Rayne crept along what looked like a sewer slightly behind Jack and Mist, and all of them were grateful they didn't have noses anymore. Rayne wondered if Vanitas had sent them here as a joke, but since they hadn't walked into a deathtrap, she supposed he wouldn't go to the trouble of playing a simple prank. Jack hadn't called Wanderer's Judgement to his hand, but Mist had reverted her Keyblade to its gauntleted form, which she was more comfortable with. The gauntlets didn't give off light, but they reflected the dull lights that flickered above them, and it seemed to glow dimly all by itself. Behind them, Rayne looked back periodically to make sure they weren't being followed.

"I'm sensing Light up ahead." Jack told them, "but its different than usual, like there's something else there." He looked back and gestured towards the left wall. "It's in that direction."

Rayne nodded, and they started walking quickly through the sewers. She remembered all of her memories clearly; far more clearly than the day she died. Did she have a memory of a young woman as well as the Heart of one?

All of a sudden, a huge metal shape crashed down from above. It was about three metres tall with a humanoid shape, but with long limbs attached making it look like an ape. Was this one of the Lightsworn Vanitas had talked about? But what kind of Keyblade Armour was this? Rayne couldn't sense anything coming from it. To all intents and purposes, it should have been a dead hunk of metal. Only it wasn't.

It swung its fist towards Jack, who sidestepped and slashed at its arm. A gouge was traced through the metal, but it didn't sever. Mist infused her gauntlet with lightning and punched the metal foe in its stomach, making it stumble back. Its limbs spasmed wildly, almost catching Jack again, then steadied themselves. Rayne jumped, using a small anti-gravity spell to lighten her, and used Equilibrium to strike at its head. It swerved, avoiding a fatal blow, but Equilibrium still shaved off a chunk of the head.

Landing behind the hunk of metal, Rayne was astonished to see wires protruding out of the hole, and sparks of electricity jumping between the two ends. "They're machines." She yelled, and fired off a Thundara spell at the hole. Her aim was good, and the circuits got fried instantly. With a crash, the cyborg fell to the ground, drenching the three of them in sewage water at the same time.

"The cyborg's revenge, I guess" Jack said. "Hey, Mist. Do you have a spell to wash this..." He trailed off. Mist shook her head in exasperation. "First of all, no. Second of all, it's not like you can get a disease with this stuff."

"I could get flooded down." Jack said. "If too much sewage water gets in here I might get bogged down and not be able to move in this stink."

"I think I'm getting bogged down with something that stinks." Mist muttered good naturedly.

Rayne groaned, "Do you have to flirt in front of me? I know you haven't seen each other for a thousand years, but still."

Jack laughed, and continued walking on. As they did, they stopped needing Jack's ability to track Light. There was as trail of destroyed cyborgs that corresponded exactly to where Light's vessel was headed. The cyborgs were sliced into bits, and their circuits sparked in the water. It occurred to the three of them that if they had been actual people, they would have been electrocuted many times over.

"Well, doesn't look as if Light's vessel is peaceful." Mist muttered, "so much for trying to talk to him."

They found a hole in the wall that had obviously been sliced by Light's vessel. Walking in they were in a dark room surrounded by metal, and saw even more cyborg remains, with the electricity still sparking. Rayne wondered if the vessel chopped up the cyborgs while they were dead, because she didn't see how one cyborg could be so cleanly cut into so many parts. She swore she could pick out parts of the same arm scattered over five metres. Ahead, they could hear a male's voice talking. Creeping forward, they peered around a corner and saw a tall man in grey armour with silver hair. He was holding a hand to his ear, and was talking to someone on an earpiece.

"Alright, let's give it a shot." He was saying. He took his hand away from his ear and started running forward.

The three of them followed him as he emerged onto a metal gantry and jumped down, slashing at another patrolling cyborg. Suddenly, three more huge cyborgs burst out of glass cages and bore down on Light's vessel. Jack went to jump down and help him, but stopped as he saw that Light's vessel didn't need any help. At first he had to make sure none of Light's power was being channelled, because its vessel moved amazingly fast for a mere human. Blue electricity sparked from his long katana as he danced about as quick as the lightning sparking out of his feet. He didn't just use the sword to slice things; his sword was just one of his limbs, and he used all four to quickly destroy the three cyborgs. In terms of technique, he was above any of them. His legs would lash out midair while his arms propelled him above the cyborgs. Rayne had wondered how the cyborgs had been cut into so many parts, and saw it being done in front of her. One cyborg had the left side of its chest sliced into eight pieces, its fingers still twitching spasmodically as it fell on the ground.

"Damn," Jack whispered, "Light's got itself one hell of a vessel."

Apparently the vessel had more than just excellent fighting skills. He heard Jack and whirled towards the gantry where the three of them were standing on. "Well? Aren't you supposed to be killing intruders?" He asked.

"I think you've done enough killing." Jack said, and jumped down onto the ground. "These cyborgs are part human as well, aren't they. They're powered by human brains. I think you're the killer here."

Light's vessel pointed his sword at them and said "I kill to protect. What about you?"

"I think," Jack said, "It depends on who you kill and who you protect."

"And who have you killed, and who do you protect?" Light's vessel returned. His arm didn't waver, and he glared hostilely at the three of them. Rayne was shocked to see he only had one eye. Much of his face was covered in black, metal plating.

She jumped down as well with Equillibrium still in her hand and said, "We protect our friends and family, and kill those who threaten them." Jack held out a hand and she stopped and continued "And what about you? I can see who you kill, who are you protecting here?"

"These people chose to do this." Light's vessel said. "I kill to protect those who can't protect themselves."

"So how are killing all these cyborgs protecting people?" Rayne interjected, "Seems to me you're just choosing who to kill and who not to."

He was about to reply when we heard a voice on his earpiece came on "Raiden! What are you doing? Hurry up and complete your mission!"

Raiden ignored it and replied "I protect those who can't protect themselves. These cyborgs harm innocent kids." He threw open the door and at first no one comprehended what they were. The room was full of shelves that reached the ceiling, and all the shelves were packed with cylinders containing green fluid. Rayne looked closer and saw that there was something in it, and she jerked her head back when she realized that it was alive. The shape was ovular, with two eyes moving freely. Mist asked in a subdued voice, "Are those... brains?"

Raiden nodded. "Brains of kids that are harvested. They undergo VR training and get turned into trained killers." He slammed the door and walked to the door. "This is what I'm fighting for. Those children are the ones I'm fighting to protect." He opened it and when he looked back at them, they realized with a jolt that his eye was glowing red. "I don't know who the hell you are, or who the hell made you guys, but if you stop me from saving the kids, I'll kill you to protect them." And with that, he slammed the door behind him.

The three Rikkisons stood there for a moment. Rayne spoke up "Well, that went well. What was the plan, again?"

Jack sighed. "Yeah, we should really have one of those before we go rushing in." He turned to Mist. "Any ideas?"

"Now we go for a plan." She muttered. "Well, what do we want? Do we want to chase Light out of Raiden, because that's going to be difficult without another divine being."

"The way Raiden talked, though." Jack said "It sounded a lot like Light but I didn't sense him rise to the surface."

"Remember what Vanitas said?" Mist said, "Light seeks out a vessel that thinks like it does. That way, it can channel more of its power. If we could get Raiden to see differently, Light might not be as compatible with him and might leave."

"If we killed Raiden, what would happen?" Rayne asked, "We can't kill Light, but we could kill the vessel."

"Light would be forced out and it would have to find another vessel," Jack said, "but I don't think it could find one as compatible with it as Raiden." He shook his head. "All this is pointless. We aren't killing Raiden. It wouldn't solve anything."

They all nodded, but Rayne asked, "So what do we do? People don't change easily. What if that doesn't work."

Jack shrugged. "We can't think of everything. We'll see when we get there."

"So," Mist said, amused. "We're going back to improvising." She exuded exasperation but also amusement. "Well, Raiden went that way."

Rayne followed them, looking back at the room filled with brains. She couldn't count how many there were, but could guess that they numbered in the hundreds. How many children had lived in her region of the Destiny Islands? Definitely less than a thousand. She shook off the morbid thoughts and made to go in the direction Raiden had disappeared in, but more cyborgs burst out of the doors; humanoid ones as well as large bipedal cyborgs with guns mounted on its head. Jack groaned, then summoned Wanderer's Judgement to his hand. Mist and Rayne darted ahead, casting Gravity on the cyborgs and Anti-Gravity on themselves. The result was that they could move with much more mobility than their opponents.

Seeing his family jump on top of the larger cyborgs, Jack turned to the more numerous humanoid ones and cut through them. They were faster and stronger than normal humans, but Jack could still infuse himself with Light, making him even faster. He parried the various swords and swept through them all. To their credit, they didn't flinch or step back when they saw their comrades fall, instead regrouping into a tighter formation. Unfazed, Jack jumped up and cast Thundaga Shot towards the group, taking advantage of their tight formation. Their skin was more permeable than the other cyborg's metal plating, and they fell to the ground spasming as lightning coursed through their circuits.

Turning, he saw that Rayne and Mist had finished up as well. Both of them had an orb glowing on the backs of their gauntlets, reminiscent of the magical gauntlet passed down from mother to daughter. The gauntlet on Mist's left hand was larger and more ornate, as it was also the manifestation of her Keyblade. She looked and saw Jack was done, then headed towards the door where Raiden had walked through. They saw another door with bits of steel at the bottom, and went through it.

Rayne was fascinated by this world, even though she hadn't even seen what was above ground. She looked curiously at a black ball, fiddling with it and wondering what it did. Her question was answered as it suddenly sprang to life into a three legged ball that grabbed onto her helm. She quickly pulled it off and fried its circuits, but accidentally bumped into the shelf sending another half dozen of the cyborgs rolling around.

"Oops." She muttered, as Mist and Jack started casting weak thunder spells to deactivate them all. It only took a couple of minutes, but those things kept on sticking onto their faces or arms. When they were done, and had littered the floor with dozens of the small cyborgs (they had knocked down the whole shelf while trying to kill them all), Mist turned to Rayne.

She stepped back involuntarily and said "Um, sorry." Mist stepped forward, but stopped. She was angry but it was more at the whole suddenness of the whole thing. Rayne remembered how mad Mist had gotten whenever she did something wrong when she was twelve. Looking back, she realized most of Mist's anger came from confusion of not knowing what to do. She supposed it was natural that Mist regain a bit of a temper now that she had the Heart of a twenty year old.

Jack laid a hand on Mist's shoulder and she calmed down. The three of them continued down a corridor and crept through a huge metal room with crates. They needn't have bothered with stealth. There were even more cyborgs littered around the floor, and even some slammed into the crates. It was obvious where Raiden had went. As they proceeded, they heard explosions and they ran towards the sound. They emerged into a room with a corridor leading to another adjoining room. The first room had black scorch marks all over it, and when they ran into the corridor they saw Raiden fighting a large cyborg. It had cannons on its back, and kicked out with its feet as it moved about agilely.

Raiden was somehow able to parry the cyborg's legs, making it stumble back. In that instant, he jumped through the cyborg's legs, slicing right through its belly. His sword glowed blue as the injured cyborg moved back, firing its canons at Raiden. He jumped over them, landing next to the cyborg's foot, which lashed out at him. He sliced through that as well, making the cyborg fall on its side, then sliced it into bits with a sword that moved blindingly fast. He jumped away as it exploded and turned to where Rayne and the rest were hiding. "Come out now," he said, "Or I'll kill you."

Rayne stepped out cautiously, dismissing Equilibrium as she did so. Jack and Mist followed, but with more reservations. Raiden had lowered his blade slightly when he saw who it was. "Oh, it's you three."

He was about to say something when his radio sounded, and someone started speaking. "Raiden, I knew I'd seen that guy before!" Raiden looked annoyed at the distraction, but his trained eyes didn't waver from the Rikkisons. "Steven Armstrong, as in Colorado Senator Steven Armstrong."

"Kevin," Raiden said, "This isn't really a good time. Is Doktor there?"

"Uh, yeah. Hold on, lemme patch him through." Rayne thought Kevin seemed a little put out by this dismissal, but Raiden's next words drew all her attention towards him. "Hey Doc, have you seen cyborgs like these before?"

"Wait, you think we're cyborgs?" Jack said, "Did you think we were with this Armstrong guy too?"

Raiden looked at them funnily, then sheathed his sword as Doktor said "I don't have any data on these three. They are completely different from any other cyborg I've seen. The plates aren't just enhancement plating either, it is something new."

Raiden looked back at us and said, "I don't have time for this. I gotta find the kids." He turned as he fiddled with his ear and said "Kev, what were you saying about Armstrong?"

Kevin's voice came back as the other three wondered what they were going to do now. "Well, he's not intent on killing us." Mist said, "That's a good thing."

"Yeah, but what's going on?" Rayne asked, "He's going against Armstrong who's using kids to make cyborgs. Is he going after him? Is Light using him to kill what's impure?"

"And what about Darkness?" Jack wondered, "Vanitas couldn't have known what Light would do. Darkness must be around here somewhere, and we have to stop it from starting any wars."

"Yeah." Mist said, "So we have a plan. Find Darkness and stop it from starting wars."

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but that sounds more like a goal." Rayne said, "How are we going to stop Darkness?"

"We need to find it first." Jack replied, "I think I heard someone mention the Colorado Senator. Since Raiden's going against him, maybe Light is influencing Raiden to go against Darkness."

They nodded slowly, but started when they heard banging noises. They quickly rushed to the room, and saw Raiden facing off with a doctor holding a gun to a boy's head. Suddenly the boy pushed the gun away, leaving Raiden an opportunity to disarm the doctor. He did more than that. The three of them watched in awe as Raiden's eye flashed red, then zoomed up to the doctor faster than they could follow and cut him in half, from shoulder to hip.

Blood exploded, showering the boy who was taken hostage, and Raiden flung the blood off his blade before sheathing it behind his back.

Jack gasped and said, "Corruption."

Everyone turned to him, including Raiden and the boy. The boy instantly started gabbling in some other language that only Raiden could understand. Raiden shook his head, saying, "These aren't ninjas, and they aren't with me. They should have left the moment they got here."

"Where are you going now?" Jack asked, "To go kill Armstrong for the sake of the weak?"

Raiden didn't flinch, and started to walk past them. "None of your business. I suggest it stay that way."

The boy looked at all four of them before running after Raiden, who was speaking into his earpiece. "Courtney, I've found George. I'm coming back to the RV point for extraction." After that, he continued walking until he was out of sight.

"Dad," Rayne said quietly, "What did you mean by Corruption?"

"I mean," Jack said, "That Light isn't the only Divine Being trying to get a hold on Raiden. That moment when he killed the doctor, I felt Corruption surge."

"So he has two divine beings fighting for control?" Mist asked, "Isn't that dangerous for the vessel?"

Jack nodded, "It won't do any physical harm now, since none of them can use anything close to their full power here. The most it would do is result in him having schizophrenia, or dual personality disorder."

They didn't say anything for a bit, then Rayne said "But we're still going to go after him, right?"

"Of course," Jack said. "There is a slight problem, though."

The other two looked at Jack, and he said "Where the hell is Colorado?"

Well, that's the first bit of the MGR world. I've already finished the first draft of this section, but it already feels a little forced. Oh well, hopefully it won't by the time I've editted. Just a note, the boy wasn't gabbling in another language. Keyblades unlock everything, including the language barrier. The reason they couldn't understand the boy was because he was talking in really strong Guyanan accent, so it wasn't translated for them.

In case you haven't figured it out, this won't be the classic team-up-with-native-protagonist storyline. MGR's just a tool to illustrate the bigger picture, namely the battle between the Three Divine Beings.

Hope you enjoyed this, 'till next time.