"But Amity would love one!"
Luz held up an orange kitten to Rei's face. Rei, unimpressed, shook her head. "I'm not risking Phobos and Deimos' safety to adopt a cat."
"But what if we got two cats?" Luz suggested. "They'd be so busy hanging out with each other, they wouldn't even bother your birds!"
"Cats are a lot of work, and you've already got Stringbean," Rei said pointedly.
The girl, Miharu, who had been taking care of a bunch of stray cats giggled at their interaction. Miles wasn't overly fond of cats, especially since that one furball spit web in his face. But it's not like he actively hated them, either.
Today, he, Giorno, Luz, Hunter, Arven, Zuko, Sokka, and Katara had decided to come check out this place Usagi had hyped up. They had originally thought she'd found some way to fix her brooch, but no. It was cats, because of course it was cats.
"They are pretty cute," Hunter said, gently scratching one of the cat's chins.
"I doubt Mabostiff would get along with them, either," Arven spoke up.
"Oddly enough, they're making me thinking about Appa and Momo," Sokka added in.
"Oh? Who are they?" Giorno asked.
Before Zuko could cut him off, Sokka said, "Our—well—our friend's flying air bison and flying lemur-bat."
"Every animal in your world is a combination of two things here," Giorno noted. He gave them, what Miles thought might be an attempt at a friendly smile. "Neat."
Sokka looked creeped out, Zuko still looked very guarded, and Katara smiled back politely, but was probably in the same boat as her brother. Miles leaned over to Giorno, "Dude, you're really bad at socializing."
"I have people for that," Giorno whispered back. "I've never been very good with small talk."
"Just...chill. Look at me. Do you see me sweating? Nah. You just gotta loosen up. Don't take casual convos so seriously."
Giorno nodded. "Sure."
"Ami," Katara said, out of earshot of Miharu. "I've heard you're also a water-bender. It's always nice to meet another water-bender, especially another girl!"
Ami smiled shyly. "I was surprised there was someone else like me out there, too. But I'm glad we've had this opportunity to meet. Zuko said you're extremely powerful and smart."
"Aw! Isn't that sweet, didn't know Zuko could be the gushy type."
"I was stating a fact," Zuko said sternly.
"Well, whatever the case may be," Ami said. "I hope we can be good friends and perhaps learn from each other."
"Definitely!" Katara agreed.
"I can't believe the people who can control lightning in your world do such terrible things with it," Makoto said, sidling beside Ami.
"Luckily there are ways of combating it," Zuko said. "My uncle taught me how to redirect lightning; he learned it by watching waterbenders."
"A way to repel lightning via water techniques," Ami smiled. "That's ingenious. Could you teach us this method?"
"Maybe, if we have time," Zuko said. "But we need to focus on getting rid of those monsters and getting home."
"Fair enough," Makoto said. "I wonder what those creeps are after, anyways."
"We won't know until we go after them," Giorno said.
Arven shook his head. "I'm still not sure that's such a great idea. What if we go out there to look for them and one of us gets hurt or something?"
"And if we don't go out there, a lot of other people are going to get hurt," Giorno pointed out. "Inaction is as good as rolling over and letting them screw you over, so yeah, we might get hurt, but that's going to have to be something we'll need to be prepared to do."
It was silent for a moment before Sokka spoke up, "Kind of kills the good mood, but I guess that's a good point."
Miles was about to say something to the effect of, "But we'll look out for each other," when something small bumped into his sneakers. He glanced down and saw a small creature that resembled a cherry. It looked up at him and smiled. "Cher!"
"Hey, Arven, is this little guy yours?" Miles asked, picking up the small guy as carefully as possible.
Arven shook his head but smiled at the Pokémon. "No, but he's a cutie! Where'd you come from, little guy?"
Heels clicked against the concrete path leading up to the house. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid he got away from me."
A quick glance startled Miles. The first thing he saw was very red hair, but he realized soon, it was another boy in a green school uniform and brown flats. Another boy followed closely behind him. His hair was platinum blonde and weirdly layered and trimmed, as if he'd done it himself. He also wore a black hoodie, pants, and shoes.
"That's alright!" Arven said, handing the cherry-mon back to the red-haired boy. "What's his name?"
"Sting. I really enjoy the Police," the red-haired boy said (I don't know if they cover that in the anime, but they do in the manga). "And you are?"
"He's Arven, the son of Professor Turo and Sada," the blonde-haired boy said. "We've met before."
"Yeah," Arven nodded. "It's been a while. How are you?"
"Better than I was. And you?"
"Relatively the same. I made a few friends."
"I made a few not enemies," Gladion said with somewhat of a smirk. "Good to hear."
"And you?" Miles asked the red-haired boy.
"Kakyoin Noriaki," the other replied. "And you?"
"I'm Miles Morales."
"I'm Luz Noceda! This is my brother, Hunter."
"I'm the cool one, Sokka. And the guy with the scowl is Zuko," Sokka said.
"Hino Rei."
"Mizuno Ami."
"Kino Makoto. Your Pokémon is adorable! I love him! I wonder if I can get one like him?"
"Well, this little guy just started following me one day. Led me to Gladion and the rest of our group, actually." Kakyoin peered over Miles shoulder. For a split second, Miles thought he saw the red-haired boy's mouth hang open in a sort of shock. But he quickly regained his composure. "And who are you?"
Giorno peered up, not much interest in the conversation. "Sono Giorno Giovanna."
"Ah. I see."
That was weird. Not a way you'd usually greet someone. True, they'd had their suspicions about Giorno, but why did this guy, off a first glance? Why the interest?
"So, uh," Miles began.
"Just call me Kakyoin—for now. We're not very familiar with each other, Morales."
Being called by his last name was an ick. Miles was Miles. But proper was proper, right?
"Alright, Kakyoin, you said you had other people with you?"
Kakyoin nodded. "Yes. They're all probably out looking for their own friends. One of the people I knew from...before is. He's with us. Though, he's probably gotten lost."
"Cool! Maybe we can help you guys out," Hunter suggested.
"Maybe," Kakyoin spoke nonchalantly.
Gladion dug something out of his pocket and handed it to Arven. "Here. It's an updated Pokenav. It will display an image and location of the callers—slightly. It can probably show you the trees and buildings surrounding you. One of our members updated Mr. Stone's tech to do that."
"Must be pretty smart and tech-savvy. Penny is like that. I'm no good with technology."
"Oh? Then let one of your tech-savvy friends handle the communicator," Gladion suggested with a bemused look.
"I'm not THAT bad with tech," Arven argued.
"In any case," Kakyoin said. "We'll see you around. I'm sure."
"Right," Zuko said a weary look on his face. Miles was beginning to wonder if he trusted anyone. Then again, he was one to talk.
"Make sure you and your friends watch out for those monsters!" Luz said. "They attacked us the other day."
"And they're still looking for one of us," Hunter said glumly.
Gladion folded his arms. "They've been giving you trouble?"
Arven nodded. "Yeah."
Gladion clutched his fist. "I need to find my sister, then. The quicker the better."
"You've got a sister?"
"Yes. Lillie."
"Wait," Miles said. He turned to Arven. "Did you really not know this dude had a sister?"
It was obvious in hindsight. Their Lillie looked a LOT like Gladion.
"We've only met once," Gladion said. "It's not like we're best friends or anything."
"I think what Miles is chastising me for is that we actually have Lillie with us," Arven said, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, sorry about that. I didn't know."
"You do?" Gladion asked. "Well, then, we'll definitely come to visit you soon."
"Just visit the Hikawa Shrine," Rei said. "They've been staying with me."
"Thanks. I won't forget this."
With that, the two of them went their separate ways.
"I guess I'm going to have more visitors later," Rei said with a sigh.
"It might not be so bad. Maybe some of us will have friends with them and go with them," Giorno said.
"Maybe," Rei said. "Maybe not. Until then, I don't mind helping you all. But with this new enemy, I'd rather not attract more attention to us, especially while Usagi can't..."
Rei glanced over to said girl who was talking enthusiastically with Miharu and holding a kitten up in Minako's face. "I can't let anything happen to her."
"We won't," Zuko spoke up. "We've seen some pretty terrible people, and we've managed to win against them."
"So, we'll make sure you guys don't get killed by these monsters," Sokka added. "After all, we're pretty much expert warriors now."
"Our brave heroes!" Luz cried out, pretending to dramatically faint in Hunter's arms. "Where would we be without you?"
"Well, we DID take care of that monster yesterday," Sokka argued.
"But Josuke was the one who healed Luz," Hunter countered.
Miles' attention was pulled away from them as he sensed they were being watched. He looked around, but he couldn't see anyone. Whoever was watching, they might have disappeared or ran away at a speed way faster than his own.
And that was worrisome.
...
Phoenix, Maya, and Bruno walked into the lobby of the giant, chrome, and definitely not-at-all intimidating Kaiba Corp headquarters. Security detail was posted at every corner, there was no dirt, no smudges, no imperfections at all in the building.
"This place is amazing!" Maya said. "I wonder if we can get any free booster packs?"
He turned to Bruno. "I still have no idea how you got us in here."
"Magic," Bruno answered with a small grin. He shook his head. "It turns out I do have a connection within this company—a somewhat unexpected connection."
"Really? Who?"
"Just an old friend." Bruno paused and stopped in the middle of the lobby. He turned sharply. "I don't think we're alone, Mr. Wright."
Phoenix turned around; he didn't see anything, but he heard someone giggle. In an instant Shauna, Toph, Wally, Hop, Hau, and Gus turned visible.
"What are you all doing here? Aren't Eda and BB supposed to be watching you?" Phoenix asked.
"Well, Eda thought she spotted someone she knew. And so did BB," Gus explained.
"And they chose to leave us alone for two seconds," Toph added in with a grin. "So, we thought it'd be more interesting to see what you guys were up to."
"Besides, you might need help, Mr. Wright," Hop said. "I've actually helped my friend go through an entire evil corporation before. Believe me, they're right skeevy."
"Says the failure of a trainer," a sharp, young voice hissed.
Hop tensed and scowled. Phoenix turned back to the receptionist's desk and saw two young children. One had white curly hair, was decked out entirely in pink, and sneered at the group. Likewise, the other kid did the same. Only he wore darker clothing and had long, red hair.
"Bede," Hop said. "Of course you'd be here. Cozying up to another CEO, eh?"
The white haired boy grit his teeth. "At least I'm not an embarrassment to the entire Galar region."
Hop bawled up his fists, but Hau stepped in. "Hey Cous, no need for us to get into a fight. Let's take it down a few notches, okay?"
"Ah yes," the red-haired boy said, stepping up now. "Hau. The champion of the Alolan region for all of five minutes."
Hau grinned and shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."
"No wonder you lost. That's a loser's attitude."
"Well at least he got to be a champion and isn't the son of a criminal, Silver. That's right. Everyone knows who you are," Hop countered.
"You—!" the red-haired boy, Silver said. He folded his arms and smirked. "Well, if you're so tough, why don't you two face us in a double-battle."
"We're not—," Phoenix started to object.
Hop cut him off. "Don't worry Mr. Wright, this will be quick. Hau and I accept."
"Sure," Hau agreed, with the same casual smile he'd been wearing all throughout their conversation.
"You're on!" Bede said. "Follow us."
The four rushed off before Phoenix could say anything. Shauna shakes her head. "I'll go watch over them, Mr. Wright. I'll make sure they don't get into any fights. I swear boys are the worst!"
Phoenix looks to Toph, Gus, Wally, Maya, and Bruno. "Guess it's just the rest of us then."
"If you'll follow me," another child's voice speaks up.
In front of them is a child with dark, black hair, striped shirt, yellow vest, and jeans. He wore a trading card around his neck, interestingly enough.
"Who are you?" Gus asked.
"My name is Mokuba Kaiba," the child said. "I came down to get you. Seto knows you're here. He's kind of busy right now, so I thought I'd help out. Silver and Bede were supposed to retrieve you, but, I had a feeling after Bede saw you on the surveillance, he wasn't going to take kindly to that one kid being here. He kept rambling about that one boy."
"Grazie," Bruno said.
"Follow me, please. You can get lost in this place, so it's essential we keep together."
The group followed the small child to the elevators. As the elevator went higher, Phoenix had to look away from the one-way windows to avoid being reminded of terrible heights, terrible falls, and burning bridges. He couldn't think about that case—about her. Not about the person who had taken so much from him, from Mr. Armando, from all of her innocent victims, about what she'd almost taken from Pearls, and from Maya.
"Mr. Wright, are you coming?" Bruno asked.
The elevator doors had opened. And everyone was looking at him.
"Sorry," Phoenix mumbled. "Just not good with heights."
"It's understandable," Mokuba shrugged. "Just try not to look out the windows."
They continued to the main office. Mokuba knocked.
"Who's there?" a gruff voice barked more than asked.
"It's the defense attorney," Mokuba said.
There was a sigh from the other end of the door. "Bring him in. His friend's here. Might as well make it an event."
Mokuba unlocked the door and gestured inside. Inside was a young man behind a desk. He had long brown hair that almost covered his harsh eyes. He wore a long, white coat with an upturned collar and black clothing and boots. He wore the same trading card necklace Mokuba wore. To his side was a security guard with long purple hair, coat, pants, and flats. His eyes looked past Phoenix and at Bruno. Bruno silently regarded him, it was barely noticeable. But during his years as a defense attorney, Phoenix could pick up on those kinds of things. A little bit towards the entrance were seats, which were currently in use by two people. One had long, green hair tied into a ponytail tucked under a baseball cap. He wore a long white shirt, pants, and strange necklace that glowed like the magatama. The other was a silver-haired man Phoenix was quite familiar with.
"Edgeworth?"
"Wright," he regarded him. Though, he seemed more upset than usual.
"I'll cut straight to the chase," the kid behind the desk spoke up. "You're here because someone convinced me to give you the chance to talk to you. If you start speaking nonsense, Mokuba will show you out. Understood?"
Phoenix nodded. "You must be Seto Kaiba, correct?"
"And you're the famous ace attorney, Phoenix Wright. Yes, Edgeworth has told me all about you."
All good things, he hoped.
"Why are you in my office? I have a lot of work to do, so spit it out."
"He believes Mr. Graves may have been falsely accused of stealing your—" Edgeworth began.
Seto cut him off. "I asked him."
Edgeworth stiffened and scowled. Phoenix shook his head. "It's like Mr. Edgeworth said. Look, you've got to admit Mr. Kaiba that these are extremely weird times. I've seen a woman turn into a harpy just to protect a child. A boy turn into a rhino just to knock out a monster who was chasing my assistant. It's not too farfetched to say that someone framed Mr. Graves."
"I've considered that," Seto admitted. "But if not him, who? Who has reason to take my tech? As I've been informed, he's been looking for new ways to get revenge on a rival."
"Can your tech do that?" Gus asked.
Seto looked at him and nodded. "Potentially. It's risky to be in the hands of anyone except myself. It's ardent I get it back or jail the person who stole it so they can't do any damage. Do you understand?"
Wally coughed. "That sounds reasonable. There were some people in our region who tried to use a lot of other peoples' tech for what they thought was the greater good, but it got out of control and almost destroyed our region."
"Hmph. These kids get it. So, why can't grown men?"
"With all due respect," Edgeworth said. "Wouldn't it be wiser to go after who might have actually stolen it?"
At least Edgeworth could be counted on for trying to find the true culprit.
"With what?" Seto scoffed. "That scruffy detective who can't find his own left foot?"
Seto glared at both of them. "You two are professionals. You should act like it rather than trying to play detective."
"I'm not trying to play detective," Phoenix said. "I'm committed to finding out who really stole your technology. You convict an innocent man and your tech is still being used for nefarious purposes as you suggested, what are you going to do?"
"He's got a point," the green-haired guy spoke up. He spoke fast. "In my region we have Pokémon called Zorua. A Zorua can transform into any other Pokémon—even a person. Not to mention Dittos."
"You should at least give them time to investigate," Toph suggested. "I'm good at telling when people lie."
"Oh really?" Seto asked bemused. "And how's that?"
"When you grow up blind, you've got to find other ways to detect that people are cheating you or trying to sell you something. With my earthbending techniques, I've learned how to pick up on people's pulses, see if they're lying. And you haven't believed a word you've said this entire time. I don't think you think Mr. Graves did it. You just want a culprit. An answer."
Seto snorted and leaned back in his chair. "Impressive. But I'm not dropping this case."
"Then do as the girl suggested," Bruno spoke up. "I'll help them run an investigation. Just give them enough time to find the real culprit."
Seto paused. He turned to the purple-haired man. "And you vouch for him?"
"Absolutely." The man had a deeper voice than Phoenix thought he would.
"Then you'll be investigating with them. This makes us even now."
Even? Why would they need to be even?
Seto turned to Edgeworth next. "You'll be working with him. Seems you two are too buddy-buddy for this case anyways. If nothing is discovered I may have both of you removed entirely."
"And if they find the guy?" Toph asked. "What's in it for them?"
Seto stared at her. "I don't ruin their lives and reputations?"
"I think you can do better than that," Toph said. "I mean, they are finding your invaluable technology, after all. So, why not sweeten the deal? Are you really a businessman?"
Seto pointed to the door. "Out."
Toph shrugged. "Worth a shot."
"You've got two weeks. Two weeks and then the case is back on. Feel free to pass on this information to Mr. Graves."
...
As soon as they were downstairs, Edgeworth took a deep breath. "Why is it when you get yourself involved in a case, you make my job ten times harder?"
"Well excuse me for trying to look out for both of us. That Graves guy is a piece of work. He didn't just threaten my rep, Edgeworth."
"What's done is done," the purple-haired man said flippantly. "You two should stop acting like babies and grow the hell up."
"You're defending him, Abbachio?" Bruno asked.
The man, Abbachio, apparently, shook his head. "No. But you don't see me complaining about it. Let's just get this done and over with. That tech might help us get home, Bucciarati."
"How do you two know each other?" Maya asked.
"Prior acquaintances," Abbachio mumbled. "I suppose I'll be travelling with you guys now."
Oh good. More mouths to feed.
"How'd you end up in the company of a CEO?" Bruno asked.
"Saved his brother."
"Really?"
Abbachio nodded. "Weird monster thing, you know? It was launching an attack on one of the kids he took under his wing. And it was launching weird fire attacks at everyone. I got teleported here when it was about to hit the kid, so I saved him. Someone else defeated the monster."
"And," Bruno said quietly. "Do you remember the last thing that happened to you before you were teleported here?"
Abbachio paused and nodded. "We'll talk about it later."
"Cryptic," Maya teased. "C'mon, let's find the others and get out of here. We've got some investigating to do!"
At that moment, Hop, Hau, and Shauna ran back into the lobby. The two boys looked happy while Shauna seemed a little embarrassed.
"You should've seen Bede's face when I sent out Zamazenta," Hop bragged. "He was a right mess!"
"You really shouldn't have rubbed it in," Shauna chastised.
"He had it coming."
"I'm just glad they learned not to doubt an Alolan Raichu," Hau said. He looked up at Abbachio, Edgeworth, and the other, probably teenager, Phoenix hadn't been introduced to properly. "Hey, who are they?"
"My name is N," the green-haired teen spoke quickly. "I can hear your Pokémon. They seem to like being your friends. That's good."
"You can hear Pokémon?" Shauna asked. "That's so cool!"
"I'd always hoped they liked hanging out with me," Hau said thoughtfully.
"And I hope mine are happy," Hop said.
"They seem to be."
"You won't be so lucky next time!" Bede shouted from across the lobby.
"Sure! Whatever you say!" Hop said shaking his head. "What about you two?"
"Leone Abbachio. Just call me Abbachio. It's fine."
"Miles Edgeworth. Please refer to me as Mr. Edgeworth."
"Humans are so weird about names," N said, shaking his head. "Well, we've got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Let's head out."
...
Rei had asked Miles to keep an eye on Usagi. It was for the best she'd done that. One of those daimon had ended up attacking Miharu, and Usagi had charged into the building, without powers, to help her. True, Mamoru had been right behind her, but Sokka and Josuke were right. What in the hell were roses gonna do against one of those things? As of now, he'd already been clawed pretty bad while protecting Usagi.
Miles punched the monster again, splitting it back into puzzle pieces. It split into multiple piles. Miharu was on the opposite end of the building. She looked so pale. As pale as death. He needed to get that crystal from that monster!
However, the piles holding the crystal reformed into several cat-monsters. It smirked at Miles and lunged at him. He grabbed the main monster's wrist and flung it backwards, but he was tackled as more and more started to reform and grab at his ankles and arms. The main monster held the crystal out triumphantly.
"Looks like you three were too late."
A wave of bright blue and yellow struck the monster, causing it to toss the crystal high into the air. Luckily, those two girls from before caught the crystal—and stared at it.
"Give it back!" Miles shouted. "She looks like she's going to die without it."
"Luckily she won't," the blue-haired girl said. "She's not a talisman holder."
She placed the crystal near Miharu's chest, letting it sink back into her body. She began to breathe again. Thank goodness for small miracles. The two girls turned to leave.
"Hey!" Miles called out. "You don't think you can help with this?"
"We accomplished what we came here for," the blonde said. "We'll leave you to it."
Miles didn't have time to process the blase attitude of the girls, as he tried to bat the cat monsters off him. One of the monsters extended their claws and held them just above Miles's face. Crap!
"Hierophant Green! 20 Meter Emerald Splash!"
All of a sudden, holes were ripped through the cat monsters as someone jumped down from the balcony above. It was that Kakyoin guy from before!
The red-haired boy walked over to Miles and held out a hand, "You called for help?"
Miles grabbed his hand, gladly accepting the help. "Yeah. Thanks, man."
A huge wave of pink light encased the room, causing both boys to flinch and shut their eyes. Suddenly Usagi and Mamoru were in some royal-looking regalia. Like a dress and armor. A new heart-shaped wand appeared in front of Usagi; the second she grabbed it, she transformed again into the fuku Miles had seen in magical girl animes Luz had shown him.
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"
A wave of pink hearts hit the main cat-monster, causing it to disintegrate and turn back into a cat puzzle.
"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Miles asked. "All it took was some lovey-dovey crap and you get your powers back?"
Usagi scratched her head, "It's not like I knew. Sorry."
"It's not a big deal."
"But those girls are," Kakyoin said. "They just stood by and let you guys fend for yourselves."
"No offense, and I'm glad you were here," Miles said. "But why are you here?"
"I was making sure that one guy who's with you isn't causing trouble."
"Giorno?" Miles guessed.
Kakyoin nodded. "I wouldn't trust him, if I were you, Morales. He's too akin to someone I knew. Someone dangerous. You could be in great danger."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"You should. Your life could depend on it."
Kakyoin looked around. "I'll talk to you more at a later date. Just make sure if he does anything you think will threaten you or anybody around you to reach out with that thing Gladion gave you. The channels are locked. It should be safe."
With that, he walked towards the door. "Monsters come in a lot of forms, Morales. Remember that."
He walked out, leaving Miles with a lot more questions to his question pile. Miles sighed and looked at Mamoru and Usagi. "You two okay?"
Mamoru nodded. "Only a little dinged up."
"Josuke should be able to help with that. C'mon, let's head back to the shrine."