Time to finally finish this long overdue fic! After a year and a half almost, we've reached the finale of "Evolution"! Will things turn out all right in the end for our heroes?! Of course they will, but you'd all like to find out what happens, right?

Enough stalling, let's finish this!

BOOK FIVE

EVOLUTION

The Neo Earth Empire has put its plans into action! With the Mini Colossus mechs completed and fitted with their new spirit reactors, Ryuto and his soldiers are piloting them towards none other than Republic City! During all the chaos, Korra and the others discovered the weakness the spirit reactors was being charged with too much electricity. Will they be able to stop the five large mecha suits?!

CHAPTER SIX

CURE

"Guess we're gonna have some fun after all…" Rex muttered as he put on his goggles, forming his back into the Boogie Pack as its turbine wings revved loudly, "Everybody hop on!" he advised to the others, waving to them.

"You sure you can fly all of us?" Lin questioned to him out of concern as she and her half-sister boarded his left wing, while the Avatar hopped onto his right.

"I've carried heavier before," he joked in reply, "Ash, you can go on Charizard, right?" he inquired to his teammate, who was currently mounting the Flame Pokémon with Greninja, while Pikachu had hopped onto his shoulder.

"All over it, Rex!" he responded with a thumbs up. He smiled back at him, but then saw that Kuvira had yet to get onboard, appearing to be hesitant as she stared at the ground despondently.

"Hey, muchacha?" he said, catching her attention as she looked to see him offering his right hand to her, "We will stop these guys," he promised resolutely, surprising her slightly as her eyes shook.

"Rex…" she uttered.

"Come on, let's hurry!" the Pokémon trainer beckoned as the Fire/Flying type flew off of the ground, heading after the giant mecha suits. Disregarding the frustration she had with herself, the former dictator got aboard her ex-boyfriend's right win, allowing him to take off and follow his comrade.

"Ryuto, sir," one man communicated to the leader of the Neo Earth Empire, catching his attention as he perked up, "We have two targets approaching from the rear," he told him, enticing him to look at the screen of the camera that was for behind his mech, seeing that his enemies were flying towards them.

"I suppose Irine and the others weren't enough to deal with them…" he grumbled in realization, clenching his fists, "Very well then…" he said, "Wong, Li," he uttered off to two of his men.

"Sir!" they responded through the line.

"Ensure that our enemies are eradicated…" he demanded in an aggressively threatening tone.

"Right away, sir," one of the men answered after a moment. Two of the mechs then stopped, starting to turn around and face their incoming foes.

"Think they spotted us?" Lin guessed, narrowing her amidst the wind blowing in her face.

"With cameras installed in those things, I wouldn't be surprised," Korra responded. Within both mecha suits, a cartridge of a spirit vine was being loaded into the iron cannon at the head, buzzing with energy.

"Targets acquired…" the bulkier of the two men began, readying himself as he metalbent a lever down.

"Taking aim…" the other man continued, getting into a ready stance. Outside the approaching group saw the ominous luminosity emanating from both mecha suits.

"Guys?" Ash yelled from afar, sweating a little.

"Hang on!" Rex shouted to those aboard him, enticing them to take a strong grip on his turbine wings, rupturing the metal slightly, "Uh… not too tight…" he added in concern, "I don't wanna fall out of the sky…" he grumbled, causing the Avatar to shoot him a skeptical look out of annoyance.

"FIRE!" both men in the mechs exclaimed, throwing their fists out to make the cannons fire off beams of spirit energy toward their enemies. Luckily, they flew off to opposite sides to avoid them, but were blown back by their combined force.

"Pikah…!" Pikachu squeaked as he hung on tightly to his master's short-sleeved jacket, while he was desperately holding onto his hat.

"Dang…" he muttered out, gritting his teeth as Charizard managed to regain his balance in the air, "We probably won't be able to get into even one of those things if they're able to attack us from a distance…" he realized as he put his hand onto his chin, "Unless…" he started to wonder, widening his eyes after a moment, "Greninja!" he yelped, catching the attention of the Ninja Pokémon behind him.

"Nin?" he croaked as he blinked.

"Ready to power up?" his trainer inquired to him as he clenched his right fist. Understanding what he meant immediately, the Water/Dark type nodded in agreement, bumping his own extremity against Ash's. One of the Mini Colossus mechs stopped firing before charging out, heading straight for Rex and the others as they had just recovered from being blown back.

"Look alive, everyone!" Suyin advised instantly as they all gasped to see the giant mecha suit about to swing its right arm towards them. Just then though, a large, watery throwing star zoomed by and struck the metal limb, forcing it to move away from the group. Its pilot, Wong, blinked in surprise before looking at one of his monitors to see the figure running at him from the ground, being the frog-like creature in his transformed state as he grasped the large shuriken off of his back.

"Neen ja!" he exclaimed as he flung it out, letting it spin rapidly before it struck the glass panel at the giant mecha's head in an explosion of white smoke. However, once the veil cleared, it revealed that the glass had only broke ever so slightly, much to the frustration of the aspiring Pokémon master as he gritted his teeth.

"Crap…" he muttered out as he and Pikachu narrowed their eyes in thought.

"Ash!" a voice yelled, catching their attentions as they looked over to see the EVO flying up to them, "What are you trying to do?" he asked, arching an eyebrow towards him.

"Greninja's gonna break in like you did and take out that cannon," he explained in response, "Only problem is how tough that glass is…" he noted as he clenched his fists.

"If you can deal with this one, we'll take care of the other," Lin told him, gesturing towards the mech that had ceased its firing and was on its way towards them.

"Got it!" the raven haired replied with a nod before having Charizard fly off towards the mecha suit they were already attacking. Korra looked back at him in concern, remembering when he and his transformed teammate worked together in Republic City. Nevertheless, she knew that they were both determined to help, keeping a stoic expression on her face as she looked towards her group's own foe.

"Well, well…" Li uttered repeatedly from within the mecha suit, waving his arms and readying another cartridge as it loaded itself into the cannon.

"Here it comes!" Suyin shouted as she and the others heard the buzzing emanating from the head of the Mini Colossus mech. It then fired off another beam of spirit energy, aimed for the approaching team. The Providence agent span out of the way, letting the Beifong sisters jump off of him onto the ground. They both ran towards the metal behemoth's legs, slamming their fists into the ground to make it build up and entrap the feet in shells of rock.

"Please…" its pilot muttered disappointedly, seeing what was happening from one of the screens within the control center. What he did not realize was that as the giant mecha managed to easily break free of the earth surrounding it, Rex and the others had landed atop its head. He reformed his back from the Boogie Pack and then morphed his arms into the Bad Axes, slamming them down as the glowing blades were able to pierce through the metal. As he lifted the right one up afterwards, it revealed that there was an indent he had made.

"Okay, muchacha!" he called out to his ex-girlfriend amidst the roaring wind blowing through their hair, "You're up!" he yelled.

"Right!" she responded, going over and placing her hands within the indent he had made, "ERRRGGGHHH!" she grunted as she slowly began to pry it open, revealing the cannon underneath.

"So are we gonna just take out the cannon like last time?" the EVO inquired to his female comrades.

"Actually, I have another idea…" Korra responded with a smirk as she looked over at Kuvira, who was close to making an opening large enough for them to fit into.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded from afar. His partner leapt up off of his shoulder, enveloping himself in electricity before firing a massive bolt of lightning towards the giant mecha suit they were facing, striking it fiercely. However, it did not appear to faze it remotely as its head turned towards the flying dragon-like creature.

"Pika…" the Mouse Pokémon grumbled in frustration.

"Guess that metal's like an insulator…" his trainer noted, placing his hand onto his chin.

'Now that I think about it, that woman's suit wasn't overloading from my electrical attacks until I ripped it open for Pikachu to hit its reactor directly…' he recalled inwardly, narrowing his eyes.

"Roah!" Charizard suddenly roared, snapping him away from his thoughts as he saw the ominous luminosity emitting from the metal behemoth's head.

"Wait a sec…" he started to realize, widening his eyes slightly, "Charizard, take me down to Greninja!" he yelled to the Fire/Flying type, who blinked in surprise.

"Pika pi?" his other teammate questioned, confused by his sudden reaction as they flew down.

"Can you guys distract the Mini Colossus long enough for us?" he asked of them. They blinked for a moment before grinning and nodding, making him smile as well, "Thanks, guys!" he replied in gratitude just as a beam was fired off from the giant mecha towards them. The Flame Pokémon dove down to evade it easily, allowing his owner to hop off of him while the Electric type stayed aboard. The Omni Force member slid to a stop beside his transformed teammate as they stared up at the large opponent looming before them.

"Nin, neen ja?" the latter of the pair asked, getting his master's attention.

"We need to take out the cameras on that thing, wherever they are…" he told him, narrowing his eyes, "Let's work together and find them," he advised as he pumped his right fist.

"Nin ja!" Greninja responded with his own extremity clenched. The two then closed their eyes, attempting to use their synchronized abilities to sense the locations of the cameras upon the metal behemoth. As they were doing that, Charizard was breathing out streams of flames towards his adversary's head, evading any of the attempted swipes from its arms.

"Pika, pika chu!" Pikachu advised to his comrade, making him nod as he flew behind the mecha, drawing its attention away from his trainer. Both he and the Ninja Pokémon perked up after a moment, looking over at each other.

"See 'em?" he inquired to him.

"Neen!" he responded with a mere nod.

"All right then…" Ash began, putting his hands together in the form of a tiger seal, "Double Team with Water Shuriken!" he commanded. Making his body flash a bright white after performing the same hand sign, the Water/Dark type suddenly had five duplicates appear around him. They each grasped an end on the large shuriken of water upon their backs, including the original. Leaping up, they flung their makeshift weapons out, all aimed in different directions. They struck their targets, being the shoulders, the middle of the back, the torso, the chest, and the front glass panel at the head, veiling every one of them with white smoke before the clones vanished.

"Ergh…!" Wong growled in frustration from within the control center of his mech, unable to see anything from the screens but the smoke that covered the cameras. With an opening given to them, the Omni Force member and his partner ran underneath the Mini Colossus mech, standing in front of it as it was trying to brush the smoke away.

"Okay, Water Shuriken!" the Pokémon trainer ordered as he threw his right hand up high. Spinning off another large throwing star from his back, the transformed frog-like creature let it spiral above his hand, having a huge torrent of water envelop his form. His weapon then glowed a bright orange as it grew to a massive size, spinning still over his hand. As the smoke was finally brushed aside from the giant mecha suit, its pilot looked at the screens too late to see the disc-like shuriken being flung out rapidly, striking it at the head in a fierce explosion of white smoke. At that same moment, the cannon inside was blown apart thanks to the impact, leaving a gaping hole down into the control center.

"Agh…" the man driving it groaned, being pinned down by the remains of the cannon. He was slowly managing to bend it off of himself though, noticing from one of the screens that both the raven haired man and Greninja were on their knees, panting heavily.

"Hah… hah…" the former of the pair breathed out, evidently exhausted from having been synchronized with his comrade for so long. However, he saw that there was an opening the Water/Dark type had created from his attack, making him smirk in realization as he noticed Charizard fly by with Pikachu still mounted upon his back. "Pikachu… THUNDERBOLT!" he yelled out as loud as he could.

"Pika!" his longtime partner responded with a nod, flipping himself off of the Flame Pokémon and enveloping his body in electricity before unleashing a massive lightning bolt into the Mini Colossus mech. Just as Wong had gotten back up, the electricity zapped him along with the rest of the control center, making him cry out in agony. The reactor below him and the cartridges were also affected as they began glowing brightly. As the Electric type landed upon the back of his friend, they flew down and landed beside their master, watching as the luminosity within the metal behemoth brightened greatly.

"No, wait-!" The pilot's scream was cut by the sudden explosion of all the spirit vine cartridges and the reactor below him, enveloping him within the light as the giant mecha suit split apart at the torso from the force of the blast, with both halves falling to the ground.

"Pika!" the Mouse Pokémon cheered as he pumped his fists excitedly.

"That's one down…" Ash muttered out as his eyelids drooped, while the Ninja Pokémon behind him transformed back to normal in a flash of light, "and four to… go…" he managed to say before fainting onto the ground along with his teammate.

"Rah!" the Fire/Flying type yelped in concern as he went over to them.

"Pika, pika!" Pikachu squeaked pleadingly as he nudged his trainer, only to receive no response as he was out cold.

X

"You sure this is a good idea?" Korra asked as she dropped into the head of the Mini Colossus she and the others were fighting, with Rex to follow as she looked at Kuvira looming over the hatch that would lead down to the mech's control center.

"Destroying this mech means we'll be facing three others that likely know what we're planning next," she responded, readying her hands, "We can at least take control of this one and try to level the playing field," she explained.

"I like the way you think, muchacha," her ex-boyfriend complimented, causing her to blush a little as she turned her head away.

"L-Let's just get this taken care of…" she advised with an embarrassed stutter, twisting the valve with her bending to make the hatch click open.

"Hm?" Li uttered upon hearing the sound, looking over at the hatch and instantly becoming ensnared in a line of water that came from it. In a loud yelp, he was hoisted up in an instant and slammed against the roof. "Ugh…" he groaned in agony, falling unconscious as the hatch was opened to reveal the trio there, as the Avatar had bent out the water to grab him. After she set him down onto the floor gently, she and the others jumped down into the control center.

"Need any help?" she inquired as the former dictator took her place at the center of the area.

"If the system is the same as the one I used…" she began to respond as she waved her arms, making the dials spin and the levers move. Outside, the giant mecha had turned towards those that were heading off, causing both Lin and Suyin to grin in realization.

"Those kids did it after all…" the former noted, sounding impressed as she rested her hands at her hips. A spirit vine cartridge was loaded into the cannon at the Mini Colossus mech's head at that moment. By looking at the screens from within the control center, Kuvira took aim at the three opposing metal behemoths in the distance, readying her right hand.

"I'd hold onto something if I were you!" she advised quickly, enticing the Omni Force members to grab hold of the rails nearby. Their ponytailed comrade closed her hand into a fist, and a concentrated beam of light was shot out from the cannon, heading toward the trio of mechs in the distance. The one on the right was struck at the shoulder before its female pilot could react, creating an explosion that caused its entire arm to fall off.

"Zou!" Ryuto exclaimed upon seeing what had happened.

"I'm all right…" the female pilot reassured through the radio line, "That was one of ours, wasn't it…?" she inquired, sounding shocked.

"A mutiny?" the other male pilot guessed from the communication.

"No…" their leader uttered in reply, seeing the Mini Colossus mech that had just attacked them, noticing the hole at the top of its head, "It appears that Li has been compromised…" he realized with narrowed eyes.

"Tch," the former Metal Clan guard scoffed in frustration as she gritted her teeth, "I missed…" she grumbled as her allies went over to her.

"Um… shouldn't that be a good thing?" Korra implied, confused by her reaction, "I mean… we don't wanna kill anyone…" she pointed out slowly.

"Ryuto and his men must already realize that this is a life or death gamble they're taking," the former dictator noted in response, "Even if we were to capture them, they'd likely use those cyanide capsules to kill themselves…" she mentioned.

"Uh, ladies?" Rex chimed in, looking at the screen and seeing that their foes were turning to face them, "I think we might wanna fire off another one of those things!" he recommended frantically, enticing the two to look over and widen their eyes to see their foes stomping towards them, seemingly jogging.

"I've got it!" Kuvira responded immediately, waving her arms to make the previous cartridge drop out from the barrel of the cannon above them, followed by placing a new one within it. She closed her hand into a fist to make the weapon fire off another beam; this time aimed for the anarchistic leader's own mecha suit. To her astonishment though, it leapt up to evade the blast as it struck the earth in a fierce explosion.

"Whoa!" the Avatar yelped in disbelief before seeing their adversary shooting its own ray of luminosity towards their hijacked mech while still in midair. Without hesitating, the EVO morphed his legs into the build of the Sky Slyder and quickly zoomed over to grab his ex-girlfriend and then his Omni Force teammate. He had no time to get to Li as he flew up through the hatch and then the hole in the head of the giant mecha just as the beam pierced through the torso of it, causing a chain reaction of explosions that made the entirety of it burst into pieces in a bright flash of pinkish light. The force of the explosion was so strong that it knocked him and his teammates out of the sky, with him losing his grip on the two women as they plummeted towards the ground. Thankfully, Korra bended air out from her feet to propel herself over to her ally to catch her, followed by doing the same while aimed towards the ground to allow them to land on their feet. "That could've gone better…" she muttered, not noticing the shadow looming over them, while the former dictator did and gasped.

"Watch out!" she exclaimed, bending up a stone underneath the South Pole native's feet to send her flying away in a sudden yell before the mecha of their enemy landed down hard, causing a cloud of dust and dirt to billow up all around the area. The Providence agent flew down and ran into the veil as he had reformed his legs, finding a coughing short haired woman lying upon the ground.

"Korra!" he called out, catching her attention as she saw him kneel down to check on her.

"I'm okay…" she reassured as she sat up, suddenly jerking her eyes open in realization, "Kuvira!" she yelped, making him widen his own eyes as well before getting up and running further into the cloud. As the dust and dirt began to dissipate, the rogue metalbender looked up at the Mini Colossus mech looming over her. Seeing her from the screen within the control center of his creation, Ryuto clenched his fists.

"You don't know how long I've waited for this, Kuvira…" he muttered, waving his right arm. The right foot of the mecha was then lifted up upon his motion, catching her attention as she saw that it was aimed to stomp down on her. With no time to dodge, she attempted to bend up a pillar of rock from the ground to stop it, but it shattered right through the manipulated earth, about to strike her. She braced herself for impact as she crossed her arms over her face and shut her eyes, but it never came. She then looked out and gasped to see that her ex-boyfriend had caught the metal extremity using his Smackhands, gritting his teeth and sweating as he continued to hold back the mecha.

"G…GO…!" he grunted out loudly, while the former dictator's eyes shook in disbelief.

"Kuvira! Rex!" Korra yelled as she ran over. Lin and Suyin were on the way as well, but it seemed as if they would not make it since the EVO had been forced to fall onto his right knee.

"ARRRRGGGHHH!" he yelled, feeling the metal of his build getting crushed by the pressure of the giant mecha suit. From the monitors, Ryuto could not tell what exactly was causing his creation to be stopped, but he disregarded it as he clenched his teeth together and moved his arms to make the metal behemoth press down harder upon the Providence agent. Bits of his morphed hands were falling off onto the earth beneath him, which was becoming a crater from the force it was enduring along with him. As the other Mini Colossus mechs arrived, their leader made the foot of his machine press down as hard as it possibly could, finally making its foe submit as he was stamped against the ground.

"NO!" the former Metal Clan guard screamed in dismay with widened eyes. Just as the others arrived, they found themselves surrounded by the remaining mecha giants as their shadows loomed over them.

"Huh…" the anarchistic man sighed, relieved that the resistance he and his allies were facing was now moments away from being vanquished. He attempted to make his mech step forward, but found that only the left was capable of doing so as the right foot was apparently stuck.

"Wait… what's that?" the police chief questioned, arching an eyebrow as she pointed at the bluish light emitting from underneath the metal behemoth's foot.

"R…Rex?" the ponytailed woman uttered out, wondering if he had survived being crushed into the ground.

"Sir, I think there's something below you!" the male pilot communicated through the radio to his superior. Before he could respond, he felt something rumble beneath him as did both his allies and his enemies. The light emitting from beneath the foot of the mecha grew brighter, being pushed up off of the ground. Everyone present gasped to see that it was the goggled man, as his hair had become like a blue flame and his eyes shined a bright blue.

"That… That was what happened before…" the Avatar recalled, blinking in shock. However, she and the others were stunned completely when they saw his entire body glow and then grow to a massive size, being even larger than his foes. In the process, Ryuto's mech had pushed off, falling on its back onto the earth as its pilot fell as well.

"Wh-What is happening?" Zou stuttered in disbelief, while her fellow subordinate was just as shocked. When the light finally dissipated, it revealed that the EVO had become an armored, robotic behemoth with fiery blue flames as hair and blue navy blue colored armor. Bluish lights emitted from his ears, eyes, wrists, shoulders, and his chest as he glared down at the Mini Colossus mech he had knocked over.

"Rex!" Korra called out, catching his attention as he looked down toward her and the rest of the group, "Is that really you?!" she shouted up, concerned that something bad had happened. Kuvira was also worried, but was reassured once the titan shot her a thumbs up.

"Ergh…" Ryuto growled, attempting to stand his machine back up, "Zou! Feng!" he shouted into the communication line, "Dispose of this nuisance!" he commanded angrily.

"Right away, sir!" the male of the two instantly responded through the radio, as his mecha suit was preparing to unleash another beam of spirit energy as an ominous luminosity began to emit from its head. However, his foe took notice and used his left hand to grasp the head just as the beam was fired, making the blast that followed envelop the metal behemoth as well.

"Whoa," Lin uttered in disbelief as she and the other widened their eyes at the chain reaction of explosions that were coming out from the mecha before it fell apart completely in a huge blast. The cloud of dust that came about from the implosion subsided in mere moments, allowing the group to see that their giant ally's extremity was unaffected even after taking such a blast.

"A-Ah…" the female soldier within her mech stammered, evidently frightened after seeing that her comrade was so easily defeated by the Providence agent, who turned to face her, "F-Forgive me, Ryuto!" she apologized as she turned her mecha suit around and jogged off hurriedly.

"Zou, come back here!" her superior demanded, enraged by her treasonous action as he had yet to fully stand up his creation. The transformed EVO aimed his right fist towards the escaping mech, shooting it out like a rocket to strike its target and make it fall onto the ground in a heap while also causing the pilot inside to slam right into the wall. The spirit vine cartridge that had been loaded into the cannon of her mecha suit prematurely burst in a powerful explosion, which enveloped her as well as everyone watched on from afar.

"I don't believe it…" the former dictator uttered, stunned by what she was being displayed by her ex-boyfriend, "Could he do this all along?" she asked the Avatar, who looked just as surprised.

"I'd be more shocked if he could…" she admitted, placing her hands at her hips.

"Ash!" Suyin suddenly called out, catching their attentions as they saw the male Omni Force member and Greninja being walked over thanks to Charizard, with Pikachu hurrying ahead of them. At the moment they converged, the final giant mecha suit stood back up and turned towards the back of its transformed foe.

"This technology…" the anarchist muttered angrily as sparks emitted from within the control center of his creation, "I was given this technology to restore the Earth Empire to its true glory…" he declared, glaring at the screen that showed Rex turning to face him as his fist had reattached itself to his arm, "I WON'T LET SOME LOWLIFE TAKE THAT FROM ME!" he bellowed fiercely, throwing out his fist to make the Mini Colossus fire off another beam of spirit energy that struck his target's chest in a fierce explosion. He grinned, thinking that his victory had been achieved, but was completely shocked to see that his foe was unfazed by the attack, appearing to narrow his eyes onto him.

"My turn," his voice echoed rather threateningly. He then charged forward and grasped tightly onto the shoulders of the mecha suit with his hands, pulling them apart from the rest of it in an instant as bits of metal rained down onto the ground.

"Oh… my… God…" Korra uttered out, completely stunned. Her Omni Force teammate dropped the arms from his hands and then merely used his right to shove down the remainder of his adversary onto the ground in a loud bang, making dust fly about the area rapidly, even veiling his comrades in the process.

"Agh…" Ryuto grunted, now up against a railing within the control center of his creation. He suddenly saw light pouring into his view, blinding him for a moment as his enemy was ripping open the chest of the mecha with his hands. He reached in to grab the anarchistic man, who attempted to squirm away, only to be caught and pulled out into the air. "Unhand me, you fiend!" he demanded angrily as his mask fell off, revealing his face to the titan.

"Gladly," he boomed in response, releasing him from his grasp and letting him fall towards the earth below.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" he hollered, thinking he was about to strike the ground until he was saved by a pillar of air by the Avatar, who moved her arms carefully to set him down the ground, making sure he was left surrounded by everyone else. Before he could do anything, he found himself ensnared in cables bent out by the Beifong sisters, followed by Pikachu and Charizard approaching him, with the former letting his cheeks spark, while the latter let out a puff of flames from his mouth in a threatening manner. Kuvira then went over to him, bending out a metal blade from her right arm and aiming it towards him.

"Ryuto," she began, getting the man's attention, "if you planned to get captured, surely you would have used a cyanide capsule by now, wouldn't you?" she inquired to him. He seemed to hang his head in shame for a moment.

"Stark…" he uttered, causing the three metalbenders to perk up in surprise.

"What?" the former dictator uttered in confusion, hoping he would repeat the word. However, she and others saw foam starting to drip out from his mouth, realizing that he did indeed poison himself to death. "Huh…" she sighed, retracting her blade. At the same time, the transformed EVO suddenly glowed a bright blue, shrinking in size to return back to his normal form as his teammates looked on. As the luminosity around him subsided, he groaned before starting to keel over, only to be caught by his ex-girlfriend.

"Hey…" he greeted tiredly, making her crack a grin.

"I guess I'm not the only one who kept secrets…" she noted jokingly.

"Yeah, no kidding…" Korra agreed as she went over to help him up.

"Stark…" Lin uttered, catching the attention of her half-sister, "Is that a name?" she wondered as she arched an eyebrow.

"Not one that I know of…" Suyin responded, looking at the others walking over to them, "At any rate, we've won," she stated with a smile.

"Yeah," the police chief concluded as she grinned.

"Phoo…" Ash breathed out as he and Greninja sat down upon the earth, "Man, we're beat…" he groaned, tipping up his cap to let some of the air that breezed by touch his forehead.

"You said it…" the EVO agreed as he sat himself down as well, "Don't suppose we've all earned some time off for a change?" he inquired to the Metal Clan leader, who chuckled a little.

"Well… most of us…" the Avatar chimed in, causing him to perk up, "I've gotta get ready for Naruto and Hinata's wedding soon," she mentioned with a wide smile.

"Oh yeah!" the Pokémon trainer exclaimed in realization as he snapped his fingers, "Boy, I almost forgot about that with all this crazy stuff…" he admitted sheepishly as he grinned.

"Wait, when's it happening?" the Providence agent asked curiously, wanting to attend the event as well.

"Oh it's t…tomorrow…" the South Pole native stuttered slowly as her eyes began to widen in realization, "OH MY GOSH, IT'S TOMORROW!" she screamed as she put her hands onto her embarrassed, rosy red cheeks, "I totally lost track of time with all this finding these Neo Earth Empire goons and stopping them!" she yelled, feeling through her parka for something, "Sorry to leave you guys, but I gotta get back to Republic City and-!"

"Korra, calm down," Lin advised as she placed a hand onto the short haired woman's shoulder to interject her shouts, "We'll get you back to Republic City and make sure you get ready for your friend," she promised, making her grin sheepishly as she blushed a little.

"Guess this means we'll be heading out soon…" the aspiring Pokémon master concurred as he returned both Charizard and Greninja to their respective Poké Balls in beams of red light, letting Pikachu hop onto his shoulder while standing up.

"Guess so," Rex agreed as he got onto his own feet. He then turned to Kuvira, who was standing over the corpse of the scientist metalbender. "Hey, muchacha," the voice of her ex-boyfriend chimed in, catching her attention as she saw him come up to her, "You wanna come with as my plus one?" he inquired with a wink, causing her to widen her eyes and blush a little.

"Um… th-thank you for the offer… Rex…" she stuttered out as a reply, "but… I can't go," she stated firmly, surprising him a little as he blinked, "I still owe Su my time in prison and answering for what I did during my… ahem… dictatorship…" she mentioned, sounding ashamed of herself.

"Kuvira…" the EVO uttered. Having heard the conversation, the matriarch walked over to them, causing the former couple to perk up as they saw her.

"Kuvira, I know you want to atone for your crimes…" she pointed out, placing a hand onto the former guard's shoulder and letting off a grin, "which is why I'd like for you to go with Rex to this wedding as his date…" she advised with a wink.

"S-SU?!" the rogue metalbender stammered loudly in shock as she blushed a mad red, while her ex-boyfriend had widened eyes.

"You're welcome, Rex," the Metal Clan leader said to him, passing him by as she smirked.

"Did… she just set you up with me?" he inquired to his ex-girlfriend, who shook in place. He chuckled at her embarrassed reaction, wrapping his arm around her. "Don't worry, the guys'll know that you've changed," he reassured, making her blink out of shock before blushing again.

"Th-This doesn't mean we're back together, you know…" she stuttered out, glancing away from him.

"Yet," he retorted jokingly with a snicker, making her face turn even redder. Even so, she was thankful to him and his friends for their help in defeating those that had haunted her past.

X

Cherry blossoms blew about the area of the reception party as the denizens of the Leaf Village were merrily chatting, having enjoyed the wedding that had just taken place. Naruto and now Hinata Uzumaki were happily talking amongst the crowds of people, whether it'd be their friends from the village itself, the Omni Force members present, or those from other places in their world. Wearing a beautiful seafoam green dress with her hair tied up into a braided ponytailed was Kuvira, who was albeit nervous at first about attending the special occasion. Of course, thanks to her ex-boyfriend's persuasion and the fact that she was being forced to go, she humbly went along with him and his comrades.

She initially expected a rather cold reception from everyone upon her arrival. To her surprise though, she was greeted warmly by those she had known and had yet to know from the multiversal team. Apparently, the EVO and the Avatar had explained things beforehand to their friends about what had happened with the Neo Earth Empire and how she had assisted them in the endeavor.

"Congrats on the rebound, Rex," a bearded Ben Tennyson complimented as he wrapped his left arm around his comrade's shoulders. He blushed a little out of embarrassment, looking over to see the metalbender talking with Sunset Shimmer and Sakura Haruno, remembering that the former of the two had broken her leg in the midst of the battle that took place in Republic City months ago.

"I wouldn't call it a rebound…" he admitted as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, noticing the trio of women laughing, "but I'm glad she wants to make things right between us," he noted with a grin.

"I heard she learned how to do some crazy stuff during that whole fiasco Korra mentioned…" the Omni Force leader mentioned, continuing the conversation as they chuckled a little.

"I'm so proud of you, Hinata!" the Avatar exclaimed delightedly as she embraced the newlywed woman.

"Th-Thank you, Korra," she stuttered in reply before being let go, "It definitely feels like a dream come true for me…" she admitted as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Oh, don't go getting all sappy with me…" the South Pole native advised as Naruto approached them, "You're with the person you've loved," she pointed out, "That's something to celebrate, right?" she inquired rhetorically with a grin, causing her to do the same as well.

"It's really good to see you, Korra," the jinchuriki chimed in, catching her attention as she turned to see him there.

"You too, Naruto," she responded as she gave him a quick hug, "So…" she continued, giving off a sly smirk, "when's the honeymoon?" she questioned curiously.

"Actually…" the Byakugan user began, making her perk up as she turned to face her, "we were planning on holding off that occasion…" she confessed, much to the short haired woman's surprise.

"What?! Why?!" she asked immediately, stunned that her best friend would be willing to wait for the opportunity to spend some special time with her new husband.

"You weren't around…but…" the whiskered shinobi began to get her attention, "there's another war we gotta get ready for," he told her.

"A-A war?" she stammered in confusion.

"Yep," Ben's voice chimed in as a response as he approached with Rex, Sunset, Sakura, and Kuvira, "Specifically, one in Natsu's world," he mentioned, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "These guys we're up against are nothing compared to what we've faced in the past…" he pointed out, narrowing his eyes a little, "Or so we've been told…" he added. Having caught wind of the conversation from afar, Ash approached the group with Pikachu perched upon his shoulder.

"Yeah, like that lady back on Caracole Island…" Naruto recalled as he folded his arms over his chest, "Lucky for us, we got an army of our own… so to speak…" he noted with a chuckle.

"Hold on a sec," the Pokémon trainer chimed in, catching their attentions as they saw him there, "Does that mean what I think it means?" he guessed, developing a wide smile upon his face.

"Heh," the Biomnitrix bearer laughed, "That's right, Ash," he assured to him, "Fairy Tail's back," he stated. A gleeful grin broke out onto the raven haired man's face as he suddenly jumped into the air.

"ALL RIGHT!" he exclaimed happily as he pumped his fist. Everyone else laughed, enthused by his overjoyed reaction, even though they knew of the approaching turmoil ahead. The former dictator looked over at her ex-boyfriend and smiled, knowing that they would help in the upcoming battle.

END

And… done! I was planning on putting in another end credits scene involving the source of Ryuto's tech and a future power up for a certain Omni Force member, but I decided to leave that for the sneak peek section. Be on the lookout for that snippet later this weekend!

Anyways, I'm glad to have finished this long overdue story. And would you look at that, I got it done ahead of the scheduled release time! I'm really glad that I was able to portray Rex and Kuvira's relationship to the best of my ability, so my hope from now on is that I'll be able to make more exciting stories for days to come! Until next time, see ya!