Welcome to Gaia! ::

((YES, I KNOW it's been a month since my last update, but school has been killing me. Anyway, I hope this chapter does a good job at repaying everyone for your patience. I'm so happy this fic has been taken so well. I hope everyone continues to enjoy my updates. I'll try my best to keep updating regularly, but if I vanish for awhile again you know why. I'm sure I'll have time to update more come winter vacation which is a bit over a month away! Woot!

On a side note, I know it's a day late, but I'd like to wish Lavy a happy birthday! Consider this my present to you. You're a sweetheart! Wish you another great year!

Anyway, without further ado, the new chapter!))

[[Chapter 9 ~ Unwelcomed Guest]]

The soft footsteps of a small girl echo off the walls of the endless maze. Her stuffed bunny swung back and forth next to her. The girl walked with little life in her step, no expression on her face, she was lifeless, like her doll within there was nothing. She could hear the explosions, the earthquakes, and the ruckus but she felt nothing to go help or fight. She was completely interested in only herself. As rounded another corner, a shadow caught her attention. It vanished the moment she laid eyes on it, and without a second thought she continued on. Several times this repeated before the girl stopped and spun around on one heal, pointing down the hallway, speaking in a tone far more mature than her age would suggest, “Enough of your games. Come out, or I’ll be forced to kill you.”

A shy boy poked his head around the corner and blinked a couple of times before coming fully out into the open. Alan smiled sheepishly as he explained appologeticly, “So you knew huh?”

“Please… your antics are hardly amusing. Be serious or just go away.” The girl narrowed her eyes, seeing right through the boy like a sheet of glass to his motives.

“Aww… don’t you want to play?”

“I’ve no time for games. Either get on with it and play out whatever tricks you have up your sleeve, or be gone.,“ Alan tried to speak after that but was only interrupted again, “Come on, I don’t have all day.”

Alan shrunk away, “I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve. See?” The boy tried to play his way out of things with innocence. A sentiment the animator wasn’t buying.

“3…” The girl counted down.

“Hey! Hold on a sec!”

“2…”

“Oh fine!”

“1…”

“Here I come!”

“I warned you…”


[[Cue: Music]]


Alan dashed forward, almost pouncing through the air at the girl. Suddenly he was intercepted by a flying tile, smashing him in the face and knocking him into a back flip. Alan landed on the floor face first, lying there for a moment as he felt a strange sensation overcome him. He looked up to see all of the arena slowly floating up, tiny jolts of energy passing from one portion of the arena to the next. With the floor, the animator floated up as did the grieve edge fighter. Alan held onto the closest tile desperate not to fall, but felt the urge to let go. He did, and found himself floating along with the rest of the debris.

Alan looked across to Alice, and with a grin on his face he listen to her next words, not truly taking them seriously, “I’d run while you can. I don’t show mercy. If you value your life, you’ll retreat now. One last chance…”

Alan shook his head, “Not running away!”

“Fine, so be it.” Alice wave her hand in his direction lazily, a wave of shimmering lines glittering across the distance sliced apart everything in their way, and caught the boy in a flash. Alan only had a second to react, a second he used his abnormal speed to his advantage. Pressing off the tile closest to him, he bounced from one tile to the next. He approached her like a pinball on a rampage, dodging the nearly invisible attacks with blind speed. In seconds he was upon her, kicking her across the face, only to have her stuffed bunny cut his attack off and stand in her stead.

Placing his free foot on the floating doll, he shoved off and attempted to gain range before she could strike again. As he flew back, a flurry of the same glittering weapons approached him from the side and cut him shallowly in several places. The blood from his skin streaked across with the invisible weapons before scattering into the air leaving no trace that the weapons ever existed. Alan coated the wounds with darkness before resuming his attack.

Alan jumped around and approached with caution, hiding behind floating tiles before pushing off again as her assaults cut the tiles to shreds. Her attacks left him with little breaks. She really meant she showed no mercy. For such a small girl, her ferocity was in contrast massive, though the entire time her expression never changed, not for a moment. Jumping from his final hiding place, Alan flew in from straight ahead for another go, only to be met by a huge number of the shimmering strikes.

His naivety got the best of him as the wires cut him through and tore his body until nothing remained. Only, the girl was not satisfied. A twitch flashed across her face as the boy reappeared from behind, kicking at her back. Once more, the bunny interfered, taking the blow. Alan tried kicking off again, only to find his foot bound to the bunny by an innumerable amount of threads. The bunny’s mouth opened ominously, it’s sowed shut mouth straining with a thousand metallic snaps and twangs. Finally, as every thread broke loose, within its mouth, Alan could see an ocean of the shimmering threads that already tried to strike him down, and had already has succeeded once. A second time, the threads engulfed him, this time, flowing out of the bunny’s mouth like floodwaters released from a dam.

His figure burst into shadow once more, which left the animator tapping her foot on the tile she held to her feet, “I said no games! I’m not amused!”

Alan poked his heads out from behind several tiles, cowering from her, still holding to his act of innocence, “Didn’t you think it was funny?”

His answer was a stream of wires cutting through the one that. Alice rose higher into the air, holding her arms out like a marionette in limbo. Wires danced like party goers in a ballroom, floating up creating a beautiful but terrifying picture made of curves and spirals with shifting lights reflecting off her weapons. The web of wires floated up and around, millions in number, enough that every bit of her bunny vanished into it, and returned to its raw form. For a moment, the wires hung there, looming over the group of Alans.

One Alan shrunk behind a tile, cowering speaking slowly, “You… wouldn’t do that… would you?”

His next answer came in the form of advance as all the wires rushed forward slicing everything down. Several Alans were destroyed in the initial rush, but a couple others dodged some and managed to move forward. Jumping clear of a wire close to piecing him though, one Alan jumped forward and landed on a wire. Using his greave edge as protection, he ran down the wire right for the source. Alice floated there smiling at his advance, his vision was suddenly clouded as a wall of wires cut him off for the side, then swiped forward over his form like a hand swatting away a nat. The Alan was reduced to shadowy threads that whisked away.

Another Alan jumped from wire to wire and was advancing farther than the previous. All attempts to cut him down he simply dodged like an acrobat swinging by his bladed feet under and over and jumping to another support. Moving through the web as quickly but carefully as he could, he was about upon her. He jumped in one last leap, and raised his leg to strike down on her head and finish her. Then, an odd sensation overtook him watching his leg continue upwards then looking down to see a dismembered thigh remaining attached. A single wire retreated into her sleeve as countless more closed in and tore apart the almost successful clone.


Suddenly, she was taken by surprise. Out of that clones dispersing shadows, the shadows morphed and formed all new Alans that completely surrounded her. Gasping in surprise she watched as each began to glow a deep purple and loose color. Each lunged forward to take her in one final rush. Alice moved for the first time in the fight. Spinning around, carrying each wire with her. Thousands of screeches filled the mini-dome as the wires stuck into the outside wall moved in unison with her actions. The battlefield itself moved with the animator, the wires shifting in an entire 360 degree motion. In that moment, every close was cut to pieces, then exploded just far enough away that Alice remained unharmed.


The animator narrowed her eyes as she reexamined the battlefield, “Hmph… you were never interested in taking me seriously to begin with. Shame.” The animator shrugged as all her wires retracted. AS she did so, the force of her powers gave way and allowed the diced arena to collapse, all the pieces missing her by her command. With the arena in ruins and remaining only as a crater filled with rubble, the little girl took hold of her reformed bunny and continued onward.

Behind her, a boy stood peaking around a corner looking into the arena. Alan, swiftly took his leave and ran n the opposite direction the girl was heading.




There was the sound of soft scribbling in the dark chamber where the losers resided. They were quiet, no one knew what to talk about in a time like that. They’d never been imprisoned before. Kyla sat drawing in her book as another voice came into existence, “Ow… where am I?”

Kyla looked up from her book in a flash and yelled out, “Maggie!”

“Kyla?! Kyla!” Maggie yelled. Down the hall a boom could be head as Maggie flattened herself against the clear barrier, “Kyla! Where are we?”

“We’re in prison, what does it look like?” Timmy said shooting down her enthusiasm.

“Uggghhh…”

“Opp… we have another one.” Rae said leaning back against the wall, pouting a bit.

“Where am I?” the female voice groaned.

“Who is it this time?” Kyle 2 asked peering into the dim room.

“Huh? What do you mean? It’s me, Noelle.”

“NOELLE?! When did you lose? Who did you lose to? I MUST KNOW!” Kyle 2 yelled out slamming into the glass like Maggie, “WHO!!!”

“What? Why? Gagh, I don’t even know. I was walking down a hallway when all of a sudden I got hit in the back of the head… and here I am.” Noelle said flopping down on the ground again, “Nyaaa… my head hurts.”

“You lost to something like that after I got eaten by you!” Kyle 2 despaired, sliding down the glass, “I feel like such a looser.”

“What are you talking about? We never fought…” Noelle said sitting up again.

“What do you mean? How hard did they hit your head?” Kyle 2 frowned.

“I’m fine geez… but I’m telling you I NEVER fought you.” Noelle insisted.

“Then I must have hallucinated losing to you shooting me with a giant bow spear of earth death.”

Noelle went silent for a bit, then spoke up slowly, “You sure it wasn’t her?”

“Her?” Kirstin asked completely oblivious.

“My replica…” Noelle finished silently, hoping it wasn’t true, but knowing there was no other explaination.

“REPLICAS?!” Everyone broke out in unison aside from James. A chill ran down all their spines just thinking about their pure darkness counterparts.


“If the replicas are here…” Rae began.

“And they’re running around as us…” Maggie continued.

“Then that means we can’t trust anyone with a replica.” Timmy said, looking down at his fingers counting off all those with replicas.

“OH!” Kyla screamed all of a sudden startling everyone, “It make sense now! The Kyle I fought… that wasn’t Kyle! It was Ajora! That makes so much more sense! Uggghhhh!”

“Calm down Kyla.” Rae cautioned, “It’s possible all of us have been fooled.”

“I know, you’re right… I just need to concentrate.” Kyla said going back to her drawing.

“Hey! The video’s back!” Amy yelled as the room lit up again with another mirror.

“It’s Kyle and Al! They’re still in it.” James said smiling, but felt a sense of bitter sweet joy, it meant that they’d still have to fight, and if they were on the screen… then…





[[In the Maze]]


“Hey Kyle, maybe we should take a rest now. We’ve been going full force for too long.”

“We’ve been over this. Every moment we waste is a moment we should be using to get out of here!”

“KYLE!” Al yelled finally with his temper flaring. A gust of wind sucked down the hallway knocking the holy knight onto his back and destroying the shadows down the hallway, “That’s enough! We’re resting and that’s that!”

Al would have continued except a scream caused him to look up from Kyle and to the end of the hallway. Dawn stood up from falling forward on her face, rubbing it pitifully, “Owwww… who opened the window…”

Al stayed silent as Kyle stood to his feet. She was joined a moment later by the masked boy Mathew, “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine Mathy.” Dawn said taking his hand to stand up, “Hey look! People!”

Kyle summoned his spear, but felt a firm hand from Al pressed against his shoulder. He looked back and jerked his shoulder away, “Don’t get in my way. If they’re here, they’ve defeated someone already.”

Al let his arm drop, shifting his eyes back and forth between Kyle and the other two. Dawn saw Kyle’s spear and immediately summoned her Tessen. Mathy quickly followed up by ejecting his claws, “Be careful Dawn.” He said putting himself between Kyle and her.

“You don’t have to tell me that. Watch out for yourself.”

“Hold it! HOLD IT!” Kefka said, appearing out of nowhere, “I didn’t say go…” There was a deep silence for about a second, “OK go.”


[[Cue : Music!]]


Al and Dawn didn’t wait for the arena to finish forming as they mirrored each other’s actions. Pulling back, each swung forward and released a giant gust. The gusts picked up their respective partners and launched them at each other to clash in the center.

Mathy clung to Kyle’s spear with his claws, keeping Kyle at an extremely close range so he couldn’t utilize his spear. Kyle spun around with another gust of wind coming around again from both sides. His spin picked up speed and sent both flying upwards.

Mathy lost his grip and flew off but regained his composure while flying though the air. Kyle found himself in the eye of a tornado formed by the wind currents striking at one another bellow. Mathy landed next to Dawn again, nodding at her once more as he advanced forward.

Al imidiately took noticed and changed the wind current to sweep Mathy right off his feet, but Dawn was right on her game. Releasing a wind current slightly above Al’s, the wind collided lifting Mathy off the ground and launching him as though he were fired out of a transparent cannon. Mathy flew into the tornado and attacked Kyle with an extremely fast series of strikes, half of which Kyle couldn’t even dream to have stopped. Moving out of the eye, Kyle and Mathy entered the outer wall that whipped around at extreme speeds, though the two of them didn’t even miss a beat. The wind was so strong, it tore the tiles from the floor and carried them into the tornado.

Garuda soon showed up behind Dawn trying to gain the upper hand on Al, who countered with Sylph. Both wind summons only increased the power and rage of the tornado, meanwhile the two fighters in the center rose higher and higher. Al abandoned his place leaving the wind manipulation to Sylph, as did Dawn. The two stuck to the ground as downdrafts pressed them to the floor. They met at the base of the tornado but not in the eye.

Dawn struck out with the offensive. Swinging her fans she struck from the sides hooking and pulling back not truly following through with any. Suddenly, after the last of her strikes was blocked, she spun around and knelt down to the ground sweeping with her foot. Al jumped and felt the follow through of her attack flip his feet up above his head. Stabling himself, Al stabbed his staff into the floor and pulled himself onto it. Spinning around and using the wind to keep himself abnormally light, he scissor kicked at Dawn, which she blocked swiftly with her fans. Pulling back, he flipped backwards doing a handstand on his staff then dropped down swiftly pulling the staff back out and advancing on her.

Al swung several times using the wide to overpower her defense, he struck her a couple times breaking through disorienting her. While stumbling back, she watched as Al stuck his staff to the ground then flipped over it, coming down with his heal driving her head down. She saw him land, then his leg sweep underneath her. Her legs went up as her head went down. The whole ordeal was making her head spin, quite literally.

Moving from the sweep to a spinning handstand, Al split his legs apart and kicked up a huge amount of wind spinning her like a top. Then still spinning, he let his hands off the ground, blowing a gust of wind directly below him and launched himself up parallel with Dawn. Summoning his staff, he bent back, finished his spin, and with a huge concussive ball of wind, he smashed her with all of his strength and sent her flying out of control into the chaos of the tornado.

Dawn careened through the tornado, rounding about the other side gaining her composure back. She wouldn’t be finished that easily. Dawn extended her arms out to each side, and used her fans like propellers as she spun. The wind she generated as she came back around, along with speed, grabbed hold of a few of the tiles flying with her in the tornado. When she reached Al, she stabbed a fan into the ground, and arcored herself as her own wind crashed by carrying the tiles into Al. Al couldn’t do much besides block himself feebly before being thrown away.

Above them, Mathy and Kyle till fought it out never letting up for a minute despite the debris narrowly missing each of them, most pieces big enough to kill them at their speeds. Mathy kept Kyle on edge, no matter how much he was knocked away, he just kept coming back. Ducking underneath a flying tile, Kyle summoned several holy spells and fired them off at Mathy. Using the tiles as both vantage points and cover, Mathy moved around the tornado doing circles as Kyle attempted to blow him away.

Dawn stood in the eye of the storm, looking up at the two fighting, “Mathy!” She yelled, her voice carried by the wind. Mathy took notice, and braced himself.

Dawn pulled both of her Tessen together then ripped them apart. A ‘bubble’ of wind flowed upwards from her within the tornado, and just as it reached the top, exploded, demolishing the tornado causing everything to stand still for a moment. When that moment was over, everything began its decent once more.

Kyle was caught in the center of the blast, and on top of no longer being able to hear anything, an effect similar to shell shock, he was dizzy with all of his senses off. Suddenly he was struck from the side, feeling ‘static’ run up his muscles. Mathy, despite everything falling, pressed off of the falling debris and bounced back and forth like a pinball with Kyle as his target. Kyle was helpless in his current state, every time he about got back to his feet he was knocked off again, and the ground was approaching fast.

“Seriously, must I do everything?” A voice chimed from out of nowhere.

As Mathy pressed off from directly above and came down for the finishing move, two angelic wings sprang forth out of Kyle’s back and bent around in front of him. Mathy crashed against those instead, the feathers like steel. Mathy pressed against them trying to cut through, but as they opened up again, the gust knocked him into the air and a reverse gust corrected Kyle and allowed him to land on his feet.

The wings pointed straight up, and every feather glowed bright white. Then, each shot off until the wings were gone, each individual feather forming its own holy spell. Mathy was covered in the spells mid air the moment they fired off, then simultainiously they exploded. He could be seen flying through the air and crashing a good distance away.

Dawn threw down her stance and ran over to Mathy screaming, “Mathy! Oh god! Mathy!”

Al limped over holding a glowing hand over his bruises. Kyle watched and kept his distance, though the darkness could be seen looming in his eyes waiting for his will to break and for him to strike.

Dawn slid to a stop next to Mathy, bending down next to him as he sat up as best he could. He was still moving, which was surprising enough.

“You’re ok.” She smiled as she placed a hand behind his back to keep his steady and help him stand. The two turned around and watched the other team. Neither made a move to attack, for now, it looked as though it would be a stalemate…




[[Prison]]

“What the heck! Where’d the picture go?” Amy yelled, jaw dropped and completely blown away that the mirror had just disappeared out of the blue.

“Seriously, I wanted to see who wins!” Timmy yelled along with Amy.

“We’ll know soon enough right? After all, the losers get sent here.” James spoke solemnly.

“Yeah, well… it’s not like watching it firsthand.” Maggie pointed out, her face flattened against the barrier, looking for some hint of the mirror TV.

“Ooo! Something else is coming through!” Timmy said, “Commercial break’s over everyone!”

“Ah! It’s Bobbi!” Maggie yelled, now even more interested than before, which was saying something seeing she was already pumped. In Kyla’s cell, the girl twitched a bit, listening to the whole thing, trying not to let it disrupt her concentration, she needed to think of a way out, that came first. Bobbi was a close friend, almost as close as Maggie. She always seemed to be there when Maggie wasn’t… knowing she’d be in another fight… it had her nerves sitting on needles…




[[ Mini-Dome]]


Bobbi stood with a hand on the ice crystal she had only a bit before encased Maggie within. A frown across her face observing Maggie was no longer encased within, “Where could she have gone? I’m sure I got her.”

A moment of anger flared up in the girl as she slammed her fist into the ice leaving a crack along its surface. She gritted her teeth and swiftly turned around with her eyes tightly shut, listening to the splintering noise of the ice continuing to break, “What’s WITH this place?” Bobbi opened her eyes and found several shadows hunched over at her feet swiping with curiosity and gnashing their teeth expressing their insatiable hunger. Shrieking in anger she drew her bow and cut them down with the bladed tips of her bow.

When they were all gone, she let out a sigh of relief, but perked up as she heard the pounding of footsteps. She looked up to see someone she thought she recognized at first but couldn’t make out as he was still a distance away for the moment.



“Another one?” a distorted male voice echoed, “Jeez, a little darkness and they go nuts. Oh well. Though… this one is different… what’s that? Oh, haha… no, I don’t think this one will work for that… huh? Oh, right… let’s not waste time then.”


[[Cue : Music]]


Bobbi tilted her head at the boy’s conversation, “What the he-“ Bobbi stopped speaking as the boy waved an arm out in front of him a trail following behind it that swiftly vanished. That however, was not what had her stopped dead in her speech, it’s what followed the odd gesture. Her vision, at first, a slight dimming, turned into complete darkness. She stared out, glancing left and right, feeling her heart race within her chest, “Wha?! What’s going on?! I can’t see! Help! My eyes! I’m blind! Somebody! What’s going on?!”

“Don’t worry…” the footsteps grew closer, “It’ll all be over soon.”

“Who’s there?! Stop where you are! I’ll shoot if you get any closer!” Bobbi drew her bow back and aimed a shot in the direction of the footsteps. Laughter clouded her hearing as it echoed off of every wall. When it subsided, the footsteps had changed from their original position, approaching for the right. She turned and shot in that direction, only to hear the footsteps approaching from behind now, “Stop it!”

“Such a sad sight. You’re pain and suffering… it’s all so great… why do you carry it around? Doesn’t it all just get so heavy? I can help you know.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” She spun around and fired abruptly. As the footsteps reformed in their original direction she added, “And stop changing the subject! I said stop coming near me!”

Suddenly, the footsteps ceased all together and left her in silence. The sound of the still cracking ice of her crystal prison continued on behind her. The silence was now unnerving. This was worse than the approaching footsteps, “Hello? Hello? Where are you? H-hello? S-S-Somebody ...help?” The fear was tear jerking. The darkness around her, despite her eyes being wide open had her nerves in a train wreck. As tears began to run down her face, she cried out once more, “Hello?! Don’t leave me here like this! Where’d you go?!”

As the cracks in the ice grew louder and more frequent from the chain reaction she started with her punch, she strained to listen for some hint of the boy that was there before. Suddenly, her answer came from right next to her ear, “Oh pitiful soul, I would never leave you nor forsake you.”

Bobbi shrieked and spun around, swinging at air with her bow then firing, right into the crystal now in front of her. The arrow collided and exploded along with the entire crystal. The explosion carried her backwards and onto the floor. Shivering from head to toe, the mistake left her jarred and confused.

Calm yourself… I’ll do what I can to help. Just concentrate on finding him. He can’t hide forever. Just stay calm.

Bobbi had to fight back the urge to yell at her summon because she was blind, and she was frightened, but Shiva was right. Taking a deep breath, she listened to the sounds around her. A deep mist set in around her, the work of Shiva in play.

“Just stop resisting… I promise I’ll make this all go away. Just open yourself up to me… I’m only trying to help.” His voice returned, before her arrow flew in its direction. The mist now shed new light on noises she couldn’t hear before, a scratchy noise, like faint fingernails on a chalkboard, a similar noise to her ice freezing over something. She followed the noise with her mind’s eye, and when it stopped, she fired. A moment later she heard a yell of pain, her shot landing spot on, “Ow! Damnit! You little… gah! You hit me?! You’re freaking blind!”

Bobbi smiled triumphantly, “Serves you right!”

He roared in frustration, “Fine! If you don’t want to do this the hard way… I’ll just do this the easy way!” His voice went quiet again and dropped in tone once more, “Say your prayers… your end has come.”

“Huh? Don’t you have that backw- Ugh!” Bobbi was cut off by a sudden blunt blow to the gut. She flew backwards until hitting a flat wall. She dropped to the floor but stayed on her feet. She felt the wall behind her, it was cold… ice cold. Recognizing everything suddenly, the voice, the same voice from that time that seemed so long ago. She looked up staring forward, eyes and mouth open, despite not being able to see. Suddenly she felt another powerful hit to the gut as she flew backwards and broke through the wall, rolling a bit before the attack resumed.

Louis flew in from the side and kicked her again, rolling her over, as she attempted to regain her composure. The dark knight kept right on coming, knocking aside her mislead arrows, and laughing. Finally, she fired one good shot that seemed as though it was about to hit him, when Louis swung his blade right across the arrow’s path. The blade of the naginata glowed for a moment, absorbing the arrow. Louis skidded to a stop and trust the weapon forward. Bobbie could feel the wind carrying the mist on her face where the blade stopped through it didn’t hit. She took a few steps back, unsure what had stopped him. Suddenly, the blade spread out and formed a flat circle. It then shattered, and out of it, a barrage of the girl’s own ice arrows flew back at her point blank and sent her flying backwards.

Bobbi got to her hands and knees to rise as Louis placed a swift kick knocking her slightly into the air. He spun around with his naginata and cut her across the torso leaving a trail of ice over the wound. Bobbi landed back on the ground in the same position she lifted off in only this time she held herself up with one arm and held her wound with the other, scratching at the ice to try and get it off. Louis didn’t let up. A swift kick to the face knocked her to look up which he then used to grab hold of her throat.

Lifting her up to eye level, he spoke to her, “Here, let me help you,” Louis thrust his hand forward and griped her forehead in his hand. Darkness poured out from her eyes and into his palm allowing her vision to return. He pulled his hand back suddenly, and laughed, “You should at least be allowed to see the face of your savior. After all, he’s doing you a favor, how else will you be able to thank him later for his mercy.”

As her vision returned, Bobbi’s suspicions were confirmed as she stared at a demonic helm, with scarlet red eyes. Gasping between breaths, she stabbed at him with her words, “b*****d. Go to hell…”

“Now that’s not very nice. But, I have to mind my manners… ladies first!” Louis thrust his free hand into her chest, it suddenly sinking in. Bobbi gasped for breath, but found she couldn’t breathe. Darkness spread over her outward from the point of entry, “Memento Mori.”

Suddenly, Louis pulled back his hand and in a flash of light, her heart was torn out and floated in the palm of his hand. Bobbi stared at it for a moment, terrified and unable to speak, “Wha-What?”

Ice encased the heart, and consequently, her body swiftly turned to ice as well. Just before the ice completely overtook her body, she uttered one last desperate word, almost a whisper, but laced with every emotion in her being, as tears froze running down her face “Evan…”

With that, her body turned entirely to ice. Louis spun around swinging his naginata across the crystal statue. A second later, the statue shifted and fell over in half. The body crashed into the floor and shattered into pieces.




[[Cue : Music]]



“NO!” Rae shrieked.

“It… it can’t be… that didn’t just happen…” Michelle said, finding it nearly impossible to find words.

Amy shook staring, at the screen, they couldn’t see half the battle due to the mist, but it cleared to show their friend’s heart being ripped from her chest.

Maggie had tears running down her face, her heart freezing over and stopping entirely as she watched the battle’s end unfold.

“That didn’t just happen, that didn’t just happen, that didn’t just happen!” Kirstin chanted to herself holding her hands over her mouth is shock and despair.

Kyla just kept furiously drawing until finally her book lit up and a series of keys with wings flew out. The keys flew out and attached to each of the barriers holding the earthlings inside. Each glowed, then in a flash, the barriers went down. Kyla walked out first, strolling down the aisle that ran down the center of the cells. A small bell shaped lantern followed close behind, “Come on everyone. Let’s get out of here.”

“Kyla…” Rae said, strolling out of her cell, “Didn’t you see what just happened?”

Kyla turned her head and looked out of the corner of her eye, “We need to get out of here first. We’ll worry about that later. In the meantime, we need someone to stay behind to make sure there’s someone here for newcomers. Whoever that is, will have to explain the situation to anyone else who gets sent here.” Another flash of light and more keys floated around and hung dangling in the air, “Use the kingdom keys if they get dropped in any of the other cells.”

With that, she headed out and turned left down a corridor, quickly followed by Timmy, Amy, and Ben, who had sat quietly though the most recent situation within which he had woken up.

Michelle ran across the corridor and right into James’ arms. He held her tight has she hugged him tighter than ever, weeping at Bobbi’s loss, “No… No! No! No! No!”

James hugged her tightly one last time, then pulled her away from him, “We need to go.”

Swallowing her sadness, she nodded, and ran out the door after Kyla rubbing the tears from her eyes that wouldn’t stop coming.

“I’ll stay behind.” Rae said, only to be countered by Maggie.

“No, I will. The group will need a white mage. I’ll stay behind and use my potions to heal any wounds. They’ll need your specialty there. Besides, I have more offensive ability to protect anyone from coming in here if they decide to collect the losers.”

Rae nodded and ran after Kyla, soon everyone filed out after Kyla leaving Maggie there by herself, who then let go and started crying herself.

Kyla, leading the group for the first time, pressed forward at an unrelenting pace. She wouldn’t let anyone up next to her, or else they might see the tears running down her face, or the quivering lip bit down on so hard to still its shaking…



The world trembles beneath the rage of a dragon. Territories are drawn and instinct becomes the only logic and reason. Children lost in magical woods are guided by their ill placed hope as the search party is still far away. What lies ahead for the travelers? Do their hopes and dreams await them? Or disappointment and their worst nightmare?
To be continued…
Chapter 10 ~ Over the River...

BOBBI!!!!! *laments*

She'll definitely be okay ... rarararararara >:[]

And I'm loved the battle between Al and Dawn! Slyph against Garuda, it was just ... *gapes*

And Alice... I'm glad she didn't kill Alan. >_O" But I like how you portrayed her. I feel like you should RP her instead of me. XDD

But I loved this new chapter. Awesoem ness as always. You sure now how to build up tension. o_o!! (and thank you x3 *hugs*)

HOLY CRAP Alice was awesome! And Slyph vs. Garuda, I've been dying to see that in action! AND BOBBI, OMG BE OKAY PLEASE!

And Kyle finally pushed my buttons, apparently, lol. DAWN, me and you are totally awesome together! WE MUST TEAM UP IN THE RP AND TOTALLY KICK SOME a** TOGETHER!

*waves arms in the air*

HOLY CRAP MAN DID THAT JUST HAPPEN~!? I just stood toe to toe with Al in a fight. Garuda vs Slyph was awesome! *high fives Al* AGREED we should so team up Al. Can you say, "hold on to your hair"?

And the whole me falling on my face would so happen, great job seeing that one coming.

Hurry up and get the next chapter up man. ^^; Me wants to see what happens next.

[[Chapter 10 - Over the River…]]

Evan sat quietly, his back placed against the flat of his massive sword, trying desperately to get some rest before someone undoubtedly found him. His breaths were slow and deep, each exhale like a sigh, each inhale like a quiet inward yawn. The maze had formed around him again, and he could hear the echoes of distant fights still vibrating the walls. He sighed opening one eye to look down to the end of the hallway. He could hear the careless foot falls of an approaching combatant. It was only a matter of time. Even in a maze that large, it was as though the maze itself was directing them to each other with its shifting hallways and openings.

Evan stood to his feet and rolled his shoulders. Then, with a hefty tug, he pulled his sword free of the floor and slung it over his shoulder. Then, it was simply a matter of waiting.

Several minutes later, as the footsteps grew closer and closer till they were no longer echoes, a foot came into view followed immediately by a body. Evan looked the male up and down, judging how difficult a challenge he might pose. Kichi stood a good length away, stopped in his tracks at the sight of another individual. His face held little emotion as it had before he’d been separated from Timmy and Louis, his eyes were mostly empty, but what was there was dark, heavy and depressing. As corrected the posision of his sword aleaving a pressure point on his shoulder, Kichi spoke up, “Hey, you’re Evan right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” He answered tilting his head sideways and down, his body language reeking of aggression.

“Do you mind if we don’t fight? I’m not really in the mood.” Kichi saidshook his head with the last comment, “We don’t have to be around each other, just go our separate ways is all. I’d rather not have anyone around right now anyways.”

“Isn’t that convenient?” Evan said sarcastically, not buying Kichi’s proposal, “Hey, have you seen Bobbi?”

“Bobbi? No, havn’t seen her at all, why?”

“Nevermind. Some debts need to be repaid is all.” Evan lowered his sword, and held it in both hands. It rested at the ready by his side.

“Blarg…” Kichi suddenly said, highly displeased with the situation, he summoned his Tonfa preparing to defend, “Seriously, we don’t have to do this.”

“That’s not how things work here and you know it.” Evan braced himself, lowering his torso closer to the ground.

“Oh, I so do love dragons, especially the kind that tear others to pieces! Let’s have a good show! Showtime gentleman! And remember, play mean!” Kefka made his quick entrance before vanishing with the sound of a gunshot and fireworks.

[[Cue: Forbidden Magic]]

Evan kept his eyes locked on Kichi, not even flinching as the arena changed around him. Several pillars rose from the floor in different directions connecting with the room and essentially creating a web of these magic columns. When all the vibrations and eruptions had ceased, the fighters could still see each other across the way, still standing, waiting for the other to make the first strike. Knowing at this rate, nothing would happen, Evan swung his sword scraping it along the floor as he did. A stream of fire struck ablaze and slithered at lightning speed in Kichi’s direction. Accepting there were no alternatives, Kichi jumped into the air and pressed off of the closest pillar in Evan’s direction. Kichi landed a few feet in front of his opponent, skidding for a moment as the large blade came around to cleave his torso from his legs.

Dodging swiftly by jumping in the air, Kichi cleared the blade easily. A split second after, he altered his path in the air with his magic and flew forward attacking Evan’s open weak point. Not wasting time to wear down Evan with weaker strikes, he slammed the shorter end of his tonfa into his side and released a small flare burst. The berserker went flying, and slammed into a pillar, not breaking through but held there for a moment before falling back to the ground.

Kichi stood there as Evan struggled to his feet, holding his side where he impacted the pillar. Evan’s sword began to glow, the tell-tale sign he was beginning to get angry. Evan brought his sword around and cleaved upward. The slice both erupted in fire and a shockwave of hot air. The blast caught Kichi underprepared. He flew up but swiftly caught himself before crashing into any pillars. Swerving around using his power of flight, he avoided the pillars and circled around above Evan, who started up by jumping from pillar to pillar. Kichi saw him coming and quickly formulated a plan. Flying in as Evan pushed off towards another pillar, Kichi slammed him during a swift pass-by. The berserker flew off course and before having the opportunity to recover, Kichi struck again, “You shouldn’t have entered my element, in the air, I’m in control.”

Kiichi repeated this several times until Evan finally hit another pillar, at which point, Kichi flew in and barraged Evan with countless fast, unrelenting spinning strikes of the tonfa. As the relentless poundings continued, eventually Evan lost grip of his sword which fell to the floor below, glowing a bright blue, far different from the dim red that was present before, and it was getting brighter. It hit the floor and cut through the earth as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter. Evan’s forehead bulged with rage, his eyes clamped shut as he absorbed the blows. Soon, all his pent up rage exploded outward with summoned fire that expanded outward from his body. Kichi was thrown backwards and hit another pillar as Evan fell to the floor to retrieve his blade. Kichi flew higher up gaining distance, between himself and the berserker that had obviously grown much worse in the time he’d fought him.

When he’d reached a satisfactory distance, he spun around and fired off two continuous beams of flare that acted as extremely long extensions to his arms that cut through the pillars easily as he spun in a circle. Evan looked around rapidly, as the beams cut a clean circle in the floor several yards in each direction. All the affected pillars shifted in unison as they lost stability and crumbled. Evan, caught underneath, panicked and jumped onto the nearest pillar and began climbing by running along its length even as it went vertical by melting his feet into the surface. Several other pillars quickly crashed into and shattered his pillar he was using, which resulted in Evan jumpng from falling fragment to another falling fragment making his way up the avalanche of tile and stone.

Kichi wasn’t blind, nor was he stupid. He thrust his tonpha forward, releasing several short beams in Evan’s direction, hoping to blast him back down to be buried by the rest of the falling debris. Evan dodged all the same, until finally a wave of both pillars and beams cut off all escape routes. Kichi watched from above as Evan was blocked in and carried down to the floor with the rest of the falling objects.



“Hey, Zexion! How’s that spell coming?” Sora yelled from across the clearing, walking towards the cloaked schemer and giant mirror.

“I told you, this process takes time. It isn’t as easy as you may think. I can’t simply replicate a spell by looking at the after effects alone. I normally require observation of the spell first hand being used by the original owner.” Zexion replied, a heaviness in his voice that testified his exhaustion.

“You’ve been at this for several days now.” Riku pointed out from atop the train overlooking the two, “Can’t you at least tell when you should be done.”

“It’s a process that can’t be measured in time, only successfulness of each piece. I assure you, I’ll crack this eventually, but in the mean time, could you please go away and let me think. I’ll be sure to let you know when, not IF I figure it out.”
The two keybladers then took their leave, leaving Zexion alone in the clearing. Zexion, however, was not at ease. Something was still bothering him, “How long are you going to wait there?”

“Untill you acknowledge my presence.” The encentric voice of Kuja rang out to the cloacked schemer.

“What do you need?”

“Need? I don’t NEED anything. I only want to be kept in the loop.”

“You will be. You’re still here aren’t you? If you’re so impatient on doing something, you can go out searching like the rest of them, but that’s not why you care… So I’ll inform you just like the rest of them when I’m done.”

“Just make you you don’t forget. I’ll be waiting.”

“I’m sure you will.” Zexion spoke to himself as the clearing was suddenly empty again allowing him to concentrate on his work.

On the other side of the train, Riku stopped his friend from pacing, “Sora, You need to relax. You’re not helping anyone by getting worked up.”

“Come on, Riku! You can’t say you’re not worried! They’ve been missing for days… everyone has spread out and started searching all the other words for any sign of them, and no one has returned with a thing. Not being able to do anything sucks.” Sora slammed his own back into the train in frustration.

Riku sympathized, “I know you’re worried, but we need to be patient, and I told you before, having everyone spread out and occupy themselves was the best thing we could have done. With everyone sitting around brooding over not being able to do anything and then pointing fingers, it was only breaking our loyalties and ties apart by staying together. We’re still here, because we need to stay nearby to protect Zexion, and Kuja is still around because… well… he hasn’t actually done anything throughout this entire ordeal. “

Sora sighed overdramatically, “Fine… I just wish I knew if they were ok…”



“Kyla, where are we going?” Rae asked, sure that the pictomancer wouldn’t have an answer.

“Out.” Kyla said, pushing on up a short flight of stairs.

“That’s convincing.” Timmy said with a negative tone.

With that, Kyla spun at the top of the steps, now the highest overlooking the climbing group, “Alright! That’s enough! Does anyone else have a better idea?!”

There was a silence hanging over everyone before Timmy spoke up again, “We could always go back and wait for help.”

That reply released the floodgates of objections and agreements, Amy spoke up as one of the loudest, “We can’t wait for help! There’s no guarantee help will even arrive!”

“You’re being foolish, we could be digging ourselves a bigger hole continuing on blind like this.” Rae objected, trying to support Timmy.

“What good is it if we backtrack?! Obviously those cells are where Kefka wants us. If we wait there he’s just likely to send the replicas in there to force us into submission… if they’re really here.” James pointed out suddenly shutting everyone up once the replicas were mentioned. Michelle took a deep breath and held herself tighter to his side.

Kyla was the first to speak after the sense of subtle fear settled down, “So, is that all for the objections.”

The ones who initially agreed nodded swiftly, where as the others nodded with some reluctance, with that, Kyla turned back forward and led them on.



Seymour watched the screen now with some interest, “You’re letting them go?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Kefka smiled and turned back to look Seymour in the eye, “It’s more fun this way.”

“I believe its time you inform me of what you’re planning Kefka.” Seymour stated, his eyes resting neutrally on the clown, his intuition telling there was more to the clown than met the eye.

“Well, it’s simple really… it’s- Oh look! The boy has returned! How was your trip?”

Mac walked into the room looking for the most part perfectly healthy aside from the scorched edged of his clothes.

“What are you doing here?” Kefka asked with a creepy smile.

“I lost.”

“You lost?” Kefka gasped, his voice saturated with fake surprise, “Did you hear that Seymour? The boy lost! He lost! Oh me, oh my, oh no! Whatever shall we do! He lost!”

“My name’s Mac, in case you forgot… again.”

“Oh, I didn’t forget Matt, you’re number one easiest name to remember, promise!” Kefka gave him a thumbs up and kept it there, the whole time, not letting up with his smile, “But…” His face suddenly twitched, “Do you think loosing, is a good enough reason to retreat? You’re here to give ME a good show. After all, you do this, and I give you what you wanted. But you’re not going to get it, unless you do what you’re asked.”

Mac looked down a bit, contemplating the clown’s words, judging them to be true or false, “But it won’t matter if I die in the process.”
“-and against your own friends too! What a great twist!” Kefka laughed.

Mac raised his gaze to meet Kefka’s, who’s face had become almost blatantly sadistic in his grin and eyes, “that’s stupid.”

“Perhaps… but that’s your problem. You agreed to this. I expect you to follow through. Of course, I would have force you to either way, humans are so pitiful like that.”

“I’m standing right here you know.” Mac pointed ut, rather annoyed, but regretted it when the clown’s eyes drifted back to him.

“I don’t care if you die. Your job is to entertain me, so go entertain. Go get’em tiger!” Kefka snapped his fingers, before Mac could object and dropped him through another mirror, laughing hysterically.

As his laughing died down Kefka looked back to the screen, “Such a boring boy. However, I may have found the perfect replacement.” Seymour raised an eyebrow, looking from the mirror on the floor to the screen. On it, the pictomancer took up the whole view, the perspective zoomed in so that everyone else was outside of the picture aside from the determined, driven Kyla.



[[Cue: Rage by Godspeed]]

Kichi floated in the air, reluctant to come down, it was too easy, far too easy. He knew Evan wouldn’t go down so easily. Squinting his eyes, he attempted to see something that would tell him whether or not his opponent was still alive. After a few second, Kichi noted the air in the dome had heated up significantly, and there was steam rising from the gaps between the broken pillars. Kichi braced himself for the inevitable onslaught.

As time ticked away, the huge circle of red and steam, the only way it could be described from Kichi’s perspective, grew wider and wider. Suddenly the pillars within the affected range vanporized and blew outward as molten liquid. Evan stood in the center, and bent down, unaffected by the extreme heat surrounding him. The sudden rising hot air and fire slithering in the form of serpents was enough to make Kichi sweat, bring his arm in front of his face to block his face. Evan knelt down, and suddenly a burst of hot air and fire lifted him from the ground.

Kichi’s eyes opened wide as the berserker quickly closed the distance and brought the heat with him. Kichi turned tail and rocketed into the forest of Pillars to escape the berserker. Evan flew after him, melting all the pillars that got in his way though not quite closing the distance. Kichi, was naturally made for the air so he dodged all the pillars with ease even pushing his max speed, not only this, but he managed to turn around several times to fire backwards at the berserker. Suddenly, his escape route closed up in front of him as he reached the side of the dome. He looked to his left and right, then up and down, finding no escape, in his haste he’d not notice the corner he’d put himself in. Kichi spun around to see Evan flying in, fire and molten pillars ablaze behind him.

Kichi had no alternative, he’d have to go through the berserker to get out, a path he didn’t really want to follow. Kichi flipped back and placed his feet firmly against the wall of the dome. Then, as he flung his arms back and over his head, glyphs formed around his topha. Evan gathered blazing white flames over his sowrd as he changed headlong into his opponent.

Kichi roared out at the top of his lungs, “BUUUUSTER-“ then flung his arms forward, “FLARE!!!!!” Then, both of his tonfa released equal sized beams, each with similar strength to a full sized flare spell. They combined before crashing into Evan, quickly canceling his forward momentum and blasting him back down, through the pillars, and into the ground.

Kichi flew out and didn’t give the attack a rest. Evan stood to his feet and spotted the flare-fighter above him at an angle. He gathered fire to his palm and launched it forward. The fire expanded larger and larger until it filled the entirety of the path the flare beam had created. Kichi paid no attention to it, instead, he flew directly at it. With a quick flip, he pointed his foot out and suddenly fired two flares backwards behind him like jet boosters yelling out, “Ku-ro-na-gi KIIIIICK!!!”

Flare spells spiraled around Kichi from the sole of his foot and protected him as he cut right through the center of the flaming flood. Suddenly, Kichi emerged out of the other side of the spell and before Evan could react, his foot slammed into his chest. The impact released a huge explosion of energy that flattened Evan on his back into a newly created crater. Kichi flew high up at this point, flying around all the pillars till he reached the very top of the dome. Kichi turned back to see the weak Evan standing to his feet once more.

Kichi suddenly burst into a golden armor, his heart screaming for one final blow to keep going, “I must succeed, at all cost!” Six spikes shot out from behind him forming from nothing glowing in the same ethereal gold the rest of his clothing was now bathed in. Kichi reeled back and charged his flares, the light shining so brightly, Evan could see it all the way at the base through the cracks between the pillars. Just as Kichi was about ready, another voice joined him, “For all those who have lost, and all those who have yet to lose… we must win.” the voice of the Bahamut’s Faith, appearing as a boy garbed in golden robes, before vanishing once more. Kichi flung his arms forward and fired off the flare. The flare impacted the center of the circle created by the six spikes, then, a massive roar emphasized his battle-cry as six more giant spikes encircled his six, and supercharged them with energy as his flare gathered within growing brighter and brighter. “FINAL!!” The flare exploded downward, growing as large as its radius being 20 yards across, “FLARE!!!”

Suddenly everything in Evan’s view was pure white, and then his world turned to darkness.

Kichi suddenly dropped from the air and fell towards the ground. Right before he hit however, Bahamut Fury appeared in all his golden glory and caught him. He flew a bit, holding Kichi underneath him as he landed carefully. Kichi sat up slowly, his eyes heavy with exhaustion, he couldn’t fly anymore, that was for sure, at least the battle was over.

“Thanks Bahamut. I would have been a gonner there for sure had you not come to help.”

“You shouldn’t over exert yourself like that.”

“I didn’t hear any complaints before.” Kichi pointed out, lightening the mood between himself and his summon almost instantly, though Bahamut quickly pulled it back down.

“That may be true, but lets not do that again. Your heart has become unstable, mental and physical exhaustion will only make it worse. We need to take it easy from now on.”

Kichi nodded in agreement but was interrupted by Bahamut’s earthshaking growl, “What is it Bahamut?”

“No… it can’t be.” Bahamut turned swiftly, placing himself between Kichi and whatever it was that was bothering him. A bit away, at the center of the crater, was a strange earth formation. It was spiral in shape, and had a deep black color similar to that of sedentary stone after a volcanic lava flow. That spiral quickly changed to a super-hot white. Then it burst out revealing an unharmed Evan. Evan stood there, his sword draped over his shoulder, burning the same color as the ignited earth around him, though he didn’t burn. Out of the white stone, another dragon roar shook the dome, as Evan’s own summon came out in the form of a giant living flame. It coiled around and rose high above him. Then, Evan thrust his sword forward, the dragon folded in on itself, then following the path of the blade, it careened blindly forward in its directed rage. Bahamut charged a flare and released it in retaliation. The two attacks clashed, the flare holding the flames off for a bit. But the flames continued to renew themselves, and both Bahamut and his summoner were low on strength. Soon, the beam ceased. Knowing the end was near, Bahamut used the last of his strength to turn his back to the blast, and shield Kichi with his body and wings. Kichi stared wide eyed at his summon as it took the ferocious blow to the back, bending the flames around him keeping him safe from harm. But both of them knew it wasn’t going to last, and that Evan would not let up until he knew he had one. Bahamut growled as Kichi expressed his intentioned telepathically. And as he went through with it, despite Bahamut’s objections, he released a gigantic roar. Kichi dismissed Bahamut, saving him the pain of the flames, and accepting whatever fate had in store for him. As expected, fate returned to him as a giant wall of fire that engulfed every fiber of his body, just as light gathered around him and whisked him away.”



Little Red Riding Hood left the house one day to deliver a basket of muffins. Along the way she met a friend from town and together they traveled. They followed the path through the woods and were ambushed by a pack of wolves and were eaten… The End ~<3

To Be Continued…
Chapter 11 ~ And Through The Woods…

D:

Why do people keep dying ;-; And updateeee =DD

[[Chapter 11 ~ Through the Woods…]]

Rio laid on her back, staring up at the distant roof of the dome, her strength leaving her, her eyes heavy. Around her, she could hear the metallic rippling of steel striking steel as well as the crackling of fires yet to go out from the destruction. Her eyes focused in on the figure standing over her. Its name escaped her, despite her best efforts to remember. As the silhouette raised its weapon, Rio’s life flashed before her eyes. She didn’t want to die, but, this was it, she couldn’t win…








“You know, that wasn’t very nice.” a cocky voice suddenly boomed out shattering the silence, and startling the rogue replica.

Elleon spun around raising her spear to strike the intruder down, only to stop, and drop it to her side. Behind her, another combatant was engulfed in light and whisked away to relative safety, “What are you doing here? Go away, NOW, before I indulge myself and kill you!”

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m already dead.” Cory strolled up and stopped shoulder to shoulder with her. He glanced into her dark, sharp eyes with a slight smirk lifting his crack-ridden face.

“Then you’ll have no qualms with me stabbing you till I’m satisfied.” Elleon grinned sadistically gripping tighter to her spear.

The undead teen took another few steps forward away from her side, giving himself a little distance, “My master wouldn’t like that very much.”

“Screw your master, I don’t take orders.” Elleon turned on her heal and faced him again, “So, what do you want?”

“I’m just here because my master ordered me to… Have to pick up the slack where the other looser is failing.”

“Dogs and their masters… so pitiful it’s sickening.” Elleon jabbed with her words once more.

Cory ignored her insults and continued onward with the discussion, “I know why I’m here, but why are you? Weren’t all of you replicas ordered to stay out of the actual fighting, and only instigate aggression among your originals?”

“We were yes, but I don’t follow orders. I do what I please. I don’t care about what a clown said to Ajora. Ajora decided for himself and expects everyone to follow him blindly. I’m not stupid, I’ll pound every last one of these guys until I feel I could burst with satisfaction.”

Cory shrugged and turned to face her, “You’re an endangerment to the plan through your actions. If you continue like this, I may be forced to remove you.”

“Is that a threat?!” Noelle’s replica boomed, the ground shaking, emphasizing her anger.

“We can fight in a bit, but first, we have something else to attend to… it seems we have an eavesdropper.” Cory smiled and rolled his shoulder, “Shall we take care of this one first? We can take care of our relationship issues later, what do you say?”

Elleon laughed, “Sure! We can do that! But afterwards, I get to beat you as much as that undead body of yours can take!”

“We’ll see about that…” Cory said before finally turning around and releasing a streak of black flame across the ground at the unlucky individual listening in.






Kefka sat, twiddling his thumbs watching the screen following the escaped prisoners, “Bored…. Bored… Bored…”

“If you’re so bored… why not get out there and do some fighting yourself.” Kai sneered, looking up from her sketchbook.

“A director is not meant to be a part of his own play, silly girl. You and your little band of freaks are here as my personal actors in this whole plot. I’m the man in charge… I’m the man… I also like to stick it to the man, but as long as the man is not me… which poses problem, because I HATE the man, but the man is me… so I hate myself… but I hate everything... so suits me!”

Following the clown’s thought process proved imposable, “You’re nuts.”

“Maybe… but you’re the idiot following the guy who’s following the nut, so who’s dumber?! That’s right… so shut up and do as you were asked and stop opening that horrible little mouth of yours. You only harm yourself when you open it. Get back to work!”






[[Cue: Music]]


A beam streaked by the undead teen as he advanced on his prey, an explosion following directly afterwards. Elleon dodged to the side as the same explosion passed by her side. Raising her arms and throwing them forward, the earth manipulator sent a dozen spears out of the ground and flying at the desperate and crazed combatant. Her spear were not in any way aimed to avoid hitting Cory, in fact, he had to burst into pyre flies to avoid getting hit in the back.

Rio screamed in frustration, “Go away! You’re dead! You’redeadYou’redeadYou’redead! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!” Rio flung her trident out and released a spread barrage of lasers, all of them striking out at everything in front of her. The lasers destroyed all of Elleon’s spears, and just as Cory returned to normal, pierced his shoulder. Cory slowed for a moment, giving Rio more time to get so range between herself and the demon.

“You should be here! Why?! WHY?!” As she screamed more, the places where her lasers landed each exploded simultaneously lighting the entire dome up with fire. Rio swept through the smoke with her trident, not aiming at anything in particular, a moment later releasing even more destruction as that line lit up in fire.

As the fire died down, smoke billowed and clogged her vision, she swore she felt a presence near her, but at this point, she couldn’t be sure. Suddenly, her eye caught a glimpse of something to her side, a pyre fly. She spun around just in time to block Cory’s revblade from cleaving her in half. She held back the vibrating blade with all her strength until Cory pulled back to strike again. Rio blocked several times in a row as his onslaught continued. Cory warped around, changing back and forth from solid to spirit. Each time, Rio would follow the pyreflies and block the next attack easily enough. She’d gotten stronger, a lot stronger. Finally, Rio actually managed to get the other hand. Rio stomped down on Cory’s foot, distracting him just long enough to bash him in the face with her trident’s handle end. She followed through, spinning the sharp end up, and slicing Cory across the chest. Then, with the point up, she thrust her weapon into the air and fired three lasers from each point. The lasers climbed a good distance before simultaneously running into one another. The result, was a rain of red light striking everything around Rio all at once, then exploding, the lasers and fire engulfing Cory right as he vanished into pyreflies.

Cory rematerialized a distance away, and then returned to spirit as a laser attempted to pass through his chest. Rio fired laser after laser aiming at where ever Cory returned to normal. This process continued for about 30 seconds before Elleon interrupted the cycle. The replica strolled up behind Rio and bashed her in the side with her spear, the sheer unnatural strength of the replica sent her yards before connecting with the ground again.

Elleon wasn’t finished with her toy yet, she was only just getting started. Nothing would satisfy her thirst for pain and suffering. The replica slammed her palm to the ground, and a pillar of stone burst out from underneath Rio, knocking her into the air. Rio quickly adapted to the new opponent, correcting herself in the air. Rio concentrated on a new spell as Elleon prepared a new attack of her own. Out of the pouch she kept at her side, she pulled out a handful of blood red seeds that she threw to the ground. Each dug themselves into the tile and cracked the rest around them as roots rippled through the earth below. Rio’s spell finished first. Light engulfed her limbs for a few seconds, and then dimmed revealing 4 ethereal wings extending from the sides of her wrists and ankles.

Suddenly, Rio was assaulted by another, returning figure. As Cory swung down at her, she swerved to the side and swung down with her trident, which was promptly dodged as Cory warped around behind her. This dance of blades continued to climb higher as each dodged and countered one time after another. Elleon’s plants grew faster and faster outward with exponential speed. Their roots reached the walls of the dome and immediately started climbing upwards.

Rio’s fight with Cory sped up as instead of single strikes, Cory began including several combos before vanishing again as Rio fired off lasers now attempting to strike him down. Elleon flinched as one laser came dangerously close and exploded, destroying a bit of her plants. Though they almost immediately grew back, the prospect of anything she created being destroyed infuriated her. Elleon raised her arms slowly to her side, the entire floor of the dome hanging shape to form nothing but massive amounts of spears. Then with a wave of her hand, the mass numbers started firing of randomly in the fighters’ general direction.

Cory suddenly stopped mid attack and returned to pyreflies, just as one barrage passed through were we was solid just before. Rio turned and dodged several, but there were so many, she couldn’t help the cuts and gashes that made themselves present through the duration of the barrage. Rio fired off a spray of lasers, destroying many of the spears outright, and the rest after the resulting explosion that followed like always.

Finally, Elleon’s plants finished growing with their roots meeting at the center of the roof, successfully encompassing every inch of the dome. Separated randomly across the entirety of the super-flora were buds half the size of a person. Slowly, they all started blooming, the flowers, if that’s what they could be called, had pedals, coated with thousands of overlapping spines, all colored the same deep, blood red as the seeds that spawned them. Rio looked around, desperate to find a way, but she found none. Finally, she resorted to simply blasting randomly with her trident, blasting gaps into the plants but stared in despair as the plans grew back over the spot even thicker than before. Finally, as Elleon encased herself inside a rock dome, the flowers fired off their spines, and turned the very air of the arena into a choking cloud of spines.

Rio threw her arms across her body and hugged her legs in a last ditch attempt to get lucky.


[[Cue: Music]]


When the air settled, and the sound of biological bullets ceased. Elleon lowered her dome, with a sadistic smile on her face. Her smile slowly dropped to a frown, as she stared at the image before her. Valefor floated with her wings wrapped around Rio. The summon was covered in spines, every inch of her was pierced. Suddenly, the summon fell from the sky, careening downward until crashing into the floor, and bursting into nothing.

Cory suddenly popped out from behind Elleon, startling her again. Apparently, he had taken cover along with her inside the dome, “Her summon sacrificed itself to save her. Well, at least we know we won’t need to worry about it for awhile.”

Elleon smirked again, seeing the positive in the situation, though she still loathed that her masterpiece was ruined by that stupid summon’s interruption.

Rio stared around at the wilted plants, now turning to dust with their life forces spent. Her heart was in shock, she was amazed that Valefor had saved her, and to sacrifice herself the way she did… it was wrenching. After sitting for several seconds only floating and staring into space, Rio was reminded of her position as Cory returned to attack her head on. Rio screamed and spun her trident out in front of her. The path of her trident created a circular glyph, floating in the air before her. Rio flew back, and fired into the glyph. It took a second, but the glyph lit up, and then, without any warning, it exploded with hundreds of homing lasers that flew around and hunted her target.

Cory warped around, putting more and more distance between himself and Rio. Eventually, Cory hit the wall of the dome, and started running up the side, becoming intangible for moments, then reappearing a distance away, dodging and tricking the beams into crashing into the wall rather than him. He was successful for the most part, until along his path suddenly another beam flew in and strafed across the wall and exploded, knocking him back, and into the pursuing lasers. The lasers struck him and piled up, spiraling around like a swarm of bees until they exploded in unison, engulfing him in fire and light.

As his body fell from the wall and headed for the floor, Rio’s eyes drifted to notice the other fighter. Elleon was directly below her!

Elleon stabbed her spear into the ground, and in a square around her, 4 giant pillars shot out and climbed to the roof of the dome. As they connected there, spears shot out and connected with the other pillars directly next to, but not across from each other, creating a massive cage, capturing Rio inside. Rio looked around, once more feeling trapped. Elleon truly loved using attacks with no escape.

With a snap of her fingers, the pillars started closing the gap, spears shot out, filling the cage with spikes, The pattern was random throughout, and Rio didn’t have the perfect timing to dodge them all. So, it came down to one final act of desperation. Looking down, Rio spotted Elleon still directly below. Rio swung back, and charged up one massive beam, and fived it downward. Rio held onto the trident as it went on without her command. The beam crashed into the ground, and absorbed Elleon within. Rio, held on, as the beam continued out of control even longer. Rio spun, her aim rising higher and higher, slicing through the cage, and engraving a bright red line all the way around and up the dome in a massive spiral. With the beam finally dissipating as she held it straight up, the lines drawn on the floor and roof lit up, and detonated, resulting in an explosion that filled every inch of the dome, blasting out, and destroying the mini-dome all together!

Rio floated in the air, looking down, waiting for the smoke to clear. A sense of relief ran through Rio as she saw the ground below was completely deserted. Rio let herself relax a bit, but only a moment too soon as the ground ripped open and Elleon shot out like a ball out of a cannon, roaring with savage rage. Rio braced herself, and just as Elleon reached her, Rio flew out of the way and dropped her trident on her, sending her back to the ground, followed by another beam strike.

When the smoke cleared on Elleon, this time, the girl remained, lying on her stomach, not moving. Rio was sure this time that the fight was won. Rio lowered closer to the ground, and lightly touched down, taking a deep breath. Rio looked around at the destruction thinking out loud, “What a mess.”

Then, Rio heard a shift at her side, she looked over, a moment too late, and gasped as the blur wrapped itself around her throat. A thorny vine extended out of Elleon’s sleeve. Elleon jerked, which threw Rio to the ground. Then, she sent a wave down the length of the whip, throwing Rio back into the air. Elleon spun, and swung Rio around like a flail, smashing her through several pillars that she promptly created herself. Finally, she released Rio, and her fall into a pile of rubble.

She strolled over to Rio, and stood over her triumphantly, pressing down on the struggling girl with her heel, “Did you really think you had a chance? Hah! Pathetic. Stop squirming, you only prolong your inevitable demise. That whip had poison in its thorns, you’ll lose consciousness soon enough, but I’d rather you be awake to face your death.”

Rio laid on her back, staring up at the distant roof of the dome, her strength leaving her, her eyes heavy. Around her, she could hear the metallic rippling of steel striking steel as well as the crackling of fires yet to go out from the destruction. Her eyes focused in on the figure standing over her. Her name escaped her, despite her best efforts to remember.

Elleon looked over and grabbed hold of Rio’s trident, the Elleon laughed loudly, “Ha, wouldn’t that just be wonderful… if you DIE, by your own weapon!”

As the silhouette raised her weapon, Rio’s life flashed before her eyes. She didn’t want to die, but, this was it, she couldn’t win…

Elleon raised the trident up, but stopped for a moment to ponder something fitting to say for the end, “Oh well, can’t think of anything… time to die!” Elleon brought the trident down, but the trident never reached its target. Rio felt a rush of wind, as well as the sound of what seemed like an army of swords striking into one another.

Rio rolled her head over and saw someone she recognized, if only limitedly.

“I DEMAND to know, WHO is responsible for putting a scuff on my Bunny!” Alice stood on a large piece of rubble, a wall of wires floating like wings behind her.

Elleon stood up slowly, careful to avoid irritating her own, now incredibly numerous, wounds, “What the hell?! How dare you! I don’t care about your damn bunny! Get lost!”

“How dare I? I believe you are mistaken, how dare you. Someone scuffed my bunny, and I demand someone pay! I don’t care who is directly responsible, your actions one way or another most certainly resulted in this mess, which inadvertently damaged my bunny. So… prepare yourself!”



[[To be Continued…]]

I just finished chapter 6. I know, I know! I'm way behind. xD However, I must say, 6 had me near tears. Kichi and Timmy! crying The music went extremely well with it, too.

This story has given me a greater understanding of people's characters... and, well, themselves, I suppose (logically)... I didn't know Noelle was that badass. XD Calling Kyle II an idiot. Shooting him with that huge crossbow. That woman has attitude. I did a double take when Kyle lifted her up by the throat. I was all like "whoa, whut? o_o dun hurt her" XD Yeah, don't hurt the woman you're fighting with. Yeeeeeah.

Jenny's fight was beautiful. It's like she handed Mac's butt to him. He was in waaaay over his head, and didn't even know it. "How can she be this powerful!?" Practice? lol