SZ: *whistles as he looked at a calendar* 25 years..can't believe Sonic has been around for that long.

GammaTron: *sneaks by without being noticed by SZ*

SZ: He may have hit and missed a couple of times in the past, but I still enjoy the games, and the comics. Now...just gotta wait on GT, and then we can start. In the mean time, I'll play some Mighty n…*sees something missing*...where's my game? Where's Mighty No 9?!

Cryo(Mighty no 2 Cryosphere): woah. You need to 'chill' out a bit.

SZ:...oh yeah. I forgot you make ice puns, Cryo.

GT: *snickers while holding the game in a potted plant before slipping it into Cryo's hands without either noticing*

Cryo: Well...excuse me. I'm gonna go 'chill' around, so have an 'ice' time

SZ: Gah! Now I know how Papyrus feels with Sans!

GT: *walks in, wearing a blue hoodie with yellow inside, grey jeans with a few pockets, and a blue cap* Hey, guys. *looks at Cryo's hands* Got a new game, Cryo?

Cryo: Hmm? *looks at the game in her hand* ...how did this get here?

GT: *reads the note on the game* 'Seanzilla's Mighty Number 9 Game. Do not touch or Seanzilla will blast you.'

SZ: ...Cry-*get's frozen by the small robot*

Cryo: He should know better not to mess with me.

GT: Ouch. Guess he's got a cold shoulder now. Thanks for cooling him down.

SZ: *gives off a muffled scream*

Cryo: No prob. Happy to give him a nice freeze to chill to.

GT: Yeah. Now he knows how to relax and chill.

Papyrus: *off-screen* Oh my god, please stop with the ice puns and get to the story!

Sans: *offscreen* aw, what's wrong, pap? got a chill down your spine? *rimshot goes off*

Papyrus: *offscreen* SAAAAAAANS!

GT: *laughs* Okay, enough with the puns for now. We'll put them on ice and get on with this. *takes out a cane and smacks the ice, freeing SZ* Welcome everyone to a little special something for the Sonic 25th anniversary.

SZ: Shivers a bit* Y...yup. Me and my friend Pikatwig did something for it, and I figured I'd join GT on it for Sonic's 25th Anniversary. And given his current mood, we reached a sorta compromise for the chapter, have it based on a series he's been getting into for a while.

GT: *leaning on my cane* All dressed up for it as well.

SZ: Yup. So without further ado, let's begin. But first...Cryo?

Cryo: Gotcha. *freezes the screen a bit before it shattered, revealing the disclaimer*

Disclaimer: Neither author's own anything in this, nor do they own the Sonic, Ben 10, or Blazblue franchises. They do though own any OCs that'll appear in this story, along with any OC alien forms.

"Okay. Why is it that while almost anyone can find us, we can't find a raccoon that's got a scorpion's tail and the Chaos Emerald it's eaten?!" Makoto groaned.

"I don't know," Tsubaki admitted as she looked out the window, the sky darkening a bit as snow began to fall, "Still, we need to keep a close eye out for anything suspicious, or if any news of him sighted comes up."

"True...but it's still annoying," Makoto sighed as she slumped into her chair, "We just had to agree to keep an eye out for him…"

"I'm still shocked that the most wanted criminal in our world actually considers Ben as a younger brother," Tsubaki noted, looking over Makoto's chair towards the driver's area where Sonic and Ben were, "And Ben sees him as an older brother."

"Yeah...you think we had him all wrong or something?" Makoto asked, "I mean, if Ben sees him as a good person, then he must be."

"It still doesn't explain why Ragna did what he did to those NOL bases," Tsubaki pursed her lips.

"Guess we'll just need to have a few more run-ins with him to see the bigger picture," Makoto shrugged before an explosion went off downstairs, Manic stumbling up them covered in soot.

"Never mix latex with a sulfide-based application," Manic groaned as he dusted himself off.

"...I don't think we want to know what you were working on down there," Makoto sweatdropped a bit.

"Nothing important at the moment," Manic replied as he looked out the window, "So...where are we now?"

"Not sure," Makoto replied.

"Oh, right. Still getting used to our world," Manic chuckled before coughing a bit of smoke out, "Ugh. I'm gonna go take a shower."

Sonia rolled her eyes as she got off the couch and walked over to the driver's area, moving the curtain to peek her head in, "Sonic, where are we going?"

"The Chunan Mountains," Sonic replied, "We lost communication with the Freedom Fighter faction there a few days ago and we were the closest team."

"Ahh...I see," Sonia noted.

"Yeah. Though I did get something from them before communications went off," Sonic added, "Just a name though...General Tsao."

"You mean the Chinese food?" Ben raised a brow.

"Chinese?" Sonic and Sonia repeated.

"Uh...Chunese?"

"Oh," the two siblings nodded.

"...Still, who is this General Tsao guy anyway?" Makoto asked out of curiosity, peeking her head in above Sonia's.

"Not sure," Sonic replied, "No one at HQ knows any generals in Eggman's command with that name and there's no one with Tsao in their name in the Freedom Fighters."

"Oh...I see," Makoto noted, "Hmm...maybe we can ask someone when we stop at the next town?"

"...Actually that's not a bad idea," Tsubaki spoke up as she walked over, "It would give us an idea on what happened to the Freedom Fighters stationed here."

"Good idea," Sonic nodded, "The town coming up is where they had been based at."

"Alright then," Makoto nodded as she got up, "I'll go get Roll and tell her where we're stopping."

"Alright then."

"I'll go get the ID Masks," Ben got up and entered the 'living area' of the bus.

After a few minutes, the group arrived in a small town like area with bits of snow covering the roofs. However..one thing immediately caught their attention...there were hardly any people there, and the ones that were seemed to be very cautious about something.

"...Okay. Something is definitely up," Makoto whispered as the group looked around.

"Agreed," Tsubaki nodded slowly before she spotted an elder Mobian peacock, "Um, excuse me."

The peacock tensed as they turned to face her, "Y...yes?"

"We have a few questions we'd like to ask…"

"I apologize, but I need to return to my home," the peacock quickly informed as they picked up the pace.

"...That was weird," Manic stated.

"Yeah…" Sonia nodded before looking at old pair of Mobian dogs, "Excuse me sir, miss? We were wondering if…"

The two whispered something to another before they quickly closed their doors.

"...Sheesh. At this rate, we won't get any info on where the Freedom Fighters based here are, or who this General Tsao guy is," Makoto muttered out loud, causing every Mobian in the village to tense up as they began to shake, "?"

"G….Gen..General…" a Mobian Ram shook violently before running off screaming into his home, "General Tsao!"

The rest of the villagers screamed as they all ran of into their own homes, locking their doors while screaming something in Chunese. Within a minute, the entire place was silent with all the homes having their doors shut and windows closed.

"..." everyone slowly looked at Makoto.

"...I honestly didn't know they were gonna react that way," Makoto quickly defended herself.

"...Well at least we know one thing," Sonic spoke up as he looked at the deserted town, "Whoever this General Tsao Guy is...he's gotta be bad news if the villagers are this frightened of him."

"H...hai," Roll slowly nodded before she noticed something, "Hm?"

"%3544242ddfgjg?" Yacker tilted his head at Roll.

"Something up?" Ben asked.

"I...think I saw something pass by," Roll replied, pointing at where she had noticed it.

"...Should we follow it?"

"Probably. It could lead us to where the missing Freedom Fighters are, or to where this General Tsao Guy is," Sonic shrugged as the group began to follow the path the mystery object/figure left in.

"I think it we lost it," Ben noted as the group looked around.

"G3592 $ t4ffed," Yacker pointed at a tunnel nearby, big enough for a large group to walk through.

"You saw it head that way?" Roll translated, earning a nod, "Yatta! Arigatou, Yacker-chan."

Yacker gave a small salute as the group began to head to the tunnel. As they did, they began to faintly hear some voices speaking within. While they couldn't tell what they were saying, one name seemed to pop up the most…'Panda King'.

"There's a king of pandas here?" Ben softly asked.

"First time I've heard of it," Sonic replied.

"There's only one guy I know who has that name, and he was part of a really dangerous group," Manic spoke up quietly, "The Fiendish Five."

"The who?" Tsubaki whispered.

"Real nasty stuff," Manic explained, "They became a group around thirteen, maybe fourteen, years back. Heard their first real big heist as a group ended with no witnesses."

"Because they were that sneaky?" Sonia guessed.

"Because no one lived to tell the tale," Manic corrected, making Sonia gulp and Roll hug Sonic's arm with wide eyes, "But around three, maybe four, years back, they all got taken down one-by-one, even their leader...Clockwerk."

"What?" Ben blinked twice.

"Not your alien, dude, Clockwerk," Manic replied, "Most of what's been said 'bout him in the Thieve's Guild and on ThiefNet is just a lot of hearsay and rumors. But from what's been said...I am so glad that whoever took that guy down did."

"What was bad about him?" Tsubaki asked.

"Talons sharp enough to tear through the toughest metals, eyes that hypnotize you, and seemingly immortal," Manic replied, "There's been rumors that he's been around since the Mobosaurs roamed the planet."

"Oh come now, Manic. Mobosaurs lived hundreds of thousands of years ago," Sonia rolled her eyes, "No one could live that long."

"Well apparently he did," Manic countered, "Heck, I even heard Robotnik was afraid of the guy. Tried to recruit him and his gang and..well, I heard he got a phobia of owls because of that."

"And someone beat that?" Tsubaki raised a brow.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Sonic rolled his eyes.

"...fine. I won't say anything else except this; if this really is the Panda King, watch out. The guy made a fighting style using fireworks and such," Manic warned them.

"...Is that why the lab blew up? Were you trying to replicate it?" Sonia asked.

"Nah. Trying to make those ID Masks you dudes are wearing more comfy while still working great," Manic replied, looking at the two humans and one Beastkin, "But now that you me…"

"No," Sonia and Sonic deadpanned.

"Nuts," Manic frowned.

"I think we're nearing the exit," Makoto noted, squinting her eyes a bit as she saw...4, maybe 5 figures at the end, "..and I think I see some Mobians there.".

"Any distinguishing marks?"

"Um...I think there's a hippo and a turtle in a wheelchair," Makoto replied, "Can't make out the others, though."

"I'll try to get in closer," Ben noted, taking off his ID Mask and activating the Omnitrix before slapping down on it, revealing… "Heatblast? Ugh. Must have slipped my finger at the end. I was going for Greymatter or Nanomech."

"Uh...hey. Does anyone smell something burning?" they heard the hippo ask, causing the group to tense up.

"Now that you mention it, I think so," one of the others noted, the voice sounding feminine in tone.

"It might mean that Panda King is practicing his Flame Fu," the turtle noted before a voice noted something, "I'm not sure, Guru. Maybe there's a strong wind where he's at and that's how we're smelling the smoke of his fires."

"Ben…" Makoto whispered.

"Already on it," Heatblast replied, slapping his symbol and changing into… "Underwraps? Hmm. Seems better."

"Good idea," Sonia nodded, "You can collapse into your wraps and just slither over and give a better description when you come back."

"Right. I, uh, meant to pick this one," the mummy alien chuckled sheepishly.

With that, he collapsed into his wrappings and slowly and quietly slithered over to the other group as he listened in on their conversation.

"Bentley, I'm still against this you know."

"I know, but he's the best demolitions expert in the entire world," the turtle replied.

'Demolitions expert?' Underwraps mentally repeated as he slithered in a bit closer.

"Stay sharp team...for all we know, the Panda King is as dangerous as ever."

"How can you say that? Just look at him," Bentley replied, motioning to the outside of the cave.

Underwraps managed to slither close enough to form an eye. The exit of the cave was a large meditation area. At the highest area was a small pagoda with a large panda. The panda was in a meditative pose in white silk robes and long white hair.

'Is that the Panda King?' Underwraps pondered.

"Have you ever seen someone more at peace with the world?" Bentley continued.

"I'll admit, he does look kinda 'zenned-out,'" the voice replied.

"Uh...Mr. King? Honorable Panda King, we humbly wish to speak with you," Bentley called out, only getting silence in response.

As the silence happened, Underwraps managed to look around at the group with his formed eye. The hippo's skin was a rich magenta in color while he wore red fingerless gloves, white and red laced shoes, a blue shirt, a white scarf, and a red wrestling mask. On his shoulder was a purple...was that a purple koala? Looking at it, the Mobian had shaggy purple hair on its head and face, a brown loincloth, and a wooden staff with a glowing periwinkle stone.

The turtle was in a wheelchair as noted before, but the wheelchair itself was rather advanced. He also wore an outfit Underwraps swore came from the Disney movie Tarzan. Beside him was a mouse with her long blond hair held back with a red bandana. She had coveralls, a yellow long-sleeved shirt, and red-rimmed glasses. In her hands was an RC and a remote for it.

The last member of the group was a raccoon. His fur was a light shade of grey and dark grey , each working together to cover the body. He wore a blue shirt with yellow inside, a red pouch on his left upper leg, and a blue cap on his head. He had on a thief's mask over his eyes and held a wooden blue staff with a gold hook on the head resembling a stylized 'C.'

"I guess he doesn't want to talk," the raccoon noted, "Sorry Bentley, let's go."

"Be realistic, Sly. He's clearly in a deep meditative trance," Bentley countered before pondering a bit, the turtle overlooking the area a bit, "Hmm...it'll take some doing, but I think I see a way to get the team up to his shrine."

"Good! The walk up here tired me out," the hippo informed, scratching his head before sighing, "Man, I miss the van...We never had to walk anywhere back then."

"Okay, okay. Let's just get this over with," Sly noted as Underwraps went back to the others.

"So what'd you find out?" Makoto asked once the mummy alien reformed his body.

"Well, the raccoon is named Sly and…" Underwraps began before noticing Manic was now a solid white and looking as if he had seen a ghost, "...Manic?"

"Sl….Sly? As in...Sly...Cooper?" Manic's voice was barely audible, yet they could all hear the fear in it.

"I take it he's bad news?" Sonia asked, Underwraps changing back into Ben.

"Only if you're...a thief…" Manic replied, "...or...a horrible being…"

"What does he do?" Roll asked.

"He...I've only heard stories about the dude and let me tell you, his family line…" Manic shivered, "C-Can we leave?"

"Talk," Tsubaki narrowed her eyes.

Manic gulped, "W-Well...The Cooper Clan is famous and infamous...primarily infamous to, well, everyone in law enforcement and to thieves and criminals who rub them the wrong way. They're a family of Master Thieves and there's only one way you get that title; you steal only from thieves and the corrupt."

"Oh...so they're something like Robin Hood?" Ben guessed.

"...You know one of their ancestors?" Manic asked with wide eyes.

"Technically, that's just a nickname he had for himself."

"Oh, I see," Makoto nodded before she blinked twice, "...Ben, was that you who said that?"

"No. Sonic?"

"Not me, dude."

"Ahem," everyone looked to their right to see Sly leaning on his cane as Murray cracked his knuckles and Bentley was holding a crossbow with a dart loaded at them, "Hello."

"..." Manic squeaked before fainting, his eyes completely blank.

"...Um…." Ben began nervously.

"We...can explain," Makoto finished.

"Oh really?" Sly raised his cap a little with his thumb, "Hope it's good for your sakes. After all, not everyday we end up running into Manic."

"You know Manic?" Sonic asked.

"ThiefNet has an entire discussion board on the youngest of the Royal Hedgehog Triplets," Bentley informed, "Along with ones on the eldest prince and the middle princess."

"...Manic…"

Manic quickly shot up as he hid behind Ben, grabbing his arm as he tried to activate the Omnitrix in a fast pace, the green hedgehog practically sweating bullets at this point.

"Now..for that explanation you promised?" Sly asked, looking at the group suspiciously.

"Um….eto...well…" Makoto began before whispering to Roll, "Roll, a little help here?"

"Eh?" Roll blinked twice.

"We ended up here because we followed thing thing you and Yacker found," Makoto whispered, "and I got a pretty good feeling that thing you two found ended up being them."

"Oh," Roll blushed, "Gomen nassai, minna."

"5343G$vd…" Yacker rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Fascinating," Bentley noted as he pulled out a laptop and started typing on it, "That creature they have with them seems to be producing some sort of strange energy."

"Oh,, how cute," the mouse noted as she looked at Yacker.

'Distraction made!' Manic thought in glee. He then slowly began to walk away while the group was distracted, only...it felt like he wasn't going anywhere, '...Why can't I move?'

"Any reason you were trying to back away?" Sly smirked, holding Manic a few inches off the ground by the hook of his cane on the back of his vest.

"...Um...it wasn't because I was trying to run away from a master thief, no...I...just forgot something," Manic quickly lied.

"Wow. Someone finally backs away instead of trying to beat us up," Murray noted, blinking twice, "...Feels weird."

"Ahem! Um...excuse me," Tsubaki spoke up, getting everyone's attention, "I apologize for this misunderstanding. My friends and I were just trying to figure out what happened to the Freedom Fighters that were stationed here, and we ended up following something, most likely your group, here to this cave."

"Freedom Fighters? Here?" Sly pondered, letting Manic drop.

"They must have been here to try to convince the Chunese government to help with their war against Robotnik," Bentley noted, "Though, we haven't seen any except for you all."

"I see…" Tsubaki noted, "Well, we think the reason they've gone missing is because of this General Tsao character."

"General Tsao?" Sly repeated, "Never heard of the guy."

Neither did we," Sonic shrugged, "But when we got to the village and tried to ask around, everyone began to panic and locked themselves in their homes."

"Hmm…Interesting," Bentley noted before he wheeled back over to the exit, "Well, maybe we can ask the Panda King once we get up to him."

"Wait. Why are you looking for him?" Sonic asked.

"That's classified," Bentley replied as he looked out, "Murray, you're up first. If you can get to the top of that pillar, you should be able to use your Aboriginal Ball move to bounce all the way up to the Panda King."

"...Okay," Murray nodded, "Bouncing is a lot easier than more walking. Seriously, do you guys wanna see my blisters?"

"Ew! No!" Sonia exclaimed in disgust.

"No way! ...Is he serious?!" the mouse asked in disgust.

"I think he is," Roll replied as Yacker made gagging motions, "Oh. Gomen nassai. Watashi wa Roll, desu ka."

"My name's Penelope," the mouse bowed back.

"Hopadata ho-bah-ho!" the purple koala exclaimed, earning Murray's attention.

"Yeah OK master. Bouncing, pillars, piece of cake!" Murray declared.

"Habajoota heh-heh-heh," the Guru chuckled.

"I hear that. Sometimes, you've got to be firm," Bentley agreed.

"True," Sonia and Tsubaki agreed, narrowing their eyes at the others in their team.

"No seriously. Is he for real about the blisters?" Penelope asked, "Because, uh...I don't know. Yeesh!"

While the group seemed to be chatting, Murray jumped down into the area below, curling into a ball as a purple-ish/pink-ish barrier surrounded him. Sonic blinked twice as he began to watch as Murray began to bounce...getting up high into the air after a few bounces. He bounced along the top of the few pillars in the area, completely avoiding the two tigers in robes and lanterns patroling the area.

"How'd he do that?" Sonic asked.

"Habajan hajiijoo," the Guru replied.

"You taught him that?" Sonic asked, "...Can I learn? That looked pretty useful in getting out of sticky situations."

"Okay! I'm in position!" Murray shouted at the top of the area.

"Okay. Penelope, you're up next," Bentley spoke up as he looked at the mouse, "I'm not sure if you're aware, but Sly can jump onto small points." He then pointed to some of the bamboo shoots in the area below, "Those bamboo shoots would be an ideal means of ascent if they weren't spaced so far apart."

"Hold on, hold on...Let me see if I can figure it out myself," Penelope said as she pondered for a bit.

"It's uh...got to do with the ice."

"Ok. So clearly we need more points for Sly to ascend. The problem; where're we going to get'em? The answer; split each shoot down the middle, thereby doubling the points of ascension," Penelope answered before tapping her chin, "However, the ice down there appears too thin to walk on, so there's no way to do it by hand. So…" she paused as she held up her RC car, "I'll need to use my lightweight remote control car to split the trees for us."

"Perfect! That's it exactly!" Bentley beamed a bit.

"Great!" Penelope beamed, "Anything for Sly." she blushed a little, "I love to see him pull off those athletic moves."

'...What did I just hear?' Ben pondered as Pelope put down the RC car and began to drive it onto the ice.

"Good thing I installed this minigun onto it," Penelope smirked.

"Don't let Manic touch it. He'll crash into the snow," Sonia noted.

"When are you going to let it go?" Manic facepalmed.

"You crashed into a mirage of a tree. We're not letting it go for a long time," Sonic deadpanned.

"Ugh…" Manic groaned as the turrets on Penelope's RC car began to shoot at each of the bamboo shoots, splitting each one down the middle as they lead to the upper part of the area.

"There you go, Sly," Penelope said, shooting down the last bamboo shoot as it split apart, the mouse blushing a bit once more, "Hope it's everything you could have wished for."

"Uh, thanks. It looks great," Sly shrugged.

"My pleasure...really, anytime."

Tsubaki cleared her throat, "Excuse me, but how are you going to use those…" she motioned to the split bamboo, "...to get up the Murray-san?"

"Ahh. well...sit back and watch," was all Sly said as he jumped down into the area below, heading up to one of the split bamboo shoots closest to him.

"Okay, so he's going up to the shoot and…" Makoto began before they watched Sly jump, spin in the air, and land on one of the tips before repeating and quickly making up the split shoots all the way up to Muray, "...Whoa."

"That doesn't seem physically possible," Tsubaki blinked twice with wide eyes.

"It kinda reminds me of something a ninja would do," Ben admitted.

"Okay, I'm going up there!" Sonic grinned.

"What? Wait, h-hold o…" Bentley began before Sonic jumped down and zipped off as a blur, using his speed to climb up a pillar and jumped along them until landing on the higher ground, zipping up to join Murray and Sly, "...What did I just see?"

"My brother being his usual self," Sonia sighed a bit.

"Fastest thing alive," Manic chuckled.

"Hmm...Hayajin hoyakeekya."

"'Embodiment of Chaos?' That sounds weird, even for you Guru," Bentley blinked twice, "But…" he sighed before looking up at the three, "Whack the supports up on those pinwheels!"

"Pinwheels?" Sonic repeated before the three looked up at the two posts to see bound wheels sporting fireworks, "Oh."

"Really?" Sly asked.

"Pinwheel destabilization is the cornerstone of this plan!" Bentley answered.

"Don't worry! The Murray is on it!" Murray declared before picking up Sly and Sonic.

"What's he doing?" Sonic asked before Murray threw Sly up to one and Sonic to the other, "Whoa!" he barely grabbed onto the binding on the pinwheel, "Warn a guy next time!"

"Sorry!"

"I'm all done up here on my end!" Sly called out, having taken down the wooden plank that was keeping the wheel held down.

Sonic grunted, managing to summon his sword and cut the wooden plank on his wheel before dismissing it, "Same here!"

"So we're going to light those fireworks now?" Makoto guessed.

"Exactly," Bentley nodded.

"I've got this," Sonia replied, summoning her keyboard/gun.

"One shot per rocket should do the trick," Bentley advised.

Sonia nodded as she carefully aimed at each rocket on the wheels, the female hedgehog firing off a shot at each one as the wheels began to spin faster and faster.

"Alright. Now we need to 'persuade' the guards," Bentley spoke up, "Guru, you up for a challenge?"

"Haja? Furyujijhan?"

"That's right. Your abilities would be good to 'persuade' the guards into helping you get up to the rockets on that pagoda over there," Bently informed, pointing at a pagoda on the lower level.

Guru nodded as he hopped down onto the area below. The koala quietly snuck up to one of the tigers as it looked around, carrying the lantern in one hand while it held a naginata in the other. Guru jumped onto the tiger's shoulders, causing it to freeze. Its eyes turned periwinkle as it ran off, slamming into the pagoda. Guru managed to jump off in time, landing on the roof.

"What did he just do?" Ben gawked.

"The Guru is a Dreamwalker and can use his mystical arts to do many things, including shapeshift and possess others," Bentley explained as the Guru ignited one of the rockets, causing it to hit one of the pinwheels and sending the spinning item into the stone wall, causing it to fall and make a makeshift bridge to the higher pagoda, before the second rocket hit the other pinwheel, letting the pinwheel fall onto the ground at the lower levels, "Strong work. That fallen pillar should serve as an excellent makeshift elevator."

The Guru nodded as he made his way to it. He jumped onto the pinwheel and the fireworks ignited again, letting him float up to the higher level and jump onto it. He and Sly ran up the bridge to the Panda King as the others began to use the makeshift elevator.

"Habajinah hoochika," the Guru noted after a few moments of looking at the Panda King.

"I agreed. He's in a super meditative state," Bentley nodded as he wheeled up next to them.

"So let's just shout in his ear," Sly suggested.

"No," Roll frowned at the raccoon, "You can't just snap someone out of a trance that easily."

"How do you know that?"

"My grandmother used to hold weekly meditations and they'd last for hours without anyone realizing it. I wasn't old enough to participate and I couldn't wake up any of them when a visitor came asking for my grandmother when I tried to when I was little," Roll explained, Sonic putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"She's right. We'll need to delve into his mind to break him out of this trance," Bentley agreed.

"...A hacksaw then?" Sly asked/guessed.

"No. What we need is channeling," Bentley stated, "Sly, sit beside the Panda King. The Guru will bridge your minds."

Sly, after a few moments, sat down in a meditative position. The Guru began to chant as the orb on his staff began to spin around it, shining like a small moon.

"Bridging minds?" Makoto repeated.

"My master is an amazing guy!" Murray beamed, "I would not be The Murray that you see today if it had not been for his teachings!"

"Any reason why you're so terrified around Sly?" Penelope asked Manic.

"Well...That is…"

"Manic's a thief and heard crazy stories about Sly Cooper's family," Sonia informed, "Best we've gotten is that he only steals from Eggman...or from the occasional food stand."

"That explains it," Bentley shook his head, "Honestly, the stories on ThiefNet about the Cooper Clan are insane. If there's one thing about Sly that's always true, is that he never steals from innocents and whenever we rob from museums, we triple check all the data to make sure that what we're stealing is, in fact, stolen from someone else."

"...Even the Barkium Chocolate Bar?" Tsubaki asked, recalling the newspapers talking about it a month or so ago.

"That one was a freebie as a way to celebrate Murray coming back to the gang after his training," Bentley explained.

"So delicious…" Murray whispered in glee.

"Oh...I see," Tsubaki noted.

"Hajajaja hokoiah," the Guru informed, stopping his chanting.

Sly opened his eyes and stood up, backing away a bit from the Panda King. The panda's eyes snapped open into a fierce glare, looking at them all with a frown. Manic gulped, lightly fingering his medallion to activate at a moment's notice. He'd heard of the exploits and tales about the thief who could use fireworks as works of art and just as well or even better as explosives.

"I see your gang has grown since three years ago, Sly Cooper," Panda King observed, "Even including the Royal Hedgehog Triplets."

"Not with them," said triplets informed along with Ben, Tsubaki, Roll, and Makoto.

"Why are you here?" Panda King looked directly at Sly, who just returned the glare.

"...As much as I don't want to say it, I'll cut to the point," Sly spoke up, the raccoon still glaring at the large panda before him, "We need you to join us."

"Join you? Join you?! The one who ruined what I spent ten years of working upon? The one who caused my arrest three years ago and caused me to lose a year and a half in jail?! I…" Panda King began before the Guru hopped onto Murray's shoulder and earned his attention, "..."

The Guru and the Panda King began to just look at one another in the eyes. As a few minutes passed of the two staring at one another, Murray was awkwardly trying not to look at the large panda that was easily bigger than him. A few more moments of awkward silence came before Panda King nodded.

"...I will tell you then," Panda King responded in the silence.

"Huh?" Makoto blinked twice.

"I...have a daughter," Panda King informed, "A beautiful young girl by the name of Jing King. What I did before Sly Cooper defeated me three years ago acted as protection for my daughter."

"You mean crushing villages with avalanches caused by your fireworks," Bentley noted, causing the Freedom Fighters to stare at Panda King in shock and a bit of horror.

"The last village had sent me a threatening letter, informing me that they knew where my daugher is and would kill her if I did not leave," Panda King informed, a burning anger in his eyes as his fists tightened, "My response was clear; they would not threaten her if they were no longer able to threaten." his age began to show as his anger gave way to sadness, "I lost a year and a half of being with my daughter while I was in jail. My sister was able to take care of her during that time and I chose to leave my thieving ways behind when I returned, content with staying with my daughter. But a few months ago, my daughter was taken from me; stolen by a warlord known as General Tsao from the northern mountains."

"Him again…" Sonic frowned, earning the Panda King's attention a bit, "The Freedom Fighter's stationed here went missing, and we believe this General Tsao guy had to do with it."

Panda King nodded, "I tried to rescue my daughter, but I was unable to do so. Now…" his age began to be seen once more, "...Now my daughter is being forced to wed while I have been banished to here, where all I could do was meditate on how it all went wrong."

"A forced marriage…"

Manic and Sonic looked over at Sonia, small frowns on their faces as they recalled the attempted forced marriage she nearly went through. Sonic walked up Panda King and patted his hand, causing the large panda to look down at him.

"I may not have a daughter, but I do know what it's like to have someone related to you being forced into one that almost succeeded," Sonic replied, "No way we're letting this Tsao guy get away with trying this."

"..." Panda King nodded, "Thank you, Prince Sonic."

"We'll help as well," Sly spoke up, "But in exchange, we want you to join our group."

"..." Panda King said nothing as he glared at the racoon for a moment, "...Very well." he looked out to see the sun setting, "We leave when the sun rises."

"You're more than welcome to stay in our bus for the night," Sonia offered, glancing at Murray, "Considering some of you had to walk all the way here."

"What?" Manic squeaked before pulling Sonia to the side, "One moment, dudes and dudettes." he dragged her behind one of the now pinwheel-less poles, "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what if they find out about Ben, Tsubaki, and Makoto not being Mobians? I don't think they'll be able to keep the ID Mask on all night."

"Manic, we are on a mountain range. They most likely just arrived today and have no place to spend the night," Sonia replied, "And I'm not sure letting them stay with the Panda King will be good for the tensions between him and Sly Cooper."

"Oh god, not again…" Manic rolled his eyes, earning a slap to the back of the head by Sonia.

"You know very well that I haven't done anything like that since two years ago," Sonia scolded, "Now they are staying on the bus and when it's time for bed, they'll just have to keep their doors locked and blocked by something if you're feeling that paranoid."

"That's what I'm doing to my room," Manic informed.

"...Ugh…" Sonia sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"You two done over there?" Sonic called, "Because Sonia's got the keys to the bus and I'd rather not be out here when the sun sets if it gets cold really fast."

"Coming!" Sonia called back before hissing at Manic, "Remember, behave. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Manic muttered as the two followed the combined group, letting the Panda King return to his hut near the pagoda.

Inside his hut, Panda King approached a closed closet and opened it. Within was a pair of red and gold pants with flame designs going up the sides, a blue sash for the waist, and a blue mask. He let out a sigh as he pulled the clothing out. He thought his days as a thief were done and over with, but fate seemed to play an interesting hand this night. He removed his robes and donned the outfit. His hands flexed before flames erupted upon them. Two quick swipes and his beard and hair were burned away, letting him put on the mask over his eyes.

"This is your bus?" Penelope asked, "Not really that big for all of us…"

"Never judge a book by it's cover," Tsubaki advised as Sonia unlocked the door and opened it.

Sly took two steps in...before walking back out and ran around it twice, looking it over with wide eyes, "It...It's bigger on the inside."

"Oh come on, Sly. I highly doubt th-" Bentley began as he peeked inside before pulling his head back out, blinking a few times behind his glasses before he took them off and cleaned them before poking his head back in, "...I...wh...how…?"

"Bentley, you okay?" Penelope asked before she peaked in as well, "..." she pulled her head back out, cleaned her own glasses, and poked back in, "..."

"Is this a magic bus?" Murray asked in awe as he entered, the Guru still on his shoulder.

"Well...I guess you can say that," Makoto giggled a bit, "Now l-"

"Holy...look at the size of that fridge!" Murray awed, "It's bigger and wider than me!"

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," Roll informed, "Please no snacking."

"Aww…." Murray slumped.

"I...wh...how is this even possible?" Bentley asked, both he and Penelope still in a state of shock and awe as they looked at the inside of the bus.

"Don't ask me," Sonic replied, "Ben's the one who did it."

"And I'd rather keep it a secret," Ben added, 'That, and I highly doubt they'll believe a little grey alien built all this in one sitting.'

"Downstairs are the hot springs and the lab while upstairs has the living quarters," Sonia informed.

"Hot Springs? Y...No, no. Don't answer," Penelope rubbed her head, trying to understand how this was possible.

"...Um...why don't I show you to your rooms?" Tsubaki spoke up.

"Elevator's on the right," Ben pointed.

"Elevator?! H...know what? I'm not even gonna ask," Bentley sighed as he wheeled himself in, "I need to think up a plan for tomorrow and look up info on General Tsao."

"I think I need to lie down," Penelope added as she and Tsubaki walked into the elevator.

"So what kinda mileage does this place get?" Murray asked.

"Well, Ben replaced the engine so now we don't need to refuel except for one every other month," Sonic replied, "And it can also turn into a boat and a plane. Plus, no matter how rough it gets outside, it doesn't affect the inside."

"Oh that is awesome!" Murray whooped.

"That doesn't seem physically possible!" was the last thing Bentley and Penelope got out before the elevator closed.

"Now I really wish we had the van!" Murray exclaimed before slumping, "Mmm...I really do miss it…"

"...What happened to it?" Sonic whispered to Sly.

"Lost it around the Frozen North when we were pursuing the former leader of the Klaww Gang," Sly whispered back.

"Klaww Gang?" Sonic repeated, "Wait. I think I've heard of them. They were involved in distributing Spice, weren't they?"

"Spice? How's that bad?" Ben asked.

"Not the kind for cooking," Sonia corrected, "It's a drug that looks like regular red spice, but it messes you up when you have too much. Mix it with the right soundwaves or wavelengths, and it causing you to go through fits of intense rage at everything and everyone around you, and it becomes addictive if you take it too often."

"...hoo boy," Ben gulped at that.

"That wasn't the only thing they were smuggling," Sly frowned a bit, "I won't say much about it, but I'll say this...if we hadn't stopped them, Clockwerk would still be around."

Manic gave a shudder at that name, "Nightmare to all thieves that dude was."

"And the number one enemy of my family," was all Sly said as he walked off

"What was that about?" Makoto asked.

"Sorry, but I, well, I can't really explain it. It's...kinda personal with Sly," Murray replied.

"Ahh...say no more than," Makoto nodded, "I'll just go help Roll get dinner ready then."

"Ah," the Guru spoke up, "Hajajajah hajoo."

"Huh? Master, what do you mean that it's fine they can take off any masks around us?" Murray asked, causing Makoto and Ben to look at the Guru in surprise.

"...How did he…?" Ben began in surprise.

"Well, no use hiding it," Makoto sighed before taking off her ID Mask.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Murray asked, "You went from Squirrel to half human-half squirrel lady!"

"First off; I'm called a Beastkin," Makoto corrected him before holding up the mask, "Second; these are to help us blend into cities that hate humans and Beastkin."

"That's so awesome!" Murray beamed.

"You're not bothered by us being humans or Beastkin?" Ben asked, taking his own off.

"Nah," Murray replied, "Master taught me to respect all forms of life no matter their gender, religions, race, or species."

"Ahh...I see," Makoto noted, "Wait...what about your friends? Won't they…?"

"Not sure about Penelope since she just joined us a few weeks ago, but I'm sure Sly and Bentley will be A-OK with you all!" Murray beamed, "After all, you guys are letting us stay with you in your bus tonight and you don't like what that General Tsao guy doing that forced marriage stuff!"

"Well of course," Makoto smiled a bit, "We're Freedom Fighters after all, and we'll help anyone out anyway we can."

"Awesome!" Murray beamed as the Guru looked at Ben.

"Hajajajoo hyajijen," the Guru spoke.

"Huh?" Ben blinked twice, "Uh, hold on." he tapped his Omnitrix and it beeped twice, "Okay. What did you say?"

"Hajajajoo hyajijen," the Guru repeated, causing Ben to flinch with wide eyes.

"Wh-wh-what? Look, I, uh...I'll go check up on where Sly went," Ben informed, putting his mask back on and ran off in the direction Sly had gone.

"What did he say?" Sonia asked.

"Hijaja," the Guru shook his head at Murray.

"Uh...Sorry, can't tell you. It's between Ben and my master, mostly Ben," Murray replied.

"Oh...come on, Makoto. Y-" Sonia began before she noticed the Beastkin was missing, "...Makoto?"

In the back of the bus, Sly sat down in a small corner as he looked at his cane, a serious, yet sad look on his face. He reached into his shirt before pulling out an old book, the cover a fading red with bits of splotches of a darker red on it. The gold trimming on the book was faded from the years while the title of it read 'Theivius Raccoonus.' He opened it and pulled out a blue card shaped like a raccoon's face and just started to continue where he left off. His ear slightly twitched a bit when he heard someone walk in.

"...Something I can help you with?" Sly asked, putting the card back in place and hiding the book away.

"Nothing. Just...coming back here to think is all," Ben replied as he walked up, sitting across from the raccoon.

Sly nodded as he looked out the back window at the snow falling in the night, "Kinda interesting bus you've got here. You did this all by yourself?"

"Well...Sonic, Sonia, and Manic had the bus originally, but it got wrecked kinda bad a while back," Ben explained, "So, I fixed it up for them. The new interior was just something I thought they'd like."

"I see," Sly noted, "Mind telling me how you were able to do it?"

"Top secret."

"Ahh...how about this then? You tell me, and I'll tell you something secret about myself. Think of it like…" Sly paused for a moment as he tapped his chin a bit, "Hmm...Equivalent Exchange. Trade something for something else in exchange."

"...And you promise you won't tell anyone?"

"I swear on my family's name I won't tell a soul without your permission," Sly replied.

"...Alright then," Ben nodded as he held his arm up, pointing the the Omnitrix, "I was able to do it because of this."

"...A watch?" Sly raised a brow.

"Not exactly," Ben replied, "It's called the Omnitrix, short for Omni Matrix. With it, I can turn into all kinds of aliens. I used a few of them to help fix up the bus."

"Aliens? You mean like those little green men kinds?"

"Kinda like those, but also ones that look like four-armed monkeys that shoot web from their tail, giant flies that fire sticky goop, living slime, those sorts of things," Ben replied.

"Ahh...I see," Sly nodded as he looked at it, "Must come in handy in some pretty sticky situations, huh?"

"A lot, yes," Ben nodded.

Sly nodded, "Okay. Your turn to ask a question."

"Right…" Ben nodded before pondering a bit, "Hmm...you mentioned Clockwerk was your family's number one enemy. Mind telling me why?"

"...haa...should've expected that," Sly sighed as he pulled out his book.

"...What's that?"

"My family's legacy," Sly replied as he handed him the book, "Look at the background in each photo you come across."

Ben blinked at that as he began to look through the book, looking at each individual photo he came across. When he did, he noticed in major thing each one had in common...a large owl like figure in the background of each picture.

"Before you ask; no, that's not his ancestors. That is Clockwerk himself."

"..Wait. So he really is immortal?" Ben asked with wide eyes, recalling what Manic told him about Clockwerk.

"Yup. or rather...he was," Sly nodded as he took the book back, "His hate for the Coopers spanned through the years, making him immortal...but he made one grave mistake; he left me alive."

"What?"

"Everyone in my family, starting all the way back to the Slytunkhamen the First, poured their secrets of sneaking and stealing within an ancient book: the Thievius Raccoonus," he motioned to the book in his hands, "Anyone who reads it can learn to be especially sneaky. That's why we specialize in stealing from criminals. After all, there's no honor, no challenge, no fun in stealing from ordinary people. You rip off a master criminal, and you know you're a master thief." he looked at the book with a small frown, "On the night of my eighth birthday, the night I was supposed to inherit the book as our family tradition dictated, five visitors came unannounced to our door. My father valiantly tried to fight them off, my mother joining in when she hid me in the closet, but they fell to them. They ransacked the house, destroying a lot of it until they found it in the room where I was hiding in the closet in; the Thievius Raccoonus. They divided the pages between them in five equal parts, leaving behind the empty shell. All I had left were that, a destroyed house, and the bodies of my parents."

"...Wait. You mean…?" Ben began in realization.

"Yes. Because of Clockwerk and his gang, the Fiendish Five, I was left alone. No home, no family, no nothing," Sly nodded sadly before smiling a little, "But, if that didn't happen, I wouldn't have been sent to a place called the Happy Camper Orphanage. Let me tell you; no one there was a happy camper. Ms. Puffin, the caretaker, liked to skim the money for the orphanage to order cookies from around the globe for herself, stashing them all in a jar in her office. It was there I met my good friends Bentley, the brains of our operation, and Murray, the getaway driver and muscles. Our first heist together was stealing the cookie jar. We didn't get it, but I did steal all the cookies in it and shared the spoils with them. Well...the ones Murray didn't end up wolfing down that is."

"Ahh…"

"Yeah...but I think i'm getting off track. When we were old enough, slowly one by one, me and my friends took down each member of the Fiendish Five, and recovered the pages they took from my family's book," Sly continued, "Panda King being one of them."

"No wonder you felt uncomfortable around him," Ben cringed.

"Yeah," Sly nodded, "And as much as I didn't want to agree...Bentley was right. He's the best Demolitions expert out there, and we need him to pull of something very important. But before that...we need to help him get his daughter back, and deal with this General Tsao guy."

Ben nodded.

"So, mind telling me why you really came out here?" Sly asked, earning a wide-eyed look from Ben, "I could tell you were upset with someone or something by the way you opened the door. I've done that more than enough times when I was younger to know how it sounds like."

"...Let's just say your friend's master brought up something with me," Ben sighed, "Something...very personal."

Sly nodded, "He's a good guy to talk to about the past. Sure, he tends to be a bit...blunt yet mysterious at the same time with it, but he did say that it was in his Dreamtime training to help those who are troubled." he gave a small chuckle, "Good thing he wasn't around when my ancestor Slaigh MacCooper was alive. His entry in the book has a few quotes and a rant about a guy cheating in the Highland games. He wrote down…" he cleared his throat and put a Scottish accent in his voice, "'He dared tae cheat in th' heelain games? nae! nae body, an' Ah pure techt nae body, cheats in th' heelain games but me!'"

"Wait, what?" Ben couldn't help but laugh a little, "He said what about them?"

"Well, there was a guy one year that tried to cheat in the Highland games. Slaigh was the only guy who could cheat in them," Sly smirked, "Basically, it ended up with the cheat being caught and Slaigh winning the whole thing."

"Ahh…" Ben nodded.

"Yeah...but I think we might be getting off track here. Tell me, what did Guru tell you? If not…" Sly paused as he shrugged a bit, "I'll stop there if it's too personal."

Ben nodded, "Thanks. ...Any opinion on humans and those that are half Human half Mobian?"

"Personally, I don't really mind them. They're just like anyone else, trying to live their lives," Sly shrugged, "Why? You really a human behind that mask?" Ben took off his mask, "...Wow. I have got to ask, but where did you get that mask from?"

"From a friend," Ben replied, "It helps me, Makoto, and Tsubaki blend into cities mostly populated by Mobians, especially ones that hate humans or Beastkin."

Sly nodded, "Got any spare ones? I can think of a few places those would come in really handy at."

"W-" Ben began.

"Hey, you guys done back there?! Dinner's ready!" Sonic called out

"Sly, come on! She won't let us eat until everyone's here!" Murray called.

"...Very well. We might as well join them," Sly shrugged as he stood up, looking at a lone seat, "That includes you as well."

"Huh?" Ben blinked before not barely noticed a familiar set of squirrel ears poking out from behind the chair, "...Makoto."

"...eh heh…," Makoto began sheepishly as she stood up, "Hi…"

"..."

"...Whatever I heard, I'll keep it secret. I swear on my family's name," Makoto quickly said.

"Heh," Sly smirked, "I like this girl."

"How did you get Bentley of all people to get out of planning?" Sly blinked twice.

"A Sakurai has her ways," Roll replied with an innocent smile, "Ne, Bentley-san?"

"Y-Yes…" Bentley gulped nervously, trying to not look at her while sweating in fear.

"Sakurai...I think I heard that name somewhere before…" Sly muttered a bit before his stomach grumbled, "...questions for later. For now, time to eat."

"All right!" Makoto cheered, her tail wagging.

"It took me a little bit more time than normal since I had to make it edible for Guru-san since he's a vegetarian," Roll informed as she revealed the dinner, "A white tofu chili."

"Hmm? So we're going vegetarian tonight?" Ben asked.

"Hai," Roll replied, "I always try to make sure that it will be something everyone can eat and enjoy."

"What's tofu?" Sonic whispered to Sonia and Manic.

"I think you find between your toes," Manic softly replied while Sonia rolled her eyes at the two.

"It's made from beans," Sonia informed, "Vegetarians often use it as a replacement for any recipe that calls for a meat. Basically, it's a more healthy alternative."

"Haysajihan hyokui."

"You're quite welcome, Guru-san," Roll giggled.

"Cool. Haven't' had anything vegetarian in a while," Makoto smiled a bit as she sat down, "Last time I had some good home cooked vegetarian food was with my family, and my mom sure knows how to cook."

"How good are we talking about?"

"Well for one, how do you think got my figure and kept it so well?" Makoto winked at Ben, making him blush.

"Makoto!" Tsubaki exclaimed at the giggling Squirrel Beastkin.

"Just having a bit of fun is all," Makoto stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Not at the dinner table," Tsubaki shook her head.

"Ah, that's nothing," Murray snickered, "You should've been there th…"

"Murray," the hippo stopped as Sly was giving him a look, "We agreed to never talk about that night. Ever."

"...Never mind," Murray sweated heavily, looking directly at his bowl.

'What happened then?' everyone else thought before the Guru said something.

"No, no, no. It wasn't the unspeakable," Murray replied quickly, "And I am still very sorry about what happened to the tent."

'There's a tent now?!' everyone else thought.

The next day, after a full night's rest, the two groups met up with Panda King in a small hidden hut located within a fairly large village surrounded by mountains and water, snow covering most of the roofs while tigers, pigs in robes, and monkeys in robes walked through the streets like guards. In the center of the village was a large fortress.

"Ben, thank you for the aerial surveillance you performed this morning," Bentley thanked as Manic finished setting up a projector screen, "That device you wear is simply amazing."

"Bentley? The plan?" Sonia reminded as she motioned to the projector screen being finished setting up.

"Oh right right. Sorry," Bentley cleared his throat and began the presentation, a slide showing the Panda King now on the screen, "We all know our objective here is to retrieve the Panda King's daughter and find the missing Freedom Fighters that were sent here, the former being held captive against her will by this man," a slide then showed a Mobian rooster in purple robes, gold Chunese armor, and a bladed shield, "General Tsao. A real piece of work this guy. From what Ben told me from his surveillance work, this guy kicked down a puppy...Twice."

"Boo!" Makoto jeered.

"Shh!" Tsubaki hushed.

"He plans on forcing Jing King to marry him next Saturday," Bentley continued, "Clearly time is of the essence. Here's the plan..." he changed the screen to show him dressed up in silk robe, "First, I'll address Tsao in disguise and attempt to get hired as his wedding planner with Sonia and Tsubaki as my assistants." the screen changed to show the two girls in silk robes in the same color and design as Bentley's, but fitted to their sizes, "Hopefully with a man and two women on the inside, we'll find some news about Jing King." the screen changed to show a building with two locks on the door, "Sly, Manic, we need you two to steal two keys that are on the guards that will let us get into Tsao's house of business. Once inside, Ben will be able to circumvent their security systems since I'll be distracted with Tsao." the screen then changed to show another area of the place, "Third, Penelope's RC helicopter picked up an unusual radio signal in this area. We'll need someone to go eyeball the area and figure out what it is." it then changed to a picture of a fortified building, "Finally, Roll and Sonic will sneak into the jail here and check if their Freedom Fighters that were sent here are in there. We can't mess up here or else Jing King will end up living unhappily ever after."

"Got it. Me and Roll check out the fortified building while you guys deal with Tsao. Got it," Sonic nodded as he gave them a thumbs up.

"Me and Murray will check out that signal," Makoto offered, "Anybody messes with us, they're in for a world of hurt."

"Just don't draw too much attention," Tsubaki advised, "We don't want Tsao catching on to our plan."

"Got it," Makoto saluted.

"...Penelope, keep a close eye on them just in case."

"You got it," Penelope nodded.

'Oh man...still can't believe I'm doing this,' Manic thought as he and Sly headed to where Tsao's place of business was, 'I mean...it should be a dream to work alongside a Cooper, but I don't know if Sly trusts me or not...given my history. No no...I mostly stole from Robotnik and a few fruit vendors...hopefully that'll let me slide right….right?'

"Manic!"

"Gah!" Manic yelped, falling into the snow.

"Wow. Sorry, but you weren't responding at all," Sly apologized as he pulled Manic out with his cane.

"Oh! Uh, s-sorry. Just, uh, just thinking about stuff," Manic replied, wiping the snow off his body.

"Well stay focused. We can't afford to mess up," Sly warned him before pulling him behind a pillar just as a Tiger Guard walked by, "One slip up, and we'll end up as Tsao's 'guests of honor'."

"R-Right," Manic nodded.

"Good," Sly nodded, picking him up with his cane before climbing up the pillar, reaching to the roof of the gate they were under before he pulled out a pair of high-tech binoculars, using them to look at a fairly large building with a pair of gold locks on the front door, "Alright, we're in position, Bentley."

"Okay. General Tsao's center of business is protected with a special double pad lock. If we can get inside and past all the security, we should have access to the purchase records for the wedding," Bentley's voice came from the device.

"Wow. What kind of binoculars are those?" Manic asked.

"The Binocu-com, a personal invention of Bentley's," Sly replied before responding to Bentley, "So let's get to swiping those keys."

"Now hold on, Sly. I'm afraid it's not that simple," Bentley warned, "The keys are designed with a self-destruct feature and the guards that are carrying them are in constant radio contact."

"I get it. If we steal a key from the first Guard, he'll report in, and the second Guard will destroy his copy before we have time to pull it," Sly figured.

"Correct."

"Got it," Sly nodded before he turned to Manic, "Ready for some pickpocketing?"

"Yeah," Manic nodded.

"Good," Sly grinned, tossing Manic a black Binocu-com, "Take this backup with you and go find one of the guards with a key. When you do, contact me and I'll swipe the key from that tiger guard. When I do, get the key from your guard and we'll meet up with Ben outside Tsao's center of business."

"Got it," Manic nodded, pocketing the Binocu-com before he hopped off and ran off, making sure not to be spotted by any of the guards.

Once he was gone, Sly hopped off the gate and quietly followed the tiger guard, following him to a small fishing house above the water. When the guard wasn't looking, Sly quickly hopped up onto the roof before pulling out his Binocu-com.

"Alright, i'm in position, Manic. You?"

"Good on my end. Found the monkey guard that has one of the keys," Manic replied on his end, "Say the word, and I'll snatch it faster than my bro when he spots a chili-dog."

"Roger," Sly nodded, 'Okay. Time to put Slytunkhamen's trick to work.'

With that, Sly seemed to vanish into thin air. The tiger guard looked out at the water, looking around for any signs of non-fish life in it. His key floated out of his back pocket along with all the cash in the rest of his pockets on his pants before it all vanished. Sly appeared behind the fishing house, holding the key.

"Okay. I got the key. I'm heading to where Ben is now," Sly informed.

"Gotcha. Just grabbed my key, so I'll meet ya guy there."

Sly nodded as he put his Binocu-com away and quietly began to head back to where Tsao's center of business was. Minutes went by before the two thieves met up with Ben, who was hiding beside the building to avoid the guards.

"There you guys are," Ben sighed in relief, "I almost decided to go out as FourArms or Rath and just beat up Tsao myself."

"...As tempting as that sounds, dude...no. We need stealth here," Manic told him.

"Yeah. In fact, maybe I should try Underwraps for this," Ben said as he turned on his Omnitrix, selecting the alien he wanted, and pressed down on the symbol, engulfing him in a flash of green light. When it died down..it didn't show Underwraps, but something else.

Standing in place of Ben was now a thin figure, standing just a few inches taller than the average human. While its thin, toned body seemed to be completely black, it was actually in the darkest of blues in color. It had three fingers on each hand, each one ending in a claw, with three clawed toes on each foot, two pointing ahead and one pointing behind. While it appeared to have a scarf in the same dark blue, it was actually a part of its body, ending in spikes. Its head had a pair of bat wing-like extensions on the sides with a pair of solid green eyes. The Omnitrix emblem was situated on its torso, but the colors were muted.

'...This alien doesn't have vocal chords,' the alien thought.

"Uh...That's not Underwraps. In fact, I don't think I've seen you turn into this form before," Manic admitted.

"Kinda looks like a ninja," Sly rubbed his chin in thought.

The alien looked at himself for a moment before giving a small nod of agreement.

"...In fact, I don't think he can say anything," Sly added, "Kinda like a shadow...but sorta edgy."

"Why not 'Shadow Edge' as the name then?" Manic asked, earning a nod from the alien, "Sweet. Okay, so we're all going in?"

The newly dubbed Shadow Edge shook his head before making a pointing motion to the ground, and then at them before using one of his claws to draw a small turtle in the snow.

"...I think he wants us to stay put just in case Bentley needs us for anything," Sly figured, earning a nod from Shadow Edge.

"Okay," Manic nodded, "Just remember to change to one of your tech ones when you get to the database, just in case you need to crack the system."

Shadow Edge nodded as Manic and Sly handed him the keys. With that, the ninja like alien took of in a shadowy blur, his footsteps so silent, none of the guards he passed could hear him, nor could they see him.

"...Yup. you were right, dude," Manic said as Shadow Edge reached the door, unlocking the locks before slipping in, "He is like a ninja."

"Okay, we're all set up," Bentley noted, wearing a purple and gold set of silk robes, a mustache, and a hat with fake braided hair, before turning to a closed door, "You girls already in there?"

"Yes/hai," Sonia and Tsubaki nodded as the door opened, revealing the two wearing similar robes to him, but more to fit their figures and such.

"Good. Ne we just need to head to General Tsao's fortress a-" Bentley began.

"Uh...heads up, guys,' Manic spoke up from the Binocu-com, "I just spotted someone else around the area, and by the looks of it, she's a cop."

"...Red fox Mobian? Cobalt hair? Red and yellow blocky gun in hands with flashlight attachment?" Bentley asked.

"Yup. She's even got a nice figure I'll admit, almost kinda like Makoto's."

"..." Bentley slowly put the Binocu-com on the table and rolled into the bathroom, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!-!-!-!" he slowly rolled back out and picked it up, ignoring the wide-eyed looks from Sonia and Tsubaki, "That, Manic, is Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox."

"Wait. Carmelita's here?" Sly asked.

"An Inspector?" Tsubaki repeated.

"A member of Interpol," Bentley explained, "Been after Sly for the past five years now and he has a thing or her."

"I do not a thing for her!" Sly argued.

"Kra-karov Volcano, you kissed her after wasting your ten second head start. In Jindia, you and her danced together. And do I even need to mention the picture you have of her in your pocket of her in that swimsuit from the Ms. Interpol contest two years ago..."

"..."

"I rest my case," Bentley smirked before sighing, "Though this makes thing a bit more complicated for us. For some reason, even when I take precautions for her, she'll always find some way to mess up a plan. In Cheetaly, it was blowing up the chandelier we were going to drop on Don Octavio and in Downunda, it was being in the wrong place at the wrong time and ending up possessed by the Mask of Dark Earth, grown into a giant, and chased us all over until we got it off her."

"Wait, what was that last thing?" Tsubaki asked.

"Just try to not be spotted by her, Manic," Bentley advised, "And Sly? Don't go looking for her just to flirt."

"Got it."

"...I wonder how Murray and Makoto are holding up?" Sonia pondered a bit.

"See anything yet, Murray?" Makoto asked as the two searched the area the signal was located at.

"Not yet."

"Right..well l-" Makoto began before she spotted something out in the water, "Eh? I...think I see something."

"What do you see?" Murray asked.

"I'm not sure but...it..looks like…" Makoto paused as she squinted her eyes a bit to get a better look, "...A van trapped in ice?"

"A van?!" Murray pulled out his Binocu-coms and looked at it with wide eyes, "GREAT SNAKES ON A STICK! I don't believe it!"

"What? You found the signal?" Penelope asked on the line.

"It's the team van! Last time I saw it, it was floating away on a block of ice in Catada...and now it's here!" Murray exclaimed, starting to bounce in place in glee.

"Highly probable given the ocean currents," Penelope figured

"I got to go get it!" Murray shouted, ready to jump in when Makoto stopped him, grunting as she was being pulled towards the water as he began to try to get to it, "Don't worry, baby! Mama's coming!"

"Don't...even...think about it!" Makoto shouted as she managed to stop him, "By the looks of that water, you step even one foot in there, and you'll end up as a hippo-cicle."

"Makoto's right, Murray! That water's freezing!" Penelope agreed, "You wouldn't last a minute!"

"But...But my baby!" Murray sniffled.

"Hold your position. I should be able to drag the van to you by using my RC Chopper."

"...Bless you, Penelope. Bless you, and your bag of remote control gizmos."

The two watched as they saw a small green RC chopper fly overhead and throw a line down, the hook at the end digging into the ice covering the van. However, it seemed to catch the attention of a few tiger guards as they began to throw various objects at the chopper.

"Hey!" Makoto snapped as she strapped her tonfa on and banged her fists together, "You stay here and wait for your van, Murray. I'll go deal with those guys." with that, she charged off, jumping onto a roof and swung her tonfa at a guard just as he was about to throw an ignited spear at the chopper, "Spoon!"

"Huh?" the tiger Guard blinked as he turned, only to get hit clear across the face by the tonfa as he fell into the water.

"Heh," Makoto smirked before running and jumping over to another building, slamming her tonfa into the two tigers on the roof and sending them onto the fishing hut on the water, knocking the one on it into the water.

One Tiger guard tried to sneak up on her from behind, intent on hitting her with his naginata. However, he soon found out that was a mistake as he was smacked across the face by her tail, the tiger blinking a bit before he got smacked a few more times, the last one slamming him between the legs.

"Rrr?!" the tiger squeaked before Makoto spun around and delivered an uppercut, shattering his teeth and sending him into the water.

"I think that's the last of them throwing stuff," Makoto looked around just as the RC copper managed to get to shore with the block of ice.

"Oh my sweet van, how I've missed you," Murray gleefully spoke before banging his fists together, "Don't worry. I'll break you out of your icy prison."

With that, he began to smash his fists against the ice, smashing off big chunks of it as it flew off the van.

"Uh-oh. Looks like the ice smashing is attracting guards," Makoto noted before she jumped down and slammed her foot into the face of a charging pig guard, knocking him out before he could get near Murray, "Murray. You finish up freeing your van, I'll take care of these guys."

Murray nodded as he continued to smash his fists against the ice, intent on freeing the van from its frozen prison while Makoto dealt with any incoming guards. Minutes went by before Murray managed to get all but the wheels and underside of the van free of the ice.

"It's not use, you two," Penelope informed from a speaker on the RC chopper, "This area's becoming too dangerous, we have to recover the van later."

"But...I can't lose her again!" Murray argued.

"Forget the van! You'll never make it!" Penelope countered.

"But..I...no. No! Either help me, or get out of my way! I'm bringing her home!" Murray declared as he grabbed a rope nearby and wrapped it around the van before he began to pull it along a path.

"...That is one dedicated guy," Penelope noted, "I'll have my chopper go on ahead and take care of any of the smaller guards. Makoto, you handle the bigger ones!"

"On it!" Makoto saluted before she backhanded a charging Monkey guard, breaking his nose before using her tail to smack him into a charging Tiger Guard, sending the two into the water.

Ahead, the hooked cable came out of the chopper and grabbed a pig guard. Penelope gunned the motor and the force of the pull on the cable sent the pig guard flying into the water. She began to repeat the process with other guards that Makoto didn't see in their path or were trying to sneak up behind the two.

"Hey! Thanks...for helping...me with this…" Murray grunted to Makoto as he pulled his van.

"No problem! My dad used to tell me if there's something you want to want to protect and fight for, then charge forward and attack those who would want to harm it!" Makoto shouted as she uppercutted a pair of Pig Guards into the air...before a set of spikes erupted from the ground, "Whoa! Spikes in the road! Penelope, can you..."

"Hey!" the two looked ahead to see Penelope hiding on a cliff on the other side of the river going through the village, her RC copper beside her, "Sorry, but I'm outta fuel and I can't do anything about those spikes in your way!"

"But...we're so close…" Murray whispered.

"You did your best. We just...ran out of options," Penelope said.

"She's right, Murray, it's hopeless. Get out of there!" Bentley called on the Binocu-com, Penelope having contacted him earlier.

"But…" Murray looked at the van, "...it's our home away from home, Bentley. She's always been there for us, so we have to be there for her."

"Murray…"

"I will NEVER leave her behind again!" Murray roared out before a colorful explosion destroyed the spikes, "What?!"

"Look!" Makoto pointed above Penelope to see Panda King with a wooden bazooka in his hands.

"Words to tear at a father's heart, would that I had such passion when they came for my little Jing King," Panda King spoke to himself before calling out, "Fear not, brave hippo and Beastkin! I will destroy the spikes blocking your path!"

"Better go on ahead, Murray," Makoto advised the hippo as she spotted more guards heading their way, "I'm gonna send these guys flying."

"None shall hurt those two! The Panda King decrees it!" Panda King declared, firing a load of fireworks from his wooden bazooka, destroying another set of spike traps in their path.

"Time to try out something I've been practicing for a while now," Makoto whispered as the guards came closer to her, her symbol faintly appearing behind her as she reeled her fist back ,"Big Bang…"

"Get her!" The lead tiger guard roared as they charged at her, spears ready to impale her.

"Storm!" Makoto shouted as she rapidly punched forward, sending a flurry of energy fists at the guards as they skidded to a halt.

"...Retr-!" the lead Tiger Guard began in fear before the energy fists hit every single guard, shattering their weapons and armor as they all were sent flying, one doing the 'wilhelm scream' as they all fell into the icy water below.

"Heh…" Makoto smirked in victory as she dusted her hands off, "Nailed it."

"Ain't no one stopping this rescue train!" Murray whooped before seeing a tiger guard about to impale Makoto from behind, "Makoto, loo-!" a firework slammed into the guard, blowing up and sending his burning body into the water.

"Make your way quickly!" Panda King called out, reloading his fireworks bazooka.

"Oh! Right!" Makoto nodded as she hurried after Murray, knocking back any guards that tried to blindside her while the ones that tried to sneak up from behind were blown away by fireworks from the Panda King.

"Almost….there…" Murray grunted as he nearly reached a fairly large cave underneath the cliff Penelope and Panda King were on, vines hiding the entrance to said cave.

"Come on…" Makoto whispered as she caught up, knocking back a few of the remaining guards..

Penelope and Panda King regrouped with the two just as Murray got the van all the way into the hidden cave.

"Murray, you did it! You saved the van," Penelope applauded.

"Well...I did have help afterall," Murray chuckled, "You guys all helped out big time."

"No prob, Murray. Glad to be of some help," Makoto nodded.

"Hippo," Panda King spoke up, catching Murray's attention before the panda bowed to him, "Well done. You've lit the flames in my soul...I feel awake for the first time in years."

"No, thank you Panda King! You can ride in my van anytime!" Murray beamed, "You've got Shotgun for like, a month!"

"A great honor, I accept," Panda King bowed once more.

Back over with Bentley, Sonia, and Tsubaki, the three stood in front of the main gates of Tsao's Fortress, the turtle taking a deep breath as he prepared himself.

"This is it, General Tsao's palace. If we're going to get at the Panda King's daughter, we'll need an inside track on the wedding," Sly spoke through the Binocu-com.

"We're ready with our costumes. With some luck, he'll hire me on as the wedding coordinator and my two 'assistants' to help out with anything else," Bentley replied.

"Great. If you get a chance, try to score the rest of us some jobs as well. You can't have enough operatives on the inside."

"We'll do our best," Bentley agreed before putting the Binocu-com away, "Okay, girls, time to get to work."

"Right!" the two nodded as they followed the turtle into the palace.

"No! You cannot come out yet, my blossom," the group heard a voice demand.

"But...please. My father will be so worried. Just let me tell him that I'm alright," a soft voice pleaded, "I beg of you, sir, let me out of this prison! Is this the way you 'woo' your wife?!"

Tsubaki narrowed her eyes as the group heard the sobs from the second voice as Sonia's fists clenched.

"Calm down," Bentley advised the two, "Sly's ancestor, Thaddeus Winslow Cooper the third, said that the most important thing when it comes to being in disguise is to steel your emotions, hide them behind the lies of the emotions who you disguise yourself as needs. We'll save her, that's for sure."

"...Of course," Tsubaki nodded as she and Soia calmed down a bit just as the group of three walked into a fairly large room.

On one end of the room was a silhouette of a female panda behind a paper door while on the other end was General Tsao himself, stroking his thin beard a bit. Now that they had a better look at him, Tsubaki cringed as Tsao stood a head taller than her and seemed quite strong.

"Ahem. Greetings, honorable General Tsao," Bentley spoke up, catching the rooster's attention, "I have heard of your impending marriage, and have respectively come before you to offer my services as wedding coordinator, along with my two assistants whom come as designers for the bride's wedding dress in order to make you seem far more regal than you already do."

"...How insulting," General Tsao frowned as he glared at him, "I need no 'help.'"

"Apologies, but w-" Tsubaki began.

"Silence, wench. I was speaking to your master," General Tsao ordered.

'Oh he did not just…' Sonia thought, barely managing to keep her neutral expression on her face.

"Our deepest apologies, we mean no disrespect," Bentley apologized.

"Given my genius, I am of course completely capable of organizing the event myself," General Tsao stated, a hint of pride heavy in his tone, "However, I might be interested in employing a photographer. A day of such momentous importance should be captured for future generations to marvel at." he then looked at the two girls, "And, loathe I am to admit, my father before his passing decreed that none may aid the bride in dressing for a wedding unless it is someone of the same gender, even making it so that only the son I have can repeal that law."

"...I see," Bentley noted, "Well good news, I have one of the world's best photographers on retainer."

"Really?" General Tsao raised a brow in interest, "Well, if he truly is world class, then he might get the honor of chronicling the event. However, I'll need to see some samples before I give him the job." he then glanced at the two girls, "Along with examples of what they are capable of, as well."

"Of course. I shall send him here immediately," Bentley nodded, "While my assistants create a few examples wedding dresses that my photographer shall take pictures of."

"You'd better not be wasting my time, wedding planner. I get very, very uncharitable when people waste my time," Tsao warned ominously.

"It shall be done," Bentley nodded before the three left, Bentley only speaking once they were far enough from the palace, "And now, you may drop all forms of subtlety and let it out, you two."

"Oh thank god…" Sonia sighed as she and Tsubaki dropped the 'calm' expressions, "I was this close to losing it. I mean...he...I…UGH!"

"Agreed," Tsubaki nodded, a frown on her face as she looked back at the palace, "Thank you for giving us that advice while we were in there, Bentley-san."

"It wasn't a problem," Bentley shrugged, "Now come on. We need to go get Sly. The only photographer outfit I have on hand is in his size."

"Right," the two girls nodded as the three headed back to the safe house.

Meanwhile, with Sonic and Roll, the two hid behind a few crates as they saw the building Bentley pointed out in the plan, the same building that might have the missing Chunan Freedom Fighters in. Once the guard between them and the building walked away from sight, the crates went up in a plume of periwinkle smoke, revealing the Guru.

"Guru-san?" Roll blinked twice before the Guru spoke, "Oh. You came to help us find our comrades?" the Guru nodded, "Arigatou, Guru-san."

"And he shapeshifts…" Sonic gawked, "What can't this guy do?"

The Guru said something and caused to Roll to start giggling, earning a raised brow from Sonic and a response from her, "He said 'program a DVR for my soap operas.'"

"Oh...ahem. L...let's just hurry and find a way inside before the guards come back," Sonic cleared his throat.

"Hai," Roll nodded as the group of three quietly moved towards the building, "It looks like the only way to get in is through that window up there, demo…" she looked around, "I don't think we can get up there by jumping from buildings."

Yacker floated out of her hair and the Guru looked at him. The Guru spoke up, earning the attention of the Wisp, who spoke to him in his language. Sonic and Roll looked back and forth as the two seemed to have a conversation before Yacker began to babble excitedly and turned to Roll, still talking quickly.

"Eh? An idea?" Roll repeated, taking her pocket knife out, "But how would Burst, Laser, Spikes, Drill, or Cube work on getting us up there?"

Yacker facepalmed before declaring, "HOVER!"

His form glowed before turning into a green, bulbous-looking Wisp. Yacker flew into the pocket knife and glowed before turning into a hoverboard resembling the Hover Wisp, the edges of the new board actually blades. Roll's eyes became half-opened as her eyes changed to the same shade of green as the Hover Wisp.

"Like, wow," Roll noted as she hopped onto it, "This is gnarly, Yacker."

'...Did..Roll just become a surfer girl?' Sonic thought, blinking twice, before the Guru motioned for him to get on "Huh? O-Oh, right." the two got on after Roll, "So now what?"

"Like, we go up through that, right, Guru?" Roll asked, earning a nod before the Guru began to chant, a plume of periwinkle smoke covering them and a robin taking place to the sight of anyone else, "Radical, Guru."

With that, the 'robin' took up into the air as it hovered towards the open window silently. Once it reached up there, the 'robin' flew in towards the window before landing on a small platform and changed back into the group.

"Alright. Now l-" Sonic began before he looked at the floor below, his eyes slowly widening as he looked, "...What...the?"

What he saw were various caged Mobians, a majority of them being female as the few males there worked on armor and weapons, a few of them looking frail and weak..like they haven't even eaten in days...probably even weeks or months. Yacker separated from the board, back in his White Wisp state. Roll blinked twice before shaking her head, her eyes back to their normal jade.

"Ite...What was that?" Roll mumbled before looking around and giving a soft gasp, "Oh my…"

The Guru frowned as he looked at what was happening. The Dream Spirits were crying out to the pain these innocents were enduring. He walked over to a cage, avoiding one of the few guards in the place, and gently ran a hand through a sobbing cat Mobian's messy hair, a lullaby in his tongue escaping his lips as she finally fell asleep, letting the Dream Spirits come to her and heal her soul of the atrocities. He turned to the two and tossed Roll a periwinkle Binocu-com, almost perfectly new and unused.

"He must communicate with the others with his powers," Roll assumed before looking through it, "Ano...Is...Is anyone there?"

"I'm right here," Murray replied, "What's up?"

"We...we're inside the building Bentley-san told us to go and...and…" Roll paused as she shook a bit.

"Roll-chan, what's wrong?" Makoto asked from the background.

"...I...think it's best you all see for yourself," Roll whispered, pressing something on the Binocu-com as she looked at the floor below.

"...I'll get Sly and Bentley on the line," Murray stated before Roll saw that the corners of the screen lit up, showing Sly, Bentley, and Murray's faces, "We have a big problem, guys!"

"Oh my god…" Bentley gasped, "Oh, these poor Mobians! Wait...GURU?! What's he doing in there?!"

"He followed us to help out," Roll replied, zooming in on him comforting another of the sobbing girls.

"My master is trying to help sooth the girls," Murray noted, "He must be so hurt inside on what's going on here!"

"After seeing this, who wouldn't?" Sly frowned.

"Agreed," Sonic spoke up quietly, "This...this is just too cruel."

"Tell me about it," a voice spoke up, causing the two to look at a cage containing a female white Tiger Mobian, wearing rags.

"Jian?" Roll pondered.

"Hey, Roll."

"You know her?" Sonic asked.

"Remember that last meeting we had to go to with all the Freedom Fighter leaders and a guest? I met her there," Roll replied, "Jian, what happened?"

"...ugh. We heard Mobians were being 'spirited away' up here, so me, my leader, and the rest of our team came here to investigate. However...when we got here, we got blindsided by Tsao and his guards," Jian explained with a frown, "The rest of my team is in lockdown, hidden underneath the building, and only Tsao's three main generals have the codes to unlock the cages there."

"Maybe the Guru can help with getting the codes," Sonic noted as said koala walked up, a somber expression on his face, "Guru, if we can find the main generals, can you do that mind bridging thing with me so I can find out the codes to free Jian's teammates so we can bust everyone out of here?"

The Guru looked up at Sonic with a determined expression, nodding with an, "Ih."

"I'll try to get a map of the building to locate the three generals," Bentley informed.

"Word of advice, Sonic? Your head is going to feel a little...like jello the first time you use it," Sly advised.

"Mine felt like a thick syrup when I did it with master the first time," Murray noted.

"Wait wh-" Sonic began.

"Try to find out more about these three generals that have the codes," Bentley ordered, "I'll call you on Binocu-com when I get the plans."

"YEOW!" Murray screamed.

"What's wrong?" Roll asked.

"Sorry," Tsubaki's voice came out.

"Why do they have to make needles so dang long?" Murray groaned before he and Sly hung up.

"...I don't think I want to know," Sonic sweatdropped a bit.

"No, you don't," Bentley shook his head as he hung up.

"Jian-chan, who are these generals that have the codes?" Roll asked.

"Jun Pao the Boar, Tsun ki the Tortoise, and Sonson the Monkey," Jian replied, "Each one is more powerful than the last, especially Sonson… She took out me and my team with no trouble. I tried to take her out myself and...well…" she held up her tail, the top looking metallic, "This is the result."

"Oh my…" Roll gasped, putting her hands on Jian's, "We won't let her get away with what she did to you or your team, Jian-chan."

"Thanks, Roll...really wish I can help but…" Jian paused as she motioned to the collar on her neck, "Anyone leaves their cell, or even steps out of the prison without permission, this goes off and...let's say it's not a pretty picture."

Roll nodded before taking out the Binocu-com, "Bentley-san."

"I have the blueprints to the building and uploading them to the Binocu-com now," Bentley informed, "Any news from Jian?"

"The names of the generals are Jun Pao, Tsun ki, and Sonson," Roll replied, "And all the prisoners are wearing a collar that will explode if they leave their cells without permission."

"That explains the room labeled in the blueprints as 'Collar Control'. I'd send Sly but he's a little busy going out and having to take pictures of Tsao's guards," Bentley informed, "But I'm sure that with the Guru there, you'll be okay until we can get someone free to help. While the Guru and Sonic get the codes, I need you to take the Binou-com to the Collar Control room and connect it to the systems in there. I can hack them from here to disable them."

"Hai, Bentley-san," Roll nodded, none of them noticing Yacker's eye briefly flashing from its normal color to purple to violet to black and then back to normal.

"Me and the Guru are gonna find out where these generals are located at," Sonic spoke as Guru hopped on his back, "You be careful, Roll. Who knows what kinds of traps this place has."

"Hai, Sonikku," Roll replied, pecking his cheek before going off with Yacker hiding in her hair again.

Back over with Ben, or rather, Shadow Edge, the ninja-like alien put the knocked out guard in his arms into a closet once his weapons were thrown out the window. Nodding to himself, he went off, avoiding the lights, until he reached a computer console. Lightly tapping his symbol, Greymatter landed on the computer.

"Okay...let's see what we can do here," Greymatter said as he cracked his fingers a bit, a small grin on his face as he began tapping the keyboards at a fast pace, "Aaaaaand...hacked. Heh..mere child's play. Literally for a Galvan. Now let's see what we've got..." he muttered as he looked through the files, "...Huh. Eggman tried to recruit him, but he turned him down with threat of exe...execution?! Big balls on that rooster." He then noticed one file in particular titled 'revolution/?', "...what's this...wait. Why's the name of Roll's home village in here?" As he read it, his eyes slowly widen as he started to lose color to his face, the small Alien looking at all the info he just read, including some about the prison Sonic, Roll, and Guru found, "...This guy's a monster." he hopped over to a pile of scrapped metal and wires and quickly made a white, green and black Binocu-com, "Now let's see...if I adjust the signal right…"

"Who is this?" Bentley answered.

"Oh, good. I'm sending you all the data I got from the computer here," Greymatter informed as he sent him the data.

"...sweet mother of god…"

"Yeah...I think it's best if the girls didn't see this," Greymatter suggested.

"Uh...slight problem," Bentley informed, "You know that jail in the data? Remember who we sent there?"

"...Aw dang it," Greymatter facepalmed.

"Since it seems you completed your mission, I'm updating the situation. We need you at that jail right now," Bentley ordered, "I can't send the others since Sly is out taking pictures for Tsao, I need to be here to hack into the Collar Control system when Roll gets to it, and as for the others…"

"OW!" Panda King's voice shouted, "Please do not do that again."

"Sorry," Sonia's voice apologized.

"...Do I even…?"

"No, no you don't," Bentley replied, "Just...please hurry to the jail and meet up with Roll. She is en route to the Collar Control room."

"Got it," Greymatter nodded before slapping his symbol and turning back into Shadow Edge, picking up the Binocu-com and sneaking out.

Once he was outside, he dashed off in a shadowy blur, hopping from roof to roof as he avoided the guards...not that they could see or hear him as he headed for the prison Sonic and his team were in. Once he spotted the building, he dashed towards it and climbed up the wall, reaching for the window as he climbed inside. Once he was inside...well, if he was able, he would be frowning intensly at what he saw. He had read about the jail from the data he read...but seeing it for himself, it made his blood boil. Looking around, he pulled out his newly-made Binocu-com and activated the map of the building. Nodding once he had the location, he snuck off. As he delved down deeper into the prison to find Roll's location, he found bits and pieces of what looked like Eggman's robots, missing most of their parts and circuitry as he passed them.

'...looks like General Tsao's been stealing from Eggman as well…' Shadow Edge thought.

"Hello to you," Jetfire greeted, strapped to a dissection table.

'...' Shadow Edge turned to look at the human-sized robot.

"Yes, I am to be seeing you," Jetfire informed, his goggles over his optics, "Infrared. Would you be so kindly as to letting me being out now, yes?"

"..." Shadow Edge looked around for any guards before he quietly walked over. Even though he worked for Eggman, he couldn't leave him like this, especially in the hands of someone like Tsao. He then quickly realized something...if this one was here, where was it's 'brother'? '...Good thing Gwen made me go through a sign language class…' Shadow Edge began to make a few hand signs, 'Where...is...your...other...half?'

"Brother?" Jetfire sighed, "Mustard Starscreaming be ordering us to search in different places. I was in flying over this when big red thing be swooping me and be taking me here."

"...I see…" Shadow Edge signed as he began to undo Jetfire's bindings, "If I let you out, would you leave me and my team alone? We are currently trying to take down the person who most likely owned the thing that knocked you out of the sky."

"Oh, you are to being helping? I will to being repaying you much for to be saving me," Jetfire smiled, shaking Shadow Edge's hands, "We are comrades now, yes? I will not to being saying a thing to Mustard Eggyman or Mustard Starscreaming that we are to being comrades. Promise."

"Hey!" the two turned to see one of the tiger guards, "The robot's free!"

"Get to being safe, new comrade," Jetfire ordered, "I will to being the straction of D to them!" he flicked his wrists and fireballs erupted into his hands, throwing one that slammed into the guard, setting him on fire, "Be going now, new comrade! And luck of good to you saving from whoever is being owning that red thing!"

Shadow Edge nodded as he became a blur once more, shooting past the guards as he ran down the hallway.

With Roll, she was nearing the location of the Collar Control room, the hedgefox hiding out each time she spotted a guard passing by. She held her breath as a guard walked by, mere inches away from where she was hiding before an alarm went off. The guards in the area quickly ran down the hallway.

'Sonikku…' Roll thought in concern, about to move when an arm wrapped around her waist, '?!'

'Found her,' Shadow Edge thought in relief before Roll's elbow slammed into his guy, causing him to release her, letting her grab his head and slam him onto his back from an overhead slam.

"Phew. I...Eh?!" Roll blinked twice at the symbol on Shadow Edge, "Oopsie. Gomen nassai, Ben-san."

"...It's...fine," Shadow Edge signed as he go up, "I am here to help you with your mission, Roll."

"Yatta!" Roll cheered before a beeping went off, "Eh?"

Shadow Edge looked down to see his Omnitrix symbol flashing red.

"...Kuso…" Shadow Edge cursed/signed before his transformation canceled, turning him back to Ben, "Darn it. Should've expected this wouldn't be as easy as it's been going."

"Ben-san, Sonikku and Guru-san…"

"Not sure, but I think the reason why the alarms are going off is because I let a robot that fires...well...fireballs out."

"Oh...wait. Why was...?"

"Turns out Tsao's been taking Eggman's robots for his own gain," Ben answered.

"Eh?" Roll's eyes widened.

"Yup. Also found out Eggman tried to recruit him, but Tsao turned him down and threatened him with execution," Ben added.

"...Deka no kintama that rooster…" Roll muttered.

"Right...but we need to get back to the mission at hand," Ben stated.

"Oh! Hai," Roll nodded as she took out the periwinkle Binocu-com, "It's right in the room beside us."

Ben nodded as the two rushed into the room next to them, seeing a fairly large control console with the screen showing the cages and the names of the prisoners with collars on them. Roll quietly made her way up to the computer and connected the Binocu-com to it.

"Okay. Time for me to go to work," Bentley noted on Ben's Binocu-com, "Should be easy enough. Just need to, oh ho? What's this? A Quadruple pass firewall? This should be interesting."

"Hurry up, Bentley," Ben whispered, peeking out of the door to see more guards running to where he had been.

"Don't worry. Just about….done! A...shoot. There's an emergency firewall. I only got enough time to unlock one of the collars."

"Come on...hurry…"

"Hey, prisoner J7! Wake up!" a Tiger guard shouted as he opened Jian's cell.

"...tch. What do you idiots want now? Scrub the floor, feed you like the lazy slobs you are?" Jian asked as she glared at him, "Or are you gonna 'borrow' me real quick?"

"Just shut up and get out of there," the tiger growled as he dragged her out, "We got some 'rats' in here, and you're going to be our bait."

"...I got a better idea, how about you go f-" Jian began before her collar beeped a bit before unlocking itself, the metal binding falling to the floor, "..."

"...Uh…" the tiger began before Jian looked up at him, her eyes slitted, "...Oh crap."

"YAH!" Jian roared, slamming her foot into his crotch.

"Gh~?!" the tiger cringed as he dropped to the floor, holding his crushed pelvis as Jian took his naginata.

"Alright…" Jian began as she twirled the weapon a bit, the white tigress glaring at the guards in the prison, "...Who wants a piece of me?"

"Do you know which collar it is?" Ben asked.

"No. In my haste to pick one, I didn't see the ID number," Bentley replied, "Find Sonic and the Guru. See if they were able to get the codes."

"Got it," Ben nodded as he picked up his Binocu-com, "L-"

"Gah! Run! Jian's been set loose!"

"Jian-chan?!" Roll gasped.

"Retreat! Retreat!" one tiger guard screamed.

"Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Protect me, cone!"

"Oh gods! Oh gods! Oh gods! Oh gods!"

"...Let's...just hurry and regroup with Sonic and Guru," Ben said slowly.

"H...hai," Roll nodded slowly.

With Sonic and Guru, Sonic shook his head in the vent they were in, blinking a few times. He got out of his meditative position and rubbed his eyes, trying to settle his headache down.

"Ugh...Please tell me it gets easier with each time," Sonic looked at Guru, who shrugged, "...Dang it. But on the bright side...least we got an idea on where the three Generals are. So l-"

"Ahh! The cone of protection doesn't work!" a tiger guard yelled offscreen.

"...Guess they got the collars off," Sonic blinked twice, Guru nodding.

"This is what you dumbasses get for treating women like crap!" Jian's voice roared, "And don't think your boss isn't on the top of my shit list!"

"...Yeah, they did," Sonic nodded, "...Let's...just go and meet back up with Roll and hurry on out of here." The Guru shook his head, "What?! Why?" The Guru tapped Sonic's forehead with his staff, "...You don't want to abandon the prisoners, do you?" the Guru shook his head, "...Okay. We'll check on the prisoners and then we head out of here, okay?" the Guru nodded, "Great."

"Ahh….ahh….ahh…" Jian panted heavily as she stood in the middle of the room, piles of Tiger guards littering the floor as she held the naginata she took from the first one.

"Jian-chan!" Roll called, earning the white tiger's attention, "There you are!"

"Heh...hey...Roll," Jian waved at her in a tired manner, "You...missed the party."

"Guess we know who got their collar removed," Ben noted.

"An Overlander?" Jian pondered.

"Human. Five fingers, not four," Ben showed his hands, wiggling the five fingers, "See?"

"This is Ben Tennyson," Roll introduced.

"Oh yeah...You're the...human...who turn...into aliens…"

"Yeah," Ben nodded.

"Well...good thing...you're on our side then," Jian commented before kicking one of the guards in the stomach.

"...Ano, wasn't that…?"

"Trust me. These guys...had it coming... for months now," Jian panted.

"By any chance, did you see a white, brown, and orange robot that could fire fireballs from his hands?" Ben asked.

"Saw...it...flying out. Strangest thing...it waved...at me…" Jian panted.

"Hey. We got the...lo…" Sonic began as he ran into the area, Guru in tow as they noticed the piles of unconscious guards, "...Woah."

The Guru spoke up.

"We...could only get Jian out of her collar," Ben admitted to the Guru.

Guru just sighed sadly at that as he looked at the cages.

"We'll get them out, Guru-san," Roll assured.

"Agreed," Jian nodded, "Once my team is free, we'll do everything in our power to make that monster Tsao pay, and free every single Mobian here."

"..." the Guru looked up at them and nodded.

"Now...le...hoo boy…" Jian groaned as she fell to her knees, exhaustion catching up to the white tigress, "Let's leave...used up too much energy...beating up those guards. But know what...after spending months in here...worth it…"

Everyone nodded. Minutes later, a robin flew out of the building.

"Okay, I think we've got them," Sonia nodded as she and Tsubaki looked at their work.

"This...is humiliating," Panda King stated, wearing a silk dress and makeup.

"I feel pretty," Murray admitted, dressed up like a geisha.

"I am so going to get you for this," Makoto glowered at the two, wearing her ID Mask and in a beautiful wedding dress.

"Ditto," Manic agreed, makeup and a wedding dress on him as well.

"This is kinda nice," Penelope admitted, wearing a Chinese wedding dress with her hair done into a bun with chopsticks in it and her glasses taken off.

"I know most of you don't like it, but remember why we're doing this," Tsubaki stated as Sly walked in, dressed up as a photographer.

"Well, I think I got more than enough of his guards," Sly noted, playing with his fake mustache...before looking at Murray, Manic, and the Panda King, "Gh! I did not need to see this!"

"This is...humiliating," Panda King repeated.

"Just take the freakin' picture so I can get out of this thing already," Makoto frowned, "I feel so...girly in this."

Murray giggled, keeping a folding fan over the lower half of his face. Manic and Panda King slowly scooted away from him.

"Hey. You think I could dressed up like this and distract guards with a dance someday?" Murray asked.

"...Take the picture," Bentley ordered, "Take the picture. Take the picture. TAKE! THE! PICTURE!"

"Huhwhat-Right!" Sly quickly pulled out the camera and quickly took a picture of them and singles of each one.

"Finally!" Makoto exclaimed as she took the wedding dress off, leaving her in a pure white lingerie, before she stomped off, "If anyone needs me, I'll be getting dressed into something more fitting!"

"..." Sly took a picture and ducked under the thrown chair following the click of his camera while Panda King and Manic tackled Murray and quickly got him out of the outfit.

"We are never speaking of this again," Manic stated.

"Agreed," Panda King nodded as the door opened and Ben, Roll, Sonic, and the Guru entered, Ben carrying the white tiger on his back.

"Hey. We're back a-" Sonic began before he noticed what Manic was wearing, "...Snrk."

"Laugh, and I will hurt you," Manic frowned dangerously at him.

"..." Sonic zipped into the bathroom and closed it, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he walked out, his face neutral, "I'm good."

"...I'm going to get out of this," Manic muttered as he walked off, "Call me when it's time for the next part of the plan."

"Where you going?" Bentley asked.

"Up your nose with a rubber hose!" Manic replied, slamming the door shut before a scream came from it with a 'smack' before Manic walked out with a black eye, "And I went into the wrong room."

"...Just get the photos developed. And delete the one you took which got you the chair thrown at you," Bentley ordered Sly.

"I didn't take a picture," Sly replied, earning a sigh of annoyance from Bentley.

"Rip the picture up, or else I'll throw something harder than a chair!" Makoto warned from the next room.

"Best do what she says," Tsubaki whispered to Sly, "It's not wise to upset a Beastkin."

"...You did not just tell him that," Bentley facepalmed.

"Oh? Why ever not? I mean, it's not like I took a picture of her in white lingerie with...ah yes, a floral pattern to it, white floral pattern stockings with straps connecting to the thong she was in," Sly shrugged, smiling slightly at seeing Ben starting to blush.

"...3…2…1…" Tsubaki counted down as a tonfa was tossed right through the door and nearly hit Sly in the face, the raccoon dodging with a sly smile.

"Well, I gotta go develop these and make a copy of one," Sly laughed as he jumped out the open window.

"Rule number 7 in the Cooper Gang; Never tell Sly it's not wise to do something, because he'll do it anyway," Bentley shook his head.

"What's rule number one?" Sonic asked.

"Never let Murray hold the cookie jar," Bentley deadpanned.

"...I'll...just go help Jian-chan change into something," Roll spoke up as she took Jian from Ben and helped her into the room.

"...Who was that?" Tsubaki asked.

"A friend of Roll's. She's one of the Freedom Fighters here," Sonic explained, "It...It's really bad."

"...How bad?" Tsubaki asked with a slight frown.

"The men were forced into making weapons and armor while the women were all in cages, and they all wore collars that would explode if they ever tried to escape."

"...Okay, so how are we going to be preparing Tsao? Because I say we pluck his feathers and dunk him in a deep fryer," Sonia informed.

"...Wow. You are livid," Sonic's eyes widened, "You never use any references to fried foods."

"Me and Tsubaki had to deal with that sexist egomaniac. I have a right to be livid," Sonia growled.

"Ladies!" Bentley called out before Penelope whistled loudly, making them look at her before she motioned to Bentley, "Thank you, Penelope." he turned to the two, "Remember, if we do our plan just right, we'll be able to deal with Tsao, free Jing King, and rescue all those prisoners." he patted his laptop, "Thanks to the information Ben got us, we now have more than enough to expose everything that Tsao's most likely done."

"Good. Now what's the plan?" Ben asked.

"Once Sly gets back, I'll tell you," Bentley replied, "For now, I'll just need to work on the presentation."

"Right."

"Ahh...finally. Something a bit more decent," Jian said as she finished changing out of those rags she had on before, the white tigress now wearing a pair of dark grey sweat shorts, a red tank top, red and white shoes, a pair of black and red gloves with the wrist an emerald green, and a red bandana around her head.

"Hai," Roll smiled before looking at the metal end of Jian's tail, "...Gomen."

"It's not your fault," Jian assured, patting her friend's shoulder, "Sides, I think I'm getting used to it."

"I think it looks neat," Makoto commented.

"See? She gets…" Jian began before blinking a few times, the white tigress slowly looking behind her to see the Beastkin, "...a half human/half squirrel?"

"Beastkin." Makoto corrected her.

"Ah," Jian nodded, "Jian."

"Makoto," the squirrel Beastkin nodded, shaking her hand.

Sly entered, dressed in his normal attire, "Okay. I've got the job and the girls have their job."

"Hand it over," Makoto ordered, holding her hand out.

"Hand what over?" Sly asked, a teasing smile on his face.

"You're not going to win, Makoto," Bentley warned as Manic and Murray worked together to set up the projector.

"...This isn't over, Cooper," Makoto hissed at him as they walked into the main room.

"Not the first time I've heard that threat," Sly countered with a teasing smirk.

"Okay, Bentley, we're all set up!" Murray informed.

"Thanks, you two," Bentley nodded.

"What's going on?" Jian asked as everyone began to sit down.

"Bentley-san is explaining the next stage of the plan to beat that mean rooster and save everyone," Roll replied.

"And said 'Bentley-san' would very much like quiet for this, please."

"Gomen nassai."

"Good. Now then…" Bentley began as he cleared his throat, "The operation is running smoothly. With access to General Tsao's database, and Sly being successfully hired on as the wedding photographer and Sonia and Tsubaki are now going to dress Jing King for the wedding, we're ready to make an attempt for Jing King." the projector showed an image of said panda behind a paper screen door, "Given the complexity of Tsao's downloaded data that Ben got, I've programed my Thiefnet computer to automatically analyze th-"

"Uh...Bentley?"

"Not now, Sly. Now, as I was saying…"

"Ano...Bentley-san?"

"Roll, please be quiet. I'm..."

"Hey, Turtle Boy! Look at the screen!" Jian snapped.

"What?" Bentley looked at the next slide, showing Tsao in the base, "WHAT THE-?! G-General Tsao?!" he began to flip through the next slides, showing Tsao closing Bentley's laptop and leaving with it, "H-He's got my laptop! Our whole plan is on that computer! Wait...How did he get in here? I mean, everyone was in here at the time while I was out with Murray to check on the van, right?"

"...I may have taken a quick walk around," Ben replied.

"Dude walked by with a lot of cash in his pockets," Manic replied, thumbing through a wad of cash.

"I was preoccupied with making more fireworks," Panda King admitted.

"We were helping Jian with making some new clothes for her," Tsubaki replied, Sonia giving a nod.

"I was helping Roll out with something," Makoto replied.

"...The Guru and I were out with him teaching me the ball form," Sonic admitted, the Guru apologizing in his tongue.

"I was in the back refilling my RCs," Penelope replied.

"We're doomed!" Bentley hit his head on the table.

"Bentley, calm down," Sly patted his friend's shoulder, "Okay, listen up, team." he changed to the next slide, showing a sneering Tsao, "This Tsao character is more clever than any of us thought. As of this moment, we have one goal…" he changed back to the slide of Tsao carrying the laptop, "Steal back the ThiefNet computer. With any luck, he hasn't been able to figure out Bentley's passwords, but for now; the time for subtlety is over."

"So what do we do?" Manic asked.

"Easy. Bentley, you and two others will sneak into Tsao's palace and ransack his personal computer. He might've tried to link it to ours. If anyone spots Tsao, me and a small team will follow him and corner him. The rest of the team will stand ready just in case. No telling what this sicko has planned."

"I vote on going after him," Jian held her hand up.

"Same," Roll, Makoto, Sonic, and Ben added.

"Me and Manic will go with Bentley as back-up," Sonia spoke up, "Manic?"

"I know...I know. Don't steal f-" Manic began with a sigh.

"You have one free pass just for tonight."

"...what?"

"If we find anything valuable and shiny that belongs to Tsao, you're free to take it," Sonia stated, "But it's just for tonight. Understand?"

"Deal."

"Wait. What about the jail?" Sonic asked.

"The jail!?" Bentley looked up before slamming his head on the table once more.

"...Laptop first, jailbreak second," Sly replied, "For now, let's get ready."

"Steal my laptop, will you…" Bentley muttered as he wheeled through the streets, Sonia and Manic following behind him to make sure they didn't spot any guards, "I'll show you what happens when you mess with me when you take my things, you giant piece of poultry."

"You know, I just thought of something," Sonia noted.

"What?" Manic raised a brow.

"Why don't we get Jing King out of the palace while we look for the Tsao's personal computer?" Sonia asked, "I mean, they'll be in the same building, right?"

"Tsao most likely has a trap set up in case anyone tries to rescue her," Bentley spoke up as the group was nearing Tsao's palace, "And even if we could get her out, Tsao would know something is up, and end up executing the prisoners one by one until he finds out where she is."

"Good thinking though, sis," Manic assured, "So what's the plan when we get in there, Bentley?"

"Make a mess of the place until we find his personal computer," Bentley replied, "Anything shiny we find, you can keep, Manic."

"Sweet," Manic rubbed his hands excitedly," An excuse to wreck and loot. And for once, it's not Eggman's."

"Just remember, Manic. Tonight only," Sonia reminded him as they reached the gates of Tsao's palace.

"Yeah, yeah. I getcha," Manic waved her off as he opened the door, "Now let's go loot this guy's stuff."

'I'm starting to regret this now,' Sonia thought as the three went inside.

"Okay, his personal computer should be around here somewhere. No need to be sneaky, you two; wreck the place, steal any loot, and do whatever we can until we find that computer!" Bentley ordered.

"Whoo!" Manic whooped as he ran off.

"...Yup. Starting to regret it now," Sonia deadpanned as Manic started smashing some things while he pocketed anything made of gold, jewels, or both.

Bentley rolled around as Manic went to town, "Now if I were an egotistical rooster's personal computer, where would I be?"

"Over there!" Manic shouted as he pointed to a corner, pausing from smashing a stone lion head to get to the ruby shaped eyes it had.

"Great work, Manic," Bentley nodded before tossing him a bomb, "Here; this is easier."

"Thanks!" Manic grinned, shoving it into the lion head's mouth and ducked behind a pillar, the lion head soon blowing up and dropped the rubies into his hands.

Bentley rolled up to the computer and cracked his knuckles, "This should be easy enough. It's just standard OS security."

"You deal with that. As for me…" Sonia began as she cracked her knuckles a bit, "Time for some venting. Manic, save some stuff for me!"

"Okay, just got to put these there and…" Bentley muttered, "What? He's got a defense avatar? This could get ugly."

"Just hurry, dude. Literally running out of stuff to smash, and out of room to stuff in my pockets!" Manic shouted as he tore down a framed picture of Tsao with the frame being made of pure gold, bits of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds decorating it.

"Okay, we're in," Bentley noted, "A-ha, I think I've found something. His diary mentions something about a secret passage through the prayer bell...then a walk across the heavens." he raised a brow at that last bit, "You getting this, Sly?"

"We're en route to the bell right now."

"Better bring along the Guru then. This sounds like his department," Bentley suggested.

"Dude's got a diary? Talk about insecurity," Manic snickered as Bentley typed something down, "Uh...What are you doing, dude?"

"Oh, just leaving behind a little command in his computer," Bentley replied, "By the time he comes back and tries to access it, it'll go off and wipe everything in it with all his darker stuff being copied and sent to Interpol before it gets wiped."

"A...clever," Manic smirked, "Hey, Sonia! W-"

"RAAH!" Sonia roared as she tore a picture of Tsao in half.

"...On second thought. You keep venting for a bit."

"...I'm, uh...I'm going to…" Bentley slowly back-wheeled away from the angry magenta hedgehog, "...yeaaaaah…"

"Okay. I think we're supposed to stand under the bell," Sly figured as his group reached a shrine with a old rusted bell covered in bits of snow.

The Guru spoke up. He could feel a dark magic around the bell, one that had been there for ages.

"...Well, we're not gonna get anything done if we just stand here," Sonic spoke up as he walked under the bell, "Well come on."

The remaining six followed him. Once the last of them were under it, the bell dropped on them. Moments later, the seven walked out of an open door high above the village. Makoto walked to the edge of the tiny area they were on and looked down.

"Wow. No wonder his entry said it was 'a walk across the heavens,'" Makoto noted.

The Guru spoke up at that. Everyone turned to him as he walked up to the edge and began to spin his staff's orb once more, giving a chant. A roof floated before them, lightly covered in a periwinkle aura.

"...How...know what? Not even gonna bother to ask," Sonic sighed.

"That's...amazing," Sly noted before the Guru hopped onto the floating roof, motioning them to hop on.

The group nodded as they carefully hopped onto the floating roof, Guru chanting as a fairly large cart covered in the same aura floated before them. This went on for quite a bit as each time the group hopped onto something, the Guru would summon something else from the ground below. Ben noted that the Guru was using things they could all jump onto without too much trouble and that he was also putting whatever he floated up back where he got it.

'This...kinda reminds of when Grandma visited to see how much Gwen had been improving and demonstrated how to lift things with mana,' Ben thought, managing to bury a small sting in his heart before anyone could notice.

"I see a cave just up ahead," Makoto spoke up as the group spotted a cave entrance not too far away on the side of a mountain.

"How much do ya want to bet Tsao is in there?" Sonic asked.

"He's definitely in there," Jian spoke, her eyes slitted as she gripped her naginata, "I saw him go in there once before he dragged me and the rest of my team into that god forsaken jail."

The group made their way to the cave entrance. Once the Guru let the last of the object he floated return to their place, he leaned against the wall beside the entrance, panting a bit. He spoke up, noting that he had little connection to the Dreamtime at the moment from calling on it so much.

"No problem. Take a rest if you need it," Sly assured, "You did a great job getting us here."

"In the meantime…" Sonic paused as he summoned his sword, eying the cave entrance, "We got a corrupt rooster to deal with."

"Just be careful you guys. I'm getting some weird reading up ahead," Bentley warned, "Sly, use your optimizer goggles and take the lead while you're in there."

"Got it," Sly nodded, "Stay close, everyone, and be ready for a fight."

The others nodded as they began to follow Sly into the cave, the raccoon pulling out a pair of goggles and putting them on. The lens looked like something out of a pair of 3d glasses with one lens blue and the other red.

After a bit of traveling through the cave, the group arrived on the other side to see a large, bamboo forest down below, mist hiding the ground as a cold wind blew through the area. After a few seconds of silence, Tsao hopped out of the mist and landed on top of one of the bamboo shoots, the rooster eying the group as he gripped his shield a bit, four blades popping out of the rim of it.

"Ah, the famous Sly Cooper," Tsao observed before looking over at Roll, "And I see you've brought along a Sakurai."

"Eh?" Roll blinked twice.

"I know about that filthy ninja clan of yours that hides in the Frozen North," Tsao stated before scoffing, "A village ruled by mostly females...disgusting."

"Nani?!" Roll narrowed her eyes, Yacker's eye flashing the three dark colors once more for a moment in her hair.

"But regardless Cooper, it seems you and your little gang were able to follow the trail I left for you," Tsao stated as he looked back at Sly, "Of course...you'll be helpless without them as you'll soon discover."

"...I'm not ashamed to rely on my friends," Sly countered as he glared at the rooster.

"Tch. Who needs 'friends' when you have servants? Who needs 'affection' when you can have obedience?" Tsao scoffed, "But why try and convince you when I can simply destroy you all? You see, this sacred forest has been the stage for hundreds of battles,as my ancestors crushed anyone who got in their way!"

"I've heard of places like this from Okaa-san," Roll noted, looking around, "The fighting that has gone on before in battlegrounds like this empower the fighters in different ways. With how big this place is, someone could easily jump from one end to the other in one leap if they tried."

"I'll fight him up here," Sly informed, hopping onto one of the bamboo, "The rest of you try to find a way down, see if you can mess with where he lands."

"I'll help you up here, Sly," Ben informed, activating the Omnitrix and slapping down on it, "Big...Chill!"

"Be careful, you guys," Makoto said as the rest of the group began to carefully climb down the mountain, Jian and Roll shooting Tsao a glare as they left.

"Enough chit-chat, Cooper! Face me now, and prepare for the end of your legacy!" Tsao declared as he leapt forward, the blades on his shield spinning around it, making it look like a saw as he began firing crimson red energy orbs at the two.

With that, both Sly and Big Chill scattered, dodging the orbs as they went to opposite parts of the 'arena', Tsao landing on the bamboo shoot Sly was once on. He sent a barrage of red energy orbs at Big Chill who inhaled and exhaled a blast of icy air, freezing them in the air and sending them dropping into the mists below.

"Talk about giving someone a cold shoulder," Sly noted, "You could probably give someone a cold body with that power."

"Who says I haven't before?" Big Chill smirked before flying at Tsao, who jumped out of the way, letting Sly jump and smack him down into the mists with his cane.

Tsao leapt out of the mists moments later, landing on another bamboo.

"Hpmh...to think a member of the Cooper Clan would rely on such a cheap tactic," Tsao scoffed as he glared at Big Chill, "Relying on the help of some freak of nature."

"Oh really? Well how's about this 'freak of nature' give you a nice freeze?" Big Chill questioned before releasing a blast of icy air at Tsao.

Tsao quickly brought up his shield to block it, the blades spinning as it began to blow away the breeze, preventing it from hitting him. He backflipped over the swing Sly attempted to strike with from behind the rooster. Tsao quickly countered by firing a few energy orbs at the two, Sly barely dodging the ones sent at him while Big Chill went intangible, causing the orbs to pass through him before a stray orb manage to hit him in the chest, nearly knocking him out of the air as he quickly recovered.

"It's best you and your 'friend' give up now, Cooper. My legacy is superior than yours," Tsao stated in his usual prideful tone.

"...Ben. Come here for a sec," Sly called out to Big Chill, who flew over to him and leaned in, "Think you can turn into Shadow Edge?"

"Shadow Edge?" Big Chill repeated, "Yes, but why?"

"Look at the terrain. Doesn't it seem more fitting for a 'ninja'?" Sly whispered.

"...Good point," Big Chill nodded before he flew over a bamboo pole and slapped his Omnitrix, "Rath!" the tiger barely grabbed the pole, "Lemme tell ya somethin', Omnitrix; Rath wanted Shadow Edge, not Rath!"

"...Heh. I was wrong. Your friend isn't a freak of nature, cooper. He's more like...the town fool," Tsao smirked a bit.

"Rrrrr…! Lemme tell ya something, General Tsao of the Northern Mountains; Rath is going to pluck your feathers and roast you!" Rath roared before pulling on the bamboo he was holding onto, bending it deep into the mist.

It retracted and Rath catapulted at Tsao as an orange blur. Tsao held up his shield as Rath's extended fist with extended claw smashed into it, knocking Tsao into the mists without his shield. Rath managed to grab another bamboo with a hand and foot before looking at his other one, the spike on his fist embedded into the shield.

"Lemme tell ya something, shield; Get off of the Rath's hand!" Rath snapped, shaking his arm and trying to get the shield off.

Sly didn't know whether to laugh at that, or facepalm a little. But that wasn't the case right now...right now, he still had to deal with General Tsao. Speaking of said rooster, he jumped out of the mists and landed away from the two. He looked at his destroyed shield on Rath's fist before he held his hand out. A dark aura erupted from his hand, forming into an obsidian version of the shield, surprising the raccoon.

"Surprised? My family have been masters of the dark arts for generations," Tsao stated.

"That explains why the Guru told us he felt dark energies in the air since we entered the area," Sly noted mostly to himself.

"Heh. Trust me…" Tsao began with a smirk as he jumped back into the mist, "You haven't seen nothing yet!"

"Hey! Get back here, you coward!" Rath snapped as he followed after him, "The Rath ain't done with you yet!"

"Oh geez…" Sly muttered as he followed after them.

As Tsao landed on the ground below, he stood ready for when those fools landed, intent on finishing them off. Rath roared as he landed across from him while Sly landed beside him.

"Heh...well done, 'esteemed wedding photographer'. I must admit, I'm a bit surprised you lasted this long," Tsao admitted before jumping up, dodging an attempted stab from Jian's weapon, "Nice try…'Freedom' Fighter."

"Tsao!" Jian hissed.

"What's wrong? Still angry about me putting you and your 'friends' in your place?" Tsao goaded before he jumped back, dodging an attempted group attack from Roll, Makoto, and Sonic as he landed on top of a boulder near the waterfall.

"Dang, he's fast," Makoto frowned.

"Enough, Tsao. Release Jing King and the prisoners, and this fight can end," Sly said.

"No! Jing King is mine!" Tsao snapped, "Once our bloodlines cross, it shall be glorious! Then and only then will I start my revolution of Mobius!"

"Revolution? You call locking innocent Mobians, a majority of them women, in cages?" Sonic asked with a frown.

"Yes. For you see...for too long, this planet has been plagued by their kind," Tsao frowned, "Aleena, Miyuki of Ryugyu, even the priestess of the Great Spirits...all of them filthy women that need to be put in their place! Once the wedding is over, I shall lead an army across the planet, and restore it to how it should be...ruled by men while the women are put in their place as our servants! And of course...Tsao will lead the new generation of kings that will soon follow."

"But Jing King doesn't want to marry you!" Sly argued as Rath began to tremble, his eyes narrowing dangerously at Tsao.

"She is a woman. She doesn't know her ups from her downs," Tsao scoffed, "Once I 'convinced' her father to take up meditation, she was ripe for the picking."

"RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!-!-!-!" Rath roared, "LEMME TELL YA SOMETHING, GENERAL TSAO OF THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS; I'VE FOUGHT A LOT OF BASTARDS SINCE I WAS TEN AND YOU ARE THE WORST OF THEM ALL!"

"He's right," Sonic added as he glared at Tsao, "As of right now, you're even worse than Robotnik."

"Oh, it gets worse for you all," Tsao informed, "Up until now, I've been going easy on you fools."

"Easy?" Jian raised a brow.

"Of course. Watch!" Tsao declared as he clapped his hands together, the dark aura flaring off him, "Reanimation!"

The ground began to rumble as a faint dark aura started to cover it, Sly and his group preparing themselves for what was about to happen. Within a matter of seconds, decaying hards began to explode out of the ground, the rotting skin on them beginning to regain a bit of color as the owner of the hands pulled themselves out.

"Wh...what's going on?!"

"My soldiers may be powerful, but they are not immortal," Tsao stated as various warriors began to pull themselves out of the ground, "I've scoured the planet for the greatest warriors the planet has ever had...Even if a few of them are filthy women, they will still suffice in my conquest of Mobius!"

"This...This is terrible," Roll whispered, looking at the rising warriors as Yacker laid eyes on just one; a hedgefox no older than her late thirties in a blend of European knight's armor and a samurai's garb.

"42#fw*7r…" Yacker whispered.

"And of course…" Tsao began as a coffin began to raise itself in front of him, "This one is my best find yet…"

"The best one?" Sly repeated.

"Yes. The former king of Mobius before his untimely end at that fat fool," Tsao grinned as the coffin began to slowly open.

Sonic's eyes widened at those words as the coffin fully revealed the Mobian within. Wearing a ruined suit of gold armor, almost to the point of being pitch-black in coloring, was a Mobian hedgehog. Everyone quickly saw that the hedgehog's quills were colored like Sonic's while he wore a broken crown. In his left hand was a large double-edged sword while a dented shield was in the right.

"D….Dad…" Sonic whispered.

"You bastard…" Jian snarled as she glared at Tsao, the white tigress gripping her naginata tightly, "You'd even disgrace the dead by using them as your slaves?!"

"Disgrace? They should be honored that I give them another chance at battle!" Tsao argued.

"That. Is. It!" Rath growled, "I'M GOING ULTIMATE!"

"Eh?!" Roll gasped, "Demo...Rath-san, didn't Kirby-san say that Rath cou…"

"I don't care!" Rath snapped, "Because no one, and I mean no one, uses. The. Dead. Against. ME!"

He slammed down on the Omnitrix, causing the four spikes to emerge. Green electricity sparked out of the symbol, causing Rath to grunt. The electricity continued to spark, making him move back a bit, starting to tremble from the shocks.

"Hpmh! It doesn't matter what you do! My soldiers will destroy you all! My servants, destroy them!" Tsao ordered.

Rath let out a roar as the energy raced over him. As it washed over him, his body began to change. His body became slimmer as a defined six-pack was shown. The spikes on the back of his arms split into three as an extra spike emerged from his elbows and knees while his body shrunk down from eight feet to six. A long tail ending in a spike emerged as black silk chinese fighting clothes covered his body, gold fire patterns going up the pants while a mane formed on his head. His eyes snapped open, revealing slits in them as his liger-like face settled into a calm expression.

"Ultimate Rath," the Ultimate Alien stated.

"Huh?" Makoto blinked at that, 'He's...calm?'

Tsao snapped his fingers and two of the soldiers charged. Both had been master martial artists in life that he studied intensely on to make sure they would be perfect. Ultimate Rath stood his ground before catching their fist/foot aimed at him with his hands, flipping them over before performing a roundhouse, knocking them away. He landed right where he had started, his expression still in its calm state.

"The Creators of Snake Style Kung Fu and Tiger Style Kung Fu, correct?" Ultimate Rath questioned, "How quaint."

"Grr…." Tsao frowned as he snapped his fingers, causing a few more warriors to charge at Ultimate Rath.

Ultimate Rath moved out of the way of a slash before catching a lunging spear. He slammed the holder of the weapon into a polar bear before catching the sword that had tried to slash him earlier, shattering it with a strike of his tail. He reeled his fist back and swung it, slamming his fist into the sword-holder, sending her crashing into the others that had tried to attack him in a group.

"Whoa. What happened to him?" Sly asked.

"The Ultimate Feature," Makoto replied, "It lets Ben evolve his aliens to their 'ultimate' state, but...I thought Rath didn't have one."

"Oh! I think I understand. Maybe Rath-san from Kirby-san's universe didn't have that ability, so he thought that no other Rath-san could," Roll noted.

"I see...still, seeing Rath act so….calm is a bit freaky," Sonic admitted.

"...Former King," Tsao spoke up, "You and the Sakurai deal with your descendants."

Azure and the Sakurai looked at the two mentioned, earning Roll and Sonic's attention. Sonic gulped and tried to summon his sword, but only got the guitar. Roll looked at Yacker to see him just staring at the Sakurai, trembling.

"Heh..seems the Wisp is unnerved at what he sees…" Tsao noted as he made a handsign, causing a sheathed sword to appear next to the Sakurai he had resurrected, "It makes sense, considering that this is the very Sakurai he first bonded with so long ago."

"What…?" Roll whispered with wide eyes.

"Of course...You two won't live long enough to see her help me in my goal. Now Azure, Zen, destroy them!" Tsao ordered.

Zen grasped the sheathed sword and pulled it out of its sheathe as both assumed fighting stances.

"Dad...I don't want to do this but…" Sonic paused as he stood ready, "I'm not going let Tsao use you for his insane goal."

"Yacker-chan," Roll put a hand on the Wisp, "I know you're conflicted. But please, we need you if we'll have any chance of letting her rest again."

"..." Yacker looked at Roll and nodded, "BURST!"

The Burst Wisp shot into Roll's pocket knife, turning it into its buster sword state while turning the arm holding the blade in the same color as the Wisp while Roll's eyes changed to the same color.

"Me and Makoto will help deal with the stragglers," Jian stated as the two prepared their own weapons, "Sly, Tsao's all yours."

Sly nodded.

"Hmph...if that is what you intend to do…" Tsao began as he made a 'come at me' motion with his hand, "The black magic of the family Tsao is unstoppable and you all shall fall."

SZ:...wow. Just...damn.

GT: Agreed

Call:...I do not like Tsao.

SZ: Ag-*sputters for a moment* Call?! What're you…?!"

Call: Cryosphere wanted me to take her place here to 'check things out'. And once more...I do not like Tsao.

SZ: ...

Call: ...is there a problem?

SZ: No. It's just...well no offense, while I do like you Call, it's just...you kinda act like Nicole when she used to be a handheld back in the early days of the Archie Sonic comics, and sonic SATAM.

Call:...I see...I have been wondering a bit on why Beck and the rest of the Mighty numbers act so differently.

SZ: It's because they all have their own personalities.

Call:...I see.

GT: Well, she does look cute, so that's a point for her.

SZ: Well she is supposed to be the 'Roll' of the Mighty No 9 world. Though...still unsure if she and Beck are siblings or not.

Call: I was created like Beck, yes, but I was made as a navigator to help out.

SZ: What about that one level where you had a crossbow and jetpack?

Call: ...that was so we could get information from Dr. Blackwell. It made sense to use for a stealth mission. *notices GT staring at her*...is there something you need?

GT: Are you a ninja, spy, or a master thief?

Call: I am a navigator.

GT: Okay…*looks at the readers* Okay.

SZ: As you all know...a lot of stuff happened in this chapter, mainly the stuff that Tsao has been doing.

Call: Once more, I do not like Tsao…

SZ:...GT? Can you get Roll in here to keep Call company, and possibly get permission from her creator to upgrade her a bit?

GT: I can try.

Call: Hmm?*blinks at that as Roll came in and helped escort her out*

Roll: Konnichiwa~

GT: While she talks with Call, I think we're at the end. Remember to read and review!

SZ: Hai, so until part 2 of this mini-arc, I'm Seanzilla115, he's Gammatron…

GT: ...And we bid you adieu.

SZ: Ja ne.