6H: Hello everyone! Welcome to CHAPTER 10-our first milestone.

Anaretsu: Hu-rah...not really.

6H: After this moment, we may never use single digits to count our chapters EVER AGAIN.

Anaretsu: Can we just get this over with.

6H: Okay.

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Kingdom Hearts-Adventures at Castle Chocobo

Floor 10-Retrieval

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The two identical swords clashed, making a horrible noise. The two boys were forced back from each other, stumbling from the blow. The replica smirked at Riku.

"Not bad." he remarked.

"I could say the same. So my little match with Vixen was just for your creation, huh?" Riku spat at him. "I didn't even use my best moves in that fight." The two went at it again, bashing and striking at each other, but neither making any hits.

"Yeah, something like that."

"But your movement isn't so great-you've been favoring your left leg the entire time. Did you get injured?"

"That's none of your concern." the replica spat. "Just watch out for yourself!" Suddenly, Riku saw crimson flying into the air in front of him, and felt himself staggering backwards. He wasn't sure how it happened, but suddenly there was a huge gash runing up and down the right side of his chest. He touched the wound, wincing and looked at the blood on his hands. Not blood red, but a much darker scarlet. His body was not quite free of Ansem's grasp. He glared at the replica and got back up, dodging the next attack. He struck the Riku replica on the top of his shoulder, missing the neck because the replica suddenly moved. Pure red blood was spilling out of that wound. Riku glared harder.

'When I was taken by Ansem, I didn't have the luxary of red blood...my blood turned...'

Suddenly, Sora came up behind him and wailed on his back, slashing several times and ripping through the material, and then the pale skin underneath, causing black looking blood to slowly ooze out...

'...black...' Riku went at him again, but his other self expected it and blocked. The replica forced him back and cut his left cheek. Riku licked off the blood and made a deep slice into the other's ribs. It was a brutal battle. Riku hit the replica one last time with the blunt end of his sword, knocking the wind out of the fake and propelling him to the ground. Riku collapsed to his own knees and began trying to catch his breath. The replica got up, and Riku braced himself for more fighting, but it never came.

"Well...you aren't SO bad, but if you used the power of darkness like me, you'd be invincible." Riku smirked.

"Oh? You mean like this?" the room became dark and Riku's clothes changed to the same ones the replica wore. Riku stood up, wobbiling slightly, and gave the replica the finger.

"I see. But it damages your soul, doesn't it? Your soul seems to have taken to protecting your heart, and has fought off the darkness, but letting it in infects your soul from the inside." the replica stated. Riku fell forward and changed back to his normal self. The other one was right-it did have bad effects on his soul. He only hoped that the stronger he got, the less it would hurt. The replica began to walk away from him. "Anyway, we'll fight again, and when we do, I'll win." And he was gone. Riku tried to stand again, but shook so badly he fell forward and onto the ground, where he lay very still, so still, that the half angel-demon, who was watching from above-thought he was dead.

"One less I have to get rid of." it whispered, and waited. Riku knew it had been there the whole time-he wasn't sure what it was, and wasn't too keen on finding out, espically in this condition.

'Come on...go away...I'm dead, you can't do any worse to me...' he though franticly.

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Cedeile climbed up onto shore across the lake after her battle with the heartless. The statue she had saw before now loomed above her-a grand looking primate holding a huge ruby, and wearing a wide, menacing smile. She stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to do.

"Okay...now what? Ah..." she thought out loud. "Okay, a pharoh's crown looks like... those things with the silk and the gold and the snake, so I just have to find something like that...unless it a figurative pharoh's crown. So what else is like a pharoh's crown? Hmm...it has to be..." she looked at the ruby, her reflection repeated millions of times on it's cut surface. She approached it and looked directly into it, holding onto the statue's hands to keep her balance. "Maybe it's something prescious to a pharoh, since a crown is important. But what's precious to a pharoh? Even if I had my memories, I have a feeling I still wouldn't know." She stared unblinkingly at her thousand reflections, each looking back at her with the same look. At last she sighed and folded her arms on top of the hands, resting her head to one side.

"Forget it. I may never find the pharoh's crown..." she said sadly, and with her fingertip poked the ruby so that it tilted back. Suddenly, there was a clicking sound and then the sound of something big moving. She looked all around and then she saw it-the wall behind the statue was moving away to reveal another large chamber, simillar to this one she was in now. When the wall had been fully moved away, the sound stopped and all was silent. Cedeile cautiously slipped past the statue (it was narrow, so Cedeile had some trouble) and into the new room.

This new room was just as dark, and the rumbling of water told her there was a waterfall nearby. Alarge puddle was before her, coming out of a small tunnel, and the puddle spilled over the side, causing the roaring. Cedeile looked down the waterfall to see more of the statues with rubies-the only light in the darkness. They were spread out all through the room-at least three of them as far as she could tell.

"Nice..." she murmered, extremely pleased with herself. She took a deep breath, ran, and lept off the edge of the waterfall. After falling for a few seconds, she hit the dark water below, but the tempeture wasn't such a shock to her this time. When she came up for air, she saw some dry ground and crawled up onto it. She assumed it had been part of the floor once, for it jetted out from the wall and was smooth like tile. She decided to rest before she went any farther, and started thinking again about what she had to find.

'A pharoh's crown...what does it look like? And how will I find it, first off! He said the deepest depths, but he didn't say the very deepest depth, so it might be in the second deepest depth, or even the third. But it's supposed to be in the deepest depths, so if it was in the second deepest depth, that means it wouldn't be the deepest dep-aww damnit, I'm confusing myself!' she konked herself on the head with one of her fists in frustration. She sighed and looked at the water. "At this rate I'll never get my memories back..." she said sadly. "Even my own reflection doesn't bring back memories." She heard something behind her, farther off in the chamber. She snapped out of her reverie and stood up to look around the cave better. She heard it again-a rustling of movement, and a slight hiss. She was looking all around the cavern, but couldn't find the source. After a third time it never sounded again. Cedeile let herself relax slightly at the absence of it.

She looked around the cavern and saw a chamber beyond the one she was currently in. It was just over a small waterfall, and there didn't seem to be any connecting rooms. Cedeile decided to check it out, so she dove back into the water and headed towards it. She went over the smaller waterfall and swam over to land. When she got up, she noticed her bandana was hanging a little crooked off her head. She tried untying it, but the knot was odd-lumpy, unsure, hesitant, and inexperianced. She hadn't tied the knot. Who did?

'It's weird. I know I didn't tie the knot...how though? And if not me, than who?' she thought. Then she heard the noise again-a low hissing echoed off the walls.

"Looking for losssst memoriessss?" the hissing voice asked. A figure moved in the shadows. It seemed to be a man, but as it came forward into the light of a nearby glowing ruby, she saw that was only the top half of the creature. The rest rest of it was a long, scaly tail the color of sand. The man-part of this monster was pale and bare, with a triangular mouth and fangs dangerously being licked by a forked tounge. It came closer to her, limp dark hair swinging as it moved. "Memoriessss are not that important...are they?" it asked. It leaned down at her and she turned away to avoid it, but his cold tounge stroked her cheek, making her wince. "They are more of a burden, don't you think?" One of his irregular hands went to touch her, but she took a step back from him.

"I want to find my memories..."she murmered softly, trying to back away. Her foot hit something thick and she turned to look-his long tail had wrapped back behind her. She turned back to him. "Who are you?"

"I am Upheria, a snake demon who guards the pharoh's crown from those who seek it." He apporached her again and swung behind her, grabbing onto her shoulders and hiss into her ear. "I can sssee into the heartsss of my victimsssss-know their every dessssire. Even yourssss. You dessssire to learn more about your passst-sssince your memoriessss were taken. But I...can give you ssssomething better..." He slightly parted his mouth and brushed his fangs against her neck, making her shiver. "Eternity with the dormant dessssires in your heart...I sssee thossse missssssing memoriessss, and I can give them to you...for jussst one bite of you." His tounge brushed her skin again. "A tassste of that precious blood. That'sss all..." He was about to bite, but she whirled around, whipped out the heartblade, and slashed it across his face. The light forced him back and she jumped away, sliding to a stop.

"I don't think so! I'm going to get my memories back, demon! I don't need your phony side show!" she yelled. Upheria looked at the weapon in her hand, shocked.

"The heartblade masssster? Here? Impossssible!" he said, blood dripping from the cut across his face.

"Better believe it, bastard! I'm going to wipe the floor with you!" she yelled back at him. She launched herself towards him and he came forward.

"You'll regret crossssing me!" he screeched as he brought his hand around. He smacked her out of the sky and she went flying into the ground, sending rock and dust everywhere. She stood up slowly, and he came at her again, fangs beared-twice as large as she had seen them before. Before she could move, he had sunk them into her right arm, leaving huge puncture marks as he sipped her blood. He pulled away, sending her sprawling on the ground. He licked the excess blood off his fangs and looked down at her.

"You..."

"Your blood is rather tassssty." he said, smirking at her. "I can sssee why you didn't want to give it up..."

"Bastard!" she swung the heartblade at him, trying to force him back. He hardly budged, so she threw another attack at him, and another. She fet herself stagger as she got up, and she nearly fell over again. 'Damn! He must've poisoned me!' she thought franticly. She drew a cross of light in front of her. "HOLY PURIFICATION!" It cut through the floor and burned a cross mark into his flesh. He went at her and bit her again, this time in the right shoulder. She cried out as he forced her onto the floor.

"Yessss...let my poissson ssseep into your blood. I'll remember your wonderful tassste..." Upheria whispered. Cedeile didn't want to die yet. She wouldn't yet. Not until her memories came back. And it was that thought that made her jam the heartblade right through his body, piercing right through his scales. Black blood got all over her as he riled up and screamed out. She tired to scamper away, but he pluged his hands down at her. "Fool!" he yelled as he constricted his hands around her throat. She tried to pull on them with her free hand, while the other held onto the heartblade. She began to swing it rapidly around, causing her spotnatious attacks to hit the ceiling and walls, making the rock crumble away. At last, she kicked out one of her legs, sending him flying a couple of inches, but enough for her to escape his grasp.

'I'm so screwed!' she though as she tried to move away. 'I can hardly see anymore. Damn poison!' He got up again and opened his mouth wide.

"You'll regret that!" he shouted. He shot a golden beam from his mouth and it hit her dead on, slamming her against a wall. It felt like billions of grains of sand were flying over her, cutting into her skin like little knives. Blood spurted everywhere around her. "How do you like that, heartblade massster? It's my beam of ssandss!" She stayed slumped against the wall.

'It's all over...'

"Cedeile!" a male voice yelled to her.

Navy blue eyes, the color of the midnight sky...a deep, dark color...

Upheria charged at her, fangs extended out from his gums, ready for a final move. Cedeile lay motionless.

"Cedeile!"

Dark navy...a refreshing memory...

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A horrible clang.

The sound of bones snapping...

And it was over...

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Upheria fell to the ground ,senseless. His fangs sunk out of her side, causing her to gasp out in pain. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath. It seemed she had a few broken ribs, not to mention her white shirt had been turned red, and her legs were soaked in blood-her blood. The poison was still in her-she knew that. But she'd won. All that was left was to find the pharoh's crown...

Before she could think of where to look for it, a gentle cry came from the darkness. Cedeile's head snapped over to the sound, but she found it was nothing to be afraid of. In fact, she smiled...

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427 looked at the wall with the white marks. The sun had only three marks before it reached the ceiling, but Cedeile was no where in sight. She knew this had been a stupid idea. What had she been thinking about coming here? The genie also seemed to think that Cedeile wasn't going to make it.

"It's really over, isn't it?" 427 said softly to herself.

"INDEED. SHE WON'T MAKE IT!" the genie's voice boomed.

"Allow me to disappoint you, then!" a voice replied. The two looked over to the doorway. There stood Cedeile, covered in blood, with a little black kitten curled in her arms, mewing happily. "The ceiling will have to wait for it's kiss, because I made it in time!" she walked forward, limping slightly, and swaying dangerously.

"Cedeile, what the hell happened to you?" 427 asked.

"Take my adivce, 427-never mess with an angry snake." Cedeile said as she walked up to the genie.

"YOU FOUND THE PHAROH'S CROWN?" he asked. Cedeile nodded.

"I did! I found out that the 'crown' was not really a crown at all! Pharohs had something much more important than a crown-they worshipped CATS!" she declared. "This is the cat I found down in the caverns. This is the pharoh's crown." She set the cat down and it hopped up onto the pillar that the lamp lay on.

"VERY GOOD! YOU HAVE PASSED MY TEST. NOW YOU MAY HAVE YOUR WISH!" he said.

"You know what I want-I wish for memories!" she called.

"VERY WELL! IT SHALL BE YOURS!" He pointed one of his large, red fingers at her and out of it came a blast of purple, blue, and gold smoke that hit her dead on. She went soaring off the platform and landed two feet away. She sat up and shook her head.

"Cedeile!" 427 yelled. She ran beside her. "Well, do you remember?" she asked. Cedeile thought for a second.

"Sure I do!" she exclaimed.

"Well, what do you remember?"

"I remember the snow storm of 72, the curse on the Boston Red Sox, and...the last time the New York Rangers won a Stanely Cup." she said, thinking hard. "Hey!" she stood up, even though it hurt like hell, and pointed an acusing finger at the genie. "These aren't MY memories!"

"YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR MEMORIES! YOU JUST ASKED FOR THEM, SO I GAVE YOU SOME OF MY FAVORITES." he declared. Suddenly, he began to disappear back into his lamp, despite Cedeile's aghast look.

"I told you to be careful in how you pharsed your wish." 427 said, giving her a potion to cure her wounds.

"Just shut up." Cedeile said while chugging it down.

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6H: Ha ha! How'd you like that? Two gory battles in a chapter, and some humor. By the way, DOWN WITH THE RANGERS!

Anaretsu: Such a shame that the hockey players went on strike.

6H: Indeed. I prefer New Jersey and Toronto. Minnasota too.

Anaretsu: Why are we being civil to each other?

6H: Cause it's nearly ten at night?

Anaetsu: 9:44.

6H: Who cares? Review! And I'll give YOU the pharoh's crown!

Cat: Meow!

6H: Aww, it's so precious!