Heroes UNITE!

by So-Pro Warrior

Commander Shepard and his team have gathered together the races of their Galaxy in an effort to defeat the Reapers. But is it enough? When the team comes across a strange woman they find out that if they are to truly defeat the Reapers once and for all. They will need all the help they can get. But not from their Universe. Multiverse Crossover! Chapters 6-22 Being Rewritten!

40. The Universe of Ratchet & Clank

Polaris Galaxy…

Planet Igliak…

Hundreds of Reaper ships hover over the capital of the Polaris galaxy. The flaming wreckage of thousands of Polaris Defense Force ships scattered all around. From above, the once blue and silver planet was now dark, with numerous orange splotches, cities that were aflame, covering much of the planet.

This was the view Ratchet, the last Lombax in the universe, was witnessing from a far off distance; a look of sorrow on his face as this was all he could do at the moment, was watch his new home burn from the window of the Starship Phoenix II. Watch and do nothing, but run away from it. A metallic hand touched the back of his left shoulder as he turned his head and looked down.

"Do not worry Ratchet, we will return." his long-time partner and friend, the small robot Clank said.

Ratchet turned around and started walking away "Let's just hope there's something to return to buddy." he says.

"We will not fail you Mr. President. I promise, we will return with help to eradicate these things and save all of Polaris!" Talwyn Apogee, captain of the Polaris Defense Force, as well as Ratchet's girlfriend, states to the new president of Polaris.

Suddenly the feed to the president cuts off as there is now nothing but static on the screen. She lets out a sigh of regret as Ratchet approaches her from behind "We just lost all signals to Meridian City." she says as she turns to face him.

"And with the news that these things are spreading out and attacking other planets across the galaxy… I think it's safe to assume we're on our own for now." she says crossing her arms.

"So what's the plan?" Ratchet asks.

"The only thing we can do. We won't be finding any help in this galaxy, so we need to go to another. We need to get to the Solana Galaxy, and get help from Sasha and the Galactic Rangers. They're our only chance at driving these things back to wherever it is they came from, and retaking Polaris." Talwyn explains.

"EXACTLY!" the "famous hero" and former president of Polaris, Captain Qwark says appearing from out of nowhere behind Ratchet "We need to go to Solana to esca- I MEAN to get help for the poor people of Polaris. Once we arrive, you two can go get help from the Galactic Rangers while I will take a ship and scour the rest of the galaxy in a heroic attempt to build up more allies which we can use to fight against this new, evil threat!" Qwark says in a heroic manner as he puts his fists to his hips.

Though of course, both Ratchet and Talwyn weren't buying into what he was saying for even a second as they just stared at him. Yes, he would be leaving; but it would be to find a planet where he could hide out from the invaders, in case their invasion spreads out to the Solana Galaxy as well once they finish things up in Polaris.

Ratchet finally turned back to Talwyn. "Look I'm not trying to doubt the Rangers or anything. But these things blew past the Polaris defense fleet like they were specks of asteroid dust, and then laid waste to one of the most heavily defended planets in the Polaris Galaxy in just under five hours. Even if we're lucky that these things aren't already attacking the Solana Galaxy, and we're able to get the entire Solana military force to come back with us to Polaris. Will that change anything?" Ratchet questions.

"Even when we were able to destroy a ship. With that portal open, more just came through replacing any losses those things sustained. We would need to find a way to close that portal first so that no more enemy ships come through, and then, we would have to worry about the probably millions of enemy ships already spread across Polaris. Plus the billions of ground troops they have deployed... I'm really trying to see a bright side to this Tal, but I just don't see how this could end in a good way for us. Not without suffering a lot… and I mean a lot of losses. And that's even if we have enough troops to complete the first goal of closing that portal with." Ratchet says with a look of defeat on his face as he lowers his head and closes his eyes.

Talwyn walks over to him and puts her right hand on his shoulder making him look up at her "But we have to try Ratchet. Isn't that what you've always done in the face of overwhelming odds?" she says as she gives him a small smile.

After a few seconds, Ratchet returns the smile with a saddened one.

"If I may interrupt?" Qwark says appearing beside them while hunched a bit over "On a more serious note from me. We still do have to travel some distance across a galaxy swarming with whatever those things are, if we're to reach the edge of the Polaris galaxy so we can make our warp jump to Solana."

"Qwark's right." Talwyn says as she turns and walks back over to the bridge's Galactic Map where a map of all of Polaris hovers in the air. "We have a long way to go until we reach the edge of Polaris space so we can make the jump to Solana. And with those things out there, and the possibility of pirates and mercenaries most likely trying to cash in on the situation with fleeing refugees from planets. We need to keep our senses about. I don't want anything bad, or unknown coming anywhere near us."

Suddenly the alarms began blaring with flashes of red light engulfing the room every few seconds "Captain, we just picked up a strange energy reading!" Clank calls out from a nearby station.

"Where from? Is it those things again?!" Talwyn questions him.

"This one seems different from the invaders. As for its location…" Clank says as he types away when he suddenly stops with wide-eyes.

"Clank? What is it?!" Ratchet calls to him.

Clank looks over his shoulder "The energy reading is coming from inside the ship, and it seems to be growing stronger."

Just then a strange sound begins echoing through the air alarming everyone "It's those things! They've come to finish us off! Take the Lombax and robot I'm too young and pretty to die!" Qwark cries out as he runs off to hide somewhere.

Ratchet holds his Omniwrench at the ready while Talwyn unholsters and raises her laser pistol. Suddenly, at the back of the room, something begins to materialize from out of thin air. That object as it becomes clearer to see, a large, blue box? Which finally, fully materializes after a few more seconds as the strange sound dies away. Ratchet, Talwyn, and Clank face towards it, ready for whatever comes out as Qwark peeks his head up from behind the holotable which he cowers behind.

Both doors open up as Sora, Natsu, and Laval come casually strolling out, Sora with his hands behind his head as the three look at their new surroundings "Whoa. Cool, another spaceship!" Laval says in awe.

"Eh." Sora says shrugging his shoulders "Not as impressive as the Infinity if I have to be honest. Then again it would take something a lot biggerand more coollooking to beat that ship!"

Ratchet and the others are a bit confused by what they see.

"I wonder how powerful the hero of this universe is? Can I fight them when we meet?!" Natsu questions slamming his fists together with a large grin on his face.

"I don't think that's how Shepard and the others would want us greeting them." Sora says.

"But what better way of testing out their strength then by having them fight me?" Natsu says.

"Well for one, not fighting you. Since you might go overboard and either burn them, or blow the whole ship up. The one we're standing on, the one we need to not get blown up since we're on it?" Laval says.

Natsu turns around with his arms crossed and a slightly annoyed look on his face "You guys are starting to sound like Lucy and the others." he says.

"Natsu, you blew up almost an entire street in the last universe with one of your attacks." Sora points out.

"And melted a couple of buildings when you powered yourself up that one time." Laval adds in.

"How else am I supposed to take out the bad guys if I can't use my magic?!" Natsu shouts at them.

"I have magic too and you don't see me bringing a whole building down or melting anything!" Sora shouts back at him in an annoyed tone.

Ratchet clears his voice loudly attracting the three's attention over to him "Uh~, hi yeah. Listen. Sorry to interrupt whatever it is you're talking about over there but. You do realize you've boarded our ship, we don't know who you are or what intentions you have. Basically this isn't the time for you guys to be talking amongst yourselves. If anything you should probably be telling us who you are, what it is you're doing here on our ship… and also how it is you managed to get aboard our ship in the first place."

Talwyn aims her laser pistol at the three "And you can explain all of that with your hands raised and no sudden movements unless you want a laser bolt right between the eyes." she threatens.

"Hold on!" the voice of Shepard calls out as Talwyn aims her pistol towards the TARDIS doors.

The Commander slowly walking out with both his arms slightly raised "My apologies for my friends, but I can assure you. We mean no harm. We're here to help." Shepard quickly says.

"Talwyn, wait! These guys don't look anything like those things we encountered." Ratchet says.

"They could be allies of those creatures." Clank says.

"If you're talking about the Reapers, then no, we're not with them. In fact we're fighting against them as well." Sora says crossing his arms with a serious look on his face.

"The Reapers?" Ratchet asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Big metal ships, really ugly looking monsters for soldiers." Laval tries explaining.

"You're not the only ones being attacked by them. We're here to help you, but we've also come for your help as well." Natsu says.

Ratchet is confused by this.

"It's complicated. If you would allow us to explain it to you. But it's as my companion said, we're here to both help you. And require your help as well." Shepard says.

Ratchet and Talwyn look at one another and then back at them "Alright fine." Talwyn says as she lowers her pistol and holsters it.

"If you have information on these… what did you call them? Reapers? Then we could use it. Who are you, where did you come from, and what exactly is it we're fighting against?" Talwyn asks.

Shepard lowers his arms "I'm Commander Shepard." just then from the TARDIS, the rest of the team emerges. Ashley, James, Garrus, Tali, Liara, EDI, Javik, the Doctor, Chief, Po, Tigress, Tsukasa, Marvelous, Troy, Eris, Lucy, and Happy. "This is my team. And we're not exactly from this universe of yours…"

Time passes by as Shepard and the others explain everything to Ratchet, Clank, Talwyn, and Qwark. The two groups having regrouped on the bridge where the latter four take their seats.

"So you guys are all from different universes, more precisely alternate universes. The Reapers are a race of highly-advanced machines that are basically trying to destroy all life as we know it across the multiverse because for reasons unknown." Ratchet begins to simplify what it is Shepard and the others said.

"They only targeted highly-advanced civilizations at first, until the mysterious "First Civilization" broke the barriers of space and time, allowing them access into alternate universes. When the Reapers got a hold of this technology and integrated it with themselves, they used said technology to open up portals to other universes to bring their harvestation of sentient life to other universes." Clank adds in.

"Oh right. This for some reason caused them to start targeting basically all living life across the universes. No matter how advanced or not a race got. Now you guys are traveling across the Multiverse to put together an army to fight back against the Reapers with. An army consisting of both different military factions from other universes, as well as your own army of special people known as heroes." Ratchet continues.

"People with extraordinary powers, or abilities, or just great skill, who have done great things for the universes from which they come from." Clank again adds in.

"And the only way to stop said Reapers is with a strange, un-tested weapon known only as "The Crucible". Which the Reapers have a major part of and is being held above your homeworld called Earth. So, you're plan is to gather said army, assault the Reapers, and their allies that they're gathering, put the two pieces of this superweapon together… And basically hope that it works and annihilates the Reapers both in your universe and across the multiverse. Oh and not kill all of us of course too. Was there anything I missed in that?" Ratchet asks as he finishes the simplified version of their story.

"Nope, that's everything." Shepard says.

"Are you sure about that?" Qwark says getting up and suddenly striking a heroic pose "Perhaps there was a mistake somewhere. You just said it was only Ratchet and Clank who were the "chosen heroes" of this universe. Perhaps this list of yours forgot to mention the daring, and beautiful, hero that is known as CAPTAIN QWARK! Or maybe you just got confused and it's just me, instead of those two." Qwark says.

"No. It was just Ratchet and Clank." Sora says.

"No one named Captain Qwark according to the Doctor." Laval says.

"Come on Doc, surely there must be a mistake on that list of yours?" Qwark says looking at the Doctor.

"Nope, no mistake on my list. Not a single mistake at all." the Doctor replies.

Qwark's face drops into a deadpan expression "Of course there isn't…" he says with a slightly annoyed tone.

"So another save the entire universe mission. But on a much larger scale… Alright, I'm in." Ratchet just casually says as he jumps onto his feet.

"As am I." Clank says.

"Jumping straight into this without a whole lot of questions?" Po asks.

"This isn't my first ride in saving the entire universe. The entire Multiverse on the other hand, yes. But trust me, I've dealt with some strange stuff before. Other dimensions, a weapon that could take chunks of a planet, a weapon that could turn organics into robots, a giant fuzzball…" Ratchet says walking over towards Shepard.

"A giant fuzzball?" Laval questions with a raised eyebrow.

"That's the first thing you question? Not a planet-destroying weapon?" Sora asks.

"There have been a lot of crazy things I've experienced in my universe. So it doesn't really surprise me that there are other universes out there vastly different from the one me and my friends live in. Besides, if this weapon of yours is the only thing capable of destroying the Reapers and saving the Multiverse, what other choice do we have exactly? It's better then what we had planned." Ratchet says.

"Glad you could see it that way. We'll greatly appreciate whatever help you and your friend Clank can offer us, Ratchet. Welcome to the fight." Shepard says as the two shake hands.

"I wish to help as well. I only wish I could promise you the support of the Polaris Defense Force. But unfortunately the Reapers decimated most of our ships and troops in the opening attack. What little remains I left to protect those stuck on our capital planet, and of course those spread out across the galaxy." Talwyn says standing up.

"Hm~. You wish to seek out other allies, Commander? It just so happens that was what we were going to do as well. Perhaps we can still go to them, but instead ask them for aid in joining your Coalition of other universal military factions." Clank speaks up.

"Yeah~. We were on our way to the Solana Galaxy to get help from that galaxy's military force. So long as the Reapers aren't attacking them, we should practically have their entire military force to back you guys up!" Ratchet says.

"Hold on, you were on your way to another galaxy?" Liara asks.

Attracting Ratchet's attention as he turns around to face her "Yeah. Why? You guys don't have galactic travel where you're from?" he asks.

"Travels across our respective galaxies yes… but travel between two different galaxies in the same universe? That's something never heard of. Mostly because of how long it would take to travel to another galaxy considering how far apart they are." Shepard says.

"No race during my time had technology capable for such a feat." Javik says.

"Not even slipspace allows us that kind of traveling. I mean… it probably could but it's not like we've ever tested it before. It would probably be dangerous to attempt, and it would still take a long time to reach the other galaxy." Chief adds in.

"There is a project back in our universe, known as the Andromeda Initiative, that was created to send six ships known as Arks, full of thousands of colonists from our various species on a one-way trip to a place known as the Andromeda Galaxy. With the goal of populating said galaxy for its resources. But it was expected for these Arks to reach the Andromeda Galaxy in 600 years." EDI says.

"Well, not in this universe. For us, all we need to do is reach the edge of the galaxy, have a warp drive installed on the ship. And in a couple of seconds we're already in another galaxy." Ratchet says.

"That sounds amazing..." Tali says as she and everyone else were in awe at this fact.

"That must be one powerful piece of tech you guys got. Though you gotta feel sorry for the people who had to test that kind of equipment out. So many variables I would imagine to make that thing work precisely, plus you know, knowing if and where another galaxy is so you don't miss it or something else that would leave you stranded literally in the middle of nowhere." Garrus says.

"Unfortunately it's as Ratchet said. We first have to reach the edge of the Polaris Galaxy before we can make the jump to Solana. And the Reapers have had time to spread out across our galaxy. Meaning there's a chance we could run into them. Or at the very least, pirates and or mercenaries who might use this whole invasion as an opportunity to get themselves rich or, maybe even a better ship to escape this galaxy with." Talwyn says.

"Yeah, that's if you don't mind the long journey. Put it this way, we get there, and if the Reapers aren't already in Solana. You got yourself an entire galaxy's military force ready to help you and the rest of your allies out. Worse case… we waste our time going there and the Reapers are already there and… you get nothing." Ratchet says ending in a deadpan expression and monotone voice.

"I only detected one Reaper portal when we arrived. And I have my scanners set to scan an entire universe so if there was another portal in another galaxy, I still would have detected it." the Doctor speaks up.

Chief and Shepard look at one another "An entire galaxy's military force joining the Coalition. Would greatly boost our numbers." Chief says.

"It would. So long as the Reapers decide not to open another portal in that galaxy and attack there as well." Shepard says.

"The more allies we can gain, the better chance we have at defeating them as you always say." Tigress says.

"I say we go for it." Troy says.

Everyone else vocally agrees with this.

"Sounds pretty unanimous to me. We stick around, help you deal with any trouble that comes your way. Get us to the Solana Galaxy, get the aid of the military force there." Shepard says.

"And we, along with the Galactic Rangers help you guys to save our universe and all the others. Sounds pretty good to me." Ratchet says.

"Alright, so to the Solana Galaxy we go! Sounds pretty simple." Sora says putting his hands behind his head. "So… how far do we have to travel?"

1 Hour Later…

Lucy wandered down a hallway, stopping in front of a door on her right as she pressed the button beside it opening it up. Suddenly her eyes widened as she let out a terrified scream. Turning away, closing her eyes and covering them as Sora, and Natsu quickly appeared "Lucy! What's wrong?!" Natsu questions her.

"Are we under attack?" Sora asks as the two turn to look inside the door.

Only for the both of them to scream in terror as well with widened eyes "PLUMBER'S CRACK!" Sora cries out.

The sight that greeted them, was that of a very large butt as the person it belonged to turned his head with a "Huh? What?" before fully turning around and straightening himself to face the heroes "What did you say?" the large, humanoid, blue-skinned alien asks with his hands to his hips.

"OH! Uh~ I said, oh look the plumber's back." Sora says as he then gives the strange plumber a nervous smile.

"Uh huh. Haven't heard that one before. Hmph, kids these days." the plumber says as he grabs his toolbox and walks out of the bathroom.

Passing by a confused Ratchet and Talwyn as they arrive on the scene to see the familiar plumber walk by them. The two exchanging looks with one another as Ratchet shrugs his shoulders.

Another Hour Later…

Po leans against a wall on his left elbow beside Tigress with Laval and Eris in front of the two, "So, how you guys enjoying the whole multiversal travel thing so far?" Po asks.

"Other than fighting the bad guys, it's been really amazing." Laval says.

"Yeah, the last universe we went to was really a sight to see! Too bad we didn't get to see much of it before the Reapers attacked." Eris says.

"It's to be expected. Trust me, even my own curiosity has wanted to get the best of me sometimes in each universe. Worlds so different from our own. New sights and wonders to see and experience. But it's unfortunate we cannot get to experience them because of the Reapers. Whether it's because they've already laid waste to those wonders, or it's because we're in a race against time to gather the heroes and allies we can before the Reapers invade." Tigress says.

Meanwhile, near them on the bridge.

"So… Mister, Master Chief was it? Interesting name you got there. You sir, seem like a great, and powerful hero might I just say. And-" before Qwark can say any more Chief is already turning and walking away from the Galactic Map holotable.

"Ah~, I see. One of those tough looking, not-so-talkative type of heroes are you? Yes that is quite the character you have there, really fits the whole mysterious, soldier persona." Qwark continues as he follows after him.

"But anyways I must know. Are you sure that I am not the hero you are looking for and not Ratchet and Clank? I mean I'll at least take that I'm with them if anything but…" Chief and Qwark pass Troy, Marvelous, and James as they watch the two go by.

"If we don't run into any bad guys soon, I think Chief's actually going to kill that guy. And that's if I don't first." Marvelous says.

"He certainly seems like "that" kind of guy." James says with a slightly annoyed tone.

Another Hour Later…

"So you are not actually a robot. Rather an artificial intelligence inhabiting the body of a synthetic unit." Clank says as he speaks to EDI.

"That is correct." EDI replies.

"Hm~. Very interesting. Yet you still use normal firearms? Surely there must be a way for you to install weapons within this synthetic body of yours. After all, would that not make you more efficient in combat?" Clank asks.

"Even basic mechs back in our universe wield the weapons that they are armed with. After all, there is space needed for all the circuitry and other important parts of a synthetic body." EDI says.

"I suppose so. I must remember that our technological levels seem to be different in some areas between our two universes." Clank says.

"As every alternate universe has shown itself to be thus far." EDI says.

"Speaking of which, you must tell me. What are these other universes like, the ones you and your friends have been to thus far." Clank asks.

"To simplify it all into a single word. I would say… intriguing. We have experienced much, from magic, to even far more advanced technology then our own, to creations and beings we never thought possible but in holobooks. It has been quite a mission so far." EDI says.

"I could imagine. After all. Ratchet and I have also experienced things we never thought possible as well." Clank says.

Another Hour Later…

Sora's keyblade and Ratchet's Omniwrench clash mid-air between the two. Both heroes pulling their weapons back and swinging them again only to block each other's attack once more; as they both then launch themselves back a few feet apart.

"Alright, not bad so far. Though really? You fight your enemies with a giant wrench?" Sora asks with a joking tone.

"Says the kid wielding a giant key." Ratchet says back also in a joking tone.

"That can also do a number of magic attacks. Like so. Fire!" Sora shouts shooting a single fireball from the tip of his keyblade at Ratchet who dodge rolls to his left before charging forward and throwing his Omniwrench sideways towards Sora.

Sora swings his keyblade upwards knocking the Omniwrench away as he then spins around and tosses his keyblade towards Ratchet. Ratchet catches his Omniwrench and brings it up to block Sora's keyblade when it suddenly disappears right in front of him. The Lombax gasping in shock as he looks around to then notice Sora had also disappeared.

"Heads up!" the voice of Sora calls from above making Ratchet look up.

Just in time to see Sora coming back down towards him, keyblade in hand, as he delivers a downward strike with the back end of his keyblade knocking Ratchet back several feet into the wall. Ratchet pushes himself up and shakes his head clear as he looks forward to see an extended helping hand from Sora which he accepts as the keyblade wielder helps him back onto his feet.

"Alright, so not bad for a giant key. But I was going easy on you, so." Ratchet says.

"Uh huh. That's what they all say… Except Chief. Trust me, when you've seen him fight and then you have a chance to fight him. When he says it, you believe it." Sora says.

Ratchet's eyes widen at this. Curiosity, and a bit of fear making him wonder just how this Master Chief now fought and how powerful and skilled he was.

Another Hour Later…

Garrus and Tali were both passed out on a nearby bench. The latter, lying her head down on Garrus's right shoulder; as several feet from them was Lucy, looking over at the two with a saddened look on her face for some reason.

"They l~ike each other." Happy mischievously says suddenly appearing behind her making her yelp out in a panic as she turns to face him.

"WILL YOU STOP POPPING OUT FROM NOWHERE AND SAYING THAT!" she shouts.

Letting out an annoyed sigh she opens her eyes and begins walking away "I'm gonna get something to eat." she says.

Finding her way to the ship's mess hall, Lucy grabs herself a plate of… whatever the strange alien food was that now sat in front of her. Lucy looked down at the strange food while holding the luckily still same looking fork, and knife as she just stared, and stared at the food unsure of what to make of it. Finally after a few more seconds, she placed down her fork and knife and pushed the plate away "On second thought… maybe I should just go to the TARDIS and ask the Doctor if he has any food lying around." she says to herself.

"Yeah." the voice of Talwyn calls out attracting Lucy's attention as she turns to see the Markazian walking over to her "I wouldn't recommend the fried beezle beetle and mashed squiwarian brains as being the first meal you try out in our universe." she says.

Just hearing the names of the food alone almost made Lucy barf her breakfast out as she held back a gag with her right fist to her mouth. This made her push the dish even further away from her "I don't suppose you might have something that would be familiar for me? But considering I'm in a whole other universe I highly doubt that's a possibility." Lucy says.

"Probably not. If you want, I could grab you something I think you might like. If you don't then I'll just toss it and maybe you can go back to your Doctor friend and see if he has anything in his ship that might work for you." Talwyn says with her left hand to her hip.

"Well, the last universe I went to had something that I had never seen before and I really enjoyed it. At this point I'd say it doesn't hurt to try new things. After all, being in a different universe it's to be expected that the food is going to be different. Can't go complaining about it or anything. So long as it doesn't make me sick or kill me that is." Lucy says.

Talwyn brings another plate of food over to Lucy, after throwing the other one away, and hands it to her. Lucy cutting off a piece as she takes a bite from it and chews for a few seconds "Hm~. Not bad." Lucy says.

"That's good to hear." Talwyn says as she takes a bite out of her food.

"So this is your first time in space, right? How are you enjoying it?" Talwyn asks.

"Well, I guess my first travel through space. My first time in space would be when we first arrived in Shepard's universe. The journey so far has been… a bit boring no offense." Lucy says.

Talwyn chuckles "None taken. We didn't exactly have time to pack anything that could entertain us while we traveled given the suddenness of the whole thing. And our fuel is a bit low since we weren't able to refuel all the way before the Reapers attacked. Otherwise we would have already warped to the edge of the galaxy, and then to Solana. Using the warp drive consumes a lot of our gel, what we use to fuel our ships. Hence why we're trying to consume less by traveling the slow way, and then using what we got left to get us to the Solana Galaxy where hopefully we can get in contact with the Galactic Rangers before our remaining fuel empties entirely." Talwyn explains.

"Makes sense. I'm not going to complain. But my friend Natsu, and maybe some of the others. They won't be as patient." Lucy says.

"Eh" Talwyn says with a shrug "I'm honestly surprised Ratchet has lasted this long. I think it's your friends that are actually keeping him entertained. What with their stories of all the other universes, the other heroes and what they're like. I've listened to a few myself and they're quite something."

"Yeah, they sure are. I only joined the team recently with Natsu, Happy, Sora, Laval, and Eris so we don't have much to say compared to the others. But what we have heard, from both them and some of the other heroes we encountered back in Shepard's universe. The ones he's already recruited. They sure were amazing tales to hear." Lucy says.

"And what about the heroes themselves? The ones you have met?" Talwyn asks.

"They're all quite something in their own way." Lucy closes her eyes and giggles "Some of them even remind me of Natsu with how they act."

"I hope I have the honor of meeting, and perhaps even fighting alongside a few of them. They must all be amazing people, if Ratchet's anything to go by since he's apparently one of them." Talwyn says.

"The Doctor never really told us how it is a hero, or heroes are chosen in each universe. They just sort of are. But from what I have heard, or experienced. They are all great people. They're the kind of people who would be willing to put their lives before others if it meant protecting them. The kind of people to fight and protect everything that's good, even if it meant losing their own life in the process. To protect their friends, their family, those they love and care for." Lucy says.

"That sounds like Ratchet alright." Talwyn says.

"Believe it or not, some of these heroes are even people you would least expect. Like Captain Marvelous. He and his group are space pirates, and there was another group of pirates as well who were considered the heroes of their universe. You would think pirates couldn't be heroes but… when you get to know them. They really don't fit the usual type of pirate we're all used to. Raiding, pillaging. They don't do any of that stuff. They actually do a lot of good things instead, even if they say they don't intend it." Lucy says.

"Yeah, that actually does seem rather difficult to believe. Pirates that are heroes… but don't act like regular pirates and actually do good things? Don't see a lot of those, let me tell you." Talwyn says.

"Hey Lucy!" Lucy and Talwyn look over towards the doorway to see Natsu standing outside of it "Have you seen Ratchet anywhere?" he asks.

"Last I saw he was with Sora. Think they left the training room not that long ago." Talwyn speaks up.

"Oh, alright thank you!" Natsu says as he turns to leave.

"Hold it Natsu!" Lucy shouts to him making him turn back around.

"Why are you looking for Ratchet?" she asks with a distrustful look in her eyes.

"I'm bored around here. I need someone to fight!" Natsu casually says slamming his right fist into his left hand with a large toothy-grin on his face.

"You are not fighting aboard this ship, you are going to kill us all!" Lucy yells at him.

"No I won't! You know, I can hold myself back when I need to!" Natsu shouts back at her in an annoyed tone.

"And you couldn't do that in the over hundred different jobs we've done together where you constantly destroyed stuff costing us part of or the entire reward!" Lucy shouts back.

"I didn't feel like I needed to hold myself back during those times." Natsu says crossing his arms with a deadpan expression on his face.

"YOU DO REALIZE I HAVE A RENT FOR MY APARTMENT TO PAY FOR RIGHT?!" Lucy shouts again.

Natsu turns away with his hands to his hips and his eyes closed "Whatever. I'm off to look for Sora and Ratchet. I'll catch you later!" he says waving his right hand up into the air as he walks off.

"Honestly. I will never understand that mind of his sometimes. If it's not eating or sleeping, it's fighting." Lucy complains.

"Yet you still hang around and do things with him?" Talwyn asks making Lucy look back at her.

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. He can be a bit annoying sometimes. A bit of a slob, reckless, really hard-headed when it comes to certain things..." a small smile comes to Lucy's lips as she lowers her head a bit "But past all of that, Natsu is a really great person. He's kind, caring, and always looks out for his friends and everyone in the guild. He's always been there for me when I needed it. So I look out for him in return. Like what I'm doing right now. More so to make sure he doesn't cause trouble at least." Lucy says closing her eyes in a slightly embarrassed manner.

She opens her eyes again "But when something has me down, he's always there to bring me back up. When I'm having trouble with something, he's always there to help me if I need it. Ever since he brought me to Fairy Tail, we've been there for each other. As guildmates, as teammates… as friends."

"... Oh yeah. You totally like him." Talwyn says with a mischievous look on her face.

"HUH?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?! NOT YOU TO!" Lucy cries out in shock with widened eyes.

"Try all you want. You can't hide it from me. I know love when I see it. I would know." Talwyn says with a smirk.

Lucy lets out a sigh of defeat with her eyes closed as her cheeks begin turning red, "Not again… Is it really that obvious?" Lucy asks.

"Trust me, I was in your shoes once when I was just discovering my feelings for Ratchet. It can be confusing at first… but eventually you come to accept it. Especially if he's as great a guy as you say he is. How long have you known Natsu for?" Talwyn asks getting serious.

"About a few years now. Like I said, it's because of Natsu that I'm even a part of Fairy Tail. It's thanks to him I've made all the friends I have today. Gone on adventures I've always dreamed of. Take away all the bad guys we've had to face and my life has been quite a literal journey, an amazing one since Natsu brought me to join Fairy Tail." Lucy says.

"And in the time you've known him, besides the whole being a slob and reckless, bit dense. Is there anything about him that you find really bad?" Talwyn asks.

"Not... really." Lucy says with an unsure look on her face as she looks away from Talwyn for a few seconds before looking back. "I mean sure it's those parts of his personality that can get annoying sometimes. Especially his destructive personality when it comes to jobs." she says with her eyes closed in an annoyed manner.

She opens them up and then lowers her head "But past all of that. He's a really great person. He's… always been there for me. We've been through a lot together. Gone up against some really powerful, and dangerous dark mages and creatures. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared a number of times. Seeing how strong he is, along with some of my other friends in the guild. Sometimes I couldn't help my question my own value to the team, to the guild. Wondered if I was strong enough to really be with them. There were some guilds like that. That valued power and strength over everything else. If I had been with them, I probably wouldn't have lasted the first day. But Natsu and the others. They aren't like them. They could care less about power, about strength. So long as I valued everyone in the guild equally, accepted them as my friends, my family… that was what mattered the most." Lucy says as she then raises her head to look at Talwyn.

"Even if I do consider myself weak sometimes when compared to many of the others in the guild. Natsu could care less about that. Not only that. If I were to ever say that about myself, he would immediately get mad at me for considering such a thing. He's always supported me in one way or another, never once has he ever considered me weak, even if sometimes it sure seems like it. He's always told me how strong I am, and how strong I've gotten when I train myself to be a better mage with my magic. Ever since we met, he's always been there for me, always been so kind to me, always been there to try and bring me up if I ever feel down." Lucy finishes.

Talwyn smiles at this "He sure does sound like a great guy. He may not act like it sometimes, but it sounds like you two really care for each other." she says.

"Yeah well," Lucy props her right arm up on the table and places her head atop her hand "I highly doubt Natsu really understands the whole concept of "love", like that. He was raised by a dragon after all." Lucy says.

"Wait, what?" Talwyn says confused and taken aback by what she just heard.

"Oh, yeah. It's a long story." Lucy says rubbing the back of her head slightly embarrassed as she chuckles.

"But while I'm sure Natsu understands the love for his friends and family, in the caring way. I don't think Natsu would ever really understand the concept for actual love. Like real love, between those who care for each other much more." Lucy says.

"What makes you say that?" Talwyn asks out of curiosity.

Lucy closes her eyes in an embarrassed manner "Let's just say there was a recent moment that happened, I thought it was going to go one way only for Natsu to go in a completely opposite direction then I was expecting." she says.

"For some reason, even though I haven't known Natsu for as long as you have. Just based off my few interactions with him so far I can actually see that happening." Talwyn says in a humored tone.

"So what, you've just kind of bottled these feelings back up until the next opportunity comes or something?" Talwyn asks getting serious again.

"I guess you could say that. Why?" Lucy asks.

"Just curious is all." Talwyn replies as a worried expression comes to her face for some reason while looking away from Lucy. She looks back at the Celestial Spirit mage "You ever thought of maybe just coming out and saying it straight to him? Maybe like, soon or something before the big final battle with the Reapers comes?" Talwyn asks.

"Huh? Why?" Luck asks confused by the question.

"Well… I don't want to look on the downside of things but. With what Shepard said. With what's going on. Basically, we have a 50% chance of losing to the Reapers, and a 50% chance of defeating them. There's only two ways this war is going to end. Either we beat the Reapers, or they beat us. Obviously I want to hope that we win and defeat the Reapers but… even if we do win. It's not going to come without cost… a very high cost." Talwyn says.

Lucy lightly gasps at this as her eyes widen and her pupils slightly shrink in horror at what she was implying.

"We all want to come out of this alive, Lucy. Us, and all of our friends. I mean who wouldn't want that? But that's not how war works. People die unfortunately, and there's really no way to prevent that. No matter how good, no matter how strong they are. All it takes is a single thing, and their time is up. If it's their time. Then it's their time and there's nothing we can do about it." Talwyn begins, her voice solemn and sad as she looks down with her hands together.

"I guess… that's what pushed me to come out and tell Ratchet how it is I felt about him. With everything that he had been through, and with everything he continued going through even when I thought there was nothing more the universe could throw at him. It scared me thinking that eventually, his luck could run out… and I could possibly never see him again. I felt that if I never told him, and something did happen to him. I would never get this heavy burden off my heart, never get to experience the happiness, any potentially good memories I could have had with him. And so I did tell him. And these past few months… have been some of the best in my entire life. Lots and lots of moments, I will always treasure until the end of my days." Talwyn continues, nearly on the verge of tears as Lucy continues listening to her.

"Yes you could argue that if you were to say something, and then something bad happened afterwards then that would leave you with a broken heart. But… If you don't say anything, you're leaving yourself with a heavy burden you'll probably carry for a long, long time to come. Either way I guess… you kind of lose unless fate is with the both of you. If you both survive, then that's great! But I'd rather tell the person I love how it is I feel about them, before that something bad happens. Because I'd rather have the chance of spending whatever few happy moments I can with them, moments that I would cherish for the rest of my life, before something happens. Then for something to happen, and I never get to experience what could have been. To have my last memory of them, be that person I cared so much for, dying in my arms and never being able to get to tell them how much it is I cared for them…" Talwyn says.

Lucy remains silent as she takes in everything Talwyn had just said, the young mage lowering her head with a saddened look on her face "Love." Talwyn suddenly begins speaking again. "Depending on what happens. It can be a beautiful aspect of life… or it can be a curse." she says.

"... Yeah… It sure can be." Lucy says in agreement.

Talwyn picks up her empty plate and gets up "What happens between you and Natsu, it's up to you. I just thought I'd give my two bolts on the whole thing. You know, as one girl to another." she says.

"Yeah, I understand. Thanks Talwyn." Lucy says.

Talwyn nodding her head as she turns and walks away, leaving Lucy alone at the table to think all of what she just said, over. Lucy lowers her head and closes her eyes.

All those happy moments Lucy had ever spent with Natsu come flooding through her mind. To him bringing her to Fairy Tail for the first time, them forming a team, all of the adventures they had ever gone on together and with their friends. Even to the not so good moments, when Natsu and the others were there for Lucy during the Phantom Lord incident, their fight on Tenrou Island against Master Hades, to seeing her future self-die before her own eyes… And then finally, there was the most recent memory of when Natsu had taken a shot meant for her. When he literally threw himself in the way to protect her and got a slug for it.

Lucy had come to terms with her feelings for Natsu that morning after her award ceremony. Everything they had been through, everything he had ever done for her, to protect her, how he was always there for her when she needed it. After everything, it was safe to say that she had indeed fallen for her friend, the Fire Dragon Slayer who without him, she would never be where she was today. Never would she had gone on all those amazing adventures, made so many amazing friends, had it not been for that fateful encounter with Natsu at Hargeon. Sure he was as she had previously said, hard-headed, a slob, reckless, among a few other things… but he was still an amazing person, an amazing friend… and now. To imagine her life in the future, without Natsu being there by her side for all of it… it was just impossible.

A small smile comes to her lips, "Hmph… if this were old me back when I had first joined the guild. I'd be questioning my thoughts right now and trying to deny the whole thing. But now… after everything. I guess this is really happening…" Lucy says in her head.

Suddenly a single tear runs down the left side of her face "Natsu…"

The thought of losing him, after everything… Lucy didn't want to think of it but after everything Talwyn had just said; she couldn't help it. She had come so close to losing him on so many occasions during the war against the Alvarez Empire alone. The tumor, his connection to the book of END, Zeref, and Acnologia. And each moment that she thought she had lost Natsu, forever, it nearly broke her heart. Now things were different. Now, she knew how she felt about him, her close and best friend. And this time, the stakes were much higher than before, which also meant more dangerous. What if this time Natsu, or even Lucy herself wouldn't get lucky? What if after everything they had been through, all of the close calls they ever had, what if this time, their luck ran out? All it took was one thing, and that was it. The thought of losing Natsu before was hard after everything he had done for her. The thought of losing him now… was just… unbearable.

"What should I do?"

---

"How much further do we have till we reach the edge of the galaxy?" Chief asks with his arms crossed.

Him along with a few of the others, Po, Tsukasa, Ashley, EDI, and Javik, on the bridge with Clank at the main console "Not much further Master Chief. We are under an hour away from reaching a position that would allow us to warp jump to the Solana Galaxy." Clank replies.

"Anything else of note to report?" Chief asks.

"Negative, all is quiet." Clank says.

Suddenly the entire ship rocks violently throwing everyone off balance as loud rumbling reverberates throughout the ship. From above a squadron of 24 Reaper Oculus fighters strafe over the Starship Phoenix II pounding away at the ships shields.

"You were saying?" Chief questions while holding onto the railing.

"Barry, status report!" Clank calls out to the ships AI.

"Whoa dude! They like, totally came out of nowhere!"

"They must have cloaked their signatures until they were right on top of us." EDI says.

Shepard and the others, Ratchet, Talwyn, and Qwark included arrive on the bridge "Status report?!" Talwyn shouts.

"Looking at a squadron of Reaper fighters out there." Ashley reports.

"Shields are down to 75%." Clank adds in.

Three of the Oculus fighters turn around and do another strafing run on the ship causing it to rock around some more inside "Make that 63%." Clank corrects himself.

"What the hell is a squadron of Reaper fighters doing all the way out here by themselves?" James questions.

"Probably preying upon any ships unlucky enough to come across them." Ratchet says.

"Barry, get those auto-defense turrets up now!" Talwyn shouts.

"No can do ma'am. Those dudes like totally just knocked out the weapon systems on that last run." Barry replies.

"You have fighters in the hangar bay?" Shepard asks.

"Besides Ratchet's starfighter, just five others. Class-G Star Jumpers, literally fresh off the factory lines. All brand new starfighter with some serious firepower meant to replace the antique the Defense Force has been using for the past thirty years. Hence why we only have five at the moment." Talwyn says.

"Ratchet, you got your ship." Shepard says turning to look at him "I'll take one of the fighters. That leaves four others, who's up for some space combat?" Shepard asks looking at the others.

"I'll pilot one of the other fighters." Chief says stepping up.

"Hey a shuttle I'm okay with. Otherwise there's a reason I joined the infantry loco." James says.

"Yeah, same goes for me skip. I was never much of a flyer." Ashley says.

"Flying was probably one of my weakest things going through military training." Garrus says while rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'll fly the third fighter. Might not be my Dragon Zord but flying is still flying, right?" Troy says stepping up.

"Flying is what eagles do best. Count me in!" Eris says.

"Let me help!" Sora states stepping forward.

"You sure Sora?" Shepard asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey I actually have a lot of experience flying ships. Once I got the hang of it, I became the main pilot for our Gummi ship when me and my friends were traveling between worlds." Sora says.

The ship rocks again from another gun run alarming everyone "Shields down to 50%!" Clank reports.

"Sounds good to me then, let's move!" Shepard orders as he and the designated pilots start running towards the hangar.

"Go, Go Megaforce!" Troy shouts morphing into his power suit as the group enter the hangar and split off towards the separated starfighters.

Ratchet jumping into his ship, The Aphelion as he powers her up "Ready for some action Aphelion?" Ratchet asks his sentient ship.

"You know it!" she replies.

Shepard, Chief, Troy, Eris, and Sora lower themselves into their respective Class-G Star Jumpers with the Commander and Chief turning their respective fighters on almost instantly. Eris looks at the control board nervously, unsure of how to turn her starfighter on as she then presses a random button to see if it was the right switch. This turns on some very loud rock music making her yelp in a panic and literally jump up from her seat as she quickly presses the button again to turn it off. Sora looks around his control panel nervously as well with both his hands up and index fingers pointed outward as he looks back and forth from side to side trying to figure out what he needed to press.

"Okay, how about this?" Sora wonders to himself pressing a small red button.

Suddenly a panel opens up directly in front of him above the control wheel, as then a red boxing glove comes shooting out attached to a spring and slams into Sora's face knocking his head back "AH!" he cries out. The boxing glove retracting back into the panel as it closes.

Sora holds nose with both hands "Ah~. Who installed a boxing glove into a ship? Why is there a boxing glove installed in a ship? What purpose could it possibly serve?!" he questions no one in particular.

Chief sees this as he looks away and facepalms while shaking his head.

After a few more seconds Troy finally finds the ignition switch and turns his fighter on, powering the engines on. Eris and Sora soon follow as they power their starfighters up.

"Opening hangar bay doors!" Talwyn announces over the comms as said dual doors begin sliding open.

"Let's deal with these fighters quickly people. There may be more on the way and I'd rather not have to face an entire fleet of them, especially if they bring along capital ships or destroyers." Shepard orders.

"We're not much further from the jump point..."

"Just buy us as much time as you can until we get there and we'll be in the clear." Talwyn explains.

"You know on the off chance more Reapers appear or we're unable to deal with all of the fighters, what's the backup plan to just get us out of here?" Sora asks.

"Each of these ships come with their own warp drive. If we sync them up to the Phoenix, then when she jumps we do to. Though we'll need to be very close when she does make the jump, otherwise it won't work and basically… you're gonna be on your own." Ratchet says.

"Oh that just sounds nice." Eris sarcastically says.

"Yeah I'd rather not be left behind so how do we do that?" Sora asks.

"I'm sending you the information now." Ratchet says as the instructions for how to sync up their warp drives to the Phoenix's appears on their screens.

"Oh, that actually doesn't look too difficult." Eris says in a surprised tone.

The ship rocks again from another attack run "We need to get out there. Sora, Eris, Troy, join us when you've got your warp drives synced to the Phoenix's." Chief orders as he hovers his ship several feet in the air.

Ratchet, Shepard, and the Chief manage to quickly synch their warp drives while hovering their ships into the air, as then Ratchet takes-off first towards and through the hangar's shielding. Followed by Shepard and Chief; the others managing to finish their synching to the starship's warp drive as Sora is the first to hover into the air before taking off into space followed by Eris and Troy.

"We need to draw the fighters' attention away from the Phoenix!" Shepard states.

"So basically make us the bigger targets." Troy says.

"That's what "drawing them away" usually implies." Ratchet says.

Chief pulls back on his control wheel, pulling his fighter straight upwards for several feet before pulling back again to go upside down as he then spins around to readjust himself back to normal. Chief flies his starfighter towards three Oculus fighters heading right towards the Phoenix, the Spartan tracking them as on his screen the circular reticle travels around before finally locking onto the center fighter. Chief pushes down on the control wheel's top buttons, firing his ships laser cannons as after a few missed shots he finally lands a few hits on the fighter causing it to explode. Not giving the other two a chance to get away Chief continues firing his guns, hitting the fighter on the right causing it to spiral out of control while he hits and destroys the third one just as he flies past it.

"Nice one Chief!" Shepard calls out.

"Alright!" Po yells as he and the others cheer at this, the Doctor, Marvelous and Tsukasa just smiling and nodding their heads, the pirate captain with his arms crossed while the Doctor has his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah!" Natsu shouts.

"Way to go!" Laval yells.

"Is there anything the Chief can't do? Not that I'm complaining or anything but man can the dude fight! Whether it's on land, or in space!" James excitedly says.

At this the remaining 21 Oculus fighters all seem to divert their attention towards the heroes in the fighters.

"That seems to have gotten their attention!" Eris points out.

"Break-off and engage. We're outnumbered here people so be careful and watch each other's backs." Shepard orders.

The four split off in different directions to engage the Reaper fighters.

Several Oculus fighters fly towards Shepard and fire their weapons, Shepard swerves from side to side to dodge the incoming particle fire as he returns fire with his laser cannons. Missing the first Oculus as it flies past him while managing to hit the second, and third fighter; missing the fourth one and then shooting down the fifth fighter while the sixth also bypasses him unharmed. Ratchet turns his ship sideways and pitches the front upwards, an Oculus fighter coming straight at him as it fires its gun causing red particle laser bolts to fly past all around the Lombax. Ratchet pulls hard on his control wheel to turn his fighter towards the incoming Oculus, now flying at the enemy fighter as he performs a barrel roll to his left and then fires two missiles at the ship while descending towards his right. The missiles impacting into and destroying the fighter as its debris comes flying past Ratchet's ship which Ratchet looks back at to see.

Eris flies after one Oculus fighter as it swerves around in multiple directions. The eagle princess having some difficulty trying to get a lock on to the fighter as she fires her cannons anyway, the shots flying past the Reaper fighter as it rolls to its left. Suddenly pitching up and then diving straight down out of Eris's sight making her growl in anger and narrow her eyes. Just then two more Oculus fighters pull up behind her, the fighter on the right locking onto Eris and firing its particle laser cannon as the first shot misses, while the second and third shots impact right into her causing her shields to flare up from the damage while rocking it around a little bit inside causing Eris to yelp. Eris looks behind her to see the two fighters before looking back forward.

"I got two fighters on me! I need help!" Eris cries out over the comms.

"I got eyes on you Eris. You're below me at my 4 o'clock. Hang tight!" Ratchet responds while yawing to his right into a descent.

Getting behind the two Oculus fighters as they continue firing at Eris who swerves and rolls from side to side to dodge the shots. Ratchet locks onto the fighters and fires his laser cannons, taking out the fighter on his right first followed by the one on his left just as it begins to pull away.

"You alright Eris?" Ratchet asks.

"I am now. Thanks Ratchet. Guess I'm just not used to flying something that isn't my Eagle Jet." Eris responds.

"Will you be alright? Ratchet asks.

"I'm getting the hang of it. Probably not something I should be doing in the middle of a battle but it's not like I have much of a choice." Eris bluntly says.

Sora meanwhile seems to be faring a bit better, the young keyblade wielder firing his laser cannons after a lone Oculus fighter in front of him as they fly past just to its right. Sora begins going into a roll to his right as he fires again, this time managing to hit the Oculus fighter as its engines go ablaze sending it descending down.

"Woohoo! Alright! Another one bites the dust!" Sora cheers.

Troy pulls up beside Sora's fighter "Nice flying Sora. You're actually not that bad." he compliments while sounding a bit surprised.

"Told you guys I had a bit of experience flying. Just get me past the starting it up part, and I'm all good to go. So long as I don't need to press any other buttons besides the shooting ones." Sora says.

Back on the Phoenix, Talwyn and Clank look down at the ship's radar as Talwyn looks up "Well hope you're ready for round 2…" she begins speaking in an alarmed voice.

"We got a second wave of enemy fighters closing in fast, portside!" she nearly shouts over the comms as Chief upon hearing this looks to his left.

Seeing at least forty more Oculus fighters coming right towards them. Chief banks hard left, turning right towards the incoming wave; the Chief firing his laser cannons as he rolls around from left to right to dodge the enemy ships while managing to take a few out with his guns. Several of the Oculus fighters return fire and manage to damage Chief's starfighter shields greatly as a warning message pops up on his screen while showing that his shields had dropped down to 25%. Even with the ship rocking violently the Chief seems able to keep calm as he quickly pulls himself out of the mess.

From the bridge of the Phoenix the others could do nothing but watch the battle unfold on the large screen that now hung from the ceiling in front of the galaxy map. The arrival of more enemy ships now having turned the tide almost immediately as they watched their five friends in their ships flying around, chasing after Oculus fighters but with more Oculus fighters now pursuing them as well. The sight of this made Ashley grit her teeth in anger as she looked over to Talwyn.

"How much further to the jump point? They're not gonna be able to last much longer out there!" she questions.

"Just a few more minutes." Talwyn replies in a calm voice, but with some panic in her tone as she looks back at Ashley.

"They'll be lucky if they last three!" Marvelous nearly shouts.

"They need help!" Natsu states with a serious look on his face as he looks down at Happy "Let's go, Happy!"

"Aye sir!" Happy shouts in agreement.

Tsukasa suddenly slaps Natsu on the back of the head "Idiot! You can't breathe in space. You wouldn't be able to do anything!" he says.

Troy fires his laser cannons taking out another Oculus fighter, only for three more to appear behind him as they fire their particle cannons with one of the shots hitting him and damaging his shields as his ship rocks around "Agh!" Troy shouts.

Eris fires two missiles taking out two Oculus fighters "Troy, you alright? Where are you? I'm coming to help!" Eris says while looking around.

"Don't worry about me!"

"I got eyes on a lot of Reaper fighters heading right towards the Phoenix. You need to stop them!" Troy says as he spotted at least fifteen Oculi heading towards the Starship Phoenix II.

"I got Troy. Eris, Sora, take out those fighters!" Chief orders.

"On it Chief. Let's go Eris!" Sora shouts.

"Right behind yah!" Eris replies while pulling towards her left.

Sora and Eris joining together as they fly after the Oculus fighters heading towards the Phoenix. Accelerating their engines to gain up on them the two begin firing their laser cannons at the same time, taking one fighter down after another. The two managing to shoot the majority down until only the three fighters that were at the front of the others remained.

"Three left. I got 'em!" Sora says pushing down on the control wheel's top buttons.

Sora fires his laser cannons again, taking out the two rear Oculi when suddenly the final one jettisons its outer armor and launches its main body towards the ship taking Sora aback as he gasps in shock with widened eyes "What?!" he shouts.

The Phoenix suddenly shakes alarming everyone as the alarms begin going off, "What was that?!" Talwyn asks.

"We have a breach in the cargo hold. Detecting one large anomaly aboard." Clank reports.

"Sounds like one of the Oculus fighters. Damn things can separate themselves from their outer shells to board a ship. Their beams passing right through the shielding and armor like, like… what's that human saying again? Like swiss cheese?" Garrus informs them while turning to look at James for the last part.

James looking back at him "Yeah, that's the one." he says before turning to look back at Talwyn "We need to deal with that thing before it can cause any damage!" he urgently says.

"Po, Tigress, Laval, you three stay here. There isn't much you'll be able to do against it with your Kung Fu or your sword. Everyone else with me!" Ashley says.

"I'll take you to the cargo hold." Talwyn says taking out her laser pistol and stepping up towards Ashley.

Ratchet swerves from side to side to dodge the laser fire from the two Oculus fighters behind him.

"Aphelion, I could really use those fighters off of me right now!" Ratchet says in a slightly annoyed tone.

"It's not my fault! You're fancy flying is making shooting them a bit difficult!" Aphelion retorts.

The sentient Lombax ship firing the rear-facing rapid fire turret, eventually managing to land a shot on the right Oculus fighter's side causing it to roll into the other Oculus taking them both out.

"Nice shot!" Ratchet says.

The moment is short lived though when he is bombarded from above by more Reaper fire, many of the laser bolts hitting while several others miss as five more Oculus fighters pass all around him in a descent.

"Aphelion, status report!" Ratchet calls for in a panic.

"Shields barely holding at 15%!" Aphelion reports.

"Clank, please give me some good news buddy. We're getting torn up out here!" Ratchet shouts.

Chief manages to shoot down another Oculus fighter as it descends down in flames for a few feet before exploding; only for four more to appear behind him as they shoot their guns managing to land a few good hits on his ship. Shepard rolls, swerves, and tilts to both sides to avoid numerous laser fire coming from behind him; eventually managing to make a sharp turn to his left in an attempt to lose his pursuers. Only to fly straight into three more enemy fighters forcing him to make another sharp turn to avoid them.

Ashley, Talwyn, and the others run through the halls of the Phoenix, Marvelous, and Tsukasa already transformed. Reaching a double-sided door Talwyn presses the button on the right side opening them as they slide open, the group running inside only to come to an immediate stop upon being greeted by the sight of the shelless Oculus drone facing right towards them as it powers up its main beam.

"Cover!" Javik shouts.

The group splits apart with Ashley, Tali, Javik, Tsukasa, Natsu, Happy, and Talwyn running or diving to the right with Garrus, Liara, James, EDI, Marvelous, and Lucy going to the left. The Oculi fires its beam hitting the ground in front of the entrance as the Oculus then trails the beam after Garrus's group until it dies down.

Ashley takes out her assault rifle and finds cover behind a large crate "Take it down!" she shouts.

Peeking out around the corner Ashley fires her gun as Talwyn and the others join in. Their shots impacting into the metal sphere as the armor stays strong and absorbs the damage "I'm remembering how much I hated fighting these things with basic infantry weapons!" Garrus says in an annoyed tone while firing his Vindicator.

"We only did that one time!" Tali points out while firing her pistol.

"Yeah, and it was annoying!" Garrus states.

The Oculus fires its beam weapon again, this time directly towards the crate James and Marvelous take cover behind forcing them to dive away in opposite directions to avoid the shot as it tears right through the crate.

"Don't suppose anyone has some heavy ordnance we can use to take this thing down?!" Garrus questions.

At this Natsu jumps atop the crate he was taking cover behind, crouched low with his left hand planted on the crate and his right arm held out to his side. His whole body engulfed in flames as he then launches himself straight towards the Oculus with his right fist pulled back and a roaring battle cry. The Oculus turns towards him as Natsu slams his fire-coated fist directly into the Oculus's "eye", his fist smashing right through it as red electricity begins surging out through the damaged hole. Natsu plants his feet on the Oculus and pushes himself off of it into a backflip, kicking the drone away at the same time as he lands on the ground turned away from it crouched on his left knee. The Oculus floating back a few feet before coming to a stop and then exploding to pieces.

Everyone comes out of cover in slight awe save for Lucy, Marvelous, and Tsukasa, Natsu stands back up with his left hand on his shoulder as he rotates his right arm around, a large grin on his face "Heh. That wasn't so tough." he casually says.

"Aye sir!" Happy shouts in agreement appearing behind him.

"Oh right, we have plenty of them now. One of which is a kid with a lot of literal firepower" Garrus says.

Talwyn stood completely still with her arms dropped to her sides, awed and shocked by what she had just witnessed until she shakes her head to snap herself back to reality "We should get back to the bridge. See how the others are doing." Talwyn suggests while holstering her pistol.

Four Oculus fighters trail Sora while firing their guns, Sora rolling his fighter around in different directions in an attempt to lose them, however the enemy fighters keep right on him with a few of their laser bolts impacting into his ship damaging his shields further.

"I got four Reaper fighters on me and could really use some help!" Sora calls out in a panic.

Troy finds himself performing every maneuver he possibly can to avoid the enemy fire that comes at him from nearly every direction "Wish I could Sora but I got my own problems!" Troy replies.

"There's just too many of them!" Ratchet says trying to remain composed.

"This is getting dangerous. We need to retreat to the Phoenix and get out of here!" Eris nearly shouts.

"We do that every one of these fighters will turn their attention on the ship and tear right through it's remaining shield power in a matter of seconds. And we won't be going anywhere! We need to keep them distracted for just a little bit longer, so hold on everyone!" Shepard states in a determined voice.

Even with multiple Reaper fighters on his tail, Chief manages to lock onto and fire off several missiles as they soar through space and impact into Oculus fighters in front of him.

"That was the last of my missiles. And my shields are barely holding at 5%. I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to last out here Shepard." Chief says.

"Clank, what's the status of that jump point?!" Shepard questions him.

Clank appears on Shepard's screen "We've arrived at the jump point Commander. Coordinates have been set, we just need you and the others to regroup around the Phoenix, finish the final synchronization step and we can get out of here!"

"And how are we supposed to do that with all of these fighters around?!" Troy brings up.

An unsure, and worried look comes to Sora's face "I… I might have an idea!" he shouts "Just uh~..."

"Everyone head back to the Phoenix to regroup!"

Shepard furrows his brows wondering what it was Sora was planning, "You gonna clue us in on this plan of yours Sora?" he asks.

"There's no time! Just trust me!" Sora pleads.

Shepard grits his teeth and then lets out a sigh of annoyance as he relents "Fine! Everyone prepare your boosters. On my mark we're blasting ourselves over to the Phoenix." Shepard orders as he presses a few buttons.

"3…"

"2…" Chief, Ratchet, Troy, and Eris prepare to boost their engines.

"1…" Sora takes a deep breath and releases with his eyes closed.

"Blast off!" Shepard shouts, activating his starfighter's boosters.

Accelerating his engines to full power as he, along with the others quite literally blast themselves away from the high number of Reaper fighters. Boosting over to the Starship Phoenix II in a matter of seconds as they all come to a stop above it.

Ashley and the others return to the bridge "Quickly everyone, synch up your warp drives to the Phoenix's!" Clank urges.

"Inputting jump coordinates now." Ratchet replies as he and the others quickly work on that.

"All fighters synched up to the Phoenix!" Barry reports.

"Quickly Clank, get us out of here!" Talwyn shouts.

"Reaper fighters, inbound!" Chief reports.

Sure enough, the Reaper fighters begin closing in on the heroes.

"Warp drives powering up. 30%... 40… 50!" Clank continues to report.

"We're not going to make it!" Po cries out in terror throwing both of his hands on the sides of his face.

"Sora, whatever your plan is. You better do it now!" Shepard nearly shouts.

Sora has his eyes closed as he takes calm breathes "Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate…" he quietly repeats to himself, his Kingdom Keyblade on his lap while being held by his left hand.

The Oculus fighters get closer and open fire "SORA!" Shepard shouts.

Sora's eyes shoot open with a serious look "REFLEGA!" he yells.

Summoning a barrier of light around his ship as it then expands outwards, surrounding his ship along with the others' including the Starship Phoenix II as the laser bolts impact into the shield and deflect off of it. The shots returning towards those that fired them, as a number of Reaper ships find themselves hit by their own laser bolts, with very few managing to just barely dodge the deflected shots.

WARP DRIVE POWERED UP

The message appears on Clank's screen "PUNCH IT!" Talwyn shouts.

In an instant, the Starship Phoenix II, along with Ratchet's Aphelion, and the five Class-G Star Jumpers zoom off into the unknowns of space...

The Solana Galaxy…

The Starship Phoenix II along with the fighters exit out from the warp jump as they slow down and then continue flying forward at a normal speed. Inside his starfighter, Ratchet lets out a huge sigh of relief as he lies his head back with his eyes closed "I really hate close calls like that." he says.

"Tell me about it." Eris says with her head hanging down, also relieved as she catches her breath.

"Is everyone alright?" Shepard asks while catching his breath.

"Ship's a bit roughed up, but otherwise all good here." Troy reports.

"Everything's fine on my end." Chief adds in.

"We're all good down here." Talwyn speaks up. "I'll start having Clank and Barry go through all the new channels, see if they can find out if our Reaper friends are here or not."

"No need for that." the Doctor calls out making everyone turn to him as he walks towards them. "Just did a quick scan from the TARDIS. Not picking up any universal portals in this galaxy so we have nothing to worry about from the Reapers." he says.

"Well that's a bit of a relief." Laval says.

"And they cannot follow us from the Polaris Galaxy?" Liara asks.

"As far as we know, they're not capable of travel between galaxies. At least not as fast as we were with the warp drives. And any sort of travel they do through space itself would take centuries to complete. No, if they wanted to attack Solana now that we're here, they would have to open up a universal portal to do that. Which I would then detect, allowing me to then warn all of you and… well that's about it depending on how you would want to go about that then." the Doctor answers putting his hands to his hips.

"I agree with Laval. Definitely a bit reassuring thing to hear." Shepard says. The Commander then narrowing his eyes as he realized he had yet to hear back from a certain keyblade wielder; "Hey Sora, are you okay? You haven't responded."

Nothing.

"Sora, what's your status?" Shepard asks again. Still nothing.

"Hang on, I'm close to his fighter. I'll get a visual on him." Chief says as he boosts his engines a little to bring his fighter up beside Sora's.

Chief looks into Sora's cockpit to see the young man moving, he seemed to be breathing heavily, an exhausted look on his face with his eyes half-way open. He could just barely make out the heavy sweat going down his face.

"I've got movement, but he looks exhausted." Chief informs the others "Sora, can you hear me?" he calls to him over the comms again.

"Huh? Wha-?!" Sora finally says as his head perks up and he looks around until his eyes come across Chief.

"You okay?"Chief asks.

Sora gulps silently "Y-Yeah. I'm fine… Just… just a bit exhausted. Could really use a bottle of Ether right now. Good thing I packed some up on the TARDIS."

"I'm not taking any chances…"

"Set your autopilot to take you back to the ship. Get some rest, we'll get you some of your potions once we're aboard." Chief says.

"Autopilot… ship… got it." Sora says in between heavy breaths with his eyes half-way closed once again.

Ratchet and the others begin flying towards the Phoenix's hangar with Sora trailing a bit behind. Sora's body suddenly begins swinging around in a dazed state, the young keyblade wielder struggling to keep his eyes open as his vision begins blurring and going dark "Gotta… switch… autopilot." he says to himself.

Ratchet and Shepard are the first to land back in the hangar bay where Talwyn, Ashley, and the others gather to welcome them back.

"Autopilot, autopilot. Need to switch to… need to switch…" Sora reaches for the button to activate the ship's autopilot. When his arm slowly falls to his lap before he can press it.

Chief, Troy, and Eris exit their vehicles while Shepard and Ratchet walk over to the others "Nice job back there. You helped us out a lot." Talwyn says.

"I'll say. If it had just been me. I think I would have been Lombax stew back there. Good thing you guys were here to help." Ratchet says.

"No problem. Though in all honesty, if it hadn't been for Sora's protection magic. None of us would have been able to make it out of there." Shepard says.

"Guess it's a good thing you brought him along then, huh?" Troy says in a joking tone.

Garrus walks up to Natsu from behind and puts his right hand on his left shoulder "And Natsu here made fighting that Oculus that boarded the ship a whole lot easier to take down. Think it's safe to say our new hero recruits are proving their worth." Garrus compliments.

"At least some of them anyway." Marvelous remarks in a humorous manner while eyeing Laval from behind.

The Lion prince's eyes widening as he had a feeling he knew who the space pirate was talking about, making him turn to him with a slightly annoyed look "Hey!" he nearly shouts.

"Speaking of the kid, he sure is taking his sweet time getting in here." James says crossing his arms as he looks out the hangar's shielding. Seeing the fighter Sora was piloting coming very slowly towards them.

At this Shepard and the others turn to look.

"Have… have… have to…" Sora's eyes completely close as his vision goes dark. The keyblade wielder's head drops down as the momentum brings his body forward causing him to fall right into the control wheel pushing it forward.

His engines powering up as they boost his ship forward at high speeds towards the Phoenix's hangar bay.

This alarms everyone "Well he's not taking his time anymore!" Po shouts.

"Gokai Change!" Marvelous shouts inserting a Ranger Key into his Mobilate.

"MA~GIRANGER!"

Taking out the MagiPhone, Marvelous presses a few of the numbers and aims it at the ship. Firing a red bolt of lightning from the point as it hits the ship and causes it to begin slowing down rapidly until it moves no more.

"Nice one Marvelous." Troy says as Ratchet and Clank rush forward.

Clank jumping onto and changing into his backpack form as he attaches to the back of Ratchet's suit, Ratchet jumping up and uses Clank's jetpack mode to bring himself onto the top of Sora's starfighter as he smashes the cockpit window open. Clank jumping inside and quickly pressing a few buttons, bringing out the ship's landing gear as it begins descending to the ground. Marvelous reverts back to his basic form as everyone rushes over to check on Sora.

"Is he alright?" Chief asks as the fighter lands.

Clank jumps out from the cockpit and walks to the edge of the ship "For the most part. However, he appears to be heavily exhausted. From what, I do not know." Clank says.

"If his magic works the same way as ours. It could be he overexerted himself when he made that protective barrier to save us from those Reaper ships." Lucy speaks up.

"He did mention his magic can weaken his energy depending on what he is casting, and how strong of a version it is." Chief says.

Chief looks over at the Doctor "Doctor, can you go back to the TARDIS and grab some of Sora's potion bottles? Meet us in the medbay." he says.

"Sure thing." the Doctor replies as he turns and runs off.

Chief climbs aboard the fighter and lifts Sora out from the cockpit as he drops down while carrying him in his arms, "I'll take him to the medbay. Meet you back on the bridge." Chief says as he begins walking away.

---

Sora moans as his eyes begin flickering open. After a few seconds of regaining his senses, the keyblade wielder slowly sits up from the bed and rubs the back of his head "Ah good, you're awake." Sora looks to his right to see the Doctor sitting beside him on a chair.

"Chief told me to watch over you." the Doctor reaches into his suit's breast pocket and pulls out an Ether potion "Here you go. Ether for when you overdo it with magic right?" he says handing it to Sora.

Sora grabbing and popping the vial open as he drinks the entire thing before lowering it and letting out a satisfied sigh.

"Thanks Doctor. That feels better." Sora says with his eyes closed.

He then opens his eyes as he looks at him "Uh~. What exactly happened that caused me to wake up… wherever it is I am?" he asks with a slightly worried tone in his voice.

"You are in the Phoenix's medbay. And well~… You passed out in your starfighter while returning to the hangar, fell into the wheel, boosted your ship into the hangar bay and almost killed yourself. So take that as you will." the Doctor replies.

Sora grits his teeth and clenches his eyes shut in an embarrassed manner as he re-opens them "Yeah… that sounds very bad."

"Otherwise though. That trick you pulled off back there with the whole magical barrier, saved us all. Got us to the Solana Galaxy. So some thanks are in order for that at least." the Doctor says.

"So I saved us, only to cause us one more problem and nearly get myself killed. Don't know how I should feel about that honestly." Sora says.

The Doctor stands up "Well can't exactly say much about that. The way I see it, we're all okay and that's what's important yes? Had you died… well that would have been a different story obviously."

"Gee, that helped a whole lot Doctor." Sora says in a monotone voice

"Yes, well anyway, Shepard and the others are all on the bridge. There aren't any Reapers in this galaxy which is good but now we need to get in contact with the Galactic Rangers. If you're feeling good you can join them, otherwise both Shepard and Chief said you could rest here for a while if you wanted to." The Doctor says.

Sora begins getting up from the bed "I'm fine. That Ether helped me out quite a bit. Still not at 100% but not feeling bad either." Sora says standing up.

"How long was I out for?" Sora asks.

"Not that long actually. About 30 minutes." the Doctor replies.

"An~d nothing else bad has happened?" Sora asks.

"Nope. Everything's been quite calm since we got here. Which could either be a good thing or a bad thing. Considering the luck you heroes seem to always have at least as of recent. I would say it might possibly be a bad thing. But we could always hope for the former." the Doctor says.

"Well... if there's anything I've learned from my journeys it's that eventually all bad things lead to something good happening, right? So maybe we'll get lucky and something good will happen this time. Or something bad will happen and that good thing will happen at another time? Eventually something good has to happen right?" Sora says.

The Doctor furrows his brows with a confused look as he opens his mouth to speak "That is actually a very accurate description when it comes to you heroes and at least some of your daily lives. Lot's of bad things happen, eventually something good happens. Whether it makes up for the bad things or not is to be seen. Either way, it's like Lady Luck herself knows when to intervene in the lives of you heroes." the Doctor says.

"It does sometimes feel and seem that way. So the bridge is where the others are, right?" Sora asks.

"Refugees from the Polaris Galaxy continue streaming in as the Solana government works at getting refugee camps set up across the galaxy. President Phyronix has assured us and the residents of Polaris that the Galactic Rangers are being mobilized for an attack that will see to them retaking Polaris from these strange invaders..." a female robot news reporter says on the television screen.

Shepard, Ratchet and everyone else looking up as they listen to what this news reporter had to say.

"Looks like a lot more people managed to escape Polaris then we thought." Ratchet says.

"That's a relief to hear. It also means that President Phyronix knows of the situation and as the reporter said, is getting the Galactic Rangers ready for war." Talwyn says.

"At least a bit of the situation anyways." Shepard reminds her.

"Yeah, not trying to be rude or anything. But I doubt this President knows what he's truly in for." Ashley comments.

"Any luck with getting in contact with President Phyronix, Clank?" Ratchet asks as his robot partner works at the communication console.

"I am attempting to contact him but have so far been unable to." Clank replies.

"Wouldn't be surprised if there was just a lot of comms traffic coming in and out for him. With everything going on and him being the president, he's going to have a lot on his plate for a while." Talwyn says.

"We have quite a ways to go until we reach Marcadia. Unfortunately our fuel will not last long enough to get us there. We will need to make a stop at the nearest fueling station before proceeding to our destination." Clank informs.

"So long as we don't run into anymore Reapers, I think we'll be fine." a familiar voice speaks up making everyone turn to see the Doctor and Sora walking towards them.

"Yo, Sora!" Natsu casually greets him with his left hand up.

"Enjoy your little nap?" Marvelous jokingly remarks.

"I actually did, thank you very much." Sora jokes back with his hands resting behind his head.

Shepard and Chief approach the young keyblader "You did a good job back there Sora." Shepard compliments.

The three come to a stop with Sora in front of the two soldiers, "You say that, but I feel like there's a "but" in there somewhere." Sora says.

"And you would be right." Shepard says crossing his arms "But, you also put your own life at risk. Even though this is a bit ironic to say considering the situation... I don't want heroics like that happening on this team." Shepard says putting his right hand on Sora's shoulder.

"But what else were we supposed to do? It was the only way!" Sora defends himself.

Shepard sighed in defeat and closes his eyes "I know… But I would like to think that maybe there was another way, one we didn't have time to think of. Perhaps one that could have ended without you almost getting yourself killed because you overexerted yourself."

Everyone listens to what Shepard had to say "I've lost too many friends because of the Reapers… I'd rather not lose anymore." Shepard finishes, opening his eyes to stare down at Sora who looked back at him with a sorrowed expression.

"My apologies for the interruption, but we have an incoming distress call." Clank calls out attracting everyone's attention.

Talwyn and Ratchet rush over "What is it? Who's it from?" Talwyn asks.

"It is an audio recording, broadcasting on all open channels. It's transmission range however is rather short. I was barely able to pick it up until a few seconds ago. Playing the message now." Clank says pressing a button on the console.

"This is Sasha Phyronix of the…" the audio is full of static, but a female voice can be heard over all of it as it then cuts out.

"...Starship Phoenix…"

"That's Sasha!" Ratchet raises his voice in shock as his and Talwyn's eyes widened.

"Friend of yours?" Tsukasa asks.

"She's the Captain for the Galactic Rangers, their leader like I am for the Polaris Defense Force. And is also the daughter of Solana Galaxy's President." Talwyn quickly explains.

"We've lost power to the engines and are drifting in space. Most of the systems are being shut down one by one by an unknown force. To anyone who receives this message, we need help! Our coordinates-"

"The message ends there." Clank speaks up.

"Sounds like she's in trouble. Clank, can you trace the signal back to its point of origin?" Ratchet asks.

"Already did. The Starship Phoenix, rather the Galactic Rangers' one. Is a short distance from where we are. I am detecting no other ships nearby." Clank says.

"We need to go and help her!" Ratchet says with urgency.

Talwyn however has her right hand to her chin in a thinking pose, an unsure look on her face. "Hm~. Something doesn't seem right. What would the Captain of the Galactic Rangers be doing all the way out here? She should be nowhere near the borders of the Solana Galaxy. Not with the threat of the Reapers if they had Warp Drive technology. If the Reapers invaded and killed Sasha, the Galactic Rangers would be dealt a serious blow."

"Perhaps they are out here searching for more survivors from Polaris?" Clank says.

"She's right. Someone of importance like her should be nowhere near what could become the front lines for an imminent invasion. If the Galactic Rangers wanted to be on the lookout for more survivors they'd send ships and crew with less important personnel." Chief says.

"Maybe she just hasn't heard about the Reapers yet?" Lucy suggests.

"Nuh uh. The fact they've begun mobilizing their military already, and how that news bot brought up the government was trying to work on getting refugee camps set up for survivors from Polaris. Shows that the President has known about the Reapers for some time. The moment he heard about a potential invasion coming, he would've pulled back all high-level personnel away from the borders of the Solana Galaxy to keep them safe. Especially his own daughter." Garrus says.

"I mean it's hard for them to go anywhere when their engines don't work, right?" Laval asks.

"Still doesn't explain why they're out here, or why they're broadcasting short range. If they were in trouble, they'd want to broadcast that message as far as they could. Something just doesn't seem right." Shepard says.

"Eh." Qwark says with a rather bored look on his face as he shrugs his shoulders with his arms crossed. "Sounds like a trap to me. Someone of importance all the way out here during an invasion that to them could be imminent. By coincidence we happen to be passing through, we pick up the distress beacon it's all static-y, audio only. I mean with the right gadget it'd be as simple as having the person say a single word and then using that gadget to replicate their voice. Thus creating that message to fool us into going to the ship thinking they're in trouble. We go aboard, no one's in sight and the next thing you know we're being shot at by bad guys. Psh, classic bad guy ambush trick."

Qwark turns his head to the left, and notices everyone staring at him with surprised, or blank looks on their faces. Qwark's eyes widened, "What?" he asks.

"You know, Captain Ego over there does make a point." James speaks up.

"I do? I mean I do!" Qwark enthusiastically says as he turns the rest of his body and puts his fists to his hips in a heroic pose with his eyes closed. He then opens his eyes with a confused expression "Wait…"

"Smells like a trap to me. And considering our luck and how things always go for us…" James continues.

"It's probably Cerberus." Shepard says.

"At this point would it be anyone else?" Troy says in a monotone voice with his arms raised up in a shrug.

"That terrorist organization from your universe that are allied with the Reapers? We still need to go then and rescue Sasha from them!" Ratchet urgently states.

"And we will. But at least we'll be prepared this time." Shepard says.

"What's the plan?" Chief asks.

"I say we just bring everyone and go with a full scale attack. If Cerberus thinks they can handle all of us, they got another thing coming." Marvelous says.

"If this were Kai Leng or my Clone maybe. But this is Saren we're most likely talking about. He's far more intelligent, and cunning compared to those two. He might be ready for us if we do that. And the last thing we need is all of us falling into a trap and getting captured. The safest bet would be splitting off into two teams. One team goes aboard the Phoenix to scout it out, see if it is a trap. Second team remains behind as backup should things go south." Shepard says.

"It's always a better idea to be precautious then to underestimate your enemy, no matter how many times we've defeated them." Tigress says.

"So what are we doing?" Sora asks.

"On the off chance we are overthinking things, which I highly doubt since not one universe have we never run into Cerberus. Ratchet, Clank, you're with us, that way if your friend is dealing with only ship problems, you're there to vouch for us. I'll take my team, and Chief along to see what the situation is. If you don't hear back from us within a few minutes, or notice any explosions going off, or basically get any sort of feeling that something is wrong. Take the Doctor's TARDIS and board the ship but from the ship's bridge instead." Shepard says.

"We can take the shuttle in the hangar to get onto the Phoenix. Which is probably what they'll be expecting so if things do go bad, they'll be focused on us in the hangar bay while you guys hit them from behind." Ratchet explains.

"And on the off chance none of this works?" Talwyn asks.

"Then it's not going to be good. That's all I can say really." Shepard says with a shrug.

"Ah, how reassuring." Talwyn sarcastically says.

Shepard turns to face Clank "Alright, Clank. Take us to the ship." he orders.

"Roger that, Commander." Clank complies.

After some time of flying through space, the group comes across the Galactic Rangers' pride and joy ship of the Galactic Solana Fleet, the original Starship Phoenix. The ship completely still as no activity could be seen at all happening aboard.

"We need to keep up the facade that we don't know it's a trap." Shepard says as he signals over to Talwyn to contact the Phoenix.

Talwyn nods her head as she begins contacting the ship "This is Captain Apogee of the Polaris Defense Force to the Starship Phoenix. We received your message and are here to assist. Do you read, over?" she says.

She receives no reply; however the hangar bay doors of the Starship Phoenix do open for them.

"Doors open, and no response. Yep, definitely looks like a trap to me if I've ever seen one. Which I've seen plenty of. Like a lot of them." Ratchet comments.

"Let's move." Shepard says.

Ratchet, Clank, Shepard, his team, and the Master Chief board the shuttle as Ratchet pilots the ship over to the original Starship Phoenix's hangar bay. Arriving in the hangar and landing, the team disembarks cautiously from the shuttle, their weapons held at the ready as Shepard signals to his team to split up and take positions on either side of the large, open doorway as Ashley, Tali, and Javik take up positions on the left side with James, Garrus, Liara, and EDI going to the right. Shepard and Chief both have their assault rifles raised forward, Ratchet taking a slight lead in front of them with his Omniblaster in hand as he looks around. The large hallway before them completely silent and devoid of life, as Shepard and Chief keep their eyes and weapons trained on the four open doorways, two on either side of them.

"Hello?" Ratchet calls out "Sasha? Galactic Rangers? Anybody who's a good guy and not a bad guy?" he asks.

"How very discreet of you, Ratchet." Clank says.

Ashley and the others hold their position as they watch Shepard and the other two slowly move forward, Ashley and Garrus the only two aiming their weapons down the hallway while the others remain in cover.

"Zurkon, zurkon, zurkon, zurkon…" suddenly Tali begins to hear a faint voice, repeating the same thing over and over again.

Her attention is drawn up towards a nearby ventilation shaft, as the voice then begins to grow louder, and louder… and also appears to be multiplying.

"Zurkon, zurkon, zurkon, zurkon, zurkon…" one by one the rest of Shepard's team begins to hear this as well as they all turn to look towards the ventilation grate. The voices grow louder, and louder, until suddenly a single, small, humanoid-like bot minus the lower half of a body comes flying out as it breaks through the ventilation grate. The robot turns and looks down at Shepard's team who are all visibly confused by what they are seeing. A few seconds of complete silence pass by. Until suddenly the robot, followed by many others that come flooding out through the ventilation system charge towards the team.

"Contact!" Ashley yells out as she and the others raise their weapons and fire on the robots.

At this Shepard, Chief, and Ratchet instantly turn around as they see Ashley and the others get out from their cover positions and begin moving backwards through the archway.

"Zurkon, zurkon, zurkon, zurkon, zurkon, zurkon!"

Their weapons tear through the robots with ease as they continue falling back through the arch.

"Come on!" Shepard calls to Chief and Ratchet as he begins running back to support them, the two following right behind a second later.

Ashley reloads her gun and then continues firing at the bots, when suddenly out of the corner of her right eye she notices a spark of electricity appear for a split second on the side of the archway. She turns to look at it. Not even a second later, suddenly the entire archway is engulfed in a series of multiple electrical shocks shooting outwards from the sides and the ceiling; Ashley and the others getting caught right at the center of it all as electricity surges through their bodies causing them all to cry out in pain.

Shepard, Chief, and Ratchet come to an immediate stop "No!" Shepard cries out in shock.

The electricity stops as the smoking bodies of Shepard's teammates all drop to the floor one by one.

"No need to worry, they still live." the familiar voice of Saren Arterius speaks up from behind making Shepard, Chief, and Ratchet turn to see him walk out from the far right doorway.

His hands behind his back as he walks to the center of the room and stops as he turns to face the three heroes.

"Well played Commander. Leaving half of your team behind on the other ship. Which means you knew this was a trap. So if something happens to you, the rest of your friends will come to the rescue, is that correct?" Saren questions in a calm tone.

Shepard, Chief, and Ratchet raise their guns and fire. Saren waves his right arm and puts up a biotic sphere around him to block the shots.

"Straight to the point I see. Well, if that's the case. Allow me to get to the point as well." Saren says as he eyes begin glowing red.

Shepard lowers his weapon with a confused, and a worried look on his face. Saren begins growling as he lowers his arms, red cracks suddenly forming all over his body, Ratchet and Chief follow suit as they lower their weapons as well, confused by what they were witnessing. Saren lowers his head for a few seconds before suddenly throwing it upwards and letting out a cry of both anger and pain, red electricity surging out from his body as he grabs both sides of his head and begins throwing it around from side to side.

"Uh~, is this normal?" Ratchet asks Shepard.

The Commander however remains silent as he focuses on what was happening to Saren, all of which looked rather familiar to him. But it couldn't be…

Saren throws his head up once more and roars as a shockwave of red energy explodes out from his body. The shockwave slamming into Shepard, Ratchet, and Chief knocking them back as Shepard and Ratchet fall to the ground with Chief managing to keep his footing as he slides back. His left arm raised in front of his helmet, Chief lowers it when the energy dies down; as Shepard and Ratchet pick themselves up from the ground and look forward. Shepard's eyes widening in shock at what he was seeing. Now standing before him, was still Saren, but now in the appearance of his husk-like form after the Reaper Sovereign had reanimated him.

A cloud of smoke surrounding him as it slowly dissipates, his form can still be seen however quite clearly. An orb of red energy levitates inside the center of his skeletal body, as red electrical bolts shoot out from all around it; his eyes glow bright red, the lower-half of his jaw is completely missing, his left arm somewhat intact while his right arm went with the rest of his skeletal body.

"What… is that?" Chief questions Shepard.

"Bad news…" is all Shepard says.

The Saren Husk stares towards the three heroes, completely still like a statue. Suddenly, it crouches low while planting its right hand on the ground and launches itself forward at high speeds. Slamming right into Ratchet before either of the three heroes are able to react as the Lombax is sent flying far back, hitting the ground and skipping across is a few times before rolling to a complete stop.

"Ratchet!" Shepard shouts in shock as he and Chief turn to look at what just happened.

The Saren Husk then jumps onto and sticks to the ceiling directly above the two soldiers, Shepard and Chief raise their rifles and fire at him, however Husk Saren is already jumping away as the rounds impact into the ceiling. The Saren Husk lands back on the ground as Shepard and Chief turn to face him, before they can fire however Saren Husk throws his right hand forward, summoning two red energy balls that shoot forward towards the two.

"Get behind me!" Chief calls to Shepard as the Commander gets behind the Spartan.

Chief raises his left arm as he puts up a Hardlight Shield to block the two projectiles, Husk Saren uses this opportunity to jump up to the ceiling again as he then drops down right in between Shepard and Chief, landing with an impact that causes a pulse of red energy to come shooting out from his body knocking Shepard backwards and Chief forward. Shepard hits the ground landing on his back while Chief hits the ground in a roll which he uses to recover back to his feet, and then turn around while planting his right hand on the floor. Husk Saren looks over at Chief, the Spartan raises his rifle to fire again when suddenly two energy beams are shot from Saren's eyes, hitting his rifle and blasting it out of his hand destroying the gun in the process. As Shepard is recovering, Ratchet suddenly runs past him with his Omniwrench in hand, closing in on Husk Saren while his attention is focused on Chief as he jumps in the air towards him. His Omniwrench pulled back past his head as he swings it down, only for Husk Saren to turn around and swing his left claw, striking Ratchet across the face sending him flying into the wall as he is knocked out cold.

"Ratchet!" Clank calls out in terror as he transforms back to his normal body and jumps off Ratchet's back to check on him.

Shepard pulls out his pistol to fire, but Husk Saren casts a Sabotage on his weapon overheating the thermal clip forcing Shepard to eject it. This gives Saren enough time to then fire three energy balls from his "mouth" towards Shepard, the energy spheres traveling towards the Commander rapidly as he looks up to see them coming. Unable to react in time, Shepard can do nothing but surround himself in a biotic barrier as the energy orbs impact directly in front of him, causing an explosion that propels him backwards through the air as he hits the ground hard. Husk Saren suddenly hears something rolling beneath him and looks down to see three frag grenades at his feet, courtesy of the Master Chief as then all three of them go off engulfing him in a large explosion. A few seconds later however Husk Saren comes jumping out from the flames completely unscathed towards the Chief, the Spartan reaching for and pulling his M45D Tactical Shotgun from his back as he fires a shell. Hitting the Husk Saren on his right shoulder throwing it back and stopping him mid-air as he falls to the ground.

Chief pumps the shotgun ejecting the empty shell as he then fires again, Husk Saren however rolls to his left dodging the shot before lunging at the Spartan once more. Chief throws his body backwards as Saren swings his left claw, Chief pumping his shotgun again as he falls to the floor while Husk Saren flies over him and lands on the ground a few feet away. Husk Saren turns almost instantly as Chief rolls onto his belly, aims, and fires again. Husk Saren jumping into the air to dodge this as he soars directly above the Master Chief and then drops straight down towards him with his right claw held back. Acting quickly Chief rolls to his right, just barely dodging Saren's attack as he drives his sharpened claws into the metal floor. Chief raises his shotgun again, but Saren is able to grab it and pull it from the Spartan's hands as he tosses it away; roaring at him as he swings his left claw at the Master Chief.

Chief throws his head as far back as he can as the claws just barely miss his faceplate by a few inches, tearing into the floor instead. Using this opportunity while he has it Chief kicks up back onto his feet and pulls out his pistol as he takes aim at Husk Saren's head, before he can pull the trigger though Husk Saren looks at him and fires energy beams from his eyes once again destroying Chief's gun. Before he can do anything Husk Saren backhands Chief across the face sending him flying sideways through the air, the Spartan managing to recover mid-air as he lands on his feet while Husk Saren pulls his right claw out from the floor. Husk Saren turns to face Chief who unsheathes his combat knife to defend himself; getting on all fours Husk Saren begins rapidly crawling towards Chief who then charges him as well, the two closing the distance quickly as halfway to him Husk Saren fires three energy orbs from his mouth. Chief spins around to his right to dodge the first one, then hopping to his left to evade the second orb, and finally dropping to his knees and sliding forward beneath the third energy ball as it flies just inches over his faceplate. Chief then getting right back onto his feet as he spins to his left and swings his combat knife, Husk Saren suddenly jumping right over the Spartan to dodge the swing as he lands behind him.

Chief comes to an immediate stop and spins his knife around in his hand to a forward grip as he turns to his left and thrusts the knife towards Husk Saren behind him, only for Husk Saren to catch the Chief's wrist in his left hand with the blade just mere inches from his face. Saren's glowing red eyes stare right into Chief's faceplate, as the Master Chief stares right back at him. Just then Chief opens his hand dropping his knife from it, right into his left hand which is held below as he thrusts it upwards to stab Saren under what remains of his head. Only for Saren to catch his wrist, once more the blade just inches away as the Chief tries his best to overpower Saren and finish driving the knife right into Saren's head; yet he finds himself actually struggling to do so as it seems Saren's strength has increased far more beyond his own. Chief grunts in shock as he continues trying to overpower Husk Saren but still to no avail as Saren suddenly moves his head closer to Chief's "You lose… Spartan." he somehow manages to say even with his lower jaw missing, as the orb in his chest begins growing brighter, and brighter.

Chief looks down at this and then back up at Saren, now trying his best to break free of his grasp as Husk Saren releases his hold on the Spartan. Chief trying his best to get away, but is unable to do so as the first energy ball is fired from Saren's mouth directly into his chest blasting him back; after a few more seconds Saren fires again hitting Chief once more, and then a third energy ball is fired hitting Chief again until he finally falls to the ground and slides to a stop. Chief groans in pain as he lies on the floor, unable to move as Shepard finds himself in the same situation, unable to move as he lies on the floor with pain coursing through his body; all the while his entire team along with Ratchet remain unconscious.

From the doorways on either side of the hall, Cerberus troops come pouring out with their weapons trained on the heroes. Many of them surrounding the Master Chief while keeping a slight distance between themselves and the Spartan, several of them moving in on Shepard's teammates, a few others surrounding Ratchet and Clank as the robot raises his hands to surrender, and four of them surrounding Shepard as he manages to lift his head to look up. Seeing the Husk Saren approaching him calmly, his hands behind his back as suddenly before his very eyes, the red energy begins to dissipate from his body which also begins to regenerate itself. His skeletal body returning to normal, the red energy disappearing as after a few more seconds, Saren has returned back to his normal body. Shepard's eyes widen at this.

"How…" he can't help but question.

"Courtesy of the Illusive Man, and the technology of the Reapers." Saren says.

Shepard looks on in shock.

"You could say that form received a… "minor" upgrade. When I was brought back to life." Saren continues as he raises and looks at either side of his left hand; "Now I can change back and forth between that, and my normal body at will. I have full control over it unlike before. And it's physical abilities have been raised tenfold, making me even more faster and stronger than it previously was." Saren lowers his hand to look down at Shepard.

"Took some time for me to master its abilities, and movements; and to push past the rather painful transformation. But I would say it was all worth it, if it meant defeating you. And would you look at that…" Saren turns to look over at Chief who stares back at him while still lying on the floor.

"It even bested your powerful SPARTAN-II ally." he says before turning to look back at Shepard "Now all that remains… are your friends aboard the other ship."

Aboard the Starship Phoenix II…

Sora looked out the viewing window towards the original Starship Phoenix, his eyes furrowed "I don't like this." he says turning around as everyone else was either sitting or standing around just waiting.

"Nothing from them? I feel like we should have received something by now." Sora says.

"It's only been five minutes." Po points out.

"A lot could happen in five minutes, you don't know that." Sora says.

"He isn't wrong there." Troy agrees.

"Well, Shepard did say if we had a bad feeling something wasn't right then to go aboard, right? Hey Doctor, go get your box ready, time for us to get in on whatever action is happening aboard that ship." Marvelous says while leaning against a control console as he gets up.

"Wait, we don't really know that. Maybe we should wait a bit longer." Talwyn quickly speaks.

Just then three large ships suddenly appear dropping out from a warp jump, the three starships firing their laser cannons at the Starship Phoenix II as inside the entire ship violently shakes throwing everyone off balance while the alarms begin going off.

"Now what?!" Tsukasa questions in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Alert dudes, alert dudes! Three starships just came out of a warp jump! My scans indicate their ships from that bad group Thugs-4-Less!" Barry informs the group.

"You were saying?" Marvelous questions Talwyn.

"Yep, it's a trap." Tigress says rather calmly.

"Uh-oh. Heads up! Enemy boarding party inbound! They're teleporting aboard!" Barry shouts.

Just then several flashes of light appear in front of the group as then a number of different strange-looking aliens appear right before the heroes.

"Greetings morons." the Thugs-4-Less Leader casually greets while wielding a large, two handed Carbine Blaster in his hands.

Around him were a number of Thugs-4-Less Henchmen, and Brutes, along with Drophyd Sentries, Troopers, and Defenders. The heroes along with Talwyn recovered and readied themselves and their weapons, if they had any... while Qwark took cover behind the galactic map table.

"Let me guess, you would be the bad guys of this universe?" Sora sarcastically asks.

"You would be correct, small child." an almost-squeaky like voice speaks up as everyone's attention is drawn towards the center of the new enemy forces.

Towards a large, walking, four-legged, and four-armed machine of some sort as at the top of it sat none other than the former, self-declared Emperor "Tachyon?!" Talwyn questions in shock with widened eyes.

"That is Emperor Percival Tachyon to you, Apogee!" Tachyon annoyingly declares as he stands atop his mobile throne with his staff in hand.

Po snorts "His name's Percival." he humorously points out.

Sora, Natsu, and Laval all can't help but snort and almost laugh at this as they try holding it back due to the seriousness of the situation.

"What is wrong with Percival?! It's a name that strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies! It is not a name to be made fun of so lightly!" Tachyon angrily states.

"Percival? Name like that would barely scare a bug. Hell you look like the kind of runt that would get scared by a tiny ant." Marvelous comments.

"Hehehehehe." the Thug Leader chuckles, garnering an angry stare from Tachyon as he quickly quiets himself.

"These guys don't look so tough. I say we blow past them so we can get to Shepard and the others." Po says.

"I agree. So Natsu, why don't you do the favor? You know, without blowing us all up with them." Sora says eyeing Natsu out of the corner of his eyes.

A large grin comes to Natsu's face "My pleasure." he says igniting both of his fists up with a high amount of flames.

The sight of which terrifies Tachyon, the Thug Leader, and their troops as Natsu takes a step towards them. And then suddenly stops. After a few seconds, Sora and the others all take notice of this "Hey uh Natsu, what are you waiting for? Blow these guys away already with your powerful fire magic. Again, without blowing us up with them." Sora says.

His flames then die down until they are extinguished.

"Natsu?" Sora calls to him now confused.

Natsu stands completely still for several more seconds. Until finally he turns around, with a bloated face "I don't feel so good." he manages to say while moaning.

Everything and everyone is silent.

"OH NO! NATSU'S MOTION SICKNESS HAS RETURNED!" Happy cries out with his hands to his cheeks.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Sora, Laval, and Po all cry out in absolute shock with widened, blank eyes.

"Seriously…" Troy, Marvelous, and Tsukasa all simultaneously think in their head with slightly annoyed expressions.

"Well… that was anticlimactic…" Tigress comments with a blank face while Eris and Talwyn are taken aback by this.

Lucy looks at this situation with her mouth slightly open and an annoyed look in her eyes when the Doctor taps her shoulder catching her attention "Lucy, when was the last time you gave Natsu one of those motion sickness pills?" he asks.

Her eyes widened for a few seconds as she hummed "Huh?" and then closed them in an embarrassed manner "When we first arrived on the Infinity… several… hours… ago…" she says.

"Ah." the Doctor says.

"Also… I may have left the pills with Gray before we left. You know, for Wendy and Gajeel. I was going to ask if you had anymore, but then all of that crazy stuff happened that brought us to Acmetropolis and I completely forgot about it. Until now that is…" Lucy adds in.

The Doctor's mouth hangs wide open "Oh dear…" he says.

Tachyon and the Thug Leader exchange looks with one another before looking back at the heroes "Blast them!" Tachyon yells out while pointing at them.

The Thugs-4-Less and Drophyd troops firing their weapons at the heroes as Troy takes notice of this and quickly runs in front of everyone else.

"Defense Storm!" Troy yells inserting the Power Card into his Morpher and closing it as the card activates and summons a wall of wind in front of him blocking the energy blasts.

"Doctor, please tell me you have more of those pills aboard the TARDIS." Lucy asks.

"Of course I do. Keep one bottle of them in the control room for emergencies, and many others in the medical room. Especially once I knew you lot was going to be coming with us." the Doctor replies

"Okay, so new plan. Doctor, we still need you to get to the TARDIS for both safety and to prepare it so we can go help Shepard and the others once we're finished with these guys. Lucy, take Natsu and go with the Doctor, get him back in the fight just in case we really need him. Laval, Eris, Sora, go with them and help them out, I have a feeling we're going to be expecting more company soon." Troy says.

"Which leaves us to deal with these punks on the bridge." Marvelous says twirling his gun around and placing it over his right shoulder.

"Alright, time for some action that I can actually be a part of!" Po excitedly says.

"Ready?" Troy asks looking over his shoulder at the others who all nod their heads.

"Then let's do it!" he shouts.

The wind wall goes down.

"Go, Go Megaforce!"

"Gokai Change!"

"Henshin!"

The heroes charge forward as Troy, and Marvelous are enveloped in bright red light, with Tsukasa being covered in a magenta colored light.

"GO~KAIGER!"

"Kamen Ride: Decade!"

With battle cries Troy, Marvelous, Tsukasa, Po, and Tigress charge forward and engage the new enemy soldiers, Troy, Marvelous, and Tsukasa swinging their swords around while Po and Tigress fight with their fists and feet.

"Let's go!" Sora says to the others as they break off to the right to get around the fighting, Lucy carrying Natsu with his left arm over her shoulders.

The Thug Leader takes notice of this "Oh no you don't!" he calls out to them as he attempts to give chase.

Only for Marvelous to get in front of him "That's my line." Marvelous says twirling his gun forward and firing a few shots forcing the Thug Leader back.

The Thug Leader raising his blaster as he fires a few energy shots, which Marvelous deflects with his saber before charging forward.

Laval, Eris, Lucy who was carrying Natsu, Happy who flew beside them, the Doctor, and Sora rushed down a hallway towards where the TARDIS was, which was back in the hangar. The group ran as fast as they could, hoping to get to the TARDIS before anything else could happen, though as luck would have it… Suddenly the wall behind them erupted outwards as dust and debris went flying; the group coming to a stop and turning around to see who or what it was, as then from the large hole in the wall, three of the four Exterminators from the DreadZone combat show walked out. Eviscerator, Reactor, and Shellshock, the three Exterminators turning to face the heroes.

"Hah! These are the so called "Heroes" we were brought back to destroy? I could destroy every single one of them just using my pinky… on my gun that is." Shellshock taunts.

"This'll be easy." Reactor says slamming his right fist into his left hand while Eviscerator just readies his titanium blades.

Sora holds his keyblade at the ready "You guys go on without me. I'll handle these guys!" he says.

"Are you sure about that Sora?" Laval asks.

"There's three of them and only one of you!" Happy cries out in a worried tone.

Sora looks back at them "I'll be fine, trust me. Just go!" he says giving them a reassuring smile.

"Come on you heard him, let's move it!" the Doctor calls to the others as he begins running ahead.

Laval and the others still a bit unsure of how they felt about this until finally they started running and flying after him.

"Are you sure Sora's going to be alright?" Eris asks the Doctor.

"If this had been Sora when he first got the Keyblade… eh~ maybe a little bit. But at the stage he is now, ohoh~ boy. You would be making a mistake thinking he's going to be someone easily beaten just because he's a kid." the Doctor says.

Sora watches his friends run off before turning his head back towards the Exterminators "So, who's first?" he jokingly asks.

After some more running, Laval, Eris, Lucy, Happy, and the Doctor arrive back in the hangar bay; the TARDIS at the center of the hangar as the group rushes towards it. All of a sudden, a large platoon of at least thirty Cerberus troops, mostly assault troopers with a few Centurions, and Phantoms teleport in front of them; at the lead of them was Saren himself. The sight of this made the heroes come to an immediate stop. The Cerberus troops raised their weapons to fire; acting quickly the Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver and waves it in front of him in an arc. Suddenly sparks fly from all of the Cerberus troopers' guns making many of them yelp in surprise as they are taken aback by this.

"There we go, at least we don't have to worry about getting shot by them." the Doctor says.

The Cerberus troops attempt to get their guns working again, but whatever the Doctor did seems to have damaged them for good. Saren notices this as he turns to look back at them "Nice trick, Doctor." he compliments.

"Well, I aim to impress." the Doctor replies flipping his screwdriver into the air and catching it back in his hand.

"It seems we will just have to do this the hard way then." Saren says as the Phantoms ready their blades while the assault troopers and centurions bring out their shock batons.

"Gate of the Bull, Gate of the Goat, I open thee! Taurus! Capricorn!" Lucy shouts swinging the two golden keys out to her left.

Summoning the two Celestial Spirits as they appear before the group "Allow us to clear the way for you and your friends, Miss Lucy." Capricorn says.

"Let's go~!" Taurus shouts as the two launch themselves forward.

Saren jumps back as Taurus brings his axe down, creating a shockwave that blasts a number of Cerberus troops back. Capricorn meanwhile uses his speed to deliver a flurry of precise punches and kicks to a few other enemy soldiers. The heroes use this opportunity while the Cerberus troops are distracted to make a break for the TARDIS. Taurus swings his axe sideways forcing back a group of Cerberus troops, behind him Lucy and the others run past him using this opening he's given them. One phantom manages to charge them as Laval brings out his sword and jumps towards her, swinging his sword and slashing her across the chest taking her out. The group reaches the doors to the TARDIS as the Doctor quickly unlocks them and pushes them open "Get inside, we'll help out here!" Laval says to Lucy and Happy as he and Eris prepare their weapons for combat.

Lucy carries Natsu inside while Happy follows floating behind.

"Bring him to the floor over there." the Doctor points over to the right side of the room as Lucy carries Natsu and carefully places him down.

The Doctor opens a panel on his main platform and drops down into a storage area beneath.

Tachyon aims two of his throne's claws at Troy and fires blue beams of energy from them, the Megaforce Ranger diving forward into a roll to dodge them as he recovers back onto his feet and then jumps up. Landing on and grabbing ahold of Tachyon's machine as he swings his sword only for Tachyon to block it with his staff "This is my royal throne! No one's allowed to touch it!" he yells in anger.

"Alright then. But you didn't say anything about blasting it." Troy says as he pushes himself off the machine into a backflip.

Bringing out his Mega Blaster as he fires a few energy bolts hitting it multiple times as Tachyon cries out in terror and falls backwards into his throne. Po grabs a Thugs-4-Less Henchman by his left arm and shoulder and then spins to his left, tossing the thug into the air right towards Tigress as she launches herself forward into a backflip allowing her to deliver an upper kick with both feet into the henchman's face making him flip higher into the air. Tsukasa swings his sword down striking a Drophyd Sentry before turning and swinging it upwards to strike a Thugs-4-Less Brute sending him a few feet into the air twirling to his right.

"Eat this!" the Thug Leader shouts firing his Carbine Blaster again.

Marvelous once again easily blocking the shots with his saber as he raises his gun and fires back hitting him multiple times as he drops to the ground. Talwyn fires her laser pistol taking out two charging Drophyd Sentries; behind her Qwark continues cowering behind the galactic map table, a Thug Brute attempting to get at him as the two play ring around the rosie with Qwark running to either his left or right to evade the Brute while the Brute runs either left or right in an attempt to get at him depending on the direction he goes.

"Chew on this, hero!" Shellshock shouts as he fires a barrage of missiles at Sora, while Reactor beside him fires green beams of energy from his arms.

"Reflega!" Sora shouts putting up his defensive barrier as the missiles impact into and explode on contact, while the energy beams hit and are deflected right back towards the two Exterminators blasting them to the ground.

As Sora's shield falls, the Eviscerator jumps at him from behind with his right blade pulled up. Sora turns around in time to raise his keyblade, successfully blocking the attack as he twists his keyblade around to push the blade away before jumping back several feet as the Eviscerator swings its other blade. Sora lands back on the ground and hops once more a bit further back to gain some distance "Limit Form!" he shouts changing into it.

"Sonic Blade!" he yells dashing forward at high speed as he strikes the Eviscerator while sliding past him, repeating the process seven more times before slamming his keyblade straight into his chest on the last one sending him flying right into the other Exterminators knocking them back down.

Laval blocks an assault trooper's shock baton before pushing it away and cutting him down with his sword, looking to his right as he jumps up and roundhouse kicks another assault trooper across the face. While behind him Eris engages with a Phantom whom she manages to bring both her axe and the phantom's monomolecular blade to the ground allowing the eagle princess to then elbow the phantom in the face, causing her to lose her grip on her blade and allowing Eris to strike her down with her axe.

"Tension Max!" Taurus yells swinging his axe and striking away multiple Cerberus troops as they are sent flying while crying out in pain.

Capricorn strikes a Centurion in the throat and then turns to his left to see a phantom coming as he moves his body to the right to dodge a thrust from her sword. Capricorn then striking her on the back with the side of his hand knocking her to the ground.

"I got it!" the Doctor shouts from the storage area as Lucy looks over with an open smile.

"Oh… wait a minute. These are not motion sickness pills. These are pills for regrowing lost bones… if you somehow lose bones but not your arm, or leg, or whatever." the Doctor says making Lucy facepalm.

"Just get Natsu back on his feet Doctor! I'm going outside to help the others!" Lucy shouts as she gets on her feet "Watch over him Happy." she tells the Exceed before running towards the door.

Lucy opens the doors and runs outside, stopping behind Laval and Eris, who along with her Celestial Spirits have managed to clear the whole room of Cerberus troops save for just one particular Turian. A particular Turian who uses stasis to freeze both Capricorn and Taurus in place as he tosses four sticky grenades, two sticking to each of the spirits as they can do nothing but widen their eyes in shock as the grenades go off.

"Taurus! Capricorn!" Lucy cries out.

The two spirits enveloped in golden light as they are forced to return to the Celestial Spirit World due to the damage they sustained. With them gone Saren calmly walks towards Laval, Eris, and Lucy; the three of them readying themselves up to face the former Spectre as Laval and Eris tightly grip their weapons while Lucy reaches for her keys.

"You should move aside if you know what's good for you." Saren threatens with narrowed eyes.

"Not gonna happen!" Laval angrily states while pointing his sword at him.

"Very well." Saren says as his eyes begin glowing red, as then a wave of red energy erupts from his body shooting outwards around him, his body changing into his husk form in an instant.

The sight of this taking the three heroes aback as they gasp in shock at this.

"What is that?" Eris questions.

"Whatever it is, it's not good. It may not be magic, but the power I'm sensing from that form is very dark, and strong." Lucy says.

Laval looks at Eris "Then it's time we powered ourselves up." he says as she looks back at him.

"Right!" Eris says in agreement as the two take out their CHI orbs and insert them into their harnesses.

Powering themselves up as they both let out a mighty roar or yell while blue energy figures of a humanoid lion and eagle shoot upwards from their bodies roaring or screeching out before retracting into their bodies. Both Laval and Eris surrounded by blue auras of CHI energy, hold their weapons forward and then launch themselves towards Saren who crouches low to the ground and launches himself towards the two as well. Laval and Eris let out a battle cry and swing their weapons as Husk Saren throws both of his claws forward. There is a flash of light along with the sound of flesh being torn open. Both Saren and Laval and Eris are several feet past each other; Saren with his claws held forward while Laval and Eris's weapons are held out to the sides. Both sides are completely still with small clouds of dust surrounding them for several seconds before dying down.

Suddenly, blood comes spurting out from both Laval and Eris as they both then collapse to the ground. Their CHI orbs roll across the ground before cracking and then exploding as it dissipates.

"LAVAL! ERIS!" Lucy cries out in horror.

Saren stands up with his arms to his sides as he releases a low growl, raising his head as he looks towards Lucy "Weak." is all he says.

Lucy grits her teeth and stares at Saren with anger as she pulls out one of her golden keys "Gate of the Crab, I open thee! Cancer! Star Dress: Cancer Form!"

Lucy summons Cancer while also changing into her Star Dress Cancer Form "Snip, snip. -ebi." Cancer says snipping his scissors while Lucy held her twin blades at the ready.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with, female human." Saren says.

"Same goes for you as well! I'm a mage of Fairy Tail, and one thing you should know about us. Is that we never give up!" Lucy states.

"Then you will die." Saren says while narrowing his eyes.

Cancer dashes towards Saren at high speed, closing the distance in a second as he swings his scissors only for Saren to jump back into the air to dodge them. Lucy then appears right beside Saren in an instant as she swings her right sword at the Turian, Saren spinning around to his right to dodge the blade as he then throws a kick into Lucy's stomach sending her flying into the wall as she impacts into it hard and falls to the ground.

"Lucy!" Cancer calls out as he looks towards Saren as he falls through the air and launches himself towards him.

His arms crossed in front of his face with the scissors held back on either side of his head as he prepares to cross slash the former Spectre with them; just then the orb in Saren's chest begins glowing as he then fires three energy balls from his mouth towards the Celestial Spirit. Cancer's eyes widening as he is unable to react in time and is hit by all three of them, creating a large explosion that sends him back to the Celestial Spirit World.

"Cancer!" Lucy cries out while picking herself up.

Saren lands back on the ground and launches himself towards Lucy.

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Loke! Star Dress: Leo Form!"

There is a flash of golden light that engulfs the whole room.

"Regulus Impact!" Loke shouts slamming his light engulfed fist into the floor where Saren once was as he jumped back once more to avoid the attack.

Saren slides to a stop with his left hand on the floor as Lucy, in her Leo Form dress, walks up beside Loke who stands back up.

"Let's go, Loke!" Lucy says.

"Right!" Loke says in agreement as he dashes forward while Lucy jumps into the air.

"Regulus Impact!" Loke yells preparing his attack once more as golden light gathers into his right fist.

"Regulus Lucy Kick!" Lucy yells as the same light energy gathers on her right leg which she extends forward to perform a drop kick on Saren.

Saren stands up with his arms held low to his side as he is suddenly surrounded by a familiar aura that was now red, Saren throws his left hand upwards forward as he creates a biotic sphere around him that shared the same color as Lucy and Loke slammed their respective attacks into it causing them to stop.

Lucy's eyes widened at this "He can still use his biotics?!" she says in shock.

Both their attacks then cause an explosion that sends up a cloud of dust. Loke slides back while crouched with his right hand on the ground while Lucy backflips and lands on the ground and then stands up. Not even a second later Saren comes out through the dust and grabs Loke's face with his right hand as the Lion Spirit's eyes widened in shock.

"Loke!" Lucy cries out as Saren releases an energy orb directly into his face sending him back to the Spirit World in an instant.

Saren stands up and stares at Lucy "Is this all you can do? Change your clothes and summon things to attack me?" he questions in an unimpressed tone as golden light illuminates from in front of him.

The golden light coming from Lucy as she changes once more "Star Dress: Taurus Form!" she shouts while holding her whip by the handle and lower half of the thong.

"So it would seem…" Saren says furrowing his brows.

Lucy throws her whip back and then swings it forward from the side, Saren jumps straight up avoiding it as he latches onto the ceiling. Lucy looks up and swings her whip upwards toward him as Saren once again jumps away, this time to his lower right, as the cracker impacts into the ceiling destroying a small part of it. Saren sticks to the wall on Lucy's left as she follows after him with the whip again only for him to jump away again. Lucy looks all around as she suddenly finds herself unable to keep track of Saren as he begins jumping all over the hangar at high speed, all she can see is a slight blur of him as he rapidly moves all around her. Her eyes constantly changing directions, Lucy tries to get a bead on him until finally she senses and hears the former Spectre land directly behind her.

"Lucy~ Punch!" Lucy yells while turning around and throwing her right fist overhead as she slams it into the floor creating an indentation and multiple cracks in the floor beneath her. But Saren was nowhere in sight.

She quickly retracts her arm and straightens herself as she begins looking around with widened eyes of shock, wondering where he had just went. Just then she gets a really bad feeling, one that sends a shiver up her spine as she can feel his presence right behind her. Lucy turns to attack but receives a point-blank biotic shockwave blast from Saren blasting her far back across the hangar; Lucy hitting the ground hard and rebounding a few feet into the air before going back down and rolling across the floor for several meters before finally coming to a stop on her stomach. Lucy grits her teeth while grunting in pain as she attempts pushing herself up, managing to get up a few feet as she reaches for her golden keys again when suddenly a red mass effect field surrounds her pouch and pulls it from her waist. Saren using his biotics to pull the pouch from her and throw them somewhere in the hangar away from her so she could no longer use them; as he then approaches her.

Lucy reverts back to her normal clothing as she tries getting back on her feet. Only for Saren to stop right beside her as he slams his left foot down onto her back, pushing her back down and pinning her to the floor as she cries out in pain.

"I see you mages have a particular problem when you no longer have access to what grants you your magic. While the same cannot be said for your strange pink-haired comrade. For you it seems, all it takes is for you to lose possession of those keys of yours. And you become just an ordinary human girl." Saren says as Lucy tries pushing herself up but to no avail.

"Pathetic... And from the files I read on your guild, it's supposed to be comprised of many powerful mages. I suppose that makes you the lowest of those powerful ones. Weak." tears were starting to gather in Lucy's eyes "And like any other weaklings, no matter the universe. They deserve nothing but death." Saren finishes as he raises his right hand towards the back of Lucy's head, red energy beginning to gather in the palm and form an energy sphere that slowly grows.

"Only the strong deserve to live. Everyone else, doesn't matter." Saren states.

A single tear falls from Lucy's left eye as it hits the floor "NATSU~!" she cries out.

A flame erupts from the silent darkness.

A flaming fist slams into the side of Saren's head "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM LUCY, YOU BASTARD!" Natsu angrily yells out.

---

Saren is sent flying all the way to the back of the hangar bay, slamming into the wall as small debris is sent flying and a cloud of dust forms around him. As the dust clears, Saren is seen embedded into the wall, a crater behind and cracks forming around him as he falls to the ground on his hands and knees.

Natsu heavily pants with an intense angered look in his eyes as his whole body is covered in flames, behind him Lucy pushes herself up "Natsu." she says; a look of happiness and relief on her face as she smiles.

Natsu looks back at her with a normal expression, as he then closes his eyes and gives her his signature grin "Sorry I'm late." he says.

Lucy wipes the tears from her eyes "Better late than never." she says.

"Go get him, Natsu!" Happy cheers from the front of the TARDIS as the Doctor comes running out.

Stopping for a few seconds and then sprinting over to the downed Laval and Eris as he drops in between them on his knees and picks up Laval, turning him over. The Lion Prince's eyes closed with three large claw marks going diagonally down across almost his entire body where blood continues seeping out.

"No, no, no come on Laval stay with me!" the Doctor says in a panic as he lays him back down.

He looks over at Eris "And you to Eris, both of you stay with us!" he says picking her up and turning her over as well as she had the same terrible wound on her body.

Natsu's eyes widened at the sight of this as he looked over to Saren "You bastard! I'll make you pay!" he shouts in anger.

Saren picks himself up from the ground as he gets back on his feet "Oh you need not worry. They'll live. I made sure not to outright kill them. Just gave them a light wound is all. Not my fault they're as weak as they are." he calmly and casually says as he raises his head to look back at Natsu.

"Shut it!" Natsu yells while baring his teeth.

"Good. I was hoping we would meet again. I need to pay you back for our little skirmish on that one Earth. Though, it seems I have you at a slight disadvantage. From what I can recollect, your magic is immensely powerful. So much so that even with my upgraded Husk form, I wouldn't stand a chance against you. Unfortunately, given our current location should you use that power to its fullest on this ship, you risk killing yourself, as well as all of your friends and allies. Something I highly doubt you want." Saren says as Natsu continues baring his teeth at him with narrowed eyes.

"Whereas I on the other hand… don't have to worry about such a thing." Saren says as he narrows his eyes and activates his biotics.

Natsu's flames intensify as they grow larger on his fists "Just because I can't go all out on you doesn't mean I still can't beat you!" he states.

"Well… I guess we'll just see about that." Saren says.

Natsu launches himself towards Saren with his left fist pulled back as Saren does the same thing. The two colliding at the center of the hangar as they slam their fists into each other, creating a massive shockwave that sends any loose objects, even the starfighters themselves flying away. Lucy drops to the ground with her eyes closed hoping she doesn't get caught in the shockwave, as Happy unfortunately does as he goes flying over the TARDIS while crying out. The Doctor lies down as well while covering his head while Laval and Eris's bodies luckily don't get caught in it either.

Eventually both Natsu and Saren pull themselves away from each other and jump back seeing as how neither of them were getting anywhere at that moment.

"Wing Attack of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu yells igniting streams of flames from his hands as he spins around and sends the streams spiraling towards Saren.

Saren jumps high into the air dodging the attack as the flames impact into the ground causing a massive explosion. One that causes the entire ship to violently rock like crazy as everyone feels it where they are, many of them nearly losing their balance because of it.

"Natsu! What part of don't destroy the ship did you not get?!" Lucy yells out in a highly annoyed tone.

"What?! What am I supposed to do, not fight him with my magic then or something?!" he questions her annoyed by this.

"You should focus on the fight at hand instead of leaving yourself wide open!" Saren shouts shooting a biotic shockwave towards Natsu.

Natsu turns back in time to see it coming as he jumps to his right to avoid it and then launches himself into the air towards Saren "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu yells as he throws his fire engulfed right fist forward.

Saren however throws the lower half of his body backwards, backflipping over to the rear of Natsu as the Fire Dragon Slayer spins around and throws a flaming kick which hits the Turian Husk blasting him back. Using his biotics Saren stops himself mid-air and proceeds to fire three energy balls from his mouth, Natsu shoots more flames from his feet which he uses to propel himself to his left dodging the attacks as Saren then shoots several more energy spheres which Natsu dodges as well. Saren throws his left arm outwards casting Stasis as Natsu is hit by it causing him to freeze in the air.

"Dammit." Natsu says through gritted teeth.

Saren uses this opportunity to unleash a barrage of energy spheres towards Natsu who is unable to do anything as all of them impact into him, the mass effect field fading around him as he is propelled to the ground. Natsu manages to recover as he backflips and lands on his feet and right hand sliding to a stop.

"Roar of the…" Natsu begins to yell as he prepares his roar attack.

"NATSU! SHIP!" Lucy yells at him with angry blank eyes.

Natsu immediately stops himself just as he is about to blow it, quickly swallowing his flames down "Dammit! This is making things really annoying!" he yells.

Levitating high in the air Saren begins firing another barrage of energy balls towards Natsu, the orbs impacting all around the Dragon Slayer as Natsu raises his arms to protect his face with explosions, dust, and debris flying all around him. Eventually Natsu blasts his way out through the clouds of dust using the flames on his feet as jet propulsions to launch himself towards Saren, Natsu throwing another fiery punch at Saren who throws his body to the left to dodge the attack. Natsu turns around and swings his left leg outwards shooting a stream of fire from it at Saren who floats upwards to avoid this; Saren uses his biotics to float away from Natsu, gaining some distance as he fires more energy balls at the Fairy Tail mage forcing Natsu to maneuver his way through the air to dodge them.

Powering up his biotics once more Saren casts a Charge attack, launching himself towards Natsu and slamming directly into him blasting him back to the ground; upon Natsu hitting the ground Saren follows with another barrage of his energy balls hitting him multiple times as explosions erupt all around him.

"Natsu!" Lucy yells out.

Saren stopped attacking allowing Natsu the chance to get back on his feet, the Dragon Slayer panting like crazy as he tried catching his breath, his face covered in dirt with a few scratches where bits of blood seeped out from.

"This is bad. All of Natsu's long range attacks are too destructive and would tear this ship apart if he used any of them. The only way he can defeat Saren is with his close range spells. But with Saren's speed there's no way he can keep up with him, and Saren can just keep bombarding him with his long range attacks until Natsu can't stand anymore. There has to be something I can do, but what?!" Lucy questions in her head.

Just then she notices something glint out of the corner of her left eye and turns to look over at it, her eyes widening as an open smile comes to her face.

Natsu launches himself towards Saren once more, throwing a punch which Saren dodges by going over him to his rear, and then throwing a spinning roundhouse kick which Saren dodges again by floating back a few feet.

"Hold still dammit! Crushing Fang of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu yells swinging his left hand at Saren, creating a fiery claw-like attack that Saren blocks by putting up a biotic sphere.

Lowering his sphere Saren dashes forward and swings at Natsu with his right claw, Natsu moving to his left to dodge it as Saren spins to his left and casts a biotic shockwave blasting Natsu back several meters through the air as Natsu manages to recover and come to a stop. In an instant Saren is right back on Natsu, a large red mass effect field surrounding his left fist as Saren pulls it back and throws it forward, slamming it right into Natsu's face, directly into his nose sending Natsu blasting backwards and crashing to the ground once more as he slides to a stop.

"Agh! He broke my nose!" Natsu says in a nasally voice with both hands over it.

"Natsu!" Natsu hears Lucy call out to him, albeit in a quiet voice as he heard it due to his enhanced hearing "Don't turn around. But I got an idea." Lucy continues speaking with her hands cupped around her mouth.

Natsu grins at this.

The Fire Dragon Slayer picks himself up from the ground "Come on Saren, is that really the best you can do?!" he calls out to him in a taunt.

Saren furrows his brows "Are you really taunting me? You think you still have a chance against me?" Saren questions as he lets out a huff of annoyance.

"Enough of these games. Time to put an end to all of this." Saren says as he begins releasing another barrage of energy balls towards Natsu.

Natsu once more raising his arms up to protect his face as the spheres impact all around him kicking up explosions, dust, and debris. Charging his biotics up again, Saren casts charge as he launches himself at high speed towards Natsu once more, this time pulling both of his claws back as in an instant he appears right in front of the Dragon Slayer, and thrusts both of his sharpened claws forward right into Natsu's stomach. Natsu taking in a sharp breath as his eyes widen in shock.

"Natsu!" Lucy cries out.

"At long last… one hero is finally slain." Saren says.

Lucy looks on in absolute horror. Until suddenly that expression changes to a mischievous look as she grins at the corner of her lips "Just kidding." she says.

Saren notices this and looks up at Natsu, noticing his pained look no longer there as he just stared down at him with a large grin on his face.

"Sorry." a child-like voice speaks.

"You just got the wrong Natsu. Piri-piri." another child-like voice says as Natsu is suddenly enveloped in golden light.

In a puff of pink smoke, Natsu… or rather the fake Natsu changes into the Celestial Spirit Twins, Gemini, the two spirits floating above Saren while throwing their arms from side to side in a dancing motion.

"Gotcha!" both Gemi and Mini say simultaneously.

Saren's eyes widened in shock, as then through the smoke from behind him the real Natsu appeared. His right fist engulfed in heavy flames "Let's try this again." he states with an intense angry look in his eyes.

Saren turns in an attempt to hit him with a biotic blast, unfortunately it's too late for him as Natsu slams his fist right into the Turian's face "IRON FIST OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" Natsu yells out.

Flames enveloping Saren all around as he can do nothing but roar out in pain. A few seconds later Natsu's attack causes a large explosion, one that propels Saren backwards through the air leaving a trail of smoke in his wake as he crashes into one of the Class-G starfighters, which is then blasted back with him crashing into the second one. Then the third, the fourth, and finally the fifth starfighter until they all finally impact into the far wall.

Lucy's eyes widen and go blank in shock "EH~!" she cries out.

Natsu turns around and stands up, as then all five starfighters explode into flames.

Lucy closes her eyes as tears begin streaming down her face "And in the end he still ends up destroying something. I hope Talwyn takes jewels as repayment for those destroyed ships."

"That's Natsu for yah." Happy casually says popping up out of nowhere in front of Lucy.

Back on the bridge, Tachyon and the Thug Leader find themselves surrounded by Troy and the others "Uh~, I think it's time for a tactical retreat. Your former emperoness." the Thug Leader nervously says.

"This is not a retreat! Rather… a… or forget it just get us out of here!" Tachyon shouts as a red portal appears above the two sucking them in.

In the hallway the three Exterminators lie atop each other, groaning in pain with smoke emitting from their bodies and wires sticking out from them as sparks fly from them. A red portal appears taking them away as well "Well, that wasn't so hard." Sora says with his keyblade on his shoulder.

Laval groans in pain as he begins regaining consciousness. Slowly sitting himself up as Eris also begins to awaken "Wh-What happened?" he asks.

The two then take notice of the condition of the hangar, including the flaming wreckage of the Class-g starfighters at the other end of the room.

"What did we miss?!" Laval questions completely confused as to what was going on.

Talwyn remains absolutely silent, her right eye closed halfway as that along with the right corner of her lips twitched nervously, the Captain of the Polaris Defense Force confused and taken aback by the sight before her.

"These were… the only Class-g starfighters we had so far…" Talwyn says.

By now the flames had died down showing the full extent of the damage the five starfighters had received due to the fighting between Natsu and Saren. In that they were now nothing but piles of garbage, charred, and in pieces. Troy, and Tigress seemed to be looking around the wreckage as they then walked away from it towards the others.

"There's no sign of him anywhere in that wreckage. He might've retreated before, or after the explosion occurred." Troy says.

"I would say before, but considering the rather insane durability some of our enemies seem to possess it wouldn't surprise me if he survived even if he was at the center of the explosion which would have killed any normal being." Tigress says.

"Either way he's no longer here. So he went running with his tail between his legs." Marvelous comments.

"Wait, he doesn't have a tail… does he?" Po asks in a confused tone.

"It's a figure of speech. Means he basically ran away like a coward." Tsukasa explains.

"Hehe. And he said I couldn't defeat him without being able to go full power on him. That oughta show him!" Natsu joyously declares with his hands to his hips and a large grin on his face; a single bandage had been applied to his still broken nose.

"He destroyed the only starfighters we had…" Talwyn says to herself with her head lowered.

Sora finished using his healing magic on Laval and Eris as their wounds disappeared after a few seconds. Sora let out a sigh of relief and exhaustion "There you go. Good as new." he says.

"Thanks Sora." Eris says.

"Yeah, really. That healing magic of yours is really helpful." Laval says.

"No problem." Sora says as he looks over to Natsu "Wish I could help you with your nose Natsu, but I spent a lot of my energy fighting those three robots and just now healing Laval and Eris's wounds. Then again, I should have a few more Ether bottles in the TARDIS so…"

"Ts~ yeah~ about that Sora." the Doctor speaks up while rubbing the back of his head nervously catching his attention.

"You see there was a slight accident while I was in the storage area looking for the motion sickness pills for Natsu. I may have bumped into something which spilled all of the potions and ether bottles you packed so uh~... yeah." the Doctor says.

Sora's eyes widen at this "Oh… uh~... it's… alright?" he nervously says unsure of how to respond to this.

"I did bring some more but EDI put them away for me in the storage room so I would need to ask her where she put the rest of them." Sora says.

Laval grunts in anger as he slams his right fist into his left hand "I can't believe we let Saren beat us like that! He took us down with one attack!" Laval says.

"Don't blame yourselves. The fact Shepard never brought this up before means this is all new. Which might explain why we still haven't heard back from them." Tigress says.

"Speaking of which, how is everyone?" Troy asks.

"Good to go!" Sora says.

"Ready to get back into the fight!" Laval says.

Talwyn turns around "I'm… good to go as well." she says while giving a nervous smile.

"You okay Talwyn? You look funny." Natsu asks with a deadpan expression.

"Idiot! You destroyed her fighters of course she's not okay!" Lucy yells in anger and annoyance while slapping the back of his head which didn't even faze him.

Natsu just casually turns to look at Lucy "And what about you Lucy? Are you okay?" he asks.

"Huh?" Lucy says slightly taken aback by this "Y-Yeah. I'm fine Natsu, thanks for asking." she answers while smiling at him, a small tint of blush on her cheeks.

Talwyn looks at this with a smile and shakes her head.

"Then let's go rescue Shepard and the others! Hopefully we're not too late." Troy says.

The Starship Phoenix…

The TARDIS materializes aboard the Starship Phoenix in the main room. The doors open up as Po, Sora, Laval, and Natsu jump out ready for combat "Alright Cerberus! Let our friends go~, wait what?" Po says as he and the others become confused by what they see.

Ashley and the others of Shepard's team turn to face them "Oh hey, look who finally decided to join the party. Bit late for the rescue operation, but better late than never." Ashley says.

Sora de-summons his keyblade while Natsu extinguishes his flames, Laval sheathing his sword on his back while Po stands down "Wait. Aren't you guys supposed to be in trouble? Like captured or something?" Sora asks while crossing his arms.

"We were. But lucky for us, the ship's captain, Sasha was it? Managed to hide away when Saren and Cerberus boarded the ship. When she heard the commotion and saw us, she had to wait a bit but eventually managed to break us out of the cell we were all put in. And from there it was rather easy retaking the entire ship from Cerberus." Tali explains.

"Yeah, there was barely any Cerberus troops left guarding this whole thing. Rather strange if you ask me. Literally just like a small platoon if anything was all we had to deal with. And you know Chief, he helped us deal with that rather quickly." Garrus says.

By this point the rest of the team from the Starship Phoenix II had exited the TARDIS to listen to the explanation.

"Some of you guys look like shit." James comments.

"What'd you expect? As soon as you sprung the trap, we were attacked as well. Courtesy of some of Cerberus's new allies in this universe. And then that bastard Saren himself." Marvelous explains.

"We managed to hold our own, but Saren nearly got some of us. We're lucky Natsu and Lucy were able to force him into a retreat." Troy says.

"Well, unfortunately we weren't so lucky ourselves. They were indeed ready for us." Liara says.

"Cowards incapacitated all of us with an electrical trap, while that bastard Saren unveiled this new form that managed to take down the Commander, the Master Chief, and our new Lombax ally." Javik explains.

"Is Ratchet okay?!" Talwyn asks upon hearing this.

"He is alright. He is on the bridge right now with Shepard, Chief, and Captain Phyronix. They are talking to her father right now." EDI says.

"The father? As in that President guy? The leader for this entire galaxy?" Po questions.

"Correct. As being the President's daughter, as well as the leader for the Galactic Rangers, Captain Phyronix has a direct line to the President should she need it. Meaning she can get in contact with President Phyronix at a moment's notice. Especially if it is during times of galactic peril, or in this case. Multi-universal peril." EDI explains.

"Well that's good to hear. Makes things rather simpler I would imagine." Tigress says.

"That they would." the familiar voice of Shepard speaks up as he, Master Chief, Ratchet and Clank, and Captain Sasha Phyronix appear walking towards them.

"Ratchet!" Talwyn calls out in happiness as she rushes over and hugs him, Ratchet hugging her back.

The two break apart as Talwyn looks to Sasha, "It's good to see you again, Sasha." she greets.

"You as well Talwyn. I'm sorry for what's going on in the Polaris Galaxy at the moment. It must have been hard being forced to leave." Sasha says.

"It was… But we knew it was the only choice we had if we were to get allies with which we could combat the Reapers with." Talwyn says.

"So I've been informed. Though it seems we got a lot more then we wanted, and in a good way." Sasha says looking to the Commander for a few seconds before looking back forward.

"After everything we've been told, my father has allowed me to lend support to this Multi-Universal Coalition Force. If this Crucible is the only way of destroying the Reapers, and saving our universe along with all the other alternate universes out there. Then it'd be foolish for us to ignore the call." Sasha says.

"Glad to hear it." Talwyn says.

"Due to the high traffic going in and out of Marcadia at the moment. Our fleet has been ordered to begin mobilizing near Veldin." Sasha says.

"Which is where we'll be needing that universal portal of yours Doctor. To link this universe to mine so the Galactic Rangers can begin joining the rest of the Coalition Forces." Shepard adds in.

"Of course Shepard." the Doctor replies.

"I also heard the Starship Phoenix II was in need of some fuel. Lucky for you, I managed to acquire some Gelatonium from some smugglers escaping from the Polaris Galaxy. We can refuel your ship first and then make our way to Veldin to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. Where we can go from there." Sasha says.

"Sounds good to me." Talwyn says.

"Sounds good to all of us. Let's get to work." Shepard says.

After a few hours both Phoenix ships arrived to the planet Veldin, Ratchet's homeworld where he grew up and met Clank for the first time. Much of the Solana Galactic Fleet had already gathered in orbit as the Doctor got to work opening a portal back to Shepard's universe for these ships to use, of course Shepard contacting Hackett ahead of time to let him know of their new allies coming in. Once the portal was open and the ships began going through, Shepard and the rest of his hero team, along with Ratchet and Clank boarded the TARDIS and returned to the Infinity where they dropped off their duo of new heroes.

Ratchet and Clank walked off to explore the Infinity, Captain Lasky with them to give them a tour of the ship as then a familiar Krogan walked by.

"There you go, how does that feel, Natsu-san?" Wendy asks.

Natsu takes a couple of sniffs ending with a long one "All good. Thanks for the help, Wendy." Natsu says.

Wendy happened to be passing through when the team arrived, so with Sora and EDI off searching for the container holding more of Sora's potion bottles and other stuff since he would be needing those most likely. It was lucky that she happened to be around so she could fix up Natsu's nose after Saren had broken it with his biotic punch.

"How are you and the others doing Wendy?" Lucy asks.

"It's been great so far. All of the heroes we've met have been really nice people. The things they can do are also really amazing." Wendy says.

"I'm sure they have been." Lucy says with her eyes closed while smiling at the young Dragon Slayer.

"Hmph, speak for yourself. I still find many of their comments about how young Wendy is rude." Carla says in an annoyed tone with her arms crossed.

"They're just looking out for me Carla. It's to be expected. After all, from what I've seen so far, it looks like I'm the only youngest hero around here. I can understand why they would be worried about me. I don't find it mean or anything. They're all still nice people either way." Wendy says.

"We're gonna need to be careful in our next encounter with Saren. I never expected to be seeing that form of his again, and the fact that he can control it, has had its abilities amplified, and he can still use his biotics. Means he's a higher threat than ever before, bigger than Kai Leng and my Clone combined. If either one of you encounter Saren and you're by yourself or in a small group. Do not engage." Shepard explains to the rest of the team, Sora and EDI having returned from their trip to the storage room.

"Sounds to me like Saren's causing you some problems again."

The group turn to see the familiar Krogan face of Urdnot Wrex approaching them "Wrex? What are you doing here?" Shepard curiously asks.

"When you mentioned Saren before at the meeting, I just had a feeling you might be needing my help again. After all, what better way to counteract that pain in a Turian ass then with good old Krogan Wrex by your side?" Wrex humorously says.

"He isn't wrong. After that rather embarrassing defeat by him, I say we could really use some Krogan power about now. Make the odds better for us." Garrus says.

"I thought the odds were already in our favor? What with a special forces super soldier, three heroes who can change into the forms of a lot of their predecessors gaining their weapons and powers, a boy with a giant key that can do a lot of cool magical things, and then a boy with literally a lot of firepower and a girl who can summon powerful magical spirits." Tali says.

Po and Laval look at each other and then back at Tali "What about us?!" they both question in annoyed tones.

"Oh yeah, and don't forget the panda that knows kung fu, and the lion who fights with a sword and does get somewhat of a power boost when he uses a magical orb thing." Ashley says.

Po and Laval remain silent with surprised expressions.

"You know when you put it that way it actually doesn't sound as impressive compared to the others." Laval says.

"Oh yeah." Po says in agreement.

"Well, it never really hurts to add one more member to the team. Welcome back again Wrex. Just in time to. We're about to head to our last universe. Gather our last group of allies. After that, it'll finally be time to take the fight to the Reapers, Cerberus, and their allies." Shepard says as a serious look comes to his face.

"About damn time." James eagerly says.

"Alright people, let's move out!" Shepard calls out, attracting Natsu, Lucy, and Happy's attention as they turn and say goodbye to Wendy and Carla before running over to rejoin the group.

Everyone boarding the TARDIS as the doors close and the ship takes its leave once more.

"By the way, we haven't properly met yet. I'm Sora." Sora introduces himself to Wrex.

Wrex crosses his arms "So, which one are you supposed to be?" Wrex asks.

Sora summons his keyblade and places it on his shoulder "The one who can summon a giant key and do cool magical things with it." Sora says in a joking prideful manner.

"Laval. I'm the lion who fights with a sword and gets a power boost when he uses a magical orb thing." Laval introduces himself.

"Eris, like Laval, except I'm an eagle. And I fight with an axe." Eris says.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel. A mage with Fire Dragon Slayer magic." Natsu says igniting both his fists aflame to show Wrex.

"Lucy Heartfilia, it's a pleasure to meet you. My magic is Celestial Spirit Magic. I can summon beings known as Celestial Spirits with these special keys. I can also change into different dresses related to the spirits gaining their powers." Lucy says while showing a few of her keys.

"I'm Happy! I'm an Exceed. I can fly, and really like fish." Happy says while floating beside Wrex's head.

Wrex looks at each of them as he then smiles "Hehehe" he chuckles.

"These are your latest recruits to the team Shepard? A bunch of kids?" Wrex asks.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING KIDS!?" Sora, Natsu, and Laval angrily question.

"They may be young Wrex, but they can handle themselves just as fine as an adolescent Krogan." Shepard says.

"Hah! I definitely want to see that." Wrex says in a humored tone.

"I can show you right now if you want?" Natsu eagerly asks with a large grin on his face as he holds his right fist in his left hand.

"No fighting aboard the TARDIS!" Lucy yells at him.

"Hm?" Natsu suddenly hums as a confused look comes to his face.

"What is it Natsu?" Lucy asks noticing this.

"My nose must still be broken or something. Cause I could swear I smell Saren's scent aboard the TARDIS." Natsu says.

"My that nose of yours really is troublesome it seems."

Everyone turns in shock towards the right corner of the room, as suddenly Saren Arterius de-cloaks before their very eyes.

"SAREN?!" Shepard questions in absolute shock as Chief and everyone else pulls out their weapons or readies themselves for combat.

"How did you get aboard?" the Doctor questions also shocked by this as his eyes were widened.

"The TARDIS has an automatic locking system you would've required my key to get aboard and trust me I never keep the key out of my sight." the Doctor says.

"That may be true. But like any door, whether it's an old wooden one, or a futuristic sliding door. There are always ways of keeping a door from completely closing." Saren says.

As suddenly all around them on the ceiling, twenty-five Cerberus Phantoms de-cloak themselves taking all of the heroes by surprise. The Doctor looks back at Saren as he smirks at this.

The Doctor runs out the TARDIS doors, Happy flying out in front of him. As the two move away the doors begin to shut, when suddenly a monomolecular blade appears and is stuck in between preventing them from closing.

"From there it was just the issue of dealing with a certain Dragon Slayer's annoying, incredible sense of smell. Since I knew he would pick us up the second he walked aboard the TARDIS. And… well you know how that went." Saren continues making Natsu bare his teeth at him in anger.

"So, this is the TARDIS? Quite an amazing ship you have Doctor." Saren says while looking around, as he then turns his attention back to the Doctor "It's too bad for you, it'll soon belong to me."

"Not gonna happen Saren." Chief states.

"Take them down!" Shepard orders.

Marvelous turns around and raises his gun as he fires a shot hitting one of the phantoms as she falls from the ceiling. At this the rest of the phantoms drop to the ground, their swords unsheathed as they charge the heroes; Tali firing her shotgun while Liara fires her pistol, both of them taking a single phantom down each.

"NO SHOOTING IN MY CONTROL ROOM!" the Doctor cries out.

Sora swings his keyblade knocking away one phantom's sword as he then swings to his left knocking another away. Troy throws a push kick into one phantom before turning to his left, ducking under another phantom's sword as she swings it and then jumps up and throws a front kick into her face knocking her back. Throughout the TARDIS the heroes engage the phantoms in close quarters combat while the Doctor cowers around the control console. Garrus locks his assault rifle with a phantom's blade as he pushes her back, while Shepard ducks under and then backflips to dodge two swings from a phantom; Shepard jumping up throwing a front kick with his left leg as he follows with a roundhouse from his right foot sending her spiraling to the ground. Just then he feels someone grab his shoulder and is forcefully turned around, being greeted by Saren as the Turian headbutts the Commander stunning him for a bit allowing Saren to then deliver two rapid punches to his stomach and then a right hook across the face sending him stumbling away.

Before Shepard can recover Saren grabs him by both shoulders and throws him to the ground, Saren then pulling out his pistol as he takes aim at Shepard.

"Aero!" Sora yells sending a gust of wind blasting into the phantom on his right sending her into the wall.

The phantom on his left charges him and thrusts her sword forward as Sora spins around and blocks the attack with his keyblade, using the momentum to push her past him as he comes to a stop in her direction and kicks her in the back sending her stumbling into the wall. Sora turns around, looking around to see the others still fighting as his eyes are then drawn towards Saren as he aims his gun at Shepard. His eyes widen as Sora quickly acts and charges forward, jumping up and pulling his keyblade back as he lets out a battle cry, which Saren hears making him quickly turn around to cast a shockwave into the keyblade wielder blasting him back as he slams into the wall and falls to the ground. Saren turns back to Shepard but the Commander is already hitting him with a stasis attack freezing him in place, allowing Shepard to roll out of the way as he recovers to his feet.

Sora recovers as well as he gets back up, shaking his head to clear his conscious as he looks to see Saren frozen in place. Seeing this as an opportunity to take him down Sora aims his keyblade at the Turian and gathers light at the end of his keyblade. Just then the stasis field fades away allowing Saren to move, as he then unfortunately stumbles forward just as Sora fires his beam of light energy. The light energy impacting directly into the TARDIS's control console causing small explosions to begin going off all around it.

"AH!" Sora cries out in shock realizing what he had just done.

Sparks fly from the damaged control console as the Doctor looks at this with a highly worried look "Oh that's not good." he says.

Suddenly the entire ship violently rocks and then tilts a bit to the side throwing everyone off balance.

Outside the TARDIS spins around in various directions while traveling through the space and time vortex, seemingly out of control.

The TARDIS tilts in the opposite direction sending everyone stumbling again. The Doctor holds on tightly to the control console as Shepard luckily manages to stumble into the railing next to him which he grabs a hold of.

"Doctor, what's wrong?!" he questions him.

"Uh~, very bad. Very bad things Shepard, that's what." the Doctor replies in a panic as the ship tilts again throwing everyone into the direction of the tilt while the Doctor and Shepard hold on.

"Circuits are fried, none of the controls are responding… and it appears we've been knocked off course." the Doctor says.

"I AM VERY, VERY SORRY ABOUT THIS DOCTOR!" Sora cries out as he holds onto the railing next to the doors.

"You be quiet I'm gonna have a lot of yelling to do to you afterwards!" the Doctor angrily yells while pointing at him before turning his attention back to the console.

Pressing everything he could to see if he could fix this as Shepard just watches "Is there anything you can do Doctor?" he asks.

After pressing and pulling a few more things, the Doctor looks up at Shepard as the Commander stares back at him.

"Just one thing. Yell, EVERYONE HOLD O~N!" the Doctor yells at the top of his lungs while throwing his head up.

Meanwhile, in an Alter...

Luke Skywalker's Universe…

Year: 22 BBY…

A pair of light green eyes open up in a room that is mostly dark. In another dimly lit room, a pair of light blue eyes open up as they then suddenly turn darkly yellow.

Elsewhere, a lone figure walks through a darkened room with a lone yellow light at the end. As then a blue holographic projection of a male figure, clad in a dark robe appears beneath the light; the figure stopping in front of it as they kneel "What is thy bidding, my master?" the elderly male figure asks.

"Lord Tyranus. There has been a great shift in the Force. Something, or someone has appeared. Who or what they are, I do not know. But they could be a threat to this war, if the Jedi and Republic were to discover it. Take General Grievous, and your assassin, Asajj Ventress, gather a large fleet and head to the Christophsis System immediately! Find the source of this shift, and destroy it. No matter what."

"As you wish, my lord." Count Dooku says as he looks up to his master, Darth Sidious.

"What is it, Master Yoda?"

"A shift in the force there has been, Master Windu. From the planet Christophsis, it comes from. Destroy it, our enemies will shall they reach it first. Reach it first, we must." Jedi Grand Master Yoda says while meditating.

"Skywalker and Kenobi are the closest to that system. I will send them there immediately." Mace Windu replies.

"Roger that Master Windu, we'll head there immediately. Admiral Yularen, set a course for the Christophsis System."

"Hm~, this could get rather interesting. If it's as serious as Master Windu put it, I won't be surprised if we encounter a large Separatist Fleet. Perhaps even the Count himself will make an appearance."

"If it's as serious as it sounds, I wouldn't put it past him to bring General Grievous and Ventress along as well. This might get messy."

"Yes well, messy is our specialty. More specifically, your kind of specialty."

"Very funny master."

"Hey master, what's up? What's with all the commotion?"

"Ahsoka, good timing. We're just about to embark to a very special place I'm sure you'll love."

"Coordinates for Christophsis have been set, General Skywalker."

"Christophsis? Why are we going back there?"

"Orders from the council, young one. Something is on that planet. What it is we do not know. But what we do know, is that the Separatist may be wanting it just as badly as we do. Or perhaps even going there to destroy it so we can't use it."

"All we know at the moment Snips, is that there's about to be a big battle coming." Anakin Skywalker says as standing beside him on his right was his master, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and on his left, his padawan Ahsoka Tano.

---

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Man, finally glad I'm finished with this chapter it took a lot longer then it needed to but finally it's done! Not gonna say anything else other then we're entering the endgame folks, hope you enjoy what is to be the LAST Universe (?) for this story before the final battle begins!

To CapitalClassShip - Happy New Year Capital, hope I didn't disappoint albeit I will admit this was more of a Natsu x Lucy chapter then Ratchet and Clank so sorry that's the case if you didn't like it. I mean, they can't really ban him since he's one of the "Heroes" and stuff and even then where would they ban him to? XD

Okay, I didn't know that. I haven't read any of the Halo Comics so I wouldn't know this. Thank you for letting me know, I will for sure update this when I can.

To William - I don't think there'd really be any humor in comparing Rev to Mordin since, well RIP Mordin I don't know if it'd be to soon or anything. Albeit yes I should have made some comparison to that with Shepard I just completely forgot. The idea basically came from a childhood dream of mine, wondering how cool it would be if all the heroes from different games, TV shows, etc… basically teamed up and fought evil together. In a way I literally ran my own "TV show" inside my head because that's how cool I imagined it would be XP.

Heard of Code Lyoko, never got around to seeing it. Know of Code Geass, never saw it it's on my list of anime to watch. Never heard of Shinzo and Power Stone. Basically, I watch all Anime subbed (save for a few good dubbed like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood), but so I'm going based off the Japanese "translation" of the attacks. I don't know how the Gundam Series would work as I've never seen any of the anime. Sorry, never played any of the Jak and Daxter games.

To Gameer98 - Hmmm… there may be something else in the works ;)

Unfortunately I've only ever seen the anime, never played any of the games so I don't have much knowledge about that universe. Haven't played Final Fantasy 14. Well… aren't you in for a surprise…

To CT7567Rules - I enjoyed it as a kid. Hope I did good for the dogfight sequence, it was originally very, VERY bad, but then I went back and actually fixed it to make it a lot better (in my opinion at least) hope you enjoyed it. I've never played any of the Ace Combat games so I wouldn't be able to include them in the story.

To Queen Bee - Never understood all the hate it got, which I only found out about recently while doing some extra research on the wikia. I honestly enjoyed it as a kid.

To Destonus - There are some… plans. Unfortunately Build won't be making an appearance in the story. I can't really say much else at the moment ;)

Lol, maybe. After all he does have to be careful about friendlies.

To Hamm1999 - No because there really isn't time for a Horror Story Arc, and I don't see Ghostbusters and especially Scooby-Doo working in this story…