X-Squad: Carmen Sandiego

by garshishoe

Prepare for laughter-induced side effects, spontaneous dance routines, and an insatiable craving for popcorn as chaos reigns supreme. If you start to plan heists in your sleep or feel an urge to bust out some sick dance moves, contact your local holy figure for backup. Viewer discretion is strongly advised – this musical escapade might just be too catchy for your own good!

1. Game on

AN: Yep, time we get rider and happy, along with some weirdos and streaming.

---

The Omniverse. An infinitely large universe filled with infinite universes and dimensions, parallel to each other, home to many wonders beyond Imagination, such as epic struggles between Good and Evil, worlds where mythical creatures are real, where anything impossible is possible.

In the beginning, the Big Bang occurred, and a universe splintered into billions and billions of parallel universes, worlds vibrating and replicating, came to be.

At times, there are those who know of its existence, and those who have yet to learn of it, secrets that are known and secrets that must remain anonymous, but there is one great secret to the Cosmos that can change everything…

Somewhere at the very centre of this omniverse, beyond the corners of Time and Space, exists a world.

A world that exists in this ancient universe where, though some of its stars have gone cold, it still shines a single light.

A world that but a few know of, a world that is well unknown, though it has no name, it can be sometimes known as… Foundation Prime…

It is here that the power Infinite exists, the power of both creation and destruction, Alpha and Omega, pure imagination…

But like all power, some would want it for good… others for evil…

On this planet, the bizarre surface is at times made of both matter and energy, and at times, the living sea of magical energies can at times clash as waves of greyish purple water, spewing up to magically take physical forms of many things, such as objects, buildings, characters and numbers.

No one knows much of this strange and unknown world, which very well exists without notice for many years, in peace and without disturbance…

Until now…

As a usual spewing of parts of the planet's surface rises up, it begins to act funny. Suddenly they begin to spin round and around in a circle, until all of a sudden, a vortex opens from within, as Harlequin, Metalseadran, Puppetro, Mechanos, Eagros, Metalete, Lilithelle, Kiko, Zoey, Dr. O, Lixdan, Megafin, Birch, Kronos, Calamity, Ink Blotch, Circe, Shuma-Gorath, Kurohonema, Zora, Yoomtah, Frollo, Enmu, Lamu, Raxeuk, Frexe, Blackbeard, Ito, Vic, Yuika, Hook, Caine, Basco, Badley, Rem, Agdaros, Los Dark, Killia, and new strange people walked out of it.

The first, second and third ones were copies of Oresky, Namakelder and Hosshiwa, Erxkadnmlae, Kosexry and Xsowshiha, with colors inverted, Namakelder appearing more like a bat merged with a zombie, Hosshiwa having sharpened claws and Oresky looking like a gorilla.

The final one was what looked like a snake fused with a probe.

The probe, in question, had a serpentine body which looked like two purple camera lenses for eyes sticking out the front, and had two robotic arms (which had what looked like cartoon gloves on their hands) and an antenna to boot.

The Deadlight members, and their mysterious companions took a few steps on the planet that they arrived on, just as the portal closed behind them and the fragments of the planet that made the portal fell back to the odd ground.

Soon Kiko turned to the robot and pointed forward, a sign as a way of saying to start searching ahead, the probe obeyed and continued onward, scanning with its optic eye, hoping to find what the figure was seeking, the said figure slowly following behind.

After several minutes of searching, after passing a spew which seemed to take the form of what looked like the number 42, the robot's scanner went green, meaning that it found what they were looking for.

"Hey, I found a thing!" said the robot happily, only to realize whom he was talking to a bit and acted in character of being a plain robot "Uh, I mean, 'Anomaly located'."

"Excellent." Kiko said, congratulating her newest creation, Lucin, as she approached where the robot found the anomaly.

"Yes…" said Kiko, letting out a chuckle, "We found it!"

Lucin looked pretty surprised with little confusion about what the ice mobster found "Uh… what did we find?" he asked, unsure of the unknown claim.

"After all these years of searching, it really exists… Foundation Prime!" Kiko then explained to her robot servant, as several small mural pictures rose from the ground, each one showing an image of a different dino, some included a t-rex, a Mammoth, a giganotosaurus and what appeared to look like a megalodon, as well as a book with notes on it in the middle, along with a ring, a cake, some slippers and a spine-like piece of technology.

"And Foundation Prime is…?" asked Lucin, scratching its side with wonder.

"The very centre of all of Creation," Kiko explained, "pure imagination, both energy and physical form, strive here, and it is here that the remains of this power are reserved, after the creation of the Omniverse." She then looked at the small pictures of the objects.

"This depicts the Keystones – things from the start of creation, scattered across the dimensions." Harlequin added. "And we can gather them all in one place."

It is there that Lucin had to interrupt to give out some info "Just so you know…" he stated, "the Keystones are the lords of time and space. So they're… kinda important. To the entire omniverse." He explained with a nervous chuckle, worried of what his master was planning, and hoped she would come to understanding.

"Oh, indeed I know…" said Kiko, nice and calm, Lucin gave a sigh of relief, happy to know that she knew about each role of the elements, but it suddenly went downhill. "And your services are no longer required for this."

"Wait, WHAT?!" said Lucin, as he panicked at what she had said and what ever was about to go down.

"Well, after all," Harlequin explained to the minion "You have outlived your purpose now that we found this." And as he said that, Kiko started freezing Lucin in ice.

Panicking, Lucin tried to explain the dangers that Kiko would bring "Wait, listen! Some of the Keystones are linked into their respective realms, think about the consequences of what will happen if you snatch them out of their fixed points!?" Kiko, though not shown due her mask, smirked at Lucin. "Plus, the power can't be safely or legally harnessed! And what about the pay raise you promised me?!" Lucin asked as he was turned to ice, and shattered.

With the deed done, Kiko let out a calm laugh as she spoke aloud. "With those little doodads, chaos will reign, and we will rule all!"

She continued to laugh, devolving into laughing like a maniac, and Zoey, Dr. O and Lixdan nervously chuckling alongside, terrified by Kiko going crazy, before Kiko stopped as Zoey hugged her.

Meanwhile far away, watching the construction and hearing the laughter of a madwoman from afar, Anubis looked with concern, hoping that his new heroes would be able to stop him and his army, as he then disappeared in a flash…

It was a beautiful day on the SS Bloodlust, the birds chirping, the rifts glowing, no missions ever since the Blossom City incident.

But Voidlon's day was being spent still wandering the halls of his new house/mobile home base, he had to admit, it has been 2 weeks since Jergingha's defeat and the construction of the base, besides the main room, there was everything from 7 bedrooms, 6 halls, 4 bathrooms, a kitchen, 2 living rooms, a magic testing room, (strangely) an armory, an attic, 2 basements (was that even possible?), a much bigger library with a lot more books, and (for some reason) 3 storage rooms (why three?) and it still had some space for more things to be put there, despite it's already large size, a castle couldn't hold this many rooms, even Anubis's, Tock explained to him that the energy needed to make it made the ship bigger on the inside. (Author's Note: I'm just trying to be a little humorous and add this many rooms.)

"Voidlon!" a voice resonated through the rooms, oh no, Mystle got lost again.

Voidlon followed the echos and found himself standing in front of a closet, he opened it, Mystle came running out and almost slammed into a wall if she hadn't stopped.

"Oops, sorry," she nervously smiled, rubbing the back of her head.

"Maybe we should go to the deck," he concluded, this was the fifth time today that Mystle got lost, which is a record on the lowest amount of times she got lost in this maze they called a house.

They made their way out to the deck and stepped outside, it really was a beautiful day, why spend it all inside?

Voidlon shook his wings and began to walk over to greet his friends.

First was Roman Torchwick.

"Hiya Void! You're back!" Roman stepped in front of him.

"What do you mean?" Voidlon asked.

"Ever since this place has been built, you've been in there for days, what were you doing?" Roman wondered.

"I was just looking to see what everything in the castle," Voidlon argued.

"Yeah, for three days," Roman snorted.

"Three days?" Voidlon realized, he really had to see the others now, he rushed past Roman.

"Wait what's going on?" Roman yelled.

"I need to visit the rest of the squad!" He yelled back.

After meeting the rest of the crew, Snatcher said that his hair looked like a rat's nest and should be cleaned up before ever leaving a house ever again.

"SURPRISE!" Everybody yelled, Voidlon jumped back in fright, but then relaxed after he saw Sora with a huge goofy grin on her face.

The banner read: Welcome-back-Voidlon-from-the-ship-and-getting-lost-but-suddenly-came-back party, the place had all the sort of treats you'd find in a bakery/sweet shop.

They really did miss him, Voidlon smiled.

---

"I didn't ask for this, I didn't want this to happen. There was so much I was looking forward to, so many things I'll never be able to do now. I've tried so hard to do what's right, but now? I don't even know what right is, and it's all because of you. You did this to me, YOU PUT BUTTER ON MY POPCORN!"

Jonathan "Jontron" Jafari stood at the concessions counter of the Broadway Theater, staring into the glazed eyes of a pimply teenage cashier. As soon as the news of a Birdemic: Broadway show reached his ears he knew what he had to do, and after he did that, he figured he'd go see this terribly bad titan turned musical, if only to see how unfathomably terrible it was. He, and his bird Jacques were, as far as he knew, the only two people to buy tickets to the show, but that didn't faze him, to him it just meant he'd get the best seats. The critics who had reviewed the production described it as, "unfathomably earnest" and "the worst thing ever, unfortunately I am not allowed to give negative stars, because if I could this show would receive around a negative five-hundred and two." That didn't matter to Jon though, he had to see it for himself, and he needed to feel the terribleness in person. At the moment however the only thing that concerned him was his popcorn.

The cashier behind the counter, who was clearly close to falling asleep gave Jon an irritated look, and said, "Sir, as our policy clearly states, all purchases are final, if you want popcorn without butter you'll just have to buy another bag."

"No," Jon replied, "When my great uncle Baltizar first came to America he had a dream. He dreamt that all men would receive popcorn to their liking on the first try, not the second nor the third, the first! Doing this has disgraced not only me, but my family and my bird and that sir, is unacceptable."

Sighing, the cashier responded, "Sir, if you don't either buy another bag or move along I'm going to have to call security, are we clear?"

"Oh," said Jon, knowing he was bested, "okay. I'll just be going then s'not like I need popcorn."

Walking away, Jon's feathered automaton Jacques muttered, "Wow, Jon that was pretty pathetic."

"Well I didn't see you trying to help me, Jacques." Jon replied.

Entering the theatre Jon saw that it was packed- with seats- that would've had people in them if the show was worth watching. Choosing his seat carefully Jon sat, cyber bird on his shoulder, and awaited the beginning of what was likely to be the best worst musical ever, of all time.

Ten minutes passed and the stage sprung to life, the curtains flung open and the show began. The first song was titled "She's My Hot Ferrari" and was easily the dullest, most wooden song ever written, however Jon couldn't help but smile at its absurdity. The first song lasted three minutes and was followed by a tune about bird acid. It was around this time that Jon began feeling strange, he felt as if a pressure was building inside his chest. Although it was odd he chose to ignore it and continue soaking in the terrible musical. After another five minutes and a song titled "Coat Hangers and Ospreys" the feeling intensified and Jon couldn't help but feel concerned.

"Hey Jacques," he said to his bird, "you uh, feeling anything weird goin' on? Like you're gonna explode?"

"Don't be ridiculous Jon why would I feel-"

Before Jacques could finish his sentence however both he and Jon, were engulfed in a blast of pure terribleness and popcorn kernels that sent the duo hurdling into a void of blackness.

When Jon regained consciousness he saw nothing but blinding whiteness, and although he didn't want to believe it he knew in his colon what had happened.

"What's going on? Am I dead? Jacques? Are you there buddy?" he shouted into the whiteness.

"I'm here Jon." Replied Jacques' disembodied voice.

"Jacques, I-I just want you to know, I was the one who ate the last pudding cup, And I blamed it on Rockington. I'm so sorry man." Jon sobbed.

"WHAT?! You piece of shit, you said you don't even like the pudding! Imma kill you when we stop being dead."

"Hey Jacques, if we're dead, where are we? Is this heaven? If it is, I gotta admit, it's kind of a letdown."

As if on cue a large, wooden ornate door materialized in front of Jon.

"Hey Jacques, you seein' this?"

"Yes, Jon, perhaps we should go through it."

"Oh, that's just brilliant, I never would have thought of THAT Jacques I was just gonna look at it for a while, maybe ask it to dinner or something- WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID? OF COURSE WE SHOULD GO THROUGH IT!"

"Carful with the temper Jon, or else Jacques's gonna have to smack a bitch."

Jon and Jacque opened the door to see a ever distorting vortex. Jon stepped through the door and onto nothingness.

"SHIT! Jacques, a little help here?!" Jon screamed falling towards the ground.

"Only if you promise not to touch my pudding cups again." Said Jacques

"Okay, now help me dammit!"

"Say it like you mean it." Jacques said, not at all concerned with the wellbeing of his friend.

"I promise never to eat your pudding cups! Now help me!" Jon cried, the earth coming ever closer.

"Alrighty then Jon, I'll help you." Said Jacques, flying to Jon and grabbing him inches from the ground.

---

"Great party, Mystle." Voidlon said, taking a swig of Kool-Aid.

"You're welcome, Void!" Mystle beamed, the rest of the squad behind her, then Voidlon jumped up a rock, taking out a bottle of wine and calling for the squad's attention.

"Gentlemen, ladies and nonbinary pals! August 23rd will go down as the first day in our time as a team! We've faced demons, aliens, even each other's shenanigans…"

The squad nodded as they remembered the days when they fought and killed a horde of aliens.

"…but the gravest of them all, the space war! We the few, the rag tag team of horribly mismatched individuals, defeated not only millions of robots, but a monster mob boss and a living space fortress as well! Indeed, it was a battle hard fought. But in the end we were victorious!" They cheered as he finished. Voidlon looked down and chuckled. "…For the past three weeks we've done nothing but get into mindless acts of violence and sheer stupidity. It was the worst experience of my life." He raised his glass. "It is an honor, my friends." All present cheered.

Suddenly a portal opened in front of them, startling them all.

"What is that?" Voidlon asked, suddenly a man and a bird emerged from the portal, the bird dropping the man onto the ground.

Kanade was also trying to process what just happened, but instead failed, as she realized that what just happened gave the laws of physics a hefty 'fuck you.' Amanojaku couldn't think of anything to say, so he attempted to greet it.

Jon stared at the group of weirdos in front of him, what caught him off-guard was what the cat said.

"Hello, my name is Ama-" Amanojaku tried to say.

"Where are we?" said Jon.

"My sensors indicate we are in the space between worlds." Replied Jacques.

"Well yeah, obviously that makes sense-WHAT!?" Jon screamed back to his bird.

"We appear to have ripped a hole in the universe by watching the Birdemic: Musical." Jacques added.

"Are you sure? This place doesn't look so different. 'S got a futuristic vibe to it. I- I'm pretty sure we're in the same place."

Lune was completely and utterly confused, first, did the bird say something about sensors? Second, why is the man talking to it like it can speak?

"Ahem, my name is-"

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT ON A STICK IT CAN TALK!" Jacques yelled as he witnessed the talking cat.

"As I was saying," Amanojaku then looked at them to see if they were going to interrupt him everyone was silent.

I've been kidnapped by an interdimensional cartel, Jon thought, nuff said, and possibly Birdemic.

"My name is Amanojaku and I welcome you aboard the SS Bloodlust," Amanojaku said.

Jacques tilted his head, "What the hell kind of name is Amanojaku?"

"I fucking knew that magic existed!" Jon shouted.

"Shut the hell up, I don't want to know about the unspeakable things you do to the Tooth Fairy," Jacques said.

"If you would do so, may you please follow us to the deck so we may ask you some questions?" Amanojaku was making this all up on the spot.

The two then looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"I dunno, I don't trust hallucinations," Jacques said suspiciously.

Mystle then sped towards him, but he ducked and she instead kicked a Banjo And Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts case, which was sent flying into the aether.

"Can a hallucination do that?" she asked.

"Nuts and Bolts was sent into oblivion, how can anyone not believe that anymore," Jacques said, impressed.

"Yeah, I sorta meant to hit you," she chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, that's dead," Jon said.

[Yep, that's Jon and Jacques, alright.]

[As psychotic and maniacal as I remember]

"Can we please get to the main deck?" Kanade was almost to the point of begging, the rest of the squad were just watching them in shock or amusement.

2 hours later

Everyone took a seat with Jon and Jacques in the middle.

"So, who and what are you?" Taylor asked.

"I am Jon and I'm a human from planet Earth, Jacques is a bird robot," he explained.

"Why did you have to say it like that? It was so cliche, they say that in almost every movie if the aliens are friendly goddammit!" Jacques facepalmed.

"Thank you for introducing yourselves," Roman said. He reached up to tip the brim of his hat; "Roman Torchwick. The others are Neo Politan, Pecos Prickles and Roald D. Flipper."

"Name's Voidlon Shingetsu, Prince of Barian World and soon to be top tier fashion designer."

"I'm Julie Hinikawa, former keyboard player of Puffy AmiYumi." Julie said.

"Zap, member of the Skylanders and a big prankster." Zap said.

"I do not think we have been introduced. I am Taeko Yasuhiro." Taeko added.

"My name's Harry, the yellow one's David and the bird's Robin" Harry added.

Muty got out a whiteboard and drew her name.

"So, you're named Muty." Jon said.

Muty nodded.

"Just call me Asami Uehara." Asami added.

"Name's Zinnia Ramirez, Voidlon's cousin." Zinnia said.

"I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc De La Vallière." Louise said.

"Laura Bodewig, Student of IS Academy." Laura said.

"I'm Hibiki Otonokoji, Ultimate Vocalist! And she's Kanade! My twin sister and Ultimate Guitarist and Murderous Fiend." Hibiki said.

"H-Hello. Please don't press into why I'm known as the Ultimate Murderous Fiend, let's just say, you don't wanna know." Kanade said.

"I'm a proud and mighty member of ASIC's front-line infantry, Linda. Don't forget it!" Linda said.

"So, an Underling?" Jacques asked.

"What!? Where the hell do you get off calling me an underling, huh!? Only the X-Squad's allowed to do that!" Linda said, cheeks reddening.

"Brandon Tran, honor to meet you." Brandon said.

"Lark Cyclonis, that's all you need to know." Cyclonis said.

"Name's Sapphire Ink." Sapphire said.

"Montgomery Gator, at your service." Monty said.

"Aria Grundel, nice to meet you." Aria said.

"My name's Jasmine Queenston, and this is my inner demon, Malcho." Jasmine said, pointing towards Malcho.

"Well, her ancestor, Aladdin, was my previous foe, but since I was cursed to be their guardian spirit, I became her demon." Malcho explained.

"I am Megabeast Hunter Bangray, that's all you need to know." Bangray said.

"I am Jeeves Weevil, a proud gentleman." Jeeves said.

"Randall Boggs, former scarer now turned possible terrorist." Randall said.

"I'm Mimi, this is Sheshe. We're the Black Beauty Sisters." Mimi said.

"Greetings to you." Sheshe said.

"Name's Lila Rossi." Lila said.

"I'm Namue, son of King Shark." Namue said.

"Eleanor Sterne, at your service." Eleanor said.

"Name's Satsuki Miayanoshita, the others are Hajime Aoyama, Amanojaku, Momoko Koigakubo, Keiichiro, my brother, and Leo Kakinoki." Satsuki said.

"Rémington Smisse," Rémington introduced. He put out his right hand upon instinct. "The cat's my brother, Grany."

"The name's Sho," Sho said with a toothy smirk, hands in his jacket pockets. "Sho Minamimoto. Would-be Composer."

"And I'm Coco!" Coco called out. "Coco Atarashi! Also would-be Composer."

"Dr. Albert Krueger, certified dream therapist, also a serial killer." Albert said.

"My name's Taylor Lee." Taylor added.

"With all the energy of a pair of Final Girls." Momoko remarked. "And yet, they're non-binary."

"My name's Kenny, I'm helping them put up with Deadlight's shenanigans." Kenny said.

"Death. And I don't mean it metaphorically or rhetorically or poetically or theoretically or any other fancy way. I am death, straight up! But this group just calls me 'Grim'." Grim said.

"I am Chamberlain skekSil." skekSil said.

"Name's Mera Salamin." Mera said.

"My name is Indus Tarbella!" Indus said.

"Name's Scaramouche the Merciless. A former top assassin for Aku, babe." Scaramouche said.

"Minami Shinotenshi, medical examiner and serial killer." Minami said. "The doll's Renegade."

Spaulding popped off his hat and gave a short bow, smiling wide. "Captain Spaulding, at your service. The fatass chef is Hell's Chef."

"I am Symonne, the others are Lunarre and Maltran." Symonne said.

"Edda Blackbosom." Edda said.

Peepers skidded up in front of Jon and Jacques, standing straight as a tree, saluting. "Commander Peepers at your service! I lend this squadron my skills as military strategist, moral support, and occasional gofer!"

"I am Ruler, the magical girl and queen of commandments," Ruler proclaimed haughtily. "I could have had a whole city under my boot, if I really wanted it…" She gritted her teeth. "If my subjects hadn't betrayed me, that is."

"My name is Lune," Lune stated in monotone. "Horned devil, and former executive of Vintage."

"Mystletainn, certified dream demon!" Mystletainn said.

"My name's Stocking Anarchy." Stocking said.

"Call me Casey Halloway." Casey said.

"I'm Kanna Kizuchi." Kanna said.

"My name is Evelyn Claythorne." Evelyn said.

"Dr. James Sheridan, at your service, my friend." Sheridan said.

"Eruka Frog, the werewolf's Free, don't ask, he named himself after his own freedom." Eruka introduced.

"I'm the Sheriff of Nottingham, this is Sir Hiss." Sheriff said.

"I'm Zone, and I'm watching you fap." Zone said.

"Zoe Aves, also known as Black Cuervo, a pleasure to meet you." Zoe said.

"Robert the Tire, hello strangers." Robert said.

"Pulled from the Jaws of senselessness! Don Murasame!" Don Marusame said. "And Mother tagging along." Roman added.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Azfk, consumer of Red Bull vodkas, this is my pet, Amoeba." Azfk said.

"Name's Iggy Spikes. As you might've been able to guess, I'm an actor." Iggy said.

"Ryuko Matoi. Yo," Ryuko casually introduced herself.

"Suigintou." Suigintou said.

"Nice to meet you." Seryu said. "My name is Seryu Ubiquitous, fighting for justice and killing all the bad guys. The others are Esdeath, Run, Kurome, Dr. Stylish, Bols and Wave."

"My name is Neurosi." Namakelder said.

"My name is Freya." Hosshiwa said.

"My name is Farquhar." Oresky said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sora Harewataru, this is Elle." Sora said.

"You are in the presence of Doctor Victor von Doom." Doom said.

[This is the Twitch Chat Drone.]

[We're surprisingly stable considering the shit we saw on this stream]

"And I would be Archibald Snatcher," Snatcher added. Bracing himself for the inevitable mockery.

"Uh oh," Voidlon said. "I sense great stupidity coming."

Then, the team watched alongside the others as the plane's headlights began to glow a bright red. Blue electricity surged forth, entangling the ship. It was not a pleasant feeling for any of them.

Within a matter of moments, the power completely engulfed them, with the plane teleporting.

---

The plane then crashed in front of a concert, the X-Squad sent flying, landing in front row seats, as a cheerful melody was heard. At this moment in time the song was nearing its completion.

"Erm, konnichiwa?" Voidlon asked, scared he may have landed in Detroit.

King Mephisto, who still couldn't put two and two together said, "Is this a stunt by the people to entertain me?"

"What do you mean by that?" Ridley asked. "Listen to me, we need to know where we are."

"Well, you have seen a band of idiots with crackhead determination and no clue what overkill is!" Robin cheered.

"So, any ideas?" Voidlon asked, now sitting in a chair in the front row.

"I welcome all of you to Major Land's grand concert. Now, I would like to ask all of you to listen to the Melody of Happiness!"

Mephisto then gestured to the score on the stage in front of him.

"This legendary score has been played here since the creation of Major Land itself. Thanks to the power of the Melody of Happiness inside the score, the world is kept in peace, and the happiness of its people is preserved. Now, allow me to introduce our new songstress who shall perform the Melody of Happiness. Our Fairy of Songs, Hummy!"

The audience applauded as a young fairy stepped forward. Hummy was a cat-girl with white and pink ears, a white biker jacket, pink pants, yellow slip-ons, and a pink shirt and white skirt. She stopped walking forward when she was next to the score, and began waving to the audience as she softly smiled. "Nyapu, Nyapu." She said, which made the notes within the score move slightly. When this happened Hummy looked at the score for a moment. Mephisto began to speak, snapping Hummy back to reality.

"Be careful, Hummy! Remember that your voice can manipulate notes."

"Nyapu?" Hummy just looked at him with a confused expression on her face, and Mephisto sighed, knowing that it would take time for Hummy to adjust to the role of being Major Land's songstress.

"I suppose this is your first time." He said and turned towards the people of Major Land.

"As you can see, the notes within the Legendary Score try to escape each year and scatter themselves throughout the world. As long as the Fairy of Songs sings the Melody of Happiness once a year, the melody magic is awakened and the notes return to the score once more, thus protecting the world's peace. Today's ceremony is extremely important; I'm counting on you, Hummy." He said, turning to Hummy once more and the kitty nodded, with a determined look in her eyes.

"Alright-nya! Ganbaru-nya!"

Just as Humny said that, a laugh could be heard, and not only Mephisto and Hummy, but the entire audience and squad looked around them trying to work out where the laughter was coming from. Suddenly, the lights went out and a voice sounded throughout the Concert Hall.

"You won't get to sing the Melody of Happiness!" The voice said as the lights were centered onto the balcony where the squad was sitting, revealing a young girl with golden eyes and dark purple hair with cat ears that was reaching the chest with a gold ornament. She was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt under a black sleeveless jacket, a black miniskirt and stockings with dark magenta markings, a necklace and gold collar, and a pair of boots, as she stood there holding the Legendary Score.

"I'll be taking the Legendary Score!" She said darkly and Mephisto looked shocked by this for some reason.

"Seiren!" He exclaimed and Seiren turned to face him.

"Nice to see you, your highness! As you can see, I shall be taking the Legendary Score!"

"What do you intend to do with the Score?!" He asked, but didn't receive an answer as she opened the book and held a hand over the page as she hummed. All of a sudden, the notes began switching places with each other, creating an entirely different melody.

"I've rewritten it as the Melody of Sorrow! With this, I can sink this world into the depths of sorrow!" She announced, not noticing the wave of relief that washed over Mephisto, only for Seiren to look up, her face almost as pink as Hummy's ears, a besotted look in her eyes. "And finally make Hummy-sempai notice me!"

Mephisto immediately facepalmed. "Look, Seiren, we've been over this. If you like her, just ask her out already, she's right there."

Seiren gasped, scandalized. "B-but, Hummy is a princess, the chosen successor of you! She's the first one to literally sing the Melody perfectly in hundreds of thousands of years without taking a break! I am nowhere near good enough to court her!"

"Seiren, you're literally the youngest Song Fairy to make a super-modulator in history, have the strongest Sympho-Magic I've seen in generations, you broke the all-time record for exam completion, are a literal prodigy, and you literally stole the Score from under our nose," Mephisto pointed out.

"It's been a while, Seiren!" Hummy said, not seeing Seiren blushing.

"You haven't changed at all, you cute airheaded little kitten." Seiren smirked cruelly, trying to keep cool and not faint on the spot, but it wasn't successful at all as Hummy continued to smile softly.

"Thanks a lot-nya!" she said, which only served to cause Seiren to start blushing and stammering at this point, and finally, made a very shrill, strangled sound that could only be properly heard by dogs and other animals who could hear higher decibels, such as the X-Squad, and Mephisto, who winced as her cry bombarded their eardrums.

"I mean, good job shooting your shot, but seriously, next time, maybe opt for a bouquet and some chocolate." Voidlon suggested, as his ears rang, making Seiren facepalm, wondering why in hell didn't she think of that.

Far above the land, and above the hall, obscured by the clouds, there was a gigantic, red blimp hovering above. At the controls of the blimp was a tall, dark-haired woman, her body hidden in a red trench-coat, her face hidden by a large, red fedora. Behind her stood several distinct henchmen. Gesturing for one of them to take the controls, Carmen Sandiego turned to face the muscular one dressed like a music conductor.

Carmen asked her henchmen, "I'm sure you all remember what you're supposed to do, Ductor." Connor Ductor nodded. In his hands was a katana mixed with a baton, and he was wearing a parachute. Carmen nodded to the pilot, who reached over and pulled a switch. A huge door opened on the side of the cabin and Connor jumped out of it and parachuted down towards the hall.

Far below, a few pedestrians looked up and noticed the man as he landed on the stage. Soon more people were looking and wondering what he was doing. A publicity stunt, perhaps? Some sort of airshow?

Connor landed on the ground with a thud. When he landed, he looked around and saw Seiren holding the score, and started rushing towards her, Taeko saw this, and rushed to kick Connor away.

"You're tough, but as always, a member of V.I.L.E always comes prepared." Connor said, as he pulled a small black ball made of glass with red and green markings in the formation of an arcane eye out of his jacket.

"What's a marble going to do for you, Music Freak?" Voidlon retorted with confidence that the man was bluffing. "Besides, your drip is very out of style!"

"Just this," Connor answered bluntly as he threw the glass orb to the ground hard enough to shatter it.

As the marble broke, a black sludge oozed out from the shards and the mixture started to rise into the air. All of a sudden, the slime started to merge with the glass and formed silhouettes with large pointed ears. The ooze started to solidify and reveal a small horde of goblin-like creatures. They were varying in size from 5 feet to 6 feet tall, had silver glassy eyes, green plates on their faces to resemble masks, sharp claws, had black scales covering their bodies, were covered in green clothes resembling a wild west outlaw, and each carried a blunt machete-style weapon that was the same green and silver as their faces. They all surrounded the girls who were startled at the creatures when they appeared. Connor spoke out with a callous voice, "Vilelings, get them." and ran towards Seiren.

"What are these things?!" Mera asked as she jumped back from a swinging machete.

Kanade voiced her opinion while punching her fists together, "I don't know, but they're going down!" Aiming for the face, Kanade managed to get in a right straight on one 'Vileling' and knocked it to the ground. With it writhing in pain, Kanade turned her attention to the next three and delivered a few quick jabs to their stomach areas before delivering a haymaker that took two of them out. The third one slashed away with their machete to try and harm the serial killer, but she was too quick and performed a slide to get out of the way. With an opening from a Vileling's attack, Kanade struck with an uppercut before kicking the goblin into two others that were rushing towards her and knocked all three out. Kanade was face-to-face with two final Vilelings, "I'm not even breaking a sweat! Let's go!"

As the Vilelings lunged forward, Hibiki backflipped away from their attacks before kicking one in the face during a dash towards them. As the last creature she fought began to swing its weapon, Grim backhanded it away to disarm his foe and smashed down on the monster's head. "Nailed it," Grim said with a smile on his face as he went to go help the others.

Jon was dealing just as well as the others did by punching Vilelings in the face with jabs, straights, and uppercuts. But, he was also kicking them in the legs to send them to the ground before smashing the top of the monsters' heads. He even swung from hanging branches to kick away the goblins and performed running dropkicks to send them to the ground. "These things are tough! How come they came out of that marble?" Jon questioned as he dodged a swinging machete.

The weapon missed the YouTuber, but decimated a park bench and the girls noticed that. Jacques expressed his shock first. "These 'Vilelings' are tougher than they look. Better watch your ass!" Jacques kept flying from the goblins until he saw a fallen tree branch a few feet in front of him. "That could be the right size." the parrot observed as he over the branch, grabbed it in his left claw, and positioned himself into a fencing pose. With no precision and technique, Jacques was somehow able to parry several attacks from the Vilelings and inflict damage to them before his branch broke.

Brandon was defending himself well against the Vilelings by utilizing ninjutsu techniques. With strikes to vital areas on the monsters, Brandon was able to knock several out before he reached the destroyed bench from when Jon was fighting earlier. "Maybe these could help me," Brandon said as he grabbed two pieces of scrap metal and wielded them like swords. Blocking several slashes from the creatures with one makeshift blade, Brandon swung his second weapon at the vulnerable monsters and downed them with ease. Noticing that a second wave of Vilelings came towards Seiren, Brandon reacted quickly. "Hey, heads up," he exclaimed as he tossed one of his metal bars to the girl and returned to fighting his own enemies.

Seiren caught the new weapon and got to her fencing pose before lunging at Connor, keeping the score on her back. After a few minutes, the team was surrounded and were too outnumbered to fight back. "There's too many! They just keep getting back up," Sora declared as she and the squad were against each other's backs.

Voidlon smirked and shouted, "Bring it on, ya knockoff goblins, bring it on!" As the Vilelings leaped at the squad, a gunshot sounded off and struck the airborne creature. As the goblin hit the ground, it shattered into glass again before the shards evaporated away in a puff of smoke. As the girls and the Vilelings turned toward the source of the noise, it was revealed to be Seiren with a revolver-like weapon.

"I think that you proved yourself against these monsters long enough." Seiren spoke in a firm voice. Firing a few more shots, the revolver did not shoot ordinary bullets, but powerful lasers instead. Each blast hit its mark and destroyed the Vilelings in groups, while the squad was unharmed.

Connor hurriedly waved a signal up to the pilot of the blimp. The pilot pressed a red button and flipped several switches as he quickly grabbed the score from Seiren's hands, as Seiren tried to grab it back.

Knowing he had to do something. Mephisto knew he had to do the only thing that was possible, and that was to send the notes to any far off world.

"Notes, get over here!" He cried out and the notes left the Score and headed towards Mephisto. But Connor wasn't having any of it.

"Hey, give me those notes!" He cried as he ran towards him.

Mephisto knew that he had to send the notes now, otherwise they would be taken and who knows what this man will do with it. Just as Connor made a grab for them, he sent the notes away. Connor wasn't pleased by this at all. He turned to Mephisto with an angered look on his face.

"How dare you ruin my concert!" He bellowed, though Mephisto seemed quite pleased with himself.

"I won't let you have your way that easily." He replied smugly, but Connor just chuckled none the less.

"Do you really believe that will stop V.I.L.E?" He called "We shall head out into the wide omniverse and gather up those notes! We shall succeed in our performance and do what we want with it! As long as Carmen has the Legendary Score, V.I.L.E will reign supreme!" Connor vowed as he hopped onto the hook and was pulled into the blimp, which zipped off.

"I shall not allow this! Seiren, erm, name?" Mephisto called as the two kitties and the squad looked towards him in question and Mephisto decided to continue.

"Nyapu?"

"It's X-Squad." Voidlon said.

"X-Squad! Go after them and figure out where the hell I sent the Notes cause I sure don't." He told them.

"Welp, shit." Mera said before running in the direction that the blimp had flown in with the squad and Seiren not too far behind.

"Oh, this is gonna take a while." Mephisto groaned as he sat on his throne, hoping to whatever deity that can hear him that they save the notes.

---

"So, where are we?" Voidlon said as the team walked into a city, Neo carrying Seiren, who turned into a cat, as they accidentally bumped into a blue-haired girl.

"Wow! Metal boxes rolling in the streets! This world is amazing." Sora said.

"So, where are we?" Kanade asked.

"Seinarushima City." Anubis answered. "Oh, you dropped this." He said, giving Sora a small brown book with a wing on it.

"It's mine! Thanks for finding it!" Sora said, happy to have her notebook back.

"So, what does it say?" Voidlon asked.

"Wait, this is Skylandian for 'My Hero Notebook'!" Zap realized.

Just then, a portal appeared, spitting out a domed man.

"And now, I need to make a few calls." Anubis said as Iggy unmasked himself.

Hime clasped her hands together in wonder. "Oh my gosh, you're so pretty! I don't think I've EVER met a creature like you before! What are you?"

"NO ONE TOLD ME YOU WERE HANDSOME!" The domed man yelled at Iggy unexpectedly. This caused a rather long and awkward silence before he quickly amended as Iggy blushed immensely, "In the objective sense. Resume."

"Erm, I'm a Zyuman." Iggy said, surprised someone found him handsome, and was pretty adorable himself.

Hime blinked in surprise. "Oh, a Zyuman! Sorry, I don't usually deal with off-worlders. My family dabbles in the more mystical circles and leaves that sort of thing to others, aside from the occasional crossover."

Voidlon's wing twitched. "Your family… That would be the famous Ozu family, also known as the Magirangers?"

"Nope, I'm the Nether Realm-born princess of the Blue Sky Kingdom." Hime said, preening somewhat. "I've learned magic from the demon and human mages alike to get in touch with both sides of my heritage, and since there aren't really many dark forces for me to fight, I've been practicing in the magical arts. If I'm lucky, I can identify people who have the potential to be great magicians, and pass it up the line to my family so they can help them hone their skills and spread the joy and wonder of magic all over the world!"

"I've never seen someone pull off a doll style like that so well before." Voidlon realized.

Fashion? She can talk about fashion! Hime adores fashion; one of her favorite ways to pass the time at the embassy is designing outfits she'd like to wear someday. She isn't able to get out much, but when she does, she loves to look at all the pretty dresses, it's how she found the one she's wearing right now with its white lace and doesn't it look so gorgeous, the way the ruffles accent the brooch on and- oh no, she just said all of that out loud didn't she? Way to go, Hime. You're absolutely failing at this conversation, you just went into way too much detail, they're not going to want to talk to you anymore. Your chances of having friends are ruined. Quick, salvage it! Compliments! "I like your outfit, too," she added, and she realized she's telling the truth. Voidlon's purple cloak, black and purple robe, and black boots shouldn't work so well together, but somehow he manages it.

"Thanks, I usually go for clothes that suit me and my style, and I'm not sure I could pull off such a pretty dress…" Then he pauses as if she just realized something. "Oh, I never gave my name! The name's Voidlon, Prince of Barian World, and soon to be top tier fashion designer!" he introduces himself.

"Himelda Window Cure Queen of the Blue Sky," Hime stammers in response.

"Him… Himel…"

"Y-you can just call me Hime, if you want…"

"Well, Hime," the Barian said. "I'm very impressed by you. My people don't use much magic, so it was certainly a novel experience."

"Thanks! Would you like an autograph?" Hime asked.

"I would, as a matter fact," Voidlon confessed. "However," he said as Hime conjured a headshot from hellfire and started scribbling a message on it. "That is not why I originally came here."

"You're here to tell me that the world is in grave danger and that I am capable of stopping it?" Hime asked eagerly.

Voidlon blinked. "I…"

Hime chuckled. "I've been waiting for this opportunity all my life." She smirked. "And besides, I've read and watched every piece of PreCure media there is and can tell at a glance that you're obviously the mascot/mentor sent to guide me to my destiny."

"Mascot?!" Voidlon spluttered, outraged. "I am no mascot! I'm an alien, a prince, even!"

Hime shrugged apologetically. "I told you, my family tends to focus more on the magical side of things."

"And you are?" Iggy asked the domed man.

The domed man reached up, slowly and deliberately removing his spherical helmet. Once a pale face framed with dark hair – rather unremarkable, really, compared to the man's demeanor – stared back at the squad and Hime, its owner stated, in a much more subdued voice, "Name's Quentin Beck. As you might not've been able to guess, I'm an actor. Or, at least, I WAS an actor before I was rejected and my name dragged through the mud."

[IT'S HIM]

[EVERYONE REMAIN CALM]

[IT'S THE GREAT MYSTERIO]

"Go on," Hibiki encouraged.

"I have given my whole heart to the art of film since I was a child!" Quentin insisted. "All I ever wanted was to create that magic with my own hands and bring it to life on the silver screen! But current film trends don't want 'campy' anymore. No, they just want BORING. VANILLA. I tried stunt work, but that blew up in my face, literally and figuratively speaking, it was then that a TRAITOROUS EX-ACQUAINTANCE of mine suggested we enter the field of crime together. I thought it sounded like a good idea…until he started hogging all the headlines. He KNEW I wanted that glory! He KNEW I wanted more than just a bit part! And he had the nerve to make me the WAITER? Offering DEMITASSES? Of course, the scheme failed. He had wanted to impersonate Spider-Man. Idiot. If I'D been the one in the suit, the story would be different! So I tore an unmendable rift between myself and the backstabber, and never again shall the twain meet."

"Why do I now know more about your former associate than your actual archnemesis?" Mera asked.

"Because that was only act one," Quentin related. "Act Two: The Fly in the Spider's Web! Once I struck out on my own – "

"Can we wrap this up, please?" Mera asked. "I don't want to have to stand here while you monologue."

"THEN WE WAIT ALL DAY," Quentin argued. "I'M NOT CUTTING THIS SHORT."

Ryuko flinched. At first, it seemed she was about to respond angrily; then, even taking herself by surprise, she simply stated, "I think you just proved why you're X-Squad material right there. All right. I'll listen to the rest of your sob story."

"He humiliated me!" Quentin seethed. "He mocked me! He turned me into a laughingstock! But I showed him. A few technical marvels, and I avoided being a jailbird altogether. Anyhow, once Spider-Man entered the picture, I became Public Enemy Number One. …Or, at least, I tried to be. There was always someone waiting in the wings to take my spotlight. The Green Goblin, the Big Man of Crime, a certain MASTER PLANNER…"

"Who probably put you back on your feet," Suigintou added.

"But I resolved that I, Mysterio, would make my own name as Spider-Man's slipperiest and most dangerous foe!" Quentin crowed. "And all without the use of superpowers or mutations! Just a few practical effects…and some heavy weaponry hidden in them."

"That's admittedly impressive," Suigintou said. "I can't say I envy those without magic, but I do have to admire the ones who chase after it anyway. So, I presume this is when you joined this so-called Sinister Six."

"When I NETWORKED with them," Quentin corrected. "And yes."

"And after that? Your debut?"

"Well. I was thrown into an island prison before that could happen. You see how that worked out."

"So, in the end, you failed," Ryuko stated.

Quentin ground his teeth; "I was biding my time before the grand finale!"

"All right. I won't question it." Iggy shrugged. "After all, the X-Squad is your grand finale now. Or, rather, the continuation of your saga."

"I prefer to think of it more as a restart."

Voidlon smacked his face. "Why. Why did the guidance system lead my team to…"

He shook his head. "Never mind. All that matters is that your world is in grave danger. The greatest enemy of all the omniverse is en route to destroy your reality and a thief stole some Legendary Score to wreak havoc. We were sent to seek someone worthy of helping them save the world. Are you willing to join us in protecting the Earth?"

"Of course," Hime said. "I may not know much about you, but like I said, I've been waiting for a chance to prove myself ever since I was a little girl," Hibikii gushed, eyes wide. She frowned slightly. "Granted, I'd always assumed I would do it as a PreCure, but beggars can't be choosers."

She paused. "So, do you still want my autograph or-"

"Yes, I very much would," Voidlon said quickly.

"Just checking," the half-demon said, handing the signed headshot to the Barian, who clutched it eagerly.

"We should depart right away," Voidlon told her gravely, though his solemnity was ruined by how ecstatic he seemed to be by his new prize.

Then, a clown-like snake climbed out of the sewer and started blasting indiscriminately, the X-Squad dancing and spinning out of the way, all the while Hime was dragged by Hosshiwa.

Then, a purple haired girl leapt down and kicked the beast into a bridge.

"Cure Fortune..." Hime said.

"Erm, what did you do to get on her bad side?" Voidlon asked, as Cure Fortune glared at Hime with pure utter disdain, but Hime blushed and smiled.

Then, Cure Fortune battled the snake beast and eventually defeated it, saving the girl that was turned into it.

"Cure Fortune, huh?" Voidlon asked. "Well, thanks for the solid."

"Um... Iona." Hime smiled. "Thank you for helping me..."

"D-don't get the w-wrong i-idea!" Fortune stammered, before flying off while blushing. "I-I wasn't helping you! It's your fault the w-world is now J-Jack's playground! I-I'll never forgive you! N-never!"

But then, Voidlon grabbed Fortune, forcefully turned her back to her normal self of Iona Hikawa, dragged her back to the ground, and dragged her over to Hime and put purple and blue laser cuffs on their left (for Hime) and right (for Iona). "There. Now you two can sort out your feelings."

Iona could only stare in shock and fear. "Why do I feel like I was beat up by Phantom of all people?" Iona asked, Hime blushing all the while as her girlfriend was just being a tsundere, and Voidlon cuffed them together over not knowing what was going on.

---

Tongue sticking out of her mouth, eyes narrowed in concentration, Yuina Akagawa very slowly, very carefully lowered a microchip so small she needed tweezers to hold it into the open panel on the front of the device on her desk. "Almost… Almost… almost there…"

The insects filling the terrariums taking up most of the space on the desk continued merrily going about their own business, oblivious to the hard labor of their owner, the culmination of a project she had been working on for months and had dreamed of for years beforehand. Laughter wafted through the open window of her dorm room as the rest of the students at the University also went about their own business, oblivious to the colossal scientific breakthrough Yuina was only moments away from achieving. She had considered closing the window to obtain absolute silence, but it had been getting rather stuffy thanks to all the work her soldering iron had gotten and the AC was busted (she'd torn it apart for parts, and not for the first time), and if it weren't for the occasional gust of fresh air she would probably have passed out from heat exhaustion hours ago.

Not for the first time, she wondered if she should have been doing this in one of the campus labs, but as always, she dismissed the notion. They didn't allow her insects into those labs – something she learned from her experience – and it was crucial she had viable subjects at hand for her invention's first real field test.

(Okay, sure, she could've finished in the lab then brought it back to her room to test, but then if something went wrong she'd have to go all the way back to the lab to fix it, then come back to test it again, and that just reeked of inefficiency and wasted time, which was something Yuina found utterly reprehensible.)

(And of course, there were certain reasons she couldn't work on this outside of the privacy of her dorm. Thank goodness she'd gotten a roommate who spent so much time in other people's beds having sex she almost never used her own.)

(Then again, she'd set it up that way.)

With a faint click, the microchip locked into place. Sighing in relief, the cute American student leaned back in her seat, wiped the sweat from her brow, and stretched, wincing as her back popped from hours of being hunched over as she worked on her device. "Owowowow… So much for my ergonomic chair," she grimaced. "Then again, it's no good if I'm not actually sitting properly in it…"

Rising from her chair, she did some stretches, wincing and cringing with each crack and pop as she flexed her somehow not muscular limbs – the product of years of gymnastic training and her half-Fangire biology – here and there. As she twisted about, she happened to catch a glimpse of herself in her roommate's mirror – her own mirror was completely covered in notes, diagrams, pictures of insects, and a considerable amount of fanart of Kiyoto Maki – and grimaced when she saw her own reflection.

"Yikes," she murmured, taking in the bags under her eyes, the way her magenta hair drooped. "When's the last time I slept?"

She glanced at her habitats. Predictably, none of them answered her.

Well, that certainly wouldn't be an issue for much longer, assuming her invention worked properly.

After she finished her stretches and stuck her head out her window to get a deep breath of fresh air – almost getting hit in the head by a frisbee in the process, but thankfully, even as tired as she was her reflexes were top-notch and she automatically caught it out of the air and flung it back with enough force she nearly concussed its owner – she sat back down at her desk, gazing lovingly at her creation.

At first glance it was a simple metal circlet with a large hexagonal panel at the front, currently open and exposing a considerable amount of wires and microcircuitry. On either side of the panel was a segmented metal cable, currently curled up on itself. Once it was activated, they would open up. All that was left was to add the final touch.

After cautiously glancing around the room – a futile effort, she knew, but it didn't hurt to be too careful – she opened one of her desk drawers, took out a box, opened it, dumped out its contents, took out the false bottom, removed the key inside, used it to open a locked drawer, took out the key inside, inserted it into a concealed slot under her bed, causing a floor panel to pop open, pressed the button inside, causing her covered mirror to slide aside to reveal a keypad, input a 50-digit sequence, causing one of her bedposts to fall off, reached inside to pull out another key, used it to open another drawer, and pulled out what appeared to be a diary.

She then opened the diary, revealing that it was, in fact, a diary. She grabbed one of the tools off her desk, flipped through the book to its end, and cut into the inside back cover, revealing a secret compartment. Swapping her tool for her tweezers, she reached in and pulled out her most prized possession, something that more than warranted this much security: a small, black crystal with thousands and thousands of interlocking cells forming a lattice inside of it.

A hyper microprocessor. One of the most coveted and valuable pieces of technology in the world, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that there were people who would kill her to get their hands on it. She really did not like to dwell on the things she had to do to get her hands on this one, but if it worked, then everything would be worth it.

With even greater care than she had demonstrated when handling the microchip, she very slowly placed the microprocessor into the open panel, filling it completely. There was a click as it locked into place, and the crystal lit up, a wave of light washing out from it to engulf the entire circlet, turning it pale gray and giving it a honeycomb texture.

"It's compatible!" Yuina squealed in delight, nearly falling out of her chair and excitement. "Do you realize what this means, guys?" She eagerly asked her insect companions. "I've successfully managed to interface alien and human technology without help! I'm going to get a Nobel Prize at the least for this!"

The insects did not appear to be particularly happy for her.

Ignoring their indifference, she picked up the circlet reverently. "Of course, now we need to see if it actually works as planned. Wish me luck!"

Her spider, the only one of her pets that actually had no claws, did no such thing. She'd never been a team player.

Yuina carefully lowered the circlet over her head as if it were a crown, which it might as well have been. Once it was in place, the microprocessor lit up even brighter, the cables on either side unfurling to reveal themselves to be artificial antennas, and the hexagons started shimmering.

"Okay…" She murmured, psyching herself up. She took out her phone, set it on a tripod, and set it to start recording. A real scientist made sure to document their work, after all. "Moment of truth…"

Looking at her pet snake, she thought, Stop.

The snake stopped in place.

Her heart leaping into her throat, she opened her mouth to whoop with joy… Then caught herself. This didn't necessarily mean anything. The ant could have stopped for any number of reasons. More testing was required.

Concentrating on the snake again, she thought, Take a step to the right.

The snake went to the right.

Her mouth went dry. Take a step to the left.

The snake went to the left.

This was happening. This was actually happening. She pinched herself, just make sure.

"Ow."

This was happening.

Again, she tamped down the urge to start cheering. She wasn't finished testing yet. Leaning to the fish tank containing a barracuda, she directed her focus to the fish, and thought, Stop.

It stopped.

Although it was unprofessional, she couldn't repress a squeal of joy. It was working. It was actually working!

She started issuing further commands to her ant farm, complex ones. Ordering some ants to go one way and others another. Commanding them to dig in certain directions. Gathering all of them in one place and having them do a dance. Making them spell out her name with their bodies.

Every command was followed to the letter. Every test passed with flying colors.

"Okay," she said, again resisting the urge to start dancing and doing back flips in celebration. "But will this work on other animals?"

Reluctantly turning away from the ants, she focused on a birdcage, containing a falcon. Raise your left wing.

The falcon raised her left wing.

Excited, she issued several other commands. Moving her other limbs in sequence, eating only part of a bird, moving in a particular pattern… Again, everything worked perfectly.

Getting really excited now, she decided to try something really tricky. She turned to another habitat, in which a sloth hung from a tree.

Wake up.

The sloth woke up and leapt off the tree.

Awestruck, Yuina took the lid off the habitat, extended a finger, and told the sloth, Come to me.

Surprisingly fast, the sloth climbed onto her arm, looking up at her quizzically.

One last test remained.

She concentrated on the fourth terrarium, the one containing her spider. Focusing on it, she issued a command.

When the spider didn't respond, for a moment, she thought she had discovered the limits of her device.

And then it suddenly got up, climbed to the top of its cage, and started weaving a web.

Watching with wide eyes, hardly daring to breathe, Yuina stared as, bit by bit, her spider outdid the fabled Charlotte by weaving a web that looked exactly like her face.

"It worked," she said finally.

A dazzling grin split her face and she started laughing, tears rolling down her face. "It worked! It worked, it worked, it worked! I did it! I DID IT!"

She shoved back from her desk and started doing cartwheels, needing to burn off this energy somehow, all the while babbling about how she'd done it. Seeming to pick up on the excitement being transmitted by the circlet, her friends also started doing cartwheels, and while she didn't notice at the moment, everything was caught on camera and she'd be even more excited when she saw it later.

Finally managing to calm herself down, she eagerly started chattering, "This will change everything! Animals are everywhere, and this will let people communicate with them, understand them… We can use them to help scout out hazardous areas, construct buildings, find lost people, revolutionize textiles and pharmaceuticals… The applications are practically limitless!"

Shooting a particularly large pinup picture of Kiyoto Maki an adoring look, Yuina bowed. "I did it, Dr. Maki. This will help humans understand animals better and bring our world closer together. A brighter future awaits."

Her expression softening, she glanced at a picture also hanging up with the rest of her documents, an old photograph of a little girl standing next to a grotesque shark monster on top of Mount Rushmore. Both of them looked very happy. "This is what you always wanted too, right, dad? I wish you were here to see it…"

"Did he pass on?"

Yuina shook her head. "No, he's back home. Now that I finished this project he'll be the first to see it-"

She stiffened. She was alone in her room. Who had just said that?

Slowly, she looked at her companions. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if her invention not only allowed her to command animals, but for them to talk back.

Then she realized the voice had come from behind her and turned around to see that there was now a kid with dragon features and white hair wearing casual clothes that had a regal look about it.

Squealing in delight, Yuina rushed over to examine her visitor. "Oh my gosh, you're so pretty! You have to be one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!"

"Thanks, I do try my best, you could say I wing it." The dragon kid joked.

"I wasn't aware that cybernetics were sophisticated enough to look like claws, though," Yuina commented in puzzlement as she observed her visitor from all angles, desperately wanting to take him apart to see what made him tick but fairly certain the dragon might object to that.

"That's because I'm not," the dragon said proudly, drawing herself up. "I am no cyborg, but Voidlon Shingetsu, prince of Barian World, and soon to be top tier fashion designer. And also forklift certified." Voidlon said. "I was sent by Anubis himself to find someone to aid in our cause against Deadlight and whatever's planning to assail Earth."

Yuina gasped. "Anubis himself knows about me?!" She whispered, feeling like she was about to faint.

Much to her disappointment, Voidlon shook his head. "No, I doubt he's ever heard of you before. I was tasked to find an individual with certain qualities… And that person is you."

"Me?" Yuina asked in disbelief, pointing herself in astonishment.

"I am as surprised as you," Voidlon confessed.

Yuina frowned, uncertain. "A hero? That's… a bit of a stretch, isn't it? I mean, yes, I love horror, and I'm kind of a genius if I do say so myself, but… Are you sure I'm the right one?"

"Without a doubt," Voidlon insisted. "You have some weird qualities: bravery. Compassion. Cleverness. The heart of a born leader, and the drive to never, EVER give up. All this and more I sense within you. And if you still doubt my words… Then we can head to wherever you wish. Even if you are not the one, he will still want to meet you because of your marvelous invention. Anubis is always striving to find ways to help people better understand each other, and your device will certainly help in building bridges."

Yuina stared at him. Her heart skipped a beat. "Wherever I please."

"Yes," Voidlon replied.

"As in, pretty much anywhere."

"Precisely."

"And say Anubis gave the yep. And no one will judge, and be as happy as I can."

Yuina slammed her hands down either side of the Barian, startling him, and leaned in so close their foreheads were practically touching. Looking him straight in the eyes, the scholar very seriously said, "I would literally cut off my left arm for a chance to go to the Starlight Stadium. I would murder someone for that opportunity. Let's go."

As Yuina bustled around the room, grabbing everything she thought she might need for the journey, Voidlon got out a bottle of vodka.

The next afternoon, the X-Squad, Seiren, Hummy, Iona and Hime found themselves inside Starlight Stadium (Well, the X-Squad followed Hime, Iona and Yuina there after Hime threw a Crystal of Love at Yuina, but still).

"I've watched every video, read every article, and listened to every testimonial about this place I could get my hands on," the young fan of horror intoned as she constantly turned around and around, not wanting to miss even a second of the tableau around her. "None of them came even close to capturing just how amazing this place is. I've had dreams less vivid than this."

She frowned. "Wait, maybe I am dreaming. There's no way something this incredible could happen to me. Voidlon, pinch me!"

"I would not recommend it," the prince chirped. "Your flesh is weak in comparison to Barian flesh. I might take a limb off."

"These weirdos are quite a piece of work, is he?" Satsuki heard a voice from somewhere. A very familiar voice too. She looked around. When she remembered where she heard the voice from, the only conclusion was to look down onto the belt that appeared on the girl's stomach in a flash of thunder. "So, you're the way I'm getting repentance, are you not?"

There, the squad saw a Ziku-Driver, but in silver and black and with a red eye on it. Satsuki began to shudder as she knew this face. It was truly Ark, leader of MetsubouJinrai and enemy to humankind. And right now, he's right on Yuina's waist.

"Such is life." He chuckled. Satsuki tried to take off the belt, with aggression in her strength. "Please, if that was possible, I would have taken myself off of. Hate to say it, but you're stuck to me as much as I am stuck to you." Yuina breathed in.

"I figured as such." She muttered. The squad already knew that something could be after Ark, too.

"Seems you're scared something would want us dead. Fortunately, given the choice between you and whatever's after me, I'd rather be stuck to you than spend the rest of my life with the imbeciles at Hiden Intelligence. You know how the Driver works, right?" He said. A chill went up Satsuki's spine.

"Crank it. I know." Satsuki remembered how the Ziku Driver worked.

"Good. If you could do that and let me transform, I'll see about getting those things out of the way and maybe even save people." He said. The girl's hand hovered over the ignition. "You better hurry." Yuina gulped. She had no other choice but to trust this madman. "Tell me your name first."

"Yuina Akagawa." Yuina said. "And… you have to save the world, alright?" Yuina asked him.

"Very well." Satsuki's hand shook. She'd be trusting the lives of people she barely met to this monster. How would she know he'd be true to his word? He views practically all humans as nothing more than something to wipe out. How could she even trust him with her life? "What are you waiting for? Time's wasting." The team knew full well that Ark was a lunatic, but as Yuina looked at the Driver, part of her felt that she could be able to save someone with this, even if it'd probably be Ark calling the shots. Yuina lodged the Ark Ridewatch in and cranked it. "Henshin!" She exclaimed. "Wait, what? I get to-"

ARK ZIKU-DRIVER!

Before Ark could finish, a bright red light emerged from the Driver.

Red lightning bolts sparked out of the Driver and enveloped Yuina as a light blue barrier was formed around her. Her body surged, she felt like each part of her skin was being pulled apart and electrocuted at the same time. What followed next was what one could have only been described as magic. Data and code swirled and danced around Yuina in a whirlwind. Starting with her feet and arms, it formed a pair of black and red gauntlets and greaves. A pink and red chestplate formed around her with white spikes on the shoulders. A pixelated blue star appeared on the center of her chest as a large blue scarf tied itself on her neck. A pirate helmet fell down onto her head; one that had a crystal star at the center and cloaked her head.

DEVIL TIME! KAMEN RIDER~! ZINNER!

"It worked!" Voidlon was in awe of Yuina's new form. "You're a Kamen Rider!"

"This... this is..." Kamen Rider Zinner examined herself from top to toe, feeling every single part of her new form. The clothes, the headset, the sword. "Is this what a Kamen Rider is?"

"It is." Ark said. "So, are you going to help these people save this world?"

"Mmhmm. Horror's my life, so if that Rider stuff got in the way of it, then there'd be no way I'd take it up." Yuina gave the squad a grin. "Still, it's pretty cool. And that Zinner thing, I can definitely get behind. If I'm gonna be a superhero, then it might as well turn passion into power, am I right?"

"REJOICE!"

Suddenly, a man with a brown long coat and a very long scarf clutching a large steampunk book appeared as if from thin air. "The Ultimate Vampire who will rewrite the Fangire world, and changes her fate. Her name is Kamen Rider Zinner! Witness the power!"

With that, he turned and walked away, much to everyone's bafflement.

"…What?" Seiren asked finally.

"I… am just as confused as you are," Ark confessed, dumbfounded.

Yuina blinked. "Wait, what's the steward of King Tokiwa-"

"May he reign forever," Iona reflexively spoke up.

"Doing here?" The newly minted Rider finished.

"Is that who that was?" Hummy asked, surprised.

"What was he doing here?" Hime wondered.

"Now that his master has fulfilled his destiny to become king of time, Woz occasionally travels through time to rejoice at the advent of significant transformations in Rider history, since he no longer needs to do it as much for King Tokiwa-" Satsuki began.

"May he reign forever," Iona and Yuina reflexively spoke up.

"Why does he do that?" A perplexed Roman wondered.

Yuina shrugged. "Everyone needs a hobby, I guess, and I changed? I look awesome!'' Then she noticed her helmet.

''And I got a helmet too!?''

''You have transformed into Kamen Rider Zinner!'' Ark yelled at Yuina who was slightly panicked.

''How weird...'' Yuina slowly felt her helmet. This wasn't real, was it?

Eventually...

The X-Squad found themselves at the stadium. Though, this time, they were inside of its' walls. Inside, there was a whole manner of things to be seen. There were TVs broadcasting a variety of sports, booths, benches, and tables with chairs for people to sit and talk, stands serving various food and drinks, and some stalls selling merchandise of the two teams that were competing that day; Cumulonimbus and their opponents for the day, Hi-Energy. Yuina herself was dressed in her usual attire, with a pink shirt and black jacket above it, and her skirt snug around her legs. There was one noticeable difference, however. Slung around her back was a purple and pink backpack, with some keychains and stickers depicting more characters from video games.

"Alright! Today's the day." Yuina made fists out of her hands and steeled herself for what was to come. "Whatever happens, I need to cheer really big and really loud for Hideo and his team. If I'm not cheering loud enough, they could lose! If only I'd been part of a cheerleading squad, then I'd have some clue of what to yell..."

"Ow. Ow. Ow."

"Please. Someone. Help."

Such was the sound that accompanied the squad, the two cats, Hime and Yuina as they hiked to where Yuina's seat was.

"Here's a thought," Minami told Mera. "Maybe somebody with brittle bones shouldn't be wearing wedge heels."

Mera had opted for a bright lavender leather jacket and purple shirt with pale purple pants, with a few extra layers of fabric to it to account for the inevitable rips. Her feet were wrapped in pale lilac translucent boots with chunky heels, similarly lavender and showing off the chipped toenail polish she bore.

[she getting better bone strength]

[facts]

"Beauty knows no gain," Mera replied.

"Did you mean 'beauty knows no pain' or 'no pain, no gain'?" Sora asked.

"BOTH," Mera snapped. "You know how I feel about this already. I'm not going to settle for looking tacky when I don't have to wear a disguise just because my Epithet makes it hurt." She folded her arms. "I'm taming this beast one way or the other. Also, I think you all know I really need the height."

"I think you are perfect at the height you are!" Indus told her. (He was wearing the museum uniform khakis again, and an orange polo shirt.)

"Why. Can't. I. Get. This. Off?!" Iona grunted, slamming against every chair she walked past to try and break the cuff, to no avail. "Seriously, Hime?! If you're not taking being a PreCure seriously, how are you still one?! You could've died back there!"

"I am taking it seriously! It's not my fault those Clownagas are terrifying, and then I get scared, and then I end up running away! It's hard on my own, but...thank you for looking out for me." Hime snapped, before smiling, knowing Iona would always have her back.

"W-what?! T-that wasn't...I-buh-guh-nuh-I ab-absolutely w-won't f-f-forgive y-y-you f-for s-setting Jack free! N-never!" Iona blushed and started stammering, Hime knowing she was flustered by the smile.

On her way to the stands, it was then that she saw him. Casually walking through the corridors was Hideo, clad in his eSports team attire. Again, he was all alone, and from the looks of it, nobody else had followed him or ordered him to come this way. Yuina thought that this had to have been another dream. She had been to bed late last night thanks to that freak power surge and her own drive to keep on playing, but she still couldn't let the chance slip by. Swallowing a gulp, Yuina raced over to Hideo as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Hideo!" Yuina called, bolting towards him.

Hideo turned to hear who was calling his name, and sure enough, there she was. Yuina. "Oh, it's you!" He glanced at Yuina and gave her a wave.

Yuina skidded to a halt a few inches away from Hideo, then nervously shuffled backwards slightly. "Good luck today, Hideo. No pressure."

"I never feel any pressure; not when it comes to video games," Hideo said, giving Yuina a grin. "In fact, I'm glad that you're here supporting me. Most fans come here because they want autographs or shout-outs on social media from me and the rest of my team."

"I figured I should, you're one of the best players in this town." Yuina rubbed the back of my head. "So that's why today, I'm gonna be cheering super-loud for you and for your team when you play today!"

"I appreciate that, Yuina. But today's going to be a really tough game, and there's no telling what could happen." Hideo looked down the corridors. "Hi-Energy has been hard at work for this. And they won't be making this easy for any of us."

"Well, that just means I need to shout harder and harder, don't I?" Yuina put a thumb to her chest and gave a confident grin. "It doesn't matter who your opponents are. I'd give my all to see you and your team pull out a win!"

"Thank you again, Yuina." He gave a nod. "Now, I think we really should get going. I need to rejoin my team, and I think you need to take your seat, don't you?" He pointed to the nearby clock hanging high in the corridors. "The pre-show's going to start in 5 minutes, and after that, the game."

"R-right!" Yuina turned to the clock. In all of her excitement in meeting Hideo again, she had just noticed the clock. "I'll catch you after the game, then, Hideo! Bye!" And with that, she turned on the balls of her heels and raced off.

Hideo just gave a chuckle as he watched Akemi leave his sight. "That Yuina... such a bundle of life. I can imagine she truly enjoys games to their fullest." He just gave a small grin and walked the other way down the corridor.

It didn't take Yuina long to find the stadium's interior. Already, the arena was a sight to behold. On the stage, there were two separate tables, one for each of the two eSports teams in today's match, with further banners for each team unfurled over the two sides of the arena. There was a gargantuan screen on the back, which so far, was just showing an idle animation of the two team logos. This was, what Yuina presumed to be the little screen before the pre-show began. As she made her way through the supporters, her seat was on the right-hand side of the arena, and she quickly made her way to it, put her backpack on the ground, and slid it under her seats. After which, she whipped out her phone, turned around, and took a selfie of herself with the camera focused on her and the stage.

"Now that's a keeper." She said, smirking at the photo before sticking it back into her pocket. "I bet mom and dad'll be blown away when they see this."

Then, a few minutes later, the lights dimmed, and the screen that was showing the two logos quickly faded to show a little video of the game that would be played. There were images of avatars running, leaping, and attacking with both their bodies and with arcane magic on the screen. And as the lights went on and on, a blaring orchestral score filled the arena, as a master of ceremonies walked onto the stage, dressed in a simple blue suit with a red tie; a spotlight fixated on him as he made his way towards the center of the stage.

Yuina completely zoned out as she heard the master of ceremonies announcing himself, welcoming everyone to the arena, and talking about the competition today. It was all the same stuff she had heard before. Today, Cumulonimbus and Hi-Energy were competing in a simple 5v5 hero shooter called "Final Arcadia", wherein the winner of the competition would earn the lion's share of a pot of yen, that multiple teams had been competing for over the past few weeks. Today was the grand final of that tournament, and Yuina was hoping that both sides would put on a good show. Though, most importantly, she hoped that Hideo and his team would come out victorious.

After which, the two teams stepped forward onto the stage and introduced themselves. The boys of Hi-Energy were dressed in black and gold, while Cumulonimbus were, as Yuina had seen personally, dressed in white and light blue. Both teams had their team's insignia and title emblazoned onto their shirts and, as they walked onto the stage, the crowd cheered hard for them as they took their places on their respective sides of the stage, ready for their time.

"Hideo! Do you best!" Yuina shouted as loud as she could, putting her hands over her mouth so as to simulate a megaphone. She stood up from her chair as she cheered, hoping that Hideo would be able to spot her in the crowd.

After a few more words from the master of ceremonies, the game was all set up, and the ten eSports gamers were ushered to their seats. Hideo just managed to find Yuina waving her arms around and cheering for him as he went, and he gave her a wave back; to which she—and a few of the other gamers in that particular area, cheered in delight over being noticed by one of the pros. From there, the ten players chose their respective characters for the game. Each one was entirely different for each member of the team, and it was displayed on the larger screen at the back so that everyone could get a better look at what everyone had chosen.

There was an overhead view of the map that the two teams were playing on. Set on a spaceship in the middle of nowhere, that had been heavily battered and torn up by the ravages of cosmic conflict, with a burning sun in the distance, on the verge of going supernova and blasting the wreckage to the aether. The camera cut and faded onto each team respectively, showing off the five heroes for one side, and the five heroes for the other side; with each player's ID above each character. Of course, that's what the audience saw. What each of the ten eSports gamers saw on their respective screens was the first-person perspective of their heroes, with the UI showing each of their attacks, their HP, the gauge that slowly filled for their ultimate attack, and the progress meter for the game's objective, with a tiny clock off to the side showing how much time they had to achieve their goal.

There was a global clock for the game, and when it counted down to ten seconds, the audience, Yuina included, also started to count it down. Once the countdown ended, the doors opened, and both teams were set loose onto the virtual battlefield; each of them ready for the fight of their life in the middle of nowhere. Both teams raced towards the center of the map, where a large central part of the arena was marked by white, neon strips that fit the corners and formed a square around it. It was a wide-open space that could have been jumped in from above or snuck in from the sides. Either way, it was the objective of both teams to capture this area. The first team that fully captured it was the winner.

However, the battle was frenetic, and if the characters weren't being shot at by the various different energy weapons, artillery, and melee weapons, then they were launching off abilities which included, but were not limited to; a mortar strike from a burly man's shoulder-mounted micro-rocket launcher, a charging dash from a behemoth of a man that pushed back any opposing player that was caught in it, walls erected by a timid little girl with green hair made out of stars and space, as if the Northern Lights had descended to form a wall, and a burrowing move that was telegraphed by the character digging under the ground and then shifting beneath the metal plates of the ship, ready to ambush its' prey. All of it was hard to keep track of, but that wasn't what mattered to the audience, because they were enthralled by how intense this battle was. Since this was the final of a tournament, both sides were playing as if their lives were on the line, even though it was for a sum of cash. And it showed, and Hideo, with immaculate timing, fired off a sniper-shot from his hero which struck at one of the opposing heroes, which was the small, timid girl from before, square in the head, eliminating her and forcing a respawn timer to show up for the unwary foe he had struck down.

"Go, Hideo! Go, Hideo!" Yuina kept on cheering her little heart out, though it would have been impossible for Hideo to hear or notice her like this. Still, that didn't matter because she wanted to support her side the best that she could. And it seemed that her support was working, as she saw on the screen that Cumulonimbus's team of heroes were starting to take the ground, turning the white lines green, and making the progress bar on the left-hand side of the large screen fill up with light.

The game seemed to go on and on, and two rounds later, both sides were now equal. They were deep into half of their time for the third round when all of a sudden, something changed. The screen that was displaying the tournament started to glitch slightly. Pixels were stopping and starting, there was some fuzzy disturbance, and the colours were beginning to warp. This kept going on and on, until at last, the screen warped and transformed into a purple, black, and magenta mess, with crackling lightning emanating from it. Some of the lightning shot down at the crowds down on the surface level, making them jump in surprise. The environment rumbled, until at last, something emerged from the corrupted screen and landed in the middle of the stage; expelling black and purple electricity, as well as making the very air around him distort and pixelate, as if he were turning the air around him into code.

Just then, a portal opened and dropped two people in front of the squad.

No, no, they were removing his innards now and it hurt like he'd never known pain and all he wanted was to see Victor but –

"Can I splash him now?"

A sigh. "Go ahead, Zap."

A shock of cold water to the face and the nightmare was over so suddenly. He sat straight up, with what he could swear was a gurgle ringing in his ears.

No. This wasn't where he should be. Not in some town filled with unimaginably weird furries. Who had brought him here? What was the purpose? No, he was supposed to be…

Supposed to be…

Actually, he didn't know.

Voidlon looked him over. Tall and pale and slender, with a somewhat long mop of dark hair that was kept gelled into an exquisite shape. He wore only black and white, suit and tie. His gray eyes were sullen, mournful, yet without a trace of weakness behind them. In a deep voice, with a heavy accent that no one could quite place, Vincent Edgeworth muttered, "Where…? Where am I? Is this…?"

"Not the Myers Corporation," Hajime told him. "After all, you did vow to off its board and staff because of what happened to you."

"I get it, man," Voidlon added. "All you ever did was help 'em out, and they turned you into a guinea pig for it. Sucks. Most of us here have been there."

"I would argue what you did wasn't helping," Kanade muttered, "yet nonetheless I can't be happy about either of our treatments. As for you, Vincent…do you remember how you arrived here?"

"No," Vincent realized. "I don't remember anything since the woman – the thing that called herself Vanora – showed up on my doorstep and inquired of me." He pressed a hand to his head. "And there are things before that I can't recall, either."

"Allow me to elucidate," Voidlon told him. "In your quest for revenge, you and two of your companions met with a horrible accident."

"You're pretty damn suspicious!" Vincent cried.

"Anubis was able to repair you all, of course," Voidlon went on, "but your mind was as much in pieces as your body. He is working hard to recover the memories you are missing."

"Good afternoon." Seiren greeted politely, though Vincent wasn't happy about this one bit.

"Memories…make identity," Vincent said softly. "If I am not in possession of all of mine, then how do I know I am truly Vincent?"

"Hey, we just do what anyone does reject memories and embrace chaos!" Voidlon told him, brushing off what he had just been told, thoroughly confusing Vincent.

"Hey now, don't be so carefree!" Seiren warned. "That's Hummy's thing, you dummy!"

"Hey, kitty-cat, go curl up under the table, it's for your own good that you don't get involved." Vincent replied.

"Oh, just shut up! Baka." Seiren growled, defending her crush.

"And do you have to get philosophical?" Minami rolled her eyes. "Around here, we're pretty sure we've had memories missing, had our hearts ripped out, changed names, changed names BACK, lost the capability to feel emotion, got that shit back – at this point, identity crises are just second nature! You learn to deal with it."

As they'd guessed, Vincent made a sudden lunge out of the bed, one arm swiping at his "rescuers." Zap used a wave to slam Vincent against the chair.

"You can't hold me here," Vincent snarled. "I have a mission to carry out. And no proof that you aren't with HIM. And the others are fake, they have to be!"

"I can assure you that we have no relation, professional or otherwise, to your tormentor," Mera replied. "If you'll let us watch this without being attacked for a few moments, I can show you the proof."

Vincent's brow furrowed. "If you're not part of this, then how do you know anything about it? I've kept to the shadows. Nothing I've done has been an open book."

"You forget I have been repairing your memories," Anubis told him. "And reading them as well."

Then, another man stood up. His back was to Vincent, yet Vincent would have recognized him anywhere, by any means. Ginger hair, a red vest, arms made of glimmering gray metal.

"Victor…?" Vincent panted. Not out of exhaustion, but out of fear, out of relief.

The redhead turned away from the window to regard Vincent with a bemused surprise. His eyes, also a pair of cybernetic prosthetics, widened, then twinkled. "Vincent, my dear," Victor Blake greeted with a playful smile. "When they told me I had friends here, I didn't know whether to expect the best."

"Is it really you?" Vincent asked. A hand fumbling for the black tie he wore, gripping it idly. Remembering who had given him that accessory.

"As far as I know," Victor replied. "Are you missing any memories? I have several holes in my own mind. Apparently we fell victim to some sort of accident. Not your first time, I know." His voice cracked. "At least this was painless. Did they give you any 'improvements'? I have several new functions on my prosthetics. You don't even know all the things my eyes can see and measure right now, or all the weaponry stored in the arms. Myers really will meet his reckoning at our hands."

He was babbling out of nerves, passing it off with his usual suave demeanor. But Vincent cut him off.

"Victor," he said sharply. "Did they hurt you?"

"No," Victor replied. "Did they hurt you?"

And Vincent realized maybe this was the proof he needed that Anubis was in fact an ally, if a tenuous one who held much leverage. "No. Victor, I–"

Vincent, in utter rage as he saw Albert, scrambled to his feet. "HOW ARE YOU HERE?" he roared. "YOU WEREN'T PART OF IT! YOU – WE WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

"You wound me, Vincent," Albert said smugly. "I thought you'd be happy to see me. After all, I was happy to see you. We haven't talked since our little phone call, and admittedly, while I remember we had such a conversation, I don't quite remember what it was about." He chuckled. "I'm missing a lot of memories, in fact. I would fail one of my own sanity checks. I don't remember being part of your operation, either, but Voidlon has assured me that I was, and that we all suffered the same accident."

"No," Vincent growled. "We wouldn't have let YOU in–"

"But then again," Victor realized, "we don't really remember what happened. Or most of what we did around that time period. Perhaps we did welcome him into our ranks. Vincent, do you recall what you spoke to him about?"

"No," Vincent realized. "But that doesn't mean–"

"It means you could've invited me to join in on your quest for revenge," Albert said. "By the way, you can't keep from me either way, because Voidlon told me all about it." He smiled at Anubis. "I really must thank you for whatever you did. I may not be able to remember what mangled me so horribly, and I rather wish I could, but I've been putting my new abilities into practice, and I suppose I now owe you not only for saving my life but also allowing me to do so much more in the field of dream therapy."

That was when the two noticed that the silhouettes from earlier, the shining eyes, were gathering up in the room behind Albert, flanking him. Victor could see them the clearest with his newly-installed night vision: skeletal-thin creatures, vaguely humanoid, with ink-black bodies and pure white faces with red markings.

"Ah, so you've noticed my Dream Eaters," Albert said. "I used to need to be able to convert a host for them, but Anubis said that thanks to his research on someone named Subject X, he was able to allow me to draw them out of the realm where they reside without the need for a host body."

"You were already predisposed for such an adjustment," Anubis told the teo. "His connection to the Realm of Sleep is almost unheard of. I would have said completely unheard of if not for countless dream manipulators. Yet his abilities differ still. Most cannot summon Dream Eaters, but he commands them as easily as Maleficent does the Heartless."

Then, a man dressed in a fashionable jogger suit went into the stadium along with Megafin, Birch, Kronos, Calamity, Ink Blotch, Circe, Zora, Yoomtah, Killia, Yuika, Blackbeard, Ito, Vic, Hook, Kurohonema, Erxkadnmlae, Kosexry and Xsowshiha. Killia may have looked similar, but don't let that fool you, she was no longer an Inkling. She was half-human, which meant she still had Inkling powers, such as turning into a squid or swimming through ink.

"If any of you plan to resist… That won't be necessary." The squad's bodies went completely numb as he waved his arm.

"W-what the?!" Hideo said as the man walked up to him and grabbed him by the throat.

"Those legs of yours… I like 'em. Your body… is perfect for my tastes." His body began to morph into a blur of red pixels before they settled on a new body: Hideo. He tossed him as the squad saw the body fall in slow motion, before Hideo quickly got up. He didn't even notice the frightened crowd, confused gamers and disgruntled officials as he got up and glared at Iona and Hime with sadistic thrill in his eyes.

"Yes… These are indeed… the perfect legs…" He shifted back to his proper form, though now with the man's legs. He compared his cobalt skin to Hideo's skin. He screamed. "WHAT?! THEY MISMATCH?!" He pointed to Hideo. "You've made me look ridiculous! Now you must pay!" And with another shift of pixels, he transformed into someone that some people now recognize: The Iron Roidmude, a perfectionist who spent his time stealing aspects of different humans and combining them to make his own body perfect.

"This is... disorienting. Very disorienting." Kurohonema said.

"Oh look, a spoiled brat is complaining. As if they don't do that everyday!" Killia ribbed.

"What did you just call me?!" The Iron Roidmude said, a menacing tone in his voice.

"You heard me. Spoiled. Little. Brat." Killia said for emphasis.

Iron Roidmude - Prefers to be called Genisis, perfectionist, doesn't care about gender, only about gaining the ideal body.

It was then that Erxkadnmlae saw the men coming to escort them off of the site. "Oh? You wish to fight me? A feeble mistake..." He cocked a sadistic grin and pulled out a large scythe from his cane. The scythe itself was riddled with curled spikes, as runic symbols and more corrupted smoke marked the neck of said scythe. He slammed it down at the ground, declaring, "Let this world you know of and all who reside within become dust in our wake!"

As he did, a tremor struck the arena, knocking every human to their knees and backsides. As they fell, a wave of light washed over the stadium, transforming the natural colours and light of the area and turning it dark, tinted with purple, and covered with sickly green fire, causing the screens to glitch out.

"What in the..." Hideo saw the chaos unfold, then turned his focus back to the game, where the screens themselves were starting to crackle with darkness. Energy reached down to the controllers, and then to Hideo's body, where he found himself coated, shrouded, and covered by shadows. He let out a blood-curdling scream as his eyes and his mouth flooded with darkness, and his whole body was cocooned in shadow. It took no time at all for the cocoon to shatter, and for Hideo to stand on his feet. Only now, his head was replaced with that of a crow's head and his clothes were replaced by a biker outfit with admittedly nice shades, Hideo squawked like a crow mixed with a zombie as his body hunched over.

The exact same thing happened with the other gamers. And they too became zombies with crow heads, standing up in an inhuman fashion as they leered at the audience, making the non-converted humans back up, fear emanating from them as their worried moans did all of the talking for them.

"This is your fate. To become like this. Pawns in our new world." Erxkadnmlae said, pulling his sword out of the ground. "Bikrows, convert them all, leave no survivors!" He decreed. And as he threw his hand up, the ten zombies leapt at the crowd like tigers. They laid their hands on a few audience members, and as they did, their bodies were consumed by notes as well, letting out screams as they turned into Bikrows. The screams started, and the audience started to flee the scene, as the Bikrowa replicated and spread like a virulent plague, ready to create an army for this intruder.

"Y'know who that is?" Voidlon whispered.

"Erxkadnmlae of the Phantom Gang; a demonic rock band; responsible for the felling of continents, for stars disappearing one by one, and for the subjugation of all who dare to oppose them." Yuina immediately cut in; her explanation caught the squad off-guard. "But... That doesn't explain what they're doing here. Anyways, we have to stop them."

Then, the X-Squad sprung into action, with Iona and Yuina transforming.

The squad, weapons in hand, leapt into the air and struck a pose in front of Anubis' throne. "We're your worst nightmare! The Black Ops specialist team of the OmniVerse Defense Force, The X-Squad! We are those types of bitches!"

"The star of hope that glitters in the night sky! Cure Fortune!" Iona announced.

DEVIL TIME! KAMEN RIDER~! ZINNER!

"You're just a spectator, I'm the show." Yuina said, before chuckling. Then, she immediately put her hands to her mouth.

''Did I just say that? How stupid!''

"Let's jam..." Voidlon said.

"Kamen Rider? From ancient times?" Erxkadnmlae realized.

And quite a few of the people that weren't turned into Bikrows applauded, including the Deadlight members. "Wow, that was really cool!" Kronos gushed. "Did you guys practice that?"

"Actually, yeah," Sora admitted. "It took us a while to get the timing right."

"I kept getting frightened by the explosions," Minami confessed.

"I got tinnitus." Neo signed.

"Well, it was pretty fun." Killia assured the squad.

"But why do it?" Erxkadnmlae asked, perplexed. "That seems rather silly."

"Because that's how it's done." Marusame added.

Yuina raised her hands. "Don't look at me, Kamen Rider transformation sequences are much faster most of the time. Also, I never really had much of one, and this is technically my first transformation sequence, so…"

"Now, prepare for my chosen pet to appear." Then, Erxkadnmlae snapped his fingers. "Awaken, Rockbat!" He said, sending a small bat towards a tv that held a bunch of Notes in it.

The screen cracked with energy and began crackling as white, yellow, and gold light cocooned it entirely. When it burst, the tv was gone. And in its place stood a colossal black-and-silver-coloured monster in a suit of armour with bat wings sprouting out of its back, with smaller wings on the arms and legs. The monster had two gigantic feet, a large sword in the shape of a microphone in one hand and had a gargantuan tv serving as the shield in the other hand. Instead of a mighty helmet, the head of the beast was a dragon with mechanical wings, sharpened teeth, searing red eyes and even more corruption and disorienting fire around it, wearing skeletal armor over it. The monster let out one ferocious roar as it twirled its' spear, pointing it at the X-Squad.

"Jakumori..." The Dragoon rasped as it loomed over them.

"Well, might as well use that new stuff the boss lady made." Kronos said, pulling out a crimson and cobalt shuriken and jamming it into an electric guitar.

"Shpirarkui, come on down!" Kronos said, playing the guitar and sending sound waves towards a clock and linking it to a poster of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Then, the shuriken went out of the trumpet and took on a new shape as a bipedal blue and silver shark with red eyes, green marks, sharp white teeth, two scythe-like hands, digital numbers on its sides, and Freddy Krueger's claw on its back. "Shpirarkui!" The monster roared in Freddy Krueger's voice.

"Wh-whoa! That's new!" Zinner fell onto her butt at the sight of the colossal monsters.

"This, kid, is a Jakumori. One of the mightiest creations the Phantom Gang has ever seen," Erxkadnmlae explained as he sat down on it. "With it, many worlds were erased, this shall be no different."

"This puppy's a Shpirarkui, a being infused with the power of horror to tear worlds asunder with its bloodlust." Killia explained.

"I mean, they look menacing and all, but it's just a Dragoon Knight and a Shark Beast. I've fought hundreds of 'em in Final Arcadia." Zinner got back up to her feet. "They're pretty strong, but they've got basic AI." That being said, I've never ACTUALLY been able to solo one of these before...

"That was so cool!" Kanade squealed.

"Thanks, now, shall we dance?" Erxkadnmlae said, motioning for the monster to attack.

"Let's." Hime said, as a silver belt appeared on her waist before a small silver book fell onto her right hand.

PRECHANMIRROR DRIVER!

PRINCESS ADVENT CARD!

"HENSHIN!"

With Hime's cry, she places her card into the belt. As the PreChanMirror Driver shines, wind spins around her, turning into what's basically a recolor of Kamen Rider Caliber but blue and white.

ROYAL TIME! KAMEN RIDER~! PRINCESS!

"Time to decide our fate!" Hime said.

"No humans could use the PreChan Mirror as a Driver just by themselves. She's something else." Xsowshiha realized.

"What's going on? How did I change?" Hime asked.

"Really? That's all you're fucking thinking about?" Spaulding snarked.

"Jakumori!" The monster leapt into the air, then disappeared into thin air.

"Huh?" Hime looked around for the monster. "It's gone..."

"No, it's not. This is what they do..." Zinner looked at the sky, trying to see if she could make out when and where the Jakumori would strike. "Wait for it... Wait for it... Now!" Leaping to the side in the nick of time, the squad jumped out of the way as the Jakumori leapt down from thin air and struck the chairs of the stadium with its' spear, leaving a large crater where there was once a smattering of seats. "Dragoons in Final Arcadia are known for jumping. They leap very high so that nobody can reach them, then they crash down with massive damage!"

Asteroibotchi tried to punch Iona but she grabbed him and started spinning him around as hard as she could, throwing him into the Shpirarkui and Jakumori.

"Wow!" Birch gushed. "How did she do it?!"

"Wow, that was unexpected!" Yuina realized.

"Of course it is, you're a Kamen Rider." Ark explained.

The Shpirarkui started slashing around in the air, Cyclonis ducking under its slashes.

"Nope, not getting cut up today." Cyclonis said.

"Jakumori, strike!" Kosexry said.

The Jakumori, letting out a bunch of dragon-sounding roars and growls swung the large spear out at Zinner. Normally, she would have been able to dodge these spear attacks just fine if it were the video game equivalent. But here, she was a tiny girl fighting off a massive monster that was the size of a house. So she barely had any time to duck, jump, or strike back at the spear. And one long combo later, the spear eventually swatted Zinner back into the wall, where she hit it hard and fell to the ground. "Jakumori!" The Jakumori rasped jumped into the air. Zinner was only halfway to her feet when the Dragoon reappeared and she had to jump out of the way, still with her legs half-bent.

There was a brief pause. Then came the sound of hurried, pounding footsteps and a wild yell. A muscular man with spiky purple hair, dressed in crude armor and wielding an enormous crystal-studded mace, charged at the seven with all his might, bellowing "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" all the while.

Voidlon flicked his wrist, and a swirl of lightning surrounded the mace-wielder's feet, causing them to stick to the ground. The mace-wielder nearly lost balance once his feet were halted; angered, he flung his mace at the dragon prince with a wild "RRRRAAGH!", letting it leave his hands completely. Voidlon put up a hand, swatting away the mace in midair inches before it would have obliterated him upon impact.

"A for effort," Voidlon smugly told the purple-haired man, letting the mace clang to the ground. "F for execution."

"What's the big idea?" the man yelled, tugging at his feet fruitlessly. "Lemme outta here!"

Voidlon turned to Cyclonis. "I guess there's more than one?"

While the sorcerer's head was turned, an arrow zipped out of the hallway, headed directly for it. Cyclonis was quick to slash it out of the air, and halves of a crystal-tipped shaft clattered to rest alongside the mace.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Voidlon beckoned, twirling his sword in the air with his index finger extended as though he were daring for the other intruder to come out of hiding. She was dragged into the room by a blue aura. In contrast to the broadly muscled man, she was rail-thin, with spiky pink hair and lips that were painted to match the shade.

"You…idiot," she seethed through gritted teeth, eyes flicking toward the purple-haired man. "We could have gotten away if you hadn't just decided to RUN AT THEM."

"You fired the arrow!" the man snarled back.

"Who are you," Voidlon asked, "and why are you after us?"

"That's none of your – " the woman began.

The man laughed. "HA! You're in big trouble now, 'cause this town will soon belong to Cyclonia! And you just messed with Snipe and Ravess of Cyclonia, and we're after Lark's head!"

"DON'T TELL THEM OUR NAMES!" the woman, now identified as Ravess, cried in horror.

"Well, Snipe and Ravess of Cyclonia," Voidlon announced, "I have both of you immobile and unable to attack us. I don't think I'm the one in trouble."

"I hadn't thought Cyclonia was still an active power," Ridley observed. "At least from hearsay."

"Well, uh, we don't exactly know what happened to everybody," Snipe admitted. "Since we got banished and all. But we thought if we came back to the old ship, then we could find out!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut UP!" Ravess hissed.

Cyclonis gulped, wondering how to tell them that Cyclonia is destroyed.

"Watch out! If you don't, we're all gonna die!" Ark was actually shocked as he watched Yuina toiling against the Jakumori.

The combo continued, but this time, Zinner noticed something. The Jakumori, while it was still swinging hard and fast, was fighting with the exact same motions that it had been doing for the first combo, so she knew which ways to dodge this time. Jump over the first swing, roll under, dash left, swerve right, jump. Then finally, the heavy swing. Zinner ran towards the Dragoon as he was charging up for his heavy swing and ran underneath his legs as he swung out. His strength expended, Princess leapt at the Dragoon Knight Jakumori's back and slashed it hard with her sword. Each strike was causing numbers to spit out and swiftly disappear as if it were an RPG enemy. The monster, however, didn't stagger one bit as the strikes were being made, and it quickly turned around and headbutted Zinner square in the chest, launching her back to the Bikrows. The Zakenhawks piled themselves on top of Zinner and tried to hold her down, but Zinner just grabbed her sword and swung her arms out high, knocking away the army.

"You're very agile!" Asteroibotchi remarked as he lobbed meteorite after meteorite at Neo as she zigzagged back and forth around him, dodging most of the projectiles and deflecting others with her blade.

"Thanks," she signed, leaping onto a car, springing off of it onto the wall, and running partway up its side before kicking off, narrowly dodging a meteor that punched a hole through the structure and caused it to collapse. "I'm no ninja, but I make do!"

Flipping through the air, she shot down towards Asteroibotchi, reversing the grip of her sword and bringing it down in a downward strike…

Only for the golem to catch the blade on one of his arms, sparks flying as it failed to penetrate his stony hide. "A valiant effort, but I doubt even your sword can pierce my skin!" He thrust a punch from his free hand at her midsection, but she backflipped off of his body, swiping at his stomach as she landed on the ground, only for more sparks to fly as her blade failed to leave a mark. Asteroibotchi threw another punch at her face, but she ducked the blow, bringing her sword up in a rising strike which, again, generated sparks but failed to do any damage to his arm. Asteroibotchi aimed a kick at her, but she quickly rolled out of range, swiping at his foot as she did so and I'm sure you can guess how little effect that had.

Asteroibotchi raised his arms, summoning another meteor shower to try and strike Iona, but several blasts rained down from the sky, striking the missiles and destroying them in a chain reaction before they could hit the ground. "Thank you!" Iona called up at Victor, who smiled, fired a blast into Asteroibotchi's face, then resumed his duty of shooting down as many flying foot soldiers as he could.

As Asteroibotchi grimaced and rubbed his eyes, had been briefly blinded by the flash from the arrow impacting his face, Iona struck at the rock monster again and again and again. Asteroibotchi found himself on the defensive, unable to do little more than block his rapid attacks, surprised to discover that his blade actually seemed to be able to bite into his stony flesh, carving surprisingly deep scars in his rocky body and sending chips flying everywhere.

"Nngh...impressive!" He remarked, trying to fire a meteor blast at the rider from point-blank range, only for him to flip over his body, thrusting her new sword backwards and digging it into his back as she fell back towards the ground, causing him to grunt in pain. "It has been quite some time before I faced an opponent who could actually hurt me… However, your blade will have to do more than that to-"

And that's when Randall bit one of the cables wrapped around his body and pulled it, severing it. Steam was expelled from the cable, which flapped about wildly and forced Hime to take a few steps back. "What the-"

And suddenly, as the flailing cable unraveled, Asteroibotchi's left leg, which it'd been wrapped around, fell to pieces. "Oh dear," Asteroibotchi remarked, glancing down at his missing limb, now lying in chunks of rock on the ground around him with an astonishingly low level of concern. "I wish you hadn't done that."

"Yeesh." Randall said, dumbfounded by this. "You okay?"

Asteroibotchi waved dismissively. "It's nothing to worry about. I can easily reassemble myself later. I used to be a bit more solid, but after years and years of combat, it's gotten more difficult to concentrate on holding myself together, so I need these cables to keep myself in one piece."

Iona considered this. "So, what you're saying is, if we can take out those cables, we put you out of the game?"

Asteroibotchi shook his head. "On the contrary, if anything it'll make things harder for you and I see you're not listening," he lamented as Iona charged towards him, dragging Hime along. "They never do."

"That's because you're obviously trying to trick me into staying away from your weak spot!" She cried.

"I'm really not," Asteroibotchi insisted, forming a meteor in his hands… And hurling it at the ground at his feet, setting off an explosion right in Iona's face. Then, Voidlon proceeded to slice all the cables. Iona could only stare as pieces of Asteroibotchi rattled and slowly rose into the air. "Guess we aren't through with this just yet, I thought you said you had trouble holding your body together."

"I do," Asteroibotchi's head said as it levitated into view. "I've compensated for that weakness, however, by gaining total control over the constituent parts of my body! Now, I am a living meteor shower! I applaud you for forcing me to resort to this technique… But this battle ends now!"

Laughing, the head withdrew as the rest of the rocks started launching themselves at random at the heroes.

"C'mon... surely, he's gotta be weak by now..." Zinner held the blade of her sword and unknowingly formed a small rectangular screen like the one before. The screen scanned the Jakumori and showed off the monster's remaining HP, as well as its' various stats, strengths, and weaknesses. "Oh... what's this? I can actually see what makes him tick? Well, this is interesting... It's like an RPG come to life!" As she was gawking over her technology, she then saw the three monsters charging at her with the spear pointed outward ready to strike her down. "Do I have any special attacks with this sword?" She asked as she backflipped over the spear charge, watching as the Dragoon impaled the wall with its' spear, leaving a colossal hole. "Or maybe it's one of those games where all the big, bad bosses get taken out by finishing attacks. Let's just hope that there's no QTE elements involved because I'd hate to let that decide whether or not I end these things." Zinner watched the Jakumori rip the spear out of the wall. "Either way, let's finish this!"

"Jakumori! Stop messing around and just take her out!" Erxkadnmlae barked in frustration.

"Jakumori!" The Dragoon held its' arms out, blackening the world around itself, as multiple orbs formed around it.

"What's it doing now?" Snatcher asked, watching in horror as the monster gathered up energy as he was whacking Shimis and Dodo Magia Chicks.

"Its' desperation move. A last-ditch effort to get rid of players trying to beat it." Zinner commented as she watched the orbs fire themselves out at her. "Dragoons only give the whole team a major damage buff for a minute, so of course they're not gonna be easy to kill like that." As Zinner tried her best to leap out of the way of the orbs, she didn't even see each orb explode with destructive force. Followed by the Dragoon Knight Jakumori warping to each of the explosions and swinging its' spear out in a spiral formation. When the final orb struck, it hit the ground right in front of Zinner. She leapt backwards just as the monster warped to it and felt the edge of the spear lightly graze against her clothes. "Only problem is, it tires itself out when it's finished. The Dragoon Knight hopes that that attack finishes off whatever tries to attack it." Smirking, Zinner held her sword up high, noticing that one of the buttons on the sword's blade was shining. "Now, it's my turn!"

"Energy: Maximum! Supercharge Ready!" Zinner said, tapping on the button as the X-Squad's weapons linked with her sword. Every crevice of her sword was now shining with energy; transforming the whole blade into black light. She twirled this sword around to form a skull; one that formed a star in the center of it that acted as a targeting reticle for her quarry; the tired out Dragoon Knight Epidem and the Krueger Clock Shpirarkui. "FANG CONCLUSION!" "STARDUST SHOOT!" "DYNASTY FINISH!" She held the dragon skull up like she was jousting and rushed through the targeting reticle; her body awash with light as she sprinted to the monsters. Once she was close enough, Zinner left into the air and, looking like a shooting star, she drove the tip of the blade into the heads of the monsters. As she did this, data streams, shining black and red particle effects and binary of her own were forcibly fed into the beasts; causing their' bodies to shine and radiate light as Hime kicked it deeper in and Iona ran the two monsters through with a shining purple star.

The Jakumori and Shpirarkui lurched and howled as its' body spasmed from the attack; its' mouth and eyes shining with radiant light as the attack reached its' climax, with a majestic explosion of light, the monsters disintegrated as a cascade of brilliant light filled every corner of the stadium as the notes flew into the Fairy Tones.

"GG!" Zinner triumphantly posed smiling with her sword; back turned away from the beasts as the light swallowed her up.

The light transformed the stadium back to normal, forced the sealed blast doors to slowly re-open, repaired all of the damage that had been inflicted by the battle, and turned all of the Squawkateers back to humans, which made them slowly wake back up. They had no memory of the situation and were slowly getting back onto their feet, confused by what had just happened.

"Erm, let's go before they mop the floor with us too." Kronos said, jumping onto a hoverboard along with the other Deadlight members and Asteroibotchi, as Ravess and Snipe leapt onto the hoverboard.

"Kamen Riders..." Erxkadnmlae looked into Princess, Iona and Zinner's eyes. "Until we meet again..." He muttered.

"We'll be back, Cyclonis..." Ravess growled. "Better be ready."

"X-Squad!" Asteroibotchi cried. "Thank you for giving me the greatest battle of my life! I shall never forget our bout, and hope that we may once again duel someday!" Then, the hoverboard teleported through a rift.

At sunset, the squad sat on a bench, Ark laughing maniacally.

"Starting today, there will be a return! The return of the Ark!" Iona tapped him on the metaphorical nose.

"Wh-what happened?!" Ark babbled, then calmed down. "You know, you've shown me that you are truly an idiot. But somehow, I feel like I'm gonna like you." Ark said.

"Hm... So that was something." Hime said.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool...kid." Voidlon said. "And you'll be able to fight alongside us, and we'll keep this city safe!" Voidlon exclaimed. "And maybe even end my losing streak!" Hime added.

As the squad walked to Yuina's house, she heard Ark say:

"You're just as dumb as Gai, yet you have more ambition."

The throne room of Foundation Prime, under construction, had undergone massive renovations. Balloons and streamers were everywhere, banners with "Congratulations!", Or "Good job!" Were hung between the support pillars, a band was playing the latest hit from the Youkalien idol group Flower5, a splendid buffet had been laid out, and everyone was wearing party hats.

"My lord, all this really wasn't necessary," an abashed Asteroibotchi, his head resting on a pillow carried by a Fanglar, humbly told his master. "You really didn't need to go to all this trouble for me!"

Dr. O downed a glass of wine and scoffed. "Nonsense, good chum! You've more than earned an all-expenses paid trip to Hiden Land next week! And after that, in two weeks time, you'll finally start the hunt for Foundation Elements."

"But sir, we don't need the rest!" Birch protested. "We lost the fight-"

"Oh, don't be silly," Kiko laughed, patting the serial killer on the head, causing her to blush. "You've done more than enough."

"And besides," Zoey remarked, leaning against her girlfriend's shoulder. "The next plan starts there.."

"Oh, I hadn't considered that," Erxkadnmlae admitted. "Very well, next week, I shall head out to Hiden Land and initiate the battle!"

Lixdan shook his head and raised a glass. "Your work ethic and devotion to duty are an inspiration to us all. To Erxkadnmlae!"

"To Erxkadnmlae!" Everyone in the room chorused.

"I hope you have a nice time there." Ryoma chirped, kissing the bat monster on his left cheek, causing him to turn red.

"Have fun, and come back soon!" Gigan added.

"I promise you I will give you all something once I return," Erxkadnmlae promised, causing them to cheer.

"So, what's with the two newbies?" Metalete said.

"Like my brother said," Ravess confirmed, "we were banished before the great battle of Atmos. We saw this ship rise, but we weren't on board."

"So you wouldn't know how to power it," Harlequin replied.

Ravess began to sweat. "Of course we know how to power it!" she said quickly, hoping to preserve her own life with what little information she could give.

"No, we don't," Snipe told her, confused. "We got banished before Cyclonis could tell us what the big plan was. Don't tell me you forgot!"

"What I MEANT to say," Ravess quickly amended, "was that, no, we don't know what powered this ship, but what we do know is that Master Cyclonis wanted desperately to get to the Far Side! Whatever crystal she used to levitate this ship must have been there!"

"Now we're getting somewhere," Eagros stated with a satisfied smile, as he motioned for two chameleon-like monsters to take them to two nearby electric chair-like machines to drain their life energy and search through their memories for what crystals can be used as Foundation Elements.

---

John Hammond woke up as the man sat down on the chair by him. Although the room was pitch black he knew who the man was: Brandon Tran, Hime, Iona, Yuina, Hummy, Seiren and the X-Squad. The perfect ones for the job.

"Good evening," he said with happiness. As he did so, he coughed again, the miracle honey made his body have a bit of a coughing problem.

"Thank you for having me, Uncle John. May I ask about the job?"

"Of course my boy!" He was so eager. He could not wait to see his face. "Brandon, please can you take that box on my desk over there and place it on my bed here."

When Brandon obliged, Hammond couldn't help but smile. All his dreams were to come true because of what was in this box. Brandon stared avidly at the curious object inside. It was palm sized, chrome in colour and was in the exact shape of a tear drop. Near the point of the device was a grey coloured button.

"This little device can shape your future. During the first years of the Cold War I met with a remarkable man who everyone knows, Albert Einstein. Through his expertise and another physicist called Julius Oppenheimer we made this. Well when I say we, there was another man but we never properly saw him. Curious fellow but a genius, even more so than Einstein. Always wore this leather trench coat and what I think was a motorcycle helmet all the time. The helmet had mandarin-like lettering vertically written on it in green scripture. Funnily enough he was called the Green Stripe."

He started laughing but then grabbed his chest and coughed a bit. Taeko quickly passed him a glass of water.

"Thank you. Eventually in 1950 this was perfected. And trust me on this, it's a time/space portal and to prove it, name a time and place. Any time and place will do."

Randall laughed but answered. Probably to appease the ramblings of an old man afflicted with dementia for the last decade. "What, if I say something like 'Outside the Washington Memorial, August 28th 1963', it'll take me there?"

Hammond flipped over the device and typed in the needed destination as simply as someone typing something into a calculator. It made a bleeping sound and he pointed it next to the squad. A thin mist emerged from the tip and formed an ethereal, shimmering orb in front of him.

"Go on, place your face in the portal."

Randall did as asked and gawked. His body was in the bedroom of scientist John Hammond but his face was in the August sun, a crowd of hundreds screaming with applause and the voice of one of the greatest men in history.

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today."

"Holy moly!" Randall gasped.

"Indeed," Hammond smiled. "We invented it to stop the Manhattan Project and stop a certain megalomaniac coming to power in Germany but it came to no avail. Einstein died shortly after completion, Green Stripe vanished and Oppenheimer was too busy with his family. It was forgotten for a while but I recovered it in the seventies and tried to experiment. It turns out you are not allowed to change history, but you can take things from the past which did not have a massive impact on the future to the present. Tell me, Brandon, do you know what my interest is?"

"Same as mine, Mr Hammond: animals and prehistory. Mr Hammond?"

"Hold on. During the eighties I bought an island chain off the coast off of Costa Rice with genetics in mind, Jurassic Park was what it was going to be called. However, InGen told me not to go that route, claiming it would've ended in disaster, and my islands' been sitting there ever since, protected from the outside by a cliff from the sea circling the chain. Five years ago I was diagnosed with lung cancer, then the Hive and Youkaliens arrived, and you know the rest. Now, I decided to do it. I'm still a billionaire you know. A nature reserve for the long gone."

"So, you've avoided countless deaths and a lot of property damage, because InGen had a bad feeling." Satsuki summarized.

"Mr Hammond, are you telling us, a team of possible terrorists and war criminals, to be consultants, literally just advisors, for a prehistoric nature reserve?" Randall said.

"Consultants? Don't be foolish, that will be a massive waste of your talent! I want you and this 'X-Squad' of yours to run it, rescue extinct animals and choose what will populate the reserve. If you can film it with a narrator that I have on board. Your team will consist of Robert Arthur as game warden, he's worked for every reserve, park, aquarium and zoo running. Mackenzie Kenzaki, adopted daughter of Suzanne McNab, possibly the greatest vet ever, expert in birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and anything else with a respiratory system. Your assistant will be Maya Aida, I believe my old friend Green Stripe recommended her. I know it's sudden but will you be interested? This operation can be run from the safety of your ship."

He could tell however that Brandon was in. 'Don't be foolish'. He looked exactly like a child.

"Of course! But before I go is there any species that you want me to start off with?"

"One springs to mind: Tyrannosaurus Rex. Now come on my boy, you have a plane to catch!"