Unity/Chapter 1: Home Bitter Home

A Note For The Readers
Just so that everyone knows, I, MaxIrvaron, will be writing the majority of this chapter. Nitro will be telling me what to do on some parts.

Also, this chapter is hypothetically after Depths of Dimensions, Kennedy's return to Chaos Mobius, Fragment World, and the future Max/Lee/Speedy/Wiki roleplay. However, it chronologically happens before the Skye/Max roleplay. So, if you are reading, expect spoilers for my characters.

Chapter 1: Home Bitter Home
The Zone between all of the dimensions, flowing with images of different worlds, was surely a magnificent place. Its blue interior was always pleasant to look at, and rectangular photo-like picture of each new world floated around, allowing anyone to get a glimpse at a place they’d never been before. After his about 50th visit to this area, however, Kennedy McLeod was starting to get mighty sick of it.

With a fiery purple aura following him, Kennedy flew throughout the hub base, noting all of the twists and turns he had to take to get back home. He was donning only his torn-up purple undershirt and his grey shorts that were formerly pants but now only went to his knees. He just had the worst luck, it seemed - stopping Luna on its own deserved a break in his eyes, but he also lost his left arm, and then he had to be plunged into an apocalyptic realm immediately after, only to assist save someone who he’d recently helped a different version of after that.

I need some rest… I wonder what everyone’s been doing without me. Though Jana-Su, the other Xavis and the others were pleasant people to hang out with, he missed all of his friends dearly. He hoped Alexia would have been deroboticized by now.

Suddenly, an intense headache came upon him. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he knew what was happening - someone was messing with the space-time continuum again. I’ll have to handle that later - I don’t have near enough patience to deal with something like this immediately.

Kennedy stopped flying abruptly to look at one of the rectangular images. In it, he saw the buzzing central area of Trikon City, his home. A smile crept across his face just thinking about all of the memories he’d made. With his only arm, his right hand went through the image, sucking him in. Not wanting to waste any time, Kennedy disappeared in a flash of white light, allowing himself to be sucked into the picture.

'''

What were Kennedy’s expectations when he teleported into the Lamak Zone? Most likely landing perfectly into his room in the Hartley Mansion, where Mac and Scarlet would been tearing up at just seeing his face. Kennedy would start crying also, and they’d share a group hug, having Team Mask reunited.

However, that was probably as far as he could get from reality. When Kennedy teleported into the Zone, he found himself appearing into the sky, facing upwards. Before he could get a hold of what was happening, he started to fall, and suddenly his back hit something.

Groaning, Kennedy rolled over. He found himself on top of a red car whose driver had apparently not noticed something was on it. Kennedy attempted to stand, but the speed of the driving car made him trip and start to fall again… on another one, this time blue. The driver stopped immediately, which was an unintelligent move on their part - with the business and rushing that went on in this part of town, about five more cars crashing into the blue one, sending Kennedy rolling onto the road.

Kennedy got up, dazed, to see the driver of the blue car, a yellow beaver, get out and give him a fierce glare. “The hell do you think you’re doing? This is a busy road! I don’t know who you are, but blah blah blah blah blah blah-” The beaver might have been saying something intelligent, but Kennedy was honestly so tired that it all just translated into a rush of gibberish. It was strange that this man did not recognize him as the Extreme Gearist or buddy of the famous Mac Hartley, but Kennedy didn’t let it get to him. It was enough to make the Chaos tiger feel guilty, however, so he looked at the driver earnestly.

“I apologize, my dear sir, but I can honestly inform you that this was not my fault.” As nice as he was trying to look, Kennedy kept a completely straight face, angering the beaver and causing his face to flush with rage.

“You think you’re a smartass, don’t you? You think you can cause these kind of damages and just say ‘sorry’ with an excuse to get away with it? Who the hell do you think you-”

“If you could kindly shut up for a moment, you are not the only one troubled here. Now, I have more important things to attend to, so I must go. Call the police if you must, but I am leaving.” With that, Kennedy started to levitate into the air and fly away. The beaver didn’t like that.

“Hey! You! What about all of this?” The beaver was quickly waving at the line of damaged cars and confused civilians. “Who’s going to pay for all of these damages?!”

Kennedy’s eyes turned green for a second, but then they turned back to their usual grey. He replied, “Your insurance,” and teleported away.

'''

When Kennedy appeared at the doorstep of the Irvaron Mansion, he was intrigued by two things - one, why was his teleporting off? Was it an effect of being thrown in different realms? And two, why didn’t he sense Mac and Scarlet’s energy signatures? Usually, they were booming.

Kennedy tried knocking on the door, but after five minutes, he got no response. Confused, Kennedy teleported through the door and ran through the mansion, looking for any sign of his teammates. He ran to his room - nothing. He ran to the kitchen - not a trace. He ran to the game room - nada. He ran to the party floor - no cigar.

Finally, Kennedy decided that the best place to check was their actual rooms. Maybe they were chatting together and were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t hear the doorbell or his constant running?

Kennedy went into Mac and Scarlet’s room with high hopes, but when he looked at their beds, he only found their outfits and open drawers.

'''

Earlier that week….

Mackenzie Hartley and his dear friend Scarlet June were in the Hartley Mansion, chilling - at least, one of them was. Scarlet was on her bed, listening to music on her headphones, but Mac was furiously fiddling with his thumbs. This…. It didn’t feel right. Not without him.

Scarlet took off her red and black headphones, being able to see Mac’s stress. “Hey, Mac you seem troubled. What’s up?”

Mac tried to fake optimism, something he didn’t usually need to do because he normally had a reason to smile. Not like he needed one now - in the past year, after Luna’s conquest, a lot of good things happened. Alexia was deroboticized and she learned a bit about her destiny, which was cool. Schnee and White got to make amends with their mom - double cool. Terra found a thief and returned a sacred artifact to her village - triple cool. Mac finally got that stupid Chaos Energy out of him - quadruple cool. But even with all of that… without his best frenemy, it felt like he’d excluded him from their life.

Scarlet lowered her eyelids while glaring at the tiger, giving him a smirk. “Mac, you do know I’m not retarded, right? I know you’re down. What are you down about, though? So many good things have happened since last year!”

“Have you… forgotten about him, Scarlet?” Mac said this in an unusually somber tone that made Scarlet feel sad just hearing it. This wasn’t the only reason her face suddenly shifted between emotions, however - she knew very well that he was talking about Kennedy.

“Mac, be serious. You really think I’ve forgotten about the ‘k’ to our ‘Mas?’ I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spend every day hoping he’d come back, wishing that he’d just teleport into our home with a smile on his face.”

Mac looked at Scarlet, his eyes starting to water. “What if Luna killed him, Scarlet? We have just been living under the assumption he was teleported, but… what if the Oracle Stone destroyed him completely? What if life is giving us false hope?”

It didn’t take Scarlet long to sit next to Mac on his bed, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Mac, I understand you and Kennedy were close. I know that Kennedy disappearing has been the most hurtful punch in the gut since I met you. But we can’t give up, Mac. We can’t let ourselves be depressed because we’re assuming that the worst thing possible is the truth.” Scarlet sighed as she cupped Mac’s cheek. “We have to keep believing.”

Wiping his eyes, Mac smiled. “Dammit, Scarlet, you know just the wrong right things to say to me at the right times.” Scarlet rested her head on his shoulder as their thoughts synchronized on one single topic. It was five whole minutes before Mac jolted with electricity, shocking Scarlet.

“Ow! What the hell, Mac?” Scarlet was starting to fuss, but all of her anger subsided immediately when she saw Mac’s big old smile dance across his face. “What are you so happy about now? You look like a fool.”

“Scarlet, I’ve just had the best idea ever! What if instead of waiting for Kennedy to come, we bring him to us! It’ll be a lot less stressful, and then we could just mosey on back home singing Kumbaya!”

Scarlet chuckled at Mac’s enthusiasm, but she retained her serious demeanor. “As cute as that sounds, bud, you have to realize that Flash must’ve been thinking something like that before he joined Luna. How would we know if we were joining the right side or not?”

“I honestly don’t care about if we’re on the right side or not, I just want to bring Kennedy back. But there’s something else, too… When Luna came, we were doomed. It took all of our everything to stop her. I…. I don’t want to experience that type of fear again. Nuh-uh. We need to get some power, so that if a wannabe Luna appears out of nowhere, we can stop them. Plus, if we do find Kennedy, I’m worried about him. When we last saw him, he was pushed over the deep end.”

Scarlet shuddered, remembering the malicious aura Kennedy gave off when Turles was attacked. “Yeah. His energy signatures… they kind of reminded me of Konton’s, to be honest. They gave me the creeps.”

Mac made a gun sign with his hands, and then he pretended to fire a shot. “Bingo! Luna sure was a nightmare, but Konton was strong enough to give her shivers. If we find Kennedy and he becomes a maniac again, he need the strength to take him down. You with me?”

Mac got off the bed and put his hand out for Scarlet to grab. “You bet!” She grabbed it, and he pulled her up. Two questions popped up in Scarlet’s head, though. “Are… you sure you just want me to join you, though? We have White, Tina, Sepht-”

Mac shook his pointer finger. “Nah, none of them would really work. Schnee, Alexia and Terra would try to stop us if we joined the ‘bad’ side, and I feel like White, Tina and Sephtis should continue trying to live their lives as normal as possible.”

Scarlet crossed her arms and smirked. “Clever. But dimension-transcending warlords don’t appear out of nowhere, y’know.”

Mac lowered his eyelids and gave his friend a determined look. “Not until now, that is.”

'''

Mac and Scarlet were in the party room, standing side-by-side. They were wearing brand-new outfits for a brand-new adventure - Mac donned his usual black-and-yellow jacket along with yellow shorts that went past his knees. He had put slits in a red cap for his ears to go through, and he wrapped sports tape around his hands along with red shoes with white stripes. Scarlet wore a modified version of her yellow tank top that now had pink sleeves, with very short jean shorts accompanying them. She wore white and green socks with cyan and green boots (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OcAKr8ECGBrFlp8G25iEPyVTO6hM-Iye).

Scarlet looked at Mac again. “So, what’s the plan?”

Mac replied, “Okay, so if there’s anyone who is tearing up time, then they’ll want someone powerful. We’re going to raise our power to the maximum and hope that we alert them.”

Scarlet said, “That makes sense, but are you sure that I’ll be able to raise my strength high enough? I think that you’ll have to-”

“Already prepared, hon.” Mac, as fast a lightning, grabbed a pair of scissors from off the table and snipped a centimeter of Scarlet’s hair off. The gunslinger noticed shortly after, and she started getting very angry.

“WHAT THE HELL, MAC?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR A GIRL TO GROW THIS?! GO TO HELL!” Scarlet gained an explosive red-aura that shined in the smiling Mac’s face.

“That’s the spirit, Scar! Now, it’s my turn! Hyah!” Mac started off by going into High Tension, giving him cyan/blue coloring, but not altering his clothing. Mac noticed. “Oh, so my clothes stay yellow now? Cool!” Mac decided to go into the next stage of High Tension, powering up even further. They both unleashed all of their power while yelling, desperate for someone to arrive.

Their activities were cut short when a loud roaring sound came from outside. Along with that came several sonic booms coming from outside. One of the sonic booms made contact with Mac's house, causing objects to fly off in multiple directions and ripping some of the walls apart. It had come from an asteroid that crashed near the household. The resulting impact tore through the ground. The screams of others in the nearby city could be heard. Mac and Scarlet flinched and held their ground, which was tough due to the intensity of the impact. More crashes could be heard just outside the house. The smoke from the asteroids came from burning metals that either broke off or disintegrated during the descent.

The roaring noise still echoes in the sky, coming from a massive wormhole cutting through and showing a black void inside. This void was not essentially trying to suck in anything, but it was letting something out. What slowly came through was a ship of monumental size and shape.

Several monocular robots started to emerge from a lot of asteroids that have just crash-landed. Some were wielding weapons and others were not. Those that didn't have weapons made fists with their hands. The robots soon got out and started running for the location, ready to charge in.

Mac smiled, while Scarlet was just buggy-eyed, surprised that their admittedly stupid plan had really succeeded. Mac, scared that Scarlet would scare them off, chuckled nervously. "Eheh.... don't pay any attention to her. I'm Mackenzie Hartley, and this is one of my best buds, Scarlet June. Who are you guys?"

The robots start to quietly talk amongst themselves, trying to calculate the the chances of them becoming a threat. They soon send three vectors to Mac and Scarlet, with harpoon-like weapons protruding from the vectors' hands.

"Attention, flesh creatures of this dimension. We are looking for something you have, and will decimate your cities as you know it. Your total surrender to us and Lady Vultra Is required. If you choose to fight, your demise will be on your conscience."

Mac sighed. "Well, you guys just came in and said 'Give us your thing for no reason, or go to hell.' Which options do you think we're going to choose? As much as I wanna join you guys, I'm going to give you a little beatdown to show you whose on top of the food chain. But if we battle in my house, I am going to strangle that duchess Vultra and feed her entrails to the wolves! Now..." Even without his weapons, Mac was awfully brave, lowering his eyelids and putting his hands in his pockets. "Are you going to put up or shut up? I'm honestly fine with either option."

"Your miscalculate your odds of success. " With those words said, the vectors then walk towards the group each with a harpoon like projectile in their hands. Mac growled, frustrated that they weren't listening to him. Luckily, Scarlet informed them.

"Are you robots DEAF?! Take it outside!" With that, the two walked upstairs, to the entrance of the mansion, and motioned for the strange robots to follow them. "C'mere, you freaks!"

Realizing they were very serious by their tone, the monocular robots lower their hands and follow them. "What exactly are you after?"

They all went outside, and Mac leaned against the wall. "Two main things - a friend, and power. Not 'I wanna take over the world' power, but 'I wanna stop people from taking over the world' power. Anyway, I'll let Scarlet do the rest of the explaining." Mac motioned to Scarlet, who sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You see, after an interdimensional mishap, we lost a buddy who lost an arm. We can't find him due to a lack of intergalactic transportation. Plus, in that same adventure, we got our butts whooped by multiple baddies, so we're going to need more firepower if we want to actually be some help next time."

One of the vectors nodded, while the other two didn't. "We see now. So this is what you want? I do believe we can help with that, but your presence to our commander is required, lest we be branded renegades. She may offer her help. We apologize for our intrusion," the vector said in a robotic tone.

Mac looked at Scarlet, who looked back at Mac, who simply shrugged in silent reply. "Sure. Why the hell not. I've got time to kill," Mac said with a chuckle. "Take me to your leader."

"Acknowledged." One the vectors replied. Two of the vectors walked over to them, one of them grabbed Mac, and the other did Scarlet. "Proceeding with Transportation." A light blue aura surrounds all of them as they fade into white silhouettes and then fade away.

They all find themselves just outside of Vultra's command room. The vectors then made their way in the room, still holding on to Mac and Scarlet. They were on the floor below her, with all the other workers and supervisors. However, Psuedo and Velkorah were also in the room, and it didn't take long for them to see the two suspicious-looking anomalies in the room.

"Paxxolar! C'guro! Ixxoa! State your reasons for bringing those flesh puppets here!" Psuedo demanded.

Velkorah flew over them and landed next to Mac, pinching at his ear. "Yes. Do tell what purpose you have for them being here. I'd like to test them..." Velkorah said with a twisted smirk on its face.

Vultra walked up to the edge of the floor she's on. She stared at the group with a annoyed look on her face.

"Lady Vultra! These natives wish to speak with you!" Paxxolar shouted, causing all the other robots to stop and look in Paxxolar's direction. C'guro and Ixxoa let go of Mac and Scarlet, allowing them to speak.

Mac smiled. "Hey, you're that Vultra chick the bot was yabbering about, right? I heard that you have something we want. We could align our strengths to work towards a common goal, and leave with everyone happy. That is, unless..." Mac pointed to his hips, which carried a belt he'd put on before leaving the house. On his hips there were two guns, one on each side. Mac's grin grew. "...you wanna dance."

Scarlet put her hand in front of Mac's face. "Please excuse him, he isn't trying to start a fight. What he's attempting to say is that if you give us what we want, we'll help you. If you don't, well, we can settle it here. Neither of us are pushovers, though, so I think we'd be useful assets to your team."

Mac took Scarlet's hand and put it behind his head, allowing him to look at Velkorah with a mix of joy, anger and excitement in his eyes. "I'd be fine with you testing me. If so, I'll be sure to not leave a mess - I hate it when that happens." Just hearing Velkorah's voice made him angry, thinking of all the pain someone like him could cause. Mac was quarter hoping that Vultra would say no just so that he could zap that smirk off his face.

"At ease." Vultra said to Velkorah, Psuedo, and all the others in the area, not wanting to risk another issue with the station.

The robot's backed off. Psuedo included. Velkorah then murmured as he walked away and rejoined Psuedo. "Another time, you two," Velkorah murmured, still sporting a twisted grin.

"Pardon my misguided soldiers. Especially Velkorah. That one tends to act more like the 'phobia' variety. I must say you have some nerve coming on board this station. Paxxolar, tell what they are after," said Vultra.

"They claim that they lost one of their own as a result of some sort of dimensional issue," Psuedo responded. "They want to know if you'd be permissive in allowing them to join us in exchange for finding one of their own."

Vultra opened her mouth to say something, but shot a quick glance at Mac, remembering that he was armed and was most likely to wipe out the entire room if she refused. Acknowledging the issue, she then told them, "I see you are in need of assistance. As per your request, I can allow a pocket of my forces to aid you. But, considering the distance one location is to another in space, you'll need these."

Vultra then threw a Stekrite crate at their feet. It was a fairly sized crate that stopped at their knees in height. It was grey in color and appeared stainless. A hissing noise could be heard as the lid to it opens with steam coming out. When they looked inside, they saw row upon row of cylinders that looked like they could carry it one hand. The cylinders were made of smaller ones that circled around a big one in the middle. The devices also had square bases that looked like stairs. The top of the lid was also square on the top. The cyan color came from the central cylinder, glowing bright and becoming dim at a slow, rhythmic pace.

"My research division calls them "Gravitational Polarity Inverters", or GPIs. Throwing one will either cause objects to gravitate toward or away from each other. You'd have to scour the Multiverse in order to find your thing. But I need you to do one single thing for me: Find me the Terra form Matrix and the Raggadak Gems, and we'll get along just fine. Deal?"

Mac carried the crate and looked to Scarlet, who nodded at looked at Vultra. "We got a deal, but let me tell you...I don't think either of us like that creep who talks to us as if we're his playthings." Mac nodded in confirmation, allowing Scarlet to jerk her head in his direction to empathize her point. "I'd suggest you keep that guy on a leash. If he does anything suspicious, Mac and I won't hesitate to screw him over sideways. Notice anything suspicious, and we'll be on it."

Vultra stifled a small giggle. "Rest assured, he is already on a leash. A very tight one in fact." Velkorah looked at her, giving her an angry glare. He then quickly raised his hands at them, baring his claws and opening his mouth wide enough to bare his yellowish brown teeth, after which he simply hissed at them like an irate cat and turned away.

"Psuedo, I want you to accompany them. I will be sending a detachment to aid you three. You know what your goal is. Now get going," Vultra told them.

Psuedo crosses his arms across his metallic chest like an "X" saying, "Acknowledged, Lady Vultra," then walks off to them. "For the time being, I am at your command." Psuedo states to Mac and Scarlet.

Mac chuckled when he looked at Velkorah, glaring at him as if he weren't a threat. "You can't look scary if you can't maintain oral hygiene, dude," Mac said with a wink and a raspberry. "You might be able to do some serious damage, but it doesn't matter if you can't even brush your teeth," Mac said, getting a burst of laughter out of Scarlet. Mac made a vow to piss of Velkorah as much as possible.

Scarlet liked seeing Mac back to his joking self - when he was serious, like he was in the morning, he made her feel sad. Looking at Vultra, Scarlet asked, "So, where are we heading? I hope that you're not gonna teleport away right now - we don't even know how to work these things!"

"According to my research division, all you need to do is twist the top to the left, and the base to the right, which charges it up. If you plan to expedite your search, throwing two of these will create a wormhole for faster travel." Vultra replied telling them how to use them. Scarlet walked up to it, grabbed it, and followed Vultra's instructions.

"Okay.... so we just throw two of these things?" Mac was already twisting his in the directions she told him to as if it were an unsolved Rubik's cube. "Hey, Mac - let me help you with that," Scarlet said, doing it for him before walking back to hers.

"Yes, they are very delicate," said Vultra. "I would advise that you be careful with them. Now hurry along. Psuedo will direct you two your detachment. A battleship awaits your arrival."

Scarlet and Mac nodded before looking to Pseudo. "So, where are we going, 'Pseudo?'" Mac said, his words obviously implying finger quotes. "I can't wait to see the battleship. Does it have cannons or guns on it? I'm pretty good with guns, I'd say." Scarlet nodded in confirmation, mimicking Mac from earlier.

Psuedo looks to Scarlet and nods to her. "Affirmative. The Battleship is armed with 30 Plasma turrets that fire automatically, 12 Electron Line Beam guns that can slice through many a metal, 4 Neutronium Blast cannons that fire massive electronic beams that emit such energy that multiple units can be destroyed, and 1 Gamma Cannon. Largest and most powerful in our arsenal. Highly restricted to only be used in dire scenarios. The Battleship is also equipped with its own restock and repair systems, often utilizing elements from nearby to create previously expended items. If you really think you can handle it Scarlet, you may try either one if the Neutronium Blast cannons or one of the Electron Line Beam guns." Psuedo explained in regards to the battleship.

"As for our target, I have it marked. You'll see when we get there. In the meantime, keep your eyes open and those capsules ready. Now come with me. Our Lady doesn't like to see people go astray. Not after the incident involving J'rikrazzo," Psuedo said, replying to Mac's statement. Psuedo then turned around and proceeded to walk away with the others behind him.

Back to the Present....

People, cars, and objects were having to fight against the powerful gust of wind that was Kennedy flying through the streets, gliding past cars at hypersonic speeds. He needed to find Schnee, White, Tina, Sephtis, Terra and Alexia.Maybe Mac and Scarlet simply went on a vacation?

After rolling at his eyes as a result of one kid watching him saying "Do a barrel roll!", Kennedy stopped in front of Schnee's house, which was a plain yellow house with a brown roof and a grey porch. Kennedy smiled looking at it - it reminded him that he was home. He went to the door, still levitating off the ground, and knocked the door. In about ten seconds, Schnee opened her door, looking a bit tired a plain white shirt, striped white and blue pants that looked wrinkled, along with frazzled hair and quills.

When Schnee saw Kennedy, however, her tired expression was altered nearly immediately. A smile grew on her face as a result of happiness and surprise, and before Kennedy could react, Schnee had already pulled him into her house, sat him down, and was sitting next to him. "Kennedy! You're back! Oh my god, I'm so happy! I thought you were dead, oh my god, this is unbelievable! I totally gotta text White and Tina about this!"

And text the duo she did. Too lazy to create original posts for the both of them, she sent White "Ken's home, *smiley emoji*" and copied that to send Tina the same thing. Then, Schnee hugged Kennedy, her eyes starting to water. "I...I'm just so confused? After Luna...after that freak did whatever she did to you, what happened! Were you, like, frozen in time, and then you were sent here like a meteor?"

Kennedy put his hand up for Schnee to stop talking, because it was clear she had about a million more words to say. And that's just lowballing it, Kennedy thought before speaking. "Listen, Schnee, I know you are worried about me, but there's something I'm worried about more. Where did Mac and Scarlet go? Are they at a resort, or someplace similar to that?"

Schnee sighed before twiddling her thumbs and looking downwards. "To be honest...I don't know. They'd been here for most of the year you were gone, and then earlier this week, they just disappeared. I just noticed yesterday, and the public had gone mad looking for them. It...it was just a lot to process, you three disappearing. I feel like someone's-"

"I have one idea where that foolish duo went," Kennedy said before getting up from his seat and preparing to leave. "But I want everyone to know about it. I'll get Terra and Aqua - you can get White, Sephtis and Tina. We're heading to Buns and Brawls for a meeting." Kennedy gave Schnee a quick hug, which she returned. "It was nice talking to you." Schnee waved to Kennedy before he teleported away in a flash of bright light.

It only took Kennedy a few seconds to mentally send his essence to the Wild Wind Village, where he happened to land on top of a hut. He slid down before flipping off of it, landing on his feet onto the sandy floor. He saw two kids, one lynx and one ocelot wrestling, but when the little boys saw him, they stopped immediately, mouths agape. Kennedy waved before going around them, confused about their reaction but having a vague idea why they reacted that way.

Kennedy had visited the village from time to time - he usually picked Terra up when they wanted to play tennis together. He was sure people knew him as her friend, and when she found out about his disappearance, everyone was on the lookout for him. Hoping he wasn't jumping to conclusions, Kennedy walked to the hut Terra and Alexia lived in before knocking on its wooden door. After a few seconds, Kennedy got no response - however, he felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around to see a happy Terra with an earnest smile and an Alexia nearly to tears.

The two villagers hugged him at once, and Kennedy reciprocated, giving them all three seconds of peace. Then, everyone back out and Kennedy smiled at Alexia. "I'm glad to see that you are no longer a robot, Alexia. I wasn't looking forward to battling you again, so I am forever thankful to whoever deroboticized you." Kennedy said this without snark or a joking tone, indicating he was fully serious.

Terra handed Alexia a tissue from her green and gold vest's pocket and Alexia blew her nose before freezing the tissue in an orb of ice. Then, Alexia hugged Kennedy again, and Kennedy rubbed his hand over her head, grateful that he was back home with her. While she did that, Terra asked, "So, Kennedy, how have you been?"

Kennedy took a quick look at his clothing. Tears were everywhere, scattered on the purple undershirt and shorts we had left. He felt like a disgrace. "...busy, I suppose you could say. But, if you could forgive me, I do not want to be the center of attention right now. Mac and Scarlet are far more important."

Once again, Alexia backed away before asking, "Where are M-Mac and Scarlet, anyway? It's like they just...d-disappeared early this week. W-We've gotten no mention of them from anyone, i-it's strange. What if they w-were kidnapped?" Kennedy shook his head, showing his disapproval of Alexia's hypothesis.

"If this were any normal person, that might've been the case. However, these are Mac and Scarlet we're talking about - no mere Mobian would've been able to take them out. I believe they left on their own terms, and that they made quite a stupid decision. I'll discuss more during the meeting."

"What meeting?" Terra asked, now confused. Kennedy had shown up, so she thought that it'd be a joyful reunion - however, with McLeod, it seemed like he was diverting the attention from himself and instead trying to get straight to business. Terra was not surprised by Kennedy's behavior, or the tiger's answer.

"I have organized a meeting at Buns and Brawls, one of Mac's favorite hangout places. It'll be a seven person meeting between us three, White, Schnee, Tina and Sephtis. We'll discuss what I've been up to quickly, before going deeper into analysis with Mac and Scarlet. If we can all agree on a plan, we'll move forward with it." Kennedy smiled before levitating into the air, waving to the two. "I'll be here at three o'clock sharp to pick you two up. Enjoy these moments-" Kennedy took a pause, allowing a small smirk to grow on his face. "It's time for another adventure." Then, in yet another flash of light, Kennedy was gone.

It was two fifty-five exactly, and Kennedy teleported into Buns and Brawls with a smile on his face. Alexia and Terra were behind him, looking a little dazed because they still weren't used to Kennedy's teleporting. Giving them a grin, Kennedy asked, "Now, that wasn't so terrible, was it?"

As Alexia was still trying to regain her balance (and fell flat on her face as a result), Terra was the one to reply, rapidly shaking her head - however, this was because she was trying to get her head on straight, not only because she was disagreeing with him. "Your teleportation is always a bit distracting to my brain, and it seems a bit off, too. That does not exactly make me the most comfortable."

Kennedy jokingly followed up with "Oh, maybe I should've called Schnee over and have her drive you here? I'm sure that would be fun."

"Please...no..." Alexia said, looking up only to fall on her face again.

The bee-wolf hybrid bartender, who had missed Kennedy's magical entrance and was currently glaring at the three strange characters, asked "Excuse me, but what exactly are you all doing here?"

Kennedy looked at the digital clock on the counter. They were early, just as Kennedy hoped. It wouldn't be fair for the leader of the meeting to be the fourth one to arrive. "We came here in order to stage an organization. I'll go ahead and order some things. Could I have some bacon-wrapped pork with barbecue sauce on the side?"

Terra raised her hand. "I'll take some salad with steak on the side."

The bartender was about to say "I think you mean that the other way, dear" - Kennedy read her mind - but when she was about to say it, Alexia said, "I'd like some French fries and ice cream along with a strawberry milkshake, please."

The bartender scribbled all of this down with a frustrated expression on her face before turning around and pushing a door open, giving the note to people who seemed to be cooks. Then, after having Kennedy pay, the three Mobians went to get a seat, near a TV.

After watching a eating competition that made Alexia wanted to throw up, Terra looked out the window and smiled. She saw a pink motorcycle parked outside of the bar, along with a brown car with three passengers parking right beside it. Terra knew who these three people were - Schnee, White, Sephtis and Tina.

Kennedy, Alexia and Terra watched as the four characters walked into B&B and interacted with the bartender, placing their orders and paying. Then, they all sat close to the group, with Tina and Sephtis giving Kennedy hugs and White a fist-bump.

"Yo, Ken," White said. "Nice to see you back. Sad your arm hasn't gotten any better, though."

Kennedy wiggled his stump, seeing it was still functional. "I can use my stub as a fork, at least. I won't do it right now, however, because someone is sure to think that I've brought a sword into here, and they might kick us all out." Kennedy sighed before deciding to speak. "To get this out of the way quickly, everyone, I am back. I have returned from near death, assisted in saving an apocalyptic world, saved an alternate version of someone we already know, and right when I thought I'd return, I met a judge god woman who is out for a certain bunny-hybrid's head." When Kennedy finished speaking, everyone's eyes were wide open.

Tina was the one to make a comment about it after ten seconds of silence. "Oh, Kennedy, it seems like you've just had the worst luck! In the past year, you've been through pretty heavy stuff. Our lives have been going pretty well, though."

Sephtis continued onto Tina idea with "Yeah, thing have been pretty cool. Schnee, Alexia, and Terra all saved the world from a stone of mass destruction or whatever, Mac revived Scarlet with another powerful stone, White and Schnee fixed up daddy issues, and I..." Sephtis gulped. "I guess Tina and I just met this prince guy called Kyle. So yeah, pretty busy." Sephtis noticed Kennedy's sorrowful expression when he said "Mac revived Scarlet." "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Mac and Scarlet are exactly the problem. I hope I'm not being paranoid-"

"You're probably being paranoid," Sephtis interrupted, though Kennedy ignored him.

"-but those two are gone. No trace of them anywhere." Kennedy sighed before continuing. "Now, if I had made it here on any other day, I probably wouldn't have made such a fuss about it...but as I was flying through the Zones to return home, an ability gifted to me..." Kennedy took a pause, waiting for everyone's reaction to him finally revealing that he could travel through dimensions, but everyone's face was blank. Kennedy groaned before saying, "Zones are dimensions."

Then everyone reacted. Alexia and Terra's faces were of full surprise, White, Tina and Sephtis' faces weren't surprised at all - White even gave a smirk, as if he already knew - and Schnee's face was a huge grin as she replied to Kennedy's statement giddily. "WOW! You can do interdimensional travel? That type of thing should defy logic? Then again, I've seen many logic-defying things with y'all, so I shouldn't be all too surprised now..."

Kennedy, smiling as looking upon everyone's faces, decided to continue. "Anyway, as I was saying, I was flying through dimensions when I got these eerie energy signatures - similar to the ones of Luna's scepter, but more insane. Having Mac and Scarlet gone on the same day is either a scary coincidence...or a very bad omen."

Alexia raised her hand before putting it down immediately after realizing that she wasn't in a school. "But Kennedy... what are we supposed to do about it? We don't know whether or not Mac and Scarlet are just on one of their missions of they have something to do with this freaky energy."

Kennedy clamped his fist into his palm. "I'm going to take three of you to travel with me to investigate. If it is simply a case of me being a fool, I'll take whichever three I choose back home and do it myself. However, if it is more than a coincidence...then I hope that you guys are ready to protect a world. Are you all with me?"

Tina and Sephtis looked at each other worriedly before shaking their heads, with Tina being the one to give an explanation. "Sorry, Kennedy, but Sephtis and I have something of our own to investigate. Plus, it may take a while, so we're out. Sorry."

White raised his hand. "I'd join, too, but I'm...honestly, I'm scared. I'm not ready to deal with a Luna-scale battle again," White said, remembering the intense fear he'd felt when Luna was attacking him. "It's too much for me. I'll...I'll get over it soon, I hope."

Disappointed but understanding their reasoning, Kennedy looked to the members of Team Saturn, who said "Yes!" in perfect unison. Kennedy smiled, before wearing a concerned look on his face. "Wait...Terra, without you and Alexia guarding the village for what could be a long time, are you sure the Wild Wind Village will be safe?"

Terra and Alexia looked at each other, shared a smile, and looked back at Kennedy. "We have an alliance with another village named Solaris' Circuits, and one of its branches is near the Wild Wind Village. If we leave for an extended period of time, they'll know we're doing something important," Terra explained. I still have to thank Mac and Scarlet for getting that organized...I hope that we won't have to battle them.

Kennedy clapped his hands with a smile. "Well, then, I believe everything is in order! This is perfect, everyone! Thank you!" With perfect timing, Kennedy, Terra and Alexia's food arrived, causing Kennedy to smile. "Now, save your worries - we must eat!" After everyone shared a laugh, they got off the topic and began to talk more casually.

An hour after everyone had eaten, at four twenty-seven, everyone had already said their goodbyes to Team Saturn and Kennedy. Team Saturn had packed their bags, and Kennedy had gotten into a new outfit, ready for the new adventure. Kennedy and co. were in the middle of the street, with backpacks packed.

"Now, to make sure you all don't go flying into 1550, I'm going to attack a spiritual rope to your souls that will chain you to me, Zone-wise." Kennedy went to Team Saturn and placed his right pointer finger on their stomachs (with an added "boop" sound effect from Schnee) and for a second, everyone could see what looked like a purple rope. Then, Kennedy looked towards the sky. "Are you all ready?"

"Yeah, Ken! This is gonna be awesome!" Schnee exclaimed, feeling excited.

"So am I, K-K-Kennedy! I'll try my best!" Alexia said, determined not to be useless during this.

"Affirmative. I can assure you that I won't give up," Terra replied, hoping to assist their group in whatever means necessary.

Kennedy nodded and looked upwards, towards the sky. In five seconds, a bright flash of light appeared, and they were gone.

The search began for Mac and Scarlet, unaware that a shifter disguising himself as a male wolf was watching Kennedy. The observations were received by a surveillance ship that was facing the planet directly. The robots were now preparing to relay a message to Vultra about their findings and dispatch actual forces onto the planet's surface. The numerous vectors that had been sent there had managed to bring back a ton of information both from the planet's surface and from the location that Kennedy was aiming for: High Wind Village.

Onboard the ship, the robots had started to initiate a holographic connection to Vultra back on LOKI Station, but had encountered some issues, which lead to some frustration. "We should be connected to the station already, what is going on!?" said one of the taller robots. "The Electron Calibrator is glitchy and the Quantum Processor is shot. Needs to be replaced," said one of the workers. "Well hurry up and get it done. The longer it takes, the more likely we'll be turned into piles of scrap."

Back with Kennedy, he was still on his way to the village, but picked up a faint signal. The signal was not only weak, but was also very garbled. Although it was mostly indiscernible, the person speaking sounded feminine. "##_el^+o_? A-Anyone_! $hea##r me~\Em¡|\?!. Respond."

Kennedy, hearing the signal while flying around in the space between Zones for the umpteenth time, suddenly stopped, causing Schnee, Terra and Alexia all to be sent forward before being tugged by the rope Kennedy out on them. Schnee turned around, floating, and asked, "Hey, Kennedy, what's the deal?!"

"I...I think I heard something..." Kennedy said, putting his pointer and middle fingers to his head to see if he could get another signal. ''Hello? My name is Kennedy McLeod. I'm here to help. Now, where are you?''

The voice sounded clearer and more discernable. "Hello? Kennedy was it? This is Savannah Alexis Myers sending an urgent transmission from Safehouse Orion. You need to leave your dimension now. Your world is in danger from an alien attack that you haven't seen before. She may try to destroy your dimension if she doesn't get what she wants."

Kennedy frowned, wearing an annoyed expression. Deadpan, he told Savannah, I'm not actually in a dimension right now, so could you please specify?

Savannah heard him say this, and was surprised to hear that someone was actually outside of a dimension. Not wanting to seem surprised over the transmission, she then said, "Ok then. I'm starting to receive an emergency signal from Wild Wind Village. There is some trouble brewing over there; if Vultra is there, there could be trouble."

Kennedy turned around and told Terra and Alexia, "Apparently, a lady named Vultra is now attacking the village! We must turn back and-"

"Don't worry about it," Terra said, causing Kennedy's eyes to open wide. Before he could ask, she said, "The reason I say this is because we have a massive amount of reinforcements. The Solvage Tribe, the Wild Wind militia and Team Watts are all able to stop her if necessary. We picked up on a few allies while you were gone - it makes leaving the village much safer."

Kennedy looked to Alexia for confirmation, and she nodded, causing Kennedy to sigh before talking to Savannah again. ''Apparently, the village has its own form of defense. My friends and I are on this really important mission, and if we did show up, there wouldn't be much of a difference. However... if I can get to your base or homeworld, I can drop three of my friends and go deal with it myself. I'm assured I'll be a challenge for this "Vultra" lady.''

Savannah took a minute to process the information. "Do what you must. But, allow me to show you something when you get here. You'll need to know what she's after, and may have ended up in your world." Savannah then cut off communications to Kennedy for a few brief moments. After that, Kennedy was greeted by a white light that was just a few feet in front of him and was a little taller than he was. The white light looked like an oval, almost like a mirror. "Get in!" Savannah yelled.

Kennedy nodded, and before Team Saturn could ask any questions, he flew through the portal, sucking all four of them in.

Upon travelling through the light, the four of them were taken into a very large room. This room had large computer screens and massive keyboards with a lot of indistinguishable characters and symbols that seemed to be a form of letters. These keyboards and screens were mounted and connected to the walls. The wall they were in front of didn't have one of these, but rather the four of them were standing on top of some sort of circular platform that looked like 10 people could stand on it at one time. There was also a large circular light directly above them that was as wide as the platform below them. They then heard a familiar female voice call out to them.

"Ah! You're here! Excellent."

Even though they didn't fall from the ground, that didn't stop everyone except Kennedy from feeling extremely disoriented. While Kennedy simply looked normal, with his green dragon shirt, black pants, and grey-and-purple scarf, the others did not have the same experience with inter-dimensional travel. Kennedy dusted himself off, and turned around to see a tired Schnee with her tongue out, a Terra who looks like she was forcing herself to look stoned, and an Aqua who had a green face and looked like she was going to puke.

"Freaking Jesus, Kennedy, why the hell didn't you warn us that you were going to take us into a portal?! Argh..." Schnee said, groaning.

Terra's eyes were three-quarters closed, and she was trying to look confident and fine, but it was clear by her blue face that she wasn't feeling so good. "I-I could've done better with some waning too..."

However, neither of them looked as bad as Alexia did. Her face was green, blue and red simultaneously, her hands were clutching her stomach and she was coughing repeatedly. Kennedy kicked himself for forgetting about Aqua's motion sickness. ''Blast it! If there was also her getting sick when I was flying...then she must feel terrible!''

Alexia, in pain, managed to say "I-I-I d-d-don't f-feel so g-good..."

Schnee chuckled before groaning. "N-No shit, Sherlock...Whoever this psychic girl is..." Schnee glared at the girl. "Get us to a trash can before I wreck your father-screwing...oh Christ, just..."

Kennedy rolled his eyes. Note to self: Schnee when sick = Schnee when drunk. "Savannah, could you please get these three to somewhere to...ahem, 'deposit' their 'belongings?' They were flailing around in the interdimensional void for about an hour."

Schnee was huffing, shaking her head. "D-Damn, Kennedy, now I feel even worse...get me a place to blow m-my chunks al-already..."

Terra shook her head. "B-But I'm f-fine...ugh...why did I have such a heavy breakfast?" Terra sighed. "Fine, I'll go vomit with these two, I s-suppose..."