Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Did you ever get the urge to write a fanfiction after seeing the first episode of a show?

That’s the thought I had when I watched the first episode to the upcoming Cartoon Network series, “Rey Mysterio vs La Oscuridad”. In the vein of the old El Santo films, Rey Mysterio goes off to fight evil wrestlers and supernatural creatures with a lot of action scenes this side of Rise of TMNT.

He’s not doing it alone, as he has a fan of his, Oscar, joining his side to fight against Uroboros who is tempering with powers he doesn’t understand.

In other words, it’s the fighting and animation of Rise of the TMNT meets lucha libre meets Miraculous Ladybug. And I’m here for it.

Not only is it a chance for Mexican animation to have more exposure, not only is it a chance for Rey Mysterio to extend his brand, but it’s just all around good fun. It’s going to be 10 episodes long, but given the craziness of wrestling and what Rey’s gone through, I’m sure I can stretch it out a bit.

Again, you don’t have to watch the pilot or know too much about wrestling or Rey Mysterio to get involved. Just kick back, relax and enjoy some fun.

Oh and uh, pay very close attention to the name of things. You’ll see what I mean. 

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Rey Mysterio vs The Cosmos

By Green Phantom Queen

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Prologue

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Via Crucis

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Xochitl City was a typical city to live in.

Warm days, cool nights, beautiful flowers sold alongside lucha libre masks and home of some of the best luchadors who have ever squared away in a wrestling ring. 

It was also a breeding ground for some underground and supernatural monsters that roamed underneath the Earth and people who would do anything to harness dark forces.

This was Rey Mysterio’s hometown. And it was his duty to defend it.

Who is Rey Mysterio, you might be asking?

Rey Mysterio is a famous wrestler, well known for his colorful outfits, high-flying maneuvers, and a spirit that will never give out. He goes by many names, “The King of Mystery”, “The Ultimate Underdog”. 

He’s said to be a superhero in the ring – which wasn’t a lie as he’s a comic book aficionado and loves to surprise his fans with whatever superhero movie was going to inspire his next outfit - and out of the ring, he was a hero to the local community. He’s battled above and underground and  lots of comic books that explored him fighting off against monsters, demons and everything even between.

If you had to compare who would win a fight, El Santo or Rey Mysterio, most fans would think that it’s ridiculous. They’d rather be off fighting off Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and zombies. Then they’d suggest you add Blue Demon and Tormenta to the mix for a fatal four way. In Atlantis.

But this story will be quite different from the legendary El Santo’s film bibliography.

For in this story, Rey Mysterio will have a close encounter with the stars.

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“Oscar! Breakfast!”

In his bedroom, a boy with messy brown hair and a red hooded jacket groaned. “ No, mama… ” he muttered, rolling to his side.

“Oscar Aciano, it’s your favorite! Huevos divorciados !”

“ Cinco minutos… ” Oscar muttered.

“With a mug of chocolate caliente …”

Oscar’s eyes lit up and he quickly hopped out of bed. “Okay, okay, I’m getting up!”

As he was about to grab his phone, he looked up to see the corkboard where all of his Rey Mysterio masks were hung. In particular, he stared at the faded blue mask with red wings by the chin, a yellow cross in the center.

With the greatest of care, Oscar took the mask down and placed it to his heart, remembering just what happened the night before.

…

“BOOYAKA!!!”

It happened too fast. One minute, Oscar was standing there, and next he saw his idol glowing like an alien in pale blue light.

“Boy, listen to me.” Rey stated, with blue glowing eyes and matching mohawk. “Join forces with me and we can stop Gran Curerno.”

As if Oscar was going to miss out on something like this!

They pressed foreheads, and everything went KABOOM! BLAM! POW!

Then, Oscar stood, stronger than ever, with a blue masks with white wings and his own wrestling suit. So. AWESOME!!!!

“Face the might of Rey Mysterio and Oscar!” The boy shouted. “No, no, no…oh wait! Face the might of Rey Mysterio and Enygma! Yeah, better ring to it!”

The fight was a blur, but he totally remembered how he used his jacket as a cape for Gran Cuerno to charge towards, catching a punch and even helping Rey pull off the mask that was causing this mess. All that was missing was one thing…

“Uh, Rey…c-could I get a selfie?” Oscar asked, phone out.

Rey smiled but shook his head, not even bothered with the weight on his shoulders. “I’m sorry, but you have to keep this secret. Can I trust you, Enygma?”

…

“OSCAR!”

Oscar smiled as he tossed the mask on his bed and rushed downstairs. “Coming, mama !” 

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It was summer and summer meant no school and all the time in the world to play and read comic books.

After breakfast, Oscar raced out of his house and grabbed onto his skateboard, heading off to his best friend’s house. It was time to get the newest issue of the Rey Mysterio vs El Infinito comics while eating some tamales at his favorite café, Chocolate Cosmos .

He rang the doorbell and grinned. Seconds later, the door opened and he was struck at the head by a slipper. “Ow….”

“Oscar, what the heck were you thinking when you ditched me like that?!” A boy in a blue cap and matching shirt shouted.

“Sorry Lio,” Oscar said, rubbing the back of his head. Lio said goodbye to his parents before the two left his house.

Lio frowned but then raised an eyebrow. “So…”

“So?”

“Did you get that selfie with Rey Mysterio or what?”

“He…I…” Oscar sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I…I didn’t get it.”

“You didn’t?! Why not?”

“He was busy!” Oscar answered. “Yeah, he was super busy and there was no way I could see him. And I didn’t want to disrespect him, so yeah…”

Lio hummed. “Well, you know what that means...”

“Mm-hmm…”

“You gotta go and try again!”

“.... Que ?”

“Come on, Oscar,” Lio said as they reached the end of the sidewalk. Lio pressed the button that would allow the crosswalk sign across the street to change from the orange hand to the white person. “You’ve been wanting to get up in the Rey Mysterio fanclub for weeks now.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But I don’t wanna do it by invading his personal space.”

“So then, how are you gonna do it?”

“Hmm…” Oscar was deep in thought even after it was safe to cross. “I don’t know…”

“Oh come on, there’s gotta be something that’ll have you come face-to-face with the king once more!”

“Highly doubt it, Lio. I mean, it’s not like opportunities just fall from the sky!”

The two laughed as they raced to the comic book store, unaware of the person from across the street in a grey hoodie staring at them.

Seconds passed before they pulled out a phone, with the case depicting a white sun and a grey inverted cross.

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“Hola, Dominic!”

“Hey dad!” 

Rey smiled as he walked down the streets of Xochtil City, carrying a few supplies for the day. “How’s everything?”

“Doing fine. Mom and sis are excited to check everything out. I’m currently trying to train with that wrestler friend of yours.”

“El Toro Fuerte is a proud warrior, even after that setback with the talisman and…”

“Yeah, he’s cool. It’s just that there’s currently a squabble he’s trying to settle…”

Rey blinked as he could hear two voices bickering back and forth and sighed. “Is it those two?”

“Those two.”

Dominic moved the phone so Rey could see two children, a girl in an orange hoodie and a boy in luchador gear arguing over who was better.

“Jackie!”

“El Toro!”

“Jackie!”

“El Toro!”

“Jackie!”

“El Toro!”

“I’m…not gonna get myself involved.” Dominic mentioned.

Rey sighed. “Don’t. Best they settle this on their own terms.”

“So…anything new that happened?”

Rey wasn’t sure what to say, but he knew that Dominic was going to needle at this until he confessed. He sighed. “Let’s just say that I shared my powers with someone.”

“You what?”

“I’ll explain more when I get home. His name is –”

Rey paused, feeling like electricity was sent down his spine. He looked around, seeing people on their daily business. On their phones, getting groceries, some children waved hello to him.

“Dad?”

Rey put the phone to his ear. “Te vuelvo a llamar.”

“R-right. See you later.”

Rey hung up as he took a deep breath, turning to a nearby alleyway to gather his thoughts. Xochitl City was also invested in eco-tourism, so there wasn’t a lot of trash that was left in the streets. Even now he watched as children gathered plastic bottles and soda cans in exchange for candy and small toys.

He placed his bag down and waited, fingers twitching for someone to make the first move. A few seconds passed before he opened his mouth.

“Rey Mysterio, you’re my only hope.”

Rey sighed and turned to the luchador with lights around the visor of his eyes, his shoulder pads having red-white flame pauldrons.. 

“What do you want now, Aerostar ?”

Chapter Text

Right, first chapter done and this will be important to a certain other story I’m working.

Pay close attention cause this is gonna be on tvtropes soon enough.

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Chapter 1

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Dos la crÍa

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Oscar raced into Galaxia Comics without a second to spare, heart pounding as he realized that today was a very special day.

“Benedict,” he gasped, racing to the cashier. “Is it here? Is it here? Is it finally here?”

“Calm down, Oscar,” Lio sighed, adjusting his glasses. “It’s just a comic book. No big deal.”

“ Just a comic book?” Oscar exclaimed. He then pulled out his phone that depicted comic book covers of Rey Mysterio in numerous landscapes: a bioluminescent jungle, a city where keys were matched with various locks, a sea of sparkling blue sand. “It’s the adventures of Rey Mysterio as a superhero in a fantasy world wand he must find the means to return home, righting wrongs and helping the little guys!”

“But isn’t that what Rey Mysterio does in almost all his other comic book series?” Lio opened a comic and showed off a list of numerous Rey Mysterio comics – Rey Mysterio vs. The Underground, Rey Mysterio vs The Devil’s Favorite Demon, Rey Mysterio vs. The Legend Killer. What’s so different about this one?”

Oscar paused. What was different about this comic series?

Was it because now he knew that, perhaps everything he read in these comics weren’t just fiction? That his idol had some supernatural power and he actually did encounter these monsters in the past?

Better yet, how did Rey even get these powers in the first place?

…Maybe…maybe the answers to what he sought were in the comics!

That had to be the answer. After all, it was always said that “art imitates life”. These comics would have all been based on true events Rey Mysterio took part in, a few liberties taken here and there. (After all, that’s how all historical films are presented nowadays)

How could Oscar be so blind? What he thought was pure fantasy was actually real fantasy. And he, Enygma, was on the verge of…

“Hey, Oscar?” asked Lio, waving his hand over his friend’s face. “Oscaaaar?”

Oscar blinked. “Uh, yeah Lio?”

Lio sighed. “That’s the second time you’ve been spacing out again! What happened backstage? Did you get kidnapped by aliens or something?”

“Eh? Of course not!” Oscar chuckled sheepishly, hand behind his head. He then turned to the patient cashier. “So, Benedict is the newest issue in yet?”

“Sorry, there was a delay so it won’t be here till tomorrow,” Benedict, with his hair in a ponytail and a gold medal around his chest, said with a shake of his head. “But ,I still have the other comics in case you want a recap.” 

“ Gracias !” Oscar smiled as he calmly walked towards the back of the comics store, feet shuffling on the galaxy printed carpet and going past graphic novels, the American superhero comics and the comics with colorful ponies on them. There, he grinned at the section displaying all of the Rey Mysterio comics and began practically leafing through each of them (not that he had to; he had the covers memorized)

“Slow down there, Oscar,” said Lio. “You know how the formula goes. ‘Rey enters a foreign land, he and his partner stay there the night, stop bad guys, continue on their merry way.’”

“Yeah, that’s why I love it so much!” Oscar said, thumbing through multiple comic books before he found the one he wanted and sat down. He grinned as he looked at the cover of Rey holding onto a sacred tome in his hands before he himself opened the comic and saw the holy writ in front of him. To the side were headlines that punctuated what awaited in these 32 pages.

Adventures de Mysterio: Rey Mysterio vs The Infinity! #20

The King of Mystery heads off to infinity and beyond!

Meet a colorful cast of quirky characters!

As Oscar was about to open the comic, he noticed how the logo for Rey Mysterio vs The Infinity had a green infinity sign. He never paid attention to it as he was just more excited at another Rey Mysterio comic to devour. But now, something felt familiar to him…

…Wait…

Wasn’t there an infinity symbol on Gran Cuerno’s mask?!

There were times that Oscar would be screaming his lungs out. Like when he got a low grade on a test, if he was picked last for sports or if he found himself watching a scary video online. This was one of them.

Instead, Oscar felt his hands covered in sweat as it hit him. These comics weren’t just fiction…they were real life events Rey Mysterio partook in! 

Rey Mysterio trusted me, Enygma, with a humongous secret! Oscar thought to himself. I gotta know more though…just to ensure I keep this secret secret. 

And as Lio’s back was turned to look at the newest One Piece volume, Oscar sat down cross-legged and began to read.

…

Rey Mysterio stared out into the distance, the endless trail waiting for him. He had been on this trek for weeks on end, his only destination was to go forward. The sky looked like something after the end of the world. He couldn’t tell what time it was and only got adjusted to the lands that he passed by.

He didn’t stay far too long, not even the “three days, two nights” creed that came from a young girl and her bike that he and his partner happened to take the same gondola in a land where a maiden was to recite words of a grief-stricken poet that bordered on apocalyptic. He had to move forward, towards Infinity.

Still, Rey did have time to rest up and smell the roses. He was currently in a beautiful kingdom where a golden path led to the castle and the king that would give him answers. His partner, a figure dressed in a leopard skin and glowing gold eyes, held her wooden blade embedded with obsidian blades around the edges.

The warrior growled, the opal on her forehead shining crimson. “My King, are you sure that this place will give you answers?”

Rey nodded. “I’m sure of it. Now come on, Opal.”

They walked down the road, seeing the inhabitants flutter around them, showering them with papers. Opal tilted her head as she grabbed one, and turned it upside down. But she couldn’t decipher what it meant.

Regardless, that thought immediately went away as they reached the doors of the palace. Surprisingly, there weren’t any guards to stop them. Opal growled but Rey shook his head before she leapt into battle and sliced someone’s head off (again).

The doors opened and Rey stepped inside, seeing a ruler in a gold-blue-green robe stare at them, a twinkle in his eye. “I’ve been expecting you, Rey Mysterio.”

“You have?”

The king chuckled, a scroll in his hands. “Welcome to my kingdom, Rey-Rey. I am King Titus, and this is Azada.”

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“What have you been doing, Rey?”

Rey stared at Aerostar across the dinner table of his small abode. The astronaut drummed his fingers on the table as he stared at the plate of taquitos covered in shredded cheese and guacamole in front of him. He then noticed how the walls of Rey’s house were lined with things he didn’t know about the luchador.

First there was the collection of swords. Swords from different eras and countries that looked more like an armory for Rey to pick up in case of invaders.

Then there was the large fish tank where Rey began to lovingly feed the fish after rising on a stepladder to grab the fish food. 

And last, there were the numerous images of a feathered serpent decorating the living room. There was a picture of Rey in an Aztec headdress, there were banners of said serpent draped around pictures of him and his family, and even a small statue of him on an altar. 

“Oh, you noticed,” Rey said, not even looking at Aerostar. “The statue was a gift from El Toro Fuerte. Said that it reminded him of the time a larger statue came to life and mistook him for the Lord of the Underworld.”

Aerostar picked up a taquito and bit into it. It was chicken. “I thought you were an Eagle Warrior.”

“I was . I’m sorry, but I can’t be part of the Seven Tribes and whatever Dario Cuerto is going through anymore. Not after what happened with Matanza.”

Aerostar paused. “Funny you should mention that.”

“Hmm?”

Aerostar took another bite of the taquito. “After I resurrected Dario Cuerto, we went to free you from the prison before Matanza slaughtered you. But when we got there, you had disappeared.”

“I…disappeared?”

“Yes. I couldn’t find any trace of where you went, how you vanished, or when you would return. All I could see was static.”

Rey folded the step-ladder and put it back underneath the cabinet where the fish tank stood. “So why are you searching for me now?”

“Because I suddenly receive word that you’re alive, hiding out as if the events of the Temple never happened, you leave your cousin to defend for yourself and you essentially defiling your mentor’s wishes to –”

“I am not doing any of that!” Rey interrupted, turning to face the astronaut. He placed a hand over his face and sighed. “There are…things that happened that made me have to leave Dragon Azteca Jr. behind.”

“And the entire world too?”

“Aerostar…”

“Things are in disarray!” Aerostar exclaimed. “After you disappeared, the Temple began to grow into chaos. There was a cursed doll that had to be destroyed, I had to recover the Gauntlet after I…foolishly left Johnny Mundo defenseless. I also had to go to the Underworld to save Fenix’s soul from being completely corrupted by Catrina’s darkness, I had a few scuffles with Mil Muertes…”

“And?”

“And out of all the Tribes, there is no trace of the Rabbit Tribe members. As if they went down a rabbit hole and have not emerged since.”

This caused Rey to pause. “What?”

Aerostar tapped the spinning circle on his chest and a hologram projection of a man in a white suit and black top hat materialized. The image began to show different sides, with his back depicting a black rabbit surrounded by a circle of Aztec glyphs. “Paul London. He’s been missing for the past two years without a trace. I’ve contacted other wrestling organizations, some people he used to befriend, even a director who wanted to cast him in an Elvis Presley film…he hasn’t been seen since.”

“And why is he so important? The Rabbit Tribe haven’t had the best track record in getting along unless you invited them to get sh–”

“Because I had a vision that he would be the one who would help save the other world.”

Rey blinked. “The other world…”

Aerostar nodded his head. “Drago is working on his end in the Netherworld and Fenix is on the run with Melissa. And I was given a message to come here to find you.”

“Why…me?”

Aerostar pulled out a phone from his pocket and showed it to Rey. “This was seen online last night.”

Rey immediately took the phone into his hands and turned it on, showing a video of a glowing green light shining from the top of the Itzli Stadium. It was only ten seconds long, but it was enough for thousands of hearts and a hundred comments to be posted underneath. 

“Is that all you wanted to show me?”

Aerostar narrowed his eyes – which couldn’t be seen because of the visor but Rey could tell that it was serious. “It’s a green light.”

“And?”

“Whatever kidnapped you and made London vanish also was associated with a green light.”

Rey dropped the phone, his heart stopping. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Rey…”

Rey took a deep breath. “Listen, Aereostar. Whatever you’re digging up involving green light is…”

Don’t you even try , Rey-Rey.

Rey gasped when he saw Aerostar’s glowing visor glowing blue before the astronaut stood up, his skin starting to peel off like that of a snake. Rey’s eyes widened when “Aerostar” tossed the skin onto the floor, and there was a clone of Rey staring back with blue wing markings on his pectorals, and a mane of glowing blue feathers on his head.

"Listen," Rey began. "If it's about the green light, that was…"

The double let out a small hiss. No, I can accept that. It's part and parcel to whatever dark forces you dedicated to ssssstopping in your city. I wish to talk about the boy.

"Oscar?"

You aligned yourself to me, King of Myssssstery! And you vowed to never grant another person my blessssing. And what did you do?

“I saved his life.” Rey stated calmly, not afraid of the double with a forked tongue and fangs dripping with venom. “And he helped me stop before a fellow luchador was corrupted by whatever force is corrupting my hometown.”

…True. And you also put your faith in this enigma?

“I do.”

The double hissed before bowing his head. Very well. I will accept your judgment. Tell thissss warrior about what happened, and let the boy share in your power. But that is the only mercy I can grant you at this point.

“And I haven’t disappointed you as of late, have I?” Rey didn’t even blink.

I hope not. Rey's double grumbled.

The blue light and similar face of Rey Mysterio meleted away to reveal a confused Aerostar. “Rey?”

Rey blinked and everything was back to normal. Aerostar was at the table, the fish were fed and there was a plate of taquitos on the table..

Rey inhaled. “Okay, Aerostar…I have something to confess.”

“I suspected as much.”

Rey poured himself a cup of coffee and then sat down once more. He placed his hands on the sides of his head and sighed.

“Tell me, Aerostar. Have you ever heard of a train that leads to nowhere?”

Chapter Text

All right, next chapter is up.

This one is gonna be important for "Seeker of Crocus" in the near future as characters that will appear there will debut here. So pay close attention to cause we're going full power, full throttle!

Booyaka!

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Chapter 2

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Dar en el clavo

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One of Oscar’s favorite English assignments was writing book reports, based on how he would write summaries about his favorite Rey Mysterio comic books online.

This wasn’t exactly like a book report, but gathering the notes he needed on a note pad felt like it. All he knew was that there was something going with an infinity symbol, green light and a number. None of it made sense, and Oscar was going to have to go online to the Rey Mysterio Forums and TuTube to see if anyone could come up with any ideas. 

The thing that was on his mind the most was what a comic book and a corrupted mask had in common, aside from an Infinity symbol. Were they from the same power source? Was there some god of Infinity that granted Rey powers and the other person used it for evil? Was Oscar considered Rey Mysterio’s apprentice in the never-ending fight against good and evil? Was Oscar going to have to end up with his head eventually chewed off like that girl who used lots of guns did? Or maybe…

“Oscar…OSCAR!!!”

Oscar yelped when Lio clapped his hands in front of his face. “What is it?”

“Your order,” Lio answered, pointing to a plate of tamales covered in a dark brown sauce, and a bowl of black bean soup to the side just as the waitress left their table to go back inside.

“O-oh right,” said Oscar, putting his notebook down. The Chocolate Cosmos Café was busy as usual, and the two were eating outside with a large chocolate umbrella protecting them from the sun.

“...Hey,” Lio noticed how panicky Oscar was. “Is everything going well?”

“O-oh, everything’s fine!” Oscar stammered out, trying to savor his pork tamales with mole sauce. But Lio raised an eyebrow as he dug into his spicy tofu tostada.

"This isn't like you," Lio noted. “Are you sure you wanna talk about it?”

“Mmm..” Oscar looked at a faded Rey Mysterio poster on the sidewalk being blown away by the wind. “Maybe later.”

“...Fine. But don’t keep it in you for too long, kay? We’re friends, Oscar. And friends should be able to keep things between one another.”

Oscar couldn’t reply to that, mostly because he was eating.

…

“So, you haven’t seen him?”

The cashier – “Barbara” as stated by her name tag – stared at the photo that was held by a young man in a white shirt covered in rainbow-patterned paint splotches and a rainbow vest on top of it. The man sighed.

“Thank you.”

He left the outside cantina and sighed. How many worlds would it take until he had information about his parents? 

No, he couldn't give up now. He would be the first to find them an the first to welcome them back home! He couldn't give up now.

Yohoho yohoho yohohohohoi~

The man turned to see his companion in a lavish blue and black jacket and a gold medallion that looked like the steering wheel of a ship approaching him with a bucket filled with a stack of rolled food covered in aluminum foil. “Burritos”, they were called. But that wasn’t what got him worried.

“Wait a second…Zocks, how did you pay for all of those?”

Zocks smiled and flashed a few bills. “I don’t like exchanging treasure, but we do what we must. Right, Kaito?"

Kaito frowned in response. “At least give me a chance to exchange currency here. Japanese Yen still works in this world, too, you know?”

"Still, this place hasn't shown any excitement." Zocks sighed. “Not like our next adventure is gonna come crashing towards us.

“There! Shiny Espeon, you’re mine!”

Kaito blinked and saw a boy in a red jacket racing towards him, staring down at his red phone instead of paying attention to who was in front of…”Kid, wait! Stop–”

The boy looked up and screamed as he couldn’t stop running. He crashed into Kaito and fell on his back.

“Ow!” The boy said, the contents of his backpack spilling out. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Sorry!” Kaito exclaimed, already picking up the items scattered on the sidewalk. “Here, let me just…”

Kaito picked up the notepad and blinked at what was drawn. Two semi-circles slightly separated to resemble an infinity sign. 

“T-That sign…” he whispered. He showed the sign on the notepad to the boy with shaking hands. “W…what is this?! Where did you--"

“Huh? You mean that infinity sign?” Oscar quickly took the notepad and hid it in his bag. “I-It’s nothing! Just a fanart based on some comics...uh, see ya!!!”

“Hey, wait!”

But it’s too late as the boy quickly rushed off. Kaito stared at the boy until Zocks grinned behind him.

“A comic, hmm?” he asked.

“I-It’s not that.” Kaito stood up as he watched the boy leave to reunite with his friend. “It’s been a while since I saw that sign…”

“What sign?”

“The infinity sign? I-I didn’t mention this to Juran and the others, but I did go to another world when I was a kid. Through a train that appeared in front of my school.”

“Mm-hmm…did it have treasure?” 

“No. But there are a lot of worlds like one with talking corgis and marble statues. One that was nothing but snow and a giant snowman was the exit. There’s even a world that had giant monsters, too!” Kaito sighed wistfully as he looked up at the sky. “Though just thinking about it makes me wonder how Au-san is right now…”

“Au-san?” Zocks repeated.

“He’s like my second father there. He traveled with me around the Train and he has a car that’s like Yachan’s Colorful. He even had a dragon’s horde of treasure!”

Zocks’s eyes widened when he heard the last sentence. “Did you say…dragon's horde?”

“Yeah. I saw it when I met him!” Kaito smiled. “But he didn’t want to let me enter since I’m not allowed there anyway.”

Zocks hummed. “...how do I get there?”

This time, Kaito's eyes widened when he heard this. “I don’t think that’s a good idea…"

“Well, if you don’t tell me…” Zocks then took out a white smartphone with a rainbow stripe at the back. “Maybe this world’s internet will…”

Upon seeing the phone, Kaito gasped before he checked his pockets and realized… “Hey, give it back!”

“Uh uh uh~” Zocks teased as he jumped and leaped about in a dance, causing a few people to look in amusement and record it on their phones. After a minute or two, he stopped and clicked on the first link on Recursole.

"Aha, found it! Rey Mysterio vs the Infinity. And uh, did this look like 'Au-san'?"

Kaito took a closer look at his phone and his eyes widened again. The logo of the title matched the symbol on the boy's notebook! But that was not what made him nearly drop onto his butt on the sidewalk.

The cover had the titular Rey Mysterio being stared down by a massive three-headed dragon with black scales while standing on a pile of glittering gold coins.

“That’s...that's Au-san as a dragon!” Kaito gasped.

Zocks tilted his head. "So...he's not originally a dragon?"

“He was. He just changed into a human because he’s too big to travel around.”

“And how did you befriend this dragon, hmm?"

Kaito scratched his head. “I...don’t remember exactly. But I know I’m the first to befriend a Train dragon!"

"Hmm…” Zocks snapped his fingers. “Then there's only one thing to do "

"What’s that?”

Zocks grinned. "We'll just... acquire a copy of this comic then go see 'Rey Mysterio' for ourselves." 

"B-but he’s just a comic book character…. it's just a coincidence that he met up with Au-san!”

"Is it? Then why is there a wrestling event tonight advertising Rey Mysterio?"

“Eh?”

Zocks pointed to something behind him. Kaito turned to see an electronic billboard that had Rey Mysterio in a fight with another wrestler that looked like a puma. The image then revealed two lines.

Tonight: Rey Mysterio vs Night Claw! Mystery of the Black Panther Warrior revealed!

“EHHHHH?!!" Kaito shouted. "He's real?!"

"And he’s famous!" Zocks said, phone now on a website showing Rey's biography. “Just won a championship belt the night before, he’s an avid comic book fan, and apparently loves buying swords in his spare time.”

“Wow… Wrestlers in Mexico are very different from the ones I know in Japan.” Kaito commented, seeing the photo of Rey entering an arena in a red low-rider. "Is there anything about him on that Infinity thing?"

Zocks kept scrolling down. "Mmm...no. He says that he based it off of stories he grew up with…”

“Oh,” Kaito frowned. “I honestly thought he also did meet with Au-san.”

Zocks rolled his eyes. “He obviously did, but he’s secretly trying to use the comics as a way to connect with other people who also entered the Train.

“Really? I didn’t know that…” 

"So there you go, Kaito! We go see Rey tonight and he answers your questions about Au-san and his horde yohohoi!"

"But that's not possible! We need tickets! And tickets are expensive! Or sold out!"

“Don’t forget, I’m a Kaizoku.” Zocks patted Kaito’s shoulder. “Just leave the rest to me.”

"No, we are not going to go your way – Hey Zocks, come back! At least let me eat a burrito!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Aerostar had seen a lot in his life. But everything he heard Rey talk about in the last hour had made him look like he wanted to clean his mind out with a glass of hibiscus agua fresca before asking Rey to repeat everything he just said. 

"I'm sorry…" Aerostar began, going for the last taquito. "Are you telling me that you got on a time traveling train--"

"It doesn't travel in time," Rey clarified. "A denizen told me that whatever time is experienced on the Train is equivalent to the time on Earth. Spend a month there, you've been gone a month here."

“And you were there to become stronger?”

“Not stronger, better.” Rey clarified, briefly staring at his right hand. If he closed his eyes, he could still see a faint green number on the palm. “I saw things that I would never have thought was real, and this is coming from someone who’s wrestled for nearly thirty years now.”

“It certainly is different from what Drago has told me of the Netherworld.” Aerostar admitted. 

“And if what you’re saying is true, London is also on the Train as well. Now if there was only a way to communicate with Opal.”

“Your…partner?”

Rey nodded. “She was from the Deadliest Warrior Car. You had to fight one of numerous challengers in the car in order to survive. If the Warrior died, then they are considered obsolete and a newer ‘model’ was to be taken in. To Opal, being a warrior was her world. She lived only for the fight, and if she did not give it her all…well let’s just say that getting sliced with an obsidian blade is not pretty when you’re nowhere near a hospital.”

“You can’t communicate on the Train?”

“If I could, I would’ve been able to reassure my family that I was safe. You had no idea how much Aalyah kept opening the door to my bedroom at night just to make sure I didn’t just ‘fade away and classify myself as–’ oh wait, that reminds me. I think Jeff also mentioned his brother went missing…oh.”

Aerostar got up and rubbed his temples. “Well, if you don’t need to warn me of anything else, I’ll guess I have a train to – “

“No,” Rey interrupted. “Aerostar, as much as you want the train to come to you, you can’t force it to appear when you want it to. The train will come to you at your lowest point, and forcing it on yourself is going to guarantee even more trouble for you.”

“And if there's no way to get to London and give him the warning?”

“You can look into the future. Can you see a time where you’re just no longer in this world?”

Aerostar frowned, lips pressed together. “You have a point. Besides…” He raised a hand and spread his fingers out. “You have till the count of 5.”

Rey raised an eyebrow. “I thought that was Big E who had that.”

“Take my words with a grain of salt, or not. But I will warn you that this will city end up with plenty of movers and shakers.” Aerostar began to leave through the front door. Then, just as he was about to go for the doorknob, he turned around. “Oh, one more thing. You’re gonna get some visitors soon. Some who have a flair for stirring up trouble.”

“‘Flair’?” Rey repeated, looking down and rubbing his chin in thought. “Aerostar, if you’re mentioning Ric then…”

When he looked up, Aerostar had vanished. The door knob wasn’t touched.

Rey sighed as he placed the dirty dishes in the sink before heading to the bathroom. With a flick of the light, he stared at himself at the bathroom mirror.

Because of his height, he looked younger than he felt. Multiple surgeries on the knee eventually came back to haunt him, and if he removed his mask right now, perhaps he could start seeing the crow’s feet. But it was his eyes that he was staring at the most.

When he wrestled, he always had a pair of contact lenses to match his mask, but ever since leaving the Train, he’s had to put them on more frequently. There were days that he would forget to put them on and his wife or children would ask him what was wrong with them before they remembered what he had gone through.

It was something so simple yet terrifying. His eyes were no longer his anymore.

He silently prepared a pair of electric blue contact lenses to place over his eyes, making sure that the pupils looked “human”, instead of the slits that they had now become.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The Nekomata Car was a quiet small-town type of car, with friendly neighborhood cats, fresh fish, and many trails to walk and take in the countryside.

The Kuro Necro Café was a popular place for the residents, and passengers, to dine at. The service was high-quality, the food was delicious, and who didn’t want to play with one of the nekomata children or post pictures of them onto the Infinet?

Ah yes, the Infinet. A service that came on board months ago, which became a fantastic way to communicate with others throughout the train, with an added bonus that passengers could talk to their loved ones, no matter what world they lived in. With One-One’s approval, phone calls and text messages were allowed but pictures and video involving denizens were to be blurred out. “Can’t spoil everything, can we?” Glad-One put it.

The barista hummed a tune as the smell of chili peppers burned his nose. Ah, nothing made him feel more alive that hot peppers. He should make a bowl of chili ramen for himself when work was done 

The door to opened and a few Nekomata waiters mewed, "Welcome!" as the customer stepped inside.

“Welcome to my café,” The barista said. He blinked when he saw his customer but kept his warm smile. “Oh, Opal. It’s been a while.”

“Indeed it has,” Opal replied, still wearing her jaguar pelt and her weapon kept in a leather sheet. She looked around the cafe as the barista cleaned some mugs and cups on the counter. “Huh. Where’s that kid of yours? On a test or something?”

“Not likely. He went back to his car to fulfill his new duties there. He does visit me from time to time, but his travels made him more busy than before. Although…” He stared at one of the seats near the counter. “For some reason, I haven’t seen him in a few months now.”

“Did something happen to him?”

“If he died, I would have known about it now. We did make a special contract because of his father’s request. But enough about me. I suppose you want the usual?"

Opal nodded. "And I suppose you want payment in information." 

The barista chuckled as he tapped a glass with a talon. “I like to be updated with the latest and richest bits of information available. The Train is too infinite to learn each car’s current events.”

Opal watched as the barista began to grind coffee beans with a manual hand grinder. "Why not use that net thingy?"

"It gives me anything but not everything. Like money."

"As if you need any more." Opal saw a small kitten with a forked tail give her a muffaletta sandwich stuffed with olives and spicy peppers on a large plate. Opal gave them a headpat before they walked off. “Although...I’ve heard rumors about this special passenger everyone keeps raving about.”

"How 'special' are we talking?" The barista questioned. "Are we talking Apex special or savior special?" 

“To me, I like to call her the ‘Crimson Servant of Xolotl’.”

The barista paused. "Excuse me?"

"You have not heard of her? Her hair is like fire, her eyes are like the jade of Chalchiuhtlicue's skirt…"

The barista hummed until his eyes widened. “Oh, her. I heard about her escapades in one of the others cars and I do admit she is amazing.”

"Her? Just her?! That's all you can say? The great Olmec blessed her with a sacred treasure after completing his trials. He has never given such a boon to anyone!" Opal exclaimed.

“I’m aware of Marchosias’s treasure. I am also aware that she hasn't impressed me yet."

“Really?"

The barista prepared the espresso machine and began to tamp the coffee grounds. "Anyone can be blessed or aligned these days. It takes true heart to tap into the power within." 

“Oh? Then what does it take for you to be impressed?”

"...She fights an entire army by herself." 

Opal growled and nearly went for her weapon. “You are mad. I myself have been trained to fight armies, but you ask too much of the Crimson Servant! She does not know about the horrors of war and sacrifice!”

As the espresso was being made, the barista steamed the milk. "Did you forget how Marchosias is about hopelessness? That feeling of never being able to experience true paradise? If this servant can find hope and unleash it upon the fallen, maybe then I will reconsider.”

There was some more silence as a few of the kitten helpers were wiping down tables and stocking up on napkins and compostable utensils. “Well… What kind of news are you interested in right now?” Opal asked.

"Hmm...you have info on the Crimson Servant, but what about the professor? Or the thief?

“Professor? Thief?” Opal bit deep into her sandwich, teeth tearing through layers of salami, ham and Provolone cheese. “Odd that you’re curious about them.”

"More than that, jaguar. Because...oh!" 

“What’s the matter? Did something happen?”

The barista shook his head as he started foaming the milk. “It’s my pupil. I managed to locate him. And I fear something might have happened to him.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because I can sense trauma within him. A trauma that gave birth to one of his new names.”

“One of his…new names?”

The barista handed Opal her coffee. A latte that had the milk on top shaped into a cross. "Yes. And a very interesting one too."

Opal knew what it meant to be named. Before her king appeared before her, she went by "Warrior". Nothing more, nothing less. For a passenger like him to give her a beautiful name was something she treasured more than a fair fight. "What is it, Auric?"

Auric grinned, golden eyes shimmering. “Asher.”

Chapter Text

Thanks to SpinnerNite, I now have the identity of this side-story.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chapter 3

0-0-0-0-0-0

Darle la vuelta

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Nothing could destroy Oscar’s holy trinity of Rey Mysterio, chocolate and football.

There was an empty lot where he, Lio and a few other kids would come together to play football after they gathered enough money from recycling plastic bottles, soda cans and cardboard boxes for spare change. It was a great way to blow off steam or pass the time before they had to go home to do homework or watch their favorite shows.

Oscar was in position as he waited to make the winning goal. Lio was goalie, the goal posts being two soda bottles filled with rocks. Oscar leapt over an opposing team member and made the kick!

And the ball soared over Lio’s head and bounced out of the lot and landed on the street.

“Oops…” Oscar said sheepishly.

“You know the rules,” one kid sighed. “Go get the ball right now before you let a careless driver destroy it again.”

“Right,” said Oscar as he looked both ways and raced to get the red and blue soccer ball in the middle of the road. He picked it up and began to look around again.

But not because he was afraid of being run over.

He just had this suspicious feeling that someone was watching him. The way that a rabbit senses that a wolf is about to pounce on them. 

But who would want him? I mean, last night aside, he was pretty normal for a boy his age. 

Regardless, he tried to brush off his paranoia by making sure that the soccer ball finally made it to the goal this time and telling himself that everything was fine and nothing bad was going to happen to him.

Ever.

…

“Ah, that was a great game!” Oscar said, kicking a soda can along the sidewalk.

“But not as great as Rey’s match against Night Claw tonight!” Lio reminded him, staring at an image of Rey with a golden belt around his waist in a splash screen that had Night Claw on the opposite side on his phone.

"Yeah we're gonna have a sleepover at my house and watch it all go down!" Oscar cheered as he triumphantly kicked the soda can into the air….

And hit someone in the stomach. 

Said someone had orange hair and wore a bright orange suit with matching shades. And he did not look very angry to see a pair of kids sheepishly trying to back away.

“You!” The person snarled, pointing a finger at Oscar. “You’re going to pay for ruining my suit!”

"Uh, ruining it?" asked Oscar, noticing that there was no sign of soda or dirt stains on it.

"Do you know how expensive this suit is?!" The eccentric man exclaimed.

“Welll…you’re gonna have to catch us first!” Oscar said as he and Lio began to run off.

“COME BACK HERE!” The irate suit-wearer screamed as Oscar and Lio nodded and went in opposite directions. Lio was racing down to the farmer’s market, while Oscar was so busy to see Lio making it out okay to not notice he was going to bump into someone again, causing them to drop their phones.

The shout of a woman with purple hair and a matching visor made him realized what happened and she began racing for her fallen phone, all while Oscar scrambled to grab his fallen phone and shouted, “I’m so sorry about that, I didn’t mean it, excuse me!!”

He ran past the purple-haired woman and didn't seem to notice how his phone didn't start blaring out his favorite Rey Mysterio entrance theme for a ringtone.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The farmer’s market smelled too much like tomatoes and garlic, which Lio hated. But it was crowded enough so that he could hide in plain sight. Good thing too. Orange suit missed him behind a woman and her sunflowers.

As he tried out some homemade salsa, Lio looked at his watch. The farmer’s market was usually his and Oscar’s rendezvous point if something went wrong, and it’s not like Oscar to not text him after five minutes. Did something happen?

Without missing a beat, Lio rang Oscar’s number and placed the phone near his ear as he went to buy a plate of loaded nachos with blue tortilla chips. When someone picked up, he said, “Hey Oscar! Glad to finally – “

“Oscar? My name isn’t Oscar! It’s Celosic.” Someone snapped on the other line.

Lio blinked. “Then…how did you get his phone?”

…

Not good, not good, not good! Oscar thought as he stared at the red phone in his hand that did not have a desktop depicting Rey Mysterio on it. That had his information on it, his friend’s, his mother’s…he was going to doom his loved ones!

Or maybe not. If he could just retrace his footsteps and meet up with that lady with the tacky orange dress and boots, they could exchange phones, laugh it off and then go on with their day. Yeah, that was it. And hey, maybe he’d be rewarded with a bit of money to treat him and Lio to some nachos.

Oscar began to walk out of the alleyway and walk towards the path he was certain would lead back to where he left his phone. On his way back, he could hear someone yelling.

“You lost your phone to a kid?!” A woman with short green hair and matching techno-shades said to her partner. The green-haired woman was also wearing a similar orange dress.

“It wasn’t my fault he came out of nowhere!” The purple woman exclaimed. “I was just waiting for you and then – “

“Do you know how important that phone was for this plan, Celosia?! They even tried so hard to deliver it from Location T!”

Oscar paused as he stared at the phone and went to the apps page. It looked like a standard phone with the standard apps. But then he looked up the Notes app and his eyes widened at what he saw…Not to mention, those names sounded familiar…

“Look, Bryony, chill out,” Celosia said, hands in the air, one of them having Oscar’s phone. “We’ll get the phone back in no time.”

“You say it so easily!” Bryony snapped. “We’ve collected all the necessary data, but we have yet to locate the five keys! If the Fifth Sun is to rise, we need to get that phone back!”

Oscar gulped, immediately pulling the hood over his head. Okay, they haven’t noticed him yet. Maybe he can just take this up with the local authorities. One phone wasn’t worth his life.

“But here’s the thing,” Celosia smirked, pointing to Oscar’s phone, the lock screen having a cross with a pair of red wings between it. “See, the kid who has my phone has a friend. And if this friend were in danger, then – “

“YOU LEAVE LIO ALONE RIGHT NOW, BRUJA!”

Celoisa and Bryony turned around to see Oscar pointing a trembling finger at them. He gulped, knowing that he was so screwed…but he couldn’t get Lio in trouble!

“Oh, what’s this?” Bryony said, her green lips stretched into a wicked grin. “The little kid was spying on us?”

“I-I’m no kid, and I wasn’t spying on you!” Oscar exclaimed. “I was going to give you back your phone, but now I think I’m gonna keep it!”

“Oh, is that how you wanna play at it?” asked Bryony, pulling out an object from behind her back. A small red and white ball. “Well, fine! Go Liepard!”

The ball was thrown towards Oscar and opened. A beam of blue light emerged and standing in front of Oscar was a large lean purple cat with a yellow underbelly and shifty eyes.

“You have a Pokémon?” asked Oscar before he realized something. A Pokémon wielded by a woman in an orange dress? Wait…a second…

“What? You expect us girls to fight with our bare fists? As if!” Celosia countered.

“N-no, because Pokémon aren’t real here!” Oscar stammered as he realized just where he heard those names and saw that person wearing a similar orange suit. “There’s an anime and games and trading cards but not…”

“Good. Then this makes things a lot easier,” Bryony smirked.

“Let me join the party,” Celosia smirked, tossing a Poké ball out in front of her. “Manectric, standby!”

Joining Liepard was a blue wolf-like Pokémon with yellow fur, the mane covered in electricity. 

“B-buit that’s not possible!” Oscar stammered. “Y-you’re part of Team Flare, right? Y-you’re not real!”

“How about you take our Pokémon’s attacks and see if they aren’t real?” Celosia growled. Manectric, Thunderbolt!”

“Liepard, Shadow Claw!”

The two Pokémon raced towards Oscar who could only run. He dodged several trash cans and boxes as Liepard slashed the latter in pieces with its claws with some of them burnt to crisp from Manetric’s Thunderbolt. But then, another one almost hit the young boy, causing him to sidestep it to escape, but also caused the phone to fell from his pocket.

“The phone!”

Oscar swiftly grabbed the phone before it reached the sidewalk and sighed in relief. And then he heard the growls of the two fierce Pokémon that shouldn’t exist at all right behind him.

And there was only one thing Oscar could do.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!” he screamed as he continued to run for his life.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“So these are all the comics you have?” asked Zocks, dropping a pile of Rey Mysterio comics on the counter.

“T-that’s it,” said Benedict, seeing the flintlock pistol with a red ship steering wheel aimed at his face.

“I see…but where’s the one with the dragon?” Zocks said, pointing to the image on Kaito’s phone.

“I said it’s coming in tomorrow!” Benedict exclaimed. “I’m not in control of deliveries!”

“Ah, then I’m not in control of my finger accidentally ‘slipping’ to pull the trigger,” Zocks replied. “Now come on, just one copy…”

“I…I…”

“Zocks, calm down!” said Kaito, pulling the pirate away. “If he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know!”

“Then are you suggesting we search every other comic book shop on the oft chance they have the answers to your ‘Au-san’?” Zock said. “And it was such a shame since I was going to pay this time.”

He pulled out a small sack cloth from his jacket and opened its contents. There were gold coins, a pearl necklace, a few rings…Benedict stared at every single item, but then he shook his head.

“I refuse,” Benedict was firm. “Now get out before I–”

“Say…” Zocks eyed the medallion on Benedict’s neck. “I can let everything go if you just give us -”

“GET. OUT.” Benedicted hissed, clutching the medallion. “You can steal all the comics you want, but this medallion is off limits!”

"Oh come on," Zocks begged. "Just one little peek wouldn't hurt, now would it?"

"I said--"

“AYUDAME!!!” 

The boy in a red jacket burst into the shop, approached Kaito and shouted, “There’s these crazy women with weird glasses and orange outfits with real life Pokémon and they want to take over the world and they want to destroy me and HELP!!!!!” He panted for breath shortly thereafter.

“Poke-huh?” Kaito parroted.

“I know it sounds crazy but it’s true!” Oscar said. “They want the phone I have on hand because they want to unleash something that’s gonna destroy us all!”

“Right.” Then, a pause. “What are they?”

Zocks and Oscar quickly flinched. But just as Oscar could explain it…

“Liepard, Dark Pulse!”

With a snarl, a purple energy ring struck a window, sending glass shards flying. Oscar hid behind a comic book rack.

“Give us back our phone right now brat!” Bryony shouted. “I know for a fact that there is a 100% chance that you will fall!”

“Never!” Oscar said, shivering. This was bad. If only he had Rey’s number that he could call for help…but even then, Rey wouldn’t be able to reach him in time!

“Come on, kid,” Celosia said. “We’re giving you a chance to just give it back and then maybe we won’t break your legs. Maybe.”

“STOP!”

Both Flare scientists stopped and turned to see Zocks and Kaito stepped in front of Oscar while glaring at them. In their hands were a red gatling gun with a crank lever on Kaito’s and a flintlock Zocks already had in his hand.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re not going to let your monsters hurt this kid!” Kaito quickly took out a golden gear with the number 45. “Let’s go, Zocks!”

Kaito placed the gear inside the opening compartment of his gun and leapt out of the open window.

“This’ll be fun,” Zock added, also showing his own gear with the number 35 and giving it a kiss before he placed it inside the flintlock.

TURN!

“Change Zenkai!” Kaito declared before he started to turn the crank attached to it. The barrel of the gun began to spin like a zoetrope.

#45-BAN!

“Change Twokai,” Zocks calmly declared before he turned the ship wheel of his flintlock.

TWOOOOKAIZER!!!

Zocks began to dance and hit the center of the red steering wheel like a tambourine, causing everyone – except Kaito – to just stare at him.

“This is no time to dance!” Benedict shouted. “My comics shop is about to be destroyed!”

But Zocks ignored him as he shot his flintlock and he was enveloped by a large version of his gear. At the same time, Kaito also shot his gatling gun and was also enveloped by his gear.

KEEP STEADY!!!

IT’S A TWOOOO-KAI REVOLUTION!!!

As the gear disappeared, the self-proclaimed pirate was replaced by a figure clad in gold with his helmet shaped like a pirate’s hat.

BAN-BAN-BAN-BAN-BAN-BABABA-BANG!!!

ZEEEENKAISER!!!

Kaito also disappeared as the man clad in white with rainbow stripes on the middle appeared in his place.

“Secret Power! Zenkaizer!” The man in a white suit declared.

“Pirate Power. Twokaizer!” The man in a gold suit declared.

“Hehehe…we’re doomed…” Celosia muttered.

“The battle has not been determined,” Bryony snapped. “We can still beat them.”

“So cool!” Oscar gasped. “They just transformed into Power Rangers and are gonna destroy the monsters…wait a minute, they’re gonna destroy them?!”

“Let’s go! Full Throttle, Non-Stop!”

“Let’s makes this two times thr-”

“Wait, you can’t kill them!” Oscar shouted, getting inbetween Zocks and Kaito and Bryony and Celosia. “They’re Pokémon!”

“...So?” said Zocks.

“They’re living breathing things like animals!” Oscar explained. “You’re essentially going to shoot them down with guns like a bad guy!”

“Living beings…?! EEEEHHHHH?!” Kaito screamed. “Then how do you stop them?”

“Well, you need a Pokémon! That’s how it always works in the game and anime,” Oscar answered.

“Or we can just take you down without a second glance,” Celosia noted. “Manectric, use Thunderbolt on the kid!”

Manectric began to generate an electric charge before howling. The energy turned into a lightning bolt heading straight towards Oscar.

“Kid!”

“Oscar!”

“AHHHHH!!!!”

“BOOYAKA!!!!”

Just as the Thunderbolt was about to strike, Oscar was pushed out of the way by a bright blue blur. A familiar bright blue blur, now that he thought of it…

Zenkaizer and Twokaizer rolled out of the way, just as the electric attack struck a gumball machine, causing it to explode. Once he felt he was some distances away from the fight, Oscar opened his eyes and stared eye to eye at his savior.

“Enygma, ¿Está bien?” Rey asked, eyes glowing blue, a blue glowing mohawk on his head and the wing tattoos on his pectorals enlarged and glowing.

Oscar couldn’t hide the tears as he hugged Rey and sobbed into his chest.

Through the destroyed window, Benedict motioned for Rey and Oscar to enter. With no other option, the two followed him in.

“That was rude!” Zenkaizer exclaimed. “Hitting a little kid like that!”

“Stay out of Team Flare’s business,” Bryony said. “Else you risk being absolutely crushed!”

“Well, we’ll figure out to stop you!” Zenkaizer then turned to his partner. “How do we fight their creatures?”

“I know just the thing,” Twokaizer said, snapping his fingers. “Flint, send them in!”

“Aye, aye!” his sister replied – as she was at a bench near Galaxy Comics – happily eating a burrito. 

Suddenly two small blurs hopped down in front of Manectric and Liepard, causing the two Pokémon to sniff them curiously before growling.

“What in the name of Lysandre are those?!” asked Bryony, staring at the small robots.

“I’m Cutanner!” The one with the sword introduced themselves.

“I’m Ricky!” said the one with the gatling gun.

“Oh, nice idea, Zocks!” Zenkaizer said and pointed to the Pokémon. “You two, get them!”

Then another pause. The two robots looked at each other, then at Zocks..

“Are you serious?” Cutanner asked.

“Well, we need a Pokémon to fight another, right? So you guys get to be the ones to stop them!” Zenkaizer suggested.

“...Those are our opponents?” Ricky added, pointing to Liepard and Manectric glaring at them.

“I have to agree,” Bryony agreed. “Liepard, use Shadow Claw! Turn them into scrap!”

Liepard growled and leapt towards the robots, claws turning purple. Cutanner hopped into the air, brandishing his sword and blocked the attack. Liepard growled in confusion before Cutanner swung in a circle and sent his opponent flying back with another swing of his sword.

“Manectric, use Thunderbolt!” Celosia commanded.

“My turn!” Ricky said, preparing his gatling gun. A round of bullets flew towards the Electric-type as he tried to weave through the attacks.

“So uh…are you two also fighting?” Kaito asked Bryony and Celosia. “Or do we just stand here and do nothing?”

“Oh, we’re not fighting,” Celosia smirked. “What, did you expect two little girls like us to not come without backup?”

“Stop in the name of Team Flare!”

Kaito gulped as at least a dozen people in tacky orange suits, shades and flaming hairdos approached them, each of them carrying a Poké ball in their hands.

“Looks like this is getting two much,” Twokaizer groaned.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“What were you thinking?” Rey asked, once he and Oscar caught their breaths.

“I-I dunno!” Oscar whimpered. “I just knew that something was wrong with those girls because they’re from a Pokémon game I played a lot since I spent hours upon hours trying to capture a Shiny Hawlucha which actually look more like a rudo than a technico and that they were gonna hurt my friend because he accidentally called my phone that was in their hands and…”

“Why didn’t you call the police?” Rey interrupted.

“You know how it works!” Oscar exclaimed. “By the time I called them, they’d already been gone, and I’d have to give them my statement, and do any of them actually believe a child’s warnings?”

“...Good point. But you could’ve been really hurt out there. And why did you race off to this place anyhow?”

“I panicked!” Oscar said. “But by strange coincidence, I met up with that same guy I bumped into who got really curious about an infinity symbol I was sketching from your comics and he was like ‘Where did you find this’ and it seemed like he was familiar with it even though – “

“He’s been on the Train too?!” 

“No, he just asked me where I saw an infinity symbol and I told it was from a comi…wait...what Train?”

Rey sighed. “Look, I’ll explain this to you later. Right now, can you explain what’s so important about those women chasing you?”

“They said that they were trying to find keys so the ‘Fifth Sun’ will rise.”

“D-did you say ‘Fifth Sun’?” Benedict stammered, the first time he spoke. “N-no…they can’t be thinking of…” He began removing the medallion he wore and handing it to Oscar. “If they get their hands on this, Xochil City is going to face an epidemic the likes you don’t even want to experience! An éxodo.”

“...Wait, so this is one of the five pieces of the legendary Exodia the Forbidden One?” asked Oscar, nearly dropping the medallion as if it was going to burn him. “He’s real?! Oh no! It’s not possible! No one’s ever been able to summon him be–”

“Not, Exodia! An Exodus!” Benedict corrected. “I wish I could explain more, but not right now. Just make sure this medallion does not enter the wrong hands, you two!”

“But you still – “ Oscar was interrupted by Rey placing his hand out.

"We promise. Now then, let's wait and see what these Flare guys are going to pull."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Meanwhile, the two superheroes were having trouble as they were facing small black weasels with long claws, several black canines with horns, and small purple scorpions.

“This is bad!” Kaito exclaimed, dodging the black canine that was spewing fire at his face!

“Why aren’t we attacking them anyway?!” Zocks complained.

“Because that’s apparently…how it works in their world?” asked Kaito.

“Tch,” Zocks stated just as he heard two screams and found his little brothers pinned to the ground.

“Help! Cutanner cried.

“Save us, Aniki!” Ricky pleaded.

“Playing dirty and putting my little brothers in danger?” Zocks snarled. “Well, then. I – “

“Stay away from MY BROTHERS!!!”

This was said by a young woman, her hair in a ponytail, with a massive sledgehammer who almost crushed a Flare Grunt’s leg with her entrance. 

“Flint!” Zenkaiger said.

“Thanks for showing up in time, sis.” Twokaizer grinned.

“Aneki!” Cutanner cried.

“You came!” Ricky added.

“There was no way I was going to miss out on this,” Flint said, growling at the large canine to get away before she bopped him on the nose. Said canine complied. “Think of it as paying you back for the burritos, Aniki.”

“And it’s time I got involved,” said Zenkaiger. “Here we go!”

Without any hesitation, Kaito quickly grabbed another golden gear in his belt that has the number 29 and cranked the lever on his gatling gun.

#29-ban!

He then shot it and a projection of a male and female figures in a red and light blue suit respectively wearing capes posed with M-shaped wands on their hands.

BAN-BAN-BAN-BAN-BAN-BAN!!!

Magiranger!

The projections absorbed into Kaito and the same wands from them suddenly appeared on his hand.

“Time for a magic show!” Zenkaizer exclaimed. “Jii Magika!”

A stream of water came out from Zenkaizer’s wand. The Fire-type Pokémon noticed this, their pupils shrunk before they were pushed back by it, knocked back and subsequently hitting their trainers.

“Houndoom!” A Flare Grunt exclaimed.

“Hmph, save some for me!” Twokaizer said. 

Meanwhile, Bryony and Celosia were getting annoyed that they were being handed to by toy robots! This was more humiliating than the little girls who called Zygarde a Squishy! 

“Can’t catch us, can’t catch us!” Cutanner shouted, floating in the air between Liepard and Manectric.

“We’re gonna beat you!” Ricky added.

“Liepard, Dark Pulse!” Bryony shouted.

“Manectric, Shockwave!”

The Electric-type howled as electricity were released from its body white Liepard released a purple energy ball. Just as they were fired, Cutanner and Ricky jumped back and the attacks collided with the opposite Pokémon, knocking them unconscious.

“I beat them! I beat them!” Cutanner cheered, raising his sword.

“No, I beat them!” Ricky said, hitting his brother across the head.

“I beat them!”

“It was all me!”

“Me!”

“No, me!”

“Hehehe….we lost.” Celosia muttered with a strained smile on her face.

“No, impossible! Against all calculations!” Bryony shouted before she smirked and clapped her hands once. “No matter, we still have a chance if we get the boy.” She then turned to the Flare Grunts that were still able to move. “Team Flare, set fire to the shop and bring back the boy in whatever state you can!”

“What?!” Twokaizer, Cutanner, and Ricky shouted in shock.

“You monsters!” Flint shouted.

“You’re going to kill him!” Zenkaizer screamed.

“So what?” Bryony stated. “This could’ve been avoided if he didn’t take what was ours in the first place.”

“Well, we wouldn’t intervene if you stop chasing that kid!”

Bryony grinned. “If you seek to stand in our way, then fine! Team Flare, front and center!”

Suddenly, several red and white capsule balls were thrown by other grunts before they popped open to reveal several more Pokémon including a large purple scorpion.

“AHHHH!!! That’s full-force cheating!” Zenkaizer complained.

“Yeah!” Ricky chimed.

“That’s a bit too much!” Cutanner complained.

“All’s fair in love and war,” Bryony commented.

"Two can play in that game!" Twokaiser shouted as he fired some shots at the Flare Grunts. 

“ARGH!” One grunt screamed when he was hit in the arm. “That’s dangerous, you gold Power Ranger wannabe!”

"And attacking little children isn't? Oh and uh, duck."

A Flare Grunt blinked and turned too late to see Flint slugging him with her hammer, causing him to gasp and double over in pain.

“Attacking kids and burning places down? We’re pirates but we have standards.” Flint noted.

“Will standards save you from us?” Celosia smirked. “Poison her!”

The large scorpion turned their gaze to Flint as it prepared its massive stinger aiming at her.

“Flint!” Twokaizer screamed as he rushed to her side, only for the horned canine tackled him down to the ground.

“Come on out kid,” Celosia said with a sugar sweet voice that could’ve made anyone shudder. “Just come out, drop the phone, and we can forget all about this. Or do you want your friend to be next on our list?”

…

Lio was trying to figure out how to contact Oscar all while eating his nachos just as he noticed a shadow looming above his head. He turned around and gasped at the Team Flare Grunt about to grab him…

Only for someone to tap the Grunt’s shoulder, causing them to turn around and meet with a fist to the jaw and knocking them out cold.

“Gah!” Lio gasped at the man in a futuristic luchador outfit. “W-what was that? And who are you?”

“Aerostar, friend of Rey’s,” Lio’s savior said. “Now get going! Your friend’s at the comic shop!”

“G-gracias!” Lio shouted as he left his half-eaten nachos and raced to Galaxy Comics. Aerostar moved the grunt’s body onto the table and began checking the pockets of their suit jacket and pants.

“What do we have here?” Aerostar said, pulling out a small hand-held device like a PDA.

…

Oscar had no idea what to do. He couldn’t just give up the phone to these bad guys, but if his friend got hurt because he refused to give it up…and if others got in the way…if Benedict lost his shop…

He dropped to his knees and clutched his head, catching Rey’s attention. “Oscar?”

“This is all my fault!” Oscar whimpered, hiding his face and sniffling. “They’re gonna kill us…”

Rey looked down at Oscar, at Benedict bowing his head in prayer, then at the numerous Team Flare grunts ready to destroy the comic shop and that white ‘kaiser’ and two robots the only defense. He didn’t hesitate to walk towards the danger. 

What are you doing?!

Rey brushed the hand on his shoulder and pushed forward, eyes glowing blue. “Saving lives.”

…

As the scorpion was about to throw its stinger tail onto Flint, it was suddenly knocked back by a gust of wind.

“ENOUGH!!!!”

The force of the yell caused Team Flare to step back as Rey emerged from Galaxy Comics, eyes still glowing blue. Everyone became silent as Rey clenched his hand into a fist.

“I am going to make this clear,” Rey warned, licking his fangs. “Leave Oscar alone, leave this city alone, or else.”

“Or else what, shorty?” A female Grunt asked. “We just have to say the word, and you’re toast!”

“Funny,” Rey remarked. “I just have to say one word, and I can blow you all down like the Big Bad Wolf.”

The grunts and women stared at each other for a while. Then they started to cackle and pointed at Rey.

“And what are you going to do, Lillipup? Bite us to smithereens?” A male grunt mocked.

Oscar would’ve said that Rey was going to give them his trademark 619 or a Frog Splash for good measure, but he was also curious to see how Rey was going to deal with them.

Rey unclenched his fist and in his hand was a blue card depicting a sun. Then, he crushed it in his hands while yelling, “Magarudyne!”

In a burst of blue flames, his body became covered in blue light, a construct of a giant serpent with similar blue scales and red feathers materializing beneath his feet. The serpent opened their eyes and lunged towards the Skorupi, its mouth big enough to swallow the Poison-type whole.

“HAAAH?!” Oscar screamed. “Nobody told me about this!” 

“EEEEHHHHH?!?!” Zenkaizer also screamed while Cutanner and Ricky hid behind their older brother. “That’s a full-force big snake!!!”

Rey’s body began to glow once more, a blue mohawk emerging from the top of his head, and the wing tattoos on his pecs enlarging in blue light. The winds whipped around him like a tornado before he flew towards them with the speed of a torpedo. Team Flare couldn’t escape fast enough before the winds blew them back a few feet, knocking their Pokémon unconscious. 

Rey’s feet didn’t even touch the ground as he added, “Do I have your attention now?”

All of the remaining grunts turned blue as they stared at the transformed wrestler. Celosia growled while Bryony turned to their grunts. “You idiots! It’s just one person against all of us! What are you so afraid of?! We’re Team Flare!”

“And you are toast,” Rey shouted as a large ball of blue flames formed in his hand. “Agilao!”

He hurled the blue fireball at Bryony’s feet, and she just had less than a second before she burned into a crisp. “WHAT?!”

“There’s more where that came from, Maragion!”

Rey slammed his hands together and then summoned three large blue fireballs that nearly engulfed all of Team Flare with it. Cutanner and Ricky shivered in fear, Zenkaiger dropped his gun in shock, and even Twokaizer and Flint were speechless.

“I am gonna give you all one more warning,” Rey hissed. “Leave right now, and maybe I will decide not to sacrifice you to the gods! DO YOU HEAR ME?! MAY YOUR HEARTS BE TORN OUT OF YOUR CHESTS, MAY YOUR BLOOD EMPOWER THE EARTH, MAY YOUR ORGANS ENSURE THE SUN CONTINUES ITS FEUD AGAINST THE MOON!” 

This time, Bryony and Celosia lost all of their composure as the latter turned and shouted. “Retreat! Let’s deal with them later!”

Team Flare didn’t waste any time to follow her orders as they recalled their Pokêmon and ran away from Rey screaming about how this wrestler was going to tear out their hearts and show it to them. Rey himself nodded as he began to descend to the ground, the winds and flames dying out, the giant serpent coiled around his body disappearing into light, and the transformation on his body vanishing with a “pop”.

Zenkaiger, Twokaizer and his siblings just stared at Rey turning to them and flinched, afraid he was going to sacrifice them to whatever god he worshiped.

Instead, Rey sighed and said, “You can come out now, Oscar.”

Oscar shakily opened the door, unsure what he had just seen. He thought he knew everything, but now…now he was more lost than ever. (And Benedict had watched everything and fainted behind the counter).

“Ah!” Zenkaiger removed the gear from his gun and turned back into Kaito. “A-are you Rey Mysterio?”

“Yes,” Rey answered. “And you…”

“You were on the Train, too, right?” Kaito interrupted. “Did you really meet Au-san?!”

“A-Au…san?” Rey repeated.

“Yeah, he was a giant dragon but he ran a really cool cafe with kitties in it!” Kaito exclaimed. “Your comics are about you on that train with the infinity doors, right?” 

“Does he really have a giant dragon hoard of treasure?” asked Zocks. “Are there things that I could steal?”

“I wanna get on this train!” Cutanner exclaimed, floating in front of Rey. “Me first!”

“No, me first!” Ricky fought back.

“Can it help us get the gear that has SDtopia on it?” asked Flint.

“Imposible.” Rey sighed. “You need to have a genuine issue or trauma to enter the Train. Even if you do, there’s no way out until your number goes down to 0.”

“Well…I’m definitely traumatized after everything!” Cutanner shouted.

“I’m even more traumatized!” Ricky yelled back.

“I’m more traumatized than you!”

“I’m traumatized times infinity!”

Rey groaned as Flint stepped in to stop her brothers from bickering. Again. “It’s actually a bad thing if you are mentally traumatized because that just makes the Train more insistent in finding you.”

“So what? I can just get in there no problem. Don’t forget I’m a Kaizoku,” Zocks interjected.

“I heard on the Train that someone who has a giant lion tried that and it ended badly for them.” Rey explained. 

"But I want to go see Au-san again!" Kaito exclaimed.

"We got more important things to worry about!" Oscar shouted, showing the phone in his hand. "Team Flare is gonna come after us again because of this phone that will lead to an éxodo or whatever that means! And it involves something with five suns.”

"...Five…?" Rey repeated. 

"Look, look," said Zocks. "I'm sure we can find a good way to settle this." He then pointed his gun at Oscar. "Hand over the phone now."

Oscar quickly raised his hands. "That's not fair! What are you, some kind of thief?"

"We're pirates," Zocks clarified. "It's in our nature to steal."

"Trust me," said Kaito. "He comes from a world where everyone is a pirate."

"How does that even work?" asked Oscar.

"Regardless," said Rey. "Why don't we take this conversation somewhere private?"

"I know just the thing!" Zocks said as a long black rope with a hook suddenly appeared. "All abo--"

Suddenly, Lio came rushing in. “Oscar…are you…ok…” He dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath. Then he noticed everyone staring at him, particularly the two tiny robots…and then he collapsed.

“...Does he know about my – ” Rey asked Oscar who quickly shook his head. “Good.”

Rey grabbed Lio’s body and slung him around his shoulders. Somehow he knew that his title defense match was going to be the least of his problems.

“Now as I was saying…” Zocks snapped his fingers, which five wires with a step fell from the sky. “All aboard.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The Canals of Fondue Car was…well, a car where canals were filled with melted cheese fondue.

Most passengers would remark that it reminded them of Venice, the city filled with canals. Of course, in this car, you were allowed to take a gondola ride while dining on cheese and wine and dipping foods into the fondue without worry. And unlike Venice, the car was populated with animals who stood on two legs and dressed themselves up like it was Carnival.

“DELIGHTFUL!!!” A passenger exclaimed, in a black coat with red Victorian markings, his black hair frizzy and a prominent white streak hanging on the side. “These green beans have been absolutely WONDERFUL!”

The goat-fish gondolier rolled his eyes as he guided the tourist throughout his gondola ride. Then again, he's had to carry stranger customers in the past. 

The passenger continued praising the local delicacies, briefly commenting on the statue being praised with orange lilies, until the gondola tour ended and he stepped back onto the docks. This place has been a fantastic reprieve from his never ending journey of broken brilliance.

That's right, Matt Hardy was on his way to lead an army against the darkness of Deletion and he knew that the 7 Deities were shining down on him. Any minute now, one of them would give him a sign that great things were on the horizon.

Suddenly, another gondola docked at the pier and out hopped a peculiar denizen. She looked like she was made of white marble and had the appearance of someone hastily painting the marble to almost resemble the color of human flesh. She wore a dark green overcoat, boots, gloves and a green domino mask, looking like she was trying a bit too hard blending in.

“Speeeeeeeeeeecial delivery! From Gold to Seer!” The statue woman declared as she handed him a calling card.

Matt looked at the woman with his eyebrow raised before he took the card. “Um… Thank you? W–”

But as he turned around to ask, he saw that the statue woman already left. Odd, even for him.

Matt decided to take this someplace private, and found comfort in a little green shop whose sign had a little girl with long green hair set in pigtails. It smelled like sugar and donuts. The waitress with pink hair in buns took his order then walked off while the small waitress with blue hair gave him water. He then took a better look at the small card.

If you need to call the King, here’s the number you need:

XXXX-XXX-XXX

King? What King? There were thousands upon thousands of cars, and many of them probably had rulers he would never see! And that wasn't counting the Kings of the Ring, the King of Strong Style, the King of Sloth Style…

He was still ruminating on this as his order of two malasadas arrived. He was about to bite into one of them when he let out a loud GASP! And he exclaimed, "I just had a very powerful premo-NEE-tion! Scribe, write this down right now!"

And to the man dressed in black funeral garb with a quill pen and black leather notebook in hand, Matt began to describe what he had just seen.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Oscar never thought he would ever take a ride on a pirate ship, much one that flew in the sky, but he just saw Rey Mysterio summoning a humongous serpent to save him from Team Flare about an hour ago, so he couldn't really think of anything else he wouldn't have thought before breakfast.

He absolutely wasn’t going to leave Lio behind, so, reluctantly, Rey allowed him to bring his friend onto the crocodile ship to recover. He was going to need ibuprofen tonight.

"This is amazing!" Oscar gasped, wishing he had his phone. Oh right, those Team Flare girls still had it! His mom was not going to be happy when she learned about this...

“I called Juran to come back to the ship,” Kaito informed. “He’s one of my friends and he might help us with your problems.”

“I appreciate this, but I have to get ready in a few hours,” said Rey.

“That’s right!” Oscar exclaimed, his mind now focused on something other than the mysterious phone and Team Flare and Benedict’s medallion. “Your first title defense as champion against the mysterious Night Claw! I wish I could see it up close but Lio and I spent all our money for last night's show and…"

“Uh…” Lio groaned, sitting up from the couch. “Oscar, I had the craziest d–” He paused when he realized where he was at, took a deep breath…and calmed down. Then he screamed. “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!!!”

“Uh, it’s…a long story!” Oscar said. “But it’s totally fine. We’re on the ship of a bunch of performers who like to pretend they’re pirates and they are taking us and Rey to the stadium tonight. Hehehehe….”

Lio raised an eyebrow, but knew not to start arguing. He’d give himself even more headaches. “When we get out of here, you’re explaining everything that happened at Galaxy Comics. Got it?”

“Got it.” Oscar promised.

“Hey, Kaito, Broski. I’m back.”

A red humanoid android with a white mohawk and fangs on his mouth and wore white shorts came in, carrying plastic bags. “I got some souvenirs here for you and Yacchan an– WHO ARE YOU, PEOPLE?!”

“A Luchasaurus?!” Oscar gasped at the dino-like android. 

“Oh my god, they do exist!” Lio added.

“Hey, are you mocking me or something?” The android asked in annoyance, leaning towards the two boys. “Kaito, what’s going on here? We’re supposed to find your mother, not inviting some strangers here.”

“Sorry, we kind of caught up in a situation related to my past,” Kaito apologized before he turned to Rey, Oscar, and Lio. “This is my friend I talked about. Juran, these are our friends from this world.”

“Qué guay!” Oscar and Lio gasped with sparkly eyes.

Rey nodded his head and extended his hand out. “I’m Rey Mysterio. Not to be rude, but…are you a robot?”

“The exact term is ‘Kikanoid’," Jutan clarified. "I come from Kikaitopia, but a lot has happened and I’m living with Kaito in his world right now along with 3 more Kikainoids,” Juran proudly pointed to his chest with a thumb.

“3 more?! Wait, are you saying you’re a Zord or a Power Ranger?” Oscar asked.

“Power Ranger? Zord?” Juran repeated.

“Um…Where do you guys come from?” Lio asked, pulling his friend out of the way. “Other than this ‘Kikaitopia’, I mean.”

“We’re actually from Japan. Oh, Zocks’s ship had a few devices actually help us talk each other,” Kaito answered, pointing to a chunky bracelet on his wrist. Ah, no wonder they were able to understand each other.

"Uh-huh, and wouldn't there have been big news that Japan had androids running amuck for a while?" Lio pressed.

“Not exactly. Kaito and Red came from another world as yours. We’re tagging along because of Kaito’s missing mother,” Zocks calmly explained.

"Oh that makes much more sense," Lio noted.

"Wait, if you guys are from another world... wouldn't that mean those ladies are from a Team Flare that exists in their world?!" Oscar gasped.

"...Team Flare?" asked Lio.

"Are they trying to unleash something akin to Rainbow Rocket?!" Oscar continued as Juran was handing out refreshments to everyone. "And they're gonna start destroying our world and every other world that isn't up to their standards of beauty? Is this the Fifth Sun they talked about? And what is Location T? What is it?! WHAT IS IT?!!!"

Someone opened a shaken soda can at his face. Oscar gasped and wiped the sticky liquid off his face. “Lio!”

Lio sheepishly grinned as he hid the half-empty can behind him.

“Hold up, what are you yappering about? And what are these ‘Team Flare’, ‘Fifth Sun’, or Pokeys you’re talking about?!” Juran demanded.

"Pokémon are supposed to be these creatures found in video games, anime and trading cards from Japan," Lio explained. "Team Flare is an evil group from Generation VI of the games -- X and Y -- and under their boss, Lysandre, they are off to destroy anything that gets in their vision of a beautiful world…by unleashing a superweapon that destroys everything. The foot soldiers wear tacky orange suits and shades like the guy who…" Lio paused. "Wait, that was really Team Flare chasing after us?! And about to kidnap me if that spaceman didn’t step in on time?"

Kaito and Juran gasped and Rey raised an eyebrow at the mentioning of Aerostar...

“You mean there’s a bunch of these Pokemon planning to destroy their own world?!” Kaito exclaimed.

“Not Pokémon. The Pokémon trainers behind them. All of them are human in their world,” Oscar clarified. "But why are they in our world in the first place?"

"Better yet, why did the comic book owner sound so rattled that he gave you his medallion?" asked Rey, staring down at the medallion in Oscar's hands. It depicted ancient glyphs that held a symbol of a monkey in the center. 

"Benedict never gives up his medallion!" Lio noted. "He said it was a priceless heirloom and there were only five in existence."

Five... Aerostar's hints were coming up again. And why did that Fifth Sun sound familiar...

"Regardless," said Flint. "Maybe I can see what's so special about the phone? Perhaps I can unlock any type of notes they kept inside."

"Better you have it than me," said Oscar, handing it to Flint. "What do we do now?"

"If I could, I would contact some people I know in regards to this Location T," said Rey, pacing back and forth. "And if the 'T' is what I think it is…"

Suddenly, Rey's phone began to ring. He picked it up, curious as to why there was no caller Id, but placed it to his ear. "Hello?"

“Mysterio de Rey!” The voice proclaimed. “Now I know what she meant! You must heed my warnings. Brother Nero is in danger of being DELETED!”

Rey blinked. “Wait, what do you mean 'she'? Matt, are you calling me from the Train?!”

Lio mouthed "Train?" and Oscar shrugged his shoulders.

"I had a powerful premo-NEE-tion. A warning that Brother Nero is in trouble. His demons have conquered him and he is now...OBSOLETE! Hope has devoured him whole and I cannot stop it!

There was a pause from everyone as they digested this declaration and waited for someone to tell them it's all a joke.

"Forget him," said Lio with a nervous laugh. "This premonition is all hocus pocus."

"It is not! Nor are the signs that the Seven Deities are witnessing a horrendous crash the likes we have never seen before! Did that starman not warn you?"

Aerostar mentioned again? Ugh, Rey was going to have a talk with him next time the starman walked his way.

"You must seek hope! Seek hope before there is none left for us to chew on!"

“Yeahhh…from what's being said, this all sounds a bit loony. Sorry, buddy, but we’re busy here,” Juran added.

“Wait, you musn’t – “ The phone call ended and Juran sighed.

"Peace and quiet," He sighed before noticing Rey glaring at him. For a man that reached a little over five feet, Juran couldn't help but sweat at the sight of those eyes. Like a predator. "W...why are you looking at me like that?"

"Do you realize what you did?!”

"You can always call him back!"

"How am I supposed to call back when he didn't finish his message and didn't give me his number?"

"...oops?"

Flint, Cutanner, and Ricky turned to the monitor suddenly beeping and their eyes widened.

"What's going on?" asked Kaito.

“I think he’s supposed to warn us about that?” Flint said as she pointed to a news reporter in front of a gated house. Rey also took a closer look.

"The Hardy Compound," he whispered.

“This just in! Famous wrestler Jeffrey Nero Hardy has been found assaulted in own home.”

Rey’s eyes widened as he heard the announcement, especially as it showed Jeff Hardy in his black wifebeater, being dragged away by the police, laughing, a mad look in his eye as he screamed about being obsolete. The concern from Matt’s wife, his children, and the gardener were seen.

“Hold up! Did they say the guy loon went into a coma?!” Juran exclaimed.

“No,” Rey answered. “Matt said that he’d be ‘deleted’.”

“He’s still there,” Juran said, pointing to Jeff. “He’s not –”

“As in, everything that made Jeff ‘Jeff’ is gone, now there’s just this empty shell…as if his mind was…broken. But, that doesn’t make any sense. Why attack Jeff? He’s had a clean record, never assaulted anybody, has been clean for a few years now…”

The news reporter continued to rattle about Jeff Hardy’s career as a wrestler and Oscar shivered. What type of force could break a wrestler's mind in half?

“He looks like he needs to get on that Train,” Zocks commented. “Don’t you agree, Kaito? Kaito?”

However, he responded with silence as Kaito stared at the monitor, standing still.

“K-Kaito?” Flint asked. She leaned close and noticed he was muttering something under his breath.

“...C-Camera…” Kaito monotonously muttered. “I need…a video camera…”

“Huh?” Oscar asked. “W-we have phone cameras, but…”

“I need…I need to warn him… I need to warn…the passengers I know…” Kaito slowly turned to Rey, his eyes pure white. “R-Rey…Mysterio…”

Rey's eyes narrowed and he stepped in front of Oscar and Lio. “Are you this ‘Au-san’...no wait, it’s you, isn’t it? Auric.” 

“Auric?!” Everyone else parroted.

Rey wasn’t listening, and he took another step forward as he hissed, “You did ssssomething to the boy, didn’t you?”

But Kaito remained silent.

“U-Um… If you want to record, then…” Lio quickly took out his phone and pressed record. “H-Happy?”

Kaito stared into the camera, still with empty white eyes and him reaching out to Lio. “K-Kaito, b-beware… Beware…of the light…that will consume all time and worlds. Find…the Seeker…Find…him… Find…his bonds…”

“Bonds? What bonds?!” asked Oscar.

Kaito smiled. “Find…glory.”

Then, Kaito fell unconscious on the floor.

“Kaito!” Flint, Cutanner, and Ricky screamed.

Rey and Juran quickly carried the unconscious Zenkaiger leader and the latter said, “What just happened?!”

Kaito’s eyes slowly opened and looked around to see everyone staring at him in concern. “H-Huh? What are you guys doing?”

“Get out of his body whatever just possessed him!” Flint exclaimed, hammer ready.

“F-Flint?! H-Hey, that’s full-force dangerous! Put it down!”

“Do you remember anything?” asked Cuttainer.

“You were like a zombie!” Ricky noted.

Kaito hummed, but shook his head. “No. I just…blacked out all of the sudden.”

“You suddenly went into a glassy eyed trance after that news report on Jeff Hardy!” Oscar explained. “And you wanted a video camera all of a sudden and – “

“Guys,” Rey interrupted. “If Matt’s on the Train, how did he just send me that phone call?”

Everyone gasped. Then Lio asked, “Uh…what Train?”

Oscar facepalmed. Right, Lio was way in the dark about what was going on.

“Hold up! Did Kaito say something about light consuming time and worlds?” Juran pointed out. “Which means something’s gonna happen in this world!”

“I…is this bad?” Oscar whimpered.

"Most likely," Zocks stated.

“You better call that guy back right now!” said Juran, shaking Rey. “We need to figure out if it’s connected to Kaito’s strange behavior!”

Rey glared at Juran. “You should have thought of that before you hung up on Matt.”

"I didn't think it would be this serious!” Juran said in defense.

"Wait a second," Oscar piped up. "If it's possible for Matt to call you from the Train, then could it be possible for him to just text you also?"

"Kid does have a point," Zocks noted.

Rey hummed in thought. “That does make sense. So do we just wait until he texts back?"

"Until then, can anyone tell me what's going on?!" Lio shouted. "What is this about a Train?!"

"It's a magical train that takes you to many worlds and you have a number on your hand that indicates progress!" Kaito explained.

"You mean…like Rey's comic book series? Some imaginary world of Infinity?"

"It's not imaginary, it's real!" Kaito exclaimed. "And Rey was there and he met my mentor, Au-san! Tell them, Rey!"

"Yeah, I can't wait tomorrow for the newest comic!" Oscar begged. “I have to know what happens next!”

Rey blinked. "Uh…"

Suddenly, a beep from Rey’s phone interrupted the conversation. He turned it in to see a text message.

BROKEN_HARDY: I also had a premo-NEE-tion of a red hand ending the call, so here’s another number that woman gave me.

XXXX-XXX-XXXX

Rey then glared at Juran who would have laughed if he wasn't afraid of the wrestler suddenly shooting lasers out of his eyes. 

"This is getting suspicious," said Flint. "Should we really trust him?"

"Whatever threat got his brother can go after anyone," Rey answered. "No wrestler is safe, and Team Flare will return to unleash the Fifth Sun. Either way, we need answers. And I know just who to contact."

Rey quickly punched the number and then made the call. He placed it on speaker and waited a few seconds before the call was picked up.

“Hello~ Thank you for calling Denizen Consultation Service!” A baritone voice cheerily greeted. “I’m your friendly phantom thief, Indigo! What seems to be the problem?”

"I need to speak with Matt Hardy," Rey answered.

“Oh… Matt H– Wait, who in blazes are you?! And how did you convince the Seer to get this number?!”

"My name is Rey Mysterio. Or should I tell you the other name that I went by on the Train? Matt said a 'she' gave him a number for me to call you."

The person on the other line paused. "W-wait, that Rey Mysterio?! I thought you’re zero’ed?! Don’t tell me that ol’ dragon…"

Rey raised an eyebrow as he stared at Kaito. "Yeah, funny you should mention Auric. By coincidence, I met up with someone who called him 'Au-san' who gave me a very...cryptic message about light, time and worlds. That I should find glory and the Seeker's bonds. Does any of that sound familiar to you?"

“G-Glory?!” 

"Yes. Glory. Now I don't like Matt whenever he's broken or woken or when he hungers for green beans, but I know better than to not dismiss one of his 'premo-NEE-tions'. So explain yourself right now before I figure out a way to contact a warrior friend of mine to slice you in half."

There was a lengthy pause before the voice sighed. “Well, cat’s out of the bag. If that Seer gave you this number, at least I should give you my formal introduction and the situation happening to your world and on the Train."

The voice cleared their throat as everyone listened closely, Cutanner and Ricky perched on their sister's shoulders and Oscar briefly stared at Rey's right hand, as if thinking he could see a green number winking at him.

"My name is Indigo. Or rather, my name is Kyler Wilton of Fallen London.”

Chapter Text

In which we get into the exposition and learn more about Elipzo’s wicked ways and the dark days for Xochtil City.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chapter 4

0-0-0-0-0-0

Echar un ojo

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

As soon as Celosia and Bryony were in the Team Flare hideout – which was an abandoned three-story building that used to be a toy store – they had a call from their benefactor who glared at them from the Holo Caster when they explained why they looked like they were caught in a tornado and had no phone in sight.

Their commander frowned and adjusted the rings on his left middle finger. "So, let me clarify what you ladies attempted to do in order to retrieve a single phone from a child. Arson, murdering of witnesses in broad daylight and threatening to potentially kidnap and kill two children that never had to get involved?!"

Both women in different colored shades looked at each other with pale faces. The Team Flare Grunts began to back away slowly.

“B-But two of the witnesses have guns and can transform into white and gold superheroes!” Celosia argued.

“And they had robots!” Bryony added.

“You had an army !” The man in the Holo Caster shouted. “ And you got Rey Mysterio, Rey Mysterio of all people , involved!

The two women flinched.

“W-We’re sorry. Just please, give us one more chance to amend our mistakes!” Bryony begged as she dropped to her knees.

“We’ll recover the phone before those strangers have any ideas about hacking into it!” Celosia added.

“ After the mess you and your grunts put us in? Be lucky that Rey decided to not turn you into blood red smears on the ground.”

They started hugging each other as they stared at the man in fear.

“We assure you, as Lysandre’s most loyal followers that we will not fail you again, Señor Degrada,”

Degrada scowled. “ You better not.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Back on CrocoDaiOh, the numerous passengers were staring at Rey’s phone, trying to understand just who or what they were speaking to. When no one was going to speak up, Kaito raised his hand. "So…what's a Fallen London?"

“If I have to put it in layman’s terms, it’s like the London you know, except it’s stolen away by bats to the Neath.” Kyler answered.

"Uh-huh…and what's a Neath?" asked Lio.

“I’ll tell you all about it when you’re older.”

“Okay, so just to clarify,” said Oscar. “Rey, those comics of yours in the land of Infinity aren’t about land , but a Train.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“A train that picks you up and you are forced to go on it with some number on your hand and you get to team up with beings on the Train called ‘denizens’.”

“Yes.”

“And one of them that you happened to meet, the subject of this month’s issue, is a three headed dragon named Ossan – “

“Au-san,” Kaito corrected.

“Right, and…not to ask for spoilers, but what the heck were you doing with a giant three headed dragon ?”

“Well, I – “ 

“A dragon? A real dragon?” asked Cutanner, floating and staring at Rey.

“With a humongous pile of gold and everything?!” Ricky added.

“Yep!” Zocks grinned. “Kaito said he had a humongous hoard of gold and jewels.”

“I wanna see it, first!” Cutanner gasped.

“No, me!” Ricky shouted.

"Knock it off!" said Juran, grabbing the brothers. "Bullying dragons never end well "

“Take even a single coin from his hoard and it will be more than my head!” Kyler warned. “Do you know what happens if you steal from a dragon?! Even I know better than to get on his bad side!”

“Can we at least get a picture of it?” asked Cutanner.

“That way it’s like we technically saw the hoard…” Ricky stated.

Kyler groaned as the twin robots continued to beg and Flint had to swat them over the head with some rolled up newspaper. 

“Maybe we can discuss this later,” Kaito calmly suggested. “In the meantime, we still have some questions.”

“Like what’s exactly this ‘glory’ that made you tense up?” Zocks questioned.

Kyler groaned. “The ‘glory’ means my former passenger partner, Gloria Daffodil. She and Victor went on their Train journey with me years ago and they already zero’ed back to their hometown,” he explained. “They came from the Galar region.”

“Galar?” asked Oscar. “Never heard of it.”

“Well, I know from them that it has a city similar to London, but in the modern era and a special phenomenon that enlarges the Pokémon creatures in stadiums and some areas.”

“So wait, you can have Giant Pokemon battles?” said Lio. 

“And we have Power Rangers and Zords too!” Oscar. “You know what that means, Lio! We can see Power Rangers vs Kaiju Pokémon battles in the future!”

“Yeah!” The two high-fived one another.

“And what if those Kaiju Pokémon get into the hands of Team Flare?” asked Rey. 

Oscar immediately shook his head. “No way! Lysandre’s Mega Gyarados was bad enough!”

“And it’d be hard to not miss the giant monster rampaging across the city,” Lio added.

“That’s one possibility I do not want to know. Back to the topic on hand, if Goshikida's hypnotist, or rather, that ol’ dragon wants you to find the Demon Novice, I have a feeling something must have happened to your worlds and her’s.”

“What makes you say that?” Kaito asked.

“Other than my…thieving occupation, I’ve been traveling around the Train in pursuit of a group that’s been manipulating a cult called the Apex and the folks at the dreaded Fog Car. I’ll get to them in a future time, but lately, they somehow have been more active than usual ever since their leader went missing. I have a feeling something happened to him. And for a good reason on his side.”

Rey raised his eyebrow. “Care to clarify?”

“The group aims for hope. Their version of hope. They are willing to go through any means to pursue it. Even if it means punishing passengers and Denizens who hurt one another.”

“Didn’t Matt mention something about finding hope?” asked Flint.

“He did mention something about that,” Rey agreed. 

“By ‘Matt’, you mean the Seer, I have a feeling you might get to him sooner or later.”

“He’s a strange one, if I want to be honest,” said Kaito.

“He’s nuttier than fruitcake!” Cutanner noted.

“Agreed!” Ricky exclaimed.

“Also,” Kaito raised his hand. “I don’t know anything about wrestling outside my own country, but do Western wrestlers have supernatural powers or the like?”

“Depends,” Rey answered. “All I know about Matt is that one day he ‘breaks’, gets blessed by ‘7 Deities’, and next thing you know, he’s firing a Roman candle at your face.”

“No way do I wanna see you fight him!” said Oscar. “Cause that usually means someone gets dunked into the Lake of Reincarnation and after that Firefly Funhouse ordeal…”

“Yeah, remind us that wrestling and kid shows don’t mix,” Lio added.

Kyler cleared his throat. “Anyways… There might be another reason why the o- I mean, Mr. Auric mentioned that Novice. A little while ago, there was another passenger that came after Chloe of the Vermilion. Again, I’ll explain about her in due time. Did he say anything else other than Gloria?”

Everyone hummed in thought.

“Well, he did mention someone called a ‘seeker’?” Juran asked. “Maybe he’s part of the group with that self-proclaimed thief.”

“Not exactly. The seeker you referred to… That’s definitely the Seeker of Crocus, Augustine Sycamore of the Light.”

“Augustine…Augustine…AH! Professor Sycamore!” Oscar gasped. “Wait, he’s on the Train too?! But why would he be on that Train? I mean, he’s so nice, and he gave me a Squirtle in my game!”

“Didn’t the anime have him worried about his assistant working for Lysandre?” asked Lio.

“Oh, Alain? Ah yeah, he was such a cool character! I wished he was in the game!”

“Can we discuss that after we deal with this?!” Juran interrupted.

“Your friend is right. Speaking of which, this Alain you’ve mentioned is also on the Train. The Seeker posted a lost-and-found on Infinigram recently. Seems he hasn’t been zero’ed back to his world for months now. If that’s true, I fear that he might contact the group I’m pursuing. As for Goshikida, I can conclude from his message that he must have contact my former partners with the Infinet a while back and sensed that the group is also active in his world.”

"Info what?" Juran repeated.

"I think you mean 'Internet'," Kaito clarified.

"No, Infinet . It appeared a few months ago, a system that passengers can use to contact their loved ones while on the Train and has been used by the denizens to message one another, share news and promote their cars."

"And that's how Matt was able to call me," Rey surmised. "That would've been very useful years ago."

"But wait how does this Train connect to Team Flare and Matt's brother?" said Lio. "I mean if the only way for you to enter the train is through a trauma, why would Team Flare want that? It goes against ever they stand for!"

"Because they don't want the Train they want a superweapon connected to it," said Flint, pointing to another monitor that showed photo copies of old texts and strange glyphs being analyzed. "I started analyzing the data on that phone and I found something called a Fifth Sun."

"And?'

"It's…apparently associated with a myth that a tribe of warriors had to escape Conquistadors by entering something called the 'Iron Serpent'."

“Iron Serpent? Isn’t it talking about the Train?” Rey asked.

“Undoubtedly yes. From that myth, I conclude someone instigated an Exodus to escape from their enemies. At least, if it’s true.”

“Yeah, except what is this ‘Exodus’ you keep mentioning?” Oscar asked.

“A double-edged event. Pretend that you were in a stadium and suddenly someone pulls out a gun and fires it. What would you do?"

"Well, the audience would be in complete chaos and everyone would scramble for the exit," Oscar answered.

"Now replace 'stadium' with city, gun with an earthquake or army or flood, and the exit with the Train."

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“Wait, are you saying everyone is going to run onto the Train?!” Flint answered. "But why?!"

"Imagine people back then, telling their loved ones that this Iron Serpent took them to magical lands where there are no wars or diseases, food aplenty, and no way for the enemy to catch them. A paradise. Now imagine a chain reaction of people getting on there at an endless rate, more than what the Train can handle at a time and everyone scrambling to get on board like they're trying to get on the lifeboats of a sinking ship.”

“I mentioned before that the Train only accepts people with genuine issues and trauma,” Rey reminded. “Like fears of moving, dealing with divorce, the death of a loved one, peer pressure…"

"Wait, so this thing comes to those who refuse therapy?" Lio interrupted.

"It came to me while I was in a dungeon about to be sacrificed," said Rey. "You think I had time to consider a therapist?" 

Kaito scratched the back of his head. “I was a kid when I was taken by the Train. Even so, I only disappeared for a week.”

“From the sounds of it, it seems it takes people who don’t have access to therapy, I think,” Juran guessed.

"It's more complicated than that. It comes to those at a crossroads, where the next decision they make might be their last. Pretend you were about to jump off the roof to end your lives. The train wouldn't want that and would appear before you so you can be saved."

“Why would we even think of that?!” asked Lio.

“In other words, it takes people where every decision they take would lead them to their final destinations . Am I right, Mr. Indigo?” Zocks guessed.

"In some cases, but other times it's more metaphorical. Ever heard the tale of the old man who spat in the face of Christmas?"

“ The Christmas Carol ? We heard of that,” Kaito answered.

" Well, just like Scrooge was in danger of dying alone, the Train picks up those who could end up on darker paths if not corrected immediately. A doormat and people please could become a bully, an abused child will become an abuser, he who fights monsters will end up becoming the same thing they hate."

“So the Train takes them…so they avoid being like them?” Flint asked.

"Oh yes and it can take in two people at a time. Those who end up bickering end up with a number that stays the same no matter what they do."

Cutanner and Ricky gasped at this and held onto each other tight.

"But back to this Fifth Sun," said Kaito. "Why exactly is it called Fifth Sun?"

"...because there's an Aztec myth about the previous suns," Rey said. "Oscar, Lio, what do you know about Aztec myths?"

"That they like to sacrifice people?" Lio brought up.

"...anything else?"

"Uh…"

Rey sighed. "The Aztecs believed that the gods created four suns and had to rebuild humanity four times after infighting. The first wave of humans were killed by jaguars, the second wave were killed off via hurricane and those that survived turned into monkeys, the third wave became incinerated by a meteor shower and the last one died by a flood of bloody tears that lasted 52 years. The current sun is the fifth one and the Aztecs predicted that the world would end by a giant earthquake."

"But then why would Benedict be so freaked out about it? Unless…"

Everyone had the same thought as Oscar stared at the medallion.

“Don’t tell me, this is one of the keys that leads to the Fifth Sun?” Oscar gasped.

“I won’t,” said Flint as she now pointed to the monitor and there were five medallions on screen. “It’s one of five other ‘pieces’ that will help activate the Fifth Sun.”

“Pieces? As in the key is broken, Aneki ?” Ricky asked.

“More like the key was made to be a puzzle of sorts,” Rey guessed. “And Benedict is a descendant of the original tribe that built the Fifth Sun.”

Zocks whistled. “Well, does that have the locations of the other four keys?”

Flint shook her head. “Right now, the computer is analyzing copies of old documents and stone carvings that talk about the Infinity Train itself. It’ll probably take some time for me to create an algorithm that translates it all.”

Kaito took a glance at the documents, a hand behind his back, the other hand open as if he was carrying something. There was some silence as the glyphs passed through his eyes.

“When the Fifth Sun rises, the earth shall quake.” He recited. “The heavens will tear itself apart and the monsters shall be delighted by our sacrifices we have offered. The Iron Serpent will be the last to descend and we shall carry our enemies into the light, offering their hearts to the wasteland that is the Iron Serpent’s home. The glowing sigils on our hands will be the countdown to a new era, a sign that we are to cleanse ourselves of sin. And when we return, the world will be reborn anew, and the gods will grace our presence at long last…”

“Huh?” asked Flint, looking at the screen, then at Kaito. “You can read that?”

“.....”

“K-Kaito?” Flint turned to him. “What are you – EEK!”

Kaito’s eyes were pure white once more and his smile was cheerful. He chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “Of course I can read this, Flint. I’m the world’s first translator of Train prophecies!”

“W-what in the name of Sin Cara was that?!” Oscar screamed.

“Is that Au-san’s doing?!” Lio shouted.

“No, I know Auric,” said Rey. “And for all that he’s good at, translating dead languages was not his specialty.”

“I’ve been enlightened ,” Kaito continued, keeping his cheery disposition as he paced back and forth, eyes still white. “I recalled a vision, a prophecy if you will, that my mind shall be opened when I have a pet bird on my side and I ride on the back of a massive crocodile.” He spun around. “I saw myself as a powerful figure, bathed in white.” He tilted his head to the side as he stared at the glowing marks on his hand.

“ Aniki’s ship is a crocodile!” Ricky exclaimed.

“And he has his parrot friend back at home!” Cutanner added.

“Not helping!” Juran interrupted as he marched to Kaito. “Oi, Kaito! First you start talking about glory and now you bring up enlightenment! What is wrong with you?!”

“Crococo~” Kaito laughed, voice soft like a feather pillow. “I’m here because I love a good party that shakes the earth~ Ah, won’t it be so nice to be the world’s first to see what the Fifth Sun is capable of? It will be such fun to have us freely cross the borders. We’ll see soooo many new people, like a parade! A parade of – ”

He was interrupted with a sledgehammer to the stomach.

“Ah,” Kaito wheezed, clutching his stomach and staring at everyone, eyes back to a lively brown color. “Flint, what did you do?”

“What did you do?!” Flint repeated. “You were possessed again!”

“Eh?! I was?!” Kaito shouted in shock. “But… I don’t remember what I said though.”

.

“You recited the entire script of Aztec language like it was nothing!” said Oscar. “You also mentioned a prophecy of an earthquake, a crocodile, and…I don’t even know anymore!”

“Like it reminds me of someone…” Kyler muttered.

“Ugh, I should’ve never taken that phone in the first place!” Oscar groaned.

“Phone? Is it colored red-orange?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so,” 

“Then it would all make sense. A passenger I shadowed a bit recently was missing and he must be related to the myth. He must have the old documents digitized and the group took his life and used his corpse to deliver the phone to their agents over there.”

“C-corpse?!” Oscar and Lio gulped.

“Oh right, did I forget to mention that if you happen to die on that Train, the Train will just drop your corpse wherever you first entered it?”

“Say that before you explain all of things, buddy!” Juran scolded.

They heard Kyler huff. “Well, there’s another thing. Souls are supposed to be gathered after they die and to be reincarnated into Denizens to finish what they started before they move on. However, by the time I saw his death when I found him, they took his soul before his body returned to where he was taken.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Lio. “So this Train can pick you up when you’re down in order to save you, but simultaneously is filled with things that can kill you and not even care about what happens to your body?!”

“Why do you think I accompanied those kids before? Auric did the same with Goshikida to protect him until he’s zero’ed. Even if there is scary stuff ready to challenge the passengers, the main goal is that they have reached an epiphany to lower their numbers and face their traumas and issues. It isn’t as simple as before thanks to the Apex’s pestering and the recent events regarding the Conductor…”

Kyler sighed. “But enough about my banter, you guys need to stop whoever is assembling that key. If nothing is to be done until the group is disbanded, there might be more consequences than the Exodus!”

Everyone hummed in thought for a while. Then Kaito stepped forward and said, “Alright, we protect the documents, find the keys, and stop Team Flare from activating the Fifth Sun. And anything else that comes after we’ll figure it out later!”

Rey’s eyes widened. “Hey! You don’t know what you’re dealing with here. You’re facing humans with intentions that are not like the ones you’re facing before!” He warned. “And we don’t know what else is inside your head now.”

“Even so… I can’t let the innocent get hurt because of their plans! Besides, this will be the first-ever time I get to team up with a wrestler!”

“Plus, Team Flare got on our list trying to attack an innocent child,” Zocks noted. “And they have horrible fashion sense.”

“Yeah Team Flare doesn’t like poor people, and the fee to get into their little ‘club’ is super expensive!” Oscar added.

“If that’s true, we can’t let them go around as they pleased. They might not be part of Torizend, but the only thing I hate is seeing kids get hurt because of them. Fill me in the rest of the details, cause I’m in!” Juran declared as he smacked his chest.

Rey sighed and wanted to know where Aerostar was right now so he could punch him in the face. But that would be for later. He then turned to Oscar and Lio. “You two, I – “

“Yeah, we know it’s dangerous!” Oscar interrupted.

“And that we’re a part of it,” said Lio.

“But this is our home too, we can’t let it fall to bad guys! Besides, there’s no way those Flare guys are gonna try anything crazy again. They stick out easily!” 

Rey couldn’t argue with any of that. “But Oscar, they took your phone. It’s connected to your social media and any videos and photos that you uploaded will be traced back to you. Your family, your friends, your school, they’re going to target you for getting in their way.” 

“Well, you could just give me the power to defend them!” Oscar suggested. “After all, you summoned fire and wind to beat Team Flare up! Was that also from the Train?”

“Uh…”

“Yeah, you were so cool!” Kaito exclaimed. “You reminded me a lot of Au-san when he got mad! How did you get so strong?”

“That’s…classified,” Rey said. “But still, you can’t be going out in public for a while.”

“Then I’ll just settle with a bodyguard, like the Luchasaurus!” Oscar grinned, grabbing Juran’s arm. 

“Hey!” Juran exclaimed. “I told you I’m not that Lucha-guy! But he’s right. I’ll keep an eye on him while you two help out that wrestler guy.”

“Gracias, ” Rey said to Juran. 

“Well,” Kyler said. “I best end the call here. Is there anything you’d like me to pass on?”

“Tell Au-san that I miss him!” said Kaito.

“Right. You have my number there and I got yours. I’ll keep in touch for more updates here. Until then, good day.”

He hung up and it seemed like a weight was finally off of everyone’s chests.

“Well,” said Zocks. “Seems that in the midst of trying to find your mother, we found ourselves in a lot more trouble, Kaito.”

“Sorry,” Oscar said, rubbing the back of his head. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess.”

“Oscar, none of us had any idea this was gonna happen,” Lio pointed out. “I mean, what are the chances Team Flare was coming to our city, and we took their phone of super secret files for an ancient megaweapon that was conveniently in our city ?”

Kaito smiled as he approached Oscar, crouched down to his height, and gently patted on the back. “Don’t beat yourself up, Oscar. We did it to protect people no matter what world or city you are. That’s our job as Zenkaigers!”

“We’re gonna kick their butts!” Cutanner cheered.

“We’re gonna be superheroes!” Ricky shouted.

Zocks hummed. “Then while you guys are here, why don’t you drop by at Colorful to give these kids some candy.”

“Colorful?/Candy?” Oscar and Lio repeated.

“That’s Yacchan’s store.” Kaito’s smile dropped and his eyes widened. “Wait, you can’t take them out of this world, Zocks!! Their parents are gonna get worried!”

“Either take them out from this world via my ship, or we can let Team Flare take them out of the world via…” Zocks pointed his pistol to his forehead and pretended to shoot himself.

Flint stared at her brother until her eyes glimmered. “Ah! I see! Even if we’re gone for a few hours or so, it’s just to mess up the phone’s GPS, right?”

Zocks nodded. “Whether we have to take him to another world for a long or short time, we’re running against the clock. If we believe that thief’s words, then there’s a chance those Flare guys will not stay idle without that phone.”

“I see. Not only that, we might be able to get Gaon and the others up to speed and prepare for the worse,” Juran added. “But that’s leading me to another question…how did these Team Flare guys appear in this world? Are there ways for people in the Pockymon world to enter here?”

“Aside from Ultra Wormholes, the giant lion, Palkia…not much,” Oscar said. “All of those methods are super dangerous.”

“Regardless, we have to prepare as much as possible. They might be popping up in that wrestling match you kids are excited about. Sorry.”

“Ah, the match!” Rey cursed. “I gotta get ready!”

“It’s not that big, is it?” asked Flint.

“It’s the Monday after the Rodeo Rumble pay-per-view!” Oscar said. “You know what that means? Fans from all over the world are filling up the stadium!”

“Crowd chants the likes you have never seen!”

“People arguing about their favorite RPGs through signs!”

“Hold on, is that even a thing here?!” Juran questioned.

Lio pulled out his phone and it was on Piopio. “Take a look at this.” 

Juran took the phone and he was blinking at so many signs. ( “Give us Mother 3!” “Aladdin Sega 4 life!” “I’m alive for Live a Live!” “Pull my Chrono Trigger!”, “Who remembers Skies of Arcadia?” “I Dream of Radical Dreamers!”)

“What’s up with these kids and their games…”

“Trust me, it gets worse,” Lio muttered. “Speaking of which, who exactly is Night Claw anyhow?”

“That’s…” Rey paused. “I don’t even know myself. He was there for some ‘unique opportunities’ back when I was in Boyle Heights then vanished. Better yet, why is he finally showing his face again?”

Oscar blinked. “You don’t think…”

“Nah, that’s too much of a coincidence,” Lio dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. “What exactly are the odds that he’s connected to the Fifth Sun anyhow?”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Night Claw never liked staying in one place for far too long.

Oh sure, he tried when Dario Cuerto coerced him with one of the seven Medals and a “unique opportunity”, but he didn’t “click” with the mission to unite the seven tribes. No, he found himself on the hunt for something more dangerous.

A machine that could destroy the world.

Without anyone noticing, he left Boyle Heights to scour the ruins of the Aztecs and the Tribe de Infinitas, an ancient order that believed that nothing ever ended. That it ran on ad infinitum .

His hard work paid off and led him to Xochil City…and into the hands of the time-traveling space luchador in front of him.

“And that’s why you decided to bail?” Aerostar asked, eyebrows raised behind his mask.

Night Claw growled. The two were in the locker room, the black panther luchador sitting on a bench. “You always ask too many questions even though you’re from the future.”

“Even in the future, humans keep questioning the unknown. And what’s more unknown than the past? Out of all the wrestlers connected with Dario Cuerto, you’re the only one I can’t get a reading on.”

“Does it matter?”

“Depends.”

Night Claw frowned. “Why are you like this?”

“I’m a space luchador who has lived over a thousand years. Can’t I be curious as to what’s happened between then and now?” 

“And if that curiosity ends up with something horrible and wrecks human lives?” 

Aerostar frowned. “Are you going to reveal what you know about the Fifth Sun?”

“Not to the likes of you .”

Aerostar shrugged as the door to the locker room opened. “Fine. But don’t say that I didn’t try to warn you.”

The spaceman then left the room as Night Claw groaned. Ugh, this is why he didn’t stay in that Temple for long. All the wrestlers there were crazy ! 

“ Excuse me… Night Claw, sir?” A woman in a green hood asked.

“Hmm?” Night Claw asked.

The woman in a purple hood approached him with a whiteboard and a marker. “Can we have your autograph?” She asked.

Night Claw nodded his head and took the pen and whiteboard. “I usually don’t do autographs, but I’ll make an exception. Names?”

The women smiled.

“Gloom.”

“Roserade.”

Night Claw quickly wrote those names down and then scribbled his signature. “Okay then, now you two better–” He looked up to see a strange walking blue plant with a red flour and a humanoid rose with red and blue roses for hands staring at him. “Huh?”

The two plant things…scattered yellow pollen in the air that Night Claw had to duck just in time, glad that he was wearing a mask so as to not inhale it. Then the rose was firing purple needles that caused him to leap onto a pipe on the ceiling before swinging onto the lockers. Again, the rose was firing more and more of those poison needles as he looked for a window. Damn it; without a way to blow the spores out, he was trapped.

He only had one shot. He could get to the showers, maybe he could turn on the hot water and make a thick steam cloud to escape.

Like the feline he was based off of, Night Claw crouched down and hoped to reach the showers, only for the prongs of a taser strike his leg, causing him to scream in pain before collapsing onto the floor. The taser fired again and he twitched in agony while the orange pollen caused him to become paralyzed.

Damn it; why did he get associated with the Lucha Underground again?!

The women giggled as they removed their hoods, revealing their familiar green and purple shades.

“Night night, little Purrloin,” Celosia said coolly.

“As of this moment,” Bryony started. “ We’ll be the MCs of this match of the century.”

Chapter Text

In which Kaito introduces his friends, Rey remembers how it was to be in Hell, and we learn how to make a deal with the devil!

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chapter 5

0-0-0-0-0-0

 Ojos que no ven

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

When Oscar heard of Japan, he thought of it as some futuristic city with lots of giant robots.

Well, Kaito’s hometown was futuristic and it had lots of robots, but none of them were giant.

“This is….amazing!!!” Oscar gasped. 

“It’s like what the commercials say, the Future is Japanese!” Lio added.

"It's a good place," Juran noted. "Be a bit better if we weren't at war with monsters all the time."

“How about I treat you two to some takoyaki?” Kaito suggested. He then presented them to an open stall where a robot was selling this “takoyaki”. Kaito then approached the vendor with a bag of Mexican watermelon candy, muttering how this was the “world’s first” exchange of takoyaki with Mexican sweets.

“I really hope mom is gonna be okay,” Oscar noted. Sure he and Lio gave her a phone call – how they were able to get cell phone reception in that crocodile ship was unexpected – but Lio just gave a pat on Oscar’s shoulder.

“Cheer up,” Lio said. “I’m sure that if Rey meets up with Team Flare again, he can just steal the phone and give it back to your mom. And wouldn’t you think it’d be a ‘world’s first’ for Rey Mysterio to meet your mom up close and personal?”

“Lio, if you think this is a funny joke for my mom to try and find her second love – “

“Of course it isn’t!” Lio exclaimed. When he noticed Oscar putting up the hood of his jacket, he turned serious. “Why not try to be like Kaito. Just jump into the unknown?”

Oscar paused a little. Jumping into the unknown was the reason why he learned Rey was a superhero and of the masks…

“B-but this is different!” Oscar said. “Not like we can just summon little fairies to make us transform with a magic incantation! I mean, I’ve seen you try to copy Carapace!”

“Hey, guy makes turtles look awesome!” Lio grinned. “But come on. Rey is gonna make sure he stops Team Flare from unleashing the fifth sun. And as long as you have Benedict’s medallion, the machine can’t function.”

Oscar looked down at the medallion. “Well, if you put it that way…”

“Full-force takoyaki!” said Kaito, handing two boxes of strange doughy dumplings covered in a dark brown sauce, mayonnaise and scallions. “Itadakimasu!”

Neither Oscar nor Lio repeated the phrase but they decided to try out the treats. With the skewer, they took a ball and chewed on it, savoring at how soft and warm it was.

“What’s inside this?” asked Oscar.

“Octopus tentacle!” Kaito exclaimed. 

“Octopus?!” asked Oscar and Lio, staring at the plater of little dough balls. They stared at each other and then shrugged as they began to continue eating.

…

Eventually, the four arrived at a small shop as colorful as its namesake as they entered through the curtains. Inside, Oscar and Lio saw several candies on shelves and some people and androids enjoying sundaes and sweets on the single table.

Along with the customers of children waving goodbye with their purchases, there was a yellow android whose head resembled a feline and has a wire on his back resembling a tail, a pink female android with a heart shape face and a long ponytail-like cable, and a blue blocky android reading a textbook and adjusting his white framed glasses. The only human was a woman that would’ve passed for a grandmother.

“I’m home!” Kaito said, carrying a bag of candy. Juran also said a hello. “And I brought guests!”

Oscar and Lio sheepishly waved at the robots as they all said their hellos to Kaito and Juran before one android gasped at seeing the kiddies.

“So cute!!!!” The feline android cooed, seeing Oscar and Lio. “Two new children! What are your names?”

“Oscar Aciano,” Oscar said.

“Lio Dalia,” Lio added.

“I’m Gaon!” Gaon said, shaking Oscar and Lio’s hands. “I’m into animals and humans cause they’re just so cute!”

“Are you gonna take us home like that crazy cleaver girl?!” asked Oscar. 

“Wait, what?”

“Ignore my friend here,” Lio said, pushing Oscar to the side. “I warned him not to watch those cicada videos, but did he listen? And can we get the names of everyone else?”

“Right!” said Kaito, pointing to each of them. “There’s Magine, and Vroon, and my grandma Yacchan!”

"But call me 'Yatsude'," Kaito's grandmother pointed out.

“H-hi there,” Magine said, shrinking a little.

“Where are you from?” Vroon asked, approaching the kids.

“Xochtil City,” Oscar answered. “Full of flowers and luchadors!”

“Luchadors?” The blue Kikainoid repeated. “What are those? Are they something you eat? I must know more!!!!”

“Calm down, everyone!” said Juran. “These guys are only staying here to get some Flare guys off their tails.”

“F-flare guys?” Magine asked.

“Evil guys in tacky orange suits and shades,” Oscar said. “They use magical creatures called Pokemon to fight us and you can’t beat them with a finisher. They’re still living beings.”

“Oh look at this!” said Lio, pointing to a robotic parrot and picking it up. “Polly want a cracker!”

My name is Secchan and I do not want a cracker, chun! The parrot squawked, flapping his wings.

“Whoa, robotic parrot!” Lio exclaimed.

“That’s Secchan!” said Kaito. “My parents invented him.”

“Your parents?” asked Oscar, noticing a framed picture of a younger Kaito with his parents. “Where are they now?”

“Well…” Kaito paused. “My Mom is somewhere in one of the worlds and my Dad is still missing.”

“Oh…I see. Sorry about that.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that you haven’t seen them for so long?” asked Lio.

“It did bother me enough that I entered that Train,” Kaito explained, pacing back and forth. “Some kids picked on me that they had vanished in a wormhole and wouldn’t come back so I ran away then found this colorful train that I thought was my imagination and I thought I saw my parents there so I entered it and – ”  He was interrupted by his grandma hitting him with a broom.

“Oh, don’t mention that old thing!” Yatsude sighed. “I was worried sick when you didn't come home from school that day. Your homeroom teacher said that she saw you run away in tears and then a green light engulfed you! I had no idea how to react, had no idea how to prepare for an emergency if you vanished into thin air…”

“But it was only for a week…”

“I don’t care if it was for a week or even a year!” Yatsude exclaimed. “You just disappeared and then suddenly arrived back home in a flash of green light talking about moving statues, talking puppies, and some evil cult obsessed with lamps!”

“Lord Dona'tor wasn’t ‘evil’, just ‘eccentric’,” Kaito elaborated, recalling the strange red-robed denizen and the numerous lamps that almost blinded him. “Mom and Dad would’ve loved learning about that Train though and I thought that maybe they were stuck in there and I had to find them.” He then smiled at his friends. “But I’m glad Au-san steered me wrong and told me to wait for them back here. I mean, those infinite cars are fun and all…but if I stayed there, I never would’ve met my friends here…”

Then, they heard sniffling. They turned to see Gaon, who was now crying in tears filled with gears before he, Magine, and Vroon glomped on Kaito and Juran.

“Kaito!!!” Gaon sniffled. “That was so beautiful!!!”

“Y-you must’ve been so alone!” Magine added.

“But you have us now,” Vroon said. “You won’t be lonely again!”

“I know,” Kaito smiled.

Juran huffed. “For real, though, I’m glad you made the right choice. Without you, we wouldn't be able to fight back against the Tozitend.”

“Tozi-end?” Oscar repeated.

“Evil robots who want to take over our world and have the power to use other worlds to their advantage,” Kaito explained. “They turn the world into a tiny gear in an attempt to conquer it.”

“Of course,” Lio remarked.

“But they’re not gonna be here for a while,” said Kaito. “Which means…”

“You have to tell us more about that Train you were on!” Gaon interrupted. “You were on a train that had talking puppies ?! How many were there?”

“Eh, a hundred I think?”

“How does a train have talking puppies and talking statues in it?” asked Vroon. “I must know!”

“Yeah, and why were you turned into a zombie talking about glory?” asked Oscar. “Are you sure that dragon master of yours wasn’t just using you for his own ends?”

“I don’t think so. The last thing I remember about Au-san was when he scolded a kid mimicking my appearance for controlling a dog with his mind.”

“Wait, the dragon barista had a kid ?” asked Lio.

“There was a kid with your appearance controlling puppies?” Oscar said simultaneously as he pulled out his notepad from his backpack. “What did he look like? Was he like you, dressed in black, black eye-makeup, looked like he was working at that cafe or whatever?” 

“No, the only difference was that he has yellow eyes,” Kaito said. “He said he used to work for another master with a camel. ‘Pie-sama’.” 

“Pie-sama?” And soon Oscar had a little thought bubble of a person with a camel eating some homemade pie.

“Yeah, Pie-sama taught him amazing tricks with his eyes and he worshiped some master called ‘Luci-san.”

“Luci…LUCIFER?!!!” Lio shouted. “Kaito, do you know that means?”

“Uh…no?"

“Lucifer, like the King of Hell?! No wonder that kid ran away from Pie-face.”

“I called him ‘Kage’,” Kaito clarified, a fond smile on his face. “I still remember him like it was yesterday…”

…

“Whoa!” Kaito exclaimed when he saw a copy of himself in a black buttoned suit and white bowtie. They looked so similar, except the copy had bright gold eyes like a cat. 

Which was funny cause there were so many cats in this car that could walk on two legs, talk, make delicious sandwiches and had forked tails.

“I’m Kaito!” Kaito introduced himself. “What’s your name?”

The double blinked and immediately hid under a table, hiding his face behind his knees.

“It’s okay! It’s gonna be the first time someone befriended their shadow!” 

“Don’t be shy,” Au-san said, crouching down. “Come on, can you say hello?”

The copy quietly lifted his head to look at Kaito and waved at him awkwardly.

“Oh come on~” Au-san said teasingly and poked the copy’s cheek. “Go and speak to him or no cookies and cream ice cream cake~”

The copy slightly flinched as his face turned red. He then crawled out from under the table and stood up, looking all around him. “H-hi…”

Kaito just extended his hand out and shouted, “Full-on friendship!!!”

The copy looked at Kaito for a while. Then as he accepted his hand, his lips slowly curled into a small smile.

…

“There was a copy of you like a kitty! So cute!!!!!” Gaon cooed. 

“And there were lots of cars with other wonders,” Kaito added. “I wished I had photos and I’m curious who Kyler mentioned. The Seeker and this Chloe of the Vermillion…”

“I’m more worried about what’s happening tonight,” said Oscar. “Team Flare is still out there and, I know that Rey can totally kick ass, what if they start forcing people onto the Train?”

“I can u-use my fortune telling to see what’s going to happen!” Magine brought up. “If you don’t mind…”

“Uh…” Oscar blinked.

“Bit of advice,” Juran said to the kids. “Don’t make fun of Magine’s fortune-telling and don’t do anything that could get in the way of it. She’s terrifying .”

“U-Uh… Bueno ,” Oscar answered as Magine set her crystal ball onto a purple pillow and sat by the table.

“Nu-nu-nu Magine… Nu-nu-nu Magine…” Magine mumbled as she stared into her crystal ball. “Crystal ball, show me the truth!”

The ball glimmered as it showed a black feline figure slicing their way through opponents.

“Oh, that must be Night Claw!” Lio said.

Suddenly, flames suddenly surrounded the figure as they covered their mouth.

“He’s gonna be killed by Team Flare!” Oscar exclaimed. “Wait, if this is gonna take place during the show…”

He and Lio could only look in fear as they thought the same thing.

“THERE’S GONNA BE AN EXODUS AT THE SHOW TONIGHT!”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Books were like doors. When you open the cover, you were walking into a new place, meeting up with people both good and bad, and learning to see things from a different point of view.

That’s how King Titus saw this as he began to prepare alphabet soup for tonight’s dinner.

As he waited for the soup to boil, placing a lid on the cauldron so that the soup cooked quicker, Titus approached a corner of Azada, where numerous portraits hung upon the wall. He stared at two of them: one from long ago, and one just recently.

The first one depicted two friends giving smug grins to the camera. They both sat on the sofa like they were the kings and queens of an entire country, white and black like chess pieces. When he stared at the plaque below, a frown formed on his face.

G Monroe and S Laurent

As much as he wanted to take it down after what happened to his son, he knew that it had to be there as a reminder. Life was not sunshine and roses, and not all stories ended happily ever after. There were stories that had to deliver some hard life lessons, and with this, it would remind Titus to not fully trust that all passengers were willing to show kindness to denizens.

(Those two should be very very lucky that he didn’t see them tear his son apart. If they did…well, let’s just say the Apex would never have risen)

Titus then stared at the second portrait, depicting a young girl with flowing red hair, dressed as Alice Liddell, while having a tea party with a corgi with a long tail and a crown and his son: a silver book with a gold-leaf tree being read by a human construct with silver hair and blue eyes. The plaque read C. Cerise .

Titus couldn’t help but smile. This little girl saved his son. 

She didn’t have any magic powers. She casted no spells, brewed no potion. But she had a heart and she had courage, red and burning bright like her hair. And he could tell that his son was so smitten by this pretty witch, but he hoped that he didn’t become too blinded to forget that Chloe still had a long way to go before she could become her true self.

Titus was about to taste the soup before he paused. “Please don’t chew on the books, Madam.”

“I prefer the term, Marquess .”

Titus turned around to see a large she-wolf with crimson fur at his doorstep, with large blood-red wings streaked with gold. Her paws barely made a sound as he stared at the seal on her forehead.

“And to what do I owe this pleasure?”

The wolf grinned. “Just wishing to stretch my wings a little and to talk to someone about a passenger we have someone in common with.”

“And who may that be?”

“Chloe Cerise of the Red Lotus Trio.” The wolf didn’t flinch when a large broadsword appeared in Titus’ hand. 

“Are you asking her to make a covenant with you?! Do you realize how old she is?”

“Children make promises to each other all the time. What makes a covenant so different?”

“They don’t involve contracts with demons , Marchosias!”

The wolf growled, baring her fangs. “I know it’s dangerous for a girl her age, but I hate the idea of her being deceived in hope to the point that she lets her image be her downfall.”

Titus lowered his weapon. “What are you implying?”

The wolf demon began to pace around in circles. “Tell me Titus, how do you plan on stopping the Apex?”

Titus hummed. “If using words does not convince them, caging them will have to do. Isolate them, cut them out of anything they can use as weapons, perhaps cut off food supplies until they relent.”

“I have been hearing the news that this is what the Red Lotus Trio wants to try. To trap the Apex in a car and then fling it to the end of the Train, so that it will take them forever to get back home. And should they try their stunts in raiding cars, then they will be photographed and broadcasted throughout the Infinet. But…”

“But…”

Marchosias sighed. “I have not made a covenant with Chloe of the Vermillion just yet, but she has a bit of my power on her…and through it I can see what she sees. And I saw her making a deal with shady individuals that also agree in caging the Apex.”

“And why is that such a bad thing? Tis better to cage them than to kill them.”

“Tell me, King of Azada…does the name ‘Cage of Flauros’ mean anything to you?”

The king raised his eyebrow. “Not exactly. I do hear that it was a silly drunken debacle Flauros made.”

“Oh yes, but when dealing with demons and we see it as some ‘silly fun’, humans see it as a deadly ritual to hurt others!”

Then, Titus’s confusion dropped as it was replaced with his wide eyes. “What do you mean? What will happen to the Apex if that ritual is unleashed?”

“What do you think happens in demonic rituals? When you summon one of us, we are bound by oath to help guide the summoner with whatever they ask for."

“And the Apex and the components?!”

“When you burn a candle for a ritual, it eventually becomes nothing but wax drippings.” Marchosias explained.

“Wait, the components will…”

“And when you have someone point a gun at a person’s head, the gun usually tends to…”

“So…are you saying that the Apex will die?” Titus interrupted.

“I’m not saying they will die. I’m saying that perhaps the Apex will be converted into monsters within the place known as the Fog Car… ”

“...The Fog Car?”

“No, the Frog Car that has a steamboat and talking frogs and I mean Silent Hill !”

“But that’s then, not now. ” Titus stammered. “T...there’s no way my son would agree to something like this.”

“It will. I heard that the ones who wish to see the ritual go through gathered a lot of the components, and Chloe agreed to be Lady Destiny.”

At that point, Titus slammed his paper hand onto the wall, causing the books to flutter in a panic.

“She did WHAT?! Is she that crazy?”

“She thinks she can outsmart these abominations,” Marchosias pointed out. “But she also knows that if she doesn’t play by their rules, they’ll force her to.”

Titus groaned as he collapsed on his chair.  “And there’s nothing we can do?”

“I’d enter, but that place…there’s something wrong with it. Us Goetias are repulsed by its very nature.” The wolf growled. “And worse, the library in that place most likely is filled with demonic manuals and ways to drain our powers to dry before an iron stake to the heart ends us!”

Marchosias took a deep breath. “But let’s change the subject. There have been whispers stating that an Exodus is about to take place.” 

Titus sighed. “I heard murmurs of them. I doubt this is a good possibility on either sides. On one hand, there will be new passengers. But on the other, there will be dire consequences.”

“Tell me about it. Ever heard of the Roanoke disaster? Those ignorant fools wandering about like headless chickens trying and failing to make a new colony in another country?"

“Oh those people. At least they weren’t as bad as the survivors from that doomed ship, the Obra Dinn . All because of one greedy a-hole…I’m more surprised that the Train didn’t pick up more of the doomed souls.”

“But it isn’t about Roanoke or mariners. Back then, if an Exodus was reported, then they could just let it go, classify it as an ‘unsolved mystery’ and move on. But in this day and age, society could collapse at any moment.”

“And what would happen to the Train?”

“What happens when you get a government involved with an unknown power such as this? What if a politician took over as the Conductor instead of a grieving widow wanting her life back?” The wolf explained. “Especially one as corrupt as a computer filled with viruses?”

Titus grew silent for a while. “You’re not saying…”

“Imagine countless soldiers marching in with a number, seeing no value in the denizens and their lives except as a dehumanized workforce . The Train is there to help passengers at their crossroads, but it has no defenses for all of the denizens crying out for a mechanical abomination that will just ‘replace’ them. After all, if I lose a few strands of fur, do I shed tears over them?”

The king sighed. “If only someone could speak to the Train. Plead to the current condition of the denizens that reside inside. So it won’t make the same mistakes as the Apex again.”

“It would take a miracle.”

“I thought you weren’t into miracles and deus ex machinas. And that praying to the Kami of Engines wasn’t your style. Besides, I’m more surprised that the Numinae and Goetias are so hands-off about the Apex but aren’t going to jump in until some cultists decide to ask for help.”

Marchosias flinched. “Let’s just say we have a…reputation to uphold. We are revered as supernatural beings, untouchable. If we start raining down on their parade, what would the others say?"

“They’d say, ‘Oh, thank you so much for getting rid of the thorns in our side.’” 

Marchosias growled and immediately fired a ball of flames at Titus, who ducked just in time and the ball struck a bag of flour that was left on the side. Some books began to douse the fire with buckets of water.

“Sorry to be hypocritical, but… But even if we intervene, we’ll be repeating the same events with that last group many years ago. And we can’t risk that with the Fog Car and the Apex. Besides, I already heard another after them made a move.”

“The ‘last group’ and ‘many years ago’ are nothing more than blinks of an eye for the likes of you,” Titus remarked. “If you didn’t have your ‘pride’, the Apex would be long gone by now.”

“It’s more than pride,” Marchosias sighed. “One of the Goetias informed me about his pupil, the Prince of Shadows. He’s been abused and traumatized by one of them to the point he almost harmed the passengers. And now, they’re aiming to punish and execute the Apex leaders next by punishing Grace’s parents with some of his powers.”

“Grace Monroe? The den mother of the Apex?” Titus snarled under his breath. “Good, would be nice if someone ripped her into confetti and stuffed her into a wooden box.”

“...This isn’t about how we stood in the sidelines, is it?”

“Oh no, not just the Apex, just their pain and misery they inflicted on innocents. For every denizen that dies, how many must live with that fact that one day, they are next on the chopping block?!”

At his last shout, the lid of the cauldron hit the top of the fireplace and then clattered to the ground, the soup bubbling.

“So do you know why we didn’t act?” Marchosias then approached Titus’s face. “Because we’ll be abused by hope next. And you might be their next target for execution for thoughts of revenge. Nobody is safe from their judgment.”

“.....”

Marchosias scoffed and walked away, tail swooping upwards. “I know you’re angry at yourself and your son’s wellbeing, but don’t let it consume you like a sinkhole consumes a skyscraper without warning. Be warned. And also beware the Fifth Sun.”

Marchosias howled and a flaming portal appeared on the floor. She leapt through it and the portal sealed itself. Titus waited for her to return so she could borrow a book, but when she didn’t, he went back to his alphabet soup – thankfully the books mopped the broth that spilled on the floor – and sighed.

The Train was still an enigma to many of the more enlightened denizens. Why couldn't it not create manuals sooner? Why didn’t they monitor the passengers who were known to cause trouble?

Why did it not hear all who have died underneath its massive wheels?

As he stirred the soup, Titus could feel an ache in his pages. That if nothing was done, if the Train continued on its path, everyone would be doomed. And who was to be blamed but the train herself?

“Please, Kami of Engines …” Titus muttered. He heard that from a rail enthusiast with blue hair who carried a slim black book that talked about the legends of the trains in Japan. He wasn't sure if that was true, but...“If you exist, bring hope onto the Train and the denizens who have suffered under the heel of the Apex.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Getting to the stadium in preparation for the fight was easy. There were numerous locker rooms for him to rest up to prepare for tonight’s show.

Doing this all while babysitting two nosy children while their elder siblings were getting tickets for the show was not .

“So mister, why aren’t you letting us on that Train?” Ricky asked from Rey’s backpack.

Rey sighed. ”Because I can’t. I can’t just magically snap my fingers and the train appears. You have to be traumatized or have some deep problem that a therapist can’t solve – “

“Well, I’m traumatized and have problems. So the Train can take me in!” Cutanner gloated.

“I’m way more traumatized!” Ricky added.

“No, I’m much more traumatized!”

“I have more problems than you!”

The two super-deformed brothers kept flying in the air, fighting each other until Rey groaned and slammed his fist onto a locker door.

“This isn’t a laughing matter. If you two enter the Train, no one, not even your older siblings, will save you from the dangers inside until your numbers go down to zero. And you can die on that Train if you’re not careful, remember?!”

The twin brothers flinched with their eyes wide. Rey sighed.

“I saw it for myself. There was a woman, Angela Orosco. She had been abused by her father, mother, and older brother. And in retaliation, she burned the house down and them with it. She got sent on the Train, a broken mess, unable to trust me or any man who wanted to help her.”

“W-what happened to her?” Cutanner asked.

“I tried following her into the Dollhouse Car. It’s a car that replicates a humongous dollhouse and it’s filled with replicas of your loved ones. It nearly got me, with images of my wife, son and daughter. As for Angela…”

…

Rey raced up the stairs towards the second floor as the house began to burn. He had already told the replicas of his family to leave, and had to watch in horror as Angela’s copies of her family began screaming and cursing her, but Angela was more important.

“Angela! Angela!!!” Rey shouted through the smoke. “We have to get out of here!”

He eventually found her on the second floor and Angela was looking in relief. “Mama…mama is that you?!” She raced to see Rey. “Oh mama, I’ve been…wait…you’re not mama.”

“Angela…”

“Oh, you’re here because you want to save me, is that it?” Angela asked. “Well would you? Would you heal me? Comfort me? Take away all of my pain?” she pressed. When Rey didn’t answer, she scoffed. “That’s what I thought.”

“I’m sorry,” Rey whispered, staring at his number and watching it decrease a little.

“Don’t be. Even if you did, I don’t deserve it. That’s what mama told me.” Angela’s number rose by a few digits.

“That’s…”

“Hey, Rey? You still have my knife, right?” Angela began to reach forward.

Rey flinched. It was currently in the satchel he was carrying. “I’m not giving it back to you.”

She stopped. “So are you gonna use it on yourself when you can’t figure out how this stupid piece of metal works?”

“No, I’d never kill myself.” Rey answered, watching Angela go up the stairs. He wanted to chase after her, but she already refused his pity and she was probably going to die another way. At the very least, he could let her die on her own terms.

“It’s…hot as hell in here.” Rey said after a few seconds.

Angela was halfway on the steps before she turned to him. “You see it too, don’t you?” She said. Then she continued her ascent. “For me…it’s always like this.”

And as Angela reached the attic, the roof began to shake, and Rey rolled to the side before it collapsed onto him. He watched as debris left a gaping hole in the space where he was seconds ago…and for the fires to consume Angela completely.

Rey just watched in horror, never noticing a light fixture aimed for his head.

…

As soon as he finished his story, Rey heard sobbing. He turned to see Cutanner and Ricky bawled. The tears rained from their eyes despite their robotic forms as they hugged each other tight.

“That was so cruel!” Cutanner exclaimed.

“I don’t wanna go on that Train now!” Ricky added.

“It’s best that you don’t,” Rey said. “The Train is…it wants to help, but it just doesn’t know how. I’d be a goner without it, but who knows how many victims are still on it, who knows how many are like Angela...”

“That train is a meanie!”

“Yeah, more than SDtopia cursing us!”

“Just don’t take it out on it too much. I know it’s impossible to ask for a miracle to change, but I hope someone could open its eyes.” Rey performed the sign of the cross as he did that. 

Then, Cutanner looked around and asked, “Huh… Aniki and Aneki should have been back by now.”

“Yeah, they were going to get tickets for tonight’s show!” Ricky exclaimed. 

“But they’re expensive at this point.” Rey remarked.

“We’re pirates!” Cutanner said. “We have lots of ways to pay for tickets.”

Rey didn’t make a remark to that as he noticed that Night Claw hadn’t been seen backstage as of late. There were the other wrestlers who would be there for the dark matches and the other matches and promos, but no sign of Night Claw at all. Ugh, the one time Aerostar would be nice to give him a message, now would be the time!

As if a god heard his cries, Rey felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out from his bag. He blinked.

“What’s it say?” asked Cutanner.

“Is it from the spaceman?”

“I don’t…know.” Rey said, showing the message to the twin boys.

T+/&e i, ^o time. Ple]se. Hel? 3e.

1/n c3ory.

The twins stared at the phone with their eyes widened.

“Uh… What language is that?!” Ricky asked in disbelief.

“If Aneki was here, she could probably help decipher it!” Cutanner noted. “We can ask her once she gets the tickets!”

…

At the same time, Flint sighed as she walked to her older brother from the empty ticket kiosk.

“Any luck?” Zocks asked.

“No. For some reason, no one is in the line and there’s no one to sell tickets,” Flint answered. “It’s the show after a pay-per-view, so you think there’d be some people wanting to watch.”

“Huh, that is weird.” Zocks hummed. But then, his eyes turned to his sister as they widened. “Flint, look out!”

Flint looked and ducked when was nearly struck by a laser! She looked up to see a luchador in a futuristic pattern with a laser gun in hand, a wide grin on his face.

“Ah ah ah…” Aerostar grinned. “CaN’t lEt YOu g0 OuT oF y0u7 w@y An4 Caus1ng A paNic.”

Zock wasted no time getting his Geardalinger out and began firing at Aerostar. A few shots were out, but he could only watch in horror as Aerostar started blinking in and out, dodging the shots and getting closer and closer!

“What are you?!” Zocks stammered, trying to shoot one more time before Aerostar appeared face to face and plinked the Geardalinger out of Zocks’ hands.

“Give that back!” Flint said, somehow with her sledgehammer as she charged towards Aerostar…and fell flat on her face when he vanished.

“H3aR tHiS. t1M3 15 rUNnin@ 0uT. S704 7H3 V 3<Ns.”

“Kinda hard to hear you when your mouth is full of static!” Zocks exclaimed, as he tried punching Aerostar, and Aerostar had moved to the left before growling,

“5+0b T=e A1||@iN$!”

Flint was pressing something on her wrist. “Care to say that again?”

Aerostar’s grin was still there, and with a twitch of his eye (that wasn’t seen because of his mask), he repeated, “ 5+0q +=3 V|@1N$! 5+0q +=3 V|@1–”

He never got to finish when Zocks punched him in the jaw and grabbed his Geardalinger. “Flint, let’s go!”

Flint was already talking to the communication device on her wrist as they were racing off, hoping to get as far away from this maniac as possible. “Cutanner! Ricky! Emergency at the kiosk!”

But before they could reach the stadium entrance, they saw Aerostar right in front of them, standing between them and their destination.

“Out of the way!!!” Flint said, pushing Aerostar to the side as she and her brother tried to get through the doors…and Aerostar was in front of the doors and the gun in his hand. “No way!”

Zocks pointed the Geardalinger at Aerostar. “Why are you doing this?!”

Aerostar still kept his grin as a humming sound was heard from his pistol.

“ShIv3R mY TiMbErs, 5hiVer My sAil5. De@d mEn telL n0 ta7Es!”

*BANG!*