A/N: Phew, it's been a while everyone. Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.

Ren had seen many people and pokemon die in front of him since logging into PWO. It had happened so many times that it had almost felt natural to him. He had even witnessed his own pokemon's death when Deoxys sacrificed itself to save Ryota.

But not even that compared to what Ren felt right now.

He stared at the empty space where Infernape shattered into fragments for what felt like forever. Infernape had been his first pokemon when the game started. It was his partner, the pokemon he trusted more than anyone else. But now that close friend he had was gone.

"Infernape… it can't be…" Ren told himself as tears welled up in his eyes. "INFERNAPE!"

Ren slammed his fist into the ground. It was his fault. He was the reason Infernape was gone. If only he was stronger. If only he had the power to protect his pokemon.

Kira's words echoed in Ren's head. "You obviously haven't been in a REAL battle before."

It was true. Throughout his journey through Sinnoh, all his battles had stuck to the rules of traditional pokemon games. Granted there was still the risk of death added, but for the most part he thought of all of this like he did with a regular game. Ever since he arrived in Kalos though, Ren had realized that this was nothing like the games he was used to. He had never imagined such a savage battle where trainers fought as well as their pokemon. Kira had him outclassed, both in skill and experience.

Kirito made it seem like that kind of battle was natural though. He had fought in those kinds of battles over and over in Unova. Compared to him, Ren was weak and pathetic. How was he supposed to protect everyone when he could barely protect himself?

'I need to get stronger.' Ren thought to himself. 'I can't let something like this ever happen again. I won't let it.' He looked up towards the cliff where he had fallen. He couldn't make out much due to the trees standing around him, but he could guess that Misaki and Clair were probably up there. He steeled his resolve knowing what needed to be done.

Ren opened up his menu and went to his Friend's List. At the top of the list, there was a tab that read 'Delete'. Ren hit the tab and then tapped each player on the list. 'I'm sorry Misaki. I'm sorry Clair. But I can't bring you two along with me when I could be attacked at any time.' He confirmed the deletion and his entire Friend's List was gone. 'Until I can get the strength to keep you safe… it's better for you to think I'm dead.'

Ren walked away from the cliff and moved out, a single tear of regret falling from his eyes.

Misaki ran to the edge of the cliff that Kira had blasted Ren over. She couldn't see anything through all the trees. Ren couldn't be dead, could he? There was no way he would go out like this.

"Ren! Ren, can you hear me?!" Misaki yelled down from the cliff. "Please! Answer me!"

Kirito couldn't believe his eyes. He thought they were safe. He thought they had won. But he knew. In this hell that was PWO there was no guarantee for victory or safety. Every second, you were at risk of death.

Kira smirked as he watched the despair of the Unova champion and his friends. "Well I should be going now. Have fun."

"Hold it!" Kirito shouted, but it was too late. Kira had already fled through the skies on his pokemon. Kirito clenched his fist and slammed it into the ground. "Damnit!"

Asuna walked over to Misaki and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe Ren survived the fall. He could still be alive."

Misaki prayed for Asuna to be right as she opened her menu. She looked at her Friend's List to try and find Ren there. If he was, it proved he had to be alive. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked at the top of the list where Ren's name had always been to find that it wasn't there.

'No… It has to be here…' Misaki thought to herself. She desperately began scrolling down the list, checking every name on it. 'It has to be here!'

Misaki checked the list over and over again, till her finger felt like it would fall off. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Ren… you can't be dead… REN!"

Asuna hugged Misaki as she cried. She had no idea what Misaki must have been going through. She didn't even want to imagine what it would feel like if Yui or Kirito had died in front of her.

Suddenly, the group heard the sound of rustling behind them. Everyone other than Misaki and Asuna reached for a pokeball, afraid it was another Laughing Coffin member. They were both relieved and at the same time horrified when they saw Clair appear through the trees, struggling to carry Yui on her back despite them both being around the same size.

"Yui!" Kirito exclaimed as he ran over to the young girl. Hearing her daughter's name, Asuna ran over to them as well. Kirito took Yui off of Clair and let the exhausted girl catch her breath. Yui was unconscious as Kirito held her in his arms.

"Yui, are you alright? Wake up!" Kirito begged.

"Who did this?" Asuna aksed.

"We were attacked by a Laughing Coffin member." Clair explained through her panting. "Then something happened to Yui. She became veiled in some kind of dark aura. It almost felt… evil. She was terrifying."

Asuna looked at Yui. She was clearly exhausted, and her expression as she slept made it look like she was having a nightmare. 'Yui…'

Clair looked around the cliff, seeing everyone there except for Ren. "Where's my brother? Wasn't he with one of you?"

Everyone lowered their heads. None of them wanted to be the one to break the news. To tell Clair that her brother was dead.

"Come on guys… Where is he?" Clair asked as she began to grow worried.

"He's… *hic*… He's dead Clair." Misaki managed to choke out as she cried.

Clair felt her body go numb as she heard what Misaki said. She fell to her knees as the life seemed to drain out of her body. "What… What did you say…?"

"I'm sorry Clair." Kirito muttered grimly.

"No… Please no…" Clair begged as her eyes began to grow watery. She quickly opened up her menu and looked for her brother on her Friend's List. When she saw his name absent, she let out a loud wail. "NOOOOOOOO!"

Sinon curled her hand up into a fist and slammed it against the trunk of a nearby tree. "Damnit! Why did this have to happen?! It's not fair!"

Minute after minute passed by as everyone mourned Ren's death. Clair and Misaki were both crying helplessly. No one knew what to say to either of them.

"Mmmm?" a small murmur came from Yui as she slowly blinked her eyes open. "Where am I?"

"Yui?!" Asuna gasped as she looked at her daughter. "Are you alright?!"

"I think so." Yui nodded. She brought her hand to her head. "My head hurts."

"Yui… can you remember anything that happened?" Kirito asked.

"No." Yui responded with a shake of her head. "I was with Clair and we were running from someone. I think I was battling her. Everything else is a blur though. She brought out Zoroa's pokeball and looked at her partner, only to find its appearance had changed. "Huh?! What happened to Zoroa?!"

Kirito looked at Zoroa's pokeball to find the pokemon inside to be Zoroark. "Incredible. It looks like Zoroa evolved."

"Really?!" Yui exclaimed. Suddenly she was cut off as she heard Clair sobbing. "What's wrong with Clair?"

Kirito and Asuna fell silent, not knowing how to explain Ren's death to Yui. Kirito stroked Yui's hair. "I'll explain later."

Asuna walked over to Misaki and put a hand on her shoulder. "Misaki… I'm so sorry about what happened."

Misaki tried to wipe away her tears, but new ones came to replace them. "Why… Why did he have to die? I… I don't know what to do anymore."

"Misaki… you and Clair should come with us." Asuna suggested. Misaki paused her crying and looked up at Asuna. "I know I don't know Ren as well as you and Clair, but I feel like we owe it him as his friend to keep you two safe. So why don't we travel together?"

Misaki didn't have any strength to argue so she simply nodded her head. Asuna helped get her to her feet, while Liz and Silica did the same with Clair.

"So we're going to Cyllage City, right?" Misaki asked in a hollow tone.

"No." Kirito said. "There's been a change of plans."

"What do you mean, Kirito?" Asuna asked.

Kirito pointed towards the distance Kira flew off. "Laughing Coffin went that way, towards Ambrette Town. I'm not letting them get away with what they've done. We're gonna make them pay."

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement. After everyone had finally recovered, they all set out for Ambrette Town to go after Laughing Coffin.

Kira flew through the skies on his Golurk. It had been a difficult battle against Kirito, and he barely escaped this time. An entertained grin was on his face at how much his blood was pumping from the fight. Very few people could make him break a sweat like that.

"Yo boss!" Ju called out from bellow. "Down here!"

Kira flew down with Golurk and descended towards Ju. Izumi was also with him.

"Where are the others?" Kira asked as he looked around, not seeing any of the other Laughing Coffin members around.

"They're gone." Ju explained. "Looks like the Unova champion's friends put up a better fight than we expected."

"A few others survived, but they turned tail and ran." Izumi added. "They've probably deserted us, since they know what's waiting for them if they return now."

Kira returned Golurk to its pokeball. "And what about you two?"

Izumi and Ju both averted their gazes from their leader. Ju was the first to answer. "We failed boss. That Asuna girl was a lot stronger than I expected."

"I nearly had the two brats in the group, but the one with the Zoroa gained some huge power boost out of nowhere. If I see her again, I'm gonna-"

"It's not important." Kira told her. "What's important is what we do next."

"Well at least you've got one of the champion bracelets." Jus pointed out. "I saw you blast the Sinnoh champion away. "No way did he survive that."

"Apparently, he did." Kira corrected, revealing his arm that had no signs of the bracelet. "The Sinnoh champion seems to have survived."

"Seriously?!" Ju exclaimed. "Wow, that guy seems to be a lot tougher than I gave him credit for."

"Regardless, I want to go after him." Kira said. "I can't let any target of mine go."

"What about the Unova champion?" Izumi asked.

"Forget about Kirito for now." Kira told her. "Right now, our primary target is the Sinnoh champion."

"That's what I like to hear."

Kira, Ju, and Izumi all jumped as they heard the voice come out of nowhere. They looked around them, wondering who could have said that.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Kira yelled.

From behind one of the trees, a masked figure came into view. It was a mask they all recognized, the one the creator of the game was wearing when he said his announcement to the entirety of PWO on day one.

"You?!" Kira gasped. "What do you want?"

"Now that's not how you should address the god of this world, don't you think?" he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kagutsuchi."

"Answer the question." Kira glared.

Kagutsuchi chuckled at Kira's intimidation. "Quite the mouth on you, little dog. Of course when a dog barks at its master…" Kagutsuchi said as he appeared before Kira in the blink of an eye, holding a pokeball right in front of his face. If he decided to open it, Kira's life would be over in the blink of an eye. "They tend to get whipped."

Kira was now trying to recover from having his life flash before his eyes. Kagutsuchi smirked as he distanced himself slightly. "I find your rebellious attitude quite… amusing. I've actually taken quite a shine to you and the group you've put together."

"What do you want with us?" Kira asked again.

"I couldn't help but overhear your desire to kill the Sinnoh champion." Kagutsuchi explained with a grin. "How would you like my assistance on the matter?"

"Why do you care so much about the Sinnoh champion?"

"Let's just say he did something I cannot forgive." he told them. "I'd kill him myself, but there's actually a small annoying program running around in this game that keeps me from using my ultimate weapon to do so."

"Oh really?" Kira asked. "So in other words, you're at our mercy."

"Don't be so naïve" Kagutsuchi said. "It just means I'm not able to kill players with my strongest pokemon." He showed the pokeball in his hand to Kira and his companions. "This however should be enough to kill you three if necessary."

Kira mulled over the situation, trying to figure out if Kagutsuchi was bluffing or not. Considering the man in front of them was the creator of the game, he decided to play it safe and believe his story. "So what help can you provide us?"

"I know where Ren is headed." Kagutsuchi explained. "All you have to do is kill him for me. Do this, and I'll reward you by giving you three more power than you could imagine. You will be my right hand players when the two month deadline comes and rule over this world with me. As a bonus, I'll let you personally kill the Unova champion as well when the time comes."

"Interesting." Kira smirked. "Very well then, Kagutsuchi. You've got yourself a deal. Tell us where he is."

Kagutsuchi grinned under his mask. "Smart decision."

A/N: So what did you guys think about the chapter. The next few chapters are going to be switching between Ren's and Misaki's separate journeys. Hope to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.