Inside a colossal spaceship, a figure was walking through the long hallways of the ship until they reached a large cargo hold that was currently empty, save for a massive bird the size of a house. The bird was beautiful; despite the basic shape of a predator, perhaps a hawk or a falcon, its eyes were dark and soft, and its feathers were vibrant. Most were a soft pink, but the ones along the back of its wings and tail were every color of the rainbow, from red to violet and back again, contrasting with the black of its beak and legs.
The bird was tied to the ground with what looked like energy chains, keeping the huge bird lying on the ground, unable to move. Next to the bird were several beings of different races standing around it, watching it intently.
These people soon turned to see who was approaching, revealing herself to be a stunning anthropomorphic female with distinctive reptilian features, muscular, four-armed, blue scales with dark blue parts on her forearms, the frontal scales of her thighs, and the small horn on her head with two lines on both sides of it, except for her breasts, lower jaw and the inside of her ears which were a sandy color. She wore a black dress with gold trim that left the cleavage of her large breasts and legs exposed, black bridal shoulder pads and gauntlets with gold trim, red stockings and black and yellow platform boots, and a black choker with a red jewel.
“So this is the famous Great Bird, huh?” the female asked, staring at the bird with her grey eyes, two of her arms crossed under her chest, and the other two with her hands on her hips. “It is as majestic as the legends say.”
“That’s right, Admiral,” said one of the creatures, one that looked like a cross between a fox and an owl. “It took us a lot to catch it, but we finally got it.”
“Better said we got 'her'. It's a female,” said one of the group, a mix between a rabbit and a cobra.
“I don’t care about that,” the Admiral said, looking at the bird. But she frowned as she watched the bird try to free herself, soon turning her gaze to what looked like a dark metal being with four arms. “Did she say anything, First Officer?”
“Not at the moment, Admiral,” the first officer replied. “In fact, it seems to behave more like a wild creature than a conscious being.”
“You’re just kidding, right?” the Admiral asked. “This thing will only be valuable if it can talk like a normal person!”
“Admiral.” Said one of them, who looked like a half-rabbit, a pink-haired nekomata with a jewel on her forehead. “It seems that the natives’ ability to transform into this being has degenerated to such an extent that those who transform into this, end up losing part of their ‘humanity’.”
The admiral sighed with one of her hands on her forehead, thinking for several seconds.
“Gather several psychic-type crew members! Especially Delmagi! I want this bird’s mind repaired right now!” the admiral ordered, pointing at the bird.
“But Admiral!” exclaimed one of the crew, half rooster, half yellow mouse. “We risk damaging the bird’s mind more than it already is!”
“We are pirates, you fool!” the admiral exclaimed, facing the speaker. “In our line of work, we must take risks to make a profit. And we won’t make a profit if this bird can’t even say hello! So, everyone, get going!”
“Yes, Admiral!” they all exclaimed, before running away.
The admiral stood alone, staring at the huge bird in silence.
While on the gummi ship, Kairi was looking at the stars on the bridge with Eve who was piloting the ship, while Nina was sitting in one of the seats looking inside a book.
The group was heading to the last location where they could find the last of the fragments, though they would then have to track down whoever stole the first piece in Agrabah. Other than that, everything seemed to be going well.
“MAKOTO!”
You know what? Nevermind…
“What now?” Kairi asked, raising her voice at the yell.
Eve activated a communicator on the computer. “What’s going on?” she asked, her voice carrying across the ship.
Elsewhere on the ship in the bathing area, Edea was very angry, being naked except for a towel she was wearing around her, facing Makoto, who was not only wearing a towel but was also drying her tail with another towel.
“Makoto just used up all the hot water! Again!” Edea exclaimed, pointing at Makoto.
“Really? It's always the same!” Priere exclaimed, crossing his arms.
“Relax. You should know that you will soon have hot water again, so be patient,” Eve asked through the ship’s communicator.
“That’s not the problem!” Edea exclaimed. “Whenever the squirrel girl gets in the shower, she ends up hogging all the hot water!”
“Edea is right,” Rena said as she approached them and looked at Makoto. “Ever since you joined the group, every time you use the shower, you end up using up all the hot water available and we have to wait for the hot water to come back.”
“Yes. That’s why we should implement a system of showering, leaving Makoto as the last to shower every time.” Edea said with her hands on her waist.
“Hey, you girls don’t have a huge bushy tail to take care of, you know?” Makoto said, ignoring her arguments.
“Well, maybe the solution is to cut off your tail,” Airy commented, leaning against the wall.
Makoto got too close to Airy’s face with a serious look on her face. “Try that and I’ll rip your wings off like a fly!” the squirrel girl threatened.
“Oh? I’d like to see you try!” Airy said undaunted.
“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” Rena said as she and Priere tried to separate them, while Edea was still angry with her arms crossed.
“It’s always the same. I don’t know how this will all end if we continue like this.” Kairi sighed with a hand on her forehead.
Nina just laughed a little before returning to her reading.
But suddenly she began to feel a huge headache, dropping the book and grabbing her head with her hands with grimaces of pain on her face, at the same time she fell from the chair and landed on her knees.
Kairi and Eve looked at Nina worriedly and went to her side.
“Nina, what’s wrong?!” Kairi asked worriedly.
“Stop fighting! Nina is in trouble right now!” Eve exclaimed over the communicator, causing everyone to stop their fighting.
Kairi and Eve were by Nina's side as she felt nothing but pain in her head as if something was messing with her mind.
In that case, Nina not only felt great pain but also had visions in her mind, in which several figures were around her doing something, while another figure behind them watched.
“Be careful! I want you to restore her memory, not damage it more than it already is!” said a voice in Nina’s mind.
“That’s what we tried, Admiral! But her mind is far more damaged than we thought!” said another voice.
“Then do better!” said the first voice.
Nina continued to feel that tremendous pain in her mind until it suddenly stopped just as she began to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.
“Sister!” She heard a desperate cry in her mind before falling unconscious. The cry of a voice she thought she would never hear again.
After what happened, Nina was unconscious in her bed, with the rest of the group in the same room, all worried.
“Does anyone know what happened?” Rena asked with a hand on the opposite arm.
“I don’t know,” Edea said, using the White Mage job. “I’ve been using both Curaga and Esuna on her for a long time, and nothing works. She won’t wake up.”
“This is very worrying,” Makoto said, scratching his head.
Kairi thought for a moment about the whole situation, until she remembered something. She took a small object from her pocket that she hadn't used in a long time, the Gumiphone. She turned it on and started calling through it. After a while, the image of a man with steel blue hair parted in long bangs that hid the right side of his face and left only one of his bright blue eyes visible appeared.
“Kairi! What a surprise!” the man in the picture exclaimed. “What’s going on? No one has heard about you for a while.”
“Thanks for the comment, Ienzo, but now is not the time,” Kairi said. “Can you put me in touch with the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee? It’s very important.”
“Oh, yeah, just a moment. I’ll put you in touch with Cid’s computer, hold on,” Ienzo said.
While the rest of the group watched what Kairi was doing, the image of a blond man soon appeared on the Gumiphone.
“Kairi? Wow, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!” the man exclaimed upon seeing Kairi.
“Hello Cid. Is Merlin there? It’s urgent.” Kairi asked.
“Well, I'll see,” Cid said, before looking to the side. “Hey, old man! Kairi needs you right here!”
“Please stop calling me old man, or I swear we’ll have troubles!” An elderly voice said as an elderly man with a long white beard wearing a blue wizard costume with stars appeared on the screen. “Kairi! What a coincidence! I just saw a vision of you contacting us!”
“Oh, is she there?” A woman’s voice said, and an elderly-looking woman appeared on screen beside her, wearing a lavender-colored hooded cloak with a pink interior, and a pink bow just below her neck.
“Fairy Godmother? You're there too?” Kairi asked in surprise.
“Yes, I was talking to Aeris about a certain matter. What can I do for you?” the Fairy Godmother asked.
“Well, now that you’re here too,” Kairi said. “You see, we have a problem here right now. One of my friends has had something strange happen. She had a bad headache not long ago and is now unconscious. We’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to work. I don’t know who to turn to. Do you have any ideas?”
Kairi looked at the Gumiphone without receiving an answer, until suddenly there was an explosion of smoke in the cabin scaring everyone present, soon revealing themselves to be Merlin and the Fairy Godmother, surprising Kairi as well who looked at them confused.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” Merlin said calmly.
“But where do these two come from?” Edea asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry darlings, we didn’t mean to scare you,” said the Fairy Godmother.
“Well, appearing so suddenly doesn’t help,” Priere said.
“Relax. This is Merlin, and she's Fairy Godmother,” Kairi said. “I’ve contacted them to help us with Nina.”
“Well, I hope they're helpful. Edea hasn't been much help,” Airy said.
“Would you like to try it yourself?” Edea asked Airy.
“Okay, both of you,” Makoto said, stopping them.
Merlin and the Fairy Godmother looked at the unconscious Nina on the bed.
“Well, well, what a coincidence,” said Merlin.
“Can you do something?” Rena asked.
“Well, yes,” Merlin said. “Whatever happened to her, it has affected her mind, which in a sense, has shut down her mind leaving her in this state. But you are in luck, we can ‘activate’ her again.”
“Are you sure it’s not dangerous?” Kairi asked.
“Calm down, my dear. This will take just a moment,” said the Fairy Godmother.
Merlin made several gestures with his hands and the Fairy Godmother flicked her wand in the air, causing Nina to glow for a moment. At that moment, Nina began to slowly open her eyes, regaining consciousness and slowly sitting up in bed with one hand on her head.
“Sleeping by boredom again, miss?” Merlin said jokingly.
Nina shook her head and looked at the wizard in surprise. “Professor Merlin? Is that you?”
“Ho, ho! I see you haven’t forgotten me, princess!” Merlin said happily.
“Have you met before?” Edea asked.
“During the time my world was consumed by darkness, I spent some time in this young lady’s world teaching classes where she resided,” Merlin said. “And I must admit that she was the most gifted student I have ever met. Compared to her, except for one or two cases, the rest seemed to have brains full of sawdust.”
“Interesting to know,” Priere said, crossing her arms.
Kairi approached Nina. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yes, thank you,” Nina said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Don’t overexert yourself, young lady. What happened to you was very serious, and as they say, it’s best not to overexert yourself,” said Merlin.
“What I would like to know is what happened,” Makoto said.
“I wish I knew that too,” Nina said, her head hanging.
“That’s not true, and you know it,” Merlin said. “Something else has happened. Something that has you worried.”
“Is that true?” Rena asked.
Nina sighed deeply. “Yes, it is. First, there was this terrible headache, as if my brain was being drilled. Then there were the images, which seemed to make no sense, or at least, as if they were there, but at the same time they weren’t. And after that…” Nina was silent for a moment. “I heard her voice.”
“Her voice?” Edea asked.
“Yes. My sister’s voice, Mina.” Nina said, nodding her head.
“Oh, your sister young Mina?” Merlin asked. “I have heard what has happened in your world in my absence. I am very sorry for her.”
“I appreciate that,” Nina said.
“Okay, I’m lost now,” Edea said.
“Let me explain,” Merlin said. “In her world, her race was once able to turn into Great Birds, large beings capable of flying great distances and carrying people on their backs without any problems. But due to certain events, her people lost that ability, unless they used a specific ritual. The problem is that anyone who transforms into a Great Bird by that method is eternally transformed into that form, losing their personality. Technically, you are no longer yourself. And that is exactly what happened to her sister. And all because of that megalomaniac cretin who called himself a god.”
Nina was silent for a moment. “Still, I was surprised to hear her voice. And not only that. It seemed as if she was calling out to me, asking for help. But how?”
“Okay, I still don’t understand anything,” Edea said, shrugging.
Merlin thought for a moment before looking at the Fairy Godmother, who looked back at him.
“Do you think the same as me?” Merlin asked the Fairy Godmother.
“Yes, it is very possible,” replied the Fairy Godmother.
“What’s going on?” Priere asked.
“We have a theory of what might have happened to your friend. And in any case, it's not good, quite serious,” Merlin said.
“Really?” Airy asked.
“That’s right,” Merlin said. “And all this is linked to your sister Mina. In any case, what you felt is what she must have felt at that moment.”
“What?!” Nina asked, looking at the magician.
“That’s right. Mina has somehow suffered a very powerful psychic attack on her mind, and since you are her sister, some of that attack would likely be passed psychically to you,” Merlin said. “Those images you thought you saw were surely what she was seeing at the time.”
“Really?” Nina asked, putting her hand on her head. “Mina, what happened to you?”
“Okay, so what do we do now?” Edea asked.
“Maybe Nina will remember something in those visions that will be of use,” Airy suggested.
“Really? Do you want Nina to remember what she saw, after what happened?” Makoto asked. “If that happened to me, I wouldn’t want to remember it ever again!”
“But she’s right,” Nina said. “I need to know what happened to her, and who did this to her.”
“If you’re sure about that…” Kairi said worriedly.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be here if anything happens,” said the Fairy Godmother.
“Thank you,” Nina said.
She closed her eyes, trying to remember what had just happened recently. After some effort, under the worried gaze of those present, her mind returned to the images she had seen before.
As expected, the images were too blurry, making it extremely difficult to discern any visible shape or form on the bodies. This was probably due to the horrible sensation her sister must have been feeling at that moment.
But there was something about those figures that caught her attention. Mainly the dominant figure, who seemed to be ordering the others around. Focusing on that figure, she could see that there seemed to be something hanging around its neck. And when that figure 'leaned' towards her, she could see what it was clearly.
A pair of black triangles.
Nina opened her eyes abruptly with a loud gasp.
“Nina?” Kairi asked. “Have you seen anything?”
“I know who has her!” Nina exclaimed.
Without another word, Nina jumped out of bed and flew swiftly out of the cabin to the startled crowd, before the girls went after her. When they caught up to her, they saw Nina was fiddling with the bridge computer.
“Hey, Nina, what's this about you knowing who has her?” Edea asked. “And stop touching that thing, you might cause us some trouble in the end.”
“Just what I said. I know who has my sister!” Nina said until she made an image appear on the screen. “The same ones who took the fragments we were looking for!”
On the screen was an image of the pirate insignia of the four-armed skull they found in Agrabah after learning that someone stole the fragment hidden there.
“The ones who got ahead of us earlier? Really?” Edea asked, before realizing something. “Wait, what do you mean with 'fragments’?”
“Are you saying they have gotten ahead of us again?” Priere asked.
“That’s right!” Nina exclaimed. “In the visions, I could see the two fragments together in the hands of the one who seems to be giving the orders. Both the one from Agrabah and the one from the world we are going to.”
“Great! All this trip for nothing!” Makoto exclaimed.
“Not quite,” Kairi said. “If what Nina says is true, then wherever her sister is, the fragments will be.”
“True. Hopefully, they won’t have left yet,” Rena said, as the rest nodded.
“Well, it seems like the surprises are never-ending today.” Merlin entered the bridge, causing everyone to turn their gaze to the wizard. “Tell me, Nina’s sister, and what you’re looking for, is in the hands of those people, isn’t it?”
Everyone was silent for a moment, until Airy thought of something, looking at the badge and then at the wizard. “Wait, you know that symbol?”
“Unfortunately,” Merlin said. “That is the emblem of the Fusian Pirates. A very dangerous band of criminals. And the worst thing is that they are one of the few with the technology necessary to travel across the Lanes Betweens.”
“What are the Fusian Pirates?” Eve asked.
“The Fusians are a race native to another world. In this world, there are strange creatures called Pokémon, fascinating creatures, by the way.” Merlin said but cleared his throat when he saw the girls’ faces. “Back to the topic. They are mainly more animalistic in appearance, like dogs, cats, birds, and such. In some cases, there are the same ones, but in a more humanoid form. An excellent example would be the inhabitants of Nottingham, like Robin Hood and Little John.” The wizard said looking at Kairi, Edea, and Rena, who nodded in understanding.
“Okay, so what does that have to do with the Fusians?” Makoto asked.
“Fusians are a very unique breed. Think of them as two Pokémon fused into one being. That’s what a Fusian is,” Merlin explained.
Rena became thoughtful. “So a race that is the union of two different beings. I think I can get the idea.”
“Well, it doesn’t end here, young lady,” Merlin said, before gazing at Makoto. “But to do that, I need to speak to your boss, young lady.”
“With Director Fury? For what?” Makoto asked.
“You’ll understand,” Merlin said.
The girls looked at each other until Kairi nodded. “I think we know where to go now.”
“Yes,” Nina said, turning her gaze to the emblem of the Fusian Pirates. “And I know who we can ask for help.”
Gate
A small northern town at the foot of a large mountain. Originally it was an unremarkable town, but it turned out that the entrance to the mountain led to an underground world, which was infested with monsters and demons. But in the end, said entrance was sealed when a floating city fell right into the mountain, its bottom blocking the entrance, thus preventing anything from entering or leaving.
Township
An ancient abandoned settlement that with time and dedication became a large and prosperous town. But its biggest secret was that beneath it there was a mechanical structure with a lost technology that could allow said settlement to fly through the sky, literally. The last time this place flew was to land right on the mountain near Gate, closing the entrance there, never to rise again.
Three people were ascending the wooden bridge that had been built to connect both settlements and thus prevent Township from being isolated from the world.
One of them was a man with blue hair and green eyes, wearing a red undershirt and baggy pants, carrying a sheathed sword on his back, a large fish in one hand and a fishing rod in the other.
Another of them was a white and brown anthropomorphic dog, dressed in a heavy green tunic belted at the waist over white leggings and ultramarine boots. He seemed to be carrying the same thing as the man, both the large fish and the fishing rod, except that he had a crossbow on his back.
The third person was a catwoman with short, straight red hair, green eyes, and a cat tail and ears, wearing fingerless gloves and short boots, a low-cut purple top, leather bracelets all over her body that surrounded her arms, legs, waist, and neck, her lower body being that of a tiger, whose fur was so dense that it covered any private parts completely, as well as having a tail that wagged idly. Unlike the others, this one only had a fishing rod in one hand and a long staff in the other hand, but she was not carrying any fish.
“For heaven's sake, what a waste of a day,” said the catgirl with an annoyed face.
“Don’t complain, Katt. You signed up for it yourself after all,” the dog said with a mischievous grin.
“But I didn’t know fishing was such a pain!” Katt exclaimed.
“Bow is right, Katt,” the man said. “Fishing is something that requires patience. Something that you clearly lack.”
“I have patience!” Katt crossed his arms. “It’s just that this is beyond me”
“Admit it. When it comes to fighting, you have the one to ask. But when it comes to fishing, you’re pathetic.” Bow said.
“Say that again and I’ll break the staff on your head!” Katt exclaimed angrily.
It didn't take long for the trio to reach the entrance to Township. The town was a splendid one, with three rows of houses with three houses each, each row with a different architectural style, facing a large building at the back of the town with a small one next to it.
The group walked past the fountain, just as an old man walked past them.
“Ah, welcome back, Ryu,” the old man said to the man. “How was your day of fishing?”
“Well, except for Katt, we’ve had a good day,” Bow said, receiving a disapproving sneer from Katt.
“Ha ha! I thought so!” I thought so. “I guess Maclean owes me some zenny. Anyway, see you later.” He said before walking away.
“See you later, Leminton,” Bow said, watching the old man walk away, while Katt muttered under his breath.
Soon the group arrived at the large building, where there was a short humanoid ape covered in brown hair and rather long arms, wearing a blue vest with torn sleeves over a frayed yellow shirt, blue pants with half the legs torn off, a red belt, yellow bandages wrapped around both wrists, and red collars around both legs, who was sitting on the steps of the entrance.
“Hello, boss!” exclaimed the ape. “How was your day?”
“Well, pretty good, Sten,” Ryu said, quickly nodding toward Katt. “Not so good for Katt, though.”
At that moment Sten started laughing.
“Don’t tell me you made a bet on that too!” Katt exclaimed angrily.
“No, that’s not it. I just expected it,” Sten said, calming down from his laughter. “But I must remind you that there is a bet going on. One involving a certain love triangle.”
“Oh, here we go again” Ryu sighed.
“They have a point,” Bow said, walking over to stand beside Sten and looking at Katt. “Shouldn’t you have taken advantage of the opportunity?”
“Well, in another case, maybe,” Katt said. “But with Nina? It really wouldn’t be fair to her or the rest of us. Remember when I had to leave the group?”
“Please don’t remind us.” Bow rolled his eyes.
“So I conceded the victory to Nina, but she barely tried anything while we were apart,” Katt explained. “It wouldn’t be fair for me to try while she’s so far away.”
“Speaking of which, does anyone have any idea where he’s gone?” Sten asked.
“The day we passed through Hometown we went to ask at the magic academy, but the director refused to tell us,” Ryo said.
Katt looked at Ryu, leaning towards him. “You miss her, don’t you?”
“Yeah, me and everyone,” Ryu said. “It’s been a while since she left. She’s not only our friend, she’s also our partner. I know that with Deis the magic part is covered, but it’s not the same without Nina.”
At that moment there was a flash behind Ryu and Katt, but neither of them noticed it.
“I admit that sometimes I imagine Nina appearing with her black wings, and her sweet smile,” Ryu said as Katt nodded vigorously. “Don’t you think that would be nice, Bow?... Bow?”
Ryu and Katt looked at Bow and Sten, whose gazes were vacant as if they had seen a ghost. Even Bow dropped the fish he was holding.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you two?” Katt asked upon seeing the two of them.
Bow still didn't react, but Sten pointed behind them both with his finger and arching an eyebrow, Ryu and Katt turned around to see what was happening.
Kairi and the rest of the group teleported into the middle of the village at Nina's request, looking around at the confused gaze of those around them. At that moment Nina turned her gaze to Ryu and Katt, who were in shock at seeing her there.
“Hello,” Nina said, looking at the two of them with a smile on her face. “I’m back.”
Everyone was silent and in shock watching her, until suddenly Sten and Bow jumped almost on Ryu's back who almost fell due to the weight of both of them on him.
“Nina?!” The three of them exclaimed in surprise.
Nina smiled more at the reaction of the three, until suddenly Katt jumped on her, hugging her with her arms and legs as if she were going to climb a pillar. She did it with such force that she almost made Nina fall, making the rest of the group retreat when she backed away.
“Nina! It’s really you! I’m so glad you’re back here!” Katt exclaimed as she hugged Nina tightly with a wide smile on her face.
“I’m glad to see you too, Katt,” Nina said, somewhat tense at Katt’s effusive welcome.
At that moment Katt let go of her and shouted to the four winds: “Hey! Attention everyone! Nina is back!”
After that shout, all the inhabitants of the adjacent houses began to look out, and at the same time to be happy to see the winged girl in the city, some even leaving their houses and approaching her to thank her for her return.
“Nina! Is it really you?” A woman of the same age as Nina, wearing a green dress and with short brown hair, approached her.
“I’m glad to see you too, Baretta,” Nina said, smiling at the woman.
“Seriously, you have to tell me where you’ve been all this time,” the woman said.
“Well, it's a long story, actually,” Nina said, her hand on the back of her neck.
The girls stared as the crowd surrounded Nina.
“I must admit, she is quite famous here,” Airy said.
“Yes. And you can tell she’s very well-liked here too,” Rena said, as Kairi nodded.
“So it’s true, huh?” Nina turned to the large building, seeing a huge armadillo-like man, about three meters tall, with massive shoulders and more muscles than most sports teams, grayish skin with a silvery brown shell on his back, shoulders, and, looking oddly tiny compared to the rest of his body, with a long snout and small eyes, wearing short boots with the toes turned out, a purple toga that left his arms and most of his upper torso exposed. “We’ve missed you here.”
“I guess so,” Nina said.
“Wow! This guy is enormous!” Edea exclaimed, looking at the armadillo man in surprise, both she and Makoto.
Eve simply noticed how in the distance there was a tall being that looked like a plant man whose body seemed to be composed of bright green stems and leaves, rigid and stiff. From its wrists and neck, flower-like protuberances formed its hands and head, whose petals went from white at the base to deep pink. From inside the flower on its head, a delicate face peeked out, with androgynous features. The being simply stood in the distance observing, but she noticed, for a second, how it seemed to enjoy the moment.
“Oh, indeed you are, Mademoiselle Nina!” another voice exclaimed, causing the girls to jump as they saw the speaker, who was a tall, green-scaled, somewhat overweight frogman, dressed in an expensive-looking white and blue doublet with gold trim and matching boots with green stockings. A red scarf was wrapped around his neck, the same color as his merry eyes, and a rapier hung at his waist.
“Yes, and I see you’re fine too, Jean,” Nina said to the frogman.
“I’ve seen strange things in many worlds, but a frog this size? Never!” Kairi commented nervously, while the rest nodded.
Everyone was still celebrating Nina's return when a voice caught everyone's attention.
“Hey! I know it’s an important moment and all, but…” Everyone looked towards one of the windows on the top floor of the large building, watching as a woman peeked out, her upper half resembling a beautiful woman with large breasts and violet eyes and her characteristic long blue hair tied in a ponytail, while her body from the waist down resembles a snake, dressed in a purple robe with golden details and highlights, with her cleavage exposed in the middle and some accessories, such as green earrings, some golden bracelets and bangles, and some rings. “She’s brought guests.”
Everyone then turned their gaze to Kairi and the others, who looked at the people. Even Edea waved nervously at having so many eyes on her.
Then people started talking among themselves after realizing how distracted they were by not noticing the group that came with Nina.
“Okay, I think it would be best if everyone went home since you're making them a little nervous,” Nina asked everyone.
After a while, the people said goodbye to Nina and returned to their homes, except for Ryu, Katt, Bow, Sten, the armadillo, the plant man, and Jean.
“Namanda, Namanda…” The giant armadillo said with a hand on his head. “If they were wolves, they would surely devour us.”
“And it’s hard not to notice them,” Bow said, looking at the group, until he looked at Prier and jumped. “Holy cow! A demon!”
“Is there a problem, furball?” Priere asked.
That whole group was about to get ready to fight if Nina hadn't gotten in the way.
“Hey, calm down! She’s coming with us! You can trust her!” Nina exclaimed, putting her hands between herself and the group.
“Are you sure about that?” Sten raised an eyebrow.
“It’s clear that she, and the others, have come with Nina,” the plant man said. “Since it’s her, I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“I am with you, Monsieur Spar,” said the frog. “Mademoiselle Nina would never have joined a demon if she did not trust her.”
“Well, I don’t trust her,” Katt said, approaching Priere.
“Hey, do you want a fight, kitty?” Priere asked.
“Maybe. What are you going to do?” Katt mocked Priere.
The two of them looked at each other seriously, about to start fighting, but then Rena stepped in between them. “Enough, both of you!” The elf said in a serious tone.
“Let me introduce them to you,” Nina said. “They are Kairi, Edea, Rena, Eve, Makoto, Airy, and the woman Katt almost got into a fight with is named Priere.” Nina introduced, the group nodding their heads as her name was said.
“Pleased to meet you, ladies,” said the frog, approaching them and bowing royally. “I am Ekaru Hoppe de pe Tapeta, prince of Simafort, but you may call me Jean if you please.”
Jean grabbed Rena’s hand to kiss it, but the elf quickly took it away. “Thank you, Mr. Jean,” Rena said nervously.
“I am Katt Chuan,” Katt said, pointing to herself.
“And I am Rand Marks,” the huge armadillo said.
“I am Sten Legacy,” the monkey said with a smile. “And don’t worry. Rand may be huge, but his heart is even bigger.” Sten said as Rand nodded.
“Bow Doggy.” The dog man said. “And our walking plant is named Spar.” He pointed at the plant man, before putting his arm behind Ryu. “And this is our boss!”
“I am Ryu Bateson, the head of Dragonkin,” Ryu said, crossing his arms before nodding toward the snake woman. “And the one in the window is Deis.”
Deis leaned against the window where she watched what was happening. “Let’s see, Kairi, huh? What is a Princess of Heart doing in our town?”
Kairi was surprised by this, turning her gaze towards her. “How do you know?”
“Please, dear. Things like that don’t escape me.” Deis smiled vainly.
“A Princess of Heart? And what is that?” Katt asked, scratching his head in confusion.
“Nina, I think we deserve an explanation. The headmaster of the magic school didn’t tell us anything,” Bow said.
Nina sighed before turning her gaze to her former companions. “True, but I warn you. It will be a long story. And you might get lost.”
Inside the large house, the Dragonkin group sat around a long round table, while Kairi and the others stood next to Nina, who was also sitting in one of the chairs. Nina explained, at length, everything that had happened and everything she had been doing since she left her world for the special studies that the headmaster of Hometown's magic school suggested.
In this, she also told them how she met Kairi and the others, how they had been facing the Fallen, and how they were now looking for the black fragments so they could end the problem once and for all.
“Wow. That really is a fascinating story,” Rand said after hearing the story.
“Yes. I’m actually surprised that the Princess of Heart is also an Esper. And the daughter of the Phoenix, no less!” Deis commented.
“Well, I don’t understand everything. Can you tell me what an Eidolon or an Esper is?” Katt asked.
“I’ll tell you later, dear,” Deis said.
“Still, mes amis, mademoiselle Nina’s story is extraordinarily fanciful,” Jean said, before looking at Nina. “No offense.”
Nina simply shook her head while smiling.
“Thinking about it logically, it is one of those stories that are very difficult to believe just like that. But the presence of our guests exposes without a doubt the veracity of this story,” Spar explained. “But I am sure that you all have noticed a certain detail in this story.”
“Yeah, I think we all have,” Ryu said, before glancing at Katt out of the corner of his eye. “Well, almost everyone.” He commented before turning his gaze to the girls. “If this search for these… fragments… is indeed so important, why have you come here?”
“I’ve already realized that too!” Katt exclaimed before looking at Nina. “Obviously, you didn’t come here just to say hello.”
“That’s what I was getting at now. But first I have to ask you something,” Nina said, sighing deeply before speaking. “Have any of you seen Mina recently?”
The Dragonkin members were silent at Nina's question until Bow spoke.
“Well, actually, we haven’t seen her in a few days,” Bow said. “And believe me, she’s been flying over the town every day since you left.”
“We thought she got tired of coming or something,” Sten said.
“I see,” Nina said, before looking at the ground depressed, at which point Kairi put her hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
“Nina, what’s wrong?” Ryu asked, concern in his voice.
Nina sighed before turning her gaze to her former companions. “Mina has been kidnapped.”
“What?!” Sten asked, standing up from his chair and slamming his hands on the table.
“Are you sure about that?” Rand asked, leaning forward.
“This may sound crazy, but not long ago I received what you might call a mental attack on me,” Nina said. “At first I didn’t know how it happened, but we soon found out that what happened was that they tried to alter Mina’s mind with some kind of very powerful psychic power, and I felt what she felt.”
The Dragonkin group looked at Nina in bewilderment, before turning their gaze to Deis, who was deep in thought.
“A psychic link between sisters,” Deis said. “It’s extremely rare, but it can happen.”
“And do you know where it is?” Bow asked Nina.
“We don’t know,” Rena replied. “But thanks to the clues Nina got from the visions she had during that episode, we know that Mina and the fragments we’re looking for are together.”
“And hopefully they will still be here, in this world,” Makoto said.
“Okay, that’s fine. But one question. Who are we going to face this time?” Katt asked.
“We?” Edea asked.
“You’re right. Just like Nina, Mina is part of our group, and she’s also our friend. So we’re going to help you rescue her,” Ryu said.
“Besides, I don’t think it’ll be difficult to deal with these Fallen,” Bow said. “After all, they’re nothing more than undead. And we have several members capable of dispatching them.”
“To begin, Bow, these Fallen aren’t undead. They’re monsters who have taken on that appearance,” Rand said.
“Let’s see if you can understand this better because even I have understood it myself,” Katt said, crossing her arms behind her head.
“The thing is, the Fallen aren’t responsible,” Kairi said. “They’re a group of pirates called the Fusian.”
“Fusian?” Jean asked.
“Can we know who those are exactly?” Sten asked.
“We don’t know,” Eve said. “We just know that they’re dangerous, but Merlin is supposed to be gathering more information about them.”
Deis raised an eyebrow. “Merlin?” She asked before looking at Nina. “You’re not talking about who I think he is, are you?”
Before Nina could respond, a cloud of smoke appeared beside the table, with Merlin appearing behind the smoke, surprising everyone.
“Well, I hope I got here in time,” Merlin said quietly.
“Where did this old man come from?” Sten asked, seeing Merlin.
“Yes, it had to be him,” Deis sighed with a hand on her forehead.
At that moment Merlin turned his gaze to Deis. “Ho, ho! What a surprise! You’re the second student I’ve met in a short time!”
Deis sighed before looking at the wizard. “Good morning, Professor Merlin.”
“Professor?” Katt asked.
“For a time he was a teacher at the Hometown magic school,” Deis said.
“Yes, and despite how good a student she was, you can't imagine how rude she could be sometimes,” Merlin commented. “Exactly the opposite of what Nina was.”
“Namanda, Namanda… this is really interesting,” Rand said with a smile.
“Just let it be, okay?” Deis said with a blush on her face and looking away.
“Though I am glad to see you have stopped fooling everyone and you're showing who you truly are, Deis,” Merlin said.
“Forgive me for interrupting, Mister Merlin,” Spar said. “But Miss Eve said you were looking for some information about Mina’s captors. If you’re here, then you’ve obtained that information, right?”
“Indeed, Director Fury has been very kind in giving me this information. But first I will have to give you some context of the situation,” Merlin said.
“I’ve already explained to them about the other worlds,” Nina told Merlin. “You can trust them, they won’t tell anyone about it.”
“I hope so, for the sake of this world,” said Merlin. “Well, we’d better get started.”
Merlin stretched out his fingers as he cleared his throat before beginning to speak.
“As Nina will have explained to you, there are many other worlds besides this one. In fact, you could say that each star in the firmament is a world in itself, and each world has a very different size and culture.”
“You’re right. The last world we visited was a galaxy in itself,” Edea said.
“Edea!” Rena and Nina scolded Edea to shut up.
Merlin cleared his throat again. “Well, in some worlds there are some truly exceptional creatures with unique abilities.”
Merlin made some gestures with his hands, causing images of two creatures to appear. One was a being that looked like a human in body form, with 4 arms, with three stripes that appeared to be hair on its head, while its pubic area was covered by wrestling trunks tied with a belt. The other was a large brown and cream bird with an extremely long crest of feathers and a tail with a uniform reddish tone.
“In those worlds, these creatures in question are called Pokémon. And these specific creatures are called Machamp and Pidgeot respectively.” Merlin said, introducing the creatures. “And that’s not all.”
Merlin began to show several pictures of more creatures, or Pokémon as he said, with their names. A Gardevoir and a Crobat, a Zoroark and an Arcanine, a Gallade and a Sceptile, a Greninja and a Sharpedo, a Blaziken and a Raichu, a Lopunny and a Vaporeon, a Slaking and a Primeape, a Weavile and a Houndoom, and a Golurk and a Haxorus.
“As you can see, all of these creatures are unique in themselves, each with their own shapes and types. Although there are also many mysteries that are still unknown about them,” Merlin explained.
“Excuse me, sir. We appreciate this biology lesson, but what does this have to do with Mina’s captors?” Bow asked.
“I’m with him. What do the Fusian Pirates have to do with all this you’re telling us?” Rena asked.
“Hmm, right, I think I’m sidetracking here,” Merlin said. “As I was saying. These creatures are unique to several worlds, but in at least one of them, there are Pokémon that are practically fusions of two or more Pokémon. And in some cases, they have a more anthropomorphic appearance like the current examples.”
At that moment Merlin made the images of the Pokémon merge together, forming new creatures, like a Pidgeot with the body of a Machamp with a somewhat more 'human' appearance and wearing pirate clothes. And the same thing happened with all the images, except the last one, which was more like a huge fusion of a Haxorus with the body of a Golurk.
“These fusions usually have different names depending on the world they originate from, most of them very similar to each other. But one example of are is the Fusian. You could say that their entire race is made up of pirates, or at least the majority of them.” Merlin explained.
“These first ones are called Forarmed, four-armed brutes, and were once the original founders of the gang, hence their flag,” Merlin said, holding up the four-armed skull flag. “These others are the Delmagi, users of fearsome telepathic powers. They were surely responsible for what happened to you.” Merlin glanced at Nina, who watched closely.
“We also have the Fennek, very cunning foxes. The Galiad, are very feared warriors. The Gekonobi, are very skilled and dangerous ninja toads. The Hennoth, fighting cocks of the highest order. The Lopore, beautiful and dangerous. The Slakom, heavyweights if there ever was one. And the Wethom, don’t underestimate them for their size because they are very dangerous. Finally, we have the Golnof, but it seems that they are in fact machines that have been designed to look like real ones, but even so, it is best not to take them lightly.”
Ryu nodded. “So this is our enemy. They’re unlike anything we’ve encountered here.”
“Yeah, they’ll be a tough nut to crack,” Bow said.
“But Merlin, there is a flaw in this exposition,” Nina said. “According to this, the Delmagi and the Lopore are female members of the pirates, but according to the visions I had, the leader of the pirates must be a Forarmed.”
“You are right, Nina,” Merlin said, and with a gesture, the image of a specific blue-colored female Forarmed appeared. “This person is without a doubt Ceres herself, the Admiral of the Fusian Pirates. A very dangerous woman. It will not be easy to recover Mina and the fragments from her hands.”
“Wait, Admiral?” Rand asked. “But how many of them are there?”
“A lot of them, all in ships of all kinds,” Merlin said, before laughing a little. “But don’t worry, there’s probably only one ship here. If the whole fleet was here, everyone would know about it.”
“But where is she? The Gummi Ship hasn’t located her,” Eve asked.
“That’s the bad thing. Apparently, these pirates have had some encounters with magical beings, and have designed their ships so that they cannot be located by magic. I was hoping that your ship would be able to locate the pirate ship if it were here,” Merlin commented.
“Either that, or they've already left. With the fragments, and with Mina,” Airy said, crossing her arms.
Airy's comment depressed Nina at the possibility of it.
Everyone started thinking about what could be done, until suddenly Spar stood up, leaving the room.
“What the?” Edea asked, following Spar.
The girls followed the plant man out of the building, where they watched as he began talking to the nearby trees.
“What is he doing? Has he gone mad?” Priere asked, seeing the strange things Spar was doing.
“Spar is a Grass Man, whose race can communicate with plants, which communicate with each other like a large information network.” A voice said next to the girls, causing them to turn around, seeing that an old statue of a dragon was speaking to them.
“Man, thanks for saying so. I was starting to think the worst,” Kairi said, but then she jumped like the others. “HOLY COW! The statue spoke?”
“Excuse me for having to communicate through this, daughter of the Phoenix,” the dragon statue said.
“What is this? Some kind of gargoyle?” Edea asked.
“You gave them quite a scare, Ladon,” Nina said as she emerged with the rest of the Dragonkin.
“Ladon?” Makoto asked.
“He is the Dragon God of this world. Some of us can talk to him through these statues. And apparently, you can too.” Nina said.
“Well, you could have warned us and saved us this scare,” Rena said.
“Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention that point,” Nina said, somewhat embarrassed.
“To be honest, I haven’t seen many gods using statues to communicate with people,” Airy said.
“Yeah, sometimes I got the feeling that he was giving us the information we needed in dribs and drabs,” Bow said.
Kairi then noticed something and looked at the dragon god statue. “Wait, do you know who I am?”
“Do you truly think I would miss the detail that you are the daughter of a Supreme Eidolon like Deis did? Don’t make me laugh!” the statue exclaimed.
“Hey!” Deis exclaimed, offended.
“Calm down, let's not get carried away,” Rand said with his hands raised.
“Now it seems that all the divine beings already knew that Kairi was the daughter of the Phoenix,” Edea said.
“I doubt it. The Olympians didn’t know until Kairi transformed before them,” Eve said. “It’s possible that only gods who are somehow connected to the Supreme Eidolons can sense such a presence.”
“Just like that,” said the dragon god.
“Great, a female mechanical Spar. As if ours wasn’t enough,” Sten commented, pointing at Eve.
Without thinking twice, she gave him a strong slap that made him spin around like a top several times before falling to the ground, dizzy and with the mark of the slap on his face.
“I like this girl!” Katt exclaimed with a smile.
They all started laughing calmly until Spar returned to them.
“I’m sorry, but no plant has found anything that could shed light on the pirates’ location,” Spar said.
“Oh, come on!” Makoto exclaimed.
Jean thought for a moment before turning his gaze to Ryu. “Could we contact Mademoiselle Patty to see if she has seen anything by chance, mon ami?”
“With Yua?” Ryu asked thoughtfully. “Yeah, maybe. The problem is I don’t know where she is.”
“Just what we needed!” exclaimed Priere. “Have they already left?”
“I doubt it!” Nina exclaimed. “They still have to be here!”
“But your friend hasn't found that ship!” Airy said.
“Perhaps, but you are forgetting one thing. Spar’s ability allows him to access the information network that plants possess, is it not?” The dragon god statue said. “But we all know that said network lacks access to places like distant islands. And there are only a few islands that are capable of supporting a ship of the magnitude you seek.”
Everyone started thinking about it, until Sten spoke, recovering from the slap.
“In that case, we’ll have to skip Tunlan. Can you imagine the fuss the natives would make if they saw something like that?” Sten said with a hand on his cheek.
At that moment, the Dragonkin members became serious. Very serious.
“In that case, we only have one place left,” Nina said, before looking south. “Evrai.”
Ryu crossed his arms with a frown. “I never thought we’d have to go back to that place one day.”
“But given everything we know, that’s the only location where the pirates’ ship could be,” Spar said.
“Still, not funny!” Rand exclaimed, pounding his fists together.
“Excuse me, but what’s so special about this place?” Kairi asked.
“That island is elevated several meters above sea level, protected by high cliffs. It is almost impossible to access the top of the island by sea,” Bow said.
“So the only way in is by air. If it weren’t for the fact that Mademoiselle Mina is in the hands of those vermin…” Jean said.
Airy looked at Eve. “Would it be possible to teleport with the Gummi Ship there as we did in Cloud Tower?”
“That's not possible. That worked because I had someone acting as a beacon to calculate the teleport location,” Eve said. “Unless one of us is there, I won’t be able to program the teleport beacon.”
“So we’ll have to fly,” Nina said.
“Oh no!” Edea exclaimed. “I still remember when we had to fly to get into Altera’s core, and it was like a big island. And I’m sure this Evra is on the other side of the world across the sea! In any case, I don’t want to be stuck for the whole trip again!”
“True, we couldn’t hold out that long flying by ourselves, even if I became an esper,” Kairi said.
“Besides, that would be counterproductive,” Eve said.
“What do you mean?” Priere asked.
“If by chance the pirates were indeed there, if we flew they would surely discover us, and in the air, we would be easy prey,” Eve explained.
“Does that mean there’s no way to get there?” Makoto said.
“I don’t think so,” Deis said. “You may not know this, but we’ve been there, and I know the perfect spell to get there.”
They all looked at Deis.
“Really? Could you take us there?” Kairi asked.
“Without a doubt!” Deis said with a smile.
“Okay, so what’s the catch?” Rena asked.
“The trap? We’re going with you!” Bow exclaimed.
“As we said, Mina is our friend, so we will go rescue her as well,” Ryu said, while the others nodded in agreement.
Kairi looked at Dragonkin in surprise, better understanding the loyalty Nina had to this group. She nodded firmly. “Very well. Let's rescue Mina, and recover the fragments.”
In a flash, both Kairi and Ryu's group appeared in another place. They had appeared in front of the ruins of a large city that was slowly being consumed by vegetation and trees, at the same place where the surroundings seemed to show signs of having dead vegetation but were slowly recovering.
Edea looked at the ruins of the city for a moment, suffering a chill that made her rub her arms as she looked away. “Does anyone else get a bad vibe from this place?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know what was here,” Katt said coldly.
Kairi could clearly see Katt's coldness, as well as Rand and Ryu's coldness towards the ruins of the city. Whatever was happening, they obviously wanted nothing to do with the place. And obviously, that had to be done, as there were more pressing matters at the moment.
Spar touched the grass with his hands, communicating with them before standing up.
“The plants have told me that the ship is located east of here,” Spar said.
“Okay, let’s go,” Nina said, and they started moving in that direction.
Everyone moved in the direction Spar silently indicated. Apparently, no one wanted to talk at all at that moment. A situation that only increased the tension of the moment.
As they moved forward, they soon began to see a large structure, causing everyone to start moving faster. It didn't take long for them to reach the place, seeing that it was a large black ship with black decorations and pipes of different sizes in most parts of the ship. The ship itself was as large as a large town or city in size. In addition, they could see on the outer wall an insignia that they already knew: the skull with four flexed arms.
“It’s here,” Nina said. “This is their ship.”
“Come on, let’s find a place to get into that thing,” Kairi said.
After searching the outside of the ship for an entrance, they soon found a group of beings identical to the ones Merlin had shown camped in front of what seemed to be a possible entrance to the interior of the ship. The group was quite small. A Tauros-type Forarmed, a pair of Raichu and Houndoom-type Hennoth, and a pair of Arcanine and Meganium-type Fenneks. It was clear to see that they were protecting the entrance.
The group was hiding behind some rocks and bushes observing the place at that time.
“Okay, we just need to get rid of those to get in,” Edea said.
At that moment the Fennek Meganium reacted to something and looked in one direction, but did not see anyone there.
“Is something wrong?” the Hennoth Houndoom asked upon seeing his companion.
“I don’t know, I felt something strange… Bah, it must have been nothing!” said the Fennek Meganium, returning to what he was doing.
The group had hidden themselves even further, hiding from them so as not to be discovered, everyone being nervous at this moment.
“Oh my, that guy almost spotted us,” Sten said.
“Yes, but how did he know where to look?” Makoto asked.
“It was my fault,” Spar said. “That pirate was part plant, and I had somehow established contact with him. But since he is clearly not used to this, he only faintly sensed my presence.”
“Well, we have to think about how to avoid them,” Kairi said.
“Why avoid them? Let’s get them out of here as they deserve!” Nina exclaimed.
“Well said!” Priere said with a smile.
“Okay, what if they alert those inside before we can get in?” Rena asked.
“You're right. We have to dispatch the guards without raising the alarm,” Bow said.
Katt thought for a moment. “Hey, what if we try that?” she asked.
“That? Really?” Ryu asked. “I don’t know. It didn’t work last time.”
“That's because everyone here knows us. They probably don't even know who we are,” Katt said.
“Excuse me, what is ‘that’?” Nina asked.
“Oh, a ruse we devised while you were gone,” Sten said.
“You’ll see. But first…” Katt said, before looking at Deis with a smile.
“What?” the snake woman asked.
“You know. You probably have a bottle hidden somewhere, we already know each other,” Katt said.
Deis sighed and pulled out (from who knows where) a small bottle of wine which he reluctantly handed to Katt.
“What do you plan to do with that?” Makoto asked.
“Now you’ll see. Keep an eye out,” Katt said, emerging from hiding with the bottle, and gulping down some of the contents.
The pirates continued with their chores in the makeshift camp as Katt approached them, beginning to move as if she were mildly drunk.
“Hey, you guys! Where have you been all my life?” Katt asked, faking a drunken voice as he stumbled towards them, catching the pirates’ attention. “And what the heck is that huge thing?”
“Hey, miss. Are you okay?” The Forarmed Tauros asked, walking towards the 'drunk' Katt.
“Am I okay, big guy? Can’t you see me?” Katt asked, swaying falsely.
The Forarmed sniffed Katt’s mouth for a moment before addressing the others. “Hey, guys! This kitty is really drunk!”
The pirates laughed, while Hennoth Raichu and Fennek Meganium approached her, leaving the other two standing there.
“Seriously, where do you come from?” Hennoth Raichu asked, crossing his arms.
“That’s what I was going to ask you! I’ve never seen anything weirder than you in my life!” Katt exclaimed, deliberately stumbling over some of the words.
“Yeah, yeah.” Fennek Meganium said, turning around. “Hey, buddy! I think you could have some fun with her! You two look like the same race!” He said, looking at Fennek Arcanine.
“That one?” Katt asked, pointing at the pirate. “If that's a Woren then I am a snake!”
That made the pirates laugh out loud for a moment.
“Hey, pretty girl. If you’re alone, maybe me and my companions can give you some company,” Forarmed Tauros said, rubbing Katt’s cheek with one of his hands.
“Thanks for the offer big guy, but you know what?” Katt said suggestively, before grabbing the Forarmed’s arm and throwing him over her to the ground, finishing the job with a blow to the head with her staff, knocking him unconscious. “I’m only interested in dragons.”
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?” Hennoth Raichu asked seriously, before receiving a blow to the head with a staff that left him lying on the ground.
The Fennek Meganium tried to react, but Katt hit it in the leg, causing it to lose its balance before finishing the job with a strong blow to the head, knocking it out.
“How dare you, bitch?” the Fennek Arcanine asked, pulling out a pistol.
“Hey, that tongue!” Katt scolded, pointing at him with her finger.
“Why you…!” the Hennoth Houndoom exclaimed.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.”
The two pirates turned to see Rand behind them, who, keeping a friendly smile, grabbed both of their heads and slammed them hard against each other, knocking both pirates unconscious. Rand shook his hands off as the rest of the group emerged from hiding.
“I can’t believe it worked this time,” Bow said.
“What? I told you it would work,” Katt said with a smile, handing the bottle back to Deis.
“Well, we better hide them,” Makoto suggested.
“It was no use. As soon as they try to contact them, they will know something is up, whether we hide them or not,” Eve said.
“You’re right. We’d better go in and find Mina as soon as possible,” Nina said.
They all nodded and entered the ship through the entrance.
The interior of the pirate ship's corridors was wide enough to allow large people to walk through. While Kairi's group moved forward steadily, Ryu's group, except for Nina, was surprised by the metal style of the corridors.
“Okay, so where are we going?” Rand asked.
“If we find a terminal, I could access it and acquire the plans for this ship,” Eve suggested.
“Well, let’s find one before the pirates find us first,” Edea said.
The group carefully made their way through the corridors, being lucky not to encounter any pirates patrolling the halls. Fortunately, they found what looked like an access terminal.
“I think this is what we’re looking for,” Makoto said.
“Eve, you try to get in. We’ll make sure the coast is clear,” Kairi said.
Eve took the opportunity to access the terminal, while the rest of the group kept an eye on their surroundings in case they were surprised by any pirates and tried to silence them as quickly as possible.
But none of them noticed that a hidden security camera was watching them, with a four-armed figure in the shadows observing the image.
“Any news on that thing?” Bow asked.
“I found the blueprints for this ship,” Eve said. “This ship appears to be used as an attack carrier with two exits for its fighters. According to the data, this ship also has several hangars. And the largest one is in the center, between the two ship exits.”
“And what's so interesting about that?” Sten asked.
“Because the data says they have something large and organic in that location,” Eve replied.
“Then Mina has to be there,” Nina said.
“Eve, can you locate where these people’s admiral is?” Kairi asked.
“I’ll try. Just give me a couple of- Damn it!” Eve cursed suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” Edea asked.
“I’ve been logged out of the system and this access has been overruled!” Eve exclaimed.
“I don’t like it at all,” Sten said worriedly.
“There they are!”
The group looked in one direction of the hallway, finding several pirates accompanied by a Delmagi on that side.
“You are ours, stowaways!”
The group turned back, finding another group of pirates on that side of the hallway, also accompanied by a Delmagi.
“Damn it! How did they surround us so quickly?” Edea asked, looking at the pirates.
“Didn’t you hear Merlin?” Deis asked, looking at the Delmagi. “Those witches must have teleported them here.”
“The infiltration is over,” Kairi said, pulling out her Keyblade. “Let’s deal with these pirates and head to the hangar. Mina first, then the fragments.”
The group split into two, charging at the pirates on either side of the hallway.
On one side, Edea, using the Monk job, launched several strong punches against a pair of Fennek, while Bow managed to disarm a Hennoth that was aiming at her, leaving him at the mercy of a Priere who with a blow of her staff launched him against another pair of Hennoth. Jean unsheathed his rapier, beginning to contain a Forarmed with four swords with great skill until he raised his hand to use his magic, causing several blocks of ice to fall on his rival's head, leaving him unconscious.
Eve used her drones to hold off several of the pirates while preparing to launch a large cybernetic spear that took out several of the pirates, at the same time Deis used her magic to contain the powers of the Delmagi, easily overcoming this enemy. Airy for her part used her dark magic to dispatch several of the pirates, being covered by Sten and his skill with knives to contain and dispatch several Fennek that tried to attack the fairy.
On the other side, Nina easily disposed of the Delmagi on that side along with several pirates, while Rand held back several Forarmed with his strength, allowing Katt to jump on them and smash them with her staff. Makoto also began to throw punches at several of the pirates at full speed, while being supported by Spar and its whip, as well as using its magic to numb several of the pirates.
Kairi, at the same time, managed to get rid of several of the pirates with her Keyblade and magic, while Ryu covered her, facing those who tried to attack him with the sword, all while Rena fired her arrows, nullifying any pirate who tried to point their weapons at the others.
After dealing with the pirates in the hallway, the group nodded, starting to run in the same direction.
“We must find this hangar as soon as possible,” Kairi said as she ran. “Who knows how long it will take them to send reinforcements against us.”
“Yeah, especially if they can teleport their allies with those witches,” Makoto said in mid-run.
“So, new plan, people. We’ll beat up everyone who gets in our way,” Katt suggested, keeping pace with the others.
“At this point, I don’t mind following that plan,” Edea said.
“Yeah, let’s show them what happens to people who mess with our friends!” Bow exclaimed.
That was easier said than done. The whole place was like a maze of corridors and rooms, and that was despite Eve having acquired a map of the ship. To make matters worse, the group kept encountering more pirates with different forms and species, all keeping the same aspects, except for some special ones.
Among these were the Galiad who proved to be not only able to turn their elbows into sharp extensions of their forearms but were also adept at using swords and other melee weapons. There were also the so-called Wethon who were small in comparison to the others but were very agile and effective with both their weapons and their claws.
There were also the Lopore, who not only proved to be physically beautiful, but also capable of fighting and delivering powerful kicks while being agile with their jumps. Among them were also the Slakom, who were huge and corpulent, which made them enormously strong and resistant thanks to their size. Not to mention the Gekonobi, who looked like agile ninjas capable of attacking from any side.
And finally, there were also the fearsome Golnof, mechanical beings that looked like enormous golems whose abilities also depended on which Pokémon they were based on.
And to make matters worse, these large groups could appear out of nowhere thanks to the Delmagi and their teleportation magic.
“We’ve clearly attracted the crew’s attention,” Sten said after managing to take down a Haxorus-type Golnof.
“Don’t get distracted. We’re already approaching the hangar,” Eve said to the rest of the group.
After facing a large number of pirates who kept ambushing them at every step they took, also being forced to retreat after finding closed doors blocking their way and making them take longer routes, the group managed to reach what seemed to be one of the ship hangars, where they found a large number of parked fighters waiting to be piloted, many of them similar to the fighter that Kairi's group found abandoned in Agrabah. After searching the place thoroughly, and after dispatching another group of pirates, they managed to find the door to the cargo hangar where Mina was supposedly locked up.
As they went through the door, they found themselves in a large, empty room, with no other exit than the door through which they had entered, and inside the room they saw a huge bird on the floor tied with chains, making it unable to move.
“Mina!” Nina exclaimed, addressing the large bird.
But just as Nina was about to put her hands on the large bird that was her sister, her hands passed through her as if she were a ghost, her body glitched until it disappeared to her confusion, before appearing near the back wall, with a bluish and semi-translucent tone.
“What the hell?” Bow asked, approaching Nina along with the others.
“It’s a hologram,” Eve said. “This has to be a joke.”
“But how?” Kairi asked.
Mina's hologram soon moved her head, her large eyes widening at the sight of Nina.
“Sister? Jean?” The bird asked in a feminine voice, noticing the others as well.
“Mina! Are you okay?” Nina asked her sister’s hologram.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Katt said. “Didn’t she just talk?”
“Yes, we heard that too,” Ryu said.
“Please get me out of here! I want to go home!” Mina exclaimed, trying to free herself from her chains.
“Shut up. You’ve talked enough.” A voice said before a four-armed female figure appeared. The leader and admiral of the Fusian Pirates, who had two of her arms crossed under her breasts and the other two with her hands on her waist. Unlike Mina’s hologram, this one was much larger, so much so that it only showed from the torso up.
“You must be Ceres, is that right?” Kairi asked, frowning.
“That’s right,” Ceres replied. “I am the Admiral of the Fusian Pirates. And you have snuck onto my ship without my permission.”
“Your ship, you say?” Makoto asked. “I thought the admiral of a pirate band would be on a more ostentatious ship, and not a simple carrier.”
“Every ship in my fleet is my ship, young lady, and I am here because of my guest,” Ceres said, pointing with one of her arms at Mina.
“A guest my hide!” Nina said. “Stop the nonsense and tell me where you have her!”
“Oh, it’s simple. We’re just beyond this wall, in the cargo bay next to it. But I guarantee you won’t be able to get through that easily,” Ceres said, leaning toward them.
At that moment Bow noticed what was hanging around Ceres' neck. "Hey, isn't that what you're looking for?!" He asked the girls, pointing at her neck, where the two fragments they were looking for were hanging.
“Oh, you’re looking for this too?” Ceres asked, fiddling with the fragments in her hand. “First the great bird, and now these relics.”
“I’ll only tell you this once,” Kairi said seriously. “Release Nina’s sister and hand over the two fragments. If you don’t, we won’t be held responsible for what happens.”
“Oh, you think you can just come onto my ship and threaten me? You have a lot of nerve for who you are,” Ceres said coldly. “Half of you being a mere group of adventurers, and the other half a group of travelers from another world.”
“Well, many of us have taken care of threats much bigger than pirates, in case you're interested,” Makoto said with a smile.
“Perhaps, but you will soon learn to respect us properly,” Ceres said coldly.
At that moment, several Delmagi appeared in the room, and forming a circle, they made a colossal metal titan appear inside it that dwarfed anything they had seen before, even the enormous Golnofs. Its form was a strange mix of man and machine, with a humanoid shape but adorned with intricate angular armor that seemed almost organic. Its limbs were thick and powerful, one ending with two cannons, one small and one large with a shield around it, and the other with a huge chainsword. The robot's chest was a fortress of steel, its surface engraved with symbols replaced by the symbols of the Fusian Pirates and shining with an inner light. Its head was encased in a helmet that resembled a knight's helmet, with a visor that seemed to glow with an inner fire. It also had on the robot's armor something that looked like missile launchers.
The group stared at the massive robot before them as the Delmagi disappeared from the room.
“Where did you get that thing?” Eve asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Oh, it’s a souvenir we got a while back. They call it ‘Knight.’” Ceres replied calmly. “And it’s my pet’s favorite toy.”
At that moment, a strange creature appeared before them, mostly spherical in appearance, with a bulb under its body and a long pointed protuberance on top, giving it the shape of a lightning rod, with an aura of whitish-blue electricity around it that formed lightning-shaped appendages. The creature seemed to have a mocking smile as it looked at them with its blue eyes.
“What’s that thing?” Katt asked. “A ghost or something?”
“You could say so,” Ceres replied. “It’s my pet Rotom, and it has some very interesting abilities.” She was silent for a moment before smiling. “And one of them is to get into any machine and control it.”
At that moment the Rotom smiled maliciously before jumping onto the robot's head and disappearing into it, and in a flash, the robot's entire body turned orange, and the robot's face changed into the face of the Rotom that now controlled it.
“I can’t wait to see how you two handle my pet. Don’t disappoint me,” Ceres said, as holograms of her and Mina merged on the wall like a screen.
The group silently stared at the massive robot in front of them. Kairi simply moved forward a little, closing her eyes.
“We are very close to our goal. A lot has happened since I started this journey, and now I am one step away from ending this sixteen-year nightmare.” Kairi said, opening her eyes and pointing at the 'Rotom Knight' with her Keyblade. “You and your master are the only thing standing in our way. And I intend to make you regret ever getting in our way, and with our friends!”
After those words, Kairi became engulfed in flames, turning into her Esper Form to Dragonkin's surprise.
“An esper?” Ceres muttered under her breath. “This is going to get interesting.”
The Rotom Knight pointed his cannon arm toward the group and began firing a burst of lightning from the small cannon at them, forcing them to spread out to avoid the burst.
After separating, Bow began to shoot with his crossbow at the robot, hoping to do something to the armor, or at least pierce it, at the same time Rena fired an arrow in the direction of the robot that suddenly turned into dozens of arrows that flew towards it, but the robot's armor resisted the arrows, only getting it to focus its beam shots on them, forcing them to dodge them.
“That thing is going to know what's good!” Katt exclaimed as he ran to the side until he reached the Rotom Knight’s legs, giving it a hard blow with his staff, only to bounce back. “Wow, this thing is tougher than it looks.”
The Rotom Knight looked at Katt before raising his arm with the chainsword and then bringing it down violently against her, but suddenly Priere and Makoto appeared, hitting the arm and forcing him to divert his attack so that it only hit Katt's side.
“Thank you!” Katt exclaimed at the two.
“Want some advice? Stay away from the chainsaws.” Makoto said before backing up with the others to avoid another chainsword strike.
The Rotom Knight searched for his next victim until the Nasod drones Moby and Remy hit his head to try to piss him off, but only succeeded in making him attack them with his chainsword although he missed the attack miserably as both drones flew away.
“Any ideas? That thing looks invincible,” Jean commented, ducking to avoid a blast of lightning from the robot.
The robot then aimed the missile launchers at itself and launched a burst of missiles that flew in all directions, causing everyone to have to dodge the missiles and the resulting explosions.
At that moment Nina and Deis used their magic to cause dozens of explosions around the robot, but it barely suffered any damage from it.
“Something tells me that thing is cheating!” Sten exclaimed angrily.
Then the Rotom Knight pointed his cannon arm at him, but this time he launched a huge beam from the big cannon, but Edea, using the Templar craft, formed a wall of light that blocked the shot.
“I’m starting to think the same. Nothing we do seems to affect that thing,” Edea said.
“I’m beginning to think there must be some trick to that,” Airy said.
“You are not wrong,” Spar said, looking at the huge robot.
Eve then turned her gaze to the robot as well, as if scanning it, shouting to Kairi. “Kairi, cast all the spells you can at a specific point!”
Kairi nodded and began to fire bursts of Firaga straight at the Rotom Knight's head, all of them impacting it. But then Eve noticed how there seemed to be some sort of barrier around the point where the fireballs hit before fading away.
“I get it now. That thing has a shield!” Eve exclaimed to everyone.
Ceres made a malicious face at that moment.
“Oh, that’s not fair!” Katt exclaimed, but then looked at the others in confusion. “What’s a shield?”
“It’s an energy barrier that protects its wearer from harm,” Makoto said.
“So what do we do?” Sten asked.
“That thing must have a limit! We have to attack it with the strongest thing we have!” Eve advised.
“No,” Spar said. “If we use it all, we’ll have nothing left to damage the machine itself when the shield falls.”
“In any case, keep attacking!” Kairi exclaimed. “That shield can’t hold forever!”
Nina unleashed all her magic, launching a powerful beam at the robot, at the same time that Deis supported his attack with another similar beam. Priere supported the attack with her own dark magic attacking from one side, just as Airy attacked with one of her spells from the other side.
The shield protecting the robot seemed to be showing signs of being on the verge of collapse, but the repeated attacks with its ranged weapons made it difficult to stay still and have a chance to attack. In addition, the shield itself made any direct attack useless, relegating those attacking in melee to stay away from it.
“Is there any way to get rid of that shield faster?” Edea exclaimed.
Ryu snorted as he looked at the Rotom Knight, putting his sword away on his back. “Looks like we need to get serious with him.”
“You’re not talking about what I think, are you?” Rand asked, receiving a serious look from Ryu as he smiled, making Rand excited.
“Oh, yeah!” Sten exclaimed, looking at Ceres’ hologram. “Now you’re really screwed!” he exclaimed, causing Ceres and the Rotom to raise an eyebrow.
Ryu closed his eyes as if concentrating, suddenly beginning to glow and change shape, surprising everyone but the Dragonkin. He had now become a colossal purple and gold dragon with red horns and spines, whose size seemed to dwarf Rotom Knight himself.
“Wow! That’s what I call a dragon!” Edea exclaimed upon seeing Ryu transformed into a dragon.
“What the, is he an esper too?” Airy asked in surprise.
“A member of the Dragon Clan? Weren’t they extinct?” Ceres asked in surprise.
“Hello? Why do you think we call the group ‘Dragonkin’, ma’am?” Bow asked.
“Now get ready, you big clown!” Katt exclaimed, pointing at the robot.
Ryu took a deep breath before exhaling sharply, sending out a burst of blue explosions that hit the robot's shield with great force, surprising Kairi's group with the power of the attack. When it stopped, there was a small explosion in a part of the robot, followed by the disappearance of the shield.
“Shield nullified!” Eve warned.
“Not bad,” Ceres said, crossing two of her arms. “But even without the shield, it won’t be easy for you to take down my pet. And by the way, the people who designed this robot made it capable of cutting at a subatomic level.”
The Rotom Knight swung its arm with the saw, launching itself quickly towards Ryu who had to grab the arm with his claws to stop it before the saw reached him. But then the robot treacherously fired its rockets at Ryu, exploding them directly above him and pushing him back, although it seemed that he was able to withstand the explosions.
“Cheater!” Katt exclaimed, launching herself at the Rotom Knight with her staff, this time striking its leg, catching the controlled robot’s attention which turned its head towards her. “Come on! Show me what you can do!”
The Rotom smirked just as he received an explosion to the face, turning to look at Sten, who was making mocking faces at him. Sten responded to said insults by pointing his cannon arm at him, starting to fire beams in his direction.
“Hey! It wasn’t that bad!” Sten exclaimed as he ran to avoid the lightning.
The Rotom Knight continued to fire his beams at Sten, but they were blocked by Edea who raised a barrier blocking them. But at that moment Rotom stopped when he noticed something strange.
“Don’t you feel weaker now?” The Rotom Knight turned his gaze to Jean who had just spoken to him, standing at the side with a hand extended towards him. “How about that now, mon ami?”
The Rotom frowned moments before kicking Jean with his leg, sending him flying to the ground.
“Jean!” Katt exclaimed as she watched Jean bounce off the ground a few times, glaring angrily at the giant robot. “You’ve done it now!”
The Rotom Knight prepared his saw arm to attack Katt, but before he could launch an attack, Katt launched a huge flash of magic at him, catching him by surprise, almost falling from the pressure of the flames. Kairi and the others were shocked by what had just happened.
“What did you think of that? You didn’t expect someone like me to be able to use magic, did you?” Katt said arrogantly.
Edea and Rand approached the unconscious Jean, he using the magic he knew to try to bring him back to consciousness while Edea kept an eye out for the Rotom trying something in her direction.
Suddenly, Kairi began flying around the robot, hitting it hard with her Keyblade every time she had the chance, not giving it a chance to attack her because it moved so fast. Taking advantage of that opportunity, the magicians of the group used their magic against the robot's body, trying to damage it as much as possible.
“We must end this already!” Nina exclaimed, feeling exhausted from using her magic against the mechanized enemy.
"I agree."
Nina looked to her side, seeing Ryu in his dragon form standing, facing the Rotom Knight, starting to charge up his attack to use against his enemy.
“Let’s try something different!” Kairi exclaimed, flying over Ryu.
As Kairi hovered above Ryu, she pointed her Keyblade forward, beginning to charge energy in front of the weapon. For some reason, some of Ryu's magic began to flow toward the tip of the Keyblade, forming a magical orb that slowly began to grow.
Sensing danger, the Rotom Knight aimed both its cannon arm and its missile launchers, firing everything it had at both of them, but Edea and Eve managed to form a barrier in time that blocked the Rotom's barrage of attacks.
“Let’s end this!” Kairi spun her Keyblade around before raising it above her head to aim at the Rotom Knight with it, firing a large laser from the magic orb forward. At the same time, Ryu launched his attack as well, this time being a beam of energy instead of several bursts of energy.
As both beams approached the Rotom, Kairi's beam took the form of a phoenix, while Ryu's took the form of a dragon, flying in circles. As both attacks hit the robot's body, the Rotom seemed to be able to withstand the attack, but then the robot's body exploded, pushing the small Rotom back and crashing into the wall.
The impact was so powerful that they ended up going through the wall, stopping the holograms and forcing Ceres to jump to the side to avoid the lasers that almost hit her while Mina turned her head to the side from the attack's blight.
When the attack ceased, Ceres turned her gaze to the hole formed by the attack, and then to the Rotom, who was lying on the ground unconscious with his eyes crossed, causing the pirate admiral to frown in frustration.
As the smoke from the explosion cleared, the remains of the robot Rotom used were barely visible, proving that the enemy had been defeated. At that moment, Ryu reverted to his human form, breathing deeply while Kairi returned to her normal form as she landed on the ground, panting with her hands on her knees, both smiling at each other.
Without waiting a second, Nina crossed the hole that the combined attack created, soon heading to the large bird that was on the ground.
“Mina!” Nina exclaimed as she landed near the large bird. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Mina replied.
The rest of the group soon made their way through the hole, with the Dragonkin members being the first to approach the two.
“Holy moley. I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Katt said.
“Are you all right, mademoiselle Mina?” Jean asked, with a hand on his head.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Mina replied. “Though I’d rather not be tied down to these things.” She said, pointing to the energy chains around her body.
“I’ll take care of this now,” Rand said, grabbing one of the chains and getting a shock. “Ouch!”
“Leave me to do it,” Eve said as she approached with Moby and Remy. As she manipulated the platform where Mina was trapped, the energy chains vanished. The large bird then stood up on its two legs, majestically standing up straight and stretching its large wings.
“She’s really beautiful!” Edea exclaimed, approaching them as she looked at Mina.
“You can say that again!” Bow exclaimed, crossing his arms before looking at Mina. “I never thought I’d hear your voice again, princess.”
“Yes. Thank you for rescuing me,” Mina said. “This is the second time you’ve saved me.”
“It’s nothing,” Ryu said, smiling.
“Where is that witch?!” Priere exclaimed, causing everyone to turn their gaze towards her. “If I catch her…!”
“She’s right. We must find the pirate admiral if we want to recover the fragments,” Kairi said, looking around.
Makoto then turned his gaze to one of the boxes, seeing something in it. “This… I don’t think it will be necessary.”
Makoto pointed at the boxes. There they could see the two remaining fragments hanging there. Kairi walked over to them and picked them up by the chain.
“What are they doing here?” Kairi asked, looking at the fragments in her hand.
“I think it’s their way of saying ‘You’ve won for now',” Rena said.
“It’s a shame. I would have loved to have a few words with her,” Deis said.
“But at least we have all the fragments,” Airy said.
“Yes, that’s right,” Kairi said.
At that moment an alarm began to sound throughout the ship.
“What happens now?” Katt asked, grabbing his cane.
“Attention crew! Prepare for takeoff!” a voice exclaimed, echoing throughout the space.
“Are they trying to get away? And with us in it?” Sten asked.
“What bad luck! And I don’t have the strength to teleport us out!” Deis exclaimed, looking around.
“We can still escape,” Nina said.
“And how?” Edea asked, watching as Nina looked at Mina. “Oh, no. You can’t be serious, can you?”
“It’s our best option,” Nina said.
“Are you sure it can carry them all?” Rena asked.
“No need,” Kairi said. “Let those who can fly take someone and follow her.” Kairi pointed at Mina.
“Again?” Edea asked, remembering her experience in Altera. “Well, I’m going with the giant bird!”
“No way!” Priere said, grabbing both Edea and Jean. “Let the heaviest ones get on the bird. We who fly will take care of the lighter ones.” Edea blew up a raspberry, arms crossed and frowning in complaint.
“Listen, Mademoiselle Priere. A little delicacy on your part wouldn’t hurt,” Jean said as he was grabbed by Priere.
“Good luck asking her for delicacy,” Edea said grumpily.
“Alright, up then!” Ryu exclaimed, climbing onto Mina’s back, followed by much of the group, Kairi included.
At the same time, Priere grabbed Edea and Jean, Airy grabbed Katt, Nina held Sten, and Eve used her drones to hold Deis, despite Deis's complaints.
Without wasting any time, Mina began to fly around the room, exiting through the entrance of the warehouse where they were, followed by the others who could fly. In the ship hangar, the pirates who were there were surprised by the sudden appearance of the great bird that began to rise until it left the hangar through the ship exit of the hangar, with the rest of the group behind her while the pirates looked at them confused by what was happening.
As they exited the ship and got far enough away, they could see the huge pirate spaceship slowly rising from the ground. Kairi watched from Mina's back at the section of the ship where the bridge was, while Admiral Ceres herself watched them from inside the bridge with a frown and two of her arms crossed with the other two with her hands on her waist.
The pirate ship soon rose high enough to begin to move away from the world until it disappeared from everyone's sight.
After the events that had occurred, everyone returned to Township, with the population happy to see the great bird safe again, although many were surprised to learn that Mina had regained her consciousness and personality, although she was still unable to return to the previous form she had before becoming the great bird. Despite that, everything seemed to be fine.
“It has been an honor to fight alongside you,” Ryu said, extending his hand to Kairi.
“You could say the same thing,” Kairi said, shaking his hand.
“You know, I couldn’t have asked for a better travel group for Nina,” Ryu said, looking at Nina, who was standing next to Mina with a smile on his face.
“Well, except us!” Katt exclaimed with a smile.
“Well, that depends on how you look at it,” Rena said.
“You'll be leaving now, now that everything is settled here, won't you?” Spar asked.
“Don’t be a party pooper!” Sten exclaimed.
“In any case, now that we have all the fragments, we must prepare for the final battle,” Eve said.
“I wish we could accompany you on this venture,” Jean said.
“You wish,” Deis said. “From what I understand, they’re about to open Pandora’s Box, so we should stay here in case things go too far.”
“You say that like they're going to lose,” Ryu said, looking at Nina.
“I know they won’t!” Deis exclaimed with a smile. “But who knows what might happen while they’re putting an end to all that trouble.”
“You wait. You’ll see how we end this,” Makoto said.
“You must not overestimate yourselves,” said the nearby Dragon God statue. “You are about to face an evil beyond your imagination. You must be prepared for anything.”
“You can be sure we will be, sir,” Kairi said. “With everything at stake in this battle, we must be.”
Kairi looked at the two black fragments in her hand. Now with all five in her possession, the time for the final battle was closer than ever.
Back in the day, Master Yoda was meditating in his chambers when the doors opened, and Anakin walked through.
“Master Yoda, may we talk?” Anakin asked respectfully.
“Sit, young Skywalker,” Yoda said calmly, gesturing to the side, and Skywalker sat down beside him. “In your mind I see concern. What is wrong?”
“You see, Master. It’s been a while since our guests left the way they came. And ever since then, I’ve had a strange feeling,” Anakin explained.
Yoda looked at Anakin. “A feeling that something terrible is about to happen to them you have, don’t you?”
“That’s right, Master. It’s like… like something terrible is going to happen, and if we do nothing, it could be the end of everything we know,” Anakin said. “I know it’s not our time and all, but I have a feeling our own future is doomed.”
Anakin continued. “I have discussed this with Obi-Wan, and he says he agrees with me, but he said I should inform you of this, as well as give you the final say in this.”
Yoda pondered for a moment. “Hmm, you are right, young Skywalker,” Yoda said. “The moment the young woman I saw, in the Force a dark shadow looming over her I saw. In the end, faced with a terrible choice, she will find herself, and if she does not make the right choice, we will all lose.”
“But then, what is that choice? And what can we do to make her make the right decision?” Anakin asked.
“The answer to that question I don't know,” Yoda said. “But that you will go anyway I know, so warn you I will. If you cross that breach, you will be tempted in the future to know how things will be then. But you must not find out, for to do so would jeopardize your own future.”
“I understand, Master.” Anakin bowed his head.
“Still, in your task, you must not fail, for how this battle ends will determine what happens in our future,” Yoda warned him.
