One week later, Der and Zero decided to invite Cross for an interview of his personal life and his current work as the Guardian Spirit of the Moon. While leaving out the details about the incident with Miranda and his old pervert demeanors, left in the past, Cross didn’t refuse to tell about his parents, his castle, and himself. Eventually, he asks Zero and Der to find the fourth and fifth tablets, handing over a magical map for their convenience, and the couple sets off towards their next destiny. They both decide to head over to a location marked with a big red X, eventually finding what seems to be a large lake, a severe special distortion around the air as portals would open and close around.

“This must be the place… A place where time and space collide. Algea Lake.” Zero says quietly. “A lot of people often end up lost in time or wind up in another dimension or timeline as a result.”

“Sheesh… that’s troublesome.” Der looks around. “Where would the table be?”

“Let’s look around this lake. It can’t be that far.” Zero say as she leads him in, walking through the woods, before a group of demons surround her. “Ah!”

“Well, hello there, cutie!” A demon Houndoom grins with a glare, laughing. “Want to take a stroll?”

“Crap, it was a trap! I knew something was up with Cross…” Der growls.

“Cross? That aimless toddler? Hah. The Guardian Spirit of the Moon wouldn’t be so cowardly to do that. In fact, we stole one of his maps while he left a portal open. That teacher is still hot-“ Eventually, his head rolled down. Literally.

The demons all begin to look around frantically as a figure started slicing away at them, until the tiniest goblin had collapsed in pieces. Der and Zero look around and see a large aura coming from one side, holding a glaive in its hands and a hood. Zero was about to ask something, before the figure turned while it was on knees, somehow. However, it turns out to be a teen Absol boy with star markings on his black cheeks and a star-shaped gem. He jumps off into the distance.

“Wait!” Zero tried to each out, before she was tapped on the shoulder by the Absol.

“The confusion breaks balance, as does the lack of focus to your surroundings.” The boy speaks softly. “…Or something.”

“Look at his marks! He’s the Guardian Spirit of the Stars!” Der exclaims, looking at him.

“I am quite the Guardian of the Stars, and a prodigy, yes. Thou must be two of the heroes of a prophecy. I am Luness. Yourselves?” The Absol asks calmly, sitting on his glaive’s handle as he smiles.

“I am Der, and she’s my wife, Zero.” The Vaporeon replies with a smile. “We are looking for the stone tables. Cross told us there are five in total.”

“I happen to have found one while the demons chased me out of my temple in the swamp. However, they also held control of one of them which I found first, and their current mistress, Yueliang, is currently in my residence. If you help me, I’ll allow you to have both tables. Deal?”

While his deal seemed to sound very sketchy and dubious, he was a person meant to be trusted. The couple nods at him. “Deal.” They say, as the Absol asks to be followed, flying on his glaive like a flying broom, as they follow his pace.

 –

(Meanwhile, at the temple around the sacred swamp…)

A busty, scantily-clad wearing Dragonair girl watches their incoming from a crystal ball she hovered with her magic, grimacing at the failure of her minions at capturing Luness. Her horn and whites were black, even her sclera was black, as she bounces her large chest shamelessly while also observing Ami, Eclipse, Sato and Cross, the kids looking at the tables in their hold. In her mind, she was brewing a plan to blackmail Zero and Der into submission, but was interrupted by a booming voice in her head.

“Why do you take too long?”

“Kyaaa! D-Don’t be so impatient, your majesty…! I have one of the stone tables with myself, and the heroes are currently running after me, so I can evaporate their hopeless arses with my magic.” She chuckles nervously.

“Do you have any ideas to stop them, or kill the Guardian Spirits?”

“O-Of course I have. It’s going to be rather easy! I will show you…” She holds up the crystal ball, reflecting the children.

“…All I see is children. Are you testing my patience?!”

 “No no no! Look closer! I have a reason to kidnap them!”

“…They… have the rest?! You must seize the children, or kill them, and then retrieve and destroy all tables to release me from my shackles and absorb their power.”

“Exactly!” The Dragonair giggles in excitement, grinning. “This is my chance to shine, so, rest while you’re building up energies back there. Let me take care of it!”

 “Do not fail me. Do, and you die.”

As soon as the voice stopped calling, the demon dragoness calls forth a large mutant Aggron, and gives him the order to rush after the children and kidnap them along with the stone tables. The behemoth laughs as his mistress sends him away through a portal to the city, at the backyard. As soon as the portal closes, she is startled by the sound of the door slamming open, and she glares at the group, before giving a faint smile upon seeing Der.

“My, Luness. You have brought me a sexy man and a worthless lady to play with? Aww, you shouldn’t have done that.” Yueliang says with a mocking tone. “You’re such good boy, so, bring me the tables and we’ll talk.”

“I guessed you would have loved to dance with me and my glaive. You could pole dance with me, while lubed all up in your own blood.” Luness mocks back, causing her to growl.

“… Though, I guess I could dance with your friend?” Yueliang asks, giggling as she stares hypnotically into Der, bouncing her chest. It didn’t work.

“I’m sorry, but I am married.” Der says as he stares at Zero with a smile before the spell made contact.

Yueliang growls in anger, standing up as her markings glow, blue fire lighting up her fists. “That’s it. Once I defeat you and take the tables, I’ll make you cry for my pussy!”

“That won’t happen.” Der releases fire on his sword as Zero readies her fists, Luness armed with his glaive.

The demon releases a powerful ball and chain with one hand, and a powerful flame whip in the other. The three heroes run up to the demon and start attacking. She gracefully dodges the attacks while attacking with her weapons. Der and Luness blocked the ball with their weapons, recoiling far and even stumbling, but Zero dodged it, although she was struck by the whip a few times. However, their attacks would inflict damage on the Dragonair, inflicting damage as she tries to heal herself, and does attack them with elemental magic, but Zero and Der dodged it with their leafshroud technique, as Luness absorbs the magic with his glaive, returning it with a Bide Sphere. Soon, the demon lady collapses on her knees, the sword pointed to her chest.

“It looks like your luck has run out. You have put up a formidable fight, I admire that, but this is as far as you go.” Der speaks boldly, ready to bury the blade in, before the portal opens.

–

“Dad!” I cried out as we were brought through a portal inside these move-proof cages. I was scared, and this big monster had beaten us up badly… My siblings and I had fought like we would see Dad and Mom practice, but that wasn’t enough, and Cross was…

“Eclipse! Ami! Sato!” Dad yells back as the big guy laughs loudly.

Mom, dad, and a stranger had subdued a snake lady in the back, and it seemed like it would get worse… “M-Mom… Dad… Help us!” Ami screamed as well.

Mom turns towards the snake lady. “You coward! What are you doing to my children?!” She yelps as the woman smacks everyone off with her tail, and floats away, holding her sides. Mom gets up and looks at them with a glare. Help!

“This was my plan from the start. I planned into trapping the star boy into clearings to get him, but then, you all had to interfere, so I went for the lady. All of my troops fell because of you. However, I had a backup once I decided to see your links with other people. Isn’t it so sweet when you see a family together?” Yueliang says in a very sweet, mocking tone.

“Give our children back!” Mom demands to the demented witch.

“I will, if you give me your stone table. I already have one, and now with Ladon’s help, I have nearly all of them. If you do, I’ll spare your children.” The crazy woman is trying to bargain us for the tables! Cross taught us the demons must never get a hold of them!

“Don’t do it! If you do, she’ll destroy them and give the power to her master!” The Absol calls out.

“W-We don’t care! Just give our kids back!” Mom says as tears swell up her eyes. This is bad. If Ami and I don’t do something… I… I…

“Don’t lose your hopes. Sato and I will lend you strength.”

 S-Someone’s… calling me through my mind… Who…?

“I will distract them. Don’t worry about me, you three.”

I look around for whoever has been talking into my mind, only to find Cross clutched to the Aggron’s back, his head bleeding from the concussion he’s taken from protecting us. He looks weak, but he seems to be attempting to give it all. I don’t want Mom and Dad to die. I don’t want my family to die. I don’t want Ami to die!

–

Suddenly, Cross chomps on the behemoth’s tail from the soft underside, groaning from the toothache of biting on steel-like scales, making the beast scream, as Cross then gets off and lights his hands up on fire, floating behind the pillars. “Think you can defeat me so easily?!” He cries out as he throws fireballs at the Aggron and the Dragonair. The Behemoth shrieks in pain as he releases the cages with our kids. That boy is admirable, but he won’t be able to do it on his own. Sato joins in by shooting Psybeams at the Dragonair, distracting her as I approach the vile wench and hit her in the gut with an Ice Punch, sending her towards a pillar.

My wife attacks the Aggron as Ami and Eclipse join in! The giant swings his tail at her, but she does her best to distract him and leafshroud near the kids, and then bring them close up, where she can heal them. We asked them if they were okay, and then they bolted towards the Aggron?! We can’t let them get hurt, or worse! However, as soon as they reached him, they shone brightly and punched him in the groin, blasting his innards out of his body with a strength Zero and I would never reach! The beast screams as the kids then tackle through his body, making a large gap through his black guts, the beast falling to his death.

I ran up to my children and hugged them tight, even with the mess they have gotten in their clothes. Sato and Cross hugged each other, while Luness tied the demon up and looked down at her.

“What are you going to do with her? She needs to be killed?” I ask him.

“I don’t think I can waste time researching on someone who is hesitant of her master.” He says, placing a foot on her head.

“W-What will you do to me?!” The demon squeals, and Luness leans in to tell her something that made her eyes widen in fear. “No. No! Anything but that! NO!”

The Absol drags her away, and all we can hear is her screams as he sets up some kind of seal into her broken horn. We wait for him to come back as we heal and clean up in the bath house, like he told us before he wandered off. After we were done dressing, we gathered up all four tables, missing one, which he brought up to us.

“Sorry for the wait. I needed to get her ready for later, but…” He hands it over. “I suppose it’s time.”