Episode 5: Man-Tis

It only seemed like a matter of seconds before the Z-Team, led by Zack found themselves in another location, this time a bright, lively laboratory, bustling with activity all around them. In front of them was a man in his 40's with brown hair, wearing a lab coat, and some goggles just above his eyes. There was a grin of delight on his face that his protege had returned from some adventures.

"I've been expecting you Zack! I see the new recruits are ready for some experimenting!" He chuckled gleefully. A few of Zack's group were a little intrigued of this strange lively scientist.

"Who're you?" asked Mulan preponderously.

"Why I'm Dr. Enrique Dectavious, Zack's other mentor! Here at the All Fields Laboratory, we explore different areas of science, no stone gets unturned." Everyone's face lit up at what this place could do. "I never do my work alone, we have a whole lot of scientists here, and I have my trusted colleagues as well, Dr. Mary Schwitz…." out stepped a young scientist with long red hair in her 30's, who bowed to the group, "and I have another one, Dr. Peter Castillo….." his smile dropped. "who unfortunately went missing a few days ago…." The Z-Team saw Dr. Dectavious' concerned look.

"What happened?" asked Mickey.

"He claimed he was experimenting with some new teleportation technology, claiming the prototype was near completion. I heard some commotion in the lab but never found out what happened to him. At the same time, he's been searching for his favorite test subject Murray, a praying mantis, that also went missing."

"Is there anything we could do to help out?" asked Jasmine.

"Perhaps you could check his office….his papers could be a good place to look. His office is just two doors down." Everyone nodded and headed for the office, inside were two teleportation pods, and a desk. The group searched for the papers of his report. All of them showed that the pods were faulty, they had to be cleared of any other organism before the process was complete. On one of the reports was a strange set of four numbers saying, "1958", found by Moana, which she saved in her sash. Just then, Zack's phone rang which he answered and then handed it over to Mickey.

"Who's this?…...Pete…...What's that?! A strange bug creature in the House of Mouse?! We're on our way!" At hearing this, Zack created another shadow portal and ordered his team to jump in. They arrived just in the nick of time, for everyone was screaming at a rather strange, frightening guest in the nightclub: a strange humanoid creature with the lower half a man, and the upper half a praying mantis, with the strangely large eyes with single, very small pupils. Rajah, Pluto, and Abu, recoiled in fear at the sight of this abomination, eyes wide as saucers as the creature made strange shrieking noises.

"Everyone form a perimeter around the monster!" ordered Zack, the team did just that trying their best to subdue the creature. Just then the humanoid mantis flung its claws at the group, it managed to fling Donald away onto a table that had Pinocchio, Jiminy, and Gepetto, the puppet had to dodge roll out of the way. Looking up, he noticed some other strange thing: caught in a spider's web, a strange insect, the lower half was a mantis half, the upper half was a strange middle-aged man with short dark grey hair, stubbly beard, and glasses.

"Help me….help me….please…..help me!" the insect screamed in a buzz like shriek, it was the most horrifying sound he ever heard, it drove him into a state of fear, but seeing the situation it was in, and what the Z-Team were in, he quickly, but with gentle care, caught the tiny half human, half insect creature. He got up just in time, the group had their weapons drawn.

"Don't hurt him!" shouted Pinocchio. "He's looking for this!" He opened his hands, revealing the insect, the group was aghast at what the puppet was showing them, it looked just like the other half of the monster, and looked up at the creature. The puppet placed the tiny insect in Mickey's hand. Moana stepped forward.

"Please stop, we're not here to hurt you….we want to help you…." she pleaded with the humanoid insect. Hearing this, the insect monster stopped attacking. Zack stepped forward next.

"Let's bring you to where you need to be…." Zack created a shadow portal, "Escort him through the portal teammates." The rest did just that and jumped right in. In a matter of seconds, the group and the monster found themselves in Dr. Castillo's office again. Reading the papers that were found, they found out how to work the controls, including opening one of the pods. Without any further ado, they led the creature and placed the small half human insect into the pod. Moana operated the password to activate the machine and in a matter of seconds, a strange white light was seen from the pod that the two creatures were in, and then went blank. A few seconds later, the other pod lit up for a few seconds and then went blank, followed by the door opening, though some smoke emitted out. Everyone was anxious, awaiting the fate of the two beings. Was this successful? A coughing sound was heard from the pod, and in a matter of seconds, emerged a man, this time completely intact. Everyone smiled in relief that the experiment was a success.

"Thank you all very much, I feel so embarassed trying out my own technology and getting that result. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dr. Peter Castillo, one of Dr. Dectavious' highest colleagues. To repay you, I can fashion you bunch up some nice monster potions to help you in your battles."

"That's nice, but for now, we have something that needs some investigation…" replied Zack. "Bring forth the strange rock Rajah." The tiger stepped forward with the sequestered strange webbed rock and layed it out on the table. Dr. Castillo was aghast at what was brought to him.

"Th-This is Caconite! Where did you find this?"

"We found some out in the desert in Agrabah…."

"Then there's more to be found!"

"But where?" asked Donald.

"All over the world!" Everyone's eyes widened with shock at hearing that.

"And that's not all….we've fought and defeated a Shadow Sandman a while ago…." answered Zack grimly.

"Then that can only mean one thing…..Dakmogon the Dark Master is back…..though not at full strength…..yet….at this point he's still attempting to manifest strength from whatever corruption, fear, and other negative vibes he can absorb from, though death from innocent lives also boosts his power as well." The other Z-Team members were all horrified with what they were hearing, though still hopeful that there was anything that could be done to help slow down or stop the Dark Master.

"Gawrsh….where should we even start?"

"For now we don't exactly know where the point of origin or the lair of the Dark Master is. I think we should stay on the alert for now, and make sure if you spot any Shadow Monks doing strange activity."

"Shadow Monks?" pondered Mickey.

"Followers of the Dark Master, formerly human, but his power corrupted them beyond recognition, attempting to save them is impossible as they forfeited their souls and more than half of their own essence to serve him and his ghastly minions and creations. Calling the powers of darkness they are able to summon monsters with dark teleporters.." He went over to a safe in his office and opened it up, as he did he pulled out another strange object, it was square shaped, like a squat box, but had a swirl in the center which almost covered the full perimeter of the box, the four edges had strange antennae-like structures, all around were bizarre markings, like an ancient language. "..this is a dark teleporter. The Shadow Monks use these to summon monsters from the Dark Master's realm, though they have other means of summoning monsters, such as bizarre rituals and spells. They're also dangerous themselves, always armed with dark daggers. Blood from innocents keeps them alive, so if they stab you with their daggers the blood they obtain from you will be absorbed into what shells they have left."

"They can still be stopped can they?" asked Mulan.

"Oh yes, they can be defeated by any regular means, and try not to mourn for them, their own greed, malice or whatever drove them to their states. But for the Dark Master himself, I assure that Zack has told you about about becoming a Lightbringer?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, by becoming a Lightbringer, a warrior of Maker the supreme being just as ancient as the cosmos itself, you should be able to stop Dakmogon from covering the Earth in darkness, pain, corruption, and despair."

"How on Earth does one actually become a Lightbringer?" asked Aladdin.

"There's a point on Earth where you must undergo a trial in order to claim Maker's Light, but even archaeologists haven't found the location, it's a secret that has been kept for thousands of years, some even claim the secret is held in a secret city, the only clues that we know of now is a few citizens from that city have left from that area, and are hoping to find the true heroes that can wield it. There at different points of the world, and for generations they have kept the secrets of their sacred city. Once you find them they'll give you clues to the secret city. For now we should keep on the alert for any more threats, and hopefully you'll find them at some point."

"Sounds good to me, I'm ready for any threat that comes my way, and when it happens…..Let's Burn!" Zack said smiling enthusiastically with his sword out.

"I'm ready too!" Moana smiled with eager determination, holding out her oar. "Ready to tackle any challenge that gets in our way!"

"You have my shield too!" exclaimed Goofy.

"And my graceful heart!" added Minnie.

"And my fireworks!" added Mulan.

"And my wits!" added Aladdin.

"And my adaptability!" added Jasmine.

"And our strength and courage!" finished Simba with Nala nodding.

"Then let's put it all together!" shouted Zack, placing his fist in the center, the rest placed their hands and paws together.

"Z Power!" they all shouted in unison.