Chapter 32

Gray open his eyes. From what he saw, he was in some kind of dark arena with torches lighting the entire arena. At the center was a man who was wearing red and black armor and has eight arms, each one holding a sword.

"Mind telling me who you are?", asked Gray.

"This is power. My power reverberates through all of Orience!", said the determin armor man.

"Um, okay?", said a confused Gray.

The armor man charged at Gray and attempted to strike him with his sword. Gray jumped into the air to avoid the attack.

"Ice-Make: Lance!"

Gray fired Ice lances at the man, but the man simply destroy his lances with his swords.

"What?!", question a stun Gray.

The man then charged at Gray and sliced his shoulder, making him grunt in pain.

"If that's the best you can muster, I suggest you give up.", said the man, pointing his sword at Gray.

Before the man can strike Gray down, Gray summon his shield to block the attack.

"Ice-Make: Battle Axe!"

Gray swung his axe at the man, hitting his arm with the axe, and a fountain of blood came down from his arm and onto the floor.

"How do you like that?", said Gray.

"That's impressive.", he responded. "But let's see how you handle this!"

He then began to spin it's entire body with a sword in each hand spreaded out. He moved so fast that Gray could not see him. Gray was then struck from behind and fell to the floor with the amor man behind him.

"You're done for!", said the man as he attempted to stab Gray in the back.

"Oh, yeah!?", Gray responded as he dodge the attack.

"Ice-Make: Cold Excalibur!"

Gray created a huge sword made of ice, charged at the armor man, and struck him down when he swung his sword at the man's shoulder. The man collapsed onto the ground.

"Well?", said Gray.

"Ho-ho… Not bad.", said the armor man as he disappeared.

A white portal appeared right in front of Gray, showing an image of the game store in it.

"Guess this is the way out huh?", said Gray as he entered the portal.

When Erza awoke, she was surrounded by a group of people.

One of them came up to her and asked, "Lightning, are you okay?"

It was a man with light blond hair, blue eyes, and a stubble beard. He wears a black bandanna, black gloves, large gray boots, a light blue vest over a black shirt, a striped blue scarf hanging from a belt, and a beige trench coat with frayed hems.

"I am sorry.", said Erz. "But I am not this 'Lightning' you are talking about."

"What?", answered the man with shock.

"How can that be?", asked a girl with pink pigtails.

"I do not know.", answered Erza. "But, my name is Erza Scarlet. I got separated from my friends when I was in battle. If I am here and this Lightning is not, then if I find a way out of here, she might return."

"How can you be sure?", asked a woman with long black hair.

"I don't know. Just call it a leap of faith. For now, I can assist you with anything you need help with."

"Are you sure you can handle what we are up against?", asked a man with the black afro hair.

Erza then summon her weapons and began to demonstrate some powerful attacks in front of them, making them stun.

"What is it that you need help with?", she asked with confidence.

In a large city, people are gather in excitement to watch a race in the brightly lit track.

Before the race could begin, a man appeared on screen over the tracks and said, "We have survived the twilight, and gather now to welcome the down on which we decide our fate. Many are the lessons we have learned during our long night of hardship and sacrifice. And now we face choices, which must be made as our hearts dictate, and not abandoned to uncaring chance. Let us forge ahead with unflinching courage. And honor the fallen with action. With these hands we shape the future."

With the snap of his fingers, the racers started their engines and started to move lightning fast across the tracks. While racing, the racers took notice of the sky and saw a green light approaching towards them. Furgures the came out from the light, revealing to be Erza, a horse, and a ship.

"Odin!", shouted Erza to the horse.

The horse, Odin, the transform into a human with armor. Behind them was, Snow Villiers, Oerba Dia Vanille, Sazh Katzroy, Hope Estheim, and Oerba Yun Fang, all whom are diving straight towards the race tracks. The racer saw the ship coming towards him and swerved away, but causes him to lose control of his vehicle. Before it could crash, two mechanical creatures caught it while Snow landed on top of the vehicle while the crowd cheered.

"Close call.", said Snow. "And the hero saves the day! Oh, no, no, you're too kind! No-no, no, thank you! Thank you!"

The cameras that were filming the race focus on Snow but they also got a glimpse of his tattoo on his arm, making the audience panic and running for their lives.

Snow saw this and said, "Probably should have covered that." He then jumped off and on to another vehicle to drive.

The announcer of the race then said, "Intruders on the race circuit! Confirmed Pulse I'Cie! All units respond with lethal force!"

"Catch me if you can!", shouted Snow at his pursuers as he drove at high speed while his pursuers were shooting at him.

While Snow was driving, Hope jumped off from a bridge and onto the race track. There, he met face to face with a machine and said, "Hi there."

The machine attempted to strike him, but another machine came in and destroyed it.

"Cut em off!", he said to the machine as it blocked the vehicles, making them crash.

"Oh-ho! Think we have a winner.", said Snow as he looked back.

Meanwhile, Erza was riding on Odin through the race track.

"Now!", Erza commanded.

Odin then transform into his human appearance and threw Erza at nearby vehicles, landing on one of them and jumping on another one.

"You're dead!", shouted the driver as he attempted to hit her with his sword.

"You're wrong!", said Erza as she grab the driver, pulled him out of the vehicle, and threw him onto the circuit while keeping the vehicle steady.

Yun Fang then came up to Erza and said, "You're doing alright so far."

"For all the combat training I did throughout my life, this is nothing.", Erza responded as she jumped onto another vehicle and kicked the driver off while she fired lightning spells at another driver with her Lightning Empress Armor.

Meanwhile, Vanille was being shot at by officers, but was protected by her armor.

"Fire!", shouted one of the officers. "Take her down!"

"Hey! Stop that!", shouted Vanille. "I said stop that!"

"Block this!", said one of the officers as he shot a missle at her, making her scream and crash onto the circuit.

"Vanille!", shouted Sazh worriedly as he caught her with his vehicle. Erza passed them while riding on Odin.

"Odin!", commanded Erza as Odin jumped from vehicle to vehicle with Erza slicing her enemies down.

They both landed on a large vehicle, Odin transform into his human appearance and started slicing enemies along side Erza.

"Move!", said Erza as she defeated some of the officers.

Odin then transform back into a horse as Erza jumped on him.

"Let's go.", said Erza.

Both of them continued on the race track when suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of them. The sky then changed from night to dawn. Both of them stopped as a giant mechanical scorpion appeared in front of them.

"This ends now!", said Erza as she jumped into the air and began to change her armor.

"Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword!"

Erza then slashed her swords in a shape of a pentagram on the scorpion, making its limbs fall off from it's body and collapse on the circuit.

A white portal then appeared in front of Erza, revealing to be the game store.

"That was impressive.", said Snow as the others came up to Erza.

"I found my way home.", said Erza. "I am sorry I won't be able to help you on this."

"It's okay.", said Hope. "Besides, Lightning will come back and finished the job!"

Yun Fang came up to her and said, "You're skills as a sword fighter were impressive. It's too bad that you're leaving."

"I know. Good luck on your journey.", said Erza as she entered the portal.

Juvia was walking in the snow on a high mountain. As she was walking, she saw a group of people coming to her.

"Lady Yuna.", said a tall man like animal with blue fur. "We must hurry."

"Wait, Kimahri.", said a man with a red robe and glasses. "She is a little different."

"Let me see, Auron", said a woman, wearing a dark sweater dress. She then came up to Juvia and asked, "Who are you and what happened to Yuna?"

"I don't know what happen to this Yuna-san.", answered Juvia. "But I-"

"We got trouble!"

Everyone turned and saw a blond girl running towards them.

"What is it, Rikku?", asked the woman.

"It's Seymour! He's back!", she said.

There was shock through everyone except for Juvia.

"Let's go!", said a man holding a ball as he and everyone else started to follow the blond girl.

The woman face Juvia and said, "Come with us. We will discuss this later."

All of them exited from the cave and saw a man with blue hair dress in a robe talking to a boy with spiky blond hair.

The man then said, "Now is your time to die. Prepare yourself, son of Jecht."

The boy replied, "Not if I can help it!"

"Save some for Kimahri!", said Kimahri as everyone ran up to the boy.

"Lady Yuna, it is a pleasure.", said the man. "No, wait… you are not her. Who are you."

Juvia sighed in annoyance. "This entire day, everyone has been calling Juvia this Yuna-san and it's annoying. Juvia wants to be with Gray-sama!"

"If you are not her, then where is Lady Yuna?"

"Juvia doesn't know. Juvia arrived here when a man in a black coat sent her here. The man must of replace this Yuna-san with me."

"Tidus, what should we do?", asked the man with the ball to the spiky hair boy.

"We'll worry about this later, Wakka. Right now, we need to stop Seymour!", Tidus responded.

"Very well.", said Seymour. "Allow me to say something to the last Ronso before I leave."

What is with this man?, Juvia thought. The way he speaks makes Juvia shiver.

"Yours was...truly a gallant race. They threw themselves at me to bar my path. One...after another…"

"No…", said a shock Kimahri.

"How could you do that?", asked an angry Juvia. "This man must really care for them and that's how you treat them?"

"If you are in Lady Yuna's place and hold her summon abilities, you could end the suffering of this poor Ronso."

"What do you mean?"

"Allow Kimahri to die, and release him from his pain."

"Juvia won't do that! Juvia is not a murderer! If Kimahri-san is in pain, his friends will help him heal it."

Seymour turned around and face the edge of the mountain and said, "Spira...is a land of suffering and sorrow caught in a spiral of death. To destroy-to heal-Spira, I will become Sin. Yes with your help. Juvia, was it? Come with me."

"No!", shouted Juvia with anger.

Tidus then step in front of Juvia and faced Seymour with an angry expression.

Seymour smiled and said, "Once I have become the next Sin, Yuna's father will be freed again."

Tidus yelled in anger. "What do you know?"

"Pitiful mortal."

Suddenly, a creature began to rise from the edge and appeared behind Seymour. Seymour then started to float in the air and a bright appeared from him.

"Your hope ends here. And your meaningless existence with it."

When the light, disappeared, so did Seymour. Leaving the group to deal with the monster.

The monster attempted to strike Juvia down with it's lance, but she jumped into the air before it could hit her.

"Water Slicer!"

Juvia fired her attack at the monster, it receive some damages. The monster then grab two swords from his back and swung them hard at everyone that was near the cliff, knocking everyone away from it.

"Are you alright, Miss…", said Juvia to the woman.

"Lulu. My name is Lulu.", the woman responded.

"That was impressive!", said Tidus.

"Thank you. But do you know how to defeat this monster?"

"I don't know.", said Wakka. "This one's way stronger."

"Juvia.", said Auron. "That attack you just did earlier, can you do it again but aim for the limbs."

"Yes!", said Juvia as she ran towards the monster.

"When all limbs are severed, Tidus, you will attack from behind."

"You got it!", said Tidus.

"Water Slicer!"

Juvia fired her attack and aim them at every limb that was on the monster's body. The water blades then cut all the limbs off, leaving the monster in a bloody mess.

"Now, Tidus!", shouted Rikku.

Tidus then appeared behind the monster and stab it in the back, causing the monster to yell a loud shriek. Tidus then jumped off of it.

After the final blow, the monster then exploded and disappeared into the light.

"And stay up there!", said Tidus.

"We have your thanks, Lady Juvia.", said Auron.

"Thank You.", said Juvia.

A portal appeared behind Juvia, revealing to be the game store.

"A way home!"

"You're leaving, huh?", asked Tidus.

"Yes. Will you tell Yuna-san what happen here?"

"Of course.", said Lulu "We are her guardians. It is our job to protect the High Summoner."

"Ok.", said Juvia as she headed to the portal. "Good luck on your journey to defeat this sin."

"We will!", responded Tidus.

"Can you carry this message to Yuna-san? Tell here to live her life the way she wants to."

Everyone nodded as she went through the portal.

Happy Birthday, Sora! March 28