Xander quickly whipped a party setting once the two battle-weary groups arrived at his home, and the B Squad began slipping into an 'at ease' sort of situation alongside their new friends. "Anybody want any wine?" Xander asked.

"None for us," Sky replied with a wave of his hand. "we'll probably be called out to something new once we return home."

"And one drink will kill you?" Nick replied.

"Sky, just because you're a tightwad, doesn't mean the rest of us are." Stella replied. "Whatcha got?"

"Stella…" Sky whined.

"Shut it!"

"How about just dinner and conversation?" Clare said to break the tension.

"Sure!" Xander nodded for Yuri to join him in the kitchen.

"So…where are you guys from, exactly?" Nick asked in a detective-type fashion.

"Well…" Sky looked nervous about answering.

"We're from the future." Bridge quickly answered. "We're from the Earth Branch of SPD…but I doubt you guys know what that is so I'll explain-"

"Bridge!" Sky shouted, scaring Bridge into silence.

"God, Sky, take your Midol and stop being a bitch." Stella replied.

Z split into two once more; one maintaining the seat and one now standing in front of Sky. The second Z picked Sky up and led him outside for a talk.

Vida's eyes opened widely in shock. "Wow…" She said, causing Xander to look through the small window in the wall that he willed to create. Vida turned around and grinned. "Did you see that, Xander?" Xander replied in a blunt yet positive tone. Vida cocked an eyebrow and walked into the kitchen. Xander willed the wall back together.

"So…you're just going to pretend you didn't see that?" Vida replied.

"It was a neat trick…I've actually been practicing on creating doppelgangers myself…mostly for diversions, though…not like what she did."

"Dude…you're not impressed…?"

"No, not really. You seem much more impressed than I do." Xander replied as he walked past her with a set of plates.

"…Vankie neutered you." She replied, her voice slightly tinted with shock.

"She…what?" He said.

"Has she bitten you? You look tired." Vida backed up a bit from Xander as he walked into the back half of the kitchen.

"I overslept a few hours today, so what? That's why I look tired…I'm over-rested."

"And if I bit him, he'd be much paler." Yuri snapped at her from behind. Vida turned around and jumped.

"We've been working very hard, Vi. You know me…I'm not a terribly hard worker…I'm just showing it a bit more."

"We…haven't done a ton of hard work, though…like, a few fights in the last three months."

Xander smiled. "Any work is work to me, Vi."

Vida sighed and left the argument, opting to back down this time. Yuri waited for her to leave before she softly turned Xander's face to hers and saw for herself what Vida was talking about. "Your eyes look a little swollen, like you need sleep."

"Every little thing makes me more and more tired…" He replied. "Every day, I have to push harder and harder to get up…"

"I will help you then, every single morning." Yuri replied with a smile.

"Much obliged, love." He replied, kissing her quickly and getting back to work.

Xander and Yuri provided a luxurious dinner for both groups, which they happily scarfed down over long talks and story swaps about crazy battles and even more insane monsters.

"So, we're surrounded on patrol by like, twenty Krybots, and Sky's like, 'Well, maybe we should just shoot them.', but they were holding several civilians hostage, so we couldn't attack them…so we're like, 'Somebody call Stella in, just keep her from flinging herself at a civilian!'" Syd recalled, causing her audience to laugh.

"That reminds me of the time we were just starting out, and we were fighting a few Hideacs who decided they were going to sneak up on these subsistence farmers in this area in Mysteria…"

"Vida, not this story…" Nick said, blushing.

"Oh yes, this story!" Vida said back. "So, we're in Mysteria, and these elvey people are being chased in their cornfield, and Nick's all like, 'I'll get'em!', and he's running through the cornfield, and he trips!"

The B Squad crew laughed hysterically; Bridge laughed and nearly fell out of his chair. Nick slowly slid into his chair.

"So, do you guys do anything besides police work?" Nick said, trying to get the conversation away from himself.

"We're also a jazz band!" Stella proclaimed happily.

"A jazz band and a police unit. Interesting mix." Xander replied.

"Maybe I can get Sky in here and we can play something." Stella said.

"Oh, that would be lovely!" Yuri replied.

"Then let's do it." Bridge said.

Stella walked outside and brought Z and Sky in while Xander quickly cleaned up the ballroom for a performance. Nick tuned up one of the acoustic guitars and strummed a quick tune as the B Squad wandered in. Sky smiled once he spotted the large standing bass, and he quickly picked it up and hugged it. Nick had to give up his guitar to Stella, who gave him a sweet smile. Bridge, who had been tinkering with the grand piano nearby, pulled a chair over with a flick of a swiftly ungloved hand and sat down in it. Syd squealed once she saw the huge selection of percussion instruments, and she sat a few drums around a lone chair, along with a fine selection of percussion sticks. Z found a beautiful violin with an accompanying horsehair bow. "Oh…is this a Stradivarius?"

"It was a gift from an old friend of the family." Xander replied. "I'd be honored if I had a guest use it."

"I'll play it with style."

"I wanna play too!" Vida said, grabbing a violin as well.

"Vi…"

"No! If she can jam, we're good." Sky replied. His demeanor had changed once he removed his uniform jacket and began tuning the giant jazz bass. He was completely focused on the strings and nothing else now; not even the jokes of those around them as they began to jam.

"Fine, I'll play too…" Nick added, strumming another acoustic guitar that he found.

As the new allies played music together, Rootcore was plagued with a wave of pessimism. Kiran paced around outside Sungel's room, waiting for his master to wake up and tell him what happened with Chronojiel. He waited for the others to return to Rootcore, or at the very least, call him to report good news.

"Aye, I find myself waiting…again…I hope the next wait's not another nineteen years…" He muttered.

The morning came, and the groups woke up from their long party to the sound of Sky's morpher alerting him to an incoming call. Sky shot up, alert and focused, clearing his throat before answering.

"…Hello?" He said as the rest of the party sat up.

"Are you authorized to use this line?" A stern voice came over the line. Sky stared at his morpher; the voice wasn't entirely familiar.

"Um…yeah…" Sky stared at his morpher. Bridge stared at the morpher as well, unsure who was barking at Sky.

"Who do you work for?" The voice said quite sternly once more.

"We're SPD, man…this is an official frequency of my unit and my unit only. Who the hell are you?"

The voice on the other line went silent for a moment, then the once forceful voice sounded slightly softer. "Where are you right now…?"

"Who is this?" Sky asked.

"This is Lt. Colonel Wes Collins of the Silver Guardians. Who is this…?"

"Captain Schuyler Tate of the SPD B Squad…the Silver Guardians…?"

The line went silent for another moment, then another reply. "We traced this line to a town outside our location…you got GPS?"

Bridge smiled and held up his morpher. "Yeah…"

"I'll give you the coordinates. I want you to meet me with whatever parties you traveled here with."

Stella opened up her morpher and shot over to the notepad. "Fire away, Lt. Colonel."

Back at Rootcore, Kiran heard a faint moaning coming from his master's room, making his ears perk up. Sungel was calling him into his room, and he felt obligated to do so. He walked in, and it was eerie seeing the usually glowing room enveloped in complete darkness. He thanked Majiel that he was a magic cat at the moment, as his eyes swiftly adjusted to the twinkles of the weak dawn that trickled in.

"…Ki…ran…?" Sungel cried out in a whisper.

"…Master? Are you alright?" Kiran asked.

"I need you…to help me…" He replied in the same whispering tone.

"Name your wish, master." Kiran replied.

Back in Briarwood, The B Squad stood in front of Xander's house, looking back at it and Briarwood as a whole. They knew they would not ever be seeing it again. "We'll meet these 'Silver Guardians' in their town, then we'll be going home…so this is goodbye." Sky said. He offered Nick his hand for a shake. "It has been good to meet you all, and we hope that maybe someday, we'll meet you all again…but like I said, it's doubtful."

Nick took Sky's hand and shook it. "Hey, maybe we'll visit you guys in twenty or so years…we may be retired by then, but it'd be good to see you guys on the beat, au naturale."

"If you do, we'll be sure to deliver." Bridge replied. "But for now, think only of the present…"

"The world needs you now…" Stella tacked on.

"And you guys have one mean bitch to get rid of…" Z added.

"And she really needs a lesson on fashion. Maybe if you hit her hard enough, she'll realize how trashy faux goth is." Syd chirped. Sky stepped back to his group and grinned; the entire group gave a quick SPD salute to their former allies. "From SPD to you guys, we are grateful for your hospitality."

Nick gave them a military salute, to which the other members of his own group followed. "From one former army brat to another…take care."

"Ha, you bet." Sky smiled warmly and turned to leave, leading his group out of Briarwood and out to find their own paths.

"It sucks that they requested our assistance." Chip said. "I mean, I could've easily flew all of them to the right position…"

"Nah, they're right. Briarwood needs us to be here." Nick replied.

"Which reminds me…we never got any sort of call from Sungel…I wonder what's going on…" Clare said.

"We should go." Xander replied.

"Iku ze, anata." Yuri softly said to Xander.

"We go."

As the group began to leave, Chip stood, dumbfounded. "…When did Xander learn Infershian…?" He looked down to ponder for a second, then erased the thought from his mind as he followed the others to Rootcore.

As they arrived, Vida couldn't help but notice that the sun still hadn't risen fully. "It's nearly nine a.m., and the sun's still sitting under the horizon…?" She sighed. Chip walked up behind her and whispered, "It's like an eternal dusk…the eye of a hurricane." into her ear, which sent a shiver up her spine. She feared walking into Rootcore now…she suddenly feared what she'd find waiting for her. However, she sucked it up; she was a powerful Magician, after all, and with power, cowardice is meaningless.