Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Ryuji reached for his forearm, pinching himself. "Ow! …Okay, definitely not dreaming. One of our own is an effin' Maiden!"

"I don't even know how to manipulate ice. How the hell am I gonna… ya know, be an efficient Winter Maiden?"

"Hmmm…" Chiaki rubbed her chin, immediately looking into her gaming menus and selected the Ice Flower. "You could always use this to get a feel for it."

"But that's just for chucking ice balls. I'm talking… like… mastering the ability to manipulate ice."

"It's a good start at least…"

"Why not do a little test run? See how well you can manage it?" Sojiro suggested.

BB-8 let out a few concerned boops.

"Yeeeeah, might wanna back up a bit…" Chiaki agreed as they slowly backed up to give Futaba some room.

"Here goes nothing…" Futaba's hands glowed as she conjured up some ice, which immediately turned into snowy explosions that flew everywhere. "Waaaaaaaah!"

"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Ryuji exclaimed, as some ice nearly hit him. "Ack!"

"I'm trying…! I don't know how to turn it off!"

"Does anyone know anything they can do?" Ann wondered.

Jade immediately sprang into action, quickly moving toward Futaba as she was desperately trying to turn it off as Jade immediately put her hands on her right hand, closing it up. Futaba would see Jade's hands turn into ice. "Jade…!"

"It's okay, honey… just breathe…" She said calmly, not caring about her hands while Jataro quickly grabbed a coffee cup and inserted it inside of her other hand, which immediately froze it while Jade kissed Futaba, the latter closing her eyes and kissed back, which calmed her as the aura disappeared from her eyes and her hands went back to normal.

Jataro pulled away with the ice cup in hand. "Um… anyone want iced coffee?" He chuckled.

Jade broke the kiss, pulling away as she looked at the ice that was melting from her hand. "Your hands…" Futaba whispered.

"They're fine. A bit numb, but I've dealt worse." Jade said as Futaba chuckled before hugging her.

"Well, this is gonna take a while to clean up…" Sojiro rubbed his head as Elfilin popped his head out of some snow before getting out, shaking it off.

"Sorry dad…"

"No no, it's okay. This is uncharted territory for all of us." Sojiro said gently.

"Do we know anyone who can help Futaba with her new abilities?" Akechi asked.

"I know a woman." Chiaki said.

Meanwhile, at the Future Foundation…

7:18 PM

Kyoko looked up at the sky, looking directly at the Death Egg that hovered threateningly over them while moon debris rained down from the sky. Nearby, Palutena and the Forces of Nature did everything they could to deflect debris from harming any civilians.

She softly smirked. "I didn't realize it was amateur hour."

Her phone rang. When she looked at the caller ID, it was Byakuya. She put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Kyoko? There's someone at our headquarters you're going to want to meet."

"I'll be right there."

Kyoko turned around and walked back inside.

Byakuya was waiting for her outside of a room to conduct said interview. "I've already sent the others to help whatever civilians they can. Aoi and Komaru are still gearing up, the rest have already moved out. I'm trusting you to stop whatever plan Eggman has for Remnant. Bring out that same skill you brought out in both killing games."

Kyoko gave him a soft, yet teasing smile.

"Look at you, being more proactive after you messed with the crime scene in our own killing game."

Byakuya sported a frown. "Don't remind me. In hindsight, it wasn't my best moment… even if I told you that I witnessed Mondo leaving the scene, you would likely have been the only one to believe me during that trial." He folded his arms. "I haven't made a bad habit out of messing with crime scenes since then. You have my word on that."

Kyoko nodded, patting him on the back. "I know."

"Now go on. Get whatever information you can out of that man and get to work," Byakuya instructed. "I need to get myself ready to help with the rescue efforts."

"Right."

Kyoko walked into the door. "Good evening, mister-"

"Arthur Watts."

"-Mister Watts. I'm Kyo-"

"I know who you are. The Future Foundation is well known all over Remnant. You might be stationed in the Mushroom Kingdom, but everyone knows about you. I've seen your records too."

"Okay. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

In Atlas…

7:20 PM

BGM: Where Is the Hope? (Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age)

Ruby paced around the snow, letting out a frustrated growl. "Ruby, you've been pacing around the snow for five minutes." Yang said, where she and Samus made sure Rosalina was okay while Blake was hugging Weiss.

"Aaaagh! I know! I'm trying to wrack my brain here into trying to figure out what to do! I can't think with all that water rushing into that area! …Which reminds me, what's with all the water in the first place?"

"There was a naturally made dam in the mountains." Robyn explained. "If I had to guess, Atlas slamming into the ground destroyed it, and, well… here we are."

"Ooooh… okay, yeah, that makes sense."

"But with that, it makes rebuilding impossible… let alone trying to rebuild Atlas from the ground up…" Ironwood mumbled, sitting on the snow and unsure of what to do.

"Wait, someone's emerging from the water!" Emerald said as they saw three figures emerge from the water as they swam toward the others.

"Oh, it's Seryu and Sheele… and Kuro too!" Marrow said, his tail wagging with happiness.

"Blegh…" Seryu said, shaking her head to get the water out before wringing her dog ears. "I didn't think the Warp Pipe would've been affected…"

"You all okay?" Sheele asked as Kuro shook his body.

"Yeah, shaken up, but we're fine." Elm said. "...Hey, where are the other three? Ryu and his friends."

"Ryu, Chun-Li and Guile are making sure the survivors are okay. They'll be with us as soon as they can." Ironwood said.

"No doubt not everyone made it out… they had little time to get out of there." Harriet said.

"We tried to stop it from falling, which probably gave them some more time." Samus said. "Unfortunately, Rosie was ambushed."

"It always seems to happen whenever Metal Sonic is involved…" Rosalina said as she stood up and looked at what remained of Atlas and Mantle, closing her eyes while Dark Weiss looked at Esdeath.

Esdeath turned her head to see Dark Weiss. "...Do I know you?"

"You helped me fly to the Mushroom Kingdom when I wanted to fight Weiss, remember?"

"I did…?" Esdeath tilted her head slightly before rubbing her chin. "Oh, that is right. I did. Apologies, I am not… with it right now."

"No no, it's okay… we're all shaken up over this." Dark Weiss said.

"I thought General Esdeath had a fantastic memory." Lubbock said.

"She does, but memory lapses happen to the best of us." Kurome said, finishing texting. "I just told Akame that I'm alive."

"Did the same with Sun too." Leone nodded.

"I just checked in with my family. They were in Vale shopping when Atlas fell. They were more worried about me." Bols said as anime tears burst out of his mask. "It's so beautiful that they're concerned about me!"

"Alright, easy on the waterworks, you're gonna turn into an ice statue if you don't stop it." May said.

"So now what do we do? Just sit here, do a staring contest with that Egg moon and wait for Remnant to get glassed? Because I have no idea what a Chaos Emerald is." Robyn said.

"A Chaos Emerald is one of seven powerful gems of performing remarkable feats when all seven are gathered. We're gonna have to gather them all up… unfortunately, I have this feeling Eggman might have one of them."

"Well, pipsqueak. We might as well gather them then. They could be what we need to stop Eggy. The issue is… where are we going to find them?"

"Well, we have to get them before that blue hedgehog does. He's gonna stop us from stopping Eggman from blowing us all sky high. You saw what he did to that moon! Now it's permanently… that." Harriet said.

"I personally believe that that is nothing more than Eggman propaganda." Vine said calmly. "I am of the belief that this Sonic character is of good."

"How do you know that? Have you personally met him?"

"We have. He's a good guy. If he wasn't, then we'd all be dead from the Shroobs." Ruby said.

"Shroo what now…? Oh, you mean those weird purple mushrooms that attacked Toad Town?" Lubbock asked.

"The very same." Blake nodded.

"...We need to hurry then." Weiss said as she stood up, clenching her fists. "We're going to collect those Emeralds… and we're going to destroy Robotnik with them."

"Weiss, I know you're upset, but that's… kinda strong coming from you." Aqua said.

"Then what do you expect us to do?" Winter retorted. "Sit here and just watch Eggman destroy Remnant? Because he made damn sure of it with Atlas!"

"For once, I'm with the Schnees here!" May added.

"Stand down, Winter." Ironwood ordered. "We're all on edge right now, in fact I'm barely keeping myself from flying up to take care of Eggman myself. We need to find the Chaos Emeralds before it's too late. Do we have any leads?"

"I know where one currently is." Ruby said as they all looked at her. "It's in Garreg Mach."

End BGM

Meanwhile, back at Toad Town…

7:30 PM

"Ya know, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this technology business… so it's like… why would someone carve their face on a moon?" Anna wondered, sitting at Toad Park with Elsa. "Let alone use a moon to blow up an already destroyed moon?"

"Your guess is good as mine…" Elsa shrugged.

"And apparently, the locals say "apocalyptic events" happen every two weeks or a month or so. What I want to know is why everyone is either calm or just… running around in circles. May I remind you of that invasion that happened a few days ago!"

Elsa shook her head. "It still surprises me that everyone is in good terms with that Bowser guy…"

"I KNOW! What's that all about?"

"Heeeeeey!" A voice called out as they turned to see Chiaki and her group approaching.

"Oh hey, it's those Phantom Thief people." Anna said.

"Hey. We were wondering if you could help us out with something?" Makoto asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Elsa asked as Chiaki and Jade turned to Futaba as she visibly gulped and then activated her maiden powers, which in turn, caused it get out of control again.

"Whoa!" Anna exclaimed as Elsa's eyes widened, watching ice being flown everywhere as one stream of ice struck Anna in the chest. "Mmmph!"

"Oh gosh!" Elsa exclaimed as she immediately reached over and closed up Futaba's hands. "Breathe! Breathe… deep breath now." She said as Futaba took a deep breath, deactivating her powers again. "Okay… good…"

She immediately turned to Anna. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, i'm fine. Nothing like getting hit in the chest to cool you down. I've been down that road once. Hahahaha!" Anna laughed it off before immediately getting nervous. "My hair's not turning white, is it?"

"No, you're good."

"Ooooh thank heavens…" Anna sighed in relief.

"Did I miss something?" Jade wondered.

"Wait, you haven't seen the movie yet?" Akira asked in surprise. "Well, I know what we're watching later once this crisis is over."

"Okay, am I seeing things-" A voice said as they turned to see INXY and Rantaro walking over. "-Or did Futaba just get Maiden Powers?" Nyx asked.

"Nope, Fria passed it down to her in her final thoughts." Chiaki said.

"Oh… I thought Esdeath would've had that locked down." Iris said. "...But come to think of it, that'd be boring. You'd be giving her more ice to work with."

"We were thinking the same thing." Xena nodded. "Soooo, Futaba with Winter Maiden powers. That's interesting."

"Definitely the youngest maiden out of the four." Rantaro agreed. "Unless… wait, how old's Edelgard?"

"Seventeen, I think. Could be eighteen…" Iris shrugged.

"And Futaba?"

"I just turned sixteen a few months ago." Futaba said.

"Yeah, definitely the youngest."

"Have you ever dealt with ice before?" Elsa asked.

"I've used ice in my ray gun, but… no… this is entirely different."

"Well, I know how you feel. I've dealt with something similar when I was growing up. I was gifted with magic when I was born, but… it grew out of control one day. My parents put these gloves on my hands, telling me to "conceal, don't feel"."

"Yeah, and we all know how that turned out…" Anna mumbled.

"What did I ever do to you?!"

"Enough, Anna…"

"No, why, why do you shut me out? Wh-why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?!"

"I said "ENOUGH!"

"Then she broke out into song." Anna added.

Elsa grimaced. "I really don't like that song…"

"Why, not catchy enough?"

"No… I was just running from my past and letting everything go. Definitely… not how I should've handled things."

"Well, ya know, the past can hurt but you can either run from it or learn from it." Anna said. "...At least, that's what the talking monkey said when I watched that one movie. King Lion or whatever it's called?"

"That's true…" Elsa nodded.

She then gently held Futaba's hand. "I made some mistakes when I tried to conceal my power… I'm not gonna let anyone else go through the same path as I did."

"I… wasn't really planning on running away to the mountains." Futaba looked up at the Death Egg. "...How can I? It'd be impossible to be safe when that thing starts shooting its death laser."

Elsa nodded. "I'll do everything I can to help you master your Maiden powers."

"But… how can I master something within twelve hours? I don't even know how to control it!"

"Controlling is one thing." A voice said as they saw Gray approach. "Mastering it is another."

"Gray?" Chiaki wondered. "What are you-"

"I saw the ice explosions while wandering around town. Thought I could see what was going on. So… I'm guessing the egghead is the new Winter Maiden?"

"Yeah." Futaba nodded.

"Let's see what you got." Gray said as Futaba activated it. "Okay, you got the activation down." He mused. "Now let's see how well you-"

"Wait, I wouldn't-" Ann tried to say but it was too late as Futaba conjured up ice that sent an ice storm everywhere.

"Yup. That looks about right." Gray said as Elsa got her to breathe again. "Kay… we've got a lot of work to do." He said, brushing some snow off of his shoulder.

"Hmm… in the meantime, we should probably go and locate the Chaos Emeralds. The question is… where are they?" Chiaki wondered.

BB-8 let out a chirp, pulling up a map of Remnant to locate the Chaos Emeralds.

"Okay… one of them is a bit far away but if we can go in the X-Wing, we can go ahead and get that one." Chiaki said. "We can-"

Immediately, they heard the sound of an engine roaring as they looked up to see the X-Wing coming in for a landing, then the cockpit opened up as Ibuki leaned out with Deadpool behind her. "Need a lift?" Ibuki asked.

Chiaki laughed. "Right on time, honestly." She said as she climbed aboard while BB-8 went into his area of the ship while Elfilin flew in, which Ibuki and Deadpool decided to sit on top of the wings while Chiaki decided to summon some Stars for everyone else. "Here, you guys can-"

"I got it." Gray created some ice birds for everyone. "Much more stable than those things."

Chiaki sweatdropped. "...Right, that'll do it too."

"You guys got any room?" A voice asked as they saw Lucy approaching. "I want to help out too. Atlas used to be my home before I left. I want to help take down that Eggman guy."

She smiled. "I also brought my descendant along because he has the keys." She said as Tatsumi walked up behind them.

"Yo!"

"The more the merrier." Chiaki chuckled as Tatsumi climbed into the X-Wing while Elfilin sat in Chiaki's lap. "Let's go to… wherever this Chaos Emerald is!" She said as the X-Wing roared to life.

"Come on, Jade. Let's go!" Nyx said.

"Right." Jade nodded, giving her girlfriend a hug. "See you later?"

Futaba nodded. "Of course." She hugged back before they looked into their eyes and shared a kiss before they got on one of Gray's ice bird.

"I'll stay and keep an eye on then. We'll catch up." Ann said as the Phantom Thieves nodded, climbing aboard an ice bird, right as Chiaki received a text.

"Forgetting someone?"

Chiaki turned her head to see Hajime climbing aboard a Warp Star with a dorky smile. She smiled back, blowing him a kiss as they lifted off the ground and then flew off to the location in question, with Silver secretly following them.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." Gray said, casually in his underwear.

"What the heck, dude?! What's with the indecent exposure?!" Anna exclaimed.

"What?" Gray wondered, unaware that he stripped.

"...Yeah no, I'm not doing that." Futaba said.

Elsa, meanwhile, stared at Gray. Good heavens, look at that muscle tone and those abs… She thought with a soft blush, then immediately noticed Juvia glaring daggers at her with a threatening aura around her behind Gray.

Elsa sweatdropped with a weirded out expression. Where'd SHE come from?!

Meanwhile, up in the sky near the Smash Mansion…

7:45 PM

"I guess Garreg Mach would be a good place to start if any." Samus said.

"It's the only lead we have." Rosalina said.

"Pika." Pikachu agreed.

"Once we find this, we can definitely find the rest. Hopefully." Aqua said.

"Right." Samus nodded. "Let's just hope the others will remain calm during all this…"

As for Ruby, she was busy texting someone.

"We're heading to Garreg Mach for the Chaos Emerald. You wanna come?"

"I'll be there soon. My wife, dad, brother and uncle Loid are currently distracting Oran and Anya from the chaos that just happened earlier. Maia's helping too… meanwhile, uncle Qrow is busy watching the news on his scroll and aunt Raven's… nowhere to be seen right now."

"Well, here's hoping she's alright."

"Me too. I'll see you soon, sis. Love you!"

"Love you too, sis!"

Ruby smiled. "Glad we have her coming." She said as they descended at the Smash Mansion as everyone got out of their ships and walked into the Mansion.

"Oh hey, glad to see you're okay." Master Hand greeted. "Weiss, are you feeling okay?"

"I will be when we destroy Robotnik." Weiss walked off. Dark Weiss looking at Weiss with concern written on her face along with Sheele and Seryu.

"I honestly don't blame her for feeling this way… yet… I dunno, something is definitely off with her." Sheele said.

"Yeah." Seryu nodded and looked over at Esdeath who looked completely blank and calm as can be. Something can be said about her too, but I'm probably going crazy over Atlas being destroyed… must be a coping mechanism for her.

The Smashers all looked at the Atlesians and the Schnees with sympathetic looks as Weiss kept going forward with determination and anger in her eyes.

Sure, she hated Atlas, but innocents were killed in that devastation. Something she didn't take too kindly of as they approached the portal leading directly to Garreg Mach.

"Is this it?" Ironwood asked.

"Yup, it is." Ruby nodded.

"Good, now let's get that Emerald." Robyn said as they walked through.

Meanwhile, with Chiaki and crew…

7:46 PM

BB-8 let out a chirp as he had updated the map on Chiaki's HUD.

"Okay, the Chaos Emerald is… in that shadowy area in the map? A place called... City of Nil?"

"Do we know any shadowy spots in the Mushroom Kingdom?" Akira asked via coms.

"Well, there's the Koopa Kingdom, but we're not heading in that direction." Chiaki said.

"Yeah, we're definitely heading to the Elephant Graveyard!" Deadpool said.

Chiaki chuckled. "Right… but the only other shadowy place that I know of is-" Her eyes widened, slightly paling. "Oh no…"

"What's wrong?" Nyx asked.

"Might as well strap in… we're heading straight for no man's land…"

"Yeeeeup, definitely the Mushroom Kingdom's equivalent of the Elephant Graveyard."

Meanwhile, in Moonview City…

7:46 PM

"Mister Mishima! You have a visitor."

"Send him in." Kazuya said, looking over his city. He heard footsteps behind him. "What business do you have with me?"

"I figured you would be the best course of action."

Kazuya narrowed his eyes. "You have some nerve coming into my city after that stunt you pulled."

He turned around to see Eggman in front of him. "I will not tolerate your foolishness."

"Ah, but I've come with a proposition for you."

"Speak."

"Your city is near the border of Vale, is it not? As such, you would be caught in the crossfire."

"Indeed. What are you getting at?"

"If you can hand over that blasted blue rodent for me, then I will spare your city from certain destruction."

"And if I refuse, this city is toast."

"Yes."

Kazuya glared. "What's in it for me?"

"Well, I know you want to make vast improvements to the city, and of course, you want to make sure this city thrives under your watch."

Eggman snapped his fingers as Egg Robos walked in with bags of cash. They tossed them to the ground. "I suppose this will be enough." He said as Kazuya inspected them, noticing that they were all gold bars.

"These gold bars can be yours… if you hand over that hedgehog to me."

Kazuya said nothing as he stood up to face Eggman.

"How much time is left?"

"Given that it's a quarter to 8 PM, I'd say… eleven hours and fifteen minutes left, give or take."

"Then that's plenty of time."

Ibuki: We're off to an adventure!

Deadpool: And we all know we're headed!

Just what could Eggman be up to if he hired Kazuya?