A Girl Named Roxie

by Buttercrush

Planet Fusion had always been shrouded by mystery, and terror. When the planet begins an intergalactic rampage for universal domination and sets its sights on Earth, human-alien hybrid Roxie Leeblossom must worry about saving her friends, family, and even herself from an alien apocalypse. ( AU. Based on OC. Cover by KidZeusvado on Ao3)

10. The Battle of Hero's Hollow

25 June 2044

Making the trek out to the Bagge's farmhouse in the middle of Nowhere wasn't a terrible trip by car. On foot it could be a bit more of a grueling journey. Though, Roxie had the advantage of being able to use her spider-webs to swing quickly through the Devil's Canyons, and she's taken the path in the open desert of Nowhere to her grandparents so much that it didn't feel all that awful to her. Luckily the summer heat wasn't too bad with Planet Fusion hanging the the sky.

Honestly, it was a better trip than riding in the arms of one of Mojo's Monkey Skyway Agents. One of his newest additions in helping in the war effort. Several of his minions were stationed all about Townsville and the surrounding neighborhoods and forest, now offering rides via jetpack for war recruits and citizens, for a fee. Roxie might've considered it if it was just the monetary fee, but the added smells and remarks from Mojo's Minions weren't quite worth the Taros for her. Besides, it's better she stayed clear of any of Mojo Jojo's business.

She probably could have called her mother for a ride over here. Not like Diana would say no for a chance to see family, especially in these times, but with everything that's been happening lately… Roxie didn't need another kind-hearted lecture from her mother right now. She would just apologize about not noticing the stuff happening with Mitch, probably cry a little, remind her she's always here… Of course she knew her mother would mean well; being overbearing is, like, kind of the whole thing about being a parent, right? It'd be better just not to bother her, for both of their sake.

Heck, depending on her grandmother's mood, she might be walking into one of these kind-hearted lectures right now. Roxie bundled all those thoughts away as the Bagge's home appeared in the distance. Eustace's truck sat parked outside the barn, though it looked like one of the tires had deflated. A lone rocking chair swayed slightly on the porch, Courage sitting on the steps. His tail wagged as Roxie approached.

"Hey, buddy!" she greeted, bending down to ruffle behind his ears.

"Roxie!" Courage barked. He took a moment to appreciate the pets, then quickly jumped up. Standing on his hind legs, the dog began to frantically point off into the distance, "Hep be he be ba!" His body suddenly contorted to a slimmer stature, his ears slicking back and wrapping around to mimic a ponytail. He groaned with a thrashing motion, before snapping back to a normal dog. "Aro hep ruf he arf!"

Roxie blinked, staring down at Courage. She briefly glanced off in the direction he pointed, but only saw the same barren desert as always. She scooped up the dog in her arms, walking up and opening the front door. Walking inside, she set Courage down, the dog sighing and scrambling to look out the window.

"I think Courage might be hungry, or something." Roxie called out, standing in the empty living room.

"Oh, Roxie?" Muriel's voice called from the kitchen. She turned the corner and smiled at her granddaughter. "Alice said ya'd be coming. And where's yer brother?"

"Somewhere." the blonde shrugged. "I told Alice she could ask him to tag along."

"Are ya doing alright, sweetie?" Muriel asked, walking over to give her a hug.

"Yes, I promise." Roxie nodded. Oh glob, here it comes.

"What a foul boy he was!" Muriel exclaimed. Boom, here it is. The reference to Mitch is not what Roxie wanted to hear... "You are such a fighter, my dear."

"Hey, Roxie!" Alice greeted, walking down the stairs. Roxie relaxed at her ticket out of the coming conversation.

"Hey, girl!" Roxie smiled, meeting her at the bottom of the stairs to hug her cousin. "Ready to fulfill some prophecies?"

"Even more prepared with you here to help." Alice smiled, hugging Roxie tightly. "Where's that new sword you mentioned?"

"Ugh…" Roxie groaned, suddenly feeling the pain in her arms. "It's not really, uhm, practical for this, I think. Are Juniper and Gwendolyn here yet?"

"Not yet." Alice looked at her NanoCom. "They should be here soon. Suzy and Junior are here to help though."

"Oh, yes!" Muriel smiled. "Alice's little friends are out in the barn with Eustace. I was just making some snacks for everybody."

"Alone with grandpa?" Roxie snickered. "We should probably go save them."

Courage suddenly howled, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head. He darted out of the house, scampering towards the barn. Roxie and Alice looked at each other, sharing a shrug before following after him, albeit not at the pace he took off at.

"Hey, Alice?" Roxie spoke up once the two were alone on the porch.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that yesterday when-"

"It's alright." Alice calmly assured her. "I promise the Kelt and the prophecy business hasn't sent me into a spiral."

"That's good!" Roxie stuttered. "But actually, I was gonna say that I thought it was really sweet."

"Oh? What was?"

"Just the whole…" Roxie waved her hands, gesturing to the barn. "You and your friends were so unquestionably supportive. It was really comforting to see." She sniffled back a tear.

"Oh, uhm…" Alice seemed taken aback, but wore a warm smile. "Thank you, Roxie. That, uhm, actually feels really nice to hear to. I know I have you and the rest of the family, but I don't know what I'd do without Suzy and Junior around."

"You've got a better judge of character than I do." Roxie snickered.

"That's just not true." Alice shook her head. "Mitch isn't a good example… But there are outliers in every situation! You've got a lot of good people around you, Roxie. Holden, Alan, Amp. My friend Heather told me she knows you, and called you her friend. Even Blossom and Bubbles."

"Yeah, I know…" Roxie trailed off. "I've, uh, also been hanging out with, uhm… Boomer Jojo…" A beat passed. "See look, I'm no good at picking good people. Even when they are good people, I push them away, I was a total lump to Amp when we met."

"Well, he's still your friend now." Alice smiled. "And if Boomer isn't terrorizing you, maybe he's got a good bone in him after all."

"Doubt it."

"Still." Alice rested her hand on Roxie's shoulder. "You've still got a great big circle to fall back on. Including me, and Suzy and Junior would support you too!"

"You sound like my mom…" Roxie rolled her eyes, but slowly grew to share Alice's smile. "But I know you're right." She leaned forward to hug Alice again. "I'd have their backs too, you know. Especially that Junior kid. Us back-appendages people stick together."

Alice giggled in response, joining the hug. The girls, both a little teary, collected themselves before witnessing Courage frantically rush into the barn.

The inside of the Bagge's barn was more akin to a shed. Various tools hung from hooks on the wooden walls, as well as displaced among the barn. There were two prominent work benches positioned on either side, though it didn't look like anything was being worked on. A spare and rusty car engine sat square in the middle of the space, as well as another deflated tire laying nearby. Negal Junior and Suzy stood near one of the workbenches, Eustace next to them with Suzy's boat oar weapon in his hands.

Roxie and Alice arrived just in time for Courage to begin another fit, this time his fur mimicking a tattered suit and his ears sticking out stiff, tipping into points. It looked like he was floating for a moment before he snapped back to reality, blabbering an incoherent bark. The two cousins shared another confused look.

"Stupid dog!" Eustace barked back, almost raising the oar to Courage.

"Do you guys, like, not feed him?" Roxie asked.

"Can't stand this blubbering mutt…" Eustace groaned, placing the oar on the workbench. He walked over, giving his granddaughter a hug.

"Hi, Roxie!" Suzy waved. "Mr. Bagge was just telling us he likes my weapon."

"It's nice to see you kids using some good ol' fashioned weaponry."

"Then the dog started freaking out." Junior added.

"He does that a lot…" Alice said, walking to pick Courage up. "Are you trying to tell us something?"

"Yes!" he yelped. He followed with another plethora of jibber-jabber.

"Next time I visit, I'm bringing my friend Bubbles." Roxie shrugged.

"Maybe he's just worried about our totally epic mission we're about to go on." Suzy nodded. "Don't worry boy, we got this!"

"Here." Eustace walked over, taking Courage in his arms to the dog's dismay. "I'll take the mutt inside so he doesn't mess with your little spy game."

"We're not spies…" Alice shook her head. Roxie gathered from her reaction that this is a conversation they've had before.

A growing hum of another car engine began to fill the air, causing Eustace to scowl before he could jokingly reply to Alice. He lazily dropped Courage, then stomped over to the barn door. As soon as he stepped outside, he started yelling obscenities. Courage hesitated, but followed outside as the rest of the kids filed out.

The sound belonged to a slick green car detailed with black lines along the length of the top. It glistened in the sun, and the windows were tinted so dark that you couldn't see who was inside. It parked next to the house, where Eustace was already yelling at the driver before they stepped out.

"Get that offa my property!" Eustace scowled, waving his fist. "Don't you kids have any respect for people's lawns?"

The doors opened, showing Gwen Tennyson adjusting her glasses as she stepped out of the driver's seat. Juniper Lee got out of the passenger's side, and a moment later, Ben crawled out of the backseat.

"I'm sorry, sir." Gwen said. "Where should I park it?"

"Over there!" Eustace waved his hand off towards the barn.

"I'll move it!" Ben Tennyson chimed it, moving to enter the driver's seat before being stopped by Gwen.

"You know you're not allowed to drive Kevin's car." Her eyes narrowed in on her cousin, who sulked back so Gwen could get in.

"No respect these days…" Eustace grumbled to himself, stomping off up the porch. He waved his hand at Courage. "Courage, get!"

"Sorry about that." Juniper said in a hushed tone as her and Ben joined Roxie and the kids.

"He's just like that." Roxie replied just as quietly. Alice nodded in agreement.

"Guys, this is Juniper Lee, the Te Xuan Ze." Ben introduced her. "She's the one who's been helping Gwen with the Totems."

"It's so nice to meet you all!" June grinned, shaking Alice's hand.

"Whooa!" Suzy's eyes filled with stars. "No, it's so nice to meet YOU! I'm Suzy!"

"Gwendolyn filled me in on what happened yesterday." Juniper looked at Alice as Gwen joined them, the Book of Prophecy in her hands."You seem like a pretty cool kid. Strong too!"

"Thank you." Alice smiled, standing a bit taller than usual.

"How are you feeling?" Gwen asked.

"Eh, like I said yesterday," Alice shrugged, but maintained her smile. "Nothing really changed too much about me. But now I feel better equipped to help you all out."

"And confident, alright!" Juniper grinned. "Honestly, without Charmcaster to deal with, this should be a walk in the park."

"Yes, hopefully." Gwen nodded. She held out the Book of Prophecy to Alice, who took it. "The last Totem is somewhere out here in the Nowhere desert, and we'll need to activate it by holding the spine of the book to the Totem."

"Finding it will probably be the hardest part then." Roxie shrugged.

"Again, hopefully." Gwen said. "If Charmcaster knew about the Prophecy's power, then it's possible someone else might be out for it as well."
"Plumber data says the Fusion population is greater the further out we go too." Ben added. "We should all still be prepared for a fight, Fusion or human."

"Or supernatural." June added on top of that.

Alice started to reply, cut short by another frill shriek from Courage, who had fully puffed out into a large screaming face. He pointed behind the group, then fell flat on his back. Most of the kids looked confused, Alice being the only one to turn to look where Courage had pointed. She was taken aback as well, stumbling a bit at the sight of a floating green-skinned, horned person. Their eyes narrowed.

"Stupid dog!" Eustace came down the porch to grab Courage by the collar and drag him inside.

"Greetings…" the person said in a three-toned voice. Suzy readied her oar to strike.

"And this is Them." Gwen said with a sigh. "They're also here to help. Without them, Charmcaster might've gotten away with the Alpha Rune."

"Correct." the demon nodded. One voice rose above the rest. "We're here to ensure the Totems are used against the Fusions, as promised."

"Hey…" Roxie scratched her head. "Did we meet already?"

"Looks like our plots finally connect." a deeper voice came from Them, coupled with a smirk.

"Not the type of company I'd expect to see you guys with." Nergal Junior shrugged. "Not complaining." He offered a friendly wave to his fellow demon.

"We mustn't dilly dally." Them's voices collided again, their body floating over the group. "We need to strike as soon as possible."

The demon glared down at the teenagers, pausing for a moment before continuing to drift off away from the home. They moved with intent, as if they already knew the location of the Totem. Ben and Roxie followed, Gwen and Juniper behind them, with Alice and her friends bringing up the rear. As they walked, Gwen pulled the Alpha Rune from her pocket and equipped it around her neck. Alice had flipped open the Book of Prophecy, fingering through the pages.

"This book is in good condition, at least as old as the pages seem." Alice said to herself, drawing Gwen's attention back.

"Them is the one who wrote it." she said, looking forward to Them. "Which I'm still a little confused about…"

"Appearances are deceiving." a low voice came from Them. "That tome has experienced great wear… Text has faded and smudged, pages have been ripped asunder. It is no longer the book we wrote so long ago."

"Why did you even write all of this down?" Alice asked, scanning a page scribed with circular drawings.

"We suppose if any one person deserves to know…" Them's head unnaturally turned back to look at Alice. "It should be the last descendant of the Kelt."

"Many years ago, when the planet Earth was much more primitive than it is now, my kind weren't beasts relegated to the Underworld, but dwellers of both the Overworld and below. We were so young, and yet, so ancient… Far more chaotically motivated than the present. Our exploits found us in a settlement of mortals unlike anything we had seen before." All of Them's voices seemed to join as one as they recounted the tale.

"Why, it was simply unheard of for a human mortal to wield such strength, such power. These humans we found were apex beings, building their village just with a thought, manifested into something grand. And once we came to ravage their town, we were not met by the typical human cruelty, but a kindness no mortal had offered before… These were not humans, but beings from a world past our own star. Planet Kelt."

"Despite our nefarious deeds, they still extended a hand in kindness." A tear welled up in Them's eyes. "Their compassion was a lesson we had yet to fully understand, but nevertheless, we accepted their offer. We spent time learning about their ways, their magic, their culture. The Keltic people had no intent to rule, just to aid. The Demon Queen, however, did not believe beings of such power didn't have a nefarious secret."

"Queen…?" Junior wondered.

"Indeed… We speak of the current King Javerick's own mother, Lilithe Abyssal." Them shook their head, "The demon who gave the rest of us a bad reputation. She wanted to… Claimed she needed to eradicate the Kelt from our planet… And we helped her do so."

The air grew silent as Them broke off, that tear finally rolling down the side of their cheek.

"These Totems were the Kelt's gift to the Earth. Barriers of protection to be used in a time of great crisis. We could've given notice to our Kelt friends. Instead, in a bid for more power, we rallied under the monarchy. The tome you hold was originally instructions on how to dismantle the power of the Hani-Baba Totems, which Queen Lilithe used to drive the Kelt off this planet. Only these Totems and their Temple in the jungle remain from their civilization."

"That's definitely not what we were taught in school…" Roxie muttered.

Them's sadness grew a tad sour in another moment of silence, only for their eyes to widen in shock.

"Do you regret it?" Alice asked. The silence drew out a bit longer.

"No." their voices calmed. "The attack on the Kelts left the Queen weaker, and her reputation among our kin soured. These events opened the way for our current King, one who is far more just and level-headed… Most of the time. A kinder world was born from that suffering. Our suffering. Over the years, we retooled the book to broaden my insights on their culture in hope that if the world needed it, the Kelt could still save it."

"I'd love to hear more about them from you." Alice said after another moment of silence. "After we defeat the Fusions."

"You hold no resentment?"

"Gwendolyn and Juniper wouldn't invite anyone untrustworthy to help." Alice closed the book. "I'm not really a spokesperson for the Kelt, but I can hear your hurt. I'd like to learn more about them from someone who knew them."

"... Very well." the demon nodded, closing his eyes with a smirk. "The kindness of the Kelt lives on, even thousands of years on."

"I didn't know you were so intimately linked." Gwen said.

"Speaking of our fraught past is not our favorite pastime." Them shook their head, the altering vocal tones quieting. "Seeing that whelp Charmcaster misconstrue our words was a motivation. You girls and your willingness to risk it all… We believe the spirit of our friends lives on even among you."

"Awh!" Juniper's eyes had welled up with tears of her own. "Who knew you were such a softie this whole time! Do you want a hug?"

"No."

In the distance, the final Totem came into few. Several straggling Fusion chickens waddled about, but nothing with intent on the Totem. Them paused to wait for the group before approaching, but most of them stopped as both Tennysons' NanoComs rang. Ben and Gwen both pulled them out to look, the former pressing his to his face.

"Rook?" he said.

"What…?" Gwen seemed bewildered by what was on her screen.

"What do you mean?" Ben continued, growing irritated. "How is that even possible?"

"Is everything cool?" Roxie asked. Gwen shook her head.

"Apparently, Charmcaster is missing from her containment." Gwen sighed. A fierce growl grumbled in Them's throat.

"Those Plumber cells should be sealed tight!" Ben ranted into his NanoCom. "Ugh, do I have to do everything myself?"

"Uhm…" Juniper shook her head. "D- Don't worry! The Totem is right there!"

"Yeah." Suzy said with an exaggerated nod. "We can do this!"

"She's been missing for hours." Ben said, pocketing his NanoCom again. "Let's get this done, then I'll go take care of her."

"Yes, quickly." Them outstretched a hand towards Alice. "Come, girl."

Suzy gripped her boat oar in her hands, Junior next to her with his tentacles poised to strike. Alice closed her eyes, thinking for a moment as she held the book tightly in her arms. Was this it? Was Alice the key to stopping the Fusions all along? Her eyes opened, face now painted with determination. She stepped forward, taking the demon's hand.

Them gave an affirming nod to her. The demon brought their feet to the dirt, beginning to run forward with Alice. The path to the Totem was wide open, but it didn't stop Suzy and Junior from tailing behind, jetting off to whack the Fusion Fowls and prevent them from even thinking of an attack. Roxie hung back with Ben and the magical girls, readying one of her pistols to shoot if needed. This seemed almost too easy!

Both Gwen and Juniper flung discs of magical energy forward, blasting at a creature lurking behind the Totem. It hissed, jumping out to reveal… Charmcaster! Wait no… This Charmcaster was unreasonably tall, nearly as tall as the seven-foot Totem, and her skin dripped with the acidic Fusion Matter the kids unfortunately knew too well. What would be already dark purple robes the witch wore were tattered and even darker in color than the original. This was a Fusion Charmcaster.

She glared her glowing, red eyes at the approaching Alice and Them, a disembodied snicker echoing from her mouthless jaw as two Fusion variations of Charmcaster's stone minions barreled out. Them, still gripping Alice's hand, floated upwards, heaving the girl up to avoid the oncoming Fusions.

"This is even worse than if she just showed up." Ben groaned. He held his wrist up, the Omnitrix buzzing to life and extending upward.

"New plan." Gwen nodded to Juniper. Her body glowed with the light of Anodite magic, transforming into her Lucky Girl alter-ego. "Keep that Fusion off Alice and the Book."

Juniper Lee dashed forward, striking one of the Fusion rock minions with a punch to tumble it back. In the air, Alice clutched the book while trying to keep her calm; being swayed as Them flew them out of range. Suzy and Junior were still holding back the Fusion Fowls, letting Gwen throw more magical discs towards the Fusion herself. Roxie hesitated for a moment, but fired off her pistol. Her bullet zipped past the other rock minion. The sound of Ben's Omnitrix transformation distracted her from firing another shot.

"Alright!" Ben's now nasally voice laughed. Roxie's eyes rolled as she looked at Ben, now transformed into Spidermonkey, his Arachnachimp form. "Let's web up the competition!"

"That wasn't even that quippy." Roxie scowled. "Just focus on keeping Alice safe!"

Spidermonkey lept up, firing a flurry of webs at the Fowl Fiends to finish them off, letting Suzy and Junior turn their attention to the Fusion rock minions. Nergal Junior swiveled around, hands balled into fists as he swung forward into the air. He wasn't close enough to hit anything, but the two tentacles on his right side shot out, striking one of the Fusion rock monsters and toppling it. Suzy joined in with a hearty swing from her oar to the other rock minion, knocking it with a force unexpected from such a sweet, young girl. Her usual optimistic grin had turned to a fierce scowl.

Roxie kicked her shoes against the desert sand, dashing forward alongside Spidermonkey towards the towering Fusion Charmcaster. While Suzy and Junior whacked at her minions, the main Fusion had her sights set on Alice and Them, reaching her unnaturally clawed hands upwards to snap at Alice's feet. The blue haired girl yelped, tucking her legs in to widen the gap between her and the Fusion. Roxie's spiderlegs instinctively shot webs at the Fusion's hand to ward her off, though they didn't seem to actually connect with anything.

"Just keep hold of the Book." the highest pitch of Them's voices said, the demon struggling to gain any more altitude. Their voice grew deeper, more guttural.

"That Charmcaster whelp is a nuisance no matter the form she appears in!" they grumbled.

The rock minions were dazed by Alice's friends' attacks, but not yet ready to call the fight. The one Suzy targeted continued to roll after the hit, getting itself closer to its brethren that had pulled itself up and charged at Junior. The boy kept it together, stepping back and rocketing his tentacles forward at the dirt. These hits kept both Fusion rock monsters from approaching Junior any further, and also kept them distracted from Suzy rushing from behind them with her boat oar to deliver another massive whack to the creatures.

The stray Fowl Fiends scattering around them that hadn't paid the group any attention started to mindlessly direct their gazes towards the battle as the Fusion rock minions let out desperate cries. It would take a minute or two before the swarm reached them, but nevertheless, the Fiends begun their advance. Lucky Girl and Juniper glanced out at their surroundings, looking at each other with unspoken words. The girls simultaneously tossed mana discs towards Fusion Charmcaster, then dashed in opposite directions of each other. The two continually flung their mana attacks, now outwards in the direction of the Fowl Fiends.

Roxie stumbled to a standstill as Spidermonkey continued scampering forward. She had been a part of several large, grand battles in the war so far, and yet this event felt as if it held even more weight behind it than any of those actual wartime scenarios. She watched as Suzy used the handle of her boat oar to pierce into one of the rock monsters and melt it to mush, just as Spidermonkey lept up at Fusion Charmcaster, getting to her eye level and aiming his tail in her face to cover it with a glob of webs.

Fusion Charmcaster howled, reaching up to her face and easily ripping the webbing away. Her howl seemed to reverberate, sending a shockwave outward that made Roxie stumble. The same shockwave threw Them off balance, the demon lowering to the ground and loosening their grip on Alice. Now closer to her, the Fusion Charmcaster thrashed out towards Alice again.

"Alice!" Roxie frantically cried, watching the Fusion snatch her cousin by the white shrug she wore over her blue dress. Roxie pulled the triggers on her guns, both pistols firing off along with all four spiderlegs flinging their own webbed ammo at the Fusion's direction.

One of Roxie's webs stuck to the side of Alice's leg, but the other three shots, as well as all of her pistol bullets, (thankfully), assaulted the Fusion's forearm. It hissed, tugging back in recoil. Them tugged back as well, ending up with Alice being pulled between the two. She strained for a moment before falling a few feet onto the dirt, her shrug came clean off her shoulders, now caught in Fusion Charmcaster's claws. The Book of Prophecy also fell from her grip, laying near Alice on the sand.

"Ouch…" Alice groaned as she gathered her bearings, pulling her face from the sand.

She blinked, feeling the wind on her bare arms. She noticed where the Book fell, but her gaze couldn't stray from the Fusion Charmcaster that towered over her. A moment of fear crept over Alice as she looked at the monster, exaggerated in size. The Fusion's claw balled into a fist, tightening over Alice's shrug. When her sharp fingers relaxed, Alice's cover up was nowhere to be seen.

More bullets from Roxie and webs from her and Spidermonkey flew into Fusion Charmcaster, but the beast showed no give to the attacks. Instead, she rose her hands above Alice, thrashing her head about with an eerily silent screech. Alice could only tighten her eyes shut and tense her body as the Fusion threw its claws down at the girl.

All the air in Roxie's lungs left her, eyes bulging out her skull as she watched the Fusion bash down on her little cousin. An inaudible gasp escaped her as she struggled to pull the triggers on her pistols again, dropping one in the process. Though, perhaps she started to freak out a little prematurely.

Instead of the devastating blow Roxie expected to see, Fusion Charmcaster's attack did not smush Alice, but rather bounced off of a sudden shield of blue energy conjured around Alice. Underneath the mana dome, Alice sat with her arms in front of her face. She was visibly trembling, slowing as she brought her arms down and taking in the sudden change.

"Freakin' superpowers!" Suzy cheered. She wrapped Junior in a side hug. "You owe me a milkshake, Junior."

"I never agreed to that…!" Junior sighed, not refuting the hug even in the midst of battle.

Fusion Charmcaster threw her claws down onto Alice's barrier again, growing more enraged as she, once again, bounced right off. Alice still sat bewildered under her dome, completely unaware of how exactly she made it happen. The Plumber records weren't lying though, this energy appeared almost identical to the same type of magic Gwen harnessed, albeit, colored differently.

It'd be another moment before Alice realized the Book of Prophecy was sitting within her safety bubble, and she'd scramble to clutch it in her arms again. She watched as Them floated over her dome, rushing Fusion Charmcaster with the same intensity she had turned on Alice. A blast of flame welled up in their fist as they threw a punch at the Fusion's face, It stumbled back, only to be hit by another web from Spidermonkey, and then a mana missile from Gwen.

Juniper came rushing towards the Fusion prepping her own attack, but Alice wouldn't see it as she swiveled her head to see Roxie banging her fist on the side of Alice's dome, her dropped pistol still sitting on the ground where she fumbled it. Alice exhaled, the dome dematerializing around her and allowing Roxie to rush forward to scoop her cousin in her arms.

"Oh my glob!" Roxie fought back tears. "What the heck was that?"

"I- I don't know either." Alice replied with a giggle. In fact, she was pretty giddy for a girl who just about got squished to death.

"Those Kelt powers are finally kicking in?" Roxie loosened her arms around her cousin. "Remember when that girl, Tessa, attacked us at the mall?"

Alice dipped her head in a nod, thinking back on the moment the Exervent CEO sniped a lock of her hair off, causing Alice to supernaturally shove her and Roxie away from her. "I do. But I've never done anything like that since."

"Don't force yourself." Roxie helped Alice to her feet as Nergal Junior and Suzy felled Fusion Charmcaster's other minion.

"No." Alice shook her head, moving the Book to tuck under her arm. "I've fought Fusions before. I just need to… focus."

Roxie took a moment of silence. The encroaching Fowl Fiends had dwindled in numbers thanks to Gwen, and the rest of the group had put all their sights on the main Fusion. Them floated above her reach, hurling balls of fire down at the Fusion while Spidermonkey continuously attempted to web the monster down. Juniper was throwing melee hits with her fists when she could, but mostly opted to berate her with her own magical ammo.

"Ok…" Roxie exhaled. "Give me the Book."

"Wha..?" Alice blinked.

"If you need to focus, let me help you." the blonde held her hands out. "I'll keep it safe and keep you covered."

Her cousin gave her an assuring nod, giving her the Book of Prophecy. Roxie took it in her hands, handing it back to her spiderlegs to tie it to her back with webs like a bookbag. Another spiderleg shot a stray web, attaching to her dislodged pistol to bring it back to reequip. The two watched as Gwen flew past them in a haze of purple light, landing next to Spidermonkey and Juniper to erect a mana shield around them.

"The Kelt are similar to the Anodite." Roxie pointed to the magical girls. "I'm not sure how she does it, but maybe you can channel it the same way."

"But how?" Alice looked down at her palms. A lightbulb seemingly flashed above Roxie's head.

"Wait, Alice!" Roxie's excitement grew exponentially. "Back at the mall, and just now when the Fusion attacked you! It was reactionary!"

"Well, yeah…" Alice shrugged. "But I don't know how I reacted, I just got scared."

"Ooh!" The imaginary lightbulb above Roxie's head shined even brighter. "That's it!"

"Uhm, I'm already pretty freaked out here!"

"No, like, maybe it has to do with your emotions."

"Emotions?" Alice thought. "Why wouldn't anything have happened before now though?"

"I don't know! Just… try!"

Alice exhaled, watching on as Gwen stood with her arms outstretched to maintain her mana shield around herself, Juniper, and Spidermonkey. Small gaps in the shield blinked open at Gwen's command, allowing globs of webs from Spidermonkey's tail and mana discs from Juniper to fly through and strike Fusion Charmcaster. The monster thrashed her claws down onto the shield, just as she did to Alice, but never broke the seal.

While the Fusion was distracted, Alice closed her eyes to focus. It couldn't be that hard, right? She held her hands to her chest, trembling for a moment. Roxie heard a soft murmur from her, watching her cousin hold her hands out. It looked as if… something… had welled up in her hands, a faint glow of a blue light that only seemed to flicker out as Alice's face strained. She'd throw her arms to the side in defeat.

"I can't do this." she muttered.

"No, that was progress!" Roxie tried to reassure her. "There was, like, the light and jazz in your hands!"

"And…!?" Alice waved her hands around, a flurry of the blue energy sparking from her hands with no effect. "It's not working!"

"Well, I…!" Roxie struggled to find the right words, or any words, to coach Alice through this. For all she knew, linking her abilities to emotions could just be wrong. It wasn't like Roxie was well-versed in anything magical. "Ma- Maybe I can help?"

"How?"

"I, uhm…" Roxie sighed, looking off towards Fusion Charmcaster. "I don't think you're going to like it…"

"Roxie!"

Alice cried out, watching her cousin start a mad dash away from her. Closing in, Roxie shot two spiderwebs onto the sides of Gwen's shield. She retracted them, causing her to gain speed and fling herself to the top of the shield. A muffled thud echoed down over the shield's inhabitants, all looking up to see Roxie's sneakers pressed against the top.

"Hey, ugly!" Roxie barked at the Fusion. She aimed, rocketing her dual pistols' bullets into the Fusion's chest.

Fusion Charmcaster culled her bashings on the shield, her full attention solely on Roxie. At least, that's how it appeared. Roxie's bullets seemed fruitless, but she continued to fire. The unbothered Fusion craned her arm around, her claws grabbing onto Roxie's spiderlegs.

Shocked cries rang out, especially from the wincing Roxie as Fusion Charmcaster's Fusion Matter skin burned her spiderlegs. Gwen's mana shield fell instantly, triggering her and Juniper to jump up at the Fusion. Them had rushed to try and pull Roxie from the Fusion's grasp.

"Why…?" Them's voices clattered, fiery hands trying to pull her claws apart. "Why do you have the Book!?"

Roxie couldn't reply before a blow from Juniper to the Fusion's chest caused her to stumble back. Fusion Charmcaster thrashed her free arm into the air, swatting Them away. The pain Roxie felt in her spiderlegs was intense, but not overwhelming enough to keep her from wiggling about to try and free herself. She felt the ties on the webs holding the Book of Prophecy to her back loosen.

A sound of squelching cut the air, causing the Fusion Charmcaster to immediately tumble and drop Roxie, and sending the Book flying opposite. Her spider legs flexed, shooting new webs to help her land on her feet. She didn't even look at the Fusion, whose legs had been sliced apart. Instead, her gaze immediately shot to Alice. Roxie grinned at the sight.

Alice's hair had grown wild, flaring out and sharing the same blue glow that now strongly swelled up in her hands. The girl tossed her arm out, conjuring a magical disc of her own. The blue disc was thin, and evidently, extremely sharp, as they sliced right through the Fusion Charmcaster to sever fingers and limbs.

Spidermonkey grabbed Roxie from behind, making her yelp as he swung her closer to Alice. Gwen, Juniper, Suzy, and Junior followed behind them, giving space for the large Fusion Charmcaster to crumble down upon. She groaned horridly as the pieces of her body began to melt, forming a sizable puddle of Fusion Matter in front of the Totem.

Heavy breathing escaped each member of the team, except for Them who hovered above. Alice's glow subdued, falling into Suzy and Junior's arms in a daze.

"Now those are awesome superpowers." Nergal Junior chuckled, helping Alice stand. His friends laughed with him.

"This team just got so much cooler!" Suzy cheered.

"Yeah," Alice stood on her own, still slightly dazed from her display of power. Roxie quickly approached to hug her, yet again.

"I'm so sorry!"

"Roxs…" Alice accepted the hug. "Don't… Don't do that!"

"I know." Roxie sobbed.

"What if that didn't work!?" Alice started to tear up as well.

"I know…!" Roxie sighed.

"She sure does put herself in danger a lot, heh!" Spidermonkey snickered. Gwen shushed him.

"But, Alice!" Roxie pulled back, holding Alice by the shoulders and looking at her with a teary smile. "You used your powers!"

"Yeah…" Alice looked at her bare palms. "That still wasn't fair of you to do…" She pulled back, pulling Roxie back into the hug. "You're lucky I can't stay mad at you."

"Those powers were a lot like yours, Gwendolyn." Juniper piped up. "I think a proper training session is in order after this!"

"That sounds like a great idea to me." Gwen smiled, looking at Alice as the millionth cousin hug broke.

"Might've been a good idea before this too…" Junior shrugged.

"I'd appreciate that." Alice nodded, playfully pushing Roxie. "It'd really suck to have to think of Roxie in danger anytime I want to do something cool."

"I'm soooo sorry." Roxie pleaded again. A chorus of laughter from the two was silenced by Them.

"Young Spacebyte." they hummed. "The Book?"

Alice looked at Roxie, who blinked. She looked off at the pile of Fusion Matter in front of the Totem. The Book of Prophecy laid on the sand at the foot of the Totem, laying open with the spine facing skyward. Despite the proximity, neither the Book nor Totem glowed with any indication of power. The full group's attention drew towards the Book, then to the Fusion Matter puddle.

Usually, puddles of Fusion Matter weren't too much of an issue. In the urban areas, they dissolved quickly, and never posed more of a threat besides a minor roadblock. This one, however, started to furiously bubble, popping as if it was boiling. The group reared back, watching a clawed hand similar to Fusion Charmcaster's erupt from the puddle to snatch the Book!

Them grunted, instinctively releasing a flamethrower from their hands down at the puddle. Gwen and Juniper also were quick to react, dashing forward and leaping over the puddle. Though, by the time the girls landed by the Totem, the Book was already in the grasp of a new figure rising from the goop.

"Is that…?" Suzy blinked several times. Junior's cheeks swelled as if he was on the verge of hurling.

This Fusion wasn't quite as tall as the Fusion Charmcaster, but still stood at an impressive height, gaining a good foot over even the teenagers' heights. Another feminine figure, outfitted in a deep blue dress torn to shreds at the end, shoulders covered with a black shrug. Its equally dark blue hair flipped around wildly, moving in bunches like tentacles as the beast swiveled around to reveal its green face. Alice and Roxie stood, mouths agape.

Roxie had no clue what to think when she faced the Fusion of the Samurai. She had never met the original Samurai before, but the copy was still unsettling. Fighting the Fusion Professor Plutonium was the first time she was truly face to face with a Fusion copy of someone she knew, and that fight alone already made her uneasy. But this? This Fusion copy of her own cousin, Alice? This was disgusting, making her stomach twist.

The Fusion Alice glared onward, gripping the Book of Prophecy in both claws by each cover. A disembodied growl hummed out. Them prepared another flame ball to throw, but it wouldn't connect in time to stop Fusion Alice from ripping the Book of Prophecy in two, severing it at the spine. A burst of energy expelled from the destroyed Book before the pieces burned up in her Fusion Matter hands,

Gwen and Juniper paused in shock as Them's flamethrower blasted into Fusion Alice. That Book that had become a symbol of their quest together, gone in just an instant.

"Gwendolyn…" Juniper muttered.
"We…" Gwen shook her head, taking Juniper by the hand. "We have to defeat this Fusion, and protect the Totem."

"Right." Juniper nodded. "It's not over yet."

Juniper locked onto the Fusion Alice, gesturing for her to come at her but dashing forward before it would have time to do so. The Fusion kept its sight on Alice for a moment, but swiveled to meet Juniper's fist against her chest. Like the Fusion Charmcaster, this Fusion stayed stoic against the Te Xuan Ze's force. Gwen went to toss her mana discs, but they'd be deflected by Fusion Alice's own magical shield.

The acid green energy barrier erupted from Fusion Alice's core, pushing against Juniper and knocking her to the ground to shove her along the sand. Gwen gulped at the thought. A Fusion using magic? Fusion Alice's shield dropped, and she sent a blast of magical Fusion energy rocketing at Gwen. She threw up her own pink mana shield, but it held for just a moment before shattering and crashing into Gwen.

Spidermonkey lept to Gwen's aid, leaving Roxie still standing stunned next to Alice and her friends. Suzy and Junior wore expressions of confusion, but Alice stood frozen. She, too, had seen her fair share of Fusions in her quests, but each seemed to be a copy of someone with far more importance than her. She couldn't shake the thought of… "Why?"

"Ok, well…!" Suzy broke the silence, striking her boat oar forward. "This is ok! It's just another Fusion to take down."

"A Fusion of our best friend!" Junior's shock seemed to teeter towards anger. "That is not ok, Suzy!"

"No, you're right." The ginger lowered her oar, gesturing off towards Fusion Alice collide with Spidermonkey. "All the more reason to stop this! Right, Alice?"

Her friends looked to her from either side, but Alice still stood frozen. She blinked her eyes, pupils beginning to glow.

"This is… Unacceptable!" Alice stomped her foot. "... We can't fail this mission."

"No.' Roxie aimed her pistols. "We have to stop that Fusion, together."

"I'm not going to let you disrupt us anymore!" Alice cried out.

A burst of energy shot from Alice again, her hair and body glowing once more. Heroically at her sides, Suzy readied her oar and Junior flared his tentacles. Roxie pointed her spiderlegs, striking a pose with the kids.

"Tell us what to do, cuz."

"Keep her from the Totem." Alice said. "She's a copy of me, so maybe her magic isn't that great either. But I am nothing like her."

Alice held up both hands, a surging wave of blue energy shooting out at her Fusion copy. While Gwen had pulled Juniper to safety, Them and Spidermonkey were getting pummeled towards the Totem. Alice's attack struck her copy in the back, turning her attention back to the kids.

The four of them rushed at Fusion Alice. She thrashed at them, being sliced by Roxie's bullets and stray mana discs from Alice, albeit not as sharp as the ones used to cut the previous Fusion. Alice and Roxie slid to a stop as Junior and Suzy got up and personal with the Fusion. Alice readied her hands again, this time giving Junior a personal shield as he struck the Fusion Alice with his tentacles. Suzy used the opportunity to strike at the Fusion as well, using the handle of the oar as a spear again to stab into the Fusion's chest.

Fusion Alice gave a mouthless groan of pain, expelling another blast of energy to send Junior and Suzy flying back. The two remained on their feet, pushed a distance from the Fusion. Suzy's oar was still lodged in the monster's body. Roxie ran up to Suzy and Junior's side, shooting four spiderwebs at Fusion Alice's face. Another disembodied groan echoed out, her claws reaching to tug on the webs. They ripped away, but not as easily as when Fusion Charmcaster did so. Fusion Alice's right eye was freed, and it glared harrowingly at Alice in the distance.

A second blast of webs wrapped around Fusion Alice from behind, shot from Spidermonkey standing on top of the Totem with one hand. Above him, Them flew through the air with their fists engulfed in flames again. They blinked away from existence, reappearing closer to the Fusion to deliver a sharp blow.

The Fusion's tentacle-like hair whipped to and fro, knocking Them away and signaling a frenzy from the monster. Balls of the Fusion's magical energy welled up in her hands, and seemingly also from the tips of her hair. Gwen threw a shield over Spidermonkey, while Alice covered Roxie, Suzy, and Junior with a bubble; just in time for Fusion Alice to fling her magical motes in all directions. One smashed into Alice's shield, another just missed Gwen and Juniper. A third from the Fusion's hair rocked right into the top of the Totem

"No!" Them's voices yelled over each other.

The bubble surrounding Suzy, Junior, and Roxie faded, then Alice lobbed magical discs at her Fusion.

"That's enough!" Alice cried out. As she stepped forward, she seemed to lift into the air. Eventually the girl grew to a full flight, rocketing at the Fusion. She covered her hands with tiny blue bubbles, then started to hit the Fusion in her face.

"Talk about double trouble!" Spidermonkey quipped, leaping from the Totem towards Fusion Alice. He reached out, latching onto the bundles of her hair flailing like tentacles. His six opposable hands held tight onto all of them, giving Fusion Alice a makeshift ponytail. Spidermonkey fell to the ground, tugging on the hair to arch the Fusion back and pull her down. "Take her down!"

The entire group all acknowledged each other. Even if the Book was destroyed, the Fusion still had to be stopped.

Spidermonkey used his impressive strength to keep Fusion Alice arched down. Juniper Lee joined the group, giving a hard kick to the Fusion's leg. Them ripped down from the other side, latching onto her wrist and pulling her claw down. Gwen joined Alice in the air, waving her hands to form a magical cuff around the Fusion's other arm, fully pinning her down. Roxie, Suzy, and Junior ran up to join, with Suzy grabbing hold of her oar to rip it free.

Juniper's blows now combined with Junior and Suzy striking the other leg made Fusion Alice fully crumple. Roxie shook off the unnerving groan the Fusion copy of her cousin released, fighting through this feeling of unease to fire her pistols. From above Alice readied one final attack, aiming her hands and firing a blast of energy down at her copy. Destroy ancient relics? Taking the face of innocent people? Subjecting a planet to danger? Something like that is not what the Kelt stood for. Not what Alice stands for.

A brief wave of panic washed over Alice as her flight wavered, lowering to the ground. Fusion Alice still cried, but had begun to melt back into the puddle she spawned from. An eerie haze hung above the desert. Most Fusions dissolved into mush rapidly, even Fusion Charmcaster did. Fusion Alice took a prolonged and pained time to dissipate. They had no choice, of course. A Fusion is a Fusion, no matter how upsetting the guise might be. Relief soon overtook her panic, relaxing her as the full group came to her side.

"... The Book!" Alice cried out. She looked to the puddle of Fusion Matter. No such book sat there, but Alice's shrug was now laying in the middle of the puddle.

The puddle began to bubble up again, but this time into tiny bright balls that began to shoot out towards Alice! The NanoCom in her pocket seemed to gravitate towards the incoming Fusion Matter, absorbing it… and her shrug! Another wave of shock smacked Roxie in the face as yet another unthinkable sight came to life in front of her.

Alice's NanoCom flashed to reveal a tiny, chibi version of Alice! The Nano was a spitting image of Roxie's cousin, except Nano Alice wore a little white shrug that Alice no longer had. Roxie and Alice were speechless as they watched the tiny Nano float around. She seemed to mimic Alice's personality, acting shy and looking away from the group. The sound of Ben's Omnitrix beeping broke the air, reverting the Arachnichimp back to Ben.

"Would you look at that!" Ben grinned as soon as he took back his original form. "Getting a Nano is tough work, but a Nano of yourself? That's pretty cool!"

"Omigosh!" Suzy almost exploded. "Alice, Junior, this is, like, the best mission ever. Can you believe it!?"

"No." Alice said, stunned. "Not really."

"I mean, Nanos are made with personal items." Junior shrugged. "Must be how Fusions are made too. It would explain… Ya know." He gestured upwards at Nano Alice.

"This is so weird." Roxie said. Slowly, she started to smile. "She's pretty cute though… Hey, little Alice!"

"Hello there…!" Nano Alice squeaked in a pitched version of Alice's own. Alice cringed a tad.

"It is pretty weird." she laughed. "I'm Alice, it's nice to meet you, Nano-Me!"

"Oh!" Nano Alice seemed hesitant, but she floated up to Alice's face. The two shared a small giggle, then hugged warmly. "I'll do my best for you, promise!"

"Don't worry, I know you will." Alice smiled.

Another silence fell upon the group as they watched Them float over to the Totem. Despite the tip being chipped by Fusion Alice, it remained intact, and shined blue as the demon approached. The demon laid their claw against the stone, expecting to see the light fade to orange and signal activation. Them had activated the Totems on their own before, so it only made sense that the demon grew frustrated as the Totem's color failed to change.

"I'm sorry about the Book." Alice said, approaching Them with Gwen, Juniper, and her Nano.

"It's just a book…" one of Them's voices sighed, still looking at the Totem.

"Them…" Gwen muttered lightly. Her body finally dropped the Lucky Girl appearance as she reached out to touch the demon's shoulder. "I know the Book held a lot of personal memories. We're so sorry we let it get destroyed."

"No…" Them's lower voice hummed. "It is nobody's fault… All is not lost."

"What do you mean?" Juniper asked.

"The Book held Keltic magicks…" Them continued, still running their hand along the stone. "As does Young Spacebyte."

Them's head unnaturally turned like an owl to look at Alice, their body swiveling to right itself a moment after their head. They drifted to the side, allowing Alice to approach. Alice looked to Gwen and Juniper at her sides, stepping up and taking in the sight of the ancient Hani-Baba Totem. Each foreign symbol etched into the side looked so unusual to her, and yet familiar as well.

Holding her hand to the Totem caused her whole person to start glowing once more, the color matching the blue glow Gwen and Juniper saw each Totem begin with. Energy flowed from her to the Totem, the glow fading slowly to a bright orange. Finally, our magical girls had activated all the Totems! Alice stepped back as the glow subsided, joining in an excited hug with Gwen and Juniper.

"An interesting development." Them smirked, watching the girls.

"Alice, thank you so much!" Juniper squeezed the young girl.

"You girls did all the hard work…" Alice smiled into the hug. "I should thank you for everything you did to get here. And you too, Them."

"With all the Totems activated, the Kelt's weapon should be activated… Right?" Gwen began to look around. Nothing seemed to be different, aside from Roxie, Ben, and the kids joining the group.

"Look." Them pointed a clawed finger. "To the jungle."

The group followed Them's aim, staring off towards the cliffs separating Nowhere from the forest. It was impossible for any of them to actually see the Hani-Baba ruins from here, though its relative location became evident as they watched a beam of orange colored energy erupt into the sky. Rumbles shocked the ground, which the group saw before they finally felt.

The Totem behind them was now shining with the orange light. Unbeknownst to them, each of the other Totems was doing the same, glowing with intensity just as the Hani-Baba Temple itself was, the origin point of this explosion of power. The huge beam of light painted the sky, blasting farther and farther… Roxie caught the exact moment the beam collided with Planet Fusion looming in the atmosphere. Despite the distance, all of them could see a heap of debris drifting off the planet with the beam's attack.

"... Is this it…?" Roxie muttered to herself.

Gwen and Juniper watched on in awe. After months of research and warding off Charmcaster, the Book of Prophecy was true all along. This was Earth's greatest weapon against the Fusions! Neither of them believed something like this would happen just from visiting a Kanker sister in the woods. Them had tears welling up in their eyes as they watched. Seeing this through arguably meant more for Them than the girls, a thousands year long promise fulfilled.

The sky seemed to fade into the same orange color of the beam, continuously blasting into the Planet Fusion and bathing the surface of Earth in a sunset-like light. Ever since the invasion, Planet Fusion sat in the sky like a picture. Unmoving for months. This was the first time anything had ever disrupted the static image, tearing into the planet. After a moment, the group saw the Hani-Baba's beam tear through the other side of the planet.

Ben pumped his fist into the air, wrapping an arm around Roxie. "Heck yeah!"

"This is insane, guys!" Suzy squeezed onto Junior and Alice's hands, gawking upwards. "Little Suzy, Savior of the Planet…!"

"I can't believe we really did it…" Gwen smiled, holding Juniper close.

The beam of the temple flickered away, continuing off into space to leave a through hole in the center of Planet Fusion, visible even from the Earth's surface. Another cheer of congratulations rung out from the group as the sky's color faded back to blue… And then quickly to green.

Roxie didn't even care that Ben was hugging her, but she quickly shoved him off as the sky's dark green color seemed to paint the day with night. She squinted as she looked up to Planet Fusion, noticing the open wound seemingly stitching back together. A rumble of thunder echoed over the desert. The ground shivered with a small quake, dropping the air to complete silence.

Their celebratory mood was killed as streams of green globs rained from the alien planet. It would be one thing if it was just debris falling off, but these globs rocketed down with force, like calculated shots. Wherever they fell must've been miles and miles away from Nowhere, yet the ground shook as if they landed right on top of them.

"Something's not right." Them sneered.

"Ya' think!?" Roxie said, eyes glued to the terrifying sight. She finally strayed after seeing Alice run.

"Courage, and Muriel, Eustace!" she cried. "We have to make sure they're ok!"

Suzy and Junior tailed her without question, kicking Roxie into gear. She's right. All of these sudden quakes could be causing damage. Ben already had his NanoCom out, typing away at it as the group retreated back to the Bagge home.

Muriel and Eustace were standing on the porch as the group returned, both staring up into the sky as they held each other. While Courage couldn't be seen, he could definitely be heard freaking out from inside the house. Roxie and Alice immediately ran to Muriel and Eustace's arms.

"We're so sorry!" Roxie cried out as she hugged her grandparents. "We didn't mean to!"

"Yeah, this wasn't supposed to happen." Alice sniffled. Eustace patted Alice's back.

"Whadaya-?" he murmured.

"Girls, girls." Muriel held them close. "Come, now, let's get to the cellar."

"We've got to get to where that damage is happening." Juniper said from the bottom of the porch.

The family hug loosened, letting Roxie wiggle out to the stairs. "I'm coming with you."

"Huh?" Eustace grumbled again.

"No, it's ok." Alice patted her uncle's arm. "She's fought in big battles before, it's ok."

"We've got an open seat in the car." Gwen nodded.

"I'm not sure what's happening, but I should stay here. Protect the house." Alice said to Roxie, who nodded back to her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it'll be alright." Alice looked back to Muriel and Eustace.

"We're with you." Suzy said, coming up the porch steps with Junior.

"Roxanne, my dearie." Muriel said. "Please, be safe… Let your mother know… Oh, I just worry about you two."

"It's ok, I will." Roxie nodded. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Roxie." Alice smiled. "Go, find out what's happening. Team Super Stars has Nowhere under control."

The two hugged again. Muriel and Eustace retreated inside as Alice, Suzy, and Junior readied themselves on the porch. The sound of wandering Fusions grew, probably in reaction to their planet's disturbance. Roxie joined Gwen and Juniper in Kevin's car, Ben already seated in the back. His NanoCom displayed an image of the boy-genius, Dexter.

"It's simply unprecedented." his voice came through the speaker. "We haven't seen an attack on this scale since Forsaken Vall- No! Since the invasion! And that burst of energy from the Wilds…! My sensors have overloaded!"

"Well, Dex, the funny thing is-" Ben forced a laugh as Roxie joined him in the backseat. With everyone in the car, Gwen drove off, pumping her foot onto the gas pedal.

"What?" Dexter's voice snarled. "Does this have something to do with you, Tennyson!?"

"Not exactly me…" Ben sighed. "I think it'd be better if Gwen explained it."

"Gwendolyn." Juniper corrected from the passenger's seat.

"Dear Glob…" Dexter's voice sighed. "It will have to be the abridged version. We need all our forces out to the Darklands, ASAP."

---

Meanwhile...

The Townsville Suburbs were lucky to not see a huge Fusion population in the area, especially down Wilson Way. Fusions still creeped down the streets, but seemed to avoid Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. This was great news for all the friends who lived within the mazed halls of the foster home, and had even made the Foster's lawn a popular spot for war volunteers to hang out.

Thanks to the lack of Fusions, the lawn also made a great spot for recent get-togethers. Foster's usually held monthly open houses, inviting citizens to visit and get to know Imaginary Friends, potentially getting these friends a brand new home. The invasion put this event on hiatus, like many others, but after three months, it was time to try and get some friends adopted again.

Despite Mr. Herriman, Madame Foster's own Imaginary Friend, doing all the meticulous planning for these events, he always made Frankie Foster take care of actually setting up and running them. And of course, Miss Francis could never quite live up to the rabbit's expectations. Or maybe he was doing this on purpose to torture her, because sometimes it sure felt like it.

Frankie had spent all morning decorating the foyer and the front lawn basically all by herself. Mr. Herriman came to snoop on her twice, but luckily didn't call her off to take care of another task. Her grandmother offered to help, then completely left the house! The only other friend she saw that morning was Cheese, and well… Poor little guy would just give Frankie more of a headache if he helped. She gave him the usual, "Go home, Cheese," but he remained loitering about.

She stood on the Foster's porch, one of the two large front doors propped open as the woman sweep a broom off towards the steps. At the foot of the steps, the yellow and bulbous Cheese sat playing with a feather attached to a string. Despite Planet Fusion's looming presence, the sky was clear and the sun was shining.

The sound of a pop reverberated down Wilson Way, Frankie immediately noticing it as one of the annoying sounds Jasper Leeblossom's car always made. He wasn't exactly a "car guy" before the invasion, but ever since then, he's taken up an interest in upgrading his vehicle with lots of power and protection. Even now, it was outfitted in metal sheets and spikes as it pulled up to Foster's Home.

Bloo and Coco, two of the home's residents, peaked their heads out the door at the sound of Jasper's engine. Frankie laid her broom against the door, looking down at Bloo.

"Watch your little brother for a moment." she said. "And I mean it, don't take your eyes off him."

"Ugh!" the tiny blue blob groaned. "He's not my brother! He doesn't even live here!"

"Coco." Coco added.

"Thank you, Coco." Frankie sneered. "Glad one of you can act responsible for once."

The sounds of car doors opening and shutting banged, Jasper stepping out of his car and waving to his girlfriend. From the passenger's seat, his mother, Diana, got out. Frankie walked down the steps to meet them halfway. She slowed on approach, noticing the family still in the midst of a conversation.

"Listen, I'm sure she's alright." Jasper said as he closed the driver's side door. His mother let a heavy sigh escape.

"I just wish she would talk to me." Diana frowned. "I understand giving her space, I was a teenage girl once myself… Oh, Jas…" The woman trailed off, nodding her head forward in gesture to Frankie's approach.

"Oop, hey! We're here to help." Jasper smiled, turning and greeting Frankie with a hug.

"Oh, thank goodness." Frankie sighed. "I've been setting up alone all day."

"Jasper said you could use some extra hands?" Diana said softly. Frankie nodded in response.

"Of course, I appreciate any and all help." The ginger haired woman turned to lead them in. "We should be starting soon, but there's still plenty you two can do to help-"

"Miss Francis!" Mr. Herriman's voice battered into Frankie's ears, despite the rabbit being deep inside. "Miss Franics, why is the door to the foyer sitting ajar? My, the cost of our air conditioning bill will be quite steep! No, this is not correct!"

:"Glob…" Frankie groaned. "I'M COMING!"

The woman stomped off to the door, closing it behind her after walking inside. A muffled yell was blocked by the shut doors, but her response to Mr. Herriman was probably better left unheard. Diana could only chuckle at the situation.

"You didn't have to come, Mom." Jasper chuckled as well. "It's, kind of, always like this with her, but I got used to it."

"I wonder why." his mother smirked. "It's alright, I'd love to help. All this time, you and Roxie have been out of the house, participating in the world. I might be going a bit stir crazy in that home alone."

"Well, I also appreciate the help."Jasper smiled. "I asked Roxie to come, but she made it seem like her and Alice had important plans." The man shrugged lightly.

"Oh, good." Diana caught herself relaxing at the words. "She's with Alice. She left home this morning before I got the chance to speak to her.""

It was hard to be a mother, but Diana felt that parenting a teenage girl with super-abilities was a whole other challenge. Pile all that grief Roxie has experienced lately and… All Diana wanted is a nice, easy life for her children, but making sure that could happen always seemed to be just out of her control.

Perhaps Roxie really did need space after her friends perished in the invasion, so Diana gave her all the space she needed. But after the Mitch incident… When is it the right time for a parent to step in? What was she even to do once stepping in? Maybe all that space led to the distance Roxie seemed to be putting between them, knowingly or not.

Her daughter had left the home before DIana could even say good morning earlier, so it was reassuring to at least know she's off with family. At the very least, Diana knew Roxie was never really alone out there.

"Seems like Alice has something she wanted to tell us too." Jasper continued.

"We'll have to invite everyone over, get them out of Nowhere." Diana smiled. "I could cook a nice meal for everybody, relax like the holidays. Frankie is, of course, invited."

"If we can wrangle her away from this place for an evening, maybe."

"You know, I could even invite some of Roxie's new friends she's made." Diana thought back to listening to Roxie tell her stories of fighting Fusions alongside friends Amp, Alan, and Heather. "Do you think that'd be alright?"

"Of course it would be." Jasper seemed shocked his mother would even ask permission.

"I just don't want to overstep with Roxie." His mother pouted a bit.

"Her friends are all good kids, even if I haven't met them."

"Yes…" Diana trailed off. "Oh, love, I'm sorry. You don't need to see me worry like this."

"Mom…" Jasper sighed. "You can be upfront about it. I'm also worried about Roxs. But, like, you know… She has all those good friends to take care of her. Plus, I still get pretty overprotective myself."

"You know, Jasper, you can always come to me if you have problems too." Diana reached over to pinch her son's cheek. He may be taller than her now, but he was still her little boy.

"Yeah, I know, Mom." he grinned, letting her pinch happen.

An exaggerated sigh drew the Leeblossoms' attention towards the steps of the porch, where Bloo slouched with his face buried against his hands. Coco stood stoically at the top of the steps, though her back was turned so she faced the house. Cheese's feather on a string laid on the ground, but Cheese himself had vanished.

"What's up, little man?" Jasper asked, looking down to Bloo. He grew to know the friend after volunteering at the foster home, but his antics didn't bother him as much as they did Frankie.

"I'm bore-ed-uh!" Bloo spat. "Where the heck is Mac at!? I need something to do."

"Coco, coco." the bird friend squaked, still facing the house.

"I know I'm watching Cheese," Bloo rolled his eyes. "I meant something fun!"

"Cheese…?" Jasper blinked, looking around. Dealing with that friend's mysterious antics had also been a challenge for him during volunteering. "Where is he?"

"Right ther-" Bloo gestured to where his toy sat, but paused as he didn't see him. "Well… I don't know. Probably around here somewhere."

"Coco coco, coco coco coco." Coco seemed to snicker as she used a wing to open the front door.

"I won't get in trouble." Bloo stuck his tongue out, standing up. "I'll go find the little freak."

"Need some help?" Diana asked the friend.

"Careful with him." Jasper warned. "And you be nice to her." He directed his gaze down to Bloo, "That's my mother, kid, so you better respect her."

"Yeah, yeah." Bloo's arms flailed out from his sides. "Just keep an eye out for a little yellow baby-child. He's probably trying to cross the street without looking both ways."

"Oh, dear…" Diana seemed to rush forward towards the street in a panic.

As Coco entered, Frankie came back outside, grabbing her broom and closing the door behind her. She grumbled wickedly to herself as she stomped down the steps to join Jasper, almost not noticing he was standing all alone. Her eyes blinked in shock, watching as Diana and Bloo rushed to the street.

"Ah, Cheese!?" she exclaimed. "Is he crossing the street without looking both ways again!?"

"Again?" Jasper shrugged.

"Agh, where did he go!?" the woman frantically passed over to grab Cheese's abandoned toy.

"I gather Bloo was meant to keep an eye on him?"

"This is my own fault." Frankie groaned. "I should've called Lousie, or taken him inside."

"Hey, hey, don't freak out." Jasper grabbed Frankie by the shoulders gently. "We'll find him."

"I know we will…" Frankie sighed. "It's just going to be such a headache to do so… It always is."

"You were only inside for a few minutes," Jasper patted her shoulders. "He couldn't have wandered far."

"Jasper, this is Cheese we're talking about!" Frankie exclaimed loudly again. "Somehow, he could be halfway to Timbuktu by now!"

"Ok, so we should spread out and search the neighborhood. Call his creator, make sure he didn't just run home to her."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Frankie sighed and pulled out her own NanoCom.

Diana and Bloo walked the length of Wilson Way, returning with no luck. Frankie and Jasper scoured the Foster's grounds, also proving fruitless. Cheese's owner, Lousie, didn't answer Frankie, but she left a voicemail and continued to search around the block until the Adopt-a-Friend event opened to the public.

Frankie was just about to put her search on hold for Mr. Herriman, who loudly instructed her to begin helping the citizens arriving to attend the event, including Bloo's creator, Mac. Diana was going to stay and help out Frankie while Jasper took Bloo and Mac to continue looking for Cheese, but Frankie received an unknown call.

"Wait." the woman said, causing Jasper to pause before getting in his car. "Do you recognize this number?"

"I don't think so…?" Jasper shrugged, looking at her NanoCom screen.

"Hello?" Frankie questioned the device after the call opened to display Dexter's video feed.

"Francis Foster, I presume?" the boy asked from the other end.

"Yes." Frankie raised a brow as Jasper tilted into her video's feed. "Aren't you the DexLabs kid?"

"I am." Dexter's reply had a hint of annoyance laced in it. "I apologize for calling like this, but I believe you're missing a small, yellow, Imaginary Friend."

"What!?" The woman was gobsmacked. "Cheese!?"

The distinct sound of Cheese clearing his throat and screeching buzzed through Frankie's NanoCom, and drew Mac, Bloo, and Diana to her side. A disgruntled Dexter let out an exaggerated sigh, panning his camera feed to show Cheese encased in a glass box within a laboratory. Despite the annoying screeches, he didn't seem too bothered.

"How did Cheese get all the way to Tech Square that fast?" Jasper blinked.

"Ugh, I told you." Frankie's voice said relief, but the vein popping out of her forehead begged to differ. "You take your eyes off him for a second and he just disappears!"

"I am also quite intrigued on how the little one managed to get inside highly secured, restricted areas." Dexter groaned, panning the camera back to his face. "And I'm not in Tech Square."

"Are you fu-" Frankie cut herself off. "Ok, ok, that's fine. Where are you?"

"I am aboard my company aircraft carrier over the northern sea." the genius replied. After typing on his end, an image of a map displayed on Frankie's NanoCom, showing Dexter's location to the north. "Which is why I further question why this Imaginary Friend is even here to begin with!"

"He sure is impressive making it that far in so little time." Diana piped up from behind.

"I've contained him to keep him from touching everything in his sight." Dexter continued. "But I would very much like to return him. As soon as possible."

"His owner lives downtown." Frankie sighed. "Can't you, like, drop him off?"

"Unfortunately, I was in the middle of an important meeting, one this…" Dexter grimaced as he glanced at Cheese off screen. "One this friend nearly ruined."

"It's alright." Jasper spoke up. "We can pick him up."

"From an airship?" Frankie gasped.

"From an airship!" Bloo, who seemed to tune out most of the conversation, had suddenly locked in. "Yes, please, Sir Dexter, we would like to ride the airship!"

"Ah." Dexter darted his eyes to look at Jasper's face on Frankie's feed. "The wiser Leeblossom. I will allow you to collect the friend. Better than your nuisance of a sistor."

Jasper grimaced, but Diana spoke for the both of them, stepping into frame behind Frankie.

"Oh, my daughter?" she questioned with crossed arms.

"Ehh…" The boy genius stuttered lightly. The silence on his end began to be droned out by Cheese singing a nursery rhyme incorrectly off screen.

"Is this really a good idea?" Frankie cut the tension, and glanced back at Mr. Herriman as he greeted a couple at the doors.

"C'mon." Jasper smirked to her. "Quick little trip to an airship would get you away from…" He mimicked bunny ears by holding his fingers above his head. Frankie's shoulders drooped as she conceded.

"I care for him too much for someone who doesn't even live here." she sighed.

"I'll arrange a transport for you from Mount Blackhead." Dexter's voice buzzed. Another screech from Cheese followed. "And I implore you to make haste."

The scientist let one final deep exhale loose before he cut the call. As the call ended, Bloo was already preparing to climb into Jasper's backseat.

"Ok, if I must!" Bloo cheered. "Let's go rescue Cheese."

"You are not coming." Frankie growled as she shoved her NanoCom away in her jacket.

"Awh, Fraaaaankieeeee, c'mon!" Bloo cried. He looked at Jasper who shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't mind." he said, painting Frankie's face with a deeper scowl. "It's just a quick trip, babe."

"I'll keep a leash on him, if you want me to!" Mac spoke up, seemingly now excited that Jasper mentioned it.

"Bloo, I swear to Glob, you better not do anything stupid or I will kill you." Frankie relented, moving to get into the car.

"I think she really means it this time." Mac whispered to Bloo, as if warning him to behave himself.

"Should I stay and help here?" Diana asked as Frankie walked to the passenger side. The ginger paused, looking back at the house, then to Mac and Bloo clambering into the backseat.

"The more eyes on Bloo, and Cheese for that matter, the better." Frankie sighed, stepping to offer the passenger's seat to Diana. Everyone piled into Jasper's car, Bloo squished between Mac and Franke in the back.

"Well, honestly, I'm quite excited." Diana smiled, clicking her seatbelt in. "I'd like to meet that little Dexter kid… And I've never been to any of these new fancy outposts before!"

"Yeah?" Jasper chuckled, his car beginning to rev. "Think you'll pick up a weapon after seeing all fo it?"

"I just might!" Diana laughed, winking at him.

The mother and son duo giggled some more as Jasper's car pulled away from Foster's, driving off the pavement and onto a dirt path feeding into the woods. It might be a little bit of a bumpy ride, but the group would make it to Mount Blackhead in no time by car. Though, unbeknownst to them, a prying eye loomed over them.

Only an outline of an invisible figure lurked from the roof of Foster's, a feminine cackle escaped as her person faded into existence. Soft-skinned wrapped tight in her sultry white toga-dress, Eris the Goddess of Chaos snickered as she watched Jasper's car drive away.

"Oh, oh!" she laughed. "Don't run off now, boys and girls! The fun is just beginning!"

"Fun?" a two-toned voice replied, coming from the lobster clawed demon, Him, materializing next to her. "Pray tell, Goddessssss. What ssshall you entertain me with today, hmmm?"

"Him, baby!" Eris laughed, wrapping arm around him. "Have I ever let you down before?"

"Indeed." Him sang in reply. "Why, you never returned my Jazzercise DVD, and I haven't forgotten about your blunder in Las Vegasssss." Him's voice growled low.

"So you lost a couple thousand taros?" The Goddess lazily waved her hand at the demon. "Like our kind really needs money. Just trust Mommy's process, love."

"I'm not calling you that." Him grunted. The spark of silence that followed from Eris satiated Him. "Tell me, please, what doessss the Imaginary Friend have to do with your fun?"

"Must I even answer that pitiful question." Eris grew a wicked smirk stretching cheek to cheek. "The natural balance of life, my dear! Harmony can't exist without me."

A strained sigh lulled from Him's teeth. The demon lazed, covering his mouth with a claw to yawn. "The chaossss is certainly off the charts here." He kept his voice guttural and deep.

"Awh, what's wrong?" Eris pouted her lips, batting her eyes at the demon. "All those years of living didn't teach you some patience? You must know that true chaos needs the right amount of time in the oven to really… Pop!"

The Goddess snapped her fingers, pointing her right hand in the direction of the jungle. As if on cue, the ground rumbled, drawing screams from the citizens and Imaginary Friends at the event down below. A brief moment of silence is cut by the sight of a large orange energy beam reaching out of the wilds at massive speed, painting the sky orange and cutting directly up into the looming Planet Fusion. Him's eyes grew wide as Eris cackled.

"That power…" Him murmured. Eris was powerful, but this was magic Him knew she wasn't capable of. The Goddess snickered wildly, conjuring a pair of sunglasses to cover her eyes as she looked directly at the light.

"Marvelous!" she cooed, holding her arms around herself.

"Thissss is not your doing." Him murmured in reply, eyes also locked to the magical beam.

"Oh, honey." Eris pouted as her sunglasses vanished. The Goddess floated in the air around Him as she spoke. "Everything happens for a reason, yeah? Sometimes, Mommy just needs to give things a little push."

"Hmmm?" Him's eyes narrowed onto the blonde. "Issss that why you-?"

"We don't want to miss our front row seats, love!" Eris grabbed ahold of Him's claw, causing him to vanish with her as she faded into the shadows.

---

The sway of the sea splashed below the DexLabs Airship Carrier, the crash of the waves roaring over the metallic hums emitting from the floating carrier. On the large deck sat several robotic machines, all colored in Dexter's preferred blue. Several Dexbots rolled about the deck, tending to the machines and testing their mechanics. Most of them appeared to be weaponry, while several were outfitted in track wheels. Sticking out like a sore thumb among the DexLabs machinery sat Sector V's H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P., a large 2x4 robotic hare.

The K.N.D. vehicle sat motionless with none of the Dexbots paying it much mind. It's head sat flipped open, revealing a comfy pilot's chair surrounded by Rainbow Monkey plushies of all colors. Numbuh Four sat on the cushioned, pink seat, tapping at the screen in front of him. Kuki Sanban sat nearby, peering off the edge of the carrier as she sat kicking her feet off the side. The usually chipper K.N.D. operative sat pensively, her face sagging.

With her hands buried in her sleeves, Numbuh Three stared blankly off into the distance, barely seeing Monkey Mountain on the far off shore to the south. She glanced up to the sky every few moments, noticing only Planet Fusion hanging above. At least the sky out here over the sea wasn't such a sickly green. She jumped a bit after a thud echoed behind her, the head of H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. slamming shut as Wally walked over. He plopped down, sitting next to her.

"Seen 'em?" he asked. The girl replied with a silent head shake, glancing back to the sky. "Wish we already got back in contact with the Moonbase so we wouldn't have to be slumming it out here."

"If they're even still up there." Numbuh Three sighed. Wally blinked, his hair falling to reveal his eyes as he looked to Kuki.

"What!? Don't say that, man!"

"Don't you think 362 would've escaped back home by now?" Numbuh Three lazily shrugged, her whole demeanor on the opposite end of the spectrum. "It's been, like, four months!"

"Dang, Kuki…" Numbuh Four slouched, looking up at the sky as well. "Pretty morbid to think like that."

"Ugh…" The girl buried her face in her sleeves. "I'm sorry, I-..." A sigh is deafened by her sleeves. "I'm so tired."

The kids sat quietly, Numbuh Four reaching his arm around to hug Numbuh Three from the side. Still silent, she leaned into him, staring back down to the sea. All operatives were overworked lately, but it seemed Kuki and Wally felt the brunt of it all.

A sliding metal door leading into the aircraft's interior hummed as it opened. It drew Numbuh Four's attention, but Kuki didn't budge. Nigel Uno stepped out onto the deck, trailed by a blond teenager taller than him. The teen looked stern, adorned in a red K.N.D.-issued armor set with the number 274 painted on the chest. He glanced over to Wally and Kuki, waving his hand.

"Attention operatives!" Nigel called out, finally drawing Kuki's attention.

"Numbuh One!" Wally seemed to jerk his arm away from Kuki as the two of them stood. His eyes narrowed before hiding under his bangs again. "Wait… Chad?"

The teen wearing the 274 nodded to them, paired with a chuckle "Long time no see."

"Yeeeeahhhh…." Numbuh Four looked Chad up and down.

Chad Dickson was visibly too old to be adorned in K.N.D. vestments regularly, and was better known to Sector V as former Soopreme Leader Numbuh 274, who had defected to the evil Teen Ninja's ranks after decommissioning. Along with Numbuh Five's sister, Cree, he had terrorized and jeopardized Sector V's plans for so long, until he revealed to them that he's a part of the Teens Next Door, a top-secret extension of the K.N.D. for its most outstanding operatives.

Despite their allegiances now openly aligning, it was no shock for both Numbuhs Three and Four to be weary of the teen standing before him. After all, even if he was working on their side the whole time, he threatened their lives and sector too many times to easily forgive. Plus, neither of them had even seen Chad since he revealed his true identity to the sector.

"What's he doing here?" Numbuh Three furrowed her brow as she asked, blinking at Chad.

"Dexter invited me." Chad replied. "Plus, I wanted to personally speak with the two of you."

"Us?" Numbuh Four audibly gulped, blinking as he looked at Kuki. Her scowl was maintained.

"About the video." Numbuh One glanced at his operatives, eyes peering over his sunglasses.

"Oh…" Numbuh Four muttered as if he knew the conversation would head here. "Listen, it's not our fault! That cruddy Numbuh Vine-!"

"Guys, it's cool." Chad waved his hands. "Nobody is in trouble. I just have some questions about… all of it."

"It's important we figure out why the Galactic Kids Next Door contacted Sector V." Numbuh One added.

"How should we know?" Wally threw his hands up.

"We didn't know the g:K.N.D. existed until that video." Numbuh Three spoke up.

"Yeah!" Wally tagged on. "And that alien turned into your girlfriend!" He pointed a finger at Numbuh One, who clammed up. "Don'tcha think you might have more to do with this?"

"I- uh…!" Nigel tripped over his own tongue. "We, uhrm, don't know for sure that Lizzie was the alien from your call…"

"Bullcrud!"

"Guys." Chad interrupted. "We don't need to infight over this…"

The three Sector V members grew silent, looking at Chad as he trailed off. The teen paused, drawing his gaze up to the sky. He scanned the teal landscape above him, growing a frown as his sight glossed over Planet Fusion. They watched as he balled his hand into a fist, shaking his head.

"The Galactic Kids Next Door are the ones who need to answer to us." His tone grew harsh, eyes flaring as he looked back at the kids. "Whatever happens, and whatever we learn, I need you guys to know…Do not trust the g:K.N.D."

Another beat of silence passed as the Sector V kids blinked at Chad, his whole demeanor burning with anger. Questions began flying through their heads at his remark. After all, all they really knew about the g:K.N.D. was that it was another secret K.N.D. group, and that they already knew about the Fusions due to the video they sent Kuki and Wally of a Fusion Spawn being attacked by an Imaginary Friend. While it seemed like a warning for them, could it have meant to be a more sinister omen?

The metal doors leading inside the aircraft hummed as they slid open again, allowing Dexter to step onto the deck with his assistant, Computress. Behind them, Rook Blonko of the Plumbers followed. The K.N.D. operatives all calmed at his arrival, joining him as the genius also began staring upward.

"My satellites are still experiencing issues." Dexter spoke, holding a hand flat over his glasses to shade his eyes as he scanned the sky. "By now, I doubt she's even able to enter our atmosphere."

"So we came all this way for nothing?" Wally pouted.

"It was a longshot." Dexter sighed, relaxing as his attention diverted to the group. "It was foolish of me to ask the Galactic Guardians to come here when that planet has destroyed any spacecraft coming or going."

"Plumber estimations say they should have arrived by now." Rook spoke, tapping on a NanoCom in his hands. "Unfortunately, the Plumber satellites have remained offline as well."

"No matter…" Dexter continued. "This discussion will need to be retooled… Prioritizing off-world communications may be vital to our survival."

"Great." Numbuh Three sighed. "We should've never watched that video!"

"No." Chad shook his head. "Whether we trust Numbuh Vine or not, that video had to be important."

"Yes… re:FUSE…." Dexter murmured, speaking the word displayed at the end of the cryptic message. "It must have a meaning, coupled with the Imaginary Friend present…"

A distant pop barely scratched their ears as they speculated the meaning of the g:K.N.D.'s message, drawing everyone's eyes back to the sky. Each of them had been checking to see if Galactic Guardian reinforcements were arriving, just as the young girl who interrupted Numbuhs Three and Four's video call with Numbuh Vine said months ago. All spacecraft were halted by Planet Fusion, no matter their trajectory. Until…

A flaming ball of metal rocketed down past Dexter's aircraft, plunging into the sea before with a massive splash. Another heap of metal fell past them on the opposite end. Several more, all of various shapes and sizes, followed suit, leaving trails of black smoke in the air. The group began to move towards the sliding door once one of the piles landed right on the deck's surface. While the Earthlings didn't notice anything, Rook would immediately see the Galactic Guardians' logo melting off the side of the metal hunk fallen to the deck.

It appeared like the Galactic Guardians did make it to Earth! Unfortunately, Planet Fusion got to them first, as only bits and chunks of the Galactic Guardians' fleet plunged into the Northern Sea. Though, one ship had managed to make it past Planet Fusion without completely falling apart! It's downward trajectory, on the other hand, visibly proved that whoever piloted the ship had lost control.

The metal door on Dexter's aircraft slid open for most of the group to file inside for safety, but Chad and Dexter remained by the door to watch the intact ship sail right at the aircraft's deck. Dexbots scattered, frantically moving equipment and comedically wailing their arms around.

Flames surrounded the Guardian's ship, coming to land right on the DexLabs Carrier's deck. The sudden burst of force sent the aircraft off balance, tipping the deck down and sending Chad off his feet. The Guardian ship slid up the slope it created as Chad slid down towards it. The hum of the carrier kicked into overdrive as it strained to regain balance, leveling out with the now decimated ship smoking on the deck.

Chad came to a stop near the ship as the carrier righted itself. He pulled himself to his feet, throwing his face into the joint of his arm to cough and block the smoke emitting from the ship. Several of Dexter's machines and artillery had been overturned, bashed in, or thrown overboard during the impact, and there was a noticeable lack of Dexbots still present on the deck. Dexter, Rook, and the Sector V kids rushed over.

Metal scraped against metal, shifting a pane on the destroyed ship and creating an opening on the top. The moved pane of metal creaked, eventually snapping off as the hull opened to let another plume of black smoke billow out. A small, yellow robot pulled itself from the opening, then turned to help a suited, green alien out.

"Quick, deploy the Rx units!" Dexter said to a nearby Dexbot. It rolled away, two other nearby Dexbots following.

The tiny alien and robot leaped down to the deck before a human girl in a pink uniform pulled herself from the ship. Her ginger colored ponytail was pulled astray, the binding keeping it tight now slouched to loosen her hair. She looked down at the group, looking to Numbuhs Three and Four in acknowledgment before turning back to help a similarly suited soldier out of the ship. Rook pocketed his NanoCom, jumping to aid the girl.

"She really made it!" Kuki exclaimed, the lull hanging over her lightening up.

"It's that Betty chick who stalked our call." Wally said to Numbuh One. "I kinda can't believe this either."

Rook helped the girl, Betty of the Galactic Guardians, pull six more outfitted soldiers from the ship before jumping down. The newly razzled Guardians shot their eyes about the area, quietly discussing the debris that had fallen around them. The girl had stepped over closer to the edge of the carrier, glancing off to see if any more ships had landed.

"Come in!" the girl called out into her gloved wrist. "This is Atomic Betty of Sector 1683, please respond!"

She waited for a response for a few moments, then repeated the same words. She repeated this twice more before she lowered her wrist in defeat. From behind, the group would only see her shoulders slightly jolt as she stifled back tears. When she walked back to the group, her face remained as stoic as it could be.

"Betty." Dexter nodded to her. She mirrored his nod.

"... Yes. Betty Barret of the Galactic Guardians Sector 1683." The small alien and robot joined her side. "These are my co-lieutenants Sparky and X-5." She dipped her head. "And I believe this is our fleet." She gestured outward to the other surviving soldiers.

"We are very sorry about the loss of your fleet." Rook solemnly said.

"Yes, I must personally apologize." Dexter sighed. "No spacecraft has left or come to Earth since the invasion."

"I appreciate that, but there's no need to apologize." Betty glanced up at Planet Fusion, her first time getting a good look of how it glared down at the Earth. "The Guardians needed to know about this, and now they do."

Three Dexbots wheeled up to the Guardians, each wearing an old school nurse's cap as they offered their aid to the potentially injured. Another trio of hatless Dexbots had surrounded the remains of Betty's ship, spraying it down with hoses and fire extinguishers deployed from their chests.

"I've been meaning to come home for a while now." Betty sighed. "Guess I didn't expect it to be like this."

"Uh, you kind of get used to it." Wally shrugged.

"Uhm, not really!" Kuki jabbed her elbow into Wally's side.

"Ah!" Betty turned to the operatives and smiled, at least the best she could. "I wish I was able to meet you two under better circumstances too."

"I'm glad you made it though." Numbuh Three nodded.

"Come." Dexter called out to the group. "Let us head inside to make sure you all aren't injured. Then, we must discuss the video."

The Rx unit Dexbots helped usher the remaining fleet into the aircraft's interior. The group followed, unsure of what to think of the sudden events that transpired. Wally murmured to Kuki, but otherwise a silence hung over them as they retreated inside. The remaining Dexbots continued to cleanse the deck and repair any broken machinery. With all the commotion, none of them even noticed the two streaks of blue and green light trailing away from the carrier.

Once inside, the sheer size of the laboratory could almost make you forget you were on an aircraft. It's almost as if Dexter copied and pasted the layout of his usual laboratory inside the carrier. Minor decor in the halls remained pristine, as if the aircraft didn't just nearly tip over. Doors lining the halls were labeled with various titles, notably a medical ward the Guardians were guided to. The K.N.D. operatives were led to a conference room with a vending machine next to the door.

A long table sat in the center of the room with a large screen plastered along the wall. The "re:FUSE" video Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four leaked to the internet was already playing on a loop. A girl wearing a red cap sat at the table with her feet kicked up, Sector V's Numbuh Five. A dark skinned teen with box braided hair, and appearing closer to Chad's age, sat next to her. A third, squirrely kid sulked in a seat a few spots away from them.

"Everything alright out there?" Numbuh Five asked, raising her cap to view her Sector enter the room.

"Did you not feel the whole friggin' aircraft topple over!?" Numbuh Four cried out. The girl lazily shrugged.

"Numbuh Five noticed a quake. Didn't last long."

"Let's just say things could be worse." Dexter retorted as he stomped into the room.

In the doorway behind him, Betty, Sparky, and X-5 waited. Betty's ponytail had been tightened, and Sparky wore a band-aid on his cheek. Computress had filed past them, gesturing her arms to lead them into the room. Chad and the rest of Sector V all took their seats.

"We've spoken briefly," Dexter said, the only one besides Computress who didn't take a seat. "And you've already met Numbuhs Three and Four."

"Again, I wish it was under better circumstances." Betty sighed as she nodded to the familiar operatives.

"Numbuh One there is the leader of their Sector in the Kids Next Door." Dexter introduced. "I've asked the K.N.D. to send some major personnel for this meeting."

"I'm Chad." the teen introduced himself. He reached an arm towards the teen he sat next to. "This is Maurice."

"We're both Teens Next Door operatives." the teen, Maurice, added.

"And Numbuh 74.239 over there is from their science department." Dexter gestured to the silent, squirrely kid in the room.

"H- Hey." The ginger haired operative squeaked before sulking back into his chair. Numbuh One watched him pensively.

"And finally, Magister Rook Blonko represents the Plumbers." Dexter nodded at Rook, who waved his purple fingers.

"I am glad to have the Galactic Guardians' help, in any capacity," Rook smiled.

"Well, the loss of the fleet should have immediately alerted H.Q." Betty sighed. "Plus the brief intel we gathered after intercepting the video call…" She looked at Kuki and Wally again. "Which, I do apologize for. I'm sure you can understand."

"That's kind of why I wanted the Guardians to come here." Dexter said. "The Galactic Kids Next Door provided that clip with no context."
"Unfortunately, the Galactic Kids Next Door is a separate entity from both the Teens and Kids Next Door. We have no clue what intent was behind it."

"It hasn't proven entirely useless, however." Dexter, still refusing to take a seat, walked over to the base of the screen on the wall, and stood before a tray lined with buttons. He tapped a few, the re:FUSE video being replaced with footage of volunteers fighting Fusions with their Nanos. "The video morbidly showed us that Imaginary Energy repels Fusion Matter, and is arguably one of the keys to successful Nano technology."

"Hmm…" Betty studied the candid clip. A boy in a top hat in the footage summoned his Nano Buttercup, causing the Fusion in front of him to halt in a daze. A girl with purple hair fired at the Fusion with a crossbow, then high-fived the boy before the clip swapped to another group of volunteers. "It seems like it should've just been a straight-forward message."

"Yeah…" Wally groaned. "Yah'd think!"

"I'm not convinced the Galactic Kids Next Door intended to help us." Dexter scowled.

"You shouldn't be." Chad shared his scowl, drawing the attention of the K.N.D. operatives.

"The g:K.N.D… They're not like us." Maurice grimaced. "The K.N.D. only fights against tyrannical adults and teenagers. The g:K.N.D. doesn't follow the same code."

"Plumber records do not have any information on the Galactic Kids Next Door." Rook said, tapping at his screen. "Granted, the Plumbers did not know about the Kids Next Door here on Earth either until recent events…"

"So what exactly are we implying here?" Dexter flipped his gaze back to the group.

"Well, the Galactic Guardians have had run-ins with the g:K.N.D. before." Sparky spoke up. Betty nodded with him in agreement. "There's kids from all around the galaxy apart of their ranks."

"Yes, and while it seems they have good intentions, their modes of operations are questionable at best."

While Sector V's operatives grew disheartened at the sound of this, both Chad and Maurice remained as they were. Chad even dipped his head in agreement with Betty. Off to the side, Numbuh 74.239 seemed more anxious than worried.

"A- Are you trying to say the Galactic Kids Next Door are the bad guys?" Numbuh 74.239 squeaked. He sank further into his seat as all eyes casted a spotlight on him.

"Yes." Chad and Maurice replied in tandem, very matter-of-factly.

"C'mon…" the nerdy operative sighed. "But they're Kids Next Door!"

"It's not as black and white like that." Betty sighed. "As far as the Guardians know, they're not outwardly evil. Malicious? Yes. Evil? I-..."

"The data I've gathered just from carrying out tests after seeing the video is helpful." Dexter rejoined the table, but simply leaned over it instead of sitting. "If the message was intended to be malicious, it has not turned out as such…"

"But?" Nigel noticed Dexter trailing off.

"But," Dexter pressed two gloved fingers to the bridge of his glasses, pushing them closer to his face. "It does mean the Galactic Kids Next Door knew of Planet Fusion before it got here. They've even potentially held them off, considering what we know of Fusion."

""That's what Lizzie-!" Numbuh Four broke off into a cough. "Uh, Numbuh Vine! That's what Numbuh Vine said to Betty!"

"Yeah!" Numbuh Three added. "She said they've been fighting the Fusions for a while!" Both her and Wally turned their attention to Numbuh One.

"Where's your cruddy little girlfriend, huh?"

"Lizzie broke up with me." Nigel grunted, sitting with his arms crossed. "I don't know where she's off to."

"You haven't tried to talk to her even once since we told you about the video?" Kuki asked.

"That girl's house is empty." Numbuh Five piped up, relieving Numbuh One. "We tried to go there, but her family moved."

"Uhm, hello!" Numbuh Four cried. "That's so sus!"

"Lizzie was close with the K.N.D. thanks to your relationship." Chad had crossed his arms as well. "I wouldn't put it past the g:K.N.D. to try and infiltrate us."

"Heh, that's impossible!" Numbuh 74.239 cut in, now standing. "Numbuh 362 would've known if anyone here wasn't who they said they were! How would we trust anyone if they're sneaking onto Earth?"

"We saw that plant alien turn into her!" Kuki said, Betty and Wally agreeing.
"Their tech makes it entirely possible." Atomic Betty nodded. "And if this Lizzie is missing, then perhaps…"

"Guys, you can't possibly think Lizzie would be capable of-" Nigel started to explain himself, but his Sector members weren't having it.

"I dunno, Numbuh One." Numbuh Five adjusted her cap. "That girl did get a little crazy sometimes. Remember when she used that mind control helmet on you?"

"And she'd always get in the way of our missions too!" Numbuh Four groaned. "She's still so annoying and she's not even here!"

"Bu- But all of that was to get me away from the Kids Next Door." Nigel continued to plead after the interruptions. "Why would she want me to spend more time with her if she was trying to uncover Kids Next Door secrets the whole time?"

"Yeah." Numbuh 74.239 awkwardly laughed. "See, all of that is just too crazy."

"Still." Maurice stood as well. "It doesn't all exactly add up."

"She even called it her cruddy human disguise!" Wally slammed his palm on the table, causing Numbuh 74.239 to jolt in reaction. Numbuh Three added an enthusiastic, "Yeah!"

"At the very least," Rook leaned in, setting his pad down on the table. "If the alien operative is not Miss Lizzie, there must be some significance in choosing her appearance."

"Precisely as I was thinking." Dexter nodded. "In addition to re-establishing off-world communication, finding this Lizzie should also be a priority. Finding her will answer our questions, one way or the other."

Nigel's brow fluctuated between tense and worry, only calming slightly after Numbuh Five reached out to touch his shoulder.

"It's dangerous out there, Numbuh One." she said. "We could at least find her to make sure she's safe."

"Right." Numbuh One cleared his throat. "I have been wondering why she hadn't called-"

The conversation was sharply drowned out by the intense booms of the speakers affixed to the large screen in the conference room. The video feed cut from the candid footage of fighting volunteers, replaced by a flashing, multi-colored clip with the faces of various Rainbow Monkeys blinking in tandem with the song blaring from the speaker.

"~ Rainbow Monkeys, Rainbow Monkeys, We Love You! ~"

Numbuh Three's gaze immediately snapped to the screen, stars in her eyes at her favorite website flashing on the screen. Usually she'd join in on the catchy song, but another voice cut through the air. Dexter's face grew pale as the group noticed a small, yellow Imaginary Friend standing at the screen's controls, mashing buttons and singing off-key.

"Monkey Rainbows!" the friend cried out, then slapped his tiny hand onto another button. The sound of the song got even louder!

"What the-!?" Dexter gasped. "What- Who is that!?"

Numbuh 74.239 pulled a chair in front of himself to cower behind, but the rest of the group all stood to look at the Imaginary Friend. The friend, on the other hand, didn't seem to care or really notice that he brought all the attention onto himself. His yellow paw dragged along the control panel again, pressing several buttons and causing new windows to pop up on the screen. The Rainbow Monkey theme song persisted, but the website was now obscured by a live video feed of Professor Utonium's lab. Luckily, it seemed the Professor was out.

"Ack!" Dexter's cheeks regained their color as embarrassment coupled with his confusion. "Computress, do something!"

"As requested, Dexter." Computress' voice was barely audible over the song, but a wave of her hand caused the volume to suddenly mute. Though, now the friend had pulled up a window featuring a live feed of the interior of Ben Tennyson's home in Bellwood. His mother was seated at the dining table with a laptop in front of her.

"Sandra!?" Rook blinked. The friend replaced the window with one showing the empty gathering space in Sector V's own treehouse.

"Are you spying on us?" Numbuh Five asked, now turned towards Dexter. "Not cool, man."

"I…!" Dexter clammed up, but grabbed a pen from his coat pocket. "Ju- Gr- Grab the intruder!"

The boy genius raised the pen in his dominant hand, thrashing it down to his side. The downward motion activated the pen, suddenly extending in either direction to assemble a large wrench he fashioned as a weapon. Despite the confusion, the rest of the group, (sans Numbuh 74.239) jumped to action as well.

Maurice and Rook leapt to opposite sides of the Imaginary Friend in an attempt to block off escape. They stood ready in the friend's peripheral vision, yet he remained as cherry as ever as he pushed another button. A live feed of Tech Square covered the screen, the camera focused on Tessa Wren's Exervent Industries. Only her Vendroid assistants stood stationed outside as Dexbots could be seen speaking with volunteers to the side.

Dexter let a heavy huff loose as he stomped forward, reaching out with his wrench weapon and clasping it around the friend's torso. Even when the cold metal of the wrench grazed against his skin, the friend maintained his lack of awareness. That is, until Dexter yanked the wrench back to him and ripped the Imaginary Friend from the controls.

A shrill, high-pitched scream filled the conference room as Dexter pulled the Imaginary Friend to him. The doors slid open to allow a trio of Dexbots to roll inside, all coming to Dexter's aid. He handed the friend off to his Dextbots, all three grabbing hold of him. The friend didn't struggle against their grasp, but his shriek droned on. Once his hands were free, Dexter's wrench retracted into pen form, and the genius dashed over to the control panel.

"Do you know this thing?" Numbuh Four blinked as Dexter furiously closed out of the opened windows.

"Of course not!" Dexter barked. "Why would I let something as unpredictable as Dee-Dee into highly restricted areas!?"

"I want chocolate milk!" the friend whined as the Dexbots placed him on a pedestal near the screen. A glass casing erected around him, encasing him inside. The live feed of Tech Square remained on the screen as Dexter turned to the group.

"They appear to be an Imaginary Friend." Rook noted. "Were you planning on conducting another experiment?"

"No!" Dexter bit back. "I just said- Urgh… Did one of you bring this gremlin aboard?"

"Don't look at me!" Numbuh 74.239 cried, still hiding behind his chair.

"Eck!" Dexter huffed, diverting to stare daggers at the crying Imaginary Friend behind the glass. "Who are you? How did you get past all my Dexbots?"

The friend ceased his crying, blinking a few times as if in deep thought at Dexter's questions. His wide mouth cracked open as he took in a sharp inhale, drawing Numbuh 74.239 to peek his head above his protective chair. After a tense exhale, the yellow friend simply stuck his tongue out at Dexter.

"I gotta pee!" he shrieked. "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go-"

Dexter's face flushed red with anger, his glove gripping against his pen-disguised wrench as if to strike. Numbuh Three flinched and Numbuh 74.239 ducked back behind cover, but Dexter relented. He pocketed his pen and stepped back. Betty and the K.N.D. hung in awkward air while Computress joined Dexter's side.

"Whatever this," Dexter flicked his hand at the friend's encasing, "Thing is, I apologize for the intrusion…"

"Does this happen often?" Atomic Betty sheepishly asked.

"Tch…!" Dexter crossed his arms. "Absolutely not. Ten minute recess. I must attend to this… issue."

"Would you like my assistance?" asked Rook. Dexter began to shake his head in protest, then rose a brow.

"Actually… Could you review the aircraft security footage?"

"Of course!" Rook grinned as he jumped to the control panel. Numbuh 74.239 quietly scurried out of the conference room, exposed only by the sound of the metal doors sliding open.

"Sector V." Chad cleared his throat. "Let's start sending out operatives to locate Lizzie."

"R-Right." Numbuh One nodded.

"Don't worry, Numbuh One!" Numbuh Five lazily waved her hand while wrapping her other arm around Nigel. "I know that girl is ten kinds of kooky, but there's gotta be a simple explanation."

"Yeah." Nigel forced a quick chuckle. Chad and Maurice walked into the hallway, Kuki and Wally trailing behind. "I hope you're right, Abby."

"Computress, make a call to the local foster home." instructed Dexter. His assistant nodded, her eyes glowing as her speaker emitted a dial tone.

"Wilson Way, Townsville." she hummed. "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Contacting… Francis Foster."

Computress' eyes projected a holographic screen in front of her, spanning from the top of Dexter's head to his midsection. A brief flash of static on the hologram screen blinked before revealing Frankie Foster on the other end, Jasper Leeblossom's notable plaid pink shirt peeking from behind her. The friend immediately started to shriek.

"Hello?" she questioned with a confused expression.

"Francis Foster, I presume?" Dexter adjusted his glasses, peering at the hologram.

"Yes… Aren't you the DexLabs kid?" Her own question irked Dexter. DexLabs 'Kid'? Jasper's face had now leaned into frame.

"I am. "I apologize for calling like this, but I believe you're missing a small, yellow, Imaginary Friend." Computress shifted her body, revealing the yellow friend trapped in the glass.

"What!? Cheese!?"

The bulbous headed friend, Cheese, cleared his throat before releasing another shrill screech. Despite the literal cage he was put in, the friend didn't seem too disgruntled about the situation… Or did he? One of his eyes drifted to stare in a direction opposite from the other, leaving his expression a puzzle to even your Narrator here. Nigel and Abigail took this as their cue to join their sector in the hallway and leave Dexter to his call.

In the hall, the other Kids and Teens Next Door operatives hung out by the nearby vending machines. Numbuh Four leaned against the side of one that Maurice was slotting a Taro into. Chad and Numbuh Three stood next to them, but Numbuh 74.239 must've disappeared somewhere else on the aircraft. The door to the conference room slid shut, but Cheese's occasional screams still muffled past the metal.

"I'm sorry about this, Numbuh One." Chad frowned as he arrived. "We just have to follow any lead we can when it comes to the Galactic Kids Next Door."

"I know…" Nigel sighed. "I know…"

The vending machine buzzed as it ate Maurice's dollar, followed by another grumble before it dispensed a canned chocolate milk. Maurice leaned over to pick it up as Numbuh Four crinkled his nose.

"Why are we so scared of the Galatpogos Kids Next Door anyways!?"

"We told you." Maurice didn't flinch as he cracked the seal of his chocolate milk can. "We only defy truly tyrannical and evil adults. Those guys? They see every adult and teen as pure evil."

"Well aren't they?" Numbuh Four pouted.

"Yeah?" Chad scoffed. "Even your parents?"

"Well…!" Wally raised his finger before slowly lowering it. "My dad's not evil…"

"Exactly." Maurice snapped his fingers. "They might be oblivious to the evil the other adults spew, but that doesn't put them in the same pool."

Numbuh Four grumbled quietly, leaning back against the vending machine. He gave a soft shrug to show his understanding, even if he couldn't find the words to say it. Maurice took a drink of his chocolate milk, only to pull the can away with disgust on his face.

"Eugh." he spat. Not as satisfying as that little guy made it out to be."

"Uh…" Numbuh Five tilted her head as she looked around. "Not to add another problem to the table, but wasn't 74.239, like, squirrely-er than usual?"

"You think so?" Numbuh One looked at her, but she only offered a lazy shrug in response.

"I dunno, man, everyone's actin' real weird lately. The last hour alone has been real freaky."

"I wish we could go back to just fighting adults." Numbuh Three sighed.

Cheese's muffled cry strained against the metal doors, but slowly subsided as the kids stewed silently. A hollow creek creeped along the walls of the aircraft, followed by a faint rumble that wouldn't even be noticeable if it didn't persist for longer than a second. Chad moved back to the conference room doors in confusion, waiting for them to slide open.

They swiped to either side, revealing Dexter still inside with both Betty and Rook stationed at the control panel. They watched up at the screen overtaking the wall, the live video feed of Tech Square still streaming to them. Cheese even grew quiet as he watched a faint ray of light erupt far in the distance behind the Exervent building on the stream.

"Guys?" Chad asked, Maurice and Sector V joining him in the doorway.

Each of them blinked as Dexter typed on the control panel to view a new live stream of the Pokey Oaks Junior High Infected Zone. The rubble of the destroyed high school seemed to have dwindled during cleanup in the months since the invasion, but the focal point of the shot was the same beam of light erupting in the distance of the footage.

The boy genius stifled back an annoyed groan, tapping at another option on the control panel and finally pulling up a live stream from the K.N.D. Jungle Outpost on Mount Blackhead. This time, the footage was drenched in a bright light, the beam of light now visibly imitating from Hani-Baba Temple's crest. The camera panned upward to follow the light, barely noticing the far distance it traveled before it couldn't tilt any further.

"S.A.C.T. and Providence agents are both reporting a blast of energy from the Wilds striking the Planet Fusion." Computress buzzed. Rook's brow tensed in worry. "Multiple 911 calls from citizens are reporting this event currently as well."

"Striking!?" Dexter kept his eyes glued to the screen, flipping through a myriad of different live streams he had set up throughout Townsville, but none were giving him the view of Planet Fusion he sought.

"Did someone start a counterattack?" Dexter grimaced. "Without contacting me?"

He finally filled the screen with a camera fashioned on the roof of DexLabs, though its upward angle hid the fact that Tech Square bustled below. Instead, it faced skyward, giving the meeting participants their first view of the Hani-Baba Temple's beam ripping straight through the Fusion homeworld. A gasp escaped Numbuh Three, causing Numbuh Four to wrap his arm around her. Even Cheese kept his eyes glued to the screen.

The corner of the large screen pinged with a notification of a red colored phone icon. The name Susan labeled below it. Dexter continued to stare in awe, tapping a button without looking. A smaller window blinked open with a video feed of Mandark seated in his lab. His assistant, Robot Jones, was barely visible behind him, seemingly being berated by a tiny, yellow duck with an equally tiny towel wrapped around the top of his head.. As Mandark spoke, the beam of energy faded away, leaving a clean hole through Planet Fusion.

"I thought we had a truce, you scuttling fiend!" Mandark spat through the speaker. "Attacking the Fusions on such a scale? And during Ducky's bathtime!?"

"Really?" Dexter scowled back. "You are truly stoopid if you believe this is my doing!"

"I knew I couldn't trust your pathetic-" Mandark had trailed on as if following a script before shaking his head in confusion. "... It's not you?"

"Of course it's not my doing, you nicapoop!" Dexter's attention fully diverted to Mandark, but the rest of the group watched the live feed of Planet Fusion with increasing terror.

"Dexter-" Numbuh One tried to butt in.

"Look at what that freaky alien planet is doing now!" Numbuh Five added, drawing Dexter's eyes back to the feed.

Mandark's gaze averted to his side, presumably to view his own sight of the planet. The aircraft rumbled as they watched the gaping wound in Planet Fusion start to string itself back together, as well as the sudden launch of large masses of Fusion Matter from the planet's surface. They fell off to the distance on the live stream, but another harsh rumble told them where the damage was headed.

"Awh crud…" Numbuh Four sulked.

"Sensors aboard my aircraft are saying that debris is falling towards Hero's Hollow!" Mandark's voice panicked from the other end of the call.

"As do mine!" Dexter said so with confidence, but quickly sniped a look at Computress who gave him an agreeing nod.

"If I may," Rook nodded to the group. "I advise we start contacting reinforcements as soon as possible."

"Kids Next Door…" Chad inhaled.

"Battlestations!" Nigel finished his sentence, triggering the operatives in the room to rush away.

Several more ringing icons filled the corner of Dexter's screen, and the buzz of audio from Mandark's end of the call seemed to signify an equal amount of notifications piling in. Rook's pad chimed with a call as well, and even Computress beeped with an incoming transmission. Cheese's mouth curled into a goofy grin.

"Beeep!" he hissed playfully. "Boop!"

"What should we do?" Betty asked, gripping an oddly styled blaster on her belt. Sparky and X-5 stayed readied to her sides.

"Computress, keep that… Cheese contained." Dexter instructed before looking at Betty and Rook. "We have a bigger problem to handle. Follow me, we must set course for the Darklands, immediately!"

---

Kevin's slick, green car ripped up the dirt as it barreled through the Wilds. Gwen barely lifted her foot from the gas pedal before she reached the K.N.D. stronghold of Mount Blackhead. Usually a quiet place where volunteers hung out and traded goods, the Jungle Outpost had morphed into a full on launching stage. K.N.D. operatives scrambled alongside Plumbers and Providence agents, loading volunteers and their own operatives into S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s, sending them flying north. Near the entrance, Roxie noticed… Jasper's car?

Gwen, Juniper, Ben, and Roxie barely had the time to take in the rest of the scene before they're ushered inside of a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. that took off immediately! Inside, a K.N.D. operative provided Roxie with a set of pink armor akin to her Academy garbs, though this set of armor featured knee pads fashioned to every joint of the armor. Padding on the front and back had the Kids Next Door logo crudely painted on each side.

"Tell me what's up." Ben said to the pilot, a short, rotund kid in a pilot's cap. Roxie knew this kid as Numbuh Two, a member of Sector V in her neighborhood.

"Oh, it's not good…" Numbuh Two sighed, steering the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to a higher altitude. "That crazy beam from the jungle ripped right through Planet Fusion, and it just started raining Fusions and new Terrafusers!"

"Sorry…" Gwen piped in. "The energy from the jungle… It was us."

"Wha-?" Numbuh Two tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Well, it did some serious damage to Planet Fusion, or else it wouldn't be fighting back like this."

Hoagie piloted the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. north, revealing to Roxie the Monkey Mountain Volcano barred off by Infected Zone barriers. Her gaze strayed out the window, watching on as the vehicle flew over the northern sea, hunks of steaming metal protruding from the waters. The girl gulped as she tensed back into her seat.

As a child, Roxie only heard tales of the Darklands as if it was a mysterious, almost mythical area that couldn't exist. She had only ever made the trek over the sea to the Darklands once before, during the grand battle that happened in the jungles of Forsaken Valley. Returning only meant something of the same scale, or even worse, was going to happen. She was so caught up wallowing in her thoughts that she blocked out any chatter between the others as the vehicle soared closer to the southern coast of the Darklands.

Ever since the battle a few months ago, Mandark chose to keep his industry's aircraft carrier stationed in the valley, looming high above as his servant Mandroids carried out work for him. Though now it looked quite similar to the day of that battle as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. came to lay atop it. Roxie took a beat after landing before actually standing up to follow the group out of the vehicle.

Looking upward, the amalgamation of Planet Fusion twisted Roxie's stomach. In actuality, they didn't travel too vast of a distance from Townsville to get to the Darklands, but the planet loomed much larger than Roxie had ever seen it before. It was hard to tell if it had gotten closer to Earth, or vise versa. The through wound left by the Hani-Baba Temple's power remained, but now a web of Fusion Matter branched along the gap, seemingly stitching it back together.

The falling debris from the planet was seen much clearer as a host of Terrafusers, as well as larger, pointier objects that fell with them in the distance. Even from high up on the Mandark Carrier, their impact site was obscured. Several more S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s took off in the direction of the impacts, tailed by bulkier Plumber vehicles. K.N.D., Providence, Plumber, volunteers; they all moved in tandem like a militia.

Roxie's eyes pried themselves from the threatening Planet Fusion, now darting around the carrier's surface to hopefully catch a glimpse of any familiar face, namely her brother. Instead, the only familiar face that popped into view was the disgruntled look of Mandark Astronomonov. His usually flared cape dropped lifeless as he stomped towards Roxie's group.

"I should've guessed the Tennyson's are the ones to pull a stunt like this." Mandark rolled his eyes at the two cousins.

"There's no need to point fingers here." Ben waved his hands in an attempt to calm Mandark.

"How did you guys manage something like this?" Mandark pressed further.

"There was an old magic book we found out was written by a demon!" Juniper gleefully explained. "But it was written about the power of the Kelt aliens, and they're the ones who left the Hani-Baba Temple!"

"I've mentioned to Dexter that we were looking into this." Gwen added. "There was supposed to be a planetary defense attached to the power of the Totems, and it looks like it worked."

"Yeah, well, you guys sure ticked them off! "Mandark cried. "Now that planet is flooding the Darklands with Fusions! From the top of Huntor's Crest to the bottom of Hero's Hollow!"

"Where's Dexter?" Ben asked. Mandark shook his head, turning to gaze off towards the plummeting Fusions.

"He took his aircraft deeper into the Darklands," he answered. "My assistant is off to pilot my carrier there."

"We can't wait." Ben nodded, beginning to fiddle with the Omnitrix.

"Ben-!" Gwen tried to protest, but a flash of bright green light cut her short. When it faded, Ben was replaced by a tall, hunched insectoid, immediately chilling the air around Roxie. His Necrofriggian transformation, Big Chill.

"I've got this…!" Big Chill eerily mused before he kicked off into the air. A pair of blue, patterned wings expanded around him, a few vigorous flaps sending him flying off towards the battle.

"You can't just rush in there!" Gwen tried to call out to her cousin, but he had flown well out of range.

Both Juniper and Roxie came to Gwen's side in comfort, only to be thrown slightly off balance as Mandark's carrier jolted forward briefly. After the initial burst, the aircraft moved at a steady pace leading deeper into the Darklands. Gwen relented and looked back to Mandark.

"Is there anything we need to be prepared for when we get there?" she asked. Mandark nodded, gesturing for the girls to follow him.

"Despite your… admittedly impressive attack on the planet," Mandark chuckled. "We're still at a massive disadvantage compared to our previous battles." They passed by a crew of S.A.C.T. agents handing heavy weaponry off to some Providence soldiers. "The Candy Pirates are spread thin after the Fusions targeted the Sweet Revenge, and there's apparently been an issue with the Titan forming since our fight here in Forsaken Valley! And now they've amassed more of those disgusting copies of ourselves!"

"Maybe they're weaker." Roxie suggested, glancing upward. "We hit that thing pretty hard."

"Let's hope so, because there's a lot of them…!" Mandark sighed.

Dinosaur Pass was the furthest Roxie had ever gone into the Darklands before. An Infected Zone barrier walled off a dinosaur graveyard connecting to the Fireswamps. She could hear the sizzling pops of lava from below, even over the hustle of the frantic soldiers onboard. The carrier gained altitude, revealing another volcano deeper in the Fireswamps, and giving view to Huntor's Crest.

Named after an alien predator stopped by the heroic Monkey years ago, Roxie only knew of Huntor's Crest thanks to stories from Blossom about her own adventures out here, as well as rumors of the mysterious Samurai hanging around here. The darkened dirt and barren trees were a direct result of the fumes of the Firepits wasting away at the surrounding area, and didn't prove inviting even without the Fusion threat.

As Mandark mentioned, the land sloped down towards more barren lands, but the northern end of the crest had a much steeper dropoff. Roxie spotted a rickety, wooden bridge connecting Huntor's Crest to another barren plateau across the seemingly endless Abysus. Her vision blurred as she realized a gigantic Terrafuser sat planted on the landmass across the Abysus,

The carrier pressed a little further, leading towards the kinder slope leading into the main event, Hero's Hollow. The typical green coated sky was bathed in a deep crimson as the Planet Fusion pulsed overhead, appearing as large as Roxie had ever seen it. The hollow led into an ocean, though, the blue color was slowly fading into a sickly Fusion Matter green. Dexter's aircraft carrier floated above the waters, weapons firing from its side.

The vantage point from atop Mandark's carrier allowed Roxie to see the whole of the valley, dark with splotches of Fusions and soldiers clashing against each other. Her stomach flipped as she spotted another huge Terrafuser, even larger than the one she just laid eyes on, planted on the opposite end of the valley. Gunfire filled the air as Roxie sulked away from the view.

"All this because of us…?" Juniper quietly muttered. "Jeez… What if we messed something up, Gwendolyn?"

"It's not like we could've known." Gwen reached out.

"Well, yeah, I know that." Juniper smacked her lips. "This is, like, full on war though!"

"I've accidentally created a lot of messes in the past, but we always clean them up." Gwen smirked, her appearance shifting as her skin began to glow in her Lucky Girl masquerade. "I know we can do this."

"Alright…!" Juniper chuckled, wrapping Gwen into a side hug. "We've definitely got this!"

"Good." Mandark jetted in. "We need you guys down there, post-haste!"

"What are we even supposed to do…?" Roxie muttered.

"I have my Battle-Enhanced Mandroids already deployed." Mandark nodded. Behind him, several more of his much taller, bulkier Mandroids rolled off the carrier in formation. "Dexter has his inferior Dexbot weapons as well. While they cull the Fusion numbers, we need our heavy hitters focused on those massive Terrafusers."

"Right." Gwen nodded. "If Dexter's forces are down there, we should try and handle the one near the crest."

"Precisely what I was going to say." Mandark gave the girls a wicked smirk. "A fleet of K.N.D. soldiers are about to rendezvous with the Crystal Gems fighting there."

"Whoa." Roxie blinked. She knew Steven Universe housed a whole slew of aliens down in Beach City, but she never met the titular Crystal Gem heroes in person before.

"Got it!" Gwen's hands glowed as pink tinted orbs encased them, then triggering a plate of energy at her feet. Juniper immediately stepped aboard, then both of them looked at Roxie. She offered back an awkward smile before stepping onto Gwen's mana platform as well.

"You better hang on tight, Spidermonkey." Juniper smirked as she wrapped an arm around Roxie, then her other around Gwen. Roxie shoved off the Spidermonkey nickname as she held onto June as well, also using her spiderlegs to clutch around Gwen.

"And stay connected!" Mandark called out, waving his dark red skinned NanoCom in the air.

The girls nodded. Roxie shoved the earbud from her own NanoCom into her ear, then held on tight as the mana disc took to the air at Gwen's command. Gaining more altitude, Roxie saw the full-scale assault occurring all throughout the deepest reaches of the Darklands. Large pointed Fusions stomped about on incredibly long and thin legs, and globs of Fusions congregated at their feet. Even from this distance, Roxie could notice Blossom's distinct pink light streak paint through the armies and topple them back.

Gwen piloted them away from the carrier's surface, zooming above the Huntor's Crest peak. All three of them felt uneasy as they passed over the Abysus below, the bottom completely drenched in darkness… If there even was a bottom. Gwen took them down to the other side of the gap, landing near where the wooden bridge ended. Before them sat another dark tinted mound of land, littered with several abandoned and decaying wooden structures.

Fusions taking the appearance of trees and elephants clashed against the K.N.D. operatives opposing them with their 2x4 technology. The largest of these Fusions congregated near the base of the gigantic Terrafuser, which was separated from the rest of the land by a newly formed, yet surprisingly deep Fusion Matter moat surrounding it. A tall, afro-haired woman smacked her large gauntlets against a large Fusion tree, while a smaller, slender woman in a small, fitted teal jacket jabbed into the Fusion with her spear from behind.

Roxie grabbed ahold of her pistols, preparing herself as Juniper pointed in the direction of the oddly-skinned women. Gwen dipped her head.

"It's a pain to get rid of a normal sized one of these…" Roxie groaned. "How should we even approach this?"

"I, uh, I'm not sure." Gwen muttered, her glowing eyes scanning the area. "There might be smaller Terrafusers around here spawning more."

"Oh, leave it to me!" Juniper volunteered. "I can do a lap around and see if there's any, real quick. You guys should get over to the Gems."

In the blink of an eye, Juniper Lee dashed off, her speedster sprint leaving her looking a blur. Several K.N.D. operatives cheered as June rocketed right into Fusions opposing them, and she continued to blast around the ground at inhuman speed. Roxie and Gwen looked back at each other, knowing the plan. They rushed forward, straight towards the steep dropoff into the Fusion Matter moat.

Another set of pink orbs glowed around Gwen's hands, holding them to her side and kicking off into the air. Roxie's spiderlegs aimed ahead of her as she leaped into the gap, webs shooting from each tip. One only caught air, but the other three stuck to the dirt on the other side, whipping Roxie down. She held her spidelegs together,wrapping one around the strains to strengthen the grip as she swung. Her webs retracted back, pulling Roxie upwards and flying a few feet above the ground before she landed on the other side.

"Opps!" a goofy, hoarse voice called out. "Watch out!"

Roxie aimed her pistols at either side of her, firing a bullet from each chamber. The one to her left sliced into a Ghastly Growth tree Fusion before a stretchy whip wrapped around it. A stout, purple woman held the whip at the handle, tightening it to finish off the Fusion. Gwen landed next to Roxie as the other woman approached, joined by the slender woman she noticed earlier.

"Awh, sweet." the purple woman grinned. "We got Lucky Girl here!"

"We're here to help!" Roxie said confidently. "I'm Roxie, by the way."

"Oh hey!" the woman smiled. The purple gem exposed on her chest glowed, shifting her appearance to be a carbon copy of Roxie! Albeit, her skin, clothes, and hair was all tinted purple, and her face remained the same as before. The doppleganger flexed her own spider limbs. "These are pretty cool too!"

"Amethyst…" the slender woman groaned. "Is now really the time!?"

"Right." the purple Roxie snapped her fingers, glowing again before reverting to her shorter statured form, Amethyst.

"We need to get rid of that Terrafuser." Gwen took a long look, unnerved by the sheer size of it. "Any ideas?"

"I already told Pearl that-" Amethyst began to rattle off, but the other woman, Pearl, held out her hand.

"We do have a plan." she nodded. "If you guys can handle taking on these Fusions, we have a Fusion of our own that can help."

"You what?" Roxie blinked.

"Not these Fusions…!" Pearl gulped.

"It's alright." Gwen said. "Roxie and I can handle them."

"Right." Roxie shook her head, readying her guns again.

"Garnet!" Amethyst cried out, causing the afro-haired woman still fighting the Fusions to leap away.

She left behind a pair of enraged Ghastly Growths, both roaring at their seemingly fleeing prey. Before they could pursue, Roxie and Gwen stepped forward. One of Roxie's pistols shot right at one, while the other monster was pelted by a single mana disc from Gwen. The girls stood their ground, taking their place as the Fusion's newest target. Each of them hissed in their direction, one planting its leafy limbs into the dark soil.

The other Ghastly Growth barreled forward, causing Roxie and Gwen to jump back. Roxie held both pistols at the incoming Fusion, but fired webs from her spiderlegs instead to smack into the Fusion's face. It groaned as it continued forward, stumbling when Roxie wrapped her spiderlegs around the webs and fiercely jerked them down. She stepped back again as she caused the Ghastly Growth's bulbous head to crash down into the dirt, sending its body toppling over itself.

Gwen's Lucky Girl glow surrounded her as she kicked back into the air, tossing a mana disc at the further Fusion, then targeting the one Roxie tumbled with a flurry of mana spikes. A cloud of dust filled the air as her attacks pelted the Ghastly Growth and the dirt around it. Both of the girls expected to see the Fusion melting into a puddle as the dust cleared, but were shocked to see the Ghastly Growth regaining its footing. Another web shot from Roxie's spiderlegs, attaching to the dirt nearby. It started to retract, tugging Roxie out of the way of the Ghastly Growth bashing its shrubbery fists at her direction.

Behind the fight, the tall, afro-haired Gem, Garnet, had rejoined her teammates. She gave an affirming nod to the other Crystal Gems, holding both of her hands out to them. Each of her palms had gems protruding from the skin. Pearl and Amethyst took her hands, and the three began to… dance? If Roxie could pay more attention to the Gems, she'd have a face of confusion as the three of them jumped and shimmied around each other. The gem on Pearl's forehead began to glow, along with Amethyst's and both of Garnet's palms. They soon twirled into each other, their bodies engulfing in a bright white glow and their beings mending into each other. The glow grew, each other four gemstones shining brightly as they shifted in size and position.

Now matching the size of the Terrafuser, the white glow glimmered away to reveal a giant woman with wild teal hair. She wore Garnet's pointed yellow visor, and from Roxie's position she could see a second mouth lining the bottom of her jaw. Six arms outstretched, colored in the fashion of each of the Gems that joined this form. A dark shadow casted over Roxie and Gwen's fight as the giant woman took form.

"What is that!?" Roxie cried out.

"Alexandrite." the giant woman gruffly answered, seemingly laced with the tone of another voice.

The giant Gem immediately jolted all six of her arms forward, latching onto the large Terrafuser. An intense sizzle filled the air, the Fusion Matter coating the Terrafuser burning Alexandrite's hands as she pulled and thrashed at the bulbous plant. If only Roxie didn't have these Fusions aggroed on her, or else she'd sit back and watch the spectacle. Instead, she turned back to the Ghastly Growth she had toppled over, now upright and rushing back over to her.

"Here goes nothing." Roxie muttered to herself. One blink of her eyes triggered a soft glow from her NanoCom in her pocket, a small burst of red energy spawning her Nano Sheep floating around her head. "Use your Drain power!"

"Baaa!" her Nano cried out, aiming his hooves at the incoming Fusion. Another wave of red-color energy emitted from the Nano, striking the Ghastly Growth.

As soon as the attack hit the Fusion, Roxie rapidly fired her pistols at it, each bullet doing more damage as Nano Sheep drained its energy. Confidence filled Roxie, and she dashed forward. The Ghastly Growth stumbled as Roxie came close. She whipped one of her pistols around, whacking the Fusion in the face with it, then jetted two of her spiderlegs forward to stab the beast. The burn of the Fusion Matter on her spiderlegs made her recoil, and she used the wooden plate on the front of her K.N.D. armor as a shield to shove the creature back.

A sound akin to the ripping of fabric cut Roxie's ears as the Terrafuser pulsed and swayed, appearing as if it was pulling away from Alexandrite trying to uproot the plant. A disembodied groan came from the Gem, the struggle proving greater than intended. Roxie brought her attention towards Gwen, who had moved up close and personal to the other Ghastly Growth.

Her right hand grew a hardened pink orb around it as she flung discs of energy at the Fusion from her other hand. She jabbed her orbed hand upward, knocking the Fusion in the gut, at least where a gut would be, before sliding back to safety. The Ghastly Growth was razzled, but kept its own limbs planted in the dirt. A harrowing hum bellowed from below Gwen, the ground fading to a green color as the Fusion charged an eruption attack! Gwen quickly whipped her hands around herself, creating a mana barrier under her feet. Not even a moment passed before the eruption exploded, Her mana platform rocked back and forth, blocking the attack from hitting Gwen but causing Fusion Matter to shoot out underneath. As the eruption quelled, she retaliated with two large conjured mana spike balls, bringing both of the crashing together with the Fusion between them..

Wind gushed past Roxie as Juniper Lee rejoined the fray at lightning speed. She jabbed her fist into the Fusion on Roxie's tail, finally making it seep down into a puddle. June grinned at her handiwork, then stood shocked for a moment after turning to see the large foot of Alexandrite. Her head jolted upward, and her grin only grew wider.

"Now that's heavy duty strength!" Juniper chuckled.

Despite the strain from the pull of Alexandrite, the Terrafuser appeared to continue to function and infect the land below. Several globs of Fusion Matter fell from the pores, landing before taking form as more Ghastly Growths. Gwen threw up a wall of magic, pushing it at the Ghastly Growth she previously attacked, then jumping back to Juniper and Roxie.

"No Terrafusers besides the big one." Juniper reported. "But these Fusions are crazy strong."

"I know." Roxie nodded. "These guys are taking hits like they're one of the Fusion copies. I know we're tough, but an army of these things?"

"It's about to get messy down here!" Gwen called up towards Alexandrite, then waved her hands to erect a mana bubble around herself and her friends.

Unclear if she had heard them or not, Alexandrite loosened her grip on the Terrafuser. She stepped back, steam rising from the burns on her hands. The gems on her forehead and upper two hands began to glow, one hand reaching to her forehead to retrieve Pearl's spear as Garnet's gauntlets formed around her gemmed hands. However, the gauntlets soon slid off, joining the spear to form a large orange warhammer.

More globs of Fusion Matter dripped from the Terrafuser to fill out the army of Ghastly Growths encroaching on Roxie, Gwen, and Juniper, but they soon looked at Alexandrite in unison. The giant woman gripped the warhammer in four of her arms, reaching back with a foot before kicking the base of the Terrafuser. It pulsed at the attack, jiggling back and forth as if to regain shape, but would stick to a slouch as Alexandrite crushed her foot against it. Using this to hold it in place, she thrashed the warhammer around to crash into its side.

A gush of green liquid smacked against the flat of the hammer, which vanished in a flash of bright light. The disfigured Terrafuser itself seemed to groan in pain as it tried to jiggle back to form, but Alexandrite had now fully climbed atop the plant. Her gems glowed again, this time equipping Amethyst's whip along with Pearl's spear and forming them together into an opal tinted bow.

"What is going on over there!?" Mandark's voice buzzed through the girl's communicators. "The big Striders have turned in your direction!"

A boom rocked against the girls' mana shield as Alexandrite leapt into the air, drawing the string of her bow. As the string arched back, a magical arrow faded into existence aimed at the ready. With the tip pointed directly down at the Terrafuser, Alexandrite opened her hand, launching the arrow of light downward to puncture it. The Ghastly Growths shared pained cries, diminishing in size but not melting. Before Alexandrite could land, the Terrafuser shone with a light of its own that knocked the giant woman off kilter.

Those massive attacks realistically should've left the Terrafuser a squashed mess, but it took full form again to tower over the glade. Alexandrite flew over the girls and nearly down into the Abysus, but would end up crashing into the dirt on the other side in Huntor's Crest. Hitting the ground triggered her body to glow again, the giant woman reverting to the three seperate Crystal Gems that formed her.

The Fusions no longer had interest in Roxie or the girls, but Gwen maintained their protective shield. Some of the Fusions started to melt, while the majority drudged their way towards the base of the Terrafuser. The giant plant rumbled with disjointed noise as a faint green light glowed from inside. Roxie watched in horror as the top of the Terrafuser began to unwrap.

Sectioned peels of the Terrafuser slicked back from a point of the top, skinning itself open. They curled as they fell back, dark and withered leaves taking their place. With the skin of the Terrafuse unfurled, black oak teeming with Fusion Matter took its place. The wide base of the newly hatched tree sat firmly rooted in the dirt, the top of its leaves stretching taller than even the Terrafuser stood. The top of the trunk pulsed in the form of another Terrafuser, each pore sprouting a branch curling outward.

The army of Ghastly Growth watched the Dark Tree come to life, each of them burying their limbs into the dirt as the one did to attack Gwen. The ground around them rattled, and the Fusion Matter pooled in the moat below bubbled and popped in a boil. One by one, the Ghastly Growths launched their own eruption attacks, sending pillars of Fusion Matter soaring upward towards the tree.

Gwen's whole being shined bright as she channeled her energy into their mana bubble, tightening it around the trio before using her magic to steer it into the air. Juniper watched with a frown as Roxie instinctively grabbed hold of her arm and the ground shrunk away from them. Just in time too, as the multitude of eruption bursts cracked through the dirt, splitting the inland island asunder. Chunks of the earth withered away into the Fusion Matter moat, revealing the roots of the Dark Tree reached into the Fusion Matter and even further into the earth.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s jetted towards the land surrounding the moat, letting new K.N.D. operatives flood onto the battlefield. Fusions scaled the rocky walls of the moat to reach the operatives fighting on the other side, but Roxie could only watch as Gwen piloted them over the Abysus and to where the Crystal Gems recuperated. The bubble burst apart as they landed, where they all watched the ground of the Dark Glade across the Abysus teem with Fusion Matter infecting the area,

"I don't even know how we're supposed to fight that!" Roxie shouted, eyes gaped at the large Dark Tree. She stewed uncomfortably as the sounds of battle echoed from down in Hero's Hollow.

"Mandark, did you see any of that?" Gwen asked, pressing the earpiece she had equipped. Mandark's reply buzzed through all the girls' Coms.

"Saw enough to know things are really bad!" his panicked screech buzzed. "Dexter is sending reinforcements and Infected Zone barriers, but now we've got a bigger problem!"

The ground vibrated with a booming crash. One of the pointed Fusion monsters with long legs Roxie saw from above now creeping into the crest. From afar, it just appeared to be a blob with legs, but up close this tall, threatening beast sported hardened scales. Fusion Matter leaked from between them and seeped into the dirt with every long stride it made. The tip of it's pointed face opened a small jaw, flashing tiny, menacing red eyes as it shrieked.

"Those Fusion Striders are too much!" Mandark's voice buzzed. "It's like they're making everything stronger! Ben is trying to hold them back, but it's not looking hot!"

"We'll be right there." Juniper replied back, balling her hands into fists.

"R-Right!" Roxie gulped.

The Fusion Strider craned its lengthy limbs around the crest, a hoard of Fusion Monsters of all shapes and sizes crowding below it. Fusion Spawns, the husks of broken Dexbots, floating rock faces, and mini-aircrafts! They thrashed against tatered fences and tore at the dirt, but were very clearly set on a path towards the glade beyond the Abyss. A shimmer flashed next to Roxie as each of the Crystal Gems pulled their weapons from their gems.

"Is that all you got!?" Amethyst barked at the encroaching enemies. Her form glowed as it grew taller and buffer, donning a new Luchador mask. "BA-RING IT ON!"

"Nothing will stop us from protecting this planet!" Garnet called out as well, but it wasn't like any of the Fusions understood her.

"Let's kick some gooey, green butt!" Juniper grinned,

The women let fierce battle cries loose, rushing forward at the mess of Fusions. They were clearly outnumbered, but even Roxie dashed on with confidence. Her dual pistols fired off, stray bullets rocketing to the frontline. A lone Fusion Spawn exploded after one hit, whereas the others proved more resilient. Thinking quickly, she tipped her aim up to shoot for the eyesight of the monsters.

Several of the Fusions winced and stumbled, just to be knocked flat by Amethyst's whip cracking into them. More Fusions behind them tripped over their comrades, only to groan as they continued on. A Fusion wooden elephant charged in Roxie's direction, but she shot her webs at a nearby post to pull herself away. Instead, the Fusion hammered into a spiked, pink mana wall Gwen constructed in Roxie's place. It shattered on impact, sending sharp shards of mana flying into the surrounding crowd, and melting the elephant.

Dust kicked into the air as Juniper Lee stomped her foot onto the dirt. She held her fists to her side, exhaling before raising her arms upwards. The remainder of Gwen's mana shards all shot from the Fusions they were lodged into, floating in the air at Juniper's command. Her signature smirk smeared across her cheek, then she swung her fists forward in rapid punches. Each swing into the air sent the shards piercing back down into the Fusions.

Pearl leapt into the air, holding her spear below her as she fell back down. The Gem flicked her wrist, spinning her spear inhumanly fast to mow down into the monsters she fell upon. Puddles of Fusion Matter pooled in the cracks of the dirt as Pearl's prey gave in, but the Gem eloquently bounced among the field to land on safe ground. The tip of her spear glowed, a blast of light flying out to cripple another enemy.

Webs attached to the ground near Pearl, pulling Roxie close. She landed in a roll, swiftly stopping on her knee and unloading at the Fusion Dexbot just blasted by Pearl. Its robotic head twitched at Roxie's shot, only to be punctured by Pearl hurling her weapon at it. The spear vanished as Pearl summoned a similar looking trident from her Gem. Before she could use it, Roxie jumped at the Fusion Dexbot, slamming her boots against its hull. Her face grew tense, then all four of her spiderlegs jabbed forward. They twitched with each rapid stab, the Fusion melting away after the flurry.

"You're so cool, dude!" Amethyst laughed as she noticed Roxie. Her oversized Luchador form glowed again, remaining the same but now sprouting four spiderlegs like Roxie's from her back.

She took on Roxie's technique, leaping at a pair of smaller Ghastly Growths and grabbing ahold of their bark. Luchador Amethyst smashed the two together, holding them in place as she used her newly spawned spiderlegs to repeatedly stab them until they melted. With how Roxie is, you'd think she'd scoff in offense at this, but an impressed nod of approval came from her instead.

Amethyst pushed onto a new group, stabbing into them and flinging them out of her way. Garnet joined her side, smacking her gauntlets into the flung Fusions to down them. They effortlessly shoved back their foes, but Garnet flinched as she foresaw the shadow casting above them. The Fusion Strider towered over the two, beginning to stomp one of its spindly legs atop them. The shine of Gwen's magic bubbled around them, protecting them long enough to move before the Fusion Strider's foot shattered through it.

The Strider thrashed its head around, screeching in evident unrest at the girls somehow getting the upper hand. As it shrieked and stomped in a tantrum, the chorus of Fusions surrounding it responded with their own disembodied groans. Whatever this Strider was, it seemed to be empowering the minions trailing it…

Roxie's eyes squinted at the fussy Strider, watching it jab one of its legs at Gwen's direction, but Amethyst snapped her whip at its foot before it could strike. For a moment, her whip wrapped around the leg before releasing on pullback. Roxie's brow furrowed deeper as she thought to herself.

"Uhh!" she weakly muttered to herself. "We need to ground that thing!"

"It does look a little top heavy!" Juniper replied, joining her side.

"My webs!" Roxie exclaimed. "I can use them to tie up the legs…"

"Yeah, yeah!" June grinned. "C'mon, we'll have to get close."

The two started sprinting towards the Strider, though Juniper's speed was respectfully slow enough to keep pace with Roxie. Though, she would continue punching forward as Roxie skidded to a stop. She watched Juniper strike a Fusion with her fist, knocking back into another one, then watched her swivel around to push back other Fusions creeping under the Strider.

The Strider itself shrieked again, stomping around but failing to keep Juniper from hiding beneath it. Before it could move too much, a pink mace shattered into the Strider's face at Gwen's command. The Fusion Strider set its sights on Gwen, but would then get pelted at from behind from Amethyst's whip.

Now was probably the best time to execute her plan while the Strider was distracted. Roxie steeled herself, then aimed her spiderlegs at the Strider's spindly legs and shot. Her web slid across the air of the battlefield, attaching to the Strider's legs. She twirled the tips of her spiderlegs around her webs, tightening her hold as she retracted them back and pulled herself underneath the Strider at rapid speed.

Twick! Squish! Twip!

The air filled with the sound of Roxie's webs flying from her alien limbs as she swiftly swung in between and through the Strider's legs as if they were trees in the jungle. Some of the Fusions below tried reaching up for her and her webs, but Juniper stopped them with her mighty blows. Roxie's speed was nowhere near as fast or impressive as Juniper's, but the spider-girl was almost a blur as she continued to wrap her webs around the Strider's legs and tighten them together.

She pulled on her webs, tying the Strider's legs together in a gooey mess before she rolled to a stop on the ground next to Juniper. She aimed her pistols as Juniper stuck her fingers in her mouth to let a fierce whistle loose. The Strider cried out, but the crowd of Fusions below it had crumbled into puddles. A stray Fusion Spawn left behind seemed to respond to the Strider's cries, and it launched itself as a cannonball at Roxie!

Her eyes grew wide, firing her pistols to no avail as the Fusion Spawn crashed into her hands. She yelped, jumping back and dropping both of her dual pistols. The Fusion Spawn giggled eerily, melting Roxie's weapons before Juniper squashed her boot over it. It withered away into a puddle, but Roxie's weapons were no more.

"Bring 'er down!" Amethyst yelled, her large, spider-legged Luchador form sat held in Garnet's gauntlets. The woman heaved back, then launched Amethyst at the Strider with sheer force.

Amethyst howled as she flew with her arms and legs outstretched, but her own spiderlegs were pointed forward and ready for attack. The Gem crashed into the side of the tied up Strider, sinking her spiderlegs into the side. She held on so that she could continue to stab her spiderlegs into it, but the impact already sent the Strider off balance. Its legs folded in, the creature falling to its knees.

Rock and dust puffed up into the air as the Strider crumpled under Amethyst's form. No huge debris flew out, but a protective barrier erected in front of Roxie and Juniper as Gwen flew to their side. The Strider continued to shriek, interrupted only by the squish of the Fusion's body as Amethyst stabbed into it. The shriek wavered, strangely distorted, slowly tampering out before the Strider, and the stray Fusions still left, melted in defeat.

A quiet haze rested over Huntor's Crest, the women's heavy breathing the only thing now cutting through the distant sound of warfare. Amethyst's body glowed, shrinking as she reverted to her regular appearance free of Roxie's spiderlegs. Garnet and Pearl rushed to meet the others as Gwen dispelled the barrier.

"Nice thinking, kid." Garnet smirked, looking down at Roxie. The girl blushed.

"T- Thank you!" she smiled. "And it's Roxie, by the way…! I just saw how her whip grabbed that thing's legs and… Yup!"

"This chick rules!" Amethyst cheered, clapping her hands as she joined them. The small Gem patted Roxie on the back.

"I mean," Roxie's face flushed as the women complimented her. "Look at what you three did back there with that giant woman!" Her eyes sparkled, then her grin turned to Gwen and Juniper. "And you two just never missed a beat!"

"It could've gone better." Gwen said, eyes lingering at the newly hatched Dark Tree in the distance. "But we still came out on top!"

"My guns, though…" Roxie muttered, looking down to her empty and slightly burned hands.

"We should regroup at Mandark's ship." Juniper looked to the sky, the rumbling of thunder creeping over them. "At least before more Fusions show up here. He should have a backup weapon for you."

"Pshaw!" Amethyst patted Roxie's back again. "Like she needs one! She is one!"

"I…" Roxie gulped. "I appreciate the thought, but I would also like a gun."

"Mandark." Gwen spoke into her NanoCom. "We dealt with the Strider, but we're gonna have to head back to the ship."

"You killed it!?" Mandark's voice buzzed back, seemingly confused. "Uh, yeah, good job! Dexter has already sent a backup group to your location. Ride back with them."

On cue, the roaring engine of a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. faded to life as the K.N.D. aircraft flew into Huntor's Crest. The women watched it descend, landing nearby with the side door sliding open before it made contact with the dirt.

"Roxie!"

The familiar and sometimes annoying voice of Roxie's younger friend, Amp, came from the inside of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. As Roxie blinked, Amp warped directly in front of her, outfitted in armor painted to resemble his usual suit. He grabbed hold of her in a hug, but his sudden appearance shocked the surrounding women.

"Amp?" Roxie shook her head, patting her friend on the back.

"Dexter said you were here and I was already with Jasper and we're in the middle of a fight or else we would've been here way sooner, I promis-!" Amp started to rant into the hug, but Roxie pulled him back and pressed a spiderleg to his lips to shush him.

"I can handle myself, you know that." Roxie smirked. "But I'm glad you're here too."

"Hey!" Jasper's voice called, pulling Roxie's attention to see him hanging out of the door of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. in his pink Academy armor.

"Jas!" Roxie cried out. Still holding onto Amp, she rushed over to the ship's doors. "I need a new gun…"

"C'mon, let's get moving." Jasper nodded, slapping the side of the ship. Gwen and Juniper filed inside, the Crystal Gems turning their sights back at the Dark Tree. "It looks like most of the Fusions are congregating by Dexter's ship. But-"

"Hurry!" Numbuh Two's voice called from the driver's seat, presumably still in the same seat he was when piloting Roxie and friends into the fray. Amp and Roxie finally climbed aboard, but Roxie stopped dead as she looked to the seat to the right of Hoagie's.

In the passenger's seat, fully decked out in a fitted white and purple DexLabs armor and a visor, with an orange Lightning Gun resting in their lap was Roxie's-

"MOM!?"

---

Shortly before Roxie arrived at this epic battle atop Mandark's Carrier, a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. from Mount Blackhead was already en route to Dexter's Carrier over the northern sea… That is until the Hani-Baba Temple erupted with a massive attack on Planet Fusion. Now, with the enemy raining down in the Darklands, Dexter's Carrier had set its course towards the source. Despite the emergency, or perhaps because of, the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. rocketed past the northern sea, coming to land on the carrier as it entered the Firepits.

Within the K.N.D. aircraft sat the crew that left Foster's Home in search of the missing Cheese; Jasper, Frankie, Mac, Bloo, and an increasingly worried Diana Leeblossom. She clung to a window of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R., watching the decaying sky grow worse as they came to land on Dexter's Carrier. The K.N.D. operative who chauffeured them here slid the side door open for them, revealing the deck of Dexter;s carrier bustling with activity.

Dexbots rolled racks of equipment and weapons along the deck, and other Dexbots worked on outfitting themselves with bulkier frames. Several humans in DexLabs employee lab coats worked alongside the robots, helping prepare everyone for whatever was coming. Jasper and his mother stepped out of the smaller ship, taking in the scene.

"This is just perfect!" Frankie groaned. "How much do you want to bet all of this is Cheese's fault!?"

"Twenty bucks!" Bloo eagerly offered, but a striking look from Frankie quelled any further jokes.

"Oh glob, you two shouldn't even be here!" Frankie sighed. "Could this day get any wor-"

"Whoa there, babe." Jasper cut her off, rubbing his hand on her back. "Let's, uh, not say anything before this is over…"

"Agh!" Frankie balled up her fists, stomping a foot on the hull of the carrier. "CHEESE!?" she cried out.

"Should any of us be here?" Diana asked, her voice breaking in fear.

"No." Dexter's voice coldly greeted the group. The scientist dragged his shoes across the deck, stopping with a huff and crossed arms at the crew from Foster's. "Not unless you're prepared to fight."

"Sick." Jasper grinned, pulling his NanoCom from his jeans and tapping on the screen. His pink-tinted armor from the Academy materialized from the NanoCom's inventory. "I always keep this on me."

"Glad to see the internal inventory functions are working as intended." Dexter nodded.

"You dork!" Frankie thwacked Jasper on his side. "Where is Cheese?"

"The… friend… is inside the interior." Dexter sighed. "Leeblossom can stay and fight, but you need to get that Cheese out of here before he ruins everything worse than Dee-Dee!"

"Fine!" Frankie sighed as well. "Whatever… Let's go grab him before things get crazy."

Dexter dipped his head, turning on his heel to lead Frankie, Mac, and Bloo off towards Cheese's location, but Diana remained unmoved as she watched the sky. Jasper pocketed his NanoCom, holding his armor under his arm. He looked to his mother, frowning slightly.

"Frankie can take you back to Foster's." Jasper said, reaching into his pocket and handing her his car keys. "And just take my car home… Or wait with Frankie at Foster's until this blows over."

"Jas…" Diana broke her gaze, reaching out to grab hold of her son's sleeve. "I'm not sure you should be here either."

"This?" Jasper laughed, acting like the scene unfolding was run of the mill. "I took a crash-course training to fight these guys. I've got this!"

"... I have a bad feeling…" Diana muttered, pulling her son close. "I should stay."

"What?" Jasper blinked. "No, mom, what!?"

"Mother's intuition. I should stay and… help."

"Help!?" Jasper's face grew pale as his eyebrows touched the top of his head. "You can't be serious, look at all of this! It's dangerous!"

"Oh really?" Diana smacked her lips, looking over her child. "Don't you think I know that? What have I been telling you and your sister for months, huh?"

"No, mom, it's not like that…" Jasper sighed, realizing his arguments were just going to be used against him. "You work at Malph's, that doesn't really translate to fighting aliens."

"I know how to fight." Diana patted Jasper's arm, her attitude growing stoic. "Living in Townsville, you pick up a few things. Having children like you and Roxanne also added a few tricks to my bag."

"I-..." Jasper stood, mouth agape in defeat. "Roxie's not going to agree with this."

"Scared your mom might one-up you?" Diana laughed. "I know my mother wouldn't approve either."

"Ah, another reason you should go home to safety?" Jasper grinned, but only triggered a raised brow from his mother.

Diana walked off to follow where Dexter disappeared off to with Frankie, leaving Jasper stunned and speechless. He took a beat, watching his mother walk away, before slowly starting to slip his armor over his clothes. He cursed under his breath, running through the possibilities of what could happen to his mother on the battlefield.

Dexter's Aircraft glided through the Firepits, reaching Huntor's Crest and revealing a gigantic Terrafuser planted across the Abysus to the north. As the carrier floated down into Hero's Hollow, several buff and heavily weaponized Dexbots rolled off the side of the deck, plunging into the hoards of Fusions already congregating on the ground. Jasper's thoughts ran rampant at these sights, but he pressed on to continue inside the interior with his mother.

The hustle and bustle present on the deck carried over to inside the hull of the carrier, with Dexbots and employees running in the halls and moving equipment between rooms. The door for the conference room was wide open, and aggravated barks echoed from between Frankie and Dexter. The Leeblossom's quickly entered the room, seeing the two gingers butting heads over an empty glass cage Mac and Bloo inspected.

"What's going on?" Jasper asked, making his presence known in the room.

"He LOST Cheese!" Frankie spat out, eyes buried into Dexter's scowl.

"What kind of Imaginary Friend acts like this!?" Dexter barked back. "He was encased behind bulletproof glass, and monitored by my systems at all times!"

"Then where is he!?" Frankie shared an equally foul scowl.

"If you would let me check!" Dexter huffed, finally breaking eye contact. He stood up straight, adjusting his glasses before moving to the large screen in the conference room. "I walked away for just a moment, so he should be right here!"

"You can't really take your eyes off of him." Mac shrugged. "He does this everytime."

"How…?" Dexter pulled up the security feed of the very room they stood in but minutes ago.

The video feed showed Dexter in the conference room standing next to Cheese encased by the now empty glass. His robotic assistant, Computress, stood next to him, the two of them discussing the beam of energy blasted from the Wilds. They continued their conversation, walking out of the video feed and leaving Cheese alone. The Imaginary Friend looked directly at the camera and waved. The feed stuttered, and suddenly the glass case was empty with Cheese sitting in front of it.

"Thank you, lady!" Cheese's voice giggled in the video. He stretched his arms high, running in a circle around the empty glass cage. "WEEEEE!" he cheered, eventually dashing out of the camera feed. "Bye lady, lady bye, bye, bye lady!"

"Oh, so he teleports too!?" Dexter grumbled, his purple glove crushing under his clenched fist.

"What!? No!" Frankie shook her eyes, eyes now grown in shock.

"Yeah, that's a new one…" Bloo muttered.

"Though, it would explain a lot." Mac shrugged.

"No, no, that's impossible!" Frankie waved her hands. "... Is it?"

"Computress!" Dexter yelled. "Find that Imaginary Friend!"

"Already searching, Dexter." Computress' voice buzzed from the computer.

"Quick!" Bloo pushed Mac. "Find him so he can tell me how to teleport!" He dashed out of the room, Mac trailing behind him.

"Find him before he teleports again!" Dexter added.

"HE CAN'T TELEPORT!" Frankie groaned, throwing her hands in the air and leaving the room.

Dexter rubbed his temples, his glasses raising to his brow under his glove then sliding back into place. He turned back to his computer, tapping on several buttons. A sharp exhale escaped him, leaving Jasper and Diana speechless behind him. On the screen, the icons for many volunteers popped up.

"I've called in all Academy recruits." Dexter said, turning to Jasper. "We should prep you for battle."

"About that-"

"And for me?" Diana asked, looking at Dexter. The boy genius blinked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm going to need armor." Diana nodded, very matter-of-factly. "And a weapon. Not sure I have the upper body strength for a melee weapon, but a nice blaster would be appreciated."

"My mom would like to join the fight…" Jasper shrugged. Dexter blinked between the two of them.

"Tch… You Leeblossom's…" Dexter grumbled.

"Yes?" Diana dipped her head, as if egging Dexter on.

"She says she's capable, but maybe you have some, like, extra strong armor?" Jasper asked, but Dexter just stood shaking his head.

"I'd convince you otherwise, but anyone is allowed to volunteer." Dexter sighed. He tapped a button on his computer. "We have armor for all recruits, but knowing you are Roxie's mother… Well, I have something that will fit you."

A Dexbot rolled into the room, carting a clothing rack with a single suit hanging from the middle. It looked frail and limp, not nearly as bulky as you would assume armor to be. But Dexter gestured a gloved hand toward it, walking over to it with Diana. He grabbed the suit from the neck, handing it over to Diana. He stepped back, and the clothing rack deployed a curtain around Diana.

"Get changed."

Jasper stood uncomfortably, eyes darting between a pensive Dexter and the shuffling muffled by the curtain. After a moment, the curtain retracted and Jasper shook his head. Diana now adorned a skintight purple suit with a yellow star emboldened on her chest. A white utility belt tied around her waist, and her hands were now covered with purple gloves similar to Dexter's. Her eyes were obscured behind an equipped visor, and her long brunette hair was tied back into a ponytail that sat just like her daughter's usual do. Her back had a white, metal pack attached, with two arms extending in a V shape. The woman grinned, taking in her new look and wiping a finger along the DexLabs logo printed on the belt.

"Sheesh…" Jasper looked down at his own armor. "You're flashier than I am."

"This prototype DexStar armor may look frail, but it's reinforced with extra layers of thinly cut titanium."

"DexStar?" Jasper asked.

"Titanium!?" Diana seemed surprised. "It's not heavy."

"Oh, please, don't you know who I am?" Dexter scoffed. "It's designed for protection, not to relegate you to a paperweight."

"It's very stylish." Diana grinned.

"On your back is a jetpack." Dexter continued. "The Hyperpropulsion Chamber installed will smooth your flight."

"Jeez…" Jasper scratched his head. "I'm glad you're well equipped, at least."

"Speaking of, does this suit come with a weapon?" Diana asked. A second Dexbot entered, carrying an orange colored gun with an open space carved out. Diana took it in her hands, and the Dexbots exited.

"This Lightning Gun is standard for new recruits." Dexter said. "Which you are, as of right now."

"Finally, something I can do to bond with my kids!" Diana joked, but neither Jasper nor Dexter laughed.

"I have a pest to catch." Dexter grunted. "And you have a shuttle to catch."

"Right." Jasper shook his head, walking up and grabbing his mother's hand. "You better be smart out there."

"I should be saying that to you!" Diana replied. Her son might be taller than her now, but the tone of her voice conveyed the authority that made her feel larger.

The two left Dexter to stew in the conference room, but failed to see Frankie or the boys in the hall beyond. They looked either way, remaining silent as they walked back to the deck. A disgruntled look fell on Jasper's face, watching his kitted out mother walk in front of him. She was, of course, nervous, but Jasper was bewildered to see her actually looking kind of excited as she led them.

When they stepped out onto the deck, it was filled with even more activity than before. It seemed Dexter's all hands on deck call was pulling in the nearest recruits, as well as a slew of K.N.D. vehicles and operatives swarming the deck. Ships Jasper recognized as Plumber tech flew past the carrier, and the sound of war echoed from below.

Amp jumped out of a landing S.C.A.M.P.E.R., his usual tuxedo replaced by armor painted to mimic his suit. Heather and David unboarded after him, each of them already equipped with their bow and mace respectfully. Seeing Jasper, Amp waved erratically, then warped directly in front of him!

"Hiya!" he excitedly greeted his friend.

"Hey, Amp…" Jasper sighed.

"Ready for another fun day of butt kicking?" Amp grinned, but it slowly turned upside down as he noticed the tension between Jasper and-

"Have you met my mother, Amp?" Jasper gestured to Diana, who smiled back to Amp.

"Diana." she reached out, shaking Amp's hand.

"Oh my!" Amp dipped his head as he bowed. "Roxie and Jasper's mother? I'm so honored!"

"Aren't you adorable?" Diana giggled. Amp blushed, his smile growing wider.

"I'd like to think I am!" Amp took a moment to look over Diana's armor. "Ohmiglob, I didn't realize your mom got down like that. Nice suit!"

"Trust me." Jasper blinked at his mother. "I'm just learning this as well."

"Thank you, Amp." Diana nodded her head, seemingly gesturing down at her get-up. Even the Narrator must agree, she looked great.

"Well, you and Roxie had to get it from somewhere!" Amp directed his cheeky grin to Jasper.

"Touché." Jasper groaned, just as Heather and David joined them. Jasper nodded to Heather, who smiled back to him.

"Oh, David, this is Roxie's brother Jasper." Heather introduced.

"'Sup." David nodded his head.

"And this is their BA mom!" Amp pointed to Diana, who waved to the teens.

"Diana?"

Frankie's voice called from behind them, stepping out of the Carrier's interior with her arms crossed. She was probably stepping out to find Jasper, or more likely looking for that rambunctious Cheese. But instead her eyes were glued to Diana's armor and weapon.
"What is going on here?" she asked.

"I'm going to fight…" Jasper answered. "And mom is coming with me."

"Oh!" Frankie blinked, looking her over. "Well, you look good, Diana."

"Thank you." Diana mused, loving all the compliments. "And Cheese?"

"Even if I knew where he was, I wouldn't be going to fight down there." Frankie sighed. "I have to keep looking for him, but both of you be safe."

"We will, don't worry about us." Diana assured her, reaching out and grabbing her hands.

"Hey, Amp," Jasper kneeled down to his younger friend. "Imaginary Friends can't teleport like you can, right?"

"I dunno." he shrugged in response. "Maybe."

Of course, Jasper didn't expect Amp to actually know if some random Imaginary Friend was capable of using his abilities. Each one is different, and whether or not they had powers was up to their creators. Cheese's creator didn't seem like the type to give him an easier way to be a nuisance. Jasper and Frankie shared a hug before Frankie retreated to continue her search. The rest of them were led to a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. They all bunkered in before the craft took flight to lead them into the fray.

Dexter's Carrier was situated over the large empty valley of the Hero's Hollow. Whatever greenery was left on the trees was already burning away as masses of Fusion trudged against the landscape. The ocean meeting the valley was stained green, the Fusion Matter creeping into the waters to overtake them. As the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. landed, the familiar pink light streak of Blossom Utonium shot past them, knocking a hoard of Fusions awry like bowling pins.

Diana and Jasper stepped out of the vehicle, looking up to the mending wound cut through Planet Fusion. A giant Terrafuser, much like the one they noticed past Huntor's Crest, sat in the distance to the north. The air filled with flying ships from the Plumbers, Providence, and Kids Next Door, each deploying weaponized volunteers to begin fighting back. Mandark's own Carrier loomed at the top of Huntor's Crest to the east.

Heather and David rushed past them, the former covering the latter with her bow and arrows as he ran in close to some rampaging Fusions to wack them with his mace. Above them, Big Chill flew into the scene to release a haze of cold air raining upon the Fusions. The alien came to land as the hoard he flew over froze solid. David's mace shattered a few, but most were broken apart by Blossom circling back around with her fist outstretched.

"Always check your blindspots." Jasper instructed his mother, equipping a heavy baseball bat. "These things are fast, and they want to kill us."

"I'm a parent, I have eyes in the back of my head." Diana nodded, aiming her Lightning Gun with a smirk. "Maybe you'll learn something from me today!"

The rocket packs on the V of Diana's jetpack fired to life, hovering the woman over the ground. She kicked her legs, quickly getting used to the sensation, then aiming forward. Jasper wasn't sure whether to be shocked or impressed as he watched his mother fly straight into a gaggle of Fusions. Her Lightning Gun shot pulses of energy at the beasts in front of her, failing to deter them from approaching her. As she flew close, she reared back, using the gun as a blunt weapon and whipping it across the Fusion's face.

Another Fusion in the shape of a tiny spaceship with blue tentacles leapt at Diana from the side, but she swiftly kicked her legs at it to knock it away. For good measure, she aimed the Lightning Gun and shot several energy pulses at it to down it. Her brown ponytail flipped as she fully somersaulted in the air to face behind her, firing her gun again.

Diana furiously roared as she righted herself in the air, whacking the same Fusion fully with her gun again to melt then, then she flew off to smash against a newly frozen Fusion near Big Chill. Amp had sparkles in his eyes as he jumped and cheered for Jasper's mother in amazement, whereas Jasper himself still watched gobsmacked. Who taught her how to do this? What would Roxie think if she saw this?

Soon Diana joined up arms with Blossom and Big Chill, the three of them working together to freeze, burn, and shatter incoming attackers while Heather covered them with her arrows. Amp finally joined the fray, using his ice-ray to mimic Big Chill's attack plan to freeze the Fusions solid. This gave David enough of an opening to smash his mace against the ice. Diana used her jetpack to get a better vantage point, firing her Lightning Gun below her. Blossom floated up to her side, giving her neighbor a high-five before sending lasers from her eyes down at the same Fusions.

Ok. We get it. Jasper's mom is a badass. By now, he had been watching her for too long without helping. He steeled himself, readying his bat and rushing into the fight. Immediately, he thrusted his bat at a Fusion, knocking it into a combined ice blast from both Big Chill and Amp. Blossom's eye lasers traced along the dirt, moving to cut through the newly frozen beast. With Jasper now in, the group tore through any Fusion in their way. Impressively, not a single one of them were struck by their attackers, and if they came close they were swiftly saved by one of the many eyes on their side watching them.

The sight was honestly kind of embarrassing for the Fusions. The Leeblossom's and friends smashed through these monsters with ease, but it had seemed the surrounding Fusions had taken notice of them. Diana and Blossom noticed from the air a group of Fusion copies trudging towards them. When Big Chill turned his head notice, he paused.

The Fusion Gravattack that surfaced back in the Battle of Forsaken Valley glared its menacing red eyes at the humans, On either side of it followed green, goopy Fusion copies of Rath and Blitzwolfr, and flying above them engulfed in green flames was a Fusion Heatblast! Diana immediately aimed her gun at the Fusion Heatblast and fired!

The energy pulse from her Lightning Gun directly struck Fusion Heatblast in the face, causing it to roll down to the dirt. As it fell, a glob of green flames shot out and unfortunately struck Big Chill right in the face. The alien tumbled back, the Omnitrix symbol beginning to blink before engulfing him in a bright light as he reverted back to Ben's normal appearance.

Seeing this, the Fusion Blitzwolfr planted all fours on the ground, its snout splitting in four directions and unleashing a sonic screech at the group. Diana was knocked back by the sound wave, and Blossom clutched her ears in pain. Heather rushed to Ben's aid, along with Amp who teleported directly to him.

"Are you alright?" Heather asked, helping the boy up. He nodded, but glared at the various different Fusions of himself.

"They're all aliens I've used against them..." Ben muttered, staring directly at Fusion Gravattack.

He lifted his wrist to look at the Omnitrix, the device immediately springing to life as he fiddled with it. Silhouettes of many different forms blinked across the surface, but stalled on one appearing to be a stout humanoid. Ben smashed his other hand over the watch, triggering a transformation coupled with a bright light. His body shrunk, then split apart, leaving three short and white creatures with green eyes and the Omnitrix symbol emboldened on their foreheads.

"Ech-o Ech-o!" the three of them shouted in tandem. Their drawn out tones soothed the ear in perfect harmony.

"We need to-" the first Echo Echo spoke.

"Separate them." a second finished the sentence. Suddenly, the Echo Echos all split apart again, each creating another copy of themselves to leave six in total.

"They'll crush us together but-"

"We can exploit them apart." Two different Echo Echos spoke.

"Ok!" Amp smirked. "Let's widen the playing field."

The boy grabbed ahold of two Echo Echos, startling them for a moment before warping away with them. They reappeared behind the Fusions of Gravattack, Rath, and Blitzwolfr where Amp deposited them. He disappeared, reappearing next to Heather and the Echo Echos and grabbing two more. Amp teleported these two directly next to the grounded Fusion Heatblast, and after he warped back to grab more, these Echo Echos multiplied again to create a ring of them surrounding the Fusion Heatblast.

The Echo Echos all screeched, pelting Fusion Heatblast with their own sonic blast. It howled in pain, pulling Blossom close so she could directly blast it with her laser eyes. Though, her attack only connected for a moment before her center of gravity was disrupted. The Fusion Gravattack had its bulky arms outstretched, shifting Blossom's gravity and pulling her closer. Fusion Rath set its sights on her, kneeling down and pouncing upwards!

Before it could slash into Blossom, Diana fired her weapon, striking the Fusion and knocking it out of the air. A grunt came from Fusion Gravattack, its hold on Blossom failing as the two Echo Echos placed behind it duplicated into a small herd of Echos that pounced on the Fusion's body. Blossom gave Diana a thumbs up as she righted herself, then shot her laser eyes back down at the Fusion Heatblast.

By now, Amp had spread the Echo Echos throughout the battlefield, and each pair copied themselves into gaggles of minions. Heather started to help several of them hold the perimeter, but the rest of them set their targets on the Fusion Bens. One group successfully led Fusion Blitzwolfr away from the others, using their sonic screens to incapacitate it and allow David to wail his mace against it.

The Fusion Rath just pulled itself up after being shot out of the sky, only to be met by Jasper's baseball ball crashing against its face to knock it back down. Several Echo Echos helped him bash down on the Fusion, interrupted only by the nearby Fusion Heatblast exploding in a burst of flames. The blast knocked back the surrounding Echos, all of which burned to a crisp and faded away. Now freed, Fusion Heatblast rocketed upwards, crashing right into Blossom.

The Powerpuff winced, whimpering lightly as Fusion Heatblast clasped its hand around her neck. The Fusion Matter tingled at her skin, only growing more painful as it tightened its grip and erupted its body into Fusion Matter flames. The engines on Diana's jetpack fired to life, boosting her altitude in order to help Blossom, but then her center of gravity shifted.

Fusion Gravattack furiously shook its rough body, flinging the glomping Echo Echos off and directing its abilities to stop Diana's pursuit. The Fusion's mouthless face seemed to smirk, then it violently thrashed its arms down. As if she was tied to its arms, Diana was immediately flung down, smacking into the dirt with enough force to concave the ground and kick up dust.

"Mom!" Jasper shouted, immediately ditching his assault on Fusion Rath to rush at Fusion Gravattack, He raised his bat with a roar, but the Fusion held up a hand at him. Jasper froze in place, his mouth eerily stuck open and bat stuck stretched above his head. With a simple flick of the Fusion's hand, Jasper was flung off in the other direction.

A high-pitched giggle echoed from the Fusion Gravattack, its glaring red eyes scanning the field as Jasper crashed into the ground near his mother. In the fall, he lost grip on his baseball bat. Jasper groaned as he laid with his back on the dirt, shifting slightly to see his bat laying on the ground behind him and his mother, who also stirred painfully.

"I told you… This was a bad idea…" Jasper groaned.

"I'm ok." Diana assured her son, but the pain was clearly laced in her voice. The two brought themselves to their feet, glancing at each other. "That was nothing."

"Go home, mom." Jasper grunted, reaching down to snatch up his bat.

Though before Jasper could grab his bat, the familiar 'thwip!" the Leeblossom's knew from Roxie's webs cut the air between them. Jasper blinked, seeing a green web attached to his bat that swiftly tugged it out of his reach, and into the paws of a Fusion Spidermonkey.

The Fusion simian lacked a mouth like most of the other Fusions, but Jasper couldn't help but feel like it was smirking at him as it effortlessly snapped his bat in half. It dropped the pieces, one of which completely melted in the grasp of the Fusion Matter coating the monster.

At the very least, it seemed one group of the Echo Echos managed to down the Fusion Blitzwolfr, leaving a puddle of Fusion Matter behind as they all lept away. The little guys had impressive hops, several of them seemingly flying up to reach Blossom's height. Two of the Echo Echos managed to grab ahold of the Fusion Heatblast, distracting it long enough for its grip on Blossom to loosen.

A blast of pink energy erupted from the Powerpuff Girl, knocking back the Fusion to free herself. Only one Echo Echo hung on, the other releasing a sonic screech at the Fusion Heatblast before it hit the ground. Now painted with anger, Blossom flew close, inhaling deeply before exhaling a haze of ice cold air upon the Fusion Heatblast, (and unfortunately the attached Echo Echo as well.) The green flames emitting from the Fusion quickly tampered out at the cold, and her ice breath froze the beast solid.

The other Echo Echos had joined with Diana and Jasper, the latter taking a step behind his mother now that he was unequipped. The Fusion Spidermonkey snarled at them, hissing as it leapt forward… Only for a block of solid ice to come crashing out of the sky, colliding with Fusion Spidermonkey! Both it and the ice block containing the Fusion Heatblast and misplaced Echo Echo exploded on impact, sending shards of ice and globs of Fusion Matter erratically amongst them.

Diana and Jasper glanced up to see Blossom, breathing heavy after she used her force to lob the frozen Fusion down at the fight. The Fusion Spidermonkey might've destroyed Jasper's weapon, but at least Blossom managed to get rid of it before it could do any real damage. She lowered to the ground near Diana and Jasper, and Amp blinked into existence between them.

"You're awesome, Bloss!" Amp cheered. Blossom's battle scowl quickly turned to a smile as she floated to them.

"Are any of you hurt?" Blossom asked, but they all shook their heads in response.

"The monkey took my bat." Jasper frowned. "I'm kind of a sitting duck here."

"It's alright." Blossom glanced over to the remaining foes.

Fusion Rath had righted itself, and now engaged in paw-to-mace combat with David. The Fusion's claws ripped at his weapon, but David kept it situated just right to block any blows to his person. David might have been outmatched if not for several Echo Echos fighting alongside him, distracting Fusion Rath with their small punches and annoying screeches.

The other Echo Echos left were flinging themselves at the Fusion Gravattack, smashing into its rough Fusion Matter skin and bashing into it. When it would use its gravitational ability to pluck the many Echo Echos off of itself, another mass would duplicate and join aboard. From a safe distance, Heather timed her shots to send arrows at the monster just after its gravity ability was used. Blossom nodded at this sight.

"I can handle these freaks." she said. "Call a S.C.A.M.P.E.R., Dex can get you another weapon."

"Damn it…" Jasper said in a hush, but did as his old neighbor said and called for transport through his NanoCom.

"No, it's alright." Blossom assured him. "Thank you for your help here, I just want you to be equipped for this."

"I get it…" Jasper sighed, smiling softly. A S.C.A.M.P.E.R. fluttered down, landing nearby. "Thanks."

"I'm coming with you." Diana said. "But we'll be right back for the fight!"

"Good." Blossom chuckled. "You're gonna have to teach me your moves, Miss Leeblossom!"

"Oh Glob…" Jasper groaned, starting a sprint off towards the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

Diana shared a laugh with Blossom, but followed her son to climb aboard the K.N.D. ship. Amp also joined them, using his teleportation ability to blink right up to the side of the ship. Numbuh Two greeted them from the pilot's seat, and quickly fired the engines to get the vehicle off the group. From the windows, they watched Blossom's pink light shoot back into the fray to smack into the Fusion Gravattack, and send a few Echo Echos flying as well.

"What is wrong!?" Dexter's voiced buzzed through everyone's NanoComs. Amp pulled his own out, revealing a live video of Dexter projected from his screen. He narrowed his gaze, looking directly at Amp. "Did you mess something up again?"

"Who? Me?" Amp snickered. "Oh, no, no, no, no, I've been a very good Fusion fighter. We're coming to get a new weapon for Jasper!" Amp shifted the position of his NanoCom, aiming the projection of Dexter towards Jasper and Diana.

"Very well, make haste." Dexter solemnly replied. "Miss Leeblossom, I pray the suit is working out for you?"

"Indeed!" Diana grinned.

"Good." Dexter paused. "I'm also sure you'd like to know your daughter is now on the battlefield."

"... Oh!" Diana blinked. "... I suppose that makes sense!"

"Where is she?" Jasper asked the hologram.

"Seems her squad just dispatched a hoard in Huntor's Cres-"

"Take us to her." Jasper barked at Numbuh Two.

"Oh, yeah!" Amp smirked. "Let's go complete the team!"

"Uhm, ok, I guess." Numbuh Two shrugged.

"Don't dilly-tally." Dexter's voice buzzed. "We'll need that S.C.A.M.P.E.R. for transport still."

"Hold onto your lunchboxes." Numbuh Two shrugged again.

The call disconnected from Amp's NanoCom and the boy fell back as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. fired into the sky. Numbuh Two had his foot firmly planted over the gas pedal, pulling back hard on the wheel to steer the vehicle up. By now, the fight they retreated from blended into the rest of the assault, but a considerable amount of Fusions had taken to the shadow left by the looming DexLabs Carrier.

Nearing Huntor's Crest, Jasper and Diana now saw the first impossibly large Terrafuser they had passed was gone, replaced by a large and dark Fusion Matter tree. Despite the threatening sight, tons of K.N.D., Plumber, and Providence soldiers filled the grounds signifying the resistance's high ground. Numbuh Two brought the vehicle to the ground, but Amp was already rolling the side door open to warp onto the ground.

"Roxie!" he cried, blinking directly in front of his friend on the ground and snatching her up in a hug. His armor clanked against her interesting K.N.D. armor.

"Amp?" Roxie said dazed, lightly tapping his back. Behind her, Gwen Tennyson and Juniper Lee approached, all three of the girls showing signs of a recent fight.

"Dexter said you were here and I was already with Jasper and we're in the middle of a fight or else we would've been here way sooner, I promis-!" The boy's fast words were blocked by one of Roxie's spiderlegs pressing against his lips.

"I can handle myself, you know that. But I'm glad you're here too."

Jasper stuck his head out of the opened S.C.A.M.P.E.R. door. "Hey!" he yelled out, waving a hand at his little sister. She rushed over to him, dragging Amp alongside her.

"I need a new gun…"

"Roxs…" Jasper sighed with relief at the sight of his sister, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "C'mon, let's get moving. It looks like most of the Fusions are congregating by Dexter's ship."

"Hurry!" Numbuh Two called from the driver's seat.

Gwen and Juniper took heed of the operative's call, and quickly boarded the ship. Diana smiled, dipping her head to them as they entered, and catching Jasper's eye. Oh Glob, Diana. Roxie's about to walk in here and see her, fully decked out like a classic comic book hero. Jasper panicked for a moment, turning to stall Roxie from stepping aboard.

"But-!"

His quick attempt to tell her in advance was mute, as Amp and Roxie were already climbing aboard during his brief moment of panic. Amp took a seat next to Juniper as carelessly as ever, but Roxie now stood with the same expression Jasper had painted over his face earlier. Diana extended her warm smile to her daughter as she entered.

"MOM!?"

"Hello, sweetheart!"

"What the heck are you doing here!? Why do you look like that!?"

"Like what?" Diana glanced down to her armor. "I thought I looked pretty hot myself."

"Mom!" Roxie huffed. Jasper slid the door shut behind her, then rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't even bother."

"Dude!" Roxie jerked a spiderleg at her brother, whacking him in the face. "You're ok with this!?"

"You freakin' stupid?" Jasper snapped back in a hush, as if to hide this from their mother. "Of course not!"

"Ahem!" Diana cleared her throat, drawing the wide eyes of her children.

"Actually, Roxie," Amp leaned in. "Your mom was, like, so super totally killer out there, like, did you know she knows how to fly? And I've never seen anyone pistol whip something with a rifle before, so she's like-"

"Not helping." Roxie groaned.
"Really, kids, calm down." Diana rose from her seat, walking over to Jasper and Roxie. "Both of you… You two smacked me in the face when you told me you actually wanted to be out here, fighting with these Fusions. No parent ever wants to hear their kids say something like that, especially after all the pain and loss we saw these things do… But the two of you told me about how growing up around all the crazy stuff in this town taught you how to be strong, and I thought… I thought of how courageous you two are."

"After what happened to your friends, Roxanne… After disrupting our entire lives, you both looked at it all and decided you had to put yourselves back in it to help other people. I guess it makes sense when you live your entire life looking up to superheroes… Of course, thinking about the two of you out there scared me. It still scares me, but knowing how brave you are…"

Their mother choked up, tears welling in her eyes behind her visor. Jasper pulled her into a hug that Roxie joined, but Diana stifled back her emotions with a chuckle. Her kids grew teary eyed as well, though Jasper shared his mother's chuckle. When he pulled back, Roxie stayed latched to her mother.

"It just got me thinking that if I raised two amazing kids willing to risk their lives to protect those they love, then I need to get back out there and do the same." Diana patted Roxie's back. "I already told your brother, I've picked up quite a few tricks over the years, and if anything else, all families need to bond somehow."

"Mom…" Roxie sniffled against her mother's armor. She pulled away looking up to her.

"My sweet girl…" Diana smiled back, rubbing her thumb across her daughter's cheek. "I love you both so much."

"I love you too."

"... She did kick some major butt out there." Jasper sheepishly admitted, triggering Amp to grin.

"You're darn right, I did!"

"Wh- Where did you even get this?" Roxie looked at Diana's armor, running her hand along the side before pulling it back.

"That little Dexter boy-"

"What!?" Roxie blinked. "Why did he make something like this in a woman's size?"

An awkward silence fell between them all, each of them genuinely pondering the question. Even Numbuh Two raised his brow in thought as he piloted the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. through the sky. Mandark's Carrier remained stationed at the peak of Huntor's Crest, but Dexter's had nudged closer to the other giant Terrafuser left on the battlefield.

Just as Jasper mentioned, masses of Fusions congregated under Dexter's Carrier, but Earth's forces were fully engaged in efforts to shove them off. A light blue streak painted through the monsters with Blossom's pink light now, but no one had noticed a trio of other light streaks sneaking far above the Carriers.

Numbuh Two took the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to the deck of the DexLabs Carrier, landing it with a thud. Hoagie jumped from his seat, scrambling to slide the door open and exit to the commotion of the deck. Amp jumped out after him, waving to various Dexbots like he had been personally acquainted with them.

"I should check with the Plumbers." Gwen said, exiting the vehicle. The rest of the group followed behind. "And Ben."

"And we've got to fill our inventories back up." Jasper nodded, placing his hand on Roxie's shoulder.

"Be safe, Gwendolyn." Roxie looked at Gwen, who nodded back to her.

"You too, good luck, Roxie." she smiled.

Juniper hung back with Gwen, who pulled out her NanoCom to pull up a call with her grandfather. Somehow, Amp had already wandered off and disappeared into the crowd, but for all they know he could just pop back in front of them at any moment. At least he'd come back to them, unlike that dastardly Cheese.

It didn't appear like he had turned up yet though, and Roxie only saw an extremely distressed Frankie walking up to them alongside an equally disgruntled Dexter. His signature lab coat was missing now, leaving him in a black, long-sleeved turtleneck usually hidden by it. He angrily pushed his sleeves up to his elbows as he approached.

"Hi, Frankie." Roxie offered a wave, but she could tell now was not the time for pleasantries. Her tone soured as she turned to the ginger boy. "Dexter."

"Roxie." he offered back in the same irritated tone. "You lost your guns, I've heard?"

"Make fun of me later." Roxie crossed her arms.

"Oh, I will." Dexter rolled his eyes. He looked off, gesturing for someone to come close. Chad Dickson answered his call, hustling over to the group.

"Chad?" Roxie blinked, noticing the boy. She seemed even more shocked to see a number painted on his K.N.D.-themed gear, unlike hers.

"I didn't know you were a volunteer, Roxie." Chad greeted them. "That armor looks good on you."

"I didn't know you were one either." she tilted her head at him, blushing lightly at his comment.

Chad and Roxie might've been in the same grade, but these two never really talked outside of school events. And considering the state of the school for the past few months, she definitely haven't seen him lately. She always thought he was cute and mysterious, though she'd never admit that she had a crush on him back in middle school.

"Oh, yeah!" Chad looked at the 274 on his chest, chuckling lightly. "Sure am."

"The Leeblossom's need new weapons." Dexter gruffly told Chad.

"I feel like I do too." Frankie said with a snarl in her lip.

"No luck with Cheese?" Jasper asked, immediately realizing he asked a stupid question as his girlfriend glared at him.

"Something's messing with us, and I don't think it's Cheese." Frankie sighed. "We've looked everywhere. I've half-tempted to give Mac some chocolate and let him run around and find him."

"Even when my scans show his location, he just vanishes again!" Dexter shook his head. "It's no matter. We will find the pest AND deal with these Fusions… I just need to… I need to think."

He grumbled to himself again, crossing his arms and pacing for a moment. Frankie looked at him, and eventually trailed after him when he diverted from the group. The Leeblossom's watched them, but Roxie quickly swapped her attention back to her old crush. Chad smiled at her, but he seemed stressed as well.

"You need weapons?" Chad smirked. "My guys have some great ones for you guys."

He led them over to a group of K.N.D. agents unloading several shiny crates out of a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. One operative cracked a silver one open, revealing layers of 2x4 weapons stacked inside. Diana held onto her own gun, but curiously peaked into the crates to browse the goods. Chad reached into one and pulled a red sword from it.

"The Kids Next Door put Dex's tech to good work." Chad said, brandishing the sword. "Just pick whatever feels right."

"Well, actually, I had two guns…" Roxie spoke up.

Jasper immediately pried into a golden crate, reaching in to pull out a pink guitar. He looked it over, running his fingers along the streams and realizing it wasn't just a weapon but a functional guitar. A smirk slid across his face.

"Looks like Val Hallen's axe." Jasper laughed.

"Yeah, that shattergun is a replica." Chad answered.

"Gun?" Jasper tilted the weapon around, noticing the barrel of the gun opening at the tip of the axe. "I thought this was a swinging weapon… But it's both!"

"Uh, sure?" Chad deposited his sword back into the crate. "You said two guns, Roxie?"

She nodded in response, causing Chad to jump over to another crate. He rummaged through it for a moment, then unveiled a double barreled gun fashioned together with two milk jugs. It honestly looked quite crude, slapped together with… wood and hot glue maybe? What are those kids doing next door? But sure enough, Chad came back to Roxie with the milk jug weapon in hand.

"The boys in the lab called this the Milk Magnum," he explained. "It shoots like a pistol, and…" He grinned at her, showing her a second trigger built into the gun. When he pressed it, a snap clicked, and he easily pulled the two milk jugs apart into two separate guns. "They just click back together too."

"Whoa." Roxie blinked, actually impressed that the child-made weapon easily split like that. Chad clicked the jugs back into a single, double-barreled gun, then handed it over. Roxie took it and split the guns apart herself, then put them back together. "And they, like, really work?"

"I know it looks a little cruddy, but the Kids Next Door have better stuff than Dexter does." Chad laughed. He quickly leaned in, whispering to Roxie. "Don't tell him that though."

Blush sat on her face again as Roxie mimicked zipping her lips shut. Jasper had now equipped the gun-guitar in the way it was intended as a weapon, practicing his aim before Roxie approached to do the same with her new weapon.

"Alright!" Chad cried out. "Kids Next Door, battlestations!"

A flurry of the young soldiers scrambled at his command, handing more weapons out and boarding their vehicles with fierce war cries. Roxie looked around, but noticed Chad was gesturing for her to join him in his S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Jasper and Diana were already answering the call.

"Listen up, guys!" Chad said to the Leeblossom's and other volunteers who climbed aboard. "We've got to hit that giant Terrafuser down there with all we got. Let's get these Fusions pushed back and make them regret ever picking a fight with Earth!"

He heaved against the door to slam it shut, though Amp managed to teleport his way inside while it closed. He tumbled into Roxie as he reappeared, snickering wildly as he did so.

The battle had grown since Roxie and Jasper left to get new weapons. The orange-tinted airship of the Saturday's floated above the hollow, firing weapons down through the Fusions and at the giant Terrafuser. Smaller fighter jets belonging to the military flew under the Saturday's, deploying their own weaponry at the mess below.

In addition to the armies of the Plumbers, Providence, and K.N.D., a new sect had flooded onto the battlefield all outfitted in white and purple jetpacks. By Glob, they were all monkeys! Apes of various size and breeds all thrashed against the Fusions, using their armor and jetpacks to disorient and down their enemies. These apes were, of course, led by the typically nefarious Mojo Jojo, who piloted an anthropomorphic mecha of his helmet.

For every Fusion downed, another seemed to take its place. It seemed that the Fusion Rath was no longer on the battlefield, but Blossom was still struggling against the Fusion Gravattack as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. landed with the Leeblossom's. The family looked between each other, all understanding the unspoken words from their eyes. The door slid open, and they all rolled out ready for action.

A rift rocked from Jasper's guitar, firing three blasts of energy from the tip off at the Fusion Gravattack. It was too busy trying to knock Blossom out of the sky to see the attack coming, and looked off at Jasper in a daze. Its glaring red eyes were instead met by a glob of Roxie's spider-webs, followed by another wad smacking behind it. A hollow groan echoed from the Fusion, its stone hands raising in attempts to use its power.

Blossom grounded herself, avoiding the Fusion's gravitational pull. Though, thanks to Roxie's webs he was just blindly aiming. Blossom's eyes lit up with flame, her lasers shooting out to burn at Fusion Gravattack's feet, and giving Diana the opening to use her jetpack and fly in close, shoving the barrel of her Lightning Gun between its eyes and firing.

Another hollow groaned creaked out of the beast, finally crumbling under the pressure. Both Diana and Blossom retreated back to Roxie and Jasper, watching the Fusion Gravattack melt away. Amp warped next to them as well, giving Roxie a high five.

"Thanks for the assist." Blossom chuckled.

"Where's Ben?" Jasper asked, noticing the severe lack of any Echo Echos around. Blossom jetted her head forward, drawing their eyes to another fight in front of them.

A Pyronite floated in the air, blasting flames down at a melting Fusion. At first, Roxie assumed this was Ben, but when he swiveled around to aim his flames at another Fusion, she didn't see an Omnitrix emblem. No, that was fashioned against the chest of a large, orange canine that tore its claws into a Fusion of… Sheep? Roxie recognized the odd amalgamation of the medical Sheep she had fought with Boomer just days ago.

If Ben was transformed as Wildmutt, then that must mean that the Pyronite is-

"Alan!" Roxie cried out. The Pyronite peaked over at her with a smirk but continued his assault against the Fusion Sheep.

Beyond them sat the skyscraper-lengthed Terrafuser towering over the hollow. Roxie thought the one that hatched that Dark Tree was big, but this one had much more width. A green streak of light burst out of it, revealing a Fusion Blossom in the sky. Tentacles protruded from the base of the Terrafuser, much like the ones Roxie recognized from Fusion Lairs. They split apart, the Fusion Samurai and Professor Plutonium stepping out from between them.

This Terrafuser was different than the one with the tree… This one seemed more stable, and Fusion Blossom and Fusion Jack weren't the only monsters it was hiding. One by one, more Fusion copies started pouring out the sides of the Terrafuser, screams of agony joining each other in a horrific chorus.

Planet Fusion loomed larger than life in the sky, almost as if it was actively watching the scene unfold here. The power of the Hani-Baba's Prophecy should have obliterated the planet, at least, if Them was telling the truth, yet it remained. The wound left by the blast of energy still continued to stitch itself back together, the width of the hole shrinking every minute.

A second streak of light exploded from the other end of the Terrafuser, a Fusion of Bubbles joining her twisted sister. An army of duplicates marched below led by the demented Samurai, each of the minions being a duplicate of Townsville's own. Numbuh One, Fuzzy Lumkins, Cooplowski, Robot Jones, and even the three Ed boys… Each of them had a Fusion counterpart marching forward.

The Fusion Powerpuff Duo shot globs of Fusion Matter down at Wildmutt and Alan, both of which narrowly avoided them and hung back. Alan took to the ground, but Wildmutt reverted back to Ben. The Fusion Sheep's limbs and head shifted along its body, just like Roxie saw the one she already fought do, and hissed aimlessly.

"That's a lot of bad guys…" Roxie gulped.

"Sure is." Blossom smashed her own fist against her palm. "But there's more of us."

Metal creaked behind them as Sector V's H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. bounced down to the battlefield. The robotic rabbit snarled, it's head flipping open to reveal Numbuhs Three and Four seated side by side. Weaponized K.N.D. operatives and militarized Dexbots and Mandroids rolled up with them, as did the slew of other soldiers from all of Earth's defences including Atomic Betty, Chad, Holden, and the rest of Sector V. There were even several of The Steve's Teen Ninjas among them.

A shimmer gleaned from the sky, paired with a rock'n'roll rift. The Infraggable Krunk lept from the gleam, shaking the ground as he slammed his fists with a roar. When the gleam vanished, it left behind three figures dramatically posing; Val Hallen, Miss Spell, and White Tiger. Despite their missing leader, the Justice Friends had banded together for the first time in the invasion! Another rift rocked from Val Hallen's mighty axe, sending a wave out that halted all Fusions.

They weren't the only superheroes making their appearance, the eco-friendly Captain Planet flying into the scene alongside… Retired superheroes Space Ghost and Birdman…? Those guys are older than the Justice Friends, and their current lines of work didn't exactly match up to something of this scale. Nevertheless, they were here, donning their classic spandex and readying themselves.

In a puff of smoke, Them's being materialized on the battlefield. They flicked their wrist, triggering other demons to spawn; Demongo, Nergal, … Fred Fredburger? At least he was stuffed into some shining knight's armor. Mojo and his Monkey Minions crowded around them with hoots and hollers, as did an older woman in a blue suit, Agent Honeydew.

By now, Roxie saw the readied army amassed behind her. Heather and David were here, and Gwen and Juniper Lee were both back in the fight. Gwen's boyfriend, Kevin, was with them, his body transformed into steel, and Rook marched on with a heavy gun. Even Gwen's Professor Hex was here, his classic villainous hood wrapped around his neck.

Bubbles' light streak twinkled as the blonde came to Blossom and Roxie's sides, joined also by a tiny, orange streak. In front of the girls, the Powerpuff Pet, Bullet the Squirrel, triumphantly struck a battle pose with a fierce look to the Fusions. She chirped something unintelligible to Roxie, but it got a snicker out of Bubbles.

"Bullet said she's ready to get this over with." Bubbles translated. "And I like the sound of that."

"... Yeah!" Roxie shouted. She pumped her fist airward, glaring off at the Fusions. "Don't you freaks see who you're messing with? You can destroy our buildings, infect our streets… Hurt my friends…! But you'll never tear us apart."

"I couldn't have said any better, Spidermonkey." Ben grinned. His Omnitrix glowed, engulfing him in a bright light as his body grew taller. As if barking back at the Fusion's groans, Ben echoed a deep, beastly roar as the light faded to reveal his Vaxasaurian form; "Humungousaur!"

Various cries echoed back from Earth;s forces; K.N.D. cheers, Plumber salutes, and Monkey Minion hooting. Heroes and villains banded together. Roxie aimed her new pistols, shaking under the might of another roar from Humungousaur. The dinosaur-like alien began to grow in size, thrusting a pointed finger forward.

"It's Hero time." the dinosaur snarkily smirked.

The ground quaked under the fully grown Humungousaur's steps, but it didn't deter a single member of Earth's resistance from rushing with their guns blazing alongside him. Those who could fly kicked into the sky, including Bullet the Squirrel who was the first to strike against the Fusions. Her orange light sniped right through the head of the Fusion Samurai leading the pack, living up to her namesake and knocking it back into its lackeys.

Humungousaur slammed his fists down upon the hoard of Fusions, most of which tried to avoid being crushed only to dodge into attacks from Earth's forces. The Justice Friends pelted through the aliens, smashing them to puddles of what they once were.

Amp grabbed hold of Jasper, teleporting both of them above the Fusion Eds. Jasper's gun mimicked the melody rocking from Val Hallen's own axe, firing multiple energy pulses down at the Fusions before Amp teleported them back to the ground. As soon as they reappeared, Jasper fired again, coupled with Amp firing rock-hard snowballs from his ice ray.

Them's shadow moved like a wave across the Fusions, their body growing transparent and gliding into the mob. Each one they passed through convulsed, shrieking in pain. Unfortunately for them, it was the perfect opening for strikes from Demongo and Juniper Lee. Behind them, Gwen's appearance shined in her Lucky Girl-guise again, and she held her arms out to conjure a pink mana armor around June. Her suped up fists now obliterated Fusions with ease.

Another quake vibrated the dirt as Humungousaur beat his fists again, but Roxie was mid web swing. She dodged the vibrations, pulling her Milk Magnum apart and firing down into the Fusions. She rolled to a stop, firing off her webs again towards the feet of Fusion Robot Jones, Her spiderlegs jerked the webs back, tugging the Fusion's legs and toppling it to its side. From above, Diana used her jetpack to fly over and fire her Lightning Gun down at the Fusion.

"Ooh, hey, Di!" giggled a feminine voice. Flying next to Diana was the pink-cladded witch of the Justice Friends, Miss Spell. She gave the woman a high five, and fired a bolt of magical energy down with her other hand. "Long time no see! You're looking amazing!"

"You haven't lost your touch!" Diana replied to her old friend with a wink.

"Teaming up without me?" another voice called from Roxie's direction. Agent Honeydew stepped forward and waved at the two floating women.

"Oh, Honey!" Diana cheered. "Look at us, the girls are back together!"

"What even…?" Roxie blinked, watching the interaction between her mother and these two women she had never met before.

The Fusion Robot Jones melted under Diana's fire, but now the Fusion Sheep had started stomping in Roxie and Honeydew's direction. Roxie's NanoCom glowed red, summoning her Nano Sheep she earned from her last battle with this creature. It bleeted in the Fusion's direction, causing it to slow and buckle as the Nano drained its energy.

Before Roxie could react, Agent Honeydew leapt at the monster. Two batons extended from her hands which she gripped tightly as she bashed them down on the Fusion Sheep's face. Diana's jetpack shot her down to the monster as well, bashing her rifle against it and firing off. Both Honeydew and Diana traded blows, disorienting the Fusion who started to wail hollowly.

Miss Spell's hands glowed as she descended alongside the women. She thrusted her hands at the Fusion, her eyes behind her mask sharing the glow as energy in the form of lightning buzzed from her fingers. They zapped the Fusion, making its cries grow worse. Miss Spell wrapped her arms around in a circle, telekinetically snatching the Fusion from the ground.

The witch tossed another magical lightning bolt at the Fusion, but her friends were already taking full advantage of the creature's suspended position. Roxie didn't know Agent Honeydew, but she looked like the type of woman to be furiously kicking and striking Fusion Sheep. Her mother? This was a side of her Roxie had quite literally never seen. Who even are these women that know her?

Even if the Fusion Sheep had the chance to get a hit in, it wouldn't matter. If these aliens could get bruises, this thing would be covered in them. It'd probably be bleeding, as Diana alternated between physically striking it and shooting it, and Honeydew dragged her batons through the Fusion Matter wool. Miss Spell decided her old friends had done enough, so she lifted the Fusion higher before throwing her hands down to smash the Fusion into a puddle on the ground.

Diana and Miss Spell came to the ground, where the three immediately started to celebrate with Honeydew. Quick hugs were exchanged, but each of them still looked about for any incoming threats.

"Fancy seeing you here." Honeydew smirked to Diana, who playfully shoved her.

"And it's so like her not to call first!" Miss Spell added with a giggle.

"Didn't really picture myself here but," Diana smiled, and looked at Roxie who walked over. "My daughter here inspired me to take up arms."

"Hi…?" Roxie waved.

"Oh my goodness!" Miss Spell reached out to shake Roxie's hand. "And hello to you!"

"These are my old friends, Honey and Spell!" Diana introduced. Roxie looked between them, dumbfounded.

"... You're friends with a Justice Friend!?" Roxie blurted out. "What the-!? Do you know Major Glory? Is that where you learned all of this?"

"Here and there, some." Diana shrugged. "You're friends with superheroes too, your mom can't be?"

"It's like it was just yesterday." Agent Honeydew sighed. "You know, Di, Global Security wouldn't mind pulling you out of retirement for this, if you're feeling feisty."

"Let's not get too crazy, love." Diana laughed, but Roxie's expression just grew even more confused.

"Global Security!?" she shook her head. "Mom!?"

"Oh, looks like we've got to tell you all the embarrassing stories we know about Di!" Miss Spell laughed, making Diana blush. "Of course, after dealing with these…" The pink witch flicked her wrist, lips souring at the Fusions. "Pests…"

"Right." Honeydew's eyes narrowed as she looked at the other Fusions clashing against Monkey Minions and Plumber S.A.C.T Agents. "It's time to make these creatures regret this reunion."

Agent Honeydew leapt into the air, suddenly being boosted forward by Miss Spell using her magic to send her careening into a pile of Fusions. Her batons rapidly twirled between her fingers, shredding through the Fusion Matter and sending it flying into the air. When she launched one enemy up, Diana blasted it with her Lightning Gun.

Roxie finally stopped just gawking at the women, shooting her webs to pull herself next to Honeydew and jabbing her spiderlegs through a Fusion behind her. Honeydew grinned, returning the favor by flinging one of her batons like a dart into the skull of another Fusion creeping behind Roxie.

An agitated growl hummed from Humungousaur, the alien swatting at his face as both Fusion Powerpuffs buzzed around him like flies. Another roar rang out, the Crystal Gems reassemble as Alexandrite and crashing down next to the dino-alien. One of Alexandrite's hands snatched the Fusion Blossom from the sky and squeezed her into juice in the palm of her hand. The monstrous mouth lining the Gem Fusion's face snarled open, chomping at the air.

Mojo Jojo piloted his mech alongside Alexandrite and Humungousaur, the three towering figures kicking and mowing through the mob of Fusions. The Justice Friends and other heroes followed behind their thundering steps, finishing off all the mobs who didn't succumb under the stomps. Birdman and Space Ghost flew level with the giants' shoulders, focusing their attacks on the leftover Fusion Bubbles to pull her away.

Roxie followed as well, but the other heroes were taking up the brunt of the work. The craziest part was watching sweet Diana Leeblossom flying alongside famous superheroes, and matching up with them. Jasper was still just as shocked, running alongside his sister.

Heather, David, Holden, and Amp dashed alongside the siblings as well. If you replaced Heather's M.I.A. sister with David, their whole Academy gang was here, together, facing off against exactly what they trained for.

The six brave volunteers fired their guns at any stray Fusion, holding the ground as Humungousaur and Alexandrite stomped up close to the gigantic Terrafuser. Both of them smashed their fists against it, but the alien pod remained solid unlike the previous oversized Terrafuser. Regardless, the two continued to tear away at it..

As if in response, the Terrafuser seemed to leak a hollow laugh followed by a sharp hiss and popping sound. It unnerved the resistance, the cackle somehow echoing louder than the clash of swords and goo. Humungousaur stalled for a moment in reaction…

The squash of Fusion Matter splashed into Humungousaur's face, blinding him as the head of a Fusion Humungousaur stuck itself out of the pores of the Terrafuser. The large Fusion bashed its head against its counterpart, fully stepping out of the pod as the real Humungousaur crumbled back. His size diminished, and then completely reverted back to Ben before Gwen conjured a safety net to catch her cousin.

Fusions didn't usually have mouths, and even the ones that did were useless. All of these wicked creatures were still capable of creating a mocking giggle despite the lack of a mouth. This Fusion Humungousaur, however, was different. The sixty foot tall Fusion glared down at the resistance, it's mouthless jaw prying open to reveal a crudely formed gullet that unleashed the guttural screech of a kaiju.

The pores of the giant, solid Terrafuser bubbled with movement, each one squeezing out another impressively sized Fusion to join the fight. Another Fusion Blossom, a stone dinosaur with pointed horns and a spiked tall, enlarged rock skulls with curled horns, and a swarm of more of those spindly legged Fusion Striders. The ground even buckled behind them, the dead trees withering in the hollow all sprouting pointed yellow spiderlegs and crawling out of the dirt like reanimated dead.

Despite the tides of battle changing, the classic superheroes didn't hesitate to jump to action. A rainbow zipped out of Captain Planet's fingertips, burning like a laser against the Fusion Humungousaur. He held out his opposite hand to the legion of reanimated Fusion trees stomping over. They paused for a moment, but seemed to fight the unseen hold Captain Planet had on them.

Thankfully, Krunk and the White Tiger were already bashing and slicing at the Fusion trees' spiderlegs. When White Tiger crippled them, Krunk would SMASH his fists upon them to finish them off. The Fusion skulls aimed to attack them, but were stopped by Miss Spell and Val Hallen combining their powers to keep them from advancing.

Roxie's friends stood around her in a circle, firing off as Roxie's eyes squinted to look for her mother. She saw Ben now transformed into one of his original aliens, Four Arms, and she watched Juniper and Professor Hex avoid being crushed under Fusion Humungousaur's foot. A small panic set in, but calmed as she watched her mother and Agent Honeydew jump around the Fusion Samurai.

But since she was too busy looking for her mother, Roxie failed to notice the Fusion Bubbles' eyes glued to her. Its green trail stained the sky as it shot like a missile at Roxie, colliding into her. The girl howled in pain, Fusion Bubbles' hand clutched to Roxie's throat with a deathgrip. Panic, again! No, wait…

Her eyes did flash wide in panic at first, but now was not the time. Her brow furrowed, another fierce howl coming out of her as Roxie's four spiderleg rapidly stabbed at the Fusion.

"GET! OFF! MY! PLANET!" Roxie screamed, her spiderlegs tearing at the faux-Octi plushie equipped on the Fusion's back. It ripped away so that her spiderlegs could jab and tear at the Fusion in quick succession. With another fierce roar, Roxie used her alien limbs to lodge inside of the Fusion, finally pulling it off of her by splitting it vertically in half.

The opposite halves of Fusion Bubbles were flung in their respective directions. Roxie sat for just a moment, but quickly got to her feet to see her friends already surrounding her.

"Nice." David complimented. Roxie gave him a lazy thumbs up.

"Hope that didn't hurt too much." Holden added, but Roxie's head shook.

"I've felt worse." Roxie nonchalantly shrugged, then spit a loogie on the dirt.

"These guys are majorly P.O.'d." Amp murmured, eyes darting to the war scene. "I know I have superpowers, but uhh, I don't know how hot I feel about all this."

"Are you giving up?" Jasper scoffed. "Come on, little man."

"What? No, of course not!" Amp sheepishly flashed his eyes around the battlefield again. "I'm just getting a lot of bleak-Future-world vibes suddenly."

"Ok, so?" Roxie asked. "We have to keep fighting!"

The Terrafuser unnaturally groaned again, shaking the entire hollow. But, erhm, no… This wasn't that Terrafuser creating a disembodied laugh again, this one was much bigger than even that one was… Could it be? The Planet Fusion itself generating this awful omen over the hollow? Most of the Fusions below were looking skyward to Planet Fusion, the wound cut through it by the Hani-Baba's Prophecy now completely sealed. The patched wound was glowing, almost just like when the Fusion Monsters were charging an eruption attack…

Unfortunately, yes. The glowing spot on the surface of Planet Fusion bubbled, and just like the minions, erupted a massive beam of Fusion Matter outward. The blast of Fusion Matter rained down to Earth, and was headed right towards Hero's Hollow. The resistance scrambled, still trying to push the Fusions back while maneuvering to avoid the incoming attack. Though, it wasn't the boots on the ground who needed to worry.

Instead, the Planet's eruption attack blasted down directly over Dexter's Aircraft Carrier. Shocked gasps came from many soldiers who watched Fusion Matter paint the DexLabs Carrier and send the massive vehicle careening to the ground.

"Frankie's still up there!" Jasper yelled. "Mac and Bloo!"

When the Fusion Matter finished raining from the sky, the DexLabs Carrier stabilized, hovering a few stories over the now green maw of the sea. Now the Fusion Matter was spilling over the sides of the deck and continuing to rain and poison the waters. Feedback buzzed in everyone's NanoComs, flipping to static and then cutting off entirely.

The green light streak from the newly spawned Fusion Blossom ripped through the sky, leaving the fight and crashing into Dexter's Carrier. Another Fusion creature made an incredible leap, soaring through the sky itself and landing atop the Carrier. Roxie watched in horror, even feeling more hopeless as Jasper frantically tried to contact Frankie on his NanoCom.

"We've got to get up there and help her!" Jasper panicked. Diana's jetpack roared to a halt, the mother rejoining her children after the horrific sight.

"Are you two ok?" she asked, but Jasper kept shaking his head.

"Screw that!" he cried. "I have got to get up there."

"I'm coming with you." Roxie nodded, and Amp stepped in to share the nod.

"Alright, love." Diana said, rushing to grab Jasper from behind. "Hold on!"

He jolted in confusion as his mother grabbed his arms, but quickly grabbed hold of his mother's own arms as her jetpack kicked back to life. The mother-son duo ascended quickly, and with just a little effort, Diana started to steer him towards the DexLabs Carrier. Roxie and Amp watched for a moment, then she looked to her friend. He nodded to her, wrapping his arm around her and warping!

Roxie experienced complete silence for a split second, her ears popping as Amp and her blinked back into reality atop the DexLabs Carrier. The DexBots who were previously bustling around the ship completely abandoned their duties, now all fighting in defense of the carrier. Fusion Matter sloshed about the surface of the deck, sizzling against the machinery now destroyed by the eruption. After a moment, Diana and Jasper arrived with Alan tailing them in flames.

K.N.D. agents still on the carrier took up their arms as well, and a mass of Monkey Minions were already closing in for backup. Though, it didn't seem like a lot of Dexter's tech was worth saving at this point. Fusion Spawns rose from the puddles, but the real threat was the Fusion Samurai Jack and Fusion Blossom wrecking havoc.

"These two…" Roxie scowled. The first Fusion who targeted Roxie specifically during the fight for the Spaceport, and the doppelganger of one of her longest friends who nearly took out Boomer in the Forsaken Valley. She crudely spit again, equipping her guns together. "Go find Frankie. I've got a bone to pick with these cretins."

Jasper took off without another word, strumming his pink guitar to blast any Fusion Spawn out of his way. Diana readied her gun, using her DexStar jetpack to increase her speed as she followed her son. Roxie, Amp, and Alan all turned their sights on the Fusion copies.

A flurry of bullets, snowballs, and flames shot from the three, their blasts twirling amongst each other in the air before colliding with the Fusion Samurai. It stumbled back, attempting to remain firm as its glaring eyes scanned for the source of the attack.

"Hey, ugly!" Roxie yelled at it, immediately shooting her spider-webs at its face. Direct hit! This time the Fusion stumbled back a bit less gracefully, and fully dropped its replica of Jack's sword. "Remember me?"

The Fusion ripped the webbing from its face, and a disembodied growl rolled out of it. Amp took hold of his tophat, flinging it like a frisbee at the Fusion Samurai, then blinking away. He reappeared behind the Fusion, blasting it in the back with his ice ray, then catching and reequipping his trusty tophat.

Roxie dashed forward and fired her Milk Magnum again, striking Fusion Jack to daze him. Alan rocketed along above her, a ball of flame forming between his sizzling hands. Roxie's upper two spiderlegs shot a stream of webs out again, attaching to two wrecked machines left on the deck and then pulling them together over the Fusion.

A squelsh oozed from between the machinery, but it was too difficult to tell if all the Fusion Matter was from the Fusion Jack or leftover from the eruption. The metal creaked against each other, then shot apart rapidly, the Fusion Samurai howling with its chest puffed out.

A shadow cast over Roxie as Alan's fireball charged to a bulbous size, and the Pyronite-hybrid didn't hesitate to launch it at Fusion Jack once it was charged. The fireball spiraled in the air, crashing down into the Fusion Jack to trigger another disembodied groan. Amp warped away, but Roxie lept right into the flames. She blindly kicked forward, shoving her boot into the chest of the flaming Fusion and pinning it to the deck.

Another shot from her double-barrel pistol rang out as she hovered above the alien. The girl kneeled over, her spiderlegs wildly stabbing down into the Fusion. The Fusion Matter stung the tips of her extra appendages as she punctured into it, but she showed no discomfort. No remorse. Her spiderlegs lodged into the shredded Fusion, ready to repeat her finishing move for Fusion Bubbles, but instead she's jolted by the touch of Amp.

In an instance, Roxie blinked a few feet away with Amp. Her spiderlegs instinctively stabbed forward for a moment longer, then crawled to a stop. The Fusion Blossom that had ignored them at first had taken notice, and fired its own laser eye beams down to where Roxie just was.

"Sorry!" Amp quickly said.

"No, thank you!" Roxie replied just as quickly. Her spiderlegs wrapped him into a side-hug, but didn't linger as they both re-readied their weapons.

"Did you, uh, get it?" Amp asked.

Smoke hung over the deck thanks to Alan's fire and Fusion Blossom's lasers, but the silhouette of the Fusion Samurai stood among it. As it dissipated it revealed Roxie did massive damage to the monster, ripping the black fabrics from its chest, and leaving a gaping slash from its neck to its midsection. Unfortunately, it had picked its replica sword back up.

Roxie started to rush the Fusion Jack, but Fusion Blossom swooped down to block her. The four spiderlegs on Roxie's back hugged around her, crossing to cover her face and counter block the Fusion's slimy fist. She fired her pistol at the Fusion's shoes, the bullet flying askew and ricocheting off the deck instead. The Fusion raised her arms to strike again, only to be jabbed in the face by a giant wrench.

"Get out of my mobile laboratory!" Dexter's voice hissed. He jabbed his enlarged wrench into Fusion Blossom, only to suddenly punch her with a giant metal claw!

Roxie blinked at Dexter, his black turtleneck sweater tattered and untucked. A harness now sat over it, holding four, long metallic tentacles with four articulated points on each end. Taking a cue from Roxie and Nergal Junior, Dexter mimicked the act of punching and caused his newest tech to follow suit with the motion.

The Fusion Blossom took the blows, eventually kicking away to creep over them at a distance. Dexter pointed his wrench at it, his metal tentacles whirring as they extended up to smack Fusion Blossom again! The Fusion Samurai made an attempt to strike at Roxie and Dexter, but Alan spat another fireball at it to keep it back.

"You're fighting?" Roxie asked Dexter, though she had turned her back to him in order to shoot at the Fusion Jack.

"Look at the state of my ship!" Dexter exclaimed. "Of course I'm fighting! Are you stoopid!?"

"Oh, yeah, so stoopid you built robot arms based off mine!"

"Quiet your ego! This is a DexLabs patented design!"

"Uh-huh." Roxie rolled her eyes, but this wasn't a conversation she wanted to have even if aliens weren't quite literally raining down on them. "Where's Frankie, and Cheese?"

"That Imaginary Frustration is probably down in the army for all I know!" Dexter spat. His full attention was on Roxie, but his metal tentacles still weaved and striked behind his back. "Miss Foster and the other two are inside the hull, I've directed them to an escape pod."

"Escape pod?" Roxie finally turned back to Dexter. "What, are we abandoning ship?"

"No, no!" Dexter shook his head. "But I won't risk the lives of people who shouldn't have even been here."

"Really?" Roxie's expression soured. "Like my freakin' mom? Why did you give her that suit!?"

"She volunteered to fight. Miss Foster didn't."

Her eyes swirled in her skull again. She knew she can't keep starting these confrontational conversations when their lives are in immediate danger. She collected herself, as did Dexter seemingly, and the two wordlessly switched back into fight mode.

One of Dexter's claws clamped over Fusion Blossom's foot, thrashing her down the deck. A second claw shot out at it, and Roxie attached her webs to it to propel herself towards the Fusions. She braced herself, flying past Fusion Blossom and jabbing one spiderleg in its forehead. The leg sliced through, leaving a gap. Roxie rolled onto the deck, Amp warping to her side.

The two both fired their guns, a snowball smashing into Fusion Blossom and Roxie's bullets lodging inside of the Fusion Samurai's chest. They both thrashed at them with their fists, but Amp warped out of range and Roxie used her webs to just narrowly avoid the heat from their punches.

Cold air rained out of Amp's ice-ray as he reappeared hovering over the Fusion duo. Before he fell, he teleported again to safely shoot more snowballs from a distance. A small drop of blood leaked from Amp's nose as he reappeared from this teleport. A third ball of flame erupted from Alan's hands, making the two monsters' hollow groans leak out again. A strain of webs slid between the two, pulling Roxie along with it who stabbed a spiderleg into each one again as she flew by. Finally, Dexter latched onto the Fusions with his clawed arms, holding them firmly in place.

The writing was on the wall. On the deck? Whatever. These two Fusions were toast. Everyone decided to get up close and personal, bashing them with their wrench and firing point-blank shots of ice and flame into their bodies. With two final jabs from Roxie, both Fusion Blossom and Fusion Jack dissipated into liquid goop.

Their heroic moment would surely be cause for celebration, but the sounds of warfare echoing from in the hollow didn't feel very victorious. Roars from Fusions and Earthlings alike filtered between each other, muffled only by seemingly grand explosions overtaking them. Alan's body tampered out, revealing a standard-grade Plumber armor he wore.

"So… What now?" Amp asked with a shrug.

"Mom and Jasper!" Roxie answered. "They're looking for Frankie, Mac and Bloo."

"Tch!" Dexter grumbled. His metal tentacles retracted in size, resting comfortably against his back in the appearance of a normal bookbag. "I'm getting this ship back to altitude. You three need to get back to the fight."

"That's fine!" Roxie waved her hands. "But I've gotta find my family first."

"If they're not still on the deck, they're probably already inside the hull." Dexter sighed. He waved his hand, jogging off. "Come with me."

Roxie, Amp, and Alan followed on foot, bobbing and weaving between dismantled Dexbots and sparking machinery, eventually getting to the door leading inside. Usually an automatic sliding door, it appeared the actual door had been knocked from the frame and was now lodged in a way that prevented it from closing. Luckily, the gap was plenty wide enough for the four teenagers to slip through.

Whatever fancy technology Dexter employed that kept the interior of the carrier from having all its contents thrown asunder when the ship flipped must've been disabled. Potted plants laid shattered in piles of dirt and glass, and the light fixtures were hanging from their wiring. Most were no longer working, contributing to a dark haze hanging over the hallway, and the lights that were on periodically sparked with electricity.

Dexter ushered them forward, his wrench outstretched and still ready to strike. The hull creaked around them as they ventured deeper, revealing Fusion Matter seeping through the panels. Dexter's lip twitched at the sight, but he pressed on.

"Escape pods are further down this hall." Dexter said, directing them to their left at a fork in the hall. "Get back out there, and don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Amp and Alan dashed together down the left hall as Dexter took the right path. Roxie was just about to argue that she needed to find her family again, only for a very familiar twinkle to echo in the hall behind her. She whipped her head around, surprised to see Boomer of the Rowdyruff Boys staring wide-eyed back at her.

"B- Boomer?" she mumbled.

"N- No!" he instinctively replied, then crunching his face together as if he just realized he made a mistake. "Yes? No! You never saw me!"

She stepped to rush towards him, but in a blink of an eye the Rowdyruff flew the opposite way with only his blue light trail behind him. What? As if things couldn't get any weirder. She continued to take a few more steps, but if the Rowdyruffs were any match to the Powerpuffs then Roxie knew she couldn't meet his speed.

"Roxie!" Amp turned her attention back to the fork in the hall. "Are you coming?"

"I just saw…"

"Cheese?"

"N- No…?" Roxie shook her head, choking back her words. "N- Nevermind. I- Uh, my mom! And Jasper! We're not getting off this ship without them."

"They're right here!" Alan called out, running back down the hall with Diana, Jasper, and a very aggravated Frankie whose hoodie was singed Roxie immediately hugged her mother.

"You and the boys got rid of those Fusions?" Diana asked. Roxie nodded her head into her mother's chest, hugging her tighter before pulling back. "You're a rockstar, baby."

"You're pretty cool yourself, I guess." Roxie smirked. She turned to Jasper and Frankie, realizing their plus ones were missing. "Dexter said Mac and Bloo were with you…?"

"They were, until Bloo claimed he saw Cheese." Frankie said. "I sure hope he's right, because we don't have time for this."

"Where did they go?" Amp asked. Frankie gestured down the hall Dexter took.

"Alright…" Roxie stared down the hall. "We can go get them, but there could be Fusions who snuck inside. You should go back to the escape pod, Frankie."

"Yeah." Frankie sighed, worry finally starting to overcome her anger. "Alright. I just can't let anything happen to them. Not even just Mac and Bloo, but Cheese too."

"We're going to find them." Jasper assured her.

"Alan?" Roxie looked to her friend, who blushed as she said his name. "Can you make sure Frankie gets there safe? And stay with her until we get there?"

"Yeah." he nodded. "Unless you need my help, I'll stick with her."

"Thank you." Roxie hugged Alan, deepening the blush on his cheeks. When she pulled back, she glanced to her mother. "Any chance I can't convince you to go with them?"

"Not a chance." Diana smirked. "I'm sticking with you and Jasper until we're back in Pokey Oaks."

"Good." Roxie smirked back.

Jasper and Frankie embraced, sharing a kiss and silently looking into each other's eyes. They separated, Frankie turning to rush down the left path with Alan. The Leeblossom's and Amp looked between each other, then followed Dexter's footsteps down the second hall.

Diana and Roxie led the boys, their boots all clanking against the metal doors and reverberating down the hall. The occasionally slosh of Fusion Matter splashed under them, but no real deterrents occurred before they reached the control room of Dexter's Carrier. Well, rather, the hallway outside of the control room.

The actual entrance to the room seemed to be sealed behind a metal door with a glass window, which both Dexter and Mac were pressed up against. Metal clanked again as Mac kicked the door, and Dexter slammed his fist against the glass in a rage. Bloo, on the other hand, lazily sat on the floor nearby staring at the ceiling until the backup approached.

"Oh, great." Bloo rolled his eyes. "More people."

"Open this door this instant!" Dexter yelled with another bash against the glass.

"Come on, Cheese!" Mac added on. "We've got all the chocolate milk out here!"

Roxie pushed closer, peering between Dexter and Mac's heads and into the window to see the talk of the day, Cheese. The Imaginary Friend sat in a large chair with wheels for legs. He wildly spun himself around, screeching that signature "WEEEEEE!" Behind the chair was a control panel filled with many buttons; so many it had to be impractical. Some were large and bulbous, while others were small switches placed erratically along it. It also seemed like several of the buttons had already been pressed.

"Let's bust this door down!" Jasper grunted, ready to jam his guitar into it.

"The whelp locked the door from the inside!" Dexter cried. "I can't unlock it remotely after that Fusion attack, but that big blue button will unseal the control room."

The genius pointed, his purple gloves now missing from his bare hands. The group peered through the window, noticing a large blue colored button front and center on the panel. A green button of equal size sat to its left, and a myriad of tiny red buttons sat to the right. As everyone else stared, Amp triumphantly stepped forward.

"Look at us, Dex, buddy." he jeered, patting the genius on his back. "You sent me to the Future, I came back with superpowers, and in this full circle moment I get to use those superpowers to help you."

"We are not buddies." Was Dexter's only response.

"Stand back!" Amp stretched his arms. "I'm saving the day!"

A pop rang in their ears as Amp vanished from sight, only to re-materialize on the other side of the door with his back to the glass. His signature grin spread across his face as he raised his hands with wiggling fingers. Cheese almost didn't see Amp as he wildly spun, but as Amp lunged to grab him Cheese jumped from his seat.

"AHHHHHHH!" Cheese started throwing an absolute tantrum, waggling his arms and running about the control room aimlessly.

"Whoops." Amp chuckled, grabbing onto the chair instead and stopping its spiral. "Don't worry, guys, I got this!"

"Just push the button!" Dexter yelled from the other side, but Amp had a bigger goal.

He vanished again, reappearing next to Cheese in attempts to snatch him again. Somehow, the little Imaginary Friend was quick and weaseled out of grasp. Amp teleported again to try and catch him, missing again. He did it again… And again… For a moment, the group watched Amp blinked around the room as Cheese wormed around at hyper speeds. Soon, Amp teleported to the center of the room.

"Whoo!" he laughed, swaying around with a hand held to his head. "You lightheaded too?" A trinkle of blood fell from his nose, gushing slowly before he accidentally wiped it across his cheek. "I think…! I need to pop a squat!"

The boy collapsed back conveniently into the empty chair, his eyes rolling back as he passed out. A shocked gasp escaped Diana, but now Roxie had pushed her way to the window and banged against the glass.

"Amp!" she cried. "Ugh! He used that stupid power too much!"

"I already warned him about this!" Dexter grumbled.

"Ok, so…" Jasper thought for a moment, then grabbed Roxie's shoulder to pull her back. "So we break the window then!"

"It's reinforced bulletproof glass." Dexter sighed.

Within the control room, Cheese's fear of Amp disappeared when he blacked out. Now the friend was more upset that he was sitting in what he claimed to be his chair! Well that's no matter for little Cheese, he just climbed right up into Amp's lap and used him as the chair. He swiveled around, hovering his tiny paws over the array of buttons.

"We have to try something!" Jasper said. "We can't just wait for this ship to crash with us all on it."

"If I may?" Diana stepped up. "Bulletproof glass?"

"Reinforced." Dexter grunted. "That is what I just said."

"Kids, pay attention." Diana smirked. "At my old job, you had to be prepared for something like this?"

"Something like this?" Jasper gawked.

"Your old job?" Roxie blinked. "Glob, who even are you!?"

Diana glanced back to her kids, shrugging casually. "I'm Diana, and I'm your Glob-darn mother."

In one swift moment, Diana whipped her leg in an arch to smash her heel against the corner of the window. As soon as the heel clicked the glass, it buckled under the force. Cracks filled the window, obscuring their view of Cheese and conclaving inward. Diana whipped around again, this time bashing her elbow in the fractured glass to knock the debris out of the frame. The Leeblossom siblings had been shocked by their mother's actions all day, but it was Dexter who held the most shock in this moment.

"These things have pretty fickle pressure points, don'tcha know?"

"HOW-!?" the boy blurted out, but before Diana could quip with her snarky reply, a beep sounded from the control room.

"BOOP!" Cheese hissed in response to the tone, then hitting another button. The tiny red buttons. The remaining lights inside the carrier flashed red, and Dexter's face sank.

"Oh no…"

"Oh no?" Roxie blinked. "What do you mean oh no? Red lights? This all seems very very bad!"

"SHUT UP!" Dexter barked. The group took a brief moment of silence. "The red switches are connected to the gravitational stabilizers, and with the state of the carrier-"

"This thing is going to crash." Roxie peered at Dexter, praying he had one of his usual rebuttals, but his defeated look told her the truth.

"So it's time to go." Jasper stepped in, pushing back the kids to stand before the broken window.

For a man with Jasper's athletic build, the gap left by the broken window looked like it was going to be a tight fit, but he stuck his head inside. His Bombergrande colored armor scraped against the frame of the window, the man squeezing his way through the hole and into the control room. With his boots on the ground, he rushed over to snatch up Cheese from behind, then pressed a finger against the blue button.

The door struggled to open, sliding at the command of the button but getting stuck halfway. Roxie and Dexter squeezed through, Roxie rushing to the passed out Amp and attempting to clean the blood from his nostrils. Cheese pouted in Jasper's grasp, but the friend didn't struggle too severely against him.

"Here." Jasper stretched Cheese out in Roxie's direction. "Web him up, just in case."
"Right." Roxie nodded, reaching to grab the Imaginary Friend in her spiderlegs. The four of them began to spin him around, expelling webs to wrap tightly around his torso to encase him from the neck down in a web swaddle.

"I like chocolate milk." Cheese mused, cuddling into his restraints. Roxie's spiderlegs wrapped another web around Roxie, attaching Cheese to her back like an accessory. Jasper picked up Amp, heaving him over his shoulder.

"Computress." Dexter said into his NanoCom from the other side of the door. "Evacuate all personnel."

Diana helped Jasper squeeze Amp and himself through the opening, and Roxie slipped through behind them with Cheese. The entire carrier shivered around them, followed by an extremely quick and violent quiver.

"Let's go, now." Dexter shouted to the group, his metal claws opening from his back again as he rushed back down the hall.

Jasper still held Amp in his arms, and was the first to follow Dexter's footsteps. Mac and Bloo, the latter of which needed to be dragged along by the former, followed. Diana stuck by her daughter's side, who carried the precious cargo as she brought up the rear. They all stomped through the halls, maintaining their speed even through the periodic quakes that rocked the carrier.

Returning to the fork in the halls they left Frankie and Alan at, the carrier was in much worse condition. More Fusion Matter seeped through the walls and coated the floors, and several escaping Dexbots were powered down and knocked askew against the hall leading the escape pods was now masked in darkness, only to be briefly lit up by a shining flame.

Dexter and Diana readied their weapons, tensing up as they watched Alan, transformed back into his full Pyronite form, being knocked down the hall and crashing onto the ground before the group. It was clear the thud he landed with hurt, but he pointed his arms out to blast flames down the hall.

"Get back!" Alan cried out. He blasted another flamethrower, though it cut short as four long, gooey green strains shot at Alan from the darkened hallway. He yelped as they smacked against his stone chest, His body sizzled, flames dying right before the green strains tugged Alan back into the hallway.

The group turned the corner to plunge into the dark hall after Alan, Dexter's tentacles fully extended as well as his wrench. Without Alan's light, they ran blindly down the hall, but eventually saw red lights flash from further down. No sign of Alan or his presumed attacker either though. While they continued down to the illuminated lights, Roxie paused in the darkness.

She squinted, trying to correct her vision to see in the blackness. The faint red lights from down the hall didn't give her any help.

"Ooooh, hiiiiii." Cheese squealed from her back. The web cocoon jostled as he tried to move within. Roxie turned to look behind her, breaking Cheese's eyesight and finding nothing in the darkness. "Ok, goodbye!"

"Alan?" Roxie called out, getting no answer. She continued to peer around for a second, turning back around to catch up with the group.

"Hello!" Cheese eerily greeted something again as Roxie turned her back. She whipped back around, still failing to see anything.

"Who's there?" Roxie asked into the void, turning back around with her gun aimed.

Footsteps clanked behind her, Diana alone retreating to find Roxie. But Roxie's eyes were caught by a sudden flicker of flames from above her. She blinked, slowly peering upward to see Alan restrained against the ceiling in a glob of Fusion goo. His limbs were pinned and his mouth covered, but a freed finger was able to ignite to reveal his location. What was really weird was this Fusion goo being pretty thin and stringy, kind of like Roxie's own webs…

A pointed, black spiderleg stretched over Alan, causing his eyes to widen. Perched on the ceiling still adding Fusion webs around its prey was a Fusion in the mirrored image of Roxie herself. Her favorite shirt: purple and dirty. The shorts Diana didn't approve the length of: a deep red matching the glaring daggers these Fusions called eyes. Her messy ponytail dyed green and sitting on the other side of her head. Four long, sharp, black tinted spiderlegs protruding from its back sprawled across Alan and the ceiling. Roxie stared blankly up at her own Fusion doppelganger.

A Fusion Roxie…

She already tried to rationalize why the Fusions would want a copy of her cousin Alice earlier today, but she couldn't even begin to comprehend how or why they'd pluck her out of the masses of people retaliating against them. It had to be the Arachnachimp abilities, right? It seemed Diana had also noticed the Fusion of Roxie, and fired up at the creature.

Cheese screeched as Diana's energy pulse smacked into Fusion Roxie, who unleashed its own enraged shriek. Roxie scrambled with her Milk Magnum, clicking the trigger to pull the barrels apart, but Fusion Roxie had thumped down to the ground between her and her mother. It cried with another shriek, flexing its fists and wildly twirling its own spiderlegs.

Fusion Roxie wrenched her head around, staring directly into Roxie's eyes, but it turned back with its sights on Diana. Roxie fired into its back and jumped back, and Diana fired her Lightning Gun again too. Despite more hits from Roxie, Fusion Roxie advanced on Diana.

"Don't even think about it." Roxie barked at the Fusion of herself. Its black spiderlegs reared up, ready to jab Diana, but Roxie shot her own webs out to attach to them. Roxie jerked her spiderlegs down, ripping Fusion Roxie over onto its back.

When Roxie reeled her doppelganger in, it convulsed and shrieked in agony. In a frantic moment, it clawed the webs to snap them and swiftly scampered away from Roxie…? I mean, I guess it would be nice to have one of these ruthless creatures to cower away from you in fear, but why? It wasn't like Fusion Alice was scared of Alice earlier, and that Fusion Blossom specifically targeted the real Blossom back in Forsaken Valley…

"The bunnies are soft!" Cheese grinned from Roxie's back, completely oblivious to the danger he was in.

"Everyone's at the escape pods!" Diana called out to her daughter, then shoving her rifle forward with both hands to slam it against the Fusion teen.

"Why is it running from me?" Roxie asked her mom, firing her bullets at it. "Are you scared of the real deal, huh!?"

Diana's ponytail whipped around, the woman tucking to avoid a jab from Fusion Roxie's spiderlegs. She kicked her own leg out to buckle the Fusions knees. If it wasn't going to attack Roxie, she was going to take the opportunity to use her spiderlegs to climb up the wall and reach Alan on the ceiling. She snapped her pistols back together, then used her free hand and a spiderleg to rip the Fusion webbing from her friend.

"Owuch… Thanks…" Alan murmured as she freed his mouth.

"Yeah, don't mention it." she quietly said, holding onto Alan to safely drop the both of them to the ground.

"When she came around the corner, I thought it was you." Alan huffed. "Didn't expect to see that." His body ignited in flames, fully illuminating the hallway.

"Well she's a cheap imitation." Roxie scoffed. "Can't even be bothered to face me."

"I pooted." Cheese squeaked.

"Yeah, exactly.: Roxie shrugged.

Continuing to impress her daughter, Diana was effortlessly avoiding the Fusion Roxie's jabs and dealing back swift strikes and loose pulses of energy firing from her gun. Alan aimed his fingers in the shape of a gun, tossing a stream of flames at the Fusion and bringing her attention to them. Fusion webs flung from its spiderlegs, avoiding Alan but sizzling against Roxie's K.N.D. armor. It roared, rushing at them!

Just as Fusion Roxie neared an arm's length distance from Roxie and Alan it skidded to a pause. Its body convulsed for a second, then it jumped back. Cheese seemed to giggle at Fusion Roxie's retreat, but that dope wasn't even looking in their direction! Diana fired her Lightning Gun again, just in time for Fusion Roxie to strike at her.

"What gives?" Roxie spat. Her NanoCom glowed blue, her Nano Megas appearing floating over her shoulder. Cheese ooh'ed and awh'ed at it, the tiny robot masking the three of them from Fusion Roxie's view. "Stay close to me."

Roxie pressed herself against the wall, Alan tagging next to her. They crept past Fusion Roxie's gaze, though its attention failed to break from the suped up Diana. She noticed her daughter creeping up to her side, and kept the Fusion busy. She brought her boot swinging into the Fusion's chest, then shoved her Lightning Gun into it. The mother grew a cocky smirk and fired! Fusion Roxie snarled, taking the force of the attack but remaining firm. Its black spiderlegs swiped between the two, jabbing into Diana's Lightning Gun. She gasped, loosening her grip as the Fusion ripped it away from her.

The Lightning Gun clanked against the metal walls as Fusion Roxie tossed it behind her. Roxie's Nano Megas vanished back into her NanoCom when Roxie and Alan slipped past the Fusion and took up arms at Diana's side. Diana'sgloves clenched as she balled up her fists, remaining in the fight. A soft rumble rolled through the carrier.

Fusion Roxie glared at the three, taking a dramatic stomp forward. Though, like clockwork, the monster paused just a few feet away from them and glared wickedly at Roxie. It pretended to lunge at Roxie, getting met with a punch from Diana and from Alan. They rushed at it, physically shoving it away and stepping far enough from Roxie to trigger the Fusion's aggression.

Everyone in the hall stumbled when the carrier quaked again, only now the rumbling didn't fade. Smoke began to fill the halls, stinging Roxie's nose and eyes. Fusion Roxie reignited its rapid spiderleg jabs, One scraped against Alan's chest, but another fully stabbed through Diana's armor and striking her in the arm.

Diana winced, but did not cry out. Instead, Roxie screamed wildly and pursued her doppelganger. The haze of the smoke obscured the advancing teen who somehow caused the Fusion to shiver and screech as she neared it. Fusion Roxie tried to leap back, but Roxie's spiderlegs jetted out to latch onto the Fusion's body.

"Your aim sucks." Roxie growled, staring daggers at her Fusion.

Squish!

The halls were vibrating, but Roxie suddenly felt the room spin around her. If Fusion Roxie had a mouth, it'd have an evil grin stretched ear to ear. Sharp pains ached at Roxie's sides, unfortunately for her the only part of this K.N.D. armor without wooden braces emboldened to it. Instead, Fusion Roxie's four spiderlegs had sliced through the fabric and lodged into her flesh. The two Roxies sat with their arachnid limbs shoved into each other and locking themselves together.

Roxie thought she had heard her mother call her name. She thought she heard Alan call out for her too. All of her hearing vanished as a massive blast rolled through the carrier again, rolling the Roxie's on top of each other and sinking their spiderlegs deeper. Blood trickled down the Fusion's spiderlegs as Roxie's strength faded, her vision blurring.

The Imaginary Friend, Cheese, still bundled in a web cocoon on Roxie's back, cried in fear. Poor little dope had been safe at Roxie's side, but now the bundle hung loose. The webs snapped, rolling Cheese to fall right onto the Fusion Roxie!

Barely conscious, Roxie tried to pull her spiderlegs from her Fusion and attempted to move Cheese, but the friend toppled over onto the Fusion. He was, of course, screeching like a banshee, but Fusion Roxie's skin wasn't hurting him! Actually, it seemed Cheese landing on the Fusion was hurting it!

The last moment Roxie managed to hang on was spent watching her Fusion doppelganger completely fold under the yellow Imaginary Friend. Cheese clearly didn't realize what he was doing, but just touching the Fusion made it crumble and melt… Including the twisted Fusion spiderlegs that stabbed Roxie. When they melted away, Roxie fully blacked out.

Diana and Alan tried to reach Roxie and Cheese, but the DexLabs Carrier could no longer withstand the assault. An explosion erupted from the hull of the ship, tearing the metal apart. The buzzing open air cut into the carrier as bits and pieces rained into the ocean and rocketing off kilter. Of course, the hallway split Diana and Roxie apart, each side of the carrier losing the altitude it had left.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s whizzed off the deck, and a single DexLabs colored vehicle shot from the bottom. Roxie and Cheese were sent falling off. A beacon of fire flew at them, grabbing onto Cheese and missing Roxie. She continued her doomed descent, her ponytail falling loose and staining with the blood gushing from her open wounds.

A moment before she would've gone splat in the dirt, a deep blue light beam swooped in to grab her. As quickly as it arrived, it shot away into the sky.

---

"How do we tell them?"

"We?"

"Yes. We."

Dexter's eyes narrowed as he put his face against his rival's. Him and Mandark stood atop the black and red aircraft's deck, both grown tired and weary. The moon neared its peak in the sky as Mandark's Carrier floated above the beaches of Forsaken Valley. In the distant night sky, smoke and fumes could be seen in the direction of Hero's Hollow.

"They're your recruits, Dexter." Mandark sneered at him. "Can't you see there's much bigger issues to deal with right now?"

Mandark swung his cape as he gestured to the deck of his ship, now turned into a makeshift triage unit for wounded individuals. Mandroids and Dexbots attended to various soldiers laying on stretchers, and the ever vigilant Sheep was bobbing between a line of tents containing the more severely wounded. Most of the heroes from the grand fight were all recovering here, all hanging with dejected heads.

"Obviously." Dexter spat back to his rival, his gaze never bothering to glance at the tragic scene.

"Then you go tell them when she wakes up." Mandark rolled his eyes. "I've got to make sure we establish more footholds here in the Darklands, and then we can retake Hero's Holl-"

"Mandark." Dexter's voice uncharacteristically broke, choking back… genuine emotion. "Do not make me do this alone."

The taller boy blinked down at his rival. His first thought was, of course, already formulating how to use this intimate moment against Dexter later, but he just stared back without saying a word. He offered a small nod, making Dexter immediately collect himself.

They wordlessly approached one of the tents, noticing Miss Spell and Agent Honeydew sitting nearby with solemn expressions. Dexter pressed his arm against the flap of the tent's opening, leading Mandark in to reveal Roxie laying inside atop a stretcher.

Her K.N.D. armor had been stripped and replaced with a hospital gown, and her entire stomach had been wrapped in bandages slightly stained at her sides. Instead of bundled back in her side-pony, her hair sat loose around her shoulders. A computer screen beeped at her side, displaying her vitals. Dexter looked at the screen with a satisfied nod.

"She's looking good, at the very least."

The two super-geniuses stood silently within the tent, looking between each other and the sleeping Roxie before the tent's door flapped open again. Jasper was holding it open to allow Amp and Blossom to enter, but they all seemed shocked to see each other.

"What's wrong?" Jasper immediately asked at the sight of Dexter. "Is she ok?"

"Yes, yes." Dexter nodded. "She's very lucky to have missed any major organs."

"Thank Glob…" Jasper relaxed, sulking up to Roxie's bedside.

"Ok, but what's wrong?" Blossom asked the two geniuses, pulling them aside and dropping her voice. They both hesitated, Dexter eyeing Jasper and Amp sitting with Roxie. "Are you just checking on her, or…?"

"It's their-"

"Yo!" Jasper jumped up exclaiming. "She's coming to!"

Dexter clammed up, all attention diverting to the groggy Roxie. Her face flexed as if she was in pain, but her body felt numb. Her eyes fluttered, but the light of the lantern in the tent was still too jarring for her fresh after that nap. Jasper's hand tightened around Roxie's.

"Not so loud…" she groaned, finding the strength to reach up and rub her head. Her side tensed as she did so, slight pain twitching up her body. "What… Where…?"

"We're on my superior aircraft carrier." Mandark boasted, and sulked away from Dexter's glare.

"Frankie, and Cheese!" Roxie sat up, but the pulse of pain sent her back into the bed.

"They're ok." Jasper said.

"We were unaware of your altercation with the Fusion…" Dexter trailed off. "With the Fusion. The Plumber, Alan, recovered the Imaginary Friend."

"Did I miss the rest of the fight?"

"Probably for the best, Roxie." Blossom joined Amp on the side of the bed. "Things went south pretty fast after the DexLabs Carrier crashed. We all elected to pull out a few hours ago…"

"So…? We lost?" Roxie blinked.

"J- Just this battle." Amp tried to reassure her. "It's not, like, the only battle we've lost."

"And at least the Fusions didn't follow us." Blossom added. "I think they know they hit us hard, so we'll just have to hit them harder next time."

Roxie took in the moment, holding in her breath before letting a heavy sigh escape her. Jeez, her sides ached. It was nice to see her brother and friends when waking up, but where was…?

"Mom?" she asked. "Where's my mom at?"

"She's in another tent." Jasper said, but he grew sour as he looked at Dexter and Mandark. "They haven't let me go in."

"That's why we wanted to be here when you woke up." Dexter seemed to hesitate as he spoke.

"... What happened?" Roxie's voice trembled.

"When the aircraft exploded, we lost contact with you all." Dexter fumbled over his words, awkwardly adjusting his glasses. "The Plumber managed to escape, and grab the Imaginary Friend. But you also fell, and then appeared on Mandark's ship. I had assumed Diana caught you, but…"

Jasper's hand squeezed tighter around Roxie's, who already had tears welling up in her eyes.

"... I'm sorry… When we recovered her, she had already…."

All at once, Roxie stopped listening. Her vision blurred again, and her head grew light. The tears started uncontrollably flowing as her mouth flung open in a silent cry. Her brother collapsed over her, his arms grabbing hold of her as he buried his face against her. She didn't have the will to complete the hug, only leaning against her sobbing brother.

Blossom choked back her own tears to offer Roxie words of comfort, but she couldn't focus on anything outside of her own head. Focusing on this thought inside her head was hard enough. Amp had started crying as well, sitting quiet and still holding onto his best friend's hand.

From the moment she saw her mother in that fancy armor, the fear of her getting hurt or dying skyrocketed to the forefront of her mind. But then she watched Diana in action, pulling no punches and colliding with the Justice Friends to fight in a way that made her jealous. There's no freakin' way an awesome woman like that, an awesome hero like that, could fall after all that…

Dexter and Mandark stepped out of the tent, their words falling on deaf ears after delivering the devastating news. As soon as they exit, Dexter pulled his glasses off to wipe his black sleeves under his eyes. A sniffle escaped him, but he collected himself.

"Thank you." he said to Mandark without looking.

"Yeah…" he sheepishly replied, suddenly shelving that thought of blackmailing him with his emotions.

"The DexStar suit should've withstood falling from a great height, and shouldn't be prone to explosions…." Dexter grumbled to himself, looking about the deck of the ship. "The Imaginary Friend can't teleport, yet was doing so around my ship… The Plumber mentioned Roxie falling, and then she ended up here…"

"What are you saying?"

"Someone or something is toying with us." Dexter finally turned to Mandark. "We both have plethoras of protocol in place to prevent freak accidents like this, and then mine all fail so greatly?"

"It'd be insensitive to equate it to your smaller mind, I assume?" Mandark was joking, but he also really wasn't.

"Whatever occurred cost us Hero's Hollow, my airship, and a woman's life!" Dexter was now enraged, somehow looming over Mandark.

"... A traitor?" Mandark almost didn't want to ask.

"It can't be ruled out of the realm of possibilities." Dexter paused, taking another moment to look around the deck of the aircraft.

After almost five months of fending off the planet from these invaders, it seemed like this was the event it had all been building towards. A fulfilled Prophecy, the reunion of friends old and new. Despite Earth's heroes (and villains) uniting together, the Battle of Hero's Hollow had ended in defeat and cemented the Darklands as viable territory for the Fusions. And the devastating loss of Diana Leeblossom.

I don't blame you if morale is kind of low. This wasn't the way anybody could've thought the day would have gone. In the midst of despair and growing mystery, it was important for everyone to look to the light and hope of tomorrow… After all, don't you think Planet Fusion has bigger plans in store for a mighty planet like this? Oh, haha, no no!

Lord Fuse has something much, much worse in mind for this planet.

---

Just wanted to give everyone who has sat through and read all ten chapters of this silly little story a huge thank you. I appreciate you all so much and honestly can't thank you enough for all the support. Here it is! The epic conclusion to Part 1 of the A Girl Named Roxie series! I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed the story and the time spent with my little characters. An extra special thanks goes out to Kyra Xyrespace, zerowing_21, TheCrampReturns, Blueyedemoness, and Dtrix for use of their own OCs making guest appearances along the way, and another major thanks for KidZeus for the amazing cover art done for the story. Huge shoutout to them as well as all the other writers in the FusionFall Fanfic Discord. My stupid little FusionFall canon all the more richer thanks to you.

We're closing the book for this "season" of Roxie, but don't worry! A sequel and proper conclusion to Roxie's story IS coming! Keep an eye out on FFN, Ao3, and the FF Fanfic Discord for updates, but the first chapter should be up fairly soon after this goes up. I hope you'll all join me there to continue Roxie's tale! As always, comments and reviews are greatly appreciated.

Thank you again so much for reading, I'm so excited to share the next part of this story with you!