Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a rather easy and quiet morning in the city of Duckburg… which was rather odd for this town, considering that sometimes, there was bound to be chaos somewhere. But fortunately, it was a rather quiet and easy day. But it wasn’t going to last for TOO long, as for this moment, up on top of a mansion in Killmotor Hill, a loud roar was heard from atop the hill as a familiar houseboat was seen being thrown out.

“No, Uncle Donald’s boat!” A panicky male kid’s voice shouted. “He’s going to kill us when he sees the damages!”

“Less panicking, more trying to take this thing down!” Another voice shouted, this time, a female kid’s voice this time. “Dewey, give us some back up here!”

“Can ‘dew’-ey!” Another male kid’s voice that was attempting to act cool said.

“Oh boy…” A third male kid’s voice said, not feeling all that confident.

At the center of the mansion, right up to the pool was a large shark-like creature that had somehow managed to grow to gargantuan size that was letting out a loud roar as a few familiar ducks were trying to take it down. The only thing of interest was that four of those ducks were kids, around at least the same age, and the fifth duck was an elderly duck in a red buttoned suit, a black top hat and cane that still kept fighting despite his age. For most families, it would seem like they stood no chance, but obviously, this family of ducks were NO ordinary family.

The male duckling in the blue shirt was smirking to himself as he was swiftly dodging the attacks, all the while humming along to his own little theme song. Fortunately, while the shark creature was more distracted in trying to take down the blue wearing duckling, it gave more of an opportunity for the female duckling, the one wearing the pink bow on her head, with a blue vest, purple shirt and purple skirt, to backflip up towards the creature’s body and land a hard blow to the shark’s face with one of its feet.

“Attagirl, Webby!” The elderly duck grinned, speaking with his Scottish accent. “Huey, Louie, get up to the mansion’s roofs and wait for my instructions!”

The duckling with a red hat and shirt, and the duckling with a green hoodie, quickly nodded as the duckling with the hoodie says, “Let’s just hope this works!”

“It should, this is your plan!” The duckling in the red hat called out as the two started to go around.

The elderly duck, known as Scrooge McDuck, gave a firm nod before turning his attention back to the shark creature, taking a deep breath.

It was only typical that this giant shark was yet another ill-conceived plan that wasn’t well thought out by his rival, Flintheart Glomgold, who had put in a shark in the pool where Donald’s houseboat was, failing to realize that Scrooge never actually did his swimming in the pool. It was only when a certain someone accidentally played with the Size Gem that shrinks and grows the person who holds it and carelessly/accidentally tossed it into the pool where the shark was. Now the shark had eaten the jewel, and was going on a rampage. Yeah, Scrooge had a feeling that even though Dewey WAS at fault, he knew he meant well.

“Dewey dewey dewey do! Get that shark monster out of the pool!” Dewey casually sang before dodging another fist. As Webby readied herself with another kick to the shark’s face, Scrooge started to use his cane to hop towards the shark and leapt high in the air as he slammed the shark right on the head. The shark let out a loud roar as it shook off Webby and caused Dewey to fall.

The red wearing duckling, Huey, and the green wearing duckling, Louie, quickly came out, each of them holding a large net.

“Think it’s safe?” Louie whispered to Huey.

Huey squinted his eyes as Scrooge landed on the ground next to the pool, and waved to the kids. “Throw the net!”

The kids took the hint from Scrooge as they tossed the net right onto the shark, no time for a countdown or anything. As soon as the net landed directly on the shark, it started to get electrocuted as the shark let out a loud scream of terror… and that was more than enough to lodge the gem from its stomach, regurgitating it as it landed right near the shaken Dewey.

“Ew, now I DON’T want to touch it, it looks too slimy!” Dewey winced as Webby approached him, taking out some tongs.

“This is why Dad said NEVER to touch things UNLESS he’s around to show you how to control it.” Webby sighed as she picked the gem up with the tongs. “Now, excuse me while I put this gem back in its case, where it BELONGS!”

“And I’ll make sure to call animal control to get the shark out of the pool… and Launchpad to settle Donald’s boat back in… thank goodness Della wasn’t inside.” Scrooge sighed as he pulled out his flip phone. Webby gave a nod as she went back in the house to quickly put the gem back in the chest.

Dewey, hearing this, looked up in curiosity. “Yeah, where is Mom, anyway? I haven’t heard from her this morning?”

“I saw her on the computer. She’s been typing messages to a friend online.” Huey explained as he and Louie approached the blue clothed duckling.

Dewey looked rather surprised, before snapping his fingers. “Right, the whole Tournament of Kikai thing, I know Mom made some friends with the security team she was working with…”

“And told us the story of how she and the others stopped a villain from trying to destroy the entire multiverse and put it in despair.” Huey pointed out.

“I don’t know about you, but that was quite a story.” Louie said with a small smile.

“Uh, duh! I mean, how many times can you say that our mom rode on a giant turtle with tanks on its back?!” Dewey asked in excitement. “Man, it makes me wish we were ALL there to see it!”

“What are you guys talking about?” Webby asked as she came back, now tongless.

“We were just talking about Mom and how she was part of the security team in the Tournament of Kikai.” Dewey explained.

Webby gave a gasp as her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, YES! I know hearing it from your mom is great, but I wish we could have actually met her friends and such, Maki sounds like she’s pretty cool!”

“Well, yeah, I mean, we all watched the bonus features on that DVD collection Mom gave us and anything that wasn’t filmed, she filled us in on.” Louie said as he pulled out a can of Pep and opened it before taking a sip. “But that’s just it. Aside from everything she went through, it’s all been that green haired alien’s time to shine… which, I admit, he was pretty awesome!”

“WASN’T HE, THOUGH?” Webby gasped. “I mean, Kisshu looked so amazing with that guitar, and I am such a huge fan of him!”

The three boys blinked twice as they looked at the excitable girl in front of her. Huey then coughed a bit. “Uh, Webby, don’t get us wrong, I’m glad you’re a fan of Kisshu and all, but… you realize he WAS a bad guy in canon, right?”

“Yeah, WAS. Doesn’t mean he IS.” Webby scoffed. “I mean, can’t you see everything he does is to impress the girl he likes? Granted, I know his approach was wrong, but from what Della told us, he IS trying to improve himself. I mean, last I heard, he’s actually practicing guitar with one of the Loud sisters!”

“Oh yeah, I guess Kisshu and Luna got along pretty good during their time in the tourney.” Huey paused slightly before they heard Scrooge hanging up.

“Well, kids, seems like everything is under control. If any of you need me, I’ll be in my study, trying to search for our next adventure!” Scrooge smiled as he casually hummed to himself. “Don’t worry about the animal control, I’ll let Beakley and Duckworth know they’re coming. The best part is, they know about Glomgold, and they’re taking the money out of HIS account.”

“Well, all right, Uncle Scrooge, you do that.” Louie nodded as the four kids watched Scrooge enter the mansion. As soon as all four of them were sure he was inside, they all gave collective sighs.

“You know, ever since our show ended, it seems Uncle Scrooge is more than determined to find an adventure, any adventure to satisfy our thirst for exploration.” Huey pointed out.

“Hey, not that I’m complaining. Ever since we learned about the vast multiverse, we did have some great adventures in exploring a few of the worlds outside our own!” Dewey grinned.

“I’m still a little surprised that our ‘87 selves were pretty cool with us exploring THEIR version of Duckburg.” Webby grinned… before pausing. “But the version of me… she’s a sweetheart, but she had a little bit of an annoying voice.”

“Do you think people will ever show our world again?” Dewey asked in curiosity. “And I don’t mean the Chibiverse stuff, I mean our actual show?”

“I wouldn’t get our hopes up.” Louie sighed. “I imagine in about a few years from now, Ducktales will be rebooted again.”

“Aw, come on! I know our show was a reboot of the original, and… let’s face it, our world based around the Disney Duck comics… but you have to admit, we did pull off some daring moves that I don’t think any future Ducktales installment could ever do again.” Dewey pointed out.

“Let’s face it, Dewey. No matter what, the classic versions and any version of our characters are always going to have the same voices.” Huey rolled his eyes.

Dewey paused slightly, before sighing. “Okay, true… BUT hey, the ‘87 Uncle Scrooge DID manage to join in the cast, so hey, with Mom being part of the team, maybe there’s a chance for her to join with the classics as well?”

“Don’t hold your breath.” Louie rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I think we should just go look for Mom and see what she’s up to…”

The kids gave a nod of agreement before heading into the mansion…

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Indeed, deep within another room, a recently installed computer room, Della was sitting down in front of it, using an app on her computer to talk with someone from all the way in a different multiverse. The excited duck woman couldn’t help but give a cheerful cheer of glee as she spoke to the person on the other end.

“Wow, Maki, it’s great to hear you’re actually getting some work!” Della grinned.

“Only a temporary job. Just until Shuichi, Himiko and I get enough money to start our own business.” The dark brown haired woman in the red school uniform nodded with a small smile.

“Any idea what the business is going to be?” Della asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, mostly something freelance, but we’re still working on it.” Maki explained. “How about you, Della? How have things been going since your show’s cancellation?”

“Admittingly, pretty slow, but things are turning around. Uncle Scrooge, the kids and I just recently went on a small trip last week to Tokyo, Japan, the same world where the Mew Mews are? We took a small trip and managed to recover the Jewel of Mew Aqua. Ichigo and the others were kind enough to let us have it once they extracted a few bits of it to give to Kisshu, Pai and Taruto.” Della explained. “You know, they’re now in their reboot outfits.”

“Yeah, I saw them online recently, and wow, their new designs are pretty cute.” Maki smiled.

“Isn’t it?” Della said with an excited smile.

Despite it being strange that a cartoon duck and a human teenage girl, almost hitting to adulthood, were talking to each other, it actually wasn’t that unnatural to the two. Ever since Della and Maki had spent their time with each other in the Tournament of Kikai, they had become pretty good friends with each other, finding time to talk with each other whenever they got the chance, mostly online. However, there was never a time for Della to visit Maki back in Fictograph City, NOR was there time for Maki or her friends to visit Duckburg, but since things were a little busy, with Della’s adventures with Scrooge and the others, it was easily understandable, so for Maki and Della, catching up via Facetime was the next best thing.

“Have you heard from the other members of our security team?” Della asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have, actually. Crunch is doing some exercises in hopes of getting into that new Crash game, but I don’t think hopes are high that he’s getting in… at least, as far as I know. Wigglytuff is still leading his guild back in his world, and doing rescue missions for the Pokemon, so he’s been a LOT busier. As for Axel, well, he’s still doing some Keyblade training with Roxas and Xion, so he hasn’t been talking as much.” Maki explained.

“You know, it’s weird we call him Axel and not Lea.” Della pointed out.

“What can I say? We got the name Axel ‘memorized’.” Maki smirked towards the duck.

Della gave a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure Axel will probably never hear the end of THAT one.”

After a moment, Della paused as she looked over. “Has there been any word about Monokuma or Junko? Did somebody find them?”

“Unfortunately, she’s been keeping quiet, both here AND in VG Central. No sign of Junko OR Tsumugi. I even sent a letter to the Smash Mansion, and nobody has seen Tsumugi there either.” Maki sighed. “I guess now that everyone knows that she made the costumes for the Mii Fighters, AND that she took a job as a Mii Fighter herself, she had to quit that job and now she’s in hiding.”

Della gave a frustrated sigh. “Well, I hope somebody DOES find them… because everybody needs to be ready for those two, you know?”

Maki looked over to her duck friend on the screen, before giving a small smile. “I wouldn’t worry too much right now. I’m sure everybody is keeping a sharp eye out for Junko.”

“Y-yeah…” Della smiled, before pausing. “Man, it’s so good to speak with you, I wish more than anything I could visit you guys again!”

“Well… maybe you can.” Maki smiled, causing Della to look up in interest. “There’s going to be a festival at Fictograph City, and a lot of people are going to be there. Since the Tournament of Kikai grabbed a lot of people’s attention, they’re starting to visit Fictograph City a lot more often, AND there’s plans for a festival in the area. You should take your family with you and we can get acquainted!”

“Really?” Della asked in surprise, before giving a smile. “Well, that shouldn’t be an issue at all! I can probably talk with the family and convince them to come to Fictograph City… there’s not much adventure going on in Duckburg anyway, so we might as well!”

Maki gave a warm smile. “Then I guess we’ll see you then. How about tomorrow in the morning, you and the family can come over, and we can make accommodations for you guys to stay for a few days!”

Della grinned. “Maki, you are an excellent woman! We can totally meet you tomorrow! I know a certain violent girl in this house that is more than excited to ask questions about you!”

Maki gave a small sigh of playful frustration. “Right, Webby Vanderquack… er, Webby McDuck, I suppose, given her new relationship status in your world.”

“Yeah, it was a bit hard to adjust to the fact that Webby was a clone of Scrooge, and technically Scrooge’s daughter.” Della chuckled nervously. “But we managed to get used to it in time.”

“Well, either way, we’ll be glad to see you again.” Maki smiled.

“Hey, likewise! The family and I will see you tomorrow!” Della grinned in excitement just as she hung up her end of the screen.

“Mom? Are you in here?”

Della turned around quickly as she noticed the boys and Webby coming in. The kids quickly noticed the huge smile on Della’s face and her excited look as Louie couldn’t help but give a slight eyeroll. “From the looks on her face, something tells me we’ll be in for a new adventure.”

“Kids, tell Uncle Scrooge that I have a brand new adventure awaiting him… I think it’s time I took you all to Fictograph City!” Della grinned happily.

The boys and Webby gasped as they jumped up and down in excitement, with Dewey saying, “This is going to be great! I can’t wait to see all the new people…”

“All those books, any details of the history of Fictograph City…” Huey sighed happily.

“Normally, I would scoff at this, but this is a huge deal we’re talking about!” Louie said.

“OHMYGOSH, are we finally meeting that Maki girl you keep talking about?” Webby asked, before screaming in delight. “Ohmygosh, we are!”

Della couldn’t help but give a small laugh as she looked out into the sky, having a feeling that this was going to be more than just a visit…

And little did anyone realize was that this was going to be the greatest adventure yet… not just for Della and Maki, but for a few more people outside the multiverse…

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, all the way in another world, it was a nice little summer afternoon in Royal Woods, Michigan as the town seemed mostly busy… but the busiest and probably the loudest house of all was mostly that of the Loud House, as a lot of people dubbed the small house with the slightly messy yard, the two items (a boomerang and frisbee respectively) sitting still on the roof, and a garage next to it. It was this particular garage where a certain pixie-cut sixteen year old girl in purple rocker clothes was strumming her guitar furiously and shredding it as a couple of her bandmates were applauding her technique.

The closest figure that was applauding the purple wearing girl was a blonde haired girl with a slight blue tint on part of her hair, wearing a white shirt with a blue ring and red dot imprinted on the front, with a blue leather jacket over it, a pair of burgundy slacks with holes on the knees of the jeans, and dark purple boots. The second figure was a brown haired teenage boy with a purple shirt over a black jacket, blue jeans and purple boots. And the final figure was a teenage girl with brown hair that covered her eyes, wearing a black and white striped shirt, a light blue jacket, a grey skirt, white knee-high stockings and green shoes.

“That’s pretty good, Luna!” The blonde smiled as she approached the pixie-cut girl.

Luna gave a small smirk as she turned to her girlfriend. “Thanks, love. New song that I wanted to show off.”

“Heh, knowing you, you’ve been doing good at these songs.” The other girl smirked as she got up.

“Come on, Mazzy, it’s not easy to come up with new ideas, especially when the pressure gets to you.” The boy said, turning to his friend.

Mazzy rolled her eyes. “But you know it’s true, Sully.”

“Hey, it’s nice to get these little breaks in-between shows… both out of cameras AND within the cameras.” Luna sighed. “What with us being filmed for the show, it’s been high pressure for all of us.”

“Yeah, well, I hope Season 7 will give us bigger roles.” Sully rolled his eyes before turning to Sam. “Nothing personal, Sam, we love you, but you’ve been getting a LOT of screen time in the other seasons.”

“Hey, Luna’s my girlfriend, and while she’s not the first person, she did surprise a lot of people by showing her sexual orientation.” Sam smiled. “It goes to show that Luna is not shy to admit her sexuality.”

“Sam, come on.” Luna laughed a bit.

Before the others could talk it out, they heard a voice call out from the garage.

“Excuse me, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

The little band turned to see a familiar orange shirt wearing white haired twelve-year old boy peeking inside the garage as Luna waved. “Hey, little bro! What’s going on?”

“Family meeting, we just got a letter from the big guys at the studios.” Lincoln said. “Sam, Mazzy, Sully, you’re all welcome to listen in if you want.”

Luna and the band members looked eager as they gave a nod before following Lincoln inside.

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Lincoln, Luna and the bandmates quickly joined in as a few of the other sisters (minus Lori, who was on a trip with her boyfriend Bobby, and Leni, who would be arriving home from her job at any moment) were talking quietly as they noticed Lincoln, Luna and the band members coming inside.

“Ah, so good of you to get Luna for us, Lincoln.” The five-year-old bespectacled brown haired girl with a green shirt and purple pants smiled a bit as she sat near the top. “I have some news regarding the seventh season of our show.”

“What is it, Lisa?” Lynn Jr (the fourteen year old girl in her red sporting gear) asked as she looked eager. “Do I have a new episode where I get to dunk somebody in a rough game? I’m already eager!”

“No word on if your script got in, yet, but I do have word that the premiere episodes are going to have me first, and Lori in the sister episode. I believe that you will be having your first appearance in Season 7 around that time, Luan.”

Luan smirked. “That’s great news to hear! I’ve been meaning to up my prank show, and I want to open up the season with some good jokes! I’m sure to bring in some ‘season’-able jokes!” She laughed before nudging her shoulder towards Lola Loud. “Get it?”

Lola just rolled her eyes as she said, “I just hope I get a bigger role in the next season. I mean, between doing our show, the Casagrandes’ ending their show… and the new live-action show that came out, we’ve been really busy.”

“You do realize that we don’t have a lot of say when it comes to the live-action show, right?” Lana asked.

“It’s still better than what the Fairly Oddparents tried to do with THEIR sitcom.” Lola pointed out.

Everyone nearly winced as Lucy held her head. “Don’t even start…”

“Uh, any news regarding video games?” Lynn said, widening her eyes in hope.

Most everyone rolled their eyes as Lisa said, “No, Lynn, there’s been no news on Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl regarding if any of the other sisters are joining.”

“Oh, come on!” Lynn’s face dropped. “Why can’t these people see I DO have fighting game potential! Did they even watch the episodes where I manage to kick butt in sports? With all the variety I have, I’m a shoo-in for these types of things! I mean, Stinkoln, I get, but LUCY? Heck, I was STILL astonished to see LUNA, of all people, in that mobile fighting game before All-Star Brawl.”

“Come on, sis, it’s not like the Super Brawl Universe thing was really your style, anyway.” Luna shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy my time there, but when it’s mainly just bashing your head and using your fists and sliding over and over without a lot of context… it can be pretty tiring after a while. Actually, I’m a little more disappointed I wasn’t in the base roster of All-Star Brawl myself.”

“Still, the people won’t add a third Loud House representative, but they’ll add GARFIELD?” Lynn crossed her arms in anger. “I worded it specifically in that letter I sent them.”

“Don’t worry, Lynn, I’m sure they’ll find your potential someday.” Lincoln assured his sister.

Mazzy coughed as everyone turned to her. “Any idea if me, Sully or any of the other characters that’s been in the earlier seasons of your show get a big role in the later episodes? I’ve been dying to get back and get some good comebacks.”

“Unfortunately, no news as of yet… but I do know that Clyde and Lincoln’s other friends are going to be coming out with them.” Lisa noted.

Lincoln gave a smile. “I’ll be sure to tell Clyde when he gets back from vacation.”

“Any other news?” Lucy asked, looking up slightly.

“Well, the bosses are showing an interest in Stella and Girl Jordan in an episode together, and fans do seem to want Ronnie Anne and Bobby to return back to the Loud House as regular characters now that the Casagrandes have ended.” Lisa explained. “Some people are arguing about who should be Leni’s boyfriend, whether it be the people wanting Chaz back, or to have Scott from our movie join in the regular show, but it’s a little early to tell.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask that. How is Leni in regards to being pulled around?” Lincoln asked, lowering his eyelids, as people had a feeling they weren’t going to like the answer.

“In a way, I feel bad.” Lisa sighed as everyone nodded.

“Don’t get me wrong, when Leni started dating Chaz, things were going great, but… yeah, that break-up off-screen was rather harsh.” Luan winced. “No joke.”

“And Scott was only for the movie.” Lola brought up. “And then there’s the Gavin episode, which… I’m a little mixed on, to be honest.”

“Yeah, I’m a bit mixed on that one too.” Lincoln sighed, before looking up. “Look, I don’t hate Gavin, I mean, the idea was interesting, but I want to see if he at least appears in a couple more episodes to see if it sticks.”

“Considering this show has Leni go through boyfriends like Luan goes through discarded jokes, I’m not going to hold my breath.” Luna rolled her eyes, before pausing. “Uh, no offense, Luan.”

“None taken.” Luan grinned.

“Like, did I hear someone call my name?”

All eyes turned to see that the beautiful seventeen year old blonde haired teenage girl in the green seafoam dress with white frills, red hoop earrings, sunglasses atop her head, and white sandals with light green bows came walking in.

“Hey, Leni.” Lincoln waved as she joined in. “We were just having a small family meeting about the news of the show.”

Leni gasped as she looked interested. “Is there any word about me finally selecting a boyfriend in that show?”

“Uhhh… they said they’ll think about it.” Lisa said, looking over the letter.

The normally smiling Leni’s face drooped before putting her head down on the table. “That sounds like a no…”

“Aw, come on, Leni.” Luna said as she put her arm around her. “I know it’s been tough after the break-up, and the boyfriends the bosses have to show you weren’t quite sticking… but hey, you’re making a slow progress of recovery. That’s a start.”

“Easy for you to say. You managed to get your girlfriend by the end of “L is for Love”. And Luan managed to win over Benny… where’s my happy ending?” Leni groaned. “I know the show is trying to give me other boys to be interested in, but I’m not sure IF I could be interested… maybe I’m just destined to be lonely…”

With that, Leni slowly got up and started to walk off, still feeling as dejected as ever. The others looked towards the departing girl as they looked down. Lincoln gave a sigh. “I’ll go talk with her. Maybe I can try to cheer her up.”

“Go for it, Lincoln. You’re always the man with the plan!” Lana grinned as the others nodded.

As the others turned back to talk, the clock started to ring as Luna gasped before looking up at the clock, noticing that it had struck five. “Oh my gosh, I’m late!”

The others looked confused at first until they suddenly realized and snapped their fingers, Sam saying, “Right, our new band member’s coming in for those guitar lessons!”

“Well, don’t let us keep you, then.” Lisa said. “I was about done anyway.”

With a quick nod, everybody departed from the Loud House dining room as Luna and her new bandmates were walking out of the house, just in time to see a blue shimmering portal appear outside the house. Luna couldn’t help but give a small smile as something was coming out of the portal, holding what seemed to be an old-timey guitar.

“Just in time, bro!” Luna smiled as the figure’s portal closed up.

Giving a smirk, the green haired alien creature with elf ears, golden eyes, and pale skin wearing a dark green shirt with poofy sleeves and a brown vest overtop, with red bindings on his forearms. The figure also wore black baggy pants that were held up by a red wrist band, alongside a brown loincloth, with two long and skinny cloths waving on the back of his pants, dark boots and red wrappings around his legs. This person seemed to have a large smile on his face.

“Wouldn’t miss out on guitar lessons from a fellow Tournament of Kikai competitor!” The alien smirked.

“Well, glad to see that you can join us all the same.” Luna smirked.

“Hey, Sam, Mazzy, Sully! Haven’t seen you guys in a hot minute!” The green haired alien smirked as he gave the peace sign towards the others.

“Kisshu!” The three bandmates called out as they gave their own signs to the alien respectively.

Kisshu, hailing from the world of Tokyo Mew Mew, smiled as he held up his guitar. “Well, I’m eager to practice if you are.”

“Right this way!” Luna smiled as she led the alien to the garage.

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Now, some may be confused by the sight of an alien not looking like he fit in the world of the Loud House practicing guitar with this young teenage girl, but for those that knew the context, could understand it. Kisshu and Luna Loud have actually met before during a tournament in the world of Fictograph City, a world outside Tokyo and Royal Woods, where both characters lived respectively. But while Kisshu had not lasted too long due to a small emergency, Luna herself had actually lasted from Section 5 through Section 11, being the penultimate fight of the round. Regardless of the times they went out though, Kisshu and Luna were friends during the tourney, even with Luna helping Kisshu on how to play guitar. And even though Luna wasn't there for the whole battle of despair Junko Enoshima (of Danganronpa) had planned to unleash, Kisshu did tell her all about it and all the reasons why he had the guitar, which belonged to Quick Draw McGraw (of Hanna-Barbera fame).

So, Luna was more than eager to teach Kisshu how to help with guitar playing, even if her methods of teaching were a little more… unorthodox. Still, it was a slow, but good process for him. And as of current, Kisshu was busy strumming the right notes, trying his best to follow along Luna’s fast paced playing.

“Just play to the rhythm, bra! You’ll get the hang of it in no time!” Luna grinned as Kisshu focused on strumming his fingers through the guitar strings. “Think of handling your guitar like how you handle your first love.”

Kisshu immediately winced at that thought, causing Luna to stop playing as she looked over at him in worry, realizing what she said. “Oops. Sorry, Kisshu, didn’t mean to throw off your groove.”

“No, that’s all right.” Kisshu sighed as he tuned the guitar a bit. “I think I was off-key on the last few notes anyway.”

Luna paused briefly as she turned towards the green-haired alien. “I’ve been meaning to ask, Kisshu. You and Ichigo… how are you two holding up?”

“Better than we were, but still respecting boundaries.” Kisshu explained. “There are times I sort of wish Masaya wasn’t in the picture, but… at the same time, he and Ichigo were always meant to be. I guess there are times that even canon can stab you in the heart.”

Luna bit her lip as Sully, Mazzy and Sam watched from nearby, all of them looking a little concerned for the green-haired alien. “But you two are doing better.”

“Oh yeah! Just last week, Ichigo and I hung out in Fictograph City as friends, we managed to exchange a nice conversation together, we laughed, we had fun… but all the while, I knew in the back of my mind that this date was always going to be ‘as friends’, and nothing more.” Kisshu said as he looked happy at first, before slowly talking a bit as he went back to a depressed mood. “Guess even after sacrificing myself as in canon AND saving the entire multiverse from falling into despair, life just keeps throwing curveballs. I mean, I know we’re just in our second season of the reboot, but even that I still have my moments, and the more I have to re-enact them, the more I reminded just how…”

“Psychotic?” Sam offered.

“Obsessed?” Sulley suggested.

“Always in a blood-lust to get your way?” Mazzy suggested, causing Luna to turn and glare at her friends.

Kisshu paused as he looked at Luna’s bandmates, before rolling his eyes. “I was going to say how thoughtless I was.” The green-haired Cyniclon then went back to a small sigh. “Although things are still looking up off-camera.”

“Hey, dude, I wish I could help cheer you up.” Luna said as she patted her friend on the back.

“Ehhh, don’t worry about me, Luna. I can work through my own problems. After all…” Kisshu gave a smirk. “I can always find a way to bounce back! Now come on, Moonbeam, let’s try practicing another song, huh?”

Luna paused briefly, before smirking as she held up her guitar. “Bring it, broski!”

With that, both Kisshu and Luna started to shred on their guitars as they started to headbang, Luna singing along to a tune she made up on the spot, with Kisshu doing the ‘bum bum bums’, following the tune. And as the time passed, Sam, Mazzy and Sully were watching the two, rather impressed by their guitar playing skills.

By the time they were finished with their song, Luna and Kisshu looked over to see that the three bandmates were applauding as Sam shouted, “That was amazing, guys!”

“Kisshu, dude, you should totally join our band, if you’re not doing anything!” Sully suggested.

Kisshu’s eyes widened in surprise. “Me, as part of the band?”

“You know, that’s a good idea, Kisshu!” Luna smirked. “We’re both great guitar buddies, I wouldn’t mind having you as part of the band!”

“Really?” Kisshu stammered a bit in surprise, before giving a nervous chuckle. “I mean, I would love to, but… I don’t even know where to start? I mean, there IS a lot of red tape regarding Japanese animation and American animation, after all.”

“Hey, it doesn’t have to be on our show.” Luna suggested. “I mean, we still have VG Central to go to… and hey, Fictograph City is STILL a thing! We can take our band there and perform!”

“Do you really think Fictograph City will take us?” Mazzy asked. “I mean, we’d just be performing without permits there.”

“It does sound like a lot of work…” Luna paused. “But how can we get our band over there…”

“I might be of help.”

Everyone yelped in fear as they turned to see the standing Lucy just appearing next to them. Luna yelped, “Lucy, I swear, we have got to put a bell on you!”

“...I didn’t think I’d have a heart attack in my teenage years, and yet here you go.” Kisshu choked as he held his heart a bit.

“Oh, don’t be overdramatic.” Lucy said as she rolled her eyes (well, they thought she was rolling her eyes. They couldn’t tell because her hair was covering her eyes). “Anyway, there’s a festival coming up in about a week in Fictograph City. I know this because we at the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl fighters are going to be performing for-fun fights there. But the festival there is still looking for entertainment.”

Sam, after recovering, gave a smile. “Looking for entertainment, huh? Hey, Luna, this may be our best offer.”

Luna gave a big grin. “Yeah, we can definitely make it work out! What do you think, Kisshu? This could be a good chance to go up the big leagues… go beyond what was portrayed on your show! Show off your musical talent, bro!”

Kisshu paused briefly as he looked at the hopeful faces of his recent friends, before looking towards his guitar. Sure, he had been practicing for a few months now, and while it has been a good way to convey his emotions, he wasn’t quite sure if he could really get down his feelings. In between the emotions he was feeling, in both trying to get over Ichigo AND trying to find his own path, it would seem hopeless…

And yet, Kisshu was determined. He wanted to prove that he can make his mark in the world, without people seeing him as the villain. After all, he already proved himself a lot of times… what’s another time to prove himself? The alien boy grinned as he looked up. “You know what, guys? If this festival can help us show our talents, I’m more than ready to show off! Let’s do this!”

Luna and her bandmates cheered as they surrounded Kisshu and patted him on the back, with Lucy giving a small smile as she watched nearby. “Glad I could help…”

Of course, as Kisshu and the other bandmates were discussing possible ideas, they hadn’t realized that it was the beginning of something special… and little did they realize was that another certain girl had noticed the excited characters out the window. Leni was looking out the window at this moment, currently looking towards that grinning alien boy talking excitedly amongst the bandmates, not helping but giving a small smile towards that boy. She couldn’t explain it, but something had been off with her ever since Luna had first introduced Kisshu to the Louds. She knew for the most part Kisshu got along with the others pretty good, but when it came to her… she held her heart, giving a small sigh of content.

Leni bit her lip as she shook her head. “What am I thinking? He’d probably never go for me…”

With a heavy sigh, she decided to leave the window, hoping to find something to take her mind off this strange feeling she was having for Kisshu…

Chapter Text

It was a sunny afternoon in Smithville, California, a nice place of suburbia where many people usually hang around, work, chat… a mundane life for these people, in other words. But as of current, the area seemed a lot busier than usual. And it wasn’t because of Wizard Kelly, which was rather odd in and of itself.

No, rather, something special was happening in school today, as a camera crew was coming in to film an interview with somebody important. And that somebody was currently sitting down in a nice little empty classroom as she was giving a big smile. This person was a black skinned fourteen-year-old woman with dark hair, done in pigtails, with one hair strand raised up in the center. The girl was wearing a cherry red cardigan sweater with a white midriff shirt underneath it, alongside a denim, maroon skirt, and maroon sneakers.

Right behind the girl were her three close girlfriends as one of them seemed to be more excited to be on TV… two of them, anyway. The first character that was waving to the cameras in excitement was a blonde haired, dark skinned girl wearing a pink blouse, a blue cardigan sweater, blue skirt and blue shoes. The second character, half posing for the camera, and half looking in her mirror, is another dark-skinned girl with shoulder-length brown hair, with a magenta flower at the center of her hair. She was wearing a pink shirt with a red cardigan sweater over it, long blue jeans, and red shoes. And the final character was another female, this time, a white-skinned, orange haired girl with glasses and braces, wearing a light green shirt and an olive green skirt respectively, alongside a blue denim jacket and green platform sandals. She looked half excited to be with Penny, and half excited to be on TV. Either way, this was going to be an interesting day as an unseen interviewer was making his speech.

“Welcome back to another episode of ‘Champions of the World’! Our next character we’re going to be interviewing is none other than the surprise winner of the Ultimate Video Rumble spinoffs, Penelope Marie Proud… or, Penny Proud, for those who know her by that name.” The interviewer said as the girl with the stand up hair strand looked up to attention. “Miss Proud, thank you for accepting this interview on such short notice.”

The girl, Penny, gave a laugh. “Believe me, it is a nice surprise to speak to the worlds outside ours, if only for a little while.”

“Come on, girl, don’t be bashful!” The girl in blue smirked as she couldn’t help but pose. “How often do you have people come up to you saying you’re the champion of the Tournament of Kikai, hm?”

“I’m still in awe that you managed to pull it off.” The girl in red rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. “Dumb luck, if you ask me.”

Penny glared towards the girl in red for a brief moment, before turning back to the camera. “Uh, for those who don’t know, these are my friends from school… Dijonay Jones, my best friend… LaCienega Boulevardez, my frenemy AND next door neighbor… and Zoey Howzer, my other best friend. Together, we’re the song and dance team known as LPDZ!”

“Still working on new songs, y’all!” Dijonay smirked as she seemed to pull out a CD, causing Penny to yelp.

“Dijonay, we’ll have time to play that when we do.” Penny said, shoving her arm holding the CD aside. “Besides, we’re not here about the music, we’re here to talk about the Tournament of Kikai.”

The camera crew gave a slight chuckle as the unseen interviewer continued, “Yes, well, miss Proud, when you came home with that win, what were everyone’s reactions?”

“Well, at first, I came back home to a furious father, but then he remained cool.” Penny smiled, before frowning. “Although, the fact that he promoted me to a snack mascot for a while for his Proud Snacks because I was the champion of the Tournament of Kikai, I am still mixed on.”

“Proud Snacks DID soar to popularity for a while.” Zoey pointed out.

“Yeah, for like, two days. No offense to daddy, but everyone KNOWS how his snacks are.” Penny rolled his eyes as the other girls gave respected disgusted looks on their faces. Penny shook her head as she gave a grin. “Despite that, the popularity I had really soared when people learned they were going to the same school as a champion. I was up there with the highs for a while, Wizard Kelly put me on a float in one of his parades, there was a grand opening I attended for a new restaurant…”

“Not to mention the free concert tickets for that boy band!” LaCienega smirked.

“Yeah, that. And even then, my daddy DEMANDED a ticket.” Penny rolled her eyes, before shrugging. “Yeah, there were also a few young male fans that admired me for being a champion, but they never really went anywhere.”

“Yeah, your daddy pretty much dragged you away from any potential boy who showed interest in you.” Dijonay chuckled.

“I swear…” Penny groaned, before smiling. “But I’m not that upset about it. I know he’s just looking out for my best interests… even if I didn’t ask.”

“Well, can you blame him? The man may overstep it a bit, but he is looking out for you.” Zoey pointed out.

“I know, I know.” Penny sighed, before looking back. “Either way, the popularity high was off the charts. And after that, for at least a couple months, things started to slow down for a while. I’m still a little busy, but in a more… slice-of-life sense. What with doing the continuation/reboot and a few changes around our home, we’ve been doing a lot of adjusting.”

“I still can’t believe my man Sticky moved away!” Dijonay growled in anger… before giving a shrug. “Well, at least the new boy, KG, is just as cute!”

Penny, LaCienega and Zoey just rolled their eyes as Penny gave a chuckle. “While this isn’t all my friends here, I do have another friend as well, Maya, but she’s currently out on a protest. Not really surprising for her, really. Aside from that, though, things have been slowing down, the popularity of me being the champion pretty much waned out in my world. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, but then again, popularity was always a fickle thing.”

“Girl, that is why we need to get back on top! LPDZ is currently the meal ticket in and out!” Dijonay smirked as she pulled up her CD.

Penny laughed a bit as she gave a nod towards her friend. “I suppose that’s true. We have been doing a few new dances and covers to songs lately. So, that has been a bit of my focus.”

“Ahhhh, well, I’m sure that’ll take off soon.” The unseen interviewer noted before deciding to ask, “And how about outside your world? I understand you made an alliance within that tournament. Do you still keep in touch with any of them?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve kept in touch.” Penny smiled, causing Dijonay, LaCienega and Zoey to look towards her, each of them sporting looks of jealousy. “Sure, we haven’t EXACTLY met up together outside the tournament, but we Facetime each other, keep in touch every once in a while.”

“Wait a minute, girl, so you still talk to the flying blue girl, the dog, the large gem girl and the dancer girl with the daggers?” Dijonay asked in shock.

“Wow. This is a little bit of an eye-opener.” LaCienega said.

Penny looked a little nervous as she said, “It’s not really that big of a deal, I can still have my friends here and my friends out there. You guys aren’t jealous, are you?”

“Jealous? Us?” Zoey scoffed. “No, just a little surprised that you still talk to those guys. I mean, you only stuck with them because of the tournament.”

“Come on, Zoey, that’s not fair to assume.” Penny frowned. “It is true I formed that alliance at the very last minute in panic, but the more I hung out with those three girls, alongside Garnet later on, the more I got attached to them. In a way, Bubbles, Isabelle, Ellis and Garnet are, well, wonderful people to hang around with.”

“Hmph, you only formed that to save your own hide, Proud, when we all know you couldn’t win in a fight otherwise.” LaCienega chuckled to herself. “Hence, your dumb luck.”

Penny narrowed her eyes angrily at LaCienega. “Hey, I did GREAT on my own afterwards. After all, I managed to get some eliminations on my own!”

“What eliminations are we talking about, the one where the treasure hunter from Uncharted was blinded and he fell?” LaCienega pointed out. “The one where you teamed up with that Animal Crossing dog to do one of our dances against that secret society psychopath from Street Fighter?”

“Well, I took down Kat and Dusty from Gravity Rush on my own! That was an amazing feat!” Penny pointed out.

“Girl, we never saw that elimination, Wizard Kelly interrupted the broadcast to promote a parade. It didn’t even come back until mid-section Twenty-One.” Dijonay pointed out.

Penny yelped, before snapping her fingers. “Okay, okay, but you have to admit, I pulled off some impressive moves on Charmy Bee! And I managed to defeat Captain Jack Sparrow on my own… and the lead Mew Mew girl.”

“...the most annoying character in Sonic that you can easily toss since he’s only a flier and can’t fight naturally, a pirate that was probably too drunk, and you only took the pink cat girl out when she got distracted.” LaCienega pointed out, causing Penny to flatly stare at her. “Oh yeah, those were TOTALLY wins.”

Penny narrowed her eyes as Zoey gave a gulp. “Now hold on, LaCienega. It’s true that Penny making the finals was surprising, and you have to admit, she put up a fight against Mewtwo. Granted, we didn’t see ALL of the fight, but she did something right.”

“Only because both of them fell out, and the girl only got a win through a technicality.” LaCienega rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, no offense, girl, but you were totally outmatched otherwise.” Dijonay pointed out.

Penny shut her eyes in frustration before shaking her head. “Well, despite all of that, I still had fun out there. And going back on topic before we derail things, yes, I still keep in contact with my fellow alliance mates. In fact, I’m planning on Facetiming them tonight, if that’s anything to go by.”

“What? Girl! We have a poetry slam night tonight!” Dijonay pointed out in anger.

Penny gave a sigh. “I know, I know I said that, but…”

“And that should do it for the interview, thank you for your time, Miss Proud and friends.” The interviewer said as he motioned for the cameras to shut off, the girls chattering away with different emotions.

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“I’m just sayin’, girl, it’s not fair that you have to ditch us just so you can talk with those other worldly friends of yours.” Dijonay frowned as she and the others were walking alongside Penny, heading for home.

“So irresponsible.” LaCienega rolled her eyes.

Penny narrowed her eyes angrily as she looked between them. “Me ditch you guys? I’m still loyal to you. If anything, you take my loyalty and spit it right in my face! Don’t get me wrong, I expect it from YOU, LaCienega…” She looked over to LaCienega as the red wearing girl gave a small smirk, before turning to Dijonay. “But you’re my girl, Dijonay. Sometimes, I’m not sure whether you’re my true friend or you just say you are, only to run off when the first sign of danger approaches.”

“Since when have I ever ditched you, Penny?” Dijonay asked.

Penny, as if prepared for this question, pulled out a small list from her pocket as she read it over. “The time you left me with your siblings just so you can attend the concert we were going to attend together, the time you left me behind to get cornered by the Gross Sisters, skipping out when I maxed out my own credit card… shall I go on?”

“Oh come on, Penny, you have to admit, I’ve actually been there for you a few times.” Dijonay said as she gave a nervous chuckle.

“Sure, when you’re there for me, I can give you credit for a few times, but other times I do need you or if there’s big trouble… the minute I turn around when I need you here, you’re never there.” Penny sighed before turning to Zoey. “Don’t think you’re getting off easy, Zoey. Don’t get me wrong, girl, I like you, but dang, you get peer pressured so easily that when I do need you, you’re not there.”

“Sorry…” Zoey sighed as she looked down.

“No, don’t be sorry…” Penny sighed, before shaking her head.

“I think we’re getting off-subject here.” LaCienega frowned. “What we’re mad about with YOU, Penny, is the fact that you’re ditching our nights.”

“Yes, I’m aware, and I’m sorry, but I’ve been talking to my new friends at least twice a week, and I didn’t want them to think I forgot them. I mean, when you think about it, they’re the main reasons I even did what I could do out in that arena.” Penny explained as she turned to the others.

LaCienega and Dijonay just glared at Penny as Zoey gave a sigh, saying their thoughts for them. “We get it, Penny. And it’s not that I don’t appreciate that you’re expanding beyond… it’s just, sometimes, we feel a little left out, you know?”

Penny looked over to Zoey with a concerned look on her face. “Hey, we’re still cool. The others may be out of world, but you guys are my main girls. Don’t forget that.”

“Okay, sure.” Dijonay sighed as they arrived over at Penny’s place. “Well, here’s your stop. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Hey hey, I’m sure the next time we meet up, let’s practice our own dance moves! Can’t wait to shake it with my main girls!” Penny grinned as she nodded towards her friends, before turning towards the door.

The others looked at each other and nodded together as they each went their separate ways, Dijonay and Zoey heading different directions for home, and Dijonay just heading towards the house next door.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as Penny stepped inside the home, she quickly found herself in shock as she noticed a large mess coming from the kitchen. Half of her looked a little surprised, but the other half figured it was another experimentation with another snack.

“Come back here and just try one more snack, Mr. Chips! You know you’re my best experimental chimp!” Oscar’s voice shouted from the kitchen as monkey sounds were heard coming from the other room.

Penny couldn’t help but give a chuckle as she passed by Suga Mama, who seemed to be ignoring the noise going on and was focused on a magazine clipping. It was then the old woman noticed Penny walking up as she gave a smile. “Ah, Penny, I thought I heard you come in.”

“Hey, Suga Mama.” Penny smiled a bit as she settled down next to her.

“School doing okay? No one trying to fawn over your celebrity status?” Suga Mama asked in curiosity.

“They better not!” Oscar Proud poked his head out of the kitchen with a frown on his face.

Penny gave a small groan as she rolled her eyes. “No boys have approached me, so you can lay that to rest.”

Oscar gave a small grin. “Good! At least you’re makin- h-hey!” The man suddenly got distracted as a large gob of snack mixture got thrown at him. “Mr. Chips, put down that bowl!”

As soon as Oscar ran back in, Suga Mama raised an eyebrow as she looked over towards Penny’s depressed face. “Something wrong?”

Penny gave a sigh. “Well, me and my friends had another small spat again.”

Suga Mama rolled her eyes underneath her glasses. “I figured it was the case. You know, I always said that Dijonay was nothin’ but bad news. LaCienega and Zoey? Well, I’m fifty-fifty on them, but on the other hand, LaCienega also comes with Papi, and-”

The old lady shook her head as she gave a cough. “Anyway, what did they do this time?”

“Nothing upsetting. No backstabbing or anything this time, just a small spat about how I seem to be talking to my other friends from other worlds.” Penny explained.

“They’re jealous of that?” Suga Mama frowned, as if looking at her granddaughter in disbelief. “Grandbaby, whoever you make friends with, be it in world or out of world, shouldn’t be any concern. And besides, as far as I’m concerned, you did seem to enjoy talking with the other four girls.”

Penny paused, before giving a smile. “Well, each of them have their own quirks in a way. Garnet is just amazing in general, Bubbles is a cool superheroine girl that can be both cute and friendly, Ellis shows just a great positive attitude when battling… and Isabelle, she has her heart in the right place, always trying to schedule time, yet finding the perfect time to talk before hanging up to talk with one of the villagers in her world.”

Suga Mama could only watch with a small grin on her face. “Seems to me you’re getting along with those new friends of yours quite well.”

“Yeah, but… the main trouble is that I like my new friends, but my old friends… they seem to think I like them more. I want to show them that I can be friends with people in and out of world. I’m trying to tell them that, but from their looks… well, let me tell you something, being judged by your friends from your world… a little unnerving.” Penny shuddered.

Suga Mama crossed her arms. “Well, I’m sure they’ll come around…”

The door opened up as Trudy Proud came in, holding the twins, Bebe and Cece, in her arms as she gave a grin. “I’m home!”

“Hi, mama!” Penny looked up and gave a small, cheery wave as Trudy was looking into the kitchen… and rolling her eyes.

“Oscar, you have got to stop bringing your work home with you.” Trudy rolled her eyes. “I can barely make dinner around it.”

“Come on, Trudy. This is a snack that I want to bring to perfection! If I can test it right, this could get Proud Snacks on the map!” Oscar called from the kitchen. “If I can just get a certain monkey to cooperate and test it out…”

Trudy gave a sigh as she walked over and settled the twins down on the floor, as they started to crawl around. The woman paused before pulling out a letter. “By the way, Penny, this came for you in the mail.”

“Really?” Penny said in surprise as she took the letter from her mother’s hand. As Trudy quickly rushed into the kitchen to see if she could either help or berate her husband, Penny looked at the invitation in surprise. “Hmmm… this looks like the same sort of envelope the world of Fictograph City gives out. Can’t be time for the third Battle of the Luminaries 3 already, the vampire would have called us and let us know in advance.”

Suga Mama looked a bit curious as Penny opened the envelope and looked at the letter. “What’s it say, Penny?”

Penny looked over the letter as her eyes widened in interest. “It’s from the mayor of Fictograph City! ‘Dear Penny Proud, I send you this letter on behalf of the Fictograph City Council to invite you and your family and friends to help open a festival that’s coming up next week. You and the guests you bring will be treated well and pampered for a good four-day, three-night week in Fictograph City. And we figured, as the first winner of the Tournament of Kikai in our town, we would be honored if you were to attend. Send a letter back posthaste through the dimensional mailbox located next to your train station. We look forward to your response’.”

As she read, the house suddenly went quiet as Trudy and Oscar quickly ran towards Penny and Suga Mama, looking surprised. Even Mr. Chips looked a little surprised at this news, raising an eyebrow in curiosity as he peeked out.

“Whoa, whoa! The mayor is inviting US to participate in his festival?” Oscar asked, as he gave a large grin. “Festival means large crowd, and a large crowd means, more chances to expand the Proud Snacks company beyond our little town of Smithville!”

The family rolled their eyes a bit, before Penny looked over the letter. “Wow, this is an honor.”

“Hey, can you blame that city? As far as they’re concerned, you are the first UVR-type champion to come out from the city. Sure, the RumbleDome in Toronto may have its winners, and even VG Central and the Megamix Dome have their fair share of winners, but you’re the first winner from THEIR city, as far as they’re concerned.” Oscar pointed out before patting his little girl on the head. “And with a winner comes a great family, especially one that can provide the tastiest snacks in the world!”

Suga Mama rolled her eyes before slamming her cane on Oscar’s head, causing Oscar to yelp. “Mama, what did you do that for?”

“Just thought I’d unswell that head of yours a bit.” Suga Mama pointed out with a chuckle of her own before turning to Penny. “You know, Penny, this could be a perfect opportunity to invite everyone…”

Penny paused briefly, before giving a smile. “You know, maybe this’ll be fun. I haven’t really been to Fictograph City since the Tournament of Kikai! And now that I’m being invited again, even for just a week’s vacation, I’m more than open to it! What do you guys think?”

Trudy paused for a brief moment, before giving a smile. “It has been a little while since our last vacation!”

“You know it!” Oscar grinned. “And even though I’m only bringing my work with me, I’ll try to find room to relax too! After all, if I want to expand the business, I’m going to need a good factory to settle, and Fictograph City may as well be a good start.”

“That, and since Penny’s celebrity status is slowing down here, it might give us a good opportunity to explore that city.” Suga Mama grinned. “While I don’t regret giving my invitation to you, grandbaby, part of me STILL wanted to explore Fictograph City for the landscapes. And hey, the invitation says there’s no limit to who you can bring…”

Penny paused, before giving a smile. “It did say I can bring friends as well, so… maybe LaCienega, Dijonay and Zoey would like to come! Maybe Maya, if she’s interested…”

“Yeah… AND… maybe your other out-world friends too.” Suga Mama smirked.

Penny looked a little surprised as Trudy and Oscar looked at the old lady in disbelief, the latter asking, “Now why would Penny want to convince the people from those other worlds to come on our vacation?”

“Let’s be fair, Oscar, if it hadn’t been for them, Penny probably wouldn’t have found that confidence.” Trudy smiled. “Besides, I’ve actually wanted to meet that shih tzu friend of yours, she seems very organizational.”

Penny paused for a brief moment as she thought about it. “This could be a perfect chance to have my friends from both my world and other worlds to interact…”

The young girl drummed her fingers as she thought for a brief moment, before giving a smile. “Let me Facetime them, and ask what they think. If they want to come, then… heck, I think that’s our vacation planned!”

“I’m definitely looking forward to it.” Oscar grinned as Penny got up and started to head upstairs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“An invitation to a week-long event, and you want to have us join?” Bubbles asked through her monitor as she, Garnet, Ellis, Isabelle and Penny were sitting down and talking to each other.

“You wouldn’t mind, would you?” Penny chuckled nervously. “I know you guys are probably busy with your things…”

Bubbles couldn’t help but give a slight giggle. “Actually, I was planning on leaving with Mac and his friends for that same festival anyway. Foster’s is currently doing a bit of a panel for the festival there, so I’m sure we’ll be able to meet you there.”

Ellis paused, before snapping her fingers. “I keep forgetting you and Mac pretty much live in the same world…”

“Foster’s isn’t REALLY that far away from Townsville. Sort of helps that we had the same creator.” Bubbles grinned.

“Anyway, you can count on me and dad to come over, Penny!” Ellis grinned as she gave a thumbs-up. “Battle Arena Toshinden hasn’t really been used that much anyway, so unless by some miracle a reboot of the franchise is announced, we’re pretty much open.”

“Multiversus has been going into a bit of a lull for a while after Marvin got introduced, so you can guarantee I’ll be over.” Garnet said with a small smile. “Steven and the others will likely want to come as well, I’m sure. I know Steven is more than eager to meet up with the friends I made.”

Penny laughed a bit. “So I hear. How about you, Isabelle?”

Isabelle paused briefly as she held her head. “Gee, it does vary a little, depending on what the villagers are doing. Fictonisla is still doing well in running its businesses, and the townsfolk are getting along for the most part. I suppose I could ask Mr. Nook to watch over my area and take over morning announcements while I invite my twin brother with me…”

As Isabelle was talking through her plans, the other girls just gave a slight chuckle as Bubbles said, “Oh Isabelle, always trying to find room in that schedule of yours…”

After a moment, Isabelle snapped her fingers and smiled. “Okay! I’ll pull some strings and I’ll come with you on that vacation of yours! It has been a while since we actually did anything together!”

“More like a long while, since we made that alliance in the tournament.” Ellis smirked. “Besides, I think it’s about time we hung out as a group. And considering that you’re opening the festival, Penny, that’ll give us more time to hang out!”

“Yeah, it’s going to be great…” Penny smiled. “Heads up, I’m also bringing my family and friends… if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like my friends to meet up with all of you…” She gave a nervous grin. “I know they’re not exactly the best, but…”

“We’ll keep an open mind.” Garnet said as Bubbles, Isabelle and Ellis nodded. “Besides, I’ve always been curious about LPDZ myself.”

“You got to perform a few dances for us!” Isabelle smiled as stars came out from out of nowhere, with the shih tzu letting loose a big smile.

Bubbles giggled. “And we’ll be more than happy to attend.”

Penny gave a small sigh of relief. “Glad to hear it, girls. Anyway, now that I know you’re all coming, let’s catch on what’s going on. You say Mac is helping out in that festival, Bubbles?”

The five girls laughed as they continued to chat through Facetime, and as they kept talking, Penny took a deep breath as she felt a wave of nervousness being lifted off her shoulders. “Hopefully, the fateful meeting of my friends from in and out of universe will go smooth…”

She bit her lip as she looked up at the ceiling. “...if nothing goes wrong…”

Chapter Text

(Royal Woods, Michigan)

A couple days later, back in Royal Woods, Michigan, Luna Loud was looking over at her band display, feeling a sense of accomplishment as she looked it over. “Oh yeah, I can totally vibe with this…”

Ever since Lucy had told her, Kisshu and her band about the upcoming festival of Fictograph City, they were doing a lot more to be prepared, including Luna trying to write a couple of songs to perform, while Kisshu, showing the kindness of his heart, insisted that he get to Fictograph City and reserve a spot in the band itself. After all, it was the least he could do for his new friends. Still, it gave Luna more time to help out with setting up the potential set-up for her and her band, so she immediately got to work on the set-up.

Sure, she had to ask her sisters and Lincoln’s help a couple of times, but as previously mentioned, she was satisfied with the display. As a matter of fact, the other members of the family were looking over at the band display with a sense of accomplishment.

“I got to hand it to you, Luna.” Lola smiled. “You’re really pulling out all the stops here!”

Lana smirked at her twin sister. “Even though “I” helped set the stage up.”

“Come on, girls, we all chipped in.” Lincoln said as he looked over at the drumming display. “Besides, if we’re going to help Luna’s band get known outside our world, we need to make sure everything’s all good.”

Luna laughed as she roughed up her brother’s hair a bit. “Awww, thanks for the vote of confidence, little bro.”

“Hey, I’m always willing to help all of you live out your dreams.” Lincoln smiled as he looked around at all of his sisters (the ones currently here, anyway) as they gave a smile towards him. “We’ll leave you to your work, Luna.”

“Good luck out there!” Luan smiled. “You’ll be sure to knock them dead! And I’m sure that you’ll reach for the stars and the ‘moon-a’!” She chuckled as she nudged her elbow towards a rather annoyed Lisa. “Get it.”

“Yes, yes, all humorous.” Lisa rolled her eyes as she pulled out a wrench. “Well, if nothing else, SOME of us would like to get back to our experiments…”

After a few utterances of good luck and everything, Luna watched the family leave before giving a nod as she was about to turn towards her work… or she would, had she not noticed Leni still standing in her spot. Luna raised an eyebrow as she approached her older by a year sister. “Hey, Leni. Something wrong?”

“Uh… well… hmmm…” Leni paused as she tried to put her thoughts into words. Luna could only raise an eyebrow. “Well, actually, I was wondering if I could speak with you?”

Luna looked at her briefly, before giving a smile as she sat down on the makeshift stage in the garage, before tapping the seat next to her. Leni got the message and walked over as she sat down. “What’s on your mind?”

“Well…” Leni bit her lip as she tried to think about what to say, before taking a deep breath. “I was wondering if you can give me some advice on love…”

That threw Luna for a loop as she looked at her in surprise. “Are you sure that’s your idea for me? Granted, I am going out with a girl I like, AND some of us have had romances in the past, but sis, you’d think either Lori or maybe Lincoln could help you…”

“Wait, why Linky?” Leni asked in confusion.

Luna lowered her eyelids. “Leni, dudette, do you have ANY idea the shipping fandom Lincoln has? And it’s not just for girls like Ronnie Anne or Stella, I mean, everywhere you look on fan sites, Lincoln is always shipped with somebody. He’s a ladies’s man, you know.”

Leni looked curious. “I guess that would explain all of those fangirl letters Lincoln keeps getting in the mail. But wow, Lincoln gets shipped with girls a lot?”

“Not just in our canon.” Luna nodded. “But I don’t want to delve into that shipping rabbit hole Lincoln gets involved in.”

“All right, but no, no, I feel this is YOU I want to talk to.” Leni said as the pixie-cut girl studied the blonde, looking curious as to what Leni wanted to say. “See, I don’t think Lincoln can help me out on this, even if he tried.”

Luna noted the nervous look in her sister’s eyes, before giving a sigh. “All right, then. What do you want to know?”

“Well, uh… you know how you’ve had that cute alien guy coming over every week or so?” Leni blushed.

“You mean Kisshu?” Luna asked as she raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, why?”

“Well, uh… I know things are a little busy for him, but… you see, I… I guess, I… what I mean…” Leni stammered as she blushed furiously.

It was at this very moment that Luna’s eyes went wide, before growing into a smile, the girl looked like she was finally catching on. “Why, Leni, do you perhaps have a crush on my music student?”

Leni gasped a bit as she blushed, before sighing. “Maybe I do… just maybe…”

Luna gave a firm nod. “I see. Well, that is certainly interesting.”

The ditzy blonde paused as she looked at her year-younger-than-her sister before taking a deep breath. “Like, I get he’s had this thing for the red-haired cat girl for so long, but… Kisshu… he has a charm to him. Like, his face is just SO CUTE!”

Luna could only watch as Leni closed her eyes and raised her fists, letting out a burst of excitement. After that moment, Leni calmed down a bit as she continued on, “I mean, he just has this whole… mysterious charm to him, and the way I see him play that guitar… I can feel myself swoon over him. Sort of like… well, when we ALL had a crush on Hugh when Lincoln took him over.”

Luna couldn’t help but let out a lovesick sigh at the same time as Leni, apparently, the very mention of the name “Hugh” bringing in some memories as both of them said, “What a hunk…”

The rocker girl quickly shook her head as she took a deep breath. “Easy Luna, remember you’re with Sam, remember you’re with Sam…”

As Luna repeated that mantra at least five times, Leni quickly slapped herself in the face as she continued, “Anyway, you know Kisshu a lot more than I do. Do you think you can give me some advice on how I can show him that… well, I think he’s handsome and I’m interested in going out with him… or at least, strike up a good friendship?”

The pixie-cut rocker girl looked over at her ditzy sister with a curious look on her face, taking what Leni said before responding, “Well, I’m not really sure, Leni. Yeah, Kisshu isn’t currently seeing Ichigo right now, mostly due to that whole adventure with Junko and all…”

“Right, we all got the DVD…” Leni lowered her eyelids, remembering the scenes they saw on the special features.

“But truthfully, I don’t even know what Kisshu is thinking half the time. Sure, he does bring up Ichigo every now and again, but it’s more on friendly terms. In truth, he’s still not sure where his status with her is.” Luna explained. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not looking for other options.”

Upon hearing that last part, Leni looked up with a raised eyebrow. “So, you’re saying it might be possible for me?”

“Well… I’ll ask him about you next time we meet each other…” Luna paused. “Kisshu and I don’t have practice today, but when he comes over tomorrow, I’ll talk with him and see what he thinks…”

“Would you really?” Leni said as her eyes began to sparkle.

“Come on, dudette, you’re my sister, and you know me and the sibs. We’re ALL protective of each other, even in spite of our differences here and there.” Luna smiled.

The ditzy blonde’s eyes lit up further, but before she could speak, a rock song blaring from Luna’s phone was heard ringing. Luna dug around in her skirt before pulling out her cell and opening it. “Hello? Oh, hey, Kisshu!”

Leni’s eyes looked up as Luna looked interested. “Oh no, nothing much. Just got our band set-up for practice. Yeah, man, the band is going to totally hit it! And with you and your little guitar in the mix, I’m sure we’ll be a good hit. So, how are things?”

Luna paused briefly as she listened deeply towards the phone conversation, with Leni trying to listen in, but leaned in too close as she fell to the side, causing her to yelp. As Luna listened in, her eyes lit up in surprise. “Oh my gosh, you got us reserved for the Festival? Already? Wow, you are the best! I bet it wasn’t easy getting that spot…”

As Leni picked herself up and dusted her dress up, Luna looked up in shock as she said, “Oh, uh, the man in charge of the festivities wants to see our band in action tomorrow? Willing to give us room and board during the weekend?”

The blonde heard this news in shock as she looked down in disappointment. Luna noted Leni’s expression, before giving a smile. “Heck, dude, I’ll call up the others and we’ll meet you in Fictograph City tomorrow! Although, if it’s all right with you, I’m thinking about bringing at least one of my sibs with me. Is that cool?”

Leni looked up in surprise as a small smile crept on her face, hearing Luna’s proposition. Luna gave a grin upon hearing Kisshu’s answer. “Cool, man! Hey, I have to hang up and practice a bit, and you better do the same too! Okay, see you in the AM in Fictograph, my dude!”

As Luna hung up the phone, she turned to Leni with a smile. “Yo, Leni. Guess who’s coming with us to Fictograph City?”

Leni could only respond by engulfing her younger sister in a hug, giving a wordless thanks. Luna could only laugh as she returned the hug before separating. “Like I said, I’m putting in a good word for you!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------

(Fictograph City; Streets)

Kisshu quickly hung up his phone as he pocketed it in his shorts. He couldn’t help but give a satisfied smile before pulling out the ticket reservations and invitations from his other pocket. “Well, don’t say you didn’t accomplish your mission, Kisshu…”

Indeed, it was quite a productive morning for Kisshu after getting up from bed in his home dimension in the Tokyo Mew Mew world. The trip to Fictograph City from here wasn’t too long, since he, along with his brothers Pai and Taruto could easily open a dimensional portal from their world to Fictograph City. Yeah, it was truth that the three DID have to take a train to Fictograph City the first time, since they hadn’t heard of that world, thanks to being invited to compete in the Tournament of Kikai.

Thankfully, since coming over, the three aliens had a little time, even before the tournament, to map out everything (or at least, get some general locations on Pai’s end, with Kisshu and Taruto memorizing a couple of important locations), so that the next time they’d come back to Fictograph City on their own, they’d have an easier way to teleport there instead of taking the train. Sure, there was a free teleportation portal system for people that didn’t have trains in modern times, BUT the Cyniclons HAD these powers to open portals, so why not open one for their own purpose. It saved the money, anyway.

Regardless, Kisshu took his own portal to Fictograph City as he decided to walk around for a bit, eventually locating the official mayor’s office, where he talked to the official about the festival and reserving a spot for his and Luna’s band. Thankfully, the mayor recognized Kisshu from the Tournament of Kikai, and looked more than eager to invite him and Luna Loud, ANOTHER recent competitor from the Tournament of Kikai, to participate as the music entertainment. To say that this mayor seemed eager to promote this festival was an understatement (he swore he even heard the mayor say something about ‘the winner of the Tournament of Kikai being the guest of honor is great enough, but more Kikai competitors helping out with the festival is an honor’, but paid it no mind).

So, with that said and done, he decided that now was a good time to relax. He would normally get back to his own home world, but knowing that Pai and Taruto were scheduling another Chimera Anima attack on the Mews (of course, they all knew it was for practice anyway, not only for the reboot, BUT to see if their skills hadn’t got rusty), he decided that staying in Fictograph City would be for the better.

“After all…” Kisshu thought to himself as he continued to walk the streets. “I still haven’t explored all there was to this place.”

Kisshu sighed as he walked through the area, as he took a deep sigh. He knew that there were sub-worlds in Fictograph City… which, according to many, was the capital state of the larger area known as Dreamland… not like the one from Kirby. Sure, VG Central was a very good localized place and a very good central hub… but while Fictograph City DID act as a hub world, truth be told, there was a lot of areas outside of Fictograph City that had a larger view… like a world full of talking animals, both on four legs and anthros, sort of like a version of Zootopia, but not exactly that, there was an authentic western town that was built in 2004, a city floating in the sky named after Amelia Earhart, a large mall that could act as a city… needless to say, the possibilities of places within Fictograph City and Dreamland were endless.

Of course, for now, Kisshu didn’t want to explore outside of this hub world. He was just more than satisfied wandering the streets until he could find something to do.

He kept walking until spotting something that mildly caught his interest. It was a rather small street area where an assortment of characters were practicing an assortment of musical instruments on their own. Kisshu couldn’t help but give a smile as he held out his hand, summoning his guitar from his room before walking towards the street.

He eventually settled down in a small empty area as he gave a nod, before tuning his guitar a bit. After strumming it a bit to make sure it was well tuned, Kisshu closed his eyes, breathed through his nose, and started to play to his heart’s content. Needless to say, the notes he strummed were pretty good. The practices he had with Luna certainly were paying off. Sure, he may have grabbed this guitar randomly in some misguided attempt to impress Ichigo, but the alien was finding himself passionate about the music he was playing. He wasn’t even taking in his surroundings because he was lost in the music.

In fact, he was playing the first song that came to his mind… “Never Had A Dream Come True” by S Club 7. In fact, he was even quietly humming the tune as he kept playing the right notes and bobbing his head. And even after he finished the song, he couldn’t help but feel a little satisfaction in playing. In fact, up until the last note, he didn’t realize that a small audience had gathered around him.

So to say the sound of clapping shocked him made him jump as he looked over towards who had applauded for him, only to look in shock.

“Well now, I can see that you managed that gee-tar quite well.”

Kisshu looked rather surprised to see a familiar white furred horse wearing a red cowboy hat, blue bandana, red belt with gun holsters, and spurs on his horseshoes. The alien couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow towards the horse, before recognizing him. “Oh! Hello there, Mr. McGraw. I didn’t know you came by this section.”

“Awww, shucks there, no need for that Mr. McGraw business! Just call me Quick Draw!” Quick Draw grinned as he put a hoof towards Kisshu. Kisshu paused before briefly shaking the horse’s hand as Quick Draw gave a smile. “I just happened to be in the neighborhood in hopes of capturing a bad guy that escaped into Fictograph City. You wouldn’t happen to have seen a black haired woman named Daisy Mayhem and her pig Sooey, would ya?”

Kisshu raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head. “Uh, no. Who are they, exactly? I’m not exactly up on my… uh, Hanna-Barbera lore.”

“Aww, shucks. Those two are nothing but trouble.” Quick Draw frowned. “Part of the Really Rottens team on Laff-A-Lympics. They’re harmless, but they can be pretty petty and they are wanted for thievery. Why, just recently, they took off with a prized jewel and jumped ship out of the world I’m from and was last seen walking around here. A few of my friends and I are currently out on the search. Of course, when I saw you were playing… I couldn’t help but just listen in.” Quick Draw smiled.

“Thanks.” Kisshu chuckled . “I’ve been taking good care of your guitar…”

“Shucks, it’s your guitar now.” Quick Draw smiled. “After watching you in action with it, both in fighting with it AND playing at the same time, I figured you were just the right person for it. Besides, I have a lot more Kabongers where that came from.”

Kisshu smiled as he got up, Quick Draw giving a nod. “Hey, why don’t you come with me and we can catch up?”

“Don’t you have to look for those… criminals of yours?” Kisshu asked in curiosity.

“Like I said, Daisy Mayhem and Sooey are basically harmless, and she’d likely give her own location away. Besides, Hong Kong Phooey, Dynomutt, Blue Falcon, even Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels are currently working through everything. I’m sure they’ll understand my absence.” Quick Draw nodded. “Besides, if they do spot them, I’m sure one of them will let me know.”

The alien paused as he looked up to Quick Draw, before giving a smile. “Sure, I guess I can use the company for a while.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two of them were seeing hanging out at a small localized cafe sitting together as Quick Draw was sipping from a mug of coffee, with Kisshu, a cup of hot chocolate steaming nearby, was finishing the events of his day before him. The horse took in every word in interest as he put his coffee mug down.

“Hmmmm… seems to me that you’re keeping yourself busy. That’s great news!” Quick Draw smiled.

“Yeah, I suppose it is…” Kisshu sighed as he looked down. “But to tell you the truth, the more I play, the more I start to think about… well, how I’ve acted back in the Tournament of Kikai. The only reason I quote-unquote borrowed your guitar in the first place was that misguided hope to impress a girl that I don’t think I ever was going to get. Part of me STILL wishes she returns the feelings, and I do still like Ichigo, but… I don’t know…”

Quick Draw cocked his head in confusion as Kisshu continued his story. “Anyway, Ichigo and I are on good terms, somewhat, even if we do have to be enemies again for the reboot… but I don’t know. Part of me still loves her, but… the other half is telling me that maybe I should expand my horizons a bit… how, I’m not even sure.”

The horse looked at the alien in curiosity as he put a hoof on his chin, trying to think. “Well, shucks, Kisshu boy, I wish I could help in your conundrum, but I’m not exactly the type of person you could turn to for help.”

The alien sighed as he looked down. “I guess it can’t be helped…” The alien paused before looking up. “Hey, I’m curious. I left my Dragon Swords with you, last I recall. Did you ever make use of them while I had your guitar in my possession?”

Quick Draw paused as he looked at Kisshu as he tried to think. “Well… uh shucks, not really. I’m more of a cowboy type that uses guns and gee-tars, not a ninja-type that uses sais. Yes, it was a surprise to see your sais where my gee-tar was, but I didn’t really think about using it. So, I went to lost and found in the gift shop and asked if someone had my gee-tar there.”

Kisshu blinked twice. “Yooooouuu… didn’t think to look at the screens displaying me using your guitar?”

Quick Draw McGraw paused to think.

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Tournament of Kikai; Section Four Results Flashback; Gift Shop)

A large red dinosaur with a tye-dye shirt and yellow shorts, with a nametag on his shirt that said ‘Josh’ on it, was looking at Quick Draw who seemed to be holding the sais in question as the horse cocked his head. “Uh, are you sure nobody turned in a Kabonger? A gee-tar, four strings, could easily repair itself after a large hit on the head?”

The large head of Josh was blocking the television screen Kisshu was shown on at the time behind him as the dinosaur shook his head. “Uh, no, sorry. I haven’t seen a gee-tar, whatever that is. I assure you, sir, if something were turned in, I’d let you know.”

“Well, shucks, I thought somebody would have turned it in here.” Quick Draw frowned, as he shook his head. “Well, if you see it, could you give one of my friends a call? I don’t have my own phone, but I know a few of my friends do.”

“All right, I suppose that’s fair.” Josh nodded as he pulled out a notepad, before writing it down. “Which number should I call?”

“Uh… well, how about my good ol’ friend, Doggie Daddy? His number i-” Quick Draw started as Josh’s eyes shrank in horror.

“Wait… DOGGIE? AS IN…” The dinosaur immediately jumped up in the air as he immediately gave out a girlish scream, unknowingly changing the channel Kisshu was on to another channel, featuring a rerun of Pound Puppies, the eighties version. Josh immediately looked at it, and screamed, before grabbing a hammer and smashing the screen, a look of trauma starting to overwhelm the large dinosaur.

Quick Draw stared at this display with pure speechlessness… before slowly backing away, not wanting to deal with these shenanigans.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Present Time)

“...how is a large dinosaur afraid of dogs?” Quick Draw questioned to himself as he looked confused.

“Huh?” Kisshu blinked twice.

“S-sorry. Just thinking back.” Quick Draw shook his head. “But no, I didn’t use the sais for anything. I didn’t even know you had it, so I searched around the dome for a while. I never thought to look at the screens. Eventually, I just decided to come back to my seat and hoped for the best. I think you were out around that time, because I came in when Section Eight started. I would have been back in Section Seven, but during Section Six’s fights, I was a little tied up.”

Kisshu paused, before snapping his fingers. “Right, because you probably got delayed by the Pink Elephants that roamed around. Pai and the others told me about what happened on that.”

Quick Draw nodded. “Yeah, those nuisances really impeded my progress. But yeah, other than that, when I came back, I had to inform the others about my missing guitar, and they said that they’d keep an eye out. Baba Looey, my sidekick, said that you might have had it with him. I was going to check on it when you got in, but I think you already left by the time I could find a way to the Recovery Room.”

“...and when was that?” Kisshu asked.

“...Section Nine.” Quick Draw sighed. “I came over to look into it, but you were already gone. With no other leads, I had to turn back. I did see that red haired girl and mysterious detective from that Danganronpa V3 game going through a portal with Wonder Woman and Green Lantern when I came over, but other than that, I had nothing.”

“And you were back in the stands watching the game until I came over and traded our respective weapons back near the end, am I right?” Kisshu asked.

“I won’t lie, I was thinking that the Kabonger was lost to time…” Quick Draw paused, before giving a smile. “But seeing as how you were good with it, even after everything… I was right in handing it over to you.”

The alien paused, before smiling. “Well, it’s good to know you’re not suing me for copyright infringement, like Murray did with Chang.”

“Aw, shucks, it’s an homage. Besides, have you even LOOKED at some of our Hanna-Barbera characters or heck, even some of our voices? Yogi and Barney’s voices were modeled after Art Carney’s Ed Norton from The Honeymooners. And nobody complains about eet.” Quick Draw rolled his eyes.

Kisshu blinked twice as he gave a smile. “Well… I’m glad you have faith in my music abilities, BUT yeah, in terms of my love life, it’s a bit of a mess.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure out something.” Quick Draw smiled as he sipped his coffee, before hearing a beep on his watch. The horse gasped as he looked at it. “Whoops! It’s getting near that time. I agreed to meet up with the others at a certain junction point. Sorry to cut our conversation short, little buddy, but I have to rush.”

Kisshu gave a smile. “It’s no trouble, Quick Draw. Thanks for the conversation, it’s nice to catch up.”

“Same here! And hey, maybe I’ll catch you at that festival. Baba Looey and I are planning on going there… that is, if we’ve caught Daisy Mayhem and her pig Sooey by that time.” Quick Draw said.

Kisshu smiled. “I’m looking forward to it! Look for me and Luna’s band if you’re there! We’ll be doing our numbers on the stage.”

“I sure will!” Quick Draw smiled as he gave a wave to his fellow guitar player before rushing out of the restaurant.

Kisshu smiled a bit as he rested his hands on his head. In a strange way, it was nice to talk more about the person who originally owned the guitar he wielded. And in a strange way, he was actually looking forward to meeting up with Quick Draw again. Giving a smile, he got up and started to head out, grabbing his hot chocolate and sipping it before taking it out, little realizing he was passing a table that contained two strange figures. They lifted their faces away from their menus to reveal an older woman wearing a green crop top with the letter R on it with torn up blue jean shorts and a large pig with a green shirt with the letter R on it, and four blue sneakers on his feets, alongside an eyepatch over his right eye.

“Well, I’ll be danged, Sooey.” The girl smirked as she turned to the pig. “That dumb horse didn’t even notice we were in plain sight!”

The pig snorted a bit as he gave a smirk.

“Well, butter my biscuits, I ain’t complainin’ at all!” The girl smirked as she pulled out the jewel. “Although, I DO have an idea on how to handle this jewel… and seeing that alien friend of that horse… I have the perfect patsy. Let’s just hope the guy who hired us for that jewel heist is cool with it.”

Sooey looked up towards his master with a nod as the girl known as Daisy Mayhem gave a smart chuckle to herself before pulling out a cell phone and dialing a number. After a moment, she heard the phone being picked up. “Hello, boss? Yeah, I got the jewel. I also have the perfect patsy to frame, but we’re going to need to study that patsy and their movements. Don’t worry, things are going to proceed as planned…”

Chapter Text

After preparations and settlements were set between Della and Maki, today came the big day, from the moment that Della had made the plans. She, alongside her nephews, their friend and her uncle were standing in front of the train station, eagerly waiting for the train for Fictograph City to arrive.

“Ah, it’ll be good to come back to Fictograph City again after coming here the last time!” Della said with a small smile. “I can’t wait to show you everything!”

“Everything, Della?” Scrooge smirked as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Della’s eyes widened, before giving a slight cough. “Well, uh, no, no, not EVERYTHING… honestly, I only went as far as the Crossover Dome and hotel, but I saw interesting places!”

“Like what?” Huey asked, looking interested.

Della smiled nervously as she tapped her hands together. “Well, uh… okay, so maybe I didn’t look at EVERYTHING, but hey, my friend and her friends live here, so she’s bound to know the area in and out better than I can! Which is why I’m so eager to introduce you guys to my best friends from the Dome!”

“It’s a shame not everyone could come with us.” Webby said. “I really wanted to bring Lena and Violet along for the trip, but they had to go on a camping trip with Violet’s dads.”

“Mrs. Beakley did say she was going to make sure the mansion is in tip-top shape, and with Duckworth’s help, I’m sure the mansion can handle its own.” Louie said with a yawn. “But hey, as long as it’s just a low-key adventure and not one of those high stake ones, I’m more than willing to kick back.”

“It’s a shame Launchpad didn’t come with us, but what with him visiting his friend Drake and helping out in Saint Canard, I can understand why.” Dewey said with a small smile.

“It shouldn’t matter where the others are, lad. As long as most of the family is here and willing to go, we’re off on an adventure of great heights!” Scrooge said with a smirk on his face. “And best of all, I don’t even have to pay for the trip.”

“Yeah, because I’m paying for it.” Della said in a deadpan voice, before giving a smile. “And with my friends in Fictograph more than willing to get us in on room and board for the next couple of days, oh we are SO going to have a fun time!”

“Indeed we are, Della, because Fictograph City is not just another city like VG Central.” Scrooge smiled. “Well, it is sort of like that, but whereas VG Central is one of the most biggest and well-known center points of the universe, Fictograph City is another center point of the universe, and it expands far beyond to other worlds that are linked to it entirely. Legend has it that it’s part of a world known as Dreamland.”

Webby looked rather astonished at Scrooge’s explanations. “Wait, we’re going to Kirby’s home? Does this mean we’ll be seeing Kirby and his friends?”

“OH, OH! I want to actually meet Meta Knight! He is SOOOO amazing!” Dewey said in excitement. “I’m sure he’ll ‘dew’-ey his special moves!”

Scrooge and Della laughed as the latter said, “No, kids, this isn’t the same Dreamland from Kirby. That’s just the name of the larger universe Fictograph City is part of.”

“Right you are, lass!” Scrooge nodded towards Della before turning back towards the kids. “While Fictograph City is a main hub for other nodes to enter from, there are other worlds outside of Fictograph City that are worth exploring.”

“Uncle Scrooge is right.” Huey nodded as all attention turned to him. “Aside from Fictograph City, there are other worlds neighboring it that well, has its own unique set of adventures, like a world of giants, a world of indigenous tribes that focus more on gaming and gambling, a place of living laughs, and even a world based on the board game Clue.”

Scrooge gave a smile as he nodded. “Right, Huey!”

“Oooooo, I can’t wait to explore ALL of the worlds outside Fictograph City!” Webby squealed in excitement.

“Well, don’t get yourself overexcited. We don’t know how far from Fictograph we’ll be going. We are definitely hanging out here for the festival, for sure, since that’s what Maki, Shuichi and Himiko want.” Della smiled. “After that though… well, I guess it’s up in the air!”

“Great, more adventure.” Louie sighed as he opened up a can of Pep and started to drink from it. “Well, don’t get me wrong, I’m more than willing to have fun in a festival, but if there’s anything more beyond that, I…”

“Like I said, we’ll see what happens.” Della said as they heard the train whistle. Everybody immediately turned around as they saw a wormhole open up as a train came chugging in and stopped in front of them. “Ah! Our ride’s here! Come on, let’s get going!”

With that, Della ran inside the train as soon as it opened its doors. Webby looked in awe, before giving a squeal of delight as she and Dewey walked in, Dewey looking at the train in awe. Huey, looking more curious at the logistics behind the appearing train, followed as he pulled out his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook and started to take notes. Louie gave a yawn, but shrugged as he followed Huey inside. The last to enter was Scrooge himself as he looked back towards Duckburg. He knew he was taking a risk by leaving his fortune behind for a while, but he’s gone on a lot of adventures before. This would be no different. Giving a smile, he went inside and joined the others on the train as he sat down.

“Wow, this looks so cool!” Webby said with a big grin on her beak.

“I’m more astonished that this train just appeared out of a large wormhole, but again, I guess that doesn’t really surprise me.” Huey said as he looked around.

“Oh, you haven’t seen nothing yet!” Della smiled as she looked up towards the speakers as it turned on.

“Attention, all passengers. We are now ready to leave for Fictograph City in Dreamland.”

“Here we go!” Della said as the Duck family heard the train start as they felt it moving.

Louie paused briefly as he gave a grin, feeling the soothing calm of the train as he settled himself. “Ah, well, I have to admit, a nice, slow train ride to this place does give me a chance to catch up on my Zs…”

“Hang on to something.” Della cautioned as she and Scrooge grabbed hold of the train’s bars.

Louie blinked twice as he noted Huey, Dewey and Webby grabbing onto their seats. “Wait, what?”

All of a sudden, the train started to go fast as the outside begin to give off a blur. Louie yelped as he grabbed onto the bars and let out a loud scream as the train went faster. Dewey and Webby screamed as well, though unlike Louie’s scream of terror, both blue clad wearing duck and purple-clad wearing duck were letting out screams of joy, with Webby giving out a ‘Whoo-hoo’ as she felt herself moving. Huey was closing his eyes, trying to remain calm, but was a little nervous.

After a moment, the train, while still going fast, managed to slow down as the blurriness of white went away. Louie opened his eyes as he stopped screaming, before blinking twice. “What just happened?”

“Kids, we have just entered the link between worlds.” Scrooge said as he and Della looked out the window.

The kids looked out in awe as they took in what was outside of the train. The entire world surrounding the driving train was that of a strange void made of a strange, dark multi-colored abyss that swirled around like a spiral. It was a scary, yet beautiful sight.

“Oookay, that is… uh, something.” Louie said as he sat down in shock. “Why does the outside link look so weird?”

“That’s just something you’ll get used to.” Della said before giving a smile. “I should know, since I traveled from Duckburg to Fictograph City to do the security team.”

“Are you kidding, even the outside is amazing!” Dewey smiled. “I bet I could make a flying leap out of the train right now and soar through this place!”

“I would advise against that.” Scrooge frowned as Dewey opened the window.

“Sounds like a challenge to me!” Dewey smiled as he decided to dive right out into the swirling abyss. But thankfully for everyone (but to Dewey, it was no thanks), Scrooge managed to grab Dewey with his cane and drag the duckling back in.

“Are you daft, lad! If you dive out in the middle of a driving train through portal dimensions, you could get lost in some other world, and we wouldn’t be able to find you!” Scrooge frowned.

“He’s right, honey. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to deep dive out of this train and see where I’d land, but then I’d probably get lost.” Della pointed out. “I could end up in a world that hasn’t had a train station or portal system that can take me back to Fictograph or home.”

“In other words, a world that has a formation of an idea, but not enough of an idea to travel through portal travel.” Scrooge frowned. “Ideas that most likely find their way into the trash bin or in storage. It could take years or never to get the idea you land in off the ground.”

Dewey yelped as he looked outside nervously, before closing the window. “On second thought, I think I’d be better off just looking outside the beautiful portal between worlds. Why risk a deep dive, Dewey-style, right?”

The blue-clad duck laughed nervously, before sitting back down.

The others sat in silent for a moment, before Webby looked over at Scrooge, before giving a cough. “Hey, uh… Uncle Scrooge? You seem like you’ve been in Fictograph City before.”

“Aye, you are quite as observant, Webby.” Scrooge said with a smile on his face. “And yes, I, as a world traveler and business person, often travel to other worlds, not just in Duckburg, but in other places, like VG Central and Fictograph City. I am the richest duck in the world, after all. I have to maintain my business profile in all worlds.”

“Oh, so that means you probably met a few people outside our world!” Huey said as the others looked over to Scrooge.

The richest duck in the world gave a laugh. “Well, yes, I have made quite some good acquaintances with other rich people from outside the world, running the business. Like Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Oliver Warbucks from the world Little Orphan Annie came from… heck, I even rubbed elbows with my alternate 1987 self.”

That got everyone’s attention as Huey’s eyes widened. “Wait, your “ALTERNATE 1987 SELF”, as in, the Scrooge McDuck from the other Duckburg?”

“Aye, lad, the same.” Scrooge smiled. “Just because I was part of a reboot universe, that doesn’t mean we have some differences that the original world had. In fact, that Scrooge and me, well, we’re pretty similar in our own ways. In fact, we pretty much respect each other with a tip of a hat every time we pass by.”

“But… doesn’t that break timelines or whatever?” Louie asked. “I’d be weirded out if I saw my other self.”

“Not necessarily. You know how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have different worlds, like there’s a 1987 world, a 2003 world and a 2012 world?” Scrooge asked.

“Don’t even get me started on Turtles lore…” Della rolled her eyes.

“Well, let me put it simple. If you’ve seen the ‘87 Turtles and ‘03 Turtles crossing over in that Turtles Forever movie, or the ‘87 Turtles and 2012 Turtles crossing over in a few episodes of that 2012 show…” Scrooge started as he looked over his nephews and Webby as some of them were catching on.

“Oh, I think I know what you’re getting at, Uncle Scrooge.” Huey looked up. “Just because they’re from different worlds and different timelines, that doesn’t mean you can’t crossover with them. The Turtles of all three dimensions proved that you can have some great times by remembering the past, and respecting both timelines as their own thing.”

“Right.” The old duck smiled as he gave a chuckle. “But while I doubt I’ll see a few of my old friends out there, if I do, I can always tell them I’m on a pleasure cruise.”

Della smiled as she took a deep breath. “Right, and what a cruise this’ll be! I can’t wait to show you all my new friends!”

The others agreed as they sat down. Eventually, the multi-colored void quickly vanished in a flash of white light, just like when the others were in Duckburg.

Della looked up and smiled. “Oh boy! Here we go!”

The others looked outside as the flash of white light disappeared from the windows as everyone looked in awe as the train was now pulling into a sort of crowded train station.

The kids looked out as their eyes widened in excitement, seeing characters of different nodes either departing or arriving from the trains to go about their business, whether it was in Fictograph City or going home to their own nodes.

“Wow…” Dewey said in awe as he saw a lot of different people, all of whom were different. There were animals, of course, but there were also the sight of humans. “To think, we’ll actually be seeing the hairless monkeys for ourselves.”

“You mean humans.” Della laughed a bit. “And yeah, I have to admit, after what Donald wished for in one of his adventures, it did take a while for me to adjust to the fact that hairless monkeys are a thing, but after talking to a few, they’re not really so scary.”

Soon, the train came to a complete stop as the doors opened up, with the kids scrambling out as Scrooge and Della followed suit, looking at each other with smiles, knowing that the kids would just be as excited to see this new world outside of Duckburg.

“Just another adventure, eh, Della?” Scrooge smiled.

“You said it, Uncle Scrooge.” Della smiled back before joining up with the kids as everyone was taking in the sights of the train station before them.

Of course, the train station itself was suspended in the air, with tracks that were floating up in the air, in order for the portals to work their magic. Like an open air train station in a way. But the kids couldn’t help but admire the countless buildings surrounding the area, indicating this place as a big city.

The kids were just as shocked to see a lot of famous characters walking around as Webby’s eyes lit up in delight.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh…” Webby started to say fast as she saw various characters walking around.

“Yeah, I’m with you!” Louie nodded as he looked rather starstruck. “I mean, there’s Harry Potter! And that’s Spongebob Squarepants! Holy cow, I had no idea he could breathe fine without his water helmet!”

“Must be one of Sandy’s inventions, or maybe he used the spray from Nicktoons Unite Jimmy Neutron invented to have him walk fine in air, and not have to worry about drying up.” Huey said as Dewey looked excited.

“Oh my gosh, that’s Wile E. Coyote! And is that his protege, Calamity Coyote, with him?” Dewey gasped in shock.

Scrooge and Della laughed as Della pulled the kids close. “Okay, kids, let’s not have a celebrity manhunt moment. Don’t forget why we’re all here and who we’re looking for.”

“I know, I know, the festival and your friends. We can’t help it!” Dewey said. “There’s just so many people here, I have no idea how to handle the excitement!”

“We’ll have plenty of time to look around, but let’s stay focused for now.” Scrooge said as he turned to his niece. “Della, why don’t you take the lead for now? You said we’d be meeting your friends down there?”

Della nodded. “Maki said she and her friends would be waiting for us downstairs, going to take us to their home.”

The female adventurous duck then looked around as she led the others downstairs towards the exit of the train station. As she did so, her eyes lit up to see the familiar sight of a red-eyed high school girl, standing alongside a black-haired, black clad high school boy and a red haired, black jacket and red skirt wearing high school girl in a mage hat. The three of them, spotting Della, waved towards the duck.

“Maki Roll! You old softie you, I thought I’d see you again!” Della grinned as she ran over towards Maki to hold up her hand, as if expecting a high five.

Maki reluctantly returned the high five, but still smiled as she gave a small smirk. “Della, come on, we’ve only talked last week…”

“I know, but it was a week too long! I’m just glad I’m finally able to speak to you again person-to-person after some time!” Della smiled before turning to the other two. “Shuichi, Himiko, don’t think I’m leaving you two out!”

“Hi, Della. Great to see you again.” Shuichi smiled as he shook Della’s hand.

Himiko looked around as she gave a smile. “It has been a little while since we’ve last seen you… and this must be your family, right?”

Shuichi smirked as he looked over towards the others. “Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby Vanderquack, right?”

“Yep!” Webby smiled, though paused. “Though, if we’re going to be technical, my last name is actually-”

“Webby, Webby, hey. Hold up. There’s a lot of ears around that may not have seen the series finale. Let’s hold off on spoilers for a bit, hm?” Louie said as he covered Webby’s beak with his finger.

“Whoop! Right! Sorry!” Webby chuckled nervously, before giving a gasp. “But oh my gosh, you are really the last three surviving kids of that Danganronpa 53!”

Noting the uncomfortable looks of the three’s faces, Webby yelped as she backpedaled. “I-I mean, I’ve never actually SEEN the show, but from what I’ve heard, you were the ones to cancel the show, so that has to be a highlight, right?”

The three humans looked at each other with a slight pause before Maki gave a smile. “I suppose in a way, it was.”

“Wow…” Webby’s eyes lit up as she turned to Himiko. “Is it true that you really have been learning more magic, as in what you can do as a mage?”

Himiko paused briefly, before giving a small smile. “Well, uh, I admit that I may not be an Ultimate outside of what has happened, but I’m more than willing to learn magic while I’m here. I’ve already mastered quite a few spells, actually.”

“Really?” Webby gasped. “You got to show me!”

“Yeah, come on, Himiko! Show us that magic skill!” Dewey said with a big wide grin.

Himiko couldn’t help but feel a small smile creep on her face as she blushed. Della laughed as she backed the kids up. “Okay, kids, don’t overcrowd them.”

Scrooge nodded before turning to the three, looking rather serious. “Now, you DID say you were going to be PAYING for our trip, right?”

Shuichi laughed a bit as he crossed his arms. “Ah, Scrooge, always the stingy type. I can assure you with the business we’ve been doing, and the fact that Xero and Maurice actually PAID the security team by the hour… plus extra for taking down Junko and Tsumugi… we have enough money to cover your entire trip here.”

Huey looked back at Della in surprise. “Wait, that bunny and bull PAID all of you?”

“Paid us, AND gave each of us a second opportunity to be security team for a second Tournament of Kikai.” Della smiled. “However, Maki and I bartered with them to have US select the security team for the next year, and Crunch and Wigglytuff just gave the last choices to Shuichi and Himiko, seeing as how they wanted to relax after everything that went down.”

“What about Axel, the red haired man with the Keyblade and fire powers?” Louie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, he technically wasn’t part of the security team, so he didn’t really get a say in anything.” Della said. “But yeah, Maki, Shuichi, Himiko and I are in charge of selecting the next security team.”

The others looked in awe as they started asking multiple questions.

“That is so amazing!”

“Who are you considering? Have you already made your choice?”

“You and Maki are coming back for a second time, right? You’re choosing yourselves?”

Shuichi and Himiko shook their heads as Maki gave a cough. “Okay, okay, kids, let’s not focus on the future. Why don’t we all focus on the now?”

“Right!” Scrooge nodded as he looked towards the three. “Well, you three know this world better, and even though I can probably give a tour here, you’re the guides. So, why don’t you show us around Fictograph City and tell us how it works?”

“We’ll gladly do that for you, Mr. McDuck.” Maki nodded before nodding towards Shuichi and Himiko. “Shall we take our new friends around the town?”

“Step right this way.” Shuichi said as the family followed the group of high-schoolers.

Of course, had they stuck around for just a moment longer, they would have seen another train appearing, and door opening as a familiar face was walking out, taking a deep breath.

“We’re here, y’all!” Penny Proud called out as her family and a few of her friends came walking out, looking around the area in awe. “Welcome to Fictograph City!”

Chapter Text

Being in Fictograph City for the second time in her life, the young fourteen year old African American girl couldn’t help but look around at the familiar sight of the train station. Sure, it had been a few good months since she last came here, but to her nostalgic mind, it felt like yesterday that she arrived in this area, a little nervous, but excited. Nowadays, the confidence that shined through her was going through the roof.

Right behind her, her family had walked out, looking just as amazed at this place as Oscar couldn’t help but give a large grin.

“Heh, you sure wasn’t kiddin’ when you told us that this area is large.” Oscar smiled. “Much larger than back home in Smithville.”

Trudy held the twins, Bebe and Cece, close in her arms as the two young kids babbled in excitement, eagerly wanting to run around this new world they were in. The young woman couldn’t help but smile. “I have to agree, Oscar, it’s a VERY beautiful city…”

“Hmmm… no different than all the other vacations we go on, I say.” Suga Mama rolled her eyes a bit.

Oscar frowned as he turned to the old woman. “What’s wrong with the city?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it, per se, except for maybe YOU trodding in it.” Suga Mama argued with a smirk.

Oscar sputtered for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes. “Mama, have some faith! I've only been in this area for two seconds, and already, you think I’m going to do something stupid!”

“Knowing you, likely.” Suga Mama frowned as Puff looked up from the arms of Suga Mama, giving the man a silent nod, as if understanding and agreeing with her.

Penny gave a small groan, expecting the arguments, but waved her arms. “Suga Mama, Daddy, please. We came here to relax and enjoy ourselves. Can we not argue for like, five minutes?”

“Mr. Proud, Penny raises a good point. Arguing like this should be kept to a minimum, ESPECIALLY since the winner of the Tournament of Kikai has brought guests along.”

The Proud Family immediately turned to see LaCienega carrying a small tote bag with a smile on her face. Not too far along behind was Dijonay, who seemed to be looking around and holding a small tote bag of her own, and Zoey, who seemed to be carrying a MAJORITY of the bags (most likely LaCienga’s things, as the popular girl DID like to overpack). One more character seemed to be coming along as well, a young woman around the same age as Penny and her friends. This woman was African-American, with braided black and red hair, with two braids tied to each other like a large bow. She was wearing a green jacket, white T-shirt, ripped purple jeans and dark green sneakers. This woman, dragging along a suitcase of her own, looked around with a little curiosity on her face.

“So THIS is Fictograph City…” The young woman noted her curiosity. “I gotta say, Proud, this is quite a… very interesting city going on…”

Penny smiled as she turned to the new friend. “I’m surprised that you, of all people, wanted to come along, Maya, especially since this is probably your first time travelling to another world… well, outside our own, anyway.”

Maya shrugged. “Eh, I needed the change of scenery anyway. Plus, with all the new twists and turns of the next season to learn, I just KNOW that I’m going to need all I can learn. Plus, I hear that somewhere in this world is a protest group that sounds ripe for new people to join.”

Penny lowered her eyelids. “Of course the first thing you want to do is join an activist group.”

“Don’t knock it, Proud. You know just how much of an activist I am.” Maya said with a smirk, before frowning. “So, where are we going now?”

Penny frowned as she turned back to look around. “No idea, I was told to meet one of our friends arriving at the station as soon as… oh wait!”

Penny’s eyes lit up as she saw another train arriving, stopping short before opening up. All eyes within Penny’s group immediately turned (save for Zoey, who was still trying to struggle with the amount of bags in her hands) as they saw the sight of a familiar yellow furred Shih Tzu wearing a pink Hawaiian button up shirt and white skirt stepping out of the train, followed shortly by a similar brown furred Shih Tzu in a red jacket with white T-shirt underneath, yellow tie and blue pants as they were looking around, giving nods to themselves before the former spotted the Proud Family, most notably Penny.

“Isabelle!” Penny waved as she walked over to the short dog.

“Hello, Penny! Glad to see you made it!” Isabelle smiled. “Garnet, Bubbles, Ellis and their friends already went out, but they said they’ll be over at the Herman Melville Hotel.”

“Perfect!” Penny grinned as she and Isabelle shook hands before turning towards her family. “This is my family… my daddy, momma, the twins, and of course, Suga Mama and Puff.”

“Hey there!” Oscar smiled as the twins babbled and waved.

“It’s a pleasure to meet someone who managed to help Penny get on her two feet while in the ring.” Trudy smiled.

Isabelle chuckled nervously as she blushed. “Oh, well, you know… it never hurts to think ahead…”

“So you must be the infamous Penny Proud I heard so much about.” The brown Shih Tzu grinned as he walked over and shook Penny’s hand. “I’m Digby, Isabelle’s twin brother! I work at Nook’s Homes with the Happy Home Academy… of course, as far as I know, all Digbys in all different Animal Crossing universes work there as well…”

“Oh yeah, Isabelle told me about you!” Penny grinned as she gave a smile before snapping her fingers. “Right. I should introduce you two to the rest of my friends.”

It was then Isabelle and Digby turned to see the other group of friends right behind the family as LaCienega was carefully examining the dog as Dijonay looked at Isabelle with a seeming look of jealousy on her face. Maya seemed pretty indifferent, yet curious. As for Zoey… she let out a yelp as she accidentally dropped all of the bags, stumbling down and falling. The orange haired girl groaned as she got up and rubbed her head. Penny chuckled nervously as she said, “This is, in short order, LaCienega, Dijonay, Maya, and the girl who just dropped all of LaCienega’s unnecessary luggage is Zoey. The four of us are… I guess we’re friends in our world.”

“You guess?” Dijonay frowned.

“Pleasure to meet all of you.” Isabelle smiled, before turning to Zoey. “Do you need any help?”

Zoey groaned as she rubbed her head. “I… I’m okay… just need to get my bearings a bit…”

“So, you’re Isabelle, huh?” LaCienega asked with a raised eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be working with that sleazy raccoon over at the Resident Services center on your island?”

“Believe me, getting away from the hard work does make me feel… well, disappointed, but Tom Nook insisted on the vacation, and hey, if it means seeing Penny and the others again, who am I to complain?” Isabelle said with a smile, before turning to Dijonay. “By the way, what is with the obsession you had over that Sticky Webb boy? Penny always told us a bit about him.”

“Obsession?” Dijonay frowned, while glaring at Penny, who smiled nervously at her. “I’m not obsessed with Sticky…”

“You got to admit, even before Maya moved in… you actually WERE.” Zoey admitted.

“Yeah, every time we even bring him up in conversation, all you do is go into a nearby closet and sob, wondering where you went wrong.” LaCienega rolled her eyes. “Look, Dijonay, we get that Sticky moved out, but you were seriously being a creep.”

“Why does everyone think that my love for Sticky is always creepy?” Dijonay asked. “He’s my man, and he doesn’t deny it… at all!”

Penny, LaCienega and Zoey lowered their eyelids and looked at each other with doubtful looks in their eyes, with Dijonay looking between the three in pure astonishment, before chuckling nervously. “Look, I actually got better with that. Prior to now, I’m not even sobbing at the fact that he’s moved away! Now excuse me for one second…”

With that, the group watched as Dijonay walked off and into a corner, where her shadow was seen jutting on the wall. The shadow (along with Dijonay behind the corner) then went to her knees as she gave out a loud “WHHHHHHHHY?!”.

Isabelle blinked twice as she turned to Penny. “Has that always been a thing?”

“Ever since the new Louder and Prouder had Sticky move out?” Penny sighed. “You have no idea. She’ll be fine, just give it a few minutes.”

“...wow.” Digby bit his lip awkwardly. “Uh, sorry about that loss…”

“It was a bit of an adjustment, but we learned to live with it.” Penny shrugged as the other family approached. “I would love to have Sticky return someday, but we’re not holding our breaths.”

“Well, that’s a shame. I actually thought he was the nicer boy of the friend group.” Isabelle pointed out.

“Well, we do still have Michael on occasion, but he’s not here with us at the moment.” Zoey smiled.

“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you for the first time, Isabelle. And I’m sure we’ll get along great with Penny’s other friends from the tournament.” Trudy grinned.

“Yeah! I, for one, can’t wait to groove it with that Crystal Gem girl… Garnet, right?” Suga Mama smirked. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but she looks like she has great taste in music.”

“Like what, Prehistoric Drumming with Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom?” Oscar said as he gave a laugh.

Suga Mama responded by whacking Oscar in the head with her cane, causing the man to groan in pain.

Isabelle and Digby couldn’t help but chuckle as Isabelle said, “Wow, your family really does have a certain… dynamic.”

“Yeah, but no matter how much we argue, we’re still family.” Penny smiled as Dijonay came back, a little teary eyed, but otherwise fine. “Well, if we’re all here, I guess it’s to the hotel, then?”

Isabelle gave a nod as she turned to the others. “All right, since this is the first time arriving in Fictograph City for most of you, we’d be more than happy to help you get around the cities.”

“Don’t you usually call taxi services around here?” Oscar asked.

“Normally, yes, but actually, the hotel we’re going at isn’t as far away as it seems, and besides, a lot of us just like walking to places anyway. The taxi service in this area is mainly there if you want to put your feet up anyway…” Isabelle nodded, before noticing Zoey trying to pack up the large bags. “Uh, maybe we should make it easy on yourselves by travelling light…”

Isabelle then walked over to Zoey and examined the bags. “Here, let me teach you how to make these bags pocket-sized so we don’t have to go through much trouble.”

“Oh, can you do that?” Zoey asked, looking a little relieved. “Thanks. I don’t want to be the slow one of the group…”

LaCienega raised an eyebrow as she gave a cough. “Just so you know, most of these bags have MY stuff, so… are you going to make them quote-unquote, pocket-sized.”

“Like so…” Isabelle said as she put a hand on one of the bags and shut her eyes… all of a sudden, the bag instantly transformed into a green leaf, causing the others to yelp in surprise.

“My bag!” LaCienega gasped as she picked up the leaf.

“Don’t worry, your stuff is fine. Isabelle just turned into a leaf so it can be travel sized. Once we get to our destination, simply take the leaf out of your pocket, place it on the ground, and the bag should be back to normal.” Digby explained.

Zoey honestly looked rather impressed as Isabelle turned a few more bags into leaves before picking them up and handing them to Zoey, who pocketed them. “You Animal Crossing characters really know how to pack.”

“Well, how else can you carry a lot of stuff around while walking?” Isabelle pointed out.

“Hmmm…” Oscar smirked as he got an idea. “Hey, Isabelle. Do you think you can do the same to Suga Mama? I know she can be QUITE a heavy load!”

Suga Mama frowned before whacking Oscar with her cane again. “Watch what you say!”

Isabelle, Penny and the others couldn’t help but give a chuckle… as LaCienega rolled her eyes and put the leaf down, transforming it back to her bag before picking it up and carrying it, looking rather disgruntled. Maya crossed her arms, looking indifferent, but giving a small sigh as even she had to admit, Isabelle’s ability was pretty amazing. Dijonay, on the other hand, just looked at the dog in jealousy as the others began to walk, following the two dogs as Dijonay whispered to LaCienega.

“Look at her. What does she have that I don’t?” Dijonay whispered to her.

“Tell me about it.” LaCienega frowned.

“I don’t know, girls. So far, Isabelle seems to be pretty nice.” Zoey smiled a bit.

“Maybe so, but we’ll have to wait and see before we judge for ourselves.” Maya pointed out. “After all, we’re just getting started on this trip…”