The next door Hope and Riku's group went through put them on a large boat.
"We're on a boat now?" Blake asked.
"Wait. Ah yes. I remember this. Its the Crown Petone. This is where we saw that opera with the professor." Robin said. "I'm sure you remember it Hope. You were a spectator here."
"Of course I was. I remember this. The contest to determine...Wait, is it possible that…" Hope said as he and the others ran into the ship to the performance hall to see a puppet as well as Eggman, Buggy, Spectra and Flux standing on stage.
"Now, as promised when you each received your ticket, tonight, one of you will be blessed with...eternal life!" Eggman said.
"But, there is a catch." Spectra said.
"Everyone gathered here is going to play a little game. The rules are simple. The prize for the lucky winner will be eternal life." Flux said.
"Like that wasnt obvious the first time. Now lets see, I know he's on this boat…" Hope said. He then caught sight of the familiar top hat. "There he is!"
"Ah. I havent seen that hat in a long time." Robin said.
"But, for those of you who lose, you will not only lose the game, but your lives as well!" Buggy said as the spectators began to chatter and panic.
"Guess thats my cue." Hope said grabbing a mic. "Everyone, remain calm!"
As soon as Hope did this, everyone turned to him.
"What? Hey! WHo are you? Stop ruining the game and get back in your seat!" Eggman shouted.
"Yeah, no. I cant stand to see others being discouraged into thinking theyll die." Hope siad. "I know there is this one game where youre lifes on the line in obstacles, but thats just a video game. Look, please don't…" Hope said before a rock hit him.
"Ignore the boy! Eternal life is at stake!" said one of the people as they continued the panic.
"Well, that broke the ice. Who here is going to play our game?" Flux asked as a majority of the people raised their hands. "Good. Games on." Flux grinned.
Hope soon awoke on the sands of a beach with Aqua near him. "Finally awake."
"Yeah, guess the speech didnt work." Hope said.
"Thats the thing. Greed is always a factor. Promises such as Eternal life as well as riches, always clouds the senses to the point where people act like animals." Aqua said. "You can't always overcome something like that."
"Yeah. I kinda see that." Hope said. "So where are we?"
"According to Robin, an island where the eternal kingdom, Ambrosia once stood." Aqua said.
"Ambrosia huh? Well, not like we're going to get to the villain standing around." Hope said getting up just as he saw wolves running for him and Aqua.
"Huh? Wonder what happens now?" Hope asked as Robin ran by.
"We run!" she said.
"Run?" Hope said as he didnt like the idea, but was doing it anyway.
"Don't worry. This is what happened last time. It shouldn't be too much longer." Robin said as they soon approached three trees, each with a cage tied to the top of them. "Puzzle number 3."
"Oh, this one. It was called Cages and Wolves." Hope said.
"Now, for this next part, grab the rope with me." Robin said as they pulled as the wolves arrived. They then released, trapping the entire team inside the cage.
"We're trapped? I thought we were going to use this on the wolves." Alisa said as she saw the five Jexi team members lift the cage.
"It was much easier to trap ourselves than trap the wolves." Robin said.
"Ooooh…." Komajiro said. "That's really smart there."
After a while they soon arrived in a tower with four doors. "All right. Time for Puzzle 004." said Buggy over the intercom. "You see four letters and four doors. You must take the door to the Kings Tower, but you can only get there through the King's door. Good luck."
"H, I, K, G. Ugh! This is so hard!" Charmy said.
"I already figured it out. King is spelled K-I-N-G. So, we go through the door between K and G." Medaka said.
They soon entered the tower to find it well decorated. But Erica took too many steps forward as a wall separated her and the others.
"Hey! We had the right answer!" Zero said.
Behind a curtain appeared a familiar masked figure in a black cloak.
"Who in tarnation are you suppose to be?" Gemini said.
"My name is Jean Descole. And humble scientist and your host on this island. And now, our little game has come to an end." he said grabbing Erica. "I'm afraid this girl is mine now, for her voice is needed. As for the rest of you, this is farewell." he said walking off with Erica.
"Descole. Only met him once, but he knows how to make an entrance." Hope said.
"But what does he want with Erica?" Hsien Ko asked.
"There's is a set of songs used to make Ambrosia rise. He plans to use her to make it rise once again." Robin said.
"Lucky for us, Erica's only a dancer. Cmon, we gotta…" Hope said before hearing singing voices.
"Is that Erica?" Isaac asked.
"She sings so beautifully." Zephyr said.
"Yep. She sings too." Gemini said.
"But, Descole won't make it rise." Robin said as nothing happened.
"Why won't he?" Hope asked.
"He only has it half right. Two songs are needed, a song of the sun and a song of a sea. Those two are needed. He hasn't figured out there is a final puzzle." Robin said. "So, he moves to a final result...forcing it up."
They all saw outside a window as a large machine began to rip apart the island.
"Just like that." Robin said.
"And this is the part where we go up there and battle Descole ourselves." Gray said.
The cage door went down as they hurried out to see the large machine.
"Without wings, getting up there is impossible." Sugarcoat said.
"Lunala!" Hope said as his link lifted him and Riku up to the top just before Lunala was knocked down to the ground.
"Sorry, boy. But this is not a fight you can win." Descole said drawing his sword. "Now draw your weapon and prepare to fight."
"Yeah, we get it." Riku said drawing his blade.
"I think my fists are all I need." Hope said as he watched Riku and Descole fight it out with their swords. "Aw, come on!" Hope said.
The two of them clashed while Hope saw the organ and ran over. "Wait, Robin said the real song of the combo is...upside down!" he said running to the organ. "I'm no Mozart but this is the best I can do. Erica, you need to sing again!"
"All right." Erica said as she began to sing. As she did, they saw large structures began to rise from the sea itself.
"Ambrosia." Hope said before seeing Descole run at him. He grabbed a pipe and defended himself.
"Brrraaaat! Ambrosia is mine! I won't let you take it from me!" Descole said.
"This city belongs to no one. It deserves to be seen by the people." Hope said.
Descole looked at him with anger before the machine exploded as he stumbled backwards and fell off.
"Descole!" Riku shouted running over to the edge to see nothing below, not even a body.
"Its fine, hes been through worse than that." Hope said. "Well, according to what jexi told me."
A card with Descoles mask rose up and Riku took it.
"Well, guess that's another memory under our belts." Hope grinned.
As they were leaving, they were encountered by a man with long hair and green eyes in a black coat.
"You must be Riku." he said.
"This smell. Are you with Ansem?" Riku asked.
"You are only half correct. Let us say he is not the Ansem of which you are familiar. He is Ansem while at the same time, he is not Ansem. Perhaps a 'Nobody' best conveys the idea." the man said.
"Riddles we're never really my thing. Try again." Riku said.
"He belongs to neither the light nor the darkness but the twilight in between. Catching on yet?" the man said. "And you also stand in between the light and the darkness. It appears we have much in common."
"And your name?" Hope asked.
"My name is Vexen. I am a scientist here in Castle Oblivion." Vexen said. "And you are Hope, aka, Jonah. A former Blue Lantern turned vigilante."
"Vigilante?" Hope said.
"Thats right. You fight crime without the people's consent. That is the definition of the word. You even put together a team of remarkable test subjects." Vexen said. "Ones I can take pride in experimenting on."
"No way. I may have a rep like Bat man… well, maybe Jexi and I both have it. But the thruth is, we do good." Hope said.
"The one known as Jexi is not this. He is something else. Just a color fighter, fighting whenever it pleases him. But you, you were someone who has multiple things happen to him. You'll serve as a special fine point in my experiments." Vexen said. "Same for...the enhanced girl."
"Over our dead bodies." Titanica said taking a stance.
"Ah, so you wish to fight? Very well. I shall take you all on. Crack, Frozen Pride!" Vexen said as a shield of ice appeared in his hands.
"A shield? And its made of ice. Really obvious, but we have to do something." Hope said. :
"Best way to melt ice hope…" Gemini said igniting her sword. "Fire!"
"Oh, so you know my weapons element, but do you know what makes it special?" Vexen asked as Gemini hit the shield but it didn't give way. "The ice its made of...can't be melted."
"Well that sucks." Hope said.
"So, what will you do if you cant melt my sheild?" Vexen asked.
"Okay, so it cant be melted, but what…" Hope said looking at vexen. "Of course. Fight smart, thats what hes doing. So we just gotta do something unexpected." Hope said.
"Good thinking. Then we'll…" Espio began before being frozen in ice.
"What?" Hope said.
"Just so you know, I only want Riku, Hope and the enhanced girl alive, the rest of you are expendable." Vexen said as waves of icicles came out of the ground towards them.
"Urgh…" Hope siad. "Wait, a second, thats it! Riku, go and fight him!"
Riku leapt out and ran right at Vexen as the two clashed with sword against shield. It was more into the battle that Vexen grinned and laughed.
"I find, coursing through you, there is a darkness of formidable power growing. Well worth the trouble of aggravating you all." Vexen said. "All this excitement has provided me with invaluable data."
"What?!" Riku said leaping back.
"Many thanks, Riku as well as Hope. And Hope, we have someone waiting for you on the next floor, they are very eager to meet you." Vexen said before vanishing as Espio was freed the moment he left.
"So it was all just a trick." Riku said.
"And Hope, what did he mean when he said someone was waiting to meet you?" Fuyunyan asked him.
"I don't know. I've never been here before or seen that guy." Hope said.
"Wait. That man. I thought I recognized him. Back in Radiant Garden 10 years ago, we met a scientist. He looked exactly like Vexen." Blake said.
"I thought so." Hope said.
"But we'll see whos this someone when we get to the next floor." Gray said.
