Hearts of the Multiverse

Chapter One: Let's Run This Back

Luz pressed the palms of her hands against her cheeks, gushing, "An Eevee?! I didn't even think of that! Great idea, Arven! I'll catch one for me and my sweet potato!"

Her sweet potato girlfriend, Amity, who Luz managed to sneak into every single conversation. It must be nice to have someone to love and trust like that. Miles wouldn't know.

"Heh," Arven rubbed the back of his head, "Still can't believe there's no Pokémon where all of you all come from."

"Don't need them when you have a flying air bison and a flying lemur," Sokka boasted.

"And where are they right now?" Giorno asked, chiming in unexpectedly.

"Probably with a friend," Zuko said bluntly, keeping eye contact with Giorno. Couldn't cut the tension with an Octavius appendage.

Miles cleared his throat, "Uh, so, Arven, you said there was like a university in Paldea."

"An academy," Arven corrected. "We do scavenger hunts every year. I caught all of mine with my friend, Juliana. She's my little buddy. Best friend, really."

"That's gotta be fun, going on adventures like that with your friends. I do all the time," Luz said. "Gus, Willow, Amity, Vee, Hunter, and I go on little adventures all the time. I wonder if they ended up here too..."

Her smile dimmed a little. Not-knowing was the worst. And it was evident with the passion and gleam in her eyes when she spoke that she cared about them a lot.

Miles put a hand on her shoulder, "I'll help you look for them, Luz."

Luz gave him a small smile, "Thanks Miles."

It was quiet for a moment. An uneasy silence. Giorno reached for the remote and flipped through the channels. Language barriers be damned. Everything seemed to translate into everyone's native tongue. It must be a part of the scheme. But why? Why go through all the trouble?

Giorno finally landed on the news channel. "Might as well see if there are any updates."

Two hosts, neither being from Miles's dimension, spoke in cheerful tunes on camera. One looked like he was wearing chrome—his hair looked like raven chrome glossed in hairspray and his outfit—a chrome pink. The woman, Arven recognized. She was a worldwide reporter in his world. She even battled people to get a good story.

"This just in," the woman spoke in an overly cheery voice. "This melded world's problems may be coming up with resolutions. Leader of the Aether Paradise, Lusamine is here with her partnered associates to speak with us today."

"And what glamourous timing," the chrome man spoke up. He turns to a woman entering the room. Half of her face is framed by her long, blond hair. Her dress barely touches her knees, and it's got a huge green jewel Miles doesn't recognize in any of his studies in the center. She wears long, white leggings. The simple way to describe her is an eyesore, bright white.

"Hello darling!" Chrome man chirrups. "You look marvelous today! Now, I know you wanted to tell us about this little project you've got going on to help the little kerfuffle we've got going on right now."

The woman, Lusamine giggles, "Quite the warm welcome Mr. Meta. Thank you. And yes. We do have a task force put together. For now, Mr. O'Hara and I are the main proponents of the forc—"

Lusamine's words crumbled and tumbled together like TV fuzz in Miles's ears. O'Hara. O'Hara. O'Hara. Of all the people to have ended up in the same situation as him, it had to be Miguel O'Hara. If he were here, he'd never get back to his own universe. He'd never accomplish his plan on how to save his dad once and for all.