The streets of Shibuya hummed with neon lights and the distant chatter of late-night wanderers. Even at this hour, the famous crossing was never truly empty—clusters of tourists, nightlife enthusiasts, and workers from late shifts moved through the streets like schools of fish, flowing around one another in practiced urban choreography. Digital billboards towered overhead, their vibrant advertisements painting the sidewalks with ever-changing colors.

  Yet beyond the main thoroughfares, an unnatural silence had begun to settle over certain areas. Blocks that should have bustled with activity stood eerily quiet, empty lots where buildings had once reached toward the sky now cordoned off with official barriers and unexplained warnings.

  Kage's team moved through the district with calculated steps, their senses alert to the slightest anomaly. Despite the weight of the Red-Tier mission, Kage gave minimal instruction as they walked, seemingly content to let them figure things out for themselves.

  "Be alert. Look for clues," he said dismissively, shoving his hands into his pockets as he strolled ahead of the group, his designer boots clicking against the pavement with each step.

  The vague direction hung in the air, frustratingly inadequate for their first high-risk assignment. Raiden's patience, already worn thin by Kage's attitude during their journey, finally snapped.

  "We're looking for clues about a Red-Tier threat on our first mission with absolutely no guidance?" Raiden's voice carried a controlled intensity, the air around him crackling slightly with his frustration. Static electricity made his hair stand slightly on end as he continued, "Can you actually lead?"

  Kage didn't even glance back, his posture radiating indifference. "I'm not here for you to succeed. Only for Rei to live and show me something."

  Silence fell over the group, the statement landing like a stone in still water.

  Rei's stomach twisted at the response, an unexplainable dread settling into his chest. The casual confirmation of what he'd suspected—that he was somehow central to whatever game Kage was playing—left him cold. Why was he in the fray of all this? What did Kage mean by wanting him to "show something"?

  Before he could think further—

  "THERE!" Hiro pointed excitedly, his amphibian eyes widening as he spotted something several blocks away.

  A massive office building was suddenly enveloped in a strange distortion, the air around it rippling like heat waves over hot asphalt. Then, in complete silence—unsettling in its lack of drama—the entire structure simply vanished, leaving behind nothing but an empty lot where moments before a thirty-story building had stood.

  The team sprinted toward it, their footsteps echoing against the pavement as they pushed past confused onlookers who had stopped to stare at the impossible scene. They skidded to a halt at the edge of where the building had stood, a perfect rectangular vacancy now carved into the urban landscape.

  Hiro crouched, examining the ground with unexpected seriousness. His playful demeanor momentarily replaced by scientific curiosity. He ran his webbed fingers over the pavement, feeling for anomalies, his gills fluttering rapidly as he processed what he was sensing.

  "Portal," he muttered, his voice dropping to a thoughtful tone rarely heard from him. "There was a portal underneath. The entire thing just... fell into it."

  Rei scanned the surrounding area, his senses heightened by adrenaline. The street was oddly peaceful—no panic, no chaos. People were confused, yes, but there was none of the terror that should accompany such an impossible event.

  The team froze, collectively realizing the same thing. Still no screams. No alarms. Nothing.

  Where were the people who had been inside? The security guards, the late-night office workers, the cleaning staff? An entire building had disappeared without a single casualty report.

  Kage narrowed his eyes, tension creeping into his stance as he surveyed the scene. A void of disappearance with no sign of casualties. The pattern was familiar, triggering memories he couldn't quite place. He'd seen something like this before, but—

  A sharp woosh cut through the air, the sound like fabric tearing on a massive scale.

  A portal snapped open directly in front of Raiden, a perfect circle of absolute darkness appearing without warning. Within its depths, stars seemed to twinkle, though they matched no constellation known to Earth.

  A massive fist emerged from the void, larger than a human head, its skin mottled and pale. Before anyone could react, it smashed into Raiden with devastating force, launching him down the street. His body crashed through a row of parked vehicles, setting off car alarms that finally broke the unnatural silence.

  The entire team braced themselves, their heads snapping toward the source of the attack, bodies tensing for combat.

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  A slow, rhythmic clapping echoed through the empty streets, the sound almost comical in its deliberateness.

  Then, from the shadows between two buildings, an enormous figure waddled forward. Each step caused the ground to tremble slightly, concrete cracking beneath impossible weight.

  The creature stood nearly seven feet tall, his body grotesquely round—almost perfectly spherical like a planet with its own gravitational pull. His skin was a sickly pale white, covered in a patchwork of bruise-like purple blotches that pulsed with each labored breath. His face was disproportionately small for his massive frame, with tiny black eyes that gleamed with childish malice and a mouth that stretched too wide across his bloated features.

  The most jarring detail was the bright, multicolored propeller hat perched atop his nearly hairless head, spinning lazily as he clapped his stubby three-fingered hands together. Each finger ended in a blunt, yellowed nail, and his limbs seemed impossibly short and thin compared to his enormous torso.

  He wore what might have once been overalls, now stretched beyond recognition across his gargantuan form, the fabric straining at every seam. A putrid smell accompanied him—a mix of rot and something sickeningly sweet, like decaying candy.

  "Jumba sees his first victims," he giggled, his voice an unsettling mix of childlike joy and monstrous distortion, echoing as if speaking from inside a cave.

  "Jumba make you disappear."

  Portals opened beneath the team's feet, perfect circles of darkness threatening to swallow them whole.

  They barely leapt away in time, Rei pulling Hiro by the collar as they both narrowly avoided the void. Kage simply dissolved into shadow, reforming several feet away with casual grace.

  Kage's gaze sharpened as he studied their attacker, recognition flickering in his eyes. That ability—it looked familiar. Too familiar to be coincidence.

  Jumba extended his left arm into a portal that appeared beside him—another portal snapped open right next to Kage, a perfect synchronization of entry and exit points.

  A giant fist shot toward him, moving faster than something so massive had any right to move.

  Kage's own shadow rose in a blur, hardening into a shield-like structure, clashing against the monstrous limb with a sound like thunder. The impact sent vibrations through the air, but Kage's defense held, barely deflecting the blow.

  His expression darkened behind his designer shades. "I know this ability—stay away from the portals!"

  Raiden, groaning as he struggled to his feet amid the wreckage of cars, narrowed his eyes. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead, but he showed no signs of serious injury. "You know this guy?"

  “No, these portals are like my sisters- but unrefined!”

  Jumba's giggles turned into a childish whine, his round face scrunching into a pout. "Jumba knows you're trouble. Jumba mad."

  Kage's fingers twitched as his mind raced through possibilities. It's not exactly the same... but it was close. Too close to be random chance.

  Too close.

  Jumba's portals weren't just spatial distortions. They bent reality itself.

  His sister had a refined version of this—warping not just through space, but between dimensions.

  Jumba's was less controlled, more erratic—but just as deadly. Like a crude, primal version of a power that should be wielded with precision.

  Before he could process further—

  A portal opened directly above them.

  A car dropped from the void, falling at terminal velocity.

  Kage dodged immediately, his reflexes honed by years of deadly encounters. Rei leapt sideways, rolling to safety as the vehicle crashed into the spot where he'd stood moments before.

  CRASH.

  The car landed on Hiro, crushing him beneath its weight. Metal crumpled, glass shattered, and silence fell where the axolotl-headed boy had stood.

  Raiden's eyes crackled with electricity, visible currents dancing across his skin as rage and power built within him. His body intensified, lightning arcing between his fingers as he prepared to strike. With a roar, he surged forward, covering the distance between himself and Jumba in milliseconds. His fist sparked, aimed directly at Jumba's grotesque frame.

  Jumba... sat down.

  The action was so unexpected, so bizarrely casual, that it momentarily threw Raiden off balance. Jumba's massive body barely shifted—but a portal appeared right in front of Raiden.

  Before he could react, before he could change course—

  "NO!" Rei shouted, lunging forward in a desperate attempt to grab his teammate.

  His fingers closed on empty air as Raiden was sucked inside, his body distorting at the edges as the void pulled him in. For a split second, Raiden's face showed pure terror—a rare break in his composed demeanor—before the darkness swallowed him completely.

  The portal closed behind him with a soft pop, as if it had never existed.

  Rei stood frozen, arm still outstretched toward the empty space where Raiden had been just moments ago. The reality of what had just happened settled over him like a cold shroud—Raiden was gone, consumed by whatever lay beyond those star-filled voids.

  Silence fell once more.

  Kage narrowed his eyes, his posture shifting subtly as he assessed the changing dynamics of the battlefield. First Hiro, now Raiden—their team was being picked off one by one.

  Jumba tilted his head, his round face breaking into an eerie, childlike grin that stretched far wider than any human mouth should be capable of.

  His eyes, small and almost lost in his massive face, fixed on Rei and Kage with predatory focus. The childish propeller on his hat spun faster, whirring with an almost eager anticipation as his bloated lips stretched into a smile too wide for his face.

  "Jumba play with you now," he giggled, the sound bubbling up from deep within his enormous form. "Jumba make you go away forever."

  The air around them began to shimmer and distort, reality itself seeming to bend at the edges of their vision. Tiny portals—no larger than coins—blinked open and closed around them in rapid succession, like testing jabs before a knockout punch.

  Rei tensed, his muscles coiling in preparation for whatever came next. He glanced at Kage, hoping for guidance, for some indication of a plan—but Kage merely watched, his expression unreadable behind those designer shades.

  Somewhere in the distance, sirens began to wail—the first sign that authorities were responding to the vanishing building. But help would come too late. Whatever was about to happen between them and Jumba would be decided in the next few moments.

  The concrete beneath their feet began to crack and shift as Jumba leaned forward, his massive weight redistributing as he prepared to attack.

  "Two more for collection," Jumba whispered, his voice suddenly lower, more sinister than before. "Evil man be very happy with Jumba tonight."