Draco: Alright. Hopefully I can get a few explanations in this chapter before someone blows up.

Despite the chapter title, Empyreal Paradox will be limited to the battlefield seen in Dissidia. Battlefield expansions will be on-and-off depending on my familiarity with and fondness of the source material - as stated previously, I don't want to use too much that I'm not familiar with.

Dissidia Final Fantasy and all related properties © Square Enix.

Sealed Battlegrounds: A Trip to Lumoria

Terra opened her eyes.

She was on the Phantom Train, in one of the beds of the bedroom car. The train was moving - which meant Ultimecia hadn't wrecked anything, and Kefka hadn't got to it - and for a moment she seemed to be alone. Weakly, she pulled herself to a sitting position.

"You're alright."

The Esperkin turned to see Lightning sitting on the closest bed to hers. One leg was up on the mattress, with her arm dangling over her knee; her shield was on her back, and her gunblade was not on her person.

"Lightning..." Terra paused. "You... you caught me, didn't you?"

"In your condition, hitting the ground was going to do you a lot of pain," Lightning explained, "and I didn't want to have another round of you magicking my ass."

Terra turned away, quiet for a long moment.

"Where did you get the manikin crystals?"

The question prompted Lightning to raise her gaze. "What?"

"Your new gear," Terra prompted "It's made from manikin crystals, isn't it? Where did you get them?"

"I..." Lightning stopped herself. "It... You... How did you know?" she asked in return. "How long have you known?"

Terra winced. "Kefka's machines. They're powered by shards of manikin crystal. He said he got them from you. Where did you get them?"

"How..." Lightning raised her hand, her gunblade appearing in it as a sword, and swiftly, she raised it before her, running her finger along it's edge. "It's not damaged," she murmured, flipping it over and running her finger along that edge. She shifted it to firearm and popped a bullet shell out of the back, holding it between her fingers as the weapon shifted again. "And it doesn't look like crystal. How did he...?"

On a gamble, Terra reached forward and pulled the weapon from Lightning's hand, setting one hand against the blade's edge. As the valkyrie watched, Terra pulled her hand away, gazing into her palm. She was shocked to see that there was a small collection of crystal slivers stuck into the flesh, and as she turned back to the blade she saw a few minute, almost invisible nicks in the blade - and to her surprise, the nicks slowly closed until it was an uninterrupted edge again.

"It is," Terra murmured, handing the sword back to Lightning. With a touch of magic, she pulled the slivers from her hand, holding them before Lightning. "It leaves behind little remnants, but the damage closes up before you can notice."

Lightning grit her teeth, setting her own hand against the edge. After a moment, she pulled it away, but there was nothing there. "Why doesn't it happen to me?" she prompted.

"I think it's because it's your weapon," Terra observed. "It's like magic - the crystals won't affect you, but they'll stick into anyone else."

The valkyrie swore heavily. "You mean I can't use this thing anymore?"

Terra shook her head. "Don't worry," she insisted. "I think I can alter its structure so it won't separate like that." She set one hand on the flat of the blade and closed her eyes - and to Lightning's surprise, the weapon was wrapped in a thin layer of magic. A moment's passage; then the Esperkin pulled her hand from the blade, and Lightning ran her finger over it.

"It's still just as sharp as before," Terra insisted, "but this way it won't give Kefka anything more to work with."

Lightning turned away, fading the weapon. "...Thanks..."

+x+x+x+

Onion was alone in the dining car. He was been waiting for Terra to recover, and though Lightning had passed through the car to check on her, she hadn't yet come back through. The little knight only told himself that Lightning would rather watch the tracks pass by than chat with Laguna and Squall - who were currently in the battle car, doing Spark-knows-what.

That left Onion sitting in the dining car, with a small dark bottle in his hands - and his mind on the events at Rift Castle.

Kefka... Where did he get that power? Taking a long drink, he set the bottle on the table. I knew he had a lot of magic, but I never thought it would be that expansive. And those fake metal Terras... he said something about manikin crystal. Where did he get that? He sighed. I can't do anything like this. He shuts down my Sage magic mid-spell, and a Ninja won't even scratch him. How...?

The door to the bedroom car opened.

Onion turned to see Terra standing there, a hand on her head.

"Terra!" he called.

The Esperkin raised her gaze to see the bottle on the table. "Onion... what is...?"

Onion glanced at the bottle and realized what that looked like. "It's just cola," he insisted, grabbing the bottle and looking for a label. "The menu said 'Raiden Cola'. I can see straight, I could cut your ponytail from here with a shuriken, I can recite pi to thirteen places, and I can't believe I've been sitting here since we got on this thing."

"How many bottles is that?" Terra asked.

The little fighter found the label and turned it to Terra as he looked inside the bottle. "Two and... looks like a half."

"Onion Knight..." Terra shook her head.

"I can function fine on a sugar high," Onion insisted. "This stuff is like Haste magic on my mind, except it doesn't take effect as fast."

Terra stepped forward and pulled the bottle from his hands. "Come on," she insisted. "Just hope it doesn't wear off if we run into someone."

It was then that Lightning stepped in from the bedroom car, prompting Terra to turn to her. "Did you pick a destination?" she prompted. "I thought we had already tried all the-"

"We're going back to Dream's End," Lightning interrupted, her voice firm. "Forget Garland and the Warrior. Kefka is flying around with mechanical manikins. We need everyone to know and be ready. Maybe taking beatings from someone other than you will let him know that it's not worth trying to play up old rivalries around here."

Terra was quiet for a moment; then she nodded. "Alright."

She started out towards the battle car, with Lightning following suit.

They were nearly out the door when Onion's voice called, "What's that?"

Terra turned to him. "What?"

"On your back," Onion insisted, stepping forward. "I saw something."

The Esperkin tried to turn, looking for what he was talking about, but not even ninety degrees did she give a dismissive sigh. "Onion Knight," she insisted, changing directions and turning nearly one-eighty, "I'm not in the mood for jokes and-"

Onion shook his head. "I'm serious," he insisted, setting a hand on Terra's arm. "Here, kneel down a bit. Don't hunch over."

Awkwardly, Terra managed to drop to one knee, keeping her back straight. Lightning stepped back, an amused smile on her face as Onion ran a hand over Terra's skin. "Yeah, there's marks on here," he murmured. "Looks like it goes further down."

"It's probably just burns from Kefka's mechs," Terra insisted. "The explosions would have gone through my clothes."

"No, it's not wounds," Onion insisted, drawing the knife at his hip. "It's... painted on, or something. Here, just hold still..."

Terra angled her head towards him. "What are you-?" She cut herself off with a shout when she heard his knife cut through the fabric on the left side - with an angry gasp, she got to her feet, the knife tearing down the back of her clothes until Onion pulled his blade away. "Onion, what are you doing!?"

"I couldn't see it clearly!" The little knight raised his hands, letting the knife fall to the floor. "I wasn't able to determine what it was if-"

Lightning set a hand on Terra's back. "It does look like there's something there..."

Terra spun round towards Lightning, going against the tear - which meant the flap that had been cut from her back wavered open. "Don't," she insisted. "I'm sure it's just-"

Onion's cry of confusion cut her off. "What the...?!"

The Esperkin realized too late what she had just done and spun back to Onion, magic racing across her back as the fabric started to close itself up. Onion had an look of shock on his face, and Terra's own expression became an angry one. "Onion Knight...!"

"Terra, there's a Moogle on there!"

His shout caused Terra to come to an abrupt stop.

"What...?"

+x+x+x+

"The kid's right. There's a Moogle tattooed on your back."

Terra, Lightning, and Onion had met up with Squall and Laguna in the battle car. The train had stopped before anything could be explained, so they all waited to get onto the station before finds were given. Once they had, Lightning had carefully repeated the cut that Onion had made on the back of clothes, inspecting the markings there.

"A Moogle?" Terra prompted. "But that... that doesn't make any sense. I've never had that before."

"Maybe that's where all your new magic has been coming from," Laguna observed. "When you took down Kefka that first time, you said that wasn't one of your normal spells, right?"

Terra nodded. "Yeah, but... that just came out of nowhere."

"What about when you fixed the train?" Laguna prompted. "Do you usually have access to death magic like that?"

"No..."

"And when you took down Kefka's mechs," Squall observed. "You don't usually throw rocks around like that."

Terra thought a moment. "But... still. How could a tattoo give me power like this?"

Onion shook his head. "Well, one thing's for sure," he observed. "Whenever you use this, these... powers that aren't yours, it sucks your power whenever you use it. If you keep doubling it up with your Riot Blade, you're gonna keep passing out. That's not good for your body, and it could put you in a lot of danger if you're fighting more than one enemy that you're fighting. Best if you don't try and call on it too much."

Squall only turned towards the station stairs. "Which one are we at?" he prompted.

"Dream's End - if it worked," Lightning replied. "We need to let everyone know about Kefka before we get back to looking for the Chaos Shrine. If they're just playing Blitzball, they're gonna get their asses handed to them when that joker shows up."

Terra glanced at her hands, prompting Onion to turn to her. "Is something wrong, Terra?"

"No..." Terra raised her gaze to the others. "You guys go. I... I have something I want to try."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" she prompted. "If Kefka shows up with any more of those machines-"

Onion shook his head. "She'll be alright," he insisted. "I'll stay with her."

Laguna rolled his eyes. "Kids."

"I heard that!" Onion protested.

"Whatever," Lightning mused. "You do what you want. I guess you guys don't really have a reason to be tagging along, anyways." She turned away, leading the other two down the steps and into Dream's End.

Onion waited for a while after they left; then he turned to Terra. "What did you have in mind?" he asked.

Terra turned towards the tracks, holding out her hand - and with a flash, her sword appeared in it.

"Onion Knight... can you show me how to fight with a sword?"

The question caught the little fighter completely off-guard. "What...? But Terra, I've seen you-"

"No," Terra insisted. "Just a little bit. Only when I'm out of my Trance. Because this form doesn't have claws. I want you to show me how to fight. Properly."

"Terra..." Onion bit his lip. "I'm not so sure. You're half made of magic-"

The Esperkin shook her head. "That's my problem," she insisted. "I'm too dependent on my magic. Kefka's control over arcana is getting stronger. I need to be able to fight him without it."

Onion hesitated. "I don't know. It won't be easy..."

"I didn't think it was going to be."

"You won't be able to use your Trance."

"It's too uncontrollable here, anyways."

"You could get hurt."

"We both know healing magic."

"I can't be nice about it, Terra."

The mage turned to him. "What?"

Onion shook his head. "If you ask me to do this, then the gloves come off. No protecting. No holding back. Teaching you swordplay means pushing you to your limits. I..." He turned away.

"I can't guarantee you'll still like me when we're through."

Terra lowered her gaze for a moment.

"I... I'm sure I can keep the Scholar separate from the Knight," she insisted.

Onion winced as she said that, but turned to face her again.

"We're going to need a more open battlefield."

+x+x+x+

"He's doing what?"

Lightning's appearance in Dream's End had brought the Blitzball game to a halt - again. Once everyone was out of the water, the valkyrie had explained the situation - namely, the Kefka situation.

Kuja lashed one hand down angrily. "I should have known that jester wouldn't be satisfied to forge allegiances in this world," he muttered. "Undoubtedly he has something else in mind already."

"One moment," Sephiroth insisted, turning to Lightning. "You said he had some sort of machine copies?"

"They looked like manikins," Lightning stated. "They worked like manikins. But they had just as much power as Terra - not some watered-down ripoffs - and they were completely metal. Ever her clothes."

"We can't just wait here," Yuna insisted. "We need to go after him."

"No," Vaan mused, "we need to make sure everyone who isn't dumb enough to side with him knows he's freaking out."

Lightning shook her head. "Wrong. All of you. We don't need to go defensive, or let everyone know. What we need is to make sure that we're ready if he finds us. That means being able to put up a good fight if he decides to come in swinging."

Jecht scratched the back of his head. "So... no more Blitzball, then?" he mused.

"No more Blitzball," Lightning insisted.

Everyone groaned at that.

"Hey, Lightning!"

The call prompted everyone to turn. Lightning was incredibly confused when she saw Bartz standing on the next set of seating platforms - with expert movements, he leapt forward, crossing the gap and landing with a skid.

"Bartz?" Lightning mused. "I thought you..." She glanced at the assembled crowd before turning back to him. "What took you so long?"

"Ah, Onion got mixed up," Bartz insisted. "The directions he gave me from the Crystal World put me in Empyreal Paradox. A couple of warriors were there that I didn't recognize. Not even manikins."

"Wait, not even manikins?" Laguna demanded.

Bartz nodded. "Yeah. Weirdest girls I'd ever seen. They both had really sharp ears. One of them was wearing knuckles - those things sting if you try and block 'em wrong. The other had a staff, but I don't blame her for doing magic. She was tiny."

"Tiny?" Squall asked.

"No, seriously," Bartz insisted. "Like... Tidus, throw me a ball?"

The ace drew a blitzball, tossing it at Bartz like an attack throw. Bartz caught it between his hands, sizing it up for a bit - then an axe like Firion carried appeared in one hand, and he set it against the ball so that the edge of the axe's head was aimed away from it. "About that tall," he mused.

"You're kidding," Lightning murmured.

"Go and see for yourself," Bartz insisted. "Right-hand stone off the main platforms when you're looking at the big crystal ring."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "The kid specifically said it was the left-hand stone to Dream's End."

Bartz blinked. "Oh. Right..."

+x+x+x+

While all the players started draining the Blitzball stadium, Lightning and Squall took off to the Crystal World - easier to find this time, given that Bartz had just come through there. It didn't take long for them to find the exit that Bartz had found. Lightning's thoughts were rambling - who were these Warriors, whose manikins they had never seen?

One step off the rock.

One step to cross the join.

One step onto stardust.

There they were - Empyreal Paradox. Memories of the gate to the Rift raced through Lightning's mind, but she forced them down, telling herself that that was then and this is now.

She glanced around, stepping forward as Squall emerged behind her. "Hello?" she called. "Is anyone here?"

"You friends of that mime?"

The two gunbladers spun towards the voice, drawing their weapons, before seeing who was standing there. It was a girl with tanned skin, knuckles clenched in her hands. Her hair was lavender, flowing halfway down her back, and her garments were rather simplistic - black shorts, black top, purple sleeves, and tan boots. She had a small crown-like shape nestled in her hair, made from silver and gold, and her ears were long and sharp.

"Who are you?" Lightning asked.

"I'm Prishe," the fighter girl mused. "And you?"

"Lightning," the valkyrie replied. "This is Squall."

Prishe glanced between the two of them. "So are you friends of that mime who came in here?" she mused. "He saw me and the Doc and just panicked. He was freaking out. I wanted to go after him, but the Doc said she wanted to see how he got in here."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "Doc?"

"Yeah," Prishe mused. "Hold on-" She stepped past them and raised her hands to her mouth. "Heeey, Doc!?"

Lightning turned after her and was surprised when she saw a small figure that hadn't been there before. Bartz hadn't been exaggerating - she really wasn't much bigger than a blitzball. She was in a robe striped black and white with gold linings, with a pair of dark gauntlets on her hands, and her hair was a dirty blonde colour, tied in pigtails behind her.

The maged glanced between the two Warriors of Cosmos curiously. "And who might you two be? Your weapons seem to be similar, but your dispositions differ quite drastically."

"Doc, this is Lightning and Squall," Prishe mused. "Guys, this is Doctor Shantotto."

Lightning rubbed the back of her head. "And you two are - were - past warriors?"

"Yep," Prishe confirmed. "Both of us were under Cosmos. Doc was always at the sanctuary, ready to fry anyone who got close enough to be a threat. I was usually on the patrol."

"Explain something to me, if you please," Shantotto mused. "We've been searching for an exit from this battlefield, but have experienced a number of futilities. How have you and that mime entered with such ease?"

Lightning sighed. Shantotto did not look like the kind of person who was going to settle for the simplistic version. "Here we go again..."

Draco: {snaps fingers in thought} I think that'll do for now.