"Hey, SpongeBob. You alright?"

Katsu scanned around the ethereal room, the golden glow of the sunshine outside. The rumble of a train shook the foundation of the large warehouse with tall rafters that swung above the steel catwalks in the ceiling. A soft scent of cinnamon tickled Katsu's tongue with the whisk of lab oats that scuttled last in a hurried frenzy. The breeze tossed his lengthy brown hair with various personnel shouted on radios and advanced towards him.

"Subject 10! Subject 10 has exited!" One of the scientists shouted.

A few of them grabbed Katsu by the arms and threw on a blood pressure pump. Katsu shoved a few of them away as they swarmed around him.

"Hey, stop. Who are you people?"

"Mister Muteki," The Scientist shouted. "You are dehydrated! We must inject you with the Drink!"

The scrawny man pulled out a massive needle as long as Katsu's arm.

"Ah! Get away from me!" Katsu kicked at the man.

From the wall of labciats before him, a pair of thin arms split them down the middle and separated them. Abel's shaggy hair ruffled out between the doctors. He turned and waved his arms at the group.

"He's fine, Abel said. "Everybody give him some space, please."

"But he needs the Drink!"

"In a minute. He just got out."

The group grumbled and waved off Abel in a rude fashion. They shuffled away to leave Katsu seated on a steel counter across from Abel's plush couch.

"It's okay," he said. "They did the same thing to me."

"Abel, what the fuck," Katsu shouted. "Actually, wait…Abel. Abel. Hey, I remember you! You're Abel."

"You may be wrong, but you may be right, Katsu," Abel chortled. "In the flesh!"

Katsu looked over at Abel's garb. Above his head was a glowing halo much like Shoto's. However, he donned a skin-tight cerulean jumpsuit that flared out at the bottom of his pants. A bright yellow collar popped higher than a Persona protagonist with a black top hat that somehow stayed on his head despite his dramatic movements. Complete with tinted star-shaped sunglasses and a periwinkle headband, he adjusted the strange buckle on his belt that looked like a smiling face and pressed on the headphones implanted into his ears.

"Why do you look so dumb?" Katsu asked.

"It's my hero costume!" Abel said as he looked at a keypad on his forearm. "I'm ready to save the universe!"

"Okay, can we backup to that real fa at, Katsu said. "I'd like to know a bit more."

"Wouldn't we all."

Behind Katsu, Shoto popped up behind him in a flume of smoke. Then, Calista erupted into the room in a similar puff.

"Ah! Shoto, stop doing that!"

"We don't have much time," Calista said. She stepped in between Katsu and Abel and pulled out her phone. She turned it on and showed it to Katsu. On it was a green screen that flashed red words.

Katsu Muteki: Offline.

"Has he explained this yet?"

"He just woke up."

Calista thunked Abel on the top of his hat. Abel yelped and pranced back as Shoto knelt down and stared at Katsu.

"Listen, Katsu. I'm not the Shoto you know. I am Shoto Todoroki, but from another universe."

"An-another what?" Katsu squeaked.

"You see, Cat-su," Abel said. "You and I are kinda dead."

Katsu felt the blood in his veins He clutched his chest and gasped. "What?"

"Don't worry," Abel patted his fellow classmate in the shoulder. "You and I are only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead."

"Stop messing with me," Katsu said. "I don't get any of this!"

"Katsu," Shoto said. "I am from another universe than you. Let's call it the Canon Universe. In it, I'm a student at UA in my first year. And I am about to apply for my provisional hero license."

"But…you did that already. Like ten years ago!"

Shoto chuckled. "You're right. In your universe. I also receive brain cancer and sacrifice myself to stop Alistair Leonhardt from taking over my body and using it to start the Salton Sea Scroll Synchronization."

"The what?"

"A process that will merge all universes known to us," Calista said. "And some we don't know of. It would cause the end of all universes as we know it. A catastrophic big-bang."

Abel sat next to Katsu and wrapped an arm around him. "So basically, this British chick and Todophony here came from their universes to help us stop it! Sounds fun, right?"

Katsu grabbed his head and looked around. Television screens of different locations played out on the screens. One screen was labeled "MHA 1" which had footage of what appeared to be a young Izuku Midoriya crying in front of All-Might on a sun-soaked road.

Next to it, a screen with the title "TBP." In it, a girl similar to Calista was engaged in what seemed to be a gunfight with fireworks inside a bathroom.

Katsu narrowed his eyes at a small tel s ion cracked underneath the large screen seated on a shelf. The dormant television had a sticker on it labeled "Equestria." It was off, however, because that never happened and it is not important to this.

Moving his gaze to the right, Katsu peered across from them towards a television labeled "THG." In the picture, a short, bored-looking kid with obsidian hair slashed twin blades at some nerdy girl in a desert.

"We got another skip."

The scientist that tried to stave a needle at Katsu pointed up at the screen by the sofa. Katsu hopped to his feet and strolled over to the screen and looked up at the image. In the corner, the letters "YOI," the group stared at a domestic scene playing out like a corny teenage romance by an ice rink.

"…like a Garfield type-cat." A pretty blonde girl with wide, deep blue eyes smile at some punk with beautiful locks that rivaled Katsu's. His emerald eyes locked onto the strange girl that annoyed him.

Then, the screen fizzled in a crackle of static before blasting back into focus. The same scene, but the boy frowned.

"I don't like cats." The blonde boy said.

The scientist scratched out lines on the script he had in his thin hands. He circled the page circle at the right corner and flashed the sheet at Calista and Shoto.

"Yuri doesn't say that. In fact, he very famously lives cats."

"I got another skip," Another scientist says from the screen behind them. They turned to see the black-haired kid collapsed on the ground.

"That nerdy girls from District 5 killed Aslovee."

"Skip here, too!" A doctor shouted from the screen next to her. "Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way just showed up in the duel. She's supposed to be dead already."

Calista faced Katsu and raised an eyebrow. "You getting it now? Someone is trying to bring all of these universes together, but it will only cause chaos and death."

"Time is infinite, Katsu," Shoto shoved his hands in his pockets. "Every story you see on screen, just as real as the other. Happening at the same time. Impacting time and the universe in the same way. Either they all exist, or none of them do."

"Basically, we're fucked," Abel said. "Unless we stop The Synch from happening. And the only way to do that is find the final pages of the Sea Scrolls."

Katsu racked his brains at the thought. Everything he had known was quickly falling apart. The other three stared at him as if they were ready to do battle with whatever villain was causing this.

"But…what does that have to do with Bakugo's costume?" He said. "And who is doing this?"

"That's the thing, Katsu," Shoto said. "The Bakugo from your universe…he's from my canon universe. And he is the one causing this."

In Compton, Drake landed right in front of Mohommad's Pawn Shop. The wings flapped from his back and kicked up random twigs and drug needles littered on the sidewalk.

Their exploits at Fyodor's place did little than aggravate Drake. It brought back bad memories and left them with little else to work with. He now knew about Project Daedalus and but had no idea juts how grand the scheme was. Take every quirk from every person and then leave the planet? Where would they even go? Was there another place he didn't know about? As much as he wanted to dismiss Fyodor's ravings as a lunatic, he had a feeling the man was being sincere.

Perhaps it could square with Moxie's testimony the day before about some strange person appearing before her and using some kind of incantation to knock her out. Not only that, but the memories she had of some strange British teenager were recounted in far too vivid a way to just be a crazy southern girl. Were those strangers from the place the Project Daedalus group would escape to? What was their purpose for being there.

Blake hopped off Drake's shoulders and pulled out the receipt from his pocket. He looked down at the paper and crinkled it in his hands. Drake could not just go by Fyodor's words. He needed further proof before going to Deku about this issue.

"You think he'll cooperate with us?" Blake said.

"He better," Drake said. "He's taking away from my Christmas Eve."

"Aren't dragons supposed to be like anti-Christmas?"

Drake stopped with his hand pressed to the fogged glass on the front door and glared at Blake. "What makes you think that?"

"Just a thought."

Drake shook his head and pushed into the room. A small, musty Knick-knack shop with rows of strange video cassettes leaning on antique items. On the bottom rows, boxes of surplus supplies and bulk dry foods lined the racks with dust smothering them.

"What do you two fools want?"

Drake whipped around and poked his head above the top rack. At the head of the walkway to the back rooms stood Cletus. He stormed over to the register with a bucket and a mop and threw the stick onto the wooden counter.

"You're that guy from Void Industries!" Blake said. "The one working with Edith Void."

"Working? Nah, that implies a salary. I was basically a slave," Cletus picked at his teeth. "Got trampled by robots for nothing. Fortunately, I got released from jail back around October and got this job."

"Really? They let you go? Why?" Blake asked.

"I don't know. The queue for prison was too long. How should I know?"

"I didn't think they'd trust you with the merchandise," Drake said with a grimace looking around the store.

"Me neither, but I gotta make ends. What do you two want?"

Blake approached the counter and slapped the receipt down. "We wanna know who bought this and why."

"Well, who'd ya get it from?"

"Fyodor Ivanovitch." Blake said.

"Then that's who bought it. Now, if you excuse me," Cletus threw a radio on top of the desk and lifted up the antenna. "My songs are coming on."

He flicked the switch. Harsh hip-hip blared out of the speakers. Cletus sat in a rocking chair and kicked his legs up.

"We were wondering if you knew why he bought these things?" Drake asked. "It says he bought a box of hot dog mix and there's an ISBN number. Did he buy a book?"

"Man, I've only started working here a few months. I don't remember everyone." Cletus said. He closed his eyes and rested his hands behind his head.

Drake grabbed the receipt and read the words again. "What would he be doing with a box of hot dog mix and a book? And why'd he buy it here?"

"Should we go back and ask?" Blake inquired.

"No, he probably wouldn't be so polite after I tried to strangle him," Drake said. He looked over the receipt again. How did these objects have any relationship to each other? A case of Plymouth Hot Dog Mix and a strange book of some kind.

Drake walked towards the bookshelf in the back. He scoured over the tower of old paperbacks and bruised hardcovers that sat in the bookshelf. He looked down at the receipt and saw the number for the book ID.

Then, Drake saw it. The date.

09/10.

"Excuse me," Drake pivoted towards Cletus down the narrow walkway between the racks. He trudged precarious over the weak floorboards that freaked underneath him. "When did you start working here?"

"Huh? A few months ago."

"October, correct?"

"Yeah."

Drake rushed for the desk. He slammed the receipt down in front of Cletus and pointed at the paper. "You printed this, didn't you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? Running up on me like that. I don't have a quirk like you do, fool!"

"Answer the question."

"Yeah, I did," Cletus shouted in an exasperated tone. "Now, can I listen to my music?"

"What does the date say on here?" Drake asked.

Cletus rolled his eyes and glanced at the receipt. "It says October 9th."

"No, it didn't," Blake bounded up to Drake. "It said September."

"You're both half-right." Drake said. Behind him, a tail pinged into existence behind Drake's back hidden from Cletus. "The date says October, but only if you're from England. They write the date with the day first instead of the month."

"Huh?" Cletus said.

"They didn't teach you that in the 'queue 'in prison?" Drake mocked.

"Wait, you're from England?" Blake asked. "Then that means-."

Bang! A white flash exploded from tip of a long stick the man held up to Drake. Catching him off guard, Drake cried out and held his shoulder with blood spurting out from the wound. He regained his footing and thrashed his tail forward. The tip screamed towards Cletus before he muttered another strange babble of words.

Another flash. This time, Drake flicked his tail and pushed the strange blast into the window. The glass shattered and exploded with shards littering the floor.

He shot more attack spells at Drake. With two in close proximity, Drake took his rught arm and squeezed his fists. Popping in it's place was a muscled limb with hard red flesh and rows of scales. The spells bounced right off his arm as he shrugged them away like mosquitoes.

Bling! A translucent blue tint emanated around him and caused Drake's tail to skirt off the surface. The strange shield around him glowed with a quiet him as Cletus laughed.

"Oh, I thought you would have figured things out much faster than that, but I guess Deku doesn't teach much about solving puzzles."

He pointed the wand back at himself and waved the tip over his head. Cletus' skin melted off like rain washing off the rotund figure of the dark-skinned man. In place stood Alistair, his bright green eyes flashing at Drake.

Drake's golden eyes slashed at Alistair, the two of them in a stand-off with the blonde boy smirking at the dragon.

"What do you want with us?" Drake asked.

"You? Nothing," Alistair said. "Me and my Creator want only one thing and we will leave your universe be. In fact, you and I could team up for this. We'd make a formidable team.

"Universe?" Blake asked. "Wow, are you like a villain from another reality?"

"No, I'm not," Alistair said in annoyance. "In fact, I'm trying to get home. So you two can stay out of my way or make this more difficult for all of us."

Drake furrowed his brow. He reared his right arm back with the dragon limb no reappearing with his tail. He sucked in a quick intake of breath from the pain that shot through his head from using two limbs at once. He rarely practiced with multiple parts of his dragon form utilized at the same time for fear of what happened previously.

"Ah, so no help from you," Alistair said. "I figured you'd be such a Gryffindor. Makes sense you would be such a hindrance."

"What do you know about Daedalus?" Drake asked.

"Heh. Like I care about that," Alistair chuckled. "You strange monsters with your powers can fight as much as you want. My only objective is to defeat Deku and go home."

Drake bared his teeth. "Defeat Deku. What does that have to do with anything?"

"It means that Daedalus needs a battery, doesn't it? Something powerful enough to start the machine. But where Edith Void and that Bakugo guy are using Deku's quirk for their own purposes, I have a much simpler plan. Take it. Use it to return home. Destroy it."

Drake lowered his guard for a second. His tail lowered and his fist unclenched. His face morphed into confusion as he processed the words. "Home?"

"Oops. Said too much," Alistair laughed. "But I'm sure a little pain will help you forget. Crucio!"

Drake waited for some strange light to come towards him. Instead, he saw nothing. However, a strange vibration launched out of the wand over towards him. A heat, not unlike a cannon of pain about to overtake him, warmed his skin. It was a strange feeling he rarely got, but his face grew hot. Hot. Within a millisecond, his limbs started to become jelly with his eyes widening at the spontaneous burst of anxiety splashing over his spine. For some reason, he was a frozen sitting duck to an invisible force.

Then, a head of black hair jumped in front. The force slammed into him and pushed him back towards the base of Drake's feet. Blake crashed to the ground, his limbs contorting like a dying spider on the wood as he let out quick gasps of shock.

It didn't compare to the scream Alistair let out. He fell forward with his wand still in hand. He squeezed his wand and cried in pain.

"What are you doing? Stop it!" Alistair hit his head on the desk.

"Heh, heh. Is this magical pain? It's…gah…it kinda tickles. Heh," Blake said masking the fire that erupted in his frayed nerves.

With Alistair distracted, Drake jumped over Blake and lashed his tail back out at Alistair. The tip whistled over towards Alistair's keeled over figure. Right towards his chest and then it pointed for his middle.

The tail plunged into Alistair. He dropped his wand, and the pain stopped. Blake gasped for air on the ground but rose his head up to see the tail that had impaled Alistair. The tip had sliced through the big and out his back. Blood dripped Out the holes and stained the counter beneath him.

Drake relinquished his tail. Once he did, Alistair grabbed his wand. Before Drake could act again, the boy spun on his heels. A dark cloud of smoke emanated form where he last stood. Only the blood from his body pooled on the counter remained of him.

"I haven't felt pain like that in a while," Blake panted. "Impressive."

"I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again soon. Especially if he's after Deku."

Drake kneeled down. He stared at Blake who had a wry grin on his exhausted face. Drake for once, could not help but share a small smile back at him.

"Thanks. I'm…glad you came with me."

"Don't mention it. We still got this whole mystery to solve."

Drake grabbed Blake by the hand and helped him back up. He leaned on the desk and looked back at the pawn shop. Dust danced in the setting sunlight with destroyed racks of old books strewn about. Wooden debris coated the floor with destroyed vases and antique items shattered.

"So…where do we start?" Blake asked.

"I don't know, but this became much bigger than we thought, Drake said. "We still need to find the right book for the ID number. And we need to find out what the hot dog mix means. Also, we should probably contact Deku that there is some strange being from another universe trying to kill him."

"I agree. It would be rude not to."

"And then we still have to connect this to the radio message and-."

A pause.

"Wait, did that guy say Edith Void…and Bakugo?"