X-Squad Kur: Pokémon Chapter 1: Hell comes for Paldea, a X-overs + Pokémon Crossover fanfic

It was not by chance Drakus had been given hope once again. It was a miracle. He had been through tough challenges since Nadohs made him leader of the X-Squad, and finally gave him a chance to simply be Drakus.

A year had passed, and things in his life has expanded even more so then he realized.

He met his friends, and even some lovers. And together with others, they defeated GEATHJERK, and started making a mark in history.

Afterwards, they traveled to countless worlds and universes and defeated VILE, and even saved the entire multiverse from Connor Ductor, as well as saving Skylands from Arthas, defeating the deranged Argrenious, and even proved to Varkionix tha he didn't have to destroy the omniverse to be happy.

And during the holidays, the X-Squad had defeated a villain known as Reaper, when he merged with Karkas and became Overtaker, and sent him and his crew to prison. And even made a new friend named Dove Gadd, who was the grandkid of Elvin Gadd himself.

So much had happened, and the squad was hoping for a break, as such, Nadohs decided to send them to Paris for a vacation.

And so... Our story begins.

Playtime Co.

Once a giant in the toy making business, now an empty shell of its former glorious self. Literally; as all that was left was a single factory.

Founded by the ambitious but kind Elliot Ludwig, who always believed that a person's smile is the most important thing in the world, Playtime Co. started with big hopes and dreams. And through hard work, sweat, and determination; they delivered: Toys like Poppy Playtime, Boxy Boo, Huggy Wuggy, and many, many more.

Not only were the toys all locally made, but with the possible exception of Poppy (there were some exceptions of course), Playtime always made sure whatever they created would appeal to both boys and girls. Employees also got very good discounts or even free extra toys to give their children. On top of all of that, Elliot, a proud family man despite his busy schedule, encouraged and supported his employees in adopting orphaned children.

But one day, Elliot disappeared and people with less noble ideals took over the company. It wasn't long before the factory closed its doors after a mysterious incident involving the mass disappearance of all the workers and people who were visiting at the time.

All except one...

In a modest house in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. A woman was busy getting dinner ready for herself as well as a special visitor who was coming soon.

The woman was around 25 years old and had long black hair tied in a ponytail, warm cocoa-brown eyes, and fair skin. She was currently wearing a grey hoodie sweater, black sweatpants, and white shoes.

Another important thing to note was that she was what you'd call...fat. Yet, despite everything, she did her best to stay healthy, but she had quite a large appetite and it definitely showed on her figure.

Her overall body could best be described as rotund with slightly plump arms, thick legs, and a large ample posterior. Her face was slightly soft but remained beautiful and kind-looking, highlighting her sweet nature and gentle disposition.

Lucille Nadine was a kind-hearted, optimistic, and resourceful young woman who had loved Playtime Co. since she was a child when her parents gave her Boxy Boo and Huggy Wuggy toys. She had adored them and soon found herself admiring not just the other times Playtime created, but as she grew older, the company itself and its founder, Mr. Ludwig.

When she was starting out her high school years, Lucille snagged a part-time job at the company. Her kindness and upbeat personality helped her make many friends and even the higher-ups found her endearing, save for a few. Lucy believed that even the slightest kindness could make the biggest changes.

However, she would sadly find the company she held so many fond memories in shut down for some unknown reason. According to the letter she received from Head of Innovation Leith Pierre, something had happened that forced the company to close. He had given a sincere word of thanks for her work and a suspiciously large amount of money to compensate for her being out of a job so suddenly; money that came in handy for the rest of her education.

For the longest time, Lucille was left hopelessly lost on what happened. She wished to know what became of her co-workers and all those people but alas, the authorities declared it a cold case and Playtime Co. was swiftly forgotten, left to fade away to the ravages of time.

Despite this, Lucille remained steadfast, graduating with high honors and attending the college she wanted to go to. Now 25 years old and still in the prime of her life, Lucy had been handling her current occupation of being a barista at the local cafe while hoping to save up enough money to perhaps make her own toy company in honor of Playtime Co. and Elliot Ludwig's memory.

She just had no idea she would end up being brought back to the place of her childhood...and discover the nightmares that had been lurking underneath her nose the entire time...

A knock on the door caught her attention as she headed over to answer it, smiling when she saw who it was; an African-American young man the same age as her with black hair done up in dreadlocks with the left side in a shaved fade. He was wearing a white t-shirt, blue tie, beige khakis, and brown shoes.

"Angelo!"

The man smiled as Lucille took him into an embrace, nuzzling their noses together.

"You miss me?" He inquired coyly, then lifting one of his arms to reveal a takeout bag. "Or the takeout?"

"Angie, you know damn well food is always enjoyed in company." Lucille frowned with a humph. It didn't stay on her head for too long, as her own face became inquistative. "Did you miss me?"

"All 34,560 minutes." He smiled, putting the bag down to hug Lucy and then give her a chaste, yet warm and loving kiss.

Angelo Martinez, as the more perceptive readers can probably tell, was Lucille's boyfriend. They'd met in high school art club; Lucille having been sculpting some of potential toys in clay models and Angelo having been using a mix of watercolors and coffee grinds (mixed with said watercolors) to produce a graphic novel….which he was still working on whenever he could; being busy with helping maintain his parents' movie theatre.

Now, everyone in the club was a little…eccentric in some manner: One girl did nothing but throw paint onto a canvas and one fellow used only tossed away clothes for his art, but Lucille and Angelo were 'cute' eccentric and their respective projects caught each other's eyes.

While Angelo was more familiar with Playtime's last few toys, like Yarnaby and Doey, the shared appreciation of the simplicity of childhood and colors led to him and Lucille having a few coffee meetings and late nights working on their 'masterpieces'. Dinner and breakfast dates followed and before they graduated, they were happily dating, with Lucille's parents considering Angelo the son they sadly never got and Angelo's parents begging him to propose sooner rather than later.

And marriage was definitely in the plan for the two…But not just yet. For now? the two lovers were content to cuddle and watch their favorite movies together.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Curious, Angelo went to get it when he saw nobody at the front, only a package left on the doorstep.

"The hell?"

Picking it up, he brought it inside, Lucy looked curious as to who was at the door only to see the note on the package, and her eyes widened in shock.

LUCILLE, PLEASE READ THIS, CAREFULLY

- A FRIEND

She recognized this handwriting. It had been years and who it belonged to she couldn't place, but she recognized them.

"This...how in the…?" Lucille asked herself, not sure she wanted to believe this.

"Babe?" Angelo asked, but his girlfriend didn't respond; Lucille hurriedly unwrapped the package to reveal an old VHS Tape as well as a note taped to it.

"It can't be...after all these years?"

Angelo was getting worried for Lucille now as she inserted the tape into the recorder on the TV, which began to play a video depicting Elliot Ludwig, the founder and former CEO of Playtime Co.

"You are about to see the most incredible doll ever invented. Her name is Poppy, and she is the first truly intelligent doll in the world. A little girl can talk to her, Poppy gives her answers. She is the first doll able to have a conversation with a child. Hard to believe? Just watch."

It then showed an old 50s commercial for a porcelain doll with frizzy red hair in a cute blue dress.

"POPPY PLAYTIME!" Several children cheered.

"Poppy's as lovable as a real girl, and she talks like one, too!" A female voice said.

"Hi! My name is Poppy!" The doll's seemingly pre-recorded voice began. "I love you. Can you help me polish my shoes?"

"Why, of course, Poppy! Just like a real girl, Poppy always wants to look her best." The female voice explained as a little girl's hand brushed Poppy's hair.

"Perfect! Thank you."

The commercial showed the doll having her hair brushed and her shoes polished as well as being given different kinds of accessories.

"Her hair is sturdy and won't come out when you brush it and smells just like a poppy flower! Is there anything else you'd like to say, Poppy?"

"I'm a real girl, just like you!"

"What's the time?"

"PLAYTIME!"

"Aww man, Playtime Co," Angelo said wistfully. "Didn't you work there when we were in high school?"

Lucille bit her lip and nodded. While she knew people who still had Playtime Co. toys and other merch from the glory days, there was something fishy about this particular videotape.

"And if you've ever wanted to see how all of the nation's favorite toys were created, Playtime Co. is offering factory tours at just $2.99 a person. An entire hour on the most magical toy factory on Earth." The male narrator said. "What are you waiting for? Come visit the factory? We can't-"

Suddenly, the commercial cut off to show what looked like a video camera recording of what looked like the factory interior with multiple walkways, one leading to a room that was marked by a large poppy flower painting, as a wormhole opened and a moth-like being flew at the camera.

"Okay, just a little bit cryptic..." Angelo muttered wearily as Lucille then looked at the note that came with the tape.

EVERYONE KNOWS THE STAFF VANISHED 10 YEARS AGO.

BUT ODYSSIA HAS BEEN FOUND, AND THE DARK MOTH WILL RISE.

HEAD TO THE CITY OF LIGHT, FIND THE DRAGON AND HIS CREW, FIND QUEST, FIND THE FLOWER AND DAGGER, REACH POPSTAR, END MAHAMAYURI

"…Find the dagger?" Lucille asked. "….Which flower? I mean, I know they farmed poppies and the Critter's scents…"

"Luce?" Angelo drew her out. "You're not…Baby, please tell me you're not actually going to?"

"I don't remember who, but I've seen the writing before." She told him. "and this was all addressed to me."

"Could be a cruel prank." Her boyfriend weakly suggested.

"From who, Angie?" Lucille asked, a brow raised. "No one's so much as mentioned Playtime Co in a whole decade; hell, there's no Youtuber daredevil that considers it 'worth' breaking into. The last time Playtime did come up? It was used for a Creepypasta! And going to the police? They cold cased it in a week and if we bring this? They'll investigate and interrogate me again; you know how hard it was for me to become a freaking barista after all that drama?"

"Fair points, all of them." Her boyfriend noted, then gave her a look. "There's something else."

"I need to know what happened," Lucy confessed. "Yes, it was just a part-time job. But it was my life for so long…I made so many friends there; friends I know you'd like and….Well, if I do ignore this? I know I'll never be able to…"

Suddenly overwhelmed, Lucille was grateful when Angelo took her into a hug and cleared her eyes. After a few minutes, with Lucille calmed down, he asked:

"Well, when are we going? Cause I'm going with you."

"What?" Lucy gasped. "Angie, you don't…"

"To keep you safe if nothing else." He cut her off. "Lucille; you are the kindest soul I know. It's why I fell for you. And yes, this is probably going to be the scariest and probably dumbest thing I've ever done, but…"

"Don't you and your folks have that special at the theatre tomorrow?" Lucille noted. "The Saturday morning marathon? You've been looking forward to that for months!"

"Then we do this and I feel that I've earned junky cereal and to cuddle," Angelo smirked. "Sides, it won't be happening until September."

"….You talking you out of this, huh?" Lucille smirked.

"Not without smooching and or cuddling me into a coma, and you KNOW I won't let go of you if you try."

'God, I love this man.' Lucille smiled, knowing he was right.

Two months. It has been two months since Paris' greatest supervillain (technically only supervillain at the time) was taken down. Paris was safe. Mostly. A little safer. At times there were still magical beasts going through the barrier separating the human and magical world. But Paris didn't worry. Yeah, when a magical monster like an ogre or an orc rampaged, it was scary as hell but they were not doubting at all that the situation would be resolved.

The Miraculous Team was bigger then ever, and whenever there was a situation, the core team of Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, Carapace and recently Pipistrello, would come in to deal with it, at times with the help of a few of the 'Zodiac wielders' as they were known. Just like it was now.

Siita was fast asleep in the hotel Drakus booked in Paris, but, all of a sudden, a loud noise rang out, startling her awake. Quickly recognizing it as the sound of a weapon, she jumped out of bed and out of the room, as she saw a strange site.

Paris was burning. Several buildings were on fire. The firemen of Paris were really busy keeping the fires under control. "It isn't working! The water is being blasted at its highest pressure, but the flames don't go down enough." One fireman said to another.

"Damn it! What kind of fire is this?" the other fireman said.

Siita rushed downstairs in a panic. "WHAT WAS THAT?! ARE WE UNDER ATTACK?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!?! STATUS REPORT!!!" She yelled.

Siita arrived in the main lobby and turned on the light to see Drakus sitting in a chair with his weapons out. He was, quite surprisingly, already dressed.

Drakus sighed deeply. "Before you start..."

Siita looked down at Drakus' feet to see a creature. It looked demonic, like a dragon and a hellhound had a sick looking lovechild, and had a grey rocky structure, that seemed almost serene. Matter of fact, it looked...high. "Oh my Bushido!!"

"Okay!!" Drakus tried again before Siita could go any further. "Before... you... start!"

The Granute quickly realized that her boyfriend had given a gargouille weed. "HOLY FUCK!!!"

"Would you care for us to explain?!" Starscream asked, exasperated.

"OH YES, I DO!!!" Siita snapped, as if she wasn't exasperated enough already. "I would love to know why you had given the gargoyle's inspiration drugs!!!"

"He startled me," Drakus simply stated.

Jiibh's jaw dropped in shock and disbelief, "He startled you?!"

"Yep!" Drakus insisted. "He also looked like he needed some good shit after a long day."

"Oh, well, I guess he should apologize."

"Well, it's gonna be kinda hard, 'cause, you know, he's currently experiencing bliss."

"Brilliant. So what're we supposed to do?!"

"What the hell did Drakus adopt now?" Kanade asked, as the rest of the squad entered the lobby.

"It's a Gargouille, the beast that inspired the gargoyle statues." a voice said behind them. The Rooster Miraculous wielder Kempfhahn stood there beside them. "We're handling Ifrits too, the djinns of fire. Normally not native to France so I don't know why they are here but..." the squad looked at him in confusion. "Not the time for it." He finished flatly.

"Don't mind him, he has grown to be fascinated by the magical beasts that come through." another voice butted in as a red and black blur. Ladybug had swung onto the scene with her yo-yo. She was soon followed by all Miraculous heroes (they still haven't found a Snake Miraculous wielder yet). "The reports of the fires seemed dire, so I decided to bring in everyone."

"Thank the Lord. These flames are not normal, we can't seem to extinguish them and those...whatever he called them are running rampant. We can't contain this on our own." The fireman said.

"Well, normal firemen are not equipped to deal with magical flames. No worries, you may not feel so hot right now, but we can handle this." Chat Noir said with his usual smirk. The rest of the team, and some of the X-Squad, groaned at his pun. "Everyone's a critic."

"Oh no, not another one..." Ruby said as she thought Yang, Drakus and Mystle were annoying enough with their puns.

Drakus, Mystle and Yang, meanwhile, beamed at the thought of finding a fellow pungeon master. While the rest of the team shivered in horror at the possibility of more bad jokesters.

"Right, introductions first..." Roman realized. He reached up to tip the brim of his hat; and handed Ladybug a list of names, origins, and preferred nicknames. "Roman Torchwick, this band of misfits that Drak leads is called the X-Squad."

"Wait...where did you get those brownies?" Rena Rouge asked. The brownies the gargouille was eating were not the ones from the bakery, she would recognize anything from the Dupain-Cheng bakery everywhere, since she has been there so often.

"A gift from some Luka guy. He said they helped him chill." Drakus said, as the gargouille suddenly busted out into giggling.

"Oh boy!" Rena Rouge said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Tigresse, your brother gave special brownies to a psycho, and now we got a stoner gargouille."

"This is why I never tell anyone he exists!" Tigresse said. Yeah, no wonder it took a while for them to figure out she even had a brother.

"Hey, should we call the gargouille Pothead now?" Queen Bee remarked.

"Remind me to kill your brother, Tigresse. I don't want Lord Drakus getting those fire dogs, if only for the sake of my well being..." Starscream sniped.

[PotheadPog]

[PUPPY!]

[Hello, Pothead]

[show us the new jester!]

Smoke: [I shall now introduce the bastard]

Smoke: [g]

Smoke: [the bastard has spoken]

[g]

FlamingHot: [Okay, Jaffy, stop analyzing the muscles of the boys. I can feel the chat's thirst from the Underworld.]

[those abs tho]

[crush me, bull daddy]

[bro you want their first memories of that chat to be us simping?]

"You're all ridiculous!" Queen Bee said, rolling her eyes. The smile on her face said she was secretly amused, though.

"So, are we having a plan to deal with those flaming dog genies?" Carapace asked.

"We need to contain them before they light more buildings on fire. First, Ryujin, I need your water power. You try to hold your water form as long as possible to make sure you can extinguish any fires that may come. I don't know how long you'll have to, but most likely it will be longer than we've seen during training." Ladybug said.

"My resolve is as strong as the metal of which my blade is made." Ryujin said as she raised the sword. She at least hoped it was metal, she wasn't sure. It may as well be a magical substance she may have never heard off.

"All right. Laika, Pegasus, Petit Souris, Taurus, your skills are needed in evacuating and saving any people still trapped inside. Work with the firemen and some of the X-Squad until we get back."

"Well, we're trying to figure out if there's anything in this universe we should know about thanks to a hot tip," Roman told Ladybug. "Even if it is a giant trap."

"We're now walking into a trap?" Symonne scoffed. "How foolish."

"Well, how else are we supposed to know what sort of trap can be set for us?" Snatcher asked.

Lune rolled her eyes. "If nothing else, this will be funny." Which, really, was part of what was encouraging her to help out. She'd never seen anyone as ridiculous as these new people.

"Aye-aye, ma'am!" Laika said with a little salute.

"The rest of you, come along. We need to restrain those Ifrit at any cost before they do more damage." Ladybug said. "And men and women of the firemen department. Please provide my team with any info they may need, or pop some hydrants that may help Ryujin."

Drakus sighed and got up from his seat, "Welp, I guess I have to save Paris."

Siita groaned and face-palmed. She didn't like where this was going.

Drakus tossed the squad their weapons. "Yup, no other option."

"How about any other option?" Siita suggested, desperate to stop Drakus. "Any at all!!"

Drakus put on a leather coat, a grin coming across his face. "No use trying to put the brakes on this, it's going down!"

Jiibh was silent as realization crept up on him. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Drakus feigned confusion. "What?"

"You planned this," the Granute accused, "I know you did!"

Drakus scoffed. "You honestly don't trust me?"

Suddenly, Lugnut entered through the door, wearing an elf hat, and bowed. "My leige! The butterfly decorations were secured! Now we shall make the Drakerari-"

Lugnut stopped short, noticing Siita was glaring at him and Blitzwing. "Oh dear..." Icy Blitzwing muttered.

Drakus was silent for a few awkward seconds before pointing to Lugnut and Blitzwing. "You won't believe how cheap the elf hats were!"

Jiibh facepalmed.

"I stole them!"

"Why?!"

"I wanna kick Ifrit ass in style!" Drakus yelled.

"You can count on us, Ladybug." one of the firemen said.

"We all know our roles, now let's move out!" Ladybug said, raising her hand and giving the signal. All the heroes and the X-Squad scrambled to get their job done.

Immediately, Ryujin raised her blade. "Water Dragon!" she shouted on top of her lungs, and she became a Ryujin-shaped mass of water. She looked at the firemen. "Open the hydrants." she said as she pointed at the red things in question. The firemen did as they were told, and a large stream of water came from it, hitting the watery Ryujin, who grew to enormous size with the added water to her being. She raised her arms and streams of water came out, and began dousing several of the magical Ifrit-created flames.

"I'm going to split and scout ahead." Petit Souris said. "Multitude!" she called out as she shrank and multiplied, all the little mouse heroes scrambling in the rubble and the burning buildings, to scout for any civilians.

Laika was hot on their tail. She sniffed the air, hoping she is able to pick out some scents among the smoke. Her sense of smell was superior to that of any normal dog and to that of any of her teammates. "I smell something in the northeast up ahead. I think I also find a few smells coming from a few floors above. Third or fourth floor."

One Petit Souris came from a gap in the wall. "Affirmative, there is a family in the room up ahead, but they are stuck. Rubble blocks the door, flames closing in. Several of my others are already clearing some but..."

"We got to move fast." Grim finished.

"I can do so." Pegasus said. "But I only have one shot with Horsepower."

"Let's hold whatever that is off for a bit, best when things get more...dire." Taylor suggested. They followed the Petit Souris clone and moved ahead. Several Petit Souris clones were carrying off pieces of rubble through their collective girlpower.

"I can move the bigger pieces of rubble." Ridley said, as he cracked his knuckles.

"Do it carefully, with the structural integrity of the building at risk, we cannot shake things up too much." one of the firemen warned.

"Don't worry about Taurus. He is a juggernaut, but he can be as gentle as a spring breeze." Petit Souris said. This put a soft smile on Taurus' face as they clear the rubble further.

A family with two kids were behind it, huddled up. They were afraid but most of that fear cleared up upon seeing the firemen and the superheroes. One of the kids, a toddler boy, pointed at Grim. "Puppy!"

"Very well, me and my friends are getting you all out." Grim said, tired of this nonsense. "Petit Souris, did your other selves find anyone else?"

"A family a few floors above. Other than that, no other people are inside besides us." one of the Petit Souris said.

"Mousy!" a toddler girl said as she picked up a plushie-sized Petit Souris and hugged it like a stuffed toy. Petit Souris sighed and let her. Probably best to keep the kid calm.

"We'll get them out safely. Just move along, please." the firewoman said as she gently hurried the family along, while a few others used extinguishers to keep the flames at bay.

However, as that happened, a cracking sound could be heard. "This ain't good..." Lune said as she saw one of the support pillars crack.

"I got this!" Taurus said as he positioned himself under the collapsing pillar, and put his super strength into it, using his physical prowess to keep the entire building standing up. "Keep them moving along. Even without Rampage I can hold this building up as long as I need."

Everyone sighed in relief. For a few moments. However, Laika's nose twitched. "Oh crap, I smell gas! Pegasus, Horsepower, now!"

With a gas leak, every second counted. While the flames were being dealt with by Ryuko, only one stray spark needed to escape. So when he invoked Horsepower, Pegasus put his everything into it and the world around him started to slow down to about a crawl. He then moved out, grabbing the family, went outside and put them down. Then he went back inside. He saw some falling rubble, but to him it slowed down to a point they were softly lowered. So he could 'platform' off the rubble to the upper floors, grabbing the family whom were there, and rush them outside as well.

After that, he grabbed each of the firemen and the X-Squad members that were there before going back to his teammates. First Laika, whom he was quick to briefly pick up bridal style. Then using the display on the inside of his glasses to track each Petit Souris clone. Because they were so numerous, he had to carry and drop them unceremoniously like a pile of dolls. She would be forgiving about that, knowing her.

Finally, he dragged out Taurus. Even with his enhanced attributes, Taurus was heavy, but got him out just in time before the building exploded. The others, whom were disoriented by finding themselves from one place to another in a matter of seconds were knocked down by the shockwave but otherwise unharmed. Pegasus panted. "Nailed it." After that he collapsed into Ridley.

"You did great, Pegasus." Laika said.

"I guess I di-" After that, the squad got splattered by some water, and Taisho shook it off, making her hair poofy, as Ridley coughed up some fishes.

"Apologies. I did not see you there." the giant watery Ryujin said. The group let out a laugh, both out of relief and due to the actual humorous situation.

The three beastly Ifrits ran through the city, leaving a trail of flames behind wherever they ran. "Ok, everybody knows their part of the plan?" Ladybug asked. The others all nodded. "All right then, team! Move in!"

Pipistrello held out her hammer in front of her in a way, that judging by the trumpet noises she made, emulates a trumpet as she then shouted: "CHARGE!" The three Ifrits soon found themselves swarmed by the heroes and X-Squad, who were slowly driving the three-mon pack apart, driving them back while dodging the flames.

The first Ifrit was fighting the group that had Drakus, Hibiki, Roman, Neo, Mystle, Yang, Ruby, Ladybug and Chat Noir. It inhaled and spat a few fireballs. The swinging of the swords, microphone, cane, parasol, gauntlets, spear, yo-yo and the staff made sure the fireballs were deflected. They felt their weapons heat up a bit, but it was only briefly. "Down, boy!" Ladybug said.

"I don't like the way it looks at me, Bugaboo...how much dog is there in the Ifrit again?" Chat asked.

"We..." the Ifrit growled.

"Did it just speak?" Ladybug asked.

"We...WE COME TO BURN THOSE CHEEKS! Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, choice is yours!" the Ifrit engulfed himself in flames as he charged like a fireball at the two the two jumping aside to avoid it.

"Oh fuck, he's Fleece Johnson but a fire dog." Drakus muttered.

"Oh crap, he's a booty warrior..." Chat gulped.

"Surround him, divide his attention!" Roman said. The seven and their battle partners for this scuffle, Roi Singe, Porcelet and Tigresse surrounded them.

"Come on, you big mutt! You want to show yourself the apex predator? I still have to see it!" Tigresse growled. The Ifrit heated up and charged again, but she held out her arms and caught the charging beast in her claws. She felt the heat under her claws, and it was quickly becoming unbearable. She growled but she didn't give in. But she then tossed the beast aside, and as she was digging her claws in at the time, it also caused some cuts in the best's face.

However, it got up quicker than expected and swiped with his arm and knocked Tigresse back. However, as he wanted to charge in for another blow, he felt something hook in his back and skin. Porcelet's rake was hooked into its back as she pulled at him. "Get away from her, you bitch!" The Ifrit was not happy with the weapon stuck in its back. It got on all fours, charged and dragged her along, before making a sharp turn. Porcelet was thrown off. He raised himself up and inhaled for a fiery attack, but he found himself punched in the gut, causing him to stop charging his flame breath and instead swallow it. It didn't hurt him but it was unpleasant.

"You're not roasting my little pork chop. I'm the only one getting a taste of her." Tigresse smirked. The blush on Porcelet's face was visible.

The Ifrit growled, but his legs were swept from under him, as Roi Singe stood there, spinning his staff and posing. "You know that in the East they see dogs and monkeys as enemies instead of cats and dogs?" Roi Singe said. "I wonder if there is some truth to that, because I don't like a mutt like you attacking my friends."

"Gimme that butt!" the Ifrit growled as he charged at Roi Singe as he jumped up, struck him in the back of his head and flipped forward, his staff landing vertically and standing straight like a pole, and the Monkey King landing gracefully on it and balancing. He pulled his left eyelid down as he stuck out his tongue. The Ifrit grew even angrier. "GIMME THAT BUTT!"

The Ifrit felt being hit in the stomach. He doubled over and looked down to see Chat, whom looked at him with an annoyed expression. "If we did, you might be put on a registry." Chat quipped.

The Ifrit turned around at Chat, right before he got hit between the eyes by Ladybug's yo-yo. "Ok, you are slightly more verbal then others whom have come through the Veil. I suppose you are a bit smarter too. So I suggest this: You stand down, go back from where you came and stop putting our city on fire. Otherwise, we will have to hurt you."

"I..." the Ifrit wasn't growling as he said that. "I burn...Burning up. I must...BUST THAT ASS!!" it said as he charged in again. However, Ladybug was ready this time as she jumps up, plants her feet in his face and kicks him off. Then Porcelet pole-vaults, using her rake to kick the beast in the stomach, pushing him back. Then Chat and Tigress rushed in, claws out and slashing at him, as he was knocked onto the ground.

"I wish talking down an enemy would work, just once." Ladybug groaned.

"Maybe someday. But now we get back to what works with any foe: Hitting it really hard!" Chat said.

"I'm all for that." Tigresse grinned as she showed off her claws.

"While that sounds satisfying, I think the time has come for Roi Singe to use Uproar." Ladybug said.

"And now the party truly begins! Uproar!" the Monkey Miraculous wielder said as he raised his staff, and a dog plushie came down. "I know my powers are a bit...comedic at times but seriously? Fiery dog genie and dog plushies?"

"Is your power on drugs?" Drakus asked, confused as to why Uproar summons plushies.

"I learned from my Lucky Charms or Pipstrello's Random to not question those things too much and roll with it." Ladybug said, shrugging.

"Anyhow, let it rip!" Roi Singe said as he threw his plushie. However, the Ifrit wasn't that stupid as he inhaled and shot a fireball from his mouth. It would have destroyed the toy if the fireball wasn't intercepted.

Luckily, Porcelet jumped in, activated her power and swallowed the fireball, just to leap aside in time for the plushie to continue his path onward to the target. As soon as it hit the dog, its fiery mane extinguished and it was only able to cough up smoke. Porcelet also coughed up smoke actually. "That's a spicy meatball." she noted.

The Ifrit actually looked worried without its firepower. But it recomposed itself, hoping that with its physical strength, it would be enough to turn the tide. He was wrong, as he got socked with a yo-yo and a fist in the face, a pair of staffs, a cane, a parasol and a spear in the stomach, and smashed with two swords, a microphone, a rake and some tiger claws. It was soon down for the count.

Rena Rouge and Carapace were fighting the second Ifrit. This Ifrit had smaller horns and was far less bulky. But this one was much more projectile-happy than the other one. It spat out fireballs and streams of flame on a whim. "Gimme that butt!" It shouted all the time.

"If I took a drink every time you said that, I'd be dead by now!" Rena Rouge said, as she quickly dodged another fireball.

"We're going to be dead if we don't get hothead to cool down." Carapace said as he deflected all fire attacks that came in with his shield.

"We need to find a way to get closer. Someone needs to distract him and then we strike." Kanade suggested.

"Allow me!" Kempfhahn said as he flew in. "As a flying target, I can draw more attention. That and Pan's pixie dust may burn if he tries it head-on."

"It is not pixie dust." Pan scoffed. "It is not because I'm called Pan we need to use Peter Pan terminology. You're more Peter Pan than me, fly-boy."

"Let's just get on with the plan." Kempfhahn said as he flew up. "Hey there, Ifrit! Want some roast chicken? Try to fry me!"

"GIMME THAT BUTT!" the Ifrit roared as it spat a stream of fire from its mouth. But Kempfhahn flew out of the way of each of the strikes.

Pan moved in. however, the Ifrit didn't seem as stupid as they thought it was, because when it saw Pan from the corner of its eye, he turned around and fired at him. However, Carapace stepped in between, blocking the fireball with his shield. "You ok?"

"Yes, thanks for the save." Pan replied.

"New plan, I think the best offense..." Carapace charged in, his shield forward. Even as he kept being pelted with fireballs and his shield started to feel hot, he kept charging in. "Is a good defense!" He then got in close enough and whacked the Ifrit with the shield.

The Ifrit stumbled back and Vincent charged in, but the Ifrit managed to recover quickly and shot a fireball at Vincent, who was knocked back. There was a scorch mark on his chest, but luckily his powers lie in being a tank, so Vincent was able to get back up. "Well, that worked for about ten seconds."

"Then we change strats! Mirage!" Rena said as she put her flute to her lips and the battlefield became engulfed in orange mist. Soon, the Ifrit found himself surrounded by a hundred Carapaces, Vincents, Kanades, Billies, Stus, Rena Rouges, Pans and Kemphahnen. He fired at each of the copies he could aim at, all of them avoiding or turning into orange smoke upon being hit.

However, this time, Pan got close enough and was able to blow his dream dust in the face of the Ifrit. The Ifrit stumbled upon being hit. "Burning...the world is burning..." it muttered.

"Now that he's out of it, hit him!" Carapace noted. He threw his shield, hitting the beast in the face. Rena followed up with a whack from her flute, Pan with a flying kick, Billy and Stu both stabbing him, Kanade blasting with her guitar, Vincent punching the beast, and Kempfhahn swooping in with a flying punch, sending the beast flying.

Queen Bee and Pipistrello went up against the third of the Ifrits. It had a more feminine build then the other two but that didn't make her any less dangerous. It was really fast, and she had the biggest claws, trying to slash at the squad and Miraculous wielders at any moment. "Give me your cheeks!"

"How can you try and get our asses, when you just keep slashing?" Pipistrello asked. The Ifrit retaliated by putting her claws on fire. "Ok, that one is on me."

"You think?" Queen Bee said sarcastically as she flew up to avoid a fiery swipe. She shot her trompo at the beast, who swatted the trompo aside and slashed the air, tossing a barrage of flaming coins, which she flew out of the way of. Queen Bee saw that one of the hairs on her head was singed, and Gabriel was hit in the face, many times.

"...Did that dog just...FLICK COINS AT ME...!?" Gabriel snapped. "I'M GOING TO KILL SOME BITCH SINNERS!!!"

"Right behind you! She touched my hair, this is the day bitches die!" Queen Bee snapped, as the two rushed in, but with the heavily swiping fire claws, neither of them couldn't. "Dang it!"

"It's just some hair." Pipistrello noted.

"You have your bangs in the shapes of sausages, you don't have a lot of room to talk." Queen Bee growled.

"Your opinion, girl." Pipistrello said as she flicked her bangs. "Allow me to take over. Hey, fire-nails? What's your fav fruit? You like bananas? Apples? Durians?" The Ifrit swiped at her, but Pipistrello moved around too much for her to be properly hit. "My fav is a kumquat. Not because I like eating it, but because I like saying funny words. Kumquat, kumquat, kumquat..."

"You annoy me!" the Ifrit said as she put her claws on fire and let out two crescent waves in an x-shape.

"You always say you want to burn things. You see a building, you burn it. You see my rear, you burn it. You lost all control over your life, missy!" Pipistrello quipped. It did nothing to deter the Ifrit.

"I suggest less annoying it and more kicking its butt!" Bunnyx said as she swooped in, attempted to land a jump kick on the creature, only for it to be blocked by her passive forearm. She lashed with her flaming claws but Bunnyx did a few sick backflips to dodge them. "Oh, it feels good being able to do that."

"Okay, fuck it, Starscream, you get the Snake Miraculous!" Queen Bee yelled, tossing the box to Starscream.

He quickly grabbed the box and opened it up, as it held a silver bracelet, and a sphere of teal light came out, before it formed into a snake-like kwami. "Greetingsssss, I am Sass, and I will be your kwami today."

Starscream then put on the bracelet. "Now, to transform, you say 'Sass, scales slither'! To detransform, it is 'Sass, scales rest." Sass instructed. "Now, your power is to entrance enemies with music. However, using these powers once will cause you to time out within five minutes, so it must be used wisely."

"Yeah, yeah, let's do this! Sass, scales slither!" Starscream yelled, as he held his left arm horizontally to make snake-like motion with it, before holding his arm vertically as Sass entered the bracelet.

The bracelet became teal and instead of the plain look now became serpentine-looking. As soon as Sass completely entered it, the 'eyes' on the bracelet glowed briefly in the same teal light that Sass first appeared in. Starscream made the devil horns and in a burst of lightning, a scythe appeared in his hands. He started to play it like a guitar, as teal light enveloped his body. He pointed in the air as the light was still on him, and he spun around as the suit started to form around his body. He waved his hand over his face as in a teal light, his eye mask formed. He made a few snake-like motions with his hands before posing against a background with the Snake Miraculous symbol.

After the transformation was over, Starscream now wore a black, teal, and cyan suit that resembled a pimp outfit. His suit has a snake texture along with the same kind of underbelly like a snake and has a cyan colored mask resembling the snake infinity symbol around his eyes. His eyes changed from red to aqua and his wings had snake motifs on them.

"Huh, more extra than expected." Pipistrello remarked. "By the way, great transformation sequence, that was awesome."

"What are you talking about? I was stuck in a flash of light." Starscream asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh right, fourth wall thing! Never mind." Pipistrello said, raising her hands in the air.

"You need a codename, now. Got any ideas?" Queen Bee asked.

"Now, Railshredder ain't no basic ho, and I'll start by ending this playa's hustlin'!" Starscream said, grinning. Only for his comrades to blink and look at him confused. "What, just me?" he asked as he pointed at himself.

"What was that?" Gabriel asked.

"What's with the voice? I know you have this pimp motif going on but…" Bunnyx asked.

"If it's worth doin', better to overdo the real scrap. Goin' all the way, as the bitches say." Starscream, now Railshredder, replied.

"See, he gets it!" Pipistrello said, pointing at Railshredder.

"Now, if we can get it to sit still long enough, you can tame the beast with some music." Bunnyx said as Railshredder also moved in, scythe at the ready.

"I would do a time stop, but I need to save up my power for portaling." Bunnyx said as she unfolded her umbrella to block a fireball coming from the Ifrit.

"Leave that to Queenie and me!" Pipistrello said. "RANDOM!" she said as she raised her hammer. Everyone turned blonde, aside Queen Bee, whom was already blonde, as well as Gabriel and Railshredder, who have blonde wigs on. "Well, that could have gone better."

"Seriously?" Bunnyx said, annoyed with her now blonde hair.

"Bat child...why did you give me a blonde wig? I look like I should be in that cartoon Edgington talks about, He-Man." Gabriel said, looking at his wig in confusion.

[no, no you are not Prince Adam.]

[Do not judge the Judge of Hell]

[He does pull off the weave though]

"Chat, why are you stating that I am like the insufferable First Man?" Gabriel asked in confusion.

[Gabe, we should tell you about He-Man.]

[Unlike that frat bro asshole, Prince Adam had fabulous and mysterious powers given by the literal power of Castle Grayskull, which he uses to make Skeletor's bitch ass learn why He-Man is him! As does She-Ra with the Horde]

"Hey, it is the power of randomness. It is not always helpful. At least as blondes, we'll have more fun?" Pipistrello suggested.

"I'm not having more fun!" Bunnyx said as she dodged another fiery swipe. "Just smash it with your hammer or something!"

"Oh...right!" Pipistrello said as she brought down her hammer onto the Ifrit. It blocked with its forearms, but it left herself open for Bunnyx to whack it in the stomach with the umbrella. It was sent stumbling back, where Queen Bee waited and tied it up with her trompo.

"Now, Railshredder!" Queen Bee said. The heat was traveling up the wire and she would not be able to hold it.

"Entrancement!" Railshredder said as he played his scythe like a guitar, and the Ifrit started to sway.

"Buuuuurn..." it said, now tripping balls on the music.

The three Ifrits, one powerless, one about asleep and one dazed by the Entrancement, regrouped, barely able to stand. "But...the burn. Burn..."

"They still don't shut up about that?" Chat asked.

"Mh...I wonder if..." Ladybug said as she opened up her yo-yo. She aimed the white light inside of it at the three. "Miraculous Healing!" It engulfed the three Ifrits, who howled as if in pain.

"LB, what are you doing?" Carapace asked.

"I saw one of them falter briefly when I tried reaching out, I got a feeling that..." Ladybug said. She didn't finish the sentence, as the three Ifrits collapsed.

They were still for a few seconds until they opened their eyes. Their manes were fiery again, but they weren't burning wildly. Instead of the empty eyes, they had eyes with visible pupils. "Oh, my..." One of the Ifrits said. "My aching head. Where are we?"

"You don't remember?" Roman asked.

"We really don't." the second Ifrit said. "We were about to visit some relatives in France, we just arrived and then...a blur."

"Wait...red and black dots. You are the current Ladybug Miraculous wielder?" the female Ifrit asked. "You are all wielders?"

"We sure are." Chat said proudly.

"We're not, we're just a band of misfits passing through!" Drakus added.

The three Ifrits looked in panic as they lay down as if bowing. The first Ifrit spoke up. "Forgive us, oh mighty guardians and vagabonds. We have committed a felony by crossing the barrier without permission."

"Well, I could listen to this all day." Railshredder said, smirking as if he believed he was being worshipped.

"Told you this would be great!" Roi Singe laughed, fist bumping Railshredder.

"At ease." Ladybug said. She felt a bit surprised that these magical beings revered them so much. Fu may have mentioned something about their status as Miraculous wielders in regards to magical beings, but she didn't realize the extent until now. "None shall be punished."

"Yeah, if LB's healing made you snap out of..whatever you had a few moments ago, it means it was an external force whom had made you do that." Carapace noted.

"Did we ...hurt anyone?" the second Ifrit asked nervously.

"There were some fires and you kind of fought us. But we got everyone to safety and to be honest, we fought tougher Akumas." Rena Rouge explained. "The rest is nothing that the Miraculous Ladybug can't fix."

"Bunnyx will open up a portal that will bring you home. I advise to be on the lookout for anything weird so that this will not happen again." Ladybug said.

"Thank you for your understanding and generosity, great guardian." The lead Ifrit said as they bowed to them.

"Burrow!" Bunnyx said as she created a portal so that the Ifrits could return home. The Ifrits gave their final goodbyes and stepped through.

"I'm glad we no longer need portal stones to send the beasts back through the barrier." Chat said. "That went rather smoothly I say."

"Speak for yourself, look at my hair!" Queen Bee pouted.

"Just wait until Ladybug uses her Cure, and you'll be back to normal. You're Queen Bee, not Drama Queen. Oh, that sounds like one of Hawkmoth's lamer Akumas." Rena Rouge noted.

"If it helps, you never looked hotter, Queenie." Pipistrello joked. Chat, Drakus, Yang, Okami, Mystle and Yuina chuckled at the pun but the rest didn't look amused. "Nobody appreciates a good pun."

"That's what I said." Chat mused.

"I think you're still beautiful." Bunnyx said, wrapping an arm around Queen Bee's waist. Queen Bee blushed and giggled.

"Were me and Pipistrello ever that sappy?" Ladybug asked.

"You two still are." Carapace noted. "Not that me and Rena have room to speak."

"You are all sickly sweet and sappy. Only reason me and Pegasus aren't is because we don't have a relationship with anyone right now." Chat noted.

"You know, that could change soon..." Rena Rouge said with a creepy grin.

"Oh, she's wearing her shipping face, you played yourself!" Pipistrello giggled, somehow half amused and half frightened.

"We got no time for that. We have to check on the others and see how much the Miraculous Ladybug has to fix." Ladybug said. "But for what it's worth, you all did well."

"Girl, you saying that is worth a lot." Pan noted.

Ladybug smiled. The Heroes' Day gathering was not a fluke. Her new expanded team continued to do well. She couldn't help but question what exactly caused those Ifrit to go berserk. But right now, they needed to regroup with the others, fix things and speak to the media. She could investigate that bit later.

Later that day, it was all over the news, of course. About everyone in the city always eagerly anticipated to hear about their favorite heroes in the news. Mostly with joy and pride in Paris' superhero team. Others just wanted to stay up to date.

"Don't be bemused, it is just the news. Nadja Chamak here, covering the events of the Miraculous team's newest bout of heroics. Earlier today, the young heroes helped deal with a series of fires caused by magical beings known as 'Ifrits'. The beasts were dispatched, the fires were extinguished, and people were pulled out of the burning buildings safely through their efforts."

A soft chuckle could be heard from one particular person hearing the news. Several things were notable about this person. He was surprised to hear about the heroes on the news. He looked on to them with a hint of contempt. He was in prison. No, it was not Hawkmoth, as that guy was still bed-ridden. No, this was someone different.

This man had pale chalk-white anemic skin. He was bald, and had red eyes. He wore red lipstick and black eyeliner, had yellow teeth, and had an abnormally long pointed nose. He wore ringmaster attire consisting of a red unitard, a black vest and bow tie, and black boots with red buckles, along with a long dark gray jacket with three red buttons on each cuff and a red stripe near the bottom trim of the jacket. The accessories included a small black bowler hat with a red stripe, a triangular red earring on his right ear, and black gloves. He held the remote to the tv, almost crushing it in his hand in frustration.

He saw images of the young heroes interacting with a few of the little kids they saved. Laika allowed a kid to scratch her behind the ears, wagging her tail in the process, as Mystle was getting headpats. Pegasus gave one of the kids a piggy back ride, as Ridley was giving out free rides. Roi Singe made monkey sounds while acting like his totem animal to make them laugh, as the rest of the X-Squad were playfully chaotic and lovable with the kids. It was so sweet...it made him nauseous.

"We cannot claim all the credit. We want to thank the people of Paris' fire department and the X-Squad. While we have the skills to deal with magical calamities, it was thanks to them helping us through this with their expertise, and with the X-Squad's rather unique skills and knack for chaos, that allowed us to bring everything to a good end." Ladybug said. "We may be superheroes, but we also need our everyday heroes, even if they're an unusual sort."

The firefighters and X-Squad preened a little under the praise of Ladybug, as Drakus and the Chief shook her hand. It sickened him. Ladybug was genuine with her words. But to this person, her talking was like nails on a chalkboard. For him it was sickly sweet and fake. To him, it felt like an insult. "I could understand, old man, sending out the other Miraculouses to deal with the mess you made. Couldn't have a rogue butterfly running around. But knowing you, I believed for sure you would have let trained professionals handle it." He muttered. "But no, you let kids do it! Not even in high school yet! And not just her and the core team. All of them! Why would you send kids into war? It is just not right!" He let out a scream of fury as he threw the remote at the tv, destroying it in the process. Then he kicked over the stand on which the tv lay and screamed some more.

"Freakshow! Don't tell me you destroyed another one." The guard who was patrolling outside the prisoner's cell said.

"Fine, I won't tell." the prisoner, Frederich Isak Showenhower, more commonly known as Freakshow, muttered. "But you clearly have eyes, so I'll let you figure it out."

"Still cheeky as ever." the guard said.

"Why do we bother replacing this guy's tv. Isn't he supposed to be batshit insane? Should he even be allowed luxuries like TV?" another guard asked.

"Not really, but giving him tv was given in exchange for him not driving any more of the doctors insane." the first guard said.

"Two things! One: It is not polite to talk about me as if I am not here." Freakshow said as he raised a finger. "Two: I just spoke the truth, and regaled them with tales of my stint as a show host."

"You killed many parents!" the guard said.

"The parents I killed didn't deserve to be raising children, they even hit them just because they couldn't fight back. I did society a favor by weeding out the bad ones, besides, I heard that their families are much happier without those assholes." Freakshow said, he sounded amused rather than regretful.

"You are sick." The second guard said.

"Maybe I'm the only sane person left? Matter of perspective. I was forged in the flames of Hell and neglect, after all." Freakshow said as he laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Soon enough, the guards left, as Freakshow grumbled. Cold fury was in his eyes. "They think time heals wounds...yes, it does. But I was famous...spoken off as the greatest hero in the eyes of children. They think that locking me away for all this time will make people forget? I have not forgotten! I will make them remember. This cell won't hold me forever. I will return, and when I do...well, there will be Hell to pay..." he growled to himself softly. His anger, his fury, building up inside him.

It was not unnoticed. Deep underground, in the bowels of the prison's sewer system something cold and dark lurked. From the shadows a pair of eyes opened up and glowed. It has sensed spikes of anger, despair, or sadness. The people of Paris all felt that. But these were brief bouts, just moments of weakness, moments of vulnerability. But the spike of anger it felt was so much more. It was not a moment. It was something that had festered for a long time. It was what the being sought. An odd, chilling sound was heard, that wasn't quite a growl but was still frightening. It was rather...an odd chirp or purr. Whatever this source of extreme anger and hatred was...it needed it!

Later that day, at the Couffaine Houseboat...Luka stepped out. "I think I should play guitar today. It is my only character trait after all." He was then shot in the chest, he stumbled down, fell over the railing of the boat into the Seine, where he was promptly eaten by a shark.

Starscream blew smoke from the barrel of his blasters, as Juleka looked surprised. "When you said you would kill him for those pot brownies, I didn't think you'd mean it literally."

"You don't seem too upset with your brother dying by my hand." Starscream noted.

"He was a bland guy. Besides, it means that I get a bigger allowance now." Juleka said. "Taking Rose out on dates doesn't come cheap."

Satou Matsuzaka was walking down the road at the dead at night. She stayed silent as she glanced around, holding her bag close to her. She continues until she stops in front of her apartment complex, staring up at it smiling.

"My beloved." She says blissfully.

She opens the door and sitting in the doorway was Sting, a small 16-year-old girl with messy black/dark blue hair and big bright red eyes, dressed in a spider hoodie, as Satou tackle hugged the girl.

"What the heck, Satou?!" Sting snapped, surprised that the girl who kidnapped her was hugging her. "You could've just come home earlier..."

Satou grinned and squeezed her some more, blushing a little. 'Ahh, that sweet smell...'

She kneeled to meet her gaze "Have you been waiting near the door all day? You would have gone cold!"

"I wanted to greet you at the door..." Sting muttered.

Satou laughed and hugged her some more, happy as can be.

"I'm getting you this time!" Roi Singe said as he readied himself with his staff.

"The only thing you're getting is a taste of the floor." Bunnyx said as she pointed her umbrella at him. "I'm already ahead of you in terms of wins."

"Technically, you are both tied!" Chat said as he continued his spar with Mystle, the latter blocking his strikes with her spear, not giving her sparring partner a chance to get a hit in.

"Then we break this tie now!" Roi Singe as he charged in. He thrusted his staff forward as she opened up her umbrella to block the strike. It bounced off the deceptively durable thing as she folded it back up and thrusted it forward, stabbing as if it was a rapier instead of an umbrella, but Roi Singe grabbed it right under the tip. Roi Singe then lashed with his staff but she caught it in her free hand.

They then started to pull and push. Both had enhanced strength, but Roi Singe was taller and stronger, but Bunnyx was agile and more nimble, and they both used these traits in their tug o'war to not give the other a moment to regain ground. "I'm going to win this round, you big lug!"

"They're at it again..." Rena Rouge said as she and Ridley continued their spar. Ridley lashed his tail at her, but Rena deflected it with her flute each time.

"Well, I'm not getting in between them." Queen Bee scoffed as she flew up and charged at Roshi.

Roshi held out his arms in front of him in defense as Queen Bee tried to deliver some aerial kicks. "You're sloppy, young lady."

"Well, yeah! You think I am the type with the patience for that kind of thing?" Queen Bee flew back and spun her trompo at her side.

"Point taken." Rena Rouge said as she started spinning the flute in her hand before gripping it tightly.

"Pan, Kempfhahn, I know better than anyone else it is hard to focus seeing your boyfriend in formfitting uniform at time, but please focus more on the sparring!" Ladybug said as she lashed at Ryujin, who swiftly dodged, and thrusted forward with her sword, which Ladybug avoided.

Pan had Kempfhahn pinned to the ground and decided to let his eye linger on how the suit fitted his boyfriend's form. Pan pouted a bit for being called out. "You know Tigresse and Porcelet did the exact same thing last week."

"Well sorry, influenced by the Kwami of passion!" the Tiger Miraculous wielder called back. She had grabbed hold of Porcelet's rake and they were tugging at it trying to overpower one another.

"Can we please put love lives on the back burner until we are done sparring?" Taurus asked, holding his massive forearms in front of him, to block the whip-like lashes of Petit Souris' jumprope.

"Says the guy who is currently getting whipped in every sense of the word." Drakus snarked. This had both the mouse and ox Miraculous wielders blush and Petit Souris even dropped her weapon to the ground in embarrassment.

"Let's take a break everyone!" Ladybug said for everyone.

"But we were about to break the tie!" Roi Singe whined.

"Break that tie in a different way, we are training to be heroes. Take things seriously. Like Ryujin." Ladybug said. She found that Ryujin was staring in front of herself. "Ryujin?"

"Sorry, I was zoning out. When you made that comment of Pan and Kempfhahn, I suddenly thought of how Sabreena looks in her suit." This got everyone laughing as Ladybug facepalmed. Though she had to give in and eventually had to laugh about it as well.

Back at Breaking Point, Freakshow had regretted losing his temper earlier. He was now without a tv and he was bored out of his mind. He just lay in his bed looking at the ceiling. He hated the boredom because it only reminded him on how the world had forgotten about him. He hated being forgotten. Sure, the guards whom patrolled near his cell knew whom he was but only in the sense of them thinking him a chore to look after and to forget once they get back home to their families. He would get out one day, he promised himself that. Only it has been a decade or more and he was still trapped. He had made attempts and they came close, and he took down a few people down with him, but he was recaptured before he got out each time.

"Man...if only I could wish upon a star and get out of here." Freakshow muttered to himself.

"Hey! I'm here to challenge the Gym!" Silver, now a girl after Cobalt accidentally put him inside a gender switching machine, said as he, erm, she, came inside what she assumed was the Azalea Gym. Her Pokémon all had a defeated look.

"I feel ridiculous!" Ceaser said, as they all now were dressed in cowboy gear.

"I don't even have a gender!" Tweets said.

"I feel kind of pretty." Scalper said, liking his cowgirl skirt. They all looked at him. "I'm perfectly secure."

"We would not need to switch our disguises around all the fucking time if the two diablos could hold themselves back from murdering." Shift, now a Kadabra, said, grumpily poking at his braided whiskers.

"Asking me to stop is like asking the Sun to not shine, impossible." Fortunata said.

"And I worship the storm deities, I don't recognize conventional laws of man." Cobalt said. "If they demand blood, they get blood."

The Azalea gym receptionist looked at a few wanted Posters of Silver and another of his 'Galarian disguise'. "You look like these two…" he said.

"I assure you that I have nothing to do with any of those handsome looking gentlemen. I'm Sylvia, an honest to Arceus gal raised on the Bouffalant ranches of Unova. And I just want to earn my badge as honestly as a day of hard work feeding the cattle." Sylvia said, still getting used to her new voice.

"Well, the clothes don't match up, please take a seat in the waiting room."

"Maurice is right, everyone is stupid." Sylvia muttered under her breath as she entered the waiting room.

Two prison guards were patrolling, about to enter the corridor where Freakshow's solitary confinement cell was. But they were being watched. A creature was moving from the shadows, letting out a low growl. "Er...George, did you hear something?"

"I'm not sure what you are talking about, James." that was everything the guards could tell before two beings snuck out of the shadows.

"Who wants to shake hands with a skeleton?" A calm, raspy voice said, as another being slithered right behind them, soon, all the guards could bring out were screams of fear and pain.

Freakshow heard this. "Are those screams of terror? You know it's odd hearing it when I am not the one causing them." he muttered to himself. He talked about it as if he talked about the weather. He got up from his bed and looked out through the transparent wall of his cell. He saw something move through the corridor towards him, a dark grey skeleton. He had bright red eyes and wore a black mask with sharp gold details, black armor, and a black cape, as Sylvia, her pokemon, and the Inquisitors accidentally walked into solitary. Soon, a creature leapt from the shadows, it had a furry cloak, and it was hard to tell if it was actual hair, feathers or something else. But once it spread its cloak, it seemed to be more like it was a pair of wings but no wings like you've seen on any bird or creature. It had a weird body shape, though humanoid, seeming androgynous, and had long thin fingers with the claws it had tore the guards apart with earlier. A second pair of arms, smaller, more armor-plated and, while still with claws, had smaller and fewer fingers. It had clawed legs that make it appear like it had huge clawed bird-like legs. It appeared to have permanent clenched teeth, but only because the twisted armor-plated face of it didn't have lips, permanently showing its sharp fangs off. From his head sported some sort of hair that split further into tentacle-like protrusions, but no one was even sure if it was hair of something else. If Freakshow was frightened or surprised, he didn't show it. "And who do we have here?"

"I am the one to get you out." the being said. His voice was eerie, low and soft, not quite a whisper. Something that you didn't expect from a beast of its size and looks. That made it somehow more frightening.

"I appreciate the offer, but I kind of heard those screams of terror from those guards and if I'm correct, it is going to be messy down the hallway. What can you do to ensure I don't become part of the messy bits?" Freakshow asked.

"Not much of a choice. Either take your chances or whither away like a plant that they forget to water, discarded like trash." the skeleton said.

"You are right, and I hate that. I respect it, but I hate it. So, work your magic." Freakshow said as he sat down on his bed and watched to see what would happen. The skeleton just shattered the cell door as if it was simply glass, as Freakshow grinned. "That's useful, though I expected something flashier."

"Come." the beast said. It didn't exactly order him to do so, more like ask, but letting Freakshow know it wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

"Fine!" Freakshow said. "As long as we break out the others here, before more guards show up. Well, not those guards up ahead, because they're kind of dead." Freakshow pointed out.

"They will be no threat." the beast replied.

"I get that. But you clearly are not human, so it means they'll probably call in the heroes." Freakshow said, rubbing his hands.

As the two rushed from the cell, they stumbled upon a tank. In it was an unconscious green-skinned ghost. Her most noticeable features were the tattoos of stylized animals, as well as her hair shaved to be almost completely bald, only allowing five spikes to serve as some sort of mohawk. She had purple lipstick on, and her nose and ears were pierced. She wore a metallic black cuff on each arm, and was clad in a long red cloak with a skull at the chest, a black cleavage-exposing corset and matching high-cut trunks, along with black high-heeled boots.

"Lydia!" Freakshow yelled, grabbing a keycard and slams it into a control panel, opening the tank containing Lydia, as she woke up, her eyes glowing red in color, and smiled, immediately kneeling in front of him.

Just then, another jail cell opened, and out leapt another Deadpool, with the colors on his suit inverted.

"I've GOTTA hand it to the coppers. They put up more of a fight than I can give them credit for. AND I'VE GOT THE THIRD DEGREE BURNS TO PROVE IT!" Dreadpool laughed.

Just then, another opened, and what walked out, was a nightmare. She had raven wings and purple and violet apparel, her hair was shimmering pink and purple flames… and even a pair of virtual glasses, fiery purple auras surrounding her suddenly glowing gaze. But what was most ominous… was her horn. Alicorn-length and sharp with deep grooves running base to tip, it looked anything but friendly, glowing the same aqua as her eyes.

A maniacal grin broke out across her face, and she gave a cackle that made any sane person cringe. "Sunset Shimmer was right! I didn't understand magic before. But I do now!"

With that, she shattered the jail cell she was in with a single magical bolt, ripping open a fresh portal in its place. But this was no benign or natural gateway; this was a tear in the very fabric of space and time through which you could see Equestria itself; a tear that disrupted all around it and caused a sudden wind to come up with dark clouds forming swiftly overhead in the magic-agitated atmosphere.

Sylvia, using the distraction, quickly grabbed a badge off the table and the small group ran for it, as a small group of heroes chased after them. It may be a scene out of a cheesy action movie, but she prized her life more and went out of it.

"We're leaving? But I want to see the bloodshed!" Fortunata whined.

"Don't care! I prefer life!" Sylvia said.

Just then, a jail cell opened with a billow of fog. First the image of an armored Ancient Mystic colored blue and gold fizzled into focus but then quickly vanished. Then, from the darkness, a sorcerer appeared: that of a mummy clad in expensive silver and purple robes with a pronounced collar adorned with large glowing primary colored gemstones.

"Calindor," Freakshow stated in recognition. "Once one of Octomus' most valued allies."

"A better forgotten state, I assure you," the sorcerer replied. "And 'Calindor' is such an old hat name. I prefer to be called Imperious."

"Very well, Imperious, tell me," Freakshow began, "why have you done all of this?"

Imperious casually brushed the repressing cuffs off of him. Dreadpool bared his blades to signify that the sorcerer should stand back. Imperious merely laughed in response.

"Enough of this strong arm posturing," Imperious said. "I want to escape this dusty old prison."

"Why would you want to escape this prison?" Fyodor asked. "Have you no desire for redemption?"

"Redemption?" Imperious asked before bursting into raucous laughter. "Now you're starting to sound like that fool Koragg. Redemption? I don't need that! The simple truth is that I was plotting to overthrow the Master during my entire stint as his general. My lack of success before my death makes this a matter of finishing what I started."

"Oh, I like him," Fortunata remarked with a smirk. "Let's keep him."

"We don't need him," the skeleton chimed in. "He's devious and treacherous. We already have to watch our backs for daggers slung by Dreadpool, Mahamayuri and Midnight. Erm... no offense, fellows."

"None taken," Dreadpool answered.

"You have proven to be capable..." The beast, now known as Mahamayuri, stated.

"No shame among other psychos here," Midnight shrugged.

"I appreciate the havoc you're wreaking, fun stuff, lemme tell you, but I kind of heard screams of terror from those guards and if I'm correct, it is going to be messy down the hallway. What can you do to insure me I don't become part of the messy bits?" A man asked. Though his head was almost completely shaven, the little hair that was visible on his shaven head was a pale blonde, like his goatee. He had venomous green eyes, with a scar going over his left eye.

"Not much of a choice, Latombe. Either you take your chances or continue to whither away, like a plant that they forget to water." Freakshow said.

"You are right and I hate that. I respect it but I hate it. So work your magic." Latombe said as he sat down on his bed and watched to see what would happen. The beast just walked through the wall as if it wasn't there. A shadowy aura came off it as he walked through. "Well, that's useful, though I expected something flashier."

"Come." the beast said. It didn't exactly order him to do so, more like ask, but letting Latombe know it wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

"Fine!" Latombe said. "As long as we get out quick before more guards show up. Well, not those guards up ahead, because they're kind of... dead." Latombe pointed out.

"They will be no threat." the skeltob replied.

"I get that. But you clearly are not human, and it means they'll probably call in the Miraculous team." Latombe said, the last words spat out with disgust.

"They will be distracted." Mahamayuri replied. If it was capable of it, the beast would have smiled.

"I think I may not dislike you." Latombe said with a grin he was actually capable off.

"Take my hand." the beast said as it reached out its clawed hand. "I can phase you out, but we must be in physical contact." Latombe sighed and did as told. The beast's shadowy aura engulfed them both as they phased through the wall.

From another jail cell, a ruby-colored fog was opening, casting a scarlet light all over the halls. From the center of the portal, a figure dressed all in black flew out of the cell on a broomstick, leaving a trail of black smoke in her wake.

"FLY, MY PRETTIES, FLY!" the Wicked Witch of the West shrieked, laughing maniacally to punctuate her order.

From out of the cell, an army of flying monkeys emerged, ready to obey their master's call. The hall was practically overrun by the monkeys flying overhead, and they all began to converge upon the guards.

"Kill 'em all! Fix 'em good!" the Wicked Witch commanded. "Take no prisoners!"

"Huh. Well, I'll be damned," Ceaser said as the flying monkeys engaged with the reinforcements, driving them back away from the city.

As her army repelled the guards, the Wicked Witch swooped down and landed near where the other escaped convicts were standing.

"Saw you all needed a little bit of help," the Wicked Witch said as she walked over to join the others. "Looks like we showed up just in the nick of time!"

Vinegar Doppio sighed as he dusted himself off. Just a few moments ago he was stuck in a jail cell, but now there was a breakout happening, and his cell door was opened.

"This just isn't my day."

"You seem to be having a string of bad luck," Imperious chuckled.

Doppio turned to see the mummy now free from his cell, more specfcaly, he was looking at the tarot cards he held.

"I don't think I've seen that design before."

"It's inspired from an old mentor of mine," the mummy explained, "I am Imperious. Now, would you like to have your fortune told?"

"No thanks," Doppio said, "I can't even read horoscopes without getting nervous."

Imperious smiled.

"You were born in Sardegna, correct? And it has been some time since you lived there."

"Anyone can tell that from the clothes I'm wearing," Doppio argued.

"Perhaps the tourist part," Imperious argued, "But how could I know where you were born without evidence?"

Doppio blinked.

"Just who are you?"

"I used to serve a powerful man," Imperious explained, "But fate decided it did not want him ruling everything. Now I seek to surpass him. Tell me, does the name Octomus ring a bell?"

Doppio tapped his chin.

"Yeah, vaguely. I think the boss watched Super Sentai a long time ago. He told me about N Ma once."

"I sense a duality in you," Imperious said, "Light and dark. The light knows not the dark, but with that secret you have claimed many victories."

He looked at Doppio.

"And I think, perhaps, you know the name... Giorno Giovanna."

Doppio gasped.

"Okay, now you have my attention... How do you know that name?"

"Your boss, if you choose to call him that, knew not that fate went against him. While Giorno will never walk his father's path, he is still fated for greatness."

He observed a mud splatter on Doppio's pants.

"And I think I know the reason for this duality. That splotch indicates you are seeking your daughter, who you have not seen in fifteen years."

"But I'm only seventeen," Doppio pointed out.

"From your perspective," Imperious suggested, "But I wonder if you are using the right perspective."

He held up a simple mirror.

"Reveal!"

Before Doppio's eyes, the mirror turned ornate, and in the mirror was an image of Trish.

"Hey, that's the boss's daughter! But weren't you talking about my daughter?"

"Because perhaps," the mummy suggested, "You got your age wrong... Diavolo..."

Doppio's eyes rolled into the back of his head as his body seemed to progress in age at an accelerated rate.

"You're lucky we're alone here," the man Imperious referred to as Diavolo said, "But it was foolish of you to peddle yourself..."

"Now, now," Imperious said, "Lest you forget...I have ways of breaking you. Tell me, Diavolo... Can you erase your identity without your Stand to help you?"

The implication was not lost on Diavolo, and he backed down.

"Fine, you've made your point," Diavolo said, "But before I join this farce of a gang, I must ask you a favor. There's a loose end I need to tie up before dealing with my daughter."

He held up a photo of a pale-skinned man with red and black eyes.

"This man's name is Risotto. He's the last surviving member of a group of assassins that once worked for me. I'm certain he's still looking for her, so I need to deal with him."

Imperious took the photo and observed it, then looked into a mirror.

"Apparently, he's in the city of love, Paris." Imperious remarked.

Diavolo thought about this.

"Well... That makes things easier."

Just then, a creature made of fudge slithered out of his jail cell.

"Oh, what's that? Do my eyes deceive me? A delicious gift from the guards? Don't mind if I do." The Fudge cackled, rushing towards them.

Diavolo gulped. "Hold on! We are not candy for you!" He yelled.

The Fudge was confused. "Wh- You're not candy? How am I expected to eat something that's not made of candy? I'm sorry." The Fudge muttered.

"Okay, who are you, anyway?" Scalper asked.

"I am the Fudge. I used to live within the walls of the Candy Kingdom, but I was banished by that rotten princess after I ate too many of the delicious townfolk. Oh, they were so delicious. Sometimes I can hear them... calling to me." The Fudge explained, giggling. "But is it really murder if it's delicious? Answer me that."

"Oh, Motherland! Glorious Ivania! I miss you!" A man clad in red military garb and an eyepatch muttered as he walked out of his cell, his left hand being cybernetic.

"Want us to help conquer that once we escape?" Freakshow asked.

"Eventually, yes. For now, there's work we must do, far from prying eyes." Red Ivan answered, as all the other prison cells were opened by a wave of Freakshow's hand, letting a colorful band of villains loose, as they all laughed or chuckled wickedly. "Now that everyone in solitary is free, let us seek a place, where we can gather allies..."

"Let's leave it at that." the skeleton noted. "At the moment, the heroes will be bamboozled by the Rad Zone slamming into the omniverse, thanks to the conduit I sent there..."

"Did you send those Ifrit after them earlier?" Freakshow asked.

"I sent every beast that came through the veil. For a long time, I was sealed away, and it took a while for me to slowly regain power. I lured beasts beyond the veil for ages. Initially, I could only lure them, but I could not truly control them. Now, at this point, I can instill battle rage, but I am still incomplete, imperfect." Mahamayuri said.

"Is this what you need us for? You think we'll be able to 'fix' you?" Midnight asked. "Glad you think we're the best ones for the job. But now, you still haven't told us who you are, bonehead."

The skeleton smirked. "I am Exis, the Bone Devil, Lord Of Gold, the True Original Sin, and Emperor of the Gilded Shade!"

"Oh God...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHnnnnnnnnghhhhhhhhhhh...!"

Weiss and Mystle flopped back down onto the bed, laying side by side, naked and covered in sweat. The two girls were out of breath but also very satisfied.

Weiss smiled as she pet Mystle's hair. "Damn, Myst, I needed that; you were wonderful." She chuckled, as she lazily scratched the dream demon's back.

Mystle only groaned at the former heiress' ministrations. "Please, tell me when I can feel anything below the waist again."

As they snuggled in bed, Weiss heard an embarrassed-sounding cough from Mystle. "Well," she said, "that get up...wasn't something I ever expected to see."

Weiss blinked, then looked up slowly.

She saw her outfit was now an Atlas Military uniform that consisted of a skin-fitted short long sleeved white and grey dress that fastened on the right side, with a hexagonal cut out on the bust alongside several black straps, with a white short cape attached to the dress. There was also a flowing white trench coat decorated with various black thorn-like and snowflake designs, light gray tights, and white high-heel pumps. In addition, there was a white kepi with black visor.

Weiss screamed.

Drakus' left eye twitched, as Mystle and Weiss told Drakus what happened and why they're all now dressed like they're from an 80s to 90s action figure commercial, and made his outfit resemble a mix between Guts' armor and a rapper. "You two...broke the omniverse...and sent us all to an 80s and 90s action figure commercial of a dimension...with a dildo, and Satou here broke it further with a dagger."

Weiss' face burned a deeper shade of red than Ruby's hood as she hid her eyes under her hat, and Mystle shyly rubbed her arm, her dress now resembling a long-sleeved ballroom gown mixed with battle armor, as the blue and white dilophosaurus Satou summoned, Dilan, nibbled at the pigeons. "Look, I didn't know, okay? I mean, Mystle bought it on the Internet! From, you know, a normal...place..."

Sting facepalmed. "For Lolth's sake..."

"Don't drag her into this, you're making it weird!" Weiss yelled.

"IT'S ALREADY WEIRD!"

"Will you two please stop yelling at each other?" Marinette yelled, rubbing the bridge of her nose, as she felt very uncomfortable in her new ladybug-themed long sleeved leotard and tights. "Look, Sting, was it? Does it really matter how it happened? Isn't the important part fixing it?"

Sting sighed. "Well, that's true, but in order to understand just how this all happened and how severe the damage is, I do need..." Her cheeks colored. "Details."

"Oh Utsuki," Mystle moaned, burying her face in her hands.

Sting coughed and turned to her. "How many times did you use it last night?"

Mystle peered at her between her fingers. "Umm...at...at least 69 times," she whimpered.

Drakus' face turned as dark as Ladybug's suit. "Nice..."

"WEISSY AND ME WERE HORNY, OKAY?"

Marinette cleared her throat. "Apparently, whenever a magical creature experiences an orgasm, it...leaks..."

The squad all stared at her. Now it was Marinette's turn to blush. "MAGIC! They leak MAGIC!"

Weiss cleared her throat. "Y-yes," she said. "We've figured out that the, umm...jewel..thingy..." She grimaced. "It's some kind of magic receptor, and Mystle, err...charged it up too fast..."

Ombra sighed. "Well, I can tell just by looking at it that it's radiating powerful chaos magic, but how did something with that kind of power even appear in this world...?"

Russell, to no one's surprise, was grinning as some of the guys in the squad looked ravishing in their new attire, as his outfit resembled a tradio.

"We look like we should be in He-Man or She-Ra! All that's missing is the skimpy little outfits, and that's when we're having a party!" Russell chuckled. "The best kind of party."

"Well, one upside is that a lot less people are stupid enough to challenge the crazy lady swinging a guitar around dressed like she should be in an 80s action toon." Drakus said with a teasing tone, as Lyre rolled her eyes.

"Adam's guitar is one of the most powerful angelic relics ever designed, a weapon with few equals." She snarled, grinning as Drakus rolled his eyes.

"Still looks stupid."

"Wait, why does Gabriel look like he listens to Nine Inch Nails?" Chat Noir asked, as Gabriel looked at him in confusion.

"I don't listen to Nine Inch Nails, I don't even know what a "Nine Inch Nail" is. The only nails I like are the sacred ones Jesus was crucified with, thank you." Gabriel said, confused by what the young hero asked, before continuing to stare at the outfit he was now stuck in, that of an unholy mix between a grunge band member and a ninja.

"It's very important we fix this…" Lyre's expression went serious as she locked eyes with Ombra. "...So you can lose the top hat. It looks so fucking dumb."

"Oh, leave the hat alone." he wanted to be mad, but he was laughing too much.

"You're walking around in a bowtie and a top hat. You look like Orko's drunk cousin, what are you doing with your life?" She chided, mock seriousness in her tone.

"I'm not taking fashion advice from the woman wearing a get up like a bad mix of She-Ra and Dr. Blight."

"You're just mad that I make pathetic look good!" Ombra and Lyre shared a small laugh at that.

"Alright, Stu...what the fuck did you do?!" Another Billy yelled at his Stu, as the squad looked at them. "Who the fuck are you?!"

"We're the X-Squad, obviously..." Drakus retorted, as the Billy and Stu doubles looked at the list he gave them.

"Hey, this means I'm Stu Two!" Stu Two cheered.

"Oh great, now there's twice the stupidity!" Billy and Doubilly both groaned.

"Can everyone focus?!" Drakus snapped, as his eyes darkened. "This is bad...and occult...which means we gotta go to the one person I know who deals with this daily...my sister..."

Soon, Drakus knocked on the door of the military base his sister was at, and waited a few seconds. Then, it opened, revealing...two of the strangest girls that top every strange thing the squad has ever come across.

One seemed to have blue wings, blue hair, and amber eyes, with talons on her feet. Although, she does look rather cute.

The other... well...she was actually made of slime. Light blue slime, covered under a yellow raincoat. And her eyes were emerald. Her hair was basically long, emerald, yellow tipped feelers.

Right now, both seemed mesmerized by Drakus, looking on in amazement.

"Um..." Lyre muttered. "W-Who are you?!"

"A harpy! Papi the harpy." the blue wing girl proclaimed childishly.

"And I'm Suu!" the slime girl revealed, somehow perfectly copying Papi's voice.

"Well then, Papi the harpy and Suu the slime. You are foolish to approach a servant of God such as myself as casually as you did. I am the Archangel Gabriel, the sword of divine justice, the right hand of the Lord's will, the Judge of—"

"PAPI! SUU! Wait up!"

By now, the squad could see a young woman with her white and blue hair up in pigtails, green streaks and purple highlights in it, clad in a white, blue and green ensemble with a hood, her wings being skeletal in nature, and her eyes being white with blue sclera and a scarf hanging around her neck, 3 scars resembling a claw mark over her left eye.

"WIFEY!"

"ZERI!"

By now, both Papi and Suu tackled the girl, sending her crashing onto the floor. While Papi had her wings wrapped around her head, Suu had her arms and hair(?) Wrapped around her waist.

"Are they going to ignore the fact that they are in the presence of the Judge of Hell?" Gabriel asked in confusion.

"Yep. Hey there, Zerinax," Drakus courteously said, bowing as he did so. "It's Drakus, and I am in need of your assistance in saving the world from an 80s to 90s epidemic. And before you ask, no, I didn't become a door-to-door priest trying to get you to convert to Gnomic Christianity."

"What dumb shit did you do this time?" Zerinax groaned, trying to shove Papi and Suu off of her. "Knowing you, it's probably something involving this little 'X-Squad' group you're leading, little bro."

[that's his sister?!]

[bro i was expecting like a normal gal or some shit, not a fucking model!]

[god do i hate the guy's luck]

[jesus fuck that's the hottest dragon girl i've ever seen!]

"You're damn right I am!" Zerinax said, grinning.

"Um, excuse me?" Drakus asked, feeling like he was intruding. "Are these two your... um... wives?"

"Yep!" Zerinax snapped almost instantly. "I'm also their host, unfortunately for my sanity."

Drakus faceplanted into the wall, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Sii-Sii?"

"Yeah?"

"Remind me to not kill any more lovers Zeri has..."

"Look, I know what you're probably thinking, and no, the Analogs are not a band of dimwits, they're professionals, they're the best of the best!" Zerinax explained as they walked down the hall. "They're..."

"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCKING SHIT?!" Someone suddenly shrieked, as a cyborg with black hair and an astronaut-like suit yelled, as she jumped into the air.

The girl began stumbling around as she landed, limbs flailing as she suddenly couldn't stand on her own two feet; resulting in her dancing around on her boots like a drone with a magnet stuck on their head, her pale white eyes going crazy. "Cunt fucking, drongo sucking, gizzard guzzling fucking- oh shit!" Whoever was… doing that was letting loose a truly brutal string of profanity and curses. It seemed the lack of a need to breath made cursing much easier; if you're creative. This… was very much different from the eldritch monster the three of them were just running from. And… oh yeah, now she tripped and fell into a pile of snow and ash.

"What… is going on?" Enn, who got turned into a girl by the resulting shockwave, and was taking it surprisingly well, asked from behind Uzi, leaning down and putting his, erm, her, hands on her shoulder. The squad watched as Jay finally shook off her own shock, dashing to where the girl had fallen into the pile.

"HOLY SHIT IT'S SO FUCKING COLD!" Snow flew up into the air as this… cyborg tried desperately to escape the freezing cold snow. Uzi… did not have an answer. Nor did Vee, as the three of them watched Jay try and get a grip on the thrashing cyborg from the snow pile.

"I have… absolutely no idea." Honestly, what could Uzi even say? "Vee, any ideas?" Uzi asked, poking the murder droid with her elbow as she pointed towards… whatever it was going on.

"I'm lost." Vee answered back, brutally honest, still holding up her claws, the more she watched, the more Vee was unconvinced of it herself. "I don't know why she would do it now though."

Finally, after almost a minute of floundering Jay successfully grabbed onto the girl's flailing arms. Jay sprouted and flapped her wings, bringing herself into the air. With that action she yanked the girl from the snow.… and she still continued to flail like a cold, very wet and angry cat. "B-B-Bloody fucking s-s-shit!" She shrieked and stuttered, chattering her teeth and kicking her legs in the air. "W-What cruel, cocksucking g-gobshit g-g-god c-created this s-s-shithole!?" Her cursing still hadn't let up yet. "W-Where am I? C-C-Canada?!"

Still too stunned to answer, Jay carefully lowered her onto the floor. And the moment her heels touched the floor and Jay let go… she slipped on some ice, letting out a girlish yelp as she went into the air again and hit the floor.

The solver drone sat up as fast as possible, yelping instinctually. "C-Cold!" Her hands flew back, patting up the opening on the back of her dress. "Oh! W-When I find who b-brought me out here in a-a d-d-dress I-I-I'll…" Finally, the girl stopped, looking up at the squad, really seeing them for the first time. "...W-Wait… Vera? Norin?!" She exclaimed, looking up at the two drones in confusion, almost looking right through Uzi if it wasn't for the confused glance she sent to the small worker drone.

Jay touched the ground, a haunted look of realisation on her face. Something that no one else had caught yet.

The sound of her pegs crunching the snow made the girl flick her head towards the noise. "Jerika?!" The girl shrieked, this time much less in fear. "W-What's going on? W-Where am I? W-Why are we in a g-g-godless snowfield!?" She snapped, her hands grabbing onto her arms to hug herself. "And why am I-" The girl looked down… finally seeing herself.

Yeah… Uzi could confirm that seeing someone's eyes shrink to mere specks was not a comfortable experience in any scenario. "W-What the fuck…" the girl whispered, raising her… hands. She was frozen in place, staring at her fleshy human hand and the silver metal hand she possessed..

Then, in a mere whisper, they finally heard Jay, or rather, Jerika, speak. Her voice was… quiet, impossibly so. "Tessa?" Neither Vee, or rather, Vera or Enn, or rather, Norin, had ever, EVER heard Jerika speak so softly. 'Tessa' didn't reply. Instead, her chest started rising and falling rapidly, useless breaths sucked in and blown out without lungs to make use of the air. Her hands clenched and unclenched rapidly. Tessa began to hyperventilate, her eyes becoming saucers before suddenly…

"I'M A FUCKING CYBORG NOW!!! THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL!"

"... WAIT! WHAT HAVE Y'ALL BECAME? Ok, you can say a lot of things about Cyn but you have to admit, she knows how to make a body." 'Tessa' said, grinning.

V blinked several times. That voice. Tessa? THEIR TESSA?! But she was dead?! Vera was half certain she ate her spleen! (The Gala was not a memory she liked to revisit, sue her).

"Alright you weird, eldritch… whatever you are," Uzi began, standing next to Norin and copying her pose. It was honestly cute. "Firstly, who in robo-hell are you?"

Casting a quick glance at Jerika, making sure she was okay; Tessa looked back at the three drones. "Well… uh… Ah'm Tessa James Elliott." Her tone was slow and careful, just like mother taught her. "'But what about Kader? He was controlling all of you before!" She looked frantically between them, and then her attention settled on Uzi. The white eyes of the human girl grew curious, and Norin had a feeling that if Tessa had hands she would be trying to figure out what kind of Droid Uzi was.

"Oh! Well, Mr. Arkland sent us to kill the rebel drones, we kinda got sent to Earth because the shuttle malfunctioned, and then we joined a black ops hero group, and.… Well, we're currently in an 80s to 90s dimension called the Rad Zone, and apparently, female is my permanent gender now. Not that I'm complaining, of course. Tessa, this is Uzi Doorman, Princess Akira Tyruga, and Powder 'Jinx' Lane. My girlfriends! I'm also apparently part of Akira's harem now!" She posed slightly, gesturing to Uzi, Akira and Powder, admittedly putting them on a pedestal, something Uzi never really enjoyed, but Cain-damnit, her, Akira and Powder deserved all the praise!

"Wait, that means… You're all free? Wait a second, Norin's trans now? Wait, a harem?! Oh, Norin, you little scamp, you went and grew up on me!" Tessa looked and sounded so proud, she couldn't help but smile and rub the back of her head, blushing heavily along with Uzi. Then Vera elbowed her.

"So, how about you give us actual proof you're Tessa, then?" The glint of her talons off the light made her shiver on the spot.

"Well, I fixed Norin up when I was 8. Three years later, I found and repaired you, Vera. An' Jerika had been my caretaker from birth. I named all of you, too...and also, Vera! When ya met Norin, ya were always trying to impress 'er. One time when she was making drinks, ya tried showing off by carrying a bundle'a drinks at once. Y-Ya tripped over yer feet and spilled all six of 'em onto yourself. Ya uniform was stained with the colours so ya had to spend the day in a rainbow coloured maid dress! Made a right galah outta yourself." Even at the threat of death, Tessa still found the time to smile. "It was adorable watching Norin try ta convince ya to just wear her jacket but ya were trying to be cool about it, like ya weren't embarrassed as shit. Ya looked like a wet cat the entire day!"

Vera choked on her words, yellow dash marks appearing under her eyes as she blushed HARD. She tried to respond, but with everyone looking at her now it was her turn to start tumbling over her words. "I-I didn't, I've never, you didn't… gah!" She stomped her boot on the floor. "IT WAS A GOOD IDEA! I'VE SEEN THE GERMANS DO IT BEFORE! IT'S POSSIBLE!" She cried, covering her face with her arms.

Unrelenting, Tessa looked at Norin, who similarly blushed as he realised he was next. "Norin, one day you were serving my mother at the bar, she asked ya for a whiskey on the rocks. You got confused and brought her a whiskey glass while balancing it on a stone from outside. She freaked out and ya dropped the rock and dented the floor. The whiskey glass broke too, spilling everything. Ya spent two days repairing the floor and going through retraining."

As expected, Norin blushed and gulped in embarassment. "I-I… Yeah, okay, I did do that."

Uzi at their sides looked like she was dying of laughter, nearly folded over letting out devilish giggles. And Tessa… she felt the same, her hands were raised as high as the chains would allow, trying to cover her face as she giggled over the sweet memories. That sinking feeling in her gut was starting to loosen.

Undeterred and actually enjoying herself, Tessa turned to Jerika. "Jeri~!" Her singsong voice got Jerika to spin her head towards Tessa, a look of horror on her face.

"Tessa, no..." Jerika's eyes had hollowed and a tick appeared on her visor.

"One day, Jerika here got a little too tense and burst a tube. It was easy to fix, but it damaged her gyro system, meaning she couldn't control her orientation anymore." Even Tessa couldn't help but giggle at the memory.

"She spent the next week fumbling around like'a drunkard. Bumping into walls, randomly falling over. She'd try disciplining some poor Drone and slowly tilt ta the side. But when she tried righting herself, she'd fling herself and do a flip! Haha! She'd always, ALWAYS land on 'er face." By this point, both Uzi and Tessa had fallen into fits of giggles over the stories. "And-and when I got the repair piece, s-she got too excited and tripped after grabbing it. It fell on her face and broke her visor!"

Jerika looked utterly mortified, feeling her unshakeable image shattering in real time. "T-Tessa~!!!!" She cried out in disbelief, trying to reach out and keep her from spilling more tea.

"Oh come on now, it was funny!" Tessa tried to reason, but her words hit less due to the array of giggles still escaping her. Uzi, Powder and Akira were in even worse condition, having fallen over to laugh about the past of their mutual Murder Droid girlfriends. The intimidating aura they all had burning away even more. "She spent the next couple days completely blind." Tessa finished the story with a gentle sigh, turning to look over at the others.

"Uzi!?" Norin cried, watching as the squad cackled on the floor as she knelt beside Uzi. Vera, meanwhile, had lowered her arms, even if her blush hadn't fully left yet.

"Alright, alright, stop. You're Tessa…." Her tone was relenting, but still on edge, mostly from embarrassment. Her claws tapped her arms rhythmically.

"I could say more?" Tessa offered. All three Disassembly Droids went ramrod straight, looking at her with unique expressions.

"N-No need for that, haha!"

"Let's not tell any more stories, I think you broke Jerika."

"I need HR…"

"DARLING! YOU'RE BACK!"

Well, this is something you don't see everyday. Only a few feet from where the squad were, Zerinax was now coiled in the embrace of a...lamia. There isn't really anything scary about her, actually. A long red tail, matching her long hair. And amber eyes cloaking two slit pupils, which.. actually looks quite cool.

"MIIA, MY SPINE!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Darling!" the snake girl quickly apologized, releasing Zerinax from her embrace.

That was when she finally caught sight of the squad, looking confused.

"Um, who are you?" the snake girl asked, as Zerinax began to get up.

"Miia! You're not coiling Mistress again, are you?"

"Lamias are said to be passionate, Centorea-san."

"Okay, so we've met a harpy, a slime, a cyborg, and a lamia. Surely, whoever is coming over can't be any stranger? Can they?" Lyla wondered.

"Well, I'm guessing the centaur would be Centorea." Drakus remarked. Not hard to link those two together.

But she does seem rather properly dressed too, a long skirt over her horse part. Blond hair, tied into a pony-tail (Ha! Pony-tail) reaching all the way down her back. Her arms folding under her admittedly huge breasts. Probably has some back problem thanks to them.

The other girl, was a mermaid. Well, having said that, she obvious fits the maid part. Actually, if it wasn't for her webbed hands and obvious pink tail, I probably would have mistaken her for a maid. A maid limited to wherever a wheelchair would allow.

"Welcome back, miss!" The mermaid greeted Zerinax, clapping her webbed hands together. "Did you get what you wanted?"

"Something more actually." Zerinax explained, brushing the dust from her clothes. "Everyone, this is my brother, Drakus. He's visiting, and he and his misfits needed a place to stay."

"Oh, pleasure to meet you, Drakus-san." the lamia greeted bowing slightly. "Name's Miia."

"It's a pleasure to meet Miss' brother." the mermaid admitted. "Please, call me Mero."

"And I'm Centorea." That was when Snoozy decided to investigate, sniffing Centorea as the centaur seemed almost surprised. "Wha- What kind of beast is this?"

"Uh, beast made of nightmare energy actually." Drakus explained, making his way over. "Snoozy's a-"

"The huntress, lays a trap for her prey..."

Looking down, Drakus caught sight of what looked like a piece of webbing. Placed like a trap around his feet...

"SHIT!"

He didn't know how fast it even happened, or even how the others were reacting. All he could see was the world turned upside down as he hanged from his legs, his arms and face wrapped up in webbing as something pulled him up. Or better yet, someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Honey." a sarcastic voice apologized. "I had no clue you came-"

As much as Drakus preferred to stay away from spiders (He ain't putting up with whatever cult shit the Spider-Society is)... He will admit, this girl actually looks quite badass, with six red eyes, though four seemed cloaked under her white hair, and arms covered in an exoskeleton. Pretty much, apart from her armored arms and six eyes, her top body looked rather normal. The rest, pretty much all spider, with one massive skull mark.

"You're not Honey." she realized, as if disgusted.

"No, I'm vinegar." Drakus sniped.

"Rachnee? I'm down here." Zerinax called down from below.

"Why, why did you have to do that, you dumb fuzzball?!" Someone yelled, as the squad looked to see a hedgehog Faunus with blue and red hair clad in a black, red and blue outfit, his mouth covered by a gas mask, his eyes being blood red and jet black with blue sclera, as he was with a girl with a pale complexion and shoulder-length light pink hair with pink streaks. She had blue eyes and a pink circular face mark on her right eye. She had on a black zipped jacket with a light pink shirt underneath a pink plaid pleated skirt, grayish black leggings with a small rip on her right leg, pink sneakers, a pink choker, and pink falcon wings on her back.

"Again, sorry 'bout the incident yesterday, let's move on!" The Faunus snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, I forgive ya, but still, I didn't know anyone could do that." The girl groaned.

"You'd be surprised what Marco-san and Art-san can get up to while cross faded, Sherry-chan." A pale white girl with red and white hair said, flying beside them, her moth wings being cybernetic in nature, as her red and white kimono was covered by a pink and teal jacket and pink skirt, with white leggings and pink and red shoes being shown.

Art the Clown walked beside them, looking as annoyed as a silent killer clown like him could.

Marco sighed. "Art, let's be real here, alright? We're all fucking concerned about you, buddy."

Art widened his eyes in mock innocence, pointing at himself like he couldn't believe he became the topic of conversation.

Sherry rolled her eyes, and sighed. "Yes, you. That thing you did to Beardsley? It was... well, it was intense, bud. Even for us."

From behind her, a girl clad in gray, red and white gave a slow nod, her black and white hair shining in the light. "You kinda went freaky, Art. I at least know when to stop when I get my art supplies. But you… you went off on that geezer. Pretty sure he was already dead once you got the buzzsaw out!"

Art huffed in protest, launching into an overdramatic mime routine to explain himself. First, he started thrusting a bit, before pretending to kick down a door, and then pretended to paint a beautiful masterpiece, then threw in a shocked expression, as if he were the one being wronged here.

Mitsuko snickered a bit, before wincing as she recalled the scene. "I mean, we get why you repainted the walls with him, Art-san. But that's... that's hardcore, even by my father's standards. And man! Literally rubbing salt in the wounds? What the heck?!"

Art pointed at Marco, then mimed a spurt of blood shooting out, then pointed at Mitsuko, then mimed being waterboarded and beaten with a hammer, and then pointed at Sherry, then mimed claws going through the heart, and then mimed being set on fire, Marco instantly knowing what that meant.

"Still faster than the shit you pulled, and we didn't rub salt in Shamuhaza, Kin and Hicks' wounds!" Marco snapped.

"There's a line, Art. We may terrify and kill, but we don't… annihilate entire dungeons." Payton Lanius added.

Sherry took a dramatic sip from her juice box. "Exactly! I just stabbed Hicks, torched him a bit, keep it classy, keep it fun. But you? You turned that dungeon into a literal Jackson Pollock."

Art just crossed his arms, feigning indignation, and stomped his foot angrily.

Mitsuko looked on with faint disgust. "There are boundaries, Art. The stuff we do is meant to bring justice. It's not to… obliterate the mind with just a lot of pain."

A strange fish-like demon bobbed up and down, wide-eyed with concern. "I psychologically tormented and ate kids, kids, Art. And even I'm saying that you went too far."

Art huffed and shook his head, miming "It was art!" in exaggerated gestures, looking like he might actually mime storm off.

Marco groaned. "Look, Art. We're here to help. This is an intervention, okay?" He glanced around. "We're all crazy here, but there's a limit. Hibyky? You're quiet as usual. Anything to add?"

A girl clad in a white and black sailor uniform tilted her head, her silent presence filling the room. She raised a knife, did a brief stabbing motion, but then waggled her hand as if to say, 'You went a bit overboard, man.', as everyone nodded in agreement.

Art just sighed and waved his arms dismissively, silently admitting that maybe he'd gone a little too far.

"I'm still wondering where you and Art got the rockets, Mitsuko. The roller skates I understand. But don't you need to be 18 years old to get fireworks?" A gaunt-looking man with glowing white eyes, long gray hair, moustache, and beard said. He had a huge wound on the right side of his face. His attire consisted of a cowboy hat and dark gray coat under which he had on a dusty brown shirt, long pants with a darker tone, and a pair of leather boots. Additionally, he wore a leg brace on his left leg.

"I'm just wondering if the donkey survived." Sherry muttered.

"I'm more shocked that it led to a revolution against that 'Sex Empire', and it meant blowing up a Burger King. And Vult got sentenced to life without parole..." Marco remarked. "Well, from what I heard, he was sentenced as an adult so I guess he finally got to experience sex, just not in the way he expected nor wanted."

"I see that as a complete win." Caleb Quinn, the Deathslinger, said. "The man tried to get handsy with a lady, and I couldn't stand idle while they tried to hurt a maiden, even if she's a war criminal."

"We blew up a fucking burger restaurant, how did that factor into your plan?" Marco mused

"What happened exactly?" Drakus asked.

"This has to be a good story!" Garie cackled.

"We swore to never explain what happened to the Kuroinu. Our dignity demands it, and if Art got into the details, it'd probably involve miming a lot of shit even he doesn't condone." Zerinax explained. "Just know, Vult is now experiencing what it's like to have something you don't want inside you."

"I would feel bad for him, but he did probably bring it on himself..." Mystle remarked.

"Oh, you're Zeri's little bro, right?" Sherry asked, a grin on her face.

"Yeah, that's me. This is the X-Squad..." Drakus muttered.

"They're a band of misfits and mass murderers, and have committed war crimes without remorse if it meant getting their mission done." Zerinax remarked. "Also, they toppled an Equestrian government."

The reactions from Miia, Mero, and Centorea... were rather understandable from their view.

"What?!"

"Your brother's a killer and a revolutionary?!"

"Oh, what a tragedy! Seven innocent monster girls, trapped with a known murderer!"

No one of the X-Squad was sure why Mero was gleeful about something like that, but at least it's something different from everyone else's reaction.

"But what exactly were you even planning in the first place?!" Uzi asked.

"I don't even remember what I originally planned. Just that I wanted a slushie and that was the closest place to Skar Point." Marco remarked. "It just so happened I was enjoying a joint with Sherry and Rolando at the time and I had been drinking Madd Dogg from a Dixie cup with Art all day."

"But what about the donkey?" Taylor asked.

"Oh, it's dead." Rolando explained. "It could not have survived that."

"Dere U R!" someone screeched, and they turned to see a girl staring at them, one who quickly tackle hugged Zerinax. "Mah haz ben W8ting four u!"

"Glad you're here, Lilac..."

What Zerinax spoke too...was weird. She was short, but thin in the extreme with small but firm extremities. Her platinum blond and lilac purple hair was long, and fell in elegant curls down her back while enormous blue and green eyes seemed to literally sparkle. Her pale skin was flecked with golden dust and glimmered slightly as the light caught it.

In short? It was the weirdest thing any of them had ever witnessed, or were likely to witness again.

"i iz so hapi 2 see u!"

Drakus stared at her for a moment before he leaned over to Zerinax. "What the fuck is that?" He whispered.

"That's Lilac, she's a... uh... Mary Sue."

"It's friggin' terrifying."

They stood there for a moment, staring at the girl in horror or exasperation while she spewed forth a stream of random gibberish, which seemed to be the verbal equivalent of the abuse her keyboard had apparently been subjected to. After perhaps thirty seconds of what one could only assume was some sort of yapping, Roman seemed to experience a small mental breakdown and clasped his hands over his ears.

"Someone... make it stop..."

"Yeah, she's like that..." Zerinax deadpanned

"Why is Sherry so snobby, Zerinax? Matter of fact, whatever made Lilac must be a new Creator." Fluff said. "And they both could do with some maturing, in fact, they eventually will. I know, because..."

"Freakin' kwami of time, we know! But guess what, my wielder can take yours any day of the week!" Xuppu said.

"Oh, wanna make a bet about that?" Fluff asked.

"Cut it, you two! You're supposed to rub off on them, not the other way around." Mullo said, as he got in between them.

"Or just let them cut loose. They do the rest themselves." Roaar said. "Does wonders for my wielder."

"If by that she looks like she may turn nymphomaniac any second." Caleb scoffed.

"I prefer the terms 'addicted to her potential mate'. I think it is always the best way to channel one's passion. Certainly when this reclusive little flower blooms open like a tiger lily." Roaar noted.

"Ugh! Mushy stuff. Don't like it, its not for me. It's always gross and complicated. That's why I stick with cheese. It is far less gross and simple." Plagg said.

"As long as you don't breathe down our faces, cheese-breath." Barrk said as she covered her nose.

"I kind of misssssed the good-natured ribbing we gave each other. That'ssss sssomething we have in common with our wieldersssss." Sass noted.

"Oh, believe me, it is a delight." Trixx said with an impish grin.

"You always love messing with people, and..." Plagg muttered. "You're making that face again. Last time you did that, you put hot sauce in my cheese." Plagg looked at a second cheese Danish. "You didn't do it again...right?"

"You think that if I did, I'd tell you?" Trixx asked.

Plagg pouted as he looked at the Danish, torn between eating it and risk playing into a prank or letting it lie there...but he'd miss out on cheese. Trixx whispered to Jinxx. "I didn't do anything, I'm playing a paranoia gambit."

"That's hilarious, you're the best, Trixx!" Jinxx noted.

"I know." Trixx grinned like a cheshire cat.

"Cool, dinner and a show." Daizzi said as she stuffed her face.

"Something tells me I have to play peacekeeper again today." Tikki said, not able to ignore the feeling. In the end, they will have a good laugh about it, but before that, she'd imagine a furious Plagg chasing a giggling Trixx again.

But not right now as an explosion went off in the distance, and a roar was heard in the distance. The apps on the Miraculous Alliance's phones sounded all at once, indicating a possible magic beast attack. "Oh dang, guess the second half of our training day is going to be more of the on-the-job sort again." Sabrina noted.

"All right, you know the drill people." Marinette said as she stood up. Everyone readied up for transformation.

"Tikki, spots on!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

"Wayzz, shell on!"

"Trixx, let's pounce!"

"Pollen, buzz on!"

"Sass, scales slither!"

"Roaar, let's hunt!"

"Daizzi, pork out!"

"Barrk, here boy!"

"Kaalki, full gallop!"

"Orikko, sunrise!"

"Ziggy, wake up!"

"Mullo, bare your fangs!"

"Stompp, stampede!"

"Longg, bring the storm!"

"Xuppu, showtime!"

"Fluff, clockwise!"

"Jinxx, go crazy!"

In a flash of multiple colors, the heroes were transformed and were on their way to deal with the threat at hand. But once they got there, they were surprised to see a young blonde girl with brown eyes and a fair complexion, clad in an orange jumpsuit and a belt with a lemon on it, standing in front of a portal resembling a clock. She had on a pair of green woodshop glasses and green gloves, along with brown boots. Under her jumpsuit, anyone could see she wore a white shirt with a brown neckline.

"Great butterscotch! I did it! The Voidboost 8K is finally online!" Lemon Tort laughed, pulling up her goggles.

"Tort, what dumb shit did you do this time?" Zerinax groaned, as Tort looked at Zerinax in surprise.

"What do you mean what did I do? I just made a portal!" Tort said, grinning eagerly. "It's not like all I do is make dumb stuff!"

"Does summoning a zombie redneck torture family ring a bell with you?" Zerinax remarked.

"I drank too much soda." Tort remarked, rolling her eyes.

"The Grizzco incident?" Zerinax asked.

"I didn't know Kaia worked there before I enlisted her!" Tort added.

"The Snubvasion?!" Zerinax yelled.

"Oh! Yeah… okay. No, I…admittedly did go a bit too far there." Tort admitted, looking sheepish. "To be fair, though, Zip was a bit pissed that they snubbed Ice Nine Kills in favor of Banjo Beat Collective."

"A bit? She burnt down all of Carey, Tort!" Zerinax refuted, face slightly pale as she remembered the gore.

Tort shrugged, way too calm for someone who had just helped commit one of the most terrifying acts anyone had ever seen. "The people have spoken," she said. "Viva la snubs."

"You pushed Ben Warner Jr. into a giant fan, and Zip shoved Ben Warner into a vinyl maker!" Zerinax shouted, rightly hysterical. One nice vacation was all she asked for. It was early morning on their third day there and Zip, Olivia and Edda, as well as Marco, Sherry, Mitsuko, Rolando, Caleb, Payton, Art and Tort, had led a riot to the Rock and Roll hall of fame.

"To be fair, Zeri." Tort added, booping her nose. "That guy was a dreg of the Earth, what with gatekeeping hip-hop, RB, country, and metal artists from getting into the Carey Rock and Roll hall of fame, blatant excluding deserving artists, and also perpetuating elitism, racism, sexism, and classism, make what was supposed to be a rock and roll hall about the lifestyles of rich white men, and also for being the last dinosaur of a dying age. And Ben Jr. was a discord mod and an asshole, anyway."

"Tort," Zerinax calmly placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Ben Jr. was trying to stop Zip from pushing people into a giant fan."

"Oh, those?" Tort gestured to the bloody vinyls she kept on a shelf.

Zerinax gripped her hair, "Yes, those!"

Tort frowned at the chunks. "They were part of a cartel, murdered, like, a couple hundred people."

"Everyone," A voice like the Tenth Doctor said, as a new person turned to look at the group, a grin falling on his face as he saw Jason. "this is Frederick Krueger."

"Hello, momma's boy. Did ya miss me?"

All hell broke loose right as that statement left Freddy's mouth. Before anyone could react or stop him, Jason had his machete drawn in one hand and the opposite forearm pinning Freddy against the reinforced window. Everyone's eyes widened, and they jumped back at the large man's unexpected and surprising movements.

Freddy was quick to react, using his gloved hand to stab him in the side, causing Jason to lose his grip, before swiping across Jason's face, knocking his mask off.

The squad watched in confusion as Jason's machete clattered to the ground, his focus instantly changing from killing his new teammate to covering his face, leaving a peek hole between his fingers as he glared at Krueger with his one good eye. Freddy gladly returned the favor.

"Listen, shit-for-brains. Whatever problems we had in the past need to stay there." He growled, unflinching at Jason's gaze. He raised his bladed pointer finger and pointed at Jason. "Me and you have a common goal. There's a new threat to my power, and if he wins, we're all stuck in preschool, and I'd rather die than be stuck learning ABCs and 123s forever!"

Jason had a pretty good idea of what he meant, but he looked at the strange being with a lock for a head with one eye for confirmation. He nodded. Freddy knew.

"Jason, why do you hate him so much?" Ruby asked innocently. Freddy looked at Ruby.

"Trust me when I say, Little Red, that's none of your damn business." He said, causing Ruby to glare at him. Yang started seething at how rude Freddy is.

"Everything you need to know has already been covered in the briefing-" Zerinax started.

"HEY KIDS, WANNA SEE A DEAD BODY?!" A vampire girl clad in black, white and red said, phasing through the wall, as well as a vampire clad in red.

Everyone aimed their weapons out of instinct except for the mercenaries that were with the X-Squad, who started screaming.

"STOP SCREAMING!" Zerinax screamed, tired of...well...everything. The room quickly became silent.

"So what's up with the pride meeting?" Alucard asked, leaping out of the wall.

"Are these who I think they are?" Melody Dracula asked, stepping out of the wall.

"Yes. They're the mercenary group we contracted to replace all the soldiers we lost in the Snubvasion."

"Didn't we have to-"

"Post mortality rates? Yes...they were the only group who applied."

"We are really scraping the bottom of the barrel here." Alucard snarked.

"EXCUSE ME?!" many of the French raised people in the room yelled.

"Well, aren't you all a bunch of brave and dumb sweeties?" Melody looked over the group, stopping at Sucy, who was smiling darkly.

"Oh, there's nothing sweet about us, you tanga puta."

"Is...is that Filipino I hear?"

"The mercenaries of Luna Nova come from all over the world," the girl said, standing up. "We fight anywhere, anytime, and any situation." Sucy was now standing right up to Melody now. "With that in mind, we don't take kindly to arrogant bitches like you, because those types usually end up dead first. By us."

The whole room was silent as the mercenary and the vampire faced off. Zerinax wondered if she should call Melody back while the rest of the group wondered if Sucy would die for real. Then, Melody laughed.

"Well, fuck me with a good time! You got some guts on you right there!" Alucard raised out his hand. "To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

"Sucy Manbavaran, at your service," the Filipino said, shaking Alucard's hand. Light and screams filled the room as the vampire flailed uncontrollably due to the electricity coursing through his body. Sucy let go and grinned.

"Oh good. It works," she said, looking at the device on her palm.

"Oh...man…" Alucard, who was currently smoking, struggled to stand up. "Nothing like an...electricution...to get the blood flowing." He collapsed to the floor, much to the satisfaction of Sucy.

"Aha, Wadanohara! I had word of your little adventure today, but I wasn't expecting you to come by. And with everyone too! What a pleasant surprise!"

Lord Meikai really looked a lot like his daughter—his short, slightly ruffled hair was just a slight shade darker brown than her own, and his eyes were the same soft hue, reflecting the gentle soul within him. He wore the traditional witches' hat, in dark blue, matched by a long blue overcoat suit set and a cravat. Everyone really got along with him, since he was really just an older, wiser, male version of Wadanohara.

"Well, come in, come in!" He waved them in before anyone even had a chance to say a word. "We were just finishing up a training session."

"We brought some hydrangeas for you, Papa!" Wadanohara happily chattered. "And some for Tatsumiya and Old, too."

"Ah, that's wonderful! I'll have to find a good place to set them up."

"Oh! Wow, even Sal and little Dolphi came out. How wonderful!" The oarfish exclaimed. "Unexpected, but wonderful all the same. Hello, Wadanohara! Hello, Samekichi, Sal, Fukami, Memoca, Dolphi…"

"Sure got crowded in here all of a sudden," the shark commented. "Ain't no room for us at that table even if we wanted to."

"Oh, there's always a way," Meikai replied. "Though I know you're not the tea-drinking sort, Old, so we don't need to worry about you, haha."

"Yyyyyeah, that's about right."

Lord Meikai's first familiar, a female oarfish with white, red-tipped hair, in a flowing red kimono, happily chatted with Wadanohara and the other familiars who were willing to socialize. Tatsumiya was always friendly and caring, gently protective and wise. Though Wadanohara had no present mother, she was her mother in everything but birth. Whenever she didn't have the time to visit, Wadanohara would always write letters to Tatsumiya, mostly so she wouldn't worry. Naturally, she was the favorite of many of the other palace residents and servants, and she completely deserved the love they gave her. The second…..

One glance at Lord Meikai's second familiar, and you might immediately think he was Samekichi and Sal's father. His resemblance to Samekichi was striking, even at a distance, and they even dressed practically the same. Their fluffy-collared jackets seemed like they'd come out of the same punk apparel shop, though Samekichi's was shorter and also more…casual. Even their hair was almost the same shade, though this shark's was much longer and strung into a thin ponytail in the back. In truth, Old wasn't their biological father…but he was essentially their foster parent. Everyone knew of this strange family dynamic… A long time ago, before he'd settled down and became Meikai's familiar, Old had been a friend of the twins' birth parents. They'd left the two very young sharks in his temporary care and went off to battle…a deadly feud between shark clans, perhaps…he'd never quite been willing to share the details. Of course, they'd both turned up dead only a few days later, leaving Old an instantaneous father. Unfortunately, neither twin could remember a thing, and Old never wanted to discuss them…he probably held some sort of unspoken grudge against them.

"Look, Zeri, Tatsumiya and I tried to stop Melody and Alucard, but when I pleaded with them, Melody merely responded with, 'fuck the police, rules, and living straight.' Her and Alucard then proceeded to tilt every painting they passed on the way here." Old clarified.

From the ground, Alucard giggled manically as Melody cackled like a manic.

"Zarzoka help me." Zerinax sighed into her hands. "Walking through that hallway is going to give me such a headache now."

Alix turned to Kim with a glare. Many noticed this. "So..." Siita said. "What are you glaring at Kim for?"

"Idiot here did the same shit when he lost one of our dares and was a sore loser, so he tilted every single painting in the Louvre."

"YOU DID THAT!?" the squad yelled at Kim, who slumped in his seat.

"Yeah, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me when everything looked like an illusion picture. I had headaches for hours!" Nino complained.

"The more I hear about your class, the more I wonder why you weren't pulled out." Doom told Adrien, who could only shrug in confusion.

"Holy cow, I'm seeing things but I'm not believing it..." Angelo muttered.

The squad turned around in shock, but Lucille, being the empathetic person she was, gently made her way over and held out a hand.

"Hey, it's okay. We don't mean any harm."

Arthi looked at Lucille, and she noticed the clearly frightened expression in her eyes.

"It's okay." The rotund woman smiled gently. "I'm a friend."

Arthi slowly rolled out from behind the desk and slowly walked up to her. She looked Lucille up and down and appeared to be scanning her, as Lucille nodded and slowly opened her arms, wrapping her arms around the lich in a soft and gentle hug as she slowly returned it. The lich's eyes then closed as it melted into the embrace.

"W-Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"My name is Lucille, and I used to work at Playtime. I got a letter saying that the staff that disappeared ten years ago were still out there."

"What are you doing here, little dude?" Angelo asked. "Oh, I'm her boyfriend, Angelo."

"Miss Nadine?' Snatcher inquired.

"Lucille's fine."

"Lucille, then." The exterminator continued, trying to find the right words. "While I do not doubt your willingness to aid and comforting skills…"

"Hey, I'm not THAT fat, am I?" Lucy pouted.

"Nawww, you're perfect, babe." Angelo cooed as he hugged his girlfriend, who lost her worry. She then returned the hug and lifted him above the ground, then Arthi when she reached for a hug.

Lucille happily obliged and then did the same for the rest of the squad, as Snatcher found his worries unwarranted; larger frame yes, but Lucille was otherwise in ideal condition.

"Speaking of headaches," Tatsumiya said, pulling out something. "A very curious letter arrived in the mail."

While calm at first, Zerinax' eyes quickly found the sender of the letter. Her fists clenched, her teeth grit, and flames intensified around her.

"Vaglax Hydrax? That filthy, slimy, arrogant, gecko-headed PIECE OF SH-"

"It seems that whatever's causing the Rad Zone to keep the omniverse trapped here is not the Heartless at all. It's an entirely new species that originate from a series of worlds approximately here," Vexen held up a world map and circled his finger around a huge, blank area beyond any explored regions. "I got into the DSL and did a little research on this area—it seems the Rad Zone is actually the legendary Fandom Hearts."

"Fandom Hearts?" Drakus asked. "I thought that place was only a myth."

"No, it seems to be true. Out there in the universe somewhere there is an alternate dimension exactly like, and yet, extremely different than our own," Vexen went on. "There are hundreds, if not thousands of doubles and multiples of people in this universe on the other side of Fandom Hearts. The Voidrenders seem to be congregating around Fandom Hearts, as though they are mobilizing to conquer it much as the Heartless are planning in our own dimension. They are attracted to the worlds on the other side of Fandom Hearts."

"Worlds on the other side?" Mystle asked.

"Yes. There are countless worlds, and multiple versions of the people in our own omniverse are invoked there every time a new one is created. However, it seems the Voidrenders and the ones controlling them are aiming to destroy Fandom Hearts… by shattering the Fourth Wall and affecting the people here."

"So basically, there's a lot of copies of universes being invoked, and the Voidrenders keep screwing them up by turning people into something they shouldn't be," Drakus translated. "Is there a cure?"

"I do not think there's one readily available, unfortunately. However, it is my guess that the vitality of people have been taken into Fandom Hearts by the Voidrenders. If we make the journey there ourselves, hopefully we should be able to restore them back to normal and perhaps put an end to this nonsense once and for all," Vexen said confidently.

"Ah, the plot has finally arrived," Kaia Shirui, the same inkling Tort had brought into the Analogs, nodded in approval. "There's no time to waste. Shall we be off?"

"One moment," Vexen snapped his fingers to summon the captain of the Dragoon Nobodies, who silently nodded to his commander's ally. "You and the others, including the other types, are to stand guard here at Skar Point and Sinner's Lane, as Nadohs has heard that the other former members of Organization XIII have had their vitality stolen except for Xaldin and Lexaeus. Make sure no one comes in or out, and send several of your men to keep an eye on them. Keep them from doing anything they'll regret later."

The Dragoon Captain eyed Xigbar drinking at a table, and glanced back at Vexen with something akin to alarm.

"Don't worry. They're all still in their right minds, but their bodies have become husks and shouldn't give you any trouble," Xaldin assured the creature as he and Lexaeus appeared beside Vexen before it nodded again and disappeared. He motioned for the squad to follow him to the door. "Now, let's commence this farce..."

"Vaglax, it's been far too long," Zerinax said, sweetly, meeting with her and Drakus' younger sibling. The sunroof's light basked everything, the paintings, marble, and people, in a warm glow that juxtaposed the mood in the room.

"I agree," they said. The lilac and cyan-haired Drakonian was dressed in a red and green button up dress shirt and a purple and cyan jacket and pants, exuding arrogance and power. "Look at all those lines on your face."

Silence filled the room as everyone was shocked at the blatant old lady comment by the Drakonian. Kagāmi could feel her eyes twitching as she glared at Vaglax. "Are you referring to your own sister as an old hag?"

"To be fair that was kind of brilliant." Drakus said.

"And look at all the brown on your nose," Zerinax said, doing her best to hold back. "How is Hades doing?"

Jaws dropped at Zerinax' comeback. This time, Chloé's eyes twitched. "Alright, did you just fucking call your younger sibling a ass-kisser?"

"Better than Beyonder's job," Vaglax remarked, smirking.

"Well, not all of us can exploit TV Tropes."

"But you didn't waste time with Isla Nublar!"

The air in the room was sucked away, the X-Squad and Analogs were unable to breathe for the few tense seconds that the two siblings stared at each other. Suddenly, Vaglax began to chuckle as Zerinax followed suit, giggling loudly as the two closed the distance, then burst into laughter. "Oh, it's been far too long, big sis!" Vaglax finally said, hugging Zerinax. "Hey, Clammo, Zeri's here!"

Across the hallway, a massive purple figure stood, snarling.

"Blessed is he, in the name of charity and good will, who shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children." The creature, Clammo, recited as he began to walk forward relentlessly.

"You got me a present?!" Alucard said, a crazy grin taking over his face as he pulled out his pistols.

"And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!"

Both monsters drew their weapons, ready to fight. Smoke seemed to fill the air as the tension grew, the spectators starting to feel unsure about their decision to start a fight. Maniac giggles began to fill the air as Alucard and Clammo became more and more excited to fight.

"So, are they about to kill each other, or about to fuck each other?" Kim asked, much to the audinece laughter, much to Vaglax' exasperation.

This was going to be awesome. No holding back. No interruptions. Just an immortal vampire and an invincible dinosaur about to face off-

"Right this way, Group C!"

Seras led a group of old people right between Alucard and Clammo.

"That's right! Right between these two statues of destructions that totally aren't real! We're going to look at some art and paintings, but I don't know which ones because I forgot to read the fine print and I'm Cockney."

As the group moved on, Alucard deflated. "Whelp, my boner's gone."

"Yeah," Clammo said, putting away his swords. "Kind of a mood killer."

"So they were about to fuck," Kim gloated.

"Nah, Alucard's probably got better taste than that," Alix remarked.

"You wanna try this again later?"

"Of course! Kill you later, you monstrous heathen."

"You too, you dino sociopath."

Vaglax and Zerinax both breathed out sighs of relief. Another bloodbath avoided.

"You...want some drinks?" Vaglax asked.

"...I'd love some," Diana said, relaxing.

Latombe was back in his secret lab for the first time in years, thanks to his new partner in crime. "I am so happy to be home. Like a kid in a candy shop...and a kitchen knife in hand." the mad scientist said as he all but danced around in the lab. "Home sweet home."

He looked on top of a desk, blowing off some dust. Some papers, which have turned yellow, laid there. "Oh I remember these equations. Oh, missing a few pages...some rats must have stolen it or something." He stopped in front of a coffee maker. "Ah, I missed having good coffee. In jail, the coffee tasted of dishwater."

He walked by a few notes on a blackboard, which hasn't been wiped clean since he last. "Oh I remember that experiment. Me and my friends had a good time on that. On second thought the friendship was really one-sided as I was the scientist, and they were the Guinea Pigs. Not that I heard them complain. I did hear them beg for mercy though. I wish they were still around. Maybe what is left of them is, I don't know if I have forgotten to dispose of the remains before I was arrested."

He ran back to his desk, and he saw a picture in a frame standing there. "I never could bring myself to get rid of this, despite the hatred I feel upon seeing it. Part of me is just too nostalgic or sappy. Or maybe I thought of it as a motivator?"

He stopped in front of a weird drone-like device. "Hello, my wonderful invention, did you miss Daddy?" he said as he stroked his invention. "Who is my little super-weapon experiment, you are!"

Exis felt confused. "Are you done fooling around? There is work to do." he growled.

"Partypooper." Latombe pouted. "But if you want me to help you, I need to get this place up and running again." he scuffled to the other side of the lab. He opened a panel in the wall, and there seems to be an empty container connected to a device. "Oh darn. Power source is running empty." Latombe said. It had powered his very own electrical network that doesn't appear on any grid, and hence his lab went unnoticed for so long.

"Not a problem." Mahamayuri touched it and it seemed to fill on its own with a purple and blue half smoky, half liquid substance and immediately the power went on, lights flickering on and monitors becoming active again. Machines hummed to life, though some like the coffee maker short circuited as they have been inactive for a while.

"Whoa, that's a cool trick. You do birthday parties too?" Latombe noted.

"I expect a bit more respect, I went through all this trouble to get you out and this place working." Mahamayuri said. "I have no need for your cheek."

"Hey, I appreciate everything you did for me. It just seems you suffer from a lack of humor. Learn to enjoy life a little." Freakshow threw up his hands. He looked at one of the monitors. It showed the footage of the streets of Paris, as everyone was confused why their clothes resembled attire from an 80s to 90s action cartoon. "Oh, there is your distraction."

"It did its job. We got out, and they won't find any trail of us anymore by the time they reorient themselves." Mahamayuri said.

"True. Though...we can spice things up a bit." Latombe said with a grin as he took the drone device and connected it to a charging station in his lab. Thanks to Mahamyuri's contribution that got the lab running, it was ready to go in a few moments.

"What are you planning on doing, bud?" Midnight asked.

"One, I have a name. It's Doctor Gustav Latombe. Call me Doctor, Doc, Gustav, Latombe or Dr. Latombe...never Gus!" he said as he fiddled a bit with the device, before rummaging through drawers in the desk as he then searched for something. "And for your info, whatever you are supposed to be, I am conducting an experiment."

"Experiment?" Dreadpool raised and eyebrow.

"I am a mad scientist, what did you expect me to do? Open a zoo?" Latombe said. "But believe me, you'll love what I'm going to do with this."

"I don't love anything. I am sorrow, anger, evil incarnate! I am..." Mahamyuri noted.

"...boring me!" Latombe said. "Seriously, how can you be dramatic and dull at the same time. Just believe me when I tell you this will work out for the best." He pulled out something that resembled an old fashioned game controller. "Found it!" He pushed a few buttons and the drone hovered off the table. "Now fly on, my little invention and...whoa, backing off! I nearly went full Hawkmoth there. Remind me to never do that again."

Mahamayuri just sighed as he saw the drone fly away. "You are a strange being..."

"So, Mahama, buddy, don't get mad about what I'm askin'." A small blue crab, Firth, said. "Don't get me wrong, I am glad 'bout what you did for everyone here, but, I gotta ask. What's your reason for this whole thing? I get that you wanna be the ruler of the omniverse, but...why?"

Mahamayuri did not answer right away. In his mind, he tried to come up with the words to describe in lay terms what his true purpose was, so that everyone would understand. While doing it so, he made his way to the nearby liqueur cabinet that existed near him, and poured himself a chalice of wine.

"How can I explain this to you? Have you ever asked yourself why some people can commune with forces beyond comprehension?" Mahamayuri asked, as he sipped the wine from the crystal chalice.

"'Fraid not, boss man." a giant mutant yeti crab, the underground fighter turned thug, Brute, confessed.

"Well, then let me tell you why that is..." Mahamayuri stated, crushing the chalice. "It all started during the start of my conquest, when I converted myself into pure energy in order to travel through people's televisions. The Golden State Garrison, Justice League, Avengers, Justice Ducks, Kamen Riders and Power Rangers followed me in, and thanks to their interference…it all went wrong. And I thought I was the only one who knew the awful truth. Until now."

"You're strangely calm about all this," Freakshow whispered to Latombe.

"Still just going with the flow," Latombe replied.

"While in the television world," Mahamayuri stated, "I was able to interact with the programming. I thought I was becoming a fictional character. But little did I know it was fiction within fiction. There are LAYERS! When the television spat us out, we weren't in the world we thought was real anymore. We were in a new world…a world populated by humans, with no magic and no outlandish technology to speak of, in which we were just…fictional characters. It all fell into place, we were never real, none of us are real. I bet not even that world was real, and it was all just another episode that the TRUE real world watched as part of our show. And what if the real real world isn't real, and it's just a TV show to the ACTUAL real real world, except that isn't the real real real world either, and the PROPER real real real world – "

"We get it..." Dreadpool growled.

"The point is, I'm pretty sure it goes all the way out," Mahamayuri wrapped up. "Now, Captain America found a cartoonist, and milked some story out of him about using an interdimensional radio frequency to pick up audio from our world and transcribe it into an animated series. But then how did he get us down word-for-word for that long, huh? How did he get our looks down to the exact detail?"

"Because he knew how he looked?" A Worker Droid clad in rags with dark red eyes with a buzzsaw tail, the notorious serial killer known only as March the Hare, asked, puzzled with her new master's words.

"The point is, we're all just narrative tools in the hands of the author." Mahamayuri stated. "You know the concept of the fourth wall, right?"

"That LITERALLY originated in Greek theater," Doppio told him.

"Yes, exactly!" Mahamayuri went on. "The Fourth Wall is real!" Mahamayuri said. "It's what I keep trying to talk about with Exis! I'm able to read the signs at this point! Like, right now, I know that where we are isn't even canon, which makes me wonder…am I even the real me?"

"I'm going to hit him," Midnight said dryly.

"Oh," Dreadpool realized, "so you figured out this is a fanfiction, too."

"I defend that only those who have embraced and taken control of their existence are capable of cracking the Fourth Wall, and conversing with their creators, and I want to shatter it entirely, and get answers to my existence. Such as, where does it end?" Mahamayuri threw his hands up in the air. "Are we going to eventually COLLIDE into the inevitable contradiction where the CREATORS THEMSELVES show up in this work of ABSOLUTE FICTION, completing the paradoxical cycle? What will happen then? Will the omniverse end? Will the Big Bang recreate itself? Will Pucci reset the omniverse? Will Kingdom Hearts bathe us in its judgmental light and make us start over? Will we have to insert a coin or pay a monthly subscription fee to continue?"

"Then you want to destroy the omniverse, because you want to get answers to your existence?" Latombe asked.

"In rather lay terms, yes." Mahamayuri said. "The problem is that most people don't believe the Fourth Wall to be more than just mythos. They believe that it is simply a legend. But I'm going to change that, and you will help me. You will help me find individuals that want to seek answers to their existence, so that my army can grow and I can prove that the Fourth Wall exists, and we will find answers to our existence." he said.

Planted right in the ocean was a small station-like palace. Inside was a humanoid alien floating as he peered at a pond made of blood, glaring down at it. His entire body was solid black, excluding his hands, which were white and had five fingers. He was clad in magenta and violet robes, which still exposed his chest and had only a left sleeve, his right arm having eight Omnitrices flowing down his arm. He has tiny white star-like spots all over his body, giving him the appearance of a starry night sky. He has glowing green eyes with no pupils, and his forehead bears three horn-like protrusions, and on his head was a headdress with a nest of falcons in it. With him was a Scottish terrier dressed in a kilt and hat, a hog wearing a soldier outfit, a red dragon with gold plating and four angelic wings, a man clad in white and blue robes, a mask with ram horns and cyan markings resembling a face with an X where the left eye should be, and claws on the silver wings, a man with black hair and orange eyes clad in black and orange, looking rather bishounen, a girl with cyan hair and eyes clad in white and gold, a younger girl with pink hair and pink eyes clad in white and pink garb, and a green eyed woman with orange hair in garb resembling a witch, and a nine foot tall demonic figure, whose upper half is mostly black in colour, with a large glowing ruby-red eye in the center of his chest. This is held open by four miniature gangly black hands that spawn from his back. His regular arms were long, ending in three black claws. Parts of his arm were covered in a silver parallel line texture. The arms also seemed to have a red, gooey substance (presumably blood) floating away passively that other parts of the body seem to be made of. From his back spawned another six pointed protrusions, each ending in a glowing red eye. His head is silver with patterns etched onto his face. Upon his forehead is a single red eye. On his head sits a set of five horns, resembling a crown. Each horn ends in another glowing red eye. These eyes are connected by a red current resembling electricity. Between each horn sits a floating rune from an unknown language, and the bottom half was made up of the same amorphous red substance produced from his hands. And the being on the throne was fuming in rage, solar flares shaking the room. As a tall, lanky, four-armed demon with a large vintage television in place of his head appeared, the screen showing static with distorted facial features. There is a stream of electricity running between his two small antennae atop his head. The body appears in the likeness of a suit, with a black tie and orange lapel featuring three buttons on his right side. he has four arms, ending in orange hands with wiring joints and microphones in his palms. Then, a demon with large, insectoid wings extending from her back and shoulders appeared, her head had large, multifaceted eyes that had a glossy, almost gem-like appearance. The antennae were long, thin, and a pinkish-red color, with rounded, slightly bulbous heart tips, and a ribbon-like, light pink bow was visible near the head. She had large, multifaceted, shimmering green eyes. With her left eye having a heart. Her forearms and shoulders were covered in baggy sleeves with fishnet covered triceps connecting the two. She wore white leggings on her front pair of legs with a piece of fabric wrapped around the left leg. Her back pair of legs are attached to a black and pink abdomen with pink tarsal claws. And finally, a 7 foot tall demon appeared. His dark stone-gray armor plating appeared to be layered and folded with a sort of intricacy in its construction. He had large, pointed horns on his shoulders and thick forearms with three sharp, pointed claws. He had yellow muscle details, yellow spikes, and a yellow, sharp horn protruding from the bottom of the mouth. His chest and neck area are a mix of muted golds, and also resembles a hard, leathery skin. His face had a menacing, reptilian quality, with his jaws showcasing prominent, jagged sharp teeth-like protrusions. He had spiky horns on his head and mouth, and four purple eyes with blue rings.

"Well well well, aren't we a sorry looking lot. Anyone extend an invite to old Fantorrel? Round out the numbers a little more? Would make this party a bit more fun to get to disembowel the excommunicated." Psychoperdilitch, the demon lord of the psychological thriller genre, remarked, rubbing his cane with a washcloth.

"Leave Fantorrel be, Psychoperdilitch. She is no longer our concern. Now where have you been?" Eldorrok, the demon lord of the horror genre, stated.

"Not our concern? She turned on us and teamed up with those not so feeble play things you swore wouldn't be a real problem for us." Psychoperdilitch remarked.

"Let me remind you that having a physical form is a privilege, one I could take from you in many ways. Now answer the question. Where were you? When one of us calls, we gotta answer." Oblivio, an upstart Atlantean general seeking to conquer the omniverse to make a new Atlantean empire and the new demon lord of the science fiction genre, remarked.

"Alright alright, sorry. But I thought taking a few extra minutes would be forgivable considering I was getting the lowdown on what our old pal Beyonder's up too." Psychoperdilitch stated.

"Even comically, do not address that welp as anything more than the vermin he is." Eldorrok stated.

"Where is he?! If you found him, you should have called us in. I want another shot at tearing him apart!" Kaijagrex, the demon lord of the kaiju genre, stated.

"Yeah, forget this contest to see who could beat him, I just want him out of the picture and to watch the light slowly fade from his eyes! I'm having too much fun to get thrown back in Oblivion like Sciferimov and Suvastiriff." Romillacect, the demon lord of romance, added.

"Oooooooh, CURSE THOSE ANALOGS!" he ranted. "I covet the Map of Infinity that Zerinax still has on her neck, which should be mine by birthright, but how do I reclaim it, I'm wondering?"

"How 'bout we send another giant monster or something, Lord Xterminate?" the pig guard suggested.

"NO! That won't work, Hogdar, NOTHING EVER WORKS!" Xterminate snapped, furiously stomping over to his throne and sat down on it, minor solar flares surging off of him.

"He's probably mad that the new Godqueller's still alive and ready to go another round with him. Didn't go so well the last time." Romillacect sniped, rolling her eyes as Passion Niku, one of the new demon lords of the superhero genre, and Lala Pink, another of the demon lords, giggled with her.

After a few minutes of him brooding on his throne, the Scottish Terrier, Scottox, zipped right over to him.

"Ya know, we could wreak total havoc somewhere, steal some Atlantean tech and lure them there to steal the key, at least that's what I'm thinkin'." he said in a lazy manner.

"Great, the mutt has a brain..." Goseige, a power hungry dragon and the new demon lord of the fantasy genre, remarked. "Anyway, word on the street is that Paldea's plannin' a Treasure Hunt, so I say we send some of Oblivio's minions over there and have them see what they can find."

Xterminate thought for a second, and then suddenly sprung to his feet, knocking over the terrier with his staff.

"Yes, that's quite a plan, Scottox and Goseige..." he muttered. "WE'LL LURE THE ANALOGS INTO A TRAP, AND THEN THE KEY SHALL BE MINE!"

His loyal minions zipped to him side and maniacally laughed along with him.

"Can you believe this? It says Naranja-Uva has a treasure hunt going..." A voice said with barely concealed excitement.

In a seedy-looking bar, a strange being was reading the newspaper regarding Naranja-Uva Academy. The creature was clad in a dark red-magenta suit of armor with red accents, kneepads, and right-hand gauntlet, with magenta circuit lines on the waist, right wrist, and neckline, and also was wearing a black belt with an hourglass-shaped belt buckle. On its left arm, the creature wore a large metal gauntlet, the helmet was silver with a black screen where the face would be. On this screen, the creature has a magenta-colored left eye reminiscent of an arrow and two downward-facing lines where the mouth usually is, and on the right eye is a magenta optic lense. Over this armor, the being wore a dark purple cloak with pink trimmings. A woman clad in a secretary uniform with falcon wings was simply cleaning glasses as she listened to her ward speak.

"Hey, here's an idea..." The cyborg smirked, the lines morphing into a grin. "What'll happen when we...do a little side quest, namely, snatching the earrings of the grandson of their most prolific investor?"

"WIHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A masked and muscular man cackled. "We'll make a hell of a first appearance in that place is what!"

"That is not up for us to decide." A tall brown-haired man with a targeting monocle noted as he cleaned his sniper rifle. "Fate alone will decree whether that fool keeps his earrings. Though it never hurts to even up our chances."

"And that, Van Auger, is why I've enlisted the services of these fellows." Dr. Francois Belljar said as a girl with spider legs jutting out her back entered the bar, same as a boy with wolf ears wielding a longsword, and a boy with shark fins and sharp teeth.

"HOLY SHIT, WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Nice, huh? That red gas the boss made has done wonders!"

"So, the letter you sent never specified the purpose of this meeting," Diana said after sipping some coffee.

"Consider this a...business transaction," Vaglax said, tapping their briefcase. "I have two pieces of information that I wish to trade with you."

The statement perked Zerinax' interest, but she made no move to indicate so. "And what would those be?"

"The true identity of the Jurassic World saboteur."

"Who?" Drakus asked.

"The person who was able to let A.T.L.A.N.T.I.S. into the resort." Vaglax clarified.

Memories of the incident flashed through her head. "Ah, yes. There was some disagreement about that." Zerinax remarked.

"In addition, the whereabouts of where they'll strike next," Vaglax added, knowing that they got her interest.

Diana grew suspicious, directing her glare towards Vaglax. "And what could you possibly want in exchange?"

Vaglax sighed. "Over the last couple of years, your vampire has killed no less than two hundred figures in the Vatican. And rode in by carrier pigeon, no less! They just...fly right into the churches, and Hades is starting to get concerned! The latest letter to Pope Francis states that she's trying to instill as much fear as she can, like putting as much flavor into Ramen broth, which she will then proceed to pour all over her body and then have 'hot lesbian sex' with...that Giffany girl you recruited."

After reading, Zerinax could've sworn she smelled something coming from the basement before they left. Shaking off her feelings, she gave the letter back to Vaglax.

"I can't help but ponder the kind of progress we'd make if she put the energy spent here into her actual job."

"Sooo..." Vaglax' tone was innocent, but their eyes told that they were also exasperated with Melody. "That apology~?"

Zerinax huffed. "I'm sor-"

"So that's where they are," Oracle said. He had just finished explaining the situation to Beyonder, who was deep in thought.

"Interesting. But do you think Alucard will go?" Beyonder said, teleporting behind him.

"Not as long as it's an order." Integra remarked.

"I think Nadohs and me might have an idea..." Oracle said.

"Did you know you have vacation days?" Oracle said.

"We have vacation days!? You mean we can leave anytime we want and I won't get yelled at over the phone? Because seriously, it's always over the phone! Mostly because I don't like to argue with Integra in person. I get a boner. It's super awkward." Alucard said, as the squad looked at him in shock.

"Quite." Jiibh remarked.

"Well, that settles it. We're going traveling!" Melody cheered.

"Yes, you can go anywhere you wish... except for Paldea. Sir Integra and I were quite insistent that you never visit Paldea." Oracle remarked, as he knew the Analogs couldn't resist.

"Takin' the police girl and the Frenchman." Melody remarked, as the X-Squad, Analogs, and D.I.G.I.T.A.L. sped off.

"Huh, reverse psychology. Didn't expect that to work on Vagalang and their misfits," Hades remarked.

"I'm sure you're all about first impressions, huh?" Mystle asked.

"Well, you know what they say about them." Zerinax said.

"Spielberg knows that's true, or we wouldn't have some of the connections we do now, Zeri. And I assure you, new friends, the connections we have with people are so gloriously outlandish, we might have the Precog department on speed dial." Gilgar, a cat-like creature with orange fur with his eyes hidden by flaps of skin, said.

"But before you can even think of taking us on this quest, Drak…I'll need to form a Perfect Link." Zerinax said.

"Well, I think you'll definitely be spoiled for choice here." Drakus said.

"Take a look at Paldea's topography, the region is massive enough to seek options." Baraggan Louisebarn, a Hollow resembling a skeleton in a purple cloak, said, showing a satellite image of the entire region from the sky.

"Whoa…" Drakus said in awe.

"Arceus wants a hug!" Alucard yelled, as they past a statue of Arceus.

"Prepare yourselves, everyone, for the most dangerous mission that we of Organization XIII and the Omniverse Defense Force have ever partaken in, especially for the sake of our brethren," Xaldin warned them, rolling up his sleeves. "For we are about to enter… FANDOM HEARTS."

"Yes, we know," Vexen and Lexaeus reminded him as the squad vanished into dark portals.

"You two wouldn't know a dramatic transition if it bit you in the ass," Xaldin complained.

'A new year at Naranja-Uva,' John thought to himself as his partner shook him awake.

"Come on, Johnny, get up," Nyx said, as John finally sat up in bed, "it's our second year at Naranja-Uva, and as the leader, I'm not letting any of my teammates and friends make us late on the first day."

"What do you mean by late, what time is it?" John muttered under his breath, attempting to keep his eyes open.

He was soon completely startled awake as his fedora-wearing team leader popped into view, a little too close for comfort.

"It's 8:40, Johnny-boy," Gloria almost literally shouted in the boy's ear. "Now, get yer sorry ass up and get dressed, we're gonna be late."

'Crap, it's almost nine already,' John thought as he practically jumped out of bed, only to fall on his face just as he remembered his bio-cybernetic leg.

"Someone help me up and grab Pandora," John muttered through the dorm room's carpet, exasperated over the fact that it was the second time he ever made them late.

Generally, when it came to their team, it was either Gloria or Caustin that made them late for classes, with Caustin forgetting something in the room or Gloria waking up late or making Team Star 'catch hands like the wee cunts they are'. Either John or Darius had to deal with the antics of their teammates, which last year resulted in their team being late to class a total of 25 times.

"So, fearless leader," Caustin asked the Galarian, "what class do we have first this semester?"

"Hassel, just like last year," Gloria replied as he passed her partner his cane.

"As much as I love that class, I worry for Mr. Hassel's sanity," John complained as he got dressed and they hurried to leave. "I don't think Professor Gible has a degree, let alone experience."

"We all know what Hassel is like, Johnny," Nyx declared, fitting her mask over her face.

The members of the Phantoms all had their dark stories of their pasts, having told each other last year. Things like Caustin's sister, John's tendency to kidnap people and put them in his 'games' to test survivability, Gloria's possible sociopathy, and Nyx' scars. Generally they were picky to talk to other people outside of their team about their problems, but they usually figured that their business is their own.

"Alrighty team, let's go," Gloria said, as her team went off to the Academy. "let's give Professor Sada and Turo a better first impression than last year."

"Please, Glori," Nyx complained as they walked to their class. "we were only the third best team of first years last year, we honestly don't have much appreciation compared to Arven, or even Nemona's crazy arse for that matter!"

As the X-Squad, Analogs and D.I.G.I.T.A.L. landed and walked (or were pushed, in Mero's case) through the streets, they unexpectedly passed a man clad in a black and yellow coat with green streaks, purple and green messy hair, and yellow and black pants, who was drinking a soda on a bench, and a pale skinned girl in a black and gold ensemble, reading a newspaper that hid both of their faces. They both immediately paused as they saw the squad, peering over the newspaper.

"Holy snake bones, am I seeing who I think I'm seeing?" Zael, one of the most notorious thieves in the omniverse, remarked.

"What is she doing here? How did she even get up here?!" Vute, Zael's partner in crime and little sister, asked.

"Who cares about that, Vute? I'm handling this shit right now." Zael said, grabbing his swords in case of a fight.

Just before they could settle this, a spiral appeared from a puddle, the trio that appeared before them were their seniors in the terrorist group known as A.T.L.A.N.T.I.S.

One was Miranda; a deadly killer, she was humanoid, but with slightly reptilian features. On her back were wings that looked like those of an Archaeopteryx. She also had two tails, one was scorpion-like while the other looked like that of a Stegosaurus. She wore an armored long-sleeved leotard that looked like crocodile skin, and she was armed with a large scimitar. Her hair was short and black and white in color.

Next was the brutish monster Kodiak Kossack, he wore green pants and a golden fur lined coat. But the head was what was scary, as his head was the skull of a bear, with red glowing eyes coming from the eye sockets, and on his back were large bat-like wings that were red in color. He was armed with a deadly bardiche, a type of pole-axe.

In the middle was the leader, the dreaded pirate admiral, Tethys. She had a humanoid looking body and head with blueish-green hair and pale blue skin, yet she had scales on her arms and legs that looked like those of a fish. She had wings that looked like the fins of a flying fish and her tail looked like that of a shark. She had a cutlass in her hand and on her belt was a blaster pistol. She wore a cyan ensemble with brass trim along the edges, and a bandana covered her mouth.

"Zael." Tethys said, her voice melodic and with a slight British accent. "What is this?"

"Fuck! Tethys! You can't sneak up on a guy like that, jeez." Zael remarked, sheathing his swords.

"Lady Tethys, forgive the interruption, but the Analogs are here." Vute asked, her wings drooping, as a puddle started rippling, as the group peered into it as it started swirling and an image appeared on it, that of Psychoperdilitch.

'Great, The boss is calling.' Tethys thought sarcastically before answering the communication. "What do you want!?" she demanded.

"We know, Vutesy." Psychoperdilitch resumed. "As it stands, they aren't a threat at the time."

"Even so, they were able to ruin the plans of Lord Xterminate and Lord Jareth—"

"I know." Oblivio added, cutting through Vute's concerns. "Remember, me and the other Archons see everything. Every waking moment of your successes, failures, and other such machinations. There is nothing you can hide from us."

"Right." She sighed.

"Zael, Vute, Tethys, Kodiak, Miranda. The objective remains the same. Scour this world and bring back whatever Atlantean technology you can find." Eldorrok addressed. "To that end, you are given a secondary objective. You are to ensure the Analogs and their new allies don't ruin everything. Any method that prevents them from interfering, you are authorized and encouraged to use."

As he said this. Zael heard something that sounded like someone cackling.

Then there was another sound, one that the five of them heard. It was a quick sound as well, but it was not distant. It was only a few yards away. It was high-pitched and threatening. It was the distinct sound of a giggle.

The sound of someone falling from the tree and landing on the ground was enough to make Vute grumble as she already could guess who it was.

"I knew Tethys should have locked that closet better," she grumbled as she saw two beings in the grass, picking themselves up, the bane of Tethys' own sanity and existence, yet the sweetest, most huggable dorks she could ask for and would gladly throttle anyone who bullied them.

One of them was a pale skinned girl that could be confused for a skeleton, clad in a black and cyan leather jacket and black leather pants wearing a navy cap on her head with two pigtails flowing down her back. She was known as Hecate, Tethys' girlfriend.

The other one was known as Punker, Hectate's playmate, who looked like a mix of a parrot and a porcupine also wearing a leather jacket and had a pink tutu on.

"WOW! THAT WAS FUN!" Hecate exclaimed, giggling as she dusted herself off.

"Yeah, it was so amazing, Hectate!" Punker said, giggling adorably, as she hugged Hectate, and started cuddling with her.

The last was something out of a horror film. Rugged, black boots. Torn grey leggings. A small outfit with a skirt, the color of a moonless midnight. A single, silver decoration on her belt: an inverted cross. On her head and around her neck was the most intimidating: a hood and cape; dirty, shredded, blowing in the wind, and covered in blood only a slightly darker shade of red than the rest of it. And under the hood… under the hood…

No one would think that it could strike so much fear. In the night air and covered with the hood, her face could have been interpreted as an empty hole, shadowed to the point of nothingness. That is, of course, except for her mouth. A large grin, filled with blinding white, well-kept teeth. They were the stars in her midnight face, stars of ill-will and horror. The only thing that made those wicked stars more horrible was when they parted to speak.

"Red like roses fills my dreams and leads me to the place you'll die," she squeaked in a singsong voice, punctuating it with another high-pitched, sadistic giggle as she dusted herself off, picking up her tool. The scythe, the massive scythe, its metal a reflective black and red and its blade the same silver as her cross. The blade could almost be mistaken for red at first, as most of it was covered in red splashes and streaks. That was why she was called Bloodbane.

It was then that the trio saw Tethys, glaring at them even though they ignored the glare or did not see it.

"Really, boss, did you have to send Bloodbane our way?!" Zael snapped.

"Wowie zowie, you're right, Za-Za!" Bloodbane suddenly cried happily, her voice sharp, loud, and enthusiastic, yet still carrying the darkness she had a few moments earlier. She swung her hands around to her sides, her right one brandishing her gargantuan weapon. She put one of her left fingers to the side of her mouth. "Not like I had anything else to do!"

"You don't remember the last time we were stuck together?" Vute groaned. "Need I remind you of the Jurassic World incident?"

The mad reaper shrugged. "Hey, they all get to be the same after a while, Vutesy." she said with a sadistic grin. "We come, people scream and bleed. Even the few that get away don't faze me much anymore; I'll just get them again eventually." She cocked her head with her grin. "Is Zeri here?" She then giggled. "And is she still mad about me cutting her vision in half?"

"Master Xterminate also seeks the source of the Paradox Pokemon." Oblivio stated. "Find it, and do it swiftly. And ensure Zerinax and her meddling friends don't ruin it..." And with that, Oblivio cut off the communication.

Tethys growled. "One of these days, I will put that stinking half-wyvern halfwit into a toaster oven and cook her alive!" She yelled.

"So, who do we get first?" Drakus said, as water was splashed at him. "What the?" he said as he was splashed with more water. "What the heck is…"

They looked over to a fountain, where a white duckling creature with a large tuft of blue on its head was washing, especially on its couf.

"Uh…" Roman said.

"Whoa…" Kanade said.

"Luckily…I just got the Paldea update." Kinito, Zerinax' axolotl AI, said. "Quaxly, the Duckling Pokémon, Water Type! This Pokémon migrated to Paldea from distant lands long ago. The gel secreted by its feathers also repels water and grime."

"You know, it kinda looks like Donald, what with the hat on its head." Mystle said.

"Wak! No way! It does not look like me." Donald said.

"It's like he could be your son." Sora said.

Quaxly was still bathing in the water as it was splashing water on itself. It then noticed the group as it jumped out of the fountain and flew over to them, landing on the ground and presented itself to the group as it brushed up its hairdo.

"Whoa…you really are…" Himiko said, smelling the air a bit before they all saw a strange green cat relaxing in the bed. "Whoa."

"Kitty!" Zap exclaimed.

"Sprigatito, the Grass Cat Pokémon, Grass Type! The sweet scent its body gives off mesmerizes those around it. The scent grows stronger when this Pokémon is in the sun." Kinito said.

"You know… She looks kind of cute." Cell said.

"Here, kitty, kitty." Zap said, holding a berry.

Sprigatito came out of the flower bed as it ate the berry just as a fireball zoomed by and roasted a piece of fruit.

"Whoa…" Roman said, as they saw a small red crocodile coming to eat it.

"Fuecoco, the Fire Croc Pokémon, Fire Type! Its flame sac is small, so energy is always leaking out. This energy is released from the dent atop Fuecoco's head and flickers to and from." Kinito said.

Fuecoco munched down on the fruit, and soon joined Quaxly and Sprigatito to their right. All three of them then looked at the group.

"A Fire Croc, a Grass Cat, and a Water Duckling…. Could these three be…?" Lyre started.

"You're on the mark, Lyre." Burgundy said. "They're the Starter Pokémon of Paldea."

A loud cry was soon heard as they hurried to the cliff to see the two dragons on the beach as a few Houndour approached, along with a bunch of frogs dressed as outlaws, running around shooting stuff, only instead of bullets coming out of their pistols, it was spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts.

"Are those Houndour?" Hibiki asked.

"Yeah, definitely. It looks like they've got those dragons surrounded." Drakus said.

"And it looks like they're hurt, we should help them out." Hope said.

"Looks like we got ourselves a throwdown here, as well." Fritz 'Smiltap' Toulon, former Nazi and the Analogs' resident psychiatrist, remarked, his goose beak curled into a scowl as he straightened his black and purple suit.

"Should we do something?" Kanade asked.

"I don't know if it's our place to get involved." Fritz said, unsure.

"Come on, Fritzy," Lillian 'Litlred' Redwood, the heiress to the Redwood mafia, clad in a blue, white and yellow suit, said, playfully slapping his shoulder, as her wolf ears twitched and her tail wagged eagerly. "We're here. There's danger. Let's do something about it."

"Our style." Drakus added.

Fritz sighed, knowing there was no arguing with them. "Very well, fraulein. But we have to be utmost careful."

"No problem." Mitsuko said, as the group armed themselves.

"Analogs..." Zerinax said, grinning as she twirled around her rifle/cutlass, Crumbling Fantasy, before pointing it forward. "Let's make these frogs and Houndour into tomorrow night's dinner!"

The outlaws were carrying some safes filled with money, and were loading them up in a wagon, "Let's get on out of here, fast." one of the outlaws told the others.

One of the outlaws in the wagon grabbed the reins of the horses, but were suddenly cut by a kunai. The horses took off, leaving the outlaws stranded with their wagon. They looked ahead, seeing the X-Squad and Analogs, "Leavin' so soon, partners?" Zerinax asked, grinning sadistically.

"It's rude to just pick up and leave, you know?" Sherry asked.

"Who in tarnation are y'all?" one of the outlaws asked.

"We're the guys about to send you to the big house." Sal remarked.

"That is correct, you amphibious pieces of scheiße." Fritz added.

"My blades are known as Justice and Splendor, and they will REND APART the enemies of Heaven! And that means you, you frog thugs..." Gabriel remarked.

"FOUL THIEVES! RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE AND BEGONE FROM HERE!" Centorea declared, charging at the outlaws. "OR FACE THE FURY OF CENTOREA SHIANUS-"

BOOM!

Yep, a fireball in the face is what you get from rushing into a fight, as Centorea learned.

"Take 'em!" the lead outlaw called, as the rest of them started opening fire on the squad, as they spread out.

"I'M NOT YOUR MOTHER LAST NIGHT!" Alucard remarked, dumping the clips into the outlaws as Clammo tore limbs off of some other outlaws.

Drakus jumped in and used his swords to slice some of their guns in half, while Lyre used her sword to toss others out of the outlaws hands, as Gabriel slashed and blasted holy light at the outlaws.

"Yee-haw!" Sal called, as he dodged some of the ammo and delivered a kick to one outlaw making him land right into a barrel.

Suitmatrial, a surprisingly silent Godzilla suit, jumped from a cliff edge and landed on one of the outlaws, pulling his hat down so low it covered his face. "Who turned out the lights?!" the outlaw stumbled around as Suitmatrial leapt off him to slap him with his tail.

Morleygro, a frog mutant with bright orange skin, used his tusks to trip some of the frog men off their feet, as Vitacarn, a giant mass of meat, swung his tendrils around, nailing some in the head. Brian 'Brithome' Thames, a komodo dragon Faunus wearing red ripped jeans and a black leather jacket, and Eginoeigh, a shark mutant wearing a silver and black scuba suit, were tag teaming against two more outlaws using hand to hand combat, "This is certainly unlike any kind of fight I've ever been in." Eginoeigh admitted.

"Well, it still makes for a good experience." Thames admitted.

As more outlaws tried to grab more safes, Nothroroad, a giant spider monster clad in webs, dropped in and roared at them. The outlaws dropped the safes and ran for their lives. Caleb leapt in front and aimed the Redeemer at them. "Here's a little something from me." He remarked, pulling the trigger. The crooks were blindsided by the spear, allowing Sarah Henderson, a purple or pink hedgehog-like ghost, to zip over and wrap some of them up with a lasso.

"Oh, yeah!" Sarah laughed, high-fiving Mystle.

As Wadanohara was using her magic for shields, she saw one outlaw was about to shoot at Samekichi and Sal. "Sal, Samekichi! Look out!"

The two looked and saw the outlaw about to shoot them, only for his pistol to get shot out of his hand. The group looked over and saw three more figures enter the fray. All three were actual cowboys. One of them was wearing a badge on his chest, and looked like an orange furred cattle, the second was a ripped blue bull, and the third was a skinny black and white colored cattle. Another was with them, a large coiled snake that wasn't wearing much - only a black hat ringed with barbed wire, and a bandolier lined with bullets wrapped several times around the middle of his body.

The cow with the badge blew some smoke away from his pistol and chuckled. "Looks like the party started without us."

"Eeyup." the blue bull answered, making Drakus blink in confusion.

"Well, that's a bust." the third cow groaned.

"It's Marshal Moo Montana!" an outlaw cried. "A-And RATTLESNAKE JAKE!"

"Well," the snake said in a low voice before the squad could utter a word. "Ain't this interestin'..." He slowly turned his head to face the outlaws, staring them down with fiery orange eyes. A small pattern of dark coloration upon his upper lip gave the illusion of a well-maintained, thin mustache--the sort that practically came standard on Wild West outlaw characters of bygone days. "Mind if we join in at the last minute?"

"Uh, not at all." Zerinax answered.

To the surprise of the X-Squad, the three cowboys and rattlesnake made quick work out of the rest of the outlaws and Houndours with marksmanship, lassoing, and strength.

"Whoa." Ridley muttered.

"That blue dude's probably as strong as Smash." Roman said, in awe.

"These dudes are awesome!" Zinnia cheered.

Suddenly the bandits were all rounded up and hogtied, along with all the safes filled with money they stole returned to the bank. The citizens cheered and applauded for the whole group, as Drakus walked up to the marshal. "Hey, thanks for the help back there."

"Not a problem, friend. Welcome to Cowtown, Paldea, folks. I'm Marshal Moo Montana. And these here be my pals, the Cowlorado Kid." Montana introduced.

"Howdy." Cowlorado greeted.

"The Dakota Dude."

"Hey." Dude greeted.

"And Rattlesnake Jake."

"Ain't no other," Jake replied. "You don't look like no lawman. So I take it you want somethin' taken care of."

"Right, introductions first..." Roman realized. He reached up to tip the brim of his hat; and handed Moo a list of names, origins, and preferred nicknames. "Roman Torchwick, this band of misfits that Drak leads is called the X-Squad."

Zerinax bowed theatrically, as Art played '. "I am Zerinax Hydrax, and this vagabond group is named the Analogs, led by myself, and we serve the Beyonder in his quest to learn about intelligent life's many strange things."

Cowlorado whispered to Dude, "Do some of those folk look strange to you?"

Dude noticed, nodding his head. "Yup."

"Good, then it ain't just me."

"Nice to meetcha," Montana continued, "You did some fine work there handling these outlaws."

"It's kinda what we do." Sherry boasted.

"You did help defeat the outlaws after my brash actions led to my downfall." Centorea reminded, looking back on her little folly.

"Centorea, you were just reacting to something new." Zerinax pointed out, which was kind of the case. In a classic 'leap before you look' scenario. "I know some people would react the same way."

"It was my blindness to preserve my honor that led to my reaction." Centorea finally confessed. "And yet you still stood for me. For that honorable act, you have already earned my respect."

"You were definitely awesome there yourself." Memoca commended the Marshal, who got down to her level and smiled.

"Well, thanks, you two," he said, playfully pulling Memoca's hat down so it was around her head. "I appreciate the appreciation. But like it says in the Code of the West, 'If ya get a big head helping people, your hat won't fit'. I like that."

Memoca pulled her hat up and straightened it out.

"You folks just passin' through?" Cowlorado asked.

"Sort of, we've done a lot of traveling and stopped in for a spell." Zerinax explained.

"Well, you folks are welcome to stay as long as you need." Montana offered.

"Indeed," came a new voice. Everyone looked over and saw a purple cow dressed in fancy garb. "We in Cowtown pride ourselves in watching heroes at work."

"Who the fuck are you?" Smasher asked.

"Mayor Oscar Bulloney, at your service." he tipped his hat.

"Whoa, the mayor." Drakus muttered.

"We were just doing what anybody would do when it comes to making folks feel safe, sir." Zerinax explained.

"Of course. Well, I best be moseying along. Enjoy your stay." the mayor said while taking his leave.

"So, what now?" Pete asked.

"How about we show you folks around?" Moo offered.

"Sounds good to us." Mera said, shrugging as she did so.

The mayor had walked into the sheriff's office and rang a bell. "Terror Bull! Zael! Vute! Tethys! Kodiak! Miranda! Bloodbane! Hectate! Pucker! Volt Strike! Idate! Otho! Baroness!" a big red bull wearing a badge who was napping fell off his chair and onto the floor, as Zael, Vute, Tethys, Kodiak, Miranda, Hectate, Pucker, and Bloodbane teleported to the office, as well as a man in a black-on-black suit, with sharp hair, and the occasional splash of red satin or turquoise jewelry, a giant black and blue glowworm-like creature, a light lavender mouse clad in a yellow jumpsuit with black gloves, shoes and belt, and finally, a man whose skin is pale, and whose sharp black eyes were accompanied by a smirk, giving him a devious appearance. He had cropped black hair with two white eye spots on both sides, giving him an "orca-esque" appearance, along with a tall black dorsal fin on his head. He wore a black business suit and a gray shirt. His pants and shoes were black. He also wore black gloves.

"Yeah, Bulloney?" Baroness P groaned, as she was dusting her clothes off.

"I'm afraid we have some trouble in our midst."

"What do you mean?" Idate remarked, taking a drag from his cigarette, and blowing it into Bulloney's face.

"Look outside."

The sheriff looked out the window seeing the group following the Cow Boys, "Huh, never seen them folks around here."

"I know," the mayor confirmed, "They fight just as good as the Marshal. And I have a feeling they could spell trouble for us."

"So what should we do about it?" Terror Bull asked.

"Should we skin them alive-ski?" Kodiak said, with a slight Russian accent in his voice, even though he had never been on Earth in his life or even knew what Russia was.

"I think the Masked Bull and y'all should...give our guests a little 'hospitality', so to speak." the mayor chuckled. "Speakin' of, is Dr. Robotnik finished with the ghost he found?"

"He'll be done soon, don't worry." Vute remarked. "But seriously, Bloodbane, you and Cyberhook shouldn't kill the Analogs or this 'X-Squad' group, nor those cowboys just yet, Ivo's gonna use that Fast and Not So Furious ghost in an experiment, and we can't have you two muddying the results just cause you both almost got fried. Understood?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, Vutesy..." Bloodbane groaned, picking her teeth and rolling her eyes. It seemed avenging their previous defeat at Jurassic World would have to wait…

"I think I have the thing for you two." Drakus said, getting out a large sandwich before breaking it in half as he approached. "Here. I hope you like…"

The two dragons sniffed the food before they munched down on the sandwich halves.

"Whoa! Big eaters, it looks like." Zap said.

"Two fearsome beasts need fearsome appetites, after all." Kanade chuckled.

After they ate, the two dragons stood up and presented themselves to the groups in their full appearances.

One of the dragons had crimson skin and blue and white plumages along with what looked to be a black wheel in its chest, looking very tough and sturdy. The other was purple and almost metallic with electricity surging through its body.

"Whoa… Badass!" Lyre said, as she looked over the purple dragon. "This one looks so cool…!"

"Oh man!" Utena's eyes sparkled at the crimson dragon as she eyed it all over. "I really wanna keep you safe now!" She exclaimed as she hugged the crimson dragon with the cutest of expressions.

"Are these two supposed to be Pokémon? I don't believe we've seen Dragon-types like these guys before." Neo said.

"Motorcycle Dragons! How cool-tastical is that?!" Dakota 'Sheasci' Koder, self-proclaimed 'brilliant-tastical' genius, asked in amazement.

"Well…maybe they're Legendary Pokémon?" Drakus suggested. "The Hydrax clan does have a knack for attracting Legendary Pokémon."

"They don't even show up in the Pokédex." Georgia said.

"Maybe they're not native. I'll go talk with them." Ombra said as he came down to them. "Hello, may I speak with you?" he said as they chatted a bit. "Oh…I see. They say they aren't sure how they got to this realm. As for names…the scarlet one is Koraidon, and the violet one is Miraidon."

"Miraidon, huh? That's a good name for a Pokemon like you." Drakus said.

"Koraidon… awesome!" Utena said, still in the bliss of hugging a dragon.

"Oh my Enki, she's obsessed with it." Chris remarked.

"Yeah… I'm definitely getting some Silverhand vibes with this thing." David said.

"So. Where'd our plucky starter trio go?" Drakus asked.

"Pretty sure they're in the same places we left them." Sumiere said.

"Or…they could have been following us." Mystle said, pointing to the three starters who were approaching them.

"Oh, there you guys are! Did you follow us all the way from the ship?" Kaia Shirui, the squid girl Tort accidentally drafted to the Analogs, asked.

Quaxly, Sprigatito and Fuecoco all nodded yes, before the water duck Pokémon stood in front of them and started conversing with Judas.

"So, what's Quaxly saying?" Mystle asked.

"He says the three of them were impressed by what happened, and wanted to know if they can join us." Judas said.

"I guess we know what this means. They're becoming somebody's Pokémon partners." Zerinax said. "Okay, who gets the first pick?"

"Ladies first." Mystle said, motioning to Weiss.

"Wait...me, a trainer?! Well, I'm gonna go with… Sprigatito." Weiss said.

Sprigatito meowed in delight at being picked first and jumped to Weiss' shoulders, nuzzling her face in affection.

"I think she's a great choice, Snow Queen." Tenko said.

"Okay…in that case…it won't likely be a link, considering this ain't Dimensional Heroes…but I'll take Fuecoco." Kaia said.

The Fire Croc Pokémon nodded at the statement as he waddled over to Kaia's side.

"Guess that leaves me with you, little guy." Billy said to Quaxly.

Quaxly flapped up to Billy's shoulders and sat down on his arm as he fixed up his crest.

"Could be a good match with you, bud." Stu said.

"Well, now that we've made our choices, we should start looking for what to do next." Caine said. "I say we find ourselves a guide to this strange new land!"

"How about…we head there." Neo said, pointing to the giant city up ahead.

"Well… That place looks very lively." Icy Blitzwing said. "We should get Koraidon and Miraidon checked out somewhere anyway."

"Oh yeah, Pull up to a Pokémon center with two Motorcycle dragons. Like that's not gonna be weird." Mera said.

"In that case, we should put them inside some Pokéballs so that they don't attract attention." Georgia said.

"Two Legendaries in Pokéballs, just like that? Yeah… I don't see that happening." Blake said.

"She's right, we can't just do it right off the bat. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it." Drakus said. "And, Vex, why are you, Windy and Stonehenge dressed like that?"

Xaldin had gained a small pair of sophisticated glasses and a fine twill suit, the sort often donned by librarians or burnt-out college professors with nothing left to cling to but their fancy suits and the fact that their students are throwing away good money and so MUST sit in front of them and just plain listen for a few hours a few times a week.

Vexen's hair had been pulled back in a ponytail, and he sighed at the stereotypical cliché of the scientist's garb he'd been forced to adopt—a white lab coat over a suit of his own.

Lexaeus thought he looked strange in a giant sweat suit or muscle shirt, and so was instead wearing the outfit of a biker gang leader—leather vest, ripped blue jeans, and a pair of aviator sunglasses.

"They're disguises, young man. God forbid any of the natives see us in our black cloaks. We'll have six thousand wannabe Keybearers following us around in the hopes of being swept away on a magical adventure," Xaldin spoke the cynical speech of someone who's been there and done that.

The group drew close to the gates of Mesagoza, paying little heed to the older boy with a floating Rotom phone near the front.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm going. All I'm saying is don't expect me to find them." the boy said. "It's not like they'll just walk up to the city gates and-" he said before he spotted the group, a sight that stole his voice for a moment. "...Dad, I'm going to have to call you back." he said, ending the call and practically running up to the group. "Hey, you all! What are you doing with Koraidon and Miraidon?"

"Well, if you must know, we found these poor things washed up on a beach both tired and hungry." Arthi said, dismounting Koraidon. "We've been safeguarding them since."

"I don't know either, I was gathering ingredients for my next meal and suddenly I'm here, with my meal fully prepared." The female Heracross said (you could see it by her horn shape). "By the way, want to try? I call it 'All-Natural Ilex Forest soup', made it with wild mushrooms and berries, spring water, wild herbs and a dash of Moomoo Cream from a forgetful traveler whom forgot it after camping."

"All right I guess…whoa, it's kind of good." Maurice said, as he had a taste. "Guess you're a teammate and our chef now. Is it ok if I call you Juro?"

"That's fine with me. I'd be glad to be around people who appreciate my cooking." Juro said.

"The soup is really good. Makes me…want to break legs." Marigold said. "Not yours because you are important to our cause, so you are important to me."

"They're both mine." the boy said.

"Excuse us?" Drakus asked.

"I have their Pokéballs, so they belong to me right now." he said. "And they were supposed to stay at the lab!" he yelled at the two Dragon-type Pokémon.

"Just because you own them doesn't mean you can consider them objects." Lyre said.

"Now just one second buster. If you own them, shouldn't you take better care of them than just being at a damn lab!? That ain't living!" Drakus exclaimed, before seeing Koraidon and Miraidon both looking to the lab. "...Ah…"

"Seems like he's speaking the truth." Ridley said.

"That's your home, isn't it?" Utena asked Koraidon, who nodded. "Oh, okay boy, I understand." Utena said, rubbing his head and neck.

Drakus pets Miraidon's head as he got off. "So, you seem to know quite a bit about these two."

"My parents are the researchers looking into these Pokémon. But I'm not telling you anymore than that." he said.

"Alright, just who the hell are you?" Neo asked.

"Neo, please. Let's keep this civil." Furina said.

"As much as I don't like it…Drakus' right…" Uzi said.

"Hmm…" the boy said, looking from the two Dragon Pokémon to the group. "These two always go off on their own. It looks like they've taken an interest in you all…but these two can't be handled by just anyone. They're special." he said.

"Ah, so… This kind of stuff happens often, eh?" Drakus said, sheepishly rubbing his head.

"Then what do we need to do to prove we can handle them?" Neo asked.

"Yeah…a battle will settle this." he said drawing a Pokéball. "Beat me and I'll surrender their Pokéballs."

"What do you think, Miraidon? Should we go for it?" Drakus asked, asking for the Pokémon's consent.

"Well, Koraidon? Should we?" Zerinax asked Koraidon, looking for the same.

The two dragons nodded in approval.

"Alright. They agreed. Let's go, sis." Drakus said.

"Right. Just follow my lead, little bro." Zerinax nodded.

"In that case, let's go, Miltank!" the young man said, sending out a Miltank.

"Alright. Let's start with something more this thing's strength. Let's go, Manafist!" David said, sending out her Seviper.

"Judas, take to the stage!" Drakus exclaimed, tossing out a ball as Judas laughed as he came out.

"Okay. Let's start this up. Go for a Quick Attack." Zerinax said.

"Sync up and time it! Hydro Pump!" Drakus commanded.

Manafist and Judas both moved together as Manafist smacked Miltank with its body, followed by a blast of water from Judas.

"Nice going, Judas! Great teamwork!" Drakus complimented.

Miltank fell to the floor upon the combo.

"Well this is what I get for using a Pokémon I just recently caught. All right. You two win." he said handing over the Pokéballs. "And...where'd the Miltank go?"

Juro stood behind a stall, entirely decorated with beef products and dairy. "Beef ribs, beef patties, beef brisket, steak, cheese, Moomoo milk, pudding and yoghurt in any flavor and cheesecake. Get them all right here!" Juro said as she presented it all.

"A true man of your word. Thanks." Zerinax smiled, trying to contain her inner child being giddy over getting Koraidon.

"Thank you." Drakus said with a respectful bow. "Say… You said your family researches these creatures, right?"

"It doesn't matter right now. I need to just get through classes before the independent study program." he said.

"Classes? Independent Study Program…? Oh! You must be a student here, are you?" Drakus asked.

"Yeah…I am. I'm not big on battles. Cooking's more my speed. Hopefully when the Treasure Hunt starts…I can improve those skills." he said. "But I guess you don't really care about that."

"You've got to be kidding me," Vexen sneered. "For one thing, aside from the ridiculously corny name of Naranja-Uva, you at least kept it at just Academy. But second of all— why would anybody want to live in a world that was nothing but high school all over again? And why would anybody possibly want to invoke it in Fandom Hearts?"

"They say high school is the best four years of your life," Lexaeus said, as he shrugged.

"Who's 'they'?" Vexen sneered. "If those four years are to be the pinnacle of my life, I might as well go jump in front of a train."

"You didn't have a good time in high school, did you, Vexen?" Zerinax asked.

Vexen shook his head and shuddered, a haunted look in his eyes. "I fear ever going back. There were so much football players, sucking all the funding into their cesspool of aggressive adolescent sporting events for the weak of mind, stealing chemistry sets and copying tests off the smart kids, the teenage girls always moaned and cried about all the drama in their lives…And…let's not discuss the food."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear about your traumatic educational past," Xaldin opened to the back page of the guidebook, which had conveniently transformed into a small operational scanning computer. "But let's focus on the task at hand. The Nobody signal is getting stronger by the second."

"It must be one of ours—perhaps Numbers Eight, Twelve or Thirteen?" Lexaeus looked optimistic at this guess.

"Well, Arvy, if you're ever looking for battle tips, feel free to talk to us, we'll be more than willing to give pointers." Drakus offered with a smile.

"I see. Sorry about the way we acted a moment ago. We had no idea." Zerinax said.

"Yeah, well…these two are with you now, so good luck taking care of them." the boy said. "I better get going."

"Wait, we didn't catch your name." Mark said.

"It's Arven! Remember it!" he said as he hurried off.

"He didn't seem to be in a good mood." Sherry remarked. "Wonder what's bothering him?"

As they headed further in, they saw a few students with biker helmets and star sunglasses approaching a girl with an Eevee backpack.

"Come on. We gotta meet our quota. Admit it…you wanna be part of Team Star." one of them said.

The girl just turned her head.

"What's there to be indecisive about? Join up with us, you won't have to worry about being alone or ignored. Nobody will get in your way of doing what you want!" one of the grunts said.

"Oh hell," Lexaeus said as he saw what was going on. "It's even worse than I thought. It's a 7th-12th grade school."

"Middle schoolers," Vexen groaned. "They think they're so great because they're technically teenagers."

"Stay with me, gentlemen, the signal's getting even stronger," Xaldin told them, though even he was noticeably disturbed by the blithering, insipid cesspool of teenage angst and pointless spectacle. All around them, crowds of eerily familiar students were engaged in the daily grind of—surprisingly, not a lot of schoolwork. It was mostly internal dramatics, emo whining, fights that sometimes got into physical violence, relationship troubles, ridiculously overcomplicated love triangles and polygons of all shapes and sizes, oblivious and concerned faculty, the unsettling prom-worship, and who was sitting next to who at lunch when they said they'd sit next to some other person.

"Well, that's no way to talk to a lady, especially pressuring her into something she might not want to do." Drakus spoke up as he approached, candy stick in hand.

"Huh?" one of the grunts said.

"Excuse us. But what in the weird, wobbly witch sex is going on here?" Zerinax asked.

"Hi! If you're looking to join up, give us a sec, we'll get to you!" one of the grunts said.

"Join up? For what?" Aria asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What, you don't know? We're Team Star!" the grunt said. "We shine so bright, it hurts to look at us!"

"...Never heard of you." Mystle said.

"...Totally lost." Sora said.

"...That sounded so cliché." Lyre deadpanned.

"...Don't follow." Critic added.

"...What d'ya mean?" Roman asked.

"As for what you're doing, if she doesn't want any part of your group, then just leave her be." Adrien said.

"Oh yeah?" one of the grunts said. "And how are you gonna make us stop, huh?"

"By besting you in a Pokémon battle." Drakus said, grinning.

"Uh...Drakus?" Zerinax asked.

"No worries, I'll go easy on them. They're not even worthy to face off against Judas." Drakus stated.

"What'd you say?!" one of the grunts said. "Ugh, I finally get into Team Star, and I still get no respect! We can't let this slide!"

"Tch. If you're so cocky, then send your best! I'll meet it with my own!" Drakus exclaimed, as he cackled wickedly. "In times like these, strength determines the victor! So have at thee!"

"You asked for it, lady! Go, Shroodle!" the grunt said, sending out a small black mouse.

"Shroodle, the Toxic Mouse Pokémon, Poison and Normal Type! Though usually a mellow Pokémon, it will sink its sharp, poison-soaked front teeth into any that anger it, causing paralysis in the object of its ire." Kinito said.

"Hmph. Stanislas, let's go." Drakus chuckled, sending out a Scyther. This Scyther…well, looked bizarre with his demonic dark eyes and the scythe hands resembled more like chainsaws. "Hiya, homie!" he said as he waved, his voice was like that of Snoop Dogg.

"Make that jerk see stars! Use Acid Spray!" the grunt called out, Shroodle sending out a spray of poisonous liquid.

"Stanislas, parry it!" Drakus exclaimed, as Stanislas t-posed and, somehow, evaporated the Acid Spray as the energy that radiated off him smacked into Shroodle.

"Oh, now you've done it!" the grunt yelled. "Hit that bug with all the Fury Swipes you've got!" the grunt said as the Toxic Mouse jumped towards Stanislas, as Drakus scoffed.

"Take flight! Avoid his pathetic attempts and apply a banjo at its head!" Drakus commanded, as Stanislas followed perfectly, fluttering his wings to evade the claws, and bonking its head with a banjo. After a few bonks or so, the Shroodle went down.

"Aw, man! Guess I'm the one who's seeing stars!" the grunt said.

"That wasn't even a good pun!" Drakus growled.

"Urk, how's someone like you so good at battling? It's just not right…" the grunt groaned.

"If you came from a lifestyle like mine, perhaps you would understand. Now, I don't think this girl wants to speak with you anymore, so I suggest you leave." Drakus said as Stanislas glared at them, eagerly rubbing its scythes together. "Now..."

"Grk…I don't like the looks they're giving us." One of the other grunts said. "Not even the student council president can glare like that…"

"Okay, we'll go! But don't think we'll forget this!" the grunt said as they took off.

Drakus would soon adopt a cheerful grin as he approached the girl. "Hey, you okay? Don't worry. Those grunts are gone." Drakus said, reassuring the little girl.

"I…uh… I just… Well, thanks." the girl said. "So, uh…see you around." she said before taking off up the steps.

"Mm… Maybe I scared her a bit too. That's on me…" Stanislas sighed.

"No, I think she's just a bit shy." Drakus said.

"You think? That gives me a little reassurance." Stanislas huffed.

"Stay away from my girl, you creep! I don't think you earned the right to be called her 'rival'! Have you even proven yourself worthy of such a thing?!" Otoya yelled, as her and Vertin were talking with a young girl in a school uniform with black hair with a green streak.

"I am a champion ranked battler. She's planning to fight in the gym challenge. It's only right we become fated rivals so we can have explosive battles!" she said.

"Wait… Are these two fighting…over Vertin?" Billy asked.

"Never took her for a ladies' woman." Sherry said.

It was then the black haired girl noticed the group and smiled. "Look! Her friends are here! My name is Nemona, we're fated rivals. I bet you really wanna battle right now. Come on, let's go at it!" she said excitedly.

"Uhm… No." John stated as he walked over to the group. "I just battled young Vertin not long ago to test her Pokemon's stats. I'd like her to take the Gym Challenge, without interference. So for the last time, she decided on Otoya first, and unless you prove to be capable, she is not your rival."

"Oh, c'mon! She just said you've battled her!" Nemona protested.

"First off, I think you're allowed to have multiple rivals." Kanade said.

Vertin shot a look back at her. "I really don't think you want this battle-crazed nutjob with us." She said. "Especially when this Nemona girl sounds more like a stalker than a rival."

"Hey! Did I hear you guys say you'll be doing the gym challenge?!" a familiar voice asked as Arven came running up.

"Yeah, why?" Drakus asked.

"You'll have no time at all for that, trust me." Arven said. "You'll all be too busy helping me with my Treasure Hunt project."

"Uh, what is it you're after exactly?" Taylor asked.

"The Herba Mystica…herbs that will make the best dishes in all of Paldea." Arven said. "However, they're guarded by five fierce titan Pokémon and I'm no good at battles."

"That also sounds interesting…" Kanade said, before smirking. "How much would it take to mass produce them?"

"Titan Pokémon and herbs, huh?" Himiko asked.

"Okay, so we've got two options while we explore Paldea, no biggie." Ridley said.

"Hm. I doubt that." Taylor stated.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Ridley asked.

"I feel like our third option should revolve on keeping tabs on Team Star. I don't like those guys one bit… they may not seem evil but… I can't shake the feeling there's something behind the scenes here. Maybe it's just me but… can we really be too sure?" Taylor asked.

"They're right. We chased off some of their grunts, but will they really leave us alone? We gotta take them out at the source!" Hibiki said. "They have bases of operations all over the region, right? We should raid them and take out their leaders!"

"...You know what? Screw it, let's do it! I'm all about that vigilante life!" Drakus said.

"Hold on a second! You can't just have yourselves be swamped with everything! Team Star, the Gym Challenge, or my Treasure Hunt! Pick one!" Arven said.

"Oh...just watch us do all three, Arvy..." Drakus remarked.

"Hello, Vertin's friends," the black-robed boy said. "You want to know how I knew about her Pokemon, don't you?"

'Wow, he guessed that pretty easily,' Zerinax thought to herself, but aloud she said, "We might've been curious."

"Well, actually I was just guessing, considering some of the antics they were doing during the fight," John stated. "Gloria had a friend back in Galar that had pokemon that used some of the same skills as well, and after learning how it works, I decided to let my pokemon develop ways to gain an advantage against those types of things."

Arven wondered if he could do it on his own, as he was suddenly more scared of the squad. But what would they do if even one of them finds out? He'd be dead. It means he was stuck with literally the most psychotic people he could have picked for his project, along with one of the most insane groups in Naranja-Uva. "Mommy…" Arven whimpered.

And so the paths were set. A trail to Victory Road, past the Path of Legends, and down Starfall Street. What will the squad find at the end of the path? Well…only time can truly tell.