Chapter 3: The Return

That whole "they're back" thing from the end of the previous chapter was directed at all of the recruits (besides Team Go-Getters).

The Go-Getters were the first ones who were brought to the Megalo Tower. After all, they were the recruits who would have been the most familiar with the alternate dimension. Well, besides the Ultra Beasts, that is.

Sticky had been filling them in as best she could while they were between dimensions, but the task was easier said than done. Especially since the words 'Cholegio virus' and 'zombies' were way ahead of the Go-Getters' time period.

Kuro was there to greet them when they arrived. Hiccup wished he could read what the Necrozma was thinking, but, alas, those Pokémon lacked a proper face.

Kuro didn't waste any time getting down to business. "As you've most likely been made aware of, we have a very urgent situation in this city."

"We're aware," assured Hiccup, "Just, really, really confused."

Sticky shrugged and said, "I did my best."

"That's alright," said Kuro. "Some things are better seen than said." He pointed to the window and gently commanded, "Have a look."

What the Go-Getters saw when they looked outside was beyond anything they had ever imagined. Dozens, or even hundreds, of freakish creatures were lurching aimlessly all over the city. With bluish-gray skin and bulbous heads with circular spike protrusions, they looked like they'd crawled from the depths of Where-That-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Well, there's something you don't see every day," said Brandyn, trying to lighten the mood.

"Where are all the residents?" asked Hiccup, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Those are the residents," Kuro said grimly.

Heather, who had left Sonata back home in the hands of a trusted babysitter, took a step back away from the window. Her expression was remarkably calm, her slightly bugged eyes the only indication that she was scared. "W-what happened to them?"

"It's my fault," Sticky said immediately. "I've been trying to tell you guys the whole time, I accidentally spilled some unstable isotopes - those are dangerous chemical elements - on some Cholegio virus cells we were using to make medicine for the Cholegio disease, and they mutated while I was out for lunch. Long story short, they're contagious, and they're turning everyone in the city into mutant virus zombie monster things, so Kuro sent us to gather you guys, among some of the other greatest heroes of the Multiverse, to help us stop this before it turns into a Multiversal apocalypse."

"But why us?" asked Snivels. "We only know how to handle dragons or Vikings or Pokémon, or some combination of two of those or all three. We don't know anything about fighting viruses."

"True," said Kuro, "But you were all essential to the defeat of the Mastermind, and effectively saved the future of the entire Multiverse. If that doesn't make you some of the Multiverse's greatest heroes, then I don't know what does."

Adhesive smiled. "He's got a point."

"You said there'd be others," said Astrid. "Who? Anyone we know?"

"That depends," Kuro said, "On how much you know about the other dimensions."

As if on cue, a wormhole opened up, and a large purple figure burst through the wormhole and tackled Hiccup to the ground. Once his head stopped spinning, he found himself face-to-snout with none other than Typhoon the Windwalker. And lo and behold, there was Himinn sitting on the dragon's back.

"Hey, little brother," she smiled, "Did you miss me?"

"Himinn," he greeted. "I thought Splice erased your memory."

The older girl dismounted her dragon. "He restored it," she said, "Duh."

Typhoon snorted angrily. Before anyone could blink, her spiny tail swept under Himinn's feet, knocking her to the floor. The Windwalker released Hiccup and pinned Himinn instead.

"Yeah," she groaned, "Payback's a cruel mistress."

As Hiccup was picking himself up off the floor, another wormhole appeared, from which a Nihilego squeezed through.

The creatures that followed elicited excitement and delight from one particular Go-Getter.

Instead of the Monster Riders, Symbiont's intended recruits, there was an adult female Nargacuga and a pair of juvenile Rathlings. Both were as tall as a full-grown Viking and had patches of immature gray mixed into their scales, but one of them had orange scales the color of the palest sunset over the mountains, while the other was a pale yellowish-green.

Snivels gazed hopefully at the young soon-to-be King of the Skies. Everything about him was undeniably familiar. The way he shuffled his talons, the shape of his spikes...no, he was too big.

But Toothless and Ebony's children are bigger, now, too.

"...Ratha? Is that you?"

The Flying Wyvern turned his head in response, revealing the left side of his face. There was a scar where his eye should have been.

It is him!

"Ratha!" The Servine rushed toward the adolescent monster, arms extended for a long-awaited hug.

But the Rathling stepped back and growled at him.

"Ratha..." Snivels halted instantly, his heart sinking into his stomach as his smile turned into a confused frown. Of all the times he'd imagined reuniting with Ratha, he had never once thought that the Rathling would not be happy to see him. "It's Snivels. Don't you remember?"

Ratha growled again, louder this time.

Hiccup started forward, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him before he even took a step. He turned and met Astrid's eyes. One look and they both knew - this was something only Snivels could do.

"You saved my life, Ratha," the Servine said, his voice full of tears. "That's how you got that scar, remember? You lost an eye for me, and I would have lost an eye for you, too."

Was that a hint of recognition he saw in the Rathling's remaining eye?

"You promised me you'd stay strong." Surely Ratha would remember that. "You promised..." He could have swore he saw the orange Rathling tremble before it suddenly barreled into him, knocking him to the floor. Snivels braced himself, expecting sharp claws digging into him and a set of teeth clamping down.

Instead, something warm and wet ran across his face.

Snivels's eyes shot open, only to close again as Ratha showered him in countless more affectionate licks.

"Ratha!" the Servine laughed. He remembers me!

The other Rathling, who was none other than Rathi, nudged her way in to greet the Servine herself. Because she was not quite used to displaying affection, she settled on a brief, but well-meaning, nuzzle on Snivels's cheek. Swift the Nargacuga, however, showed no objection to giving Snivels a friendly lick.

Brandyn gazed at the three Flying Wyverns, fascinated. "So, these are the monsters we've been hearing so much about? Remarkable."

Wiping his face clean, Snivels pushed himself to his feet and draped an arm around Ratha and Rathi's necks. "Brandyn, Ra and Camazotz," he said, smiling proudly, "I'd like you to meet my friends from the Monsters of Berk dimension!"

Grinning like a child who had just woken up on Snoggletog morning, Brandyn stepped up and laid a hand on Ratha's flank. "I've never seen a Rathling this close before," he breathed. "It is most beyond wonderful to finally meet you."

Snivels's smile was so wide he'd thought his face would split in two. Then he noticed that he had a full view of Ratha's scar, and his expression shifted into a thoughtful frown. After briefly covering his left eye with one hand, he asked, "Has anyone else noticed that Hiccup, Toothless and Ratha all have permanent injuries on their left side?"

"Well," said Blaze, folding her arms across her chest, "Now that you've mentioned it, yeah."

Kuro turned to face Symbiont. If Necrozma had eyebrows, he would have raised one. "I expected the Monster Riders," he said. Surprisingly, he didn't sound as disappointed as the Nihilego would have thought.

"Their dimension's supervisor wouldn't allow it," Symbiont said. "So, I had to settle for the next best thing."

Kuro shrugged. "Just as well, those kids have got enough on their plate already."

A surprisingly large wormhole opened up next to them, and Glutton lumbered through, followed by five differently-colored dragons - brown, blue, emerald, black, and golden yellow - that were unlike anything the four Trainers of Destiny had ever seen before.

"You're later that I expected," said Kuro.

The Guzzlord rumbled, "Extenuating circumstances."

There was a sixth dragon balancing rather awkwardly on the brown one's back. A dragon with bright, glowing, shimmering, fiery scales and veins of gold running through her glimmering wings. Her eyes were a startling blue, as though someone had bundled up the sky and immersed it in fire until it burned from the inside. Even from ten feet away, Hiccup could feel the intensely burning heat radiating off of her coppery-orange scales.

What kind of dragon is she?

"No offense," said Symbiont, "But do you really think it's a good idea to bring a SkyWing with firescales into the city?"

Glutton shrugged. "The MudWing wouldn't come without her."

"Hey!" snapped a voice, "Will somebody please explain what is going on?!"

For a second, Hiccup had thought it was Astrid who had been yelling out. But how could the complaint come from the other side of the room if she was standing right next to him?

Heather lifted up a shaking finger to point at the blue dragon. "Did anyone else just hear that dragon speak?"

Simultaneously, the six dragons turned their heads toward the sound, their eyes widening at what they saw.

"Giant scavengers!" the brown dragon yelped. "How'd they get so big?!"

The black dragon glanced around at their surroundings and said, "I don't think they grew, Clay, I think we've shrunk."

"You're kidding," snarked the emerald dragon. "Don't you think it's more likely that the entire world grew?"

More words came out from their mouths, which Hiccup could barely focus on due to them being a group of talking dragons oh my gods what in the name of Arceus is going on right now?!

"You wouldn't be able to fit in this room at your real sizes," Kuro said as idly as though he were discussing the weather. "Especially not all at once. The Multiverse works in mysterious ways that we don't fully understand ourselves, but we've found that it appears to have a tendency to be delightfully convenient to our needs."

From atop Clay, the copper dragon asked, "Could you explain that in a language we can all understand?"

"How about Spanish?" joked Snivels.

"The snake talks?!" the blue dragon screeched.

"Yeah," Astrid deadpanned, "But the trick is getting him to shut up."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

"I think you broke them," Brandyn quipped.

"But...but..." the black dragon had never in his entire life been so at a loss for words.

Scavengers! Speaking! In a conversation! Like they were really talking!

"How is this happening?" he finally squeaked out.

"I'm asking myself the same thing," said Hiccup, still feeling a little numb.

The black dragon lowered his head so he was eye level with the one-legged trainer. "You're a peculiar one."

"Likewise," Hiccup said.

The golden dragon brushed past the others to get a better look at him. She laced her claws into his hair and ruffled it up as she fawned over him like he was the most adorable kitten in the world. "Aw, you're so cute!"

Cute?!

"Okay," he said, grabbing her talons and tangling them out of his brown locks. "First of all, please don't do that. And second, I'm not cute."

"Sure you are," Astrid smirked.

"No!" the blue dragon shouted. She stuck her claws in her ears. "Stop doing that! LA LA LA SCAVENGERS CAN'T TALK!"

"Well, at least we're all being adults about this," the emerald dragon said.

"What?" the blue dragon demanded, removing her claws.

"Nothing," the emerald dragon said innocently.

"At least things can't get any weirder," said the copper-orange dragon.

Cue two more wormholes opening up.

"Or maybe they can," she corrected.

While the portal on the left bore two small human figures, the one on the right had about a dozen characters, each sporting a different color.

"I can see why you were late," Kuro told Burst. He then turned to Blade and Blaster. "What's the story with you two?"

"The boys had sorbet," the Kartana said, "We didn't want to miss out."

The Necrozma sighed. "Help me gather everyone into the meeting room. We have a lot of introductions to make."

The meeting room was large enough to fit about a dozen Guzzlord inside, and for good reason. Some of the chairs had been moved aside to accommodate for the creatures who were unable to use them. In the very center was a huge, circular table decorated with the Ultra Guardians' symbol - a diamond and an arrowhead shape.

Kuro "stood" at the head of the table, both hands resting flat on the smooth surface, gazing across the room at the many faces gathered with him. Most of those faces displayed confusion, with the possible sole exception being the triangle-headed boy, who was looking around the room with amazement and wonder, like a kid in a candy store.

"You are all among the Multiverse's greatest heroes," the Necrozma declared. "Each and every one of you was chosen for your unique talents and abilities. Before I answer any questions that you may have..."

"Which is probably a lot," Snivels muttered under his breath.

"...We will begin with introductions," Kuro finished. "Be sure to pay attention, because I do not want to have to say any of it more than once. We're running on a time constraint here."

It was quiet enough to hear a metaphorical pin drop.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," Kuro started, "Leader of Team Go-Getters. For those of you who don't know, his species is commonly referred to as 'humans'."

"Humans," the black dragon uttered, testing the word on his forked tongue.

Hiccup looked around at the other recruits and gave them all a nonchalant wave.

"Hiccup's dragon companion, Toothless the Night Fury."

Said dragon separated from the gathering behind him and padded over to his rider's side.

"Prince Snivels Siebold Snaketail, the Servine. In their world, by the way, his species one of nearly nine hundred unique creatures collectively known as Pokémon."

"Pokémon?" the blue dragon repeated with a scowl. "That's a made-up word."

"All words are made up," Snivels retorted.

"Astrid Camicazi Hofferson-Haddock, wife of Hiccup, and her companions, Stormfly the Deadly Nadder and Blaze Phoenix Firefeather-Toughshot the Blaziken."

"Exactly how do you know our full names?" Astrid asked, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

"We have files containing the bios of every being in the Multiverse," Kuro said. "We have to go over them on a regular basis. Anyway, Heather and her companions, Windshear the Razorwhip and Ninjark Jutsu Fleetflippers the Greninja."

Cue another suspicious look from Astrid. "And you didn't tell us her full name because...?"

"That information is highly classified," was the Necrozma's reply. "For familial reasons." He continued, "Heather's fiancé, Brandyn Ozymandias Aetherson, and his companions, Basilisk the Grapple Grounder, Ra the Solgaleo, and Camazotz the Lunala."

"'Ozymandias'?" Adhesive snickered.

Brandyn shrugged. "It was my grandfather's name."

"Moving on," said Kuro, "Former Ultra Guardian turned Go-Getter, Adhesive Pin Needley the Poipole."

"'Needley'?" Snivels nearly burst into laughter. "No offense, Ad, but I think you just lost all remaining pretense of 'cool'."

Adhesive's face turned several shades of red.

Kuro chuckled briefly. "From the Monsters of Berk dimension, the Rathlings, Ratha and Rathi, and Swift the Nargacuga."

The one-eyed Rathling glanced all around the room, his nose taking in all of the unusual scents that were gallivanting in the air. Rathi curled in on herself next to Swift, who thrashed her tail in greeting.

"From the Lightning and Night dimension, Hiccup's older sister, Himinn, and her companion, Typhoon the Windwalker."

The eighteen-year-old girl started forward, only to be tripped by her faithful reptilian friend.

"From a parallel Wings of Fire timeline, the Dragonets of Destiny - Clay of the MudWings, Princess Tsunami of the SeaWings, Queen Glory of the RainWings, Starflight of the NightWings, and Sunny of the SandWings and NightWings. In their universe, Starflight still has his eyes."

"Queen Glory!" Snivels repeated in amazement. He rushed over to their side of the table, skidding to a stop at the feet of the emerald dragon. He knelt down into a bow so low that the tip of his nose brushed the floor. "It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty."

The emerald dragon - Glory - gently pushed him back up. "Thanks, but that's really not necessary."

"Well," said the Servine, "From one royal to another, you are an inspiration." He rushed back to rejoin his friends, not minding if anyone noticed that there was a bit of a skip in his step.

Kuro cleared his throat to regain everyone's attention. "Clay's admirer, Peril of the SkyWings, born with a rare condition known as firescales, so try not to touch her."

"He's touching her," Heather said, pointing at Clay.

"He's fireproof," Brandyn said. "Well, specifically, his scales are fireproof."

"Thank you, Brandyn," Kuro drawled, his patience starting to wear thin. This was already taking longer than he would have liked. "From a parallel Miraculous timeline, Paris's local superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir, wielders of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses. In their universe, Mayura is still active as the user of the newly-repaired Peacock Miraculous."

From the large group of colorful superheroes, two of them - one in a skintight suit that was red with black spots like a ladybug and the other in a black skintight suit with fake cat ears and a belt for a tail - walked up to give a small wave. The cat boy slid his hand into the ladybug girl's, which earned him an annoyed glare before she pulled it out of his grasp.

"Alya Césaire, also known as Rena Rouge, wielder of the Fox Miraculous."

As the orange fox superhero stepped forward, more than half of the group behind her shouted in surprise, "Alya?!"

"Nino Lahiffe, also known as Carapace, wielder of the Turtle Miraculous."

The green turtle superhero walked up next to Rena Rouge and put an arm around her shoulders. The two shared a shy yet loving smile.

"Zoé Lee, also known as Vesperia, wielder of the Bee Miraculous."

Adhesive let out an enormous sigh of relief as the benevolent bee superheroine stepped forward to join her friends.

"Fraternal twins Luka and Juleka Couffaine, also known as Viperion and Purple Tigress, wielders of the Snake and Tiger Miraculouses."

The teal snake and purple tiger superheroes gazed at one another in shock for a moment before walking up to the table, side by side.

"Max Kanté, also known as Pegasus, wielder of the Horse Miraculous."

The brown horse superhero adjusted his sunglasses ever so slightly as he approached the table.

"Kagami Tsurugi, also known as Ryuko, wielder of the Dragon Miraculous."

The red and black dragon superhero stepped forward with her head held high, sword held firmly at her side.

"Alix Kubdel, also known as Bunnyx, wielder of the Rabbit Miraculous."

Adhesive expected a full-fledged adult, but didn't seem to mind that this superheroine turned out to be in the same age group as the others.

"Lê Chiến Kim, also known as King Monkey, wielder of the Monkey Miraculous."

Said superhero strut forward and tried to strike a heroic pose, but it looked more goofy than anything else.

"Mylène Haprèle, also known as Polymouse, wielder of the Mouse Miraculous."

The grey mouse superhero steeled herself before approaching the table.

"Rose Lavillant, also known as Pigella, wielder of the Pig Miraculous."

The peppy pink superhero girl skipped right up to join the others.

"Ivan Bruel, also known as Minotaurox, wielder of the Ox Miraculous."

No one on the assorted superhero team looked very surprised as the aforementioned hero took one big step forward.

"Marc Anciel, also known as Rooster Bold, wielder of the Rooster Miraculous."

The fire red and blackish-blue rooster superhero joined the group, looking a bit shy.

"Nathaniel Kurtzberg, also known as Caprikid, wielder of the Goat Miraculous."

Rooster Bold's cheeks turned several shades of red as his best friend walked up and stood next to him.

"Sabrina Raincomprix, also known as Miss Hound, wielder of the Dog Miraculous."

The Necrozma let out a breath as the final member of the Miraculous superhero team stepped forward. He wished the list hadn't been so long; every minute they wasted, the more the mutant virus would spread across the city.

"Finally, from the Danville dimension, stepbrothers Phineas Flynn and Ferbs 'Ferb' Fletcher."

Everyone in the room eyed the two young boys.

"Aren't you two a little young to be some of the Multiverse's greatest heroes?" Ladybug asked.

"Yes," Phineas said, "Yes we are."

"Gyururururururu."

Both boys turned around to find...something standing behind them. With teal fur, webbed feet, a flat tail and a duck-like bill, it was most unlike any animal the four Trainers of Destiny had ever seen in their lives.

Phineas, on the other hand, recognized the creature immediately. "Perry? What are you doing here?" He picked the animal up and hugged it.

The room was quiet for a brief moment before Peril asked the question that was on almost everyone's minds. "What is that thing?"

"This is Perry, our pet platypus," Phineas said. "He doesn't do much. But how did he get here?"

Blade and Blaster looked nervous. "He...must have wandered through the wormhole while we weren't looking," the Kartana said slowly.

Kuro gave the two Ultra Beasts a quick nod of approval. Good work. We'll need him, too.

"So why did you bring us here?" Glory turned her head to Kuro. "Snivels was right - you've got some explaining to do."

The Necrozma nodded, then hovered back and forth through the air above them, looking as though he was pacing. After a second or two, he finished that and floated back down to his end of the table.

Then, abruptly, he spoke. "Okay, so, the short answer is that our world is in danger."

About ninety percent of the heroes in the room collectively rolled their eyes, their expressions screaming, "Like we've never been there before."

"We were creating medicine to treat for a newly-discovered virus," Kuro continued. "And one of our manufacturers accidentally spilled some unstable isotopes on a couple of virus cells."

"My fault," Sticky broke in, a guilty look on her face.

"They've mutated out of control and are currently rampaging throughout the city, infecting the residents and turning them into zombie-esque versions of themselves. If this gets out of our world, it could infect the entire Multiverse. That's why we've brought all of you to our aid. Your job is to find a way to contain this threat and figure out how to stop it from spreading any further."

"So," said Himinn, "Basically, you're asking us to round up a bunch of freaky virus-zombie-whatevers and whip up a cure for them."

Kuro started, then, after thinking it over for a minute, conceded. "Yes, we are." He folded his arms across his chest and added, "However, you're all free to go back home, if you wish."

No one voiced any objections.

"Very well," he said, "I sincerely hope that each of you fares well in this endeavor."

"Wait a minute," Adhesive flew up to survey the room. He pointed to each group and listed off, "Norse, Dragon, French, Pokéspeak, and English, all in the same room, and everyone understands each other perfectly! In your face, logic!"

"Adhesive?" Snivels called up to him. "You're starting to scare me a little."

Phineas looked thoughtful. "Well, now that he mentioned it, it's weird that we're all speaking the same language."

"Fanfictions don't always have to make sense," said Ferb.

There was an unnecessarily long moment of silence as everyone else in the room stared at the green-haired British boy.

Finally, Cat Noir spoke up. "You know, he's right."

"Yeah," everyone else chorused.

Except for Tsunami, who gawked. "Really? You're all satisfied with that answer?"

Kuro cleared his throat. "If you're all finished socializing with one another, there's a certain mutant virus that needs to be stopped." He glanced out the nearest window. "And I suggest you all hurry. We've already wasted enough time as it is."

"We'll lead them out," Symbiont offered.

The room was empty within the span of one minute.

Except for Kuro, who stayed there. If this doesn't work, he thought, Then I don't know what we're going to do.

Finally, I'm so sorry, that took way longer than I would have liked. Stupid writer's block.

I've been wanting to have the Go-Getters team up with the Dragonets of Destiny for a while, though I probably should have done it under different circumstances. I originally intended to use the "original" characters from the Wings of Fire and Miraculous universes, but I realized it wouldn't be a good idea for continuity reasons (I also didn't want to torture poor Starflight by leaving him unable to see all of the wonders happening around him).

And, for those of you who are wondering, the reason I didn't include Peril in "How to Train Your Wings of Fire" is because, to me, it wouldn't have made sense to put her in a story that didn't have Clay in it. If Peril and Windracer ever did meet, though, I can imagine them becoming friends.

Reviews aren't required, but they are appreciated.