Dark: jeez i was wondering when i was going to get to this part.

Shadow: oh yeah i remember when you first told me the story...nasty shit.

Dark: you don't know the half of it i swear i swallowed something when i fell into that things stomach... you know what i already had to type it, i'm not going to talk about.

Shadow: you okay?

Dark: yeah i don't think i'll throw up about it this time...

shadow: good, but just in case we'll cut this one short, the readers don't need the reader throwing up in front of them.

Dark: good point...enjoy the chapter


In the belly of a worm

I fell down the worm's throat in complete darkness, it was a slippery slimy ride until I feel into a pool of what I guessed to be digestive fluids mixed with large mounts of sand. I resurfaced, gasping for air and coughing up the fluid that had gotten into my mouth.

" I think I swallowed some of that." I thought fighting the urge to vomit.

I felt around for anything that could help my situation, swimming as best I could through the sand thickened fluid I found my way to a mound of sand that was mostly dry.

"Ugh… this sucks, big time. I have to find Jin, and more importantly Mira, but I can't see." I said to myself sitting down.

" You can't see? Why not?" a girl's voice asked behind me?

" Because I'm the type of person who can…wait what the hell." I replied spinning around still blinded by the darkness, " Well that's just great either I'm hearing things or I'm at a major disadvantage to a potential enemy."

" I'm no enemy, and you're not hearing things. I'm a ghost, well more of a helpful spirit actually." The voice said again

" Yeah, great…Still blind as a bat here." I said in an annoyed tone as I stood up.

" Oh right sorry, I've been here so long I've memorized the place. I don't need light anymore." The voice explained as a pair of hands began to glow through the darkness.

The glow let me finally get a look at the spirit I was talking to, a very pale girl wearing a long white dress. The spirit cupped its hands together forming a small ball of light that floated into the air and illuminated the area.

" That's much better, I'd probably ask if you could do something about the sand and other crap I don't even want to think about. But I'm sure you have better things to do than help me get cleaned up…is this really the worm's stomach?" I asked looking around.

" It's more like a cave right? I thought the same thing when I was eaten, this thing actually swallows sand and absorbs whatever nutrients it can get. Catching anything alive is just a bonus for it, once anything it catches dies it can absorb the nutrients from the body as it decays." The spirits explained hovering over to a skeleton a few feet away.

" I don't plan on being here that long, trust me. What's your name anyway?" I said following her.

" My name is Frost, I was an ambassador for the ice kingdom in the north during the conflict with the Solarians. A group that wanted to start up a war through the conflict ambushed me and they dumped me in the desert." She explained turning to me.

" And you wandered around looking for help until this guy ate you." I added in, " that's horrible and I wish I was there to do something about it but, I have to find my friends."

" That's very kind of you, and did you say friends? The only person who was eaten before you was a man with blue hair, there was a sword as well but-"

" That sword is my friend and I have to find her too." I cut her off angrily, " I'm sorry I'm a bit pissed at the situation. Will you help me?"

" Well I'm not sure what I can do the sand men took them and they're not as kind as I am." Frost explained pacing a bit.

" Did you say sand men?" I asked giving her a strange look.

" Yes, they're more angry spirits of the people who were eaten by the worm. They possess the sand and make new bodies for themselves having lost their original body then they wander through the bowels of the worm and if anyone is unlucky enough to meet one the capture the person and kill them. There are also those who used to be thieves and collect whatever treasures the worm may swallow."

" Wow…and I thought this was going to be a boring rescue in the belly of a worm." I said sarcastically walking into the darkness. " Well I haven't got time to waste so if you're coming with, I'm going."

" Well you're going to need my light so I have to come along now don't I!" Frost said with a smile as she hovered behind me, " You don't mind the smell in this place? I hated it for the first hundred years or so."

" Well, It's not like I was expecting the smell of roses or anything. But I've learned not to complain to much about things you can't change." I said looking down at the sand, " if this sand wasn't here this would all be stomach juices wouldn't it?"

" Well this thing did clear out a lot of the sand that was in here a long time ago, then it's was like a putrid lake in hear for a few weeks until it filled up on sand again." Frost said looking around herself, " oh I forgot to mention there might be baby worms in here along with some other desert bugs."

" Would big scorpions be on that list?" I asked stopping.

" Yeah why?"

"There are a few of them coming our way." I said pointing to a group of scorpions that were about the size of a large dog, " what I wouldn't give to have Mira in my hand right now." I thought making a sword appear in my hand.

" Dark, is that you?" Mira's voice called in my head, as I dove out of the way of one of the scorpion's tails.

" Mira! Where are you I let the worm eat me, which I'm kind of regretting right now, and I'm searching for you and Jin." Cutting off the tail of the same scorpion.

" I don't know where we are but I Jin and I were definitely separated, I can barely sense him." Mira replied as I dodged the tails of the other two scorpions.

" Can you tell if you're tied down or anything, will I be able to call you back to me?" I askedraising an eyebrow as the scorpions burrowed into the sand.

" I'm not sure…try it." Mira replied, just then the scorpion whose tail I cut off burst up from the sand behind me grabbing my leg with its pincers.

The scorpion pulled me to the ground as the other two came up out of the sand as well. I rolled frantically from side to side as they tried to skewer me with their venomous tails.

" A little help would be nice!" I shouted to Frost who was looking on in horror.

" But what can I do?"

" You're dead, they can do anything to you so just try anything!" I yelled again as one of the scorpions just missed stabbing me in the ribs.

" Uh, uh… oh! I know." Frost said as she flew through the scorpion holding my leg.

The scorpion let out a screech as ice began to form on its body and it was frozen from the inside out. Frost then continued to do the same thing to the other two scorpions, freezing them just before they could stab me in the chest.

" Saw it in a cartoon before, but hey it worked." I thought getting to my feet, " You've never done that before have you?"

" Well, no. Of course not…" Frost replied uneasily.

" If you ever get out of here you and I are going to spend some time finding out what you can do. You may be dead but since you're still here you have a gift that can really help people." I said holding out my arm, trying to call Mira back to me, " Come on make this little bit of an easier job for me…"

" What are you doing?" Frost asked staring at me.

I ignored her and concentrated on getting Mira back. I focused hard imagining flying into my hand as I did when I first called her to me to use against Nova. I saw a glint of light deep in the darkness as something flew toward me, a small tugged at my lips as Mira appeared out of the darkness and came to a rest in my hand.

" Don't get too happy I'm back Dark, I didn't come alone." She said as a windy howl came from the darkness.

" Sounds like a sandman liked your sword." Frost said fading out of sight, leaving only her light.

" Hey wait min- yeah she's gone…" I said disappointed.

"Here he comes." Mira warned as a mass of sand shapes like the profile of a man came out of the darkness.

I told Mira via thought to change into her true shape, and then with a quick swing I launched a wave of force at the sandman. Reducing him to a small hill of sand.

" That was too easy…" I thought not noticing the sandman was reforming behind me.

" Dark look out!" Mira shouted as I turned around, taking a huge, sandy fist to the face. Knocking me out cold.

I awoke in total darkness with no clue where I was, besides being in the belly of a worm. My hands were held fast behind my back with some kind of stone handcuffs, as were my feet. I squirmed my way to sitting up right and looked around, then noticed the faint sound of breathing close by me.

" Jin is that you?" I whispered as I wiggled my way toward the sound.

" Damn it dark doesn't tell me you got eaten too." Jin replied angrily.

" Well both you and the sword I'd need to save you got eaten so I thought hey why not join the frickin' party!" I shot back, " Don't get angry at me for coming to help you."

" So you got a plan, if I try anything with electricity whatever captured me hits me in the gut with a sword or something. And I can't seem to shock them so I'm pretty useless right now." Jin said with a sigh.

" I just might hold on a sec." I replied as I closed my eyes. " Kid…Kid… I know you're there help me out here."

"If I could help you don't you think I would have already…" KidDark said flatly.

" You're part of me and shadow which means your two kinds of an asshole rolled into one. So no, I don't expect you to just help me when I need it." I replied annoyed.

" Well, I guess you have a point. But I really have nothing I can do…you ever try bring the void to your eyes, maybe that'll do something." Kid suggested.

"Anything's worth a shot at this point," I thought shifting my focus to my eyes.

I sat for a moment feeling no change in my eyes or anywhere else for that matter. After about a minute I gave up and opened my eyes, to my surprise I could see very clearly. I was further down the worm's stomach near another pool of digestive juices; around me were a small group of sandmen sharpening old rusty blades. One of them had Mira, which sort of pissed me off a bit, but other than that join was the only living soul in the area.

" Jin, I can see them. I'm going to try to break loose and take these guys out." I whispered to Jin as I began to twist my hand in their cuffs.

" Yeah, you do that… I'll just wait here." Jin replied sounding left out.

" Ok… how do I take these guys out since brute force obviously doesn't work" I thought as I manage to crack my cuff in two, " wait a minute…energy creates heat right and when sand gets hot enough you get glass… that might just work."

With my hand free I easily freed my legs from their bonds and slowly got to my feet. Sadly one of the sand men heard the stone break and alerted the others to my attempted rescue. There were four sand men in total and they each increased their size with the sand around them.

" Well might as well test my plan outright." I said to myself rolling out of the way as one of the sandmen slammed its fists down over my head, " remember high heat, low strength…Hex cann- no it's not exactly the same attack."

I fired a beam of energy from my hand, engulfing one of the sandmen and leaving a perfect glass statue in its place. The other three came at me at once two with their own blade and one with Mira. He struck first and I merely took the blow on the shoulder, I grabbed Mira and wrenched her from sand sandman's hand.

" How'd you know I wouldn't cut you?" She asked as I dodged the other two sandmen's blades.

" A good sword won't cut its owner, right Mira." She remained silent but I could sense a wave of happiness coming from her.

With a smile I fired another beam of energy on one of the sandmen, the switched my aim to another. It collapsed into the sand just before my attack could hit then came up under me, taking me by the leg and holding me upside down in the air. The other remaining sand man came toward me and raised its blade to strike me. Then form out of nowhere frost appeared and flew though the sandman, freezing it solid, and then she continued to do the same to the one holding me.

" So, you actually decided to come help? After you left me to fight that first one on my own I was beginning to have my doubts." I said with a devilish smile, still hanging in the grip of the frozen sandman.

" What? A dead girl can't get a little scared and run away?" Frost asked floating in circle around me.

"Well-" I began just as the sandman's hand snapped, dropping me head first into the sand, " Okay… fate just told me to shut up."

Frost laughed as I broke what remained of the hand off my leg and went over to free Jin. I broke his cuffs and helped him to his feet. Now came the real hard part of our little escape, how to get out of the worm.

" Ok I know one thing for sure, I'm not going through any damn back door and we need to get out of here." I said pacing about.

" Well, I can't see a thing but if you can bring me to the wall of the worm's stomach maybe I can cause enough irritation to get it to surface and then maybe you could slice the damn thing open." Jin said staggering a bit, his lack of vision affecting his balance.

" I like that plan. If you're up to it that is." I thought looking at Mira.

" Well it's like you said before, I am a sword. I'm made for things like this, I shouldn't complain." Mira replied sounding a bit down.

" Yeah I'm sorry about that, I should have known from the moment I handed you to Shou that if you did come to life there might be situations and things you want no part of." I thought apologetically.

" Hey if you guys kill the worm what's going to happen to me, what'll I do." Frost asked worry clear in her voice.

"Who is that anyway?" Jin put in before I could answer her.

" Oh, uh…she's frost but I can't really introduce you until you can see, so let's put this plan into action." I said uneasily as I guided Jin to the stomach wall.

Jin gave a disgusted groan as his hand touched the slimy stomach walls of the worm. He went to work quickly pouring electricity into the creatures flesh. We could feel the worm writhe and wiggle in discomfort as Jin continued his work. For what seemed like a split second the ground beneath my feet went vertical, then leveled out again, leaving me face down in a pool of digestive juices.

" Oh come on again." I cried as I spat out whatever had gotten into my mouth.

" If you're going to gut this thing do it now." I don't think I can shock this thing like that again.

" Right." I replied with an angry groan as I shook the digestive fluid off of Mira.

I had her change to her true form again and began swinging her by her chain over my head. "You can focus that little shockwave thing you do so it has more of a cutting affect right?" I asked increasing the speed at which I swung her around.

" Of course."

" Then please do it." I asked as I swung Mira out in front of me and swung her in a perfect circle cutting into the worm's stomach wall.

Though I couldn't really see it I could hear the sound of the force of Mira's blade cutting through the worm. I suddenly felt bad as the worm clicked and screeched in pain, but I knew it was kill or be killed. Blood and other bodily fluids rained down on us as the worm feel into two pieces around us. The natural light hurt my eyes, forcing me to shield them for a moment and then I was fine.

The warm desert air blew away the stench of the worm's innards as Jin and I stepped out of its carcass, Frost floating behind us.

" Oh right, Jin this is Frost, she's the spirit of a woman who died in that worm." I said pointing to Frost as I realized they hadn't been properly introduced.

" Right, so is she coming with us?" Jin asked, Frost nodding uneasily in response.

" Well anyone have any clue where we are?" I asked without a response, " didn't think so…"

" This is quite a feat you've accomplished." A familiar voice chuckled off to the left of us, " not many people actually manage to kill a full grown sand worm, although you're methods were…unique."

" Old man Terra?" Jin said turning to the old man.

" Hey I remember you, you were that guy who refused to help me when I first got lost in the desert." Frost said pointing at him.

" Oh my, Frost was it…I must apologize for my behavior back then. I was young and full of pride, it is very much fault that you had the misfortune of being eaten by such a creature." Shin said taking a step forward, " And you still look just as good as you did when I first met you. But, I must help these youngsters get back to the city. They have much to do, and I can only carry them so fast."

" Carry us what do you mean by that?" I asked as he turned away.

Striking his cane in the sand he rose into the air on a floating platform made of sand.

" You didn't think they called me old man Terra for nothing did you?"

With a smile I ran up to and climbed on shin's platform with Jin close behind. Once we were all on the platform took off in what I could only guess was the direction of the city. Frost kept pace flying besides us being sure to keep her eye on shin. I thought of asking for more about how they knew each other but decided against it. Content to be out of the worm's stomach, I relaxed and let myself drift off to sleep until we arrived back at the city.