The kids soon rushed out while looking around to see where they could find Merlin.
"I wonder which villain we'll face first?" Creepie commented.
"Who knows?" LJ replied. "Let's hope we meet more amigos along the way!"
"I think I found Merlin." Zofia spoke up.
Everyone looked to her and soon looked to where she looked at. We see Merlin on the Liberty Square Riverboat dressed in a boater hat and suit, leaning against a railing with some cards.
"That's a pretty weird set of threads." LJ noted.
"Uh, hey! Merlin!" Creepie called out.
"Oh!" Merlin yelped as he noticed them, making cards fly out of his hands by accident, but quickly gathered them. "Oh! The riverboat is crawling with Hades' imps looking to steal my spell cards. Guard yours carefully. I'm afraid I may be a while, so Mama Odie, a fellow mystic will guide you in my place."
"Well...alright then!" LJ smiled.
Merlin soon left them as the kids soon saw Mama Odie stirring her bathtub gumbo.
"Uh, excuse us?" Zofia called out.
"Ah, hello there!" Mama Odie smiled to them. "Can I help y'all?"
"We're, uh, looking for a crystal?" Zofia replied.
"Ah, I see," Mama Odie said. "Well, here it is, child. Y'all been wanting that magic crystal, right?" she then asked, holding something out to them.
"That IS what we're looking for!" LJ exclaimed.
"I'm just messing with you." Mama Odie giggled, tossing it aside.
"That wasn't the crystal?" Creepie asked.
"Nope! Just making a little joke." Mama Odie replied.
Akito and Estelle stared at her with twitchy eyes. A Pokemon known as a Politoed soon hopped up, coming beside Mama Odie as she stirred her soup.
"It's...a Politoed!" LJ blinked. "One of those Pokemon!"
"That it is, LJ, that it is, but that one seems to have a home already." Akito replied.
Politoed looked over and waved while looking down to the brew with Mama Odie.
"Gumbo, gumbo, in the pot," Mama Odie began to recite. "We need a Crystal. Whatcha got?"
In the gumbo, we see a shard of the crystal and it shatters as Dr. Facilier's shadow appeared.
"Oh, some bad boy been messing around and brought the Shadow Man back!" Mama Odie gasped from that.
"I bet it was that lousy Hades!" LJ stated.
"Don't I know it?" Zofia agreed.
We are soon shown Hades standing over the River of Souls.
"Tough career choice, I know," Hades said to Dr. Facilier's shadow. "Keep your gig as Jester in the River of Souls here or go back and be the King of the Mardi Gras. But, just one condition on that King offer. You gotta bring me the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom."
"Uh-oh..." LJ gulped.
Dr. Facilier was soon back in his Voodoo Emporium with his Shadow Demons. "A Crystal of great power, my friends! So, I got a little proposition for y'all," he then told them. "Help me find it and you'll have all the wayward souls your dark hearts desire."
The kids then saw a newspaper with a picture Tiana's Palace on the front and the headline "Tiana's Palace Opens Tonight!".
"Meantime, I've got a little score to settle." Dr. Facilier continued before concluding with an evil laugh.
"Watch out!" Mama Odie warned the kids. "Shadow Man gonna use his magic potions to take over!"
"We gotta do something!" LJ exclaimed. "Question is, what?"
"Children, you must stop Dr. Facilier from taking over and recovering a piece of the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom." Merlin's voice told them.
"We can do it! Nothing to it!" LJ nodded.
"You have to find this spot, child, and use that there Sorcerer's Key," Mama Odie said, showing them where to go. "And don't worry. Mama'll be there to help you out. Well, get to it."
The kids soon went to go that way while looking around as they went off to Frontier Land.
"Alright then...let's hope we can manage to make it." Zofia noted.
"I really hope so." Creepie added.
They soon ended up in a kitchen.
"Mama, the Shadow Man done busted Lawrence out of jail!" A voice panicked.
"Oh, that's bad news, Louis," Mama Odie's voice replied. "He's gonna try and slip the potion into Tiana's gumbo. Get a taste of that and the Shadows will come and get you!"
"Uh-oh!" LJ realized. "Then we gotta tip the pot and spill it!"
The shadows came out, looking eagerly towards the group.
"Back off!" Akito glared.
"I think we need to cast a spell now." Estelle guessed.
"Good idea." LJ replied, pulling out a card.
The shadows shrieked as they were hungry for their souls.
"Soon I'll have this place in the palm of my hand!" Dr. Faciler's voice chuckled. "Then we're going to find ourselves that crystal!"
LJ cleared his throat. "I cast...BOWLER ATTACK!" he held up a card with pictures of the Bowler Hat Guy's trademark hat. "When played, it summons Three Helping Hats to attack my opponents!"
The helping hats soon came out after LJ summoned them and soon began to fly towards the shadows. The shadows shrieked and were wounded by the hats.
"Not bad." Creepie remarked.
"You done laid that Shadow low!" Mama Odie chuckled to them happily.
"It was no problem!" LJ replied with a thumb's up.
"Well, that was pretty easy." Zofia smiled.
"Ooh! Mama Odie!" The alligator known as Louis soon rushed out in a panic. "Now the Shadow Man's got Princess Tiana! She's in trouble, and all kinds of other deep water. You've gotta do something."
"You got it, chief!" Creepie replied. "Leave it to us!"
"Hang on, Louis! Mama's sending help tout de suite," Mama Odie told the alligator before facing the others. "Come on, child. This is where you need to go next. Y'all best get moving."
The others nodded and soon headed that way.
"I wonder what Dr. Facilier would even want with Princess Tiana?" Zofia commented to herself.
"He probably wants payback," LJ replied. "She DID defeat him in the past..."
"You know the story, huh?" Estelle asked.
"Of course," Zofia replied. "Mother tells us about a lot of her old adventures."
"And they're all pretty cool!" LJ replied.
"Uh... Stories?" Creepie asked.
"Our parents go on all sorts of crazy adventures and sometimes we do too," Akito explained. "Such as Pokemon journeys with our friends, the Ketchum siblings."
"Emi's also Akito's girlfriend." Estelle smirked to her twin brother.
"Yeah, yeah," Akito rolled his eyes. "Let's see if we can find any Pokemon for our cousins around here."
"They could be just about anywhere." Estelle nodded.
"Well, THAT narrows it down." LJ replied.
"Just trust us," Akito said. "Pokemon are very curious creatures."
"You know, you can't just kidnap somebody and expect to get away with it!" Tiana grunted as she was tied up with a snake. "You let me go!"
Creepie gestured for the others to come over once she found Tiana.
"Psst," Tiana whispered to the adventure team. "I do NOT want to be a frog again. Please, you have to help me get me out of here."
"No problem!" Zofia replied as she began working at untying the ropes.
The snake hissed right at her.
"Yaugh!" Zofia yelped from that before punching the snake in the face.
"Ah, hiss yourself!" LJ remarked before smacking the snake in the face.
"That startled me." Zofia sighed.
"It's okay," Creepie said. "Snakes are pretty sneaky jerks. Can't be worse than a frog though."
"Careful now," Tiana warned them. "The Shadow Man's in the other room."
"Right." LJ nodded.
However, something happened.
"Uh-oh." Akito and Estelle muttered in unison.
"Relax, guys, it's just a window to the other room." Creepie told them, luckily, they hadn't gotten caught for saving Tiana.
"Now, now I know what you're thinking, but y'all are going to get that Crystal." Dr. Facilier smirked as he spoke with Hades.
"Yeah, didn't you say you had your top people on it?" Hades replied. "Only, last I checked, honestly, shadows aren't people, Doc. My advice...? Quit delegating and start participating or you're all going back to 'the other side'."
"Methinks we better work faster." LJ replied.
"Listen, children... You have to free her and mess up that Shadow Man's potion before he takes over everything!" Mama Odie advised.
"Quite right, madame," Merlin agreed before instructing. "There's no time to spare! Use the Sorcerer's Crest. It's the symbol found on the back of your spell cards!"
"Hurry, now's your chance!" Tiana told the others.
"Okay..." LJ nodded as they all held up their cards. "We activate...SORCERERS CREST!"
"Way to go, LJ!" Akito smiled to that.
The spell was soon cast and the princess was freed.
"Oh, you did it!" Tiana smiled thankfully. "Thank you so much!"
"No sweat!" Creepie replied.
Tiana soon walked off once she was free to go. Dr. Facilier soon rushed in, wondering what was going on.
"Your game is up, Shadow Man!" LJ exclaimed. "And we'll be sending YOU back to the Shadow Realm!"
"No! You can't be me!" Dr. Facilier cried out. "You're just children!"
A shadow demon soon gave Dr. Facilier a piece of the crystal back before making an escape.
"Crud...I knew we missed one!" LJ snapped his fingers in frustration.
"You did it! Except the Shadow Man got something he shouldn't have." Mama Odie told them as Dr. Facilier ran off.
"We're sorry." Zofia frowned.
"Now, now, don't feel blue, ya can still do it." Mama Odie coaxed.
"The lady makes a point!" LJ stated. "Now let's kick some shadow butt!"
They soon made it to an alley after Mama Odie showed them where to go.
"That Shadow Man ain't got the sense he was born with!" Mama Odie advised. "You dig a little deeper and you'll beat him for sure!"
"Sweet!" Akito exclaimed. "We're in it to win it!"
"I think I see him!" Creepie pointed out.
Dr. Facilier snuck through the alley as he then took the Crystal out of his jacket. "Tiana's escape is unfortunate. But once I deliver this, I'll have my revenge," he then put the crystal back in his pocket with an evil chuckle until he noticed the adventure team. "Well, well. What do we have here?"
"Your downfall!" Zofia glared.
"An end to your evil scheme!" LJ added.
"Oh, don't you disrespect me, you children!" Dr. Facilier glared at them.
"Say, 'Cheese'!" Zofia glared and soon sent a storm card after him.
A storm cloud soon hovered above Dr. Facilier and struck him with lightning.
"Thunder and Frightening!" LJ exclaimed.
"No. Please! Give a poor fellow a break. What about a little deal?" Dr. Facilier panicked at first before grinning darkly as he pulled out his potion that had a frog label on it. "I can make your dreams come true. Or all your worst nightmares!"
"Dream THIS, bucko!" LJ snapped.
Louis soon came out with his trumpet and blew it big and loud, startling Dr. Facilier which made him cover his ears from the noise.
"Get him quick! While he's shaking!" Mama Odie told the others.
"Right!" Zofia replied as she soon cast the next spell card which was like fireworks.
Dr. Facilier then dropped the potion, turning himself into a purple frog.
"Way to go, sis!" LJ grinned.
Zofia smiled, proudly to herself as she was successful.
"No. I'm not ready to go back!" Dr. Facilier panicked. "I still got an idea how to turn this whole thing around."
A spirit-like Voodoo mask appeared and swallows him, taking him back into a portal to "the other side".
Nooooooo!" Dr. Facilier cried out as he was sent away.
"That ends the Shadow Man's plan!" LJ grinned.
"Ooh, it's that Crystal y'all been looking for," Louis smiled as he took the crystal. "I'll bring it over, Mama."
"You must be that jazz musician alligator Dad told us about once." Akito smiled to the alligator.
"That's me!" Louis smiled back. "Good to meet you all!"
"...Never thought I'd be talking to an alligator... But I've done stranger things in my life." Creepie commented.
"Alright! Crystal retrieved!" LJ whooped.
"You got the Crystal!" Mama Odie told them. "Getting it is what you wanted, but earning it is what you needed."
"Right." Zofia smiled to that.
"Shadow Man? Shadow Man!" Hades's voice called out. "Helloooo, huh, my Crystal, huh? Come on, doc. I'm a busy god. Got places to go, people to cheat."
"Tough luck, Hades!" LJ snickered.
Back at the Liberty Square Riverboat, we see Cherry, Lionel, Sombra, Celestia, Merlin, Tiana and Mama Odie.
"Hey! We're back!" Creepie called out.
"Ah, there you are!" Merlin smiled to them. "Excellent work, everyone!"
"Way to go, kiddos!" Lionel whooped. "Knew you could do it!"
"Mama likes your style!" Mama Odie chuckled. "You got spunk!"
"Wow, thanks!" Estelle smiled back to the adults.
"I think you're the bee's-knees," Tiana added. "Thanks again."
"No problem!" LJ smirked. "We had it covered!"
"Hades is still recruiting villains," Merlin told them. "We can always use more help."
"Then you shall have it." LJ said calmly.
"Just call our names and we'll be there." Zofia added.
"What she said." Creepie nodded.
Suddenly the scene changed and they were in a different place from where they once were before.
"What's going on?" Creepie asked.
"I'm not sure, but after facing Facilier, I hope it's good." Akito replied.
"Me too." LJ nodded.
They soon looked around as they seemed to be transported somewhere else.