Taking Back the Crown

by JCMorrigan

Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Mad Madam Mim. Yzma. The Huntsman. Wuya. Ayam Aghoul. Their mission: take over the multiverse, or look fabulous trying. Rated M for swearing, steamy implications and VERY bloody battles. Contains slash and het shipping.

40. Where Are You From?

A/N: The setting of the next stop in Xerxes' escapade takes place in a certain cartoon. The timeline is sometime during season 2 of said cartoon.

40. Where Are You From?

The ship bearing Mozenrath, Mim, the Huntsman, Yzma, Wuya, Aghoul, Snatcher, Roman, Ragdoll, Rémington, and Grany was left without bother by the elements, sailing along coolly on calm waters beneath blue, sunny skies. This was probably the worst possible condition for travel.

"I hate calm waters," Mim grumbled to herself for the thousandth time. "And I hate, hate, HAAAAATE sunshine!"

"You've never used the sun to fry bugs through a glass?" Rémington asked as he sidled up to her. "That seems like something you'd like."

"Well…perhaps there is ONE good use of sunshine," Mim confessed. "But as it is, there's no one around to fry. Unless we pull a fish out of the ocean, but we won't even need the sun to watch it suffer."

"Could just let it flop around," Rémington suggested. "It'd make a good dinner afterward." His gaze traveled to the compass in Mim's hand. "So you're still passing this around as a symbol of who's in charge?"

"Yup!" Mim nodded.

There were so many things Rémington wanted to say. Such as thanking her for standing up for him against Mond, or congratulating her on her ability to eat copious amounts of disgusting food. But Rémington was never one for straightforward sentiment. There was only one way he knew of to express these things, and it filled him with glee to do so. He swiped the compass out of Mim's hand, holding it high above his head. "Too bad," he told her. "Looks like I'm the leader now."

"Very funny, Rémy," Mim replied, holding out her open hand. "Now put it back."

"No, I'm serious," Rémington insisted. "I want to run this show for a while. You had your turn."

Mim made a grab; Rémington held the compass as high as he could above his head. "Coming up short, are we?" he laughed.

Mim, fuming, took two steps up in thin air as though walking up a ladder, then wrenched the compass back out of Rémington's hands. She jumped down onto the deck, then gave Rémington a hard shove over the side of the ship. He gave a brief cry of surprise before hitting the water with a hard splash. Mim chuckled; it was her very own way of saying that she'd read Rémington's gratitude loud and clear and he was welcome to her protection anytime, so long as he could survive being dunked into the ocean.

A howling laugh that didn't belong to Mim alerted her that she had an audience; she looked down the railing to see Ragdoll leaning on it, doubled over with laughter.

Rémington surfaced from down below. "HEY!" he yelled. "One of you better get me back up on board!"

"What's going on now?" Mozenrath sighed as the rest of the passengers began to gather to see what was the matter.

"Mim threw Rémington overboard," Ragdoll informed the group.

"He deserved it," Mim insisted.

"I suppose one of us should fish him out and put him back on deck," Mozenrath said, inconvenienced. "Not it."

A chorus of "NOT IT!" followed. The only ones who hadn't spoken up in time were Grany and Ragdoll, and being that one was a Bow Meow, the job fell to the contortionist.

"You realize that Mozenrath or Wuya could simply levitate him out with a spell," Ragdoll stated. "Or, better yet, Mim. You ARE romantically involved."

"Yes, but all of us said 'not it,'" Mim reminded him.

"Figure it out," Mozenrath ordered.

The group became a somewhat invested audience watching Ragdoll try to use a half-deflated life raft and a rope ladder to descend over the side of the ship and bring Rémington back on board. Grany bit his lip out of nerves.

"Who's driving?" Yzma asked.

"I have the ship under a spell to keep it moving on the right track," Wuya explained. "I thought it was safer than letting Roman overturn the boat or Snatcher find a way to sink us."

"Okay, I take offense to that," Roman retorted. "If anything, I'm the one who would find a way to actually crash the ship."

"And as unimpressed as I am with your lack of faith in my ability to pilot a simple boat," Snatcher added, "the worst I could do is overturn it."

"Either way, neither of you drives," Wuya said dryly.

"Does this ship happen to have a name?" Aghoul wondered out loud.

"I've been thinking about exactly that," Mim stated. "And as I'm the leader, I say this boat should be named the Incurable Blight."

"A fine name!" Aghoul complimented.

"In regards to you being the leader," the Huntsman brought up, "I am afraid we must discuss a shift in that status."

By that time, Ragdoll and Rémington had slopped their way onto the boat, clothing waterlogged. "What did we miss?" Ragdoll asked.

Before anyone could answer, Grany yelled, "YOU'RE SAFE!"

"Was there any doubt?" Rémington replied, wringing seawater out of his cape.

"Of course not, idiot," Grany snapped.

"All you missed was the naming of our ship as the Incurable Blight," Mim informed the pair. "That, and a reiteration that Roman and Snatcher shouldn't steer the boat, or it will catch on fire."

"I believe that is rather out of the realm of possibility for – " Snatcher began.

"Archie," Roman interrupted, "you underestimate me."

"As I was saying, however," the Huntsman went on, "we are swiftly approaching the Crimson Claws archipelago, which we know to be inhabited by a dragon. I have made it my personal goal to eradicate this dragon, insofar as it coincides with our search for the Eliacube. As such, I believe I am the one who should next take charge of the party. After all, Mim, you did have your turn acquiring our ride across the ocean, and have held onto that compass for a considerably long time." He put out his hand. "I shall take it now."

"NEVER!" Mim clutched the compass close to her chest, sidestepping around the Huntsman.

"You are being incredibly immature about – "

Before the Huntsman could finish his sentence, Mim shoved a shockwave of magic at him that was strong enough to fling him over the side of the boat.

"NOT IT!" everyone but Mozenrath yelled.

Mozenrath found he'd hesitated on purpose. After all, the Huntsman had been the first one he'd met since he could remember being awoken anew in the City of Old Emperors, and had sheltered him ever since then. Without saying a word, he stepped up to the edge and put out his hand. The Huntsman, who'd bobbed to the surface of the water quickly, was surrounded in blue light before he levitated upward.

"I still don't see why you had to make me get wet instead of just doing that to Rémington," Ragdoll complained, though his smile didn't fade.

"Because I said I wasn't it," Mozenrath reiterated.

The Huntsman's boots touched down on the deck, and Mozenrath summoned up a confined wind to blow his clothing dry. "Mim," he commanded, "give the Huntsman the compass."

"And why should I?" Mim huffed.

"Because when you do," Mozenrath reminded her, "he is going to lead you to somebody really powerful you can murder."

"Oh, I knew I had to give it up anyway," Mim said somewhat sulkily as she held out the compass for the Huntsman to take.

The Huntsman grasped it firmly, checked it to make sure the ship was still on course, then pocketed it. "I shall pass it on after our business at the archipelago has been taken care of," he vowed before stalking away.

Mozenrath found himself compelled to follow. "Sooooooo…dragon-slaying," he said as he sidled up to the Huntsman's side. "That's right up your alley."

"It is my purpose," the Huntsman said with a nod. "I…feel as though I must express my gratitude for you putting me back on the deck."

"Just let it go," Mozenrath told him. "Neither of us wants to get sentimental. I have to say I'm looking forward to this one. It's been an experience so far."

"How so?"

"Well, I've had to learn how each of these people I was supposedly friends with works. I've had to learn how to trust them. Again, apparently. Roman's good for a fun time, and his direct approach is refreshing. I was doubtful of Snatcher at first, but he really came through on the inconspicuous front. And I have to say his worldview is sound. Now, Mim is the exact opposite of him. She knows nothing about the concept of subtlety…which is why working with her is so satisfying. But I already know what it's like to work with you."

"And what do you think of me?"

"You're no-nonsense. You cut to the quick. And I like that. I'd put my life in your hands again if I had to. Of course, this time, I should actually be able to hold my own. A bit more practice and I can probably go back to carrying the team's entire weight. That is what I used to do, wasn't it?" Mozenrath's smile was coy.

"I won't argue," the Huntsman replied, and even though Mozenrath couldn't see his own smile through all of his headgear, the sorcerer knew it was there.

The Huntsman found himself hoping, against his better judgment, for Mozenrath's affection the way he'd had it in Fantastica before things had gone sour; he had plenty of his own to pay in return. And that was concerning. The Huntsclan had disapproved of romantic relationships within its structure, as they were nothing but diversions. And yet, though the Huntsman had kept his title, his mission, and the superficial trappings of the Huntsclan, he knew he was no longer part of that order as he knew it. He was WHAM ARMY now. The rules were different, and he wanted them to be that way.

But Mozenrath had said there were no sparks, and the Huntsman knew there was a chance he would simply have to accept that. He could offer all the loyalty and these emotions that were playing at close to love he had to spare in order to try and win back Mozenrath's affections, but in the end, he couldn't give Mozenrath feelings for him. Perhaps it had merely been a fire that briefly flickered before a premature dousing. Perhaps loyalty was the only bond the two had left to share, and the Huntsman knew, when the chips fell, that he could be content with that.

The attention of both was gotten with a tap on the shoulders from Ragdoll, which he'd crossed his arms twice over to do. "You're missing an excellent story," the lithe criminal informed the pair.

"Oh?" Mozenrath replied.

"Apparently Aghoul was a bit of a sailor in his younger days," Ragdoll explained.

"A BIT of a sailor!" Aghoul scoffed, having overheard. "I was part of the crew of the Black Viper! The most insidious necromancers to ever appear on the shores of the Seven Deserts! We traveled the world, raising havoc AND the dead on every coast! All under the captainship of Rais Zeded. Now THERE was a necromancer! Anyway, I had been telling the story of how we summoned the Kraken in the south isles. We all thought, at first, that our ritual had failed. But then, we felt the entire ship begin to shudder. The surface of the sea boiled and bubbled. When its tentacles broke the surface, nearly everyone had a heart attack. All except for Rais. I swear, that man was the most admirable sorcerer in the world."

"Until I came along," Mozenrath argued.

"Not really," Aghoul said casually. "Even before your memory loss, you had a lot of room for improvement. Rais was on a completely different level."

It caught Aghoul off guard when Mozenrath rushed him and shoved him over the side of the boat.

"NOT IT!"

...

Some distance away, a second, smaller ship – in worse condition than the Incurable Blight, yet seaworthy all the same – traversed the ocean with the destination of the Crimson Claws in mind.

"Aren't we going straight there?" Amalia asked when she saw the captain, a pink cephalopod who measured about the size of the average human head and sported a black eyepatch and a skull-emblazoned pirate's hat that appeared to make him double in stature, adjusting the course by a couple degrees.

"You can't just sail straight on to the Crimson Claws at this time of year!" Encre Noir responded. "The headwind would slow you down too much!"

"Thanks again for giving us a free ride," Sora told the tiny captain.

"We really wouldn't have objected to paying," Amalia added.

"Don't even mention it!" the captain's daughter Elaine, a human woman sporting a length of raven hair to offset her sea-green crop top and baggy orange pants, replied with a toothy grin. "You showed up just in time to help us put out that fire!"

"I still want to know how that even started," Stork insisted.

"So do I!" Encre Noir said in exasperation.

"Well, we're always happy to help," Ruby reiterated.

"I hope so," Amalia stated. "Because once you travel with Yugo, you end up helping everyone in any sort of trouble you meet along the way. Lifting curses, saving businesses that are going under, restoring rightful kings to their thrones…anything and everything!" She smiled brightly. "It can be a real pain, you know?"

"BUT YOU'RE SMILING," Papyrus observed.

"I know," Amalia replied. "Because at the end of the day, we have fun." She turned to address Yugo directly. "I don't think there's anyone better to go on an adventure with."

"But there is," Yugo replied. "There's you."

"Oh, stop!" Amalia chirped. "You're just flattering me." She leaned back on the rail. "This is just like old times. Sailing to distant and dangerous places. I've really missed this."

"So have I," Yugo realized.

"The difference is now we have new friends." Amalia smiled at Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Jasmine, and Stork.

"Well, they're not SO different," Yugo pointed out. "Papyrus is as valiant as Pinpin, Stork is as stubborn as Ruel, and Jasmine is as brave and caring as Eva."

"I'm glad I met all of you," Amalia stated sincerely.

"And we're glad we met you," Jasmine replied; the others nodded in affirmation.

There was silence for some time before Stork, looking out to the horizon, said, "You know what's weird? The sea."

"Right," Sora realized. "You've never seen anything like this back home."

"There were bodies of salt water here and there," Stork explained, "but NOTHING like this."

"It's weird to think you didn't just grow up surrounded by the ocean," Sora commented. "It's always been there as long as I can remember."

"Is it better or worse than the sky?" Ruby asked.

"Well, with the sea, you can't actually SEE the monsters that are sneaking up on you," Stork mused.

"ALL THE SEA MONSTERS I'VE EVER KNOWN HAVE BEEN VERY NICE!" Papyrus reassured him.

"I'm still amazed at how you do that," Stork told Papyrus.

"DO WHAT? I DO MANY AMAZING THINGS. YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE MORE SPECIFIC."

"You see the bright side of everything," Stork reminded him. "You NEVER fear the worst."

"I'M NOT REALLY SURE HOW I DO IT," Papyrus admitted. "THAT'S JUST HOW THINGS ARE TO ME."

"I think it makes a good balance," Ruby offered. "Papyrus is the one who's open-minded about situations and keeps up hope, and Stork is the one who's able to smell when something's fishy. Like with Frou Frou."

"I still can't BELIEVE they tricked me like that!" Amalia seethed. "Villains that evil shouldn't have a better fashion sense than me! That's what threw me off!"

"Mozenrath will use all sorts of tricks," Jasmine warned. "From what you've said, it's pretty clear he wanted the Eliacube. I wouldn't be surprised if he's trying to go after Qilby."

"So let's go over it again," Sora recalled. "Brandisia Black: had to be Mozenrath. We know Frou Frou is Archibald Snatcher now. Amzy and Ayu sound a lot like two of those women who travel with them all the time. You know, the redhead and the one who's scary beyond all reason. None of them sounded like Ravess or Snipe, but they WERE in disguise. And ANY one of them could have been Neo. She can make herself look like anything." He turned to Ruby. "Right?"

Ruby nodded. "Right!"

"That leaves Roman Torchwick, the guy who WEARS a skull, and the guy who THROWS skulls. Oh, and the shapeshifter! She could have been anyone, too!" Sora counted it up. "That's eleven we know, and you said it was eleven people."

"Ten people and one Bow Meow," Amalia corrected. Then she went dead silent, eyes widening and mouth screwing into a crooked position.

"Amalia?" Yugo asked. "Are you okay?"

"If most of them could have been men dressed as women," Amalia said slowly, her anger building, "then one of them happened to be very pale, dressed all in black, and CARRYING AROUND A BOW MEOW EVERYWHERE! DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR?"

"Rémington Smisse!" Yugo realized.

"Who's Rémington Smisse?" Ruby asked.

"Rémington and Grany Smisse are two rogues who seem to turn up everywhere we go," Yugo explained. "We worked together once when Grany and Pinpin's Shushu Rubilax got in trouble. But usually, the Smisses just get in our way. You can't trust either of them."

"So add another pair to our enemies," Sora thought out loud. "Wow. That's a lot of them now. They practically have a whole army."

"Say," Elaine interrupted, "Stork."

"Yeah?" Stork replied.

"Where did you say you were from?" Elaine asked.

"From…far away," Stork said nervously.

"Because I can't figure out where there's sky travel but no sea," Elaine continued. "And Papa and I have been all over the world. I still think we should go back to the North so you can keep talking to that blonde captain we met in the Dire Strait." She nudged Encre Noir playfully.

"I'm your father," Encre Noir muttered. "I should be needling you about who you date. Not the other way around."

"But the point is," Elaine said with suspicion, "I've never seen anyone who looks like you before. Or Papyrus, for that matter. And I've been trying to figure out who and what you are and where you're from ever since you set foot on our boat."

"Just trust me when I say it's complicated," Stork groaned.

Yugo and Amalia exchanged a quick whisper, after which Yugo approached Elaine. "Don't worry about it, Elaine. It doesn't matter who they are or where they're from so long as they're willing to help us do what's right."

"Just trust us, Elaine," Amalia added.

Sora began to wonder why Yugo and Amalia were so insistent. Could they have figured out that their new friends came from other worlds? But there was no way they could have deduced that.

"Besides, we have bigger problems to worry about," Amalia huffed. "Like Prince Adal of New Sufokia."

"The Crimson Claws used to just be home to Phaerys and no one else," Yugo explained. "Then the army of New Sufokia came out from under the sea. They were an ancient kingdom that – "

"Yugo, everyone knows the story of Sufokia," Elaine interrupted.

"I want to tell it anyway," Yugo insisted.

Stork, at this point, was convinced Yugo knew the truth. But he wasn't going to say it out loud.

"Sufokia sank in a massive cataclysm," Yugo went on. "Their scientists found a way to keep the city thriving under the ocean. Six years ago, they rose up to re-establish a nation on the surface, and they colonized the Crimson Claws. Phaerys wasn't happy, but they reached an agreement with him. They could build as much as they wanted and mine from the outer layer of the largest island, but they had to leave the inner cavern alone. That's where Phaerys lives. Sufokia has an enormous military, but if they make Phaerys mad, he can take them all down in a minute."

"In order to land on the island, we're going to have to get past the New Sufokian navy and speak with Prince Adal," Amalia picked up. "I say you let me do the talking. Adal isn't trustworthy. He said a long time ago that the ores of Crimson Claws would give him enough power to take over the world, and he claimed he didn't intend to do it. He seems shifty to me. The rest of the world has its eyes on New Sufokia! Who KNOWS what they've been building over the past few years?"

"MAYBE THEY WERE JUST BUILDING AN AMUSEMENT PARK," Papyrus suggested.

"Why would a power-hungry prince build an amusement park?" Elaine asked, raising a brow.

"IT'S WHAT I'D BUILD IF I HAD INFINITE RESOURCES AND ENOUGH TIME TO MAKE SOMETHING COMPLEX," Papyrus said confidently.

"I'm not ruling out the amusement park until we're sure it's not there," Sora added, folding his arms.

"I've handled my share of arrogant princes before," Jasmine stated, somewhat lamenting that Rajah wasn't along for the ride in case Adal got unreasonable; she wondered if he wore embarrassing underwear. "But this seems like a situation Amalia knows best. We'll follow your lead."

"Thank you," Amalia said with a nod.

"All right," Encre Noir announced. "We can start straightening out course."

"DO YOU WISH YOU WERE DRIVING?" Papyrus asked Stork.

"I don't do water ships," Stork replied. "I do wish this thing could go faster. For all we know, we're in a dead heat race with one of our enemies, and the outcome of this entire journey depends on which of us gets to the Crimson Claws first."

"It's probably not that literal," Ruby tried to assure him.

...

The woods were silent and still, disturbed only by the wind blowing a leaf off a tree.

Then Xerxes and Diablo appeared, breaking the silence. Diablo jerked Xerxes back, trying in vain to stab him with his beak. Xerxes twisted this way and that, avoiding Diablo's strikes; his frenetic squirming allowed him to break loose of the raven's claws and shoot through the forest, hoping to lose Diablo among the trees. He made his path as winding and complicated as possible. Diablo, however, was not so easily shaken. The raven was able to keep up no matter how many twists Xerxes threw in.

Xerxes' panic came to a head when the trees opened up into a small clearing, revealing what appeared to be a house. (Had Xerxes stopped to read the very large and obvious sign, he would have realized it was not a "house" so much as a "shack.") Hoping desperately for sanctuary, he scanned the building, finding the uppermost window open. In he charged, entering an attic room furnished with two beds. A brunette preteen boy reclined on one of said beds, reading a thick book marked with a six-fingered hand on the cover; when Xerxes burst in, the boy fumbled the book and screamed, nearly rolling off the bed.

Xerxes didn't want to take any chances. He dropped the star shard from his mouth, yelling, "HELP! PLEASE HELP XERXES!"

"WHAT?" the boy yelled back in surprise.

"XERXES NEED HE – " Xerxes was cut off by Diablo zooming in through the window and tackling him, trying once again to spear him, cawing maliciously all the while. "SAVE XERXES!" the eel pleaded.

"O…okay!" Realizing the eel just might die without his assistance, the boy leapt off the bed, running for a broom he'd left leaning against the wall from sweeping up earlier. He swatted the broom at Diablo; "Get out of here! Leave him alone!"

The bristles thunked against Diablo, sending the raven stumbling and taking Xerxes on a tumble with him.

The door to the room opened from the outside; a brunette girl wearing a bright green sweater and a complementing skirt stepped into the room. "Dipper!" she cried. "What's happening?"

"Help me, Mabel!" Dipper responded, taking another swipe at Diablo. "This raven's trying to kill this…eel thingy!"

"On it!" Mabel rushed to grab her most prized possession. Diablo got a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, and when he saw what she was aiming at him, he let go of Xerxes immediately, hurriedly flapping to the roof of the room.

"GRAPPLING HOOK!" Mabel cried, firing that exact instrument at where Xerxes and Diablo had been squabbling.

Dipper rushed to finish the job with the broom, batting Diablo out the window. "I said…get…OUT!" Once Diablo was outside, Dipper slammed the attic window shut. Diablo furiously scratched and pecked at the glass, but to no avail.

Breathless, Dipper turned back to where Xerxes was hovering in the middle of the room. "What…ARE you?"

"Xerxes," the eel answered.

"Yeah," Dipper said with a nod. "You said that." He picked up the book he'd dropped, leafing through it. "I've never seen anything like you in the journal. But these days, it's getting harder for anything to surprise me."

"Y'know, Dipper, he's…kinda cute in an ugly way," Mabel pointed out.

"Xerxes understand you," Xerxes insisted. "No talk about Xerxes like can't hear you."

"Sorry," Mabel apologized. "But I was just wondering if you wanna be our new pet!"

"Mabel," Dipper cautioned, "this is a sentient speaking creature. He probably doesn't wanna be anybody's pet."

"But he could be best friends with Waddles and Gompers!" Mabel argued. "You wanna meet your two new best friends, don't you?"

"Mabel, he belongs back at home in the wild – "

Xerxes looked out the window, where Diablo was still trying to gain entry. "Xerxes hide here?" he proposed. "Xerxes be pet, but only for little bit. Xerxes need to hide from big bad bird!"

"Really?" Mabel gasped. "You'll live with us? I'll start knitting your tiny sweater!"

"Seriously," Dipper asked, "where did you COME from? Out in the woods?"

"Land of Black Sand," Xerxes replied.

"Black sand?" Dipper repeated. "Like in Hawaii?"

Xerxes shook his head. "Too complicated to explain."

"Well, welcome to the Mystery Shack," Dipper introduced. "This is our room. I guess it's your room too now. We should show you the rest of the place. Come on."

Downstairs, the tall, rotund Mystery Shack handyman, clad as ever in his question mark T-shirt, was at work repairing the cash register of the gift shop, which refused to close. "Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo," he sang to himself, "fixin' the cash register, doo-doo-doo…"

"SOOS!" Mabel yelled as she barreled down the stairs, Dipper and Xerxes in tow. "WE GOT A NEW PET!"

"Huh?" Soos looked over at the trio. "Whoa, hey, cool! What's that, some kinda flyin' eel?"

"It's a flying, TALKING eel!" Mabel gushed.

"Name Xerxes," Xerxes introduced. He briefly wondered if he'd stumbled into a den of heroes or villains. If it turned out that he'd taken refuge with a bunch of goody-two-shoes – which, given how quickly they'd adopted him, was probably the case – he would have some very embarrassing things to explain when he got back home.

Home. The star shard. Where had he left it?

Xerxes whirled around in panic only to find Dipper holding up the shard. "He brought in this weird crystal," Dipper announced. "I wonder if it has any powers – "

"NO TOUCH!" Xerxes slapped Dipper's hand with his tail, causing Dipper to drop the shard. "Belong to Xerxes!"

"Okay, okay!" Dipper relented. "You can keep it! Anyway, this is Soos. He practically lives here."

"'Sup, little guy?" Soos asked.

"Uhhh…" Xerxes looked upward. "Ceiling."

"I like him already!" Soos proclaimed. "He's got a good sense of humor."

"Uhhh…thanks?" Xerxes said gingerly.

A redheaded teenage girl clad in flannel walked in from the adjacent room, popping the tab on a can of soda. She had to do a double take upon seeing Xerxes. "Whoa! What's the ugly flying thing?"

"Our new pet," Dipper answered. "Apparently. He got chased into our room by this crazy raven, and now we're protecting him. Though…" He looked at Xerxes with suspicion. "We never did hear WHY the raven was chasing him."

"Raven hungry," Xerxes said quickly. "Raven want eat Xerxes." He looked nervously to the nearest window.

Diablo hovered outside the triangle-shaped framing, glaring into the Mystery Shack. A sudden movement near the door caught Diablo's eye, and the raven made a dash.

"Xerxes," Dipper introduced, "this is Wendy. She works at the Mystery Shack part-time."

"Cool," Wendy said with a nod. "Does he know any tricks?"

"Well, he flies, and he talks," Dipper counted off. "That's pretty impressive right there."

There was a sudden scuffle outside and the sound of a harsh male voice yelling "GET OFF ME, YOU STUPID BIRD! HEY! GET YOUR CLAWS OFF MY WALLET!" The door was pried open by an elderly man in a suit, who was trying to slide into the shack without letting Diablo in as well. "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED IN HERE UNLESS YOU PAY ADMISSION!" He quickly stepped in and slammed the door, keeping Xerxes outside. "AND STAY OUT!" He turned to the others. "These birds, I swear. Once they figure out you keep money in your pocket, they don't leave you alone HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES, WHAT IS THAT THING?" He pointed accusatorily at Xerxes.

"New pet, man," Wendy explained.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" the man grunted. "NO ENTRY WITHOUT PAYING ADMISSION."

"But Grunkle Stan!" Mabel protested. "He needs our help! That nasty bird is trying to eat him!"

"Besides," Dipper argued, "when's the last time you saw a sea creature that could both fly and talk?"

"A sea creature that can both fly and talk…" If one looked closely enough, one could certainly see tiny dollar signs in Stan's eyes. "Now, THAT'S a mystery people will pay to see!"

"Grunkle Stan, no!" Mabel quickly threw her arms around Xerxes, pulling him close and nearly choking him in the process. As Xerxes wriggled, Mabel protested, "Xerxes is our friend! You can't put him on display!"

"Just part-time!" Stan argued. "During the day. Look, it looks harmless enough that it's not gonna eat the tourists, but it's still weird. Do you know how hard it is to find that balance around here?"

Xerxes slipped out of Mabel's tight embrace. "Xerxes no want to be display!"

"It really CAN talk," Stan muttered. "Y'know what, eel-thingy? I'm gonna cut you a deal. Be a part-time exhibit for the Mystery Shack, and you get a cut of the profits. Then, when business hours close, you get the night off and you can do whatever you want. Play with the kids, have a cola with Soos, whatever. How's that sound?"

Xerxes thought it over. "Xerxes no want money," he said at last. "Xerxes want magic."

"What, like stage magic?" Stan proposed. "Because I got plenty of – "

"Uh-uh!" Xerxes shook his head. "REAL magic!"

"Fresh outta that," Stan said with a shrug.

"Oh, don't worry," Dipper broke in. "Give me a couple weeks, and SOMETHING magical will turn up. If you hang around until then, I can get you what you want. Sound like a deal?"

"Deal!" Xerxes said with a grin.

"You really have a thing for magic, don't you?" Dipper continued. "I KNOW there's something going on with that crystal."

Xerxes nodded. "Magic a…hobby."

"Well, we'll keep your crystal safe," Dipper promised. "You ever gonna tell us what it does?"

"Uhhh…secret," Xerxes murmured.

"Uh-huhhhhh," Dipper replied, already planning to sneak a closer look at the star shard once Xerxes was busy working for the Shack and attempt to figure out its mystical properties. The eel's reticence was beginning to give Dipper suspicions that the creature might be more than he seemed, and Dipper wanted to figure out the truth for the safety of his family, not to mention sating his own curiosity. "Okay. That's fine. Well, welcome to the Mystery Shack." He extended his right hand.

Xerxes lamented that it had come to this. These people didn't seem like villains at all. To his credit, the one called Stan had a fixation on money that befitted most evildoers, but nothing else about him radiated malice. But Diablo was still hovering, once again visible through the window's triangular patterns, and Xerxes feared coming out the worst next time they battled. Xerxes knew what he had to do. "Mystery Shack," he said as he lightly slapped Dipper's hand with a fin.

...

Those who'd landed on the Balmera had split into two parties. The Paladins of Voltron and associated crew had divided themselves up among Kairi's companions, and each faction had set off in a different direction in the tunnel system.

Keith, Shiro, Lance, Jaune, Vida, Cadance, and Coran walked in silence while Carpet floated lazily behind them. Cadance, Vida, Coran, Shiro, and Lance all tried to think of things to say to break the atmosphere.

"So…that's a nice…vehicle you have," Lance said at last. "Is it some kind of robot? Nanotechnology?"

"Just fabric," Vida answered. "And he's not an 'it.'"

"Right," Lance replied.

They walked in silence for several more minutes.

"Isn't it WONDERFUL weather we're having today?" Coran suddenly blurted.

"We're underground," Jaune replied. "The weather doesn't get us down here."

"I think technically we're under a layer of skin," Cadance reminded Jaune.

Jaune shuddered. "Ew."

"It isn't gross at all!" Coran argued. "The Balmera's internal organs are placed very, very far below the outer layers. This is where we're going to find crystals, as well as most of the Balmeran civilization. And, with any luck, your missing friend!"

"I still don't see why your friend is our problem," Keith grunted.

"EXCUSE me?" Vida shot back. "Look, no one's MAKING you help us. This is important to Kairi, and we don't need your help if you don't wanna give it to us."

"Then maybe we shouldn't," Keith grumbled.

"Now, hold on, everyone!" Coran urged. "Let's not fight over – "

"This ISN'T going to work!" Keith snapped, rounding on the group.

"Keith," Shiro said calmly. "I don't think – "

"I know you think we should help them," Keith snapped, "but the farther we go, the more I realize this just isn't a good idea."

"Why not?" Cadance asked earnestly.

"Because we really CAN'T trust you!" Keith insisted. "Every time we try and ask a question, we get a vague answer. You can't even explain your flying carpet. And most importantly, you can't tell us where you're FROM."

"Okay, you really wanna know?" Jaune snapped right back. "Then I'll tell you. On one condition."

"Jaune," Vida warned, "I think there are good reasons we don't just tell people – "

"You have to stop treating us like the enemy," Jaune insisted.

"You said you didn't trust us either," Keith reminded him.

"Well, ONE of us has to take down some walls," Jaune answered. "We can't just keep going on with all this tension. So we can give you the truth, and it'll be your choice whether to accept it or take it as a reason to leave."

"Perhaps it would be best," Cadance agreed.

"And besides," Vida added, "you guys have seen a lot. I think you'll get it."

"All right," Keith said with a decisive nod. "I'll give you one more chance to answer this question. WHERE ARE YOU FROM?"

Jaune took a deep breath. "From…a bunch of different worlds. Not planets. WORLDS. Your entire space is just one world to us. You have an Earth in it. Vida, Chip, and Madison also have an Earth they're from, but it's not your Earth. Cadance is from Equestria, Genie and Carpet are from Agrabah in the Seven Deserts, I'm from Remnant, and Kairi is kind of a dual citizen of Radiant Garden and the Destiny Islands."

"They aren't alternate realities, either," Cadance added. "From what I understand, an alternate reality is a version of the same world with a crucial difference. Equestria is nothing like Galra Space, which is what we call this world thanks to its conquerors."

"So what you're saying," Shiro clarified, "is that while we already knew space was big, it's actually a lot bigger."

"So THAT'S why you've never heard of Voltron!" Lance smacked the back of one hand into the palm of the other. "It all makes sense now!"

"I'd always thought the notion of something that distant from the planets we knew was the stuff of fairy tales," Coran admitted.

"So," Jaune asked Keith, "are you satisfied?"

Keith's expression revealed that he'd been caught completely off guard by the answer. "Yeah," he said softly. "I'm satisfied."

"So you wouldn't know who Lotor was, either," Lance reiterated. "He's just not your problem."

"Nope," Vida answered. "We've all got problems of our own to deal with. But we came together because some of these problems started going after a lot of worlds at the same time. Like Maleficent and Mozenrath…and then I keep hearing this name 'Xehanort' being thrown around."

"But if the planets we've been to are all part of one single world," Shiro realized, "and those people are threatening multiple worlds…"

"Then they're eventually going to become our problem too," Keith finished.

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Jaune stated. "It looks like you guys have enough to deal with."

"Well, whatever comes our way, we'll be ready," Coran replied.

"Then the carpet," Lance brought up. "What is up with the carpet?"

"It's magic," Vida answered. "Just plain and simple magic."

Carpet made a gesture that was as close as he could get to nodding.

"REAL MAGIC?" Lance was stunned. "Now, this I gotta see!" He moved closer to Carpet.

The floating fabric responded by beckoning, pointing to his flat back, with a tassel.

"You want me to hop on?" Lance asked.

Carpet gave the nodding motion again.

"SWEET!" Lance climbed aboard. "Look, everyone! I'm riding an actual flying carpet!"

"You look like a dork," Keith laughed.

"Oh, yeah?" Lance replied defensively. "Well, YOU look like a JERK!"

"Well, I'm glad this is all cleared up!" Coran said cheerily. "I must admit, I'm quite curious about these other worlds."

"So am I!" Lance gushed. "I have, like, a million questions. Is everyone in Equestria a talking horse?"
"Alicorn," Cadance corrected. "There are unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, and alicorns to make up the pony population. Then there are the griffons, the dragons, the bison – "

"Okay, this world sounds awesome," Lance cut off. "But what about this other Earth? Is it like our Earth?"

"I don't know what your Earth is like," Vida laughed. "Does it have a town called Briarwood?"

"May…be?" Lance looked pensive.

"Does it constantly get attacked by monsters?" Vida continued.

"Okay, that's a big nope," Lance confirmed. "So thaaaaat's what you need a giant space robot for!"

"I think I know what we're doing as soon as we win the fight against the Galra," Shiro said with a smile. "Whenever that is."

"Well…" Jaune thought it over. "Maybe…and I can't promise anything…we can come back and help you out after we find Even."

"We will need all hands on deck," Keith said with a decisive nod. "Why couldn't you tell us the truth earlier?"
"Because usually, people just don't get it," Jaune answered. "It took me a while to believe it was for real. There's also some protocol. Worlds aren't really supposed to know about each other. Probably because it takes so much to sink in."

"We should have known better when it came to you," Cadance admitted. "If you've seen alternate realities, you would be prepared for just about anything."

"Keith, you GOTTA try this," Lance laughed as Carpet brought him in a slow circle around the team. "Not that I'm going to actually get off and let you, as I am having too much fun."

Carpet halted, leaning into a slow incline that dumped Lance onto the ground. "Hey!" Lance grunted. "Was it something I said?"

Carpet beckoned for Keith to step on board.

"Me?" Keith said softly.

Carpet made the half-nodding motion of agreement.

"Well…all right." Keith climbed on board, and as the group took off walking, Carpet slowly ferried Keith at the forefront. "So you're pretty smart, huh?" he asked. "You're not just for travel."

Carpet gave him a thumbs-up.

"The lions are the same way," Keith stated. "They're really more than just ships. We have a bond with them. They're…well…I don't really know how to put this."

"Buddies," Lance filled in. "The lions are our pals!"

"I guess that works," Keith admitted.

"We'd love to hear more about the other worlds beyond this one if you have the time!" Coran insisted.

"We still haven't learned everything there is to know about this one," Vida laughed. "You know, I'm starting to wonder if this whole keeping-other-worlds-a-secret thing is really worth it. Everyone we've met has to learn it at some point or another anyway."

"We should bring it up when we get back to Radiant Garden," Jaune agreed. "Maybe there's a better way."

"Is it literally a garden?" Lance asked.

"It's a kingdom," Jaune replied. "It's got a pretty cool castle."

"Not better than the Altean castle," Lance bragged.

"Does the Altean castle have a huge library?" Vida posed.

"Does the Radiant Garden castle have a POOL?" Lance countered.

Shiro quickened his pace until he was next to the floating Keith. "Maybe it's none of my business," he stated, "but from here, it looks like there might be something you want to say to everyone."

"You're right," Keith sighed. "I should probably do it standing on my own two feet, if that's all right."

Carpet halted so Keith could disembark, and Keith gave him a sincere "Thank you" before turning to the others. "I'm…sorry," he sighed. "It's just…with so many enemies making power plays, it's hard to know who to trust."

"Believe me, we all know the feeling," Jaune assured him.

"Try learning the local snob was a vampire princess all along, and then finding out she had good in her after you'd made her your sworn enemy," Vida contributed.

"Try actually being replaced by an evil shapeshifter that gets all your friends to trust her!" Cadance laughed.

"Good thing we could figure it out easily if that happened," Jaune said casually.

"Same with us if one of the paladins got replaced," Lance added.

Both Jaune and Lance gave pause. Then, at the same time, they said, "We would…wouldn't we?"

"And that's one we probably shouldn't overthink," Coran urged. "Moving on, now!"

There was another period of awkward silence before Cadance said, "Anyway, neither Radiant Garden nor the Altean castle has an evil-repelling crystal that distributes a protective aura throughout the entire world."

"Oh, don't even start!" Lance laughed before the question of whose castle was best was reopened all over again.

...

Things were going much more smoothly between Kairi, Madison, Genie, Chip, Hunk, Allura, Pidge, and Shay.

"…I should get you the recipe," Hunk concluded as the group came across a fork in the tunnels.

"Wait," Shay said suddenly. "I remember that one of these tunnels leads to a crystal garden, but I cannot remember which. If I scout ahead, I can figure it out. I shall go alone so as not to inconvenience you with the walk."

"Sounds good to me," Hunk said casually.

"Wait here," Shay commanded before dashing off down the left-hand tunnel.

"Sooooooooo…" Genie elbowed Hunk playfully in the arm. "Is she your special someone?"

"Nah, it's not like that," Hunk replied. "I mean, I love Shay like a friend, but I don't really think of her like THAT. Y'know, I don't LIKE like her. I just really like her."

"Um…are you sure SHAY knows that?" Pidge brought up. "She seems pretty into you."

"She did make a point of asking me your whereabouts last time I came here alone," Allura pointed out.

"Wait, really?" Hunk did a double take. "Aw, man…I hope not. I don't wanna have to let her down like that. Especially not now, while everyone else is here, and…aaaaagggghhhhh. Maybe you're reading her wrong."

"Perhaps," Allura replied. "Then again, a woman's intuition about this sort of thing is hardly ever wrong. For example, now that I know you don't have romantic eyes for Shay, I'm guessing there's someone else."

"Well, uh…" Hunk scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "That…might not be as off base as you'd think – "

"WHAT?" Pidge barked. "How did I not know about this? Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"It's not be anybody you know," Hunk said defensively. "It's someone I know from before the academy. I just know that it's never gonna happen, and I'm at peace with that, so…yeah."

"Why couldn't it happen?" Kairi asked.

"Well…it's…complicated," Hunk replied. "So I like this person a lot. We'll call them Person A. We had kind of a rough start, but we got to be pretty good friends after a while. Person A had a bit of a temper problem, but they're really actually pretty sweet underneath, and they were there for me once when I was really scared and off my game. We've had a couple…bonding moments. But the thing is, there's this other person, Person B. And Person A and Person B are constantly picking fights with each other. Which, I know, sounds like that means they really hate each other, but it's kinda obvious they're into each other. Person B starts the fights to get Person A's attention, and Person A plays along so they can talk to Person B without having to put down their walls. And when you get the two of them working together, they can end up being really, honestly nice to each other and pretty good together as a team. Besides, I'm not what Person A is looking for by a long shot. But you know what? I'm okay with that. Because I am what I am, and I wouldn't wanna change that. And Person A and Person B are both really good friends…who I had BEFORE I knew any of you, and who are STILL ON EARTH…and I don't wanna get between them or lose either one of them as a friend. So that's where I am right now."

"This sounds suspiciously like two people I DO know," Pidge said skeptically.

Allura nudged Pidge hard in the side. "Don't be silly, Pidge. They're obviously friends he's had from before." She gave Pidge a knowing wink.

"Riiiiiiight," Pidge droned.

"Well, I'm sorry you're in that position," Kairi stated.

"'S okay," Hunk replied. "Really, it's not…it's not that big of a deal."

Kairi could tell it was, in fact, a big deal. He just didn't want it to be. "Look at it this way," she encouraged. "You know their friendship matters to you a lot, and you're okay with it that Person A doesn't look at you the way you look at them. I think, based on what I've seen, that it'll be the same with Shay. If you do have to let her down, I think your friendship will be important enough to survive. I know I once had a crush on one of my best friends, and it turned out he was hopelessly in love with our other best friend almost all along. But it's the same with me. I love both of them as friends, and I want them to be happy together. A really good friendship can survive a crush that goes wrong. And I think you have that with Shay and your two friends from Earth." Though Kairi, given the signals Pidge was emitting, was unconvinced they really were people Pidge and Allura didn't know.

"Thanks," Hunk replied. "I think you're right. And that's what matters here."

"Though if I'm being honest," Kairi admitted, "just based on what you told me, I kinda hope you really are what Person A is looking for. I think they'd be lucky to have you."

"Aw, geez…thanks, but it's really not gonna happen," Hunk responded, face flushing. "Actually, you're the one anyone would be lucky to have. That wasn't…that wasn't me saying I like YOU like that. I mean, I barely know you, and that would be kinda creepy at this point. I'm just saying you're a good friend, Kairi."

"I know what you mean," Kairi said with a nod.

"But what ABOUT you?" Allura pressed. "Are there any special someones in your life?"

"Allura!" Pidge scolded. "We just met! You can't just start up gossiping about – "

"It's okay," Kairi laughed. "Actually, I do like someone. I like him a lot. And it's someone you know."

"It's Jaune, isn't it?" Madison guessed.

"Wait, you have a thing for JAUNE?" Chip said in surprise.

"I thought it was obvious," Madison said with a shrug.

"It is Jaune," Kairi confirmed. "And I'm pretty sure he likes me. But we can't be together right now. He lost someone he was very close to not too long ago. I never met her, and I'm sad I never will, because she sounds like she was amazing. But Jaune is still trying to handle that trauma. I don't just want to force him out of it. If anything happens between us, it will be when we're both ready. And it might never happen. But we have that same kind of friendship. The kind that matters more to me than whether or not we'll ever be a couple."

"Well, I hope you two get together," Hunk said decisively.

"As do I," Allura contributed.

"I ship it," Chip added with a nod.

"What about you?" Kairi asked Allura. "Since you asked me, I'm asking you now."

"Well, there may be a certain someone," Allura confessed. "Someone brave and loyal and kind. We've been through a lot together."

"Pretty sure I know who that is," Hunk stated, and Pidge threw in a knowing grin. "So what's stopping you from telling him?"
"It just hasn't seemed like the right time," Allura stated. "We are in the midst of a war."

"I get where you're coming from," Chip said sympathetically. "That's why I never told my crush how I felt about her. There was always a greater evil we had to fight. Oh, and also, I was afraid that if we started dating and broke up, we might never be friends again, and I didn't want that to happen."

"You never mentioned this," Madison commented. "Wait, are you crushing on my sister?"
"Don't tell her?" Chip asked. "Like I said, I really don't wanna break up our friendship. Or the whole Mystic Force team."

"I don't think you'd break up the team," Madison encouraged. "Or your friendship. But if you don't want me to say anything, then I won't."

"Cool," Chip said. "And I won't say anything about you and Nick."

"Me and NICK?" Madison was taken aback. "I do NOT have a crush on Nick."

"Didn't you ask him to come back to Briarwood just for you?"
"Well, yeah," Madison admitted. "Because we're friends. And, well, you know Nick is unpredictable. I didn't want him to ride off and I'd never see him again. But if you want to know the truth, he's not exactly my type. My type is more…dashing knights."

"Like Daggeron!" Chip realized.

Madison looked away, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yes. Like Daggeron."

"How about you?" Pidge asked Genie. "Since we're all sharing, apparently."

"Oh, I'm already with the most wonderful woman in all the worlds," Genie said wistfully, a heart-shaped bulge pulsating at his chest. "Eden. She's kind, she's caring, and she has a GREAT sense of humor."

"That just leaves you, Pidge," Kairi pointed out.

"No crushes here," Pidge answered. "And honestly, I can't tell if they sound like a good thing or like more trouble than they're worth."

"Both," Hunk confirmed. "Definitely both."

"I think we can all agree to that," Kairi laughed, and everyone else but Genie nodded.

"Speak for yourselves," Genie commented. "I happen to think love is one of the most powerful phenomena in all the worlds. Even stronger than my own magic."

"It's just crushes," Madison stated. "It's not love."

"But love often starts with just a crush," Allura pointed out.

All were silenced by the sound of Shay rushing back toward the group. "It is the other tunnel," she announced. "Come this way!"

The group set off down the right-hand tunnel. No one wanted to reopen the discussion about crushes, given Shay's relevance; that was for Hunk and Shay to sort on their own time. Shay, however, had a topic of conversation ready at hand: "I am hoping we find your friend, Kairi. The Balmera is so large that I worry we will not."

"I have a good feeling we will," Kairi said optimistically. "Though I don't even know if 'friend' is the right word. He's more like part of my family."

Hunk and Pidge exchanged glances. They had discussed with each other what it was like to have to leave their parents back on Earth with no warning when they joined Voltron, and they missed their families dearly, especially Pidge, who was still determined, come hell or a fleet of Galra military ships, to locate her missing brother. They then looked to Allura, whose gaze said it all when she looked back: she was thinking of the family she had lost to war and time and would never regain no matter how hard she searched.

"Then we won't stop until we do find him," Pidge promised.

"We're right here with you," Hunk agreed.

"You can count on us!" Allura insisted.

"Thank you," Kairi replied. "It means a lot to me."

"Well, it's what friends do, isn't it?" Hunk stated.

"We'd do the same for you," Madison vowed.

Hunk and Allura both looked to Pidge, who shook her head fervently. At least Kairi knew where to begin looking for Even. Pidge hadn't the foggiest of where Matt might be. If she roped her new compatriots into that search, it would detain them for perhaps years. It was better that Matt went unmentioned.

Noticing the sudden silence, Chip asked, "So, Pidge, you said you were into robots? Have you ever actually built one?"
"Not from scratch yet, but one time I did reprogram an enemy drone…"

They conversed into the depths of the tunnel.

...

An island was beginning to come into view off the deck of the Incurable Blight. "Land ho," Mozenrath remarked casually.

"Before we get too close," Rémington warned, "a few things. First of all, the island technically falls under the governance of New Sufokia, which has one of the most technologically advanced militaries if not the most technologically advanced military in the world. The ocean between here and there is loaded with about a thousand underwater vessels that want to blow our ship to bits. Does anyone have a problem with this?"

A chorus of "No," "Not me," and "Nah" was the response.

"Second," Rémington went on, "the dragon himself lives in the caves in the middle of the island. We're going to have to get all the way inside if we want to find him. Third, Phaerys is a formidable foe. They say no mortal can kill him. Does anyone have a problem with THIS?"

The same chorus of negatives went up.

"You're all crazy," Grany commented. "And that's good, because so is Rémy."

"You're a little crazy," Rémy teased, poking his brother in the side with a finger.

"You take that back!" Grany snapped. "I'm the only sensible one on this boat!"

"We must employ stealth to find our way to the central caverns," the Huntsman stated. "Mim! Wuya! Mozenrath! Between the three of you, can you cloak the Blight from view?"

"Piece of cake," Wuya replied.

"Easy-peasy!" Mim added.

"I could probably do it on my own," Mozenrath bragged.

"You're still in the early stages of training," Wuya reminded him. "Just don't forget to call on me when you inevitably fail."

"The only way to learn to fly is to jump out of the nest," Mozenrath countered.

"That's also a good way to die," Wuya reminded him.

The Incurable Blight became invisible to the mortal eye just as it sailed into where the New Sufokian field of vision would have been able to pick it up. However, despite the magic of those on board, they couldn't change the fact that someone else had gotten to the island first.

A troop of women dressed in the navy blue uniform of New Sufokia's guard surrounded Yugo, Amalia, Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Jasmine, Papyrus, Encre Noir, and Elaine on a walk through the island's neatly paved pathways. What had once been a desert was covered in chrome.

"Where are you taking us?" Ruby demanded.

"To the central governance hall, which serves as the headquarters of the mining operation," one of the guards answered dryly. "Also, I would not speak to us in that tone again. The only reason we didn't shoot you out of the water is because we recognized Princess Sheran Sharm."

"Not a respectful way to welcome guests," Jasmine huffed under her breath to Stork.

"Starting to think we're on enemy territory," Stork whispered back.

"No rollercoasters," Sora whispered to Papyrus. "Looks like we're out of luck."

"What are you whispering about?" one of the guards commanded.

"THE FACT THAT THERE ARE NO ROLLERCOASTERS HERE," Papyrus stated.

"It's the truth!" Sora insisted.

"Are you trying to make a mockery of us?" the guard hissed.

"No, Ma'am," Amalia replied. "We had simply hoped to be treated like royal guests instead of invaders, especially since you wouldn't have this island in your possession without us."

"You sure you should have said that out loud?" Stork asked.

The guard just gave a "hmph" and continued walking.

The group was escorted to a fairly lavish building of white perched in the center of the island, at the apex of a formation of what had once been rock but now was encased in a metal shell. The interior was also pure white, with gold décor as accents. The destined room contained a large table with a map of the island spread out across it; two people looked over the map in interest. One of them was a man clad in golden armor, with a youthful face and an abundance of white hair. The other was tall and broad-chested, his deep green skin and horned head proclaiming a reptilian nature; he wore only a pair of ragged brown pants, and a pair of batlike wings protruded from his back.

"…can see, our drilling has only reached to here," the white-haired man said, indicating a segment of the map. "Nowhere near where our split is delineated."

"You are overstepping your bounds," the larger man accused. "Phaerys can tell by the sounds of the drills."

"Prince Adal," the head guard announced. "Princess Amalia Sheran Sharm and her companions have arrived seeking an audience with you."

"ADAL!" Amalia barked. "What tricks are you up to now?"

"No tricks," the white-haired man, obviously Adal, replied. "It is good to see you too, Princess Sheran Sharm." He clapped his hands twice, looking to his guards; "You are dismissed."

"It sounded like you and Phaerys were having trouble with your agreement," Yugo pointed out. "You weren't breaking your end of the deal, were you?"
"I would never!" Adal gasped dramatically.

"His forces will soon break into Phaerys' territory if they continue at their current rate," Phaerys stated.

"Adal!" Amalia huffed. "Don't you DARE make me get involved!"

"What will you do?" Adal asked. "Bring the Sadida here? Start a war over nothing? Or do you plan to strike yourself? That, of course, counts as an act of war by the Sadida whether you want it to or not."

"Spare your forces," the taller man, now identifiable as Phaerys, told Amalia. "Phaerys came here to deliver his own personal warning to Adal to keep within his bounds. Phaerys can stand against his forces himself."

"You hadn't mentioned that part," Adal said somewhat nervously. "You…you know you can't take on – "

"I am confident I can," Phaerys stated definitively.

"Well," Adal admitted, "there is the possibility that the drillers have been working outside their boundaries without my knowledge. I will reprimand them accordingly."

"Isn't there a way we can work this out peacefully?" Yugo asked. "You stood together against the Shushus in the great Battle of the Crimson Claws. Adal, is that not reason enough for you to respect Phaerys without it coming to threats?"

"I do respect him," Adal said haughtily.

"Why don't we believe you?" Sora snapped.

"Hm?" Adal looked over the entourage. "I recognize Princess Sheran Sharm's pirate chauffeurs and tiny advisor, but who are the rest of you? Not members of the Sadida court, obviously."

"We're friends of Yugo and Amalia," Jasmine stated confidently, "and it just so happens that Phaerys is the one we're looking for."

"For what reason?" Phaerys asked.

"We're afraid you may be in danger." Jasmine's tone softened. "From more than one of our enemies."

"There's no time to waste," Yugo insisted. "Qilby has returned."

"Qilby?" Adal flinched. "Impossible."

Phaerys nodded. "Phaerys feared it would only be a matter of time," he confessed.

"And he's not even the only one we have to worry about," Sora went on. "There's a group of people pretending to be dragon protectors claiming you're being threatened, and trust us, they're bad news."

"You have to tell us everything you know," Adal demanded.

"Everything?" Stork said nervously.

"OF COURSE!" Papyrus agreed enthusiastically. "EVERYTHING!"

"How are we going to explain this without telling him you-know-what?" Jasmine whispered to Sora.

"We improvise," Sora replied.

...

"I can't believe we ALL got here without ANYONE seeing us," Wuya remarked as she, the Huntsman, Mozenrath, Yzma, Aghoul, Mim, Roman, Snatcher, Ragdoll, Rémington, and Grany entered a dark cave whose floor was half given over to a pool of chilly water.

"You're surprised?" Rémington replied. "Stealth is my specialty."

"As getting into places undetected is one of mine," Ragdoll added.

"Oh, it wasn't you two I was worried about," Wuya confirmed. "The fact that we got Mim and Roman here without being noticed is a complete and utter miracle."

"Face it," Yzma added, "I don't care how stealthy any of you is on your own. Put us together and we cause a scene by standing perfectly still."

"Says the woman who dresses like a purple disco ball," Roman snapped.

"I wasn't exempting myself," Yzma clarified.

"Soooooooo…what now?" Mozenrath asked the Huntsman. "There's a distinct lack of dragon in here."

"We wait," the Huntsman directed. "The dragon has to return to his cavern eventually. At that point, we strike and catch him off guard."

"You should light up your staff," Roman said excitedly. "It's going to look SO cool when he comes back and just sees the green harbinger of his doom."

"Ambushes aren't about aesthetic," the Huntsman chided. All the same, his staff gave off a green glow that hinted at the breadth of the entire dark cavern.

"Hey, Righty," Roman urged, "how bad would it kill you to turn on that gauntlet of yours for this?"

"The drain on my life force would be minimal," Mozenrath admitted. "All the same, I'm not doing it."

"I know what you're about to ask next," Wuya sighed, letting her hands glow softly as she held them above her head.

"YES!" Roman cheered. "Okay. That should be enough. The reflection off Lavender's disco-ball dress helps."

"Silence!" the Huntsman barked. "We don't want the dragon to hear us and escape."

And there was silence. First, confident silence. Then a faltering but still optimistic silence. Then, after an indeterminate but altogether too long amount of time, it became a frustrated silence.

"That dragon isn't coming," Mozenrath sighed.

A chorus of "Yeahhhhhhh"s echoed him.

"All right," the Huntsman grunted, deactivating his staff. "We shall have to flush the dragon out a different way."

"And that way is…?" Mozenrath asked.

"By doing what I am now aware we do best," the Huntsman answered. "We must draw the dragon out to protect its home. And that means making as big of a scene as we possibly can and drawing attention to ourselves."

"I like this plan a lot better," Aghoul stated.

The eleven spilled out into the daylight. "DESTROY ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!" the Huntsman commanded, holding his staff up high.

"This is a MUCH better plan!" Aghoul laughed.

...

"I'm still unclear on some things," Adal informed those before him. "You say you met this…Mozenrath…where?"

"Somewhere there is no sea," Elaine filled in. "From what I gathered."

"Your story doesn't add up," Adal said dismissively. "How am I supposed to believe what you're saying when there are so many holes in what you've just told me?"

"Because it doesn't matter where Mozenrath came from," Yugo insisted. "Just that we have to worry about him now."

"Phaerys agrees," the dragon said somberly. "They are likely holding back because they know it is a truth you will not understand."

"For all we know, this 'Mozenrath' is a made-up character, and Qilby is still right where Yugo left him, imprisoned in…wherever that was," Adal stated. "This is just a waste of my time. I won't say your company is unwelcome, Princess Sheran Sharm, but do try to be more respectful of my precious time in the future." He allowed himself a chuckle. "I should have known your story was false when you said those preposterous things about shapeshifters and a man believing 'Madame Frou Frou' was a convincing alias."

"If you don't believe us, then fine," Sora snapped. "But at least – "

One of the guards burst into the room. "PRINCE ADAL!" she shrieked. "Invaders! On the island! There are HUNDREDS of them!"

"WHAT?" Adal cried, eyes widening in panic; he tried to act as though he was in control. "Send the troops!"

"They're already sent!" the guard panted. "Mofette is trying to hold them off, but there are too many!"

"Perhaps this is where you realize Phaerys is to be respected," Phaerys stated casually. "Phaerys will – "

"If WE can't hold them off, YOU can't!" Adal barked, seeming to have forgotten that only minutes earlier, he was terrified of the prospect of Phaerys mowing down his army.

"This sounds like a job for us!" Sora called his Keyblade to hand, twirling it before resting it at his hip.

"How did you…?" Adal stared in shock.

"MAYBE THIS IS SOME KIND OF MISUNDERSTANDING," Papyrus suggested. "PERHAPS IF WE OFFER OUR HAND IN FRIENDSHIP TO THESE INVADERS, THEY WILL LEAVE US ALONE!"

"Or they're worse than him," Stork chimed in, jabbing a thumb at Adal.

"HOW DARE YOU – " Adal sputtered.

"Oh, shut up!" Amalia groaned.

"Either way, yeah, should probably talk to them first," Stork agreed. "And then, if talking doesn't work…"

"Then we let Crescent Rose do the talking," Ruby suggested.

"Wait!" Adal yelled as Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Stork, and Jasmine turned and bolted from the room. "If we can't stop them, then YOU definitely can't!"

"I have faith in my new friends," Yugo said firmly. "You should too."

"All the same, they could probably use some backup," Amalia suggested.

"Phaerys will be there," Phaerys promised.

Yugo, Amalia, and Phaerys all took their leave, and Adal simply stared after the door by which they'd left, blinking his wide eyes, trying to figure out what had just taken place and not sure whether to start processing these visitors' unbelievable optimism or their disrespect toward him.

...

All of the New Sufokian army was out in full force, piloting small mechs that were capable of firing energy blasts and dealing heavy physical damage to their opponents. They were led by General Mofette, a brunette woman with a pink marking over one eye, who had been more than enthusiastic about wiping out the threat when it was only ten people and a Bow Meow. And the rest of her army had been confident that victory was secure.

Once Wuya summoned up as many rock golems as she could, however, and said golems began clashing with the mechs, the attitude of the army changed to one of fear. Mofette, on the other hand, only became more determined.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME DOWN THAT EASILY!" she shrieked, dealing blow after blow to the rock golem she faced with her vehicle's mechanical fists. "AS SOON AS I BLOW THROUGH THIS CREATURE, YOU'RE ALL – "

Three golems ganged up on her, shoving her mech backward so hard that it rolled over thrice.

"Do…we even get to do anything?" Mozenrath wondered out loud as he and his companions stood in the middle of the raging battle between Wuya's golems and the mechs. Only moments before, they had been tearing up every sign of civilization that fell into their field of vision. Wuya had rendered that unnecessary.

"We don't WANT to do anything to them, remember?" Wuya knocked on Mozenrath's head. "We're waiting for the dragon!"

"It still has not shown itself," the Huntsman grunted. "We must find it!" He charged down the street, and the others followed.

Meanwhile, Mofette had righted her mech. "It's been a while since I had a good challenge," she chuckled before rushing right back at the golems.

A Keyblade spun through the air, colliding into several golems at once. It flew back home into the hands of its owner, who jammed it into the chest of one of the impaired golems, collapsing it into rocky debris. A red scythe sliced through the body of one to the sound of its wielder screaming "EEEEYAAAAAAAAAH!" A barrage of bones slammed one of the golems in the face before one raven-haired human and one raven-haired Merb aimed simultaneous kicks to its chest, flooring it. Three thick vines erupted from the ground, restraining a golem while a pair of blue portals combined in the air to send a beam of deadly energy at its head, blowing the rock to bits. A dragon in humanoid form simply punched one of the golems to bits in one blow. The area was cleared, though the sounds of battle continued in the distance.

"Well," Ruby sighed as she stepped over the golem she'd chopped down, "talking to them didn't exactly work."

"I STILL DON'T LIKE THIS," Papyrus bemoaned.

"They're just rock, see?" Jasmine held up some of the leftover debris. "They're not really alive. It's an enchantment. I've seen magic like this before. Whoever is here is trying to fight us with this spell."

This was the scene the Huntsman came across, halting in his tracks, the rest of his company following. "YOU!" he yelled as soon as he locked eyes with Sora.

"IT'S YOU?" Sora yelled in surprise.

"ROMAN TORCHWICK!" Ruby angrily brandished Crescent Rose in Roman's direction. "I should have known you were behind this!"

"Little Red, Little Red," Roman taunted, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. "Is your dad really okay with you being this far away from home?"

"Rémington Smisse," Yugo grumbled. "You're just never satisfied, are you?"

"No," Rémington replied with a grin.

"Mozenrath," Jasmine growled, looking over the group…and flinching when she realized she recognized more than one person present. "And…Ayam Aghoul?"

"You know HIM too?" Sora cried.

"He tried to force me to marry him and become his servant!" Jasmine growled. "And that was just the FIRST time he tried something on me and my family."

"The offer still stands," Aghoul reminded her. "Of course, you pale in comparison to Mimsie, but – "

"NEVER," Jasmine spat. "I should have known you and Mozenrath would team up. You're cut from the same tapestry."

Mozenrath then confused all present by stating, "I take it I know her."

"Yes," Aghoul confirmed. "Princess Jasmine. She seems like a lovely desert rose, but she's covered in thorns."

"And she's…one of Maleficent's?"

"No. ALADDIN'S wife."

"Okay, that makes sense," Mozenrath said with a nod. "And that kid with the giant key is…"

"The one who's been following us around and hassling us since day one," Wuya answered dryly. "He keeps picking up new friends. We've met most of them before."

"Wait," Sora realized. "You don't remember us?"
"That is none of your concern," the Huntsman growled, pointing his blazing huntstaff at Sora's heart. "Now move aside. You are obstructing…" He looked up, directly at Phaerys. "The dragon."

"YOU'RE the threat!" Ruby screamed.

"Phaerys does not fear you," Phaerys stated coldly.

"If you are Phaerys," the Huntsman replied, "then you should."

"Still wanna try and talk it out?" Stork asked Papyrus.

"IF WE DON'T TRY, THEN WE'LL NEVER KNOW IF WE COULD HAVE REACHED AN AGREEMENT," Papyrus replied. "BUT IF THEY DON'T LISTEN, THEN WE WILL FIGHT BRAVELY AND AWESOMELY!"

"Or anxiously and really wanting to hide in a closet," Stork suggested, "but your way works too."

"Right," Sora said with a nod. "We did say we'd try and talk it out first."

"Are you KIDDING me?" Roman laughed. He flipped the Cudgel up into his hand and aimed it at Ruby. "Here's your talk. We came here to kill a dragon. Apparently, that's the dragon we came here to kill, and you're standing right in front of him. Ergo, we now need to kill all of you, and maybe you'll FINALLY get off our backs."

"I still can't believe you!" Amalia groaned. "Making me think you were my friends! Promising me a new adventure! Letting me think you were the heroes, and I was going to be a hero with you! Especially whichever one of you was Madame Frou Frou!" Her eyes flitted until she saw a familiar face. "YOU!" she pointed at Snatcher. "I'll just have you know I DON'T APPRECIATE – "

"I HAVE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH," Snatcher interrupted, "of your ceaseless talking. If I'd've known our longtime enemies would stoop to the low of bringing one of the subhumans along with them – "

The building tension finally snapped.

"SUB…HUMAN?" Amalia roared as two thick green vines burst from the ground at her command and wrapped around Snatcher's neck; Snatcher gagged and coughed, struggling to breathe. The Huntsman quickly slashed through the vines; Snatcher clutched his throat.

"Aaaaaand you're dead," Roman decided, turning the Cudgel and firing on Amalia.

Yugo quickly intercepted the blast with a portal, using a second portal to direct it right back at the WHAM ARMY. Before it could hit, the eleven scattered, charging at the group from different directions.

The air around Yugo's hands shimmered with a sea-green light; a short sword and a circular shield made of the same energy as his portals appeared in his hands. Gritting his teeth, he rushed the Huntsman. Wuya quickly intercepted him, leaping in between Yugo and the Huntsman and spinning to deal a roundhouse kick to the small Eliatrope. She hit harder than Yugo could counter, pushing him back. He raised his shield, blocking her next foot with it. He slashed out at her with his sword; she backflipped out of the way. She took a moment to contemplate blasting him with pure magic, but remembered the way he had redirected Roman's shot; nothing was stopping him from doing that to most anything she threw at him. Besides, she had spent a lot of energy calling up as many golems as she'd done. It was time to stick to a physical approach and focusing her magic on improving her own self rather than cutting down Yugo. She teleported behind him, attempting to grab him by both shoulders. He sank down into his own portal; she danced out of the way before he could stab her in the back. Thus began a game of teleportation cat-and-mouse.

Amalia withdrew a doll woven of leaves, casting it out onto the battlefield. "GO, DOLL!" she commanded. The doll enlarged to a giant size, its great round head lolling. It opened its stitched mouth to spit a barrage of seeds at Yzma, who cartwheeled repeatedly in order to dodge the blast. She took refuge under the firing trajectory, loading up her atlatl. A single dart flew through the air, piercing the doll directly in the chest. The doll convulsed, folding in upon itself until it had taken on a new shape, tinier than Amalia's foot, and lay unmoving.

"My doll!" Amalia rushed forward, scooping up what was now a tarantula made of leaves. "What did you do to my doll?"

"Something I would really rather have done to you," Yzma remarked, looking through the arsenal of darts she'd kept strapped to her leg. "Hm…out of spider, I see. Chipmunk will have to do."

"NO!" Amalia cried, flinging out her hand so that a plethora of vines exploded up through the metal ground, snaking toward Yzma. Yzma backflipped out of the way of the vines, and as they changed course to keep pursuit, she slashed through them all with the point of a dart. She simply threw the next dart at Amalia; the princess dodged it by a hair's breadth.

"You know, Jasmine," Aghoul said coyly as his scythe appeared in hand, "if you won't go for ''til death do us part,' perhaps you'd be better swayed by 'when death brings us together.'" The scythe blade arced through the air.

Jasmine slid under it, standing once it had completed its swing. "Not on your afterlife!" she grunted, slamming her fist hard into Aghoul's face. This threw him off balance just long enough for Jasmine to grab the shaft of the scythe; she and Aghoul tugged back and forth at it until Aghoul lost his grip. The moment Jasmine staggered back with the scythe, Aghoul called up an explosive skull, launching it. Jasmine maneuvered the scythe like a baseball bat, knocking the skull off into the distance where it exploded harmlessly. However, by the time she looked back to Aghoul, he simply remarked "There's more where that came from" as he held up three new skulls.

Stork's gaze never left the Huntsman; he planted himself right in front of the muscular warrior. "Don't even THINK about it!" he growled.

The Huntsman was close to replying, nearly whetting his blade on Stork, but a casual glance over Stork's shoulder told him he had no need. He simply stood in place, waiting as a bony finger tapped Stork's shoulder.

As a reflex, Stork turned to see who'd gotten his attention. "Wha – "

Ragdoll socked him in the face.

The Huntsman darted around Stork as the Merb twisted and crashed to the ground on his back. Glaring up at Ragdoll, he launched his feet upward, toes reaching out to grab Ragdoll and pull him down, but Ragdoll simply bent backward out of the way, all the way back that his hands touched the ground behind his ankles.

"Okay, WHAT?" Stork cried, scrambling into a sitting position.

"Prehensile toes," Ragdoll remarked. "Well, that's new. Color me impressed."

Stork gritted his teeth, standing to full height. "Okay. So you're double-jointed. That's not – "

As Ragdoll's hands were planted firmly on the ground, he lifted himself into a handstand, swinging both legs to wrap around Stork and flip him over onto the ground. "Triple, actually," Ragdoll corrected.

Stork swung his fists out toward Ragdoll's face; Ragdoll rolled out of the way with a high-pitched laugh. "We've only just met! No need to get so handsy!"

Snatcher and Papyrus almost literally bumped into each other. "Out of my way, monster," Snatcher growled, drawing his weapon.

"NOT UNLESS YOU APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT AMALIA!" Papyrus insisted.

"You'll move if I so much as apologize?" Snatcher laughed. "Tempting bait, but I refuse. Moronic as they may be, I don't take orders from filthy monsters like you."

"I TAKE OFFENSE TO THAT!" Papyrus barked. "I BATHE QUITE FREQUENTLY!"

"The filth was metaphorical," Snatcher groaned as he raised the barrel of his gun.

Papyrus called up a wall of bright blue bones to shield him from the lightning blast. "SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING," Papyrus clarified, "IS THAT YOU THINK I'M…"

"Lower than dirt!" Snatcher grunted, swinging his mallet around a couple times on the chain before throwing it, hoping to break the wall of bones. He was unsuccessful.

"BUT…I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS," Papyrus argued. "I AM…VERY COOL. AT LEAST, I THOUGHT I WAS VERY COOL."

"I don't care what TEMPERATURE you are!" Snatcher growled, stepping into a new position to circumvent the bone wall. "Just die like the vermin you are!" He launched the mallet again.

Papyrus was slow to call up the defensive wall this time; the mallet broke through the side of it and grazed him on the shoulder. He could feel that some damage had been done to his magical essence. "BUT…I'M NOT VERMIN," he said forlornly.

"Correction," Snatcher said gleefully, seeing that he was doing damage in more ways than one. "You're vermin. The plant princess is vermin. And so is the green monstrosity currently being strangled by Mr. Merkel."

"IT'S RAGDOLL!" Ragdoll called over to Snatcher from where he had Stork in a headlock.

Snatcher raised his gun, expecting to have thoroughly destroyed Papyrus' morale.

Instead, a wall of bones shot up from directly under him, launching him into the air. He came down hard on his back, giving a howl of pain; he could feel where each bone had jammed into his lower body.

"YOU CAN INSULT THE GREAT PAPYRUS ALL YOU WANT!" Papyrus insisted. "BUT I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOW YOU TO INSULT HIS FRIENDS! WHICH, SINCE I AM PAPYRUS, MEANS MY FRIENDS!" Another wall of bones rose up under Snatcher, flinging him high and bringing him down hard again. Snatcher was quick to scramble to his feet, firing a bolt of lightning that was met with a hard shield before a barrage of blue bones launched through the air at him, spelling out the words "AMALIA AND STORK ARE VERY AWESOME PEOPLE!" About three-quarters of them, Snatcher was able to deflect with his mallet. A quarter of them simply pelted him.

Papyrus gave a glance over to where Stork had temporarily thrown Ragdoll off his back; Stork gave him a thumbs-up of appreciation before he found all four of Ragdoll's limbs wrapped tightly around his body, tasking him with finding a way to shake Ragdoll off.

With a cry, Ruby launched herself to land in front of Roman. "Okay, I get it!" she growled. "You can't afford to lose! The real world is cruel! I remember! But I decided a long time ago I was never going to give up! You don't have to, either! Whatever you're fighting, you can break free of it!"

"Oh, Red," Roman laughed. "I AM free now. Which doesn't make the real world any less punishingly unfair, but there are no strings on me. Which is more than I can say for your little robot friend." He paused and waited, only for Ruby to stare at him intensely, not making a move. "What? I thought for SURE that would send you into a blind rage. But the point is, I'm not going to just stop having fun just because I got the boss off my back. Even if that scorpion-tailed fuckface decides to show his face and try and make me relive the old days. If you thought I was some misguided fallen hero just waiting to rise again wearing a halo and a pair of white wings because I told you I had it rough, you are SO WRONG!"

Ruby very nearly missed the point of the speech, having zeroed in on a crucial detail. "You…KNOW the man with the scorpion tail?"

"Shut up!" Roman, realizing he'd revealed just a bit too much, charged Ruby, Cudgel brandished. She parried it with the blade of Crescent Rose. He struck again and again; she parried each time. She swung; he leapt over the blade, slamming the Cudgel into her face. As she staggered back, Roman lit up an explosive blast, streamlining it along the shaft of the Cudgel and using its hook to aim the shot; Ruby zipped out of the way at the last second, screaming as she swung Crescent Rose once more. This time, Roman ducked, rolling to grab Ruby's ankles and pull her down.

"WHO IS HE?" Ruby demanded, kicking Roman to get away from him and striking out with Crescent Rose once more. "WHO IS THE SCORPION MAN?"

"HE'S THE KING OF SHUT-THE-FUCK-UP-TOPIA!" Roman yelled back, rolling over and slamming the Cudgel's staff in between Crescent Rose and his body.

Sora planted himself right in front of the Huntsman, noticing Mozenrath close behind. "It's over!" he announced to the pair.

Before the Huntsman or Mozenrath could make a move, a great purple claw sliced through the air and knocked Sora over, eliciting a "WHOA!" from him. Mim, in the body of a great hulking Grimm, fired the Huntsman and Mozenrath a toothy grin.

"This little sundrop is mine!" Mim cackled. "Now you boys go bag us a dragon!"

Sora stood back up, Keyblade at the ready. "Do your worst!" he beckoned Mim.

"You asked for it!" Mim cackled, charging him.

Sora ducked under her swiping claws, firing an ice spell up at her chest, hoping to freeze her in her tracks. She broke through the crust of ice, expanding into a rhinoceros – one that Sora was now underfoot of. Sora quickly rolled to avoid being trampled. As he stood and ran, Mim chased, fixing to gore him with her horn.

Sora quickly sidestepped, letting her run on by. He launched the Keyblade in a Strike Raid, calling out, "TAKE THAT!" The blade collided with Mim, causing her to screech in frustration. The blade returned to Sora's hand, and he readied to throw it again.

Dual shots of hot energy that missed him by a millimeter caused him to stumble. "That's a nice sword you've got," Rémington remarked as he twirled both pistols. "I don't suppose it's up for trade?"

"Oh, please," Sora groaned, turning his attention to Rémington and charging, the Keyblade surrounding itself with the golden glow of an Ars Arcanum combo.

"Not even if I throw in both these guns?" Rémington asked casually as Sora grew closer.

"As if!" Sora snapped, raising his Keyblade.

"Some loyalty you have," the right-hand pistol grunted. "See if we work for you in the near future."

Rémington quickly drew his longsword from his back. "Suit yourself," he said. "I can probably beat you with what I have on anyway."

Sora and Rémington traded blow after blow, their blades clashing until Sora faltered, one of his ankles not moving when he willed it. As he tripped forward, he looked back to see Grany tugging the hem of his pant leg with his sharp little teeth. The Bow Meow let go once Sora had toppled far enough and landed on his stomach.

Rémington pressed the tip of his blade into Sora's back. "I could finish you off right now," he said.

"No, you couldn't!" Sora grunted. "I'm not done yet!"

"Well, then maybe it's a good thing I was planning on letting HER take care of you."

"Who's – "

There was a screech; Mim, in the form of a gigantic eagle, wrapped her claws around Sora, hoisting him high into the air. "You've got some fancy moves!" she laughed. "But can you survive a drop from a thousand feet in the air?" She rocketed upward.

Panicking, Sora turned the Keyblade on Mim, yelling, "FIRE!" A blossom of flames ignited Mim's feathers, and her grip slipped; Sora plunged. With a casting of "WIND!", Sora's descent was slowed to a gentle fall. He landed on his feet only to find himself facing down Rémington, his blade at the ready. Mim landed next to him, transforming into a hulking bear. "I could do this all day!" Mim laughed.

"Well, so can I!" Sora countered.

They charged, Grany darting up into the fray and launching at Sora's face.

Phaerys knew the Huntsman and Mozenrath were focused on reaching him, and he knew they would get to him, given the number of opponents his allies faced. His physical form rippled; he grew larger and larger until his shape was that of the dragon the Huntsman had expected. An enormous reptile, shaped much like Maleficent in her prime, Phaerys exhaled a burst of flame at the Huntsman.

Mozenrath was quick to put up a deflection shield in front of the Huntsman and himself; the fire roared around it and nearly singed both of them as it rippled past. Once the flames subsided, Mozenrath took down the shield, and the Huntsman charged, staff ablaze. He somersaulted under another jet of flame (which Mozenrath defended himself from using another shield), striking out at Phaerys.

Phaerys had deflection powers of his own; the staff hit a sea-green wall. The Huntsman pressed the blade ever harder, its gem glowing brightly. The staff was not the weapon borne by the leader of the Huntsclan for no reason. Slowly, it burned through the deflection shield until it burst through and pierced Phaerys' skin.

A whipping tail knocked the Huntsman aside. Phaerys, realizing the danger, flapped his wings, taking to the skies. He gave another breath of fire from above; Mozenrath and the Huntsman scrambled to avoid it, running here and there until Phaerys ran out of steam.

Mozenrath then rushed to the Huntsman, yelling, "FOLLOW HIM!"

"I cannot just – " the Huntsman began.

Mozenrath thrust his hand out, palm first, enveloping the Huntsman in blue light. The Huntsman was lifted off the ground at Mozenrath's will. "You can now," the young sorcerer said with a smirk.

"You're controlling my flight," the Huntsman observed. "Can I trust you?"

"As much as I can trust you."

"Then bring me to the dragon."

Mozenrath steered the Huntsman around Phaerys' next blast and toward the body of the dragon himself. He breezed the Huntsman past quickly enough for the Huntsman to score another wound on Phaerys' side, then flew him to safety before setting up the next angle for another shot. Phaerys wheeled about in the air to try and avoid the Huntsman's path, but Mozenrath was just quick enough to react, directing the Huntsman accordingly. The Huntsman found that Mozenrath seemed to have a knack for picking the direction the Huntsman himself would have chosen next.

As Phaerys and the Huntsman soared around each other in the air, the compass worked itself loose from the Huntsman's clothing, dropping to the ground. It did not break upon impact; it was constructed too well for that. However, its needle was beginning to shift course ever so slightly, hinting at the goings-on within the center of the island.

...

From within the inner cavern, Qilby, Hades, and Tyrian could hear the sounds of war breaking loose on the island. "Yeesh," Hades remarked with a dramatic shiver. "Forget Peleus and Thetis' wedding. THAT'S a scene out there."

"Is something wrong, friend?" Tyrian asked Qilby teasingly, noticing the older Eliatrope pacing around the edges of the cave. "Something…missing, perhaps?"

"No," Qilby lied. "Nothing at all."

He had hoped against hope that perhaps she would still be there. After all, he had held her egg, her Dofus, in this very island. His twin sister, the dragon Shinonome. He had last seen her in the dimension where the young Eliatropes hid away. She had refused to hatch and become reborn; she had told Qilby in no uncertain terms that she wanted his cycle of destruction to end. She had declared herself his enemy. And yet she was his sister all the same, and he had spent so much time alone, truly alone. Even now, with two traveling companions, Qilby was alone. He knew either of them could turn on him at a moment's notice, especially if they knew part of his agenda involved chasing something as sentimental as an infant sister. He had desperately wanted the dofus to still be here, on the Crimson Claws, where he had long ago left it. But he knew it was time to stop fooling himself. Shinonome was gone. Probably, he theorized, with Balthazar, the dragon who guarded the Eliatrope children. The only one who'd ever truly understood him had turned her back on him, and it weighed on him in full that he was, in fact, alone. It was a horrifying prospect, but not an unfamiliar one.

"I simply wondered why Phaerys confined himself to such a dank and ugly place," Qilby went on, covering his tracks further.

"All the better for our little plan," Tyrian cackled. "Though you were SO quick to suggest this island. One must wonder if it holds some sort of…sentimental value?" He cocked his head toward Qilby.

"I suggested this island because it is isolated," Qilby snapped.
"Isolated," Tyrian repeated. "Not unlike you were isolated – "

"There is no meaning to it!" Qilby interrupted. "Your plan required locations that were distant from each other. This island is far, far away from any land in all directions. All we must do now is set up the device."

"You mean this doohickey?" Hades held out his palm, and from a ball of flame, a sphere erupted to hover over it. The sphere was covered in living eyes, their pupils flitting rapidly about.

Qilby flinched. "The fact that you were able to do that means you are immune to it."

"Perks of being a god, babe," Hades reminded him. "Let's just get this thing put in place and get out."

"Not without leaving a little clue for our pursuers," Tyrian cackled. "You know, I half expected them to be waiting here to ambush us. How do you think they would feel if they knew we were right under their noses?"

"I'll tell you once I see the looks on their faces," Qilby answered.

...

The WHAM ARMY already had a clue.

One of Amalia's vines knocked Yzma to the ground, where her face planted not too far from the compass that had fallen from the sky. Recognizing it immediately, she scooped it up into her hands. The needle was beginning to shift. It moved just a tick one way, then just a tick in the opposite direction, before turning around and pointing exactly the way the Incurable Blight had come.

"MIM!" Yzma yelled, noting Mim, Rémington, and Grany triple-teaming Sora. "COVER ME!" She sprang away from Amalia's next attack.

Mim, at the time, was occupying the form of a plump griffon, sharp lion claws tearing at Sora while she tried to impale him with her eagle beak. Sora had somehow been ready for even that level of attack, countering her with a series of blows followed by a Ragnarok strike that unleashed a rain of fireworks. This drove her back just long enough for Sora to deal with Rémington rushing at him with the giant longsword. That was when Yzma had issued her command, and Mim turned to see Yzma running away from Amalia at full tilt. Figuring the Smisse brothers could handle Sora on their own, Mim galloped toward Amalia, skidding in between her and Yzma. She gave a loud screech before leaping into the air and divebombing the Sadida princess. Amalia's vines tangled up around Mim, only just holding her back; they strained as Mim struggled, beak snapping inches away from Amalia.

Yzma had a brief observance of most of the battlefield as she made her way to Mozenrath. Aghoul had wrested his scythe back from Jasmine, and as he swung it, both Jasmine and Yzma leapt over the flying blade, Jasmine to dodge and Yzma simply trying to carve a path. Yzma had to stop and wait a moment for Stork and Ragdoll to cross her path – the former was throwing a series of rapid-fire punches while the latter was avoiding them by simply flipping over backward again and again, taking Stork on a chase. As a wall of bones went up between Papyrus and Snatcher, Yzma found herself running on top of it momentarily before leaping to the ground. One of Yugo's portals accidentally brought her ten feet backward, along with Wuya; Wuya quickly countered by bringing both herself and Yzma twenty feet forward before giving Yzma an encouraging clap on the back. Yzma never broke stride. She ducked to the ground and slid underneath a blast from the Melodic Cudgel on her knees, propelled forward slightly by its explosion. She dropped to her stomach to crawl beneath Sora and Rémington's clashing blades, rising to a stand when she was finally near Mozenrath.

"The Eliacube!" she screeched as she ran toward him, pointing frantically at the compass. "IT'S GETTING AWAY!"

"Not important right now," Mozenrath told her through gritted teeth, focusing on directing the Huntsman's flight.

"Not IMPORTANT now?" Yzma's jaw dropped. "But I – you – IT'S THE ENTIRE REASON WE'RE HERE!"

"And right NOW, the reason we're on this island is to murder this dragon," Mozenrath retorted.

Yzma growled through gritted teeth. "You know what? I'm holding the compass. Technically, you should be listening to me right now instead of flying the Huntsman around like some sort of toy airplane!"

"That's on a technicality," Mozenrath told her. "Officially, the Huntsman is still in charge. Though if you keep distracting me, I'll slip up, he'll die, and you won't have the competition anymore. Is that what you want?"

"Fine," Yzma seethed. "You know what? I give up. I just want to know…why? You all complain that I'm the one with the harebrained schemes, and yet in the moment of truth, I'm the only one who still has any sense of our original goal whatsoever while the rest of you are playing war games. What do I have to do to earn your respect? I mean, I'm practically babysitting this entire team! When you think about it – "

She paced back and forth behind Mozenrath, ranting on and on as Mozenrath did his best to tune her out.

"Just give it up, Red," Roman taunted as he and Ruby traded blows. "You've had a good run, but today's not your day. This will be the day WE'VE waited for."

"I've beaten you before!" Ruby insisted, twirling Crescent Rose before going in for another swing. "I can do it again!"

"You're a KID, Red," Roman reminded her, sidestepping the arcing blade. "You shouldn't be exploring the great unknown and taking on people who are way, way above your level. You should be playing video games with milk and cookies on standby. Maybe if you had decided to be a good girl and stay home, you wouldn't have to take the worst of THIS!" As he waxed, he had been running another blast of energy along the Cudgel, and he hooked it toward Ruby. She was caught off guard, thrown across the field with a scream.

Snatcher, in the meantime, was trying a new tactic. Papyrus was sending waves of bones at him; he had sheathed his weapon, now attempting to catch the bones and throw them back. He was slightly successful, pelting Papyrus with his own projectiles while taking hits from them that were more annoying than anything.

"PLEASE STOP!" Papyrus begged. "THERE HAS TO BE SOME OTHER WAY! I, TOO, ONCE BELIEVED THE ONLY WAY TO PROVE ONESELF WAS IN BATTLE. BUT THEN I LEARNED THAT THERE ARE OTHER PATHS TO VICTORY!"

"My path to victory begins with CRUSHING YOU," Snatcher emphasized as he caught a rather large bone and launched it right back where it came from. It struck Papyrus vertically across the chest, sending him flying.

Ruby and Papyrus' courses of flight were aimed in the same direction, and they collided hard with Sora, bowling him over. Rémington's blade cut down through empty air, striking the metal of the ground. The three heroes tumbled for a short while before coming to rest.

"Okay, taking on this many of them is harder than usual," Ruby admitted from her spot atop the pile.

Papyrus, in the middle, announced, "THE ONE IN THE RED HAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TALK TO."

"We can't give up!" Sora insisted from the nadir of the pile. "We have to keep fighting!"

"But we're just wasting our time!" Ruby wailed. "We're stuck here fighting Roman and the others while Mozenrath and the big scary one are going to kill Phaerys!"

"SPEAKING OF ROMAN TORCHWICK AND HIS FRIENDS…" Papyrus pointed out.

Rémington, Snatcher, Roman, and Grany were advancing upon the downed trio with matching malicious grins.

"Then we have to show them what we're made of," Sora insisted. "Are you with me?"

"I AM!" Papyrus asserted.

"Me too!" Ruby added.

Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus became surrounded in a flash of brilliant light; their silhouettes within the illumination became blurred and faded into each other. To the surprise of Roman, Snatcher, and the Smisses, Ruby and Papyrus completely disappeared. Sora hovered in the air, his feet dangling two inches above the ground before he gently touched down. His appearance had changed; his clothing was now all bright red, with a short hooded cape flowing halfway down his back and a metal breastplate shielding his chest. In one hand, he held his standard Keyblade. In the other, he carried a black Keyblade with a skull wrought into the handle and teeth shaped like a bat's wings: the Pumpkinhead. Floating by his side was a third blade: the Divine Rose, with teeth shaped like the flower it bore the name of and a purple shaft patterned with a green, thorny vine.

Inside Sora's head, he could hear two familiar voices. "WHAAAAAT JUST HAPPENED?" Ruby cried.

"I DO NOT KNOW," Papyrus replied. "WE ARE…SOMEHOW ALL SHARING THE SAME BODY?"

"It's a Drive," Sora realized. "We got into a Drive by accident."

"You know how to undo it and get our bodies back," Ruby moaned, "right? RIGHT?"

"Yeah," Sora promised. "But with the three of us working together in the same body, we're a lot more powerful. I say we run with it while we can!"

"Okay, Spike, who are you talking to?" Roman asked, confused.

"And where did the other two get off to?" Snatcher wondered out loud.

"Forget it," Rémington told them. "It's three on one – "
"EH-HEM!" Grany coughed.

"Four on one," Rémington corrected. "This should be easy."

"You fucked up big time, Spike," Roman said with a smirk.

Then all three charged.

One Keyblade was put to work countering the strikes of the Cudgel. The second staved off Snatcher's mallet. The third clashed with Rémington's longsword, holding it in a lock. As all three weapons threatened to cave in on Sora, he ducked down and dashed away, Ruby's super speed now integrated into his physiology. Realizing this, he turned an about-face and sped past all three of his human opponents, Keyblades spinning as he knocked the shafts into each of them. Grany, at this time, attempted to leap up onto Sora's face in order to hold him at bay; he was repelled by a shield of bright blue bones.

"THIS IS REALLY COOL!" Papyrus exclaimed from within.

"The three of us sync up pretty good," Ruby agreed. "Now CHAAAARGE!"

Surrounded by four enormous whirling bones for protection, Sora rushed back the other way at Rémington, Snatcher, and Roman. All three opened fire with their guns; the energy was deflected off the bones, allowing Sora to get close enough to attempt another strike. Rémington jumped back, out of the way. Snatcher attempted another shot; his electric projectile was deflected in such a way that it struck Rémington right in the chest and bowled him over.

"REMY!" Grany howled.

"SMISSE!" Snatcher barked.

"I'm fine," Rémington grunted from where he lay on the ground.

Roman rushed Sora, the Cudgel clashing against all three Keyblades. The Pumpkinhead and Divine Rose clashed in an X formation to block the Cudgel's shaft; as they pushed forward and apart, they sent Roman staggering back. A wall of bones rose up behind Roman's legs, tripping him and sending him down.

Sora then charged at Snatcher, who waited until the last moment to spin out of the way, sending Sora running at nothing. Snatcher then rushed to haul Roman to his feet; Roman fired the hook of the Cudgel at Rémington, who grabbed onto it in order to be pulled up when the hook retracted. When Sora turned about, he saw all three of his foes standing across from him, looking ready for another round if a little less auspicious about their chances against him.

"It's not enough!" Ruby insisted.

"DON'T WE HAVE ANY OTHER COOL SUPERPOWERS WE CAN USE TO GET THEM TO STOP?" Papyrus suggested.

"You want cool powers?" Sora responded. "Then hang on!"

"Hang on to what with what?" Ruby said quickly.

Sora began to spin, Keyblades whirling round and round; as part of Ruby's influence, rose petals were visible on the current as well. He became a tornado, drawing in air. As he spun, he drew closer to Roman, Rémington, and Snatcher, the draw of the wind tugging at the edges of their clothing.

"RUN!" Rémington barked, and the trio turned tail. However, they couldn't get far and were soon sucked into the whirl, thrown in a circular motion round and round until they were disoriented completely. The Keyblades collided with them, further knocking them off kilter.

A bright light built up within Sora, and when he reached the apex of his spin speed, he let the light explode outward, the three Keyblades rushing on the shockwave. The impact caused Snatcher, Roman, and Rémington to collapse to the ground, unconscious.

"Rémy?" Grany poked his brother's head with a paw. "Oh, no, no, no – "

Sora stared down at the Bow Meow. "Wanna be next?" he asked.

Grany took off across the field, screaming, "YZMAAAAAAAA!"

"What now?" Ruby asked.

"We turn this battle around," Sora replied. He turned his sights to Aghoul. "Everybody agreed on this one?"

"LET'S GO!" Papyrus confirmed.

"It's as if rescuing him from the City of Old Emperors was one hundred percent the Huntsman's doing!" Yzma ranted on, still pacing. "Did I cross the entire Swamps of Sadness in ridiculously hideous boots just to be ignored when I have something important to say? Apparently so, according to this one! If the Huntsman comes out of this with the job, I'll have no choice but to turn him into a – "

"YZMA!" Grany screamed, running up to her and clawing at the hem of her gown. "Rémy is down! And Roman and Archibald are down with him!"

"WHAT?" Yzma sputtered.

"LOOK!" Grany extended a paw to where the fallen criminals lay.

"MOZENRATH!" Yzma seized Mozenrath's shoulders, spinning him by force to face her. "Snatcher, Roman, and Rémington are all unconscious! Hopefully, this is what will get you to LISTEN to me and LEAVE NOW!"

Mozenrath looked over her shoulder to confirm that she was correct. Hastily, he snapped his fingers, and the Huntsman disappeared from his flight, now standing beside Mozenrath.

"WHY DID YOU BRING ME DOWN?" the Huntsman roared. "I HAD NEARLY SEALED THAT DRAGON'S FATE!"

"Three of us are down," Mozenrath informed him. "I hate to break it to you, but if we don't want our nemeses to seal THEIR fate, I suggest a retreat."

"I don't CARE!" the Huntsman barked. "We can cover for and protect them! Notify me when it is FOUR of our number."

There was a yowl of pain from across the field before Sora tossed Aghoul's limp, unconscious body to lie next to Snatcher, Roman, and Rémington.

"It's four," Mozenrath stated casually.

The Huntsman growled under his breath, knowing what had to be done. "CIRCLE THE FALLEN!" he yelled across the field, barreling toward the downed quartet. "WEAPONS OUTWARD!"

He, Mozenrath, Yzma, Wuya, Mim, Ragdoll, and Grany formed a ring around Roman, Rémington, Snatcher, and Aghoul, their backs to their fallen comrades and their weapons aimed out. Sora (still locked in a Drive with Ruby and Papyrus), Stork, Jasmine, Yugo, and Amalia closed in on them from the outside, glaring daggers. Phaerys landed, fixing his gaze upon the WHAM ARMY as well.

"Wuya," the Huntsman whispered. "Bring us all back to the Blight."

"Working on it," Wuya whispered back.

Yzma, meanwhile, fumbled with a tiny vial she'd kept hidden within her clothing: an elixir brewed from the extract of Selenipedium, intended for protection.

"Let's finish this," Sora commanded. "CHARGE!"

As Sora and his friends barreled toward the WHAM ARMY, Yzma threw the vial to the ground and smashed it with the toe of one shoe. A bright pink shockwave was thrown outward from the WHAM ARMY, pushing Sora and company backward, even causing Phaerys to reel somewhat.

In the diversion, Wuya finished casting a short-range teleportation spell to bring the eleven onto the Incurable Blight, which was still cloaked in the harbor. The ship was launched, slipping between the military submarines as the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoed from the island it left behind.

Sora shuddered; in a burst of light, Ruby and Papyrus broke away from him, taking on their own forms once more. "THAT WAS SO COOL!" Papyrus squealed. "YOU CALLED THAT A DRIVE. WHAT IS A DRIVE?"

"Something Keybearers can do with their friends," Sora explained. "It gives us special powers by combining all our abilities. It takes a lot of energy to hold one together, though. What'd you think, Ruby?"

"Two arms," Ruby muttered, "two legs – " She quickly patted herself down. "Okay. Good. All here. That was really, REALLY weird. But really fun."

"Um, I don't know if you noticed," Stork pointed out, "but we kind of have bigger priorities. Like the fact that Mozenrath GOT AWAY, AND WE DON'T KNOW WHERE HE WENT."

"Looks like the search is on," Sora declared.

"We need to clean up the rest of this island first," Jasmine pointed out.

"Of course!" Sora said with a nod. "After those guys, the giant rock things will be no problem!"

"Especially against Phaerys," Phaerys emphasized, shifting back into his more humanoid form.

"Are you all right?" Jasmine asked the dragon.

"Phaerys has wounds," he replied, "but none that will be fatal. Phaerys can continue fighting."

"But how can I?" Amalia wailed. "My doll got turned into an ugly little spider! I need it in order to fight!"

"IT DIDN'T LOOK THAT WAY TO ME," Papyrus told her. "YOUR AMAZING PLANT POWERS MADE UP FOR IT!"

"You really think they're amazing?" Amalia said coyly.

"I say less talk, more stopping the rock things from destroying the entire island," Stork suggested.

"Good call," Yugo agreed.

They made a beeline for the distant sounds of combat, ready to go to work.

...

The rock golems were subdued, shattered, and cleaned up within a matter of time. Some of the New Sufokian mechs had sustained damage, but there were no casualties.

Yugo, Amalia, Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Stork, Jasmine, and Phaerys returned to Adal in order to bring him the news that the threat was under control. Elaine and Encre Noir listened from the corner of the room.

"Prince Adal," Yugo insisted, "Phaerys was the one who destroyed most of the golems in the end. Your military was having trouble against them. If you needed a reason to respect Phaerys and his space, this was it. This island might have been in real trouble without him."

Adal sighed. "Then I will ensure the boundaries we set are enforced. You have my word. And if I should break the agreement, do what you will." His tone was begrudging, but altogether sincere.

"Thank you," Phaerys replied.

"As for the rest of your story…" Adal slammed his fist on the map table. "What is the meaning of all of this? Sorcerers? Three people turning into one person with three weapons? And how did you know this Ayam Aghoul? I've had just about enough of being kept in the dark! Explain at once!"

"Or what?" Amalia asked smugly, arms folded. "You'll attack cohorts of the Sadida princess who are under her protection? THAT would be an act of war!"

"Well, I want to know what's going on too!" Elaine chimed in. "There's a very important piece of the story we're all missing! I won't say you can't sail with us if you don't tell it, but I can say it won't be a very comfortable ride!"

"You have proven yourselves to be quite powerful," Adal added. "If I do not know where you are from, I will not know where to watch for a potential threat. Keeping secrets while wielding such power may just convince me that YOU are the threat."

"Well…" Sora looked to Ruby, Papyrus, Stork, and Jasmine. All of them nodded their heads; with pressure like this, it was time to tell. "All right. The truth is…Mozenrath is a big deal because he and his friends are from other worlds." He sighed. "And so are we."