Author's Note: For any of you who are familiar with Ultimax, you will probably know that this chapter is rife with slightly changed details. But as the author, I am taking creative liberties! Hurray!

Follow-up though... so as the pattern has set itself in the light I see no problem in me asking this question. Do you guys think that it would be an interesting idea for me to carry over two people from a particular world or would you prefer that all the worlds I collect from only offer a single character? At this rate, set by the president of the Devil May Cry portion of this fic: I am expecting write no less than 20,000 words for any particular new unique world I go to in this story. If I take two people from one world, I will go to 4 unique worlds to pick up characters which would equal no less than 80,000 words and then the final showdown with the 13 Seekers of Darkness would only add onto that total. Let me know what you think either in Reviews or Private Messages

Anyway enjoy the chapter!

~Noxmad


Yu woke up well before dawn in his room at the Dojima residence. It was just a short while later when his TV began to make noises. Looking over at the screen he realized what it was that he was hearing. His TV was off but he was getting static. Soon the static turned red and the video that began playing was one he did not want to see. An advertisement style video detailing the Grand Prix. This time however it was being given the name P-1 Climax. All the usual contenders were there and Yu knew that this was not going to be easy to deal with. Labrys was in the real world, which meant that her shadow was not the one creating this image. He felt his phone ring in his pocket. When he answered, he heard a familiar voice.

"Yu, did you see that? What the hell-?" Yosuke said before the phone call suddenly cut off. Yu looked at his phone and saw the screen was dark.

"Hello?" he asked experimentally. Then the power in the house went out, followed by the rest of town. Shortly after, a red fog filled the town. "What happened? A massive power outage, red fog, a new Grand Prix, and all on day after two light fall from the sky? Relatable or not, those two needed to provide a bit of an explanation for themselves," Yu commented to himself. Grabbing the katana he had hidden with his things, he made his way out of the Dojima residence and found himself in a location that should not have been just outside the house of his uncle and cousin. As he began to look around, he found a gigantic red moon seemed to cast the whole environment in an eerie glow.

He hoped Rise managed to get out of town before this. She was scheduled for a really early train. Making his way through the town, nothing was the way it should have been. Locations were out of order and he could not navigate this place like he could before. Nearby, he found Junes. In front of the store was Chie. As he approached though, he knew immediately that there was something wrong. When she turned she had a look on her face that was uncharacteristic of the friend he knew.

"Oh, hey Yu. You seem a little worried," the fake Chie said.

Yu looked at her warily and said, "Either you are an illusion being made to have Chie say some mean things to me, or you aren't actually Chie. Either way, I don't have time for this." Four red pillars surrounded the two.

"Well in that case, let's not waste any words," 'Chie' said to him. She dashed forward and swung her foot at him. He barely had time to bring the sheathed katana up in front of him. He felt himself become airborne from the force of the hit and as he came down he drew the weapon and got his feet under him.

"Persona!" Yu called out summoning Izanagi. The samurai wielding a massive naginata appeared behind him and it then dashed forward with blistering speed. 'Chie' jumped to the side, ducked and rolled to her feet. Practically flying across the arena with kicks flying, 'Chie' was suddenly within swinging distance of Yu. Izanagi intercepted the attack by placing its weapon between the kick and the one who summoned it. "Zio!" Lightning flashed from his Persona's free hand and zapped the green clad fighter. She went careening across the arena and crashed against one of the red posts. It looked like she was going to get back up but instead vanished.

"What was that about?" Yu asked out loud.

"Whoa! That was so weird!" Yu heard a familiar voice called out. Yu turned and saw the Chie he knew approaching. "You were great but it was really weird seeing you fight something that looked like me. I haven't seen that since… well when I got my Persona!"

"Chie, it is good to see you safe. Have you found any of the others?" Yu asked.

"No," Chie commented. "I got into a fight with a fake before I came here. You are the first person I found here."

"Good. And you haven't seen anyone matching the descriptions I gave yesterday either, right?" Yu asked.

Chie shook her head. "You think they're involved?"

"I cannot deny the possibility," Yu replied solemnly. "It is definitely suspicious that they showed up mysteriously the day before something like this happened. While I cannot say that my interaction with them would lead me to believe that they would be the cause of something like this, I also did not suspect Adachi until the last moment possible when it came to the murder case."

"Yeah, and to think we almost tried to punish Nametame," Chie commented disheartened. "Anyway, if we come across them, I am sure we will know the truth."

Yu however caught sight of something. "Speak of the devil and they shall appear," he commented. Approaching from the red fog was two figures. One with white hair, a red peacoat in the open position and a nylon guitar case. The other was a spikey hair youth with baggy pants and a large key resting on his shoulder.

"Yu Narukami? We are here on behalf of a common ally. You must be protected," Dante announced. "Come with us if you want to live."

The resulting silence was deafening. Dante looked around and realized that no one around him got the reference he tried to make. Sora was looking ahead and seemed to be getting wary of the duo in front of them. Meanwhile the duo ahead of them looked back at them and seemed to be very guarded.

Chie looked at them, back at Yu, and then back at them. "You will not take away our Leader!" Chie announced as she made her decision. A blue card floated before her and she did a swift spinning kick. This caused a large imposing figure to appear behind her. A yellow jumpsuit clad woman with black accented lines, a samurai fauld around her waist, and some kind of stylized biker helmet. However, the thing that most concerned Sora and intrigued Dante was the figure's double ended spear.

Dante reached back to the zipper of his nylon guitar case on his back. He pulled from the bag a larger-than-life greatsword with a stylized crossguard. "We don't want to fight," Dante said with a small smirk. "We are just here to fulfill a contract for a friend."

Chie however was in fightback mode. Dashing forward, Chie was followed by her Persona. Leaping up, Chie arced through the air with a leg forward. Dante leaned to the side and let her fly right by him. On the bottom of her feet, Dante noticed what appeared to be small metal plates. It was a clever little way to add some devastating reinforcement of her kicks, which were certainly impressive visually. It was in the follow up of her Persona that Dante had to perform a stylish flat spin to just avoid the amount of area it was taking up.

"Impressive. Let's see what else you can do with those legs," Dante taunted. This did seem to get Chie quite a bit more fired up. This also succeeded in getting Yu's attention and he began running forward. Sora however moved to intercept and locked his keyblade in combat with Yu's katana.

"Please," Sora pleaded. "We are here to help, Yu."

Yu looked at him with a hard gaze and with a faint hint of a blue aura replied, "Jury is still out on that." Suddenly, the young man was joined by a large figure himself. The Persona swung its blade in an upward trajectory. Sora jumped and redirected his own blade downward. He successfully blocked the attack, but he was now airborne and he felt a charge of electricity in the air around him. "Izanagi!" A crackle of electricity originating from the large warrior working at Yu's behest, turned into a variable storm of lightning flashing about in an impressive display. So bright that Sora seemed to disappear. However, a sudden explosion of energy knocked Yu away and forced his Persona to dematerialize. As the blinding display ended, Sora landed on the ground seemingly unharmed from the attack.

Meanwhile, Dante had planted his sword in the ground and engaged in some unarmed combat with Chie. Her kicks were every bit as impressive as Dante had suspected. After blocking the first few head on started to actually cause his arms to ache, he resolved to simply dodge or deflect. Her Persona seemed to be mostly kept back to help her block attacks that were meant to trying lightly punish any over zealous attacks. It was honestly one of the smartest fighting styles Dante had come across in a long time and combined with her natural strength for someone so young, he was thoroughly enjoying himself. However, the explosion nearby caught both of their attentions.

Yu was currently knock on his back. Sora was still standing. Dante noticed the sudden change in Chie's demeanor. The same protective urge he saw in Kairi when she tried to stop Vergil from attacking Nero. Nothing would keep her from trying to attack Sora now. However, if it were not for such a strong combat instinct warning him that this next attack would be devastating, Dante would have never done what he did next. He dashed towards his sword stabbed in the ground nearby. Shortly after, Chie ran at Sora. Dante grabbed his blade, rotating around the handle to redirect his momentum, and pulled it from the ground. He dragged it along behind him as he ran to get Sora out of the way of the incoming attack and to have the sword take the hit for him. Sliding to a stop behind Sora, Dante knocked him over to the side with just the momentum. It was at the last possible moment that his body transformed into his demonic form. Dante's Devil Trigger activated and he was immediately glad he did when he got the blade in front of the kick that came out of Chie.

"Galactic," Chie started, "Punt!" With a massive amount of energy forming a shockwave off the point of impact, Dante felt himself lift off the ground and time almost seemed to slow as his mind began to work faster in his Devil Trigger state. The ground beneath Chie had begun to crack and even though he had been pushed out of the way, Sora was still sent flying off to the side a short ways from the force of the impact. Even Yu was pushed, sliding further away from the fight. Finally, with a momentum he never thought possible from someone who was purely human, Dante flew backwards through the air having no real way to fight the momentum at this time. He was lucky that behind him was the department store because he flew through the wall and felt himself be dragged through several aisles worth of shelves before he finally slowed down enough to simply crater against the last one. His momentum finally gone, Dante let his limbs go limp and he transformed back while he assessed the condition of his body.

"Well, my back hurts," Dante commented idly as the event that just passed finally sunk in for him. "I look too young to be feeling this old." He started trying to pry himself out of the near metal cocoon he found himself stuck in at the time. "I hate being cratered into things. Have to find the necessary leverage to get back out. Sometimes it is easy like when that big dumb demon from Temen-ni-gru punched me into the floor. Then sometimes it happens like this." As he half-heartedly complained, he finally managed to pull himself back out of the rubble. Resting the blade on his shoulder he finally took steps to start leaving the store the way he came in, via the giant hole in the wall. "All this destructive force from just one kick? Well, this party's getting crazy now." When he got to the end of the rubble that his body had created, he had to blink when he thought he saw something from the distance. It was already gone and maybe it was an effect of the fog. But he was certain he saw a long gray-haired man in the distance in a dark coat for a brief second. Shaking the strange occurrence from his mind he looked down and saw the fight appeared to have come to a halt based on the lack of giant figures and a civil conversation happening below. Dropping down from the store, Dante joined the group and put the sword back in the nylon guitar case on his his back.

"I am so sorry about that," Chie exclaimed apologetically. "But how are you perfectly fine? I heard the crashing in there and it sounded rough."

"Not going to lie, my back is killing me now," Dante replied. "Also, I have never felt a force so powerful delivered by a regular human. How did you do that?"

Yu interjected, "The Persona. It is the manifestation of our will given to us through our egos. Chie seems to have a particularly powerful connection with hers since it enhances her physical capabilities. Now you on the other hand," he said referring to Sora. "How did my lightning not even affect you? I cannot sense a Persona in you like I do with her, so how did it happen?"

Sora put his hands behind his head and replied, "Well, I know magic. So when I realized I had no options to dodge the attack, I made a shield to defend myself." The group took a moment to regard each other until Yu finally broke the silence.

"So what did you mean when you said that you were here on behalf of a common ally?" Yu asked.

Dante seemed to deflate a little. "Ah, I'd hoped you wouldn't ask that. We were asked to protect you by…" Dante started. "I can't do this."

Sora interjected, "The little fox at the shrine asked us to protect you."

"Oh, glad to hear the fox is still there. How did you two get into contact with-?" Yu began to asked.

Dante interrupted him with the reply, "We slept there and when we woke up… well look around." He gestured to the red fog landscape in which they all found themselves. Dante turned towards the tower in front of the giant moon and then pointed. "We were trying to get there since it appeared with the fog. But the town seems to be all mixed up. We walked past the same building three times before we finally ended up here."

"It truly is a marvelous change," boomed a deep and powerful voice. "This fog has made an entire population disappear in an instant. Yet here there are people who have resisted this side effect. What could possibly provide the power to do this?"

Sora looked around then looked up at the rooftop of Junes and saw the person he thought would be there. "Xemnas! What are you doing here?" Sora called up.

"You have deviated far from your path, Warrior of the Realm of Light. We are not certain that you will be able to help with our goals in your current state. However, if you have been brought here, then we cannot forgo the potential of this world," Xemnas replied. "It seems that you are now down two Guardians of Light."

"Hey, you back off from the kid," Dante suddenly challenged.

Xemnas changes his glance from Sora to Dante. "Who are you to speak to me in such a fashion?" Xemnas asked, bored of the bravado.

Dante did not waver and replied, "You talk a big game, but I can already tell you don't have a heart, let alone a soul."

"And what do you know of hearts?" Xemnas asked.

"I know that when one is as heartless as you are, they aren't even half the man that Sora is," Dante said as he challenged Xemnas. He drew his blade out and continued, "You want me to give you a body to match?"

Xemnas however disregarded the idle threat. A red laser extended from his hand and he pointed it at Dante. It then launched at him and Dante swung his blade sending the laser attack in a different direction. "Maybe, you are right. But that still leaves me leagues above yourself. Sora, do not worry. We will continue to observe your progress," Xemnas assured him. "Do not disappoint us." Xemnas summoned a dark portal and disappeared within it.

Dante just looked at the place where Xemnas had been. "Didn't that guy's mother teach him how to shoot?" Dante said jokingly. However, seeing Sora looking at the ground he turned to him and asked sincerely, "You ok?"

Yu who was a little familiar with why Sora was feeling down asked, "Was he referring to the person you lost?"

Sora looked up at the two of them and finally replied, "I'm fine. Let's head to the tower. Maybe we can find out about what is going on there." Sora started heading towards the direction of tower. Dante shrugged and shook his head as he hid the blade back in the guitar case. Yu and Chie gave each other a concerned look and then followed behind.


Rise had been on the train ride back to the city when the red fog his the greater Inaba area and her train was halted on the tracks. She picked herself up off the ground and felt a small trickle of blood from her scalp where she had crashed into the seat across from her. Her head pounded a little but she needed to figure out what was going on. She went over to the door of the train then with a little effort pried it open and dropped down onto the side of the tracks. Looking down she saw the little trickles of blood on her shirt and huffed. That was going to be a pain to deal with later. The fog around her, despite its current color seemed to be very similar to the fog in the TV World. A world that was supposed to be separate from their own.

"Why is this happening?" Rise asked out loud. She clasped her hands together and felt a familiar presence within her begin to stir and soo she was able to summon her Persona. "Come forth, Himiko!" Her satellite faced Persona appeared behind her. Wearing a long flowing robe, the Persona lowered a red visor over Rise's eyes. Rise felt her senses spread out over the environment around her. She was soon able to sense all of her companions, however something was very wrong. It felt like they were all displaced, like the refraction of light in murky water. She tried to reach out to them like she normally did, but the fog seemed to be interrupting her ability to do it.

She cried out in frustration and fought to hold back tears. This was why she wished she were stronger. Fuuka could not only sense things without her Persona, she could do it from another world. Rise dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself as she continued to fight the tears that threatened to shatter her confidence. "Yu-senpai… what do I do?" Rise asked out loud to no one. It was then that she felt a strange thrum of energy. It seemed to come from her Persona, however Rise's vision began to blur and fade until she found herself enshrouded in darkness. As her vision cleared, Rise found herself on a broken beach. Looking around at her environment she saw a ocean and the island seemed to be desolate as though it were being torn asunder from the world around it. On that beach, she saw a blue haired woman laying down exhausted.

Then the blue haired woman seemed to suddenly become hyper aware and in an exhausted manner, leapt to her feet. Turning to the direction of the disturbance, Rise and this woman made eye contact. "Who are you?" she asked.

Rise replied, "My name is Rise Kujikawa. And you are?"

"My name is Aqua," answered Aqua. "How have you come to be here. Rise?"

"I don't really know," Rise replied honestly. "I was struggling to use my powers and the next thing I knew, I felt myself peering somewhere I am not sure I know anything about. My friends need me and I have no idea how to help them if my powers won't work."

Aqua looked at the young woman in front of her and could not help but nod at the sentiment. She became more relaxed and approached Rise. Placing a hand on her shoulder Aqua offered as sincere a smile as she could muster and said, "We all wish to protect those who are important to us. Especially, when we believe we should have the power to do it. I know that I too have struggled with this. What you are feeling now at this moment is normal."

Rise felt the tears welling again she suddenly wrapped her arms around the woman offering her comfort. "My friends are in danger, Miss Aqua. What can I do to save them from the things that threaten them? I am not a fighter, I can't fight alongside them. I hate being useless. I hate being weak. I hate that I can't be there for them," Rise sobbed into Aqua.

Aqua was shocked by how forward Rise was in this scenario but offered a hug in return if that was what the girl needed. "All of us have our limits. Perhaps, you need to learn to find a new path. Follow your true potential. Meet these hardships head on. I have been trapped in this realm for a long time. But I made a promise to myself. The next time someone wandered into the realm of darkness, I'd be here. A light to cut through all the shadows. I would be their wayfinder. Maybe this is why we were fated to meet. Reach out to your potential, take control of your fate. And let nothing define your limits, but you," Aqua told her with a genuine smile and a soothing tone.

Rise felt a shift within herself. "I have never thought about it like that," Rise commented out loud. Maybe there was something she could do after all. But she would need to think on that later. "Miss Aqua… you said you were trapped. How did that happen?"

Aqua sat down and stared out at the empty horizon across the body of water. "My friends and I were trying to stop a terrible darkness. However, in order to do that we all paid heavy prices. One of my friends has had his body stolen from him. Another has been placed into a deep slumber due to devastating damage done to his heart. And I sacrificed myself to try and save them, becoming lost here in the Realm of Darkness," Aqua explained. She was suddenly reminded of another strange happening while she was here and looked at Rise. "How is it that you have come to be here? What power do you have?"

Rise walked over and sat down next to her and said, "I have the power of something called a Persona. It's like a spirit that guards me. I earned it after accepting the parts of myself that I kept hidden from the world. It represents my resolve. My Persona is rather different from my friends' though. I am not designed to fight, I'm simply designed to communicate, scan, and analyze." Rise's tone became increasingly glum as she explained her powers. "All the good those abilities do for me. I am not even the best person at my special gift."

Aqua hummed in consideration. "So perhaps this is an opportunity for you to evolve then," Aqua suggested out loud. "You said that the 'Persona' came from you accepting yourself and it represents your resolve. If your resolve changes, then this spirit that protects you could change too, right?"

Rise looked over at Aqua who was staring out at the water again. "Maybe… you are right. If something needs to change then I have to be the one to change it," Rise thought out loud. "Can you ever leave?"

"I… don't know," Aqua admitted sadly.

Rise seemed to get steamed about that answer and replied, "But what about your friends? You must want to get back to them. In order to do that you have to be able to leave. I could never imagine losing the ones I have now."

Aqua nodded. "It has been the one thing that has been keeping me going these days. Unfortunately, I have lost my keyblade. So I am stuck waiting here until I can find a way back out. It has been lonely, to say the least," Aqua told her trying to not sound like she was on the verge of breaking.

"But..." Rise started to say but her vision began to go blurry at the edges again. "Aqua, I will make sure that you are found."

"How?"

"I don't know. But like you said, I have to adjust my resolve and maybe something with change. But I will do everything in my power to help you leave this place. I have to go now, but I will come back for you," Rise told her passionately. Her vision continued to blur and was now beginning to darken.

"I," was all Aqua could say before the scene faded from Rise's mind. Rise, mustering all of the resolve she could and finding herself alone in the Red Fog again, braced herself and called out to her Persona once again. "Come, Himiko!"

As Rise summoned her Persona, she thought of Aqua. The woman had found herself trapped in a world that was weighing down on her. But she was still determined to help anyone who ended up there with her. Rise looked up and with a look of fierce determination, took on a massive flaming, blue aura. Her Persona reappeared, but it was beginning to change in very interesting ways. For one, the face plate it wore seemed to separate from its head and behind it was a very beautiful and serious face. The headdress disappeared in a flash of blue and white leaving behind long red hair. Finally the dress her Persona wore turned into an airy sleeveless coat. Separating from its body were smaller satellite-like devices that levitated around her and each seemed to generate a shielding energy.

"Thank you," Rise said to Aqua though she was no longer there. "I will not let my friends down. This is my new power, and I will become the person they need. I am not helpless without them. And I will save you," Rise continued with a burning confidence. She looked to the sky and saw the tower in the distance in front of a giant moon. That was new so that would be where she would need to go. She ran in that direction. "Yu, I am coming to help."