Kreta walked between the bookshelves of the academy library. Though the Super Smash Bros. Academy had been completely taken over, it hadn't changed all that much. Aside from the Horizon grunts running all around the place and a few machines here and there, the building was mostly untouched. Kreta glanced at a laser hole in the bookshelf beside him. He grimaced. Emphasis on mostly.

He had to admit, "Smash School" was a great deal more comfortable than the underground facilities Horizon typically used. The Admins - of which he was a member - got the private bedrooms on the second floor and basement. The rest had to do with a makeshift barracks in the old Meeting Room. As it was now, the building couldn't suitably hold all of Horizon, so they were scattered around a few dimesions. The Linking Dimension, however, served as the new base for Horizon.

Kreta winced as pain shot through his chest. That blue-haired idiot had cut him from his left shoulder to above his right hip. Kreta had had to spend about a day and a half recovering in the infirmary, which was conveniently placed in the old Healing Room. He'd been released earlier today, and that was only after he'd begged/threatened the doctor.

That wasn't the worst of it; if the members of Horizon weren't talking about him before, they certainly were now. He knew for a fact some of the Admins were. Have you heard about Kreta? He was so cocky during the invasion that he let some outnumbered guy beat him in less than a second. Typical of him. He wasn't that bad. His status as an Admin proved that. But how did the rest of Horizon feel about that?

He strode out of the library, cautious not to trigger another stab of pain. His wound was closed and his chest carefully bound up, but he wanted no chances of being put out of action any longer. His long-established reputation was at stake here.

Pane had summoned Kreta to his "office," likely to check on his condition. It was just as well; Kreta wanted to talk to Pane about something. He passed by a couple of grunts, who muttered their gratitude for his recovery, and headed for the doors leading outside. To his right was a metallic platform Horizon had installed just the previous day. Kreta stepped on it and let it take him to the top of the academy. The magnetic material the platform was made out of prevented him from losing his balance and falling.

Seated behind a desk in the middle of the flat roof was Pane. The boss took a sip of his special "Fruitaccino" - coffee with sugar, cream, and ketchup - and looked up at Kreta. He grinned. "Good to see you, Kreta. Come in to my office."

Kreta stepped onto the roof and laughed. "Heh. The whole outdoors is your office." He wondered if that was the point. "Are you sure about the office being outside, though? What if it rains?"

"So what if it does? Everything here is waterproof." Pane leaned back in his chair. "Besides, I get the impression it doesn't rain here. We've got a sun-like substance and a moon-like substance, but I think this dimension lacks seasons. It's beautiful in a pitiful kind of way."

Kreta pulled up a chair on the other side of the desk and sat down. Pane seemed to be right about the weather - there hadn't been a cloud in the sky since they'd arrived. He wondered how the vegetation survived in the Linking Dimension. "So, what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, just a status report. How're you feeling?"

Kreta shrugged. "Good. Enough."

"Good enough to fight?"

Kreta hesitated. "If I had to. If I move wrong, there's still this pain in my chest."

"Hmm. I was hoping we could use you. The residents of Dimension 003 are putting up a bigger fight than I thought they would. I figured you could help us out there, show the people who's boss."

The Admin studied Pane, thinking how best to approach his next statement. Pane's brown hair was the same dark shade as Kreta's, though the latter's reached just below his chin as opposed to Pane's unkempt shorter hair. Pane was now wearing a faded gray shirt and scuffed-up blue jeans. As casual and anti-professional as it may have looked, Kreta somehow didn't think Pane would answer his next question positively.

"Actually," Kreta began, "I have a...request to make of you."

"A request?" Pane cocked his head. "It's not going to be something silly, is it?"

"No, no. Not really."

"'Not really'?"

"You've heard the latest on Ike and Pit, right?"

Pane grinned. "If everyone knew about this but me, we'd have some kinks to work out in the communications department." He sighed and rested his chin on his palm, but he didn't seem depressed about the issue. It was more like anticipation. "Yeah, I heard about the whole Silph Co. fiasco. We're going to have to tighten up security everywhere, which will be a real pain in the butt. Then they went and took the prototype portable Teleporter and got lost in Dimension 002. Now we'll have to build another one, and those things aren't easy to make."

A smug smile crossed Kreta's face. "Do the morons even know we can monitor their movement?"

"Probably not." Pane took a sip of his Fruitaccino. "When it comes to technology, they're like Neanderthals. I'm surprised they even figured out how to work it. As it is, they don't seem to have met much success with it." He stared at Kreta. "So, what was your request?"

Kreta cleared his throat. "I'd actually like permission to head to Dimension 002 and capture them myself. Before they get any further. I don't know if they're lucky, smart, or if the Horizons at Silph were idiots, but it seems foolish to underestimate them."

"Is this about Ike giving you that scar across your chest?"

Kreta felt heat rush to his face. "Well, partially. Yeah. I mean, I want to stop them, but - "

"I can't let you go." Kreta's shoulders sagged. He'd feared as much. "You're wounded. Even with your special abilities, we'd just lose a valuable member of Horizon."

"I didn't mean I was going now," Kreta explained, desperate. "But once I've recovered enough - "

Pane laughed. "Your time will come, and I'll let you know when it does. If we capture them, I'll even lock you and Ike in a wide room alone with each other so you can duke it out. But for now, I want you around here, recuperating. I'll give you some assignments when you're back 100%. Deal?"

Kreta sighed. "Yeah. Deal." As he sat in silence, an almost random thought occurred to him. "So, uh, your fight with Crazy Hand...how'd that go?"

For once, Pane looked a little depressed. "The same as Master Hand. I let him exhaust his move arsenal, but when I saw that's all he had, I just stunned him and had him put in forced sleep. I was hoping they'd be a bit more of a challenge." He returned his focus to Kreta. "Well, that's all. You are dismissed. Go check up on the Foreign Energy Research status, will you? Rigald is supposed to bring a report at some point."

Kreta stood up. "You really think the Battlefield energy is going to help? With all your abilities?"

Pane shook his head slowly. "Not with my abilities, no. But somehow, I get the feeling that...it'll help." He glanced back up at Kreta. Kreta took his cue and left.

Your time will come, and I'll let you know when it does. That wasn't the answer Kreta had been hoping for. The truth was, he was furious about Ike making a fool of him. He'd let his guard down for one moment, and it bit him in the butt. And it wasn't so much Horizon Kreta wanted to redeem himself to. Ike was probably thinking he was so strong and clever, escaping from three Admins at once and almost fatally wounding Kreta. Kreta wanted to show him how wrong he was.

He reentered the academy and headed for the glass doors on the wall opposite him. The doors led straight into what looked like a long sports field of some sort. The field was now subject to all sorts of changes, evidenced by the tents and weapon-covered tables around the grass. Kreta pushed the doors open and stepped outside again. The sports field served mainly as the headquarters for the research team. There was already an area dedicated to research in the Healing Room, but Pane had been taken with the unique energy supporting a floating arena called Battlefield. Kreta didn't understand all of it, but when Pane said "jump," you didn't say "how high" - you just jumped.

Horizon members with white outfits strode about the field, carrying equipment and notes. Most other Horizons didn't wear the black outfits they'd worn on the day of the invasion. Traditionally, members would wear casual clothes, the better to avert suspicion. Admins were expected to dress a little more appropriately to their position, so Kreta typically wore camouflage pants and a brown long-tailed coat Pane-style, as he was now.

As Kreta looked for a transport platform to carry him to Battlefield, he thought about Horizon's past. They didn't have to worry about attacks or inspections here. Back in their own dimension, their hideouts had been spotted a bunch of times, but Pane had always quickly shown up to send the government packing. They would still have to find a new hideout pretty soon, but after awhile, the government realized Pane wasn't one to be taken lightly. Attacks grew less common after that.

Kreta found the metallic round platform next to a tent on the right side of the field and stepped onto it. It instantly took him upwards, gaining speed rapidly. Battlefield was a long way up. He didn't know what lunatics would fight so casually on a relatively small arena, especially one that was so high up you could barely see it, but it was a good subject of research.

A few moments later, the platform slowed and changed direction, taking him to a floating rectangular structure made out of what appeared to be stone. Three smaller stone platforms hovered above it in a triangular pattern. A few researchers were at work, careful not to get too close to the edge. One researcher was standing in a specialized, sided platform beneath Battlefield, where a purple energy core was located. This core was the "foreign energy" Pane had spoken of.

"Hey, Rigald!" Kreta yelled. He walked onto Battlefield and waited for the researcher working beneath the arena to maneuver his platform around.

The scientist had a scruffy brown beard and a very small bald spot on top of his head. His white uniform had longer coattails than the other researchers, indicating his status as an Admin. He pushed his glasses higher up his nose. "Hello, Kreta. Are you sure you should be up?"

"Don't worry about it, Rigald. How's the research going?"

Rigald sighed. "Painfully slow. The only thing we've learned about Battlefield's energy is that it's vastly different from anything else we've seen. I get the impression it's not in our dimension anywhere. I'd like to take a sample of it and study it, but I don't know how the core would react to that. We'll need Pane's permission to proceed with something like that."

"Well, good. It gives me something to bring back to Pane." He picked up a tool and studied it absentmindedly. "What's your take on it?"

Rigald climbed out of the platform. "How do you mean?"

"The energy. Can we use it for attack? Convenience energy? Healing purposes?" Kreta squeezed on the tool and accidentally broke it. He scowled at the shards in his palm.

Rigald sighed and scooped the pieces into his hand. "I do wish you would be careful with your hands, Kreta. This stuff isn't inexpensive."

Kreta grunted. "So, your take. What can we use the energy for?"

With nowhere else to put them, Rigald stuffed the shards into his coat pocket. "Honestly? Anything at this point. It's like asking what electricity can be used for. But whatever we decide to do with it, it's potent stuff." His gaze wandered to a set of floating stands made for spectators off to the side. "I hope we can figure out the big Teleporter soon. Taking transport platforms up here is such a pain in the you-know-what."

Kreta patted Rigald on the shoulder. "All good things come with waiting. I'm off to give Pane a thoroughly-detailed report about the groundbreaking research going on here." Rigald snorted. "Keep it at. Something will come of this."

He hopped back onto the transport platform and let it zip him away. All good things came with waiting...yeah, that was it. He'd get his chance to fight Ike at full power someday. The sooner, the better. Even if Ike was captured first, Pane said he would arrange a duel between them.

Thinking about it, something struck Kreta as odd. Something Pane had said.

If we capture them, I'll even lock you and Ike in a wide room alone with each other so you can duke it out.

'If'? Pane wasn't sure?

Maybe it was just the wrong choice of words on Pane's part, but if Kreta knew him at all, there might be something else on the boss's mind. He pondered Horizon's future as the platform took him down.