"Get ready to eat dance pad, monk!"

"Only in your dreams, pup!"

Inside the gaming room, it was packed, with hordes of TVs hooked up to Gamecubes, PS2s, and X-Boxes, arcade machines, and the two large Dance Dance Revolution machines that were the center of attention. At the moment, with the machine on random selection mode, it was Daniel and Kyle who were going head to head on DDR Max2, neither one missing a single beat on the second song of the set.

"Come on, Inu! Show that monk who's got the moves!"

He dropped down, now tapping the dance pad with both hands and feet just as Kyle did the same with practiced ease. There was at least a dozen people cheering on as the pair kept up perfectly with each song, and the audience was still growing. Even the game room staff were watching in amazement at the two teenagers.

Lily was jumping up and down in excitement as the two boys rose back up, then suddenly switched dance pads and caught the delay steps perfectly. "Whoo!"

"How the hell did they do that!"

There was a big grin on Daniel's face as he and Kyle switched back over on the pads at the break in steps, went right back into tapping the pads, then dipped back and tapped the back pad just as the last step of the song came up. "Booyah, monk!" he cried as he bounced about to keep his joints loose in the few seconds before the next song. "Let's see how long you can go!"

"I'd ask you the same thing," Kyle replied just before hopping into action just as the first steps came on screen. "Try and keep up!"

Hs own feet moving in a blur, Daniel suddenly started spinning about at the double hit steps, then doing crossovers. At that point, Kyle knew that the boy was just trying to show off. Just to prove he wasn't to be outdone, however, he reverted to the full use of limbs and was tapping the pads with hands and feet while Daniel was more than keeping up the pace. "Your kung-fu is good," Kyle commented as he stood back up. "But mine, puppy, is better!"

"Yours is not leet!" came the snappy comeback when Daniel proceeded to rack up straight Perfects without one break in the chain. He dropped down, tapped the side pads with his hands, then caught the vertical pads with his feet and leapt back up and went right in time with the series of rapid fire steps that had him moving like liquid on the pad. "Fear the leet ninja, and be powned!"

Even Kistu was cheering the boys on as they kept getting even more competitive. The last step came and Daniel was once more bouncing about on the dance pad as the fourth song came on. "How much do they play this game!" he asked from his perch on Lily's shoulder.

"A good five or six hours every weekend," Stephanie replied just as the two went right back into the dance. "And that's just the weekend, I don't even wann'a think about the rest of the week!"

Dip, hands, turnabout, and they switched dance pads once again as everyone let out a cheer. There was almost two dozen people crowded around the machine now, and this was just the second time those two had taken to the machine. Most of the girls in the audience couldn't decide which boy to cheer for, while most of the guys were cheering on Daniel. After all, his character was the rough and tough of them between InuYasha and Miroku.

Once more, they switched pads, now having to move even faster as the beat sped up and the steps started bunching up. Still, neither boy missed a single beat, and the combo chains just kept growing until the final step.

"Whoo!" Kyle exclaimed as he wiped his forehead. "Last one, Inu! Think you can handle it?"

"And give into a monk?" came Daniel's retort while he just grinned and got ready. "Never! It's time for you to get burned by the heat, Miroku!"

Yeah, he was actually getting into that frame of mind finally, though it was more playful than arrogant. Still, it seemed to be a huge crowd pleaser, and even Kistu was bouncing from on Lily's shoulders.

"Final Stage!"

Of all ironies, the last song had matched Daniel's words perfectly as they leapt into Burning Heat. Step after step they hit to keep up the chain that would have been near the thousands if the previous chains carried over from the previous rounds. A leap and a twirl, and Daniel broke into a chain of Perfects that ran for almost fifty steps before his timing was off just enough for a Great.

"You're slipping, Young Asshopper!" Kyle remarked, though his own chain was an even switch between Perfect and Great. "I would have expected better of you than that!"

He bent back, shifting around on his hands and feet to keep up the pace and restart his Perfect chain. "How about a Bakuryuuha break!" he cried as he kept hitting at just the right time. "We are so entering the contest tomorrow!"

"Hell yeah!" Kyle grinned, then suddenly slipped on his timing and missed a few steps to break his own chain. "Ah, crap!" he cried out as he quickly moved to catch up, but he'd already lost the combo chain. He kept up after than, but once it was over, he groaned when the results for all five rounds came up. "Sonuva...I can't believe I missed that!"

His staff was handed back to him as he got off the dance pad, but it wasn't until Stephanie gave him a nice kiss on the lips that he cheered up. "Your ass is so going down at the contest, pup!"

With his teeth flashing to show his canines, Daniel narrowed his eyes. "Any time, monk," he replied while getting his Tetsusaiga. "Where to now?"

Her convention program in hand, Stephanie looked at the list to see what was going on. "InuYasha episodes one through four in Anime Three...like we need that, we're the real thing here."

"Oh! They're going to be showing the first episode of Zelda no Densetsu in Anime One!" Lily cried as she got a look at the schedule. "We have to see that, I wann'a hear what Chris sounds like as Link and Ganon!"

He checked his cell clock. "We got about twenty minutes before they put that on. Chris should still be in the voice actors panel, wann'a go check that out?"

With a unanimous agreement, the five headed out of the game room and through the halls toward the panel in question. They could tell which room it was because of the laughs that could be heard coming from inside, and walked in to see that Chris was having some kind of mock fight with Kirby via the mics. "Sankon Tetsusou!" came the familiar attack cry as Chris mimicked clawing his fellow voice actor from across the table. "Beat a Soul Shatter Iron Claw, Mister 'Nameless Soldier'!"

"Should I?" Kirby asked as he glanced to Paul, who merely grinned and nodded deviously. And so, Kirby acted as if he was pulling something from around his right arm just as he held it towards the blonde. "Meet my Wind Tunnel!"

A round of laughs as he tried vocalizing the sound effect, especially from Kyle as he almost doubled over.

"Bugger, who put the Hoover from Hell in his arm!" came the response from Chris, who was still laughing regardless. A shift of voice as he looked at to the audience and shrugged. "Eh, I said it before, and I'll say it again," he remarked in perfect imitation of Rattrap. "We're all gonn'a die!" He grinned as everyone started cracking up, then glanced over to see the new arrivals. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the dog and his pals themselves! Come on in, we won't bite much!"

"Maybe you won't," Paul stated with a grin. "But I can't promise that on Gendo here."

As another round of laughs rang out, Tristian MacAvery gave a shocked expression as he held up his hands. "I was only trying to run a daycare!" he exclaimed innocently in the proper character voice.

The laughs just kept coming until finally the group of voice actors on stage let it die back down. "So I get back from Japan after being everyone's favorite pointy eared hero for three months to find out that Kirby here is going to be everyone's favorite lecherous monk for the next what, two or three years?"

"We're still not sure how long," Kirby replied as he quickly drank some water. "We start the dubbing for InuYasha in the next couple months so that it hits Cartoon Network in August, and the show's not even remotely near over in Japan. By the way, Richard sends his sympathies since he knew how much you wanted the role."

Chris gave a snort while downing his own water. "Yeah, and it still probably wouldn't make the fans happy. A bunch of them are already screaming bloody murder over the fact that an American is the voice of Link in Japan." He took another drink of his water, then continued. "Granted, I'm a big fan of subs, but this is the one time they can get the same guy in both languages, they should be happy that it won't suck!"

There was a loud applause for that statement, and Chris picked up his sword to raise it into the air as thanks. He set it back down next to his seat, then gave a big grin while looking down to Mark Hidreth. "You look rather lonely down there, Mark. Please don't go self-detonating on us again."

"Only when you or Scott get out the biker shorts," came the snarky reply as Mark gave a chuckle. "Which reminds me." He reached down under the table and pulled out what looked like a model box. He tossed it to Chris, who caught it deftly and broke into a fit of giggles as he saw what it was. "Scott wishes you a very belated Merry Christmas."

Once more, everyone was laughing while Chris held up the box to show that it was a model kit of Deathscythe Hell custom. "I got my giant robot back!" he cried out as Duo Maxwell. "The God of Death rides again, whoo!"

Now leaning over to Paul, Kirby held the mic close to his mouth. "Note to self; don't give Mini-McNeil a giant machine of doom for his birthday." He grinned while the audience busted up laughing and Chris replied by sticking his tongue out and razzing Kirby. "Hey, you know the rules. Don't put it out unless you intend to use it."

With a series of blinks, Chris looked out into the audience, then grinned. "Any lovely young and single ladies out there?" he stated, much to the amusement of the female population of the crowd. "My name is Link, I'm a cooler elfboy than Legolas, and I can be found in room six-fifteen after the show."

"I thought I was supposed to be the one who asks them to bear my children," Kirby remarked, and ended up getting another loud round of laughs. "Don't you already have a girlfriend, being the Hero of Hyrule and all that?"

"Like she puts out."

Kyle was about to fall out of his seat from how hard he was laughing. Crude as the humor was, it was still managing to stay clean as far as actual language went. "Man, I can't believe him."

"You know, I wish I could keep this going, but I gotta' get over to Anime One to introduce my new show." Chris nodded as people gave out cries of disappointment. "I know, I know. But I'm not going anywhere this weekend, and I'll be sure to come hang out at the dance tonight." With that, he got up, slipped the sword and sheath across his chest, then fixed the shield onto his right arm before holding up the model box to get a cheer out of the audience. "See you guys later!"

Kyle nudged Stephanie to let her know that they were going. "That's our cue," he said while the group picked up their stuff and headed out to follow Chris. Kyle was the first to catch up with the young man. "I was hoping we'd catch you before the sneak preview."

"Hey," he replied while grinning and accepting a kiss on the cheek from Stephanie. "Can I borrow her?" Chris asked while he gave her a look over. "You know I can't resist a girl in skintight black spandex."

There was a warning eye from Kyle. "You're too old for her," he stated while shaking a finger at the young man. "Though, she does have a friend she wants you to meet who's not jail bait."

As they got into a nice bantering fest, Daniel sighed and gave Lily a glance. "How did you guys meet him again?"

"It was at last year's Nan Desu Kan," she answered while they all headed down the halls toward the Anime One theater room. "We all hung out most of the weekend, and I think Kyle has the tape with the Voice Wars on it somewhere." She grinned as they turned the corner to walk into their destination. "He and Scott were hilarious, switching back and forth between characters. It got so bad we couldn't tell which was which after that."

He'd definitely have to watch that tape when they had a chance later. Right now, they were grabbing front seats in the anime room while the room was refilling. It was a few minutes before the lights went down a bit and Chris got up in front of the big screen. "How is everyone doing today!" he called, getting a big cheer. "That's what I thought! You guys ready for the Legend of Zelda!" He smiled and chuckled at the loud response, then brought the mic back to his mouth. "Before we get started, I'd just like to give you a bit of a rundown on this series. Zelda no Densetsu is the first anime every produced to have a non-Japanese voice actor in any role, let alone the main character and the main villain. There's quite a few changes from the games, such as Link's outfit, which you see on me, and the hat went missing, so that's been omitted from his costume."

Someone gave a cry, and Chris grinned when he saw the girl who had won his hat at opening ceremonies waving it around proudly. "And there's the reason Link has no hat now, ladies and gentlemen. Be sure to bring that to the autograph hall tomorrow so I can sign it for you, miss."

As the lights started dimming more, Chris stepped to the other side of the mic cable and smiled. "Since I know you came here for the anime and not just to see me up here, I'll let our good friends take over and let you blow your minds away with what we came up with in the Land of the Rising Sun." The sheer went up again as he switched off the mic and set it on a stand before returning to his seat next to the quintet. "God, I love doing this," he mused while the screen came alive with a sweeping view of forests and a massive lake that seemed to span to the horizon.

The audience was cheering so loudly that they could be heard back down in the video game room. And when the silver blade of the Master Sword appeared, even if just for a brief moment, there were cries of joy from the die-hard fans of the games. They actually took the lack of the hat on Link better than thought, and when they saw Ganon appear in that intro, shadowy and shrouded in darkness, Daniel was sure his ears were going to blow out from the cheers. Already they were all ready to die happy, and they hadn't even gotten into the episode itself yet.

The first voice that was heard was deep and rumbling, filled with a calculating calm and evil as it echoed over a scene of the dark armies attacking a majestic castle. Was that really Chris doing those lines? Ever without any subtitles, it was better than he'd imagined. Zelda's voice was so sweet and innocent, and it fit how she was designed so well; golden blond hair, shining blue eyes, a silver tiara on her head, and a blue gown.

And then, Ganon himself appeared, stepping from the shadows to reveal his true form. If the crowd had been loud when it was just a silhouette, they were now deafening to see his demonic form in all its animated glory. And the voice that he had was so creepy! It sounded so evil, yet so calm and patient, until Ganon began yelling in anger. Now that was a frightening thing to hear.

Yet through the whole episode, there wasn't any sign at all of Link himself. Glimpses of a green clad form, but it was dancing around it, like it was saving his appearance. And then, finally, in the last five minutes of the first episodes, he at last stepped on screen, holding a silver sword in his left hand that was glowing from having fired the infamous blade beam. And in response to the incredible fight that happened then, the audience went wild, rooting the whole fight until the final shot of Link picking up the hat he'd been wearing that was now thrashed. He looked up, turned toward the mountains in the distance, then said his first full lines and had everyone cheering out.

Well, if there was any doubt before about it, that had just demolished it. The fansubs were going to be cranked out as soon as the fans got their hands on the first episodes, and people were going to be petitioning to make sure that Ocean did the English version, no doubt about it. At that was just the first episode. Link hadn't shown up until the very end, everyone was begging for more.

"Sorry!" Chris said into the mic as the lights came back on. "I'd like to give you guys the next episode, but that's all Nintendo's letting me show." Yeah, he expected those groans and cries of disappointment. He didn't blame them either. "But, knowing your luck, someone will have the fansubs out soon enough, and you'll be watching it that way until it's licensed. Until then, just keep checking for the news, and hopefully Ocean will be doing the dub!"

Everyone started heading out, which left Chris with about five minutes before he had to be at a press interview. He apologized for not being able to hang out longer, then stopped at the door when Kyle called out to him. "What is it?"

"We've got a video assignment to do a report on the con," he explained while they hurried to catch up. "Can you arrange some free time so we can get an interview? The whole class will wet their pants when they find out what you've been working on."

Checking his watch real quick, Chris bit his lip, then nodded. "If not tomorrow after the costume contest, then definitely after the con on Sunday. I have got to run now, but I'll see you guys at the dance. Later!"

And then, he was running down the hall. The five stood there, then let out a cry of joy as they left the room and head toward the game room. "Yes!" Kyle exclaimed in excitement. "We are so going to get an A on this! No one else is going to have this kind of story on the Zelda anime!"

"We have got to get footage from the first episode to put on the tape," Stephanie stated while they walked down the halls. "Even if Link didn't show up until the end, that fight scene kicked so much ass!"

As he was walking backwards to keep in the conversation, Daniel wasn't paying much attention to what was behind him. "And no one expected him to be here! Missus Gallagher is going to-"

He crashed into someone, stumbling and hitting the ground while the person he'd ran into grunted. Now picking Tetsusaiga up, he got back on his feet and turned to the person he'd hit. "I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, then recognized the white haired man and started apologizing even more. "Ohmygod! Mister Taishou! I am so, so, so sorry! It was my fault, please forgive me, I-"

The hand that went up quickly silenced him, but it seemed to be a gesture that said not to worry. "It was an accident," he replied while looking the group over. He then examined Daniel closely and gently touched his ears. "You have an interesting condition, mister..."

"Daniel Stevens," he answered, practically sweating bullets even after he's been forgiven. "I am so sorry, I should have been looking."

Was he smiling? "You apologized for your error, Daniel-san, and I accept that apology." Mister Taishou raised a brow as those ears twitched. "And as I said, Daniel-san...you have a very interesting condition. It seems you've used such a unique deformity to your advantage, I commend you."

Nervously gulping, Daniel nodded. "Thank you," he choked out while taking a step back. Something felt odd, something smelled odd. Why was he feeling so small next to Mister Taishou, so insignificant? "I'm so sorry though. I should have looked where I was going."

Again, Sesshoumaru held up his hand to stop Daniel right there. "Keep this up," he intoned while still holding that faint smile, "and you won't be very good at convincing people that you are InuYasha." He paused and glanced to Kistu with a gaze that let him know that he'd best find his father soon to get the news. "Are you five going to enter the cosplay contest?" came the question that surprised them all. "It would be a shame for such a well made group to not present their hard work and talents."

"We were going to enter the costume contest," Kyle replied slowly. "Cosplay has been discussed, but we're not sure if we're ready for it, and we don't have a skit."

There was a spark in Sesshoumaru's eyes. Yes, this boy definitly had that particular scent on him, there was no denying it. He'd been right to look for these five, and his luck had been incredible for the boy to actually run into him. "I'm sure such brilliant young minds like yourselves can some up with something," he said confidently. "You have the full main cast, and your costumes are rather well made. All that really matters is coming up with something that you will enjoy performing. Win a contest or not, that is the true reason for entering, is it not?"

Yes, they were realizing his words were true. Humans could truly be surprising, especially in this age. Maybe five hundred years ago, he'd been proven right in his opinions of then, but over the ages, he had discovered that despite being mortals, human beings were very inventive. "I look forward to your performance tomorrow night then," he stated as he turned to head back down the way he had come. "Oh, Daniel-san."

"Yes, Mister Taishou?"

So polite and respectful. Such a contrast to the person he looked so much like. Yes, Sesshoumaru decided that he very much liked this boy's attitude when compared with his brother. Regardless of tomorrow night's contest, he already made his plan and decision on how to keep his eye on this child. "I would like you all to pay me a visit in room two-oh-eight sometime tonight, if possible. There's something I'd like to discuss with you all that I think you will find very enjoyable."

And then, he departed down the hall, leaving them all to stare after him, then turn to Daniel, who had the most amazed expression on his face just before his eyes rolled up in his head, and he promptly proceeded to pass out from the shock.

Five minutes later, as he woke up, they assured him that he hadn't been dreaming, and that they were going to take up Mister Taishou on his offer to visit him that evening.

And the little flea youkai who had been watching found he wasn't sure whether or not he should be worried. But, Shippo seemed to feel Sesshoumaru was sincere in his interest in the boy. Perhaps it was time to actually trust the Lord of the West. And that boy, he was everything that Myoga would have wished to see in his former liege. "InuYasha-sama," he whispered. "Why couldn't you have been more like your son?"