Hi guys! I'm back! Sorry for the late update. I've been having internet problems. I also wanted to tell you that I had to edit the chapters up until now because I made a mistake. It's just that Hiroto has been fighting Clubs not Spades. It doesn't seem important now but it will be later, kay?

As usual, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inazuma Eleven or American McGee's Alice or any of its characters. I make no money off of this.

*~8~8~8~8~8~*

When Hiroto stepped out onto the other side, Goenji breathed a sigh of relief. "God, I thought something had happened. What took so long? You were right behind me." Hiroto just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Just relaxing for a sec, that's all. I needed to clear my head." He pulled out the vorpal blade. They were now standing in a small copper foyer lit by torches. Where the portal had been was now a brick wall and across from them was an open door way.

The two quietly moved forwards and peeked out the door. All around them were high gray stone walls. The walls bumped out in places and stone pillars sprouted randomly throughout the room. Rusty barred arches were scattered between the bumped out portions of the walls. The floor was checkered with a dingy white and a dark red. This room also had and open ceiling and there appeared to be another level on top of the walls around them but Hiroto could see no way to it. A wall met them to their left and another with a barred door was to their front. They turned down the hall to their right and peeked around the edge of the wall.

A few Clubs, Hiroto counted three, were lurking around, grunting quietly to themselves. In the middle of the room, Hiroto noticed a lowered column. Floating in the center of it was a strange ornate object. The main portion was a black metal box and it contained a bright red glowing substance. More of the substance filled a point on the bottom of the object and the diamond perched on top. The Clubs seemed to be guarding it.

"Hey!" Hiroto and Goenji jumped and spun around to see another Club standing behind them. His call got the attention of the others and they ran at them. "Damn it!" Goenji hissed as his blade appeared in his hand. He dove at one guard and severed its head easily. The one behind them swung its spear at Hiroto but the red head blocked it with the vorpal blade. He kicked out a leg and knocked the card back. He heard Goenji cry out and turned to locate the blond but couldn't find him. He gasped for air when the card suddenly rushed him and head butted him in the chest. He sprawled back on the ground and the Club tried to run him through but the redhead slammed his legs into its stomach (Did these things even have stomachs?) and propelled it forward over his head. It tumbled a couple feet before accidently impaling itself on its spear.

Hiroto got to his feet and ran over, absorbing the Meta that appeared and walked forward a couple steps. He could hear Goenji fighting but the noise echoed so badly that he wasn't entirely sure where it was coming from. He called out a couple times but received no answer. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and spun to his right as another Club charged at him. Hiroto ran up to it and ducked out of the way as it swung its spear at him. He slashed at it with his blade and cut deep into its side, causing blood to spray across the floor. The card teetered a little and tried to swipe at him again but Hiroto dodged and drove the blade into the large Club on its front. It sputtered for a minute then dissolved. The cat appeared as Hiroto collected the Meta.

"Very well done. It's nice to see you're finally getting serious. Just be careful you don't throw all caution to the wind. We can't have you getting killed." Hiroto nodded and the cat motioned its head towards another turn. "I'll retrieve the other one. We mustn't dally." With that he vanished and Hiroto was left alone. Curiosity quickly got the better of him and he moved towards the object he'd seen earlier. He stood outside the edge of the column. It was a fascinating thing. The red substance seemed to move and had a shimmering quality to it. He wanted to touch it.

Suddenly, pain flared in the back of his head and he braced his hands on the column to support himself. The redhead spun around and faced the sneering Club behind him. He could feel the blood running down the back of his neck and knew a solid blow had been delivered when dizziness started to set in. The Club slashed at him and he rolled out of the way, holding onto the column edge for support. Again, the spear was jabbed at him and he ducked under the attack and grabbed onto the wall. He pulled out the deck and fired several at the Club, but stopped and converted to the knife when he found using his power only made the dizziness worse. He couldn't even aim straight as they had all missed.

The Club let out a battle cry and charged at him. Hiroto dove past the attack and staggered back to the column. He spun to face the card again and, after dislodging its spear from the wall, it ran at him. Hiroto leaned back to avoid the blow and lost his balance. He toppled backwards, tripping over the edge of the lowered column and knocking into the ornament. As he pushed himself off the ground, red smoke began to drift from the object and circle around him. Cheshire appeared at his side, his grin wider than ever.

"Time to raise some havoc. The dogs of war are loose." Then everything went red.

Hiroto groaned and held his head as he stumbled back against a wall. The red was slowly clearing from his vision and he rubbed at his eyes. His head was pounding hard and he felt dizzy. "Hiroto?" He looked up, finding Goenji staring at him with concern and red metas scattered across the room. "What happened to the guards?" he asked. The blond balked. "You don't remember? You went at them like crazy! They couldn't touch you! You took them all out in seconds!" Hiroto blinked and looked down at the bloody vorpal blade in his hand. There were blood splatters on his clothing too.

"I've never seen a Ragebox in action before." Hiroto raised an eyebrow at Goenji. "Ragebox?" he asked. Goenji nodded. "It fills the user with blind rage towards their enemies and gives them incredible strength. They spawn at random, so you never know where you'll find them." Hiroto groaned and held his head. "We'll, I'm never using one again unless I have too. That was awful." The fire user chuckled and motioned with his hand. "Let's get going. I found a door over here and we need to find the elder as soon as possible." Hiroto nodded and they headed around a wall to their right and through the door there.

After passing through the next three doors just beyond it, they came to another room. Except it was a room at all. It probably had been at one time but it appeared to have been ripped apart like the room where they had encountered the Boojums. Blue and green stone made up the walls and the floor on both sides was black and green checkering. On the opposite side, Hiroto could see a doorway and a portal at the center of it. The same purple vortex surrounded them and bits of floor tile and furniture whirled about through the air. Walking down the green steps in front of them, Hiroto looked around. How were they meant to get across? There was no way to the other side as far as he could see.

He looked to Goenji but the blond looked just as confused about everything as he did. Hiroto looked back out over the gap. There were two floating pillars of tile but they looked much too far to jump too. Hiroto walked to the edge of the floor, trying to judge just how far the jump would be. Suddenly, some of the tiles floating in the vortex shot in front of him and connected to the floor, extending the path out farther.

Hiroto and Goenji exchanged a bewildered look before Hiroto turned his attention back to the floor. Carefully, he took a step forward, onto the extension, and walked to its edge. Instantly, more tiles appeared. Goenji's surprised grunt behind him caught his attention and he turned around to see what the matter was. Apparently, Goenji was very happy he followed Hiroto when he did because the floor connecting them to the other side had vanished.

"Better stay close together then." Hiroto said and the blond nodded. Moving slowly, the pair crossed the tiles as they connected, careful not to be too far apart. Eventually they reached the first floating pillar and jumped onto it. More tiles extended from that one, leading to the other pillar. They crossed to it and from there to the portal. The tiles instantly fell away behind them and they quickly moved through the portal.