Above the skies of the city, Cragspur was floating right above it.
"Sir...I think now is the time to launch our invasion." said a small red creature with a daruma like body known as Darumaka.
"Yes...I believe you might be right." said a strange rock creature as it walked off its stone throne. "I think it's time we showed these techie reliant whippersnappers who's in charge. Send word to the soldiers...and change the castle to city assault mode!" he ordered.
"Of course, Boldore." Darumaka said bowing before running off.
"The time has finally come." Boldire said. "We've waited patiently for Avia to retreat. And with Viperia silent on this world, now we can strike. It's time to show the world the true might, of the Rock Kingdom, Cragspur!"
Down below the kingdom…
"Can't believe we're wasting time with this." Hope said sitting among the student group as one student at a time practicing driving.
"Oh, relax. It's a necessary skill out in the field." David said.
"Easy for you to say. You have a Jamblasted motorcycle!" Flamberge said.
"Regardless of opinions, Drivers Ed is an important part of school development." Yaoyorozu said.
"Momo's right. Can't really call yourself an adult if you don't have a driver's license, or at least a learners permit." Kazuichi said.
"It's a good thing I don't need to do this, then. I already got my Driver's License." Sunset said.
"Yeah, on the second try." Natsu commented.
"Dunno about you guys, but I think there's gonna be some tension between Ulrich and William on this." Hope said.
"When isn't there tension between those two?" Francisca asked.
"Yeah, in this point in time, those two fight like cats and dogs. Only cause they both like the same girl." Dan said.
"Yep. Classic love triangle at its finest." Ming said.
"You're just saying that because of your former crush, right?" Ruby asked shocking her.
"Wh-what?! Come on. You know that I don't let that stuff bother me anymore." Ming said. "Besides, I'll find someone out there one day."
"My my, isn't young love fascinating?" Jade asked. "Seems there'll be a lovers quarrel between Ulrich and William over Yumi till this redux has ended. By the way, have you all been catching up with your studies?"
"I didn't know you signed up to be a teacher at Kadic, Jade." Hope said.
"Well considering I've done tons of research back on my world, why not sign up as a teacher here?" Jade asked. "Besides it could be fun. If Anise was here, she would be all over you and the other boys, Hope."
"It's always hard to tell whether he's being serious or sarcastic all the time. That's how he can get under people's skin." Luke said.
"Yeah...not sure we should be hanging with a guy like this." Ryuji said before they all felt the earth shake. "Huh?"
"What the hell was that?" Ruenheid asked.
"Probably a small earthquake." Twilight said as the students were disbanding and heading to different buildings.
"Yeah, I wouldn't call that little." David said.
"Is Cragspur attacking?" Aluche asked.
"That seems to be the only explanation for this." Mayumi said.
"It could also be that." Saki said pointing to a Crab.
"XANA...he's chosen now to attack?" Hope said.
"How can Crabs be in the real world? Unless XANA found a way to materialize his own monsters." Ren said.
"He managed to summon the Krankerlats a while back, who said he couldn't do it with Crabs either?" Roy asked.
"Scans are showing that they're appearing in three locations: The school, suburbs, and the Factory." Miu said.
"You mean they're coming from the factory. Only place they could be rising from." Lacy said.
"Seems we'll have to divide and conquer for this one." Azura said.
"Afraid dividing and conquering isn't an option this time. Look what's pulled up on the citywide cameras." Futaba said showing footage of a large castle being pulled by large rock snakes known as Onix.
"Is that Cragspur?" Aluche asked.
"No doubt about it." Sectonia said.
"Does anyone have a plan on what we should do?" Saaya asked.
"I think it's obvious. One group takes care of Cragspur while the other deals with our crab infestation by heading to Lyoko." Hope said.
"Didn't Futaba just say that divide and conquer isn't an option?" David asked.
"Afraid David's right, Hope. Cragspur's castle is leveling buildings as they go. We can't ignore them." Jexi said on the comm.
"Then we've got no other option but for all of us to attack Cragspur and leave the Crab Problem to Odd and Aelita." Connor said responding on the comm.
"That's an even worse plan." Genis said.
"I'll go and back them up. Just take care of the Cragspur problem and be careful." Ace said over the comm.
Odd and Aelita soon reached the factory where Ace was. As they got down to the scanners though, they were shocked to see all but one of them were destroyed.
"Damn, seems our crabby guests went a little wild." Odd said.
"What should we do?" Ace asked.
"I need to go in. There's still one scanner. I can still enter and get to the tower." Aelita said stepping in.
"Aelita's right, Ace. As things are, I can only send one at a time." Miu said.
"Alright." Ace said.
"Okay. Scanner, Aelita. Transfer, Aelita. Virtualization." Miu said. "Aelita's in safe. Now...wait...something's coming through."
"What?" Odd asked before the scanner opened as a crab came emerging from it, destroying it in the process.
"Oh no!" Ace said before slicing the Crab in half.
"Aelita, bad news. XANA sent a Crab and destroyed all the scanners. Looks like you're on your own here." Miu said.
"It's fine. I may be alone...but I will still get to the tower.' Aelita said as she took off.
"Good news is that we cut off the supply of crabs coming in. Bad news is we still have the remaining ones and Cragspur to deal with." Miu reported to the group.
"It's fine. I'm sure the other Lyoko warriors can handle them here. For us...we have bigger fish to fry." Jexi said as they all approached the moving castle known as Cragspur.
"Any ideas of how to get in?" Aya asked.
"I'll use a Fonic Hymn to put the Onix's to sleep. O melody beckon them toward the abyss…~Tue rei ze croa riou tue ze~." Tear sang as the Onix's fell asleep, causing the Cragspur to stop.
"Well, that's one way to stop a freight train, or 4 of them." Connor said. "But with it immobile, we got us a way in!"
"Wait...look." Yaoyorozu said as the castle was still slowly moving.
"How is this possible? The Onix are still asleep!" Ty said.
"I wonder." Jiro said plugging one of her earjacks into the ground. "I thought so. There's movement underground too."
"Even so, we decreased the movement by half. But I doubt those Onix will sleep forever. We strike before they wake." Spectra said.
"Yes. The Fonic Hymn won't last long, so we only got 1 hour before the Onix wake up." Tear said.
"Then no wasting time. We enter the kingdom, find it's king and then get out." Zexi said as they began charging in.
The group moved their way through the sprawling rock fortress, taking down the soldiers and other Rock-Types in their way.
"This kingdom is like a maze in here, it's so big." Morph noted.
"True, it is a massive piece of land...but it's only got a few buildings. Raid all of them." Jack said.
"I'll go after the king." Ruenheid said.
"Assuming you can even get to him in this maze." Lloyd said.
"How about this, whoever gets to the king first gets to fight him." David said.
"Sounds fair." Francisca said.
"This isn't a game, idiot." Ruenheid said.
"I was just trying to be fair." David said. "After all, like Lloyd said, we don't know which path leads to the king. We can't push our luck here."
"You're right. I'm sorry. There just has to be a way we can get through this maze quickly. I apologize for calling you an idiot. This is the problem of being a Knight, you take things too seriously." Ruenheid said as she stabbed her sword into the ground. "Francisca, can you fly up and give us an aerial view?"
"I'll see what I can find." Francisca said as she rose. "Hmm. Three buildings. The main castle, a set of storehouses and one large stone temple." she said.
"David. Comrades?" Ruenheid asked holding a hand out.
"Yeah." David said as he shook it. "Let's go."
"Yes." Ruenheid said as her sword became covered in light and they continued on before reaching the castle. "We made it."
"Ah...seems like things are going good for…" Darumaka said coming out only to be met by the heroes. She slowly closed the door as she went running as the heroes barged in.
"Here's Johnny!" Simon said.
"The Shining, really?" Peridot asked.
"I thought it would be funny. Come on you thought it was funny too, right?" Simon asked.
"I thought the reference was spot on." Korekiyo said.
"Thank you, Kiyo." Simon said.
"Alright, where did that golem go?" Saki asked.
"That was more of a Daruma...and I think she ran towards the west wing." Korekiyo said.
"Should some of us go after her while the rest head to the throne room?" Saaya asked.
"I'll handle her. You all can try and find the king." Korekiyo said heading down the path.
"Alright. Onward!" Ruenheid said pointing her sword forward.
"You know Ruenheid, you're really a great person to be around once warmed up too. I like your mentality." Toma said as they advanced.
"U-Uh, thank you, Toma. But please, call me Rue." Ruenheid said a bit flustered.
"Oh, okay Rue." Toma said. "I didn't know she had a flustered side."
"She's basically a Tsundere when you compliment or flatter her. All in all, she's a great friend and knight." Lilliana said.
Meanwhile, Darumaka had made it to a strange room filled with fossils. "Don't worry. I'll get all of you out." She said grabbing each fossil, one by one and loading them into an escape capsule. "The plan originally was to convert the remains of this city into a fossil restoration facility so we can reconstitute these extinct pokemon. But we can't do it with these people. I can at least get these out." she said finishing before firing the capsule off into the distant woods.
"Found you." Korekiyo said as he entered the room.
"You don't frighten me. As general...I will not let you pass." Darumaka said.
"We shall see." Korekiyo said drawing a long thorned whip.
"A whip?" Darumaka asked.
"Yes. While I have a law, it's useless for combat, so I've taken to using something more...painful." Korekiyo said cracking it.
"Torture, is it? I'll have you know I'm Cragspur's Top General. I may be small, but I still can beat you." Darumaka said.
"Sorry...but you can't." Korekiyo said snapping his whip at Darumaka sending her flying only for her to land by pulling her arms and legs in and bobbing on the ground. "Interesting, you reduce damage by pulling your limbs in and balancing...like an actual daruma. Not bad...but bobbing only lasts for a long while." he said repeatedly attacking her with his whip, causing a lot of damage as it racked up more and more until she lied there defeated. "My apologies. I couldn't bring myself to hold back."
On the monitors, Boldore could see all that was going on. "Seems even Darumaka can't stand up to them. Guess it's all on me." Boldore said turning around as the door broke down.
"Special delivery for a one Boldore." David said.
"Well...seems you found my throne room. I know what you want. My throne and kingdom, right?" Boldore asked.
"Exactly." Flamberge said. "Rue, why don't you take this one?"
"Alright. As Knight of the Lourdes Order, Spirit Force, and Hero Alliance. I will be the warrior of light that protects the people she cares about. Prepare yourself, Boldore!" Ruenheid said as she pointed her sword forward.
(Cue- Blinded by the Light-Dissidia 012)
"A sword like that has no chance of harming me, little girl. So..let's get it on. Can't go waiting for 100 years." Boldore said. "Rock Blast!" He said firing blasts at her.
"Pierce through!" Ruenheid yelled as she launched a wave of light downward, vaporizing the attacks. "Here I come!" She yelled as she bathed her sword in light and charged forward.
"Harden!" Boldore said as the sword bounced off his body. "You gotta try way harder if you wanna win." Boldore replied.
"Burst!" Ruenheid yelled as her sword glowed bright as she slammed it down, launching a huge ray of light at Boldore.
"Rock Polish!" Boldore said as it became shinier before it dodged the attack quickly.
"What is with this guy?" Flamberge said.
"Unlike all those younguns who focus all on attack and attack...I focus more on strategy and strengthening my defenses more." Boldore said. "I win by matching my wits and outsmarting my opponents."
"Don't get so cocky, no matter how strong an opponent is, there's always a weakness." A voice said as a blue haired woman jumped through the window and launched a wave of ice and water at Boldore. She wore a blue combat skirt and swimsuit bra covered with a leather belt over it, blue boots with black stockings, a headband with a ribbon and blue rose on her hair, a sleeveless velvet cloak with gold linings, and a sword with a blue blade and a large blue rose on the guard in her left hand as she looked at Boldore.
"Now there...I don't think we've ever been acquainted. I've seen you around my kingdom before in the last few days, but I never took ya for an attacker. Just who are ya?" Boldore asked.
"I am Selena of the Six Heroes and the reincarnation of Shiva, on my master's and Zelos' honor. I challenge you to combat." Selena said as she pointed her sword Lexida at Boldore before turning to the group. "It's been a long time."
"A little too long, I'd say." Zelos said. "You really had me worried for a moment."
"My apologies, Zelos. I promise you a dance and kiss when this is over." Selena said as she winked at Zelos. "Till then, I shall overthrow the king."
"Rue, Zelos knows this girl! Work together with her and beat the stuffing outta Boldore!" Flamberge said.
"Will ya be quiet. I will only fight one opponent at the time. And considering this young lady was lack luster...I wouldn't mind battling someone who proclaims themselves a hero. But let's make things interesting. You win, you get the kingdom, I win...you become the general of my army here." Boldore said.
"Go get him, Selena!" Zelos cheered.
"With pleasure. Brave Burst, Estreal Bloom!" Selena yelled as she waved Lexida and Blue Roses on vines launched towards Boldore, hitting two weak points and dealing heavy damage. "Super Brave Burst, Crysta Laviena!" She yelled, waving Lexida again, causing crystals of water and ice to pop up underneath Boldore. "Do you concede, King Boldore?"
"Hardly." Boldore said slowly getting up. "My ability is Sturdy. Those hits may have been hard hitting...but I've withstood worse. Now...let's finish this. With one big Earthquake." He said lifting a foot.
"Selena!" Ruenheid yelled before Jexi stopped her.
"It's a solo battle between her and Boldore. We can't interfere." Jexi said as Ruenheid nodded.
"Overdrive, Mercurius Blade!" Selena yelled as a red aura formed around her as she charged toward Boldore on a path of ice before slicing through him. "Forgive me, you are wounded, but have fought with honor. It is over, King Boldore." She said as she looked at Boldore.
"Yeah...I had a feeling this was how things were gonna go." Boldore said as he fell to the ground unconscious.
"*Sigh* It is over. Is everyone alright?" Selena asked as she dispelled Lexida and walked towards the group.
"Yep. We're all good here. Well, not exactly all of us." Zelos said.
"Oh yes, a kiss for my prince charming." Selena said as she kissed Zelos on the cheek.
"Good to have you back. When I heard that you sacrificed yourself, I thought that…" Zelos said as tears started to fall.
"Shh. It's alright. I may have lost most of my power, but I was able to reincarnate into this form so I could be with you and my summoner." Selena said as she put her hands on Zelos' cheeks and wiped the tears away.
"Still, it's good to have you back." Zelos said.
"Speaking of which, you doing okay, Ruenheid?" David asked.
"Yes. I am fine. I apologize for my actions earlier, I shouldn't have called you an idiot when you're a league above me. When I fought him… I felt so powerless. My attacks didn't have any effect at all." Ruenheid said.
"All the more reason for you to keep getting stronger, so that you wouldn't suffer such a defeat again." David said.
"Yes. Thank you, David." Ruenheid said.
"No problem. I'm always happy to help people in need. Now, we seem to be done here. Let's head back. Aelita and Miu are probably finished up by now." David said.
"Seems like it." Saki said as a white dome went over them as time reversed.
"Hey, Dave. Did you really mean what you said back at Cragspur?" Fulgore asked.
"Of course I did. Because...I was in the same situation." David said. "When we were in one of my earliest outings in Glenwood, I fought against Invel of the Spriggan 12. Much like Ruenheld with Boldore, my attacks had no effect either, and I can only watch as Invel beat me to within an inch of my life. He probably would've killed me if Gray hadn't stepped in."
"I see. You felt the same way Rue did." Cyrille said.
"You would know. You were there. Well, not directly, but…" David said.
"We get it. You felt completely defeated, and you kept getting stronger and unlocking new abilities so that you won't suffer such a loss again." Leonora said.
"We all have our defeats at some point. The point of defeat is to learn from it in order to avoid the event from happening once again." Jexi said.
"That's right. And in a way, I made up for that during the Ultron Sigma incident." David said. "But now, he's probably out of Universal Prison."
"I thought he was destroyed." Arnice said.
"He was talking about Invel." Tapu Bulu said.
"Hmm. Considering Invel's crimes as a war criminal, its likely. I don't know which prisoners were transferred to that government prison...but...we can't rule it out." Jack said.
"First I'm thinking about Diana and Cheetah, and now Invel. This whole Titans incident is making my past catch up with me." David said.
"We'll be ready, so don't worry David. Also, look over there." Arnice said pointing to Selena and Zelos waltzing in the distance.
"At first, I thought he wouldn't go near her because of his trauma, but they seem really happy together." Lloyd said.
"Yeah, I guess meeting Selena as Shiva changed it." Vargas said. "I'm really happy for them."
"Nothing like a Happy Ending. But it's not over yet." Toma said.
"He's right. There's still Viperia. And Leia, we already know a certain someone is waiting for you there." David said.
"While that is true, we need to be wary. From what I remember, that kingdom is basically...a kingdom of poison ninjas." Bartolomeo said.
"We got ninjas on our side too. We'll be ready when the time comes, until then we enjoy this moment of peace." Stoj said.
Meanwhile in Viperia…
"Cragspur has failed in their conquest of this world, Lady Golbat." A soldier said.
"I already know. We are always observant of the tides of war. But...we cannot afford to fall so easily. Zubat...I want you to bring me...the five ninja masters." Golbat said.