Chapter Nine: Shibuya VS Romani
Challenge One: Cantus Tranquillus
Neku woke up with his back and shoulders no longer hurting. The sensation—which he had kept to himself, not even showing his discomfort—had grown increasingly painful. But now, at least, it was gone. He sat up, pushing the white covers off of him and realizing that today was the last Day. He had only to finish the final three challenges, and maybe when he was promoted to Archangel, Joshua could sort out the mess with Shiki and Eri. Either that or Neku would fix it himself. Somehow.
He looked to his side and saw Shiki curled up on the pillow, asleep. The thought of her Soul being called from somewhere inside of him was both comforting and a little disturbing. He pushed at his orange spikes, which stubbornly sprang back into place as usual, then stood up, stretching. He glanced around and collected his Pins, changed his outfit, and by the time he was ready for quite possibly his biggest challenge yet, Shiki had woken up.
He let her clamber up onto his shoulder, gripping his wide collar for support, and Neku looked around at his room in the Angel Palace for what was hopefully the last time. "Quite a ride, wasn't it, Shiki?"
She bobbed her head in agreement.
"Just three more challenges." And with that he turned and closed the door behind him, waiting in the hallway for Beat, Rhyme, and Eri. Eri's door and room was still badly trashed, evidence of her monstrous transformation, and she had camped out in Shiki's old room. They came out one by one; their faces weary from the battles of the last week, and turned to Neku.
Feeling a strange urge to say something, Neku cleared his throat. "Well…it's the last day. All we have to do is slog through these last three challenges and we'll win."
"Just like when we fought that Megumi guy?" Beat was obviously trying to sound nonchalant and cheerful.
"At least with him you knew what to expect," Rhyme's stature was slightly slumped, as if the energy had gone out of her. "A Conductor battle."
"We didn't expect Josh." Neku corrected. He felt Shiki tug his hair and he looked to his right, seeing the object of her concern. "Eri?"
"Hmm?" She glanced up.
"You okay?" He remembered how her Noise tired her out every time she dared to change into it. Now was no exception, and even her wings were sagging.
"Fine. Let's go!" Eri's eyes hardened and Neku nodded in agreement. With a wave of his hand he called his friends to his side and descended the stairs. They found the entire Palace strangely empty, and their footsteps echoed hollowly. The meeting room, once such a grand structure of white, was now reduced to nothing but pretty ivory pebbles. They skirted its edges and stood atop the rubble, peering into the chamber through the broken pillars.
"Whoa, the Noise totally trashed the joint!" Beat's voice seemed unnaturally loud in the silence. Eri's heels clicked against the stone as she shifted.
"Yeah, there's no sign of them, though." She said.
"The Tournament is over. We must have been one of the two top ranking cities," Rhyme offered, her eyes never once leaving the ruins. "But where do we go now?"
Neku crossed his arms and leaned against a halfway intact statue of a jaguar, its head missing. "We go nowhere. If Josh or the Angels or whoever the hell else wants to mess with us, they can come get us."
"What if we're disqualified for being late?" Eri fretted.
"Josh would get us beforehand."
"What if he can't?" Rhyme questioned.
Neku shrugged, certain that if Shibuya's Composer wanted something, he'd come get them regardless of any rules. Time seemed to stretch on infinitely, and after what felt like seconds or eons of waiting, the sound of footsteps reached their ears.
Beat was the first to spot him, and he jerked his thumb in the newcomer's direction. "Prissy boy is here!"
Indeed he was, and Joshua deigned to stand below the heap of debris that Neku was resting on instead of scaling it. "Honestly, Neku, can't you at least make an effort?"
"No."
Joshua shrugged at his answer. "Anyway, it's a good thing you didn't and decided to conserve your energy. The Angels have picked a room for you and the opposing team to do part one of the Challenge in." He gestured for them to approach, and after the Japanese Players were crowded around him, he led them out of the room and down a winding hallway that Neku realized hadn't been there before. After a confusing myriad of turns and stairs, they emerged into a featureless chamber, lit by an unseen omnipresent light that created no shadows. White, like everything else in the Palace. For the first time, Neku noticed the cloying reek of the perfume was gone from the air.
Standing there, waiting for their arrival, was an assortment of kids that could only have been the opposing team. Neku quickened his pace and kept up with Joshua's even strides as they approached, and the two teams faced each other, only three feet away.
Neku tried to take in the all details he could.
There was no doubt; the first girl was the Composer. She was of average height, around his own, but her eyes were dark and strangely lifeless. Even Joshua's eyes, violet as they were, carried his special brand of sardonic humor. This girl didn't have traces of anything in hers. Her hair was also black, deeply, with no other shades inside it. It was like the night sky but missing the stars. Her skin was tan, as Neku noticed most of the kids had; therefore he assumed they were from someplace sunny.
The girl looked at him, then at Joshua, then skipped her gaze from Beat, standing protectively beside Rhyme and glaring at the opposite side, to Rhyme, to Eri, and finally back to him. After another heartbeat she spoke. "About time you showed up." She had a biting sarcasm in her voice that even rivaled Neku's own. Her apparent scorn was directed at Joshua.
The violet eyed teen only smiled. "Sorry to keep you waiting Vienna," he replied in a tone that made it clear he wasn't sorry at all. Joshua was never sorry, after all, as far as Neku knew. "Shall I introduce us first, or do you wish to?"
Vienna, the dark haired girl, gave an indifferent shrug. "Like he already said, I'm Vienna. This is Jason, Rose, Blake, Walter and Sam." She pointed to each of them in turn, and Neku looked at them curiously, arms crossed.
Jason had light brown hair and dark skin, also tan. He had the same expression on his face that Neku bet was on his own, a look of passive, vaguely pessimistic, annoyance. Rose had long wavy blonde hair and a crescent moon tattoo that he glimpsed on her wrist. Unlike the others her skin was pale, and her green eyes carried an intellectual look. Blake had fair skin, brown hair to his ears, and glasses. Neku instantly didn't like the way he stood. It was with a superior stance and an arrogant tilt of his head, and he cast a strange look in Shiki's direction. He felt her shift on his shoulders, probably wishing she wasn't a cat.
Walter also had fair skin, while Sam had tan. Walter had black hair and Sam had blonde, but they both had blue eyes. He couldn't read them well, save for Sam, whom had a look that seemed to be made to oppose Rhyme's. He looked downright depressed, as if the world was a deathtrap waiting to happen.
Neku couldn't help wondering, just for a moment, how the other kids saw him. He then shrugged it off. This was for Shiki.
"Enchanted, I'm sure." Joshua smirked. He added a small giggle that seemed to alarm some of the other kids. Hell, it still disturbed Neku a little. "I'm Yoshiya, but you can call me Joshua. They're Neku, Beat, Rhyme, and Eri."
"Who's the cat?" Rose inquired curiously, looking at Neku. He briefly pondered if she was asking him in particular or just voicing a question to everyone, but he decided to answer anyway.
"She's Shiki." He snapped shortly in a tone that everyone else knew meant shut the freaking hell up about it. Apparently Rose didn't, or she didn't care, though her voice was a bit more cautious and polite.
"What happened?"
Neku decided to tell the truth. "The Russian Game Master killed her."
"And she turned into a cat?" Walter sounded amazed. "How'd she do that?"
"Magic." Neku said dryly, wishing they'd shut up.
Blake smiled a little. "Was she your Partner?" His tone dripped false sympathy.
Beat said instead, "Yo shut up about it! Phones don't like discussing what happened!"
"Manners, Beat." Rhyme chided him gently. She faced Blake, and Neku realized she was easily the youngest of the group by a full two years. That might put her in danger, he thought. "Shiki's psyche let her do that. But anyone can come back as a Noise if your Soul can be found. I know."
"How?" Jason sounded only a little interested.
"It happened to me once," Rhyme replied calmly, earning an inquisitive look from Rose and a few surprised glances from the others, minus Blake.
"What're we waiting for?" Eri spoke for the first time, sounding nervous.
"The Angel, of course." Vienna sighed and rolled her eyes at Joshua. "They certainly take their sweet time, don't they?"
"They always have." Joshua tapped his foot. But on the third hit, in a burst of radiance, the Angel appeared. It was the same gray cloaked being that had spoken during Rhyme's and Beat's last Game in Sydney. She flicked her hood back, and everyone stared in surprise.
She had a human face like a young woman, but strings of white ethereal light that seemed to come off of her skin like hair flowed behind her as if it was seaweed in an ocean current. She was blindingly beautiful, and her eyes were a gentle, glowing pink ringed with silver. She landed delicately and walked toward them, lips turning up in a smile. "Welcome," she greeted warmly, her voice sounded like echoing wind chimes and Neku couldn't reply. The same effect seemed to have hit everyone, even the Composers. Neku saw Joshua's jaw clench while Vienna's eyes narrowed, and at that moment he knew the Angel's presence seemed to be working some hidden psyche.
"My name is Romani," she continued. "And I welcome you to the final three challenges in our Tournament. Vienna and Yoshiya, you've chosen great Players. Players, you've played well. As the first part of our challenge…The Los Angeles Team and the Shibuya Team will play together with one another, fighting side by side against…me."
Neku was shocked, and he exchanged a stupefied look with Beat.
"Sam of the Los Angeles Team, I apologize but you cannot play. It would be an imbalance on the teams that I will not allow." Romani said, nodding in Sam's direction. His expression soured.
"What do I do then?" He demanded.
"…Vienna, I quite recommend just sending him home. He cannot play, not while the Shibuya Players have need for their Substitute."
Sam glared at Shiki as if it was her fault, then cast a look at his friends before Vienna snapped her fingers, wordlessly sending the blonde boy back to wherever his home was. Romani crossed her arms and smiled benevolently, as if nothing had happened. "Now then. We shall begin in only a minute. Yoshiya, if you would be so kind, will you take Shiki with you until after the battle is over? She is quite welcome in the second round of the Challenge, but not this one."
Shiki flicked her tail and jumped to Joshua, and he held her as if she was a normal housecat. That done, Romani nodded. "I prepare for the fight. Don't forget you work together this round, so try not to make enemies. A house divided—"
"Cannot stand." Rhyme finished.
Romani pulled her hood back up with a final smile for Rhyme, and the gray cloak seemed to encompass her thin frame entirely until she melded into the light and vanished from sight.
Silence.
Joshua and Vienna apparently had to leave, but the Los Angeles Composer said something in Blake's ear before standing a ways away and waiting for Joshua. Shibuya's Composer said quietly to Neku, "The Music is a very important thing, Neku. You can smooth out dissonance notes in someone else's Song."
After a few moments Neku understood and he nodded. Joshua smiled. "Have fun, Neku." With that he turned and walked to Vienna's side, vanishing in a glimmer of snowy white that blended with the pale ivory of the walls.
Clearing her throat, Rhyme made conversation for the last thirty seconds they had. "Do you think Angels have Noise forms?"
Rose nodded. "I believe so. I don't think Romani will fight us in her current form, though I do wonder how we will possibly defeat a being as powerful as an Angel."
"Conductors were bad enough." Beat muttered, but he gave Neku a strange look that was mixed with a sort of…hope?
That's right. I defeated a Conductor, one step below the Composer. Maybe I can do an Angel, with some help?
"Who's your leader?" Blake spoke up, looking amongst the Japanese Players until his gaze settled on Neku. "You?"
"Yeah I guess. What do you want?"
A flicker of light appeared in the air, hanging in the heavens above them like a glimmering mantle of blinding silver against the ever present white. When nothing happened for a short while Blake spoke to Neku again.
"Follow my lead, and—"
"Screw that." Neku snapped. "If anything you listen to me."
Blake gave a short laugh of derision. "I've done more than you, I can guarantee."
"Right. So you've defeated a Taboo Game Master, partnered up with the Composer, done the Game three times, and beat the Conductor without a Partner in the Noise realms with you."
The American kid seemed to deflate a little, but his tone was still scathing. "You're lying."
"He's not!" Rhyme, Eri, and Beat all cried out at once. Neku felt rather smug, despite himself.
Walter said hesitantly, "I think they're telling the truth."
Blake shot Walter a death glare, but before he could speak, Romani reappeared. The stars flew down to her back, gathered together, and then formed the largest pair of wings Neku had ever seen. The silvery feathers seemed to be made from the light of the moon. She landed coolly and smiled. "Just so you know, Players cannot use their Noise forms this fight. And on that note, are you ready to face Cantus Tranquillus?"
"Singing Tranquility…?" Rose murmured to herself.
Without waiting for an answer, Romani let the wings cover her body. The cocoon formed by the delicate plumes began to roil, like a creature trapped in a bag, and something huge exploded from the confines of the feathery membrane.
It was roughly five times the size of an elephant Noise, maybe more, and was no animal that Neku recognized. It seemed to be a chimera, a mixture of many beasts. It had a reptilian snout, like a dragon, sharply pointed with a hook at the end. The rest of the head was more doglike, with triangular ears and bright rosy eyes with a slit for a pupil. The body was a cross between a bear and a badger, with powerful shoulders and a deadly set of claws the size of swords. The tail was like a dolphin's, and the fin at the end was covered in bristly barbs like a porcupine or hedgehog's quills. The wings, if they were still there, were nowhere in sight. To make it worse, the entire monstrosity was covered in armor, with only thin gaps at the elbows and ankles, and where the neck met the head. The plates of protective gear were strangely translucent, and underneath, foggy but still there, the heaving internal structure of the Noise was inside. It was like watching a white sea in turmoil, exploding against the skin as if it was trying to escape it. The skin was patterned like diamonds, each scale the size of Neku's entire body. The long ivory claws of Cantus Tranquillus tore into the floor, sending orange sparks reaching into the heavens. The pink orbs of the monster rolled forward and focused on Neku—and Neku in particular—set in their background of deepest ebony and gleaming grayish white.
Romani roared, and the Players scattered.
The Noise realms had opened without Neku noticing, and he realized that Beat, Blake and Jason were beside him, and that meant their partners, Rhyme, Rose and Walter, must be with Eri. They were all linked loosely, this he knew, because he felt seven different heartbeats with him, and he could hear their startled voices.
"How do we fight that monstrosity?!" Jason sounded horrified.
Walter answered with a cheery, "The bigger they are the harder they fall!"
"Yeah, yo! That's the way to go!" Beat slammed his skateboard down and rapidly approached Romani. He skated around her side and then slammed into one of her humongous armored legs. There was a ripple and a large, echoing bang, but besides for the strange sound, she seemed unaffected. Lowering her head she opened her jaws and bellowed, and from within her mouth, tongues of light reached out and encircled him.
"Hang on, Beat!" Neku raced over and slashed the strange tendrils away with some compressed energy from within a Pin titled Scythe, which created dangerous sickles of power that tore apart almost anything it came in contact with, like a guillotine. Freed, Beat scrambled away with his skateboard and stared in stunned surprise as the thrashing bands retreated.
"Ah, shit man, it's not bothered at all!"
"That was stupid," Blake hissed at Beat.
"Have a better idea?" Neku growled savagely, clenching his fists and staring at the huge monster Noise.
"The Music," was the smug reply.
Neku did a mental slap, mad at having had forgotten it when Romani had transformed. The moment he and Blake were about to attempt it, the Noise tossed her head back and let out a strange cry.
It echoed in the room, stopping all Players from moving. It rebounded harshly on Neku's ears, and a strange sluggishness overcame him. He didn't even feel like moving, and his thoughts screeched to a halt. Blake, Beat, and Jason didn't look any better, their eyes heavy and their mouths partially opened.
What's…go…ing…on…?
Time seemed to have frozen…
~***~
Vienna was still thinking over her evaluation of the Shibuya Players.
Neku, the fiery haired leader. She saw why he was Joshua's Proxy—he certainly had the quick wits, physical prowess, and intelligence. His Soul flared brightly, intertwined with a pale golden strand that represented how Shiki's Soul had combined with his. He had an expression of constant disinterest, but fast eyes that had observed everything. The brown Noise cat on his shoulder, Shiki he had said, seemed rather attached to him. No doubt she was his determination incarnate. He'd do anything for her.
Beat, the muscular boy in the skull hat, obviously wasn't as intelligent. But he had a strong look to him and an even stronger Soul, and the way he stood by the little girl that was clearly his sister showed he'd do anything for her also. Partnered, they'd be a formidable duo.
Rhyme was the youngest by at least a year or two, but she had bright blue eyes that were wiser than her years. She had a thin frame but she stood calmly and without excess movement, and she had a sort of suppressed energy to her. Athletic. Her own wings were a strange gold-white color, soft and feathery instead of sharp, like most wings.
The other girl, Eri, was plainly nervous. She kept fiddling with her dyed pink hair—rather asinine Vienna thought—but she had the strangest Imagination. It shifted and moved constantly, and though her wings were hidden from view to most people, they still showcased the unusual power inside of her. Inexperienced as she was, she was without a doubt going to be a problem.
Vienna wasn't often worried, but she was a little apprehensive. Certainly the biggest problem would be Neku. News of his feats had spread across the UG and HG like wildfire. The boy was unpredictable and strange things happened to him. He had defeated a Conductor, after all, help from the others or not, it had mainly been him. Three time winner of the Game also, almost unheard of.
He will be Blake's biggest competition. And no doubt Neku will go for him first. The echoing roar of the Angel interrupted her thoughts, and the girl looked at the "mirror" that showed the two Composers what was going on inside the room. The huge Noise chimera was seeking to intimidate the Players, and apparently it had worked, because they all scattered to escape the range of her humongous claws.
"Worried?" Joshua inquired, raising his eyebrows from where he stood behind her. She saw his visage reflected a little in the mirror, and she turned to face him, arms crossed.
"Of course not. If I was you, I'd be worried." Vienna pointed to the screen, which had just showed Beat being almost eaten alive by white tendrils. Neku raced in to save him. The mirror shifted unexpectedly to show the sister Noise realm, and Rhyme, Eri, Rose, and Walter weren't being quite as hasty. Instead they were retreating backwards bit by bit, discussing amongst themselves what to do. "One of your Players almost Erased himself only two minutes into the match."
Joshua shrugged, unbothered. "Neku will sort it out."
"You have that much confidence in one of your Players?"
"I know he can do it." The Composer said simply, his purple eyes bright.
Vienna pondered that, turning to examine the mirror again. The room they were in was the same place Shiki had walked into and saw the white dragon facing the wolf, though neither of the two beasts were on the screen now.
With a tinge of amusement, Vienna knew Blake probably had as much confidence in himself as Joshua did in Neku. I just hope the same.
~***~
Neku's mind was on standstill, but he was still painfully aware that Romani was moving toward them slowly, unhurried. Each sentence that formed in his head seemed to take an eternity to complete.
She's…do…ing…some…thing…
The sound still echoed brokenly in the huge room, and across his more direct link with Eri, he felt her own bewilderment. Neku couldn't concentrate enough to get the icy feeling fully onto his skin, and therefore it made it impossible to touch the Music.
A jolt of pain ruptured across the link he shared with the L.A. Players and his own friends. Beat suddenly moved, faster than Neku thought possible, and hit Romani on her scaly snout, sending another hollow echo into the air.
"Leave Rhyme alone, yo!"
The agony vanished as Rhyme apparently was released, and Romani turned her direct attention on Beat. Neku still had trouble thinking clearly, but it had lightened up considerably. He dove into the Music and heard Blake's Song—a hard rock mix with rap—echoing along with his own Song that he considered a musical discord. The Music was in chaotic disharmony, with thrashing notes and banging drums that drowned out all reason.
"Blake."
"I know." He snapped.
The pair of Proxies soon found out what their Composers had meant by "dissonance notes". Put simply, one would only have to imagine black notes clashing together with white notes and spreading the hypothetical "disease". Neku and Blake began changing the notes with discharges of the white energy that was the signature trademark of a Composer, smoothing the unnatural rhythms. When most of the mess had been cleared, a blast of sudden activeness surged through all of them, and Neku knew the Angel's influence had been lifted.
"What the…?" Rose's voice sounded tired and confused, though gradually Neku could feel her strength rebuilding.
"What happened? It's gone!" Eri sounded amazed.
"Rhyme, you okay?!" Beat called to his sister in the opposite realm.
"Fine, Beat."
"Walter, still standing?" Jason asked.
As Partners exchanged startled and concerned sentences across their bond, the Cantus Tranquillus seemed to be recovering from the unexpected destruction of her special psyche.
"Alright, shut it! There has to be a weak spot on Romani." Neku interrupted.
Blake nodded. "There are spaces between some of the armor plates."
"We're going to get up there how? She'll tear us apart before we can ever reach her side." Jason retorted.
"But wait," Walter said thoughtfully. "Some of us can distract her, in both realms."
"It's the only lead we have. I think that's a good idea, Walter." Rhyme agreed.
"Fine. Blake and I can try to attack Romani, Jason and Beat can distract her." Neku said.
"Eri and Rose can attack on your side, and Rhyme and Walter can distract them." Blake added.
Beat placed his board down again and said to Jason, "This Angel chump is goin' down!"
"Either that or we are," Jason sighed. He removed a simple pen from his pocket, and then took the cap off and a bluish energy blade sprang out from inside it.
Beat recoiled. "Ah crap! What the hell man?!"
Blake laughed and even Neku let out a small chuckle at Beat's expression. Then their attention went back to Romani as, with a shake of her head and a growl, she focused her pink gaze on them. She stalked forward, one slow step at a time, waving her barbed tail.
Beat leaped onto his board and sailed toward Romani with Jason breaking into a run to follow. The pair passed her and Romani turned around, her back to Neku and Blake, to watch them. She reared up on her hind legs and brought them down, claws scraping the floor as she tried to catch the two. With Jason slicing at her legs—it bounced off like everything else but got her attention—and Beat shouting vulgarities while striking at her lowered head, they distracted her long enough for Neku and Blake to quietly approach.
Neku located one of the gaps in her armor on her right hind leg, right where her paw met her ankle, and saw the strange energy surging against the crystalline skin. He reinforced the Scythe Pin's normal sharp streaks with a coating of the white power from Joshua's Dissonance Pin, and then attacked with all his might.
There was another hollow bang—like when one struck a bell—and then the skin broke. One massive scale was missing a chink in the middle, and the fighting interior of the inside began to flow out. The ivory force within Romani was strong enough to knock Neku off of her leg, and he landed on his back, breathless. He stared up as the mysterious substance escaped like smoke. Blake had succeeded on her other hind leg, and he also ended up knocked away.
Romani's ears twitched and she turned around to direct her attacks on them. She opened her mouth and loosed more tendrils that encircled Neku's legs and dragged him toward her. Blake was in the same predicament. Neku slashed at the bindings, but as fast as he broke them, more replaced the snapped strands. He tried fire, ice, pulling them away with telekinesis, but to no avail. Jason and Beat ran to help, but Romani suddenly jerked her head back and, with the two boys still attached, flung them into the air where they hung for a moment before dropping into her mouth and down her throat.
~***~
Vienna and Joshua stared in stunned horror at the screen, and before she could speak, Joshua beat her to it.
"I know what you're going to say."
"Really."
He smirked. "I'm still not worried."
In all honesty Vienna thought he was lying, but then again it was hard to tell. Blake and Neku had just been eaten by an Angel in a demonic Noise form with her insides composed of frothing white energy. It would take a miracle for them to survive.
Joshua leaned back, balancing his orange cell phone in his hands. He winked at her, and she wondered if he had read her mind. "Determination can work miracles, dear."
Vienna wasn't even far into that train of thought before she snapped, "Call me 'dear' again, and I won't rest until you're inside that Noise." More vulgar comebacks had come to mind, but clever retorts weren't her biggest concerns at the moment.
~***~
Neku's entire world seemed to be made of white. It moved around him, warm and cold at the same time, pressing against his body with what felt like enough force to break his bones. It was like being afloat in a sea trapped in turmoil. He struggled to move, and he thought he glimpsed Blake to his right, glasses askew, as he also fought the deadly current that was dragging them down, down, down…
Suddenly, like bubbles, patches of shiny silver rose all around them. In the strange substance, Neku glimpsed his friends fighting from all angles in their various realms. Eri had just been knocked over by an ivory claw, Rhyme was helping Walter to his feet, and he was bleeding from one of Romani's tail spikes, still stuck in his shoulder. Rose was holding what looked like a staff formed from roses, and she deflected a stream of bullets from Romani's mouth with a quick spiral of her weapon.
Jason and Beat were doggedly trying to fight Cantus Tranquillus, but the Noise was too powerful. Neku realized with a thrill of terror that she was gearing up for another use of her deadly psyche. With a wild keening sound that rumbled the inside of her body, and the outside, the deadly power took effect. With no Proxies to dilute the swell of energy, the others were at her mercy.
A red mist coated everything briefly, and then the Players started attacking one another with various growls of sudden rage. The only ones seemingly trying to fight the sudden mood change were Rhyme and Rose, and the two girls retreated a few steps, exchanging dismayed looks. Neku couldn't hear what they were saying.
He closed his eyes as a great weariness overtook him. He was so tired. He had wanted nothing more to do with the Game, but was always dragged back in. He wondered if it would be better to simply drift away and let himself fade…Blake had stopped struggling too, and the two boys felt as if it had never been worth trying in the first place.
Neku.
He stirred slightly, that voice the only one that could call him from his defeated reverie.
Neku, you've got to keep trying.
Hell, he was tired. He had done so much already. Can't someone else…?
No, Neku. Please. For me. For Rhyme and Beat and Eri. You've got to keep going! Don't ever give in! You can do this, Neku.
Shiki…?
He opened his eyes and thought he saw her reflected beside him in one of the strange reflective bubbles. When he blinked she was gone. Neku forced himself to move, almost as if he was swimming in a thick, heavy pool.
That's it, Neku. A little faith is all we need. She encouraged. I believe in you.
He realized how close he had been to dying, and that scared him more than anything. He had died before, but somehow this felt different. This wouldn't be death…this would be total obliteration. Erasure. You'd be gone from the UG, HG, and the RG. Neku felt a new vigor grip him and he reached over and grabbed Blake's shoulder. He was surprised his voice could even form in the foreign energy.
"Blake! Get up!" He shouted. "Do it for your friends, we can't give up yet! They need us!"
His eyes snapped open—maybe he had been talking to someone too?—and he nodded. The pair of boys looked around for a way out, basically swimming in the white material.
"They're killing themselves," Blake breathed, for the first time since Neku had met him, there was no arrogance in his tone.
He glanced at one of the mirrors, and saw that he was telling the truth. Romani had simply planted herself down to watch, lounging on her side like a gigantic cat, big pink eyes bright.
"Not if we can help it," he growled. Kicking forward for what seemed like a millennium, the two encountered something. The core.
In the middle of the great and powerful Cantus Tranquillus, where the two Proxies had almost met their fate, Neku saw a huge sphere. It was like a fractured diamond, with light reflecting off it on every angle. Swirling inside of it was a pink and silver mist that seemed to pulse.
"It's a heart," Blake said at his side. "We have to kill it! It has to be the only weakness this monstrosity has!"
Neku nodded once. They swam up to the side of the heart and pressed their palms against its freezing cold surface. Instantly all feeling left his hands, leaving them numb, but he ignored it. "On the count of three, we'll attack at the same time."
"Right." Blake shifted some Pins to his other hand before reassuming the position. "One."
"Two." Neku echoed, taking a deep breath. At the same time as Blake he shouted, "Three!"
The pair unleashed all of their strength at the same time, and in a spectacular explosion of elements and telekinetic powers, compressed energy and various forces from various different Pins, combined with their gifts from the Composers, the orb broke into a half dozen huge chunks.
Romani's own swirling substance tugged away the remnants of the crystal sphere, and the pink and silver mist vanished into the chaos as the inside of the massive Noise began to heave and buck. Blake and Neku let out cries of shock as they were caught in a whirlpool and whipped around so fast, Neku began to feel sick. The world had become nothing but a streak of white and shiny gray.
~***~
Outside, Romani had leaped to her feet since the shattering of her core. Then she began to stumble and moan, her eyes rolling in her skull, stomping her great paws on the ground. With a final cry, she fell face first on the ground spread eagled, and lay very still. In a red glimmer, the psyche's mood control wore off and the Players ceased their pointless battles.
Rhyme sat up and blinked, wondering how she had gotten on the floor. Walter stirred beside her, and she shook him gently. "You okay?"
He peeked up at her through his black hair. "Yeah. What happened?"
She stood and offered him her hand, helping him up. "I don't know…Romani must have…" She turned and gasped as Cantus Tranquillus began to bubble, and her armor melted off in a molten wave of color, leaving behind the somehow smaller looking chimera Noise. Holes appeared in her body and more of the frothing white energy burst out of her scales as she began to convulse on the ground, letting out another unearthly wail.
Rhyme heard Jason say, "Well our plan didn't work. Like I thought."
Rose said thoughtfully to everyone, "Blake must have done something inside of Romani."
"Blake? Screw that, it was Phones that up and saved us I bet." Beat snorted.
"Whoever it was," Rhyme said quickly before anyone could start arguing. "That's not the point. The point is, they both were inside that thing!"
It took a few moments for realization to hit, and then everyone raced to the Noise's body as the realms collapsed. The friends were now all together in the HG, and they stood as near the disintegrating body as they dared, waiting for Neku and Blake.
Romani's skin was gone all together, and now her own pale insides covered what was left of her body. An orange haired figure extracted himself from the mix, and the white dropped off as easily as if it was only a cloth over his head. A brown haired head also stood up, and together they walked off the immense corpse of the Cantus Tranquillus.
They then collapsed on their sides, with their friends rushing up to them.
Eri said worriedly, "Neku, are you okay?"
He opened his eyes and propped himself up, blinking owlishly. "I'm fine…ugh…It was a nightmare in there. But Shiki…she…"
"What about her?" Rhyme asked curiously.
"She saved my life. I had almost given up." Neku stood up with Beat's help and clicked his Golden Cross Pin, healing his wounds but still feeling more tired than he cared to remember. "Blake, you alright?"
Surrounded by his anxious friends also, the glasses wearing Proxy nodded curtly. "Yeah, you?"
"I've been better but I'll live." He smiled slightly and the boy grinned in return.
The body of Romani's Noise erupted into a stream of static that climbed the air, as if reaching for the nonexistent stars before vanishing overhead. Then, two pairs of slow clapping filled the silence.
Joshua and Vienna stalked into the room, one smirking, and the other watching with interested eyes.
"Well done, Neku." Joshua declared. "I knew you could do it."
Vienna said, "Yeah, great work, Blake. We lost sight of you two after you were devoured. What happened? Spill."
Neku sighed. "We almost died. I'm not going to lie."
Blake agreed with a quick nod.
"But…" Deciding not to add that he woke Blake up from his near death trance, he skipped that part and said simply, "We basically swam around inside of Romani until we found her heart. It looked like a big glass ball."
"I then broke the heart with help from Neku."
Neku bristled. "You ass, don't act like you did all the work. We then broke the heart. Together." He finished with a glare in Blake's direction.
Blake waved a hand. "Sure, sure."
Rose rolled her eyes, to Rhyme's surprise, and she guessed this must happen a lot.
"Well, I hope you two didn't bond too closely." Vienna said wryly.
Joshua giggled, earning another slightly freaked out look from the L.A. Players not used to his somewhat disturbing girlish laugh. It contradicted his burning violet eyes. "Yes, because after we heal you, you move on to round two."
"Round…two?" Jason said. "With Romani? You might as well kill me now! Or those two." He pointed at the pair of worn out Proxies.
"Of course not, dear." Joshua flicked some hair from his face. "You, the Players, and the Conductors, Game Masters, and Harriers will fight each other as part of the second Challenge."
Despite having had been expecting this, Rhyme's stomach twisted uneasily and she turned to look the Los Angeles Players in the eyes as they did the same. Not one of their gazes was hostile.
~***~
This chapter is brought to you by the same person the Los Angeles Team was created by: RawkstarVienna. Seriously, I do NOT own the L.A. Players, Conductor, Composer, etc. They are all hers, and they're all awesome. I love writing them. Thanks for letting me borrow your OCs!
Special thanks to my Beta, James Firebrand, which I really should mention every chapter. 0_o
I'll try not to take so long to update...I've actually had a LOT of this story written out for AGES, but I take so long to upload because I'm always editing the story, but the main outline of it has been completed for months. But believe me, it's better to wait whilst I perfect the details to the best of my abilities.
Reviews are greatly appreciated, you know?