"Whoa...just how much further this place is gonna go? I'm learning more about the boss...or...Arthur's dad, than I really needed to know." Lan said.
"Well, the tower did stretch 1000 ft into the sky. Shot in the dark, maybe it has 1000 floors underground too." Hope said.
"No, that would be too obvious. But at least going downstairs is more relaxing on the legs than upstairs." David said.
"Let's see...the boss said he only stopped at the lab. I think there are at least 5 floors...least that's what he said." Lan said.
"Then there shouldn't be much left to go." Aelita said.
"Yes… We seem to be practically halfway." Kareem said.
In the next room, it seemed to be more barren than the previous rooms with only a few pictures around.
"Wow… This room looks empty. There's barely anything in here." Kayra said.
"Yeah...only a few pictures." Theo said as he picked one up before they found themselves viewing a memory of a bar as Cretaceous sat alone only to soon be met by Chikasu and Ginova.
"Hmm...it's been so long...ever since Gold went and died." Ginova said solemnly as he sat.
"You seem...shaken. Did something happen during that trip to Italy?" Cretaceous asked.
"Yes...I...crossed someone I shouldn't have. He could have easily killed me. But...he's letting me and my family live...on the condition I create a criminal family and give him a large majority of the profits." Ginova said.
"Ay… That Diavolo guy you mentioned sounds like a crafty weasel… He knows how to pull the strings of everyone around him." Chikasu said, now wearing a rag over his punctured eye,
"I just wanted to clean up that world...like Gold would. But...it felt like he knew everything I was going to do." Ginova said.
"I see...hmm...given the universe you visited...you likely encountered a Stand User." Cretaceous said.
"A Stand… Ah, yes. I've heard about those. They are said to grant people supernatural powers." Chikasu said.
"Yes...it was a topic for one of my previous research explorations. Stands cannot be seen on the world they originate from except by other users and those not from that world." Cretaceous said. "Which makes them both unpredictable...and dangerous. Ginova...you were lucky to escape with your life."
"Yeah...now I gotta do as he says." Ginova said.
"How will your family feel?" Chikasu said.
"I don't have a choice. If I don't do this, he's going to kill them. I rather have them resenting me than having them all buried." Ginova said.
"Yes, we wouldn't want any of our old enemies to go after our own children. They don't deserve to suffer for our discretions." Chikasu said.
"Speaking of children...my son Amadeus recently became somewhat of a villain and tried to take over a planet in the Standard Universe known as Planet Wisp." Cretaceous said. "He was, however, stopped."
"Geez...what an upset. Beaten by those little Wisps…" Ginova said.
"Thing is...it wasn't the Wisps that defeated him. He sent me this picture." Cretaceous said showing a younger Jexi.
"This boy...this feeling...is he…." Ginova asked.
"Without a doubt...he's the son that Gold left behind in Aurora." Cretaceous said.
"Geez...seven years after Gold's death and he suddenly pops up now?!" Ginova said in surprise.
"I take it as a sign. This boy and my son...both of them are going to set off a chain reaction that will impact every single world out there." Cretaceous said.
"Oh come on...every single one?" Chikasu asked.
"True...it's too early to tell now...but in possibly 8 or maybe 9 years, these changes will begin to occur." Cretaceous said.
"That's crazy and you know it." Ginova said.
"Fine...then make a bet with me." Cretaceous said.
"Huh?" Ginova asked.
"It's simple...if the boy manages to do something big like slaying Yamigedo or destroying the universal barriers...make him your enemy." Cretaceous said.
"Our own children will most likely be dragged into his endeavors by then." Chikasu said.
"That is definitely a possibility...our fates were changed when Gold entered our lives...it makes sense that theirs will change when encountering the boy in this picture." Cretaceous said.
"Heh… maybe you're right." Ginova said. "But...suppose you are wrong...what would I get?"
"I'll submit myself to your new crime family for the rest of my days." Cretaceous said. "I'll even cut off a body part to prove my loyalty should such a thing fail to come true."
"Heh...it's a deal then." Ginova said. "You're also going to pay our tabs for the rest of our lives."
"Hmm...I accept. Of course...I'm rarely ever wrong." Cretaceous said.
The flashback soon ended as they returned to the present.
"Geez...he bet the entire future on me meeting Hope and David?" Jexi said.
"No, I think it was more on the Universal Barriers being brought down, as well as Yamigedo's death." David said. "I didn't even know you guys when those happened."
"Yeah...and both of those things came true. I used that core to bring down the barrier." Hope said.
"And I played the buddyfight against Yamigedo that purged him for good and freed the other universes and their inhabitants from its belly." Jexi said.
"It seemed more to us that Ishihara's role in all of this came in the aftermath of those events." Cheetah said.
"Aftermath? You mean like a post-mortem?" David asked.
"Yeah...it's true. Hope didn't start looking for David till after Yamigedo's defeat and looking into the Azran Legacy. Over a prophecy he was obsessed with." Aqua said. "But...it was 'cause of that, everyone eventually met with one another."
"We pretty much didn't believe in that kind of stuff, anyway." Sectonia said.
"Hey, David?" Hope asked. "Have you ever thought about what things would've been like for you, had I not sought you out?"
"Maybe… I would've encountered you all much later, that's for sure." David said.
Ace merely closed his eyes in thought after witnessing the flashback.
"Still, though… I have been wondering why Dad hid so many details of these flashbacks from me." David said.
"As he himself stated, he probably figured that if you knew about his past, you would've gone travelling worlds yourself, and run the risk of meeting his old enemies." Cheetah said.
"Yeah… There is that. I mean, you saw what I was like the first time we fought. I clearly wouldn't have been ready for them." David said. "And that's not adding to the fact that Lucius gouged his eye out. At times, I even thought I may have encountered Jexi and Hope a little too soon."
"Yeah, I remember during the first days you met with them that you have been doubting yourself a lot." Scott said.
"But like Cretaceous said...there was a chain of events that led to all of us meeting...all starting with that fight Jexi and Flux had that brought us together." Dan said.
"Then the chain kept growing until it reached to this very point." Aelita said.
"Yeah...that is an interesting way of looking at it." Riolu said.
"Ugh...can we please stop talking about chains and start focusing on…" Meowth said before part of the floor fell through.
"Whoa...dude are you okay?" Mark asked.
"Okay? I'm in Heaven!" Meowth said lying on top of a pile of money and jewels.
"Oy vey." Zero said.
"Whoa...look at all that!" Ramona said. "There must be trillions down there!"
They all quickly hurried down to the final floor where they looked over the bounty.
"But how is all this…" Ethox said.
"It's treasure we collected from our days together." a voice said as they saw Cretaceous sitting in a nearby chair.
"You are very sneaky." Ace said.
"How...how did you even know we were here?" Hope asked.
"While you managed to enter the correct number code...you unwittingly triggered the silent alarm the moment you entered the tower." Cretaceous said. "However, since your party includes the children of my dear friends, I decided not to drop corrosive acid on you all."
"Yeah, having big numbers does tend to make us pretty clumsy when it comes to those kinds of traps." Alphamon said.
"Oh...it wasn't the group number…" Cretaceous said showing the entrance of Lan being the first one to enter as he passed through an invisible beam.
"But...we never encountered that when the boss entered." Lan said.
"Because all of the traps were shut off for the Inheritance War." Cretaceous said. "Least for the bottom floors anyway."
"So...all of those floors above…" Asta asked.
"The first two were for my own purposes...the next two were purely for memories. And this bottom one is for my finances." Cretaceous said.
"That second floor was a bit of a surprise." Ristarte said. "I didn't know you were able to create a Devil Subjugation arena."
"I simply created it to study the procedure and how it's done." Cretaceous said.
"So...can we take the treasure here?" Meowth asked.
"Of course. I have much more than this hidden away in multiple other locations. Take as much as you wish." Cretaceous said.
"Jackpot!" G. Aqua cried in joy. "Lets fill some bags!"
"Just don't carry so much at once that you break your back." Ethox said.
As the groups worked to collect the treasure, Hope approached Cretaceous.
"Cretaceous, about that bet you made with my dad. Since you won…. Did dad ever uphold his end of the deal?" Hope asked.
"Didn't have to. You all went against him either way...even though the only reason the Ginova family was born was to protect you, his children." Cretaceous said.
"Yeah...I was pretty ungrateful for that." Hope said.
"But that is in the past since Diavolo is no more." Cretaceous said. "Or at least, trapped in a loop of infinite death."
"You...you know about that?" Hope asked.
"I have my ways." Cretaceous said.
"I see...good...good to know." Hope said.
The treasure was soon cleaned out as Cretaceous stood outside as he watched them prepare to leave.
"I guess you're leaving too?" Theo asked.
"Yes. It's never been my style to stay in one place for too long." Cretaceous said.
"We'll see you again someday, won't we?" Ethox asked.
"I cannot answer." Cretaceous said as he started to walk away before vanishing in a sudden instant.
"He's certainly an interesting man." Ace said. "You know, speaking of Fluxes, how do you guys think Damien is doing in the Life Universe?"
"I don't have to worry about that boy...I know he's learning many amazing things. But...speaking of...I don't think we've hit that universe for dungeons yet, have we?" Hope asked.
"No, I don't think so. In fact, we haven't even visited that universe at all." Sectonia said.
"Then this could mark our first visit there." Stoj said.
"Well...then let's cross it off the list." Hope said. "Next stop...the Life Universe!"