Chapter 67: Beware the Patchmen!
Taren was back home, scrambling through the vault for anything to advance his skills in magic and abilities from his ancestors' journals after the previous battle with Kefka. Despite the assurance they saved Auradon, they still lost an artifact, which means the teams needed to be ready and not let Kefka or the Trix get the last two. With Ben now king, he will have to do it in his spare time which he is still allowed to do while also to attend Auradon Prep as well go on missions with them.
'We just gotta be ready. No telling what they'll do next.'
"Wow, this is the famous family archive I heard about." He suddenly spins around to find Mal to his surprise of how she got here without him knowing. "Mal? How did you… wait, why do I bother asking." Obviously she must have snuck in, but another question is how she left Auradon. "Shouldn't you be in Auradon Prep.?"
Acting as if she was thinking and posing. "Hmmm, good question, shouldn't you?"
"Had some home studying at the time to catch up. But how did you get here from Auradon?" He asks her.
"Me and Ben." She smiles and climbing down the stairs was Ben in a set of regular clothes when he wasn't in formal clothes, Taren was surprised to see him when he should be running the kingdom now.
"I thought you were at Prep, or now as king?"
"Yeah, sorry we thought to at least get some time away from the news reporters. I thought we came here and your mom told us where you were." Ben knew he had to govern the kingdom and take his role seriously for the past few days. "My parents thought I would take a break every once in a while since it's taking a lot of getting used to."
"Not to mention the paparazzi kept on following us non-stop whenever we set foot out of the school." Mal muttered. "Ever since my secret got out, I have had to watch my back."
"Is it because they found out you are the daughter of the Dark Fairy?" Taren assumed it to be the obvious thing.
"If only it were. Since I became a hero and official keyblade to the public, they even asked questions about me and Ben." Crosses her arms and grumbles, now thinking it was an angry mob rather than dealing with the media. "Ugh, I blame Audrey for this. And if there's gonna be a mission I really wanna take it now."
"Don't worry Mal." Ben knew it was a hard time to deal with reporters, at least the kingdoms now saw her as a hero for what she did, at least Audrey has backed off a little since she was saved. "As a matter of fact, I got word from Sky about a request for us to help him.
Much to relief and thrill for Mal. "Really? Great, something to do at last. Thank you Ben!" Wraps her arms around him to give the prince a kiss on the lips.
Taren could only roll his eyes upon seeing this. "I"m never gonna get used to this. You sure, she's not enchanted?"
Pulled away from her kiss and stuck her tongue out. "Grow up, Strife, as if having a little moment with your two girlfriends be different?"
"Okay guys, come on." Ben ends their little argument and focuses on the main task. "We need to meet up with Sky and Brandon on Magix."
"Sure thing, did they say what it was about?" Taren asked him.
Ben simply shrugged his shoulders as he had no idea either. "He's as clueless as we are at the moment, but thought to need our help in case." Best thing was to find out until they get there without wasting a moment.
Eraklyon
The planet Eraklyon, home planet of Sky and the governing body of the Eraklyon Kingdom, one of the powerful kingdoms in the Magic Dimension and was once the strong ally to Domino before its downfall at the hands of the Ancestral Witches. Although mostly of a major kingdom, there are other neighboring kingdoms that exist on Erakylon and live alongside each other, but so far at an uneasy time of peace.
A tall palace built within the forest as the full moon was high up, sitting inside a luxurious room eating his meal was a pudgy lord with balding gray hair, black eyes and wearing a gray and yellow kimono. He is the infamous warlord Yoshinoya, not entirely native to the planet as he was forced to after his exile from his homeworld Melody for his crimes to overthrow their sovereign. Unable to return and decided to make his efforts on Eraklyon, seeking allies for a new plan to obtain political power and dominion.
While eating his meal, the warlord finds himself in the presence of a group of blue armored ninja and dark brown clothing, each of them armed with weapons and bearing the symbol of his clan they swore to serve. They bow before their lord while enjoying his meal and give their report.
"My Lord. The Patchamen have succeeded in kidnapping the target."
Yoshinoya was pleased to hear this. "Hmm, that was quick. I suppose that's how they have earned their nickname 'Ninja Hawks' to some." Letting out a soft chuckle.
"What if Prince Sky comes to her rescue or brings his keyblade allies?" The enforcer brings up a solid fact with news of the Eraklyon prince now having allies who wield the legendary Keyblades, it may hinder their lord's plans.
But Yoshinoya did not seem so concerned about this and confident he will succeed. "They are nothing but children which makes them unlikely a threat. But keep them away while our five new friends guard her until the ransom is paid!"
Unwilling to disobey their lord and resume their duties until further notice. "Yes, sir!" His ninja then make their leave and leap out of the balcony,
Confident of obtaining power by capturing someone who the prince would not risk harm to by handing over his political power over the planet to the warlord. And even if those keybearers do come, they would dare touch him when he is at last become the new ruler of Eraklyon. " Soon, all of Eraklyon will be mine!"
"I would not be so certain if you continue to underestimate them."
He turns around and finds a figure cast in a black robe standing behind him, greeting his guest with a genuine smile upon recognising his voice under the hood. "Ah, my good friend, how pleasant of you to drop in. But why be concerned over a group of children."
"They may be young, but have proven to be a formidable foe had you been aware of their involvement against Tezzeret and his army of Grimm."
"I am aware of Lord Tezzeret's defeat." Yoshinoya was aware of the events of the battle as it reached his ears, as well as finding out about the prince being part of it. He only wished the boy had fallen in battle and gloated to the king's face. Unfortunately for him that didn't happen. "A pity with such an army he has and those beasts, I could have ruled Eraklyon by now and take my vengeance."
"Patience, lord Yoshinoya. You will have your chance as well as your end of our agreement to help you assassinate the prince."
The warlord remembered their agreement. "Yes of course, once I have the throne and rule Eraklyon, you'll have my support." He takes his bottle and pours it into his drink.
The cloak wearing figure remained silent to process this until he spoke once more. "Be sure they are eliminated. And what of the princess?"
"We'll make it look like a tragic accident for the princess and blame it on the king." Yoshinoya chuckles and finishes his drink with the idea of the princess' demise be a huge impact on the Eraklyon kingdoms.
Within the cave filled with a large computer, tied to the stone pillar was the princess Diaspro of the Kingdom of Isis and the presumed fiance of Prince Sky, she wore a maroon-and-ivory corset dress with puffy sleeves and two light purple swirl bracelets traveling up to her forearms. a light purple headband tiara with a large jasper stone to signify her royal status. Her eyelids fluttered as she had gained consciousness, confused and scared with her wrists and ankles tied together to prevent any attempts of running away. "Ugh. Where am-" Gasps at the sight of a dog that resembled a St. Benard breed, only it has six legs instead of four, and wears a barrel dog collar with an emblem on it. Despite it's friendly appearance, she was absolutely terrified of the dog. "A DOG! SOMEBODY HELP!"
The large dog took no notice of her reaction, it's tongue hung out of its mouth and walks away
The princess heard noises, thinking there was someone else in the cave. Hello?! Who's there?!"
"Be still. Prince Sky can't reach you here." Emerging from the shadows were four people. The one who spoke appeared to be their leader had shoulder-length raven hair, and gray eyes. His uniform was a blue one piece jumpsuit with the inner sides lined with a bright yellow, bearing the same emblem the dog wore on his chest and a bright red cape, and his helmet was shaped like a bug with a see through visor. "We are the elite techno-ninja team. We've never known defeat." The leader proclaimed with high confidence in his tone. Next to him was a kid who appeared somewhat in his pre-teens with his helmet bearing two antennas. The third was a girl with long black hair in twintails and a ladybug helmet. The fourth and last member had a squared jaw and long dark wavy hair.
"You must be working for Yoshinoya!" Diaspro speculated this had to be the warlord's work and remembered how she was captured by the Techno-Ninja as they call themselves.
"No time to talk, we have deeds to perform!" Making dramatic poses as he and his team leap in the air to leave their lair, leaving behind Diaspro alone with Zark.*
"Hmph. I hate this!" The princess couldn't believe she was captured and wished to be rescued as soon as possible. Especially for her prince would come to her rescue.
"I hate this!"
The Winx were taking one of their lessons from professor Palladium's weather magic and the importance of its role, needless to say, Bloom made a demonstration for a try out and ended with a rainy cloud above her head, soaking her hair and clothes completely.
"Bloom's right, Professor! This is a mess!" Musa agreed with Bloom while concerned for her state of appearance.
"A spell cast on that tiny cloud should barely make a puddle if it's done right." Palladium explained to the students.
Stella decided to help her friend out, snapping her finger to change the rain cloud into sunlight. "There!" She chuckles over the state of Bloom's soaked hair. "Hey, you know, I think that shower improved your hair style!"
However, Bloom was not pleased by it and found it frustrating to know the charm spell. "Ugh, this charm's too hard!"
"Ahem!" A cough sound came from the professor to continue. "Now, I admit rain spells are rather challenging but they're the first technical charms in the history of magic. And do you know why?"
"Because of droughts!" Flora answers
"Exactly! Hundreds of primitive cultures have developed their own form of rain magic. Simple variations of the same spell help create clouds, droughts and other extreme weather conditions!"
While he continued with his lecture, Flora seemed to be the only one listening while Stella and Musa did not seem all that interested. Bloom seemed to be lost in her own thoughts while not at all paying attention.
Tune was not impressed by their behavour. "You girls, how can you be so rude to your professor?!"
"Oh come on, even with a new look he's still the same Palladium!" Musa casually replied
"And he's used to it by now!" Stella said, earning a laugh from both the princess and Musa.
The sun was now setting as their lecture came to an end, the professor let the fairies to depart for the rest of the day. With class over, Stella had an idea of her own to have fun with her bonded Pixie. "Come on, Amore, there's got to be a sale somewhere!" Giggles wholeheartedly as she and Amore make their leave for a shopping spree.
"See you later, Stella!" Bloom waves at her.
"Hey guys, I gotta get going too. I'll see you later! Tune, you coming?" Musa leaves Bloom and Flora to go off to wherever she was going.
"Have a good day everyone!" Tune bids the fairies and pixies goodbye to follow Musa.
They did not minded and wave to them
"See ya!"
"Bye!"
"So what's wrong Bloom?" Flora noticed something was up with Bloom as she had not been herself today
Lockette was worried for her bonded fairy. "Is there trouble?"
"No, I was just thinking. You know, I'm supposed to be a princess but I'm really bad at it." She began to wonder off with Flora and Chatta following her to what she meant.
"Is it because of what Tune said during class?" Flora assumed it was what happened on Auradon when they lost the Shield to the Trix during the fight. She noticed Taren took it hard and the girls tried to assure him it wasn't his fault, it was either something Bloom was thinking about or something else in mind.
"Actually, it's because-"
"Hey, Bloom!" Out of nowhere Sky rode his windrider, turning it off so he could pull over. "How're you doing?"
"I'm good, did you get in touch with Taren?" Bloom wondered what brought the prince over to see them. "Did you needed Taren or the others? They're not here at the moment."
Sky gave a guilty look on his face when he was going to answer her question. "Well, actually, something's come up which is why I need his and the keybladers' help on a personal matter"
"You sound worried!" Flora was wondering what it is that Sky needed the keybearers' help, especially her and Bloom's boyfriend.
"My parents said there was an emergency so Brandon and I are gonna go check it out." Sky replies.
"Sorry, girls, maybe next time!" Brandon said.
"Wait! If there's trouble wouldn't it be nice to have a little fairy magic around?" Bloom offered her help to them, plus it was a moment for them to make sure Taren was alright.
Flora went along with her idea with another reason she wants to come along. "And there's this flower from Erakylon I've been wanting for so long!
"Now listen, Eraklyon can be a pretty dangerous place." Sky knows the girls can handle themselves, he didn't want to put them in danger if this was serious and they have limited magic or if confronted by a powerful foe such as Kefka.
Lockette pouts. "Oh, wonderful(!)"
"Oh, come on Sky! And I know we'll be able to help your parents." Bloom pursues him into letting them come along to support her friends.
Sky knew he was not going to win this and after Ben's response to help, maybe one of them, or even Taren would keep the girls safe should they run into trouble and need help. Ultimately he gave in. "Alright, hop on!" Gave her a helmet to put on before climbing on their windriders
Unknown to the group, hiding from the bushes was Zing, the pixie of bugs who landed onto the ground and was listening to their conversation and now determined to see it for herself. Throwing an insect grappler onto Sky's hoverbike just before they set off
"So you girls ready?" Sky asks before they go.
Bloom nods. "Ready."
"I'm cool. I'll ride with you, so long as you have a helmet for me!" Flora sits behind Brandon, least hoping he will be careful with his driving.
Brandon laughs and they set off to Eraklyon and hopefully meet up with their friends on the way.
"I dunno, I think I'm not ready for this, Ben." Mal sat on the pilot seat with him since he had the idea of showing her how to pilot it. She was somewhat hesitant given with no idea how to work with it.
"Don't worry, it'll take awhile and with some help you won't have to do it alone." Ben assures her on her first time.
"Yeah, provided we don't let Launchpad fly this ship. Cid was very clear on that." Taren said. The idea of Launchpad flying the Ebon Hawk was a scary thought. The old mechanic worked hard to put this old ship back into shape after they found it, and given the pilot's… reputation, he made it absolutely clear to never let the duck pilot take the controls.
He had thought to ask Ben about Gabumon. "So how did Gabumon feel when he became a… Ultimate level they call it?"
"It was almost like a power boost, even though I had no idea how it happened but maybe our bond must have done the trick to make him digivolve." Ansem was astonished when he heard about this given they had received new data from the lab the moment Garurumon digivolved to WereGarurumon, according to their research, WereGarurumon only used a portion of his energy against Kefka and would likely revert to his In-training level the next time it happened if reached the limit of his form the next time it happens.
"Not as much surprised as I am to find out Evie could do magic, she has no idea how as no one in her family had magic." Mal stated, it could perhaps have been dormant until it happened and doing some bit of research to find out more. No idea if it is common for others yet, but possible. It even surprised Evie upon finding out what she can do and was so excited about it that she wanted Mal to help her in their spare time.
"A lot of things sure happened in the last few days." Taren can hope with some improvements to their abilities would be beneficial to their mission. He hears a beeping sound coming from the console, they were picking up a ship on their sensors. "Picking up a ship."
"This is Sky to the Ebon Hawk, do you read?" Sky's voice came through the ships's hail and they immediately responded.
"Yeh, it's us, Sky. Got your message." Ben replied.
"Glad you guys could make it, I appreciate the extra help."
"If Taren's with you? Just to let him know that his ladies convinced us to come along." This time Brandon's voice could be heard and told them, surprising Taren to hear this..
"Bloom and Flora are with you? What for?"
However, Mal wanted to focus on piloting the ship then hear them gossip. "You'll find out when we reach this planet and you can catch up. What was the name of it again, Rakion?"
"Eraklyon." Ben corrected her. "And I think it's up ahead if the coordinates Sky gave us is right."
The planet in view had a large continent with a vast ocean from a certain view, the two ships descend upon the planet and fly towards the Kingdom of which Sky's parents would. It was indeed majestic and big, certainly fitting for royalty.
Mal had to admit it is an impressive sight. "Gotta hand it to them, they know how to live in style."
"Now just have to find a place to land." Ben said.
The ship descends within a few feet from the palace to find a suitable landing space and meet with the others.
While the group were happy to see each other, they even brought their Pixies with them: Chatta, Lockette and Zing, the latter tagged along with them without knowing. They followed Sky and Brandon into the palace to meet with his parents to know what it is they needed his help. Sitting on the throne was King Erendor, he had dark brown hair and a beard, His attire consists with a crown, short red robes, a cape and tan pants he keeps tucked into his knee-high brown was noticeably in his middle-age his age due his belly showing and few signs of wrinkles on his face. Beside him was Queen Samara, her long red hair reaching the back of her waist, wearing light green eye shadow over her eyelids for makeup, a gold tiara with a light green rested on her head and layered triangles gold and light green earrings. She was wearing a light green dress with a short dark green poncho.
They were somewhat happy to see their son, but surprised he brought with him a group of his friends until Sky explained they came because he needed their help, even to reveal that the three of them were keybearers which they greatly approved and welcomed. for whatever it was that was so urgent for them to call their son. And he did not like what they told them.
"What?! Diaspro's been kidnapped?!" Sky was unable to believe it.
From what Bloom remembered after she found out Sky was the prince, he was in fact engaged to a political marriage to the princess of Isis, Diaspro. Truthfully, he didn't approve and wanted to find someone for him to choose rather than follow the traditions between kingdoms and tried to think of a way to call it off but didn't mean he wanted to see the princess hurt. It came as a surprise to the others when they heard about this and did not believe it until Brandon confirmed it.
With news growing of possible factions and enemies wanting to overthrow the Eraklyon Kingdom, it could be a reason for her kidnapping.
"It's true." Erendor confirms it and gave something to the guard beside him, handing it over to the prince as something he would know to belong to the princess.
"And this is Diaspro's brooch?"
"Yes, it is. It was found on the spot where she was last seen." The king stated and continued to give the details. "Her parents are desperate. She was taken by a group of techno-ninjas. The warlord, Yoshinoya, is going so far in demand for a huge ransom!"
Erendor held out a scrolled up paper, revealing the number of demands written on the scroll and the price was indeed high.
"Woah, that's a lot." Taren mumbles under his breath, Ben nods his head to agree as this does not sound good.
Sky was enraged and could not believe the warlord would do such a thing. Balling his fists and ready to make him regret it. "Ugh! Thieves!"
"Your majesty, that will bankrupt the kingdom! It's utterly unreasonable and absolutely preposterous." Brandon knew for certain it would leave their kingdom vulnerable to possible collapse of their civilization if this were to happen.
"Not to mention our people will starve! You can't be considering this, father!"
"Well what can we do? Diaspro's a nice girl and her father's very influential." As much as the king would agree, but if they were to let anything happen to the princess it could spell disaster between their nations, his family will be blamed for this and ruin possible alliances with the Kingdom of Isis.
"Besides, she's still the best candidate in the whole kingdom to become your fiancée." His mother was more concerned for her son's future and still believed the marriage
While Sky was still frustrated over their thought of his marriage, it didn't stop him from thinking of rescuing the princess. "Forget about my future, she's an innocent in trouble and if I don't rescue her she won't have any future at all!"
Bloom stepped forward to offer their support to their friend. "We'll all go! We'll do anything we can to help-
"Young lady!" Bloom gasped by the sternful queen and her glares. "You speak out of turn.
Bloom went silent and stepped back, feeling embarrassed for making herself look bad. Taren wanted to say something but Sky shook his head to not do anything, even if he was in his place to defend Bloom for wanting to help.
"Sky. I summoned you to stand by me in court as prince, we must appear strong before the nobles." Erendor would have assumed his son would do that, but he was wrong as the prince did not seem agreeable to his idea.
"How can I worry about APPEARANCES at a time like this?!"
"It is your duty!" Samara did not approve of her son's behavior and tried to remind him of his duty as prince.
"Sky!" Bloom thought to at least check on him but was hesitant.
Fortunately Taren had the idea and nodded. "Come on, let's go find him." Thinking they might find him before he does anything foolish."
The rest of their friends bow respectfully to the monarchs and make their leave.
"Perhaps it is best for him to go, certainly with keybladers by his side he would not be in danger." Samara stated and while they appear young, they certainly have gained a reputation for their part against Tezzeret and his army.
"Especially with rumors of warlords plotting against us, perhaps it was wise of him to bring them and hopefully he'll come to his senses when he is ready to be made king." Erendor firmly believes it. "
Sky was packing his bag with the things he needed for the rescue mission. The door opened, revealing Brandon along with Mal, Ben and Zing.
"Hey, Sky! So, what's the plan?" Brandon wanted to make sure he wasn't going to get himself captured, or killed.
"Something clever and not get us all into a dangerous situation, I hope." Mal said.
"First, let's all go to Diaspro's." Sky noticed there was no sign of Taren with them. Where's everyone else?"
"I know! Taren went with Bloom and Flora, they went looking for magic flowers!" Zing tells him.
"Or in our case, Taren got pulled along which I think would be a good idea should they run into Techno-Ninas." Brandon chuckles and no doubt they persuaded him to come along.
Sky didn't mind, least knowing they were okay and still had Ben and Mal with them. "I was thinking we split into groups, but at least I know everyone's on the same page. We should be ready for what they throw at us.
Zing was already ready for action, transforming into a persona for ninja combat, twirling her stick and displying martial arts.
"Looks like Zing's ready for action!" Sky chuckles.
"Bad guys beware, Zing wil make them run to their mammas." Mal grins.
Brandon smiles and chuckles. "Wow, I feel safer already!"
Meanwhile, Taren, Bloom and Flora were in the forest with their boyfriend to come along to help them find the flower for Flora's research. She still felt bad after what happened and blamed herself.
"I can't believe it! I messed everything up!"
Flora didn't believe it. "You just found out you were a princess a year ago, give yourself a break!"
"Yeah, can't expect to know everything in a short time." Taren said.
Even though they were right, she thought to at least know a bit of being a princess if one day to restore Domino to the way it was and free her family. "I feel so out of place…"
Taren felt a little bad and maybe give some supporting advice to her. "Don't worry, not everything goes our way. Sooner we find this flower, the better-"
"There it is!" Flora cut him off when she spotted a pink flower up ahead. "Quick, Chatta!"
Chatta didn't hesitate and lounged for a flower but it suddenly vanished before she could even touch it.
Taren and Bloom were surprised and confused of what that was. "What was that?!"
"Aportis Aborral. I need it for a project." Flora answered.
"But it... disappeared!" Bloom stated.
Flora smiled as she knew about it from her research. "Of course, it's a teleporting flower!"
"Great, as if I thought it would be easy." Taren should have guessed it was going to be hard.
Bloom would think so too, but had an idea. "Well, why don't we use that location spell we learned in Avalon's class?"
The fairy of nature thought it was an idea, but there was a catch for using a location spell. "Yes, but for that spell to work we need something that belongs to the target. But we don't have anything belonging to the flower's so-"
"Hey, is that it?" Bloom spotted it and immediately ran to it, appearing exactly like the one from before.
"Got it!" Chatta once again tried to catch it, but it vanished, causing her to land on the ground.
"There it is!" Taren found it from behind and thought to grab it, but it vanished again. "Uh, never mind."
"There!" Bloom and Flora run towards it, only for it to once again disappear and Bloom falls on the ground.
Chatta winced and thought that was a rough landing. "Ouchie!"
Flora came to see if she was okay. "Bloom!"
"You okay?" Taren asked
"Ughh, yeah." She rubbed her head and got up.
Lockette: They'll never get it!
Flora: Missed.
Bloom: Again!
Taren then decided to summon Agumon to help them. "Gotta need your help, need to find this flower that keeps vanishing on us and Flora needs it."
"And we need to catch it before it disappears!" Chatta proclaimed.
The flower reappears right behind Taren, Agumon noticed it and thought if it was, pointing his claw at it. "Hey, is that it?"
Taren saw it and tried to catch it, but vanished on him again. "Yeah, that's the one."
"This way!" Bloom cried out and missed.
Lockette didn't think it be easy, even with extra help the flower was always one step ahead of them. "They'll never get it!"
Flora and Bloom saw it. "Grab it!" Flora yelled, they didn't want to chance it and threw themselves to catch it. Taren turned and saw it, unfortunately he didn't have the chance when he was suddenly tackled by the girls. "Oof!
Chatta, Lockette and Agumon winced. "Ouch!" Chatta thought that would leave a mark.
Flora, who was on top of them, was annoyed to have missed the chance to catch it. "Missed.
"Again!" Bloom almost had it but disappeared on her, even Chatta and Agumon tried to grab it but they failed.
Taren groaned, looking annoyed while Bloom and Flora groaned and on top of each other. While he did not mind it personally of how it feels, but still somewhat slightly bruised when the girls were getting a little over worked up to catch that flower. "A little heads up would have been nice, don't you think."
"This is gonna be harder than I thought." Bloom realized it as she was stuck in between them, they didn't realize he was there until it was too late.
The trio got back on their feet, finding it much harder than they thought.
"Ugh! We can't give up now!" Flora couldn't afford to lose this opportunity to lose the flower.
"Am I starting to think that flower was trying to annoy us on purpose?" Taren pondered, rubbing his back and thought if it was capable of thinking, that flower might have a sense of humor to annoy them.
"We'll get it yet." Bloom assures her as they continue on with their journey to find it. "Come on, let's keep going. And hopefully the others are doing okay."
With the others approaching further in the forest, there was no sign of any threats yet, Ben and Mal brought their Digimon out for help, Sky and Brandon were ready to summon their Titans if need to.
"No sign of anyone yet." Ben confirmed by his heightened senses.
"What about you… Zing?" Mal blinked her eyes and thought she was seeing things or just Zing hanging down from a tree branch, dressed up in what appeared to be a superhero from a comic book.
"You don't have to pretend to have spider powers, Zing." Brandon was curious about the costume she was wearing.
"You're the Pixie of Insects, you do have spider powers!" Sky said.
Zing landed on the ground. "Right!"
"Think someone's been reading way too many comics, if you ask me." Mal began to wonder if she is like Genie taking on other personas or just for the fun of it.
"Anyways, we just have to be careful." Ben stopped and smelled something.
Sky knew the prince figured it out as he noticed. "No doubt about it, Zing you better take cover."
"Yup, we've got ninjas!" Brandon proclaimed.
Finding themselves suddenly surrounded by Yoshinoya's ninjas.
"Everyone ready?!" Answering Sky's question, his friends drew their weapons and the Digimon were ready for a fight.
The ninja struck first, throwing their shurikens at their foe, forcing Ben and Mal to pull up their Barrier and Reflect magic, Sky and Brandon stood behind them and deflected the rest from the rear. The ninjas came at them to attack, one of them successfully pulled Sky away from the group, the other snuck up on Ben using a rope around his wrist.
Ben struggled to pull his arm back, luckily Gabumon came to his aid by punching him from the back, freeing Ben from his restrain and used Lightning to blast the ninja.
"Poison Ivy!" Palmon snared up two of the ninja with her tendril vines and slammed them into a tree.
Mal slashed them with her keyblade and kicked one in the helmet, she spotted Brandon in trouble with one of them holding him back using a glowing string and another from the front. "I don't think so!" Blasting him using Firaga, sending the ninja caught off guard and allowed the squire the opportunity to free himself and clubber the one behind him with his fists, taking him down with the last punch.
Sky found the ninja were obviously trained and skilled, blocking the ninja's sword using his lightsaber didn't seem to melt through as he thought, their gear and armor were advanced. Taking a few steps back, he failed to take notice of a rock behind his feet to cause him to trip over it. The prince fell and landed against a larger rock behind him, dropping his saber and allowing the Techno ninja to make his strike. Sky quickly dodged it in time as the blade struck into the rock instead of him, leaving his opponent open and struck him in the abdomen.
Mal looked at the downed ninja, she noticed some with open wounds and thought they were dead, but upon closer inspection. "Woah, now I know why they're called Techno." Not only was their armor cybernetic, but so was their bodies, could they be androids? Cyborgs maybe?
"This is new." Even Brandon did not expect this.
With the battle over, Sky decided to interrogate one of them for answers. "Tell me, did you take Diaspro?!"
"Would if we did." The Techno ninja retorted, earning the prince's irritation by his response.
"What?"
"They did it. Now we are out of favor with the Lord!"
This was not making sense to anyone of what he was talking about, if they didn't take her, who did." "They"? Who are they?" Sky wanted answers. "Weren't you Yoshinoya's best ninjas?!"
"And no more riddles, pal!" Mal was starting to get annoyed with her hands on her hips.
He decided to answer their question and spoke as he was defeated. "The Lord has hired a special science ninja team, the best of the Magic dimension. All I know about them is that they're called… P-Force."
No one had any idea who these P-Force groups were, but if they were the best as the ninja claimed, they got more trouble on the way.
"This just gets better and better." Mal groans.
"P-Force?" Taren thought it sounded like a silly name. "You sure?"
"That's all he told us, nothing else and we have no clue ourselves." Sky explained to Taren after they regrouped now Flora caught the flower in a magical orb to prevent it from teleporting.
"Brandon, who is this Yoshinoya?" Bloom asked the squire if he or Sky knew anything about this person that was behind the princess' kidnapping.
"A warlord who was banished from his homeworld for betraying his kingdom many years ago and thought to build his new kingdom here on Eraklyon." Brandon tells them. "For years he's been after Sky to assassinate him ever since we were kids."
"He's the reason you and Sky traded places?" Bloom started to understand why they swapped their names in the first place. Feeling sorry for her friend for being the target for the warlord to take his life.
"Bingo! Yoshinoya wants the throne so every chance he gets, he sends his ninjas after us." Brandon answers.
"Starting to make sense, at first I thought it was just to be treated like everyone else, but now we see the bigger picture." Mal could see why they did it.
Taren was about to ask them something when he sensed something coming towards them and his senses were crying out 'danger'. "Flora look out!" He grabbed Flora by the shoulders and pulled her away just in time for whatever it was flying right past her. She gasped as it barely missed her, holding the orb in her arms and grateful for Taren.
"You alright?" He asked out of concern.
"I am, what was that?" Flora asked.
"A feather?" Ben noticed it was a red feather and could have gotten Flora but didn't.
Bloom was relieved she was ok, but doesn't explain who threw that feather at them. "What's going on?!"
"It's a warning." Brandon said. "Someone thinks they're way too cool!"
"How is throwing feathers at someone cool? Flora could have been hurt!" Taren wanted to give someone a piece of his mind for doing that.
Flora takes the feather that was thrown at them, examining it in her hand. "This feather belongs to one of the ninjas, right?"
Sky came over to have a closer look of the feather and did not believe it being one of their own. "Unusual weapon. It must be used by some other type of ninja we haven't come across yet."
"From that special science squad, no doubt." Brandon strongly believed so.
"We've gotta get Diaspro. Now." Sky pulls out Diaspro's brooch to get her out of danger. "There has to be a way to find out where she is!"
"Unless we know their whereabouts and where she's being held, it will be impossible." Taren brought up a valid point, they have no idea where the princess could be and needed something to find her.
Bloom looked at the pin and had an idea. "Maybe we can, Diaspro's pin would do the trick.
"We could do the location spell." Flora realized she was on to something.
"You know a spell that would lead us to their hideout?" Brandon asks Bloom.
Bloom wasn't sure if it would work but they had little time to spare. "It'll get us near it, it's not too accurate."
"I've never done it with something that's been away from its own for so long but it's worth a try." Flora was willing to do it.
"Luckily you have a witch on your team to help with that." Mal lended her help to the fairy of nature.
"Alright, let's get things set up for the spell. Let's go save Diaspro!" Bloom proclaims with everyone ready to lend each other's help and to find a place to prepare the location spell.
The specialists and keybalders surrounded Flora, Bloom and Mal for any signs of hostels, Lockette then uses her magic creating three orbs to track down Diaspro's whereabouts. The orbs started to pick up her location and moved to the direction for them to follow
"There we go, it's this way." They proceed to follow Flora and Lockette.
Sky was relieved to hear it, but knew they had little time to spare. "We've only got till morning."
"Then we better get going." Taren stated.
"Diaspro should be safe until then." Bloom said.
"Right but what about after my father paid the ransom?" Sky did not want to think of the idea of what the warlord would do with the princess if the ransom was paid.
Flora noticed Lockette somewhat nervous and checked up on her. "Lockette? Do you sense danger?
Brandon looked around for any sign of trouble. "Where from?"
The Digimon could also feel it as well.
"Everywhere! And Zing senses it too!" Lockette told them.
Zing tried to figure out what it was but certainly something to make her on edge. "What's out there is not only human, it's superhuman."
"I don't like the sound of that." Ben summons his keyblade to his hand.
Brandon was not seeing anything but took their advice if it was making the Digimon agitated. "I got a bad feeling about this."
Taren groans by Brandon's choice of words as if it were a bad omen. "Why do you have to say that."
Something caught Flora's attention when she thought to have seenin shadows dashing behind the bushes and trees, then she heard birds chirping that made her went to check it out.
"What's the matter?" Mal asked her.
At first Flora thought she saw something, but clearly it must have been her mind playing tricks on her. "There's nothing here. We'd better keep moving." As soon as she turns around to return tio the group, something in the bushes was shot at her.
"Flora!" Mal cried out and reached out her hand, but Zing came to her rescue and taken the blow for her instead.
Flora gasps and feared Zing was injured. "Zing!"
"Flora?!" The others rushed over to find Flora and Mal wit Zing, but to their relief she wasn't that badly hurt.
"You're hurt!" Flora thought she was a goner but could pull through easily.
Zing, in an adventure costume with a drawn thin mustache added, held the weapon that was for Flora grunted weakly. "I ain't got time to hurt."
"What was that?" Mal looked around for where that thing came from.
"It must've been a stray ninja." Brandon suggested.
Sky thought as much as they were getting close by now to the ninjas' hideout. "Hopefully, it's nothing to worry about."
However, to his misfortune it would, a pair of tet traps were then dropped from above. Beneath Brandon and Ben's feet was a trapdoor when it opened, causing the two to fall in.
"Ben!" Mal cried out for her boyfriend, before she could help, severel arrows were launched at them from the trees.
"Look out!" Taren yelled and jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. But it didn't stop when bamboo sticks now being fired. "So much for a surprise attack!
Agumon yelped and almost got hit by one of their arrows.
Bloom needed to protect her friends and the pixies from harm. "Flora now! Sphere of Fire!" Creating a fire dome,the net traps that were meant for them landed on the barrier and were instantly incinerated.
"Root of All Good!" Flora summons roots around the dome to barricade and block the incoming sharp projectiles.
Sky and Mal, along with the Digimon, rushed over to find Brandon and Ben okay, only to be hanging onto a root which saved them from falling to the bottom filled with sharp spikes.
"You guys okay?" Mal knelt down.
"Yeah… for now." Ben dared not look down and was fortunate to use his keyblade to save his life.
"Hold on, we'll get you guys out!" Sky tells them as Palmon uses Poison Ivy to lift them out of the hole safely. The roots that blocked the projectiles descend back into the ground as the attacks seem to have stopped for now.
Chatta was amazed and in awe of what happened. "Wow! Did you all see that?! I can't wait to tell the others! First, it come from the right then the left-"
"Quiet!" Mal shushes her as they were not out of danger yet.
"They're here." Lockette whispered and spotted a group hanging on to a tree branch in dynamic poses.
Bloom wasn't sure who they were and wondered if they were the culprits behind the traps. "Who are they?"
"A bunch of traveling performers, I hope." Taren could not say it out loud but they had the dorkiest costumes he had ever seen.
The leader of the Patchemen laughs
"Alright, you ninjas, we'll teach you a lesson!" Brandon assumed it was them and did not take well for falling in the hole they made.
Mal glared at them and was eager to wipe that arrogant smug from his face. "And we'll show you not to mess with us-"
"Silence!" The leader yelled and glared back at them. "How dare you?! Whenever there is injustice we're the ones who answer the call. Be afraid, villians. We are-Ben the Justice Man." The leader named ben proclaimed and leapt into the air.
The second of his team threw four feathers at them, causing Bloom to jump back to avoid them while he lands on his feet."Bo, Mysterious Anti-Hero."
"Jinpee." Flying through the air on his air boots with a large boomerang. "The Smartest Kid Ever."
"Junko, Princess of Beauty." She takes out what appeared to be a helmet and tossed it high in the air.
"And Kyu, the Mighty One! Junko, my components please!"
Junko proceeds and throws them out of her bag as he began to assemble himself into a giant robot. "And I'll need a hand! Together, we are the science ninja team-"
"PATCHERMAN!"
While they may have impressed Chatta who was awed by them, some had… other reactions.
Ben was confused by them being labeled as villains when they came for the princess to rescue. 'Us? Villains?'
Taren seemed unimpressed by their performance and looked so… dorky. 'They're the feared ninja team we were so worked up about?'
Bloom wasn't so sure if they were serious when they talked about injustice. 'Why do they remind me of a tv show I used to watch?'
'Are they for real?' Mal knew this would be a splitting head for her.
Hope you enjoyed it, I was able to get half this one done and make it a cliffhanger with the characters' reaction of the Patcherman heroes, and I thought they looked dorky in them. so made some bit of changes, especially Yoshinoya's backstory which after looking into Melody, Musa's home planet would make sense due to his cultural appearance and also the Techno-ninja being cybernetic/cyborgs as they hardly show any despite the name. I was considering adding the scenes with Musa but left them out as the same.
I have ideas in mind for Diaspro's charcater and will be some changes, especially considering her relation with Bloom as she's already taken and be a bit more towards the comic versions.
And also for one of the questions about why Mighty Shouter never had his club, that was my bad as its been a long time since I watched the show, same for Digimon which I made a mistake, so I corrected that by explaining that it was Gabumon's first time and used little of his energy after facing off Kefka but next time will happen.
Next one will be on the way soon and thank you all for faving and following! Reviews and critics awlays welcome as well as ideas you have just let me know.