect with one another. Even the island was starting to heat up steadily.

"This can't be good for us!" panicked Fox. "How are we to escape from here?"

Fletch took a hold on his torso as he ran. "We need to run back to the Arwing, now!"

"There's not even enough time for that! We can't leave the island in that stretch of time!"

But Fletch didn't listen. He started to make his run out of the area by reaching the hill he was on later. But by the time he got there he ended up realising that no matter how fast he can run, it would be impossible to climb the hill and return to the Arwing in time.

At that moment in time, the ground was starting to heat up intensely, as well as have a more gritty texture when walking upon. Fletch tried to wonder what was going on; however, before he could come to any conclusion, Axel quickly took a hold of his shoulders and dragged him aside.

"Quick, take the boat!"

Fletch paused with a blank expression. "The boat?"

Axel pointed straight ahead, to the most direct south direction. And lo and behold, there was what looked like a cross between a catamaran and a speedboat. There was a dock and a small mast right on top of the ship, with a staircase leading underneath it to a lower floor.

Axel and Fletch ran together towards it, hoping to get onto it before the time limit expires. As that happened, Praxis quickly dashed through the rocks by using the remaining sliding dunes to help him get through to the ship's docking bay.

"Hop on, before you're turned to next Thanksgiving's dinner!"

As quickly as possible, Fletch jumped onto Axel's back, leaving them both to come straight onto the ship together. While the latter landed firmly on both feet, the landing caused the boy to lose his grip and fall onto his back onto the floor.

Fox followed suit by doing the same dune-sliding technique that Praxis did, only to come up short in the leap onto the ship's deck, leading him to hold onto the edge of the barge. Axel was there to help him up onto the ship.

"Trespassers to be eliminated in 5... 4... 3..."

Spider-Man managed to come on safely by using his web stream to connect to the ship's mast and catapult himself onto the dock, being careful not to land on anyone upon landing. Ratchet followed in a similar fashion with a Slingshot gadget – a four-pronged and versatile variation on a grappling hook.

Darkwing tried to do the sliding technique down there, but he only just failed to reach the ship's edge and fell straight into the water. That left him to be used as a stepping stone for Jade, whom made her ascent by holding her Dai-Jo and allowing for Spider-Man to hoist her up with his web stream.

"2... 1..."

Joanna and Sora made their way, with the former climbing on top of the keyblade master as they reached the edge of the island. Darkwing made his way back onto dry land and climbed onto the pair of them so that they were in a stack. As they collectively held each others' hands and feet, the others pulled them all onto the boat, making sure that they would end up firmly onto the ship.

"Electric floor activated."

The dunes were quickly blown away from the floor, revealing metallic grated floor upon the ground. A charged glow of white light started to shine all around it, leaving the group to think about what would happen if they remained there.

The electrodes were next to follow in that direction, now connected into a set of inter-linking fences around a huge proportion of the island. At that instance, the light intensity was getting to be brighter than a dozen suns altogether.

And then, sparks started to fill the area. The electric floor was set alight, as were the fences. To their knowledge, they would then know that the entire island was cast under a wave of death threatening electric energy.

All that Fletch could do was watch on with a reflective and solemn look at the light as the ship made its departure, heading through the southern waters towards the main population areas of the city.

"So it has come to this. If we ever go back to that citadel, things will be even more dangerous than ever."

"We must not give up hope", said Jade as she came closer. "Just because we can't traverse the ground on foot doesn't mean we can find a good flyer that can help us deactivate the fields if possible."

Jade looked towards the skies, on the hope of finding a perfect creature that can help out with that. But with there being no sign of such a creature, she ended up sitting down and looking on at the others.

"Fox, do you have any ideas?" Joanna asked him.

Fox placed a hand to his chin and stroked it gently. "I guess Spyro can hover above the ground, though not for extended periods of time. The last time I checked, he could end up touching the ground again after 30 seconds."

"Well, excuse me for asking", she replied with a disappointed look while folding her arms.

Fox extended one of his hands to stroke her back carefully. "Don't worry about it. I appreciate your opinions in coming around, but I still think there are some stronger flyers here."

With a small sigh, Joanna made her way straight to Jade, exchanging a similar facial expression upon her. By then, the waters under the boat started to feel significantly calmer, being of easier comfort to them both.

Most of the male party members ended up coming towards Fletch eventually, making their pacing directly over to his side. Spidey in particular managed to reach into Fletch's rucksack, and pulled out the gem that he tried to place in the pedestal.

"And even if we do try to break down the barrier", Spidey addressed, "how will we get through and put the Glass Heart on the pedestal, even if this is a fake?"

"Let me try and analyse it", Axel gestured as he steered the ship. "Praxis, you drive."

"I'm on it."

Axel released his grip on the wheel, leaving Praxis to take a hold of it and steer the team towards the city's inner regions. That left the former to walk towards both Fletch and Spidey and pick up the gem.

With an eye squinting as he looked on at it, he observed the structure of the gem as hard as they could. Yet, there was something about the lack of reflections of himself upon the surface that would tell him more than he would have wanted to see.

"Wait a sec, this is barely a diamond!"

"It is?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"It looks more like a carved pearl than a genuine diamond", sighed Axel. "Dimitri must-"

"-be having us on", Spidey finished his sentence. "We already know that."

"But if Dimitri doesn't have the diamond, or might not know where it is, where else can we look for one of those things?" Fletch questioned the others.

"You've got a point", Darkwing spoke with a shaky tone. "We can't traverse the entire city looking for such random diamonds to fit in that gap."

"Of course", Axel conversed bitterly, "especially with an almost awkward shape like that!"

With a growl, Axel slammed the gem onto the ground, causing Fletch to startle and pick it up from its landing. He took a tight grip upon it, and placed it straight back into his rucksack, where it should reside for a while longer.

After that, he went towards a nearby seating area, looked over the edge and looked towards the water. Unlike his joyful expression when riding Fox's Arwing towards the island, his facial expression looked more subdued, knowing that he was unable to get inside the citadel.

"We're facing a fork in the canal", yelled Praxis. "Where should we go, Fletch?"

Fletch looked up from his position, and onto Praxis, whom was gesturing at the area of the waters they reached. On one side of the fork was a way through some watery areas of the White Dragonfly District. On the other was a route through green pipes, presumably through the Green Goomba District.

Yet, Fletch's attention remained on the shape of the gem to fit inside the hole, and how pure a diamond it should be for it to fit. Those thoughts remained in his mind, and after several seconds of silence, he stated a target destination.

"Coco's Diner."

-end of chapter-