Connecting to Partners

by zcritic88

A few days after the war against chaos, something stirred in the cosmos once more. What was a mystery prior, is soon to be relieved as a particular boy and his band if misfits get swept up into the on going battle between Light, Dark and the Truth. New bonds will be forged, and older ones will be stronger than before as the conflict takes a turn

35. Perplexing Discovery

Flying through the sky, the jet car hurried all the way back to a neighborhood. Perry saw a beacon marker in a backyard and further ahead was a light leading to somewhere. Riku knew that is a sign of the Terestal Labyrinth and asked. "They went down into another one of those?"

Perry had the jet car lower towards shrubbery as the boy took the chance to ask the Mama Sneasler. "Hey, Sneasler, one of my friends have some of your clients with her and they're following her everywhere. Does that ring any bells?" The poison type gasped as King turned on telepathy. "Those Seafaring kids?!" She laughed to that "Ha, looks like you've done the hard work for us."

Riku laughed back in good will. "Yeah. In case things get messy down there, I'm wanting to ask. A kid who knows his poke intel well, gave me some razor claws to evolve the boys after I told him I'm going to hold off on that." Raz nodded and lowered his eye lids. "He's thinking you'd get mad if you saw a Weavile and a Sneasler instead." The Mama raised a brow and gave a condescending smirk to Riku. "Seriously? You held off on that? My boys have been wanting to treasure hunt for that since they've heard of it!"

The human felt that hurt like a punch to the shoulder and closed his left eye. "But how was I suppose to know?" Darter felt that was worth a touche. "Good point."

Riku took the moment to think about it. "So, how are we going to do it? Our friends are going to need the help asap." The Mama pointed her claw to him. "Do I got to spell it out? You just need Darter or Raz to ahem, while or when it is ahem."

Raz looked at the daylight in jealousy as Darter was feeling nervous. "Hoo boy, I got to be the big one now." The Mama nodded as the car went into the woods and made a landing, she jumped off. "Yep, until it's sun down, you're going to have to be the responsible one."

The band jumped off and Perry put his fedora away and got on all fours to resemble an ordinary platypus. He gave a low pitch growl as he hurried to the source of commotion, Riku hurried to get the razor claw out and give it to Darter. "Apparently, you just need to hold it while we're fighting what ever is over there." He and the brothers got off as King climbed, Darter took it and promised. "Don't worry, this will make it really easy."

Riku considered something and gave Raz the other. "I guess until then, try the claw out and see where that goes." The rougher Sneasel snickered. "Just my luck." The band hurried to a pond that is being beset by a spectral force, taking shape into sickly green spirits with black circles for eyes and a collection of maces, cross bow and candle like scepters. Riku readied his weapon and signaled to Perry. "Go sneak in there and see what's going on, we'll be close by!" The Platypus hurried as the Death Borne were focused on the bigger band of heroes and approached enmass.

Earlier in the Play Area

Leon and the Keybearers tensed at an approaching green fog that felt ominous, wind blowing in and bringing about a chill. Figures of spectral spirits appeared as a red eyed lich floated over the ice rink. Kairi felt a chill, looking upon the Horned King that made an eerie turn. "For all my travels, these lands never cease to be surprising. Don't these crystals hold such peculiar mysteries, Princess of Heart?"

Kairi kept to her blade, waiting for the foe to make that first move. "These places are just as confusing to us. We know you're here for a reason, so let's get to the fighting already!" The Horned King gave a glow of purple and channeled it to his minions. "My Mistress requests more for her army and it appears you've held the lot in this village before we have the chance. We'll have to take them the old fashion way, along with your bodies."

With a gesture, the Harvesters charged enmass while the Spirit Bolts lined up for supportive fire. The Candle Channelers enchanted the Harvester's blades as panels on the ground popped up to show jet engine turrets that blasted against the melee foes, while the turrets in the ceiling fired at the Spirit Bolts.

Sora, Snowball and Azu took the chance and charged, clashing blade and fist against the undead spirits that phased through a few blows and hovered back to counter with soul blaze slashes. The Spirit Bolts flew to the side, half firing at Kairi and half firing at an owl that is hidden in the shadows. Leon ordered. "Pueo, use leaf blade on the master mind!"

The Horned King spun side ways to avoid a long reaching owl archer as Sora signaled. "Biven, now!" LEAP! The Iron Treads rolled after the Horned King and rammed him across the rink, forcing him to fly around as the robot turned fast and had to slide wide. Crinoid channeled a grassy terrain and Shooter bombarded the two Candle Channelers with a terrain pulse. Phineas was looking at the Harvesters and asked. "Bibarel, try using swords dance and rush in with that jet!" The Bibarel gave a simple stance as Ferb gave Frogadier a point at the green fog that called upon a second duo of Spirit Bolts. The frog sprinted to the side and fired a wade of gunk to leave one of the Bolts poisoned. Baljeet gave a battle cry. "Mach punch and the one two of fire and lightning!"

Monferno disappeared in a blink and intercepted a Harvester, keeping it well distracted as Bufford was seeing a Spirit Bolt ascend to get an aim the loud nerd. He grunted to Ivysaur. "Knock him out and give him that drain!"

The plant carrier grunted and sprinted, he jerked his back forward and sprayed a sleep powder that sent the spirit in a daze, exposing it to a giga drain that sent it falling. Bibarel jetted after the Harvesters and gave Sora some space. Reinforcements of Harvesters appeared and Kairi glided over head, to face a recovering Horned King. Azu delivered a play rough smack on the more battered Harvester and jetted after the Lich. The Horned King brought about a blade and did battle, feeling the weight of Kairi's blow as Azu threw an ice punch.

Another pack of Candle Channelers appeared and the Lich looked to the frigid grounds and commanded. "Melt this ice!" The Channelers raised their candles and brought heat to the frosted grounds, Leon wasn't sure if the rink is ground deep or not. "Kilokilo, dazzling gleam and follow with a psyshock on that lich!"

His Hatterene hovered over and swatted a fast bombardment at the Channelers before using psyshock. The Horned King turned into purple clouds, flew to a corner and raised his hand to channel a drain upon the girl. Kairi felt her spirit being ripped away, gritted her teeth and flung a flower of light to halt the spell before Kilokilo blasted the Channelers away and danced to flicker a life dew upon the Princess. The Horned King is seeing his assault isn't going anywhere and he clapped. "Ultros, come!"

"Wee, hee, hee, hee, hee!"

Warping out of a puddle, came a purple octopus with sharp teeth. "Did someone called?" He noticed Kairi, had a blush and realize something. "Wait a minute?" He was seeing a similarity between the girl and a particular one he met before. Giving the Princess and Azu time to get a distance. Ultros felt the lich glaring at him and wiggled after the duo in a complaint. "When will I have my own minions?"

He gave a series of disruptive slaps as Pueo intercepted for a leaf blade and followed with a spirit shackle. The Horned King conjured a wisp and blasted the rink, melting the ice and causing the group to fall into a shoes deep of water.

The Horned King was a bit disappointed and crackled his hands in lightning, it would be enough to do. Dash! Chop! Sprinting to interrupt the Horned King was the Iron Valiant, followed by Pidgeot, who blew a tail wind for his allies. Flying over clumsily was the Iron Bundle, that looked to the thawed rink and blew a frigid wind. The Lady watching put a finger to the side of her head and projected a thought into the Bundle. "Palírroias, flash freezing that could freeze our guests in place. Think, where can you turn this battle around to where we'll have the advantage of attrition?"

The Bundle beeped and flew after Ultros, who was struggling stuck and was shooting ink blots at the attackers. BLAST! A hydro pump connected and the octopus gurgled while forced into a hold. "Urk, urk, urk!"

Ultros twirled as the Bundle stepped back in rhythm and clapped for an encore, forcing Ultros to repeat the ink barrage, even if he had something else in mind. Pidgeot flapped a heat wave at the Horned King as the Valiant pointed at the lich and for saw an attack. The Horned King unleashed a wave of clawing specters to force the attackers into moving away and was intercepted by the Iron Treads.

The stalemate went on for a while and the Death Borne were given reinforcements of Boar Troops and Crozzards. The Iron Bundle and Azumarril looked to that as a bolt of green fire flew into the chamber, having an assessment of a rising situation and looking upon a passage out of the facility. "Intriguing," The Horned King blasted his assailants away and looked ahead to find the doorways into a watery wilderness. "That leads somewhere." Maleficent agreed and flew over as a spinning wisp. "Occupy them a ways more, we'll be finished before long."

She avoided the busy boys as the Lady of the Labyrinth flinched and unleashed a barrage of water globs. "Hey, hey, hey!" Maleficent dodged the blasts, flew over the strange woman and made for the river. The Lady cringed. "Oh that's bad, like that could turn things if she gets her hands on-" Phineas over heard and asked. "What's over there anyways, some magical treasure that you're wanting the guys to find?" The Lady appreciated an observant mind. "Precisely! I've been wanting the Guardians of Light to have them. The power to change a pokemon's type on the spot can and has turned the tide of many battles, if I'm informed right." She felt a weight of pressure. "But we're getting huge numbers here, so this isn't something you can just drop and run from."

As she contemplated, she noticed a teal platypus wandering around the battle zone, Phineas noticed. "Perry, what's ya doing here?" The platypus gave a low growl as an escalation is heard. A yellow Sneasler rushed at Ultros and gave him a dire claw slash, sending him in a roll as the Horned King turned around and dodged a triple attack from Riku and the Sneasel brothers.

The Lady smiled at the convenience as King arrived to see the Lich call upon his Death Borne Harvesters for an assault. The Iron Valiant blasted away with a dazzling gleam as the King gave a yawn. The Lich was feeling the influence upon his mind as the older teenager waved. "What we miss?"

Sora gave a smack across the increased numbers. "Oh, nothing much! That hag flew right past here, she's after something!"

Leon gasped to an idea and readied a heavy ball. "Luna Kaua, let's really turn this around!" Pop! Out came the shiny Kingambit that looked around to a battle field, his eyes shined in an opportunity that Leon felt was mutual. "Kairi, the Seafarers can swim, call them back and make a run for the river! We'll cover you!"

Kairi nodded and ran with Azu, Ultros wasn't going to allow that. "Where are you going? This is cheating!"

Slash!

Riku intercepted with Darter delivering a critical poison jab and Raz blowing out an icy wind. "Nah, just another player had joined in her place! Though the kiddy pools not fooling anyone."

The Horned King had his Spirit Bolts fire after the Princess, only to watch the Kingambit get in their way and slice one with a kowtow cleave. The sharp blade delivered a sucker punch as the youngster ordered. "Go after any dark force that's distracted and get them in the back!" Kairi called Shooter and Crinoid back as the Lady issued a suggestion. "Palírroias, go with her! We can salvage the rest of that old plan."

The Bundle grunted and used his tail hose to jet himself through the cluster of minions. Catching up with Kairi and Azu, he tapped his feet and beeped. (Let me come along, that zone's off limits!) Azu sighed as Kairi had a plan in mind. "Just tag along, because we're making a ride!" They hurried out, unaware of the Lady giving a silent giggle as she focused upon a busy Riku and teleported to assist.

She conjured a golden colored blade of Star Light and sliced through the Harvesters with little effort. Riku picked up the scent and half turned to her, Sora had a moment to see the blade and gave a yell. "Wait, you're a Keybearer too?"

The Lady smiled in glee. "I got some explaining to do, but we can turn this around."

BLAST!

She channeled a funnel of light and witstood a purple sun blast from the Horned King. She condensed a bright light to swallow the death magic and break it apart. "Riku, bring out that other partner of yours! I'll show you something cool!" The older boy let out the Flutter Mane, that was bewildered by such an alien place, she looked upon the Lady with interest as Biven leaped after the Boar Troops and let loose a bull doze shock. The lady conjured two crystal canisters. "Biven, Shemesh. Take the power that brought you into this world and use it to send this evil scouring back into the shadows!"

Glimmer! BURST!

The power washed over the duo, Penumbra felt a primal power course through her being as Biven felt energy enhancing his thought pattern. The Treads rolled back swiftly as the Spirit ascended above Riku and give off a battle cry, she channeled a shadow ball as Snowball took a blow of a sword and ignited into his Zen Mode. The ape sent the unversed flying through a fire punch and kept by Sora and Comfey as they hurried to the brawl. The boy flowed to Biven and ordered. "Roll!" The Iron Treads rolled forward and flung Sora at a Horned King that dodged a shadow ball. The boy smacked the lich as Biven rolled around for an Iron Head. Sora had Flowers unroll and sent out Butterfree, the butterfly was seeing the endless horde and went after the Channelers to sprinkle a stun spore. The Lady set her focus on the dazed octopus and signaled that she'll handle the annoyance. "Valiant, aid the Keybearers. I'll keep this guy from getting in the way."

Ultros shook and saw the lady. "Wee, hee! Aren't you a cute one." The Lady shivered as the Valiant half turned, giving the octopus a deadly glare. The robot's mistress pat him on the back and directed a threat to the octopus "Let's see you try to say that again after a few minutes of play time."

At the edge of the rapids.

Kairi, Azu and the Bundle stood over the fast moving water that go on across a river that resembles more of a wild ride. The Princess let out Sea Fang, Shooter and Crinoid while explaining. "So we'll have to go across this and avoid falling over."

Sea Fang had a smell as Crinoid felt someone standing over, a Platypus that stood up and put on his fedora. The Sharpedo barked. "Hey, if you're wanting to beat up that witch, climb aboard!"

The Platypus looked over and noticed a pond that goes straight into it, Shooter turned to see and began hoping. "That's more convenient." Kairi turned to see that and agreed, Sea Fang turned and let loose a jet to jump in. Kairi tried lifting Crinoid and huffed as she got him over to the edge. Shooter hopped in as Azu dipped into the calm water and floated, Perry, Crinoid and the Princess hoped on Sea Fangs back and held to the back fin as the Bundle counted down. (3...2...1.)

He jumped in sync to Sea Fang sliding in and making a turn. With the river wasting little effort to push them forward, Sea Fang followed to the right turn and was in a straight line slopping downward. Kairi felt an adrenaline rush. "Perry, you better hold on, because this is going to be a-" Drop! Azu had a cheer as the bottom of the rapids rushed them through into a jump, they saw the giant wisp in the far distance and a raised stones across the river, one bump in those and they could be knocked over into the river. Crinoid tilt his head right. "Right! Left! Left! Middle!"

Sea Fang followed the instructions as Shooter noticed two paths, one that looks like another clear slide and to the right is something curving against the ledge. Behind them was the Bundle keeping up with a water jet, he gave out a loud wee and made for the curve, the flying wisp gave a stop for a moment, she noticed a band trialing her, it waited for them to make to the curve before diving down the rapids and into a cave. The curve skimmed across the rocky wall and Kairi had a look at a giant slope that would have flung them to the other side of the rapids and force them across an obstacle course of stalactites, otherwise they would have fallen into a lake that would take them elsewhere. The curve brought them to a downward slope that slide them into wild turns, descending into the cave and dropping them into the main river. They were right behind the wisp that went ahead and crackled lighting bolts, bringing about fast growing thorns.

Kairi felt it in her instinct and gave Sea Fang a guiding lean. "Left!" "Middle!" "Duck!" Splash! "Jump!"

The thorns sprouted in various directions and the guide helped give the Seafarers and the Bundle time to maneuver around, under and over. There was an opening into some light and brought them into a jungle, moss dangled from the edges and there were many roots going into the water, the wisp crackled and fired into the river.

Kairi cringed and used her blade to fling prismatic crystals, blocking the shock from the conductor. Crinoid glared at the wisp and fired a sludge bomb as payback. The defensive approach went on until the rapid dropped the riders into the mouth of a mossy cave and gave them a slight turn to the left to a light at the end of the tunnel. Kairi ordered. "Jump!"

The band jumped to get over a drop into the jungle and glided over an obstacle course, landing them on the other side and heading to a water fall that gave them a view of a distant ocean. Well ahead of the wisp. The Seafarers let themselves drop a short ways and took a turn left, it descended them down into the land and over in the direction of the ocean. Kairi, Shooter, Crinoid and even Perry knew the ride wasn't over yet. The girl turned to find the wisp right behind them and firing bolts. The Princess kept with the prismatic blockade as more of the ocean came in view, Shooter noticed a cave going into a rocky hill and a water fall dropping down. "We got a dead end in coming! It's some cave." Kairi felt her heart easing and kept to a zen. "Be ready for one more fall!"

Sea Fang and Azu jetted as Shooter turned backwards and fired a water pulse to blast into acceleration. The Bundle cheered without much of a care as he and the band flew over the drop, Kairi turned forward to feel the wind against her hair and saw the incoming splash. The band hurried into the cave and found a beach going into three paths, they slowed down to make a safe landing, Kairi, Perry and Crinoid jumped off of Sea Fang as Azu bounced ahead. The Iron Bundle turned off his jet and slide to the shore, he fumbled and sat on his rear as the wisp flew ahead to the center of the sand and burst out a shape of green fire. Revealing an annoyed, wicked fairy. "Ever the persistent maiden, Ursula was right to presume you and this miscreants would bring me trouble."

Kairi smirked at what is an accidental compliment. "What can I say, I'm not much of that scared little girl anymore." She took a battle stance. "I'll say this once; leave while you still can, we're going to be putting a stop to this and we'll be rescuing who ever you have in your clutches one of these days."

Maleficent gave a t'heh. "And what can you do to halt this scheme? A miracle from the eve of the War, won't repeat itself again!" She unleashed four great pillars and summoned large, black armored apes with a fanged maw under angry looking green eyes. "That one, is only the beginning and surely-" She was ready to head to one of the paths. "there's a treasure that you seek to claim."

Flip!

Her route was blocked by a battle ready Platypus. Kairi gleamed the keystone at the tip of her blade. "We'll make sure you don't have it in your hands! Sea Fang," Sea Fang's Sharpedonite reacted. "mega evolve and show her what we are!"

BURST!

Power flowed to the shark and transformed him into his Mega state, Sea Fang gave a mighty roar as Azu raised her fists. "What ever is down here, it's ours!" Crinoid nodded and channeled a grassy terrain. "No crook steals what we're going to take and gets away with it!" Shooter nodded and asked. "You see the ball in that staff? That might have Mismagius."

The Princess cringed. "You might be right, but what happens if we try to break that while a pokemon is in there?" That is a question the band do not wish to know a hard answer for. The Guards marched into a wall and blasted out fire balls, the Iron Bundle ran left and right in a panic as Azu conjured a light screen to deflect most of the blows. Shooter fired a fast terrain pulse as Crinoid glowed in energy, Sea Fang jetted out of the water, leaped over the bombardment and went for the middle Guard. Kairi looked up and flowed to him as a way to get an upper edge.

She sprouted six wings and dived for a crash as Sea Fang bit the middle right guard in the face and thrashed. The outer two guards counter attacked with mighty fist swings, forcing the girl to back flip as Sea Fang let go. Perry saw the witch ready to cast something and sprinted for a kick to the hand, Maleficent side stepped, warped and cast fast lightning bolts.

Perry jumped over each one and closed in for a tail slap as the witch let loose a pillar of flames to shove the Platypus back and repeat a distant blast. JET! Something landed behind her and went for a blast of icy wind, she half turned to see the Iron Bundle having skulls in his eyes. Maleficent smirked and ascended as a swirl of power to dodge a back attacking Perry. She went to the exits and found something glimmer out of the ground. A strange blue turtle with a gem on her back and a shell of many changing symbols, the passage ways were sealed off by crystal resembling the turtles shell. The turtle gave off a battle cry as the witch landed and readied a spell. The turtle channeled blue light into the sand, causing the earth to erupt under the witch, Maleficent felt that and conjured dark orbs to bind the turtle in place. The entity gave a rapid spin to break away from that and was going after her in fast speeds. Perry took the chance to kick the witch in the back as the Iron Bundle blasted freeze drying air.

Kairi and the Sea Farers focused on the Guard, the Princess whispered. "Sea Fang, go after one of those guys with poison fang and help continue with these two." The Sharpedo grunted and rushed to the shoulder of the right most Guard, biting down through the hide and causing it to give a purple hue. Crinoid and Shooter blasted the left most with a combination of meteor beam and terrain pulse, sending the hulking unverse into a stagger. Azu rushed at the middle left Guard and played roughly as Kairi flew to it and gave multiple light fast slashes, Sea Fang pounced back to his target and slashed with liquidation blades. The Guard back handed the brute as the Guard suffering from a worsening venom, stepped back to bombard. Kairi flew to Sea Fang and warped back to her spot with him, she enveloped him in water and had him crash through the guard as a missile before slicing around with Azu and delivering a blow to the head, making it collapse in a smoulder. Shooter hurried to apply a heal pulse to Sea Fang as Crinoid waddled to the staggered Guard and finished it off with a giga drain. Sea Fang slide around his current target and lunged for the back of the neck for a crunch, dealing a finishing blow as Kairi flew in the way of the final Guard, channeled in light and vaporized it with a beam.

The Princess felt her wings disappear and sprinted after a witch that was teleporting and blasting. Perry kept to the defensive as the Iron Bundle ran around in a panic, the turtle took a deep breath to calm her mind as Maleficent felt who was coming after her and teleported with a back lash of flames. She swiped upwards and conjured sharp vines, Kairi kept moving and called. "Sea Fang, Azu, jump over!"

Leap!

The duo did so as Crinoid and Shooter blasted through the vines with sludge bombs and an aurora sphere. Maleficent tapped her staff and unleashed a shadow, resembling a purple bellied, black dragon that breathed out a blast of flames. Kairi and Azu worked together to bring about a shield of light and push it back. "Bundle, fire the hydro pump!"

The robot flew over and shot at the witch as the turtle let loose a pillar of light and bombarded with a star storm, pushing Maleficent towards a wall as Perry sprinted and gave her a kick with a spur at the back of his foot. The witch warped away from that as the turtle caused a wall to open with glimmering light. She flew up and rolled to face her shell forward, funneling a blast of crystal light and emitting a pulse that knocked the witch over the light and kicked her out. The turtle glowed her eyes in a pulse and the Princess felt danger lessening. Kairi phewed and with a tap of her keystone, powered Sea Fang down. "That got her packing."

She looked over to her band, seeing they are relatively unscathed, then over to the turtle. "Thanks for the help again, we heard about you from a book." The turtle blushed and dismissed the barriers as the Princess used her Dex to read about the name, one that is at the end of the Dex. "Terapagos: The Tera Pokemon: Normal Type:"

Terapagos flickered her shell away, showing a baby turtle with a crystal for a shell, gems that resemble ear rings and a gem resembling a knot of hair. Giving Kairi a form to read about. "Terapagos protects itself using its power to transform energy into hard crystals. This Pokémon is the source of the Terastal phenomenon. It's thought that this Pokémon lived in ancient Paldea until it got caught in seismic shifts and went extinct."

She and the Seafarers gasped, the girl checked the form used for battle, a Terastal Form. "Upon sensing danger, it prepares itself for battle by creating a sturdy shell of crystallized Terastal energy. The shell is made of crystallized Terastal energy. When struck by a move, this shell absorbs the move's energy and transfers it to Terapagos."

The Princess was speechless on the matter as Crinoid repeated what was said. "So wait, this turtle is the source of that thing the kid keeps talking about? The stuff used to make this place?" Shooter closed his eyes in thought and nodded. "Appears so," Azu whistled as Terapagos approached. "The very heart of the Labyrinth, that also means-" She gasped. "Could she be the reason Miraidon and all those weird pokemon are showing up?" Kairi took a breath. "But how?"

She turned to the confused Bundle, wishing Namine was present to make deciphering the mystery easier. She turned back to the turtle that looked up to her with a smile. Perry found this to be a nexus of a discovery and looked over to the three passage ways. The Princess took a deep breath and knew. "One of these, leads to a treasure that you came all this way to protect. The others could lead us back to where we came from. That's the only hint we have."

She closed her eyes into a zen as the Bundle simply looked around and felt something drawing him to the left path. The band noticed and followed the robot, going to a beach with a view of a mid day sun. It didn't have anything seemingly in particular, until Kairi and Perry noticed a crystal amongst the sand. The girl went to press on it and cause a treasure chest to spring up. The Azumarril slowly opened it and found four tera orbs, each having a gem for a particular technique. "Those are tera orbs! And I think these here can help us change into a whole new type." Kairi nodded and had the supplies put into a bag, baring the fourth orb and the crystal. "I just need to aim so it can charge up, then toss it above one of you." She looked to Shooter and Crinoid, who have options on moves and attributes that could compliment a particular type. "The boys are going to like this." She smiled over to the Iron Bundle. "Nice tracking there, do you mind if I ask you something?"

The robot waddled back to the cave and was listening. "That one discovery of Terapagos, answers a lot of questions we have about this place, but it leaves us with more. Where did you come from and why are you and the others showing up in the Labyrinth?"

The Bundle only remembered as far as the Lady creating him. (The Lady said she built me. She built all the other robots.) Crinoid pretended to believe that. "And what about the Flutter Mane? Or the Brute Bonnet that I heard came out of this kind of place?" Kairi had more to add. "Or that Roaring Moon? There's no way she could have built them."

The Bundle hummed as the band returned to find Terapagos, who was staring at them, expecting something. Azu minded to ask. "You know where Bundle, Great Tusk and those others come from?"

Terapagos nodded. (I do, our Lady made them to be with a little help from I. You and your friends, wish to uncover this truth? You have the means to do so.) Bundle quickly realized. (Capturing me?!)

He was nervous about that as Sea Fang looked over to Kairi. "That's one of them. Does Namine tell you how that memory thing work?" The Princess snapped her fingers. "She does and I think diving into his heart could show us more. It's easy with the power of the Keyblade." Bundle jumped a fair distance and beeped in protest. (I didn't agree to that!) Azu knew he didn't. "Buuuuuut, that Keyblade scares you a lot. Why?" Bundle had a sweat. (I don't know, the Lady said she and those others aren't like the ones of the ancient times. What does that even mean?) Sea Fang recalled a particular trial, involving an illusion that attacked him. "Ancient times, Arceus said something about that." Kairi opened her mouth and tried to keep calm. "The stuff that lead to the Keyblade War. Where greedy people misused the Blade and tried to go after Kingdom Hearts. Bundle, that fear came from somewhere and if you're not remembering it, then there's a reason. That's why we need to get this done and see. Are you ready to start?"

The Bundle stared blankly as the Princess admitted. "There are things that I wish to forget myself, but that kept me scared for most of my life. There's details the Lady isn't telling you, because that would set you off again. Only you can make this choice now."

The Bundle felt his heart beating hard and slowed his breathing. "I don't want to, but that feeling isn't going away!" He braced for a fight, Kairi heeded what Leon spoke about and signaled to Cradily. "Crinoid, let's give this a try." The Barnacle nodded and waddled to battle. "I think I can handle this quick, try your icy moves. Show us what you got."

Azu and Shooter stepped back as Sea Fang grunted. "You got the blaster power, you got this!" The Bundle nodded, looked over to Crinoid and blew out freeze drying air, doing quite the damage, Crinoid wiggled his tentacles and smiled. "Not bad, now it's my turn!" He inhaled a fast giga drain, knocking the Bundle back in an instant, in a jerk reaction, he fired a hydro pump that flowed to the grass type. Crinoid extend his tentacles and drained the water to his body, he sighed. "Woops." Kairi agreed. "Go a bit lighter with a sludge bomb, let's see that tera mode!" Crinoid hacked up sludge and caused the Bundle to back flip, crystalizing and panicking. "Bad, bad, bad!"

The crystal consumed his body, Kairi aimed her tera orb at Crinoid. "Are you ready to try this out?" The barnacle turned his head and called out. "Boost me up!" The orb let loose a near blinding shine and blew against the girl's hair. The Bundle's timid voice turned into a beep. "Weaknesses of water, overridden! Terastallize-" Crack! The crystal scattered, showing the Bundle with an icy blue casing and a pendent showing an ice flake. "to pure ice."

Crinoid and the Seafarers felt a chill in the robotic tone as Kairi toss the orb over. Encasing Crinoid in crystal and bursting to show the prehistoric druid with a rocky brown aura, a pendent of stone was at his planted body. Crinoid felt a spark of confidence as the Bundle recognized. "Target has overridden the weakness of grass for pure rock!" He aimed his hose. "Deploying freeze dry!"

PEW!

A mightier gust blew over the sea lily, the rock tera type made it easier to shrug off the worst of the blow. Crinoid cringed. "Seriously, you're creepy me out!" Kairi felt it was mutual. "Now that we don't got to worry, giga drain and sludge bomb, meteor beam would be overkill!" Crinoid inhaled for a fast drain that jerked the Bundle forward. "Ensure victory over those who would forsake tomorrow!" He jetted backwards and blew an icy wind, bringing a chill to both Crinoid and Kairi. "Comparisons between Kairi unit and Union, not recognized! Further tests recommended!"

Crinoid recognized the new name and countered with a sludge bomb, it splattered against the crystal frame and caused the Bundle to give off a fast pace chant. "01010111 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01110110 01100001 01101110 01110001 01110101 01101001 01110011 01101000 01100101 01100100 00100001 00100000 01010111 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01010000 01100001 01110010 01100001 01100100 01101111 01111000 00100001 00100000 01010111 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100110 01110101 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100001"

Crack! Shatter!

The Tera power left the Bundle and left him dazed, confused. Kairi approached and had Azu with her, the Princess spun her blade and aimed for the Bundle's chest, causing a glow of light that brought the duo into a scape resembling the play area. Melded with crystal and leading to somewhere at the other side of the rink. Feelings of terror and regret flowed from that direction. Azu and Kairi followed the trail to find strange wordings over a symbol looking like a one eyed triangle with a top hat.

Ψεύτης, καταδίκη, με αυτούς τους δολοφόνους.

Kairi know who the symbol is and felt a fear as her instinct guided her to aim her blade, causing the writing to make things much more clear.

"Liar, doom, with those killers"

Destiny's Embrace opened a keyhole, it scattered fragments that gave out a cry for help. The ladies didn't hesitate to charge in and find themselves in what looked to be a village by an ocean. Where a heart was trying to escape a gray robed figure who aimed a cross bow keyblade with a distinct blue eye, grappling hooks sank into the heart. The surroundings were distorted in crystal and a voice screamed out.

"I just want to go home!"

Kairi and Azu lost their breath as the hooks looked ready to recoil into the tip of the blade, the Princess felt her brain shut off and she glided swiftly. Giving off a battle cry and cleaving the chains away, letting the heart fly off to the shore and freezing. The Gray Figure gave a look to the girl, jumped high and fired bolts to the sky, causing it to rain down scorching rays.

WOOSH! Punch!

Azu rushed at the Gray Figure and tackled him, Kairi glimmered after the Figure and cleaved into him before sending him in a flip. The Figure warped to get with in firing range and Kairi readied a flower to toss, making an opening as the girl sprouted six wings and rushed to knock him into flight. She countered with rays of her own as the frost took the form of the Bundle, he aimed his hose at the Figure and blasted him with a hydro pump. Kairi flew backwards and channeled a field of electricity, letting the Bundle rush close to the Gray Figure and blast him with a freeze dry. Azu bull rushed the Gray Figure and played roughly with him as the Princess focused. The Gray Figure warped and went over head to fire bolts at the three, Kairi turned to face upwards as her companions moved towards her. She blinked into an illusion, warped to to get behind the Gray Figure and aimed, unleashing a beam of light that caused the Gray Figure to break apart.

A gentle light enveloped the three as the match ended. Kairi and Azu found themselves at an ancient building, overlooking the outskirts of a glorious city of stone. It was a grass land going into view of an ocean. The Bundle was missing and they looked around to find someone sitting at the edge, looking at the wide world. Resembling a boy a few years younger than Kairi, most of the shape was shrouded in crystal light, yet that yearning for adventure was no mystery. Kairi and Azu looked to each other as they felt something awaken. Finding themselves back to what they were doing, the Princess stepped back as the Bundle sat on his rear, still looking confused, but more certain of who he's looking at. He blushed like he owed an apology. "Erk." Crinoid asked. "Erk... what?"

The Turtle was interested as the robot stepped up. "I was shooting at someone who wasn't going to hurt me, what was I trying to do?" Azu could tell from what she seen. "You were trying to defend yourself, what ever we saw in there-" She point at the robot's chest. "can't hurt you anymore. Kairi and I saw to that."

The Princess nodded more determined. "No Keybearer would ever try to use the Blade to harm an innocent. Who ever that was, using the power, was just a psycho who was pretending to stand with the Light and had the toys to do what ever he wanted. If anyone like him, tries that with you, or any of our friends, they won't be getting away with that."

"Wrwr wrwr."

The sound of a flute brought attention, the band looked to the middle path and found a familiar guide appearing from nowhere. Arceus. Kairi took a deep breath, looked to the Terapagos making way and asked. "This is what you meant, what they couldn't understand, they removed." She looked like she was about to feel sick as Arceus nodded with her. "The vow to protect the Heart is the most sacred of all your vows. But what did that Figure try to do?"

Kairi remembered a lesson Aqua gave, if to correct a student who was punishing the heart of a monster. "He was about to shatter that heart, of someone who was lost... scared and was wishing to be anywhere but there. Arceus, there was a symbol of something... or someone, that brought that heart in that kind of danger. What has Bill done?"

The Alpha was just as horrified. "That would be something you will have to discover at your own peril. But know that Bringer of Chaos, has planned something for far longer than you and your elders have spent breathing in life. Anything he has wrought upon the worlds and the misery that will come, is all but a game to him. You know what has befallen that heart, for someone like you wasn't truly there to stop that."

Kairi lost a breath and looked to the Iron Bundle. "But why was that memory apart of this guy? Is this connected to where he actually came from?" Arceus answered with a question. "If something is broken, thou would seek every piece to restore it. Is it possible if the pieces are missing?" Kairi looked over to the Labyrinth. "I guess if you can't find it all, improvise. But the pieces of a heart? That is something you can't replicate that easily, not without bugs. Even the power within this place wouldn't make it easy. Unless it is filled in."

The Iron Bundle thought about it and asked. "Is there something wrong with me?" Arceus shook his head. "Not anymore." Kairi agreed with that. "If that heart could be put together like that, they won't be the same they were. Not precisely," She breathed out, with a little understanding. "But they connect together, they grow all over again. A little bit of love and care can do the rest." She prepared a net ball and crouched to the Bundle. "Palírroias, or Iceburg. You think we can look for that mystery? And make sure that, doesn't happen to anyone else?"

Iceberg liked that nickname as Azu hummed. "Another member for the Seafarers? We'll let you know how to get through the initiation once we get the chance." She patted him on the back. "But Kairi seems to say yes here." Crinoid kept details to himself. "It's not that hard to get in, but all of us had to do something." Shooter laughed to that. "Even the two founders had to do it." Sea Fang asked confused. "What do you mean? We all promised that-" Azu put a finger to her lips. "Shh! This is the first time we went over four."

Iceberg didn't get it. "We need to get out of here, the Lady has to have answers." Arceus agreed with that. "There's a way through the puzzle, one leads to a treasure, the other will bring you back where you've started. That Lady knows more of this mystery, but you've only just uncovered one answer."

Kairi readied the net ball. "Yeah. Arceus, what about the other pokemon that come from here? How many of them are like Iceburg? What of Miraidon or Koraidon?"

The Alpha considered a harmless answer. "Many of them shared his fate. But the Iron Serpent and the Winged King, are not amongst them. They do take the forms of those you would find in a story, gifted with a new life and the chance to aid you when they can." Kairi phewed. "Then let them know they have our thanks. Iceberg, get ready!" The Iron Bundle prepared as the Princess gave a hearty toss, she watched the robot be brought in by a net.

Shake...shake...shake... click!

Kairi flexed and picked the ball up as Arceus took a step back and caused a plate to reveal itself. "Answers will be found in time, continue searching and you will find the key to a lasting future. Cherish your bonds and nothing will sever them."

He disappeared and left behind a white plate. Kairi went to pick it up and read. "Three beings whose power can hold both time and space fixed." She put away the blank plate and let Iceberg out, she half turned to Terapagos. "One day, we'll figure out the real mystery of this place. Stay safe, okay?" The Tera Turtle nodded as Kairi, the Seafarers and a confused Perry that put his fedora away, head to the other door.

Back at the Play Area.

The band of children kept in cover as the pokemon were pushing back. With some help of the Kingambit taking opportunistic strikes against the dark forces. Phineas was feeling some relief. "I think we're finally pushing these guys back!" Buford pointed to the brawl at melted rink. "Don't count those chickens yet, these wise guys aren't outta here yet." Leon agreed with that. "Until then, they could have another wave for all we know." He cheered. "Come on guys, haul them out of here!"

Sora and Riku had their partners go toe to toe with the Horned King's undead minions, while they, Flutter Mane, Iron Treads and Valiant kept to the lich. The Lady had Ultros flying high in the air, let her blade break apart into constellations and lowered her hands while closing her eyes, bringing about a duo of bears and a goat to keep the Octopus in a constant juggle. Pidgeot intercepted the lich and had him swept up in a hurricane before glimmering his mega stone and glowing. Transforming into a larger bird with blue tip wings, blue tip tail feathers, a more wild crest and a long red feather in the back of his head. He cawed and blasted the last of the minions, bringing the Horned King into a desperate corner. "No, no."

BLAST!

With a burst of light, Ultros was sent in a roll as Sora and Riku gave a firm strike to the lich and sent him to face a combo of a dire claw, a shadow claw and a poison jab.

The Lady felt a surge, pressed the side of her head and nodded like she was given a que. "Alright, how about you and that Mistress get this message across. This labyrinth is meant to be an adventure that rewards those who are willing to solve it's secrets and share it with the worlds. It's not something to be plundered, if you wish to cause more mayhem, do it out in there."

She opened a keyhole that sucked Ultros in with no problems. The Horned King held to a pillar and cursed. "No, no! We will not be denied our chance at more power!" Sora called to Dreepy, spun his blade in sync and flung the newt at a hand as Butterfree and Quill unleashed sharp projectiles, making the lich let go. "Curse you, curse you!"

Sora caught the Dreepy back and watch the lich fly out the doorway. Danger lessened and the Lady felt a calm. "That took care of that." Riku blew out, not noticing Darter and the claw glowing. "That's great and everything, but Kairi and the Seafarers are deeper in this place with that Witch."

The Lady agreed and spoke fast. "Yeah, but the way back is often quicker than the way in. Besides, you have something that needs attention, right now." She spun a finger, Riku turned around to find Darter glowing and growing taller, resembling that of a smaller Sneasler.

Pew!

In his place was a Sneasler with most of his fur being dark gray, his arms had dark purple spot, his nails are even darker with lines of red. His long ear matched the claws and his toes were of white claws, with feet of purple. He looked to himself like a typical boy. (Cool!) Raz wasn't hiding that he was jealous. (Yeah, now you've taking up an edge.) Flap! Caw!

The celebration was interrupted with Pidgeot flapping out of his control, Sora called to his rampaging fiery Darmanitan. "Snowball, jump up for a fire punch, I'll take care of the rest!" The Darmanitan leaped at the birds face to deliver a fast punch as Sora flowed to a pillar and toss a quick ball at the birds back. It gave a shake as it fell down and clicked before splashing into the ground. The boy perked, picked up the ball and let out a reverted Pidgeot that was having a head ache. (Urg! Thanks for that.) He shook. (It's never a good idea to mega evolve on your own.)

Riku channeled a heal and brought Snowball into a calm as Leon imagined. "Mega evolving without a partner can do that. Without that voice, the stress of the transformation can set a pokemon off."

Valiant cringed and was grateful for the keybearer's quick thinking. (Well, it was good that you got caught when you did.) He looked to the Play Area and saw all the debris. (What a mess.)

The Lady condensed the constellations back into a blade and had a double look as Isabella and the girl scouts climbed out of their stations. "It's nothing a few sweeps won't fix in an hour." She clapped. "Nice work defending this place, would have liked it better if I had more time to set that rapids up. But it works all the same."

One of the girl scouts complained. "I had enough," She asked Isabella. "When are we going to go home?" The scout leader asked. "Is there some catch for coming here? This is going to be enough for four patches today." The Lady shifted her eyes to the door. "The way's still open, if those villains have enough common sense, they'll know the take a loss and scram. But since one of the Keybearers haven't came along, he'll deliver that message more thoroughly just in case. Give it a few before you head out."

The group readied a mass call back, baring the Sneasel Family, Pidgeot and the strange pokemon. Sora caught a glimmer at the end of the hall and found Kairi calling back Crinoid, Seafang and Shooter. By her is Azu, a Perry on all fours and the Iron Bundle, who looked a lot more certain. The Bundle looked to the Lady, like he has questions that need answering, while the Princess showed something in her bag. "We got the treasure from this place and caught a friend." She gestured to the Bundle. "What do you guys think of Iceburg?"

Leon hmmed. "That fits for a water and ice type." The Lady agreed with that as Phineas looked ready to lecture Perry. "What were you doing Perry, you had us all worried sick." The platypus looked no worse for wear as Kairi passed along a story. "Well, he was pretty quiet when the fighting was going on. So Maleficent didn't get the chance to notice."

She asked the Lady certain. "Is there anything about Flutter Mane and Biven that you're not going to tell us?" The Lady blinked and lost her breath for a moment. "Oh, if you're skilled with the Heart, then you've tried find what is in Palírroias. Which brought you to something big."

Sora and Riku were getting suspicious, the older boy asked. "And that thing is?" The Lady blushed. "Well, with the machines, I built them, but their core essence. Their hearts, is something I put together with the crystals of the Labyrinth and things that our Princess might want to speak of away from the ears of the young ones."

Phineas guessed. "When you're talking about the heart, you mean the part that ventilates blood?" Ferb asked. "Or another word for the soul?" The Lady pointed to Ferb. "That, some scientists deduct that most of those feelings come from the brain. They're not wrong, but many ideas come to the same conclusion." She went to Biven to give him a petting and looked upon the Flutter Mane. "And for things to be more silly, I had a hand in building the hearts of the beasts as well. Through things some of you might call alchemy or a similar type of science."

Baljeet gasped. "Oh my goodness, it's like those madmen who cloned dinosaurs into the modern era!" The Lady was a bit surprised. "Not quiet like that. But I didn't do this alone, I had help." She asked the Princess. "Do you have enough to tell the boys?"

Kairi sighed and rested a hand to her hip. "More than enough." She looked to the Valiant that lent much needed aid. "Anything we need to know about this guy? Or are you going to keep with the story that he was built to stand at our level?"

The Lady put her hands to her hips. "Young lady, don't think that everything I've said are a bunch of tall tales. These last few attacks prove that the Labyrinth needs a guardian to lend some aid where it's needed. I can't really interfere with the outside world directly, but I can give a few tips if you need them."

Sora had a few. "Like how you powered up Flutter Mane and Biven?" The Lady smirked to the boy and showed the canister of strange power. "You mean this? It's a supplement that triggers their ability. Protosynthesis and Quark Drive." Phineas was familiar with the words. "Protosynthesis? Like Photosynthesis. Quarks are a charge given from particles."

Sora ohed and jumped. "Like an electric charge? Is that why Biven sometimes uses electric terrain?" Riku was impressed by the answer. "And photosynthesis is what plants do with sunlight to make energy, make air and use water." The Lady asked the two. "And you understand why it's pointless for me to give you these things?"

Sora looked up to the ceiling, feeling a little smarter. "We can set those up by ourselves and the two will use a different move!" Biven was impressed. (Cool thinking.) Penumbra marveled at the potential. (That will make it easier for us to achieve victory.)

The Lady gave the boys a pat on the head. "Not bad you two." The teenagers had a blush as Leon felt a little cautious about returning to the outside world so soon. "This isn't going to be the last we'll see of this place. But I think we'll be able to put together the bigger picture once we get the time. Do you mind if we ask some more?"

The Lady sighed. "Nothing more that's needed right at the moment. You'll need to do some clean up and make one more check on any Pokemon that needs to be off this world. You still got a lot of daylight out, so make the most of this." She and the Valiant kept side to side as the group were ready to take off, Phineas waved. "Guess we'll see you later."

Kairi knows that is a certainty, the Valiant waved back as Sora and Riku kept the front guard, while Kairi and Leon protected the back row. With them out of hearing, the Lady sighed blissfully and looked away, distraught. "Valiant, no matter how this is going to work. I'll be there for you and the others. Biven, Palírroias, Shemesh, especially Moshgolo. Even if you might... hate me for it, you're all my family."

The Valiant held her hand and promised. "We won't do that to you, no matter what, I'll help you see this to the end." The Lady grew teary eyed and held off of something. "It means a lot to hear that from you. Those kids are going to shake up the universe one of these days and they'll need all the help they can get to bring about a new era." She hurried to get a broom. "Now, get a dust pan, we might need this place again."

At the City.

Terra, Doofenshmirtz, the Donphans, the Cadet and Zygarde were getting ever closer to the final blip. The Poketrackinator was going static and frustrated the scientist. "Arg. There's got to be some kind of magnet or something close." Terra stared blankly, Doofenshmirtz realized. "Okay, you don't know how magnets do this? They jam what ever data line a machine is using, if you've been into a computer lab, you ever wonder why there's almost never a magnet around?"

Terra started to understand. "They have something a magnet would fry?" He spotted something in the distance;a blue, disk like UFO floating by, having four thick legs that have three white spike nails each. Doofenshmirtz whistled. "If it's strong enough to carry this guy, then someone's losing some computers."

The UFO made it's landing, untucking his legs. He landed to show a face of red eyes. Crossing the face is an gray X shape marker going over the eyes and down to where a mouth would be if it opened. The Inator begun working as Terra looked up the pokemon that's well over his size. "Metagross: The Iron Leg Pokemon: Steel/Psychic. Metagross is the result of the fusion of two Metang. This Pokémon defeats its opponents through use of its supercomputer-level brain."

Terra took the temptation to check the mentioned pre-evolution. "Metang: The Iron Claw pokemon. Steel/Psychic. Two Beldum have become stuck together via their own magnetic forces. With two brains, the resulting Metang has doubled psychic powers."

That was fun knowledge as the grown up checked the first stage. A robotic blue arm matching the other two, having a ball for a head and a single red eye. "Beldum: The Iron Ball Pokemon: Steel/Psychic. The cells in this Pokémon's body are composed of magnetic material. Instead of blood, magnetic forces flow through Beldum's body. They converse with one another by using magnetic pulses. In a swarm, they move in perfect unison."

Terra was fascinated. "This is why when they all fuse into this and work together as one unit. Cool." Metagross is flattered and could tell by the determined looks. (This is where all that noise came from. You think to challenge me?!) He gave a stomp and showed off his weight, the Great Tusk approached to answer the challenge. The two circled around in the tension, sizing each other up. The Great Tusk leaped to deliver a bull dozing slam, knocking Metagross back. His clear body shrugged off the debris and he laughed. (Nice try.)

He focused in a zen and rushed at the Great Tusk, sending the beast skidding far in the street. Great Tusk hurried up on his feet as the Metagross was at his personal and applied a bullet punch to the side of his face, knocking him out with naught a sweat. Donphan gasped, hurried to confront the Metagross and blew her trunk. Terra gave the Donphan a gust of wind and ordered. "Use rapid spin while he's turning and let him have it!"

Donphan rolled and rushed a fast rapid spin before following with her own bull doze, Metagross took a step back from the damage and balked while empowering his front right claw in ice. (Hah! I've taken down dragons bigger than you!) He gave Donphan a swift ice punch, combo it with a bullet punch and was knocked back by bulldoze, he panted from the blow and Terra used the chance to flow to a lamp post and toss an Ultra Ball. It gave a single shake and popped in an instant.

Bringing out a Metagross that spaced out for a moment as he turned. (Hey! Hey! What's the big idea, stuffing me into one of those?) The Donphan perked in grit. (What does it look like? We're trying to capture you! You're following us out of here!) The Metagross flinched as Zygarde was about to unleash a thousand waves, he recognized the dragon and cringed. (Oh I'm not going to be bound into one of those!) He hovered, tuck his legs up and declared. (You win this round! Just get a bit stronger before you try taking me on!)

He flew in his escape, heading south of the city and giving Terra some foresight. "He's going to run into the others. They'll know what to do." Doofenshmirtz cursed the luck. "Hope so, I thought you had him there." Terra took a potion out and healed the elephants as Zygarde looked to him and his partners. He closed his eyes in thought. (They've grown a bit.) (He's grown with them too.)

He wondered. (But are they up to the task to come?) (If he can find that sync to best us, then the realm of the sands would be of no ordeal.) Zygarde stood in the middle of the road and Terra noticed. "Hey, do you got a minute?" The canine sighed. (I know what you ask, I refuse to be bound to a ball just yet! But we can lend aid if you prove your worth.)

He broke his form apart into cells, revealing a particular one that has a core. One mixing of red and yellow. Pop! Out of a ball came an impatient Primeape that is stomping in a temper, and an Obstagoon that was sizing up a challenge and begun laughing. (Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha! He's about to show that bigger form!) He insist to Terra. (Let me have a go at him! I won't let ya down.) Primeape pulsed a vein. (Seriously? I have the punch that can end that!)

Obstagoon pulsed a vein in return. (And ya got in on the last scrap! Is that fair?) The ape blew out of his nose and crossed his arms. (Fine, fine! But if you get your butt kicked, I'll help finish him off.)

Terra appreciated that those two settled an argument and he pointed onward. "Obstagoon, Zygarde's about to pull something. Get ready!" Zygarde spilled out many cells and caused them to burst in a twister, putting himself together to reveal a gargantuan serpent like creature. His front, tail tip and the tendrils at the left of his neck are dark green, while his head, neck, five sets of protrusions at the back of his neck, his back and tendrils at the right side of his neck are white. His eyes were like green hexagons, with some of them glowing white on the occasion.

Two sets of hexagons shined with the protrusions, giving resemblance to a crown. Terra was about speechless and was more eager to get into a fight with such a titan, he remembered that this is still a pokemon offering a sprawl and looked to Obstagoon before blowing a tail wind. "Open with night slash and that orb will kick in!"

The obstructer howled and sprinted after Zygarde before leaping to the chest and giving a critical blow, the order pokemon slithered away, danced like a dragon and fired a barrage of green hexagons into the sky. Knocking the dark type down with a thousand needles as the flame orb inflicted a burn. Terra gave the order. "Now, facade!"

Obstagoon hurried to get up and delivered a swift kick that sent Zygarde slithering, he glowed and rushed with a howl of an outrage. Obstagoon cringed. "Uh oh!" He was smacked viciously and was sent flying to the street, Terra watched the giant sprint fast for it's size. "Primeape, while we got the wind, finish him with ice punch!"

The ape grunted and sprinted with adrenaline, Zygarde slithered out of a straight forward punch and Primeape turned in sync before swinging a fist of ice. POW! The blow sent Zygarde falling over to a building, he broke apart before making contact and returned to that single cell core. Donphan went to get Obstagoon as the core reassembled the smaller body. Doofenshmirtz pointed at the sight. "Now that is a surprise you don't see everyday. A dog turns itself into a big kaiju."

Terra agreed with him on that one. "And it's about as powerful as he looks." Zygarde shook, stretched and approached. (Sometimes it is needed when evil dares to think they can disrupt the ecosystem of the worlds. But you've raised up the defenders well.)

Primeape scratched the side of his head as Donphan returned, with an Obstagoon recovering and taking a moment to laughed. (Ha, ha, ha! Ya back up that surprise and hit as hard.) He tilt his head. (Eh... so why aren't you wanting to come along with us again? Can you imagine what you and the big guy can do?)

Zygarde was humored and laughed to him. (Oh I do, but I believe it would be more rewarding if you all uncover... the other secret I have.) Primeape turned to Terra. (Get the Dex, that ought to tell us everything!)

Terra knew what was asked and used the phone anyways. "Listen, I want that to be a surprise as well. The answer is in all those cells and the single core that controls them." He hurried with a fast text and asked. "Zygarde, you know where you'll be heading to next?" The entity grunted. (It's part of a split path in Labyrinth and we've crossed it before.)

The Great Tusk second that as Terra saw a message was sent to him, one from Kairi. "Hey, we just chased Maleficent off the world and have secured every pokemon down here. Are you still working in the city?"

Terra answered back. "We just finished, but you have a Metagross going down there. Be ready for that." Doofenshmirtz saw the message and was impressed. "You guys know how to get things done, this reminds of that time when I watched a documentary on Platypuses to get an idea. There's a decline of them going on and-" A text blip drowned out some of the rambling. "Leon just told me that the whole line is notorious for being hard to catch as well as being that strong of a pokemon. Nice work. We got word from Riku, that someone helped you out a ton."

Terra smiled and asked. "Speaking of that, you remember that Snag Um thing we've read the other day? When Riku tried to get Mismagius in another ball, it didn't work. But do you think we can build something that will help us with that?"

Send!

It was a few minutes and Kairi followed with an order. "Ask him, we're going to need one of those built as soon as possible." Terra followed through and asked the scientist. "Hey, you're looking for a break from having to fight Perry? We could use some help in snagging the pokemon Maleficent and her goons are kidnapping."

Doofenshmirtz cringed. "Sheesh, you don't have to remind me. We've been through that in the last scene we've been. This whole thing is going to throw off my evil schemes." He contemplated. "I've got another expected visit soon. I'll think about it then."

Terra knew that was honesty and showed a marker on a map, one right in between the city and the neighborhood. "That's where we're going to meet up. Be there in less than thirty minutes." That was a feasible schedule to settle some unfinished business.

At the backyard.

Kairi put her phone away and reported as Isabella and the girls helped the crew organize the captured pokemon. "Alright, he should be meeting with us when we start leaving. Riku, how much do you trust this guy?"

Riku blushed in embarrassment. "He was definitely honest to me and Terra about how he got involved. For better or for worse. I'll tell you when we're back on the road." He put the three captured pokemin into a tray along with the others and helped get it in a storage box. Sora crossed his arms and asked. "Was he trying to trick you guys or something?" Riku whispered fast. "We didn't have time to react to what he said before his frenemy showed up!"

Sora was left speechless and Kairi imagined that their coming aid is normally a villain. "You can tell us more when we go meet him. We got a Metagross that's incoming. Leon, what else do you know about it?" Leon went with what they need to know in a match. "Besides that he's a pseudo legendary, holds incredible power and can learn a move that bypasses his only weakness in speed? He's definitely a league above what Sora and Riku's team is capable of at the moment." He went for his bag and was surprised by something. "Huh?" He pulled out a black ball of an older design, resembling a heavy ball with strange markings. His phone gave a fast scan. "A Gigaton Ball? That might work. Sora, if you can distract him, then it could be enough for me to sneak behind and catch him. After that, we can take care of this beacon."

Kairi imagined that someone sneaked that in when no one was looking as Sora let out his trusty Butterfree. "Once this guy uses that stun spore, that will be your que."

Leon whispered. "Unless you can pull something else that will make him more willing. You're full of surprises, so either way works." Phineas noticed something in the sky. "Hey guys, a UFO's coming!" Riku checked the log on Metagross and saw the image of it floating. "Hoo boy, we got Metagross incoming!" He signaled. "Everyone, get to hiding!"

The band hid behind the tree and the tower, leaving Sora to have Butterfree fly to the side and wait with Pidgeot. Leon had Pueo out to align an arrow. "Use a spirit shackle that won't explode. We can't afford to let him escape again." The archer owl readied as Metagross descended with an elegant tap, he looked around to find Sora and the Butterfree in plain view. He growled, sore from his previous battle. (I know this is a trap. Would you mind telling what this is about?)

Pidgeot nodded gladly. (It's a rescue mission, but you and I both know that you're not going to follow along quietly. That just isn't what we do when surrounded by strangers.) Metagross laughed to that. (Wouldn't have it any other way, but I'm still gonna win even if you have that stone!) The Butterfree looked over to Sora. (I don't think that's what is going to happen.)

Sora bobbed his head, aimed his blade and cast a heal for the Metagross, causing Leon to press his teeth. "What are you doing?" He signaled and Pueo shot an arrow into the mechas shadow, Metagross looked to find a quill of a Decidueye and focused back on a boy who was ready for a brawl. The pseudo stomped and warned him. (This isn't your kind of fight human!)

He rushed in the speed of a bullet and Sora rolled left, both were surprised. One was at the boy dodging that, the other was to a the mecha that stopped his punch regardless. Sora tensed to a more serious face and gave a few basic blows at the Metagross's hide. The Metagross didn't feel much of anything and countered with a head lift, sending Sora in a back flip as the Butterfree hid in the shadows. The mecha followed his attack with a ground stomp. Sora slide under the mecha and get behind him for a few back attacks, Metagross jumped a spin that was quite nimble for a beast that weighs half a metric ton. Sora stepped back to avoid the impact and Metagross closed in for a fast false bullet punch.

Sora rolled to his right as Butterfree landed on the mechas back and scattered a stun spore, Metagross cringed in paralysis as Leon sneaked behind with the ball in hand. With a toss to the back, the ball gave a bright light and opened to bring the Metagross in. It landed, gave a firm shake that flew to the air and shot fire works. Sora flipped his blade as Leon picked up the ball and had a gleam of admiration. "Never stop surprising us."

He let out a Metagross that was stunned in his defeat, a full restore spray mended the aliment. The mecha set his eyes on Sora, who blew a tongue that caused embarrassment. (I can't believe this, you knew I could have leveled this whole yard way if I tried. Why did you hold back?) Sora knew what was said. "I knew you were holding back too, you'd push yourself if you knew you're up against something stronger."

Leon had a scolding to give. "Sora, that was beyond reckless and that Metagross could have easily proven a point." He was heating up and needed a fan. "But that is what a human and a pokemon should see by the end of it. Working together to have a bit of fun and find a connection to be had. With little more that a scrapped yard." He felt that heat not going away as the group went out of hiding, Phineas cheered like a typical child. "That was awesome! So what's going to happen to them?"

Leon thought of that while giving Sora the ball. "For now, we have a ranch and everything for them until we can figure out where to transport them once this is over. I haven't thought deeper into that." He looked over to Sora, who was having a contemplative feeling. "But I'm guessing someone among us has bigger ideas. Now, all that's left is to put this thing away-" He pointed up to the billboard. "and we got plenty of daylight to spare."

The word daylight was what the boy was concerned about, Leon and Riku brought out Kilokilo and King while Ferb had a blue print to give to Kairi. "This was for Baljeet's school project."

The Princess recalled what she asked during the storage work, she put out a phone to record a picture of a blue print of a portal to Mars. "We did something like this before on a greater scope. I think no one would mind if we borrowed a component we need to power a smaller idea. I have a Lil Bro that's off to another city, kind of like this one, he's working on a similar project with a tech genius and I'm thinking if we communicate-" Phineas is understanding that. "You can make a whole big network." Isabella was charmed by the intention. "Aw, it's sweet of you to help your brother like that." Kairi agreed with that. "He'll know where to set up the gateway and we can come and go if it's needed." She double checked a few things that could be missing. "You've saved us a lot of trouble. We won't forget this."

Riku let out a sharp whistle. "Alright everyone, stand back." He used his blade to open a gateway keyhole and yelled out. "King, Kilokilo, toss that in and we'll find it in town!" The psychics focused and brought the post out of the ground, Metagross lent his mental force and had it ascend more freely, they gave it a push through the gateway and have it enroute to Traverse. It closed up and the psychics were given where it was due.

Leon phewed and appreciated the help the brothers gave. "Now we can take off from here before your sister starts to lose it." Riku agreed with that as the last of the caught pokemon were accounted for and placed into the storage box. He lifted it up. "Seriously, we wouldn't have done this so soon without you guys." He lead the way out for the squad, with his partners and the Sneasel family keeping behind. "If we have to drop around here again, we'll be seeing you."

The children gave a hearty wave as Phineas wished them luck. "Knock those bad guys out of the park and keep finding fun places to explore!" Isabella cheered. "Keep doing good out there!"

The band felt a heroes departure from a local town and found Candice stepping out, waving a white flag as they took their leave. The sister saw the scratch marks and cringed. "Oh no, Mom's going to bust us if she see's this!" She went to getting the dirt back in place, as an odd twist to things.

Over at a regular apartment posing as an evil lair.

Doofenshmirtz finished explaining the current events to a teenage girl with long brown hair and all black clothing. "Vanessa, that's why I haven't gave a call. It's crazy to think that could happen."

The tale of travelers and creatures from a different world was too insane to be considered a tall tale, the girl had a small smile. "Dad." She felt warm inside. "It's sweet that you held off on an evil plan and helped those guys."

Doofenshmirtz wasn't use to that kind of feeling. "I mean, I could have thought of something if I'd know those big guys was hiding. But I was already behind. Now there's someone those tough guys got to rescue and they need an inventor for a job." Vanessa thought about it. "So, are you going take the chance to do some good?"

There was too much going on for the scientist to simply return to the status quo so soon. "Oh I am, but only because that Witch is going to thwart my plans before I get the chance to do them again. Besides, every evil scientist who want to last longer than a day needs to have some standards. You'd use mind control on any animal that has a tiny enough brain to not know they're being mind controlled and maybe even train them to do your dirty work. But you shouldn't force them to do anything they wouldn't want to do, I mean they're just going to complain and get scared enough to try running away. Then what do you do? Force them to come back?" Vanessa was spooked by such a forceful idea. "Someone's going to know you're hurting them and they'll do more that stop you when they find out."

The father pointed to his daughter. "Exactly! Those guys are going to need an invention to rescue them and one that can get built in a day." He thought about it while his daughter watches the thought process. Doofenshmirtz took a deep breath and stood up. "I'll do it! It should only take a day." Vanessa stood, hoping the adventure doesn't take too long. "I'll keep the lair locked up. Come back safe Dad." She kissed her father on the cheek and watched him get a suitcase for some packing.

At the Alley Way

Kairi's pretty thrilled by the progress and the case full of pokeballs that Leon is carrying. "What a day. If we can get this built, Ken and the others will just have to handle their end before stepping over." She asked with contemplation. "Leon, you know we're still leaving that Furfrou behind, right?"

The youngster is aware. "I know, but Stacy gave him a good trim and a Furfrou could pass off as any regular dog I've seen." Riku looked around and whispered. "And Furfrou isn't the only animal on this world, that's more intelligent than he looks."

Sora gasped. "So that's how Perry got there, he was going after that old hag?" Kairi nodded. "Yep. So maybe, he isn't the only one that defends this world. It's more for the company." Glimmer!

Suddenly, the entrance to the Terestial Labyrinth opened up, it shined a reflection of an oasis in a desert. The band heard rumbling and turned to find Terra, Donphan, Great Tusk and Zygarde arriving.

Riku asked the grown up. "Terra, you know there are two pokemon right there." Terra understood that. "It's never been a good time to get that over with, but where ever they go, good things tend to follow." He petted the Great Tusk as Biven came out of a ball, Donphan agreed with her partner. (He and Zygarde helped the Pridelands and helped this place! So this is their calling to another where he can help!)

The foreign ground types were quite proud of that as Terra asked. "Think about how did this operation go as smooth as it did? What didn't attack us before the Witch showed up?" Sora wowed. "They smashed that Totem up and kept things under control before we had the chance too." Leon puffed his cheeks. "They're worth catching, but not right now." He remembered. "Speaking of which, Terra, Riku, have you figured out that special thing Zygarde can do yet?"

The grown up raised a hand. "I have, this isn't Zygardes full power. Not by a long shot, he can turn a lot bigger if he wanted to." Leon nodded. "Ten percent, fifty percent and hundred percent. Depending on if the cells are all gathered. Including these four cores."

He showed an entry for the dog and the serpent. Terra felt his heart racing as Zygarde growled. (I think it's best if you stop with that image.) Leon heard and pieced together. "So, you brought about that fifty percent form?" He felt his heart giving a hard beat. "Right... here's a cool fact about Zygarde, if he's not complete, then there's a real chance the other half of the cores and cells are out there. The cores serve as the brain or heart if that's what you speak about. They can separate at will if it calls for it."

Kairi was speechless as Riku pressed a finger to his head and smirked. "So you're saying that we might have more of this guy around?" Zygarde grunted. (Another half of me is somewhere in the worlds, if that me is not addressed, then you haven't had the need to find him yet.)

Kairi thought about the implication. "That other half of Zygarde could be keeping the damage under control in a world while we're all busy. Leon, how can you tell of a Zygarde is complete or not?" The youngster remembered a lesson from his father. "If Zygarde was roughed around, he'll transform into his Complete form in a pinch." Terra felt his chest racing as the canine gave his respects. (We'll find you on the other side, finish your task and try and find me.) He hurried through the gate as the Great Tusk gave a grunt of respect and followed in.

Once the entrance flickers away, Sneasler returned from somewhere, with a bag of goods. Kairi considered that good fortune. "While those guys are going ahead of us, we're bringing with us a merchant with some goods. In case that bag of supplies that Leon has, isn't bottomless." Leon admitted. "I'm keeping some of the rarer items for myself, but there are things I don't pack up because they're not exactly needed for an everyday travel."

He asked the Sneasler. "You must be the Sneasels Mom?" The free climber was charmed. (So, you got tabs on any of the others that got scattered? This rescue team was made from a team work of two groups if you don't count me and the boys.)

Kairi recalled. "I think half of the Nomads have been found, but not caught. Vikavolt is on that same world as they are, while my Mentor and her Lil' Bro have spotted a Togekiss. That leaves us with the other half and the leader of Team Nimbus."

The Mama was more than pleased. (Rhydon's good with those arms, Cherrim's good at motivating and Flygon's got the kind of head to organize his own team. We just got to guess where they are.) Kairi promised the Sneasler. "The worlds find a way to guide us. As soon as we return, we're going to have a lot to do."

"Hey, where's the bus?"

Terra and Riku turned around to find Doofenshmirtz packed and ready. The squad leader answered with good will. "There's no need for one, if you can get close, you'll find out what our ride is." He shrugged one detail. "We aren't going to ask you to change your act. But the way you're helping speaks louder than words."

Sora, Kairi and Leon knew that was the judgement call to trust. The band performed a mass call back, with Sora welcoming the scientist. "Welcome to the team. So, what are we going to be up to?" Pew! The band were spirited into the Gummi Ship, with Sneasler and Doofenshmirtz most surprised. Terra took the honors. "If Maleficent is allowed to sneak more pokemon away from us, then it would only be a matter of time before she's able to become a threat again. A major one. Leon, do you remember that file you shared?"

Leon tapped the side of his head and gasped. "Project Snag Um! Yes and there is a machine that could help us get those pokemon away from that Witch and her cronies. Riku, how bad are we talking?" The boy didn't want to remember Mismagius's pleas. "It's as horrible as you think. That same Misdreavus, was kidnapped when she evolved herself and she getting forced to help that Witch muster some kind of army. Leon, you have no idea how vile and cruel Maleficent is. Trying to cross her, when she holds your leash, is a horrible idea that will just make things worse."

Leon sighed. "So, instead of the thing we were worried about, she's using the pokeballs to make a poaching scheme? A lot of crooks like to get their hands on a powerful, legendary pokemon that can reshape the world. We can't afford that." He and Riku have a common brain wave, the older boy spoke out. "Throwing a pokeball at a caught pokemon doesn't work and Maleficent is having the ball that close to her. That thing, that Snag Machine, can bypass that?"

Leon closed his eyes and nodded. "Completely. With it, you can catch Misdreavus like she's any wild pokemon." He looked to Doofenshmirtz, who was mortified about the fact he was right about something. "We'll explain to the authorities once we arrive. With my cousins approval, we won't have to shuffle across Ultra Space to get the device. Once we're given the clear, we'll start learning about each other."

The scientist went to a chair and process the grander scope that he signed up for. "This is bigger than I thought it was going to be." Riku advised to him. "Just handle it one step at a time. Sora, if you would." Sora took the wheel and had the ship turn in preparation for Light Speed travel. "Everyone, get to your seats, we're going to be taking a short cut back."