Note: To see descriptions of each of these characters that aren't described that well, refer to my other fic, "Insert Game Title Here: Gotta Cheer 'em All!". Specific chapters will be ~(noted)~ for each character at the end of the paragraph. For non-OCs, like the original Agents, just look them up online.

Also: Grab a sammich. This is gonna be a long one.

~Cheer Base~

A sliding door opened, and Travis, now in a pair of jeans and a golden yellow tank top, walked in barefoot with his hands in his pockets. Walking with him (still on his hind legs) was Yena. Travis sighed, looking down dejectedly. "It's gone," he murmured. "It's actually gone." ~(Trav's desc: Chapter 7: No Sleep Tonight. He's the target that mission.)~

"Hey, at least we're alive," pointed out a familiar voice. Travis looked up. The room appeared to be a lounge, with a few different couches, some around a coffee table (which also featured cushions) and others facing a huge-screen TV hooked up to a Wii U. The floor was wood-paneled and the walls were wallpapered with a soft yellow floral pattern. Sitting in the couches or kneeling on the cushions were many familiar faces—EBA, Ouendan, Pokédan, and...

"Zante! Vesp!" Travis smiled, trotting happily over to an overweight zangoose with a pecha scarf around his neck and a seviper wrapped happily around his middle sitting in a chair by an empty fireplace. Zante the zangoose held up a paw as he approached. Travis chuckled. "Yeah, you're right," he shrugged.

Zante shrugged. "Well, when yer right, yer right," he smirked in perfect Human.

Vesp the seviper gestured with her tail. "Dinner's been served already," she informed. "It's quarter to eight at night already. You should go to the kitchen and find something to eat, dear."

Zante raised an eyebrow. "I still think you sound like an old lady when you say 'dear' like that," he said. Vesp gave him a warning squeeze and he laughed.

Travis smiled. "You two are too weirdly perfect for each other," he observed. He looked around at the rest of the room. "So, we're in a place called Melee Arena, huh? How long was I out?"

"A day and a half, pretty much," answered a large man in a black suit with Kamina-esque shades, long curly black hair, and a black cowboy hat. "For a werewolf, you can sure take a while to get up."

"Agent Chieftain," greeted Travis, turning and bowing to him politely. He blushed. "Sorry about that—I had a long day that day, as you know..."

Chieftain nodded. "Yeah, and you did a great job," he complimented. "Still think your first mission should've been in your own world, but..." he shrugged.

"Hey, blame your boss for that," snarked a young brown-haired man in a half-grey, half-red baseball cap who walked over.

"He's our boss, too, y'know," reminded the black-haired, bespectacled man with him, half-eying at him.

"And you'd better keep your tongue in line around me, newbie," Chieftain warned, frowning down at him.

"Chieftain, relax—he's my responsibility, so I'll deal with him later," Travis held up his hands. His stomach gurgled, and he blushed again. "For now, though, um...could you point me towards the kitchen? I'm kinda hungry..."

As Chieftain led Travis to the kitchen, Yena stayed behind with the other two humans. He looked interestedly at them. "So, Frank, Dorian, you guys did your first cheer?" he asked. "And it was in their world, not ours?" ~(Frank and Dorian desc: Chapter 7, but don't expect much)~

Frank and Dorian nodded, smiling. "Yeah, and we kicked ass!" Frank added, giving a thumbs-up.

"We were quite successful," Dorian shrugged.

Yena smiled, tail wagging. "Didn't hear about this! Couldja tell me how it went?" he asked.

"No, but they could do you one better," answered a young Japanese man in a lengthened gakuran with black hair streaked with red, speaking perfect English. He was kneeling at the table and smiling over at Yena.

"Oh? How so, Kioshi?" asked Dorian, raising an eyebrow.

Kioshi jerked his head to the tv. "The facility here records every cheer we do and we can review them on the tv."

"Really? Wow, I gotta get me one of those," laughed Zante, getting up and walking towards the screen. Yena, Frank, and Dorian walked over to it, too.

"Here, let me," offered a beautiful, white-haired woman in a provocative red cowgirl outfit sitting at a couch with a laptop. She held a remote up and fiddled with the tv while the audience sat in her couch and the other one. A few button presses later, and the tv let out a mechanical whine as a second screen, equal in size, came from the bottom. "Alright, I set it to full replay, so you can see the mission briefing, too," the woman said, tossing the remote to Dorian. "You might wanna fill 'em in on the stuff beforehand, first, though. Then push play."

Dorian nodded, blushing and somewhat nervous. "Th-Thanks, Diva Foxx!"

Travis came in just then, a burrito in hand. (They'd had Mexican that night.) "Whatcha guys doin'?" he asked, coming over.

"They're gonna show me your guys' first mission," Yena answered happily. "You should tell me about how it started, first, though, since you're probably the most reliable narrator of you three..."

"Hey!" Frank and Dorian fake-pouted.

"...Well, okay, Dorian's not far behind."

Frank half-eyed and Dorian smirked. Travis chuckled and sat down next to his friends. "Yeah, I can't argue there...Alright, let's see," he tilted his head back, thinking. "...Okay, here's how it started..."

*FLASHBACK!*

~Sinnoh, Day Before Yesterday~

"...mmmmmm..." Travis groggily got up and blinked. He was in a hard-to-find wooded hollow, lying in a sleeping bag on the ground. It was morning. He sniffed the air and detected, to his delight, "Bacon?"

In a flash, Frank, who had been sound asleep next to him, was awake and wide-eyed. "BACON! Where?"

Dorian, already up and getting on a pair of golden yellow slacks, shook his head and sighed. "I dunno which is worse—you or the werewolf," he mused.

The dark hand stirring a pan of scrambled eggs stopped. Dorian looked over and saw the owner of the hand, a beautiful young black woman with a decent-sized, white-streaked black afro and brown eyes, crouching over a fire with a pair of pans on a wire grill tray. She wore a tight-fitting v-neck that exposed her midriff and torn-jeans short-shorts, both a deep—not dark—green. Sleek black leather engineer-style boots, with adjustment buckles at the ankle and the top, with 2-inch-high heels covered her feet and legs. She was looking at the bacon, face away from his sight, but she resumed scrambling the eggs as suddenly as she had stopped. "My opinion? The idiot's worse," she chuckled. Her voice was full and somewhat deep, hanging around the middle of the alto range. She had a slight accent.

Travis raised his eyebrows at her. "Oh! Um..." He thought a second, looking up. "...Clara, right? Clara Shaymin? I keep forgetting everyone's names..." He blushed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head and ruffling his impressive head of hair.

The woman nodded, own impressive hair bobbing with the motion. "Yep, that's me," she confirmed. She glanced over at him, raising a slender black eyebrow. "Why, 'cuz we keep going by our codenames, instead?" She looked back at her food. As Travis replied, she lifted the pans of eggs and bacon off the fire and onto a nearby flat stone and began to scrape the contents onto platters full of bacon and eggs.

"Well, yeah...though I dunno why I keep forgetting your name," the werewolf stretched, raising an eyebrow back at her.

"Yeah—Clara Shaymin, Diva Bloom..." Frank shrugged, getting up and stretching, himself, and smirking. "Honestly, why'd you agree to go with that one? 'Sass' sounded just fine."

Clara shrugged. "Just like how 'Bloom' sounds better, I guess," she replied. She turned and shouted, "Yo, lazybones! Soup's on!" in the direction of a large green tarp tent.

"Alright," came back two female voices.

"We'll be out in a sec," one of them assured. This one was light and a bit deeper than Clara's.

"We don't need to wear the jackets or visors yet, right?" asked the other, bright and higher than either of the others'.

"I ain't," Clara answered with a shrug. She looked at Travis. "Any objections, there, chief?"

Travis, currently getting his own pair of golden yellow slacks on, laughed, shaking his head and whipping his hair around. "No, just have 'em on before we go, and I'm Wolf—Chieftain might get confused if you keep calling me 'chief'."

Dorian walked over to him. He had added a pair of shiny gray dress shoes and a gray dress shirt to his gray-belted (silver-buckled) pants. The shirt was French-cuffed with silver links. "When are we leaving, again? It's 8:37 now."

Travis buckled his belt. "Ummm...well, after we're done eating and everyone gets here is my guess," he shrugged. "S'long as we get there before 9, 9:15, we should be okay." He looked around. "I know that Zante and Vesp were finishing up their lecture to some local pokémon..." he murmured to himself. (Zante, having learned to speak Human on his own and Vesp, having learned from Zante, were "Pokémon Linguists" who taught other pokémon how to speak Human. Since Travis, Frank, and Dorian traveled on a pokémon journey together around Sinnoh, the odd couple decided to stick with them and give small lessons on basic Human terms to other pokémon they meet.) Travis raised an eyebrow. "Where're the other two?"

"They said they'd be coming—" Dorian began when a kshh-kshh-kshh sound met their ears. They turned to the woods and saw a shape moving towards them. As it got closer, they could see it was a familiar face—one of a boy in a bandanna, shades, ear buds, and fancy roller blades in addition to his own similar outfit to theirs. He was making use of the relatively hard dirt of the area to skate along at a high speed.

The problem was, he was coming straight towards Travis, Frank, and Dorian.

"Rudieeeee!" cried the three, scrambling to get out of the way before they were run over. Frank tripped on his pants, trying to hop on one leg while he put the other in. Rudie, smirking, jumped onto a tree trunk and hopped off of that to sail clear over their heads. He landed in a skid of dirt, sending it flying right onto the fire, putting it out, transitioning smoothly to a feet-together stand. ~(Rudie desc: Chapter 17: Aisle 10. Ctrl F "Citareen" and you'll reach his paragraph.)~

He pulled out his ear buds and crossed his arms. "Took care of the fire for ya," he said. "Hope ya didn't have to make coffee still."

Clara blinked in surprise as she inspected the food. "And not a speck of dirt on the chow," she marveled in a low voice. "D'aim, kid's too good..."

"Bud's comin' soon, too," Rudie thumbed as he glided over to the food, grabbing a plate from the stack laid beside the platters. "Now c'mere and grab some eggs before I make you regret it."

Travis and Dorian frowned (while Frank, pulling up his pants, scowled) as they walked over. "Did you just...skate over dirt?" asked Dorian, raising an eyebrow and sweatdropping while he grabbed a plate to get some eggs.

"Yep."

"...Okay, then."

"We're finished!"

Everyone turned to see two other attractive young women coming over. One, light-skinned with relaxed green eyes, was somewhat tall and had her long blonde hair in a braid. The other was slightly shorter than Clara, had fair skin and wide blue eyes, and wore her medium-length brunette hair straight around her, the ends curling up. Both had the same outfits as Clara. The blonde held her hand up. "Hey, Ruds," she greeted. She was the one with the slightly deeper voice than Clara's.

"Yo, Milly," Rudie flicked his hand up in return before forking some egg into his mouth.

The brunette held her fists to her face and squeezed her eyes, smiling. "Ooooh! We're going into another world! I can't wait!" she squealed. (She was, of course, the bright voice.)

"Hold your horses, there, Peony," Travis eased, smiling. "We've gotta eat first, and Bud isn't here yet, either. We can't leave without him."

Peony giggled and stuck out her tongue. "I know that, silly!" she teased. "I'm just excited, that's all!"

A couple minutes later, another call came through the forest. "Hey! Starting without me? How rude!" came a deep, amused voice.

The group turned to see a tall, medium-build young Latino man with normal, short black hair. He wore his own suit, complete with double-breasted golden-yellow jacket and tie, a dignified (smirk notwithstanding) expression, a pair of rectangle-lens shades, short, curt sideburns, and a silver ring in his left nostril.

Frank smirked. "Well, if you weren't spending so much time making sure you were all stuffy and straight, you would've gotten here faster, Bud!" he called back.

"Honest, you've got to learn some manners! Don't speak with your mouth full!" Bud frowned back. Frank sniggered.

After Bud got his food, Dorian, finished with his food and holding up a clipboard, looked left and right at everyone, then at their leader. "Alright, who else needs to get here?" he quizzed Travis.

"Zante and Vesp," Travis replied, shrugging on his jacket. "If you're finished with your food, start packing up, guys—don't just stand around."

Dorian nodded, looking at the list on the clipboard. "Yep. We'll wait for 'em to get back, then I'll do roll call."

One minute later, Zante and Vesp returned. They wore no clothing apart from the pink Pecha Scarf Zante wore around his chubby neck. "You guys saved us some meat, right?" Vesp called, giving a warning eyeridge raise to the humans.

"Of course we did," Clara chuckled. "I know my diners, so I made sure I had enough bacon."

"Good!" Vesp smiled sweetly, showing off her huge fangs. "Because otherwise, I would've had to have hurt everyone!"

"N-Now, now, honey," a sweatdropping Zante cooed nervously, patting his beloved on the head. "It's not nice to poison people who have an important appointment to keep with Commander Khan..."

Vesp stuck her tongue out at Zante. "'Fair' isn't always 'nice', dear," she teased.

"Then you should work on your definition of 'fair'," Zante half-eyed, smirking. Vesp play-bit him on the shoulder and Zante (after flinching) laughed.

The humans sweatdropped as the duo stopped by the food. "This must be the thousandth time someone's said this, but you guys are weird," Peony commented, putting her hands on her hips.

"Nah, just the 200th, but yeah," shrugged Zante, grabbing some bacon and eggs on a plate and setting it down to get another. When he sat, he ate from his own plate while balancing the other on his stomach and arm, letting Vesp eat from it. They'd done this every time they ate human food with the group, so this at least wasn't unusual.

"Alright, that looks like everyone." Dorian adjusted his glasses. "Primary roll call!" He readied his pencil. "Arcanine, Bud!"

"Present," nodded Bud.

"Check. Carter, Milly!"

"Here," Milly held a hand up.

"Check. Shaymin, Clara!"

"Yep!" Clara confirmed.

"Check. Monkshood, Travis!"

"Existent," Travis chuckled.

"Check. Thatcher, Dorian, here, check. Thompson, Rudie!"

"Groovin'," Rudie snapped a finger.

"Check. Torchman, Peony!"

"Right here!" Peony jumped, waving a hand enthusiastically.

"Check. Vesp?"

"...Here," Vesp lifted her tail after swallowing her last mouthful of food.

"Check. Walker, Frank!"

"Not here!" Frank called.

"Check. Zante?"

"Bringin' up the rear," Zante chuckled.

"And check. Okay!" Dorian checked his watch. "We're doing good! 8:45! Let's all work fast and pack up so we can leave by 9!"

"You heard the man! Get workin'!" Travis backed up, crossing his arms. He half-eyed to Frank. "I'm talkin' to you, Frank."

"Right, right, don't have to bite my ass about it," Frank playfully grumbled, rolling up his sleeping bag.

With everyone's help, they had packed up the tent, supplies, and other gear in ten minutes. The humans had finished dressing by then. Travis wore a futuristic (or maybe 80's) visor-like pair of green-rimmed sunglasses with a semicircular, wraparound, relatively thin long rectangular strip lens. (Kinda-sorta like Cyclops' visor, but curved around. You know the kind.) Frank wore bad-boy triangle-lensed shades (not Kamina-style; think shorter and more regular-sided versions of Chieftan's shades). Dorian just wore clip-on shades over his glasses.

The girls didn't wear shades—they each wore the same kind of plastic wraparound visors, shaped with the outlines of sunglasses and tinted light blue. Clara wore hers up on her head instead of over her eyes. As well, the girls had also put on what looked like a combination of bomber jackets and biker jackets—they were open, breast-length black leather biker jackets, but their sleeves ended in bomber jacket-like tufts of fluffy off-white faux fur.

After everyone finished, Travis looked around and nodded. "Alright, looks like we're all set," he announced, smiling. "And with 3 minutes to spare!"

"Then shut up and let's get this started with," Frank smirked.

"Hush that," Travis ordered firmly over his shoulder to Frank. "We've gotta behave around Commander Kahn. That means you." Frank just humphed and crossed his arms in an exaggerated sulk. Travis pulled out something like a police badge and flipped it open, touching a finger to the plastic over the id card (which had a blank id, for some reason). The rectangle glowed before revealing itself to be a screen.

The serious, aviator-wearing, old face of Commander Kahn looked out at him from the screen, fingers steepled on his desk. He nodded, and Travis saluted. "So, are you ready to come?" he asked.

"Ready when you are, sir!" Travis replied.

Kahn nodded again before looking to the side. He looked back a second later. "Everyone stand back a bit, we're opening the portal to your position," he instructed. The group took a few steps back from the center of the hollow.

There, with a sizzling sound, opened a large, blue-rimmed oval portal. "And this time," Kahn added with a raised eyebrow, the group looking back at Travis' badge, "walk, please."

Travis, Frank, Dorian, Zante, and Vesp grinned sheepishly and chuckled embarrassedly, looking at each other. Rudie just smirked and chuckled to himself. Travis looked back at the badge. "Coming, sir!" he saluted before stowing the device in his jacket. He looked at the others. "'Kay, guys, follow me," he nodded before walking into the portal. The others followed one at a time.

~EBA HQ~

As soon as Zante and Vesp came through, Diva Foxx pressed a button on the side of the arch-like portal mechanism. The portal shrank and vanished.

Commander Kahn looked at the group assembled. "Welcome back, returning Agents and allies, and welcome, first-timers, to EBA HQ," he nodded. "For you new ones, I am Commander Kahn, leader of the Elite Beat Agents. Today marks a very important occasion," he continued. "Today is the day the first branch of the Elite Beat Agents is officially integrated into the rest of the agency. But first, I must ask a few questions." He stood and put his hands behind his back. "Agents, sound off!" he called.

"Like we practiced," mouthed Travis out the corner of his mouth. He saluted. "Agent BA-1 Wolf, Sweatin' Rank Lead!"

"Agent BA-4 Turner, Left Backup!" Frank saluted.

"Agent BA-3 Garret, Right Backup!" Dorian saluted.

"Agent BA-2 Grind, Cruisin' Rank Lead!" Rudie crossed his arms.

"Agent BA-5 Slide, Breezin' Rank Lead!" Bud saluted.

"Diva BD-1 Bloom, Hard ROCK! Rank Lead!" Clara saluted.

"Diva BD-3 Sunny, Left Backup!" Peony saluted.

"Diva BD-2 Jazz, Right Backup!" Milly saluted.

Zante and Vesp remained silent, since they weren't officially part of the team.

(Pay attention to who owns each code name; these characters shall be referenced as such from now on.)

Kahn raised an eyebrow at Grind. "What are the goals of the Elite Beat Agents?" he continued.

"To help the world achieve its goals through the power of song and dance, to give the best performances possible, to protect the freedom of music throughout the universe, and to nurture positivity in the hearts of all living things!" the Agents and Divas answered in unison.

"What is the purpose of your division?"

"To carry out the goals of the Elite Beat Agents in the world inhabited by pokémon to the best of our abilities!"

"What is the most important part of being a member of the Agency?"

"To keep on rockin' as hard as you can!"

"Very good!" Kahn nodded. He turned his head to the main entrance. "Agents, Divas, front and center!" he called. While Diva Foxx began moving towards the group, all the other Agents and Divas entered through the door.

"Take the badge handed to you by your main EBA counterpart," he instructed. As he spoke, the other Agents and Divas moved to stand in front of each of them. (Agents Lock, Meyers, and Hunter simply stood to the side, watching. Wolf noticed bemusedly that Lock had shaved his peach fuzz for the occasion.) When all of them reached the newbies, they each held out a closed, gray leather badge holder. Wolf took his from Chieftan, Turner his from the white, red-afroed Derek, Garret his from the black, hat-wearing Morris, Grind his from the orange-pompadoured J, Bloom hers from the blonde-haired Starr, Sunny hers from the brunette pigtail-braided Missy, and Jazz hers from the white-haired Foxx. When the badges had been taken, the veteran Agents and Divas walked to one side of the room to join Lock, Meyers, and Hunter.

Kahn nodded slowly before announcing, "I, Commander Kahn of the Elite Beat Agents, hereby officially establish the first branch of the Elite Beat Agents, the Elite Beat Agents Pocket Division—the EBA-P! Welcome to the EBA, Pocket Division!"

"THANK YOU, SIR!" saluted the new Agents and Divas, smiling.

Kahn sat again. "As you should know, the badges you have received are to be on your person at all times," he instructed. "If a target is relatively nearby, or if we detect one once we send up our satellite in your world, they will beep and display a briefing when opened, which I will be a part of. We shall outfit you with the standard repertoire of Agent gear and gadgets which you can use to reach and keep up with your targets. Your badges shall also assist with the music part of the mission. I shall be observing your progress from here. When finished, I will contact you with the badges and we will announce the results of the mission."

Everyone nodded in understanding. They'd all heard this before and knew what to do.

"Now, then, why don't we get started?" Kahn looked over to Foxx. "Come with Foxx here, and she will give you each your gear."

Foxx nodded and started walking towards the door, the rest turning to follow.

Just then, an alarm began beeping loudly, and the lights flashed red. Kahn turned his chair to the console and pressed a key, halting the alarms' noise. Everyone stopped to look. Kahn raised an eyebrow as he read one of the many screens in the control room. "Hmmmm...On second thought..."

On the main screen was a green map of the planet, a target crosshair pointed at New York City. The map faded to black (reappearing on a smaller side screen), and the mission briefing began to unfold in its place...

*/FLASHBACK!*

~Cheer Base~

"...and that's when we saw the briefing begin," Travis finished.

"Which means it's time to start the show," Foxx said, clicking a button on the remote. The briefing started on the two television screens.

-:VvVvV:-

~Central Park~

It was a sunny Saturday morning in New York City. Walking along the path of its famous park was a familiar blonde-haired duo: A twin-ponytail-wearing girl resting her head against a well-built, short-and-spiky-haired boy in a number shirt carrying a football. The girl was carrying a picnic basket.

"Man, you picked the perfect day for a picnic, babe!" the boy smiled, looking around the park. "I can't wait for lunch!"

The girl blushed, smiling as well. "Hey, Sophie said the weather'd be great today, and you know how she's always right, Donnie," she replied.

(Jane, 18, babysitter. She's been going steady with Don Tanner for about a year now. She's planning on spending the whole day with her boyfriend.)

"Heh...Hey, there's a great spot over there," Don pointed. A large patch of grass lay unoccupied. "We could play catch there! C'mon, we got time before the movie!"

Jane sweatdropped, but smiled and nodded. "Sh-Sure, why not?" 'Sometimes I wonder if football's the only thing he thinks about...'

Don ran over to one end of the clearing and turned to Jane. "Here comes my spiral!" he called before throwing the football.

Jane squeaked, setting down the basket. "EEK! I'm not ready!" she protested. She didn't move in time to catch the ball, and it bounced off to ground. "I'll get it!"

They tried again. "Catch!" Bounce! "I'll get it!"

And again. "Catch it!" Bounce! "I'll get it!"

And again. "C'mon, catch it!" Bounce! "I'll get it!"

On the fifth time, Jane was following the ball when she found it get picked up by another pair of hands. "Well, well..."

"Huh?" Jane looked up into the face of a long-haired, orange-tanned, skimpily-dressed (including tacky, gaudy flip-flops) blonde with way too much make-up and oversized shades.

The new girl lifted the ball up. "Looks like someone hasn't learned anything from her boyfriend," she jeered, smirking.

Jane frowned, affronted. "Excuse me?" she challenged.

The other girl ignored her. "Yo, Tanner! This yours?" she called as she unleashed a surprisingly good throw.

"Yeah! Thanks, Bella!" Don answered, catching the ball.

Jane, raising her eyebrows, looked back and forth at Don and Bella, who'd pushed up her sunglasses to reveal over-lined blue eyes. "Huh? You know each other?" she asked.

"Yeah, um..." Don came over, an embarrassed smile on his face. The smile turned to a frown as he looked away, hand on the back of his head. "...Could I...talk to you for a bit, Jane?" he asked.

Jane blinked. "Uh...okay."

A moment later, in a different part of the park, under some trees...

"You're WHAAAAAAAT?"

"Yeah, I'm, uh...I'm really sorry," Don said, hands behind back as he looked away in shame.

Jane stood looking up at him in utter shock. "You've got to be kidding!" she cried. "Breaking up with me!" 'And "I'm really sorry" is all you can say?'

"Look, our relationship hasn't been all that...great," Don rubbed the back of his neck, blushing. "I mean...you're one of the coolest girls I've ever known, and you're great, and I still wanna be great friends with you, but...I just dunno if we're all that...compatible, y'know?" He looked at her sheepishly, trying for sympathy and understanding.

Jane gave him horror and confusion. "But...But...we've only fought, like, twice..." she whimpered, eyes watering. "Why so sudden...?"

Don shrugged and reasoned innocently, "Well, um...I just thought that, ah, I should quit cold turkey, that's all. I-I mean, aren't all break-ups kinda like that?"

"COLD—" Jane stopped her rebuttal when she thought for a moment. She frowned and looked away and down. "Well...yeah, I guess they kinda are, sometimes..." she muttered. "But why—"

"Really? Cool! Okay, c'mon, we're still gonna have fun today as friends, though!" Don called over his shoulder as he started running back, smiling.

"WHAH?" Jane blanched. "Is he avoiding the question...?" 'Why did he really wanna dump me?'

When she caught up with him, she saw Don talking to Bella. Don looked up as Jane arrived. "By the way, is it alright if Bella joins us?" he asked.

"Uh...Now that it isn't a date anymore, sure, I...guess..." Jane answered, looking disappointed and confused.

"Great! Thanks, Jane!" Don grinned. "Now, what do you wanna do first, babe?"

'"BABE"!' Jane stopped dead in her tracks, turning white in disbelief. 'But...but...he always called me babe...'

While Don was walking off, Bella gave Jane an evil little wink. "Thanks for the guy, girl," she whispered before trotting off after Don. "Wait up, Donnie~!"

Jane stood there for a moment more, tears starting to well in her eyes, staring aghast at the situation. 'I'm right...I...He...She...She stole him from me...' she realized. 'My...My Donnie...'

She couldn't take it anymore. She wobbled. She trembled. She rattled. She reared her head to the heavens and cried out a tearful,

"HEEEEEEAALLLP!"

The image of Jane crying suddenly tinted with green. It was on the main screen of the control room. Commander Kahn was looking at it. "EBA-P."

"YESSIR!" came the response of the Agents and Divas off-screen.

"Jane is an 18-year-old babysitter who has abruptly, without a well-defined reason, been dumped for a...erm..."

"Skank, sir?" suggested Turner. (Wolf smacked him.)

"Not how I would put it, but yes," Kahn continued, sweatdropping. "Your mission is to help her regain her boyfriend. Who will be going?"

A pause. "Sir! Me, Turner, and Garret!" replied Wolf.

Kahn nodded. "Alright, then..." He began to turn, standing. "Agents are..." He finished, whipping his pointing finger out. "...GO!"

-:-:-

(-) (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I don't like your girlfriend!

(-) (No way! No way!)

(-) I think you need a new one

(-) (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I could be your girlfriend

(-) *guitar*

(-) (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I know that you like me

(-) (No way! No way!)

(-) I know it's not a secret

(-) (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I want to be your girlfriend

(-) *guitar*

The EBA convertible roars open along the streets of New York. Driving is J, and riding are Wolf, Turner, and Garret. Turner is holding onto his hat, while Garret is fighting Wolf's hair flying into his face. The car skids to a halt in the middle of the park and out leaps Wolf, Turner, and Garret, landing in front of a surprised Jane. Wolf shows her his badge as the three let out a """HEY!""".

-:-:-Life's No Picnic! Love Triangles and Boyfriends!-:-:-

That title flew across the upper tv screen on the replay, being the title of the episode (mission). "Courtesy of the Pocket Division—The Elite Beat Agents are at your service!" announced Wolf, grinning. "You go beat that wife-wannabe and we'll back you up!"

"You're not..." Jane looked helplessly at J.

J shrugged, raising his eyebrows sympathetically as he smiled. "It's the new Pocket Division's first mission," he explained. He smirked and gave a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, they're here to bring you the same results as last time—fantastic. Break a leg, guys!" J drove off.

Wolf nodded to him, then to the others. "Alright, guys, let's get to work!"

Jane sweatdropped at them, then trotted after Bella and Don. They stopped by the lake, and Jane looked on as Bella suggested, "Hey, let's go feed some ducks!"

"Feeding ducks? Cool!" Don enthused.

Jane bit her lip. "But...ducks hate me..." she whimpered.

Suddenly, jumping and falling down directly in front of her were the EBA-P, who began their wave. On the replay, this was represented by them jumping down from nowhere onto the bottom television screen while their target remained on top. Jane felt herself filled with the same energy she had last year, when the normal Agents cheered her on, and couldn't help but sway to the beat of the music. "WHOOOOOAA!"

The new Agents whipped out their mics and got to work. """Are you ready?...3! 2! 1! GO!"""

- You're so fine, I want you mine

- You're so delicious

- I think about you all the time

- You're so addictive

- Don't you know what I could do to make you feel alright (alright, alright, alright)?

- Don't pretend I think you know I'm damn precious

- And hell yeah

- I'm the motherfucking princess

- I can tell you like me too and you know I'm right

The Agents began to dance to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" while Jane began taking feed and nervously spreading it out for some ducks. These Agents' moves were similar to the normal Agents' stylish moves, but they added a bit of flair to nearly each one. Back-and-forth motions had more bounce, side arm movements had them point with their index fingers instead of the whole hand, and they formed a sharper angle with their free-handed arms during arrow-like corner-stomps. They danced on a nearby bank, out of sight of their targets. When the section was over, they assumed a standard Agents pose (stand ready, mics to mouths) as their screen faded to black.

Jane tried to feed some ducks with some bread crumbs, like Don and Bella, who were standing a pair of steps from her, towards the background. (The camera was fixed in place on the top television screen.) Initially, Jane was nervously standing and flinging handfuls of feed into the water, but the small flock of ducks pretty much ignored her, all but one old, plump, lazy one eating from Don and Bella. The pair was smiling and looking at the ducks that they fed.

Soon, Jane gained a boost in confidence and knelt down, smiling from the cuteness and excitement, as she let a duck eat from her own hand, other ducks quack~ing contentedly around her and eating food she had spread earlier. When her hand was emptied, she got another scoop and another nearby duck ate from it. Beyond, Don had lost interest in his duck-feeding and was watching Jane with a pleasantly surprised smile on. Bella merely gave a scowl at her, squeezing her bag of feed tightly. No ducks ate from them anymore.

Jane shifted between the two states for a while, but then, once, for a brief moment, she was floundering on the ground, ducks quacking angrily as they swarmed her, nipping at her ("Ow! Ouch! Owwie! Yow!"). Don sweatdropped, frowning both worriedly and embarrassedly at her, as he fed his ducks offhandedly, and Bella laughed at her. A few ducks (since the rest of the flock plus more were attacking Jane) ate from them. Thankfully, this ended almost as soon as it began, and Jane was feeding a happy group once more.

A random person feeding ducks pointed to a large duck with (to many of the viewers' surprise) a mustache waddling along the shore. "Anyone wanna try feeding picky Old Ornery?" he challenged.

"I will!" Jane and Bella both offered, holding up their hands. They stole a quick glare at each other.

Old Ornery stopped and appraised them with half-lidded eyes.

Jane and Bella both crouched, feed in an outstretched palm. ""C'mon!"" both coaxed with welcoming smiles.

Old Ornery blinked.

"C'mere, Old Ornery!"

Old Ornery settled on one and quietly ate some feed...from Jane's hand. Jane smiled sweetly and giggled while Bella looked on in jealous horror. "Hee-hee, that tickles!"

"Wow, nobody can ever feed Old Ornery!" Don marveled at Jane behind her, giving her a thumbs-up.

—O—

(-) She's like so whatever

(-) And you can do so much better

(-) I think we should get together now

(-) And that's what everyone's talkin' about!

Bella took Don's arm and began walking down a path with him, talking to him. Jane saw this and raised her eyebrows. "A romantic walk in the park to the movie?" she muttered. She narrowed her eyes and rose a fist. "I don't think so!"

The Agents began swaying once more; this time, however, Jane was joined by Old Ornery, oddly enough, who held his wings up and everything.

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I don't like your girlfriend!

- (No way! No way!)

- I think you need a new one

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I could be your girlfriend

- *guitar*

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I know that you like me

- (No way! No way!)

- I know it's not a secret

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I want to be your girlfriend

- *guitar*

The Agents began a totally different dance this time. It was standard EBA protocol for Agents—Divas were exempt—that, during the chorus of whatever song they were doing, they use a preplanned dance that does not change between different routines of the same song.

Meanwhile, Jane began walking with Don, the camera fixed in relation to the three to show them side-by-side from an angle as they walked. Jane was doing mediocre at first; both her and Bella walked on either side of a slightly flustered Don, who looked between one and the other as both tried to talk to him, splitting his attention. Then, Jane lost a little confidence, falling somewhat behind, watching and shaking in horror and frustration as Bella took total control of the talk, holding his arm tight. Don looked relieved that only one person was talking to him. This did not last too long—soon, Jane was dominating the conversation while Bella was behind, wearing Jane's previous expression, Jane holding Don's other arm. Don seemed happier talking to Jane than Bella. This and the two-girl talk switched off the remainder of the segment.

The trio rounded a curve—when a pack of cyclists suddenly came the other way right towards them.

"WHOA!" all three exclaimed.

ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM! The cyclists whizzed past. When the dust settled, Don smiled and said, "Whew, those guys should watch out more, huh?" and looked down to his side.

In his arm close to his body was Jane. She smiled up at him, blushing, and nodded. "Yeah...thank you," she said.

Meanwhile, on Don's other side, Bella lay twitching on her back, tire treads on her body and hair and clothes in disarray.

—O—

(-) I can see the way, I see the way you look at me

(-) And even when you look away I know you think of me

(-) I know you talk about me all the time again and again (again, again, again)

The group made it to the theaters, where the marquee read, "Invaders from the Magnetic Planet." "We're just in time, guys!" Don pointed excitedly.

'Time for some snuggling, that's what!' Jane thought excitedly, smiling at Don. She noticed Bella doing the exact same thing, and the two shot electric glares at each other.

The swaying began again, Don joining this time.

- So come over here, tell me what I want to hear

- Better yet make your girlfriend disappear

- I don't want to hear you say her name ever again (and again, and again, and again!)

- She's like so whatever

- And you can do so much better

- I think we should get together now

- And that's what everyone's talkin' about!

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I don't like your girlfriend!

- (No way! No way!)

- I think you need a new one

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I could be your girlfriend

- *guitar*

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I know that you like me

- (No way! No way!)

- I know it's not a secret

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I want to be your girlfriend

- *guitar*

At the movies, the camera showed them side-by-side again, this time head-on. The girls were again on either side of Don. At first, neither girl was trying to snuggle with Don, occasionally grabbing from the bucket of popcorn in his lap, all three watching the movie. Then, Jane got her act together, stopped watching the movie so closely, and snuggled with Don, who smiled and snuggled back with an arm, the two sort of hogging the popcorn, while Bella sulked, slouched in her seat with her arms crossed. However, Jane ended up distracted by the movie again, and quickly found Don and Bella snuggling instead, Bella looking at him, leaving her to watch the two of them in dismay and hurt, raising an arm to try and at least get some popcorn but snatching it back when Bella grabbed some. This was momentary, however, as, after Jane tapped Bella and pointed at the screen to call her attention to the screen to a scene, they got back to the medium status, shifting between okay and good again.

They were watching how they were for a moment after the segment ended, when abruptly, a monster jumped out on-screen. Don, spiked-up hair rippling erratically, yelped, "EE-YAAH!" and jumped clear out of his seat. The movie patrons watched him fly up...and then fall down into Jane's lap, where she held him Scooby-style with a blush and sweatdrop. "Sscaarryy!" he whined. (Bella, totally shocked, could not help but sweatdrop, too.)

Jane chuckled nervously, smiling sympathetically. "It's just a movie, Donnie," she soothed.

Don blushed at this, grinning sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, I knew that," he muttered.

—O—

(-) In a second you'll be wrapped around my finger

(-) 'cause I can, 'cause I can do it better

(-) There's no other

(-) So when's it gonna sink in?

(-) She's so stupid

(-) What the hell were you thinking?

The trio made it back to the park, where they finally set up the picnic. "Man, it's a good thing no bears pilfered our lunch, huh?" Don commented happily while he spread out the checkered blanket.

"Yeah," Jane nodded, smiling. 'Our lunch, that is...'

"Man, I could sure use a great sandwich about now—I'm starving!" Don commented, laughing and patting his stomach.

"I'll make one for you, Donnie~!" sang Bella, grabbing some white bread and fixings.

Jane growled. 'I'm the only one who makes his sandwiches!' she protested.

The Agents came swaying in again, this time including a moviegoer from the theater.

- In a second you'll be wrapped around my finger

- 'cause I can, 'cause I can do it better

- There's no other

- So when's it gonna sink in?

- She's so stupid

- What the hell were you thinking?

The camera fixed itself to look at Jane and Bella and their sandwiches from the side, who were kneeling before each other. Initially, both girls were working at a medium speed, focusing on slathering mayo and layering fixings carefully. A second later, Bella was working quickly, spraying mayo and bits of fixings all over Jane, who squeaked and shielded herself. A second after that, Jane was doing it back to Bella.

Shortly, the sandwiches were finished, the final piece of bread slammed on. ""DONE!"" both girls cried. They turned to Don and offered their sandwiches, the boy looking between the two morsels in happy indecision. ""Well...?"" both girls asked semi-impatiently, smiling sweetly at him.

Don looked between them a few more times. "Uh..."

Suddenly, Don squeezed his eyes shut, cried, "THIS ONE!" and thrust his head to one sandwich, mouth open, and clamping down on it. "MMM!" When he opened them, his eyes locked with Jane's, who blushed and, sweatdropping again, smiled at him.

"G...Glad you like it, Donnie...!" Jane murmured.

Bella, meanwhile, growled and inspected her sandwich with one eye. "Knew I shoulda added some dill..." she grumbled.

—O—

(-) (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I don't like your girlfriend!

(-) (No way! No way!)

(-) I think you need a new one

(-) (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I could be your girlfriend

(-) (No way! No way-ay-ay!)

"Alright, let's play some catch to work off lunch!" Don suggested after they ate, standing and grinning with his football.

Jane paled, but Bella replied happily, "Why not, Donnie?" before giving a mean grin to Jane, who fumed and squared her shoulders determinedly.

Wolf, Turner, and Garret looked at each other and nodded, smirking. "Time to finish out!" Wolf announced, and they swayed. This time, nobody else joined the sway.

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I know that you like me

- (No way! No way!)

- I know it's not a secret

- (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I want to be your girlfriend

-(No way! No way-ay-ay!)

- HEY HEY! (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I don't like your girlfriend!

- NO WAY! (No way! No way!)

- I think you need a new one

- HEY HEY! (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

- I could be your girlfriend

- (No way! No way!)

This time, the camera focused somewhat behind Jane as she tried to catch the distant Don's ball. Beside her was Bella. Sometimes, she barely caught them and threw back, Bella catching every other one. Sometimes, she was grabbing and then instantly returning each throw in one jump, Bella standing and fuming. And sometimes, she was diving for the ball only to have it slam into her face, much to Bella's amusement.

"Here's one last spiral!" Don announced as he reeled back and hurled the ball once more.

NEEEROOOOM! The ball screamed towards Jane, seemingly wreathed in flames.

Jane, standing ready, flicked a glare to Bella, who glanced one back, before facing the ball again. 'I can't...'

Both jumped, fair and orange-tanned arms reaching for the high pass. '...let her...'

THUP! Jane caught the ball in her two hands, landing on her feet with a triumphant grin. '...beat me!' Bella, however, landed on her stomach in front of Jane with a WHUMP.

"Alright!" Don came over, smiling, while Bella got up on her hands and knees, grass stains all over her outfit and frowning face. Jane stood holding the ball proudly. "That was a great catch, babe!"

Jane looked up at his energetic face with a hopeful look as she handed the ball to Don (both holding onto it for a moment). "You called me 'babe'!" she noticed.

Don winced in surprise. "I—whoops!" He glanced uneasily at Bella, who was standing up with a scowl. "S-Sorry, uh...force of habit...?"

SLAP!

"This has been the rottenest day of my life!" Bella fumed at Don, whose face was turned aside, a red handprint on his bared cheek. Her arm was held out from the smack.

"N-Nice follow-through..." Don stuttered weakly.

"The rottenest day of your life?" pointed Jane, other hand on hip. "Just because I'm not super-talented or super-hot, I just got replaced for a fake little witch!"

"Why you—!" seethed Bella, rushed to her with narrowed eyes and crooked fingers, fake nails like claws.

Don, football training letting him easily shake off the pain, quickly held the two apart (hands on shoulders) before a cat fight began (some people stopping and staring at them). "T-Time out, girls, time out!" he exclaimed, frantically glancing between the two of them.

"Why is that useless demoness still here?" whined Bella, crossing her arms with a selfishly hurt pout. "This is our special day!"

Don turned to Bella, eyes narrowed. "Hey! Don't you call her that!" he snapped. Bella shrank back, shocked and caught off guard. He pointed at Jane while still looking at Bella. "She's the hardest-working, most honest girl I've ever met, and you know it!"

"But—" began Bella, holding a finger up with the same hurt look from before.

"And sure, you're really hot, talented, and confident," Don continued, arms crossed, "but you wanna know what else you are?" He pointed down at her in a way that brought hellish (but fond) memories to Jane. "Selfish, spiteful, and shallow!"

Bella reeled back, hand to her chest, horror written all over her face as she gasped. She was rendered speechless.

Don turned to Jane, looking to the ground in guilt. "Jane, I'm really sorry," he sighed, arms hanging limply. "I was weak, both to her and to my friends and family."

Jane, blushing from Don's sudden and excellent defense, tilted her head, confused. "Huh?"

"They pressured me to get with her because they thought she'd be better for me." He raised his head meekly. "Jane, can you...can you forgive my fumble and...be my steady again?"

Jane's eyes sparkled as she gasped in joy, smiling. "Donnie...!" They embraced. "Of course!"

"Thanks, babe!" Don (after wiping his brow in relief) smiled as he hugged back.

Bella stood and glared at them, clenching her shaking fists. "You...You...!" she stammered, then spun on her heel with her nose in the air. As she walked off, she grumped, "Hmph! I'm too good for you!"

Neither of them cared as they held one another.

(-) HEY HEY! (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I know that you like me

(-) NO WAY! (No way! No way!)

(-) I know it's not a secret

(-) HEY HEY! (Hey! Hey! You! You!)

(-) I want to be your girlfriend

(-) (No way! No way!)

(-) Hey, hey!

Later that day, Jane is sitting on a bench by the pond, leaning her head on Don's shoulder as the two look at each other romantically. A few ducks are scattered about, some in the pond, a couple waddling around Jane and Don's feet (one of them Old Ornery). Some other people walk down the path or feed ducks.

-:-:-

The scene cut to when the trio had returned to EBA HQ. Standing side by side, the new Agents waited in front of Commander Khan's desk. His chair was turned around. They waited for a short moment before Khan turned and stood, brandishing a thumbs-up on the top tv screen. "YEAAAAH!"

Appearing on the bottom screen were cutaway images of half of the trio's faces, each appearing in a bar one by one split-screen style.

(CHUNG!)

(CHUNG!)

(CHUNG!)

"""MISSION COMPLETE!"""

A pause later, where the two images pulled opposite sides away, and a line graph of the performance's effectiveness showed up, accompanied by appropriate sound effects and little pictures similar to the previous scenes. On the top screen, accompanied by a picture of Jane in a happy pose, a string of numbers whirred—the score given to each performance by the system. Eight different stats of the performance whirred their numbers and stopped one by one. No sooner had the last one finished then the score and graph came to a halt and a letter grade fell into place. A stamp appeared on the background of the chart.

(WHOOO! YEAAAHH! clappity-clappity)

Vrrrrrnnnn-Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk—

VWOOYYY-PSHH!

~Cheer Base~

"And that's that," Foxx said, holding the remote up. "You guys didn't do half-bad—not a single miss. You did get pretty badly off a few times, though," she added, indicating the appropriate statistic.

"That's not all, though," Travis* said after shrugging, holding up his finger. "The replay cut out what happened after the performance and after that part."

"Oh?" Foxx raised her eyebrow, looking at him. She used the remote to select the "Next" button on the lower-right-hand corner of the lower screen. It emitted a sound as the screens faded to black, going back to the replay file selection screen.

TEUUSHH!

*FLASHBACK!*

~Central Park~

Agents Wolf, Turner, and Garret stood off to the side, out of sight to them, observing this with crossed arms, and nodded to each other. "Let's get to the rendez-vous point," Wolf whispered, and the three casually came from behind the trees they had hidden behind and went off down the path, hands in pockets.

Jane wasn't completely clueless, though—and it was hard to miss someone with Wolf's hairdo, even out of the corner of her eye. "Oh! Donnie, I'll be right back," she said as she stood up suddenly. She trotted over to the trio. "Agents! Wait!" she asked as she approached.

The three halted as Jane stopped before them. Wolf, smirking, said, "You know we don't need any thanks or anything."

Jane shook her head. "No, I'm here to apologize," she corrected him with a sheepish smile and hands behind her back. "I...You weren't the normal Agents, so I doubted you and Agent J, but you came through, anyway." She blushed and nodded. "I'm sorry—and I'm saying thanks anyway," she added, grinning.

Wolf smirked (and blushed a little), nodding back with Garret. Turner, though, grin-smirked and crossed his arms. "Betcha we did a better job than the other guys, huh?" he asked.

Jane blinked and sweatdropped at this. "Uh..."

Wolf, not even giving a single glance, elbowed Turner fairly hard in the ribs, laughing while doing so. "That's perfectly alright, Jane—totally understandable. Thanks for apologizing, and for the thanks."

Jane smiled again, giggling a little...then frowned, tilting her head as she looked at Wolf. "Say, have I seen you somewhere befo—" she began to ask, eyebrow raised.

Wolf interrupted somewhat loudly, "We've gotta get going—" He grinned wolfishly. "—we've still got people to help!" He started moving off past her, Turner and Garret following. "Hope the rest of the date goes well! Bye!"

Jane looked after, a little speechless from the interruption, then smiled and waved. "Bye, Agents!" she called.

"Agents?" Don repeated, walking up from behind her with an interested frown. Jane turned. "I thought the Agents wore black, not gold..."

Jane chuckled nervously, sweatdropping. "Y-Yeah, I, uh, met them a bit ago, they're this new team, so yeah," she half-lied quickly. She took his arm and started leading him off. "C'mon, Donnie, let's feed the ducks some more!"

"Okay, babe!" complied Don happily.

At the street, Wolf, Turner, and Garret stopped by the black convertible driven by the man with the orange pompadour. J smirked and rested an elbow on the door as they approached. "Nice job, guys," he complimented. "Now get in and let's get outta here."

-)-D-0-O-0-C-(-

~EBA HQ~

After the trio had announced their success, Khan seated himself once more. In the room as well were the other members of the EBA-P, all of them standing silently. Khan steepled his fingers on his desk. "Well-done, Agents," he said. "I'm confident now that you'll be a great help to your world."

Wolf nodded. "Thank you very much, sir," he smiled. "We worked hard on everything we did."

Khan nodded a couple times. "I could tell. Now, then, if you'll go to the guest rooms—the ones we loaned to you before, you three," he added, pointing at Wolf, Turner, and Garret, "we'll prepare your gear. You three, your lunch is waiting for you there, if you missed it."

Turner perked up at this and saluted. "Thank you, sir!" he exclaimed.

Khan nodded. "Now then, all of you...DIS-MISSED!"

"YESSIR!" chorused the entire room.

Turner was the first out the door, walking quickly. Wolf sighed and shook his head.

After he went to his room, Wolf found a tray with a hearty sandwich, a glass of water, and a side salad on the desk. "Just like I always had back here," he smiled, reaching down and grabbing the sandwich.

No sooner had he opened his mouth wide to take a bite than the alarms went off. "Huh?" He looked around as the lights in the room turned red.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" blared a computerized voice set in the key of panic.

"Intruder?" Wolf repeated. He was getting a bad feeling about this.

"ALL PERSONNEL TO THE COMMAND ROOM," it continued.

Wolf cursed, looked at his sandwich longingly, then growled and set it down on the plate again before dashing to the door.

As soon as it slid open, all he saw was black.

"Travis!" Garret cried as he ran out of his room (the trio's rooms were next to each other) and saw what happened. Travis had been struck out cold by a being in a weird mantle—with a mask shaped like a tentacruel. The being turned to face Garret.

"What's going on!" Turner called as he barreled out his room, own grilled cheese sandwich in hand. He raised his eyebrows as he saw the figure, who turned its head to face Turner.

"A little revenge," the being replied cooly as it suddenly disappeared in a swarm of thorns and darkness.

"Travis, are you okay?" Garret ran to Wolf and lifted him up. He removed his shades and saw his closed eyes.

"He'll be fine—he's a freakin' werewolf," Turner assured him with a full mouth. He beckoned with his arm. "Put him in his bed and let's get going!"

Garret half-eyed behind his shades. "Me put him in bed? I don't think so."

After both hurriedly put Wolf in bed, they trotted off to the Command Room. Once there, they found a scene of confusion. They noticed that Khan was slumped over, knocked out, as well, on the desk, and that Zante, Vesp, Chieftain, Lock, Spin, and J were nowhere to be seen. "Yo, Meyers!" Garret called when he saw him. "We saw this weird dude knock out Tra—Wolf! We put him in his bed, that's why we're kinda late..."

"Really? We saw one, too," Meyers said, pointing between himself and Hunter, frowning. "It was weird—it had a mantle and a mask like a tentacruel..."

"Ours did, too!" Turner nodded, thumbing over his shoulder and spraying a few crumbs.

Garret slapped the sandwich out of Turner's hand. "Would you get serious for once!" he demanded, scowling.

"Well, did yours disappear in a puddle of black sludge that shrank into nothing?" wondered Hunter, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

Garret and Turner blinked, eyes wide. "...Um...more like a bunch of black stuff and thorn things," Garret described.

"In other words, way cooler than making like the Wicked Witch," Turner shrugged after swallowing.

Garret, swatting Turner's chest, looked up at Khan. "What happened to the Commander?"

"The security cameras show that a person in a mantle and mask like you described assaulted him from the side, knocking him out," reported Diva Starr, who was tending to a woozy Foxx lying on the floor. "He then dashed out down your guys' hall."

"Where's Chieftain..." Foxx groaned.

"He's been found unconscious, too, with J and Spin, on the way to get the EBA-P's gear—now be quiet, girl, you got hit pretty hard..." Starr looked with concern for her friend as she examined the back of her head.

"What are we going to do with all of these emergencies?" worried Missy, looking at the main monitor. The map of the world on it showed more and more cries for help. "This is a disaster! What's going on!"

"That's what I wanna know, so TURN ON THE NEWS, DUH!" Turner shouted, pointing.

"Hold on..." moaned Foxx, sitting up and holding the back of her head. "Starr, I'm fine, really—just dazed..."

"And goose egged," Starr added admonishingly, but Foxx was already walking to the screens, a remote produced from her person.

Foxx pressed a button to quiet the alarms in that room, then turned the news on on another monitor. A New York station popped on with a frazzled-looking reporter in front of a startling scene. "—one knows where these black creatures came from—witnesses say they just appeared out of nowhere and began to attack," she said in a clipped tone. Behind her, people were running and screaming while black, humanoid creatures chased and attacked them, stealing something from their chests...

Shadows.

Someone came from behind the camera and spoke directly to the reporter's ear. "...We're apparently getting reports from around the world of similar attacks," she relayed.

"Really," Foxx muttered, turning on a few more monitors to news stations. Hong Kong, Rio, England, Brisbane...All of them showed similar scenes. And all over the world, a dark cloud began to form overhead...

"Get a Japanese one! Tokyo!" Grind ordered suddenly. He sounded quite urgent.

"The Ouendan—! Of course!" Derek snapped his fingers.

Foxx did as she was told, also starting up a communications line with the Ouendan. It appeared the exact same thing was going on in Tokyo, only worse—they were infested with Neoshadows! Grind grimaced, clenching his fists.

"Come on, come on..." Foxx muttered, looking at the communication monitor. Finally, it blinked in, showing a hectic scene inside the Evening Squad's base. Black gakuran-wearing Ouendan were running around, shouting in Japanese behind the sweating face of Kioshi. "Yes! Kioshi!" Foxx called, muting the televisions (turning on captions for them). "How are your guys doing?"

"Not good!" Kioshi replied with a grimace. "Japan's being invaded by monsters again—but this time, it's all over the place, and most of our leaders have been knocked unconscious by weird guys..."

"Were they wearing tentacruel masks!" called Garret.

Kioshi nodded. "Yeah, they hit you guys, too?" he asked.

"Khan's down for the count," Foxx said, "and he almost nailed me...with a giant pencil." She rubbed the back of her head again. "I've got a splitting headache, now..."

Kioshi, Garret and Turner froze. "...Wait, giant pencil?" Turner repeated.

Garret looked at him. "It can't be...?"

Kioshi scowled. "Did it materialize?" he asked.

Foxx nodded. "Yeah—just like on those episodes you and the then-unofficial newbies had. I thought the same thing."

Kioshi leaned closer to the webcam. "Be careful, Agents! Something bad's gonna happen, I just know it, especially if THAT guy is involved!" he warned, face near panic. He suddenly stopped, horror rising in his eyes. "...And it's happening for us here, now," he muttered. He turned around and shouted, "OSU!" presenting two fingers out, while launching a formidable amount of spiritual fire.

The Shadow that had sprung up behind him faded into nothing.

"Hold on tight, Agents!" he called over his shoulder. "I get the feeling this'll be a bumpy ride!"

"NO KIDDING!" Grind yelled as he brought his foot back down with a loud clack. Darkness was dissipating around him. "They're coming here, too, y'all! We gotta protect the nappers!" He turned and skated out of the room down the hall. "Imma help the leads!" he called as he went out.

Everyone turned and reacted in shock or alert as Shadows sprang up around the room. "Grind's right!" Starr agreed. She pointed. "Garret, Turner, help out Wolf! EBA-P Divas, help the pokémon!"

"RIGHT!" the five nodded before sprinting out different doors.

"The rest of you—" Starr produced her mic and stared down a Shadow. "—time to put our hearts into this performance!"

The Agents and Divas fought on, using their mics and their own form of spiritual fire to fend off the invasion. The ones going to protect the unconscious were able to defend them and themselves there and on the way. Eventually, however, the main group had to fall back, with two men carrying Khan and a few guns broken out (carried only by the adults). "To the hangar!" Starr ordered over the intercom before they left.

"Hangar, eh?" muttered Turner in the hall. He and Garret had their pokémon out as their own weapons, battling the increasingly relentless swarms of Heartless. They were getting a bit tired. Turner turned to his kangaskhan, who barely fit in the hall. "Belle, can you carry Travis?" Turner asked. Belle panted, but nodded. Soon, they were making their way down to the hangar, Belle moving as quickly as she could.

"We can't haul THESE two on our own!" complained Sunny, looking at the heavyish, fainted pokémon they were defending.

Jazz, the only one with a pokémon among them, had long recalled it and was fighting as best she could. "Well, unless they finally come to, we're gonna have to try," she replied.

Bloom, the one doing the best in fighting, blinked. "Wait a minute," she muttered, then turned to Jazz. "You got any revives on you?"

Jazz shook her head. "I'd've used them already if I did," she shrugged.

"Hm..." Bloom looked to Sunny. "Sunny! Go run over to Garret and Turner and see if they have any!"

"Right!" Sunny turned and ran off, trying her best to avoid being hurt by Heartless. She met them as they were partway down to the hangar. "Revives! Got any!" she panted to the boys.

"Shit! Shoulda thought of that earlier, sorry!" Turner grumbled, rooting through his pockets. "Always carry a few...here!" He handed two pieces of the oddly-shaped yellow medicine to Sunny. "Hurry! And don't lose 'em, they're the only ones I've got, AND they're expensive!"

Sunny didn't lose them. A few moments later, Zante and Vesp were groaning and getting up weakly. "Damn...I'd almost forgotten what it's like to faint that badly," Vesp commented, shaking her head.

"Well, no time to complain, we've got fighting to do," Zante stretched, lowering his arms again while unsheathing his claws.

"You guys go find and help Grind," Bloom ordered over her shoulder. "We can take care of ourselves, but there's no way Grind can carry three grown, unconscious men on his own—skates or none."

"Got it—c'mon, Vesp!" Zante beckoned, and after Vesp had wrapped around him, Zante was off, dashing on all fours, belly flying inches over the floor, as he followed Grind's scent—which became a trail of spray paint on the walls. "The commander's not gonna like this after this is over," muttered the zangoose as he spied the marks.

"GRIIIIND!" called Vesp as they heard sounds of combat.

"Yo! 'Bout time y'all showed up!" Grind called back. "Hurry up and help me with these guys!"

"How've you been holding up?" asked Zante, giving a dashing Slash through a small group of Shadows. He skidded around a turn and found Grind there...breakdancing.

Grind laughed and did a split to take care of two Shadows, then transitioned into a pommel horse to eradicate the surrounding. Piled against a wall behind him were Chieftain, J, and Spin. "Pretty fine, you?" he asked casually as he spun to a stand.

Zante slowed a little, wide-eyed at the way one guy was taking all this, but shook it off and charged through again. "C'mon, quit playing around and let's get these guys outta here!" He stopped and grabbed Chieftain. "Sorry, hun, ride's over...see if you can grab Spin."

"I'll try, dear..." Vesp said, sliding off.

It was difficult, but Grind was stronger than he looked, and they made it to the hangar. Beforehand, however, the power went out—thankfully just as they reached the door. "We could've been a lot farther," explained Vesp after Grind grumped about Zante's remark. The emergency lights lit up, then. "Oh! Handy!" She faced the door's direction. "Zante, Crush Claw that door!"

"Got it, hun!" Zante shrugged off Chieftan and dashed to the door, jumping up with both claws huge and poised. He roared as he flew at it—then yelped as he flew through them, the emergency power going to the doors, as well. He faceplanted and skidded on the ground, plowing through some Shadows for a few feet. "Hun...tell me you didn't know that would happen..." he grumbled as he stood up again. Vesp was sweatdropping behind him, while Grind was laughing.

They'd made it to the hangar. There, they found the other three groups had reached the room, as well, and were by a black, giant jet. "EBA-P! Over here!" called Starr after Zante had soared out of the doors. "Slide! Go help them carry our guys over!" she ordered behind her. "Everyone else, start making your way onto the jet! We've gotta get outta here!"

It took a while, but the EBA and EBA-P managed to make it on the jet with all heads accounted for. Nobody could revive Wolf, even after wafting smelling salts they'd found on the med kit on board under his sensitive nose. The others were able to be roused, however. "Ugh, that stuff smells awful!" Chieftain complained, nearly swatting it away from him a mere second after it had been wafted by him.

"Where are we going?" Missy asked, looking out the windows at the swarm of black below them, climbing up the jet's wheels.

"Anywhere but here!" Khan replied, getting into the pilot's seat. "Good job, Starr, Agents and Divas—thanks. You did exactly as we've drilled."

"Established a leader and organized and carried out a plan," Starr nodded, getting into a seat. "We're all here. I just wish Wolf could be woken up, too."

"Well, whatever's going on must be supernatural, so it probably affected Travis more than the rest of us," Bloom theorized, crossing her arms.

"I'm with her—it took me longest to get up, and you all know about my run-in with ghosts," Lock mumbled, rubbing his head. "I feel like my body's been poured full of slugs..." The engine began to roar to life.

"Ew, totally not necessary right now," whined Sunny, sticking out her tongue.

"Sheesh, can't a guy get credit for creativity under fatigue?..." Lock rolled his eyes.

"Buckle up!" barked Khan, and everyone got into a seat and (someone helping Zante, who had never seen seatbelts before, while he held Vesp) strapped in. Khan stepped on the gas and began to move towards the huge exit. "We're outta here!"

The jet accelerated forwards as the engines began to stream trails of flame. Shadows flew off from the force, and the doors, hooked up to emergency power for just this reason, opened up to let the jet, now starting to fly, soar out down the tunnel.

And right up into the black orb high in the sky upon exiting.

*/FLASHBACK!*

~Cheer Base~

"We made it through this endless dark tunnel, Khan the only one not losing consciousness, and made it here," finished Foxx. (They had been trading off storytellers after Travis got to the end of his story—the point where he fainted.)

Travis crossed his arms, growling softly in thought. "So it's related to that guy who tried to wipe out me and my family..." he mumbled. "Little ass."

"What happened to us Ouendan was a little less dramatic," Kioshi said, holding up a finger. "We all either got sucked up after running outside or the roof got torn off and we got sucked up if we stayed inside."

"What about the people from our world?" Travis asked, frowning worriedly. "What about you guys—the Pokédan?"

"Yeah—I'm worried about Netsui," Kioshi nodded, frowning as well. "I haven't seen her all this time..."

Travis raised his eyebrows at this. "Huh? What, they didn't tell you earlier? I thought I was the last one to wake up!"

Yena shook his head. "No, we've only just come to, ourselves," he clarified. A door was heard opening, but nobody paid attention. "Well, most of us. Netsui and Mew were still out cold when I left to find you, but after all this time, I'm sure at least Mew would be—"

"WaitwaitwaitWAIT," Frank stopped him, holding his hands out and raising an eyebrow with wide eyes. "Run that by me again—did you just say Mew?"

''You bet, kid,'' a somewhat tired girl's voice snarked.

"Huh?" Everyone looked around for the source of the voice.

''Door...'' The room turned to the short hallway ending in a door, Kioshi walking out to look down it better. His reward was being glomped by a female dragonite in a tattered uniform with a mew on her shoulder (which squeaked and held onto her back before flying into the boy). ''Would you please not do that without warning, Netsui?''

"OhKioshiyou'realrightohthankgoodness!" Netsui blubbered, hugging Kioshi with all her might and crying happy tears.

"I...won't be if you...don't get off me..." gagged the Ouendan.

"Oh! I'm doing it again!" Netsui squeaked, getting off him and standing, blushing with her paws behind her back. "Sorry..."

''Sure, you apologize to him but not to me...'' Mew rolled her eyes. She looked around. ''Say, anyone seen a grumpy guy with purple hair and a brown cape that he calls a cloak?'' she asked.

Silence. Not even a "no".

She looked more discriminately at people and sweatdropped as she saw their wide eyes. ''Oh, yeah. Legendary pokémon. Forgot about that.''

Netsui rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Yeah, right," she mumbled.

Yena stood up on his hind legs and indicated them. "Everyone, Netsui, the leader of the Pokédan, and Mew, leader of the Pokédan Cheer Girls!" he introduced with a smile. Netsui and Mew bowed briefly.

Frank slowly reached behind him, but Mew caught the gesture and pointed. ''HOLD IT! Don't you even joke about it right now!'' she snapped.

Frank pouted. "Killjoy," he grumped.

''Yeah, well, when you've suddenly become so weakened that you've gotta ride on someone instead of fly or teleport, you'd be pretty angry, too, kid,'' Mew crossed her arms. ''Seriously, though, anyone see him?''

A lot of "uh"s and awkward glances followed, ending in everyone shaking their heads. "Sorry, ma'am," Zante shrugged.

Mew sighed in disappointment. ''Oh, well...wasn't expecting much, anyway...C'mon, let's sit down and tell 'em what happened to us, Netsui.''

"Course," nodded the dragonite, and she walked over to the main group of seats, looking around for an empty one.

"It's a girl?" whispered Travis, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, can'cha tell from the telepathy?" Zante whispered back.

"Well, small things usually have squeaky voices, so..."

''I'm so hurting you for that when I get the energy...'' Mew half-eyed.

"Eep!"

''Who's got the squeaky voice, now?'' Mew smirked.

"Now, now, you two," Yena admonished, crossing his arms with a playful smile. "We've gotta get along for a while, from the looks of it."

''Yeah, I know, I'm just teasing him,'' Mew batted a paw as Netsui finally sat down, the Dragon-type insisting Kioshi sit next to her. Kioshi was glad at least that Netsui was slim for a dragonite, though he still felt somewhat awkward knowing she still obviously had a crush on him. Mew sighed and stretched. ''Alright, us gals are still kinda worn out—Yena? Could you start us off?'' she asked.

"Sure thing," he nodded, sitting again. "Let's see...where to begin..."

*FLASHBACK!*

~Pokédan Base~

It was the last Friday night of the month in the Orange Archipelago. Netsui was sitting on a rock by the edge of the small island their base was on, gazing at the dazzling astral display above. Yena came walking over on all fours. "~Beautiful night, ain't it?~" he asked as he approached.

Netsui turned and smiled, nodding. "Yeah," she agreed. She frowned. "What did I tell you? Hind legs at all times until further notice! And Human!"

"But it looks so weird..." grumbled Yena as he pushed himself up to a stumbling stand. He continued over and sat human-style next to his leader, looking at the moon above for a moment before looking at the other stars. After a moment, he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Don't call me weird, but...other worlds," Netsui answered, gazing as well.

Yena smirked. "'Cuz Kioshi's from one?"

Netsui blushed and silently planted her fist atop Yena's skull, eyes still focused on the beauty above. "You're right, though," she admitted. "It's still just so amazing...that there really are completely different worlds out there..."

"Yeah..." Yena agreed, rubbing his head. "A world without pokémon, where normal animals and humans are the only animate living things. Kinda scary, but kinda cool."

"They probably need to rely on weapons a lot more," Netsui theorized. (This earned a few guilty glances from the EBA and Ouendan members in the room.)

"But still, a world where cheering can change lives..." Yena muttered. "That reminds me...Today was the first day that Travis and everyone started off officially."

"I hope that went alright," Netsui said quietly. "We don't have to do that kinda thing since the Ouendan aren't as, like...together?"

''"Institutionalized",'' "~you mean?~'' Mew floated over, making them turn to see her. She smiled and landed on Netsui's head. "Hey."

"Hey—Yeah, that," Netsui said, smiling and pointing at her. "Thanks. And you should really learn to speak more Human, too. If you can use telepathy like that, it's not as hard, I hear. Or, at least, you're super-smart, so..."

"~Hey, I've got telepathy—that's good enough for me,~" Mew reasoned, crossing her arms. "~Besides, why would I ever willingly show myself to humans aside from cheers?~" She looked up again. "~But yeah, I've known about other worlds since I was a kitten,~" she said. "~My mother told me how especially strong psychics could teleport past the barriers between dimensions—and not just parallel ones. Those are ass-easy and a way we mews stay outta sight from humans. That and handy-dandy Transform.~"

"Speaking of, could you Transform into something that's not on my head?" Netsui asked playfully, raising an eyeridge.

Mew sent a mental image of nope . avi to her, making the poor girl laugh confusedly. She began scanning the stars.

"But if it's so easy to go between worlds, then do you think that something like what happened a while ago with the Hatemongers could happen again?" Yena wondered.

"Sure, but things have a way of working themselves out," Netsui shrugged confidently.

"~Usually,~" muttered Mew. "~Can't all be happy endings, y'know.~" She frowned a bit as she kept searching. "~That's funny...~"

"What?" Yena asked, looking over at her.

Mew pointed at a cluster of stars. "~That's usually where the Meloetta constellation is,~" she said, "~I swear it—but I'm having trouble finding it, now.~"

"Really?" Yena looked, too, then frowned. "You're right, something's throwing me off..."

"Maybe it's because we're in a different part of the world?" suggested Netsui.

Mew shook her head. "~Uh-uh. This isn't that far from Kanto, and even so, I've seen it other nights.~" She looked around a bit more. "~I'm seeing all the right stars around it...and I'm compensating for tilt...and it can't be because of light pollution, the brightest island around is behind us...~"

"Why is it bugging you so much?" Netsui wondered.

"~Because it's a favorite constellation of mine and it's usually so easy for me to find!~" Mew replied, frustrated. This made her stop and blink. "~Wait...~" She looked around again for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. "~No way...~" She pointed up. "~Doesn't something seem kinda suspicious to you guys about this area of the sky?~" she asked.

They looked a moment, then shook their heads. "Nothing's standing out as odd," Yena said slowly. Then he gasped. "Wait! We're looking at the wrong part of the sky!" he concluded.

"~No, we're not! See, there's the Growlithe constellation, and there's the Scorupi,~" pointed Mew.

Yena frowned, shaking his head. "But that can't be..." he muttered, trailing off as he gazed a moment more. His eyes widened. "But...How the hell—?"

Netsui, getting annoyed that she was was left confused about this, shouted, "Would you two eggheads explain to me this astronomical heresy, already?"

"~Sorry, but look—don't you remember there being something pretty particular around here? You know those constellations I mentioned, at least, right?~" Mew tried.

"Yeah, but...wait..." Netsui looked harder, brain working...until suddenly something clicked. "Wait...this...but...how?" she frowned, brow furrowed.

"Yeah," Yena nodded, concerned. "For some reason..."

"~...the bright star that forms the end of Meloetta's hair is gone.~"

Just then, all three of them felt their hearts twinge with dread; the fur on the back of Mew's neck stood on-end. "~Now what?~" she muttered, turning around.

"Now we see if a real legend can actually fare better," a nearly monotone voice replied from a tentacool-masked figure standing a few feet away.

"~What the—?~" Mew rose up instantly, eyes narrowed. 'I couldn't sense him at all! And...he looks just like Mewtwo described the other night!' ''Guys, on your guard!'' she sent to the Pokédan.

The other two, having already stood and turned the moment they felt that twinge, nodded, getting into battle position (Yena dropping to all fours again). "Who are you?" demanded Netsui. "What are you doing here?"

"Nobody, just screwing with you," came the answer. The man jumped back, letting fly a few spiked balls.

The Pokédan scattered to avoid the balls, Mew teleporting and the other two dashing and diving. "~After him!~" Mew ordered after reappearing. 'I won't make the same mistake 'Two did—I'm not gonna hold back!'

The group made their way to the man, who grabbed a spiked ball and opened it like a pokéball. In a cloud of black smoke appeared a shadowy misdreavous. "Night Shade," he ordered, and the pokémon-thing loosed a blast of energy.

Netsui grunted and took it, shielding with both arms and spirit fire, while Yena barely dodged it. Mew flew skillfully around it as she charged at the man. ''You'll pay for what you did to him!'' she bellowed in the direction of his mind.

"Maybe, but not now," the man replied.

Mew squealed in agony as a sudden blast from behind struck her. It was the misdreavous, Night Shading her after moving out of sight. 'I can't sense that thing, either...! Forgot that!' Mew grunted as she caught and righted herself.

"This guy has no scent!" Yena noticed. "I can't track him! Keep an eye on him!"

"I'm trying!" Netsui replied, readying a Thunderbolt. The man moved swiftly, leaving realistic copies like afterimages as he retreated, sending out his spiked balls and shadowy pokémon.

The man almost got hit from behind by a blast of water, though, having to jump aside—to the right, since there was a tree to his left. Netsui unleashed the Thunderbolt—but only managed to hit another copy like the ones they plowed through effortlessly. "Hold still, whoever you are!" Feral roared, stomping over and shaking a blue scaly fist.

"No," the man replied simply before jumping high into a tree.

"Whoa," muttered the feraligatr as he watched him.

Ursa trotted up beside him, fists flaming with both real and spirit fire, ready to use Fire Punch. "Don't just stand there with your maw open, fire something out of it!" he elbowed his friend.

"Right!" Feral readied another high-power Water Gun—but was brutally tackled from behind by a dark absol's Double Edge.

Ursa yelped and quickly nailed the thing with a good punch, pushing it away. "Where the heck—?"

"You probably don't realize it," the man said, jumping away from the tree as Neige tried to hit him with an Ice Beam, "but there are countless troubles happening around the world right now."

"If that were true, we would've sensed it!" objected Yena, still charging after him.

The man struck away poor little Willow with a spiked ball when she tried to use Fire Wheel against him. "'Would' and 'should' are two different terms," he pointed out.

"So you're blocking our abilities, is that it?" Netsui roared, punching away a spiked ball. "(Ow.)"

"Maybe," the man said. Suddenly, he stopped moving, surrounded by a pink aura.

''That's enough!'' Mew announced. She had teleported along until she got the chance to grab him. She set up a dense Barrier around her, which protected from numerous attacks from different shadowy pokémon. The sky above her began to grow darker and darker. ''Get out of here now, before I crush you into putty,'' she threatened.

The man paused. "...Really, now."

Mew found herself unable to release him, now. ''What the—?'' She felt her power waning...

A spiked ball floated up by the man, who floated up, himself. The ball was arcing with white lightning that seemed to pull in the pink aura around him and Mew. "You fell into this easier than expected, Mew," the man sneered, finally showing some emotion.

Mew couldn't move. Her Barrier was thinning. ''Let me GO!'' 'This is what happened to him, too! Shit, shit, SHIT!'

"Get away from her, you monster!" Netsui roared even louder, flying up to meet him with a Dragon Claw. She missed—only to be blasted by attacks and spiked balls. "UWWAAAUGH!"

"I'm the monster? You forget what you all are?" the man asked monotonously again. Netsui landed hard on the ground below. "You stay away from me, you pest."

"Urgh...M...Mew..." Netsui grunted, struggling to get up.

Every attack that the others aimed at the figure were deflected or dodged, and the other shadowy pokémon, hard to see in the darkness, preyed on them constantly. Mew just got weaker and weaker.

"Netsui, you okay?" Yena asked, stopping by her and offering a paw.

Netsui looked up and saw his concerned face. He was crouching on his hind legs. She nodded and grabbed his paw, getting up. "Thank you, Yena..." she grunted, holding her front, where she'd been gashed pretty badly. "Ugh...I need a Center..."

"She does, more," Yena pointed at him. "What's he doing? How does he have this power?"

Netsui realized that she was almost directly below him, and could see up his mantle. It was still too dark, but it was light enough that she noticed something odd...something green and shiny. She shushed Yena and stayed there, quiet, for a bit, crouching.

"Almost there..." the man chuckled. "Soon, you'll be just like your friend, but worse. Nobody can help you—they can try, sure, but I doubt they can succeed."

Mew, world growing darker for her, Barrier all but gone, weakly glanced around and down, and around again, noting Netsui. ''Why...?'' she asked weakly.

"To ensure someone succeeds," replied the figure.

Netsui grunted and took off as fast as she could, soaring up at him from below.

''And who might that be?'' Mew asked, trying to distract him. 'C'mon, Netsui!' she thought. '...Oh yeah, wait, I'm—' ''OSU!'' she sent to her with her last bit of strength.

Netsui felt the bolstering energy from her friend and climbed at top speed, readying a Dragon Claw once more.

"None of your business," the man admonished. "Now, then, this should be it—"

CRASH! Netsui broke through the last-minute barrier of spike balls and slashed away at the green orb she saw, breaking it into pieces. In an instant, the power-sucking stopped, and Mew fell to earth along with a bloody Netsui. The figure cursed and floated back a bit. "I was careless!" he spat before a cloud of darkness and thorns overtook him. His pokémon vanished into nothingness, as did his spiked balls.

Netsui landed hard again, fainting on impact. "Mew!" Yena barked, running towards her falling form. He slid and caught her on his back. "Gotcha!" He stopped and gently slid her off, looking at her. "You okay?" he asked gently.

Mew creaked her eyes open, world swimming, barely able to see. "~I...I...thanks...Yen...a...~" she breathed before fainting, too.

By then, the Heartless had begun to rain down, as it was in Nightsky City at the same time. "Guys, we've still got company," warned Feral, blasting back a Shadow with Water Gun.

"These guys are no good! We've gotta protect Netsui and Mew!" Ursa asserted, Fire Punching away.

"Bring them together and keep an eye on them," instructed Neige as she Ice Beamed some. "And keep them warm!"

"I'm on that," grunted Willow, still bleeding from the spiked ball as she limped over to the two fallen females.

"I've got medicine, but we're out of revives!" a sawk in Pokédan uniform reported, running from the house with an armful of different kinds of potions. "I forget if we can use these with fainted pokémon or not..."

"They don't! Grab bandages, we need to help their bleeding!" Neige barked. "Hurry!"

The sawk skidded, groaning, but turned and ran back inside.

The Pokédan defended themselves and the two unconscious ones, bandages being wrapped around Willow and Netsui, until the same thing happened to them that happened to the others around the Pokémon world...sink in gunk or fall in sky.

*/FLASHBACK!*

~Cheer Base~

"When I came to, I was here in this world," Yena finished. "I saw the others there with me, thankfully. I'm so glad that Mew and Netsui are okay, too."

''That man absorbed a fair bit of my power,'' Mew said, ''but not permanently.'' 'Unlike a certain someone...' ''Give me a couple days, and I'll be able to teleport squads again.''

"But yeah—so now you know," Netsui nodded, holding a paw up. "They healed us after we got here, apparently, and put us to bed. Same with you guys, I bet."

"So now what?" asked Travis, crossing his arms and tilting his head. "We're stuck in a different world, our homes are gone, and we've still got work to do..."

"Well, we can start by getting to bed," Chieftain suggested. He pointed to a clock. It was 10:02. "It's getting late, and we should get up early tomorrow. After all," he shrugged, raising an eyebrow at the motley crew about him, "you never know what'll happen in this line of work."

*Though I said Travis would be referred to as Wolf from that point on, this only applies when he's in full uniform, or unless someone's addressing him as such, like with his friends.

~Author's Note~

Yikes, 31 pages? Did NOT realize this would take so long, both in length and time! Sorry, so so sorry for this! I just wanted to get these guys outta the way with so we can get back to actual story. I didn't want to leave loose ends like that and just explain it away. (Ironically, though, the EBA's recap was going to end at Starr's line to fight, with Foxx giving a short recap, but it just didn't feel right, so...yeah. ADHD'd at night. (It's 2:23 A.M. Now.) I don't know if I'll get another chapter done before break is over (I know I won't if I get Skyward Sword tomor—today, since it's mah birthday—21!), but hey, finally got to this thing that's been waiting the better part of a semester to finish. The scene I used for the song was what really got me, seeing as I have no social skills, let alone understanding of relationships. So I just winged it after looking at ideas I jotted down.

ANYWAY yeah, voting is still going on for which world you wanna see Maru go to next! Is it Paris, France (to be renamed once I see the title "La Cité des Cloches" in the English game)? Or Devil's Bayou (from The Rescuers)? YOU DECIDE!

Ugh—it's late. I shouldn't be up this late. I need to get to bed. I'm wrapping this up NAO. So I'm sorry if there are any typos or anything, but I'm just posting this NOW so you guys can be happy. Sorta. Even though it's not Ash. Which I know is all you're interested in given the massive amount of people who liked Chosen One compared to the main story. T_T But yeah, consider it a reverse birthday present I hope you enjoyed!

EDIT: Added the image Mew sent to Netsui when asked to get off her head. Noticed it when scanning through my stories last night. How could you, FF dot net?

~8D OMAKE 8D~

*Mew is in her room, shared with Netsui, both sitting on their beds (Mew's far bigger than herself-she could sleep on the pillow alone)*

Netsui: Hoo...Waking up just to go back to sleep sounds so silly...But after learning about what happened to Kioshi and everyone, I feel kinda tired. I bet they feel worse, after having to re-explain it. (Kioshi had mentioned that they'd recapped things for Travis earlier.) And then there was the replay with Travis and his friends...

Mew: *rolls eyes* ~Yeah, talk about an infodump...~

*Both girls chuckle, then abruptly stop and give a half-eyed sideways glance at the closet*

…

FT: *pops out of closet, shivering from Wisconsin cold and frowning* I said I'm sorry, already! XC

Mew: ~If you're really sorry, then you'll get your ass on the next chapter straight away.~

FT: I've got a ton of stuff to do over break already! I can't guarantee that!

Netsui: *fist to palm, glare*

FT:O_O Uh...I'm hiding behind my computer where you can't get me ha ha bye! *scrams back into closet, followed by a spirit-flaming Netsui*