Gaia: What's up, evil folks?

"Evil Folks": glare death at Gaia

Justine: We were given actual names, you know.

Gaia: You think I'm so stupid as to not know that? It just takes too long. smile

Bertrum: What do you want with us, you fool?

Gaia: I come on behalf of my friends to ask you whether or not you're ready to start playing.

Justine: Get bent.

Gaia: blink My. You truly are evil.

Justine: It took you this long?

Gaia: raises an index finger No. I am actually a highly talented and educated individual. tries to sound all smart.

Justine: I repeat: get bent.

Gaia remained un movable and I lay, petrified beneath his quivering grasp that had encased my eyes so that all was dark. I relied on hearing as a fight seemed to break out beyond me.

"Stop! What if you hurt her you fool?!" Jakob's angry voice snapped. He appeared only to act half-heartily though; as if Amy's odd mannerisms had been contagious. He also believed that something wasn't right with me.

"This isn't Katie…," Gaia mumbled softly, gripping my head tighter in his huge hands. I got a dirty thought and shook it from my mind at this mental image. I imagined I blushed on the outside as well.

"Look at her! You're hurting her; she's turning all red!" Sarah quipped. She stormed forward, angry with Gaia's impudence, and wrenched his hand from my body, allowing light to shed on the scene.

Amy stood on the outskirts of the group, appearing tense again; her hands gripped both her sword and the shield that was slung over her back. Bertrum knew his time was running out and he had not long to make his plans come to life.

Oh, to hell with the loser bandit! The time to strike is now!

I heard Bertrum's shrill voice ring through my thoughts and was horrified. I had not anticipated it to happen this soon.

'No, Bertrum! Please, spare them!' I shrieked as I leapt up unwillingly.

"Woah!" My friends all started at my sudden movement and crowded around me again.

A dark scowl appeared on my face then and the normally smooth features darkened to a menacing face of hatred. I let out a ferocious, feral snarl and leapt at Gaia, who was still the closest to me; with tenacity that I knew did not belong to me.

My sword flew out with lightning speed and the Clavation boy had not a second to react to this change. Drops of his ruby-blood adorned the walls as Bertrum took another slash, breaking through Gaia's defenses utterly as if they were warm butter.

Gaia clutched his stomach in agony and lay, propped up on one elbow; somehow still managing to secure that threatening look of defiance as he lay there, bleeding from a gash in his stomach which was the worst place to receive such a wound.

"You will all perish here; you will never see the light of day again, fools!" Bertrum's horrid voice rasped hungrily from my throat at the sight of one of my own already crippled as such. I growled again and stabbed down, infusing the attack with my chi so that when Gaia spread his legs to avoid it, the ground exploded in an eruption of pink lights and rubble.

As the others watched in horror at my supposed-betrayal; their eyes and mouths covered to block the smog from entering their lungs, Gaia and I burst from the eye of the whirlwind, locked in a fierce combat. Already Gaia was failing to fend off my attacks and failing at holding his slips of flesh that created a barrier which held his insides together.

Amy, fed up with this, and having not been able to attack sooner, leapt into the battle without waiting to consort the others on said decision. They were too paralyzed with shock.

"Gaia! Get the hell out of here, dummy!" Amy cried, thrusting herself at me and stopping my strike for Gaia's chest. He didn't need to be told twice; he threw himself out of the way, to be taken into the arms of Sarah who did so on instinct.

I licked my lips thoughtfully and contemplated Amy, who may just be the toughest one out of all my companions, with a dark sparkle thrumming in the back of my mind.

Alas, this should be a great fight. I will relish the sounds of her bones breaking beneath my sword and her blood trailing through the dirt….Hohoho!

Bertrum's sadistic thoughts disgusted me and my little spirit body turned and faced the darkness that loomed up above me with a fierce determination. At once, I rocketed upward through the darkness, keen on finding a way out of the abyss even if it killed me. My blood thrummed all around me instead of inside of my chest, which was odd, but I was never alone, and this feeling followed me all the way as I continued my frenzied search for my own brain.

Amy's POV

'Alas, that these last few moments you have on this earth, dearest friend, shall be when you are possessed. Forgive me for my mistakes, for I was unable to release you from his hold…'

Hot, angry tears appeared on my cheeks as I pushed myself towards the face I had always cherished dearer than even my own life. I let out a battle cry and unsheathed my wrath upon my friend, fending off her attacks with my own. Locked in equal combat, forcing each other back, I knew that it would be a while.

"Go get Geoffrey!" I cried, diving for Katie's feet; she leapt unnaturally high into the air. Indeed, so much so that her feet landed squarely on the ceiling and she propelled herself at me with the intent of murder. I whirled around and back-flipped away, awed at Bertrum's power. Yes, I knew it had been him. I knew that was no such way Katie herself would have been able to harm Gaia in such a manner. Plus, she hadn't sent me any forewarning of her escape through our telepathic connection.

'Katie…if you are indeed lost to me…and you do anything else to harm the others, then…I will kill you myself…!'

I hated myself for being unable to stop the tears. I wiped them away angrily and release an Aura Shot from a crouched position, no longer requiring the painful stance that I had used previously. It nicked Katie on the shoulder, but no other harm came to her. I cursed, but upon further inspection, saw that my friends had left us.

"Heh. It appears we are alone now, my friend!" Bertrum spat hatefully, froth dripping from his mouth. How this rabid man had come into existence, I had not the stomach to ask. Every thing about him sickened me to my very core and I hated him all the more for wrenching my friend from me.

"YOU…BASTARD!!" I bellow, lunging at Katie with my sword's hilt pointed at him. The sudden change in my weapon's position appears to have unsettled the beast, for he stumbled with the impact it had on him. The hilt slammed into Katie's forehead and I regretted my actions, for though I had promised myself, I could not bring to reality, her death. She held her head in a manner liking to that of one who has a huge migraine. She looked up almost immediately though and blood trickled between her fingers.

It was then that she took off in the direction I hoped was opposite of the one which the others had taken. Seeing her fleeing form awakened within me the notion that this wasn't Katie. This was indeed another being all together, and wrenching away my feelings for her, I pursued the fleeting figure.

She was disappearing fast, and so to gain on her, I unleashed a blade of chi that I would later learn was the Power Blast. It whirled through the air, lighting it up as it went along, and crashed before Katie's feet, knocking her on her butt with its force. Through the shimmering whirlwinds, I slowed to a canter and approached with caution so I wouldn't be taken by surprise like poor Gaia had been.

I saw Katie's body lying there, limp like a rag doll and was subconsciously regretting my moves, thinking I had killed her. I reached forward, intent on carrying her body all the way back to RBP and through the portal to our own world. One as pure as she deserved to be laid in a place that was familiar to her. But she jumped like a skittish animal and snatched her weapon from the ground and faced me, angry once more.

"So…you were faking. You weren't free of Bertrum's hold at all…were you, Katie?" I asked pitifully, cocking my head in a sorrowful manner. "You pretended you were normal…only to come back and make attempts to kill us all, weren't you?"

'I cannot allow Bertrum to keep hold over you any longer, my precious friend…' I had to brace myself for what I was about to do.

"I have come…to set you free of all pains of this world…!" I uttered in barely more than a whisper, 'though I thought this was lost on Bertrum's ears, for he had not made a move, nor spoken a word since I had come upon him once more. But we both nodded mutually and dashed forward, intent on making this the final showdown.

Katie attacked with some sort of move that allowed a great serpent of power to burst from her arm; it enveloped her entire arm and wound its way around her other so that the entire passage was awash in color. I too, released my chi, though in erratic blasts that lurched forward chaotically. I was not able to hold my nerve and my resolve at the same time.

Katie's snake stretched forward and caught me off-guard with its reach. It tightened me so that my hands were forced to drop the blade, lest they were broken. Bertrum began to chuckle; his hideous voice alighting from Katie's mouth triggered another burst of energy and I was able to get myself free of the serpent in time to knock her sword from her hands.

It skittered away, to be lost in the darkness as her chi fluttered and then sparked out, so that only my chi, dulled by my pain, glowed. I advanced slowly upon her like a lioness stalking its prey.

'Do not fear, my dear. I will not let you be the only one to die….'

I shoved her down and crouched over her, my knees lodging painfully in her hips, holding her down with one arm whilst with the other, I prepared to drive the proverbial stake through her heart.

"Please Katie, I beg of you; do not hate me for the rash decisions I make. What I do is all for you! This is the only way to free you from Bertrum's power! I will die with you! You will not go alone!"