Final Pokémon Solid: Endless Waltz

This year, the dread empire of ‘Solaris’ enacted a plan to re-enact the events of video games for their own purposes. An organization of secret agents from Rocket Town, unwittingly created by the actions of Solaris itself when tampering with the space time stream, countered this threat with the strength of their combined references. The project name was Final Pokémon Solid.

After the end of an intricate campaign, the leader of the Agents, an enigmatic, sleepy character known to most as the Captain, took on the task to be the one to close the curtain on an era, and vanished. Though retrieved from the clutches of new villainy twice before, he vanished without a trace thereafter, and the troubles of those on the home front were too great to successfully mount another rescue mission. His disappearance only highlighted the creation of Rocket Town Online, a progression of the Agents’ former headquarters. With the settlement of Fanfic God Fraundorf, the rest of the Planet has heaved a restful sigh as well. Indeed, the fanfiction multiverse has caught a break.

In the end of the year 2002, serious conflict has vanished, and mankind lives in peace.

"This is Phantom. I’m at the target." A gloved hand reached up, clutching to make sure that his hat stayed in place. Phantom Ghost’s hat was usually quite secure, but at the moment, he was quite high off the surface of the Planet, mounted on the back of a golden chocobo. It was a particularly tame specimen, and, like most of it’s breed, was masterful at weaving through the air. Only the slightest of tugs was required from the rider – the bird seemed to know exactly where to go, which was convenient for the Agent – it let him perform his rounds far more easily than by chartering an airplane.

Phantom Ghost fished around in his jacket with his free hand and pulled out a small device. It resembled a Game Boy with entirely too many buttons. A quick tap on the screen activated it. Immediately, it began to emit a quiet pinging noise. Phantom Ghost reined his mount into a mid-air hover and he swept the device in an arc around him, carefully examining the reading. "Neo reference energy . . . ," he mused, "How did this get here, I wonder?"

Another noise filled the air around him – the alarm on his wristwatch was going off. A quick glance showed that he needed to get back to his standard routine, or he’d be late getting home. Pocketing his scanning device, Phantom Ghost gave the chocobo a soft kick in the haunches and soared off through the darkening skies.

At roughly the same time, a pair of figures stood inside the control room of the newly rebuilt Midgar Space Center. In a neighboring hangar, the latest spacecraft stood, ready for launch – the Shin-Ra no. 28. Although built securely, as the rocket was intended to be used as a disposal craft, the sides had a number of windows on the sides. These windows usually allowed maintenance workers to keep an eye on the material levels within the rocket in order to ensure that any single rocket wasn’t packed with too much material. On this particular rocket, however, the windows let the control room figures see the urgent waves of the figures within the rocket itself. These waves went noticed, but were largely ignored.

"So, as long as this peace continues, there’s no need for Pokémon," Agent Benit mused. She glanced at the other control room figure, Captain CAM, who nodded, grinning.

"It’ll be tough parting with them," CAM said, "Still, though, this was a really good idea. I’m glad I thought of it. This way no one will be able to use the Agents’ Pokémon for their own purposes."

"If it was such a good idea," Benit frowned, "Then why didn’t all of the other Agents send their Pokémon?"

"Beats the heck out of me," CAM shrugged. "I think we caught all of the other Pokémon that haven’t been claimed, though, so that’ll make up for it. Let’s hurry up and send this disposal rocket into the sun." He started a countdown, then got impatient and slammed his hand down onto a giant red button on the console. The Shin-Ra no. 28 began to lift off of the ground. The Pokémon inside the rocket began pressing against the windows, tears streaming down their faces like waterfalls. Benit was certain that horrible screams could be heard within the rocket, given the horrified expressions on the Pokémons’ faces.

"No, seriously… shouldn’t we be sending something a little more dangerous away into the sun, like all those mobile suits that turned up in the last adventure? Something that won’t care if it’s burned alive in outer space?"

The Rocket Town populace had gathered in the snowy townsquare for a speech from the their leader. In the absence of the Captain, resident spikey-headed hero Cloud Strife had stepped up to fill the void ‘until such time as the Captain returned.’ But a year after his last recorded transmission (a ‘Merry Christmas’ message, no less,) the crowd at Rocket Town had evolved into one that had grown accustomed to Cloud Strife being in charge. Almost half of the residents had never even seen the Captain at all – a percentage of those didn’t even know he’d existed.

For his part, Cloud had performed admirably well in the role of webmastery, but even newcomers could tell that he hadn’t quite mastered the art of sounding angry when talking about tea.

"Friends, we’re gathered here today to celebrate another year of success for our humble little town . . ." the FFVII protagonist said, reading off of a prepared script. Cid and Shera stood behind the podium and off to the side, watching quietly. "It’s been, er, a fun ride so far, and the new year holds great promise for all of us . . . so let’s mosey and have some tea. Merry Christmas, everyone!"

"@#*#@&!" Cid hollered over the crowd’s applause, "I swear, you’d think after all these damn stories, I’d get the point across! But nothing ever works! It’s always that @&#^&!@ ‘mosey’ nonsense! It’s not even all that funny any more! GAH!" The pilot began coughing violently – not as a sign of sickness, but because Cid did almost everything violently.

Shera leaned over and tightened his scarf. "Merry Christmas to you too, Cid. Come on, let’s get indoors." She tightened her own winter jacket and peered up at the sky. Clouds loomed overhead, but not a flake of snow had yet touched the continent this season.

A pair of figures lurked in the shadows outside the Shanghai Inn, watching as the crowd

"Over a year ago, we probably didn’t have had the peace of mind to enjoy Christmas," the first said, "It’s amazing what can happen in the space of a year."

"Blah," the first figure grumbled, "Honestly, Axer. I’m standing right next to you."

"Eh heh heh heh," Axer grinned nervously, "Just kidding, Tonamel! Honestly! Just a little Christmasy humor!"

"Hmmph," Tonamel said, crossing his arms and redirecting his attention to the crowd.

"I don’t think that Cloud gets it, you know?" Axer continued, "I mean, maybe he does now, a little bit, but he didn’t when he started up."

"Oh, he gets it alright," Tonamel said, "Otherwise he wouldn’t be supporting us Lurkers to keep the peace. He’s pretty clever for a main player character."

"Hey, guys, sorry I’m late," called a voice. Phantom Ghost ran up to the others, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. "Brrrr, awfully cold out here. Let’s head into the Inn, I’ve got something I need to show you guys."

"Something you found on your rounds?" Tonamel asked as all three men made their way into the Inn. Luckily, most town residents were headed to parties at other people’s houses, so the Inn was largely vacant. Aside from the bartender, the only other person present was Gray Fox, who was sound asleep at the counter. The Agents sat a table in the corner and waved to the barkeep to bring over some Ultimate Tea.

"Yes, but first, did either of you see Benit before she left?" Phantom Ghost asked.

"I did, actually," Axer piped up, "Only for a moment, though, it was almost time for her warp tunnel to open up, and there aren’t many routes from the Planet to her new homeworld… Agios, I think it’s called? Something like that. Anyway, she’s queen there, so she had to get back. She sends her best, though, and promised she’ll send some chocolate loonies as belated Christmas gifts."

"Okay," Phantom said, nodding, "What about CAM? He’s supposed to be somewhere around, too."

"I saw his ship take off from the port in Midgar," Tonamel nodded, "The ‘Ilyion Cloud,’ I think it’s called. Didn’t actually talk to him, though. Word around town is that he lives on the ship now, rather than back at the CanyoN."

"What’s all this, anyway, Phantom?" Axer asked, "Are we trying to get a surprise reunion together, or what?"

"It might turn out that way," Phantom Ghost sighed, "I found traces of reference energy in the atmosphere on my rounds today. I’ve only ever seen an energy signature like that at the CanyoN, which makes me wonder about it’s whereabouts. Has anyone been there lately?"

"I heard it was going on tour, or something, but that’s just plain WHACK," Axer laughed, "I mean, you can’t take a canyon on tour. . . . can you?"

RockeT CanyoN, was, in fact, on tour. It had impossibly been severed from it’s former resting place in the Planet and was now guided through the air with magical spells that could only be distinguished as being extremely silly. Like a mobile Kingdom of Zeal, or a rustic Shevat, the CanyoN drifted through the skies of the Planet with no apparent direction. Anyone watching would think that the masters of the CanyoN had probably stolen the idea from the Networld story Cosplay Wars 2, if that wasn’t an absolute retardation of the fourth wall. The best thing to do in this situation is either not read the story yet, or, if you have, pretend that you haven’t read it. Chances are that everything will work out just fine.

In one of the CanyoN’s central administration buildings, a meeting was taking place. Four figures sat around a table, sipping Ultimate Tea. The first three were Mothmen, dressed smartly in business suits. The fourth individual was Princess Q, also known as Princess Artemis and Agent Artemis, Guardian Angel of Solaris under President Laguna. Above the delegates, an enormous television screen played back the speech given by Cloud Strife at the townsquare.

"As you’re aware, it’s only been a few months since RockeT CanyoN was truly completed," the first Mothman said, continuing a conversation that you, the readers, will not be privy to the beginnings of. "We’ve mounted several advertising campaigns to try and get people to live here, but so far, none have been all that successful."

"I’m not really sure why not, though," another of the Mothmen frowned. "See, here’s one of our latest ideas." He held up a sign portraying a seaman with one eye, a bloody rapier, and a parrot. The sailor stood over a pile of corpses and a treasure chest. The slogan across the top read – ‘Neo RockeT CanyoN: Now with 300% More Pirates!’ A tag line at the bottom said ‘Ninjas need not apply.’

"Uh," Princess Artemis frowned. She took a quick sip of her tea and folded her hands. "It looks like you probably need some new writers, for one thing… and a change-up on the artwork would probably help as well. This is the sort of thing that would probably just frighten people."

The third Mothmen stood to address the webmistress. "But we’ve been told that the residents are hoping for a strong leader to rise up and guide them – someone not unlike yourself, Ms. Artemis." He looked at her meaningfully through his multi-faceted eyes.

Princess Artemis sighed, taking another sip out of her cup. "That’s too bad, really… whatever happened to CA- .. uh…" She blinked; the room had suddenly become hazy. "Th-… the tea.." The Mothmen gathered around her, watching expectantly. Her hand moved to grasp for her Materia, but it was too little, too late – she slumped to the floor, unconscious.

The doors to the chamber flew open, and a dozen chain-smoking Mothman infantry troops rushed in through the door. They were followed by a tall, dark figure, who flipped a remote control in his hands restlessly.

"Not eager to take the reins of leadership, hmm?" he hissed, grinning, "That’s alright… your role will be far simpler than that." He glanced at the broadcast on the television screen, and clicked it off.

BrandonTCA was jamming away at a Dance Dance Revolution 5^th Mix machine, which wouldn’t be wholly unexpected of him, except that he was battling his daughter-from-the-future, MCE. The arcade, situated in the heart of Junon, was largely empty other than themselves and a few urchins who’d come in to escape the cold.

"Uhm, yeah," Brandon said, blinking and trying not to be distracted. MCE clearly wasn’t paying lots of attention to the game, but he wasn’t about to let up his guard.

"Makes you wonder where everyone’s gotten to, especially during the holidays," MCE said, giving Brandon a nudge. Realizing something was up, Brandon peeked around. His daughter pointed the way with her own eyes. Sure enough, he spotted a cluster of trench-coated Mothmen in the doorway, with large artillery-shaped bulges coming from underneath their coats.

"Wait, wha--" MCE said, looking back around to Brandon’s spot, where only a blue rose sat. A crash from the doorway revealed his location.

The Mothmen were bowled over as Solid Ekans crashed into them wielding a reverse high frequency blade. An all-around sweep clubbed a pair of the Mothmen with the blunt side of the weapon. They fell to the ground in a clump. Ekans’s eyes darted back and forth – three more to go.

The lead Mothman whirled around, drawing an Uzi and spraying fire. Ekans rolled and easily dodged the erratic hail of bullets, which instead tore into the unfortunate Mothmen in the back row, Mothvicks and Mothwedge. The last Mothman darted forward… and was clubbed from behind with the fierce end of a progressive fish.

The threat removed, Ekans returned to his civilian outfit and checked the pockets of his assailants. He came up with a torn-out page from an issue of Moth Next Door and a wallet. The wallet was stuffed with an unusually large amount of paperback gil, and had a single business card in it. Brandon stepped into the light to read it as MCE came trotting up.

"‘Sacred Empire of Solaris.com’?" he frowned, "That doesn’t make any sense… must be a decoy." He rubbed at his chin. "Looks like he still hasn’t given up. Or maybe it was the CanyoN? They’d be able to access those files . . ."

A young man sat busily at a computer terminal in a cyber-café. The good coffee and calming atmosphere of the room were ideal to his preferences, but the high speed internet access was what he was here for. It was not only extremely quick, but it was quite anonymous, which made it ideal for hacking into a secured database. The database was, admittedly, probably not very secure at all, but it was better to do it this way rather than take any chances. A timer began counting down on a lock. The user leaned back and stretched his arms, yawning. To his amazement, he bumped the top of his head on a female form that was standing directly behind him. He whirled around to find Benit standing with a smug expression on her face.

"It’s Christmas," she laughed, "But there’s always someone that gets stuck working."

"Sshh, don’t tell anyone," the Captain begged, "I’m working, yes, but I’m not at work, and they’ll lock me away if they find out." He narrowed his eyes dramatically. "Besides, I’d gotten word that you had a planet to take care of, too . . ."

Benit laughed. "Hah. Your secret is safe with me, Captain. Anyway, yes, I’m heading back to my homeworld, but I had to make a stop here and thought I’d use the opportunity to send off some packages. Here, happy holidays." The minter waved a finger next to the Captain’s ear, forming a small crystalline earring around his earlobe. The man gave it a sidelong look and smiled flickeringly in thanks, concentrating on the monitor in front of him. "And you? Just what’re you doing in this neck of the woods?" Benit continued.

"Actually, I’m checking up on some of the others . . . the actual FPS site doesn’t seem to still work, though, so it’s harder than what I’d expected."

"I said it was private, I didn’t say it was mine. Sheesh, Benit, try to keep up with me."

"You’re just a barrel full of laughs," snorted Benit, "So, what’ve you found?"

"Not tons," the Captain said, typing away. "The CanyoN itself appears to be moving of all things, which makes it a little bit harder than I’d expected to match up these IP addresses… found some neat stuff on Brandon, though… you’d probably remember him as ‘Solid Ekans.’"

"I’ve done quite a bit of hanging out with his other super hero form," Benit nodded. The Captain stood, suddenly closing out his connection and grabbing his suspiciously blue denim jacket off of the chair. Benit blinked. "You goin’?"

In the depths of Neo RockeT CanyoN, a hangar held a fleet of giant robots. These, the Metal Gear Kai units, stood in rows on the sides of a giant army of young men, all assembled in varing palettes of a uniform resembling something a dark wizard would wear. Each soldier stood silently and at attention. In front of the army was a single Kai unit. On the floor in front of this suit was a podium, where a single man stood with a microphone. He wore a dark bodysuit, covered with a large white coat. His head was topped with a spikey mass of golden hair. His image was displayed on massive projection screens for the benefit of the army in the rear half of the enormous room.

"Brothers!" Almasy Marquis announced to the army, with the assistance of the microphone system, "We thank you for your patience in bearing the unbearable and tolerating the intolerable for all this time, but finally, the operation shall begin. The future that you build will begin with the tearing down of the decrepit and corrupted institutions of the past! From this day forward, I am – er, that is – you are all starting on the road to glory!"

The camera panned across the army and settled on a young gentleman in the third row. Almasy paused, running his vision across the room. "But FIRST --" The young man cringed, realizing he’d been spotted. The other soldiers were nervously glancing at the monitor, wondering why this soldier was being singled out. Almasy continued: "… we must eliminate the enemy from within!" In a flash, he pulled a USB front his belt, loaded it, and aimed it at the soldier. "BrandonTCA, proceed to the front!"

Solid Ekans tensed, ditched the disguise, and leapt into the air. Almasy took aim and fired. A quick spinning cut from Brandon sent the bullet spiralling away harmlessly – he’d taken care not to hit any bystanders. The hero landed in front of Almasy with his HF blade at the ready – and came face to face with the business end of a mean-looking Stratocaster.

"Axer, that reference power was definitely traces left off of RockeT CanyoN, and I’ve figured out where it is."

"I checked the website update listings," Axer laughed, "Also, I found a poster." He held up a promotional ad that read ‘Neo RockeT CanyoN: World Tour 2002.’"

Tonamel’s on-screen image blinked and frowned at it. "Well, anyway, Phantom Ghost is trying to get an overhead image from Shin-Ra’s satellite systems so we can figure out where the CanyoN will be in the next twelve hours. That way we can try to get to the bottom of this, although I fear it might be a little bit late for that. This ‘world tour’ stint seems to be the last demonstration of power before they break away from the Rocket Town community entirely. And the bad news doesn’t stop there."

"Princess Artemis has been missing since her last official visit to Neo RockeT CanyoN."

"Wha… ? Artemis? Are you suggesting that the CanyoN had something to do with it?"

Tonamel frowned deeply. "We can’t really take the chance that they didn’t. If we’re investigating those reference energy traces, then we might as well see if Artemis is still in the vicinity."

"It still sounds awfully odd… who’s the CanyoN leader listed as?" Axer asked.

"It’s still listed as Captain CAM, but you and I both know CAM hasn’t been near the CanyoN since after the ‘Search for the Captain’ debacle." Tonamel shook his head. "Someone else is calling the shots in this game."

"I guess we’d better hurry, then," Axer said, "I’ll meet you and Phantom Ghost as soon as you come with coordinates for the CanyoN’s location. Over and out."

Princess Artemis awoke with a start. She sat up and was immediately woozy – the effects of drug hadn’t totally worn off, it seemed. Taking a deep breath, she managed to clear her head enough to get a picture of the room around her. She was on a bed, and an extremely well made one at that. The room itself was decorated simply, but with items that looked to be extremely expensive. To the side was a desk, and seated at that desk was . . .

"So, you’re awake." The chair swiveled around to reveal the form of Almasy Marquis, ominously tapping his fingertips together.

"Almasy… ?" Artemis blinked, rubbing at her temples, "What are you doing here? Did they catch you too?"

"I . . . don’t understand, and that’s really something coming from me, and you know it. Why are you doing this?"

"It’s all quite simple, really," Almasy grinned, "I am the one destined to become Ruler of this Planet. Well, specifically, Rocket Town, but I might as well grab everything else while I’m at it."

"SILENCE!" Almasy roared, standing. "I’m the one calling the shots around here now, and if you know what’s good for you, then you’ll fall in line like everyone else." The man stonily turned away to peer out through the giant nearby window. A squad of Mothmen burst in through the door.

"Yes, it’s fine. Carry on," Almasy said, waving a hand of dismissal. The troops filed back out of the room, shutting the door softly behind them. Artemis frowned and glanced out the window. The view looked over the main urban center of RockeT CanyoN.

Almasy continued, quietly. "I’ll do whatever I want with the power I’ve gained for myself. It started in Rocket Town, of course, which I suppose why I want to conquer it – because that is where my adventures began. The exploits of the Rocket Town Agents were like legends in my eyes, and I wanted nothing more than to join those ranks.

"Of course, so did everyone else, but they didn’t see the path the way I saw it. I bided my time, waiting, watching . . . and then, lo and behold, an adventure came along! So I took charge, saved the day, and demonstrated my skill, winning a place in the hearts of the residents. And then I did it all over again! And then came that tournament." He waved his hand a frame at the wall, which held Almasy’s invitation to the King of Iron Refs 2001 gathering.

"But when I returned, what did I find? The Agents had already finished their adventure and were gone, spread to the ends of the universe like so much space dust! I’d lost my chance, somehow . . . but I’ll make up for it, by seizing the place for myself, and creating my own legends."

He turned to face the Agent. "I am meeting you like this out of respect for the fact that you were one of the most dedicated of the Agents . . . one who was dedicated to the ideals of the Captain. It is because of this that I’m telling you my plans."

"Then let me ask you this," Artemis said, unwaveringly stern, "What do you plan on doing with me now?"

"Oh, well…" Almasy grinned mischievously, "You’ll find out soon enough . . . !"

Axer’s fighter craft settled into the Interdimensional docks at Rocket Town without interference. Tonamel and Phantom Ghost were already on hand to climb on board and begin preparations for departure. Tonamel would remain at the base in Rocket Town, but Phantom would travel with Axer to RockeT CanyoN and decide what to do after scouting the area.

"Axer, you want to give us a hand getting all this stuff?" Tonamel said, glancing up at the cockpit.

"I would, but I’ve got a call," Axer explained, putting the image on-screen. CAM’s face appeared in a digital box.

"Hey, guys, I just noticed this situation with the CanyoN," CAM waved, "Someone tried to hack into the Ilyion Cloud earlier, thinking it had the CanyoN’s databases. I figured I’d give you guys a buzz and see what was up."

"Great timing," Axer said, "We’re just about to head out and see what’s going on."

"What do you plan on doing?" CAM asked. Axer relayed their situation to CAM, and their scheduled plan of attack. CAM scratched his head and thought it over.

"But . . . you’re going without your Pokémon?" CAM frowned, "Have you forgotten that we no longer have our Pokémon?"

"Well, actually, Phantom Ghost has all of his, since he never gave you his to send hurtling into the sun…" Axer said, "And we do have, you know, regular weapons, and stuff. Like, swords, and lasers! And other cool things like that."

"Look, I don’t have a lot to work with here," CAM explained, "It’s not like I did something stupid, like send all of our Gears into the sun, or something. But besides, this entire chapter is all just exposition anyway, it’s not like I’m actually going to go do something yet."

"You’ve got a good point there," Phantom Ghost called from the back, "All we’ve done is have some dialogues about how creepy things seem to be and how creepy they’re going to get! Where’s all of the silly jokes?"

"Geez, quit worrying so much about it, guys!" Axer said cheerily, "We don’t even know who the enemy is yet, and we’re going to win, since we’re the heroes, right? So whey don’t we all just relax and have some chocolate?" He pulled out a few Hershey’s bars from his knapsack and distributed them to Tonamel and Phantom Ghost.

"Fine, sure," Axer said, sighing. He opened up a disk drive and shoved one of his chocolate bars into the drive. "There. Now, uh, watch your email, and it’ll show up as soon as it finishes attaching."

"Oh yes," Axer nodded. He looked back to the computer screen. "So, uh, CAM, you said you’re going to go get those Pokémon back, right?"

"Well, I suppose I should mention this other thing," CAM said, laughing nervously, "See, I thought the idea of sending the Pokémon into the sun was such a good one, I came up with another one and sent all of our Gears into the sun."

"WHAT?!" Tonamel hollered, "You just said you WOULDN’T do something like that!!"

"Don’t worry about it," CAM said, spreading his hands to placate the other Agents. "Look, I’ve got a space ship right here, and a crack team of professionals. We’ll get all the mobile suits and the pocket monsters back just in time to save the day at the end of the story."

"Fine, we’ll just have to rely on what we’ve got handy for now," Phantom Ghost grumbled.

"Stay in contact," Tonamel instructed the others, "We need to keep our communications lines open in case something drastic happens. Good luck. And now, the clichés."

"For great justi—okay, that’s plenty of that," Tonamel sweatdropped, "Let’s go to a cut scene."

"Okay, team, time to move out!" CAM said, turning away from the computer to address ROCKSLIDE.

"What you say?!" CAM shouted, "Since when do I have to pay you people? You’ve already stolen everything I own!"

"#$&@! that, I’ll do the damn mission all by myself," CAM grumbled, activating the navigation controls.

"The heck with that, sucka’!" Mr T. said, shaking his head, "I pity the fool who don’t hire ROCKSLIDE for this job! I need work, sucka!"

"… you?" D asked, his lip curling in amusement, "What happened to your precious phone commercials?"

"That damn crazy company gave me the boot!" Mr T roared, grabbing the TV remote. "They’ve got a new poster child now! Check this out!" He flipped it on and switched over to a channel that was playing long distance service commercials. Heero Yuy popped on-screen. He spoke in a dull, lifeless monotone. "When you dial long distance, dial 1-800-COLLECT," he began. A moment passed and Heero leveled a semiautomatic pistol at the camera. " . . . or I’ll kill you." The number flashed across the bottom of the screen and the commercial cut off abruptly.

Mr T grabbed the television and tossed it down the hallway. "Let that be lesson to all the crazy sociopath fifteen year old boys out there! Don’t do drugs!"

All of the Planet’s broadcast devices silently switched over to a single channel. Almasy Marquis appeared on-screen; his voice resonated all the way to the Northern Crater.

"We of Neo RockeT CanyoN wish to declare our independence from Rocket Town Online, and at the same time, declare war against Rocket Town."

"So, you’re finally making your move," the Captain mused. His own transportation was moving swiftly and stealthily into the Planet’s atmosphere.

"My name Almasy Marquis," the broadcast continued, "It is part of the human ideal to expand one’s territory and to dispose of that which is not seen as righteous. Battle is the only option the lies before me."

"My path is the right one, and I shall not cease until everything that I lay eyes upon is mine," Almasy concluded.

"We’re doing everything we can," Tonamel insisted. "Everyone’s just going to have to remain cal-" The line went dead. The Agent slammed the receiver down onto his desk. "Karp... What does he think he’s going to accomplish with all this? Communities change – he’s just being a self centered twit who won’t own up to that. If only we had our Gears, we could move in immediately, but for right now, we simply don’t have enough weapons to deal with this!"

"Excuse me," the figure said, "I’ve come to ask for a custom title." He stepped into the light.

"We’ve almost entered the CanyoN’s airspace," Axer said, tapping at the ship’s navigational controls. "Now, uh, how exactly are we supposed to get inside?"

"I’ll probably be able to use my Pokémon to counter some of the mobile suits when we’re actually inside, but getting the ship into the CanyoN might be a problem."

"We’ll just have to GO FOR BROKE, I guess," Axer sighed, "It’s always so dangerous… why can’t we go on a mission that’s SAFE, for once?"

"I don’t real- hey! Incoming communication from an unidentified craft!" Phantom blurted. He punched at the controls. "Identify yourself!" A buzz and a bleep later, and an all-too-familiar face came on-screen.

"Ooooh, I remember you," Axer said, "You’re that webmaster that we’ve supposed to have had for a while but HAVEN’T WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

"It’s a secret to everybody," the Captain grinned, "Actually, if you and me are talking, it’s probably because I almost didn’t even make it into this story at all. Thank goodness for revisions."

"Artemis is being held in the CanyoN," the Captain explained, "I couldn’t find anyone else and stuff, so I figured I’d just break and start kicking people’s asses and asking questions from there."

"We’d heard about that situation too," nodded Axer, "Perhaps we should work toget- hey, uh, here’s another call." Tonamel’s face popped on-screen. "Hey, uh, Tonamel! WHAT IS UP, man?!"

"An even bigger situation, that’s what," Tonamel explained, "It looks like it’s not enough for Almasy that there’s a ridiculously serious plot going on in this story, so he’s released a gigantic swarm of Koopa Troopas onto the Planet."

"I know what they are!" Phantom Ghost said, exasperated, "Look, we just grabbed up another potential ally, so maybe we can split up, or something." He looked over to the other communicator screen screen. "Captain, can you fit someone else onto your shuttle?"

"Good," Tonamel nodded, "How about this – Axer, you infiltrate the CanyoN hangar with the Capta—wait, did you say the Captain?"

" . . . okay, and Phantom, you bring the shuttle you’re in right now back around to Rocket Town so that you and I can deal with the Koopa Troopas."

"I love it when a plan comes together!" Phantom Ghost shouted. Their jubilations were interrupted by a sudden eruption of gunfire from the CanyoN – the defense turrets had activated. A squadron of Metal Gear Kai units clambered out onto the surface of the CanyoN and began unloading their barrels at the oncoming shuttle. Axer twisted the controls to swerve out of the way. From the skies above, the Captain’s craft whooshed in. It shot a round of electrical laser fire at the mobile suits, throwing up a disruptive cloud of Minovsky particles.

The craft holding the two Agents turned sharply. Axer leapt out of a side hatch, sword at the ready. Phantom Ghost lifted off as soon as his friend was clear. He dropped off the thrusters, sending another giant obscuring cloud into the air, and then shot off into the distance. The Captain’s craft spiraled down into it’s place and parked on a dime. As Agent the Captain hauled himself out of his craft, Axer pounced anime-style onto the top of one of the Kai units. Shoving his sword down into the lip of the cockpit, he easily pried it open. The pilot came tumbling out. A swift kick was all it took to knock him off of the machine. Axer climbed down in and began examining the controls. To his surprise, a communication came in.

"I’ll make my way in on foot and see if I can find Artemis," the Captain said through his CODEC, "Lay down some cover fire for me, then, uh, blow up lots of stuff. Don’t let them trash my shuttle, though, we need that to escape."

"Roger roger! =D" Axer nodded, and began tearing into the internal hangar itself. Several unactivated suits went up in a blaze of fire. Axer was just starting to get the hang of the mech when the far bay door opened. An armored Kai unit stepped out and unleashed a blaze of laserfire. The Agent yanked at the controls, ducking the Metal Gear Kai machine down between wreckage.

"Dagnabit," Axer frowned, becoming confuzzled, "What’s someone this good doing on guard duty?" The answer became clear as the mobile suit activate its giant cannon – an enormous rabid Chu-Chu came flying at the wreckage pile.

"No doubt about it now!" Axer shouted, "Ekans is in that suit!" Axer’s own mobile suit came tearing around the corner. "Well, take THIS!" He unleashed a deluge of his own artillery, but the enemy suit’s strength was simply too great. Axer’s suit when bowling over backward, with the circuits on both legs totally fried.

"You’ve got the wrong guy," came a voice on Axer’s communicator . . . a voice that was distinctly Brandon’s. "I’m not Ekans." The notorious Metal Gear missile launchers opened on it’s back, and a literal fleet of explosives rushed towards Axer.

Meanwhile, the Captain made his way through the corridors of the CanyoN’s defense outpost. He rounded a corner and turned up a group of Mothmen. Psuedo kung-fu moves got him through most of the grunts; the final warrior leveled an Uzi at the Captain’s head. He gulped. The Mothman snicked and began to pull the trigger, and then was totally and completely taken by surprise as a pair of daggers chopped him in half from behind.

The Captain reeled backwards and snatched up the automatic weapon. A moment later and it was poised at his savior – Gray Fox, who stood with both weapons still at the ready.

"I’ve always wanted to have a chance to fight you like this," Gray Fox said grimly. He ducked into a battle position.

"What’s going on, Fox?!" the Captain asked, "Is Almasy really the badguy in this story? Will CAM get all of the Pokémon and Gears back? Will I ever truly return to Rocket Town? Who’s right and who’s wrong? And will everyone else get awesome battle scenes in the next round of scenes?"

"You stole all of my lines!" Gray Fox sputtered, leaping into action, "Prepare to die!"

Power crashed. The Captain brought the Uzi crashing down to turn away the first of Fox’s slashes. The other blade came in dangerously high. The webmaster ducked out of reach and rolled away. The Captain came up into a crouch, with the Uzi poised to shoot Fox.

"What do you think you’re doing?" the Captain shouted, "This isn’t like you at all, Fox. I’m supposed to be the renegade, mysterious wildcard in this story"

"We’ll see," snorted Fox, brushing at his goatee with his fingers, "I don’t see how you think you have a chance against me. You might be a Super Solarian, but my funk level is far greater than yours."

"I care," Gray Fox said coldly, sheathing his weapons. "There is no point in fighting someone simply for the sake of creating conflict. Battle must have a groove of its own, or it as meaningless as base slaughter." He turned away. "I’m here to find the one that’ll fight me and show me what’s right in this world. If you find a reason to fight – your own personal ‘funk,’ you could say -- then you can challenge me." He marched off down the hall.

"Fox!" The Captain shot after him, but as he rounded the corner, Gray Fox was no where to be found.

"It looks like this route is the only one that’ll let us catch up to the Shin-Ra disposal rocket in time," CAM said, examining the maps in front of him.

"You mean, that’ll let you catch up to it," Alys called from the adjoining lounge. CAM glared over his shoulder – the rest of ROCKSLIDE was either playing cards or watching TV. The monitor – a slightly sturdier unit than the one Mr T had destroyed earlier – had another Heero Yuy 1-800-COLLECT commercial on it. Just as before, he came on and spoke lifelessly.

"Dial 1-800-COLLECT," Heero intoned. He raised his hand, which held the disembodied head of Carrottop. " . . . . or I’ll kill you." The commercial ended and went back into an episode of Hamtaro.

"There’s plenty of other subplots you guys could go work on," CAM called, "You could go deal with this sudden Koopa Troopa invasion."

"We’re not doing jack," Alys guffawed. The rest of the group nodded their acquiescence.

"It’s just as well," CAM sighed, turning back to his diagrams. "According to this, there’s only enough time for one person to get on board the rocket, and that’ll have to be me." He paused. The sound of crickets could be heard.

Agent 1469 signed something unrepeatable at CAM and turned the volume on his Cricket Album down. "I don’t suppose anyone’s going to offer to go in my place?" CAM asked. ROCKSLIDE shook their heads. "@&$^#!!"

"You’ve got to be kidding me," Benit said over the transmitter, "Almasy is behind all this? That’s can’t be. I talked to him just after the tournament; he’s supposed to be visiting the home planet of one of the other competitors right now."

"Regardless of that, he’s here now, and his #&@*! CanyoN is nearly directly over Rocket Town," Tonamel insisted, "And like I said, we don’t have our Gears on hand at the moment. But I’m guessing that CAM didn’t around to snatching yours."

"Nope, I’ve got Alex right here," Benit nodded, "I’ll try and get back there as soon as I can, but it does take a certain amount of arrangement to fly an enormous Aeon though outer space."

"That’s fine. Phantom’s still got his Pokémon, and we’re all more than decent fighters, so we should be able to hold them off for a while." Tonamel glanced up from his desk to look out the window and spotted the cruiser landing at the docks. "There’s Phantom Ghost now. Let me know when you’ve landed, alright, Benit?"

"Sooo, I don’t suppose any of you thought to check and see if I had any weapons on me when you brought me in?" Artemis asked of her Mothman security guards.

"I hope for your sake your names are ‘Biggs’ and ‘Wedge,’ because that means you’ll respawn at some point," Artemis continued, drawing her twin sai from their hidden sleeve PocketSpaces. Wearing clothes like Citan Uzuki’s was not only fashionable; it was helpful, too.

"Actually, my name is Mothvick- ARGHHH," the second Mothman sputtered. He’d gone down with a simple bash to the skull. The first guard tried to get his gun into position, but Artemis nimbly slipped behind him and smashed the hilt of one sai to the base of his neck. With both guards taken care of, the exit was clear, but Artemis was irritated enough at the situation to justify blowing the double-door off of it’s collective hinges with an Ether blast. She stalked through the rubble and down through the hallway. Another swarm of Mothmen spotted her from down the hall and began rushing towards her.

"You can’t be serious…!" Axer gasped. The missiles rushed horribly closely. The Agent shut his eyes and smiled sardonically. "So this is the end . . . "

The explosion was indeed of an extraordinary magnitude, but when Axer opened his eyes, he was no worse for wear. Rather than wiping him off the face of the Planet, the missiles had blown a hole straight through the wall behind him. A quick look at the sensors showed that no enemy Metal Gears, including the heavy type that Brandon was piloting, were anywhere to be found.

"But . . . why?" Axer frowned, "Did you miss on purpose?" Not one to dwell for long periods of time on uncanny twists of good luck, Axer clambered out of the cockpit of his disabled mech and made his way outside.

"Honestly," Artemis sighed, "They always want to do it the hard way." A simple wave of a hand send an Ether wall colliding with her attackers. The guards were knocked over as if a shoopuff had trampled over them. The Princess turned and began to exit when she heard a thumping from a nearby room.

She pressed her ear against the door and heard a familiar squeaky voice. Artemis waved a hand at the lock. It clicked; she opened the door and stepped inside to find Cait Sith inside.

"Hooray!" Cait Sith send, dancing with joy, "Finally, someone saved me! Thank you thank you thank you! I thought that trenchcoated freak would finish me off for good!"

"What?" Cait blinked, "Almasy? No, some other guy grabbed me . . . but I guess he might’ve been working for Almasy, or something."

"Some other guy? Not Gray Fox? I saw he was with Almasy, but he’s not wearing a trenchcoat."

"That’s not important right now," the cat said urgently, shaking his head, "What’s important is what they’re going to do with this CanyoN! They’re going to--"

"The heck . . . ," Artemis said. She peeked out the door and found Agent Axer searching from door to door. "Axer! What are you doing here?"

"Agent Artemis!" Axer shouted happily, "I’m here to rescue you!" He frowned. " . . . but it looks like I’m too late, you seem to have whooped up on these guards pretty well already." He grinned. "But we’ve got an escape shuttle! The Captain literally popped up out of no where and he’s got a ship to take us away from this evil dungeon of killer death! Isn’t that just dandy? . . . well, I guess, not so much, since he’s not here yet."

"Oh, yes, I’m the luckiest person on the Planet," Artemis sighed, "I do have a Gear, you know."

"Actually, I should probably tell you . . . " Axer said, grinning sheepishly. "CAM kinda stole everyone’s Gears without asking and shipped them all off into the sun. Oh! And also a bunch of Pokémon. But he’s off to rescue the rocket and get them all back for everyone, so that’ll be A-O-k!"

" . . . . . . !!! This is so insane," Artemis said, rubbing at her temples, "Almasy is behind all this, do you know that? Almasy kidnapped me! And the Captain comes to rescue me without even an email beforehand . . . Gears and Pokémon being sent into the sun? This is nearly as unfunny as the whole Egyptian Plum thing. What else could go wrong?"

"Now that you mention it," Axer said helpfully, "There are the legions of Koopa Troopas . . . "

"You’re missing the most important threat," Cait Sith interjected, "Do you realize that right now, this CanyoN is almost directly over Rocket Town?"

"If I told you once, I told you a thousand times," Alys hollered at CAM, "None of us care! If you absolutely have to narrate to the audience, go somewhere else!" CAM’s eyes welled up with tears and he ran back to his room.

"Looks like my predictions were correct," Almasy said smugly. He stood at the base of the northern face of the Nibel Mountains. In front him, an army of Koopa Troopas stood at attention, stretching for a quarter mile on each side.

The saiyan raised an arm and pointed towards the distant Rocket Town. Slowly but surely, the turtles began to march.

"You know it," Trainer Phantom Ghost nodded, "But I don’t know how we’re going defeat that many turtles just between the two of us. Particularly with all those shells ricocheting."

"This’d be far simpler if we had our Gears," grumbled Tonamel. Phantom gave a weary nod. They began to walk to the outskirts of Rocket Town, to await the oncoming hordes.

"We’ve arrived," CAM said, peeking through the lounge door, "The least you freeloaders could do is say goodbye."

"Quit sucking up the oxygen!" Agent 1469 signed at CAM. CAM sighed and started to move towards the airlock.

"Oh, by the way," CAM said, calling back over his shoulder, "You should probably change course after I leave, otherwise the ship will probably smash into the sun, or something. See you!"

"WHAT?!" Alys hollered. Celes covered her ears – she was quite sick of Alys shouting all the time. The Eight-Stroke Hunter started rousing the other crew members. "Come on! To the bridge!"

CAM exited the Ilyion Cloud wearing a self-sustaining spacesuit that was decorated in suspicious tones of dark blue, making it look very much like the clothes CAM normally wore. As his own craft moved alongside the Shin-Ra no. 28, he waited and watched the countdown on his time. As it hit zero, his legs moved fractionally. In a flash, his Hiten Mitsurugi speed kicked in, and he launched himself across the void. The landing was a bit bumpy, but he’d made it onto the rocket. Moving fast, he flipped the external manual switch for the airlock and climbed in. Trying his best to maneuver in the rushing vacuum with only the most meager of hand holds, CAM managed to hit the sliding door button, closing off the airlock. He tapped another button and popped off his helmet, and then drifted into the main body of the rocket, where he was promptly stampeded by hundreds of half-crazed Pokémon.

"Unidentified mobile suit approaching, sir!" called a platoon leader from out of the Koopa Troopa legion.

Almasy looked sharply at the sky. Although RockeT CanyoN itself was looming almost directly over Rocket Town by now, a moving form could be seen beyond it’s shadow, streaking through the air towards them. "What?! Impossible. All of the Agents’ Gears were procured and dispatched prior to the beginning of the operation!" He pulled out a pair of binoculars and set his sights on the incoming suit. Other than a requisite number of robot-like extremities, it was a dead ringer for a giant Cid Highwind.

"What the--!! The Captain?!" Almasy Marquis sputtered, "No, it must be . . . Mayhem!"

"That’d Doctor Mayhem," announced the mobile suit’s pilot, via a massive audio magnification system. "I didn’t work on Electric Evil for all those years just to be referred to without my honorific title. Eat this!"

"How-… what-… " Phantom Ghost blahed, staring up at the flying suit from the other end of the battlefield, "How much more confusing can this story get?! Now Imp Mayhem is on our side?"

"He came by the headquarters and acted mysteriously," shrugged Tonamel, "And given he’s the only who has his Gear right now, I figured we could certainly do to have him on our side." The Highwindesque Gear flew low over the Koopa Troopa hordes, bathing them in a thick cloud of cigarette smoke. The turtles began coughing incessantly. The giant robot made another pass, and then landed right in front of Almasy, spear at the ready.

"This is Lurker ‘Imp’ calling," sneered Dr. Mayhem, "You will ignore my resemblance to other incredibly attractive evil overlords."

"Impressive. I wish I’d seen this contraption before the story had begun; it would have made a marvelous addition to my set," Almasy said calmly, "What is it called?"

"No, really, that’s it’s name. Omnigear @#$*&!." The robot aimed it’s polearm at Almasy’s pointy head. "Almasy Marquis, prepare to either stand down or be skewered. The choice is yours."

"If you kill me, then you’ll quickly see that these Koopa Troopas are not the only trump card we’re playing!"

"Hah! That’s right! We can drop that CanyoN onto Rocket Town at any time we desire." As if to accentuate the point, the CanyoN’s shadow seemed to loom slightly more darkly. "You will surrender!" Almasy continued, "Unlike Flint, I have no intention of inviting you in as a leader . . . but I’ll be happy to consider you a soldier under Neo RockeT CanyoN!"

@#$*! held it’s position a moment longer, then withdrew it’s weapon and stepped away, looking extremely grumpy. At a motion from Almasy, the Koopa Troopas reassembled their ranks and resumed the march towards Rocket Town.

Dr. Mayhem angrily bashed a fist against the console. He watched gloomily as the Mario Brothers turtles filed past him. A glimmer of engine power caught his eye. He turned his optics skyward just in time to watch El-Kusotare descend from the CanyoN. It gave a final landing flap of it’s giant black wings, then settled into place behind Almasy, who crossed his arms and watched smugly.

"If you want to get back, then you’ll have to quit electrocuting me and hitting me and spraying me with whatever you’re spraying me with!" CAM shouted, pressing up against the door to the bridge. The hordes of Pokémon on the other side finally let him slam it shut. He quickly threw the lock into place. The Agent wiped his brow and made his way to the control panel.

"Now we just have to alter your course and give it an extra kick of booster," CAM said, typing away at the computer. "Theoretically, all this should be impossible, given the limited capabilities of Shin-Ra-type rockets . . . luckily for me, this is just a story."

The Shinra no. 28 gave a rumble as it began to turn around. Satisfied that he would reach the Planet safely, CAM gave the Gear roster a check just to make sure that everything was on board the rocket. They were all there, except for the Captain’s TwinkiEVA 00, and Benit’s Alexander.

"It seemed like such a good idea at the time, too . . ." he sighed, collapsing into a seat.

The main control room for the CanyoN’s flight capabilities was just down the hall, but so were another troop of Mothmen. Artemis gave another Ether push, knocking several of them into the walls. Axer had both swords at the ready and was more than happy to put both of them to use.

But even as their foes fell, the Agents could hear the tell-tale flutter of moth wings coming from the hallways behind them. They rushed into the control room, and locked the door. Both stood for a moment, panting, until they realized that someone was in the room typing. Axer and Artemis whirled around, weapons at the ready, only to find Solid Ekans seated at the central unit.

"Ah HAH!" Axer said, pointing dramatically, "So you were pretending to join their ranks so you could make your way here! Brilliant! That’s why I thought of it, of course."

"No time to talk, much as I enjoy silliness," Ekans replied, not looking up, "You heard about what they’re planning to do?"

"Cait said they were planning to drop the CanyoN onto the planet, but that seems a bit much to me," Artemis said, "If they’re trying to conquer Rocket Town, why would they use a threat that would destroy their own forces at the same time?" She moved over to another computer, sat down, and logged in. Axer did likewise.

"Regardless of whatever non-logic is going on, I figured letting a giant landmass drop onto the Planet would be a catergorical Bad Thing, even if it is a canyon of silly refs," Solid Ekans continued. "It’s a good thing you guys showed up, though, I can’t seem to get through."

"That’s more like it!" Axer nodded contentedly and went back to work. "Let’s see… there, I’m into the main controls. Transferring codes to your workstations."

"I’ve got – oh no! A security system!" Solid Ekans frowned, "I’m in Pop-up advertisement HFIL! They’re opening faster than I can close them!"

"Don’t worry, I’m almost done with it . . . there!" Artemis said. She stood and wiped off her hands. "That takes care of that threat, anyway. Axer, can you get a message about it through to the others?"

"You stopped the CanyoN from dropping?" Tonamel said over the communicator, "That’s great . . . but we’re overrun with Koopa Troopas at the moment, so we can’t really do any thing right now."

"Can’t you, uh," Axer frowned, scratching his head, " . . . jump on their shells, or something?"

"We could jump on one shell," Phantom Ghost sighed, "But not only would it irritate the other million and a half of them, but the shell would ricochet out and hit all of the other ones. And they’re placed strategically so that the chain reaction will hit someone in Rocket Town with a turtle shell."

"And if you get hit with a turtle shell . . . well, you lose a 1UP," Tonamel finished, "And most of the Rocket Town residents don’t have multiple lives. We’re stuck."

"They’ve almost finished occupying the town!" Dr. Mayhem shouted over the other communications line, "If they’ve stopped the CanyoN from dropping, then shouldn’t I be able to take out these last few crazy rows of $*#@^ turtles?!"

Tonamel was about to reply, but a rumble from the skies interrupted everyone. The clouds next to RockeT CanyoN’s floating mass parted, and a huge white castle-like mech glided to the ground. The tremor as it hit the ground was felt by the chocobos on the continent’s west coast. Alexander had arrived.

"You’re a little late . . . !" Almasy shouted in triumph, "Rocket Town is now mine! Its citizens must bend to my will, or pay the price! And as for you irritating Agents . . ." He snapped his fingers. A multitude of hatches opened on the underside of the CanyoN. Impossibly, a congregation of Metal Gear Kai units began parachuting out through the hatches and down to the Planet.

Tonamel stared at the oncoming mobile suits. Phantom Ghost gave him a sidelong look, then smiled a twisted, ironic smile. "Looks like you could use a refreshing Shera’s Iced Tea."

Tonamel glanced back at Phantom Ghost and laughed a sad, hollow laugh. "You’re on."

The door to the control room rumbled. A voice shouted from the other side: "Come out with your hands up! We have you surrounded!"

"Not just yet," Agent Axer grinned, "I’ve got some email from CAM." Artemis and Brandon peeked over his shoulder.

Dude chill out I just turned the rocket around so everyone will have their mobile suits really soon. Just as long as this flashing lights don’t destract me. I feel them calling out to me like a dream. And then I wake up, but I’m still dreaming. I can never escape … its an endless nightmare. Anyway by the time the next chapter starts everyone will have their Gears. Sorry for the mix up.

"Axer, send him an email telling him to send El Fenrir out when he reaches planetside," Artemis said, "I’ll pick it up in orbit."

"Why don’t you use the PokeShip in the fourth hangar?" Ekans suggested. Artemis nodded.

"How’ll you escape?" Axer asked, "There’s an awful lot of guards out there."

"Let’s see… I haven’t used the ol’ Reference Adder Materia in a while …" Princess Artemis popped the jewel into a linked slot with a red summon orb. She waved her hand over them, activating it, and a cardboard box appeared out of no where. Putting her weapon away, she lifted the box over her head and settled down into it. "Ta daaa."

"Okay. We’ll keep ‘em busy here and then meet up with CAM, and then the others in Rocket Town," Axer said, "Good luck!"

The cardboard box shuffled over to the door as Axer and Brandon took up hiding spots. The door slid open and the soldiers poured in, but were mightily confused to find no one inside. None of them noticed as the cardboard box made its way past them and out into the hallway.

"No, they’re here, they’re just hidin- AGHHH," the second replied, interrupted by the surprise attack from Solid Ekans and Axer. Chaos erupted as the Agents tore into the Mothmen.

"Now, Rocket Town …" the El Kusotare pilot sneered. Gray Fox peered down on the hamlet from his sensors. "Show me your true sense of justice!"

Almasy stood alone in the maintenance halls of Rocket Town’s Highwind docking station. Christmas decorations still covered the walls, but even without the knowledge that the town was occupied by an oppressive military force, the wreaths and garland seems to sag with an unbearable dark force . . . closer than they, as material items, probably suspected.

"You’ve done what you set out to do," Almasy spoke aloud. His voice was cracked and bitter, like the voice of a man kept without water for days. "Are you satisfied? Or will you aspire to even more devious ends before the suffering ends?"

What I set out to do? came a sibilant, icy voice in reply. The sounds made the walls of the building creak in what would equate to fear in the mysterious world of existence that only walls occupy. The mouth that formed the words was Almasy’s – to an onlooker, he would’ve appeared to be conversing with himself in alternating voices. I set out to make you miserable, and while you’re certainly quite miserable right now, I’m sure I can emphasize that feeling an awful lot over the next few years, dear brother.

"If you’re going to start in with the fraternal references," Almasy spoke again, "Then you could at least give the readers some sort of recap. Your presence isn’t even documented in any of my plot summaries."

It’s not all that hard to guess, returned the voice that was Not Almasy, The third in a line of synthetic reference warriors created by the Pasteuriats . . . you being the first, of course, and the second hereby listed as ‘Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Picture.’ Convinced that they would eventually return you to their ranks and securing for themselves a powerful physical force, they decided to make my proficiency that of a mental state, and so robbed me of my physical form at the earliest opportunity. I exist now only as a wandering soul, able to possess the forms of others, but never able to truly occupy a form to call my own . . . oh, they gave me a ‘host form,’ an empty shell, that I could live in, but it still wasn’t mine. All this because they wanted me, their experimental ‘Liquidus’ to be as powerful as the one, the only, the original . . . Almasy Marquis.

"The Pasteuriats are responsible for much suffering in all our lives, whether anyone knows about it or not. Why, then, do you serve them so willingly? Why submit to their demands and force me to conquer Rocket Town as you have?’

In this instance, their desires coincide with my own – you are too powerful to subdue, so they seek to sever the ties which make you strong, and make your emotional state weak. Anyone could have seen that you were disappointed when the Agents unofficially began to disband from ‘RTO’ . . . and even moreso with the arrival of so many worthless inhabitants. I was simply sent along to spur on your own desires.

"But for your damnable presence, Liquidus Ekans, I would have never acted on them!" Almasy spat, "What kind of a name is that, anyway?"

"Fine, yes," Almasy sighed, "RTO was the beginning of the end for me, it seems. I felt like I’d finally earned the place of distinction that I’d worked to gain, as I told Artemis . . . and then, all of a sudden, the party was over, and in came the influx of those who I had fled to the sanctuary of Shera’s Kitchen in the first place. How could I not be angry, want to lash out?" He gulped back a lump in his throat. "But that’s al-"

Liquidus’s voice took over. It’s too late now, anyway. Once you are defeated – and you will be defeated – you will never be trusted again. Even if you are somehow able to convince them of my hand in the ordeal, the very mention of your name will bring painful memories to mind. Unconsciously, the disassociation will begin . . . little by little, they will stream away from you, leaving you alone once again. And you’ll journey on, just as you did before. But once you find them, and earn their trust, they’ll begin to disband, just as the Agents started to do. It is inevitable. Find a group of peers, watch as they leave just as you reach your goal, set out to find new ones – an Endless Waltz.

"They won’t do that," Almasy said, his voice cracking, "They’re my friends. They’ll believe me, and they’ll help me stop you."

They will not. Almasy’s body shuddered as the inner presence raided the saiyan’s brain and took control of the conscious entity. Almasy’s form fizzled into static and was replaced by another form – the form of Liquidus’s original body. He spoke plainly now, as he had in his conquest of Rocket Town, without interference from the host soul. "They know your actions are rooted in truth. Even if they believe you, they will not go through the bother of staying united any longer than to stop the current threat. Some even will even leave beforehand. They have their own lives to live – lives that have nothing to do with you, no matter how badly you may want them to. They have no reason to believe you and every reason not to. Look at you – you’re pathetic. Not only have you had to stoop to asking them if you could write a story with them in it, but you’re deigned to make yourself the main villain and instigated a horrendously angsty and horribly blunt explanation of why you’ve caused the story to happen. I’m not so sure that I even believe you, and I’m LIVING IN YOUR HEAD. Who in their –own- right mind would believe you?"

Artemis opened her eyes and looked up. Her shuttle was cruising as high in the atmosphere as she could go without starting to borderline on exiting. Ethereal wisps of clouds drifted far beneath, masking the darkness of the Planet. On the horizon, the last rays of sunlight began to creep out of sight.

Several miles away, the entry arc of the Shinra no. 28 could be seen as it cruised down out of orbit. A giant-sized version of the standard escape capsules extended from the side, beeped, and shot off towards the surface of the Planet. The thrusters on Artemis’s shuttle flared and sent her roaring towards the capsule. Soon, both ships had matched courses.

A panel opened on the underside of the shuttle. A female figure, clad in a pilot suit, spiraled out and down onto the surface of the mobile suit capsule. The shuttle curved away and coasted towards the ground on autopilot. Moments later, and El Fenrir easily tore through the steel casing of the craft with its Ether-enhanced claws. With a fizzle and a pop, the engines to the escape capsule exploded. Artemis’s Gear leapt and caught hold of the blast, riding it towards Rocket Town like an angel from the underworld.

Alexander’s Holy Judgement attack ripped through a squad of Metal Gear Kai units, but another pack was ready to take their places. As the energy spheres atop the Summon Monster began to charge up again, Benit swiveled her Gear’s head around to fire it’s custom-fitted Vulcan cannons at another troop of oncoming suits.

The bullets shredded most of them, but only winged the final Metal Gear, which pounced at the Guardian Force, screeching a mechanical wail. Benit shut her eyes tight as the machine landed on one of the leg pillars, sending a jarring tremor through the machine. Seemingly urged on by the success of the one suit, more Metal Gear Kai units seemed to pour out of the battlezone, converging on Alexander.

At the other end of the field, Mayhem’s @#$*! Omnigear made short work of the suits at close range, but the cannon and machine gun fire from the Metal Gear suits put him on the defensive. The Doctor snarled and swerved, putting his mobile suit behind a giant chunk of terrain. Acting on auto-response, the enemy robots began to circle around to converge on the @#$*!. With an appropriately Dragoonian leap, @#$*! easily skirted away from danger and began making his way towards Alexander.

"Benit, you’re a sitting duck out here with that mammoth of a Gear of yours," Dr. Mayhem said through the communicator, "You should high-tail it to somewhere you can put up a better defense."

"No way!" Benit scoffed, "These pesky droids don’t stand a chance . . . UNF!" A particularly enraged robot had leapt atop Alex’s head. With a skillful jab, @#$*! skewered the Kai unit and chucked it off the tip of its polearm at a cluster of enemy mobile suits.

"For those who will put an end to senselessly mature forms of evil," Dr. Mayhem said, "If Almasy is allowed to parade through town being a tyrannical dictator without promoting zaniness at the same time, the times will give birth to another Amish Vomit Keg . . . !!!"

"I’d still like to know just how you stole all these shiny robots," Solid Ekans frowned, "I mean, it’s not like I didn’t lock mine up."

"I’ll tell you about it after this is all over," CAM said hurriedly. His suit, Kouhi, advanced towards the CanyoN bay doors, wings beginning to spread. "Are we ready to go, or what?"

"You know it!" Axer said triumphantly. The cape unfurled on Zadkiel as Axer’s giant suit cocked it’s fist. A moment later, it plowed through the hangar door and shot off into the air. El Kaiser’s rocket thrusters and Kouhi’s wings flared in response.

"THIS is what a story entitled ‘Final Pokémon Solid: Endless Waltz’ should be," Brandon grinned. "Lots of giant robots. And Agents. Yes. Also, the victory. With explosions. Woo."

"YES," CAM nodded. All three mobile suits shot off through the sky, plummeting towards Rocket Town. A minute later, a set of mobile suit escape pods followed them down from the same hangar, where the Shinra no. 28 rested. Long forgotten, the masses of Pokémon within the rocket charged out into the CanyoN bay. Acting with a single collective mind, the Pokémon commandeered another operational mobile suit carrier and shot off after CAM’s mobile suit, eager to exact their revenge . . .

"Two of Shera’s finest, on the rocks," Tonamel said, tapping the counter in the Shanghai Inn. The room was empty, save for himself and Phantom, who sat at the bar, and the bartender, and another young man at the far end of the row of stools, who was just getting done with a long nap.

"Oh, hey, guys," Gray Fox said, stretching. Tonamel and Phantom boggled at him. "I thought I heard some kind of loud noise. What’s going on?"

" . . . DIE," Phantom finished off. Gasping, Gray Fox clutched his chest and pretended to fall over. Phantom Ghost scratch at his cap. "Uh, no, seriously, you haven’t seen Almasy’s army of Koopa Troopas and Metal Gear iterations that have taken over the entire town?"

"That’s so stupid that I think I’m going to ask to be forgotten from this fanfic," blanched Tonamel, "Hey, wait, if you’ve been asleep in here, then who’s that Gray Fox in that El Kusotare guarding the perimeter?"

"Status report, now!" Almasy hollered, barging into his makeshift headquarters. Koopa Troopas ran to and fro, recording battle data as the Metal Gear Kai legions continued to wear away at Benit and Dr. Mayhem’s mobile suits. A few feet behind the saiyan marched Agent ‘the Captain,’ guarded by a pair of heavily armed Mothmen.

"They’re not making any progress," chirped one of the Troopas, "But they’re not falling back, either."

"Bah! What can they hope to do with just two suits?!" Almasy hissed. "What about my flunky?"

"El Fenrir arrived at the battlefield and has been fighting with El Kusotare for nearly twenty minutes," bleeped another of the turtles, "And it looks like some of the other Agents have managed to retrieve their suits. Three unidentified Gears have shown up at the edge of the battlefield."

"You’re losing, ‘Liquidus,’" the Captain said smugly, "With the power of the Agents, Rocket Town will be protected, and through them, Almasy will be acquitted."

"It’s not over yet," snapped the villain. He turned to another of his technician Troopas. "Have my suit prepped for battle. If need be . . . heh heh heh . . . . I’ll destroy everything . . . !!!"

"Our suits!" Phantom Ghost shouted. He, Gray Fox, and Tonamel were racing through the cluttered battlefield towards their allies. El Kaiser drew its beamsaber and began carving a path through the dozens of Metal Gear Kai units. Kouhi took to the skies and began frying the enemy suits one by one with its laser attack. CAM brought his suit down to a rest next to Alexander and began dispatching the oncoming attackers.

"Thought you guys would never get here!" Dr. Mayhem chortled. @#$*! spun its giant-sized Venus Gospel, slicing another set of Kai units into scrap metal.

"We would’ve been here a lot sooner if, uh, good ol’ CAM hadn’t SENT ALL THE GIANT ROBOTS INTO THE SUN!!!" Axer explained. His Zadkiel suit was making short work of the Metal Gear suits in his area with rapid-fire blasts of from the finger missiles. Considerably taller than the other standard-issue mobile suits, Zadkiel was attracting a significant following of assailants.

"Love to help you, but they’re piling on too quickly for me to get Holy Judgement working again!" Benit shouted back.

Solid Ekans gulped. "Don’t shoot the messenger, guys, but it looks like they’ve got reinforcements." The Agents turned their eyes towards the town itself. As if the hordes of Metal Gear units were not imposing enough, the night sky was riddled with the tiny oncoming bodies of thousands upon thousands of Mothmen and Koopa Troopas.

"You know, even if I stole the Mothmen idea from Agent NC81, if Almasy stole it from me, I wonder if that’ll put me in the right for some kind of class-action lawsuit?" CAM pondered.

Axer opened a communications line to the pedestrian Agents, who’d just arrived at the landing site. "Hey, uh, guys, we’ve got your suits in the trunk, maybe you’d like to climb in and help out??"

"Hell yes," Gray Fox thundered, leaping atop his suit’s carrier, "I’ve got a suspicious lookalike to deal with." His dramatic, stoic moment was interrupted as the Shinra no. 28 plummeted from out of the sky and smashed into the ground. Through sheer dumb luck, the engines didn’t blow sky high. Within moments, the Pokémon within began to pour out.

"Heh, it looks like we’ve got some reinforcements of our own!" Phantom Ghost grinned. With an anime leap, he pounced into his carrier and activated PokéArms. Emerging from the capsule, the trainer took advantage of the Pokémon swarm’s general state of dazedness to capture practically every single one of them. Spinning in place and leaping in a huge arc, PokéArms came down right in front of the cloud of tiny villains and started spraying PokéBalls everywhere with its double gatling arm. The Pokémon, held in control of the Gear’s specialized control mechanisms, immediately set upon the Troopas and Mothmen voraciously.

"I love it when a plan comes together," smirked Tonamel, who piled into Hammer. The stealth Gear revved up and shot out of the shuttle and into the air. It came down with a spiraling katana slice that tore into a dozen Metal Gear Kai units at once.

"There’s no way we can lose if we all keep at it," Brandon said, "That’s probably just my Super Love Happy Go stuff bubbling up . . . the real key to the battle is actually more likely to be super-desperation-finishing moves." Without hesistation, he launched into Reference Hyper, and El Kaiser synchronized, flaring with energy wings and enhancing the power of his beam weapon. He shot off on a hovering streak, tearing through the Metal Gears with deadly accuracy.

"The kick-punch style remains very much secure!" cut in Artemis’s voice. El Kusotare smashed into the ground from the skies above, and El Fenrir was there to follow it up with a closing heel smash to the chin. The giant double dragon wings on the TwinkiEVA pumped, but the Solarian Omnigear pinned it to the ground with a firm stance and delivered a smashing axe chop to her rival’s cranium.

"Grahh…" the pilot moaned. Conveniently, the Metal Gear Kai units began to back down from the assault, somehow tamed by the influx of dialogue.

"I didn’t," Gray Fox protested, landing the El Kusotare from the Shinra no. 28 next to the two battlers. "I’ve been asleep all day. I suppose I could’ve betrayed someone while I was asleep, but not to this extent."

"You’re . . . " Artemis frowned deeply, "Then, if you’re here, then who is this, and why does his Gear look just like yours?"

"Well, you know what I always say . . . " CAM chuckled nervously. " ‘That’s not Gray Fox . . . "

"IT’S AN IMPOSTER!!!" chorused the Agents. The @#$*! Omnigear face palmed itself violently.

"Yes, it is I, Evil Gray Fox!" cackled the pilot of the grounded El Kusotare. "I was summoned here with my Evil Kusotare to spread distrust and confusion throughout the story!"

"Uh, why’s he turning over all the information so readily?" Dr. Mayhem frowned.

"That’s his Limit Break, PhilosoTRUTH," Artemis explained, "He’s trying to make one last break for it, it looks like."

"If I could just get a word in here," spake Evil Kusotare suddenly, "I’d just like to say that I’m actually really really sorry about this whole mess and if there’s anything I can do to help clean up the mess . . . would anyone like a towel? A cappuccino?"

"Shaddup," El Kusotare snarled, "This whole scene is going to make me puke. Shouldn’t you twerps ask him who’s actually behind this hostile tyrannical takeover?"

"Hey, that’s right," Benit said, "Is it really Almasy? I still don’t see how he could be the villain."

"Almasy is Almasy, but he is also being possessed by a villain from his own backstory," Evil Kusotare poffered.

"His motives may be true to his self, but his actions are being incited by another soul, rest assured," Evil Kusotare yammered on, "Another soul that has taken up residence in Almasy’s own self."

"I don’t know how you think you can call yourself ‘Evil,’ you big narration patsy," Evil Gray Fox spat, "You don’t even have a goatee!"

"I can be evil in my own way," sniffled Evil Kusotare, "See, watch. Hey, Solid Ekans, have you seen the last episode of Cowboy Bebop?"

"That’s about a 7.5 on the Evil-O-Meter," grinned Dr. Mayhem, "You’ll go far in this world, kid."

"Not in this world, no," Evil Kusotare sighed, "We seem to have served our purpose, so I think we’ll be on our way back to our own dimension now. Toodle-oo." In a blip of dimensional transference, Evil Kusotare and it’s pilot disappeared.

"It’s about time that worthless diversion took off," shouted another voice from across the field, "Now we can get down to some real personal violence." The Agents and Dr. Mayhem turned their sites towards the newcomer to the field – a towering mobile armor whose height matched that of Axer’s lofty Zadkiel. It resembled the namesake mobile suit of Escaflowne, but was done with darker draconic elements.

"You may have held my armies at bay, defeated my subordinates, devastated my CanyoN, and made a lot of silly jokes along the way," hissed Almasy’s voice from within the darkened cockpit, "But there’s no chance you can stand up to my Zephyr Gundam. Your battle ends here, Agents!"

"So you’re must be the one possessing Almasy," surmised Artemis, "The ‘other one,’ that Cait mentioned earlier . . . the man behind this whole scheme!"

"No, not just this scheme," snickered the voice, "This and countless other plots that have already taken effect, and that are already being born as we speak." The Zephyr Gundam’s cockpit lit up, revealing the transmogrified form of Almasy – the blonde hair was tucked back in a wild ponytail, and Almasy’s pointed saiyan features had morphed into a square face full of anger and contempt. An open crimson jacket covered a bare chest. The mobile armor finished it’s forward march and released a cloud of steam from it’s vents. "Liquidus Ekans!"

"Don’t expect me to shout EKAAAAAANS any time soon, either," Liquidus snorted, "Let’s get right down to it. Your precious Captain thinks that your combined efforts will be able to defeat me. I want to see your power with my own eyes . . . and if you don’t show me that power, then my men back in Rocket Town will terminate the Captain and the rest of the citizenry."

"I don’t like this," Benit beeped into the other Agents, "If we take him down, won’t we also take out Almasy?"

"I don’t know how much of a choice we have," Fox said morosely. "As much as saving Twinkie would be good, it’s not like we can just let Liquidus destroy Rocket Town."

"I don’t see how any of us can get to the Town while we’re fighting Liquidus, either," Tonamel added, "Scanners indicate he’s got a plethora of detection devices of his own on that beast. He can see in practically every direction at once, including some 5-dimensional stuff I really don’t want to think about right now."

"There’s only one path to take, then," CAM said firmly. Kouhi’s wings gleamed as the Omnigear streaked towards Zephyr. Liquidus’s machine braced for the blow . . . which snuck around from behind, courtesy of Kouhi’s double snake whips.

"It’s our duty as the defenders of today’s world," Phantom Ghost nodded. His Gear took off at a sprint as Zephyr stumbled from Kouhi’s sneak attack. PokéArms slid straight into the mobile armor’s shins. A darting punch was caught by the larger machine’s fist, which only made way for the double gatling gun to smash down across the Zephyr’s back.

"Friendship takes precedence in the world, but there are some things that have to be done . . . some obligations that have to be kept," Ekans shouted, joining the two halves of El Kaiser’s hyper mode IDF gun into a buster rifle. The GUN shot an enormous shot at the enemy mobile suit, which leapt into the air at the last moment to avoid the impeding laser of kll death.

@#$*! darted in easily with it’s enormous polearm, thrusting up into the chest cavity of the Zephyr. With an enormous swing, the Omnigear brought the mobile armor smashing down into the ground. "The ties of brotherhood can always be tied again, no matter how great they were severed," Mayhem spat, lighting another cigarette.

"There is a price to pay for the mistakes of the past, but atonement can begin at any time," Artemis added calmly. El Fenrir rose into the air, surrounded by an Ethereal glow. Tendrils of blue light surged from the Solarian Gear into the Zephyr, sending jolts of energy through it as though it were a kite caught in the Thunder Plateau of Spira.

"Even if the context is different, friendships can be sparked anew from old embers," Benit continued. The towering heights of Alexander flared with Holy energy and surged down into Liquidus’s mobile armor, compounding the purifying energy from Artemis’s attack. A spasm of motion went through Zephyr, and it suddenly rose up with a vengence.

"Trying to destroy the world around you does no good," Tonamel said grimly. Hammer extended its katana, and then vanished in a streak of EMP crackles. The strike was too fast to see – all that could be witnessed was the trail left by Hammer’s blade as it had cleaved through Zephyr’s midsection.

"Because that only ruins the chances of those, like you, who are still yet to come!" Axer chided. Zadkiel simply stepped forward and lifted aloft the shell of the battered mobile armor. In a combined strike, the Agents’ Gears moves one last time, devastating Zephyr a massive energy crush.

From Rocket Town, the Captain watched the battle come to its end, from atop Cid’s house. The final energy strike lit up the sky as though the sun had reemerged from its evening slumber. He shaded his eyes and smiled sadly. "Well, that’s an awful lot of giant robot action and sympathetic preaching . . . the end has finally come."

As the glare died down, the husk of Zephyr could be seen shifting slightly, as though laughing softly. In fact, Liquidus’s own howls of glee could soon be heard across the battleground.

"That was it – the true power of the Agents that I’ve longed to see!" Liquidus roared manically, "But my time has not yet come, and I still have my trump card! Rocket Town will fall, and I shall live on!" His hand struck a giant red button on the Zephyr’s console. Klaxons began to wail from the skies. A low rumble rippled through the atmosphere as the CanyoN began to descend from it’s place above.

"Liquidus, stop this . . . !!" Artemis shouted. But Liquidus was already gone; his wispy soul had poured out of Almasy’s head and escaped on the wind. The saiyan, returned to his normal visage, gave a low groan.

"Doesn’t matter about me . . . the CanyoN has to be stopped, or it’ll crush Rocket Town," Almasy groaned, grabbing at his controls. "I have to stop it. The whole situation is my fault . . . my penance will be to take care of it." Zephyr’s broken shell swerved and shot into the sky.

"I have one favor to ask you, my friends . . . " Almasy garbled voice came in. "Please, one last attack. I’m going to detonate the Zephyr at the base of the CanyoN and suck in through the dimensional warp drive . . . with your added energy, the entire landmass can be sucked through."

"Almasy-person will also be disappeared through the explosion of death!" frowned Axer, "There has to be some other way . . . "

"There’s no time! Do it! Or all this will be laid to waste!" The Zephyr accelerated and planeted itself at the bottom of the falling island. Dark electricity shot across the core of the mobile armor.

In a final blaze of triumph, the Agents’ Gears flared with energy. Pillars of light converged from each of the mobile suits, arcing towards the Zephyr Gundam. The rumble from the crashing CanyoN grew ever louder. A macabre laser show of power skittered through Almasy’s suit.

An angry red dimensional cleft radiated from the Zephyr, and began expanding across the underside of the island. The Agents’ robots flared even brighter, pouring energy into the reaction.

A blast of light filled skies, like a supernova explosion. The Agents shaded their faces from the blast – all that could be seen was a sea of stars.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up, hit pause," the Captain said, marching onto the scene and looking irritable. "What the #*$@&! is this $(#@2#@&!?!? Some sort of self-sacrificial gesture thing where you wind up giving you damn life to save the day? That makes you look like the hero all over again, you spoony bard."

"Heh, whoops," Almasy said. He hit the pause button a side panel of the Zephyr’s control model, and hopped down from the mobile armor to the ground level. "Well, you have admit, the whole story’s been a little bit more seriously toned than people might’ve expected."

"I don’t know where you think you get off talking about the story as if we’re not in the context, @*$&@," Imp Mayhem added, "We go through all the trouble of having to a do a team-up battle against you, complete with accompanying song lyrics . . ."

"Oh, yeah, I put up a real good resistance, there," Almasy said, eye-rolling. The other Agents, by this point, had climbed down from their own mobile suits to gather around in the frozen landscape.

"I’m pretty sure this is a Networld story anyway," Solid Ekans interjected, "Or, at least, alternate from the standard continuity. Maybe or maybe not. Stuff that happens in movies is always debatable and the usual rules don’t ever really app--" *THOP* went Brandon’s head as Fox fwapped him.

"Well, what do you think?" Almasy said, shrugging, "I’m all for some kind of wacky happy ending, but what, are we just going to leave the CanyoN right where it is?"

" . . . . . " CAM frowned, staring up at it, " . . . . . isn’t that website mine?"

"Uh, and, um, you know, I did all kinds of bad stuff," Almasy gulped, changing the subject quickly. "I mean, there is the weird relationship thing that I did just try to take over Rocket Town, and stuff."

"Besides, we gave you a good WEEKLY BEATING," grinned Tonamel, who cracked his knuckles. "That’s usually lesson enough around these parts."

"I think that JUSTICE has been served on nearly all accounts, then," Benit said, reviewing the situation.

"But we need an ending!" Almasy insisted, "It doesn’t even need to really make sense, but the story needs to go ahead and END."

"Too late!" Artemis shouted suddenly, staring at the ground beneath them, "The credits are coming! Quick, everyone run!"

Trainer Phantom Ghost

Benit

CAM

Cloud Strife

Cid Highwind

Shera Stargazer

Tonamel

Axer

Gray Fox

Artemis

BrandonTCA

MCE

Biggs Darklighter

Wedge Antilles

Reese

Almasy Marquis

Gray Fox

Alys Bragwin

Mr T

Rude

Heero Yuy

Imp Mayhem

Stray

Pikafoo’

Dana Carvey

Cobra Commander

Michael Palin

Chris Rock

and

Himself

Herself

Himself

Herself

Himself

Herself

Solid Ekans

Herself

Mothvicks

Mothwedge

The Captain

Himself

Evil Gray Fox

Herself

Himself

Agent 1469

Himself

Cait Sith

Himself

Koopa Troopa Tech

Liquidus Ekans

Evil Kusotare

El Kusotare

Through the rocky crevasses, feet pitter-pattered. Beneath the azure skies, a trio of tiny turtles trotted behind a Koopa Troopa. Surprisingly fast for reptiles with shells on their backs, they bounded up a makeshift set of rock steps onto an outcropping.

Far beneath the cliff could be seen Rocket Town, surrounded by foliage mounds, with smoke puffing steadily out from the kitchen stacks.

The Koopa Troopas gave a soft set of chirping noises as a flock of Mothgeese flew past.