Author's Note:

I have always wanted to write a Disgaea fanfic, but I don't have the courage. I have no faith in keeping the chars in-character, always afraid that I'd go OOC and screw up. This is why I stick to Ragnarok Online: I can create any characters I want as long as the setting is in Rune Midgard, aaand the character has classes relevant to RO(Novices, Hunter, Thief etc). Besides, I have absolutely no idea what to write

But lately, after reading Blu Rose's "The Chroma and the Overlord", started thinking... What if Ash is the one who ends up at Netherworld? The idea started to grow in my mind. I have to think up of a reason for Ash to leave Marona which was hard because he had sworn to protect her forever. It would be so easy to write an AU fanfic, writing Ash sacrifices himself in the battle against Sulphur and ended up in Netherworld… but that would be copying Miss Blu's fic… and I don't like writing AU fics.

Anyway, if any of you readers did not play 'Phantom brave', you need not worry because I will try my best to explain and describe about the places, characters and such in the game. Just treat is as an ordinary story/game crossover fic. sweatdrops

I must warn you there are some spoilers about Phantom Brave, though…

Prinny: Get on with the fic, dood!

Indeed.

Update (10.05am, 15/12/2008)

Revisions made.

Disclaimer: I do not own Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Phantom Brave.


"We'll be together. Forever... and ever."

Those were the exact words he had said to her, had promised her after the huge battle against Sulphur...

Sulphur, an evil being that wreaked havoc on Ivoire. Its summons has destroyed dozens of places, ending countless of lives, polluting air and water as it passed. Thankfully, it was stopped by a brave soul name Walnut, who had given up his life to send the demon back to its Netherworld, and bought the Putties (cute magical forest creatures) enough time to close the connection off for good. But that was not the point.

He had broken the promise. The promise to protect her, to be with her forever…

It is funny how promises are so fragile... so easily broken... You can promise a friend that you would keep his or her secret, and then spread it out for the whole world to know. A demon hunter can promise a priestess that he will come back to her one day after he made his penance, and simply just vanished as if he did not exist. A female apprentice can swear that she will not come back to her master, nor made contact with him in any ways, but in the end, she went back to her master when she heard that he had turned into a book and his Netherworld blown up into smithereens or something like that.

'At least Marona will be safe...' Ash the Phantom comforted himself with the thought that he had made the right decision, but it did not lessen his worries. It was not that he did not trust Cauldron (the giant shark man, Marona's number one fan) or Raphael (a famous, skilled swordsman with long blonde hair, leader of the White Wolves Army) or his fellow phantoms to take care of her, but it just did not feel right

The phantom knew he had other things to worry about, like where in the Ivoire he's at. He remembered entering a white flash of light, and then he got teleported into this place. The ground was bare; neither a single plant nor a piece of grass can be found. Although Ash had been walking for hours, the sky remained dark as a void with no stars to light them. It occurred to him that this place has no sun and moon as well. Strangely, the sky seemed to emit a dark glow that able the phantom to see his surroundings. He did not know about the temperature or atmosphere for he is a phantom and phantoms cannot feel a thing.

'This place reeks evil aura, just like the Island of Evil,' Ash thought as he continued walking, hoping he would eventually reach a destination. 'Yet, the place is far too vast to be it. Could it be that the bright light has taken me to another place far from Ivoire? Possibly another dimension?'

'Nah, impossible.' The phantom shook his head to dismiss his 'silly' thoughts.

Little did he know that he was right and it IS possible (and even if it's not, writer's imagination tends to run deep. They would create a perfect theory that allowed game characters to travel through other game). But meanwhile, our hero was occupied by the thought that he was stranded in the middle of nowhere and now wondered if he was going to spend an eternity in this barren place.

Suddenly, a faint orange light from afar caught his attention. He stopped walking and squinted at the source light, and thought he saw a massive shadow in front. It looked like a crook-shaped castle or some sorts.

If a phantom has a heart, then Ash's heart rate would increase. He quickly made his way towards the huge, weird-shaped shadow. He was tired of walking in this empty place, soaked within an uncomfortable, cold atmosphere. He had to stay alive, or he can never clear his name and go back to Marona again...


An hour later…

Throne Room, Overlord Castle

"An intruder?" Laharl, Overlord of Netherworld frowned. The blue hair demon was sitting on the throne with his arm crossed. Demoness Etna and Fallen Angel Flonne were standing beside his throne, and the three of them were digesting what they had heard from a messenger Prinny whom just brought news of a lone intruder who attacked the Overlord Castle, defeating (yet, not kill) every vassals who stood on his way before quickly scurrying away to fight the intruder himself.

"Gee, we sure don't get many visitors to the Netherworld," Etna remarked casually, and grinned. "He must here to either challenge you for your throne or to slay you because you're a demon, Prince! Just like the old days indeed!"

"But who would want to challenge Laharl?" The fallen angel asked.

"Hmph, whoever dares challenge me is a fool," Laharl grunted, followed by a fleeting, thoughtful expression on his face (was he ever thoughtful? o.o'), "But if that intruder defeated my vassals, he's probably worthy enough to challenge me."

"What are you going to do, Laharl?" asked Flonne worriedly, though she had already guessed the answer.

Sure enough, the young Overlord broke into a wide smirk. "Simple, I'll pound him into submission and…"

"And?" A foxy smile crept on Etna's face.

"Make him my vassal! HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed his trademark evil laugh and stood up from his throne. "Come on, girls. It's rude to let our important guest wait."

There was a loud cry, followed by a sudden explosion. The whole castle shook, and debris fell from the ceiling. Dust scattered outside the throne room. A KO'ed green color Prinny whizzed out of the cloud and into the throne room. It landed on the middle of the carpet with a weak explosion. Flonne gasped while Laharl and Etna could only stared at the familiar unconscious Prinny in surprise.

"Mr. Kurtis!" Flonne ran towards the unconscious Prinny, a healing spell ready in her hands.

"I don't think you have to greet him outside, Prince," Etna remarked, looking up from Kurtis as she sensed a presence coming towards the throne room. A figure emerged from the cloud of dust at the entrance.

A youth stepped into the throne room with a sword on his right hand. He has a navy blue spiky hair that flows to the right, wearing a tan shirt with long sleeves and black rings on the front, as well as matching tan boots. A long, magenta scarf concealed the lower part of his face streamed down his back. There were a few cuts and bruises here and there, probably made by Laharl's vassals.

"Hey, haven't we met him before?" Laharl studied the youth. He knew he had seen the youth somewhere…

Flonne looked up from healing Kurtis and placed a finger under her chin with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Isn't he the Phantom who hangs out with a green hair girl in a tropical suit? We fought them before…"

A sly smile crept on Etna's face as she remembers, "Yup, it was in the world where the prince got trapped inside a bottle mail and-"

"Shut it, Etna!" Laharl cut in, his mood darkens as he remembered that shameful defeat months ago. He turned towards the youth. "What are you doing here? Are you here to challenge me, Laharl, King of the Netherworld and Supreme Overlord, again?" Grabbing his sword from his scarlet tattered cape, he snarled, "Are you here for my throne or merely to humiliate me in front of my vassals?"

Ash was so surprised that he took a few steps back when he saw who were standing in at the throne. After being continuously attacked by a horde of demons in the castle, he had expected an evil, bad-ass, foul, malevolent, malicious, malignant, nefarious, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked, (insert words that are synonym to evil) and most of all, TALL Overlord. What he did not expected was the short, bratty blue hair demon and his sidekicks he had fought and won months ago… with Marona.

"There must be some mistake," Ash started, pulling his scarf down so that he could explain without his voice being muffled by the wool. "I did not come here to fight you."

"Haaah! You expect me to believe that you came here by accident, got assaulted by my vassals yet defeated them all and reached here, expecting to see an evil, bad-ass, foul, malevolent, malicious, malignant, nefarious, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked, (insert words that are synonym to evil) and most of all, TALL Overlord but did not expect to see the short, bratty blue hair demon and his sidekicks he had fought and won months ago? Nice try, Phantom…" Laharl smirked, before he exploded angrily, "But it won't work! What do you take me for, a kid?"

"Aren't we?" Flonne asked with an anime-worry expression on her face… y'know, the expression when her eyes are white circles, a sweat bead on the side of her face, and an unsure smile.

"Well, the Prince just doesn't want admit he's one," Etna said, smiling like a fox. "He's just tooo embarrassed, aren't you, Prince?"

"I'm not a kid. I'm 1315 years old! And mentally, I'm much more mature then most adults!" Laharl growled, and turned back to the phantom. "Hmm, I'm surprise. I did not expect you to come here for a rematch by yourself." The Overlord smirked. "You saved me the trouble on going to your world."

"How could you possibly challenge him if you can't even remember the name of his world, Prince?" Etna looked amused.

The Fallen Angel sighed. "Poor Laharl… First, he loses to that girl and her phantoms… and just a month ago, he loses to a self-proclaimed 'The Most Bad-Ass Freakin' Overlord in the Entire Cosmos' red hair Overlord. Losing must be discouraging to him…"

"Shut up, Love Freak. I don't need your sympathy," Laharl glared at Flonne, and turned back facing the phantom. "Well?"

Ash sweatdropped. "I have no idea where I am, really."

"Ohh, you'll know soon enough." Laharl said.

"Really?" There was a tinge of hope on Ash's voice.

"Yeah! After you became my vassal!" The Overlord exclaimed and lunged forward the phantom, his sword came forth in a bright flash of silver, descending upon Ash in a vicious chop. He met his blade with his.

There was a sharp ringing sound of steel as the weapons clashed at each other. Fiery sparks exploded, showering upon the two combatants.

"I don't wish to fight," Ash said quickly, pushing away Laharl's sword with his and stood back. "Allow me to leave, and I will not come back again."

"I guess I'm getting another vassal as my collection." The young Overlord looked at Ash, grinning demonically. "Let's play a game. If you win, I'll let you go... But if you lose…" His grin widened. "You shall be my vassal!"

The phantom narrowed his eyes. "Deal."

In just within seconds, both demon and phantom were engaged in an epic sword combat. DUM DUM DUM!


Next Episode:

Etna: A new threat has come to Netherworld! Its name is… ASH!

Ash: Huh?

Etna: Ash the Phantom, the hero of Ivoire has ran away from his slave mistress, Marona and came to wreak havoc in Netherworld!

Ash: Marona? A slave mistress? You must be mis-

Etna: He has slain dozens of demons! Not even the great Overlord of Netherworld Laharl and his queen, the Love Freak can defeat him!

Laharl&Flonne: WHAT?

Etna: Now, our Sexy Netherworld Champion Etna must destroy the great threat and return peace to the Netherworld! But will she survive this horrific onslaught?

Ash: Wait a minute, I did not kill-

Etna: Next on Sexy Netherworld Champion Etna, Episode 2: The Phantom of Death! I shall protect Netherworld at any cost!

Laharl: That is so lame!

Ash: … Is she always like that?

Flonne: … Q-queen? -blushes-