Chapter 5: Reunion, Revelation, & Revolution Part 2

Guardians:

Ruby (Pokémon Adventures): The Charmer

Junko Konno (Zombie Land Saga): The Showa (Zombie) Idol

Linhardt von Hevring (Fire Emblem: Three Houses): The Sleepy Crest Scholar

Bucky Barnes (Marvel Cinematic Universe): The Veteran Sergeant

Blaze The Cat (Sonic The Hedgehog): The Fire Princess

Yamcha (Dragon Ball): The Wolf Fang Fist

Komaru Naegi (Danganronpa): The Hopeful Heart

Sapphire Birch (Pokémon Adventures): The Conqueror

Michiru Kagemori (BNA: Brand New Animal): The Shapeshifting Beast Girl

Masaomi Kida (Durarara!): The Casanova

Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Marvel Cinematic Universe): The Ex-Thief

Ponzu (Hunter X Hunter): The Queen Bee

Ashe (Fire Emblem: Three Houses): The Arrow of Justice

Waluigi (Super Mario Bros.): The Cheating Trickster

Stan Marsh/Toolshed and Wendy Testaburger/Call Girl (South Park): The Power Couple

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Disney/Disney's Epic Mickey): The Forgotten King

Zetsubou Members:

Monaca Towa (Danganronpa): The Li'l Ultimate Homeroom

Ultron (Marvel Cinematic Universe): The Rogue A.I.

General Tao (Dragon Ball): The Mercenary

Agatha (Pokémon Adventures): The Elder

Dr. Eggman Nega (Sonic The Hedgehog): The Mad Scientist

Big Bad Pete, Petetronic, Small Pete, & Pete Pan (Disney's Epic Mickey): The Brutes

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Third-Person POV

Insert Song: Ostown Paint (Disney's Epic Mickey)

"Welcome to Ostown, y'all! Wipe your feet before entering any houses and watch out for the safe."

Oswald and Komaru led the fourteen new guests into the mirror version of Mickey's Toontown as they prepared to enter the abandoned Gag Factory, devoid of any color since it shut down years ago.

"Can you repeat that last part again?" Yamcha asked.

CLANG!

And he got his response as a steel safe dropped to the ground with a loud crash. This spooked the baseball-playing scarface enough to stay silent as they walked on.

"By the way, Narrator Guy, where's my bolded introduction? I've been waiting for you to do one for me for hours now!" Oswald complained loudly.

Whoops, my bad. Ahem, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! Leader of the forgotten Disney toons of Wasteland and the TRUE original star before his younger brother, Mickey Mouse. As a toon, he can use his body parts however he likes, squashing and stretching in the familiar rubber hose style. Whether it be taking to the air with his propeller ears, or using his remote control to electrocute and reprogram different things, this bunny rounds out the Fictional Guardians roster! They've got some luck on their side now!

Oswald nodded his head slowly, "Not bad, heard better, but not bad."

"Who the hell is he talking to?" Stan turns to the others who all either shrugged or raised their eyebrows with confusion.

The 4th wall breaking bunny knocked on the door and let everyone in. Mechanical gloved hands carrying cream pies, chattering teeth, whoopie cushions, and more were hanging above their heads unmoving. Seeing an opportunity for a quick laugh, Masaomi swiped something from a conveyor belt.

"Hey Mr. Lang,?"

"Yeah?" Scott foolishly turned around as Masaomi grabbed his hand.

Masaomi smirks as the hand buzzer does its thing, "Put 'er there!"

"AGAGAGAGAGAGA!" Scott felt a sudden shakiness through his right arm as he pulled it away.

Oswald chuckles at the sight, "Ha ha, that gag never gets old. Now then, hey guys, we've got company!"

In walked the animatronic versions of Goofy, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck, as well as the Mad Doctor from a classic Mickey Mouse short named after him. The sight of the robotic trio had unnerved a few of them, notably Junko, Stan, and Wendy.

"Gawrsh! That's a lotta people you've got there, Oswald. Hi everybody!" Goofy greeted the somewhat fearful group.

Junko, not wanting to be impolite, waved to him, "H-Hello."

"Hm… I see you have managed to procure a sizable amount of new recruits in our battle with Team Zetsubou. Yes yes… they will prove most useful ha ha ha…" The Mad Doctor examined each of them as he rubbed his gloved hands together.

Linhardt was a bit puzzled at the mustached scientist's behavior, so he leaned in to quietly ask Oswald a question.

"So… this man is supposed to be on our side, correct? Why is he… like this?"

Oswald sighed, "Had to knock him down a couple of pegs in the past. He says he's all good now, but keep being skeptical if he asks to do some experiments on you."

"Ah, well that's reassuring…" The crest scholar sarcastically stated.

"About time! After those jerks sunk my tugboat, I've been wanting to give 'em a piece of my mind!" Animatronic Donald quacked out.

"Wah? Speak clearly, Waluigi can't understand what you are saying, weird robot duck!" The purple clad trickster called out the robo duck for his way of speaking, which in turn set him off.

"Huh? How about I come closer and make you understand, Pointy Ears! Wak wak wak!" Donald put up his dukes in anger, but Daisy stepped in and grabbed him where his ear should be.

"Sorry about that, he hasn't gotten his morning oil today. So Oswald, how did you meet your new friends?"

"He thought we were working for the enemy and threw his arm at me." Ponzu, still holding a grudge, summed up the first encounter.

Oswald rolled his black oval eyes, "I said I was sorry! Jeez, but you sorta just came outta nowhere so could ya blame me for thinking you were suspicious?"

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Although you could have been a bit more trusting after seeing how some of us were acting when you attacked." Ruby crossed his arms and shook his head.

"The last few times I trusted people I got lied to, so forgive me for being skeptical…" Oswald briefly glared at the Mad Doctor who just whistled and went back to work on inventions.

Seeing the conversation growing a bit tense, Blaze decided to bring up more important matters.

"We should turn our attention to whatever our next task shall be. With one facility for crafting Monokumas already taken down, there's bound to be more."

Bucky joined in on the discussion, "Hey Rabbit, how many more lands are there in this park?".

"There's Venture Land, Bog Easy, Mickeyjunk Mountain, the Gremlin Village, and Dark Beauty Castle so…one…two…three, five left! Since we have Ostown, Mean Street, and Tomorrow City in check." Oswald answered.

Bucky continued with the planning, "Okay, so there's 17 of us and five places with Monokuma factories to shut down. We should be able to divide into four groups and take care of each one faster than if we go to each place with everyone together. Deactivate or reprogram the machines like we did earlier, then make a beeline for the castle."

"A divide and conquer strategy, an excellent plan. All that's left to do is decide which of us head to each of the locations. Personally… I don't think this Bog Easy would be ideal for my own tastes…" Ashe shivered as he looked at a map of Wasteland that the Mad Doctor brought before them.

"We also have to consider what kind of forces they would have for every section of the park. This Venture Land looks to be themed around pirates, which I assume would be the type of Monokuma units we would face there." Ruby brings up.

The Mad Doctor interjected his own knowledge, "Indeed! You would be facing off against Basher-type Beetleworx, which they stole from me! All that effort I put into making those machines, and they just put a bear's head on top of them and call it their own! Plagiarists, that's what they are!"

Oswald just pushed him away from the war table they set up, "Okay that's enough Doc, go take your meds. Hoo boy, I thought this would have been a LOT harder to do alone, so I'm glad we finally have extra hands who can fight like us. Once we take care of those generators, all that's left is the head honchos, I can't wait to introduce them to my lucky rabbit's foot"

Komaru nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I arrived here not too long ago and he mentioned that it would be hopeless if we fought back without anyone else! Thanks a lot! I've really grown to like this place, so I would love to see it be completely liberated."

Yamcha grinned in response, "Of course! We're also doing this to save our own worlds and a bunch of others too, so if we help you we help us! Win-win for us all!"

"We're doing this tomorrow, right? Fighting that much earlier really took a lot outta me and I don't think I can do that again for a while." Stan yawned and rubbed his eyes after lifting up his safety goggles.

Linhardt unsurprisingly agreed with that, "Taking on such a heavy task without rest would be a disaster, so I certainly need plenty of sleep to ensure that things will go smoothly."

"Of course we're not doing today! Other than rest, we all should take the time to get to know each other so that there'll be no issues no matter who teams up with who. In the meantime, go grab some sleeping bags. We've got a lot of extras in Mickey's house, it's the yellow one across the street." Oswald points out the house to everyone so that they know where to go.

"We'll discuss more about everything in the morning. Get rest, and get acquainted with those you haven't met with. Dismissed!" Blaze calls for the meeting to come to an end as everyone begins to go their separate ways.

Right as Bucky was about to leave though, Oswald stopped him.

"So uh… how did you watch my cartoons in theaters when you don't even look old enough to be a grandpa?"

"Complicated, but I'll just say I spent time as an ice cube for years." The White Wolf explained briefly.

"Ah, so a fellow fossil, eh? And it looks like we both aged pretty dang well, though obviously I do look better for a 95-year old." Oswald slicked his ears back like it was hair, before they bounced back into place.

"Think I liked you better when I couldn't hear you speak." Bucky muttered as he left the gag factory.

"Hey, what was that? Don't think I didn't hear ya say something, pal! You see how big my ears are?!" The lucky rabbit yelled as he followed him out the door.

Insert Song: Brendan & May Emotion (Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire)

Junko sighed as she sat by the nearby river of Thinner, with Ruby, Linhardt, and Ashe watching their friend moping on her lonesome.

"You two seem to know what to say to her, I wouldn't want to make her feel any more upset than she already is." Linhardt felt hesitant to talk to her, considering the last time where he made her upset just by being unable to say anything.

Ashe shook his head, "Still, your presence signifies that you at least care about her. Even just listening can help when a friend is feeling down."

Linhardt couldn't argue with that kind of logic so he went along with the two boys and met up with the sulking zombie idol.

Ruby spoke up first to get her attention, "Junko, hey. You… don't seem well. What's on your mind?"

Junko turned to them with a downhearted expression, "Oh, I'm very sorry to worry you all. To be honest, that situation with the tracker in my neck has made me feel like I'm…"

Ashe guessed first, "Some kind of burden? I assure you, you aren't. You couldn't have possibly known that it was placed on you."

"Even still, it has me wondering why someone like me was thrown into all this? The fact that I was used as a tool for those villains to find places to do harm is giving me a copious amount of guilt. As if I was the reason I led them there." Junko hugged her legs as her voice got lower.

"They would have likely invaded those places regardless and we would have run into them whether or not you were there at all. The implications of why they chose you are for sure a mystery, yet it is not something that would cause anyone here to turn against you. From what I observed, most of our allies are not the type to assume you're some kind of spy or traitor." Linhardt gave a logical response.

"I agree with Linhardt, we wholeheartedly trust you, Junko. Remember how much you've done to assist us, despite you not being a normal combatant in your life as an idol. Capturing several Pokémon, learning magic, protecting innocent people from Team Zetsubou's assaults… you've managed to do more good and no harm during our time together." Ruby tells her with a smile, yet she hasn't budged from her hunched up position.

The three boys looked at each other and silently agreed to give her a bit of time to herself to think about what they told her.

"Junko… we'll be here if you ever need more encouragement. Know that you do deserve to stand at our side." Ashe said before he and the other two left to gather their sleeping bags.

Junko stayed silent for a bit as her eye peeked above her legs to observe a yellow flower. Likely thinking about a close friend of hers.

"If only I could believe that…" She muttered to herself…. Though someone else overheard.

"Well why not?" A voice said without warning, scaring the poor girl.

"Agh! Who said that?!" Junko asked, looking around her.

A tiny speck hopped off the flower and grew back into regular-sized Scott Lang.

"Sorry, sorry! I kinda overheard you kids talking, but uh… since we haven't introduced ourselves yet I didn't know how to approach things. A-Anyways, Scott Lang, Ant-Man. You said your name was Junko?"

A startled Junko, shook his hand slowly and carefully.

"Y-Y-Yes. N-Nice to meet you, Mr. Lang. Um, did you… overhear everything we discussed?"

Scott rubbed the back of his head as he sat down a few inches away from her to avoid making her more uncomfortable.

"I did. Sorry if that's any invasion of privacy, since we're still strangers here. I just thought I could give my own little insight on what you've been feeling."

Junko sighed again as she readjusted herself, "My apologies, Mr. Lang, I don't think much of anything will be able to clear my mind of these worries. No need to waste any time you might need to prepare for tomorrow."

Scott was not deterred however, "Well I'm not really one to give up that easily, and I've been looking for a chance to drop some 'Dad wisdom' since my daughter hasn't been in the mood for any as of late. I guess you have no choice but listen to me ramble a bit, ha ha…"

She softly laughed at that, though it didn't last long.

"So… you were just thrown into a big mess without any warning and you had to just roll with it, huh? Certainly have been there, but I won't compare what we both went through, everyone experiences things in their own ways."

Junko silently listened to Scott as she continued to look up at the evening sky.

"You asked why 'someone like you' ended up in this whole battle to save the multiverse quest? Like you feel out of place, even though your friends mentioned that you have done great things you feel like it's not enough to see yourself as one of them. How about instead of asking "why me?" you ask… "why NOT me?".

"Huh?" This made Junko turn her head to clearly understand what he was getting at.

Scott smiled as he saw he was starting to get to her.

"You know how people tend to hold on to what's familiar and when things go wrong they start to fall apart and lose focus? Well, you have to learn to find a new part of yourself that you haven't truly explored yet and use that to better yourself in those kinds of situations. Seems to me that you already found that part of you, yet you're letting your problems overshadow it and allowing them to overrun your mind."

Junko slowly nodded her head, the words beginning to become clearer and clearer.

"What I'm trying to say here is… there is a reason why you're here with us, other than someone else, and that side of you is why. Tapping into that special place within you can help you do things you could never have thought was possible, things that you considered to be out of reach for 'someone like you'. So… break through the walls keeping you from using that side of you to its fullest, be loud and proud to stand with us! There's a path that only you can create that can lead you to becoming someone you'll be proud of, you just gotta choose to make it, you know?"

Junko lingered on a thought for a while until she responded.

"And… What if the choices I make are the wrong ones? What if this… different side of me isn't able to go the distance?"

Scott answered her question within a few seconds, "Hm… well even if that's the case, you just have to be sure to learn from the mistakes and improve yourself. I don't see them as 100% bad things. Make mistakes and take chances… since there's always room to grow."

That time Junko genuinely giggled at that pun, not on how funny it was, but how genuine he sounded while saying it.

"I guess. I was proven wrong for saying that nothing you would say would help. Your words have actually managed to clear away some of those unnecessary thoughts, thank you, Mr. Lang."

Scott chuckled at his success, "Not a problem. If you need any more advice, you know who to call."

Junko smiled, "Sure thing. I have to say, your daughter is quite lucky to have you as her father."

"Aw, thanks! Don't know if I truly believe that I am, but I do try my best and I appreciate the compliment anyways."

Scott lifted his hand up to put it on her shoulder, hesitating a bit to see if she disapproved of it. She accepted it and felt a fatherly pat on the shoulder, warming her heart. Even if she still has some doubts, it felt like a bit of weight was lifted from her shoulders thanks to Scott.

Insert Song Dan Dan Kokoro Hikarateku, Sad Version (Dragon Ball GT)

Yamcha saw Bucky staring at Ponzu and he smirked slyly as they were now setting up their sleeping quarters in the Gag Factory.

"And here I was thinking that you weren't thinking about romance, checking out the chick with the yellow hat, aren't ya?"

Bucky closed his eyes in annoyance, "That's not why I'm looking at her, go and organize your sleeping bag already."

"Okay… then why are you staring at her then?" Yamcha asked as he tilted his head.

"She looks as though she's troubled, like something happened to her even before all of this Zetsubou crap. I don't know why, it just seems like she's got some baggage." Bucky tells him honestly.

Yamcha places his thumb and index finger on his chin and ponders this information.

"Hm… well I think that's something that can be used to break the ice! We did get told that if we're gonna cooperate we gotta learn more about each other, so here's your chance to get into the friend zone!" Yamcha pushed Bucky forward without his consent.

"Hey, what the hell are you—"

"I'll be rooting for ya, Buddy!" Yamcha yelled as he went off on his own merry way.

"It's Bucky, not Buddy." He grunted as he saw him leave.

"Good evening then, Bucky." Ponzu greeted him after overhearing his name.

"Right, good evening. And you are…?" The super soldier asked for hers.

"Ponzu. Good to be working with you, but I'll be heading to bed early." She then turned away from him.

"Hold on, I need to ask you some things." Bucky stopped her as she looked over her shoulder with confusion.

"Is this an interrogation? I assure you I'm not working with the enemy… well, not working with them any more. My own control chip in my neck was destroyed in battle." Ponzu clarified.

Bucky shook his head, "Lang told me about that, so that's none of my concern. What I wanted to talk about is that you don't seem… all here, if you know what I mean."

Ponzu was beginning to get annoyed, "Unfortunately, I don't. And I don't think I want to know what you mean, so would you please…"

Bucky cut her off and continued, "I'm just going to throw out a guess here… you weren't thrown out of your world when this chaos started, you were already gone way before it even began."

"... How did you know?" Ponzu asked in a somber tone.

Bucky put his hands in his pockets as he explains, "I was supposed to be dead too, fell off a train moving through a mountain range and landed on the cold ground without an arm. You have the same look I used to have whenever I saw my reflection, looking like a ghost who was brought back not knowing how to be alive again."

"Mm… shot through the head while running through a forest, at least that's what I remember in my head. It feels like my body recalls something else, as if something happened even after I was killed… something horrifying." Ponzu told her story very briefly.

"You two were brought back to life too?! Holy crap! I was killed by an exploding—"

"Yamcha, what are you still doing here?" Bucky called out the long haired martial artist for eavesdropping and he came out of hiding.

"S-Sorry, I was just curious on how this conversation would go, couldn't imagine it was heading in this direction. Can… I listen in for a little bit more? I promise I'll leave as soon as you're done!" He laughed embarrassingly as the two other people who died sighed.

They all sat down on the now organized sleeping bags, with Ponzu removing her orange shoes so she wouldn't get her bag dirty.

"Unlike you two though, I didn't actually die, but I wished I had." Bucky reveals to them.

"Oh no… this isn't going to be a happy story." Yamcha realized what he got himself into.

"Far from it. I didn't get killed from that fall, but I was abducted by an evil organization and my mind was manipulated physically and mentally so I could be their ultimate assassin: The Winter Soldier."

Saying his old title made Bucky look downward as Ponzu looked on with empathy.

"I had to listen to their commanders' commands, killing every person they saw as a threat and even nearly beat my best friend to death. Those days are behind me now, thanks to a technologically advanced country, but it was still difficult for me to adjust to normal life despite that."

"Jeez man… never thought I'd say I was glad I didn't live when the Saibaman blew me to kingdom come…"

Ponzu finally spoke up once she was done listening, "Our situations are more different than you say, but you have my sympathy for what you've been through."

Bucky shook his head, "I know they are, and no sympathy is needed, however I can tell you're also struggling to find a place among the living. You chose to continue fighting hoping that you'd find some kind of purpose, right?"

Ponzu nodded slightly, "I have no clue why I was brought back, other than to be used as a pawn. I would have been content with my eternal rest, and now I'm thrusted into multiple worlds defending against mechanical beasts. Kind of ironic, considering that I was training to be a beast Hunter alongside…"

Yamcha leaned forward when she hesitated to finish that sentence, "Alongside who? If you don't mind me asking."

"... Someone really special to me. If… I said his name then I don't think I could stop myself from crying." She said softly.

The trio didn't say another word to each other after that, other than "Good night" before the lights went out. Everyone else was there too getting some shuteye, aside from Oswald who was in Ortensia's house sleeping next to his hundreds of kids…

And a certain Pokémon Contest Extraordinaire working with Ortensia on a small project.

A trumpet blared to wake up our heroes, with some (LInhardt) still drowsy despite it being a relatively good time in the morning. Animatronic Goofy greeted them while holding a humongous stack of pancakes and waffles in one hand, dripping with syrup and topped with melted butter, while in the other had large bins (like ones you see at buffets) of bacon, sausages, hash browns, and eggs (scrambled, sunny side up, poached and over easy).

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauties! You want some flapjacks, Clarabelle made 'em from—WHOOOOOOOOOOAAAA! YA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOOOOOEEEY!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Everyone screamed as they tried to dodge out of the way.

The goof slipped on some syrup that dripped onto the ground and about less than half of the team got hit with the mess. Syrup got into Wendy's hair, two eggs covered Oswald's eyes, a pancake was stuck onto Bucky's vibranium arm, some strips of bacon were on top of Waluigi's mustache, a waffle was lodged right between Sapphire's fangs, and Blaze's coat was dripping in sausage grease.

"Oops… sorry about that. I'll clean it up right away!" Goofy turned his robotic leg into a vacuum cleaner and began to suck up the wasted food off the ground.

"Ech, you made more of those, right?" Masaomi asked as he peeled off the pancake on Bucky's arm.

Ortensia then walked up to them while holding something behind her that wasn't food.

"Of course we did, we can never trust Goofy to deliver meals. On the bright side though, once you all get cleaned up you can try these on!"

Insert Song: The World of Adventurers (Hunter X Hunter 2011)

She revealed new outfits for each person, with every outfit correctly sized, as well as being both stylish and practical for use in combat!

"Spent almost all night on these beauties, hope you enjoy how stunning they'll look on you!" Ruby winked.

Junko's eyes were wide as she looked over her idol-like dress, "You've really outdone yourself, Ruby, these are wonderful!"

"I can't take all of the credit, Ortensia helped with the sewing, Daisy helped out with designing, and the Mad Doc helped with the practicality! It was a fun fashion collaboration." Ruby explained as he handed the other outfits out.

"Wait a minute… Did you check out our measurements while we were sleeping?" Ponzu's cheeks turned red as Ruby didn't answer her question.

"Huh, this is actually less heavy than my usual suit! Don't know if it'll work the same, but hopefully it'll stop malfunctioning." Scott grinned as he lifted up his new Ant-Man suit, put together using his old suit as a reference in order to make sure the Pym Particles work like they should.

Bucky picked up his new jacket and saw there was a little text logo attached to it, "Guardians? Is that what we're going to be calling ourselves? Pretty sure it's already being used."

"Well, that's what we are, right? Heroes who guard against threats by those who inflict despair upon innocent people, it sounds perfect to me!" Ashe compliments the name choice.

"A hell of a lot better than having one guy's name and the rest of us are just 'his friends'." Stan tried on his new gloves to see if they were the right size.

Komaru liked the sound of it, "It's definitely catchy, I think it's fine!".

Ruby stepped to the front of all of them, avoiding those covered in breakfast food.

"Now then, Guardians, eat as much as you need to, clean yourselves up, and suit up before we continue on with discussing our plan. You're all dismissed, and you're welcome for the new duds!"

Ruby bowed as everyone else either rushed to grab their plates or to take showers, ignoring him as he groaned with frustration at their lack of gratitude.

First off, Happy Birthday to our dear Showa Idol, Junko Konno! Can't wait to write more big moments with her as we continue to move to the finale. Secondly, I'm so glad I got Scott Lang's biography Look Out For The Little Guy!, it's both a good read and it gave me more material to use for how he would act and what advice he could give. I really want to do more quiet character interaction stuff with this cast and I'll probably do more in bonus chapters, but I'm so glad with how this turned out. Next time we get started on the plan to liberate Wasteland and we'll see what groups I split them up into! Gonna try to make some strong dynamics between all these Guardians. See y'all next time for Part 3! - Renegade Braveheart