Chapter 10: Lilly of the Volcano

"Lord Baraggan!" one of the Fraccion, a goony, nervously asked.
"What is it that you want?"
"You see...well...it just happens that..."
"Spit it out already."
"Ryoka, outsiders, have breached Hueco Mundo's Defense and are well on their way here."
"What surprise. Why I haven't used any of you as my fodder in quite some time, perhaps its time again that I should throw you all to the enemy."
"Lord, your humor is appreciated but-"
"Who ever said anything about humor? Get at it!"
"Y-yes my lord."

Minazuki retreating into it's gaseous form, back into Unohana's katana, the Homms and the captain pass by crowds of beings. Not just humans, but of different entities. Clearly, something at large was present.

"E. Gadd, I've come back with the Princess as you've ordered. Princess, this is our head scientist, E. Gadd. He's replacing Mayuri now that he's gone off for his mission."
"Dear, E. Gadd! It's been a while since I've seen your cute pruney face, pray tell!"
"Princess! Glad you're alright! We've got quite the epidemic at hand! Shunsui my boy! You're back!"
The captain now back from Shadow Moses Island mission.
"Boy, I could definitely use a hand from this fair lady here-"
"Captain Kyoraku!" a youthful and slim female addressed her superior as the man slyly blushed, appearing to enjoy the repercussion.
"You see my highness, it's a bit more complicated than one has thought. Of course, even I have yet to understand what's happening but nothing to worry my darling. Here, have this!"
"Oh my, royal honey tea, my favorite, Gadd, thank you." she politely sipped some of her silky smooth beverage.
"This just doesn't add up professor" Shulk pondered out loud, "how is any of this possible?".
"I suggest you sit down, it's as I'm sure you can tell a long story. Uh, Shunsui..."
"Why of course!" the captain stated, "Nanao, some more tea for Shulk and his buddies!". The vice-captain grudgingly obliged to fetch some more.
"You know are names?" Reyn curiously questioned.
"Yes, you'll see it to that I know quite a lot of things, Reyn."
"Well? Shouldn't we be out and about? You know not that long ago there was this humanoid bat monstrosity going around in the Mushroom Kingdom." the homm bolstered out. "We have to-"
"If I were you, I'd listen to old man Elvis here, I donno much about this spacial paradox he's been clammering about lately, but it's our only way out of this mess right now."
"COUGH it's uh Elvin my boy, but it's alright-"
"Professor, what would you wish of us at this moment?" Unohana pleasantly barged in, wanting to know if there's an issue at hand she should attend to.
"Err..not at the moment, thank you my dar-"
"Elvis, what about me?" he playfully asked along.
"Grr...perhaps the-"
"Watch out, piping hot stuff coming!"
The homms, apparently fond of their tea asked for some cookies and sugar to compliment their drink.
E. Gadd just stared at them with a monotone face, with a hint of sarcasm and boredom as if waiting for all the interruptions to end.
"Alright then! Not long ago was I in the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom. Minding my own business. Ah, how the Lilly of the valley rose that spring. Until a black tear in the sky appeared LITERALLY out of nowhere. That made my heart skip! Me. An old man. Living at the side of an active volcano. And that thing made me afraid. Interested, I shot out one of my probes to the black hole thing. It managed to suck in some Lillies upswept by the wind so I knew it had a gravitational pull. The satellite got just close enough to analyze the anomaly. Puzzled. And bored. I threw myself into the portal. Thrilling really. I concluded with the amount of data that I got back, that it was a portal to other dimensions. Thusly, I recreated my volcano and lab in that very dimension which happens to be the one we are in right now. The Shadow Realm. When I first got here, it was a giant arctic shadowy wasteland, but oh what wonders I managed to pull off. I made the Galactic Federation, even managed to duplicate the portal to contact other dimensions to figure out the issue. Ironically, I may have caused the issue creating more portals but eh let's not get into specifics. Besides, more portals besides the ones I made were popping into existence. With the help of other scientists, we're slowly unraveling what we believe is to be a massive conspiracy."
"But how?" Dunban could only manage to utter as Reyn scratched his head, dumbfounded.
E. Gadd stepped out of his swerving chair to tilt Peach's teacup up, "Got every last drop, hun?" he asked as she nodded.
"Sorry princess, it's just that the tea wasn't just a treat but it served greater purpose. It was poisoned!...No kekeke pulling your leg princess, your tea was merely infused with micro-technology. Simply put princess, you are too valuable and important to lose in battle, so the tea was made in a a vat full of little techno-bugs that will teleport you at will back at this lab."
"That's amazing!" she applauded completely ignoring the fact that her body was tampered without consent.
"Unfortunately, there was only enough for the princess. As you will see, my fellow homms, we currently are at a life or death war."

TO BE CONTINUED...