Chapter Text
The battlefield was chaos.
Jenny’s city of Tremorton looked like a warzone, lit in flashes of laser fire and the roar of explosions. Professor Calamitous’ newest scheme had escalated into a full-scale assault. An army of heavily armed robots, programmed for one purpose: overwhelm by numbers. With the new technology he accessed in the robot girl’s universe, they were far more dangerous than the usual technology he had access to within his own universe.
The Nicktoons, however, held the line. Jenny blazed through the skies, tearing apart waves of steel with blistering strikes.Danny phased in and out of sight, blasting ectoplasmic rays that lit up the dark streets. Timmy, who held Cosmo and Wanda disguised as gadgets, fired wildly, trying to keep up, while SpongeBob flopped around in panicked courage, doing more accidental damage than intentional, although his spongy body was tanking blows that would’ve crushed anyone else.
Manny’s claws tore through metal and chains cracked like whips, tearing chunks out of robots left and right, pulling them apart piece by piece. He spun, claws flashing, moving with feral agility. But, for every bot destroyed, three more closed in. His chest burned with frustration.
One strike sent Timmy sprawling. Another slammed SpongeBob under debris. Too many of them were falling too fast for Manny’s liking. His eyes darted around the chaos, catching a glimpse of Jenny and Jimmy, who were still standing, but even they were pressed. Danny was phasing in to cover SpongeBob and Timmy with powerful blasts, his ghostly green eyes filled with determination, although the frown in his face exposed the concern of how the battle was unfolding.
Manny’s chest tightened. He wasn’t fast enough. Not strong enough. The team was breaking, and all he could do was fight until his arms gave out.
No. Not like this.
His hand went to the buckle at his waist. There had been one time, years ago, when he’d felt it. A power deeper than anything the belt normally gave him. The tiger spirit inside it. A distant memory that gave promises of impossible strength, of the glowing tiger wrapping around him-
Of the sheer power of it.
He’d never needed it again, never needed it, not until now.
Manny grit his teeth, planting his feet as robots closed in. “Ancient Tiger Spirit, I summon you!” The words tore from his throat with raw desperation. A flicker of green light shimmered around him.
Then died out instantly. Nothing.
And then a metal fist slammed into him, sending him sprawling across the asphalt. Pain tore through his ribs as he hit a building with enough strength to crack cement.
“Manny!” Danny’s voice cut through the chaos, laced with panic. In a streak of green light, he was suddenly there, blasting the robot away with a precise ecto-ray before it could strike again. He dropped to one knee beside Manny, eyes wide, scanning him in a rush. “Are you out of your mind?” he breathed, voice sharp with worry rather than anger. His hand hovered near Manny’s shoulder, like he wanted to steady him, but didn’t dare touch.
Manny grit his teeth, struggling to rise, and Danny’s chest tightened at the sight. That hit would’ve shattered a normal person. The thought chilled him.
Before Manny could speak, another wave of robots charged. Danny reacted instantly, throwing up a ghost shield around them both. Emerald light flared, lasers hammering against it, each strike vibrating through his arms. He pressed harder, teeth clenched, refusing to let the barrier falter—not with Manny still catching his breath inside it.
Manny groaned, clutching his ribs. Danny glanced at him, confused. “What was that just now? What were you trying to-”
“Doesn’t matter,” Manny spat, forcing himself back up. His claws trembled with frustration. “Just… doesn’t matter.”
Another blast rocked the street. Jenny, dented and sparking, swooped down to Jimmy’s side as he scrambled onto the wreckage of a console. His hands flew across the keys, shouting above the chaos.
“They’re networked!” Jimmy shouted over the chaos, fingers flying across his handheld console. “If I can trigger a recursive feedback loop, their comms will eat themselves alive!”
“Say no more!” Jenny’s arm split open with a hiss of gears, processors flashing as she patched directly into his calculations. Circuits lit up down her frame, her eyes narrowing in focus.
Then her twin blue pigtails reconfigured, snapping upright like warning beacons before unleashing a shriek of piercing sound. The frequency tore through the air—so sharp Danny winced, his shield flickering, while Manny’s claws instinctively curled into his palms hard enough to break skin.
All at once, the robots convulsed. Their optics flickered, weapons stuttered—and then they froze mid-strike, caught in the death rattle of their own network.
One by one, the machines shuddered, screamed in electronic static, and collapsed into lifeless heaps. The sudden silence rang louder than the explosions ever had.
Jenny retracted her panels with a hiss, barely staying upright. Jimmy sagged in relief, sweat dripping down his forehead. Danny dropped his shield, catching his breath, and glanced at Manny again. The look in Manny’s eyes wasn’t relief. It was fire.
He’d tried. He’d called on the Spirit. And it had rejected him. If Jenny and Jimmy hadn’t pulled it off, they’d all be dead.
Manny’s fists tightened around his belt. He stayed quiet as the others regrouped, but his thoughts burned louder than the ruined battlefield around him.
I need more power. If I can’t protect them like this… then what good am I?
His fists clenched. There had only ever been one man who could summon and command the Ancient Tiger Spirit.
El Tigre I.
His ancestor, the first Rivera, a legend (with a very uncanny personality), and long since dead. If Manny wanted answers and if he wanted to protect his friends the way they deserved, there was only one path left to him. The truth waited beyond the veil, in the one place where the dead still held their secrets.
The Land of the Dead.