Most Evil

by darknessDemon

Hundreds of individuals from a plethora of worlds are sent to a dark dimension where they must work together to fight villains, recruit allies, and explore the land. Along the way they must figure out the mysteries of this place if they ever want to go home.

17. Dungeons and Dragons

Chapter 17

Dungeons and Dragons

At the top of a grey hill overlooking the mouth of a huge black cave with two dragons guarding the entrance.

"Please! New heroes! Be very careful! The dragons guarding the mouth of this cavern are extremely dangerous!" Lumiere warned.

"One of them is Hydreigon; a Dragon/Dark-type Pokemon with very high special attack, which means its pulses of darkness, fire breath, and meteor conjuring are far superior to that of other Dragon-types. It uses its side-heads as arms and sees every living thing as a target; destroying and devouring all in its path." Lumiere explained, referring to a three-headed hydra with black necks and upper body, a blue tail, lower body, and feet, six thin black wings, black eyes, pink frills around its necks, and two pink tread-like markings on its lower body: Hydreigon.

"The other is Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons; another dark dragon that excells at both offense and defense. It is completely indestructible, and even if you manage to inflict any damage upon it, its power will increase by an equal amount." Lumiere explained, referring to a two-headed dark-purple dragon with a body resembling the head of a demonic yellow-eyed fly, 2 small legs, and yellow diamond markings along its very long necks and tail: Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us." a muscular man wielding a large golden sword and wearing dark-blue draconic armor, a yellow headband, brown military boots, and a dark-red cape said: Ike.

"Indeed. However, it would be hazardous to our health to approach them directly." a large, while, inflatable, humanoid robot with black dots for eyes that had a black line between them advised: Baymax.

"Yeah, they'll kill us all." a boy with dark-blonde hair that went to the bottom of his neck wearing a dark-green coat and blue jeans said: Tom.

"Well we can't just sit here on the sidelines; we need a game plan." a boy with blonde spiky hair tied into a ponytail and wearing a yellow shirt with black pants said, Chooki.

"We could always go somewhere else." a lanky cream-colored robot with an orange jetpack, long pincher arms, a single wheeled leg, and a cylindrical head with green cheeks and large asymmetrical eyes suggested: Ogo.

"Not an option. Those dragons are standing guard for a reason; there is something of great importance within that cave." a pale-skinned vamparic demon wielding a golden sword with a blue skull base who had teal hair that had with bangs angled to the right, a magenta cape, and dark-red gladiator armor stated: Vladmare.

"He makes a good point." a boy with red hair that was spiked in the back who wore a red T-shirt and jeans added: Guren.

"If thats the case, then how do we beat the snot out of them?" a boy with spiky dark-blonde hair who wore fingerless biker gloves, a brown T-shirt, and blue shorts asked: Rylie.

"We can't just 'beat the snot out of them'; we have to approach this delicately!" a lanky woman with cream-colored skin, orange hair that ended in a point, a long nose, and pearl on her forehead who wore a light-blue short dress, straw-colored shorts, and turquoise high-heels warned: Pearl.

"Ooo! Got it! I'll blind them with a glitter spell!" a blonde-haired girl wielding a pink magic wand with wings and a star on it who had pink hearts on her cheeks, a turquoise dress, dark-red cleats, pink stockings, and a red hairband excitedly exclaimed: Star.

"Yes! I love this idea! GLITTER!" a little girl with brown poofy hair who had braces, a pink sweatshirt with a shooting star on it, and purple shorts happily shouted: Mabel.

"Shh! Do you WANT the bloodthirsty dragons to make a meal out of us?!" a boy with curly blue hair with goggles, a light-blue hoodie, and blue jeans whispered loudly: Ceylan.

"No kidding; not even RYLIE was that loud..." a girl with brown hair wearing a short blue dress, a pink shirt. and a white coat with two blue orbs on each sleeve grumbled: Tibia.

"Guys, lets at least TRY and get along here, alright?" a brown-haired boy with a red hoodie, black pants, and a beauty mark on his right cheek begged: Marco.

"I agree with him; and I don't think illusion magic would work, unless you can cast it on all five of their heads." a woman with dark-red skin, an Amazonian build, a cubical black afro, black spandex pants, a magenta shirt with dark-red sleeves, garnets on her palms, and red shades added: Garnet.

"I could surround the rest of you with shields and we could simply walk right past." a brunette boy inside a floating blue bubble shield who wore jeans and an orange shirt with hanging sleeves and a blue collar suggested: Vini.

"But if those dragons are as powerful as Lumiere stated, do you think your shields will hold?" a man with very spiky black hair, red claw-shaped markings under his eyes, a long flowing white scarf, blue jeans, a black belly shirt, and a dark-blue coat with jagged sleeves pointed out: Soya.

"Well I can put bubble shields over his bubble shields, if that'll help." a chubby little boy with poofy black hair, a red shirt with a star on it, blue jeans, and a pink gem on his belly button suggested: Steven Universe. (Yes, we reached the point where 2 characters have the same name and I have to use the full name for one of them.)

"I don't know, even if you stack defensive buffs, those dragons look like they can land a critical strike pretty dang easily." a short boy with spiky green hair that curved backward, a black headband, grey pants, a green shirt, and a short black vest said: Toxsa.

"You guys, I know exactly what to do, but I need you all to trust me. I'm going to approach those dragons alone; I can tame them." a scrawny brown-haired boy who wore leather armor and brown boots said.

"What?! Thats suicide!" a little boy with brown curly hair wearing a black vest, a red shirt, jean shorts, and a white baseball cap with a blue maple leaf on it exclaimed: Dipper.

"Yeah, I agree with him, thats dumb." a boy with black hair wearing a kind of homemade wizard outfit with a purple cloak and a red conical hat added: Wirt.

"I think we should give him the chance." a boy with a British accent and light-blonde hair wielding a large red sword with a long blue energy blade, and wearing a black shirt, a red vest, tan shorts, and red belted boots said: Shulk.

"Being friends with dragons would be so great!" a stout little boy with black hair wearing a white shirt, green overalls, and a grey teapot atop his head added: Greg.

"If there are no other ideas, I believe he could form a link with them." a straw-colored humanoid robot with large light-blue eyes, an orange horn-like protrusion with a yellow orb in the middle of it, boot-like feet, and brown five-fingered hands said: Emerl.

A light-blue humanoid with a black and white striped body, bare 6-digit hands and feet that floated with no limbs nor neck, a black and white striped top hat, a long rectangular nose, black dotted eyes, and blonde hair in a Beatles haircut just shrugged: Little Twelvetoes.

"Eh, at the very least, we might be able to sneak past while they're eating him." a chubby purple-skinned girl with an amethyst above her chest, light purple hair with bangs that hung over one of her eyes, and who wore a black tank top, grey pants, and white boots muttered: Amethyst.

"Hey, at least let Baymax and I come with you in case things get ugly!" a scrawny boy with frizzy black hair wearing a black leather coat, a red shirt, and jeans begged: Hiro.

"No. This is something I HAVE to do alone, just trust me." Hiccup told him.

Slowly, the scrawny viking walked down the hill with his hands straight down at his sides. As he got closer, Beelze and Hydreigon eyed him and growled, at which point Hiccup slowly put his hands in the air and continued to slowly approach them. Beelze and Hydreigon reared back and roared at Hiccup, who stopped in his tracks.

"Okay, this dude is toast, we gotta rush in and save his ass." Rylie stated.

"No! He said to believe in him; they haven't even attacked yet." Guren objected.

Hiccup, with a neutral expression, closed his eyes and slowly put his hands out in front of him. The dragon duo growled quietly, still suspicious. Hydreigon slowly moved out one of its head-arms and placed it against Hiccup's open palm. The viking nearly flinched, but he knew he couldn't make any sudden movements. After another moment, Beelze performed the same action with Hiccup's other open palm. Hiccup then slowly opened his eyes and smiled at them.

"Thats right, don't worry you guys, we're not gonna hurt ya." he said gently to them. Hydreigon and Beelze slowly bowed their heads in peace.

"Wow! That was AMAZING!" Mabel cheered, jumping up and down.

"Indeed, but the question is what would happen if we approach him. I have a suspicion that those dragons will attack us." Vladmare assumed.

"Now you guys, my friends up there and I need to go inside that cave, alright?" Hiccup said to Hydreigon and Beelze. The two dragons quickly reared up and roared in defiance.

"Okay, NOW they are gonna eat him." Amethyst stated.

"Not yet. Have a little faith." Vini told her.

Shulk's eyes suddenly widened in shock. "This is not good!"

"Vini JUST said to have a little faith, calm the hell down." Tibia told him.

"No! Its not the dragons! A portal is about to-!" Shulk had no time to explain the scenario he foresaw. In an instant, a dark-blue portal surrounded by a golden ring suddenly opened up underneath and swallowed up the group before quickly closing.

"Guys?!" Hiccup exclaimed, spinning around and noticing their disappearance. "Where did they-?" Another smaller portal opened up underneath Hiccup and swallowed him up before closing. After a moment, Hydreigon and Beelze looked at each other and slowly flew into the cave.

OOO

In a long and large pathway inside the cavern, which was lit up enough by some kind of natural lighting to see without trouble.

A vertical portal of the same type as before appeared and spat out Steven Universe, Chooki, Star, Little Twelvetoes, Emerl, and Hiro. Unlike before, the portal did not close.

"What the? Are we inside the cave?" Hiro wondered as the group got to their feet.

"It looks that way, but we should find the others." Emerl said.

"Maybe we'll find them by taking this portal!" Star jumped through the portal, only to be spat right back out.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!" a mischievous chuckle echoed throughout the cavern.

"Yikes." Steven Universe said.

"I believe whatever made that laugh is the same thing that made those portals." Emerl guessed.

"And we have no choice but to move on ahead." Chooki said. Little Twelvetoes nodded in agreement.

After continuing on, the gang reached a long passageway covered in razor-sharp stalagmites growing out of some kind of black void, and solid ground could be seen on the other side of the passageway.

"Anyone got any ideas on how to cross...this?" Hiro asked, pointing.

"I've got an idea." Steven Universe put a pink bubble shield around each member of the group.

"So now we just walk across?" Chooki asked.

"Yeah, I'll show you." Steven Universe confidently walked in place inside the bubble shield, which was big and sturdy enough to roll along the tops of the stalagmites to the other side.

"WOOOOW! Its like a magic hamster ball!" Star began running in place in her bubble shield, but the moment she passed over to the stalagmites, the shield popped. Emerl quickly shot out one of his arms like a grappling hook and pulled Star back in before she was impaled.

"What happened? Is there something wrong with Steven?" Chooki wondered.

"Dunno, I'll ask him." Star said.

"But how will you cross without impailment?" Emerl asked.

"I'll turn the cave point things into something soft!" Star stepped back and held out her wand. "Spike to Pillow Transmodify!" A blast of rainbows and pillows shot out of her wand at the stalagmites and turned them into giant floating pillows. Humming, the spellcaster hopped from pillow to pillow until she reached the other side where Steven Universe was.

"Hey, what happened to your shield?" he asked her.

"Thats what I came over here to ask you about. I tried going over the spikes like you did, but mine popped!"

"What?! Did anyone elses pop?"

"Nope, just mine."

"Well there must be something going on here, because I know it wasn't ME."

"Gotcha!" Star hopped across the pillows back over to the other side. "He said he didn't do it."

"What does that-? Nevermind, we can just use your weird pillow magic." Hiro hopped forward, but the moment he was about to land on a pillow, all of them turned back into stalagmites in a puff of pink smoke. Emerl performed the same life-saving maneuver as before.

"I didn't do it!" Star said, holding up her hands.

"Perhaps Tenebris is only allowing us to cross this passage using our own abilities with no assistance from others." Emerl hypothesized.

"You are correct. Everyone listen to me, you must cross the dangerous paths in the cavern one at a time and on your own. Please proceed with caution!" Lumiere warned.

"Hang on. So everyone else is somewhere here as well?" Chooki asked.

"Yes. This cavern contains multiple pathways, each with their own dangers, and all of you were split up into many smaller groups somewhere in this cavern by the being that created those portals." Lumiere explained.

"Thanks for the heads up. Alright, you guys heard the coach, lets get past this and find the others!" Chooki said.

"Alright! See you guys on the other side!" Star jumped forward, the stalagmites turning back into pillows again, and hopped back to the other side with Steven Universe.

"I hope the rest of them have special powers like you and I do." he said worriedly.

"I'll go up next." Chooki took out a small yellow brick from his pocket, which started glowing brightly. "Lyvendor Elemental Tenkai engage!"

In a burst of yellow light, Chooki transformed into a chibi, yellow, robotic samurai with pincher arms and black highlights. He had magenta pupiless eyes, lightning bolt-shaped wing-like protrusions on his back, and he wielded a three-point yellow shield in one hand and an object that resembled a black spear with a yellow tip in the other had.

"Are you...are you a robot now?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, I'm one of the Tenkai Knights. I can only become Lyvendor in the world of Quarton, but I decided to check if I could take it in this new world as well."

Lyvendor, in a single bound, leapt from one side of the passage to the other, which Emerl studied intently.

"Wow. For such small legs, you can sure jump far." Steven Universe said.

After that, Emerl leapt to the other side in almost the exact same fashion as Lyvendor.

"Whoa! How did you match my style so exact?" Lyvendor asked.

"As a Gizoid, my primary function is to copy any abilities and powers that I observe."

"Does that mean you can copy my gem bubbles?" Steven Universe asked.

"Thats right." Emerl demonstrated by temporarily surrounding himself in an orange bubble shield.

"I betcha can't copy my spell." Star challenged.

Emerl turned to the stalagmites and held out his hands, "Spike to Pillow Transmodify!" Rainbows and pillows shot out of the Gizoid's hands, temporarily transforming the stalagmites into orange pillows.

"Wow, you are some kind of superweapon. Its a good thing you're playing for OUR team." Lyvendor said.

"Actually...I was created to be the ultimate superweapon for evil purposes and could destroy the planet if presented with overwhelming power, which nearly happened. However, I met some good friends who raised me to the side of heroism."

"So how are YOU gonna get across?" Hiro asked Little Twelvetoes.

The six-fingered alien clapped twice and, out of nowhere, a small, light-green, UFO-like spacecraft with a small anchor on it and a pink interior with a large leather seat sped toward them from behind, leaving behind orange streaks. Little Twelvetoes jumped up and landed in the UFO without it stopping, and the anchor dropped to the floor on the other side of the passage, halting the spacecrafts momentum instantly. The ship landed as the anchor slowly retracted, and Little Twelvetoes waved back at Hiro.

"So even HE has found a way across?!" Hiro said to himself in disbelief, trying to figure out how he, a human with no weapons or superpowers, could get across this passage.

"Hows he gonna get across?" Star asked the others, wondering the same thing.

After a moment, Hiro came up with an idea. He reached out his arm and grabbed onto the closest stalagmite and then wrapped himself around it. He grabbed onto the next stalagmite and wrapped himself around it, slowly continuing this maneuver until he finally reached the other side.

"Nice job, way to think up a strategy." Lyvendor said.

"I am just glad they were close enough that I didn't have to jump."

"It looks like we need to continue on." Emerl said.

After a walk down a long passage, the group reached a huge dome-shaped room with large stalagmites sticking out of the ground, a large pile of rocks in the middle of the room, and the entrance to another passage on the other side. As soon as the group entered the room, the two exits became blocked by black barriers.

"I had a feeling there was something to fight here." Hiro said as the group prepared themselves for a fight.

"Well where is it?" Steven Universe wondered.

His question was answered by the rocks in the middle shaking violently, then forming into a creature with 2 floating rock hands, a long grounded head with yellow eyes, a mouth that went all the way around it, and 2 horns: Bouldergeist.

"Looks like some kind of golem thingy." Star said.

"It also appears to be brittle, yet powerful, so we must make quick work of it." Emerl said.

"Alright, game on!" Lyvendor exclaimed.

Bouldergeist held its hands up and 6 large boulders appeared high above it. It flung its hands forward, sending the boulders downwards towards each of the heroes.

Steven Universe got into a defensive stance and a pink energy shield with a spiral vine pattern appeared in front of him, protecting him from the boulder.

Lyvendor threw his shield like a boomerang, shattering the boulder.

Little Twelvetoes shrunk down and hid inside of his hat, dodging the boulder.

Hiro barely managed to roll out of the way from the boulder.

Emerl canceled out the boulder by creating a boulder above him and using the same attack.

"Boulder Butterfly Blast!" Star fired a beam of butterflies from her wand, transforming the boulder into a group of butterflies that fluttered away.

Bouldergeist opened up its palms and glared, sending forward a line of spiked stones along the ground. This attack "climbed" up one side of the large stalagmites and down the other side toward Steven Universe, who went from his shield to his bubble shield. However, he underestimated the attacks power, and it popped his bubble shield and stabbed him in the feet and back and knocked him to the side. The attack finally stopped when it reached the cavern wall behind Steven Universe, but all of the spiked stones still remained.

"Dang, so he can lay down these rock traps too?" Hiro said.

"So can I." Emerl stated, and performed the same move aimed right at Bouldergeist, but it had no effect on him.

"You can't expect to catch your opponent off-guard by using their exact same plays against them." Lyvendor stated and performed a flinging motion with his spear-like weapon, which threw the spearhead forward attached by a chain and broke a couple of the spiked stones set by both Bouldergeist and Emerl before flinging his arm back, retracting the chain.

"Then maybe we should try attacking from above." Hiro suggested.

Out of nowhere, Little Twelvetoes' UFO swooped down and the six-fingered alien jumped in before it flew up towards the top of the cave and began circling the perimeter. Bouldergeist narrowed its eyes and kept watching the UFO fly past it, then held up its hands and flung 5 boulders again, only this time they were sent towards the top of the room and one of the boulders was black.

"He's distracted, lets get him!" Steven Universe said.

"Lightning Strike!" Lyvendor's shield become encased in lightning and he threw it at Bouldergeist from behind, but as if it had a mind of its own, one of Bouldergeist's hands blocked the attack from the main body. On impact, the shield created a pillar of lightning that blew the hand apart, then returned back to Lyvendor.

"Woohoo! One piece down, two to go!" Star cheered.

Meanwhile, Little Twelvetoes' UFO dipped down so it was flying under the trajectory of the rocks, which harmlessly shattered on the cave walls. However, while the normal rocks crumbled, the black rock released a black Boo with yellow eyes. The Bomb Boo looked around for a moment before its tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped itself around the tail-fin of Little Twelvetoes' UFO, pulled itself forward, and crashed into the UFO and exploded. This destroyed the back of the spacecraft and sent it tumbling toward one of the large stalagmites. Little Twelvetoes jumped ship, but not before deploying the anchor and hooking it right on the top of Bouldergeist's head. Steven Universe surrounded Little Twelvetoes with a bubble shield, which cushioned the impact.

Bouldergeist was busy trying to send spiked stones after Emerl, who would shatter them by using Bouldergeist's rock throwing move after they formed. Then, Little Twelvetoes' UFO crashed into its head in an explosion almost like fireworks. This didn't destroy Bouldergeist, but a large chunk of its body was missing and revealed a black miasma with round yellow eyes and a drop-shaped red core within it.

"Is that his true form?!" Hiro wondered.

"Soooooo he isn't a rock monster, but a ghost thingy possessing a bunch of rocks?" Star guessed.

Bouldergeist narrowed its yellow eyes; one peeking through its rock armor and the other of its exposed true form. It threw its remaining fist right at Hiro, but Lyvendor flung his chain, which wrapped around Hiro, and he yanked the human out of the way. Bouldergeist opened its palm and made a slapping motion toward Lyvendor, but Emerl created an orange metal version of the rock monster's floating fist and shattered it with a mighty punch of a stronger material.

"We got him now, guys!" Steven Universe cheered.

"We've got this game in the bag!" Lyvendor exclaimed.

"But we still need to destroy the rest of his body so we can get a shot at his true form." Hiro explained.

"I also have the solution for that." Emerl used Bouldergeist's rock throwing move again, only this time including a Bomb Boo rock. The released Bomb Boo looked robotic, complete with a beeping red antenna. The mechanical Bomb Boo fired a pink grappling hook from its hollowed-out mouth, latched onto Bouldergeist, and it reeled itself in and exploded. This destroyed the rest of the monster's body, fully exposing its true identity.

"There he is! Lets finish him off, guys!" Star exclaimed.

"Lightning Strike!" Lyvendor threw his electrified shield again, erupting into a pillar of lightning upon contact with Bouldergeist, who could do little more than slowly float in a futile effort to avoid the assault.

"Lightning Strike!" Emerl formed a steel version of Lyvendor's shield with Tesla coils as the points, which shrouded it in blue electricity. This attack produced the same results as the original, only a blue lightning pillar instead of yellow.

"Spooky Specter Stone Shower!" Star held her wand up high and a large storm cloud appeared above Bouldergeist and rained skull-shaped rocks upon it. After a moment, the storm faded and all that remained of Bouldergeist was a very tiny red core and a clump of miasma just large enough to envelop its two eyes.

"If we won, why aren't the barriers going down?" Steven Universe wondered.

Suddenly, Bouldergeist's eyes turned teal and purple to reveal it was now under Tenebris' control. Its core doubled in size and black rocks enveloped it, creating 4 large hands and making its body three times as tall as before.

"Well at least we know why the barriers didn't go down!" Hiro said worriedly.

"He was a tough player before, but with Tenebris coaching him, we're in for one heck of a match!" Lyvendor exclaimed.

"Then maybe you need some backup." a high-pitched male voice said. Joining the groups side were 4 more allies.

One was a Denpa Men, which are people about half the size of a human with an antenna atop their head, and wearing a full body suit that only exposed their face. This Denpa Men had a rounded rectangular head with 2 smaller rectangular nubs on the sides, dark skin, dots for eyes, wore pink glasses, an antenna that resembled an orange rock, and an orange and green-striped body suit: Malikav.

One was a turquoise octopus-like creature with an elongated head, alien eyes, and 8 stringy tentacles with rounded tips: Yin.

One was a red human-sized robot with a thin body and drills for arms and legs, as well as a drill atop its head and 2 drills on curved holders sticking out of its shoulders: Drill Robot.

One looked like a blue music note with eyes, white duck wings and feet, and a horn for a mouth: Musey.

"Great, new players! Just what we need." Lyvendor said.

"Soooooo, what can you guys do?" Star asked.

"Well Drill Robot here is kind of self-explanatory, Yin can shoot water from his tentacles, Musey can hypnotize people with music notes, and myself, Malikav, can cause rocks to fall with Avalanche." Malikav explained.

"Speaking of falling rocks, we need to crumble this ghost thing again." Steven Universe told them.

"We-we can try to help! Musey shapeshift into...Musey Master!" Musey transformed into a woman about the height of the revived Bouldergeist. She had short red hair that was curved up to a point, wielded an almost sword-like conductors wand, and wore a stylized blue conductors outfit with two long coattails.

"You aren't the only one who can increase in muscle. Lyvendor, Elemental Titan mode engage!" Lyvendor reverted back into his core brick as black bricks surrounded him and he unfolded. He was also as tall as the revived Bouldergeist, had 4-fingered arms, and his chest had what vaguely resembled a robotic hornet head on it. The spikes of his shield grew longer and more curved, and the tip of his spear became longer with razor-like grooves along the faces of the tip, and his wings resembled six horizontally angled lightning bolts that were longer and more jagged.

Bouldergeist flung all 4 of its fists at the newly-arrived allies.

Drill Robot fired the 2 drills on its shoulders at the hand, which burrowed right through it and caused it to crumble.

Malikav's antenna lit up and brown boulders fell on the hand, pinning it to the ground.

Yin sprayed jets of water from its tentacles, which slowed the hand down enough that it fell to the ground and shattered.

Musey Master grabbed the hand with a rope made of a long music bar and slammed it into the ground.

"Its all you, Drill Robot!" Malikav said. The Gotcha Borg leaped into the air, pointed all of its drills downward, and burrowed into the ground. Earth cracked as it dug forward and right through each of the pinned hands; crumbling them all.

Bouldergeist opened its mouth and 10 large Bomb Boos floated out, each one shooting out its tongue and latching on to each of the heroes. Little Twelvetoes began horizontally spinning his head all the way around, which also spun the Bomb Boo latched onto him. The force threw the Bomb Boo backward, only being held by its tongue onto Little Twelvetoes' nose, and it phased through everything else as it was spun around.

"Guys, I think Little Twelvetoes is onto something! If we spin around, the ghosts can't hit us, and then maybe we can hit that monster with them!" Hiro suggested, spinning around.

"Its worth a try." Malikav said, and began spinning around. Titan Lyvendor twirled his shield, Drill Robot spun one of its drills, Emerl rotated one of his arms, and Musey Master spun her conductor's wand. The other members of the group spun in circles too.

"I'm starting to feel sick here, what do we do now?" Steven Universe asked.

"Now we have to stop spinning at the right moment so the ghost will be flung right at the monster." Hiro explained.

"The moment is calculated." Emerl stated, and stopped spinning. The Bomb Boo's tongue became unstuck and it rammed right into Bouldergeist, exploding and breaking off a little bit of its armor. Lyvendor, Musey Master, Yin, Drill Robot, and Little Twelvetoes stopped spinning, and their Bomb Boos blew off more bits of Bouldergeist's armor. Next was Star, Steven Universe, Hiro, and Malikav, and all of them scored direct hits and fully revealed Bouldergeist's true form again.

"Wow, I didn't think all of us would hit him." Star said.

"Well lets hit him again, if you get my drift." Malikav said, using Avalanche on Bouldergeist. The ghost tried floating up through the ceiling with much more speed than it had normally, but Musey Master quickly grabbed and held it to the ground with another music bar.

"Music Boulder Bomb!" Star held out her wand and shot a rock with a fuse, which exploded into a flurry of music notes upon contact with Bouldergeist.

"Music Bolder Bomb." Emerl shot a bomb with a rock texture, which exploded into a flurry of sound waves upon contact with Bouldergeist.

Drill Robot burrowed underground again, earth cracking as it quickly dug towards Bouldergeist, and spun with all of its pointed drills as it shot up through the ground underneath it.

"I'll score us the winning point. Tenkai Titan Lightning Strike!" Lyvendor transformed into a ball of lightning, dashed right through Bouldergeist, and then dashed back in less than 2 seconds. Lightning enveloped Bouldergeist, who began shrinking more and more until it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Did we win?" Steven Universe wondered. His question was answered by the black barriers fading.

"Wooooo! Awesome! Now we get to continue in this dangerous cave!" Star cheered.

The group continued on, going through another narrow passage that led to another portal.

"ANOTHER portal? And whose to say this wont just send us back the way we came?" Hiro exclaimed.

"Maybe Drill Robot can tunnel us out so we won't have to fight any more monsters?" Musey suggested, having reverted back to her normal form.

"I dunno if that will work. Tenebris makes the rules around here, so this warp is here for a reason." Chooki explained, having also reverted back to normal.

Suddenly, a huge, white, clawed arm with a golden ring on it on it floated out of the portal.

"What in the heck is THAT?!" Malikav exclaimed.

Swiftly for its size, the arm grabbed Malikav.

"What in the heck?! HELP M-!" the Denpa Mans scream was cut off as the hand slunk back into the portal.

"Lets go! Lets go!" Emerl ordered, and the group went through the portal.

OOO

Dipper, Pearl, Wirt, Vini, and Shulk were thrown out of another portal into a cavern passage not unlike the one the previous group ended up in.

"Well we're in the cave now." Vini stated.

"But what sent us here? And why did it send us here?" Dipper wondered.

"I don't know. I sensed this would happen, but it was too late to do anything about it." Shulk said.

"Thats assuming we COULD do something about it." Pearl said.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!" a mischievous chuckle echoed throughout the cavern.

"Was...that the thing that sent us here just now?" Wirt asked.

"Its a good guess. It might be somewhere in this cave." Vini said.

"Well all we can do now is just...go deeper."

The group walked along the passage, which led to a wide ledge just a few feet above some raging rapids of water with large stalagmites dotting the sloped passage downward.

"Are we really going to ride these rapids?" Wirt asked uneasily.

"Lumiere told us we have to proceed down these dangerous paths one at a time and on our own, and I don't see any other way around it." Pearl explained.

"And how are we supposed to survive this? Vini looks like the only person who has a chance."

"Don't count the rest of us out just yet." Shulk told him.

"Actually, he kind of has a point. I'm sure you and Pearl have some supernatural powers or something, but I've gone through my fair share of pain and I don't think I'm cut out for raging rapids." Dipper defended.

"Hmm, I have an idea." Shulk grabbed the sword from his back and a long light-blue blade of energy extended out from above the round handle.

"Wow. What a sword." Wirt said.

Shulk swung his sword horizontally at two nearby stalagmites, cutting them clean off and causing them to fall on the ledge. "It isn't much, but it is better than nothing."

"...Well not by much, but I don't think theres any other way." Dipper said with a sigh. He wrapped his arms and legs around the stalagmite and pushed off of the ledge and landed in the water. He was jerked around, dunked, and flung up by the rapids, but he held on tight and even managed to "steer" the stalagmite around the obstructing ones. He eventually reached another ledge at the end of the rapids and jumped on top of it. His arms and legs were cut up and he was out of breath, but he made it safely across.

"Guys! I made it!" he shouted.

"Well if HE made it, then so can the rest of us." Vini said.

"Right." Shulk said. The swordsman leapt off the platform and held his sword underneath him, using it like a surfboard that sliced through the stalagmites until he reached the other side.

"Wow. I've never seen someone surf on a sword before." Dipper said.

"Well, with those stalagmites gone, this should make things easier for me." Wirt said to himself. Like Dipper, he wrapped his limbs around the stalagmite and pushed off. However, to his shock, the stalagmites Shulk had just sliced up regenerated in a miasma of darkness.

"Great, looks like Tenebris doesn't want us to help in any way, shape, or form." he murmured, trying to "steer" the stalagmite, but it crashed into another one, throwing Wirt off and into the raging water. They boy went with the flow of the current, since struggling would be pointless. He tried reaching out to grab a passing stalagmite, but it was too slick and the water was too fast for him to hold on. His head slammed into another passing formation, which left a large gash on his head and nearly knocked him unconscious, but he had finally reached the other platform. He grabbed onto the edge as tight as he could and Shulk pulled him up.

"You, um, you wouldn't happen to be able to HEAL with that sword, would you?" Wirt asked him.

"I'm really sorry, but I can't." Shulk replied.

"Thats what I thought." Wirt sighed, holding his hat up against his wound.

"I'll go next." Pearl's forehead gem lit up and a long turquoise spear with an elegant design slowly rose out and she grabbed it.

"Are you going to somehow surf on that thing?" Vini asked.

"Nope." Pearl tossed her spear at the nearest stalagmite, hopped onto the bottom of the spear, ran up along the length of it, stood delicately on the tip of the stalagmite, tore her spear out from it, and threw it at the next one.

"Very clever." Vini said, watching her repeat the process until she reached the other platform. The Vexian then simply hovered above the water, taking his time as he slowly floated along the rapids and joined the others.

"Well it looks like we have to continue forward." Dipper stated.

The group walked through the passage, which led to a large bowl-shaped room with another passage on the other side. The room was filled with rapid water and flat stone platforms were scattered here and there.

"Hopping across rocks? Thats not so bad." Wirt said.

However, as the group proceeded one after another to leap from one rock to another, once everyone was standing on a stone, black barriers appeared in front of the 2 passages. Then, a golden cube rose up out of the water in the middle of the room.

"Whats THAT thing?" Dipper wondered.

"Could it be some kind of Gem?" Pearl wondered.

Shulk's eyes widened, "Its some kind of creature! Get ready!"

Golden blobs began floating out of the cube and clustering together, eventually forming a headless humanoid form with 2 long spikes for arms and a hole through the upper part of the body: Plasm Wraith.

"What in the WORLD?!" Vini said, losing his cool for a moment.

The Plasm Wraith turned toward Vini and rapidly flung its spiked arms at him, jabbing his shield, but not breaking through.

"You'll have to try harder than that." the Vexian taunted.

Pearl took out her spear and tossed it at the Plasm Wraith, but it widened the hole in its body and the spear went right through it, bounced off Vini's shield, and landed in the water. Vini's shield turned green and he slammed into the Plasm Wraith, electrocuting it continuously. The Plasm Wraith suddenly morphed into an orb of blue electricity with the golden cube floating right in the middle of it. Vini's Shock shield overlapped the Plasm Wraith's altered form of matter, and neither had any effect on the other.

"The cube! Attack the cube!" Dipper exclaimed.

"On it." Pearl said, taking out another spear and throwing it right at the cube, piercing it and causing the Plasm Wraith to revert into an orb of blob droplets that fell into the water.

"Theres no way it went down that easily." Wirt said.

The group studied the water, waiting for any sign of the Plasm Wraith, but there were none. Then, a sphere of water with a golden cube in the middle of it rose up from underneath Pearl's platform, engulfing her.

"Pearl!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Ha! Nice try, whatever you are, but you can't drown me: Crystal Gems don't need to breathe." Pearl taunted, then flip-kicked the golden cube, causing the same thing to happen to the Plasm Wraith as before.

"Dipper, Wirt, Shulk; get ready. He is bound to sneak attack one of you this time." Vini warned.

"Not if there is nothing for him to sneak in! Cyclone!" Shulk held up his sword, which was glowing white, and a white whirlwind appeared around it. With a horizontal swing, he created a wave that was large enough to expose part of the bottom of the room for only a moment, but it was enough to spot the Plasm Wraith's droplets gathering around Dipper's platform.

"There you are! Purge!" Shulk exclaimed and pointed his sword, now glowing green, at the water near Dipper's platform. As the swordsman did this, Vini surrounded Dipper and Wirt in yellow shields not unlike his own. A green blast of energy shot out of Shulk's sword, shooting small droplets of the Plasm Wraith out of the water that dissolved. The golden cube floated up to the middle of the room again, gathering up blobs to form the Plasm Wraith in its normal appearance.

"We aren't even wounding this creature." Vini said with a hint of annoyance.

"No, we are. Its hard to notice, but he is a little bit smaller now." Wirt said.

"Yeah, you're right! When Shulk blasted it, I saw some of the droplets disintegrate!" Dipper exclaimed.

"So its not the cube we should be attacking, its the blobs it separates into!" Pearl said

The Plasm Wraith then floated high into the air and rapidly shot out its spiked arms at Shulk. The boy tried blocking with his sword, but the Plasm Wraith's arms went right through the energy blade and stabbed Shulk several times in the chest. Vini quickly put up a shield around him, which pushed the Plasm Wraith back.

"You're a little late there...!" Shulk said, clutching his chest in pain.

"I thought you would be able to handle it." Vini replied, trying not to sound condescending. The Plasm Wraith focused its attention on the Vexian and floated up above him.

"You gonna try to stab me again?" Vini taunted, intentionally sounding condescending this time. After a moment, the Plasm Wraith morphed into a crystal cube and dropped straight down, the weight and force shattering Vini's shield like glass and crushing him. Due to the Vexian's reliance on his powerful shield, his physical endurance was very low and he was knocked unconscious instantly. This caused the shields around Shulk, Dipper, and Wirt to fade.

"VINI!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Now we've lost our defenses!" Pearl exclaimed.

The Plasm Wraith floated up and approached Dipper, intending to do to him what it did to Vini. Thinking fast, the boy leapt into the water, hiding underwater as he was jerked around by the rapids. The Plasm Wraith slammed into his platform anyway, as if angry that he evaded it.

"We're going to have to shatter it's cube, but HOW?" Pearl wondered.

"I have an idea. Enchant!" Shulk's sword glowed purple, causing both his sword and Pearl's spear to become enveloped in a purple aura.

"Whats this?" the Gem asked.

"It strengthens our weapons, but I do not know if it'll be enough."

"Only one way to find out."

Shulk jumped from Wirt's platform, which Dipper was also standing on after emerging, and then to the platform where the Plasm Wraith was. He swung his sword as hard as he could and managed to crack the crystal cube. Pearl threw her spear, which embedded itself deeply into the cube. However, this wasn't enough and the Plasm Wraith rose up high, shapeshifting back into its normal form and absorbing Pearl's spear within itself. It then turned toward Dipper and Wirt and fired the spear from itself at them. Dipper swiftly pushed Wirt into the water and dove in himself, barely dodging the weapon.

"This. Thing. Is. Tough." Shulk said.

Just then, a mighty roar echoed throughout the room and Hydreigon burst through the ceiling.

"Its Hydreigon!" Wirt said, he and Dipper climbing back onto their platforms. The Plasm Wraith turned toward the new target and shot its arms at it, but the Pokemon grabbed them with its side-mouths. Hydreigon breathed out a stream of fire from its main mouth, but the Plasm Wraith widened the hole in its body where the Flamethrower passed right through. In order to free itself, the Plasm Wraith separated into blobs and started to reform itself.

"Hydreigon, attack the blobs!" Dipper shouted.

Hydreigon roared, releasing a shockwave of darkness that split some of the blobs into smaller blobs. The Pokemon then quickly flew closer and spewed a Flamethrower out of all 3 of its mouths, burning the smaller blobs to cinders. Reformed and even smaller than before, the Plasm Wraith swiftly shapeshifted into its water form, which put out the Fire-type move. Hydreigon simply flew right into the ball of water, grabbed the golden cube with its mouth, and flew backwards out of it. This caused the water ball to collapse into globs and Hydreigon threw the cube straight down. As the globs chased after the cube, Pearl separated them into smaller globs by tossing her spear.

"Buster!" Shulk's sword glowed dark-blue and the blade doubled in length. He slashed the smaller blobs into nothingness, and by the time the Plasm Wraith formed back, it was barely taller than Dipper.

"Alright, NOW we've got him on the downswing." Wirt said.

As a final desperate maneuver, the Plasm Wraith floated up and shapeshifted into a blob of burning oil. It then split up into 5 smaller globs and threw itself at each of the platforms.

Hydreigon quickly scooped up Wirt, Dipper, and Vini in each of its mouths and flew up high.

Pearl tossed her spear at the cavern wall behind her and she jumped onto it.

Shulk jumped into the rapids, and managed to wedge his sword between the sides of two of the platforms and held onto it.

Hydreigon dropped Dipper and Wirt into the water, and hung Vini's limp body over Pearl's spear like a rag. Shulk grabbed onto Dipper's arm, who then grabbed onto Wirt's.

Hydreigon then flew to almost the top of the cave and roared loudly, causing turquoise meteorites to crash through the ceiling of the cave and slam into the platforms and explode in red bursts. This powerful Draco Meteor destroyed the molten remainders of the Plasm Wraith. Then, as if suddenly undergoing the effects of the laws of gravity, the golden cube dropped into the rapids with a loud splash. The group got back onto their platforms, with Pearl placing Vini on his own, and looked at the exit to the room. However, the barrier didn't go away.

"Its not going down. Why is it not going down?!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Maybe we didn't actually kill that creature." Dipper guessed.

Proving him right, the cube rose up from the water, but it was black this time.

"Why is it suddenly a little black cube of darkness?" Dipper asked, a little worried.

Globs of liquid metal gathered around the black cube and formed back into the Plasm Wraith, only it was twice as big, had 6 arms, 4 legs, and it had Tenebris' eye where its hole used to be.

"Are you serious?" Wirt said, annoyed and crossing his arms.

"Looks like the cube was more important than we thought." Shulk said.

"Maybe its like a Gem. We have to shatter the cube to actually kill it!" Pearl guessed.

"No, you DID destroy the Plasm Wraith, but it was revived by Tenebris." Lumiere told them.

Hydreigon roared and used Draco Meteor on the Plasm Wraith, which separated it into blobs again. However, these blobs shot out sharp spikes, not unlike its arms, and skewered the Dragon-type Pokemon. Remaining in their form, the blobs connected to one another with thin tendrils and formed back into the Plasm Wraith, but still retaining all of the spikes that Hydreigon was pierced with. It then slowly retracted the spikes, causing the weakened Pokemon to fall into the rapids. Hydreigon surfaced, but it could barely keep itself hovering above the water. Its wings were tattered and its arm-heads were limp with streaks of blood running down them. The Pokemon looked incredibly enraged, but it was too weak to do anything about it.

"What is...happening?" Vini said weakly, finally coming to. The Vexian gasped at the sight of the reformed creature and put up his shield again. "Is that the...creature?"

"Yes. We defeated it, but Tenebris brought it back and its much stronger now." Pearl explained.

"Hydreigon was our saving grace, but now he is barely conscious." Wirt added.

Vini saw what the boy was talking about and surrounded the dragon in a yellow shield. "I don't think it will hold, but it is the best we have."

"Everyone! Help is on the way!" Shulk announced.

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked.

A hole was blasted through the cave wall, revealing 4 more allies.

One was a purple-haired girl wearing a light-blue robot suit and wielding a kind of blue raygun with a wide barrel: Barrier Girl.

One was a buff, purple, almost gorilla-like creature with 4 beefy arms: Kixx.

One was a short humanoid plant with leaf arms and legs and a magenta flower: Leafey.

One was a blue and green striped Denpa Man with a wilted plant-shaped antenna, a head that resembled a castle tower, lipstick, vertical black lines for eyes, and blonde curled hair: Bellessa.

"I think he means US." Bellessa said.

"Whoa! What is THAT?! It looks like my Con form!" Leafey exclaimed, looking at Hydreigon.

"Don't worry, he's on OUR side." Dipper told him.

"What about THAT?!" Barrier Girl asked, looking at the Plasm Wraith.

"Oh, no, he's evil." Wirt told her.

"Who are you all?" Vini asked.

"First off, I like your barrier. I'm Barrier Girl; a Gotcha Borg who can fire blasts of energy from my raygun and, as my name implies, surround myself with a forcefield." Barrier Girl explained.

"I'm Leafey; a Time Shifter who can control plants. In my Master form, I can send out spores. This purple guy is an Experiment named Kixx, who is a kickboxing master." Leafey explained.

"I'm a Denpa Man with a Weaken antenna power who goes by Bellessa." Bellessa explained.

The Plasm Wraith shapeshifted into a ball of green acid and floated over toward the new recruits.

"Alright, time to prove our worth!" Bellessa exclaimed. Her antenna emitted a signal and red lines briefly slid down the Plasm Wraith's cube, which caused the ball of acid to shrink. Barrier Girl surrounded herself in a blue shield, not unlike Vini's, and dashed into the corrosive liquid, which had no effect on her shield, and shot the black cube with a huge rounded blast from her raygun. This caused the creature to explode into blobs again.

"Attack the blobs, you guys!" Dipper told them.

Kixx started spinning with his arms held out, almost making them look like a blurred purple ring. He jumped in the air, still spinning, and split the larger blobs into smaller blobs, stopped spinning, and landed on Wirt's platform, which he barely fit on. The Plasm Wraith reformed from the remaining blobs, this time being only slightly bigger than its normal form.

"Leafey shapeshift into...Leafey Master!" Leafey transformed into a more humanoid version of himself about as tall as the Plasm Wraith with 6 vine-like arms and his flower was a lot bigger.

Leafey Master waved his arms and light-blue mist to enveloped the Plasm Wraith for a moment, causing it to hunch over and fall into the water.

"Purge!" Shulk's sword turned green and he pointed it at the water where the Plasm Wraith fell and fired a blast of energy from it. Rather than blasting out blobs, it blasted out a series of basketball-sized grey cubes at each of the heroes at high speed.

Vini's shield was shattered again and knocked him into the water. This caused the shield around Hydreigon to fade, but the Pokemon was incredibly alert and quick enough to fire a Dark Pulse that deflected the cube.

Barrier Girl's barrier also didn't hold, hitting her right in the head with the cube and nearly cracking her skull had she not been in the suit, causing her to fall forward from the cave wall into the water.

Leafey Master was slim and nimble enough to avoid being hit, and Kixx shattered the cubes aimed at him and Wirt with a huge punch from 2 of its arms.

Both Bellessa and Dipper were hit right in the body, knocking the boy into the wall behind him and into the water, and the Denpa Man further back in the cave wall her group broke through.

Pearl and Shulk had only enough time to hold their weapons in front of them for defense, which blocked the blow, but the recoil still caused them to fall into the water.

"Kixx? Wizard kid? Con form? What now?" Leafy Master asked, then hopped onto the closest platform.

"I...don't know." Wirt said, a little worried that some of them might be dead.

"I guess I'll try to fish them out." Leafey Master scooped all 6 of his arms in the rapids and managed to grab 4 bodies. He pulled up Dipper by the arm, Bellessa by the antenna, Vini by the leg, and Barrier Girl by the head. Barrier Girl was barely conscious and the others were unconscious, but alive.

"Whyyyyyy...?" Barrier Girl whined weakly.

Kixx quickly grabbed Wirt and tossed him towards Leafey Master, who caught him. He then dove into the water while spinning, creating a kind of miniature whirlpool that gravitated Pearl and Shulk towards him, with the first individual being the only conscious one. Kixx stopped spinning, grabbed them, and jumped onto the platform behind it. Just as he did this, the water began steaming and bubbling.

"How did you know the Plasm Wraith was trying to cook us?" Leafey Master asked, and the Experiment just shrugged. The water started to turn red and evaporate, revealing the Plasm Wraith has shapeshifted into lava that took the place of the water, complete with rapid lava flows.

"He just turned into LAVA?!" Barrier Girl exclaimed in a hoarse voice.

"Actually, since we are underground, its magma, not lava." Pearl said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Call it what you want, its still red, hot, and boiling!" Leafey Master said, holding Dipper, Bellessa, Vini, Wirt, and Barrier Girl as high up as he can.

"Any ideas, Pearl? You're the only one who is in any condition to do anything." Wirt said.

"Well we Gems can survive in magma, so I suppose I could start spear fishing for it and-" Pearl was cut off by a loud roar from Hydreigon.

The ground in the middle of the room erupted like a volcano, throwing the black cube in the air and turning the lava back into blobs that gravitated toward it.

"Wait, that wasn't the creatures doing?" Pearl said, confused.

Hydreigon flew towards the blobs and began rapidly chomping at them with all 3 of its mouths until the droplets were tiny enough for the dragon to swallow.

"Wow. Where did Hydreigon get all of this energy?" Wirt wondered.

"Lumiere DID say it was extremely powerful and devours everything in its path." Pearl reminded him.

"Wait, does that mean...its gonna eat...US?!" Barrier Girl managed to exclaim again.

"Probably, if Hiccup didn't tame it." Wirt told her.

The Plasm Wraith managed to form back one last time, only it was about the size of a rabbit. Hydreigon roared right at it and used Flamethrower from each of its mouths, incinerating the amorphous creature.

After a moment, the barriers went down, signifying that the Plasm Wraith was gone for good. Leafey Master set down the five heroes and reverted back to his normal form, and Kixx also set down those he was holding.

"You saved our skins, my Con form!" Leafey said to Hydreigon. The Pokemon didn't take notice, it had an enraged look and was huffing and puffing.

"Are you sure this thing isn't going to eat us?" Barrier Girl asked uneasily, standing up.

"I think its an issue of pride. Its probably pissed that the creature made quick work of it after Tenebris revived it." Vini said, regaining consciousness and putting up his shield.

"Well we better get a move on before something else shows up." Dipper said as he and the others regained consciousness.

The group continued along the cave, Hydreigon included, and reached another dead end with a portal.

"Is...this going to take us back out of the cave, or back to the other side in an inescapable loop?" Wirt wondered.

"Um, it doesn't matter! We'll be going through it either way!" Shulk said with a hint of panic in his voice.

"What in Digitoll are you talking about?" Bellessa asked.

"I think hes talking about THAT!" Dipper exclaimed.

Another white clawed arm rose out of the portal, grabbed Wirt, and quickly dragged him back in.

"Now I see what you meant, you Brit..." Bellessa said to Shulk, and the group headed through the portal.

OOO

Amethyst, Toxsa, Hiccup, Rylie, Marco, and Baymax were thrown out of a portal into a cave passage.

"What the heck just happened, and where the heck are we?" Rylie wondered, glancing around.

"Dunno, we got sucked into some portal and then spat out of another one." Amethyst said.

"And now we're in some linear video game dungeon." Toxsa added.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" Baymax asked the group.

"A 0; we're all fine." Marco replied.

"I hope all the others could say the same." Hiccup said.

"Whelp! Nothin' to do but go straight!" Rylie said in an unintentionally obnoxious tone.

"Nah, we could try going through the portal again." Amethyst did so, but was thrown back out. "Alright, forward it is."

Walking along, the cavern slowly became nearly pitch-black. At the head of the group, Baymaxs' eyes lit up like 2 bright flashlights, revealing a huge dark pit with sideways "bridges" of cavern rock of various sizes sticking out of the walls at various points.

"Are...we supposed to climb down that?" Marco wondered.

"I...don't see any other way." Hiccup said, feeling a bit uneasy as well.

"Oh I've got this!" Rylie said with confidence. He ran toward the edge of the pit and right off it, leaving a trail of fire behind him as he ran on air.

"Thats pretty cool, and here I thought you were just heading to your death." Amethyst said.

"Nah, thats the rest of you!" Rylie boasted. He started running downward; weaving through the rock bridges. Eventually, the pit gradually darkened as Baymaxs' lights lost their range.

"What the-?!" the Vexian hesitated for just a moment from the sudden darkness, and that hesitation stopped his Fire Dash and made him fall. "Shit, shit, SHIIIIIIIT!" he screamed as he blindly slammed and slid off some of the rock bridges, then smacked into the floor at the bottom of the pit.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" Baymax asked. There was no reply.

"He can't hear you." Toxsa said.

"Either that, or he really DID head to his death." Amethyst added.

"GEEZ! Son of a BITCH!" Rylie shouted in pain.

"Well at least he made it." Marco said.

"I'll go next." Amethyst pulled out a black whip covered in purple thorns from her gem and flung it, wrapping it around the closest bridge. The Gem then jumped down, hanging from her whip as she took out another one and wrapped it around the next bridge. The whip she was holding onto vanished in purple light and she swung down, now hanging from her second whip. She continued this process until she reached the bottom; even when she could no longer see the bridges she managed to still blindly wrap a whip around the next bridge due to their size.

"THATS how you do things." she said.

"Yeah, yeah..." Rylie grumbled.

"Its funny; usually I'M the one who falls from places like YOU did!" she teased the Vexian.

"Are you TRYING to pick a fight with me?! I'll cream you!"

"Whoa, settle down, dude, I was just screwing with you."

"Alright, they have powers, but how are WE supposed to get down there without dieing?" Marco asked, looking at Hiccup and Toxsa.

"I've got a way to get past this section." Toxsa took out a glowing green brick from his pocket. "Valorn Elemental Tenkai engage!"

In a burst of green light, Toxsa transformed into a robotic samurai with the same build as Lyvendor, except he had lime pupiless eyes and was green with dark-grey highlights. He had thick green armor, complete with what slightly resembled a turtle shell on his back, wielded a green staff with a glowing light-green top in one hand, and a thick green shield that resembled his "turtle shell" in the other hand.

"Whoa, did you just turn into a robot?!" Marco exclaimed.

"Pretty much, yeah. I'm one of the Tenkai Knights: Valorn!" Valorn leapt forward and slammed his staff into the first bridge, pulled it out, jumped, and slammed his staff into the next bridge. He continued this process the same way Amethyst did and reached the bottom.

"Whatever works, right, robot dude?" she said to him.

"So do YOU have powers?" Marco asked Hiccup.

"Not like THEM, no."

"So how do you plan on getting down there without busting your skull in two?"

"Well...its about balance." Hiccup held out his arms and walked over the first bridge. He looked at the closest one for a moment, jumped down, and wrapped his arms and legs around it when he landed. The viking got back up, held out his arms again, and walked to the center of the bridge.

"How are you DOING that?! Especially with that leg!"

"I've ridden dragons of all shapes, sizes, and temperaments. You need perfect balance to do that, otherwise it can mean certain death."

Hiccup repeated this process, even in the dark, until he reached the bottom with Valorn and the others.

"How did you do that in the dark?" Rylie asked him.

"My best friend is a dragon called a NIGHT Fury."

"His eyes adjusted to low light levels because of his mount." Valorn said.

"So I'm the ONLY ONE who blew it?!" Rylie said angrily.

"So far, yeah." Amethyst told him.

"Well...here goes nothing." Marco said. He got on his hands and knees and cautiously crawled along the first bridge.

"I am detecting high levels of stress." Baymax told him.

"Thanks, I wasn't aware of that...!" Marco said sarcastically.

"Take deep calming breaths. High stress levels can lead to both mental and physical pain."

"You're only making things WORSE!" Marco got in a squatting position and leapt to the next bridge, which he wrapped himself tightly around. "Alright, I guess I'm frogging it to the bottom..."

The boy leapt from bridge to bridge, nearly losing his footing and grip a few times, until he could no longer see.

"Great, its touch and go from here on..." he grumbled. Marco took off his hoodie and swung it downwards, which brushed up against the next bridge. He took a deep breath and jumped, but he misjudged the distance and fell, hitting his back on the bridge below him. As he was falling, he tucked himself into a ball to make himself smaller, and to reduce the risk of splitting his skull or breaking his limbs. He hit a couple other bridges along the way and landed on his side on the bottom of the pit.

"Well, I'm still alive and theres no broken bones, so I guess thats a good sign..." Marco said through the pain.

Baymax was the last one to reach the bottom, and he just harmlessly bounced off of each bridge as he gently descended like a beach ball. He then walked over to Marco.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?"

"About an 8, I guess." Marco said. Baymaxs' fingers turned a light-blue and he touched Marco's back, functioning as a kind of ice pack.

"Well what do we do NOW?!" Rylie exclaimed. Baymaxs' eyes lit up again and he turned his head, revealing a hallway.

"Theres your answer." Marco said, slowly standing up.

The group walked down the hallway and reached a dome-shaped room above a black pit with a thin walkway along the border. An X-shaped cavernous bridge was over the center, not unlike the ones they had previously descended from. Another hallway was directly across from them.

"Get ready for a boss fight." Valorn warned.

As soon as the group got side-by-side on the walkway, a black barrier appeared in front of both hallways.

"Oh yeah, definitely a boss fight." Valorn repeated.

"The question is, WHAT is the boss we're fighting?" Marco wondered.

His question was quickly answered when a purple, bipedal, lanky dragon with orange wings, a pterodactyl head, long claws, and a scorpion tail flew up from the pit: Ridley.

"Theres your answer." Amethyst said plainly, gesturing toward the creature.

"Well lets slay this thing!" Rylie exclaimed, getting pumped up.

"WAIT! Before we charge in, lets let Hiccup try to tame it." Marco said.

"That would be the safest decision." Baymax added.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot." Hiccup said.

The viking held his arms straight out to his sides and slowly walked along the bridge towards Ridley; putting one foot right in front of the other. The dragon studied him closely, slowly swishing his tail back and forth. When Hiccup reached the intersection of the bridge, he stopped and put his arms straight at his sides. Ridley floated down in front of him, looking him in the eyes for a long moment.

"I think its working!" Rylie said excitedly, having a quiet tone for once.

Ridley then swiftly shot his tail forward and gored Hiccup right through the stomach.

"Its not working! ITS NOT WORKING!" the Vexian shouted.

"Holy crap!" Amethyst exclaimed.

Ridley tore his tail from the boy; the stinger covered in blood. Hiccup was in shock, not just from the pain, but from the dragon's vicious and swift attack. Ridley then slashed Hiccup, knocking him off the bridge into the pit below.

"Hiccup!" Amethyst took out her whip and caught Hiccup by the foot and pulled him up. Baymax took him, put 2 of his fingers together, and pulled them apart to reveal a stitching between them. A needle extended out of a finger on his other hand and he started to sew Hiccup's wound closed.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" he asked.

"Gee, lets see, he just got STABBED BY A DRAGON, how do you THINK his pain is rated?!" Rylie shouted.

"The first rule of team battles is to go after the medic; so we gotta protect him!" Valorn told the others.

"Non-geekspeak please...?" Amethyst said, deadpan.

"Fight the dragon so he doesn't go after Hiccup and Baymax!"

"THAT I understand!" Rylie ran toward Ridley, heading right to his face with Fire Dash, but Ridley grabbed him and started scraping the Vexian along the wall; repeatedly circling the perimeter of the room.

"GUUUUAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Rylie screamed, this time in pain.

"I wanna feel bad for him, I really do, but he kinda asked for it..." Marco muttered.

"Eat laser!" Valorn fired green laser blasts from his staff at Ridley, most of them missing due to his speed, but a couple managed to strike Ridley in the back of he head and caused him to drop Rylie. Like before, Amethyst caught him and flung him onto the ground next to Baymax, who was currently wrapping Hiccup's stomach up with gauze from his finger like a kind of tape dispenser.

Ridley swooped down upon Macro with his wings spread out wide and claws extended, but Valorn blasted him in the side, knocking his trajectory off slightly, but it was enough that he missed Macro with one of his large wings wooshing right over his head.

"Stop going after the players with no weapons, you coward!" Valorn shouted at him.

Ridley turned toward Valorn and flew right at him. The Tenkai Knight tried blasting him with his laser, but the dragon just shrugged it off. He grabbed Valorn and slammed him repeatedly against the wall, which was not doing as much damage as it did to Rylie since Valorn was a robot.

"This guy is going to cream us!" Rylie exclaimed as he was being healed by Baymax.

"This dragon has very high intelligence and pure malicious intent. This dragon is...EVIL!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"You seem surprised. You've never heard of an evil dragon before?" Marco asked.

"Not like THIS ONE is. The closest thing was the dragon queen, but at least she was doing it to preserve herself...This one doesn't seem to have any motivation for its actions other than to cause trouble!"

"Well its time to return the favor! Valorn, Elemental Titan mode engage!" Valorn, like Lyvendor before him, reverted back into his Core Brick form and surrounded himself in black bricks. This sudden transformation caused Ridley to lose his grip on him. He unfolded and was tripled in size into his Elemental Titan form. His turtle shell became much bulkier and unfolded at the middle like beetle wings, what vaguely resembled a turtle head appeared on his chest, his shield became taller, and the diamond on his staff gained more sides, and the staffs pole ended with a small green sphere.

"Take this! Elemental Titan Terra Blast!" Valorn slammed his staff on the ground, causing the ground to crackle toward Ridley before erupting into a huge blast of green light and jagged stones. This powerful attack knocked Ridley onto his back on the stone bridge, and Amethyst quickly took out her whip and wrapped it around Ridley, tieing him tight and preventing him from moving at all.

Hiccup's eyes widened at this sight. "This is like...how I first met Toothless!"

"Oh I'm dealing the finishing blow now!" Rylie ran up to Ridley, jumped up high, and delivered a drop kick right into his chest that shattered the dragon's ribcage.

"Holy crap." Marco was surprised at the Vexian's power.

"Yeah, and I thought he was just some idiot." Amethyst said.

"He's not down yet!" Rylie wound up one of his fists and delivered a punch that ripped through the dragon's chest and punctured his heart.

"Ew, ew, ew! Grooooss!" Rylie whined, pulling out his bloody arm and wiping it on his shirt. Amethyst's whip vanished, and without it holding Ridley down, his body slid off the bridge and down to the abyss below.

"I can't believe it..." Hiccup felt bad for Ridley, even if he was evil. Baymax detected his distress and hugged him tightly.

"It is okay to cry." the robot said.

"Wait, if we beat the dragon, then shouldn't the barriers go down?" Marco asked.

"Uh-oh, get ready for phase 2 of the boss fight! And he's probably going to transform into something creepy!" Valorn exclaimed.

He was right. Up from the abyss flew Ridley, only this time he was cybernetic and more bulky. He was now Meta-Ridley, and he wasn't under Tenebris' control.

"Oh great, he's a ROBOT now!" Macro said sarcastically, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"And I don't think your Fatality is going to work this time, Rylie." Valorn said.

"Like HELL it won't!" Rylie ran through the air right at Meta-Ridley, who shot out a large fireball at the Vexian. The attack slammed him into the wall of the cave and into the abyss, but Amethyst caught him and pulled him up again.

"Do something stupid like that one more time, and I'm not saving you." she warned him.

Meta-Ridley fired a stream of small fireballs at Baymax and Hiccup, but Baymax shielded Hiccup by turning around and ducking. Despite his fragile-looking frame, Baymax took the hits with no problem. Meta-Ridley roared and shot his steel tail at Baymax, but Amethyst managed to jump in the way and she was gored right through the chest.

"Amethyst!" Marco exclaimed.

After a moment, Amethyst vanished in a puff of smoke and her gem fell to the ground.

"What the FUCK?!" Rylie exclaimed.

"Did...did she just leave behind a power-up or something?" Valorn wondered.

Meta-Ridley flapped his wings once, blowing the gem off of the edge of the bridge.

"Time for ME to save YOU!" Rylie ran after the gem through the air with Fire Dash, grabbed it, and ran back in a wide arc.

"So is this thing Amethyst?" Marco wondered.

"Its some remnant of her, at least. She has that gem on her chest." Hiccup said.

"Well great! With Amethyst turned into an item and robo-dragon here having enough physical defense to take no damage from Rylie's attacks, then that means..." Valorn began.

"YEP! Everything rides on YOU, robo-knight guy!" Rylie finished.

"Not quite EVERYTHING." a voice said.

Up from the void came 4 new allies.

One was a robotic bipedal dragon with a dark-blue coloration and orange highlights, lasers on its palms, and wings broken up into floating grain-shaped segments: Cosmic Dragon.

One was a small, yellow, snake-like critter with the head of a bird, a blue orb on her forehead, and small red wings on the sides of her head: Eldora.

One was a yellow tadpole-like creature with small antennae and big blue eyes: Zap.

Riding Cosmic Dragon was a blue and red striped Denpa Men with an antenna shaped like 3 ice crystals, big eyes, thick blue glasses, a star-shaped head, and 3 light-blue hair tufts: Shenshin.

"Oh great, ANOTHER robot dragon, AND he's got small annoying friends!" Rylie exclaimed sarcastically.

"Yeah, well this 'robot dragon' and his 'annoying friends' are here to help you guys!" Shenshin retorted.

"Alright! New party members!" Valorn cheered.

"So what can you guys do?" Marco asked.

"Well yours truly can make large hailstones crash into the enemy with my Antenna Power called On the Rocks. Cosmic Dragon here is from space and can create a black hole and shoot beams and lasers. Eldora here can turn things into gold with a beam from her head. Zap here is a living laser beam that can fly really fast." Shenshin explained.

Meta-Ridley flew right at the new group with his claws extended, but Eldora fired a red beam from her orb, which froze the dragon in solid gold and caused him to fall into the void.

"My power is only temporary, so we need to watch out." Eldora explained.

"So whats the point? Just to come up with a strategy?" Rylie said snidely.

"Exactly. I know thinking isn't quite your strong point, Rylie." Marco said.

"What are YOU staring at?" Shenshin asked Hiccup, who he noticed was staring at his dragon.

"Hiccup has a special connection with dragons. It is highly likely that he has an interest in Cosmic Dragon." Baymax said.

Cosmic Dragon took note and slowly fluttered down to meet Hiccup at eye level. The two of them just looked at each other for a long moment.

"Okaaaaay, this is getting creepy. I'm out." Shenshin jumped from Cosmic Dragon to the stone bridge, then slowly walked up to the border of the room where Baymax and Marco were.

"Hey, big guy, whutcha got there?" the Denpa Man asked.

"This gem is what is left of Amethyst. She has perished." Baymax replied.

"Crap! So one of you already bit the dust by that thing?!"

"Yeah, and she was a good fighter, too." Marco said.

"It still doesn't make sense why she just poofed away and left that thing behind." Rylie said.

"So guys, about that plan?" Hiccup said, catching the others attention.

"Hot dog! You're already riding Cosmic Dragon?!" Shenshin exclaimed. Hiccup was sitting on the mechanical creatures head, looking happy.

"Hes like, a dragon whisperer or something." Macro said.

"Except for one!" Rylie rudely reminded.

Speak of the devil, Meta-Ridley flew straight up through the void like a rocket and roared loudly.

"Crap! We should've spent time planning instead of expositing our teammates!" Valorn exclaimed.

Meta-Ridley roared again and fired a series of large fireballs at the group.

"Cosmic Dragon, do your thing!" Shenshin shouted. The Gotcha Borg fired a small black orb of energy from its chest, which quickly floated to the middle of the room before expanding into a huge black sphere with a purple aura. The sphere had an intense gravitational pull, but oddly only on projectiles like Meta-Ridley's fireballs, which were sucked into it.

"So THATS his black hole! Amazing!" Marco exclaimed.

Meta-Ridley growled and flew at Cosmic Dragon, his claws spread out and his tail pulled back to stab Hiccup with it again, but Cosmic Dragon fired a black beam from its mouth that knocked Meta-Ridley into the wall behind him.

Zap began flying around Meta-Ridley; occasionally slamming into his body and dealing damage. Meta-Ridley roared in frustration and flapped his wings with enough force to create a gust that blew Zap backward and slamming into Cosmic Dragon's metal wings.

"Oh hell naw!" Shenshin shouted. His antenna emitted a small signal and large hailstones rained down upon Meta-Ridley, which made him fall straight down, but he managed to grip to the lower wall with his sharp claws. His wings were folded in a little and he growled lowly.

"I think he's really weak to ice." Eldora said.

"Alright, lets do it again!"

Right before Shenshin was going to use his Antenna Power, Cosmic Dragon's black hole imploded. The instant it did, Meta-Ridley shot a beam of fire at the Denpa Man, but he dove out of the way just in the nick of time.

"I probably should've mentioned that the black hole only lasts for a short while!" Shenshin said, slightly panicked.

"Yeah, you kind of left out that bit of info!" Rylie shouted sarcastically.

"How long until he can cast it again?" Valorn asked.

"It takes a long while to charge up, so unless we can stall this guy, don't count on it!" Shenshin said. He used On the Rocks again, but Meta-Ridley was prepared. He shot a series of small fireballs that melted every hailstone. He then pushed off of the wall and took flight again.

"Eldora shapeshift into...Eldora Master!" Eldora transformed into a giant, humanoid, wingless, harpie-like bird. Her beak was longer, her orb and head-wings were bigger, and she had a long lizard-like tail: Eldora Master.

"So you got a giant transformation too, huh?" Valorn said.

"Indeed." Eldora Master flew at Meta-Ridley, who shot his fire beam, but she countered with a red laser beam from her orb that overpowered his beam and struck him in the throat. Meta-Ridley shook his head and flew right at the Time Shifter with his claws out, but she grabbed his claws; grappling him. He tried shooting his tail at her, but she wrapped her tail around his and held it down.

"Now is your chance!" she exclaimed.

Valorn fired large laser blasts from his staff.

Shenshin used On the Rocks.

Cosmic Dragon fired white-pink lasers from its hands.

Zap slammed into his back.

Rylie ran up above him and dropped-kicked him in the head.

Eldora Master finished with a powerful headbutt and shoved the dragon backward, causing him to fall into the void. Meta-Ridley's roar of pain slowly faded as he fell further and further. After a moment, the black barriers faded.

"Alright, we beat him!" Marco cheered.

"If by 'we' you mean 'us', then yeah, we totally beat him!" Rylie sneered.

"Put a sock in it, you..." Shenshin said to him.

"Its just really sad that we lost Amethyst in the fight..." Marco said sadly, holding the gem.

The gem suddenly began to glow, a silhouette of light-purple light expanded from it, and Amethyst appeared in a small burst of light.

"Nice job guys, you slayed him." she said causally.

"What the fffffffff-! You're alive?!" Rylie exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah, I just needed time to regenerate. As long as my gem is intact, I can't die."

"Well you took longer to regenerate than Cosmic Dragon takes to charge up its black hole, considering you were like that since we got here!" Shenshin scolded.

"Oh I regenerated not too long after I bit the dust for our token idiot there, but I just didn't feel like fighting that thing anymore."

"Are-are you for REAL?! What the fffffff-!" Rylie began stomping on the ground in anger.

"What matters is we've won, right?" Eldora said, having turned back to normal.

"I agree. We have survived our dangerous encounter with minimal injury." Baymax added.

"Well lets continue along this dungeon. I'll bet theres a treasure or something at the end of that hallway." Toxsa said; having also turned back to normal.

The group went on through the passage and soon reached a dead end.

"Oh, look at that, Toxsa...! No treasure...! Just a dead end...!" Rylie exclaimed with painfully-obvious sarcasm.

"Holy geez is this guy annoying! Even his SARCASM sucks!" Shenshin moaned.

"We're trapped here now?" Eldora said, a little fearful.

"It would unfortunately appear to be that way." Baymax said.

"No...! Of course we aren't trapped...! There is just a secret passage, or maybe we can glitch through the wall...! Right, Toxsa...?!" Rylie continued his terrible sarcasm, and started pushing against the far wall.

"Okay, your sarcasm went straight from 'annoying' to 'douchebag'..." Shenshin mumbled.

Suddenly, another portal opened up in front of the dead end wall, which knocked Rylie down from the sudden force.

"Wow, there really WAS a secret passage." Toxsa muttered; surprised.

Then a clawed white arm quickly shot out of the portal, grabbed Rylie by the neck, and pulled him in.

"Well, Rylie, when you're right, you're right..." Amethyst said with a little shrug.

"We have to rescue him, you guys." Hiccup said.

"Yep, its time for another boss fight." Toxsa said, and the group proceeded into the portal.

OOO

Soya, Tibia, Greg, Ike, and Ceylan were thrown out of a portal into another cavernous passageway.

"How the heck did we end up in a cave?!" Ceylan exclaimed.

"We were sent through a portal." Ike told him.

"Portals go both ways, right? So we can just go back." Tibia suggested.

"My rival weaponizes portals as well, and jumping through won't send you back the way you came." Soya explained.

"And we haven't even explored the world it sent us to, guys!" Greg added excitedly.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!" a mischievous chuckle echoed throughout the cavern.

"What the hell was THAT supposed to be?" Tibia wondered with a hint of sarcasm.

"If I had to guess, it would be whatever sent us here." Ike said.

"I guess we've got no choice but to go on ahead then..." Tibia grumbled.

As the group walked along the passage, it slowly became colder and colder.

"H-how did it get so c-cold?!" Ceylan exclaimed, shivering.

"Its Tenebris. He must've shaped the cavern that way." Ike said.

"I could set this area on fire, but it'll burn the rest of you up." Tibia said.

"Uhh, no thanks!" Ceylan replied.

"Then suck it up."

The cavern eventually opened up into a large ice-covered passageway. Large icicles were hanging precariously from the ceiling, and the floor was very slick with holes scattered in it filled with freezing-cold water.

"Whoa! Ice-skating!" Greg said with wonder and stepped out onto the ice.

"Greg, NO!" Soya exclaimed and tried to go after him, but he slammed into a black barrier that suddenly appeared.

"Wee-hoo!" Greg exclaimed, sliding along the ice; going around the pools of water and avoiding going under the icicles.

"Wow, the kid's good." Ceylan stated.

"Come on, you guys; its fun!" Greg cheered from the other side.

Soya dashed across the ice field with lightning from his feet, but his raw speed did not mix with the lack of friction and he fell right on his face.

"Smooth move! Thats like something Rylie would do!" Tibia said, pointing and laughing a little.

Soya just happened to land under an icicle, which fell from the ceiling toward him. However, the man was as quick to react as his powers were and he flipped around and blasted the icicle to bits with a huge blast of lightning from his hands. He then slowly stood up and slid along, blasting icicles with lightning before they could fall. Eventually, he reached Greg on the other side.

"Its a good thing you were wearing that scarf. Did you KNOW we would be here?" Greg asked him.

"This scarf is more of an...ascetic choice." Soya uttered, a little embarrassed,

"Alright, time to show you all what I meant before! Burning Floor!" Tibia placed her hands on the ground and fire cloaked the icy floor, but before she could take a step, she noticed the ice was slowly melting into a lake of freezing-cold water that doused her fire.

"That was really stupid. Really REALLY stupid..." Ceylan said.

"Shut the hell up!" Tibia shouted. She then noticed that the icicles have regenerated, and got an idea. She held out her hands and fired a large ball of plasma at the ceiling near the closest icicle, which caused enough of a disturbance to make it fall. It crashed into the water and embedded itself into the floor, creating a kind of platform.

"I see what you are going for, and that is very clever, but can you make that far of a jump?" Ike asked.

"I've got that covered. Boost!" A grey jet engine expelling blue exhaust flames appeared on Tibia's back. She leapt forward and the engine carried her forward enough to land on the icicle platform. Tibia fired another Plasma Blast at the next icicle, causing it to fall. The Vexian continued this process until she eventually reached the other side, and when she did, her jet engine vanished the icy room turned back to normal.

"Now what about you?" Ike asked Ceylan.

"Heh, ice is my specialty!" Ceylan took a glowing blue brick from his pocket. "Tributon Elemental Tenkai engage!"

In a burst of light, Ceylan transformed into a robotic samurai with the same build as Valorn and Lyvendor, except he had sky-blue pupiless eyes and was blue with aqua highlights. He had wings that resembled a 6-pointed snowflake, and he wielded a blue crossbow and a round shield.

"Is that some type of instant armor?" Ike asked.

"Nope! I'm a Tenkai Knight named Tributon!" Tributon explained. He glided straight along the ice, firing blue arrows of energy from his crossbow at the stalactites above him, which reinforced them enough so they wouldn't fall. He also fired his arrows at the holes, which covered them in a thick sheet of ice. He eventually reached the other side easily.

"Hmm...How would I cross this...?" Ike said to himself; thinking. He decided to place his sword flat on the ice in front of him and put one foot on it.

"Whats he doing?" Tibia wondered.

Ike pushed off with his other foot, placing it on his sword, and skated forward atop it.

"He's sword surfing! He's sword surfing!" Tributon said in amazement.

"Well he's got hazards to deal with now." Tibia added.

Approaching a stalactite, Ike jumped on the handle of his sword, flipping it up, and grabbed it. He put his feet firmly on the ice, shifting his weight so he wouldn't slide. The stalactite fell, and with precise timing, he swung his sword upward and sliced it vertically straight through the middle. The swordsman placed his sword back on the ground and pushed off again. He approached a hole, but his balance was precise enough and his sword was large enough that he went right over it. He joined the others and they continued through the cavern.

Soon, they reached a large cylindrical-shaped room coated in ice with icy stalactites hanging from the ceiling. A ring of ice-cold water bordered the room and there were holes of ice-cold water of various sizes scattered about the arena. What was most notable, in the middle of the room, was a 'T'-shaped stack of brown-grey sand cubes with what vaguely resembled screaming faces carved in them. On the ground in front of this stack were 3 cube-shaped skulls.

"What in the heck is THAT?!" Tributon exclaimed; the group stepping into the room and causing black barriers to appear over the two exits.

"This seems to be some type of puzzle." Ike said.

"Hmm..." After a moment, Greg skated toward the stack.

"Greg, NO!" Soya exclaimed, and tried to go after him, but he fell right on his face again.

"Definitely a Rylie move!" Tibia said, snickering.

"Hold on, he might be onto something." Ike said.

Greg picked up one of the skulls, jumped up, and placed it on the far left of the stack. He picked up another skull, jumped up, and placed it on the far right of the stack. Finally he picked up the last skull, jumped up, and placed it on the middle of the stack. He looked in awe as the structure began to glow.

Soya managed to get up and slide toward Greg, grabbed him, and slid back to the rest of the group.

"I've got a feeling things are about to get really bad!" Tributon exclaimed as the structure lit up brighter and brighter and began to float in the air. A large blue explosion erupted from the structure, turning the arena into a series of icy platforms and transforming the structure into a creature. The creature was black with 3 skeletal heads, a large ribcage, and a ghost tail: The Wither.

"What the HELL?!" Tibia exclaimed. The Wither began flashing blue while growing bigger and bigger, becoming twice its previous size. As this happened, the heroes jumped to a separate ice platform each, except with Soya joining Greg. The Wither started spitting out black skulls from its side-heads, and blue skulls from its middle head at a slower rate.

"Tornado Wall!" Tibia exclaimed, causing a wall of large whirlwinds to appear in front of the group to block the skulls. This worked for the black skulls, which exploded harmlessly in black smoke, but once the blue skull hit it, the whirlwinds vanished in black smoke. This led to more black skulls going through and hitting her and Ike.

"Guh! I feel so...weak." Ike said, falling to his knees and holding himself steady with his sword planted.

"Me too! What the heck...IS this?!" Tibia said, falling on her hands and knees.

"Take THIS!" Soya held out his hands and fired large beams of lightning from them at the Wither's side-heads, stopping them from spitting out skulls. The middle head spat a blue skull down at an angle, and Soya was too focused on maintaining his beams to notice.

"He is heading straight down." Greg told him.

"Hm?" Soya noticed the skull right before it hit the ice, exploding it into black smoke. With swift reflexes, Soya grabbed Greg and held him up high as he fell into the cold water, then he managed to throw Greg onto a nearby ice platform.

"Soya!" Tributon exclaimed, firing an arrow at the ice near him and creating a platform.

As Soya started to climb up, he was hit by a black skull and barely managed to pull himself up. The Lightning Warrior then collapsed from both the freezing cold and the sudden weakened state he was in.

"Huah!" Ike swung his sword upwards, sending a vertical light-blue energy slash along the water and right through the Wither, causing it to stop in place.

"Piercing Arrow!" Tibia fired a large golden arrow of light at the Withers chest, also going right through it. This caused the Wither to descend a little and the middle head to stop spitting blue skulls.

"You've got arrows too, eh?" Tributon said and began bombarding the Wither with arrows. As the creature spat out black skulls, Soya managed to hold his hands up and shoot lightning bolts at them, making them explode harmlessly. The Wither slowly sunk lower and lower as this assault continued.

"Alright, if we don't let up, this monster can't react!" Ike said. His sword became cloaked in blue flames and he slashed it downward, causing the ground underwater beneath the Wither to erupt, scattering steam, flames, and molten rock unto the ghostly creature. However, this didn't seem to affect the Wither at all.

"So is that sword just for show or what?" Tibia said sarcastically, shooting more arrows at the Wither's body.

"Hmm, Tributon, could you create a platform of ice underneath the creature?" Ike asked.

"Sure thing, dude." Tributon fired a couple arrows at the water under the Wither, freezing it in a large area, then went right back to shooting the monster. Ike leapt to the platform and thrusted his sword right into the Wither's chest. The Wither froze for a moment, stopped firing skulls, dashed through Ike's sword like a ghost, and slammed into the swordsman, becoming corporeal again. Ike flew backwards into the icy water, and due to his heavy armor, he was having trouble staying afloat.

"Damn it!" Tibia created a small version of Tornado Wall on the surface of the water where Ike was. This gave him enough leeway to plant his sword into an ice flow next to him, and used the weapon as a weight to pull himself up.

"My armor isn't exactly...buoyant..." Ike said, a little embarrassed. His sword became wreathed in blue flames again, but he used this in an attempt to warm himself rather than to attack.

"Hey, he's glowing too." Greg said, pointing at the Wither.

The Wither was emanating a white aura, and only hovered above the icy water.

"He's on the ground, but hes got a power-up." Tributon said.

"Power THIS!" Tibia fired a Plasma Blast, but the attack had no effect on the Wither, which retaliated by shooting black skulls at her with a higher rate of fire. Tributon fired arrows at the skulls before they could hit the Vexian, then fired at the Wither itself, but they also had no effect. The Wither aimed its heads at the Tenkai Knight, who managed to destroy the skulls before they hit him, but his arrows still did no damage.

"Why is this happening?!" he exclaimed.

"I don't think throwing stuff at him works anymore." Greg said.

"Of COURSE! Hes got a Vini shield up!" Tibia said with a snap of her fingers.

"So we've got to get up close? THAT I can handle." Ike said.

"Forget US, hes doing that FOR us!" Tributon exclaimed as the Wither dashed toward him, unaffected by his arrows.

"I've got you!" Soya leapt over, grabbed Tributon, and jumped high in the air using a large lighting bolt as a kind of springboard. The Wither turned its side-heads all the way around and fired black skulls at them, as well as firing blue skulls at Tibia.

"I don't think so!" the Vexian appeared to sink all the way into the platform she was on.

"That was CREEPY!" Tributon exclaimed as he and Soya landed on a platform behind the Wither.

"Which? The creatures Exorcist head spin, or Tibia clipping through the ground?" Soya asked jokingly.

"I...don't know! BOTH!"

"Cover me, Tributon." Soya jumped straight at the Wither's middle head and created a large ball of lightning in front of his palms, which was strong enough to destroy the blue skulls. Tributon was keeping him safe from the black skulls by destroying them with arrows. Right when Soya was about to hit the Wither, he heard some chomping noises and his ball was gone. The Wither got a close range shot with a blue skull, knocking Soya backward, then floated up in the air a little, as if the direct hit healed it. Tributon fired an arrow and created an ice platform under Soya, which saved him from a freezing fate, but the Tenkai Knight had let his guard down and was hit with a couple of black skulls, making him fall to his knees.

"Soya, if I didn't know any better...I'd think that monster just...ATE your attack!" Tributon uttered, feeling weak.

"Not JUST that; it heals itself a little every time it hits us with those skulls." Ike added.

"Well then we're gonna have to make sure he can't spit them!" Tibia said as her upper body rose up from the top of the Wither's middle head. She then delivered simultaneous punches to the Wither's side-heads, causing them to spin. The Wither became intangible, and as Tibia hit the platform underneath, she sunk into it with Merge.

"If we wanna actually BEAT this thing and not just stall forever, we're gonna have to get his shield down! I don't DO close-range!" Tributon said.

"Agreed. And getting close to him, especially in a place like this, is just too difficult." Soya added.

"I can help with that. Tibia, you should move out of that ice block. I don't want to cleave you." Ike said.

"Oh fine, fine..." Tibia said, rising halfway up from Greg's kettle hat.

"Wow. How did you do that?" he asked, trying to take it off, but Tibia's half-weight made it too heavy.

"Invisibility, kid. I snuck over here because I can't do anything close-range to that thing. Thats the ONE thing Rylie has got over me."

"AEITHER!" Ike shouted, threw his sword in the air towards the Wither, jumped up and grabbed it, and slashed straight downward. As his sword scraped along the Wither's body, the aura around the monster became dimmer and its heads shook with pain. The swordsman performed a backflip, scraping his sword back up through the wound, and as he did, he could feel himself become warmer and stronger.

"Its armor is weakened, have at it!" Ike said.

"Alright." Soya channeled a thin strip of electricity from one of his fingers at the Wither. It was brief and did no damage, but it paralyzed the Wither. "He's wide open now, but this paralysis ain't permanent."

"I'll handle finishing him off! Elemental Tenkai Ice Blast!" Tributon fired a flurry of small ice arrows, which spread out wide and created chilling wind trails. The arrows converged onto the Wither, becoming icicles and impaling it. The Wither slowly dissolved into black particles and it left behind a yellow and turquoise diamond in a transparent cube.

"Hooray! We did it!" Greg cheered.

"Oh, did I miss the big finish...?" Tibia asked as she rose out of a platform, sounding half-disappointed and half-sarcastic.

"Whats that thing on the ground?" Tributon wondered.

"Another puzzle, I assume." Ike said.

"While you guys figure that out, I'll patch this place up." Tributon started firing arrows at the icy water until almost all of it was frozen over. Greg skated over to the mysterious object and looked at it closely. After a moment, he placed his hand on it, causing a pillar of pink light to shine upwards from from the object.

"Greg!" Soya tried running after him, but fell right on his face again. Tibia and Tributon laughed at his recurring blunder.

"Take it easy, spaz. That light is PINK! When the hell has pink ever been dangerous?" Tibia said.

"Well YOU wear pink and you're a real-" Tributon was cut off by Greg.

"This magic crystal isn't working right now, but I'll still hang onto it." Greg said, and placed the object atop his head and underneath his teapot, which glowed a faint pink from the light.

"Thats why we need to figure out this puzzle so we can get out of here. Those barriers are still blocking our path." Ike explained.

Suddenly, a Tenebris-controlled version of the Wither appeared in an explosion of darkness that blew apart almost all of the ice on the floor, leaving only the ice around the circumference of the room and throwing the heroes backward. The Wither was now twice as big, had 5 heads on long necks, and a long tail of bones with a sixth head at the end.

"THERES our next puzzle! Surviving THIS thing again!" Tibia exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

"We barely beat this thing the first time! Now we've got round TWO?!" Tributon exclaimed.

"We have to fight until our last stand, everyone." Ike said, gripping his sword tightly.

Suddenly, Beelze of the Diabolic dragon came bursting through the wall and latched its large mouths into 4 of the Wither's side-heads; 2 in each mouth. The dragon grabbed the Wither's tail-head with its own tail, as if strangling it by its "neck".

"Yay! The dragon saved us!" Greg cheered.

"I wouldn't be too sure on that! What if it turns against us?!" Tributon exclaimed.

The Wither breathed a stream of blue mist at Beelzes' fly body, but it did no damage. In fact, it emitted a buzzing noise and a surge of energy rushed through Beelze. The Diabolic Dragon then reared back its heads; ripping the 4 heads of the Wither clean off off its body.

"Wow, so hardcore." Tibia said.

Beelze then dragged the Wither into the water by its tail, submerging both of them.

"Wait, can you even drown that thing?" Tributon wondered.

"I believe I see where Beelze is going with this." Soya held out his hands and fired a huge electric beam at the water, electrocuting Beelze and the Wither.

"You're hurting Beelze too, you idiot!" Tibia scolded.

"Exactly. Pain powers Beelze up! Now, Tributon, freeze the water with that special move."

"Got it. Elemental Tenkai Ice Blast!" Tributon fired a flurry of small ice arrows upward, which spread out wide and left chilling wind trails, converged, and crashed downward into the center of the room. This created a thick sheet of pointed icicles atop the water. After a moment, Beelze broke through the ice and roared triumphantly.

"Yay, we won!...But why can't we go?" Greg wondered, looking at both of the black barriers that were still up.

The group heard some sort of faint pulsating sound from under the ice, and after a moment, the ice in a circular area in the middle was being eaten away by some kind of dark-purple bubble. Slowly the bubble rose up, and it was revealed to be a shield surrounding the Wither, whose 4 headless side-necks flailed like tentacles.

"Okay, now hes REALLY got a Vini shield up..." Tibia grumbled.

Beelze roared and breathed a stream of dark-purple fire from its mouths, but the streams dissolved upon contact with the Wither's shield.

"So not only can't we hit him with ranged attacks, but now they just DISAPPEAR!" Tributon exclaimed.

Beelze growled and flew right at the Wither, but as the dragon passed through the barrier, it became weaker and weaker. The Wither's side-heads regenerated and Beelze tried to bite their necks, but it could barely keep itself aloft.

"That bubble drains the energy of whoever passes through!" Ike said.

The Wither breathed out a blue beam, knocking Beelze backwards out of the bubble, crashing through the icicles, and sinking into the water below.

"Our dragon is gone!" Greg said with a gasp.

"We're totally screwed now." Tibia said.

"Not just YET!" a voice said from within the hole in the wall Beelze created. Standing at its entrance were 4 new allies.

One was an upright, purple, slug-like creature with blue eyes on its stalks, stubby feet, and 6 stretchy tentacle arms shaped like spikeballs: Thresher.

One was in a kind of full-body armor with the light-blue head split into 4 points at the top and 3 red points sticking out the back, a red body, bulky yellow arms with white fingers, and sleek white legs with yellow feet: Star Hero.

One resembled an upright turtle with stubby limbs, a bulky dark-green shell with a crystallized back, and a white belly with a pink heart on it: Raldo.

The last was a Denpa Man with a yellow bodysuit, a black burglars mask, blush marks, tan skin, buck teeth, a pie slice-shaped head, and an antenna that resembled a shield-shaped mirror: Orelto.

"Yay! More people to help us!" Greg exclaimed.

"Yeah, but what can they do?" Tibia asked, not quite as thrilled.

"I am Star Hero! I can grow double in size, fly, fire homing stars, and excel in combat skills!" Star Hero boasted.

"I'm Raldo. I can trap things and people inside my crystal shell by shooting a heart beam." Raldo explained.

"I'm Orelto, and I can cast Reflect on all you all to bounce back status moves! Thresher here can stretch out his spikeball arms for combat!...Or to thresh sugarcane or something..." Orelto said.

"You guys arrived just in the nick of time! We've got a monster problem..." Soya said.

The Wither fired a black beam from its 4 heads at the four new recruits.

"If that beam hits you, it drains your energy and heals him!" Ike warned.

"Oh thats prefect. Reflect!" Orelto's antenna sent out a signal and everyone emitted a rainbow aura. The beams bounced back at the Wither, but were dissolved by its bubble.

"Oh, by the way, that thing is immune to projectiles." Tributon added.

"That will not stop US!" Star Hero grew twice his size, flew at the Wither, and spun in a corkscrew fashion, surrounding himself in circular orange slashes.

"And if you get up-close, you'll get sapped by-!" Tributon was cut off by Orelto.

"Reflect, bub, Reflect!"

Star Hero went through the bubble and drilled into the Wither's chest.

"I can feel the power!" the Gotcha Borg boasted as he gained energy from the Wither, whose side-heads fell limp. Star Hero grabbed the Wither by the main head, swung it over his back, and threw it downward into the icy water. He then landed on an icy platform, struck a pose, and shrunk back to normal size,

"I don't think he's dead yet." Tributon said.

"And if he IS, he'll probably come back stronger." Tibia added.

The Tenkai Knight was right. The Wither rose up once again, only its bubble was a bit smaller.

"We're making progress! Barely, but we're doing it!" Soya said, trying to keep everyones spirits up; including his own.

The Wither shook its tail head like a rattlesnake and black skeletons wielding black swords appeared in front of the heroes.

"Is this creature made out of their heads? After all, they were there when we first entered this room." Ike said.

"Considering its pre-Tenebris form spat out these heads from its heads, yeah, its a safe bet." Tributon said.

"And after we won, we got this treasure." Greg took of his kettle hat and shined the light at the Wither Skeletons in front of him, which caused them to freeze in place and their heads to spin.

"That prism has some kind of paralysis effect on them." Ike said. The swordsman got closer to the light and suddenly felt a surge of mystical energy, which froze him in shock.

"Are you paralyzed too, big guy?!" Raldo exclaimed.

"No!...I feel stronger...healthier...more nimble!"

"A light that makes you better, faster, stronger, AND weakens his goons?! Score!" Tributon exclaimed.

"Yeah, this treasure made me feel like exercising when I picked it up." Greg said.

"Everyone, let us turn this battle around!" Star Hero exclaimed.

Thresher extended his arms out, shattering the Wither Skeletons around him and Orelto to pieces.

Star Hero fired red homing stars from his hands at the Wither Skeletons in front of him, knocking them down. He then shattered them with a couple drop kicks.

Two skeletons slashed down at Raldo, who quickly turned around and blocked the sword strikes with his shell. As they recovered from the recoil, he turned back around and fired a heart beam at them, shrinking and trapping them inside his crystal shell where they faultily slashed at the shells wall.

Soya enveloped his fists in electricity and rapidly punched at the Wither Skeletons in front of him, then blasted them to pieces with a beam of electricity. He leapt over to the skeletons in front of Greg using a bolt of lightning as a springboard and surrounding his feet in electricity. Upon landing, he created an electric shockwave, defeating the skeletons.

Tibia quickly blasted the skeletons in front of her to bits with a couple Plasma Blasts.

Tributon shot the heads of the skeletons clean off with arrows.

Ike swung his sword upward, sending a vertical slash of light-blue energy along the floor of the platform, slicing Wither Skeletons clean in half.

"Your fragile baddies are gone, time for YOU! Greg, shine that light on the Wither!" Soya said.

"Okay." Greg did so, which pierced right through the Wither's bubble, disabling it, and froze the Wither in place.

"Raldo shapeshift into...Raldo Master!" Raldo transformed into a more humanoid and giant version of himself wearing light-blue knights armor.

"What...what happened to those skeletons in your shell?" Orelto wondered, but didn't get an answer. He shrugged and cast Reflect on everyone again.

"Huuuuah!" Star Hero grew giant again.

"Tributon, Elemental Titan mode engage!" Tributon reverted back to his Core Brick form and surrounded himself in black bricks. He unfolded into his Elemental Titan form; tripling in size. His snowflake wings became more intricate, his head became sleek with 3 points coming out the back of it, what vaguely resembled a sharks head appeared on his chest, his shield became wider with snowflake-shaped spikes sticking out around the border, and his crossbow became much bulkier.

"All together now!" Orelto said.

Star Hero fired homing stars.

Raldo fired a pink beam from the heart on his chestplate.

Thresher extended its 6 tentacles.

Soya fired a huge bolt of lightning.

Tibia shot a Piercing Arrow.

Ike sent out a vertical energy slash.

Tributon fired a huge arrow that froze the surfaces it passed by.

Before these attacks could collide into the Wither, Beelze suddenly flew straight out of the water in front of it; taking the full assault and encasing it in ice and crystals.

"What the HELL?!" Tibia exclaimed.

"I KNEW we couldn't trust him! I KNEW it!" Tributon exclaimed.

With the beacon being reflected by the crystals, the Wither weaved around it and prepared to fire its beams at the heroes, but at that moment, Beelze broke right through the crystals and grabbed the Wither by the neck with both of his mouths. He ripped the Wither's head and upper-neck off with the upper-mouth, then ripped the lower part of the Wither's neck upward with the lower-mouth, taking the spine right with it. Beelze breathed two streams of fire down through the hole in the Wither's body, burning it into nothingness from within. The dragon roared triumphantly in its ruthless display of power.

"...Impressive." Ike said.

"A very savage display, but indeed impressive." Star Hero said.

"You know, you remind me of Beag, Star Hero." Ceylan said, reverting from his Tenkai Knight form, as did Raldo from his Master form.

"I am...not familiar with Beag, but he must be a heroic individual!"

"So you've got a heroes complex...ugh..." Tibia grumbled.

"Lets continue, everyone. The barrier is down." Ike said.

The group hopped from ice platform to ice platform and went through the other passage, which led to a dead end.

"Where do we go NOW?" Orelto asked.

"Maybe we need to use this light again." Greg shined the beacon at the bare wall, and after a moment, another portal appeared. He put the beacon back under his kettle hat and walked closer to the portal.

"This...is the way out?" Raldo wondered.

"It might not be the way out, but its the only way we've got." Ike said.

Greg was about to stick his hand through the portal when a gigantic white arm shot out of it, grabbed him, and drug him through.

"GREG!" Soya exclaimed.

"We must rescue him!" Star Hero said.

The group went through the portal, and after a moment, Beelze followed suit.

OOO

Garnet, Guren, Mabel, Vladmare, Ogo, and Tom were thrown out of a portal into a cavernous passageway of their own.

"Oof, rough landing." Ogo said as the group got up.

"Where the heck ARE we?" Guren asked.

"A cave." Garnet stated.

"Well yeah, THATS obvious..." Tom said.

"Can this magic portal take us back?" Mabel asked, sticking a hand in the portal, which came out the same side. "Whoooooa!"

"I don't think so. I excell in weaponizing portals, and as your hand shows, that portal is one-way." Vladmare explained.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!" a mischievous chuckle echoed through the cave.

"Uhh, what was that?" Ogo asked.

"Some sort of trickster spirit, I'm sure of it." Vladmare said in a serious tone, swinging his sword.

"Well whatever it is, we gotta go through this dungeon thing." Tom said.

"Welp! Lets do this!" Mabel said excitedly.

The group walked through the passage, and the further they got, the hotter it became.

"How did it get so hot so fast?!" Guren exclaimed.

"This world doesn't work logically. If Tenebris wants it to be hot; it will be hot." Garnet said.

"For once, I picked a bad time to wear a sweater." Mabel said.

The cavern eventually opened up into a large passageway filled with lava. Small platforms across the lava lead up to a corridor on the other side, and every so often, geysers of lava would shoot up between them.

"Are you serious?! We're supposed to cross LAVA?!" Tom exclaimed.

"Magma. Lava is above ground; magma is under it." Garnet corrected.

"But the room description called it 'lav'- Forget it."

"This room looks more difficult than it truly is." Vladmare created a black and dark-red portal in front of himself, went through it, and appeared next to the corridor out of another portal.

"He's right." Garnet said and stepped down into the lava.

"What are you DOING?!" Guren exclaimed.

"Why are you committing heri-keri?!" Tom exclaimed.

"Gems aren't affected by magma." Garnet walked through the lava like she was wading through water and joined Vladmare at the corridor.

"Guess I'll go next." Ogo used his jetpack to weave around the lava geysers and reached the other side.

"Oh, well if its as easy as flying, then I got this. Summoning Harpie Lady!" Tom held out a card and from it appeared a light-blue-skinned harpie with magenta hair wearing a blue tracksuit: Harpie Lady

"Harpie Lady, carry me across, will ya?" Tom asked. Harpie Lady picked him up with her talons and performed the same maneuvers as Ogo before dropping Tom at the corridor and vanishing back into the card.

"Boy, this really IS easier than it seems. I mean, this room is kind of my element." Guren took out a glowing red brick from his pocket. "Bravenwolf Elemental Tenkai engage!"

In a burst of light, Guren turned into a Tenkai Knight like the previous three, except he had orange pupiless eyes and was red with orange highlights. He had wings that resembled flames, wielded a red shield, and a red curved sword.

"Whoooooa! Robot samurai!" Mabel said in awe.

Bravenwolf leapt to the first platform and waited for the lava geyser to shoot up. When it did, he slashed it with his sword near the bottom, cutting it like it was a solid structure, and leapt over it to the next platform.

"I...don't think he should be able to do that, right?" Ogo said in confusion.

"Easier than it seems, Ogo, easier than it seems." Tom said as Bravenwolf joined them.

"Okay, grappling hook, don't let me down!" Mabel said, taking out said object. She fired it at the ceiling above the first platform and pulled herself halfway up. She waited for the lava geyser to shoot up and stop, then swung back and forth, unhooked her grappling hook, and landed on her knees on the next platform.

"That hurts, but not as much as the magma would!" she said. Mabel pulled this maneuver again, this time barely unhooking herself before the geyser shot back up again. On her fourth time performing the maneuver, the side of her hand touched the surface of the lava when she landed.

"OW! Okay, that smarts! But not as much as the geyser would!"

Performing the maneuver two more times and with one platform between her and the others, she swung forward, but right as she was falling, the lava geyser shot up and burned her across her back.

"UAAAGGH!" the girl screamed in pain, and Garnet caught her as she fell towards the group.

"Are...are you okay?" Ogo asked.

"She got burned in the back by magma, its pretty obvious she is NOT okay." Tom said.

"What do we do?! We can't LEAVE her like this." Bravenwolf said.

"Relax. I totally got this." Tom said and took out a Pokeball. "Go Vaporeon!"

Tom tossed the ball into the air, and in a burst of light, a creature appeared. It was blue, quadruped, and somewhat cat-like. It had black eyes, a white frill around its neck with 3 yellow points on it, and a tail like a mermaid: Vaporeon.

"Does that heal people with its cuteness?!" Mabel asked excitedly, despite being in pain.

"You're half-right. Vaporeon, use Aqua Ring on Mabel!"

Vaporeon turned away from Mabel and spun its tail in a circle near her, causing a ring of water to appear horizontally around her. Slowly but surely, Mabel's wounds were healed and she stood up.

"Wow! My own magical water hula hoop!" the little girl exclaimed, rotating her middle, but the Aqua Ring remained the same distance from her body.

"That Aqua Ring will definitely come in handy in a battle." Vladmare said.

"KIND OF...It only heals a little bit at a time, so its not like a super-regeneration thing...Also, there can only be one out at a time, soooooo yeah..." Tom admitted.

"Mabel should keep the Aqua Ring in that case. She is the only one among us with no abilities." Garnet said bluntly, which made Mabel grunt and cross her arms.

"Thats fair enough. Vaporeon, guard Mabel, okay?" Tom said. Vaporeon nodded and stood next to Mabel.

"Lets keep moving forward, guys." Bravenwolf said.

The group went through another cavernous hallway and reached a huge room with walls made of lava and a corridor on the other side. The ground was completely flat with lava-filled round gaps in it that would occasionally shoot up lava geysers.

"MORE lava? MORE geysers?" Ogo said.

"Get prepared for a boss fight, guys." Tom said.

"A what?"

"Boss fight. This is TOTALLY a boss room."

"Its a video game thing. I've seen Toxsa play through a couple of these. Some giant monster is going to show up." Bravenwolf explained.

"The boss of my two best friends workplace is a monster." Ogo said.

"Lets just slay this creature." Vladmare said with a slightly raised voice, hearing enough of this.

The group stepped into the room, causing a black barrier to appear in front of the two corridors. After a moment, a glowing orb of swirling colors rose up from a lava pit in the middle of the room.

"Is that...some new type of Gem Cluster?!" Garnet exclaimed, also raising her normally stoic voice.

"Its dormant, so I'll make this easy." Vladmare pointed his sword at the orb and a red-orange strand of light extended from the sword to the orb. Following that was a dark-blue strand of light.

"Does this attack have a SLOW setting...?" Tom said sarcastically.

"Death comes instantly and it is unavoidable. Therefore, the slow execution is not an issue if I keep myself safe." Vladmare explained as a light-green strand of light extended from his sword to the orb. The very instant it connected, the 3 strands faded and the orb was sliced jaggedly by blue miasma from within and fell back into the lava.

"What was THAT thing?" Ogo asked.

"I destroyed that orbs spirit." Vladmare replied.

"How does an orb have a spirit?" Bravenwolf asked.

"Most things have a spirit of some sort. I slay malevolent forces, and that move rarely works on non-ghosts, since many of my foes are undead. I took a chance against that orb and it just happened to pay off."

"Wait...If we killed the orb, then why are we still locked in...?" Mabel wondered, looking at the two barriers.

Her question was instantly answered by the orb quickly rising out of the lava and firing a black shockwave that knocked the heroes off their feet. It pulsated violently as huge strands of black particles flew out of all the other lava pits and gathered around it.

"It doesn't have a soul! It doesn't have a soul! Its like a ginger or a robot!" Tom exclaimed.

"That stings a little." Ogo said.

"Do not let this creature form!" Vladmare ordered and swung his sword, which sent out a blue wave of spirit energy at one of the strands, but nothing happened.

"I don't think those particles are even tangible." Garnet said.

"Just wait for it to do its thing then." Tom said half-sarcastically.

The orb was completely covered in particles and they formed into a giant that resembled a golem: Master Giant.

"Wow, its like one of the corrupted forms of the Guardians!" Bravenwolf said in awe.

Master Giant grew 2 extra arms and held them out wide.

"Is it trying to give us a hug or something?" Mabel said.

"No. Its about to strike; get ready." Garnet said.

Master Giant scooped its 2 arms at either side of the group in an attempt to grab them.

Ogo flew straight up.

Mabel fired her grappling hook at the ceiling above her and pulled herself up while Vaporeon grabbed on her back.

Vladmare created a portal below him and sunk into it.

Bravenwolf and Garnet leapt forward with their superior jumping ability.

Tom tried to summon Harpie Lady again, but the process took too long and he was grabbed by Master Giant. The darkness creature pulled him towards its head as if to eat him.

"You don't even have a MOUTH! How are you gonna eat me?!" Tom said to it.

"He's not going to!" Bravenwolf leapt up and slashed the arm in half with his sword. This caused the particles holding Tom to dissipate and Ogo caught him as he fell.

"That was close!" Ogo said.

"Oh I'm getting revenge on this thing!" Tom took out another Pokeball.

"How many of those balls do you GOT?"

"Six. Go Gardenia!" Another creature appeared out of the ball that Tom tossed. This one resembled a lime-skinned lanky girl in a white dress with short green hair and magenta eyes: Gardevoir.

"Ooo! That ones pretty!" Mabel exclaimed, coming down from the ceiling with her grappling hook.

"Its not just looks. Gardenia, use Psystrike!"

Gardevoir put its hands on the sides of its head and what resembled pink jagged pebbles appeared all around Master Giant's head and slammed into it. Master Giant grabbed its head as if in pain.

"Oh yeah, that hurts ya, doesn't it?!" Tom said.

Then what looked like bubbling brain matter grew out of Master Giant.

"Wow, those things must've REALLY hurt him, huh?" Ogo said.

"No, thats not an injury. Get ready." Garnet said.

In one swift movement, Master Giant headbutted Garnet with so much force that it buried her into the ground from the neck down.

"Garnet! Are you alright?!" Bravenwolf exclaimed.

"I'm fine." she replied, showing no signs of harm other than being buried. After a moment, she flung her arms outward through the ground; now wearing what resembled large fingered boxing gloves.

"Wow! Where did you get those cool gloves?" Mabel asked.

"I generated them."

Master Giant generated its second paint of arms and tried grabbing Garnet on either side, but she caught them in the palms of her hands.

"Is that the best you've got?" the Gem taunted. Master Giant swung downward with its other pair of arms, but Vladmare, coming out of a portal, created two portals in front of its fists and two portals near the sides of its head. Master Giants fists went in the first two portals and out the others; punching itself in the head.

"Why are you hitting yourself? Quit hitting yourself! Why are you hitting yourself?" Tom teased.

Master Giant pulled its arms out of the 4 portals, and tried to pull its other pair of arms back into its body, but Garnet wasn't letting it.

"Again, is that the best you've got?" she repeated.

Master Giant leaned forward and its head split in half into a black hole that slowly started to pull in the heroes.

"What do we do to stop this sucking hole?" Ogo said, trying to fly against the vacuum with his jetpack.

"I have a plan, but it is incredibly dangerous." Vladmare said.

"Can't be any more dangerous than being sucked into a black hole! Do it!" Tom exclaimed.

Vladmare held up his sword and created a portal right at the split in Master Giants head. This caused the black hole to rotate the opposite way and slowly shrink, blowing the heroes backward like a whirlwind.

"Take my sword, quickly." Vladmare said to Bravenwolf, who put down his shield and took it.

"What do I do with this?"

"Keep it safe; I'll retrieve it in a moment." Vladmare went through a portal that took him right to the portal he had created by Master Giant's head.

"Is he planning on sacrificing himself to beat that thing?!" Bravenwolf said.

"Vladmare! Don't do it! We can plug up that black hole another way!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Just keep my sword safe!" Vladmare said, raising his voice.

The black hole shrunk completely, and in a bright flash of light and black sparks, a grey dimensional rift tore open right where the portal was, instantly destroying both Master Giant's head and Vladmare. The rest of Master Giants body separated into black particles that wildly swarmed around the room.

"What in the world just happened?" Bravenwolf wondered.

"And where is Vladmare? And that monsters ball thing?" Mabel wondered.

"Look! Theres something in the rift!" Bravenwolf said.

Inside the rift, the group could see what looked like a part of a large crystal, and within the crystal was a girl with short blonde hair, but she was facing away from the group and the rift was too small to see anything other than her head.

"Theres a girl trapped in there! Hey!" Mabel called out.

The girl started to turn around, which revealed that she was wearing glasses, but the rift closed in a near instant before the side of her face could be seen.

"Who was SHE?" Ogo wondered.

"That was the Chosen One. You all have done such a great job to discover her, but that is not enough. You must know her identity and speak her name to release her." Lumiere said.

"How do we do THAT?" Tom asked.

"I'm afraid I do not know. However, even if you figure out her identity, you will have to access the dimension she is imprisoned in, and I know Tenebris will not make that easy for you. I know you all can do it; you've come this far!" Lumiere encouraged.

"Good to know that we are getting closer." Garnet stated.

"At-at least Vladmare didn't sacrifice himself for nothing, then..." Mabel said, staring at the ground.

"Whoa! Something is happening to his sword!" Bravenwolf said.

Vladmares sword started to shake violently and became enveloped in dark-blue fire. The Tenkai Knight let the sword go and it floated in the air. The blue skull on the hilt started to glow, and in a burst of dark-blue fire, Vladmare appeared and grabbed the sword.

"Vladmare?!" Mabel exclaimed.

"How is that possible?!" Tom exclaimed.

"There is a reason I had Bravenwolf keep this sword safe. The man you see before you is just a corporeal form I create to transport this sword, which contains my soul. In other words: That sword is ME." Vladmare exclaimed.

"So as long as your sword remains intact, you'll regenerate. Just like a Gem." Garnet said.

"Precisely. The man wielding this sword actually USED to be my body, but I found a way to achieve a form of immortality by transferring my spirit into a mystic sword, since weapons, unlike their wielders, last for eternity. I did this so I could spend countless lifetimes slaying malevolent creatures such as THAT one." Vladmare further explained, pointing at the new form Master Core had taken before them.

It now resembled a large creature with the body of a wolf, the head of a crocodile, and the tail of a scorpion: Master Beast.

"Wow, how did we miss THAT?" Ogo said.

"Doesn't matter; lets go." Garnet said.

"Gardenia, use Shadow Ball." Tom ordered. Gardevoir held out her hands and fired a dark-purple ball of energy at Master Beast. The monster opened up its bear trap-like jaws and jumped forward, tanking the Shadow Ball without slowing down, and bit right into Gardevoir's body.

"Gardevoir! NO!" Tom exclaimed.

Garnet rushed forward and punched Master Beasts body with both fists, causing it to let go and hit the wall of lava.

"Vaporeon, give your Ocean Hula Hoop to her!" Mabel said. Vaporeon glanced at the girl for a moment for totally messing up the move name, then transferred the Aqua Ring from her to Gardevoir.

Suddenly, Master Beast burst through the lava wall on the opposite side of the room; its jaws larger and opened wide. Garnet grabbed it by the jaws and held them open.

"Take your shots!" she ordered.

Vladmare sent out a wave of spirit energy.

Vaporeon used Hydro Pump.

Gardevoir used Shadow Ball.

Garnet pushed Master Beast backward and jumped out of the way right before the attacks hit, which knocked it through one of the lava geysers.

"Not much for projectiles in the group, huh?" Ogo commented.

"There's no need to keep our distance." Vladmare said.

"Well we better come up with a plan real quick or-" Mabel was cut off by Garnet shoving her the instant before a spike of darkness shot up from the ground underneath her, which speared Garnet right through the chest.

"Holy shit!" Tom exclaimed.

"Garnet!" Bravenwolf sliced the spike off the ground and the Gem stood up.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." she said with a smile, and in a puff of smoke, all that remained was a red jewel and a blue jewel, which fell to the ground.

"Shes...shes like YOU, Vladmare, right?!" Mabel asked worriedly, picking up the two gems.

"Its quite possible. You'd better keep these safe." the demon told her. Mabel nodded and put the gems in her pockets.

"Great, we just lost our big player and we STILL don't know where that monster is." Tom said.

"What is troubling ME is how she could have possibly known where that spike would emerge...I possess the most acute of senses and I could not even detect something with such quick precision..."

"So shes better at you than sensing stuff, so what?"

"No, its more than that. I have reason to believe, at least to an extent, that she can predict the future..."

"Oh now you're just making stuff up! And I thought MY ego was huge!...Which it IS."

"I would never waste my time with something so petty and shallow..."

"That doesn't matter right now, guys. We need to worry about taking this guy down before anyone else gets hurt!" Bravenwolf said.

"He's right; you guys have the weird priorities here." Mabel added.

"...Yes, you're right. I apologize." Vladmare said, bowing his head.

"Where'd he go, anyway?"

"I don't know, but we'd better keep our guards up." Bravenwolf said.

Their question was answered by Master Beast jumping out of the wall of lava and slamming on the ground with so much strength that it made the entire floor tilt downward. This caused the wall of lava on the upper-part of the room to start flowing down the sloped ground.

Thinking quickly, Bravenwolf drove his sword into the ground and held on.

Vladmare did the same as Bravenwolf, then created a portal above and below them to redirect the lava.

Ogo grabbed Mabel and hovered off the ground.

Tom quickly recalled Gardevoir and Vaporeon into their Pokeballs and managed to summon Harpie Lady just in the nick of time to lift him up.

"Okay, this guy is really pissing me off." Tom took out a Pokeball and another Pokemon emerged from it in a flash of light. The Pokemon was a large grey hawk with thick talons, a white crest, and what resembled a red mohawk on its head: Staraptor.

"Mr. Tweetums, show that monster whose boss! Use Close Combat!" Tom ordered. Staraptor screeched and swooped down at Master Beast, who was still holding its position to keep the floor slanted. Staraptor rapidly alternated between sweeping slashes, wing slaps, pecks, and kicks with balled-up talons. The relentless beating steadily caused particles to break off Master Beast until enough of the creature was gone that the floor slowly started to right itself.

Bravenwolf and Vladmare pulled their swords out of the ground; the demon swordsman closing his portals.

Ogo and Harpie Lady set down their "cargo"; the Duel Monster fading away.

"Please be dead, please be dead, please be dead." Tom chanted, putting his palms together in prayer.

Unfortunately, Master Core was very much alive as black particles started spinning around the room again and formed into 5 curved swords; one sword bigger than the other 4: Master Edges.

"Now he changed into a bunch of SWORDS?!" Mabel exclaimed.

"So its like we're fighting 5 Vladmares now?" Ogo said.

"No. This monster is a shapeshifter; we have already seen it for what it truly is." Vladmare corrected, holding out his own sword.

"Well lets DO this...AGAIN." Tom said.

Master Edges began rapidly swinging its swords, sending out black orb-shaped projectiles at the group. It then pointed all of its swords forward and dashed at each member; the biggest sword going for Vladmare.

Bravenwolf blocked the projectiles with his shield and parried the sword with his own.

Mabel dodged the projectiles by shooting her grappling hook at the ceiling above her, and as the sword tracked her movement, she removed the hook and grappled at another part of the ceiling in front of her to dodge it.

Ogo flew out of the way using his jetpack.

Vladmare hid inside a portal he created underneath himself.

Tom had Staraptor pick him up and the Pokemon evaded the attacks with its speed.

As Master Edges grouped itself back together, the group of heroes intercepted.

Mabel fired her grappling hook at one of the swords at an upward angle, pinning it to the ceiling.

Bravenwolf kept knocking one of the swords backwards with slashes from his own sword and rams with his shield, then held it in place by pinching it with his sword and shield like chopsticks.

Vladmare created two portals around a sword that were close enough together that there was no way it could angle itself to escape them.

Ogo grabbed onto one and pulled the sword in the opposite direction of which it was trying to travel, applying enough resistance with his jetpack to slow the swords movement.

"I summon Wulf- Lightsworn Beast." Tom held up a card and from it appeared a white muscular werewolf with huge claws wearing a red toga: Wulf- Lightsworn Beast.

Wulf rushed toward the last sword and held it in place with his great strength.

"We have a hold on the swords, but what NOW?" Ogo asked.

"We use 'em like punching bags! Mr. Tweetums, get ready to spam Close Combat!" Tom said.

Staraptor flew towards the sword Wulf was holding, but before it could land a single blow, all of the swords quickly separated into particles, gathered together, and formed back into Master Edges.

"I was AFRAID he was gonna do that..." Mabel muttered.

"This shapeshifter has been a nuisance for too long." Vladmare said with a bit of annoyance. The demon pointed his sword upward, sending a dark-blue orb out from the top that slammed into the ground near Master Edges, creating an explosion of dark-purple lightning. The explosion threw each of the swords backward into separate pools of lava, which simultaneously erupted into geysers. The power of the explosion made Vladmare's cape wave around, and knocked the other members of the group to the ground, but weren't hurt by the attack directly.

"What was THAT, Vladmare?!" Mabel exclaimed, both shocked and impressed.

"That was a massive release of powerful demon energy. It has no ill effects on those I do not target, but you are still subjected to its sheer force. I apologize for that, but this room is too confined for you to avoid it completely." Vladmare explained.

"That was badass and all, but this thing is probably going to turn into another thing." Tom said, recalling Staraptor and Wulf.

There was a flash of white light and Vladmare was suddenly surrounded by Master Blades; its 4 swords pointing straight at him from the sides, and its large sword held horizontally above him. Before anyone, even Vladmare, could react, the 4 swords began slashing Vladmare rapidly at every which angle, suspending him in mid-air from the sheer speed and succession of the sword strikes. The large sword slashed downward, utterly reducing Vladmare to bloody bits, and left the afterimage of a pink skull when it slammed into the ground.

As mortified as the group was at the sight, they remembered Vladmare would regenerate, but then they noticed that his sword was severely damaged.

"That...isn't going to be an easy fix." Ogo said.

"VLADMARE! No! You can't REALLY be dead!" Mabel exclaimed with tears in her eyes. She tried to run up to grab Vladmare's sword, but Tom held her back since she'd be right at the mercy of Master Edges.

"Alright...I've had enough of this from you! Elemental Tenkai Firestorm!" Bravenwolf held his sword up high as a gigantic ball of fire, almost resembling the sun, built up above it. Ogo quickly flew forward, grabbed Vladmare's sword, and made a U-turn, since he assumed there was no way the weapon would be able to take Bravenwolf's move. Master Edges put its 4 swords in 2 crosses in front of its large sword in an attempt to defend itself, but it was no match for Bravenwolf's fireball, which completely engulfed the shapeshifter.

The group waited as the flames faded, but they were still prepared for Master Core to show up in another form.

"I really hope this monster is gone for good, because Garnet...and then Vladmare...if they-" Mabel said solemnly as she held Vladmare's sword in one hand and Garnet's gems in the other hand.

Unfortunately for them all, Master Core was still around. The entire area became engulfed in black particles, blinding the group in darkness. The room morphed into a flat and featureless area of dark particles with what resembled a long hallway of darkness ahead of the group: Master Fortress.

"What in the world just happened?!" Bravenwolf exclaimed.

"I think that shapeshifter shifted shapes into a giant dungeon thingy." Ogo said.

"Gettin' rrrl tired of your shit, shapeshifter..." Tom grumbled.

"Hopefully the 4 of us can make things easier for ya!" a voice said, bursting through the wall of darkness with 3 others; the wall quickly repairing itself.

"Great, we could use all the helpers we can get!" Bravenwolf said.

The first was a Denpa Man wearing a black outfit who had a circular head with a horizontal black ring around it, two antennae that resembled flexed arms, yellow alien eyes, a tiny mouth, freckles, and a rabbit-like nose: Leneerie.

The second was a female angel with light-blue hair tied back who had light-blue boots and gloves with yellow rings above both, a bluish-white tank-top and shorts, 3 turquoise slashes for a halo, wings made of turquoise slashes connected together, and wielding a large dark-green fan shaped somewhat like a butterfly: Wind Valkrie.

The third was a short light-green humanoid with 3 frills on its head resembling a jesters cap, white skin around its face and belly, a purple bowtie, and a red clown nose: Elastico.

The fourth was a short rectangular robot with 2 very large eyes, yellow lips, green feet, a lightning-bolt antenna, and long black arms with blue hands: Elekin.

"You all look so adorable!" Mabel excitedly exclaimed.

"Th-thank you?" Wind Valkrie said, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, well YOU aren't adorable in the same way THEY are adorable!" Tom perversely told her, which made Wind Valkrie blush and hide her face behind her fan.

"How can you guys help us?" Bravenwolf asked, actually saying something relevant.

"Well I'm Leneerie, a Denpa Man with the Rage ability!" Leneerie explained while flexing.

"How...does THAT help?"

"Oh, it just makes everyone stronger! It doesn't make you mad, despite the name!"

"Oh, that IS helpful!"

"Wind Valkrie here can create cones of wind with her strong fan, Elekin can generate electricity, and Elastico is reaaaaal stretchy!"

"Elekin, you're a robot?! My BEST FRIEND is a robot! His name is Robot and we live in the same apartment complex! He sometimes wears a sleep mask when he's sleeping and doesn't always remember to brush his teeth, since my brush is as dry as a bone." Ogo rambled.

"Whoa! Wait! Why would YOUR brush be dry if HE is the one who forgets?" Elekin asked.

"Oh, we switch on-and-off. I sometimes have HIS, and he sometimes has MINE."

"...Why would you trade toothbrushes with someone? Don't you know that'll make you SICK?...In more ways than ONE?" Leneerie said.

"Yes, I know- I mean, WE know that! I've gotten sick plenty of times because of the bacon residue on his, and I'm totally allergic to bacon."

"Why would a robot EAT bacon, let alone have an ALLERGIC REACTION to it?" Tom asked.

"Guys, none of that matters right now! We have to defeat this shapeshifter, remember?! We're literally INSIDE the thing!" Bravenwolf shouted, getting annoyed that the others kept forgetting what the real issue is.

"He's right; he's right. Onward, everybody!" Leneerie boasted.

"Pre-prepare for anything, okay?" Wind Valkrie added, trying to feign the confidence Leneerie was displaying.

The group slowly walked down the hallway, looking around for anything that could harm them. That is when they noticed a large red heart at the end of the hallway, which was connected to the upper-part of the wall by black veins. A faint heartbeat could even be heard as they crept closer.

"Oh THATS a weak spot if I've ever seen one!" Tom said, pointing at the heart.

A red portal opened up in front of them, and from it, completely composed of dark particles, dropped 3 knights in bulky armor that were effortlessly wielding very large swords: Darknuts.

"We JUST battled a bunch of huge sword thingies!" Mabel complained.

"Sadly, it doesn't seem the shapeshifter is gonna offer us a wide selection!" Leneerie said somewhat-sarcastically.

Elekin fired two beams of electricity from his hands, which were drawn into two of the Darknuts swords like lightning rods and had no effect on them due to their armor. They threw both of their swords at the Time Shifter like boomerangs, but Wind Valkrie flew right in front of Elekin and blew the swords right back with a blast of wind from her fan. The Darknuts caught their weapons by the hilt and all three jumped forward at the group.

"Better beef up!" Leneerie's antenna emitted a signal and his group could feel a surge of strength coursing through their bodies.

Elastico quickly stretched its arms forward and enlarged its hands, grabbed 2 of the Darknuts by the bodies, and pinned them into the back wall of the hallway.

The third one went after Mabel, but Bravenwolf knocked the sword right out of its hand with a swing of his own. He rolled between the Darknuts legs and slashed it upwards on the back, which caused the particles that formed the Darknuts armor to fade away and revealing its muscular, but vulnerable, body.

"Th-their armor! You can cut off their armor!" Wind Valkrie exclaimed.

"If you need to strip them, then I can help! I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke!" Tom held up a card and from it appeared a ninja wearing a white mask, a green scarf, light-purple chainmail armor, and wielding 2 daggers: Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke.

"Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, take those knights from behind!...And by that, I mean sneak up on them and slash off their armor from the back!" Tom ordered.

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke glanced at Elastico, who was now struggling to hold the 2 other Darknuts back.

"Elastico can NOT hold those guys back forever!" Elekin said.

"I can do it!" Wind Valkrie flew up high; facing the 2 pinned Darknuts at a downward angle. "Um, Elastico, you can let go of them n-now."

The Experiment did so, and right after that, the Gotcha Borg started swinging her fan; pinning the Darknuts up against the wall in a cone of wind. Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke ran towards them, unaffected by Wind Valkries gust, leapt up above the area between the 2 Darknuts, and piledrived downwards with his daggers held out at his sides. He managed to scrape his daggers through the space between the Darknuts backs and the wall, which cut off the straps to their armor and caused it to fade.

The other Darknut made another slash for Mabel, and this time, Mabel countered with a horizontal swing with Vladmare's sword, which sliced right through the Darknut's body and dissolved it.

"Whoa." Mabel said in amazement, looking at the weapon.

"Even if Vladmare isn't around, his weapon is still a weapon. He said he kills demons and shit for a living, so his swords gotta be MADE for that." Tom guessed.

"Um, guys? I'm-I'm getting...tired, p-please help me!" Wind Valkrie uttered, blushing for not being more useful.

"Even with my Rage Antenna Power?! Boy, you must be REALLY...in need for our help!" Leneerie said, switching his phrasing as to not offend Wind Valkrie.

"Don't worry! I'll help you!" Elekin stepped forward and zapped the remaining 2 Darknuts with beams of electricity from his hands. Elastico, whose rubbery composition had no effect on Elekin's electricity, stretched its arms forward and enlarged its fists, punching the 2 Darknuts with enough force to make them fade.

"We've still got one thing left!" Ogo flew right towards the heart and slammed into it; destroying it. A faint screeching and rumbling could be heard, and another pathway opened up at the ceiling near the start of the hallway. The new path was very wide and curved upward at a smooth angle with deep dips next to each other in the floor.

"A new room has opened up, thats great..." Leneerie said sarcastically.

"You don't even KNOW..." Tom said in a similar tone.

The group turned around and went back the way they came, climbed up through the ceiling, and arrived at the start of the new path. They noticed on the other side of the path was what looked like a drop straight down. Large red orbs appeared up ahead and flew right at the group at high speeds. The heroes dove into the first dip and the orbs whizzed right past them. Ogo poked his head up from the dip and saw orbs continuously appearing and flying forward between 3 sets of portals on either side of the path.

"This is gonna be tricky, guys," he said.

Wind Valkrie poked her head up as well. "Maybe...maybe I could blow them backward?"

"Sorry, won't work. If they keep appearing, you can never hold them back. Never." Leneerie told the Gotcha Borg, which made her sigh in disappointment.

"If Vladmare was here, he could just trap them in portals, and if Garnet were here, I bet she could just punch them away." Mabel said sadly, looking at the sword and the gems she had.

"Mabel, lives are going to be lost in this world of darkness. All you can do is keep moving forward and work together with the rest of your team. Its depressing, I know, but its what you have to go through in life-or-death battles like this." Bravenwolf told her.

Mabel sighed, "You're right, Bravenwolf, I have to be-"

The two gems Mabel held started glowing and floating in the air. The group watched as human-shaped silhouettes of light took form. The lights faded and revealed a red-skinned female and a blue-skinned female.

The red-skinned female was short, slightly muscular, had a dark-red afro, and wore red boots, a magenta headband, and a dark-red tank-top and shorts: Ruby.

The blue-skinned female was lanky, had turquoise curly hair with bangs that covered her eyes, and wore white gloves and a flowing light-blue dress: Sapphire.

"Whoooooooa!" Elekin exclaimed.

"Whats going on here? Wheres Garnet? Who are you guys?" Ogo asked.

"Why are there TWO of you? When are we going to start moving out of this trench?" Tom added for the sake of filling out the rest of the 5 'W's.

"I am Sapphire, and this is Ruby." Sapphire said.

"Alright, another 2 helpers for us!...Right?" Leneerie said.

"Actually, its more like another ONE helper. Sapphire and I ARE Garnet. She's a fusion thats made up of the two of us." Ruby explained.

"Oh, like a Gem-Knight card!" Tom said, snapping his fingers.

"A GEM, yes, but not a KNIGHT." Sapphire said.

"No, like you two are the fusion materials that combine together to form her."

"Exactly!" Ruby exclaimed.

"So do you guys just stay as Garnet cuz she's stronger?"

"No. Even though, in the basic sense, that is what fusing is FOR. The reason Ruby and I stay fused as Garnet is something far more significant and meaningful." Sapphire said.

"Then what is it?" Ogo asked.

"Love!" Ruby and Sapphire said in unison, hugging.

"Thats so sweet!" Wind Valkrie gushed.

"Thats kinda hot." Tom said at the same time as her.

Ruby and Sapphire began twirling around, turned into silhouettes of light, and formed back into Garnet. Due to her tall stature, she was right in the way of one of the portals of energy balls, which she effortlessly kept blocking with one palm held out.

"Garnet!" Mabel happily exclaimed.

"Mabel, thank you very much. You kept Ruby's and Sapphire's gems safe, and because of that, you saved ME." Garnet said to her with a smile.

"You're welcome, Garnet!" Mabel said excitedly.

"Now, I think its time we take this shapeshifter down. Everyone, stay behind me." Garnet held out her other hand, blocking another barrage of energy balls with it easily. She stepped over into the next ditch in one stride and the others followed behind her in a single file. They walked right past the portals and reached the straight drop down.

"The two of us will take a gander down there." Ogo said, referring to himself and Wind Valkrie.

They slowly flew down the drop and it widened out into a large round room. Half of the room was filled with a yellow-green acidic liquid, small floating platforms that could barely occupy 2 people were scattered about, and another heart-like organ was on the ceiling on the far side of the room.

"This room is so unsettling!" Wind Valkrie exclaimed.

"No kiddin', it almost looks like a big ol' belly!" Ogo added.

"And that long drop is like some esophagus!"

"Yeah, and that bumpy room could be the mouth!"

"Does-does that mean this thing ATE us?! Thats SO creepy!"

"Being eaten isn't SO bad! I ate Robot once...after he turned into an ice-cream cone...in one of my dreams."

"Thats even CREEPIER!"

"Um, anyway, lets go back to the others!" Ogo said, changing the subject. He and Wind Valkrie flew back up the passage and joined the rest of the group.

"So whats down there?" Leneerie asked.

"Its tummy! There are tiny floating platforms and another one of those hearts! And-and all of it is above a pool of acid." Wind Valkrie explained.

"Are any of these floating platforms at the bottom of this drop? Or will we land in the acid and die a horrible death?" Tom asked.

"Its safe to drop down, but these platforms are pretty tiny, so you guys will have to go one at a time." Ogo replied.

"I'll go first to make sure things are alright." Garnet jumped downward and landed on the platform below without any sort of damage to her body from the long fall. "Things are alright! Just don't jump; you'll break your legs." she shouted to the others.

"No problemo!" Mabel shot her grappling hook at the ceiling above the drop and slowly lowered herself down the passage, but about three-fourths of the way there, her grappling hook ran out of wire. "Uh-oh. NOW there's a problemo."

"Mabel, its okay, just detach your hook and I'll catch you!" Garnet said, holding out her hands.

"A-alright..." After a moment of hesitation, Mabel did just that, and Garnet caught her in her arms.

"Now we'd better move so the others have some room." Garnet, still holding Mabel, jumped to the nearest floating platform.

Elastico wrapped one of its arms around Elekin like a snake and stretched the arm down the passage, released the Time Shifter on the platform, and stretched its arm back to normal. The Experiment did a handstand and stretched its lower-body all the way down to the platform, then stretched its upper-body downward back to normal. Lastly, Elastico grabbed Elekin again, stretched one of its legs to a nearby platform, stretched the rest of its body toward its leg back to normal, and set Elekin down again.

Bravenwolf leapt down the passage, held out his sword downward, and piledrived into the platform below.

"I summon Harpie Lady!" Tom held out a card and the Winged-Beast monster appeared again. She grabbed Tom in her talons, flew down the passage and over to an empty nearby platform, set the boy down, and faded. Bravenwolf leapt off the platform underneath the passage and joined Tom.

"Carry me down?" Leneerie asked, looking at Wind Valkrie.

"I'LL carry you down, pal!" Ogo grabbed the Denpa Man by the arms and flew down the passage onto the platform below and set Leneerie down with Wind Valkrie following them.

"Okay, we're all down here, so where are the baddies we have to fight?" Tom asked.

More portals opened and 5 floating creatures shaped like fireballs with floating hands emerged from them, made up of the same particles as the Darknuts were: Plasma Wisps.

"Another batch of baddies, another opportunity to get PUMPED!" Leneerie used his Rage Antenna Power again, filling the group with a surge of strength.

The Plasma Wisps started rapidly firing arrows of red plasma at the group. Garnet materialized her gloves and started continuously punching one of the Plasma Wisps arrows right back at it, canceling out the new arrows it was firing and eventually getting hit by its own attack.

"You can do that because of ME, right? RIGHT?" Leneerie asked, but he wasn't getting an answer.

Wind Valkrie performed a similar maneuver with her cone of wind, blowing back the arrows of 2 of the Plasma Wisps.

Bravenwolf blocked the shots of the fourth Plasma Wisp with his shield, suffering no recoil due to his increased strength from Leneerie.

The last Plasma Wisp had no obstacles, but Elekin took a chance and got in the way of the barrage of electric arrows, which he actually absorbed, causing his eyes to glow a brighter and brighter shade of yellow for every projectile he absorbed. The Time Shifter counterattacked with a huge beam of electricity that blew apart the Plasma Wisp into particles.

"Wow, that gamble paid off completely!" Elekin said to himself.

"That was because of ME, right? RIGHT?" Leneerie, once again, didn't get an answer.

"I summon Felis- Lightsworn Archer!" Tom held out a card and from it appeared a male wearing a golden and white tank-top and dark-blue pants who had a cat tail and ears, a white bow and arrow, and teal hair tied in a ponytail: Felis- Lightsworn Archer.

"Felis, sacrifice yourself and pop one of those fireball things!" Tom said. Felis fired an arrow of light, which pierced right through the Plasma Wisp that was firing at Bravenwolf. The Plasma Wisp faded in a burst of light, and afterwards, Felis also faded.

The other 3 Plasma Wisps stopped firing, although two of them could not move out of the cone of wind created by Wind Valkrie; the one who was being countered by Garnet started to become enveloped in red electricity.

"That guys glowing; we better do something!" Ogo exclaimed.

Elastico stretched out one of its arms and enlarged its hand, stretching it above the Plasma Wisp and smacked it straight downward into the acid, destroying it.

"Um, th-those guys are red TOO!" Wind Valkrie exclaimed, still waving her fan.

The Plasma Wisps fired two large balls of red electricity, twice the size of the ones that were coming through the group of portals from the previous room. They were not slowed down in the slightest by Wind Valkrie's cone of wind, slamming into the Gotcha Borg and knocking her out of the sky toward the acid.

"OH SHIT! Mr. Tweetums! Save her!" Tom exclaimed, quickly sending out Staraptor, who swooped down and grabbed Wind Valkrie by the torso, saving her life, but at the cost of her long wings being almost completely burned away.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUHHHHHHH!" Wind Valkrie screamed in pain and anguish.

Staraptor set the Gotcha Borg down on the platform where Tom and Bravenwolf were.

"Wind Valkrie! You alright?" Bravenwolf asked.

"No, Bravenwolf, shes pretty fuckin' far from alright. She got her wings burnt off by acid!" Tom exclaimed.

"The pain is nothing compared to the sadness I feel from...losing my wings." Wind Valkrie uttered.

"Urgh! These things have gone too far! Bravenwolf, Elemental Titan mode engage!" Bravenwolf reverted back into his Core Brick form and surrounded himself in black bricks. He unfolded and was tripled in size into his Elemental Titan form. His wings became like that of a phoenix, his sword became longer and emitted a faint fiery aura, his shield became wider and gained a wolf face insignia on it, and what resembled a wolf head appeared on his chest.

"Elemental Titan Firestorm!" Bravenwolfs sword became enveloped in fire and tripled in its already large size. The fire intensified as he swung the sword down at the Plasma Wisps, slicing not only them, but also the heart near the ceiling, leaving a deep searing scar in the wall it scraped across. The sword returned to normal as Bravenwolf pulled it back to himself.

With the second heart gone, Master Fortress erupted into another swarm of black particles, obscuring the vision of the heroes. A very loud screeching-like noise was emitted from all directions, which increased in volume as the particles swarmed faster and faster. Then, in an instant, all of the particles disappeared, leaving the group in the middle of the lava room they were originally at.

"FINALLY! We killed this thing off for good!" Tom exclaimed.

"The barriers are still up, so we haven't won quite yet." Garnet said.

From one of the lava pools rose Master Core, back in the orb-like form it first took, only it looked like Tenebris' eye.

"This has GOT to be the last form, right?" Mabel said.

"It BETTER be." Garnet said, materializing a triple-sized version of her gloves.

"I can ALSO shapeshift! Elekin shapeshift into...Elekin Master!" Elekin transformed into a mecha version of himself with thick bulky arms and legs.

"Bring it ON, shapeshifter!" Leneerie shouted, using Rage on his team one more time. "By the way, that is the last time I can use that for awhile, so don't waste it." he added with a whisper.

Master Core started shaking violently and shooting black shockwaves in every which way. These shockwaves were powerful enough to throw the heroes backward toward the rooms lava walls. Elastico, in mid-air, managed to flatten itself like a sheet and stretch itself all along the border of the room like a curtain, and with the extra strength gained from the multiple casts of Rage from Leneerie, protected the others from the lava with a rubbery wall. However, with the exception of Elekin Master, Bravenwolf, and Garnet, the heroes were in major pain from the sheer shockwave strength.

"I can do that TOO, shapeshifter!" Elekin Master started firing shockwaves of electricity, which were barely strong enough to cancel out the waves Master Core was firing.

"Its up to the two of us to finish this creature off, Garnet!" Bravenwolf said.

"Yep." Garnet said.

"Elemental Titan Firestorm!" Once again, Bravenwolf held his sword up high, which was now thrice its length and cloaked in fire, and at the same time, Garnet leapt into the air right above Master Core and pointed her fists downward. Bravenwolf swung his sword down as Garnet drove downward with her fists; the Tenkai Knight's sword flames intensified as the Gem's gloves increased to the size of car tires. Garnet slammed Master Core right into the ground, and at the moment Bravenwolf's sword was about to land, she separated into Ruby and Sapphire a few feet away from the impact site on each side. Bravenwolf slashed the already crushed Master Core in two, leaving a huge gash in the ground that quickly filled with lava. Master Core erupted in a pillar of darkness; defeated once and for all.

Elekin, Bravenwolf, Elastico, and Garnet reverted back to normal and met up with the rest of the group. The heroes waited for a long time, and even though Tenebris' barriers were down, they waited for a bit longer just to make sure Master Core wasn't going to show up in another form again.

"PHEW! I think he's gone for good THIS time, guys!" Ogo said in relief.

"Well lets go down that path before something ELSE shows up! I can't AFFORD to take that chance!" Leneerie said.

The group did so, but the path just led to a dead end.

"SHIT! So NOW what?! Is there a secret passage or another heart or some shit we have to destroy?!" Tom exclaimed, getting tired of all the deception.

"This doesn't make a-any sense. Why would this path be-?" When Wind Valkrie got closer to the wall to inspect it, a portal with a huge white claw in it opened up, grabbed her, and dragged her through.

"HEY! That's unfair! She lost her wings!" Elekin shouted.

"Lets go after that jerk arm!" Mabel exclaimed.

The group hopped through the portal to face what was on the other side.

OOO

Everyone, including the heroes who were dragged on through, was ejected out of six portals into an empty, flat, pink, hazy landscape with a blue-grey sky.

"Where are we NOW?!" Marco exclaimed.

"Its pretty, but its ugly at the same time!" Mabel said.

"WUH! What happened?!" Soya exclaimed, noticing the sword Mabel was holding. He ran up to her and took it from her hands, startling the girl.

"Whoa! Be careful with that! That sword isn't a sword! Its-!"

Soya cut the girl off. "I'm real sorry for spooking you, but I DO know what that sword really is. Thats why I'm so alarmed! What sort of monster could kill my good rival and friend?! Vladmare's skill and power is part of what makes him so famous in my world! If-if something was so strong that not even HE stood a chance, then-then how did you all even SURVIVE?!" Soya was filled with grief and dropped to his knees.

"Uhh, scarf-wearing guy, I think I might be able to help." Steven Universe said, walking over to him.

"Kid, it isn't a simple as giving this sword a polish. Hell, it isn't even as simple as reviving the dead! A soul inhabited this sword, and unless you-"

"Soya, let Steven have a look. I have the utmost faith in him. There is no possible way he would ever do ANYTHING to harm Vladmare. In fact, he is more familiar with Vladmare's being than you realize." Garnet told the Lightning Warrior. Soya nodded and handed the sword to Steven Universe.

"Alright, this might be kinda gross and weird, but I think it should help." Steven Universe licked one of his palms and rubbed the saliva on the remains of the skull at the base of the sword. Soya just stared at the boy in utter disbelief at such a seemingly-disrespectful action, completely at a loss for words. However, after a few moments, Vladmare's sword incredibly started to repair itself and looked good as new. The sword then started to levitate and became enveloped in blue fire, and in a burst of blue flames, Vladmare appeared.

"It...it...EH?!" Soya was at a loss for words again, but this time for a totally different reason.

"Steven's saliva has healing properties. His mother had healing tears, and this is how he inherited it." Garnet explained.

"That is incredibly unique!...A-and a little gross." Soya said.

"Soya, Garnet, where are we?" Vladmare asked.

"After we took down the shapeshifter, we discovered a portal that brought us here." Garnet told him.

"Vladmare! You're back!" Mabel exclaimed.

"You should be thankful to Mabel as well. She kept your sword safe."

"Thank you, Mabel. And to you as well, Steven." Vladmare said with a bow.

"So whats our game plan for getting out of here?" Chooki asked.

"Maybe there ISN'T a way out!" Eldora said fearfully.

"Oh there is NO way we'd just be stuck here forever in another dimension!" Barrier Girl said confidently.

"Star! Your dimensional scissors!" Marco said.

"Oh! Yeah!" Star took out what looked like a blue pair of surgical scissors and slowly waved them vertically in front of her, but nothing happened.

"What in the heck are you trying to do with THOSE?" Malikav asked.

"I'm trying to open up a dimensional portal, but it ain't working!"

"Well, yeah, once you reach the final boss, there's no going back." Toxsa said.

"The what now?"

"You always fight the final boss in a new world, and once you get to it, you can't go back!"

"He's not wrong." Tom said.

"This isn't some video game! This is REAL LIFE! We fell through a portal into a cave, fought a three-headed skeleton monster that shoots heads, found a beacon of purple light that powers us up, and followed a giant claw through ANOTHER portal to some pink fairy-tale world!" Tibia rambled.

"Uhh, this ain't no fairy-tale world." Star said to her.

"Quiet, you manic pixie dream girl!"

"Your stress levels appear to be high. I suggest closing your eyes and taking deep breaths." Baymax said.

"Tibia doesn't have enough impulse control to do THAT!" Rylie joked.

"LIKE YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!" she shouted, smacking him across the face.

"Tibia, Rylie, that's enough. Don't make me separate you two." Vini told them.

"Are you like their DAD?" Greg sincerely asked.

"No, I'm their teammate. However, I'm often the one to stop them from fighting like children, so your comparison isn't entirely wrong."

"Ugh, are we gonna kill this so-called 'final boss', or are we gonna kill EACH OTHER...?" Bellessa said, shaking her head.

"This boss has yet to show its face to us! There is nothing we can do right now!" Star Hero said.

"That doesn't mean we have to beat each other up!" Leafey replied.

"Yeah, save all the fighting for when this THING shows up!" Leneerie added.

"Thats some good advice, because its about to show up NOW!" Shulk warned.

A small portal appeared in front of the group, and from it emerged a small, floating, pink, ghost-like critter with mitten-shaped floating hands, two large horns with a large golden ring on each, and had a sly grin on its face: Hoopa.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!" it giggled mischievously.

"Thats the same laugh we heard when we were thrown into its cave!" Dipper exclaimed.

"So THAT THING is behind all this?" Amethyst said incredulously.

"SO LAME!" Rylie shouted.

After a moment, Hoopa went back through the portal, which then grew to a tremendous size. From it emerged a gigantic humanoid monster with a small ogre-like head that had razor-sharp teeth and long horns, a large round body with a portal in the middle and 6 holes on the sides, two short legs with a single large claw on each, a long thick tail, and six floating white arms with long claws and a golden ring on each: Hoopa Unbound.

"And THATS the thing that kidnapped Wirt!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Its so scary!" Musey said, frightened.

"As menacing as it is, it doesn't change the fact that we have to bring it down." Ike said, holding out his sword.

"I've got a terrible feeling about this." Wirt said.

"Mwaharharharhar!" Hoopa Unbound laughed evilly, ready to unleash its interdimensional power upon the heroes.

OOO

And after over a year, a new chapter is born! It honestly feels like A LOT less time than that since I last updated, considering I have been steadily working on this doozy of a chapter for some time now. It makes up about 1/5 of the size of the entire story itself!

I know what you are thinking, 'Even MORE characters?! Are you KIDDING?! Do you plan on continuing this story forever or something?!'

No, I already had the ending for this story planned out before I even began writing it! The thing is, it doesn't matter how many heroes this story introduces, what matters is how many VILLAINS it introduces. With the exception of Bouldergeist, I've been wanting to add these baddies for a long time.

As for the heroes, Hiccup is one I wanted to add for a long time as well. I wanted to utilize his dragon-taming ability, so a new group provided the perfect opportunity for it. I originally was going to leave Rylie, Tibia, and Vini out of this story with Seth being the only representative of their gang, but for a new group, I decided there was ample room for them. Soya and Vladmare were added for that reason as well, and they are from Dreamscape. The way the groups were split up was first decided by a randomizer, then I switched some of them around so no group would have more than one character from the same game or show.

The Denpa Men, Gotcha Borgs, Experiments, and Time Shifters are another addition I wanted to make for awhile, but I had to wait for a group to get separated for them to appear. This won't be the last time you see more of these guys. Graffiti Creatures I created were also a planned addition, but they had literally NO story or personality to work with, so I removed them from the chapter. They'll make appearances in Pixel's and Pastel's movesets instead.

Denpa Men can have pretty much any name out there since there is not an established cast, so I just gave them really bizarre names as to not run into another Steven situation. Speaking of names, sorry if it was a bit confusing with 'Rylie' and 'Ridley' being in the same scene, but at least his name wasn't spelled 'Riley'. The gruesome way he defeated Ridley is a bit of a nod to how he defeated Volvagia in The Meeting of Many.

I know I left out Master Shadow (I think thats the copy forms name?) and the last half of Master Fortress, but that final group hogged up nearly half the length of this massive chapter so I had to cut some corners. I was able to develop Leneerie, Wind Valkrie, Elekin, and I guess Elastico much more than the other groups extra 4 recruits as a result, and that feels kind of...unfair to the others because I want them to have established personalities. They aren't supposed to be like those nations in Chapter 15, who are more of a group representation of their world rather than true characters (although I tried to give their leaders SOME personality).

And there is the biggest glimpse at the identity of the Chosen One yet! Can you guess who it is, going by those extremely generic features?

I know that whole 'the entire cast performs different actions at the same time' setup looks really clunky and fragmented, but I figured that would make it easier to read. That way you don't have to go through a wall-o-text...its more like a STACK-o-text now!

(And yes, Tom sometimes referring to Gardevoir as 'Gardenia' is intentional. And no, its not her nickname.)