A Tangled Web

After winning the emerald at the Glitz Pit, The time is 7:20 PM. Having gathered his friends, as well as receiving a 135,000,000 Coin cheque from the Glitz Pit tournament, Alan and his friends rode the blimp from Glitzville back to Toad Town.

Suddenly, Alan received another text.

"Who is it this time?" Marky asked.

Alan read the text out loud, "Alan and Friends, I've discovered something terrible. The X-Nauts... They're planning to take control of the world! It's to that end that they're searching for the Crystal Stars. I still don't know what the Crystal Stars do, but you must try to get them all. I will gather what information I can."

"It's from Spluff Ivy," Amy said. "She and the princesses been kidnapped and taken to some unknown place by these soldiers called X-Nauts. We're getting the Crystal Stars to help save her."

"So those dudes wanna rule the world?" Alan wondered. "That would suck!"

"I know! That's why we need to get however many Crystal Stars there are, and fast!" Alan agreed. "First off, let's put this Crystal Stars in this safe place underground."

Next, they went down to Toad Town Sewers and made their way to the room with the Star Glorb.

The first two Crystal Stars were situated in their respective circles. "Let's put that Crystal Star with those other two!"

"We're gonna find where the next Crystal Star is," Alan said. "To do so, you step on the pedestal and hold this yellow-orange Crystal Star in front of the Star Glorb." He took out the yellow-orange Crystal Star and stepped on the pedestal.

Alan held the Crystal Star in front, turning on the cyan light display. Then, the Crystal Star floated to below the Green Star and the Magical Map rose out of his pocket, glowing white.

Star-shaped glitter also appeared within the glow. A thin cyan circle faded in and lowered until it touched the Magical Map. The room then brightened up, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

Three seconds later, a star-shaped orb exploded outward and a bang sounded across the room with a final white flash. The room darkened to its normal state and the cyan lights disappeared along with the Crystal Star. The Magical Map dropped into Alan's hands again.

Just to the left of Toad Town was a blue clock tower with two dead trees. The tower was situated within a dark town.

"Oh, I don't like the looks of that location," Marky said while looking at the map. "We better talk to Professor Frankly."

Back in Toad Town, the group contacted Professor Frankly's office. Even though it was night outside, Professor Frankly was up studying some notes of his own. "Hello, Professor," Alan greeted Professor Frankly. "Alan! Well, well, well! I haven't seen you since last morning!" Professor Frankly returned the greeting. "And welcome back, friends."

"Now, what's the update here?"

"We were up in Glitzville getting that third Crystal Star, but we got a text from Princess Starlight and Ivy saying that her kidnappers are using the Crystal Stars to rule the world or something," Alan explained.

"EXCUSE ME?! The group that are trying to kill you are bent on total world conquest?"

"I'm afraid so," Marky sighed. "That's why they want the legendary treasure so badly."

"Hrmm... This doesn't bode well," Professor Frankly stated. "The situation has gotten far more serious than I thought! Let me bring you up to speed. I've been researching just what this treasure could be. One book I came across held to what I thought was a preposterous theory. This book claimed that the 'treasure' was, in actuality, the great cataclysm. The very cataclysm that, a thousand years ago, sank that town underground!" "Whoa! A cataclysm?" Jeremy asked. "How is it that those jerks think the power of it will help them rule the world?"

"What's wrong, Professor?" Alan asked.

"It's that... THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE WILL BE DESTROYED!" Professor Frankly shouted, startling everyone.

"What?! The whole world will be destroyed?!" Everyone but Alan asked in unison.

"Yes... It will...Ours and this one!" Alan took out the Magical Map. "Will you tell us what this clock tower on the map is? I think that's where the next Crystal Star is."

Professor Frankly took the Magical Map and looked at it closely. "According to the map, it appears the next Crystal Star is in Mega City."

"What's Mega City like?" Leaf asked.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know much about the place, myself. Only rumors. I have heard that, as the name implies, it's perpetually big and futuristic there."

Professor Frankly thought of something else and went to grab a book from his bookshelf. He skimmed through a couple of pages and found the info he thought about. "Aha! There appears to be a path to Mega City somewhere here in Toad Town. I do believe it's somewhere at the west part of town."

"Easy," Alan remarked.

"And just before you go, let me tell you about the Star Spell you just obtained," Professor Frankly. "The Gold Star, as it's called, temporarily ups your strength and defense. To use the spell, called Power Lift, flex your arms and shout, 'Supapow Boom!'"

Alan and friends chuckled at the chant's name.

"Okey-dokey," Alan replied. "I guess we're on our way."

"Good luck, guys," Professor Frankly told the group as he hangs up the video chat.

At Stolas' lair, he was talking with a blue X-Naut. "Are you sure about this? Speak up, X-Naut!" Grodus ordered the X-Naut. "Yes, sir. Quite sure," the X-Naut replied. "I pored over all our research of the Star Glorb. And it appears the sealing power has definitely been weakening, as Queen Sadala said."

"Finally, the treasure of legend... The ancient power of darkness will soon be ours! Listen, and listen well!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Keep giving the Crystal Stars search top priority!" Stolas declared. "Of course, that also includes the elimination of Alan! That meddling scum..."

"Got it, sir!" With that, the X-Naut left the lair.

"Soon I will have the power that has slept for a millennium... So very soon!" Stolas said. "And when that glorious day dawns, I'll throw the world into the depths of peace from this villain's terror!" Stolas pretending to reassure his slaves. As soon as they leave, Stolas returns to his true intentions.

"No one can stop us now. All will kneel before the Imagined Empire! And then we, Stolas and Aikon, will build a new universe! A perfect, ideal universe... Yes. A universe made by us, about us, and for us! GAAACKACKACKACKACK!" Both Stolas and Aikon bragged about with an evil laugh. The Imagined recruits The Spider Seven to help them find Alan and retrieve the three crystal stars he has. Sadala, Zoey, and The Imagined task the Loopers to help them make a counterattack against Alan, and gain advantage of their enemies.

During their trip, the gang spot a subway station and learn it leads to Mega City. They head to the first train and sees it's full but everyone but Alan went inside.

He tells them that he'll take the second train, so the others are off to the city as the second train arrives completely empty. Alan enters it and is off to the city as well. But, the two trains go in seperate directions, one to the mega city tunnel and the other to a portal that leads to a universe called the Pseudo Universe.

Alan's friends are riding the subway to Mega City, and are gazing at the big neon city. "Wow! Look at all those neon lights." Spluff Maya said in amazement. The train stops and and the gang exited and explores the city, they search for the Crystal Star, and found the city being under security by the X-Nauts so they decide to wait for Alan. Elsewhere inside the Pseudo Universe, Alan arrives at Mega City and sees the city is empty, and decides to look for his friends. Within the Pseudo Universe, a Warrior in Black stands a top a building in Mega City, he signals the attack and two spaceships appear and start firing lasers at Alan. He runs down the streets below dodging the various spaceship blasts being fired in his direction.

Alan is contacted telepathically by Angella who informs him that he is currently in the universe that Stolas had created, a fake copy of the original 2nd Universe that has no signs of life within but soon finds out the two universe are connected. Though not fully grasping the situation, Alan nevertheless flies on the Warp Star away from the city.

Ageless and Meta-Aikon leave their ship and fly Alan down, kicking him to the ground. As Alan gets back on his feet, the two tyrants charge in for another attack only to be struck by Alan's Gravity Cage technique that pins the two to the ground. Alan is surprised to see this technique, not knowing that he was capable of such a powerful attack.

Unknown to him, a robot girl with a strange spider symbol on her chest, was spying on him the whole time. She then alerts her teammates that alan is on the move and to be ready for their surprise attack on him.

Meanwhile, the group's journey soon leads them to L'Académie de Notre Maître des Médailles (French: The Academy of Our Master of the Medals), an elite boarding school for girls, where they meet Techna Sparkle, Amy's techgirl counterpart who has a Pokémon, Pichu. Then, Maxime Medaille the principle arrived to greet Alan and his friends. After some introductions, Alan asked if Maxime has a crystal star explaining their quest on finding the gems. Unfortunately, Maxime does not have one, but he tells the group that he's heard of one being somewhere at Junk Mountain. Hearing this, Techna pleads with Maxime to go with them on their adventure, to which he accepts. And so, Techna and her Pichu joins the cast to junk mountain. 

Back with Alan, he starts out on a path ahead. From there, he follows a road down into a lower section of a Pit with fences blocking the path forward. Here, Alan must defeat a number of Destruction Troops, including the new Driller Snakes. Alan and Co. come upon the Crab Excavator and turns it on, and Alan tosses a few robots into its drill. "Woohoo! Who brought the thunder? This guy!" Alan said in glory. The boy heads underneath the Crab Excavator and after a few moments in darkness, he comes across the end of the tunnel blocked by a rock wall to which Alan destroys with one punch.

He then comes across an abandoned industrial dig site. After fighting some robots, passing flaming hazards, and finding a nickel, Alan makes it to the elevator.

Before he could say anything, A large fan activates and blows alan to a chute, but he manages to land on a long road next to a mountain. As he runs along the road, a large Driller Worm break through the mountain and emerges from it. "Oh, shhhoooooottttt..." Alan said in slow motion. The young hero reaches the end of the pit and leap from the broken end of the road and lands on a circular structure where they recover from the rough landing and find the Ruby Star. "The Star!" Alan said, "Finally! an easy one!"

Alan then runs over to obtain the star. As he is running, the ground shakes and the Driller Worm emerges from underneath. The Driller Worm then swallows the Ruby Star as Alan watches in surprise.

"I spoke too soon." Alan said.

Alan fights the driller worm and successfully defeats it and reclaims the star.

A while later, Stolas, Aikon, and Queen Magica found the remains of the Driller Worm. While the Spider Seven feared retaliation from Stolas and Aikon, as the mercenaries claimed they found Alan, the two tyrants remained silent, much to the seven's relief.

Stolas then orders them to find alan and kill him or they will lose more than just their lives. Frightened by this, the Spider Seven hurry off to locate their target.

Meanwhile, Alan is back at Mega City to look for his friends until he is caught in a tractor beam by a mysterious alien Mothership. The beam brings them up into the spaceship and Alan and Marky look around wandering where they are. "Where the juice Are we? Is this an alien spaceship?" Alan questioned. Just as they were about to walk out, they bump into a red forcefield wall and sees they're in a prison containment cell. Alan then sees another prisoner in front of him and it's a girl who looks similar to Sora Kamiya but with a different appearance, her hair was pink with purple on the bottom, she was wearing sleeveless pink turtleneck shirt with a white collar with a triangle under it and ruff on the bottom. She also wears red wristbands on both her wrist, wine-colored jeans, and pink and black sneakers.

"Uh, hey there! You a prisoner here too?" Alan said to the prisoner.

"Huh?! Who're you?" The girl said to Alan.

"I'm Alan, and this is my best friend Marky." Alan introduces himself and Marky to her. "Ya know, you look a lot like our friend Sora."

"Sora? I don't any Sora. My name's Kairi." Kairi introduces herself.

Alan and Marky are surprised to hear that her name's different but she looks a lot like their friend. After this, Alan tries to figure out a way to get out of their cell. Marky tells alan that if he could somehow counter the energy in the field, he could make it deactivate.

The young hero uses his electric powers to shock to forcefield and it disappears, so marky's idea worked and the yellow foxboy hacks the security lock to Kairi's, releasing her too.

Kairi thanks the two and they ask if there are any more prisoners in the ship to which she says 'yes'.

Alan asks her where they are so they can free everyone else, she tells him that they're at the prisoner holding center. The trio head there while trying to stay hidden from the guards onboard, until they make it the holding center and sees that there are only a few prisoners there.

Marky tries hacking into the control panel to unlock the cell doors and succeeds freeing everyone on the mothership. Marky then tells Alan and Kairi that he found out some more info inside the ship. Apparentely, there are bombs attched to some floating orbs that were designed to blow up the mothership and anyone inside it who refuse to obey Stolas' rule.

Alan prepares the group of Loopers to infiltrate The Mothership to activate the bombs placed attached to the orbs of technology. The Mothership starts the abduction, and all the other Loopers are placed inside experiment holding cells. Alan hacks the Alien Jetpack to gain remote access into the Motherships systems, and opens the holding cells. They go through a number of rooms and tunnels, until they are spotted and cornered in the Abduction Chamber Window. During the first attempt to arm the bombs, some sort of countermeasure is activated and the activation fails. The windows close and a Corruption Cube rises from the floor, zapping Loopers to eliminate them. Alan and Marky weaponize the Jetpacks and deactivates the Cube with the few remaining Loopers. The windows open again, and Alan attempts to activate them for a second time. It works, and Slone reveals that she cannot bring the gang back to the Island, as to not risk the cube coming as well.

Just then, the Spider Seven arrive to see the prisoners, especially Alan have escaped. Their leader, Azula, appears and tries to stop and arrest Alan. Alan tries talking to her and asks why they wanna arrest him, to which Azula explains...

"It's because you're the "Coming Storm"!" Azula cried out.

"The what storm?" Alan was confused.

"The "Coming Storm!" You're the reason our world and everyone we care about is in danger! That's why you need to be stopped!"

Alan and Marky are shocked and confused by all this telling them that he had nothing to do with what happened to them and their world. However, Azula and her team doesn't buy any of this and uses force to bring down Alan and anyone else with him believing they're his accomplices. Unfortunately for them, Alan use a smoke screen to cover their escape.

"Darn it! Search the ship! He couldn't have gone too far!" The leader ordered.

The team are still there after hiding behind the cube. They reboot the Cube by placing their hands on it together, and The Cube activates an elevator. The team are taken to a massive chamber full of Cubes and X-Naut Abductors, with the Golden Cube being present at the very back of the room. The Mothership activates the self-destruct mode and this alerts the spider seven and they have no choice but to abandon ship using their escape pod.

The ship blows up, sending everyone inside The Mothership flying down to Earth. Multiple Abductors crash down to the Island, alongside a group of Corruption Cubes, the Golden Cube and the Rebooted Cube. Alan gets hit by an Abductor, passing out.

Alan and the gang land on a island far from Mega City, and the loopers are grateful to Alan and Marky for saving them. Alan wakes up after being unconscious and is un-injured from the abductor, and he's gained a new power from the Ruby Star called "Art Attack". Meanwhile, Ivy and Twink stepped inside TEC's office, having been summoned yet again. I wonder what it is this time, Ivy thought. "TEC, what's up?"

"I must request that you do something a bit more dangerous this time," TEC stated. "Dangerous?"

"I would like you to sneak into Sir Grodus's room and look for a data disk."

"A data disk? What for?" Twink asked. "Although I can view all data on the network... I am unable to access the data of computers that are not linked to the network," TEC explained. "Sir Grodus has information that even I am unable to view. But I must know it. I must know that information."

"But how will I get in there? Will I be disguised again?"

"Not this time. No one other than Sir Grodus can enter his room. When Sir Grodus is elsewhere, there are guards outside the room that permit no entry. But there is a way. You will be fine if you act according to my instructions. I must tell you; I do not want to make you do such a dangerous thing, but now I have no one to ask but you."

"We don't mind, TEC. Really. Ask us anything," Ivy reassured TEC. "First, take the radio before you go." The compartment beneath TEC's keyboard opened, prompting Ivy to take the walkie-talkie.

"As you did earlier, take the elevator to your right." Ivy and Twink left TEC's office and found the same elevator she took a few days ago. Just before the elevator started going up, Peach put on the earpiece. The elevator went up two levels before opening up. "You will first go in the opposite direction of Sir Grodus's room," TEC said. "Exit the elevator and enter the room with the green lamp lit above it." Ivy and Twink exited the elevator and made a right, looking to make sure no guards were around. She passed by two doors with red lamps above and another elevator.

Finally, Ivy found a door with a green lamp in front of the second elevator.

"There it is," Ivy said. The door was unlocked, allowing her to go inside.

The room Ivy and Twink entered was a small laboratory. There were four colored potions on a desk in front.

"Now I will have you concoct a potion that will make you two transparent," TEC said.

"You mean...a potion that makes us...invisible?" Ivy wondered.

"Yes. You will enter Sir Grodus's room by becoming completely invisible."

"Okay. How do I make the potion?"

"You must first set all of the potions on the desk in the Concoctionator," TEC instructed Ivy. "It is that machine in the back, but even I do not know which potion to set where. There should be a memo left in this room by the X-Naut researchers. Please use it as a reference and set the potions in the machine."

"I'm on it," Ivy replied. She looked at a machine behind the desk with four slots. There was a yellow note taped on the right end of the machine.

Spluff Ivy read the note silently so no one could hear her, "Place the blue potion next to the red potion. Do not place the red potion on the far right. Place the orange potion between the blue potion and the green potion. Place two potions between the green potion and the red potion."

She leaned against the machine and stared at the potions, thinking of the order she should put them in. "So, from left to right, it's... Red...blue...orange...and green..."

Ivy took one potion at a time and set them in the order she came up with.

"Okay. I think I got the order down. Now what?" Ivy asked TEC.

"Cue the button on the control panel located on the left side of the room," TEC said.

Ivy and Twink walked to a conveyor belt on the left side of the laboratory and pressed the red button on the front end of the belt. The slots each potion were placed in closed up.

The machine started up, elevating a beaker onto the belt. Then, the slots each potion were placed in were closed. The beaker rode the belt toward the Concoctionator and stopped before entering the machine itself. "Please press the button where the beaker stops to dispense each potion," TEC said. The beaker rolled into the Concoctionator and stopped above where the red potion was placed. Ivy and Twink approached the left slot and pressed the red button beneath it, dispensing the red potion in the beaker. As the beaker moved right into the remaining three slots, Ivy dispensed the other three potions into it. By now, the mixture was bright yellow.

Finally, the beaker stopped in a small heating chamber next to the right slot.

"I will heat the mixed potion in the beaker for 30 seconds. You will hear a ding when it is done," TEC said.

A red light turned on in the heating chamber, showing that the potion was being warmed up.

Ivy and Twink waited until a ding sounded from the Concoctionator. "By my calculations, it should be finished," TEC told Ivy.

"And do we just drink it?" Ivy asked.

"You must drink all of it for the potion to work." The heating chamber opened, allowing Ivy and Twink to take the potion. She took a whiff of the potion first.

"Not bad. It smells like lemon juice," Ivy remarked. She and Twink gulped the whole potion within a few seconds. Before she could say how the potion tasted, her head disappeared, making it look like her hat was floating in the air and Twink disappeared entirely.

"Did it work?" Twink asked.

"Yes. I see that you successfully became transparent. Well done," TEC praised Ivy and Twink. "But... I must ask you to take off your dress. Even the-"

"NO!" Ivy screamed. "THAT'S-"

"Keep it down, Princess Spluff Ivy. You do not want the guards hearing you."

"But we can't do that!" Ivy exclaimed in a lower tone of voice. "What if it wears off early?!"

"I cannot answer your question," TEC replied. "Whatever happens, you must execute your task quickly."

"We don't want to do this..." Ivy muttered. She reluctantly doffed her entire outfit and set it on the potion desk. "When you go into Sir Grodus's room, first locate the disk with the recorded data," TEC instructed Ivy. "With the disk in hand, insert it into the personal computer and connect to the network. When you are finished with that, please come back to this room." "Okay. Wish me luck." Ivy took off the earpiece and set it and the walkie-talkie on the desk too. Outside the laboratory, an X-Naut approached its door. "What was that screaming?" the X-Naut asked. "It sounded like someone got hurt."

Just then, the laboratory doors opened, but no one was inside. The door shut a few seconds later. "Okay... That was creepy. Why did the lab door open by itself?" The X-Naut looked up and down the hall. "Must've been a malfunction or something."

What the X-Naut didn't know was that Ivy exited the laboratory and was already on her way to Grodus's throne room.

As Ivy and Twink walked toward the throne room, she saw three more X-Nauts patrolling the hall. She froze in place.

Are they gonna go through me or not?

Ivy and Twink resumed walking but at a slow pace. Despite knowing things can go through her since she's invisible, she was worried that the X-Nauts could bump into her as if she was in plain sight.

So, Ivy walked out of the way of each X-Naut before reaching the throne room.

Nobody was inside the throne room. Not even Grodus was present. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief.

Now where?

Ivy and Twink noticed a door behind Grodus's station and approached it. The door opened by itself.

The next room was enclosed in a giant Cheep Cheep aquarium. There was a small office desk and tall chair at the back of the room. A high-tech PC was stationed on the desk too. I think this is Grodus's office. But where is the disk? Ivy and Twink gazed around the office and found a book cabinet to the left of the desk. There was a small bin on the middle shelf.

Rummaging through the bin, Ivy found a white floppy disk on the bottom. Okay. Now I just need to get the data from the disk. Ivy sat in the chair and inserted the disk into the computer tower. The monitor turned on and displayed random code lines. Then, a message box read, "Connect to transfer network?"

Ivy selected "Yes" and the message box switched to a loading bar. Please hurry up... Ivy prayed, hoping the potion would last long enough for her to get the data and go. It only took half a minute for the data to be collected; a confirmation box read, "Data transferred." Ivy and Twink wasted no time and ejected the disk before placing it in the bin.

Back in the lab, Ivy rushed out of the office and throne room straight to the laboratory.

Just as she entered the laboratory, Ivy quickly put her outfit back on in time; she reappeared right as she was putting her crown on her head. "Oh Goodness..." Ivy sat against the Concoctionator to catch her breath. "I don't want to know what would've happened if I reappeared on the way back to the lab."

Ivy turned off the walkie-talkie and made a beeline to TEC's office undetected.

"Did you get the data?" Ivy asked TEC.

"Yes, I did," TEC answered. "I am still analyzing it. The data is very heavily encrypted. But if my prediction is correct..."

"Then what?"

"No. I cannot afford any mistakes or assumptions. I will let you know when my analysis is complete and I have deciphered the data," TEC said. "Until then, you can send a message with the communicator." Spluff Ivy placed the walkie-talkie and earpiece in the compartment below TEC's keyboard and typed a text to Alan.

"The message has been sent," TEC stated. "We are done for now. Please go back to your room. And thank you for your help."

"You're welcome," Ivy replied. She casually exited TEC's office.

"Princess Spluff Ivy... I will protect you and Twink..." TEC said.