Preface: Hello, again! Let's get started with the third and final simultaneous story, starring some characters who have been out of the spotlight for a while...

THE FINAL FUSION

Previously...Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles traveled to the Northstar Islands to assist Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee in returning to their world, while Danny, Liam, Kevin, and their companions went on a hike while on a camping trip.

Now...the citizens of the Fusion Zone get out for the summer, sometimes before the previous two adventures begin...

Roll Call

Jaleel Turq - Alfred von Any: Inventive puffball spirit. Learning to believe in himself.

Jason Howler - Ben Schwartz: Jaleel's best friend. Excitable wolf.

Beau Dee - Tara Strong: Jaleel's girlfriend. Budding seamstress.

Harper Swing - Kristen Schaal: Athletic hedgehog. Star baseball player.

Brad Lift - Bobby Gaylor: Superstrong bulldog. Also athletic.

Terry Stool - Tom Kenny: Camping Cappy. Learning to be adventurous.

Mackenzie Pen - Jacob Tremblay: Artistic monkey. Very dexterous.

Chapter 5:
Racing for Power

[Party Selected: Jaleel, Jason, Beau Dee, Harper, Brad, Terry, Mackenzie]
[Current World: Fusion Zone]
[Current Location: Vegetable Hill Zone, Outcast Cherubs' Clubhouse]

[BGM: Jun Ishikawa - Peanut Plains]

Summer had just begun for the residents of the Vegetable Hill Zone. As soon as the final bell rang, the children all proceeded to race out the school's front doors, raring to get their summer plans started. It certainly helped that they had a half-day today and got out before noon. Whether it was playing baseball, going to the fair, reading every comic book in their collection, or doing a movie marathon, nothing was going to stand in their way of having a fantastic summer.

As for six of those residents, however, they already knew exactly what they were going to do.

The previous summer, the Outcast Cherubs had found an abandoned clubhouse, and thanks to some teamwork and love and care, the clubhouse had become their new base of operations. It had a TV, plenty of DVDs and video games to stock it up with, some exercise equipment, a shelf full of comic books and board games, a mini-fridge, bean bag chairs, and all sorts of other stuff to make it the perfect paradise for the young mobians, puffball spirit, Waddle Dee, and Cappy.

At this very moment, four of the Outcast Cherubs were in an intense game of Mario Kart, a common tradition for the start of summer. "Here I come…" said Jason Howler, the wolf, starting to catch up.

"Oh, no you don"t!" Harper Swing, the hedgehog, argued back, preparing to toss a banana his way.

Beau Dee, the Waddle Dee wearing a bow, smiled as she got a Triple Red Shell. One-by-one, she tossed each shell at her opponents and took the lead. "Catch me if you can!" she taunted the others.

"Don't get too cocky," said Terry Stool, the Cappy. "I've got a Spiny Shell!" Terry wasn't the best at Mario Kart, but it did mean he got to have the most powerful items most often.

While the four laughed and played, the other three Outcast Cherubs were in the corner, conducting a serious experiment. Inspired by two attacks on the entire Chaosverse, Jaleel Turq, the puffball spirit, was inspired to find a way to neutralize any other threats to only the worlds they're inhabiting. To that end, he decided to work with Balancia, a fairy-like being known as an allay who was a guardian of the Chaosverse, to create what he called the Harmony Beacons - five small circular devices that would send magic beacons into the space between worlds, warding off any threats.

After working hard for two months, Jaleel and Balancia were just about finished with the project. Brad Lift, the bulldog, and Mackenzie Pen, the monkey were assisting by holding the parts that made up the Harmony Beacons as Jaleel screwed them into place and Balancia used some of her energy to make the core of each beacon. Due to how strong Balancia's powers were, Jaleel had to be extremely careful in putting the beacons together - one false move, and they could blow up and force him to start over.

Thankfully, he got the last screw into place just as Harper crossed the finish line. "Rrrrrgh…hacker!" cried Terry, tossing his controller onto the couch and crossing his arms.

Harper laughed. "You know what they say - all's fair in love and Mario Kart."

"Yeah, yeah, just wait until Jaleel beats ya!" said Jason, nudging his elbow into her side. "Then you'll be sorry!" He looked over to tell Jaleel they were finished and saw the five beacons around him. "Yo, wait, did you finish those?"

Jaleel wiped his forehead and proudly held up the five beacons. "Pretty much, yeah," he said with a shrug. Even after all this time, he still had a bit of trouble acknowledging his successes. "All we gotta figure out is how to power these things, and we should be good to get everyone together and power these things on."

Balancia tapped her chin. "I think I know just the solution," she said. "Have any of you heard about the All-Seeing Orb?"

"Say, didn't we do a report on that for school, Jaleel?" said Harper, recognizing the name.

"Mmm…yeah, I think we did," said Jaleel. "Isn't it in Blockbuild or something?" Blockbuild was the area of the Fusion Zone located in the fabric of reality between Minecraftia and the Unikingdom.

"Yeah, Terry and I went to Blockbuild over spring break," said Brad, snapping his fingers. "There was some kind of tour that mentioned a temple where that orb was located."

"Might be tricky, though," said Terry. "I think the part of the temple with the orb is off-limits."

"So we'd be…breaking and entering?" said Beau Dee, nervously. She didn't like the idea of breaking the law.

"Not only that, but I heard rumors that there's some ghouls in there that attack any intruder," said Mackenzie, trembling. "This is gonna be a huge risk…"

"Well…we've been through worse, right, guys?" said Brad. "What about when we went to defeat Valtron? That was terrifying!"

"How could I ever forget it?" said Jaleel with a mix of pride and contrition. That adventure was the first time the Outcast Cherubs as a whole were ever pushed out of their comfort zone, though Jaleel was involved in an earlier incident where Mobius and Planet Popstar, the two worlds that served as the basis for the Vegetable Hill Zone, merged together for real. "And then right afterward was when that Perinton Pig guy or whoever it was merged the entire Chaosverse into one."

"And a couple months ago when you, me, and Beau Dee helped fight against that Doppelator guy," added Jason. "And we all stuck together and made it through, didn't we?"

Jaleel nodded. "I guess you guys are right," he said. "Brad, do you have your bus pass?"

"Ah, no, I left it at my house," said Brad, shaking his head. "Gimme a minute, and I'll go get it."

"And while you're at it, stop by my house and grab our weapons from the garage," added Jaleel. "Something tells me we're gonna need them. Plus, it'll give me and Mackenzie more time to show Harper how it's done!"

Harper smirked. "Oh, you're on!"

And so, Jaleel and Mackenzie jumped into the game, while Brad left to get his bus pass and the weapons Jaleel had made for the entire Outcast Cherubs. Since she got second place, Beau Dee agreed to play in Brad's place, and Jason, Terry, and Balancia eagerly watched the competition unfold. Compared to the previous race, the results were far tighter - Beau Dee wound up winning by a hair. "Yay! I won!" she cried jumping up and down.

"Alright, alright, I admit defeat," said Harper, placing her controller down.

"Nice one, sweetie," Jaleel complimented. He was fine with Beau Dee beating him. At that moment, Brad returned, carrying all the weapons Jaleel had made. Because of his strength, Brad's trouble carrying them came from the fact that was carrying multiple things in two hands and not from the weight of them, but that was not why he had a nervous look on his face. "Hey, Brad! Beau Dee won for ya!"

"Uh…cool, cool," said Brad. Awkwardly, he handed each weapon to the others - Jaleel's arm cannon, Jason's Simul-Wispon, Beau Dee's Sew Whip, Harper's Electro-Bat, Terry's Swiss Army Blade, and Mackenzie's Scribble Book. Brad kept the last weapon, the Knuckles Spikes, for himself, and everyone put their weapons in their hammerspace area, figuring they wouldn't need them right away. "Listen, guys, there's something I should tell ya…" Brad then said, awkwardly.

"What is it?" asked Balancia, concerned.

Brad twiddled his fingers. What he discovered was terrible. It was something that could ruin the entire quest. But he knew he had to tell them. So he took a deep breath and said, "The next bus to Blockbuild leaves in ten minutes."

"WHAT?" everyone else collectively shouted. "Okay, okay, we can make it," said Jason, quickly going to turn the console off. "We're just gonna have to run for it!"

"Yeah, we can make it another race," said Terry.

"If you guys want," said Jaleel. "But whatever! Let's just go!"

[BGM: Jun Ishikawa - Get Up and GO-urmet!]

"Right, then!" said Balancia. "I'll grab the Harmony Beacons! If you need me, just holler!" Balancia grabbed the five devices she and Jaleel worked on, Jaleel picked up his hat and allowed the allay to fly under it, and then the seven ran out of the clubhouse towards the bus stop. True to its name, the Vegetable Hill Zone was a hilly area, but the Outcast Cherubs weren't going to let that stop them.

As the star player for the school baseball team, Harper was the fastest runner of the group, so she easily pulled ahead. And despite being bigger than the others, Brad was able to keep up pretty well. The others, due to a combination of smaller size and not being as physically fit, had more trouble staying with the others. "Whew, man," said Jason, wiping his forehead after running for a few minutes. "How much farther?"

"We only just passed the library!" said Mackenzie, huffing and puffing. "We still have a ways to go."

Harper looked around for the baseball field. Every time she played there, she always saw the bus stop nearby. Whenever she waited for her turn to bat, she liked to watch the people boarding and leaving the bus and wonder what their stories were. But the proximity would certainly help for their current predicament. And so, as soon as she saw the field, she told the others, "Follow me! I know a shortcut!" and turned to the field.

The others followed her direction and changed course to the baseball field. But as they got closer and closer, they realized there was already a group of kids playing kickball on the field. "You're not suggesting we…" began Jaleel.

"I don't see how else we'll get there in time!" Harper argued. "Come on! At least they're not playing baseball!"

"I guess…" said Jaleel. "But I'm sure they'll be mad about-"

"We'll worry about that later!" cried Terry. "We just gotta go!" And so, the seven ran across the field, careful not to run in the way of the kickball or the players and shouting apologies to them along the way. Although the players were understandably angry, no one was harmed in the incident.

"Alright, we just gotta hop that fence and we're there," said Harper, pointing towards the chain-link fence that blocked off the field from the rest of town. Thanks to her size, she was able to jump up and pull herself over easily, as was Brad. After he jumped, however, Brad stayed on top of the fence for a minute to pull Jason over, and the two helped Jaleel, Beau Dee, Terry, and Mackenzie over the fence as well. Harper stopped for a moment to wait for the others, jogging in place to keep her momentum going.

"Thanks, bud," said Jaleel as he touched the ground. "Man, that was intense."

"Well, we've gone through worse," Beau Dee pointed out. "And hey, the bus stop's right there!"

"Yeah, and it's about to leave! Let's go!" said Harper, motioning for the others to keep following her. With one last sprint, the Outcast Cherubs made it to the bus in time.

"Seven to Blockbuild, please!" shouted Brad, handing his bus pass to the driver.

"Alright, kids," said the bus driver. "Ya know, I would've waited for you if you asked me to." That resulted in a long, annoyed groan from Jaleel, Beau Dee, Mackenzie, Terry, and Jason as the group took their seats, and then the five collapsed where they were sitting in exhaustion.

"Aww, grow up," said Harper, teasingly. "That wasn't so bad."

"Easy for you to say!" Mackenzie argued. "You're the one running practically every Saturday for three months! That was the farthest I ever ran in my life!"

"At least now we have a nice, long bus ride to Blockbuild," said Jason. The driver closed the doors and began to pull the bus away from the stop. "I don't see anything else standing in our way now!"

As it turns out, the Outcast Cherubs managed to get out of the Vegetable Hill Zone just in time, and it was a good thing Balancia grabbed the Harmony Beacons when she did. Because at that moment, cracks were beginning to appear in the ground and buildings, and it wouldn't be long before these cracks spread to the rest of the Fusion Zone…

To be continued...and next time: into the temple!

Next chapter: "Earnestly Seeking the Future" The Outcast Cherubs have made it to Blockbuild, but getting the All-Seeing Orb won't be easy! They'll have to sneak into a temple, solve a puzzle, fight against ghouls, and trust in each other in order to claim their prize. And even then, will it be a prize worth winning?

Postface: Chapter complete! Sorry about that fake-out with Brad's news - just thought I'd add a bit of levity!

Trivia time! This section of the story stars the Outcast Cherubs, a group of characters I created for a one-shot a few years ago, though Jaleel made an appearance in Spacehog from Mobius III: Chaos Haven II before that. The Outcast Cherubs are meant to be a joke about OCs, mostly being recolors of existing characters, but I tried to make sure their personalities made them stand out. While they did appear in both Minecraft Maniacs stories, I wanted to make another story starring just them, which led to me coming up with this segment of The Final Fusion. And, in reference to the epilogue of Minecraft Maniacs: Light and Dark, Balancia makes a return appearance! She won't appear much in this segment, but those 'Harmony Beacons' she and Jaleel made will definitely come in handy later. And as I said in the Outcast Cherubs' self-titled one-shot, each of their weapons is in reference to something - Jaleel's blaster is based on Kirby's signature abilities, Jason's Simul-Wispon is based on the Wispons from Sonic Forces, Beau Dee's Sew Whip is because she likes sewing, Harper's Electro-Bat is because she likes baseball, Brad's Knuckles Spikes are based on Knuckles' spiked gloves, Terry's Swiss Army Blade is because he likes camping, and Mackenzie's Scribble Book is based on the book from the Scribblenauts games.

That should be it! I'll be taking a short break from uploading this weekend, so new chapters will resume on Monday. Please read, review, and share around, and I'll see you all next time for the trip to Blockbuild! Stay diamond, everyone!

-Alfred

~All ideas from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise are properties of Sega Corp. All ideas from the Kirby franchise are properties of Nintendo Co., LTD. and HAL Laboratory, Inc. All ideas from Minecraft are properties of Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios. No copyright infringement with any of these companies nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~