CHAPTER 12: Two Fathers, One Son

"I cannot frickin' believe this," muttered a wide-eyed and incredulous Faith Lehane as she stared at a very sheepish and awkwardly apprehensive Pluto, but then again, any sentient being would be uncomfortable if subjected to a wide array of stares and glares of amazement and suspicion from a wide group of people.

"It makes sense though," Hank said slowly, silently kicking himself for not realizing it sooner, "That Heartless chased Pluto when we first saw him, the gifts of the Keyblades and magic appeared only a few days after Pluto was allowed to live here in the Pit…the Organization considered the canine a threat because he is a threat to them! He wields weapons and can bequeath them to people of his choosing that were made specifically to fight against the forces of the Thirteenth Order! Stars and garters, Pluto may very well be the answers to our prayers!"

"Here's the question though: why?" Piper Halliwell pointed out.

It was early night at the Pit, and after Cover Girl had been released from the infirmary and an unconscious yet stable Roadblock was resting and monitored by Lifeline and Bree, Cover Girl was brought up to speed about the events with Xaldin and Fred by Dragonfly while Hawk, realizing the breakthrough of developments, contacted all the necessary allies. Professor Xavier, Logan, Storm, and Hank from the X-Men, the senior members of the Justice League, the Charmed Ones, Jenny Calendar and Quentin Blud of the Ghostbusters, Robin and Bumblebee from the Titans, and Giles, Faith and Willow from the Scoobies. General Whithalf and the Starr brothers went back to the West Coast army base after Hawk made them understand to swear secrecy, especially since the more people who learned about Pluto, the more likely the secret would reach the wrong set of ears, especially anyone connected to the Hellfire Club or the Joes' various enemies. Allo for some reason, though Hawk contacted him, did not answer back, so the Joe leader was forced to start the meeting without him.

After Hawk and the Misfits retold the specific happenings of Roadblock's infection with the Hellfire Heartless pods, their allies then all were amazed and astounded to say the least when they learned that Pluto was the main reason behind the gifts given to the Misfits. Even the usually stony and emotionless Quentin and Batman had to raise an eyebrow. Apparently, the hound's appearance was very deceiving.

Unfortunately, it managed to raise more questions than answers at any rate.

"The problem is that it still doesn't explain how is it possible that this mere canine had powers and abilities beyond any earthly realm," Superman said wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Nor does it explain where Pluto came from and who on Earth had bequeathed him these powers and the Keyblade in the first place."

"But it does explain why only the Misfits have been given the stuff and help in the first place," Logan said gruffly, his arms crossed over his broad chest, "It's because the mutt's been staying around the Misfits and was available to hand out those newfangled powers to them."

Though he didn't show and though he was glad that the Misfits had been able to rescue their parents and help protect innocent lives, the Professor of the X-Men couldn't help but feel a small stab of jealousy. His X-Men were mutant warriors too, perhaps even more efficient and, on the whole, a more coordinated and powerful team that was just as dedicated and experienced to fighting the Heartless. If only Pluto would have been inclined to stay with the X-Men…

Charles Xavier shook his head, mentally chastising himself for thinking such thoughts. He was grateful that their side had now powerful tools and allies in the fight to save the world from the Gathering, and as such, he should be happy for the Misfits and Joes. It just simply wasn't meant to be, and the mentor and leader of the X-Men should have been fully happy for General Hawk that he had not lost a single one of his men and women to the Heartless. Martian Manhunter then turned, fixing his solemn yet worried eyes on the Professor, feeling some turbulent emotions within the human's thoughts (though it was unintentional on J'onn's part).

J'onn asked with concern and empathy, "Are you all right, Charles?"

The Professor gave a small and sheepish smile, realizing his was projecting out his emotions, and said, "Yes, I am fine. I just…needed to remind myself of a few things about this affair. Thank you for your concern, my friend."

J'onn nodded, relieved but still a bit cautious. Meanwhile, Quentin, the Charmed Ones, Jenny Calendar, and Willow were scrutinizing the canine with several magical spells. Willow stared at Pluto while invoking several magical probes all around the body of the dog, feeling with her senses if she could detect anything malicious or any aura relating to the distinct and otherworldly auras of the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order. Pluto, deep down, could have fought against the magical spells being woven around him, but he knew that the allies and those that fought against the side of the Heartless were being careful and that he shouldn't hold it against them. The golden-furred animal fidgeted a bit in discomfort before Willow stopped her investigation and sighed, her white hair now changing back to its normal red shade.

The witch of the Scoobies shook her head as she announced, "Nothing. I can't detect anything about the dog, which happens to be confusing in itself. I mean, Pluto is not only no mere dog, but he's magically shielded, so that not a whole lot of witches and warlocks can detect him. Which doesn't include that he's been giving out these Keyblades and magical powers that can actually hurt Heartless more so than any other sort of magic that has ever been on Earth since the magical world existed. It could be that Pluto is really some sort of God disguised in the form of an animal, like how Glory was disguised in the form of a girl and Ben. Or it could be that Pluto is really a force of the cosmos that can alter the effects of reality like the Avatars the Charmed Ones tangled with. Or maybe Pluto is a conduit from another dimension who is merely giving gifts while being ordered from a higher power. Or perhaps - "

"Is he evil, Willow?" sighed Giles, the Watcher now rubbing his head from the unconscious babbling and interrupting the Scooby's tirade gently. Willow blushed, embarrassed, before she shook her head.

"No, Pluto isn't evil, Giles. Of course, it could be the possibility that he is and that he's too powerful for me to tap into and investigate thoroughly. That has happened before," the witch confessed. That was true; there were certainly wicked forces in this dimension and universe that Willow could never match up against. The Halliwells finished chanting several of the most powerful spells they could think of, including the "The Power of Three will set us free…" incantation before they too stopped and looked back at the allies.

"Our powers cannot detect anything malicious either," Paige sighed, "And before coming over here, we've been looking into the Elder's citadel archives along with Sandra and Leo as well as our Book of Shadows to see if perhaps Pluto is one of the mythological and powerful dogs in the magical history. Though there are a few such as the hunting hounds of Artemis or the Cerberus of the Underworld, I think it's safe to say that Pluto doesn't fit any of those descriptions."

"Not to mention I have recently talked to the Gods about this," Wonder Woman said, "They have no idea about the Heartless or the Organization Thirteen, so if they in their history have never experienced those threats before, it would be highly unlikely that Pluto would have been sent by them. They wouldn't have created those Keyblades in the first place…or sent Disney characters to mortals."

"And the Powers That Be are worried as well," Jenny Calendar added, "Pluto's magical signature is not part of any realm they are aware about, so in a way, the dog is like the Heartless in that he is a foreign invader of some sort. He may not be evil like Ms. Rosenberg has verified, but he is dangerous enough to be a possible threat."

"If he was a threat, he wouldn't be helping us to begin with, Ms. Calendar," protested Wanda heatedly.

"But we still don't know if Pluto is on our side or not," Green Lantern then said at last, narrowing his eyes on Pluto, "Let's face it: this easily smells like a dog-version of the Trojan Horse and the fact that the mutt is shielded in his body and mind should be red flags right there. Yes, he gives the Misfits weapons and helps them save the Joes, but is he doing it because it's for his benefit or for the world's?"

He had a point.

Batman just carefully and coolly studied Pluto, his eyes scrutinizing, as Pluto glared back at the dhampir, wondering and his mind making careful connections and distinctions based on the facts he had. Could it be possible that Pluto's was in connection to the King that the Organization eluded to mysteriously, the same King that Leomon serves? It made sense, given that the symbols of a crown on Trinity's scanners and Althea's staff were given by Pluto, and a crown was synonymous with royalty. And Pluto appearing so soon after Leomon's arrival practically cinched it. But were the other Disney characters part of the connection too? And could they possibly mean that they came from the same force that was bequeathing Pluto and the Keyblades? In that case, could it be possible that the being, this 'King', that the Organization was fighting against was…?

Batman slightly shook his head, drawing the attention of General Hawk, Giles, and Bumblebee.

"Batman, you OK?" Karen asked, the Titan thoroughly concerned. After all, this was the most she ever saw Batman to discouraging himself.

"Just thinking of a possibility of who sent Pluto to us and dismissing the idea, Bumblebee. It is ridiculous, so don't bother," he said brusquely.

Hawk raised an eyebrow while Giles then offered in, "I daresay that, to quote Sherlock Holmes, 'when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'."

Batman just gave the British Watcher a dry look but didn't say anything in return.

"I refuse to think that, yo!" Todd said fervently, shaking his head, "After all, Pluto's done a lot more for us than Falco and Octavia done for us, even though they're against the Thirteenth Order too! Hell, Pluto's even a better friend than Leomon!"

Lance gave the frog-teen a dirty look, one corner of his mouth turned downwards, but still didn't say anything.

"Other than that, there's probably still some magic left in Pluto that he needs to give," Althea said wearily, turning her white and clear staff in her hands over and over.

"What makes you say that?" Robin asked, piqued.

"Because of the rainbow-colored ring that encircles the main symbol of the heart with the lock inside the head of my scepter," Wavedancer explained, "The other Misfits and me looked at it, and we all agreed that so far, for some reason, it depicts what sort of magic there is to learn to help take down the Heartless. Like clockwork, each time a Misfit got his or her magic from Pluto, it derives a symbol on our foreheads before that weirdo voice speaks to us and tells us what to do."

"All the more reason why this smells like we're being set-up," the Slayer Faith commented suspiciously, "I mean, whoever this dude is, why ain't he showing up here and now and fighting the baddies, y'know? Why hide and give us practically jack from nowhere and let us do the dirty work?"

No one had an answer to that.

"All right, then let's go through what sigils and symbols have been used," Xavier stated, ticking them off his fingers and thinking thoroughly in his brain, recalling all past facts from recent meetings with the Joes, "Althea, I believe you and Todd harness the blue and orange symbols, meaning that they represent your magic of water and thunder, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right, yo," nodded Toad.

"And the pink one that's next in the list?" Hawkgirl asked, leaning over and taking note of the multi-colored ring.

"That's us!" chimed in the Delgado Triplets eagerly with pride, "That symbol represents time magic. And our favorite color too!"

"Gee, we would have never guessed," drawled Althea sardonically and condescendingly at her sisters, earning three faces as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany stuck their tongues out and razzed Wavedancer.

"The brown one is mine, representing the earth magic, or 'Gaia' as the voice called it," Avalanche jumped in.

"Gaia? Like what Leomon calls whenever he uses his attack? That 'Fist of the Beast King'?" Robin asked, his eyes narrowing behind his mask. Another puzzle piece that hinted exactly where the lion swordsman came from and what possible intentions he had regarding them and the Organization. Lance nodded.

"And the green one? Xi, I presume, that's your Woodra magic?" Green Lantern asked, looking at the lizard Misfit who nodded eagerly.

"And the silver and red crests, rationally, must stand for wind and fire, which happens to be the magic kingdoms given to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch," Ororo said, remembering what she been briefed.

"And that leaves the light-blue symbol which stands for the ice magic, Blizzaga, when Lina used it to free me from my infection with the Heartless," Cover Girl stated, shuddering slightly at the horrific memory.

"You know, I have to wonder why ice is considered different magic and a different element from water," mused Daria, "I mean, isn't ice pretty much frozen water?"

"No, I think it counts as a new element itself since ice represents the cold, but water is generally different in that it represents the liquid form but it doesn't represent the cold necessarily," Quinn mused.

"So if we use ice magic on a water Heartless, does that make the Heartless immune or will it be effective?" Brittany joined in.

Superman fought the urge to groan at how easily the Triplets got sidetracked in this serious discussion as he said loudly, "Getting back to what is important…Blob, I believe that leaves the purple symbol to be yours?"

"Yep, Gravira Kingdom!" chimed in Fred happily, "The magic of gravity!"

"Not one word, Pietro…" growled Lina, Xi, Lance, and Cover Girl as the four of them saw their resident speedster about to open his mouth (the spell Genie cast on him had worn off an hour ago). Quicksilver decided it was better to not tempt fate.

"That leaves one left then," Wonder Woman said, tapping the crystal clear orb of glass on the head of Althea's staff, "This small yellow symbol, the very last sigil in the ring…"

After a few seconds of silent thought, everyone turned and looked at Justin who was the last and only Misfit on the mutant team to not have gained any magical powers. Whitelighter blinked innocently before he gulped, wanting to make sure the reasons why everyone was scrutinizing him.

"Uh…" he stammered, nervous.

"What's the matter chubby-cheeks?" joked Pietro, "Don't you wanna fight?"

Justin gave a shamefaced and conflicted look as he averted his gaze from the group, his unspoken answer pretty much obvious. Quicksilver then felt his humor fade only to be replaced with surprise.

"You're…serious?" the albino Misfit realized, taken aback for once.

"I'm not sure," confessed Whitelighter, "I…someone else can take the magic if they want. It's just that fighting in this war is scary, and I'm not exactly eager to go leap into an endless war with the Heartless because I'm scared of fighting. Going into the battle with Apokolips and Trigon and the Turok-Han was terrifying enough, but now that I actually have time and a chance to see what's coming, I'm not sure if I want to. I…I joined because I wanted to control my powers, but fighting in a war is really nerve-wracking. But at the same time, I don't want to leave you guys either."

As truthful as this answer was, most of the crowd couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in Justin's answer (General Hawk and Pluto being the most let down). Lina however managed to smile and show her understanding like a true friend.

"Hey, don't feel guilty about it, Whitelighter," the female medic-in-training encouraged softly, "I mean, what sort of normal person says they want to be in the front-line of a war when first asked that? Everyone gets scared at some point, and unlike some people, fighting isn't something you're born to do. Really, don't feel bad about how you're hesitant."

Justin smiled back gratefully, glad his friends weren't offended and angry, as Blind Master enveloped an arm around the Misfit's shoulders for comfort. Hawkgirl then raised a good point.

"Actually, it's not such a bad idea," she mused, "We could ask Pluto to give more of the people in different groups magic to help fight the Heartless and balance out the distribution, especially since it would be a great help considering that only the Misfits have the tools needed to fight in the war. It's too risky to just solely depend on a single group to fight the Organization like this. It would be an easy weakness to exploit."

"That I have no qualms with considering that it would be difficult for the Misfits to be everywhere at once and that needing to all stay together as one group to fight against the Heartless menaces would be extremely difficult," Hawk conceded. The Misfits didn't appear too pleased at these remarks, and sensing this, Spirit explained gracefully.

"We are not downplaying your importance nor showing that we don't trust you, young ones," the Native American Joe said strongly, trying to lessen the tension, "But keep in mind that you are all relatively young and far less capable of protecting the planet by yourselves than if we were able to distribute the powers Pluto has in order to lessen the burden and give all of us a greater chance of surviving the Gathering of Twilight."

The mutant teenagers had to grumpily admit that one, and Shipwreck then turned to the golden furred dog, asking strongly, "Hey, Pluto, I know this may seem rude and all, but can you? C'mon, boy! It'll help all of us if you can give magic and Keyblades to the League and Titans and X-Men and Ghostbusters too. And you know they're good people just like us, so why not? C'mon, boy, do it for the others too."

There was an anxious silence as everyone looked at Pluto for a second before the dog frowned and shook his head, actually displaying a very human-like expression of disagreement as he gave a negative and furious bark. Everyone's eyes lit up in surprise and offense.

The Flash then started to show some impatient ire as he actually zoomed up in front of the Disney character and demanded in an angry tone, obviously not in the mood for games, "OK, you little flea-toting, Disney copyright infringement, we're pretty much sick and tired of all this Heartless crap that Organization Thirteen has been pestering us for the past several months! So quit playing dumb and help us! If you're not against us, then you better give us some additional help if you know what's - !"

Flash was then cut off by an angry growl as Pluto bared his teeth, his playful eyes no longer innocent but narrowed and defensively furious, his fur bristling like a porcupine's back, as he hunched against the wall and snarled at the Justice League member. It was pretty obvious that the canine wasn't going to let the speedster touch him, and the Misfits were a bit shocked considering that this was the first time they had ever witnessed the friendly and affectionate animal to show anger.

Logan then decided to establish his point as he casually brought out his adamantium claws in one hand with a shikt, saying coolly, "I'd advise you to watch and remember where you are, runt. Listen up good: since we have no idea why you're doing this or exactly who sent ya' and where you came from, it's a safe bet that I say not all of us are willing to trust ya', a mangy mutt who happens to look like something from a Disney cartoon. Keep in mind, you're here on good terms 'cause we're letting ya, but it'll be wise for you to not piss us off considering we can make a fur rug outta ya' in three seconds flat."

Pluto growled before, to everyone's surprise, he bolted from his position and hid behind the Misfits, giving a dark look to Wolverine. Fred blinked before he said in the dog's defense, "Hey, Wolverine, maybe we should let Pluto alone. I mean, Pluto's done nothing to help us, and he doesn't deserve being treated like that."

"Fred is right," mused Low Light, "It'll be like killing the goose that lays the golden egg."

Logan gave the dog a final glare before he sheathed his claws back into his hand.

"Now say you're sorry to Pluto…" chimed in Daria, Quinn, and Brittany. The grizzled X-Man shot a glare at the three girls before looking as he would rather walk barefoot in Hell than apologize to a dog.

"Don't push it, Trinity," he growled, feeling his face turn red slightly from the various people in the crowd stifling their laughter at the thought.

"I just wish we knew the reason why Althea has a scepter instead of a Keyblade," mused Storm as she looked at Wavedancer's unorthodox weapon, "Could it be possible that this is indeed one of the Talismans that Falco and Octavia have been searching for?"

"I'd doubt that," Quentin shot down roughly, "Then they would have made a grab for it every time Wavedancer used the damned thing. Whatever the Talismans are, that stick isn't one of them. But it is powerful if it can exorcise Heartless and free those that were infected."

"Just wish what exactly Pluto did to give this to me and why I'm the one being singled out," Althea said as she looked at the hound who gave her no response whatsoever.

"Maybe the incantation you used is a clue of what the staff's true powers is," Bumblebee remarked, scratching her head, "Think about it: 'Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform'. That's what you call out each time in order to activate the staff and free the Joes from those weird Hellfire Heartless pods, correct? Well, maybe it could provide a clue of some sort."

"Hmph, it's not much if you think about it," Spirit mused, "The words 'heartlock' and 'reform' I can understand since the staff and the Keyblades both can lock one's heart to prevent it from being taken by the Heartless in order to grant them the desired immunity, if you will. And the 'reform' part could refer to the fact that the Heartless is completely obliterated while it leaves the being infected unscathed."

Martian Manhunter then frowned as he asked, "But there is one thing I am still unclear on. Althea…why did you choose those particular words and know that they would achieve the desired effect?"

"And why specifically the Destiny Kingdom?" asked Robin, tongue in cheek thoughtfully, "Last time I checked, destiny isn't a substantial element such as thunder or fire or water."

The blue-and-black haired Misfit blinked, lost for a bit, before she then managed to give the only answer that sounded right as she said hesitantly, "I…I'm not sure. It just came to me, like as if the staff was a part of me and my soul and it just came to my mind naturally. The funny thing is the voice that instructed all of us to use the magic and Keyblades didn't instruct me anything to use my weapon. He or she told me I had Dumbo as a guardian, but the voice didn't even mention anything about my scepter. It could be possible that my scepter didn't come from Pluto."

"That is weird," Willow remarked, "And since none of our magical archives in the Watcher's Council or in the Ghostbusters headquarters have no reference to your staff or any of the elemental magic spells that you Misfits have learned, it just doesn't add up. If the Keyblades and the magic came from Pluto, there where did your scepter come from?"

General Hawk (and a few of the Joe handlers as well) felt their face freeze and a cold sensation sink into their stomachs when they all had an inkling of why Althea was not given a Keyblade. And though Logan, Batman, and J'onn didn't any anything, they could sense the discomfort.

Later that night, after the meeting, Justin was moping around with the other Misfits in the living room, a bit pensive and deep in thought when General Hawk's voice rang out on the Misfits and Joes' communicators.

"Misfits, can you come to the main auditorium on the Pit grounds? The first one close to my office? We have…a situation," Hawk's voice rang, and a few such as Spirit and Althea could tell that the leader's voice and demeanor showed some reluctance, as if he knew this situation wasn't going to be well received.

Bracing themselves, the Joes and their mutant charges used the Mass Device and teleported directly into the building only to find, to their surprise, General Hawk was waiting for them with a grim expression. And behind him were the Dinosaucers, each and every one of them in their metallic space-suits, with Allo standing in front of the line, his arms crossed over his chest and a dark look of resentment on his features. All of the extraterrestrial dinosaurs were there, from the peaceful and rational Dimetro and Teryx to the diminutive Compy (who was furiously quarreling and tussling with Raptor in the background and showing no indication that he noticed the Misfits and Joes coming in). Whitelighter's eyes lit up in glee which actually bothered Gabriel a bit.

"Dad!" he yelled exuberantly as he rushed over and hugged the large, brown allosaurus fiercely. Though Allo stooped down and allowed his adoptive son to wrap his arms around his neck, enjoying the moment of having Whitelighter close to touch, he was still frowning heavily.

Pietro, unfortunately, before he could move, suddenly found himself in a crushing hug and then remembered why he didn't particularly care about visiting the Dinosaucers that much. Or at least, one specifically.

"Hiya, cutie!" squealed the youngest Dinosaucer, Montacera, "Didja miss me?"

"Believe it or not, no…" rasped the Misfit speedster in a deadpanned voice as he did his best to squirm out of the female's death grip around his body, the dinosaur alien's strength causing his to gasp for air.

"Montacera, please control yourself," groaned Tricero as he gently grabbed his niece by the collar of her uniform and managed to delicately extract the mutant speedster from her overly affectionate hug.

"What's going on?" Low Light asked, placing a hand on Gabriel's shoulder in order to prevent the ninja from saying something he would regret (or at the very most the others would regret). The Dinosaucers looked a bit uncomfortable and guilty, awkwardly scratching their heads and shifting their feet.

Allo then delivered his ultimatum, saying with unyielding steel, "I want Justin to come back home. I want him to leave the Misfits. He is coming back to the desert with us tonight."

---

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" roared Blind Master, angrily on his feet while most of the other human soldiers and mutants were seated on various chairs in the auditorium. Most of the Dinosaucers themselves were standing as well, though Stego and Bonehead and Struthio were seated, Indian-style, on the tiled floor.

Bronto-Thunder then decided to lessen the tension and explain for the umpteenth time in order to placate the ninja, but regardless of how many times the explanation had been given, Blind Master was still adamantly outraged. The brontosaurus sighed before stating, "Blind Master, you know that we only sent Justin to join the Misfits to help control his powers, not to fight in a war that would otherwise endanger his life. And you can't blame us for wanting Justin to back out since he's not blessed with any magic and thus, isn't tied to the duty to fighting the Heartless like the rest of the Misfits."

"But his training isn't finished yet! And he still needs to be here to help out his teammates!" Blind Master yelled stubbornly, his brow furrowed. Before he could continue, however, Cover Girl then broke in strongly with her calm voice of adamantium.

"Gabriel, that's not a fair statement," the ex-model said, frowning, "You have to take the Dinosaucers' feelings into perspective too, and to be from a neutral standpoint, they're worried since Justin hasn't been to visit since his grounding here at the Pit and that he may dig himself into further danger and trouble that he may not be able to handle. To say that Whitelighter needs to be here can't be said as the truth in your point of view."

Blind Master shot Courtney a look of loathing and betrayal at not being on his side, wishing she kept out of it and kept quiet (but he wasn't foolish enough to do so without risking offending her or Cooper).

"I'm doing this because I want Whitelighter safe, Cover Girl!" he snapped.

"Like the tar pits you do, Moore!" Allo fumed, now unable to keep it to himself, the anger and accusations screaming to be let out of its pressurized cell inside his stomach, "If you were so concerned for his safety, you would realize that I don't want Justin to be targeted any more by the Thirteenth Order! And the fact that I had to learn from Hawk about Justin's close brushes with death when Roadblock was infected and how that maniac with the spears nearly killed him in that hostage situation certainly convinces me that my son isn't safe as long as he remains here!"

Blind Master whirled on General Hawk, conveniently forgetting that Hawk was his superior officer as he yelled with outrage, "You told him?"

Hawk looked irritated at the ninja master's tone of voice, but he sighed, showing his fatigue, as he explained, "Gabriel, I had to. Allo had the right to be informed if Justin was in any dangerous situations, and it would have made matters worse had I hidden from him and the other Dinosaucers about how that Organization wind-rider nearly killed Whitelighter."

It was probably a good thing that General Hawk wasn't telepathic for Blind Master was darkly letting loose a plethora of curses and angry thoughts at the Joe leader inside his mind for opening his big mouth. If Hawk just kept quiet, he and Whitelighter wouldn't have even been in this situation in the first place!

"Hiding this from us doesn't really help your case of being an adequate guardian and giving us peace of mind that Justin would be safe here at the Pit," Tricero grumbled bad-naturedly, earning a few glares from the Joes all around.

"To be fair, Tricero, it just would have given Allo more of a reason to take Justin away," Struthio said strongly, as if he understood the ninja master's reasons why he didn't exactly come forward, "And Blind Master and the Misfits would want Justin close by them since they could protect him better than we ever could. After all, we don't have Keyblades or magic as powerful and effective as theirs."

Allo threw the struthiominus a look to shut up or else.

Bonehead then chimed in, "And…well…it's enough to make us worry about it and come all the way over here from Montana, Hawk. That's why Allo didn't come to the meeting earlier, because he wanted to encourage us to come along so that we could…uh…"

He trailed off, but Althea and Lance then understood.

"In other words, if necessary, all your Dinosaucers are here to take Justin back by force if we can't come to an agreement," the hydrokinetic said, her eyes going hard and her muscles tense. Bonehead's guilty and surprised expression was all the answer she needed. If Justin wouldn't be allowed to go home tonight, Allo and the other Dinosaucers would simply take him back without the Joes' consent, come what may and whatever violence would arise.

"We don't want to resort to that, though," Tricero said gruffly, holding out his claws in a submissive manner, "Look, you Misfits and Joes are our allies, and we sincerely do appreciate everything you have done in the past to help us. Really, we are. But the fact that Justin nearly got killed when Cover Girl was turned into a Heartless from nearly having his life energy drained out of him and when he got magically transformed into that playing dice by that gambler Organization member…we feel better if Justin comes back home now before it gets worse."

General Hawk's eyes narrowed a bit, partly in disbelief and partly because of the pounding migraine that he was getting as he stated, "Now that I don't distinctly remember telling you, Allo."

The Dinosaucer leader replied curtly, "You didn't, and frankly, I knew you wouldn't. So I had Dimetro hack into the Joes' surveillance footage archives stored in Mainframe's databases. That was how I found out about the various endangerments Blind Master had subjected my son to."

"And before you ask, no, I did not hack into anything else other than that," Dimetro said with much sincere apologetics, wincing under the glare he was receiving from the general, "Hawk, I had to follow orders, and I'm concerned about Justin's safety too, but I additionally respect your privacy and secrets of the Joes, so I did not hack into anything else other than the surveillance footage of the Pit during the Heartless attacks."

"If it makes you feel better, we'll still help out at the Gathering and in any way we can with the Heartless problems," Stego added, "But it's just…we want Justin back, that's all. We're worried."

"But you won't be able to fully protect him from the Heartless at the Lavadome," Lance said, "I know Allo is a powerful dino-wizard and something, but he can't fight the Heartless as well as we can."

"Yeah, easy for you Misfit chumps to say!" scoffed Compy, caustic and bitter, "You're the ones with the all-mighty and powerful gifts to help you fight the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order jackasses while Justin and the rest of your friends get jack-squat."

"By the moons of Reptilion," Raptor growled, annoyed, "Is that all you can think about? How to connive and calculate a way to gain from all this instead of Justin's safety, you striped, whiny rodent? Why the child even loves you and chooses to ignore your greedy incompetence and selfishness never ceases to amaze me!"

This, not to the Dinosaucers' collective surprise, led to another bickering match between the black velociraptor and the red compsognathus.

"Go slag yourself, jerk!" Compy sniped harshly.

"Sniff around garbage like the mouse you are, vermin!" Raptor snarled.

"Jerk."

"Swamp rat." Obviously, Raptor and Rogue channeled each other's mind for insults at some point during their e-mail correspondences.

"Jerk!"

"Sewage-residing parasite!"

"Jerk!"

"Conniving, fungus-infested pipsqueak!"

"Jerk!"

"My, especially eloquent today, aren't we, my short, diminutive, weak – yeow!" Raptor yelped and ended his sarcastic sneering when Compy, fuming at the temporary lack of thinking of clever comebacks and incensed at the ex-Tyrannos playing on his short stature and relative lack of strength, lunged and bit Raptor hard on the leg. The black Dinosaucer hopped around on his uninjured leg while cradling the slightly bleeding other appendage in his hands. Raptor then immediately became livid, his red eyes burning, before he tried to lunge at Compy, ready to wring the antagonist's neck.

"Die, you little - !" roared Raptor right before Tricero and Stego managed to grab hold of his arms and stopped him short from committing homicide, all the meanwhile, Compy was making faces at his victim and laughing (which made Raptor all the madder).

"Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah! Neener Neener Neener!" Compy drawled as Raptor kept furiously trying to break out of Tricero and Stego's hold.

Despite this, Justin couldn't help but laugh softly, trying to hide his smile behind one hand.

"What's so funny?" snapped Compy and Raptor, whirling on Whitelighter, as Dragonfly then spat some of her healing silk on Raptor's bleeding bite-wound in order to tend to it.

"I didn't realize how much I missed seeing you two fight like that," Justin admitted sheepishly, drawing an irritated hmph-noise from the both of them.

Itchy then voiced out his dissent.

"Look, and it's not just the issues with the close brushes with death that concern us. Justin's obviously in full control of his orbing and healing powers, and that was the main reason he had to come to the Pit, so that your training could teach him ways to harness his powers that we couldn't do, especially since we've never dealt with mutations before. But now…there's really no need for him to stay here. And you all said that if Justin wanted to return home, he could."

"Is that what Justin wants?" Quinn asked.

"But they do have a point," Brittany voiced in thoughtfully, "The Dinosaucers are Justin's rightful family, so they get to have the final say in where Whitelighter goes to. I mean, Allo is Justin's - "

"Brittany, for God's sake, be quiet!" snapped Gabriel.

"Oh brother, this is going to get ugly…" Cooper groaned to his girlfriend, rubbing his forehead.

"Justin would rather stay here and be a Misfit, right, Justin?" yelled Blind Master as he whirled his gaze upon Whitelighter, expecting an answer.

"No, Justin would rather go back home at the Lavadome and be with his family, right, son?" Allo then immediately demanded, turning his gaze furiously on Justin as if expecting him to agree.

Whitelighter looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him up whole from being put on the spot like that. And he also looked like he was going to break down and cry right there at the fact that he was anticipated to answer in front of everybody.

Cover Girl sighed as she rubbed her eyes, wincing and knowing this was going to be bad, as she groaned back to Low Light, "Correction: now it is ugly…"

"By the gods of Reptilion…" cursed Montacera as she cradled her head in her claws.

"Why?" blinked Xi innocently, "What's wrong with this situation?"

Blob exhaled as he explained in a hushed tone, "Xi, one of the worst things you could do to a kid is making it choose between his or her parents."

At the same time, to everyone's growing indignation and shock, Blind Master and Allo both remained completely oblivious to the severity of how this was upsetting Whitelighter as they both impatiently and furiously kept trying to upstage each other while demanding an answer.

"Whitelighter, tell Allo you're happy here and that you'd rather stay with the Misfits!" Gabriel insisted.

"His name is Justin, Moore! Not 'Whitelighter'!" roared Allo, nearly causing the auditorium to shake, "And he'll rightfully tell you that despite your delusions, he'd rather stay the hell away from you lunatics and go back with his real family!"

"Well? TELL HIM!" they both commanded wrathfully at the same time. There was an overwrought stillness, on edge as everyone, even General Hawk, was glaring with exasperation and righteous anger at the two adults' actions. Justin couldn't take it anymore as his eyes brimmed, and he bit his lip.

Whitelighter then chose a third and less hurtful option. He orbed out and left the building.

"Justin!" exclaimed Blind Master and Allo in unison before they turned on each other and accused harshly, "This is all your fault! MY fault? You've got some nerve, you ass!"

"I am simply curious…" grimaced Plateo, pressing a clawed finger against his temple and gritting his teeth in restrained anger, in danger of fully losing his temper, "But is anyone else praying right now for a gigantic hand of some sort to come down, and, if I may be crude, smack the both of them upside their respective heads? Hard and repeatedly?"

"Yes," answered back a deadpanned Shipwreck, Spirit, Raptor, Compy, Itchy, and Teryx.

"Good news though," Daria said at last, trying to make herself be heard over Allo and Blind Master's fighting, "I got the homing signal from Justin's teleporter watch that he has on him with my scanner. He's safe! He's back at the Misfit Manor in his room! Hiding, no doubt."

"I'll go get him," Allo said irately as he did an about face and strode briskly and heatedly out of the auditorium.

"Like hell you will, you Barney-reject!" snapped Gabriel as he chased after the Dinosaucer. There was a general silence left behind in their wake.

"Um…maybe we should go after them? Just to make sure that they don't go overboard," Dragonfly suggested, but Pietro gave Lina a look of disbelief.

"You really want to get in the middle of Allo and Blind Master when they're about to rip each other's heads off?" the Misfit Adonis asked in a sarcastic voice, drawling. Lina winced.

"On second thought, maybe we should just wait for them to cool off," she hurriedly retracted.

"Smart move," Bonehead commented, rolling his eyes in commiseration at Lina.

Back at the Misfit Manor…

Justin was moping on his bed, in the bedroom he shared with Lance back at the Misfit Manor, feeling distressed and torn. There was a noise next to him, and the red-eyed and glum youth looked up to see a whining and concerned Pluto jumping up on his bed and nuzzling him, thoroughly sincere in his efforts to cheer the mutant up a bit. It was pretty obvious that Pluto didn't want anyone to feel depressed while he was around. Realizing what this appeared like and recalling the other testimonies of his teammates, Justin wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and gave a rueful smile, trying to dissuade Pluto from giving him a gift.

"You don't need to worry about not giving me magic, Pluto," Justin tried to chuckle (though it sounded strained and forced), "It looks like I won't be staying here long anyway."

Pluto whined, obviously disappointed as he laid his head on Justin's lap, his thin, black tail thumping up and down on the teenager's blankets softly.

"I feel so sad about all of this. I feel like I'm being torn apart and that I'm stuck in the middle. And it…it's frustrating," Justin confessed softly.

Pluto continued just silently observing the teenager, watching with some sorrow at how much Justin kept trying to suppress and contain his feelings.

"I wish they knew how much I hate it when they argue like that, when Allo and Blind Master tear into each other for my sake. I just want them to get along, but it seems like all they do is just think of reasons why the other isn't suitable to be with me. I hate that. I already have enough guilt as it is," Justin muttered thickly, grimacing.

Pluto raised one eyebrow, as if to say, "Why don't you just tell them, then?"

Justin caught the look and, though he had no reason why, he explained wearily, "I guess I can't tell them, though, because I'm afraid to hurt them both. I can't tell Allo that I like being with the Misfits and Blind Master even though it's only been a couple of months because…because it'll hurt Allo and make it look like I forgot that he and the other Dinosaucers raised me since I was found in the desert. And I didn't want to tell Blind Master and the other Misfits that I miss the Lavadome and that I didn't want to fight in this war because I don't want to seem ungrateful after everything they've done for me. And I don't…I actually feel…happier here at the Pit. Oh, by the mother planet, I can't say that to Allo! I can't hurt him like that!"

Pluto actually looked sympathetic; it was hard to not have feelings for different people conflict with each other. And it was surprising that the dog behaved as if he understood.

"I just wish both of them could understand that I don't want to choose between the two of them. If anything…wow, it's so hard to find the words. But…I guess that to me, love isn't fought over, it's shared."

There was a moment of silence (save Pluto's panting) as Justin exhaled and smiled sheepishly as he asked Pluto, "I guess I'm a little overly maudlin and emotional like Pietro says, huh, Pluto?"

Pluto just barked encouragingly, as if he understood Justin's feelings, before he went up and licked Justin's cheek, causing Whitelighter to chuckle softly.

---

Meanwhile, things were going well into the toilet as Blind Master did his best to go get Justin and keep him company, despite Allo trying to overtake him.

"What are you doing here, Moore?" snarled Allo, "In case you haven't noticed, this is a family affair, and you are certainly not invited!"

"You can't keep me from trying to help Justin and fixing up the damage you caused in the first place!" Gabriel shot back, but now incensed and riled to the point of blowing up, the Dinosaucer leader grabbed the man by the back of his leather trench-coat and made him halt against the Joe's will. And before the African American man could use his teleporter watch to break free, with a deft squeeze with his thumb and forefinger, Allo snapped it off the Joe's wrist and crumbled it into a pile of useless metal.

They were going to settle this as of this moment, one way or another.

"Damn you to Reptilion and back!" seethed Allo, quivering with anger and his teeth grinding against each other so hard, his entire mouth with tingling with throbbing pain, "If you keep trying to steal Justin away from me, I'll break both of your legs right here and now, you blind son of a bitch!"

"You're accusing me of stealing Justin away from you?" shot back the ninja, ripping himself free from the dinosaur's claws, "HA! That's a laugh! If anything, you're so insecure that you just want to keep everyone who could truly help Whitelighter away so that it doesn't lessen your deluded importance of being the number one figure in Justin's life, you selfish asshole!"

"You're the selfish one! He's not your son!" Allo couldn't help but shout, starting to lose his temper.

"He's as good as!" Blind Master shot back, "You know damn well I care about Justin as if he were one of my own!"

"And you appear to be forgetting, I'm his father," growled Allo.

"Funny, I don't recall your name being Elder Gideon," the ninja shot back coolly, emphasizing those last two words. Allo's eyes went wide, his pupils dilating in anger before the spittle shone on his now bared teeth.

"At least I'm more of a father to him than you ever could, Moore. I raised him, I was there for him when he was recovering in the infirmary that first night, I held him when he had nightmares, and I instructed him as best as I could through every difficult period. So it shows I'm the only one around here who can make the claim to be Justin's true parent. Unlike you…al1 you did was step in and try training him when it was easy for you and you didn't have to go through the trials of raising him from childhood, so it doesn't make you an automatic father-figure," rumbled the Dinosaucer.

"We're in the same boat, and you damn well know it, you Barney-reject," Gabriel seethed, "Just because you're in the front end and I'm in the rear doesn't mean you're better than me!"

"No, the fact that I'm not a blind drunkard who drags Justin off to foolhardy missions and exposes him to the various enemies of G.I. Joe by involving him in battles that aren't of any consequence of his makes me better than you! And it's also because of you that Clawson from the X-Men is galvanizing with my son in the first place!" Allo roared, the trees around him quivering from the volume of his voice.

"Oh, sure pass the buck!" snapped the African American warrior, "You know damn well I didn't do anything to cause Razor to kiss Whitelighter, and it wasn't my fault to begin with! You're just using me as a scapegoat whenever something goes wrong with his upbringing, but when Whitelighter does something good, you take all the credit!"

"I've had enough of this drabble!" shouted Allo, stomping towards the path to the Misfit Manor, "Ever since you came into my son's life, you've done nothing but cause him trouble and bring him into further danger. The minute he's out of the Pit, I'll be able to take solace that he'll finally be safe and protected! He was never safe around you and the Misfits to begin with, you blind drunkard!"

Blind Master then snarled, his brow furrowed, as he then said the one thing that stung the most to the humanoid allosaur, "He's not safe around me? Cut the crap and face it, Allo! Justin's a lot happier because he's with his own kind, made new friends, and is learning how to use his mutant powers to make a difference to help people! Something you could never do for Whitelighter no matter how much you could have tried with the other Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts! He's happy here, and you know it since Justin never once complained about living at the Pit! If anything, I made his life better than you ever could for him!"

That did it. Allo snapped, the temper was now completely uncontrollable, and before he could even stop himself, the Dinosaucer grabbed Blind Master by the front of his shirt so quickly, even with his ninja training, Gabriel couldn't have avoided the lunge. And the African American man was only stunned and taken by surprise as the Dinosaucer then threw him into a nearby tree, roaring. Instincts arising, Blind Master tried to hit the wooden trunk with his feet, landing on his heels to break the force of his fall. Thankfully, he succeeded, but due to the alien dinosaur's strength, there was a sharp pain in his ankle and Blind Master yelped as he fell to the ground, hissing at his twisted foot.

Even being a ninja master couldn't break the force from being hurled at a wall by a mammoth extraterrestrial.

The apology was out of Allo's lips before he could even think it. He didn't mean to do throw the Joe; Allo just lost his temper. And if he killed Blind Master, despite his resentment and anger at the man stealing away his son, he would never forgive himself. And Justin wouldn't forgive him either, for that matter.

"I'm sorry," Allo said, truly meaning it as he stooped down to help the man up, "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I can take you over to Lifeline at his infirmary if - "

But whatever sympathy and regret Allo had immediately vanished as he was now almost within eye-level of the ninja, and letting out a snarl of poisonous ire and need for retaliation, Blind Master let loose a swift and powerful punch at Allo's snout, his hand undetectable. Allo cursed as he felt his front teeth crack, breaking off, and despite the blood running down his mouth, the alien couldn't help but be surprised that the soldier had the strength to actually knock out some of his teeth. This didn't last long and it was soon replaced with an unfathomable, lethal, killing rage as his vision actually turned red.

"You're dead meat, Moore!" roared Allo as he tried to grab Blind Master, but it was easier said than done as the ninja was now darting back and forth, avoiding the punches and moving so swiftly, Allo couldn't even see him. And Gabriel wasn't letting up, even with a twisted foot, as he kept delivering painful punches and kicks, and even hard pokes wi5th his cane, all throughout the Dinosaucer's body with the lizard-humanoid trying to vainly catch him like how a human tries to catch a butterfly flying back and forth in the air.

After several long minutes, Allo managed to grab Gabriel with his tail and panting, the Dinosaucer pinned the man to the ground as the ninja did his best to break loose, squirming and uttering very wince-worthy curses. However, no matter how many times he tried, Blind Master couldn't land any punches or kicks effective enough to cause the Dinosaucer to let him go. Allo was now incredibly annoyed and bruised as he growled, "You know…if you wanted to fight so much, all you had to do was ask."

"Oh like you haven't been asking for that punch since we've met, you butthead!" Gabriel fumed as Allo held him, unwilling to let him loose, "Goddammit, let me up, you overgrown bastard!"

Allo's next words then surprised him, having no idea where they were coming from, as the alien growled, "I'll let you up when you agree to stand aside and let Justin come back home to the Lavadome and that you agree that I'm the only one who has a right to be his father!"

"I'd rather die…" spat the Joe. Oh, it would be so easy to kill him right then and there…

Allo growled, feral, "Don't tempt me…Dinosaucers don't kill."

"Oh, like how you showed mercy with the Tyrannos leaders, Genghis Rex?" drawled the ninja, now stabbing into a very deep and private wound of the Dinosaucer, "At least I never tried hiding the fact that I had to kill to protect my teammates and family! Instead of trying to act all shameful and remorseful about it and continue with that annoying holier-than-thou attitude, you hypocritical - !"

Blind Master then stopped and stared in horror before he yelled helplessly, "Allo, behind you!"

Allo snorted derisively, growling without amusement, "Like I'm going to fall for the oldest trick in the book, Moore…"

"Excellent. All the more easier then," Vexen said from behind, causing Allo's spine to shiver.

That was the last sentence Allo remembered hearing…

---

"Hey…what the- ?" Justin gasped as he felt the earth tremble beneath the house's foundation as an explosion rang out in the distance close to the auditorium where the Dinosaucers and the Misfits had reconvened earlier. Pluto whimpered next to the adolescent as Justin had a horrible fear of suspicion and dread grip his stomach.

"Oh by the mother planet, please…no," Whitelighter whined to himself as he orbed himself and Pluto to the auditorium where he could see that the building inside was completely deserted and in disarray, as if his teammates and family left in a hurry. And it wasn't hard to see why as he could see outside, a large number of soldiers from G.I. Joe were fighting alongside the Misfits and the Dinosaucers against something huge, fluidly agile, and menacing and formidable enough to appear like Godzilla from a Japanese horror movie.

"Oh holy shit!" Struthio cursed as he dinovolved.

"By the mother planet…" Low Light could help but blurt dumbly, and a few couldn't help but notice that the trademark curses of surprise had switched and were coming from the wrong mouths. There, in front of everyone, was a gigantic Heartless that was literally as tall as a Sentinel, looming over all the neighboring buildings and people as it towered over the multitude of Joes and even the Dinosaucers, easily brushing away at the missile discharges and hailstorms of armor-piercing bullets as if they were nothing. It was tall and humanoid, upright and powerfully muscled underneath its black, leathery skin. The monster of darkness had large, reptilian feet and a tail, similar to Godzilla, but its upper torso was broad (bearing the Heartless symbol), like a human's, and had five-fingered arms, each wielding a gigantic Japanese katana sword. And what was most disturbing about the Heartless was that it had two heads; the one of the left was a black lizard's, bearing fangs, and on the right was a round, human-like head with yellow beady eyes and a closed, jagged mouth.

It only took several moments before everyone could guess who composed of this creature of the Organization. Still, Trinity verified it on their scanners nonetheless.

"It's Allo and Blind Master!" Daria gasped, her scanner magically using its special ability to have the Heartless in front of them turn absolutely transparent, only to show an unconscious and limp pair of the two aforementioned warriors, suspended limply and in between them was a single pulsating pod, weaving tentacles of black smoke into their bodies and hearts, leeching off their energies.

"Well, then let's team up and take him down then!" roared Shipwreck, firing with his dual Eagle pistols, the bullets striking the Heartless' torso, "Misfits and Dinosaucers, move out and weaken him! Wavedancer'll finish him off and bring them back to normal!"

"This should slow them down!" Teryx yelled, taking flight and soaring into the air alongside Dragonfly before the pink and white feathered archaeopteryx aimed with one claw and fired a gigantic and widespread net of blue plasma-energy, large enough to blanket and entire field. The female Dinosaucer at first cheered when the net struck the monster. However, with a sudden outward brush of its arms, the swords in the Heartless hands effortlessly rent the net into three useless pieces, freeing itself instantly.

Those were no mere swords.

"Augh!" Plateo and Itchy both screamed as the swords managed to neatly cut the two of them on their ribs, causing a horrific gash that actually exposed the white bones on their ribs. They collapsed to the ground, bleeding and in absolute agony.

"Leave them alone! Allo, wake up! Damn it, wake up! It's us, the Dinosaucers and the Misfits, your friends!" Bronto-Thunder yelled as he tried to hammer away at the Heartless with a gigantic I-beam he ripped from a nearby building while Quick Kick was standing on top of the Dinosaucer's head and throwing a plethora of ninja stars and explosive bombs.

"Blizzaga Artic Requiem!" Dragonfly called out, summoning her violin, and instantly, the Heartless was besieged by currents of frigid air and cold, sub-zero energy. However, the enemy was too colossal for Lina to freeze completely like the Misfit had done before with Cover Girl.

"Aw, geez, this one's good! He's got Blind Master's ninja skills!" Beach Head cursed as he was riding on a dinovolved Bonehead's back, firing with his bazooka while Bonehead in his primitive form did his best to knock the experiment off balance with ramming charges to the Heartless' legs with his head.

"Give me strength!" Wavedancer, Toad, Avalanche, Scarlet Witch and Xi yelled in unison, bringing out their Summons with a flourish, but now snarling like a demented animal, the dinosaur head of the ogre rumbled, screeching like a demonic monster. Twirling the katana sword in its left hand, to everyone's horror, each and everyone of the summons were suddenly encased in a paranormal brown shield of force, unbreakable and impenetrable. Simba, Genie, Dumbo, Mushu, and Bambi were all trapped in an orb of magic created from the Heartless. And no matter how hard they tried to claws and hammer their way through, they couldn't even make a scratch.

"Uh…kids?" Genie weakly chuckled despite his fear as he magically created a jackhammer out of thin air with his magic, trying to desperately break out, "We have a little problem here…"

"Damn it!" Avalanche cursed as he tried to use his Steel Quartz Keyblade to slice the barrier open to free his lion friend, only to find that it was ineffective, "They're trapped!"

"Of course! That's it!" Cover Girl said as she and Low Light rode on a dinovolved Tricero (who was doing his best to charge and trample the Heartless' tail like a tank) while shooting with laser rifles, "If Allo knows magic, then it makes sense that a Heartless made from him would know magic too!"

"And now we're at a disadvantage!" yelled Scarlet Witch before she gasped as the Heartless now began slicing at the air with his swords, "You guys, scatter!"

They couldn't move fast enough as the humanoid head of the fiend was gleefully and lethally trying to quarter and eviscerate the Misfits, charging towards them as graceful and silent as any ninja, literally sliding across the ground before attempting to skewer the mutants. Though many of them managed to narrowly dodge and duck the blades before it could touch them, Wanda actually tripped and was about to be horribly cut in half until Raptor rushed by and grabbed the teenager in the nick of time.

"I do not think so!" Raptor growled, protectively holding Scarlet Witch close to his body.

"And I really don't think so, chump! Raptor, give me a boost!" Compy yelled as the black-skinned dinosaur set Scarlet Witch down. Instantly, Raptor knelt down and cupped his claws together low, allowing a foothold as Compy used it as a stepping position to allow himself to be boosted up high into the air before the neon-red scavenger then took out a small capsule from his armor compartment before flinging it at the Heartless.

There was a messy discharge once the pellet made contact.

Ker-splat!

"Here's tar in your eye!" crowed Compy as the Heartless was now completely blinded as both of its heads were covered with slick, sticky tar, unable to see as it literally stopped and faltered, rubbing its eyes uselessly as it vainly tried to wipe the hardening material off its skin.

"All right! Good one, Compy! Yee-haw! Ride 'em, cowboy!" Wild Bill whooped and hollered, firing with his twin pistols as he rode of a extremely swift Struthio (now dinovolved) and having a grand time incapacitating the fiend with his bullets, as the struthiominus ran as swift as the wind and as agile as a cheetah. Raptor and Compy just awkwardly looked at each other as Wanda joined in the battle with her fire magic, realizing that they actually did an act of cooperation.

"Your aim was off, vermin," muttered Raptor, not bothering to glance at Compy.

"And you didn't throw me up in the air high enough, Tyrannos scumball," grumbled Compy before they just shot each other a resigned look and dashed off in battle. However, despite these successful attacks, it still didn't have much of a desired effect.

"They're still too strong!" gasped Quinn, reading the energy levels on her scanner as Pietro used his Strike Raid technique with his Zephyr Keyblade while a dinovolved Stego managed to painfully whack the Heartless hard in the kneecaps with his spiked tail, "Allo and Blind Master are still both too strong! We can't drop them down fast enough!"

"But that's impossible! How can this one be so difficult? Aquara Water Dragon!" Wavedancer yelled, summoning the powerful and surging current of water to strike the Heartless full into the chest, but still unable to catch it off its feet.

"Because it's made from two hearts this time!" Brittany groaned over her communicator as she read the input from her scanner, "That makes this Hellfire Heartless more powerful than the others we've fought before! Stopra…Time freeze!"

With a click and a flash, the Heartless was frozen, engulfed in a glowing aura of time energy, immobile and completely vulnerable, allowing the Misfits to strike as much as they could.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Lance yelled, slapping the palms of his hands down on the fresh dirt.

"Gravira Orbs of Force…Crusher!" Blob yelled, flinging out a hand.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled before pitching back his arm and throwing a gigantic ball of lightning.

"UUURRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" howled the Heartless to the heaven, both of its heads arching back and screaming from its bowels as the attacks of earth, gravity and thunder all wonderfully complemented each other before swirling around the monster and engulfed it. Apparently, all three elemental attacks together were quite effective as one.

"That hurt him!" Daria exclaimed as the Joes continued fighting, "But he's still not weak enough!"

Pluto then realized that they needed additional help, and despite Justin's hesitation, Pluto didn't want to deprive the boy of the two most important people in Whitelighter's life. And from what he could tell, nothing said strength of heart than a loving demeanor.

Pluto then gave Justin a smile before his eyes glowed the last remaining color of the rainbow sigil around Althea's staff, his pupils now like two hot suns as they radiated the most pure and softest tone of yellow, intense but not the least bit harsh.

And with that, the last and final symbol from Althea's scepter appeared in the middle of Justin's forehead. It was a yellow orb of color, but the sigil was remarkably similar to the shape of the sun. At the north, east, south, and west positions around the sphere were four isosceles diamonds while between each diamond, spaced equally, was a separate equilateral triangle, pointing outwards and making a total of four triangles. In other words, Justin's symbol of magic looked like a shining star.

The voice then gently and softly rang in Whitelighter's head.

You can't afford to stay in the middle forever, Justin. Sooner or later you have to make a choice…

Justin's eyes widened a bit before looked around fearfully, feeling scared until the voice, light-hearted and a bit whimsical, spoke again, calming the Misfit's terror.

Justin, I won't hurt you. I haven't hurt your friends and I won't hurt you either.

The teen then realized who he was talking to, and his breath quaked.

"Make a choice?"

Yep.

"I'm not choosing between Dad and Blind Master!" he retorted hotly, his cheeks starting to blush in anger. The voice sighed before clarifying.

I meant, like your teammate Lina, you need to make a choice between staying out of this war or fighting alongside your friends. If anything, I agree with you a lot that love isn't fought over, but that it's shared.

Justin blinked twice before feeling ashamed, murmuring, "I'm sorry. I tend to jump to conclusions and not listen."

And is this the only reason why you want the magic? Because you want to save your two Dads and that's it? If I recall correctly, you said you were scared of war and fighting…I don't want to drag you into something against you're will or if you don't understand the risks.

"No…that would be selfish of me," Justin protested, the words coming from his heart and memories of the several months he spent with the Misfits before he even realized it, "And I love them too! All the people I've met! The Dinosaucers, the X-Men, the Joes, the League, the Titans, the Slayers and Charmed Ones, and…and Jake. My heart's connected to them too and not just to the Misfits and the handlers. I'll fight, please! If anything, I'll fight because…because they're a part of my life now, and if I turn back and ignore them, I'll never forgive myself! That's even scarier than fighting! Please, let me have the magic!"

There was a pause before the voice then said softly with praise.

At last you finally understand what love for your friends means…

Justin then realized something.

"Hey…you were testing me, weren't you?" Whitelighter asked with a touch of amused annoyance, despite the gravity of the situation. The voice chuckled.

Pretty much…and I can see why Pluto sees that you have a strong heart, Whitelighter. Go free your dads for you now have the magic over the kingdom of light, one of the purest forces against darkness itself. Go, with the blessings of the Lumiga Kingdom.

"Aw, geez, yo! It's still not enough!" Toad yelped as he used up the last of his energy to besiege the Heartless with powerful thunder attacks.

"He's getting there, but we used up all our magic! And Bambi can't help us!" Xi exclaimed, realizing the predicament.

Justin turned to the hulking, two-headed ogre, finally breaking free of the Triplet's time-freeze spell.

"Dad, Blind Master…" whispered Whitelighter, quivering and scared out of his wits, but determined nonetheless.

"I love you both."

With that, Whitelighter balled one hand into a fist and held it over his heart.

"LUMIGA…" he cried out. The other Misfits stopped and stared alongside the Dinosaucers and Joes, stunned for a moment before it dawned on them what was happening.

"Shit! Move it everyone! Move, move, move!" yelled Beach Head as everyone scattered as far as they could from Allo and Blind master.

Instantly, Justin could feel his aura, a warm and flowing force surging out of his body and into his hand, and despite his fingers being closed, out of the cracks came a beautiful radiance of sunlight. Amazed, Justin opened his hand and there, clustered together, was a gathering of blinking golden sparks, each wavering in size and intensity and radiance, cycling endlessly. Not sure what to do next, Whitelighter winged it, improvising, as he flung out his hand at the gigantic Heartless. Immediately, the sparks all flashed once before they formed a ring of shining yellow emblems, each in the shape of a shining sun, all around Justin.

"MARK OF THE SUN!"

With that, each and every one of the symbols radiating around Justin flickered before they converged and united as one…before, to everyone's shock, the yellow sigil of Lumiga appeared again on Allo and Blind Master's chest, searing into the black hide and shining brighter by the second until it was too painful to even look at.

The colossal, two-headed Heartless shrieked, arching back its heads and howling in pain as spider-webs of light snaked throughout the entire body…

Flash!

"Whoa! That did it!" Quicksilver gasped as the Heartless finally sank to its knees, dropping its swords before shriveling under the intensity of Justin's element. Althea didn't hesitate any longer as she used her staff.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

Kawhoom!

"Thank the gods," Bronto-Thunder exhaled with relief as the unconscious forms of Blind Master and Allo stumbled out before the Hellfire Heartless pod disintegrated. And next to the two forms were the pink crystals of the warriors' hearts.

But before anyone could move to retrieve the hearts…

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" yelled Octavia, and the Dinosaucers, all weakened from the strain of battle, couldn't help but cry out as the tidal wave swept them all away and knocked them into the Misfits and various buildings, leaving them struggling to remain afloat as the female's magic kept them trapped in pillars of water. Though some such as Todd, Itchy and Althea could naturally breathe and navigate through their prison, it was clear that the others couldn't. If Octavia didn't release them, they would drown.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" Falco cried out as he zoomed forward, knocking over many of the Joes and sending them reeling to the floor, seriously wounded and bleeding from being subjected to the harsh and painful silver winds before the falcon strode over to the hearts and picked them up.

"No, please! Don't take them!" Whitelighter cried, managing to avoid being struck down. Falco sighed as he finished looking into Blind Master and Allo's hearts; they weren't Talismans. Still, it was clear that the minute Octavia would release the other deluded heroes, they would be killing mad. And enormous dinosaurs of alien origin with advanced technology and more than enough physical strength to take out even Leomon wasn't the least bit desirable. Unless…

"How about a bargain then?" Falco said emotionlessly at Pluto and Justin and calmly tossing both of the hearts to himself in the air with one wing. He had to play on the boy's emotions just right…

"Anything! Please, I just want Dad and Blind Master safe!" begged Justin.

"The minute we let your friends go, they'll be after us," the blue avian said coldly, "If I return your fathers' hearts to you, you make sure that we get safe passage out of the Pit and call off your Dinosaucer friends from hunting us down in the future. The last thing we want is psychopathic alien dinosaurs to make our lives a living hell. And they'll listen to you since you're a Secret Scout and their most cherished friend. We already have enough of that from you mutants and the Joes. So how about it Whitelighter? Tell the Dinosaucers to back off, and you get the hearts back. Refuse, and I crush the crystals, right here and right now and you can watch Allo and Blind Master die."

Though Falco really wouldn't destroy a being's heart (nor couldn't for that matter), he hoped the twit wouldn't call his bluff. And the Misfit nodded whimpering, giving in, much to Falco's relief.

"I'll do it! I promise! You have my word! Please! Just let them go and give me back the hearts! I promise! Please, just don't kill my Dads and my friends!"

"Just remember, Whitelighter…" warned Falco before Octavia released her hold on the Misfits and Dinosaucers with a wave of her hands, sending them spiraling to the soggy ground.

"You son of a feathered bitch!" Low Light cursed, vomiting water, "You nearly drowned us!"

"Nearly…but we didn't," Falco commented offhandedly as he tossed back the heart crystals to a grateful Whitelighter, nearly sobbing with relief. The Dinosaucers, all waterlogged (and Plateo and Itchy were losing massive amounts of blood) made moves to kill Falco and Octavia, with the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark walking calmly away. Thankfully, Justin stopped them.

"No!" Whitelighter warned, his voice cracking and going high-pitched from his nervousness, "Let them go. I promised them that I would if they gave me back Blind Master and Allo's heart back!"

"You may have promised, but we didn't," growled Tricero, coughing uncontrollably.

"Then do it for me," Justin emphasized, frowning and putting some additional insistence at those last two words. Strangely enough, Tricero couldn't find the strength to argue that. And though a few of the Dinosaucers and Joes wanted to argue, Althea held up a hand, realizing that they should respect the boy's wishes. Not to mention that she could see that throughout the field were many injured Joes who were severely bleeding from Falco and Octavia's attacks and from the Heartless' swords.

"He promised them. Let them go," the ninja girl ordered. Justin then turned to the retreating figures of Falco and Octavia and managed to yell out before they disappeared.

"Thank you!" he cried, truly grateful that they gave back Blind Master and Allo's hearts. The Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark made no indication that they heard as they vanished in the night.

With a glow, the heart crystals began to levitate out of Justin's hands before they glided softly to the unconscious Dinosaucer and ninja. A keyhole formed on Allo's chest, causing Lance's Keyblade to glow.

"I got Allo's heart," sighed Avalanche with a big sigh of relief as he locked the keyhole on the dinosaur's chest.

"Amazing…" marveled Dimetro.

"But what about Blind Master's?" Bonehead asked, worried, "There's no…Keyhole?"

The pachycephalosaurus' voice then died in his throat as, by sheer coincidence, an actual keyhole then formed in the center of the unconscious Joe's chest as a yellow star began to sparkle and glow brightly in front of a bewildered and wide-eyed Justin before it took shape.

"Whoa! Cool, Justin! You have a Keyblade!" Montacera gasped as the light faded. Whitelighter's Keyblade was silver and yellow, the blade portion of the weapon consisting of two parallel bars of silver, running up and down and actually blending in with the color yellow, forming a spectrum of white and gold of various tones and shades. And at the tip, the two bars of metal intertwined and crossed over each other to form a small niche that bore a hemisphere of jagged, yellow, diamond points, like half of the crest that was glowing on Whitelighter's forehead. And the crossguard around the yellow grip of the blade was a pair of silver wings, forming a square-shaped ring around the handle, and hanging from the pommel of blue moonstone was a silver chain depicting a (to Justin's stunned amusement) a blind allosaurus, even depicted to be wearing dark glasses and wielding a slim cane for the sensory-impaired. And with a flash of yellow light, the keyhole in Blind Master's heart was sealed.

The voice said softly, I will give you a final gift…summon your partner with your Healing Mercy Keyblade, Whitelighter. She will heal your friends.

Healing Mercy. Justin had to admit he did like the ring to it.

"Thank you. And please, give me strength," Whitelighter said softly as he held his Keyblade with both hands, pointing upwards before he gave it a slight twist clockwise. Out came a figure only three inches tall, immersed with sparkling auras of yellow and gold, and upon closer look, it was a small pixie of blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a small green dress and sandals. And it looked a lot like the Disney character…

"TINKERBELL?" chorused everyone is disbelief, their jaws dropping. Out of all possible summons, the fairy was certainly the last one to be considered an impressive partner. But ignoring the looks of disbelief with a snooty toss of her head, Tinkerbell smiled, making chiming noises like a bell, before she touched Whitelighter's nose with one hand and then flew all over the field, bathing the entire Pit with pixie dust.

"What the hell?" Shipwreck exclaimed, seeing his bleeding gashes closing by themselves and disappearing under the warmth and soothing dust.

"Hey, it's because of Tinkerbell! I think…wow, she's healing us! She's healing all of us!" Montacera gasped seeing he bruises disappear.

"And it's not just us! All the Joes are being healed too!" the soldier named Sci-Fi happily laughed as many of the Joes were now able to stand up and look around at the falling and twinkling mass of yellow magic. Each and every one of them had been fully revived and mended, feeling better than they ever had been before.

"My wound! They're gone!" Plateo gasped, seeing his ribs knit themselves back into position and his flesh seal itself without even so much as a scar. Teryx hugged Itchy joyfully, seeing that he was going to be all right. With that, Tinkerbell saluted Justin before vanishing, seeing that everyone was accounted for and all right.

"Thank you…" whispered Whitelighter, smiling.

"Wow!" Daria marveled, "How cool is that? We have a magical healer on our side now! Tinkerbell can heal all of us, much more than Justin and Lifeline can do before! The Organization better watch out now!"

"You know…I could make a comment about the choice of chubby-cheek's Disney summon and his sexual orientation," cackled Pietro softly, only to find that he was immediately subjected to a crowd of glares from the other summons and the Dinosaucers. They didn't find that joke the least bit humorous, and Genie was wiggling a glowing finger back and forth suggestively.

"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'" Genie warned, doing a very accurate and serious Clint Eastwood impression, "Well, do ya' punk?"

"On second thought, I'll just keep quiet for now," the silver-haired speedster weakly chuckled.

"Smart move," growled Raptor, still giving Quicksilver a death glare.

---

Allo groaned, opening his eyes and feeling the mother of all headaches pounding his skull, as he regained consciousness to see that he was in the Joes' infirmary, resting on a gigantic bed that miraculously managed to support his body. He was bare-chested, devoid of his armor, but modestly covered with a large blanket, and upon turning to his right, he saw a recovering Blind Master waking up in a hospital gown in a bed next to him. And next to Blind Master's cot was a crowd consisting of relieved yet concerned Dinosaucers, the Misfits, their Joe parents, and General Hawk.

Gabriel held a hand to his head, no longer wearing his glasses and showing lifeless, glazed brown eyes, asking groggily, "Uhhh…what…how…"

"You're all right now, both of you," Shipwreck said, "You and Allo here were both infected and turned into a Hellfire Heartless. We were able to cure you just in time thanks to Al here. And Lifeline and Teryx and Dimetro says that you both are going to be fine, expected to make a full recovery and everything."

"You were pretty out of it, however," Itchy piped up, "You two slept and didn't regain consciousness until now, which is technically the next morning. It's the next day, Allo, after the night we came to the Pit to see Justin."

"The Organization…" Allo sighed in frustration, remembering how he and Blind Master were tussling with each other and allowed themselves to be distracted for that strange being in the black cloak to move in.

After some afterthought, Allo managed to swallow through his dry throat and ask, "How's Justin? Did he get hurt?"

"Actually, he managed to save ya', Big Guy!" whooped Compy, grinning ear to ear and obviously proud of his nephew, "He wasted the Heartless thing that was inside you and Blind Master!"

There was a pause as this clicked into the ninja and the alien's minds collectively. Allo was about to ask how, but then he felt a chill in his heart when it suddenly became obvious, especially since most if not all of the Dinosaucers' faces were a bit strained with guilt, as if they knew something Allo wasn't particularly going to be pleased with. Blind Master then voiced Allo's worst fear.

"Whitelighter knows magic now…doesn't he?" he asked quietly. The crowd nodded at various intervals.

"And a Keyblade called Healing Mercy," supplicated Raptor gruffly, "He asked the dog, Pluto, to give it to him in order to save you two from being doomed as the Organization's mindless drone."

That still didn't make Allo feel better as he felt his world crumble a bit further, realizing that Whitelighter had now been invariably placed even further into the war with the Heartless and with protecting the world, going into a position of further endangerment in which there was probably no turning back. As this crashed down into Allo's mind, hoarsely, the allosaur then immediately lashed out on his typical target.

"This is all your fault, Moore!" Allo snapped.

"My fault? You're blaming me?" Gabriel immediately attacked back, defensive, which immediately began to cause many in the crowd next to him to huff, groan, or roll their eyes in growing annoyance.

"If you hadn't put up a fight and just let my son come back to the Lavadome with us, we would have never been infected by the Heartless spores, and Justin would have never been placed in this position!" Allo griped.

"Oh screw you, you stubborn ass of a lizard!" the ninja shouted, "As long as he's out of your hands and away from your overbearing and overprotective nagging, I'm not sorry at all! He's a hell of a lot better off!"

"You're an idiot, Moore!" Allo snapped.

"No, you're the idiot, Allo!" Blind Master snapped.

It was then that the Misfits, Dinosaucers, and Joes really couldn't tolerate this any longer.

"YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS!" roared the crowd in unison, temporarily stunning the two bickering adults, especially considering that the outburst was loud enough to measure in the decibel levels and that each and every one of the Misfits, Dinosaucers, and the Joes (including General Hawk) voiced that one statement. And from the looks on all their faces, from the usually stoic Tricero to the young faces of Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, they seemed thoroughly annoyed.

Blind Master then finally managed to grumble, finding his voice and wondering why the hell everyone was so antsy around him and Allo when it was clearly the Dinosaucer's fault (in his point of view), "Where's Whitelighter?"

As one, everyone irately pointed at the far side of the infirmary room, and there, lying on the couch and sleeping on his side with Pluto cuddling against him, was an exhausted and dozing Justin, huddled underneath a blanket. Even despite the arguing and yelling, the Misfit was still managing to stay asleep (he stayed awake all through the night next to the two of them).

Teryx then decided to take the role of pointing out the obvious as she practically screamed at the two in ire and protective fury, snapping, "By the mother planet, do either of you even understand? Get this into your thick skulls! Justin doesn't want to choose between either of you! He loves you both! And if you both weren't so stubborn and trying to accuse each other of being his rightful father, you would have seen that in the first place!"

Plateo then said firmly, "Allo, Gabriel…I think I speak for all of us when I say that this has gone far enough."

"Can't you see that it's hurting Justin? The way you two keeping brining him into the middle like this? It isn't right," Blob said softly.

General Hawk then said with steel, his eyes narrowed and his voice final, as if daring the two to even try to object, "Let me say this quite clearly, so you two better shut up and listen: either you both settle this now or we will. You don't have to be friends, and you don't even have to like each other, but when this fighting and arguing becomes counter-productive, there's no way we are going to allow this continue, especially when we have enough enemies and worries as it is. Decide on a truce, here and now. Or else. And I trust you'll both act like adults for once in this matter and not kill each other?"

Blind Master and Allo's faces both turned red as they stared at the floor, humiliated and shamefaced, but still stubbornly adamant at hating each other. The general took their silence as resentful agreement, and with a nod of his head, the Dinosaucers and the Joes and mutants left, leaving them alone in the infirmary with the dozing Pluto and Whitelighter.

There was a general silence before Allo then grumbled, "Just for the record, despite everything, this doesn't change how I feel. I still resent you, you drunkard."

"The feeling is more than mutual, butthead," Gabriel sniped back, his teeth grit. And yet after the two finished glaring at each other, they averted their gazes a bit awkwardly before they both stared at the sleeping form of Justin and Pluto for a good minute or two in silence.

Then Allo broke the ice, murmuring so softly in his deep voice that Gabriel at first couldn't quite hear him.

"I want Justin to be safe, Moore…"

Blind Master didn't know how to feel about that, but he could at least see that he agreed with that sentiment at least. He then said in a hard voice, "I do too. You know that."

"But you can't promise me that," Allo said, his voiced dripping with bitter umbrage, "Gabriel, if you wanted Justin safe, you wouldn't go galloping out in fights and drag my son along with you. You can't promise me that he'll be safe."

"No, but neither can you," Gabriel said, and his hands were tightly balled into fists as he clenched the sheets of his bed, his voice now growing jaded, "Allo…please…I love him too. I wish to God that I could just give him up and not care about him anymore, but I can't. I wish to God that I could just say that it'll be better off for him if he never sees a battle, never learns how to fight and defend himself, never goes out with the other Misfits and experiences the things that makes all of us want to continue fighting. But I can't to that to Justin. I want him to grow for the better, not to endanger him. I've grown closer to him much more than I have been with Althea and the Triplets. You know I didn't want to take Justin away from you; I never would have meant that intentionally. And if I was in your place, I'd fight to get back my child too. But I never meant to cause you grief and steal Whitelighter's affections. I just wanted to help him control his powers as a way to thank him for saving my life and defending me in the desert."

"Whether you meant it or not, the fact is that the damage is already done," Allo said with cheated grief, his voice hoarse, "And now he's involved now with that Keyblade of his. And what hurts the most…is that you're winning. You know by Reptilion that it will be impossible for me to take him away now, not after all this. And I hate you for that…oh by Reptilion, now I know how Ryan felt when he resented Justin for coming into my life and having me adopting him."

Allo leaned back on the bed, so very tired and a gamut of emotions driving around his head. He was such a hypocrite at times.

There was a pause as Gabriel took this in. As insulted and offended as he was, he could understand Allo's unhappiness. Had their roles been reverse, Gabriel would have been just as miserable.

Then Blind Master wearily pressed his forehead against his palms and cradled his head. He realized now why he and Allo always loathed talking like this when it came to Justin. It was too painful. The Joe ninja then chose his next words carefully.

"He's now a part of the war with the Heartless, and I have a duty to help train him and be there for him in this as much as I can. And you know that Justin wouldn't want to let his friends and the world suffer if he has a chance to help it survive. You'd do the same thing if you could have saved your home planet."

Allo just sulkily looked at the floor, frowning. Damn that cripple for having a good point…

"But if anything…if it makes you feel any better…I would never take your place. Justin pretty much only calls you 'Dad' around here while I'm just his guardian and sensei. But that doesn't stop me from feeling that he's like a son to me. Allo, can you really say it's a bad thing for Justin if he just has more people who care about him?"

Allo's nostrils widened as he inhaled and exhaled, his mouth and jaw set grimly, and though he kept looking at the human next to him, Allo found that he couldn't say anything. The words were frozen in his throat.

He had never been this taken aback from the Joe ninja than he ever had been before since he met him so long ago in the desert. Blind Master had to swallow his pride at last before he said as calmly as he could (though he felt like choking).

"I would never hurt him, Allo, and I know you would rather die than do so as well. But if anything, I don't want to keep this up if it does hurt Whitelighter. Ask Justin what he wants when he wakes up, and if he wants to go back home to the Lavadome, I'll back off and give him my blessings. But…will you be willing to do the same for me then?" the ninja asked at last.

Allo just stared at Gabriel, lost, conflicted…and acquiescent.

---

The next morning, Allo and the Dinosaucers, despite Lifeline's insistence that he and Gabriel need to rest for a few days, left the Pit and went back to the Lavadome on their spaceships, with the Misfits and the Joes sending them off and saying good-bye.

And Justin did not go with them, watching Allo leave the army base as Blind Master held him close to his body with one arm, speaking volumes.

Author's Notes: Before anyone asks, this actually happened in the first "Kingdom Hearts" game. Tinkerbell was the most popular summon, primarily because as long as you called her, she will stay out on the field and heal everyone in your party, and should you die, she will bring you back to life before leaving. Thus, she is a great partner to have around if you're in danger of losing health! And unfortunately, things will now go downhill from here. Unwilling to let this continue any longer, Blackheart comes to the Pit with a small army, and the cost of losing the war with the Heartless soon becomes real as everything comes crashing down on the Misfits. But that is nowhere in comparison to when Leomon shows up for the Misfits are about to discover a very unpleasant secret about their lion-friend? What will this mean? Check back next Friday in the chapter, "Reality Sets In", and until then, read and enjoy!