Ruby carried Star on her back while Sophia held Jokel's sleeve-covered hand, and Scarlett ran across a bridge made of floating pale banana-yellow marble. Scarlett looked over the side of the floating marble bridge and opened her mouth in awe as she watched a ginormous sleeping eastern serpent-like purple plasma dragon below. The floating bridge slowly descended before resting on the dragon's back and connecting to the rest of the marble bridge on the dragon's back, causing pale-purple magic sand to flake out from the fur around its neck.

"Guys, look! It's a dragon!" Scarlett excitedly exclaimed while pointing over the side of the bridge.

"Yeah-yeah, just be careful not to fall off," Sophia stated, causing Scarlett to flinch before hanging her head defeatedly.

"It was an accident... though," Scarlett uttered as she recalled slipping on some ice and falling off a different marble bridge before being caught by Sophia after she teleported underneath her and then back onto the marble bridge. Ruby lightly nudged her shoulder against Sophia's shoulder to get her attention while unintentionally causing Sophia to look in the opposite direction of Ruby.

"It was an accident, so can't you let it slide?" Ruby requested, causing Sophia to lightly exhale from her nose.

"Fine... but expect retaliation for that pun," Sophia replied as she began to walk while holding Jokel's hand. Ruby itched her chin whilst she puzzledly looked at Sophia.

"Pun...?" Ruby uttered as she muttered aloud what she could've said for it to be labelled as a pun.

Meanwhile, in the multi-time cube puzzle cube, Lola groaned before collapsing to her knees. Yokuza walked up to her before the reflective wall reformed behind him.

"How did Kurai even get past the second challenge!" Lola whined as she wrapped her kitsune tails around her body like a blanket. Yokuza scratched his forehead and sighed.

"We've only tried twice, and given how she acted I can guess she's tried more than that many times," Yokuza stated. A ding noise emanated from the reflective wall making the duo glance at it.

"Would participants like to change game mode?" The wall said with an upbeat girly voice as text displaying what the wall said appeared on the wall.

"Yeah?" Lola uttered, defeated and confusedly. The wall dinged again before a selection of game options appeared on the wall.

"Please select a game.". The duo looked at the list of ten different games but saw seven of them were greyed out with two out of something next to the option.

"Wonder why there are fractions on these options...," Yokuza remarked.

"I think it means we need that many people to play," Lola stated.

"What makes you think that?" Yokuza asked.

"Well, all the options with two or one on the bottom of the fractions are available, duh," Lola explained, causing Yokuza to close his eyes and put on a forced smile.

"Make sense," Yokuza uttered as he looked back at the game selection.

"Multi-time instances escape room, tennis table tennis, and battle chess," Yokuza read aloud. As the duo continued to consider which game to play a Dimensional Portals portal formed behind them on the floor before Nola and the others popped out from it. A loud band emanated from behind the duo and caused Yokuza to look back at the group as all of them lied on the floor.

"You lot okay?" Yokuza asked before getting confirmation from the least dazed members of the group. Sapphire sprung out from the group and hopped onto Yokuza's back. She clung to Yokuza before instantly falling asleep while uttering she needed to recharge.

"Hey, Yozu, more options are available!" Lola exclaimed. Yokuza and the others glanced at the reflective wall to see all the available game options. Lola examined each of the mini-game options before disappointedly groaning.

"Wrong, Lola?" Yumi asked worriedly as she tapped Lola's shoulder.

"The option Papa told me I needed to use to find the multi-tool isn't here," Lola stated solemnly as a door opened from the outside. Zalina jumped through the open door before it closed behind her. Zalina released Kusana (still carrying the sleeping Snow on her back) and allowed her to hover in the rectangular room.

"Fancy running into so many of the people who entered the springs prematurely," Zalina remarked snarkily, causing the majority of the group to awkwardly and nervously chuckle. Zalina strolled across the room and stood next to Lola.

"You want some help?" Zalina whispered to Lola.

"No...," Lola whispered back.

"Do you need it?".

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Yeah...," Lola mumbled defeatedly. Zalina giddily smirked as she raised her hand to the list of mini-games. Zalina stuck her fingers into the spot on the reflective wall above the list before pulling it downwards and flipping it around. The section of the wall spun around until eventually stopping and presenting the group with a single mini-game titled Forge Raid Boss.

"Oh... the answer was all most like that one scene from the cartoon about the turtles," Nola remarked. Lola stared at the mini-game and saw five square-shaped empty slots, Lola poked the first slot and a chibi version of Lola's face appeared in the slot. Zalina poked one of the slots but nothing happened.

"Huh... I don't remember this... damn that Zalroth...," Zalina murmured under her breath before she loudly huffed.

"What do you mean, Pama?" Lola asked. Zalina crossed her arms as she walked to one side of the room and sat on her kitsune tails like they were a bean bag chair.

"Looks like your father altered how the Heart of Wonders' boss room works and even made it so I can't enter, so looks like you'll need to make a team like in that game you play all the time," Zalina remarked as she dismissively waved her hand.

Lola excitedly hopped on the spot before looking around at the selection of potential teammates. Lola looked at Scarlett causing Scarlett to frantically wave her hands and shake her head. Lola looked over at Kusana, and Kusana shook her head while gesturing her head towards the sleeping snow on her back.

"C'mon... if this was a turn-based game you'd be the only one here who's qualified to be called a designated healer...," Lola whined.

"Kusana's a healer and a damage deflector, not a designated healer," Kusana stated. Lola sighed and looked over at Lumios, who only shrugged, causing Lola to sigh again. Yokuza rubbed the side of his face before he lowered his hand and tapped the second slot. Lola sighed, and Yokuza crouched down to match Lola's eye level.

"Although it's nice to be considerate of others' willingness to participate; however, sometimes you'll need to be a bit more forceful," Yokuza whispered. Lola sighed and slumped her arms to her side.

"But Papa and Mama normally do things by thems-," Lola managed to say before Yokuza's sighing caused her to stop talking.

"I don't think your parents are a good reference for how to do things... when it comes to situations like this, don't you agree?". Lola placed a finger on her chin as she pondered Yokuza's words.

"But...?". Yokuza ruffled his hair as he sat down and crossed his legs.

"Look, think about it this way; all of us, aside from maybe Zalina, would be considered five and four stars in that game you play, right?".

"Right.".

"But by that logic, our parents would be considered nine stars given how outrageously strong they are compared to us, you catch my drift?" Yokuza asked. Lola nodded while she placed her hands together.

"So, what you're saying is that I need to get stronger, so I can be like my parents?" Lola asked perplexedly. Yokuza slumped his head at Lola's answer, causing Lola to worriedly jog on the spot.

"Getting stronger is a good thing, but even if you have a busted character in a game you'd still make a full team wouldn't you?" Yokuza asked defeatedly. Lola's eyes lit up and she placed her hands on the side of her head.

"Oooh~...yeah that makes way more sense," Lola remarked. Lola took a glance at the remaining three slots and the filled ones (her chibi icon in one, and a chibi Yokuza with a slightly smaller chibi Sapphire icon next to him). Lola pointed at Lumios, and he tilted his head at her.

"Are you unchoosing me?" Lumios asked.

"No? But you shrugged," Lola said.

"I see... well, that I meant by shrugging was, alright I guess," Lumios explained. Lola glared at Lumios, and Lumios raised his hands to signal to Lola to relax.

"Ok-ok, I'll go press the third slot.".

Lola looked over at the others but rubbed the back of her head as she struggled to decide who to choose. Destiny stepped forward while Kara was piggybacking on her back.

"I can't have my brother having all the fun so you can count us in," Destiny cheerfully stated while Kara raised a fist in agreement. Lola thanked the duo before all three of them walked over to the slot selector. Destiny tapped the fourth slot and a chibi icon of her and Kara appeared inside it.

"Man... still need one more person... why'd it have to count Destiny and Kara as a single choice?" Lola asked rhetorically.

"I told you I'll take you and Snow to the concert but both of you gotta wear the ear-muffs, promise," Nola stated.

"Kusana promises," Kusana stated disapointedly as she rubbed her pointy elf-like ears. After hearing Nola's voice, Lola turned around and stared longingly at Nola.

"Sister...," Lola whined pleadingly. Nola rubbed her eyes and groaned.

"Fine... I'll help," Nola said as she floated over to the reflective wall and pressed the fifth empty slot. The five slots' frames flickered before the mini-game title and the slots disappeared, followed by a door-shaped hole forming in the wall. Lola raised a fist into the air triumphantly and cheered.

"Alright, and as Mama would say... erm," Lola said as her confident tone morphed to a confused one making Nola roll her eyes.

"She says: let's show this boss...," Nola stated, causing a light bulb to go off in Lola's head.

"Who the real bosses are!" Lola proclaimed as she raised a proud fist into the air with Destiny and Kara doing the same motion similarly to a toast. The trio continued to keep their fists raised as they marched in a line through the door-shaped hole in the reflective wall. Lumios chuckled as he raised his fist too, causing Nola and Yokuza to playfully roll their eyes before walking through the door-shaped hole.

"Bosses and whatnot," Lumios said with a childish accent before strolling after the team, and having the door-shaped hole close behind him.

The door to the outside formed once again allowing Ruby, Sophia, and Jokel to enter the Heart of Wonders' waiting room. Sophia yawnned and sat down on the floor followed by Jokel sitting down next to her.

"Tired as always, Fifi," Ruby remarked cheekily as she walked to Sophia's side and sat down next to her, on the opposite side Jokel was.

"Hard not to be with you around, Ruru," Sophia remarked. Ruby smugly grinned as a faint trail of pink dust slithered past her nose. Ruby repeatedly blinked with each blink her eyes drawing closer to fully shutting before she completely conked out and slumped against the sleeping Sophia.