One by one, they accepted the medals from the box as they were presented to them. Ileyna frowned a bit as she took hers, slowly lifting it up into sight... and then looking back at the Ao-Gem that hung around her neck, and thinking of the Stand Arrow that lay hidden beneath it.

"We have a few other things we'd like to give you before you embark on the next stage of your journey," Peach said. "Professor?"

E.Gadd scampered over to the group, hefting a large suitcase, and he laid it on the ground, popping the case open. He turned it around, revealing six small, diamond shaped pins. "These are tracking pins. Freshly invented! When you press the center-" he pointed out the flat button laying against each pin's surface- "it will emit a silent beacon that can bypass any kind of interference. Hold down the button, and the points of the diamond will light up, indicating which direction you need to travel to find any other pins."

"That should come in handy," Alasea said as she picked one of them up.

"Neat!" Matt said. He wasn't a guy that wore pins, but he still slid it in his pocket, along with Hugo's. (The guy was a robot with no hands, what did they expect?)

"Thank you," said Helena, with a little bow of her head. "You've been a really huge help to us, Professor."

E.Gadd beamed. "The pleasure was all mine, my dear! And the next time you visit, you can be certain I'll have even more inventions you'll love."

"I'm looking forward to it," Hugo said. "You do good work. Reminds me of some other inventors I know."

Peach smiled. "Thank you, Professor." She clapped her hand once, and another servant stepped forward with two bags in his tiny hands. "Alasea, this white bag contains several packages of fire flower seeds. Like Mario said, all you have to do is grow them, and you'll be able to access their power any time." She gestured at the other bag, a black one. "And this bag contains several outfits that my tailors prepared for your specific frame, Helena. I would have prefered for you to try them on first, but I realize that you don't have much time to waste."

Helena clasped her claws together. "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter. I'm so grateful your tailors spent so much time working on this for me. Thank you very much."

That had been fast for the tailoring. "Maybe I should take some lessons from them next time we visit," Alasea joked, making a weak smile as she accepted the seeds. She turned back to the princess and bowed deeply. "Thank you, your highness. This will go far into helping my people."

"There is one last thing," Peach said. "In honor of Rising Dragon, who lost his life defending our kingdom, we have decided to hold a festival in Toad Town celebrating his efforts, as well as the efforts of the Mushroom Kingdom's greatest heroes."

Matt bobbed his head in agreement. "Thank you. I know he'd appreciate that."

"I've told the staff to bring your additional supplies to the main gate," Peach said. "Is there anything else you might need before you leave?"

"We're good."

Peach bowed her head, clasping her hands together. "Then I wish you luck on your journey. My prayers will be with you."

They bowed respectfully to the Princess in thanks before they departed.

"A festival, huh?" Alasea said quietly, head low in thought. "I can see him grumbling about it already. He never did think very highly of himself."

"I thought highly of him," Helena said. Her tail slowly wiped the air behind her as they walked.

"He needed a better sense of humor," Matt said. "Then again, 90% of my jokes stink."

"Cut it out," Hugo said. "I don't feel like talking about him right now."

"He'd grumble at us and tell us to get a move on anyway," Alasea said with a weak chuckle. She opened up the satchel and fished the Great Serpent's Scale out of it, which was beginning to glow.

"It knows its time for us to move on," she said quietly, looking at the crimson scale. It was as if driving more nails into the coffin. "Let's get to the courtyard. Don't need this going off in here."

===Love Elemental's Mindscape===

"We'd better get moving," Aram said with a nod. He kept his grip on the King's Sword of the Heavens secure. A fight against a being of the sacred divine... he hoped Diablo's foul knowledge would be enough to stop it.

Heaven knew that monster had fought enough Angels before...

When they got to the gates, servants were already waiting with a few bags of supplies. Some careful cramming on Matt's part got them into the dimensional satchel. "Thanks," he said when he was done.

"Good luck!" one of the female servants said.

"Yeah, we'll definitely need it," Matt joked. "See ya around."

With that they strolled out into the courtyard. Matt led them to the end, near the gates to the castle walls, before saying, "All right, Alasea, bring it out."

"Wait," Helena said. "Someone's coming towards us." She turned around, and Matt did too - it was the Mario brothers, jogging towards them with their younger selves bobbing up and down on their shoulders.

Alasea paused as she was getting the scale back out, looking at the approaching plumbers and their younger selves. "Is something the matter?" she asked.

Mario shook his head. They just wanted to see them off and thank them personally for all the help they provided.

"Hey, no problem!" Matt said. "We'll do it again sometime. I mean, we came back once before, so who knows what'll happen?" He brisky shook Mario's hand. "Good working with ya."

"What's going to happen to your younger selves?" Helena asked.

Luigi told them that they would go back into the past so they could grow up. It was pretty fun to see themselves as kids again.

"I'm just glad they can grow up in safety." Helena smiled at the baby Mario. "I'm going to miss them. They're still adorable."

"Yeah, what happened?" Matt joked, then tilted his head back in an uproarious laugh.

Alasea quickly elbowed Matt in the side, though she felt an inkling to laugh as well. "Don't mind him," she said. "He's always like this."

"Yeah, I'm just kiddin'. It's all in good fun." Mirth dispensed and feelin' good, Matt let out a sigh. "Welp, be seeing you around. Good luck with everything. Alasea, if you please."

Alasea nodded and waved the plumbers back. She held up the crimson scale as it began to blaze with light, and soon the red beam ripped through the air, striking a point and twisting the emerald Gateway into existence while flinging up a ton of dust and loose dirt into the air.

"What kind of beast could hold this kind of power, do you wonder?" Alasea asked as she lowered her arm, somewhat sore from the force of the blast.

"Who knows," Matt said. "But hey, I'll take what I can." He waved once at the plumbers. "See you around, guys. Glad we could do this again."

They stepped into the Gateway and hurtled down the corridor of space-time, moving on into the next world.

The sound of distant thunder rumbling announced their arrival. A storm was brewing off in the distance, but it was the storm itself that drew their attention first. Above them, the sky was covered in black and silver clouds--it wasn't a curious blending, like rainclouds. They were black and silver.

Sparse vegetation grew around the area--tall, dying trees, and grassy ground that was quickly giving way to bare dirt. As the Gateway dissolved behind them, more could be seen--behind them was a mountainous pass, and a suspended railway bridge was between it. The bridge had collapsed sometime recently, taking a train with it. The dessicated carcass of the machine was half buried in a pond. Something had destroyed the railway, and pieces of the train were scattered about. Doors ripped off their hinges, rotting suitcases and luggage...

The air was cool, suggesting the night, several hours off, would be a cold one. They'd need to find a place to stay.

"Keep an eye out," Hugo said, swinging out his pickaxe as soon as he had recovered from the trip.

"Yeah, somethin's up with this place," Matt remarked, pulling his face up from the earth. "Even the grass tastes funny."

Ileyna trotted over to help Matt up off the ground. Alasea looked around a bit as she stepped forward, then halted as something struck out at her senses. She shuddered as a simultaneously warm and cool sensation ran through her body, and as it continued, it grew stronger.

With a pained moan, she staggered, her head throbbing. Her body glowed for a brief moment before the feeling washed away, her body returning to normal.

"Hey," Helena said, laying a claw on Alasea's shoulder. "You okay?"

She quickly nodded, letting her know she was fine. She examined herself, noting the change in her power--she was much stronger than before, and there was only one reason why that'd be: her connection to the Pillar of Dawn had been revitalized.

"Well, I know where we're at," Alasea said, standing up fully. "We're back home."

Thunder rumbled in the distance overhead. What in the world was with those black and silver clouds? What had happened after they had left? The girl shivered, and not just because of the cold. Something was wrong.

"What?" Hugo said. "Are you kidding me?"

Dusting off his pants, Matt cast his glance out towards the murky horizon. "Oh, man...this place looks even more like shit than normal. I don't like it."

"Do you know what's happening?" Ileyna asked of the older girl, looking increasingly worried.

"No, I don't," Alasea responded, voice low. "Any number of things could've happened while we were gone. "We don't even know how long its been. I should contact the other Daughters and find out."

She looked about, examining the fallen train. "We better stay here for now until we get our bearings. Hugo? Can you see if there's any creatures nearby? I don't want to risk my power attracting anything unwelcome."

"On it." Hugo extended his beeping antenna, scanning the area for life.

Alasea began going through the steps to create a viewing window--she could contact the others telepathically if she so wanted, but it'd be easier for the others to communicate with the Daughters using a viewing window or a scrying pool. As she went to work, a chill wind blew past, and the doors of the fallen train cars squealed eerily as it passed.

Alasea froze at the sound, turning her gaze back to it. "... maybe we better move away from this area," she said. "We don't need that thing falling on top of us."

Oh, well, that sounded pleasant. "Yeah, let's go," Matt said.

They packed up and pushed onwards, through another empty train car--they had to smash through the doors to get past it. Luckily it seemed there was no wildlife in the area, or anything hostile.

"Where are we at, do you wonder?" Ileyna asked idly as they forced open the cargo doors.

"Beats me," Alasea said with a grunt as the doors finally came free. "We could be anywhere on this planet. Our adventures here took us all over the place last time."

Across the way from them was the gated off entry to a tunnel of some sort. There were some signs, but Alasea couldn't make out the text from the train car. She made forward to get a better look when Ileyna let out a gasp.

Off to their left was a short clearing near a cliff, and spanning out from it was a valley leading to a ruined city far in the distance. The storm was more visible here, but the city beneath it looked as if it had been utterly decimated with fire and energy--more like a twisted ruin, rather than a city. Something had blasted the heart of it into something misshapen.

Helena walked to the edge of the cliff. "Hey, get back from there," Matt said.

"I'm fine," Helena said. She peered out over the decimated city. "Who could've done this? The Seven?"

"Sure looks like it," Hugo said, still scanning for lifesigns.

"Any number of things could've caused this," Alasea said as she approached, Ileyna trailing behind them. "But yeah, the Seven are the most likely culprit. We should figure out where on Earth we're at."

Lightning struck down through the black and silver clouds, far out over the city. More followed, and something charged the air. The energies in the storm grew erratic, and Alasea's eyes widened. "Oh, that can't be good," the girl said, stepping backwards. A rumbling could be heard in the distance, different from thunder.