Disclaimer by Steve:

"Phew, glad I didn't lose my

position. This'll look really

good on my resume for future careers.

Whoa, I just realized, I better start

sounding professional! *cough*

...

Dark Cloud and all characters associated

with it are copywrite... uh... oh crud,

I don't even know who owns Dark Cloud o_o;

No one sue! Khan owns nothing! NOTHING!"







Author's Note:

Thanks a lot Steve. -_-*. Worst disclaimer

ever.

Anyway. I'm back into writing now. I've found

one of the doors through the infinite labrynth that

is Writer's Block, and thusly this story is moving

along finally. You know how good it is to be writing

again? Anyone here who's ever had a serious case of

writer's block knows how I feel right about now ^_^

Now then. As with all my Between the Lines fics, I'll

finally explain a cutscene in the game my own way, and

like the others I've never seen another fic do it the

way this one's going to. Yay.

It's also nice to get so much good feedback on a story.

I hadn't counted reviews till a day or two ago, and

reading'em helps inspire me t'write =)

I dunno when this fic will finish. Maybe it never will

and it will be 99+ chapters long and counting! Fwahahahah!

...

fat chance unless each chapter was one word long.

...







-==(={[DarK ClouD}]=)==

~(Between the Lines!)~

[Part VIII; in which the adventure begins... again!]









(]Time: The Day after Dark Genie had been slain, the

same day Xiao had been turned to a full feline[)







Dimitri pulled out a glass-looking orb, which was

currently wrapped up in black cloth, and handed it

to Toan. "This device is a magical item I picked

up here. It creates a containment field, the void

inside of it pulling the air in to absorb and contain

any matter nearby untill you deactivate it."



Toan blinked. "Uh.. in english?"



Dimitri laughed. "You think of a target. Hard. Then you

concentrate on the orb, like you were in a dream, trying

to open it with your mind, while never losing thought of

whatever target you're trying to trap. It'll be like a black

hole, sucking and shrinking your target into the orb. Not

even the Fairy King could break out of this baby." said

the dimension drifter with a smirk.



"Ah, now I get it." Toan said, reaching to unwrap the

orb.

"No!" Dimitri yelled, causing Toan to stop. "I should have

explained this earlier. When you unwrap it, it activates. And

it can only hold one person, so make sure you're close to the

Fairy King and no one's closer to you than him." explained

Dimitri. "And if you miss, wrap it back up quickly to stop

the vaccuum. It won't suck up the user, but you don't want

to waste its power by taking the wrong target."



{"He's like an energizer battery. He just keeps going,

and going, and-"}





Dimitri picked up Steve and glared at him. "Look you stupid

slingshot, if you don't shut up I'm going to drop you into

a box of termites."



Super Steve gulped. {"Shutting up."}





"Alright Toan, I'll leave it to you as to how you take

care of this." Dimitri said. "Return to your home viliage

first, though. I'll be waiting for the Fairy King's

capture."



Toan nodded, "Alright," and Dimitri turned around, a

portal opening in front of him. The man in black turned

to face Toan one last time. "Don't make me regret giving

you that, Toan." he said, before stepping into the portal,

both Dimitri and the hole vanishing into thin air.



--------------------------



((Time: Evening))





Toan and Xiao reached top top of a hill, looking down on

their home town. There was a campfire in the middle of the

villiage, and a big celebration was going on; the Fairy King

in the middle of it all, enjoying the peace before he worried

about dealing with the other disturbances.



"You ready to be half human again, Xiao?" Toan said, looking

down at the cat with a ring around its paw. Xiao nodded

excitedly, and the pair ran down the hill towards the town.







They crept past Toan's house, trying to stay out of sight of

everyone. If the Fairy King saw them, it could become very

awkward very fast.



They reached the thrid house down the same street, nearing

where the celebration was being held. Toan peaked around a

house, looking into the crowd, Xiao's furry little head

mimicking his action down at his feet. "Sure are a lot of

people here..." Toan said after a few seconds. "I didn't

think so many people lived here.."



Then he looked and saw the Fairy King talking to someone

in the midst of the crowd. "There he is." Toan said,

reaching into his pocket to reassure himself that the orb

was still there. He looked down at Xiao. "You ready?"





The feline nodded, and just as they were about to go, a

rather annoying familiar voice was heard behind them.



"Just where have you been, Toan?!" said a brunette girl,

marching up to the pair. The green clad hero yelped in

surprise and turned around to see his childhood friend

Paige standing there. "You haven't visited in over a month,

or even bothered to write - for all we know you could've

been DEAD!" Paige shouted angrily, Toan holding a finger to

his lips and shushing her all the while.



"Don't you tell me to be quiet!" she yelled. "And why are

you sneaking around like this?"



"Paige, now is not a good time to talk about-" Toan started to

say, but the girl interrupted him.

"Now's never a good time to talk to you anymore! The nerve of

you, having us worried sick and then being this rude when you

come back! Why I have half a mind to..."





Paige blinked as she noticed something was reflecting the

firelight into her eyes. She looked down and saw the ring

on Toan's ring finger, and her jaw dropped, before she

glared at Toan.



"So this is it? All this time we think you've been out

in danger, trying to save the world, and here I find out

you just ran off and got married to some-" In order to

keep a PG rating, I must cut out what she said due to

censorship purposes. "And where is she now? It looks to

me like you came back alone. And.. AIIE! Get this thing

off of me!" Paige screamed - Toan was quite glad there was

loud music going on, or someone could have heard the girl.



Xiao was cling to Paige's ankles, clawing and biting at her.

"Why is your stupid cat attacking me?!" she yelped angrily,

kicking around, trying to shake Xiao off her feet.



Xiao finally tumbled off, rolling back to her paws and hissing

at Paige. Toan frowned. "Look, Paige, will you just leave

me alone!?" shouted Toan. "I don't have time to explain anything

right now and the last thing I need is YOU yelling at me!"





Paige took a step back at these words. At first, she seemed

shocked, and a bit hurt, making Toan feel a bit bad. But then

she scowled at him. "Fine, be that way." she said, lifting her

chin and walking off.





"Finally.." Toan said with a sigh of relief. Paige and him had

been good friends when they were children, but the older they

got, the more Paige got on his nerves. He looked back into

the crowd once more. "... Crap, where'd he go?"



Toan looked around for the Fairy King, but couldn't find him

anywhere amidst the endless crowd of people. Xiao peeked around

for him as well.

"Looking for someone?" said an elderly voice behind Toan.

{"What's with people sneaking up on us so much today?"} Steve

said, though he was barely heard through Toan's backpack.



Toan turned to face the Fairy King once more, and had to

resist the urge to strike him down right now.

"Actually, yeah, I came to apologize for the way I acted

earlier." lied Toan, as Xiao hissed softly at the old man.



"There's no need to apologize, Toan. Everyone's emotions

get the better of them at some time or other." said the

King.

"Well, I still felt bad, so I wanted to give you this." Toan

said with a grin, pulling something out of his pocket and

unwrapped it. The Fairy King watched curiously, then as he

saw the crystal surface he realized what it was.



"No Toan! Don't unwrap it!" the Fairy King said, but it was

too late. Toan held the orb out, and suddenly a vortex appeared,

and the Fairy King was sucked into the orb, shrunken down

to the size of an action figure in seconds before the

orb stopped.



{"I've heard of ships in a bottle, but this is ridiculous!"}

Steve laughed from inside Toan's backpack.



"Toan, listen, I'll tell you how to undo this and get me

out of here-"



"Why would I do that?" Toan said, looking down at the

Fairy King, who looked worried right about now. "If I

let you go, I know you wouldn't turn Xiao back into

a half-human."



"That's what all this is about?" asked F.K. "Toan,

I thought you understood, if I did that then-"



"Then what? What harm could possibly have come from

leaving Xiao the way she was?" said Toan, still ticked

off at the Fairy King, but his anger had died down

considerably due to the fact Xiao would be back to

her old humanish self again soon.



"If there is but one disruptance, one thing to bring

chaos to this world, it acts as a catalyst to allow

for a horrible disaster to strike, the likes of which

this world has never known!" Fairy King explained.



Right as Toan was about to ask what kind of disaster

could possibly be so bad, clapping could be heard, as

well as slow footsteps as Dimitri walked up to them.

"Splendid job, Toan." said Dimitri, putting on a pair

of black gloves and picking up the orb with the imprisoned

Fairy King, a cruel smirk crossing his lips.



"No.. Toan, tell me you didn't!" the Fairy King said, turning

to face Toan once more. "Tell me you didn't make a deal

with this man!"





"Shut up old man." Dimitri said, as the orb began to glow,

electricity surging inside of it, draining the Fairy King

of all his power.





The Fairy King collapsed inside the orb, which Dimitri dropped

shortly afterwards as if it were nothing more than a dead

battery. "And now, a hero's reward.." Dimitri said with a grin.

"I'm a man of my word, after all..."



He waved his hand at the feline at Toan's feet; Xiao was covered

in a white aura, and in a flash of light she was back to her

normal self.





"Xiao's human again!" squealed the feline girl, clinging to Toan

happily. Toan hugged Xiao close, kissing her lips passionately

for a few seconds before turning to face Dimitri.



"Thanks for everything, Dimitri." he said with a grin. The

dimension drifter smirked.



"No, it is I who should be thanking you." he said. "Thanks to

you, I have the powers of the Fairy King - not too impressive,

mind you, but he had one thing I desired. Immortality. He

never aged, and now neither shall I."



{"... wait, if the Fairy King never aged, why did he look

so old?"} Steve asked. Dimitri laughed a bit.



"The old fool gained his powers when he gained the trust of

the Council." said Dimiri. "As well as his immortality. I,

on the other hand, only needed to kill one measely guardian

to acquire such things."



"Kill?" Toan said. "I didn't think you wanted him dead!"

Although he'd felt a strong urge to kill the Fairy King,

he wouldn't have actually done it.



"How else would you expect it to be done?" Dimitri said

with a smirk. "As a thank you, I will leave this little

town of yours be. The rest of this world, however, will

be mine very soon."



"You're the disaster the Fairy King was talking about,

aren't you?" Toan said in realization. Xiao gulped and

took to hiding behind Toan again, mainly untill she

could fish around in his backpack to find super steve.



"You could say that. But the old fool wouldn't have

stopped my coming, even if he did stop all the things

that kept this world in disorder." the conqueror said

with a sinister laugh. "Now, listen close to me, boy.

You've saved your own life by helping me, along with

your little pet and this entire villiage. Be grateful

of this, and stay out of my way."





With these finishing words, Dimitri vanished into

another portal. Toan just stood there and stared

as the portal vanished, shocked at this turn of

events. "Yay, Xiao found it!" the cat girl said

with a grin as she pulled Super Steve out of

Toan's backpack and gave it a little hug.



Toan smiled a bit, glad to hear Xiao's voice

again. "Xiao, how would you like to go on

another adventure?" Toan asked.



XIao's eyes lit up. "Oooh! Xiao loves going

on adventures!" the cat girl said happily,

clinging to Toan tight. Toan grinned. "Good,

we're going to get the guys back together."



Toan and Xiao began to walk towards the exit

of the town once again. Toan felt kind of bad

about getting ready to fight Dimitri. After all,

if it wasn't for him, Xiao would still be a

house cat. But he couldn't allow him to destroy

the world as he knew it, and now that the Fairy

King was dead, he wouldn't have to worry about

losing Xiao anymore.



-------------





Meanwhile, back in town...





Paige was going back to give Toan a piece of her

mind once more for being so rude, and found an

orb lying on the ground where she spoke to Toan

earlier. "What's this...?" she said curiously,

picking it up, before gasping as she noticed

the familiar figure inside. "Fairy King?"



The Fairy King slowly staggared up, coughing

weakly. He wasn't dead, but he was on the

verge of it. "Did Toan do this to you?"



The Fairy King nodded slowly, too weak to speak

at the moment. Paige scowled. "You've gone too

far this time, Toan..."









-------------------

--To Be Continued--

-------------------





Next CHapter;

Toan is going to try to band the old group back together

again, but will any of them be willing to help now?

And even if he succeeds in banding them together

again, will they even stand a ghost of a chance against

this treacherous villian, Dimitri?



Find out whenever I think of what to write next!

And to the reviewers, should I fire Steve the Talking

Slingshot from the disclaimer position?



{"Hey! Not fair!"}



After all, he did a poor job of the disclaimer this

time, and without disclaimers, these stories might

be illegal!



{"Why would you care, "Space Pirate" Khan?"}



Will you just shut up!?

Anyway.

If ya like the story still, please review - cuz if you've

ever read "Super Smash Bros; Live in it and Win a Mansion"

you'll find reviews DO make a difference. =)



{"*cough*shamelessplug*cough*"}



Grr... Tune in next chapter, to see a NEW disclaimer speaker!



{"Noooo! My career is ruined!"}