Author's Notes: First off a big thanks to Sin Oan for back-reviewing, a rare show of generosity that doesn't go unappreciated, I'm grateful :D. In response to your feedback, I hope this chapter will cover some if not all of the points you raised, but just in case I'll explain them myself. Firstly, regarding the method of defeating Mary Sue, I realise it is a little cliché, and Zone pointed out as much. Although this story uses a lot of parody, it is intended to have an underlying plot and some meaningful themes and concepts, and the idea is that it's a metaphor, basically the only way to overcome the kind of quality-leeching threat Mary Sue represents is for characters to define themselves through each other, as that interaction is key in their development. As for the comment about them seeming to get on too well, that was slightly down to me being tired, but the idea is that they've grasped the two extremes, and now need to bring them together to really have a chance against Mary Sue, as I hope is conveyed clearly here. Lastly, about the long-ass chapter and fights, sorry it dragged on :o, I just try to convey how the trio are not like Dante, who can hack through 10 Blades without breaking a sweat, and that such battles are trying encounters for them. None of this is a rebuke mind, just returning the favour of explaining things as you did for me, which I'm grateful for :). That said, thanks to everyone else who reviewed too, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter, which is kinda serious but I tried to mix in some humour.
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The first indication of an outside world Arson, Reiko and Zone perceived after the white light consumed them, was Matier's voice. "About time, I was starting to think I'd miss Lost waiting for you three" it said.

As the incandescence faded, they were able to make out each other's forms, and then their surroundings. Already a little thrown off by hearing the elderly woman's voice, not to mention what it'd said, they were inclined to further bemusement when they found they were standing in what looked like a shop storeroom. They were all physically and mentally exhausted though, and unanimously decided to ignore it and wait for someone to provide an explanation, although that was a risky bet in the vaguely established DMC2 world.

A moment later, Matier stepped forwards out of the receding light, and being as sharp as she was old, explained their appearance in the back of her shop upon seeing their expressions. After all, she could respect a to the point attitude, "There's a portal in the dungeon you came from that returns you to the entrance, to save tedious backtracking. This nexus here redirects signals back here for the same reason".

"That's… Pretty useful" Reiko conceded, rubbing his chin, and then his eyes while trying to stifle a yawn.

Being closest to the ground, Zone had noticed shortly after being able to see that they were standing in some half-brother or second cousin of a pentagram. Walking to the edge, he experimentally sniffed the perimeter, and sneezed, blowing a plume of white dust into his face. "Is this baking powder?" he accused.

"The materials are inconsequential, the meaning is what matters" Matier scolded him. She bent down and shoed the troublesome rodent out of the symbol, meticulously repairing the smudged line while Zone wiped the dust off and muttered unkind words about the old woman. "Don't just stand there, you're holding up traffic" she reprimanded Arson and Reiko, who gave each other a puzzled look, shrugged, and stepped out.

Barely a moment after they had joined Zone on the outside, Matier stood back, and a familiar white light radiated from the something-a-gram. When it faded, in its place stood a teenage boy with very big, brown hair, bright mismatched clothes a ridiculously large key in one hand. He was flanked by a short duck-like creature in a blue sailor's outfit, and a tall lanky anthropomorphic dog with long ears, dressed in typical working class attire on the other side, who spoke. "D'ya think this is the place Sora, ug-huh?" he asked the teenager, punctuating the question with a laugh reminiscent of someone chugging a pint of beer in one go.

Before Sora could reply, the duck opened his beak, "If hafsh to bfe Goohpy, fphare elfse fould if bphe?".

"Was that and attempt at language, or weather?" asked Zone, who had retreated from the moderate shower of spittle that had emanated from the duck's beak. Hearing him, the new arrivals noticed the other group for the first time. There was an extremely prolonged and extremely awkward silence as the vampire, the hybrid and the hamster, and the cartoon duck, the anthropomorphic dog, and the keybearer examined each other…

Eventually, Sora focused for long enough to do something remotely resembling leadership. "Hey guys, we don't have time for this, we have to find the Heartless!" he declared, receiving approval from his comrades.

"The Heartless?" Reiko said upon hearing this, staring at the floor thoughtfully. "Aren't those the creatures that go around from story to story sealing up or corrupting the souls of their characters, feeding on them and plunging the world into darkness?" he asked. The other three nodded, and a thoughtful pause ensued…

"What in the world are they doing here then?" Zone broke the silence to ask, grinning brazenly right up until Matier smacked him one on the head with that staff of hers. She quickly ushered the other group out through the door before anything complicated took place, gesturing for Reiko, Arson and Zone to follow.

The trio walked out to find themselves back in the main room of Matier's shop come office, the elderly sage pleasantly but frantically waving Sora's group out the front door. As she closed it behind them, Reiko noticed the sun was setting outside, which meant they'd been in that dungeon the best part of all day long.

Matier turned back to her remaining guests. "You acquired the Demon Stone, I presume?" she asked expectantly, looking from Reiko to Arson, and then Zone when he made an annoyed noise at being ignored.

"Oh, right" Reiko said, fishing into his pockets for the blue stone they'd picked up after beating the dragon. He'd stored it on reflex to free his hands in case of attack, but couldn't remember which one he'd put it in.

Matier tapped her staff impatiently, snatching it from the vampire when he finally produced it. "Aah, well done" she granted them a brief complement, "I'm glad you were able to acquire it, it can't have been easy".

"Major understatement" Zone replied, the rodent having climbed up onto a table. He was panting tiredly and fighting down a yawn every other moment, but managed he to ask "So, now we can beat Mary Sue?".

Matier glanced at him, and then walked over to her computer and picked up two bunches of paper. "You've gotten stronger together, yes, you could not have acquired the Demon Stone otherwise…" she said, turning round and holding up the artifact in one hand, and the documents in the other. "However, that dungeon may have been tough for you, but Mary Sue is in an entirely different league, she is still beyond your abilities".

The elderly sage was treated to a triple dosage of aghast, disbelieving stares as she said this. Reiko dropped into a nearly chair despondently, Arson hung his head shamefully, and Zone retorted, "But, but you said-".

Matier cut him off, "I said if you could conquer the dungeon you would have what it takes to fight Mary Sue, not defeat her!" she snapped sharply. "As you are you stand a slight chance against her, and given enough opportunities might manage to eventually overcome her. But when the time comes you will have only one chance, and for that to be a significant chance, you still have a way to go" she informed them.

"But, we tried so hard…" muttered Arson, who was leaning on a statue. The hybrid's breathing was ragged, and he was visibly slumping against the marble hydra, hence his unusual quietness since they had returned.

Matier turned her eyes on him, and even though she was far too experienced to be phased by mere cuteness, she detected the sincerity in his words. "Yes, you did" she allowed, "I admit you've improved considerably as a team, as recently as mere days ago you probably would not have managed to overcome that dungeon".

Reiko shook his head to clear his vision, and shoving aside his tiredness, asked "What else must we do?".

Matier raised the papers she'd been holding all along in response, "I've printed off the last two chapters of the story. You need to review them and understand what you did right and what you need to improve on".

Reiko just stared at the papers for a long while, and then looked past Matier to her computer, where the previous chapter was visible in a web browser window. The vampire clawed at his face and muttered unintelligible things, while Zone shook his head, "The fourth wall must cry itself to sleep at night" he said.

Matier cast him a withering look, but the rodent shrugged it off, and she turned back to Reiko, "You can either learn from your mistakes or repeat them, and the former requires you concentrate on studying these".

Reiko looked at the 13 pages chronicling their quest through the dungeon, but his eyes were drawn past them to behind Matier. "If they require our full concentration, perhaps we should wait until tomorrow?" he proposed tactfully. Matier looked at him, and then turned to see what the vampire was being distracted by.

Arson was lying on the marble hydra, seated snugly against the curve of its back with his legs to either side of the dip before the tail arched back up. The hybrid was sound asleep, and using a magic carpet as a cover.

Zone was looking at this also, and gave a wry grin, which soon developed into a poorly suppressed yawn. Checking his laser weapon, he found that its reserves were empty; completely depleted. The rodent could relate to that, and he picked himself up and walked across the table to a spare cushion used to hold crystal balls. "Time out…" he muttered, climbing up and slumping onto it, the rodent using it as a makeshift bed.

Matier glared between the dosing off hamster and already asleep hybrid with fierce disapproval, and then turned her gaze on Reiko. The vampire winced back from her, and shrugged apologetically. "Perhaps we should acknowledge our limits and allow ourselves a chance to recover?" he offered by way of explanation.

Matier looked at him critically, but took heed of his words. In truth, the three of them were totally drained, for despite the frequent boring but useful breaks early on, the numerous battles, puzzles, and raw travelling had taken a severe toll on them. Only resolve, determination, adrenaline and similar things had kept them going to the end, even these reserves being tested sorely. They had kept going, knowing they couldn't give up, that in the middle of it all you had to keep pushing forwards, or you were done for. But once they had finished, they'd returned with barely anything left in them, the normally hyper Arson laconic with fatigue, Zone running on his last scraps of adrenaline, and Reiko using his last shreds of energy just to think clearly.

"Alright, fine" Matier conceded testily, "I expect your full attention tomorrow, however". Turning to begin locking up the shop, she scoffed irritably and threw the bound papers to the side. Original characters she thought, either hopelessly crude or modestly gifted almost all of them. Still, she wasn't totally apathetic to the genuine effort they had made to overcome a challenge she knew would test their limits. She had thrown the papers so that they landed half-covering Zone, giving the rodent some protection from the cold night…

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The next morning, and a better-rested trio had gathered round a table that had not so much been cleared as exorcised. Spread across the surface was about a dozen pages, which they were looking over, trying to learn from their mistakes. Also adorning the desktop was a reminder that though she was sharp as a sickle and spry with a walking staff, Matier was still and old woman, as she was serving them milk and cookies.

"Spho…" said Zone, swallowing and trying again, "So, what exactly were we doing wrong? I mean we're working together, right?" he asked, indicating a page he was sitting in front of. The rodent had surprised everyone, even Matier, though she didn't let it show, by already consuming one cookie as big as he was.

Reiko rubbed his chin thoughtfully, in the hopes that some wondering inspiration wanting to settle down and start a family might see his contemplative expression and decide to move in. He got a few viewers, but nothing stayed for the sale, and he sighed. "I don't know" he admitted; they'd been at this for quite a while.

Arson looked up from playing lifeguard in his milk with the chocolate chips from his cookie long enough to contribute. "Maybe, we worked together in the wrong way?" he suggested, earning reproachful looks from the other two for the vague, unhelpful comment.

"Don't look at him like that" Matier snapped as she re-entered the room, "Arson's gotten closer than any of you in that statement". She refilled their glasses, grudgingly gave Zone a second cookie, and then seeing their blank expressions, realised they'd need their heads filling in too. "In the dungeon you worked together yes, and were stronger. But you sacrificed your individual selves to a degree in order to achieve that unity".

There was a silence, and as was tradition, Zone was the one to break it. "Like Hell I did!" he opined loudly.

Matier's staff twitched, but she decided instead on a verbal beating, rounding on the rodent. "Oh you didn't did you? How about here?" she jabbed her finger at the page in front of him without even looking, "Right here, when Reiko helped you fight the skeletons, you suppressed your own persona to cooperate with him".

Zone peered forwards, rereading the text, and scoffed, looking away disdainfully. Reiko leaned over to read the text for himself and realised Zone had been unusually subdued. "Is this true?" he inquired of the rodent.

Zone glared at him and spat his response. "Oh yeah, you criticise me when I speak my mind, and now when I make a concerted effort to cooperate, you're not happy either?" he threw up his front paws in aggravation.

Reiko's reply was terse with forced control. "We were informed prior to entering the dungeon not to hold ourselves back, did you forget?" he asked, a hint of accusation in his voice.

"Don't patronise me corpse" the rodent spat. "If you stop worrying about the poor useless furball for a moment" he added sarcastically, "I think you'll realise Arson's been holding back since the beginning".

Arson winced under the statement directed at him, lowering his head as Reiko turned to look at him. "I um, they're just … Secrets" he defended shyly, tapping his fingers together in a meek fashion as Reiko groaned.

While this was going on, Matier had slipped into another room to give them space. Holding things back would only stop them learning how to harness their combined potential, and it was best they came to terms with each other themselves. After all, when the time came, they would only have each other to rely on.

Back with the trio, a minor argument was taking place. "Just because I'm not afraid to be enthusiastic doesn't mean I don't take this seriously, excuse me for wanting to feel alive" Zone retorted to Reiko's claim that he was reckless. The vampire didn't miss the hamster's intended inflection in the word "alive".

"Guys, come on, why are we fighting?" Arson said, trying to calm things down, meeting with little success.

"We're fighting because Count Dorkula thinks you're not serious about anything if you don't cry a river of woe every night and dress like a Matrix reject. Sometimes I wonder why I bothered coming" Zone replied.

Reiko hit the table in frustration, losing his patience with the rodent's unhelpful, inane insults. "Well so do I" he told the rodent, "I don't know why you came, you weren't asked to and I can't see why you'd care".

Zone visibly stiffened at this, his reply coming in a low growl, "No, I don't expect you would understand".

When it became obvious the hamster had nothing more to say, Arson reached out to stroke him friendlily, but Zone shifted away from his hand; he wasn't a toy to be played with on the whims of others. The hybrid whimpered sadly, glancing at Reiko, who gave him a neutral look, since he had as good as confessed to holding back himself. "I'm sorry, you guys" Arson muttered apologetically, and a heavy silence followed.

Eventually, surprisingly enough Zone was the one to break it, "I'll tell you, then" he said, his voice still tense, but calmer than it had been before. He turned to look at Reiko and visibly pushed down his temper.

"Tell me what?" the vampire asked politely, trying to be polite and not hold a grudge against the hamster.

"I'll tell you why I came along" Zone said, taking a couple of breaths before continuing. He hated making himself vulnerable like this, but he pressed on, "I came for two reasons. One I admit, was because of the challenge, I wanted to prove myself and enjoy the action" he stopped, sensing the disapproval from Reiko, even though he concealed it. "The other reason…" he continued, hesitating about the phrasing, and in the end deciding to just say it, "I like you both, I value you as friends, even respect you, and, I wanted to help".

Reiko sat in silence for a moment as he took this in. Zone shut his own mouth and stared determinedly at the table in front of him, not moving or speaking, bracing himself mentally for the kind of backlash sharing something so open as that exposed one to. The vampire knew they were friends, but not in the way where they could openly say such things without being teased or mocked, and the bold admittance surprised him.

"Thanks, Zone" Arson said suddenly, smiling at the hamster, a simple sign of acceptance. He slowly reached out, and this time Zone didn't move, and slowly smiled as Arson ruffled the fur between his ears.

With that, the tension between them eased considerably, and though Reiko didn't pet Zone, he did give him a small smile, which the rodent returned. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you came" Reiko admitted quietly.

Before another word could pass between them, Matier came back into the room, coughing purposefully as she did. In one hand she held the Demon Stone, and in the other what looked like tickets. "I've booked you seats online on a flight back to the DMC3 fandom" she explained, confirming that they were indeed tickets.

They gave a chorus of nods, and Zone looked from the tickets to the stone, "What does that do anyway?".

Matier looked at the stone nonchalantly. "Oh this? Various things, generally speaking it's a transfinite conduit for demonic energy" she explained, talking as if she was describing the function of an egg whisk.

"Really? Can I see?" Zone asked with much more enthusiasm, and with a shrug Matier set it down on the table besides him. The rodent ran a paw over it, staring into its faintly swirling depths, and then pulled out his laser gun. Turning it around, he connected the intake port to the Demon Stone, and his smile grew wider and wider as he watched the storage gauge fill. "Full power!!" he shouted excitedly after several seconds.

As the elated tyrant spun his weapon round and hugged it fondly, Reiko picked up the gem and peered into its depths. "Impressive" he said, the non-linear capacity of the stone seemingly not even slightly depleted.

Matier took it swiftly but politely from his grasp, "It has its uses, but these are much more relevant to your aims" she said, handing him the tickets, Zone noting with a smile that she'd gotten three. "Listen carefully now" the sage said, pausing for their attention, "I sent you to retrieve the stone so that you would learn to work together, harnessing a greater power than you could individually. You succeeded, but that is not the end of it. You know how to fight as yourselves, and how to fight together, but only by combining the two to wield the strength of both can you succeed. In that equilibrium alone lies the power to defeat Mary Sue, and to that end there is nothing more I can tell you, you must understand the rest for yourselves together".

Matier allowed a long pause for this to sink in; it was vital they took it to heart. When she was sure they'd absorbed it, she continued, "Now, that's how you defeat Mary Sue, but reaching her is another matter…".

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A little while later, and the three arrived at the airport to catch their flight. They entered to find the place unusually quiet, the few people darting about and skeleton staff (not literally, mind) on duty almost eerie compared to the mad bustle it had been when they'd landed here. "This is kinda creepy" Arson muttered.

"It must be because of Mary Sue, even out here, the entire DMC fanverse is being strangled" Reiko mused.

"No point in standing around then, right?" Zone pointed out, him Arson and Reiko nodding in agreement.

Searching around for a bit, they were able to find someone to direct them to their terminal. They boarded their flight and found it too was sparsely populated. Settling into their seats, Reiko putting a comfy pillow on Zone's as a sort of amends for earlier, they found it oddly disquieting. It was like being stuck in a funeral service, and even Arson was fairly hushed up as the plane took off, thankfully without incident.

Back in her shop, Matier looked up with that sage wisdom incomprehensible to mere mortals as a white trail streaked across the sky, knowing they were inside. She grimaced momentarily, pondering their chances. She had taught them what they needed, but it was up to them to understand it, there were some things that had to be discovered for oneself. It was all up to them now; whether or not they could achieve the crucial balance of self and unity would determine the fate of the fandom. It was a great burden, for they were not heroes like Dante, Vergil or even Lady. But they had a chance, of this Matier was certain, and she spared a thought for the shadows they would face. Indeed, some things had to be discovered for oneself…